#archeology is not a character trait. you have to write your female characters with more than an inch of depth. fuck OFF

[friendlyfatbee]

6th Hottest Ghosts: DJ Phantasmagloria and Serpci

Serpci is a one trick pony and DJ Phantasmagloria can kick your butt, I will explain why in the following essay- /hj

Serpci:

Looks: I tried to judge her specifically for beauty standards during the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt, at least thats what her attire suggests. Serpci scores perfectly in this catagory with her body type, hairstyle, longer dress, pectoral (type of necklace here, including the usage of gold and faience, which is a common blue-green material), and her makeup. (Source: Fashion and Beauty in Ancient Egypt by The Not So Innocents Abroad, warning: discussion of female anatomy and nude Egyptian statues.) Serpci also furfilled a lot of catagories in regards to wealthy women during this time period, such as fitted lightweight linen or bead dresses (Source: Ancient Egyptian Clothes by Archeology Now, warning: Nudity in Egyptian art used.) Long story short, this woman is rich and attractive.

Personality: Serpci has a pretty good personality! She exudes power and grace with her movements and body language, a witty leader, and even accepts her defeat with dignity (when she is vacuumed up by Luigi and she lays herself to rest.) A detail I’ve noticed is when Luigi manages to survive all her attacks (giant sand head, small sand vipers that shoot projectiles) she’ll… scream in anger. She isn’t infinitely patient, and tbh I understand completely losing it if your almost flawless attack managed to fail. This girl likes to toy with Luigi, ex. Doing a bunch of showy movements and distracting Luigi before sealing him to the bottom of her pyramid, and choosing to give him chills instead of straight up capturing or killing him when she sneaks up on him. While I wish there was more of some sort of character dynamic like having more apparent flaws, perhaps being furious and immature when things don’t go her way? Because most of the time on screen she does things successfully except for defeating Luigi when he does escape the pyramid. I recommend rewatching her fight and seeing her animation for when Luigi dodges her sand serpents that shoot projectiles! Otherwise she doesn’t exhibit toxic traits and seems interesting enough, but thats about it.

Survival Rate: Surprisingly a medium score. So here’s the think about the whole ‘one trick pony’ thing: she can only control sand. All her strong attacks are sand related, but once that’s taken away from her with a vacuum she is vulnerable and lacks any form of threat. Her floor is full of sand, hence she’s super powerful there (unless, like established, it is taken away like vacuuming.) Throw her into another environment, and she’s a fish out of water.

Niceness Rate: Kind of lower, since she seems to enjoy teasing Luigi and then sending him to his demise.

DJ Phantasmagloria:

Looks: Her beauty standards were based within the 1970s (time of both disco and the origin term of Deejay.) She holds up with a wonderful score, such out having a warm bronze appearance, youthful look, thin eyebrows, cranberry lip stick, and of course the iconic Afro which became incredibly popular in black communities. (Source: Beauty Standards Throughout the Decades: The 1970s by Simone Sydel) (If you want to see more evidence of the Afro being popularized along with confident black women, take a look at the article Rare Photos of ‘70s Black Beauty Pageants Celebrate Women Defying Beauty Standards by Kristina Rodulfo. Warning, photos of women in bikinis.) However a point was deducted for the outfit itself just… not really being interesting? Its almost depressing in appearance compared to what outfits were present during the 1970s (ex. Tie-dye, maxi dresses, wide lapel blazer, and more.)

Personality: Fun fact, I ended up having to rewatch her fight because the first time I was too entranced with watching her and enjoying her that I completely forgot to write notes. She’s just there to have a good time! She’s having the time of her unlife!- she doesn’t even tease Luigi that much an enjoy it, she’s just in a good mood. She’s grooving, and she only looks a bit irritated and distressed once Luigi starts vacuuming one of the dancer goobs. She loses her patience however once Luigi messes up the entire dance routine (I enjoy the touch of the record stop sound effect) and immediately gets on the dance floor, acting like everything’s still good only to give Luigi a threatening look. She still has her spirits up throughout the fight, dancing all the while Luigi is dodging her attacks. She even dances in her defeat animation while Luigi vacuums her up, safe to say at this point she heavily values music and performances. Though, like Serpci there is a lack of flaws (though it can be argued that maybe Gloria tries to minimize problems and make them seem not serious for the sake of keeping the atmosphere lighthearted.)

