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smoochi-modest · 3 years ago

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✿ [ Hello ] ✿

—> Genshin Impact - [ Xiao x Reader ]

—> Contents - [ Pure fluff, No specified pronouns, 922 words 5,108 characters ]

—> Description - [ If you awake to a knife at your throat, if monsters dig their claws into you, if death comes knocking at your door, call out my name. Adeptus Xiao. I will be here when you call + Small kisses littered across the other’s face. ]

—> Note - [ Just the beginning of my little writings for each Xiao voice line <3 unedited so I apologize for any errors. ]

Crossing your arms, you find yourself standing firmly in place with glimmering eyes. You stare off into the endless wild outside of the Wangshuu Inn, the breath of Liyues chilling breeze never failed to feel more refreshing.

"Hey Xiao, you remember what you said in this very same place when we first became acquainted?"

Previously you both admired the wonders of nature surrounding this treehouse of an Inn, however at some point Xiao found himself staring at you instead. Looking away whenever you caught on to his gaze.

Trying your best not to grin, resisting the urge was near impossible. You glance at the adepti you've grown rather fond of, your figure reflected in those stunning golden eyes. You were a mere step away from one-another, not minding the closeness.

" If you awake to a knife at your throat," You began, " if monsters dig their claws into you, if death comes knocking at your door, call out my name. Adeptus Xiao. I will be here when you call."

Xiao's expression remained unwavering as ever, eyeing you like a hawk with the blankest, sharpest of stares before he released a sigh of what seemed to be bubbling frustration. Lifting a hand, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"[Y/N],

...You're foolish"

Not only was your impression of him far from accurate, the way you stared back at him only bugged the poor "Conqueror Of Demons" beyond imaginable, At the end of the day, Xiao knew he couldn't find the will of telling your antics off. Choosing to remain silent after your charades to mock him, a soft flush began to rise within his cheeks unknowingly, as you approached.

" You and I both know you love me, foolish or not. "

Xiao lifted his head from it's previous position, downcast to the ground, his eyes met with yours once again. Pupils dilate, focusing on you and you alone. Trying to read your next move. The warm glow of lanterns could never compare to the gentle gaze he held with you.

Leaning in, you leave a soft peck to his forehead, directly on the purple diamond laid upon his skin. Eyes follow your form, trying to process what you had done. Managing to keep his composure as you lean in again, laying gentle kisses all across his face. Part of him felt the need to push you away, what in the world were you thinking to be of such closer with someone as dangerous as him? but, he couldn't do it. The tingles left behind your delicate touch was unmatched, fleeting warmth only to rejoice once again somewhere else. From his cheek, to his nose, he awaited your next move until it seemed to have ended at the corner of his mouth,

" Why'd you stop? " Xiao grumbles grouchily, lifting a hand to his lips, he felt his own gloved fingers glaze across the spots you ambushed with such care.

" You want me to continue? " You inquired, a gentle smile creeping up to your features as you try to get a sense of what he is thinking. You weren't too sure of doing this before, but now after seeing his reaction- you could tell it was not only you who enjoyed it. He may not admit it, but it was clear the warmth was precisely what he sought.

Your question left a war of conflict in the boys mind, feeling the distant voices from bygone gods within his mind fade in and out- unable to snap out of it. Your worried eyes trace him, trying to figure out if you had done something wrong. Does he really deserve this? No, he didn't feel he did. Can he really hold you in return, with hands stained of blood? a concerned gaze burns into his soul, he forced himself out of his own head to relieve you of any worries you had shown towards his unfortunate.

Hesitantly, a hand reaches up and hovers next to your cheek. Understanding his hesitance, you try to assist him and comfort any concerns he held, you grasp his hand firmly and tilt your head into the palm of his glove. The rough material was something you were all too familiar with.

Conjuring some strength from his darkened heart, Xiao adjusts his hand ever so slightly, allowing his thumb to caress your cheek. His arm was tense, fearing the thought of injuring you somehow.

The sounds of the wind creep around the pair of love birds, chirps in the distant and sounds of crashing waves from below. Everything was so beautiful, yet Xiao never could remove his eyes from the beauty standing right in front of him. You were a divine light, a radiant shine within the darkness of his mind. No matter how unfortunate he was, you had known for awhile now that this wouldn't lead you astray. Since day one, you made it your mission to give this boy some form of connection, and here you were. Hands linked, gazes locked down with the key throw away, lips parted.

The gusts of wind blow hair around for both parties, both of you finding charm even behind now disheveled locks.

Taking his other hand, Xiao covers your eyes behind a raven glove. Before closing the gap between the both of you. He brushed your lips against his before pulling away in a mere second, eyeing you in order to see if he has done something wrong. You can't help but remove the hand from shielding your eyes. The smile you adorned told him a million words, without a single real utter of voice.

#Genshin Impact #Genshin #Genshin x reader #Genshin impact x reader #Xiao #Xiao x reader #Genshin impact xiao x reader #Genshin xiao x reader #Genshin imagines #Genshin impact imagines #Xiao imagines #Genshin x you #Genshin impact x you #Xiao x you #Xiao fanfic #smoochi modest

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porcelaintoybox23 · 3 years ago

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Four issues I had with Arcane

(Because obviously everyone cares what I think /j)

1. Art and animation. 10/10. I only give it a 9/10 because of the overuse of slow-mo. Seriously, it's only impactful when used sparingly. I don't need the fight scene between Deckard and the kids in slow-mo.

2. The characters I give a 8/10. I took off a point because of Vi. I feel that they sacrificed a lot of her character for a ship. She was locked in a prison for years and it's outright stated that she was beaten regularly. She needs more trauma around that and enforcers who she has good reason to hate. She's only vaguely antagonistic to Caitlyn, and has a "romantic" bond appear in all of three days. Girl was ready to go to war with Piltover and was jailed by an enforcer and....nothing? Okay...

Another point off is the black characters. Whoo boy. Sky was fridged. Ekko has barely any development, which I hope they'll fix next season. Mel got better over time, but something doesn't sit well with me by having a black woman be shady and corrupt and a sex buddy with Jayce. Also the way she treated Viktor…

I hated Ambessa. I don't like seeing a black woman who has a more natural hair style be depicted as violent, muscular, aggressive, dressed in black in comparison to her daughter(dressed in white, more feminine) who lives in the more "civilized" city. She's overtly sexual and sexual aggressive to the white twink. I get that many of you are slobbering over a buff woman but it still doesn’t make it any less problematic. I couldn’t explain why she made me so uncomfortable but @siryouarebeingmocked put it into words.

3. The relationships. 7/10

Vicait: I have complained enough.

JayMel: unnecessary but still made more sense than vicait.

Ekko and Jinx: if they had shown them interacting the way Vi and Ekko did, I could see it. Beautiful scene that didn’t hit as hard as it could have.

4. Caitlyn and her gun (no score)

This was a wasted moment that should have been saved. They destroyed the true impact of Caitlyn giving up her gun for Vi for ship bait. They could’ve worked out a different way to get Vi and Cait to the slums.

Imagine how great this moment would have been if we had seen their relationship build up over a season or two. If Vi was given time to heal from her trauma. (Admittedly I find that dumb since uh ACAB and Piltover legitimately sucks). Have their adventure through this season last longer. Have that trust truly earned so that this moment is poignant. I love shipping, but shipping will never be my priority over a good story. Yes there can be mediocre queer love stories, god knows there are a million straight ones, but I'm not giving credit where there is none due. I'm not asking for 15+ seasons and a translation error, just more time at least in show.

Arcane is a great show, with some hiccups, but I'm looking forward to season 2. It's also great evidence of what happens when you give creatives the resources and time to do their craft. This show is lovingly created, except for the Imagine Dragons insert but we still live under a capitalist system. I won't fault them for that.

#would you believe that I’m a communications major?#I leave all my grammar and punctuation mistakes here #arcane netflix #arcane meta #i think?#caitlyn kiramman #ekko arcane #ambessa medarda #mel medarda #arcane #vi #imagine if the avengers budget was given to animated movies?#like all animated media #we could have so many into the spiderverses

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tormuse · 3 years ago

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My feelings about the Ukraine invasion...

I feel a need to vent about my feelings about the invasion of Ukraine a bit. Apologies for the ranting sleep-deprived wall of text.

I have a Ukrainian background on my mother's side, and while I've never been to that country, I do feel some ties to it, and for the past week+, I've been obsessively following the situation over there, while cycling through emotions of sadness, fear, and anger...

Sadness, because of the loss and destruction of so many innocent lives... fear, because of the potential for what it could mean for the world stage... and anger... because the only reason any of this is happening is Putin's God damn ego. (Excuse my language)

No one wants this invasion. Almost the whole world is against it. The Russian people are against it. Even the Russian soldiers participating in the invasion are against it. It's only happening, because Putin is an old man with delusions of bringing back the glory days of the Soviet Union, wanting to bring countries that were formerly under Soviet rule "back" into Russia.

He's (reportedly) even deluded himself into thinking that the Ukrainian people would welcome the invasion with open arms, and now that this has been shown to very, very obviously not be the case, he's still not backing out of the conflict, because of this stupid, "manly," macho attitude that withdrawing his forces would be a "sign of weakness" or whatever. He's the world's purest example of toxic masculinity... so toxic, that he'd rather kill thousands of people than admit that he made a mistake.

The fact that he expected the invasion to be welcome just goes to show how little he is aware of the history of Ukraine... how much they suffered under Soviet occupation over the decades, including Stalin's days, and how badly they want their freedom, now that they finally have it. The Ukrainian people know very well what losing this war will mean for them, and so they are willing to fight down to the last man, down to their last breath... and while they are sending an inspiring message to the world about the value of freedom, it's still quite upsetting that this is all happening in the first place.

The most ridiculous part of Putin's invasion plan is that even if he wins and gets everything he wants, he still loses. Like... what's his endgame here? At this point, if he succeeds in killing the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that will make him a martyr and make the Ukrainian people fight harder. If Putin tries to put a pro-Russia leader in Zelenskyy's place, no one in Ukraine will accept it. If his goal is to occupy Ukraine... someone needs to tell him that he does not have a force large enough to hold a country that size, and even if he did, every Russian soldier would have to be constantly looking over their shoulder, because right now, every Ukrainian civilian potentially has a gun and knows how to make molotov cocktails.

Putin simply can not win this conflict in any way he would consider meaningful, and the sooner he realizes that and withdraws his forces, the better it will be for everyone, including himself... but with his track record so far, I don't have high hopes for that, particularly with his public address yesterday, where he told the Russian public that "everything is going according to plan." Once again, his God damn ego is preventing him from admitting error.

At this point, if the invasion continues to go poorly for Putin, it would not surprise me if he just says "screw it," and decides to nuke Ukraine after all. I could totally see him doing that, since it would probably soothe his ego more than a possible withdrawl. The only other resolution I can imagine happening is if the Russian public, motivated by the desperation of the sanctions against Russia, rise up to depose Putin, but I have to imagine it would take a lot to get them to that point, so I don't know how likely that is to occur.

On the plus side, though... there is a glimmer of hope in this that comes from President Zelenskyy, who has turned out to be quite an inspirational figure, rallying his people to his cause, and even uniting the world behind him. As much as he's willing to stay and fight the Russian invaders, he still has the grace to appeal to their humanity, reaching out an olive branch to any Russian soldier willing to lay down their arms, and to call for peace and brotherhood. I can't imagine the strain that Zelenskyy must be under, and his ability to keep a cool head through this crisis is something to aspire to.

With that in mind, I think it's a good time to remind anyone who's read this far to donate to help the Ukrainian people out. Personally, I donated to the Canadian Ukrainian Foundation, since they promise humanitarian aid to families that lost their homes in the invasion. (And also, since I’m Canadian) :) Every little bit helps.

#Ukraine #Putin #Zelenskyy #Post from me

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problemswithbooks · 2 years ago

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I don’t think bkg is being punish and he has something to do with the 2nd user and so it be like a team effort sorry is not my first language I don’t think he against saving shiggy either

Hanashimas did a translation breakdown it not as bad I like it

Answering these together because they're both related to my last post.

What I wrote has more to do with how other people have been interpreting the Enji & Bakugou fights rather then what's necessarily written. The translation matters, of course, but we honestly won't have context to say for sure if Hori is 'punishing' his characters for their choices until later, when we see how later events play out. So, my post is more based on other people's assumptions that Hori's intent of having Bakugou and Enji fail are due to their bad choices rather then just plan bad luck (and not being the main character).

I've seen just as many Bakugou fans, who believe that he's connected to the 2nd OfA user and that he'll help with Shigaraki still saying he's making the wrong choice here/ lagging behind the other students. So, that theory doesn't really negate that interpretation. Instead they think Bakugou will fail now, due to being mean to Shigaraki and only win once Izuku shows him the error of his ways and tells him about how sad a boy Shigaraki is. That he has to do the save to win thing.

Which I can understand where that idea comes from, but I just don't think it's executed well, due to all the stuff I said in my last post. Bakugou isn't being unfairly harsh to Shigaraki. He's not making the choice to ignore his humanity and good qualities because he only wants to win. Shigaraki is being mind controlled--a situation Bakugou can't save him from, and is actively trying to kill everyone and take over the world. Heck, even before he was mind controlled Shigaraki wasn't really shown to be very open to negotiation, or have any better/kinder plan then AfO. Which is why people saying Bakugou is failing here sort of irks me.

I don't know if Bakugou really cares either way about saving or stopping Shigaraki, but that makes total sense. Shigaraki has done zero good things that he knows of and again wasn't really any different then AfO when it came to how much destruction and pain he wanted to dish out. He doesn't have the vestige power which helped Izuku to see Shigaraki in pain and struggling. All Bakugou and the Heroes know is that he's being controlled, but that only happened after he agreed to get upgraded--considering how much Shigaraki seemed to like AfO in the past they could think he agreed to be his new vestal willingly.

No one knows about Shigaraki's past, and even if the Heroes suspect AfO wasn't as nice to him as it appears and maybe even gaslit him into being a villain, there's really not a bunch they can do about it right now. Shigaraki is doing his best to kill everyone and with his super regen, access to multiple Quirks and now his weird finger powers, he is so strong that holding back isn't an option anymore. Before Shigaraki became god-like powerful the Heroes and kids never went after him with killing intent, so I really doubt they're happy they have to kill him. Instead it's more done out of necessity.

I'm sure Bakugou, once Izuku explains that it's the only way to win, will be willing to help save Shigaraki. I don't necessarily want him to do it because he feels bad for him, because I honestly don't know why he would given all the shit Shigaraki has done to him and his class, but I also don't think it's needed. Not everyone has to give the LoV hugs after the war. I think recognizing they're people, but still disliking them due to the pain they put people through is good. If everyone ends the story being buddy buddy with them I think that comes off as childish/unrealistic, especially when the only other character with a redemption arc had to go through a lot of people hating him, and probably won't be universally loved once the story ends.

#ask #thanks for the ask!#your English was fine #bnha 358 #bnha spoilers #bnha #mha #bakugou katsuki

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alirhi · 3 years ago

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okay. let's do this shit.

