#and I cannot tell you how much I dislike that story beat | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

emberkyrlee · 1 month ago

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Deathdream taking out the dogs at the end like:

Uncanny X-Men #10 review

Well, ten issues in and we finally hear something substantive from Nightcrawler. The Outliers are still being attacked by the Wolfpack sentinels after Ground Bear and Jubilee bailed, the Graymalkin Podcaster clown show continues, and Moonbeam and Gambit go on a date mostly off panel. It looks pretty good but it's unfocused and shallow. The Outliers are the stars and the absence of Rogue/Gambit was refreshing. There's fart jokes?

Nightcrawler thinks to himself that he doesn't want to go back to being an X-Man, except he is an X-Man, isn't he? Realistically, he's having the same doubts everyone else has had. They were left unresolved and brushed aside so I'm not going to spend much time on this. Fool me thrice.

Anyway, he's painting a roof with Chelsea, who ends up being a mutant. Great, just what this book needs more of 🙄. She's probably the wisest person here who knows the mall is a bad idea. Kurt is really enjoying this place as a 'home' that's 'healing him.' How? Doesn't matter. He's just saying words and I wonder why he's even in the book. The lady whose kid he rescued rocks up with homemade German pastries for him which is a nice moment but it's not a substitute for character development. Things happen to him, mostly.

Meanwhile, Deathdream is bleeding out at the mall and The Outliers are rallying. The adult X-Men are feeling like a bit of a distraction tbh. The kids are being developed the most, learning, growing, making choices. It's great for them, but it's an awkward situation if you want more than the barest development of The X-Men. I look back on the first arc and how much time was spent flashing back to Xavier and Sarah Gaunt. No idea what degree of editorial meddling there is, but I find it hard to believe Gail Simone would intentionally take focus off the main characters to that degree.

Jitter uses her powers to become a master combat medic for sixty seconds and takes charge. For some reason the Wolfpack just aren't attacking them right now, despite having a taste for blood and no master.

Calico has her heroic moment and aims to distract the Wolfpack. Ransom is hunting for a needle to save Deathdream and stops to cheer her on despite the ticking clock. Said clock ticks down and he's just a little bit too late, so Jitter is relying on memory. Sure. The 'if X happens, run and leave me' moment is the 5th time this beat has been played this run, and it gets the same response each time. There's value in repetition but I'm not seeing any formalism or thematic purpose here, so it just feels repetitive. Don't get me wrong, the kids are the best part of the book, but I don't get these choices. It's the kind of thing even a parody of action cliché should be embarrassed doing - and it loses power each time.

Time's up! We check in with Graymalkin, where the same dynamic as last time is escalating after the incident hits the news. Trask wouldn't kill kids because of his family history, apparently. Maybe he's referring to his sister, but that's a stretch. He had no problem with basically enslaving Juston Seyfert for his sentinel program. Whatever, maybe it's some new shit. The podcaster isn't happy, and keeps telling him to shut them down, something he's established he can't do. Not sure what was gained by including this.

Okay, Nightcrawler sees the Wolfpack situation on the news (TF are Logan and Jubilee?) He is obviously going to teleport there to meet them, but he stops for thoughts and prayers in a life or death scenario. DEEEEEP BREATH. Fucking really? Yeah, Kurt is Catholic, though he has spent the last few years having a major crisis of faith. He's also an experienced hero and pointedly not an idiot. Stopping to pray when kids you're responsible for are probably being torn to shreds is not something he would do, ever. It's embarrassing and frankly highlights why he shouldn't be in this book. Kurt Wagner is a complex, well-rounded individual. In this book he's been portrayed with 'is religious' as his defining character trait. I hate to go there but I'm dubious that Simone knows a damn thing about him - besides 'religious guy.' All that aside, if you only have room for a single flat character trait, take them out of the book. Kill him if you need to because this is painful. That would free up space for other characters to have beliefs, motivations etc.

Jitter is going off memory and Calico is regulating. The memory is fading and Ember is down though. After encouragement from Ransom Jitter does the Pulp Fiction thing anyway - Calico lapses into despair, repeating her mother's abusive nonsense.

Nevermind, Ember is fine and so is Deathdream. More than fine even. Right as rain. Ransom is reinventing the fastball special except with Ember kicking him in the heart.

Logan and Jubilee finally show up to protect the kids they're responsible for. They're held up by a barricade and a cop. Okay this must be a shape shifter or something because I don't see Logan even asking for permission, let alone wasting time arguing with this bozo. He'd leap the barrier, or slice it. Famously he does not give a fuck and is very willing to use violence. If you thought that was bad, Jubilee convinces the cop and then wastes time flirting with him. Flirting with a cop while their charges are fighting sentinels. I guess now that she's abandoned her baby in Otherworld she's got time to date. This is unserious shit.

I wish I had the gall to follow up that waste of time with 'we're not gonna make it.' This run isn't going to make it. Kurt beats them there and has his second most substantial conversation of the run. With a killer robot dog. He teleports it into the sky and kicks it without hurting himself. Maybe Calico softened them up since last issue.

Jitter and Deathdream seem fucked with two Wolfpack sentinels racing towards them. Ransom and Calico check in, while informing us that Ransom is who they look up to. I mean, she's been doing all the fighting and Ransom was going to leave last issue but sure. Why not? He does throw a robot dog at Logan for him to slice, that's leader shit. If I was being generous I'd say it's a callback to Fall of the House of X #1, where Colossus did the same thing with an ORCHIS soldier. It doesn't matter because Deathdream suddenly figures out he can kill them all. Easily. It's loosely explained and I don't care enough to quibble. His powers are established and they apparently include a healing factor too.

With that, the threat is over. They got them all, together. Right. Logan compliments Ransom who asks not to be called 'kid.' I guess he's the man now, dawg. The mutants are hailed as heroes by local news and The Podcaster is not happy. They've finally tracked down the idiot responsible for this debacle, and she sends him to be tortured. The private sector is rough. I still don't know what the Podcaster's actual deal is, she's all over the place and I can't fathom why anyone obeys or fears her. What does she want aside from a mutant prison?

This book lacks consequences. The adults keep making huge mistakes that other people suffer for yet they get bailed out. It's narrative 101 - if your characters make a mistake they should have to deal with the fallout. They learn and grow. Rogue hasn't made a good decision yet and her team are complimenting her - directly after a prison break with no plan where she spent her time punching Scott. They sent the kids to school and Calico was kidnapped in an hour. Logan and Jubilee fucked up so badly here the kids nearly died. One actually did, but luckily it didn't stick. Kurt is praying and Jubilee is flirting while they're fighting for their lives. These actions aren't being used as mistakes to learn from, they're just things that happen. There's no tension because nothing really matters. No matter what they do things work out and they're hailed as heroes. Personally, I want more out of the flagship X-Men book.

When the wisest person in the book is 6 years old, it hangs a lampshade on how cartoonishly everyone is behaving. I'm thinking that's the point. The ragtag misfits have goofy adventures that seem like the end of the world at the time, but it's just Tuesday. It's the fun book where you don't have to think hard. Moonbeam, Ground Bear, and the Podcaster. PTSD, let's never talk about it again. Diction lessons, sugah. Let's pray.

A look at the letters page tells us everyone is loving the book, and they're definitely real people that aren't cherry picked. Good for them and good for you if you're enjoying it. I'm not loving it, but I'm not hating it. It exhausts me a little but I do enjoy reviewing it. Thanks for reading, Ground Bears.

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roseworth · 4 months ago

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Can you expand more on the types of the things Dick fans say or do that make you dislike his character?

(context)

the thing about dick grayson is that he is an extremely popular character but the way some people talk about him you would think that hes an unappreciated side character. i think that there are certain fans that need to remember that he has been consistently showing up in comics for 80 years so if hes out of character or left out in one book it shouldnt matter. like im sorry for your loss maybe you can wipe your tears with one of his other 10000 appearances

i feel like any time dick is slightly out of character in a book i see people writing paragraphs about what was wrong with his characterization no matter what the book is. if hes a side character in a book someone will be there to say "um☝️ this is out of character because dick didnt save everyone??? 🤨 why did the main character get the focus instead of dick 🫤" like!!! not everythings about him!!!! and a lot of his fans love that hes an extremely skilled fighter (and im not disagreeing with that!! he definitely is) but because of that they get upset whenever he loses a fight no matter what. even though sometimes to tell a story you need the character to lose sometimes. and i know that a lot of that is because people need to feel the need to defend him after t*m t*ylor wrote him like he was incompetent. but i stg its every time he gets hit someone says "actually this wouldnt happen and this is out of character"

also i feel like people shit on jason and tim fans all the time for stealing traits from female characters and projecting them onto their fav batboy (rightfully so!!) but then i constantlyyyy hear about dick's Eldest Daughter Syndrome and how he represents the female experience or whatever. like i dont have an issue with that on its own, and i think a lot of the people who i see say he has eldest daughter syndrome are people who also talk about women so i dont mind it as much, but there are Other people who basically talk about dick like hes a female character while ignoring the actual women in his stories

speaking of treating him like a female character. im so tired of people saying that the ass jokes are problematic. like dont get me wrong! theyre annoying and unfunny and i dont like them! but some people are convinced that theyre terrible because they objectify him and sexualize him for no reason and etc etc. and the argument i hear over and over is "can you imagine how terrible it would be if they did this to a woman!" like. yeah actually. i dont have to imagine. theyre doing it right now unironically. i think this fictional man will survive if hes drawn with a fat ass sometimes. its not a good thing but there are some people that blow it way out of proportion because "omg why would they do that to him 😨" like i really cannot bring myself to care even a little

plus a lot of his fans will act like hes special in some way in terms of fighting ability or intelligence. and again i do know that he is a great fighter and is very smart!! but hes definitely falling into the same issue that a lot of batman fans have in the sense that they think hes The Greatest To Ever Do It and other characters get put down so dick can be better. so people want to believe that dick can beat anyone in a fight and always wins with prep time. plus there are people that think of him as the perfect character for any situation so there are dick fans going "if dick was there during the utrh confrontation everything wouldve worked out fine 🤗" and "dick actually wouldve killed any character who hurt his friends" and anything like that. because a lot of his fans just want to insist that he is bruce but without all the parts they dont like. toxic nightwing fans are so similar to toxic batman fans but its worse because they dont even think he can have flaws. at least batman fans know he sucks and hates everyone, but nightwing fans say all the great things batman fans say but without any of the issues

anyways. but i think most of the reason that he bothers me has nothing to do with his fans and a lot more to do with dc. just because i really dont care about him. so many comic readers love him so dc will obv appeal to the people that love him. which means that those of us who dont really care about him have to hear about him in every book. like hes just some guy why is he being treated like the most important guy in the world during dark crisis and absolute power. and i have to hear about how hes the heart of the dcu or the glue of the batfamily or whatever else they've said about him. i dont care!!!! at least when its batman being treated like dc's specialest princess all the other characters hate him. since dc thinks that all the readers love him they make it so all the characters love him. and i just dont care about him. im tired of them shaking him in my face and going "its nightwing!!! we all love nightwing!!!! hes the best!!!!!!" i want that twink obliterated

#i just want to say. if you feel like im describing you please remember it doesnt matter what i think #if youre having fun who cares if i think youre annoying #live your life and ignore me

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crienselt · 26 days ago

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So I finished Oathbound last week (librarian perk in that we get the books early so they can be cataloged, and it was just going to be sitting there waiting for its shelf date. I mean, how could I not read it?), and I'm really looking forward to seeing how others feel about it because I think...I think I might be disappointed by it? Spoilers below.

I mean, I absolutely love Tracy's writing. It is so beautiful and engrossing and impactful. I still love Bree and will follow this girl off of any and every cliff, and I adore the rest of the cast with my whole heart. The newbies were great, as is the world expansion/deepening. The plot line of the missing girls was excellent and a very much welcome inclusion.

But...but I think I could tell that this book was not the original plan. None of the problems from the last book were solved aside from Bree maybe getting stronger? I do appreciate her journey here, and I can see how Tracy would feel having her explore her power and self outside of the Order and Rootcrafters was necessary, but I just...I don't know. I feel like everyone else was basically left in a holding pattern as a result? I guess maybe I was over anticipating it--the story as a whole and/or certain things, specifically. Like I feel like we still don't know much of the Moraines outside of Nick's info dump. And we met Natasia, but she and Bree barely spoke. Tracy was hyping Valec and he was great, but I'm not sure what she's referencing in said hype posts. The mulitple POVs were okay, though I remain slightly disappointed that it didn't stay soley in Bree's voice yet also dissappointed we didn't get more out of these other POVs. Are we ever going to learn about the other scions powers? And if this was supposed to be the book where Nick beat the golden boy allegations, man, it failed.

