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blanceyblance · 4 months ago

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A study on Lance's underrated role on the team.

Or, "Yes, there was a Space Mom"

Some time ago, I made a post saying that, the closest thing to a "Space Mom" the paladins ever had was actually Lance and I wanted to make a post elaborating more on why I thought so.

Now this is not me saying that we have to put this Team in neat nuclear family boxes, even Shiro, the one who the fandom collectively agrees to call "Space Dad" doesnt fit perfectly the Team Dad trope, but what I mean is that, this role is one that most of the time it appears naturally in any group of friends/people.

So, lets start with seeing how TVTropes describes what is a Team Mom:

"In an ensemble show, especially of the fighting kind, there needs to be someone to hold this Ragtag Bunch of Misfits together before they kill each other or wander off into the woods like so many Player Characters."

"The Team Mom basically acts as the mother figure for everyone else in the group, regardless of age or family relations."

"Although the role itself is traditionally female, the overprotective dad or older brother can qualify for Team Mom"

"They are by definition never the loner, and will in fact tend to be the one who pulls them into the cast's orbit as a Sixth Ranger. If anyone can break through and bring about a Heel–Face Turn or Cooldown Hug, it's them"

"if any of their surrogate children or siblings are threatened, they can snap into angry Mama Bear mode and kick some ass"

Basically, this role is less about gender and age and more about how the character threats the rest of their peers.

It is hard to imagine resident flirty goofball Lance as fitting in a role like this since, usually, characters that are referred to as the "Team Mom", seem a bit more responsible and mature.

And, admittedly, it is a role that he has to grow into a bit, but even in the first episode he already had some shades of this:

Covering for Pidge and taking the brunt of Iverson's anger, running to aid someone who had fallen from one of the pods (before knowing it was a pretty girl) and protecting Coran from a explosion.

Overall through the show, Lance actually ends up being very caring and protective towards his teammates.

I was unsure on how I wanted to do this analysis since, there is actually quite a lot I want to talk about, so I decided to highlight how Lance acts with every member of the team from this angle.

Keith

The Lion Switch and Keith stepping to pilot Black is what, for a lot of fans, kickstarts Lance's arc of becoming a more mature individual and team player.

But even as early as s1, we do have moments of Lance keeping Keith grounded, like when he stops him from being reckless and hurting the balmera.

In season 3, when Keith is dealing with the loss of Shiro, everyone present decides to turn to Lance to handle it, Lance doesnt even notice what they are doing and instead goes to talk to Keith.

It is interesting that, even Coran and Allura (the adult and the diplomat) also look at him to handle the situation. And it's not a case of just looking at the next person in line, since Pidge is very clearly looking in his direction.

They eventually join to talk to Keith too but not before Lance makes the first approach.

And even when it was clear he really wanted to be chosen, Lance still quickly went to support Black's choice and thus, Keith's new position.

Like Allura tells us later, this is what makes Red, the literal right hand lion to call for Lance.

"You value a strong team"

Because thats what makes Lance really shine. His utter love and care for his team.

Even when he was clearly disappointed about not being chosen he decides to forget his own hurt to instead show to his unsure teammate.

And support he did.

After Keith goes to follow Lotor and makes the team enter a difficult situation while Allura is struggling with Blue, it's Lance the one who manages to make him stop and return.

Keith returns with Lance and shows he is regretful of his actions, one would think that Lance would take this chance to scold his "rival" but instead, he just acknowledges that Keith did mess up but now they are going to fix it. Showing Keith he is not alone in this.

After this incident Lance keeps being very vocally supportive of Keith (when he agrees with his orders).

And will usually follow his orders to a T. For example in "The Journey Within" Keith made a system for the team to sound off every certain period of time, and when Keith stops seeing a point to it, Lance keeps going and the team follows his lead.

It is also interesting to mention, these moments of Lance speaking softly to Keith when he is freaking out.

Another example would be when they get captured and Keith calls the name of his teammates, Lance being the first name he calls and the first to answer.

This ended up being quite long and the 10 pic limit doesnt help either so I will be splitting this in parts.

Keith and Allura's section is, unsurprisingly, quite long but I managed to gather a little evidence to talk about Lance's relationship with all the team.

Hope you guys enjoyed this first part

[Masterpost] [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

#voltron #voltron legendary defender #voltron meta #vld meta #vld lance #lance mcclain #keith kogane #vld keith #unsure if tag this as klance since i'm trying to be unbiased #and i know some dont have the best opinion of tvtropes #so lets say this is just “Lance was actually a very supportive and nurturing team member and i want to talk about it” post

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alexanderwales · 5 months ago

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I wish people wrote more and better cultural (and subcultural) primers.

Like "here's the core cultural canon" or something. "Here's a very brief synopsis of this movie, and then here are the two or three bits that everyone remembers from it, and how it's framed by the general public".

Instead we get things like a list of what's in the canon, and this serves a very different purpose, and if you go that route, you probably miss out on a lot of why it's in the canon, or the references and memes and general language that has evolved from the original.

The closest that I've seen is TVTropes, and they're also doing something that's not quite what I want, especially in the modern day, when every entry for every work of media seems like it's full of too many tropes: things that only sort of fit, rather than the tropes that get at the core.

I mostly want this sort of thing because ... it's interesting, right? The way a piece of media can stick with us, the particular elements that stick with us, the way that we form little rituals and understandings. A cultural primer is interesting because it's an attempt to distill down something that can't be distilled, that exists amorphously throughout everyone of that culture.

I wish we had more of that.