Guess what, bitches? Mama bear's back and angry all over again. Remember when I said I might dive into a ragepost about how Bucky's treated after completing the one about Loki? This is it. This is the post. Welcome to fucking Thunderdome.

I will actually try to keep it civil. No promises, but I'll try. and I will not be accepting "constructive criticism" about my rage. Just so we're clear.

Got it? Good. Let's dive in.

In case you don't want to read the whole thing (I know I get wordy) here's what this whole post will boil down to: BUCKY NEVER HAD A FUCKING CHOICE. NEVER. NOT ONCE IN HIS ENTIRE ADULT LIFE.

Now, quick reminder: I don't read comics. I know nothing about Bucky's comic canon, except what Sebastian liked to bring up as often as possible during TWS/CW promotions: at some point, Bucky boned Nat. XD Since Bucky only exists as a Marvel property, I won't be bitching about other source material being disrespected like I did with Loki. This is all MCU, my dudes. And honestly? That's enough, because though we don't see nearly enough of Bucky for my liking, we do manage to get a rich, deep backstory to him in the material we're given, partly thanks to better writing in the early days of the MCU, and partly thanks to Sebastian Stan's phenomenal acting. Unlike the writers of the Loki series, Seb knows how to show, not tell. And gods, what stories those eyes show...

Let's start with the army. In an old post illustrating what an absolute BAMF Bucky Barnes truly is, I mistakenly said he enlisted, and a kind soul educated me on the incredible attention to detail Marvel used to pay - in this case, Bucky's ID number. 32557038. As this kind, eagle-eyed soul pointed out to me, the first two digits of that number - 32 - signify that Bucky was drafted, specifically from the NY, NJ, DE area (that last part is rather obvious, as Bucky and Steve are from Brooklyn lol). Bucky didn't choose to go to war. He was drafted. He was forced to fight, or go to prison.

Bucky was born in 1917, which means - again, as someone pointed out to me a while back - he came of age during the Great Depression. As a child, he would likely have seen his parents living comfortably and able to shower each other and him and his sister with gifts and fun memories, and then POOF. Stock market crashes when he's only 12-years-old, and life becomes brutal and painful. He manages to have some fun with his best friend Steve, and spends his teens/early 20s chasing girls and keeping his stupid, stubborn, tiny friend from getting beaten to death.

Steve constantly has something to prove. He's absolutely got what my mom always called "little man's disease", and Bucky's just doing his best not to roll his eyes too much at this asthmatic chihuahua constantly trying to beat up Tibetan mastiffs. While Steve keeps lying on his enlistment forms (an actual crime) trying again and again to get into the army and prove what a badass he is (definitely not), Bucky's had enough trauma and upheaval in his life and he just wants his stupid friend to calm tf down and live. Enjoy the fact that he doesn't have to go to war and get his limbs blown off.

And then he gets fucking drafted. This sweet, resigned realist who knows exactly how dangerous the war really is, is forced to put on a uniform and go fight strangers alongside other strangers thousands of miles from everything he knows. And on his last night of freedom, when he just wants to hang out with his friend, see some cool gadgets, and dance with a pretty girl, his stupid angry chihuahua friend feels the need to lie and try to enlist again.

Okay. Gotta get back on track. Ragepost about mistreatment of Bucky, not how much Steve annoys me. Sorry. Anyway...

Bucky's drafted, accepts his shitty lot with a brave smile, and is shipped off to Europe, where he is captured by HYDRA and presumed by the Allies to be KIA. Instead, he's strapped down, tortured, and given the HYDRA version of the super serum against his will. Steve rescues him, and Bucky knows he can't leave his idiot friend to his own devices to get his head blown off, so he dives right back into the fray. And then he falls off a cliff, loses most of his left arm, and is declared dead...again. This one's pretty damn valid, though lol. Without the serum no one knew he'd been shot up with, there is no way he would have survived that fall.

Here is where Bucky's story gets truly heartbreaking: His autonomy, his ability to consent is stripped from him through electroshock torture/brainwashing. The trigger words are conditioned into him during this process, and boom. Ten words in Russian, and Bucky Barnes is gone. Even the confused, hurting shadow of him is gone, leaving only a perfectly obedient killing machine, with Bucky's pretty face. He's strong as all hell, though, so they can't keep him fully under their control for long, not without more torture, when the disorientation of being fucking frozen wears off on longer missions.

I cannot stress this point enough, guys: Bucky. Had. No. Choice. Not like the draft, where his choices (go and get shot at, refuse and go to jail, or dodge and run to Canada) just suck. No, he literally didn't have a choice. He had his ability to choose stripped from him. If that's too complex a concept to really sink in, try this: His brain was fucking raped. Repeatedly. For decades. Nothing the Winter Soldier ever did was Bucky's fault. Nothing. Ever. Not remotely, no matter how you fucking slice it. Bucky is not an assassin. I almost said "not a killer", but he was a soldier, and a sharpshooter. He definitely killed when he was himself, but that was in a war, not a series of assassinations.

So far, imo, so good. This is just a rundown of Bucky's pre-show backstory. I don't love what he had to suffer, but I do love how it was treated in the movies. People were afraid of him, but when they knew the whole situation, Steve, Nat, and Sam rallied behind him. Natasha had plenty of reason to want the Winter Soldier dead; he'd tried to kill her multiple times and almost succeeded. Sam had no reason to help Bucky at all; he didn't know him, didn't trust him, and again, TWS had tried to kill him. But he stood by Steve, and when Bucky showed the clear difference between himself and TWS, Sam stood by him, too, and fought alongside him.

And it's very realistic, imo, that Tony didn't give a single fuck that Bucky had no choice. He watched this man murder both of his parents on tape. If TWS had killed my dad and I saw proof of it, I'd try to kill Bucky, too. Grief wins out over logic. Most emotions usually do. And that's a very important point we're going to come back to in a few minutes.

Bucky was really only in like ten minutes at most of IW and Endgame, and for multiple reasons I hate those movies, so I'm just gonna skip them, kay? Kay. On to the main event!

Here's where I get pissed off. Even if I didn't have an unhealthy attachment to this character, or the depth of appreciation for his tragic backstory that I do, the lack of continuity between the movies and the show alone would still piss me off. It always does. Don't even get me started on Joss "Continuity? What continuity?" Whedon and his (iconic, but flawed) shows. Ahem. Back on track...

Let me just get one little thing out of the way real quick: I fucking LOVE The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I love it. This show amazed me when I first watched it, and I still love it after many more viewings lol. I have only ever watched it all the way through without skipping over as much John Walker shit as possible the one time lol but I love how Sam and Bucky interact, and I fucking adore how Sam's arc was treated. I just wish they'd show the same care and attention to Bucky.

Because what they did to Bucky in this show is a fucking travesty. There was a tiny ray of hope in the pilot, when he called out Dr. Bitchface for being a terrible shrink. I thought that would be the start of him realizing he needed to find someone else and ignore the damaging shit that woman was telling him. But...nope. No such luck.

The show really had a strong start, I'll give it that. We see Bucky having nightmares of his time as TWS and struggling to hide how his traumatic memories are affecting him as he tries to live in the world again. He befriends the father of one of HYDRA's victims, which can't be good for Bucky (and we're shown it's definitely not when he sees the shrine in Yori's home to his late son) but it's sweet, how he's trying to connect and reach out to someone who's hurting and lonely.

They drop the ball a little with the whole... Bucky can hack a fucking car, but can't figure out Tinder thing. Had they just run with the fandom interpretation of the tiger photos line, that it shows that Bucky is bi and left it at that, I'd have been okay with it (and no, that is not because I ship Sam/Bucky. it's because Bucky is and always has been a certified nerd who loves technology and has consistently shown very little issue learning to use new gadgets). The outdated flip phone he handed his terrible court-mandated shrink was a burner; I liked that theory when I read it, especially since it's the only time we see him even holding a phone that old lol. This all could have fit the "Bucky is a sassy bisexual nerd" narrative and it'd be okay. Instead, the director was like "NOOOOOO that line was just to show how old he is and how he can't figure out all this newfangled technology!" Woman, you had him remotely driving someone else's vehicle with a tablet. That is NOT a man who can't figure out a damn smart phone!

But that's just a minor annoyance. What fills me with absolute rage is how everyone - not just the shitty therapist who lashes out at and purposely triggers her traumatized patients, but EVERYONE - Sam, Zemo, people who should fucking know better ALL treat him like he's a psychopath and a ticking time bomb. Like he chose to take the serum and he chose to kill for HYDRA, and he's just seen the error of his ways. *barf*

Bucky in the movies is established to be a victim, through and through. His guilt over what he was forced to do is natural, and that he sees himself as a monster makes sense... but that doesn't mean it's correct. The one and only thing I ever liked about Steve Rogers is at least he got it. He pointed out that none of it was Bucky's fault, he tried to show him that he was worth saving. That's the other reason I refuse to talk about Endgame. This post will get a WHOLE LOT LONGER and a lot fucking angrier if I open that door.

Zemo supposedly knows everything about HYDRA and super soldiers... So why does he treat Bucky like he's a corrupt serial killer? (this, for the record, is why I don't like Zemo) Why does he never point out that Bucky was given the serum against his will, or that his actions, when he had control of them, proved that he was never corrupted? Bucky never wanted to become superhuman. Bucky didn't even want to fucking fight!

Sam, despite constantly resisting the label, is shown very clearly to be Bucky's friend. By episode 3, he cares. He worries about how Bucky is getting lumped in with the other super soldiers in Zemo's speech... But he never really defends him. He says "what about Bucky?" but he doesn't point out that Bucky's a good man, he's fought so hard to help people, he does everything he can to avoid killing... And that fucking speech in episode 5. I was with him on "you gotta stop looking to other people to tell you who you are." I was like "YEAH! Tell him, Sam! Bucky, you're WORTH SAVING, boo! Your value does not hinge on someone else's opinion of you!" And then... Sam dropped the ball.

He not only continued the disturbing pattern of victim-blaming in this show, and in Marvel/Disney properties in general, but he gave really dangerously bad advice! No one in their right mind, mental health professional or no, would EVER tell a traumatized former assassin (whether he was responsible for his actions or not) to go confront his victims' families out of the blue with no warning and no one to mediate and keep things from going to shit. Yori already knew his son had been murdered because he was in the "wrong place, wrong time." How is it being "of service" to tell him you're the one who killed him?! Remember how I said Tony's reaction to learning the full truth about his parents' deaths was valid and would be an important point later? Hi! Welcome to later. THAT is the natural reaction to facing the man who murdered your loved one(s). And even if Yori didn't get angry and lash out, HOW IS IT "HELPING" HIM OR BRINGING HIM "CLOSURE" TO KNOW THAT HIS FRIEND KILLED HIS FUCKING SON?!?!?! This man befriended him, bonded with him, watched him grieve... And now he's learning this is the man who caused all his pain and heartache to begin with? That is so toxic and psycho I just... I can't even... UGH.

And then there's the equally toxic and damaging "deeply traumatized person just needed a stern talking to and a hug to be ALL BETTER AGAIN" ending. I loved seeing Bucky happy and socializing, but it was too soon, and it was unearned. And it sends a fucking awful message to people actually struggling with PTSD, and to their loved ones who don't know how to help them. Heaping more blame on them and then hugging it out is NOT helpful!

This show could have been damn near perfect with just two changes. That's all. Just two. 1) Someone, anyone, bringing up the reasons why Bucky was never a villain in his presence. Someone being in his corner and reminding him, like Steve did, that it wasn't his fault and he's not going to "snap". 2) More time devoted to Bucky's healing. Actual fucking healing, not the shit they tried to pass off as a magic fix-all. He can have his happy barbecue moment, just don't frame it as "everything's great now!" Healing isn't linear, and there will be both good days and bad. Some of the most fragile people in the world have the brightest smiles.

If we get a season 2, which this amazing show absolutely deserves, and they address this stuff, all will be forgiven in my book. Expanding on his story and his journey toward healing will help to reframe that "happily ever after" garbage as something more realistic. But as it stands now... Fuck Marvel.

#fan rant #ragepost #long post #bucky barnes #mcu #captain america #the first avenger #the winter soldier #civil war #tfatws #mcu spoilers #stop victim blaming #victim not villain #never a fucking villain #bucky deserved better #fuck marvel #fuck disney

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mymelancholiesblues · 3 years ago

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No, Mia isn’t "low-tier" compared to Ada (morally speaking, or w/e) – a measured answer?/essay

So, a couple of Ada haters tried to put up a false symmetry between both of these characters there on twitter, and it inspired me to put my own thoughts down in a more articulate essay as to why that's (Ada's somehow being morally worse than Mia) not sustained by canon in Resident Evil.

standing there, killing time

can't commit to anything but a crime

all the good girls go to hell

'cause even God herself has enemies

and once the water starts to rise

and heaven's out of sight

she'll want the Devil on her team. ⁕

First things first: let us debunk the false symmetry that they tried to establish between these two characters with extremely distinct archetypes – and worse, the following replies to this false symmetry and its poor arguments trying to validate it, pointing out that, in fact, no, character B (that would be Ada, btw) – which is so evidently and ridiculously different from character A (and that would be Mia) – is, in fact, WAY WORSE than character A, and then proceeding to assert some unsupported propositions about misogyny in Resident Evil (which, tbh, definitely IS a recurring problem in the franchise, but that in this case particularly, little or does not apply AT ALL) and how Ada contributes to "the perpetration of a biological cold war".

Starting with what differentiates Mia from Ada grotesquely: we know NOTHING of Ada's true alliances in RE's world. Mia, however, canonically worked for a group that participated in the importation and exportation as well as the manufacturing, testing and marketing of biological weapons: "The Connections", a CRIMINAL SYNDICATE which, amongst other things, was also involved in money laundering, assassinations as well as weapons and drug trafficking. I don't care at all about Mia, so I don't intend to waste much of my time going on about her role in the plot, but people should've already realized by just that much how infinitely dishonest is to try to put these two characters as "similar" ones, or argue that Ada is somehow worse.

Another detail that shouldn't escape anyone's attention too, are the origins and nationalities of both – and yes, I intend to briefly bring up racism against eastern-Asian looking characters (a silent plague that takes form by each passing day in all fiction fandoms) and anti-China xenophobia, but for now, hold this tea there just before I drop it: Mia is canonically American, and previously a Texas-state resident; meanwhile, we have no confirmation of Ada's nationality except for her pretty evident Chinese ancestry. But, as I said, hold it there for a while.

i) espionage — the job

red so silent

wait a minute

or just a little while.

what are you looking for? ⁕

At all times that Ada's "job" was brought up in this franchise, in ALL of her cameos, she has NEVER been called a mercenary in the original Japanese. She's always referred to as a SPY. Even in RE2R, the most recent title in which she's featured in, the original text of the game makes a point of labelling her as a SPY (and not a mercenary) in the dialogue that transpires between Annette and Leon.

It's the North-American translation and correspondent localization that now and then falls for the equivocal use of this other term. This distinction is important since espionage NECESSARILY implies operating in an organized service for, perhaps a country, or a political cause, or a class/group, or a corporation, or whatever. While a mercenary is someone who's acting per their self financial interests, indiscriminately selling their specialized "labour" and skills to anyone who'll offer more.

