#how do you misunderstand the point of a story. of a CHARACTER this badly

[tbartss]

wait wait wait wait wait. GYATSO is the one telling Aang that he's the Avatar?? GYATSO?? Gyatso who pleaded with the airbending elders to let Aang live in ignorance until he was 16 like normal?? Gyatso begging to let Aang have his childhood fully realised? GYATSO WHO FOUGHT TO KEEP AANG BY HIS SIDE TO ENSURE THAT HE HAD FUN AND COULD STILL BE A KID?? THAT GYATSO??? what were they THINKING

[themousefromfantasyland]

Was Star really supposed to be Asha's love interest in the beginning of the development of Disney's Wish?

I keep seeing this being brought up everywhere, appearing even on Trivia TikTok videos about the movie, but as far as I know this is coming from a deeply misunderstanding of the development process.

The main idea is that Star-boy was supposed to be Asha's love interest and that At All Costs was supposed to be their love song.

Seeing the concept arts of Star-boy I can see where most people are coming from. I'm also think that Asha and him are definitely shippable.

However, in the Art of Wish, Star-boy was just the third stage of the character development, and on that stage he was meant to be Asha's deceased grandfather reborn. On the first stage he was supposed to be a shapeshifter and on the final stage a ball of pure energy.

You can say they missed the opportunity of having Star stay as a magical boy like Peter Pan, but it's clear that on that stage his relationship with Asha was probably going to be platonic. No romance here.

Then why do At All Costs sound so much like a love song?

Luckily for us, Jennifer Lee, one of the writers for the film and chief creative officer of the Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Julia Michaels, the songwriter for the movie, gave an interview to Variety explaining their reasons.

The song “At All Costs,” sung by Asha and King Magnifico, was important to Lee. The song navigates the importance of the wishes to each of them, and the two are emotionally aligned here. Lee pushed for a song expressing this. “You had to understand what it felt like to hold someone’s wish in your hand. How do we viscerally understand that when you’re with them, you feel like you’re holding someone’s raison d’être?” she says. “You can’t do this in any other way but song.

Since there was no love song in the film, Michaels wanted to write a song that as a standalone sounded like a love song that could be played at weddings. Yet in the context of the film, it’s about the heroine and villain. Says Michaels, “How cool would it be if we wrote a song that if you listened to on its own, it sounds like a love song, it could be something you could play at your wedding, or be a lullaby to your kids, just something really beautiful, but when you watch the film, it’s the heroine and it’s the villain.” She continues, “You realize they’re coming about this both from various points, one from a very selfless standpoint and one from a selfish standpoint.”

Basically Jennifer Lee wanted a song about the importance of the the wishes for both Asha and Magnifico, but Julia Michaels wanted to write a love song. As there were no opportunities to write a love song, Michaels wrote At All Costs to sound like one.

But in the demo, they sing "Love you, as one does", instead of "Promise, as one does"?

Probably Julia Michaels wanted to write a love song, but had to tone it down so as to not confuse the audience. Clearly, it didn't work that well.

Disney is lying!

Why would Disney lie about the development of Wish? As far as I know, there's nothing to hide, no scandals, no controversies.

Jenifer Lee is literally the chief creative officer, the highest ranking position of the creative team within the Walt Disney Animation Studios. She along Allison Moore WROTE the screenplay and she is part of the team that came up with that story. Wish was her brainchild. Why would she need to lie?

Maybe higher ups like Bob Iger and Bob Chapek screwed with the project. That's completely possible. Maybe we learn later some big and super shady controversy in the development of the movie.

But, by the time being, with all the evidences available, Wish seems to be the story she and others of the studio wanted to tell, even if general audiences reacted badly.

And so far, no evidence of romance.

Unless someone comes out with some legitimate evidence of the contrary, Star was never supposed to be Asha's love interest, and everything else is consequence of fans being dissatisfied with the end product and wanting for something more Disney-like.

[maxdibert]

Sev's fandom is so vast that it’s incredibly rewarding to feed my obsessive hyperfocus on him. I discovered that he has many ships, which was surprising but not unpleasant. Snulciber, Snegulus, and Snetunia were the ones that caught my attention the most as a newcomer, especially Snegulus and Snulciber. I love the idea of chaotic Slytherins starting a relationship based on mutual misunderstandings and actually gaining something meaningful from it, but unfortunately, I’ve never found anything along those lines.

What do you think about Severus and Regulus or Severus and Mulciber? Do you think there’s good potential there or not?

I also came across Severus ships with the Marauders, and although I don’t personally like them, I still find them unsatisfying. I hate how, in long fanfics, Severus’s trauma is never properly explored. It feels like he always has to swallow everything that happened to him in favor of the couple’s development. I wish there were more angst, self-hatred, and revulsion, both from Severus and his chosen partner. It feels unrealistic when they don’t allow his character to carry his trauma and deal with it at his own pace. Not to mention the half-hearted apologies I’ve seen from the Marauders in some stories. What do you think about that?

I also came across fem!Severus tags, and I must admit I’m hooked. It’s a shame I haven’t found any good fanfics about it. What’s your opinion on that?

As I said, the fandom and the ideas people have surrounding him are so fascinating to me. There’s so much potential to explore.

The Severus/Mulciber ship is as old as the creation of the continents hahaha. Look, I’ve always been fine with bisexual Severus, especially with that line Rowling mentioned about Severus wanting Lily but also wanting Mulciber. It has potential, and canonically, they got along, and Severus saw something in Mulciber that he desired — however you choose to interpret that. So, honestly, I don’t think it’s a crack ship at all!

I find it curious that people in the new Marauders fandom assume Regulus would have gotten along badly with Severus, when it’s far more likely they had a cordial relationship. Maybe Regulus was even nice to him just to spite his brother. Honestly, I can totally see a scenario where, after Sirius ran away from home, Regulus confronted him at some point when he was bothering Severus — just for the sheer pleasure of annoying him. I’m pretty sure nobody could handle Sirius Black, but if his brother stepped in, Sirius might think twice, simply because Regulus would know all his weaknesses.

