#i feel like it was such a major talking point when the switch was revealed

[-teresaofthefaintsmile]

From the outline:

"Five central characters will make it through all three volumes, however, growing from children to adults and changing the world and themselves in the process. In a sense, my trilogy is almost a generational saga, telling the life stories of these five characters, three men and two women. The key five players are Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen, and three of the children of Winterfell, Arya, Bran, and the bastard Jon Snow."

So in 1993 he didn't have the initial idea of ​​killing off characters he considered part of the 5 keys until the last book. I've seen a lot of talk about this, but I've always been inclined to believe that they survive despite everything because he said make it through. Some will be happier than others, some will have more bittersweet endings. But that doesn't mean he doesn't think about killing off other main characters with POVS. And he continues to follow these beats. The biggest variations happen with the secondary characters, after all he is a gardener. The story vastly expanded more than imagined. To the point where it has an excessive number of POVs. 

Here are some quotes about the characters and arcs and overall story: 

Has there been a character that you have given a reprieve to, or maybe deviated from the path you originally were going to send them on? If so, whom?

No, not really. In some cases, the chronologies have diverged from what I originally intended, but the overall character arcs remain the same. "I think with Song of Ice and Fire, I'm pretty well hitting all the beats as I originally envisioned them. I haven't taken too many detours."

George: I have always known the broad strokes of the characters since 1991. [Said in the Balticon Report from 2016, SSM] Who is the most major character you’ve changed your mind about your plans for?

I don’t want to reveal what I’ve planned for some of these characters, but I’m pretty well on track with most of the major characters. It’s minor characters like Bronn that assume greater importance

Q: How different is the plot from what he originally envisioned? GRRM: Not different - just more of it. It has grown in complexity, but he likes it that way because it feels real to him. - SSM 2010

Yeah. I didn’t know at first, in ‘91 — I didn’t know quite what I had yet. I didn’t even know whether it was a novel or a novella, or something, at first. So I sort of found that out. But by the summer of ‘91, you know, it just came to me out of nowhere, and I started writing it and following where it led. But by the end of that summer I knew I had a big series. Initially, I thought it was a trilogy, but it’s grown beyond that. But the size is different, and I’ve introduced some other elements to the books, but it’s still the same characters, the ‘91 characters.

Do you have an ending already in mind?

I have and have had since the beginning, yeah, in broad strokes. You know, I know the fates of all the major characters but not necessarily the fates of many of the minor characters. And things do change, sometimes, as you approach the finish line. You come up with a better idea or a twist you hadn’t thought of when you start. So I leave it open that I may change a few things when I get to the last book. But for the most part, yeah, I know how it’s going to end.

Do you know the ending?

I know the ending in broad strokes. I don’t know every little twist and turn that will get me there, and I don’t know the ending of every secondary character. But the ending and the main characters, yeah.

Tyrion/Arya/Jon > Ramsay/Farya/Jon. The deadly rivalry aspect got switched to Jon and Ramsay. It just doesn't have the romantic element, but it serves the narrative purpose of propelling Jon forward. To be fair, we have no idea how much was discarded from the outline until the books are all out. And as he himself confirmed, he continues to follow many of these beats. They may alternate in details, but they will arrive at the same place. He notably dislikes outlines, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have them, even the affc/adwd ones leaked. He also created new characters to fulfill narrative functions. Meraa takes on the role of Bran's protector instead of Arya. But there's nothing stopping Arya from also having that role in the future or going beyond the wall. Many of the characters marked for death in the outline died. Cat was always supposed to die and be reborn, whether imbued with ice or fire magic. Tyrion would be betrayed by his family and switch sides. While other characters were expanded when they became POVS characters. Aspects of Jaime from the outline went to Cersei and so on.

I'm not saying that the outline is the most relevant piece of paper in the saga. However, there is a grain of truth and many themes there that were recycled, used and molded into new narratives. The outline implies R + L = J and Bran King, for example.

Some others quotes: 

"I think you need to have some hope...we all yearn for happy endings in a sense. Myself, I’m attracted to the bittersweet ending. People ask me how Game of Thrones is gonna end, and I’m not gonna tell them … but I always say to expect something bittersweet in the end," he said. "You can't just fulfill a quest and then pretend life is perfect."

"I’ve said before that the tone of the ending that I’m going for is bittersweet. I mean, it’s no secret that Tolkien has been a huge influence on me, and I love the way he ended ’Lord of the Rings.’ It ends with victory, but it’s a bittersweet victory. Frodo is never whole again, and he goes away to the Undying Lands, and the other people live their lives. And the scouring of the Shire —brilliant piece of work, which I didn’t understand when I was 13 years old: ’Why is this here? The story’s over?’ But every time I read it I understand the brilliance of that segment more and more. All I can say is that’s the kind of tone I will be aiming for. Whether I achieve it or not, that will be up to people like you and my readers to judge."

"We all yearn for happy endings in a sense. Myself, I’m attracted to the bittersweet ending. People ask me how Game of Thrones is gonna end, and I’m not gonna tell them … but I always say to expect something bittersweet in the end, like [J.R.R. Tolkien]. I think Tolkien did this brilliantly."

Considering how often he talks about the ending of LOTR I think he genuinely thinks along the same lines. Some will rebuild their lives, others will find peace, but not necessarily be super happy. It's true that Grrm subverts many expectations, but he also enjoys and plays with various tropes. As I said, Fevre Dream got a bittersweet ending too.

GRRM wanted to subvert the usual tropes

Remember GRRM started out his series with the intention of writing something that didn't follow the typical tropes and conventions of previous works. GRRM wanted to subvert the usual tropes like the secret hidden 'prince who was promised' perhaps by having that person be illegitimate - Jon fulfills some prophecy by blood, but not through a legal marriage, he is the 'hero' but not the true 'king' at least by rights of succession.

GRRM will not pull a book out of a dark ancient library that gives us all the answers to the past that make everything easy for our characters, or have a weird political marriage between 'siblings / cousins' be what is needed to unite a kingdom (how? everything is fractured, the land decimated, why would the people care about a political marriages in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse?)

Remember GRRM promised or forewarned a bittersweet ending, not all the mains or favorites will survive or have a typical happy ending, and I'm assuming that is especially true for the tortured and much suffering 'hero' - at least that is my gut feeling. To me the two most prominent characters Tyrion and Jon are also the two most likely to die by the end - at least one if not both, driven there by circumstances: blinded by love, rage, or perhaps a noble sacrifice.

Tyrion is already blinded by his hatred and rage, will his better nature win out or will he continue to feed his hatred until his end? GRRM had Jon suffer 'death' and gave us clues that resurrections can happen, but they also alter a person, no matter how Jon manages to remain intact after resurrection, he will not come back the same, there will be notable changes, otherwise why do it in the first place? (the show did this very poorly!)

If they survive they will be much altered, as in not the most well adjusted people, lots of trauma to deal with, to take on the role of the clear-sighted leader needed to rebuild a nation and inspire/lead its people. They maybe able to help and/or advise, but I don't see them as the main leader on top. Both have really been through the most changes physically and mentally and you know it will only get harder and worse by the end, GRRM isn't don't with them yet.

As much as the Stark kids have suffered, I still get a feeling of hope and sense of future with them, they are working hard for some kind of future in mind, they are young and being tested and learning how to be resilient people. They don't know of the larger dealing happening in the world yet, only bits and pieces, but it does feel like GRRM is preparing them to deal with it when their time comes and they finally have full agency to do something. Not sure all will work out, but I just can't see any of them dying or coming to harm by the end of the series. I don't feel any of them have had 'big' player moments yet, so I find it harder to sense a future for them beyond what others speculate on and most of it feels wishful.

As for Dany, she started out subjugated, but quickly found her power and has exerted that power within the story. She is by far the most powerful POV in terms of making changes in the world with large consequences. She means well, but things do not always go well or as she expected. She is learning, but also doing at the same time which makes the outcomes all the more complicated as it affects so many people, and not all of it is welcome change. Dany brings hope, but she also bring chaos, Dany makes friends, but she also makes lots of enemies...

I go back and forth on Dany's ending, mainly because of GRRM trope subversions and with Dany it could go either way. GRRM is building her up for something good and great, but whether she survives or is acknowledged for it? That would be bitter sweet indeed, but also in character for her - well meaning and doing something for the greater good, but often misunderstood or politically attacked by her enemies so that only a few close to her know of her true noble intentions and sacrifices. I want her to live, but I could also see her dying or being killed. She is a symbol and and icon and that is an attractive target for people like Varys or even Cottington, could go either way... I just acknowledge the possibilities.

[aggressionbread]

no one talks about the HD rumble on the joy cons anymore :(

[oliveroctavius]

Doesn't the decision to get involved with Sam Bullit prove Gwen was a bad person?

Hey, I've been looking for an excuse to post about this. The Sam Bullit arc isn't really about Gwen (though it certainly reveals some things about her character). The Sam Bullit arc is about racist dogwhistles and why they work.

ASM #92 pg 19: "I will bring law and order to the people of this great city! I will show no mercy to the anarchists and all others who would destroy our way of life!"

Bullit's platform is not openly white supremacist in the sense that it doesn't overtly mention race. He talks about laws and safety in a way meant to appeal to rich white voters. The true meaning should be clear to anyone with any political awareness (who are those others and what is our way of life?), so why does this rhetoric attract "otherwise rational" people?

ASM #91 pg 6: "I want to volunteer to help you--in your campaign for DA. Because--I want you to bring Spider-Man to justice!" "We need strength--strength to punish those who mock the law! I will use such strength to bring Spider-Man and others like him to justice! I will not betray your trust."

Gwen makes her decision to back Bullit on the way home from her father's funeral. There's a very real phenomenon of tough-on-crime bills named after (white) murder victims. The grief of families who feel like justice hasn't been served is a powerful tool to push harsh laws while smothering any criticism as "disrespectful" to the victims. What’s in a Name? An Empirical Analysis of Apostrophe Laws, 2020.

Bullit showed up at George Stacy's funeral with this exact goal in mind, and when Spider-Man "kidnaps" Gwen later, he leverages the media obsession with white girls in danger for his cause. Gwen is a pawn, but she did offer her help first. Her desire for closure is very human and her short-sighted reactionary faith in "the law" is very white.

Oddly absent from your "proven bad person" takeaway is J. Jonah Jameson. The Bugle lends Bullit a platform to make Gwen's personal tragedy a political talking point. JJJ has the ~Black best friend~ excuse and everything, and he still blows past red flags like crazy.

ASM #91 pg 7: "Maybe they were better days than now! At least we had law and order then." "Yeah--and lynch mobs, and bread lines, and Uncle Toms..." "Come off it, Robbie! What's wrong with a man standing for law and order, anyway?" "Maybe it just depends on whose law--and what kind of order you're talkin' about, man!"

(Another point of this arc: marginalized groups learn to recognize dogwhistles pretty quickly for survival reasons. If they tell you something is a dogwhistle and you don't see it yet, look closer.)

ASM #92 pg 9: "Parker's story just served to open Jameson's eyes--but I've kept a dossier on you. I haven't been city editor all these years for nothing! I know where your support comes from. I know about the lunatic hate groups who are backing you. I know what you really mean by law and order!"

Late in the campaign, the Bugle switches sides. This scene tends to be described as JJJ giving the racists what-for, but the moment is truly Robbie's. (Note that it took Peter getting roughed up for Jameson to take this seriously!) JJJ can yell at Bullit all he likes without consequences, but Robbie is kidnapped and threatened by white supremacists in retaliation. It's Robbie's determination to speak up that eventually puts Bullit out of the running for good.

The Bullit arc isn't there to sort characters by Bad Person and Good Person. Neither Gwen nor JJJ have to personally hate black people for their self-centered sense of safety to be weaponized by a racist agenda. This is a Stan Lee PSA about masked bigotry and how it might appeal to you even if you consider yourself a Good Person.

But for some ~mysterious~ reason, Gwen's brief agreement and Jameson's brief rejection are the only parts of these two issues I ever see brought up, with Robbie's major role not mentioned at all. Some ideas fit more neatly than others into smug ship-war quote tweets and anon asks, it seems.

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

May i ask what your feeling of Marichat are? (I apologize if you've answered this before)

I don't think that anyone has asked for my dynamic preferences, but I'm happy to talk about them, just note that this is very much an opinion piece. I'll be doing some critical analysis, but I'm not arguing for any of the following, I'm just telling you why my feelings are what they are.

I don't dislike any side of the love square, but canon Marichat is easily the least interesting to me. It's the one side that I'll probably never touch in my own writing, though I'm happy to read Marichat fics and even have a few favorites that focus on that side of the square.

This semi-aversion isn't because the dynamic is bad. Friends-to-lovers is my bread and butter. It's what I write in most of my original fiction and even in a lot of the fanfiction I've done. But I was drawn to the love square because they're already in love. While I see the appeal of one crush switching, I don't really see the appeal of watching them both fall out of love with each other in order to fall in love again. This is especially true because the "side" that they're falling for is the side that lets them be the least open about their needs.

I'm not a fan of Adrien having to keep his home life a secret from his girlfriend, but he would absolutely have to do that if he started dating Marinette as Chat Noir. He knows that he's friends with Marinette in his civilian life, so he'd need to be extra cautious with his identity around her. That means hiding a lot of things that I want to see him open up about since all of his major struggles come from his civilian side.

That isn't true for Ladynoir, though. Ladybug and Chat Noir have no idea that they know each other in their civilian lives, so being open-but-vague with each other shouldn't be seen as a big risk since they shouldn't be worried that small personal details will reveal their identities. (This is a writing issue in the show, imo. They write Ladybug as absurdly cautious when it doesn't really make sense if she assumes that Chat Noir is a stranger. You can tell that her actions are being driven by the plot not quality characterization.)

