#but it's basically the kind of feel i was hoping for with Fate Saga | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

asoulofatlantis · 1 month ago

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I think I mentioned that yesterday, but Inferno couldn't sleep so he went right back to playing after like barely two hours of a break and he played for fucking 10 hours guys! Lots of sidequests happened so I hope we will finish this one quickly.

So we ended the last Stream shortly after Agnes confession. I did not mention that Van meet Nina after he brought Agnes to the station but she was so ominous with her words that I did not show it because I do not get what she wanted to tell Van, aside from that she hopes he sleeps well ^^' Now we are going back to Kevins group. Appearantly he is in search for the one who causes the desertification that is so bad in the east. His current coulprit is Professor Hamilton. She is a professor. Wears a lapcoat. And she is obviously having some secrets from us, so lets see were this might be going...

Stop saying "that person" as if we do not know who you are talking about. And its also bot like we haven't noticed anything shady about that woman either. So just say her name for gods sake, this isn't Harry Potter and sie is not Voldemort!

Thank you Swin, for bringing my words to that green haired idiot that calls himself a priest even tho there is nothing holy about him...

She is still dancing in a Table-Dance-Bar? And Kevin and Rufus are watching? What has become of the Trails series? We've been once so innocent...

So she wasn't exactly doing a... erotic kind of dance, even tho dressed in mostly underwear, but it was modest underwear I might add. After her show the real dancers come in and uh...

Halle says that Jack is NOT allowed to watch it XD

BTW... should we tell Ries about Kevin watching girls in not-so-modest underwear dancing on a pole? XD I feel like between Rean getting that cheek Kiss and Kevin sitting in a Table-Dance bar having their Girls back would be the funniest thing ever. HOWEVER... technically speaking nothing of that is likely going to happen again after... uh... you'll see that when we get there.

Hotsprings, hot baths, Saunas... what will be next? Ice baths? ^^' Seriously, the Trails-Saga has a huge fondness of stuff like that. At this point it wouldn't be a Trails-Game without it. (Although I think we didn't have any of it in Crossbell...)

XD I hope Nadia never changes. I seriously wasn't sure what to do with her back in Reverie. It felt like she was a rather annoying girl at first but then she showed her true face and I was simply amazed by her. Her character has so many different layers that fit so well with each other in the weirdest way possible that it is just so easy to like her. I mean, remember how she threatened to torture that one guy in Riveri? That was the same girl that fell asleep in Swins lap after complaining that she was soooo tired and the same girl that immediately took the role of a big sister for Lapis but also the same girl that used a trick to steal Milliums Arcus. She is lovely, but NEVER underestimate her.

Fateful encounter with a guy who doesn't know what he wants. She is not to be envied about that. PLUS... since this si not a Harem-Game, she is basically in the same position as Josette and Kloe and THAT is certainly not something you should envie her for.

Yes, Kevin got that right for once XD

Gee, the Girls bath is getting fuller by the minute XD

After that, we had a short trip to the Märchengarten... uh... Grim Garden and then we move on with Kevin trying to find out what the hell is going on with Hamiliton.

Running around doing sidequests and gatherin information for a while...

We meet a lot of people here. Mostly women tho interestingly.

Lapis is so cute that Ashen has to hug her XD

(Oh! Maxim is here as well, so I guess not only woman show up.)

Rufus just lied amazingly well to an AI-controlled talking computer. By saying that he lied "amazingly well" I mean that technically speaking nothing of what he said was a lie, even tho it somehow still was. It was... like he twisted the truth so it would sound nicer to the computer and that way he hid their dark intentions. This man is scary... but amazing.

I don't know what is more funny. The fact that Marielle is so innocently embarrassed or the fact that Rufus is covering Lapis eyes XD (Not to speak about Kevin enthusiasm. Gee... I feel bad for Ries.)

Okay, that scene was funny XD

Leave it to Trails to ease the tension in the weirdest way possible XD

I am enjoying that scene way too much XD

*achem* Back to more serious topics. It seems like hamilton used a lot of devices from ancient civilizations to make her Genesis-Copie-Mambo-Jambo work. Interesting.

#Mona watches Kai no Kiseki #spoiler #spoilers

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legostarwarsgame · 2 months ago

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The Ultimate LEGO Star Wars Adventure: All Nine Films Reimagined

After 17 years of perfecting their vibes, Traveller’s Tales is coming back to where it all started and totally remastering LEGO Star Wars. If you’re looking to buy Xbox games, this remastered classic is definitely one to consider adding to your collection. But calling it a 'remaster' is a total understatement. This is a fresh, whole new game, revamping not just the OG trilogy but all nine films from the classic “A New Hope” to the “I am the Senate” drama of the prequels, all the way to the final scenes of “The Rise of Skywalker”.

Stunning Ship Animations Enhance Travel Experience in LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga

The scripted levels are a blast in co-op, but if you’re looking to buy PS5 games where you have more freedom with character choices, being locked into specific characters can be a bummer sometimes. Like, in Luke’s big showdown with Darth Vader in The Empire Strikes Back, it kinda sucks if you're Player 2 stuck as R2D2, who’s not exactly built for lightsaber duels. On the presentation side, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is straight fire. John Williams’ iconic tracks are a total nostalgia overload, from the epic Duel of the Fates to Rey’s Theme, which feels both mysterious and triumphant. The game’s mix of LEGO figures with realistic backgrounds has never looked this good, thanks to a new environmental weathering system that makes bricks look more worn and realistic. Plus, the animations of your ship flying between planets are sick, giving you that real travel vibe instead of just jumping between levels.

Engaging End-Game Content with Shallow Film Levels

Every epic set-piece you can think of is here, done in super playable style—whether it’s the Death Star trench run, podracing, or riding the giant waves to Death Star II’s ruins. If you’re looking to buy PS5 games, this is exactly the kind of thrilling experience you’d want to find. And once you wrap up the classic trilogy, you can dive into the prequels or the new Skywalker trilogy and unlock them as you go. But here’s a little gripe: the complexity of the tasks can be a bit meh. The game’s clearly aimed at both younger players and older fans, but for me, a grown-up, it often feels a bit too basic. You’ll be tapping d-pad directions to open doors, rotating bezels, and smashing everything in sight. The end-game content does ramp up the challenge, but the film levels themselves can feel pretty shallow.

Technically Impressive and Wholesomely Fun with a Touch of Playfulness

And here's the final cherry on top for parents: the split-screen two-player mode is chef’s kiss. It looks almost as good as the single-player mode and lets you either stick together as a team or go off and do your own thing in any hub area. So one player might be sorting out a candy shop’s shelves while the other is cracking into a bank vault through an open window, or racing a Fathier through the streets. It’s perfect for parents and kids to enjoy together, or for bickering siblings to explore the hub areas separately. Despite the occasional bug or crash (and I’ve seen a few), it works like a charm and is a huge reason to grab the game if you’ve got someone else to play with.

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bookofmirth · 2 years ago

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Hi!!! First of all, sorry for my English, I know it's not perfect but I hope I can write in an understandable way! I was browsing and came across your blog! I have read almost all of your posts and asks about acotar!

I'm not a huge fan of the saga (I have a huge struggle finding female characters I like or at least wouldn't want to see dead lol I guess it's the fact that 99% of the time there's always romance involved and I hate romance! In fact, I was very amazed when despite not being crazy about her character, I almost never found Freya annoying, even her relationship with Rhys didn't bother me that much, and especially when reading the book I fell in love with Mor! A very strange thing, I read a lot and the female characters I don't dislike I can count on the fingers of one hand), I read it because I was looking for books with a strong bromance and a friend of mine (madly in love with Freya and Rhys) suggested Acotar to me because of Rhys, Az and Cassian and I must say she was right, I liked the three of them very much, especially Rhys and Cassian, my favorites (with Mor). Although, I admit I would have liked to see a little more about their relationship; I appreciated the fact that the nightmares Rhys had were about the fact that Cassian or Az might suffer the same fate he had suffered in his fifty years of captivity, the fact that when Cassian was wounded in acomaf he was aware of the urgency of healing his wings because he would rather die than live without them, or again when in acowar he told him that there was no debt to repay when Nesta had proposed to be bait and Cassian agreed. I was wondering, since from what I have read you understand Cassian's character very well, if you have a favorite moment of yours between the two and if there is anything you would like to see between the two in the next books.

P.S Since I'm not a fan of Nesta (understatement) I didn't read acosf, because loving Cassian's character I was afraid that it would make me dislike him (and because I had/have a bad feeling that he will end up at the point where he has to choose between her and his family and the very idea makes me furious and sick. But feel free to do spoilers, I haven't read the book but I obviously know what happens)

And then one more thing. I don't know if I can ask you this (I think I understand that this kind of question you prefer to be asked on the other blog, however while I'm at it...) but if you know of any, would you like to suggest some other books/saga where there is a connection like the one between the bat boys? It's what I prefer to read, but I have a hard time finding books with a strong bromance component to read.

A hug🤗

Hello! I love Cassian so much, I love this whole ask :D

I have read almost all of your posts and asks about acotar

First, I commend you on this because oh my god, that's a lot of content to sift through haha

I love that you love Mor! I love her too, even if sjm has basically written her as an incomplete character thus far. We got so much info about her in acomaf-fas, we even got her POV, and now nothing but the tension between her and Nesta in acosf? SJM has dangled all this stuff in front of us about Mor and then just left it as big question marks. She has said she is excited to write Mor's story, so I am just hoping that comes before I hit retirement age.

I am finishing up my acomaf reread today and I just love the IC so much in that era, I totally understand why you love the friendship between Rhys, Cassian, and Azriel. Cassian and Mor is my favorite brotp (still) but I love the idea of those three guys supporting each other through all these years and knowing each other so well. There are some things in acosf that make me question their friendship so maybe you shouldn't read it, idk. I don't think that, if you don't like Nesta, then acosf would make you dislike Cassian. From what I've seen, people who really love Nesta ended up disliking Cassian in acosf. I prefer Cassian to Nesta, without question, and acosf didn't make me like him any less.

I had/have a bad feeling that he will end up at the point where he has to choose between her and his family

This definitely happens and I think that readers don't realize that he is so torn between his brothers and his mate? Nesta and Rhys do not get along and so that puts Cassian in an awkward position not infrequently. There are no good choices for him when Nesta and Rhys butt heads. Imagine if your partner and your family were clashing, it's awkward enough but then you're at the beginning of your relationship, your partner is dealing with some mental health shit, your family is dealing with world ending shit. It's a lot.

For your question about what I hope, I hope that Cassian and Nesta are able to find a balance in their relationship. That would mean her respecting his relationship with Rhys and Az despite her feelings towards Rhys, and him choosing her over them on occasion and standing up for her. I don't see how their relationship (Cassian and Nesta) could honestly last unless they find a way to balance the fact that Cassian's best friend/brother and his mate hate one another. Something's got to give. My favorite scene between them thus far is still the end of acowar when he thinks he is going to die and says he wishes they'd had more time.

