#and be the ultimate test of his character development

[wayfinder-family-lover]

Can I talk about how they set up the Phisut family vs the Nirun family expectations for their youngest dating?

Starting with Lee, Phisut mama never used gender, she only wants to know who is the person that steal her youngest son's heart. We see she never give a fuck about that person gender. She is just so happy that her son is happy and to have another child to spoil!

And it goes with Teerak too, at no point does he put any expectation on Lee's crush. Saying someone all the time.

Here, there is no expectation of Lee's crush gender, in that scene the only one to know that Punlee likes a boy is us the audience (and maybe Fah, because unlike his parents and boyfriend at no point he is surprise that Lee likes someone. Instead he is just happy for his brother. So it's either because he is happy that his brother find love like he did or he knows who it is and he is happy he is telling their family).

And this contrast Rak's parents reaction to him having someone. While his mother does start with general vertues and finish by saying that she would love whoever Rak choose, because that his choice. It still put an expectation for Rak. She still have an ideal scenario of who that person gonna be. And while Fah fit in for most of it, he truly doesn't in one part. A part that might look unimportant, but unfortunately is in this society. And it's his gender. Fah is very much a man (unless they go trans/non binary route, but doubtful even if it would be fun), which leave Rak so insecure. But at least, her mom notice and reassure him. Even if, she doesn't understand why yet.

But his father is worst. Because he doesn't even let Rak speaks. The second he realizes that his son is in a relationship. He directly assumes that he is dating an older woman. Which lowkey weird reaction, like even if Fah was a woman, they are what 2 years apart at most, not much of age difference. Like why are you so happy he is dating someone older, just be happy your son is in a relationship. But that's me. His father put a lot of emphasis on the girl part, the gender part. Now I think about it, he never ask question about how "she" is has a person, just be proud that Teerak date an older woman. Add to that Teerak's incapacity to stand up for himself, it was an hard scene to watch and it was hard for him to correct his father.

And the fact those scenes are in the same episode, really show the contrast on how the Phisut parents truly doesn't have expectations on their children partners. They only care about them as a person. The Phisut parents care about Ghlai as a person even before meeting him, wanted to know who he is, because he makes Lee happy. Vs the Nirun parents who care about the gender of Teerak's partner, tho their personality also play a part. But it's something they expect. I love how they set this up. The Phisut parents did everything to make sure Fah and Lee know they don't care about the gender of the people they love. The Nirun didn't. Punlee and Muenfah know and are secure on their parents love even if they are queer. Teerak isn't.

Like Your Sky maybe not perfect, but when it comes to theme of love and communication and growth and trust, of community the show is doing such a good job!

[ficyorick]

i forgot about stormfront in that prev answer when i was talking abt HL's relationships but god. it was utility too. she helped him manage his failing popularity and then she proved to be a fun challenge so of course he did all of that... he first needed her to be useful before considering a relationship with her

sage youre in danger girl

[raayllum]

She Must Pay the Price, or A Drop of Mercy :: A Rayla and Leola Meta

Quick:

You're a young elven girl, and you show mercy and compassion to a human that you definitely weren't supposed to. When it's found out, you're punished, with elves even calling for your execution (6x09, book 1 novelization). Your father does what he can, but there's only so much. You're put on trial. You're found guilty regardless of intent, and only by association. You die for this; you die for them. You're a star. A guiding light. There's even a Great Fall off a precipice (though only one of you hits the ground).

Your name is Leola, or Rayla.

You're the beginning and the end, respectively.

So let's talk about it.

Tests of Love

For years, I had wondered where Aaravos' assessment of "Those who fail tests of love are simple animals. They deserve to be motivated by fear" (2x09) came from, cause you don't drop in a line like that if it's not going somewhere. It's quite a statement and worldview, after all. Now, with Leola's trial, it seems we know.

We can see, then, perhaps that Leola's gift giving was the first test of love — are you willing to break the Natural Law, the Natural Order of things? — to help another? To show another a source of power in order to share, to be compassionate, and in Rayla's case, to be merciful (though we'll get more to that in a minute).

We also know that the love Leola had was powerful and all encompassing:

She didn't care to follow the order set in the stars. Though she was born an immortal being from the Heavens, she loved this world... and all its flaws. Her heart was warm and open.

And she befriended mortals. Animals, elves... and humans.

ETHARI: Who I love, where I love, what I love, are all specific. But to Runaan and those like your parents... love is rooted in all families, all creatures. Souls like that feel called to protect everyone as fiercely as those they hold close. (Bloodmoon Huntress)

Okay, so Leola and Rayla both have big compassionate hearts and befriend creatures from all over the place. So what? So do Callum, Ezran, Soren, and most of our other main good guy characters. Even Claudia to a degree (though she could work on not using magical creatures for spell parts).

Well, specifically, it's because of how they intersect currently more with anyone else on the concept of

Mercy

KOSMO: Daughter of the Moon, yours is a wondrous heart. In a moment of mercy, you sent ripples out into the ocean of time. Ripples that have not yet stilled. (6x05)

Rayla sparing Marcos, as noted in multiple interviews by the creators and by myself in previous metas, is ultimately the inciting incident / lynchpin of the entire series. Without it, there would've been no soulfang proposal or Ez running away to find the egg or any of the number of other elements that had to come together to make achieving peace possible.

While we still have details to discover regarding Aaravos' Fall and development of dark magic, we know that a lack of mercy was ultimately what sent him on his path of vengeance. Leola was not shown mercy, and while it seems there were already "flaws" for an imperfect world, things were (probably) better than they currently are in Xadia in a variety of ways. Then, to kick off the entire Saga, we have Rayla sparing Marcos in a soundtrack literally titled "Mercy" and have Kosmo, seasons and seasons later, spell out directly what a big deal this was for well, the ocean of time.

None of this is to say Rayla can't act out of revenge — she did ("when I first came here, I was on a mission for revenge") and she has ("but I became so obsessed with revenge"), much like Aaravos ("he isn't doing anything out of love, he's doing it for revenge") — but that her general compassion and love for others has always been stronger than her grief or rage, and that even when she had every social and personal reason to, she was and is fundamentally unable to hurt someone innocent.

Even when she's shamed or punished for it by herself or by others. RAYLA: The human looked up at me, and I saw the fear in his eyes. RUNAAN: Of course he was afraid, but you a job to do! (1x01)

EZRAN: Yeah, but then you saw he was scared, and you knew he was a person, just like you. RAYLA: That shouldn't have mattered. I had a job to do. (1x08)

The Cosmic Council — and to a degree, the Silvergrove — say that the reasonings or motivations, the intentions, behind Leola and Rayla's actions do not and should not matter when it comes out to doling 'Justice'. So Leola faces her justice, being literally killed in the one manner that can kill a Startouch elf, and so does Rayla, being metaphorically Ghosted / 'murdered' by her community, regardless.

Neither are enough to ultimately quell their light or their love/power, however.

A Star

RAYLA: That beautiful shining star you just pointed out? We call it Leola's Last Wish. (5x02)

So both Leola and Rayla are stars in season 6, literally and metaphorically respectively. Leola's is more self-explanatory, whereas Rayla's is mostly about the role she has in Callum's life as a guiding light and star. I don't think it's a coincidence, though, that just as Rayla placed Callum on his path of being a primal mage, though, that Leola did the same for humanity. I also don't think it's a coincidence that Callum's love for Rayla restores Callum's own light and agency amid Leola giving humanity the same through light and fire.

It happened long ago, when humans had only just learned to hold fire in their hands without burning. They nurtured their precious primal flames secretly—in the dark of night, beneath shadows and shrouds—as cultivating its glow drew the eyes and ire of monsters. Eventually, for the audacity of their fire, they were hunted, and—though they looked to the stars for salvation—the stars, too, looked down upon them with disdain. Humanity had been given something it was never meant to have. (TDP shorts, Ripples)

In this way, we see the manifestation of a repeating parallel of Rayla representing Leola, a gift giver of life, magic, light, unjustly punished/killed, and Callum representing humanity, looking to the kindest brightest star for guidance, magic, restoration, and salvation if he's just given the chance to grasp it. After all, presumably, Leola's last wish would have something to do with primal magic and humanity, and who represents that better than Callum, with two arcana under his belt and possibly more on the way? With that in mind, I want to return to another quote from earlier but with a different focus on

Ripples

Daughter of the Moon, yours is a wondrous heart. In a moment of mercy, you sent ripples out into the ocean of time. Ripples that have not yet stilled.

The wisest of the humans looked upon the water. His own reflection smiled back at him, and he dared to imagine what such power would feel like in his own hands, should he be allowed to hold it. Imagine, he thought, if I were more than what I am. With a trembling hand he touched the surface of the water. Ripples spread from his fingertips. [...] I hope the stars were watching. I hope they saw it: the moment their perfect reflections turned warped and ruined, churned to chaos by the touch of a single human hand. In this, the humans taught me another lesson. And so I touch the surface of the water. I watch the ripples spread.

Water in TDP is a strange beast, symbolically speaking. There are some more straight forward motifs (reflections, "don't try to control where the river [of life] goes, there's one thing you can know and control: yourself"). For Aaravos, it's connected to deep loss but also his own sense of patience in playing and winning his game, as illustrated above. For Rayla, it's linked to shame, self-reflection, bravery, and loss. Aaravos weeps and creates a sea upon losing Leola; Rayla says goodbye to her family by the lotus pond times three.

We don't know what water represents for Leola. Not distinctly, anyway. The best we can figure though, is that by following the through line of the Rayla and Leola parallels, that the ripples Leola wanted to send out or did send out — not the distortions caused by her father and his grief — are ones that Rayla received, and then continued.

Rayla has always been a foil to Aaravos, and this hasn't changed. She is the one who set Callum on the path initially of being a mage, which put him in Aaravos' machinations as prey; she retrieved his Key; and she's the reason Callum's done dark magic, twice. At the same time, much like the moon, Rayla carries Leola's light as much as she shoulders Aaravos' dark. She literally represents light in Callum's life, helps lead him through the darkness, and him being a primal mage and it's possible growth to other humans is the best possible thing that could've ever happened to Xadia.

