#but also the general overall stance of the game and how we going about leading stanley around

[squuote]

the way the broom closet and the infinite hole being nearly parallels to the other in that they are both areas of the game that stanley has immense attachment to but the narrator doesn’t understand why and makes an entirely huge fuss about his confusion for the affection towards these areas. I think what makes the infinite hole just as funny is the fact that despite succeeding in making a new game feature that stanley seems to really enjoy, he’s so much more focused on the fact that stanley is enjoying it the “wrong” way. aspects of the game that go hand in hand with the bucket.

[raviollies]

My Full Thoughts since I remember people following me for NG art [ spoilers for the game & ending ] :

I may be biased as I wasn't the biggest fan of Death Mark 1 either - and I very much love love love Spirit Hunter NG - but this game felt...rushed?

I'll start with things I liked cause it's Unfortunately Smaller Than What I Disliked:

I liked the final Departed design! I think overall I actually enjoyed the Departed more than Mary and Kakuya, along with the folklore of Mushikabi, and the ancient rituals for old gods, it felt like my alley of horror. Mold and Insects are kind of generally overlooked in horror, so it was real neat. Kakuya had that flavour too, and Mary....I found Mary's final form bad. Sorry.

The environments are super pretty, and I particularly liked the Fox Forest a lot. Fox Laccata made for a very eerie backdrop to a lot of the scares

I didn't quite expect it but the game takes a very mature and hard stance on student/teacher relationships and explains very well why it's inappropriate. After so many VNs just casually having them, it was surprising to see. Good for them!

Horror atmosphere is good as usual - they have really good grasp of how to describe things in a really creepy and unsettling way. Just reading some of the shit made my skin crawl.

THE SOUND DESIGN....my god the ambience and the noises the ghosts make are fucking horrific in a good way. It gives such an unsettling feeling to hear the spirits voices, I wish more games went with the kind of distortion they go for.

Michiho's room being untouched since August after the clocktower incident. I think it's a great story telling beat, I just wish it came earlier and was a little more subtle. Overall I think it's an excellent way to show someone's is being possessed.

The horror of interacting with two girls only to find out they're literally just flesh piloted by an angry spirit.

Now things I Disliked:

First of all - it relied extremely heavily on you caring for the characters from the first one. It didn't develop or flesh them out at all, and considering it's been some time since Death Mark 1, I hand on heart didn't remember a lot of them. Spirit Hunter solved this by having a consistent cast that stayed with you the entire game and that's why you felt...compelled to save them. They're your friends. You KNOW Hazuki, and Amanome! That and well - the obvious of the cast being way too fucking big. Like physically what was the purpose of Abe, aside an extra name????

I know the game wanted you to develop a fondness for Michiho and Himeko, but i forreal just felt uncomfortable with them, especially with constant pushing of their company onto a Grown Man that very much told them in plain text "you make me uncomfortable. Stop it." It's extra bad because the game takes a hard stance on their relationship to Yashiki, and he constantly tells them no, and it just felt...icky. I KNOW they're possessed by the spooky ghost, but it just makes me so confused when the game tries to pull 'their innocent smiles ...their gentle reassurance' on you, like I'm sorry we talking about Mrs. Harassment over here?

Speaking of the girls but my god was it obvious. Guys. Come on - you're better than this. It was so obvious they might as well have worn a stamp on their forehead saying 'IM THE DEPARTED'

This leads me to the...fanservice....It's bad. I don't think I need to expand on this... It's bizarre how bad it is considering NG took a massive step back from it. I don't know why they reverted back to it in full force.

The ghosts were also...underwhelming to put it mildly - and plain goofy to be frank. Again I hate to keep comparing to NG but....bro. I genuinely don't like a single spirit design from the main ones except the Departed.

The end felt weirdly rushed with how quickly we found out everything about the Departed in 1 chapter while doing fuckall for the previous 6. I think getting teeny hints through out the entire game would have been more satisfying in solving the mystery...that and I wish it wasn't LITERALLY SPELLED OUT FOR YOU.

The true end is bad. There. I said it. I hate how it brings back the girls with all their creepiness (derogatory), it cheapens the horror of interacting with a corpse, and kind of is just...bizarre. The normal good end is the best one and fits the tone of the series. I can tell the girls were the writers favourites and Its So Unfortunate When You Don't Like Them.

Anyway play Spirit Hunter NG. Death Mark 2 isn't bad because I do still enjoy the series, but I think it's a downgrade from the second one. I'd put it around the same as Death mark 1, with maybe slightly above because I did like the atmosphere and the Departed, might draw them. Spirit Hunter NG still sweeps.

Finished Manlys run of Death Mark ii and man I love this VN series...it's a shame that their marketing is almost entirely Japan exclusive, I wanna buy merch 😔

[lifeaftermeteor]

Hey, I love your content and work for the GW fandom, and it's wonderful that you censored OP's url, but I don't think it's a great look to publicly vaguepost someone in a major tag where they'll probably see it, even if they did say something rude. Their post was rude, but it was *general*. Vagueposting most often targets one, specific person, and if it's easy to find their post (which it was), it can lead to them getting unduly harassed.

I sat with this for awhile this evening, considering how best to respond. I considered not responding at all. Yet here we are...

"Not a good look." You're right. The whole thing could've passed without anyone being the wiser if I hadn't capped it.

But...here's the thing. Pointing to the fandom (again, a 25+ year old fandom) and saying other fans themselves are "creepy and disgusting" and are "polluting" the fandom by making and enjoying content of the main characters and telling people to "go to hell" over adult content is not a vent about squicks. It is anti BS at its core and is fair game when you tag the whole damn fandom. That is inherently different from being squicked out by certain genres/content, or even complaining about the creative direction writers for canon/auxiliary content took the characters and their stories.

I know some have said I'm 'keen on neutrality' and that's true...in specific settings, i.e. I expect mods of fandom Discord servers or events to remain professional in that role and setting and stay above the fandom fray IN THAT SPACE. As a moderator, you have a responsibility to your community because you are providing a service and/or a platform to the fandom writ large. It's not your personal sandbox anymore, and you have to act accordingly there.

As an individual, I have personally spoken out against...

racism, bigotry, and other hate

fans who condemn others' headcanons and interpretation of canon

people trying to divide the fandom along shipping war lines of yore

unprofessionalism of mods and organizers

making assumptions about fans' IRL interests based on their fandom interests

anti rhetoric overall

I have also DEFENDED peoples' rights to have opinions in their personal spaces, even when it stirred up drama or other shenanigans. [NOTE: This includes both folks I disagreed with, as well as people I considered friends from whom I apparently caught a block from today. To each their own.]

Didn't see any of that offense or defense happening? That was intentional - sometimes you get better results with personal conversations when emotions are running high.

So I gotta ask you anon...am I not afforded that same right to a personal opinion and a personal stance on a personal blog? The OP tagged the fandom, so I tagged the fandom. Hell, I could've reblogged my opinions DIRECTLY from them (which I had actually considered this morning) but KNEW folks would pile on and I didn't want to drown their notifications in people being contrary. And I'll be first in line to fight off anon hate going to the individual if I hear about it 'cause that is also some shit I don't tolerate.

TL;DR -- if some rando on the internet can call a whole lot of us creepy and disgusting, then I - some other rando on the internet - can say that's a crappy attitude and it's got no space on my dash or in my fandom.

[wedreamedlove]

Xu Mo vs. Mo Yi [Character Study]

I can never get over the aesthetic of these two pictures placed side by side LOL. But, anyway, the point of this post is to nip any undue comparisons in the bud and claims of copying organize my thoughts and compare these two characters to highlight their similarities, differences, and further explore each character through these contrasts.

Q) If you like Xu Mo, would you like Mo Yi?

Honestly, I think this depends on what you like most about Xu Mo. I already knew beforehand that I gravitate towards characters who think 5 steps ahead, are predominantly logical, and scholars/gentlemen, so it’s not surprising I bias both Xu Mo and Mo Yi.

However, as I got to know Mo Yi further (Themis is around 6 months old now), I find that he’s distinctively different from Xu Mo on three crucial points that’ll determine whether people from either camp will like the other character.

1) Stance on Others

In a post for Xu Mo, “Into Your World”, I argued that Xu Mo is an alienated genius who had troubles getting along with others, until he mastered the social game as an adult. However, you can still see glimpses of this as he tries to understand MC’s world and shares his own.

To be fair, Mo Yi’s past is still under wraps but I feel confident in saying that, while he was probably highly intelligent compared to his peers [SR Sculpted Heart], his isolation doesn’t seem to come from his innate nature but rather his social position (there’s heavy implications that he’s like some sort of noble or something) [SR Snowy Pine Fairytale].

IMO, these backgrounds really shaped the way these two men interact with the world.

Xu Mo has a detached and indifferent view towards other people. They simply exist and don’t bring anything positive or negative to him. His ambition to ensure the survival of humanity reflects this too because it’s pure utilitarianism; everyone (apart from MC) can be sacrificed equally for the greater good. If anything, he probably finds other people to be interesting subjects to study, no matter what kind of person they are. IIRC the only time he expressed dislike to people, or a group of people, was when he told Hades he enjoyed killing thieves LOL.

Meanwhile, Mo Yi has an elitist streak to the point where he and his MC actually clashed opinions and debated each other [SR Warm Fingertips]. It’s incredibly ironic because he’s a psychiatrist who treats his patients without judgment, but at the same time he looks down on so many things and people (PUAs, people who betray love, hypocrites who only seek power and fame) [Ch2; Personal Story Ch1-3; SSR Moonlit Ball].

One of the things I noticed early on is that Xu Mo draws from the Eastern scholar archetype, “Xu Mo Character Study”, while Mo Yi actually draws more from the Western gentleman archetype.

So, just to summarize this section, Xu Mo is detached from the world naturally and likes to observe people and try to blend in. Mo Yi deliberately draws a line between him and others and, at times, has the casual cruelty of someone born as nobility (arrogance is carved into his bones, even if he tends to keep it low-key because he generally has a “gentle and polite” attitude).

2) Stance on Love

Xu Mo didn’t understand love, or really even emotions. Love is grown between him and his MC (there’s multiple analogies throughout the game about how their love is like a seed). I think [Ch25] pretty much sums it up for Xu Mo, where he goes through that emotional rollercoaster and muses about how, at the end of human evolution, emotions should be discarded. He also admits that MC taught him the “fear” of a normal person, because now he has someone he cannot give up no matter what, which goes against his previous utilitarian beliefs.

Compared to this, Mo Yi fell in love at first sight. Yes, you read that right. The “scientist and logical” archetype fell in love at first sight LOL. Not only does he acknowledge it right off the bat, but he fully embraces it too and believes that real love makes people better versions of themselves [Personal Story]. Mo Yi is a through and through psychiatrist in that he never underestimates how primal emotions (and love) can be.

Heck, not only is this central to his personal story, but we also have hints that one of Mo Yi’s parents fell in love at first sight with the other person (and he inherited their predisposition for that). Unfortunately, their love had a tragic end and Mo Yi seems to have a huge grudge against his father for whatever happened to his mother (again, Mihoyo is keeping this a mystery LOL), but Mo Yi explicitly confirms that even if his love leads to a tragic end he will still walk down this road and attempt to change it [SR Cool Summer].

IMO one other difference between them re: love is this exchange that lives rent free in my head which I saw in a Xu Mo/Reader/Mo Yi fanfiction LOL. Bear with me here.

Mo Yi: Wearing a mask for a long time will tire you.

Xu Mo: It’s enough just to wear one in front of the necessary person.

Xu Mo and his MC make great efforts to understand each other’s worlds, but this understanding comes from the doors he chooses to open to her. He reveals himself as much as possible, but I think he’s an inherently private person (and there’s all that Ares stuff) so there are times where he hides things so that he doesn’t worry his MC. I think this is enough to count as a “mask”. Sometimes he pretends he’s okay when he’s not.

On the other hand, while I think Mo Yi shares the sentiment in not wanting his MC to worry unduly, he tries to reveal himself as much as possible. There’s an amazingly relatable conflict in him here where he wants her to know every side of him, but he’s also terrified of how she’ll react if he shows her his ugliest sides and imperfect sides (he has some sort of phobia or fear about imperfection, but Mihoyo has been keeping mum on the exact details of this so far) [Personal Story; SR Sculpted Heart].

It’s pretty ironic that Mo Yi wants to be perfect, but he realizes that the more perfect he is the more of a sense of distance there’ll be between him and his MC because of the subconscious pressure someone “perfect” brings LOL [SSR Border of Light and Darkness].

3) Stance on Growth

If you haven’t realized that one of Xu Mo’s greatest themes is the phrase “Take your time in growing”, then what have you been reading? Jkjk, but seriously this gets repeated in multiple places, although my brain always goes back to [Blossom Date] for this.

Even if he and his MC start off with fundamental differences (she believes all people have inherent worth and can’t be involuntarily sacrificed), he wants to personally watch the journey of her maturation. He also subtly guides and teaches her. Unfortunately, due to circumstances of the main story, he doesn’t get his wish and she grows up a lot out of his eyes, but their relationship still revolves around him wanting her to have as much time as possible to grow.

He’s, for a lack of better word, extremely gentle about this (setting aside as much of the Ares and story parts as we can, because LovePro’s story is tragedy on tragedy LOL). I think [Autumn Blaze Date] shows a good analogy for this, because he holds the bicycle steady for MC until she can get going on her own, and he also catches her the first time.

Meanwhile, Mo Yi... ha ha ha. I just came out of chapter 3 for his [Personal Story] and let’s just say his philosophy is tough love. It’s ironic because, in many of his other dates, he wrestles with an internal conflict to protect his MC but also to let her experience all sorts of things to both test and temper her.

This is going to touch on the previous topic about love for a moment, but a part of Mo Yi’s love at first sight experience is also “testing” the other person through all sorts of situations and, after seeing all their different sides, he can determine whether his love at first sight is one that’ll last for the rest of his life or if it’s just a fleeting moment of beauty and emotion.

He also extremely respects his MC’s sense of justice and pursuit of the truth in the world, no matter what she encounters, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this is what drew him to her in the first place. But MC’s occupation and beliefs will make her confront a lot of dark and dangerous things and so, whenever possible, Mo Yi lets her confront these in “controlled” situations to train her. If I had to make an analogy, IMO, he’d let his MC ride the bicycle and pick her up only after she falls, or when she’s like 0.1cm away from the ground LOL.

Mo Yi is (perhaps rightfully) called out on this by another character, who believes Mo Yi is too arrogant in believing everything is under his control and he can prevent MC from getting hurt whenever he lets her get into dangerous situations, and I’m interested to see if Mihoyo will let him experience failures with his philosophy so he can grow more, like the things Xu Mo went through re: his personal beliefs [Ch24].