For books with a strong bromance, that's an interesting question! I'm not sure if these count, but the first one that comes to mind is The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet. It's not bromance per se, but it does focus on friendship a lot! Then The Gilded Wolves revolves around a friend group. There is some romance in that one. If you are into graphic novels, Rat Queens has great female friendship, but stop after the third volume. There are also great friendships in the Mistborn trilogy! I feel like I should start a "friendship" shelf on my Goodreads so I can keep track of them, that was a hard question. If anyone else has recommendations, feel free to leave them!

#acotar #cassian #mor #cassian & mor #ask #anon

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alternativewinxcontinuity · 4 years ago

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So a few months ago (last year maybe? oh my god what is linear time?!) I was thinking about how I would do a live action reboot, I’ve spoken about Fate Saga before but, I was just reminded of it again and... *sigh*

Anyway, from the long forgotten recesses of my files: here’s the outline (for episode 1) and notes (for the series) for how I would have handled it... except not, because I used Beatrix* and I would not have bothered with her if I could help it. I replaced Terra with our usual cast though. (...re-replaced? unplaced? deplaced? meh, nvm.)

*Beatrix is apparently the character replacing the entire Trix (last time I dared to pay proper attention) and I figured I might as well.

Episode one:

We open on aerial views of Gardenia, showing the town early in the day and meandering into Vanessa's Flower Shop. Bloom is helping her mother out around the shop, sorting a new arrival of decorative vases and notices one is chipped. She scolds it, “first day and you're already on the discount shelf,” puts it down and calls out to her mother when she can't find the ticket gun.

As she walks away to find it, a close up on the vase shows the damage repairing itself (or already gone).

Bloom and her mother banter for a bit, and Bloom teases her mother that 'working for my summer break wasn't what I had in mind.' Her mother teases back and implies that Bloom might be getting a very late gift for her sixteenth birthday. A very late gift.

When Bloom guesses 'car', her mother mother replies that 'it does have wheels and she can use it to carry things,' before having a friendly stare down with Bloom which leads Bloom to 'it’s a bike isn't it.'

Bloom returns to the vases with the ticket gun, but can't find the spot of damage on the vase, and decided she must have imagined it.

Bloom gets back to work, though slightly uneasy.

[scene change]

It is clearly later in the day, the sun getting low, Bloom is checking her phone and walking down the street, a delicious looking beverage in one hand. A girl about the same age as Bloom spots her as she's out for a walk of her own.

Smirking the girl strides up to Bloom and deliberately bumps into her, spilling the drink over both of them and pushing Bloom into a nearby hedge.

The girl starts going off at Bloom, demanding to be repaid for the [high end fashion brand] shirt that Bloom has just ruined.

Struggling to get out of the hedge, Bloom fires back, identifying the girl as Mitzy, and demanding to know why the girl is always like this. Wanting to know what she (Bloom) had ever done to her (Mitzy) that made her want to bully Bloom, even on their school holidays.

Mitzy answers back with something inane, and Bloom shrieks trying to lunge at Mitzy while still half in the hedge.

The Hedge ignites, and Mizty bolts, leaving Bloom to scramble from the burning hedge by her self and scrabble for her phone to call the fire department.

Bloom stares at the burning hedge in shock.

[scene transition]

Bloom stares at the smoking hedge in shock, it is even later in the day, almost dusk, and there is now a fire truck beside her. She is startled back to reality by one of the firemen asking her if she's alright.

She assures him (identifying him as her father) that she's okay but... she thinks she might have started the fire.

Her father, confused, asks what she means by that, and she explains that she thinks her anger might have been what started the fire.

Weird things have been happening to her, something strange is going on. Her father looks worried but says there's likely a good explanation and they can talk more at home, and does Bloom need a lift?

[scene change]

Bloom and her father – Mike – arrive home together to find a worried Vanessa who's heard about the fire. (Because Mike called her earlier.)

As they enter their house, Bloom frowns at a nice looking car because it's parked in what is technically their family's visitor parking. She asks if they have a guest, (Is it Grandma?) only to be told they don't have anyone visiting, and the conversation moves to Bloom's concerns she shared with her father.

[scene shift]

Interior of the house, the family sits down and Mike and Vanessa ask Bloom to tell them about the things she's been dealing with, the 'weird stuff going on around her'.

She tells them about several things, seemingly small things that could just be tricks of the mind, but which happen far to frequently to be normal... unless she has early onset dementia, she asks if they know if her birth family had a history of mental illness, but her parents don't know.

Talking together they decide that now is a good time for Bloom to receive the few items left to her by her birth family.

There's a medallion with strange symbols, a blanket sized for an infant, and a book in a strange language that Bloom swears she can almost read.

Her parents leave Bloom to go through her things and let her know they're there if she needs them.

Bloom has a montage of researching the symbols on the medallion and comes up with an ancient stone ring (like Stonehenge but smaller), dozens scattered around the planet that have similar symbols. (fringe scientists say aliens, but all folk lore associated with them falls under 'fairy tales'.)

During this montage a live bunny moves around the scenes, occasionally getting hugged as an emotional support bunny. It is a strange bluish shade of grey.

[scene change]

At breakfast the next morning Bloom tells her parents what she's discovered about the Fairy Rings, and asks if she can go see the closest one. Her parents share a look and take her outside to show her the car Bloom frowned at yesterday.

“It's your late present from Grandma.” her parents tell her, and Bloom expresses joyed disbelief, then sadness that she'd missed her Grandma again, mentioning that she hasn't seen her in so long she probably wouldn't recognise her if they passed in the street.

[brief montage]

Bloom prepares for her road trip, her parents checking the route with her and helping her pack her bags, giving the rabbit goodbye kisses as she leaves it with her family.

Bloom drives for a few minutes, various backgrounds passing by the windows (possibly one or two outfit changes) until she comes to a heavy and ancient feeling forest which sprawls across the land covering at least part of a mountain range.

Bloom gets out of the car and gives her parents a call to let them know she arrived. She jokes that it would be easier to ask Grandma if only she didn't spend 99.9% of the time 'off the grid'.

Bloom hikes through the forest to a clearing part way up the mountainside.

The circle of standing stones is partly moss covered and Bloom seems reluctant to remove the moss because she's in a nature reserve. She moves into the circle and pulls out her Medallion to compare the symbols only for the stones to begin humming. Bloom stumbles as the stones light up and makes for the edge of the ring, but before she can exit there's a flash of light. When it fades the Fairy Ring Bloom was investigating is empty.

[scene change]

Bloom trips and hits the ground, retching slightly before scrambling to her feet clearly dizzy, she stumbles and reaches out to grab one of the standing stone only to pull back, eyeing the stone warily.

Then has a 'what the hell?' moment, because not only are the stones moss free, they seem to be made of a different type of stone, and she is no longer in the same place.

A loud screeching noise pierces the air and Bloom startles, but then a muddied voice says something she can't quite make out, and she decides “screw it, people! Someone will know what's going on!... and I have literally no better options.”

Racing through the very different forest Bloom quickly finds a young woman fighting what she can only call monsters. The young woman, a blonde in strange garments wielding a staff with a fancy ornament at one end, seems to be tiring.

Bloom grabs a heavy looking branch and starts whacking. The duo manage to do okay, but they can both see it's a losing fight. They manage to get close enough for the blonde to tell Bloom the plan, which is just: make a gap and get back to the Fairy Ring.

They race back along the path Bloom took and she tries asking what the hell is going on, but the Blonde is too out of breath. They make it to the Ring and the blonde tells Bloom “hands on the staff”, Bloom complies without question and the stones flare again, shifting both of them to yet another Fairy Circle.

The blonde falls on her ass clearly worn out, and Bloom turns as she drops to her knees to puke.

A voice calls out to a 'princess Stella' and a strict looking woman appears to inform the blonde that she'd been expected three hours ago. The blonde, apparently princess Stella explains she'd been attacked, her transport had been hacked somehow and she'd been dumped out she didn't even know where, and would have probably died if not for her saviour.

Proper introductions are made between Bloom, Princess Stella and the stern woman who's name is Madam Griselda. Stella informs Bloom that since they just survived life and death together, they are totes besties now.

Bloom responds with a dubious “cool... where are we?”

Stella: the Arrival Ring of Alfea Academy of Fairy Magic, duh?

Bloom: Where on Earth is that?

Stella: what's Earth?

Griselda: ahem! Perhaps this is a conversation for inside, others may be trying to use the Ring, we still have several students not yet here. Go see Headmistress Faragonda!

Griselda makes Stella sign and gives her a student ID blank and a Bloom a visitor pass as she shoos them away. Bloom looks back to see Griselda doing something with one of the stone pillars.

Stella and Bloom chat as they walk, Stella trying to figure out why Bloom's so confused. They have to stop part way down the path as Bloom takes a moment to freak out as she realises she's not on Earth anymore but a Planet called Magix, and the girl in front of her is the crown princess of an entirely different Planet called Solaria.

Bloom: what the hell is my life right now?! I was just trying to find out more about my birth parents!

Stella (awkwardly holding one hand and patting her forearm): look, I've never heard of your home world, but you saved my life, and I like you, so no matter what happens, you'll be okay, I'll look out for you.

They resolve to ask Headmistress Faragonda if she knows anything about Earth when Stella checks in with her as instructed by Griselda.

The duo pass out of the trees that were blocking their view and Bloom has a 'oh wow' moment as she sees Alfea for the first time.

[artistic scene change]

The camera leaves the duo, panning around the school, showing various other young women, (pausing briefly on a few that fans of the cartoon will recognise) before focusing back down through a window to catch up with Stella and Bloom who have made their way to Faragonda's office.

After knocking they are called inside and Bloom pauses as she catches sight of Faragonda, who looks at her with some surprise and what almost seems like recognition, but the expression is gone in an instant and Faragonda asks the girls what happened.

Stella launches into a speech which catches the audience up on her side of the story before Bloom quickly recaps the episode thus far – got a medallion left to me by my birth parents, went searching, found stones, got teleported, kicked butt, ran, arrived here.

Faragonda tells Bloom that without knowing which Ring she'd initially come from, they'd be hard pressed to send her back. They could try a thing which boils down to return call, but that would send her first to the place she and Stella had been running from.

Considering it too dangerous, Faragonda promises to look into things and offers Bloom a place to stay in the mean time, telling her she's welcome to sit in on classes while she's here – after all, Bloom could only have entered the school without a special allowance if she herself was a fairy. (The guest pass doesn’t count)

Stella, super excited about the idea tugs Bloom by the hand, dragging her from the room.

[Scene shift]

The camera pans around to show the school's courtyard from Fragonda's window as Stella shows Bloom to the dorms via the scenic route.

Fragonda stands by the window watching them.

Griselda appears beside her watching over her shoulder.

Griselda: should I prepare for trouble?

Fragonda: … yes, and rather a lot of it I'm afraid...

[Episode ends.]

Next episode the rest of the Winx are introduced, and Bloom begins to learn about the powers she's recently had awakening within her. Fate Saga exclusive character Beatrix begins cropping up.

The Winx begin attempting to investigate Bloom's past via the Medallion, and Faragonda watches on with worry.

Tecna manages to trick out Bloom's phone so she can call her parents to tell them she's met some friends and found a lead and won't be home for a while yet.

Tecna gives the location data she gained from Bloom's phone call to Faragonda in the hopes of helping Bloom get home.