Ada's not a mercenary, she's a spy. But Mia, in addition to being hired to a canonically criminal company, was also the handler personally assigned to Eveline. I don't care how exactly Mia got in that predicament but the fact is: Mia was canonically employed by a company that profited over illicit activities and directly watched as a family was destroyed and toyed with by this new killing machine (Eve). Yet, we can't state for sure that we know to whom or to what Ada is truly affiliated with.

ii) sources — check them

who's a heretic now?

am I making sense?

how can you make it stick?

and I'm on a trial

waiting 'til the beat comes out. ⁕

This fandom should put a little more thought into which translation and localization of the game texts, dialogues and files they are using to support their arguments. I know that in some cases the United States people have a bit of an inclination to think of themselves as the owners of the planet and deem English as the only language that matters in this world, but let's not forget that RE is a Japanese franchise (wow, insane, right?!). Therefore, the most valid script, with the greatest amount of details, and highest credibility, is the Japanese original. Throughout these years, there have been several errors in translation and localization of the Japanese original to North-American English. And, believe me, curiously enough, plenty of those concern Ada, since she's often mentioned or referred to in a very vague way – without the use of pronouns or adjectives or adverbs that could help in indicating gender. This ended up causing those details and mentions to her to get overlooked, even though in the Japanese text it was a clear reference to her character (per observation of context).

iii) the good guys — one of

head in the dust

feet in the fire

labour on that midnight wire

listening for that angel choir

you got nowhere to run

careful son, you got dreamers plans

but it gets hard to stand. ⁕

Yes, as much as haters try to minimize it, it is SIGNIFICANT that Ada saved so many important characters and stood for unquestionably heroic actions in so many moments - like stopping everything she was doing so she could help completely random Chinese civilians with the helicopter she managed to pilot in that chaos in China (yeah, I know you haters love to forget about this, but it happened, it's there in canon, and no, it wasn't her direct OR indirect responsibility what was going on in China: REPLAY RE6 and for the love of GOD, never again argue that what she did was somehow "the equivalent of evacuating a city after selling a WMD to destroy that same city". It's a case of pure intellectual dishonesty to say such a thing. It's canon that Carla was the one who caused what happens in China, PLEASE, PLAY RE6).

Furthermore, Ada shows compassion on some occasions even for characters who are directly putting her in harms ways, like Annette (in RE2 OG, right after - in order to defend herself - she slaps Annette leading her to lose balance and collapse over the sewers fences, Ada makes an effort in trying to pull Annette back and prevent her from falling) and Carla.

Replay RE4 and pay attention to it, pay attention to her solo campaign: getting involved with Leon's journey in Spain hasn't brought any real benefit to her mission or herself: Ada deviates from her main path several times due to worrying about him and trying to help him and almost ends up dead in several of these occasions over her insistence in doing so: by saving him from Bitores Mendez, by helping him and Ashley against Sadler, by confronting Krauser and stopping him.

It's so lazy to only read/listen to a file in which she says in English that "Leon might be useful to her plans" (this is way more nuanced in the Japanese original of Ada's Report), and ignore everything that was SHOWN in the game: every effort she made to ensure that Leon could rescue Ashley, remove the parasite from his and her bodies, and escape from that hell-island.

The jet-ski she left for their escape was ALREADY there before she was captured by Sadler (or you think she arranged it while she was caught?). Leon having to intervene and save her from Sadler WASN'T her plan. It WASN'T her plan to take the sample from Leon's hands. She wanted to help him get out of there with Ashley and she guaranteed he could do so, she wanted to get the sample by herself and escape too while sending that hell to kingdom's come. But, because she chose to help Leon rescue Ashley right in front of Sadler, she ends up captured.

On her end, Mia never did anything minimally compared to that, and all of her "selflessness" or self-sacrificing actions involved a much, MUCH smaller scope than Ada's: wanting to help her husband and HERSELF is not at all comparable to saving a few dozens of unknown Chinese civilians. So no, they aren't "cut from the same cloth". They don't come from the same place, nor do they share the same intentions or goals, and their contributions to the RE storyline are quite different.

iv) unknown true purpose (shades of grey)

lining up in the background

waiting for the crowd shot to be seen

in the shadow of the big screen

everybody begs to be redeemed. ⁕

In databooks, Ada is recurrently described as "a Chinese spy with extraordinary physical abilities, vigorous health and composed mind and spirit, capable of coping with grim situations and handling even the most difficult requests without losing composure". If we are paying attention to the storytelling ingame, however, we know that this isn't always the case: Ada did let her mask of unswerving emotional and physical strength fall and showed a very fragile side under strenuous circumstances a couple of times already.

Also, in these databooks, they often point out that "she has her own 'true purpose' and has FREQUENTLY betrayed organizations and clients to achieve it". Huh, we can AGAIN, by this only, see how completely different she's from Mia, who personally watched an entire family being driven to insanity by Eveline's hand.

Furthermore, in these databooks, it's often said that "this true purpose is still obscure and whether she truly cared for anyone or simply used her charms to manipulate people that crossed paths with her isn't ever clear". If people are willing to be open-minded and exercise their text comprehension skills, though, they'll see that in multiple occasions of emotional confrontation it has been established time and time again that yes, Ada DOES care. She wasn't capable of shooting Leon and there has been a couple of other times that failing to choose a cool, sociopathic calculation and pragmatical demeanour over empathy and humanity towards others has put her in harms ways: nonetheless she still chose it.

v) positive impact

I'm gonna break the cycle

I'm gonna shake up the system

I'm gonna destroy my ego. ⁕

To this point, RE's plot systematically leads us to believe that Ada has been covertly acting behind the scenes of multiple biological incidents COLLECTING INFORMATION (the job of a spy, who would've thought! lmao), that is valuable to numerous organizations, companies, groups and different contexts, but at the same time of allegedly offering to handle this knowledge for the right price to the big players involved with bioterrorism and clandestine trading of bioweapons, she's also working to sabotage said players.

This is evident throughout the franchise: she intended to hurt Umbrella's business. She outwitted and deceived Wesker multiple times. She even undermined Simmons, someone who was in a position of power in the US government and actively using that position to lead bioterrorist ventures on the parallel side.

There's no concrete evidence or hint as to what she does with the information she collects, and for all purposes and effects, I can presume that she's gathering this knowledge to assist in the discovery of countermeasures and vaccination studies. I might as well argue that she is a Chinese spy who is working against European and North-American capitalism and the imperialism that creates such monsters like the biochemical and bioweapons industry and that her real objective is to dismantle the market for bioweapons and bioterror supported mainly by the USA (see: Simmons and The Family).

That is, as long as it is unclear what her true purpose is, I have the freedom to surmise whatever the heck I want and that all of what she's been doing was for the sake of the greater "good" - and I'll even have canon moments to support this reasoning as it's clear that she regularly sabotages her customers (customers that are unquestionably established as playing for the "evil" side, with perverse intentions) - throughout the franchise. She did this on RE2, RE4, RE6 and Damnation. It's there, transparent in canon, people just choose to ignore it.

She laughs in the face of whoever she's talking to by the end of Damnation, saying she doesn't intend to deliver the Plaga; she scoffs at Simmons; she betrays Wesker and kills Krauser. She had been sabotaging Wesker for so long, that he sent Krauser to be the main agent in the mission in Spain, and Ada was just a "side effect" that he didn't have in control and had to keep an eye on, so he ordered Krauser to keep tabs on her. It's not a mutually beneficial dynamic. Ada doesn't want Wesker to succeed, she despises him; this is clear in the games in which they interact. There are even files that indicate that she was trying to double-cross and get in the way of his plans for at least 2 years before Spain, and he was constantly catching up with her. See here and here.

On her end, Mia was employed by and consciously working for a criminal syndicate.

vi) a (secretly) helping hand

oh, I'm a master pretender

just felt more alone

the further I'd go

but I'll stick around

I'll be your master defender

yeah, I'll stick around. ⁕

Ada approached characters such as John Clemens and Luis Sera, and both had a canonical intention to, in addition to putting an end to their connections with the criminal companies and organizations they've been working for, also expose and denounce them for their crimes. It's in this context that Ada comes into contact with them. And why is that?

Check John's background: he had made up his mind about disclosing Umbrella's crimes to the public. Check Luis' background: Ada went to Spain to assist in his extradition since he feared for his own life if he resolved to turn his back on the cult of Los Illuminados, and also dreaded the consequences of the liberation of Las Plagas on an international scale.

Keep in mind that Ada handed over to Wesker a USELESS Plaga sample. Wesker only got the sample currently circulating in the underground market because he went after Krauser's body. We don't know what Ada did with the master Plaga sample she obtained. We only know from Ada's Report and the Plaga Recovery file that she didn't deliver it to Wesker, and he needed to go out for a plan B to get it.

Even the G-Virus sample that fell into the hands of the clandestine business, it's possible to argue that Ada's involvement in it was flimsy, since Simmons CANONICALLY made over a thousand laboratory tests in Sherry, and, as we know, he was a leading figure in bioterrorism and bioweapons trading with the aid of his position in the US government.

But, guess what, Ada clearly is a non-white character with obvious Chinese heritage and Mia is white, so of course, OF COURSE, someone can so nonchalantly affirm that Ada, this "vile bitch", is somehow WORSE than Mia. The same Mia who watched the Bakers being destroyed. Right.

Also: trying to validate one's point by claiming anything related to the misogyny present in RE franchise, while IN THE SAME BREATH AND TWEET reducing Ada's entire character arc to that of "a sociopathic bitch cured by the magic dick of her love interest" is supposed to be a joke, right? No, really. Joke.

conclusion and a word against misogyny

we are waiting on a telegram to

give us news of the fall

I am sorry to report

dear Paris is burning after all

we have taken to the streets

in open rejoice, revolting

we are dancing a black waltz

fair Paris is burning after all. ⁕

To any Ada fan that has been reading this so far: PLEASE, I ask to consider refraining to use the "oh yes, Ada did some bad shit, bUT" take to defend the character because that isn't sustained by canon in RE, lmao. She didn't do anything evil that had an indisputable bad impact on the plot and other characters arcs. For one, I myself do love some villains, but that isn't the case with Ada.

She did do some unconventional shit yes, since she's a morally GRAY character and an anti-heroine, but by the end of the day, each and every action of hers had a positive impact on the journey of other characters and main plot. Just pay attention to it.

Like idk man, Black Widow, Elektra Natchios, Scarlet Witch and Black Cat from Marvel, Catwoman from DC, Yennefer from The Witcher (some pop culture examples that come to mind).

Saying that this is an "extremely selfish prototypal bad bitch except when it comes to the magical redeeming dick of her love interest" it's a grotesque reduction of a complex female character, and, in its attempt to critique the misogyny present in RE's franchise an expression of misogyny in itself.

Remember: Ada has actions and impact on the franchise ASIDE and IN ADDITION to her romantic involvement with Leon.

#Resident Evil #Ada Wong #Leon x Ada #Ada x Leon #Aeon #Leon Kennedy #[mine]#[meta]#//#Aeon fandom

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fragmentwitch · 4 years ago

Text

Pondering Eua and Re:Unanswered Questions

Me after finishing Gou:

I have several questions but I will spend most of this post trying to answer just one.

If a new rule allows Rika and Satoko to transfer to the same new fragment after dying, did she really keep track of which Rika since that was made only after the Chandelier death?

Is Gou Rika Matsuribayashi Rika? Or Chandelier Rika? If the Rika she gets in her happy ending isn't her actual original Rika, could this be the cost Eua might have vaguely warned about and not actually the loops bleeding into people's memories?

Is Satoko a piece of Lambdadelta along with Vier/LD3105/Mitsuyo and Eua a piece of Featherine's? And not actually Lambdatoko? Or is Ryukishi just trolling with having Eua babble nonsense (Thinking Emoji)

Where/when will the Logic Error occur?

I used to believe the error was in the original series going off the VERY VAGUE statement about the beginning and end being connected. Never has there ever been a perfectly airtight idea of what the real Logic Error is though, and the new mechanics shown by Gou really makes my brain hurt.

Are Hanyuu and Eua the same person? Are Eua and FEATHERINE the same person?

I continue to have hope Hanyuu doesn't get retconned into being a Big Bad Evil Demon Lady named Eua, despite mounting implications that suggest otherwise. I had originally been led to believe Hanyuu was a piece that was left to roam the game board by her Game Master: given that she's been part of the Hinamizawa world for 1k years I wondered for a bit if she was a Witch that somehow lost her memory. Kotohogushi is a bit dubious on the canonicity so I have to remind myself the translation about Hanyuu coming from a line of 'alien' like people transferring their consciousness from another dimension with a grain of salt.

But Eua looks so much like Featherine I've been rewatching her scenes lately and thinking... this line I really keep thinking about:

What did Eua mean by this? She phrases it like there is someone/something of a higher power than even herself.

In terms of ranking, Lambda described Aurora higher than Voyagers/Witches. She was one step below THE Creator (supposedly there is a typo where there is actually just One Creator and Aurora is merely a Witch with a comparable power to a creator but idk Japanese so cant verify this).

From the way she worded things, she isn't talking to Satoko exclusively: she's talking about Vier, LD3105, and Mitsuyo. Referencing that it took hundreds of millions of loops for Eua and Satoko to meet 'once more'. Surely this can't mean Rika's looping merely referring to Hanyuu and Satoko; that sort of looping sounds beyond 100 years' worth.

Could it be that Eua is a self-aware god piece referring to all the various Expies in the WTCverse as being the same person at the heart of things? Possibly... but let's remember that Featherine lost her memory when her device was damaged; Lambda described it as one severe enough to alter her memory, appearance, and personality. It happened once, and Featherine would likely be extremely guarded against letting it happen again. How it happened is one more mystery.

Back to Eua: when Satoko asks her to 'alter' the rules of the game, and she acts like it's no biggie, then this carries heavy implications of being the Game Master/Territory Lord. If she was merely a piece, no amount of self-awareness would make her capable of altering the actual rules on a whim would it?

There's also this line she spoke to Satoko in episode 18ish: "The horn that granted the cat power was damaged, but mine is not."

Note that she says horn singular. Not plural. She doesn't say "mine are not" and confirms Rika was given the looping ability by something external. Yet she doesn't assign it a name (Hanyuu), just refers to it as an object. Which might be a hint as to how Featherine might create piece Witches: her device might be a way of transferring loop power with more permanence that gets around a 'sponsorship' which can be withdrawn at the Witch's discretion.

Also recall that when Satoko touches the Oyashiro statue (whose arm is intact but has a hollow head), it shatters on the upper part and only one horn falls out onto the floor. Not a horseshoe shaped device like Featherine's. It's also black, while Eua's is all white. Yet Hanyuu's horns are still with one chunk missing and colored black. Eua also mentions she isn't supposed to even have a name, in fact, her meeting with Satoko seems almost by 'chance' (she speaks like Satoko summoned her to the fragment in this manner). Hanyuu's full real name is given in a chapter that is dubiously semi-canon, so Ryukishi might elect to leave it out of Gou, but her husband Riku Furude gave her the nickname 'Hanyuu'. (Which still contains the character for Feather)

These observations are making me consider the possibility that Hanyuu and Eua are separate personas of a singular entity: The smooth horn belongs to Eua while the broken one belongs to Hanyuu. Black and White; a contrast between the kind demon mother who feels Rika's pain and lived on the gameboard & the demon who relishes in tormenting humans, too above to be part of the gameboard herself.