Along similar lines, Marinette can't talk to Chat Noir about her Ladybug struggles if she's not Ladybug. That's why I prefer Ladynoir or Ladrien. Ladrien is actually the easiest to write because Marinette is pretty good at opening up to people about issues that don't effect them. I can totally buy her talking to Adrien about her Ladybug fears while being reluctant to share those same fears with Chat Noir because she doesn't want to burden him or look weak. I think you can work around that issue pretty easily by developing Ladynoir into more of a power couple, but Ladrien is the easiest one to work with without having to change anything about the canon setup. While we're on the topic of giving Marinette support, I'll point out that Adrienette often works best in fics that focus on civilian issues like the Lila conflict while playing down Marinette's Ladybug struggles specifically because it lets Adrien feel like a solid supportive boyfriend which he really can't be if she's dealing with Ladybug issues.

The other reason that I love Ladrien is that I am a massive fan of identity shenanigans and Ladrien is the comedy hi-jinks/identity shenanigans ship. While Marichat basically kills the other sides of the love square (more on that in a second), Ladrien enhances them. Marinette gets even more ridiculous around Adrien and the same goes for Chat Noir with Ladybug. Bonus points if Chat Noir knows for some reason - as in Ladybug knows that Chat Noir knows that she's dating someone - so that you can have Chat Noir slowly dying of joy and frustration while his girlfriend gushes about him or just generally talks about her crush. It's very funny. I basically can't write Ladrien without including a ton of Ladynoir moments to really flesh the ridiculousness out.

I don't include a ton of civilian moments, though, because I don't see either Marinette or Adrien being open about the fact that they're dating some mystery person. It's just a completely unnecessary risk for their civilian sides to take, though it is fun to include a few moments of Marinette being a disaster as she remembers that they were kissing less than 24 hours ago. Hero sides having a romantic partner that they have to be vague about make total sense though. (Yet another reason I like Ladrien over Marichat. Adrien is just too good an actor to be an open disaster around his secret girlfriend when they're out in public and her safety is potentially at risk. You need them one-on-one for it to feel in character.)

Meanwhile, Marichat is a friends-to-lovers dynamic, meaning that you have the slow death of the other sides of the square as the current square falls out of love. You don't get the new square dynamics until the new love square is firmly established, so there's just not much to do with the other sides in terms of hi-jinks until the story is almost done.

This is why most Marichat fics don't feature the other sides. It's just Chat Noir and Marinette hanging out on her balcony or in her room. You may eventually get some jealous Ladybug moments or see people commenting on the fact that Marinette is having a much easier time talking to Adrien at school, but that's about it because Marichat means you're starting from scratch. You have to go through the whole falling in love process all over again which take a ton of time and effort, meaning that Marichat fics generally don't have much going on beyond romance. With the other three sides, at least one of them is already in love, so you don't need to do the classic slow burn. This is why Ladynoir, Adrienette, and Ladrien fics are a lot more diverse in their content.

That's probably another reason why I prefer the other three sides. I don't write a lot of pure romance stories. I tend to have some other larger plot driving my narratives because I'm a huge fan of romance bonding a couple as they go through adversity or insanity together which, once again, Marichat doesn't really do. They don't have the ability to knowingly team up pre-reveal. On the other hand, with Ladrien, you can get Adrien involved with the hero stuff on the civilian side since he's a perfect inside man. Ladynoir is involved in the hero intrigue by default and Adrienette is involved with the civilian intrigue by default.

In summary, Marichat is a fine ship, it just lacks all of the things that I love to play with, which is why it gets the fourth spot on my tier list. Ladrien and Ladynoir are basically tied for number one, though I'd give the top spot to Ladrien if I had to pick. Adrienette is in third and Marichat comes in last.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, my absolutely favorite dynamic is a reverse crush setup where Ladybug was always in love with Chat Noir and Adrien was always in love with Marinette. In that context, Marichat is now Ladrien and, therefore, I'm all in. Though, oddly enough, Adrienette is probably my favorite to write in that setup, followed closely by Ladynoir. I just really like torturing Adrien with Marinette's crush, plus it's fun to have their friends more involved in the ways I picture them getting involved (it's a lot more holding back than pushing forward like we get with canon Adrienette. Just picture Alya, Nino, and maybe even Chloè reacting to Adrien's wooing tactics in real time and you'll probably immediately see what I mean.)

Partial-reveal canon Marichat is also a whole different story. I love a good partial reveal fic for any side because I am primarily drawn to the square because of identity shenanigans and partial reveals are identity shenanigan central!

[pinkeoni]

What Exactly Do I Mean When I Say "Will is Jesus Christ?"

(or Why Will is the Chosen One)

Do I mean that Will is actually the second coming of Christ? Well, no, at least not in a literal sense. All I mean to say by this is that—

Will is the chosen one, and he is the hero of the story who is meant to save the world from the apocalypse.

Apocalypse imagery and references to Revelations is all over the place in season 4. The four victims representing the four horsemen of the apocalypse, Henry "One" effectively being a God-like figure, references to Revelations 1:8 regarding Henry, hell I'll go as far to say that Robin playing the trumpet at the beginning of the season is a nod to the sound of trumpets that is meant to signal the beginning of the apocalypse.

The important thing about Revelations being that at the end of the day, the second coming of Jesus Christ, the chosen one, saves the day.

This really robust old post that I made, which was also one of my first theory posts, goes into detail on how Will fits the criteria of a Christ-figure, or a figure in literature or media that is allegorical to Jesus Christ. Will's biggest piece of evidence being his full on burial and resurrection in the first season.

If I'm talking about Christ-figures in the show then I should probably talk about El, who admittedly has much more in your face Christ-coding than Will does. Walking on water, performance of miracles, the mother who got pregnant out of strange circumstances, along with her own resurrection and so-on.

So then, if El clearly has more Christ-coding than Will, why am I placing the title of Jesus onto Will? Is it just because I like him more than El? Is it because I see Will as a more important character than El?

Just as a general disclaimer, I will admit that I do have a major Will bias, anyone who follows me knows that. He's been my favorite character since I first watched the show. Although, my labeling of him as the chosen one has nothing to do a dislike of El or a belief that she is not an important character. I love El, and it's plain to everyone that watches the show how important she is. However, I just don't believe that the chosen one who saves the day is what her arc is building towards.

They've been building up El's chosen one status while also quietly breaking it down in the background, in the same way that they've quietly been leaving bread crumbs pointing toward Will's Christ status while also seemingly suggesting that he isn't that important of a character. Why have a character tell El that she's "the cure," then make a point that she loses against Henry at the end of the season? Why sideline Will for the past two seasons, but throw in lines of dialogue pointing toward his involvement with the Upside Down?

What I believe they are going for is a classic bait-and-switch to subvert expectations in the final season. Lead the audience to believe one thing, while still leaving clues to suggest the other so that when the twist is revealed it doesn't come out of nowhere.

So what is El's arc actually about? I won't deny El's role in the final battle of the show, it's not like she's going to be completely sidelined, but I don't think that her saving the world on her own while everyone else watches is what her arc is building towards. The real core of her arc is El discovering who she is as a girl, rather than becoming a superhero.

I actually made a post awhile ago talking about El’s monster/superhero dichotomy, and it’s actually incredibly important to my argument. The post itself is more in depth, but tl:dr: El believes that she can either be a superhero or a monster, and bases her worth on her ability to save the world and others, an unfair expectation to place onto one girl.

If at the end of the season, El single-handedly saves the entire world, wouldn’t it feel counterintuitive to her arc? She needs to learn that her self worth doesn’t rely on her ability to save the world, and if she ends the show this way, it wouldn’t create a solution for her cyclical train of thought.

Furthermore, wouldn’t this ending be a bit expected, and even boring? This is what El has been doing for the past four seasons of the show. Continuing that pattern would only feel anticlimactic. From a writer’s pov, if you wanted the ending of you show to be dynamic and interesting, you would want to do something new.

So why do I think that Will is the chosen one?

It’s not like I’m pulling the chosen-one-Jesus-Christ label out of my ass just because I like Will. I actually do have many reasons to believe this.

The first one is the confirmation that Will is going to be a big part and focus for next season. It’s been theorized that this means Will is going to become a villian, and while I do love a good Will villian AU, there are many reasons I could list off as to why he wouldn’t become a villian. Without going into it all right now, let’s just say that it would not only go against what Will stands for, but also what the show itself stands for.

Even in show, we have signs pointing toward Will’s chosen status. Let’s start with the fact that Will is the one who kicks the entire show off in the first place, when he is taken by who we later learn to be Henry. Now, this could have just been wrong-place-wrong-time kind of thing, but given how much has been revealed has actually been part of a larger plan constructed by Henry, I highly doubt that mere coincidence is the case.

Let’s look at some more evidence within the fourth season. Let’s talk about the fact that, despite not even being present in Hawkins and gone for much of the supernatural action, Will is still being brought up by name and even implicated in the strangeness of the Upside Down.

Do I think Will is gonna solo-kill Vecna in the climax of the show? Chosen one doesn’t mean only one. No, despite all my rambling about El not being the hero, I’m not gonna deny her importance to the supernatural plot. I think something else the show keeps building upon is the importance of support from friends and family— saving the world is likely gonna be a group effort. I do think, however, that Will possesses some kind of unique ability that is going to be crucial to winning.

What would being the hero mean for Will’s arc? Well, it would give him a sense of control that he hasn’t had before. Will has had a lot of agency and autonomy ripped from him in past seasons, and this would be his way of reclaiming that. It would be the perfect subversion of expectations as well. The character that everyone expects to be just the helpless victim, or hell even the villian, is the one who rises to become the hero who saves the day in his own way.

[cutiepattotie]

being wolfstar kid A-U (i got lazy)

a : affectionate ( who is more affectionate? Remus or Sirius?)

i see both of them being pretty affectionate, but i think Sirius more! he would always rub your head, or give you hugs when you least expected

b: buyer (who buys you more stuff/who spoils you more)

definitely Sirius! he spoils you to be a good dad and Remus hates it because he'll randomly just come home with gifts for you and he would be like

"really sirius?? do they really need all that??" and he'll be like "of course the they do." but he does it because he loves you so much

c: cuddles (who's the hugger parent)

Sirius would love cuddles. and i feel like when you get older you would be like "okay, dad that's enough hugging." and he would lowkey get sad when you don't hug him as much

d: disciplinarian (who disciplines more)

i feel like it would switch between them. like sometimes Remus would be like to Sirius "i don't care, they’re grounded for two weeks" and Sirius would be like "seriously? two weeks?" and then vice versa. sometimes one would be more lenient, and then other times the other would be more lenient

e: exciting activities (what exciting activities do you partake in with your parents)

baking!! you and your parents would find recipes for cupcakes and all kinds of desserts and you would pick and day where you would all bake together for the whole day! after the day in done you guys have SO many baked goods that your dads ends up giving some away to his co-workers. but Remus be honest Remus probably eats a big majority of the desserts himself LOL (i love him being a big sweet tooth!)

f: funnier (which parent is funnier/makes you laugh more)

this is hard because they're both hilarious, but i'm gonna give this one to Sirius because he would have you laughing in situations where you shouldn't be laughing.

g: games (what games would you play together as a family)

ok this isn't really a game, but i see you teaching Sirius and Remus some slang that teenagers use nowadays. you would teach them the meaning of "tea" or "has left the chat" and i just see them totally over using it to the point where you're like what have i done. Sirius would be ranting about his long day at work and at the end of it he would be like "i just spilt the tea sis"

h : how close are you with their friends and family? (i.e james, regulus, frank, peter, and so on)

definitely closets with james and regulus! i mean that’s their best friend and brother were talking about! peter too! he comes around for holidays and always calls in to check in on all of you! (i headcanon for my self that peter never did some slick shi and i don’t tolerate young!peter slander!!!)

i: internet (what social media's do your parents allow you to have)

i think Sirius would definitely keep tabs on you, but Remus wouldn't know or care until Remus told him LOL Sirius would show him a picture of you in a revealing outfit or something and Remus would be like

"ok delete this" and you'd be like "why!?" and his only response would be "because you're practically naked"

j: jokes (which parent jokes around more and which is more serious)

Sirius would tell you such inappropriate jokes omg. and you'd be like “😶👀” and Remus would

scold the both of you

k: kid around (which parent could you kid around with more without them

taking it seriously)

Remus would take it more serious lmao. you would be watching a show and a character would do something stupid and you would be like "I'M LITERALLY ABOUT TO KILL THIS CHARACTER" and a joke, because you were mad. and Remus would over hear and be like

"why would you say that??" and Sirius would be like "oh come one moony, relax. they’re just kidding."

LMAO

1: loving (something your parents do for you that shows how much they love you)

if you fell asleep on the couch, Remus would pick you up and tuck you in bed. and whenever you were sad Sirius would play with your hair, because that's what he likes to have done to him when he’s sad :(

m: money (which parent gives you more money when you ask)

Sirius definitely would. he would never say no when you ask for money. the only time he would say no is when you're in trouble or he's mad at you. Remus wouldn't give you money unless you earned it.

n: nicknames (what nicknames or pet names do your parents call you)

Sirius calls you "honey" or a short form of your name. Remus would call you "cocoa" because when ever since you were little you loved chocolate and you and Remus always ate it together. and Remus loved that because he loves chocolate and you

0: open (which parent are you more open with/feel comfortable telling anything to)

Remus! but Sirius honestly would be a close second. i feel like if you want more sentimental advice you would go to Remus. he would know exactly what to tell you to make you feel better at that time. but if you wanted more straightforward advice, then you would go to Sirius. he would tell you the truth, even if it hurts your feelings sometimes LMAO but you know you need to hear it

p: patient (which parent is more patient with you)

i feel like Remus is a little

more patient. if you were taking too long to do something, Sirius would be like "did they fall in or something??" and Remus would be like "let's just give them five more minutes." or if they were waiting outside a store for you and you were taking a long time, when you finally got out of the store Sirius would be like "what took you so long?? i've been waiting here for like 15 minutes!" but if it was Remus you'd apologize and he would be like "it's fine"

q: questions (which parent do you feel more comfortable asking questions to)

once again it depends what kind of answer you're looking for LMAO you go to Sirius for blunt honesty and you go to Remus for more heart to heart questions

r: random (a random thing you do with each parent)

you and Sirius have a SUPER long handshake and it was like a full minute showcase LOL you guys would both show all of his friends and family they would all lowkey be jealous (especially james lmaooo). and with Remus i feel like you guys would see random bakeries or restaurants on the street and go there to try it and you guys would do taste tests and stuff

s: strict (which parent is more strict and which is more lenient)

i think Remus is a tad stricter especially with your grades. i can see Sirius yelling at you for like not cleaning your room or getting a bad grade on a test. but both of them would be pretty strict about you telling them where you are and if they found out you lied to them they would be pissed LMAO

t: tasty (which parent is a better cook)

Remus is the chef of the family definitely. Remus and his coq au vin LMAO he tries to teach you how to cook it but you can't really cook, only bake and he tries the dish you tried to make and he's like "i love you so much cocoa, but holy cow this is disgusting"

u: unfortunate (what tragedy that happened to you family affected you the most)

well definitely not Sirius going to azkaban and Remus running away!! well just all pretend that didn’t happen

[revserrayyu]

2.1 Penacony thoughts [part2]

**Spoiler warning** Covering up until we switch to Acheron’s POV alongside Welt (not their first conversation but actually playing as her, hence the cover photo), so be kind to yourself and look away if you haven’t reached that point yet. Brace yourself once more; I’m going to ramble.

