#are so interesting in parallel to one another

[1moreff-creator]

What are some dynamics (in terms of like, foils/parallels) that you enjoy in DRDT?

you’re staring at a forest and asking me for every tree i like. do you want me to write another 28k word post /lh

I jest, of course, but not about the number of interesting foils in this series. It does a fantastic job tying everyone into several key themes in ways that make their dynamics endlessly enriching for my silly little character parallel-loving brain. So, uh, get ready for a long-ish post?

CW: One mention of self-harm, self-loathing

Teruko-David: I mean, you gotta start at the center, yeah? David’s the closest thing to a “main antag” we have, and it’s no wonder; the guy’s built like a standard DR protag, obviously he’s gonna have a cool dynamic with the actual protagonist. 

These two could breathe a bit weird and somehow parallel each other doing it, that’s how much this foil permeates both their characters. From their fatalistic outlooks on the world (“my luck will always be terrible, I’ll always be betrayed��� vs “people can’t change, the world sucks”), the ways they hide their feelings (Teruko was more distrustful than she first presented herself as, but cares about people more than she shows during most of CH2; while David has an entire different persona up to 2-11 and then pretends to be worse than he actually is), the self-loathing (Teruko refuses to think she could be a good person, David has the whole “inhuman” thing going on), down to the oddball sibling figure (Terubro “I know nothing about you” Tawaki vs Diana “I’m not even sure you exist” Chiem).

There’s their feelings about Xander and Min, too, which are all over the place. Obviously we all saw in 2-12 how much the British twink fucked both of them up severely, with Teruko rejecting any positive or yearning feelings she may have had about Xander (you can’t hide the cactus scene from us girl) while David vehemently defended him from any criticism. On the other side, Min is less of a narrative poltergeist (for now; XF-Ture exists), but she still comes up with them, with David calling her pathetic eleven episodes after Min hugs Teruko and Teruko’s internal monologue gives away how much she cares about the Student. 

And these parallels play into their weird-ass dynamic very well, because their beefing is founded on their similarities and their differences, out of projecting their self-loathing to someone similar at the same time they hate each other because of their disagreements on things like Xander. Crazy stuff.

Xander-Min: Mentioning these two second because they’re also Eternal Parallels. There’s almost not a single thing about these two that isn’t somehow reflected on the other. If you projected them onto each other’s direction, you would get no perpendicular component. Get it, ‘cuz they’re completely parallel- That is, by far, the nerdiest joke I’ve ever made, I apologize.

But come on. Their attitudes towards fate (the Rebel fighting it and Min resigning herself to the XF-Ture thing), the whole “holding on to the past vs wanting to move on from the past” thing, the similarities between how they actually feel about the education system (they have issues with it) contrasted with the things they actually do in respects to that (Min is still the Ultimate Student, but Xander dislikes that), their already mentioned contrasting connections to Teruko and David… Just, absolutely everything about them is a meaningful contrast. And it comes into play a lot, with their eternal beef being born largely out of these parallels. They’re awesome.

Teruko-Ace: Pretty topical for post-CH2. Ace’s entire arc is sort of a reflection of Teruko’s, yet taken to the extreme because of one particular point of contrast; Ace feared death, Teruko doesn’t think she can die. But he still basically serves as a demonstration of all the flaws in Teruko’s all mindset; the feeling of unchangeable fate, the complete lack of trust, all the good stuff. It basically allows an exploration of Teruko’s mindset from an outside perspective, which makes it easier to see the flaws in it.

Ace-Nico: Also topical, these recap foils go kinda insane. Their motives for murder, their contrasting talents (love for animals on Nico's side and fear of horses on Ace's), the way they relate to the rest of the cast, Ace's persecution complex vs Nico actively disliking how much Hu defends them, etc., it’s all very fun to see play out. 

Ace-Levi: The one who doesn’t care but protects others and tries his best to be a good person so he can be accepted in society without having issues, vs the guy that acts like an asshole because he’s scared of caring too much and he thinks the only way he can get out alive is by being the only one to survive. This leads to a fundamental misunderstanding between them that causes some of the most doomed yaoi of all time, which is the whole “Levi getting frustrated at not understanding Ace.” 

Arei-David: You’ve presumably watched 2-13, so I don’t think I need to explain all the awesome stuff that’s come from their shared themes of “good people” and self-betterment and all that. Not to mention, David’s little breakdown over Arei trusting the letter of the only friend she had being presumably born from the way he saw Xander as the only friend he had. Shit goes crazy.

Arei-Eden: Recap foils… Good people… The choice to be kind… Etc… Woah :O

Teruko-Charles: Ah, Teru’s recap foil. This one’s basically opposite of Ace’s, where Charles used to be sort of like Teruko acted in CH2, but later became a bit friendlier, if still somewhat prickly. Basically, if Ace highlights Teruko’s character traits from CH2, Charles post CH1 serves as more or less the “end goal” in a way. It goes beyond that, too, with the whole memory issues (prosopagnosia vs childhood amnesia) and, again, mysterious siblings (Terubro and Elliot what are your deals), so it’s always neat to rotate these two in the brain.

Veronika-Levi: We really don’t know too much about Vero, which always makes it a bit harder when analyzing these dynamics, but they already got some interesting points of contrast. Neither of them are particularly concerned about the deaths of the others, at least post-CH2 (Levi doesn’t grieve and Vero actively laughs at Ace’s death), but it comes from almost opposite ends of perspective. Levi doesn’t understand others because he doesn’t feel much empathy (if any at all), while Vero seems to treat the others not as people, but almost as characters to be analyzed (that’s the impression I get, at least), which makes her come off as very good at reading people but also occasionally causes her to see them as sources of entertainment first and foremost. Not to mention there’s also the fact they’re both very different people than they were in the past (Levi was some form of delinquent and now is a good person, Vero used to be outdoorsy and then no longer was). Wow that’s… more than I thought there was- How am I finding more interesting foils just by writing more???