Overall

I don’t know how well I explained myself, especially for people who don’t know anything about Mo Yi, and each section goes back and forth between the two characters LOL so here’s another section that attempts to describe their overall atmosphere.

If, like I said in my Headcanon Notes, Xu Mo makes me immediately think of all the words for soft, gentle, light, still, water, etc etc., then the words I constantly think about for Mo Yi is messily human. He’s like a bundle of contradictions, but coherent because it’s being intentionally done.

Mo Yi doesn’t discriminate against his patients, yet he can be elitist and looks down on others. He wants to let MC have dangerous experiences, but also wants to protect her. He wants to be perfect, but he also wants to reveal himself entirely to his MC because that’s real love.

In contrast, Xu Mo has a very clean and orderly personality LOL. You can draw clear cause and effect lines from his personality to his actions.

So, anyway, these are two interesting characters who start off with similar archetypes as scientific logical men of scholar/gentleman dispositions, but yet they’re also on opposite ends for a lot of things such as their approach to emotions and the world.

Oh wait, lastly, because I don’t have a good place to put this—but I think it’s funny—is that both characters are pretty possessive and greedy, but while Xu Mo does things in a sneaky, cunning and fox-like way Mo Yi gets ridiculously open about his jealousy and it’s hilariously cute but also almost childish? I often forget Mo Yi is older than Xu Mo by a year, because Xu Mo honestly feels a bit more mature than him LOL. If we count them actually aging by when their game came out though, then Mo Yi is 28 and Xu Mo is 29 now.

[s-creations]

In Sickness, In Health Chapter 6 - Getting Shots

Fandom: DuckTales 2017 / The Three Caballeros             Rating: General Audience             Relationships/Pairings:  José Carioca/Donald Duck/Panchito Pistoles       Additional Tags: getting sick, being cared for, mental health, injury, sore throat, common cold, chicken pox, broken bones, whooping cough, taking care of others.

Part of a Series Called: We’re the Three- Sorry, Six Caballeros!

If there was one thing that Louie absolutely hated, it was the doctors. Not just the professional person alone, not just the freezing cold office, everything associated with the medical field was just terrible. Sure, this wasn’t too much of a new revelation for any child to have this stance. But for Louie, it was a living nightmare. 

 It had been drilled into him how terrible his immune system was. How to never get messy, how the cold/flu season was almost a death sentence for him, and the slightest hint of a cough had Louie sent to the doctor’s office.  It was often teased in the family that Louie had seen the doctor more than any adult, ever. One that the green cladded duckling grew tired of quickly. 

 But if asked what part he truly hated about every experience, it was the shots. Louie was sure he could recall every prick to the skin. No matter what Huey’s ‘research’ says about forming memories at a certain age. 

 It was the same thing when the dreaded time arrived. When he was younger, Louie would cry the entire time. Leading up to, getting it, and hours afterwards, he wailed so loudly. No one was able to calm him down. As if to ensure everyone was as absolutely miserable as he was. Rising in age, Louie would attempt to pull any stunt he could to get out of the appointment. Lying, bribing, even hiding away in hopes to miss the appointment. But nothing worked. 

 The days after were just as bad as getting the darn thing. Because the ‘entry point’ would always become bruised. Black, blue, yellow and absolutely nasty looking. The arm would also become sore, almost painful to move. Eventually getting so bad that the shot would have to be injected into the duckling’s non-dominant arm. Just so he could still do something while he was recovering. 

 Nothing made the experience better. His favorite meal didn’t help. Being pampered while he was recovering didn’t help. Bribes of his favorite treats, snacks, whatever could be offered didn’t help. All were at wit’s end on how they were supposed to reach a workable solution.

 That was until José brought the situation up to his co-workers. Namely, the mother’s.

 “Have you tried distracting him?” Amanda asked over breakfast. 

 “He is already in a negative mood to really pull his attention away. Even then, he already knows where we are going. I do not know what to do.”

 “...What about video games?”

 José raised a brow. “They are a bit young…”

 “I gave my little girl a handheld video game. She loves it! And there are so many kid friendly games. I know you said Louie has a clever little mind. Very strategic. There’s a really famous game that involves battling with these little creatures.”

 José scooted closer to look at Amanda’s phone. “It is very...colorful. And a lot of little creatures.”

 “If you could, get him really involved with the game before you even put him in the car. He’ll be so focused on that game that he won’t even feel the prick.”

 José wasn’t fully sold on it. He knew it was hard to pull Louie’s attention away from items he knew to keep it on. But the parrot knew better than to toss aside help. He ran it past his partners first. Donald was a little apprehensive, but had the same thought process as José. If it was a way to help Louie, what did they have to lose? 

 It was the night before the next appointment that the present was presented. The triplets were each given their own handheld game system and a single game. Each were so thrilled to receive new toys. Discussing what each game had to offer and what they had found in the version they were playing. They went to bed a few hours later. Excitedly whispering about what they would discover the next day. 

 “Not one mention of the appointment tomorrow.” Panchito whispered cheerfully once they were safely away from the room. 

 “The big hurdle will be getting him in the car tomorrow.” Donald argued.

 The parrot gave a gentle nip to both of their necks. “Do not fret. I have an idea.”

 The morning was filled with sugary cereal and more video games. Talk and overall atmosphere dropped quickly when José walked in, keys in hand. “Alright Louie, we need to get going.”

 Louie was instantly pulled away from his game. “Going? Where are we going?”

 “You have your appointment this morning.” Huey offered helpfully.

 That caused Louie to turn a little pale, eyes widening. “...I don’t feel well.”

 José gave a smile, gently placing a hand on the duckling’s shoulders. “They it is a good thing we are going to the doctor’s office.” 

 It was the easiest time to get Louie into the car. Possibly because he knows there’s no way to break from freedom. He stares out the window, strapped into the car and heading towards his doom. 

 “So, how has your game been?” José asked.

 Louie twitched slightly at the question, looking at the electric device still in his hands. “Um...it’s fine.”

 “Can you tell me about it? It looks complicated.”

 The duckling started speaking softly at first. But eventually picked up volume and speed. José added his own questions to keep Louie going. When they arrived at the office, the nerves entered in Louie’s voice again. The parrot quickly caught this, easily picking the duckling up, continuing the conversation easily.

 Louie was caught between fear and wanting to show his skills at his new game. He realized that he felt better and far less stressed when he was talking. So he pressed on. Happily jumping onto each question that José offered him. He gripped onto the parrot’s shirt as they checked in and waited to be called back. José easily understood that Louie didn’t want to be let go. The parrot kept the conversation going. That quickly came to the halt again when Louie’s name was called out. José easily moved them back towards the room. 

 They were in the final stretch now. Louie had instantly become quiet, staring ahead as they waited for the doctor to arrive. José did what he could to pull Louie back towards the conversation, only for the silence to stretch on. Which only became worse when the doctor walked in. 

 “Good morning Louie,” The doctor said with a smile. The duckling didn’t reply. “Don’t worry, we’ll make this quick.”

 Still nothing.

 José gave a sideways glance to the doctor. Who smiled and nodded. “So Louie, your uncle here told me you got a new game! Have to say, that series is my favorite as well.” 

 “Series? It’s a series?” That pulled Louie back out. 

 “Oh yeah, the first one came out when I was 10. That version was a lot different from where it is now. Did you know that the Ghost-Type moves actually counted as physical?”

 “Wait, really, how? They’re ghosts!”

 José said nothing, just watching as Louie and the doctor interacted. It was as Louie was discussing the craziness of how the original game play was done when he was given the shot. The duckling more focused on the extreme eye roll as the craziness than what the doctor was doing. Completely ignored by the duckling. Who had now turned the talk towards his favorite type.

 “Alright, you’re good to go!” The doctor happily announced, placing a bandaid over the point. 

 “Wait, what?” Louie raised his arm before looking at José.

 “Just remember to move your arms around. It will help!” the doctor continued on, “Make sure to set up your next appointment before you leave.”

 Louie was still quietly looking up at José with awe as they left. Making no noise until they were on the road. “How did you do that?”

 The parrot smiled. “Painful things become less so when you are not focused on it. And you tend to overly focus on things you do not like. We thought talking about something you really like will help you not panic. How does your arm feel?”

 Louie instantly beamed. “It feels great!”

[raisansgrapeon]

Ghostbur Through the Lens of War

When analyzing a text (text being used as a general term), it’s important to establish what lens your analysis is going to be run under. It helps specify thoughts and arguments under set pretenses and brings focus to the discussion. Instead of looking at an article or a story through broad strokes, using a specific lens focuses on one stroke and allows for deeper analysis to be achieved. 

It is safe to say that most of the Dream SMP is either seen under then lens of politics or mentality/interpersonal relationships. Viewing the story as a grand political battle and the consequences of the mighty leads us right down to the more specific lens of war. Yet, despite this common viewpoint under which we, as a community, digest the story of the Dream SMP, the character of Ghostbur is often left out of the equation in those terms, favoring to shed light on him for what he represents mentally. While his character is very much geared towards that line of thinking as an individual, his representation of innocents in the portrayal of war in the DSMP is nothing to scoff at.

The scale of the DSMP is far too small to truly represent the role of the common man within the cogs of war. With (at the time of writing) 31 characters within the story and a vast majority too disconnected from the story line to feel any real impact from the major players, we only ever really got to feel the way war impacted the warring factions and the leaders. The way war impacted countries as government system. The way war impacted the individual. We saw how war warped Wilbur and how war pitted father against son. We saw how war tore apart L’manburg because the leaders in charge never learned when to quit. We saw how abstaining from war left the Badlands relatively unharmed until a new external force came into play.

In all these instances, we see either the characters as individuals in positions of power, or the overarching bodies and governments that share the land, but we never see the people. The innocents trying to live life as best as they can under dire circumstances. Until, we look at Ghostbur under the lens of war as well. 

Ghostbur is a prime vessel to carry the weight of the general population and how war impacts the people caught in the crossfire. He is the essence of the common people living their life only to have it viscerally uprooted and destroyed by war and by ignorant leaders gunning for their own gains. This can be seen in nearly every aspect of Ghostbur’s character.

Starting off with what inspired this essay and these thoughts in general is Ghostbur’s conversation with Philza on the 6th of January. Within this conversation is where the most blatant characterization and solidification of Ghostbur as a representative of the people comes into play. The line, “I read the history books,” and Ghostbur recounting his warped idea of how Wilbur’s death came to be reflects on how history is written by the victors, and that is the version taught to the population. We are told of the great triumphs of the heroes of history, even if those heroes will never see themselves as such. The people are told of all the good that came out of a horrid historical event without the whole picture because details will always be lost within the wash of time. And during conflict between parties and during horrid events, Ghostbur continued to just live his life. He became the foundations of the country that those in charge put on the line. “...I just wrote books... I built a house for people... I built this town, just like I built Logstedshire...” Ghostbur built L’manburg and Logstedshire as places for him, as a representation of a community, to live. 

Even beyond this conversation, the way Ghostbur acts and how everyone interacts with him continues to support the idea that Ghostbur represents the innocents in war. Again, Ghostbur learns everything from word of mouth and history books. They are all skewed to paint a simplified version of events that leaves everything black and white, like how so much of history is formulated and taught. Ghostbur is always happy and cheerful and naive, chasing ideals and chasing that happiness. People just want to be happy. They just want to live their lives freely and enjoy it. Ghostbur covers the more mundane tasks of L’manburg, such as building aesthetic things or extra houses or the town center. When interacting with Ghostbur, everyone treats him like a glass vase. They fight to keep him complacent and content and happy. The way Phil talks to Ghostbur during their conversation, how Phil lies to him about Friend’s canon lives and Dream brings another Friend to keep Ghostbur complicit and feeling positive towards Dream, how everyone practically tip toes around him whenever something serious comes up.  They all talk to him softly, like a child. At least the way I see it as an American Citizen, the government is all to happy to leave the people thinking there is nothing wrong, and to actively keep them from getting too close to whatever the truth may be. All parties try to keep the innocents innocent and complacent.

And yet, “I sowed the seeds of peace, yet I am the one who pays for war.” The people always pay. The innocents always pay with their lives and their homes for those in charge to play their games. “You knew everything everyone owned was in this town.”  The greater powers at play, whether they be governments or leaders or what have you, know that in this land is where people live. They know, but they enact war anyway. The decimate their lands anyway. They blow up their homes anyway. They kill their loved ones anyway. 

Phil’s final, “...maybe you’ll understand someday,” is saying, “one day, you will look back on this day in history and see all the good it caused. One day, the innocents will move on. One day, the people will forget why they lost what they lost.”

And Ghostbur does.

---

A bit disorganized. I wrote this off the cuff so it’s more like a train of thought loosely formatted as an essay. I hope you all liked my small rant. I’ve been thinking about this for a while and just wanted to write it, you know?

Edit below the cut:

A small amendment to this post in retrospect in terms of one of my arguments and how I presented it along with some added hindsight and sleep, since I had written this at 2 in the morning.

This was spurred on by the tags of @asmoljay​ in their reblog of this post.

In their tags, they bring up the point that my argument on how people treat Ghostbur is placating and dismissive, mentioning that people are actually very confrontational with Ghostbur about Alivebur’s actions and its effect on them.

I will concede, my original claims are unfounded and far too broad. What I should’ve said, and what I have come to the realization of, is that Phil is placating and dismissive and trying to keep Ghostbur, for the most part, complacent. He never actively confronts Ghostbur about Alivebur’s actions and hardly has anything to say when Ghostbur brings up his death by Phil’s hands.

Overall, Philza is the only one engaging with Ghostbur thematically. He’s the only one playing into what Ghostbur represents, acting as a representation of the instigators of war to contrast with Ghostbur’s representation of the innocents.

I also feel I was a tad bit unclear as to why I was specifying that I was looking at Ghostbur through the lens of war. In doing so, I was taking a stance on Ghostbur’s thematic relevance and role in such an analysis and subsequently ignoring aspects of Ghostbur’s character that builds him up as that, a character. Looking through this lens, I am only looking at a small facet of how Ghostbur acts and interacts with the story at play. I am by no means disregarding how he works as a character or as a representation of guilt, unhealthy coping, drug use, etc. Ghostbur is multifaceted and I wanted to bring light to one facet that I found really interesting and didn’t really see anyone acknowledge. In the end, I am blatantly ignoring how different events feed into different aspects of Ghostbur as a character and bringing to light how other events pertain to him as a representation of a general populous and how that plays into the theme of war that is (or at the very least was) going on between Phil and Ghostbur.

Ghostbur isn’t defined by this characterization that I have illustrated, but it is certainly an interesting way to look at him under new context.

