#i think character analysis on his would be so much more.... dimensional

[goodyordle]

An Analysis on Season 2 Vi

SPOILER under the cut

I have SO many thoughts about how they wrote Vi this season. So I get that they wanted to go with a more vulnerable Vi this season compared to the tough character we had in season 1. I was excited for this direction for her character, that’s why I’m kind of disappointed that she felt flat and more one-dimensional this time around.

Firstly, I felt like in season 1, Vi was such a centerpiece to the show. From her relationship with Jinx and following Vander’s legacy. She actively moves the plot with these two elements.

But in season 2, I barely see her do anything that contributes to the plot actively and takes a much more passive role. This time, Caitlyn and Jinx are taking the lead on shaping her goals (whether this is her becoming an enforcer or her saving Vander). As a viewer, I do empathize with Vi. We see time and time again that she is a character that values loyalty and keeping her loved ones close to her, and she keeps getting betrayed.

But we never see these arcs get resolved, at least in a satisfying manner. We never see her find strength in her vulnerability or regain courage to find herself again. And this is an arc that most, if not all, characters in Arcane had. All of them had some sort of redemption and willingness to make things right.

We never see Vi try to grow beyond her comfort zone (which is using her fists / brawling). We don’t see her use her vulnerability as a new way to show toughness to her character.

For instance, the argument with Caitlyn. Now I enjoy this ship as much as the next person but I felt like the conflict got resolved a bit too quickly? It’s clear that Vi’s trauma of betrayal and abandonment runs deep (man, I feel so bad for her tbh).

My interpretation of this last shot of Cait and Vi (after Caitlyn asks “are you still in this fight, Violet?), in my opinion, also reflects this lack of resolution, where Vi generally looks more closed off. There is no raw vulnerability that Vi displays. She never expressed how hurt she was with Caitlyn’s actions. Even when Vi says she is the “dirt under Cait’s fingernails”, her expression looks quite pained and tired.

Then we have the argument with Jinx. Their sibling dynamic is the key plot of Arcane and is a heavily emphasized theme but their resolutions feel underwhelming both times.

The first time was when Jinx locked her up in the cell. I mean the fact that Vi didn’t immediately go look for Jinx given that she was depressed felt a bit out of character for me. Like she gave no emotional reassurance to Jinx who was obviously guilt-ridden from Isha’s death. Again, no vulnerability. And the placement of the Caitvi *cough cough* scene was questionable, considering it was right after Jinx expressed her anguish. Yes, she wants Vi to be happy, but wasn’t Vi’s character this whole time shown as one who is happy when she can take care of the people she loves?

Like if I were to draw a parallel to Jayce and Viktor, where Jayce says that he just wants his partner back, they could’ve had done something similar between Vi and Jinx. Vi could have expressed that she just wanted her family back. She needed her sister, which is something she never expressed because the dynamic was always of Jinx needing Vi.

Anyways back to that scene, I felt like it would have been more impactful honestly if Caitlyn even encouraged Vi to find her sister since I think that is quite fitting to Caitlyn’s arc as well and adds more depth to her feelings towards Jinx. If they had a bit more emotional resolution, I feel like her final scene with Jinx would have been more impactful. (And probably would add more emotional weight and spiciness to the Caitvi scene too iykwim)

That brings me to the second scene when Jinx sacrifices herself. The aftermath felt too rushed for me. When we have Vi acting like “normal” right after Jinx’ sacrifice, it diminishes their relationship in my eyes. Granted, I doubt she’s normal. In fact, I think Vi looks really resigned in her final scene but again, this is a bit difficult to pick up if there are no context clues.

Like in terms of the concept, I get it. I believe the writers were trying to make a full circle moment where Vi, who was the protector of her little sister, is now the one being protected by Jinx, who is now all grown up. It’s just the execution that doesn’t sit too well with me. Maybe it’s the pacing because I feel like as a viewer, you have to digest so many emotional scenes at once.

I just wish we had more opportunities to see Vi be vulnerable and show that as a source of new strength and as a way to reinforce her relationships with Jinx and Caitlyn. But unfortunately, her character development ended up static. And honestly she’s such a tragic character that had that potential. They showed her trauma even in the final scene with Vander/Warwick and how she couldn’t even bring herself to move despite Jinx’ warning. Like show more of that!! Let her be the one that needs to be protected by those she used to protect, instead of just following them around and beating up their enemies. As a result, I felt like she didn’t really add much weight to the finale (low key Maddie had more of a plot). Like this show is still a 10/10 with solid writing but this, after processing the show, I believe is its weakest point.

They can never make me hate you, Vi, you deserved a better character arc :(

[nururu]

It seems like everyone is scared to acknowledge the fact that Norton drugged Alice in the chamber and then turned into scary monster Norton.... Ppl look at Norton and all their feminism flies out the window.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale’s Analysis: Movie!Adrien vs Show!Adrien (which is better?)

That’s right people it’s time for the fight you’ve been waiting for. The Shows ball of sunshine and depression vs the movie’s Careless whisper enthusiast

Now for this post I will be comparing them in the following categories as well as the points of each category.

Do remember that this is also based on opinion and can be taken with a grain of salt. (And let me know your thoughts.)

Design (2 points)

Personality (3 points)

Relationships (6 points)

Agency (3 points)

___________________________________________

Design

I’m gonna cut right to it. The movie’s design for Adrien and chat noir look better than the show

Now the only clear difference really is the animation budget increase, but if you watch the movie, Adrien and chat noir appear to look softer, it’s less like a shiny suit, more of a sleek and slightly more padded costume. Also I like that the bell is slightly smaller, the suit isn’t as skin tight. It looks more useable. Even his clothes as a civilian look softer and more useable.

But to be fair I will not give movie Adrien the full two points. Since they don’t really change much of his outside just give him a budget increase

Movie!Adrien: 1.5 points

Show!Adrien!: .5 points

Personality

This is where we dig into the meat and potatoes of what makes each Adrien tick. The 3 points of this category will be distributed as follow.

1. For Personality as Adrien

2. For personality as Chat Noir

3. For personality at his core.

1. Personality as Adrien.

So this is where differences really seem to form. The key personality Traits of Show!Adrien are that he wants freedom, wants to be loved, and sees the best in everyone. He is basically a golden retriever. He is a kid that has felt trapped by his strict father and wants to see the world. He is a model and despite being ‘Perfect’ feels like he isn’t that great.

The Key Personality traits of Movie!Adrien are Withdrawn, insecure, and wants to be loved. He is a sad little cat. He is a kid who lost his mother and has a father that threw himself into his work to avoid grief. Thus Adrien in this world is withdrawn and feels empty. Deep down he is a kind soul but he himself feels hollow. The isolation he feels isn’t forced on him as much as he himself put the walls up.

Now for this one, I’m giving the point to the Show!Adrien.

Show!Adrien: 1.5

Movie!Adrien:1.5

Both are good takes on a character for their respective medium, but It’s clear Show!Adrien has a more 3 dimensional motivation and while there are peaks and valleys, they are really good peaks.

2.Personality as Chat noir

Believe it or not there is actually not as big of a difference on these two takes of chat noir than one would think.

Show! Chat noir is a pun loving act first kind of hero. He is playful and likes to flirt and tease ladybug. But deep down is the emotional core that keeps Ladybug centered. One of the problems is that this chat noir does have trouble separating personal emotions from the mission

Movie!Chat noir is more cocky but just as playful. He is trying to play the confident hero at first but that bravado quickly melts and he confesses he’s new to this. A LOT of people fail to realize it’s an act when watching the movie. And despite that he is actually professional afterward, when Ladybug tells him “Not to push something” and the situation is serious he stops immediately and focuses on the task at hand. But really this iteration has more overlap as Chat noir is able to be more open with Ladybug. They can flirt, they can play, they can actually be more open without the shows restrictions on identities must be kept. Which actually gives Them both more freedom.

So this one is a bit surprising to me, but I have to say it’s a draw for me.

Show!Adrien: 2

Movie!Adrien: 2

The movie and the show have peaks and valleys with chat noir. But in the movie chat noir actually feels important in general rather than just being told he’s important. The show has him get controlled a good chunk early on or have his emotional conflict be half the problems, which for a show is fine, but for a movie wouldn’t work out. Though I will say Show!Chat noir is also MUCH more developed and grew a lot more to be the solid partner he is. Movie! Chat noir didn’t have nearly as much growth… he does have significantly more game and is quick to admit his own short comings. (When he’s being himself and not the bravado)

3. The personality core

Adrichat should be defined by 5 traits. 1. Loyalty. 2. Kindness, 3. Wanting love, 4. Emotional, 5. Wanting freedom.

And of the two only Show!Adrien has all 5. Movie Adrien could potentially have 3 to 4 but he is by his own admission (hallow). Show!Adrien does have his problems but at his core he has more to give and I gotta give the ball of sunshine his due

Show!Adrien: 3

Movie!Adrien: 2

____________________________________________

Relationships.

Okay so this obviously can’t encompass all the relationships Adrien has. So I cut them into the main ones we can compare. The rule being he has to at least have 3 interactions with them

With Plagg: 1 point

With Nino: 1 point

With Ladybug: 1 point

With Marinette: 1 point

With Nathalie: 1 point

With His Father: 1 point.

So let’s get into it.

With Plagg:

It’s Show!Adrien and not even close. Plagg in the show is one of the best characters and the dynamic and care between the two is so crucial to show!adrien’s growth. Even if you only took 1 season of the show to compare to the movie, each one beats out the movie dynamic by a country mile. Movie!Plagg is a fart machine and while he does comfort Adrien and tell him to move his butt when things are serious, the gap of this battle is massive.

Show!Adrien: 4

Movie!Adrien: 2

With Nino

Interestingly enough, I’m going movie on this one. Sure Adrien and Nino have some good interactions in the show, but in the movie I think it demonstrates it more that they are closer than in the show. Adrien sought out Nino for advice, Nino and him have a friendship and show they hang out more. Idk it just felt to me more natural in the movie than in the show. I think maybe it’s because when you stretch it across 5 seasons, Nino’s friendship with Adrien seems minuscule especially in the later seasons. The reason Adrien isn’t as close to Nino in the movie makes more sense then in the case of the show. That maybe a controversial take but it’s where I stand on it.

Show!Adrien: 4

Movie!Adrien: 3

With Ladybug

So this one is not as cut and dry as one would think. Because the real question is, what do you prefer. A complex dynamic where they both care about one another but one side is constantly feeling as though they aren’t helpful or even equal in the dynamic only to have it glazed over then move to a platonic friendship. Or a simplified dynamic where both sides had some trouble getting along initially before finding their way and even starting to fall for eachother and open themselves up only for their personal lives to muddle things up and only for things to clear up and for the masks to drop.

I am shocked by how difficult this choice was. Because if I’m being honest, the show does have good Ladynoir moments but it also has a ton of complex bullsh*t that COULD have been great development only for it to get sidelined. And my favorite episode is strikeback, which arguably has the best Ladynoir moment of all time. But if I’m going to judge this correctly I have to judge this relationship on its highs AND it’s lows. And trust me some of the lows are really low.

But let’s not pretend that the ladynoir in the movie is perfect either, yes it has good scenes, but it also has some cringe. It does miss some of the best beats that can only be found in the show. But at the end of the day, what dynamic do I think fits the ideal of what I think Ladynoir is?

Show! Adrien: 4

Movie! Adrien: 4

It really did come down to the wire. But I ruled in favor of the movie, because in the end, the ladynoir in the show fizzled. And Movie!Adrien gets to be closer to ladybug then show!adrien ever could be. No masks between them.