Survival Rate: Somewhat low because her vinyls are on fire, she can summon these vinyls anytime, and uh… getting sliced/lit on fire at the same time does not sound pleasant.

Niceness Rate: Middle of the road, its hard to tell because of no negative or positive actions toward other goobs or toward Luigi.

Overall, I love these two and have no major complaints! And now I shall rewatch DJ Phantasmagloria’s boss fight because I love her. And again. And again and again and again—

[giantkillerjack]

Yo the writing in this movie is weak as shit

Like, the animation looks good and there are some fun segments, but why is the writing so fucking WEAK???

This is fuckin' embarrassing.

41 years since Miyazaki's Castle of Cagliostro established Lupin could be likeable, and you have somehow made a movie in which Lupin threatens a girl with sexual assault and then also there is a sympathetic Nazi character?????

And! AND! what is this shit?? What is this utter laziness??? EXPLAIN TO ME HOW THIS NOTHING-ASS PLAIN WHITE BREAD CHARACTER DESIGN IS NOT JUST ANNA FROM FROZEN??? EXPLAIN IT TO ME.

And she's next to the Lupin characters, who are so dynamic and alive! She looks like an unfinished 3D model base this is nothing.

And, more importantly, will someone please explain to me why this horrendously-written character is present for the climax instead of anyone in the Lupin gang???

Like, let me be absolutely fucking clear: All this girl actually does in the movie is nearly cause a second Holocaust. Literally, her actions are the thing that allows the Third Reich to nearly regain power. That is the only thing she actually succeeds in. She fails at every other thing she tries to do!

And I don't care that she feels bad about it! I don't care that she did it accidentally! The fact is, this is literally the only impact the writers gave her in the story! The only explicitly Jewish character that survives the movie! They just! Didn't catch the optics on that, I guess! They don't give her something heroic to do later in the film that has any tangible weight to it, either! The old Nazi character does that! They just plum forgot about Laetitia I guess! Too bad she takes up 60% of the screentime in this film!

I mean, this movie starts with a Nazi shooting a Jewish man in the head, and then that Nazi raises that man's granddaughter as his own in order to trick her into doing Nazi shit for him. In the first scene he interacts with her in a parental capacity, it is clear that she fears being beaten by his metal cane. That Nazi then goes on to be framed in a sympathetic and undeniably warm light by the film. He actually does more for the good guys than Laetitia does! His death is given way more weight than the Jewish character he kills at the beginning.

Gods, this is shit. This is so fucking disrespectful.

I mean, if Laetitia was a golden retriever, the plot would have changed literally not at all.

In fact, it would have absolutely been an improvement because then her actions, characterization, and relationships with the other characters would have made sense. She would have been way more likeable too!

GENTLEMEN, If your female character could easily be replaced by a lamp, a prized possession, or a Pomeranian, then you have fucked up.

"Arf! Arf arf! Grrrrrr!!!", "MANGY DOG!!"

And Laetitia is, no mistaking, the main character of this film. THIS film. You know? The film called Lupin that is supposed to be about Lupin except it's actually about the world's most generic girl reacting to Lupin??

And all this focus on Laetitia comes at the expense of time with the Lupin gang!

Fujiko has like 4 lines!

Goemon has like, 6!

No one in this movie has a character arc, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE LITERAL ABUSIVE-PARENT NAZI CHARACTER.

OOPSY DAISY.

Anyway, the main value of this movie is that Jigen is so so so so hot. But damn. I do think he could've still been hot in a non-shitty film. 🤔🤔🤔

[catgirlxox]

BenKai is weird because I'm pretty sure I know what the writers are going for and intend for the pairing. They wanted BenKai to be seen like a bickering old married couple who who eventually smooth out their edges and get softer to each other (as seen in some of the future scenes where they do look like a happy family). But from a fan perspective I'm left wondering why the execution was so terrible. Kai never really stood out as 'Best Girl' material for Ben because she never acted like -