[verytiredowl]

A character analysation of IdV’s Bloody Queen

Bloody Queen AKA Mary is a hunter in the mobile/PC game Identity V. She is personally my favorite hunter because she is easy to learn but hard to master. Her backstory is something that has always interested me though, so i decided to compile my thoughts onto this one post.

Something i appreciate about IdV’s character roster is that some of them are based off of historical characters, and interesting ones at that. So expect a lot of history lessons and references that should be explained in order to understand a character fully (especially with Mary considering how there isn’t a lot shown about her backstory through promotional content, and im talking about stuff like the official website here).

With that in mind, let’s just get into it.

There is not a lot we know about Mary other than the fact that she is inspired from a mix of stories, those being about a French queen named Marie Antoinette and Bloody Mary. These two are used in seperate ways, Marie Antoinette’s story being used as heavy inspiration for Mary’s backstory and lore, while Bloody Mary is a visual/gameplay inspiration.

Mary’s description on her info page and on the official idv website is 

This is strange because it really tells little to nothing about Mary besides her being aware that the position of a queen means a lot of vulnerability. It also strikes me as weird because every other hunter has a fleshed out backstory being written under this tab. (With the exception of Guard 26)

So overall, the ground to work on is pretty small, we dont have a lot of info revealed to us, and therefore leaves her to be a character who loses a lot of potential on a writing stance.

Intro Video

Mary does have an introduction video, though, which explains the base of what happened to her Pre-manor. 

The video explains how Mary was the queen of a country that had a bad financial crisis which was so bad people couldn’t afford food (if we are sticking fully to the Marie Antoinette inspo, this was in the 1790′s) and the public felt as if Mary didn’t care enough to help her people, the citizens voted her to be beheaded under a guillotine. Truth be told, Mary was actually trying to help her citizens by giving them cake.

We have probably the most lore information about Mary from her deduction descriptions, which explain her career as a queen more in detail, about struggles she had and her situation in general.

Deductions

(Credits to u/mawile94 on Reddit for the images)

The first conclusion is clearly telling us that the king Mary married had a problematic family, and the king’s family probably only looked at Mary as someone who will keep the family’s name up, someone who will have a child with the king. (Also, dont get confused: Maria Theresia is Mary’s mother’s name, not her actual name.)

Mary used to spend a lot of time away from the palace in Petit Trianon, which is a manor located in Versailles. The secret letter tells us that Mary was egoistic, naive, and was kind of a glutton. The letter mentions how rumors are powerful, and are going to spread really fast once word comes out about the “incompetence” and lacking abilities witihin the royal family, which will eventually be Mary’s demise.

Princess Lamballe is once again a historical recreation of actual Priness Lamballe, a part of the Savoy House (Western EU country). In real life, Lamballe was actually the confidante (someone who you would discuss private matters with as a royal) of Marie Antoinette after her 1 year old marriage came to an end. IRL, Princess Lambelle dies along Marie Antoinette’s side as she gets killed in the French Revolution. 

The shameful secret can really only be assumed to mean that Lamballe was actually Mary’s secret affair, especially looking at how all evidence suggests that the actual royal family Mary is connected to seems to be a mess. Mary is kind of confirmed to be wlw from this deduction which is fucking cool, but this rumor mightve been what also caused Mary to be beheaded. (But, IRL, the king Artois considered Marie to be physicially unattractive or even smart enough for him, in contrary to him, where he apparently was attractive. He did end up making up with quite a number of mistresses. But let’s not get into a conversation about how unhealthy or toxic royal relationships were in the 1700′s)

this is obviously saying Lamballe is being replaced by the Yolande (Countess of Polignac) as her confidante. IRL, this happens because the Countess of Pilognac and Lamballe start having quarrels against each other, in which they try to win over the queen’s heart, and over time Marie ends up preferring Yolande’s company. But Lamballe feels as if Yolande was a bad influence on the queen, yet she could do nothing about it. The friendship between Lamballe and Marie remained regardless, and she constantly admired Lamballe’s loyalty toward her.  "She is the only woman I know who never bears a grudge; neither hatred nor jealousy is to be found in her." 

Mary finally has a child, and it is a girl. Here we see the reinforcement of Lamballe’s loyalty, but with this conclusion also being titled as a rumor, it is also telling that this is one of many reasons people will start getting suspicious of Mary’s possible affairs.  

This conclusion only leads me to believe that one of the several reasons why Mary was treated the way she was by the public was because of jealousy towards her life and the things she achieved at a young age. The description of the people who are spreading the rumors are bitter, sour people who take joy out of seeing the bad in successful people. Here is where it all goes downhill (as evident by the subtitle under the deduction title.)

We will once again need a little bit of a history lesson for this one:

Koblenz, first of all is a city in Germany. The reason why the French would ever think of even setting up anything in Germany was because of the French Immigrants, and the reason why the Germans were cool about this was because the archbishop-elector (one of the chiep bishop electors) was the uncle of Louis XVI-a persecuted king of France. Along with the refugees that entered the city, two of them was Louis XVI’s brothers: The Count of Provence and the Count of Artois. them, along with Louis XVI’s cousin, Prince Louis Joseph formed an army of aristocrats who would seek to fight for the Ancien Regimé (The name of the political and social system that was popular in France at the time.) In the meantime back in France, the Royal Family gave in and decided to adopt the  Constitutional Monarchy, which was very modern at the time. This deduction description just basically explains that this is where Mary and the royal family fucks up, i just thought it would be interesting to know what they actually meant by what they wrote.

Yolande has left behind the Royal Family and made a run to escape the country. If you’re wondering, at the start of the revolution Princess Lamballe was actually in Switzerland, but as soon as she got notified of the situation she revisited the royal family to aid them, and reassumed her position.

This letter in particular is pretty cut-and-clear: the intention of the revolutionists was to smudge the royal family’s name in the dirt once and for all. What real-life anti-monarchist propaganda would consist of at the time was promiscuous imagery of Lamballe and the queen as lovers to further “besmirch” the queen’s reputation.

This is just obviously hinting at the aftermath of the French Revolutions and also telling us the present (at the time the letter was written). Mary gets executed by the Guillotine, and-well we all know how the rest of the story goes.

Overall, Mary’s deduction story is just a short summarization of what actually happened before and during the French Revolution: it even added the details of how actually sketchy and corrupt the royal family within was, not just the dissatisfaction of the public. As a summary of what this meant for Mary, as the Hunter, she feels pure bitterness, and anger towards the citizens for the way they treated her and the people around her. And as we can see, there was no reference towards Bloody Mary what-so-ever, and the reason why that is is because according to the Chinese version of IdV (which is what the original game’s region/language is) Her name actually would translate to “Madame Red”, not Bloody Queen. I think it was just the translators having fun with words, and since her design is very similar to that of what a person would think Bloody Mary looks like, i guess it made sense to them lol

But regardless, we’ll still take a look at Mary’s design.

Mary’s design is simple compared to other hunter designs in IdV. A simple, ball gown which was originally white, but turned red due to Mary’s beheading, pools of blood dropped all over her body. Mary also used to have long hair, but assumed by the very broken looking locks of hair, her hair probably was cut down by the guillotine. Eagle-eyed people will also take notice to her neck, which is stitched back onto the rest of her body, which the designers wanted to include really bad since its prevalent even in concept sketches as well:

Mary’s gameplay design is based solely on mythologies about Bloody Mary, however, which makes things kind of confusing, but i guess thats what idv excels at the most lol

anyway, you’ve reached the end! if you have read this far, thank you so much, i put so much effort and research into this and i hope people will make good use of it. I also hope i made you more interested in playing mary and/or the French Revolution, lol  but thank you for reading this!!

references:

The Count of Artois and the Coming of the French Revolution by Vincent W. Beach 

The Princesse de Lamballe; a biography by Hardy, B. C. (Blanche Christabel)

My history textbooks

And wikipedia lol

[gascon-en-exil]

I suppose you can call me "villain Dimitri anon" now, but I actively dislike Azure Moon for the narrative perks that you and other fans insist it has, but I can't see. What back and forth does Dimitri have with his retainers that aren't confined to supports? There's just Gilbert, Rodrigue, and Byleth ignoring the one-eyed elephant in the room.(1/2)

What support network does Dimitri have? A bunch of badly abused subjects at the end of their rope who don't have the guts to abandon him or give him a wake up call. Dimitri's redemption in the rain makes zero sense as the scene progresses, and outside of some lip service in a support, he's so cured of any trauma that not even getting the truth about Duscur fazes him. What's worse, this redemption is the main idea of the route. (2/3 now)

The back and forth is in reference to how the army in AM feels directionless and disagrees on whether they should liberate the Kingdom or rescue Rhea first. This gets references both in story cutscenes and in the exploration of dialogue of numerous characters, heavily reinforced by many of these same characters remarking on how off-putting Dimitri’s behavior is. This stands in contrast to CF never questioning Edelgard’s actions even as they’re far more systemically terrible with the work of Hubert and the Agarthans behind the scenes; even VW offers a number of scenes and exploration content of characters questioning and critiquing Claude’s actions. Felix’s mini-arc outside his support line with Dimitri is the clearest example, because he’s the loudest voice of opposition and because if you trigger their supports some of the dialogue changes to reflect that, while Rodrigue plays a predictable but workable role as the doomed mentor figure whose death forces Dimitri to confront how his obsession with revenge is hurting the people he loves.  This is all unfortunately somewhat undermined by Byleth’s presence and the need for self-insert romance, with them supplanting Dimitri’s established support network and worst of all leading to Dedue being killed off by default and then never re-integrated properly into the story lest his intimacy with Dimitri pose an obstacle to the expected lord/Avatar romance (that can’t even be pushed in the same way that Edeleth can in all routes, incidentally, because Dimitri can’t S rank m!Byleth). This is a genuine problem in AM, but curiously it’s one that I see brought up almost exclusively by fans of Dimitri and his route rather than those who hate AM and/or rail against Dimidue as an allegedly racist pairing.

None of the other Blue Lions gets a single meaningful word in in the main story cutscenes. You can get some character development for Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix in monastery dialogue and DImitri's supports and that's it. Not to mention, gameplay-wise, dealing with Dimitri is just no fun, and there's no choice to get fed up and leave. With all of Crimson Flower's problems, at least you had to actively choose to go on that route. (3/4 now)

I wouldn’t say that’s all that different from how the other routes handle their chorus of minor characters, especially CF which again minimizes any sort of friction the Eagles might have with Edelgard even when she’s outright lying to them. There’s a reason that SS is sometimes cited as a better characterization showcase for the Eagles other than Edelgard and Hubert, particularly for Ferdinand who actually gets to be the contrarian #3 on that route. Gameplay is more subjective, although I’d rank being unable to instruct Dimitri or have him engage in monastery activities for four calendar months is more than offset by CF being exactly that many months shorter than AM or VW. Also, in terms of building characters Gilbert is far, far less of a pain in the ass than Jeritza, and I say that as someone who’s painstakingly gotten every character in the game to all ranks at S+ and all classes mastered over many NG+ runs. Having to pick CF is also an inconvenience that screws with the flow of Chapter 11 since you need to waste a battle weekend going to Edelgard’s coronation lest you miss out on instruction weeks or later weekends doing it at the start of the month. It’s kind of a moot point to argue about this anyway as the Deer have it the best when it comes to unit development, with neither of these restrictions as well as the longest route and no Part 2 exclusive to worry over.

Crimson Flower had a "big picture" war story, Verdant Wind had good character balance and exposed the truth about the player character. Azure Moon was just all DImitri. Not to mention, my own political philosophy and real-world history interests make me biased against Dimiri and his stance. (And no, I'm no fan of dictators, just not of a fan of Fearghus-style feudalism) (4/5)

I do like redemption stories. But I've seen them done better elsewhere. Dimitri's character is interesting, but his route isn't. All routes on Three Houses have problems that I nitpick about, but as thing stand, I can support Claude and Edelgard in achieving their ideals, i cannot in good conscience support Dimitri as king. Nurse him back to sanity, maybe, but put him in charge of other people's lives? No. (end)

Eh, SS is the route you’re looking for if you want the full story of Byleth’s origins and their connection to Rhea; VW’s endgame exposition dump is more about the true origin of Crests and Relics and general worldbuilding which is why I’d call it the big picture route over CF which kicks one of its major antagonists to an offscreen postgame. I also question why you single out the quasi-feudalism of Faerghus when that’s the established standard for all of FE and for most of the fantasy genre overall. Fire Emblem is notoriously reactionary when it comes to its politics, such that Dimitri’s solo ending suggesting the beginning of a participatory government might be the single most concrete move toward democracy of any lord in the series. Even as tiny a step as that is it’s more than can be said for Edelgard not delivering on her rhetoric of abolishing the nobility and...whatever she plans for the church (since she vacillates on whether she’s fine with the Seiros faith but only takes issue with the church or whether she thinks humanity has no need for gods, and the only CF ending that re-establishes the church has it run by the state which is some prime dystopian stuff). Claude similarly suffers in that his plans remain ongoing at the end of VW and lack any concrete shape beyond opening the borders and forcing people of different nations and cultures to interact and get along - a well-intended idea, but not one that will lead to serious change without a lot of work and oversight. 

Dimitri lacks such grandiose ambitions, and once he’s moved beyond his need for revenge his goals center around alleviating the suffering of the Kingdom and of his loved ones, but on a meta level that’s kind of all he needs to do. One of the reasons that AM’s story structure is more coherent and well-paced than that of the other routes is that it’s extremely well-trod ground for IS: “blue lord takes back invaded homeland from red emperor with the Power of Friendship” is the standard FE plot going back all the way to Marth, and Dimitri’s biggest deviation from that model is the somewhat realistic depiction of his struggles with mental illness. That’s probably why many longtime veterans of the series favor AM, because we know it’s the type of narrative IS excels at and we’re not expecting anything more politically revolutionary. Hell, the proto-democratic ending was as unexpected to me as Dimitri’s strong queer notes...which is why I prefer him over the other two incidentally, not because of his politics which are just fantasy boilerplate of a good king being restored to his throne, and there was much rejoicing, etc. There are gender-based readings of AM that I and others have made, not to mention people who enjoy the homoromantic push and pull of Dedue and Felix on Dimitri and how those relationships develop against one another, and I think it’s telling that those unconventional analyses of Three Houses’s most typical lord and most typical route are still more plausible than all the additional motivation and setup you’d have to throw in to make Dimitri a proper villain, or even just an antagonist for the length of more than one chapter.

