#he's written so many of my favorites

[cutemothman]

one thing about me is that i have knack for telling when an episode of the x files was written by vince gilligan. if it's bizarre but in a good way, without even checking i'm like yup that's vince and im always right

[ricky-mortis]

I heard that Corey Dorris sang Show Stopping Number at Innit- so I present: Corey!Hidgens

[caq1e]

i've been trying to rationalize why clay terran's death hits me more than pretty much any other victim, even though the exact intricacies of his character are not the most plot relevant, and i think i finally got it. some of it's that he's the series' first new science freak in a while, yeah, but i think above that it's the emphasis on his ambition.

ace attorney does not like to kill real characters. it doesn't. referring to the main series for the rest of this post, we very rarely get to see a character for one section of one case before they die, with a few notable exceptions. as a result, because we don't get to know the characters very well, we as players are left to pick up the remnants based on the reactions of those still alive. ace attorney creates tragedy and emotional impact through the emotions of those who knew the victims. the victims' personas, therefore, are shaped by others' experiences with them: were they nice or mean, compassionate or abusive, nurturing or strict? while their relationships to others are crucial to their selves, they aren't everything about them.

clay is an astronaut. and unlike pretty much every victim in this series, that's not just his job, it's his life's purpose. the majority of clay's character is shaped through apollo's perception of him, sure, but what's also emphasized is his dream of being an astronaut. he wanted to be an astronaut since he was a child. he went to cosmos, became acquaintances and friends with the employees, surrounded himself with space. and he got the job. i know ace attorney ages can be taken with a grain of salt, but he was going to go into space at twenty-three, where the youngest astronaut in real life was twenty-five. any sizable gap in age below the norm tends to get lawyers deemed prodigies, excluding most themis students, so clay could probably be considered one as well. he was brilliant and remarkably hardworking and dedicated his entire life to reaching this goal, and he... didn't. he died with his dream ten steps in front of him.

when a character is an exception in one way, they tend to be in many, and they also tend to be defense attorneys, for some reason. the two victims with the most ambition at time of death, from my perspective, also have the most pre-death screen time: mia fey and dhurke sahdmadhi. their ambition may be on different scales, but they both died with tasks unfinished. mia had yet to reveal the corruption of redd white and the truth to dl-6, and dhurke had yet to restore stability to his country's legal system. they were both incredibly committed to fulfilling these goals and died while actively pursuing them.

the contrast between these two and clay is the individualism factor. dhurke wanted to see his revolution through, but he wanted a better future regardless of whether he was its leader or not. mia's connection was due to her familial involvement, but she also just wanted to uncover the truth behind redd white's obscurations and reduce corruption in the legal system. these goals are personal, but they aren't limited to them. they are goals that these two aspire to achieve, but they themselves don't need to be the ones to achieve them; in fact, they aren't. phoenix apprehends white, exposes manfred von karma, and discovers misty fey's disappearance for mia, while nahyuta and apollo work to reform khura'in's courts for dhurke. clay wanted to go to space. while a less noble goal than those i'm comparing him to, it's also more intrinsic to himself. he was supposed to be the one in space. there's no one to take over his dream because it's his alone. when he dies, that's it. it'll never be done. while his compassion definitely implies that he would be proud as long as sol starbuck touched the stars again, that isn't his dream. it's not the same as him doing it himself.

another similarity between mia and dhurke is that they are also the victims with the most post-death screen time. mia is channeled constantly through the first trilogy, to the point where she's almost as constant as any living character. dhurke lives for days, concealing his death while being channeled and not revealing the secret until almost the end of 6-5. as a result, these two get front row seats to their goals being fulfilled by their successors. mia's there to help phoenix take down white in 1-2, is certainly made aware of the results in 1-4, and even reunites with diego and re-defeats dahlia in 3-5. dhurke assists apollo leading up to the final court case, and his presence sticks with apollo as he develops his defense office.

clay does not get post-death screen time. he's only mentioned, like any other victim, after his death, and the large bulk of it is regarding the minutes before he's killed. not only is his dream unable to be fulfilled, but he wouldn't get the chance to see anything come of it, if that was even possible. he's not aura, staring out of a prison cell as part of her life's work flies off without her input. he's dead. no seeing the future, no willing on a successor to continue for him, no closure. dead and gone.