It’s not a pairing I’ve thought much about, but hey, why not? It makes a hundred times more sense than Jegulus, and in the end, they were only a year apart, shared the same house, and probably had mutual friends. And Sirius would have had an aneurysm if he ever found out they were or had been involved — which is a bonus for shipping them, hahahahaha.

Severus pairings with any of the Marauders seem problematic to me for obvious reasons, since shipping a victim with their bully isn’t something I’m particularly fond of. That said, I understand Snirius because they have a lot in common while having diametrically opposed personalities. They love in very similar ways, and both have explosive tempers in their own ways, so the dynamic could be really interesting if handled well. My issue with Snirius is that the fics I’ve read don’t really explore Severus’s trauma or the consequences it would have on a relationship. If I were to write about that pairing, it would be a long fic where 60% of the plot is pure drama about how Sirius’s past as Severus’s bully is the main problem in the relationship — because it should be. The few fics I’ve read have left me pretty unsatisfied in that regard because Sirius repents way too quickly, and everything is resolved as if nothing happened, or the issue isn’t even properly addressed. Sorry, but that’s just not realistic.

I can’t see Snupin, though — I have something personal against Lupin, ironically, because he’s the one people have been headcanoning as queer since the dawn of time. But to me, he’s the most straightforwardly, absolutely, and completely heterosexual character because there’s nothing more straight for a man than leaving a pregnant woman and running off. For that reason alone, I can’t see him with anyone but a woman. Sorry, he’s the Ted Mosby of the wizarding world.

And with James, it’s just a no. Like, absolutely not. If you want an enemies-to-lovers dynamic, you already have Sirius, who’s at least mentally unwell and deeply depressed. James and Severus have nothing in common personality-wise — they’re completely incompatible.

[alicentsgf]

why are people so pressed about how Alicent ends up this season??? Like hotd hasn’t been good since s1 people also criticized everything back then but tbh Alicent from s1 was always headed to where she ends up?? I thought it was common knowledge that her last choice would always going to be duty vs love and s1 stated very well that Rhaenyra is that freedom for Alicent???? I absolutely hated the things they put Alicent through (alicole sex and for what? All of her sons being a dick to her??) her arc this season was badly executed but to blame and think that the writers are catering to rhaenicents? seems a bit stretch when the ship is hated by the majority of the show. We can argue in the journey of how Alicent get to the point she is now but it was clear for the beginning that the head of TG?? She would never be, sometimes I think that thanks to most of the general viewers didn’t understand Alicent as a character the writers thought if we put her in these humiliating scenes the viewers would understand that she is a victim of the patriarchy and the men who surround her, but I guess not even with that the GA and fandom as whole could ever understand her character and honestly im good with it, she’s a walking contradiction and i have read her character like that since the beginning, good riddance tho to the obnoxious people that kept bad talking Olivia for only doing her job (this is not a dig to you but the extended fandom that are attacking Olivia again for her character)

Why are we upset now? Because we dared to hope lmao. And now we're realising theres absolutely no coming back from this (it was already mostly ruined i know).

I think the issue is the choice between duty and love should have been made when she chose her children and grandchildren over viserys wish for rhaenyra to rule. Choosing love didnt have to and shouldnt have meant choosing rhaenyra. Like finally FINALLY she lets herself cast duty aside, because "what is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms", "you never love anything in the world the way you love your first child", "you imbecile (affectionate)", etc etc. That is what works in line with the original story AND the sympathetic sides of alicent we saw with in season 1. Sure motherhood shouldn't define women but this is a story abt a fucking lineage !! What do people expect. Of course its going to be about parents and children.

F&B might have been bare bones, but it at least had a strong political backbone to it thats been completely removed this season. That direction would have offered more oppertunities for alicent to be explored as a multifacted character. The problem is that because they angled this as a story primarily about misogyny rather than a story about the inevitability of the targaryen line imploding, they maybe thought they couldnt do that without making alicent look like an unsympathetic agent of patriarchy. (Most of the audience read her that way anyway so they did a pretty crappy job avoiding it). Rhaenyra represented a certain freedom for alicent in the story, sure, im not against that at all, but for the writers to suggest literally being with Rhaenyra is what alicent needs to do to achieve freedom from duty? To free herself from the shackles or patriarchy?? (🙄) Its so laughable. Alicents little grandson had to have his head sown back on for his funeral and Rhaenyras faction sent the assassin. Her daughter was traumatised. You dont just fucking come back from that. Really we should have known when viserys died how this was gonna go and I think in some ways we did because a big number of us were upset with the misunderstanding then, we just didnt want to believe what this signaled about where they were taking alicent. People are upset now because alicents character has become totally unrectifiable. We just never believed they'd diverge so much from the known plot points of fire and blood.

As for this bit you said:

" I think that thanks to most of the general viewers didn’t understand Alicent as a character the writers thought if we put her in these humiliating scenes the viewers would understand that she is a victim of the patriarchy and the men who surround her, but I guess not even with that the GA and fandom as whole could ever understand her character and honestly im good with it, she’s a walking contradiction and i have read her character like that since the beginning."

I have thought this myself and unfortunately I think you're right. In an effort to make alicent sympathetic they have created the most convoluted character i've ever laid my eyes on. Towards the end of season 1 we were already saying her being so forgiving after driftmark made no sense, but i was compelled enough by her because of olivias performance of that scene with the knife to be willing to wait to see where they took her this season. And its been an exercise in more of the same stupid shit. The issues in season 1 have just been amplified by the realisation that season 2 is just the same thing again and again and again for alicent. Shes just a punching bag and im sure thats in an attempt to get the audience to feel bad for her, because i cant see any other reason for it, but its just so badly written that shes no longer compelling or interesting or likeable really at all. Theres nothing to root for when you dont know who someone is. I have so little to say about her this season and that hurts honestly. Olivias performances deserved much better writing.

[yoroshiu]

Thinking about Kingdom Hearts' narrative with communication.

As with a lot of conflicts in story and real life, much of the most heart wrenching stuff in this series stems from a lack of communication or a severe misunderstanding between characters.

The Foretellers fall apart due to mistrust that was bred in between them, as according to the Master of Master's plan, and a lot of their interactions are full of deceit and witholding information. In an effort for most of them to do what MoM says while simultaneously realizing that they could go against his word to save the world, it inevitably leads to war.