[metalgearkong]

Ghost of Tsushima - Review (PS4)

9/21/20

Developed by Sucker Punch Productions, released July 2020

Let’s not beat around the bush: Ghost of Tsushima may be my favorite game of this console generation, and one of my favorite games of all time. This is a massive samurai tale crammed with unforgettable moments, characters, and environments. After finishing this game, I felt like I had been through no less than the peak samurai experience in any entertainment medium. Never before have I stood up and given a standing ovation for a video game upon the credits rolling. While feeling complete and filled to the brim, there are small technical aspects that do have room for improvement in the potential sequel. Sucker Punch came out of nowhere and knocked the world on its ass with a fantastic stylized epic feudal Japanese journey, one I can never forget. 

Ghost of Tushima is open-world, easily comparable to The Witcher 3 or a modern Ubisoft title. What Ghost of Tsushima brings to the table is its incredibly realized medieval Japanese world, to the same extent Red Dead Redemption brought the mythic American Wild West to life. Authenticity can be found in every corner, and I set the game for Japanese voices and English subtitles to extend the immersion (something I can’t recommend enough). The Mongols have invaded Japan, and their first stop is Tsushima island. The samurai here are all that stops the massive army from reaching the mainland. The details themselves might not be perfectly accurate to 1274 Japan, but the world itself is consistent, which is what’s most important. 

The game begins with a huge battle, as we take control of our main character Jin Sakai (Daisuke Tsuji / Kazuya Tsuji) right away. An orphan raised to be a samurai by his uncle Lord Shimura (Eric Steinberg / Akio Otsuka), Jin holds guilt and shame for not being able to save his father in battle when he was young, and strives to be the best warrior possible. The explosive intro gives us a quick intro to the open combat, and leads in to a fairly typical tutorial, adding in brief lessons on stealth, and using evasive tactics & tools. I remember how panful the combat first felt, as each strike looked like something akin to a samurai film. The main villain and leader of the Mongols Khotun Khan (Patrick Gallagher / Tsutomu Isobe) establishes himself as a despicable person, and someone totally opposite to the samurai honor-bound code of combat. He wants to conquer Tushima by any means necessary, and Jin is the only one willing to adapt his fighting style to combat this new  dishonorable and overwhelming threat.

Jin Sakai is closer to a Geralt, rather than a blank slate avatar character of a Fallout or Elder Scrolls game; He has a specific personality, background, and motivation. Part of the overarching story is Jin learning to rely on tactics he would normally frown upon in order to stand a change against the Mongol forces. This is something his uncle highly detests and forbids Jin to do, leading to a secondary conflict in the story. This is useful for also explaining in the gameplay why the player can either face enemies out in the open, or scurry around and stabbing them in the neck. Of course, most players will do a bit of both, and whatever suits the situation of how you’re feeling in the moment. The best part is, it’s not an binary dilemma, as open combat and stealth can be used completely intermixed at any time.

Personally, one of my favorite parts about the game was unlocking and finding new apparel and color schemes for my outfits. This game (eventually) allows you to dress anywhere from humble peasant, to shinobi of the night, to fully armored samurai warrior. My only nit pick is I wish the game gave you more cosmetic options to buy or find earlier in the game, as I felt limited to just a few outfits and accessories at first. There’s nothing more awesome than manually sheathing your sword after slicing up a dozen grunts, all the while your cape and robes aggressively blowing in the wind. The game allows you to manually bow and play a flute as well, adding the immersion of every moment of the game. You travel the huge island via horseback, and can summon your horse at any instance with the push of the button. I also love how quickly you pick up items, by merely pushing R2. No needless animations or time spend slowing the momentum for the sake or grit or realism.

One of the most unique aspects of the game is using the wind as your guide. If you really wanted to, you’d never have to open your map to know how to get to your current quest. Simply swipe up on the touch pad, and the wind blows in the direction you need to go (the game doesn’t even feature an in-game minimap or radar). This kicks up leaves, twigs, sand, and other particles which add greatly to the visual appeal of the game, and help make you feel closer to the environment itself. Adding to this is how foxes and birds can lead you to hidden secrets, upgrades, or new gear. With so few HUD elements, focus on paying attention to the environment, and the gorgeous lighting and scenery, Ghost of Tsushima gave me to many moments where I felt spiritually uplifted in its world. Despite not having the budget of a super high end Naughty Dog or Rockstar game, Ghost of Tsushima remains one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played, and much of that leans on the art style and environmental effects alone.

Missions are equally entertaining whether they come from a main character or minor character you happen upon. Most quests may involve (but aren’t limited to) tracking, fighting, sneaking, climbing, riding, and spying. I especially enjoyed quests with specific limitations, such as having to remain undetected and not to kill any guards. Eventually, however, due to the game’s long length, some of the missions do start to show their repetitiveness, and I don’t think it would have been horrible if the overall run time was 10-15% shorter. I also enjoyed the fact that so much effort was put into side activities that feel serene and peaceful, akin to the Buhddist and Shinto side of being a samurai. Composing haikus and bathing in hot springs to increase your total health felt very much in the spirit of a Bushido lifestyle; always a calm in between the storms of violence. The fact that not all side content is action oriented was a very neat and authentic detail.

Samurai duels were some of my favorite parts of the game. Occasionally Jin would come across an opponent or rival with legitimate swordsmanship skills, and has to face them in an arena. These locations where the duels would take place never failed to be more epic than the next. Duels act like boss fights in the game, and incorporate similar combat to the regular open world combat--only Jin can’t use secondary items such as kunai, his bow, or smoke bombs. These moments were ripe for the photo mode, something I used throughout this game constantly, as its packed with incredible environmental design and lighting effects to make almost every moment and location feel like a living painting. Samurai duels were usually never very difficult, including the ending boss fights, but they always looked awesome and felt damned satisfying.

The game does suffer from some minor technical glitches, but these small drawbacks mean next to nothing compared to how impressively the rest of the game was designed and executed. Frequently I would approach an enemy group and want to initiate a stand off (the samurai version of a high noon cowboy duel) but the game either didn’t give me the option or the option blinked on screen for only a moment and I was unable to do it. Something similar would happen for stealth kills, as sometimes instead of doing the assassination animation when prompted, Jin just did a regular slash attack instead, blowing my cover. Situations like this didn’t happen often, but were consistent enough to notice. I give Sucker Punch a huge pass on these small technical details, as they never ruined my experience of the game, remaining small frustrations on occasion.

Ghost of Tsushima is a greatest hits of iconic feudal Japanese visuals, sounds, tropes, settings, and themes. Countless details build upon this heightened version of Japanese history, making this game an all in one interactive Kurosawa film. Everything from the sword duel boss fights, to the multiple fighting stances, to the stealth, to the nature surrounding you, everything has been executed with extreme skill and thoughtfulness. It can have its small moments showing a lack of polish either in the visuals or mechanics, but Sucker Punch more than accomplished what they set out to do. Ghost of Tsushima is the best PlayStation 4 exclusive, and by far one of my favorite games of all time. If you have any interest in the open world genre, and love the Japanese culture and art style, Ghost of Tsushima likely won’t let you down. An amazing adventure wreathed in katanas, honor, blood, wind, and cute foxes. 

9.5/10

[ranmanjuu]

Ooh!!! Ikesen warlords with an Mc who ADORES children (and maybe them realizing they want a kid with Mc)

here’s to me excusing myself and just write two/three people (exclusively the takeda only) and not uesugi-takeda cause i Lazy. 

also if you see me copying from the raise a child event, no you don’t 💓

‎‎‎

—shingen:

before you came, shingen’s already sealed his fate in the coffin; and he planned to keep it shut. it’s something he’s already gone to peace with; the fact that he won’t live long.

that is, until you became important to him.

he’d develop a sense of intimacy with you that he hadn’t with anyone else; and it’s a bit strange to him. along with bitter, as you were only supposed to be a pawn in his plans, and that you wouldn’t see much of him.

and you’d retracted yourself from him, reasonably so. and in turn, you find yourself spending time in the town bellow than the castle.

the air is much more fresher, the constant livelihood of the streets proving to be such a different atmosphere from the castle. you’d get used to it there, you’re sure, but with kenshin’s constant death stares and shingen’s neverending flirts,,, yeah.

you always feel much less constricted with yourself overall when you glide through the booths in the shop, or maybe even just sit around and admire the sky.

but as days pass, you find yourself finding a much more pass time than spacing out and shopping.

there’s quite the amount of kids in the town, mostly them playing amongst themselves for their parents are out in duty (soldiers and the like, you think). with war raging restlessly, a lot of them seem ever so slightly uneasy or fidgety at the thought of their family, or anyone close, would die in battle.

and kids shouldn’t fear that, you think. kids should just be carefree and happy at their age; show that the world is safe and fun for them to enjoy it while they can until they grow up.

but the world isn’t kind; not now. but you’re willing to be.

you’ve always adored playing with children, maybe it was a thing that you picked up from babysitting or something. but you’re completely down to buy a few toys and entertain the little ones running around. it’s something about their smile that fills your heart.

and you do, for days, to weeks, and the kids love you.

even so, your life at the castle still went on. the game you and shingen played, causing you two to be closer (no matter how much you try to deny it). and you, although unknowingly, actually got to see his weakened state from his illness. but he’s yet to confess that; he never will, he tells himself.

yet, it’s the way you know your way down town the moment you step out. yet, it’s the way your eyes shine with anticipation. yet, it’s the way you run off, grabbing him along by the wrist with excitement and a muted smile. yet, it’s you.

of course, he’s always known what you were doing in town. it’s just that he never sees the amount of children that circle you, how your soul looks much more carefree around them. how you would go along with their games, how you can comfort them so gently.

all he can do is sit there, stunned. maybe, just maybe, if he could change fate. . .

. . .he could entertain one possible idea.

‎

—yukimura:

there’s something about hanging around town with yukimura to you. whether it’d be in a teahouse, or just strolling around the shops for the however-many-time’th it’s been that week.

reminiscence, perhaps, to the days of fresh bickering in his old booth.

in the distance, you two hear wailing from the teahouse you were in. panicked, you quickly arrive at the scene to see what exactly was going on.

the sight was not one that you’d like to see. a child, curled up against a stall, was sobbing fearfully as a man approached with an angry aura around him.

“give that back, you rascal—!”

without a second thought, you immediately lunged yourself into the situation.

“h-hey there, let’s not get too violent shall we. . .? uhm, what happened?”

the man looks at you with a tint of scrutinizing, but you simply brush it off, before he huffs.

“kid stole a bread from my shop while i wasn’t looking! thinks they can get away with that. . .”

you look back at the child. and surely enough, in their arms was a loaf of bread. the sight made you frown; surely there was a reason. and if there wasn’t the kid could learn. but if they’re being beat up, that’s a bit too much. . .

“how much is the bread?”

yuki, who was looking from a distance, in a stance ready to jump in, was a bit surprised at your question. he blinks as the man stated the price, and you give him the amount from your own pocket.

“i think we’re done here, i can talk to them myself.”

and with that, he leaves.

slowly, you kneel down to the small sobbing figure with a gentle smile. “hey, it’s okay buddy. he won’t hurt you anymore, you’re safe.”

bystanders watch as the child’s sobbing decreases by your soft voice, full of safety and warmth. they look at you with teared eyes, and you smile.

the more you look, the more you notice how. . .malnourished they seem. arms a little bit too skinny than how they should be, and clothes that are a bit too oversized, when they shouldn’t. and slowly, you piece it together yourself.

“why don’t you come with us? i can buy you some sweets in a teahouse.”

with the extended hand you gave, the sniffling then stopped, as they take your lead.

yuki feels like he wants to interject, but what if he says the wrong thing and accidentally upsets the kid again? besides,, it’s something about watching you slowly comfort and lighten their heart as you walk the path back to the teahouse. and soon, the tears look like they were never there in the first place.

and as the three of you arrive, time passes by seamlessly, if with a few lighthearted bickering (”yuki, introduce yourself. ..!” / “oh. uhm—i’m yukimura.” / “. . .wooow.” / “shut up!”). you learn about their, hachi, as you’ve learnt,’s story. poverty is an unfortunate position many people find themselves in, and it’s a bit cruel to you that a child has to resort to stealing for food.

you continued to play with them, walking around town and generally just goofing around. yuki’s never seen this side of you; and now that he has, all he can do is just sit and watch in silent adoration.

it seems so perfect; he can picture you as a wonderful mother. his mind draws in himself into the picture, a happy family for all of you, and. . .

there’s nothing else he wants more.

and as the sun sets, hachi returns to their parents, and you send him off with a soft smile.

as you’re walking back to the castle, you notice that yuki’s uncharacteristically quiet. . . “what’s been bothering you?”

“huh? nothing. at all.”

you poke in further, and it slowly devolves to your usual banter. with a laugh, you let the question fade; he’ll tell you one day. you’re sure of it.

[boukenboy]

#17: セブンスドラゴン2020 / 7th Dragon: 2020

The year is 2020. The world is under siege by murder hornets, political unrest, a pandemic, and swarms of ferocious dragons. The fact that only one of the above is fake speaks to how much of a dumpster fire this year has been. Personally, as an "essential worker" who runs a coffee kiosk, some of the behavior that I have witnessed with regards to masks and general safety has taken what little faith I had in humanity and ground it into dust. I have been gaming - and drinking - much more than I ever used to, and while it has saved me money in the long run, I sometimes feel guilty with how much I've dove into this hobby. But who cares, really?

I discovered 7th Dragon 2020 through a random late-night Google search: I occasionally dig around the Japanese side of the internet for research on what games I'd like to play next, and the moment I realized that this game was set in post-apocalyptic Tokyo, in the year 2020, I knew I had to play the absolute hell out of it, regardless of quality.

Art imitating life? We love to see it!

As stated above, 7th Dragon takes place in Tokyo, Japan. You begin by creating your main character, choosing a class and appearance. What really surprised me, however, was the sheer amount of voices you can choose from - I'm not really an anime fan, but according to the game's official website, quite a few famous voice actors lent their talent to the game, and they're all full of personality. Want to make a foul-mouthed gothic lolita? You can. A beefcake with the voice of a 10 year old? You can do that too.

The game features 5 different classes to choose from: Samurai, Destroyer, Psychic, Hacker, and Trickster. Out of these five, I decided to make my main character a Trickster - all classes in 7th Dragon are essentially a sort-of "two-in-one" deal, and in the Trickster's case, their skills are divided between gun and dagger skills, and they both do very different things. Daggers tend to focus more on applying various debuffs to enemies - such as poison, silence, and so forth, while with guns, you'll be avoiding enemy attacks, employing counters, and inducing critical attacks. With the proper set-up, gun Tricksters can then apply constant damage with a possibility of avoiding enemies entirely. To round out the party of three, I then chose to make a Hacker and Destroyer.

