#he's a great character but not a good person you dont need to justify his bad actions

[tategaminu]

It doesn't matter that Viren had his heart in the right place ASSAULT is not okay and Lissa had all the rights to leave. Viren and Callum have parallels but they are different in a lot of ways one being that he would never do something like that to Rayla and in a similar situation they would have talked about it. The narrative and Viren himself knows what he did wasn't okay you don't need to justify abuse. You can love a character and aknowledge they aren't a good person in canon.

[slavonicrhapsody]

ok I think I’ve played enough of the dlc where I feel like I can talk about it now and lift my spoilers embargo… overall I had SO much fun!! there’s so much to love about it and only a few things I didn’t like! more detailed thoughts under the cut:

Gameplay-wise, I thought almost every single boss was fun and rewarding to fight… my faves were Divine Beast Dancing Lion (best ost in the entire game by miles), Rellana, and Messmer. I also really loved the exploration?? My favorite kind of games are the ones where you have to sniff out every corner of the map in order to find hidden paths forward… the fact that you have to really poke around to find huge areas of the map, and how the traversal is so layered and non-linear, was THRILLING to me!! so much more interesting than the base game!!

Story-wise, what spoke to me the most was everything about the Hornsent… Belurat was my first legacy dungeon, and I was so wowed by the gorgeous unique architecture and the sheer desolation of the place that it really stayed with me. Both the environment and the Hornsent NPCs do such a great job of conveying the pain and tragedy of what happened to them, while at the same time, not simplifying them into some kind of faultless utopia… their society was proud and harsh and cruel (not just to others, but to their own people), but it was also bursting with art and culture, and it was home to everyday people who made delicious stew for their loved ones:

“Scorpion simmered in a black soup. Traditional meal of the hornsent. Once made with love by a certain elderly woman for the family table. Having long gone cold, this soup gives off a rank, sour smell.”

Some of my very favorite NPCS were the Hornsent Grandam and Hornsent (the guy); I thought their quests told such poignant stories about loss and the meaning of justice and revenge (I especially think Hornsent’s quest complements Marika’s story so well!!). The way they portrayed this civilization’s downfall was so beautiful and tragic!

Also the fact that the NPCs talk during combat is SO GOOD??? At first I was kind of annoyed that I had to summon Hornsent for Messmer’s boss fight to do his quest, but in the end I was so glad I did because his dialogue during and after the fight is incredible!! plus the NPCs talking to EACH OTHER during the Leda invasions?? and need I mention IGON… this is the real best new addition they made to the game

Now for the one big fat thing I didn’t like….

so I had actually heard about the leaks before playing the game and was like ok. if this is true theyre gonna have to really justify this to me because my initial impression is uhhh. lol??? And now that I can confidently say that I’ve combed the game top to bottom for pieces of this story, I really dont think the game succeeds at justifying Radahn’s appearance?

What I mean by “justify” is that, in my opinion, if you’re gonna bring back a fan-favorite character who was previously dead, and not have it come off as cheap fanservice, it needs to feel like this character’s presence matters — that they have the necessary buildup, that their appearance has a significant weight to it, and that their screentime fleshes them out as a person in a meaningful way. I don’t think the dlc achieves this at all with Radahn. Yes, his appearance is directly foreshadowed if you do Freyja and Ansbach’s quests, but it isn’t enough to just state in advance that he’ll show up… my problem is that, even with these NPCs’ dialogue, Radahn feels like a total non-person. We hear almost nothing about what his thoughts or feelings about this situation might’ve been (just Freyja’s assertion that he would have approved of “endless war, to invigorate the soul”). We get plenty of insight into Miquella’s character because there’s so much material about him, but there just isn’t the same investment into Radahn’s character, which makes his triumphant return fall really flat for me.

I think for me what would’ve appropriately justified Radahn returning is if Freyja gave us more details about who Radahn was as a commander during the Shattering… like, some jumping-off point to really get a sense of what his motivations might’ve been… OR, they could’ve even added another Redmane NPC with views on Radahn that conflict with Freyja’s (there is literally a minor boss, the Red Bear, who was stated to have been a Redmane!!!)… what’s still a mystery is why Malenia tried to kill Radahn, and why he resisted, and the DLC doesn’t give us any concrete information about Radahn’s actions or goals during the Shattering that would have caused this. They don’t have to spell it out for us!! I just needed SOME attempt to engage with Radahn’s character in the DLC material if they’re literally gonna bring him back from the dead!! Because as it stands, he shows up and fights us without a word or even an expression, like a glorified action figure!!! it’s LAME!!!!!

totally loved the DLC except for that part. anyway stan Elder Inquisitor Jori

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 1 - Side B

Propaganda below ⬇️

Matt

Matt's faith in the show is really important and well explored; one of the first scenes of the show is Matt going to confession (or, well, talking to his priest since he's not really confessing at that point). Matt struggles a lot with what he's supposed to do; everyone's telling him to kill the villain and he kinda wants to, but he literally says: "I know my soul is damned if I take his life". He struggles with his faith and goes with his doubts to his priest, and it's beautiful—also when he finally gets a costume for his vigilanteing he chooses to dress as the devil, lol. (His priest tells him that nothing makes people run to Church faster than the feeling of having the devil on their heels.)

a lot of the show is about how he justifies his vigilante actions with his faith, and whether he's doing the right thing in trying to help people or just using it as an outlet for his anger. the literal first scene of the show has him in a confession booth talking to his priest (who is a really interesting character too). this is not the scene I was talking about but it's such an excellent scene with matt talking to his priest: https://youtu.be/XHZ3NbEIDdw

canonically catholic but dresses like a demon to be quirky

honestly i dont wanna type too much but i feel that matt is a great example of someone who battles with his faith because he rarely loses his faith but rather fights with why he was made the way he was and put through what he was. He believes himself to have the devil inside him but believes that God put him there

ok in the comics barring the most current run matt has Mostly been a non-practicing Catholic that very rarely actually does any catholic Activities but ends up falling back into the Mindset and very occasionally dramatically taking confession (ex. in that one issue where he takes confession, basically tells the father that he is uniquely terrible and is thinking about violently murdering someone and when the father says "you can be forgiven" hes like "AUGFH-- NO!!!!!!!!!!" and runs out) when he's gone through some shit. and i love that its so relatable

hello its me cct organizer. i have to come clean, i made this tournament because i need matt to win something. i dont think hell win the sadboy and he lost the ginger tournament and >:( hes my favoritest guy ever. Also @ who said he has religious trauma is wrong and i will fight u about it (nicely) on my main @usaigi

This guy so catholic he spends an ungodly amount of time just chilling in the church. And goes there whenever there is a moral conundrum about killing people being Bad even though it would solve a lot of problems and stop said people from killing other people. This happens every other episode. Matt is the Catholic Guilt Guy. There's actually a lot of catholic stuff in the show as a whole. Just a compilation would be like three whole episodes long.

Hes great hes catholic enough to not outrught murder people but not catholic enough to not fuck before marriage hes a bisexual disaster at all times hes besties with a priest might i add hes great hes my special little guy

his catholicism is a huge piece of his characterisation he was raised by nuns in a catholic orphanage, the first scene we ever see him (as an adult and not a flashback) is him going to confession, he is good friend with his priest and has regular debates with him, etc also in s3 he has a huge crisis of faith after he lost A Lot where he stops believing for a while and it's linked to his identity crisis where he actually wants to kill another person (a hard line he previously chose never to cross) and wants to be only daredevil and not matt murdock, when he is both and needs both to exist also when he was a kid his grandmother used to say "watch out for the murdock boys, they've got the devil in them" and it created a surprising lot of his issues

So he's both catholic in the comics and the show but he's More Catholic in the show. Like, raised in a catholic orphanage by nuns (ONE OF WHICH IS HIS *MOTHER*), second scene in the show has him in a confession box kind. Matt Murdock goes out and gets the shit beaten out of him nightly and also beats the shit out of other people and purposefully leaned into devil iconography as his theme. When his nurse friend says, he takes a lot of punishment without one complaint he says "That part's the Catholicism." It is a Core Aspect of his character (at least in the show). He makes me insane. Also the same chemicals that blinded him created the teenage mutant ninja turtles and everyone should know that.