Sol Regem says that "no one can save" Xadia or fix what is deeply broken. The Cosmic Council said that Leola had broken the Cosmic order and had to pay the price. Rayla has repeatedly been willing to pay the price for both hers and other's actions in hopes of making things right, of sparing others' pain. Sometimes to her detriment, but—if Rayla as Callum's one Truth could fix the darkness within him, if she's the lynchpin for breaking the Cycle, for bringing back Runaan and fixing her family's souls, in opposing and presenting mercy amid the Council's lack of mercy, in the face of Xadia's violence—

Then Rayla's act of mercy in 1x01, and potentially beyond in S7 with Callum, will be what fixes Xadia.

Leola's gift of magic is what 'broke' Xadia, and her execution is what literally did so, leading to the division of the continent. She wrongly paid the price in the absence of mercy and love. Rayla is therefore her thematic successor — welcomed this time as Light and Truth — as the carrier of Mercy and Love, and she will 'fix' Xadia through her ripples and dynamics. She will mend them back together. There will, at last, be no price to pay.

Misc. Thoughts / Predictions

One thing I was always curious about going forward into future seasons was the prospect of a 'trial' or reunification of the Silvergrove. It felt like a no-brainer the Silvergrove would have to change in order to reflect Runaan's character arc, much the way we see Katolis and the Sunfire elves change to better accommodate the new, more compassionate world order. Pre-S4 a trial felt a little strange as an idea, though post-S4 the parallels it could provide to the Lucia tribunal made more sense about why include either (or both).

However, Leola's trial seemed to hammer home the almost necessity (as this is still a prediction, after all, that may not happen) of Rayla and/or Runaan saying their peace to the Silvergrove leaders. This would be a great opportunity to provide a contrast to the Cosmic Council, reaffirming that Xadia is ultimately better than them because the Moonshadow elves and everyone else can change, and the Cosmic Council seemingly cannot or will not. But I guess we'll have to wait for S7 or beyond (#GiveUsTheSaga) to find out if this'll come to fruition or not.

I also wanted to touch on what we see with Leola ("I'm so scared!") and the repeated emphasis on "recognizing fear as a moment of empathy and personhood" and the horror that can come if you don't have that moment of recognition. This is something I've touched on before most notably as a striking difference between S1 Rayla and S5 Claudia, but I thought it was worth mentioning as S6 added to it specifically with Viren towards Soren and Lissa. This is another point in the "Rayla is an inversion of the Council's lack of mercy" column, as Leola's — a child's fear, and Aaravos willing to pay the price and take her place — earns her no mercy. Rayla, meanwhile, sees someone innocent that she has 'every right' to execute is afraid of her, and that strays her hand; it steadies her sword, and she spares him. Because if someone is afraid of you, it's worth asking yourself why, and what you might want to do instead.

Last but not least I wanted to talk about Leola's parallels to Callum and Ezran as well, since they are very much there (though yet not perhaps to the same extent).

Ezran has Leola's friendliness to animals and soft heart. He too is a child whose death is called for as a means of Justice, and he is granted mercy through Rayla and the discovery of the egg, able to live and grow and help usher in peace. He is, I think, what Leola might've been allowed to be if she'd lived in different times. Callum, meanwhile, carries the gift giving motif through his cube, staff, and tokens he both gives to (moon-phoenix bracelet) and receives (the moon opal necklace) from Rayla, and previous 'human-Leola' magic dynamic. Callum being able to break free fully from Aaravos' and dark magic's control in S7 and turn his eye instead to primal magic will be what helps bring true justice to Leola and hope for humanity / Xadia in righting the Cosmic Council's fundamental wrongdoing. Hopefully, anyway.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this deep dive into some parallels and potential narrative goings-on between Leola and Rayla as characters. TDP loves its historical and ironic layers in TDP (Ez and the Orphan Queen, Viren's arc from S1 to S6) and I think this layered thematic dynamic between the two merciful young girls was a good, brilliant choice by the creative team. I'm excited to see where this thematic thread goes in the future and how it may continue to be woven into the story. As always, thank you for reading, and I'll see you in the next one.

[artist-issues]

They did a really good job with Shadow in this game.

They got him back to who he was in the first game he appeared in—while adding in how his experiences since his time as a naive test-subject have changed him.

I missed the Redeemed Shadow from the Final Story of SA2. That version of him, those moments where he’s decided very quickly who he is, “I must destroy all the evil the Professor has created!” Or “How are you doing, Sonic?” Or “I’ll take care of this, while you run to get the Chaos Emeralds!”

All the lighthearted confidence in who he is now and what he has to do—all the concern for his comrades who just a second ago he was claiming to be so much better than—all the humility of ‘you get the Emeralds, I’ll hold ‘em off’ and ‘maybe you’re the Ultimate Life Form, Sonic’—I loved that snippet of Shadow we got to see.

Then he falls and “dies,” and from that point on I got treated to angsty I-Don’t-Know-Who-I-Am Shadow. Closely followed by Grimly-Passive-Agressively-Duty-Bound Shadow.

No more humbly completing a mission for the good of others. Very little demonstrative concern for others. No more compliments to comrades. Made me sad.

But you know what, it made sense. Because even though he’s learned that he’s supposed to be living for others, he doesn’t get to have his family. So that’s sad. He essentially has to live for people he doesn’t feel close to. Add on top of that the Dark Side, the fact that a sadistic race of monsters is in his blood, and of course he’d be bitter.

But in this game Maria speaks directly to Shadow who’s been through all that. All that garbage with the Black Arms, all that garbage with almost destroying the world himself out of revenge—Maria talks to that Shadow and reminds him of who he is.

So now he has anger and he has reason to be detached, and bitter…but he’s also been reminded to choose not to be detached and bitter.

That’s a much more fleshed-out character than I thought SEGA would develop him into, after everything

[shut-up-danny-kun]

I've read hundreds of Star Trek TOS fics by now and it never ceases to amuse me how many different ways there are to fuck up Spock's characterization...now hold on just a minute - this post has a more interesting point than “fanfic writers stupid”, I promise you.

Every time, it's a spin on the massacre wheel. It's kind of amazing. Will he be overly emotional to the point where he's not himself anymore? Will he be so cold it's unpleasant and kind of hard to understand how he's lived to this point? Will he be extremely horny for no good reason? Will he speak in a way that sounds complety wrong?

I chuckle and shake my head. Of course, I KNOW what Spock is like, and MY interpretation of him is the most perfect and correct one. Obviously. He's just a very nuanced character, formed by many people in an unconventional way, with traits that seem to contradict each other at first but ultimately form a rich and unique character that so many people fell in love with specifically because he's so complicated...

Or...is he?

Let's entertain the idea that there isn't one correct interpretation of Spock, that all of these messy bits of characterization are not part of a bigger picture, but...just what they are: a product of many people with starkly different visions, working on a show that refuses to properly develop its characters. What then? Well, then Spock is a Rorschach test. Each viewer connects the random dots in their own way, and ignores the ones they don't like.

Let's use an example: me! In my interpretation of Spock (the most correct one, of course) he is, first of all, gay and on the asexual spectrum, reserved, largely uninterested in casual flirting or sex. When he is interested in the aforementioned things, he tends to be quite ashamed of it.

Makes sense, right? I can show you plenty of evidence for why that could be true. However, in the beginning of the first bloody season, Uhura sings a song about how Spock is actually kind of a heartthrob who likes to drive women insane with how hot he is, and Spock smiles. He smiles at her, as if agreeing and being very amused by all this! This interaction goes against pretty much everything I think about Spock. So what do I do? I explain it away in the most bizzare fucking way possible. See, Uhura and Spock are friends (there is no evidence for this), and Uhura knows everything I've just told you about him (through telepathy I guess? Not like he'd ever tell her!) and she's just trolling him (why would she do that? That is NOTHING like Uhura!). I need to do some Olympics-level mental gymnastics here, the opposite of Occam's razor.

“But Danny,” I hear you say, “it's just the start of the show! They hadn't figured out his character yet!”

To which I say: you can say that about anything! You can blame it all on a bad writer for that episode, and ignore virtually any scene that doesn't jive with your headcanons. It's there, and I can't ignore it.

So...how am I different from the people that want Spock to be thar heartthrob Uhura is singing about? That evidence is as much a part of canon as my favorite lines. Well, I'm not any different, that's the thing. And all those writers I complained about also have a point.

It's kind of a nihilistic take, I know, but maybe the reason Spock is such a cultural icon is because he is...whatever you want him to be: just concrete enough to spur on your imagination, yet vague and contradictory enough to let your brain fill in the gaps.

Don't get me wrong: I absolutely do not believe in this. In my mind, it just so happens that I'm one of the, like, 5 people ever who truly understood Spock (and one of them is Jim Kirk himself). But I still think it's something worth thinking about next time you're mad at a fic.

[dalishious]

Ramblings on "Eight Little Talons"

The Talons

One of the most interesting things about the Tevinter Nights story, “Eight Little Talons”, is how it portrays the relationship between all the different Talons.

The very first paragraph features Viago reflecting on how important decorum was, because he does not want to be shown up by the others. He then goes onto think about how unusual it is to have such a gathering of Talons, and that they will need to put aside their differences if they want to accomplish their goal of a united front against the Qunari invasion. The quote, “while all Talons were peers, the same could not be said about their resources and influence,” paints a picture of how even though they are all individually powerful, yes, there is still the ladder of supremacy based on First Talon to Eighth Talon. As such, they are all stuck playing a game against each other to keep or advance their positions on that ladder. Additionally, Dante refers to a competition that exists between the north and south of Antiva.

This is, ultimately, their downfall. It’s what Emil claims motivated him to take them out. He admires the noble origins of the Antivan Crows, and dislikes what they’ve become. He tells Teia, “Now, it’s all about family. Blood. Instead of a claw working as one, we fight over scraps. Eventually, we’ll all starve.” And in the end, he says, “It’s always money with all of us. That’s the problem. In the beginning, we were protectors. We fought for Antiva—for the people. Then somewhere along the way we chose profit over patriotism.”

