#esp when theres other characters who are also interesting

[resizura]

I've seen people on twitter talk about characters and trauma but none of them brought up Sheva, Manuela, Ashley, Steve, Ada, ECT. cause they're "not interesting and just poorly written" and would rather talk about the main characters and even Wesker (yuck)

Sorry for the late answer my computer just literally wasn't working lol!!

EEEEEE this is actually perfect because I've always wanted to talk about this but have never been able to articulate it properly so here we go. First tho I always find it funny when people talk about ANY resi character being poorly written and others not poorly written like.... This is Resident Evil... it's all poorly written (half-joking).

It's actually ironic to me that despite resi fans constantly talking about character trauma they bring up the most boring characters with regards to that. It is absolutely vital to Resident Evil that the main characters (Jill, Chris, and Leon, Claire to a certain extent) do not actually respond or react to their traumatic events.

Those three all respond in the same way which is to become jaded military bioweapon killers. Yes there's some exceptions, like Leon's dialogue in darkside chronicles or Chris and Jill "talking" about what happened in RE5 in Death Island, but for the most part? Nothing. This is because (to me, at least,) Capcom can't figure out what to do with them. I mean, it worked in the past because Resident Evil was not really a character-driven story at all, and they just didn't really dive into the characters' reactions to their circumstances much. Most of it is just "man this is just like Raccoon City."

The remakes definitely are though, trying to go for a more realistic and grounded approach, and that means addressing the characters' traumas more. It's too early to tell if that's done well yet to be honest, but so far I personally think the same problem is happening. The characters all react to the zombie apocalypse, yes, but nothing much comes of it. Even though Leon is explicitly Not Okay after RE2R, he's the perfect bioweapon killing machine in RE4R and it just doesn't quite match up with what I think Capcom is going for. But again, it's too early to tell 100%.

On the other hand, the other characters, side characters like Sheva, Manuela, Ashley, Steve, Ada... they're definitely MUCH more interesting and I actually think its because they're side characters or one-off characters. Because of the likelihood we'll never see them again, there's more of a story behind them. Their stories are contained to the (typically) one game they're in and we can build off of that! IMO they have more to work with because Capcom doesn't go into depth with their main characters! It's infuriating that a lot of the side characters are pushed to the side by fans just because they don't appear in as many games! I feel like a lot of these people too just have a limited understanding of them as well, like barely anyone knows about Manuela, a lot of people write off CVX Steve and only pay attention to DSC Steve, and Ashley, Sheva, and Ada tend to be reduced to caricatures of themselves.

I personally think these side characters are just much more engaging than the same old "we keep fighting zombies and stubborn bioterrorists and this is just our life now" main characters!

[telesodalite]

Sort of a ramble, sort of me just writing my thoughts out while I'm stuck with writer's block, but I keep thinking about how Fulcrum was in stasis for roughly 3 million years??

Like, that's a long time, even for Cybertronians. Not a really long time, not an entire lifespan. But still, it's a large chunk of a normal lifespan just gone. Poof.

One second you're crawling across the pockmarked terrain of an alien planet, surrounded by the sound of gunfire, and the shouting and screaming before and after each earth shuddering impact of another k-con hitting the ground. And then it's quiet. You're not there anymore. You're drifting somewhere between not alive and just asleep. Preserved somewhere in the background of a doomed body, ignored by time and space, still here, but also not.

And then there's sound. Not gunfire. Not shouting or screaming. Not the sounds that'll haunt you till your dying days, your own death sentence pounding in your head. No. Just voices, talking, standing out against a silent, dead world. Wondering. Joking. Bickering. Familiar. Just, not familiar to you. And you're awake. Pulled back from the nothingness you've been frozen in, consciousness tugged forwards with the yank of a fuel pump and the nearness of life.

These two moments are roughly 3 million years apart, but only minutes, maybe even seconds, to him. From a hectic harrowing battlefield, to an old silent graveyard in one blink.

How long did it take to really sink in? I mean, he seems to just roll with it. He doesn't seem particularly bothered. But like, what happened outside of what we see? How did he really feel?

Also, his body aged without him. While his mind preserved itself, freezing him as he was right then, his body was left to weather Clemency for all those years. No wonder it crumbled to dust when he jumped off the world sweeper. It's probably a miracle of some kind that it didn't just fall apart each time someone leaned on him.

And even after they rebuild him, give him a better, newer body. His spark, it's casing, all the irreplaceable core bits that make up their inner bodies, it aged in the time without him. Does he feel it? Does it make his body even more foreign to him?

Then he's also a technician with information that's 3 million years out of date. Lucky him that the scavengers probably weren't working with top of the line material. But still it's gotta be weird when faced with anything brand new, because a lot can change and progress in 3 million years, and now some of the knowledge he once prided himself in is obsolete.

Besides those things, his view of the galaxy, of the war, of their kind, of other kinds, is one of the few things actually pointed out when it comes to him being stuck in the past. So, how often were his old views challenged? Facts of life he held close proved to no longer true? There's 3 million years worth of new science, new beliefs, new words, new terms, new views.

And sure, some of it can be familiar, because they're an ever evolving kind, and they have patterns, core beliefs, repeating behaviors, but a lot of it's gonna be unfamiliar at the same time, because it's 3 million years worth of catch up, it's not like missing last week's trend.

In a way, it makes him a living relic of a bygone era for Decepticons. It would've been really interesting to have had that explored a little more.

[waywardsalt]

with my phantom hourglass replay, there are two things i noticed;

a possible theme you could glean from the game is action vs inaction, and i think it's especially prevalent before you even leave mercay the first time, with oshus frequently urging link to not go after the ghost ship, then to just wait until the broken bridge is fixed, and seems reluctant at every turn while link and ciela are more than eager to go and do something about this problem, and the people of mercay in general talking about things and their problems but never seeming to act on their fears or desires, as well as the mention that due to the ghost ship, very very few people are still sailing around, while linebeck is one of the only people we see in the game actively going after the ghost ship and still sailing around. i might make a longer post just talking more about the action vs inaction in phantom hourglass but i just noticed it a bit and thought it was a bit of an interesting sort of theme you could find in the game.

linebeck moves so fucking much. i think he moves more than any npc in the rest of the game. not just in his intro cutscene where he is very animated, just in how much he moves when just standing in his little idle post, it's damn near distracting when the camera is focused on him, he moves a lot. i don't think i've really acknowledged how much he moves, and it really gives the impression that he's antsy or eager to get going, both of which fit him pretty well with how he acts.