With Marinette:

I’m not gonna sugar coat this one. Show!Adrien wins this one so easily it’s not even funny. Adrien is constantly growing closer to Marinette throughout the show, while his relationship with ladybug is all over, his love and care for Marinette grows. Not to mention, show Adrienette has so many moments that are much higher than any in the movie. The umbrella scene, the statue scene, the picnic scene. And before you ask, why this and ladybug are a separate category, it’s because to Adrien in the show he doesn’t know. Now let’s not say the relationship doesn’t exist in the movie, I actually like that the two can talk early on, and hang out as a group. Movie!adrien even opens up to her. But it doesn’t make sense why Movie!Marinette is picking Movie Adrien over chat noir.

Show!Adrien: 5

Movie!Adrien 4

With Nathalie

Another sweep for Show!Adrien. Nathalie in the movie does show some concern for Adrien, but it is not as clear as the care shown by Nathalie in the show. We see Adrien in the show help and thank Nathalie. Though it makes sense that movie!Adrien would be more withdrawn with Nathalie as set up by his personal arc in the movie. His dynamic with Nathalie is not as deep. Maybe if they had another scene together it could have worked but… it didn’t shake out

Show!Adrien: 6

Movie!Adrien: 4

With His Father

I can’t even begin to describe how EASILY movie! Adrien wins this. Like the dynamic in the show is such a mess that most people are clamoring for Gabriel’s death. Heck! That’s the one universal agreement on the season 5 finale that everyone likes. They like that show!Gabriel is dead. His dynamic with his dad in the movie is much more grounded and understandable. Adrien is hurt by his father being distant, and has sadly gotten accustomed to it. Adrien even calls out his father without the need of encouragement. He was emotional and vulnerable and called out his dad’s neglect. There we even see the parallel of how the two view heartbreak, shutting themselves off. but we see that even in his grief and madness Gabriel still cares about his son, worrying about him, and even when he’s about to get what he wanted; he stops when realizing he hurt his son. We see why Gabriel couldn’t bear the grief, how much his baby boy matters to him. We see that Adrien understands his fathers grief and wants to help him let go. And we get the most genuine moment between the two in the entire franchise. Something 100 pancake breakfasts couldn’t do.

Show!Adrien: 6

Movie! Adrien: 5

____________________________________________

Agency

If we removed Adrien from the plot, how much would actually be impacted?

So this is where things get kind of murky. Because in the movie, does drive a section of the plot and his actions do have some consequences.

And if someone else was Chat noir, Hawkmoth would have won. No questions asked.

In the show, Adrien is arguably the most critical character to the plot, Marinette’s motivations are heavily entrenched in Adrien. And Adrien being there did basically set all the plot for the Agreste in motion. But he is often sidelined. It’s more of Adrien existing as a MacGuffin then a character at times.

But Adrien’s inability to make choice for himself actually becomes a plot point with him being a sentimonster.

It’s hard to really judge in some aspects because in the end Adrien’s choices in both mediums aren’t as impactful as one would think.

So if I had to call it.

Show!Adrien: 9

Movie! Adrien: 5

Adrien in the show and in the movie both have an agency issue, but in the grand scheme of things, Adrien’s actions in the show do hold more weight, even if a lot of them get negated.

_________________________________________

Ending

Now in truth I think it is difficult comparing the portrayal of a movie character to one from Tv, especially when both are trying to accomplish two different tasks.

I enjoy both iterations and I can recognize the flaws that are within each.

It really does make me wonder how different things would be if Zag and Astruc were more in step rather than clashing because if both Adrien’s could be mixed there is something amazing here. I do want a sequel to explore movie Adrien more, and I want to see how things would go with Adrien and Marinette not having to deal with the identity shenanigans.

But if there needs to be a winner

Show!Adrien wins

TL:DR

Show Adrien wins because more writing is often better but the movie Adrien does have some things going for him.

[pong03]

Towa analysis

Towa, fan fave and a personal favorite of mine. Lets get started: I think we all know that Towa has powers beyond his stigma or maybe his stigma consists of multiple powers. Regardless, Towa is extremely powerful and quite possibly the most powerful ghoul at darkwick currently, given Ed's state and how he alludes to his possible looming demise. With all this power though it makes me quite curious about the Zenji and Towa scene from chapter three and if Towa is actually capable of perceiving Zenji, whether or not if he can see Zenji the marks of his "wins" are visible to Towa, he is the one who marks them down. In the photo cut scene Zenji is visible but that doesn't mean Towa sees anything more than the biwa. The dates, I'm assuming they're dates, he writes could just be the days the biwa visits the cave, and Towa is unable to see or hear Zenji, given the disjointed nature of the conversation. I feel like it is up to the viewer's interpretation as of now even with the knowledge of chapter five, given his ability to talk to plants I would not be surprised if he could see Zenji. I feel though it could truly go either way. The disjointed nature of the scene is a foreshadowing to Zenji's lack of presence, or foreshadowing to there being much more to Towa than we gather from even chapter 3. I think if we just left off from the reveal in hotarubi's chapter it would be logical to assume Towa is just responding to the biwa, but there is a point to the scene in chapter 6 that Towa has additional powers allowing him to hear things others do not. Along with a bit more about Towa's personality, although he is silly, I think Towa's major flaw is the fact he is selfish. I think every ghoul has their flaws and that is what makes the characters so real. I don't think of Towa as being particularly malignant he just little concerns himself with the needs of others. This wouldn't be so bad if the people who surrounded Towa weren't so stubborn to ask for help. Haru works and works without much of a break as we have seen, and Towa can often be harmful to these efforts. Although I think if Haru asks for help Towa would frequently oblige, it's just when things don't go Towa's way he can become explosive and Haru seems aware of that and would rather not risk it. over all I think of the characters Towa is a flawed character where people ignore incorporating flaws he has into his characters making him seem flat and one dimensional in fan fiction. This guy is impatient if anything and quite careless and you can do a lot with them if you included those features into your work and it would make him seem less out of character for those who struggle with writing him. He is sweet when people are direct but doesn't care to look deeper than what people give to him on the surface, that doesn't negate from his sillyness, it kind of adds because it makes his character more disjointed from the surrounding characters, especially MC and Haru.

[chowmoon2]

Kirby and the Amazing Mirror is a pretty interesting game especially for a mainline title

It contains some cool characters that originate from that game such as Big Waddle Dee,Moley,Dark Meta Knight and Capcom’s Nightmare -

What the fuck are you Dark Mind? I’m sick of it

There is two things that really intrigues me with this series,thing number one:

Fuck you Dark Mind!

(A small essay/analysis/theory(?) about a very mysterious villian in the Kirby series,under the cut!)

Okay,I think Dark Mind is the most Nothing Burger mainline Kirby villian ever,if not in the entire series

Almost nothing is known about him ingame besides “He is evil and wants to take over the Mirror World”

And yeah,he is referenced by Void Termina in one of their attacks which might mean something but like,almost every boss is so he is not special

I will argue that Nightmare and Dark Nebula (two similar final bosses with little to no info on them) are more talked about,the former because of the anime (without it,he won’t really be that popular me thinks) and the latter because ‘Lord of the Underworld’ title (despite being a localization thing) and his possible connection to the Sparkling Star among other reasons

Not saying nobody cares for him at all,he just have less attention then all of the other mainline villians because the lack of depth and info he has compare to the others

Now,a theory that I have seen thrown around is that Dark Mind is the Mirror World counterpart of either Nightmare or Zero.or even a combination of both counterparts,and yeah,I can see it especially since he have aspects of both of them

However

As shown in this official tweet by the Kirby Twitter account,it heavily implies that Magolor doesn’t have a mirror counterpart because nothing is shown while looking at the dimensional mirror

This tells me that not everyone has a Mirror World self and if Magolor doesn’t have one,I seriously doubt both Nightmare and Zero would have one as well

I still do think that Dark Mind is atleast somewhat connected to Dark Matter,even if it’s just the substance and not the actual species (if that makes sense)

His name brings the phrase “Mind over Matter” to mind (heh,mind) which means this:

So my epic game theory is that maybe he is like,a advanced version of Dark Matter that gained perception or something???? I think that would be cool

Or maybe he is just his own thing exclusive to the Mirror World,since some Mirror Worlders (like Dark Meta Knight) reflects the darkness their Popstar counterpart,maybe Dark Mind was formed by the leftover darkness from the hearts of many? That may be true but it is still very vague compare to other bosses lore

There is the possibility that he corrupted Queen Sectonia because of the whole mirror thing,it’s way more likely then DMK doing it,that’s for sure

Oh,let’s now talk about something that is also l related to Dark Mind,sorta!

This is King D-Mind from the Team Kirby Clash Deluxe,a king of darkness who is summoned through the Black Mirror by Dark Taranza but he proceeded to shatter the dumb spider

After clashing with Team Kirby,they managed to trap him back the mirror and shatter it,saving the Dream Kingdom

He also had a role in Super Kirby Clash but idgaf

In a interview about Kirby Clash,which can be found here:

I found some interesting stuff like with Taranza using the Black Mirror so much that the balance of worlds breaks and lots of Parallel versions are born alongside Taranza’s dark counterpart

And King D-Mind being born from Dark Taranza’s evil mind who he considers to be the most strongest and savage warrior

Let’s take a look at the Black Mirror itself actually,it bears a striking resemblance to Dark Mind himself,perhaps it was created with him in mind or his origin place because remember,even before Dark Taranza summoned him,King D-Mind was manipulating regular Taranza through this mirror to summon rampaging monsters

Of course,the Kirby Clash games take place in a alternate universe but I always saw the Mirror World as can be visited/connected to all these universes as long if they have a variant of the Dimensional Mirror

Oh,and also it’s probably not important but his internal file name is “MaskedBlackDedede” Black Dedede being Shadow Dedede name In Japanese,but there is not enough evidence (if at all) to suggest Shadoe Dedede and D-Mind are the same

In fact,this might not even BE the same Dark Mind from the Amazing Mirror

So like,can multiple D-Minds exist as long as if people has evil minds? What’s up with the skull mask and flaming eyeballs? Did Dark Taranza considered both Shadow Dedede and Dark Mind as extremely savage it created King D-Mind?

Who knows?

So in conclusion,idk,maybe Dark Mind isn’t meant to be that deep,he was just a villian that needed to be overcomed and that’s it

Either way,I enjoyed rambling about him,let me know if yo I want to see more of these kinds of post from me and let me know what are your interpretations of Dark Mind!

[therainscene]

Crazy together: Byler, Cthulhu, and cosmic horror

Cthulhu is a queer horror film from 2007 that I've always been fond of. I rewatched it recently and was struck by some of its similarities to Stranger Things: small town vibes, conformity themes, cosmic horror as queer allegory, a gay protagonist with a childhood best friend slash love interest named Mike...

The film has an ambiguously villainous ending for its main character, Russ Marsh, and it's an ending that suits this story pretty well, imo -- so given how much it reminds me of Will's story, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two.

[Content warning for rape and (bloody) attempted suicide, both depicted in the movie and mentioned below the cut.]

👆 [That's the entire movie available for free on YouTube, courtesy of its director. You don't need to watch it to understand this analysis tho. Spoilers ahead.]

Cthulhu is a (very) loose adaptation of The Shadow over Innsmouth, a cosmic horror story about an outsider who arrives in a small fishing town and unearths a cult that interbreeds with immortal sea-dwelling monsters. He ends up making the horrifying discovery that he's descended from the cult's founder and thus doomed to turn into a monster himself.