They went to confession to a priest who they had saved as their costumed counterpart and the guy recognized them by the voice, proving that it's possible and everyone else is just dumb

he takes "i wanna fight god" to new and incredibly violent levels, while also being a sweetheart and a goofball

Actually strictly WILL NOT kill criminals. Goes wayyy out of his way to avoid it. Fights with the Punisher about it. Goes to confession booth after nightly vigilante excursions. Feels so much guilt. "How have you been holding up?" "Like a good Caltholic boy" "that bad huh" - actual conversation with his priest

So Daredevil struggles with his mission as a crime fighter because killing criminals goes against his faith. He makes it a point to not kill criminals, believing that even bad people deserve a second chance. This philosophy puts him at odds against The Punisher, who is a relentless killer. As a Catholic myself, while I love the concept of a morally conflicted superhero, I think the worldbuilding around Daredevil is lacking. If he struggles with violence and killing, why doesn't he pray to warrior saints like Saint Michael, Saint Ignatius of Loyola (a former knight), or Saint Joan of Arc? Why isn't there a community of other Catholics he can turn to for guidance, considering New York City has a sizeable population of Catholics? And why are the churches he goes to always empty? Doesn't he know that the Catholic Church supports the just war theory? I think that would have made his burden more bearable.

He goes to church and confesses to punching people and says "imma do it again can i apologize in advance" and the father dude says "no you're meant to stop now" and Matt says "no" and they do this everyday. I'm not remembering it properly but this is a canon interaction i swear

HELLO HI YES I LOVE HIM AND WILL INFOR DUMP ok so. he is a vigalantty and he got named daredevil and he is an orphan and after the age of 12 was raised in an orphanage at a Catholic church and his therapist is his priest via confession abd. also his mother is a nun he has a whole mental breakdown over god and called Job a pussy because he liked god until he got better and liked god again he said "I'm dearedrvil and not even god can stop that now" and he's so cool

matt is a freakish little babygirl who was raised by nuns and definitely has religious trauma. i hate him so much (affectionately)

he’s literally fucking insane about it i don’t know what to say here. he thinks he’s chosen by god to go on some sort of holy quest to save hell’s kitchen. joan of arc ass.

i already know hes in by default j just wanted to give him a personal shout out i love this angsty catholic dweeb

how practicing he is depends on the run, but in my favorite he is quite literally confessing to a member of the last extant order millitant who happens to be a priest at a church in hells kitchen.

i love him for having the funniest version of a trope i usually hate (person gets into confession booth and asks forgiveness not for what they've done, but for what they're about to do). usually this trope just looks silly to me bc like. the priest would just say "i can't do that" and you would have to either awkwardly explain yourself or just Leave. it's funny when matt does it because fr. lantom is probably like "what are you gonna do???" and matt's like "lol. lmao. 😊 hehehe." anyway we love this angry catholic man who dresses up like the devil to beat people up in hell's kitchen

Harrowhark

I'm pretty sure you've already got plenty of submissions for her so I'll just say she was raised in what is basically a cult (technically a nunnery but let's be real) dedicated to keeping the body of the thing that will kill God behind the rock. One of their prayers is actually "I pray the rock is never rolled away". Harrow is extremely devout as penance for her earlier heretical actions in the tomb as a child (spoiler!) so the Catholic guilt really comes through

imagine being a catholic nun and you meet god, but it turns out he’s a twitch streamer from new zealand who became god because everything got a little bit out of hand. and just before you met him you gave yourself a diy grief-fuelled lobotomy with the help of your best frenemy. imagine how insane you’d be. now multiply that insanity by nine. that’s the fictional love of my life right there.

she meets god. she’s not inspired

she’s number one practitioner of space Catholicism. The locked tomb is chock full of Christian (catholic) imagery themes metaphors etc. just look at her she’s got a bone rosary

They're Catholicism with extra bones. Everyone is a nun. They have what is basically a rosary made from knuckle bones. They technically worship the same God as everyone else, but they're waaaay more focused on The Body in the Tomb (Mary) and we get a moment where we find out that while everyone else prays the equivilent of The Lords Prayer, they're doing the equivilent of Hail Mary. And they paint their faces with skulls.

She thinks leaving dry bread in a drawer is taking care of someone. She's in love with a 10,000 year old corpse (the same one they worship). She spent ALL NIGHT digging with her bare hands to make sure a field had bones every 5 feet so she could fight her girlfriend - I mean, greatest enemy. Spoiler territory: She's been puppeting her parents corpses since she was 8 years old. Instead of grieving her dead girlfriend, she gives herself a lobotomy. She makes soup with bone in it so she can use the bone IN THEIR STOMACH to try and kill them.

The author is/was Catholic and the entire series had heavy Catholic overtones. https://www.tor.com/2020/08/19/gideon-the-ninth-young-pope-and-the-new-pope-are-building-a-queer-catholic-speculative-fiction-canon/ A good breakdown of how it's Catholic

[deadtiredghost]

I feel like people misinterpret 03 Raph and Mikey like Raph isn’t just the angry dumb brute and Mikey isn’t just the clown.

oh yeah, 100%, and with 03 which has so many great character-centered episodes too!!!

It suprises me how many ppl reduce characters - especially when they dont reduce all characters equally but say reduce one to big the other up (does that make sense? Like i see a lot of people love Donnie so they gotta bash Raph or vice versa for some reason, not just with 03 but with all the itterations rlly)

I like how 03!Raph has clear flaws, sure, but he works hard on them, especially his anger issues where he kinda would be justified for blowing up and getting angry with how many of the issues they go through escalate to life-threatning situations, but he always does really well in keeping a cool head. Overall there are so many points where he is thoughtful, he's such a sweet person

doesnt 03!raph actively chose to flee rather than fight humans at some points? like he could have fought and won but he didn't want to hurt humans who are effectively defensless against him. Raph is also really good with kids and of course Mrs Morrison - who could forget - like there are several episodes centering on how gentle he is with the civillians he interacts with.

i love so much how 03!Mikey is so chaotic and sometime rlly mean, like he has a lot of lines that are just kinda mean despite how thoughtful he is sometimes, which just shows me his immaturety, which i love to see in a canonically teenage character, cause the 03 turtles are so mature most of the time sometimes u forget theyre 15.

He enjoys his pranks, which is a trademark for Mikeys rlly, and he likes to annoy his brothers like any sibling would, but also, I think from a writer's perspective, you kinda need a character like Mikey in the group to lighten up the show - without Mikey there to brighten the mood, the sense of humour isnt a sign of immatureyu but an essential part of balancing the relationships between the siblings - their tendencies to argue and be too serious. Mikey makes the bad days bareable for his brothers, and that along with his being rather astute at reading his siblings (like his comments about Leo working hard and being responsible so the rest of them dont have to be), i think that the brothers very much value Mikey's humour.

03!Mikey is also rlly forgiving and understanding of a lot of situations, for example in season 1 when Raph nearly hit him way too hard out of anger, Mikey is just worried for Raph not angry at all that he nearly got hurt - i like to attribute that a lot to the amount of trust Mikey has in his bros to not hurt him as well as how Mikey understands that everyone has their own perspective to things - like if someone shoves into u on the street while some people might be annoyed that the person didn't say sorry, Mikey would probs shrug it off as that person being in a rush or just having a bad day - which speaks miles to his emotional maturity.

Also insert here: one of Raph's happiest memories being shoving Mikey's head into his birthday cake (from that one brainwashing episode)

03 Splinter did so well raising all his kids - Raph and Mikey included, theyre all just such lovely ppl and so mature for their age.

if i were gonna describe mikey and raph in one word, it would be "passionate" for Raph and "carefree" for Mikey.

They are also goobers tho; this is the duality of turtle.

[bonefall]

How do you feel about "character joins bloodclan" aus? Im curious about ur thoughts since youre really in tune with the themes of the series but personally i just hate them bc its ALWAYS aimed at 'unfortunate' characters and always ALWAYS ignores the fact that bloodclan is a horrible place in-canon and that they're just reflavoring the abuse and trauma the characters qent through to be more emo or goth themed.

Ravenpaw is ALWAYS a prime target for this and its like. Great. You took the character being abused by their mentor figure and is being harmed from the violent culture the clan has generated... and giving them an EMO mentor figure who will inevitably abuse them and harm them as a result of the violent culture the emo clan has generated. Sasha is another one I've noticed- you've put the woman who lost her kit and is struggling to survive with the others while being controlled and abused by someone who sees her as an outsider (aka alone and easy to isolate), and are gonna put her in a faction who specifically separates kin from one another to easily control them and who have canonically tried murdering those who stick with their family. What was gained here.

