#and therefore any relationship outside of it is considered cheating when its really not :/

[weatheredcopper]

i dont post about it a lot but i have Opinions on dl!biggri

[egyptian-sun-god]

Never Have I ever S2

SPOILERS.....Turn back now I’m serious.

I’m waiting....

Okay cool your fault at this point

I was fairly critical of NHIE S1, I won’t lie. And I’ll be real I still stand by the fact that NHIE S1 was fairly meh overall. 

But holy shit, they knocked this season outta the world man. The show really really found its proper footing this season. They were smart to keep the cheating for only two episodes and explore the repercussion for the other 8. 

1.Devi Vishwakumar.

Let’s start with the main character.  Devi still does immensely fucked up shit this season. Dating two boys and have them find out in the MOST humiliating way possible. Yikes. Being a really sucky friend to Aneesa and starting that rumour about her (inadvertently) and pretending to her. Stalking her mother and being possessive of her. The really awful apology that was pretty self centred, a bit not good. 

 But she really does do her best to improve and I am SO proud of that. She uses her father’s advice and apologizes better to Aneesa, she actually handled the Ben and Aneesa dating WAAAAY better than I’ve seen some people handle things like that. I might’ve blown a fuse if two of my friends had 4 tickle fights and had major PDA sessions when we were trying to do a group project. Like she handled that shit fairly well all things considered. Devi actually gets into the beginnings of delving into her trauma and her temporary paralysis and healing from it. I

 really see how the label ‘crazy’ weighs on her and how she blew up with it and the message of destigmatizing mental illness. (Crazy Aneesa and Crazy Devi)  Her properly bonding with her mother and watching videos of her father and remembering/honouring his memory hit REALLY HARD (since I lost many people in my family recently and that fear of forgetting them has been real). Devi is actually beginning to heal from the loss of her father by strengthening the relationship with her Amma. And the slap from Paati was so so needed, it really gave her a better respect of her mother and fixed the problem I had with Devi mouthing off so much to her Amma. I live to see good maamiyar marumagal relationships. Her relationship with Paxton is really good and it gets developed very logically and having her be scared of being pathetic but in the end she accepted her own self worth and stopped chasing after them which was good. 

Overall Devi really blossomed into her own developing person and I actually like her so much more this season. 

2. Paxton Hall Yoshida

I was honestly, like genuinely sad last season he was like 80% eye candy with not much else going for him. Paxton had so much faith as a character and Ms Kaling has really pulled him into such a better person this season. 

Paxton got hit by a car before swim season, lost his ticket to college and wow, got two timed by a girl he liked all in two episodes. If he was salty about that for more than one season I would’ve completely accepted it. Cause that’s a bad public humiliation. 

Paxton episode really really made me love him as a character (honestly more so than Ben) I think because I heard Paxton’s entire worry and irritation that he was being underestimated and no one really expected him to go to college from a friend of mine not more than a month ago. That shit is real, and it hurted my friends a lot that people were really underestimating them and just seeing them as a dumb athlete who has no hope of college. It’s really nice to see Paxton actually want to go to college and learn Japanese American side with his Oji-chan giving him advice and supporting him. And him bringing his grandfather to speak about the internment camps, that seriously do not get spoken about enough.

Also him putting effort and making a genuine effort to work hard and bring up his grades with Devi and therefore bonding with her was really nice to see. I wouldn’t mind them being endgame but Devi does really work a lot better as his pushy Indian mom/best friend/tutor.  And Devi getting mad at him for him expecting him to hold his hand throughout really hit well. Was it deserved yeah. But Devi also did blow him off after promising him to study so his anger is justified there. I’m just kinda vibing with Paxton like coming up and taking a better interest in school and being a full 3D character. And that one scene where he gives the extra credit presentation and Trent high fives the man. Classic. 

Can I also just say, it’s kinda valid that Paxton didn’t want to date her in public. Is it a dick move...yeah? But he’s within his rights to ask and she’s within her rights to deny. And he didn’t press her once she said no, he went along with it. And what Devi pulled on him is awful, and speaking as someone who’s seen popular kid cliques. Reputation really is important. Like what Devi did made Paxton lose face, if he gets back with Devi he ain’t gonna have any respect left in him. And Paxton was pretty right in deciding to not date her publicly, like even in the end he knows that his reputation is shot for what he did. Do we even know if Paxton has friends that aren’t fixated on his social status? Because becoming a social pariah without having any support of friends is gonna hurt like a bitch. Lord knows how Paxton gonna deal with it. I think Trent might be his only homie after the social downfall he will inevitably face. 

I’m just gonna say, Paxton is my favourite now and I’m really rooting for him. Something I decidedly did not do last season. I’m happy Ms Kaling developed him so much and got me interested. 

3. Ben Gross

Ah. Ben. Ben’s not my faaavouriteee.......like he’s fine. But I don’t love him. I can definitely see him and Devi becoming an almost endgame couple though. Especially with S2 ending. 

Ben is fine and he’s pretty developed, especially with his episode in S1 and it was good he took a backseat this season and let everyone else star. I feel like he’ll come back strong next season though. 

Personally do I ship him with Devi? No. I’ve been in a friendship with the similar competitive dynamic as Ben and Devi. And it was terrible. We loved to argue and we got each other’s super brainy side as Devi puts it. But we pushed each other faar too much and even the small things became arguments and each pthers achievements became jealousy. So yeah....I don’t have too much faith in the dynamic due to personal bias, but I’d love to see how it gets handled. 

Also my brother Ben, PDA is a thing and it is common courtesy to refrain from it. Man’s really going at it with Aneesa half the time. But also the moment where Aneesa sort of choked on the presentation and Ben’s irritation at it gave me BAAAD vibes. It feels like while Devi can match him, they might push each other too far, 

4. Kamala 

I LOVE KAMALA. Girl is an ENTIRE vibe. My sweetheart, love of my life. I could go on. I really like her development as well and the banter between her and Nalini. The part where Nalini practically said she looked like a call girl and she was like ippadi potathaan velaila mariyaatha kidaikum. I legit had to pause, scream in laughter for a good few seconds. 

They had such a good story with her and wanting to fight against the fact that they took her work and didn’t credit her and everyone was telling her to like take it bowing. Prasanth’s advice unfortunately checked out to me, because I’ve been told that all my life. My dad says it a lot and I know he doesn’t say it cause’ he doesn’t believe in me, but he loves me and wants my life to be easier and for me to succeed and his experience is that he’s had to deal with things like this and fighting won’t help. So yeah, what Prasanth said did not rub me the wrong way at all and I agreed with it and I’m fairly disappointed about that. I get that she got nervous and had cold feet about marriage but I do hope she and Prasanth can work this out through communication. Because I really don’t feel like Prasanth is the bad guy here. It’s just a miscommunication. 

So yeah, a LOT of Kamala’s storyline continues to really hit me hard. 

5. Nalini Vishwakumar

Nalini really had so much more screentime to blossom. I love that she has a good relationship with Mohan’s amma. It’s wonderful and I love it. Also I was shocked to see the house in Chennai. Like this house...in Chennai. The Chennai I’m used to and the Chennai they are used to are different Chennai’s. Basically wealth gap is crazy as hell and I was lowkey highkey confused if the actually shot this shit in Chennai. But props to the directors for putting some proper Tamil vibes in there. Like the scene where they kaala thottu kumbudurathu (touch the elder’s feet) before they leave for the US is so real and so vibes. I like that they decided to bring paati back. I was like hoping for it.

Also they really went at developing Nalini’s character as a workaholic mom who doesn’t get her daughter. That’s also a really common thing in Indian households with one working parent so I’m happy they portrayed that. I’m happy Nalini actually has a life outside her family portrayed and is still such a typical mother that it hits HARD. I love Nalini and she really developed as a character dealing with grief from Mohan’s death, the wish to move on with Dr.Jackson but knowing that she isn’t ready yet. 

They gave her character a life and proper working outside Devi and it really has shown to develop her character and impact her relationship with Devi. The advice to “just say yes” works with cousins and younger siblings as well, I’ve heard it before and used it..and it saves so much time. Especially with small children. 

(A memory I have is of my younger cousin going on and on about a princess and a castle and fighting a dragon and the witches and so much fantasy shit and ended with do you wanna come? I just clocked off my CCA’s and I had no energy left to question it so I just went yeah sure. Easiest decision, and 10/10 advice. )

6. Aneesa

I’m not gonna lie. I was skeptical of Aneesa and I didn’t like how Devi saw her in the trailer. But Aneesa reminds me so much of me....and its killing me. 

Also the scene where she charms the hell out of Nalini and paati ma has literally happened to me before. Most of my Indian friends hate it..because I was raised with a lot more traditional manners with my grandparents so me and my siblings all are old fashioned which parents LOVE. And I really saw that Aneesa charming them and Devi also realizing, Damn none of my friends actually treat my family the way they should be treated, perks of having an Indian friend. 

Also the scene where she gets Devi out of trouble is so so real. Because if you have one responsible friend that you parents trust, you could lie the hell to them, get you homie to back you up and it will work. Personal experience. So yeah, Aneesa character resonated with me a lot.

I also like that she wasn’t just a popular 1D Indian girl but she was genuinely cool and actually had proper issues and development where she gets more open to Sherman Oaks and actually kinda properly rebels against Noor, with having Ben as a boyfriend. 

I feel like Aneesa has a lot more potential for growth, especially with the relationship with Ms Noor and Aneesa acting as a foil to Nalini and Devi’s. Also, I feel like Aneesa can grow within her social status at school as well and have Devi maturely handle it. Aneesa I feel will really really challenge Devi’s ability to be mature. 

7. Eleanor and Fabiola’s plotlines

Okay like actually, major props to Ms Kaling man. This show touches so so many teen issues in one goddamn show. Emotionally manipulative relationships. So SO good. A lot of newer age relationships have a much more subtle and dangerous line of abuse that’s hard to find out. Like honestly it took me a while to see it as well and I realized oh fuck. oh fuck...I see it it’s bad. They really got the essence of Eleanor’s flamboyance matching with Malcom? (is it Malcolm..fuck it it’s Malcolm now) his “suaveness” and traditionally charming tendency. It made sense and it’s very realistic how Eleanor got played like a damn fiddle. I also again feel that the make up was faar to quick but I really appreciate that Eleanor got her own storyline with her step-mom and understanding of relationships instead of the show hyperfocusing on just Devi. I respect that a lot.  Petition to get a Eleanor narration episode. 

Fabiola’s storyline also was well taken. It’s an interesting added layer to the queer experience and how queerness can be expected to be performative and but really its all about being more of yourself. The idea that queer people don’t owe nobody anything or have to perform an ideal version of queerness and Fabiola struggling with that kinda hit. The part where they talked about her mother learning to support them and being Cricket? Queen/King. Like being trailblazers for the POC community and the LGBTQ+ community having overlapping struggles. Again, I liked that Fabiola was getting more personal screentime and less of her story revolving around Devi’s. 

8. Everything else

I liked that there was more Tamil being casually thrown around. Like the Kamala vaadi to hold the suitcase down as they zipped it together was funny and relatable. The accents were really interesting because I promise you, I had no clue what they were saying sometimes. Nalini’s dialogues in Tamil were like immensely difficult to understand, and my Tamil is fluent. This isn’t a criticism... I’m fairly certain the difference is to do with the regional difference. American Tamil and Malaysian + rural Tamil slang are going to have huge accent differences so there’s no surprise that I found Nalini’s Tamil hard to understand. 

I’m really really really meh about the Kamala and Manish/Mr Kulkarni thing. I still think she should sort it out with Prasanth maybe but I’m open to seeing where it goes. I might change my mind with it. 

This show like any other show had its highs and lows. But I really really do feel that NHIE season 2 managed to truly figure out what the hell it wants to do and developed into a very strong and very entertaining show in terms of representation and diversity. I’m looking forward to season 3. 

[maleyanderecafe]

Yanderes Killing their S/O

Hello again to another one of these analysis posts! I've been thinking lately about yandere tropes and one of the biggest ones that came up in my mind was the idea of yanderes killing their s/os. A lot of people in asks have often stated that this idea is rather cliche or not executed properly, so let's get into why that might be.

