#and replacing his own character
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I think the whole issue I have with Howl's character in HMC movie can be outlined in one brief sentence:
"You can't write Howl Pendragon without writing Howell Jenkins"
#and that's basically it#yeah he was also made in a bland perfect ver of himself BUT#that's also kind of a part of erasing his whole story#and replacing his own character#IT'S JUST#his nationality his life his education his love for his family#the difference between his reputation in Ingary and in Wales#HIS QUIRCKS OF ADAPTING OR REFUSING TO ADAPT TO MEDIEVAL SOCIETY#his early life his damn PhD the expectation that were on him#his overall vibe even#IS SO tightly tied to his origin and backstory#that by erasing or changing it in any efficent way#you destroy the character entierly#yeah he's good#but he's not well himself anymore#by adaptation#means#hmc book#howl's moving castle book#hmc#howl's moving castle#howell jenkins#howl pendragon#howls moving castle
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i have suddenly become obsessed with a theme that HoO established but never proceeded to extrapolate on, which is:
You are Percy Jackson, and you have been swapped with a boy who was allegedly everyone's favorite person, but they have decided to replace him with you. They just met you. You stand next to his best friend and the people he's known his entire life. In his home. In his cloak. In his place. They stopped looking for him.
You are Jason Grace, and you have just found out you have a long lost sister who completely replaced you in her life with this girl you just met. Your lives and personalities are mirrors. She is you, living the life you were robbed of.
You are Annabeth Chase, and you have just become starkly aware that you have been inhabiting the void left behind by your best friend's long lost brother. You and Luke were just replacements for him. Now you have to look him in the eyes when he has nothing and know you took that life from him.
You are Piper McLean, and you have just found out your relationship is fake and built entirely on the memories of Annabeth Chase. You have been given a boyfriend when hers has been taken away. You have no idea how much of it is real or not but regardless you feel like if your relationship isn't exactly in their image that you have failed.
You are Leo Valdez, and you have just learned that you are the echo of your great-grandfather. You are not your own person. You just exist to be a mirror of him. A doppelganger. An actor and stunt double facing all the danger he never had to but wearing his face. To be there for his best friend decades later simply because he couldn't. You are playing a role. A seventh wheel and a pawn for a goddess who carefully sculpted your entire life for her own purposes.
You are Hazel Levesque, and the only reason you are alive is because your brother couldn't save your his sister. You are a consolation prize. An apology. Your existence here is misplaced in every way but you inhabit it anyways.
You are Frank Zhang, and you are a shapeshifter. Inhabiting your own body feels strange and clumsy when you could be literally anything at any time. You are anything and everything and live your life with the simple certainty of knowing exactly how you will die.
#pjo#hoo#heroes of olympus#percy jackson#riordanverse#jason grace#annabeth chase#piper mclean#leo valdez#hazel levesque#frank zhang#meta#analysis#me shaking hoo: what if we actually address the interpersonal dynamics of the characters. please. please. please. please.#frank is the only person on the boat not having an identity crisis tied to another member of the crew somehow and that is FASCINATING#but also WHERE is all the interpersonal literally anything. hello. please. making grabby hands. everybody identity crisis go.#i wanna see the entire argo ii crew stumbling through trying to figure out their places and senses of self!!!!!#particularly in relation to each other!!!!! we get snippets but we rarely ever get the full thing or a resolution!!!#like. HELLO??? Piper acknowledging that her relationship with Jason is artificially sculpted in the image of Annabeth and Percy???#and that her ideals of what Jason and her can be are just that she feels like they need to be like what Percy and Annabeth have????#and thats just DROPPED COMPLETELY????#poor Jason is getting replaced twice. Leo is not his own person.#Hazel at least gets the resolution that Nico does not truly see her as a consolation prize#but Annabeth gets to be hit with the like EIGHT YEAR DELAY of learning the place she inhabits in Thalia's life is the echo of someone else#cause like. yeah she knew Thalia had lost her brother but i dont think it clicked for her until she met Jason that oh. she *replaced* him#Frank at least has some certainty about his identity in one aspect (his curse). everybody else is floundering a bit#except for maybe Percy but its kind of the camps of ''i replaced this person and it weighs on me'' versus ''i have been replaced''
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I have an agenda.
Long hair teenage sabo.
#one piece#sabo#you cannot convince me that he did not have a long hair phase#like if he grew out his hair to hide his scar he has to have tried more to hide it more thoroughly#I found a fic recently that followed sabo’s growing up in the revolutionary army and it was really really good#I want to see more amnesiac teenage sabo acting awkward around his peers because even back on dawn he had only two friends#more of kids being insensitive and asking about his scar which even he has no idea how he got#and koala and him being antagonistic towards each other#and them slowly becoming friends#anyways I’m so. I tried going onto YouTube to see if there were any good video analyses of sabo#and like yeah I can see why sabo would be a divisive character#but I also completely forgot that there are one piece readers who have not an ounce of media literacy#or respect for female characters#something something ‘sabo is like an oc insert because he exists so distant from everything and just in time to replace ace’ SHUT UP#or ‘favoritism towards sabo because he has a hot girl following him around and more hot girls in the revolutionaries’ I AM GOING TO GO INSA#KOALA IS HER OWN CHARACTER AND AN EXTREMELY INTERESTING ONE THAT DOES NOT EXIST JUST TO BE EYE CANDY OFF OF SABO’ ARM#SABO IS AN AMAZING CHARACTER IN LINE WITH THE THEMES OF ONE PIECE AROUND FREEDOM AND EQUALITY
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abi new haircut momence cos shes going thru it which awn is better 🤭
#crow's art#digital art#art#artist on tumblr#doodles#sketches#digital painting#sketch#character design#abigail rivera#blackbile#red cos blue said so . he wanna replace his own red (run emoji)
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MAN I'm seriously so sad about season 2. Bc I wish act 2 had the same emotional impact on me as it appears to have on so many others. But rn I'm just somewhere between unable to care and actively annoyed by some of those writing decisions. Seriously the more I think about it the less I like it.
