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valley-of-the-lost · 3 years ago

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I don't know if you watched BPA, but.. I have a question, that I don't know if you can answer this, but it's been nagging at me (this is a multi-part ask, this will be a quick rundown): A blog that used to be interested in Barbie claimed that BPA has some racist undertones; this is because, as they claimed, due to the antagonist (who has, as they put it, brown skin) tries to take over the kingdom of a white princess/queen. 1/?- Barbie Multiverse Anon

Okay, so, a quick explanation. This ask has been sitting in my inbox for a few days, and I sincerely apologize to Multiverse Anon for making them wait this long for me to weigh in on this. When I received this ask I was neck-deep in part of an art challenge that wore me out and I had not watched BPA (which I assumed was Barbie Princess Adventure) at the time, and I felt that this was the type of ask that I needed to chew on for a couple days and talk to some people before I was certain of my thoughts on it.

Now, I have done some cursory research, watched Barbie Princess Adventure myself, and bounced it off some of my friends for their take as well. Thus I will attempt to answer this to the best of my ability.

I do agree with the unknown blogger in question that Prince Johan is a brown-skinned character, and that the plot has racist implications due to the combination of this, him being the antagonist, and the fact that his kingdom lost a war to Amelia's prior to the plot to drive his motivation hence why Amelia is taking over the rule of both her own and his kingdom. However, I disagree with them that this is an ongoing theme or that there's a pattern of racist undertones in previous Barbie movies. At least from my own knowledge.

(under a read more because I don’t want to clog people’s dashes, this is not a simple topic to unpack + the movie did some weird things I wanted to explain too)

Before I really delve into the meat of why I take this stance, I want to quickly discuss why I had to even assert that I agreed that Johan is a brown-skinned character as its own point on the off-chance someone else encounters the same initial weird impression I did. You can skip this part if you want, I'll put a triple asterisk where this ends (***).

Prior to watching BPA myself, I did some cursory research on the Barbie Movies wiki, prompted by this ask. I put together that Johan was probably the antagonist that was being referred to, but when I was on his page, his wiki picture was just this.

This was all I had to go off of at this point, because he didn't have a screenshot gallery for me to cross-reference him throughout different points in the movie. So the conclusion I drew at the time was "he just looks like a tan white guy". This impression was reinforced by his light eyes and recycled Ken face model. I cross-referenced this with some friends, and we came to the conclusion that at best he looks racially ambiguous, with no reason to think he was a character of color unless there was other indication about his race in the movie itself.

And then I watched the movie. And changed my mind when I saw what he looked like in these scenes.

Johan looks noticeably darker than he did in his single wiki picture, especially when next to other more obviously white characters like Barbie and Amelia. His skin tone is closer to Alphonso whom I would call a brown character pretty confidently in the same movie (I wanted to minimize comparisons across movies to eliminate the possible different variables that would come with it).

While this might not be as noticeable to other people casually watching the movie, I found this a bit jarring myself because I was focusing on his skin tone in particular due to the subject of the ask and my initial impression from the wiki picture when he was arguably at his lightest in the whole movie, as well as when he was introduced he was at his darkest because it was set at night. Also the way the animation team decided to shade him to convey that its nighttime confused me because he looked a lot darker than I thought someone of what I assumed his skin tone would look. And then the next scene with him and Barbie further confused me, because he suddenly got this reddish undertone that really highlighted their difference in skin color.

(Barbie’s hands are on the left and Johan’s are on the right for sake of direct comparison)

Finally, in his last scenes in the movie, Johan's skin tone is most like that of his wiki picture's. Darker than Barbie's when they stand in the same shot but light enough that he could've passed as a tan white guy. What cemented my confusion is that he still looks like this in the throne room, where he was before when dancing with Barbie so it should reasonably have the same lighting and bring out that reddish undertone, but no he still looks like that. So my final conclusion on him was that since he looks like a brown-skinned character in around 2/3s of his scenes and there's a 2D painting of him in the bg when Barbie and Amelia are kidnapped, that he is indeed a brown-skinned character and the animation department probably fucked up their lighting which messed with how uniform his skin tone looked across scenes. ***

Now that I've explained my process of confusion and then final agreement that Johan is indeed brown-skinned, let's discuss how this compounds with other elements to create a rather unfortunate picture. I'm afraid its a bit worse than Anon described.

First off, the added context of the history between Amelia's kingdom of Floravia and his kingdom of Johanistan. Prior to the movie proper, these two countries fought in a war and Johanistan eventually surrendered to Floravia. The two countries signed a treaty that said that after her coronation, Amelia would rule both Floravia and Johanistan.

There is a severe lack of critical details about the war itself, such as what caused it in the first place, which really works to the film’s disadvantage, since the absence of clarity does little to clear up the questionable implications of what is known about the relationship between Floravia and Johanistan.

Amelia’s kingdom is the one that took over Johan’s initially, since they won the war and Johanistan would be ruled by Floravia’s queen, with the implication being that she’d depose Johan’s family, the original ruling family. While the lack of details makes it so it can’t quite be said that Floravia is colonizing Johanistan, it also means that it can’t be said that Floravia is not colonizing Johanistan. What is known about the war is very broadly reminiscent of tactics white people have used to colonize other countries, such as using a war to depose the original royal family for the colonizer’s own gain (the US colonizing Hawaii by staging a coup against their ruling family because the white plantation owners got mad) and putting the other country in a disadvantageous position with a treaty (Opium Wars). This would probably just be viewed as normal Kingdom vs. Kingdom politics if... well Johan wasn’t a character of color.

Combined with viewing this movie through the lens of real-life racial biases (which people are predisposed to do because we're inherently based in reality), the likely conclusion drawn is that this white ruler (Amelia) is effectively ousting a character of color (Johan) and his family out of power and force-assimilating his country, and there's simply not enough clarity about previous events before the movie takes place to dispel it sufficiently.

This also poisons the plot proper because Johan's motivation is to take advantage of the law that the rule of both kingdoms falls to him if Amelia doesn't show up to coronation and regain rule of his own kingdom and Floravia as a nice plus. The intention was probably to show him as greedy for wanting lone rule of Floravia and Johanistan, taken together, it honestly comes across as the movie villianizing a character of color because he wants to regain sovereignty of his own kingdom from a white ruler. Its completely understandable that Amelia wouldn't want to lose her own kingdom especially coming off of war, but also her kingdom is also the one ousting out the previous royal family of Johanistan without giving any good reason why they can't compromise.

The effect would be somewhat mitigated if another character of color had a similarly prominent role as Johan on the side of Barbie, but there's really not. The closest I'd argue would be Alphonso, but he doesn't have equal plot relevance. This does, in my opinion, make Barbie Princess Adventure's plot give off racist vibes like that unknown blogger said. But I do not agree with them that there's a "pattern" of racist undertones in other Barbie movies.

Due to the lack of details of what exactly they meant by a "pattern" of racist undertones, I am assuming they mean a consistent pattern of racism across the movies, for example the movies consistently dipping into anti-Asian sentiments with their villains, or their plots inherently having racist vibes woven into them like I just talked about in BPA.

Despite the Barbie movies occasionally dipping into offensive territory, in my personal experience I have not observed a pattern of racist undertones or consistent racism targeting a specific group. I acknowledge that I could fully be wrong and a lot of things could have slipped past my notice, especially since I have not seen all the movies, but from the ones I have seen I have not observed a pattern with regards to this. However, I will point out the offensive/iffy things in the movies that I know of, with varying degrees of detail depending on how much I can remember. This is by no means a full compendium of all the problematic stuff Barbie films have touched on but these are the ones I am aware of at present.

Barbie of Swan Lake - Antisemitism. There was a TikTok on this somewhere that discussed this more in detail that I can't find but will link if I do, but what I do remember was Rothbart was given an extremely large nose which is reminiscent of the "Jewish nose" ethnic stereotype. Also there was something about his name and Tchaikovsky himself being antisemitic and those views being reflected in his ballet. I don't remember all the details I'm sorry and google wasn't giving me much.

Barbie in the Princess and the Pauper - Antisemitism. Preminger hits a couple of antisemitic stereotypes in the movie, such as having a noticeably larger, hooked nose compared to the other male characters which is reminiscent of the ethnic stereotype of the "Jewish nose" and being greedy and corrupt (literally mining every singe piece of gold out of the mines) which is a stereotype of Jewish people. His name is also of Jewish origin which by itself wouldn’t be a necessarily suspicious thing but combined with those other tropes it does add up.

Barbie Diaries - Tia, a black woman and also the only one with curly hair in the cast, making an iffy comment about "getting the tangles out of her hair". POC with different hair textures have gotten a lot of racist shit for their hair so even though this is a small oneoff comment seeing Tia talk about her hair like this in a negative manner rubbed some of my friends with curly hair wrong.

Barbie in a Mermaid Tale 2 - Polynesian racism. Another friend of mine who is Hawaiian brought this up in Mermaid Tale 2, when Merliah and co decided to have a luau (which is a traditional Hawaiian party or feast usually accompanied by entertainment) in Australia. My friend found it a bit iffy they were doing this when most everyone is white, but what they found worse was when poi was being served in the luau. Poi is a traditional Polynesian dish, but in the movie they claimed it was an Australian and Hawaiian dish, which its not, there’s no Australia in its origin. And then there was a "gag" where the people eating the poi were gagging on it, so essentially this movie was making a joke out of another culture's aesthetics and food.

Barbie Princess Adventure - Reread the above text.

Maybe my sample size isn’t big enough but I’m not seeing a pattern or a trend here, which in my opinion would be a larger cause for concern because for these movies their issues are largely contained to their specific movie, and a pattern would be indication of a wider problem. Maybe you see a pattern I don’t, that would be completely valid.

Now, do I think this means you can’t enjoy Barbie Princess Adventure? No, I’d be a bit of a hypocrite if I said that because I still enjoy some of the Barbie movies I listed above that I just said also have problematic elements (Swan Lake and Princess and the Pauper specifically). But I do think it is good to at the very least be aware of it, hear it out, keep it in mind. At the same time I understand why people would be turned off by this topic because they’re here to have fun riding the serotonin of childhood nostalgia and not delve into discourse.

But I hope I answered your question to your satisfaction Multiverse Anon! I’m going to go take a nap now I’m tired 😭.

#ask of the lost #barbie #barbie princess adventure #tw discussion of racism

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itsclydebitches · 4 years ago

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A sentiment I've heard repeated a few times regarding team RWBYs distrust of Ironwood that I don't think you've commented on is the idea that, yes, Ironwood has helped out team RWBY... but that doesn't matter because he's acting like a tyrant, and expecting them to trust him for personal reasons when the issue is greater scale than that is unreasonable or morally wrong. In other words, "He gave Yang an arm, so what? He's got an iron grip on an entire city!"

I think that’s an excellent point and a totally logically argument to make. The problem is the show doesn’t make it. At no point do the characters reject personal support because Ironwood’s political choices are too heinous. They don’t engage with that personal support at all: Ruby doesn’t care that he’s an ally she’s lying to like Ozpin lied to her, Yang doesn’t bring up her arm, the hug doesn’t create hesitance when Qrow decides to kill him, etc. That personal aspect is almost entirely missing from the story. It’s only the viewers who go, “Hey, why are you all acting this way when Ironwood has done X, Y, and Z?”

More importantly than this though--because again, you’re right that giving someone an arm or hugging them doesn’t excuse unethical behavior--the real takeaway is that the heroes support his role as a tyrant. Personally, I don’t think Ironwood was a tyrant in Volume 7--a morally gray leader making ethically complex decisions, yes, but not a tyrant. But let’s just run with that label for a moment. Our heroes agreed with a tyrant’s plan. They helped a tyrant enact that plan. They assisted the tyrant in maintaining control over the city. They willingly and happily worked with the tyrant for months, growing stronger off his resources. Given how we’re meant to view the group’s morality (AKA good guys), this would imply that... Ironwood is not a tyrant. Why would our heroes help Ironwood if he’s on the wrong path? They wouldn’t! Certainly the show has never considered that the group is made up of bad people. Ergo, Ironwood can’t be bad (again, prior to shooting people).

If we break the plot down to its most basic components:

The group sees a very dystopian looking Mantle and are scared of what Ironwood has done

The group decides they can’t trust him and go about things their own way

This is good! This works. It tells us that Ironwood is the bad guy in this situation and our heroes recognize that they need to make different decisions than he has. If the plot had continued down this line we would have been golden. However:

The group learns why Ironwood is doing all this and agrees with his decisions

They likewise agree to support him in his efforts (note: this isn’t framed as them tricking Ironwood. These are not heroes pretending to get along with the bad guy to survive. They just straight up support the Amity project)

There’s pushback from Nora about the harm this is causing, but we get more verbal confirmation from Ruby that this has to be done. It’s a sacrifice

The group has more power in this situation given that they control crucial war information. They support this ethically dubious plan while knowing the plan won’t work. Ironwood’s iffy decisions have the added defense of being ignorant decisions. The group, however, is not ignorant. They know Ironwood is hurting Mantle in the name of an impossible outcome-- defeating Salem--and yet they not only allow him to do this, but assist him in doing it

They accept more power in the form of huntsmen licenses and align themselves fully with Ironwood’s military: conducting work around town in his name, helping with his secret plans, accepting Atlas tech to use in their fights, etc.

Their perspective is also driving many of Ironwood’s decisions here, such as when they convince him to tell Mantle about Salem. They are not lackeys Ironwood is ordering around, they’re equals that he listens to

We also have one character (Ren) supporting him without the “But I don’t want to hurt Mantle” hesitation--“Yes, sir!”

This means that by the time Blake and Yang decide to go against Ironwood it’s presented as allies betraying him, not heroes doing the work against a baddie they’d always planned. And notably, they’re still supporting the overall task of finishing Amity at Mantle’s expense, they just want Robyn to help with that, rather than hinder it. This is not an attempt to turn people against Ironwood (Robyn is already in that position), it’s an attempt to gain Ironwood another ally (though in the stupidest way possible)

It is only when Ironwood decides to leave Mantle behind that the group goes, “Whoa whoa whoa. No. We can’t support that.”

That there is the problem. Not that the audience expects RWBYJNOR to trust Ironwood because he was nice to them a few times, but because RWBYJNOR did trust Ironwood. Or, even if they didn’t fully trust him, that didn’t stop them from going along with his plans and accepting all the benefits he could grant. They were more than happy to act “tyrannical” for as long as they could. It’s the same problem we have with Winter, wherein she yells that Ironwood did all these horrible things--the embargo, using Mantle’s resources--while ignoring that she supported all that. It’s also the same problem with Yang, wherein she tells Ruby that things are bad now, blaming her solely for the situation, while ignoring that she supported her sister every step of the way. These characters act like they have no hand in these outcomes once they decide they don’t like the outcome. The group supported Ironwood in everything and then when things didn’t turn out well (Salem arrives) they turned on him and the story presented Ironwood as the simplistic Bad Guy who did all these horrible things... while ignoring that our heroes did the exact same, horrible things. And since RWBY refuses to acknowledge that maybe the heroes aren’t great people (like Ironwood) we’re left with the concept that Ironwood maybe isn’t that bad a person (like the heroes). That’s the logic here. They did the same stuff, believed the same things, made the same arguments... so either the group is as bad as the tyrant, or the tyrant is as good as the heroes. But since the show wanted the group to be 100% good and Ironwood 100% bad, Volume 8 arrived with him randomly killing people and threatening to bomb a city. There, problem solved.

The problem is not that anyone expects the group to forgive tyranny because Ironwood is kind sometimes. The problem is that if we agree all this was Ethically Bad then the group were tyrants too and then the story just... pretended that never happened. Basically:

#rwby #mymetas #warshipper

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 years ago

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Top 20 BEST Animated Series of the 2010s-5th Place

Up until now, I’ve been pretty iffy on which show went where on this list. However, from here on out, there is no doubt in my mind the ranking is almost perfect (or, at least, to me it is).

Just keep in mind, this next pick isn’t as cute and innocent as it might look.

#5-Camp Camp (2016-)

The Plot: Camp Campbell is a place where kids can go to do anything! Like space camp, theater camp, art camp, magic camp, and also other magic camp! It’s a dream come true...except for a little rapscallion named Max, who was forced to go there by his crappy parents. With the help of his two new friends, Neil and Nikki, the three of them will make it their life's mission to make life a living hell for their two camp counselors. Or, at least, it’s their life’s mission until the end of the summer.

This is the first and only web series on this list, and it is made by the (in)famous production company called Rooster Teeth. And trust me when I say that Camp Camp is the best show Rooster Teeth created ever since they started working on Red vs. Blue. And I can think of a couple reasons why.

Reason number one is the show’s comedy. Just like Rick and Morty, Camp Camp relies on being absurd and dark to get a laugh out of audiences. However, there is one thing Camp Camp has that gives it an advantage: The fact that it’s a show on the internet. There’s a lot of jokes that writers are not allowed to get away with on television. But on the internet, it’s all free game, baby! You want to make jokes about Hitler and the holocaust? Go ahead. You want a young cis boy to ask when he’s going to get his period? Go ahead. You want four kids to get scarred for life after catching old people having sex? Go right the f**k ahead. Because this is the internet. A place that is impossible to make kid-friendly, no matter how hard certain websites try! (And in case you’re wondering: Yes, all of those examples I just listed are actual jokes within the show. So have fun.)

With the benefit of having little to no filter, Camp Camp’s sense of humor allows it to go further with its jokes while having competent enough writers knowing the definition of “too far.” Because believe it or not, there is a limit that this show has with how far it’ll take its humor, and rarely does it feel like it crosses it (and it’s usually Kerry Shawcross’ episodes that crosses the line, oddly enough). Now, as I’ve established in my Rick and Morty review, not everyone is going to find these types of jokes funny. But for the most part, I personally think Camp Camp is hilarious. In fact, out of a fifty-nine episode line up, there is a total of ONE episode that I felt was low on the laughs. And like most good comedies, the best jokes come from who’s saying them and not what's being said. People need to remember that humor comes from the characters. Otherwise, when the gag goes to the wrong cast member, you’ll end up having people respond with, “but that’s not what this character would do or say.” In fact, the only time when a joke falls short in the show is when the wrong character says what is already a funny line that’s just misplaced.