Episode ends with Bloom awakening from a dream (of Daphne), and Beatrix believing she's found a lead to her own investigation.

The following (4**) episodes focus on a mix of Bloom learning magic, the group researching the Medallion and discovering the markings are an ancient dialect belonging to Domino – but that's been a dead world for ages and the dialect wasn't exclusive to the planet.

Bloom has more Daphne dreams; fragments of the dream seem to be Daphne giving her lessons of a spiritual/magical nature.

The Winx realise Beatrix is up to something and share their observations with Faragonda, but when things come to a head at the end of the season, they're the ones who are there at the right time and the Winx fight Beatrix who is trying to steal a crystalline flame.

The artefact destroys Beatrix in the end and Faragonda assures the Winx they aren't at fault and oh btw, Faragonda has found a way to get Bloom home.

The Winx want Bloom to stay with them, but she says she needs to go see her parents, but she'll be back if that's okay with Faragonda, because there's still some things she needs to investigate.

Season closes with several short scenes: Griselda and Faragonda talk about what happened, and suspect Beatrix wasn't a real person, and refer to the Crystal Flame as Daphne's Heart. Griselda tells Faragonda that it might be time to come clean with Bloom.

A sooty, smoking doll on a table surrounded by a trio of out of focus women is the recipient of scorn and derision, the doll looks like Beatrix and the trio make it clear Griselda and Faragonda's suspicions were correct and Beatrix was a fake person the “mysterious trio” had made to investigate a lead at Alfea.

Bloom returns to Earth to find her car dusty but intact, and with a little magic she manages to get it started and drives home. When she arrives her mother welcomes her and tells her she has excellent timing: her Grandma is there. Excited Bloom races into the next room where her father is, but stops and stares in confusion when she sees-

“Ms Faragonda?”

End Season

Season two reveals Faragonda was responsible for hiding Bloom on Earth at the behest of a dying Daphne, Daphne's Heart is in fact, actually Daphne who used ancient magic to preserve her consciousness so she could pass on her knowledge to Bloom, who is basically the last of their bloodline and the (as far as anyone knows) only survivor of Domino.

Season 2 introduces the Boys and the Trix. (Also Aisha if she can't be shoehorned into season 1)

**unless it’s changed or I’m recalling wrong, the Fate Saga season 1 episode count was six hour long episodes?

#winx club #winx #winx rewrite #winx club rewrite #re-rewrite?#this is all i have of this rewrite #but it's basically the kind of feel i was hoping for with Fate Saga

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toomanyopinionss · 2 years ago

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My thoughts while watching

Fate: The Winx Saga Season 2

Ok, so I had NO intention of watching this. I mean the show was a mess, the characters sucked, the story was barely passable, and it was just bad. The only reason I decided to watch this was because of Flora. She was my favorite character as a child, and I was genuinely curious. I didn’t NOT like it, is all i’m saying. I will say though, that the story felt just as loose and strange as the first season. So structure-wise, not much changed. However, the characters are OODLES more likeable. and the friendship between the girls this season felt genuine. but to be fair, the bar was in he!! so… let’s get into it:

Bloom. She was great. My biggest complaint about the last season was that it felt like the show was basically “Bloom and her sidekicks” but this season felt so much more balanced. Her arch was a little wobbly, but still strong. And fvck it, i’m GLAD she killed Rosalind. someone needed to put that b!tch down fast cause the way that woman so got on my NERVES?! Her relationship with sky was actually quite heartwarming. it wasn’t my favorite coupling in the show, and had its bumps, but i found it really nice to seem then on screen together. they really fit. So yeah. Bloom gets a 7.5/10

AISHA GOT A STORY LINE. Of course it was about a boy, cause this is a dark teenage netflix drama but at least it was something. The serious lack of POCs in this show in season one was staggering, so I was hoping for something, ANYTHING. She really proved to be the backbone of this group. Her and the boy were cute. i don’t really have any strong opinions about grey. His lil “blood witch reveal” was unsurprising and basic, cause he was just too nice. But whateva. i liked her water wings, i think (spoiler alert). a little wonky, but better than stella’s [hottake].

I loved Stella. One of my favorite characters this season. She felt so real and genuine compared to last season. Her character arch is really good, and i loved the moments between her and Beatrix. Speaking of Beatrix…

BEST CHARACTER THIS SEASON. I don’t give a shit if she’s playing for both teams. She does what she can to stay alive. Girly lost EVERYTHING. Truly no one had it quite as bad as she did, she was literally in the trenches. I really could not help but applaud everything she did, i did not care. Cause that self preservation mode was on HIGH. and i would have done the same damn thing if I was in her shoes. and then her ending?! Netflix clearly not seeing heaven for that.

Musa’s storyline was so powerful. In the second half more so than the first. No hate on sam, he aight. but i have no strong feelings towards him, and i think he needed to go in order for musa to go on the path she did. the way the explored her relationship with her powers was *chefs kiss*. i wanna see more of it next season. her and riven’s chemistry was really good. I can’t wait to see what they do with that as well.

Terra is LEAPS AND BOUNDS better than she was before, and not just because of her lil rainbow reveal ;). She felt like more a part of the group, but her character arch felt natural. In season one, she was very pushy, very annoying, and could be condescending at times. And the thing is, she’s STILL LIKE THAT. But it’s so clear that she’s grown and matured since the last season, and i so love that. also her and that specialist have my entire heart, they were so precious.

Flora didn’t really do much for me. At first, I thought they just added her for that extra poc on screen (netflix is def not above that). But near the end of the show, her character kind of sat right with me. Especially when she sacrificed herself?! The sympathy pains were strong on that one. So, high hopes for her future.

Kay, this is getting a lil lengthy. so let’s do a lightning round:

Riven: I like him so much more, he’s definitely less of an asshole then before

Sky: Skmilar to Beatrix, he kind of went through a lot and lost basically everything by the end; would have liked to see a bit more of an ending for him, but they only had so much time.

Dane: Dane can get a review when Dane comes back with a storyline.

Andres: the only thing i felt when he died was pity for beatrix, like he was so useless.

Rosalind: Piece of actual shit with a black conscious, no morals, and literally no endgame?! like all that mysterious build up just to end up six feet under. rip, rest in pain

Terra’s dad: don’t even care enough to remember his name, but are we all just gonna accept the fact that he left his freakin 16/17 year old daughter by herself at a school with an evil headmaster and freaking evil blood witches on the loose?! make it make sense plz

ok i’m done. that was draining. read my First Season Review if you want

tldr - better than the first season imo. still no sign of tecna tho

#toomanyopinions #fate the winx saga #the winx saga #winx club #winx musa #winx flora #winx terra #winx bloom #winx stella #winx beatrix #winx sky #winx riven #netflix #winx aisha #winx grey

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ladyloveandjustice · 3 years ago

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Spring 2021 anime overview: Quick Takes

Now for my Spring 2021 anime thoughts! I’ve decided from now on if a season’s like, 20- to-24 episodes I’m just going to wait ‘til it’s done to review it unless I feels super passionately, so though I watched To Your Eternity (it’s good!) and MHA (eh), I’ll comment on them next time. Also, for the record, I watched the first eight eps of Joran: Princess and Snow of Blood but I dropped it because it had clearly crossed the line from entertainingly dumb to boring dumb.

I will probably give Supercub and some other stuff a shot later, this was a stacked season! May give updates on all that later, but this is what I have for now.

ODDTAXI

Quick Summary: A mild mannered middle-aged walrus taxi driver is drawn into a case involving a missing girl, yakuza, Youtube clout-chasers, manzai comedians and idols with big secrets.

It’s rare to walk away from media and be like “that is a singular experience I will definitely never see repeated again” but ODDTAXI is definitely one of those. A tense noir thriller murder mystery starring cartoon animals that spends an entire episode detailing the one (cat)man’s very fall into darkness triggered by addiction to gacha games and an online auction for a novelty eraser? Also there’s a porcupine Yakuza who speaks entirely in rap? Also there’s tons of meandering conversations about stuff like manzai comedy and the struggle to go viral on Twitter?

Admittedly, I had a hard time getting into the first episode, the dry meandering humor not being enough to hold my attention while I was sitting still, but once I watched this while I was working out at the end of the season, I found it an easy binge. A ton of characters with dark secrets or dangerous ambitions, each with their own part to play in a tableau of intersecting events- and it all actually comes together really well.(As for the female characters, it’s a pretty dude driven story, but they do get nuanced characterization and even some good heroic moments from one of them.)

It’s a great example of a carefully planned narrative paying off, with all the twists appropriately seeded and foreshadowed to reward viewers who paid attention. Even when it ended on a perfect “OH SHIT” moment and denied me closure, I couldn’t help but respect it. If you that all sounds interesting to you, definitely check out the first couple episodes and see if you like it- you’re likely to have a memorable, satisfying experience!

Shadows House

Quick Summary: Emilyko is a ‘living doll’ who’s told she was created to act as the ‘face’ of her shadow master, Kate. The shadows and their ‘dolls’ all reside on the mansion and are required to pass a ‘debut’ to prove they’re a good pairing. If they don’t pass, they might be disposed of. And so the mystery of the Shadow mansion grows...

This slice of gothic intrigue was my favorite of the season, tied with ODDTAXI. With an interesting premise, slightly tense undertones and a strong focus on character building and relationships, it kept me hooked the whole way through. And for any squeamish fans put off by the hype about it, don’t worry, while there are some suspenseful elements, I wouldn’t qualify it as horror. I thought the relationship between Kate and Emilyko might end up being a completely sinister one, but it’s thankfully a lot more complex than that and it’s really interesting to follow how both their characters and relationship grow. The focus of the show is, unsurprisingly, on the “dolls” slowly discovering their autonomy and personhood as they struggle under the rigid system imposed on them by the mysterious elders of this weird Victorian mansion. Can they develop a more equitable relationship with their shadow “masters” (who are also shown to suffer under this system)? There’s a lot to dig into there, and the show has the characters develop through learning to understand and appreciate each other, which is pretty heartwarming. Our hero, Emilyko, is the typical plucky ball of sunshine (they even nickname her sunshine), but she’s also shown to be clever in her own off-the-wall way and she bounces off the far more subdued and cynical Kate well, not to mention the other ‘dolls’ she ends up befriending.

What’s more, the show spends plenty of time to developing several other character pairings and combinations, and they all have their own interesting dynamic that makes you want to see more of them. Same-gender bonds are at the forefront of this show, and many of them are ripe for queer readings (I definitely appreciated the healthy helping of ladies carrying ladies), but even outside that it’s nice to see a show where a strong, complex bond between girls is at the forefront. My only real complaints about the show are the anime original ending is noticeably a bit rushed (though it’s not too bad, and leaves room for a season 2) and I wish the animation used the whole “shadow” theme more strikingly (like the opening and endings do)- instead the colors are a bit washed out which makes the shadows blend into the background sometimes. The “debut” arc also drags a bit in places, but it makes up for it by having a lot of good character integration.

I hope to check out the (full color)! manga soon and see more of this quirky, shadowy story. There’s some physical abuse depicted, sad things happening to characters and naturally the whole “oppressive familial system” thing, but otherwise not much I can think of to warn about. I give this one a big rec, especially If you’re a fan of gothic fairytales and stories of self discovery.