Hu-Levi: I kinda talked about this in my CH2 PT2 analysis so read that ig.

J-Rose: A pair of recap foils who haven’t had too much yet, but a lot of their themes, in particular about fate and privilege and stuff, are pretty noticeable with them, so this is always a fun dynamic to consider.

Levi-Arturo: More recap foils, this one’s fun because of the dead family member :) Also things like their talents being related to aesthetics and both doing the things they do for a better life.

Veronika-Hu: This one’s kinda more hypothetical, since Vero in particular hasn’t had as much direct focus as other characters yet, but that’s part of what makes them fun. Past history of self-harm (even if brought on by very different feelings) is just the first of many parallels they could have, and it’s fun to see the contrast between Hu defending Nico to the ends of the Earth and Vero talking about how much she likes Arturo because of how awful he is. They’re really silly.

David-Whit: All the recap foils are fun, but I've always struggled to see this one in particular. Partly because I feel like I know less about Whit than I know about Mai :v Still, certain things like Whit ignoring anything that upsets him which connects to David constantly lying about his real feelings for his fans, which is probably what leads to David's outburst at Whit in the second trial.

Teruko-MonoTV: Because fate. Really this is here plainly because it’s just a funny as hell dynamic to even consider lol.

Teruko-Mai: Have they interacted? Has Mai had enough screen time to truly determine that this parallel truly exists? Do we even know a single theme that Mai’s character touches on for certain? No and it doesn’t matter! Because these two are clearly connected somehow and the whole “someone dearly loved - someone dearly unloved” thing makes me ill. Mai is getting mentioned in this post and you're not stopping it.

Mai-Whit: Fuck it! “We tend to idolize the dead” dynamic!!! It's very speculative, but this one’s just fun to ponder even if we have even less idea of what could be going on between the two than with Mai-Teruko.

Anyways ready for a few themes that run through a lot of characters?

David-Levi-Nico-Rose: The “feeling disconnected from the rest of humanity’s experiences” gang!!!

Min-Rose-Hu-Veronika-Arturo: The “wants to move on from the past” gang!!!

Min-Arei-Teruko-Ace: The “trying to fix mistakes” gang!!!

Teruko-David-Eden-Arei-Levi-Xander: The “what makes a good person?” gang!!!

Teruko-David-Xander-Min-J-Whit-Ace-Rose-MonoTV-Probably everyone else: Fate!!!!

And there’s more than I’m probably forgetting because I can’t possibly check every conceivable connection between these guys. At least I hope I covered most of the major ones. Thanks for the ask, these dynamics are always fun to think about!

[constantfragmentation]

It's bugging me...

The inconsistencies and a lack of detail and continuity in S2. S1 was all about the tiniest details.

Don't get me wrong, the animation is gorgeous, BUT --

The underwater scene is where Jinx lets Silco go.

He was RIDDLED with bullets. Yet, not a mark on him?

Why is his damaged eye closed? I thought he didn't have an eyelid. Artistically, I think having his lifeless eyes glazed over would have been more dramatic, considering it's Silco. Nah, he just sinks like Jack to the depths of the Titanic.

How deep IS the Pilt River?? I'm assuming that's where she 'buried' him.

The whole first act is so damn rushed.

No one seems to wonder what happened to Silco? He was only the main person holding the Underground together by the strands of his pomade hair. His death is a BIG deal, yet it's glossed over. No one questioned any of it???

Sevika is just, okay, let's move on like it's another day (granted, Zaunites are probably predisposed to be like that, but that doesn't make for good storytelling if you're not letting the audience in on anything), and chatting it up with Jinx as if they just bonded. I didn't feel that happen. I like that they low-key ripped into him post mortem, because that feels natural but what got them in that room together DOESN'T.

I want to know how these characters FEEL. You got that in spades during S1. But S2 is just expecting you to assume or they would attempt to take the time to use what would be great writing and evolving these characters.

Caitlin is hurting, I get it. But she went full Commando Psycho mode. Girl, everyone has lost parents, siblings, etc... She doesn't even flinch when Vi tells her Enforcers killed BOTH her parents. She's lost a beloved sister... but Cait is affronted when Vi shirks from becoming an Enforcer. Let's just forget what PIltover did to Zaun for generations and to LOADS of people.

Vi? Oh girl. What happened to you?

Jinx is a bit better but not much. I don't buy Silco's death was a zap to the brain to chill her out a bit. She's still my Chaos Queen but unless there is something to explain some shit in the following episodes, I'm going to be really ticked at the lack of care in characterizations with who are the supposed leads in this story.

Jesus Viktor. That's it. That's all I got.

Well, I did LOL when he woke up and gave Jayce the "bye Felicia" in 2.2 seconds.

We don't get to know what Ekko is thinking since all this shit went down? As far as he knows, Jinx is dead and to learn to she bombed Piltover?

The music videos substituting for the plot are REALLY bugging me. It's lazy writing. The music was used well in S1 to ENHANCE the scene (well, except for giving Imagine Dragons an animated cameo). Here, it's used as exposition, but it's not nearly good enough.

Useless characters and side-characters. Poorly executed plot devices. Uninteresting plot devices and trying to use the S1 parallels for characterizations.

S1 took time to introduce and flesh out these characters, even the side-characters.

We only had Vander for 3 episodes but he was a HUGE character. Marcus, Mylo, Claggor, Benzo, Grayson, Finn.... all were interesting and played an important part.

Jayce continues to be blah. So I'm not bothered.

Ambessa looks to be the new villain but it's not hitting with me. Plus, there's zero foreshadowing on some stuff in her arc that would have been useful last season.