Like i know bloodclan is revamped in ur au (thank god for it) but in canon bloodclan is HORRIBLE. People ignore that in favor of putting their favs into bloodclan bc bloodclan is cool and killed tigerstar that one time bc of revenge. Ravenpaw becomes Scourge AUS are SO SO SO much worse bc of this too- sure you manage to point out how scourge and raven has roughly similar stories in their youth but you could also do something interesting and make an au where raven and scourge are FOILS and do a firestar/scourge thing, while pointing this comparison out!! Instead you just went "Ravenpaw emo now and is sad about beating up Firestar his friend" and basically kept everything the same.

Sorry im basically venting here but i just dont like how people forget that scourge in canon does NOT look out for the 'little guy', he's a murderer and abuser who wants to keep his subjects afraid and separated so that he alone has power over them. Bloodclan is not the cool strong goth group, its the group where two cats slaughter eachother over a piece of twoleg scraps, only for the survivor to die bc the food was poisonous to cats and no one knew bc theres no cohesive group that can pass that knowledge around. its a fucking horrible place to live. Im not saying that you cant do interesting "character in bloodclan" aus (a Rusty who lives in bloodclan who STILL wants to do good but is shaped by the horrid reality of bloodclan would be fun imo) but its so often used with already traumatized characters as a 'solution' or 'fix-it with some emotional issues involved' that i just foam at the mouth and howl like a rabid animal on principle at this point.

Hmm... I think for me, it doesn't tend to read that way for me when the fandom makes AUs for it. I'm coming at BloodClan from a point of really deep critique and frustration.

BloodClan's not a REAL place, and what that means is, every speck of how horrible it was is a choice the writers made to justify its treatment. It was something they actively decided, because, BloodClan was a tool to suddenly invalidate the previous 5 books of TPB so that the series could comfortably conclude there was no need to upset the status quo.

If you haven't read it before, I recommend this post I made on how Darkest Hour Is A Personal Disappointment, but anyway;

We spend a whole series on how Fireheart challenges a broken society, because he is different. Their xenophobia, how isolationism and glory get people killed, the way that Tigerstar's greatest asset is how respected he is... these are bad things. They're things that Fireheart fights for several books.

But then, in the LAST book, in the 11th inning, they introduce BloodClan. They're just evil. They have no nuance. The narrative bends over backwards to stress that this group of evil foreigners LOVES murder, hates friendship, and doesn't believe in our good god.

Suddenly, the Clan cats have to be EXTRA xenophobic and glorious to kill these filthy, murderous foreign hordes. Clan cat belief in their good god makes them stronger than the bloodthirsty barbarians. Firestar kills Scourge and we can feel happy and triumphant about it, when Tigerstar was killed a few chapters ago and given a tragic sendoff.

So, I encourage you to step back from an emotional response to how Filthy and Murderous this group was portrayed, and look at it as a writing choice.

When Tigerstar, known cat-racist and murderer of mixed-race people, is killed by Scourge in self-defense, he is grieved by Firestar and commended for his "good qualities". (and then they retconned in that it was actually secretly revenge all along, not just self defense, so this killing is extra evil)

When Scourge is killed, Firestar just thinks about how it's cool he's not going to heaven, and how all of the previously ferocious BloodClan warriors look so inferior to the forest Clans.

And so, with all that said,

I'm 100% in favor of how the fandom widely looks at this, says, "fuck that" and just makes them the Cool Goth Group. I'd argue pretty strongly that the least nuanced idea of that is still infinitely better than canon.

There was nothing there. It was literally just Xenophobia-Is-JustifiedClan. They literally hated love and friendship and banned families so that Clan cats would look good in comparison. Banned families. You don't get this level of stupid evil from anything else but an 80s cartoon.

Maybe I just don't see the AUs you tend to see (I curate my Tumblr experience very well and generally hang out in more adult-oriented spaces, I can imagine a place like Amino being mostly kids who tend to be immature. Edgelord Angstpiddle is just a normal part of growing up), but every project I see that gives me a glimpse of BloodClan Ravenpaws and Sashas come with such tweaks already assumed.

Like, these are examples I've seen,

They'll have Raven be involved with the formation of BloodClan

Scourge will actually be a character with some pity and mercy, like how he was in Rise of Scourge when his abusive siblings begged him for food, and he fed them before sending them away.

no ban on love and friendship. Lol. Lmao, even.

More of the social structure will be based around acquiring food for people in a 'harsh' environment, leading to that battle, instead of just Evil Foreign Greed (which canon!scourge only had after being almost killed by tigerstar, because he said "actually, in light of new information that you are a murderer, i need to reconsider our deal.")

BloodClan will be overhauled completely. I've seen this a few ways. Connecting them to SkyClan, or the Oakstar raids on Chelford, or even as a positive entity; a surprise ally. (VERY common with BloodClan Ravenpaw AUs I've seen).

Anyways... (Shrug), I dunno dude, it doesn't bother me that much.

[anonzentimes]

You're one of my favorite people on here, I love komaeda so much, oh my god

infodump about whatever you want about komaeda NOW!! (if you want, you dont actually have to)

RAGGG!!!!! you're so so sweet oh my gosh ❤️❤️ Sure i'll talk about komaeda! I'll just say what I've been thinking about specifically today.

I was thinking about the fact that Nagito can suppress sides of him today, when he needs to he's able to suppress some of his personality for people. I think the reason Nagito is "normal," before his freakout is not only for the plot twist but because he's trying to make a good impression for Hajime. And once he's even more interested in Hajime he wants his attention, He's always by his side at any chance he gets. I think Hajime just generally stood out to him because he felt a connection with him on a spiritual level and acted upon his curiosity. Why would he be the only one to stay behind and wake up Hajime otherwise? I think he had the gut instinct I do when I feel as if I need to talk to somebody who interests me.

His "facade," is sort of like how when you meet new people and you're not entirely showing your true self fully yet, I think he does that. He's able to suppress parts of himself for other people.

Nagito is always wanting Hajime's attention, he respects his personal space and beliefs but mostly wants to be around him. He's also VERY observant, even when he doesn't understand social cues sometimes his ability to observe others is a big factor about him. He observes Hajime a lot.

Which is honestly weird, isn't he afraid of getting close to people? He usually avoids his classmates, he thinks he isn't deserving of reciprocation, and yet he stayed by Hajime's side. He made an effort to talk normally enough that Hajime would like him. He even went swimming without any complaints, probably because he still doesn't want to lose his attention.

He continues this behavior throughout the game, even in Chapter 4 he uses the fact he has information to get Hajime's attention.

He doesn't think he's worth the ultimates time, and yet, he's always drawn to Hajime. He's always after Hajime's approval, it's so oddly fascinating to me. It's not an obsession thing, but he just really loves him for some reason. It feels more like an irrational emotion, it's not warped love, it's not about status, and It proceeds on even when he knows he's a despair.

I wonder if maybe, just maybe, if Nagito saw his suicide plan as freeing Hajime from Despair. Maybe that's how he justifies it with his emotions. And in an odd sense a horrible proclamation of love.

Sorry this kind of turned into Komahina more than anything lmao, but mostly I'm just thinking about how weird it is that he likes him, like why? What is it about him that Nagito is so infatuated with him? It goes against what he usually does, was he just really that special that he becomes irrational to his typical behaviors?

And in the free time events he's even more infatuated because he believes Hajime is amazing for tolerating him. He pushes him away so he doesn't get harmed by his luck cycle, but also to hopefully to get Hajime kill him. He wants him to escape, he wants him to create hope. Because he believes someone as great as Hajime can create amazing hope. And then his love confession???? AUGH his love confession like, it's so complicated. Did he bail out because he didn't want him to get hurt by his luck cycle? Did he bail out because he doesn't think he's worthy? LIKE??? He's so crazy.

Nagito's so interesting, his irrational infatuation with Hajime next to his warped beliefs, luck cycle, warped love, and intense obsession with hope to the point that he becomes morally grey over it makes him such a wonderful and entertaining character.