Zombie Land Saga Revenge

Quickest summary: In this sequel season, everyone’s favorite zombie idol group must claw their way back into prominence after a disastrous show- the fate of the Saga prefecture LITERALLY depends on it!

This was a fun follow-up to the first season- if you liked the first zombie-girl romp, you’ll probably enjoy this one. In fact, there were a couple areas it improved on- namely, Kotaro failed, ate crow and embarrassed himself a lot more this season, which made him more likeable (as did the fact the girls gained a lot of independence from him). This season also shed more light on what the ‘goal’ of this zombie raising project is and what kind of shit Kotaro got involved with to make this happen, and it’s appropriately off-the-wall and ridiculous. We finally got some backstory for Yugiri too! I wish it had focused on more of her interiority, but she got to be a badass in it, and it was a treat to see this zombie idol show turn into a period piece for a couple episodes (also her song ruled).

Tae also got a cute focus episode and there was a particular SMASHING performance early on! Also That revelation last season that had the potential to turn creepy hasn’t yet, and hopefully never will. The finale was heartwarming with big hints of more drama to come- I’m definitely down for more zombie hijinks!

Vivy: Flourite Eye’s Song

Quickest Summary: A songstress AI named DIVA (nicknamed Vivy) is approached by another AI named Matsumoto, who says he’s from the future and they must work together to prevent AI exterminating all of humankind 100 years from now.

This show is absolutely gorgeous visually with some really nice action scenes, but when it comes to the story my feelings basically amount to a shrug. It’s fine! I guess! Vivy starts out as an interesting layered character- and I guess still is by the end- with her stoic but stubborn determination bouncing off her fast-talking bossy partner Matsumoto well. She never listens to him, which is delightful. The way the show took place over the course of 100 years was an interesting conceit as well. However, it bought up a lot of themes and then sort of... dropped them. For instance, Vivy interprets her mission (PRIME DIRECTIVE if you will) as protecting humans at all costs, no matter how destructive said humans are or what their fate is supposed to be, and is perfectly willing to murder her fellow androids to do this, showing she inherently thinks of androids (herself and her own people!) as less worthy. Which is a little alarming! There’s a very dramatic point in the show where they bring this up as a potential conflict for her character but then it’s sort of...dropped. Pretty much.

Actually, despite the premise, the show doesn’t dip into the “AI rights” as much as you think it would with the main theme being more about Vivy’s search to find her own creativity and discover what it means to ‘pour your heart into something’. Vivy herself doesn’t actually care if she has rights or anything. Which is in some ways fine, because ‘AI as an oppressed class’ has been done to death, but IT’S ALSO KIND OF IN THE PREMISE, so that means that the show just shrugs really hard at a lot of the questions it brings up basically just going “humans and AI should work together probably” and that’s it. There’s a lot that feels underexplored. The antagonists in the show also either have motivations that don’t really make sense or have boring hackneyed motivations. In the finale in particular, it feels like a lot of things happen “just because” and it falls a little flat.

I also have to warn that one of the arcs focus on a robot ‘pairing’ where the dude-coded robots actions toward his partner are straight up awful and rob her of her autonomy, but it’s played like a tragic love story. I suppose you could read it differently too, but it definitely made me go ‘ew’ the story seemed to want me to sympathize with this robo dude,

Overall, I wouldn’t anti-recommend this show, it’s an all right little sci-fic romp (and definitely SUPER pretty). My favorite element was definitely the episodes where Vivy develops an entirely new (an loveable) personality, because it played with the idea of of an AI getting “rebooted” really well and interplay between her two “selves” was done really well. But there are a lot of other parts of the show that just feel...a little underexplored and empty, making me have an ‘eh’ feeling on the show overall. It’s definitely an ambitious project, and while it didn’t quite stick the landing, there’s something to be said for a show that shoots for the stars and falls short over a show that just languishes in mediocrity.

Fruits Basket The Final

Quick summary: The final season of that dramatic drama about that weird family with a zodiac curse and the girl who loves them.

It’s very weird that after not cutting a lot out, they kinda sped through some material for, you know, the finale. I guess they thought they couldn’t stretch this final arc to 26 episodes? Or weren’t cleared for another double cour? However, though there were a couple places that felt awkward, despite being a bit condensed it mostly held together pretty well for a D R A M A T I C and ultimately heartwarming conclusion. I was really disappointed they kept the part where Ritsu cut their hair for the ‘happy ending’, I thought their intro episode not showing them in men’s clothes meant the anime had decided their presentation didn’t need to be “fixed” but WELL I GUESS NOT. That was the only big upset for me though, otherwise the adaptation went about how I expected, sticking to the source material. Furuba has a lot of bumps, from weird age gap stuff to ...gender, but it also has a lot of important feels and great character arcs. It was a gateway shoujo for many and has its important place in animanga history, so I’m glad it finally got a shiny, full adaptation.

#anime overview #spring 2021 anime #shadows house #oddtaxi #zombie land saga #fruits basket #vivy: fluorite eye's song #zombie land saga revenge #fruits basket the final #anime #my reviews #long post

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everything-laito · 4 years ago

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About time I finally finish this; here’s the final part of the Laito and Cordelia analysis saga

Hiya! It’s been a hot minute, hasn’t it? Like I said in the previous parts, I’m just going to be answering Cordelia/Laito questions that I’ve received before the saga came out or during the time I was releasing analysis parts. So without further ado, here’s the last part under the cut!

Here’s the rest of the saga, that I recommend reading in order!

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

This was sent to me in an ask before the Laito/Cordelia analyses began. I knew I was going to touch up on some of this before hand, but the reason why Laito doesn’t have a chance of having DID or the like is because I do believe he was groomed as a child! I gave my argument here, in part I section 2. The grooming process is an attempt to make the child trust and rely on the predator so they believe that they cannot be abused or hurt by them. It’s why Laito was later on so confused by his trauma and feelings towards that situation, because he thought it was good to do those actions with Cordelia. Regardless, I do not believe Laito has DID because like you said, there is a chance that this happens, and also the first time when Cordelia did sexually abuse him (to our knowledge) did not start when he was a child since that was the process of him being groomed.

I do believe forming repressed memories over traumatic experiences is more common than forming DID or other disorders like it. I’d say Laito suffers more from repressed memories or at least forgotten ones than DID, considering he didn’t suffer from sexual trauma when he was a kid and also he’s still haunted by memories from his nightmares. Sometimes (as we see in the games) he’s surprised by some of the surfaced memories his nightmares bring him, which gives the inclination that those memories were either repressed or he’s just lived for so long he’s simply forgot about some of those details.

(Also, it’s not good to compare types of trauma and abuse, just another thought! It’s personal for everyone, and saying a type of trauma is worse than another invalidates one’s experience with it, not to mention it’s comparing “apples to oranges” as they say)

I think both of these are the same question? Or similar at least? But please correct me if I’m wrong!

I’m honestly not entirely sure on this one. Cordelia didn’t want to have children in the first place, so I don’t know if she would care. I don’t even know if she really realized that Karlheinz was abusing her in the first place. If she saw it first hand and it kinda struck her to a deep level??? Maybe??? But maybe she would be like “oh that’s normal” considering she justifies her trauma in a way by saying that she loves and hates him (I believe she also said that like Laito??? If I am wrong please call me out for it and I’ll edit this :)). She just has several unhealthy and abusive coping mechanisms. So I don’t know, but I’m leaning towards a “no” since she’s pretty full of herself and doesn’t show to feel empathy for other people aside from Karlheinz in a twisted fashion.

Hope that makes sense!

That’s a very very interesting question! I do believe he would have, eventually?? Considering he did want to be the one to kill her since he “loves her so much that he hates her.” We do know from Dark Fate that Karlheinz wanted the triplets to kill her eventually, which is why that abusive household was strung up in the first place through his puppet strings. So I’d say so. Maybe he would have snapped one day and done it. Nonetheless, that’s a very interesting prompt to think about!! If I think of anything more, I will definitely add to this :)

Karlheinz did know about Laito and Cordelia even before he “found out.” In fact, he wanted something like that to happen in order to create the conditions (somehow) to create a new human race. I think that he might have locked up Laito in order to just make the situation worse and to “show” Cordelia that he still “cares” about her.

Karlheinz is also an abusive prick too, considering he did all of this on purpose. He’s the true villain of the story, pulling the strings. I definitely recommend playing Laito’s Dark Fate route, it’s absolutely amazing. If you can’t play it, I definitely recommend reading it, however Hirarin’s voice acting is definitely half of the emotion :)

But basically, Karlheinz never cared about Cordelia, that’s the sad part. He just used her for his eugenics experiment. In Ayato’s More Blood flashbacks in his Maniac Epilogue, Cordelia gets a blue rose from Karlheinz, which means “impossible” or “unattainable.” Ironic, considering blue roses actually do not exist! Well... kind of. The true “blue rose” looks more like a purple color. Blue pigment in nature is very rare in comparison to other pigments. Natural blue roses to not exist, and it has been quite the feat for biotechnologists to make a blue rose, given the meaning of “impossible.” A true blue rose (that has not been dyed or is fake) still does not exist to my knowledge, but I'm assuming the demon world has blue roses haha. However, Ayato knows that blue roses means “impossible,” so he crushes the rose. Cordelia, however, is blissfully ignorant and gets mad at Ayato for crushing it.

Karlheinz is just a goddamn snake. He just sent a complete double meaning to Cordelia (honestly,,, probably where Laito gets his snakiness) with her unaware of his true meaning. His love is “impossible” and “unattainable” to her.

And there you have it folks! The end to the saga. Feel free to send me any Laito and Cordelia related asks! I just wanted to compile the ones I had in my inbox just to close it all off and to tie any loose strings too. Thanks for being on this journey with me! More to come soon, as always, I’ve just been wicked busy with school. But thanks for all the support you’ve given me as always :)

also, guess I am immortal considering I don't have tendinitis by the time I finished writing this saga laksdjf

#analysis #Laito sakamaki #sakamaki laito #raito sakamaki #sakamaki raito #diabolik lovers #dialover #dialovers #dl #cordelia sakamaki #sakamaki cordelia

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jjheejz · 3 years ago

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Im sorry to crash the party this late(?) but on your fate saga post 3 you mention a the untamed saga, just what happened?? >>

Although this is a JunZhe account, this post is focused on Xiao Zhan and Wang Yi Bo for awhile. :)

Hello anon,

No you're not late :)

Before I get to it, have to admit that I've only witnessed this saga in bits and pieces so the information may not 100% depict the whole story/cause.

However, the general takeaway is that, Xiao Zhan (XZ) solo fans, Wang Yi Bo (WYB) solo fans and BoJunYiXiao (BJYX as short form, cpname) cpfans don't get along. The latter is seen as the lowest level. They are viewed as feeding on fantasies and unrealistic ideals because these 2 actors are definitely not together as a couple in real life. There is "no future". (Despite this, on weibo, BJYX is still on a competitive position with JunZhe in the cp chart till now, rotating between top 1 and 2 - tbh, I somewhat only understand that BJYX hardcore fans does the tedious fan chart votes or sth daily rather hardworkingly).

