#also mr. ghoul gave us a genuine smile only once / the other times it was just smirks/amusement grins

[weak-hero]

vaultghoul parallels 1/?

[x688plsloveme]

Companions react to someone saying something Insanely insulting to them and a usually calm Sole loses their shit, as in whoops their ass?

In their pre-war profession, Sole learned to take a lot of shit. They even had a retail job when they were a teenager, so most of what the average wastelander could spit out was usually nothing in comparison.

They'd just pretend the person in front of them was a usual customer and tune them out until they were done. Most regarded them as having the patience of a saint. They just thought it was due to not growing up in an overly impatient wasteland.

Either way, Sole had never even come close to the volume that they used on this idiot.

No one talked bad about their friends, no one. So when they heard the insults thrown at one of their best friends? They went off. Hurling anything and everything that came to mind at the dumb wastelander that thought it was a good idea to mess with them and theirs.

ADA: Although she wasn't hurt by the random human she didn't even care to know, she was touched by Sole's anger on her behalf. She was a tad surprised that her usually mellow was acting in such a way, but quickly adapted to the situation. She allowed Sole to continue their loud ranting for a few moments longer until gently stopping them. "Before he urinated on himself." Was her excuse. Sole snorted and told her it'd be funny, but ultimately let him go because Ada was probably right.

CAIT: The only thing that could've stopped her from punching the waster's lights out herself was the shock she saw from her well mannered friend. It literally stopped her mid-punch. All she could do was look slack mouthed as Sole ripped into the man in front of them verbally. They were usually the one who told her to ease up on her aggression, so seeing this was a treat indeed.

CODSWORTH: The only other time he saw his sir/mum blow up so.... Loudly. Was when they thought their spouse was cheating on them. To see them so upset over someone calling a mere Mr Handy names...it was truly moving. He was sure to clean up around their settlement extra meticulously as thanks.

CURIE: Sole was a sweet person, particularly to her who didn't know the ways of the wasteland quite yet. They were always calm and collected and Curie always admired them for it. Especially in a proverbial hell hole such as this. So the loud, started gasp she let out at Sole's outburst was very much granted. She had a million questions running through her mind that she had to ask as soon as possible. And she did, right after Sole drove away the rude man that sparked their wrath.

DANSE: He was very grateful to his friend for sticking up for him so readily. He didn't have the best mental state, and it seemed Sole picked up on how the insults were affecting him. He guessed that someone that would save his life would care enough to stand up for him, but seeing it - especially from such a nice person - was something else. He gave them a very long hug afterwards.

DEACON: He feels like he should be most surprised of all, seeing as he had been following them up until they discovered the railroad. Not once has Sole ever raised their voice that high, let alone rudely and directed towards another person. He was frozen in place, completely shell shocked. It was only later that he realized they blew a fuse because of what that nobody waster was saying about him. He felt tears as he thought about how much Sole has to care about him even though they don't really know him. He vowed to tell them the real, genuine truth next time he saw them.

DOGMEAT: He was a smart dog, but not even he could keep up with all the strange words Sole used. He had no idea what a "mutfruit humper" was, but he did recognize the angry tone his owner was using. He decided to help by growling alongside Sole to back them up. He kept rapt attention to the now distressed waster that was the object of their wrath in case they tried anything funny. After the whole ordeal was over, Sole spoiled him a little harder than usual, much to his immense pleasure. Extra snacks are always a good thing in his book.

HANCOCK: "I always knew you had in in ya Sole!" He proceeds to laugh until his stomach hurts. Seeing someone as calm as Sole losing it? Comedy gold in his eyes. He does give his best friend a hug when they're done though. He appreciates them so, so much for caring about a worthless ghoul like him. Doesn't mean he's not gonna retell this story to each and everyone of Sole's friends though.

GAGE: When he heard the yelling, he just thought it was more raiders causing a ruckus as usual. But when he identified the voice as his one and only calm overboss, he did a double take. Even as the boss of raiders, he had never seen Sole blow up at anybody, let alone raise their voice. He knew they were loyal sort, but he didn't know it was to this extent. It made his otherwise cold heart warm a bit at the thought that he was one of the people his boss was fiercely loyal to.

LONGFELLOW: He didn't have many people close in his life, so Sole was like a ray of sunshine in an otherwise foggy world. They were very pleasant to get along with and actually seemed to enjoy his stories, which was rare with people that young. They would often sit next to each other in complete silence and just relax without any awkwardness whatsoever. He didn't believe what the others told him about them going ape-shit on people who've insulted their friends until he saw it himself. Now... He enjoyed the calm and quiet, but he would be a liar if this wasn't the funniest shit he'd ever seen. When they were done scaring away the waster that had the bad luck of running into them, he pat an out of breath Sole with a smile on his face.