Baldr, in his grief, is kept separate from his friends, alone until the darkness overtakes him and he ends up being consumed by it. As a result, everyone is taken by surprise and there's already too many bodies piled up by the time he's dealt with. Even when Hoder appears before him, they are unable to meet in the middle and turn on each other. He ends up killing many friends and plants a seed into what Xehanort becomes.

The basis of the Wayfinders and Eraqus is that they constantly don't talk to each other properly, pushing each other away until their tragedy becomes inescapable. Eraqus not telling his students about anything Xehanort has done, for instilling such an unforgiving view of Light and Darkness, for not telling Ventus the truth until it was too late. Terra, Aqua, and Ventus not being able to talk or clear things up until Xehanort is already beyond knees deep into his plans, and despite having their love for each other go beyond any possible discord, it is not enough to prevent unfortunate fates that befall them.

The Destiny Trio, especially Riku earlier on, suffers from a lack of communication. While not as turbulent as the other trios, it's Riku's tendency to hide away and lash out that builds the conflict between him and Sora. For one reason or another, a quite literal and physical reason for Kairi, they were unable to talk which goes on and on until RIku gets possessed. And it his shame that pushes him to hide for such a long time in the second game as well. Sora has also picked up on not saying anything, deciding to perish without letting anyone know beforehand, and the full-on effects of that have yet to be explored.

The Sea Salt Trio was built on miscommunication. Secrets, unknowns, caring so much that you believe that it'd be much better to fade away without a word than to burden someone with the pain of truth and knowledge. It drives a wedge between Roxas, Axel, and Xion at multiple points. Axel, who was stuck between loyalties, kept information to himself and ended up driving Roxas and Xion away at one point and another. Xion, who found out the truth and also made big decisions without fully explaining to the other two, also inevitably leaves a grief that digs into them even when they don't remember her. And Roxas, who was the probably the biggest victim of not being told anything, ends up barrelling forward, trust broken up until the pieces finally fell in place and he had to accept his fate in tired resignation.

But it's when love overcomes the lies, clearing them away that these groups of friends can come together and start again.

A lot of the emotional turmoil that Kingdom Hearts displays often comes from the very human act of communication with others and how often we fail to do so. The fragility that comes with one kept secret, or one mispoken phrase. How badly people get torn apart when no one says anything. Yet, it also shows how it can potentially be overcome with enough love and determination to recover what was lost, and even if it's not the same as before, there's potential to make things better.

TLDR; Connections are the basis of Kingdom Hearts. Communication is a foundation of connection. The highs and lows of communication is something that Kingdom Hearts explores extensively in the stories of its characters, and that has resonated with me so heavily that I stay up thinking about it.

[kiisaes]

yes THANK YOU for saying it i hate those specific fanon nicknames as well. my other pet peeve are the terms 'bakusquad' and 'dekusquad' used in fanfic because i feel like those are okay to use in fandom discussion but the actual characters would NOT come up with those names much less use them unironically c'monn

SAMEEE these terms used in fics make my eyes roll fr. and I think the longer I've enjoyed mha the less bakusquad and dekusquad make sense to me anymore, even in fandom discussion

in the early days of mha fandom it was pretty normal to split up deku and bakugou bc 1.) not a super cool awesome amazing relationship at the moment and 2.) both of them were becoming friends with other members of the class (thank you season 2!!!). so if they were befriending different ppl then making two fanon friend groups seemed like the right fandom thing to do.

but fandom has always flanderized relationships pretty badly and mha, imo, is one of the most egregious examples. the loud majority of early fandomgoers were too scared of bkdk being connected in any possible way. they were abusive, toxic, evil, etc.etc.etc. and if you liked them then you fetishized bully/victim relationships. hence, in order to be a Good Fan, you had to separate them.

I fell for this belief back in 2019-2020 so I get it but like. it's crazy now. thinking about it. because horikoshi has Never meaningfully separated bkdk. they have always been joined at the hip regardless of how bad their dynamic was at any point in the narrative. in fact, this has been a core reason why bkg hated dk at the start. it's bc they literally could not distance themselves from each other 😭 idk. do you ever just think about how dissonant the popular fandom bible was to the Legitimate Canon Word Of Mouth.

there is no "dekusquad". there is no "bakusquad". it was a fundamental misunderstanding of the story to assume there are. bakugou has always been a part of deku's "squad" he just refused to admit it until recently. (he is also conveniently drawn in a lot of group illustrations with characters that are stereotypically a part of the dekusquad.) likewise some characters in these groups straight up don't interact anymore. anyway as of late mha has been prioritizing the Entire Class Of 1A as a singular entity instead of splitting it up into distinct factions.

I don't think the dekusquad and the bakusquad should be abolished, after all they're just typical fandom creations that get widely adopted because they're digestible and charming. if you like them then you like them! I don't dictate how you digest mha. but if you think bakusquad and dekusquad are still established friend groups that mean anything to the narrative and you navigate fandom discourse with this particular mindset I WILL look at you funny

ANYWAY THANK U ANON U GET MEEE

[iviarelleblr]

Genuinely fascinated at the showrunners of live-action ATLA misunderstanding the purpose of a character arc so badly. Like, I don't live in that fandom, I'm not super emotionally invested, but it feels rather on the same level as the guys who made Game of Thrones saying "themes are for 8th grade book reports" and Disney trying to shoehorn extra modern feminism into the Beauty and the Beast live action adaptation. In this case, characters need arcs, and sometimes that means a good character does bad things at first so they can learn to do better, because it's REALLY IMPORTANT ACTUALLY that kids get to internalize that doing bad things now doesn't mean you're bad forever.

Meanwhile we've got the Wheel of Time adaptation over here saying "The first books were written with only a loose outline of the series arc and for an audience more than a generation removed from today's sensibilities. We're going to tighten up the story structure, avoid repeating some character beats to death the way the books did, and generally make this a smoother journey than the books are, as well as shorter, but still with all the satisfaction of an arc trajectory well executed. Also make it queerer." Like, legitimately, I'm in Discords with people who Know Their Shit, and even the costume department read the brief and had a professional costumer predicting book 14 plot points just from embroidery on an outfit and a certain camera-cut in episode 1x02. In season 2, some other authors were analyzing the story beats and showing us in full-spoiler channels exactly how the changes being made are setting up the endgame in some ways better than the original author was equipped to when he thought the story was going slightly different places.