Today (10 August screenshot): No.1 - BJYX, No.2 - LLD. Bonus below, No.11 - JunZhe

Of course, internationally, we dont think being a cpfan is a problem. Sometimes we just like both actors interactions, doesnt matter if they are real or not, but in the Chinese (hardcore) solo fans fandom, to them it's somewhat on this kind of perspective:

1. These 2 are actors = bound to have competition with each other (brand endorsements, sales, roles, show appearances etc), therefore, in order to build their future career, many choose to side one of them rather than both (not sure of the rationale of siding one rather than both). So most cpfans end up diverting to become solo stans. It's a realistic, long-term kind of thing. Some just end up preferring one over another, and some as we all know exists - prefer one of them as their own ideal fantasy boyfriend (the chinese term is 梦女 meng nv - 'dreaming girl'). These are also apparent in Gong Jun and Zhang Zhe Han solo fans.

2. XZ's AO3 saga: In brief, basically this was an extremely huge issue in 2020 (referred to as "227" - the date of seriousness) and was blown up very badly because it innocently involved those who doesnt know XZ and WYB, to a bad end. AO3 is a famous fanfic site, even internationally, but because of a BJYX fanfic, a group of extremely toxic XZ fans blew it up to the point this site was banned in China. Frequent Chinese writers and readers used this site for all kinds of fanfics (drama, anime, general writing etc) had their works and account gone overnight, so this grew an immense emotionally intense hatred on onlookers/passerbys/unrelated to them AO3 users to XZ and his fans.

This technically had something to do with cpfans since the fic was written by one of them, so yea. Imagine the hatred Chinese AO3 users have on XZ. Even now, I still see people hating on him for it despite it being the toxic fans fault. And obviously that group of XZ extremely toxic fans ain't going to self-reflect but push the blame, and they emerged even more hardcore...This saga's magnitude is beyond how my words can express so feel free to look it up - 227. It was just a mega large hurricane.

So, if XZ and WYB are in the same frame/drama again, the media is going to go wild in their articles. Solo fans are going to create even bigger fanwars with each other and it's really damaging to XZ's reputation for onlookers and passer-bys. WYB as well.

In the novel and drama, WangXian is always a couple.

But in real life, the actors are only temporarily Wei Wu Xian, and Lan Zhan. The real them is Xiao Zhan, and Wang Yi Bo, of which BJYX is unlike JunZhe.

Note: If anyone has anything to add/amend please feel free to do so! As mentioned, I've only witnessed in bits and pieces but because the magnitude was so big, everyone more or less had an idea about it, just that what I mentioned may not be the full picture.

Bonus: Just last month - July 2021, BJYX toxic fans started a war with JunZhe/LLD (to know the scale, let's just say, it involved photoshopping on to funeral portraits). So this further grew hatred on both XZ and WYB as some of them were AO3 users/onlookers of the 227 incident. Both cpfandom became straight up enemies. 🤦‍♀️

To them XZ knew this 227 issue blew up but he had never made a public apology or addressed it at all [this is going to be another post if I were to state my stand on why - subjectively]. As a general fan of BJYX, was apparently suspected of being a spy and toxic fan of them, entering LLD to create war - simply by following BJYX. So they grew tight on security and because of that last month, was kicked out of 4 LLD groups (not entirely due to following BJYX but somewhat related). 🥲

Anyway, no matter what, BJYX, XZ and WYB is a sensitive topic on weibo. They go by initial references there: XZ, WYB and last month's war, XZ's toxic fan is referred as 🦐 (idk the reason).

BJYX saga is just a prevalent childish hardcore fan issue + non-fans but brainwash lurkers creating chaos and watching this all (they get paid well to do this). The good Chinese weibo fans are really nice but sometimes I feel it's some kind of underground love story for cpfans of both JunZhe and BJYX on weibo.

I believe XZ and WYB themselves are in good terms, just cut apart by their own fandom. No matter what, both actors are hard workers and are nice people, please continue to support them if you are a fan of them too ^-^

Hope you gain some generic insights :)

Bonus bonus images:

Post update record:

[Edited an error, pointed out by Farrowuk] - Thank you :)

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chemicalpink · 3 years ago

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Hey, I hope you are doing good this was a thing that was wondering me so there are lot of bts future spouse /soulmate/twinflame videos being made on youtube and honestly everyone is being psychic like it has become a shitshow and what was previously just for curiosity fun and entertainment are becoming extremely emotionally invested in the topic especially for maknae line soulmate it would be interesting if the can do a tarot reading or your spiritual experience why is the future spouse saga turning ugly and does universe what us to know something through it !? Because it's becoming pretty crazy right now

Okay so I believe that yes, the spiritual part has a lot to do behind this occurrence, but I also think its roots lay on psicosocial matters and honestly I could go on for days about this but I’ll try to restrict it to a few points that you’ve mentioned

Why all of a sudden everyone seems to be tarot readers/astrologers/psychic?

The capitalism behind celebrities and how does that play a part in what is going on?

Are these people accurate at all?

How does energy shifting play a part in this?

Is the soulmate journey even something a third person would be able to note?

But first a Disclaimer: this opinion/rant is based on my experience with spirituality, I am obviously a mere mortal, so I do not hold the absolute truth. Spirituality is a constant learning process and it is open to discussion and interpretation of each person. I am also now a proud sociologist graduate that specialises in a lot of the stuff that has to do with what anon is asking, I’m a social behaviouralist applied to the entertainment industry as well but I’ll also provide my resources in the end.

A/N: Some of you might not yet be ready to read all of this, if I see ANY of you trying to start beef with me, even after the disclaimer, I'm gonna block you. If you want to talk more about it or want to discuss it further, DO SO OFF ANON. ISTG you’ve been warned, I’ve been working on this for the longest time, it even has resources to back all of it up! I’m so glad anon asked, I’m done being diplomatic on this topic (I know people that usually ask stuff are so respectful and i love you guys for it, this note is for those people that regularly jump on my asks to stir things up)

You guys are in for a whole academic article if you decide to read this

SO FUN AND EXCITINGGGG Let us start with behavioural economics as our base to understand the whole phenomenon, it's such a broad and kinda complex concept (especially since I’m trying to extrapolate it to this particular scenario) so let me do my best. It has a lot to do with trend following, although at least to me, it's unclear how exactly this content came to be (soulmate readings, channeling messages, etc) I am guessing it had something to do with an intersectionality between the general spirituality boom that we’ve met with during the pandemic and some person that just as any other marketable opportunity, saw a bridge between fandom life and this spiritual life (both prominent trends in the last two years or so) and honestly, it worked perfectly, whatever their initial intentions were, they threw out a new “product” and it kind of sold itself, two different trends coming together… turned into a behavioural game theory where if you played the part that allows your content to be consumed, you’ll get rewarded for it. In more simple words, tarot meets fandoms (alternatively, tarot meets BTS) is great as it is! but the fan behaviour (which we’ll talk about in a bit) positions the most private parts of the celebrities’ lives to be much more interesting than things that we are already able to see (personal experience, love readings do so much better than idk career readings and it all comes down to behavioural trends of perceiving ‘love’ as something very intimate)

Now, this is where we’ll begin to talk about capitalism as a whole, even in non-monetary systems like social media, where it takes more of a rewarding system via likes, views, reblogs, etc. The whole principle of us living in such a system is being aspirational, we see others profiting off of something, we might want to reach out and do the same so we can profit ourselves, which honestly, I think is what happened with the whole BTS soulmate readings boom, they get a lot of attention, and as a basic market law, as demand goes up and a few people that initially did these readings are no longer capable to satisfy the need of the people wanting to know all the tea, there are market opportunities for other people to do the same thing and increase the offer, although since this whole theory is behavioural, it is very context-dependant, which ends up not following the principle of the consumers being rational about how much and what content they consume, they just sort of consume all of it, regardless of whether the content creator is qualified to offer such content or not, which ultimately only adds onto a never ending cycle of more people claiming they are tarot readers/astrologers/psychics and fear nothing because this is the internet, you don't really have to enter any qualifications to be able to create content, whether someone is reliable in internet terms is basically all about how many likes they’ve got (which is why I always tell you guys to please consume content responsible).

When it comes to accuracy- I guess that’s the hardest part of all, we can’t just have pointers that would automatically tells us if someone’s craft is valid or not, since everyone’s craft is different all craft is valid to a certain extent (you can easily find scammers of course but that’s another story) what we can have are personal standards and deciding what content to consume or whose content to consume, but that’s entirely a personal decision and since so many people are invested in it- it seems really hard that these “market tendencies” might change any time soon. On that same note of accuracy, I really feel the need to talk about a major occurrence I’ve come across in this whole soulmate scene, minors. Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a minor and approaching spirituality (I was very much a minor when I started) but there’s a huge difference between just playing around and deciding to create content for the whole world to have access to. Of course I’m aware not all tarot readers in the BTS fandom are minors, and ARMY is very diverse and even if they were only minors it would be wrong to invalidate them, but we can’t ignore the statistics of it when touching this particular topic, according to 2020 data, 50,31% of ARMY are below 18 years old, and 42,59% are between 18-29 but why is this important? because the exact historical and economic moment we are living in mainly impacts these two age groups, thus making all 92,90% of ARMY a potential target to consuming or falling in a behavioural game theory of creating this content without them necessarily being qualified for it. But hey, why do you keep talking about the importance of being qualified? Glad you asked, creating spiritual content all comes down to one amazing term: accountability.

And this will explore two main phases of it, one applicable for that 50,31% that could potentially be drawn to create spiritual content and other for the 42,59% that could potentially be dragged to creating that content without much spiritual knowledge. For the first one, it has a lot to do with cognitive aspects, young people tend to do stuff without much further thought about how their actions impact other people, which, as they should, they are kids, they shouldn’t have to worry too much about emotional responsibility as us adults do, furthermore, they are in life stages where they can’t really comprehend many abstract concepts that we later learn in life, and spirituality is one of those concepts, so they tend to just have fun with it with no regards on how their content might impact other minors (this is where the whole feeding a false scenario that is potentially delusional in exchange of more views, likes comes into play) on a more spiritual level, they also aren’t able to comprehend the boundaries of the celebrities they’re reading for, us readers have to always be careful about the information we give out since it is not ours to give. As for the second group, some of this is still applicable since theorists consider a full cognitive maturity until 23 years of age, but since it is very intersectional itself, i would found it more to a spiritual responsibility, since they are young adults, and if they haven’t been spiritually guided as kids, they’re most probably eager to learn and just awakening yet to some of them the drive to this spirituality is content creation instead of inner work, so they get their hands on a tarot deck, might kind of read a few things, call it a day and start reading for BTS (note: not all of them, I’m aware)

As for the maknae line being the most sought out people with this content, I guess it kinda makes sense now that I’ve said all of the information above, maknae line is closest to the age group of 92,90% of ARMY, so they instantly become more marketable to this content creation and the whole Game Theory that we are seeing. With all that being said, and just adding a note coming from my own spiritual experience, soulmates in any form are a difficult topic for a third person to prode, which is why I, personally, tend to not touch that topic, love is one hell of a concept, especially since we all have different conceptions of love and interpersonal relationships. I do know for a fact that there’s only so far we can go in terms of fated connections, like with astrology, but even then, we would have to know their birth times exactly (so we can check for any indicator or a soulmate connection), and/or compare BTS with the rest of the world’s population in order to accurately tell if someone has a soulmate synastry/overlay/composite with them. Also, soulmate journeys are intimate and we are all just fans, what right do we even have to look for things that do not and will never belong to us?