First, before examining this, let's talk a bit about the origins of yanderes. I've probably mentioned this a bit before either in other asks or other analysis, but the idea of yandere comes from the deconstruction of the trope Yamato Nadeshiko. Obviously, there are other cases of yanderes outside Japan, but we'll talk specifically about the Japanese history of it. Yamato Nadeshiko is the idea of idealized Japanese women. A person who is a Yamato Nadeshiko is often very obedient, graceful, and has maturity and humility while still being able to rule with a forceful push without being overly emotional. This is the idealized version of Japanese women, at least in the Neo-Confucious era. However, the deconstruction part of this comes when the character in question doesn't have this kind of inner force, basically becoming a doormat. When a character is overly graceful and still gets stepped on like a doormat, they are likely to snap and become violent, something that is shown a lot when it comes to yanderes. This is where the deconstruction comes in. If the character is forced to love such a perfect life but is still stepped on over and over again, at some point, this person will snap and destroy everything in their path. This idea still persists a bit in yanderes as often yanderes are characters who outwardly seem very graceful and perfect, while inwardly they are more obsessive. There is a really good read on it here that goes more in-depth with the origins of yanderes and the psyche of Yuna.

Like I've said before, we can still see how the idea of Yamato Nadeshiko still persists in yanderes, at least in broad terms. A lot of yanderes, in both male and female forms, are often depicted as kind, graceful and smart, at least initially. For instance, in terms of a school setting, this kind of character is not only nice to everyone but has the best grades, a huge army of fans behind them, and good teachers. Outwardly, they're likely to be depicted as perfect or a kind person, but inwardly, it's likely that they're a lot more twisted and obsessed. It's not necessarily just in a school setting either, a lot of yanderes are depicted as kind and perfect people when in reality they are a lot more dangerous than they might appear. With this thought, this perfection is shattered when they fall in love, becoming attached and obsessed with their lover, to the point of them being unstable and unable to live without them. If something goes wrong with them and the s/o, for instance, the s/o cheats on them, then they snap, often causing the death of the s/o in the process. This part is where we see the Yamato Nadeshiko snaps from the pressure, and in this case, the yandere snaps causing the death of the s/o.

So why do many people find that a yandere killing their s/o unacceptable or uninteresting? The idea of a yandere killing their s/o is nothing new. In fact, it often makes a lot of sense that a yandere might kill their s/o, especially if the s/o has done something wrong, and the yandere themselves are not stable. Well, there are a couple of reasons why this trope is unacceptable or uninteresting to a lot of people.

For one, this trope of a yandere killing their s/o is expected and often becomes cliche. Yanderes killing their s/o has been pretty synonymous with the archetype itself, next to knives and the yandere face. If the s/o cheats on the yandere, of course, the yandere is going to get mad and kill the s/o. If the yandere misunderstands what the s/o is doing, of course, they might feel that death is the only option for them. Just looking at most yanderes, we often expect them to kill their loved one, but the idea is just very cliche. Now, mind you, there's nothing wrong with writing a yandere that kills their s/o, it's how you execute it. Often a lot of people write the yandere killing their s/o in the same way- the yandere misinterprets/interprets the s/o doing something that jeopardizes their relationship or they find that something is trying to stop their relationship and become a killer to stop it. Cheating is pretty common and so is talking to competition, with the yandere misinterpreting the action. The problem with this is that it's often written in a way that just makes it seem like the yandere is being paranoid without really anything to back it up. We expect that this action will cause conflict with the s/o and a lot of times we expect what they saw to be a misunderstanding or something that's not worth killing over. This itself has been done over and over again, so much so that again, many people expect it.

The second reason is that often, the yandere is not written well, and therefore the death of the s/o is more for shock factor if anything. When the yandere kills their s/o, yes, we might understand why he does it in terms of reason, but we don't really sympathize or care about it because we don't actually know why the yandere thinks that way. This may have worked when the concept of a yandere was still being formed, but nowadays, it's important that your characters have some sort of depth to them. This isn't just the case with specifically yanderes either, many things that used to be simple concepts (anime, cartoons, comics, even films) often now have more characterization of characters in terms of things like backstories, personalities, and actions outside of their stories. I really do like this trend and it makes me happy that people are putting more depth into what each character is like and why they are like that. But a lot of the time, especially for smaller one-shots, we don't really see much of why a yandere might decide to kill their s/o. We might be able to infer or take a guess, but it doesn't seem like it would really give enough information or even enough emotion to empathize. I'm not saying that it's impossible to write a developed character in a one-shot, it's just there is less space to do so. In one-shots, its also very easy to simply kill the s/o at the end because the story won't continue on from there.

Finally, the last reason is that when the yandere does kill the s/o, we often don't really feel for the s/o's death because the s/o isn't really established as a character. This is also something that can happen with yanderes as well since the yanderes often don't have much characterization, but I feel like this is especially true for the s/o. A lot of times, the s/o has such basic characterization that there's really nothing to describe them other than being "nice" or "kind". this is especially true in otome games where the MC is suppose to be the stand in for the character, but actually acts rather irrationally or in a stupid way to get specific character endings or bad endings. Even in stories, I often find the yandere far more interesting then their love interest, mostly because the love interest doesn't have any interesting or insightful qualities or flaws. In fact, it almost seems as if the s/o is meant to be killed because of how uninteresting they are, which is unfortunate as it means that they weren't very well written. We can also see this in terms of the yandere itself as often we don't even get to see what their reaction is to murdering their s/o and what effect they may have on them emotionally or physically in the long run. Do they mourn for the loss of the s/o? Do people find out about who killed the s/o? Does the yandere even realize they've killed the s/o? There's a lot of different questions that often aren't explored when it comes to what happens.

There are probably a lot of reasons why people don't like the yandere troupe of killing their s/o and there's good reason to be. But that doesn't mean that you can't write a yandere that kills their s/o in a story. But you should consider a few things while thinking about writing it, to better write a good character.

First of all, consider how the yandere leads up to killing the s/o as well as the reason for killing the s/o. In a lot of cases, it's because of jealousy that is often mistaken (they think the s/o is cheating on them when in reality they're just asking about something else. This kind of miscommunication is common and honestly really annoying in all aspects, since it could be easily solved through. There are a lot of reasons to why the yandere may kill the s/o, and what might lead up to it. It might be a unfortunate consequence to a flaw that they might have, for instance if a yandere was very brash and violent they might end up accidentally killing the s/o who was protecting someone. Or it might be something that is more built up, like a problem with insecurity that ends up with the death of the s/o, because they feel like they just aren't good enough for them. It could also be something that is done on purpose, like the s/o's existence means the end of the world and they force the yandere to kill them. Or it could be in a more antagonistic way, like the yandere killing the s/o to force them into hell with them. Having these characterization makes the yandere feel more interesting or at least gives reason to the way that they are.

Second, consider the feelings the yandere has after killing the s/o. Most of the time, the yandere kills the s/o and the story ends, either because its the end of a long story or because the story itself is a one-shot. Unfortunately this means that we don't actually see what the effects of the death will cause the yandere. Assuming that the story doesn't end with just the yandere killing the s/o, we can delve deeper into what kind of feelings the yandere may feel. If the death was an accident, for instance, the yandere may feel despair over their death and blame it on themselves. They may take their own life or try to find a way to revive their loved ones. They may feel accomplishment if they were a reluctant yandere, where they won't feel shackled to having the obsessive feelings anymore. It's likely that they will mourn over their s/o, and if they are an enlightened yandere, they may be able to move on, but if they are more delusional, they may believe that the s/o is still alive and treat their bodies as such. There's a lot of reactions to death, both good and bad, so it might be interesting to see how a yandere would react to something as drastic as their s/o's death.

Third, consider the s/o themselves and how their death may affect other people besides the yandere. Even if the s/o is extremely bland with little character, it's hard to believe that nobody would care about their death. The s/o should have some semblance of character, even if it is a bit of a cliche, such as being very rash, being responsible, being cold, really anything that can distinguish them from just a plain MC. If you consider the death of the s/o, we might also see how others around them felt, whether they cared for the s/o or if they absolutely hated them can help give the s/o more character even after death. For instance, if everyone absolutely hated the s/o, they might feel that the only way to escape being isolated is death, which is what they enlist the yandere to do. Or perhaps they feel that death is the only way to achieve enlightenment and tries to manipulate the yandere into killing them. Perhaps the s/o really hates the yandere, so as revenge, they somehow get the yandere to kill them to scar them forever. Maybe, the s/o is a very clumsy person, and despite being warned again and again by the yandere to be careful, they end up being in the yandere's path and end up being killed because of their carelessness. This all gives development of the yandere and the s/o's relationship together, which could help in why the yandere acts the way that they do, and the cause of the s/o's death.

All in all, the death of an s/o by the hands of the yandere can prove to be an interesting trope if written correctly. Just like any cliche can be made interesting again with a bit of tweaking, so writing the death of an s/o through the yandere can be as well. There's no right or wrong way to write it, just try to make the story and interesting and fulfilling one to experience.

[thelittlehansy]

How many signs of Narcissistic abuse can we catch in a the book "A Frozen Heart" ?

i took a article from psychology today : here the point of view is of course not partner but hans/ his narcissist father and worst bro.

I hope my reasoning are gonna fit and unfortunaly i m gonna used quote from À Frozen Heart several time for Hans family appeared only at the start of the book.

What is Narcissistic Abuse : Abuse may be emotional, mental, physical, financial, spiritual, or sexual. Here are a few examples of abuse you may not have identified:

Verbal abuse includes belittling, bullying, accusing, blaming, shaming, demanding, ordering, threatening, criticizing, sarcasm, raging, opposing, undermining, interrupting, blocking, and name-calling. Note that many people occasionally make demands, use sarcasm, interrupt, oppose, criticize, blame, or block you. Consider the context, malice, and frequency of the behavior before labeling it narcissistic abuse.

Hans on his everyday life At the start of the book :

Belittling( undermining i think also)  : "you should apologize to your mother she is after all the only one who would have ever noticed you were missing"

Bullying : "like sharks smelling blood in the water a few more of the brothers began to join in the "teasing" "

Accusing : "did you not think your mother birthday is worthy of your presence?"

Blaming : " Westergaard are lion not mice hans you should listen to your brother maybe you could learn a thing of two from them if you stopped acting like you were better than them"

Shaming : Rudy and Runo : "whats thats ? We cant hear you really should learn how to speak up father abhors mice"

Demanding : "dont disappoint me...again !" 

ordering : "his father had requested his presence and when the king made a request you did whatever was asked"

threatening : i think “dont disappoint me...again” can work also because Hans knew that what kind of treatment he receive if he dont follow his father belief thats the reasons his brothers bully him. So there is an idea of punishement if he dissapoint his father i think.

Criticizing : as you might imagine i dont have time to listen to you whine about your brothers being bullies again 

interrupting : “the king did not waste time to the point Hans , always just get to the point he would say whenever he deemed Hans had stay too long in his presence” i thought i will find nothing for this one but guess i was wrong 😅

Raging : " he didn't care if his father would be mad later it wasnt worth the torment to sit through of this assault" later

Fighting Marsmahllow : " thats all you got ? You big snowy beast ? Hans thought as he pulled out his sword and began to swing it skillfully. Compared to my father when he is angry you seem like a cuddy bunny"

Sarcasm : not any quote but very much possible with that environment !

Manipulation: Generally, manipulation is indirect influence on someone to behave in a way that furthers the goals of the manipulator. Often, it expresses covert aggression. Think of a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” On the surface, the words seem harmless – even complimentary; but underneath you feel demeaned or sense a hostile intent. If you experienced manipulation growing up, you may not recognize it as such. See my blog on spotting manipulation.   

“Dont disappoint me...again " i think works too for this one ! This is what hans father told him after he ask if he can help him and before he go help him with a citizens that criticize him.

it has an effect on Hans who is upset and therefore wants to please and prove himself to his father even more.

the effect are there and the goal of course of the king was only for his own interest. Stopping his people To criticize him by emotionally manipulating Hans to be effective.