The film uses this premise to talk about queerness: As an openly gay man, Russ has always been an outsider and was never going to participate in his hometown's, uh, traditions. Unfortunately, his father is the cult's leader and his sister is infertile -- Russ must participate.

[Yes, that's Cara Buono. If you enjoyed her portrayal of Karen as a loving but deeply conformist family member who does a better job of supporting the status quo than supporting her loved one, but just wished her character was more one-dimensional -- then this is the movie for you!]

Russ doesn't actually know much about the cult at the start of the film -- he fled to the city in his teens and dismisses his father's proselytizing as "Joseph Smith frontier horseshit" -- so it isn't until he returns for his mother's funeral that he begins to unravel the truth.

It's a good metaphor for how it feels to look back on a bigoted or abusive upbringing and realize: wow, that was a lot more fucked up than I thought it was.

As you might expect from cosmic horror though, this isn't a healing or empowering process for Russ.

Rather, he just keeps running into brutal reminders of how powerless he is in the face of the town's overwhelming, ingrained homophobia: at one point he's raped to satisfy his father's need for an heir; at another he's falsely jailed for the rape and murder of a boy he was trying to rescue from the cult.

It's similar to the torture Will endures in S1 and S2: he's kidnapped and symbolically raped, reflecting Troy's coded "killed by some other queer" comment, then bullied for having the audacity to survive it. He even stands up to a literal eldritch monstrosity and is rewarded for his bravery with yet more loss of autonomy.

You might be wondering if these stories even count as cosmic horror. Cthulhu only ever vaguely hints at the existence of, well, Cthulhu, and Stranger Things (which deliberately tweaks its genre every season) reveals that the Mind Flayer was basically just some guy all along.

But I think it's a bit of a misconception that cosmic horror is about star-sized masses of eyeballs and tentacles that drive you insane with their inhuman incomprehensibility.

Really, cosmic horror is about powerlessness, inevitability, and comprehending all too well. To know that horrors exist beyond the everyday facade of human existence -- whether they take the form of unknowable monstrosities from the void or of violent bigotry in an otherwise pleasant town -- is to know that your existence is nothing more than a delicate soap bubble floating in a vast, uncaring universe made exclusively of sharp edges. Even if you return to the everyday world, you can never return to blissful ignorance.

And that’s what drives you insane.

Will has something of a knowledge motif following him around: He's a wizard named Will the Wise. He illuminates. He has True Sight. He's a super-spy. He's part of the hive mind. He was studied in the lab. He was violated at school and in a library. His neck prickles when Vecna is close. He knows what Vecna is thinking.

It's too much cursed knowledge for one little boy to bear.

But he doesn't have to bear it alone.

Will is lucky to have a bunch of loving friends and family, and their support does a lot to help him cope... but even his fiercest supporters, Joyce and Jonathan, tend to be absent for long swathes of time. There's only one character who can be consistently found by Will's side through the majority of every season, and that's the boy who promised to go crazy with him.

[Strictly speaking Mike wasn't by his side in S1... but he fought hard to bring him home the whole time they were apart. Tomayto tomahto.]

Russ has a Mike too. (Literally -- his name is Michael Shields lol.) His childhood best friend reconnects with him soon after he arrives back in town and pretty much immediately becomes his sole trusted confidant as Russ falls down the cultist rabbit hole.

A quick aside -- Russ's past with Mike is a glimpse into a possible future for Byler.

Russ and Will have both been saved by their Mikes from giving in to the despair of being treated so brutally by their towns: Russ's Mike caught him mid-suicide attempt when they were teenagers--

--and Will's Mike, of course, helped rescue him from the Upside Down and sat patiently with him the whole time he was possessed.

Unfortunately, both Mikes are also conformists who are unwilling to leave the safety of comphet. Russ ran away to a more liberal environment where he could exist in peace, but Mike stayed behind and married a woman. This could easily end up being Byler's fate too.

So while Russ and Will might be alive thanks to their Mikes, they now have to live the rest of their lives without the love of the boy who gave them the drive to face it in the first place.

And it isn't as though the boy doesn't want to love him back.

The jury is officially still out on Byler, but Russ's backstory is very much not about a sad gay boy having to get over his sad gay crush on his straight best friend -- it's about a pair of would-be lovers getting torn apart by a town that refuses to let them be themselves.

I want to emphasize that both of these pairings consist of a visibly gay guy and a straight-passing guy.

In both stories it's typically the visibly queer one who actually interacts with the horrors, while the straight-passing one tends to observe from a position of relative safety, either escaping before anything too nasty happens to him, or more often, simply learning about the horrors second-hand from the visible one.

(There's one key exception at the end of Cthulhu -- but we'll come back to that.)

This is such an important dynamic that it's even unsubtly foreshadowed in Byler's first scene together:

This informs the way the characters support each other. We've already seen the obvious the safe one acts as a mental tether for the endangered one so he doesn't go insane with despair dynamic, but there's a reversal too: the authentic one inspires the conformist to join him in what was never really insanity so much as a different way of looking at the world.

Russ doesn't have any designs on seducing Mike -- much like Will, all he expects is some support from his best friend -- but his dogged questioning of the town's status quo still leads directly to Mike breaking out of comphet and admitting to what he's always really wanted:

[Learn from your elders, Byers: this is the proper way to respond when your love interest says that home just isn't the same without you.]

But Cthulhu's protagonists are confident adults who know how to quickly resolve their romantic tension. Byler are frightened kids in a five-act coming-of-age story -- their version is a little messier.

Mike has always been inspired by Will, right from the very first episode -- he decided to risk looking for him in the woods because he figured that's what his brave and kind friend Will would do.

The first two seasons thus show us Byler's dynamic at its best: an endless feedback loop of Will's strength and insight inspires Mike and Mike's devotion supports Will. (Very cleric and paladin of them.) But they're still children at this point, and don't really notice the blossoming queerness in their relationship yet.

S3 adds puberty to the mix and oh boy do they notice the queerness now. Too scary no thank you cancel unsubscribe uninstall. Will's bravery falters. Mike devotes himself to the grim duty of having a girlfriend. The loop breaks under the pressure.

They fight about it in the same location that introduced us to their dynamic and call each other out on failing to hold up their respective ends of the bargain:

"Why aren't you there for me anymore?"

"Why are you refusing to face reality all of a sudden?"

Note that Will's knowledge motif makes a return here -- just before the fight, he dresses up in his Will the Wise costume in an effort to inspire Mike again. But the tone of the scene is silly and cringey -- as correct as Will is to point out that they don't need to abandon their childhood dynamic just because they're growing up, pretending that it isn't going to mature as they age is, um. Unsustainable.

Deep down, Will knows that he'll eventually have to address the terrifying truth that keeps tapping insistently at the back of his neck.

By S4, Mike is starting to come around -- he's still deep in comphet, but he at least recognizes that it's making him unhappy, so he reaches out to Will the Wise for advice. Unfortunately, Will learned the wrong lesson in S3, and all the advice he offers is designed to push Mike back into the arms of comphet.

By the end of the season, Will has even orchestrated a grand heterosexual love confession in the foolish hope that sacrificing his heart on the altar of heteronormativity might finally make the horrors go away. (How's that working out for you, Byers?)

And so we've arrived at that ambiguously villainous ending.

By the climax of Cthulhu, Russ has uncovered the awful truth: his mother was murdered by his father to lure him home, extract offspring from him, and trigger the apocalypse. It's already begun; there's no stopping it. Shambling horrors -- his ancestors -- emerge from the rising sea. Russ is expected to become the immortal leader of this sunken new world.

He and Mike make plans to flee town together, but Russ runs into his father. He's brought to the shore to admire his kingdom before being handed a weapon and commanded to make sacrifice to Cthulhu:

Russ glances between Mike and his father, assessing his options. Soon even the cities will be consumed; he can't Smalltown Boy his way out of this again.

He raises his weapon--

--cut to black, roll credits.

All too often, queer villainy is shown from a straight perspective, presenting queerness as inherently threatening. This is the type of villainy embodied by Vecna: he's a vengeful and predatory outcast who forces his version of reality on others (especially children) and refuses to compromise his dangerous nature.

Cthulhu shows us queer villainy from a queer perspective. Russ, like Will, is harmless: he's kind, has no interest in vengeance, and just wants to live his life in peace. What drives him to villainy is the temptation to throw queerness under the bus in the twisted belief that appeasing the majority is the key to escaping homophobia.

Of course, there is no escape. Sacrificing the man who trusted him to guide him gently into the reality of queerness just means he's succumbed to the madness and become a homophobe himself.

S4 concludes with Will in a similar position to Russ: teetering on the precipice of madness as he helplessly watches the world fall apart at the hands of the villain who would stop at nothing to force him to join his cause.

But where their situations differ is in what cause that villain represents.

Russ's antagonist is a straight homophobe, representing societal homophobia -- far too powerful a force for one man and his lover to have any hope of defeating. But Will's antagonist is that offensively queer-coded-for-straights villain, representing internalized homophobia -- all along, the prickling at the back of Will's neck has been his own instincts warning him of what happens when you allow bigots and abusers to have a say in how you define yourself.

True love can certainly defeat that.

Unlike Russ, Will hasn't reached the end of his story yet--

--and unlike his older namesake, Mike isn't kneeling on the sacrificial altar, but standing by the side of the boy he promised to go crazy with, ready to face the horrors of Hawkins -- together.

[@bylerween2023 day 4 🐙]

[wondrouswendy]

Why Fictional CaseyWake Is Interesting

Back by popular demand (one person asking me to continue my essay), I will continue promoting my Fictional CaseyWake agenda. The Fictional CaseyWake tiger has escaped its cage (and is doing just fine, if a little tortured).

DISCLAIMER: While some of this post involves media analysis, I am not an expert by any means. I am just a fan interpreting things. Don't take what I say as gospel. Also, I am only working with canon presented to us through the video games.

Further, this post is not to discredit or attack FBI Casey/Alan Wake. This is just my way of explaining why this other version of CaseyWake is interesting to me. Don't come at me with a pitchfork.

As a reminder, this post was made with fun in mind.

With that said, this will be a much longer post than those I usually make, so buckle up buckaroos.

I. What's the Deal With Fictional Casey?

The Casey we meet in the Dark Place in Alan Wake 2 is not the same as FBI Agent Alex Casey. There are certainly parallels between the two men, they of course share the same name, the same face, the same voice, a handful of the exact same dialogue lines, but their perspectives on life, Alan Wake, and everything in between is extremely different.

In Abhi Jha's interview with Sam Lake, Lake describes how he decided to revive his love of hardboiled fiction through the Casey we see in the Dark Place. Alan has received visions he doesn't understand of the real Alex Casey which he has then interpreted and curated into becoming his own character named Alex Casey. At the time of this creation, Alan believes Casey came from his imagination. We later learn in Vision 02 that Alan was receiving visions of the real Alex Casey as his inspiration. In Lake's words, this is "an echo of Casey he has molded... turning the knobs more, going more into that hardboiled inspirations." He is a "fictional character coming to life" who is different than the "actual FBI Agent in Washington with Saga who does have similarities and potential of being pushed in that direction but not quite. More three dimensional. With real worries and all of that."

From this, we can extrapolate that Fictional Casey is an exaggerated version of the real Alex Casey and not necessarily a one for one copy of him. Fictional Casey's worries are therefore extremely different than his source material's worries. They live in two entirely different contexts and have vastly different people around them. FBI Agent Alex Casey had an ex-wife and currently has a partner he has a close relationship with. Fictional Casey essentially only has Alan.