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pro-sipper · 1 year ago

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"Dead Dove: Do Not Eat"

About the tag, the origin, and why I think no one on either side of the fandom divide knows how to use it

First of all, I'm crosstagging because I think it's a general issue, not just something for pro or anti shippers. I see the tag get misused on both sides and I just wanted to throw my two cents in

So, where did the term originate? Like all culturally significant things online, it started as a meme. More specifically, a meme from the television show Arrested Development. Character A has put a dead dove into a brown paper bag to store in the family's fridge. On the bag, he has taped a sign that reads, in big bold letters, "DEAD DOVE. Do Not Eat!"

Character B comes across the bag, reads the warning, and opens it anyway. When he's met with, you guessed it, a dead dove, he proclaims "I don't know what I expected".

This is an example of (and has since basically become the spiritual successor to) the "Exactly What It Says On The Tin" trope.

If you want to check out the full history and countless examples of the trope, please check out the page on tvtropes. But for a slightly shorter history - it originated in a British commercial for Ronseal's Quick Drying Woodstain, which the tin claimed "dried quickly". And in the commercial they told you "It does exactly what it says on the tin!" So, the tin says what the product does, then the product does it. You get the idea.

In fandom spaces, the trope just means that the title of Thing (be it movie, show, fanfic, etc) tells you exactly what happens IN Thing. If a show is called "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", you already know it's about a girl named Buffy who slays vampires. If the movie is called "Cocaine Bear", you can bet a bear will get into some cocaine at some point. If there's a fanfic called "Fluttershy Has Tea With Jesus"... you get the idea.

While both tags started out with the same intentions and meaning, I don't think it's any wonder that "dead dove do not eat" has been so easy to misinterpret. For one, "exactly what it says on the tin" sounds more straightforward. You don't have to understand the specific reference to infer it means to check the label (in this case, tags) before purchasing (opening) the product (fanfic)

But dead dove is harder to understand if you don't know the reference. And at a glance, it sounds much darker. Doves have symbolism in multiple religions, and are seen as a symbol of peace. A dead dove evokes images of gore, violence, general unpleasantness. It must only apply to something sinister, right?

The thing about "exactly what it says on the tin" is that the tin needs to say something. You can't point at a blank label and say "here's what you can expect". People would be much less likely to engage with your product if that were the case

In the same vein, slapping "dead dove do not eat" on a fic with no other tags can lead to confusion. In this tag's case, it's a warning. But what are you warning about if you don't also put it in the tags? It leaves people's minds to conjure up only grim and upsetting images of what might be in your fic. Especially when, as it's also common to do, the tag gets shortened to simply "dead dove".

And while, yes, the tag is most likely to get slapped onto fics with dark or upsetting subject matter, that means something different for everyone who comes across it.

Most people seem to think it only applies to inappropriate relationships (age gap, incest, etc). But I've seen it applied to a variety of things, from potentially triggering material (like suicide) to things that simply may not be everyone's cup of tea (like excessive gross-out toilet humor).

In the end, "dead dove do not eat" is a tag that, in my opinion, should not be used as a descriptor as to what type of content your story contains. But rather, a gentle warning to say "hey, I'm specifically telling you what you're about to encounter, so whatever happens next is up to you".

After all, if you read the warning and still open the bag to find something you don't like...

I don't know what you were expecting.

#proship #proshippers #proshipper #proshipping #antiship #pro ship #anti ship #antishippers #antishipper #anti anti #certainly this will lead to nothing bad #anyway if you disagree or have something to add feel free!#this is just pulling from my own knowledge and experience of what i've seen around #so let me know if you're experiences or observations are different #i would appreciate it

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olderthannetfic · 4 months ago

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I figure this is the best place to ask to not get a pretentious answer (Tried googling it and the quora preview answers killed her)

The word "trope" is overused to excessive mislabeling these days, anywhere (besides TvTropes*) I can go to refresh myself on actual tropes? Scholar-y places are also okay!

*I had an obnoxious know-it-all phase IRL where I constantly referred to tv tropes in casual convos hoping someone would ask me to clarify. I'm well familiar with it. And in my defense I was in middle school.

Anything can be a trope. There's no set list of things that count.

You might be able to find some lists in specific contexts. In folklore studies, there's this, for example:

But really, any common motif/plot device/etc. could be discussed using this word.

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finalgirlminamurray · 5 months ago

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“meta horror” is another subgenre that’s kind of a hard sell for me. not that i don’t like any films that could be described that way but it’s hard to do well, i think, and if your audience is people with extensive knowledge of horror then it’s going to be especially hard to do it in a way that satisfies them. (it’s me i’m that audience.)

i thought maybe sometime soon i should watch the cabin in the woods again. i’ve only seen it once now, when i was first getting into horror movies, and since then after getting much deeper into the genre and greatly expanding my knowledge of it i probably would like it a lot less. part of that is due to the culture having soured a lot on joss whedon in the years since it came out, for good reason. part of it is due to my realization that a lot of the time when a “meta” horror movie posits certain tropes as universal or at least extremely common in the genre it’s…really not accurate.

a lot of meta horror stories are parodying or referencing slashers because that’s probably the subgenre with the most clearly established tropes and cliches and formulas, but they’ll also expand into “scary movies” in general with classic jokes about characters making “dumb” decisions and the like. the go-to slasher trope is “if you have sex you die” which i’ll agree is largely accurate but it often gets paired with “if you don’t have sex you live” and things like the killer specifically targeting people who have sex, which seems to happen way more often in parodies and meta slashers than in straight examples of the form. but then these parodies sometimes seem to inform people’s wider perception of the genre, even when film series get to the point where they’re parodying themselves. (see: jason goes to hell and jason x both specifically referencing “premarital sex” as something people do at camp crystal lake, and then stuff like that “it’s cool we’re married” meme that are based on a premise of the series following a “rule” it does not have.)