First things first, this whole shrinking down scene where we traverse through a model of Penacony was so odd. Poor Ratio had to be rolling his eyes so hard just watching a tiny Aventurine run around like that.

I feel like we didn’t learn much about Sunday last patch, but hearing him speak about how orderly and presentable we should be at all times really fits his personality. The pretty boy certainly knows how to look good and leads me like him even more..

But only for a moment as he then uses some Harmony trickery against Aventurine so he’s forced to answer his several questions truthfully, or at least that’s the feeling I got from watching this interrogation. Seeing this was quite interesting to me because there’s this anime call No Guns Life where a character by the name Tetsuro has an ability called “harmonie” which allows him to control other extends (robots basically) and they way the anime shows it looked very familiar with all the color.

Moving on, Sasuke Uchiha vibes are coming in strong with our gambler being a potential sole clan survivor, not to mention Aventurine admitting his love toward his family is something he values more than himself. Also, I don’t like this bird.. sitting there, keeping an eye on everything, even during Aventurine’s chat with Sparkle later on. I know the Family has a big Nightingale theme going on but still. Big Brother (or in this case the Family) always watching hm?

NOPE. Any small hope I had for Sunday being someone we could safely trust has flown straight out the window with this sinister smirk of his, no matter how handsomely good it makes him look here.

I love that no matter what is going on or who he’s talking to, Ratio always manages to mildly insult others without a care in the world.

So stuff about the Cornerstones gets revealed, how all Ten Stonehearts have one of their own and how very important said stones are to them, so what on earth was Aventurine doing with both his and Potaz Pazto Topaz’s? Also found it interesting how closely hers resembles Qlipoth’s body when she isn’t a Preservation unit like Aventurine is.

Sunday then gives Aventurine only 17 system hours to live and he has to spend it solving Robin’s case with little to no outside help or hints on where to begin. Talk about immense pressure. Let my man gamble in peace!

And if all that wasn’t enough to make me start feeling bad for our fancy man, we get a sad backstory featuring his sister and even learning how both their parents died! Because OF COURSE they’re setting me up to get upset about him for some reason later on in the story and now I’m so terrified because if I learned anything from anime it’s that these kinds of flashback are major red death flags.

The feeling of joy came back to me though upon seeing Topaz show up. Despite Aventurine being around and all the mentions of the IPC, I honestly wasn’t expecting her to visit Penacony at all, but I’m very pleased to see her again! She definitely grew on me after that one quest in Belobog and even though she doesn’t have access to most places on Penacony like her coworker currently does, it’s nice she’s willing to lend a helping hand to us.

It doesn’t settle well with me that none of the Bloodhounds know who Gallagher is. Ain’t he supposed to be top dog around here and in charge?

Oh red text, why must you haunt me so easily? Imagine how different all of Penacony would feel if we had the option to completely turn off subtitles. People would definitely have various opinions regarding Acheron if they knew of her ominous words or not.

I wanna chalk this up as a HI3 reference, but I can’t be sure as I’ve never played. If so, I love how they can toss in hints about Welt’s past like this.

And hers.. I imagine bits and pieces would line up with her past one way or another too.

A little while after that, we cut back to Black Swan and y’all, we FINALLY get some sort of Boothill interaction in the story! Only audio for now but I’ll take it!

Hearing about bullets, him getting annoyed about Acheron being a “galaxy ranger” and the Hunt path are wonderful ways to confirm who it is and I can’t wait to eventually see him in game.

Seems like he isn’t too thrilled with Acheron though and of course, he too knows of her Emenator status. There goes my brief hopes of them being in friendly terms and seeing them work together I suppose.

This item that Ratio gives Aventurine before he suddenly disappears (again) and how it features one of his voicelines.. hilarious. It’s like it was spoken specifically for Aventurine and no one else.

I may be a little stupid.. do we know who the other mute is? The one dead is clearly Robin, but surely the other can’t be Sunday right? He spoke perfectly fine. I’m thinking back to all the Penacony characters we’ve met and they all sound fine, aside from Sam but he’s robotic so naturally he would sound a bit different yea? Maybe we haven’t met this other mute yet, I dunno. The “again” part of Sparkle’s line makes me feel like we have met them at least once.

Sweetie, how the fuck did you manage to sneak such a dangerous device into Penacony?? Even Aventurine is concerned about how the Family doesn’t know of it.

Okay.. so the whole flashback with Aventurine being bought as a slave and used to gamble for his master is tough. I know many people speculated what the mark on his neck said, and majority did think “slave” was written, but man, the hint didin’t make this story any easier to hear. Being blessed with luck ain’t always a good thing hm? Hearing the guy say “all or nothing” and learning from Topaz about how that phrase is now Aventurine’s mantra.. oh boy.

Siobhan is gorgeous and if she was playable I’d definitely pull for her.

SERVAL MENTION HUZZAH! I’m aware they mentioned my girl during the livestream and how they’re both the rebellious ones in their respective families, but Siobhan actually wanting to meet her? Oohhh~

Okay but the fact we’re encountered so many deaths, during the many story and side quests, in a short amount of time shouldn’t be normal. The way he seems so indifferent about it too.. “so what?” like sir, people are dying.

Oh, we did indeed receive one as well. That was the invitation, wasn’t it? I thought the music box Acheron stole from Duke was something different and special for different reasons. Nevermind.

I seriously need to check back into the creepy dream we experienced last time after Sparkle knocked us out, where we encountered that memory zone meme and listen to all the shouting we heard of this Mikhail guy. I figured he had to be someone important, but the Watchmaker and betrayer of the Family? Oh dear.

I bet you anything it’s Misha. Working behind the scenes in the hotel this entire time would definitely be an effective strategy, and his technique outside battle literally stops time and that seems like the perfect kind of ability for someone named “Watchmaker.”

Gallagher wondering if this certain person is real or not is another reason I think it’s Misha because apparently no one notices his presence at all. During that one scene with us, Firefly, Acheron, Misha & Clockie last past, the girlies didn’t acknowledge Misha at all. Only us and Clockie spoke to the boy. In return, Clockie is only seen by us and Misha as well. So that’s just strange.

For a moment I wonder if Misha is actually like.. a ghost of sorts and we’re just going insane seeing visions of people and cartoon characters everywhere. But that’s all stuff I shall find out later. Hopefully. If the story decides to answer my many concerns.

(originally written on 3/28)

[yeostars]

ATEEZ: GOLDEN HOUR PT. 2 ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY IS IMMACULATE, FILLED WITH ABSOLUTE MASTERPIECES.

I need each and every track injected in my veins and I'm being so srs.

lemme yap a lil about my most fav parts from each song bc why not ;))) (I love the ENTIRE song btw, but there are just gonna be some parts that keep playing in my mind over & over again ever since the album has released bc they're SO.DAMN.ADDICTIVE)

1. DEEP DIVE

THE INSANE INSTRUMENTALS OF DEEP DIVE LITERALLY MAKES ME FEEL LIKE I'M A SWIMMER, diving in deep into the ocean & the sound of water resonating in my ears 😭 YUNHO'S line which was revealed in the album showcase live, the one that obviously left hotteoks & atinys w their jaw on the floor ever since. THE WAY HE PRONOUNCES "BODY" AND "TOXIC" IN THOSE LINES. HOLY SHITTTTT, THAT line keeps repeating in my mind with yunho's vocals there 😭 I also really loved when san said "higher hights than deeper lows" 🙏 SO GOOD. Joong and mingi's rap parts here >>>>>>>>

2. ICE ON MY TEETH

I have been TOTALLY obssessed with the entire song itself, even more bc of the insane MV we've got. But what has me totally hooked are the violin instrumentals throughout this entire masterpiece. Ice on my teeth itself is such a new & unique concept, idek how they manage to give us smth new EVERY time - something we can't even predict or expect. AND it has us going nuts everytime & all they deserve is immense appreciation for this level of authenticity.

Ever since the album preview, HONGJOONG'S "I got diamonds at my dentist" has me going particularly insane. Reason? It sounds so damn addictive??? Wooyo, yun and san got the same lyrics/lines in the song i believe and they made it sound so addictive too😩🙏 I also really love jongho's parts in the entire song. Bro ate it up w them golden vocals🙏

3. MAN ON FIRE

so I'll get straight to the point for this ond. The lyrics. THE GOD DAMN LYRICS. the second half of the song is literally them singing over & over again "I need you so bad, want you so bad." LIKE HELLO????? ATEEZ WHAT RHE FUCK

San and hwa's chorus sounds soo powerful, starting with "I got no way" and the "never no way" is soo addictive too. 🔥

MINGI'S RAP HERE IS INSANEEEEE AS HELL. 💥💥💥💥

yeosang's "I'll walk into these flames if it's for you" I HYPERVENTILATED WHEN I HEARD THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME

4. Selfish Waltz

Jdjsusjdjdjfjjfjf. Sjsushshdjfjfjfjdjjjdjfjcjfjfjjg. JSJXJXJDJDJDJNDJDIDUDJFJFJGKGKKF

Sorry but the keyboard smash above by your one & only is valid. BECAUSE THIS IS SELFISH WALTZ WE ARE TALKING ABOUT. DARE I SAY THE BEST B-SIDE OF THE CENTURY BC WTFFFFF? hongjoong you absolute GENIUS, creating this masterpiece 3 years ago, bless you for giving this masterpiece to us at the perfect time🤧

Hwa, yun and yeo's vocals at the very start and the lyrics are sooooo insane😭 smth that i definitely wanted in a song titled "selfish waltz"

UNDOUBTEDLY, MY MOST FAVOURITE PART IS WOOYOUNG'S CHORUS 😭😭😭😭😭😭 it literally might be my most favourite part from all songs of this album combined fr. THE WAY HE SINGS "machi, machi" in the start and the switch between his normal and high pitched vocals. PERFECTION. I am soooo glad wooyo is shining so much in this album w them underrated vocals

ANOTHER PART THAT MADE ME GO BATSHIT CRAZY. the ending chorussss 😭😭😭😭😭😭 the part right after wooyoung and jongho's lines, joong starts his rap at the end after that "love songggg~" AND the part where yunho and jongho's vocals combine beautifully. HEAVENLY ASFFF

5. Enough

For Enough, I'd say that the song as a whole is my absolute fav 💖 I really, really love how majority of the song has English lyrics except for joong and mingi's rap lyrics in kr (which have great meaning too😭)

The lyrics for enough had me switching up from crying to feeling like I'm on top of the world. Idek how to explain it, it's like I'm being comforted and triggered all at once 😭

Seriously tho, the lyrics for this one is something we all needed, it comforted all of us because it's RELATABLE STUFF.

The bridge lyrics: "When there is no one for you, when you just need a friend, when you're just feeling lonely, I'll be there."

WELL DAMN, GUESS WHO'S CRYING WATERFALLS NOW 😭😭😭😭😭

ALSOOO, ever since the album preview was released, I was so hooked onto the "GOD! DANG! Hold on to your ground" part by wooyo and san. It makes the song sound POWERFUL. 🔥🙏

In conclusion: each and every track deserves world-wide recognition and for achieving that goal, tinys, let's streammmm and make this a hell of an era for ATEEZ and us, both. Our 8 precious gems deserve all the love, appreciation and support for this fantastic album 💘

[emarasmoak]

Rollacoaster catches up with face of Halbrand and The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, Charlie Vickers

Shedding the mystery of his character, The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power's Charlie Vickers talks on playing Halbrand, the pressures of his craft and what can we expect next from the Middle Earth star.

Nice interview with some great photos 🔥😍

This year’s hotly-anticipated return to Middle Earth saw a staggering quarter of a million viewers settle in for an Orc-infested ride into all things mythical, with 30-year-old actor, Charlie Vickers, leading the foray. Introducing Hollywood’s newest name, assuming the role of Halbrand, the lost king of the fictional Southlands.

After several auditions – seven, to be exact – and months perfecting the Middle Earth common tongue, the Australian actor wasted no time in syphoning the armour of the cunning character. Vickers might be worlds apart from Halbrand’s machiavellian self (spoiler alert: later to be revealed as Sauron), it’s not Vickers’ first rodeo fabricated a character far from his day-to-day life, playing Guglielmo Pazzi in Medici: Masters of Florence as well as Dan in Palm Beach. Sizing up a plentiful roster, the rising star reflects on the pressure that came with signing onto the major movie franchise and setting his heights high for what comes next.

CATY PENZA: Before we start talking about all things Lord of the Rings, can you tell us a little bit about how you got into acting? What has your journey been like?