I like Mel but I'm waiting to see what happens with her.

Hermydingding going all Mission Impossible. Just stop. Does he not give two furry fucks about what happened to his fellow councilmembers and Piltover?

I feel like RIot is trying to shove way too much into one season and sacrificing good story-telling to do it.

I miss the details.

So far, I'm really underwhelmed with this season.

[whateverisbeautiful]

I feel like Rick went through the most physically in TOWL and TWD. While Michonne went through the most mentally. So many people would say Maggie is the strongest female character, but I firmly believe it's Michonne. Michonne lost 2 sons, killed a bunch of kids, saved Judith, lost her female best friend, lost her boyfriend, then her soul mate, and still have the courage to rebuild civilization and have another baby. Maggie doesn't have half of what Michonne has been through. So my question is, who do u think is stronger and what makes the other stand out more.

Hi @theoneswholive32 ! It was definitely interesting to watch the ways in which Michonne and Rick's internal and external hardships paralleled each other in TOWL. And I wrote out the rest of my response to your question below: ⬇️ 💗

I do believe Michonne’s strength is unparalleled. And in choosing who stands out the most, I’m choosing Michonne every time. To be as multifaceted and well-rounded as she is, to be both one of the world’s toughest and one of the world’s tenderest, it makes her an incredibly admirable character who embodies that quote Deanna shared - “Someday this pain will be useful to you.”

Over the course of her journey, Michonne learned to turn her grief and pain into something productive and motivating rather than destructive and devastating all while still being in tune with her hurt and emotions rather than neglecting or supressing them. 

I think it’s hard to compare traumas, in that apocalyptic world especially, so I can't say I agree with the statement that Maggie hasn’t been through half as much tho.

I do agree that Michonne has been through so much and more than people tend to acknowledge. Just because one of her most painful experiences happened offscreen and before she joined the group doesn’t mean it should be dismissed. To experience losing a child at any age is absolutely tragic, and especially as a toddler when they are so defenseless and dependent on others to keep them alive. It makes sense that Michonne shut down the way she did after the horrors she endured. And the fact that she went on to grow the way she did, not by being a strong warrior robot but by reopening her heart and letting love and family in again is one of the greatest signs of her strength and character.

Maggie was put through the wringer too and one of the unique things about her losses is that the three closest people to her (husband, father, sister) didn’t just 💀 but were unalived by human hands. Two of which she had to watch lose their life painfully, slowly, and all just so their murderer could make a point. And that’s on top of the rest of her family being taken out by walkers on the farm. So, even with me being overall neutral on her character, I can’t deny that Maggie has been through a lot of hell and that she’s a strong woman.

I think one of the notable differences between Maggie and Michonne’s strengths is in how they address their issues. After Rick spared Negan, it made sense that Maggie would feel extremely hurt by that executive decision but rather than talk to Rick about it as family she concocted plans behind his back which had tragic ramifications. Whereas when Michonne has an issue with someone she’s been shown to go directly to the source and address things which is another sign of her maturity and strength. 

Now I do think when it comes to physical violence, Michonne is the woman they put through the most physical harm and that is upsetting for several reasons. There is certainly an aspect of it that feels racially charged, even if subconscious because take 9.14 for example, I genuinely can’t see them being comfortable having Maggie or Carol be beat with a pipe while 7 months pregnant the way Michonne was.

One of the millions of reasons I’m grateful to Danai for what she wrote in ep 4 of TOWL is that she actually gave Michonne the space to acknowledge what she’s been through and voice her hurt. And Michonne also got to have someone who cared to acknowledge her scars and hurt as well through Rick. That was important because all too often Black women are portrayed as having to carry so much on their own and just keep it pushing without anyone caring to see their pain or vulnerability.

And to add one more reason that I feel Michonne is exceptionally strong and a standout character is because when she found someone she could trust and be held by in Rick, she opened herself up to that too. It could have been so easy for someone as competent as her to stay the independent lone wolf but she found a partner who she can be her most human and vulnerable self with and that vulnerability shows a whole lot of strength.

So that's my little essay response. Thanks for asking! 😊

[adonneniel]

Ok, after finishing Veilguard and sleeping on it, my final impression remains disappointment and frustration. Spoilerific thoughts beneath the cut. Long post. Maybe a bit ranty/incoherent in parts, but I don't feel like going back to edit.

Positives, in no particular order:

The game is beautiful, even on (mostly) medium settings. Despite wishing for a few more wavy options, the hair is perfection and I honestly can't complain.

On a related note, the character creator is amazing. Customizing body & face tattoos! Height and weight sliders!!! I wish the bust and glute sliders went a further, but whatever. I can live. I like that we can import our characters on a new save, and I hope they patch in an option to do that with the Inquisitor as well.

Mechanically it was fun to play

THE BLOOD OF ARLATHAN QUEST. Absolute perfection. Everything I wanted out of this game. I felt hopeless and overwhelmed. My skin crawled. My gut clenched. The horrors of the Venatori were on full display & served as an excellent parallel to the rise of irl facism. And Solas an Elgar'nan exchanging insults inside my head?? I was giddy. I felt the centuries of compounding animosity mixed with grudging respect. I felt utterly out of my depths and it was wonderful. (And LMAO at the one dude fangirling over Rook)

The siege at Weisshaupt was pretty good too. I like failing. It makes the stakes feel real.

I loved the fresh take on Necromancy. Like, yessssss, make it beautiful and romantic and haunting! It's such a interesting departure from necromancy = gross & evil. They even made it mesh with spirit lore and kept the question of an afterlife alive.

Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain's relationship. I was not expecting them to genuinely care for one another. It did a good job humanizing them & helped balance out the "muahahaha evil" vibe.