Destroyers are your main brawler class, but with an interesting twist. Their abilities all revolve around applying what is called a D-Counter to enemies - certain attacks increase this value, and you can only perform the more devastating attacks once you raise this to the appropriate level. D-Counters wear off over time, too, so it is important for this class to keep up offensive pressure in order to be effective.

Alternatively, you can develop them to become more of a tank: Destroyers possess a stance that draws enemy attention. Once attacked, they'll respond with a powerful counter - this is obviously a great way to protect your squishier party members, and it is extremely satisfying when you successfully bait enemies into destruction. Later on, you'll learn more specialized counters that will allow you to ignore enemy damage entirely, but there's a catch: you have to predict what type of attack they'll use - will they try and bite you, use their claws, or cast a spell? You'll have to pay attention to not only monster anatomy, but to attack patterns, too.

Hackers are the main support class in 7th Dragon: they have the bog-standard buffing spells, but I have to give special recognition to the developers of 7th Dragon for going out of their way to come up with some unique abilities that I have yet to see in any other game. For example, Hackers can set-up a "safety net" that will automatically revive fallen party members at the end of a round, but it is required to be casted at the beginning of that turn. Know a boss is about to end you with their strongest attack? Cast it and hope for the best. They can also decrease the amount of turns your party suffers from status effects, and even increase the rate at which your auto-skills activate.

They can, true to their name, also "hack" into enemies. I haven't played with these skills as of this writing, but it involves the Hacker inducing a status effect of the same name, and then causing all sorts of shenanigans. Other classes possess abilities that can make enemies weak to hacking, which reduces the amount of set-up required. In my case, I decided to focus on the support abilities due to the gaps in my party's defenses, but I can easily see how a more offense-focused Hacker can be a huge asset in battle.

As stated earlier, 7th Dragon 2020 takes place in Tokyo after a sudden and cataclysmic invasion by hordes of enigmatic dragons. Their ultimate objective is unknown, as they do not speak or interact in any manner that is not hostile. You play as a member of the government organization Murakumo, lead by an alarmingly busty woman known as Natsume. Determined to take back the country, you are then sent out into various Tokyo neighborhoods, warped by the dragon's magic, in order to discover the true nature of your nemesis.

I really enjoyed how little you know about the reptilian threat: it reads almost Lovecraftian - these beings are beyond human comprehension, and have the ability to warp reality as they see fit, resulting in some fantastic environments. One of my favorites is the sky-high giant sphere of railroad tracks in Ikebukuro - traversing it feels like you've really stumbled upon some twisted version of our own world.

Along the way, you'll encounter the members of an organization known as SKY - initially the villains of the game, you'll eventually become allies in their search for the one with what they call "the power." If you have played any RPG at all, I'm sure you can figure out just who that is. There's also a large variety of secondary characters, but overall, the game's plot isn't very innovative, but it's serviceable. What surprised me, however, was just how dark some scenes were. In one instance, you cooperate with the Japanese military in order to stop a massive dragon-made cannon, only to watch dozens of your fellow soldiers die in front of your eyes.

7th Dragon isn't afraid to kill off your friends, either - there are sections in the story that are utter bloodbaths. Certain characters the game seemed to favor early on are promptly killed off at random, and the way the survivors react to the trauma of losing their companions is a major story-point that resounds throughout the later chapters of 2020. I was surprised as to how the allegiances between the cast shift as the game progresses - their relationships, and the way they evolve was, to be honest, way more intriguing than the main plot of, "Dragons are bad."

7th Dragon also features a base development system, in which you'll use materials gathered from defeated dragons to add new weapons to shops, create more residential spaces for refugees, and unlock optional side-quests. You can also recruit Hatsune Miku, because of course you can. Why wouldn’t you? Doing so unlocks a remixed soundtrack featuring said vocaloid, but nothing else. It's a curious addition to the game, and the re-done tracks are pretty cool. Unfortunately, the side-quests in 7th Dragon tend to have poor rewards and vague objectives, so I abandoned doing them around halfway through the game.

  I can see fans of the Shin Megami Tensei and Etrian Odyssey series finding a lot to love in 7th Dragon. Creating a party that works well together is extremely satisfying, especially given the high level of challenge the game has during boss battles. The plot isn't anything impressive, but the ensemble cast and the blood-soaked shenanigans more than make up for it. I can confidently recommend this game to anybody who seeks a marginally less horrifying version of our current apocalypse. But who knows? If 2021 brings us dragons, I can only pray they eat me first.

[theharellan]

I played Here Lies the Abyss the other week and I wanted to write something about Solas’ feelings regarding the Wardens, and how I approach it in roleplay. When I first played the game they were probably the place where my opinions diverged most from his, DA:O was my first game and my feelings about the Wardens were overall positive and uncritical. Replaying the series thinking about and reexamining their actions throughout made me much more sympathetic to his perspective, even though I still believe allying with them is better for the Inquisition and especially the Order itself.

The root of Solas’ anger seems to involve information we’re not privy to. He believes that using demons to destroy the slumbering Archdemons may lead to more trouble, which is something most companions seem to be in agreement on even without the extra context of Erimond’s deception. But there’s a little more to it than that. Solas doesn’t seem to think Archdemons are the root of the Blight, nor that destroying them will solve the problem. Solas isn’t the first person with this opinion, off the top of my head there is a dwarf in Origins (I believe it’s a Legionnaire, although it may also be from a codex) who believes that when the last Archdemon is destroyed the darkspawn will just cover the land in Blight and dwarves in general write about how humans misunderstand the Darkspawn threat. But so far as Solas is concerned these banters I think allude to this most clearly:

Solas: The Wardens see themselves as the world's defense against the Blight, do they not? Blackwall: Yes... why do you sound so skeptical? Doesn't everyone know this? Solas: When an Archdemon rises, they slay it. What will they do when all the Archdemons are slain? Blackwall: Retire? Solas: Without Archdemons, there can be no Blights. Is that the reasoning? Blackwall: Right. Where are you going with this? Solas: Nowhere. I hope they are correct.

And in this Varric banter:

Solas: The Grey Wardens allow elves and dwarves into their ranks? Varric: Qunari too I imagine. They don't care about titles or blood, just stopping the Blight. Solas: A pity they do it so badly then. (Post-Revelations with Blackwall in the party) Blackwall: Would you care to repeat that? Solas: I would be happy to argue the point with an actual Grey Warden. Solas: Argue if you like, your fight against the darkspawn is noble, but what progress have you made? (Otherwise) Varric: Give them some credit, it's not like you can study the Blight safely. I may not like everything they've done, but without the wardens, we'd all be blighted by now. Solas: They've bought us some time, I will grant them that.

Now, I could get into theories about the Blight, the connections to Andruil, the connections to Ghilan’nain, hints that Solas’ apocalypse is in part to subvert another, greater apocalypse potentially at the hands of the Blight rather than a simple return to a pre-Veil world. But a) that would take me a while to get into and b) for the purposes of rp I try to keep away from leaning on theories that I’m not super committed to, and for the moment I’m content with Solas’ knowledge of the Blight’s origins remaining a nebulous thing that hangs over all his feelings about the Wardens and the Blight, heaping upon what I talk about in this post.

Solas is highly critical of orders, believing that even when begun with noble purpose they inevitably fall from them or that the purpose is somehow corrupted. When it concerns Wardens he will concede on occasion that they possess admirable qualities, such as during Jana’s recruitment, but ultimately feels that their purpose is so singular that it blinds them to a larger picture. You can see this in bits and pieces throughout the series, barely lifting a hand to stop a qunari invasion of Kirkwall to instead turn their attention to some future threat, unleashing Corypheus in hopes of being able to control the Blight, but it’s most on display during Here Lies the Abyss.

There is an insidious nature to the Warden’s recruitment process that doesn’t sit right with Solas, and while he isn’t privy to all the information we are as players of Origins, even going off what he does know he doesn’t like what he sees. As Fen’Harel, recruitment was a voluntary process and not necessary to earn the revolution’s protection: “Rest, knowing the Dread Wolf guards you and his people guard this valley...  He leads only those who would help willingly. Let none be beholden but by choice.” (x) Freedom is important to him during the recruitment process, and something that’s underrepresented in the Wardens. Even those who choose to be Wardens do not do so with a full understanding of what a Warden is and the consequences of recruitment, and many more are forcibly recruited criminals. As I said, Solas doesn’t necessarily know all the details of what Wardens are nor what the process of becoming one entails, so it’s this latter detail (one which is public knowledge) that he takes issue with. We see it in Origins with Duncan taking advantage of HoF’s precarious position to earn another recruit, potentially exploiting their status as a marginalised class/race/etc. It runs counter to how Solas believes just organisations should operate.

The demon army. A lot of attention in-game is paid to the horror of Wardens killing their own men and turning the mages into thralls, and rightfully so, that is indeed terrible. From Solas’ perspective the crime is twofold. It seems unlikely that the spirits summoned by Erimond and the Wardens were recruits, and even if some were their free will was also lost in the process. Replay Here Lies the Abyss keeping in mind that spirits are people and it’s a lot easier to understand Solas’ sigh if you decide to ally with them. For my Solas’ part, there is a significant part of him that wonders if the Inquisitor would make the same choice to forgive were it human civilians who were to act as cannon fodder for the Darkspawn rather than spirits.

The Wardens avoiding politics isn’t something that sits well with my Solas specifically. By making that choice, they are in essence choosing to uphold Thedas as it currently exists, and coincidentally also allowing recruitment for poor elves or imprisoned mages seem like a way out of their helpless situations. While the Wardens are by no means to blame for the Chantry or the Circle, by not taking a stance as an order they do unofficially stand beside them.

Despite all of this, however, he’s much more capable of respecting individual Wardens than he is, say, individual Templars (although he speaks highly of Ser Barris, indicating that even then it’s a system vs individual). A Warden’s purpose isn’t to act as a jailer to innocent mages, to children. Wardens who diverge from this single-minded path, who help innocents, who look for ways to help solve the Blight in ways more nuanced than throwing bodies at it, he can easily respect despite his issues with their order. Blackwall is one such Warden, or he is so far as Solas is aware. The Hero of Ferelden is potentially another, given that he has travelled Ferelden where there may be no shortage of tales where the Warden didn’t act as a neutral party, but tried to help people in a similar manner to the Inquisitor. His issues with the Wardens as an order doesn’t necessarily translate to issues with Wardens as people.

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hello ! I just saw your reblog of a daredevil gif and, do you have an head canon on wether or not Matt and Karen would have been back together and how , if the show had been renewed ? Thx !

hey, anon!

i will admit that few things in television baffle me as much as the way the defendersverse powers that be approach romantic pairings.

don’t get me wrong: i generally like the love stories told in this fictional universe. 

i just also don’t know exactly what to make of them.

usually, even without possessing any foreknowledge as to how each individual ship will pan out, i can still be relatively certain as to whether or not a given story world “believes in great loves.” 

but with the defendersverse, i’m not quite sure. 

that so, my short answer here is: i don’t know whether or not karedevil would have gotten back together, had daredevil been renewed. on the one hand, i feel like they were kind of set up to be endgame from the beginning. but on the other hand, i feel like as the wider defendersverse developed, there were also other viable options introduced for the both of them. 

ultimately, i think it would have come down to how the powers that be conceived of the story universe overall—and whether they were interested in telling structured, trope-compliant love stories or not.

more discussion if you click the “keep reading.”

___________ 

a big part of my uncertainty regarding how the defendersverse treats romances stems from the fact that its shows end mid-story, skewing my perspective of what’s there. 

none of the shows has more than three seasons to their names, and all were cancelled abruptly, without really affording the writers a chance to implement final conclusions. they all suffer for having loose strings, never to be tied.

consequently, it’s hard to tell which broken-up ships of the defendersverse were actually broken-up for good and which ones were just at a midgame impasse and might have later reconciled, had they only been given more time and narrative space in which to do so. 

however, another obstacle to making this determination is not in the circumstances but in the storytelling itself, as the defendersverse powers that be tended to be fairly indiscriminate in how they used romantic devices surrounding their ships, which means that a lot of the usual “midgame” vs. “endgame” signposts in this story world are blurred. 

in the first seasons of both dd and jj, the defendersverse powers create deep and compelling romantic relationships for their respective main characters, playing to all kinds of familiar “this relationship has long-term significance” tropes.

you want the jaded female superhero who’s given up on both love and the world, who then meets a guy who’s both so good and so good for her that she has to reevaluate her priorities? check.  

you want the male superhero who rescues the girl-next-door in body, only to have her rescue him in soul? check again.

there’s all sorts of smiles, talk of “before you, i never allowed myself to think about this kind of stuff,” heartfelt sacrifices, expressed vulnerabilities, etc., etc., etc.

in a story world that “believed in great loves,” no one who watched these seasons could be faulted for thinking that jessica jones would be endgame with luke cage and that matt murdock would be endgame with karen page.

the question, however, is, “is the defendersverse actually a story world that believes in great loves?”

in my mind, the evidence is ambiguous.

at most, the defendersverse powers only allow these relationships to progress for one or two seasons before dismantling them—but whether they mean to dismantle them temporarily or permanently is difficult to say.

the characters lead such complicated, dangerous, and ethically fraught existences that whatever happiness they experience in love is generally and perhaps unavoidably short-lived. 

as secret identities are revealed, moral stances compromised, trauma experienced and assessed, and heroic stakes raised, their relationships inevitably crumble under the pressure.

this crumbling could perhaps speak to this fictional universe being one in which all loves come with an expiration date printed on them, with none being given special narrative priority over any of the others.

however, the crumbling could also be a story component.

maybe the writers planned these breakups, knowing full-well they were temporary and that eventually the couples would get back together in the long term. maybe they’re just a midgame detour en route to the final endgame.

so cut to the next leg in defendersverse development, when tptb reshuffle the pairings between their main properties, sending character a from show 1 to be with character b from show 2. the process then continues and multiplies as more properties are added to the ‘verse, with characters spinning off into new shows and coupling in new and increasingly intricate permutations with one another.

of course, the truly interesting thing is that once these reshufflings take place, the new relationships created often prove just as deep and compelling as the relationships which preceded them and are marked by just as many typical endgame signposts.

matt murdock is willing to die for elektra and very nearly does so.

karen page repeatedly throws caution to the wind to choose frank castle over public opinion, common sense, and even her own well-being.

there are indicators to suggest that these new pairings could be endgame, just as there were with the ones before them. there’s deep connection. there’s ride-or-die stuff. there’s cuteness. there’s even potentially destiny. 

so, as a trope-savvy fan, one is left thinking, “well, okay, if the first pairing wasn’t endgame, then maybe the second one will be,” but then by the next season, the second pairing has often been dismantled much in the same way that the first one was previously.