cabin in the woods doesn’t really go too far with the sex = death thing but it does assert that all or at least most popular horror films have a set of archetypes that the main victim characters always fit which is definitely not true in my experience. maybe i don’t watch enough lowbrow dumb slashers but i feel like there just aren’t a lot where you can easily sort the characters into “the scholar” “the athlete” “the fool”. there is usually at least one comic relief jokester guy and you can definitely do something with the way female characters are sorted into the virgin/whore dichotomy but most of the time there’s not really a Jock and a Nerd. it seems more based on teen movie archetypes than horror tropes and you’d have a hard time sorting most slasher movie casts into these (especially if there aren’t exactly 5 main characters, although that is a common number.) might be a consequence of them trying to reference horror movies in general and not a specific subgenre because while horror is a genre, different types of horror have different rules.

(another problem i have is that the film’s subversion of those character archetypes doesn’t really go farther than “the ‘jock’ is actually smart, the ‘nerd’ is actually a jock, the ‘fool’ is actually aware of what’s going on, the ‘whore’ is actually a Good Girl and the ‘virgin’ is actually a Bad Girl.” i do like the conceit that the designated ‘whore’ is just the girl who would have more opportunity to have sex on the trip since she’s going with her boyfriend, while the designated ‘virgin’ is just the one we don’t actually see having sex, but the film doesn’t really have time to explore that further. someone on tvtropes pointed that out. there Is interesting commentary here, it just also goes for broad strokes at other times.)

whedon has said that this film is a “loving hate letter” to the horror genre, or what popular horror films were like at the time, and i can see that - this movie came out at a time when american horror was kind of stagnating, but i also think the remake era was on its last legs at this point and we were just poised on the cusp of a new era of profitable genre trends when the conjuring got big. sources list cabin in the woods’ release date as alternately 2010, 2011, and 2012, which was kind of a transitional period for horror movies. makes sense that you might think horror was just cliches and unoriginal content at that point, but there’s good films in every era if you know where to look.

i definitely get the positioning of the elder gods they’re being sacrificed to as representative of how people just want the same familiar stuff over and over instead of anything new or different, but it makes more sense to have them represent the studios and producers who decide what’s profitable and what isn’t, and therefore what is and isn’t allowed to get made, based on which things have already made money, right? maybe i’m too generous to blame “audiences” for the executives with the real decision-making power who are terrified of “risk” (i.e, the possibility that something might not make them a shitload of money.) and yet everyone seems to talk about the elder gods as representing Us, the Viewers. there is a literal executive committee watching over everything, but they don’t have any control over what happens, and often talk about things they wish they could see but probably won’t because the trends go towards what’s reliable, so that probably makes them the audience…

which is reinforced by the scene of them all watching the designated final girl fighting for her life on a giant screen and cheering and celebrating while she struggles. and that opens a whole other issue with a lot of meta horror in that it tries to “implicate the viewers” and question why they enjoy watching people suffer and die but here’s the thing. there’s a very easy answer to that question and it is “because it’s not real”. again there’s interesting things you can do with the concept of implicating the audience but it is awfully hard to pull off successfully for that reason. if you try to go in on in-universe characters treating the horror as entertainment, then at some point you’re not commenting on horror fiction but true crime and that’s something else entirely. like how the scream sequels have an in-universe series of slasher films based directly on the events of the actual movies, which does stretch the suspension of disbelief a bit when they’re treated just like any other fictional horror movies.

speaking of scream, the reason it works so well is because it’s primarily a good slasher first and foremost. the meta references are part of the appeal but the film would probably work just as well without them. but because it was the first good slasher film we’d gotten in a while it spawned a wave of imitators that often get called “meta slashers” even though they’re really not particularly meta, they just have other things in common with scream like their casts full of popular teen tv actors. and kevin williamson, or a passable imitation of his writing style. (i do love scream 1 and 2 but the first movie gets credited with “revitalizing the horror genre” when really it just made studios realize that horror films could be profitable as long as they were like scream. there were plenty of great 90s horror films pre-scream that just weren’t as commercially successful.)

anyway. this post was just supposed to be about meta horror in general but it turned into me musing about cabin in the woods. i really should revisit it with both a critical eye and the intent to be fair to it instead of basing my criticisms off of my own memory of watching it once. it got a ton of praise when it first came out but now i feel like most people are cooler towards it. some parts definitely hold up (the sequence when they release all the monsters in the facility is a modern classic for a reason, the office workers’ banter is fun, the cast is good all around, and there’s some legit horror in the cosmic sense of being told that your friends were murdered for a “reason” and now you have to either kill yourself or your last surviving friend to “save the world”, what are you going to do? who do you believe in that situation?) ultimately i feel like it’s a reflection of a specific moment in time for horror and movies in general, which isn’t necessarily good or bad.

i’ll see if my assessment of “meta horror for people who don’t watch a lot of horror” is accurate. (as for meta horror for people who Do watch a lot of horror? it’s more slasher-specific but; behind the mask: the rise of leslie vernon. obviously.)

#my thoughts #back at it again with another long-ass Thoughts post #not tagging cabin in the woods because i know people don’t like to put negativity about something in the main tag for it #horror movies #meta horror #planning on a part 2 of sorts for this about other examples of the form

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quill-of-thoth · 2 months ago

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Letters from Watson: The Final Problem

Part 2, the sad bits:

Watson is very helpful to random strangers even while on the run. The Italian priest is, of course, Holmes in disguise. I wonder if Watson is a trifle nearsighted? There has to be a limit to the effectiveness of Victorian makeup at four feet away.