And seeing as how we’re already talking about the cast, now might be a great time to mention that Camp Camp has the best group of characters Rooster Teeth made since the first thirteen seasons of Red vs. Blue. Like I said with Rick and Morty, I prefer to have a series with a moderately large cast of characters, as it offers writers enough room to work with so the series doesn’t become stale. And boy, does this show have a lot to work with. Everybody starts off with a personality that’s simple and serves the purpose of making a joke. But as the Camp Camp goes on, the more that these personalities grow and the audience gets to learn more about them. Even characters who seem like they’re only useful for the same comedic bit eventually become more complex as the series progresses. The best example is Dolph, who starts off as a source for Hitler jokes. But in the episode “The Candy Kingpin," we see that he’s also a little kid who’s just lonely and naive...while also still being the source of Hilter jokes. Now, at a glance, it might seem like there are too many characters, and it can certainly feel like it at times. Luckily the writers are smart enough to know which characters need more focus and which ones can be used for comedy. For instance, Space Kid doesn’t seem that complex in the slightest, but he’s a source for comedy, so he doesn’t need to be. Besides, the writers can develop any characters it wants whenever they want to. Because if Max and David are of any indication, this show has the best character development in any Rooster Teeth series.

I’m not kidding when I say that the relationship between Max and David is the best thing about the series. They start off with a simple dynamic: David is the happy go lucky optimist who gets in the way of Max’s pessimistic schemes. There’s nothing too noteworthy at first, and the majority of the episodes are just Max screwing over David and David keeping Max in check. However, the showrunners found a way to make their relationship more intriguing with each season. (Kinda spoilers ahead) Not only does Max learn that David understands how rough life can be, but, realizes why David has the determination to stay optimistic in the first place. And once David learns why Max is so jaded, he begins to work with Max through a new angle. In fact, the second they’re both on even ground, the two of them stop working against each other and learn how to work with each other (kinda spoilers over). Now don’t get me wrong. David still gets on Max’s nerves and vice versa, but there’s still a small amount of respect shared between the two. This is what I loved about their dynamic: Their development isn't blatant, but it still exists. In Red vs. Blue, it feels like Tucker’s development seems to take a step backward and forwards with every other season. And in RWBY, it feels like Yang is a different character after experiencing a traumatic event. This is understandable given what happened to her. But seeing how her having a sense of humor, which is everything likable about her personality, left after this one moment, it can be a bit disappointing (especially since Yang seemed like a person who hid her trauma through comedy). As for Max and David, everything that is likable about their personalities is still there, only now seen through a different light. This may not seem that impressive, but considering how Rooster Teeth has handled character development in the past, it’s pretty great.

Here’s another thing that may not seem as impressive as it really is: The show’s animation. I am amazed at how this series manages to have a television-quality of effort. Now, that may not sound like a compliment, but considering that this is a web series, it’s pretty darn impressive. Most online animated shows barely stick to a weekly schedule and the ones that do only manage to have episodes lasting for 3-5 minutes. So, seeing as how Camp Camp can have 12-24 minute long episodes once a week AND still managing to look good is a testament to how far internet animation has come. There’s also a surprisingly large amount of detail added into the show. I’m not talking about the characters themselves, as they have pretty simple designs. What I am talking about are the little things that the animators added in. If you pay attention to the props, backgrounds, and even things they wrote in, you’ll notice a whole lot of things that would have flown over your head otherwise, such as great jokes, continuity nods, and even sublime foreshadowing when it comes to season three.

So as you can tell, there’s a lot to like about this series. So you’re wondering why it’s only #5. Well, my reasons are more pitiful if I’m being honest. You see, Camp Camp is aimed at adults, but it doesn’t feel like that at times. Like I said with my Final Space review, most writers think that for a series to be considered for adults, you have to use sex, drugs, violence, and cursing. Now, in all fairness, those aren’t really meant for kids. And understandably so. However, if you take all of that stuff out, then what’s stopping this show from becoming kid-friendly? Not a whole lot, especially since there’s a handful of episodes that have plots I’ve seen in other kids' shows (“Jermey Fartz,” “Eggs Benefits,” and “Night of the Living Ill,” to name a few). Personally, I believe that for a show to be for adults, it requires two things. One is to have writing that may seem boring to kids but interesting for adults. It's also important to have stories/plots that kids are not ready to fully understand yet. If you fail to do both, then there’s nothing stopping a twelve-year-old from watching your show and enjoying it just the same. And I should know because I was twelve when I started watching Rooster Teeth’s content in the first place.

Also (and this next complaint is less pitiful and more problematic), it's not good with how whitewashed the voice cast is. I get it. A voice is a voice, and the color of the actor's skin shouldn't matter...except that it does. Because if you're going to go the route of having a diverse cast of characters, then you might as well go all the way by having their voice actors be people of color as well. And don't get me wrong, these actors do a perfect job for their respective roles, both for the dramatic and comedic moments. But, as this series started coming out in 2016, long before current events, it still bothered me that a character like Nerris--

--was voiced by a woman like Barbara Dunkleman:

Yeah...That’s a big yikes.

So while it may not exactly be the best example of an adult series and definitely needs some recasting, Camp Camp is still one of the best shows in the 2010s. It has impressive animation for an online series, has hilarious comedy, and even better characters to enjoy. And seeing as how this is only #5, that can only mean that the shows can only get better from here.

(Side note, is it bad that two seasons of this show made me connect to the characters much better than the first six seasons of RWBY? Because I certainly think so.)

#top 20 of 2010s #camp camp #rooster teeth #what i thought about #screw rwby

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evanescentdawn · 4 years ago

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Highlights of today’s writing:

—Okay!!! So there was a VC stream today at orvcord and that somehow gave me a boost to write!! After the writing block I have been feeling... :’) Wasnt really writing block, but Y’know just busy with school and exam TT

Anywaysss, So. I tried to start a new wip with the prompt given but that didn’t go well so I just did past wips (still thinking about that new wip orv though, no idea on quite on what it is but. I Am Thinking.)

—+224 words to the Yjh regression stuff wip!! AND HEYYYY I finally edited and wrote stuff and!!! Finally uh what do you call it, finished up the loose ends?? anyways, yeah. I’m so happyyyy. I’m really feeling this wip now Can’t believe that I’ve worked on it for 45mins it didn’t feel like that

the one yjh pov that I feel like is working :’) 🙌 don’t how the hell is though

also dead laughing because someone in orvcord thought it was genderswap. because in the last part I only had mentioned “woman” and not who. Lolll.

And okay so now to think about how this conversation is gonna go. Yjh is obvs going to write to murder her immediately because he’s just. Like. That. Need to reread this arc again. *adds that on my never-ending to do list*

—Omgggg I actually worked on my WMMAP wips??? I’m so surprised. This VC sprint was something. XD and because of YouTube, and the song that came up... it reminded of that time travel fic and I went mmmh let’s check it out and woah. I never expected to actually like it?? thought I wouldn’t like it if I read it! but! it was actually good?? I love it and even worked on it a bit!

—+240 words to the wmmap athy time travel wip. I already have a vision on how this is going to go, still remember it clearly from before. It was originally a fic I had written in mind but then got motivated to put on paper!!! Though I wish that I actually did write notes or anything, because I am pretty sure I forgot some stuff 😭Anyways yeahhh I think I will work more on it later in the day! Hopefully. Need to check up, how the ever heck you write people drowning. ‘Coz I’m completely lost on that

—Also edited the Athykiel wip! Yikes, this one was...really wordy. So I cut down on a lot is stuff that I didn’t need at all. Little iffy with this wip. It doesn’t quite have that spark. Just BLERGH. I hate the way I wrote it

—+99 words to the Liliana wip! I do love this one and wanttt to write it. But. Urgh. It’s just Not working right now. Gonna try and edit it somewhere during today. For now, I did a bullet point this of continuation for me to work with. I just do that more, it helps greatly. I didn’t realise ‘till now.

—+80 words to the Draco&scorpius wip! Heckkk I think I am close to finish. YES. Writing this one has been lottsss of fun. I adore them so much. Dad!Draco is e v e r y t h i n g. Debating on the draco/nerville thing. not feeling them anymore, lol. But aww I liked that ending line I had in mind.

—+8 words to the sanghee crangst wip. Mannn, this one is hard to write but IM DETERMINED TO FINISH IT.

—FINALLY GOT THAT MOTIVATION BACK TO WRITE IN THE WMMAP FANDON SO OF COURSE IMMEDIATELY OPENED THAT LILY AND FELIX WIP!!!! Because heck I have been wanting to write for so long god.

—Added 84 words! Not much since, lol, I only had a single line in it. But godddd, ITS PROGRESS. And I’m having so much about these two, about this wip. 😭😭

—+70 words on the Touken bite wip. Urgh. I don’t really have an ending in mind for this wip??? So it’s hard to continue it, literally crawling so slow here. I need to think of an ending but my mind is just....blank. It’s a plot/plotless fic, and just about reminisce stuff and Kaneki being a sap. It feels finished when it isn’t at all

....Hey, what if I ship to Touka’s POV??? Now that’s an idea.

—+11 words to the khr prompt wip. progress!! I am really fascinated by tyl!Tsuna and it’s really cool trying to explore this way. it’s just....taking a bit longer to put the stuff in words. since I have a lot thoughts and they are all...over the place. I want to also reread parts of the arc, because my memory is a bit iffy.

—Omg, I think I hit a breakthrough in my Tokyo ghoul orv au. Originally was just planning to have this no ghouls AU....but that’s no fun, so....I thought what if I still keep the ghouls thing??? It would so cool! And I had an idea on what to do with Rize. Rize as the wenny!king is just....heart eyes... I need to really properly brainstorm this but. That’s for later.

—+165 words to the athy time travel wip. Worked on it again! Sort of evening, instead of afternoon lol. OH GOSH I CANT WITH THIS WIP IT HURTS SO MUCH. 😭 Also about the drowning scene, after rereading through and tweaking lil stuff...I think....it’s fine??

—WAS JUST ONLY GET TO GO AND READ THROUGH THE YJH REGRESSION WIP AGAIN BUT....I ended up writing working on it.

—+55 words to the wip. They have interacted and exchanged words!! Holy shit. Never expected this wip to be this interesting. (Still to reread that arc again....)

—+76 words to the Khr 1827 wip au???? I wrote??? Hibari pov that I actually liked??? NO IDEA where this came from

#ignore me; im rambling #highlights #oh wow what a productive day it has been!!#I doubt it’s gonna be like this again for a long while #since I gonna be buried in school #😭😭

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jaybug-jabbers · 4 years ago

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Pokemon Prism Review

Well I’m currently finishing up the post-game content of Pokemon Prism.

Dang.

What a fun game.

(what follows is an informal review of the game. it got a little long, lol. it has some spoilers for the game, of course.)

My background

To give you a quick idea on my perspective on Pokemon, I grew up with Pokemon Red on the big grey brick Gameboy. After Red, I pretty much stopped playing for many years. My little brother had a Gameboy Color and had Silver, but I never got one myself. Wasn’t ‘til years and years later I found some emulators and played through several generations of Pokemon at once. So, Gen 2 really isn’t nostalgic for me. It’s close enough to Gen 1 to hit some nostalgia buttons, though. I am admittedly somebody who feels Gen 1 is the best gen of pokemon. I don’t care of people laugh or say I’m a genwunner for believing that. Gen 1, I feel, had the raw creativity and charm of the original idea, and it simply sets my imagination alight far more than any other gen does. Those simple pixel designs for those little virtual creatures just opened up a world in my mind. THAT SAID, I did play and very much enjoyed all the other gens of pokemon. I do not shun things just because they are new, and I am not one of those people who says the new designs of pokemon are stupid. I adore plenty of modern pokes.

Blend of Old and New

Anyway! Pokemon Prism, for those unaware, is a ROM hack of Pokemon Crystal. It essentially delivers a brand-new Pokemon adventure for the Generation 2 games. It’s a really neat blend of classic gameplay and modern features. You’ll find species from modern games all the way from Gen 3 (such as Breloom) to Gen 6 (such as Sylveon) but their sprites perfectly integrate them organically into the Gen 2 environment. You’ll get many modern pokemon moves and conviences but also plenty of throwbacks to older experiences. Miss crafting pokeballs from Apricorns? It’s there. Enjoy a simplier time when there weren’t any Natures? Well, there ya go. Really want to call Joey and talk to him about his Rattata? Well, err, no, you can’t do that, but let’s face it, the telephone feature was probably one of the most hated features in Gen 2. :P

But Prism isn’t simply about updating Gen 2 with some modern pokemon, moves and game features. Not in the slightest. It’s full of original mechanics and gameplay concepts, and has tons of original areas and an original storyline. Pokemon is known for experimenting with new gameplay ideas, so it’s really fitting and enjoyable to see these take shape as you play the game. Mining and crafting is introduced in the game, for example, and there are a couple new pokemon types. There’s even a few sections where you can play as your pokemon, Mystery-Dungeon style. Do all of these experiments with new concepts work? Probably not ALL of them– when you try something new, not all of them will work out as amazing as you’d hope. But a lot of them are welcome and fun additions. And the game is bristling with these new ideas! It’s a joy to see so much creativity and novelty.

Sprites

It should be noted the spritework for these games is A+ and utterly fantastic. There is perhaps 3 or 4 out of dozens and dozens of new sprites that I thought were a tad off? Seriously, they look AMAZING and their animations are perfect and they fit in with the style so well I found myself briefly getting confused as to which were originally from Gen 2 and which weren’t. Saying these sprites are good is no small thing, because they are such a vital part of the game. The backsprites were not shafted, either– something even Gamefreak often shortchanged on back then.

Music

It should also be noted the music in this game is really damn good and has a huge variety. There are tons of classic songs, classic remakes of modern pokemon songs, remixes, and original tunes. There were like one or two tunes I was a bit iffy on, but considering that’s only a few out of so many, that’s impressive. The new bike music and Surfing music are probably my favorites, and they are SO GOOD, and those are especially important ones to sound good, because you typically hear those a lot.

Writing

The writing in this game is fairly solid. Not A+, but still not bad. It suffers occasionally from slightly rough and confusing grammar, and the climax of the story is definitely anti-climactic and very weak. In addition, the post-game story basically does not exist, but that can be excused since most likely more story was planned but they ran out of time. (C&D)

I also felt that at times, the story felt out-of-place within the world of Pokemon and went “too far” in the darker direction. The entire prison sequence, especially, and the frequent mention of inmates being mistreated, pokemon being abused, etc., just felt a bit much. Because this game was largely concerned with replicating the feeling of a true Pokemon game (some hacks intentionally focus on making a story that would never take place in the Pokemon world, like zombie survival horror stories or whatnot), I find it relevant to mention that. All of that said, though, its darker departures were at least not *too* extreme. We don’t get the very jarring and frequent problem of some ROM hacks where it’s full of cussing all the time or intense violence. Compared to those it’s still relatively subtle. And while the NPCs in this game I felt were rude a little too often, (holy crap, it felt like 95% of Naljo and Rijon were crankyass people) I do appreciate the attempts at making people a little more “real” and not quite so freaking happy and idealized all the time like Nintendo tends to do. The dialogue often made me chuckle. It did go a tad overboard with that “realness” (because, hey, a variety of people exist in the world, you know, both rude and polite, optimistic and bitter) but oh well.

So yes, the writing had its drawbacks. But overall, it felt like it was progressing a pokemon-style narrative with some interesting ideas, and wasn’t simply a dreary rehash of the same basic tropes Pokemon has been regurgitating for ages now. I just think if the writing were cleaned up a bit– the grammar cleaned up in a few sections, the plot threads clarified a bit more, and the climax reworked– it could take a “decent story” and make it a great one. There’s definitely some neat ideas there, it just needs polish.

Maps

As to the different towns and locations in this game to explore, there are many. This game is ambitious AF. As I said, it’s FULL of new ideas, features, things to do, and places to explore. Naljo is the region you explore in the main game, but post-game you can wander a whole new region of Rijon (the featured location of an older ROM hack, Pokemon Brown) and beat all the gyms there. In addition, there’s a few towns in Kanto and Johto you can visit (I believe they originally planned to open up all of those regions eventually), AND one town in ANOTHER new region, Tunod. The game’s ambitiousness occasionally outpaces what it delivers, but that’s quite acceptable in my mind, since updates with additions to the game were originally planned. So, yes, there isn’t much to do post-game, but that’s largely because a lot of stuff was going to be added.

Back to the locations, though! It’s an important aspect of ROM hacks. Not everyone is good at designing a good town, with logical building placement, intuitive layouts, aesthetically pleasing locations, and interesting things to explore so it doesn’t feel totally plain and lacks character. I’m pleased to say this game does a great job of it, though. I should point out I have a terrible sense of direction and bad spatial memory. Despite that fact, I found myself remembering important features and where they were located– oh, the Move Deleter house is in Phacelia on the left, the bullet train is in Torenia– and that’s a good sign. Physical travel was not a sloggy chore, and it wasn’t bogged down in a confusing layout. Towns were memorable and fun to explore.

Pacing/Level Curve

Another thing ROM hacks can screw up, because it’s a tricky thing to do, is the challenge pacing. How many trainers? What teams do they have? What levels? Are the Gyms challenging without being insane? I actually Nuzlocked the main part of the game. In my opinion it was well-paced. There’s probably fewer trainers overall in this game than a standard Pokemon game. But it did not take me much extra grinding in the grass– and I was only doing that to play it safe for the Nuzlocke. And that’s GOOD. You shouldn’t have to do tons of grinding in the grass all the time just to have a reasonable shot at the gyms. Pokemon Uranium, sadly, seems to suffer from that issue. So, yeah, the pacing was very reasonable to me, good balance of fair and challenging.

… with one important note. Once you reach the League? Well, we could have used higher-levelled wild pokemon in the cave that served as the victory road. The highest in that cave was level 34 or so, and you were facing trainers with teams ~level 55. That’s a huge gap. Not everyone has the same play style. Some people like to do extra grinding before the Elites. Some people are Nuzlocking and may do extra grinding as a safety buffer. Some people might want to adjust their team & add a new pokemon to their team and need to grind them up from a lower level. For those cases, you NEED decently-levelled wild pokemon to grind on. So, yeah, I really do think the Seneca Caves wild pokemon need a level buff. It would also help with the level gap for the post-game. Trainers in Rijon are suddenly at levels 70ish and higher, and for some folks playing, that’s a bit much and they’d like to do a little grinding first.

Puzzles

This game has puzzles. You have been warned, lol. Apparently a lot of people found the number of puzzles a bit frustrating, or felt that some of them were excessively tricky or annoying. I find it very funny, because usually puzzles are my least favorite part of a pokemon game. But I really enjoyed the puzzles in Prism and didn’t find it annoying or offputting at all. I was sick with a cold through most of my play of Prism, and yet even in my dumb brainaddled state, I didn’t find the puzzles too difficult. I solved them all at a pretty average length of time, even the ones some people traditionally found a little unclear or confusing. (the Ruins puzzle often confuses folks, apparently, but I really didn’t have a problem with it at all.) I was briefly confused on one of the switch puzzles (and it contained an element of bad puzzle design imo– there’s a gap that you can leap down into when normally a gap of that size just gives the ‘run into wall’ sound and is not passable) but not for too long. Even the ice slide puzzles, which I traditionally hate with a passion, were not bad!