[papakhan]

i think you misunderstood me. i wasn't trying to say you were misinterpreting the character, just that you approach him somewhat differently than i do, in some significant ways, and maybe not even him per se, just "what comes next", so to speak.

i also wasn't saying that boone shouldn't feel remorse about what hes done, because, like, yeah, he really damn should. and unfortunately the bias against the great khans that permeate the games writing rears its ugly head again--i mean, some of the fan favorites call them dirty people who need to be chased out of the mojave, and while that in itself isnt bad writing (characters can be bigoted and biased), it feels like the player is given very little in terms of retaliating against those statements and the games assumed status quo that the ncr supposedly has more legitimacy in its presence than the khans do. i was more getting at where that remorse would take him, because as you said, his storyline is largely concerned with his own feelings while the game gives you no real way to make him snap the hell out of it, stop justifying the atrocities he was a part of as some inevitability he sadly has to bear, and overall stop making it about himself and open his tiny eyes to whats actually happening and what can be done. like, yeah, he could go from suicidal gestures to groveling, and again to be clear he should feel sorry, but i feel like thats still centering his emotional journey.

as for defending bitter springs, like. yes, the refugee camp at bitter springs is in itself an ugly truth of an image of the ncr, revealing it as a force that tramples over people and commits atrocities and then names itself protectors of whats left. terrible protectors too, seeing how poor and understaffed the refugee camp is. i wish that in itself couldve had some sort of impact on the man as well. still, in terms of material consequences, boone protected the refugees, and while once again that doesnt Repay for anything or Make Up for anything, i dont think it was necessarily the ultimate point of the quest. as you pointed out, it wasnt great khans he protected from the legion, it was refugees from arizona and the handful of ncr staff. theres not any kinda neat bow put on it, there's no coming full circle. being denied a selfish "heroic" death in favor of, like, protecting some people he doesnt know, i think its interesting and could serve as a way to pull him out of this spiral. maybe its wishful thinking on my part, but the difference between novac boone and post-independent boone IS that ncr has completely withdrawn from the area and boone took part in the actions that lead to that. but i could just be wishing things had been written differently. oh! and you brought up giving him up to the great khans to judge, its something ive thought about before, and i wish it was something you could do in the game.

anyway... im sorry if i came off as confrontational in my first anon, i saw that you were answering asks about it and i wanted to offer my own perspective. none of it was said to undermine yours.

well first of all I'd like to say I'm sorry for being hostile, it's difficult for me to interpret tone at the best of times and even worse over text so I appreciate you telling me that didnt mean to sound confrontational and i'm sorry for taking it that way

i think its just frustrating to me that like. idk the Joshua Graham dickriding has died down a bit recently because people have finally figured out that despite the game framing him as the good guy hes actually still a terrible person and the writers were wrong for what they did (the racism most of all) but then people still lick Boones/the NCR's boots

but your perspective is refreshing i think youre right yeah, Boone shouldn't really be the centre of the "victims of the bitter springs massacre" because. he's not a victim. he is a perpetrator. on that you have made me realise that yeah even if hes begging for forgiveness even then its still bad for it to centre him at all

And the Khans being one of the power houses of Vegas pre-NCR is woefully underexplored but tbh given how the rest of the Khans are handled I don't even think its a time constrains thing its just a writers thing. i've complained enough about how the Followers treat the Khans in game not really lining up with how they used to work together / can work together in the future but that's a whole other thing

i still think the fight for bitter springs is still the climax of the I Forgot to Remember to Forget questline, its supposed to be what snaps boone out of it and lets the player come to some kind of resolution with him. They're not exactly good or helpful resolutions, because as I have said before he still doesn't respect the Khans and as you have also said this is a problem with the game as a whole. and he's still protecting people he doesnt know for ultimately selfish reasons. It's a step. I guess. and yknow its a video game with only two conclusions for a quest, the rest of those steps are kind of up to interpretation.

its the beauty of fanworks and what have you. like I said my perspective is more one of frustration. Me liking the Khans so much and examining the game from their POV when the game kinda hates them and that feeds into the fanart/writing and looking at Boone is just. I'm just tired

[cloudcountry]

Okay but re: the Vil post

I agree but I get why he gets characterized like that

1. He clearly holds strong to some restrictive beauty standards (though to be fair we really only see them directed at himself. Not to get on my “Vil has an ED” soapbox but I mean. *gestures to his labwear vignette*)

2. We’ve seen him hold Epel to a bullshit standard (the fucking accent thing it pisses me off because that’s my dialect too and there’s nothing unprofessional about it! “There’s a time and place for hometown pride” he shouldn’t have to force an accent it’s totally bullshit and considering the stigma around southern accents is based in classism and racism it’s all kinds of fucked up. I know that it’s an en translation thing and in jp it’s mainly about his lack of manners/honorifics but most of these are coming from en only players and even when you do know better it’s hard to get over the feelings)

Like he isn’t actually like that but I get the feeling of it

personally i dont understand why people characterize him like that. i think its a blatant misunderstanding because they think hes a bully (which he isnt.) but literally his beauty standards that are WAY too harsh are only for him which is because he strives for perfection. he just wants everyone else to do their absolute best and HATES it when they waste their potential.

ive also seen people call him fatphobic, classist, racist, ablelist, etc and im like ???? where the hell are you people getting this from??? did we read the same thing????? its like the fandom is throwing around words to justify hating him. its weird.

i know the accent thing is a touchy subject and honestly i hated him for a while because of that too, but i feel like we as a fandom need to hate the WRITERS for that and not vil. he literally just wanted epel to stop using crude language and the translation fucked that up. its the writer's fault, not vil's character. i do see where youre coming from though because at the end of day, no matter how stupid the translation was, vil being rude about epel's accent is part of eng server canon.

also i get that!! idia pushes every single one of my anger buttons and i hate him so much but a good chunk of my moots love him to death and thats great for them. someone has to (im JOKING IM JOKING)

[shima-draws]

Yeah my opinion on HW is very.. two sided. On the one hand YOU DONT BREAK UP A FOUND FAMILY HICCUP LOOKED AT TOOTHLESS AND SAW HIMSELF AND TOOTHLESS CHOSE TO FLY WITH HICCUP OR NOT AT ALL IM SHAKING YOU CLAWING AT THE WALLS CHEWING ON THE FURNITURE. On the other hand I watched a video that like,, kinda justified HW?? or like explained it at the very least as like staying together puts the dragons and vikings in continuous danger that theyd need to separate from each other to avoid 1/2 RAGE anon

[[Like there will always be Dragons and Hunters and HW Villain Whatshisface and there could thoretically always be Hiccups but how long would the cycle repeat until dragons are all dead or all safe?? like keeping the dragons on Berk isnt best for the dragons or the vikings and i get that!! but on the other hand arguing this would disregard all the implications of Found Family and dragons being more than just animals and HTTYD's Never Give Up On What You Believe message. 2/2 Rage anon

Surprise RAGE anon 3/2 BUT ALSO Ruff going from Badass Wonder Girl in RTTE to Lets Annoy This Man Into Letting Me Go (Great Idea!!) and Then LEAD HIM TO THE THINGS HE WANTS TO KILL (Bad Idea!!) was... uugh you were doing so well rtte came out before hw why didnt they add in her character development dreamworks whyyy. And dont even get me started on Tuff just suddenly not even caring about Ruff at all NOT IN MY FOUND AND IN THIS CASE BIRTH FAMILY BITCH]]

Honestly I never really agreed with that;; The big argument about HTTYD 3's ending is the whole "Well, all the dragons leaving is how the book ended" deal but like. It doesn't have to follow the book to the letter. It HASN'T been doing that, do you know how vastly different the film franchise is from the book series? If the first movie had started with "There were dragons when I was a boy" YEAH it would make sense if you had the trilogy end that way, because you'd already hinted at it. But they made no indication of that being the ending UNTIL the third film. And they could have chosen not to end it that way and people would probably have better opinions about the movie then.