[freakinator]

I'm so interested, but I don't know where to start watching UU. I'm so confused. Could you please advise me how to watch it properly?

honestly the best advice i can give you is to just search unstable universe and click on any of the playlists (i recommend diya's since it tends to be the most up-to-date one), if you wanna watch just one pov then feel free to do so but be warned youd be missing a part of the experience by doing so mainly through missing context/part of the story for certain scenes (although tbf that pretty much goes for any lets play but if you dont mind that aspect then go right ahead)

a few warnings before you get started tho:

its a huge time investestment, all but the first 4 episodes are more than 3 hours long with most of them either halfway through or nearing 4 hours

some vids are uploaded later than they actually take place on the timeline, i have a guide here if you wanna know at least from what i can tell the actual order is

theres a few supplementary materials (can be found in the extras part of the sheet i linked, not complete yet cause theres some vids i havent linked yet and im still on the lookout for more since some vids get added retroactively in addition to the ones uploaded explicitly for uu), you dont need to watch them to enjoy the story but theyre a cool bonus

if you wanna watch only one pov heres a guide on each of the povs specialties before doing so

general:

they all shift in style as the eps go on, nothing jarring but if you dont like more scripted storylines you may find the later eps a bit lacking

plot themes get used and reused a lot, for example spoke often goes on quests to destroy important landmarks, parrot often goes on scavenger hunts/get imprisoned/some combination of the two, and wemmbu often does things related to civilizations/kingdoms/factions

certain editing styles also get copied from each other, parrot and wemmbu in particular like to do this with each other

themes and styles can also switch around sometimes which can affect future eps on some level

certain exploits and mechanics dont work as intended so dont bother replicating how certain mechanics work according to actual mc cause chances are youll be disappointed by the results (unless youre into that sorta thing i suppose lol)

the main povs tend to stick to the same set of ppl, most likely due to scheduling reasons, so dont expect a whole lot of crossover casting (tho obv there would still be some esp if theyve got a pre-established role already)

spoke:

redacts some important events from his eps but may recount them later on depending on how the story plays out tho not in detail

not a lot of pvp in his pov and when there is chances are hes trying to run away or someone else is handling it (mainly mapicc)

doesnt upload nearly as consistently as the other two, consequently his shift in style is more obvious comparatively but so is his character development

thematically his eps tend to be about personal growth of some kind

lorewise his eps tend to focus more on server meta, for example his pov is the only one where there is clear confirmation of the server being unstable codewise, his pov is the only one where just how large of a problem duping on the server is can actually be seen and felt, and so far his pov is the only one that shows who ash is and what his goals are. basically if spoke introduces some kind of threat in his ep, chances are it'll be a threat to the server meta and youd have to think of the bigger picture in order to grasp how dangerous they actually are

his pov is also the only one you get the full picture of what a soggy little rat he actually is since in both parrot and wemmbus povs spoke is seen as a serverwide threat, directly for parrot and theoretically for wemmbu

if you like ls s4 zam and/or ls s2 spoke then youll most likely like him as well lol

has a small reoccuring cast and tends to stick to one person when going on quests while also taking note of another one

you will feel the ghost of jamatoP haunting this kid wherever he goes even if he never directly references him

parrot:

tends to get dragged along plot points, not in the sense that he doesnt have agency cause he very much does but more like he takes it upon himself to clean up other ppls messes if that makes sense

tries not to get into pvp but he still does get into them quite often, usually tries to run away but when he doesnt/cant he doesnt really have the best fighting techniques

his character development tends toward introspection which leads to a lot of "quiet" and assumptive character development, you gotta use a lot of psychological analysis when watching a parrot episode basically

thematically his eps tend to be about the willingness to get in danger in pursuit of something (whether it be for something greater, knowledge, or the safety of the other players on the server whether it be their life or memories) vs the predictable and stagnant comfort of safety

lorewise the threats he faces are ones that focuses on the actual players themselves, if one is introduced on his episode then chances are that they specifically target and affect players. an interesting example of this is zam, seen as a threat but never actually treated like an actual problem to be solved unlike the other threats he faces and it just so happens that zam is in a really interesting place antagonism-wise when it comes to wemmbu but is otherwise not a huge threat to unaffiliated players not even parrot who he apparently has beef with

has a large reoccuring cast who come in and out of his life, each of whom are important the same way cogs are important to a machine (applies to parrot himself as well). wifies sticks by him no matter what tho

wemmbu:

literally only one episode of his so far does not heavily feature or center around zam and its the one that takes place before they meet, if you do not like seeing/hearing about zam every 10 minutes or so do not watch wemmbus eps or you Will get pissed off

gets into fights quite often and is the best at pvp among the three main povs but isnt the best in terms of the server at large (hes somewhere more along the lines of average)

his character development is. rocky. and cyclical. be prepared to see him spiral and get better and spiral again over and over again basically lol

thematically his eps tend to be about princezam. i wish i was joking. but besides that, theyre also about retaliatory safety, morality, and sacrificing everything just to try and accomplish a singular goal

lorewise he causes a lot of ripple effects that affect the other two povs to a level that neither of them have ever affected him like for example him terrorizing spoke and parrot is what drove them to their current paths (anti-exploit exploiter for spoke and player protector for parrot)

has. A reoccuring cast. most of them are enemies and/or dont matter to him a whole lot personally tho... that doesnt mean he doesnt have friendly relations or allies of any kind, just that the only two you Really need to take note of are eggchan and princezam

i think thats p much all i can say about uu in terms of how to get into it but if youve got any questions of some kind feel free to ask :D

[enden-k]

Ok but the real question is how would Kaveh and Ratio interact, because while Ratio is very similar to Alhaitham, they do have some notible differences.

Like he does seem to be more altruistic than Ahaitham in a sense (like his main goal is to help people learn, while haitham's is to just lead a simple life), also Ratio seems to have more appreciation for arts (at least I think) and I can see Kaveh getting alone with with him in that sense.

On the other hand I can also see Kaveh just not vibing with his personality or his methods. Either way i feel like a conversation between the two would be interesting to watch... even if theres a good chance I wouldn't understand half of what they're saying

(Aslo there's a good chance i got some of Dr. Ratio's characterization wrong, haven't exactly had the same amount of time to dissecte his character as we have with Kaveh & Alhaitham, so I could have missed something or misinterpreted it)

dr ratio shares some similarities to haitham regarding some traits (extremely intelligent, self centered, confident, a buff scholar etc) but is different. he gets angry or aggressive often when faced with ignorance or smth he regards as stupid; the most emotion (not counting azar scene) i heard of haitham being slightly pissy is the one time in aaru village when he told dehya to stop yelling AHHAHA (i just love how he says it, hes so cute ugh)

ratio detests ignorance and stupidity but not bc he thinks of himself as smth better but bc he sees those as illnesses dulling ppls minds and he wants to cure it by sharing his knowledge with the universe.

haitham and ratio both want ppl to use their brains yes, but haitham doesnt rlly care about educating ppl (in fact he doesnt rlly care about anything unless it directly affects him, seeing that he doesnt even bother correcting ppls mistakes or false claims unless it will trouble him. this is just connected to his philosophy tho, prioritizing/taking care of himself first, not meddling and believing that it would cause much less problems in general and lead to simpler lives if everyone else would do the same. its not that he doesnt care bc he hates ppl. hes asocial, not antisocial)

so yes, while haitham doesnt care about ppl and their intellectual level (yall remember how he picked books that are easy and interesting for paimon to read in his last birthday mail? my heart still gets warm aaa) ratio detests "stupidity" (not ppl or "stupid ppl") as he regards it as a disease; so much so that he wears that mask so he doesnt have to look at it. hes a professor wanting to educate ppl like a doctor wanting to cure an illness. he believes that intellect and creativity isnt smth only geniuses have but for everyone and everyone can reach higher intellectual levels if they educate themselves enough and learn how to use their brains, if they lose their ignorance.