Good adaptations are possible, but you need someone at the helm who understands why a story is doing what it's doing. Rafe Judkins's team is doing incredible work on WOT but he also hired a book consultant, who read the series dozens of times, and can help balance the needs of the original story against the needs of the television medium. You can't adapt a story unless you understand the story, and it seems like the ATLA people are doing a lot of the same things that Disney's live action adaptations of their former animated hits have been doing: adapting the superficial layer of the story without understanding its underpinnings and why those resonated so much with audiences.

[stranger-rants]

Billy wouldn’t bully Eddie, because he simply would not care. He “bullied” Steve because he saw Steve as competition, and even then I could hardly call that bullying. His physical fight with Steve shouldn’t be taken out of context, nor should it position Steve as the primary victim and Billy as the perpetrator. He saw Steve with his sister. Steve threw the first punch. I’m tired of this being treated like a terrible assault when it was a fight fueled by misunderstanding and their inability to communicate because they are stupid teenagers.

Anyway, Eddie has a reputation in town and Billy came to town not giving a shit about anyone or anything in Hawkins. Why would he give a shit that Eddie runs a D&D club? Sells drugs? Hot wires cars? Listens to metal? Billy smokes. Billy loves cars. Billy listens to metal. Billy is just there trying to control this narrative he’s written for himself - the hot masculine shiny new toy from California - long enough so he can survive until graduation and he can peace out. Like, that boy is not invested in some small town gossip over Eddie “The Freak” Munson.

The way Billy has positioned himself at school is all a strategic move. His abuser disoriented him by moving the whole family two thousand miles away from his home near the tail end of his high school career. This is about getting control back. Billy can play the part of the popular jock while maintaining his interests because he just so happens to have Pretty Privilege. If he had come to Hawkins looking and acting like Eddie, it would have been different, but that doesn’t change the fact that Billy has interests that don’t fit the jock profile.

Why the hell would Billy waste his time tormenting Eddie when he gets no material gain from it? Steve was the target because Steve was at the top of the school leaderboard and Billy was looking to secure his position. Outside of that, realistically Billy’s trying to balance his need to acquire the means to get out from under his abuser’s control with the impulse to just say fuck it all and self sabotage until Neil beats him to death. That’s just the tightrope abuse survivors walk. Like, he is not out here spending precious time tormenting Eddie.

The bullying fantasies St/Eddies write to set up their relationship using Billy show a clear lack of understanding of Billy’s role in that school and how his home life influences his behavior. They also ignore that Steve spent his entire life immersed in Hawkins schools and society and while there is no canon interaction between Billy and a Eddie, it’s canon that Steve calls Eddie a freak and he is very aware of Eddie’s reputation. If anyone was going to casually bully Eddie, it would be King Steve. Like, just be honest with yourselves.

Regardless if you like Billy, you have to understand what motivates him in order to write him authentically. Treating him as this boogeyman that you can add to any story to introduce conflict is so lazy and ridiculous. Even antagonists have motivations and you have to be mindful of them or else everything becomes out of character. People severely overestimate how much Billy gives a shit about what other people are doing. At this point, people just ignore the fact that Billy has said he doesn’t care or doesn’t give a shit about others.

All Billy cares about is surviving. His entire life has been about surviving Neil, and coping (often badly) with the consequences of his abuse. If he ever interacted with Eddie at all, it would be for drugs which is one of his unhealthy coping mechanisms. Why would he alienate the one person who can provide him with what he needs on a regular basis? Billy is a pragmatic person, and everything he does has a purpose even if it makes him look like the bad guy. Please just use your fucking brain when you write about him.

[perdvivly]

There’s a common critique of The Kingkiller Chronicles that says the main character (Kvothe) is over powered and this makes the conflicts uninteresting to read because Kvothe will always do something exceptionally clever and resolve whatever problem he comes across by being a super genius with few to no character flaws.

Examples usually cited include his admission to the university at an exceptionally young age and receiving the first ever scholarship. Or his admission into the arcanum and the showing up of his overly arrogant teacher. The list goes on.

And this seems to me to be such a tremendously poor critique it’s absolutely mystifying that it’s been made so many times. And made by people who I think in other contexts show themselves to be astute and good faith readers. It fundamentally misunderstands the very obvious point of any of the scenes they like to cherrypick. In my mind it misunderstands the point of the entire book itself.

Rothfuss’ world-building involves two primary magic systems, one very hard magic system (sympathy) and one very soft magic system (naming). And if you’ll forgive a vibic associative sort of description here, these are supposed to roughly correspond to a type of analytic intelligence and a type of thoughtful wisdom respectively.

It is important to note that Kvothe is portrayed as exceptionally talented at the analytic type of hard-magic and not particularly talented at the more reflective soft-magic.

This is an important feature to keep in mind when you look at the sort of story Rothfuss’ is trying to tell. His writing has a sort of recursive quality. The story is a frame narrative, it’s a story within a story, and often there are stories within the stories within the stories. It seems rather obvious that Rothfuss has in mind the power of thoughtful deliberateness, the power of thoughtfully chosen words, and it seems rather obvious too that he’s showing us a failure case of this. Kvothe’s story isn’t wish-fulfilment Mary Sue fantasy. It’s a tragedy. It’s how you end up old and alone and regretting your life story. The protagonist is reckless, arrogant, and mentally agile in a way that gets him off the hook in situations that might seem short-term unpleasant to be in, but would otherwise serve as valuable learning experiences.

Kvothe is unable to see the value of things that his teachers say are difficult or impossible to fully explicate. He is insistent that his own mental prowess is sufficient to overcome any surmountable obstacle. He’s brought up short several times, he’s asked to describe love, or music, and he blusters on seemingly unaware of his own incompetence.