Viago de Riva

I love how Viago proficiency with poison is both a blessing and a curse for him. On one hand, it makes him very good at his job. But on the other, he is profoundly paranoid about being poisoned himself. He has memorized how different ingredients react and can be hidden in different foods, and refuses to consume anything handed to him without either testing it first or preparing antidotes. He dresses to show the least amount of skin possible, and is anxious over any form of contact with another person. He takes a daily micro-dose of Adder’s Kiss to develop an immunity to it.

Another interesting thing about Viago, is how bitter he is about being a bastard son of the Antivan King. When Teia wonders about his past, she knows better than to actually ask him any questions. Viago was only given two choices in life because of the circumstances of his birth: either live in luxurious exile, or join the Crows. He resents all his half-siblings who chose the first, and he resents the king himself. Viago may be more powerful than them all, even the king, but he is now stuck in this life. Had he not been, he thinks he could been a better ruler of Antiva.

While Viago is certainly skilled – he firmly believes he could kill every Talon at the summit if he wanted to - it’s easy to infer that it was nepotism that earned his rank, or at least that’s the reputation he has, based on the comment from Dante: “Your daddy will protect you”.

Viago sees himself as a recluse. Teia says his reputation is that of a curmudgeon, and in her defence, he himself says he doesn’t care about being liked, he just wants to be respected and feared. I think the fact that he was raised in a “gilded cage” with a mother whom he remembers only for her wine-stained teeth had a lot of influence on this. He’s been alone all his life.

Andarateia “Teia” Cantori

Just like Viago, Teia has an unconventional speciality as well. While Viago observes that she weaponized her beauty, I would propose that Teia’s real mastery is manipulation. Using her beauty is certainly part of that, but in examining the way she responds to each and every character differently shows that she is playing a far subtler game. She shoehorns Viago into riding with her in a gondola, so that the others will gossip about how their houses must be in an alliance – the goal being to give them more power in the discussions. She calls Caterina “Nonna”, which Caterina points out that not even her actual grandchildren do, as a way of disarming the First Talon. And when she interrogates Dante, yes the serum he’s under helps, but it’s her cunning persuasiveness that does the leg work.

Viago remarks that at twenty-eight years old, Teia is the youngest Talon in history. Perhaps this is a contributing factor to why she has a different perspective than the others, when it comes to her dislike of “the bottom line” – the obsession with making coin for their kills. She also has her own set of rules the others do not follow; for example, she refuses to kill servants unless absolutely necessary. And she displays the ability to sympathize with people in a way that the other Talons do not. So you could call it naivety, sure. But I believe it’s more to do with just the type of person she is. We know from Zevran how the Crows work hard to burn out everything except murder in their recruits, but the fact that Teia holds onto her compassion speaks of how strong it is.

It’s also worth mentioning that Teia had to accomplish a hell of a lot to get where she is. “An elf born in an alley with no family or connections, Teia and her rise to power had caused quite the controversy. The Antivan Crows always told new recruits that anyone could become a Talon, but it rarely happened.” She tells Viago that she does not let where she comes from define her, nor is she ashamed of who she is. I love that. I love how unapologetic Teia is about herself.

[quill-and-whetstone]

“The Sniper Problem”

I have a favorite litmus test that I apply to just about everything I write: “Could this entire plotline be resolved by one sufficiently trained sniper?” The hypothetical sniper is there to evaluate the quality of the conflict I’ve set up. If they can resolve the whole thing by taking out their target then I… probably have some rethinking to do, because the test succinctly highlights a few key issues with any story that fails it.

First, the obvious: if the problem your protagonists are facing can be solved this way it’s probably just not as interesting as it could be. A conflict of “big bad evil dude does a big bad evil thing and our hero goes and mercs him about it” can make for a fun blockbuster action film, but the plot of those films are rarely–if ever–the point. Stories with a central villain stand to gain a lot of narrative depth from asking yourself what issues would linger if they were suddenly removed from the picture. What internal struggles might remain in your protagonists? How might the world around them still need to be changed or healed? Which elements or areas of the story just seem empty without the big bad to fill the narrative space, and how can we develop them?

The second facet of the sniper problem is an inverted Occam’s Razor, a call to ensure that there’s a good reason the protagonists aren’t just using a simple and direct route to solve their problems. It’s like how modern horror movies have to cripple the victims’ cell phones to justify everything else that happens, though ideally less contrived. When revising a story through this lens, it’s almost difficult not to improve it. It aids suspension of disbelief, lets your protagonists present as more competent, and gives them more to do outside of biffing people they don’t like which in turn showcases more of their personality.

A great example of all of this is Avatar: The Last Airbender. Throughout the show the bottom line is that our heroes are out to defeat the Firelord to stop the atrocities he’s committing against the rest of the world. So it stands to reason to ask, why not camp outside his house early on with an assassin good enough to score a quick or lucky kill? But the show answers this amply with just its concept, mostly without having to draw direct attention to it. If Firelord Ozai dropped dead in the pilot there would still be a whole Fire Nation pursuing his goals complete with other emotionally unstable royals and military officers. It wouldn’t actually… solve anything. “Defeat the Firelord” is just the mission that sets our heroes on the path they need to take to stop a war that’s destroying the world. The real solution is cultivating friendships across cultures, healing and maturing together, growing spiritually, protecting and empowering victims of generational violence, dismantling fascistic power structures, and ultimately even finding a relatively peaceful / humane solution to the problem of the Firelord. While they do call this out directly in one episode, they didn’t have to, because with the way they structured the narrative it was already evident. As a result of that good planning the characters got to do a lot of interesting, character driven, thematically resonant things and the show isn’t just one long and kind of dry martial arts training montage until they show up at the finale.

So keep the sniper problem in mind as you write! Or even as you read, watch, and analyze other media for what worked and what didn’t. I can’t promise it’ll be relevant to every story, but I can promise that it’s a quick and easy standard that’ll help you layer in a lot of nuance and flavor into your narrative.

[discoscoob]

YOUNG DONNIE BARKSDALE HEADCANONS

ִ ˙ ✩°˖🍂⋆｡˚ Note: contains upsetting and distressing themes involving teen suicide, murder, abuse and parental neglect. This is angsty as hell, fellas :(

Note ii: I do not intend to romanticise or excuse any of the following, these are merely thoughts and ideas inspired works of fiction. I do not support or defend men like Donnie in the real world. If you think the following will be upsetting or triggering, I strongly advice not reading. You are responsible for your own choices. Thank you!

I’m using Keanu’s character Matt from the film River’s Edge as inspiration and a template for my headcanons for young Donnie Barksdale.

Family Dynamics

➤ Donnie never had a proper father figure in his life growing up and he never knew his real father.

➤ His mother suffered with alcoholism, leading to her neglecting him and his younger siblings.

➤ She would drift between different relationships, often with toxic boyfriends that Donnie would frequently get into verbal or physical fights with in an attempt to defend/protect his mother and younger siblings.

➤ As the oldest sibling, he felt responsible and pressured to fulfill a paternal role for his younger sister and brother.

➤ Prematurely stepping into this paternal role, without any healthy or positive guidance to draw from, meant Donnie didn’t possess the emotional maturity needed in order to fill that role properly.

➤ Donnie received little to no experience of healthy discipline himself growing up, which resulted in him mimicking the only discipline he ever experienced, which came from his mother’s toxic boyfriends.

➤ His first experience of using violence and aggression as a form of control and punishment began with his younger brother.

➤ When his younger brother started heading into a rebellious and reckless phase, without any sign of growing out of it, Donnie attempted to take control of his behaviour by using violence and aggression.

➤ Donnie’s softer side came out towards his little sister, the youngest sibling. He tried to be more protective and nurturing towards her. Despite his intentions being good natured, his attempts to overcompensate for the emotional and physical neglect she faced from their mother, lead to his protectiveness over his sister to become increasingly more controlling.

➤ This overprotectiveness would later extended to his romantic relationships with women and evolve into more possessive and controlling behaviour.

➤ Because Donnie never had a proper, healthy role model to look up to, he was never taught how to properly manage his emotions, leading to an inability to manage conflicts healthily.

His Friends Influence

➤ Donnie’s high school friend group became the only male influences in his life he had any positive association with. His friends were the only thing he had to fill the emotional voids within his life, this made the sense of brotherhood he felt he had developed with them incredibly sacred to him, something which he would protect no matter what.

➤ His loyalty to his friends was put to the ultimate test when one of his friends, John, murdered his girlfriend, Jamie. Donnie was pressured by his friend group to stay quiet in order to protect John.

➤ This had an everlasting detrimental impact to Donnie’s moral compass and desensitise him to violence, especially violence against women.

➤ The fear of losing the only sense of belonging he ever had on top of his fear of abandonment was enough to convince him to overlook John’s crime.

➤ This is the point in Donnie’s life where loyalty vs betrayal became more important to him than right vs wrong.

Prospects and Substance Abuse

➤ Struggling in school would often lead to Donnie skipping class or not showing up to school altogether. His poor performance in high school, on top of the poor amount of opportunities in his rural town, left Donnie with very few options.

➤ Donnie was already pretty disillusioned by life at a relatively young age, due to the lack of opportunities in his rural town and any dream of escapism he had seemed unattainable.

➤ He would smoke weed with his friends when they skipped school and when Donnie became older and accepted any, usually low-paying and physically demanding, job he could find, he would turn to alcohol and other harder substances as a coping mechanisms and a form of escapism.

➤ His drinking and substance abuse would only contribute to his violent and abusive behaviour.

His Sister’s Suicide

➤ Matt was in his mid to late twenties when his little sister took her own life. She was still only a teenager. She was struggling to cope with her own issues that developed from growing up within her toxic and dysfunctional family dynamic.

➤ At this point in his life, Donnie was already struggling with alcoholism and substance abuse as a coping mechanisms for his unfulfilling life, but it would become far worse after losing his sister.

➤ None of his romantic relationships were ever healthy, thanks to a combination of factors such as his abandonment issues, his relationship with violence and his inability to handle his emotions in a healthy manner (to name a few.)

➤ Most of his relationships failed because any potential threat to the relationship or lack of control triggered his anger and insecurities, usually caused by his jealousy or controlling behaviour.

➤ But losing his sister only worsened his toxic and unhealthy behaviour within his romantic relationships.