this is the impression i got tho with the bits we have!! ofc i can be wrong with what i think.

anw ratios philosophy/goals are grander than haithams; it certainly isnt bc ratios such a good man who wants to educate the universe tho (i just know hes a mean prof u dont wanna disappoint), its just bc he wants to get rid of that which he regards as illness. i think its more egoistical reasons there, bro doesnt want to taint his eyes any more or smth

anw i think esp with the line about him believing that "intellect and creativity isnt confined to geniuses", and the appreciation for good arts, him and kaveh meeting would be very interesting. also they get angered so fast its funny

[raptorladylover6969]

VERY passionate rant under the cut

“The Handler has dino DNA‼️” “The Handler is a robot‼️” “The Handler is a Brooklynn clone‼️” GET OUTTTTTTT GET TF OUTTTTTT I AM SO SICK OF THE SAME. GOD DAMN. DOG SHIT THEORIES. IM TIREDDDD OF IT. ITS THE SAME THING EVERY TIMEEEEEEEE AND I HATEEEEE IT. I WANT NEW THEORIES. ONES THAT ACTUALLY MAKE SENSE. ONES THAT ARENT THE SAME FUCKING THEME ALL OVER AGAIN UGHHHHH.

One thing I hate about Jurassic World youtube channels is when it comes to theorizing abt characters, THEY DONT KNOW HOW TO ACTUALLY AND PROPERLY ANALYZE. It’s like they never payed attention in english class 😭 esp when it comes to The Handler, because yes offence, just saying, their “character analysis” videos are absolute shit. I was yapping abt this early with @koi-fish-boy

What I mean is, instead of coming up with new theories, these “theorists” just take already existing theories, slap it into a video, add some other info that is not even considered a character analysis but just info thats RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR FACES. The other worst part is, they never show any evidence to support their theories, they don’t make connections. They just go like “Oh The Handler blah blah creepy lady blah blah whats her deal? Blah oh shes probably part raptor or a clone blah blah blah k like and subscribe” GET OUT- 🗣️🗣️💥💥‼️‼️

I could debunk some of these theories right now even I am feeling THAT petty. “Brooklynn clone?” They don’t have the same facial structure, The Handler is 10x more paler, Brooklynn has a button nose while The Handler’s is straight, and have you taken into consideration that other blue eyed white ppl with freckles exist????? Brooklynn isnt the only white chick that exists 💀 “Dino x human hybrid?” this idea for a plot has been scrapped long ago. And even if she was a dino hybrid, she HAS to retain dino like features, like scales, vertical pupils, dino vocals, sharp teeth. NO, her having big eyes and pale skin DOES NOT = DINOSAUR FEATURES. Theres millions of people with big eyes and who are also sickly pale. “But she doesnt blink!” Yes tf she does I have the timestamps to prove it, she actually blinks A LOT considering the little screentime she has. “Robot??” We see her display humane emotions such as empathy in the final episode (I mean this theory itself has already been scrapped by countless ppl so 😼)

The problem here is that ppl dont reeeeealllllyyyy ANALYZE a character, they just observe the surface, find a couple of things here and there, and call it a day. They don’t use all of their senses when looking into a character, they only document what the naked eye can see. That is NOT what analyzation is about. Character analyzation is about digging DEEPER into the character, putting yourself in their POV, in their shoes, reading their facial expressions, their body language, spending hours playing back the same clips over and over again just to find new info, taking note of the dramatic lighting changes, the ambience, making connections, USING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS TO UNBOX THE MYSTERYS OF SAID CHARACTER. Cmon guys did we learn nothing from Brooklynn??🤨🤨 like no joke me and @koi-fish-boy spent hours rewatching scenes with The Handler and found a BUNCH OF COOL NEW SHIT THAT NO ONE HASNT EVEN TALKED ABT YET.

People dont also seem to have enough balls to connect neuroscience to their theories, which is strange because incorporating psychology and the human brain, or any kind of science to a character analysis can rlly help with coming up with new theories. Why do you think MatPat’s theories were so good and interesting? It’s because he makes CONNECTIONS. He incorporates math, history, folklore, religion, and science into ALL OF HIS THEORIES. HE PUTS WORK INTO THEM. HE THINKS CRITICALLY.

All theories are valid, even the far-fetched ones, thats the whole point of a theory, its supposed to be crazy, but actually putting in the work to find evidence to support your theory WILL STRENGTHEN IT, and make it 100x more interesting. You can’t just introduce a theory without evidence to back it up, there needs to be at least 1 reason to even consider your theory plausible. Like the clone theory, I’m not entirely against it cuz cloning IS a thing in the JW universe, like that theory makes the most sense cuz its happened before, so why not again? I still think its absolutely crap, but I’ll admit, it makes sense. Why? Cause theres evidence to back it up.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk 🤗

[aslongasimhereyoureinvincible]

haikyuu!! the dumpster battle ramblings

saw it earlier today and am going to see it again tomorow with a friend, am very Full Of Thoughts, if u dont wont spoilers for the movie well take this as your warning ig

okay first of all the sound direction, the sound direction was INSANELY good

this is absolutely a movie that needs to be experienced in cinema, the soundscape of tokyo gymnasium and the karasuno v nekoma match felt so vividly real it was like i was at an actual game

the soundtrack was great too, i mean it always is w/ hayashi yuuki

there were i think two tracks that used the leitmotif from 'above', good shit

the animation was also really great, overall it didnt look massively better than season 4 of the anime

which is fine, season 4 looked great imo (minus that outsourced episode)

but holy shit when the sakuga hit it hit HARD

tsukki and lev blocking, kageyama doing his thing, kenma and kuroo's quick, there were lots of really great sakuga moments

they also reused some shots from earlier on in the anime and idk maybe thats 'lazy' or whatever but i liked it, it was very nostalgic :')

they did re-animate and i think re-voice hinata and kenma's first meeting tho, framing it from kenma's POV, loved that

i think my favourite sakuga shot had to be hinata and kenma with the knives at each other's throats tho, that ate

not sure how i didnt know about this before hand but it made perfect sense to me when i saw studio trigger in the end credits, some of the sakuga, esp the blocking, had a bit of that trigger flair to it

so obviously they werent gonna fit in everything from the manga, and the movie definitely had kenma as its focus, but i think overall they did a decent job in picking and chosing what to cut

the one thing im annoyed about is the removal of old coach ukai and coach nekomata's backstory, i really i think it makes the handshake at the end of the game hit that much harder

other than that tho i dont think the movie suffered from not adapting everything in the manga, i mean obviously i wouldve LIKED it, but i dont think the movie NEEDED it to be a good movie

it very much felt like kenma was the main character of the movie, and the main focus, with kuroo and hinata as his deuteragonists

which i liked!!! i think framing the match from kenma's POV for the most part makes sense, and its fun to spend more time in outsider POVs of karasuno

rlly loved the adaptation of kuroo and kenma's childhood flashback, im pretty sure kaji yuuki voiced kid kenma too

watching their friendship grow and seeing them play togther now as high schoolers, AUGH RIGHT IN THE FEELS

theres also a montage of kid kuroo barging into kenma's room to demand they go play volleyball together that ends on kuroo doing so whilst kenma's changing/putting on trousers which was rlly funny and silly

the stuff with kuroo and tsukki was so good too

'thanks to everyone, occasionally it's fun', 'thank god i wasnt wrong', 'he's a man who walks ahead of me'

AUUUGHHHHHH IT WAS SO GOOD :')

the scene that completely stole my breath away though was kageyama setting the open toss to hinata

i know ive already lost my mind over the whole 'threat of trust' thing and truly, the inarizaki match goes insane with that concept i will always adore it

but holy shit that scene smacked me over the head, HARD, with the concept of 'setting as a love language'

i just... i literally dont even have words for it it was SO amazingly good, i legitimately teared up in the cinema

speaking of other great scenes;

'stay interesting, 'kay?'