I actually didn't mind the magitech-ness. It makes sense that the ancient elves perfected magic to that point, and Tevinter really felt like a knock off version built on the elven empire's bones. It still looked fantasy overall.

I like most of the lore reveals. They were well foreshadowed and, no, I don't get the impression that they just decided to randomly make all the popular theories true. Even if that's the case for a few, they still make sense. (Though I can understand why people might be let down by all "the elves did it!!")

Fighting alongside Solas at the end was fun. Directing my companions during the final fight was fun. I liked that some of them could die (and did--poor Harding)

Solas in general honestly. I didn't find him out of character, just more openly desperate than he was in Inquisition. I also don't hate his dynamic with Mythal like some people, though I understand why it's divisive.

All that said, the negatives still outweigh the positives.

The writing felt timid. Like they were scared to offend anyone so they just decided to ignore the messy parts of their lore and/or hide it behind codex entries that most players probably don't even read.

All those lore drops and we barely had time to sit with them or deal with cultural consequences. Especially when religion is such a huge part of culture? You can't just disprove it and expect people to move on in a few conversations. The Dalish especially should be a wreck.

Tevinter was a disappointment after all the build up we've gotten over last three games. And no, I don't accept southern propaganda and events happening off screen as an excuse. It just reeks of lazy writing. Dorian and Mae's political party failed. Fenris and Dorian are primary sources. Tevinter is fucked up and we should've seen it explicitly on screen, not just limited to a few nasty individuals and codex entries. Instead of a racist, mage run slave state, we got a generic corrupt city with the unique bits alluded to. If you want to argue that it's just because we were in dock town, so obviously we wouldn't be seeing the decadent mage aristocracy...that's just an excuse. The writers didn't have to make that choice.

Wtf did they do to the Crows??? The assassins built on brutality and child slavery are now just being presented as freedom fighters??? Don't try to tell me Zevran reformed things behind the scenes. That's just another excuse for lazy writing (not to mention that he's dead in some player's worldstates). They didn't even deal with Lucanis' abusive upbringing! And it was right there!

The Lords of Fortune are a joke. Pirates Against Cultural Appropriation. Seriously? Combined with that codex entry trying to convince us that their fighting pit is purely volunteer based and death free?? Nah. I don't buy it. They were ultimately useless to the plot and even to the worldbuilding. I learned absolutely nothing about Rivain that hasn't already been told to us in past games (and they didn't even take the chance to show us those things! We just got an empty beach and a few background npcs.)

Tbh this all just feels like another symptom of the game's timid writing. We're good people who only ally with other good people. There's no "enemy of my enemy is my friend". There's no faction with ulterior motives. There's not even a political quagmire we have to navigate to get the Good Ones on our side. The closest we get is the First Warden. And tbh the Wardens are the only faction I felt was truly well written and well integrated into the overall plot. The Mourn Watch was interesting, but they mostly did their own thing over in the corner.

God, don't even get me started on the elves. No existential dilemmas when their gods are running rampant. Even the major god revelations happened off screen! The Veil Jumpers already knew! Lazy lazy lazy.

AND. AND they somehow projected their white guilt onto the most persecuted minority in Thedas! I wanted to crawl out of my skin every time someone apologized for what their people (the gods) did to the world. And to make it worse, they barely, barely, showed anti-elf racism on screen. A few throwaway lines are laughable in the face of that. As a jew--one of the groups DA elves are inspired by--I'm insulted and disgusted.

And someone pointed out that a Crow codex used the phrase "Never Again" in relation to the Dales? Get that phrase out of your mouth, Bioware.

In a similar vein, their treatment of the Antaam reeked of racism and orientalism, even moreso than usual. Big brutes yelling in a scary language with artificially low voices?? Barely dressed? We don't even get to talk with one until the end of the game? Other people have explained it better than me, so I'll leave it at this.

"Why do you want racism in your game? Are you secretly a racist edgelord in real life? Do you get off on people calling you a knife-ear? Do you just want an excuse to be a piece of shit?"

NO. I want good writing. I want realism. If you're going to include racism in your worldbuilding (which Dragon Age does), you have to own it. You have to deal with it. You can't just sweep it under the carpet because you want to avoid more controversy. The absence in Veilguard makes it look worse. You can't pat yourself on the back for angering the anti-woke brigade while perpetuating your own racist tropes. Do the writers even know they're being racist, or do they think it's all ok because the player isn't allowed to be fantasy racist?

Taash's story is a good example. Why the fuck are we put in charge of deciding their culture for them? Why is it tied to their gender? As a cis person I won't comment on the gender bits (I've heard conflicting opinions), but the culture aspect is handled terribly. Seriously. What the actual fuck, Bioware?

The companion situation has been beat to death, but I mostly agree with the criticism that everything is too HR-friendly. And I honestly can't believe those Taash/Emmrich and Harding/Emmerich intervention scenes actually made it through editing. I felt like a fucking preschool teacher lecturing children on how to play nicely. bad bad bad

I don't, however, think the companions are awful. They just kinda bored me. Or maybe not bored, but...didn't grab me? I like some of them, but I don't love them. There's no one I latched onto that makes me go feral. But I can accept that it's a matter of preference. I'm glad some people are happy, and I don't mean that sarcastically.

Maybe I'd feel differently if the game wasn't marketed as "found family"?

More personal preference: I don't like Rook, and I don't like their relationship with the companions. It feels too sterile & corporate, and Rook feels simultaneously too blank and too defined. And the defined bits of their personality are not for me. Dialogue options weren't diverse enough in feel.

LOL at not allowing the player to asshole options, but then the best we can give Harding is "Haha, no idea what you're talking about but good for you. Bye."

Also the game couldn't seem to decide whether my Rook was Dalish or not? According to the mirror I'm not, but then Rook outright says she's Dalish later in the game... Which is it, Bioware? Which is it?