Emotional blackmail: Emotional blackmail may include threats, anger, warnings, intimidation, or punishment. It’s a form of manipulation that provokes doubt in you. You feel fear, obligation, and or guilt, sometimes referred to as “FOG”

one example i think : " his father had requested his presence and when the king made a request you did whatever was asked" Hans end up having a sense of obligation to come at a place where he know his brothers are gonna bully him. After when he decide to leave he talk about his father anger implying he is gonna be mad and punished him. so that an example i think we can spot also ! 

Competition: Competing and one-upping to always be on top, sometimes through unethical means. E.g. cheating in a game.

"You know you fit quit well in the southern isles everything is a competition back home " Hans to Anna during the coronation party big clue !

Negative contrasting: Unnecessarily making comparisons to negatively contrast you with the narcissist or other people.

" you should listen to your brothers you could learn a thing or two if you stop acting as if you were better that them "🤔

Exploitation and objectification: Using or taking advantage of you for personal ends without regard for your feelings or needs.

After hans works during 3 years for his father as his gofer on his way to arendelle " getting to this point had not be easy. It had taken nearly three years to convince the king that he was responsible enough.(..) all the begging, pleading and generally making himself a lapdog to his father To procure a spot as the representative would pay off"

= indication the king exploit Hans during 3 years and what is sad is that he still dont trust him at the end. So yeah deftntly take advantages of hans to me.

Sabotage: Disruptive interference with your endeavors or relationships for the purpose of revenge or personal advantage.

The princes : “after each well placed jab they would look to their father to gain his approval even at the expense of their youngest brother”

i think that quote can reflect this one because there we see the reasons why Hans relationship with his brothers is broken and the reasons is because they all want to have their father attention/approval. that’s a situation the king voluntary let happen between his son for personal advantages.( boots his ego i beleive) the king defitnly sabotage Hans relationship with his brothers and even i would say all the relationship between his sons.

Neglect: Ignoring the needs of a child for whom the abuser is responsible. Includes child endangerment; i.e., placing or leaving a child in a dangerous situation.

“it wasnt as thought he had woken up that morning to found out he was the youngest of thirtheen son with a distant and careless father that had been his ife always and that would be his life forever” this is what hans say about his life at 17 years old 20 years old with his true age.

Character assassination or slander: Spreading malicious gossip or lies about you to other people.

“ So ? any new of when i might  become an uncle again ? i m hoping your child might like me at least ?”  Hans to Lars

So here thats interpretation ! i could be wrong but to me its kind of imply the niece and nephew he got so far do not like him a lot. so now the question is how little kids may end up disliking their uncle ? unpleasant gossip from their fathers or even grandfather about their uncle !

Violence:This includes blocking your movement, pulling hair, throwing things, or destroying your property

“at least they had thrown bread this time not glassware” 

Isolation: Isolating you from friends, family, or access to outside services and support through control, manipulation, verbal abuse, character assassination, or other means of abuse.

 "For him the southern isles and it castle was a prison and his father the jailer"🤔

Withholding: Withholding such things as money, sex, communication or affection from you.!

Hans dad is volountary distant and cold with him and show less affection to him in order "to toughten him up "

Gaslighting: Intentionally making you distrust your perceptions of reality or believe that you’re mentally incompetent.

to be honest i didn't catch exactly what is gaslighting i have understand the definition but each time i see someone used the word i m confuse because cannot connect it with the definition.

so here no sign of gaslighting ( distrust perception) i don't know if this one works for "make believe you are mentally incompent"

"hans could hear the voice of his brothers (..) you dont have the guts to do anything. Princess elsa what she want is a man not  a boy. What about we go find her and you stay here where you belong."

3 are no present on the book with the last one very much possible because the king of the southern isles abuse financially his poeple :

-Lying: Persistent deception to avoid responsibility or to achieve the narcissist’s own ends.

-Privacy invasion: Ignoring your boundaries by looking through your things, phone, mail; denying your physical privacy or stalking or following you; ignoring privacy you’ve requested.

-Financial abuse: Financial abuse might include controlling you through economic domination or draining your finances through extortion, theft, manipulation, or gambling, or by accruing debt in your name or selling your personal property.

I think lying and privacy invasion can both be things Hans and even his brothers are submit since little by their father.

[letmenvt0nyovrlipz]

Do You Have A Higher Sex Drive Than Your Partner?

By Stuart Nugent

September 28, 2020

We often discuss dealing with a partner with a higher sex drive than you. But what if you are that partner? What advice is there for those of us whose sexual appetite isn’t being fulfilled?

LELO has compiled 5 tough-love tips to help cope with a higher level of sexual desire than your partner when you’re dedicated to making it work. Unfortunately, it means you might need to adapt your own behavior to compromise with your partner.

1. It’s Not All About You

It’s fairly normal for couples to have varying levels of sexual desire, and it’s hard not to take it personally when your advances are constantly rebuffed. But you need to remember that a partner’s lack of sexual interest may have very little to do with any of your attributes. It could be related to a hormone deficiency or physiological issue. More likely, it could be about their sense of themselves, rather than a reflection of you. It’s not easy for them to know that you want more sex than they can offer, so while it may be painful for you, it’s probably painful for them too. To improve the situation for both of you, you need to understand their perspective as best you can.

2. Change Tact

If you’re regularly frustrated by the lack of sexual activity in your relationship, and you want to do something about it, you need to approach the situation differently. Clearly your current behavior isn’t working, so it’s time to change your approach because it’s likely you have both slipped into opposite roles with each other. You pursue them for sex, they decline, you push harder, they feel pressured, tension mounts, nothing gets resolved. Back away a little bit, allow them a little room to be comfortable, and remember number 1: this isn’t all about your needs. Take a break from trying to initiate sex, and wait a week or two. Sometimes the pressure you’re putting on your partner is what’s pushing them away – they may respond more positively in time if they are simply allowed to respond by their own volition.

3. Masturbate

Masturbation is awesome. I honestly don’t know why we aren’t doing it all the time. It’s a wonder we ever get anything else done. But more importantly, it’s an important pressure valve for both partners in a relationship. It’s not reasonable to expect a partner to take care of each and every need, so use some time to focus and concentrate on yourself. There’s a good chance you’re already doing this more than you’re letting on, and as such, it feels secretive and shameful, and you might be resenting your partner for putting you in this position. But that’s the wrong way to look at it. Embrace it as a valid and nourishing outlet for sexual expression. It might take a difficult conversation with your partner to explain why you’re doing it so you don’t have to do it in secret, but honestly, if your masturbation has already led to resentment, it’s a conversation that needs to be had urgently.

4. Be Intimate Without Expecting Sex

Many of us don’t realize we’re doing it, but many of us only really touch our partners affectionately when we want sex. If the partner with the lower sexual desire learns to recognize these touches as representing a sexual initiation, it can lead them to resent the intimate touching, if they’re already aware of the discrepancy between your sex drives. That’s only going to compound the wedge between you. You need to show more affection without sexual implications. Affection and intimacy should permeate the relationship, not just be the hostages to sexual desire, and showing more affection separate from sex will reassure your partner that you’re in the relationship for more than the physical parts. Therefore, there’s less pressure on them, and they’re more likely to relax and be comfortable with you.

5. Be Honest

As the more sexual person in your relationship, the temptation to seek sex out beyond the limits of your current partnership without your partner’s knowledge or permission will inevitably cause more trouble than it’s worth. Cheating is cheating, whatever the reason. Before the temptation to step out of line and find another partner with whom you can indulge your sex drive, make sure your partner knows how serious the situation is. It goes without saying that you should remain honest and communicate openly in every point made so far, but this one, when it’s come so far that you’re considering the merits of cheating, is the point at which you really need to face up to your responsibility, and your partner needs to face up to theirs. Tell your partner, calmly, and not in the heat of an argument, that you’ve considered exploring sex outside the relationship to satisfy your needs, and that if things don’t change, you’re not sure what the outcome might be. If they are unwilling to put in the effort to see if they can compromise and accommodate you, perhaps the relationship has run its course. Perhaps they might even be on board with you seeking sex beyond the relationship. Perhaps they make you realize your demands are unrealistic. However it pans out, at least through honesty you’ll get some of your doubts answered.

[theriu]

I believe we as a Church have developed a very dangerous habit. We have gotten in the habit of, in the face of controversial issues, SAYING, “Well God couldn’t REALLY think this is bad,” instead of ASKING God, “What am I missing that explains why You say this is bad?” We lean more and more on our own understanding, which is heavily influenced by the world, instead of seeking God’s truth.

Lying, cheating, sexual sins, rage, gossip, grudges, etc. - we underestimate how toxic and destructive these things are when we allow them a hold in our lives, because we stop at our own understanding instead of seeking God’s perfect, omniscient insight. We can’t immediately SEE the link between our sins and our mental illnesses, or broken relationships, or struggles with anger and impatience and lust, or simply (but most tragically) our growing distance from the God who wants to save and heal us from the damage our sins cause us. We ignore all the many examples of God developing the strongest, most admirable character and discipline in His servants THROUGH the trials they went through, and instead we claim that God couldn’t possibly want anything more for us than a soft, easy life without conflict. We set our social issues up as gods and assume that what we feel in our hearts will always guide us true, ignoring all the times our hearts have betrayed us.

And because we are the Church, we mislead those around us into believing by our actions that because WE accept these things, GOD accepts these things. We weaken ourselves and weaken others who can even less afford to be weakened. Worse still, we fight and claw at each other for the RIGHT to have our weak, worldly thinking that leads others into sin. We hurt instead of working with each other, and then we wonder why people claim Christians don’t look any different (or look worse) than everyone else.

This is not a condemnation. This is a plea from one weak Christian to another. We NEED to set aside our own desires - desires driven by emotion, bodily functions, desire for acceptance, and fear of conflict - and seek wisdom from God in His Word. The World needs to see Christ and see their need for salvation, and God wants to show them this truth THROUGH us, rather than us blocking the path for others like the Pharisees did.

Please join me in praying that we as a Church will wake up and see the damage we are doing, and rediscover the love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, justice, and compassion that are inherent in God’s truth.

——

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

- Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

- James 1:2-4 NIV

“If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him. But he must ask [for wisdom] in faith, without doubting [God’s willingness to help], for the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind. For such a person ought not to think or expect that he will receive anything [at all] from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable and restless in all his ways [in everything he thinks, feels, or decides].”

- James 1:5-8 AMP

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

- Jesus, Matthew 23:13, 15, 27-28 NIV

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?”

“They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

“Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. ‘Make level paths for your feet,’ so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”

- Hebrews 12:7, 10-13 NIV

[gayregis]

boppinrobin replied to your post: “Question. Part 1. Hi. I like your blog and your analytical analysis of books,”

aauuuughhh tysm for ur analysis as always

thank you for reading and liking it!!

arinasassymessi replied to your post: “Question. Part 1. Hi. I like your blog and your analytical analysis of books,”

Thank you again for your response! I wrote anonymously because I was a little embarrassed by my English, but to be honest, I've been reading your blog for a very long time, and I've always wanted to discuss some topics with you. Thank you, I feel more confident now. First of all, I apologize for the fact that I considered this scene pro-life.

The thing is, I've reread the witcher books countless times (mostly because of Regis, lol). And if in the first times I was so fascinated by the plot and characters that I did not notice any obvious sexist/homophobic moments, then after rereading the books more consciously, I caught very unpleasantly, conservative motives, which Sapkowski is not shy about.

I remember that the first time this scene, even though it caused a bit of misunderstanding, still touched me with its warmth and how Geralt emotionally supported Milva, helping her make a rather difficult decision. And the way Regis was pleased with his actions, smiling at him, awww.

But after studying the books in more detail and the messages that Sapkowski puts in them, it seems to me that I began to see a catch everywhere. At first, I was also delighted to learn about Ciri's relationship with Mistle, wow, progressive author, LGBTQ+ representation! But after seeing this relationship "live," I felt cheated, and since then, I have returned to this scene with Milva.