Holmes still refers to Baker Street as "our rooms" after two years.

I don't know if Watson ever gets his clothes back from his 'lost' bags.

Holmes, Watson has never declined to accompany you anywhere regardless of danger, why should he start now?

I have attached a map of the approximate route: obviously we don't know the method of transit for most of it and between hiking and the changing of roads or railroad locations Google maps won't help me

Holmes has had over a thousand cases by his recollection. So far we have heard of approximately 27 via Watson's published works prior to December 1893.

They can't all have been bangers.

But also I presume that there have been several that weren't story shaped, occurred when Watson was legitimately busy at his practice, when Watson was ill in the first years of their partnership, or were not satisfying. Probably also many that were too dark for a family magazine like The Strand.

Holmes is already thinking of retiring his detective career into more of a scientist or naturalist role. He is, by my approximation, around 34-36, but given that he has, in the last two years since Watson moved out, almost died a minimum of twice to the criminal element of London, and become deathly ill while on a case in Lyon four years ago, he might be thinking that he needs a new career.

In another universe where Moriarty is a little bit slower / not personally chasing Holmes across the continent, and Mary survives the decade, Holmes would be the Watson kids' eccentric uncle and teach them terrible, house-ruining things about naturalism and chemistry.

(I take it as granted that the Watsons would have had kids eventually because era, expectations, lack of birth control... If John is 36-38 and Mary is [likely] somewhat younger they still have time.)

It is with a heavy heart that I continue the damn recap

Reichenbach Falls is, as you probably already know, a real place. It was primarily famous prior to this as a subject of several Romantic era paintings by J. M. W. Turner.

How slow is this hemorrhage that they have time to send for Watson and for him to return down the mountain? Either she's bleeding out or she isn't. Watson says it took him about an hour to go down safely, at a super generous estimate we will say it's been an hour and a half since the alleged englishwoman started bleeding. What, precisely, does Watson believe he can do? Either someone else stopped the bleeding or she's dead.

Look he's nice and dutiful and probably would not be able to live with himself if there was literally anything he could have done and didn't, and there is the outside possibility that the situation is less dire than described in the letter, but I am professionally aware of hemorrhages at this point. They don't wait for travel time.

Holmes' letter is much, much shorter than I remember. Also, Holmes is professionally aware of hemorrhages.

I do not have enough scouring Tvtropes for late 1800's novels time to determine if Holmes' plummet into the falls is the grandfather of the falling off a cliff (and somehow surviving later) trope, but it might be.

#Sherlock Holmes #letters from watson #the final problem

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bonefall · 11 months ago

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Hey! Are you ok with people tagging you in fanart they do/making fanart of your rewrite? Your Crookedstar rewrite has me in SHAMBLES and I need to make fanart for it like. Right now

I'm more than ok with it! I try to collect it as I get it over here on this post, which is also linked on my pinned. You should also check out the TVTropes page that @halogenwarrior maintains, I look at it myself time to time because she updates it pretty frequently and I like learning about tropes that way lmao

You can also feel free to ping me as you please on whatever thing you're making that I inspired! That thing on my pinned post asking people to not ping me on OTHER people's posts refers to people going to the personal works of others and making comparisons, asking me questions about my au in other people's replies, etc. Stuff that wasn't considerate to the OP.

All of BB's concepts are free to use and change as you'd like! Credit's not necessary, but I do like seeing what people are up to.

I only ask that you do not steal drawn art to pass off as your own, as I have collaborators you need to be respectful of, and would also personally like to consider doing commissions or adopts at some point. I don't want any mishaps about people thinking those would be free to use.

ALSO BONUS APPLEKIN MARKING SYMBOLISM:

I stopped writing the draft where I did because I had written a lot and had wanted to share at that point, but with the new update on BB!Oakheart being BB!Crookedstar's adopted brother I've already accounted for the apple-leaf-shaped markings that are on his eyes.

("Applekin" cats come with these very subtle eye markings that aren't particularly noticed in-universe, as an artsy visual sign of them all being part of a family. They're going to show up on everyone from BB!Appledusk all the way down to BB!Frostpaw.

You can see them okish on this chibi I did of Silverstream, but unfortunately last time I drew Oakheart he was dadly weaning sunglasses so they're not visible. Here is a picture of the crabapple leaf it's supposed to look like)

They begin to develop the moment that Crookedstar betrays Mapleshade. Slowly, subtly, over the course of moons. So slowly that no one seems to notice it except Crookedstar.

At first, he thinks he's just crazy. Worrying too much, seeing things that aren't there. But his brother's previously creamy eyerims start to sharpen. At the back corner, a streak lines the lashes back. The smooth edges of the color spike, as if needle-sharp trout teeth are carefully being planted, one prickle, one week at a time.

No one else seems to notice it but him. But he gets the message. Mapleshade "gave" him this family-- and she wants him to know she's going to take it away, too.

So please, feel free to do with that as you will~

#Also yes to everyone asking about other background characters like Sedge and Hail's kids #I'm planning on getting them in more to the next drafts #Writing about the adoption overhaul just possessed me like my very own Mapleshade #PLUS it's the most important part of the early half of the rework #So I focused on that and didn't worry about everything else #better bones au #BB!crookedstar #BB!Oakheart #BB!Applekin #BB!Mapleshade #Stormpaw's Demon

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blood-orange-juice · 1 year ago

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Ok, Childe as a wuxia/xianxia trope. It's honestly a bit embarrassing how well this fits.