This is why I’m always telling you guys to PLEASE consume content responsibly! Really! Us content consumers also have our part to play that can help us get more accurate, more drama-free content

REFERENCES (what? you thought I was joking? they’re in alphabetical order)

ARMYCENSUS 2020

Loewenstein, G., O’Donoghue, T., & Rabin, M. (2003). Projection bias in predicting future utility. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4), 1209-1248.

March, J. G. (1978). Bounded rationality, ambiguity, and the engineering of choice. The Bell Journal of Economics, 9(2), 587-608.

Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion and motivation Psychological Review, 98, 224-253.

Mazar, N., Amir, O., & Ariely, D. (2008). The dishonesty of honest people: A theory of self-concept maintenance. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 633-644.

Murphy, S. T., & Zajonc, R. B. (1993). Affect, cognition, and awareness: Affective priming with optimal and suboptimal stimulus exposures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 723-729.

Samson, A., & Voyer, B. (2014). Emergency purchasing situations: Implications for consumer decision-making. Journal of Economic Psychology, 44, 21-33.

Schwartz, B. (2004). The paradox of choice: Why more is less. New York: Ecco.

Shah, A. K., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2008). Heuristics made easy: an effort-reduction framework. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 207-222.

Thaler, R. H. (2015). Misbehaving: The making of behavioral economics. Allen Lane.

Thaler, R. H. (2008). Mental accounting and consumer choice. Marketing Science, 27, 15-25.

Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2009). The habitual consumer. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19, 579-592.

#i really said: thesis? wHERE #im sorry i jump at any given opportunity to rant #especially if it gives me an opportunity to share knowledge with you guys

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asmywhimseytakesme · 4 years ago

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As promised, here is a list of my favorite tropes in fiction. I may continue to refine this over time.

Note, I am not pulling these from a website, I’m writing these up myself. There may be a page on tv tropes for all or most of these, but I’m trying to articulate to myself what I like and why I like it, so I’m naming my own tropes and writing descriptions that are specific to my own taste. I’m also including a short list of examples for each.

Needless to say, if you know of a book or show that includes some of these tropes (the more the better) and it isn’t mentioned here—PLEASE TELL ME. And of course, these are just my preferences and opinions—if you disagree, that’s fine, we just don’t like the same things 😁

These are organized loosely by category—character tropes, relationship tropes, and plot tropes.

Under a cut so people who aren’t that interested in my specific tastes don’t have to scroll forever.

Character Tropes

Mastermind—

An extremely clever and competent character who reads people, pulls strings, and often has a grand scheme the other characters are unaware of. Usually a good guy (at least my favorites tend to be), but doesn’t have to be.

Eugenides (Queens Thief), Miles Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga), Peaceable Sherwood (the Sherwood Ring), Lord Peter Wimsey (the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries) Sir Percy Blakeney (the Scarlet Pimpernel), Sherlock Holmes

Note: all the above examples are male characters, but I don’t consider this a gender specific trope. I would love recommendations of female characters who fit this trope.

Not Just A Soldier / Not Just A Mom

I originally had these listed as two tropes, and then realized that they were just inverses of each other. They each have to do with fulfilling gender stereotypes in some ways, while subverting or transcending them in others.

For a male character in the genres I read, Not Just A Soldier is typically a fighter of some kind, and really good at it. Basically, on the surface he appears to be a very Masculine Male Manly Man. But! It turns out he is also just a really nice guy. And not only that—he’s smart, and he’s good with kids!

On the flip side, Not Just a Mom seems at first glance to be your typical motherly feminine character. But! That isn’t her entire personality! She also has a (not particularly feminine) career and hobbies outside of parenting, and she is confident and competent doing those things—AND (this is important) those non-mothering things she is good at are essential to the plot. (This tends to be less of an issue that needs to be specified with male characters, grumblegrumble.)

So on both sides, we have a character who is fulfilling gender stereotypes on one hand, but subverting them on the other.

Not Just A Soldier examples: Costis (Queen's Thief), Din Djarin (the Mandalorian), Cazaril (the Curse of Chalion), Uncle Iroh (ATLA)

Not Just A Mom examples: Hera Syndulla (Star Wars Rebels), Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan and Ekaterin Vorsoisson Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga), Katara (ATLA)

Adventurous Parent

A parent who continues to be cool and have adventures and stay involved in the plot even after becoming a parent (a GOOD parent, of course).

Din Djarin (The Mandalorian), Dr Mensah (Murderbot Diaries), Hera Syndulla (Star Wars Rebels—-we’ll see if this holds true now that she actually has her own biological child?? Assuming she’ll show up in future Star Wars projects—I’m hoping to see her in the Ahsoka series🤞)

Reluctant Ruler

It seems like many bad guys would kill to be king—and many good guys would really, REALLY rather not be in charge, thanks. But when a good guy is forced by circumstances beyond their control into becoming a ruler, and they decide that they might as well try to do a good job at it, and then THEY ACTUALLY DO—this trip has my whole heart.

Maia Drazar (The Goblin Emperor—this book is basically the perfect example of this trope and I love it SO MUCH), Eugenides (Queen’s Thief), Sophos (Queens Thief), Aral Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga), And hopefully Din Djarin in Mandalorian season 3? OH PLEASE YES I NEED THIS.

Broken, but loved

The name basically says it—these are characters who believed themselves broken, heartless, and unlovable, but others chose to love them anyway. It’s important to note that they are NOT “saved by love”, but they do CHOOSE to try and be better because of love.

This trope just GETS ME EVERY TIME GUYS. It makes my heart hurt in the most joyful way.

Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries), Attolia (Queens Thief), Zuko (ATLA), Medraut (the Winter Prince)

Friend Indeed

This is a simple one—a character who befriends someone who is in the middle of a difficult situation, when it would be much easier to just keep their distance.

Ratthi (Murderbot Diaries), Csevet (The Goblin Emperor), Kuill (the Mandalorian)

Magic Schmagic

The character in a fantastical story who can’t do magic, doesn’t know about magic, and doesn’t WANT to. They just wanna carry on being their own non magical, mundane selves and we love them for it.

Sokka (ATLA), Din Djarin (the Mandalorian), Digger (Digger), Gideon (Gideon the Ninth)

Relationship tropes:

Found Family

Ok, this is a popular one so don’t think I need to explain it. Since these often involve large groups of characters, I’m just going to list a few of my favorite pieces of media where this trope features prominently.

Star Wars Rebels, the Mandalorian, Digger, Murderbot Diaries

Reluctant Friendship

Where two characters are thrown together and one or both doesn’t particularly want to be friends with the other, but as they move through the adventure together they gradually come to like each other and form a friendship.

I also love the romance side of this trope but I’m just as happy to read about a platonic relationship.

Ben and Nathaniel (This Was Our Pact), Kaidu and Rat (The Nameless City), Kamet and Costis (Queen’s Thief), Digger and Shadowchild (Digger),

Magical Animal Sidekick

A character who forms a deep personal bond with a magical creature. It doesn’t have to be an actual creature—in a sci-fi setting this could also be a sentient robot or ship.

Temeraire and Laurence (His Majesty’s Dragon), Ani and Falada (Goose Girl), Murderbot and Art (Murderbot Diaries), Ezra and the Loth Wolves (Star Wars Rebels)

Prose/plot tropes:

It’s Complicated

Related to the Mastermind character trope, the distinction here is that this is a plot that wasn’t manipulated by a single character intentionally, rather it’s a complex series of interactions and misunderstandings that are all revealed to be interconnected in the end.

The Court Jester, Howl’s Moving Castle, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Digger

Sarcastic, Witty, and/or Colloquial narration

The name says it all. I usually prefer this in 1st person, but it can be fun in 3rd person too. In 3rd person it might be the narrator who is witty, or it might just be the main character's thoughts that are witty as related by the narrator.

1st person— The Thief, Murderbot, Digger, Dragonhaven

3rd person—Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Gideon the Ninth

Written For You

First person narratives are interesting and tricky because there is the question of WHY narrator is telling the story, and who they intend it for. I love first person stories where the narrative is specifically addressed to a person or group, which adds a level of meaning to the story. This isn’t the same as a story told in diaries or letters (though that can be fun too).

The Thief and A Conspiracy of Kings, the Winter Prince, All Systems Red, Dragonhaven

The juxtaposition of Magic and Mundane

I deeply love stories that mix magical things with mundane details of life in a deliberate way. I feel this makes real life feel a bit more magical, and helps magic feel a bit more real. This juxtaposition can be a central idea of the plot, or might simply be present in the way a narrator describes things.

This may be my favorite trope of all, come to think of it (though there are a lot of great ones listed above, so maybe I shouldn’t start naming favorites…) most of my own story ideas center on this idea to one degree or another.

Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, His Majesty’s Dragon, Digger, Hilda, Queens Thief, Dragonhaven

Tropes I would like to see less of: prophecies, hereditary magic, a Chosen One, Soul Mates, fate/destiny. Yes, many of the stories I love involve these tropes, they’re hard to get away from in the genres I prefer to read. These tropes are Iess exciting to me first off because they’re done so often, but there’s a bigger reason I’d like to see less of them, which has to do with characters agency. I’m much more interested in a story that is about a character who CHOOSES to do the right thing, not because they were Chosen, but because they CHOOSE themselves to do the right thing. In the same vein, characters who CHOOSE to build and maintain a relationship are so much more interesting and, frankly, romantic to me than people who are just meant for each other BECAUSE FATE OK. Just.... no. People making tough choices because it’s the right thing to do makes for a much better story (aim my opinion) than people who do the right thing because DESTINY. So the overall theme here is, more character agency! (And as I said above—if you disagree, that’s fine! This is just me listing my preferences and opinions.)

If you read all that—wow! To all those who made it this far, thanks, and if you have any book/show recommendations that involve these tropes, please tell me about them!!

#tropes i like #personal #on writing #on reading #book recommendations #queens thief #the mandalorian #star wars #murderbot diaries #digger comic #studio ghibli #hmc #atla #howls moving castle #vorkosigan saga #and uuiuuh a bunch more but those are the main ones

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bluerosesburnblue · 3 years ago

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Now that KHUx ending has been out for a week a or two and you've dissected it, I wanted to ask you how you would rank the various KH game endings, if you have the time?

Oh, wow, yeah. That's really an interesting question. I never think of the endings much, despite how important they are. Let's see...