#act 3 come through please 🙏#I don't think it can salvage some of the things I have contentions with but still... please...#don't ask me about the silco vander flashback with jinxs + vis mom#or the bizzare choice to do so much of the storytelling through this weird music video format they've got going on#completely stripping it of the weight these plot beats could've had if they were... normal scenes#and also missing the point of how the music was used in season 1 and what made it so effective#bc it was complementary to instead of replacing the storytelling#seriously don't ask me about these things I will spontaneously implode on the spot#whyyyyy would they recontextualize season 1 like this with that flashback#to me it kind of ruins the character dynamics and themes in s1. it just makes me so sad you have no idea#also what even are they doing with Jinx rn for real#aaarghhhh just... so many things that are making me scratch my head#also I'm so terribly sorry but I could not care less about Isha sorry lol#like i get that its sad conceptually but she was such a non-character that i struggle to feel impacted at all#same with sky tbh. i thought her role in s1 was alright but there is so much emotional weight put on her now#in terms of her relationship to Viktor but that was barely established so it's weird to have her around#and clearly you're supposed to care but they haven't given me much reason to#isha and sky were non-characters just there to die to further the development of other characters#they didn't really have anything going on on their own and that's just a type of character and plot device that does nothing for me#also i thought the war between zaun and piltover + internal struggles in zaun bc silcos gone would be the main focus#but that stuff seems so sidetracked rn#also sorry i dont like what they did with vander and warwick either. that man should've stayed dead lol#it honestly just makes his death feel less impactful and i dont know what this is supposed to do for the story or the themes???#that just feels like a pointless plotline that is taking up time that could've been spent on other things#i just... i could go on like this for a while like there are so many things that just puzzle me#it's so weird considering how tight and thematically consistent season 1 was#let's see where act 3 goes but... i kinda have a bad feeling about it ngl#obv im glad others are enjoying it and this is just my opinion! also a lot of this are probs just my personal tastes anyway#arcane spoilers
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for our phantom menace rewatch this week we are doing a “qui gon touch count” to count how many times qui gon (bad) touches anakin
#and also the other characters (they wanna know how many times he touches shmi but idc about that i’m here for groomer reasons)#my prediction is: ANAKIN then shmi then... i go back and forth on whether it's padme or obi wan#i want it to be padme and obi wan in dead last (for extra pathetic and sad unwanted padawan reasons)#it's so hard to age out of being an (unwanted) boywife and be replaced by a bright shiny young thing#but if padme even PADME gets touched by qui gon more than his own padawan#damn lol#touch starved obi wan real#but unfortunately for me i think he touches obi wan thrice that i recall and i can only think of once (or maybe twice?) with padme#but that's why we're doing the touch count!#i will report back with my findings tonight#i'm so gd excited#the phantom menace#pt#star wars#qui gon jinn#anti qui gon jinn#if implying that qui gon is a child molester is considered anti I GUESS#prequels touch count
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Oh yeah so I had this idea earlier when I was thinking about Beast Wars, only reason I didn’t post it earlier was because I got dragged out to dinner
Anyways, so basically I had this thought of a Transformers series where basically the Autobots and Decepticons crash land on Earth, and due to them having no clue where they are and no current way of getting back home, they decide to work together, at least for the time being
So like, the main group of protagonists would consist of both Autobots and Decepticons
But also it wouldn’t be the entirety of both groups working together, as members on both sides refuse to work with the other for one reason or another and instead decide to do their own thing, being their own separate parties that probably cause trouble from time to time. But every member here has their own reasons why they are or aren’t fine with teaming up, and why they’re on one side or the other
I kind of don’t want Optimus and Megatron there, probably because I was thinking of Beast Wars which doesn’t have them, and also because I want to see this alliance come from characters other than them. But at the same time I feel like they kind of have to be there. My current solution is that the two were on a different part of the ship that came off during the crash landing, and in current day (assuming they all were unconscious for a bit like g1 or Animated) the two are missing, which might be a reason for the two groups to team up. Their goals are to: find fuel, find everyone that might have gone missing, find a way to contact/get back to Cybertron, and find their leaders
I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with Optimus and Megatron here yet, just that they’d probably be absent until like, maybe the end of the season or something