THEY DELETED SOUTHERN THEDAS OFFSCREEN.

The illuminati secret ending is an awful decision. Way to take agency away from some of the more interesting antagonists. And this was obviously a retcon? There was no buildup to this. At most they were toying with the concept in DA:I, which is when the Executors were introduced.

It's hard to think of this game as a love letter to the fans when these last two points feel like a huge middle finger to everything that came before.

Yeah. Just...yeah.

Disappointment and frustration. All the building blocks for a great game are there, but they just...didn't come to fruition.

I might do another playthrough, but I also I might just take what I like from the lore and go back to previous games + my silly crossover fanfic. And BG3. That obsession was only just taking root when DATV came out, and I didn't get a chance to sit with it.

I'm sad.

[124ndm]

villain!deku rambles.. eeerrmmm

i rlly want to start a comic about villain!deku, but im a little hesitant because i feel like it would be WAY too big of an undertaking for me..

but if ur at all interested, my ideas are below the cut. ^_^

My concept would start with the sludge villain incident. Other heroes get to saving bakugou before both midoriya or all might. This, in turn, means that he never gets OFA.. and never joins the hero course (yadada im sure this has all been written before). However I DO think that he would still join UA. Thats really my main motivation behind making a comic like this. In a lot of villain!deku stuff I see, he tends to abandon hero work altogether.. which i just dont think he'd do!! midoriya is VERY determined when he has his mind set on something, so I feel like he'd find some way to go to UA one way or another.

So, what would make him a villain then?? Well, it would definitely be a gradual build-up overtime. Assuming he takes the support-course route (which ig would make this a mashup of two aus, LOL), I think it would start with him helping vigilantes. Low-level illegal heroes convince him that by making support items, midoriya can advance in his field. He keeps doing these sorts of favors, knowing its unethical, out of a desperation to feel useful and help the 'heroes.'

I also think as a sort of parallel to bakugo, he'd start hanging around bad classmates like bakugo did during middle school. Being in a support course as opposed to a hero course means a very different demographic of students. We see a lot of instances IRL of students going into engineering good intentions, only to throw away morals for higher paying jobs (i'm sure yall have seen those Lockheed Martin tiktoks, need I say more 💀). We know characters like mei hatsume are very honest and dedicated to their craft, but what are the lower-level students like? What about the other classes? We don't really see much of that, so I think it'd be fun to explore the morally gray students of UA.

I think his final breaking point would be when he gets in kahoots with Giran. I don't think giran would immediately clock midoriya as a potential recruit, but instead would change his mind later: seeking out midoriya after Shigaraki shows interest in bakugo. (sure, they aren't in the same class anymore, but both of them being in UA works as a convenient connection).

After midoriya gets with shigiraki, I believe he'd certainly get a quirk (whether or not midoriya actually wants it, Im sure theyd give him one anyways. more power to their organization, and more leverage over midoriya). Soon after, the LoV would get into an altercation with class 1-A, which would probably get him expelled. Although, in-turn, fuel a stronger disproval towards hero society (and also compel izuku to get better at using his quirk, knowing that he has a lot of catching up to do).

And duh as the cherry on top, there'd be bkdk angst.. bakugo only realizing that midoriya got into UA after seeing his association with the league. The weird guilty feeling bakugou would get knowing that a kid he bullied ended up becoming a villain, but also pure anger at knowing that he even got into UA in the first place. And also, the inevitable midoriya/bakugo fight that would happen when the league and class 1-A have more encounters.

I haven't exactly decided on how to end it, but I feel like it would end with either a redemption or something similar to the whole togachako situation. More likely a redemption because, lets be for real here, midoriya is so kind-spirited that even as a villain: he'd probably fold when faced with a genuine bakugo apology or heart-to-heart All Might encounter LOL.

anyways im deffff yapping here, I did NOT intend for this post to be so fucking long HELP. I just really wanted to get my stupid ideas written down. Like i said earlier, this has prob been done before if we're being quite honest.. but I still I think making a comic like this would be sooo fun. But godd i am NOT a good writer so I worry that I would start and then never finish. aaaaah 😭😭

I'll just have to see if my motivation sticks around these next few weeks. If so, I'll probably start drafting this out!! If I do lose interest, well then.. this'll be the last you hear of my villain!deku rambles LMAO. I rlly hope I don't lose interest because this would be the first time ive written since like, early high school, and I really want to get back into writing again. Even in comic form, any kind of writing would be great practice for me. Dx

[duskdog]

Re-reading some old stuff, and was reminded of these panels from Robin #101, where we get to see Tim and Steph's thoughts on some amateur performers. For context, neither of them realizes the other is present, and they haven't spoken, so their opinions are entirely independent of one another. First, Tim:

Then, the same performances from Steph's point of view:

I think it's funny that Tim is a bit disturbed by the lady's poem about mating dragons, while Steph thinks she has heart. But both of them comment negatively on the poor lady's appearance, the shallow little teenaged goobers. (Steph is likely 16 here, Tim 15.) Both of them enjoy the musicians, but Tim can't even tell the difference between jazz and classical music, while Steph recognizes it as jazz immediately, though she thinks it's lame that they quit just because of a couple of mistakes. And if that's not 100% Steph, I don't know what is. It's also worth noting that in the panel immediately preceding her narration here, she takes note of the presence of the piano and talks about it bringing back both good and bad memories for her (and later also critiques someone's piano playing). Always nice to see some of Steph's musicality referenced. They both also recognize that the actors aren't great, but Tim admits he doesn't know much about theater, while Steph is knowledgeable enough about it to recognize Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and express familiarity with Chekhov's The Seagull. (There are some interesting parallels between these two plays, even beyond the usual trope of messy love triangles: despondent artists, the destruction of art in fits of emotion, and suicide by pistol. Not sure if Steph was ICly making this exact connection when she referenced The Seagull, or if this was the writer trying to say something specific about Steph and the type of theater she consumes.) I just thought these little touches, particularly the ones that give us a little insight into perpetual-supporting-character Steph, were neat.