OHHHHH GODDDDDDDDDD

they did it perfectly

the music and the soundscape completely cutting out, the background whiting out so its just kenma and the net, kaji yuuki's delivery of the line

it genuinely felt like something out of a horror movie, it was creepy, and unsettling, and PERFECT

also;

hinata's reaction after kenma collapses and says 'that was fun'

murase ayumu's delivery was so VISCERAL, dude got in that booth and CHEERED

you really felt hinata's sheer utter come through in that little scene, same with kuroo's incredulous laugh

the end of the match was slightly a mixed bag for me

on the good hand;

having done from kenma's first person POV was cool, i dont think haikyuu's ever really done that before, and it looked awesome

cutting back on the music and background soundscaping so we just focus on kenma's breathing and the sound of the ball/players jumping/shoes squeaking etc was a great way to really immerse the viewer in the scene, and put us inside kenma's head

on the bad hand;

it was anticlimatic, and i KNOW the whole point of the end of the match is that its anticlimatic,

but i had always imagined the scene with dramatic swelling music and the characters running frantically, only for it to all cut away when the ball slips and all you can hear is kenma's 'ah-' and there'd be a close-up of his facial expression

the stage play did a very similar thing and it worked EXTREMELY well imo

instead by doing it in the first person POV and already not having music it just,,, didnt feel quite as impactful as it shouldve imo??

like the match points for the seijoh, shiratorizawa, or inarizaki matches were done really dramatically

and i know the whole point is that the nekoma match is kinda an outlier in that it ends in that anticlimatic way with the ball slipping, and theres that big beat with hinata calling out 'nice serve' to tanaka before the realisation sets in that theyve won, but jusstttt

idk like it certainly wasnt BAD, i still DEEPLY DEEPLY enjoyed it, but just personally if i'd been the director i wouldve done it differently

also!! because it was from his first person POV we didnt get to see kenma's face on the 'idiot! the ball hasn't dropped yet!!!' line, which was pretty disapointing ngl i rlly love that scene how it is in the manga

ok enough complaining tho back to the infinite list of stuff i loved about the movie

the camera work! good god the camera work was so fucking cool

it really made the space of the gymnasium feel 3d and real, the way the camera would move over and through the net with the ball helped emphasise the physicality of the players and the court

i know jack shit about cinematography but yeah, after the sound design the camera work was prolly the best thing

the post credits scene was great!! daishou trying and failing to neg kuroo cracks me up every damn time

and the set up for the kamomedai match was so hype

speaking of; the very vague forshadowing for hinata's fever of him having flushed cheeks and not being all exhausted after the game like the others, auughhh my heartttt

if he isnt already, this movie will make kenma one of your top 5 haikyuu characters

seriously i love how they switched the perspective and framing so it was a bit more like kenma was the 'main character' of this match and hinata was the 'rival'

overall the movie was cool, creative, and a really clearly loving adaptation, im more than happy to be paying to see it again tmr lol

i'll probably have even more to say after seeing it a 2nd time so tune in for that ig

[cherrytreedreams]

Hi!

Thoughts on Luther in s4? I feel like they dumbed him down a lot and it made me really sad :( especially because I just rewatched season 1.

Thank you!

hiiiiiiiiiiiii welcome to my cringe pit.

im actually a patented Luther Enjoyer. this isnt as much of a hot take since s2 and 3, but i remember back in the s1 days that luther was bar none the most hated sibling. and i actually think s1 is his best season, easily. i like his puppy-dog vibes in s2 and 3 (esp since in s2 in particular, hes still kind of an asshole-- remember when five said the world was ending and he said "i dont give a shit"? major dick move. plus ill never forget his pathetic kicked-puppy vibes in ray's living room.)

anyway, i think s1 is his best season because s1 is very thematically coherent, in a way none of the other seasons are. every sibling embodies a facet of reginald's abuse, and every sibling embodies how the abuse affected them. luther is the sibling holding onto their childhood-- still vying for dad's approval, all the way until he realizes he'll never get it again. luther lashes out because he'll never be what his father wants him to be; and luther lashes out because while he holds himself to reggie's standards, he also holds aaaallll of his siblings to reggie's standards, too. its why he treats viktor cruelly; because reggie treated viktor cruelly. and luther, deep in his heart, really wants to be his dad.

but anyway. so, with that arc reasonably done with in s1, i feel like the "vaguely pathetic but wide-eyed and figuring out who he is for the first time" angle is the obvious direction to take luther in, after that. luther is essentially a young adult in s2 and 3; leaving home for the first time, experiencing his breakup, getting his first job, figuring out what he wants, falling in love, etc. he's finally getting to make his own choices! and he's not always nice about it (and has a pretty specific frustration with five, but thats its own post...)

sooo.. with the inherent premise of a 6 year timeskip between s3 and s4, you've already lost this angle for luther. in my opinion, the obvious direction to take luther in is actually pretty similar to the direction they took him in; he misses his wife. he's lost the person he's connected with the most to; his rock, maybe, even? i get that luther and sloane didnt have much time together, but hear me out.

the siblings struggle to connect with each other, this is a well-established fact about tua. the love interests are significant because they offer the siblings someone to truly connect with. so, with luther having lost sloane, it actually makes perfect sense that he'd fall into this position of feeling the burden of "keeping the family" together.

luther doesnt care about being a leader, really..? nor does he put the stock in being "number one" that he used to, but him becoming the patriarch of the family in his own right makes perfect sense to me. bringing everyone together, organizing meetups, parties, that sort of thing. i actually think it'd be a really satisfying end to his arc; he cant become his dad, but he can become who his dad should have been, eh?

so i dont really have a problem with the premise. nor do i really have any real problem with him being a stripper? what i have a problem with is how... you phrase it as being "dumbed down", which i agree with; but what i think it is, is how luther is framed, narratively. there's nothing actually dumb about luther being full of love or being a stripper; but the narrative treats him like he's dumb. the show wants you to point and laugh, and not take him super seriously. he's comic-relief, basically.

we, the audience, are not meant to treat luther seriously. the framing mocks him, derides him, and makes jokes about him-- which theres actually nothing wrong with, by itself. previous seasons did this with every single character (including SB's favorite self-insert, five). whats different is that luther doesnt get any substantial character work to balance it out.

why does he choose to live in the academy? why did he choose to become a stripper? has he tried looking for sloane? how does he feel about losing her? how does he feel about getting his powers back? or his ape-body? (and no, the jokes dont count.) so theres just nothing there; nothing of substance. he does get the seasons one good fight scene tho, lol.

you can attribute this to a lot of things; the seasons slashed episode count, whatever. personally i think this ties into s4's wider cynicism regarding love, and the siblings love for each other, like i said in my other meta on the subject. because if luther embodies the want to keep his family together, then the narrative has to treat him like he's a wide-eyed child, because the narrative is preoccupied with how much love sucks. and, ultimately, that is how the narrative frames luther: like hes childish. which sucks, because a) shouldnt we be beyond that by now? and b) i actually dont think he is, really. he just wants to see his siblings? and work at a job? and grieve his wife? and fix up a house? none of that is particularly childish. but what do i know, lol

[sunshineandviolets]

I really wanted to like dirty little secrets, 'cause thought it could be a fun & 'campy' story like queen b but with murder ya know? but it really ain't hitting the same.