If you spent two films building up the central theme that humans and dragons can and should coexist and have found true companions in each other, why would you suddenly decide to toss that out. If Hiccup spent two films protecting the dragons from harm why can't he continue to do that. Why did he give up. It's completely contradictory to his character, to the fundamentals of who Hiccup is as a person. Hiccup is stubborn. He's STUPIDLY stubborn and we've seen that over and over. And that stubbornness is usually what leads him to saving the day and coming up with some plan to keep everyone safe without having to run away. It's just frustrating 😔

And the concluding message of "We're going to wait until the world is safe and dragons can live among humans peacefully again" is really shallow bc how are you going to convince the world that dragons are good WITHOUT dragons. If they aren't there to set the example how are you going to sway people to the good side without any proof. Going off of that how is Hiccup going to change anybody's mind if he's sitting on an island in the middle of nowhere 'guarding the dragon's secret' or whatever bullshit lmao it's just so contradictory. Honestly that whole argument felt really rushed and not thought out well, like they needed some excuse and that was the best they could come up with. And honestly? The world is NEVER going to be completely safe, that's just not how the world works. There will always be danger and terrible awful people like Drago and Grimmel. But sitting on and island and hoping they might change their ways isn't going to do jack shit lmao you can't stop bad people from doing bad things by just twiddling your thumbs and praying for the world to be safe for dragons again. You gotta WORK for that, you need to put in the effort, and I just never got that impression from THW's ending. It really just felt like they were expecting all their problems to magically be fixed and I'm like BRO. You PROVED in the first two movies that you can do anything as long as you have your dragons. You can change the entire world view of an island, or a country, or the world if you put your mind to it. But I guess we're going to disregard all of that suddenly for no reason 🙃

And yeah YEAH I definitely agree with you on the whole found family thing. They seemed to forget all about that in THW too >:(

Don't get me started on how they ruined everyone's character development in 3 😭 They did Ruff dirty. AND Snotlout and Fishlegs and Tuff.

Anyway rant over LOL I'm glad that most people agree with me about THW! I know when it first came out people were getting angry defending it and I'm like no listen you gotta look past your nostalgia and love for the movies and criticize it properly. You cannot look me in the eyes and tell me that Toothless would choose a random female dragon over Hiccup. LIES and SLANDER

[davekat-sucks]

i want that anon to think about it this way: can you actually name five good non-forced canon heterosexual romances off the top of your head?

because i cant, and thats the problem, its forced *writing*. how can you expect people to write something theyve never lived through (assuming the writer is like hussie for example) when nobody seems to know how to write a story first and opts for masturbatory self insertion instead?

look at samurai jack, genndy is very creative and has great ideas, but that got ruined the moment he decided jack just NEEDED to have a love interest based on his real life dream girl. the results? a rehash of ttgl ending, but shittier.

or my life as a teenage robot, did you know jenny was supposed to end up with sheldon? her stalker who feitshized she was a robot? because the creator related way too much to him?

hell, not only western shows, remember how sasuke ended up with sakura despite never giving a shit about her the entire show and abusing her? or naruto with hinata? kishimoto said he was like naruto and his wife was like sakura multiple times, how do you think she felt when he tried to justify these endgame pairings saying hinata was his ideal woman?

its shit like that. as for me, this is my personal opinion, but why i would i want someone feel forced to give me "representation" when theyve never met someone like me and all i end up with is an offensive caricature? look at hsbc for forced cynical representation, was rosemary worth it when they are reduced to ntr fuel and character assassination? or davekat for the very same? what about johnroxy, dont you think that was forced as well? trans roxy so that now roxy can end up with dirk? isnt that forced?

i dont watch a story for representation or validation, i watch a story for entertainment, and i dont want writers to feel pressured or restricted to just tell their story at the detriment of their original ideas and setting. if i want to see something hyper specific to something i saw, then i do it myself, i dont need anybodys crumbs or disingenuous hand me dows because they see me as a checklist to get money. i want sincerity and effort. writers arent gods that need to acknowledge i exist, they are voices that tell a story, dont depend on them or put them on a pedestal, you or anybody else can become that too. tell your story because are passionate about it, and that way itll never be forced. thats just the way i see it.

True and wise words, Anon.

[catholic-character-tournament]

Quarter Finals - Catholic Character Tournament

Propaganda below ⬇️

Matt

Matt's faith in the show is really important and well explored; one of the first scenes of the show is Matt going to confession (or, well, talking to his priest since he's not really confessing at that point). Matt struggles a lot with what he's supposed to do; everyone's telling him to kill the villain and he kinda wants to, but he literally says: "I know my soul is damned if I take his life". He struggles with his faith and goes with his doubts to his priest, and it's beautiful—also when he finally gets a costume for his vigilanteing he chooses to dress as the devil, lol. (His priest tells him that nothing makes people run to Church faster than the feeling of having the devil on their heels.)

a lot of the show is about how he justifies his vigilante actions with his faith, and whether he's doing the right thing in trying to help people or just using it as an outlet for his anger. the literal first scene of the show has him in a confession booth talking to his priest (who is a really interesting character too). this is not the scene I was talking about but it's such an excellent scene with matt talking to his priest: https://youtu.be/XHZ3NbEIDdw

canonically catholic but dresses like a demon to be quirky

honestly i dont wanna type too much but i feel that matt is a great example of someone who battles with his faith because he rarely loses his faith but rather fights with why he was made the way he was and put through what he was. He believes himself to have the devil inside him but believes that God put him there

ok in the comics barring the most current run matt has Mostly been a non-practicing Catholic that very rarely actually does any catholic Activities but ends up falling back into the Mindset and very occasionally dramatically taking confession (ex. in that one issue where he takes confession, basically tells the father that he is uniquely terrible and is thinking about violently murdering someone and when the father says "you can be forgiven" hes like "AUGFH-- NO!!!!!!!!!!" and runs out) when he's gone through some shit. and i love that its so relatable

This guy so catholic he spends an ungodly amount of time just chilling in the church. And goes there whenever there is a moral conundrum about killing people being Bad even though it would solve a lot of problems and stop said people from killing other people. This happens every other episode. Matt is the Catholic Guilt Guy. There's actually a lot of catholic stuff in the show as a whole. Just a compilation would be like three whole episodes long.

Hes great hes catholic enough to not outrught murder people but not catholic enough to not fuck before marriage hes a bisexual disaster at all times hes besties with a priest might i add hes great hes my special little guy

his catholicism is a huge piece of his characterisation he was raised by nuns in a catholic orphanage, the first scene we ever see him (as an adult and not a flashback) is him going to confession, he is good friend with his priest and has regular debates with him, etc also in s3 he has a huge crisis of faith after he lost A Lot where he stops believing for a while and it's linked to his identity crisis where he actually wants to kill another person (a hard line he previously chose never to cross) and wants to be only daredevil and not matt murdock, when he is both and needs both to exist also when he was a kid his grandmother used to say "watch out for the murdock boys, they've got the devil in them" and it created a surprising lot of his issues

So he's both catholic in the comics and the show but he's More Catholic in the show. Like, raised in a catholic orphanage by nuns (ONE OF WHICH IS HIS *MOTHER*), second scene in the show has him in a confession box kind. Matt Murdock goes out and gets the shit beaten out of him nightly and also beats the shit out of other people and purposefully leaned into devil iconography as his theme. When his nurse friend says, he takes a lot of punishment without one complaint he says "That part's the Catholicism." It is a Core Aspect of his character (at least in the show). He makes me insane. Also the same chemicals that blinded him created the teenage mutant ninja turtles and everyone should know that.

They went to confession to a priest who they had saved as their costumed counterpart and the guy recognized them by the voice, proving that it's possible and everyone else is just dumb

he takes "i wanna fight god" to new and incredibly violent levels, while also being a sweetheart and a goofball

Actually strictly WILL NOT kill criminals. Goes wayyy out of his way to avoid it. Fights with the Punisher about it. Goes to confession booth after nightly vigilante excursions. Feels so much guilt. "How have you been holding up?" "Like a good Caltholic boy" "that bad huh" - actual conversation with his priest

So Daredevil struggles with his mission as a crime fighter because killing criminals goes against his faith. He makes it a point to not kill criminals, believing that even bad people deserve a second chance. This philosophy puts him at odds against The Punisher, who is a relentless killer. As a Catholic myself, while I love the concept of a morally conflicted superhero, I think the worldbuilding around Daredevil is lacking. If he struggles with violence and killing, why doesn't he pray to warrior saints like Saint Michael, Saint Ignatius of Loyola (a former knight), or Saint Joan of Arc? Why isn't there a community of other Catholics he can turn to for guidance, considering New York City has a sizeable population of Catholics? And why are the churches he goes to always empty? Doesn't he know that the Catholic Church supports the just war theory? I think that would have made his burden more bearable.