There’s an analogy to Hamlet to be made. Kvothe’s hamartia is the obverse face of the Danish Prince’s, he never stops to think, he just acts—and disaster follows.

The scene where Kvothe is admitted into the university at a young age and given the first ever scholarship is a good example of this actually. How did he manage to accomplish this? He cheated. He broke into the admissions hall and spied on other candidates taking the entrance exam and memorised the questions the examiners asked and their model answers. This is explained in the very next passage to him taking the exam, but I guess people making the critique found it egregious enough that they put the book down before reading on to that part.

Kvothe sacrifices long-term deep understanding of the world for short-term gain. He uses his analytic faculties to try to game the system. And we know, as he says at the very beginning of the story, that he will eventually suffer for it.

None of this is to say that Kkc is beyond reproach. There are very legitimate criticisms to be made about its representation and treatment of women. It’s just that people so often want to make a critique of it that misunderstands it so badly it makes me think they should read it. The force of the book is directed to people who would misunderstand it in this way… But it’s difficult to explain that to someone who is trapped in that sort of misapprehension.

[the-sky-is-my-home]

idk if anyone is here for hq analysis text posts in 2023 nor do I know if something like this has been made before but. it wouldn't leave my head so here. my attempt at a cohesive analysis of the kageyama/hinata/atsumu/osamu dynamic (note: this isn't meant in a shippy way at all. any relationship as complex and narratively juicy as this is great shipping material I know but for this post I wanna keep things canon)

for the sake of something like brevity (lol), I won't delve into the kageyama/hinata partnership here. I assume you watched/read the series and I don't need to explain how they're both partners and rivals. it's the core relationship of the story, after all. also, the twins are twins, and aran spelled out their dynamic and relationship pretty nicely in their flashback, so...

let's start with kageyama and atsumu, the first ones who cross paths outside of their partnerships. as we know, they don't exactly get along great at youth camp. they don't fight, but atsumu makes himself seem like an ass immediately by calling kageyama's playstyle that of a goody-two-shoes. to the reader, this feels like an incredible insult because the way kageyama plays has been developed through some hard-earned character development spanning the entire series so far. we're meant to conclude he's wrong and will be proven so in a future game.

except this is not at all what the interaction is about, or what it will lead to. we don't actually understand the conflicting perspectives here until after the timeskip. what this is is a misunderstanding between two very similar people whose experiences differ in one key aspect. both of them are setters who are incredibly talented and extremely dedicated to volleyball. both are blunt, and not afraid to point out other people's shortcomings. both of them have essentially been friendless and outcast on their middle school teams because of this.

there is just one key difference: kageyama has been desperately looking for someone better ever since his grandpa promised he'd find them, while atsumu has spent his entire volleyball career with "someone better" right at his side. at this point, kageyama only knows failure and rejection in that regard. his sister quit volleyball. his grandpa died. oikawa and iwaizumi had their own thing going on and were never really in his reach. kindaichi couldn't keep up, and kunimi absolutely wasn't willing to.

he's got hinata now, but the harsh truth is that while he's kageyama's partner, he's not "someone better" at this point. this is because he kinda sucks at volleyball even if he's rapidly learning. and this one, simple difference changed everything. when kageyama is too arrogant and demanding, his team rejects him, and he's alone and unable to play. when atsumu does the same, he still has osamu who will sit with him and make an effort to pull him into the group. and he's always got proof that he's not asking too much, because of course osamu can hit all of atsumu's sets. when kageyama is too harsh on his hitters, nobody can really handle it and people get scared, so he tones himself down. when atsumu does the same, osamu yells at him and fights with him, until atsumu gets his point, and the rest of the team sees it as a fun twin squabble, endearing rather than scary.

but the thing is, neither of them know anything about the other, and atsumu speaks with the absolute confidence of someone who only knows volleyball like this. he's got "someone better" privilege and he just doesn't know that's a thing one can have. (he actually has this over others, too, including hinata before he had a team. having to run alone is a common thing among the volleyball obsessed.) but with his perspective, unexplained and badly phrased as it may be, kageyama manages to grow yet again, with hinata crowning him king of the court again as he realizes he can demand things from his hitters and they'll answer him (and to this day, atsumu is totally clueless he kickstarted it, and also that osamu taught him the same).

but as the years pass, even as they remain rivals, they do start understanding each other on a level no one else can (see atsumu explaining kageyama's thought process of "the points I score are mine, the points my hitters score are also mine" to hinata)

but while I do think these parallels are fairly well understood, people are sleeping on the osamu/hinata parallels. probably because they seem so much more different at first glance, with osamu looking calm and disinterested while hinata is, well, hinata. all bouncy and loud and sunshine-y. but they're as much the same as kageyama and atsumu. both were excited kids who like volleyball and, even seeing and understanding how cool setters are, just didn't vibe with it because spiking is just cooler.

except hinata was alone in his desire for so long it went nowhere for years, while osamu could always play as he wanted, with the best and most dedicated setter right there at his side. the way osamu plays is what hinata could've/would've been if he could've played for years and years. (I love this cover page it says like yeah look they're the same just with vastly differing levels of experience)

we know this, because hinata's playstyle actually turns out a lot like osamu's after the timeskip. but even with those differences, regardless of pre- or post-timeskip, again osamu seems to just instinctually get hinata in ways nobody else seems to. from his "he plays like he's eating good grub" to being absolutely unimpressed by hinata simply expecting the ball to be there - because isn't that just the natural state of things? doesn't everyone have a setter who will bring the ball without fail? why wouldn't you expect it? it's not unreasonable or too demanding, it's just how it is - that everyone else clocks as special.

when hinata gets intense, people tend to get scared, but osamu plain isn't, because he's the same in too many ways, and the familiar isn't scary.

and years later, when even atsumu is surprised by the timing of hinata jumping for the freak quick, osamu isn't. this is exactly where he'd jump for it. just like hinata knew osamu would jump for it at the last point of their game in high school (and like kageyama knew atsumu would answer the spiker, both times, because he would, too).

but their arcs end in complete opposites, unlike their setters, because their starting points were more different, too. to go with the food metaphor introduced by osamu, he's someone who always got to eat his fill, while hinata was starving for years and only gets hungrier the more crumbs he gets to eat.

