#i think the second most awkward would be the 'strength of will'/strong-willed trait ending for the sole reason that ellie is PISSED

[yellow-mapleleaves]

Realistic Personalities in Characters: Alice in Borderland

⚠ Spoilers ⚠

Short Summary

Alice in Borderland  今際の国のアリス  is a Netflix original series about a young boy called Alice (Arisu) and his two friends who happens to find themselves trapped in an abandoned version of Tokyo in which they must take part in many life threatening games to survive.

I wanted to do a review on this series because I noticed that there were some characters that possessed very accurate and realistic behaviours and others that didn’t convey any emotion the entire show. I found it interesting that the mix of very different levels of well-displayed people was able to add to the already amazing plot of the series.

Characters Present:

Alice, Karube, Chota, Usagi, Kuina, Chishiya, Niragi

Alice - Protagonist

The main protagonist of the series is not always the favourite in most tv shows, but from looking at different reviews and people’s comments about Yamazaki’s character Alice, I’ve noticed that he is actually rather popular in his own fictional world. He is honestly probably one of my favourite characters as well, and that’s based on how realistic his behaviours and emotions are conveyed.

Some aspects and scenes of Alice that makes him a more convincing and realistic personality:

Being a normal young boy with no incredibly amazing skills

Not having god-like survival abilities just from being able to play battle-royal videogames well

Having flaws

Having only two close friends rather than a huge friendship group

Not being incredibly attractive and well-groomed

Not having a close relationship with his brother (not all siblings get along)

Having a bad relationship with his father

Having the very human instinct of survival by becoming willing to kill his friends to save his own life out of panic

Reacting badly to watching someone being killed (vomiting, screaming, trauma etc)

Not being incredibly serious all the time; actually having a sense of humour

Showing respect towards Usagi’s privacy

Having a very average style of clothing

Being awkward around people he doesn’t know

Excelling in one area (puzzles) but being quite disadvantaged at the rest

Making mistakes E.g. during the distance game, he doesn’t realize the trick of the game until it ends

Not being able to defend himself physically due to lack of strength

Not moving on after his friends’ deaths immediately like as if it doesn’t happen (it takes him a few days to even develop the energy to get up off the floor)

I would say I personally believe that Alice’s character has a strong and realistic personality, as Yamazaki’s acting and Alice’s reactions to certain experiences creates a sympathetic response from the audience.

____

Karube - Deuteragonist

Let’s be honest, everyone loves a bad boy character. During the short time that Karube was present during the show, I think he conveys both strong and weak personality traits. At some points I think the producers were trying too hard to bring a “tough man” façade to him, when I think he could show more realistic emotions and reactions.

Some aspects and scenes of Karube that makes him a more convincing and realistic personality:

Having a fiery and defensive personality (although it can more than often come across as immature)

Having a sense of humour even in tough times

Having obvious advantage in strength related survival skills

Not being invincible to fear E.g. running from the tagger during the “Tag” game and not even trying to fight back at first

Dealing with work related issues

Actually having a realistic dream life rather than one that sounds almost impossible

Being flawed but not too flawed

Having a love interest that he is forbidden to love (she is with another man)

Conveying fear through anger when Alice tries to kill him to save himself

Not having the nicest of personalities (not everyone is friendly to everyone)

Not having a overly selfless personality

I think Karube should’ve been included in the series more than he is, because his character is very lovable and many fans of this show obviously show sympathy when he dies. His character has a big, extroverted and blunt personality, and I think it is conveyed very well during the time he is present.

____

Chota - Tertiary

Although Chota is one of the main three characters in the beginning of the series, I honestly never felt that sympathetic for him. His character comes across as rather more annoying than weak to me. I understand that the point of his character is to have a weak and smaller personality to match Karube and Alice’s loud energy, but I think this person is kind of just there. He doesn’t do much, considering he almost loses his leg in the first episode and having to use crutches for the rest of the time he is alive.

Some aspects and scenes of Chota that makes him less realistic:

Being friends with people who obviously have dodgy jobs or no jobs at all when he is a successful technician himself

Doesn’t seem to have much of a life outside work and his friends, what are his hobbies?

