#character assessment

[saphstories]

SCU Sonic does NOT know how to fight.

Not hating, but think about it. Other than maybe two times and a couple failed punches, all I can recall seeing the babe do is Spin Dashes. Maybe because he's spent so much time RUNNING, not fighting like Mainstream (Game and/or Comic) Sonic, he doesn't yet know how to properly use his speed in a fight? He doesn't know what a force he can be yet.

In Movie 1, Sonic is learning just what power he holds inside. The baseball field explosion, taking down Eggman's tank, and then the iconic Green Hills fight. Sonic learns just how powerful he is.

Movie 2, in comes Knuckles. Strength vs. Speed. Sonic figures out that his blunt power isn't going to cut it like it did in the first movie. He's forced to think outside the box to best Knuckles. And even then, Sonic doesn't even WIN against him. Knuckles is the superior warrior in this; if Sonic hadn't called attention to Eggman stealing the Master Emerald, I don't doubt that Knuckles would have defeated him.

Perhaps in 3, with this powerful adversary, someone that's not only Strong but Fast, it calls attention to Sonic's lack of proper skill? Perhaps he finally gets the training he needs to hone his power into skills? Maybe Knuckles teaches him. Maybe that's what the race is about in the trailer. Ngl I'd love to see a training scene or two.

Or maybe I'm tripping. What do you think?

[tenth-sentence]

Then she studied his face just as she had studied Digory's face in the palace of Charn.

"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew" - C. S. Lewis

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Jones reassured the court he was untouched by Watt's lies:

I hope my character stands too high to be injured by any thing such a man as Watt could say of me; I do not think it will injure my character, either as a Member of Council, a magistrate, or a gentleman, but I should feel much ashamed to have it supposed that I could have any intimacy with such a man.

"Killing for Country: A Family History" - David Marr

[horizon-verizon]

The book also lets us know that Rhaenyra was the type to be hot tempered and "never forget a slight". Into her adulthood. So...

I think the writers are focused on all the ways a woman in this society (and in ours) can be possibly emotionally and politically oppressed with silencing and silent ways. That's were the perceived passiveness may come from.

Emma D’arcy has delivered an absolutely wonderful performance thus far, but it all feels slightly negated by how the writers just refuse to give D’arcy anything more than moderately interesting material to work with.

which is all to say: where’s my arrogant Rhaenyra? where’s my proud Rhaenyra? where’s my angry Rhaenyra? where’s the Rhaenyra who orders Vaemond’s execution for the sake of protecting her children? where’s the Rhaenyra who conspires to kill Laenor to cement her own political power? where’s the Rhaenyra doing anything but half-heartedly waving a white flag in Alicent’s direction and then just sitting around or fleeing to Dragonstone when that doesn’t pan out? where’s the Rhaenyra who freely pursued love and passion with Harwin regardless of societal expectation, where’s the Rhaenyra who maneuvered politically and leveraged her status to get Otto fired once and for all? where’s the rash and entitled and selfish and bold and vibrant and charismatic and obstinate and willful and enchanting and fiercely independent Rhaenyra we saw in the first few episodes? why do the writers refuse to let her pursue greatness instead of goodness?

I get that her consistently being bailed out by Viserys is part of the point, but man, it just feels like such a waste.

[indywasdeepfried]

SPRING BON !! 🌻

…and his strange shadow counterpart.. 📼

[qiu-yan]

Serious Bitch Opinion: lan wangji...would be a terrible chief cultivator. yes, he is righteous and honorable and has a stalwart moral backbone. however, when you are given the responsibility of leading others, the impeccability of your own moral character must come second to what tangible results you can actually achieve for your people. and if you want to actually achieve any tangible results, instead of getting deadlocked forever or getting done in by your political enemies, you have to learn to compromise on some of your ideals. instead of freezing out the people you find morally despicable, you must learn to cooperate with them; otherwise, you will not achieve anything. and in order to achieve your goals, you must learn that not all of your goals are achievable--that, in order to get the more important of your desired measures passed, you must give up on some others.

now, this is almost the polar opposite of what MDZS as a text champions. arguably one of the central thematic thrusts of MDZS is the importance of not compromising on your ideals, even when it would be far more pragmatic to do so. thus, if lan wangji wanted to become a leader who could actually achieve things, he would have to directly contradict one of the most important messages of the very text that valorizes him.

the moral framework employed by MDZS to evaluate its characters and convey its themes is much more focused on ideals than on results. what matters to MDZS as a narrative is ultimately not the results of one's actions, whether one's righteousness led to joy or to ruin, but rather that one attempted to be righteous even in the face of almost inevitable failure. attempt the impossible, after all. the text of MDZS does not follow utilitarian ideas; it does not condemn wei wuxian for ultimately failing to save almost anyone. rather, wei wuxian's stalwart moral character is celebrated in spite of his failures because he, unlike everyone else, tried.

unfortunately--while someone who is only responsible for their own life can attempt the impossible, someone who is responsible for the lives of millions must instead achieve the achievable.