when hinata does get his fill, finally, he can never give it up. but what's a feast to him is just a normal meal for osamu, and he needs other spices to be happy. and I can't really make this fit in the food metaphor but. hinata shines the brightest on the court, but osamu gets eclipsed by atsumu because he's just not hungry enough for it. so it's only fitting hinata pours his all into it while osamu quits and finds his place somewhere else. hinata finds fulfillment in challenge, in teammates and rivalry (with kageyama), while osamu finds his in support (of atsumu) as opposed to competition, and pursuit of something that's entirely his own.

and then there's the relationship between atsumu and hinata. the first match they have is defined by atsumu first writing hinata off as a scrub (to be fair, the first impression he leaves is jumping for a toss and plain forgetting to hit it. it's hard to come back from that), but throughout the game, atsumu comes to understand hinata, and by the end of it, declares he'll toss to him one day.

even at this point, it's pointed out he's good news for hinata in the sense that he won't need kageyama forever. there's someone else who could be his setter and make him shine just as brightly.

what the coaches can't know is that atsumu will be in sore need of a partner just a few years down the line, and that by that time, hinata will be perfect for the position. yes, atsumu can give him the freak quicks. yes, he's the kind of setter hinata can expect the ball from. but post-timeskip, hinata can toss the ball to atsumu just like osamu used to. he can do all the fun, reckless, perfectly coordinated plays that atsumu used to do with his twin.

they're the perfect partners for each other, united even in their desire to beat kageyama, who's both of their main rival at this point, the one who hinata wanted to beat since his first game, and the one who's in the way of atsumu getting the serve trophy and the sole spot of setter on the olympic team.

I know this is a very anti-climactic last dynamic but. unfortunately, kageyama and osamu never really interacted. but for the record, I think it's a shame, we were robbed, and they'd absolutely get along great.

idk if there's a conclusion to be had here tbh, but the post-timeskip arrangement really is ideal for them all, exactly what they wanted. hinata gets to shine and continually improve himself, he gets to stand on the court as a force to be reckoned with. kageyama has finally, finally found the "someone better" he was promised, and through him, continually gets to play the challenging game he was sorely missing in his early years. atsumu gets to play exactly the kind of volleyball he likes, too, with the kind of partner at his side that made volleyball so fun for him from the start. all three of them get to play again and again and again, always learning and growing, winning and losing, and never getting tired of any of it. osamu, while he's not playing, gets to do his own thing that he loves just as much, and he's certainly not losing his dumbass happiness contest with his brother.

so. yeah. I may have thought about all this a little too much. leave me alone. (no don't please talk to me about this actually)

[sparklingmusicofstars]

i wish we know more about the Hamefura Character in Fortune lover counterpart 😫 do you have any thought about it? Like their personality and story more.

Hello,

I honestly think we know quite a lot of things since Catarina often compare her friends with their game version. And for what we know about them :

To make it shorter Geordo was your typical perfect prince who can do anything with ease but with a sly, twisted and short-tempered personality hidden behind an angelic smile (he was also quite emotionless) He was using people to get what he wants including his fiancée Catarina who he was finding very boring and was just polite with her because of their status. Alan was the selfish, spoiled, arrogant and tsundere character, he loved his fiancée Mary as nothing more than a cute little sister so he was only kind to her and he hated Geordo. Keith was a frivolous and lonely playboy, son of a prostitute who had an affair with his father, a nobleman. and Nicol was the calm, taciturn and impudent character, he also has a "sister complex".

Catarina, Geordo's fiancée was spoiled and arrogant (much like Alan). She was very proud of her status as a noble. She was very selfish and considered Geordo as her property (quite ironic) Her parents had a cold relationship during her childhood because of a misunderstanding that worsen after her adoptive brother arrived. Her father was very doting towards her. Though it wasn't explicitely mentionned it seems that, like Mary she was the very image of a noble lady because she was aware of her status as a noble lady. She is closer to her mother in the game.

Mary became the very example of a noble lady to become worthy of Alan whom she fell in love with as a child. She is a kind and dignified woman. Though she has a strong personality in the game it's nowhere as much as now. She care a lot about her fiancé's happiness to the point of even breaking their engagement for him to be with the one he loves and bless their union. Sophia was a bookworm and a shut-in in the game because of her appearance that a lot of people considered scary and because of that she thinks badly of herself. She was a very shy and reserved child but she was quite possessive toward her brother because of how much she loved him. And Maria was the perfect heroine, she was smart and hardworking and knows how to cook. Though she is a lonely and is a bit a bit of an attention seeker.

Sora, in Fortune Lover II, is a laid-back man with a seductive aura. He has a very dark past that he isn't very proud of, which he would then reveal to the heroine after they become close. His past makes him act like quite the playboy, as he is used to women that cling to him.

Dewey, Cyrus, Raphael and Cezar are the same as in the game.

As far as I am concerned I think that we know quite a lot of things about the original versions of the first main characters in the game but not much about charcters that came after. Though most of the time it's because it didn't change.

If you want to know more you can read the side story "Verge of doom" where everyone has their original personality of the game.

[metacrisisdoctor]

there is so much misunderstanding about ten's "does it need saying?" that it makes me wanna rip my hair out. he isn't "too much of a coward to say it", he doesn't want to say it any less than tentoo does. the entire point of that moment is that rose knows the doctor loves her, she knows what the end of that sentence was. he doesn't say it because he is not human and he can never give rose the life and love she deserves - he cannot give her what he wants to give her and what his other self can. and in that moment we see her finally realizing that.

he can never devote his life to her the way she can hers, so even if tentoo never had existed and if she had come back to the tardis with him, their relationship would not be the same because they've said the quiet thing out loud and rose is older, more mature and more independent. she wants things she could have pushed away at age 20, but now she wants the words said out loud, she wants to be with him forever but she is also realizing that he will never let her all the way in because their forevers do not align and losing her would kill him.