All except for one thing. The Magikarp Puzzle. Anyone who has played Prism knows what I mean. Haha, fuck that puzzle man. Even the creator of the ROM hack himself has acknowledged the puzzle was not great, heh. To be honest, I find it kind of hilarious, in a way, though. I mean, obviously it’s a nightmarishly difficult and frustrating puzzle and is intensely exhausting to look at, let alone try to solve. But it’s also kinda glorious in its demonicness. I didn’t spend too much time on it before just looking up a solution to it. It’s tedious and not fun at all, and hey, that’s OK, because even the creator realized that.

pls nerf magikarp

But seriously, outside of the magikarp puzzle, I didn’t just enjoy the puzzles in this game– I felt like they were an important part of what gave this game its character.

Fakemon

There are even a few fakemon in this game! Which I was excited to learn because I thought there weren’t! All of the fakemon are Legenderies. Unfortunately, I don’t care for most of their designs. Like, at all. I think Varaneous and Libabeel’s sprites look really, really shitty. They’re ugly and don’t match the style of Pokemon at all. This feels weird to say, since I love so much about this game, but man, there’s just no way around it, I hate ‘em. Everyone has their own tastes, of course. There’s a couple fakemon I have yet to capture– I’m finishing that up now and the very very last of the post-game. But one fakemon I did capture and ADORE LIKE NO OTHER is Phancero.

I happen to know about Phancero’s designer, because I saw their design years ago. They apparently were approached by the team and were asked permission for the use of the design, which is awesome. I won’t rant again about Phancero here because I already ranted about it before, and literally could keep ranting for pages. :P But yeah, it’s a totally creative and awesome pokemon both in idea and execution, and by FAR my favorite fakemon ever created.

Conclusion

This is the best ROM hack I have played in years and probably ever. I haven’t played hundreds of ROM hacks, but I have probably played dozens over the years. I think they are a creative and wonderful expression of the pokemon community, but let’s be honest. There’s a lot of really bad ROM hacks out there. There’s even more ROM hacks that have a lot of potential but are never finished or anywhere near completion. (And that’s perfectly understandable. People run out of time, they have real life get in the way, etc.) The fact that not only did a ROM hack of this caliber get made, but was 95-99% completed? Is fantastic. It was an intensely massive project and I cannot begin to imagine how much work it must have been. Pokemon games are normally developed by an entire team at a company, and folks are paid to do it. The comparatively small team of devs who made this game in their spare time and implemented these amazing things had to do it all on their own. It’s no wonder it took as long as it did for them to finish it; and the amount of effort SHOWS. There is so much loving attention to detail and polish to Prism. (I mean, yes, there’s still some bugs and the occasional unfinished bits, but of course there are, those were going to be finished, but then the C&D hit)

Most ROM hacks are just strong in a few areas, because it’s one or two people who have strengths or interests in a few things. So, you’ll play a hack with a really good story but terrible fakemon and mapping, or you’ll play a hack with fantastic designs of new areas, but no new story, etc. Prism kinda has everything, though. It really did feel like playing a new Gen 2 game.

(It’s now almost 11pm and oh god where did the time go. I have a problem with being concise. :P This was far longer than I intended but thank you if you’ve read this far!)

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Jan 17, 2017.

#pokemon #pokemon prism #pokemon fan games #pokemon rom hacks #mycontent #spoilers #pokemon reviews

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 4 years ago

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Is It Really THAT Bad?

Dr. Seuss is no stranger to cinematic adaptations, and even less of a stranger to animation. And whenever Seuss gets animated, you can typically expect good things, as opposed to when his work is live action, in which case you can expect…

Yeah…

Anyway, imagine the excitement people must have felt when the creative team behind Despicable Me and the writing team behind the underrated gem Horton Hears a Who got together to do a fresh new take on The Lorax! This was in Illumination’s heyday, before they ended up showcasing that they’re more interested in churning out cheap products for maximum profit, so there was plenty of hope that this could be good. Then came all the commercial tie-ins.

youtube

Now, this alone shouldn’t be indicative of the final product. Maybe stuff like this is just a bunch of suits horribly missing the point of the original story! Maybe the actual film will be better! Well… while the film was no flop, and while it certainly got a better reception than most of the films I’ve talked about here, the film was derided by many for being an extremely shallow and lacking adaptation that adds unneeded junk to a story that didn’t need it in such a way that ultimately dilutes the message. It turns a story that operated on shades of gray and turned it into a cartoonish spectacle that would make even Captain Planet blush. Not helping was the rabid fanbase on Tumblr who shipped the Once-ler with… himself… or Jack Frost… forever tainting the film in the eyes of those on the internet.

Things got so bad eventually even the [REDACTED] Critic reviewed the film in his usual over-the-top, accentuate the negative style, and as some people still treat his word as gospel, this has most likely colored the perception of the film. So while it’s certainly not to the same level of infamy as the usual subjects of Is It Really THAT Bad? I still wanted to put this movie on here and ask one simple question:

How ba-ah-ah-ad can it be?

THE GOOD

So let me just get it out of the way: the movie’s villain song, “How Bad Can I Be,” legitimately is awesome and is frankly one of the best villain songs ever. No, I’m not kidding. It’s just a fun, rocking number with some neat visuals, and while it’s a shame the cut rock opera-esque “Biggering” is probably the better song, this one is definitely more fun and meme-worthy. Shake that bottom line!

youtube

Now, the casting is, for the most part, pretty fantastic. Minor characters like the grandma played by Betty White are a lot of fun, but really, the main piece of awesome casting is Danny DeVito as the titular Seuss creation. DeVito as the Lorax is just so incredible, perfect, and inspired that it boggles the mind how anyone could possibly come up with such amazing casting.

As far as antagonizing forces in the film go, the Once-ler’s awful, vile family are enjoyable in a “love to hate” sort of way. While it’s certainly kind of iffy that they felt the need to give the Once-ler more of an excuse for his actions beyond just simple greed, it isn’t so bad that what they came up with was familial pressure. In fact, they’re actually much better at antagonists than O’Hare, the actual villain of the film, and the fact the movie give him so much focus despite having such fascinating characters that would have had a really great thematic purpose; hell, they should have been the rulers of Thneedville instead og O’Hare! There’s so much untapped potential with these, quite frankly, very interesting characters.

I guess I should say the Once-ler is a pretty decent character in and of himself, but he very much suffers from the same problem the Jim Carrey Grinch does – he’s a good, enjoyable character in his own right, but he’s not a very good Once-ler. In fact, he at points borders on “in name only” territory. Still, he does have a pretty solid arc, and that villain song slaps, so… I think he’s solid, and Ed Helms does a good job voicing him.

THE BAD

Jon Lajoie, while in character as his misogynistic moron rapper MC Vagina, said this:

When I first heard this lyric, I didn’t understand it… but his words were a prophecy, because that is, in all honesty, the plot of this film. Our flavorless protagonist Ted really just wants to get the Truffula trees back so he can get into the pants of the local smoking hot redhead hippie, Audrey. It gets to the point where Ted’s motivations are so boring and shallow that Audrey actually would have made a far more interesting and compelling protagonist, seeing as she already has an inexplicable knowledge of the trees and cares about nature. When they already changed so much in the story I don’t see why they couldn’t just make the protagonist a girl while they were at it. As it is, she barely has any presence and feels like a waste, which becomes all the more awful when you know she’s being played by a stunt casted Taylor Swift instead of an actual voice actor or even an actor period. At least Ted is Zac Efron, an actual actor, though he doesn’t do a particularly good job himself.

Then we have our villain, O’Hare. O’Hare has all the subtlety of a Captain Planet villain but none of the cheesy goodness and fun. Sure, Rob Riggle does some good delivery and gives O’Hare some memetastic moments, and sure, his selling of canned air is oddly prescient of things that happened in real life in India (though technically President Skroob Spaceballs beat him to the punch by a few decades) but it doesn’t really redeem O’Hare from being an excessively weak villain who is shoehorned into the plot solely to turn the story into a black and white morality tale. It… doesn’t work at all. What also doesn’t help is that O’Hare has an absolutely repugnant character design, looking like if Edna Mode got mangled by a sixteen wheeler and left in a ditch on the side of the road.

Finally, this movie just doesn’t really respect the story to any great degree. As mentioned above, it waters down a story that presented arguments from both sides and, while still ultimately showing the Once-ler to be wrong and shortsighted, did have him make some valid points. Here, the story is presented as there being a clear cut good and evil in a horrendously unsubtle and unpalatable way. Yes, we get that extreme deforestation and overuse of resources is bad, you don’t need to beat us over the head with it. It doesn’t help that the film also crams in a bunch of cringeworthy pop culture humor that really doesn’t add much to the story; say what you will about the anime scene from Horton, at least there was a bit of substance and reason for it. Having characters sing the Mission: Impossible theme is just making a reference for the sake of making a reference.

Is It Really THAT Bad?

So I’m gonna say that I don’t particularly find this movie to be good, per se. It’s very dumbed down and more than a little undermined by the various brand tie ins. It is a poorly executed black and white morality tale that was crafted from a very deep and engaging piece of children’s literature, and on that level, I don’t think this movie works even a little bit. Still, there’s some enjoyment that can be mined from this, particularly from some of the more so bad it’s good moments, as well as DeVito’s performance and some actual good moments of story and character. There’s some stuff to like here if you dig a bit, but really, I don’t think you really should have to do a deep dig into The Lorax to get some enjoyment.

Overall, I wouldn’t really say this movie is totally bad, but it’s definitely not good, either; it veers more into the territory of “so bad it’s good,” which is a shame but also kind of refreshing. It’s definitely an interesting film to talk about, and there are a few things about it that work, but ultimately it’s not enough to really raise the film to the level of the classic animated Seuss adaptations or even to the level of Horton. At its best, it’s okay, and at its worst, it actively undermines its own messages. I think the 6.4 it has is pretty fair… maybe a bit too fair, if I’m being honest. I’d give it something like a 5.7 or 5.8.

Again, it’s not the worst thing ever like some might tell you; hell, the adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas Illumination would go on to make is probably a worse movie. But it still doesn’t really do anything that adds to the story its telling, and it ultimately comes off as saccharine, forgettable childish fluff. It’s really a harmless movie, but it’s still probably gonna grate on anyone who holds the original story in high esteem. The {REDACTED] Critic was a bit hyperbolic in his review, but I do think he was right in principle. This movie feels like a calculated, corporate adaptation meant to be as inoffensive and marketable as possible much like every Illumination film post-Despicable Me. And if there’s one thing The Lorax shouldn’t be, it’s “inoffensive and marketable.”

#Is it really that bad?#IIRTB #review #movie review #The Lorax #Dr. Seuss #animation #animated movie #Illumination

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multsicorn · 4 years ago

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book-and-show

My preferred mix of the two canons is basically ‘The Untamed, but Wei Wuxian lost control of his zombies by his own goddamned self, and also plot/logic holes are taped over by explanations from the book when needed and possible. And we know that wangxian are together and will be married, but we're left with spaces to fill in the details.’ (One of the cool/interesting things about having multiple versions of a canon is that one can mix and match!) But there are definitely things that I prefer, separately, about each.

[two very long lists. all of which are all about personal opinions/preferences, and none of which are looking to start discourse!]

Eight Things I liked better about the show:

1. "Who am I to you?" "I had thought, that you were the one who knew me for my whole life." "Still, I am." is *twenty zillion times* more romantic than a stolen blindfold kiss, in a way that pretty much encapsulates why I so much prefer show to novel wangxian overall. And in this TED talk - I mean, in another post, hopefully, in not too long, I will.

2. Lan Wangji's explicit questioning of and overturning his understanding of 'what is right, and what is wrong,' rather than simply being motivated by 'if loving Wei Wuxian is wrong, then screw everything else.'

3. Introducing so very many characters earlier in the chronological timeline, and showing us more about them and their relationships prior to Wei Wuxian's death - and outside of the key moments in which they're involved in the plot. Wen Qing and Wen Ning, Jiang Yanli, Mianmian, Songxiao, Xue Yang, Meng Yao - this list could also be its own post.

4. More focus on the Sunshot Campaign and its aftermath, pre-death, specifically on the period when Wei Wuxian is the feared necromancer, and he and his loved ones are dealing with that, against a background of war and then possibly more war. It's by far my favorite part of the narrative, just because of my preferences re: genres, so I appreciate it being foregrounded rather than just a backstory that's shown in flashbacks.

5. The successive confrontations between Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji over 'leaving the right path'! ��In the courtyard, when Lan Wangji pulls Bichen on Wei Wuxian to make him listen; in the sad umbrella rain, when Wei Wuxian holds Chenqing out in front of him, defying Lan Wangji's efforts to rein him in. These things probably fall under the umbrella of the TED talk from the first point, but they're the beating heart of WHY I LOVE THIS STORY. And they're not even in the novel...! I thank the CQL team for my life.

6. Also, THE COMB STORY. I'd never have thought either that 'how do we improve an m/m romance novel? By adding a het romance subplot, of course,' but the fact is that I love the dimension it adds to both Jiang Cheng's and Wen Qing's stories. Highlighting their shared loyalty to their clans - except not shared, because they're from different clans! - but their shared *understanding* of what righteousness, justice, etc., is, and the way it leads to their tragedies, and the way it's a counterpoint to Wei Wuxian's and Lan Wangji's different and ultimately shared understanding of 'what is right' and the way *that* brings *them* together is just... so good. I am getting over it approximately never, and, again, it's show-original.

7. And I think the last big thing - other than, the acting's wonderful, imo, the visuals are great, (even the 'bad' special effects? I like 'em kinda ridiculous?), and when the prose-in-translation of all versions is iffy at best, (not judging MXTX's prose! or the scriptwriters'! but I unfortunately cannot read or understand it) it's REALLY NICE to have other major dimensions of the story that aren't lost or diminished in translation. Honestly, I am only watching cdramas and not reading cnovels (I only read MDZS so I'd know what's in it) for that reason alone. But in terms of *story* stuff -

8. I think that censoring wangxian's relationship down to the '(really really loud) subtext' level counterintuitively also makes the rest of the story seem considerably gayer. If wangxian exists in hints and looks and narrative parallels etc., then likewise, so do the 3zun and Yi City triangles. Not as much as wangxian, but they're more minor characters, and they're on the same continuum... to the extent that I legit thought that songxiao and xiyao would also be novel canon. (They are not.) If Wei Wuxian shocking Lan Wangji by showing him gay porn in the library, and commenting on Lan Wangji's beauty, is because he is actually into guys, then maybe Nie Huaisang lending Wei Wuxian that same porn, and also commenting on Lan Wangji's beauty, means the same thing, if that's all we have to go on. etc.

Nine Things I liked better about the book:

1. There's something about Wei Wuxian's narrative voice, the running commentary that he gives about others and most of all himself that is... funny? Yes, it is, but that's not the part I love. It's hard to pin down, but the pattern of the things he judges and the things he doesn't judge at all, even though maybe he should, but he really has so much empathy - in the literal sense, I mean, as well as the magical - is very specific and endearing? He's exactly like that in the show, too, but we hear much less of it when he's not telling the story.

2. Getting to hear A-Qing in her Empathy fleshes out her cleverness and her bravery, again, in a way that's not easy to replicate seeing it from outside of her head. (I think we may have more of all of the ducklings/juniors, actually, but I'm just not all that interested in their friendly banter. Not when there's life-rending trauma in the OG of the same story!)

3. From the chronological start of the story, the Wens' domination and power-hunger is portrayed in a realpolitik way that's both more interesting and fits the rest of the story better, with the Jins later filling that same vacuum, and fearing Wei Wuxian's potential to do the same sort of thing to them, etc., as chronologically following and competing different takes on the struggle for power, without any need for the flat fantasy mcguffins of the Yin Iron or the 'spirit snatch.'

4. Wei Wuxian ~appreciating~ Nie Mingjue's dead body parts is hliarious. I love him hanging out with the corpse girls. I love the Wens risingout of the blood pool for him ;___;. Overall his relationship withthe corpses that he magics is such a cool weird fun part of the book,that is missing in the show except his friendship with Wen Ning for'let's make a show about necromancy but pretend it's not' reasons.

5. The fact that Wangxian don't split up and go their own ways at the end of the story, even temporarily! I could go either way on 'Lan Wangji becomes Chief Cultivator' - I like the way that it moves into 'the future will be better than the past, and we'll work to make it that way', in the same way that 'the kids are alright' does, and the fact that Lan Wangji hates diplomacy and is bad at it can make for good amusing stories! But I also approve of the fact that the personal win condition for so very many of these characters is to peace right the fuck out of sect politics, (like Mianmian our true hero does <3), and I believe in that as a happy ending.

6. Wei Wuxian's and Lan Wangji's complementary ~ravishment~ kinks. I don't like the exact way they're written in the novel (and extras), but I *will* take and run with the existence of them, nevertheless.

7. The post-resurrection plot makes, um, sense? Let's not forget the importance of that! (But, honestly, 'must a plot make sense'? It's not all that important to me, lol.) Going from one place to another to collect the pieces of 'our dead friend's' body rather than seemingly at random makes the journey feel purposeful rather than direction-less, and gives an indication of progress that's not simply 'amount of the story read as per chapter count.' Though it's still not clear to me why the juniors squad needs to be in Yi City!

8. It has more of Wei Wuxian's inventiveness. Whether founding the Diabolic Path rather than 'just' inventing some tools and talismans within and also outside of it, or figuring out/explaining how some sort of magic works, whether lecturing to the juniors or working it out for himself, or something like that one night-hunting extra where he's being a supernatural consulting detective... it's fun to see more of his ~mind at work,~ in a way that doesn't fit as well either into an audiovisual medium or under the constraints of 'what is happening? definitely not corpse magic!' that censorship imposes.

9. The structure of revealing what happened in (what I can't help thinking of as) the main portion of the plot - who Wei Wuxian is, what his life story is, and Lan Wangji's part in it - through interleaved and not even necessarily in-order flashbacks is... so interesting? Unfortunately I can't tell how well it would've worked for me in terms of changing my understandings of characters etc., because I watched the show before I read the book, so I came to it knowing the outlines of the story. But it's a cool idea, and I wish that I could experience it properly! (Though I would never have read the book without watching the show first, I would've failed out at the start due to translation issues and then if I'd persisted past that due to all the gay chicken stuff.)