CHARLIE VICKERS: I never really considered acting as a possibility at first because I didn’t believe it would be a successful career for me. It wasn't until a couple of years into me studying at university that I realised maybe I could have a go at acting because I didn’t feel any passion towards what I was doing. So I flew to Sydney and auditioned for a drama school and got selected. That’s kind of where everything started unfolding.

CP: Growing up, were there any actors you looked up to?

CV: I was in Melbourne and I went to see a production of Richard III and the leading actor was Ewen Leslie. I definitely look up to him, even though I’ve never actually met him, but his performance was a real catalyst for my career. I’d love to tell him that one day.

CP: Hopefully he reads this interview and finds out!

CV: Yes! That would be incredible.

CP: You play Halbrand in The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, how did you come about getting cast for the role?

CV: It was a long audition process for me. I auditioned maybe six or seven times over a period of six months. I originally auditioned for another character three times, and then got moved to audition for Halbrand. It was a long process, I even flew to Spain to test shoot with J.A. Bayona, who directs the first two episodes. It was a pretty amazing day and it was the last piece of the puzzle to getting the role.

CP: What was it like switching into the Halbrand persona? Did you have to do or think about anything in particular?

CV: I spent a lot of time researching source material. Because he’s an original character, I wanted Halbrand to fit into that world and make sure he had all the talking elements. Halbrand is also very different to me, so I had to tap into things that I wasn’t necessarily used to tapping into. It was so interesting watching the show and seeing that difference.

CP: What was your reaction like when you saw the show for the first time?

CV: It was pretty amazing. We saw it for the first time as a cast in Los Angeles, with a screening of the first three episodes. It was so overwhelming and incredible to see the scope of the show and all my friends performing.

CP: Given The Lord Of The Rings’ hugely loyal fandom, were you at any point nervous about taking on a role in this spinoff show?

CV: Obviously there is a huge amount of pressure and expectations that come with being a part of a world that is so important to so many people, but that’s almost a good thing. Signing onto the show though, there was no hesitation. I didn’t know the full ins and outs of what I was signing onto, but there was still no doubt I wanted to be a part of it.

CP: And how has your life changed since the show’s release?

CV: I don’t go out into very busy settings that much, but, the few times I have been, I have been recognised and everyone has been very kind so I guess in that sense it has changed. But besides that, I tend to lead a quiet life so it hasn’t changed that much.

CP: Speaking of which, what does an average day in the life of Charlie Vickers look like?

CV: My work days and my days off are very different. On a work day, I’ll be picked up very early in the morning and I’ll film all day. But on a day off, I need sleep. Minimum nine hours. I do some exercise when I get up, have lunch and then just sit at my laptop and do some work. I also spend some time with friends and family and if I’m by the coast I’ll also go for a surf, but if I’m in London then I just try and do something fun for the day.

CP: You definitely cannot surf in London.

CV: There is a wave pool I think! But right now it’s limited, yeah.

CP: Where do you envision yourself as an actor in 10 years time?

CV: Working on a project of this magnitude has been amazing, but it’s also given me the desire to work on things completely different in the future. Smaller projects, like independent films or mini-series. I always look for new adventures in my work and I’m open to them in whatever form they may come.

CP: Finally, is anything else currently in the works?

CV: I filmed a mini-series in Australia based on the novel by Holly Ringland titled The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. It’s a story about female resilience and generational trauma. I play the father. It’s a spectacular story and it will hopefully come out next year.

[animehouse-moe]

Skip and Loafer Episode 3: Dreamy and Sparky

P.A Works and Skip and Loafer have really been getting off on the right foot with the start of this season as they continue to build and expand upon a wonderful story and work to further hook viewers and convince them that this is a good anime, great even. Though, much like how Skip and Loafer likes to try and keep things close to grounded, this episode serves as a bit of a reminder that P.A Works isn't going to deliver perfect episodes for the whole season.

So, what do I mean by perfect? Well, the direction of this episode is a bit more "bland", on average. The majority of the episode is rather standard direction, and is peppered with really outstanding work. It's one of those things where you say "Oh man it's a really good episode" because it averages out to that. Really, the direction is the only thing that appears disparate in this episode though, so not anything to worry about, but it's one of those things you notice and you think "huh, a lot of panning and plain shots today".

In spite of that, we get a lot of really great shots from the episode, some that lean into character isolation, and others that focus on a scene in its entirety, and all of which derive their value and quality from the point in the story, so I'll save the images for later

How I about I start with comedy? The actual comedy (not the stuff the characters find funny per se) rests very much with the delivery from characters like Mitsumi. There's reactions and somewhat standard effects for it, but it really does come from how the characters can get the comedy across. That said, having some cute and fun visuals certainly doesn't hurt, right?

The series has been really mindful of how Mitsumi views things, and the comedy and substance of the show plays into it quite well. Take this aged up version of Mitsumi talking about her "time" on the student council (even though she's not a part of it yet). It's just an extrapolation of Mitsumi's imagination, much like the spacemen and alien are, and gives a great idea of how she thinks and acts.

Now, just to nerd out a little, I really liked the effort they put in to it here. The camera's moving somewhat slightly and the framing and everything really sells that "on the move interview" feel that they're going for.

Alright, random little bits out of the way, now to get to the heart of the episode, and I'd say there's a good bit.

Starting it off, we get a new character added to the group (that's in the OP), Kurume. She's shy and rather socially awkward and a "geek", so she's got a hard time with how abrasive Mitsumi is, and struggles in the presence of popular people like Shima and Murashige. She definitely adds to the comedy a decent bit at the start since she sells Mitsumi as the "school boss" almost as well as Mitsumi does herself, but I really like how she's shown when she goes to Starmax with Mitsumi and Shima.

The piece that gets me from this interaction is the cups. Mitusmi and Kurume get the same drink, but throughout the interaction we can see the differences in how much each has drank of it. And no, they don't just leave it for the big reveal, throughout the conversation we get to see little pieces and glimpses of it as well which is a very nice detail. Though of course, the actual shot of the drinks is far prettier than randomly spotting it in conversation.

The conversation is a really nice piece to express Kurume's social anxiety, and how much she wants to leave it behind, and works really well next to Mitsumi since she has a similar piece of social ineptitude. Personally speaking, I feel like it goes to show how similar yet disparate the two girls are. At heart, they both want the same things but they end up expressing themselves differently over it due to upbringing and differences in life.

Switching gears back to direction, since it'll be a repeated point throughout, I really like how wide and panning shots are not an excuse from P.A Works to limit animation or motion in a scene. Most of the time they're used to stimulate those effects, but here it's more of a stylistic choice than anything. (Please forgive the quality, this is the best I could manage)

Moving on, to the latter half/aspect of the episode, we get a friendly outing for lunch and a movie, which Kurume originally intended for to only have a +1, rather than a whole friend group. I think it's a fun little interpretation of how an introvert gets captured by a group of friends, and explores the social anxiety of larger outings where the content of it isn't as controlled as it would have been with a smaller group.

One of my favorite bits about them going out for lunch and being in a larger group was the overlap in conversation. I don't know if it was in the manga, but having layers to the chattering going on at the table was a really nice addition. It both helps the overall setting seem more normal, while also establishing some of the dominant/favorites within the group for certain people.

At the same time it shows the isolation and concerns of characters as well. Take Kurume and Murashige, for instance. Murashige is trying to make small talk with Kurume and bring her into the friend group (bless her soul she's such a nice girl), but Kurume is still afraid of it and weary of Murashige, so we get scenes like this.

It's really nice detail in terms of body language. Murashige is trying to bridge the gap between the two of them by leaning closer to make things more personal, but Kurume is taken aback by it and moves to re-establish that distance. It happens a few times and is a nice little detail to insert into something that deals with social conventions and interactions so heavily.

In the same restaurant scene we get more of Egashira which is nice. The story does very well with their character here and heightens their insecurities and negative personality traits very well. It forces Egashira into isolation because she herself does it, but paints it as if it were some exterior force. I mean, she's doing all she can to get the attention of Shima, but he's not batting an eye? It expresses that type of girl that's focused on boys really well, and highlights the tradeoff that occurs with that sort of tunnel vision. Alongside that, I just appreciate how they don't move to vilify Egashira. It's a very easy thing to do and something that ends up very common as a trope in this sort of series, so moving away from it to focus on the more substantial aspects is really nice.

That sort of understanding is what leads to shots like this. Egashira is talking with Shima like she wants to, but conversation at the table shifts away from her as a general topic takes over, isolating her from Shima as she can't seem to find a way to get into the overall discussion.

It's just really great at selling social interaction through a visual medium, it really gets it. Like this piece. Yeah, it's Egashira isolating herself, but it only occurs after she compares herself to Murashige. It's really lovely how well they grasp the difficulties of high school and relationships, and how much they continue to comment on beauty standards and requirements for women, and this case, younger teenagers.

Anyways, movie time! There's not really a lot going on here, but I love the interaction between Murashige and Kurume here. They get a little bit rough on their way over in Kurume attempting to drive a stake between them so she can isolate herself, but Mitsumi manages to repair things (although inadvertently). Thanks to that, we get a really cute scene where Kurume apologizes to Murashige over text (both because they're in a movie theater and because she's nervous about it). It also gives us this really nice shot.

This episode didn't have as stellar work on average when compared to the prior two, but there's really great pieces like what's above that give it a leg to stand on. Sure, there's not a huge amount of great direction that's consistent through the episode, but there's also just as many standout pieces that it deserves credit for.

Speaking of consistent direction, the layering of this episode is really nice. The group is shown to be separated and compartmentalized really well through stuff like dialogue, interaction, and even seating. It does a lot of work to establish the formation of cliques and subgroups within, while (like I said earlier) helping show where the strongest friendships lie. Just simple things like how the group walks from A to B sell it.

Now, what I really like here is how things are presented and flow into the next piece. We see Mitsumi hovering in the middle since Egashira took Shima, but even if Egashira is clinging to him he always flocks to Mitsumi. It's a really good piece to show how strong Mitsumi and Shima's friendship is, but also further Egashira's isolation as she continues to attempt to attach herself to Shima rather than befriend him. It's a really subtle thing, but I quite enjoy how they present it.

Plus, even though they're in a big group they go through the trouble of actually animating them, which is really nice to see. Though it's not anything "incredible", being bothered to make a cut like this is much appreciated. Also, even in smaller cuts you can see stuff like the movement of the shoulders of characters, or even the slight changes in their clothing as they move.

And just to finish things off, this really pretty cut of Shima.

Skip and Loafer just gets it. Even if the direction is a touch weaker than what it's been, it still has zero issues in selling the core aspects of the story and characters, of the essential experience of high schoolers. Struggles and interests and enjoyment all melding into something indistinguishable and being distilled into that high school experience. Right on the border of reality and "grounded", it finds the perfect ways to stretch the truth and norms to give something incredibly passionate and nostalgic (to those out of high school now) while making sure to not overstep and place too much of a rose colored tint over it all.

[a-student-out-of-time]

least delusional mod moment

okay but is your arei isn't actually dead theory implying that arei is the culprit??

or like. explain please

//No, no, I'm not implying that. We've that happen a few times, with the blackened convincing the cast the victim is actually still alive, like what happened twice in SDRA2, but what I'm suggesting is completely different

//Think about how J and Arei's arcs have played out during this motive. J had her entire identity revealed, much to her chagrin, and Arturo has been hounding her ever since. He doesn't respect her or her word, he's basically simping for her mom and J by extension only because of her old name.

//It gets to the point that, in order to get even a little bit of peace from this nonsense, she drags Teruko into the changing rooms and nearly gets knifed for her troubles. All just because she didn't want to deal with Arturo for a little bit, but nobody's helped her out

//Arei, meanwhile, has gone through a whole-ass character arc in only a few episodes. She started off as the bully girl who claimed she had nothing to hide, then had a massive breakdown over how much she wished kind people existed but doesn't believe they can in a cruel world. And then, thanks to David's influence, she decided she was gonna try and be a kinder person

//And after those last two moments, we haven't really seen much of them. We got one brief glimpse of Arei the day before the BDA, and we saw J briefly speaking just before then.

//Like, ordinarily this would seem straightforward, but it was this bit from Teruko's discussion with Veronika, where they talk about Teruko's apparent prosopagnosia, that really caught my attention:

//That entire discussion wasn't there just for the sake of it. This is something they deliberately wanted to draw attention to, and just before the motive reveal. Especially since Teruko doesn't answer.

//Not only does Teruko having prosopagnosia potentially complicate matters with her already trying to avoid interacting with people, but I feel this particular question is foreshadowing the big reveal

//And why do I think it's going to be like this? Because this chapter has essentially been one huge expansion on Arei and J's FTE

//In their FTE, the two of them discussed a bit about their home lives, with J ranting about how much she despises her mom and how Arei wishes she got to be the center of her own mother's attention. I was already curious about both those sentiments, and this chapter went on to elaborate on them wonderfully.

//Moreover, Arei, in her own chaos gremlin kind of way, genuinely cares about J and wants to hang out with her, even feeling that J likes her back because she didn't just walk away.

//Put all this together and this is why I feel that the two of them pulled a switch: Arei offered J a chance to finally be free of Arturo's simpage, and that's why we didn't see or her much from her afterward, other than that brief appearance in episode 7 before her apparent death.

//And I must ask, if Arei's goal was to be nicer to everyone after her scene with David, why wouldn't she be participating in the discussion about Ace and Nico? Sure, maybe she doesn't feel like she's up to it just yet

//...Or maybe that was actually J disguised as Arei, trying to keep a low profile. And thus the J we saw at the end of Episode 7 was actually Arei. No matter who it is under that hood, they were the first to go look for her.

//While I like to think the two of them do have a weird sort of friendship, and Arei certainly seems to like her, part of me doesn't really believe J would be the first to go look for her or be as concerned as she is. Not unless they had a major off-screen friendship moment, or just what I've suggested here

//And once again, the fact that the BDA cut off right when they found the body leads me to believe things aren't as straightforward as they seem.