a salient example here would be claire temple’s various relationships: in s1 of dd, her involvement with matt murdock ends because his vigilantism and masochism drives a wedge between them. after their falling out, she eventually starts dating luke cage. while she and luke are devoted to each other through much of lc s1 and the defenders miniseries, their relationship crumbles at the end of lc s2, when luke’s attitude toward “justice” prompts claire to ask him for “a break.” her second relationship within the defendersverse thus ends much in the same way that her first one did: with claire stepping back from her man because she finds his intense approach to heroism unhealthy.  

by the point of cancellation, the net effect is that because all of these relationships have in some ways been treated as “sacred,” none of them feels sacred overall, or at least not definitively. 

i can’t really look at them and say, “karedevil is the endgame; mattlektra is the midgame”—and especially not when elektra keeps miraculously resurrecting after she’s killed—because both ships have been set up in ways which suggest lasting significance.

i also can’t look to the comics as a cheat sheet, because while most of the relationships depicted in the defendersverse do have some basis in comic lore, the shows themselves don’t strictly adhere to that canon—and, in some cases, actively go against it.

in the new avengers comics, jessica jones and luke cage get married and have a daughter, but in the defendersverse, their relationship is pretty thoroughly trashed in the aftermath of jj s1.

still, where things get truly complicated is in the way that these various relationships interact with one another within the wider defendersverse.

if luke cage is jessica jones’s great love, but he is also claire temple’s great love, then someone is bound to lose out, right? and since the audience should in theory be sympathetic to all three characters, who are we supposed to be rooting for? likewise, if matt murdock ends up with karen page, then she can’t be with frank castle, you know? so does that mean matt has to be with elektra? but what if elektra dies (and for once stays dead)? then what?

the writers are playing “musical chairs” with their ships, but, as per the game, it would seem that someone is going to be left standing at the end.

so.

all of this discussion is a very long way for me to say that i genuinely have no idea what the defendersverse powers intended for romantic karedevil.

they are initially set up using many of the same tropes and storytelling techniques that would be used for an endgame pairing—but that framing only matters if the defendersverse is one where “endgame” is actually a legitimate thing that the writers are actively working toward.

it could be that matt and karen were meant to be a slow burn endgame, but the writers got cut-off midway through telling their story, before they could be romantically reconciled after their midgame falling out.

however, it could also be that, whether they were initially interested in creating a karedevil endgame or not, by s3 of dd, the writers had moved on from the possibility of romantic karedevil altogether, being more enticed to pair karen off with frank due to deborah ann woll’s unexpectedly good chemistry with jon bernthal.

of course, maybe endgame karedevil was never even on the table at all, either because it was always meant to be a midgame ship OR because this isn’t a fictional universe that is geared toward endgames, period.

“endgame” is a concept somewhat antithetical to how comic books work, as there’s always going to be another iteration and another series and another run, and the details will change, depending on who’s doing the writing and which universe the story takes place in; maybe the defendersverse was working on a similar model, where while matt murdock has history with many women, including claire temple, karen page, and elektra, he’ll never be tied one woman forever; his love life will always be a revolving door, depending on what suits the purposes of the story.

or maybe nothing had been decided yet, one way or another.

maybe the powers were more writing from season to season, keeping their options open, seeing what was available to them.

after all, there were a lot of moving parts in play across the wider ‘verse. 

who’s to say what might have happened had some of the defenders shows been cancelled but not others? who’s to say what might have happened due to the changing availability of various actors?

prior to the cancellations, rosario dawson had decided to step down from playing claire, a decision which would have undoubtedly sent ripples across the entire defendersverse, romance-wise.

up until the point when netflix pulled the plug, all sorts of possibilities were still open. there were still so many ways the writers could have chosen to swing things.

as for my personal headcanon (regardless of writer intention or what might have been), i should preface my thoughts by saying that while i enjoy karedevil, they’re not my number #1 preferred ship for either matt or karen, so i would have been perfectly happy with them as a midgame romantic ship that eventually reverted back to a platonic baseline, as per the end of dd s3.

that said, i can definitely see a road that leads to them getting together in the end.

my thoughts are these:

by the end of dd s3, matt and karen are back to being friends again after having been “fallen out” for a long time. since s2, karen has known matt’s secret identity, but now matt likewise knows about karen’s past, meaning that, in a way, the playing field is level between them.

still, their relationship is somewhat fragile. 

for the first time in their history, they’ve been honest with each other, and now neither one of them can “hide” in the ways that they used to. they’re both highly aware of this new vulnerability, and neither one of them wants to screw things up. they’re still sussing out what it will mean for them to work together again.

they don’t want to leave foggy caught in the middle of things like before.

so with that in mind, i see their romantic reconciliation as a slow burn process.

of course, they’ve always had a palpable connection, and that connection would be there from the start, even when they were working hard at “just being friends.” 

gradually, that connection would grow stronger and more impossible to ignore. 

there would be moments when they were working late nights together (after foggy had gone home to marci) when they’d stumble on a lead in their case and start talking excitedly, finishing each other’s thoughts, drawing closer and closer together, until suddenly they realized that there was only an inch of space between their faces and had to pull back, awkward and businesslike once more.

there’d be times when their clients would mistake them for a couple, and they’d laugh and try to brush it off but both be blushing too much to truly convince anyone that they were unaffected by the suggestion.

eventually, they’d start testing the waters—matt purposefully saying flirtatious things, karen touching matt more than she had reason to.

at some point, they’d have to broach the subject.

maybe matt would have taken to walking karen home after work, and one night, after a lot of laughter and arm-holding, she’d stop on the top stair and turn back to him and say, in that breathless, incisive way of hers, “i know you can hear how fast my heart is beating. is yours beating fast, too?” 

but, of course, since their relationship doesn’t exist in a vacuum, matt would probably be on the trail of bullseye or some other villain by this point, and, inevitably, these other story factors would come into play. 

i don’t know exactly how everything would go down, but my sense as a storyteller is that something would have to impede karedevil’s relationship; the path to reconciliation would, by necessity, have to be a long and wending one for them.

maybe for whatever reason they’d decide not to risk their friendship by pursuing a romance.

or maybe they would pursue a romance, only to have that relationship endangered by whatever villain they’re up against OR to have some of their past interpersonal issues resurface.

(for example, maybe as matt gets deeper and deeper into whatever case he’s working, he starts to emotionally shut karen out again, or maybe karen starts to distrust matt because he’s being evasive; etc.)

hell, maybe elektra turns up in hell’s kitchen, flipping their dynamic on its head.

after all, elektra’s body was never found after the destruction of midland circle, and karen has never gotten to talk to matt about finding elektra in his bed in s2; the potential for angst would be huge.

in any case, i imagine that things would deteriorate for a while—maybe to the point where, if they were already together, karedevil might once again break up.

but, ultimately, something would happen that would remind them of the depth of their feelings for each other—one of them would be hurt or captured or undergo another near-death experience; matt might end up fighting elektra to save karen; or karen might do something to help matt, even though they’d been on shaky ground before.

i don’t think karen would ever make matt give daredevil up completely—because she understands his thirst for justice and even his recklessness, to some degree, and she doesn’t begrudge him those parts of himself—but i think that in the end, matt would have to change; he’d have to become less self-loathing and not compartmentalize his feelings to the extent he always had before. he’d have to start to care more about his own life and well-being than he had in the past so that karen didn’t have to worry about him committing passive suicide via superherodom.

dying for a cause is one thing; dying just because you can and because you don’t value your own life enough to take self preserving actions is another.

karen would also have to learn to trust that matt and not to hide things from him. she’d have to learn to be truly emotionally intimate with him, which would be difficult for her at first, considering that she’s spent her whole adult life holding back important parts of her person.

(one of the interesting things about karedevil is that even though they have this deep, implicit understanding of each other, for most of their relationship, they’ve not really known each other, as both of them have been hiding significant secrets.)

i can see an endgame for them where matt is daredevil with karen’s help and blessing, and she provides him grounding and solace, while he proves to her that, despite her prior experiences, not everyone in her life is going to reject her and send her away; he knows her, and he knows her past, and he’s staying for as long as she wants him.

of course, in all fairness, i can also see many endings for these characters that don’t involve them being in a romantic relationship with each other; this is just one of the possibilities.

anyway,sorry i can’t give a more definitive answer, anon! thanks for the question.

[monkey-network]

Pink Diamond, Rose Quartz, & ‘Taking the Napkin First’

Okay, I’m “neat” enough to put this in further detail. I’m calling this an SU Critical Theory, for I wanted to express why Pink Diamond = Rose Quartz felt mishandled and why Pink, and by extension Sugar, should’ve considered the idea of ‘Taking the napkin first’, a simple phrase that generally has existed since societal beginnings, which would’ve made her character arc, by extension the story, a bit more ingenious and thought out for audiences, kids and adults alike.

But, what am I talking about with napkins and stuff? Well consider this scenario,

Suppose that you were sitting down at a table. The napkins are in front of you... which napkin would you take? The one on your “left”? Or the one on your “right”? Left or right side? The correct answer is that ‘It’s determined by the one who takes his or her own napkin first.’ If the first one takes the napkin to their right, then there’s no choice but for the others to also take the ‘right’ napkin. Same for the left. Everyone else will take the napkin to their left, because they have no other option. It is not about ownership, but understanding the worth of power.

Sounds bizarre right? Until you factor in that this is how society generally functions. Trendsetting is something people are typically against, but nevertheless follow through because inclusivity is something everyone strives for, for better or for worse. So, what the hell does this have to do with Steven Universe’s Rose and Pink? Well, I’ve come to believe that Pink should’ve have been the initial rebellion/Crystal Gem leader. If Pink Diamond was the one who stood against Homeworld, stood for Earth, while having Rose Quartz around, that would’ve worked better for the show overall. Keeping that quote in mind, roll with me here...

I remember in Now We’re Only Falling Apart where Pearl said Pink did everything she could as a diamond before becoming Rose, but that doesn’t/didn’t sit well with what was shown because what we see is Pink begging before Yellow and Blue, that’s all. I found everything to be great up until that point; we didn’t see her truly go on her own resolve until becoming Rose. So, instead of just becoming Rose to jumpstart events, I say she steps up as a diamond with a different path. Without Blue and Yellow’s permission or oversight, as Pink Diamond, she could head to Earth to express her pro-earth stance before her subjects and make them see her viewpoints without forcing it on them like what her others would expect from her. She brings herself to their level, still claiming her heritage while doing this less for selfish reasons. She’ll still come off as childish like before, using this newfound attitude as a means to spite her general kin, but also appears to want change and to be treated better by doing this. Hence, taking the napkin first. Her relationship with Pearl and the Diamonds hasn’t changed, but her presence as the catalyst in this story is given a better initiative because we’re given a different light of her uprising.

“But how would that work without the Diamonds noticing or set to finding out?” That is where her command comes in. To take the napkin first means that everyone must follow without question or choice, so it would be fair to say that while she shares her viewpoint on equal terms with her subjects on Earth, she demands that no one expresses what she states to gems of other colors, and will threaten anyone who dares to squeal. It’s using her authoritarian influence to keep Blue and Yellow from suspecting as well as giving her subjects the indication that she can mean business, making her look like she’s gradually gaining competence as a leader in the efforts to keep Blue and Yellow from noticing, like Connie keeping the truth about her eyesight from Priyanka. She’s not forcing a viewpoint, but she is taking precaution to who might get her message.

“But where does Rose Quartz fit into this story?” Well, if not the initial leader of the rebellion, Pink will still be Rose but will considerably be Pink’s 2nd in command next to Pearl. To take the napkin first means that someone must spread the awareness around next, and Rose is the perfect facade for Pink to influence the public because of who she represents: the common gem. While Pink tries to get to her subjects’ level, Rose will already be on their level and be the one that many can side and relate with more, all the while sharing the same message. Pink will still be the leader, while Rose is the boot on the ground, so to speak. PD’s the thinker, Rose is the doer, both playing a mutually proactive role in the story. This keeps the duality between Pink and Rose solid, but now there’s a stronger reason as to why Rose and Pink are never at the same place at once, why Rose getting poofed and exposed can ruin everything, and how Rose is the reasonable scapegoat for when things get serious, which I’ll get to later.

Furthermore, this provides the thought that Pink not only cared about salvaging life on Earth, but being there for her colony’s safety and prosperity as she treats them like individuals while disguised as one. With Rose being the next to take the napkin, this helps the rebellion take form within Pink’s colony without Pink Diamond doing it as herself. This makes Pink sort of patriotic in a way, beginning to worry less about personal desires while still acknowledging that she still has to be tyrannical in some fashion for things to get anywhere. To achieve her goals, she still plays a diamond but gets a kick out of being Rose, which helps give her later reformation as Rose a stronger and more empathetic purpose. And this keeps Garnet, Bismuth, Greg, Jasper, and Rose’s relationship the same as before while still leaving them in the dark; all in line with the events of the show. She’s still a manipulator, but the thought of seeing Rose and Pink being one in the same can be thought provoking nonetheless to the show’s characters and the audience, especially with what we see of her here. In addition, Blue and Yellow will still see Rose as the enemy of it all, their relationship with Pink not affected by this change of roles because of her keeping her actions a secret. 

“But why would she still keep this a secret from Garnet, Bismuth, and them?” Like the game of trendsetter, she has to be in control without anyone being able to point her out. Keeping the peace can mean that Rose can’t reveal everything to everyone except Pearl who’s relationship is like the one in the show but she now a better reason to not receive Pearl’s interest in her, which I’ll get to later. If Rose revealed herself as Pink, this could put a strain on things because she’s a Diamond and while Pink is a good diamond in the eyes of the team, they’re still considering the Homeworld Diamonds as enemies. You don’t wanna put people in a tight spot of conflict, so keeping this between her and Pearl would be the most sound idea. This keeps in line with Bismuth and Sapphire being rightfully shocked about this, but now the sense that she had to do it puts their turmoil over this revelation in a more nuanced conflict. How could you be mad at Rose for Pink’s overall decision making if this was the way it went? And this leads into....

“But how would she be able to shatter herself if she’s the initial leader of the rebellion?” Ah, now this is where things get tricky. I have said that Rose, Garnet, and Bismuth’s past relationships are the same, but now’s the time to express Pink, Garnet, and Bismuth’s relationship within this spin of mine.