#the untamed #this is sufficiently show-slanted #i believe #that i'm not gonna put it in any of the other tags....

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royallyprincesslilly · 5 years ago

Text

Title: Going Through Motions{7}

Title: Going Through Motions {7}***

Steve Rogers X Reader OFC Korral “Korri” Evans

Warning: Plot, Cursing, Angst, SMUTTY SMUT SMUT, NSFW

Word Count: 5.5K

Summary: You and Steve had a hot, passionate, and wild romance seven years ago when you worked with the Avengers. It was the best year of your life; you’d never felt the things you’d felt in all your life. Then out of nowhere, Steve just ended things—in a letter. A heartbreaking letter, then the world deemed him a criminal, and he disappeared. Now, you’ve moved on and have gotten engaged to rich man Marc Spector. Tony brings you back to work with the newly rebuilt Avengers that is still led by Captain America who is definitely done asking for permission and not looking for forgiveness. Or is he?

Note: So, for this fic, we are going to alter the MCU timeline a bit. This takes place after Civil War, but Infinity War has not happened yet. Steve is off the grid for seven years before he comes back. {I know that’s a long time, but let me rock please} Also, I’m going to be introing/adding in Moon Knight (Marc Spector) in just because I feel like it and I want to start exploring other Marvel characters and of course I will twist him to serve my purposes.

**Loosely Edited/Proofread

~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Korral-

“It’s hyrolomed.” Everyone in the room looked at one another as you began your brief.

“Hydrolomed? The virus we found in Zemo’s lab?” You nodded. “One in the same.”

“What would she want with it?” You got up and walked to the cannister and stood behind it taking care not to touch it. while in the cannister, it was harmless but you didn’t want to risk it. This stuff was nasty.

“According to Zemo’s research, this is a deadly geno modified virus he weaponized that has the potential to be a catastrophic world ender. His notes say he never got to the testing stages in anything but primates in an enclosed environment. Subject A became a carrier but not infected until one hundred and forty-four hours, otherwise six days. After six days subject A began became a host carrier. Upon skin contact, the virus was transmitted. The virus spread within the primates to full infection within hours. Subject A died on day seven, and the others seven days from their infection.”

The room was quiet as everyone absorbed what you’d just said. “It’s a good thing we got it back before she got away with it,” Marc said.

“Makes me angry she got away,” Wanda expressed. “Well that doesn’t matter, thanks to the shackles it was easy to get some blood, and we ran it through every database. We now know who she is,” Tony informed. Images filled the screens.

“Her name is Tilda Johnson, aka Nightshade. She used to be a genius scientist but has always had a quite iffy relationship with right and wrong. She created a werewolf formula, her nifty little melt through you gloves among other little toxins. She went straight for a little while before going back to her old ways. Now she’s a mercenary for hire.”

“Who hired her? Steve’s voice spoke up. You fought to remain aloof. “That we still don’t know.”

Tony walked toward you and took the tablet. “We have to find out who she works for before she comes back with some friends to try to get this again. I’ve told Ross that I can keep it safer than they ever could so it will be here, and we will be watching and waiting. They will come.”

Everyone began filing out the room. Marc walked to you and took your hand. “Are you okay?” You smiled and nodded. “Just tired.” He kissed your cheek, and you tried not to shudder. Since the night with Steve in the shower, it had become increasingly difficult to let Marc touch you. Every time he kissed you, you got flashes of your impromptu tryst when he touched your body you saw Steve’s hands when he took you to bed and rocked between your legs you relived the night with Steve. It was torture. You felt horrible. Marc didn’t deserve what you’d done to him, he was a good man, and he’d been nothing but good to you.

“I have to fly out to Washington tonight; I have meetings for the next few days. Want to come with me?” You sighed, you wanted to say yes, but you didn’t know if you could keep things straight within yourself. You worried every time thinking you’d let something slip, either calling him Steve’s name when he brought you to your climax or imagine Steve while he was on top of you. You didn’t think you could trust yourself. “I can’t. Unfortunately, I’m needed here. I wish I could.” Marc nodded and laced his fingers with yours. You stared at your entwined hands. It was strange two months ago all you saw was him. Two months ago you’d resigned yourself to a life with him; he was a good choice. Looking back into his face you forced yourself to not think about the part of you that had always haunted you, the part that hadn’t fully commit.

“I understand. Promise me you’ll get some rest, and I mean actually get some rest.” You smiled. “I promise.” Marc kissed you softly then moaned. “I’m going to miss you.” His words only made you feel worse.

You were a cheating, lying slut. You’d betrayed him in the worst possible way, and you’d done it with him. In the early stages of your relationship, Marc had asked you about your last relationship. You hadn’t told him it was with Captain America himself. Instead, you gave him the gist of things and eluded it ended amicably. What a crock of shit. It hadn’t ended amicably. You’d cried, and hurt for months, years. Hell, when you met Marc, you were still hurting, and perhaps he helped distract you from that hurt, but before you moved in together you’d often wake from dreams with tears streaming down your face.

“Walk me down?” You nodded and left your hand in his as you walked out of the room. As the elevator took its trip down to the lobby you saw Steve going down. You watched his stride, even that had changed, but only slightly. He was slightly bow-legged, and every step he took his toes pointed to the side, it was the sexiest thing. You felt your stomach flutter, and you took a breath trying to calm your rising anxieties. “Does that sound good?” Your head snapped to Marc. You hadn’t heard a thing he said. “Uh, let’s see, yeah.” He walked out before you and took your hand as you walked out the front door. Steve stopped at the glass but didn’t walk outside. “Take it easy, Captain,” Marc said with a smile. Steve nodded once but kept the sternness in his jaw and features.

Once outside, Marc turned to you, clasped his hands on your cheeks and kissed you, pulling you against his body. You felt his hand snake down to your backside before he squeezed. Your moan caught you off guard and just as his hand did. Marc quickly took control and intensified the kiss. He moaned on your lips; he held you so tightly. You knew Steve was standing there most likely watching. Pulling your lips from his you took a breath. “Oh my god, Marc--.” He smiled and kissed you again then dropped his lips to your neck, the same spot Steve kissed. “I’m sorry, I’m going to miss you. I literally want to sneak you back inside.” He lifted your leg and wrapped it around his back. You moaned and allowed him to kiss you once more before he pulled back.

“Can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with you. you’re amazing.” You felt like a world-class asshole, but you had to keep yourself in check. His car pulled up, and he kissed you again, then your forehead. “Five days,” Marc said. You nodded. “Five days, be safe.” Marc smiled and got into the car. As he drove off you watched his car disappear. You knew you should go back inside, but you knew the minute you turned around he would be right there. You couldn’t do this right now. You walked back inside and avoided his eyes like the plague.

“Korral.” Ignoring him, you scurried to the elevator and pressed the call button. As if sensing the need to fuck with you, it took forever. “Come on!” Somehow you knew he was coming closer. “Korral.” Finally, the elevator doors opened, and you rushed onto it. Just when you thought you were home free, Steve stepped onto the elevator just as the doors closed, sealing your fate. “Really, so you ignore and avoid me for a week then you try to run. Korri.” Steve took a step to you, and you backed up. “Steve, stop.” As if hitting a glass wall, he automatically stopped and dropped his hands to his side. “Let’s talk.” You shook your head and stared at the indicator watching the numbers increase. “There is nothing to talk about.” Taking another step to you, you staggered to the other side of the elevator. You didn’t trust yourself being in such close proximity to him. You could smell him, and just that was wreaking havoc on your emotions.

You’d thought you were over all of this. You thought you’d move on and that you were way past this being possible. Somehow you thought that even if he did come home that you’d be able to look at him and feel nothing, speak to him and not remember anything and be close to him and remain in control. What a big fucking joke, you thought. That lasted literally weeks, weeks and you’d busted it down already. “What do you mean there’s nothing to talk about? We have a lot to talk about. Let me explain. We have to talk about that--.” You cleared your throat in an obnoxious way, intentionally overriding his voice. “Shh, be quiet. We can’t talk about this here. Are you kidding!”

Steve took a deep breath and leaned his back against the glass of the elevator. “We have to talk though Korri.” Every time he said your name, it gave you chills and flashbacks of all the times he’d said it. Every intimate moment sped through your mind, and with it came the feelings. The elevator doors opened, and you wasted no time rushing off it and down the hall. When you turned the corner, you looked back and saw him glaring at you. You had no idea what you were going to do.

That night as you laid in your bed staring at the ceiling, you had no idea why you didn’t just go back to the city. No matter what Tony said about it being smarter for everyone to stay at the compound in case of an attack because the cannister was there. His priority was the virus canister. You knew that was the only priority, but you were going through a crisis. You couldn’t sleep, truth be told you were afraid to sleep, afraid you’d have salacious dreams. The catch was you didn’t know who you’d dream about or who you wanted to dream about.

Everyone had dinner together, everyone but you. You took your food back to your office and tried to get some work done. You didn’t know if anyone suspected anything and part of you didn’t care. After you ate you took a turn in the gym hoping to burn off the anxious energy that was bouncing around in your body. After nearly two hours of going to the max, you were still wired. You then stared at your shower for almost thirty minutes before you swallowed the nerves and used it. It was the quickest shower of your life. Now you were still awake at nearly two in the morning.

Groaning you sat up and stared out the window. You took up your robe and wrapped it around yourself as you walked to your balcony. The property around the compound was private and quiet and you loved the contrast to the noisy city. Usually, when you slept here you got the best sleep of your life, but tonight you were shit out of luck.

“What the hell did you do Korral?” You sat there quietly for several long minutes just enjoying the sound of nature and the silence of the night. Though it was dead silent, you almost missed the barely-there knock at your door. Piquing your ears, you listened closer and there it was again, tap-tap, pause, tap-tap-tap-tap. Your breath caught, you knew this knock, you’d heard it every night for a year. Frozen still you sat there just staring at the door, again the knock came. tap--tap, pause, tap-tap-tap-tap. Slowly you walked into the room and across to the door. You didn’t speak; you just listened pressing your ear to the cold door. You couldn’t deny the part of yourself that wanted to fling open the door. Nor could you ignore the part of you that wanted to throw yourself in his arms, but what came next. There was no going back. It was impossible, too much time had passed, too much had happened. He knocked again this time the softest of all; tap--tap, pause, tap-tap-tap-tap. You could hear the hesitation in it, normally he came off smug so self-assured but this knock screamed vulnerability.

Your hands moved of their own accord, turning the knob and opening the door. As you did you saw him taking steps away from your door back down the hall. Steve paused and glanced over his shoulder back to you. Leaning your head against the jamb you felt the colossal mistake you were making, but it was as if you were watching a movie play out completely unable to push stop. Shit, you didn’t know if you even really wanted to. Neither of you spoke, you just stared. The war within you raged on, and he waited. After a few minutes, you took a few steps back into your room leaving the door open. Steve slowly walked to you until he crossed the threshold and closed the door behind him.

All of a sudden, it was the two of you alone in the room you’d practically lived in together, and it felt entirely too small. Pressing your back to the cool glass doors of your balcony you watched him as he walked toward the bookshelf. He perused the books there absentmindedly, then turned to lean against it and again stared at you. The only light in the room was that of the glow of the moon. Your eyes roamed over his figure, his white men’s tank that showcased his incredible shoulders and arms, the lite colored sweatpants that hugged his powerful thighs and teased his thick manhood straining and begging for your attention, then down to his bare feet. God, you couldn’t believe you were wet. With that thought, Steve slowly stalked toward you; every step he took you only got wetter. You wanted him. You should have felt shame, but you couldn’t muster it.

Once he stopped in front of you, his eyes scanned every detail of your face before they dropped to the gape of your robe and down your body. Hesitantly, he took the final steps closing the space between your bodies; his hand gripped your hip pulling you into his body. Releasing a breathy gasp, you instinctively grabbed his triceps. Steve softly touched your cheek tipping your chin higher, so you looked into his eyes. You saw pain, sadness, shame and something else that you didn’t dare think about. “I’m sorry,” Steve began. Shaking your head, you clasped your hand over his mouth to silence him.

“Don’t—just don’t say them.” He kissed your palm and moved his head to trail kisses around your wrist then over each finger. “Then what do you want me to say Korri?” You watched his lips move across your hand then grazed your fingers against his beard covered jaw. It was soft and full and absolutely sexy. Your fingers led to his lips and traced them, remembering the feel of them. “Nothing, don’t say anything.” You felt his hand trail from your hip, over your stomach to the knot of the robe. Your breath caught, and you should have felt panic, but you didn’t. His hand paused there as his eyes searched yours. You should have pulled away and told him to get out, and you should have said no this is wrong, but you didn’t.

Steve loosened the knot and slid his hand inside the material to graze the back of his hand against the skin of your hip. You clenched your bottom lip between your teeth and felt the goosebumps prickle your skin. He pushed the robe aside, revealing you to his eyes. Steve groaned as his greedy eyes drank every inch of you up. You always loved the way he looked at you, always loved the way your belly always did somersaults whenever he was close. Now it felt like torture, the best torture, torture that felt good. “Korri you are so beautiful. There was not a day that went by that I didn’t dream of touching you, of being here like this with you.” They sounded like beautiful lies, the lies of a man who broke your heart, lies of a man your body still yearned for. Closing your eyes for a moment you shook off his empty words, words he couldn’t mean, words you wanted to believe more than anything. “Korri--.” You slapped your hand over his mouth again, this time more forcefully. “No talking.” His eyes darkened, and before you knew it his lips were against yours. God, a simple kiss should not elicit so much desire in you, especially a kiss from a man who was not your fiancée.

Steve moaned on you and pressed your back more forcefully into the glass door. You could feel his hardness pressing against your stomach. Steve dipped down, grabbed your thigh, and lifted you into his arms. Wrapping your legs around his waist, you sunk your fingers into his hair and moaned while he expertly kissed you. You’d been his first all those years ago. In the 40s when he began his journey as Captain America he’d been a scrawny thing, one that women quickly looked over then came his deep freeze and reentry into a modern world. At the time you couldn’t believe he’d never had the opportunity. He’d told you he had plenty of opportunities but didn’t want to, he didn’t see a need, until you.

Seven years later, he was not an amateur. He kissed like a man; held you like a man. When his lips left yours to trail to your neck your desires betrayed you in the sign of an audible moan. Your head swung back granting him more access to your neck, access to fully take advantage of by sinking his teeth into the nape of your neck. The pressure was everything you needed, but you needed more. Rocking against him for any friction Chris lifted you high then sucked your nipple into his mouth. “Fuck!” as he licked, sucked and flicked the hardened peak his body held you firmly against the glass surface while his free hand kneaded your other breast. When he squeezed your flesh tightly your groan echoed in the room.

Soon his head was traveling lower while he lifted you higher. Before you knew what was happening, Steve’s head was between your legs with you hoisted several feet into the air. He held you where the back of your thigh met your ass and spread your legs wider so he could delve into your folds with more freedom. “Aaah!” His mouth against your sex felt so good—too good. You planted your heels onto his shoulders and began bucking your hips, riding his face. Steve moaned and picked up the speed and urgency of his mouth. There was no method to his claiming of you, no sequence, no repetition that you could get used to so you’d expect, it was pure chaos and desperation and that in itself was a method, it was a technique one that drove you crazy in a matter of minutes. Gripping his head more tightly you pressed his head onto your sex and panted while your orgasm ripped through you. “Aaaa, yes, yes, Steve!”

The sound that came from his mouth was one you’d never heard before, one that sounded more animal than man. He walked to the bed and dropped you onto it before he hovered over your body kissing you, allowing you to taste yourself. You moaned into his mouth and clawed at the shirt across his back. Without pulling his lips from yours, Steve peeled his shirt over his head. Your feet anxiously pushed at the waistband of his sweats as your fingers relished the feel of his toned back. You didn’t even realize when he’d peeled off the material until you felt his hardened flesh bob against your thigh. Your core clenched already anxious to feel him. Steve finally tore his lips from yours then thrust into you in one full, forceful snap of his hips. You released a strangled gasp arching your back off the bed completely as your body convulsed and clenched around him.

He didn’t thrust again; he rotated his hips so his thick, member touched every wall inside you. When he grazed the tight bundle of nerves within you, your nails found sunk into his back. Steve hissed then slammed into you again. “Holy Shit!” The way he took you then was gentle but passionate, he always seemed in control, but now there was no gentleness or hesitation. The way he claimed control of your body spoke of experience, authority, and power. Every time his hips stroked forward the fire in you blazed hotter and hotter until you felt the burn all over your body. Steve grunted and moaned not caring who heard, shit you didn’t care either. Touching his bearded cheek again your eyes met. He kissed the palm of your hand again before he pushed your arms back to the bed, holding them down by the wrist with one of his large hands. Hoisting your backside off the bed with the other, he held you suspended in the air and drilled into you.

You screamed at the new angle, unable to control your eyes rolling to the back of your head. his moans became gruffer as you lied there and took all of him. Steve let your wrist go and held on to your hips as he directed you onto his need. “Aaah, Korri!” Hearing your name on his lips brought out a fresh wave of desire. You gripped him behind his neck and used it as leverage to pull your body from the bed locking your legs around his back. Steve groaned and sunk back remaining on his knees. You straddled him and took control, rocking your hips back and forth then into half circles. Every rotation your hips made he squeezed tighter as if trying to hold you in place.

When you began bouncing on his lap, you started slow, but after a few moments, Steve was thrusting his hips up meeting each of your dips. After the first few connections, you allowed yourself to fully feel your need for him, allowed yourself to fully be present and when you gave yourself that permission your body rewarded you. Every time your breasts bounced Steve bit down onto your nipple then released it and every time he released it he thrust harder into your heat. In a matter of minutes, you were a panting, moaning and shaking mess. “Look at me, Korri.” It wasn’t a request; it was an order spoken in the voice of Captain America. Your eyes peered into his, and your heart lurched. His mouth was open, and you could hear the shallow pants escaping him.

Steve squeezed your waist, slowing your circling hips to a near tortoise pace. He grounded his hips along with yours. Your body wanted more, but when you tried to speed up his easily stopped you with his strength. Every second you stared into his eyes the closer and closer you came to saying something you knew you’d regret. He lifted you to a few inches off his lap then rose to his knees and plowed into you with a quickness that pulled another orgasm from you. You screeched with the force of the pleasure whipping through you as Steve’s hips show you just how your body needed to be claimed, how it has always should have been claimed. When he grunted louder you knew he’d reached his point of no return. You felt his release coat your walls, and even that felt incredible. You held on to his body afraid if you let go he’d disappear, and you’d wake up to find it was a dream, and he was gone. Slowly your back came down onto the mattress, but you didn’t release him. Steve kissed your ear, along your jaw, your cheek, neck, and shoulders and held just as tightly to you.