➤ He would cling tighter to his partners than ever before and that would manifest as manipulation and control. He would isolate his partner from their friends and family, forcing them to be completely reliant on him. Any hint of disloyalty or emotional distance from his partner would trigger violent outbursts.

➤ Donnie views his sister’s death as another one of his failures in life. Blaming himself for not protecting her enough, even though his protection of her had already developed into something that was toxic and overbearing, unknowingly contributing to the number of issues his sister was struggling to cope with.

➤ Donnie always perceived his intentions towards his sister to be good natured, as that’s how they began and honestly she was the one person he genuinely loved the most. Although he never learnt how to nurture and maintain healthy feelings and emotions, resulting in them all becoming warped and toxic. In his mind, he never hurt his sister or contributed to her turmoil.

➤ Therefore, when she took her own life, part of him saw it as a betrayal after all the sacrifices he made to protect her.

➤ The fragile relationship Donnie developed with masculinity, due to the major influences from his high school friends, his mother’s toxic boyfriend’s and the old rural town’s dated attitudes, left him unable to process his grief in a healthy manner—perceiving sadness as weakness. His grief would instead be channelled in bouts of uncontrollable anger and deep, depressive episodes.

Jamie and Jessica parallels

➤ When Jessica’s body is pulled from Donnie’s lake, it gives him flashbacks to seeing Jamie’s body at the river’s edge.

➤ When Donnie becomes a suspect and later charged with Jessica’s murder, questions about his involvement in Jamie’s murder resurface.

[alienssstufff]

OC I MADE FOR A DR CAMPAIGN WOOPER!

Ultimately (haha) I went with the og concept but still wanted to test alternatives - was inspired particularly by rabbits and their associations with the moon by East Asian culture. The crescent shape of the helmet too + the neck fluff give illusion of a moon hiding in the clouds :3

More developments on the design details. It’s not AS fitting to the typical Danganronpa wardrobe but a) he’s an adult b) the regular is kinda boring c) his Ultimate is an alien might as well go all out. Focus here is memorable yet consistent silhouette and testing potential logo designs (every dr character comes with a symbol whether from them self or a school)

Also bonus colour tests! My priority was to make green the highlight colour in the end I went with the Top Left palette, it’s like the Top Right but subtler colours fitting for the source media but not too washed out like it. Alternatively I also rly likes how cold the Bottom Middle looked

[tobiasdrake]

I'm curious what Tenshinhan's fighting style is beyond general weirdness lol. I always interpreted it as a "showing off" sort of style back in the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai, with most of his moves being visually impressive and/or intended to instill despair in his opponent, but then you have his kikōhō, a move that damages the self for greater strength...

Tenshinhan is fucking weird is what he is.

I mean that sincerely. Fitting for a man who walks in with three eyes like that's totally normal and no one ever speaks of it, Tenshinhan's style comes straight from the realm of the bizarre and esoteric. He's an outside-the-box challenger to test the limits of Goku's counter-fighting.

He is the drunken boxer. The fighting game character that plays utterly differently from all other characters, making them hard to learn but unpredictable when mastered. Ten forges his own way through martial arts with off-the-wall tricks and game-changing shenanigans.

It's just. Easy to forget how weird he is because the rest of the cast have thoroughly cannibalized his style. Kame-senryu are a bunch of fucking thieves.

This eye-searing image is the most normal thing Ten has in his repertoire.

Ten and Chiaotzu lay out that they're going to be... unlike anything we've seen before right from the get-go, when they use psychic powers to rig the matches.

Already, it's clear that we're about to see some weird shit. Both of these characters are built on the martial arts philosophy of "Okay what the hell even is that, how did you even bring laser eyes to a knife fight?"

Ten in particular is a formidable martial artist.

But as early as his first match, the oddball nature of his abilities start to settle in.

Okay, so Ten can just Nope any Kamehameha thrown at him. Sure. Guess that's a thing now. New rule, guys: No more Kamehamehas.

But you also kinda get it. Like. Tsuru-senryu is the rival school to Kame-senryu, and the Kamehameha is the signature technique of Kame-senryu. So it makes sense that they'd develop countermeasures for the Kamehameha.

Also, they can levitate.

Well, that's going to make scoring a ringout fucking hard, isn't it? One of the two ways you win in this tournament is by making your opponent fall in the grass outside the ring, and these fuckers can fly.

That's unfair, is what that is. They don't even need to use helicopter tail shenanigans or a well-aimed Kamehameha for propulsion to do it. They can just decide that they don't feel like being rung out today.

This is the first technique that doesn't seem so special today because everybody cannibalized their Bukujutsu. But at the time, it was unique. Even Taopaipai, their idol, couldn't fly. He got around by the delightfully comical method of throwing something really hard and then jumping on it and being taken for a ride.

Taopaipai was doing Breath of the Wild rock transit decades before it was cool.

As the tournament picks up, Chiaotzu foreshadows the bizarre nature of the fights ahead when he reveals his ultimate technique: Binding his opponent in place with psychic powers so they can't defend themselves.

That's. Not. Really. A martial art? Even by the incredibly loose definitions already on display in this manga. It's closer to General Blue's paralyzing glare. And there's a lot more of that to come.

Further included in Ten's repertoire of Weird Shit (TM) is his third eye, which serves a vital function in combat until everyone starts ki sensing and it ceases to be relevant.

Ten has enhanced perception, allowing him to see things that others can't. This is notably distinct from being able to sense people by following their ki signatures. A distinction the Muten-Roshi helpfully lays out by stating he can't see Goku but can sense him just before Ten confirms he can still see him.

When Goku meets Popo, we'll have entered the realm where the limitations of human eyesight can no longer keep up with the speeds of the characters, and learning to perceive through ki sensing becomes necessary.

But right now, Ten's enhanced perception lends him a number of edges over other martial artists that have to rely on eyesight to track their foes. Advantages such as thwarting this particular invisibility technique of Goku's.

Or piercing the illusion of the Zanzoken/Afterimage speed technique.

As an aside, I love the way both of those moments draw attention to Ten's two normal eyes looking one direction while his third looks the other. It's such an eerie but effective way of conveying the idea that he can see more than a normal man.

Ten and Chiaotzu play by different rules than everyone else.

Sometimes he has four arms. That's life, man. Again, they make a point of showing us what this looks like as a speed technique:

Both to set up Goku's counter for this and also so that we understand how meaningful it is that Ten is not doing that. Chapa and later Goku perform Hasshuken, moving their arms so fast it creates the illusion of eight. Ten physically sprouted two extra arms. He can just. Like. Shapeshift, I guess. He's a flying shapeshifter who sees faster than everyone because of his three eyes and he hangs out with a telekinetic doll.

Also he can flashbang his opponents as a clincher.

This is another move that seems mundane now because everyone stole it from him. They took his Bukujutsu/Levitation and they took his Taiyoken/Solar Flare. But it's another data point on the list of ways Ten's such a weird and complicated opponent to try and fight.

Even by the standards of Tsuru-senryu, he's weird. Taopaipai didn't do half of this shit. Ten specifically refers to the Taiyoken/Solar Flare as a New Tsuru-senryu technique, which implies that he created it himself.

Which makes me wonder just how much of his moveset is actually part of the Tsuru-senryu curriculum and how much is Ten. Just. Being weird.

Notably, at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, Ten shows up with something even more absolutely freakish than the Shiyoken/Four-Armed Fist.

Shishin no Ken also known in English as the Multiform Technique is another departure from your illusory speed techniques, in that Ten splits his body into four bodies. How does he do that? Fuck you, that's how. This is the evolution of both his enhanced perception and his ability to sprout extra arms - And, in being so, a demonstration of how Goku has left him behind.

It's an admittedly creative solution to the problem that Goku, following his training with Popo, can move too fast for even his three eyes to follow. But now he has twelve eyes.

TWELVE. That's as many as four Tens! And that's terrible.

The Shishin no Ken was another weird-ass technique from a weird-ass martial artist, serving a practical function in enhancing Ten's unique characteristics to compensate for Goku's now godly abilities.

But it was ultimately undone by a catastrophic vulnerability, which is the reason nobody ever tried this shit again.

Splitting into multiple copies of yourself turns you into a team of useless scrubs who can't throw a punch to save your life. It's a bad technique and was written off immediately after this fight, never to be seen again.

...except in anime filler, where everyone stole that from Tenshinhan too.

You guys were both at the tournament when Goku pointed out that this technique makes you throw punches like slow, limp noodles! Come on, guys! These characters would not even try this shit.

But I digress.

Not to be outdone, Chiaotzu invented a technique where he blows himself up and dies ineffectually.

Tenshinhan never let him fight another person again for the rest of his life. This cost him fighting privileges. Straight up left him with the non-combatants during the Android arc. You are done, Chiaotzu.

Look, just because their shit is weird doesn't mean it's all good.

Of course, we can't talk about Ten without talking about the Big Gun. His ultimate technique. The thing he's known for better than anything else, especially by people who never watched or read the material prior to Raditz.

The Kikoho/Tri-Beam is not a Tsuru-senryu technique or a Kame-senryu technique. It's not even a Tenshinhan original. It's a forbidden technique known to both schools but, at least in the Muten-Roshi's opinion, inappropriate to ever pass on. Tenshinhan's going to use it to win at recreational sports.

And people complain about Korra entering the Avatar State to win a race. If Goku broke out the Genki-Dama/Spirit Bomb to punch Krillin out of the ring, Kaio would have his ass for that....

The Kikoho is, so far as we know, the most powerful individual technique in Dragon Ball in terms of the gulf between the wielder's power and the destructive force output by their technique. It punches far above Ten's weight class. Whether that means:

Managing to fuck up Nappa pretty bad.

Holding back Semi-Perfect Cell.

Or even dissipating a shot from Super Buutenks, the Kikoho is in a league of power far beyond anything Tenshinhan would be capable of himself. This technique lends Ten the ability to show up and be occasionally useful even after the power scales leave him far behind.

At least, for a short time.

Sorry, man. You cannot fight at this level. But at least you got that killer shot in.

Tenshinhan and Chiaotzu are wild cards. Not as characters, mind you, but as martial artists. Their greatest strength is their unpredictability. You never know what they're going to pull out of their pocket next, which for a time made Ten in particular into a fun and engaging rival for the ever-analytical Son Goku.