He goes to church and confesses to punching people and says "imma do it again can i apologize in advance" and the father dude says "no you're meant to stop now" and Matt says "no" and they do this everyday. I'm not remembering it properly but this is a canon interaction i swear

HELLO HI YES I LOVE HIM AND WILL INFOR DUMP ok so. he is a vigalantty and he got named daredevil and he is an orphan and after the age of 12 was raised in an orphanage at a Catholic church and his therapist is his priest via confession abd. also his mother is a nun he has a whole mental breakdown over god and called Job a pussy because he liked god until he got better and liked god again he said "I'm dearedrvil and not even god can stop that now" and he's so cool

matt is a freakish little babygirl who was raised by nuns and definitely has religious trauma. i hate him so much (affectionately)

he’s literally fucking insane about it i don’t know what to say here. he thinks he’s chosen by god to go on some sort of holy quest to save hell’s kitchen. joan of arc ass.

i already know hes in by default j just wanted to give him a personal shout out i love this angsty catholic dweeb

how practicing he is depends on the run, but in my favorite he is quite literally confessing to a member of the last extant order millitant who happens to be a priest at a church in hells kitchen.

i love him for having the funniest version of a trope i usually hate (person gets into confession booth and asks forgiveness not for what they've done, but for what they're about to do). usually this trope just looks silly to me bc like. the priest would just say "i can't do that" and you would have to either awkwardly explain yourself or just Leave. it's funny when matt does it because fr. lantom is probably like "what are you gonna do???" and matt's like "lol. lmao. 😊 hehehe." anyway we love this angry catholic man who dresses up like the devil to beat people up in hell's kitchen

I'm sure Harrow is lovely and I respect the space lesbians but listen to me. Listen.

Matt Murdock is the Catholic character of all time, and if you make him lose, I am blowing up this website and everyone in it.

He is Catholic. His mother is a nun. He grew up in a catholic orphanage. Half the episodes in the show include him going to confession. When he needs therapy, he talks to his priest. He dresses up as a devil partly because of the Catholicism.

One time he got godly powers on loan from Heimdall (see below), and he did a lot of good with it, and then the second it was over he just... well. Also see below!

This man's every coping mechanism is Catholicism.

Please vote for Matt in the @catholic-character-tournament because he's the best and most realistic representation of what it means to be Catholic. Someone who's been punched and bet and crushed by life but still gets up every day to try. No, he's not a nun like his competition but he's not less devoted because of that. Not everyone is called to service. In the day he works at a defense lawyer to help people. Not for the money but to help people not get screwed over by the law. And at night, he dons a mask and beats up assholes when the law fails them. Is he perfect? No, that's the point. Matt is a broken man who is just trying his best to do well and live like Jesus.

He fully embodies the Catholic doctrine of faith and good works. He has faith in what he's doing even if others challenge him. He believes in forgiveness and repenting even when going up against "the devil."

"The people you murder deserve another chance." ... "No, Frank. To try again, Frank. To try. And if you don't get that, there's something broken in you you can't fix, and you really are a nutjob." "You think God made you a one-man firing squad. But you're wrong. There is goodness in people, even in you. And you're gonna have to kill me, 'cause I'm never gonna stop coming for you, until I take you down."

Daredevil Season 2 Episode 3

He (tries) to love his enemy. He believes in Elektra and Frank and maybe Dex and their ability to change. To be good. And when he can't, Matt refuses to compromise on his morals. While not quite "turning his cheek" he never scoops to their level. Because they don't get to destroy who he is.

Daredevil Season 3 Episode 13

All he does is for the love he has to his neighbors, his community. He loves New York. Not for self-fulfilling needs or for the money or for the fame. He does it because he believes in justice. Because the law was created by humans and is inherently sinful.

"But his competition met God and was disappointed and blah blah"

Daredevil is more grounded (at least the show, maybe less the comics). So now, Matt doesn't met God. But he sure gets mad at him. All of season 3 he angry at God for all the trauma he expired.

"You see, that was me, Sister. I suffered willingly. I gave my, uh... sweat and blood and skin without complaint. Because I too believed I was God's soldier. ( chuckles ) Well, not anymore. I am what I do in the dark now. I bleed only for myself. ( scoffs )" ... "You might hate God right now, but the feeling is not mutual." "No, I don't hate him. I've just seen his true face, is all."

Season 3 episode 1

As a Catholic I don't really want to fight God in a parking lot. Well I do but not in the same way that I've understood (primarily Jewish people but probably other Abrahamic religions) want to fight God in a Denny's parking lot. I want to yell and scream and cry at God and for the feeling to not be mutual. For Him to never stop loving me. As long as I have faith, He will reach out his hand.

Homura

she is a catholic lesbian whose girlfriend became god. she has been through so much.

shes such a lesbian for amdoke

Catholic guilt literally turned her into a demon

she literally watches everyone she knows die over and over and over again just so she can save madoka, the one girl who showed kindness towards her. when madoka ends up basically becoming god in order to stop the cycle of death and violence, homura RIPS AWAY THE HUMAN PART OF HER SOUL so that she can create a world where she and Madoka and their friends can live happily, effectively becoming the devil to madoka’s god

She has so much religious symbolism when it comes to her relationship to Madoka. Madoka is God and Homura becomes Lucifer so that she can save Madoka and give her happiness. She literally rips God from heaven and rewrites reality though. The way she sees her self and shapes reality is through the lense of Catholicism.

most fucked up little catholic girl. we love that for her.

Okay homuras entire fuckin arc is stemmed from the fact she is Catholic. Look at her trying to save Madoka over and over again and suffering for it because she thinks if she suffers enough and works hard enough Madoka will stay. Normal people do not go into time loops willingly. Catholics will.

[itsdappleagain]

hell yeah baby backstory time

it is time for the boston tea party caper!!

notes under the cut assss always

this episode is a bit of a mix-up for me. i like it but not my favorite all things considered. i'm still excited though- some of the moments in this episode are GOLD

HQ!!!

JHSGHSD "hey red hows san diego" "not great" "im not talking about you girl"

"i thought he lived in the cloud"

player looks so unamused pls

PLEASE "though i am hearing voices again" HOW WAS THAT RELEVANT. WERE U HEARING VOICES BEFORE

shadowsan is the best character here he's so funny

THE "THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT"

if they vowed to use their "superpowers" for good and ivy hotwired that car later on i guess maybe they used to steal cars and then decided to go straight maybe

ivy is so cool

OH hey also by the way their younger designs. SO GOOD carmen should have gotten a dorky in between phase we were robbbbed

small

not trey and his butt chin

i like how the screen glitches when its paused on trey. new headcanon this is a powerpoint presentation they threw together right then and there

you dare knock LYDIA

"i got this" zack says with the confidence of a man who just ate taco bell learning they won't see another restroom for eight more hours on the road trip

the talking through the race kills me every time 😭you can't hear each other

man this racetrack has an overhead drone keeping exact pace with the leading car

zack had a chase devineaux phase too once

carmen sandiego: oh no no we're rated for seven year olds!! the boston tea party caper: the mafia boss who lent us money threatened to put a hit out on us if we didn't commit a robbery for him on a suspicious front for a money laundering operation for the mob

the main reason i dislike this episode and need for speed is because zack doesnt ever get to learn. he was impulsive and it was bad in duke of vermeer, he was impulsive and it was bad in boston tea (okay fine, it shows us his younger self! fine with that) BUT THEN HE IS IMPULSIVE AND ITS BAD AGAIN NEXT TIME. FOR THE SAME REASONS whyyy wouldn't they take duke of vermeer as an opportunity to show his growth instead of making him out to be some angry no control childish idiot who sacrifices untold amounts for a little payback. and drags ivy down with him EVERY TIME

there's something so cool and sinister about ivy smiling, reassuring him, and then slowly pulling down the ski mask to hide any emotion. ivy and zack seem like they could have been prime targets for VILE recruitment- they could have gone down a much darker path

shadowsan was so invested

carmen's puberty crammed in those few months between the boat and the boston holy shit

player accidently saved zack and ivy's asses by turning off those cameras jgjsgkd

the second perspective of zack crashing into the wall kills me every time pls

here goes carmen with "its for your own safety" who taught her that phrase

i love how z and i immediately think that this person couldnt possibly be...i dont know. an employee or a manager or someone who works at the donut place. she's gotta be another thief. i mean they are right but like why

the giant ass green vault behind the fridge door 😭

WE'RE FOLLOWIN THAT LADY FOLLOWIN THOSE BREADCRUMBS TO THE DOUGH

wait didn't they arrive in a truck parked on the other side of the building

carmen ALSO had a chase devineaux phase

???? isnt that truck she just stole the one they got there in???