“Korri, I’m sorry.”

With those words, reality came crashing down on you once again. It brought everything back including the pain. You groaned and untangled your fingers from his hair and put your hand between your bodies and began pushing him away. Steve didn’t budge, so you pushed more forcefully. “Stop, get off.” He didn’t, and it made you angrier, making you rebel more. No matter how hard you pushed him or tried to separate yourself from him he wouldn’t move, he just held you closer. “Stop darlin’; just stop. Let me explain.” There was nothing to explain, nothing to talk about. You pushed him again and grunted when he didn’t move back. “Steve, get off me! I don’t want to listen. I don’t need your explanations or any more of your lies. Just get off of me!”

“I did lie to you. I told you the worst lie I’ve ever told, and I am so sorry darlin.” You stopped resisting and lied still. “What? What’re you talking about!?” You felt wetness against your neck and heard him sniffle. Was he crying? You pushed at his body again, and he pulled back. You felt a drop land on your breast—a tear. Steve pulled away from you and slid to the foot of the bed before he rubbed his face, then raked his fingers through his hair to the back of his neck. In the moonlit room, you saw a haunted look on his face. Curiosity filled you. What was he talking about? Why was he crying? Was he about to tell you that your entire relationship was a lie? Was he about to tell you once and for all he’d lied about loving you?

“What’re you talking about Steve?” His eyes landed on you, and he looked as if he were struggling. He bolted from the bed and paced the space at the foot of your bed. Your eyes couldn’t help but roam his perfect, lean body. The thought of the power he held in him was enough to make you want him again. You groaned and grabbed the sheet beside you to cover yourself. When you looked back to him he was engulfed in darkness. “I lied to you.” rolling your eyes you sighed out. “No shit, you lied to me for an entire year every time you told me you loved me!”

Steve lunged toward the foot of the bed out of the darkness into the light of the moon. “I have never lied about that, Korri!” The intensity in his eyes was bright; he sauntered over to you and sat before you filling his palm with your cheek. “That is the one thing I meant with everything in me.” his forehead pressed to yours and then his nose nuzzled yours before his lips claimed yours in another scorching kiss. The passion you felt clouded your head and made you forget for a few moments. You pulled away. “You’re a liar! Your letter said--.” He kissed you again. “Lies Korri. How could they have been anything but. You can’t fake what we have; you can’t fake any of this. I loved you more than I’ve ever loved anything.”

Your head was spinning. You didn’t know if you could believe him, didn’t understand at all. “You said you didn’t love me; you said it had always been Peggy.” You didn’t realize you were crying until his thumbs wiped at your cheeks. “No. I was so obsessed with her then. I loved her, yes, but Korri with you I’ve never loved like this.” Gaping at him you couldn’t believe your ears. Nothing made sense.

“You’re lying! God, stop lying, Steve!” Pushing him away, you moved from him scurrying to the opposite side of the bed. Once there you stood and glared at him. “I’m not lying darlin’. That letter was bullshit.” Your jaw dropped, and so did a new wave of tears. He made up his face and tried to cross over to you, but you evaded him and rushed to the bookshelf. “What does that mean? What the fuck does that mean!?”

“I had to write it Korri. I knew that if I left and you knew I didn’t want to, and that I would love you for the rest of my life you’d have followed me. You would have dropped everything and gone with me. You would have lived the life I lived with the danger, the blood, the pain, the darkness. I knew you’d never accept anything else.” Your heart froze as a plethora of thoughts raced through your mind. You remained silent for longer than you intended. “What’re you saying, Steve?”

He raked his fingers through his hair again and approached you slowly and cautiously like you were a skittish gazelle. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, it meant nothing. I didn’t feel that way. None of it was true.” Your breath hitched again, and your heart sank. Try as you did you couldn’t catch a breath. All that kept coming to your mind was that he lied, he lied to you though he swore he never would. Steve touched your hand softly. You swatted it away and moved again.

“You lied to me? You fucking lied to me, Steve? How—how could—do you know what—oh my god! You son of a bitch!” Again, he tried to touch you and yet again you hit his hand away. “What the fuck Steve! You didn’t know that. You didn’t know what I would have done!” Turning your back to him you looked out the door to the trees. “Come on Korri, I know. You know. What we felt then—there was no walking away, there was no way.” Lashing out, you turned to him and pushed him back with all the rage bubbling in you. “Yet you walked away and never looked back! You did that shit, Steve! God!” You didn’t know what to think you could barely breathe. The last seven years of your life was built on a lie. Everything that happened was because of him and his letter, his lies. Your head jumped to Marc, and you looked to the bed you’d just willingly given yourself in, to another man.

“Oh my god, Marc.” You met him heartbroken, you kept him at arm’s length because you were broken. At times you thought you stayed with him because he was safe and because he loved you so much, a love you thought no one had felt for you before. Now standing here everything was being questioned. You got with Marc on a lie. “What about him?” Steve didn’t sound remorseful at all, looking at him you scanned his features. “What? He’s my fiancée, and here I am—oh, god.” You walked away keeping your back to him. “You can’t be serious Korri, not after last week, not after tonight.” You could feel him coming up behind you. He touched your back bringing his hand down to your waist and turned you to face him.

“Not after what I just said. I love you Korri, I’ve never stopped loving you. I needed to protect you. Being on the run was no life for you; you didn’t deserve that.” Steve pressed his forehead to yours again, crowding you much more than physically. You couldn’t think, all you could do was feel everything he did to you, every effect he had on you. “I’m sorry darlin’.

You groaned, but his lips swallowed the sound. You kissed him back with just as much heat and need as he kissed you. When his hand snaked down your back to your backside his growing length pressed urgently against you. Steve then bent and lifted you before sliding into your needy canal.

Reason and thought were gone, you were going with what felt good, what felt right even though it also felt wrong, but it didn’t feel wrong for the reasons it should have. Steve slowly rocked in and out of you creating a delicious friction that stroked the kindles he’d reignited. You held him close and relished in how good he felt, and how good it felt being in his arms after so long. So many nights you’d cried thinking the one man you loved more than air itself didn’t love you, didn’t want you. Now you were faced with the truth, or the truth, according to Steve. He could have been lying yet again. It was clear he was not the same man you knew. He was different.

The way he controlled your body shook you from your thoughts. He possessively held you and kissed you where he knew you loved. Every rock, moan, grunt, and grind hazed your mind even further and made your body comply with every single command. It had never been like this with Marc. You’d never felt half the things with him that you felt with Steve and that realization shook you.

Once the heat of the moment passed, the two of you laid entangled across your bed. Steve’s chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath with a hand possessively draped across your backside. You sat up on him forcing a hiss from him. Avoiding his eyes, you pulled away getting off the bed. “Get out.” You walked toward the bathroom when you heard him mutter your name. “Go. I can’t do this.” Walking away from him you closed the bathroom door fearing this would not be the last time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

***If you want to be tagged please SEND AN ASK SO IT WILL BE EASIER FOR ME TO KEEP TRACK OF. Thank you for reading!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TagList:

@quitepointless @yourwonderbelle @caramara3 @kaetastic @toniilaney @cltex84 @wildmindedbeauty32 @bellaamor88 @periodtcevans @peach-acid @queennanayaa @alyxkbrl @disneysdarlingdiva @useless-mork @vannahvannahh @areubeingserved @academic-glowup @patzammit

#going through motions fic #Steve Rogers #Steve Rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x black reader #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers smut #angst fanfic #slow burn fanfic

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venus-says · 4 years ago

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Kamen Rider Ex-Aid Episodes 16-30

Insert COIN to Continue.

If Ex-Aid hadn't clicked with me in its first 15 episodes, it's with much joy that I come here to say that I think I finally get this show and I'm here for it!

Yes, I still have quite a few of problems, and a lot of the complaints I had in my previous post are still present in here, but my enjoyment of the show has only been growing more and more with each new episode I watch to the point where now only very few aspects of it still annoy me really hard and I can let go of things more easily like, for example, the weird dialogue and the comedy style that while are still aspects that I don't like but that now I can get past that without being bothered.

Honestly, what bothers me the most is that I didn't know the show had such a clear break into two parts and that I divided the episodes for the reviews in a way that will make a bit weird to talk about, especially in this post. I didn't expect episodes 1 through 23 would end up being a big arc, with episodes 24 onward being kind of a different thing, a step-up from the previous arc. But oh well...

Since these episodes were clearly divided into two separate arcs I'll do the same here and comment on them separately.

This first part, going from episodes 16 to 23, are a bit weird to comment on because even inside them there's also a mini division we can make, episodes 16, 18, 19 and 20 are like a mini-arc to give Brave and Snipe power-ups while 21, 22, and 23 have more like an end game plot going on, and episode 17 is kinda just hanging around there, a bit out of place that usually would be considered a filler but that introduces a character that is used later on so while we can't completely disregard that episode we also can't really put it in the same basket as the others.

The first portion is the weakest of this whole section, being completely honest I don't remember much about it, I know Brave and Snipe get their asses kicked and they lose his gashats and that was pretty cathartic, but then Genm did his thing again and gave them Level 50 power-ups and I was a bit disappointed, not really in aesthetic levels or powers, like I don't care for Snipe's but I love how Brave looks and I think is really cool that he can command a troop of minions, my biggest problem is that the power-up is in one of those double gashats with that ugly circle thing and they have to share it but the division isn't really fair since Snipe has been keeping it for way more time than Brave did. But oh well.

Oh also during this part my hate for Kuroto was constantly raising, I really despise this man and whenever someone wipes the floor with him is like I'm having an overdose of serotonin because he's an awful human being and that's what he deserves and seeing him being fucked up brings me a lot of joy.

The mini-arc of episodes 21 to 23 is when things start to get interesting as we see the plot unveiling mysteries and the gears grinding in incredible speed making these three episodes feel like the end of a season. Now, as interesting and exciting that it was to watch this climax payout I do have some problems here. My biggest one is that, once again, they made Emu WAY too special, now he's not just a doctor, a genius gamer, and patient 0 from the game illness, but he's also the reason why Kuroto is like this nowadays, and different from what we thought he's been incubating this virus since he was a little kid because Kuroto is such a shit human being that he sent an infected game to a kid because apparently, he thinks only him can be a game developer in this world and come up with ideas for games. And yes, this is very in-character, Dan Kuroto would really do stuff like this, is the fact that they make so many things focused on a single person that bothers me.

Another thing I have a problem here, although it's a much smaller one if compared to my previous point is just how convenient it was for the show to put a way to reprogram the virus in Kiriya's computer. I think my problem here is just how easy they got the information, you know? They knew from that detective that Kiriya was digging up something and Hiiro decides to look for information and in the first place he looks he just happens to find his computer and the files in his research were there. Again, it's a minor thing, but I felt like I had to comment on this.

One thing that I really enjoyed in this mini-arc was Kuroto's plan to avoid the Ministry and still get data in his hands by infecting himself with the virus to appeal to Emu's emotions. Again, a very in-character decision and the way it played out was very fun even though it was pretty clear he allowed himself to be caught seeing how easy it was for them. The way things escalated leading to his death was also pretty good, it's a bit annoying that his death gets reverted only a few episodes later, for a show that is constantly talking about doctors dealing with death having a death be reversed is a bit counter-intuitive.

As a result of this conflict, we get Ex-Aid's Level 99 power-up, and while it's cool that is a gashat he made it himself and that he used Kiriya's driver after his was fried up by Genm, holy jesus how ugly is this thing. It's so huge and bulky most of the scenes with him moving have to be done in CGI because that looks like hell to walk on wearing it. This just isn't the ugliest power-up of this season because Snipe still has the worst designs, but oh gosh.

After episode 23 we enter in the Kamen Rider Chronicle arc, where being led by Parad they gather data from the missing games by reviving Graphite and brainwashing Poppy, and Ex-Aid becomes a light novel with a battle royale/survival game that actually kills people when they get a game over (or upload them to the cloud and erase their physical bodies apparently because now they're saying those people can be revived).

Attempts of joke aside, while it's not anything new that they're doing here I do like how they implemented the concept in the story. It's pretty cool having regular people acting up as the players while the Riders we follow are like special NPCs that drop rare items when defeated, it's a fun gimmick and it's also a way to the villains to put another obstacle to the riders without having to do much.

I think what I liked the most in this plot was the mini-arc they had for Poppy, up until this point I didn't really have a strong opinion on her but what they had with her in these episodes was pretty cool. To begin they gave her a pretty dope song, at first I questioned what they were trying to do there but when we get to know that her whole singing scene was part of a brainwashing process it turns things really interesting. But is the journey of her freeing herself from this brainwash that really does it for me, when she starts remembering memories from the person that she took over she gets in this existential crisis and it gave us some great moments, I really like that scene in episode 28 when she's there trying to tell everyone AND herself that humans and bugsters are enemies and Emu puts himself in the line kinda with a wake-up call for her, it was pretty awesome. I feel like she also got way more agency after the events in that episode and I hope they keep that with her. Oh, we also got Kamen Rider Poppy which wasn't a thing I necessarily needed, but that was still pretty cool.

But because not everything can be flowers I have two major issues for this part as well, the two are things that I already mentioned so I won't take too long with them. The first one is obviously the "making Emu too special" thing since it gets established that Parad is the bugster that Emu incubated for all those years and that Parad is actually Emu's "second personality". Again, it's a cool concept, and there's one episode in which Parad gets control of Emu's body and they have a fight between each other while in Ex-Aid's Level 20 form and it was cool as heck, is just the fact that they keep adding layers to Emu like he's the center of the entire universe that makes me feel kinda iffy about it.

The second aspect I don't like is the reversibility of death. I get that this is a show for kids so they would come up with a way to bring everyone that died in Kamen Rider Chronicle because this doesn't seem like the type of show that would just obliterate a lot of people out of existence like that, my problem is with bringing back characters that have some sort of impact with the characters. Yeah, so far we only had Kuroto and he's back but not really since now he's a bugster and Poppy can keep him under control with her drive, though let's be honest this won't last too long, but they're raising the possibility of bringing Hiiro's girlfriend back and I'm sure they would try to bring Kiriya back too and is this thing that I feel like it goes against some of the messages this show is trying to pass to his main character. Emu is constantly facing death and as a Doctor he will face it many times in different contexts and part of the process for him to learn how to deal with this he needs to feel the effects of mourning for those who passed away, but when you bring people back from that while it doesn't revert what he went through makes it feel like death isn't as serious. This is a thing Rider likes to do a lot honestly, I mean look at Ghost, and it never sat with me well, but I feel like in this season in especial, as I mentioned, it's very counter-intuitive.

And I believe that's all I have to say for now. I feel like I'm way too repetitive, and that's a problem I should work on, but I have to say this again, I'm still having my problems with Ex-Aid but these problems aren't cutting down my enjoyment of the show and I'm really excited to see how all of this will come up together in the end. If you have anything to say about my comments or these episodes please let me know in the comments, I'll be very happy to have other people insight into this show. Stay healthy, stay safe, never stop resisting, thank you so so much for reading and until the next time. See you in the next game!

#Kamen Rider Ex-Aid #kamen rider

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badlydrawndrawnings · 5 years ago

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Mega Round Up Royal Spoilers

So I ended up finding like, three different streams going at different rates. Out of the three, only two I stayed with. One is mid-late game (Okumura’s Palace from I can recall before they stop playing). One is a Speed Runner and rushing through vanilla Persona 5 stuff to get into the Third semester, only slowing down to read the new updated content.

Thanks to Speed Runner Tim Barry, I was able see much of the game where the second stream hasn’t reach yet (not all, but much). Tim Barry’s stream is the closest stream (to my knowledge) that got close to Third Semester by playing for over 30 hours (part of me think they’re two people because any person would crash after just 12 hours). He finally decided to call it a night and the stream seemingly got nuke by Atlus because he stop on 12/24 before Third Semester even got reach.

I was going to post only Third Semester Stuff, but I’m gonna do a mega roundup of Royal Spoilers up to 12/24 that appeared on the nuked stream (as well as the Second Stream) as a honor for Tim Barry’s service.

There’s a lot of second hand information from either the chat or the spoiler mega thread on the Persona 5 reddit, and information from Second Stream. I think I was able to fill in most blanks. Read under the cut if you’re curious.

Kasumi Spoiler Round Up

Has a twin sister who died in a car accident before the game start

In a slump/downward spiral in gymnastics as a result of her dead sister.

To get something out of the way, and to act as a PSA, someone on TV Tropes added incorrect information abut the twin.

This is the entry- Posthumous Sibling: A recent one at that. A month before Joker arrived in Tokyo, her twin sister was killed in a car accident, heavily implied to be the result of a mental shutdown incident

As of November 1 (when this post is published), I can not find information that gives the implication Kasumi’s twin died as a result of a mental shutdown incident. I have no idea who believed it enough to write it in, but I know that the possible source came when the game broke street date (aka, before official release), being something of a joke (a mess up joke because it’s referring to Wakaba). I mean, who knows for sure in Third Semester, but for now, I’ll assume it’s just a real car accident

Father works at the TV Station, and father knows Goro

This is a bit iffy since Speed Runner Tim Barry’s chat went fast, but from the main translator, Kasumi is on a scholarship at Shujin. In October, the school/a teacher (plans to) revokes her scholarship because she got third place. 3. Third!

Around same time, Kasumi awakens her Persona between Okumura’s Palace and Sae’s Palace (October 3 seems to by the set date when it happens?)

The (Research Facility?) Palace is the Gym Competition Building that is under construction throughout Royal

Kasumi doesn’t join the PT before Goro because she turns down the offer from Joker...and her phone died before the keywords were given so no one is going to check it out 8P

Kasumi apparently tries to join on the 11/25 (I had to leave stream for a bit and I came back a little after it ended) but Mona (and Joker if one apparently pick the option) turn her down due to the danger

Kasumi meets Futaba in this scene. Interesting, in the (Research Facility?) Palace you see that old Kasumi looks a bit like Futaba (Kasumi confirms she wears contacts in Rank 5 I think)

Kasumi Ranks 1 through 5 can be completed before October 3 (?)

Going back to TV tropes, apparently Kasumi’s Arcana change? I didn’t read anything implying that as well, but this I’m willing to believe since it’s likely Kasumi is lock at 5 until a certain point.

Goro Spoiler Round Up

All of Goro’s original automatic Co-Op are still in the game.

Tim Barry and Second Streamer seem to be dead set on doing Goro’s new Co-Op and getting that Goro Content. So, it begs the question: is the original automatic Co-Op is still there, and only activate to players who don’t make an attempt to do the New Co-Op and be doom for Vanilla Good Ending, or did they just promoted the automatic Co-Op to regular plot scenes?