[l-1-z-a]

📺 Let's start exploring the facts about The Sims and The Sims 2 development from the recent stream with Will Wright

On the stream, Will Wright gave some interesting facts about the development of the original The Sims:

The Goths family came from experimenting with test characters and is based on the Addams Family.

The game used characters with distinctive traits to test mechanics, such as Darren and Samantha from Bewitched, or Edith from All in the Family.

"When we were doing the original Sims, we put in a few test characters... We had Darren and Samantha from Bewitched, Edith from All in the Family, and then we did the Addams Family, which kind of evolved into the Goths." (00:50:20 - 01:16:38)

Samantha from Bewitched

Samantha is the main character of the television series Bewitched.

Bewitched is a cult American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 17, 1964 to March 25, 1972. The series, created by Saul Saxon, tells the story of the unusual family life of a witch who decided to live as an ordinary housewife and her philandering husband.

The main character is Samantha Stephen, a kind and charming witch who falls in love with a mortal man, Darrin Stevens. After her marriage, Samantha decides to give up magic to live a normal family life, but her abilities and the interference of her eccentric relatives, especially her witch mother Endora, often become the source of comical situations and conflicts.

Each episode reveals how Samantha tries to combine her magical abilities with everyday problems, from dealing with neighbors to interacting with her husband's co-workers.

Samantha, whom Will Wright mentions, can be found in The Sims Steering Committee (1998), a prototype for The Sims.

In levels 2 and 3 she is the central character, and in level 4 she is a member of the family. In Level 2, Samantha shares a room with a female character named Mercedes.

She was also one of the first characters created for The Sims.

This article describes an early stages of development of The Sims, including its original title "Jefferson", the formation of the key development team, changes to the user interface and the introduction of the first characters, and the difficulties Maxis faced in trying to convince Electronic Arts of the value of the project. Written by LUCPIX a researcher of the development history of the first installment of The Sims. It mentions all those characters mentioned by Will Wright on the stream.

Interestingly, in The Sims 2: Apartment Life, Samantha Cordial lives in Belladonna Cove and is ready to become a good witch. She has the ultimate good witch in her friends.

Darren

Darren was also one of the first characters The Sims created for testing.

There are two characters named Darren in The Sims 2:

Darren Dreamer:

Darren Wood, one of the pre-made gardener from Strangetown:

Edith from All in the Family

Edith is the wife of Archie Bunker from All in the Family.

All in the Family (1971-1979) was an iconic American sitcom created by Norman Lear. It revolutionized television with its bold approach to social issues. The series is adapted from the British sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and tells the story of the lives of the Banker family living in a working-class neighborhood in New York City.

The main character is Archie Bunker, the conservative, grouchy head of the family who often expresses outdated views on politics, race and society. He is contrasted with other characters, including his wife, daughter, and son-in-law, which sets the stage for satirical and insightful discussions of social issues.

Edith was the first character created for The Sims.

Edith's concept art:

The character, Edith, won the hearts of Maxis, to the point where they renamed the development tools after her.

Here are all the characters:

All the works from which these characters were drawn are iconic American TV series that, despite their different styles and genres, addressed important social and political issues.

The Addams Family (1964–1966) used the eccentric yet loving Addams family to satirize the standards of "normalcy" in American society, emphasizing the importance of embracing differences and authenticity. The Addamses, while living in luxury, rejected consumerism, upheld family values, and demonstrated an alternative approach to happiness.

Bewitched (1964–1972) employed the story of a marriage between a witch and an ordinary man as a metaphor for intercultural relationships facing societal prejudice. The show also tackled feminist issues, portraying a woman with immense power who chooses a traditional role while maintaining her individuality and independence.

All in the Family (1971–1979) boldly and satirically explored racism, sexism, and political divisions in 1970s American society. Through the character of conservative Archie Bunker, the series depicted generational conflicts and addressed issues such as gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, and anti-war sentiments amidst the backdrop of the Vietnam War.

Thus, the characters used for testing and development in The Sims were not chosen by chance. Their prototypes from these iconic American series not only had vivid and recognizable traits but also reflected profound social and cultural themes that remained relevant for decades.

These series not only influenced popular culture but also inspired Maxis developers to create characters capable of conveying the complexity and diversity of human relationships. Through these figures, The Sims inherited the ability to subtly mirror societal realities, bringing the spirit of experimentation, humor, and social reflection into the game’s universe.

Source (RU):

[talonabraxas]

LIBRA, THE BALANCE

The sign Libra is one of peculiar interest, but in a most paradoxical manner, for much of its interest is based upon the fact that it lacks spectacular interest of any kind - except in the case of disciples or those nearing the Path. It is a sign of balancing, of careful weighing of values, and of achieving the right equilibrium between the pairs of opposites. It might be regarded as the sign in which the first real vision of the Path appears and of the goal towards which the disciple must ultimately direct his steps. This Path is the narrow razor-edged Path which runs between the pairs of opposites and which - if it is to be safely trodden - requires the development of a sense of values and the power to utilize rightly the balancing, analytical faculty of the mind. It is also the sign of intuitive perception and, on the ordinary way of progression around the zodiac, it comes after the normally drastic experience of the man in Scorpio; this is usually of such a nature that the instinct to self-preservation has been aroused to such an extent that in the dire need of the man (not the disciple, at this time) a call to the soul has gone forth and has evoked response. The first few faint flashes of the intuition have been sensed and vaguely recognized. Then follows the experience in Libra wherein a life is spent in quiet thoughtful reflection or in a condition of static unresponsiveness; it may be a life of balancing, of weighing this and that, and of determining which way the scales shall fall so that in the next sign certain designed results will occur. The following Virgo life will be either one of a personality, materialistic nature, lived under the influence of the material aspect of Virgo, the Mother, or there will be evidenced a slowly emerging soul vibration, indicating that hidden spiritual life of which the Virgin Mother is the foreordained custodian. As progress is made, recurrently or cyclically, around the wheel of life, these experiences and vibratory activities intensify in character until the time comes when the reversal of the wheel takes place. Then Libra leads on to Scorpio and the active soul life (active through the medium of the personality nature and not simply on its own plane) is registered, recorded and noted in Virgo, and balanced and assessed in Libra, eventually bringing about the tests and trials between the soul and the personality, which latter fights with power and determination to preserve the status quo of the balanced expression of these two where the preponderance of the personality influence is not possible. - Esoteric Astrology - Alice Bailey

[turneradora]

NEW US MAGAZINE INTERVIEW with Aidan about Rivals

Family life is not always what you think !…… 🤨🤨

Aidan speaks about Declan, his wife Maud (Victoria Smurfit) and Cameron (Nafessa Williams)

Aidan Turner Rivals season 2:

Disney

Rivals ended on a shocking note and now Aidan Turner is weighing in on Declan’s potential future with Cameron, that steamy kiss between Rupert and Taggie and more.

During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Turner, 41, started by addressing his character, Declan, ending the first season on a high — only to find out that his wife, Maud (Victoria Smurfit), was leaving for an acting opportunity.

“[Their relationship] feels very real. It feels very truthful. It suddenly feels like the things that a lot of couples go through in marriages. You can so quickly not see that person anymore,” Turner said about how Declan and Maud’s relationship diminished throughout the season. “The person is there and you’re cohabiting but you don’t see the person, don’t really engage in what they’re going through and aren’t present emotionally.”

The actor developed the context before diving into season 1, adding, “Life got pretty busy for them and pretty stressful and taking them in different directions. There’s all sorts of tangents happening and they just haven’t really caught up with themselves. I don’t think Declan has really seen that [and when he has] it is fleeting. He’s in and out of seeing that for many years. He’s neglected his family and he’s neglected his wife.”

Following Maud’s years of unhappiness, Turner wasn’t surprised when Declan‘s marriage ultimately fell apart.

“She’s sacrificed a lot. It’s slowly dawning on Declan — it comes in waves where he’ll get a lot of it and then he’ll sort of try to shake it up because of the guilt and the shame that’s surrounded with that and get busy again. Then it’ll come back again,” he explained. “It’s by the end of the season that it’s really dawning on him the damage that he’s caused.”

Turner isn’t putting all the blame on Declan though. “I don’t think he’s entirely 100 percent to blame for all of it but there’s a lion’s share,” he added. “We always got the sense [off screen] that you have to play everything quite truthfully. It could be high, you can stylize it and turn up the volume on everything, but it needs to be rooted in concrete and it needs to be authentic.”

Based on Jilly Cooper’s novel of the same name, Disney+ and Hulu’s Rivals centers around a feud between two men fighting for control of a television station in 1980s Britain. Turner’s character, Declan, finds himself in the middle of Rupert (Alex Hassell) and Tony’s (David Tennant) rush to the finish line, which ultimately affects his personal life.

It always felt to me that Declan has a very complicated and complex relationship with his wife and with his family. But it always felt very real to me. So I always had a door in that didn’t feel like I needed to struggle for it. He is a good guy, essentially,” Turner noted to Us. “He loves his family and he just wants to be with him. But of course there’s ego and there’s all of these other things that get complicated. Life is tricky and complicated and not what you think it’s going to be. It’s just an understanding of that.”

Not every viewer found themselves rooting for Declan and Maud to make it. In fact, others picked up on some chemistry between Declan and Cameron (Nafessa Williams) that seemed undeniable

With the Cameron situation, they work very well together. And in the [book], there’s a project they’re both working on outside of the country that brings them both away,” Turner teased to Us. “And I think their friendship and their relationship is put to the test. That is all I can say. I don’t want to say too much.”

There’s also the small issue of Declan warning Rupert about not touching his daughter Taggie. Rupert tried to stay away from Taggie for most of the season but the fan-favorite couple ultimately gave in during the finale and shared a very romantic kiss.

It’s two sides of the same thing that can go either way. Declan really respects Rupert and he sees value in Rupert. I think they are friends and that friendship and that bond is getting tighter,” Turner said. “But he has told him to stay away from his daughter.”

He continued: “I think he’s going to find that [kiss] very, very difficult. I don’t think it’s something he would accept. There could be a moment there — there could be a big moment.”