The main thing i realised is 'cause of the characters. With queen b you got the mc to interact with a wide range of cast, not just the li(s) - an actual friend group of sorts. even minor characters that only existed for a few chapters were interesting too!

but with dls, the mc has no actual friends cause the most they interact is with charlotte/charles. like theres not even any other interesting characters that were memerable. closest was Sadie - the antagonist, and honestly the only character i somewhat liked but sadly even she couldn't save this book.

Then it's Yvette but she's like barely around despite being the li's daughter. The real nail in the coffin for me was when the mc never takes any scenes when you get the option to hang with Yvette, and theres no actual relationship built within the story- but still she was like accepting of the mc and her parent being a thing??? why???

An the LI... god they are as bland as stale bread. like woo girl (gn) give us nothing! Could've been interesting if the story took gender and sexuality in account. Charles & Charlotte would not be treated the same as they are in that kind of neighbourhood. esp with how ppl treat single moms vs single dads - let alone single mom who is an open sapphic . also could've given us more for m!mcs romancing charles too!! like a touch on his sexuality.

also could've made the li the murderor - now that would make them at least a little interesting!!

I think what made queen b work is 'cause it was set in college, so had that dumb college drama. kinda was satire with the tropes and cliches. the mc wanting to overthrow poppy and the whole popularity contest just made sense for that story.

TLDR: dls ain't my vibe, could've been better but sadly it was just meh. All it made me want to do is reread queen b to smooch Zoey again <3

[m0e-ru]

hi ive been binging your blog a lot recently. i rlly adore the sheer effort you've given to these dumbass fucking characters that otherwise get such little people even attempting to appreciate or engage with them beyond very shallow depths. as someone who only really got into the p4 games relatively recently (2022. my only remembered experience with the series beforehand was like a couple episodes of the the p4anim years ago and playing p5 in 2016/2017) and kind of being shell-shocked by how characters like marie and teddie and namatame were perceived by the overall fanbase once i started engaging with it more i really appreciate all the writing and analysis and art and other shit you do for them. even the gas station attendant, a character i overlooked initially, i've come to love because of all the time and energy you put into picking them apart like a dead frog in a science class

uh yea idfk i feel generally vindicated by seeing the way you characterize these bitches. especially marie as someone who felt like a lot of her interesting aspects were evaporated by the fandom (somewhat because of p4ga i feel but but still) and wanted to see more silly fanart of her (and shumarie/soumarie/whatecvrer the fuck that wasn't just kind of surface level romance becuz i rlly do love their dynamic w how i see bancho in my head. idiots who dont know how to properly express themselves w one repressing themselves to adopt a likable persona and the other unable to shut the fuck up much to their own detriment. im not gonna get over that fucking "marie makes everyday sunny for him" post ever i think) so uh keep on keeping on and ill continue to like your posts and something

anyway dumb stupid cringe fucking rant over. i apologize if i come off like a loser i dont use this website and idk the general tumblr etiquette. im pretty sure shit like this shouldnt even go here but . dont need to respond to this i just wanted to yell into the void cuz i appreciate this account. rest of this will just be panels of marie and teddie and bancho from some of the p4g anthologies i own that i wanted to share in the off chance that you also dont already own said anthologies n have seen them befor. these r only from the last ID antho and the dengeki one because those r the only 2 i have proper pictures of

hai i read this ages ago and i wanna get back to it by saying youre so awesome possum forever and ever dont worry about your ettiquette because getting 3 essay worthy paragraphs of you talking is basically everyone ive met in the tumblr nation

another thing i remember is that a bestie also loved your offerings esp the last one because those two look so lalala AUAHUAHA okay i should answer this ask properly now that i have the time 🏃🏃🏃🏃

can we give it up for the bingers and blog skimmers !?!?!?! you guys are such an interesting breed i remember trying to do that in 2018 i can already recall the thrill going through my blood im so honored to see people doing that and moreso coming to me to tell me about it WAHAUHAHA 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶

this gas station (blog) really is catered to the niche market of all time also because the way my brain is wired to just go in the dustiest nooks and corners of a community and thrive and live there. i AM the bug you see when you lift up the rock . hai . i'll do anything for these poor poor characters being tossed around like hot potato with people who dont bother understanding thing or even try to pick them up at all. also im getting such a kick every time someone tells me i got them into appreciating the attendant or even iznmi more OR in a different way. thats why im here bros . me when i do my JOB !!!! 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳

the way fandom handles shipping has always irked me because theres just SO much you can do with two characters than just make them hold hands. what if there was blood invovled, you know . /starts pacing around the room / you know im glad you know the know it's so cool you know /shaking you/ im glad i have a post that's affected you so much like i thought it was just a silly caption at the time and seeing it after 2 or 3 years is like "YEAHH i cooked this " and im glad you brought it to me hehehe

i hope this gas station brings you joy and you keep coming back for more etc etc and please know i really am happy to see you around in whatever branch you show up at 🫡🫡🫡 /explordes

[psychewritesbs]

hi! i didnt have much success when looking through ur blog to see if uve addressed this alrdy so apologies if u have.

i was curious to know ur thoughts on jjk's portrayals of gender, esp women/femininity. if u have particular insight from a psych or philosophy bg, id be interested in hearing that (warning, i have a v feminist critique lens)

ik u love gege's writing 😅 but his handle on female characters/femininity has given me such a difficult relationship w jjk, and its v difficult to have discourse on it. on one hand, we're introduced to sm interesting realistic women, tbh i actually never stanned a woman in manga before jjk. but imo it cant be denied that gege is a sexist writer. despite how realistic jjk women r theyre all .. halfwritten? i cant think of a single one who isnt underwritten, not fully explored, not utilized substantially in the plot, etc. and there r sm ex's of extremely minor male characters in jjk who r given more thematic relevance than frequently recurring women that just underscores that gender gap imo

this isnt solely a gege problem ik but what bothers me in particular about jjk vs other mangas is how gege addresses strength, even in the light of nb/androgynous characters, and how it feels as if gege's def of strength is inherently masculine? even despite going so far as to give us a philosophical battle shonen w diverse reps of gender and emphasizing individuality that encompasses both femme/masc traits