Also, Fictional Alex Casey has a little hair floof whereas FBI Casey does not. Their wardrobes are completely different. FBI Casey prefers coffee as his poison of choice; Fictional Casey prefers whiskey.

II. Tropes of Interest

A. Hatemance/Enemies to Lovers

If you’re looking for a hatemance, the pairing has you covered given the whole “Alan killed Casey off for shock value” situation. There’s sex appeal in that alone, but I also think there’s this tender bond between Alan and his character which I will continue to go through later. Alan calls on Casey for help in the Dark Place later on. Maybe it’s on a subconscious level, but it’s certainly there.

In the QR code videos released by Remedy and added into the remastered version of the game, Alan brings up the importance of his character, Alex Casey several times.

In Vision 01, he describes how the Dark Place tapped into his "unconscious mind." Taking things and twisting them to ultimately create a mystery for him to unravel. He specifically writes, "I needed a detective to guide me. Echoes of Casey haunted me."

From Vision 02, he writes, "I saw visions carried by the ebb and flow of different dream states, they seeped in from the reality beyond, things I had a connection to but also things I couldn't possibly know. I used them in my writing to make it real so the parts that weren't would become so. And there were visions that I knew were not real. Ideas I had lost. Often of Casey. I had written about him for years. I use them as well."

In Initiation 2: Casey from Alan Wake 2, Fictional Casey introduces himself with no aggression. To me, in this scene, he is almost acting like a questgiver, an NPC you'd meet in a game whose purpose is to be the guide for the protagonist. There's no immediate malice. In fact, he sacrifices himself to the monster that threatens them.

Casey, who's supposed to be the hero in the narrative, is killed by the Dark Presence. Alan doesn't protect him. You could argue that Casey's final lines of dialogue in this chapter are a moment in which he's breaking through the narrative, implying that he's tired of being used as cannon fodder to protect Alan and to further him on his quest to escape the Dark Place.

B. The History Between Alan Wake and Fictional Casey

For six books, Alan exclusively wrote Alex Casey's story. I would argue that most authors do not stick with a character as long as this. Authors tend to write trilogies if they stick with one character. Often, authors tend to write a story with a character for the course of one novel and then in their next novel, they may shift that character to the background to let another character take the spotlight (this happens all the time in romance novels, for example).

For Alan to write six books worth of Alex Casey, he must have enjoyed it in some way. Something must have appealed to him. His character, the universe, the mysteries. However, something changed with Alan to cause him to not only kill off his star character, but to then proverbially shit-talk him during an interview with Harry Garrett (though the argument could be made that because this interview is shown in a dream sequence that it isn't necessarily something we can reliably trust happened in the real world; if this has been confirmed to be real canonically, please feel free to tell me).

You could argue that Alan killing off Casey in The Sudden Stop threw his marriage and his life out of control. Alan experiences writer's block because Casey's gone. Now this could simply be because the well of inspiration with real life Casey ran dry, because FBI Agent Casey's life had become warped because of Alan's novels.

Alan spends an undefined time with his character Alex Casey. Six novels worth and then thirteen years in the Dark Place. That's a lot of time together.

C. Hurt/Comfort, Angst, and Whump

Alan hurt Casey, personally. He killed him off. Not once, not twice. Several times. He sacrifices Casey over and over.

Casey's echoes in Alan Wake 2 are familiar to Alan. They guide him along to create suitable plots for his escape attempts.

Even though Alan has hurt Casey so much, Casey can't help but assist him with escaping the Dark Place. Even when Casey begins to question his existence, even when Casey starts breaking the fourth wall, he doesn't stop helping Alan.

This lends itself to juicy Hurt/Comfort, Angst, and Whump potential.

D. Alan Wake: Dude in Distress

The bodyguard trope. Casey arguably functions as a bodyguard to Alan in the Dark Place. Casey is always there for Alan.

I hear what you're saying. Is it because he has no choice in the narrative? I would argue no. He has a choice. We see moments where Casey questions his state of being, he breaks the fourth wall. He acknowledges his status as a fictional character as Alan leaves Zane's theater. He knows there will always be another case for Casey. he walks off into the night's loving arms and cheekily says, "Roll credits."

In my interpretation, there's a part of Casey that enjoys this life, fucked up as it may be sometimes.

E. Forbidden and Star-Crossed Romance

There is potential for forbidden romance between these two. After all, you aren't supposed to fall in love with your creation. It isn't real in the physical sense.

If Fictional Casey isn't important to Alan, if he isn't a threat, then why does the Dark Presence continue to kill off Casey? Why does it continue to separate them, as it does in Initiation 5 when Scratch takes over Alan's body to shoot Casey? It knows that Casey is Alan's guardian angel in the Dark Place. It knows that Casey has been useful in creating plot points to help Alan figure it out.

Further, there is the potential for no happy endings with these two. Of course, that could be a turn off for some and a delicious morsel for others.

F. Sexual Tension

In culmination, these elements of their relationship create sexual tension between Alan and Casey. There's so much potential in their history for romance. Charged moments in the Dark Place.

One could argue there's a will they/won't they moment in Initiation 5 - Room 665 when Casey is pinning Alan to the alley wall. Freud did say, after all, that gun's have phallic imagery. Take that as you will.

On a more superficial level, Alan can shape his fictional character to be his vision of the ideal man, the ideal partner. Or, conversely, his ideal fling. His ideal hot mess. Maybe Alan's version of the manic pixie dream girl is a hardboiled detective.

III. The Act of Creation as a Form of Love of the Self, the Creative Process, and the Creation Itself

Prepare yourself for a bumpy ride through my philosophizing. Sorry in advance. I'm sure others could dive deeper into these particular subtopics better than I could, but I want to just throw this spaghetti at the wall and pray something sticks.

A. Love of the Self

Loving yourself is hard. It's a platitude to say it, but it's true.

Alan and his character Casey do share some qualities. Depression, alcohol abuse. Often as writers, we do draw inspiration from ourselves to add dimension to our characters. Alan doesn't need to be a hardboiled detective himself to share similarities to his fictional character. Alan is destructive, angry, confused, self-loathing, and dysfunctional all throughout Alan Wake 1 and 2. Much of Alan's worst qualities are in Fictional Alex Casey.

In Initiation 5, as Casey lays dying from Alan/Scratch shooting him, he says,

"I was dead tired. I just wanted it to be over. It was all my fault."

Circling back to Alan's writer's block, arguably Alan being in the Dark Place is Casey's fault to an extent. Something happened to cause Alan to want to quit telling Casey's story. Perhaps if Casey had continued to be a source of inspiration, Alan would have continued writing his books?

Going back further, if Alan had never created Casey, his life could have taken an infinite amount of turns. But because Casey came to life through Alan's writing, because of their history, Casey feels some degree of responsibility for how events in the Dark Place have shaped up.

Continuing, he says,

"...I'd had this dark place in my head for so long. Sometimes I'd forget the pain was there. Like it was the way you were supposed to feel. I was not in a dark place. I was the dark place, the source of it all, the vessel. Me and the writer, we were the same."

Casey's final monologue in this chapter echoes sentiments Alan is experiencing. The overall metaphor of the Dark Place as not necessarily a physical or supernatural realm, but a state of mind. Some days are better than others. Some days, you're used to your pain that it feels natural.

This then relates to Fictional Casey's potential guilt. What broke down between Alan and his character to cause Alan to want to kill him off? Did writing Casey's story leave Alan feeling too depressed? Too gloomy as he tells Harry Garrett? Was it early signs of writer's block? A lack of direction?

Relating back to Alan, Alan and the Dark Place are largely one. He finds out Scratch is him. Scratch is Alan + the Dark Presence. Alan/Scratch has been the one haunting Alice, tormenting her. He is the source of it all.

Thus, there is a recursive relationship where Alan's self-loathing feeds Casey and vice versa.

However, there are positive elements of Alan's character in Fictional Casey and vice versa. Casey solves mysteries, he protects others, even at risk to himself. Alan has goodness inside him, but it is cloaked by his own self-doubt and self-loathing.

Alan so badly wants to be the hero all throughout Alan Wake 1 and 2 to save Alice (from the Dark Place and later Scratch), but he's struggling against his own narrative and the meta narrative at large. Fictional Casey is arguably the idealized hero-fantasy he has for himself, which is later realized when he sacrifices himself. He willingly goes back to the Dark Place to save Saga, her daughter, and FBI Casey from the Dark Place and its jailor, the Dark Presence.

B. Love (and Hatred) of the Creative Process

To quote a great tumblr post for the 100th time, the act of creation is like sticking your hand in a cylinder of irradiated water full of piranhas. At the bottom is a button, that when pressed, will give you the best orgasm of your life. However, the irradiated water is obviously toxic and the piranhas are constantly biting. In short, the act of creating something is a struggle. But when you manage to hit that button...

Ask any writer (and any creative person at large), there's nothing more enjoyable than being inspired and filled with energy. Writing a new story is exciting. It's often why people tend to have a backlog of WIPs, because sometimes creatives are always chasing after the next new rush of endorphins. Sometimes we fall in love with a universe, sometimes it's a character, an idea of ours.

On the other side of the coin, hating the creative process, I'll quote a tweet from one of my favorite Youtube video essayists, "I hate literally every step in the filmmaking process. The only thing I hate more than making a film is not making a film." Similarly, most authors state that the worst thing about the writing process is not writing.

Alan can't write because he has writer's block, and he has writer's block because he killed off his character, and he hates that he isn't creating. See the vicious cycle? He can't psych himself up for whatever new book he was supposedly going to write prior to the events of the first game.

C. Love of the Creation Itself

Even in Alan's nightmares, he has copies of The Sudden Stop stuffed into his car's trunk like that meme about the person who trips and has pictures of their senpai shoved up their sleeves.

Art is subjective. It's tailored to our personal experiences and vision. Alan (and on a meta level, Sam Lake) enjoy hardboiled detective fiction. Alex Casey is the realization of that love come to life.

Understandably, there are elements of this style of relationship which are not equal in power. We see these elements repeatedly with how Alan uses, yes even abuses Fictional Casey to further his own goals.

Yes, you could say that loving your own creation (no matter the medium) is masturbatory. It's self-aggrandizing. But loving something you put time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears just feels good. We as creators have a right to feel proud of our works.

IV. Interesting Parallels

I'm sorry to all my English major friends for the fumbling I'm about to commit with literary analysis.

A. Biblical

It wouldn't be a deep dive analysis if we didn't bring up the Bible. Of course I'm talking about God and Adam. Anyone creating their own original universe with their own original characters is playing God. Alan creates Alex Casey through the divine act of turning his imagination into tangible writing.

Will someone PLEASE draw Alan Wake and Fictional Casey in the vein of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam already???

B. Literary

John Milton's famous lines from his work Paradise Lost:

Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me?

Of course, Paradise Lost is an epic poem about the story of Genesis, but this stanza in particular, spoken by Adam to God can easily be applied to Fictional Casey towards Alan. Casey didn't ask for any of this. He didn't ask to be created, he didn't ask to become Alan's guide in the Dark Place.

I’m a sucker for Frankenstein by Mary Shelley so I regret to inform everyone we're bringing it up.

I think there’s some Frankenstein/His Monster vibes with this flavor of CaseyWake. I think there were moments where Casey resented coming to life, certainly much later on as he lives and dies over and over.

From his dying moments in Initiation 2:

"I remembered dying in this alley in a dream I had. He was just gonna keep killing me here, loop by loop. You're not gonna get what you want. You think you know. You know shit. You don't really wanna know. You're gonna get what's coming to you."

And then from Frankenstein:

"Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed. Everywhere I see bliss, from which I alone am irrevocably excluded. I was benevolent and good – misery made me a fiend. Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous."