I thought, oh no, isn't everything here the same as I believed? Most of all, I was afraid of Regis because he is my comfort character, the voice of reason, and a progressive medic. Does Sapkowski put pro-life ideas in his mouth?.. After a couple of discussions with friends, this fear only took root.

However, after reading your in-depth analytical analysis, I agreed with it, looking at the facts in a new way, and was glad that my first guesses and feelings from this scene were close to the truth. Now I can rest in peace, lol.

About "medicament/medicine" and "agent." I have read books in Russian, and now I am rereading "Baptism of Fire" in English to practice. I think the difference between the words "medicament" and "agent" in English is somewhat unclear, and it is impossible to say precisely which of them has a negative connotation.

Both of them sound entirely neutral and normal to me, but again, I'm not a native speaker, correct me if I'm wrong. In Russian, instead of the word "agent," we have the word "snadobye" (the closest translation is 'potion,’ and in Polish, it is 'ziola’). And while "medicament" means only medicine, a remedy, the word "snadobye" can also mean medicine, but has more folk properties (?).

It is brewed from herbs and a synonym to a potion/drug — a poisonous, magical, and forbidden drink, usually attributed to witches and wizards. For me, Geralt's refusal to use the word "medicament" — neutral and scientific-medical — in favor of a word that has a more magical/negative connotation seemed rather strange. But again, this is just my guess.

I consider the Russian translation closer to the Polish one because it belongs to the same language group, but I don't have access to the original to check what words were used there. In any case, I think that since Geralt decided to use one instead of the other, they should differ in some way, but it is not known in favor of which word this works. I also like your version.

I also had a lot of questions about Milva and her actions. She's probably my second favorite character after Regis, and I didn't understand her actions until a certain point. She was not satisfied with a woman's position in her society, so instead of the usual role, she decided to participate in Geralt's journey?

I was also not very clear about their conversation and Geralt's conclusion: "someone else's child for your own, life for life." Why? After all, she could stay in Brokilon and give birth, but if she didn't want a child, she could have an abortion (for example, she rather cruelly compared her child to young wasps that eat caterpillar alive).

Recently, the Russian Witcher community posted a short theory that Milva was in love with Geralt and therefore went after him. Milva's thoughts in Brokilon speak in favor of this — she finds Geralt attractive (although she felt something similar for Cahir when they were waiting for Geralt and Buttercup to be released from prison at night).

*not Buttercup (have no idea what is it), JASKIER

Also, their conversation outside Regis' hut at night, when Milva bitterly remarked that Geralt needed another woman — a scholar, a wise one, a beloved one (Yennefer), desire to get emotional support exactly from Geralt and and insisting on his presence during the miscarriage, her further refusal to marry the baron, and perhaps Sapkowski's sometimes ANNOYING idea that any woman should go crazy in Geralt's company. But again, these are just guesses, and I would be interested to hear your opinion.

I also didn't know that tumblr has a word limit in comments, so my replays look pretty stupid now, lol.

yes!! i also read the books first just for the plot and then went back and later, when my mind was clearer, noticed a lot more of political views in the writing. it’s the fact that a lot of sapkowski’s other takes are shitty (re: feminity, lgbt individuals and relationships), or at least come off as shitty because they are not explicit enough to actually be a progressive opinion, compounded with the fact that the scene with milva is not very clear on exactly what regis is asking geralt, why he is polling them, why geralt is upset, or what they even intend to do. i think also, because the subject is so important and people have very intense opinions about it, it makes you nervous to see it come up in a fictional story, even if the author is promoting a good message - it’s the feeling you described of, “oh no, isn't everything here the same as i believed?” 

and yeah, you’re right, in english i’d say medicament and agent both have neutral connotations, “agent” to me sounds more scientific, somehow? like it would be used in an experiment? i think i have usually heard it more in descriptions of products, like “cleansing agent” in relation to something dealing with chemistry... but then again, i am not a scientist, doctor, beautician, etc...

and about milva - agree, i love her too :D!! these are my personal opinions and takes on her character motivations but:

i think her ‘not being satisfied with a [traditional] woman’s role in society’ extends beyond not being satisfied, it’s being disgusted with it - in tower of the swallow, she describes how she as a teenager experienced sexual assault at the hands of her stepfather, and her mother didn’t do anything (assumedly because of the societal roles involved, and you can (unfortunately) see this occur in real life as well, mothers don’t protect their daughters from the men they stay with). milva beats him to death and runs away, and never goes back to that life. additionally, in baptism of fire, she talks about her name - milva, and why she changed it, and she says that her original name, maria, along with a lot of other “feminine-sounding” names beginning with M (this is at least what i got out of it, they sound like sweet names given to peasant girls), get your ass pinched in taverns (this is my best recollection of the quote). 

it’s clear that she has not only experienced discomfort, but really just blatant violence at the hands of “traditional feminity/women’s societal roles,” and so she goes to rely on only herself at first, hunting in lower sodden, and then finally being ‘adopted’ (kind of) by brokilon and eithne, becoming affiliated with them and working for them and the scoia’tael. this makes sense to me, because of course brokilon is a matriarchy, and the elves are mentioned to raise (and thus, treat) male and female elves the same way.

i won’t rule out that sapkowski intended for milva to have romantic interest in geralt, but i think that even if he did, it wasn’t interesting and i disagree with that direction for her character. my takes continued are that:

re:  "someone else's child for your own, a life for life." in this conversation, she talks to geralt about the differences between “milva” and “maria,” her two identities that seem to be at ends with each other. she didn’t want to stay in brokilon to have the child, because by societal means, she is no longer a “woman” in the traditional sense - she’s milva, not maria - she kills, she laughs as she pulls out the arrowheads from corpses, etc., like her chosen name, ‘milva,’ she is a red kite, a bird of prey. 

she doesn’t fit the societal expectations of a woman, and was never trained in being a mother (she ran away from home as a teenager, she hasn’t done ‘traditional woman things’ like keep house and cook, raise and deal with children, weave (?) and work in a house since she was 16, and she is older than that now (i’d say she’s at least past her early 20s, because she is described as a “young woman” compared to angouleme’s “very young woman” in lady of the lake, and angouleme is approx. 18-19). but since she doesn’t fit these expectations, how can she expect herself to raise this child? thus, she likely wanted to drop the baby, but since she was raised in a conservative rural society in which women are expected to bear children and not have abortions, she may have felt guilt and shame for wanting to do so. thus, she wanted to follow geralt - although she would have intentionally lost her child, she would have intentionally saved another, absolving her of her guilt. it’s like as regis described to geralt in the middle of the book, about penance and running up debts, this is a large theme of the book - a baptism of fire, fire which not only purifies, but burns (a challenge which absolves one of guilt, but it is painful). 

these are just my takes, i think sapkowski’s intentions were more along the theory that milva had a crush on geralt, but as i said i think that’s just boring and the “easy way out.” he also did that with cahir and ciri, making heterosexual love the motivation for a noble deed, and it’s just like... these characters have so much other depth and serious individual issues, and you want to reduce their motivations to just simply “they were in love”? okay... so yeah i don’t think sapkowski really may have intended any of the above, or if he did, it was to a lesser degree, but this is my interpretation of it.

[browniesnivy]

hiii brownie idk enough abt yugioh but *insert one of ur yugioh faves* and umm maybe franziska for that character ask game :]

Franziska Von Karma 

How I feel about this character- FRANZISKA LITERALLY SO AMAZING...I love how she’s introduced as just as terrifying and cruel as her father, but then you see that she really does care about helping other people throughout her determination to avenge Edgeworth and to help Phoenix save Maya in Farewell My Turnabout despite taking a bullet to the shoulder (such a good parallel with her father on its own!)... and then with the scene at the airport she’s is allowed to be emotionally vulnerable without being any less of a competent prodigy of law! She’s just... so fucking cool I LOVE HER!

All the people I ship romantically with this character- Maya Fey! I love the contrast between both of their personalities making them seem like total opposites, but when you look at their connection to a family legacy it becomes obvious they have a lot in common. I wish the games had expanded on their dynamic more, but unfortunately lesbians are oppressed :( 

My non-romantic OTP for this character- VON KARMA SIBLINGS... Mieke I know you agree with me on this! They grew up with the same terrible expectation that come with being a prodigy, and so they’re really the only ones who’s can comfort and understand each other... they obviously both feel such an obligation to protect each other and it makes me so CRAZY UGH. BROTHER AND SISTER! 

My unpopular opinion about this character- I don’t think this is an unpopular opinion but I wish she’d kept the shorter hair design from the concept art where her hair is slicked forward to contrast with her father’s slicked back hair, not only because I’m a lesbian and that hairstyle was SO GAY but because I think it could have highlighted or even foreshadowed how she differs from Manfred. Maybe since she hasn’t been able to abandon his influences by Justice for All it wouldn’t make since for her to have such a “wild” hairstyle, but I think that if she returns it would be amazing to see her with that hairstyle to represent how she’s moved on after a decade.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon- SHOW HER DENOUNCING MANFRED VON KARMA FOR REAL. I can understand that it would take time for her to fully accept that her father was not as admirable as she’d been least to believe, but by this point in the timeline I think it’s time for that aspect of her character arc to be resolved. The natural conclusion of her development requires her experiencing the same acceptance of defeat as her brother, so I really hope that if they bring Franziska back at some point she’ll be allowed to admit that her father was awful and that victory isn’t an indication of worth.

Rex Raptor

How I feel about this character- HE IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER IN ANY PIECE OF MEDIA EVER. I know that he isn’t meant to be a deep character at all and he isn’t given much narrative focus at all but he is just SO DAMN ENDEARING TO ME OKAY. I have an unhealthy obsession with how he is initially introduced as being crass and inconsiderate while Weevil is more polite and strategic, but then it turns out Weevil is a total asshole while Rex is just... a kid who likes dinosaurs and duels for fun? Like even though he’s a total dumbass (the best character trait) who can be a bit rude (not even mean-spirited if we’re being totally honest, like most of his remarks are just him being snarky), the manga describes him as “having to the spirit of a true duelist” and he never really seems as bitter about losing as his counterpart Weevil (except in the Season 4 filler arc, which although I adore for giving me so much more Rex content, makes a lot mistakes by characterizing him as basically interchangeable with Weevil... BUT that’s ANOTHER STORY for ANOTHER DAY). I mean he has more justifiable reasons to be upset than Weevil given how he was LITERALLY cheated out of the Battle City tournaments by Espa (which Mokuba the official rule enforcer LETS THEM GET AWAY WITH and then doesn’t do ANYTHING to compensate Rex), and he STILL tries to warn Joey to stay away from trouble despite him being the guy he supposedly dislikes because he took his best card, totally disgracing him and ruining his entire career. I could keep going but this paragraph isn’t probably already sickeningly long and I still need to be able to make posts about him in the future, so in a nutshell... he seems like a funny and good kid. OH AND WHEN MAI ASKED HIM THE “what can you see but cannot see” RIDDLE AND HE ANSWERED TAKOYAKI BECAUSE YOU CAN SEE THE DOUGH ON THE OUTSIDE BUT NOT THE OCTOPUS ON THE INSIDE? LITERAL CUTEST SHIT EVER KING OF COMEDY I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU. Ahem. Sorry.  

All the people I ship romantically with this character- Weevil Underwood. They’re both teenagers who got famous, let it get to their heads, and then lost everything... considering that they seem like the types of kids who would be bullied relentlessly (they're already constantly being made fun of by mostly of the character anyway), I think the fact that they end up befriending each other is a good sign that they can find some comfort in each other and discover other things to be fulfilled by beside card games. I love how even though this friendship is framed as a begrudging alliance between two self-servings jerks half of the time, the other half of the time it’s about best friends starting a shit together for petty reasons and always being by each other’s side no matter what. The way that they tease each other constantly but then always stand up for one another when others pick on them... it’s so obvious that they actually really care about one another! I just love their dynamic so much it’s unreal, hence the blog.