[maltcrescent]

Asleep During Assessment

please forgive him, he's trying his best to stay awake and learn

[astrolotte]

Interesting thing I realized is that the reason Peri still has his fuckass hair swirl in object form is most likely to make it easier to tell him apart from Cosmo (especially for colorblind kids), as he and his dad have the exact same facial features! Which is cool to note, I love character design.

I would also like to put it on record that this could've been fixed if you let him keep the eyelashes he had as a baby. I will forever be an advocate for that LET HIM BE SLAY-

[tenth-sentence]

"(...) This one could gather from his casual talk. (...)

"Heart of Darkness" - Joseph Conrad

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Jones told Darling:

The less we have for some years to come of the free institutions of the Mother Country amongst us, the better it will be for the peace and good Government of the Colony. Property here forms no criterion of a Man's fitness; Character is infinitely of more consequence . . .

"Killing for Country: A Family History" - David Marr

[fromtheseventhhell]

"I've never seen such anger in a girl" and it's literally just a nine-year-old being quiet after an upsetting event, Arya really experiencing the universal girlhood experience of having your emotions policed for not responding in the "right" way

[alphaketoglutaricacid]

when toshiro got on laios ass for being inconsiderate and never thinking about how his actions affect others like he was mean abt it but hes not wrong. Thats a pretty major character flaw and a pattern of behavior for laios — w not choosing jobs that made money for namari who is in a pretty dire financial situation where she cant even get off the island and has to go adventuring in the dungeon to get out of debt, who even explicitly brought this up, eating marcilles familiar immediately even tho she was attached to it, kidnapping shuro into his party and putting him in life threatening situations without like really checking he wanted to be there…?, wanting to see if izutsumi has more than one set of nipples when dehumanization is a HUGE huge issue for her the list goes on and on and on. Like when a friend does this to you its just kinda annoying but when ur the leader u really should be checking if everyones needs r met without them telling u. Like the autism plays a factor for sure, his cultural upbringing plays a factor for sure, but as ppl regardless I think u gotta step up to meet the needs of ppl in the moment or realize u shouldnt be calling the shots. just bc its influenced by factors out of ur control does not make it not a serious character flaw. And its written as such in the story.

[emeraldotter]

doodles

[leadendeath]

using squared, angular faces like ¬_¬ and :] to deliberately yet subtly allude to my computerness

this post is always popular so instead of turning off rbs for like the third time *posts my links* also i have a plan for my assessment which i need to add to my gfm page when i can find my phone to login- ask me about it! :]

you’ll reblog this version if you’re not a coward >:]

[revvethasmythh]

ngl, "I'm the only one who understands [x] character" or "only ten people actually get [x] character" is like the #1 biggest red flag to me that a person probably will have an inaccurate interpretation of a character. because if you've decided that you understand that character in a uniquely objective way over others, you inherently wall yourself off from alternate opinions by deciding they're wrong on the basis of simply not being the exact same as yours. if you can't incorporate or even just ponder other people's perspectives, people who have lived different lives and are approaching the content through different but potentially very useful lenses, you might miss out on some extremely enlightening and fascinating interpretations. building yourself an insulated echo chamber is probably the worst thing you could do when assessing a character like that

[horizon-verizon]

Alicent antagonizes Rhaenyra despite it not being smart because:

from Otto, she works on the belief that Rhaenyra would not be able to “refuse” and resist against the Westerosi lords’s prospective rebellion against her (since the lords will “definitely” rise against Rhaenyra)– so Alicent feels like Rhaenyra is not truly an intimidating/strong enough threat as herself enough to not directly antagonize [episode 5]; also Rhaenyra being in a more vulnerable position at court for Alicent to directly antagonize on the daily has strengthened that notion in Alicent’s mind

Alicent feels she is morally correct and that Rhaenyra is morally incorrect (before episode 8 messes up that) and she feels Rhaenyra isn’t a good candidate for rulership because she doesn’t treat Alicent as she wants to be treated: episode 4’s lie and sleeping with men “unassigned” to her (because Rhaenyra can’t have nice things when Alicent can’t)

So Alicent both feels emboldened to attack Rhaenyra based on the feeling that Rhaenyra is not a “good” person, that her sacrifice for conservatism makes Alicent the “right” one between them, and Rhaenyra is–to her–already, definitely too “weak” to fight properly against the lords if they truely make demands of her, whatever they might be: to abdicate for Aegon, to kill her siblings, to allow others to kill them, etc.

I don’t understand how Green stans say that Rhaenyra not being close with her siblings means that she would kill them. Sure, Rhaenyra mostly ignored them for the most part, but that doesn’t mean she wants them dead. Not once did we see her speaking negatively about her siblings to her children. Rhaenyra was literally just living her life while Alicent was turning her kids against Rhaenyra’s. Alicent literally divided the family, and turned her children against their own kin. And even if Alicent really does fear for her kid’s lives, antagonizing the woman you think will kill your kids, at every turn, is not the way to protect them.

Imagine wanting to kill every family member you're not close to. Or don't get along with. Or even strongly dislike. Some of us would be awfully busy.

And yes, the way Alicent treated Rhaenyra was definitely not a smart move to protect the children she apparently thought Rhaenyra would want dead.