Unlike his real counterpart, Fictional Casey has no one other than Alan. He has no friends, no found family. Arguably, even FBI Casey wants nothing to do with his fictional self. He is completely reliant upon Alan. I suppose you could say we the audience are his only true friend, as we function as voyeurs into his fictional life, much like Alan (but we seem to want to take better care of him than Alan does).

C. Mythological

Pygmalion and Galatea.

The Greek sculptor Pygmalion fell in love with his sculpture of a woman. He asked the goddess Aphrodite if his sculpture could become real, and somehow the goddess of love was like "yeah sure bud." The sculpture, Galatea, comes to life, and they live happily ever after.

(This is the part where I'll make a brief Weird Science shoutout since it's a somewhat similar premise).

V. Conclusion

If you have somehow made it this far, thanks for reading.

There are likely things I've forgotten that I wanted to talk about at some point. Maybe I'll have to make a part two if I end up remembering them.

Hopefully my essay will help inspire others to create fanworks featuring this particular version of CaseyWake. I would love to hear what others think, so please don't hesitate to share your thoughts!!

And finally,

[bestworstcase]

Hi, just joined Tumblr earlier today as part of an unrelated thing, thought I'd check your page out on a friend's rec, and... wow. Just, wow. This is practically the nine-dimensional chess of media literacy. I would have so many question, but everything you discuss is promptly explained in such great detail that I can't even say that. One question remains, though: *how?* Where do you get the absurd amount information and brainpower required to connect the show's many, many dots at this high of a level? It's something I struggle with myself (though that may be due to there being over a year between watching V1-V8 and seriously starting to reflect on the show beyond "well, that was a fun sequence of events"—thank you, newish fanfic writing brain—but that's besides the point), and I was wondering if you had any tips for expanding one's thinking in this direction, as the show still means a *lot* to me—there's a reason, however unexplainable, that I stuck with it so long before the reflections started—and I'd love it if the deepest parts of my brain could reflect it as such.

...Unless that's too much to ask, in which case, whoops! Either way, thank you.

really fundamentally the most effective thing you can do to practice is make a deliberate effort to cultivate a sense of curiosity toward the text. and what i mean by that is, get in the habit of asking yourself questions as if you’re in a high school english lit class: what happened in this scene? why did this character say or do that? does this conversation remind you of anything that happened in an earlier scene, and if so, what’s similar? what’s different? what did you learn about the characters from this scene? what did you learn about the world they live in? why do you think this scene was important enough to be in the story? what changed in this scene (something will always have changed)?

it may feel a bit patronizing at first BUT over time if you’re consistent about it, doing this will train you to approach reading or watching as an active participant. analytical interpretation is a skill and like any skill it takes sustained effort and practice.

after that it’s sort of just pattern recognition. this is true of all stories but it’s especially true of theme-driven stories like rwby because they tend to be very deliberate about repeating and refracting their ideas and often develop rich symbolic vocabularies. so you identify a pattern and then examine the text until you can develop a compelling argument for what it means.

one thing to keep in mind if you’re generally familiar with fandom is that fandom encourages a lot of practices that are cool and fun in fannish contexts but will poison analysis because they are (by nature of being transformative) untethered from the text. headcanon, for example, is things held to be true irrespective of the text—one could have as a headcanon that ruby is allergic to bee stings or that qrow is her father or whatever and it doesn’t matter that there’s no textual evidence or that the text says otherwise because the text is not relevant—but analytically, you must be able to back every part of your argument with textual evidence. so it is useful to practice compartmentalizing to keep headcanon strictly separated from the text in your mind.

(that’s also a practice i recommend in general because being able to say “i like this idea and i have it in mind when i create fanworks, but it isn’t canonical” is healthy)

a good habit to get into is arguing against yourself and holding yourself to a high standard of proof. the reason my argumentation tends to be so thorough is that i try to be as skeptical of my own theories as i am of other people’s. if i have an idea that seems right but doesn’t withstand textual scrutiny, i discard it. (or i might toss it into the headcanon/au idea pile, if i’m very fond of it.) i will often develop more than one argument about a given subject and then lay them all against the text before i commit to one. being skeptical will push you to pay closer attention.

cultivate curiosity about your own emotional reactions, too. what did this scene make you feel? why? how do you feel about this or that character? what draws you to your favorite characters? what distances you from the characters you don’t like? what ideas come to mind when you think about the story and what it means to you? if you have a strong reaction to something—good or bad—try to trace that feeling to its root. what sparked it and why?

once you start digging into that you’ll find that your intuitive reactions to the story are non-arbitrary—you’re subconsciously picking up on certain patterns or themes that resonate with you. so paying attention to what the story makes you feel and asking how and why it incites those feelings will guide you to conscious discovery of things you’ve already noticed without noticing.

and another good point of entry is to look for recurring symbols / imagery—for example, silver-eyes get associated with death and reincarnation through a combination of harvest/reaper imagery (scythe, sickle, ‘the grimm reaper’) and butterflies (ruby’s first glare resembles wings, butterflies everywhere when she and maria discuss her eyes, butterflies symbolizing ascension in the ever after). adding this pattern together with the white light in the liminal void between realms (the threshold of life and death!), the implication that silver-eyes came from ozma (who dies and reincarnates cyclically), the stated purpose of the glare (to preserve and protect life), ruby hearing pyrrha’s final words in her dreams (which she didn’t hear in reality), and the glare having destroyed the hand cinder used to kill pyrrha, is how i got to “silver-eyes are psychopomps,” because both the symbolism and the narrative facts about the power line up in that direction.

the one thing to be careful with in relation to symbolism is not to treat it like a secret code! symbolic meaning isn’t universal so you should always consider symbolism in context with the narrative. the first question should always be “what idea does this image appear in connection to, when it appears?” i.e. the burning rose in rwby symbolizes mourning. think of symbols as more like trail markers that the narrative has placed to help you understand the story by connecting dots. we see the burning rose on summer’s grave and then we see it on ruby; she carries her mother’s absence with her. she gives the brooch away in the ever after right after the blacksmith shows her a glimpse of summer, and then in the storm her reflection is summer but ruby doesn’t look, doesn’t see: she’s avoiding her grief, trying to pretend it isn’t there. and then the brooch returns to her once she faces what the blacksmith wanted to show her about her mom: now it’s a symbol for acceptance of loss.

and with a story like rwby that uses allusion to develop its thematic narrative it’s really helpful to read the texts it alludes to! the core narrative allusions are the marvelous land of oz, maiden in tower fairytales (petrosinella, persinette, rapunzel), cinderella, and the little prince, plus alice’s adventures in wonderland & through the looking glass for the ever after. and then every major character has a specific character allusion. both kinds of allusion are symbolic/thematic (you can’t use allusions to predict specific plot events but they help tie together emotional arcs and character relationships cohesively, and the narrative allusions are pretty good weather vanes for very broad-strokes things like ozma’s symbolic blindness being ‘healed’ in the end).

rewatching the show a couple of times will also help, especially if you take notes. i’m not sure how many times i’ve rewatched v1-8 but it’s a lot and i’ve watched v9 in full twice, plus rewatching a lot of specific episodes or scenes for reference. rewatching will help you spot patterns that you missed before and increase your familiarity with the text in general, both of which help tremendously.

[jasminedragonart]

We all know that I think Brother Bear is the Magnum Opus of Disney and I've elaborated on that in a previous post. This one will therefore be dedicated to Pixar's Magnum Opus.

Moana, I hear you ask? Inside Out? Up?

No.

The Incredibles.

In order for it to be an amazing film there has to be layers to it. Inside Out, to me, is pretty one dimensional. I didn't get a lot out of it. Moana was okay, but nothing special, like I didn't hate it but I didn't love it.

But the Incredibles? It was amazing.

To start off with, this came out in 2004. Do you know what other superhero films were out in this era? Spider Man. Tobey McGuire's Spiderman. Other than that, the superhero franchise hadn't really hit off. It would be years until Iron Man, Captain America or even the Dark Knight would have the impact it would have on cinema. (The Dark Knight trilogy is great btw. I love and accept it as canon way more readily than I do the Snyder verse. That verse can go away and never see the light of day)

the point is, for this movie to have survived, nay, thrive, in a superhero-less world is astounding and I think that's just down to good writing, characterisation and the story itself.

To start off with, I didn't know this was set in the 60's until like, a month ago. But now I do know I love it. It fits so well and answers so many questions. The 60's were like the golden age of heros, or, what we call the golden age. You had the batman show in the 60's, you had the golden age of comics. It's just right that the Incredibles is set in the 60's too.

In terms of storytelling this is good too. We see that they still have phones and computers and tv's but they're limited. No smart phones, the technology that we would see in present day is high tech to them. I love it because it isolates the characters so well. The reason why a lot of shows these days die is because they set it in our modern world. The convenience we have in being able to send messages to each other is just ridiculous. In order to create a good story you need a way to isolate your characters. There needs to be mystery. By limiting the Incredibles to what was available in the 60's Brad Bird eliminated the questions on why Mr Incredible didn't just send a text to his wife or Edna that he was in danger. Why the other heros didn't ask for help. Their technology is limited, their data plan is nonexistent, they can't contact people across the world and this is great for creating an interesting story.

Starting back at the beginning, I think it's really interesting how we're introduced to Buddy. A lot of superhero sidekicks are literally found like Buddy was hoping to be found. He has the intelligence too. He basically did a Tim Drake. He tracked Mr Incredible down, he made himself available and he showed that he had the skills to at least be a good hero. The only difference here is that Mr Incredible's world isn't Batman's world. Buddy didn't persevere like Tim Drake did, he took his knowledge and he twisted it for evil which, again is such a good analysis or interpretation of what Tim Drake could have been if he didn't put on those Robin colours and force Batman to take him on board.

Then we get to the lawsuit. So, if you didn't get it, the Incredibles kind of honoured marvel here. I think X Men was out by now. It should have been. Yes. It was out in 2000. So the concept of mutants being second class citizens was known to those who watched the beginning of the MCU. The Incredibles is paying homage to this by making supers illegal. The supers are creating too much damage, they're doing more harm than good. Therefore the common people are fighting back and making them retreat back into the shadows. Again, an interesting concept because what happened to all these villains? What happened when Bon Voyage escaped prison again? How many people did he kill without Mr Incredible there to help catch him? We don't know but it's always been a wonder of mine as to how the world is as peaceful as it is when we catch up with the Incredibles in present day. How did they get to that point?

I'll never know.

Mr Incredible and Elastigirl, I think are Batman and Catwoman. I think. Meta Batman and Catwoman. They have the same feel, the same banter of Batman and Catoman but they could be another superhero couple. Either way, they have their happy ending by getting married and having kids

There's an interesting post out there explaining the kids names and the connection to their powers which I loved. So, yeah, dash- superspeed. He's the Flash, he's quicksilver. He's basically kid flash right now, or impulse since, is impulse born with his powers? Whatever the case, he doesn't quite know the extent of his powers just yet because he grew up in a world where supers are in hiding. Which, again, makes me question what happens to those heros who don't hide. There had to be a penalty for them beyond being sued. Back to the kids. Violet- ultraviolet light that can be invisible. There's also something about her being a teenager and keeping everyone out which is why she has her forcefields. She's also Susan Storm, that's the inspiration for her character's powers. Jack Jack is jack of all trades. His inspiration, I think, is Legion. I'm not too sure. Either way, I love their names and how they tie into their characters and powers.