So, that leads us to the million dollar question: who is the entity if we put both horns together? Do we get Featherine Augustus Aurora? Or the Oyashiro living in this reverse-world Hinamizawa and hiding inside the actual statue? (Seriously is there a corpse in there? Wtf)

Or are these two halves of a GM making a tug of war for control over the Higurashi Catbox via their loopers? Now THAT is a mindblower if true.

We got our answer that Takano forfeited her villain role before Gou actually began so that may explain why the legend of Oyashiro is told deceptively 'wrong', but how does one account for the unbroken statue with a removeable head... could we potentially get a fragment in Sotsu where Satoko doesn't break the arm off it as a child and thus it affects all the loops afterwards? Hmm.

Either way we haven't actually caught up to GOU chronologically speaking, so until Sotsu comes out, there's no way to tell for sure if Eua and Hanyuu are one and the same or if they are actually two halves of a whole. But I will be a happy camper if this crackpot theory turns out to be right. Usually I'm wrong though. Lol

But now I'll definitely see about cooking up a diagram or something if we can actually make a branching map of the different Rikas to figure out which one is Gou Rika.

#higurashi gou #featherine augustus aurora #higurashi #hanyuu furude #eua #eua (higurashi)#featherine #oyashiro sama #theories

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jeannereames · 4 years ago

Note

Super weird question, but how did women in ancient times deal with their periods? Was it taboo? Was it acknowledged at all?

Pretty much everywhere, women on their menses have been expected to take special care, as bleeding is viewed as disruptive. What “disruptive” means, however, varies, and here we get into technicalities that can sound a bit odd to modern ears. Stick with me. I’m going to divide this into “How menstruating women were viewed” versus “What women actually did about it.”

Part I: How menstruation was viewed

Throughout the ancient Mediterranean and Ancient Near East (ANE), both women menstruating and women who’d just given birth were regarded as “ritually unclean.”

This should not be confused with sin. First, “sin” was much more of a thing in the ANE (and Carthage) than in Greece and Rome, where “impiety” mattered more. This is not hair-splitting. While “sin” could include strictly religious affronts, it also embraced a lot of what we’d call immoral behavior. By contrast, “impiety” might include moral affronts, but was more focused on religious error.

I’m trying to avoid going down the rabbit-hole of sin vs. impiety. The main thing I want to point out is that sin in the ANE carries different overtones than Greco-Roman impiety. And neither of them is necessarily connected to ritual impurity.

Certain aspects of human life were “unclean” and all involved bodily fluids. These “unclean” actions or states are things that you are not allowed to enter a sanctuary after doing, or are not allowed to do in a sanctuary. And I say “sanctuary” (temenos) because this is the broadest term for “land that is cut off as sacred.” Sacred space was set apart for the gods.

For the Greeks, one was not permitted to kill in a sanctuary, or have sex. One might be bad, but the other wasn’t. Similarly, someone who’d committed murder (not in war), especially kin murder, was barred, even if the killing was accidental. And not only could you not have sex IN a sanctuary, if you’d had sex the night before, you couldn’t enter until taking a special bath. Likewise, a woman on her menses couldn’t enter a sanctuary, nor could a woman who’d given birth. A certain number of days were required for a new mother to wait. That doesn’t mean having a period, much less giving birth, were “bad” things. Certain diseases weren’t permitted in some sanctuaries (except those to Asclepius). All Greek (and Roman) sanctuaries had “rules” about who was, and wasn’t, allowed inside that could be highly arbitrary. Some sites permitted only members of that city-state, or perhaps barred members of certain other city-states. Spartans might be barred from sanctuaries in Argos, for instance. Some sites wouldn’t allow women, others allowed only married women, etc. Many if not most chthonic sites required the one entering to have no bindings, from sandal lacings to braided hair. The restrictions depended on the god (or hero) involved.

But the broader matter of ritually clean or unclean spanned sites. Being “cleansed” was usually pretty easy. It involved taking a bath, or waiting a given set of days. In the case of murder, it might be more complicated, and involve a trip to Delphi (to be thwapped on the shoulders with a laurel branch), but the MORAL side wasn’t considered. So if you had sex with your wife, or committed adultery with your neighbor’s wife… either way, you’re ritually unclean. If you killed your brother with premeditation, or just knocked over somebody accidentally in the street who hit his head on a rock (and died)…you’re ritually unclean.

It’s not that murder or adultery wouldn’t carry their own CIVIC repercussions, but in terms of religious purity, it’s a different matter.

In the ANE, similar restrictions surrounded menstruating women (or those who’d recently given birth). There, it was also ritual purity, not sin, and the concern is sacred space.

Now, if you want a completely different view, I give you American Indian attitudes, at least those I know of the NE woodlands. Here, also, menstruating women were restricted in their contact, mainly with medicine men (not necessarily medicine women), as well as where they could sit relative to the Grandfather Drum. But in this case, it’s because menstruating women were regarded as so much more powerful than men, they disrupted male medicine. Why? They could give birth. (How this fit into ideas of the third gender varied, but there were men, and male-bodied; women and female-bodied, so a menstruating man might be subject to the same restrictions.) In any case, here, too, women’s menses were disruptive but for positive reasons.

We have to figure out how any particular group actually understood what was going on, not make assumptions based on our (culture-locked) views of their (equally culture-locked) actions.

Part II: What did you do when Auntie Flo came to visit?

Before I go into details, let me first recommend a really great book that addresses not just the status of women in ancient Greece but women’s health using the Hippokratic Corpus. As I frequently tell my students, the status of women in ancient societies depends on two things: control of fertility, and control of her own finances. Demand’s book addresses especially the former, and she talks about the states of a woman’s life, from birth to first menses to marriage to childbirth to menopause (for those lucky enough to live that long).

Birth, Death and Motherhood in Classical Greece, Nancy Demand, Johns Hopkins UP, 1990.

So, the practical side.

The BIG problem with such logistical matters is 1) that stuff doesn’t survive except under special, unusual circumstances, and 2) men mostly ignored what women did about Those Things. So they didn’t write about it. But we know a few things.

The first tampons, at least in the west (not counting Americas), seem to have been invented by the Egyptians. Softened papyrus around a reed. (Even softened…ow.) I note that women in Egyptian society had relatively high status and more freedom, so the fact they invented tampons doesn’t surprise me.

I wish we knew more about societies like the Scythians, where women regularly rode and (past a certain age) fought on horseback. Similarly with the Illyrians. But at least the concept of a “plug” was out there early. The Hippocratic corpus says Greek women put lint around a stick: same purpose. Romans used wool.

But these societies aren’t giving tampons to virginal girls. And not just because it might be uncomfortable. It could break the hymen…and that’s potentially disastrous for her reputation. But also, ancient tampons probably wouldn’t have been easy for young girls to use. (Modern tampons aren’t always easy for young girls to use,)

There are mentions of something like a menstrual belt, with clips for cloth pads. One can assume an enterprising ancient woman came up with the idea of a pad between the legs and something to hold it up pretty early. Certainly, the notion of the “girdle” was known to the Greeks and associated with virginity, first menarch, and marriage.

Other societies, however, weren’t that kind. Women stuffed rags into their underwear. Or they simply bled into their clothes. (Yuk.) My impression, though, is that just because the society in question isn’t writing about it (assuming they’re writing at all) doesn’t mean women IN that society hadn’t figured out how to deal with Auntie Flo. Certainly, there’s also hints of various teas brewed to deal with cramps.

A final, sorta wacky ancient idea I’ll leave you with … as I’ve mentioned in a few asks before, the ancients mostly had bad knowledge of women’s bodies. They thought the womb sorta wandered around inside the body causing havoc unless a woman was preggers. They also didn’t understand that menstrual “blood” was mostly fluid (and a little blood to give it color) from the womb shedding. They thought it was blood, which came from all parts of the woman’s body. And they assumed she was losing a LOT more of it than we know today to be true, even for those with a heavy flow.

But they also believed it was that blood from which babies were made. It was almost like soil, into which the father planted seed. Once fertilized, the blood turned into flesh and “built” a baby.

Yeah, weird, but they didn’t understand reproductive cell replication.

Another titbit…even at a very early period, menstruation was connected to the moon. Modern research has shown little connection between lunar cycle and menstruation (aside from the 28-day thing), but the ancients believed in it. So “moon-bleed” is a not uncommon term for menstruation. And of course, the term “menses” is the plural of the Latin word for “month.”

#menstruation #menses #ancient menstruation #ancient attitudes about female menstruation #ancient tampons #Egyptian tampons #menstrual pad belts #Nancy Demand #ancient Greek views of women's bodies #ritual purity #ritual impurity #Classics #tagamemnon #asks

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higuchimon · 4 years ago

Text

[information]

I decided since my old 2021 Resolutions post was so horrifically out of date, that I should write a new pinned post. I recommend reading this for information about me.

First: no more writing resolutions. I'll write what I can, when I an.

Second: I am non-binary/agender. Pronouns are they/them, though I responded to she/her so long that I am not bothered by them. I'm also asexual & aromantic.

Third: I am nearly fifty. My fandoms of choice are, in no given order, are: Power Rangers (MMPR-PRLR, with occasional dips into later ones), Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Tamers, Digimon Frontier, Digimon Xros Wars/Hunters, Digimon Applimonsters, Digimon NEXT, YGO DM, YGO GX, YGO 5Ds, YGO Zexal, YGO Arc-V, YGO VRAINS, YGO Sevens, Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boubeiu Love & Love Love, Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boubei Happy Kiss, Kingdom Hearts, Pokemon, and Trollhunters. Digimon tri & Digimon Kizuna I might take small bits from but am not overly fond of them. Nothing more needs to be said on that front. YGO GX is the blood in my veins. I am unlikely to writee any given game for Pokemon.

Fourth: I have a large backlog of prompts for fics, both submitted by others and taken up for myself. If you wish to send in a prompt, the inbox is always open but it may take time for me to get to it, depending on my mood and what the prompt sparks. Please check "higuchimon prompts" for lists of prompts.

I warned you. All right. Here we go. You'll see some concepts and preferences pop up repeatedly. Tread with caution.

Digimon Adventure 02

Non-epilogue compliant: fics where the epilogue (and now that they exist, Tri and Kizuna) isn't going to happen. Non-canon ships (most often Ken x Daisuke & Taichi x Yamat0) abound. Fics seldom related to one another unless otherwise noted.

Loss, Gain, & Other Heartaches: A new enemy brainwashes a lot of human Chosen and their partners, after destroying the original twelve's patners, leading to the Digimon's data being merged with the Chosen's.

Division of Destiny: What if Vamdemon turned Sora into a vampire and from there defeated the Chosen? Well, he ended up turning Taichi, Jou, & Mimi into vampires as well, while imprisoning Hikari and giving Yamato, Takeru, and Koushiro to Piemon and the Dark Masters as slaves. A pesky rebellion formed of Daisuke, Iori, Miyako, Ken, Osamu, and various other charactes tries to fight them. Firm ships are currently just Ken x Daisuke.

When Blood Crosses: Oh, one of my favorites and probably my oldest AU altogether. What if humans and Digimon could have children together? And what if they did already? Seven out of twelve of the Chosen are part Digimon - or more. This is a full-blown multiverse. Stories don't always relate to one another, but the basic concepts tend to be the same. Ships can vary but for the most part are Taichi x Yamato, Jou x Koushiro, Mimi x Sora, Hikari x Miyako, Ken x Daisuke, and Takeru x Iori. Not averse to Piemon x Takeru, either.

Quiet Interlude: Little fluffy pieces featuring Taichi x Yamato in an establihsed relationship during 02 and beyond.

Adaptions: I don't have much written here but I have Such Plans. It will involve Things Happening to Taichi (in season 1) and Daisuke (season 2). It will probably end with Taichi x Yamato and Ken x Daisuke.

Take To The Skies: In this world, some people have wings and can fly. Daisuke is a Flier. The Digimon Kaiser thinks that makes him the perfect pet. But he will need training, of course. Kaiser x Daisuke. Other stories might involve the others who have wings.

Return of Old Enemies: Takeru is captured by two strange Digimon and collared so he can't speak. That's only the beginning of what's going on.

Fragmented Memory: Kaiser x Daisuke. Kaiser has wiped Daisuke's memory and convinced him that they're together. The other Chosen are not happy about this.

Broken Bonds: A soulmate AU featuring Piemon x Takeru. This is also a breeds AU. Piemon murders Patamon and takes Takeru.

Fight To Remember: Kaiser has lost his memory. So has Daisuke. Together, they need to learn who they were, who they are, and who they're going to be. Ken x Daisuke, obviously.

Services Rendeed: Daisuke gets poisoned and the cure lies within territory controlled by the Kaiser. The only way to save him is for the Kaiser to do it. His price - Daisuke himself. To be his until he gets bored with Daisuke. Sadly, the Kaiser isn't easily bored. Ken x Daisuke.

Stirring Shadows: Ken had a very naughty dream about being the Kaiser again and wanting to dominate Daisuke instead of the Digital World. Now, it was just a dream - right? Ken x Daisuke, older.

Scars of Victory: The Digimon Kaiser defeated the Chosen and took Daisuke as his trophy. For seven years he's ruled over the Digital World unopposed, having blocked the older Chosen from entering the Digital World. Now the barriers have dropped - and revenge is best served cold. Ken x Daisuke, brainwashing, off-screen death.

Course of Events: Set in a breeds AU: Vamdemon notices something unusual about Daisuke when he's in line to meet Tailmon and sends him to Piemon, who discovers who and what he is. How interesting. No current ships.

Walking The Edge: The Chosen have fought the Kaiser for years without knowing his true identity. Daisuke has also been dating Ichijouji Ken for years. So when the Kaiser finally reveals who he is - well, Daisuke has a choice to make. And the Kaiser will only allow one.

Dark Brotherhood: breeds AU. Ken, as Kaiser, has discovered that his half-brother is Yamato. Or rather, Anbumon. An alliance is offered. Ships: Yamato x Taichi & Ken x Daisuke.

Danger Zone: The Kaiser is very annoyed at Daisuke's continued existence as his enemy. So he decides to change where Daisuke's allegiance lies. Kaiser x Daisuke.

Hidden Truths: Miyako-centered breeds AU, also involving Jou and his dark side Fuseiimon. No ships centered, but light indicationss of Ken x Daisuke, Jou x Koushiro, and Taichi x Yamato.

Errors of Love: Aged up AU. Daisuke is dating the Kaiser. This is probably a very terrible mistake. KEn x Daisuke.

Magical Educations In Love: Magical school AU. Established ships: Ken x Daisuke, with possible Ken x Daisuke x Takeru.

Shadowed Soul: Piemon x Vamdemon x Takeru. is it love or just sex? Takeru wishes he knew. It's also a soulmate AU.

Melody of the Heart: A world of magic and magical creatures. Loosely a mirror of my breeds verse (and I do mean loosely). Established ships: Taichi x Yamato, Ken x Daisuke, Jou x Koushiro, Mimi x Sora. Others to come.