Don't get me wrong I love Nick. He is a great character. But this boy cannot do anything wrong. Even when he apparently makes mistakes, no, he doesn't because it turns out it was actually just him protecting Bree. The way he always seems to know everything (plot points) already and knows exactly what to say or do for Bree, while really terrific, it just...I don't know? Annoys me? Hurts their realism? Because, honestly, I know people like to say Sel seems old (the way he talks), but Nick is the one that really seems the least like a real teenage boy. Sel's pretentiousness and arrogance and mood swings are very much a young adult. Nick with all his purposeful language and careful consideration is very much not a teenage boy. I guess maybe we chalk that up to being raised to be a king? I don't know. It's all just too perfect. Which feels like a dumb complaint because it's good for Bree. She deserves it. But it all just makes me shrug where the romance comes in.

Which irritates me because I really WANT to like Bree/Nick. But I just don't. That isn't to say that I dislike it because that's not true. I just find myself feeling very "meh" about it. Reading Legendborn, it felt like more of a plot point than a grand romance, especially as so much of that book is really spent seeding Bree/Sel. Then you have Bloodmarked, which definitely opened me to enjoying Bree/Sel and if nothing else, the narrative had me actively waiting for and wanting that kiss to happen when it did.

Then along comes Oathbound. I can tell Tracy was really trying here--so many tropes!--but a lot of it felt reminiscent of stuff she already did with Sel. The bickering, the attempts to hold back and mask feelings/inability to vocalize said feelings, the post shower torso ogling, the cutting short of an intimate moment because no, not like this*, etc. And I guess I just don't know what to make of the magical aspect of it all? Maybe I'm just not into destiny ships? It's like, okay, happy for them, moving on with life now. Not a ship that captures my imagination the way I want to be captured.

(I will say it is funny because I came out of Bloodmarked not knowing how Tracy could write a book like that if BreeSel isn't endgame. And now I'm coming out of Oathbound not knowing how Tracy could write a book like that if BreeNick isn't endgame. The love triangle honestly feels over. But, hey, I've no clue where the story goes from here. Maybe the poly people will have the day. But this book definitely did not lay the groundwork for Nick to have romantic feelings for Sel either, so maybe not? I think we're in nakama territory with those two, personally. All of this is to assume Sel ever stops being demonic. Not sure how he comes back from this or where this story is going at all.)

*Gotta say it was something to see Sel cut short their kiss in Bloodmarked because of Nick only for demonic Sel to use said kiss to try and hurt Nick.

At any rate, I'll be sat for book 4. I'll just maybe expect less?

#legendborn #oathbound #oathbound spoilers

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journalsouppe · 1 year ago

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The Touchstarved DEMO by @redspringstudio! I had so much fun replaying this DEMO over and over, I truly cannot wait for the full release. The art is gorgeous, the writing is excellent, and I am surprised at how much I really loved each character, I expected to at least hate one or two of them like with My Next Life lol. I highly recommend checking out the DEMO if you're a fan of otome games or gothic stories!

The DEMO can be found here on itch.io or here on steam! All the stickers are from different Hallween stickerbooks from Michael's Art Store ^^; (ngl I think this is one of my favorite spreads, I even did do some studies of the color/rendering fhdjsf)

Writing typed below! (plus extra notes)

Rating: 9.5 (demo score - great demo) Played: Sp 2024 Port: itch.io Play full? Y YES!!!!!!

Comments:

First Route: Origin - Unnamed. RO - Leander

love you have a choice of 3 origins

GORGEOUS ART!

this game made me realize I do really enjoy otome games and not as a joke or for irony lol fjdkfal

from initial appearances I like Vere and Mhin ^^;

all the gold on the angel doctor is so gorgeous

killer music

okay I thought I wouldn't like Leander but holy shit --

LMAO NOT HIS SEX ROOM

LETS go I got the special Leander option on the first try

I need to do studies of this art oml I need my art to look like this <3

DAMN, now I'm bummed I missed the kickstarter, I would LOVE the art book

I need the stickers too esp for when I journal the full version

not only do I like the art, the writing is very good too

Vere is so pretty...

I LOVE all the fun marketing lore and illustrations on the Red Spring Socials

ooo damn does Vere have a red option or did I do his route right without one

only three red choice dialogue. 4 recently for Kuras (no Vere)-- Vere has one now!!! Kuras and Vere should have them whenever the DEMO gets an update ^_^

I'm learning I'm good at making the correct decisions lol

I honestly didn't know you could die until after I finished Vere's route (2nd route I did correctly -- 1st was Leander) and was curious what submit surrender did (aka I didn't die initially but went back to see what would happen(

LMFAO NOT MHIN BLUSHING WHEN I TELL THEM OFF pfft

LMAOOO and now Mhin is scolding me

amused with who has slept with who

deathly curious on how fucked up Leander will be

Kuras's nose!!!!! <3

I love the concept designs of Sen and Elyon, I can't wait to meet them

LMFAO 'BASTARD'

ngl I love Ais's mullet

This should not have been one of my first otome games bc now my standards are so high, esp in regards to character design

I wonder if the flashing soulless in the title screen means we'll see more soulless in the full game (than just the one)

okay damn I also really like Ais, these are some really well written characters

LMAO I was not expecting this music for Kuras

oh interesting I didn't realize Mhin's red choice was during your first encounter if you're an alchemist

okay Kuras is very silly and goofy 10/10 guy

ooo good theories about Ocudeus and control on tumblr - "obedience" -- reference to someone thinking the "obedience suits you" line on Ais's character card was actually from Ocudeus not Ais

Summary:

I thought when playing more otome games it would be really hard to beat My Next Life, simply because I am a huge fan of the source material that preceded the game. But wow, with the way this game is setting up plotlines, the full version of this game could easily make it onto my top favorite games list. Otome games are all about replayability, and the way just the DEMO is so rich with content and alternating paths makes me so excited and hopeful for the full game's release. I am bummed I got onto the Touchstarved train late and missed the kickstarter, but hopefully a shop will open around release bc I'd kill for an art book. The art is just so gorgeous and I cannot wait to do some studies, especially with color and rendering. Before playing otome games, I like to look at the character profiles beforehand and predict who I'd like and dislike. And I am very delightfully surprised that any initial dislike I had of characters all but vanished because the writing and personalities of these characters were so well made. I thought I was going to hate Leander but he ended up being the character I'm most curious about. Although I would say my least favorite is Kuras simply bc I'm not a fan of romancing doctors, I am still curious about his background story and connection to the others. In other words, great character who is just not my type. I am also delightfully surprised at the "vulgarity" in this game without being overly explicit -- I have grown so tired of how sanitized a lot of games and shows have been that it's always really nice seeing indie companies play by their own rules. I am so glad I stumbled across this game!! At this point I've done every route favorably but haven't tried all the "wrong" options -- more to play whenever I think about how excited I am for the full game! I've also seen the sneak peaks of an upcoming update ^_^. Highly recommend the game!!

#journalsouppe #bullet journal #journal #video game journal #touchstarved #touchstarved game #red spring studios #otome #otome game

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gacha-incels · 8 months ago

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My current theory is that ( Puts tinfoil hat ) The ongoing gender war stuff in both CN and KR have definitely shifted how some 'waifu-collectors' see the female player base and therefore male characters in gacha games. There's definitely an ongoing narrative that women are the root of toxicity and more devs should adopt the waifu-only policy to appeal to as few women as possible and gatekeep their safe havens. The irony is that most of these people advocating to exclude women are using the vocal minority for their examples as to why, which is exactly what they don't want done to themselves. Basically, women should only play Love and Deepspace and men can play GFL2/AL/Snowbreak/Nikke etc. As long as women 'stay in their lane' they are satisfied, even though it's been shown that both men and women will pull for characters of the opposite gender and vice versa. Mixed cast games are trying to err on the side of caution because if they don't appeal to this crowd enough (by skewing the gender ratio harder, or by making more fanservice designs) then they will be brigaded on social media for appealing too much towards women or radical feminists.

omg yeah I feel like “gamer” men say this outright around the world from east to west. “women are coming into our games and making the women less sexy and everything more toxic” etc. attitude has ramped up. though it was always bad if you remember, in the west at least, the absolute insane violent tantrum reaction to Anita Sarkeesian for making like I cannot stress this enough just pretty basic feminist videos about video games. It was like seeing grown adult men have the same type of screaming tantrum a toddler would have when you tell him he can’t have an expensive toy at the store. except instead of one kid sitting on the floor screaming it was an unbelievable amount of men worldwide sitting in their computer chairs screaming and writing graphic rape threats and making full video games where you violently beat her. For the crime of just one woman talking about fucking Mario or whatever. THIS is how these men react when you do something as benign as that. I posted some more about this here.

you have no idea the insane shit that gets blamed on female fans or female employees of mixed sex gachas. A lot of that has been already posted here obviously so I’ll post something new I saw just so we can archive some more examples. Recently one of my friends from the infrared blog I sometimes repost here showed me this strange phenomenon happening on the Genshin impact leaks subreddit where a good amount of guys were accusing the developers of the game of being fujoshis because they thought a new female water character was being nerfed so that a previously released male water character would be the strongest water character. I thought this was a joke (my mistake) but it spanned a LOT of comments and got extremely heated. Later I found these comments in another thread there

Like this is the thought process. This sucked -> ok so probably a woman wrote it -> well most writers graduated from liberal arts schools, and most liberal arts students are women, so it was definitely a female writer. This is how easy it is for this type of “gamer” male to blame anything they hate on women. They did this for one of the stories in HSR that was disliked as well. If you look up “有男不玩” there are videos on bilibili but also some on YouTube where you can get snippets of how these guys are thinking about female gacha players. They share some similarities with all gamer men who think women are more frivolous, unskilled and don’t like action games. there were particular comments that reminded me of how Korean incels wrote about women, in that games should stop pandering to us altogether because we don’t have enough money, or if we do have money it’s because it’s coming from a boyfriend or male relative, or we’re all just playing f2p. ironically a huge amount of merch sales, IRL events and fan-PR like fanart comes from female players and they are usually the ones to stick around the longest I believe, but these guys only understand the money aspect of these games.

There are a lot of ones that were interesting but I don’t want to use too many since I was working with MTL, and then looking up individual phrases, and then retranslating some, and then looking up context, etc. lol. so when I have a better grasp on this I can make a better post.

in regards to how they find it ok if the games are sex segregated yes exactly,I posted about this earlier and probably a couple months ago too but this was most recent so it’s easiest to just copy here

#Gacha games #misogny #mihoyo #wuthering waves #gamergate #anita sarkeesian #有男不玩

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carlatsukinamistolemyhamsandwich · 1 year ago

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I always said I'd never post anything like this when I was actually active on this blog as I didn't want to start drama but you know what, screw it, I'm not here anymore and I'm tired of staying silent on this.

The way some of the fandom treats Yui is absolutely nuts.

And no, I'm not talking about people who call Yui "weak" or who get jealous over her situation (that's a whole other can of worms), I am talking about the other obsessive fans.

I'll start off by saying I am not saying all Yui fans are bad (some are delightful) but I swear she also manages to attract some of the most unhinged people I've encountered on the internet.

I can't even begin to name all the posts I've seen defending her and arguing against anyone who would call her weak or criticise her in any way etc. And while I know there certainly are people who call her weak or fanfictions where she acts as a love rival for one of the boys versus an OC or reader character, I've actually seen far less of those posts than ones defending her, to an almost problematic degree. Like I literally once saw a post where someone was genuinely telling people to kill themselves because they were treating Yui badly in fanfiction and like what the actual fuck?

I personally have no gripes with Yui as a character. She's written to be exactly what the story needed, and if you like kind cinnamon roll characters, she definitely falls into that category, but people don't have to like characters just because they're good people.

In the same way, the diaboys are all terrible to some extent and if they were real people, you wouldn't want anything to do with them. However, I would argue all of them are well-thought out characters with interesting backstories that clearly tie into who they are by the time the series starts. An immoral character =/= a badly written character in the same way a moral character =/= a well written character.