Helen and Bob are aliases. People know that right? I'm pretty sure they got different identities through the years after their covers were blown. They would have to. Even in the 60's people could be tracked down, that's why they have this rehoming program for supers. It makes me wonder what Bob and Helen's real names are. I think they're alias's anyway. Either way, their last name would have to have changed over the years. At the beginning of the movie it's Parr which means average.

Which is what they're trying to be. They're trying to be average. But they aren't, that's the whole point of the movie. They're the only ones who are capable of doing what the government, what ordinary people, can't. They're the only ones who can adapt and put themselves in danger to stop Syndrome who spent his entire teenage and adult life trying to destroy supers. The whole message of the movie is there at the beginning. Violet and Dash can't help but use their powers because it's a part of them. They aren't normal, they're never going to be normal and they shouldn't have to be.

Mirage is an interesting character to look at. She's very Bond esque. It felt like they were mixing genres by introducing her but it works. She's a powerful woman at the head of an organisation. But then there are layers to her. Her name is literally Mirage, she's not what she seems. She looks good but is secretly working for Syndrome. But the real message is that she's on the bad guy's team but she's not a bad person. She does what's right for Mr Incredible, she lets him and his family go. She also suffers the Bond girl trope where she's either killed off or injured but her character arc is kind of over at this point so it works. That's the point with some tropes, they're not necessarily good but they work because they serve a purpose. Mirage doesn't need to be in the picture anymore so she needs an excuse to not be there. She's injured, easy, she's out of the picture now. It's not bad writing, it's just practical writing. Otherwise we'd be asking where she was.

I think I want to dedicate this part of why the Incredibles is amazing to focus on the super's graveyard. Not only the one Syndrome made, but the ways the supers have died over the years. Edna describes so many supers dying from such mundane things like a costume malfunction. How many of them perished before Edna refused to give them a cape? How many funerals were there over the years?

I think it's also important we focus on the supers graveyard for another reason too. Bob isn't the only super out there that feels like his purpose in life was taken away. The reason why these people take such mundane jobs as covers is because they have something else in their lives that makes them feel fulfilled. By not being allowed to fulfill that purpose they're only left with the mundane, and for us it's okay because this is the only thing we know, but for them? With their powers? It must feel so... disheartening or another word I can't think of right now. But to be talked down to, to not be recognised. It's not narcissism that has them out there helping people. They're good people trying to do good in the world because they can. It's sad that they can't, and it's horrible that this good nature is took advantage of by Syndrome. He murdered them horrifically. He turned their strengths against them, he made a murder bot, isolated them on an island, and had them hunted down just because he was told to go home as a child. To not be put in danger like kids shouldn't be put in.

It begs the question again, what happened to the other villains? Where are they? Why is Syndrome the only one we see appear in this gap of superhero history? I was expecting the 2nd Incredibles to focus on more villains that had cropped up in the shadows while they were gone but it didn't. Not really. the 2nd one wasn't as good as the 1st one. It was good, but it was lacking the layers the 1st one has. The questions on why and where. A lot of the new one was focused more on the family than the plot where as the first one had a good balance of the two.

Anyway, back to the analysis. This is such a good origin movie for Violet, Dash and Jack Jack. You have the mentors in Mr and Mrs Incredible, the ones who are experienced and handling a lot of the action. Then you have the young ones finding their powers and discovering what they can do, what they're capable of. You feel happy when you see Violet protect her brother with her shield. You're elated when Dash can run on water. They're little things that an experienced hero isn't able to elicit because they're used to their powers and we see this in the ease Mr Incredible has in himself and his capabilities, same as Mrs Incredible when she's worming her way into the compound. This movie is both an origin movie as well as kind of like a comeback. Mr and Mrs Incredible are out of retirement and the kids are stepping up into roles they never dreamed they could have.

The colour story is good too. Mr Incredible's old suit is blue. It's the suit he wore as a standalone hero. It's the suit he wears when he goes out with Frozone and the suit he wears on the island for the first time. It's the suit he wears where he's separated from his family. He's blue, he's alone. Red is a danger colour, it's passion, it's what groups this family together. They are the danger to Syndrome. They also have the yellow there to lesson the impact of the red. It's a happy colour, very soothing and lets us know that they're on the good team. It's also Elastigirl's old colour, or one of them. It's Bob finally including Helen in his life

There's a lot more to this movie I can't think of it right now.

Pixar peaked with this movie though.

[cyvonix]

Cyv Reads Homestuck - Act 5 Act 2 Wrapup

It's that time again.

Another act under my belt, another wrapup post. Like the last one, I'm gonna try to keep this relatively brief and condense it down to the main shit. For this act in particular, that's especially needed, since if I went fully in depth, this post would presumably take on the length of a considerably hefty novella. Seriously, this act is BEEFY. Over double the length of any of the previous acts, and with the content to show for it.

Apparently this was the act that got everyone hyped in Homestuck's initial run, and I can absolutely see why. Everything here is raised to an astronomical level, (literally and metaphorically) as we get not only greater stakes and more action than ever before, but more intrigue, more questions, more lore, more character depth, more fun interactions, literally just more of everything. I think this act is extremely interesting, because it capitalizes on what Act 5-1 teed it up for; that is to say, Act 5 Act 1 queued us into the fact that this story was going to get more complex and darker than before, and went places that never could've been expected in the first 4 acts of the comic. Meanwhile, this act is essentially an entirely new thing. It puts 100% into the new identity that Act 5-1 created for Homestuck, and imo, hits it out of the park.

The first major contributor to this is the shift is the character interactions, which have noticeably taken a much more nuanced approach than anything before. Many scenes or lines that would have been purely jokes were now seen as opportunities to genuinely explore these characters and their relationships with each other. As far as returning characters, Dave in particular stands out as someone who has been completely opened up to new layers that, if they were there before, were heavily obscured by his place in the narrative. The trolls are undoubtedly responsible for this element making its way further into the dialogue, as they give the kids so much more to bounce off of than they used to have, and with these many new dynamics that are formed, new avenues of exploration and analysis are opened.

And speaking of the trolls, their story also escalates far beyond anything possibly imaginable when we first met these angry goofballs several acts ago. They stand as the latest in a generationally traumatized race, one so beaten into their societal roles that anything short of bloodlust is considered weakness. A bloodlust that, as we later learn, was maticulously crafted by our darling villain, Doc Scratch. This layer of their collective characterization, though, makes it all the more potent when they manage to let part of themselves slip past this torturous conditioning and reveal the sympathetic souls that lie underneath. Even Vriska, cartoonishly evil as she's been, comes out the other end of this act seeming much more three dimensional than before. Also, Gamzee's murder arc happened. Honk honk. That's really all there is to say on the matter.

With the mention of Doc Scratch, I would be remiss to leave out his role in all this, and how it encompasses another aspect of this act that left me impressed and overjoyed, which is the multitude of ways in which the conventions of Homestuck and its medium are expanded and broken, over and over. The games begin to feature much more story-relevant information than before. The animations become longer, denser, more daring with their content (Cascade is a whole fucking cartoon episode!!); the easter eggs of games past are folded into the narrative itself, as well as other meta elements brought from simple gags into genuinely intriguing plot points. Even the way the comic allows itself to be interacted with twists and changes as it needs. The banner on top of the website becomes its own entire canvas for storytelling, the borders of the panels are less restrained than ever, the command system is contorted in various ways that make for a more interactive experience even just on the web page. I could go on. Even in the final moments of the act, when the curtains close, we see them tattered, fire surrounding them, and a shattered fourth wall behind. To me, it acts as a declaration that the confines of this work are no longer relevant. That this is truly a multimedia project which will take any shape it sees fit to convey what it desires, and which will blend realities and rulesets to create a strange, new entity. I've watched this piece of fiction grow and mold itself over the course of these various acts in ways I truly never anticipated when I'd begun, and this moment feels like a symbol of that mentality becoming its mantra. I highly doubt these experiments with form will stop any time soon, and I truly do look forward to whatever is waiting for me next.

And finally, for my own sake I kinda want to decompartmentalize into a list all the currently unanswered things leaving me either curious or interested as I move forward:

Not really a question but I just couldn't find another place to write that I fucking love all the god tier stuff. Just really fun and satisfying magical fantasy shit with very cool aesthetics and also thematic elements that tie extremely well into a lot of what the story seems to be getting at.

LORD ENGLISH HAS ENTERED THE PICTURE. Clearly, as we all already knew "He is already here." So the question is, where? Where has he been? What will be that decisive moment that he will propel himself into this story?

Regarding resurrection, what actually classifies as "heroic" or "just" seeing as these are largely subjective concepts? Is is simply a mystic "Paradox Space will decide" type thing? Will the comic address this quandry at some point?

On this point, Doc Scratch's clock. It shows the results of this query. Does it actually decide the result, or similar to the meteor timers, simply show the result that was already going to happen? If it decides the result, this implies that by manipulating the clock, the outcome of the resurrection can also be manipulated.

On timelines: What actually consitutes the Alpha Timeline? Who decides that? Who's to say that one particular timeline is more canonical or holds more importance than the rest, other than the author themselves I suppose.

Who's fedorafreak? Is this actually gonna be important?

What actually are the denizens? John implies they aren't as threatening as they initially appear. What does this say about their function in the game and in this world?

Who is the mother of all monsters? I don't think this is a term we've ever heard before unless I'm just forgetting

Why does the emblem of "Her Condescention" look somewhat like the Betty Crocker logo. Don't tell me I'm looking too deep into this. This fucking story has done me dirty before. That thing fucking looks like the other things and I don't trust that one bit especially after hearing about the whole Betty Crocker isn't human thing. hrmmm...

WHAT THE FUCK DOES IT MEAN THAT THE KIDS ARE IN ANDREW HUSSIE WORLD. WHAT. I CAN'T GET OVER THAT. I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT COULD EVEN GO.

As for any predictions or expectations? Basically none. At least as far as predictions go. I've learned to surf Homestuck like a big ass wave and let it take me where it takes me. If I pick something up along the way that I feel I can properly theorize about, I will, but I'm no longer trying to pick everything apart and estimate what it could mean for the overall story, because quite frankly, there's simply too much shit going on and too little of it has any intention of appeasing my base instincts about the movements of the narrative. Now, I'm not going to lie and say I know NOTHING about what's next in Homestuck. I know next to nothing, but that's still not nothing. In fact, I'll break down literally everything that I know so you know exactly what expectations I'm going in with. So obviously if you're also reading for the first time, maybe tune out here in case you wanna be completely blind!!!

I know there are still more characters to come. Specifically, I know that there are at least four other kids to be introduced to, just from fan art and cosplay and such. I know two of their names are Dirk and Roxy, but I do not know the other two. I know ZERO about their actual roles in the story or like, who they are as people. Based solely on their appearances, my only real guess is that maybe, similarly to how we learned of the troll ancestors creating a new world and becoming ancestors to the true successors, the kids will do something similar now that they're essentially exiting the reset world, and become the guardians of a new group of children who are supposed to be like "the real heroes" and those will be those characters? I'm not sure if the logistics on that actually work out but it's all I got rn. Also, I know there are weird green people. Now, call me psychic, but now that I've seen Lord English, something tells me they have something to do with him. Again, I'm cluelesss as to how they actually connect or what role they'll have in the story or literally anything at all, I just know that they exist and are green. The third and final thing that I know is that trickster mode has like, a greater role in the story? I'm grasping at straws here but I've definitely heard talk about trickster mode in later Homestuck as if it becomes more than just an easter egg in games. No fuckin clue how. So again, I'll make a guess that, since the characters are continuously getting closer to the meta layer of the story, perhaps they find out about the "easter eggs" in the games and how to activate trickster mode, as characters and not just as us playing them, and then maybe they can use that to gain new information or traverse places in a different way, almost like Twilight Princess type shit. But yeah. That's all I got. I don't feel spoiled at all because that's all such minimal information that it doesn't really tell me anything of significance, but it does at least give me some breadcrumbs to look for as I keep reading, so that's pretty neat.