With Bismuth, it’s simple because she’ll have a better connection with Rose than with Pink, acknowledging that while Pink is a inspiration leader to the gem army, she still has a bias against the diamonds and this puts a familiar strain on her and Rose’s bond with her introduction of the breaking point. Taking the napkin can be a blessing and a curse, again depending who takes the initiative, and Pink/Rose could see that Bismuth doing this could be dangerous on all accounts. Keeping with the show’s timeline, Rose still bubbles Bismuth knowing that not only is killing a diamond, her own kin, is a considerably bad idea, but this would put Pink in a tough position because this could reveal her as the true mastermind behind the rebellion because Bismuth came from her legion. Even with that slight difference, Bismuth’s arc in the show will generally play out the same though the perspective might be tweaked when she finally recognizes the hurdles Pink actually went through.

As for Pink and Garnet’s relationship, if Pink was originally leading, it would be similar to Bismuth except she would believe that Pink’s “shattering” would be for the greater good because of her status. Since she’s unaware of Rose being Pink, she’d think her action would be a justified sacrifice, believing Rose to be the better leader by comparison. With Pink taking the napkin first, Garnet would be okay with Rose replacing Pink because nothing would change, and the gem army would abide by this logic. Rose would realize this and accept that as the way it had to be; letting someone else make her cover up story for her and this gives her the opportunity to naturally start over as Rose. Garnet’s arc in the show will generally play out the same as well, with her still being mad at Rose for pulling strings, only this time there’s some nuance in her, or Sapphire, getting angry at herself as well knowing she agreed to some regretful decisions that Rose was fully aware of but didn’t speak on ‘em to keep Garnet content with her newfound life like before.

And as for Jasper and Pink’s relationship, there wouldn’t be any because her only considerable enemy would be Rose. Unaware of her true identity, therefore her actual influence on the Crystal Gems and rebellion, she would be like the Diamonds and find Rose to be the only threat in their path. When she sees Rose shatter Pink, that’ll still be all she sees. Her treatment towards Steven and her awareness of Rose’s identity wouldn’t have to change since it was never her duty to uncover Pink’s ruling.

Her and Pearl’s relationship would have a little more weight to it. On one hand, she loves Pearl and starts to treat her less like a servant and more like a partner. But, being both the leader and the head soldier, there lies a bubbling conflict in her that she can’t get too into Pearl or the sentimentality can ruin things. Her resolve in seeing things through can be expressed in Pearl claiming she became more stand offish, yet still respectful and loving, as the war went on. She wants to give Pearl the world, but this spin makes her more selfless and by extension an indirect yet justified tease of Pearl’s affection. This is maturity.

Though her and White Diamond’s relationship could mean a different yet similar spin for the better because even when if we she her step up a diamond rebel leader and all she’s put into leading as herself and as Rose, White would still consider everything she’s worked for as a game, still believing Pink is her bratty self, and all the events of everyone’s lives to be a fun pass time. With this or the show’s take on Pink, White’s grasp of the situation is an interesting one, but I won’t say much else on this matter.

As for Blue and Yellow, things would play out exactly like in the show. The diamonds would consider Earth a lost cause and still wouldn’t heed to Pink’s word in things, which would make Pink feel like they still don’t care about her, even after all she’s accomplished as herself, leading to Pearl & her faking her assassination as a message that her era as a Diamond is over, with Rose taking over without question, and the rest would be history.

So with all this, why would I consider this change in character if it doesn’t really affect the show that much? Well one, I am (was) shitfaced. Two, this would honestly make Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz a way better character because if you take into account everything I’ve added, you could make the argument that she’s actually an amazing villain that has done no wrong. Instead of changing the way the world works or how gems think, this Pink Diamond would take advantage of how the world, or gem society, works.

That is why she should’ve been the one to ‘take the napkin first’, lead Earth to rebel, only for her alter ego to subtly replace her, freeing her from Homeworld’s hierarchy while still leading the gems to freedom. Even after faking her death, Pink would generally be replacing herself with herself, attributing to a sense of selflessness in an idea that what she wants to accomplish is much bigger than herself. While people can consider Pink a terrible person, one can argue that she is objectively a more ethical and just character in the story. The Rose shattering Pink storyline would have a better effect on how the gems viewed Rose and the war itself. The struggle for Steven and the others to come to terms with Pink being a diamond but one with better intentions would be an interesting case. Pink and Jasper’s conflicting ideals would be a strong duality between selfless and selfish natures. While this Pink would act out of selfless intent to benefit her colony and her personal desire to keep Earth beautiful, it wouldn’t change the fact that she plotted war, was involved in political corruption, and responsible for the death and literal corruption of her legion. This Pink Diamond would understand what it means to be a good person, a borderline mature person, so she knows that some of the things she acts upon are risky to the point of dangerous. 

One may think this doesn’t add anything but it still offers the audience a valid question: Is this character truly selfless and acting in the pursuit of the greater good for Earth’s safety and the benefit of her gem colony or are her beliefs nothing but a lie she’s told herself over and over again accepting it as truth when in reality, after all those years, she failed to admit that what she’s doing was for herself all along and never should’ve continued? Considerably the same argument the show made, but with a bit more weight in the debate and nuance. I’m just saying if Sugar wanted people to think Rose is an awful person, this would’ve been a great way of going about that instead of what we got.

That is why I think Pink Diamond should’ve taken the napkin first.

[hypeathon]

RWBY - Volume 6, Chapter 5 Production Analysis

Vol 6, Ch 1 Production Analysis 

Vol 6, Ch 2 Production Analysis 

Vol 6, Ch 3 Production Analysis 

Vol 6, Ch 4 Production Analysis 

It can be a bit scary when I’m right on the money about something. The previous production analysis for volume 6 ended on a note pointing out how there were less names in the animation department section of of ending credits of chapter 4 compared to prior episodes. This led me to wonder if either the animators more heavily involved with RWBY would either be working on Gen:Lock at around this point in the volume 6′s production or their time and attention would be spent on a later episode. I am happy to find that it was the latter but also admittedly shocked to find that the “later episode” would be this one.

Before diving into the bit everyone has been losing their minds about, let’s briefly talk about the storyboards and camera layout in the opening scene. Despite having spent time extensively dissecting how Rachel Doda does storyboards and camera layouts in the scenes she’s assigned in the the production analysis for chapter 2, I try to be mindful not to let confirmation bias get the better of me as I’m trying to learn more about the other storyboard and camera layout artists within the show. That being said though, it wouldn’t hurt to least make a conscious presumption that the first sequence had her involvement given the cues and techniques mentioned before. A similarly-presented panning shot and blocking between characters to highlight the reveal of one of them, among other things are signs that Rachel Doda either did the boards or the camera layout for the setup of the scene and probably even the fight itself.

Okay, now to finally address the elephant in the room. Neo is back and in a redone character model no less! Of all the characters to have had a recurring appearance into the show, she has by far been given the most unconventional approach. Many fans by now are aware of the gist as to how she came to be, but for those not in the know, Neo was a character that was conceived a mere 10 days prior to the release of volume 2′s fourth episode. Her design was partially inspired by a genderbent cosplay from Sonja Carter, otherwise known as Soulfire Photography. Her semblance was the result of from is the result of Monty Oum needing an easier way to animate her and Torchwick making a quick escape according to the volume 2 blu-ray directors and animators commentary tracks respectively:

“I needed an uh, it's so backwards how like, I needed them to exit the scene like, Neo was like Torchwick's escape plan. And I was like, "oh yeah, they could get in the ship and then get away." I was like, "That's hard to animate.”  Let's just have them shatter into glass, that's simple!"

“And then we have Neo come in and do... something weird. I guess, I tried to think of it as an illusionary technique. It’s like her version of ninja smoke bomb where it’s like she gets away because she causes some sort of distraction because the umbrella is relatively fast, the ship was probably waiting.”

Her entire character was born from the kind of creative process Monty had in general. It’s something he was a bit outspoken about where he compared his own process to that of most film or animation productions, referring to the latter’s structured, step-by-step process as “baking”, while he referred to his own personal, improvisational process as “stir-frying.” Both approaches have their merits and faults, but whether or not one is seen as more favorable over the other in animation production is not the point to get across. Rather, it’s to point out how a character like Neo can come to be in the first place:

“ When I’m working on my own, I tend to run editorial and animation concurrently. I’m averse to storyboards and over-planning. I like to talk about traditional 3D pipelines as being akin to baking: everything is very deliberate and methodical. My version of 3D animation is more like stir-frying. It’s very live and in the moment. If I need a model, I make a model. If a shot or sequence isn’t working, I’ll cut it, move it, or use it later - sometimes several years later.”

-Monty Oum, interview at Creativebloq (yes, they spelled “RWBY” wrong)

So with the story of how Neo came to be out of the way, let’s talk about her in action sequences since a lot has happened in RWBY’s production between last appearance and her grand return. Up until now, only 3 people have ever had a chance to animate Neo fighting. Monty Oum during chapters 4 & 7 of volume 2 and Joel Mann and Andrea Caprotti in chapter 11 of volume 3, the latter two also animated Cinder, Emerald, & Mercury vs Amber in chapter 7 of the same volume. Without going too much into detail, my stance on Monty and how he created fight scenes have always been more conflicted compared to the general consensus. A lot of that has to do with two of the several hats he wore up until his passing, his role as the show’s initial director and as lead animator. As the director, it always felt unclear as to how much thought was considered behind the character motivations within a fight or the consequences that would logically follow after one. Something just feels off in hindsight when say, a criminal wreaks havoc on a highway by knocking away multiple cars, using a mech that’s stolen, top-secret military property and we don’t ever get a scene showing the military general’s reaction to the incident, whether or not he ultimately does anything about it. As much as I appreciate good choreography and rhythm when I see it, having the story being weaved within and around a given fight in works of fiction is what can make them engaging in the first place.

That being said, Monty’s skills as an animator were definitely made clear in the fight scenes he assigned himself to within the show. Animation in general is not an easy medium to tackle, regardless of what kind of gestures or expressions one wants to sell and creating action sequences require both the 12 principles of animation and a few other guidelines in editing and cinematography to make them engaging. In the case of the character Neo, Monty made it very evident what kind of character he wanted to portray through her body language, facial expressions and poses. She fights in a classy way, but unlike Weiss Schnee who is shown as being more consciously routine and disciplined, Neo is comparatively more sassy and provoking. She likes to push her opponent’s buttons with the way she dodges, defends and attacks. Jumping into volume 3, Joel Mann and Andrea Caprotti picked up the pieces from where Monty left off up until his passing and captured much of the same personality to how she fights. Finally, three volumes later, we have her fight with Cinder in this chapter. Not only were just about all of the same traits with Neo’s character left intact, but the list of animators involved this time around were a pleasant surprise. Matt Drury, Megan Pellino, and Joe Vick were confirmed to have animated the fight with current assistant lead animator, Melanie Stern providing some assistance by animating a couple of shots herself. I’ve gone on record in previous posts on how between volume 5 having on of the biggest waves of new recruits, the overall restructuring of animation teams between RWBY’s sixth volume and Gen:Lock on the horizon, and the staff list on the Adam Character short, it’s now more important than ever to remain aware of who will be animating any fight scene or non-fight scene. “Keep moving forward” is a golden phrase within the fan base originally uttered by one of Monty’s tweets and this mantra can be applied to acknowledging new names involved in the production rather than staying stagnant. This episode is a good example of why that’s vital.

This fight sequence was not only an opportunity to show off the return of a fan-favorite character, but it also needed to formally establish the narrative reason as to why Neo is here now. Keyword being “formally”. Yes, fans have spent weeks speculating the possibility of her character through the opening theme and the second chapter. But that doesn’t change the fact that the CRWBY have been spent several months on the production of this part of the volume and still need to make it clear what this character’s motives are for appearing again after a few years without the scene coming off as pointless fanservice. That can be especially challenging for a mute character, but Melanie, Matt, Megan & Joe made that all clear through the choreography and more importantly, the emotional action and reaction. Despite the supposed intentions to why she’s combating against Cinder, Neo is all about taunting her opponent. So it’s only natural that she would ride the line between fighting aggressively and playfully, going as far as momentarily taking out her blade via a split-second smear, all while displaying an appropriate grin on her face. This constant assault in turn escalates the intensity from Cinder’s perspective by shifting her emotions from confusion to frustration. She drops being defensive and starts swinging fists and kicks so aggressively, that her actions come off a little animalistic and she eventually gets more acrobatic and starts breaking furniture.

Though none of Cinder’s actions and reactions are displayed senselessly, despite her facial expressions and vocal cries on Jessica Nigri’s part suggesting otherwise. In the fifth episode of season 2 of CRWBY: Behind the Episode. In it, Matt Drury. who seems to have animated the bit with Neo and Cinder going at it on the bar stand, talked about applying the notion of “see, think, do”, in which a character stays keen on his/her opponent’s movements based on what the latter is going to strike with and then responds accordingly. It’s essentially something learned in Martial arts in general, even competitive fighting games apply this concept. The same use of “see, think, do” can also be seen in Matt’s previous animated sequences in the Adam Character Short. Despite wearing a mask, there are various alternative ways he goes about handling each opponent such as the gunshots in the forest sequence and the framing of shots in the Schnee Dust Company facility to help see what Adam sees and thinks. 

I could go on about how great the physical aspects of the fight turned out adding the great use of staging in certain shots and even the brief instance of Neo attacking with her hidden blade through the different colored smears and sound effects that would’ve been easy to miss otherwise. But there’s still a bit more to talk about Neo and Cinder’s conflict outside of the fighting animation. Being a mute character, facial expressions are important to get right in both fighting and dialogue scenes and when Neo’s worn-&-torn character model is shown, heartache, surprise, fear and reluctance are all emotions made very clear. Finally, there’s some 2-D visual effects, likely from Myke Chapman again, this time in the form of wind. I can only imagine the overall design of the wind column surrounding Cinder is fairly elaborate to animate, despite it being looped. But it’s pulled off really well. The wind seems to be divided in three layers: there’s the swirling wind in front of Cinder, the wind swirling behind her and the base on the bottom which seems to be animated on 2s while the former two are animated on 1s. There’s also the additional wind bursting out at the bottom when Cinder levitates up or back down to the ground. Even though I have praised the 2-D effects in chapter 3, a bit of concern was felt as to whether the timing would be played around enough by utilizing what is called “frame modulation”. To put simply, the phrase has to do with an animator fluctuating between animating a sequence on 1s, 2s and 3s, depending on what exactly is meant to be conveyed. This was what I was slightly worried about with the 2-D effects going forward, but thankfully, this one effect soundly put the concern itself to rest.