//Like I've said, I could be wrong, but the crumbs in this episode feel like this is what they're leading toward. Not necessarily a happy conclusion, but one I'm very interested in seeing now

[phantom-witch]

Phantom's Finished: Persona 5 Royal

Where do I even begin? It's taken 20 days at least to even start writing this. This is one of the most impactful games I've ever played. I've seen the impact on games as a whole this game has made, and this released the same year as BREATH OF THE WILD. The way games have used 2D stylisation especially as part of a limitation has been super inspired since this. This game is a masterpiece despite all its flaws and I'm okay to say that!! I'll split this up into many sections so this will be very long, you have been warned...

Context & Importance:

Before getting into the game itself, I wish to go into the significance of this. I was a closeted Trans girl who had heard of this game from the 2017 game awards, I then looked into it and became obsessed, I watched a whole playthrough of the og Persona 5. I wanted Joker in smash AND GOT THAT! But it took forever for me to have the opportunity to play it on switch. I almost gave up hope until last year in July it happened.

This was basically my most anticipated game of all time, of which had given me comfort alongisde playing Xenoblade 2 and Pyra helping me realise I was a girl. So these two games have very close and personal connections to me. Not only that, my partner and friends got to hear the majority of my reactions to this game whilst I projected a trans girl headcanon onto my beloved Ren Amamiya! (she/her will be the pronouns I use here) That's why this has been so hard to start, how important this is... it's overwhelming!

Final note, I'm not going to shy away from spoilers on both Persona 5 and the Royal content at any point, as it would be hard to discuss a lot otherwise, so SHOO if you don't want that!

Story:

I will be going over my favourite and least favourite parts and then Royals segment on its own!

The Amazing:

Where do I begin? This game has so many amazing moments! The entire build up to Sae's palace, Joker's awakening, Akechi's justice?? That last one I'll save for Akechi's section but gosh this game has so many moments! A favourite is how Futabas palace is really a gamechanger with both Futaba herself but the mystery around everything to do with her mum and how that effects Sojiro and even carries over into his second half of his confidant.

Then there's the whole build-up to Shido and the super close connection he has to Ren, after ruining her life. You feel the personal importance so powerfully as the game has built up connections to him and the main crew so well! Which in my opinion overpowers the obvious "save Japan" element of it in the best way. Once you send the calling card too, you get the coolest reveal ever with a takeover of Japan's network revealing Joker to be alive and it is SUCH a satisfying feeling!

Even the calmer moments of this game are beautiful. Whether it's a lovely dance with Kasumi at the festival, or Maruki's sessions, or the lovely time at the beach! Even in Hawaii when Ann and Ryuji have a lovely bonding moment with you. Simple moments like that make this game the beautiful experience it is...

The Awful:

Before I get into my three main things, I want to cover some minor things.

Firstly I believe that Ann gets way too sexualised throughout the story sadly, especially by Morgana. Furthermore, it feels the balance of the cast is sometimes a little off. Ryuji and Ann suffer this a bit but Yusuke is the worst for this and reduced to a bit of a joke sadly in terms of story. There's also a lot of gender stereotypes pushed for no reason on the cast at times that feels out of place for the rebellious message this game tells.

However, 3 things in this game bug me the most. First off is honestly just... Morgana. I'll get into him a bit later but he is such a hypocrite that when he finally gets negative talk back to him he immediately bails and it causes the games design and structure to awkwardly change focus and takes away partly from Haru's introduction! The one character that didn't need less screentime. Then there's how Ryuji gets treated especially in the out of place beat up scene after Shido's palace. He is literally disabelled despite managing to run so it comes across extrememly abelist having the girls smack him so hard like that. Bad vibes after an incredible moment. Finally, Yaldabaoth. I don't hate this at all for it's moment to moment experience, but my main issue is for a finale it really doesn't connect to our party like the Shido and it doesn't feel like the finale for the characters, moreso the world they're in.

Speaking of...

Royal:

The moment I started this part of the game, the eeriness was immediate... everything was wrong, completely incorrect. Morgana was a human, Makoto, Haru and Futaba had their parents still alive whilst Ann still had Shiho. And then Akechi arrives, fully aware of everything going on. With Kasumi's support after some sweet moments with her, they enter the palace they had encountered during Okumura's arc and the atmosphere is potent. Maruki shows a wish to help the world be better for everyone by creating a reality fit for them. But it's all artifical, fake, a lack of choice. Due to this pursuit, Kasumi is forced to learn of her true identity of Sumire, as her sister who is actually Kasumi is dead. Learning of the dancing sisters and how Sumire felt so low of herself and behind Kasumi, we also learn Sumire was saved from a car by Kasumi, causing a massive trauma and survivors guilt in her. Maruki altered her reality to make her think of herself as Kasumi.

This is how far Maruki is gone, to the point Akechi was even brought back to life due to the bond he and Ren share. The reason this is so much better than Yaldabaoth is because it's about every party member choosing freedom over a fake happiness. As what is living if you don't get to choose for yourself? This whole game happened due to this groups choices and will. Allowing Maruki's reality goes against everything they've gone through and being ignorant again. This new semester allows us to see more of Akechi shine, Sumire become her true self, Ren show her resolve and the phantom thieves stick to their truth. Whilst having an antagonist that is deeply connected to the main group. I'll go into Maruki himself later but wow, this third semester concludes the themes of the games perfectly with an ending that had me going "no, don't go..." because i grew in love with this group of teens so much. An amazing story with a lot of lovely moments and some hiccups.

Characters:

Here I'll be going over the party members, villains and any other's of note! To start with...

Ren Amamiya (Rin Rivamiya for my playthrough):

Never have I seen a protagonist designed with minimal lines to be so well characterised! She is such a lovable dork and I love her so much. Constantly trying to be cool and IS cool as a Phantom Thief, constantly expressing herself through the prompt options beautifully.

As stated, I projected onto her a lot whilst also seeing her as her own character as a trans girl who helped me a lot with my gender identity when I originally discovered Persona 5 in 2018. Ren makes this games personality and charm all by herself whilst everything around her compliments the charm she brings. I admit that I headcanon a lot but overall she is handled very well still! However, there are some questionable lines sometimes given this is adult men trying to write a teen boy poorly. But, this is a given with Persona sadly, and I'm willing to look past this for my own enjoyment.

With an amazing dynamic with most characters and beautiful climax to her ideals with every phase of the true final boss of Maruki... what a beautiful character I found such huge comfort in and glad how popular she now is.

Her Persona, "Arsene", is a beautiful representation of her will, strength and rebellious spirit. Arsene represents Joker's energy and the pallet and visual design of Persona 5 as a whole perfectly

Ryuji Sakamoto:

I already covered the poor moment for Ryuji earlier, but I feel this game doesn't take him seriously at all and that is such a shame. Morgana belittles him and that is never taken seriously, having his self-esteem constantly put down by another party member and sometimes treated as a joke despite having some lovely moments!

That isn't his fault though, and instead the short comings of the writers. This boy is loud, passionate and has one of the biggest hearts ever! If he makes a mistake, he tries to learn from it. A brilliant example is how after Okumura's palace he realises how he lost his resolve and sincerity for a while, too focused on the fame over helping those in need. Once he realises, he talks a lot about this mistake and genuinely grows massively from it.

We get to see how he looks out for others often in both the main story and his Confidant, alongside how he manages to get by with his injury and supporting his mom. I feel they balance his involvement out pretty well throughout the whole game.

Ann Takamaki:

Ann has to be the girl that gets treated the worst by this game, and that's such a shame! Funny how I'm formatting the images as I feel one of the biggest issues is how they designed her Phantom Thief outfit. It's super sexy which is exactly what Ann isn't comfortable in, to the point she expresses discomfort! That sucks and I think the design is actually quite poor and even fails at the catwomen inspiration.

Sadly she also gets quite dumbed down as the game progresses and her role is extremely non-existent for a while with a few high moments. This infuriates me as it is one of the rarer moments of hypocrisy this game goes for with a character that could have been much more empowering for young women.

Despite all this, I still adore the positivity and vibe she brings to the group, she absolutely is the one to lift people's spirits whilst being the very extroverted one in the group to help support those more reserved or introverted and especially has a lovely dynamic with the other girls and Ryuji, helping them all to express themselves wonderfully with a Confidant that slips a little as I wish it went over her growing stronger for Shiho and helping her to recover but instead is about an infuriating model. I love Ann but it's so weird how much problems this games has for me with how she is handled, which is very comparable to Rise who is another Lovers arcana in Persona 4.

Morgana:

*sigh* This is the can of worms character. Persona has a tendency to take their talking mascot designs and write them in the weirdest ways possible. Teddy in P4 was unnecessarily creepy and with Morgana they went, what if it wasn't as bad... but still a thing. Especially when it comes to Ann it really infuriates me how infatuated this cat is with this teenage girl and constantly calls her "Lady Ann" in a very flirtatious way. It sucks!

The thing is, he has moments of a good character shining through with his dynamic with Ren, and in the end of the base game with how he is a metaphor for people's hopes genuinely got me emotional! To the point it makes me so wish he was written differently.

Then there's... the Okumura Arc. Morgana loses his mind with the group because of his own insecurities and gets mad at a single time Ryuji belittles him. Which, would be understandable if Morgana hadn't been doing this to Ryuji for literally the entire game. He is one of the most hypocritical JRPG party members I've ever seen as someone whose favourite genre is this JRPG's. Plus he takes away from Haru's introduction in that arc which is such a shame as despite that Morgana and Haru have a lovely dynamic!

Yusuke Kitagawa:

Yusuke very much reminds me a lot of myself in many ways. He is extremely autistic coded with how his mindset is very unique and has an wonderful art focus. Even his Confidant is a wonderful showcase of him rediscovering his love for art beyond the Madarame Arc.

Speaking of, he is so heavily focused on in that arc and it is so beautiful how that arc handles him! Going over how he was manipulated and abused without even realising and how he learns and accepts this fact, whilst finding reconciliation with his late mother and the art she made to represent her love for him. It is very wonderful seeing his recovery from everything he went through and learning to recover.

However, as the game progresses, his involvment slowly dwindles more and more to the point he is more the comedic relief character and I heavily dislike that. I like the comedic moments but I wish he got more serious moments in the main story as I feel there's multiple missed opportunities with him. That being said, Yusuke grows a lovely dynamic with Futaba in such a lovely way that contrasts each other wonderfully! It made me smile whenever they interacted.

Makoto Niijima:

If I had originally played the original release of Persona 5 and not started with Royal, Makoto would have been my favourite character. Originally I didn't really understand the hype around her, but she has now become one of my favourites right next to Ren and two others I'll get to soon.

Makoto is really inspiring to me, she is very intelligent whilst still having sincere flaws or shortcomings (for example her social anxiety and struggle to connect with others). Her Confidant is about her overcoming some of these flaws as a genuine way to help her newly made friend whilst trying to feel more in touch with her peers. Not only that, she is an active member consistently playing a role in the story whilst having a nice contrast with her sister Sae Niijima whilst complimenting her too. In fact when the Sae Arc happens she gains an even more active role again which is awesome! My only criticism is that she seems to be portrayed strong and I feel they could have leaned into that with her building up her muscles past the game as her being strong in the real world would've been amazing (and I would've crushed hard over that in Strikers given she's a young adult now)

none of this has even gone into when she's introduced! Which smartly ties to everything that happened with her father to do with crime lords and how people around her that are old adults pressuring her instead of doing the work themselves to the point she snaps completely after the Phantom Thieves help her out and she decides to join for her own truth. Accompanied by an amazing Persona design with some very unique animations! She is very much a highlight of the original game for sure.

Futaba Sakura:

Whilst I clicked more with Makoto, I believe Futaba is the best written party member of the base game by a mile. She is full of personality that shines so bright, funny and they know how to be serious with her character beautifully.

Futaba has one of my favourite palaces in the game because like Sae and Maruki, it isn't an inherently evil person and more someone struggling a lot with their mindset on reality. Futaba's arc heavily focuses on this and how she copes with the survivors guilt towards her late mother, Wakaba. We learn how much adult's victimised her as the reason Wakaba was driven to her death to the point it caused genuine hallucinations. This isn't the kind of trauma that can heal after her treasure is stolen instantly. Sure, it's a huge help to her recovery but we see how after they take a lot of time with her as a group to help her be more comfortable and allowing herself to manage more overtime

This carries over into her Confidant where her sister (yes I said sister as that is very much the INTENDED dynamic don't be weird) Ren helps her to further her recovery, by supporting Futaba's checklist. This is the one Confidant I'm really upset I didn't finish as I adored her! Her dynamic with the group is funny, has amazing battle lines and has amazing use story wise which is shown off and contextualised super well! She is probably right behind Makoto for my favourites and any Persona game without her genuinely feels it is missing something.

Haru Okumura:

This is one of the characters heavily effected by the extra time in Royal. I've already covered how Morgana completely overshadows a good chunk of her introduction compared to how every other party member prior gets proper spotlight. But the reason it's so bad here is because she's the last standard party member in the base game so gets even less time than already due to Morgana overshadowing her arc.

However, not all is lost! As what is there is amazing, alongside a wonderful character design and lovely performance by Xanthe (love all her work). We get to see how she accepts and stands up to her father for her beliefs and how her family legacy is important to her over being rich. She is very sweet but deadly as she shows a more brutal side under that sweet tone. It's used for both endearing/comedic moments as well as a way for her to be more powerful in moments.

Her Confidant is fantastic as it goes through both the grief of her father dying in one of the rawest moments of the game but also her having to run the company he left despite only being 18. For the grief, she didn't even get to hear her father apologise for everything he'd done. Every other chapter allows for reconciliation except for this one and it hits so heavily. Haru has to continue on with that whilst learning to manage to support a company and it makes her one of the strongest characters mentally in this game. Furthermore, she learns and gains her goal for her future to go back to her family roots with her own personal homemade café and is able to be supported about that. I adore what we do get and how she's able to shine in Royal a lot better!