Anyway, yeah! This is what I call relatively brief now I guess! Either way tho, if you read thru this I wanna thank you, I know there have been some people sticking with me through this journey and seeming to enjoy my posts, so if I've provided some entertainment or interesting commentary that makes me very happy. Always feel free to chime in and discuss with me or even just correct me on stupid shit I say lol. But I'm gonna go start ACT 6 NOW I GUESS??? GOD DAMN WE'RE HALF WAY THERE BABY WOOOOOOO I'M REALLY DOIN THIS

[thesweetnessofspring]

This is going to be kind of long so thank you for reading beforehand.

When do you think Peeta decided he was going to enter the arena with the goal of protecting Katniss instead of fighting for his own survival? I have read so many comments from people that think that ever since he was reaped alongside her, he had decided she was the one who should make it out alive. Now, this is probably true but I think it presents his character as one dimensional and Katniss is constantly mystified by him and even refers to him as hard to predict. After reading the books several times, I think that he believed Katniss had the highest chances of surviving thanks to her skills (his mother’s own assessment probably replayed on his head too), but he fully decided to protect her after she got an 11 as her training score. Even though it was very well deserved, it also made her the Careers’ main target. It’s no coincidence that after this, he requested to be trained separately.

This takes me to his private coaching session with Haymitch. There’s a popular tumblr post where Peeta just tells him that he has been in love with Katniss for 11 years and even though it’s funny, I’m not so sure this is the way he chose to go about things. While it is true that he had feelings for Katniss, he also knew Haymitch was not a sentimental person and that he probably wouldn’t respond well or even consider a strategy based on feelings instead of facts. Especially at that point where they had just begun to develop a bond and it wasn’t as strong as it was in Catching Fire, for instance. So it makes more sense to me that Peeta made a case of how Katniss had the highest chances of winning the games which would only increase with their help and probably Haymitch was able to tell there were deeper feelings involved there which helped devise the star crossed lovers strategy in the first place.

Also, the night before the games, he tells Katniss: “Only I keep wishing I could think of a way to show the Capitol they don't own me”. So he kept thinking about it which sounds like his mind was still reeling with possibilities about how to make his last days meaningful while staying true to himself which shows he had much more depth than what we sometimes give him credit for.

But I don’t know, am I reading too much into it? Was it really as simple as Peeta loving Katniss since the beginning and that’s it? I love your analysis so much, thank you ♥️

Non, I love your thoughts and careful analysis of Peeta's character here! Too often he's reduced down to "in love with Katniss" and while that is obviously a huge cornerstone of his character and a fundamental aspect of how he makes decisions, it is not his only facet! And those different parts of him contribute to how he loves her as well.

I can only imagine that being reaped alongside your crush would be horrifying. Katniss volunteered and took her place first and he had to have hoped that she would win and come back. And then his name gets called and suddenly, for his wish to come true, that means he would have to be dead. At first, I'd imagine he'd think like Katniss. Hope they wouldn't have to raise a hand against each other. And although Peeta was unlikely to be reaped, he still could have. In this world, I imagine every person imagines how they'd play the games, Peeta especially. And if he hadn't been reaped with Katniss, he had his strategy down. Get sponsors. Win them over. And could it be that he even joined the wrestling team as a "just in case"? He says himself that he couldn't go down without a fight. Peeta was not planning to be a pacifist.

His mother certainly put doubts about his ability to win in his head when she declared Katniss the survivor, the winner. And the thing is, the Games have a huge element of randomness. Annie winning just because she could swim the longest and a variety of factors. If Katniss had gone after that bow and arrow, a Career might have gotten her--she was never a close-range fighter. Without Peeta to make her desirable, she might not have gotten as many sponsors. Peeta could have won on his own, even if his chances were smaller. For his mother to not even give him any hope of his survival? That's rough. But it was also possibly the first time Peeta could acknowledge that Katniss was more likely to win.

And they are a team up until Peeta asks to be trained separately. Part of that is constructed by Cinna, Portia, and Haymitch, but also the natural partnership Katniss and Peeta have. Neither wants the other to die, both would want the other to live if possible. Could Peeta have believed they could work together from the start? It's possible and a strategy I'm sure many did use, if not to the extend they did pre-Game. But so many things put the Games in Katniss's favor. She was the girl on fire, he was the boy next to her. She volunteered for Prim, he was the weepy boy. She got the eleven to his eight.

All of this had to accumulate to the outcome Peeta thought was inevitable: Katniss really could win. And she had a little sister and a mother that needed her, and a boy who would likely become her boyfriend. Peeta was the extra boy no one would really miss. So, yes, while I think Peeta was also trying to help Katniss, he hadn't discounted himself until that training score.

As for his session with Haymitch, the idea that Peeta came in with his crush as a first option also doesn't make sense. I do think that Peeta came in like "look, Katniss has the best chance of winning, and 12 needs a winner. What can I do to help her?" That's when the idea of infiltrating the Careers came about, Peeta making contingency plans of how to protect her physically in the arena from her toughest competitors. Haymitch picked up on Peeta's crush I'm sure. And Haymitch is the strategist, so if he brought in the star-crossed lovers, I wouldn't be surprised. He seems giddy about it after the interview, how well he can sell it, while Peeta is moody. Peeta was willing to do it, but how mortifying to have to use such a tender, private affection harbored for eleven years to save the life of the girl you've admired for a decade.

Suzanne is a careful writer and so Peeta still thinking about ways to not let them change him had to have come with consideration of how he was feeling at the time and how that strategy played out. Could it be he didn't realize the impact he was already making? Or that he was afraid his plan wouldn't work? He had to get in with the Careers which would have been no easy task, and if he failed, he'd just be another victim. Was there anything more he could have done? I'm sure that idea was growing and growing in his head as his seemingly imminent death approached. What did he live for in his short life? How could he be more than a tool for a government that oppressed so many? And I think this line shows that his thoughts weren't 100% on Katniss. Saving Katniss was a way to do this, but it was not like it was in Catching Fire. Then, for both of them, it was only about saving the other person. But for Peeta, the boy with the crush, the boy who didn't want to be a pawn, it was about Katniss but also about him. They're very interconnected and can't be separated because of their connection and the circumstances they found themselves in.

[blonding]

my thoughts on shima sousuke, a (semi) short character analysis.

so recently, i’ve had the pleasure of catching up on the skip to loafer manga, which is a seinen manga with romance elements (i know better now than to call it shoujo!) but that aside, ever since the beginning when i started reading it a year or so ago, shima sousuke, the male main character, stuck out to me.

more under cut + various major skip to loafer spoilers are included

shima sousuke is like. well first of all he’s one of the characters of all time, but beside the fact i like him a lot, he’s a character i relate to in a way i never thought i would relate to a fictional character. calling him multi-faceted just sands down the realness of his character otherwise.

shima is very much the type of character that doesn’t want to “stick out or make a fuss” mostly due to childhood trauma and neglect, he feels as if he is already a burden while not realizing the cause as to why. but along with that, he also bottles everything up until the point where his numbness to genuine emotion makes him feel like interaction & intimacy is just the other party, and him, taking advantage of each other in different ways. and, while some of this may be true, in his head shima already knows that he has built up an invisible wall around him, so that even if someone really did want to actually get to know him, mitsumi for example, he couldn’t let them in even if he tried to.

take this screenshot from chapter 46 as an example ^

the writing in skip to loafer (especially the character writing) is incredibly real and dimensional, and while i’m just focusing on shima for now- how he handles his relationships with others, as if he “owes” others his compliance and kindness, in one of the later chapters he calls himself a ‘status symbol’ as if he doesn’t even really see himself as a person worthy of his own autonomy at all.

^ here you can see how he truly thinks about himself.

the cause of this, at least the main cause, is shown to the reader throughout the manga- due to the fact that he was abused as a child, and made to believe that he doesn’t have worth outside of what others can make of him and what he can provide- he has completely alienated himself (or at least his real self) out of a fear of being resented, and honestly, such is the feeling of a child who has only known fear and darkness, it’s probably only natural that he’s extremely afraid to even try to leave that.

on the other hand, even if it was without knowing at first, mitsumi is the constant in the manga that is thoroughly and constantly trying to break this pattern. her kind bluntness and truthfulness aids her in this. i feel as if the reason why shima partially lets mitsumi into his life, with or without realizing, is because of the fact she has what he envies most— love. whether shima realizes this or not- he is jealous of her. he is jealous that she is able to speak her mind as freely and truthfully as she wants, and he is jealous of the fact that she is clearly someone who has those who truly love her.

^ you can see that another character even outright tells her right here.

in a way, these characters are polar opposites of each other. shima wants what mitsumi has, and mitsumi wants shima to open up to her- something he feels he is incapable of.

but even with that being said, shima doesn’t want mitsumi out of his life either, even with his jealousy aside he does actually like mitsumi- after all, what’s not for him to like. she was one of the first people in his life to actually want to know him, and not just the idea of him, but the real, honest-to-god him.

obviously this is all just my own personal speculation, but i do believe that all shima ever wanted was to feel genuinely wanted, but now that he actually is wanted for who he really is, he has no idea what to do, and even less of an idea as how to tear down the seemingly indestructible wall that he has built up around him.

regarding shima’s character, it’s all very this image ^

anyways, i think that’s just about all i have to say for now, thank you for coming to my shima sousuke ted talk, i hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit!

[a-strange-inkling]

If it were up to you ( one of the best hellcheer fanfiction writer) what would you fix or change about the fight of Icarus?

Aw shux, that’s high praise! I really don’t think I’m worthy of that, but thank you 🤍

Oh God… what a laundry list 😆 read at your own risk below (I think I’ve finally run out of things to say about this book and will be moving on now 😅)

I’m going to be honest, the best way fo fix it would be to not write a book. Point blank. If I was involved with the show at all I would have NEVER written a book about Eddie in any official capacity. I don’t know if the author was aware of just how unhinged certain parts of his fanbase are (I’m sure she is now) but you’re not going to make anyone happy with this. Eddie’s ridiculously popular yes, I get it, but part of his appeal for people was how untouched his background was.

Flight of Icarus is kind of a mess plot wise with pretty weak/poor characterizations. There’s some good elements and scenes in it. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. It’s pretty mid. I mean books based on tv shows aren’t exactly known for their… luster. It’s obviously going to lack the passion of an unpaid fanfic writer who has spent endless hours watching season 4 and doing in-depth research and analysis for their work… but that’s what we’re all used to. That’s our standard. So it’s kind of already set up for failure.

But, if I was in charge of a book like this, here’s some of the things I would do differently:

I’d have picked ONE main plot to focus on because there is way too much going on in these 280 pages for me to have the time to be invested or care about anything. There’s like three plus storylines going on with Eddie all to push ONE narrative which is basically him choosing between risking everything for a fantasy/dream of fame and money or staying true to himself and what’s real which is the steadfast loyalty of his friends and family. This takes the form of Al vs Wayne, Paige vs Ronnie, LA vs Hawkins, solo career vs band/hellfire, dropping out to try to become a rockstar vs being the first Munson to graduate, who Eddie wants to be vs who he truly is deep down.

It’s just too much.