What He Wants: M rated/non-con, Kaiser x Daisuke. That's pretty much all there is to it. Just a couple of drabbles now but I'll expand it later.

Game of Life: breeds AU. The Kaiser's noticed something about some of the Chosen and wants to know what's going on. Undecided ships.

Bitter Bargains: The Chosen have fought the Kaiser for years. He's shown a rough attachment to Daisuke - kidnapping him on a regular basis. Then one day, Daisuke wakes up to find the Kaiser in his bedroom. Oh, dear. Non-con Kaiser x Daisuke.

Sanguine Bindings: Aged up AU - and Ken's a vampire, who mind-controlled Daisuke from episode 2 onward. Brainwashing/mind control/non-graphic non-con.

Purpose of Existence: Kaiser found out about Daisuke being a very special breed and claimed him for his own. Daisuke doesn't like this but something isn't right - he listens, whether he wants to or not. Aged up/breeds AU. Ken x Daisuke.

Buds and Blossoms: A romance between Hikari and Mimi. That's about it.

No Good Decisions: Daisuke accidently eats something he shouldn't have in the Digital World. It wouldn't be so bad - if the Kaiser hadn't found him and determined that someone needed to watch him. Ken x Daisuke.

Blood Of His Blood: Breed AU. Piemon wants to live again and will ensure that he does, through his oldest son.

For All Time: Taichi's been in an accident and Yamato's not sure when he will wake up. Taichi x Yamato.

Heart of Demon, Soul of Angel: AU where Taichi is an angel and Yamato is a demon. At least it starts off that way. A lot is going to change. Established ships: Taichi x Yamato & Ken x Daisuke.

Bonds & Bondage: Kaiser goes ahead and Rings V-mon. This affects Daisuke, unexpectedly. Now what will the Chosen do? Ken x Daisuke.

Fireblood: Breeds/Firestarter/Healer AU. Vamdemon bites Yamato and awakens his dark side - not good for anyone at all. Taichi x Yamato.

Flaming Ivy: The 02 Chosen are Healers and Firestarters and are working out what that means for them. Ken x Daisuke.

Digimon Tamers

Fair Wings: Some of the Tamers have wings, including Juri, Kenta, and Ruki. Adventunres and romance thereof. Established relationship: Juri x Takato.

Digimon Frontier

Consequences of Games: Just a set of fluffy post-canon fanfics featuring the Chosen playing games and what happens after the games. Firm ships include Kouji x Kouichi and Junpei x Izumi.

Heirs Apparent: Lucemon's spirit escaped confinement and was able to have an encounter with Kimura Tomoki, siring twin boys.

Godslave: So, Lucemon is the God-King of the world, ruling humans and Digimon alike. What he wants, he gets. And now he wants Kouji.

Tales of WInd and Water: Stories that cicle around Ranamon and Izumi.

Reflections of Dark Shadows: An AU where Kouji doesn't have a twin. What he does have is a reflection - and the reflection doesn't like his boyfriend. Established Takuya x Kouji, one-sided Kouichi x Kouji.

The Wind-child: A fantasy AU where Izumi is the daughter of AncientIrismon and has many adventures.

Yu-Gi-Oh Xros Wars/Hunters

Not Telling All: Yuu is a vampire with a taste for Tagiru. Tagiru doesn't know - at least not yet.

Hunting The Great Game: A rewrite of Xros Wars/Hunters. Set three years instead of one after the Xros Wars. Taiki finds himself back in the Digital World and that's where it all begins.

Digimon NEXT

Knight Tales: Fantasy AU. Kahara Shou's village is slaughtered and burned down and he's the only survivor. Taken in by Barbamon, he becomes the Demon Lord's devoted Knight.

Yu-Gi-Oh DM

Pleasures of Shadows: Yami no Malik has been revived as an incubus.

Crimeland: An AU where there are three Kaiba brothers (Seto, Seth, and Mokuba) and - many other differences I haven't gotten to writing yet. Only set 'ship is Seto x Kisara.

Uncertain Choices: A modern day AU, with Atemu and Yuugi as twin brothers. Only set ship right now is Atemu x Mahaado. If I ever finish the sequel I have in mind, I will add Seto x Yuugi.

Ways of Magic: a magical AU. Seto and Mokuba are dragons. Pegasus is a sorcerer. Mai is a pirate queen. Otogi is a djinn. A few scattered set pairings such as Otogi x Bakura Ryou.

Heart of Magic: a magical AU. This one involves a magical school where various characters are students or teachers. Established ships: Atemu x Mahaado.

Gifts of Power: A Superhero AU. A large chunk of people have powers. Established relationship: Isis x Mana.

Yu-Gi-Oh GX

Reversal AU: In canon, Juudai has the poewr of the Gentle Darkness. Here, in a world very like Dark World but with differences (such as a sun), he has the power of the Destructive Darkness - and he is pure evil, enjoys it, and has the overall goal of destroying all of creation. A small, plucky rebellion stands against him. Do they stand a chance? Time will tell. Be warned: non-consensual Juudai x Johan, as well as someone becoming a vampire, and many other twisted plot points. I love this AU.

Stronger Than Water: We don't know much about Johan's past. So what if he actually grew up in Dark World, as Brron's adopted son? And was sent to kill Juudai? Firm ships are Yubel x Juudai and maybe Yubel x Juudai x Johan. I havevn't gotten far enough to be sure.

Hell's Ice: What if Ryou were the one taken by Kagemaru and Amnael instead of Fubuki? Well, add in some elemental affinities and we have the Hell Kaiser of Ice - one of the Seven Stars. No set ships othe than Yubel x Juudai, though I am debating a few.

Itch To Scratch: Juudai and Yubel are demons. Johan's an angel - or he thinks he is, anyway. What he really is, he'll find out eventually. Firm ship is Yubel x Juudai x Johan.

Bridges: So, in this series, Juudai's power is that of the Light of Creation. Johan has the Gentle Darkness - and Juudai has been possessed by the Light of Ruin for seven thousand years.

Dead Weight: It's the zombie apocalypse! Ahhh! No set in stone ships yet.

King's Champion: When a late-night break-in goes very wrong, Yubel ends up taking Juudai to Dark World for his own safety. He ends up being raised by Brron. But taking him away from Earth has consequence, both good and bad. Yubel x Juudai. Not ruling out Yubel x Juudai x Johan in the future.

Shadow Demons: Juudai: King of Hell, with Yubel and Johan as his Consorts. Ryou, a demon prince. Fujiwara Yuusuke, a shadow mage with Honest as his guardian angel. Fubuki as an angel of love. Asuka slays evil vampires. And much, much more. Established ships: Ryou x Yuusuke and Yubel x Juudai x Johan.

Echoes: Rewrites of different parts of GX. Currently only the Haou arc, but others to come. Established ships: technically none but eventually Yubel x Juudai.

In The Shadows of the Fae: Juudai is the King of the Fae with Yubel and Johan as consorts, and Shou as his servant. A delicious AU that I enjoy. Established ships: Yubel x Juudai x Johan.

In Chains: Fantasy AU. Brron is gifted Shou as a slave, and Shou has to deal with that. Not easy. Established ships: Yubel x Juudai x Johan & Edo x Ryou x Saiou.

In Any World: A series of non-connected Yubel x Juudai AUs. Each is a one-shot and is in a different AU.

Past and Future: Yubel shows Juudai events that happened in their past lives together, as they forge a new future with one another. Yubel x Juudai.

Sky Stories: A lot of people have wings. Juudai didn't - until he fused with Yubel. Ryou has rusted metal wings - until Edo takes care of them. ANd many more stories. Established ships: Yubel x Juudai x Johan.

To Accept Fate's Will: A soulmate AU. Established ships: Yubel x Juudai, Edo x Saiou x Ryou. O'Brien x Sea God's Priestess.

Hole In Your Heart: Not fighting means that Shou's in danger. Especially when he gets captured and sold to one of Haou's servants. As if his third year wasn't already going downhill. No actual ships that I know of (probable future Yubel x Juudai)

In Space, In Light: Juudai sent Yubel into space to be healed by the Gentle Darkness. In canon, it failed. Here, it worked. Uh-oh. Yubel x Juudai.

Paladin's Quest: post ending series. Ryou dies of heart failure and is reborn as a duel spirit without his memories of his past. But that's going to change, because what he did in Dark World cannot be forgotten.

In Darkness We Find FIre: An AU of my own devising, that I call Healer/Firestarter. Healers can heal & communicate/grow plants, and Firestarters bun things. There are a lot more details than that but this tale is a retelling of canon through that lens. Established ship: Yubel x Juudai.

Politics of Ages: Asuka is a vampire queen with two consorts: Manjoume and Ryou. Lots of vampiric politics.

Infinite Love: A magical AU with soulmates. Features Ryou x Yuusuke, Camula x Ruthven (OC), and Edo x Saiou.

King's Knights: Post-canon series. Juudai offers Ryou, Fubuki, and Yuusuke as his Knights. But that's just the beginning. Johan has his own tale to tell.

Passion's Flight: Soul-wings universe. Established asexual/aromantic Asuka. Future Yubel x Juudai.

Prisoner of the Black Tower: Johan is trapped in a black tower by someone called Haou. He doesn't know who that is. And he wants to leave.

Apprentices: A mild alternate timeline, where Kyle and Nero from season 3 meet and become friends - while in Haou's dungeon.

World of Fusion: Brron fused all the dimensions and the world that results is so very different. Now Brron also has three sons: Juudai, Johan, and Rune (the Johan lookalike from season 3). Also, Ryou is a vampire. Established relationships: Yubel x Juudai.

Fate's Heart: Multiple tales of Yubel and Juudai as soulmates.

Power of Earth: Healer/Firestarter AU, featuring Jim and O'Brien.

Family Flowers: Healer/Firestarter AU, featuring Rick and Cobra.

Red Zinnias: Healer/FIrestarter AU, featuring Saiou and Edo

Destructive Flames: A merging of the Firestater/Healer AU and the Reversal AU. It's even less fun than the usual REvers - well, for values of fun.

Spirit Friends: People become friends with Duel Spirits aren't in their decks. Such as Wolf for Juudai and SQuall for Amon.

Bonds of Kinship: Exploring the relationship between Johan and the lookalike - his twin brother.

Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal

Order of the Outcasts: A fantasy AU loosely inspired by AD&D. The Order of the Outcasts is the Barians. Yuuma is a powerful healing mage and Astral is his fae companion. Much fun to be had! Co-written with SilvorMoon.

Committed To Her: Kotori is Queen Merag's slave, and devotedly loves her. Merag would like to return it, but it's not that easy. Obviously, a Merag x Kotori story, and an AU.

Cry of Vengeance: Vector wants revenge on Nasch for a long-ago offense, so he attacks Nasch's boyfriend Durbe. But that's not all he wants his revenge on and he has an interesting way to get it. Vampire/slight magic AU.

On Dragon's Wings: Mizael is a dragon. Vector is a prince who becomes a demon. And many other changes for a fantasy AU. Established ships are Vector x Mizael and Alit x Leo.

Inevitable Encounters: soulmate AU and how they deal with it. Established ships: Kaito x Yuuma, Durbe x Nasch, Kotoi x Merag/Rio, Vector x Mizael

Fae Whispers: Durbe x Chris. Chris is a Fae Prince who offers for Durbe to become a Fae Knight.

Different Numbers: Another soulmate AU. Features Durbe x Nasch, Vector x Mizael, V/Chris x Kaito, Gilag x Sanagi, & Alit x III/Michael x Yuuma.

Prison of the Prince: Vector wishes to keep Fae Prine Mizael as his prisoner. Mizael isn't so thrilled about that. Vecto x Mizael.

Hating Humanity: Durbe finds Nasch and Merag before the Astral Messenger arrive. Without Yuuma's influence, what will Nasch do? Durbe x Nasch.

Blurring: There are multiple ways to detect one's soulmate. Mizael has Vector's name on his right arm and Kaito's on his left - right arm is for the soulmate and left for the enemy.

Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V

Beat of Wings: Some characters have wings, including Yuuya, Yuuto, Yuugo, and Yuuri. And Shun. And others. No real ships (that I know of) and Yuuri is going to have fun!

Life With A Demon: Featuring Masumi x Yuzu, Asuka x Selena, and past Selena x Masumi. Demon AU, along with other creatures of magic.

Confusing: Yuuri has captured Shun and is training him to be a warrior of Fusion. Shun would rather not - but his mind is now Yuuri's plaything.

Angels, Demons, and Deciding Factors: Angel/demon AU. Yuuri is a demon, who encounters the angel Shun in his territory. Yuuri decides that he wants this angel for his own - mostly because Shun doesn't want that, nor does Yuuto. M rated/consent issues/brainwashing.

Collars and Keeping: Yuuri captured Shun early in the war and Shun escapes the first chance he gets. But Yuuri won't let him go - and there's a horrible punishment awaiting his pet.

Fae Song: Selena x Rin x Ruri x Yuzu. Selena is a Fae Princess and the others are her servants.

Deadly Daughter: Professor Leo Akaba decides he can't trust Yuuri and thus trains Selena to be his sgent to find and captue the other gils with her face. Selena's girlfriend, Asuka, helps - only seeing what happened in the war turns her away from Fusion. Undecided ships.

Dragon and Falcon: Yuuri's a dragon & Shun's a shapeshifting falcon. Yuuri claimed Shun as a part of his hoard and his servant. And it just seems that dragon saliva does something to shapeshifters. non-con/drugged Yuuri x Shun.

Soulwings: In this AU, when soulmates meet one another (or when one's true purpose is found), wings are developed. So when Kaito and Edo cross paths... Established Kaito x Edo and alluded to Yuuri x Shun.

Strike Hard, Strike Fast: Vampire AU. Sora, Yuuri, and Dennis are vampires. Ruri and Shun are vampire hunters. So when Shun crosses their paths, Yuuri decides to take him for his own.

Opposite Ends: Yuugo is brought to Shingo as his slave. Yuugo doesn't like Shingo. Oh, they're going to have a lot of fun.

Dragonflame and Nature's Spark: A HEaler/FIrestater rewrite of Arc-V, mostly featuring Ryou and Mizael, along with Yuuri and Vector. Ship: Ryou x Mizael, Durbe x Chris, and Shou x Michael.

Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS

A Model Life: Kogami Ryouken is a supermodel. You know, when he's not a cyber-terrorist.

Power Rangers

Flip Of a Coin: Tommy Oliver is Tommi Oliver here. Gender-switch from birth.

Soulborn: Soulmates from the Power Rangers. Established ship: Cassie x Phantom. Future ship: Kat x Tommy.

BKCBL

Burning Inscription: Soulmates have the most important words spoken to them by their soulmates written on their arms. On Kinshiro's: I am Battle Lover Epinard! Nonsense. Atsushi x Kinshiro.

Love of Spirits: Kinshiro is a spirit of the sun. Atsushi is a wind spirit. The others are also magical beings. Kinshiro x Atsushi.

Crossovers

Elemental Ties: YGO GX & Digimon Frontier. Juudai and Kouichi cross paths. But they're not the only ones who share elements.