Now I'm not trying to say Yui is a badly written character, as I mentioned above, I think she fits the role she needed to in DL perfectly, but I do think people need to stop treating her like literal perfection at the expense of actual real human beings. I'll admit, I have seen people dislike Yui for immature reasons, but you can't have a go at people for not liking a fictional character.

I know, and have seen, some people argue that your attitude towards Yui reflects your attitude towards rl abuse survivors and just no. That's not how that works. If someone is reading an account of actual abuse and starts victim blaming that's one thing but DL is NOT REAL and it was never meant to be an allegory about abuse or abusive relationships, it's made for people who are horny about vampires. That's it. There is no deeper meaning. I cannot emphasise this enough.

I think if there's any real point here, it's that if some of these fans genuinely value morality and goodness as much as they claim, they would take a good look in the mirror at how they treat real people. If you love Yui so much, use her an example (i.e. being nice), not some icon to beat people over the head with. And people liking and enjoying the darker aspects of DL doesn't make them bad people in the same way watching a horror film doesn't make you a future serial killer.

Anyway thank you for coming to my TED talk. Again, I am not talking about all Yui fans, just the worst ones I've seen. And to be fair a lot of the points I've made here are true for rabid diaboy fans as well. At the end of the day, it's how you treat other people, not fictional characters, that matters.

#rant #does this need trigger warnings?#tw: abuse mention #maybe?#do I put this in the main tag #you know what I'm going to #diabolik lovers #this actually comes from a talk I had with a friend recently about a game we both play #we were saying how you could dislike the characters in it but you couldn't say they were bad characters #as in being poorly written #and while DL's writing can get a bit messy sometimes I think the point applies there for the most part as well

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nolongerapileofashprobably · 1 year ago

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What do you think about link and Zelda’s characters?

I wonder if this is specifically Zelda and Link from the Wild Era— I’ll assume so since it is the newest era and I have been primarily focused on Wild Era games recently.

I’ll start with Zelda’s character first— to put it plainly, I love her as a character. She grows and develops despite witnessing literal tragedies and shouldering the weight of a kingdom from birth. Her duty was set forth the moment the prophecy came to light and she was put at a disadvantage when her mother died.

If we remember, Zelda didn’t cry at her mother’s funeral. We know from the game that Zelda is quite an emotional character, so her putting on a front of placing so much on herself at such a young age is something that breaks my heart. But to see how she grows as a person, how she overcomes that emotional blockage through sheer love, how she handles the wreckage of the Calamity, how she develops as a leader, to finally how she becomes a Queen is by far the most powerful and beautiful Zelda character arc in the series. She is so beloved in my heart that I cannot formulate the words to describe those emotions, though I desperately try.

There is no Zelda in the entire series that I adore and cherish more than her (and I��ve played nearly all the games). She’s on another level of development and complexity that it truly hurts to see people completely warp her personality and her actions to justify a false narrative.

Her character is incredibly strong, not just magically, but in terms of actual character design, development, and the execution of her story. She has her flaws, and we actively see her work on them and course correct when she can. That is something so mature and important (and I don’t think people give her enough credit for that). I genuinely don’t have many critiques of her character, as I was genuinely happy with her through the entirety of the story.

Link on the other hand… I do love him. I do. Link is a strong character physically, but his development is incredibly scarce compared to Zelda. His character suffers from Nintendo’s choice to essentially make Link a ‘link to the player’ rather than his own person. With a story that incites powerful emotional responses when players cannot refuse that Zelda and Link 1) are incredibly close/bonded, probably lowkey codependent 2) have not left each other’s side since they were reunited and finally that they are 3) probably romantically involved, or something akin to transcending just a simple friendship, it’s difficult to ensure that experience when all of that is lost on those who decide that it isn’t true.

Mind you, everything I listed above are simple and straightforward interpretations of in-game evidence. And we do see a lot more from Link’s character this game with small gasps and micro expressions (that should NOT be ignored). But for those who do not agree with the above, it’s likely they disliked the story. That’s okay, not everyone will like the story. But a lot of it stems from this vagueness Nintendo established for Link’s character.

He was a kid beating soldiers in the guard, trained in Zora’s Domain, continued training, got the Master Sword when he was a preteen, had the weight of a prophecy placed on him as the first piece besides Zelda, and then became a Champion and Zelda’s Knight Attended by the age of 16/17. Homeboy did have a lot of trauma and stress at an early age that did cause selective muteness and for him to create this stoic mask. We see that he is much less stoic and more talkative after the Calamity and after, but it’s all relative to what the player wants/feels. Sometimes that contradicts what the story itself implies/tells players.

Link is… wasted potential as a character. He could have 100% been more than what we were given to see. I have crafted my own version of him that to me, is as close as canon as I could get, but that won’t be the same for anyone else. Link is precisely what Nintendo wanted him to be and he serves that purpose perfectly.

And it works, but it could have been executed a bit better by confirming things regarding his character rather than leaving breadcrumbs for players to follow if they decided to.

So yeah. Zelda is amazing and I love her. Link could have been executed better but for what we got, I still love him too and extracted enough to formulate as close to canon interpretation without being overly biased (at least I tried).

#I just love my little scholar and her guard dog boyfriend #I just think they’re neat #botw Zelda #botw link #botw zelink #totk zelda #totk link #totk zelink #zelink #loz totk #loz botw #totk Spoilers #botw #the legend of zelda #link botw #zelda botw #loz tears of the kingdom spoilers #the legend of zelda breath of the wild

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beevean · 8 months ago

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I'd have to disagree there

The handling of Hector's character alone surpasses the way Samus was treated in her own game

Sure, having Samus being reduced to a submissive little kid for the sake of douchebag who we're told is supposed to care for her is awful

...but it doesn't even come close to the sistematic stripping down of Hector's literal personhood, nor does it come off nearly as masturbatory. Sure having Samus in her Zero Suit during crucial moments of vulnerability is in supremely bad taste and I have no doubt that somebody in the dev team had a hand down their pants, but Hector is literally with his dick hanging out in the open on screen, he gets treated like a literal dog and is raped on screen for no real good reason other than shock value, same with Alucard, only for him to get mocked about it by Lenore in front of her sisters as she straddles her leg between his legs causing him to recoil in disgust-yeah no nothing in OM is even remotely in the same ball park, S3 may have more forgettable moments but when it gets bad it's not simply offensive

I can't accuse Other M of any of this, not even at its worse.

Plus at least OM has Anthony so at least it has one likeable character going for it. What's NFCV's excuse?

Bro, you have seen the insane rants I go on when someone mentions N!Hector. I 100% agree with you that his writing is beyond disgusting, humiliating, spiteful, mean, and it uses literal dehumanizing (both in-universe and meta-wise, since again, Hector barely counts as a character after S2) as fetish material, to then turn around and shove into my face the accidental theme that real maturity is forgiving your abusers if they're nice enough to you. And yes, thankfully Adam doesn't deceive Samus into sex with the purpose of forcing her to work for him. Yay.

(and thank you for reminding me of Lenore touching Hector's crotch with her foot as she gloated that he was inside of her when she put the ring on him. So much care went into humiliating him in all sorts of ways. Oh but go on and tell me how Lenore always meant well, even back then.)

But spirit-wise? OM Samus and N!Hector have a lot in common.

They are much, much weaker, meeker and more passive than the versions most people are familiar with (or were, in Hector's case :^) ). This was allegedly done in the name of "giving them depth".

Their weakness (dare I say femininity, since Hector is very much designed and written to be a feminine man compared to others) is a prominent plot point in their story. You cannot escape from the plot beating you over and over about how pathetic they are.

They are repeatedly compared to children, in a derogatory way and maybe even nonsensical. Samus calls herself a child because she disliked being picked on for being a woman and for daring to be worried about Adam's brother; Hector is called by others a manchild because he loves animals and trusted Dracula.

They accomplish nothing substantial in the story - and here OM is worse because Samus is the protagonist of the story, of the whole franchise! Well, NFCV does the same with Trevor, so I guess it compensates, hah. Even when they could do something, the story repeatedly blocks them and gives the moment of glory to someone else - Adam and Anthony for Samus, Isaac for Hector.

They mindlessly defer to an abusive figure who shows no care nor empathy for them, who orders them around like a dog and even physically subdues them.

Said abusive figure is beloved by them, with little to no turmoil. The ending of their stories is a touching moment meant to make you feel sorry for these two characters who caused nothing but harm. (at least Adam sacrificed himself for a good cause, unlike Lenore who just flounced out of an uncomfortable situation)

They are both sexualized - yes, Hector's story in S3 is nothing but him being submissive and breedable, yes they took care of drawing his penis while he was getting beaten to an inch of his life in case he wasn't miserable enough, but that doesn't make Samus' gratuituous ass shots during dramatic scenes that much better.

Again, don't get me wrong, you will never catch me defending anything from that foul show that fills me with nothing but bile and anger. But I'm not forgetting how OM made me viscerally uncomfortable too, and being less bad doesn't mean it's not bad.

The only difference is that OM got so much shit since it came out that at this point there is nothing to add to the conversation. Everyone has eviscerated Adam and plucked his bones clean, we all know how awful he is. NFCV is still beloved by and large, Lenector is still hella popular and touted as a tragic romance that should have ended with them getting together, I still read with my own poor eyeballs horrible takes about that story that would not fly if the genders were reversed (going back to the foot thing, imagine a man groping a woman's breasts for the sake of making fun of her), and this is the source of my anger.

... uhhhh well NFCV has the captain who lols and lmaos at Isaac's face for his edgy misanthropy? Can he count as the show's only saving grace?

#anti netflixvania #other m #i am very normal

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bluekat12345 · 2 years ago

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Pokemon Scarlet DLC: Teal Mask review

(This will contain spoilers for the Teal Mask DLC for Pokemon Scarlet. So if you don't want to be spoiled, do not read this! Also, warning: This will be long.)

I've been playing for a few days now, and I couldn't wait any longer to share my thoughts. (I've never been a patient person.)

Overall, I loved it! I think the scenery was cool, the town was cool, and I really loved the Pokémon you could find there, and I enjoyed the characters and the storyline of the game. Not everything was perfect, and I will point out what I thought were weak points, but overall, it's still fun to play.

So many great Pokémon from previous were there, and I really like the designs of the new ones in the game. I really like Poltchageist and I think its evolution looks cool too and I cannot wait to catch, evolve, and learn more about it. Though, I will admit I'm not too impressed with Dipplin, I feel like it could've been better as a regional form or a regional fake. I heard there's supposed to be another evolution for it that comes out in the second half of the DLC, I hope its true. And, as mentioned before, I really like the Pokémon that returned for the DLC, makes me really wanna catch all.

Ogerpon was so cute! And those masks are awesome! I want an Ogerpon plushie now! The 'Loyal' Three designs were cool (still don't like them), and I was actually surprised they were part Poison, I thought they would be Dark Types.

However, I will admit, I don't really care much for that little berry collecting minigame, didn't really enjoy it. So, I don't imagine playing more of it anytime soon.

I really enjoyed exploring Kitakami, the scenes were beautiful, and I always find something interesting when I explored. Seriously, wherever I go, there is something to find on the ground, it got to the point where I had to stop myself from collecting everything I noticed on the ground.

I also like the new bags and hairstyles that style card grants me. Not really my real life hairstyle, but I might give one of them a try. I really enjoyed the new hairstyle and bag were given when we change into that green festival outfit.

The characters were definitely interesting to me. I enjoyed spending time with Kieran and found myself able to relate to the shy little guy, and throughout the journey, I genuinely felt bad keeping secrets from him and beating him in battles. And I really felt bad when Ogerpon wanted to go with me instead of him. And the way it ended, gave me major future antagonist vibes, hopefully he'll just still be a friend that motivated to get stronger. I don't want him as an enemy.

Carmine was honestly frustrating to deal with, at first. I found her a bit frustrating to deal with and enjoyed beating her in battle if it meant knocking her insufferable ego down. But by the end, I found myself liking her a bit more. She's not my favorite character, but I felt I understood her better and I don't dislike her so much now.