My non-romantic OTP for this character- Although I primarily think about his relationship with Weevil, there is still a lot of potential to be explored with other characters! Mako is another minor character obsessed with a type of animal, but where’s he differs from Rex and ESPECIALLY Weevil is his sportsmanship, being able to become friends with Yugi and Joey even after being defeated by them. I think that difference mostly comes down to Mako being significantly older than Red and Weevil and therefore having more perspective on gaming fame, so I feel like he would be a great influence on them. On Rex specifically, I think Season 4 missed a big opportunity to expand on Rex and Mai’s relationship. Mai had been a major contributor to Rex losing in Duelist Kingdom, but now they both feel like washed-up failures. I think given the circumstances they could have comeback to an understanding, maybe even have Mai apologize for throwing him under the bus to screw with Joey? I think showing Rex that not everyone who has wronged him in the past had/still has bad intentions would be really good addition to his character arc in Season 4. Then of course there is Joey... to me, the main difference between Rex and Joey is that Joey is stupidly lucky while Rex never seems to catch a break. Otherwise they’re both recklessness dumbasses who prioritize brawn over brain, but Joey is nevertheless able to triumph through sheer dumb luck while Rex gets anihilated over and over with basically the same strategy (minus the RNG cards, Joey’s strategy is just big monsters after all). While the previously mentions she relationships were hypothetical, this dynamic between Joey and Rex is actually given some focus in canon, and I found it very compelling! I only wish this difference between them hadn't only been used to increase Joey’s confidence in his skills as a duelist (which I will remind you is mostly LUCK, no offense to Joey because I do love him BUT I MEAN... only being able to beat Rex because of a lucky Time Wizard isn’t peak strategy ), but to develop Rex’s character somehow as well. 

My unpopular opinion about this character- JUST LIKING THIS CHARACTER IS AN UNPOPULAR OPINION MAN... tons of people hate him so much! I know he isn’t an important character at all but he isn’t nearly as much of a jerk as people make him out to be, and I mean even if he was he’s just a kid! I won’t pretend that he is always portrayed favorably by the narrative, but the fact that some people feel nothing but disdain for a child whose accomplishments were robbed from him by forces outside of his control and who received no sympathy for it, causing his self-worth to deteriorate... it’s a bit concerning to me that so many adults in particular are so disgusted by that. 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon- I’ve talked QUITE a lot already about things that I wish had happened to develop his character more, but above all else I wish his character arc in Season 4 had been given a proper conclusion. The writers set up this interesting conflict where the insignificant minor characters are upset that they aren’t allowed to be successful when the more important characters aren’t involved and shows the consequences that their defeat had on their lives and self-image... BUT THEN AFTER THEY’RE DEFEATED THEY ARE FORGOTTEN ABOUT FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON UNTIL THEY WAKE UP IN THE HOSPITAL AND INSTANTLY REVERT BACK TO BEING COMIC RELIEF GRRR GRRRRRRRR! There wasn’t no resolution to this arc AT ALL and it drives me UP THE GODDAMN WALL because it absolutely captivated me in concept... but like with many things in Yu-Gi-Oh! the execution was totally ruined :( 

[polar-stars]

facts about eizan,marui nakiri and ibusaki family pls

Thanks for asking....It was a bit difficult for me to answer but I tried my best (also sorry, I changed the order....I memorised it differently for some reason ovo;;)

The Eizans:

- The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse + Nene //slaps herself

- (I already feel that this will be a challenge to explain...I’ll try my very best to convey what I want to say but uhm, apology in advance if the following just sounds like a scrambled mess) The Eizan-Family has much of a reputation within the culinary world and, well, let’s just say it could be a more positive one. While adulthood, his marriage to Nene and becoming father did make Etsuya less extreme he’s still not exactly a saint. While he did take a step back from dirty tactics and straight up cheating in his business strategies, he’s still ruthless and, you could possibly even say, brutal in his ways using his intellect and understanding of the market to defeat his opponents fairly. Combined with the stigma the Eizan-name had before he even married Nene, Etsuya is regarded as someone that you should think twice about messing with by most. Meanwhile Nene might not be known for destroying people’s businesses, but she still has this frosty, rigid aura that a lot of people consider to be intimidating. She’s known as excellent, and intellectual, chef and her opinion is hold in high regard by a lot of people. Lastly it’s also evident that her three sons massively respect her and that she’s also capable of making her husband shut up with just a simple displeased “Etsuya”. The Eizan-men are not exactly known for hearing out other people much so the fact that this woman is capable of, for the lack of a better word, “tame” these four with just the use of a scowl at times is very respectable and in its own right fearsome to a bunch of people. As a couple, Etsuya and Nene generally make much of a formal and stiff impression in public. They don’t really emit friendly-social-butterfly-energy in my humble opinion and their standoffish, unreadable, strict expressions makes even some of the best conversationalists gulp when approaching them. Then there’s also their sons. While Kei, being the youngest, is not much on people’s radars at this point and is mainly just commonly regarded as “the youngest”, “the third one” etc. Masashi and Shigeo are personalities that a large part of the cooking Elite is pretty aware of. The two stand high in Totsuki’s social hierarchy and are feared by a large part of the students. ALL IN ALL, this is a long way of me saying that the name “Eizan” does send shivers down a few people’s spines and they are considered as very intimidating by many. (God, time to catch my breath)

- Nene might be regarded as the cold ice queen from outside but in private she kinda is the one that holds the family together. While she does have the last say in this household and while she can most definitely be pretty strict, she does still deeply care about the family the most openly and often makes attempts to get them all to spend time together. While not as extreme as other mothers, she can be pretty rather doting towards her sons in her own way. Nene was raised in a clan with long tradition and history after all and while I don’t think she had the most personal relationship with her parents at all, I still think that a clan like that would teach her that family is everything which is why she values it a lot. Also I think, she actually saw them very, very frequently. It’s a contrast to Etsuya, who I believe was raised by two very distant people who were rarely around and when they were they really beat the idea in his head that money is above everything. (This upbringing is what made it hard to him picturing himself as dad when Nene first pitched the idea to him. He does try his best though)

- Etsuya’s aunt just lives a couple blocks away from where the Eizans live. Therefore the Eizan brothers could get there on their own at a certain age. Etsuya’s aunt often watched the kids, if she wasn’t out travelling which she would do a lot in her old age.

- Sometimes Nene and Etsuya were forced to take their children with them to work when Etsuya’s aunt was out of town once again and they couldn’t find a babysitter. Masashi always went with Nene, while Shigeo went with Etsuya. With Kei, they alternated. Nene’s service staff actually really likes Masashi as he’s very respectful and polite with them since they’re adults. They always shower him with praise when he practices his cooking. Meanwhile Shigeo is commonly regarded as brat by Etsuya’s employees but of course no one would say that out loud. Sometimes Etsuya would order one of his workers to look after Shigeo and entertain him for a bit. This task is feared because Shigeo is hell to babysit. He does what he wants and thanks to his cleverness he often manages to run off, so he can wander around the company and do his own thing. This makes the employee tasked to look after him look pretty bad in the eyes of the Boss.

- Etsuya is the one who spoils everyone. He does really want his family to be treated to the finest things in life and he makes sure of that. Nene is more practical in her spendings and not as quick to buy something for her sons as Etsuya is.

The Nakiris (This will be centered around RyoAli-Family since in my, uhm, ✨universe✨ they’re the ones that mainly go by Nakiri. I hope they are what you meant, anon)

- The apex of Japan’s culinary landscape and widely recognised in every other place of the world as well. The Nakiris are heavily respected and cherished within the industry, as they’ve always been. Their opinion is hold in very high regard. The strive to impress Nakiri Alice, the headmistress of Totsuki, specifically inspires a lot of Avantgarde dishes to be created. There’s no denying that the Nakiris are practically equal to royalty within the culinary world.

- Alice is the heart of the family. While her side of the family had always been more chill and wholesome, she still saw (and was pulled into) the drama that the rest of her family loved to cause. She does not want any of that no more now that she’s the head honcho of the Nakiri clan. Alice really puts effort into keeping the family together even if her pride keeps her from admitting this out loud.

- Alice’s and Ryo’s love to measure each other in cook-offs has gone down to their two twin-children as well, who love to face-off against each other, their Yukihira-cousins and even their parents. The competition between family-members is to both Nakiri-twins a friendly one. Even the extremely battle-heartened Lola feels so.

- The Nakiris are the hosts of an annual summer ball that takes place in their mansion at a set date each and every year. Describing said ball as an important, fancy event would be an understatement. It’s a truly grandiose and massive festive with a lot of elegance to it. Wether you’re invited to it or not can definitely be used as a factor to determine how high you stand in the culinary industry. Alice really has fun planning it each and every year. Ryo helps her out whenever he can while also Leonora gives a lot of suggestions over a video call.

- Ryo, Alice, Lola and Mona as family are honestly pretty wholesome. They don’t have a lot of fights, stick together and while Alice and Ryo are damn busy they still never fail to reserve some of their time for their family.

The Ibusakis

- The Ibusakis are pretty peaceful and, except for Kasumi Ibusaki as time goes on, they don’t get into trouble too easy.

- They live very close to a forest and since the two Ibusakis partly grew up in said forest both of them developed a very strong affinity for nature. Yasu in particular does not desire a life in the big city at all. It’s too loud, too crowded and also too polluted for him there.

- Ryoko is the one that needs breaks from their idyllic, quiet life the most. This leads to her occasionally hosting a few get-togethers. They’re not the most fancy thing out there but since it’s Ryoko doing the planning they still do have style but also a warm, light-hearted atmosphere. And of course, sake. People love to attend these and social butterfly Ryoko never runs out of people to invite. Shun meanwhile is not a very big fan of his house being invaded, but given how much fun his wife has he grits his teeth together and pull through the night. His daughter Kasumi is in strong agreement with him.

- Ryoko and Shun have a bit of a differing opinions on where to vacation as well. Ryoko mainly enjoys city-trips and all of its sightseeing and the exploration of a different culture. Meanwhile Shun just wants mountains. Nothing but mountains. The two were never prone to argue much though and are good at making compromises. So Ryoko and Shun alternate each year of who gets to choose the travel spot. So one summer it’s Barcelona for the Ibusakis and the next one’s its a hiking trip once again.

- One source of drama in the usually so peaceful Ibusaki-Family is Shun’s father. He does not have the best relationship to him as he felt that he was never really there for him. Shun’s dad in his old age does realise though how distant he had been all this time to his son. So he wants to try to be a good grandfather to his grandchildren at least. However there is the fact that Shun has not fully forgiven him yet.

The Maruis

- In comparison to the Ibusakis, the Maruis are more lively. There’s a lot more bickering going on in this household and people also often point out that the Maruis have an insanely quick pace to their conversation.

- Yuki enjoys throwing some parties (or going to some) even more than Ryoko. She’ll host a party in the Marui’s apartment every two months or so. But even more she attends parties of others and since she lives in Tokyo and has quite a large number of contacts she barely ever runs out of them. Sometimes she drags Zenji with her and lets one of her brothers watch the kids or, if it’s on weekend night and the host said there’s other children on the party as well, takes them with her as well.

- Yuki has a pretty good relationship with the rest of the Maruis as all of them adore her sunny, jolly personality while also appreciating how visibly happy she makes Zenji. Zenji also gets along fine with the Yoshinos (even if they can be a little exhausting at times). And this ultimately allows the two Marui-siblings to grow pretty close to both sides of the family.

- Yuki plans most of the family activities. She is not a big fan of spending the weekend merely at home. Here and there, Zenji wants to go somewhere though. And usually it’s just this or that new exhibition in this or that museum. Chieko prefers Zenji’s ideas for the most part, while Takahiro LARGELY prefers Yuki’s. He does not like most museums because you have to be all quiet.