Goro Akechi:

Goro

Akechi...

One of the best characters of this game. He gets a lot in Royal but let us start with the base game content for him. Akechi is one of those twist villains that the twist isn't that he's a villain, but instead the how and the why. I find that is always more interesting when that is the focus on a mystery over "who?" He is established pretty early on as an opposing force to the Phantom Thieves ideals, of which builds him up throughout the game as a striving Detective that's also investigating the Phantom Thieves.

However, one Royal I can't save for later is his entirely new Confidant. It establishes his rival dynamic with Ren so well in a very positive way compared to how it develops later on to be more of a serious rivalry in the latter of the game. He almost lures the group in perfectly if it wasn't for a single slip up of him overhearing Morgana speak, to which it causes the best comeback and moment in the whole game. Akechi's jealousy shows so strongly whilst he wants an opportunity to get to his father to get his revenge. It gets to the point he is so determined to prove himself to Ren and the Phantom Thieves, only to see his true self with how aggressive and insane he is. Akechi's true self is amazing to see as we get an amazing design with amazing Persona and one of the best boss fights in the game. Combine this with a beautiful performance of how desperate he is to prove himself, to the point he is killed by himself, leaving Ren devastated. Akechi shines in vanilla and the new Confidant establishes his relationship with Joker adds so much to Akechi's build up to his highest moments, like when he kills Joker (technically) all in the name of his own Justice. Already a top 5 character here alone!

And then there's the entire new third semester in Royal. Suddenly appearing as not dead taking Ren's place to turn himself in. As mentioned, Akechi is brought back to life by Maruki through his new reality. Akechi being a smart detective is able to put the pieces together and learn this himself. One thing about Akechi that I really enjoyed is how he always sticks to his own beliefs, to the point he would rather stay dead over be brought back to life just to live some reality he never earnt. Stopping Maruki with Ren, fully aware of what will happen to him as we see him fully shine as a party member fully unhinged. No niceties, no compassion, just a fully blunt ready to get the job done man without having a façade to the world. Robbie Daymond does a fantastic job with him, as we hear such conviction to every line he delivers as Akechi is consistently firm about his beliefs. That's the brutal reality, Akechi was always meant to die and he knows it. Ren was the one that couldn't accept this as we see Akechi fighting for free will and the justice he chooses.

A character that was amazing goes to being one of the best in this game, literally in the top 3 of this game easily with how amazingly handled he is.

Kasumi & Sumire Yoshizawa:

Let's get the main thing out of the way, she is my favourite character of this game! I adore her and how she develops over the course of this game, especially as the main new character to this version of the game!

She's introduced in the prologue as someone you know in Sae's Palace, meaning you get a tease that she will be able to go through palaces by that point of the game. From a time perspective, the actual first time you meet is middle of Kamoshida's Arc where during a trip to school you see an act of kindness from her rudely interrupted by a man. She is clearly shocked but doesn't wish to cause a scene, establishing her kind yet non-confrontational as Ren tries to help her. It's not until Madarame Arc onwards she is more prominent role with interactions with Ren, most notably when they properly meet and introduce themselves to each other on a school activity. It even kicks off their Confidant alongside more interactions over the main story!

Her Confidant is only 5 levels long and it goes into her feeling a level of control with her body as she's growing and changing, whilst supporting her family and dead sister, Sumire. It's a lovely and super endearing Confidant where Ren feels equal in terms of the support given in return where her feelings are also considered and I love that! Kasumi really cares for Ren and vice versa which creates such a strong dynamic between these two that is very balanced. We then learn that Akechi and her know of each other and we have an interaction with Ren and those two where she proposes a wonderful opinion about how she really respects what the Phantom Thieves do but also believes people need to help themselves too as that won't last for society if people stop trying to change themselves. It shows a very open minded angle to her and how she's extremely intelligent by having a more nuanced answer for a serious topic in the world of these characters and I really like that, it considers how some might need that help whilst others are over-relying on it.

We get so many lovely moments, ranging from a beautiful dance with Ren smoothly dancing, to her saying Aloha in Hawaii with a cute gesture. We even discover this unknown palace with her, of which she learns of the Metaverse and Persona users. Even awakening to her Persona after showing such will power to fight for herself instead of relying too much on Ren, like she said about the Phantom Thieves! However, that's all we really see for the most part, outside of further lovely moments the game gives us. They intentionally make the awakening feel cool and yet, overall off and different in comparison to the other Party member's awakenings (more on that in a bit). I find a lot of queer-coded elements within Kasumi, in how her struggles of her own bodies feels akin to puberty, especially with a teenage trans girl and I felt very close to that alongside her charisma, self-doubt and struggles. I was like, "yeah I kin Kasumi so much I love her! She's just like me!"

Ah... oh Riley of 2022 how unprepared you were you innocent girl...

Cut to the new Third Semester to Royal, as the whole reality shift happens. The only suspicious people are Ren, Akechi & Kasumi going into the palace where she awakened to her Persona. The further in, the more suspicious I and the trio got that something was up with her, as manifestations of her memories start to show up with weird inconsistencies. Even seeing her get called by her memory as Sumire? Overtime they end up meeting the host of this palace, Dr. Maruki, only to reveal that Kasumi really is dead. The girl with us has been her younger sister all along, Sumire.

Sumire was Kasumi's younger sister, always feeling in her older sisters shadow and struggled to keep a smile on herself or even see her own worth. Because of this, there was an accident where Sumire stormed off after not being able to cope anymore with how low she feels. Kasumi rushes after she tries to call out for Sumire about an approaching car. Too lost in her head, she doesn't hear Kasumi as she is pushed away by Kasumi, saving her but crashing into her older sister. Sumire blames herself for all of this, she feels so low about her self and worth that not only does this all happen but she has such survivors-guilt too. Getting to the point she see's herself as Kasumi partly due to Maruki's influence. Upon remembering this she goes into a downward spiral of guilt and denial, begging to be Kasumi still as the Phantom Thieves (+Akechi) fight her Persona and then herself, rescuing her and escaping the palace as best they can. Recovering and sleeping from mental and physical exhaustion, Sumire wakes up at Leblanc whilst deeply apologising to them all for her actions, whilst thinking hard about how to move on with her life back as Sumire. With support of Ren and the thieves, she is determined to live for her sister since she would have wanted that, unlocking the second half of her Confidant finally.

Sumire is shown to be much shyer, keeping to herself and over-apologising much more compared to when she thought of herself as Kasumi. Exploring how as a dancer and gymnast she finds her own style instead of trying to copy what people liked about Kasumi, with a lovely tutor who is stern yet supportive of her growing. This Confidant highlights how living for someone else isn't really living, you need to live for yourself and I really like this for Sumire. The clear depression and anxiety she has due to how she's been made to feel by society and herself really hits close to home and I relate very hard to her journey, especially when I was her age. Grief and guilt have plagued her for ages, and the death of her sister was only a year ago. Her Confidant ends beautifully with her talking about how much Ren's support has meant to her, with her confessing to Ren as the trans lesbian flirts awkwardly back (love you Ren) at her new partner! Only for Sumire to finally perform her own dance instead of a copy of her older sister. Her tutor even notices this, commending her and being absolutely proud. Traits seen when she was presenting as Kasumi can still be seen as her own personality traits when she's more confident, and how they're easily brought out from additional support due to how little confidence she has. Speaking of "presenting as Kasumi", it's very trans-coded with how one experiences their own self-acceptance of their gender identity. It's easy to say "I wish I was cisgender" instead of embracing the you here and learning to support yourself on your journey.

I only have three criticisms of Sumire's handling. Firstly, I find her reclaiming the ponytail hairstyle for herself as a memory of her sister to be poorly contextualised in the game and feels extremely abrupt compared to everything else with her writing. It feels like they didn't want to commit to her new design in the endgame moments and reversed the design near the end. Secondly, I never got to experience her Showtime due to how easy to miss as the only one you don't get naturally through story. This sucks as it was the one I was looking forward to the most! Finally there is me being so selfish, I wanted her as a party member sooner. I love how she becomes apart of the group naturally but I love her so much I wish I got to use her outside of the last Palace in the whole game.

That being said, I think the length of this segment is a testament to how Sumire is my favourite character in this game, if not one of my all time favourite characters. They did a fantastic job with how they naturally integrated her to the plot of the game, with a beautiful job and range from Laura Post alongside the animators at P Animation Studio, perfectly representing the theme of will power and overcoming hurdles in your life with precise execution.

Sumire Yoshizawa, thank you for bringing me such joy and tears to my eyes 💙

The Villains & Antagonists:

If there's one thing Persona 5 doesn’t lack, it’s antagonists and villains! Every arc has one and they vary in quality, so let’s go over the more simple villains from the first half of the game…

By simplistic, I mean that they are easy to explain and define in how they are portrayed. For example, Kamoshida who starts the game off beautifully with an utterly detestable character praying on minors abusing a power of authority that very much happens in real life. He kicks this game off strongly with a simple yet powerful force for our first Palace. My only issue is Atlus’ hypocrisy with how underage girls in their games, including this one, are treated. Ann especially is treated with sexualisation, which is awful given she was the main victim of Kamoshida. That’s less a criticism of him and more the writers when handling other things in comparison. Next is Madarame, who has a really good aesthetic and boss design. His design for him and Palace are stunning, which is where my huge praise ends. I love this chapter a lot, but Madarame doesn’t have much to him than “the one that stole the Sayuri” as there isn’t much else to him? I can’t separate him from Yusuke whatsoever and it feels like there’s nothing else to him. That being said, he’s still enjoyable, just doesn’t come close to Kamoshida. Kaneshiro has to be the most “this isn’t about him” moments in a game, as it really isn’t. You don’t see him for long at all and yet I like that choice due to him being a crime lord. I find it akin to how Dr. Seuss in “The Lorax” book doesn’t show the face of “The Onceler”, AKA the metaphor of capitalism as to not humanise them. Here I felt similar intent behind Kaneshiro, however he is still an extremely simple villain. His arc is more for Makoto’s character than it is for him, whilst properly establishing the threat of another Persona user. A fun boss and fun palace still give him a leg up though! Lastly is Shadow Wakaba, who is a weird one given the villain here isn’t the Palace holder. Instead it’s Futaba’s visualisation of her mother after so many adults tormented her for Wakaba’s death. Of course this girl would become distorted in how she perceives her mother due to this! Not much else to say since a good chunk of it is covered in Futaba’s part.

Then we get to the nuanced villains, those with more depth either in motivation, or how they connect to the grander story. First up is Okumura, who is a bit of a tricky one to discuss without going into game design and barely linked story content within the same arc. Morgana’s whole fallout not only affects Haru but Okumura as well, giving a bitter feeling throughout that arc whilst allowing less time to develop. That being said, Okumura is a character who clearly started off with good intentions and lost his way and I really enjoy that about him. He is detestable and yet we understand why Haru loves the father she once knew. Only making it more tragic when he is eventually killed and not given the chance to reconcile with his daughter as a changed man. I would love him if not for the association with the worst boss in the whole game, if not any RPG I’ve played. Strong base, weak executions around it with some bad association around it. Next, here comes our first antagonist that isn’t a villain: Sae Nijima. Sister to Makoto, she is actively after the Phantom Thieves to the point of such desperation that it makes her lose sight of her own justice. She’s gone through a lot with Makoto, losing both parents and having to raise Makoto at a pretty young age and trying to get by in the prosecutor department as a woman proves to be difficult due to gender norms in society. This has a heavy impact on her mental health as she is pushed by higher ups, of which are secretly using her, to the point she resorts to scummy and unjust methods. A character so desperate to catch a group of thieves to the point of seeing herself as a protagonist of this story, falling into the trap of those controlling everything. However, she isn’t the true antagonist of this arc and instead built up as the reason the Phantom Thieves survive. Ideals challenged and thinking about her own justice and faith once more. Akechi I’ve gone over but his father, Shido, actually has a little to say. Whilst being nuanced, it’s different to Sae for me, in that the depth comes from around him and not from him. To elaborate, he is overall a very simplistic villain in that very enjoyable way that’s almost theatrical, but is also behind all the wrongdoings the characters have experienced. Ren got put under probation due to him, Makoto had to see her sister go through hell and back because of him, Futaba and Sojiro lost Wakaba due to him, and Haru lost her father. Even Akechi, someone working for him, was so heavily affected all his life to the point of madness and how his true self is revealed to be. Shido feels personal, a fight the Phantom Thieves have been so prepared to finally face and save the world from him. However, they allow a level of selfishness, by also having motivation on avenging everyone’s pain, especially Ren’s. I love Shido because of this huge personal connection with a powerful presence, making for an exceptional villain. 

Along come the last two, Yaldabaoth and Maruki. Yaldabaoth is the final boss of the original release of Persona 5, and I have to be honest, despite the really cool set piece and moment I don’t care much for this and as the final boss think it is extremely weak as it barely ties to our main party with the exception of Ren sort of. Cool boss gameplay wise, super weak story wise. With that brief mention out the way, it’s on to Dr. Maruki from the Persona 5 Royal content of the game. Like I said at the beginning of this review, Maruki is the complete opposite here, as Maruki actively connects to our main cast consistently throughout the game. This is especially the case with Ren as she helps Maruki learn to research the heart of the mind, eventually bonding overtime as his paper gets completed. He also acts as a councillor that the students talk to, therefore allowing us to see the main cast talk about what they’re going through and struggling with. Maruki has such sweet goals, to help the world be a place where pain shouldn’t have to be felt anymore. He had gone through so much himself and seen so many people affected by reality that his will became so strong to the point he was able to alter reality. Therefore, his goal became to change the whole of reality to help people for the better… but the game brings to question if that really is a good thing? And the Phantom Thieves oppose this as free will is more important. I loved this as it ties the overall themes and motifs of the game with rebellion, freedom and individuality. Despite that, Maruki’s intentions come from such a pure heart of a man wanting to help, to the point of trying to be reality’s therapist. Ending with an amazing 3-stage boss sequence and amazing voice acting from the late Billy Kametz (rest in peace and lots of love Billy) and concluding the game masterfully and becoming one of my new all-time favourite antagonists. 