Rivals is currently streaming on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally

[madelynhimegami]

Crimson Soul Guide

Oh, did you think you had seen the last of me today? Foolish! This one's a bit different, as I concluded it was a good idea to include information on the status and capabilities of everybody's favorite book-bound disembodied soul.

Also, if you have a character you'd like to see me make a summation for next, then please by all means let me know! I've been doing these as they've been suggested to me anyway.

Anywho.

The demon from whence the Crimson Soul came was once a demon lord/overlord before being sealed away, possibly on a scale similar to Satan?

At the time they were sealed, the Arka civilization was prosperous-- though the exact relationship between Arka and the demon is currently unknown.

The demon was a massive bibliophile, which is a trait the Crimson Soul has kept

The above three points are all we know for certain about the demon prior to sealing, specifically. Everything else comes from the account written by the Tome of Sealing's author.

(Said account is of dubious credibility at points, but that's beyond the scope of this post.)

As for the Crimson Soul themself (ie, regardless of what may or may not have applied to the demon), they despise filth and trash. They will not abide by any litter in their presence and will get rid of it on sight.

They are extremely dramatic, theatrical, and verbose. The Crimson Soul is the ultimate theater kid. Once again, possibly on a level similar to Satan.

While it has been demonstrated multiple times that their red power is dangerous, if not outright malevolent on its own, there's been little indication to suggest they are evil themself.

They describe their magic as "a crimson power [that is] hidden within [their] soul" in Fever 2's sound test.

Fever 2 also has a curious item-- a lithograph from Arka's prime that has a prayer for the land to be forever bountiful written on it. Using it in-game immediately puts Possessed Klug (and only Possessed Klug) into Fever mode

It is not particularly clear what might happen to Sig, should the Crimson Soul successfully claim his body. For a long while, it was speculated that the demon's will would overpower and eventually erase Sig. Recent developments have called it into question.

It hasn't been entirely ruled out, though. Akuma, Accord, and Popoi all say that Sig interacting with the Crimson Soul will put him in danger, and Amitie has come to the same conclusion semi-independantly.

The ritual that Klug had performed with the tome in Fever 2 not only ended with him getting possessed, it also irrevocably altered the seal, making it not as airtight as it used to be.

Consequently, Klug gets possessed more easily, can faintly sense the vibes of the Crimson Soul, and the Soul may have some influence on Klug's thoughts (e.g., they can subliminally plant feelings in him, like extreme interest on specific items).

Klug can also be swapped out by mind-swapping procedures that target both himself and the Tome.

It seems that the artifacts listed in the Tome are not the only ones that can lift the seal. Sufficiently powerful sources of energy from the sun, moon, and stars will also get the job done.

Whether the above two points were true before the events of Fever 2 is currently unknown.

Although regaining their lost power is their ultimate goal, the Crimson Soul does not appear to be actively seeking out Sig with much urgency.

The soul tends to possess Klug while he's unconscious, and maybe in mortal peril.

Most tellingly, there was one occasion where they took over Klug's body and they were in the closest proximity they had ever been to Sig since Fever 2. Despite this, they never address Sig. Instead, they first lament that they can't fight off a dragon with Klug's body, and second urges (if condescendingly) for the main Primp kids (and Feli) to work together.

As far as I know, the only time they intentionally hijack Klug's body while he's still conscious was to yell at tourists visiting the Arka ruins to get of their lawn.

The Crimson Soul can also pull Klug in a direction they want him to go, via the book.

Under most corcumstances, Klug can only get fleeting impressions of the soul's emotional state if said state is at a high level (e.g, agitation, restlessness, panic). This can compound with the above, as well.

The soul can telepathically communicate with Klug if they both happen to be in a dream or a dreamlike environment.

More than once they have seized the opportunity to speak directly by… insulting Klug. Their favored jab is "pathetic excuse for a glasses-holder."

Given how frustrated Klug was over the noise they kept making in Puzzle Pop, they were likely too frantic to speak in a readily-understandable manner.

On top of Klug's body just not being powerful enough magic-wise to the soul's liking, they don't like his physical state, either. "Has this brat never heard the phrase 'a healthy mind in a healthy body?!'"

Despite this, they have been show to be protective of Klug multiple times while in control, keeping both his body and soul safe by defending them from a dragon, drowning, water saturation, and Yu.

They also seemed to have shielded Klug from Marle's corruption. Whether that was a conscious effort or just the nature of the red power (Sig was also unaffected, but his arm became frenzied) is left vague, but Lemres was pretty confident that was what had happened.

Their ulterior motive for doing so-- at least on the surface-- is the convenience of having Klug as an emergency vessel. The body-swapping incident mentioned earlier in this post left them practically gleeful at the fact that their swap with Klug had bypassed the seal entirely, leaving Klugs body to be theirs.

Another instance of the seal being negated had the Crimson Soul desperately fight against having the seal restored and forcing them back in the book.

When others speak to them while in Klug's body (post Fever 2), they generally sidestep, evade, or point-blank to refuse to answer any questions directed at them. Especially ones regarding their true identity or intentions.

They also want to avoid direct interactions with Akuma when possible.

Their understanding of machinery is "punch it until it starts working again."

As the Crimson Soul was themself sealed away for who-knows-how-long, they will voluntarily release other, similarly-sealed entities if they can.

The Crimson Soul does not seem to share Sig's enthusiasm for bugs.

[koalatysleep]

Kuwameshi: the 'undercover' love story in Yu Yu Hakusho

This Christmas season, I binged watched the entire Yu Yu Hakusho anime series on Netflix (I was hit with a strong yearning for more content after binge watching the live action), and Kuwameshi became my OTP even though I started off shipping Yusuke with Keiko.

I must say the anime is a remarkably progressive work of art given that it was created as a Shonen manga in the 90's. I love love love love the entire series!! Right off the bat, the series subverts gender tropes, heteronormative romance stereotypes, and the sleeping beauty fairytale with Yusuke in the position of sleeping beauty, Keiko in the role of Prince Charming who literally brings him back to life with a kiss, and Kuwabara as the real love interest and knight in shining armor who continually saves and inspires Yusuke throughout the series.

Instead of a sleeping beauty that passively waits to be saved, Yusuke is actively making choices that ultimately helps to save himself, by first deciding to return to life, then by taking on the emotional work of helping Kuwabara study for the test, and saving Keiko by sacrificing his spirit realm egg and his chance to return to life.

The fact that Keiko was saving Yusuke, while Yusuke was saving both Keiko (from the fire) and Kuwabara (from the evil machinations of that despicable teacher), and Kuwabara was also saving Keiko (from thugs and then the fire) and Yusuke (by being one of the reasons Yusuke was moved to choose life over death and then from the fire) was an extremely refreshing change from the stereotypical heteronormative romance where the male character is doing all the saving, while the female love interest is just a passive character without much agency or ability to contribute, and no other character seems to have much of an impact on the romantic pair. Here we have 3 fiercely independent characters who are all actively helping themselves while saving each other in a holy trifecta of character development goodness.

When Yusuke's body was in danger in the burning house, I love the scene where Keiko shook off the bystanders holding her back with a fierce determination that we come to associate with Yusuke in life-or-death fights, sprang into quick-thinking action by dumping a bucket of water over herself, and ran headlong into the fire and mortal peril, all to save Yusuke.

Yusuke and Keiko would have been my ride or die OTP if the series had continued developing her character and the story along these lines, but even during this arc of reviving Yusuke where the main focus was on Yusuke and Keiko as a romantic pair, the seeds for Kuwabara as Yusuke's 'undercover' love interest are already being planted.

In fact, Togashi's authorial intent for Yusuke and Kuwabara as the central love story in the entire YYH series can be seen in their name designs itself!

Yusuke is written in 2 characters - the 1st character means Spirit/Soul, and the 2nd character means Assistance/Help.

Kazuma means True Harmony. So put together, Yusuke and Kazuma means Souls in True Harmony who help each other. And isn't that the very essence of our heroes right there? ❤️🌈

It's only after Yusuke possesses Kuwabara's body in Episode 2 that he got the help he needed to clearly communicate to Keiko to save his body from cremation. When you watch the episode, Yusuke and Kuwabara literally spoke with their 2 voices overlapping as one in multiple scenes! It's especially obvious in the sunset scene when they finally get to tell Keiko to save Yusuke. Yusuke and Kuwabara are literally Two Souls in One Body!

This symbolizes how Kuwabara truly desires for Yusuke to return to life, as much as Yusuke himself, and foreshadows how Kuwabara goes on to stand with Yusuke as One Soul in Two Bodies throughout the rest of the series. I haven't even meta-screamed about the homoerotic subtext of Yusuke possessing Kuwabara's body! 🤣🤣🤣

We further see how Kuwabara is in True Harmony with Yusuke when Kuwa takes it upon himself to look out for Keiko on Yusuke's behalf when he thought Yusuke was permanently dead! Kuwa literally stepped in on spirit Yusuke's behalf to beat off the thugs bothering Keiko, and then puts his own life at risk to save Keiko from the house fire!

No one asked or expected Kuwa to do this, he looks out for Keiko simply because he knows how important Keiko was to Yusuke, and taking care of the people Yusuke loved is how Kuwa keeps a piece of Yusuke alive! Like, it boggles my mind how deeply Kuwa loves & values Yusuke to the extent that people important to Yusuke is by default important to Kuwa even after Yusuke's death! 🥹🥹🥹 If this isn't True Love (True Harmony), what is? Like, I know real-life married couples who do less for each other! I've meta-ed screamed a bit more about how truly, madly, deeply Kuwa is in love with Yusuke even before canon began, link to that other meta is at the end of this one!

And then of course we have the all-important Episode 3 where Botan literally tells us Yusuke and Kuwabara are so emotionally in sync (True Harmony) with each other that Kuwabara can sense Yusuke's feelings even though Yusuke is a spirit! Their connection even this early on literally transcends the boundaries between life and death! And it's only when spirit Yusuke started following Kuwabara around that Yusuke grew as a person, by learning about Okubo's family situation and deciding to help. This is a large reason why Puu's egg absorbed good energy to develop into lovable goofy Puu!