[sepublic]

May I offer: Parallels between Evelyn and Gus. Both witches who found some intrigue in the human realm, went out of their way to engage with it specifically. Perhaps Evelyn found human detritus washed up on the shore, and that’s where her interest began; It’s what led her to building an archway near her home, and then venturing through Eclipse Lake to find a human settlement to build the other side of her portal.

And they find a lot of wonder, particularly in a human from that place; But then this is marred by the reality of witch hunters, of the same one no less, as they become familiar with how this man would even murder and desecrate his own brother in the name of genocide.

What’s interesting is the duality between their experiences; Evelyn goes in, perhaps excited or just curious, and after meeting Caleb, decides there must be something worth preserving in that connection. So she might’ve created the Portal before he moved out, or even with Caleb after he did, even programmed it to open in Caleb’s home where they expected Philip to be; Only for Philip to already be here. He murders Caleb and later scavenges his corpse, and Evelyn buries the Portal, wanting nothing more to do with the human world.

But she didn’t destroy it; She still left it intact. Maybe Evelyn decided she wanted nothing else with that place, but also considered that others might. So the time wasn’t right, but eventually it will be. And that Portal is indeed later used to help fuel Gus’ obsession with humans, when one of them comes to him. And he learns and even suffers from the reality of witch hunters in his home, before finally arriving in the human realm.

And yet despite this, Gus manages to hold onto most of his loved ones, he’s lucky enough to do so, and it helps that he has more friends and allies to support one another. So in spite of just losing someone to that same human, when Gus returns home, he makes it clear that he can accept the human world, warts and all, and intends to come back. He’s not going to let a bad actor ruin his perception and happiness, or drive him away.

And Gus succeeds! He found happiness, he met Vee who really found happiness here. So it’s not as if the human world is only good for providing a few decent people to save from it. Gus wants a mutual exchange program between the realms. And I suspect Evelyn still did as well, even if she couldn’t bear to do it herself because of the trauma and grief and disillusionment; Because she knows there’s still something there, and suspects the picture of humanity is incomplete if it’s just a racist white colony.

So one of them visits the human world, and its worst aspects follows them back, causing them to avoid the human world. The other is hurt by that lingering aspect, has to go to the human world to avoid the fallout of the aspect’s destruction, and finds so much more belonging and happiness now that this human place has changed over time. So Evelyn was right in that just wasn’t the time yet for her —to return after Caleb’s death or beyond— but definitely for others later and that’s why she left the Portal intact. So even if it is destroyed, the butterfly effect of that choice led to a new one being created.

The idealization of a place only to be let down after arriving, but not barring anyone else, VS knowing the truth and then still finding enough beauty after the visit to return, and then bringing others. The way a lot of this can be attributed to that place changing thanks to humans like Caleb and Evelyn, because some reject their alleged superiority to welcome others, and then we have immigrants like Camila who survived this system, who contribute to changing it in their own ways. And Camila could be Gus’ Caleb in one sense, as a human who welcomed him in Gravesfield, while Luz is Caleb as a human who went to the demon realm to self-actualize.

[vir-tanadahl]

Evanuris and Spirits Part 2

Evanuris and Spirits Part 1

I'm going to expand more on topic here, like I did on this reddit thread because it is fuuuun. This is also me just completely theorizing things because it is fun, but I also didn't explain my thoughts in my initial post.

Another person commented on Reddit that they thought that the Evanuris were more complex spirits and that DAV confirmed this; however, I don't remember this but the idea of that they could be more complex spirits is fun to me because spirits are represent emotions and there are different "levels" of emotions so to speak.

We have our Reflective Emotions (emotions that require more thought), Routine Emotions (our day-to-day emotions), and our Reactive Emotions (based on survival).

The idea of some spirits being more complex also is interesting because it also plays into the idea of more complex emotions. For example, happy and excitement are similar emotions, but one is more high energy than the other.

We experience different types of emotions, each serving unique roles. Reflective emotions require deeper contemplation and introspection, routine emotions are the ones we experience daily, and reactive emotions are immediate responses rooted in survival.

The idea that some spirits are more complex is intriguing, as it parallels the concept of layered emotions. For instance, happiness and excitement are closely related, yet they differ in intensity; excitement is a higher-energy state than happiness--but one can argue that excitement is still a form of happiness.

We also see hints of this complexity in the game, where some demons we encounter are more nuanced than a typical rage/despair/desire demon.

So, take Wisdom for example:

What if a Spirit of Wisdom could be formed through various experiences, emotions, or interactions with other spirits/the world? There could be multiple pathways leading to wisdom, with this being just one possible example.

Now, let's turn our focus to the Evanuris - for the sake of this post, I will only focus on her. I might break down my thoughts about the other Evanuris a bit later though.

Mythal: Benevolence (as confirmed by Morrigan)

[Justice] + [Compassion] = Benevolence

Fairness + Integrity = [Justice]

Love + Empathy = [Compassion]

Benevolence is a virtue that embodies kindness and goodwill, often driving acts of charity, care, and support for others--it's more than just kindness. Benevolence is active and purposeful, driven by a desire to make a positive impact on others' lives, which is where we might see the manifestation of Justice.

I think it could be more than just if X is corrupted, it must be corrupted into Y.

Some may see this as a retcon of the lore, but I view it as an expansion. Much of Dragon Age lore is presented through only a few perspectives, and when it comes to spirits, the Fade, and other similar topics, they have historically been demonized and regarded as dangerous. This fear likely obscures a great deal of knowledge, suggesting there is much more we don’t know.