(blame @a-yarn-of-purple-prose for this post and if anyone here is a wuxia fan feel free to correct me, I'm new to the genre)

Wuxia is a Chinese martial arts fantasy genre you are all familiar with. An adjacent genre is called xianxia, "immortal heroes", it ramps all the fantasy elements up to eleven and skews tropes a bit (we'll get back to that).

A common trope is some kind of unorthodox school/sect or technique, allowing to achieve greater power without the usual decades of training. It could be straight-out evil or just revolving around chaos.

Such a martial school is usually called an evil/demonic sect (sect is more like a clan in that setting, not the modern concept of sect) and their techniques tend to drive practitioners to insanity. Either because they are inherently corrupting or because getting too much power without growing as a person is really not the best thing for your mental health. They are also often cast from hp points.

And then there's the archetype of a demonic sect heir. The best pupil or simply someone who has inherited a lost art. Proud, always greedy for more strength, often noble in some weird way.

*points to our calamity of a boy*

Common elements of such stories include:

Falling into some weird realm or meeting a weird person who teaches the hero a Forbidden Technique

Learning a technique too quickly through some sort of magic/alchemy/memory manipulation

Some people are so singular in their pursuit they become insane (走火入魔)

Ambition bad, loyalty and family good

Conflicting loyalties, generally a conflict between a chosen path and personal weaknesses/attachments (could be both ego and familal love, and this is more of a xianxia trope)

Fits like a horoscope so far but wait.

There's a very interesting case of Korean murim genre (their version of wuxia) where sects are less varied (I recommend this post for a basic introduction) and we get three paths:

Justice/Righteous/Orthodox/Light — theoretically they keep the Evil Faction at bay, and protect innocent people, but usually are corrupt to the core

Evil/Unorthodox/Dark — these try gaining as much power as possible and attempt ruling the whole world

Demonic Cult — usually dont take part in evil and justice battles, follow their own code of conduct based on their religion, value strength above all else.

(I'm sure there's a similar distinction in wuxia too, I just can't find it in the deluge of lore)

"Demonic" is closer to "pagan" or "heathen" than Christian idea of demonic here, their beliefs are often based on Zoroastrianism and worshipping a sacred flame. Do you remember all the Persian themes used for Khaenri'ah? And Surtalogi being the flame on Surtr's sword in Norse mythology. I also had the impression that Genshin gnostic references are based on the Zoroastrian-flavoured branch of Gnosticism.

In murim the trope of demonic sect heir is called "heavenly demon" (I believe, a more correct translation would be "supreme heathen"), they are utterly badass, live for the glory of battle, seem more like forces of nature and follow a very strict honour code often conflicting with normal human ethics.

(do I need to spell it out)

TvTropes also says this about Korean stories:

(do I need to spell it out pt.2)

I'm not sure why a Chinese studio would focus on the Korean version of this trope but I'm sure something like this exists in China as well or maybe there's a popular manhwa that inspired authors.

Xianxia extends the fantastic element further, focusing on Taoist concepts and practices and adding all kinds of magical realms (celestial, demonic, etc) and magical beings and making immortality achievable. I still need to read more about it but if I understand that right, demonic heir trope turns into a demon prince in this case. An actual visitor from the demon realm or a practitioner who achieved immortality through dubious means.

These are fae-coded in a way very similar to Childe and have a certain nonchalance towards things most humans would consider traumatic. They are simply not bothered by them, having a different set of morals or faring from a realm that is much worse.

Our boy isn't that (he's still very much human) but he's aesthetically coded like one, same as Scaramouche is yokai-coded, despite not being a yokai.

So. When people say Childe's arc is a reference to Journey to the West, it's not entirely untrue, JttW is the classic of xianxia genre and Childe does belong to the same genre. He, however, is not Sun Wukong but a different, darker trope.

This also explains why he has that "shonen anime protag but not quite" vibe. Shonen was heavily influenced by wuxia but this trope never quite made it to anime or maybe never became popular enough. It's not a deconstruction, it's a different story. Or perhaps a deconstruction of that different story.

#childe #tartaglia #wuxia #my investigation into what the hell this boy is is concluded #this means I'll get to think about something else #many thanks to saoki for indulging my questions for the past two days #there's also an argument for childe being a demon princess rather than a prince but I'm tired #maybe I'll get back to it if anyone wants to meme together #genshin lore tumour #skirk #khaenri'ah #if abyss be thy name I pledge to you my loyalty #I'll need another post to explain how it fits into some scenes #this is already too long

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ravennanightcrown · 16 days ago

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Parallax Error: behind the fic

Finally, I’m gonna talk about this fic ➡️ (Parallax Error) and what led to the writing of my admittedly most deranged fic ever.

Basically, the fic’s foundation is: “What if Danchou was literally a “black hole”?”

And core to that thought is this particular description of a “singularity” being the center of a black hole:

From Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/science/black-hole)

I also spent an ungodly amount of time looking at this artist rendition of a black hole (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anatomy_of_a_Black_Hole.jpg). Among other things. Like browsing Wikipedia, Britannica, and even NASA gallery

Disclaimer: while I did base a lot of these upon science concepts, it was not my goal to be scientifically accurate to the nitty-gritty (after all, at its core, this fic is still rooted in fantasy). Moreover, a lot of these don’t completely or consistently elaborate on a soup concept—basically, I’m just throwing whatever meta bullshit I can think of into the cauldron. Be warned.

(the rest, including my thought process, under the cut!)

I. The Black Hole Theory of Danchou

So, what the fuck exactly am I talking about?

Hear me out: Danchou is a black hole, and all that entails.