how a reader interprets whether a jjk woman is strong or not is obv subjective. like, i think shoko is strong but shes not depicted as such bc she doesnt have a combative technique whereas yuki maki nobara or mei r depicted as "strong" bc of their battle abilities. but it also feels as if those women r strong bc they take on "masculine" traits/mindsets whereas there r no clear depictions of "femininity" making women or men stronger. even utahime who falls into v classic shoujo girl tropes is seen as weak despite teaching her students v proficientally in battle strategy (mechamaru v mahito is a good ex of that imo), as compared to how gojo teaches his (ie dumping them into missions for experience). but thats not what gege ever chooses to highlight

femininity also doesnt even seem to make men/nb characters stronger. the ex's i can think of r naoya as a vagina (lmao), geto as a mother to curses, yuta as highly attuned to his emotions, kenjaku as yuji's mother -- those r things that support these (mostly) men's strong sense of individuality but like, those arent really the things that lend those characters their "strength", u know? like geges just sprinkling in androgyny for the spice 🧐

what is feminine vs masculine, how an individual embodies those traits in their gender identity r already complex topics. im obv generalizing a lot here, but i just, idk despite how many other nuanced philosophies gege explores, what is strong/desirable in jjk still falls down to all-out fighting abilities/physical prowess, emotional detachment, isolation, extremism, etc -- all things we harp on toxic masculinity for. and even when he critiques that, theres no cogent counter solution/way to be strong that gege provides, much less one that incorporates "femininity" and women

maybe im just asking for too much from gege after having read so many great representations of women and gender by female (and male) mangakas/writers but.. i shouldnt be 🙄 he can utilize his female characters more imo, esp when he can clearly set them up so well. and im sure theres things ive misread about jjk and its portrayal of femininity, theres plenty of holes in my thoughts ^^ anyways, this is obv not a great topic to bring up in a fandom that is so polarized between dudebros and women w unaddressed internalized misogyny.. so i welcome any and all thoughts and interpretations on ur end! (also omg im rlly sorry this got so long)

I love you feminist anon, if I may call you that lol, I just always name my anons 😂. I am so grateful that you sent this.

I feel like you've very eloquently explained the deeper reason as to why I personally can't relate to the female characters in jjk. If I'm honest, I like them and think they are fun and good enough representations or attempts at depicting the archetypes that rule their personalities.

As you say, however, some of them remain rather superficial and underutilized... and please forgive me anyone who loves them, but some of them feel like they are basically dudes wearing skirts.

No offense to dudes who wear skirts or people who like men who wear skirts or anyone for that matter. It's just that, as a personal preference, I like female characters that wear skirts, pants, leggings, etc and have equal amounts of masculine and feminine energy.

So, even if I find they are good enough, I've never necessarily loved jjk female characters, because, as you also say, I've read/seen one too many amazing and iconic female characters by other authors...

And it's not like I think you're asking for too much from Gege in wanting better female characters, it's just that, as you also said, I like his writing and I read jjk precisely because of what it's doing for my masculine psyche. Like... quite literally.

So perhaps I'm more forgiving than you are because of it? Because in all reality, there are female character moments in other manga that I have to give the bombastic side eye to, and jjk isn't one of them.

Let's taco'bout it more under the cut.

So, that said, I have to admit that you might not find a lot of "feminist oriented" content in my blog because my feminist lens is reserved for dealing with lame dudebros in my real life, and also, I honestly do not know how to wear the lens on the same level of depth as you do.

Also, since my blog's lens is depth psych, I very much focus on femininity and masculinity as psychological qualities that exist on opposite ends of a continuum regardless of biological gender. You'll see me refer to femininity and masculinity like this throughout my answer.

So because of this, I'm coming at the whole issue from a slightly different angle than you are. The way I see it, I think the way the jjk female characters are written and thematically utilized (basically everything you said), ultimately comes back to how Gege's exploration of femininity is limited by his own sense of self, and very much likely biased by the sociocultural landscape he grew up in.

I don't know how much you know about Japan, but Japan has one foot in the future, and one foot in the past...

And like... ok I'm totally oversimplifying the whole thing. All I'm saying is... Gege is a man who grew up in a man's world, sharing his view of the world through jjk, which is a story about initiation of the male psyche that is published in a magazine for young boys.

Do you see the pattern there?

So If you feel like his female characters are underutilized and underexplored, and that thematically jjk focuses way too much on masculinity and masculine definitions of strength at the expense of the feminine archetypes he does present (like Naoya as a vagina LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL)... well... to me, we're basically looking at the limits of his own relationship to his femininity, which, this relationship is in turn an imperative precursor for psychospiritual development in depth psych. More of this in a bit.

Anyways, that's my anticlimactic reasoning for why I am more forgiving about the issue than you are. To be honest, I've been so consumed exploring my masculine psyche through jjk (because personally my feminine psyche is more developed in certain aspects) that I just never focus on the female characters (that is not to mention what I shared earlier).

ANYWAYS, I fucking love what you wrote about Gege's exploration on power from a masculine perspective because you're 100% spot on. What I'll say to that is that, to me, from a depth psych perspective, that's kind of the whole point.

I invite you to look at it from this other level of perspective (in addition to the whole "Gege's psych is a product of his upbringing"): the whole idea of individuality and focusing on the sense of self as a measure of "The Strongest" is being shown as an incomplete part of the equation...

... that leaves "the strongest" ultimately feeling dissatisfied.

This is a sentiment echoed by several characters because ego strength (masculine definitions of strength) is ultimately an unbalanced measure of strength precisely because it ignores feminine values and measures of strength.

Who knows where Gege is taking jjk at this point, but I will admit I am hoping he is going to explore this in more depth because, central to Jungian thought and depth psych is the idea of the Buddhist middle path and union of opposites.

In Jungian psych this means that, when you have an unbalanced ego attitude like that, something has to give so that the pendulum swings in the opposite direction, which gives the ego the experiences it needs to integrate the "opposite" attitude. This ultimately results in a more holistic and balanced perspective for the ego.

That to say that I'm wondering if Gege is going to make the pendulum swing in the opposite direction with the whole "individuality" idea since self-preservation is a "masculine" trait. Again, psychologically, it's all about balance, and right now, the story is out of balance in favor of the masculine traits you mention.

But... to bring it back to Gege's possible limitations around his perception of femininity and how developing a healthy relationship to his anima (femininity) is a precursor for psychospiritual development... what if, on a meta level, jjk is depicting part of Gege's journey towards integrating and deepening his relationship to his femininity and what you're seeing is the beginning of that journey?

Hint hint Tsumiki! maybe I'll write about it someday

This is the thing... In depth psychology, more specifically what is called "the psychology of fairy tales", fairy tales and myths are stories that depict the thinking patterns of a peoples through metaphor and symbol. The characters in these myths and stories are thus characters playing out dramas in our own psyches. So basically, think of jjk as an objective exploration of Gege's subjectiveness (psyche).

Admittedly, even if the pendulum swings in the other direction (more feminine definitions of strength), you might find that his exploration is rather shallow or that it falls short of your expectations for what you'd like to see from a feminist perspective. And you wouldn't be wrong for it, it's just that Gege is probably not on the same level of understanding that you have about femininity because he's, like you and I, a human on a journey of self understanding and growth reflecting on how his environment has shaped who he is.