Replacement Vampire: YGO GX & Digimon Adventure 02: Post his defeat in 02, Vamdemon awakens in his Perfect form again, in a new world, where he meets someone he never thought he would - a female vampire. Camula didn't think she'd ever see another vampire. He's not quite her species, but he's definitely her type. Firm ship: Camula x Vamdemon. Also, vampire Seven Star!Ryou.

Scorpion Strike: YGO GX & YGO Zexal: Ryou wakes up in the Barian World, and doesn't know his name or anything else. But he's a Barian now, so he works for the Barian World. Ryou x Mizael.

Those are all my current series. Here are the series that I have waiting in the wings:

Power Rangers

Unexpected Tales: A series of fics about ships I like: Rita x Zedd, Emily x Jason, and Tanya x Adam.

Yellow & Blue: A pair of fics involving Trini x Billy

Digimon Adventure 02

Blossoms of Death: Non epilogue compliant, where a new enemy attacks the Chosen and a lot of things happen including friendship between different Chosen and their partners.

In Our Veins: Breeds AU. Non epilogue compliant and the breeds slowly start to awaken to their powers. Known ships: Ken x Daisuke.

Far From The Tree: Breeds AU, rewrite of a very old story of mine. Starting in the Devimon arc, the Chosen begin to awaken.

Last Dark Master: Breeds AU, another rewrite of a very old story. Yamato attracts Piemon'os attention. No ships at this time.

To True Love: A series about Taichi x Yamato. Mild Ken x Daisuke also.

Heed The Call: The Kaiser discovered the breeds - especially Anbumon, the strongest of them all. Time for an alliance. Ken x Daisuke & Yamato x Taichi.

Digimon Tamers

After Tamers: Post-canon, the Tamers have even more adventures with their returned partners.

Burning Brightly: An alternate take on Ruki and Renamon meeting one another.

Yu-Gi-Oh GX

In Solitude Lies Strength: A slight divergence changes a great deal about Juudai's rule in Dark World.

Different Kind of Darkness: When Juudai encounters a vampire before his rule in Dark World begins, everything takes a dip to a deeper darkness.

After Academia: Graduating doesn't mean that their adventurs have ended. They're just different now. Yubel x Juudai.

Colors of Love: A different soulmate concept - those who have soulmates only see the colors of their soulmate's hair and eyes until they meet - at which point they see all colors, and sprout their wings. Edo x Saiou and Yubel x Juudai, with others to come.

Hi Kari Kouri E: Healer/Firestarter. Kagemaru wants a powerful Frostflame on his Seven Stars team, so sends people to recruit a six year old Marufuji Ryou. Future Yubel x Juudai and Ryou x Yuusuke.

Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V

Prey and Hunters: Yuuri captures Shun and has a good old time tormenting him. Rewrite of my original "Yuuri torments Shun" story. It will have a crossover with Mythology of Love by SilvorMoon eventually.

BKCBL

Seduction of Shadows: a realm with Io being human, Akoya being a demon, and Ryuu being an angel.

Crossovers

Love Is Out Of This World: BKCBL & Digimon Adventure 02. When the Digimon Kaiser drops into the Student Council Room, things become very interesting. Ken x Daisuke, Atsushi x Kinshiro.

Ties To Magic: Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Tamers, and YGO GX. A fantasy world where anyone can meet anyone at all.

From Shadows Within: Digimon Adventure, 02, Tamers, and Frontier. A new adventure for everyone! Ships: Ken x Daisuke.

I fully expect to develop more of these in the future. Time will tell! And I will update this when or if the time comes.

#fanfic #higuchimon posts #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #digimon tamers #digimon frontier #digimon xros wars #digimon next #ygo dm #ygo gx #ygo zexal #ygo arc-v #ygo vrains #power rangers #binan koukou chikyuu bouei bu love!#crossovers

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honkster · 4 years ago

Text

Yay meta

1. Ranboo compared to the other anarchists of the server.

2. C!Tommy’s mental health.

3. C!Dream as an immortal insane god.

4. Ghostbur’s resurrection.

5. Who betrayed who Techno vs Tommy edition.

A bit of an after-thought - everyone on the SMP is traumatized. Absolutely everyone, no one is handling everything in a mentally healthy way. That’s why it’s meaningless to try to say what’s wrong and what’s right, that’s why it’s all morally grey - everyone is doing things because of their own warped perception of the world, the right and wrong blur when everyone thinks that they’re right and everyone else is wrong. Trying to justify someone’s actions with logic and moral righteousness is inherently time-wasting, because everyone is acting how their feelings let them at the time.

Saying who’s right or wrong, trying to figure out villains and good guys <<< Analyzing characters by their actions and trying to understand WHY rather than SHOUD THEY HAVE.

Probably a bit of a backwards way to say that I don’t care if Tommy or Techno are wrong in their argument - L’manburg was destroyed, Tommy thinks Techno is bad. That’s the end of that story, stay tuned for what Tommy’s gonna do now.

<_><_><_><_><_> <_><_><_><_><_>

There is just a very huge difference between Ranboo and the other two anarchists of the server.

Ranboo, while being strong in his beliefs, is a non-violent person. Yes he’s stacked, yes he could fight, but he chooses to stay on the sidelines and just watch the action unfold. He’d rather listen in to people and then make conclusions about their actions and decide on things by himself. He’s hard to sway, Quackity may have softened his viewpoint slightly, and I genuinely hope that Ranboo follows through with that and decides that teams and groups is something that kind of needs to happen before the idea that all conflicts are a personal thing between two people can actually make sense. People are stronger together, especially those that don’t have good gear or pvp skills. The weaker people, the ones lower in the food chain, don’t have that many options for getting their point across. The server is already dominated by the strongest, most skilled, most geared people, and those are the people that matter, when it comes down to it.

Quackity is very much a unique case. He has managed to do with four people what L’manburg and all of its inhabitants didn’t manage for the longest time. He is very much a main player.

The other two anarchists are both very violent. Dream was always like that, he hasn’t shown a crumb of being able of change or considering a different opinion (extreme delusions or just extreme self-confidence? Either one makes him a prick), but Techno actually had an arc where he made the entirely wrong conclusions.

I don’t think I’ve talked about the Butcher Army much.

So Techno blew up Manberg, threatened to take down any government that sprouted up and then dipped. He made his little cottage, he went on a retirement arc, so on and so forth.

But then the Butcher Army formed.

And their one target was the pig.

And they went out of their way to track him down, to prepare to kill him, they arrived there and threatened him, and they said that it’s time for Techno to pay for his crimes, and they reacted how anyone else would when being attacked – they attacked too. They took his horse to get him to stop, they brought him up for execution, they didn’t manage to kill him, but they switched targets once they realized that they can’t actually kill him while literal god is on his side, helping him.

The conclusion there wasn’t that government is evil and abuses its power. It’s that violence is paid forward with violence.

It doesn’t really matter that Techno misunderstood. Either way he would’ve returned to good old Blood for the Blood God Technoblade, but I fear that this event reinforced his very wrong belief that government is the source of ALL problems on the server.

If he would say that government is the cause of MAJOR conflicts that wouldn’t happen if government didn’t exist, yeah! Yeah, I agree with that actually. But he’s saying that EVERY conflict is because of government.

The disc war was not because of government.

The Pet War was not because of government.

Most of the rivalries of the server are not because of government.

Tommy was not… Actually (yeah Tommy was exiled because of government and the fact that the sentimentality for L’manburg seemed very important at that point. Things shouldn’t be more important than people, people you can’t just replace. But…) Dream specifically when he went after Tommy targeted L’manburg. If the country didn’t exist, Dream probably would have gone about it another way, probably one more difficult, but he wouldn’t have involved all these people whose only connection to one another is a flimsy city built on stilts. I still hate how Techno refuses to acknowledge that Dream WAS the cause of Tommy’s exile, not government.

But what if Techno was big brain?

Yeah, things shouldn’t be more important than people. Is that what he’s suggesting? That government favors power over giving up land/buildings/countries for their people, knowing that if they lost their country they would no longer have power?

That would be very interesting!… If his actions actually indicated this.

Techno didn’t chunk error L’manburg because he thought those buildings gave power to someone over another. He did it out of revenge, claiming that it still lined up with his anarchist beliefs and that he was doing good. Techno released withers, the most destructive and hard-to-kill mob available to the server, he stalled while Dream essentially set up nukes above the city. They didn’t do this out of kindness and want for the people to have freedom, they KILLED the people that they were so “graciously” “saving”.

Technoblade and Dream are both violent anarchists who misunderstood what the word means. They don’t seek order in the chaos, they don’t seek a peaceful anarchy, they just want blood.

Which makes me very worried for Ranboo. I don’t think that he will get influenced by the two, if the two ever come back together to stir up shit again. I don’t think Ranboo is going to believe Technoblade when he says that government is the cause of ALL problems, because Ranboo doesn’t just hate the factions of the server. He has said that Dream is the reason for a lot of conflict on the server, he understands what Dream is up to. If he will agree with Techno at the beginning, he certainly will find issue in Techno considering Dream a worthy ally.

I just hope that Techno LISTENS for at least once in his life.

(But I won’t be too sad if it’s Phil Ranboo manages to convince. Might actually be easier to get through to anarchist pig Blade that way…)

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I worry for c!Tommy’s mental health.

I know this probably is never going to get addressed rather than that one tiny little plot point where he got exiled for no reason but being as resilient as Tommy is, so constantly himself without apology, so constantly in everyone’s faces and just out there so much, so purposefully annoying just because it’s entertaining for him… I don’t think he’s alright.

The many times he has been beaten down, how many times people have battled him and won, how many times he’s told to shut up and just take it – it makes you wonder how come he hasn’t just given up by now and toned it down so people stop hating him.

Yeah, he’s resilient. Yeah, he’s annoying that way. But I seriously doubt that he can take all that he takes and still be perfectly okay.

One insult means nothing. One time can be just a made up thing to make you pissed off.

Same thing twice? Someone’s just mocking you.

Three times? Wow okay these guys must all be friends and they gossip about me!

Four times?… Hey how big is your friend group exactly?

Five times?…

Six times?…

Seven?…

How about 20.

No matter how ridiculous something that someone noticed about you may be, if repeated enough times, you almost sub-consciously start to believe it. Lots of people notice this – hey I can also notice it!

C!Tommy being annoying on purpose, saying that it’s just entertaining for him… Doesn’t that sound like a really depressing thing to enjoy? Something that garners you so much attention you literally get exiled?

And the fact that, even during Dream enforcing the exile, even when he escaped, when he appeared in Techno’s house and huddled under it like a raccoon, he was still so painfully annoying you just want to punt him?… Does that really sound like just a funny pastime for him and not a defense mechanism against all of the shit people put him through, something that he does out of habit because even though it gets him in trouble a lot of the time, it’s also the only way he can actually react to events and people threatening him, cause what is he gonna do, actually threaten them and get them to leave that way?

I dunno this may be dumb… I may be projecting slightly… Wondering where all of his resilience comes from when actual good things that happened because of him versus the bad things that people constantly blame him for… Sir where do you get that strength and how can I sell my soul for it?

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Oh I’ve written characters that think of awful, violent things as fun…

I actually really like those characters.

I don’t know why I always make them the most traumatized, split-personality, abused and manipulated victims-turned-absolute-monsters.

No wait I do know why.

BECAUSE IF YOU THINK THAT CAUSING PAIN TO OTHERS IS A FUN TIME AND YOU WANT TO DO IT AS OFTEN AS YOU CAN JUST TO SEE THEIR EXPRESSION OF PAIN, THERE IS SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG WITH YOU.

Dream’s no different. We haven’t seen much of him, other than his motivation and the fact that he goes the wrong way about thinking of means to get to the end. He hasn’t revealed a traumatic past or any real reason why he targets only one person if torturing everyone on the server would probably be way more “fun”.

But he is called god.

And THAT lines up with one of my favorite things to talk about!

Immortals :D

You see the whole concept of a god or an immortal being is at its core something we shouldn’t comprehend. Death and the fact that it will happen can be counted as a reason for a lot of our motivations, so how does it affect one’s thinking if one of our core reasons for life is erased?

I can dump a whole philosophical essay here but I feel like it is highly unnecessary. Dream, as an immortal god on the server, has access to stuff that many people have to grind hours of their life for. This twists his perception of the value of certain items, and also certain actions. The fact that he cannot die also affects that perception, and in his long life he has probably had the same thoughts a lot of immortals have – few things are meaningful in life, few are worth sacrificing things for and few are just as immortal as they are.

This, of course, can cause a little thing called an existential crisis, and it can break an immortal, especially if they were once human and most definitely mortal. We don’t know for sure what Dream is, but assuming either scenario makes his pursuit of fun and drama valid.

If he was once a human and by some dark magic gained immortality, his want to see how humans react to things being destroyed, or how humans fold under torture, may be a twisted way of analyzing himself, trying to understand how he could be a part of them, trying to reconnect with his old self, attempts to return to the mortal plane, there are many options but all firmly lead into “this is just a fun experiment for him”. How people throw mentos in a bowl and pour coke over it just to see an explosion. That’s Dream with the SMP.

If he was always a god, then it gets even more interesting (and thematically relevant!). He never understood these creatures that run around and desperately try to prevent death while simultaneously causing so much of it. If Dream doesn’t understand mortals and death as a concept, then his view of them, based on what he’s seen of the SMP, is that humans SEEK violence, and drama, and pain, and harm. They purposefully create meaningless things to then give them meaning and then feel pain over them. He is utterly confused by humans, but he also understands them quite well.

Taunted, insulted? Retaliate with force.

A country that demands peace? Blow it to smithereens.

A sentimental thing that you could literally replace within a fraction of a life, a little thing of pride that you were able to acquire?

It can control people.

And he seems to understand THAT concept of humanity perfectly well. The want for power, the seeking of control, the simple want to somehow be above your equals, somehow stand out and be admired.

Dream grasps that concept so well he might as well be human.

I don’t know if this humanity side of Dream will be his hubris, if the weakness he acquired from humans – sentimentality over objects that can very easily be replaced and mean nothing in the grand scheme of things – may actually come back after he so rudely pushed it away.

We don’t know enough about this guy. We can make some conclusions, sure, but uh… The simple fact that he causes chaos for fun means that whatever we may think the reason for his motivations is, we will probably fail to understand him as long as we think logically.

C!Dream is an absolute prick. I want to punt him.

But I won’t until he explains why he chose to be a bad copy of the Joker with immortality sprinkled on the fucked up cake.

<_><_><_><_><_> <_><_><_><_><_>

Wilbur is coming back into the plot!

Not that Ghostbur isn’t important to the plot. His character is just stagnant because in order to give him proper char development you need to address some very serious mental issues and that’s not exactly something the SMP does often. (Most serious I’ve seen it is Tommy’s exile arc and maybe Fundy’s adoption stream)

So they’re bringing back Alivebur. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything. Literally everything.

I talked about it once, how if Ghostbur’s character wants to reach peace – finish his arc – firstly he has to confront his trauma. At the same time I said that if he was brought back to life, it could hinder his already done little progress of adapting to ghost life and probably reset him. Very certain conditions would have to be met in order for Ghostbur to gain something out of being brought back to life, and a lot of those conditions lean on Alivebur coming back as a certain “version” of himself, which cannot be predicted simply because there isn’t a resident ghost expert on the server. No one knows how these idiots work.