From Rank 2 to Five (I think), Joker has to go to Goro

The messy hair Goro appears in Rank 3, the Cafe from Proof of Justice appears in Rank 4

Rank 6 (I think) through 8 seems to be a mixture of automatic and manual. From what I saw once (and second hand info) Goro has to contact Joker, and Joker have to accept

In Rank 6, Goro reveals his mother is a prostitute. Goro recalls his mother sends him to the bathhouse when she had ‘clients’. Goro apparently never told this part of his life before to anyone

I have no idea if Goro meant his mother, after getting dump by Shido, had to turn to prostitution to support her son, or if he meant Goro is the son of a politician and his lady of the night

Rank 7 I missed completely, so this is all second hand info. It seems Goro ask Joker about joining his side, and Joker answered ‘let me think about it’, and Goro replied with something of the lines ‘don’t make promises if you can’t keep it’. I have no idea if there was another choice that could lead to some Accomplice Ending.

Rank 8 is interesting. I got to Tim Barry’s stream and caught the aftermath freak out on the chat. Goro thinks that he and Joker fight one on one. Goro loses, and when they leave Mementos...he throws his glove and acts a bit like his Rank 9 and 10 self.

BTW, it’s unknown how Goro reacts if he wins

Nine and Ten are automatically ranked up, and it’s the whole Engine Room Scene, meaning Goro suffers from his MIA fate

HOWEVER, Rank Ten got a redo. Via translations, when Goro is about to go MIA, Goro apparently wants him and Joker to have an eventual rematch, in which Joker can reply with either deciding to keep that promise or something of the lines, ‘i’ll keep your gloves’. I didn’t even think Joker took Goro’s glove. Goro’s animation is apparently also different too. That I couldn’t spot lol.

A little after Goro goes MIA, Joker is on his bed. He thinks of Goro, apparently wondering or not if can see Goro again (?)

The main translator of Tim Barry’s steam is quiet (or gone), and Tim Barry pick the first option. I don’t know who said it, but apparently word got out that he may have pick the wrong choice: to Forget. Cue Major Freak Out by everyone in the chat

Main Translator comes back, and they agree that the first option is to forget Goro’s promise. A civil war happened in the chat if Tim Barry should reload or not, because he was right about to take on Shido. Because Tim Barry is dead set on getting that Goro content, he took the risk of reloading the game, redo about an hour and a bit of gameplay, and pick the second option.

Back to Goro, he won’t say the PT’s name anymore

Main spot is apparently Kichijoji?

Takuto Spoiler Round Up

Is doing research as well as counselling

According to translations, Takuto is dealing with the same stuff as Wakaba: Cognitive research (and of the collective unconscious)

Oh no...

Took care of Kasumi (I assume counseling) because of her sister’s death

Is extremely worry and cares for Kasumi

Seriously. He tried to get the school/teacher to undo their decision of revoking her scholarship.

Obsess with hearts/heartache and happiness.

In one of the Ranks (I don’t know which), it’s reveal he has a former girlfriend who got rob and it affected her big time. What happened to her factor into who/what he is doing now

You apparently meet one of Takuto’s friend in one the Ranks. I have no idea what the friend looks like.

In apparently Rank 10 (don’t trust me with this; I assume 10 because of its content), Takuto tells Joker he knows who are the Phantom Thieves

Or rather, he knows the original members because he spotted them disappearing into thin air (something like that)

And since then, he been indirectly been using them as a way of collecting research or something.

And then he leaves Shujin

Oh nooooo...

Think that’s fishy enough? Takuto was able to meet almost all of the Phantom Thieves members and talk to them. Those at Shujin go to him for a small meeting/counsel

Apparently he visits LeBlanc when everyone goes to Hawaii and that’s how he met Futaba and Morgana

He meets Yusuke at the School Festival

8U I don’t feel so good...

Other Notes of Importance Round Up

So all of the bosses have a new gimmick, as seen with Kamoshida, Madarame, and Okumura via press material pre-release). I actually haven’t seen much of the Boss Fights, so I won’t go into much detail other than what I seen with my own eyes (except for one)

I swear to God someone better figure out what’s the point of Cognitive!Shiho in Kamoshida’s boss fight I think she serves a possible strategy for Kamoshida like doesn’t Cognitive!Yuki have something akin to that?

Sae: It has something to do with roulette in her second form, deciding what her attack/weakness (I had no idea what lol I like, entered in the middle of it and the PT won seven minutes later).

Shido: So Shido ‘kills’ Joker’s teammates, and he and Joker have a freaking one on one fight when he’s in his shirtless buff form. Shido got some new powerful skills

I’m utterly disappoint Shido got the one on one boss fight but not Goro and Joker like maybe we’ll be getting it in Third Semester

Sae’s Co-Op is still Automatic (maybe there’s no valentine date after all!)

Ryuji still gets beaten up (COME ON ATLUS GIVE HIM A BREAK!)

You can spot Co-Ops in the BG at times before you meet them

#persona 5 royal spoilers #persona 5 the royal spoilers #p5r spoilers #spoilers #major spoilers #kasumi yoshizawa #goro akechi #takuto maruki #this is a text post

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pheacas · 6 years ago

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“The Musical Fandom is Sexist” Response Post

I saw a post trying to express the thought that the musical fandom is sexist because there was a lack of f/f ships from @justiceforalanabeck, and although there is something in there, the execution was lackluster, at best, and I thought I would quickly run down a couple of reasons why I find that argument to be weak and a (slightly) more structured argument for my own personal opinion.

Original post (for reference I just didn’t want to reblog because it’s so long and there’s no ‘keep reading’ option on it): https://justiceforalanabeck.tumblr.com/post/182985916366/the-sexism-in-musical-fandoms

Summary of my thoughts I put at the end: There is a clear and slightly unsettling ratio between m/m and f/f ships within fandoms, but the ‘ships’ are not the end all be all of a fandom being ‘sexist’ and shows with women leads deserve more love, but there is still plenty of content created for the women that shouldn’t be discredited because it isn’t ‘ship related’.

My (6) main arguments against the original post:

I’ve heard people argue that Pinkberry is ‘toxic’ (which I can make an argument for just about any ship in popular fandoms), which can certainly keep it from becoming popular. Although Jeremy and Michael have some toxic interactions in the show, particularly the middle, they’re clearly there for one another at the end of the day and are best friends and have nice relationships (although I’m indifferent on almost all BMC ships). Chloe tried to screw Brooke’s boyfriend against his will and made Brooke not just feel like shit in that one instance, but constantly put Brooke down in general which she didn’t deserve.

Within the canon universe of Dear Evan Hansen, Zoe and Alana (Zolana) have zero canon interaction in the Broadway run. Literally zero (unless you could the couple of audios where they interact for a moment in Arena Stage which I wouldn’t count since almost no one has actually listened to it). I’m personally not a fan of Evan x Connor, but when it comes to it vs. Zolana, they at least interact for a moment in canon, and in the computer lab there is an opportunity where Connor does truly seem to be attempting to befriend Evan and it is established that, yes, they could have probably actually been friends if Connor hadn’t read Evan’s letter to himself and/or Evan didn’t bring Zoe up in it (although they would have still never gotten into a relationship). Also, in canon, Zoe and Evan’s relationship is built completely by lies on Evan’s side, which is, again, extremely toxic (although it is a ship I prefer to Tree Bros outside of canon). And also, it’s hard to say that the fandom is being sexist when that’s literally the only f/f ship, until you want to get into Heidi x Cynthia which is extremely weird territory.

The two shows you focused on have a male lead who the entire plot is centered around and focuses mainly on (with Michael also getting a good amount of solo time and being able to be called one of the ‘main characters’ along with Jeremy, Christine, and the Squip), so obviously the male lead is going to be more paired with people than other characters who don’t get as much focus on how they interact (in DEH we don’t go away from Evan’s perspective other than Anybody Have a Map and Requiem, which are Murphy family songs so no shipping there, and whenever we stray from Jeremy I feel like it’s more Michael’s part most of the time).

Heathers has never had a Broadway run and doesn’t have a long running production, so it makes sense it wouldn’t be ‘as popular’, although it certainly does have a fandom, it’s just doesn’t have as steady of a stream sometimes (and there is confusion under the tagging for Heathers and Mean Girls, as well, since they’re based off of a movie, although there still admittedly isn’t as much content, especially for Mean Girls, compared to the behemoths of DEH and BMC (although Heathers I think comes close to DEH)). Plus, the hype train for BMC was really big in the summer because of off-Broadway, and West End revivals… Don’t pick up as much traction (although the soundtrack coming out should bring more attention to it which I’m hyped for).

The use of Waitress as an argument for people not liking f/f is just… Off because Waitress doesn’t appeal to a Tumblr fan nearly as much as other shows because it’s about a middle aged woman getting pregnant in an abusive relationship and cheating on her abusive husband with a man who is also married. Wicked… Also doesn’t appeal to a theatre fanbase that will write fan fiction nearly as much.

The Prom is another debatably iffy one because yes, it does really give us f/f on Broadway we need, but it puts many off because of how misleading it feels. You think you’re walking in and the two lesbians will be the leads, but instead it’s a straight woman which can put people off (along with those first ten minutes I really like the show but not those first ten or so minutes). Although again we still 100% need love for female-lead musicals and f/f in Broadway just don’t fake me out with the straights (although I understand why that needed to be added to prolong its survival in a business which throws out what the rich, old populous doesn’t like (which is why ETAJ and Bare will never make it to Broadway but that’s another topic in itself and a post for another day)).

My feelings on the situation: Looking at m/m vs f/f can give you a hint of how the fandom feels on female characters, but, in reality, that truly cannot be the be all end all when looking at a fandom. It does such that we don’t get that sort of representation, but that doesn’t mean by itself that a fandom is sexist. In most cases, these ships just make zero sense. If we’re shipping something, there should be a slight basis behind it. Galaxy Gals has nothing and Pinkberry has toxic interactions.

Waitress and Wicked don’t appeal to a Tumblr audience for the most part. Mean Girls and the Prom are sadly left in the dirt compared to the other fandoms, but MG has a stigma around it by some of the big musical fans (including me) and the Prom just hasn’t gotten as popular because it doesn’t have a Broadway video more than anything (and those first ten or so minutes I legit clicked off the first time with my friend who is now a mega-Prom stan). Heathers does have a good-sized fandom, but nothing big has happened to it compared to BMC and DEH.

Looking on Tumblr, though, you can find that the fandom still does appreciate the female characters. Zoe, Christine, Alana, Brooke, etc. get a lot of fanart around them! In fact, one of my trading friends named their trading stuff after a female character in BMC, and not Jeremy or Michael or whoever else! The females do truly get attention in the fandom and calling them sexist really isn’t seeing the full picture.

Also, the part of the fandom who would be writing and reading this stuff is more younger girls, and they just have a tendency to prefer writing/reading about gay men over gay women and straight couples. It could be seen as possibly sexism placed on themselves by the society they live in, but I think it’s just sort of a fetization of gay men that we’ve seen many times before (namely: Love Simon), mixed with the male leads get more development than their leading ladies and supporting actresses which just makes them easier/more interesting to write on because they’re already 3D.

But, yes, females in musicals and female-led musicals do deserve a lot more attention than they receive and it is sad that sometimes they don’t get the recognition they deserve, but calling the fandom ‘sexist’ for not writing f/f is just so wrong.

#dear evan hansen #deh #be more chill #bmc #the prom #heathers the musical #mean girls the musical #mean girls #heathers #boyf riends #tree bros #I wrote this when I was slightly tired so my argument probably doesn't make perfect sense #and there's probably typos #but take it

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meny-sempai · 6 years ago

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MO DAO ZU SHI IS A MASTERPIECE – part 01

OH MY GOD EP 15! That was so… UGH. I have so much to say, yet I’m speechless at the same time! Aaaaa! Ok, that’s it! It’s time!

The first season is over and I can finally talk about my experience with the piece of art that is Mo Dao Zu Shi. Yes, it is a piece of art and I will prove it to you in this short series of my thoughts about the show.

I just have to say – I’m not a native English speaker so bear with the mistakes I’m bound to make. I did read the novel, but only as far as the Exiled Rebels Scanlations translated it (thank you Rebels, you’re gods). I started reading the novel after the first airing of the third episode, so at the very beginning of MDZS mania – I went in blind and… it was FUNNY. I’ll talk more about that down below. And yes, I know a lot of spoilers, but I can’t say I know the whole story – If I start theorizing be aware that I’m just theorizing, I’m not actually telling the plot, but, just to be sure: SPOILERS ahead, I will use the facts I know for my analysis.

For the first two episodes I’m going to tell you my blind reactions and compare them with my impressions after finishing the season. My misinterpretations are hilarious and I admit I was really dumb. Enjoy my stupidity.

The rest of the episodes will have my impressions and analysis that I now have after finishing the show. There will be a few of these kind of posts on my profile because I can’t fit everything I have to say in just one. I don’t actually do analysis of shows here, because this is my personal art blog, but I sometimes make exceptions. As an animation student I just had to talk about Mo Dao Zu Shi. I want more people to see it. I want people to know that it is much more than BL.

So… Here we go!

INTRODUCTION – or, who the hell even asked for my opinion?

I’ve been a fan of anime/manga since I was 13, which was 12 years ago (I’m old, I know). Sure, I’ve watched Digimon, Pokemon, Bayblade and all that jazz when I was even younger, but that doesn’t count, because I had no clue about the concept of anime.

I’ve seen a lot of shit, I’m quite open to a lot of shit and if I’m in the right mood I can take a lot of shit, but I still regard myself as someone who has a good taste. The older I get the less time I have to take a chance at something I wouldn’t normally watch. Even if there is something I’d watch I usually end up not having time for it. Since I started studying and doing animation myself, my criteria for the quality skyrocketed. I long gave up on the three episode rule. One episode is enough to see potential if there is potential (some shows can still trick me – I’m looking at you Sirius the Jaeger).

Ok, ok, I’m not bashing on Sirius the Jaeger. I’m just saying the show had a lot of potential and threw it out of the window. If there was no Mikhail and Yuliy dynamics… Scratch that – if there was no Mikhail in the show, the story would have been completely empty. At least for me.

Since we’re talking about other shows, I’ll use this opportunity to declare Mo Dao Zu Shi as the animation of the year. Sure, the year’s still not over, sure I only watched Cells at Work, Free! Dive in to the Future, Sirius the Jaeger and BANANA FISH, but I still believe in what I say.

Sorry Cells, you’re cute, you make me care more about my body, you make me have weird feelings about Cancer (WTF). I wish I can show you to all the school kids in my country, but you’re not the best this time. Please, give me another season, thank you. Love the manga. Guys, please watch this anime!

Sorry Free, you… Pfff… Ok, yeah, FREE, I love you dude, thank you for all the sexy muscles and almost BL drama (and some actual deep moments). Thank you for all the Rin, we can never have enough of Rin. And thank you for Kisumi and Asahi – didn’t know I needed that. Thank you, but… yeah, know your place (hint: it’s right here in my arms).

Sorry Sirius, I wish you had more episodes to explore the story and the characters. Liked the OP and the animation.

Sorry BANANA FISH, oh god, I really am. Before MDZS I lived for you BF, I lived for you! I was an old fan of the manga and I was so hyped. I can’t say I’m dissatisfied with the anime adaptation. I liked a lot of things they did, the way they adapted stuff, added and changed stuff, but it was just too much plot for 13 episodes and the effects of it became clearer and worse while the anime progressed. I have no idea how MAPPA will handle the second season. My fingers are crossed. Guys, watch this anime. Even with all the flaws it’s worth your time.

And yes, I watched Voltron and The Dragon Prince. This will be a really long post if I start on those, so I won’t.

So… YES. Mo Dao Zu Shi came out of nowhere for me and took the crown. Wow… where to start…?

How did I find this show…? Actually, how did this show find me? Well… It was my beta reader, I think. After 13 years of being a silent fan of Asian comics and animation, I decided to finally write a fanfiction. Surprisingly, it was for the small fandom of the Korean comic Noblesse (nobody cares, carry on). I don’t know why, but my beta told me about this new BL “anime”. When I realized it was Chinese I rolled my eyes. I’m an asshole, I know, but I just never liked anything I saw from the Chinese (I haven’t seen much, but what I saw was poorly animated/was in 3D and I’m not a huge fan of 3D). I also never liked the voice acting… Ok. OK, I admit! I never liked the language, ok? Shoot me!

Then… Everything changed when the Wen clan attacked.

Anyway… I was bored, I was lazy and didn’t want to do work for my university, so I said: “What the heck! Hit me with some Chinese BL.” I clicked on the first episode not even bothering to read the summary. Man… My expectations were the low of the lowest.

EPISODE 01 – or, what the fuck did I just watch and is there more of it?

Oh shit… I’m terrible at names, especially Chinese names! Am I supposed to remember all this, is this important? The clans, the wars, the titles? This is BL, right? Should I take out my note book? Fuck, pause it. Ok… Ok… I get it? Let’s just continue.

(When I look at it now it was pretty clear. I really am dumb. To be fair, you need time to get used to how they use names. And for someone who never watched Chinese animation seriously and doesn’t know anything about the culture it really was a lot of new information. But don’t let that stop you from watching it!)

Ughhhhh…. 3D… damn it. And it was going so well. Ugh, just look at those wings flapping! Are the wings broken? What the hell! Why do they do this?

(Lol, I was so triggered. XD The bird is actually fine. I like how the scene transitioned from the pupil of a scared man to the pupil of the crow. As if they were watching each other in the eye, only adding to the creepiness. The lighting is also great. Everything is dark and gloomy, fitting the “horror” atmosphere really well, yet at the same time the dark scenes are vivid and clear. It’s hard to make the misty night look clear and colorful. The flying is a bit iffy, but it doesn’t really matter because the effect of hundred birds covering the sky is strong and meaningful.)

Holly shit! This is amazing! Pause it! No, go back, I wanna see this again. Oh my god, that flute! The music is awesome, I’m having goosebumps. Ooohh, love the music, I never heard something like this. Oh, this dude is so cool. Red eyes and zombies and… What is this show about again? Zombie BL? Really? It’s not really zombies, right? Please don’t be about zombies, I hate zombies.