i mean carmen. girl. you kicked them out of their own robbery and then stole their car did you expect them not to follow you

carmen's devineaux side coming out <3 also completely shameless carmen cant drive comic plug

there are so many car accidents literally everyone could have died in for these two (this and need for speed) episodes. credits roll as the paramedics show up to carmen who just CRASHED HER CAR INTO A FUCKING HOLE HEAD FIRST

they had to make sure to show us that carmen was literally the worst driver possible to justify zack being there

i love zack immediately getting super friendly with the random woman who just stole their car, crashed it, and then stole it again with them inside

carmen: haha suave quip zack and ivy, the two most neurodivergent bitches on the planet: IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

also carmen looks hilariously uncomfortable wedged behind this shipping crate. she's experiencing her first infodump

the loaning money joke is actually very funny

i kind of like how awkward carmen still is in some areas. she still talks like a VILE operative- she reports her every move to player, she simply responds with "understood." because thats the only way she knows how to relate

ANGY

ivy: oh no camera: zooms out to show the most outraged face the animators could draw

screenshots of all time

can you imagine your weirdgirl little 16 year old classmate dips and you see her a few months later and she's turned into this trenchcoat wearing 5'7" long haired adult woman whose only goal is to make your life a thousand times harder

not quite sure how this episode said "oh yeah. her classmates who knew her as a kid constantly call her by the wrong name and disrespect her despite constant corrections. and also her mother figure, seeing the new her, disowns her with the proclamation that this new person killed her child when she took this new name and betrayed her" and made it not transgender

le chevre was so cool about everything for like three minutes

HEY okay my favorite detail of the show is that when carmen runs in this episode she gets way out of breath because she isn't in shape yet i LOVE that detail

i have never heard more emotion from gina than when she went "YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME"

THROW HER OVERBOARD

el topo is also cool about things for like three minutes

zack and ivy bounce constantly between dumb orange cat energy and golden retriever who would jump into the ocean for a guy who petted them once energy

legend has it carmen still manages to throw el topo and le chevre in the water every time they are within a mile of it

i love le chevre backing up and running away from her because he's like oh shit. wasn't she like the best in our class?? is she going to kill me or something?? why did she leave VILE what the fuck im booking it nah

YEAH I NEED THE ROPE CARMEN IS SO MEAN IN THIS EPISODE ITS SO FUCKING FUNNY

IVY RESPONDING TO THE ASK FOR "MUSCLES" WAS A UNIVERSAL LESBIAN WIN FOR EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANET GOD WHAT AN ICONIC SCENE. MILADY. ALL SHE HAD TO DO WAS KISS HER HAND GOD

its never brought up ever again that ivy's "shirt" is actually a blue undershirt and a black vest and that is criminal we needed a gay vest. something

the slomo kick is so hot

LE CHEVRE STEPPING ON HER HEAD

those plates must have hurt so fucking bad

okay well. you DO commit crimes

"the police have no idea they exist" okay. TELL THEM

SEE? VEST.

"got any room for us on your next job?" "you know what? sure! come along and help me take down this global criminal organization. uhhh what are your names again btw?"

yall i dont think eddie is going to want to see you for the money

A FLYING CAR he said yeah zack that was smart

i love how offended by literally everything the bostonians do shadowsan is

THEY MADE SHADOWSAN GET IN THE BACK BEHIND THE SEAT HAHAHAHHJHD

that hq wont be so wasted when you die of hypothermia! good luck carmen

alrighty, thats the beantown caper all done! only two more to catch up on before I'm on time again for my favorite episode this saturday >:)

[seefasters]

Oh, i dont mean to overstate potters cruelty or agency in this matter- he cant let charles or klinger go at all and its true that charles is a prick. But to me there always felt like there was a tension to me as a viewer where the show invites you to laugh at charles's and klinger's expense when they make attempts to leave that potter stops. Cus the show knows charles and especially klinger are very well justified in their desire to leave. To me it brings about this sort of intersting disonance, not in a bad way so much as a complex and interesting way that enriches the text. Potters the voice of reason and the authority figure the narrative defers to, especially in the later seasons, but his general feeling on these matters is resignation. "It is what it is" "it cant be helped." That resignation certainly isnt wrong or bad- hes being practical. But its hard to sympathize with it over hawkeye or klinger or even charles's rebellion.

As for going awol as an immoral act i suppose i was mostly thinking of various episodes in which people encourage a soldier to return to the front. I believe mulcahy encouraged a young man whod stolen a dead comrades identity in order to escape the army to return to the front. He also spent a whole episode trying to convincea kid who was trying to come home after his fiancee left him that he needed to return to the front. The show always shows characters being reluctant to do that sort of thing, but later on in the show i feel a real sense of resignation to that status quo. Idk if thats making sense but ive been thinking about it a lot. I feel like MASH's castwide emotjonal arc as a whole often concerns itself with the tension between rebellion (which runs the risk of being unrealistic or dangerous) and resigning yourself to reality (which runs the risk of being callous or despair inducing) i personally feel that the show tends to strike a really good balance, but theres something really interesting to me about the fact that, in my opinion, potter (who is loved by pretty much the whole staff and is generally considered the voiceof reason and wisdom) is also the most ardent voice of resignation if that makes sense? Hes wonderful and smart and more often than not hes right- rebellious acts are unrealistic theyre dangerous they cant be done without serious repercussions, the best way to do good is within the system and slyly- not because its the best way to do it but because it is the most effective way to do it without being destroyed by the powers that be. Him being smart or empathetic or reasonable doesnt make him any less oppositional to the spirit of spitfire rebellion that hawkeye embodies it. Potter dampens that. Perhaps thats by necessity for fear that hawkeye burns out, but to me that sort of effect feels more complicated than good or bad. Potter's mediating presence is an expression of care- he is a buffer between his unit and the cruel beurocratic military machine. But making the weight of the armys control easier to bear normalizes it- it puts a kind paternal face on the military authority they are all bring crushed by. The fact that he truly cares and is working within the system in the manner his is doesnt really lessen thar to me- which doesnt make potter villianous or wrongheaded so much as it complicates his approach at least to me. (Sorry a million billion words. Poter thesis to me- i love him i think hes great and his ideological position in the show is rlly interesting)

i don't think the narrative defers to potter as thee authority figure necessarily - he's the "good" army man and the show has to marry this with hawkeye's (and, in turn, the show's) anti army sentiments, which it does with various degrees of success

i do agree with everything else you said though! the mulcahy thing has always confused me a bit too, like sometimes they give him this black and white thinking and sometimes they give him complex moral problems (if i remember correctly, his opposition to the soldier who stole a dead man's identity was that the dead family won't ever learn that the man died, not that the soldier won't return to the front). and there's the episode where he tries to shelter a soldier who's AWOL simply because the soldier requested sanctuary