As for Briar, I am honestly suspicious of her. She seems nice and its cool that she is the descendant of Heath, the guy who wrote the Scarlet/Violet book, but something about her screams secret villain/antagonist to me and while she claims to want to prove Heath's theories true, I feel like she has less than benevolent ulterior motives. Guess we'll just have to see in Part 2.

Overall, the story was great, but it kind of reminded me of the Team Star story, where the innocent party is treated as a villain while the true villains are treated as heroes. When I learned the truth, I was deeply frustrated how the people were treating those three villains like heroes and shared Carmine's frustration. I was glad the truth came out, but I feel like it was resolved too quickly and easily, where Kieran just tells people and they automatically believe him, I feel like they should've seen how evil the 'Loyal' Three truly were and see for themselves how Ogerpon is not bad. But I was happy that the truth is out. I knew Ogerpon would go with me, but I still felt a bit bad, since Kieran wanted nothing more than to befriend the Pokémon and I felt like I robbed him of that. I might bring Ogerpon to Blueberry Academy when the second part comes out.

Overall, I'd give this a 9/10 score.

#Pokemon #Personal Review #Game Review #The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero #Pokemon Scarlet #The Teal Mask #Pokemon The Teal Mask #Pokemon Scarlet DLC #Pokemon Scarlet and Violet #Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC #Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet #Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet DLC

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foxieflower · 2 years ago

Note

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wANmsHNInQo

(You can remove the link if you want to)

Kinda tired of gluskin fans, fic writers etc being accused of something. Also funny how she calls Blaire a cute baby, dude, you can dislike Gluskin, of course he is not a saint, but Blaire literally gets advantage of people with some mental illness and child abused victims, and even use their trauma, allowing beatings AND rape, for the experiment to success. People sympathize with Gluskin and Walker since both were victims at some point. Trager gets a pass, despite him RAPING women willingly (though people like him because his design is cool and his BUDDY) before the experiments, and as far as we know Eddie never targetted children or raped women, he mutilated them during some kind of psicosis

I'm gonna be very straight forward, but I cannot stand to watch videos that just berate things I enjoy, so I will not be watching the video for greater context but will however respond to the actual information you sent me directly.

I absolutely agree in the points you made. I find it incredibly contradictory to find people who like one character disgusting but then immediately turn and love the character that's just as bad (or worse). I have gone at length for my dislike of Jeremy and you put it out plainly that is simply due to the fact that he is the one actively creating these monsters. And he knows what goes on within the walls of that asylum. He's a terrible man, but it does make him an incredible villain, so I can totally understand why people enjoy him, I simply do not.

Something important about this game is that it's very blunt, red barrels does not beat around the bush, if they want you to know something about a character, they will directly tell you. So it's easy to very much note that none of Eddie's crimes are that of the sexual nature. He has some wild dialog and very handy in game movements, but if they had wanted you to know of him as someone that executes crimes of that nature, we would have seen in in those flashes of life during the locker scene. Instead we just continue to see a delusional and violent man. Which is a very important thing to note, as when anyone takes part in horror films and enjoyment of the slasher genre, the fact people die is meant to be scary but it's never meant to be some sort of damnation of the monster that is doing it. Or else you wouldn't see so many people enjoy characters like Jason or Michael. Where as if a horror film takes note of a rape scene, it's meant to feel much less like an action scene for your to scream and get an adrenaline rush from, and is very much a tone shift to make you feel uncomfortable and distressed. And not in a pleasant way, it's something entirely different in film versus a villain killing someone.

Now it's to note that from here, it's pointed out that it's obvious that these people in the asylum are essentially just a bunch of slashers, aka, the fact they are killing people is just meant as actions/excitement. It's what you are expecting to come from playing these games. And instead what you are meant ro focus on, story wise, is the underlying information. I'm just going to focus on Eddie to make it easy, but you find his papers that say he has a terrible home life and was assaulted by his father and uncle, you learn that he mutilated women but never did anything uncouth with the bodies, you find out through Waylon that... the scientists are just as gross as his father and uncle were, and that he wasn't cooperative with the obviously bad therapists and would lie to try and get himself in a better situation. People chalk this up to him trying to be manipulative bit it feels much more obvious as a defensive tactic. He's scared and wants out. You are meant to feel for those in the asylum, just like Miles and Waylon do. When he dies, he gifts you with a weakened and delusional message.

Jeremy on the other hand, you get little to no secondary backstory to him, you are meant to see him directly as he is. The man with the money that is making all of this happen and knows it is happening. You are meant to just see him as the man making this asylum work, this terrible place exist. He is only there to kick Waylon at every chance for his escape, to tell him that he wants him dead, he is not there for you to sympathize with. He is supposed to represent the reprehensible company you want to see fail. That's the entire point of Waylon's and Miles' characters, to be the breaking points to destroy this company. When he dies, he is destroyed, he stabs you and then is mutilated by the walrider. He doesn't give you anything to sympathize on.

Now this is not to say that I wouldn't allow people to give him sympathic headcanons, I have read some, I have enjoyed them. They simply aren't my takes on the character and that's fine. I would never send hate to those that like him, but it is fun to bully him as the villain he is.

What does all this rambling mean though? It means that anyone that viscerally hates Eddie snd those that like him while actively saying how much they like Jeremy is entirely missing the point of the first game. The point is that no matter how terrible of people all these variants are, you are still supposed to hate what is happening to them, you aren't supposed to think they deserve to be there and should be without help. No, you are meant to see this as the greater ide aof how mental health is often toyed with and overlooked, how people are often let down and made worse by how terrible many systems are. How money can make those with just as devious thoughts be CEOs while those without are just tossed into a dirty box to be laughed at and prodded, destroyed further. It's meant to show that power imbalance.

You aren't supposed to agree with Murkoff, the point of the game is to see them as the villain. And if you instead are siding with the evil company at the end of the game, either you didn't play it right or you need to execute better critical thinking when enjoying media.

#foxie thoughts #outlast #outlast whistleblower

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smokeybrandreviews · 1 year ago

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Going Solo

I am trying my goddamndest to care about Solo Leveling but it has become a straight up ordeal. I do not understand the hype at all. Admittedly, I am prone to automatically dislike the most popular and mainstream of sh*t on principal. I tent to find the fans of those types of thing to be objectively insufferable and it turns me off to whatever the sh*t is. I cannot tell you how many Narutards and WoW trolls have attacked me in my life because I don’t prostrate myself at the feet of their chosen media. Like, Naruto is okay. It’s the second best of the Big Three but I’m a BLEACH guy and World of Warcraft is whatever. I don’t give a sh*t about MMORPGs in general. Interestingly enough, I am about that solo life in my RPGs. I am a man of story. I love well developed characters and a properly fleshed out world. These are all things I was led to believe Solo Leveling archives. I’m seven episodes in, and haven’t seen any of it. The wild thing is, everyone who swears by this show is telling me that it’s not supposed to, that the narrative doesn’t pick up until f*cking chapter one hundred. Bro, what?

Solo Leveling has garnered much of its praise from the excellent web comic of the same name. As I understand it, the rich world building and colorized art, is what has people completely enamored with the series. I made an attempt, long ago, to get into this thing right before it got hot-hot and couldn’t stand it. The art is bad, very amateurish in my opinion. The coloring was very basic, too. I could tell that this was a series made by A guy in his bedroom, basically. That’s fine. I’m all about that. Get your exposure. I’m a huge fan of ONE. His Web comic version of One-Punch Man is the worst in terms of art, but the world building was there almost immediately. There was enough in those first few hideous chapters, to keep me coming back. Eventually, Murata got a hold of the narrative and blessed us with his art. All of a sudden, OPM is brilliant on all fronts and I can dig it. Solo Leveling has not been blessed in this way. An entire series and a spin-off later, this sh*t is still ugly as f*ck to look at. It’s so ugly, the immaculate world building can’t even really save it for me and that’s a whole different issue, in of itself!

Bro, the overarching story is kind of whack. I’ve watched a ton of plot synopsis and “what you need to know” about Solo Leveling, and i am thoroughly unimpressed. I’ve come across these OP protag stories before, it’s basically a trope now, so the devil is in the details. From what I can tell, the details in Solo are not all that interesting. Like, I’ve seen this plot before. I’ve read this story multiple times. It’s Reincarnated as a Slime/Sword. It’s Kenichi, Black Clover, and Tokyo Ghoul. It’s Parasyte, Deadman Wonderland (which is excellent, one of my favorites, and a high recommend), Attack on Titan, and f*cking Arifureta. All of these narratives follow the same beats, hit the same notes, and deliver the same kind of overall plot. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, Slime, Wonderland, and Sword are some of my favorite anime, all-time, I’m just saying Solo has a lot of work to do in order to impress and it’s falling really short. I can’t wait over a hundred chapters worth of content for this sh*t to finally catch up to what Slime did in ten. That’s bogus as f*ck.

I am flailing over here, man. I want to like this sh*t, I really do. Conceptually, Solo is right up my alley, but this goddamn execution is killing me. It took five whole ass episodes for ANYTHING to happen. Even then, the animation was pathetic. Even during the short bursts of very obvious budget expenditure, sh*t was still barely dope. I’m watching this and just keep thinking One-Punch Man is basically the blue print for this stuff and it’s exceptional. The other one, Tower of God, is f*cking brilliant all around. Why is Solo Leveling so goddamn pedestrian? Not even the gore is enough to distract me from the utter disappointment and I don’t even actually care about this show like that. It is a frustration because I can see this thing being great if another animation studio actually put in the effort to animate this sh*t. If it had a distinct vision for its art style or some sort of specific look it could call its own. Instead, it’s the most generic sh*t I’ve seen in anime in some time and I just don’t care about it.

#Solo Leveling #anime #Some ol' bullsh*t

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smokeybrand · 1 year ago

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Going Solo

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prodixal · 1 month ago

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"Not really, no. Men have too much pride to ask for things. At least outright. And women, well, we have a tendency to spot their needs and provide before they've uttered a word. Or at least I do. It can backfire easily. I had to learn how to set boundaries within myself, so I may not starve while feeding the others." Rhaena was certain lady Ashara would know exactly what she means. Most women did. "Family is weakness too, isn't it? My family is divided and broken, and I see no way for us to come out of this unscathed. No single family should hold so much power, it corrupts and rots even the most beautiful things. This...this war, it will destroy us. It will. Even if we survive, what kind of life will we live?" she rarely shared in such thoughts, it appeared lady's presence made her feel somehow at ease. The Blackwood dragon was quick to adjust to her company, quick to settle into whatever role would be deemed appropriate. And yet, she almost never hid and was always exactly herself. If one were to ask Rhaena, she would say she often felt more like water, than fire. Rushing and bending and filling up gaps. She could be strong and fast and deadly, but also calm and gentle and lively. So much like water, so easy to need, impossible to hold. But always, unmistakably, water. "I suppose you are right, lady Dayne. The change is needed -- and change will come. Yet, how can we be sure that it will be any good? One king, seven kingdoms. It is greedy, and unfeasible, to be in charge of so many." she pauses, knowing full-well if any of her words got out, she would most likely hang. And she cares little anyway. Safety was a mirage, a lie noble men and women and children told themselves while the rest of the people lived in knowledge that any moment could truly be the last. "Yes, suppose liege lords and vassals certainly help but, we see now how quick they are to turn, and run and hide and chase power of their own. The world will never know peace, only change. For better or worse." her mother used to speak of peaceful eras and 'good kings' and there was a time long ago she so easily believed in the possibility. But every era in history, had suffering. Only those dead, and those suffering, could not exaactly write it down. Truly, the poor have always suffered, and the rich had always grappled. They were no different. Yet those thoughts could easily be mistaken for hopelessness, and Rhaena did not wish for such a thing to enter Asharas mind. She had a child, and that child would grow in a better world. Perhaps that is all they could truly fight for. A better world.

As their conversation shifted to Alecor, her spirits heightened once more. There was something about love, and stories of love, that always sent her heart into an excited and faster beat. She listens intently, leaning forward, eyes glistening as they pass over beautiful features. Rhaena could tell Ashara loved him, truly, and it pleased her. "He sounds even better than I hoped. Truly I do not know lord Karstark all that well. Only that he's a good man, a fine soldier and a beautiful poet. You are very lucky, my lady, to have found someone who can not only love you, but express it through words and actions alike. Such partners are difficult to find. It appears everyone is wounded these days, or stubborn, or afraid -- I cannot say I blame them for it. Matters of the heart are certainly delicate, and yet...well, is it not what we live for? To feel?" granted, not everyone wished to feel the exact same things, but Rhaena believed not a single person alive truly disliked love. Not really. How could one not long for it? Hope for it? Search for it? What else was there to long for? Could power keep one warm at night? Could gold provide true belonging? Before she could even utter any such questions, Ashara was already two steps ahead. "I assume it is the father of your child, of which you speak? Incapable of love?" her brows perk anyways, it was the second time lady Dayne had brought him up, though indirectly as it were. But Rhaena now felt comfortable enough to pry. "I have heard of his...nature."