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - The nostalgia's got me bad with this one, but I've gotta put it at the top. It was my first KH game and I can only think of two other video games from my childhood that had endings that impacted me as much as this one did. It's clear-cut and succinct, it capitalizes on all of the character development shown in the game while wrapping up almost every plot thread it introduced, playing as Another Side Roxas is intense... and I think it's the only KH ending that's entirely tragic, but that just makes the tone so much more clearly defined than if it had been a mix of emotions. I don't know if I ever would have gotten into the series if the ending of this game wasn't as good as it was and didn't make me desperately crave more just to see how the Sea Salt Trio's story effected everyone else

Kingdom Hearts χ - It's kind of wild that I'm ranking a browser game so high, but the KHx ending (also known as The Keyblade War questline for KHUx players) was magical when it happened. And the thing is, it wasn't unexpected but still managed to be engaging. People were freaking out trying to fight the Foretellers who introduced you to the world of the game only to try and take you out of it. And the ending with Ephemer and Skuld coming to save you at the last minute was beautifully open-ended, while wrapping up all of the storylines from earlier in the game. It went from intense, to sad, to hopeful again and it did it all with chibi sprites. And not just that, but the external community came together just to see it happen. It was really special

Kingdom Hearts II - This one's just very emotionally satisfying, finally seeing everyone get to return home again after a three-game arc. Riku and Sora have a nice character moment where they finally respect each other that draws on their earlier rivalry in a satisfying way, then Mickey, Donald, and Goofy rush over to the boys in such a sweet way, and we even see Sora finally return Kairi's good luck charm! It feels like it really ties the KH1-CoM-KH2 arc to a close, and then leaves on a high note of even more adventures to come. It's beautiful and it feels like an actual, tonally-consistent conclusion

Kingdom Hearts III - On the one hand, this one gets big bonus points for managing to deliver on an ending that saw almost every character who'd suffered from terrible fates get happy endings in a way that felt earned, and to this day I cannot believe that they actually did the beach party ending that had been joked about for a long time. On the other, though, Sora's disappearance feels like a cheap hook to continue the story when it really should have been focused on just ending the Dark Seeker Saga without setting up for the next game (you could have had Sora disappear in the Re:Mind DLC though, I would have been okay with that). The highs are high, it's just really the last few seconds that bring it down for me

Kingdom Hearts - KH1 is a classic, but its ending is pretty basic all things considered. The world is saved! Kairi gets to go home! There's more adventure to come as Sora, Donald, and Goofy set off to find their friends lost to the darkness! It's perfectly acceptable, it's set up in a way where if they never made another game you'd be satisfied with it, but it's nothing remarkable, either

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, & Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory - I'm lumping these three together because I feel the same way about all of their endings. They're fine, but they're mostly setup for future games. Sora's promise to Naminé is cute, Riku teaming up with Mickey and DiZ and choosing dawn over darkness or light is nice setup for his future arc, the Wayfinder Trio's fates are sad but make sense in future games, MoM has some neat lore teases... but all of them rely on the existence of future games to bring the emotional satisfaction of those endings so they don't feel "final," and thus not particularly satisfying on their own

Kingdom Hearts coded/Re:coded: It exists. It's entirely a plot hook. Same issue as the three above, but it has even less substance since we never see Data Sora again. The only real purpose it has is letting Mickey know things that the audience already did. It's not awful, but it's not good either

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- - It's not really a full game, but I put KHx on here so I may as well. I think overall it's fine, and nobody was really expecting much from a short side story anyway. My issues with it mostly stem from the contrived way that it tries to shove Aqua into the KH1 finale without actually changing the finale, and that what Nomura said the original draft was is much more interesting and leads better into KH3 than the actual ending (originally Aqua was supposed to break down in despair and cry about how she wants to go home, which flows better into KH3's Anti-Aqua storyline). As it is, the ending is tonally discordant with the rest of the game

Kingdom Hearts Union χ - I think we all know what I think of Union X's finale. It's going here, because while I think that most of it should be ranked around where I have CoM and BBS, the parts that I didn't were so bad that it ruined the entire experience of it for me. It's only beating out the next entry because the parts that I did like were better than anything that happened in the next finale

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance - This game ends with a tea party and Sora in goofy glasses, which is so absurd that I have to give it some bonus points... and yet it's still at the bottom. I can't get over the decision to have Yen Sid fail Sora for being actively sabotaged (while Yen Sid did nothing to help) while promoting Riku, who was not a primary target and in less danger. They both should've been forced to retake the test. This decision is so bad that I don't even care about any good that it does for Riku's arc, because it's not like Riku even uses the Master status that he gets from this anyway so why was it important for him to pass the Mark of Mastery exam? They don't even have the decency to show Sora being all that upset about it, even in private. It's just brushed off! And the way that Lea gets a Keyblade entirely offscreen is so cheap. DDD is the only KH ending that I would classify 100% as a bad ending. It's frustrating to sit through, and that frustration can't even be ignored because it has a major impact on KH3

#liz answers #mademoiseli #kingdom hearts #long post #btw the other two game endings that effected me as much as days were pokemon mystery dungeon explorers of time and drawn to life #both on the ds like days because that's really all i had as a kid

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scope-dogg · 4 years ago

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Long post about Mass Effect below

I noticed that there’s a big mass effect trilogy remaster coming out and it just made me think back on how badly the ball was dropped with that series. When the first game came out it immediately became perhaps my favourite game of all time, it was the kind of game where I was tearing up at the ending and then immediately started up a new playthrough the instant the credits got done rolling. The game was extremely jank and rough around the edges and it ran like total shit on the 360, but I loved it anyway because I fell in love with the lore of the universe, the characters and the story. It was one of those games where I’d play it in the most obsessively completionist manner possible, doing every singe sidequest possible, talking to every character on the ship after every mission, browsing the ingame codex for hours on end and dosing up on lore. When it was confirmed that Mass Effect 2 was in development I had such high hopes, of course I wanted to see the gameplay tightened up and the technical side of things improved, but more than that I just wanted to see more of the universe, get more of the universe to explore and learn more about it, and I was especially excited at the possibility that the choices I’d made, especially the massive ones in regards to the council at the end of ME1, would carry forward and really shake up the way the fate of the universe would pan out in the long term.

When the game finally came out, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t really what I was hoping for. While the combat was much improved over ME1, I couldn’t help but feel like everything else was pared back too much - like, levelling and loot in ME1 weren’t all that well done but I was still really disappointed to see how they were all but stripped out in the sequel. I especially hated how crap sidequests on uncharted worlds were, they were basically just short combat sections with almost nothing in the way of meaningful dialogue or choices to make. Like, don’t get me wrong, uncharted worlds in ME1 felt like the maps were procedurally generated and the Mako had wacky controls, but they still managed to pull off the right atmosphere of going to these dangerous and remote places on alien worlds, and there was some legitimately intriguing stuff going on in some of those sidequests, and it was honestly a little infuriating to see all that basically get the axe entirely instead of getting some polish. I also just felt like the additions to the lore and story were disappointing. I was excited to find out about how society in the Terminus systems was different from Citadel space and meet some new alien races, but that didn’t really happen - I guess they tried with Omega, but that just felt like a mildly edgier version of the Citadel. The only new alien race aside from the Collectors they introduced were the Vorcha and I guess the Batarians if you didn’t play the DLC for ME1, but neither ended up being all that interesting. People remember ME2′s story fondly because of the characters, and I agree that the characters are great, Legion and Mordin especially stand out though all of your squadmates and major supporting characters on the ship are great (except maybe Jacob I guess) as are each of their accompanying stories that get resolved through their loyalty missions, but I think that the actual core plot of ME2 isn’t good at all. The whole thing about you dying and coming back to life seems like it was done just to have the excuse of having a timeskip happen, and I never felt particularly compelled by the Illusive Man or Cerberus as a faction - they were in a sidequest chain in ME1 technically but I still felt like they kind of came out of nowhere and never really fit into the grand scheme of things properly - there’s nothing that they really enable Shepard to do differently that wouldn’t have already been justified by you being a Spectre. The revelations about the Collectors and ultimately what they were doing with the colonists they were kidnapping felt really stupid and pointless apart from giving you an excuse to have a really cheesy and out-of-place final boss. The final mission was only exciting because of the tension of potentially losing one or more of your squadmates than because of what the actual consquences of failure for the galaxy were if you failed. There was no compelling antagonist to square off against like Saren in ME1, and ultimately the whole thing felt kind of pointless - it wasn’t until later after the trilogy was done that I realised that you could take ME2 out of the equation entirely and it wouldn’t make that much difference, but even in those moments as the credits were rolling after I beat the game for the first time, I was struggling to make up my mind about whether I’d actually enjoyed the game or not. I mean, it wasn’t like the game was bad or anything but I was thinking more about the opportunities that they missed rather than the good things they added. I was really missing that sense of discovery and exploring an alien galaxy that the first game had and got left by the wayside for the second. I did start up a new playthrough after that like I did with ME1 but IIRC I didn’t bother finishing that playthrough.

Then along came ME3. Everything about that game is depressing. The whole path of the plot and just the unrelenting apocalyptic tone of the game in general feels like it’s actively punishing you if you actually like the setting, characters, lore and so on and so forth. I know a lot of people like the Citadel DLC that they released because it lightened the tone a bit, but even with that I find it hard to set aside the fact that the universe is literally ending while you’re trying to take a break from it all with how hard the rest of the game beats you over the head with it. How bad the endings were even with the “fix” DLC that got added is a horse that’s been thoroughly beaten to death by now, but it’s not just the endings either. I already didn’t like the Illusive Man or Cerberus and had a hard time buying them as an organisation with the kind of reach and pull they had as portrayed in ME2, but seeing them turn into the Hellghast in ME3 not only betrays that portrayal of them as an org that works through subterfuge but also stretches my disbelief beyond breaking point, plus it brings you into contact with Kai Leng who has to be up there as one of the most obnoxious rival characters in any videogame ever. Otherwise, it did a few things that ME2 did slightly better and some things slightly worse, and didn’t really do anything to recapture the stuff that made ME1 so memorable to me that ME2 skipped out on. And then there was the way that Javik, the game’s most interesting new squadmate by far, was preorder DLC, and then there was the multiplayer that you were kinda forced into playing if you wanted the best ending in the singleplayer (for all the difference that made) and was riddled with lootbox microtransactions (the first major implementation of that in a AAA game IIRC.) The coup de grace for me was when dipshit vidya journalists circled the wagons around Bioware and were taking a dump on angry and disappointed fans who were demanding a change to the ending. Like, looking back I think there was a lot of histrionics involved with that from the fanbase, and let’s just say that the Bioware fanbase has earned a reputation for being particularly turbulent, but even so I really couldn’t stand the attitude that they were taking and it made me hate the game itself by proxy that much more. (I honestly think that entire saga set the stage for Gamergate two years later.)

Eventually when ME Andromeda ended up being a stillborn flop, it didn’t even really move the needle for me that much because ME3 had already set the bar so low. Worse though is that the first game was retrospectively ruined for me. Like I said earlier, I was a hyperfan for that game when it came out, but now I can’t go back to it without thinking about the disappointments that followed it, and its flaws stand out extra hard now. After I beat it for the first time it was my number 1, now I’m not sure it’s in the top 10. There’s probably the added factor that I played it to death and know it almost off by heart which takes the shine away, but that’s also the case for some of my other all-time favourites like Metroid Prime 1 and 2, Ace Combat 2, or Command and Conquer Red Alert 2, but those never really dropped in my estimation the way Mass Effect did. Honestly to this day I’m still waiting for someone to do another star-hopping sci-fi RPG in the same vein as Mass Effect and to pull it off well, because at this point I’m all but certain that it’s not going to be Bioware that does it, not with the new one they’ve got coming in the works or the trilogy remaster.