I’d have taken a little more time making Eddie three dimensional. I know he’s a side character, but a lot of heart and thought went into creating him (at least on Joe’s end). I’d have made more conscious choices for his character, especially if he’s narrating in first person (I would have not used first person). His outer dialog is great (the dialog throughout the whole thing is actually really great, you can tell the author’s a screen writer and it’s one of the stronger elements to the book) but his inner monologue is pretty ooc and at times really off. He lacks a lot of the things that drew people to him in the first place or it’s just not as strongly presented I guess. He doesn’t feel fully formed.

If I was going to give Eddie a love interest (I don’t know why you would do that to yourself at this point, his fanbase is volatile at best and either ships him with Steve, Chrissy, or themselves, no one is going to like it) I’d have given her WAY better writing than an immersive wattpad character with little to no character traits outside of her aesthetic and interests which is an alternative style and liking music. Wow. Groundbreaking. I would have her make decisions based on a fully formed personality verses the convenience of the plot. And if not, if she’s going to be a means to an end, I’d at least go all in and make her wild or evil or a total bitch or conniving or funny or grumpy or goofy or something. She’s not given enough focus or time to be well rounded so I’d just have fun and go batshit crazy with her (don’t worry Paige, you’re mine now and I will give you an actual character and vindication).

Eddie choosing between his dad and Wayne would have probably been the plot I picked to focus on and I would have really dived into that. The good, bad and the ugly of the Munson family. Because Al (that would not be his name btw 🤢) and Wayne reflect the two sides of Eddie’s character. A charming, self serving, cowardly asshole and a good, strong and kind person who protects and looks after others. I like Ronnie a lot and she’s probably the best written character in the book, but Wayne needed to have more spotlight for this.

I’d have definitely made the plot a lot less fantastical and way more of a simple character study. Just Eddie deciding between embracing the infamy of the Munson family or choosing to rise above it. Does he decide to scheme and cheat like his dad to get more out of life or does he do the right thing and stay the course to actually graduate and make something of himself. That’s it. All that’s needed. Eddie getting a shot at being a rockstar at eighteen in Hawkins is already kind of odd, especially when his in is a twenty year old “junior scout”??? Who just happens to be at his dive bar and have the hots for him and fucks him and pretty much offers him a life in LA on a silver platter with no issues other than having to bail on his band and high school club?? It’s… a bit much for our unlucky loser boy we see in the show. Book Eddie is as lucky as they come, but he’s a total dumbass and decides to trust and scheme with his deadbeat father??? Who has always failed him? Why? I get he needs money but his kinda girlfriend’s got a job and he’s pretty much got a record deal. What even is this? That whole storyline would be scrapped to hell. But hey, at least it’s more believable than an actual drug heist and a kingpin and a shoot out. Oh and arson. It’s giving… *shivers* Riverdale and not in a good way.

Lastly, I’d have taken the opportunity to develop characters from the show a little more. Not a ton, but like the author did with Higgins. I really like how he was written in the novel. He had a lot of fire and personality out of nowhere which was kind of hilarious. I probably would have expanded Jason the most actually, I’d have added more to that tense rivalry. And I’d have left Chrissy pretty much out of it. The talent show is best left to the imagination and we already have a delicate narrative between them because of the forest scene. I wouldn’t want to add too much there. But she’d have a cameo for sure. Like brief eye contact or a shared smile or something at the very end of the book. Just a little glimmer of what’s to come. I’m also a Eddie has always had a little bit of a thing for Chrissy truther, so in my bias I might have him quietly admire her from afar or something.

And there you go.

I mean you’re going to get my version of his backstory eventually anyway and bonus he and Chrissy live, get married and have kids. Yay!

[altocat]

Bro this is so stupid like as a huge Sephiroth stan in particular who tends to feel very defensive of his pre-insanity self because of how much I think he deserved better, I absolutely adore Genesis too?? Genesis has a lot of issues but genuinely why the hell would we not find that interesting? Sephiroth is a mess too, hell even Angeal is a mess, but they would be so boring if they were anything normal.

And one of the funniest things is how the fans who like Seph but hate Genesis miss one of the key elements of their relationship which is that Sephiroth clearly adored Genesis himself lmao. I wish we could have learned more about Sephiroth’s relationship with Angeal actually, because the Genesis focus is so much more up-front.

Sephiroth is the one trying to call him desperately in EC and they put that in the TRAILER, Seph was the one torn up over not being able to be Gen’s blood donor (help), he’s the one wracked with guilt over Gen’s injury which wasn’t even his fault, he’s the one smiling in genuine happiness when Gen is reading Loveless in that scene, and smiling at him again when they are sparring and having fun…Sephiroth really valued Genesis as a friend and you can tell. He had every chance to fight him in the Hollander escape scene, but he just stood there and let Genesis do his thing. He didn’t even shoot back when Genesis showed up in the reactor and blasted Zack away (help💀) (Ok Seph might actually be a little too gracious with his friend but anyway….)

I know it upsets people the way Genesis acts, but clearly even Sephiroth wasn’t too fazed until the reactor scene when Genesis crossed the line. I originally hated Gen in that scene too and felt Seph’s anger but all it takes is one good analysis like that anon gave to see why Gen did what he did. You can still be pissed at him and hate that scene and even others, but bro to dismiss the entire character as a one dimensional asshole who just likes to bully people is um…how you say….braindead. You can even hate the character fr but to attack people for seeing his layers and depth?? Bruhhhh.

Gackt himself helped write the character and spoke of Gen’s nuance, how he had a glass heart, and was secretly a sweetheart but was just brought to his lowest because of his circumstances and bitterness. Very believable if you ask me. Like it IS possible to think of a character this way and not condone what they did and that’s why these haters baffle me. YOU GUYS ARE ACTING EXACTLY LIKE YOUR NEMESIS CHARACTER.

Anyway, thanks for being based Altocat

All of this. Thank YOU for being equally based, anon!

Like I said, I'm not for a moment going to argue that the writing on Genesis during Crisis Core is especially good. Only that he's a more complicated character than we give him credit for.

And, I'm just going to say it--it's EASY to go with the crowd and hate on him. A lot of famous people in the community hate Genesis so I feel like the natural response for a lot of casual fans is to just hate him by default. And like I said, totally fine. Completely fine. He's poorly written, kind of a jerk at times, and very pretentious.

But when the literal GODDESS OF THE PLANET sees value in redeeming him, there's more to him than just him being bitchy and arrogant. There are layers.

Seph loved him. Angeal loved him. Zack went out of his way to save him from himself. The in-universe canon sees value in Genesis Rhapsodos. Why can't we?

[capcavan]

I love media analysis and I saw your discussion questions so...yea sorry about the length. (I'm open to discussion)

Look, I'm new here (been here for about a month) so I wasn't aware people don't like Riko? I personally quite like him as a character and didn't know that's not a particularly popular opinion? But I'm of the firm belief that not all villains are meant to be "redeemable". You can understand or sympathize with their motivations and character, but that's not the same as having redeeming qualities. And I think Riko is one of those characters who doesn't have redeeming qualities. He's supposed to be a hated villain. Heck, his first appearance in the series is literally him swooping in on stage to dark ominous music, dressed in black like a bloody supervillain. He gets all the "classic abusive ex" lines, an obscene amount of power, and some really bizarre unhinged moments (ex. handcuffing Neil to a bed and spitting in his mouth).

We're told right at the top, "Hey, this guy is a villain and he's not going to stop being a villain." So he's pretty easy to hate if you are just trying to get through the story. The last character in a novel I really hated was Professor Lovell in Babel by R.F. Kuang. He's another one of those characters you are meant to hate but you're also meant to comes to hate him slowly. You see him from the eyes of the person he abused so you get to see what it's like for the main character to slowly realize that this man who starts off by saving him and giving him a home is and has always been, a terrible person.

Riko doesn't get that treatment. We see him first from the perspective of someone who has never met him but already hates him (Neil) and second, from the perspective of someone who's suffered him and hated him for a long time and is already done with him (Jean).

If he ever had any good sides, the reader doesn't see them so it's easy to hate him. But I would argue, that's the point. We're supposed to see Riko as the insane abusive ex and we're supposed to wonder along with Neil and Andrew why the fuck Kevin can't let him go. Like, what's so good about this ludicrous supervillain that you can't even shit-talk him behind his back?

But Riko's not actually a one-dimensional supervillain. Neil says it straight up and gets it exactly right (he's kind of just spit-balling but Riko reacts to it like he's been read to filth) -- that Riko was brought up as a commodity and not as a human, that his delusions of grandeur were encouraged and that no one ever wanted him as a human (not his uncle, not his brother, certainly not his father). TSC does a lot to confirm it with descriptions of how he was treated by his uncle and how he obsessed over the letter about Kevin's father along with Kevin.

But ultimately, I think the reason why Riko doesn't get as nuanced a treatment as one might like is because the main conflicts the characters overcome have nothing actually to do with Riko. Neil overcomes fear and mistrust in others, Andrew overcomes his fear of letting himself have anything good. Even Kevin's conflict is more about asserting himself than about fighting Riko. (And Jean has so much trauma, Riko's barely a drop in the bucket.)

Anyway, I like Riko because I think properly sadistic villains are fun and because I think he's an interesting character.

This ask read like very sexy Riko fanfic anon drop your ao3 so I can check something for myself ty, if not let me commission you for some riko writtign after I get cash

[beigepillow]

Why do you think there is a lack of analysis on Doumeki? I see so much analysis and dissection on Y (his history, the reason he reacts to things, his relationship with others, etc.), but very few discussions on D himself, which is so interesting to me. I wonder if the lack of analysis on D is because he's such a quiet character, which is why I'm so intrigued by him. IDK, why do you think interest is more focused on Y, at times, more than D?

This is something I have thought about a lot. I apologize if my answer here gets long. A part of it may be due to his personality. I think sometimes people can claim it is because Yashiro is supposed to be the main character but there are plenty of fandoms that have whole dissertations on other characters besides the main character. There are definitely personalities audiences seem to love over others. The traumatized, hedonistic personality is very popular as opposed to the quiet, “hero” type. I think, especially in the beginning, Doumeki seemed more one dimensional and seemed like he only cared about staying by Yashiro’s side so he was more boring for a lack of a better word to us as readers. But it fascinated and still fascinates me how Doumeki thought of himself in terms of his sexual desire and his feelings but it didn’t necessarily align with his actions. Doumeki himself thinks of his love as almost a possessive, stifling thing but I don’t genuinely think his love would hinder Yashiro as a person. Also, the dynamic Yashiro and Doumeki had, with the occasional parallel to Aoi, was very interesting to me. Doumeki’s trauma and pain is overshadowed by what they went through for obvious reasons but Doumeki’s whole life shattered and then he was left to stew in prison for 4 whole years. That is a pretty big deal and acknowledging his pain doesn’t take away from their’s. Another part of it is there seems to be a universal interpretation of Doumeki. Interpreting Doumeki is a lot of guesswork because we never really got much of his thoughts and we get them even less now. I noticed that the interpretation of Doumeki being the typical romantic interest in that he never gets angry at Yashiro and that all he cares about is Yashiro was very common but I think we can all agree at this point it isn’t true. He does have negative emotions towards Yashiro sometimes and that is okay. He cares about others besides Yashiro and that is also okay. In my experience, it is just not that popular to have alternate interpretations of Doumeki. But I always felt Doumeki was neglected as a character and that is why most of my posts tend to be about him. But of course people have a right to write about any character they choose and if they don’t want to really write about Doumeki, they shouldn’t. Fandom is just supposed to be fun and honestly, i do have conflicting feelings when harsh interpretations of Doumeki pop up so I am conflicted on whether I would really want more analysis on Doumeki lol