"you may, rhaena. and have your uncle and cousin exploited the soft spot you hold for them?" her smile was crooked, words intended as a compliment, a charming woman who knew what she wanted was deserving of such. "family is strength. a guiding light, a beacon of hope. and yes, sometimes, it makes extracting certain favours very easy." rhaena had a way of easing laughter from her even when, on all accounts, she had felt wretched in recent days. stressed, fatigued, nauseous. tales of lysene exploits were welcomed, but she knew her days of living fast and hard were over. it was not what she desired, she longed for stability. "worry not, i've collected adventures of my own. i should like a simpler life now, slower, more peaceful, if it weren't for the war. do not misunderstand me, i see much promise in the new era king corwyn wishes to usher in, and i've witnessed the unparalleled misery of king's landing. the cruelty, the indifference, is staggering. how one can be unaffected by it, i will never know. they must not suffer the affliction of having a heart." but these were burdensome topics, and rhaena had asked for light-hearted talk. "driftmark is a breath of fresh air in comparison to the capital, but it is no lys the lovely, no. i can smell its sweet-scented streets even now. i had bottles of their perfume imported to starfall."

fingers dipped into the furs draped about her, soft, even faintly smelling like the northman. no wonder, she slipped into his chambers each night. "he was a guardsman for hire, contracted by my late lord father. i would tease him about his unwavering loyalty to his coin purse, that it would drive a northman to scorch under the dornish sun." she grinned, reddened skin and sweat-soaked clothes had amused her. it made her feel warm and happy, to reminisce how easily alecor had endeared himself to her. "i know he wanted to discover what awaited beyond his homeland, he has a love for stories, adventure. we both do." she continued. "when i was with child, alecor was at my side as my friend. when my son was born… he cradled him, and looked upon us both with such pride and adoration. i was never blind to his affections, merely… healing, from a past wound. he knew this, he never pressed." and she had loved him for it then, as she loved him now. not fickle, bristling love, but tender, calming, anchoring. "not only his words, but his gentle heart. his soul."

an offer, no, a decision made to have tea and cakes brought, and ashara nodded her head in gratitude. nibbles kept the nausea at bay. perhaps the other knew, what delicate condition required such fare. but it mattered not, ashara believed rhaena could be trusted without voicing a need for discretion. "you've not a hint of harshness about you, rhaena. you are sincere, and almost fearless, i would wager. almost, for the truly fearless are fools." the lady dayne laughed softly, and instantly felt more at ease at the warmth of her touch. musings on love brought forth a little, knowing smile. "we do not all want the same things. not everyone is capable of love, and it's no use pitying them or hoping to change them, as i've learned. i am only grateful that beneath the sun and stars of dorne, i found my love. if my future is to consist of winter twilights and nights huddled by the fire, then i am most fortunate."

#c. rhaena blackwood #rhaena x ashara

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haru-natsuka · 2 years ago

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Kiss-o-meter (Kalim Al Asim x Female Reader x Jamil Viper)

Genre: Romance

There were several types of kissing. However, when both of them use the kiss-o-meter, it would just lead them to get 0 and yet when it involved you, what level of their kisses could be?

First of all, I apologise for taking a long time in finishing this one-shot. I'm trying to make it as good as possible. Dedicated all of my sincere thanks to @thebisexualonesworld for requesting this story. Hope you and everyone will love it!

The machine blared out a loud up beat rhythm as Kalim stared at it with a melancholy look while Jamil just wanted this torture in his life to end. For how long had he tried to console his dorm leader to forget about the game, he had lost count as he very much felt enormous regret in telling Kalim about the machine he found in his treasure vault.

"It cannot be broken," Kalim whine again and again while Jamil just stared at him with a grunted expression. His eyes twitched for thousand times this night due to the unmeasurable stress. He had so many things to do that he could not understand the need for his presence by Kalim's side right now. It was just a game to measure kisses and nothing more after all! Should he mention they were in boy school and that there was no concrete reason for the son of Asim to measure his kiss at this moment?

"I know! Let's have magic carpet fetch Y/N! She always knows to solve complicated problems" Jamil's eyes opened wide due to Kalim's sudden exclamation. Before, Kalim could excitedly continue his attempt in searching for the magic carpet, the back of Kalim's cloth was swiftly grabbed by Jamil before he could escape beyond his range. The hold was pretty tight as Kalim's body was pulled back with a sudden force.

"There's no need to call Y/N! It's not like she will play it with you!" More than speculate of your rejection of Kalim's invitation, Jamil was the one who hoped for you to not play it with Kalim. Although Jamil had clearly emphasized words and yet he did forget how dense Kalim could be most of the time. He was someone who always got what he wanted after all that he was indeed ignorant of another opinion.

"That's brilliant, Jamil! Why I don't think to let Y/N play too." Let's just say that was left speechless once again as he felt like he was giving the wrong ideas to Kalim. No, Jamil very much disliked the idea of you playing with Kalim. He had already backed off a lot of times so he could never outshine Kalim but he would never prefer to sacrifice you too. He would be a fool if he said he would not notice the way Kalim looked at you as if he was smitten by your charms too, just like him. Therefore, he had planned to lessen the interaction between the two of you.

"What are you guys doing?" As it fated was even not on Jamil's side, you were the one who came into the room by yourself and apparently, you came by because Grim dragged you into Scarabia in hope of eating some spice food.

"Y/n!" Kalim excitedly greeted you while Jamil only sigh from the despair in his life.

"This can't be happening..."

"We just tried playing with this machine that Jamil found. It's a gift from my father a long time ago."

"That seems interesting. So, what this machine is about, Kalim?"

"It is a machine which evaluates how good your kissing is but you see here-" Kalim held the handle and the meter did not even move again as he expected. "- I think it broken."

"Or, perhaps you play it wrong? Do you play it as per in the instruction?" As the realisation hit him, he shake his head and just beamed as he usually would. As you checked on the machine for the instruction, you found it just placed beside the handler and read it, you immediately could guess which part Kalim did the mistake but of course, you did not expect Jamil to do so. He was claimed to be the most intelligent student in school by Azul. Despite that, instead of prying further, you decided to put it aside first and proceeded to help Kalim first.

"That's it! You should kiss the person you like while holding the handler. Do you get it, Kalim?"

"I see, kiss the person I like..."

Kalim closed his eyes and tilted his head a bit to ponder over your statement. Before you could comprehend whether Kalim fully understand the rule or not, you suddenly felt he cupped your face and his lips already brushed gently against yours. Eyes widened in pure shock while both of your hands were left hanging midway by Kalim's side, literally you were too speechless to do anything. Whether to move or speak.

Kalim's kiss lasted longer on your lips than you expected it could. He was known for being an innocent boy after all. Now, where that boy had gone? His kiss was gentle and loving. It was just a brush against the surface of lips without the involvement of the tongue, making you more focused on the warmth and softness of his lip which engulfs you to wonder about his perception of the taste of your lip too.

Was it rough? Was it too dry? Did he even regret it? He did not even pull you closer towards him and deepened the kiss and yet a rush of relief washed over you. His kiss was awkward just like yours which mean he was inexperienced in this field. What kind of feeling were you having right now?

When you both parted away, with Kalim ended the kiss first, he noticed how flustered you were as your eyes were averting on everywhere but him as you fiddled with your fingertips nervously. His appearance must not be that much different from yours as he could feel the flush on his face too.

He would never forget how giggly you made him feel. He would prefer to look at you more with the loving gaze he could casually throw on your way if it not for a sudden sound that came from the machine. Certainly, both of you forget about Jamil whose jaws already dropped to the floor. The scene he witnessed was just too much for him to handle😐.

Just then, Kalim noticed the meter suddenly raised up not until 100 but it exceeding to 120. It should be expected as he kissed the person he loved after all. Not anyone else but you, his first love. That was when he felt this sudden urge to share his feelings with you. Somehow, the machine made him more certain of his love towards you.

"Y/n, I love you so much" The usual high enthusiastic voice of his was replaced with a soft tone as if he whispered the word to you rather than it was being a talk.

"Ka-Kalim, I-I"

"The person reflected in your eyes should be your master. You shall answer when you are asked, and you shall obey when you are ordered. Snake Whisper" The need for you to reply to Kalim's confession was immediately gone when Jamil immediately placed himself between the two of you and used his unique magic on his dorm leader. Under hypnotise, Kalim was ordered to go back to his chamber to sleep.

You could just watch the entire scene that felt somehow odd with how fast Jamil action in stopping the intimate moment of Kalim and you. As you tried to find the answer, you could figure out only one. Without any hesitation, you clear the doubt you had from a while ago about Jamil by pouring your true thoughts in front of him.

"Jamil, you are in love with Kalim right?" You voiced out as if you discover the greatest secret in the world. Now you finally remembered, whenever you were with Kalim, you would always notice how displeased Jamil would be with the situation and his action during Kalim's confession tell it all.

"You are indeed jealous of me! Why I don't notice this before"

"Wa-wait...Y/N, WHERE THIS ACTUALLY COME FROM!"

"Is it wrong for you to fall for Kalim because he is your master? That's why you kept this a secret. I see... so it's a forbidden love. Don't worry Jamil, if something troubles you I'm here. I'll be the number one fan for the couple!" Jamil's shoulders were being patted by you as a sign of your support for him and he could be only disappointed with the lack of recognition of his feelings for you. In the worst case, you even thought of him for having a thing for KALIM. Out of everyone, KALIM!

"Really...Y/N, I expect more from you. Heh, better to just show you" Your hands on his shoulders were being pulled closer to his body so he could sneakily wrap his arms around your body. You jerk back to broaden the proximity between you and him but his hold was just too strong to release yourself.

Jamil's finger was already lightly holding your chin so your head tilted up, focusing your eyes only on him before his lips smashed against yours, gradually stealing all your breath away. You could feel the tip of his hot tongue poking on the surface of your lips before it was forced into yours. The heat rose in both of your cheeks as Jamil lead the kiss. The intense and passionate spark remained in both of his eyes during the kiss.

After a while of a breathless kiss, both of you finally parted away. You blinked once and twice to comprehend the situation. You thought Jamil loved Kalim but he kissed you. What was this?

"Hmmm if you kiss someone you love, it will reach 120. Not bad" Without you noticing it, during the kiss, Jamil had tested the machine too. Jamil tucked your hair behind your ear while sheepishly smiling at you.

The walk to the guest room was just accompanied by the silence surrounding as both of you did not talk much after the kiss. You were too indulged in the flashback of the kisses until you did not even notice the side glance Jamil threw at your way multiple times with only one question in his mind. Did you feel bothered by the kiss?

If you felt guilty, he was much worst than that as first, he kissed the person his master loved so much and second he did not express his true feeling to you properly. Even worst, he did not confess like Kalim at all. Where was the courage he got when he kissed you? Was holding back and letting Kalim take everything from him had remained as one of his habits? Even his feelings towards you?

Could you tell him that you enjoyed the kiss as much as how he did instead of having that troubled expression on your face? Indeed, Jamil interpreted you wrong because he never ask. Loving someone so much was a scary thing as it could make you feel suddenly insecure with everything related to that person.

"I'm sorry about the kiss, Y/N. That's why I'll-"

"No, Jamil it's not like-"

“The one reflected in your eyes is your master. If I ask, you shall answer me; if I command it, you shall bow to me. Snake Whisper. Do you will obey anything I said"

Even though it was painful for Jamil to ask you to forget about him, about the part of the memory you had with him that night, he still needed to do it. Your happiness was much more important to him than his throbbing heart and the pain was visible to your eyes. However, nothing could you do. He already enchanted his magic on you. A tear slipped down your face as you reluctantly letting yourself being controlled by Jamil.

"Yes, master. I will do anything for you."