But one concept that did come to mind is that whoever found them basically decided to stitch the two of them together using each’s body parts into one powerful robot (probably not knowing what they really are), and so the two are pretty much fused together into one, with them having to deal with this, assuming they still have a mind anymore. And also with this concept, this Frankenstein of them is specifically not one or the other with the other’s body parts, it’s both of them in there, through whatever magic means. Or neither if we just want the body horror and the new team having to put them down. Or I suppose you could have instead their minds/sparks being fused into an entirely new being. Didn’t really think about that concept until right now. But yeah, might not be the concept I stick with, but it is the one in my head right now
Edit: all I know is that I don’t think I want it to just be “they decide to work together”, because while I’m down for a solo Optimus and Megatron team-up side plot, the rest of the group is already doing the team-up, so it’d be treading the same ground. I want to do something different with them, and fusing them together into one being certainly is that. Throws a wrench into the whole war thing too
And yeah, I just wanted to share this concept because I thought it was neat. I would try to develop it more, but I have literally no clue who would be on either side, because the only characters I think about are Optimus and Megatron, and I also don’t really want Starscream and probably Bumblebee here either
#my brain’s been liking the idea of a series where the Autobots and Decepticons have to team up from the start#but I think here I’ve got something#which admittedly isn’t much different from the base idea other than OP and Megs being absent#I’m thinking the main plot of the initial season would be just trying to figure out where everyone is#and what happened to Optimus and Megatron being the overarching mystery#but yeah I just wanted to share#again have no clue who the cast here would be you could pick anyone tbh#my brain’s saying maybe Hot Rod and/or Jazz#and also Soundwave but specifically for his hacking/intel skills#so maybe he can be replaced with a more obscure character idk#but also I have this vision of an episode where they need Soundwave’s help to get more info#but Soundwave struck out on his own to find Megatron#so they need to convince him to help them#anyways I think I’m about done#transformers#story idea#what else do I tag this?#Optimus and Megatron are mentioned but they aren’t the full focus#eh whatever#optimus prime#megatron
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Colin did not get a POV in Season 1. No scenes where he grapples with his feelings and the situation in a meaningful way. Colin fans notice. Calm down, you tell us. It's coming. It's not his time, yet.
Colin does not get a perspective in season 2. Few if no scenes of him bonding in meaningful ways with his family, no perspective of him conducting research. Nothing for his own personal growth. Colin fans notice. Calm down, you tell us. It's coming. It's not his time, yet.
Colin's statement at the end of S2 brings about a fandom that demonizes him. It has no context. We do not see the lead up. Colin exists through Penelope's eyes, through her feelings. Colin fans notice. It's not his time, yet. Colin doesn't get a poster. Calm down. It's coming. It's not his time, yet. The information told to us center around Penelope loving herself, her story, her growth. It's not his time yet.
Colin is not even in the teaser clip of his own season.
It's not his time yet it's not his time yet it's not his time yet
Will it ever be?
#Colin Bridgerton#Polin#This fandom treats him like he's her prize and that his own growth and perspective doesn't matter so I'm not surprised but like#It's sad y'all#He's my favorite character and he's been given NOTHING#He's supposed to be the lead!!!#Like yes I love Penelope and her story is important but damn#You could replace Colin with a sexy lamp and have the same result at this point#Where is his growth? His pov? His familial connections? His travels? His letters? HIS FRIENDS?#Why has he been given NOTHING????
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If anyone starts treating Noa like how ppl treated Korra then I will fight you
#Noa is not replacing Ceaser. he is his own character with his own ideas and morals#so dont try to over compare the two and say how one is superior#i already saw a few people doing this and saying they dont like Noa just because hes not Ceaser.#leave my son alone#pota#planet of the apes#kingdom of the planet of the apes
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I was reminiscing on some anime vampires, and now that I think about it Alucard Hellsing gets so much funnier, and pathetic when I realized that this mighty as Fuck all powerful bullet hell back to back vampire will ALWAYS be salty that neither Mina nor Jonathan wanted to be in his little polycule.
He can wave the guns, and monologue all he wants but we know the truth, and the fact (at least considering the novel) that if Mina came back to life as a plot point she would have killed him point blank.
Also the bar is in the fucking ground for adaptations when this ever loving edgy trash thing managed to respect both Mina, and Jonathan's romance in a single fucking flashback panel in the manga than the majority of them.
Right on every count (longest sigh)
It says something that a manga absolutely drowning in aggro blood and guts, overpowered Dracula antics, another ~Van Helsing (sorry, Hellsing) is the extra special magic-cool archenemy~ rewrite, mountains of hetero cheesecake and just plain looney tunes treatment of demonic/divine supernatural shoot-em-up madness…
…also features one of the few renditions of a Dracula with something like believable sympathetic character development. Not into an antihero or even an antivillain, but just a tired monster who looks back in bloody tears on a past where he did battle with worthy enemies—heroes—and neither stole them to his side or got to be allowed euthanasia by them.