Others of Note: 

Here are the noteworthy thoughts on side characters go! Sojiro is probably my favourite confidant in this game, as he plays such a pivotal role to the found family of Ren with how the injustice she goes through is shown a shift of mentality. He grows to care a lot and show his softer caring side with Futaba and Ren, even their friends by supporting their cares and needs. Furthermore, he grows to regain his sense of justice and it’s such an amazing character growth! On the flip side there’s Mishima, who sucks due to the very incel characterisation he gets that makes him unbearable alongside his constant attempt to insert himself as your friend. It was annoying and I could not stand him. Takemi and Hifumi on the other hand each have a really well done support that I enjoyed a lot. Without going into loads of detail they both go into hardships these women face in their respective industries and it does an amazing job going into the kind of people that wish to hurt them. Yoshida was a fun one despite me struggling to listen to politics so directly (can you blame me as a trans woman in 2023?) but he clearly cared a lot. Kawakami sucks, there's no explaining it. It's gross and hypocritical, moving on. Justine and Caroline/Lavenza are a delight throughout comedically and thematically. The only thing I’ll mention is how forgettable the others felt either due to their intro or their overall support. 

Gameplay:

This is a game after all! However, this game has two very contrasting sides to it, so let's get into both

Social Life: 

Persona as a series likes to have two sides to itself, one of them being the social side. This sees Ren experiencing activities you can do throughout the game in a limited time. This can range from hanging out with other characters, studying, working at a part time job and so much more. The best part about this is how it has a consistent loop for rewarding each other for how they help your journey. Furthermore, they beautifully help with the “Thief Life” I’ll go into more detail soon. But you can get health items, weapons and gear and even abilities in the social side of the game that help for the thieves side! Limiting the time really makes you think about how to approach your stats and activities in what you need (i.e. money, social stats, abilities). Royal adds to this by having additional requirements to unlock the third semester. Speaking of, that allows for some final confidant interactions you wouldn’t get otherwise! Surprisingly enjoyable for what’s the most down time of the game compared to…

Thief Life:

The more typical RPG side of the game, but don’t let that make you think it’s traditional. This is what in my opinion is the peak modernisation of turn-based RPGs, as it enhances and adds to the turn-based formula to such an extreme that it may be my favourite turn-based combat of any game. There’s your basic attack, your gun with limited ammo per fight, guard, item and then Persona. Persona is the most in depth option out of all of them, of which where that character uses their will and inner self to cast magic attacks, physical or gun attacks and even buffs and heal. These all use your Spirit Points, with the exception of physical attacks using Health Points, and each element can have their own effectiveness depending on the enemy you’re fighting. If you expose their weakness, the game awards you with another turn in which you can act again or pass to a teammate and give them a stat buff. This allows for a learning of knowledge in the game and a chain of attacks that reward your knowledge. If every enemy is knocked down, you can do an All Out Attack for high damage and even quickly finishing a fight. This helps a lot with this games pacing for me as you can really quickly finish fights if you know what you’re doing and the game helps nudge a little to help you with that. 

With a decently varied party you can choose between different playstyles that each play into different roles. Ren has multiple Personas too! Allowing for her to customise her options throughout the game through the fusion or interrogate system. This is where you either fuse personas together to make a new one with some attacks from the previous two or bargain with a shadow you knocked down to recruit them as a persona in your selection. Shin Megami Tensei, Persona’s older brother series, has had this for a while and it really works with how they added it within the unique elements of Persona and especially Persona 5 Royal. 

Last but not least is the dungeons, aka Palaces. A Palace is a world with its own unique setting and aesthetic based on the boss of the place in the Metaverse, and that current arcs focused antagonists at that point in the story. These dungeons are all blooming with fun aesthetics, set pieces and level design that all vary in quality. Maruki, Sae and Shido had especially fantastic palaces with Okumura hitting more of a low point even gameplay wise. In Royal specifically, they added these 3 part collectibles called Will Seeds. Exploring rewards you for looking through every nook and cranny of a palace with these and getting all 3 in each palace grants you a huge reward. Bosses are overall good and play to the game's gameplay strengths mostly. Okumura again being the worst case for this whilst others range from pretty neat to some of my favourite fights in gaming. Royal’s final boss uses every mechanic beautifully as it is required to manage it, which Okumura’s boss tries to do but in a way that is much more draining and limits options too much. Instead there is many different approaches that beautifully use every system you’ve learnt the last 100 or so hours and can learn and manage in the way you have learnt to manage. With that there’s one last thing to mention, Mementos. This is a large palace that is a randomly generated dungeon that you can get deeper in throughout the story, sound fun and replayable right? Sadly, the layouts are so simple and repetitive that I found this to be pretty boring and would only do it when I needed to shut my brain off. I get Persona has always hand randomly generated dungeons but to me it’s clearly not working when the layout is so flat and repetitive without much to even do outside fighting.

Art: 

Art is important to any medium, and it couldn't be any more true for this game too. There's a reason this game has stood out so much...

Music: 

I’m sure it’s no surprise to hear this, but Persona 5 Royal has absolutely amazing music. Its use of Synthesiser as the main instrument adds such a smooth yet eerily unique approach to any part of the OST it touches, alongside the piano, violin, jazz instruments and so much more. Shoji Meguro perfectly encapsulates the phantom thieves and how they feel at every turn. Busy daytime? ‘Tokyo Daylight’ constant change of notes represents the mass amount of different people you’re passing by in central Tokyo each day. ‘Is it Boring’ accompanies anytime you’re in school with a long repetition of bars whilst also moments of tensity to show the mundane yet unfocused side of life you have to manage whilst being a thief. However, this OST wouldn’t have the strong identity it is known to have if it isn’t for the singer of any track with lyrics: Lyn Inaizumi. She sings every track with such power and yet grace and confidence that it is a match made in heaven for the themes of this game. The songs show her vocal range beautifully with the slow, tranquil ‘Beneath the Mask’ or the intense, determined ‘Life Will Change’. Persona 5 Royal’s OST is so cohesive and yet so varied that it never loses itself and that is beautiful. My favourite OST of all time.

Art Direction:

As already stated, the Palaces have beautiful varied aesthetics that keep most of them visually interesting. This applies to Tokyo as well, with the advertisements of the subway popping out at you left right and centre, or the town centre bustling with lights. Whilst not perfect, I would say it does what it sets out to do within the budget Persona 5 originally had amazingly and uses these limitations to its advantage. Speaking of, the menus and UI of this game show that in full force. Everything has a red, black and white colour scheme with minor colours accenting from time to time. The use of silhouetting and sharp poses whenever you select a menu option to cleanly transition is eye candy alongside the distorted look of where you’re selected on clearly catching your eye within the stylised font. Even in battles this applies, as the options you have look to come off the character themselves, even with a silhouette of them layered behind their model for additional flare. Additionally, the UI is made clear where every button is as the options are displayed like a controller layout perfectly. Ingenious! Finally there’s All-Out Attacks, which have a barrage of attacks in a cartoonish but powerful manner of black on red visuals. If this kills the enemy, the character that triggered it will come in to do a custom animation into a key pose, where it snaps to artwork of the pose perfectly in time. You are rewarded for playing with visual flare and it does all this within its own limitations perfectly. Innovating on what the industry hasn’t tried to this extreme yet due to a limitation of their team.

Character Design:

The majority of significant characters in this game have a massive variety to them. Even with the main party they come with two main designs. With their school uniforms, each of them have very intentional subtle touches that make them instantly recognisable. Ann’s hoodie, Ryuji’s T-Shirt, Haru’s jumper all show different traits and key elements alongside other key features like hairstyle, hair colour, expressions and much more. With their thief design, we get to see a lot of their personality shine even further. Ren gets to present as cool in an unapologetic way and she comes with a traditional mask worn in the 1900s. Makoto shows her powerful side and even the surprising strength she has, even if I wish she was a little more toned in her design. Yusuke and his traditional art fits the traditional Samurai, Futaba fitting with a more Sci-Fi tech outfit, Sumire having elements of dancer gear whilst also a clear conflict within her own outfit, reflecting off of Ren partly as we learn that’s her coping mechanism. There’s one that isn’t so good though, Ann. She sadly is given a very Catwoman-esque skintight suit, which she herself is uncomfortable in and is sexualised in too. My main issue is how this goes completely against her arc and the message of the general arc of the first game. Owning one's sexuality does not mean being sexualised and should’ve gone for another angle, like her fashionista or model side.

Morgana in both forms is very strong character design, going for a black and white approach akin to mascot characters of the rubberhose era with yellow and blue to make the collar/bandana and eyes stand out as contrasting colours. Every social link design does really well with variety of age, body types and features. From Sojiro’s curved beard to Yoshida’s broader body type. My only criticism is actually body types, despite just praising them, as that tends to apply more to the men than the women and older features aren’t used much if at all to make them more appealing. I want older looking women in games! 

Finally, the Antagonists and their shadow designs. Each represents their main theme perfectly, from Kamoshida’s almost naked body to Kaneshiro’s bug look like a fly to a light as he is to money. Sae has a perfect villainess look to her especially within the context of the palace being a bank as Shido and Maruki both represent very different forms of discomfort especially in their designs (specifically third semester Maruki) with how their uniform is perfectly kept clean and without fault, Shido even having tinted lenses to show his tainted lens on the world. Whilst not perfect, I think the character design is extremely strong despite it and I look forward to seeing how this evolves in the series

Conclusion:

Persona 5 Royal is an extremely important game, to me, others and this industry as a whole. It pushed the boundaries of thematic intent through how even its UI and music so heavily emphasise the themes of this game. Persona games have always used it’s main colour to represent it’s theme (i.e. Persona 3 for blue to represent life and death) but this entry takes that to such an extreme and we are still seeing the repercussions of that today. Breath of the Wild influenced open design in the industry and how mechanically fine tuned and creative it can be, and I feel Persona 5 did this for the art, character design and music and stories of this industry. This is not a perfect game, no game will ever be and sadly a lot of bigoted people worked on this game which affected some qualities like the sexualisation. But I will never let that ruin what this game does so beautifully right as it is an important magnum opus of turn-based RPGs that fine tunes every issue the genre has had prior whilst fine tuning its own series mechanics to a stunning peak. Bias plagued this review and I’m well aware of this, but art analysis can’t be truly objective and this art stole my heart

[nefamphetamine]

chainsaw man deep dive chapter 2: pochita's whereabouts

warning: spoilers for the entirety of the manga as this is a re-read and analysis

we start off almost immediately where we left off. makima wastes no time whisking denji away to tokyo where he'll start his new life as a dog to the public safety bureau. on the way there, poor denji who hasn't had food aside from a piece of bread gets hungry and his stomach rumbles. makima has them all pull over into a gas station where they order a bowl of udon each and a corn dog. conveniently, as they're ordering, a man in distress bursts into the station claiming a devil has his daughter. makima states that her udon will get soggy and tells denji to take care of it in her stead.

at this point we've already seen that makima can, at the very least, be hot and cold with her kindness. but now it's becoming pretty evident that there's more to her meanness. not to mention, she doesn't seem to care that a child is in danger. so denji, threatened with execution if he doesn't obey makima's orders, grudgingly heads off to save the day.

the dog and his master

at this point, fujimoto is REALLY beating us over the head with the dog comparisons. fujimoto isnt hiding anything here; he's telling us everything we need to know about makima and denji before we actually get to the major reveals later on. it's great foreshadowing.

the udon scene was fun for me to analyze. makima and denji are balanced on a sort of seesaw; a scale that depending on which side tips over decides who is the master and who is the dog. makima is training denji to submit to her without him even noticing.

makima having denji go work before eating reminded me of how a trainer teaches their dog to obey and exercise patience before jumping straight to their meal.

contrary to denji's thoughts in the car where he was shocked by makima's graciousness towards him, makima has been doing the opposite the entire time. her kindnesses have been superficial from the very start.

for denji however, i think this scene and his confusion towards makima, especially as a stranger, shows just how much he's willing to sacrifice for a connection. he's willing to overlook blatant mistreatment and threats and rationalize them, and it's sad because its actually a realistic trait for someone like him to have.

the death of denji's individualism

or: "yes" to "woof"

makima's infamous statement "you're my pet now. all you get to say is 'yes of woof'" initially angered denji. as he's searching for the devil, he's fuming over the dog comparisons. but then something interesting happens.

the girl and the devil are playing together. obviously, this was a ploy by the muscle devil to trick whoever came to let down their guard so it can kill them.

this isnt confirmed as far as i know but i wouldn't be surprised if makima set this situation up because it parallels pochita and denji's friendship so well and shows denji that despite this, devils are not his friends. and because pochita's pseudo-death is so fresh, it must be gutting for denji to be tricked in such a way.

so when he heads back to makima, he says "woof". this here is the death of denji's individualism.

makima won.

the muscle devil's lesson

i think the muscle devil event shows us that devils are just like people: good, bad, biased, racist, and flawed.

some are like pochita, some are deceptive. and denji doesn't have the social skills or support system to adequately deal with that.

denji's reaction to this betrayal is an immediate switch to extreme violence. he's quick to act and react, and it makes sense because he grew up with violence. its synonymous with survival. but only after its all over does he let himself feel betrayed. but as we'll come to find out, he doesn't let himself truly deal with these emotions.

pochita's whereabouts

i want to try going through each chapter and talking about why fujimoto named it such. i think that this chapter is a taste of just how out of place denji is now. before the zombie devil and makima, denji had carved himself a little place in the world. he had a job, a purpose, even if it was ultimately a purpose that would have never been realized. denji himself knew he would die before he paid off his father's debt.

so now denji is lost and confused and placed in an unfamiliarly dangerous environment. and he doesn't even have his sole partner, his friend, to stick it out with him.

to end this on a slightly more upbeat note, i did want to mention how makima's comment about there being historical precedence for people merging with devils makes me hopeful that yoru and asa's relationship will becomes a true friendship in a parallel to denji and pochita's. its rare within the world of chainsaw man but it can happen.

thanks for reading!

rare shot of denji being "clever" and my favorite scene of the chapter

love him.