- Ever since Yuki knew she’d get a daughter, she had been excited for the day where her daughter would start engaging into romance. Yuki has always been super excited about the idea of Chieko getting a boyfriend someday. She watched A TON of romance movies with Chieko in preparation basically and once Chieko’s on Totsuki she also keeps asking wether there’s any good-looking boys close. What she would have never expected is Etsuya Eizan’s and Nene Kinokuni’s second son to become Chieko’s major suitor and she does not know in the slightest how she should feel about this. Zenji meanwhile has never been the largest fan of his baby-girl getting a boyfriend to begin with and he knows very well how he feels about Shigeo Eizan: Dangerzone. Most of Chieko’s circle (her own family, but also the Ibusakis and also her friend-group) views the ShigeChi-situation as a Red Riding Hood/Big Bad Wolf kind of thing in one way or the other and a lot of them make it no secret. Once Junpei Miyazato appears on the scene both Yuki and Zenji actually make an effort to practically “market” him to Chieko as they’d both, at this point at least, prefer to see their little baby with him. Little Takahiro though meanwhile sees that there’s no guy that has quite the same effect on Chieko as Shigeo has.

[yoondoze]

turn of events | l.ty

“i’ve wanted you from the start” + “maybe it’s a sin, but i really don’t care” + taeyong

pairing: lee taeyong x reader

genre: fluff, it starts to get a lil steamy but it cuts off p quick

word count: 2.6k (turned into more of a one-shot, oops)

warnings: none

It was hard to describe the feeling in your stomach.

It all started out as a giddy excitement - you were preparing for a grand party, sure to bring about many good things, a chance of which you held on with a great hope.

Then, when you thought about it, it turned to nervousness, since that opportunity you wanted to seize most was off-limits, to say the least.

It was a mingling of opposite emotions that left you a little unsure, made you think that maybe you should just not go at all.

The questions you expected began right as you walked downstairs carefully, heels clicking on the marble.

“Ah, pulling out your most extravagant attire - might there be a reason, my dear?” Your mother raised her eyebrows with a sly smirk as she laid eyes upon your figure.

It was a beautiful navy blue dress complimented by silver jewels along the chest that dipped delicately down to the waist. The back was open but with dainty ribbons crossing over from side to side. It was a comfortable length, too, so you weren’t tripping over it constantly. And because it was an event matching for the elegance of the dress, you wouldn’t look like you were trying too hard.

“Well, it is the most prodigious party of the year,” you explained, a convincing tone taking place on each syllable. “I thought I needed to match. And while I’m there, I might want to catch a couple eyes…” You kept up a playful manner but didn’t dare to tell her who you really hoped for. If you did, she might just disown you.

You knew Lee Taeyong would be at this party - it was one of the largest events of the year, hosted by one of the wealthiest families in the city. Nearly every family that was on good terms with them had been invited, including yours and Taeyong’s. Because of that reason, you made sure to wear your best dress - though you knew that the possibility of safely talking to him was unlikely, you still had hope.

It was a rare opportunity to see him in person. Considering your families were practically enemies, it was hard to be in love in secret, but at least you could see him face to face tonight.

“Yes, make your moves while you’re young and beautiful. Don’t look too long at the art, for someone may purchase it before you get the chance.”

“Mother,” you laughed, “you sound so grim.”

“I’m just giving a piece of advice, dear.”

“I know, but don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”

The party was nothing short of extravagant. You walked in behind your parents, trying to keep your composure while taking in the sumptuous ballroom. The hall was in a large hotel in the city, so you didn’t expect any less.

Your head turned to scan the crowd, searching for Taeyong. You knew he’d be hard to approach - with all of the watchful eyes at this party, you couldn’t make it obvious because it would make its way back to your parents in no time.

To sum it up, there was an endless drama between Taeyong’s parents and yours. Someone had cheated someone out of a deal and fighting ensued. However, even before the messy events that built a wall between the two of you, there was always a spark of interest. There had always been a connection, ever since you had first met at a ball when you were thirteen. Even when your parents had introduced you to other boys from wealthy families, you could only ever think about something with Taeyong, the boy you knew you could never have.

Since then, you had always shared small glances across rooms with him, sneaky small smiles and gestures in public places and a whole lot of careful messaging. It was more than unfair that you had to suffer the consequences of the adult’s drama - you weren’t your parents and Taeyong wasn’t his.

You walked around with your parents for a while, introducing yourself and shaking many hands with a multitude of business owners and millionaires. While your father talked about business and the stock market, your eyes roamed around the room covertly.

“Has your daughter met someone yet? Her future seems bright… whoever ends up with her is lucky,” one of your father’s acquaintances spoke. The words caught your attention, and something about it simply put you off. “No, I haven’t yet,” you smiled, even though there was always someone on your mind.

“Ah, I see, well, my son Jaehyun is quite the gentleman - I raised him myself, you know.” You let out a forced laugh. “Anyway, perhaps I could introduce you to him later. He’s a sweet boy, really.”

“I’d love that,” you said. “Thank you so much.” But in reality, you had no desire to be introduced to Jaehyun. You then excused yourself from the conversation, heading over to have a seat at the bar.

However, as you glanced through the groups of people, a familiar face caught your eye. There, over in the corner conversing with a circle of people, was Taeyong. He was dressed in a fine black suit, slim and fit just perfect for him. You couldn’t help but stare.

His eyes flicked up to meet yours and entrapped you in a gaze that stretched the length of the room. Suddenly, he made a small gesture with his hand, two lean fingers motioning you toward him. Then, you watched as he excused himself from the group and spun on his heel, exiting the ballroom.

You were almost sure that it was an invitation to follow, so you did just that. You made a slight turn and set out in his direction, swiftly placing your empty glass on a waiter’s tray as one passed to get it off your hands. On the way, you brought your hand up to fix your hair, a nervous bubble forming in you from the excitement of seeing the boy.

When the doors to the room closed behind you, the noise became muffled. It allowed you to hear the footsteps echoing from down the hall. You could see the back of Taeyong’s suit and scurried right after, trying to keep a distance that didn’t look suspicious but also close enough that you knew where he was turning.

Eventually, you ended up in a stairwell far from the main room. Leaned up against the concrete wall was Taeyong, shooting you a playful smirk when you joined him.

“Good to see you.” You slung your arms around his neck, reaching up to kiss him. He turned it into a firm liplock right away, but pulled back just as your fingers began to crawl through the hairs at the base of his neck.

“Can’t say that sneaking around is a talent of mine,” you said, biting your lip.

He chuckled. “I can tell. Your heart’s beating a mile a minute.”

It wasn’t often that you got to see Taeyong in person. You were always accompanied by bodyguards, courtesy of your father, so it was rare that you snuck out to meet him. Rather, you talked online when possible - texting him under a different name and the like. If anyone ever asked why you were smiling at your phone, it was always just one of your girlfriends from school.

Therefore, getting out of that ballroom had made you more nervous than ever, and not knowing if someone would be looking for you soon kept you on your toes.

“So… I booked a room upstairs, if you’d like?”

You sighed. “That would be great.”

He shot you a playful smile and then took your hand, intertwining his fingers with yours and pulling you up the stairs. You grabbed the length of your dress with your free hand and tried to keep up with him and not trip at the same time.

After a few flights, he carefully pushed the door to the hallway open, peeking his head out to make sure the coast was clear. Then, he rushed in and down a couple doors and pushed you inside one quickly.

He shut the door and leaned his back up against it, and neither of you bothered to restrain your laughs. How unbelievable. After you caught your breath, you went to sit down on the edge of the bed, where you finally freed your feet of those painful heels.

He walked around as you settled, fetching a bottle of wine from the refrigerator. When he came back, he poured the two of you a drink and handed you a glass.

“To the simultaneous stress and joy of hidden relationships,” he said, raising his glass to yours. Your glasses clinked and you took a delighted sip of the beverage, trying not to focus on the bittersweetness of your situation.

“You think you’re ever gonna tell your parents?” he asked, a little quieter.

You shook your head sadly. “Not now, I can’t. They’d cut me off and kick me out, I’m sure.”

“It sucks that I can’t… you know, be with you. Like normal people who like each other.”

“We’d be such a power couple, really,” you sighed.

He only chuckled at your comment, sitting down in the desk chair and spinning it around to face you.

“Once I have a backup for if they kick me out - once I have enough of my own money that I’d be able to get a place if I need, I’ll tell them. And honestly, if they do disown me for it… then I don’t care. Because I want to love you, and if they don’t see that, and if they can’t accept it, then that’s on them.”

“We’ll be okay,” he reassured you. “Once we’re a little older, we can do it. I don’t need my dad’s money to be happy.” Even still, you had a thought that the air of confidence in his voice was false - he was just as worried as you, though he didn’t seem it from the outside.

You put your glass down and flopped back onto the soft comforter of the bed, staring up at the ceiling. If only it didn’t have to be this complicated. Maybe this didn’t have to be you and Taeyong sneaking out of a party to be with each other secretly - maybe it could just be the two of you together, relaxing in a hotel room on a weekend out, in a world where you didn’t have to hide.

He clambered over to your side, resting on his stomach and draping an arm over your stomach.

“But don’t you ever think that it would be easier for you to see someone else, instead of wasting all the effort and taking risks to see me?” you asked.

A hurt look crossed his face at your words. “Do you not want to do this anymore?”

“No, no,” you were quick to reply, grabbing his hand. “I just feel bad. I feel like you could find someone who you can actually… be with. Be with normally, how you said. Don’t you get tired of this sometimes?”

“Well, of course I get tired of it,” he said, “but I never thought of giving up on it. On us. I’ve always wanted you from the start. And that has to mean something.”

His eyes gazed at you kindly, sweetly, gently. In that moment, it felt like it was real, it felt like you had a chance to bloom in the secret garden you’d built with Taeyong. You just hoped that someday, a Mary Lennox would come along to allow you to open it up.

You let your line of sight trail down, noticing how plush and soft his lips were. Then, he was leaning forward, pressing his mouth onto yours. Your eyes fluttered shut as his hand came to rest on the side of your face, and you couldn’t resist being swept up into him. It was slow and delicate, a trade of smooth kisses.

Soon, though, it turned needy. His lips pressed against yours with more force with his grasp on your hips tightening. Your hands tugged at his hair, his tongue slipping into your mouth and absolutely stealing the breath from your lungs.

“It feels like I’m sinning, to be here with you,” you panted, drawing away from him. He trailed kisses down your neck, suckling on a spot at your jaw.

“Maybe it is a sin,” he muttered, “but I really don’t care.”

Just as his hips ground down onto yours, your cell phone on the bedside table began to ring. You jolted up at the noise, fumbling over for your phone. You gulped before bringing it up to your ear, motioning for Taeyong to be quiet.

“Hello?”

“Y/N…” it was the voice of your mother. “Where are you? Jaehyun’s father wants you to meet his son.”

You took a deep breath to calm the nerves that spiked up when she spoke. “Sorry, I just left to take a walk around. It was getting a little stuffy in that room and I just felt anxious. I’ll come back now.”

You could hear her discontent, but she at least bought the lie. “Please do, dear. I expect to see you here very soon.”

“Yes, mother.” With that, she hung up and you were scrambling to put your heels back on. You shuffled and fixed the straps of your dress into their places.

“What happened? What’s going on?” Taeyong asked, eyes wide as he watched you flounder around.

“That was my mom, and she’s looking for me, and I need to be back now.”

You brushed your fingers through your hair as you stood in front of the mirror before turning around to face him.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t spend more time here…” you said, reaching up to cup his cheek, “but I won’t give up on us.”

You planted a last kiss on his lips, a genuine smile forming on your face as he leaned forward when you pulled away.

Then you were off, carefully peering out the door and then scurrying to the stairs, leaving behind the boy who had your heart.

In the end, you made it back to the party safely. As you approached your mother, she shot you a smile, but when you came close enough, she whispered sternly in your ear, “You absolutely cannot run away at an event as big as this one. I will speak to you about this later, young lady.”

You expected that, of course. The two of you turned to face Jaehyun and his father, who jumped right into a conversation with your family. After the introductions and a quick shake of hands, the adults began to speak in somewhat of a closed-off circle, leaving Jaehyun and you in an awkward air.