He’s fun as hell and I love to see him eat some Nazis, but he’s also up there with one of the most depressing versions of Dracula who I can actually buy as being a (developed!) Dracula
#I know Hirano likely never intended it but I can’t help picturing so many of the characters around Alucard#as his replacement goldfish for people in his past. like do-overs#Anderson and Walter were two sides of a would-be Jonathan; both of whom betrayed the vision he had for them#(Anderson turned to a warped version of God rather than trusting his own steel. Walter betrayed love itself for a rematch)#Seras and Integra were at once an attempt to bring back his ‘Brides’ and Mina to varied results#(there’s no itch for conquest anymore—just company…who are fun to aggravate and nettle along to his rhythm)#I wonder if Integra reminds him of them both#the ex-innocent callused into a force against the dark#man now I want to do a reread#dracula#hellsing#alucard#jonathan harker#mina harker
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this shit fucking kills me man. so gege introduces noritoshi kamo for one arc but then he goes on to create choso who is essentially a more interesting and more relevant character to the plot & mc AND has the EXACT same goddamn technique and family ties as noritoshi so what gege does is he writes noritoshi out of the story, his technique and relevance to the world building get completely replaced by the new character gege obviously prefers, his clan gets offscreened meaning the chance to world building jujutsu society gets totally squandered and then he brings him back only to make him say ok im dipping out of the story but we'll pretend i taught the mc blood manipulation before i do that or else gege's subpar writing will be double exposed. see ya.
when im in a wasting characters competition and my opponent is gege 💀💀
#like im not saying i like noritoshi over choso bc of course i dont. but this is really bad writing#essentially gege never should havr created kamo noritoshi is what im saying bc his replacement in the story being choso is so painfully#obvious and it's just really really really bad writing to do this to your own characters (seeing them get replaced in real time)#@all writers out there PLEASE do not do this to your own characters 😭😭 cuz that shit is so bad 😭😭😭#jjk leaks#jjk spoilers#jjk 244#choso#kamo noritoshi#jjk#bakma bana
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*lovingly tackles Aine*
Read my Yandere! Pierro longfics first ♪( ´▽`)
Last week, my beloved mutual @ainescribe surprised me with Savior! Darling fan art and AHAI9232@2-!/! CRYING SCREAMING I WANT TO LOOK AT THIS ART AND WORSHIP YOUR VERSION OF SAVIOR THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BLESSING ME WITH YOUR ART—
*clears throat* Anyway, now that I finally have the time to properly sit down and comment on the fan art, I’ll do just that. Feedback will be in the tags and it will be unhinged. Once again, thank you so much to Aine for drawing this <3
#feedback#fan art#ainescribe#AIIINE ;-; once again. thank you so much!! it rlly means a lot to me that you enjoyed my writing and felt inspired to draw this :'>#and as someone who loves fashion and character design. it's so so interesting to analyze your version of savior#there's so much symbolism and visual storytelling in each sketch/ outfit and i shall now proceed to pick apart each detail as best as i can#her snezhnayan fit.....god i love it. it's regal. distinctively snezhnayan. and draws attention to her--and you just know that was pierro's#intention when he dressed her in those garments. IT'S JUST SO...!! savior's wardrobe scrubbed clean of her original culture and preferences#replaced with the foreign garments of her captor's nations.....in line with this. i love how her kokoshnik and khaenri'ahn earrings are big#and attention-grabbing. you can't look at her without taking note of those accessories. it begs the question:: how many times has savior#looked at the mirror after being dressed up in snezhnaya and was unable to recognize her own reflection?? :'>#also shoutout to some details aine shared with me: 1) the face marks are inspired by weeping angels 2) the kokoshnik was traditionally worn#by married noblewomen BUT the veil was normally for unmarried women so savior's outfit can be seen as a form of compliance + rebellion#(though later on in history it became accepted for married women to also wear that veil. also my apologies if what i said is inaccurate)#lastly shoutout to savior's expression!! very poised and mysterious....due to her emotional state or pierro's rules on how to act as his#spouse in public?? we'll never know~ the first drawing hits even harder when you compare it to the next one!! such an interesting contrast~#savior in her plain attire. casual and domestic with a smile on her face....i'm guessing this is her pre-fatui version?? she looks so warm#and friendly. and i can definitely understand why pierro fell for her smile <3#also i fucking love the caption. sorry pierro but you are cursed to be a loser/ simp/ pathetic man in all of my fics and AUs xD#NOW ONTO GODDESS! SAVIOR AAAHHHH!! i love the greek goddess motifs. she looks so regal and awe-inspiring but in a different way from her#snezhnayan attire--archaic. divine. and more suited to her personal style.....yet both versions of her look so painfully isolated :'>#her blank eyes. emotionless face. and veil give me the vibes of a spooky victorian ghost...or would a statue/ portrait be more fitting??#the lack of a necklace is also an interesting design choice given what happens in the fic. and now i realized i forgot to comment on your#version of her snezhnayan necklace oops. similar to the kokoshnik and earrings. the size + grandeur makes it impossible to ignore#that and big jewels = expensive af. ohhh and i love the sparkles on her veil!! pierro rlly spared no expense in dressing up his wifey <3#it's also funny how all of these outfits are similar to my own version in terms of 'savior wore grand clothing during her glory days as a#goddess -> wore simple attire after her decline for practicality and to blend in with humans/ disassociate from her old identity -> is now#dressed in even grander clothing as the harbinger's spouse. but it's used to reinforce her new identity and pierro's control over her'#tldr:: your design is so creative and i can see the effort you put in analyzing her character and depicting her based on your interpretatio#thank you for being my mutual + reader and i hope we can share even more harbinger/darling brainrot in the future :>
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To say the whump community hates women characters is so cynical and unfair. Have you considered most of us are women and just not interested in hurting our own? like congrats if that's your deal, but let's not act like there's misogyny at play here.