you have to understand that at the core of ten's character is a love for rose. that is what he is made of- literally. he was born from love for her and love for the human race and this is his downfall ultimately. ten doesn't keep rose at a distance because he doesn't love her, it's because he loves her SO MUCH that he feels as if he has found what he has searched for and his journey is essentially finished with her. ten doesn't want to regenerate because his story wants to end with hers because he wants to grow old, to be with his new family and then just die. that's the plain truth of it. but he cannot do that. he knows he can't so he holds her at a distance because if he lets her in he would've done that anyway, and then he wouldn't have been the doctor anymore because his life has become about her instead of keeping his promise of helping to the best of his ability.

ten holds rose afar because if he hadn't there would be no doctors after him, because she had the power to unravel him entirely- and because of how badly he wants that. this is what's crushing about timelord ten: he would've gone mad if he had let her in and lost her, and he goes mad when he doesn't and loses her.

but when you keep this all in mind and remember tentoo is also ten, as in, the last thing he remembers is running to her on that deserted street- his quick acceptance of being "banished" and offer to grow old with her makes complete sense. he's the same man who has felt all of these things in the past three seasons, but he can now TAKE them because everything that stopped him before doesn't exist anymore.

it's really just the same man with two timelines, a kind one and a cruel one. but they're both real and true!

and so ten doesn't say it because he knows that tentoo is the best option for her and her happiness but ALSO because they were never going to be happy and together for the rest of her life anyway because if they were it would've meant distraction- think of how twelve becomes for clara but worse! and even clara who DOES become immortal can't stay with him forever because the narrrative needs for the doctor to be in pain in order to keep being fulfilling his duty to the universe.

the doctor is simply not allowed to be happy because then the story ends, (journey's end in lovers meeting) but this story doesn't end. he is doomed by the narrative and he knows it, which people can't grasp.

but what tentoo serves is to show us that ten was so tied to rose and to humanity that in one timeline, one life, his story ends with her like he wanted it to. and this is why ten feels like regeneration is dying. and it's why he doesn't want to go and why he has to. it's why eleven is so alien and so different and why he's so shocked he survived regeneration. because ten had to "die" in order for the doctor to keep going.

of course every doctor after ten is still the doctor, but the tenth doctor died in a way in a way other doctors did not. because he belongs in pete's world with rose and that's his real ending. there cannot be two versions of ten, but one had to be human in the end and he is.

that's why he can't say it!!!!

because he knows he will regenerate and tentoorose is not only the best thing for rose, but a literal gift to himself as well.

and i'm him. and i'm him.

[eisforeidolon]

I am not sure how long you have been in the SPN fandom (I have only been in it for 3 years) but I was wondering has the infighting about which J is actually the better one always been a thing? I sometimes see some fans really hating on them for what seems like very petty reasons and projecting all kinds of jealously, codependence, and envious behavior especially onto Jensen. I love Jared but the way some Jared fans act like Jensen has or had some creepy obsession with him makes me wonder if this is something that has always been around or manifested more after the prequel situation.

It's been around 11 years for me, being properly in the fandom. I binged the series just in time to catch the start of season 8 airing real-time, and came to tumblr when I realized fanfic was not going to scratch the itch of sharing speculation about what would happen next. So far as I'm aware, from personal observation and seeing people who've been around longer talking about the what the fandom was like? It's always been a thing to some extent, but the extent has varied a lot depending on when and what part of the fandom you're in.

The extreme Jensen stans - generally called Ackles Army (AAs) - have always been upfront and loud about hating Jared over anything and everything - almost literally to the point of insisting he's breathing wrong. They overlap a lot with hellers because of a generally shared desire to get Jared off SPN and away from Jensen, convinced he was in the way/holding Jensen back/throwing jealous tantrums to control Jensen and the show/whatthefuckever.

While some extreme Jared stans didn't bother to hide, a lot of them insisted they were totally fans of both prior to prequelgate and maybe some were - to an extent. For the most part they could blend in, because most of the time? Jensen and Jared were in pretty synchronous agreement - doing publicity together, agreeing the brother bond was the center of the show, not really doing a lot of other projects, etc. But over time, long before prequelgate, well it just always so happened that if either J got solo attention or there was some perceived difference? According to these supposed bibros, Jared was not capable of even considering making a bad decision ever, while nearly everything Jensen did alone was somehow embarrassing or suspect and supposedly reflected badly on him. They didn't necessarily want Jensen to go away, just know his place as the cheerleading subordinate. Of course now that Jensen and Jared are doing separate projects and attention for Jensen does not automatically mean attention to Jared, with the handy kickoff of prequelgate to claim extra totes legit justification over that misunderstanding they sorted out in a single phone call ... well, here we are.

By and large the AAs/hellers have always been more extreme - in terms of sheer quantity of assholes openly wishing not just failure but actual harm on Jared and sending death threats to him and other fans. But in terms of petty back and forth bullshit dragging the actors, these days they openly do a lot of the exact same nonsense: J is ugly! J is an alcoholic/druggie! J is a complete failure post-SPN! J is abusive to fave!J! J is obviously jealous of fave!J/trying to sabotage fave!J! J only did X because fave!J did Y so much better! Only fave!J was essential to the show, it was his character's story!

Both sides are constantly justifying themselves with the ol' OMG THEY STARTED IT! nonsense. Sure, the self-serving justifications differ just a little where the Jensen stans pretend to be amnesiac and blind to the really gross and reprehensible shit sent directly to Jared and basically everything the real Jensen says, while the Jared stans insist no one should object to anything they say because at least it's not wishing death on anybody (despite how much they lose their shit over even the petty nonsense when it's being directed at Jared). As if it's not obviously a constant back and forth of copycat stupid that has everything to do with each side trying to "prove" their personal superiority in being fans of The Better J by talking shit on the internet.

[ice-knife]

Hi hi for the ask game 11, 23, 32, 37, and 43 for Russo!! :D

hi hi hello thank you vox!! :D // weirdly specific but helpful character building questions

11 answered here!