Yusuke is so moved by Kuwabara's honorable character and determination to help Okubo, that we see Yusuke doing the stereotypically 'female' emotional work of helping Kuwabara study for the test even though Yusuke himself hates studying. It's actually such a huge thing that Yusuke not only does this on his own free will without anyone nagging him into it, he actually looks like he's enjoying helping Kuwabara study! Yusuke has such massive character growth just by helping Kuwa! Look at how happy Yusuke looks! I just love how Kuwa is such a positive influence on Yusuke, because Kuwa inspires and emotionally resonates with Yusuke so deeply! Compare this to how Keiko wasn't able to get Yusuke to study despite all her nagging (which actually inadvertently makes Yusuke feel worse about himself, link to another meta post about this at the end of this one), and you see how Kuwa is Yusuke's True Love Interest who's in True Harmony with Yusuke!

And of coz, Their entire study dream-date is so romantic!! The way Yusuke's hand lingers on Kuwabara's shoulder when he first finds Kuwabara asleep over his desk, and the way this shot (Yusuke's gaze) lingers on Kuwabara's bruised and exhausted face clue us into Yusuke's burgeoning romantic feelings for Kuwabara!

The romantic coding of this scene is further confirmed through the soft lighting, the tender background music, Kuwabara's romantic candy colored galaxy in his dreamscape, and how soft and tender Yusuke's voice is when he whispers to Kuwabara back in Kuwa's bedroom. When morning dawns, the romantic background music segues into a scene of two lovebirds on a branch accompanied by birdsong, and this becomes our visual & audio analogy for Kuwameshi romance later throughout the series!

I personally think it's not a coincidence that Yusuke was carrying Puu's egg on him when he possessed Kuwabara's body and when he followed Kuwabara around as a spirit, and that the egg developed into a bird creature Puu who later becomes a majestic phoenix, but you'll have to read my fic The Good Fight to see what I mean! 😜

Then we get the laugh-out-loud hilarity of Yusuke possessing the body of the knocked-out-girl to beat off the thugs who were about to waylay Kuwabara on his way to the test 🤣🤣🤣! i roll on the floor with laughter every time! Apart from the sheer comedic genius, we also see that Yusuke did not hesitate to literally 'become' a girl to help Kuwabara! We see how emotionally invested Yusuke is in Kuwabara's success, because Yusuke is moved by Kuwabara's heart and grit!

I mean honestly this whole episode of Yusuke doing the 'female emotional work' of supporting Kuwabara is really amazing. I would have loved more episodes like this throughout the series where we get to see more of Yusuke developing his emotional muscle without any life-or-death fights!

Immediately after the revival arc is done, the story goes on to subvert heteronormative expectations even further - one of the first things Yusuke does after coming back to life is to save Kuwabara's cat in a really really sweet gesture. Yusuke punching the lights out of the thug holding the cat hostage, and then turning around in slow motion to reveal his identity is a typical hero's entrance when they save their love interest. The way that Yusuke cradles Kuwabara's cat with such gentleness and care while kicking the living shit out of the thug who had grabbed Kuwabara around the waist, and then returning the cat to Kuwabara in the midst of fighting is seriously swoon worthy !

I mean, if Yusuke had done this for a female character or even a 'good-looking' male character, it would have been universally interpreted as a clear romantic narrative, but because Kuwabara is not female and also not conventionally 'good looking', this flies under the radar, which is how the story can clearly depict Kuwabara as Yusuke's romantic love interest from here on out without anyone being the wiser.

I mean!! Throughout the rest of the series, Kuwa-chan literally spurs Yusuke on to greater heights than Yusuke would have attained himself, because Yusuke cares so deeply about what Kuwabara thinks about him, and living up to Kuwabara's faith in him! This is Yusuke we're talking about, he doesn't give a shit what others think if he doesn't respect them, so the fact that he wants Kuwabara to think highly of him speaks volumes about how highly he admires, values and respects Kuwabara in return!

During Genkai's succession arc, our heroes were literally on an Arcade Date!! Look at our boys putting their best selves forward to impress each other! 🤩😆 The way they're drawn so beautifully in such heroic frames tells us just how much they want to impress each other! If this isn't courting behavior, what is?

Look at how impressed Yusuke is at Kuwabara's high score in the punching game, and how he pretends otherwise! 😆

OMG they way they totally ignored all the onlookers as they gleefully try to outdo each other and show off for each other is SO CUTE!!!!!

I personally think Yusuke was in such a bad mood with the bat demon coz Yusuke was in a hurry to get back to Kuwabara! When he finally made it there and explained what took so long, his eyes were on Kuwabara the entire time!!! And look at how Yusuke is peacocking in front of Kuwabara when he explains how he's faster than the bat demon! 🤣

It's also because Kuwabara asked Genkai to wait that Yusuke was selected despite exceeding the time. Kuwa had zero doubt that Yusuke would make it! His belief in Yusuke is absolute! The scene where the boys forgot themselves and hugged each other in their excitement is chef's kiss! Look at Yusuke throwing himself bodily at Kuwabara! OMG I just love how Kuwabara makes Yusuke forget all about pretending not to care or appearing aloof (which is part of Yusuke's emotional armor) and brings out Yusuke's True Self!

Yusuke had so much fun with Kuwabara, he literally forgot all about his mission to find Rando, to the extent that even Koenma remarked on this! 🤣

Seriously the anime puts so much effort into the little details like these unconscious body language tells and non-verbal cues, it's really amazing!!! When Yusuke later tried to get Kuwabara to retire the fight against Rando to protect Kuwabara, Yusuke (who was still shocky from his fights) literally pulled Kuwabara close with a hand on Kuwabara's chest and another nearly on Kuwabara's neck! These are not platonic personal space boundaries, it's Yusuke's unconscious body language cluing us into his romantic feelings for Kuwabara! Look at how close Yusuke is to Kuwabara!

During the fight with Rando, it's also because Yusuke was so emotionally impacted by Kuwabara's serious injuries that Yusuke was able to tap into a new level of power! I was honestly surprised by this when I first watched the anime before I clued into the Kuwameshi subtext, given how cool and collected Yusuke was when Hiei almost turned Keiko into a demon!

And the unconscious Kuwabara was still cheering Yusuke on! When Yusuke was on the verge of being eaten alive by the demonic fish, Kuwabara's spirit even left his body to go save Yusuke, and Kuwabara knew just the right words to say to Yusuke to spur him on! Souls in True Harmony who help each other!

Cheering on the male character in spirit is literally what female love interests do in anime, and it's usually a one-sided depiction of the female shouting the male character's name in a paroxysm of emotion without the male character actually hearing or interacting with her, so this trope is again nicely subverted here coz Kuwabara is literally a spirit who can have two-way dialogue with Yusuke, and he's obviously a badass himself, which is why he can reach Yusuke as a spirit to begin with. Genkai approves!

As the series progress, we see more of Yusuke and Kuwabara's body language cluing us into their romantic feelings for each other. During their chocolate shake date, they were mirror images of each other when Keiko crashed their conversation and Yusuke covers up what they're really talking about with the movie excuse. When Yusuke was making his excuses to run out on Keiko, he again places his hand on Kuwabara's chest when he asks Kuwabara to come with him, then Yusuke pulls him along by the wrist 😍😍❤️❤️.

You can see in all these interactions that Kuwabara's attention is on Yusuke almost all the time, especially when Botan's explaining the 4 saints beast situation to them! Kuwa literally did not take his eyes off Yusuke even though Botan's the one speaking! This is despite Kuwabara supposedly having a 'crush' on Botan, but we will have to leave the explanation for this for another meta! ;P

I digress! To me, Yusuke running out on Keiko with Kuwabara and forgetting he left Keiko at the movie theatre clearly signals authorial intent to focus on Kuwabara and Yusuke's relationship, rather than Keiko and Yusuke's. At the end of the 4 saint beasts arc when Yusuke exhausted his lifeforce to defeat Suzaku, it was Kuwabara who brought Yusuke back to life by transferring his remaining life-force to Yusuke despite knowing this is akin to suicide, similar to how Keiko saved Yusuke from the fire despite mortal peril to herself at the start of the series. This time, Yusuke wakes up in Kuwabara's bed after Kuwabara has taken care of Yusuke for 3 days, to the sound of birdsong!!!! And from here on out, Keiko is relegated to a side character without further character development of her own or much contribution to Yusuke's personal growth.

When Toguro wanted to devastate Yusuke into unlocking his true power by killing someone Yusuke loves, he chose Kuwabara above all others, even though Keiko was in the audience. It's very telling that Toguro tried to kill Yusuke's metaphorical heart by ripping out Kuwabara's actual heart!! Kuwabara is Yusuke's heart! The subtext is main text!

Kuwabara chose to meet his death courageously even though he knew he had no chance of surviving, showing Yusuke once again the difference between true strength vs just power. The intensity of Yusuke's resulting grief and utter devastation at Kuwabara's death changed the very essence of Yusuke's reiki. The intensity of Yusuke's emotions is the reason why Yusuke rejected Toguro's "power above all else" motto, it's the reason why Yusuke understood the difference between true strength vs just power.

Some things can only be learnt through experience, and Genkai knew this was a hard lesson Yusuke needed to experience for himself before he could learn the difference. (She also knew Toguro still had some shreds of goodness deep down and wouldn't kill Kuwabara straight out).

Yusuke himself said he used to secretly admire and aspire to Toguro's power even as he was scared shitless, before Yusuke's eyes were opened to the immeasurable worth and value of love and friendship, the things that Toguro gave up in his blind pursuit of power. Yusuke lost his fear of Toguro after that, he stopped admiring Toguro after that, he pitied Toguro instead. Yusuke was able to gain this emotional maturity through the grief & devastation of losing Kuwabara. And because of that, he was able to defeat Toguro. Talk about the Power of Love! Kuwabara really is the Warrior of Love! Even when he's not physically fighting, he inspires Yusuke to new levels of both emotional maturity and physical strength through Love.

I mean honestly, at this point in the story, Kuwabara had clearly taken center stage as the love interest for Yusuke, one who actively plays a role in Yusuke's personal growth and emotional motivation, one who is strong enough that Yusuke can be honest about his spirit realm duties and his full self with.