The same goes for women with internalized misogyny. Sometimes you don't know what you don't know, and coming to an understanding of it is a process that doesn't take place overnight.

So I think the only part I'll disagree with is that Gege is a sexist writer. But that's perhaps because I'm being a bit too technical in what sexist means? i.e. masc supremacy or hating women and perpetuating stereotypes. I think that rather than being sexist, his unconscious biases are showing, which is why someone like you can pick them out.

I do understand where you're coming from though, and admittedly perhaps I am being too forgiving of him.

Last thing I'll say is that I've said a couple of times that wanting for jjk to have these iconic female characters feels like an exercise in futility. In retrospect, I now understand that it's not that anyone shouldn't want for jjk to have iconic female characters, but that doesn't change the fact that jjk will probably remain the wrong manga to look for them, and that's something to make peace with because it is what it is.

So, here's to hoping we get a chance to see a deeper representation of feminine values in jjk or Gege's next manga. Because, if he's done such beautiful work with the masculine psyche, like you, I'd be curious to see what he makes of a deeper exploration of the feminine psyche.

Between you and I, I'd actually love reading a proper battle bl from Gege. And I mean proper. Like... gays so canon that even the dudebros can't deny it.

ANYWAYS... giiiiiiiirl what an ask 😮‍💨. I don't think I've done it justice tbh. But hopefully I made sense? I really do love what you wrote. It was very eye opening to see this age-old argument spelled out the way you did it. So thank you again for sharing your thoughts!

If you over have any other thoughts on the topic I look forward to hearing from you!

I rambled too so... hopefully I made sense 🤣.

[sovawife]

tell the class all your favorite parts about sova maybe? like what made you really fall for him and all of that!

ok this also might get long i am sorry. thank u for the ask tho its nice to hvae smth to do. either way uhh lets get started

ok so i might have mentioned this but i had a small crush on him a few years ago? i think since like 2022. back then i shipped with cypher and was super fixated on him but i think sova was always in the back of my brain as a crush, although at the time i only had him as a platonic. also cuz one of my good friends who doesnt anymore used to ship with him so i didnt wanna overstep or anything.

anyways im not even sure how i suddenly decided to latch onto him, i think my fixation on yone at the time was starting to fade and my brain just randomly chose to fixate on him even tho he was still a crush at the back of my brain lol. and look where we are now/lh

as for what i like abt him, i think one of the biggest things i like is how polite he is/kind to others. i think thats like a rlly important trait in someone for me if i were like to date someone else and hes just rlly nice in general and very lovely, hes such a big sweetheart :)

also ok im gonna sound crazy here but my friends keep saying im a circle bcuz he rlly fits one of my types which is like the holy trinity of yone vergil and wyll. who are all like, responsible, serious, yet like kind and deeply caring. and sova definitely fits into that archetype haha even though hes not exactly the same?? most of those guys arent exactly the same but theres a huge overlap of similarity with them.

i do also think he is very pretty even tho he is unfortunately white/lh :') (or at least i smacked this guy with the asian beam. get wasian'd) idk i suck at explaining exactly why i like this guy, again i think a big part of it is how kind he is to others!! its again just smth i rlly value in a partner, he genuinely cares about others/esp people hes close to like his grandma. and is very thoughtful. also i like that hes super down to earth and humble like this guy is incredibly talented yet never brags about it at all hes just very modest. smug people drive me nuts so im glad hes not like that lol. he also is very passionate abt his interests like archery and also he does photography! i like to think he also does things like hiking, birdwatching and maybe some gardening in his spare time. idk its a shame we dont get too too much info about val characters although the lore is always constantly growing. i do think he does like lots of outdoorsy hobbies hes very respectful to and attuned with nature i think.

sorry this is getting so long omg. im trying to think of any last things to throw in... i think another thing i rlly love abt him is how calm he is. it kinda balances me out bcuz i tend to be a really hotheaded person but it takes a LOT for him to get bothered by something, or at least lose his temper. in the lore we've never really seen him lose his temper or anything like that? the closest it's gotten is that one image when they were releasing fade where it was like a flashback to him losing his eye and he looked super animalistic. actually i think that in general for him to get that mad or whatever it would probably have to involve one of his loved ones being in danger. which is nice bcuz it shows that he rlly cares.

anyways this is getting so long so i will cut it short but i love my wife <3

[yung-goos]

//possible pikmin 4 spoilers

ughHHH ok no I must talk about Pikmin 4. I needa gush. It's safe to say I will be playing every other pikmin game in the near future because I. am. in. love. With the concept, the aesthetic, the gameplay, my lovely little men called pikmin, OATCHIIIIII, just.... Pikmin gained a new fan quickly. Took me a lil while to find my groove, but once I found it I couldn't put it down. Something about having a gameplay cycle thats unique, interesting, and revolves around being as efficient as possible just *chefs kiss* can't be beat. And Pikmin 4 does it in a way where it isn't stress inducing or daunting. Its like a nice slow trickle feed, and the difficulty curve doesn't like, suddenly get hard out of no where. Theres a clear point where you're like okay the shits getting real. Like okayyy now I have to actually sit here and think??? But like, half way through doing the first dandori battle I realized you could restart, and a couple tries later realized I could just use Oatchi to manage a lot of the carrying for the heavy shit by himself while I multi-task with my captain. And just.... yea it was a wrap after that lmao. Utterly destroying the dandori battles when I came across them (yea fuck you LOUIE). The dandori challenges though were tricky and required a lot of planning and restarting in order to plat them, but I loved every second of it. And just.... The ENVIRONMENTSSSS. I think just looking up and getting a look at where I was at was one of my favourite things to do. Realizing you're walking around through a lil garden, or a campfire grill, or a toy castle, or some kind of animal exhibit, or a sandbox, or a sand castle. And the HOMEEE. Or should I say "large giant structure". Like goddd the amount of charm is insane. Reading the descriptions for all the treasure too was a big fave of mine. Mock Bottom, Foolish Fruit, Unbreakable Promise, Connection Detector, Buddy Display, Personal Injury Plank, Wave Racer for the Nintendo Gamecube. Just UGHHH the CHARM™. I think the only thing I'd say I'd dislike is the dialouge from the characters. As someone who likes to be thorough, a lot of it felt uneccesary after awhile. Cute and funny at times, esp the little Pikmin people talk (the little "Oh n-no" Collin likes to do and the lil "Ki-morrray" Shepherd does has been STUCK and I mean STUCK in my head) but yea. It'll be nice going back and playing Pikmin games that arent so dialogue heavy, so I hear. Speaking of which, thats the one downside to starting with Pikmin 4, all the quality of life changes I'm sure they added to 4 isn't going to be present. Cuz you mean I have to fight shit...... without Oatchi..... I'm still not used to losing pikmin..... its going to be a slaughter if I don't have my boy with me. But yea, that'll be stress I tackle another day. Anywho, amazing game, definitely up there with Bomb Rush and TOTK as my GOTYs, and I'm sooo looking forward to playing more Pikmin in general. To think, I may have not been convinced to purchase this so soon if it weren’t for dunkeys glowing review. I always knew I wanted to play Pikmin, which is why I always avoided reading anything about it (which was easy theres like 20 maybe 35 pikmin fans at most).

also yea Groovy Long Legs remains my top fave out of all the bosses. Hands down. So good.

also also yea I understand why its fuck Louie now. Really wish we got to hear Nelle chew his ass out with their little "talk" Hmph.