23. What do they feel guilty for that the other person(s) doesn’t / don’t even remember?

funny thing about russo and guilt, actually, is that the first time he really felt guilty for something was when he came to after getting injured at the ritual site and saw how badly neve got injured as a result of the call he made. i don't get the sense that neve held that against him, but that guilt lingers for a while, every time that he sees the scar on neve's forehead

32. If they committed one petty crime / misdemeanor, what would it be? Why?

as far as petty crime? trespassing, easy. if he wants to get somewhere and the way there involves cutting across private property, getting caught doing so is not at all a concern to him. it's probably a remnant of the "the crows own treviso" mentality lmao

37. What’s a secret they haven’t told serious romantic partners and don’t plan to tell?

he hasn't had Any serious romantic partners at this point in his life, although that's not quite here nor there. honestly even when he and bellara do get serious, i don't think he'd intend to tell her the origin story behind all of his scars. the ones he got from crow training don't bother him, or at least he doesn't think they do, but he would hesitate to tell her about them in-depth

43. What do they commonly misinterpret because of their own upbringing / environment / biases? How do they respond when realizing the misunderstanding?

russo is so, so bad about tough love. i've noticed it more in conversations with davrin wrt assan, but it comes out toward everyone, i think. he sees nothing wrong with being pushed and pressured into Doing Better, and he tends to lean into it whenever he feels is necessary, especially when he feels in over his head in an interpersonal conversation. i think being questioned on that approach more than once will be essential to solidifying his want to get out of the crows. :)

[idledreams4]

I still want to know sooo badly who Brandon's dad was

because this kid

oh

my

god

how does someone raised by a savior misunderstand The Saviors so horrendously

well, I know how. Negan took in plenty of unsavory characters, but while he was in charge he could keep them in line.* He had rules and harsh punishments that kept those people from hurting anyone (who didn't deserve it)

After the sanctuary fell, those people didn't have Negan to keep em in line anymore, though a lot of them seemed to take off because facing whatever is Out There was preferable to sitting around holding hands and singing kumbaya

But some would have seen it as too risky of course, so there would have definitely been a few stragglers. Brandon's dad was probably one of those.

Some of what Brandon regurgitated was total bs, likely made up by non-saviors for shock value (ie. Negan killing Carl)

But the rest was due to misinformation. Either his dad was an idiot who only passed down the stories that had a lot of shock value, or he was one of the selfish, sadistic, power-tripping, assholes who had no interest in providing security to others or bringing civilization back to the world.

either one is possible. but given the kid bashed in the skulls of a woman and her child, I'm going with the latter.

that being said

I do appreciate Brandon's character, because a large chunk of the fandom sees the saviors the same way that he does, and so to me it feels like the show trying to point out to the fandom that they've misunderstood Negan's intentions and he actually wouldn't (and canonically does not) stand for half the shit you think he does

*thanks to Simon, we do see that this isn't foolproof. People will, and did, (try to) bend and break the rules as long as they thought they couldn't get caught. but the majority of them didn't, out of fear for the consequences

[fictionaldeity]

hi G, happy Storyteller Saturday!! I haven't done these in a long while, so I'm gonna use this opportunity to catch up/learn about my fellow writeblrs' current projects >:)) so, tell me, what are you actively working on right now? how far along are you? what are you most looking forward to in the project?

Hi, Cee!

I… had no idea Storyteller Saturday was a thing. Shame on me 😅 Thanks for reaching out though!!

Let’s see. At any given time it’s fair to assume I have at least 6 WIPs simmering in my head. But the ones I’m working on most actively, could be narrowed down to 3, currently.

1. Keep It Between Us (#WIP: KIBU)

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Status: Revisions

It’s an enemies to friends to lovers romance. The current working pitch I have for it is:

After a one-night stand that ends in an explosive fight, Cliff and Samantha are forced to plan a fundraiser together. Samantha, to win back the love of her life and ex-boyfriend, who dumped her on the night of their anniversary, and Cliff to save from bankruptcy the art school he volunteers at.

I’m most looking forward to finishing these revisions already so I can get other eyes on this thingggggg!!!!😭😭

But in all seriousness, I really want to get to the actual nitty-gritty of the revisions (right now it’s more what I’m planning the revisions themselves). My hope is to cut down at least 50k words from the first draft (don’t ask me how long it is). And with my CP’s comments I do think I can manage it, so that’s exciting. This is the first draft I’ve written with an actual outline I managed to stick to, so I’m very proud of it even if it came out monstrously long

2. Ready or Not (#WIP: RoN)

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Status: Plotting/pre-drafting

Also enemies to friends to lovers because they couldn’t pry this trope away from my dead shriveled hands. It’s the sequel to KIBU, with a secondary character turned main character

It’s in such early stages that I don’t have a pitch. The best way I can describe it is:

Competing in a tournament for his favorite videogame, River discovers his idol on the gaming scene is none of other than Wolfgang, also known as the Ice Prince, also known as his jerk coworker and the most arrogant and inconsiderate man on the planet. But when they’re forced to share a room together on a trip only a few days later, all it takes is one weekend for them to begin seeing how badly they’ve been misunderstanding each other for years.

I’m most excited about… honestly everything! I haven’t started drafting, I only have the vaguest idea of the major plot points so far, so everything with this WIP hangs in that magical zone of everything is awesome. Buuuut, if I had to choose one thing only, I really, really, want to get to drafting a particular scene near the beginning, which is an inflection point on the plot. And if I’m honest I’m most excited about that scene because there’s a pun at the heart of it I really, really want to commit on paper 😂

3. No working title yet, I’ve just been calling it Glennwick’s Short Story

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

Status: Plotting/pre-drafting

This one is even less further along than RoN. I’m thinking of it as a short story or novella if I can keep myself from overwriting (and I don’t have a lot of faith in myself tbh) or maybe even a graphic novel. Not sure yet. I'll know when I start drafting.

I won’t even bother trying to pitch this one. Basically, it started as a way to give a fitting backstory to a character from another WIP. My idea for this one is very straightforward, classic hero’s journey type of thing, focusing more on the aesthetic than anything else and with an unlikeable and very vain protagonist on their way to get a rude wake-up call that the world doesn’t revolver around them.

With this one, because I know who Glenn (the main character) will be much later in their life, I’m really looking forward to getting to know them when they were much younger and even brattier than at present lol. Glenn is one of my pettiest and most melodramatic characters and I love that for them.

And wow this came out too long, sorry🫣

Again, thanks so much for asking!!