It's a bit of a shame that the story didn't develop Keiko into a more interesting kickass female character like Botan, who's independent and capable of taking care of herself, and whose contributions to the story is not just restricted to that of a romantic love interest. It would have been nice to see Keiko realizing that she and Yusuke are better suited to be found family and lifelong friends rather than romantic partners. It's a pity especially since Keiko got off to such a strong start by saving Yusuke so courageously from the fire. After this point however, the story relegated Keiko to the stereotypical female 'love interest' who's just passively waiting on the sidelines for Yusuke to return.

But given that Yukina is also a similar stereotypical female 'love interest' for Kuwabara, one who's written out of the narrative almost as soon as she's introduced, and thus I also don't find Kuwabara and Yukina convincing as a romantic couple, I wonder whether the author deliberately chose to under-develop Keiko and Yukina's characters and to protray them as rather helpless, one-note and bland, in order to highlight the real love story he's trying to tell between Yusuke and Kuwabara. (Togashi even said in a Q+A that his least favorite character is Keiko, coz she's a typical manga character.)

If I were trying to tell a non-heteronormative love story aimed at teens in conservative 90's Japan, hiding Kuwabara and Yusuke's love story in plain sight, under the cover of them both having female 'love interests' is probably one of the ways to do it while still getting published in Shonen Jump.

It's clearly contrasting Kuwabara and Yusuke's extremely compelling romantic subtext with the very bland and unconvincing heteronormative pairings. It leaves it up to the audience to notice for themselves which pairings they find more compelling to root for, and perhaps in so doing, the story subverts a conservative audience into unknowingly supporting a non-heteronormative couple of Yusuke and Kuwabara 🤣

Togashi also said in his letter to fans that he ended the manga for three reasons, one of which is that he has exhausted the character directions he can explore within the publication bounds of Shonen Jump.

I wonder whether a sexual romantic relationship between Yusuke and Kuwabara (the sex is hinted at in this bonus canon content) is one of the directions Togashi couldn't explore within the publication bounds of Shonen Jump 🤣. (But that's okay Togashi, thank you so much for giving us the rich Kuwameshi subtext in canon, we'll take it from here to explore these directions for you 🤣🤣).

When I first read part of the manga casually as a kid, all the subtext flew right over my head of coz, but now when I watch it as an adult who understands just how much queer love stories were not allowed any expressions in the 90's, I really love Kuwabara and Yusuke as each other's true love interest.

The development of their relationship can also be read as a natural progression of their characters growing closer together than Yusuke and Keiko can, due to Yusuke having to keep Keiko in the dark about spirit realm activities to protect her from it, and Keiko just being so different from Yusuke that she inadvertently makes Yusuke feel worse about himself. This is apparent in Episode 1 itself, when Keiko inadvertently triggers Yusuke's self-worth issues when she berated Yusuke quite thoroughly to apply himself to school - she immediately assumed he must have done something wrong for Takenaka-sensei to be looking for him (when actually Takenaka just wanted to proactively counsel Yusuke!) and she outright says if he doesn't go soon he'll drag her down and she'll get a scolding as the class monitor as well. This is when Yusuke flips her skirt, not because he is romantically interested in her or is pervy, but because he just wants to stop her words which were quite hurtful for him coz it confirms all his worst fears about himself!

Keiko also can't understand why Yusuke enjoys challenging good fights, whereas Kuwabara can and in fact enjoys those fights himself. So perhaps Keiko and Yusuke drifting apart as a romantic pairing once the revival arc is done is also a natural state of things.

In any case, by the time the dark tournament is over in episode 67, it's Kuwabara that Yusuke seeks out for an early lunch at school, it's Kuwabara who Yusuke riles up by poking him in the ass 🤣🤣, similar to how Yusuke used to flip Keiko's skirt, except Yusuke's jabbing Kuwabara in the ass when he's in a good mood and wants an excuse to be close to Kuwabara! I haven't even screamed about the HILARIOUS homoerotic subtext of Yusuke jabbing Kuwabara in the ass just as Kuwabara's thinking about becoming "a real man" for Yukina! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Look at our boys taking the opportunity to physically be as close as they secretly want to be with each other, under the guise of rough-housing and bickering! Yusuke's full-on hugging Kuwabara in the second frame, and he's got his leg over Kuwabara's shoulder in the third!! 😍😍❤️❤️Once again they totally ignore their audience and focus just on each other, to the extent they didn't even realize the class bell had run and Takenaka-sensei and the entire class is looking at them! 🤣

This scene of Yusuke seeking out Kuwabara for lunch in a good mood and needling him for food is SO CUTE and so sweet! Coz it's Yusuke's way of asking for Kuwabara's attention. It's Yusuke's way of saying he wants to spend time with Kuwabara, he wants Kuwabara to be the one to take care of him (by feeding him), and when Kuwabara reacts with outrage instead (coz he is still in denial about his feelings for Yusuke at this point), Yusuke immediately reacts with hurt defensiveness. Even so, they still have such a great time with each other! It's very relatable and very sweet! Haven't you ever just riled up your crush and teased them mercilessly coz you wanted the excuse to be close to them? I also love that Yusuke is actively seeking out Kuwabara to do normal mundane things like eat lunch together, he must have realized at some subconcious level that Kuwa-chan is his OTP!

We even get Kuwabara's friends and Botan wondering whether Kuwabara and Yusuke were a bickering married couple in a previous life, so the subtext is more or less already the main text by this point.

Then we see Kuwabara catching up with Yusuke after school and Yusuke sharing his feelings of ennui with Kuwabara, who brought Yusuke right out of it with ease 🤣🤣 it's these seemingly little things like Yusuke opening up about his feelings to Kuwabara, Kuwabara keeping Yusuke grounded, and Kuwabara talking about his loss of reiki with total ease with Yusuke and being worried that Yusuke was going through the same that shows the deep emotional connection and deep trust between these two.

Of course, then Yusuke gets abducted and we see Puu flying straight to Kuwabara for help, so again the story subverts the typical heteronormative romance by having both Kuwabara and Yusuke continually inspire, save and rely on each other as true equals in their partnership. No one is the wilting flower, no one is just passively waiting to be saved, and both are simultaneously both the protector and the protectee. Just as Genkai told Yusuke to never forget why he became strong and who he became strong for, they are truly the main reason why the other became so strong!

Speaking of abduction, the tables gets turned later on when Kuwabara is the one who gets abducted and Yusuke goes after Sensui on a bicycle(🤣🤣!) like a man possessed. I mean seriously, even before I clued into Kuwameshi, I thought Yusuke looks like a man who's singlemindedly saving the love of his life! And then of course, Kuwabara experiences the devastation of Yusuke's death, similar to how Yusuke experienced the devastation of Kuwabara's death during the dark tournament, and we get that precious glimpse into Kuwabara's feelings for Yusuke all along! It was never about winning Yusuke in fights, all his challenges were just an excuse to be with Yusuke! His heart gets so excited when he's with Yusuke! He was over the moon when Yusuke called him by name the first time! He did it all - Genkai's succession trials, Rando fight, Byakko fight, yukina rescue mission, Dark Tournament, facing down Toguro - all of it, for Yusuke!!!! Screams! Can it get more romantic than that?!? This not only reveals Kuwabara's heart, it also reveals authorial intent for the Kuwameshi love story from the beginning!

And then of course Kuwabara chooses to avenge Yusuke even if it means his own death and the destruction of the entire human realm! Kuwabara, the warrier for love, truth and justice, protector of the weak, literally chose to burn down the whole world to avenge Yusuke, and follow Yusuke into death! That's how much Yusuke means to Kuwabara! The entire world literally means nothing to Kuwabara if Yusuke isn't there! So for me, I fully believe Yusuke and Kuwabara are the real love story here!

If you love the delicious Kuwameshi subtext as much as me, come scream about it with me in my Kuwameshi meta series on AO3, and my Kuwameshi Alternate Canon Fic The Good Fight on AO3! Most chapters have End Notes with more meta about canon that inspired that chapter! There's just way too much meta to put all into one post here!

If you'd like to read more meta on when Kuwabara fell in love with Yusuke, here's one you may enjoy!

If you'd like to read meta on when Yusuke fell in love with Kuwabara, here's one!

[sirrockem]

TADC RACEWAY AU - SETH ART DUMP

Raceway AU and Seth belong to @thescarletnargacuga / @theamazingdigitalraceway

MUSIC USED: Ricochet - Guilty Gear XX #Reload (Korean version)

MORE RENDERS UNDER THE CUT! CONTENT WARNING: Smoking

BONUS: Model turnaround and expression test:

Aaaaaand here it is! This took a lot longer to make than I would like to admit, but I think I'm at a point where I can consider this finished.

A massive shout out goes to Scarlet, the creator of this character and AU! Consider this a gift, for being such an awesome writer and person!

…Okay, I'm gonna go on a ramble now. You don't have to read it if you don't want to. I just have a few things I'd like to say:

-

So, I'm not a professional artist by any means, but you probably noticed that already. Actually, this is my first time making any kind of art in a very long time, but after getting into the TADC fandom and discovering such an amazing array of artists and writers, I felt compelled to give a little something back. Prove that I could create, not only consume, I guess.

There's a part of me that's pretty scared to post this. This fandom is full of creators with incredible, well-developed artistic skill… and then there's me, stumbling in with this polygonal mess. It's intimidating, y'know? I feel like a kid showing off his crayon drawings to his parents. I know it's ultimately pointless to compare myself to people with actual years of experience under their belts, but my brain still goes there regardless.

Well, it's not like too many people are gonna see this anyway, right? I'm just glad I was even able to finish this. That's not something I get to say very often. There were so many times where my brain was telling me that this was too hard, and that I should just give up. For once, I decided to say "No", and pushed on through anyway, despite my limited artistic abilities.

Oh, and Scarlet, if you're reading this… thank you so very much. Seriously, your work has given me so much joy and inspiration, and you're a really cool person to boot. I couldn't have done this if it wasn't for you!

Sorry if I'm being overly sappy, I just wanted to express my gratitude to you, and this whole community. I'm happy that I chose to be a part of it, even if it's just in a small way.

Alright, I think I've talked for long enough. I'm gonna shut up now.