"Please forget about the kiss and... sleep well, Y/N" whisper the last word

He was a coward, he could not do it. He was still the pathetic servant that he hated so much. When he had grown to a much better person, he would pursue you once more and properly convey his feelings. How he wished he still had his chance until the time came.

He realizes his doing so he hypnotises you to forget about the kiss. After he had sent you to your dorm did he realise his mistake. He ask you to forget about the kiss but never specified his or Kalim's. So, which kiss would you forget?

234 notes · View notes

prezaki · 2 years ago

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Sword and Mirror - a Lacus Clyne Analysis

“First… decide. And then do it. It’s the only way to achieve anything.”

Do you want to read ~8.000 words of Lacus Clyne character analysis? I hope so, because that’s what I got for you today.

When I watched SEED, I was wholly convinced I would dislike Lacus and everything she stands for. I have never been more wrong. Lacus is a tricky character to grasp - the show narrates her story largely through themes, blank spaces and parallel storytelling. As a result, I understand how she can seem quite flat on a casual viewing. I promise you right now, there is more to her role in the story than meets the eye.

In a 2020 interview, Director Fukuda said: “I do remember [Writer Morosawa] saying that the idea of Lacus Clyne was that she would be a mirror of other people, and that was why she was necessary to reflect other people’s hearts.”

The primary mirrors for Lacus are Flay in SEED and the Durandal/Meer combo in Destiny, so these will be our focal angle for unraveling her character - because the question is not just “what does the mirror say about other people?” it is also “what is inherent to Lacus that is able to reflect these (often negative) characters so well?”

Lacus’ story includes a lot of interesting ideas about power, agency, and gender performativity. I am here today to make my case to all of you, to present to you the Lacus I came to love - a girl who would love to be ordinary, but who cannot ignore the ideological power her image has become entrenched with.

(Because tumblr is a functional website and won't show posts with links in tags, I will add my source links in a reblog.)

We’re going to be following Lacus’ appearances more or less chronologically here, with digressions into related topics when it fits thematically.

Starting us off, we can’t talk about Lacus’ early scenes without also talking about Flay Allster. Lacus and Flay are two sides of the same coin and the show beats us over the head with that pretty much from the first time we meet Lacus.

Flay and Lacus arriving on the Archangel follows the exact same script: a girl exits a lifeboat, floating through the hangar, into Kira who blushes at the proximity and informs her that this is an Earth Forces vessel. The two scenes are merely four episodes apart, serving as a giant blinking billboard to tell the viewer: compare and contrast these two!!

At this stage of their lives, Lacus and Flay are in nearly identical situations. Their mothers are out of the picture, having passed when they were young. Their fathers are important politicians of their respective faction. Each of them is engaged to a boy they did not choose as part of a ploy to further their fathers’ political agenda.

That is hitting right on a theme SEED explores with most of its main cast - children as extensions of their parent’s will. As they exist at this early stage of the story, Lacus and Flay are each tools to further their fathers’ reach. The fact that both of them seem to have positive emotional relationships with their fathers does not diminish this aspect - in fact, I’d argue it underlines it. Both of them want to live up to their fathers’ legacies and willingly accept their place in it.

This means that there is a level of performativity that permeates every aspect of their lives. We see this most clearly with Flay - every part of her day to day persona is carefully curated to show herself as a perfect little lady. We know that this act is directly linked to pleasing her father, because it includes doing things for her father’s benefit such as writing love letters to Sai despite not actually liking him or putting in unusual effort to look her best for reuniting with her dad. She acts out the perfect hyperfeminine daughter that George Allster wants to present to the world. Flay’s sweetness is a manipulation - a way to exert power, first on her father’s and then on her own behalf. This is why Flay keeps up the performance, even once we have seen the real Flay as a much darker personality. It’s the only way she’s been taught to assert agency and thus her only strategy to protect herself.

Lacus is rather similar about strategically using her hyperfeminine charm when needed be. Her initial episodes on the Archangel serve as a perfect example of this.

But first, we have to elaborate on her background. She’s a popular idol singer on the PLANTs but her career is, like everything else, something that is tailor-made to promote her father’s moderate politics. When Meer describes Lacus’ job in Destiny, she does it like this: “[Her job] is to actively pursue ways to help the PLANTs and the world achieve peace.” Tellingly, the line is placed over an image of Lacus and her father.

So we know that Lacus is politically active by this point, even if just as her father’s mouthpiece. We also know she is in this sector of space as part of a ceremonial delegation. She is literally engaged to Athrun in a bid to reign in Patrick Zala’s extremism by making the public see the Clyne and Zala families as a unity. What I am getting at is that there is absolutely no way Lacus is oblivious to the context she finds herself in when she boards an Earth Forces ship. When she acts as though she were, it’s deliberate.

Lacus only takes decisive action when she feels that she knows all the facts and she likes to go see the circumstances of a situation for herself. This is something we’ll talk about a lot more later on, but it is already useful to keep in mind here.

Lacus’ time on the Archangel is characterized by her leaving her (locked) room again and again to wander the ship, then acting oblivious as to why anybody would be upset about the enemy leader’s daughter freely scoping out the place.

(Her mild ‘Oh?’ here always gets me.) It’s the kind of behavior she can get away with precisely because she is a hyperfeminine teenage girl - if she were an adult male refugee instead, she might have been arrested for pulling a stunt like that. But being as she is, the exaggerated naivety somehow registers as believable for everyone on the ship and she gets off scott-free.

What I love about Lacus and Flay is the level of awareness they both have about gender being a performance that can be put on for gain. Both of them are genuinely pretty girly, but more than that they know how to play up the girliness and use it to exploit gender biases to their advantage. They know people are likely to underestimate them and/or be sweet on them and they bank on it fairly often.

Of course this isn’t to say Lacus’ personality is one big fake and there is a ‘real Lacus’ in there who is diametrically opposed to how she presents herself. Even during the Archangel stay, we see Lacus in private and we find a gentle girl. She prays, she sings, she plays silly little games with her Haro. Lacus’ naive act is effective precisely because it is merely a slight over-acting of her regular self.

This is confirmed by Director Fukuda when he states that “about half of her behavior is natural, but she can also play the role of herself. She is her true self when she confronts Rau Le Creuset and she is also her true self when she plays with Haro.”

While we’re on the topic of Haro, I find pink Haro to be a bit of a curiosity. In Gundam’s history as a franchise, Haros have usually represented something about their owner. For Amuro, Kamille, Hathaway and Uso their Haros were manifestations of the childhood they were clinging to / that was clinging to them.

Lacus’ pink Haro is the first Haro in Gundam to be willful and rude instead of cheerful and supportive (though Haro in Victory certainly packs a punch). It also has the rather interesting catchphrase: “I won’t accept that”. What does that say about Lacus, if anything?

I would argue that it is a first pointer towards the strength of personality and opinion that Lacus camouflages behind her innocent exterior. During these early episodes, there are two major hints towards the Haro symbolism.

The first is simple: Haro is Lacus’ excuse for constantly leaving her room. See, it is Haro who won’t allow them to be locked in. This is totally out of her innocent public persona’s control, see?!

The second one follows when Lacus leaves the Archangel and we first see proof positive that she’s been playing dumb while in enemy territory. As soon as Lacus is safe in Athrun’s suit, she addresses Rau in a commanding tone never heard before.

“Stop it at once. Are you trying to turn this location into a battlefield when there is a representative of the memorial delegation here? I will not allow it! Stop your combat operations at once!”

Suddenly, we learn that Lacus has perfect awareness of her own importance and a clear grasp on political/military speech style. We are forced to recontextualize the clueless girl we’ve spent the last few episodes with, turning our perception of the character on its head. But the viewer isn’t the only person shocked by this. As Athrun stares at his gentle fiancée in bewilderment, we are treated to Haro’s shout of “I won’t accept that! I won’t accept that!” which perfectly echoes Lacus’ speech and feelings - meanwhile Lacus herself just gives an angelic smile, acting as though she has no idea why what she just did should be astounding in the first place:

The disparity between Haro-as-the-inner-voice and Lacus’ outer performance as she reverts to her usual ‘public self’ is used deliberately, foreshadowing the many surprises Lacus still has up her sleeve.

Lacus is then moved to the ZAFT vessel Vesalius, where she continues to wander about against Athrun’s advice. Though she is no longer in enemy territory, it makes sense for Lacus to keep up the naive act so she can scope out the ship as much as possible. After all, she sees herself as a civilian who wants to end the war. She has no specific loyalty to ZAFT as a military. Of course she’d want a glimpse at things.

After this, Lacus is shuffled out of the plot for a good bit as she recuperates at her home with her many, many Haros. So many Haros. It will never cease being funny that Athrun (notedly, the person who gave her the Haros) is also the one who goes ‘how can you live like this?!’.

This is a good opportunity to talk about Lacus and Athrun’s relationship as a whole. Though the two of them never met before being introduced to each other for the engagement, they like each other. Lacus seems dedicated to making this marriage work out. In a bonus audio drama covering their first meeting, Lacus basically steamrolls Athrun with her can-do-attitude regarding the engagement. He is completely taken aback as she speculates about the hair color of their future children… Lacus approaches the engagement on a baseline of ‘I don’t know you that well yet, so I don’t know if this is good or bad - might as well be optimistic.’ It’s only after Athrun’s enduring discomfort that she slows down. This ongoing positive approach to the relationship seems to both be because of her dedication to her father’s cause as well as because she simply comes to like Athrun. She treasures his gifts, is overjoyed when he comes to visit, and would be perfectly willing to take their relationship to an actual romantic level.

Just look at her waiting for a proper kiss before Athrun chickens out and opts for her cheek instead…

But ultimately, Athrun just does not understand Lacus. This is evident in their interactions and confirmed several times by Director Fukuda. Athrun can’t see past Lacus’ one-sided public presentation. Her deeper thoughts and convictions are lost on him. According to the above-linked interviews, it is this specific visit in episode 20 when Lacus tries to test Athrun and then decides to cut her losses.

“I think she was trying to see if Athrun could accept her thoughts. Lacus also feels that way about Kira, so she told Athrun that she likes him. She actually wanted Athrun to inquire about her reasons, but Athrun doesn’t ask. That’s why Lacus can’t make space in her heart for him.” - Fukuda, as linked above.

Not only does Athrun not seem open to meeting her head-on ideologically, he also doesn’t display any jealousy at her stating she is fond of another guy. Both as a comrade and as a romantic partner, Athrun feels distant from Lacus. Of course she remains fond of him as a person, but she won’t keep chasing a connection he is not emotionally open to.

Kira is different in this regard - he is ready to accept and agree with Lacus’ morals, to let her take Flay’s place as the person who inspires him to keep fighting. And that is precisely the next step in Lacus’ journey - forging her bond with Kira.

After Kira and Athrun gravely wound each other in battle, Reverend Malchio picks up the injured Kira and brings him to the PLANTs. It is implied though not elaborated upon that Malchio is part of Siegel Clyne’s large web of contacts trying to stop Patrick Zala’s megalomania. Malchio and Lacus appear to get along well - it stands to reason that Kira was entrusted to her care because Malchio knew he’d saved her before.

Lacus delights in nursing Kira back to health. She shares her love of the outdoors and beautiful gardens with him, and listens to his struggles and regrets. It is here that we get a good glimpse at the way Lacus’ genuine girly side looks. She is playful yet ladylike, she can appear quite innocent… but she never seems at a loss for what’s going on and routinely gets serious when discussing matters of war and trauma.

This Lacus in the garden is the person she would like to be. In her ideal world, there would be peace and she’d be at liberty to simply enjoy her songs and flowers, spending time with a person she likes. Lacus’ gentleness and her appreciation of simple pleasures are not an act.

Unfortunately, that ideal world does not exist. Which is why, when Kira declares he wants to fight not ZAFT nor the Earth Forces but the conflict itself, Lacus sees her own morals echoed in him and decides to act as well.

She abuses her authority and the trust the PLANTs’ society holds in her in order to let Kira steal the Freedom, one of ZAFT’s new super weapons. It is likely that she was aware of the Freedom’s existence through her father - there don’t appear to be any secrets between the two of them.

This is a good point to point out one of Lacus’ most defining habits: her tendency to ask questions. Though she is far from clueless, she is someone who will contribute to a conversation by prompting for elaboration again and again. She knows that asking someone else to spell out their thought process will help them solidify it.