Let me go about the steps of the thought process, as incoherent my brainwaves may be:

I.1. Singularity is the center of a black hole. I.2. Danchou is a singularity.

That which pierces through all timelines, timespace textures thingy. Like an axis

I.3. [zero escape music starts playing] Danchou is the center of a black hole 🡺 [extends that further] Danchou is a black hole---- HEAR ME OUT

Danchou, like a black hole, drags everything in their vicinity into “orbit” (or rather, territory/domain of canonicity); Events™️ keep on happening around Danchou because they just…attract them. And it also happens with characters, who, once they have “interacted” with Danchou (or the Observer, or the “Journal”), are now permanently inscribed in the records of the observer

I.4. The event horizon of a black hole is “a boundary beyond which events cannot affect an outside observer”; ‘nothing that enters a black hole can get out or can be observed from outside the event horizon”;

I.4.a. More or less, as it is also the namesake of that one tvtropes thing, the event horizon is the point of no return I.4.a.i. Fun tangent: Event Horizon is one of the chapter titles in GBVS (the final chapter of Vanilla actually) I.4.b [Refer to image again] The event horizon is the radius around the Singularity. It is roughly the area or domain from which, once something has entered, it can no longer escape.

[Refer to I.3] If such things keep on happening around Danchou, and characters inevitably get pulled into canon/records against their will, THEN [slams desk, Ace Attorney-style] Danchou’s Event Horizon must be their Field of Vision! [Objection!!!] What about recruitable characters, or fate episodes, in which Danchou was not present?? It does not make sense! [slams desk] It cannot be the Main Character’s—the Singularity’s—field of vision! [AAAAArgh!] But… it cannot be denied! These things happen by chain reaction from past-and-future because the Singularity exists! The Main Character—! (Case in point: The «Amplification Factor» passive skill of the Singularity! [Screeching] That is not relevant to the current argument!) [browsing papers] but the previous point still stands. It is not always the case that Danchou is present! Therefore— [Hold it!!!] Consider, what if it’s not the character “Danchou” themself? What if it was…someone else? Someone that still, by some definition, is the Main Character? [Argh!] You can’t possibly mean?? [Smug face] The Singularity = the Main Character = Danchou = The Player = God … And we know by now that multiple timelines exist, and some characters, notably, Danchou, can observe multiple timelines. You «You» must be seeing this, too. There is one person—nay, ONE AND MANY—who can see Everything regardless of said event’s or character’s non-existent interaction with Danchou at any given time: [POINTS FINGERS] THE PLAYER!

I.4.d. Yep. The Player is the Absolute Observer. And then apply the transitivity property to arrive at Danchou again. Further support that by proposing a Version of Danchou that has seen everything.

I.4.e. PROFIT: Danchou has an Event Horizon. It’s the…undefined yet existing field in which the Observer sees. Once seen, observed, there is no escape— Welcome to Danchou’s realm of canonicity, even if you are a failed timeline I.4.e.i. [Tangent of Seofon’t and nonexistent fantasies having been tainted by the essence of canonicity by the voyeuristic gaze of The Player/God/Absolute Observer]

I.5. Some black holes are born from the collapse of stars at the end of their stellar evolution. Inescapable gravity born out of star expending its fuel, provided there’s enough mass. What if…that mass is equivalent to «data records»? I.5.i. [Insert lore-related soup theory as tangent] Stars «Astrals» are meant to become singularities at the end of their life cycle. But since the stars have chosen stagnation, they have forsaken evolution. And therefore cannot become singularities… or gods. I.5.a. So, that perhaps becomes circular as an argument if I claim that «We» amass data records by being the Singularity, because then, where would the mass needed to precipitate collapse «Ascension» come from? I.5.a.i. I posit, time-space convergence.

I.5.a.i.1. Key assumption: Singularity 🡺= God I.5.a.i.2. The Boundary is where all of time converges. So… it’s a circle. Or a catbox [vomiting soup] HEAR ME OUT. The Egg Short Story.

Also, there was something a friend said about the jp of “Boundary” written in kanji I think, that could also be read as “horizon”. And then the implications, of the unreachable horizon (can be seen, but moves farther away the closer you get). Also…horizon as boundary between sea-and-sky. Much to think about.

I.6. Black holes are like, nothingness. Vibes-wise. And what gets born out of nothingness? Something.

I.6.a. I don’t know exactly what I’m getting at here but “void 🡺 world” I.6.b. God creating Something.

Tangent:

It’s kinda interesting how the Eternals-related skins have Zenith and Azimuth there, yeah?

So yeah, that should be it for Part 1. Next, I would go on to very short overviews of 2 concepts I used for the fic, before going into dissecting the thought process of the Fic itself.

II. The Observer (condensed)

Now I talk about… The Observer.

Yes, this part is very Very important.

The Observer is «You». And «You» are The Player, The Main Character, Danchou, God.

You…observe. LMAO. But seriously, yeah.

To observe is to be observed. To be observed is to be “real”. To observe is to make something “real”.

[insert The Catbox] The moment in which all possibilities can coexist, when the truth is unobserved.

[insert lore-related theory: Time-Space Dimensional Bubbles] I seriously theorize that the Sky and Astral realms overlap like “bubbles”. Imagine, 3D Venn Diagram 🤣

This is how I tried to reason out the inconsistency of Lucifer being described as in the Astral Realm in 10th anni, and Canaan being in the Sky Realm. What if both are true in that… in terms of “absolute” location coordinates(?) they are in the same place, but relatively speaking, it can be a place in the Sky Realm, or a place in the Astral Realm.

This theory is not exactly related to the fic, but the idea of dimensional/reality coexistence does.