i'm not going to go crazy in depth right now, but, considering all major victims, the final truth of clay's death is done pretty poorly. as the successor to investigations, a duology that deals with international affairs in incredible detail, dual destinies is notably lacking. the organization behind the phantom isn't explored in the slightest; what was the point in making them a part of something bigger in the first place? there's no inciting event, no motive, not even a name, and from my point of view it just makes dual destinies feel unfinished, like there were plans that couldn't be made reality. there aren't any hints towards what the organization is doing, no legs to theorize on besides real life events, and it's not portrayed in a way that leaves it as a clever mystery. some international organization wants to sabotage the rocket launches for an unknown reason, so people die. that's all. clay dies due to reasons completely unknown to players, which is just so unsatisfying. not only does he not get closure, but we don't either. it makes me desperate for any new information to justify his death, to make his murder mean something, just like others who are integral to plot. this isn't entirely the point i was trying to make, but i think it's significant enough to mention. or maybe i just wanted to talk about it. not too sure.

clay terran suffers the awful fate of too much ambition and too little closure. this alone made his death have the greatest lasting impact on me. i'm not sure how it is for others, but the sadness of those left behind didn't usually trigger a large emotional reaction in me. however, the way clay's extraordinary dedication, implied intelligence, and nigh inevitable success were ripped from him right at the very end, with no possibility of a successor due to his own personal stake in the goal, made his death hit me through the heart like no other ace attorney victim. and also, just a little bit, because he's a new science freak.

[sherlock-is-ace]

Bill Masters as a character generates four distinct reactions within me:

Jesus Christ, he's a piece of shit I want him murdered.

Omg nooo, you poor babie ily, come here

Pathetic wet cardboard of a man

Damn he's so gorgeous

And i think they're all very correct

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

i really want people to realize that i don’t hate lip or fiona because i think people may be starting to think that. lip’s my third favorite gallagher, i don’t like his actions and i personally believe he’s a misogynist but he is also one of the best written characters on the show

[professorjirt]

it makes me SO sad that it’s hard to go through Samwise’s tags or find people for whom he is their favorite that don’t put down Frodo. I’m thankful that the number of those who truly understand him and love both him and who he struggles for is greater than it could be and has been in the past, but it’s still so heartbreaking to see, because I love Sam so dearly, and he’d never want this. It’s such a disrespect of Sam’s character to think that the only way to praise him is to undermine or insult Frodo. And it’s a disrespect to the narrative of Lord of the Rings as well. People constantly reference a cherry picked and out of context piece of a letter Tolkien wrote, desperately trying to claim that Sam is The Singular Hero of the story, when that wasn’t even remotely the context of the letter, yet its been used for years to undermine all the other characters of the series and erase the well rounded character Sam is to shave him into some one dimensional He-Man. Sam is undoubtedly one of the chief characters of the story, THE chief character of the story alongside Frodo. Without Sam the quest would not have been fulfilled. Yet Tolkien makes it clear that Sam could not have done Frodo’s job— especially not on his own. Just as the Ring broke down Frodo, it would have done for Sam— especially by the point of Mordor. That isn’t where Sam’s strength and value lies. It doesn’t lie in being the sacrifice. It lies in being the hope, the support, the utterly maddened loyalty and stubbornness and love that overcomes and strengthens. As I have come to say, Frodo carried the world, and Sam carried Frodo. People seem to think that as lesser, and I find that insulting. Would you find a friend that supported you in dark times lesser? Are they not your world in those moments? Do they not hold up the world for you yourself, as you struggle to carry the weight of it, and remind you that whatever suffering, you will never be abandoned or alone, even if both of you endure the fires of hell and no brightness shines through. It will not be alone. That is the beauty of Sam, and the people that treat that role as though it was not enough or that he should have had more on his plate show their lack of understanding of the very character they claim to praise.

[grandwretch]

thinking a lot about how in a watsonian pov Lucas's motivations make a lot of sense and I support the character but in a doylist way his s3 arc has always rubbed me the wrong way bc i feel that the motivations of fictional black men almost always revolve around the concept of popularity and what is Cool and Masculine

and like yes white fictional characters often also interact with those concepts but like. they are also given other plots and I feel like young black men usually aren't. like black teen boys are always written as either jocks obsessed with what's cool or nerds who are obsessed with what's cool. like its disturbing how often fiction is set up to imply that a black person whose entire identity doesn't revolve around the acceptance of others must be miserable.

there is almost no presence of a gleeful black nerd in any medium. which is odd to me because I feel like, in the years before Marvel and Halo made being a nerd "cool", it was my black friends who introduced me to most of the nerdy shit in my life. Like, I probably never would have gotten into anime at all if not for a guy on the bus letting me read his copies of Yu Yu Hakusho. Most of the video games I play are because they are genres I used to play with a girl who I only became best friends with bc we were the only two girls who were into anime in our class. we got into dnd together.

and like it could be argued that Lucas feeling pressured to turn to sports is only because of this stereotype, but I don't think acknowledging the stereotype within the narrative actually makes it different from all the others.