Despite the harsh criticisms being common knowledge at this point (some of which are certainly valid), I have contrarily been willing to defend the general presentation of fights in volumes 4 & 5 for at least tapping into the idea of more consciously displaying the motivation and consequences between characters engaged in conflict. That being said, both the emotional narrative and physical choreography can both coexist and this Neo vs Cinder conflict served as a great, concise example of just that. I would not necessarily call the scene a “return to form” like many fans have been quick to state. But that should not take away from the level of effort being paid off in the first half of this episode serves as a effective reminder of moving forward to acknowledge both new and recurring talent. With that said, the topic of Cinder vs Neo has been greatly exhausted so let’s move on to a different change of pace in the latter half of the episode. It’s almost night and day in terms of what to break down with the Brunswick Farms scenes. Though there is just as much to talk about, just for mostly different reasons. The latter half of the episode has more emphasis on character acting through a mixture between motion capture and hand-keyed animations, timing of staging of moments through camera layout and editing, 3-D effects for the snow, and even the sound effects taking the spotlight to capture the eerie feeling of the setting.

Speaking of sound effects, let’s talk about that. Despite, talking this series of posts being about breaking down and speculating the production of RWBY, I’ve admittedly been very negligent on the audio and mixing up until now. But the audio department’s effort definitely deserve their due this episode with Chris Kokkinos taking the helm as lead of said-department since volume... Immediately, the sounds of the winds picking up in the storm are the first things made clear to the viewer. Even though there are dissolve transitions to shots of just the snowy setting for a few seconds, with the visibility being deliberately kept at a minimum, one can’t help but be drawn to the audio of the harsh winds. Once they barge inside, the music actually drops entirely for a moment and the sounds within the household immediately come to play. The creaking and footsteps of the wooden floors increase the tense feeling that something is amiss and though the music starts again once Ruby spots the family portraits, it doesn’t fight against the sound effects for attention. Next is Kara Eberle’s well-done screaming and panicky breathing as Weiss which is probably the only moment where the vocal delivery plays a punchy part of the uncomfortable setting. That, combined with the zoom-out from Ruby and Blake entering the room to seeing the rotted, sleeping corpses serves a great reminder of why I don’t care for horror movies in general, regardless of how laughably bad they can be. Congratulations CRWBY.

Next is the scene with the gang at the living room, starting with a shot of the fireplace. It’s more 2-D effects work on the fire which is simple and serviceable, though I’m not the most fond of the... “rendering” of the soot, for lack of a better way to explain it? It’s slightly jarring to look at in that it’s made too obvious that the elements of 2-D and 3-D don’t mesh as well as they could. But it’s really just a nitpick when all is said and done. The fluctuating shadow or lack thereof is interesting however since this extends to the characters. As much as the Pencil plug-in in 3DS Max has served as beneficial to the overall shading effect in RWBY’s character models for the past few volumes, making shadow flicker in front of a stable fire does not seem to be that doable. Whether this is due to lack of a simulation feature or it being possible to do manually but too time consuming, what very likely the lighting or compositing department have done before and did again in this chapter is use a subtle flickering effect that doesn’t change the shading on the characters so much as it slightly dims the light source, being the fireplace. It’s an interesting trick and it works fine, though I’m curious whether there is at all a way to manipulate the shading itself or rim lighting if added via the Pencil plug-in. Though the rim lighting is definitely seen a bit later in a couple of shots with Weiss.

Moving on, the living room scene itself seems to have been at least partially animated by Asha Bishi since much of her tells in character acting are there. Very expressive gestures and a combination of Blake’s cat ear shifts and eyes widening with the pupils being a tad more dilated, the last of which is something that been made more obvious after the last CRWBY episode. With that said, it’s a little hard to pin down when her sequence of cuts end. Next is the cut with Blake and Yang traversing in the snow which is actually the first shot and only shot newcomer, Nyle Pierson has animated in the show as of this episode. It’s a small bit but it totally nails how Blake and Yang would go about dealing with harsh snowy winds differently with one covering herself while the other tries to tough it out. Plus the follow-through on their clothing and hair are very well handled by avoiding feeling too similar, almost distinguishing which character’s clothes are sturdier. Now would also be a good time to briefly talk about the snow effects in this chapter and in this volume in general thus far. It’s all possibly a simulation done via Adobe After Effects from the compositing team since it doesn’t really interact with the main cast themselves. One exception though may be the moment Qrow stepped inside to dry off, though it’s honestly hard to say. The snow being brushed off seem to be done by the visual effects artists, but the wet spots formed on the floor may have been composited since they fade into the ground.

Moving into the shed scene, the quiet atmosphere is consistently well-set where only the sound effects and voice acting are heard. The choice of boards and camera layout also help ease into the sense of intimacy being brought between Blake and Yang’s conversation, going from wider and more distant shots that show the entire interior to having more medium and close-up shots and then back to a wider shot to take things back to square one. The last shot of this scene especially couldn’t be any more obvious as the visual equivalent of being given the cold shoulder. The animations through the facial expressions and gestures also serve to compliment the intention of the scene. I want to say Hannah Novotny animated this, but It’s still a little tricky to say for certain since she and Asha have similar approaches to animating the same characters. Jumping into the last scene of the episode and we get a couple of neat lighting choices, particularly with the small flames from Weiss and the flashlight on Ruby’s scroll. The show is no stranger to artificial lighting via vehicles and objects, but there hasn’t exactly been a light source done as small and bright before. There’s also an interesting detail by having the shape of the light be a couple of rings. Aside from that, nothing else to add beyond the cute, comedic character acting between Ruby and Weiss at the end of the episode. Not sure who the animator was that worked on it, but it served as an appropriately small, light-heard break in an otherwise very atmospheric set of scenes.

With that, this marks the end of another production analysis for volume 6 thus far. Despite the length being only slightly longer than the previous episode, chapter 5 had more going on overall with a more varied change of pace between the two-halves of the episode. With the return of a character who has been overdue for another appearance and a setting that invites visual and audio techniques from the horror film genre, it’s a bit hard to imagine how much more absurd things will go. But based on tweets Miles Luna and Melanie Stern have been teasing, things are expected to get even more nuts. This has made me especially curious as to what the next chapter or so is going to offer. One more thing to add: I want to give a special thanks and shout-out to Changyuraptor from the RWBY sub-reddit and his Source McGourse document on practically every confirmed scene each animator has done over the course of RWBY’s production. As much as I do my best to keep track of who has done what, Changyuraptor is arguably more on top of things than I am when it comes to searching high and low for any up-to-date information of confirmed sequences in volume 6 and a couple of the animators I found out from him.

[phroyd]

Yesterday, the European Parliament approved amendments to the controversial Copyright Directive, a piece of legislation intended to update copyright for the internet age. Few pieces of legislation have polarized Europe this much in recent years. Critics said the vote heralded the death of the internet, while supporters congratulated themselves for saving the livelihoods of starving artists and giving US tech giants a poke in the eye.

But the proposed change hasn’t finished happening yet, and it’s still too early to say exactly what it will mean. The text will be tweaked in upcoming negotiations, and the directive has a slim chance of being rejected altogether at another vote from the whole European Parliament 2019. Whatever legislation is passed will then have to be implemented by individual nations, all while facing likely legal challenges.

In other words, things are going to get more confusing before they get any clearer. But before that happens, let’s work out where we stand for now.

WHAT IS THE DIRECTIVE TRYING TO ACHIEVE?

Much of the outrage has been over two parts of the directive: Articles 11 and 13. But their intent, when described by supporters anyway, is pretty benign. Article 11 simply gives publishers the right to ask for paid licenses when their news stories are shared by online platforms, while Article 13 says that online platforms are liable for content uploaded by users that infringes copyright.

Both measures attempt to redress an imbalance at the core of the contemporary web: big platforms like Facebook and Google make huge amounts of money providing access to material made by other people, while those making the content (like music, movies, books, journalism, and more) get an ever-shrinking slice of the pie.

Not everyone involved in the creative industry is complaining about this, obviously. It’s benefited a lot of people, and a lot of internet users. But it’s obvious that the modern, ad-supported web has left companies in Silicon Valley extremely rich while torpedoing revenue in other industries. The Copyright Directive is supposed to level the playing field.

ARTICLE 11, THE LINK TAX

Article 11 is the so-called “link tax,” which gives publishers a right to ask for paid licenses when online platforms share their stories. The obvious target is aggregators like Google News, but opponents worry the law could have broader applications.

Some extreme interpretations have suggested that this might even stop ordinary web users sharing new stories, but the text of Article 11 does exempt individuals. It says that the new rights given to publishers “shall not prevent legitimate private and non-commercial use of press publications by individual users.” (You can read the amended version of Article 11 in this document on page 54.)

However, it’s not clear what counts as a commercial platform. What about blogs or RSS feeds that aggregate headlines in much the same way Google News does? What about a Facebook page operated by an individual who also has a huge audience?

There’s also the question of what counts as sharing a story. An amendment added to the directive in yesterday’s vote says that mere hyperlinks can’t be taxed, nor can “individual words.” But how many words is that? When do enough individual words become a snippet?

As is common with the Copyright Directive, it’s difficult to know what is even being asked. Julia Reda, MEP for the Pirate Party and one of the directive’s leading critics, says it’s just not clear enough. “This hyperlinking exception would not work online because no one clicks on a URL that doesn’t include a brief description of what it’s linking to,” Reda tellsThe Verge.

Critics also note that national versions of this law don’t tend to work. In Spain, for example, in 2014, a law was passed that forced publishers to charge news aggregators for sharing snippets. Google reacted by shutting down Google News; local aggregators couldn’t afford the fees and collapsed; and overall traffic to sites fell by as much as 15 percent. A similar opt-in law was passed in Germany in 2013. Google reacted by dropping sites who wouldn’t let their content be shared for free and again, traffic fell and publishers bent the knee.

ARTICLE 13, THE UPLOAD FILTER

The far bigger headache is Article 13, dubbed the “upload filter” by critics. It says that platforms “storing and giving access to large amounts of works and other subject-matter uploaded by their users” are liable for copyright infringement committed by users. (Meaning they can be sued by rights holders.) So, platforms and copyright holders must “cooperate in good faith” to stop this infringement from happening in the first place.

The difficulty, again, is working out what this provision actually means and how it might be enforced. (You can read the amended version of Article 13 in this document on page 56.)

Critics are clear: it means upload filters, forcing sites like YouTube and Facebook to scan every piece of content users share, and checking it against a database of copyrighted material. Such a mechanism would be ripe for abuse by copyright trolls and would make millions of mistakes. The technology simply doesn’t exist to scan the internet’s content in this way.

This specter of an upload filter has been framed by critics as the EU trying to “kill your memes.” Proponents of the bill say this isn’t the case, and that previous laws make parodies and memes exempt from copyright claims. Reda claims this doesn’t help.

“There are two problems with this,” Reda tells The Verge. “The first is that exceptions or limitations to copyright on a European level different from country to country, and a lot of countries do not have exceptions for memes, for example. The second problem is that even where memes are legal, upload filters would not be capable of distinguishing between them and infringing material.”

Reda gives the example of someone making a reaction GIF from a popular movie. How would an algorithm judge the context that GIF was being used in? It would just spot the infringing content and take it down.

However, some people disagree with this interpretation, and say the text of the Copyright Directive doesn’t actually necessitate upload filters. Instead, it would be something more like YouTube’s Content ID, which scans content after the fact for copyrighted material.

“I’m not sure it does amount to an upload filter,” Mark Owen, an IP specialist at UK law firm Taylor Wessing tells The Verge. Owen says the version of the directive before this week’s vote “was more like that,” but was tweaked as a compromise to “enable parliament to vote for this version.”

The older version of the directive talks about “the use of effective content recognition technologies” to identify infringing material, a phrase that’s now been removed from the text. Exemptions were also added specifically for sites like Wikipedia and GitHub, which both share a lot of user-generated content.

If Article 13 does lead to super-powered Content ID, that’s not going to be a good thing. Content ID is known to make mistakes, like taking down a video for the “copyright infringement” of having birds chirping in the background. These sorts of mistakes would only multiply if Content ID had to cover a wider range of material, and getting mistaken takedowns reversed would become a more lengthy process than it is now.

“These laws are written to a large extent by politicians who don’t use the internet very actively,” says Reda. “If you think the internet is made up of just YouTube and Facebook, you will come up with this sort of sweeping legislation.”

ANY OTHER BAD NEWS?

Yes! While Articles 11 and 13 have gotten the most attention so far, the new directive does also tighten up copyright in lots of smaller ways. There are concerns over how the directive treats text and data mining programs (or TDM), for example, potentially exposing automated scanners to copyright claims. And one clause, only added recently, might give sports leagues exclusive rights over any images or video of a game, a significant escalation in the ongoing fight over sports GIFs that might extend to fan-taken photos of a stadium before the game.

SO WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

This version of the Copyright Directive now goes into trilogues — a type of three-way dialogue (hence the name) between select members of Parliament, the European Commission, and representatives of member states. This process generally happens behind closed doors, meaning there’ll be little public oversight or news coming out of the process. It’s possible that some of the more troubling parts of the directive will be removed, which is what Axel Voss, the MEP who’s been leading the charge on the legislation, has promised. But it’s also possible the directive will stay much the same.

After trilogues, the directive will face a final vote from the European Parliament some time in spring 2019. That could be as early as January, or as late as March.

This vote will be the last chance to reject the directive entirely. It’s worth noting that although the entire legislation passed with a decent majority (438 in favor versus 226 opposed), the vote on specific amendments was closer (393 versus 279 for Article 11, and 366 versus 297 for Article 13). This shows there was sizable opposition to these worrying parts. The vote will also be taking place close to EU elections in May, giving vocal citizens good leverage if they want to persuade their representatives to take up a specific stance.

But having got this far, it’s unlikely the directive will fail to pass altogether. Most experts The Verge spoke to say that’s just not how the EU tends to work. “The European Parliament is a body of compromise. If the agreement in the trilogues goes a certain direction, it’s super hard for the plenary to overturn that,” Gus Rossi, global policy director of US nonprofit Public Knowledge, told The Verge earlier this week.

IP lawyer Owen agreed, saying the groups backing this legislation have been after it for too long to turn back now. “This is the first major change to online copyright since 2001,” says Owen. “It’s taken a long time to get to this point, and you’ve got to wonder whether Parliament will just say ‘Well, we did that, and we’re not going to have another go in three years’ time.’”

If the final vote goes through, member states should have two years to implement the directive into their own legislation (the usual time period for this sort of law). What happens then is anyone’s guess. Reda suggests that if large platforms do have to introduce filters, it could lead to services stopping in Europe altogether — as we saw after GDPR.

“They might decide to just geoblock Europe, and just make their services not available to people accessing the internet from Europe,” says Reda. “They won’t have a lot of good options.” This would accelerate the balkanization of the web, as the regulatory landscapes of different geographic regions drift away from one another.

But that’s yet to come. The bad news is that the fight over Europe’s internet is far from over. That’s the good news, too.

Phroyd