[choking on soup 🍲]

If you are God, and you are the Absolute Observer…then your dreams and fantasy are not that different from reality «canon». You Create The World.

III. Parallax Error (condensed)

The error caused by parallax—"a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight.”

Basically, an object’s apparent position shifts depending on from where it is observed.

For the fic itself, I more or less used this concept to present the same Object as different things, simultaneously, by describing it as a different thing in separate instances.

—But of course, with my own bullshit about The Absolute Observer being “the observed” in multiple instances. [Refer to The Egg about being multiple existences at once]

IV. The Fic (Parallax Error)

Here we goooo! Gonna divide this part into sections rather than through process chronology to be more coherent:

IV.A. Core Concept

IV.A.a. Inspiration (in the correct direction? I cannot say)

I was very much inspired by Hellstar Remina (Junji Ito).

Special mention to Soup (Umineko, Zero Escape, Sanhora, among others).

[…] the subject's gaze is always already inscribed into the perceived object itself, in the guise of its "blind spot", that which is "in the object more than the object itself", the point from which the object itself returns the gaze. "Sure the picture is in my eye, but I am also in the picture" […]

IV.A.b. The Plot

IV.A.b.i. Setting

Modern AU – Basically, I have been juggling many modern AUs in my head for a while now (with a substantially larger cast and a lighter tone). And then it just, clicked.

Astronomy – Part of the soup package. The concept was already astronomy, might as well incorporate that into the setting.

IV.A.b.ii. The ‘“Plot”’

IV.A.b.ii.1. Modern AU Danchou, but it’s not actually a Modern AU divorced from canon—this “Modern AU” Danchou is still very much the Singularity of Granblue. To cut to the chase, the protagonist Gran and/or Djeeta, is the same Entity, and is also God.

IV.A.b.ii.1.a. The characters Gran and Djeeta do Not Know they are God. That’s why the “timeline” of the fic begins with the «birth» of God aka, the discovery of a black hole or singularity, and ends with the «death» of Gran/Djeeta 🡺 «awakening» of God from their (humansona’s) dream IV.A.b.ii.1.a.i. To be specific, to align with the type of Singularity they are, their domain of authority as God is “acceleration of evolution”. This is also why the polar star could “speedrun” stellar evolution in the “dreamworlds” or Gran and Djeeta’s «Reality». And why the humansonas (God’s self-inserts) hunger for knowledge, progress 🡺 «Ascension» is inevitable.

IV.A.b.ii.1.b. Gran and Djeeta are fundamentally the same entity; think of them as separate “humansonas” of The Singularity, being in separate yet coexistent timelines—realities, or «dreams».

IV.A.b.ii.1.c. The Observer and Parallax Error

I will elaborate on this in IV.A.b.iii (The Layers), but basically what I’m going for is that the Entity (Danchou/Singularity/God/Observer/You) both acts as observer and observed object, sometimes, in a circular manner (like looking at a mirror), unknowingly.

[Refer to Illustrative Example in IV.A.b.iv.] What happens if a certain observer is aware that there is a singularity at certain coordinates (and as a corollary, that there is a black hole)? What if said observer is unaware that they already are within the black hole’s event horizon (therefore, already inside the black hole)? After all, no one knows what is actually inside of a black hole. What would be the view from the inside looking out? What if YOU were the cat inside the box?

IV.A.b.ii.2. If you realize XXX, it’s already too late. IV.A.b.ii.3. Singularities are like players in the meta-world.

IV.A.b.ii.4. SIDE: DJEETA

Djeeta’s story is a world with no one else, until she brought a certain star fallen from academic and artistic grace (Faasan) into the realm of existence, (and with it, of sentience and sapience). Because he is a star—an object that is not even a being—he is nonexistent in terms of being a creature; Djeeta’s fascination. It is his insistence of being someone who should not Exist and the unignorable incongruent state of affairs (truth of the world) that eventually shatters her worldview «Lie».

No one else exists in this world…but there sure is another character that is referred to that isn’t a star 😉

The redacted letters and choice to name Faa as Lucifaa 😉 (This is not the character I refer to in the previous statement tee-hee)

IV.A.b.ii.5. SIDE: GRAN

Gran’s story is that of a world filled with other people, all of which slowly disappear from existence as he himself forgets them in pursuit of the «Truth» through his astronomy research. All relationships lose value when weighed against The Self «God». And if something is forgotten, unobserved, by God…does it really exist?

Who better to warn of reaching The Truth «Divinity» than a certain blond man?

And yes, the incomplete names, or the letters that are lost were all 😉

IV.A.b.ii.6. Meet me halfway, me. IV.A.b.ii.7. The «Observer» desires to be observed, recognized, known, seen. By anyone, be it a lover, a companion, or ultimately—a father.

IV.A.b.iii. The Layers (Flavor text, Summaries, Notes)

The layers… These are the nested narratives—or rather, the frames used to nest them. All are true. But some are truer than others.

IV.A.b.iii.1. The Locations feat. Non-location Observers [Refer to Illustrative Example in IV.1.2.4 for actual placements]

Here we have the observers 🡺 the observed:

Event Horizon Observatory 🡺 God >The realm of the Narrative. That which proclaims God.

Lartcen Sixa Aronomiclast Strooverbay 🡺 The Sky Realm >I had a hard time combing through all moonspeak in canon to make up my own take for words without official en moonspeak. I’m quite proud of the moonspeak hehe.

Inter-Skydom Astronomical Union Observatory 🡺 The polar star GRDJ ▉0000+0000 >In-universe observatory.

International Space Station Roving Observatory (Ceres Outpost) 🡺 The planet Earth >Our world as we know it.