The worrying thing is that they are most definitely bringing back Alivebur. There wouldn’t be need for this plot otherwise. So they will definitely succeed, Alivebur will definitely be brought back, and he will be important to the plot.

What can we theorize about knowing those things?

Mmmm… Isn’t it weird that Ghostbur said he wants to quit being Ghostbur after L’manburg was destroyed? Is it a want to stop ignoring bad things that are happening, since he knows he is going to forget this and move on and he doesn’t want to keep escaping anymore? That’s a good motivation.

Or is it because Ghostbur is like the old spirit of L’manburg, both connected to it physically and mentally? Would Alivebur want L’manburg back, considering that was his only goal in his life, to destroy it, or is he finally going to feel fulfilled that it is over and his obsession with it can die?

I dunno! I have no idea what part they want Wilbur to play in the upcoming plot. It’s very unclear if Wilbur is going to be a side character that moves the plot in little ways or if he’s going to become the main character again or if, and this is probably my most likely theory, the resurrection fails at first and it leads the whole gang, with Ghostbur up front, down weird paths that somehow end with Dream.

(Cause we all know that guy is not going to just write himself out of the plot if he can instead continue being the villain)

It all feels like it’s going to connect, finally. All of the main people from the past getting back into the spotlight in a very convoluted plot to get one of them back into the land of the living.

Don’t really know though. Wondering how resurrection works, that’s all. Knowing that info, may be possible to make a better theory.

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There is no one right in the “Tommy betrayed Techno” vs “Tommy realized Techno is not a good influence on him” argument. Neither one is right, but neither one is completely wrong. Neither character is in the right, or in the wrong, and it doesn’t really matter who’s right or wrong in this scenario, fact is it happened and the people reacted how they did.

There is only one thing to say about Techno and Tommy, and probably the only thing I’m kinda feeling very strongly about.

Sometimes the refusal to be swayed to another side or believing in yourself gets you called selfish.

That’s both about Techno and Tommy.

And a lot of other people on the server.

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Here’s a cookie for reading all of that. I can also bake your favorite muffin if you want :3

#honkmeta #dream smp analysis #these block men make do big thinks #not always good thinks #but big #btw i get most of these ideas when im scrolling through tumblr #just people giving their opinions on things makes me realize hey i can talk about this #you go you funky little theorizers #keep giving me ideas please my brain fries every time i go on twitch

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nuttyjellyfishlover · 3 years ago

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One Piece Anime Wano Arc Episodes 890

One Piece Anime: Wano Arc, Episodes 890 This honestly is less going to be a review and more of a commentary as I watch through the anime's rendition of the Wano arc. I've honestly never really watched too much of the One Pieceanime, mostly just looking up the highlights of the arcs I read in the manga. I did watch the filler episodes and most of the movies, as I've talked about at length recently. And everyone tells me that the anime has some rather terrible pacing, particularly around the time of Dressrossa, which is apparently pretty padded out. But then I heard the absolute opposite for Wano, where the anime has received a new art-style and one hell of a fancy makeover. And I thought... hey, I'm on a One Piece kick this year, clearly, so yeah, I think I'm going to give this a shot.

The Wano arc, I think, is one that works a lot better because it has the reverse problem of a lot of One Piece arcs -- there are a lot of moments in Act One of the manga's version of the story that the writer clearly purposefully threw in a couple of off-screened moments that the anime could expand into full action scenes. I already know that Sanji versus Page One is fully animated in the anime, and scenes like Big Mom vs. Kaido or Zoro vs. Basil Hawkins are extended a lot more than the couple of panels we had in the manga. And Wano's got a lot of supporting characters, some of which actually get swept under the rug when I first read through the manga chapters weekly. So yeah, having bright colours and voices and music is going to make this a much more fun experience!

Anyway, here goes my collection of random notes and commentary. Be aware that there will be MANGA SPOILERS, as I will point out a couple of things here and there about stuff I notice that's foreshadowing or whatever:

* Marco's blue-and-yellow phoenix form looks so, so much more vibrant and pops out compared to anything else in the series in colour, huh? I think out of any other character, Marco is extra-memorable in animated format. * That said, basically half this episode is just a recap of the Paramount War. I mean, I haven't seen the Paramount War in full animated format, so it's nice to hear Whitebeard and Ace and Marco speak some of their more famous lines there. But on the other hand, it's also it's kind of one of the more-criticized parts of the One Piece anime that any time they could pad out an episode with scenes from a previously-produced episode, they will. * We actually get to see the Grudge/Payback War in the anime! I think this is less of a showcase of events that actually happened and more of a symbolic one, but hey, we get to see Blackbeard doing some sky-quakes and black holes and Marco turning phoenix. It just shows the Whitebeard division commanders getting sucked into a giant Dragon-Ball-esque spirit bomb Black Hole. Actually pretty neat! * Jozu has both arms in that vision. Whether it's an error or a spoiler or if he has a prosthetic a la Akainu in Film: Z, we'll see eventually.

* This episode also has a bit of a recap of the revelations about Wano from the Zou arc, but it's a lot shorter and feels a lot more relevant to the upcoming arc. * Brook actually expresses some interest on Vivi, apparently having heard of her from the others. I've always liked this from the filler episodes, of the newer Straw Hats slowly learning about prior adventures. Brook being Brook, of course, a panty joke was tossed in. * The Japanese-art style water waves look so pretty when animated! * The random octopus that makes Japanese kabuki theater (?) sounds is another thing that works so much better in the anime. I've always thought it felt a bit forced and random in the manga version. * The high-tempo music when the Sunny sails into the koi waves is very, very fun! * Ah, yes, the very first chapter of Wano in the manga shows off a bunch of carps jumping up a waterfall. You know, considering the whole legend that a carp that jumps over the waterfall transforms into a dragon... i.e., a fish that is also a dragon...

* The first one that's properly and almost fully drawn in the new Wano art style! And it looks gorgeous. * Also a new theme song! I've never paid that much attention to theme songs in anime, but I definitely like "One Dream One Wish" more than "We're the Super Powers". Shame that, as with most anime, the opening sort of spoils, like, half of the things that happens in the arc. * Speaking of great background music... the tempo of that opening instrumental that Komurasaki plays on shamisen is pretty catchy, especially with that octopus going iyooo~ in the background. It also makes for very fun background music for Zoro's rampage at the end of the episode. * Anime Wano is so freaking colourful. The rooftops, the kimonos, the hair... I think I remembered reading that Oda made it a point to subvert the fact that everyone in feudal Japan had black hair by explicitly doing the opposite -- black hair is the exception rather than the norm in Wano. Fun! * The frog on Usopp's hat is a real frog! I always thought it was just a hat! It's adorable! The wiki tells me it's called Gama Pyonnosuke. It's an adorable friend! Forget Carrot or Kin'emon or Yamato, Gama Pyonnosuke for next Straw Hat! * The biggest expansion here is that we actually follow Zoro around as he wanders around the city until he gets arrested by the corrupt magistrate. And Zoro actually bumps into the man-slayer and corrupt magistrate, actually explaining why he recognizes the specific scent of blood during the whole seppuku court. * And then we get around a minute of Zoro fighting the magistrate guards with the seppuku knife and good ol' fisticuffs, something that I didn't think I needed, but is certainly very fun to watch! * This new animation studio loves the angled zoom-in into eyes, and I highly approve. I think we had that like at least three times when Zoro decides to get dangerous.

* I never quite realized that if Luffy hadn't been interrupted by the octopus and washed up next to the Thousand Sunny, the poor ship would be literally left to its own devices. You'd think after losing Merry, the Straw Hats would be more careful with their ships... * Zoro gets to slash the magistrates up even more! It's a single Tatsu Maki, but god damn what a pretty Tatsu Maki. The shot of his feet kicking and breaking the wooden floor, the black aura around his blades, the way that the dragon aura appears behind him, the demonic red eyes as Zoro slams down from the sky, and the shots of the surrounding terrain being cut up into cubes... pretty awesome! * Luffy dodging the bullet from the random Beast Pirate goon with Observation Haki and the gomu-gomu-long-range-bitchslap has always been cool in the manga, and this episode makes it even cooler. Those glowing eyes! This is going to be the whole commentary, isn't it? Just me commenting on the scenes I find to be really cool? * Luffy's Conqueror Haki against the giant baboon is another very cool one. From the expression to the delivery of the line to the sound effect... Luffy's expression is actually pretty cool and borderline scary as he beats up the second goon. No wonder Tama went straight into "This is the I surrender pose!" * Also added in the anime is a vignette of Franky, Robin and Usopp seeing the news of Zorojuro becoming a wanted criminal. Again, not entirely necessary to know the story, but actually scenes that I don't mind being shown to us. Particularly that scene of Usopp utterly bullshitting an officer. * Luffy pets Komachiyo with his rubber arms. Komachiyo is a good boy. This is the most important scene.

* Did the manga show Luffy hiding the Sunny and letting it anchor in a cave? I don't remember it. I know that before the flashback and the raid we see the Sunny there, but it's nice to actually show Luffy not being so callous with the Sunny. * They got a pretty good voice actress for Tama that really makes her pretty adorable! So many times these kid guest star characters end up being annoying if they don't get a good voice, but between the voice-acting and the expressions, she's pretty fun! * Also, I think this is going to be something I repeat a couple of times, but both Tama and Tenguyama are so much more visually interesting with their full colour palettes. * Oh, right, Drake was the one that ransacked Tama's village. Wonder if that'll actually come up later on in the story... * Okay, thanks to the anime, it's really going to drill to me that it's pronounced 'Diez Drake' and not 'Eks Drake'. * I'm pretty sure everyone noticed it, but Ace learned to weave hats in Wano! That's how he became buddies with Oars Junior! I didn't notice it until just now!

* (Episode is the Cidre Guild filler arc that ties in to Stampede.) * What is Tenguyama waiting for? It's probably Oden or his retainers, but I don't think he's part of the samurai that was recruited by Kin'emon's group. Maybe he just missed the big recruitment drive, but that's weird. I wonder what role he's going to play in the arc... * There is a random metal guitar riff when Luffy sees the Nidai Kitetsu. And a glow of Observation Haki on Luffy's eyes. That's a small detail, but very cool! He also uses Observation when Hawkins arrives later on. I love the little trail of glowing red that streams out of his pupils when he activates it. * Tenguyama's sword has a very cool leaf-based handguard! Never noticed that. * Speaking of cool Observation Haki effects, Zoro's apparently activates when he senses sake. Appropriate! * I know it's me repeating this over and over, and we'll get so many cooler scenes later on, but Zoro casually launching that Phoenix Cannon to blow up the two random raptor-riders when he saves Tsuru? Such a simple scene but still so cool. Also very cool is the very brief slo-mo as Zoro re-angles the pathway of his slice when cutting down the second random goon. * Unlike most of the other things, I've always noticed that Basil Hawkins has a very cool Koma-deer mount. It looks even cooler in motion!

* This is perhaps one of the more extended scenes, since it features... fight scenes! In the manga, I think this lasted... maybe half a chapter? Less? A couple of page spreads? It's not just the Hawkins fight, either, Luffy's 'swordfighting' with Nidai Kitetsu also gets extended. Luffy's a bit more successful in using the sword to block and parry here. * Luffy's voice actor really makes the 'de gozaru' sound really funny. * I 100% missed Tsuru the first time I read through this chapter since we only see part of her in a single panel before her full-body debut after the Hawkins fight, and it's a lot less likely that you'll make that mistake in the anime. * Some 'elite' goons show up here, including a guy that uses his ponytail as a whip against Zoro, and a dude that makes fissures with a hammer that fights Luffy. Probably feels a bit more filler-y compared to the rest of the action scenes, but that's honestly nitpicking. * Zoro launching a Phoenix Cannon that slashes Hawkins's face is very cool. * Hawkins' little straw dolls gets an extended scene of it crawling out of his arm. It's so creepy, I love it. * Hawkins' giant straw demon StandBankaigets an very cool summoning animation and it's so creepy. The skies darkens and everything. Most importantly, it makes noises! Again, I love it.

* Luffy and Zoro vs. Hawkins! It's extended beyond just the simple 'dodge, then one-shot-slash' that it was in the manga. I really like Hawkins and his creepy-ass Straw Stand, so I am a huge fan of this. We get a couple of nice juxtaposition shots of Hawkins and the straw monster. Also Zoro goes shirtless in the fight. That's an important detail! * I really, really love how Zoro is having a gritted-teeth expression as he fights the giant straw demon; the straw demon is going gakakakakakakaka like a lunatic... then we cut to Hawkins who has a deadpan, bored expression as he swings his sword in the distance. * The animators really like to let the straw monster use the nails entwined to the tips of its fingers. That's fun! Zoro backhand-blocking the nails from hitting Luffy and Tama? That's cool! * Zoro does Ichi-Gorilla-Ni-Gorilla at one point, and totally slices and 'kills' Hawkins a bunch of times. * Also, speaking of pretty, glowing-eyes motion shots, Zoro using Nigiri: Toro Samon? Yeah. The cut itself is cool, but the zoom-in on Zoro's eyes as he does so? I'm sorry, I have a weakness for that kind of shot, it appears. * To extend the fight so that it's not just a single exchange of blows, Komachiyo gets knocked to the ground so that Zoro and the straw demon can actually fight for a bit. * Also shots I have a weakness to? DBZ-style 'aftermath of a powerful move'. This one isn't too over-the-top, but the slash extending into the sky and the shockwave rippling out from where Zoro slices the strawman thing is cool. * We actually see the scene of Okiku being harassed by Urashima in chronological order, and Urashima scares off a customer. Also, the implied scene of Zoro scaring off Urashima is actually shown here.

* This episode kind of extends the scenes in Tsuru's shop a bit more. Not the most exciting thing, but it does really help to build up Tama, Tsuru and Kiku. * ...wait, Tsuru's shop just displays the Kozuki crest very, very evidently on its door awning. If simply speaking the Kozuki name alone is a punishable crime, how did they get away with that? * Zoro trying to get Luffy to adopt a Wano-ized name is extra-funny in the anime! * Speaking of extended fight scenes, Batman gets to shoot alotmore arrows at Luffy and Zoro. It's kind of over-the-top on Batman's part, if we're being honest, even if Zoro and Luffy very easily dispatches of them.

* The anime does give Batman the ability to control his arrows via sonic waves or something, but he lasted for a much, much longer time than he really should have. * Batman fucking blocks Luffy's Busoshoku-empowered punch! He most definitely doesn't do it in the manga, and sure, knocking Luffy down with sonic waves? I buy that. Blocking Luffy and causing a small explosion in the air? ...I'm pretty sure just some random Gifter isn't supposed to be able to do that. Unless they're thinking of the other Batman? * They make the initial shot of Holdem answering the phone with the lion face pretty intimidating! * Holdem's lion beating their shared balls is still one of the weirdest jokes in the manga. * Some really nice face shots in this one, from Tama to Holdem to the lion to Luffy's group.