He broke it off by starting his own small talk with you, asking about the party, your dress, the like. By the end, you decided you didn’t have anything against him - he just wasn’t the one for you.

As Jaehyun rambled something about golf, you caught sight of Taeyong once again, who had just recently reentered the ballroom. He looked right over at you, too, and exchanged a tiny smile that could have been to no one in particular, but you knew it was for you.

The swapping of grins renewed your faith - there would come a day when you could emerge from the secrecy. Until then, you’d just have to deal with it and share quiet moments by yourselves, and maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

You smiled to yourself, only brushing it off as nothing when Jaehyun asked. Tonight had been quite the ride - an interesting turn of events.

[sage-nebula]

@em-exceeds-change-zearu --- Hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to respond to your tags in a new post since the original post was long enough as it was, haha!

#also i love all of these picks and the thought that went into them #and that he has a varied team that's flexible and can take on tons of things #ALSO I'M GLAD YOU DIDN'T MENTION ZEKROM #I WAS DREADING A RED EYES BLACK DRAGON REDUX WITH ZEKROM #(even if zekrom and reshiram are huge walking red eyes and blue eyes jokes) 

See, it’s because I put a lot of thought into it that I didn’t mention Zekrom! Zekrom doesn’t work for the Red-Eyes Black Dragon at all (and ditto for Reshiram with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon)!

From a visual standpoint, I get why the comparisons were made. Zekrom is a black dragon with red eyes, and Reshiram is a white dragon with blue eyes. But that’s where the similarities end. While monsters in YGO have only very loose elemental associations, the fact still remains that the Red-Eyes Black Dragon is a fire dragon, while the Blue-Eyes White Dragon is an electric dragon. We see this in their attacks. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon’s attack is Black Fire Bullet (JP) / Inferno Fire Blast (EN), while the Blue-Eyes White Dragon’s attack is Burst Stream of Destruction (JP) / White Lightning (EN). “Burst Stream of Destruction” isn’t specifically electric, but it isn’t fire, either, and the look of it certainly looks electrical whenever it attacks (which is likely what led to 4Kids naming the attack what they did). Either way, these attacks make it clear in both the manga (JP) and the anime (EN) that Red-Eyes is a fire dragon while Blue-Eyes is an electric dragon.

But with Zekrom and Reshiram, that’s reversed. Zekrom is Electric/Dragon, while Reshiram is Fire/Dragon. Their types do not match up with the YGO dragons at all. And while some might say that’s a minor quibble, it really isn’t. Jounouchi is pretty heavily associated with fire, even setting Red-Eyes aside. Just off the top of my head:

The yo-yo he was pictured with in the cover art for chapters 48/49 was a “Fireboy” yo-yo;

He defeated Chopperman by setting him on fire with the candle + oil combo;

One of his most memorable cards is Flame Swordsman (though him saying it was his favorite card was an anime invention, but nonetheless);

He stayed behind with Yuugi during the fire at the Black Crown and made it out with only minor injuries; 

When he got to name an attack during his duel with Malik, he named it “Jounouchi Fire”;

The God card he’s most heavily associated with is Ra, and Ra is the one that uses flames to attack (versus Osiris’ wind and Obelisk’s lightning);

Speaking of, he survived Ra’s flames at first brush (he died a few minutes later, true, but even that was only temporary)

Jounouchi is pretty heavily associated with a fire motif, and so it makes sense that his signature dragon would be a fire dragon, rather than an electric one. And likewise, Kaiba seems to be associated with lightning and electricity far more than he is with fire. Kaiba is all about technological advancement, is always surrounded by computers, robots, and the latest technology that he himself invented. The God card that he’s associated with, Obelisk, is one that has lightning spark around its fists when it attacks. It makes sense that his dragon is an electric one, rather than a fire one. Switching that around by associating Jounouchi with Zekrom and Kaiba with Reshiram is a huge mistake. It doesn’t fit at all.

Moreover, the thing about legendary pokémon is that most of them come with a stronger meaning associated with them. They’re cool looking and have types, yes, but each of them also usually symbolize something, or have something they watch over, protect, or stand for. For Zekrom, that’s ideals (and fighting for one’s ideals), and with Reshiram, that’s truth (and fighting for the truth). While Jounouchi can be an idealistic person, what Zekrom actually looks for in its champion is someone who wants to push their ideals onto others, to lead the world with them, and that’s not Jounouchi. Jounouchi doesn’t want to push his ideals onto others; he lives his own way and that’s that. Likewise, Kaiba’s not really concerned with the truth outside of how it benefits him, and he’s not opposed to flat out ignoring or denying it when it doesn’t, so I don’t think Reshiram would choose him as a champion either, haha.

So yeah, I saw no reason to bring up Zekrom. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon is represented by shiny charizard, and that’s that.

#i also didn't consider sivally/silvuddy at all!!! #but considering that it's literally named...silver buddy... #(gladion you fucking nerd) #it's perfect #the nickanme is perfect #he would approve #maybe silvuddy is something he gets in duelist kingdom? #like. in pegasus' basement or something #but this is pokemon world and you mentioned gladion existing in this crossover canon so HMM. MMM. #I'M STUCK ON HOW HE GETS IT TOO 

I did imagine this as taking place in the Pokémon World, yeah, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t adapt Duelist Kingdom as well. All we have to do is make it pokémon battles instead of Duel Monsters duels. So Pegasus owns an island with a castle, and he decides to host his own battle tournament on his island (that takes place over a more reasonable span of time than just two days). Maybe entrants have to collect star badges instead of star chips, or maybe it is star chips if badges would get him in trouble with the local League. In any case, he has his own unofficial, not-government-sanctioned tournament, and it’s very much like Duelist Kingdom except everyone has real monsters and therefore people like Mai and Bandit Keith have a much harder time cheating than they did in the actual canon.

(Well, Gladion doesn’t have to exist in the crossover canon, haha. It’s just an idea I threw out there. I don’t know if any relationship I could invent for him would be as fun to write as the one I had between him and Alan, so it’s not like I’m very attached to the idea of him existing in this story.)

#...oooh #kaiba imports it into his Tower Of Death scenario because he paid big monies to Aether Foundation #jou ends up taking it back #the same way how in other trials they utilized things that belonged to their enemies against them #(maybe replace the stupid ride of fear part with it BECAUSE HONESTLY THAT WAS THE LOW PART OF THE TOWER. IT WAS STUPID.) 

Hmm, that could work! Although honestly it might make more sense for Kaiba Corporation to have created Type: Null. Kaiba spared absolutely no expense when it came to creating Death-T, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that:

According to the currency converter I use, in 1996 (when this was written / would take place), ¥10,000,000,000 would be $87,989,745.57. Kaiba spent eighty-seven million dollars to build a theme park to kill Yuugi with. Money was not an issue for him whatsoever.

But that said, Type: Null seems like the type of creature Kaiba Corporation would have created, particularly if they existed within the Pokémon world. Maybe not so much once Kaiba takes over and turns it into a gaming company, but back when it was still a company for developing military weapons? The concept of pokémon being created as weapons is not at all foreign to the series (Mewtwo and Genesect being two prime examples), and I could see Gozaburo wanting to top all of them by creating a chimera that replicated the powers of Arceus. So maybe Type: Null had already been created and cryogenically frozen, and Kaiba released one of them in the hopes that they’d be able to kill Yuugi and the others. That could work. That said, I did really like Chopperman as Jounouchi’s personal challenge, particularly since he knows it’s a trap and walks into it anyway because he feels it’s the right thing to do (what a Gryffindor), so yeah, replacing the horror ride would definitely be preferable, particularly since how sexualized that scene was re: how the ride groped Anzu was unnecessary and gross and hands down the worst part of Death-T. :/ 

#(I HATE TRISTAN'S BRAT COUSIN HE HAD NO REASON TO BE THERE AND ONLY EXISTED TO MAKE TROUBLE) #(I APPRECIATED THAT HE VAPORIZED INTO NONEXISTENCE AFTER THAT ARC. BYE BINCH)

Haha, Jouji is his nephew, actually! Honda was on babysitting duty for his big sister that day. I will say that I do like the fact that Jouji exists purely because it lets us know that Honda has a big sister, and I’ve actually utilized that by fleshing her out into a character for a few fics I’ve written (including my magnum opus), which makes me somewhat attached to her. That said, we don’t actually need that, because Honda brings her up again when he brings clothes for Shizuka to wear when he picks her up from the hospital:

(Sorry for the scan quality, it’s the best I can do right now. Also, the “I don’t know if they’ll look good on you” --- that’s VIZ being kind of loose with the translation. In the original Japanese what he says is more like, “I don’t know if they’ll suit you,” which makes sense given Shizuka is far more demure than what Honda’s sister is implied to be like, given her taste in clothes.)

This little mention here is actually part of why I characterized her the way I did when I wrote her; that she wore “loud” clothes when she was younger spoke to a punkish style of dress, and in my mind, attitude therefore. Either way, though, Jouji is the first way we find out that Honda has an older sister, and that happens much earlier than this, so I guess that’s at least a little good he brings to the story.

Still, though, I agree with you overall, haha. I don’t like Jouji as a character at all. I don’t like the toilet humor during the horror game ride (though that still wasn’t as bad as the ride itself groping Anzu), I don’t like how he’s perverted as a baby, and I don’t understand how old he’s supposed to be. He seems like he should only be a year or so old, but if that’s true, how can he talk that well? How can he understand more mature concepts? It feels like he should have been at least five or six, but then I suppose he wouldn’t have been able to be carried around . . . ugh. Either way, he didn’t really bring anything of merit or value to Death-T. The closest we got was that he was the bait to lure Jounouchi in, and I liked that because, again, Jounouchi knew that it was a trap, but he walked into it anyway because he felt it was the Right thing to do, both because Jouji had helped them once before, and because Jouji was a baby. (And there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment right before the games actually start where Honda is trying to get Jouji to shut up, and Jounouchi says, “Don’t make him cry!” Jounouchi really does have a soft spot for kids, aww. It’s the big brother in him, probably.) Plus, the fact that Jounouchi won that literal fight to the death while holding a baby in his arms is nothing short of badass, and I’ll never take any badass moments away from him. ♥

But yeah, Jouji was a worthless trash character, lmao. There’s a reason why, although I’ve written Honda’s older sister, I haven’t actually written Jouji. I’ve no use for that annoying thing.

[kalinara]

It’s interesting to scroll back through character tags.  I found one for Stranger Things from a while ago that basically argued that “from a story perspective” Billy Hargrove should have gotten Steve Harrington’s redemption arc because it would have been interesting to see him overcome all of his obstacles in life.

It’s stuff like this that make me realize that a lot of fans don’t understand how character redemption actually works.  

There is no such thing as a redemption arc.

This is not to say that a character cannot achieve redemption.  But it’s not a matter of an “arc”.  It is not a closed off plotline that starts off with a vile human being and has him travel from point A to point B, to magically become a good person at the end, end of story.

I feel like a lot of fans treat redemption like some kind of modular attachment that they can attach to the character of their choice.  Heck, that character doesn’t even have to WANT to be redeemed, some other character like Steve, or Rey or Princess Leia can somehow DRAG them from point A to point B and it will somehow still work.

But if we look at the times when characters have genuinely redeemed themselves, it becomes apparent that redemption isn’t some sort of separate modular plot device.  It’s simply one potential aspect of character growth.

Since the post I’m vaguing about mentioned Steve Harrington, let’s look at Steve Harrington’s general story arc.  Steve starts off as a boy who is self-centered, shallow, and seemingly has very few interests outside of having fun with his friends and his girlfriend.   He is oblivious to the fact that his girlfriend has just lost her friend, and reacts in a selfish and cruel way when he thinks she’s cheating on him.  He says some truly hurtful things to both Nancy and Jonathan and allows his friends to behave badly as well.

Afterward, Steve regrets his actions and, unprovoked, decides to take steps to atone.  He makes genuine apologies, he works to repair the damage: cleaning the paint, replacing the camera.  And he also learns that there’s more going on than he thought when he helps face the demigorgon.  In season two, Steve continues to grow.  At first he tries to deny/ignore everything that happened, and then he takes proactive steps to help these weird kids.  By the end, he’s somehow a third surrogate parent.