(Honestly, this scene is stunning. A really effective way to reveal a character. Especially a character that we are not sure whether he is good or bad. The most amazing thing for me about this is how they used music. It isn’t just the background music to accompany the atmosphere. It isn’t there just to tell something about the character and make him stand out (it’s not a character theme). The flute is not alone here, there are many themes working with it. Together they are not there to tell us “this is a scary action scene” so feel this, or “this is a sad scene”, or a “funny scene”. No. The music here is its own art piece. It’s actually there to tell us in its own language the story that we are seeing on screen. I don’t know how to explain it. For me, the way the music changed was perfectly synchronized with the way people were saying words, the way Wei Wuxian moved his head, the way the corpses stood up to attack. If I close my eyes I can see the scene by only listening to the music. This is something that regularly happens in this show. I don’t know how they do it, but I applaud to it. I can’t remember the last time the music left such an impact on me in the animation series. And this is just the first episode and the first scene. We have no idea who these people are. We are not expected to feel emotional for them. But I felt the connection. I felt like I was there and the corpses were about to get me.)

Ugh! 3D, you’re killing me! And it was such a cool intro! Ok, calm down, what are they saying? So… That’s the guy with the flute, right? No, it was Wei, but Wei Something else. No, wait, it has to be him. Go back. Yeah, it is him. What the hell is a courtesy name? Ok, never mind, try to remember.

Oh no…! More exposition, more names and clans! My brain is melting! Cool smoke/ink animation, though. Hmm, purple ring. Nice. That’s important, right? Oh! The amulet thing! Remember that. That’s gonna bite us in the ass later, ain’t it? Alright, so “Wei something” died. Killed by… shidi? So… the younger clan member? So…? This Wei also had his own clan? Am I getting this right? I’m probably not getting this right. Ugh, just watch the damn episode, quit pausing every goddamn second! It’ll explain itself.

I like the OP! The similar smoke/ink animation and… Wow, ok, there are too many handsome guys here. I’ll have to focus. The music is catchy. I like the singer’s voice. Cool!

(I’m now quite fond of the 3D in here. The tortoise and everything. XD Also, in my defense - they have three names, like, come on. I didn’t see that coming. I don’t even have a middle name. Although, I do think having three ways to be addressed is pretty interesting. You can tell and convey a lot by just picking a name the character uses in his speech.

Fun fact no1. – at the time I couldn’t even recognition the names when they would speak. All of the words sounded the same to me, which was so unusual. I can now recognize a lot of words and phrases. And, I think… Well, you’ll see what I now think about Chinese and VAs. I’m just gonna say this: I’d like to learn Chinese just so that I can write a love letter to Guo Haoran.

Fun fact no2. – It took me 6 episodes to actually pay attention to the lyrics of the OP and ED and to realize that they are representing Wei Wuxian and Lan WangJi. That’s a really beautiful touch, very smart. And it brings so much meaning to the table when the ED changes. I don’t think I ever saw OP and ED used in this particular way.)

Well, this is getting really dark and interesting. This Wei may be a refreshing MC. Probably a good guy at heart, but shady as fuck and ready to kill. I do have another name to worry about, but Mo is easy to remember (“Don’t close mountain” – if you know what I mean :P). I wonder if Mo is important to the plot. I see potential for some twists here.

2D animation is looking good so far. I like how they made us look from the protagonist’s POV. Really refreshing directing… hmm… Still not buying the Chinese, but Wei has a nice voice. The music is still great.

Bahahahaha! Scratch that, Wei is an idiot! Good to know that liquor is your priority, Wei! XD Omg the donkey, too, look at that face, look at the eyelashes!

The fuck is this shit? Are those people flying? While standing? Are they standing on something? What the hell? XD Man, that sky is nice. Oh! Oh, oh, wait, those guys! Those were the shadows I saw a scene earlier. Mmm… Attention to detail. Nice. Looks like I’ll have to pay close attention to every scene. Been a long time I had to focus so hard on an “anime”.

(10 minutes and I was already very intrigued. I didn’t know shit, but I was in. With all the pausing I probably spent 50 minutes on this episode, but it felt like barely 20 minutes had passed. At the beginning I paused a lot because I was too slow to read the subtitles (no, I don’t watch dubs, I’m just too used to Japanese and their culture references that reading subs is child’s play, but this was new territory for me). I also paused a lot because I felt I’ve missed something, or because I was surprised at how some scenes looked.

I don’t pause that often now. Mo Dao Zu Shi trained me to see and hunt for detail. As I said, it’s been a long time since I had the need to carefully look at the backgrounds and pay attention to all of the characters’ expressions. Mo Dao Zu Shi tells a lot in silence and in small details. It awards you if you take time to look at the scenery. When I find something that I’d usually miss, I don’t necessarily feel smarter, but I feel the show is treating me as someone smart. MDZS respects its audience. It makes them think and remember. Which makes this show 100% re-watchable. I watched all the episodes 3 times. Some I watched even more – like episode 11. And I always have a new experience. I love coming back to it. Even when I work I play the episodes and listen to them. It’s interesting. Try it. Try just to listen to the audio. It has rare quality to it. The sounds and music are used wisely and a piece of music always has a legit reason why it’s played.)

Ok, this run is too slow. I get that he’s fat, but still, the foot exchange doesn’t fit with the distance he’s making. Also, the flying guys are not flying anymore. I got more info. And MORE NAMES. Kill me now. The info is interesting, though. Cultivators are Chinese exorcist, right? I really should have read the summery.

(I still think the running was not convincing. There are moments such as these in the show, but honestly, MDZS has fascinating animation and it only gets better in the later episodes (I’m not even gonna start with ep 11 – ep 11 will get its own post). The animators know what they are doing and the director knows how to make a scene work at full capacity.

Fun Fact no3. – D.Gray-man destroyed me. I now only know how to say “exorcist” the Japanese way.

MDZS also has a way of making seemingly stupid stuff look and be cool. Surfing on swords sounds pretty dumb, but when you actually see it and have it explained to you, when it has plot significance it becomes a fresh idea. I want to have my own sword to surf on!)

Well, hello… Lan… Jingyi ~ (How do you read this? O.O) Mmm… I’m digging the art style. Cute boys~

Also, Wei, you’re a fucking genius! XD The Oscar goes to you, my dude.

(… I still think Wei Wuxian is a fucking genius. I’m not gonna talk a lot about him right now, but I just gotta say that he is such a classic MC, yet at the same time he is so original. He’s just one of the proofs how great the writing this series has.

Speaking of writing – this show has some of the best dialog I’ve ever seen. Not only because of what is being said, but also because of the VAs, directing, music and animation. Dialog often has more than one meaning and always serves to deepen the characters and their relationships. I love how they use animation to show how the characters are truly feeling while saying something and what they actually mean when they say it. Everything they say has a reason and it makes you pay attention to other’s reaction to what is being said. I love how the character can say the same thing in so many different ways and that this is used to show his development and growth. I’m also amazed at how simple “hmm-s” and “mmm-s” mean so much in this show.

I’m not saying character animation and rich expressiveness is something new, but it is rare and this show is really good at it. For example, quite a few characters laugh or cry but they all do it differently. They raise their eyebrows differently, they’re surprised and scared differently etc. This all sounds as a no-brainer, but it’s not so common. It’s difficult to pull off and I’m not saying MDZS is perfect, but it’s close.)

(Please… You think you can take down someone who spent his whole life perfecting the art of climbing up trees? Pff! You’re not Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan.)

(He looks so comfortable among corpses. It’s funny, yet so sad. These are all great hints for the mind-set of a character that you’ll miss at first watching, but you won’t forget about it. And when the memory clicks – it makes a loud click. Not a second is wasted in this show. Everything has a point. I’ll elaborate more on that with some examples in other posts.)

Bahahaha! I feel you bro! XD

But I feel you too. I mean, I don’t care about you, wench, don’t get me wrong, but it’s kinda sad. I’m liking these zombies. They’re my way of creepy and there’s potential for a deeper plot for them if it’s true that their personalities are still there somewhere. This just adds to the debate whether Wei is good or bad. The grey area… I love the grey the most. All 50 shades of it. And I’m enjoying the mystery vibe of this episode. Was there a mystery tag on this “anime”? Also, the fight scenes are not bad. And it’s cool how they all hate Wei but use his technics and knowledge. Realistic. Cool.

Oh my god! The colors! Whaaat? What the hell, look at that hair animation! And the music from that… string thingy- instrument – so cool. Ooohh, wait, this is the white dude, THE dude. Here comes the BL!

Ooohhh, I see what you did there. Kudos for you, director! Similarities and contrasts. Nice. And it’s over, I can’t believe it’s over! How can you cliff hang like that?! There’s a second episode, right? Mm, the ED is so pure. There IS a second episode! Well, while I’m here, don’t mind if I do!

EPISODE 2 – or, how I got everything wrong!

I bet he’s thinking: “The fuck is with this aim? The little shit almost killed me! I’m annoyed and amazed! Better play a fool and run for it.” But, seriously, that aim! Wei actually paused (love the little wobble effect on the arrow). And I have another name to remember! Ugh! And another color! Are they color coded? That could be helpful. Also, look at that tree. Wow… They’re blending the 3D backgrounds quite well with the 2D.

And Mo is important to the plot! Nice! So he has connections with the Yellow clan. The plot thickens.

I just gotta say – all of them have interesting designs. I wonder if every cultivator has his own sword. Bleach style or something. On the other hand, animators must be pulling out their hair because of all the details. XD

Cool little battle. Great camera work. They showed the difference between a student cultivator and an experienced one in an entertaining way. That soul summoning was nice too.

(This fight served as a nice show of power difference. It adds a lot to the future episodes where all of the main cast are students and have to face various trials. It gives us a hint at how powerful the clan leaders must be, it gives us a new perspective on the war and its casualties. We now get why many cultivators died so “easy”. It also hints at how talented students are different from the average which is an important detail in the plot. This little “unimportant” fight grounds it all and makes the levels in the clan system believable and palpable.)

This is really clever. Kudos for the reflection. Wei, haven’t you ever watched an anime? It’s clear the kid doesn’t have a mom. He probably doesn’t even have a dad.

(Ok… prepare for a full on fangirl attack.)

… My ears are tingling.

… This voice… Oh my ears, please calm down, something big is happening right now. Wait… Oh wow, he knows him! Look at the face he’s making, oh shit! And this new guy…! We haven’t even seen his face and he’s making threats! Hmm… Can’t say I don’t like that. Yeah, I like that… He’s gonna be the villain, isn’t he? I always like the villains and they always have the best voices. Well… if he’s a villain, let’s hope he’s hot-

Oh, wow, this is really good. The way the light appears, and that little shine of the… bell? Purple… Purple? The purple ring? Is this connected? Well, anyway, he has a pretty dramatic reveal and nice music – yep, he’s the bad guy. Let me see your face-

Wei… why are you so scared? They sure take their sweet time in revealing this guy. This may be more important than I thought. Don’t miss anything!

(Are you prepared?)

HOLLY MOTHER OF GOD WHAT THE FUCK OH MY GOD WHAAATT??? Was he this beautiful in the OP? Whaaaatt? AAAAHHHHHH!!!! SCREENSHOT! WALLPAPER! GO BACK, REPEAT THE SCENE! YOU! YOU, MY BOY, HAVE ENTERED MY HAREM. Oh what a day to be alive! Mmmm, ok, calm down, we’ll draw him later, let’s try to focus. Jiang Cheng. Ok, it’s a more common name, I’ll remember him. Heh. Like I could forget this boy. Oh, no, not a boy, a MAN. This is a man. Uhuhuhu~

(Aaaand my mind was a bit hazy for the rest of the episode – you will see the results.

Fun fact no4. – Immediately after this episode I looked up MDZS on Tumblr and realized that the fandom is calling Jiang Cheng JC. Still under the effects of what I just saw I thought calling him God was quite appropriate.)

NICE PROFILE!!! Is he going to be the other love interest for the MC? Are we gonna see the cliché love triangle? If it’s with this dude, maybe it won’t be so bad~ Ok, seriously, watch the show!

Ok, the magic light here is a nice touch. This Jiang Cheng is a bit cold even to his nephew. He doesn’t recognize Wei, but that’s expected. Wei is strongly reacting to him. What’s the connection? Judging by the music – it’s sad? I expected something more, I don’t know, menacing? Evil? But it’s just sad. Maybe he’s not a villain. That… that could open so many doors… TO MY KOKORO.

“Feed your dogs.” Ouch, that’s dark. Someone really hates the “demon” cultivators.

“Could this boy be…?” What? What is he? Want’s the connection? Should I know, did I miss something?

The white dude and my purple man clash! Holly, Jiang Chang sounds pissed (passive aggressive enough?), while White poster boy here doesn’t give a damn! XD Ahahaha! Could Jiang Cheng be the Chinese tsundere? No, no, no, let’s not call such a man a tsundere. It’s too early.

Oh, Uncle is the leader of the sect. Nice. How old is the Uncle? Is he married?

This obvious metaphor of concealing the light is distracting me from fangirling. It’s interesting how it connects with the Jiang Cheng reveal. I feel that… shit is about to go down.

I was right! He’s the ring! What does the ring represent? And he’s doing what I always do! I play with my ring like that all the time! Nice.

SCREENSHOT! Oh, but he’s pissed. Oh, but I love the way he looks at me~ I feel all mushy.

Ha! Interesting. He’s smart, he has some self-control. Refreshing. But don’t turn your anger at your nephew, please. Also, it seems like the white dude and the Uncle have some history. Hmm…

I thought so. The white dude was the one who killed Wei. The tragic love. I can already see it.

(Yep. I thought Lan WangJi was the Shidi who “killed” Wei Wuxian. You are allowed to face palm.)

Oh no… I know where this is going. And the music…

Oh man… It’s the second episode and I’m already having the feels. What happened, Wei?! I refuse to believe you’re a bad guy!

But, I get Wei’s reaction to Jiang Cheng now.

(I don’t know how it happened, but I was thinking… What if she was killed by Jin Zixuan’s sword? We know Wei Wuxian stopped using his. From this shot we know he wasn’t the one who stabbed her, so was it Wen Ning? It’s obvious he was involved in the tragedy. As far as I know SPOILERS Wen Ning killed Jin Zixuan. If the killer sword is the one we know – if it’s Jin Zixuan’s then Wei’s reflection in this episode has a deeper meaning.)

Bahahaha I feel you, honor student. I like the kids.

(Honestly, they balance the humor and the serious stuff masterfully.)

I died.

This is giving me Gantz PTSD. That shit gave me nightmares. Nephew is really bold.

(I believe Jin Ling has some of his Uncle Wei’s recklessness and hero complex, but he also wants to prove himself just like his other two Uncles. I’ll talk more about them in another post.)

Uuhh, Wei is playing the flute! Risky, I like it.

(Ok, people. Be prepared for the ultimate face palm.)

Oh my god! Don’t tell me he summoned his own body! This resembles the scene from the narration… and he’s wearing black!

I’m right! Nephew wants revenge! Great shot by the way. You can feel the rage in the movement.

(You face palmed yet?)

I really love the way they use the flute! It depicts the flow of the camera so well!

… Wen… Wen what? Wen Ning? Who’s Wen Ning? What? Wait, are they talking about the corpse? What’s going on??? O_O Who’s Wen Ning?! Did I miss something? What’s the full name of the MC again? Ugh… This is so tiring… Ok, never mind, enjoy the beautiful flute song.

Busted!

I swear to god, this guy is illegal!

Oh, boy he figured it out too and he’s… sadistically happy? Eh… But, I get it. If he believes that Wei killed his sister, I get it. And her husband? Did he “kill” the dad, too?

I can’t believe he has a whip AND a braid? And he’s purple??? Did someone look into my diary? Is it Christmas yet? XD Am I dead?

Did he just smile? Am I imagining things? XD I can’t figure him out!

Please! Don’t lie, white dude! “He’s path is uncommon”, yeah right, we all know what you want.

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I’VE SEEN AND HEARD IN MY LIFE.

(This would have annoyed anyone no matter who said it, but because it was Wei Wuxian, I think it was even more annoying in Jiang Cheng’s head. Wei Wuxian knows him too well. It’s even funnier when you know that JC is blacklisted. XD He’s no good even to the lunatic.)

And at this exact moment Wei knew he fucked up. XD This is golden.

... Please DON’T turn into rape BL.

(It so DID NOT.)

Oh Wei, you’re no match for this guy! :D

Hmm, looks like we’re going back in time. I love me some juicy flashbacks. Can’t wait to see more.

... I can’t believe I actually like this zombie BL. I just hope they don’t fuck up the animation later on.

(And the rest is history. As you can see - I’m obsessed.)

-----

That’s all for today! Next posts will have more character, story and art analysis. Hope you liked this and please forgive me for making this so long. See you!

#mo dao zu shi #grandmaster of demonic cultivation #wei wuxian #lan wangji #Jiang Cheng #jin ling #wen ning #jin zixuan #analysis #donghua #animation

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themattress · 7 years ago

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My Top 50 OUAT Episodes

And now, as a final goodbye to OUAT, I give you this list of my personal picks for the 50 best episodes in the series, listed in order of airing. Two-hour broadcasts are counted as one here.

1. Pilot - 1x01. One of the best TV pilots of recent years due to how quickly it grabs you and emotionally invests you in its magical atmosphere and the plight of its central characters.

2. The Thing You Love Most - 1x02. Best watched immediately after the pilot, as it deals with the same story but from the dark and twisted perspective of its villain, the Evil Queen.

3. Snow Falls - 1x03. Snow and Charming are, well, charming in their first adventure together and the start of their romance, as is sweet Mary Margaret in the present day.

4. That Still Small Voice - 1x05. Jiminy Cricket of all characters gets a surprisingly dark and emotional backstory that resonates with him in the extremely intense present-day scenario.

5. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - 1x07. Jamie Dornan gives an incredible performance as the tormented Sheriff Graham / Huntsman, all the way to the episode’s tragic conclusion.

6. Desperate Souls - 1x08. We get our first true insight into the backstory of the enigmatic Rumpelstiltskin, and Emma becomes sheriff, making this a truly pivotal episode for the show.

7. Skin Deep - 1x12. A truly subversive, twisted take on the Beauty and the Beast story, with some unexpected layers added to Rumple’s character and Robert Carlyle’s performance.

8. Red-Handed - 1x15. Little Red Riding Hood IS the Big Bad Wolf. That is awesome.

9. Hat Trick - 1x17. One of the most terrifying, surreal episodes in the entire series, with the great Sebastian Stan knocking it out of the park as the deranged Mad Hatter, Jefferson.

10. The Return - 1x19. We learn why the curse was cast in a devastatingly emotional story that adds more to the characters of Rumple and August as the season enters its final stretch.

11. The Stranger - 1x20. August’s true identity is one of the best reveals in the whole series.

12. An Apple Red As Blood - 1x21. Part 1 of the season finale, as Regina in both the past and present gears up to finish off her nemesis, with the episode ending on a huge shocker.