[killer-wizard]

system opinion on moon knight (the show. i didnt read the comic yet!) SPOILERZ:

(spoiler free tldr: as a system, it was pretty cool rep (other than a few things i found mildly incorrect, but not offensive) and i'll def watch season 2 - not through their streaming services, of course, fuck disney and marvel.)

i think it leans into "two alter system (though there is implied to be a third alter at the end) with a ton of amnesia" rather than how our system works (a 30+ alter system with mild to no amnesia). but ik there's systems like that in real life, i just feel like we never see larger systems in media.

i liked that they decided to make steven an introject, and marc a traumaholder (i esp liked that they make him kinda standoffish but then learns to accept he isnt a monster for what he's been through/was forced to do) its cool seeing clear roles for them!

i REALLY liked the first episode. i found it relatable how steven would be told about plans he didnt remember making, or talking to people who knew him, but he didnt remember them. or in the last episode, with marc saying "you saved my life" something ive said to my own headmates <3 :-)

i think theres only one "wrong" thing, and it's marc saying/implying they were one person before splitting off into two: the current theory for how DID forms is- paraphrased - all people are born with "ego states" which form into one "personality" or identity at around 10. when you undergo trauma before then, you develop DID.

also not really a fan of the "blacking out and waking up to another alter doing something violent" but. i guess it makes sense with who moon knight sys is? being an avatar and all

other than that i found it to be delightful representation. it was sweet as hell when marc went back for steven. i love them very much !! also layla is the coolest girl ever and shes my fave <3 <3

tldr: it was pretty cool as a show, bc it had lots of mythology and interesting characters ect. it was decent system representation. i enjoyed it. i will watch season 2 if it ever happens

[irrealisms]

for the character ask game sorry for being predictable. princezam :3

never apologize for being predictable!!! yayyyyy ty for asking for zam i love talking abt him :3

How I feel about this character

zam is. ohghghhh. so dear to me... zam esp s4 zam (i have not moved on from s4. i will probably never move on from s4) has so many issues that i recognize in myself ? zam is probably my favorite lifesteal character/streamer and theres a reason for that even beyond "often streams the most" lol. wildly compelling to me!!! esp as i mentioned the . everything in s4. recently ive been thinking abt his relationship to decision-making and the way that he doesnt want to accept responsibility for his own choices or wants and even when he makes a decision he is perennially unhappy with it.... theres like two or three clips specifically im thinking of here but i'll leave that for now. this is also So related to the ways his suicidality manifests . this is also part of my ocd princezam manifesto which is correct and definitely not projection. theres also the thing of . i feel like zam in s4 is so interesting to me bc i feel like. so many of his problems are problems that r (a) very specific (b) in fact very common (c) u dont see very often in fiction ime? which is fun to me!

All the people I ship romantically with this character

hmmmmm. vitalasy and subz s4 obviously, i am an eclipse federation main first and foremost. minutetech s5, also obviously, i have eyes. vitalasy s5 but in a way where it's primarily About s4 and their shared history. pangi in general but the specifics of How i ship them vary by season. probably other ships but i'm blanking on them

My non-romantic OTP for this character

probably mapicc&zam ! wildly compelling in almost all eras/seasons imo. runner ups are planet&zam and spoke&zam who i have specific moments or eras i'm fond of but am less insane about in general

My unpopular opinion about this character

i don't actually know what's unpopular and what's not tbh... ummmm despite being an eclipse fed main im not actually super into straightforward fluff of them? i can be but tbh the stuff that is most compelling to me abt them is the ways in which they fell apart & the ways in which the [falling apart] was internal, it wasn't external problems or miscommunication, in many ways they were the problem & them crashing and burning was inevitable

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

i was going to be like "honestly i dont really wish for things to happen bc so much of the joy of lifesteal to me is the improvisational + unscripted nature and taking things that are weird and jarring and not the sort of thing that i Wish Would Happen and making something interesting from it anyway" but i thought about it and changed my mind. my kingdom for more conversation with planetlord during wormhole..........

(ask game, give me a character)

[elftwink]

so this is from someone who also actively plays in and dms campaigns with other systems but personally i love dnd partly because i like the number of arcane rules. i think part of what it is, is my table experiences have been so combat-lite that for me the system has just become tools for solving puzzles and situations. encounters are so few and far between with my usual dm that they become very intense and scary when they do happen, and you can maybe say well that's dnd guy cope to say that this combat sim is better without the combat, and that probably is true. the best version of dnd for me like if i were writing 6e would be to shift the game's mechanical focus away from combat, increase the prominence of utility/ roleplay oriented spells and skills, and encourage DMs not to rely on combat to fill space in the game

yes!! ik im being a hater in my posts rn but i also love dnd, and especially the magic and spell system. it's not perfect obviously, but i have yet to find a ttrpg whose magic system is as engaging to me personally as dnd is. idk it's like exactly the right amount of rules to feel very bound by them while still leaving wiggle room for creative magic choices (either by way of flavour which is whatever you make of it, or by way of doing something that is Technically covered by the spell but probably not intended, which almost always fucks extremely hard).

& also i agree that dnd is kind of too combat focused, and i actually do think it would be better with less (although i suspect that given theres a pretty large contingent of dnd players who play mostly or solely combat, i dont think this is a universal opinion lol), or at the very least if it didn't feel like it dominated the meta decisions you have to make. like when i take new spells i often have to deliberate between the cool utility spell i actually want to take that has no damage component, and the damage based spell that will keep me viable in combat. i wish often these choices were less at odds with each other, or at least if you had a character who needed to be carried through combat that they would have more utility in non-combat scenarios instead of just kind of feeling like dead weight (now i sound like someone who should try another system, lol. but its more varied spells in the existing dnd system that i want!)

also i kind of think dnd has a problem esp at the mid level with keeping combat high stakes and genuinely scary, which is a whole other post where i could ramble lol, but honestly in terms of per table solutions "do combat a lot less" sounds like actually an extremely good way to deal with it. the worst thing in dnd is when combat starts to feel repetitive and like a slog. if it happens rarely it just so so so much easier to avoid that. i could say much more about this but ive already been typing this ask for a gazillion years but the point is i'm stealing your dms tactics for next time i run a game

also to contextualize my baseless haterism posts, i just want to clarify that i don't care in any way if someone plays only 5e/dnd and refuses to play other systems. this is whatever. what annoys me is when such people insist this is because every other game on earth is worse than dnd at everything, somehow, even though they do not know the full rules of dnd and are not super interested in learning. there's a lot to be found there in dnd but you have to like, engage with it. your dm cant read it for you. & its always more fun to be at a table where everyone knows wtf is going on than with players who barely know enough to scrape by and treat the DM like a rules dispensing machine

anyway. your 6e ideas sound awesome, especially more utility spells pleaseeee wotc. life could be so beautiful