So being a fellow female survivor of assault, why is it that we have separate tags for lady whump stuff? "Well, because women in DV situations can be too close to home", extremely fair point, I can more than sympathize with that. But then why don't we have an unspoken-rule-type tag for male whump? Why is "whump" in general entirely assumed to be male characters and male dominated? Because it's expected, because most of these women in the whump community love hurting their lil gay bois? We decree violence against women only to turn around giggling with our friends about taking a 12 gauge shotgun to a twink's knees so he has to crawl?
No one said she even had to be a whumpee. She can be a whumper, a carewhumper, a caretaker, a random side character. She can be a mom or a sister or a spouse or a childhood best friend. The problem is she doesn't exist at all. She doesn't get to be the victim or the hero or the villain because she's not appealing enough. I read male whump when I wanna feel spicy, I read female whump when I wanna relate. I want to see the same girl I was, broken and abused, I wanna see her rise to the top, I wanna see her take it too far, I wanna see justice delivered in the bloodiest form, I wanna simp over a bad bitch who would seduce me in a night club with a tight black dress and leave me in an ice bath in the morning.
In a community with 98% male OCs, I think we can spare a crumb for more women who are weak or cruel or kind. Just make more women in general.
#ask#anon#'just not interested in hurting our own' sister in christ i AM your own#i am a lesbian and a cis woman and a SA survivor and i am telling you i want more sexy and/or pathetic lady characters#you make a prettyboy who goes through the worst mental and physical trauma to endure his entire life and youre twirling your hair#but you replace that character with a woman and suddenly its too far? too cruel? how could anyone like such a thing?#you liked it LITERALLY 2 seconds ago.
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Sometimes I think about just how much of a petty bitch Kristoph Gavin is and I laugh. Like truly one of the top haters of all time
#man killed multiple people and ruined his own brother’s life because he got a taken off a case by a celebrity magician#he also then held a grudge for over half a decade against the guy who unknowingly replaced him and had literally no idea about any drama#and THEN he only got caught on his first murder because he decided he needed to speak in poems and riddles while in court#instead of just chilling like any other normal guy in this situation#‘only the cards—their backs wreathed in blue flame—know it’s final outcome’ dude shut UP#(this is all said in jest I love kristoph as a character but he’s also so funny to clown on)#kristoph gavin#ace attorney#apollo justice: ace attorney#white weasel talks
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;R1999 FORGET ME NOT - General Headcanons
Compilation of headcanons and analysis on Forget Me Not as a character and other related things.
this post was brought to you by me, procrastinating on the second part of the Cover analysis and those yandere Pavia headcanons, and ALSO because mister lawrence cavendish jr is the second target for my brainrot
warning for suicide and self-harm themes!
On the subject of Forget Me Not's name and past.
It's Lawrence Cavendish Jr. Forget Me Not's real name is confirmed to be just that, as seen in this specific excerpt:
"Cavendish Jr, who was still alive and once sat in front of you [...]" which alludes to the dinner Vertin had at the Walden with Druvis III and Forget Me Not, and "'Forget Me Not', what a hilarious, stupid name". I only included this because I've seen people wonder about it.
What I mean to tackle in this point is the relationship between Forget Me Not, his origins and his current chosen name. Despite his calm and collected appearance, it becomes clear that Forget Me Not is one hair away from becoming entirely deranged, especially when confronted with the possibility of getting revenge. But why is Forget Me Not so focused on revenge specifically?
His backstory is not as openly laid out for us to read, but we can gleam some bits and pieces from all the documents and dialogue he has. To understand Forget Me Not, we also need to look at Druvis III.
All throughout chapter 02, we see parallels and connections being drawn between Forget Me Not and Druvis III - both of them appear to be extremely aloof, cold and collected, only to be revealed to be very emotional deep down, for better and for worse. Druvis III is initially defined by the neutrality and inertia that comes with being stuck in the past, while Forget Me Not is initially defined by the neutrality of the Walden and his ties with Manus Vindictae, an organization that rejects the future.
Druvis III is a disgraced, fallen noble whose life wasn't ruined by the fire that took her family, but the perception the world had of her, an image they forced onto her due to their hatred towards arcanists. And Forget Me Not has a family surname "buried in the dust, shot dead in history". A disgraced, fallen noble implied to have struggled with poverty, battling hunger and suicide countless of times. In the "··· Formula: 1920s" document, we can see a few pieces from various people and their opinions on Forget Me Not from the Big Mouth Bulletin. 3 out of 4 want him dead or think of him as a monster - entirely because of his existence as an arcanist.
The similarities are obvious. Hell, both share the theme of flora and plants, too. There is an even more subtle dynamic here too, alluding to the game's prominent religious imagery - Vertin's suitcase being compared to an ark that will brave the "Storm", the last supper moment, Arcana's offering, the orange, being a replacement for the apple of Eden...
And then, Forget Me Not association with snakes, rumoured to have a body covered in scales, with an arcanum skill that allows people to indulge in alcohol during the Prohibition Era - the snake that tempted Adam and Eve. Druvis III is associated with forests, trees, as well as a link between Vertin (the good guys) and Manus Vindictae (the bad guys) - the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The two go hand in hand and are linked together.