MACCREADY: He always thought himself as a pretty laid-back guy, but not even he could hold a candle to have chill Sole was. He never ever ever thought he'd EVER see them yell at somebody over a couple insults. Sure, they were directed at a close friend, but it was still jarring. Heck, seeing them flip reminded him of his younger years when the Lone Wanderer would scold him for being rude. He almost let out a few involuntary sorrys himself.

PIPER: As someone who liked getting Intel on everyone and everything, Piper was curious to what Sole looked like when they got truly mad. She heard everything from amusing to scary and just about everything in between, but all she wanted to do was see it for herself. It took a while of her tagging along whenever Sole went, but it was well worth it when some rando finally picked on her bad enough that it send Sole over the edge. Seeing it for herself, she could attest that all of their comments were correct ones.

PRESTON: He didn't like yelling at all, which is part of the reason he enjoyed Sole's company so much. He had never seen anyone so composed while face danger or the rare rude retort. They always took care of it gracefully. No one glanced twice at a mere minuteman soldier like himself, so he had never been witness to one of Sole's rare "blow ups" that he had heard from some of their other friends. But the day it happened.... Well let's just say he was very humbled for not only being cared about so much, but also the sheer force of their yelling was scary enough to remind him of him mother whenever his siblings got into trouble.

STRONG: Needless to say, he is very happy with these turn of events even if he doesn't quite grasp why Sole is doing this. As it stands, it hypes him up to the point that he joins in the yelling and the two of them make whoever was foolish enough to insult him in front of Sole scared out of their minds.

VALENTINE: He always appreciated how calm and collected his friend was. They were always on the same page in that sense. Never letting anything bother them for too long, even if it was truly personal. Just looking ahead and forgetting about things that could sway them from their goals. Nothing could have surprised him more than Sole suddenly started screaming at a particularly rude waster that would not leave him alone. He didn't even know his friend was there until they started screaming. It made him happy to know that the one time they lose their cool, it was for him.

X6-88: No one admires Sole like he does. There's no one else that could earn his respect, let alone friendship. His friend was always on his wavelength - serene and collected in even the most stressful situations. Sure, no one had insulted him quite like the random waster, but he was ready to scoff and brush him off like any other. He refused to admit that he was hurt even slightly, but it seemed like Sole was as sharp as ever and picked up on it. He never in a million years would've guessed that they could carefully and precisely cut into a person with mere words. But he also never guessed that Sole would ever raise their voice so he supposes surprises are a given. As he watched his one and only friend defend him, he let a small, rare smile show on his face.

[sage-nebula]

Hey, I've been offline for a while so I'm a little behind on your MM posts, but I see that you said Anime Otogi is like Zen but Manga Otogi isn't? But I'm not really sure how the two differ that much so if you could shed some light on that please? I know you're really into MM right now so I hope it's not too out of your way to answer a non-MM ask lol

Haha, well, I have also been really into Pokémon and Voltron: Legendary Defender recently, but I still answer the YGO questions that get sent my way even though I’m not super into YGO right now, so it’s fine.

There is a world of differences between manga!Otogi and anime!Otogi. Otogi is one of the three characters Studio Gallop fucked over the most when they made their anime adaptation (the other two being Jounouchi and Bakura Ryou), and so honestly it’d be easier to make a condensed list of things they have in common versus differences between them. Really, about the only similarity is their name and appearance. That’s … that’s really it. (Oh, and the fact he created Dungeon Dice Monsters in both versions. That, too.) Otherwise, it’s like manga!Otogi is a lake while anime!Otogi is a mop puddle. The differences are that stark.

But for a more in-depth explanation:

Manga Otogi:

In the manga, Otogi Ryuuji is the son of a wizened former apprentice of Sugoroku’s, back when Sugoroku was still acting as a master of games. About Years ago pre-canon, Otogi’s father (Mr Crown) challenged Sugoroku to a Shadow Game over ownership of the Millennium Puzzle. At the time, Mr Crown was still young. However, the Shadow Game he challenged Sugoroku to was a game called the Devil’s Board Game, in which players bet years of their life. At the end of the game, the loser would age according to the number of years they had bet. Mr Crown had bet fifty years, and so when he lost, he aged fifty years in a single night.

As a result of this, Mr Crown became obsessed with seeking revenge against Sugoroku. In order to accomplish this he had a son, Otogi, who would be able to carry out his revenge for him. (And yes, you read that correctly: In the manga, Otogi was born solely to seek revenge against Sugoroku; he would not have been conceived otherwise. And to be honest, I have doubts that Mr Crown is his biological father at all, but that’s just speculation.) Due to being raised for the sole purpose of revenge, Otogi was sheltered, tutored, and trained in the art of gaming, and was not allowed to socialize until he was sixteen and it was time to get revenge on Sugoroku by Otogi playing Yuugi in Dungeon Dice Monsters over ownership of the Millennium Puzzle.