[thychesters]

"i feel like luffy knows right from the start who to fight." chopper gets it! the rest of the crew is waiting for him out on the bridge because they know this isn't their fight and all they can do is wait for their captain. the marines can't believe that this tiny group of pirates wiped out cp9 because this straw hat was a rookie, and the rest of the crew shouts out to him that they made it to the bridge, they got robin, and all he has left to do is kick lucci's ass and they can leave. and luffy smiles.

[rainbowvamp]

oh fuck. wait. hold on. do we have a pacific rim dreamling au yet?? do we? because. fuck. fuck. we need one. listen, it's a fandom right of passage. we need a pacific rim au that we're all obsessed with. we deserve it.

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

THE BEST OF PRIORITY: TUCHANKA (PART 2)

Featuring: Cmdr. Sophie Shepard, Lt. James Vega, EDI, Urdnot Wrex, and Dr. Mordin Solus With: Urdnot Bakara And a Special Guest Appearance by: Kalros, Mother of All Thresher Maws I MADE A MISTAKE! I made a mistake... big picture made of little pictures- too many variables. Can't hide behind statistics... can't ignore new data- my responsibility. Need to go- running out of time. Not your work, not your cure- not your decision. Had to be me- someone else might have gotten it wrong... Mass Effect 3: Legendary Edition (2021)

[orpheuslookingback]

i said a little of this in tags for another post and im also not the only person saying this at all lol but i'm really enjoying xmen 97 in general and it definitely deserves so many shoutouts for how its portraying scott. because yeah even the comics have fucked up his character sometimes but the live action movies fucked him up SO much worse imo. like 1) he's a hard-ass but he's not BORING. His intensity and his seriousness actually are what make him interesting when they're written right but the movies were like "what if he was just kind of. there." and 2) his skill as a strategist and a leader is so important. even when he's sucking as person. he still has traits that make him fundamentally suited to those roles and that is not at all apparent in the films 3) his powers can be cool!! They can used for offense and defense and doing cool tricks and not just be treated like an indiscriminate laser gun. So I love that 97 is both writing his personality well and demonstrating that his powers can be both useful and visually interesting when someone creative is writing him. Like that little battle at the start of the first episode alone was a much cooler use of his abilities than all the live action movies combined. Anyway mwah xmen 97 thank you for doing this for my boy

[tritoch]

me: oh wow an ffxiv theory/meta post! i love these even when i don't agree with them. i wonder if this person will highlight an underdiscussed aspect of the setting, or reframe someone's characterization interestingly the post: "in the original japanese--" me: unsubscribed. blocked. reported. hie thee hence and never darken my door again.

[quil12]

Honestly, this game feels like drugs sometimes

[museumgiftshoperaser]

Part 2 "You've Done This Before" now up!

(tw: drugs)

Eddie’s never one to stay the night, so he stumbles up the stairs to his studio a little after six. His hair is still damp from his shower and his sweaty t-shirt sticks to his newly scrubbed skin. He’s at the far end of the time loop. The come down and the crash before everything starts again tomorrow. It’s been a week or two since he and Robin had that fight at the bar. Or maybe just a couple of days? Something gentle and golden courses through his nervous system. Whenever he goes out, Eddie tends to choose up instead of down, but he can make do in a pinch. He had a good fucking night, hasn’t thought about… He had a good fucking night and he’s about to have the best sleep ever. It’s gonna be so fucking good, he just knows it. He can already tell. He turns his key in the lock on the first try and kicks at the door. The overhead lights are still on and Eddie could’ve sworn he turned them off. He pushes the door open all the way and finds a whole person hunched over his sink. Golden shoulder blades and moles like confetti scattered on the floor of the bar. Brown hair and bare feet. Steve? He’s in just boxers, back turned, brushing his teeth over the shitty sink. “The fuck?” The words leave his mouth before he can think about it, not quite sober enough to restrain himself. Steve’s shoulders tense. His hair sticks out at strange angles. It’s bedhead, no doubt about it. “What are you doing here?” Steve yelps. He looks caught.

All the lovely comments really meant the world to me! Super excited to get the second part out! We're delving a bit deeper into Eddie and his self destructive tendencies.

[oceanwithinsblog]

so here i am again ... just caught up with the last two episodes of season 7b ... and i feel like banging my head on a wall :)) what's new :))

[doctorodyssey]

not to be cringe but im rewatching modern family for like the 5th time rn