The big difference between them is that their respective quests to set things "right" are entirely different - their "revenge" is not the same. Druvis III was hellbent on finding out who set the fire that killed her family, not because she wanted them to face the consequences, but because in doing so, people would finally leave her alone and let her mourn. She could finally move on from something that she knew the truth of. Forget Me Not does it to feel satisfied with himself and get back at everyone who ever looked down on him or wronged him. To inflict as much as pain unto others as he had received before. It's a powerplay fantasy in which he finally wins, against all odds.
It's unclear what truly happened to the Cavendish that caused Forget Me Not to end up in such conditions, to the point where he'd go as far as make sure no one can trace him back to his family, to the point where not even the Foundation has a proper report on him.
But there is one line in particular that lives rent free in my head when it comes to the Cavendish and Forget Me Not's potential relationship with them.
This takes place after Druvis III loses her forest, after she loses her eternal branch because of Vertin's intervention during their dinner. They're talking about how to use her forest to build a refugee camp.
There's the possibility that Forget Me Not is simply alluding to that forest - something that used to belong to her is now something that he should have for the sake of Manus Vindictae's goals.
But! Indulge me for a second! There's a noticeable pause, there's a subtle tone to his voice. Reverse 1999's writing might be confusing at times due to the translation, but it's easy to see that it's loaded with metaphors, hidden meanings and so much more, to the point where reading deeply into everything most characters' say is pretty much the norm.
The dialogue that precedes that specific line is Forget Me Not insisting that he can transfer the ownership of the woods over to Druvis III anytime, because she has always been and will always be the only owner, no matter what. He does this to convince her to go through with Manus' plans, that's his main goal, he doesn't care about the woods. But that single line pictured above? It could mean so much more.
Again, the two share many, many similarities. So when Forget Me Not talks about what Druvis III once had - a prestigious family business, a name people can recognize, an assured future - is what he should have, it evokes a sense of entitlement and lingering resentment. Almost as if Forget Me Not's desire to go back to the past doesn't stem from nostalgia like her, but to reclaim something that was denied to him.
Which is incredibly ironic to me because both of them carried their family in their names - Druvis THE THIRD. Lawrence Cavendish JUNIOR. And yet, the one that worked so hard to obscure his origins and changed his family name was him.
Neither of these characters can be recognized nor traced back to their families by appearance alone - people need a name or a really good memory to truly recognize them. The only one with enough courage to continue carrying such burden is Druvis III. Forget Me Not wants something that he willingy lost the right to the moment he allowed Lawrence Cavendish Jr. to die and fade into obscurity.
The name "Forget Me Not" begins to sound more ironic. Like an order, a threat or the promise of his return - his desire for revenge and his hypocrisy become clear once you begin to dissect his character. Like the narrator in the "To Lawrence Cavendish" document says: "He is patiently waiting... to put his meanness, craziness and quivers under the sun". He's waiting to reveal himself.
The "stage" is shown when he makes people explode from inside out, a lot of people who recognized him as Forget Me Not, the mixologist. This is when we finally see his true intentions and the main difference between him and Druvis III, all in their respective reactions to the journalists.
She's terrified, thinking about the day of her family's funeral. On the other hand, he's ordering them to watch and record as he "takes everything he has been deprived of".
This is why the thing that breaks Forget Me Not is hearing that Druvis III does not care about the man who started the fire, that it's not important anymore. He believed them to be on the same page, that she would love to torture the single person responsible for all of her grief. The guy is projecting heavily onto Druvis III.
In the end, I don't know if Forget Me Not resents his father, his family name, if he had some sort of business to inherit and a "future" that was taken from him, or if they actually might've been a happy family.
What I do know is that Forget Me Not's desire for revenge was absolutely amplified and fueled by Manus Vindictae's own agenda. And that's why he works perfectly as both a victim of their MO and a willing member within their ranks.
He clings so hard to the past because there is no future worth fighting for, because everything would be much better if it was rebuilt from scratch with only those that won't oppose him and repeat history. He clings so hard that his new name and identity are, in the end, a plea for the world not to forget who he used to be and, at worst, an order because he sure as hell hasn't forgotten all the things others have done or said Back when Lawrence Cavendish Jr was around. Once his family outlived their usefulness or relevance within society.
TLDR: THIS is the cold-blooded, numb murderer who is actually very sad, empty and broken deep inside that some people wanted Pavia to be. Like, he's even sopping wet and sad and asking Vertin to kill him next time they meet.
Which leads us to my next point!
On the subject of Forget Me Not's self-destructive and suicidal mindset.
We've talked about Forget Me Not's views and relationship with the Cavendish - but what exactly is the end goal? He feels entitled to a better life, one he was supposed to have, and then what?
The "???" narrator mentions a woman who made a promise to Forget Me Not, as well as leaving a "sarcoma" behind which he then adapted and turned into his own. This woman is implied to be Arcana, as we see her talk to Vertin about being able to see the truth, to not be blinded - there's an emphasis in the way she recruits people by opening their eyes to reality. The sarcoma is the city (apparently "Windy City" is used to refer to Chicago, I had to google that but hey, that's pretty neat!). It's the world he lives in and that wants him gone. She focused Forget Me Not's grief towards it because in doing so, it would help Manus Vindictae's ideals of a world exclusively for pureblooded arcanists.