Lacus has a very intuitive understanding of the human mind and how to enable it. She is a good person and mostly uses that strategy in order to gently nudge those who are already morally aligned with her in the right direction… but there certainly is potential to use this kind of strategy for outright manipulation. We will see as much when we get to Destiny… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Right now, allowing Kira to act has also forced Lacus to do the same - she is now regarded as a traitor to the PLANTs for her theft of military equipment and needs to go into hiding. There is only one last thing she feels she needs to do before she can address the public: tie up loose ends with Athrun.

The staging of this confrontation reveals Lacus’ deep sentimentality. She hides out at the theater she first sang in publicly, a hideout so fitting of her personality that Athrun figures it out with only minimal prodding. Lacus had taken great care of the flowers she received from that theater years ago. I’d say it’s fair to assume that the location has not just been picked for how easily Athrun could find it - after all, Lacus is singing in full stage costume when he finds her. In a way, this is her goodbye performance to her old life that she is now giving up in the name of rebellion.

On this stage of memories, Lacus gives Athrun an ultimatum.

“Did you kill him? What is it that you believe in and fight for? Is it the medal you received? Your father’s orders? If it is, then Kira may once again become your enemy. And so will I. If you’ve declared me an enemy, will you shoot me? Athrun Zala of ZAFT!”

For the first time, she addresses him with a harsh voice and allows him to see the full power of her determination. (Poor guy, he had no idea what he was in for…)

At this point everything has been set in motion and Lacus is fed-up with Athrun’s lukewarm commitment. He is holding her at gunpoint, but the one forcing a decision is Lacus. When Athrun protects her from the ZAFT agents sent to kill her, that proves that Athrun is not acting in blind loyalty to his father - he passes Lacus’ test. Noteworthy is that through this entire exchange, Lacus had gunmen from the Clyne-faction in hiding. If Athrun had actually made a move to hurt her, he would not have left that theater alive. I fully believe that Lacus would have ordered his death if it ensured that he won’t get a second shot at killing Kira - the sword she is pinning all her hopes on. However, she surely had confidence it would not get that far. Her primary intention was to wake Athrun up, not to get rid of him.

With this last personal matter settled, Lacus begins her real work. She has the unique advantage of being an already established ambassador for peace through her idol work (and the association thereof with her father’s politics). This gives her inherent credibility with the populace of the PLANTs - something she is intending to make full use of through guerilla radio broadcasts.

“Coordinators are in no way a different species that evolved from other forms of humans. Even with the reform of marriage regulations, we are unable to build towards our future. How is that an advanced species?”

In her speeches, she takes a stark counterposition to Patrick Zala’s doctrine of Coordinator superiority. Fukuda repeatedly calls Lacus a radical girl - and for her context, she is. After all, she lives in a society legally controlled by eugenics, in which only marriages resulting in childbirth are legally viable. To stand up and publicly declare that the entire premise of the current PLANTs is bullshit… That is bold.

Her rebellion is harshly punished as her father is mercilessly gunned down for association with his daughter - which now leaves Lacus in charge of the whole Clyne faction. Her response to her father’s death is muted. She merely nods in acknowledgement and goes back to organizing her resistance force - the only hint to her true discontent is once again Haro, closing out the scene with an “I won’t accept this!”. We see yet again that Lacus’ public face is always tightly controlled. As a leader she understands that she cannot show weakness or risk hurting the morale of her group.

Through the connections her father established and the loyalty of her own followers, Lacus manages to steal the spaceship Eternal and escape from the PLANTs. Through this, she can reconvene with the Archangel and meet both Kira and Athrun again.

It is here that Lacus allows herself to cry about her father for the very first time. She is a girl who is open with very few people, who does not feel like her position offers her the luxury of being candid with her emotions. It takes being alone with somebody she trusts for her to let go and truly feel.

I am going to be talking about Lacus’ relationship to Kira in more depth when we get to the beginning of Destiny, but for now it will suffice to say that their non-faction-aligned positions make them kindred spirits who rely on each other. They have gotten to know one another fairly well during Kira’s sickbed stay at the Clyne mansion. Kira has met Lacus with an emotional openness that Athrun never showed her, which makes it easier for her to fully respond in kind.

(As an aside, the death of the politician father is a recurring theme in SEED. Lacus once more follows in the footsteps of Flay, as well as Cagalli; with Athrun soon to join them.)

During the battle sequences following the reunion, we see Lacus as a collected and capable commander of her ship. We have already witnessed her incredible calm (not losing her cool when threatened, losing family members, having people shot in front of her,…) and it comes in handy here as well. Notably, Lacus is shown to be a lot more cold and pragmatic than Athrun. Where Athrun is motivated by personal relationships and would risk it all to save their comrades who are lost in the Mendel colony, Lacus immediately declines his plan.

“Even if Kira, Mu and Dearka never return, we must still continue to fight.”

Just like Lacus has accepted the death of her father, she would also accept Kira’s death in the name of a greater cause. As always, her personal feelings take a backseat to being able to fulfill her function and represent her ideology.

“My mother told me something long ago. The world belongs to you and also you belong to the world, as long as you are born and exist in this world.”

This attitude is at least somewhat contextualized by this quote that shows up shortly after. Lacus’ mother is implied to have passed away when she was very young, possibly making this one of Lacus’ core memories of her. “And also you belong to the world,” seems to encompass a lot of Lacus’ attitude towards duty and commitment to peace.

Lacus’ arc in the season closes off with the activation of her SEED mode, as well as the associated speech. I have transcribed it in full here:

“We humans, possibly, could exist without fighting. However, many of us choose to fight. For what reason? To protect something? Protect what? Ourselves? The future? If we must kill to protect our future and ourselves… What sort of future is it? What are we? There is no future for those who have been killed. And what about those who have killed? Is happiness to be found in a future that is grasped with bloodstained hands? Well, is it?”

In The Art and Data of Gundam SEED, this scene is described as follows: “Confronted by so many lives being lost, Lacus’ SEED activates out of grief and sorrow over the endless link between humanity and war.”

However, what I actually want to point out is not what triggers her SEED but how her SEED manifests. Usually SEED mode is shown to enhance piloting skill, but Lacus isn’t a pilot. What she does instead is the one thing she does so well: ask questions. Her power is the unerring dedication to bring into question things that are seen as self-explanatory, to inquire again and again if there truly is good reason for the world to be this way.

It positions her as the perfect antithesis to Rau who views violence as a given and himself as the answer.

In SEED, the series villain is Lacus’ opposite, a clear-cut opposition. It is in Destiny that Lacus really comes under scrutiny with a villain who is far more alike to her in many ways.

But before we can get into discussing Lacus and Durandal, we have to cover the After-Phase Between The Stars short, a five minute special that serves as a bridge between the first and second season, catching us up to what the cast has been up to in the two year time skip.

The set-up for Destiny often comes under scrutiny because fans consider it uncharacteristic for Lacus and Kira to have pulled back from politics rather than take part in managing the peace they helped bring about. I don’t think that is true. Neither Kira nor Lacus wanted to be in a position of authority, nor do they feel like they actually have adequate answers to the complex political problems of the Cosmic Era. During the war they had a clear goal, but the reparations are not nearly as simple.

The two of them are only 16 when the war ends - it’s natural that they would want to back out and leave the rebuilding efforts to qualified adults. For them to move to Orb and live with Malchio so they can heal from the loss they’ve endured is an understandable choice.

And it is not as though Lacus makes this decision out of pure selfishness and thoughtlessness, as After-Phase spells out almost word by word.

Cagalli: “It’s amazing you actually went out onto the battlefield. Doing that suits you well.” Lacus: “Is that right? But even when Kira was crying, he still said he would return. We may still not understand what we should be doing. The world isn’t something that someone creates.”

Lacus is aware that she has amassed a lot of influence over the course of the war, being an idol turned resistance leader whom the people generally rely on. If she were to step up now, people would be sure to place undue importance on her just because of the feelings they project onto their role. That is a power she doesn’t want to use.

Not doing politics at this juncture is her political stance. She feels the world should be shaped by people and not by ideologues making the decisions for them.

Cagalli and Lacus are at different ends of the same problem during Destiny - where Cagalli tries to step up to her position of power and finds the complexities of it quickly overwhelming her, Lacus decides stepping away is what is best for the world and is mistaken in that as well.

Lacus’ decision turns into a major part of Destiny’s conflict - because Lacus is not the only one who sees that her position holds inherent power. Durandal sees it too, and he exploits the vacancy by filling it with his own propaganda version of Lacus. In Meer, Durandal creates the Lacus that Lacus herself doesn’t want to become.

This is where full analysis necessitates a digression to Durandal, who is Lacus’ true counterpart in this season even as Meer takes the role in physical appearance.

Lacus’ mirror being split between Meer (body) and Durandal (mind) is interesting in itself, because it touches on a gendered dimension again. Durandal states that Lacus’ power to influence is greater than his own, but that is not due to who she is as a person. The influence of “Lacus” can only be realized because she is a beautiful young girl. We find ourselves at an intersection of idol culture and propaganda - Lacus as an idol is by-design a ‘pure’ celebrity, someone you can look up to without concerns because they are wholly innocent. That is how idols are produced in the real world as well. Through stepping out of the ‘idol’ space and becoming a resistance leader against an inarguable evil, Lacus has then attained an almost goddess-like reputation. The trust inspired by superficial elements like her beauty and soft voice are conflated with her achievements at the end of the war. She is venerated as the icon of peace, rather than seen as an individual with the capacity for flaws. “Lacus” is a near-abstract concept to the public.

That’s what makes it so easy to abuse - so long as you have another beautiful young girl at the ready who is willing to play into the idea of “Lacus, the beautiful savior”. And boy, does Meer play into it. She takes Lacus’ distanced image and turns it on its head. By delivering fanservice like no tomorrow she plays further into the idea of Lacus as a consumable savior who exists for the sake of the audience, whipping the crowd into a frenzy. A large part of Lacus’ influence is thus divorced from who either she or Meer is as an individual.

However, Meer doesn’t write her own speeches. Durandal controls everything she says. Where Meer mirrors the way Lacus is seen (and not seen) by the public, Durandal is the one we truly need to examine here.

First things first. Durandal is absolutely intended as a Lacus parallel. This is conveyed at a number of points through the season, but the first overt comparison is made when Durandal giving Athrun the Saviour is written and shot in an almost 1:1 recreation of the scene in which Lacus gives Kira the Freedom.

Lacus: “I feel that the strength you’ll need is in this machine.” Durandal: “Should we end up in that situation, I want you to be someone with power.”

Lacus: “Will this take you where you wish to go? Will it help you when you get there?” Durandal: “But what you can do and what you wish to do… These are things that nobody knows better than yourself.”

Even Lacus’ “I am Lacus Clyne, you are Kira Yamato” is echoed in the way Durandal insists on Athrun’s inherent self and nature. The idea of an inherent self, a core of a person, is something that unites Lacus and Durandal. They just take it in very different directions - Lacus’ point of view is a more standard “be true to yourself so you can love yourself and find your true purpose”, while Durandal takes it a big step further and comes out on the other end with “have someone decode exactly What You Are and then adhere to it for the rest of your life instead of ever questioning. This will make you happy”.

Durandal is Lacus taken to the extreme. Every soft line of wishing for a world in which the cycle of war is forever broken is turned into a masterplan and a doctrine.

Further, Durandal and Lacus’ strategies of dealing with people are similar, to the point where we have Athrun explicitly picking up on it. The Lacus-giving-Kira-the-Freedom vs Durandal-giving-Athrun-the-Saviour sequences are completed later in the season when Lacus gives Athrun the Justice. We’ll address this scene ahead of time here because it is more important for establishing the Lacus-Durandal dichotomy than it is for Lacus’ personal growth.

Athrun: “Are you trying to tell me I’m nothing but a soldier?” Lacus: “That too is something for you to decide. Power is nothing more than power. And perhaps you are a soldier, but over and above that… You’re Athrun. That’s all there is to it.”

This exchange a) follows Athrun’s realization that Durandal thinks of him as someone who is destined 0nly to be a soldier and b) is accompanied by Athrun directly flashbacking to his conversation with Durandal, comparing that with what Lacus is saying.

Both of them are in the process of prompting him to pilot a mobile suit they already had manufactured for him. Both of them employ a similar rhetoric of making a plea to his intrinsic self and allowing him a choice. Both of them are successful at making him get into the robot.