[omarvel-comics]

Prologue

@mikkokomori

Hero was excited. It was time for winter break. Ever since Sunny revealed the truth of Mari's death a year ago, Hero switched his major from Medicinal Practice to Culinary Arts to become a chef and make Mari proud. His roommate though, was still a med student. Hero had just finished packing. He was going home. His parents were gone, last minute business trip. They took little Sally with them, so it was just gonna be him and Kel. Before Hero could get into his car, he felt a hand grab his shoulder. He spun around and saw his roommate, out of breath.

"Hero…*huff*...dude…*huff*...you gotta help me!" He said. Hero rolled his eyes. Peter, his roommate, had a bad tendency to procrastinate.

"My final is tomorrow! You're a med student-"

"WAS a med student." Hero corrected.

"Yeah whatever point is you gotta help me!" Peter said, dramatically clinging onto Hero and sobbing.

"OK ok." Hero said.

"Great! Meet me in the radiology lab!" Peter said, running off. Hero made his way through the snow covered paths to the lab. Inside the lab were lots of sealed off areas, along with Hazmat suits. No one noticed that a spider was in one of these areas as the area was sealed and radiation poured in. Hero walked through the halls, and eventually found Peter. After studying a bit, the door to the chamber opened. A student in a hazmat suit stepped out. So did a Spider. As Hero walked, he noticed the spider and froze. It was his natural reaction around spiders. Fear clouded his mind.

"Yo Hero! You coming? I'm gonna be late for my date with Gwen if you don't hurry up!" Peter yelled, trying to guilt Hero into moving, because if push came to shove, he totally would leave Hero and go on his date. Hero was screaming internally as the spider crawled on his legs. Peter came to check on him and noticed the spider bite Hero's leg. Peter squished the spider.

"Man, you really need to get your Arachnophobia under control!" Peter said.

"Heh heh…yeah…"

Peter and Hero parted ways at the train station. Hero got on the train to head to Faraway. He didn't feel good, but just thought it was a cold or something. He was glad to be going home. He lived in a small town, though there was a city about 30 minutes away by car. Cities were dangerous, with super villains around. And Nearby City only had cops, not its own Superhero. Hero didn't like going to Nearby but thats where the closest train station to Faraway was. Kel was going to pick him up, since he just got his license. The train ride was a few hours long. Hero felt nauseous, so he took a Tums. He was feeling really weird. Anyway, he was almost home anyway. The train stopped in Nearby station. Hero got off and saw Kel.

"Yo! Hero!" Kel called. Hero waved. He STILL didn't feel well.

"How are you? How's college?" Kel said, a big smile on his face.

"I-I don't feel well…" Hero said.

"Well…ok! You can see my expert driving skills! Hehe~" Kel said, dragging Hero to the car. Throughout the car ride, Kel was talking, but Hero wasn't paying attention. Why did he feel so bad? Was it something he ate? Hero didn't know…

"Alright Hero! Home Sweet Home!" Kel said. Hector ran up to the car as Kel and Hero got out of the car.

"I can't wait to spend time with you again! I'm sure Aubrey, Basil, and Sunny will be excited too! Sunny is visiting and staying with Basil and-" Kel stopped talking when he noticed Hero holding his head.

"You ok?" He asked.

"I think I need to sleep…" Hero said. Kel masked his disappointment with a smile.

"Well, let's get you to bed!" Kel said. Hero went to their shared room, and went to sleep.

[masterthespianduchovny]

no one fucking gaslit you but yourself. I a! so goddamned sick of the tedbecca shippers appropriating the actual experiences of actual abuse survivors to whine about not getting the ship that was very clearly never going to happen, and acting like having yet another bland straight white couple is somehow groundbreaking television.

y'all write whole goddamn essays about how you're so oppressed by *shit that did not fucking happen*. it's fucking tedious. your sydcarmy ship isn't happening either and I hope you die mad about it too

all y'all are doing is exposing yourselves for thinking that a woman only exists as a whole for your fave fictional white men to fuck and I'm tired of the endless tantrums in the tags about it

sorry you're incapable of media literacy and didn't immediately get the incredibly obvious joke in the finale but that's a personal problem. congratulations you played yourself. next time don't brainwash yourself with gifsets instead of watching what the show actually does. goddamned immature brats

Ooh, chile, you shouldn’t have told me that you’re sick of us spamming the tag because I’m going to make sure to write even more here and spam it all fucking day, baby. Thanks for that. ☺️

Now on to your bullshit post:

1. No one’s appropriating anything. You seem like the person who believes that only army veterans can have PTSD. Newsflash: that’s false just like your understand how who can be effected by gaslighting is false—it’s broader than you believe.

2. I’m a fucking black woman, let’s not get into politics over shipping because you will lose regardless of race. The show is predominantly WHITE and to ship either of the leads with the black men on the show, which has canonically happened for a pairing, is problematic as fuck.

3. Whoever said they were fucking oppressed, you need to talk to them NOT me. However, I can criticize what I deem as POOR writing. That’s not oppression, that’s a grievance that writers can learn from in the future.

5. I have a fucking degree in CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES. The lowest grade I ever received on film and TV analysis was a B and that was because I was trying less than usual. I’ve been apart of film/tv and have been on the crew of independent movies—even got an IMDb credit for it. I was briefly an English major before switching to cinema and I’m currently writing a book, this is all to say:

I very likely watch tv (and film) more intently than you do and ever have. I break down character, plot, dynamics, tropes, themes, etc subconsciously and can recall small details and plot points that most people cannot.

I’m in the process of being a guest for a movie podcast, launching my own movie and tv podcast in a few months, and writing an article on the function of filler episodes in tv, both past and present.

So while my criticism is focused on a ship, it’s due to my intimate knowledge of tv, my education, and career path. The goal is to end up as a writer of movies and tv. Like, I’m true to this, not new to this.

I don’t give a fuck what you think is tedious. Bad writing is bad writing. It’s why Ted Lasso was shut out at the TCAs and will likely have very few or NO Emmy’s because the last season was terrible. The final episode doesn’t make any since even when you don’t account for Tedbecca. If you bothered reading that tedious writing, you’d know that. Don’t worry, I’ll write a post and flood the tag again.

The bantr reveal fake out does not make any sense if they never intended to AT LEAST explore ted and Rebecca’s feelings. That’s taking up important space in the narrative. We literally didn’t need it. Setting ted and rebecca up as soulmates regardless of it it was romantic OR platonic with NO pay off is BAD writing. Harping on their connection only for them to spend most of the season apart and very little screen time with ted being inattentive to rebecca in the last episode is BAD WRITING.

I’m sorry that you don’t know what bad writing looks like, but media literacy is being able to discern narrative consistency and how writing qualify influences that.

Part of the criticism of Tedbecca is that if it weren’t going happen, why were all of those unnecessary details there?

The other problem is that is was gaslighting because of how the writers, producers, and Jason interacted with fans. They led fans on, and Brendan was an asshole about the w tire thing during his AMA.

Like why in the fuck is Jason saying, “what if you had a crush on your boss” and invoking Nora Ephron? I don’t want to hear any bullshit about subversion when 1. The writing wasn’t good enough in the third season to subvert shit 2. Outside of shipper complaints, the show has fallen off hard in SM discourse. Went out with a whimper!

5. So wanting Rebecca AND Ted together means we think a woman only exists for our fave fictional white man? Mighty presumptuous of you to assume that Ted is my fave white man—that’s Mike Lawson and Fox Mulder. Even then, many who ship tedbecca are rebecca/Hannah stans and are actually pissed that her storyline didn’t involve therapy and focus on her professional life more. Hell, she didn’t even get adequate apologies from Higgins or one from Nate. The romance is only one of many ways the show has failed her and it has been discussed at length on Twitter. Please keep showing how you’re all assumption and don’t read or maybe you just lack comprehension skills. You’re the one exposing yourself here and lack the self reflection to understand that.

I suppose that’s hard when you have one brain cell. Don’t work it too hard!

We’re immature, but you’re sending anon hate mail to me because you’re upset. LOLOLOLOL!!! People have the right to complain if they want for long they want, get over it. The real immaturity is being unable to deal with the fact that people feel differently than you, not understand why (may be due to the one brain cell), and attacking us over it.

6. There’s no reason for me to be upset if SydCarmy doesn’t happen. While I do believe a foundation is being laid, The Bear can actually maintain high quality writing. So whatever they choose to do, even if it’s not marking my ship canon, I have confidence in the direction they choose to go.

7. Your head is so far up your ass that you think people didn’t get their pedestrian joke. Lol. You’re defending writing that, for TWO SEASONS, painted Jane as an abuser and that Beard needed to get out of their toxic relationship only for them to get a happily ever after that glosses over said abuse. Keep in mind that Jane fucking SHREDDED his passport.

Come get your clown make up kit, you’ve earned it, dear.

Because I want you to explain and justify THAT to me.

Let’s also breakdown Ted’s narrative arc, which doesn’t make a lick of sense and was changed in the third season.

Or how Jamie and Roy fighting over keeley was nonsensical.

And that Michelle’s ex was sabotaged narratively in the last ep and I don’t even like that dude.

Or how keeley and rebecca wanting to create and run a woman’s football league is random as fuck and has never been discussed, teased, alluded to, or anything else.

You think this is the first time a ship hasn’t happened for me? Hell, I’ve had one half of my ship did and they were CANON at one point. As a matter of fact, it was TWO ships only one canon and, for the latter, there was rampant RACISM going on behind the scenes.

Because I don’t know who else, if anyone else, you’re sending these anon messages to, but I’m very well versed when it comes to fiction and I don’t fuck around. I stand ten toes down in everything I say because it’s backed up with facts and careful thought.

So if you want to get into, we can get into it, but I guarantee you, you’ll be exposed as a fraud of who doesn’t know shit about fuck.

We can do this or not, the choice is yours.

[moonlit-validation]

Hi! I saw your amazing drawings of your spiderverse sona Webweaver and was wondering if you could tell me more about her because she looks awesome!

Thank you so much!!! Of course i will tell you more about her.

So first of all, in her universe New York and Seattle basically switch! She was born around the Washington-Montana border, and moved to Seattle entirely with her parents total permission at 17!

Got an apartment, and lived there for a few months before she got the whole spiderman thing.

She was relaxing, saw the radioactive spider, and picked it up to put it outside. Just casually carrying a pretty spider in the elevator. Well, when she got outside it bit her and she flung it off, it landed somewhere in the alley. She didn't look for it.

Anyway, she started feeling bad, and fell asleep on her couch. When she woke up, she went to open her fridge, but when she tried to open it she actually just ripped the door off. Then she was stuck to it, and couldn't get it off of her hand for hours. It was a mess, and thats how she found out the spider thing.

She generates her webs naturally, not needing any web shooters!

At the point of joining the Spider-society, she only went through one of her canon events. Her best friend went out, and she had a worried feeling about that night so she followed him as Webweaver. Little did she know, she was being followed and had accidentally led danger to them. She wasn't able to save them in time, and she entirely blamed herself for their fate. She took the time to reach out to her family and talk to them as much as she could without revealing her identity as Webweaver. She took a break for one year, which luckily nothing major happened during that time.

And in smaller, fun facts about her:

She had a red handprint on her back for MMIW! She regularly visits protests and meetups for natives, both as webweaver and not.

When she was very young her auntie taught her how to make dreamcatchers, and she entirely fell in love. Could not stop making them whenever she could. When she found out she could make webs she could not restrain herself. When shes not on missions or at some other universe she can and will be found around the spider-society making absolutely giant dreamcatchers on the ceiling.

She does not believe in canon events! When she was introduced she immediately felt that things being entirely written in stone was ridiculous, anything can be changed if it needs to be. She believes that if anybody has a chance to be saved by ANYONE they should be saved. She also has a lot of theories on the multiverse in general. Shes very curious.

One of her favorite things to do is to weave, it was her favorite before the spider, and it was especially her favorite after. A common technique she uses is that she'll fling herself up really high, and as shes falling she'll weave together multiple strands of her webs to make nets, stronger strands, and tighter holds.

The spider bite enhanced her speed and made her significantly more light on her feet, both things she uses every day in multiple things. While fighting though, she likes using these to disorient and confuse whoever shes fighting.

Her biggest way of fighting is with her feet and legs, she has most practice with hitting spots and times specifically from her dancing, so she uses that practice to her advantage and hits who shes fighting hard at the times she needs to. She uses her pattern recognition for this also. Super spontaneous enemies are a weak point for her, but she still really tries.

She is very open about issues in Seattle, and the US. She finds that her openness causes strong opinions among the people of Seattle. She doesn't really care about it though, shes going to speak for what's right no matter what and no matter who doesn't like it.

She made an entirely separate pair of leggings for her spider suit. Thats all. They stay intact really well, considering that her legs are what she hits most with.

She also loves making jokes in any situation. Moods tend to be happier when shes around, and thats how she likes it. She of course knows when its really not appropriate though.

Dude shes also pretty clumsy. Her 'leap of faith' moment was an accident. She climbed to the top of the space needle and relaxed when she got to the top and fell. She was absolutely terrified, but she got control of her abilities in time. She was still scared, she was hanging onto a web she shot at the space needle for a solid 10 minutes calming down. She also often runs into buildings while swinging. She gets lost in thought and just runs into them sometimes.

And in general about her, she really tries to help people as much as she can both in and out of her spider suit. It doesn't always go well but she keeps doing it.

I have so much more, i love her so much. Thank you for asking about her! Im cutting it off at this point cause i dont want it going too long y'know.

I will answer literally any questions about her i swear.

Have a great day!