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madara-fate · 4 years ago

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I used to wish for Sasuke and Sakura to have another child but the more I think about it, the less appealing the idea becomes. I like that Sarada is an only child because it places more focus on Sarada. She doesn’t have to worry about being outshined by another sibling and we can truly come to appreciate her character. Additionally, I like the fact that the sort of “fate of the Uchiha” is kind of left up to Sarada’s character solely. It places more emphasis on her development, as it should.

Yeah I see what you mean and I definitely agree. The whole “outshining” issue is kinda what’s happening with Himawari because she’s virtually non-existent at the moment in comparison to Boruto. Also, Sarada is already such a great blend of her parents that any other combination would be inferior for me. There’s already been so much focus and emphasis on Sarada being their daughter, and she’s already had to overcome so many hardships with her family, mainly due to her father’s absence, that if Sasuke and Sakura were to have another child now, after all that... The other child would unfortunately feel like an afterthought. Just look at what happened in Dragon Ball - Goku and Chichi had Goten after going through so much with Gohan during the Saiyan, Namek and Cell Sagas, and Goten consequently just didn’t feel as important as his older sibling. Gohan was always “The One”, and I sometimes even see people forget that Goten exists. That’s what I fear would happen if SS have another child at this point.

With all the history that SSS already share, with all the hope and expectation of Sarada becoming the Hokage etc. If they were to have another child at this point, Sarada would feel like “The Chosen One” in comparison to her younger sibling. I mean, even something as simple as their new family portrait:

This already hammers home the fact that this is the Uchiha family, so I just basically feel that too much emphasis has been placed on these three as a family, and a new addition would just be late and unnecessary.

This next point isn’t very important, but another reason I’m glad that Sarada is an only child is because it shits on the anti theory that Sasuke only got with Sakura so he could use her to repopulate the clan. Not only was Sasuke never aiming to do this, but the fact that he was content with only one child shows that Sakura wasn’t just a babymaker for him; She is his “Spring Sunshine”.

#hokagekat #Sarada Uchiha #Sasuke Uchiha #Sakura Haruno #sasusaku

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stevetonygames · 4 years ago

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Spotlight Post: Canon Soulmate Bonds

Yooo, this is a blog takeover, Mizzy here, ready to champion one of my favourite fictional causes: canonical soulbonds in the Marvel universe.

We all love a good soulbond fic. Words on your body, names on your wrist, red string of fate...so many glorious versions, and all of them *completely awesome*. The problem sometimes with starting a soulbond fic, though, can be all the worldbuilding required to make it work. But what if I was to tell you that no worldbuilding was necessary? That you could technically write a soulbond fic without having to set it in an Alternate Universe? What if you could set your soulbond fic *directly in main canon?*

Marvel 616 delivers you a canonical soulbond mechanic… not once… but at least *twice*. There could be more. There’s a lot of comics to go through and I’m only smol. But here’s the two I know about and I’m here to introduce you to today. :)

The was a ripple of mild confusion around fandom when Kevin Feige announced that the Eternals were getting a title movie in the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Created by Jack Kirby in the 1970s, in a wild combination of mythological fascination and spite at DC comics for not letting him finish his New Gods saga, the Eternals were an offshoot of humanity, created by the Celestials for humanity’s protection; this reason for their existence would lead them into their ongoing conflict against the deadly Deviants. There have been a few Eternals runs (notably one run by Neil Gaiman, which did not serve to bring the Eternals the commercial success Marvel was searching for with the title, that nevertheless remains the most fun and accessible Eternals volume), but they’ve not yet really reached wide-reaching traction among even the most die-hard comic fans. The MCU might change that, and here’s hoping, because I love these nearly-immortal idiots, and I’m hoping not to be alone in that for much longer. :D

But even my Eternals-happy soul has to admit, Eternals canon for the most part is dense and can be convoluted, and the spellings—both of their character names and one of the main fun parts of their existence, the Mahd W’yry—are enough to give one a headache. The idea of the Eternals is that they’re long-lived and have interacted with human history over the years in various impactful ways. You might think at first glance that you’ve never heard of the Eternals Sersi, Ikaris, Makkari, but I think you wouldn’t find Circe, Icarus, or Mercury unfamiliar names.

The Mahd W’yry is a symptom of the Eternals being so long-living. In order to stop them going insane, the Eternals have to bond into something known as the Uni-Mind, which basically squishes all their consciousnesses together into one, where they can share memories and blend temporarily into one mind. Regularly bonding into the Uni-Mind allows them to stave off the Mahd W’yry. (Yep, that’s just a headache-inducing spelling of ‘mad worry’, we know.)

Anyway, did you need to know all this? Eh, maybe, a little bit of canned backstory is always handy for you to briefly glance over and promptly forget. Because along with some dense mythological adventures, some glorious angsting across beautiful landscapes, and that ability to turn into a big massive floating brain, the Eternals also gave us a beautiful gift:

The Gann Josin.

In Avengers #361, Ikaris comes down to Earth and decides that Sersi needs to be bonded to Dane Whitman, an Avenger who canonically didn’t have any powers, he was just a *really good guy*, destined for tragedy. Honestly. That’s his bio. Really good guy. Destined for tragedy. The character creation in the 90s was peak talent. Dane, sadly, was in love with another woman, but did this matter to Ikaris? No. Apparently the Eternals don’t know about the dangers of letting himbos like Ikaris have life-changing powers, like the ability to create the Uni-Mind.

Because the power to control the Uni-Mind also gives an Eternal the power to form a Gann Josin bond. And that’s what Ikaris does in Avengers #361—he forces a Gann Josin bond on Eternal Sersi and tragic human Avenger Dane Whitman.

Gann Josin (sometimes Gan-Josin because what is spelling continuity in Marvel comics) is both the name of the bond, and the title given to an Eternal and their chosen life-mate. It has a bunch of cool side effects. Both Gann Josins get glowing full-red eyes. It’s a really intimate tiny form of the Uni-Mind (without the part where you become a big floating brain), and creates a small scale mental union. The Gann Josin bond makes the Eternal and their partner lifelong soulmates. As the bond progresses, it creates a telepathic/empathic bond that strengthens in time. According to the Eternal Sprite, humans are rarely chosen by Eternals for the Gann Josin.

Now, Dane Whitman does manage to break the Gann Josin several issues later. But… it’s not easy. It’s rare. When Dane manages it, it is called an “astounding act.” It’s pretty dang hard, in other words. There’s every chance your chosen Gann Josins won’t have the mental fortitude of Dane Whitman to break it. (Although, we’re talking about Steve and Tony, and are there any bigger stubborn idiots in the universe? Probably not.)

But Mizzy, I hear you saying. I don’t want to write about Ikaris, even if he is a party king and that sounds pretty nifty. I don’t know anything about the Eternals and I don’t want to go down that gnarly rabbit hole.

That’s totes fine, my friend. I am here to save you. Because in very recent canon, during Jason Aaron’s turn at the helm, the Eternals are all dead. Very dead. That whole Mahd W’yry thing got ‘em, it got ‘em good. But before Ikaris died, he granted his Uni-Mind power to someone we all know and love.

Yep. Tony Stark. Tony Stark currently has the power of the Uni-Mind.

Which means that Tony Stark can now Gann Josin people.

In Avengers #361, Ikaris performs the Gann Josin by basically just pointing his hands at Sersi and Dane and some light goes WHEEEEEEE!! in their direction, and bam, this rare and special bond is done. And Tony Stark can do that now. To anyone! Unfortunately Ikaris is dead and didn’t leave Tony with an instruction manual. But the point is, he *can*. You can make up all sorts of fun things with this canonical fact (or write your own version because lbr Canon Is Dead; Long Live Canon.)

There are so many possibilities. Does Tony deliberately learn how to use it so he can bond himself to Steve? Does Tony *need* to be able to hear Steve’s thoughts (to thwart some bad guys) and thus end up soulbonded forever to Steve in result? Is Tony’s power activating at random because he can’t control it, and he ends up soulbonding everyone around him? Does he just subconsciously bond himself to Steve without consciously meaning to? Do Tony or Steve want to try it for science?

Gosh, I love comics.

But WAIT. There’s MORE.

It’s not just 1990s comics going ham on the soulbond idea. No, we got some *this year*. Canonical soulbonding? TWICE? In one universe? Two different kinds??

And this time, it’s not in a D-list Marvel title. We’re up the ranks to the big leagues this time, folx, with a brief trek to the world of the Fantastic Four.

In Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #15, we’re introduced to a Spyre citizen called Sky, a winged team member of the Unparalleled (more cosmic-powered superheroes), who work under The Overseer. (The Overseer, in a burst of beautiful retcon in the way Marvel comics keeps doing to us, is apparently the entity who is responsible for giving the F4 their powers. Huh. The more you know.)

On the planet Spyre, all children are brought before something called The Great Eye. This measures them against the radiation signature of everyone on the planet, divining who their perfect match is.

Sky looked into The Great Eye, only to find out her match was Johnny Storm, who was 44 light-years away at the time. Long-distance relationships can be tough. Anyway, plot happens, the F4 get stuck on Spyre, get told they can’t leave, and Sky tells Johnny Storm that she is his soulmate. Oh, and she attached a soul binding onto him while he slept. Neat, huh, all the bodily autonomy people get in this universe before being force soulbond to people? So neat, much consent, wow.

Johnny feels a connection to Sky, which is supposed to let us know this lack of choice is a good thing I guess. The Overseer wants Sky to renounce Johnny and crush the F4 which obv doesn’t happen, so of course she leaves The Unparalleled and skips off to Earth to be with Johnny.

Who knows how this relationship is gonna last. I mean, you can look at the rest of Johnny’s relationship history and have a good guess. Who knows. Anyway, Reed and Sue are each other's soulmate, and also share a “Soul Binding”, so there’s some canonical proof right there that maybe this system has some validity going for it.

The soulbond for this form takes the form of a golden bracelet worn on the upper arm, that Sky explains her people call a “Soul Binding”; it represents them as being soul-mates. This bracelet can only be removed by your soulmate. This soulbond doesn’t seem to come with any extra powers, it’s just to show that The Great Eye has measured their radiation signature and declared them a match that is supposed to mean they’re perfectly compatible in every way: spiritually, mentally, and physically.

I don’t know about you, but I have a pretty good feeling that Steve and Tony might just have matching radiation signatures… Or what if Steve and Tony have perfect matching signatures….with other people? (Someone else on Spyre believes Sky is *their* perfect match, after all!) What if Steve has feelings for Iron Man, but he’s a perfect match with Tony Stark? I feel faint already just thinking about it.

So here you go. Two canonical types of soulbonds for your fannish consideration. Feel free to ask me questions! You can find me on tumblr (@mizzy2k) or on discord (addy#0908).

#stevetonygames #mod post #spotlight post #soulmates

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