Lacus and Durandal differ primarily in two core aspects. For one, Durandal prioritizes the role over the individual. I.e.: ‘Athrun is Athrun and because he is Athrun, he can only ever be a soldier’. For Lacus, the inescapable self is the core of your personality, but what you do with it is up to you. I.e.: ‘Athrun is Athrun and thus he has to make the choice that goes best with his true heart’.

The second difference is how genuine they are. Both Lacus and Durandal understand how to manipulate people, but only Durandal abuses this manipulation constantly and with great intentionality. Lacus generally tries to hold back and only encourage instead of exert control. Durandal will lie, Lacus less so.

But in the end both of them remain as people dedicated to their ideal of peace, who employ a soft surface personality in order to make others let their guard down.

Destiny is a season about deconstructing Lacus The Idol. Durandal zeroes in on Lacus not simply because of who she is but because of the ideals she’s grown to represent, the thing she was marketed as from the start, everything that was projected onto her. Lacus The Idol is a construct, an ideal, a wish. Durandal is trying to turn his interpretation of that wish into reality. Lacus The Person is nothing but a roadblock to him.

Though Lacus does not have as many scenes in Destiny as she does in SEED, she is even more crucial to the framework of the story this time. This also means that what few scenes she does get tend to really matter for fleshing out her character.

Her journey begins when Durandal’s failed assassination attempt causes Kira to once again become a Gundam pilot. Lacus is incredibly hesitant about this, but Kira reassures her that he’s fine and doing this out of his own will.

And with that it is finally time to dive into Lacus and Kira’s relationship properly.

Let’s preface this with a Fukuda quote from The Art and Data of Gundam SEED: “Their hearts are connected, but they aren’t like lovers. In a sense, they’ve skipped over that step and become something more like family. Kira is afraid of losing Lacus, because of his trauma with Flay. And Lacus feels guilty for making Kira do something he didn’t want to do, so she feels indebted to him. Psychologically speaking, the two of them are in a rather precarious codependent relationship.”

If the dynamic between Lacus and Kira reads as awkward, it’s because it should. In the beginning of Destiny, Kira is portrayed as traumatized by his encounter with Rau, which he has several flashbacks to. Lacus is the one accompanying him through his recovery, but she is also extremely aware that she is the one who gave him the weapon to fight Rau, that she is the one who is responsible for Kira entering the war again.

Lacus needs Kira to fight and enables Kira to fight, but she knows this is a horrible thing to do to somebody. And she can’t apologize for it, because if necessary she would do it to him again. That is the kind of pragmatist she is. Her feelings towards Kira remain as “I am fully aware that I intentionally put you in this situation, both materially and emotionally, and I know that I can never make it up to you”. How deeply and sincerely sorry she nevertheless is ties her to Kira more than anything else in the world. She cannot make it up to him, but she will spend a lifetime trying. Her feelings of guilt are on full display several times throughout Destiny.

Kira meanwhile projects Flay onto Lacus. His failure to protect Flay translates into an obsessive need to protect Lacus instead. Flay shapes every aspect of how Kira interacts with Lacus, how he can interact with Lacus. No doubt the topic of sexuality is also deeply tainted by his highly charged experiences with Flay.

Lacus does have some romantic feelings for Kira, seen in her blush when she kisses his cheek after giving him the Freedom or in the way she cares about his opinion when she is trying on a variety of outfits during Destiny. But she also seems respectful of the fact that Kira cannot truly reciprocate. (He also absolutely fails at having any opinions about Lacus in different clothes - it is bittersweet to see that short attempt at acting like a proper couple fail so miserably.)

The most romantic affection we see between the two of them are kisses on the cheek and I think it’s fairly safe to say that that is all there ever is.

Lacus and Kira cling to one another, silently asking for a forgiveness they can never be granted. They are nominally a couple, but the reality is simply that much more complex. They are family, they help each other heal, they make each other sad, and they absolutely cannot be apart.

The ghost of Flay hangs over them both in-character and narratively. Lacus has become the reluctant wielder of the sword that is Kira Yamato, the sword Flay helped forge. In turn, Lacus assumes Flay’s position in Kira’s mind; as the driving force, the one giving him direction, the woman to be protected.

Returning to the plot of Destiny, Lacus is now on the run with the Archangel, forced to watch as Meer assumes her identity. Fans generally seem to think she doesn't mind this, but that’s not really true. Lacus is just never vocal about her feelings.

Rie Tanaka’s line read in this scene of everyone watching Meer’s concert is absolutely superb - Lacus sounds deeply sarcastic. The Art and Data of Gundam SEED just confirms this when describing Lacus as “with a smile on her face, but daggers in her eyes.”

Lacus is deeply bothered by what is being done in her name and to her image, but currently neither has the means nor the strategy to combat it. She’s in hiding because she is under active threat of assassination and also because they just don’t really know what is going on.

The latter is of particular importance, because Lacus’ MO remains as it always was: she wants to know as much as she can about a conflict before acting. This principle is actually spelled out in her bath scene with Cagalli.

“First… decide. And then do it. It’s the only way to achieve anything.”

What seems simple nevertheless delivers a good glimpse into her interiority, especially thanks to the inclusion of a flashback to her father’s death. “Guilt” is a core theme for Lacus this season. Destiny presents a Lacus who is fully aware of the tragic consequences of her actions, a Lacus who carries that sadness permanently.

“It’s the only way to achieve anything,” is what she says, but she also means: “If you allow yourself regret, if you allow yourself to contemplate all the different paths you could have taken, you will surely be crushed by it.”

Lacus' philosophy is founded on standing firm in her decisions. She cannot allow herself to be immobilized by regret.

And that is another part of why Lacus takes so long to act. She observes situations very carefully until she is completely certain of the route she wants to take - of the route that will leave her with the least regrets.

Her unwillingness to act unless certain is Lacus' greatest strength and greatest weakness in one.

Thus Lacus soon admits that she does not know the best course of action. She then decides to act on her principles and go look at the situation on the PLANTs for herself. It’s a mirror of the viewing deck scene Lacus and Kira share at the very beginning of SEED. That encounter ended with Kira smuggling Lacus out of the ship, this one ends with her leaving by her own choice.

Though Kira worries about Lacus, she calms him down by quoting back his own reassurance when he first stepped back into the Gundam. This puts a nice emphasis on the mutuality of their relationship. Just as Lacus understands that Kira does not wish to be a pilot, Kira understands that Lacus longs to live a regular life far away from political importance. They both want nothing more for each other than a peaceful situation in which they can escape that which burdens them.

Lacus’ plan for going back into space is to impersonate Meer and steal her shuttle, a nice bit of vindictiveness on her part. There is a fun little audio drama in which she pretends to be worried people appreciate Meer more than her, tricking Waldfelt into helping her learn Meer’s dance routine. In truth, that was preparation for this exact plan. It goes to demonstrate that Lacus not showing her full cards and instead acting out the carefree girl she would like to be is a constant habit for her.

Thus Lacus sets out for the PLANTs, investigates Mendel colony, and finds out that Durandal is on the fast lane to upgrading society to Eugenics+. Interesting here is the revelation that Lacus has kept the Eternal in hiding this entire time and maintained a crew. Though she was hoping that the world would straighten itself out, she clearly never ever abandoned her backup plans for the worst case scenario. She is cautious in every sense of the word.

Meanwhile Durandal is rapidly trying to unify all of mankind under his leadership, attacking the independent Orb under pretenses of only desiring to root out Logos. So Lacus decides she has seen and heard enough. She needs to reveal herself before it is too late.

“I ask the world, please do not get caught up in the trap of his words, telling you that no one else is at fault. We must gain a deeper understanding of Chairman Durandal’s true objective.”

Even though Logos is undoubtedly a powerful evil within the Destiny universe, Lacus calls out the faults of conspiracy thinking and encourages people to question the motives of anyone who offers a solution that is too easy and too clean. It’s Destiny’s clumsy attempt of exploring the thin line between calling out harmful power structures vs simplifying reality in order to create a unified enemy.

It is also interesting because Lacus’ plea for everyone to think for themselves and question the absolutes presented to them is at odds with what a large portion of the public wants from her. They would like for Lacus The Idol to guide them - which is exactly why Meer was so effective as a propaganda stunt. The nature of Lacus’ social power is by default opposed to the change she actually wants to effect in the world.

This then brings us straight to Lacus’ actual confrontation with Meer.

Meer lays a trap relying on Lacus’ goodness and dedication to helping those in need. Ignoring the trap would prove Lacus a hypocrite, but Lacus is not the type anyway. She walks into the trap with open eyes - and offers Meer a sincere chance to be saved.

That’s the thing about Lacus and Meer: Lacus hates that the identity theft is happening, but she does not consider Meer to be the main perpetrator. Rather, Meer is also a victim. Lacus’ speech to her demonstrates this well and also says a lot about Lacus, so I’ll be copying it down in full:

”If it’s my name you want, you may have it. And my appearance. You and I will still be different people. That will never change. None of us can be anything other than ourselves. But that’s why you and I exist and stand here before each other, right? That’s why we have encounters, right? With one another and also ourselves. Your dreams belong to you. So please sing your dreams for your own sake. You mustn’t let others use your dreams for their benefit.”

Lacus looks at Meer and she feels sad as well as responsible. Meer was coerced to throw her own life away in the name of Lacus The Idol. Lacus feels that what happened to Meer could only happen because she exists. She sees a girl trying to become a version of her that Lacus herself feels is a burden, and she can’t help but be sad for the consequences of her existence.

I said before that “guilt” is a big theme for Lacus in Destiny, and here it appears in its more misguided form, taking more onto her shoulders than is actually warranted. One might argue it is a form of arrogance in its own way.

However, Meer and Lacus never get to resolve this. Meer steals Lacus’ place one final time, taking a bullet meant for her and dying in her stead. The sense of guilt is thus solidified and will remain with Lacus for the rest of her life.

Lacus’ tears for Meer are the most intense expression of grief we see from Lacus in the whole series and I think it is fitting.

Meer was a girl who spent much of her life wondering about Lacus, wishing she could know about the elusive stranger behind the idol. Now Meer is the one who is an eternal stranger and Lacus is left wishing she could hold onto more of her than just the diary and the idol work she left behind.

To Lacus, Meer is a girl who destroyed herself out of admiration for her. A girl who was consumed because Lacus’ inaction let it happen. Lacus’ philosophy might be largely pacifist, but it is not and has not ever been victimless.

And that is what really makes Lacus’ character to me: this awareness that even her best bet at a ‘correct’ decision is not the bloodless path, cannot be the bloodless path. Adhering to her morals still costs lives and Lacus tries to confront that dilemma, carrying her grief close to her heart.

Lacus’ speech to Meer conveys what Lacus thinks of life, touching both on her core similarity to Durandal (the idea of a ‘true self’) as well as the most major difference: Lacus believes striving for dreams to be the inherent value of human existence, even if it causes pain. Just as her decisions are worth making, even if they result in loss.

“All lives are meant to fight for a desired future,” is the bottom line Lacus arrived at by the end of Destiny. The right to struggle towards your dreams is worth fighting for, the contradiction of mankind is lamentable but ultimately to be protected.

And after the war ends, Lacus has internalized the responsibility she feels for what Durandal wrought. Though she does not want to hold political power, though she wishes she could simply play in her garden for the rest of her life, she realizes now that even her absence can be instrumentalized for harm. By the end of Destiny, Lacus has been locked into her very own bad ending, the exact thing she tried to avoid.

She closes the season where Cagalli begins it, stepping up to the inherent responsibility of having power. It is an intriguing place to leave her. It will require her to step out of the idol image that she has acquired, and to make decisions before she is ready to make them. Both the public and Lacus herself will have to reckon with Lacus’ fallible nature as an individual. The ethereal image of Lacus as the beacon of morality might well be crushed under the weight of Chairwoman Clyne.

Lacus is a reluctant mastermind. A girl with great talent for affecting others, always wishing for a world in which she does not have to use that talent.

Now she is following in the footsteps of a man who was a manifest representation of what a well-intentioned villain she herself could easily become - and she can only hope she’ll make decisions that she can stand by, just as she always has.

#gundam #gundam seed #lacus clyne #flay allster #gilbert durandal #bc i talk a good bit about both of them too #analysis

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