As a result of this, manga!Otogi …

… is quite serious in terms of personality. Otogi is a rather sincere, but also rather serious, person. Due to the abusive environment he was raised in (and Mr Crown was quite abusive to him, even in the present day), Otogi tends to take most things in life seriously, regarding everything with a scrutinizing eye and honest judgment. While it’s not impossible for him to smile, he really doesn’t have genuine smiles very often, and he lacks the comic relief spawning flippancy the anime gave him. That said, he’s not stoic; Otogi can actually be rather emotional, and there are times when he …

… is quite tsundere. Otogi is an honest-to-god tsundere in the manga when it comes to joining the friend squad. In the manga, Otogi gets involved in the Battle City arc when he decides to tag along with Honda to go pick up Shizuka from the hospital after her eye surgery. When Honda pokes fun at the fact that Otogi made up an excuse to do this, Otogi responds in the most tsundere way possible:

“I-It’s not like I like you, or anything!!” is classic tsundere, and Otogi uses it here to mask the fact that he’s actually tagging along with Honda to the hospital because he wants to get closer to the friend squad. This is a far cry from the anime, where he just happened to stumble across Honda and Shizuka when they were fleeing from the Ghouls, and decided to tag along after that because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . In fact, to that end, manga!Otogi …

… wants to learn about the power of unity, and specifically wants to learn what it means to gain strength from bonds formed with other people. Unlike in the anime, where Otogi’s character during Battle City is entire wrapped up in a love triangle between himself, Honda, and Shizuka (which does not exist in the manga; neither Honda nor Otogi have feelings for Shizuka in the manga, as well they shouldn’t give that they are in their second year of high school and she is a junior high student, very much a kid to them), Otogi has his own character arc in the manga that focuses on his desire to find out what it’s like to have friends and companions to rely on, and what it’s like to draw strength from them, given that this was something denied to him as a result of his upbringing. In fact, this is the entire reason why he decides to join the friend squad in Battle City:

As you can see, Otogi is not only quite serious and focused on this question he wants an answer to (rather than gushing over how cute Shizuka is, like in the anime), but it actually is a question he wants an answer to, and an actual character arc in comparison to the comic relief he was reduced to in the anime. Otogi never had friends growing up, in the manga; he was never allowed to have them. Now that his father has disowned him and he fulfilled his “purpose” of revenge, he’s free to seek out friendships and learn what it truly means to gain courage and strength from the bonds he forms with others. But on that note, in the manga, Otogi …

… is not a womanizer, even a little bit. Whereas in the anime he had cheerleaders following him around and gushing over him, in the manga, Otogi doesn’t care about that at all. While the girls at school still do fawn over him for being attractive (much as they did Bakura when he transferred in), Otogi doesn’t pay them too much mind, instead focusing his attentions on Yuugi and Jounouchi. Furthermore, when he plays Dungeon Dice Monsters with Yuugi, they are alone; the only audience for this match is Mr Crown (who watches in secret for the first half), and later the Spirit of the Ring (since he senses that the Puzzle is in danger). Otogi is confident in his gaming skills, but he doesn’t have the massive narcissistic streak in the manga that he has in the anime. He certainly never spends time thinking about how suave, smooth, or good-looking he is, and it actually seems like talking himself up is very far from his mind in the manga. Additionally, while he was raised for revenge against Sugoroku (by defeating Yuugi), and while he is confident in his gaming skills, Otogi …

… does not hate Yuugi, and is actually quite kind. He really is not a jerk in the manga, at least not to an extravagant amount. He does come off as something of one when he is first introduced (and acts like a bit of one throughout the DDM match due to the pressure that is on him to win), but when Mr Crown shatters the Millennium Puzzle partway through the match, Otogi stops the match to help Yuugi pick up the pieces, apologizes to Yuugi for the fact that his father broke it, and then declares that he’s going to continue to play the game honorably. He begs Mr Crown to stop lashing out about vengeance once the match is through (even though this gets him disowned), and as I said, really wants to understand what friendship and companionship are as the manga goes on. And as far as not hating Yuugi goes, even before they became friends (and in fact, even before they had played Dungeon Dice Monsters at all!) Otogi felt positively about Yuugi, simply because of the card games they had played in the classroom:

(Note: This leads Mr Crown to demand if Otogi had lost against Yuugi, and when Otogi stammered his response (“Uh, well—”) Mr Crown realized that he had. As a result, he struck Otogi across the face with that riding crop he’s carrying and screamed at him for losing. So yeah, having a rare genuine smile and talking about how amazing Yuugi was got Otogi punished pretty harshly. I was not exaggerating when I said Mr Crown abused him.) Otogi genuinely likes Yuugi, even before they play DDM, though he tries to repress it while they play because he knows it is his duty to get revenge on his father’s behalf. So while he does have his moments of being a jerk when first introduced (particularly toward Jounouchi, given that he wanted to take Jounouchi away from Yuugi as a start on the revenge), overall Otogi is a kind person who is not full of himself in the manga, and certainly not to the playboy extent he is in the anime. And actually, at times he …