And even so, he remained suicidal. There was at least one more attempt at taking his own life, and that's when he saw "what had been on his mind". Whatever that might've been, no doubt influenced by Arcana and his situation, is what pushed Forget Me Not to "allow himself to revenge, revenge, re-re-re-revenge, and to die".
Ultimately, Forget Me Not's goal is to die at the end of it all - even after he gets his revenge, earns the life he wanted, takes back everything that was meant for him. This is why, after he's fully defeated, his last words to Vertin are to show no mercy next time they meet. To kill him.
This is not only a long and convoluted plan of revenge, it's Forget Me Not willingly marching into his own demise. And just like before, he's not strong enough to pull the trigger himself. Now that he has no solid argument to justify his anger - all because Druvis III has shown him that people can, in fact, move on - his only option is to have someone else end his life. He's shown tired, and the phrase "Don't save it no more" might indicate that even if there was someone who could repeat what Arcana did to him - give him a sense of purpose and a target for his grief - he simply doesn't have the energy for that.
Forget Me Not's self-destructive tendencies can also be seen in other ways. His job at The Walden is to cater to all the people who shunned him - he welcomes everyone and anyone for the sake of creating a network of secrets, he attends fancy parties and events full of those who call him a drug dealer, Satan's spawn and so much more. And he pretends to be someone else entirely while wishing for others to remember him. He willingly surrounds himself with all the things that hurt him.
His arcanum being related to alcohol is rather poetic to me - since Forget Me Not is said to have spiraled into decadence and into this extreme mindset, it makes sense that his main skill is related to being intoxicated and to drown into something that is largely hated but at the same time, desired and coveted. The Prohibition Era does have a very similar mentality to religion, namely western ideologies - you're meant to openly reject and loathe something, but the constant repression causes you to yearn for it instead. And at some point, this repression can become an addiction in itself, leading some to indulge in it. This loops back to Forget Me Not's association with the snake in the Garden of Eden.
It makes sense to me that he indulges in something so painful, while cohercing others into indulging in forbidden alcohol. That he later uses this very same arcane skill to kill all those people who, in his eyes, represent everything he loathes about the current state of the world. It's like a sarcoma that he now leaves behind, that kills from inside out.
And this is the last time I'll bring up Druvis III in a Forget Me Not post, but notice their choice of flower/plant? She has a mistletoe bouquet - a parasitic and toxic plant which represents positive things such as fertility, life and protection in many different cultures. Forget Me Not has black roses, roses being immediately recognized as one of the most beautiful flowers but, in this context, symbolizing things such as death and rebirth, remembrance, mourning. Their duality, contrast and the "two-faced" aspect is prominent there. And not to get very deep about character design, but Druvis III holds the bouquet very carefully and carries it around with her willingly, whereas the black roses that Forget Me Not wears wrap around his neck not unlike a noose.
To really drive home how Forget Me Not sees himself, here's the description they gave him for his boss fight.
They boil down his character perfectly, to all the little traits that make up his whole emotional baggage.
And to also put more emphasis on how Forget Me Not truly doesn't expect to live and "win" at the end of this whole revenge trip, here's his ultimate - "Heavengazing from Hell". He's fully aware that he's going to be destroyed by his own actions and that the only thing left for him will be to look up at heaven from hell. That all the good things will forever be out of his reach.
Now, onto proper headcanon territory, since I'm running out of media to analyze!
On the subject of Forget Me Not's scales.
As established before, Forget Me Not is associated with snakes - one of the segments from the Big Mouth Bulletin comments on this. "[...] he had scales under those long sleeves, one next to another embedded in his flesh."
And this can actually be seen on his in-game sprite! It's very faint, but there's absolutely some sort of texture peeking out from under his collar and sleeves that resemble scales. They can also be seen on the trailer animations. The only time these scales don't appear or peek out from his clothes are in The Walden illustration, with the other members of Manus Vindictae, but that can easily be explained as him covering up properly and the angle he's drawn in.
Originally I thought that they could be burn scars, as it would mean a stronger connection between him and Druvis III. But upon closer inspection, they don't look like burn scars at all.
I like to headcanon that it's a side-effect from his own arcanum, similar to how Rabies is implied to look like a scarecrow because of his involvement treating rabies. Being something "self-inflicted" - in the sense of him having the choice to stop and heal, but refuses to - also lines up with Forget Me Not's suicidal tendencies, the whole sarcoma metaphor and the fact that by carrying on like this, he's doing nothing but destroy himself and add to his suffering.
As for how far the scales have extended, I don't have a set favorite idea! Part of me really would love it if the scales coiled around his body like actual snakes, but also the idea of him having different patches of scales scattered throughout (again, like a sarcoma) and the third secret option of him being MOSTLY covered in them to the point where it becomes grotesque, something that he can't even look at.
They're not just a tattoo or pattern embedded onto his skin either - they're actual scales, cold and rough to the touch. The areas affected by this have grown numb, making it hard for Forget Me Not to feel any warmth or pressure applied onto them. This adds to that otherworldly and sinister vibe he's got going on, even if the lack of proper tactile sense irritates him. It's extremely uncomfortable if they're brushed or rubbed in the wrong direction, however!