like she wanted to be in enough obvious way (for fans and Ben). Again I think I get it. Maybe the writers were trying to go anime style on us and do some class is Tsundere love interest who is too stubborn to admit her interest. Like I get it. She smiled and blushed when Ben accidently kissed her. Her only complimenting his alien forms is her way of denying admitting anything to Ben’s face. But yeah I’ve seen plenty of anime who did it better. Kai’s problem is that the writers didn’t care to make her a fully fleshed out character with enough depth to stand out as interesting on her own. She’s pretty simple: loves archeology. Furry lover I guess. Not nice to Ben 99% of the time (who is her main source of interaction in the show). Also they kept the dynamic stale but not throwing in softer moments that showed growth from Kai. But instead of getting support/understanding/compassion we got more bickering and mocking. You can say Kai could work because she’s such a blank slate. Which kind of reminds me of my Hunger Games days where I loved the story for its story and characters but some fans were obsessed w/pairings and Gale/Katniss had a following. Gale is better then Kai character depth wise but for the life of me I couldn’t understand why enough people liked such a bland character they could project any personality into. He felt entitled to Katniss. Hated the capitol. Looked down on anyone who wasn’t his family or Katniss. Every Time I read a fanfic his personality changed. I realized some fans didn’t care. They liked shaping his anyway possible because there was so little to define him in the first place. The fact some fans thought he was better for Katniss made me confused since almost every interaction post HG was negative. She went through all this trauma but he acts like a huge jerk to her whenever she cares about someone else or has surviving/protecting loved ones on her mind over romance w/him. Sorry for the rant but it got on my nerve every time Katniss was having a moment contemplating the inhumanity of it all and how likely it is she’s going to die or watch someone she loves die. Then Gale shows up to be all ‘gee golly Katniss pay attention our love triangle problems!’ Got me every time. Boy she’s having a crisis you can’t understand. Don’t push her around like you own her or know better. But yeah terrible relationships w/mains you love is terrible. Doesn’t hurt in omniverse Ben never acts like he wanted to be in love with anyone. Briefly I actually thought he was going to end up alone because that’s what he wanted. =P In the end the writers botched up. Romance isn’t a big deal in Ben 10 and they made Gwevin act like a couple. You think giving Ben a minor healthy romance wouldn’t be that hard but no I guess it was. They failed to make Kai a actual character (They put more effort in Skurd and his relationship w/Ben. Let that sink in) or the 2 invested in each other in likable/healthy ways.

 (I don’t know how much I like that formatting but I felt keeping the numbers was distracting. Anyway…)

I actually haven’t seen the Hunger Games, so I can’t really comment on that. However, I do see where your perspective is coming from in relation to the character dynamic. You bring up an interesting point:

“People liking such a bland character they could project any personality into.”

I feel like that’s what it is. 

I feel like people only like Kai’s character when they step away from the canon presentation of her character. 

When they begin to project their own values - things like being a good representation for Native American people, and appealing to feminist values through ambition and independent success - they see the potential of a character like her, and then believe that is what was attempting to be introduced to the audience through the Omniverse portrayal of Kai. 

While being an ambitious, smart archeologist interested in history, or a strong, independent female who empowers women are good traits, it was not heavily focused on in her actual canon presentation, unfortunately. 

Instead, what was majorly focused on is this “Tsundere” type personality, likely for the reasons you mentioned above. 

Now, just to be clear, I don’t personally think there’ s anything inherently wrong with projecting on characters. I mean this in the sense that writing divergent interpretations of canon characters is, in itself, harmless. Whether it is done out of creative expression or for personal reasons, the point is that those people are still able to make the distinction between the canon portrayal, and their portrayal. 

However, with a character like Kai, the trouble is that, because her canon portrayal is the way it is, when people project on her due to this idea of her “potential” and what she could have been (but wasn’t), she becomes out of character very quickly. At this point, it’s expected that she act like she had on screen. 

When I read a fanfiction, and the author chooses to have her be mean to Ben in inappropriate situations, it’s in character.

Change that, and insist that she is an angel, and now you’re just straight up lying to yourself.

It’s the same thing as insisting that Ben is a “sexist sociopath.” We all (most of us, anyway) know that is a lie. Even the writers would find that ridiculous. It wasn’t their intention in the slightest to consistently give us that impression, but it was their intention to consistently give us the impression that Kai is mean to Ben for whatever reason. That’s undeniable. 

As for Ben and Skurd’s dynamic, while they did end off on a good note, I feel like their dynamic had their own issues. I was always pretty indifferent to Skurd, but @karkalicious769 had brought up a very interesting perspective a little while ago in this post which I have to say that I agree with.