… is quite sensitive. This ties into how I mentioned that he’s emotional and kind up above, but Otogi is actually quite sensitive to the feelings of others. Part of why he’s so bent on revenge for his father’s sake is because he legitimately feels bad and uncomfortable with how disfigured Mr Crown is due to the Devil’s Board Game. Straight up, he has a difficult time even looking at Mr Crown’s true face as a result of this: 

And, as stated, felt bad when Mr Crown shattered the Puzzle and made Yuugi cry (from shock, anger, and hurt) during the DDM match:

He’s also very forgiving his father, despite how Mr Crown disowns him and tells him he no longer has reasons for living now that he failed to carry out revenge as planned. Otogi is quite emotional and sensitive, perceptive to other’s feelings. He’s quite conscious of it.

I could probably go on, but all in all, Otogi is not the selfish, borderline narcissistic twit that he is in the anime. He’s actually a serious character with depth and a true character arc in the manga, and though he only has a small role, I’d say that he’s still very good. By contrast …

Anime Otogi:

In the anime, Otogi Ryuuji appears to be the sole owner of the Black Crown game shop, given that his father, Mr Crown, apparently does not exist. Some time shortly before Duelist Kingdom, Otogi developed Dungeon Dice Monsters because he felt like it. He contacted Industrial Illusions for assistance with getting his game created, and after a meeting with Pegasus (whom Otogi idolized), it seemed as if his dream was going to come true and the partnership was going to go through successfully. However, Pegasus disappeared after the events of Duelist Kingdom (because he went into a coma in the anime, whereas he was outright murdered in the manga), and as a result the partnership between the Black Crown game shop and Industrial Illusions fell through. Enraged that he was never going to get Dungeon Dice Monsters published now, and feeling that Yuugi must have cheated somehow to defeat Pegasus, Otogi enrolled at Domino High so that he could challenge Yuugi to Dungeon Dice Monsters, a game Yuugi had never played before, because somehow beating Yuugi at Dungeon Dice Monsters would prove that Yuugi had cheated during his Duel Monsters match with Pegasus. OK.

As a result of this, in the anime, Otogi …

… is petty, selfish, and self-absorbed. Whereas he was raised as an instrument for his father’s revenge in the manga (and was therefore acting not out of his own desires, but rather for his father’s desires, and any personal feelings he had were simply feelings to make his father happy), in the anime he seeks out revenge against Yuugi because he’s mad that his partnership with Pegasus fell through as a result of Duelist Kingdom. It’s petty, because although it’s disappointing to have a business deal fall through, it’s not as if there aren’t other ways to get that game published. It’s something trivial to seek out revenge for, and makes him seem like a less dangerous Kaiba rather than his own character. He’s also rather selfish and self-absorbed, because not only is he seeking revenge over an inconvenience and injustice he feels he faced, but he feels that he faced that injustice because, in his mind, the world seems to revolve around him. It’s not that he doesn’t know how to socialize, but rather that he doesn’t care to because he’s so wrapped up in his own little world and sense of self-importance and genius. And on that note, he …

… is fully aware of how cool and good looking he is, and relishes the attention. The girls fawn over him in the anime, too, but this time he actively encourages it. He brings cheerleaders to the matches at Black Crown, and broadcasts the Dungeon Dice Monsters game on huge screens outside the game shop so that everyone can see him defeat Yuugi. During the Battle City arc, he’s constantly flaunting himself and bragging to try and impress Shizuka, and is still willing to denigrate others (namely Honda) in order to make himself look better. This behavior is not present at all in the manga, particularly because (as I said) Otogi ignores the girls in the manga and plays Dungeon Dice Monsters privately with Yuugi in a very secluded back room. And speaking of the girls, in the anime, Otogi is …

… a womanizer. The cheerleaders aside, Otogi’s entire “arc” in Battle City in the anime is the love triangle going on between himself, Honda, and Shizuka. His entire reason for being there is because he wants to get into a thirteen-year-old’s pants. He seems to have no other thoughts or concerns on his mind, aside from occasionally having commentary to add about the duels going on.

And that, honestly, is the most that can be said about him in the anime. He’s flippant and full of himself, but he has about as much depth as a mop puddle compared to his manga counterpart. He’s one of three characters the anime treated the most horribly, with Jounouchi and Bakura Ryou (so, not the spirit, but actual Bakura) being the other two. It’s sad, but it is what it is. Hopefully someday the anime can be rebooted and actually done right.