Sometimes, Forget Me Not might pick at the scales, as if deciding whether he loves or hates them. In particularly bad days, he picks them out. I like the idea that, once picked, the scales grow faster and stronger, as well as in broader areas, making it a perpetual loop of picking them off from his skin.
Overall, it would be extremely easy to conceal them - he only needs a shirt with a higher collar and gloves or some make-up, but I like to think that Forget Me Not loves the idea of someone catching a glimpse of them, a reminder that he's dangerous and so much more than meets the eye.
As much as he he's been affected by the stigma against arcanists, he now thrives in their hatred for him and his existence - sneaking into places he knows he's not welcome is addictive, especially knowing everyone tolerates him because he's their only access to alcohol. The way everyone will turn around and talk shit about him once they're out of The Walden is fun, because it reinforces his views on why this current era deserves to be rebuilt from the ground up.
Forget Me Not has extremely poor eyesight.
I know the glasses look thin and pretty standard, but I just like to think that Forget Me Not can't see shit without them.
He has this habit of taking them off to "clean" them whenever he's talking with those he loathes - mostly humans - just so he doesn't have to look at them directly. Sometimes, he might just close his eyes and dissociate, pretending to pay attention if the situation calls for it. Yes, he's petty and hateful enough to feel physically sick when talking to people he hates.
If you pay enough attention, it becomes clear that eye contact becomes scarce, as if just looking at them will send him into a fit of rage (but he conceals it extremely well when needed).
Forget Me Not's poor eyesight is not a secret, and he often likes to make patrons nervous by making their drinks without his glasses - of course, he knows his way around drinks and potions, there's no chance of him messing up, he could do this with his eyes closed. But seeing customers squirm is such a delight. Because now, they must choose between making a scene in HIS territory or risk being poisoned with a poorly-made drink.
I like to think that he also just has a very fine ear, since he does play instruments (all of his attacks being related to music and him using a piano as his wand during the boss fight). So really, Forget Me Not couldn't care less about his eyesight.
Forget Me Not enjoys floral arrangement.
This is just based on his association with the actual forget me not flower. I think he enjoys creating bouquets or putting up vases full of flowers around his home, even if all of them may end up creating a very gloomy and decadent atmospere - they're perfect for funerals, and he simply may be preparing for his own.
And he leaves them out on display long after they've wilted. "They're more beautiful this way", he'd say.
It's not rare to find Forget Me Not on rainy afternoons with a pair of scissors on hand, absentmindedly cutting every leaf and petal off from all these roses, as if he had a personal vendetta against their colorful hues. Sometimes, he just twirls the stem around, pressing hard on the thorns to feel anything while he looks out the window. He's so very fucking dramatic and volatile.
Basically, I like to picture Forget Me Not as the type of person who has dedicated so much time into something as empty as revenge, that he absolutely has no idea what to do outside of that.
Everything he does is just a way to pass the time until he can go back to dedicate every waking second of his life into his and Manus Vindictae's plans, every "little pleasure" is just a façade, he doesn't get any real enjoyment from anything. Sometime he worries that revenge won't help him climb out of this apathetic life he's built for himself, but he can't afford to dwell too much on that possibility. Everything that he does is muscle memory, he's forcing himself to try and do it, because otherwise he could simply sit still in an empty room for hours on end, with the lights turned off, waiting and waiting - all alone with his thoughts.
#reverse 1999#reverse: 1999#r1999#r1999 headcanons#reverse 1999 forget me not#forget me not#playable forget me not WHEN bluepoch i NEED him#i like forget me not when hes like. deranged#when hes one hair away from hurting others or hurting himself because hes. in the most horrible mindset ever#like hes just looking for an excuse to blow up or blow up others (hehehehehe....get it....)#like sure hes so cool with the walden and his network of information and secrets#but hes still a cowardly snake who hides and needs to be revealed. bc he cant reveal himself willingly and openly on his own#its the loss of humanity again but whereas pavia rejects it. FMN just lives within it. he just masks SO well#'but you cant simp for any manus vindictae character! theyre explicitly racists!' and re1999 is a game that CHOSE to replace#actual racial issues in history with their magic ppl vs normal ppl plot line with many many parallels to struggles poc like me lived throug#and then chose to be like 'hey theyre actually physically different and its xenophobia on a whole different species hahaaa bye'#so like. fuckin chew on that first before coming for me. if we're already suspending our belief for the sake of playing:dont cherry pick#tackle the WHOLE thing the game chose to portray. not just a single group within the whole game#sorry if that was heated but lmfao i saw ppl already trying to dictate who ppl can and cannot simp for on twitter#as if this wasnt another fictional anime gacha game at the end of the day
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Bucky, walking around in short shorts:
Kidd: You can't just walk around like that, Bucky!
Bucky: Why not?
Kidd: It's distracting! You're gonna hurt people!
Bucky: What? How?
Buck, several replacements, and half the 100th with bloody noses from walking into things face first after seeing Bucky:
Kidd: SEE!?!
#i know his thighs are mesmerizing#masters of the air#buck x bucky#mota#clegan#buckbucky#jack kidd#incorrect mota quotes#replacements are their own characters now
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