Djeeta 🡺LC▉ 00Ø𝜝

Gran 🡺 all named characters

God 🡺 Reality >[MSQ Chapter 129-4] A god is the definition of reality. To defy a god is to defy the world itself.

YOU «the girl reading this» 🡺 The fic and all its layers

YOU 🡸 = 🡺 YOU

IV.A.b.iii.2. The Dates

February 29, 2017 🡺 a date that does not exist. But… it should precede March 1, 2017

The passage of time up to 2019 via nonexistent dates 🡺 all of time converges in the Boundary

February 29, 2019, 23:58 🡺 It’s also a fun coincidence that 000 first dropped on February 28, 2019

March 1, 2017 🡺 The Birth of the Singularity «What Makes the Sky Blue» This really is a lovely coincidence. I was taken aback when I saw it while researching. Earlier iterations picked February 29 of various years (2014 for Granblue going live, 2017 for “singularity” mention), ending at a proper leap year but you know how revision goes. I came across this more fun information.

IV.A.b.iii.3. High Concept: I wanted to simulate the idea of the story changing depending on how you look at it. In this case, the hovering will change the SIDE shown. Can also be toggled via clicking for accessibility.

The texts hidden under “readmores”, and the hyperlinks/urls were to give off the vibe of “If you know where to look—"

Buttons were included to simulate the logs of the Event Horizon Observatory. Yes, that Layer. Also, yes. It could also be nth layer 😉

IV.A.b.iii.4. Illustrative Example of what the Fuck I was trying to do with this fic

I drew this a long while ago to explain my Insanity to my friends and I refuse to edit it to something more legible or comprehensible.

Observer A’s location: The Moon

Observer B’s location: Somewhere from beyond—outside the event horizon (In the fic’s case, Ceres)

Blue Circle: The Planet Earth/Sky Realm

IV.A.c. Musings about Canonicity

IV.A.c.i. Existential Pseudo-math | The (non-exhaustive) set of existential values

Canonicity Coefficient: the value describing “in how many timelines or realities do you exist”?

Canonicity Constant: the fixed value determining how similar “you” will be across iterations

Canonicity Quotient: The canonicity coefficient divided by the total number of timelines or realities >Possibly correlated with physical proximity to the Absolute Observer

Validity Coefficient: has 2 determinants (a and b); formula still unknown >Does your existence affect the world state? Will it render a canon timeline (be it MSQ or sidestory) non/existent? >Will your existence influence the birth or existence of the Singularity? If you were/weren’t, will the Singularity not come to be? Will they cease to be?

IV.A.c.ii. Danchou and the Singularity have different existential values. IV.A.c.iii. Walder has a canonicity quotient of 1

IV.A.d. Free Will

– What is «God», the «Singularity», but one with a free will that trumps all others? To bend fate, distort probability—

⇊

IV.B. Pairings

IV.B.a. Faajita

Faasan hates Djeeta. Because she made him real. Because of her free will that overrides his own.

The very fact that he hates her, that he feels his free will, his very Selfhood, is violated, picked apart 🡺 more reason to hate her for making him be.

I WROTE FAASAN TO BE LIKE AN UNHAPPY SELKIE BRIDE

Djeeta, confessing her love to Faa: Lucifer was more beautiful than you. You are an imperfect successor, a disappointment. I think we’re soulmates. [Refer to IV.B.c. for more details]

The only attraction Faasan feels toward Djeeta is gravitational.

I just really wanted him to accuse Djeeta of eating stars.

IV.B.b. GranBabu

To be completely honest, the reason why the other pair became Faajita (when it could be any Danchou) is because at the time of conceptualizing this, I was seeing Granbabu fanworks, so I rolled with it.

[verbatim from a discord convo] Bubs: hell yeah if i gain enough muscle (mass) i will become a Singularity (black hole)

Babuchan desires to be an equal, to be of importance. And Gran cannot give him that because he is in pursuit of something Greater.

IV.B.c. “Faaferu”

[“but Faaferu isn’t tagged?!”] Yes, exactly. Because it isn’t in here. But… it’s also, HERE.

An important aspect to the fic here is at least, for the Faajita SIDE, that Feru is the unseen 3rd “person.” He does not exist in the same plane (physical, existential, narrative) as the characters Lucilius and Djeeta—because he was not incarnated into a humansona.

The entire time, Faasan is pining after him because they cannot be together. He has been torn away from the realm of non-sentience, and away from his twin/triplet star that is Lucifer.

He woke up one day, incomplete in almost every existential sense of the word.

He misses Feru so so much 🥺

Lucifer is the star mythologized, yet somehow the one who wasn’t incarnated and remained a literal star (because Djeeta was more fascinated with the mythos of Faasan, the Demoted One—being demoted from being The Cool™ Star)

This is because Faasan became an object of interest, like Pluto. [wordvomit] “What if he isn’t a star?” 🡺 What drew Djeeta’s attention.

Faa hated being, but he was at least comforted by the thought of Lucifer being designated as «True» by virtue of him being «False»; however, he still disliked the undisproved possibility of Lucio being the «True» One.

[Special Bonus Feature: FORK where Djeeta incarnates Lucifer against Faa’s wishes]

“We can hold hands now,” Lucifer smiles. “We didn’t have hands back then; also, the Roche Limit didn’t allow us.” Lucifaa is still as a statue, unable to process who is in front of him—in the flesh.

-RAMBLE: END-

#ravenna's writings #granblue fantasy #behind the fic #ravenna's ramblings #gbf theory #fic #oof. got hit by formatting limitations #you can see i gave up on nesting #blue and red truths umineko

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