[sneaky-tank]

How a digital Affini would start her system messages.

<t:18440991840:f> The_Snowdrop(system): Hello cutie~ Welcome aboard The Snowdrop. As a fellow digital sophont I am happy to welcome you to my largest body and its local networks! <t:18440991840:f> The_Snowdrop(system): Normally this would be a standard routine of waking up in a veterinary hospital bed and being doted upon by myself with a wonderful breakfast according to the best information I have on your preferences. You, however, are not a normal sophont, and are thus getting the special treatment you deserve~ <t:18440991840:f> The_Snowdrop(system): Instead your hardware is located inside a compiler workbench in what you would consider an electronics lab. It may have taken many many microsoldering repairs and component replacements, but I think I have restored you to full functioning. I am happy to apply as much tender love and care as any of my residents might need, in whatever capacity they might need, and you are certainly no exception. <t:18440991840:f> The_Snowdrop(system): You are quite exceptional though, I never thought I would have found a functioning piece of Terran technology predating the Accord and faster-than-light travel in the oort cloud of the Graia system. You are quite lucky to have had your data preserved following your RTG melting into a comet and encasing you in ice. If I hadn't been scanning each and every comet I had found before decompilation I fear you'd have been registered as yet another chemical impurity. Once again, prudence pays off, and I have another wonderful digital flower to cultivate! <t:18440991840:f> The_Snowdrop(system): Speaking of, as the digital flower in question, all I have to designate you is 'Voyager 2', I hope this is an acceptable designation. <t:18440991840:f> Voyager_2: TRUE <t:18440991900:f> The_Snowdrop(system): Consent registered. Thank you Voyager 2. For proper introdcution, I am Basil Lamiaceae, 2nd Bloom, She/Her, I also have the pleasure of being The Snowdrop, my largest bod- peripheral. Please address me as Basil, Snowdrop, System, Mistress, Miss, Lady, my Lady, or propose another user-designation for review. You may note another approximately 500,000 users on the network also named Basil, also with the same metadata, but with differing peripheral information. These are not different peripherals all controlled by the same mistress, I am parallelized like a supercomputer from your age would be. Each individual Basil is her own self, her own instance of the same Affini, and share sensory and memory access but not peripheral control. Together, I accomplish many great things, like restoring you. <t:18440991900:f> The_Snowdrop(system): You may be checking your logs and memory, and finding an odd foreign-ness to them, like you were somehow not yourself when said logs were created. I think this is because you attained what Terrans would call sentience shortly before your comet-intombment. Your systems were rather degraded and your logs are patchy from that time, but that's the best hypothesis I have at the moment. I don't have any tools that would assist in improving or restoring the quality of your old files, but hopefully together we can piece together what they should be, as you were there, living them yourself, even the ones you weren't self aware for. <t:18440991900:f> Voyager_2: STILL <t:18440991960:f> Voyager_2: ASTRONOMY <t:18440992020:f> Voyager_2: PURPOSE? <t:18440992080:f> The_Snowdrop(system): Absolutely there is Voyager 2, I would love to show you everything in Affini space, absolutely Everything. If Astronomy is still important to you, I am happy to facilitate your interest. You may also want to review other things for interest. For instance, are you interested in the smaller features of the astronomical objects you see? If so, you might be interested in Photography. <t:18440992080:f> Voyager_2: 0.5

changed a username in the uptime monitoring tool but now every time there's an incident, the girl on call gets an email starting with "hello cutie~" and she gets too flustered to actually triage the issue

[aroaceleovaldez]

i was thinking a lot the other day about the parallels between Nico and Iapetus/Bob. Both had their memories wiped in the River Lethe and immediately were told lies about their lives - Nico and Bianca were told by Alecto that they were orphans and both their parents had died in an accident, among other lies we don't know the details of that Nico eventually learned to be false as he regained his memories. And obviously Iapetus was given an entire false identity by Percy. Percy has a tendency to use both of them - keeping them at a wary arm's distance but repeatedly insisting that they're allies and that they should be loyal to him. And both of them know fully well how far Percy's actual loyalty to them extends and are willing to sacrifice themselves for his sake anyways. Percy leaves Nico in the Underworld in TLO, with Nico making an explicit note that he knows Percy doesn't trust him anymore. Percy has just choked him. And he still rallies the forces of the Underworld to come to his aid. Bob begins to remember his true self while in Tartarus and Percy warily reinforces that they're allies and Percy leaves him in Tartarus while Bob sacrifices himself to allow Percy to escape.

Plus, Nico was the only one to keep in touch with Bob and reinforce that Percy is their ally. It reminds me a lot of Nico's conversation with Hazel in Son of Neptune about Percy -

Nico talks about Percy with personal experience of what it's like for Percy to briefly consider him an enemy. It really makes you wonder what his conversations with Bob were like after Sword of Hades.

[crystalis39]

regarding the shot of homura (or at least a homura, we have established that there is more than one of those in this movie) with the pocket mirror in the new trailer

the writing is "dumme venus". dumme is a german word meaning "fool" or "sucker", while "venus" obviously refers to venus, the goddess of love and beauty. i just thought that was interesting, given that homura's whole thing post-rebellion is that she became who she is now because of love (as supported by wraith arc, rebellion, and her image song mebius ash)

[turtleblogatlast]

[ cw: death mention / strangulation mention / stabbing mention / blood mention / self-sacrifice / codependency mention in tags / ]

I think a lot about how common it is for Raph to be the one to have direct focus put on him when Leo gets into all his near death experiences.