13. A Land Without Magic - 1x22. Part 2 of the season finale, the best finale the show ever had, and quite possibly my all-time favorite episode. Almost everything about this episode is perfect and gives you the feeling of a story coming to its end as the threads come together.

14. Broken - 2x01. A solid season opener that sets the show on an exciting new course.

15. Lady of the Lake - 2x03. Things really pick up as Team Princess is formed, Cora is established as the new Big Bad, and we get some beautiful moments between Snow and Emma that make it all the more shameful that the show utterly ruins this dynamic later on.

16. The Doctor - 2x05. Dr. Whale is Victor Frankenstein. Did NOT see that coming!

17. Tallahassee - 2x06. The first adventure that “Captain Swan” (Emma and Hook) partake in together, while at the same time we finally learn about Emma’s sad past with her ex-lover.

18. Queen of Hearts - 2x09. A thrilling conclusion to the first arc of Season 2, where we finally learn Cora’s motivations and get an epic fight between the heroes and the villains.

19. Manhattan - 2x14. This episode is a real turning point, with Emma’s ex-lover being revealed as Rumple’s long-lost son, along with several new insights into Rumple’s past.

20. The Queen Is Dead - 2x15. One of the show’s most emotional episodes, in no small part thanks to Bailee Madison’s truly amazing performance as young Snow in the flashback.

21. The Miller's Daughter - 2x16. We learn about Cora’s fascinating backstory and the true nature of her relationship with Rumple. But then she dies, and the season totally falls apart.

22. Second Star To The Right - 2x21. Finally it feels like shit is getting done, and the concept of a terrifying re-imagining of Peter Pan in the flashback is immediately captivating.

23. And Straight On 'Til Morning - 2x22. The mess Season 2 became gets cleaned up in this gripping finale, with a brilliant new story set-up laid out to be followed in Season 3.

24. The Heart Of The Truest Believer - 3x01. OUAT is truly back at the top of its game here, juggling four different plot threads perfectly and introducing its greatest villain, Peter Pan.

25. Lost Girl - 3x02. The flashback here is meh, but the present day stuff is nigh-perfect.

26. Quite a Common Fairy - 3x03. For the first time, Regina’s potential redemption feels good and genuine, and Rose McIver’s re-imagining of Tinker Bell is a delight from the start.

27. Good Form - 3x05. Hook’s backstory is amazing, and Captain Swan truly begins here.

28. Ariel - 3x06. JoAnna Garcia Swisher makes a truly perfect live-action rendition of Ariel, and the interactions between all the characters in Neverland take a truly engaging turn.

29. Dark Hollow - 3x07. Belle and Ariel, on a mission from Rumpelstiltskin, team up to fight John and Michael Darling who serve the villainous Peter Pan. Only on this show, people!

30. Think Lovely Thoughts - 3x08. The “Nevengers” truly show how far they’ve come working as a group here, and we get one of the show’s most shocking and twisted reveals.

31. Going Home - 3x11. The perfect series finale that isn’t a series finale, with the action increasingly slowing down so that you can fully appreciate the emotions. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if the show had ended right here, I’d have been completely satisfied.

32. Witch Hunt - 3x13. Just plain fun and funny, with great dialogue and great character interactions that really get you re-adjusted to these characters and to life in Storybrooke.

33. The Jolly Roger - 3x17. Quite possibly the quintessential Hook episode, showing just what kind of a person he was and how he desperately wants to be a better man now.

34. Snow Drifts / There's No Place Like Home - 3x21 / 22. After the incredible letdown that was the climax of the Wicked arc, we get this two-part finale that really embodies the magic OUAT had and never quite will again, with Emma’s character arc coming to a fitting end.

35. The Apprentice - 4x04. “The Dark One lies. The Dark One tricks”. This episode does a perfect job at re-establishing Rumple as a true villain and a schemer to be reckoned with.

36. The Snow Queen - 4x07. Quite possibly the most heartbreaking villain backstory the show has ever had, plus riveting scenes between Elizabeth Mitchell and Jennifer Morrison.

37. Smash the Mirror - 4x08. It’s overlong and the Regina and Robin subplot is complete bullshit, but everything else in both the past and present is golden. The 4A arc peaked here.

38. Shattered Sight - 4x10. The boffo comedy in this episode is cringe-inducing, but all of the serious, emotional stuff centered around the Snow Queen and her family gets me every time.

39. Poor Unfortunate Soul - 4x15. Ursula’s backstory is kind of iffy, but the effect it has on Hook and his development here is really good, as are the villains and August’s return.

40. Sympathy for the De Vil - 4x18. “Evil isn’t born, it’s made”...except in this case, where it is 100% born and takes us on a twisted tale that could pass for a good Twilight Zone episode.

41. The Broken Kingdom - 5x04. The twist of the glorious kingdom of Camelot being a kingdom literally built on sand, and its monarch a disturbed megalomaniac, is a great one. Plus, Snow and Charming actually get do something heroic after a long period of inactivity!

42. Nimue - 5x07. The actors portraying Merlin and Nimue really sell the doomed epic romance between the two, as we get the most far-back flashback in the show’s entire run.

43. Labor of Love - 5x13. This episode can be summed up as “The Nevengers are back.” That alone counters the disappointment of how blandly Hercules and Megara are portrayed.

44. The Brothers Jones - 5x15. A touching tale of brotherhood, good intentions gone wrong, self-loathing and forgiveness, plus giving Hook closure with his big brother. I just love it.

45. Firebird - 5x20. The flashback is utter tripe, but the escalation in the present-day story, the performances, and Captain Swan’s True Love test makes this episode well worth it.

46. Last Rites - 5x21. Aside from that moment with Robin, this episode is awesome, especially the Underworld scenes with the duo I never knew I wanted: Hook and Arthur.

47. The Other Shoe - 6x03. This episode embodies what the show SHOULD have become: a more light-hearted series with adventures-of-the-day starring Emma, Hook and Henry.

48. A Wondrous Place - 6x15. Hook sails on Captain Nemo’s sub, the Nautilus, alongside Aladdin and Jasmine, meeting up with Ariel and facing down Jafar. Only on this show, people!

49. The Song in Your Heart - 6x20. Because really, who doesn’t love a Musical Episode? This one centering around Emma and her marriage to Hook makes it all the more special.

50. The Final Battle - 6x21 / 22. It’s got a LOT of problems, but the ending it reaches is truly one that fits the show, and we would have been better off if ABC hadn’t renewed it afterward.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

The Price of Gold - 1x04. Rumpelstiltskin’s first showcase episode, and he’s terrifying in it.

Dreamy - 1x14. Screw the haters, I really liked this episode! It was hilarious and sweet.

The Crocodile - 2x04. Our introduction to Killian Jones / Captain Hook. It’s a good one, and I’d have liked it better had Rumple’s role in both the past and present not been so disturbing.

Save Henry - 3x09. A tad anti-climactic and the Regina focus was misaimed, but still good.

New York City Serenade - 3x12. A damn fine start to a new beginning for the show.

Rocky Road - 4x03. Elsa and the Snow Queen are both fantastic characters, both shown well here. It’s held back by the introduction of Will Scarlet, who ended up being a waste.

Darkness on the Edge of Town - 4x12. This episode gives us the visual of villains on a road trip stopping at a drive-thru. You just gotta love that! Also, the Chernabog was awesome.

Operation Mongoose - 4x21 / 22. Despite Isaac’s (and by extension, A&E’s) terrible writing, the weird situations and performances from the actors makes this an entertaining finale.

Siege Perilous - 5x03. A good old-fashioned Camelot adventure is just what I wanted.

The Bear King - 5x09. Again, screw the haters. The show needed more episodes like this, a standalone where the plot takes a pause and the side characters are allowed to develop.

Broken Heart - 5x10. The present-day plot is absolute crap, but the flashback in Camelot is really well executed, and Colin O’Donoghue is clearly having a blast playing Dark Hook.

Souls of the Departed - 5x12. Not ideal for the 100th episode, but a good start to the Underworld arc, with a lot of familiar faces returning and a great new villain introduced.

Devil's Due - 5x14. Despite her fate in this episode, it’s great to see the writers presenting Milah more sympathetically than she was before, and Hades continues to be a delight.

Our Decay - 5x16. The first episode where Zelena feels truly human instead of the cartoonish psychopath she was before, with her and Hades’ romance being legit touching.

Sisters - 5x19. While I don’t much care for the subplot with Prince James, the main plot featuring the reconciliation between Cora, Regina and Zelena is great and beautifully acted.

Strange Case - 6x04. Oh, Mr. Hyde, you left us way too soon. The episode is sadly weighed down by Rumple’s textbook abuse toward Belle, which we now know is never truly punished.

Dark Waters - 6x06. A good bonding episode between Hook and Henry, plus a great new character from the Land of Untold Stories who is actually faithful to his source material!

Heartless - 6x07. For once, Lana Parilla actually gives us an old-school Evil Queen performance, where she’s scary and truly malevolent rather than campy and over-the-top.

Mother's Little Helper - 6x16. I really like the Dark Realm, and wish that more was done with it. The reunion between long-time rivals Hook and Blackbeard is also a lot of fun.

The Black Fairy - 6x19. The retcon that Rumple was born a Savior is ridiculous, but the titular Black Fairy’s backstory actually makes her an interesting character for the first time.

A Pirate's Life - 7x02. It was nice to see Emma again, and even better to see that the Hook in this arc is actually Wish!Hook rather than the original, who is still living happily with Emma.

The Girl in the Tower - 7x14. Robin and Alice are beyond precious as a couple in both the past and the present, finally washing away the bad taste left behind by “Ruby Slippers”.

The Guardian - 7x18. It may have been late in coming, but Rumple / Weaver actually becomes interesting here as we get to explore his relationship with his newfound friends.

Homecoming - 7x21. It’s good to see several old characters again, and even better to see all the loose threads from that abominable Season 6 Wish Realm two-parter finally addressed.

Leaving Storybrooke - 7x22. Except for Rumple’s end, most of what happens following Snow and Charming’s appearance is utter shit. But.....at least the show is finally over!

#Once Upon a Time #ABC #Opinion

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creative-type · 7 years ago

Text

Building up to Arlong Part I

“Just wait ‘till the Arlong arc.”

I think anyone who’s been in the One Piece fandom for any length of time has read some variation of the above sentence. It’s almost universally agreed that the Arlong arc is the tipping point from the series, elevating One Piece from okay to great. Detractors, newcomers, and the generally curious are all told to hold off their judgment until seventy chapters into the series, which seems like an absurd amount of time for a reader to get hooked.

In an interview with several of Oda’s former editors (English summary here, about three-quarters down the page) it’s stated that One Piece met some initial resistance in Japan among the staff at Shonen Jump, with some of the editors not seeing the appeal and others having to convince them of its “awesomeness”.

It’s hard to imagine the manga garnering such a reaction today, but I think it’s important to keep in mind that One Piece is Oda’s first serialized work. He had been an assistant and written several one shots, but he’d never had to put together a long-form story before. He was learning and growing as an author and artist as he went along.

Just compare the art in these two pages

Both are establishing shots of new locations, one of Usopp’s hometown and the other the Marines setting Luffy’s first bounty. The amount of detail outside the marine base blows the idyllic hills of Syrup village out of the water. It can be jarring to see how sparse early One Piece panels are when you’re more used to the cluttered, chaotic pages of later chapters.

But I think it would be impossible for Oda to make the jump from “meh” to “this is amazing” without some proper buildup. Early One Piece arcs contain bits and pieces of what makes the series so beloved, and as each arc progresses Oda takes what he’s learned and adds it into an ever-improving whole. So let’s take a look at these early chapters and find the diamonds scattered among the rough.

Romance Dawn

Chapter 1 is arguably the best crafted stand-alone story in these early chapters. That makes sense. As a pilot chapter for the series I’m sure it was written and rewritten dozens of times for maximum effectiveness, and I think it gets across everything it needs to without belaboring the point.

Romance Dawn is a glimpse of the quality that Oda would later produce on a more consistent basis. The characters are fun and have hidden depths, the art is simple but dynamic, and the bait-and-switch where Shanks doesn’t initially beat the crap out of the mountain bandits is a surprise considering the genre. And if haki was indeed planned from the beginning it’s also the first instance of Oda’s famous foreshadowing ability.

Considering future backstories it’s a little surprising that no one important to Luffy dies, but the familiar themes of inherited will, dreams, and sacrifice are present. The lack of uber-tragedy sets Luffy apart from a lot of protagonists and fits with his lighthearted, carefree characterization and the more whimsical nature of the series, while still hinting at the darkness that exists within the world.

Alvida

Chapter 2 is also a stand-alone story, but it’s much more generic. Following a common trend during these early chapters, it’s more focused on establishing Luffy as a character than any of the antagonists, and world building is minimal. Alvida is so boring that Oda completely repurposed her design and personality when she was reintroduce in Louge Town, and at this point Coby is a walking, talking foil to Luffy with little to no personality of his own.

There are a couple of things to note, though. One, Luffy’s characterization is remarkably consistent to what we see later in the series. Here we see him smile as he faces death, while later in the chapter Luffy insults Coby and calls him a wimp in a scene that’s reminiscent of his interaction with Shirohoshi during the Fishman Island arc. He also doesn’t help Coby until Coby stands up for himself, subtly enforcing the idea that Luffy is not a hero.

Second, we can see the embryonic form of Oda’s later paneling and page layouts. The above scene reminded me of a picture I pulled for my analysis of Chapter 218.

You can’t see it here, but in Chapter 218 Oda tilts his panels to match the rocking of the Going Merry, using an unconventional panel format to convey the chaos the Straw Hats are experiencing while also giving the eye an easy path to follow.

Chapter 2 has the “fade to black” Oda commonly uses when transitioning scenes, but the format is the traditional three lines of (mostly) rectangular panels. Despite the huge whirlpool you don’t get a sense that the situation is dangerous.

Also note the sheer amount of information conveyed in the sequence from Chapter 218 compared to the Chapter 2 despite them sharing basically the same layout. There are four separate panels of the same whirlpool - adequate enough in showing the passage of time, but visually kind of boring, which sums up the art in general during these early chapters.

Shells Town

The Shells Town arc shares a lot of the same flaws as the Alvida encounter, but has the benefit of a longer page count, which is helpful in fleshing out the story. Coby starts to grow into his own, and Zoro is introduced. The focus is still on establishing Luffy’s ideals as a pirate and Morgan is a one-note villain, but the world is starting to grow, namely with the complex morality of the marines.

We also get our first taste of Oda’s specific brand of Tragic Backstory (tm). Zoro’s flashback is arguably the weakest of all the Straw Hat’s. The pacing is rushed and I personally find the segue in and out of the present day to be a little jarring, but the bones of it is sound even if the execution is iffy.

The fight against Morgan doesn’t last long, but outclassed as he is, he at least puts up a better showing than Alvida. There are some neat camera angles and perspective tricks that Oda uses that sell Luffy’s flowing, so-long-as-it-works-I’m-going-to-do-it fighting style.

Again, this is but a taste of things to come, and short as it may be the Morgan fight is fun. Oda has said he gave Luffy the gum-gum fruit to help keep things from ever getting too serious, and reading these early chapters I believe it.

Orange Town

I would call the Buggy arc the first “standard” One Piece arc. At fourteen chapters it’s decently long by East Blue standards. It’s is leaps and bounds better than anything we’ve seen thus far, and we have the flashy bastard himself to thank.

Pre-comic relief Buggy manages to straddle the line between menacing and likable. One thing I do appreciate about One Piece villains is that they’re generally not given an excuse for their evilness (a trend that is admittedly starting to reverse post timeskip). We are never told why Buggy, Kuro, or Kreig set out to be pirates, and frankly we don’t need to know. Buggy is given a reason for his animosity towards Shanks, but it’s never used as a justification for his more jerkish behavior.

And he is a jerk. A clever, reasonably powerful, flashy jerk, but a jerk all the same.

With this added characterization, Buggy has the honor of being the first charismatic and memorable villain of the series, and is also the first instance of camaraderie within an enemy organization. In all honesty, I think the only thing separating Orange Town from the Cocoyashi village is emotional stakes. Buggy’s opinion notwithstanding, there is no Tragic Backstory (tm). The little dog comes closest, but the effectiveness of Shu depends entirely how much one cares for sad animal stories (I am immune, and subsequently don’t much care about Laboon either).

More importantly, it’s here that we see the first primitive instances of Straw Hat interaction, and some of the stuff that happens when Oda lets all the different personalities bounce off of one another is pure gold

Also Luffy shoves an old man face-first into a wall for his own good. I feel like that ought to be mentioned every time someone tries to call him a hero.

But the thing that really stands out in Orange Town when placed within the overarching plot is Oda’s burgeoning skill at playing the long game in regards to his storytelling, specifically in regard to Nami.

The Alvida, Morgan, and later Gaimon’s arcs are largely self-contained little stories that serve to flesh out Luffy as a protagonist. When Zoro was recruited the audience was informed of his history and character motivation almost immediately. During Nami’s first conversation with Luffy in chapter 9 we learn that she’s 1) raising 100,000,000 berries to buy a village, 2) loves money and tangerines, and 3) hates pirates. We don’t learn the reason for any of these things until her backstory is revealed in chapter 78.

There are obvious parallels to Robin’s recruitment much later, but really this is Oda something does quite often. Vivi and Law were both around for awhile before the meat of their stories were told. Having someone familiar around for big conflicts helps give a face to the nameless masses. It would have been really hard for Oda to make the reader care about the average Joe in Cocoyashi village without having a pre-established connection in the form of Nami, and it would be really hard to care about Nami if the audience hadn’t been given the time to get to know her first.

By waiting so long to let Nami develop as her own character, the emotional stakes missing from Orange Town are fully present during the much-beloved march to Arlong Park. The latter cannot exist without the former.

I said in the opening that 70 chapters is an absurd amount of time to get hooked into a story, but in some ways I can completely understand why it would take that long. One Piece isn’t built on slick one-liners or “cool” characters. It’s fun and goofy and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Hints of future intrigue and mystery are strewn along like bread crumbs down a path, organically delivered as the world unfurls bit by bit. There’s a methodicalness to it that catches the reader by surprise, yet makes perfect sense as the crew goes from island to island.

Orange Town is just the beginning of this in action, but once again this is getting pretty long. I’ll finish the road to Arlong Park in another post. Thanks for reading :)

#One Piece #Analysis #Manga #World building #Luffy #Nami #Zoro #East Blue Saga #Straw Hat Pirates #creative-type analyzes

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