And that’s why Billy getting Steve’s “redemption arc” is a ridiculous idea.  Because Steve didn’t really have a “redemption arc” per se.  Steve is just a character that kept developing throughout the course of the two seasons.  There’s no indication that he ever consciously said “I don’t like who I am, I want to change.”  He just gradually became a more self-aware, empathetic, considerate and altruistic person as the series continued.

This was a very organic growth that had its roots in who Steve was at the start: Steve was self-centered and shallow, but he wasn’t malicious.  He was sweet and funny to Nancy, and made her laugh.  He was friendly to Barb, and until the scene with Jonathan, we never saw him act intentionally cruel.  And therefore it was believable that he grew in a positive direction.

Let’s look at another example of a redeemed character: Prince Zuko from Avatar.  Now, unlike Steve, who was at worst an inconvenience and an obstacle, Zuko was a legitimate adversary and he’d done some nasty things to our lead characters.  Over the course of four seasons, we see how he is pulled back and forth between them, how he makes good decisions and bad.

Unlike Steve, we can pinpoint a specific time where Zuko decides that he wants to change for the better and he begins to act accordingly.  Leaving the Fire Kingdom, joining the team, earning their trust.

But I personally wouldn’t consider this a “redemption arc” either, because it really isn’t self contained.  It was a logical development from the very beginning, and we could see the roots in his confused motivations and conflicting impulses.  And we could see it in the way that Zuko generally tried to conduct himself honorably.  He was occasionally childish and angry, but he valued his uncle’s guidance.  There were lines that he wouldn’t cross.  He was never a torturer or a murderer.  He was never deliberately abusive or cruel.  Zuko’s “redemption” with the team was less about turning Zuko into a good guy and more about Zuko figuring out his own path.  His redemption was just one part of that journey.

It wouldn’t make sense to give Ozai Zuko’s story arc, because Ozai is not a child, he’s not lost, and there are definitely lines that he’s willing to cross: including hurting his own children.

So let’s look at a legitimate monster.  Someone who IS a murderer and torturer and has crossed almost every line available: Darth Vader.

This one is a bit more controversial, because, understandably, not everyone agrees with the idea that Darth Vader has done enough to redeem himself.  And certainly there’s truth to that argument...if you’re looking at it in terms of a “redemption arc.”

Vader didn’t have a redemption arc.  He made ONE non-evil choice at the end of twenty years of atrocity.  And then he died without ever having to follow up on it.

Whenever I look at Vader’s redemption, I try to do it from the perspective we would have had when it originally aired: namely what was established in the first three movies.  No slave backstory, no unhappiness with the Jedi Order.  Those were all inventions after the fact meant to help explain and expand on what happened in the original movies.  So let’s look at the original movies.

The interesting thing about Vader’s arc is that it definitely wasn’t planned from the very beginning.  So there really aren’t any roots to be seen in A New Hope, there isn’t much of anything to be seen there really.  He seems vaguely interested in Luke’s force potential,

In Empire Strikes Back, he’s different.  He goes from being vaguely interested in Luke Skywalker, to being fixated.  He stalks him, terrorizes his dreams, captures his friends, tortures them, all to bring Luke to him.  Then he makes him an offer: power and an alliance.  Ruling the galaxy together.  Luke refuses.  And then in Return of the Jedi, Luke comes to him, trying to convince his father to come back to the Light.  Vader seems more hesitant, regretful, but still gives him to the Emperor.  It is only when Luke refuses to kill him, and the Emperor is killing him, that Vader chooses to act.  And he does.  

This one act doesn’t begin to make up for Vader’s atrocities.  It doesn’t bring back the lives he’s destroyed or the people he’s killed.  And Vader never even apologizes for them.  As a redemption arc goes, well, that’s not one at all.

Vader’s choice saved Luke and it proved him right: there is “some good” left in his father.  And thanks to that choice, Anakin Skywalker was able to rejoin the Light.  But nothing is fixed.  Nothing is repaired.  And except for Luke Skywalker (and maybe Leia, in some universes), no one alive will see him as anything but a monster.

And of course, he’s dead now.  So it’s a moot point.

Vader’s choice has its roots in Empire Strikes Back, possibly even in A New Hope, if you’re willing to stretch your interpretation a little.  The contrast in Vader’s behavior between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back is the difference between a man who thought that he’d lost everything that mattered a long time ago, and a man who discovers that that’s not the case.  Vader, in Empire Strikes Back, is a man who genuinely does want a relationship with his child.  But he’s become so twisted and evil that he can’t conceive of this relationship except in terms of power, betrayal and alliance.  And because Luke won’t join him under Vader’s terms, Vader starts to very slowly be more receptive to Luke’s.  He goes from angry and forceful in ESB to weary and resigned in ROTJ.

But, he can’t make that leap until the Emperor almost kills his son.

This is the dynamic that people keep wanting to recreate with Kylo Ren.  And that doesn’t work.  Vader was a man whose character development took him from a dispassionate mechanical monster in ANH, to a very human monster in ESB, and then finally to a regretful and weary old man in ROTJ, which finally enabled him to make a choice.  

Now, Steve, Zuko and Vader aren’t the only characters with a lot of growth and development.  Billy, Ozai and Kylo have gotten their own share of development.  The problem is, so far, their development has gone too far in the opposite direction. 

Billy starts off being cruel to a child, threatening (hopefully jokingly) to run over children while creating a dangerous scenario, and escalates to the point of attempted murder.   Ozai has become even crueler and more power hungry.  And while Kylo hasn’t necessarily gotten worse (it’s hard to get worse when you START with mass murder of innocents), but by killing his father, he specifically and deliberately rejected the redemptive choice that his grandfather made.  He wants more power and is intentionally going deeper into the dark to get it.

I’m not going to say that these characters can’t ever develop in a direction to make redemption a feasible part of their story arc, but I don’t really see it as part of their current trajectory.  Sometimes villains just continue to be villains.

[scriptstructure]

My characters are involved in organized crime and they target members of another Mafia. Is there a way to make them realistically gritty yet still likable? Like, I’m afraid it doesn’t matter how well-rounded or otherwise kind they are to each other/civilians if they still kill people? I have a background in criminal justice so I think I can portray this accurately but I don’t know how to take my almost amoral characters likable. Advice?

People don’t generally base how much they like others on what people have done. Occasionally it is easy enough to say ‘that person has done something I find morally wrong, and therefore I won’t have anything to do with them’, but often, especially if it is someone we are close to or admire, the first reaction is to say something more like ‘well I know X and whatever happened can’t have been that bad’, or ‘sure X did something wrong, but we all make mistakes’.

Or even:

Take care of yourself, young man. I say that to you sincerely; take care of yourself, please. It is an utter tragedy for this court to see such a total waste of humanity as I’ve experienced in this courtroom.

You’re a bright young man. You would have made a good lawyer and I would have loved to have you practice in front of me, but you went another way, partner. Take care of yourself. I don’t feel any animosity toward you. I want you to know that. Once again, take care of yourself.

Surely this is someone talking to someone who cheated on a test, or got into some petty trouble which put their career off the rails, right? Right?

Nope. This is Judge Edward D. Cowart talking to serial killer Ted Bundy after having sentenced him to death–the judge knows in detail exactly what Bundy had done, but was still so compelled by his personality that he felt empathy for the intelligent young man that he met in the courtroom.

This goes on all the time. If someone is personable enough, if they do a favour for an elderly mother, or if they always help a friend out of a tight spot, or if they’re young and polite and well spoken, then people will judge them more favourably even when their misdeeds come to light.

In fiction, when reading about someone who is very interesting and compelling, it is much easier to like someone who is objectively a bad person, because their bad actions don’t have any real-world consequences.

As you’re writing about characters involved in a Mafia, this makes it very easy to show their humanity and foibles. Mafias are often family-based organisations. You can show a guy going out and murdering someone in cold blood, and then coming home and cleaning out the gutters for his mother, or helping his kid with their homework.

Organised crime is the kind of situation where some level of being personable is vital to actually being able to get far in the hierarchy of the criminal group. Al Capone, during his early days as a bouncer, bodyguard, and enforcer for various gangs, was a very friendly, popular, outgoing person, who could switch over to violence as soon as the moment called for it.

Personality, charm, the ability to get people to want to do what you want them to do, are how organised crime is run. Sure, occasionally you have to literally cut out the competition, but interpersonal relationships are the first and most important front when you’re running any large organisation.

In terms of readers, what they will want to know is the motivation behind the character’s actions. What is it that drives this character? When they do bad things, how do they feel about it? What is the difference between the way they act ‘on the job’ and at home? How does their ‘job’ affect their home life? Where do their loyalties lie? What are their ambitions? How do they think of themselves and what they do?

A while back, I wrote a few things featuring a side character called Prospero, who is working with a mafia group. He’s involved in a few really awful things, but I wanted to get the sense across of who he is outside of that, even though we only see him on the job.

“Call me Prospero. If you need to.” He still has an accent. He had been a young man when he came to America. His voice is clear and deep, his mother had been an elocution teacher, and he had always wanted to please her. “You don’t tell me your name.” A flat statement. He doesn’t need to know anything beyond the immediate requirements for the job.

Prospero stretches his hands and then tightens his grip on the steering wheel. He knows if his brother had taken a job like this he would be complaining about being too old for this sort of thing. He knows that his brother’s tendency to complain is why he does not get sent on these kinds of jobs. Too much risk in a busy mouth. Prospero looks at the stump where his left forefinger used to be and thinks of his infant grandson fitting his tiny hand over it. Looking at it wonderingly and counting his own fingers before he asked what happened.

For his grandchildren he makes up fairy tales, the old ones his own Nonna told him, woven into the events of his life: a hungry witch who tried to eat him but got only a finger; a duel with an evil prince that left the scar across his left cheek. He watches the road, looking at his hands now and then. Under his shirt the crucifix has turned on its chain, he can feel Christ’s body pressing against his chest.

For his grandchildren’s sake there will be no mistakes tonight.

We get to learn a lot about this guy, considering he’s only going to be appearing in this one section to do with the ‘job’. Later in this section, he kills someone who gets in the way of his work:

Two faces are familiar. These men he has done business with before, he thinks that they are father and son, but he has never asked. He doesn’t need to know. Tonight they have a boy with them. No resemblance, and from the look of the older man’s face, the kid is showing no aptitude for the job. He won’t last long.

“All in order?” Prospero asks. 

The older man nods and scrapes nails against the stubble on his chin. 

“We will take it from here.” The best exchange is a fast one. He’s reaching out to take the truck keys when the boy starts yammering on about the quality of the product.

“Real good stuff, man, real good.” The kid must be high on something. He reaches out to slap Prospero on the shoulder, pats the corporate man on the back and then – and then he heads for the back of the truck.

Prospero follows. The kid reaches for the handle of the truck’s back gate. Prospero takes his gun from his coat. The kid pulls. Pop. The kid is laid out in the dirt, a third eye peering from his forehead. Prospero puts the gun away. There is very little blood. The gun is small calibre, almost quiet. Prospero shakes his head.

So here’s this grandfather, who cares deeply about his family, is religious, is dedicated in his work, and who will kill without a second’s hesitation if he feels he needs to. 

Will people who read about him like him? I can’t predict that, and it seems kind of an irrelevant question. Will people who read about him find him compelling? I like to think so, which is much more important, I think.

When I was in undergrad, I had this argument several times with my classmates. I don’t think that it is necessary for characters to be likeable, it is much more important that they be compelling, that they make you interested in seeing what happens to them next. A character can be extremely likable, and incredibly boring. They can be really awful people but extremely interesting.

Focus on making your characters complex, layered, flawed, troubled, driven, interesting people first, and don’t worry about whether or not they’re likeable: likability is about personality, not about deeds. Ted Bundy was, apparently, a real nice guy, and there are plenty of folks who love Hannibal Lecter.

I hope that helps.