* A pretty obvious extended filler is Urashima bullying other sumo wrestlers. Urashima is kind of a dipshit, so it's not a particularly enjoyable filler for me. * Zoro gets to sumo-wrestle with one of Urashima's goons! This one, on the other hand, is pretty fun. We also get a little added bit where Zoro smirks after remembering Kiku's earlier insistence that she's a samurai, so it's less of a 'he doesn't give a shit' and more 'he wants to see what Kiku's skill is' or something.

* Luffy vs. Urashima is prolonged a bit in here, obviously. Not as entertaining as fighting Hawkins or even Batman, but okay, sure. Lots of grunting and growling in this one. Urashima cheats a bit more, Luffy has to use Armament Haki at one point... really don't think Urashima's someone that you should bother using hardening on, Luffy. * The kabuki-style delivery of "I'm going to be the king of pirates" is very well done. * Poor Tama! Holdem's a jackass. * We actually get to see Urashima crashing into Holdem's house, in yet another obvious 'hey, anime team, this is something for you to animate' scene from the manga. * Law gets an extended scene with seeing the sick Bepo, including a Room/Scan showcase and Bepo looking cute and Law being unable to keep being angry at him.

* The fight against the pirates and samurai in Bakura Town gets extended a fair bit in this episode. Luffy throws Nidai Kitetsu's scabbard around again, repeating the thing he did before. * This episode noticeably has a bunch of brief flashbacks to previous episodes. Anime episodes do this all the time to easily eat up like, ten or fifteen seconds of runtime. But I felt this one was particularly noticeable since it's to the previous episode which we already had a recap segment of before the episode begun. * Ball-de-boo!

* We get an adorable crayon drawing memory when Luffy remembers Zunisha one-shotting Jack's fleet. * Luffy and Zoro's synchronized neck-crick is pretty fun. Also fun is their super-speed when they simultaneously rescue Tama and steal the food barge. The question is, where is this super-speed when they were bamboozled by Batman and Gazelleman? * Unlike the anime, Holdem is able to turn his sword into a flaming segmented sword. It's like Zabimaru from Bleach, but on fire! * We get an extra scene of a random goon holding Kiku hostage and Zoro locking eyes with her and saying "I'm not going to help you", knowing full well she's pretending to be a damsel in distress. * Speed also gets to do something here! She gets to shoot Armament Haki'd arrows at Zoro and Kiku! In the manga she doesn't do anything while this is happening. * REDDO HAAAAAWK! * God damn that's a very satisfying Red Hawk. Such a pretty-looking one! This was the scene that a friend showed me that got me excited to sit down and watch the Wano arc in anime format. From Holdem shooting a lion's fire (how does that work?) and engulfing Luffy, to Tama's yelling, to the zoom-in to Luffy's angry eyes, to the orb of flame dissipating, the zoom-in to Luffy's angry face, the impact, the music... it's just Luffy beating up Holdem, who means jack-all in the grand scheme of things, but what a badass Red Hawk.

And I think that's a neat place to stop off, with the initial Hawkins-Urashima-Holdem opening prologue to Wano done with. I'm not sure how often I'll update this little watch-along series, but I certainly am enjoying myself!

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scope-dogg · 4 years ago

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Super Beast Machine God Dancouga: Final Thoughts

“It’s complicated” can be a big of a copout when you’re weighing up whether to recommend something or not. In the case of this show and its trio of follow-up OVAs, it genuinely is kind of complicated. There was a lot I already liked about Dancouga even before I started watching - several of its soundtracks have had pride of place in my music playlists for years now, while the robot itself has been one of my favourite super robot designs for just as long, that being mostly fuelled by the machine’s status as a long-time Super Robot Wars stalwart. The same series made me a fan of the head pilot Shinobu Fujiwara and his trademark warcry of “YATTE YARUZE.” That said, I already went in with my expectations tempered by other opinions I’ve seen the generally weren’t quite so favourable as my expectations might have been.

Well, now I’ve seen it. In many ways, I really did enjoy it - the music is even better in its proper context, it’s cool to see where all the moves that Dancouga busts out in SRW came from, and Shinobu and the rest of the cast are as entertaining as I might have imagined in the primary material. Above all else, it surprised me by throwing in some ideas that were pretty original by the standards of its time, and some that are unique even compared to the rest of the genre as a whole. I really did enjoy a good amount of genuine enjoyment from the experience.

That doesn’t mean, however, that I’m going to recommend it. In fact, I just straight up don’t.

You see, there’s a lot of bad to go with the good in the show’s original anime run, to the degree that calling it “a mixed bag” would be too disingenuous. A promising start with some pretty great animation and production values quickly gives way to a level of quality that ranges from mediocre to shockingly poor, not only by today’s standards but those of the time. I don’t know the behind-the-scenes story of the show’s production, but it’s blatantly obvious that they found themselves out of money hilariously quickly, and they end up limping along on a shoestring budget. Stock footage abuse, animation errors, and just cheap and shoddy-looking artwork in general pile up until the result is a production that looks genuinely amateurish at times.

It’s a shame, because it’s a disservice to a show that’s actually fairly interesting in a lot of ways. The premise of Earth being invaded by an alien empire isn’t new, but typically shows of this setup from this era of anime follow a predictable pattern - a squad of hot-blooded youngsters is promptly assembled, thrown into the show’s resident giant robot, and sent off to fight off the aliens for as many formulaic monster-of-the-week style episodes as necessary. Here things aren’t so simple - there is the requisite squad of plucky youngsters, but it takes time for the team to properly assemble and to master their machine - in fact, they don’t even combine into Dancouga until the show’s halfway in. That’s actually more interesting than it sounds, because it means that the individual machines that make up Dancouga get a lot more screentime than they otherwise would in a show like Combattler V, for instance, which is cool because each of the four different ones has a vehicle form, a bestial animal form, and a humanoid configuration.

It also allows for the setting to be more interesting - humanity’s war against the Muge Zorbados invaders is more interesting than conflicts of this nature tend to be in old super robot shows. Instead of sending one gimmicky monster or robot at a time, the invasion comes in force, and the enemy takes over much of the world while the heroes of the Cyber Beast Force are still building themselves up. The war ends up being more of an asymmetrical war of resistance involving all of mankind rather than hinging solely on duels between the protagonists and the monster of the week. The invaders themselves are more interesting than usual as well, as the egos of each of the invading generals clash with one another. By far the most interesting villain is Shapiro Keats, a fellow member of the academy that the leads Shinobu, Sara, Masato and Ryo attended, whose megalomania leads him to betray mankind and defect to the aliens in a bid to elevate his own power and prestige and fulfil his own delusions of godhood. A lot of the challenges that the CBF face in the early parts of the show come more from Shapiro’s treachery and clever planning rather than gimmicky alien technologies.

However, while it has interesting ideas, the show never seems to be able to pull them off to their full potential. Ironically it’s Dancouga’s long-awaited and heavily-hyped arrival that heralds the death of much of the interesting elements to the story. In addition to being the biggest casualty of the show’s animation budget, Dancouga’s not implemented in a very interesting way in the show’s original anime run - whereas before battles were a test of the protagonists’ skill and strategy, Dancouga’s overpowering nature trivialises much of the action. It doesn’t help that its repertoire is limited to punching, shooting lasers, and on special occasions shooting a really big laser. As a result, the show loses momentum as it enters its final stages, as Dancouga just bulldozes over Muge Zorbados’ armies. It’s also around this time that the writers lose touch with what makes Shapiro Keats an interesting villain. He was compelling because of his sheer lack of redeeming features and total megalomania, yet more and more focus gets pushed onto his past romance with Sara, the show’s female co-protagonist. It seems like we’re meant to sympathise with him and her because of this lovers-to-anime arc, but Shapiro never ends up being anything less than a vile piece of shit with no redeeming features that leaves you boggling at what Sara could have ever possibly seen in him, and rolling your eyes whenever she’s shown to be struggling with having to fight him. Ultimately, the plot culminates in what must have been an awfully unsatisfying cliffhanger at the time.

However, that wasn’t the show’s real end, because it went on to spawn several OVAs. The first is Requiem for Victims, which portrays the final confrontation with Muge Zorbados. This is an immediate improvement in many ways, getting many things right that the show got badly wrong. First of all, the animation is far superior, as you might expect from an OVA - the difference is beyond night and day. Furthermore, it gives Dancouga some more interesting weapons and attacks to work with, and explores more of what makes it special as a machine beyond just being big and powerful. In spite of this, it also features the most fraught and exciting fights that it ever takes part in. Overall, it’s a massive improvement.

The peak, however, is probably the next OVA in line, God Bless Dancouga - taking place some time after Requiem, it’s got the best production values of anything with the Dancouga named attached. The story isn’t anything to write home about if I’m being honest, but it’s not bad either - if all you want is to see the characters interact with one another, then it ticks all the boxes. The animation is absolutely superb the whole way through, and while Dancouga doesn’t actually have a great deal of screentime, it makes it count big time when it does - chances are if you saw it use a cool attack in an SRW game, it got used first in this OVA.

I was really hoping that the OVAs could go three for three and pull off a great conclusion that’d make the time spent worth it, but that sadly wasn’t the case. Blazing Epilogue is a 4-parter that starts off promisingly plot-wise, but the production values are for the most part not up to the standards set by God Bless Dancouga or even Requiem for Victims - it’s not as bad as the original series, but it’s not especially good by the standards of 1990 when it was released. Worse is the fact that while the plot’s pretty good in episodes 1 through 3, it lets itself down for the finale, wrapping things up in an abrupt way that ended up making the whole exercise feel fairly pointless. It’s a total anticlimax and a weak way to wrap things up.

Of course, that wasn’t the absolute end, as the show got a modern sequel in the shape of Dancouga Nova in the 2000s, but I’m saving that for another day - it features all-new characters and is by all accounts very different from the original. As for the original Dancouga saga, like I said to open - it’s complicated. Personally, I think I enjoyed myself more than I didn’t - but I also don’t think that’d hold true for most people. I came to this already endeared to the robot, characters, and certain aspects of its presentation to the degree, and that helped me to power through a lot of the rockier moments in this so that I could see them in their original incarnation. For other people who aren’t super robot addicts like me, I just think the lows are too low and the highs aren’t high or numerous enough to warrant it being worth most people’s time.

#dancouga #mecha #respect the robot

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nonatowers · 4 years ago

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ladies and gents, this is the moment you’ve waited for

a shy “hi” and welcome to my first blog post on this side blog! my name is rosie, its a pleasure to meet you all and i will be honest, i dreaded my first post into this community for quite some time, but I just saw this answer-reply by psycho-sybil that made me pull out my literary resources and decide, it’s time to throw in my dime (please ignore this stupid joke). i’m sorry by the way, this is terribly random but i never really managed a blog before so…trial-by-error? (please be kind, i have a glass heart under my analysts hat)

anyways, my first idea was to unravel the character that is Arata Shindo (since many people seem to kind of misunderstand this fella), but that post is, uh, gonna be very very very long and i’m kinda trying to figure out if i should put it elsewhere? Or how to post it? if you guys got any ideas, let me know.

for today’s dish, i will humbly offer a very watered down and shortened take on psycho pass’ possible ending(s) from a more literary theory-point of view, and hopefully inspire some fella writer out here. for this, i could go on a rant of literary theory and criticism but our medium does not fully fit in there as well as too little people would know what I’m going on about, and likely have life’s to care about unlike me. but if you guys wanna know what books i read to get a grasp of the theories and criticism for like, your own free time, i can link you the uni books i got. with so much blubber done beforehand, lets get to this under the cut, since this will contain some spoilers from season 3.

the full circle idea is a very classic and satisfying theory in both film and literature. i suppose it circles back to the human brain’s need for completion, and to bring something full circle is the easiest and most ideal way to mentally rest a case and finish things. its can be possible for psycho pass to finish that way. however, i believe there are some different aspects that don’t get emphasised as much as they should when trying to imagine the future of the world in psycho pass. for once, its a so-so chance for a piece of work from the genre of cyberpunk to end on a simple type of full circle. if we take the “father of cyberpunk”, william gibson’s neuromancer trilogy, as an example we will see something that is quite similar and that came up within season 3: the introduction of AI’s, and specifically, sybil’s interest in them. i don’t know if it was just me who was confused at the end of the season why the AI aspect was suddenly so important, literally obliterating interest in an entire character that seemed kind of important to some extent at least (r.i.p. karina komiya at this point) but looking in retrospect and after rewatching it, there is a whole lot of sense to it. the story of psycho pass more or less started with us meeting the world and its limitations, heavily focusing on the bad sides as we follow akane’s point of view for most of the story to the point where figures like mika shimotsuki feel outright wrong to us (disclaimer: i am personally not a big fan of her, but i have to say that 70% of the slander on her are missing some pretty important points regarding her, but that’s for another day). akane stated that one day, sybil will not be needed anymore, which is - let’s say it as it is - a very romantic and ideal way of thinking. but we’re all very morally correct idealists, this idea just speaks most to us. however, over the course of the three seasons (i shall exclude the movies for this) i think it became pretty clear that society with the established politics and functions cannot really return i.e. function without a system like sybil anymore. think of this as an evolutionary type of thing: people are so used to buy food that practically nobody will just willingly agree to stop all that and go hunting like in the “good” ol’ days. mental evolution has finally let us come to understand that for example, gender is nothing but a social construct and we all are just humans. we could not imagine going back to times like 1600s, where race and gender were categorised by some b*llshit f*cking idea like “god-given privilege” (pardon my language at this point). hence it lays rather logically close for people to just give up the comforts of a society which we see in psycho pass is very unlikely. the comforts of that world goes as far as pulling in immigrants from all over there world, which does underline this statement- even if we strictly assume that the entire world is in chaos and war, that just makes japan with its sybil system as something desirable. naturally, we could flip this coin in different ways for various argumentations, but it will all boil down to people should reject living like that but they likely won’t. and I think i do not point out something outrageous or illogical when i say that humans are willing to silently accept a lot of things, even when they really shouldn’t. and that is not just some theory, in episode 4 ma-karina’s existence is shown on broadcast, and yet still karina komiya ends up voted as the new governor. the society knows that she herself has an holographic AI doing work for her, yet they still accepted her, and subsequently, sybil accepted ma-karina as a “citizen” with voting right and hence, right to be nominated (which, if you remember, was this thing that unraveled at the end of first inspector). now, sybil’s motives in accepting an AI likely could be different, namely because it could bring the acceptance of society about the system’s true facade closer, but that is a mini-theory for another day if i’m honest. taking these points in consideration, the first likely option that might occur in psycho pass’ future could be similar to real world situations: more people will start to reject the idea (of AI ruling, especially if the truth about the system ever gets publicised) which then results in bringing forth change and evolution through humans, a very classic scenario. hence it would not finish with our main cast, (which mainly serve as our story teller’s) as triumphant in this battle of man vs machine, but rather with their testimonies of society, and how the begin of change can look like.

here i shall will finish my already long post here, but i will hint that i personally do a have another theory about how this series could go towards the end. but i will save that up for when the community actually wants to hear it.

thanks for reading, i hope it wasn’t too messy? i'd appreciate some feedback c:

#psycho pass #akane tsunemori #shinya kougami #ginoza nobuchika #psycho pass 3 #kei ignatov #arata shindo #sybil system #makarina #karina komiya

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