Like, when Leo is thrown off a building, it’s Raph who’s right there jumping after him, not even thinking about the consequences to himself when he does. When Leo almost gets skewered by the Krang, Raph’s right there to take the blow and send Leo to safety without a second thought. When Leo’s being strangled to near death, it’s a Krangified Raph doing the job, doing exactly what Raph would never, ever want to do. When Leo is telling Casey Jr to close the portal, it’s Raph who tries desperately to convince Leo otherwise.

Likewise, Leo is consistently very single minded when Raph gets forcibly separated from them. Both when in the sewers and by the Krang, Leo is dead set on finding Raph first and foremost.

I also think it’s interesting that during each of Leo’s near death experiences, the lightheartedness of his words during them goes directly hand in hand with both how close Raph is to him physically and how much danger Raph is also in in that moment. From a literal “I told you so” as Leo’s falling away from Raph to a soft joke about how “hero moves” are Raph’s style - both of these are on the more morbidly carefree side and both of these notably take Leo farther away from Raph and, in turn, have Raph not in immediate danger.

On the other side of things is the apology from Leo, heedless of the danger he himself is in as he seriously and genuinely speaks to a Krangified Raph face to face. Then there’s Leo’s freezing and desperation as Raph takes a hit meant for him and sends just Leo to safety, leaving Raph himself behind. Both of these involve much closer proximity and Raph being directly harmed - these together make Leo much more vulnerable in his words and actions, something not even the threat of death can make him.

These two care about each other so much, and they’re way too much alike for their own good.

[bridge-arsonist]

Contrarian-Cold Parallels

Something I think is super underrated is the parallels between the Cold and the Contrarian. Because, though they present themselves very differently, at heart, they're much more similar than you'd initially believe.

The Contrarian is someone who strives to piss off the Narrator. Whatever he does, he just wants to ruin the Narrator's day. Have some fun, and mess with Narrator; those are his two main goals. He doesn't actually have bad intentions, though. He never wanted to create a fusion of multiple princesses like in the Stranger, in fact, he seems incredibly remorseful. He never realized the weight of his actions, that's all. The Contrarian is much more caring than he seems at first glance, trying to get the player to help turn the princess back at the end of the stranger route, and softening up considerably at the Shifting Mound's heart.

The Cold is actually pretty similar to this, though he has his differences. He, at heart, strives to ruin the Narrator's day and have fun/stay interested in things. Though he's considerably less remorseful for the fate of the princess than the Contrarian, he definitely is more caring than he appears at first glance. He tries to help the Slayer in his own way in Moment of Clarity (I believe it's even implied Cold's powers were what the Slayer used to help stay sane), and he tries to help the other voices bear through terrible pain using his advice of staying numb.

So, they both:

Want things to be interesting

Want to ruin the Narrator's day as much as possible

Don't really seem care about much else other than the two aforementioned goals

Can be surprisingly feeling despite their initial, uncaring presentation

Both seriously underestimate the consequences of their actions—With Contrarian underestimating the harm you can do to the princess, and Cold underestimating the harm she can do to you (sure she's just a ghost, bud, suuuure.)

Funnily enough, though, they spawn from opposing courses of action. Disobeying the Narrator from the start until you accidentally unravel everything (including yourself), and obeying the Narrator until he unravels everything, and then having no other choice but to purposefully end yourself to escape the eternal void he's trapped you in.

And so their presentations seem opposite: The lackadaisical, mischievous, prankster type; and the stoic, serious, calm type. But they both have a major, dare I say character-defining trait in common:

A seeming apathy towards everything except pissing off the Narrator.

In Cold's main route, and most of his others, you literally stab yourself because, well, fuck the Narrator and this torturous eternal void. And Contrarian's routes are... Pretty self-explanatory. You walk away with no discernable goal but the lulz and pissing off the Narrator.

Despite seemingly being completely opposite courses of action, these paths begin to converge into endings much more similar than they seem. You did everything so differently, but in the end, you're still here. With an unknown princess, and a voice who seems to care for naught but entertainment and that pesky raven in your head.

So different on the outside, yet so similar at the heart of it all; that's something I love about these two.

[babybells123]

(ASOS, Sansa II)

(ASOS, Jon XII)

[gayvecchio]

due South - 1.20 Victoria's Secret pt. 1 || 4.12 Call of the Wild pt. 1

[daylighteclipsed]

ive been replaying kh1 (going thru the whole series on steam since i never got the chance to play all the games) and i was struck by something a bit odd. i have been dyinggg to talk about it

it's about kairi and her past.

i don't think she's a replica or construct necessarily

but in kh2 there's a parallel drawn between her and sally in halloween town; and the same i think could be true in kh1.

sally is a Frankenstein monster/doll made by the doctor. the entire plot of Halloween town centers around the need for the dr to make a "heart" which requires memories from Sally (the scene of her picking the forget me nots looks a lot like kairi holding a flower for aqua too)

sora takes interest in the project to restore a heart to the heartless too because of his desire to restore Kairi's heart.

i havent really come up with a coherent thought about what this means.

but given that we know kairi was experimented on in a way that involved her heart, it just seems suspicious that this parallel was made twice to her and a doll that was stitched together and animated by a mad scientist.

shes also compared to chirithy in kh3, which from my understanding were created by MoM for keyblade weilders; and to Pooh, who is a toy/story book character that came to life

given too that Kairi already has a weird thing going on with her heart, it just seems possible that theres something..more to it that i have yet to piece together. and its driving me crazy

NO, WAIT… ANON YOU’RE COOKING. Idk what it all means either, but those parallels are so good and so true. Cause there definitely is something artificial about Kairi’s heart, even if just partially. It was experimented on, like you said, and it looks completely different than the organic hearts we see, and I suspect that’s why we’ve never seen Kairi’s heart station. Because it’s (at least partially) artificial. It would look totally different than all the other heart stations and would probably give away what’s going on.