[kiyomi-starsong-ffxiv]

Looking for RP

NAME: Kiyomi Starsong-Manka

NICKNAME: Dreamer

IN GAME: Kiyomi Starsong

AGE: Late 20′s

RACE: Raen Au Ra/ Adopted by K tribe Seekers

GENDER: Female

SEXUALITY: Bi-sexual

ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral

MARITAL STATUS: Married

SERVER: Diabolos

 Physical Appearance

HAIR: Short, Spikey and in her face. Charcoal grey and white (natural), sometimes purple and white

EYES: Lavender, and Soft pink, black/silver limbrol rings

HEIGHT: 4′11

BUILD: Small frame, toned muscles

DISTINGUISHING MARKS/COMMON ACCESSORIES:

Nearly always has a aquamarine ring on her left hand, that her husband Zarock made as a wedding gift to match the eternal bond ring. On her right calf she has a tattoo of a obsidian carbuncle winding around her calf.

She has a few scattered scars, and light silvery freckles. She has a small labret piercing made of silver as well as her tongue stud. She often carries a dagger on her right calf.

 Professions: Bard, Fortune Teller (rarely), Scholar, Weaver and Chef

Hobbies: reading, exploring old ruins, hunting/gardening (she likes to have fresh ingredients), and often writes in her free time

Dislikes: The elite “snobs” of the upper class, entitled petty people, and bitter food.

Likes: Sweet food, reading, adores carbuncles and fat cats

Residence: The Goblet (Ward and number will be provided later), her personal residence and her Free Company are both located and she spends time at both.

Fears: Losing her beloved Zarock, and her friend Starlight that she adopted as a sister, as well as being unwelcomed in her Free Company.

 Relationships

SPOUSE: Zarock Manka @zarockmanka

CHILDREN: None

PARENTS: She was an orphan of the refugree’s of Doma. She had gotten lost in the desserts of Thanalan and was adopted by a off shoot of the K trilbe of Seekers of the Sun.

SIBLINGS: None by blood, but she recently took a shining to Starlight Xia, an apprientice thamaturge under the supervision of her husband that she calls her “Little sister”.

 Traits

extroverted / introverted / in between

disorganised / organised / in between

close minded / open-minded / inbetween

calm / anxious / in between (often suspicious)

disagreeable / agreeable / in between

cautious / reckless / in between

patient / impatient / in between

outspoken / reserved / in between

leader / follower / in between

empathetic / unempathetic / in between

optimistic / pessimistic / in between

traditional / modern / in between

hard-working / lazy / in between

cultured / uncultured / in between

loyal / disloyal / in between

faithful / unfaithful / in between

 Additional Info:

She dabbles in the drugs once in awhile, when she wants to escape the nightmares that often plague her sleeping hours. She tries not to drink, and often yells at her husband for spending their gil down at the pub (again).

 Story Hooks:

Weaver: In her spare time she took up weaving and often designs outfits for major events for her friends and free company mates. She also takes custom orders occasionally, so maybe you want a new dress, or a snazzy looking tux for an upcoming formal event. (Note: I’m still leveling weaver so its all rp atm)

 Chef: she has worked in many exclusive and upscale restruants and has an absolute passion for cooking. She eventually plans to save up the money to open her own bakery and coffee shop, so that she can share her food with everyone.

 Scholor/Adventure: She spends most of her time away from home, often digging in old ruins, exploring and reasarching what older civliazations and people have to teach us. Archeology is a major trill for her so asking her to tag along on your plans is a great way to have some fun.

 Healer/Herb Gathering: She uses old fasion remidies for healing of small aliemnets, such as a cold or the flu. She prefers to have fresh ingredients for all of her projects so she’s often found gardening or hunting for fresh meat and herbs and other oddities.

 Connections: Her husband is making headway in to some of his more,,unsavory dealings so she’s often connected to those of the more underground gateway habbits, and even those with much more…legal dealings.  She likes to gossip a little bit so maybe you are one of her primary sources for the latest news.

 What I am Looking for:

I’m pretty new to the ffxiv RP community so I’m looking for connections both in-game and via discord. I have previous RP experience on WoW and IMVU. I love to tell a story, and I’m up for most themes, just please discus anything super major with me before hand. My fc is comprised of a fairly close nit group of friends and I’m looking to expand my contacts and connections and friends a little. We are the Eorezean Rangers (pardon my spelling I’m not on my home computer) over on Diabolos.

If you want my discord info just shoot me a message and I’ll be happy to work out the details!

(Pictures to come soon of my character, I promise).