[steelycunt]

your tags on regulus basically getting popular bc people were getting bored of r/s... you are correct! look, obvious disclaimer, #notALLregulusstans etc. etc. but the interest in the character is so fucking shallow from a lot of what i've seen. he's a generic blank slate you can project any personality and persona onto and ofc he has to be hot and involved with an established canon character and it is so goddamn boring. and it ruins!!!! what we know about regulus too bc he's nothing but a self-insert to a large amount of the fandom. so we get takes where people are like "regulus had NO support system and was so lonely and vulnerable and only joined the death eaters because he had to" but ALSO he was the most popular guy in school with a great group of friends who had no supremacist leanings themselves whatsoever and he obviously had all of Sirius's friends falling over themselves for him and like??? how does this character make any sense??? what is the appeal here except to live out a fantasy all with a timothee chalamet fancast???? add that to garbage takes on child abuse and also rampant misogyny and just weird apologism for a character who does not need it and it's like... no wonder jegulus is slowly dying and the fandom is getting more and more superficial and interest in regulus is slowly fading. a good portion of you guys did it to yourself. #makeregulusaninterestingcharacteragain

hi! yes! i dont have too much more to add honestly i agree with you totally n i think you've said it all...i think the way you put it actually highlights the two different parts of the whole Regulus Thing that i don't get. the first one being i don't really get why people feel so deeply for a character with no actual canon appearance or personality traits (although as i said in the prev ask i understand the appeal of a blank slate oc that can easily be inserted into canon situations) which is more of a personal preference, and the second one being that i don't really like what fanon (and as you say, obligatory #notallregulusstans disclaimer here) has chosen to do with said blank slate oc. and i do agree that a lot of what could have made him interesting has been stripped from him in order to turn him into a justifiably likeable and morally-sound remus derivative (and also to justify a world in which canon james could possibly have any sort of relationship with canon regulus, which i personally think just makes...very little sense frankly and again in a lot of cases just speaks to people being bored of r/s and wanting a new refurbed version of r/s which isn't r/s but is adjacent to it). but yeah lol i mean. i can't speak much to whatever the Latest Discourse in the jegulus community is seeing as i am not in it but i definitely agree with ur interpretation of what has been done to his character by popular fanon.

[siswritesyanderes]

i dont know how you can make characters such as phineas flynn and edmund pevensie appealing to read about but you done did. i have to wonder though, what made you suddenly up and think "yk who would make a great yandere? a ginger triangle from a disney cartoon who gets up to silly hijinks with his stepbrother. am i a great writer? yes. yes i am." (im not trying to make fun of you its just such a wild thought that you managed to make work so well and i also needed to make a phineas and ferb joke)

Lol, thank you!

Yeah, I am right there with you about how strange it is. I think part of it is that Phineas is a character I liked a lot when I was younger (Though not a cartoon crush, in the vein of Zuko...probably on account of him being a triangle. 😁 I just liked him a lot.), but also one I consider a little eerie. Like, he's almost unwaveringly cheerful and positive, he's pretty universally well-liked, and the universe he occupies actively contrives for things to work out for him. (I believe Milo Murphy's Law even made it canon that Phineas and Ferb have quantifiable good luck.)

The cheerfulness thing I find fascinating because it kind of plays with expectations for cheerful characters? In a way? Like, he has the vibe of a character who would be written as happy-stupid, but he's objectively brilliant, he's fully aware of other people's motivations (I remember that when I was younger there was a point where I thought Phineas just didn't know Candace was trying to bust him and Ferb, but he explicitly did know, and he just didn't mind or care), and his general happiness, to my recollection, isn't ever used as a means in which other characters walk all over him. The other characters admire and respect him. And then, of course, there's the occasions where he does get angry, which I'm not fully going into right now, but just the fact that he has a full range of emotions but overwhelmingly leans happy, positive, optimistic, confident, etc. suggests a complex inner world, to me.

And since I enjoy yandere characters, it was a short walk for me to go from "This character's behavior and his influence on the world around him intrigue me" to "So, if he were obsessed with somebody, how would that manifest?" Basically, almost any character I find suitably interesting, I've thought of as a yandere. I just don't always follow that train of thought all the way to writing about it, because the outcome isn't always interesting enough to justify the mortifying ordeal of being outwardly the kind of person who would make this character yandere, lol.

[felikatze]

*removes the tape* talk about binding blade do it do it do it do it

i lost my whole rant on binding blade's story but it is SOMEWHERE on tumblr and it is NOT TAGGED because i didn't live my truth

anyway. we were talking about idunn. let's fucking. talk about idunn.

i'm disappointed that she's less of a presence in the story honestly she only appears like 2 times but i LOVE HERRRR. she's the proto grima she did it first. dont even get me STARTED on my thoughts about divine dragon lore as it relates to idunn

DID YOU KNOW? IDUNN AND GRIMA AND SOMBRON ARE ALL KNOWN AS "DEMON DRAGON" IN A WIDE VARIETY OF LANGUAGES. GRIMA'S TITLE WAS NEVER UNIQUE AND I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS ON THAT

anyway. why i think idunn works. it's mainly about framing. first of all idunn isn't a toddler which makes the whole thing less uncomfortable, second the game frames what happened to idunn as an atrocity. the divine dragons were one of the tribes who aimed to escape the scouring instead of fighting (with some of them presumably heading through the dragon's gate alongside a smattering of ice and fire dragons, and some of them settling down in arcadia in the nabata desert).

The divine dragons wished to flee because the dragons who wished to fight the humans wanted a weapon, and they knew they could turn a divine dragon into one. the divine dragons were horrified by this, and fled - except idunn. idunn didnt escape in time.

idunn was captured, and her mind was broken. she had no will left whatsoever. in the game, she's basically a machine - not following zephiel out of any conviction, but because he's the first person to release her. when jahn explains this, he is RIGHTFULLY called out for it by roy. this shit is disgusting and jahn knows it, but he justifies it anyway.

idunn is 100% the victim. but it is so so so easy to condemn her, to "put her out of her misery." like i know in a lot of FE games the brainwashed girl still has some way to be saved - there's a spell to be broken, a villain to be defeated, a magical object to be destroyed, but there isn't with idunn. her soul is just geniuenly destroyed. it's entirely mental. jahn says there is no way to save idunn.

but fuckin. roy doesn't accept that. there is the slightest sliver of possibility in the binding blade. it listens to its user's will, so perhaps he can....?

i'm kind of obsessed with the way it clicks IMMEDIATLY what roy is planning to do, but he never actually says it aloud until he does it. he just tells everyone to trust him and to let him deal the final blow. he doesn't say "oh this might save the demon dragon we have to kill." he just charges in and does it. does he think the others might try to stop him?? maybe?? i think ch24 has some great characterization that is overshadowed by the massive exposition dump where roy's just there to be the ear of the audience instead of an autonomous character.

honestly, i think roy's desire to save idunn actually greatly parallels how guinevere condemns zephiel. at the start of the game, guinevere is horrified by her brother, but still wants to save him. as time goes on, though, she struggles to hold onto her optimism. when she hands roy the binding blade, she accepts that he's going to kill zephiel.

this deeply pacifistic compassionate character essentially putting her brother to death because to her he is that far gone is such a great writing choice oh my god. (i wish it was in a better story.)

but zephiel believed what he said. he believed humans were corrupt and needed to die - in fe6, there's the general notion of human goodness. that people can be cruel, but they can be better, too, they can choose to become better. and zephiel refused that. zephiel refused to do better, instead just enabling the atrocities he condemned. that is why he dies. because he refuses change.

all his generals are given the option to back down, to live and grow, but they all refuse, and they die for their conviction in a cruel world.

idunn never had that choice. who knows what idunn believes? roy believes in a better world, and he will give idunn the freedom to decide what she wants out of it.

i first got the true ending when i was on the train, and ngl, i did almost cry over it in public. because idunn does get better. if you get the true ending and fae survives, you get a bonus scene - fae and idunn, back in nabata. idunn appears emotionless as fae urges her to play, until fae's enthusiasm leads to a coconut falling on her head.

and idunn - idunn laughs.

for the first time in millenia. there was no spell to be broken on her. roy doesn't snap his fingers and she's happy again. it'll be long, it'll be hard, but idunn will heal. and this is her first step.

i got kinda emotional seeing her spring alt in heroes afterward. she just looks. content. this character who went through so much tragedy and suffering for an eternity can still recover and heal because there are people who will help her do so. fae and roy and all the others.

i just. wargrhhrhr. the core message of human goodness and the capability to be better if you just choose to do so and the empathy to recognize that sometimes people didn't have that choice and you should give it to them, always. if they refuse, there's nothing you can do, but you should still try, right?

i actually really really love roy as a protagonist outside of "roy's our boy" memes and i disagree with the takes that someone else should be the protagonist of fe6. because roy is an outside to this and that is the point. he's just some kid doing the best he can! he's not the descendant of some legendary hero! that's lilina and zephiel! he doesn't have any mystical power! that's sophia! he doesn't have a dramatic backstory! that's elffin!

anyone could wield the binding blade. it's just roy who picked it up. that's the point. anyone can change the world. anyone can do better. anyone can make the universe a little bit kinder, if they just try.