Not exactly having much of a purpose in the show

Constantly having his guard up and being anxious or worried

Having too many flaws

Following a very different religion to that of his mother

Generally being incredibly different to Alice and Karube (I believe if their personalities were actually friends in real life, they would have too many arguments).

During the short time on the show that Chota had, it was more the point that his personality felt incredibly unneeded. It didn’t exactly serve a huge purpose in the storyline. As well as, he was hard to sympathize for.

____

Usagi - Love Interest / Deuteragonist

Usagi definitely has my most favourite back story of the series. Although, when researching about her I noticed that she is actually one of the characters that get the least recognition by the viewers, despite being in basically every episode and always being beside Alice. I have mixed emotions about the realism in her character, so I made both a positive and negative list to state both sides.

Some aspects and scenes of Usagi that makes her a more convincing and realistic personality:

Having a tragic yet realistic backstory

Using her mountain climbing skills as a huge advantage during physically challenging games

Showing obvious signs of grief for her father, even during the time she was placed in the game

Being insecure of her body

Fighting back against Niragi even when it’s obvious she won’t win

Having good survival instincts from past experiences

Willing to help others out when they need it E.g. during the “Tag” game she went along with Alice’s plan for everyone to work together

Having a obvious more introverted personality

Being too trusting, which ends up getting her hurt

Some aspects and scenes of Usagi that makes her a more unrealistic and poorly convincing personality:

Having too serious of a personality, not seeming to lay back and laugh for even a second

Seeming to have an unrealistic bravery E.g. during the tagger game, she didn’t seemed frightened at all despite that the tagger had a machine gun

Doesn’t react to graphic violent sights that would be traumatizing to humans

Not knowing what “The Beach” was despite being in the game for god knows how long

Overall, I think she is the awesome strong female character that a lot of thriller genres have. Although, I would love if for once a strong yet bad ass character didn’t act so mysterious and quiet all the time. But regardless, she is a good character that shows very human qualities.

____

Kuina - Confidante

Kuina is one of the more popular characters in the show, which I honestly can understand. She has obvious very strong manipulation skills as well as physical strengths like martial arts. Although, I believe her backstory is what truly shapes her as a character and is the reason why the audience develops such an emotional connection with her.

Some aspects and scenes of Kuina that makes her a more convincing a realistic personality:

Having a trusting and good relationship with Chishiya

Having a personality that conveys carelessness

Both social butterfly and keeps to herself

Being a character part of the LGBTQ+ community

Having a realistic backstory

Although having a bad relationship with her Dad, she still respects what he taught her

Having a parent that accepts her rather than just being abandoned, which is what a lot of Transgender characters have been stereotyped as

Being able to defend herself incredibly well

Giving her a human flaw (smoking addiction)

Having a elaborate hairstyle

Showing that she is not mysterious, she just has a lot of walls up

Showing care for people she doesn’t know E.g. warning Alice and Usagi about the militants

I really like Kuina’s character for her strong personality and her ability to build good relationships with the members at the beach paradise. Although she is not featured a lot during season one, the times we have seen her have obviously been enough to make her character very loved by the audience.

____

Chishiya - Confidante

I honestly could not find a more loved character if I tried. This character is such a small part of the show and yet you’d think he was the protagonist. I honestly think anyone would love a sly fox character though, because that’s exactly what he is. Although his personality would probably become annoying if he was a real person, in a genre like this he fits perfectly. So personally, I have mixed emotions about him, because I honestly didn’t get that emotionally attached to him as other audiences may have.

Some aspects and scenes of Chishiya that makes him a more convincing and realistic personality:

Having a cocky attitude at times

Has a underdog appeal to him

Mimics that of a selfish manipulative personality

Showing obvious signs of high intelligence, yet doesn’t blab it around like it’s a trophy

Gives the audience some entertainment

Having a sassy remark, even when his life is on the line

Going out of his way to do things that only benefit him

Having a personality that everyone loves and hates at the same time

Having that personality in which you can’t tell if he’s a good guy or a bad guy

Having a trademark, his white hoodie

Having a caring relationship towards Kuina

Some aspects and scenes of Chishiya that makes him a more unrealistic and less convincing personality:

Attempting to kill Niragi with no hesitation after knowing him personally for so long (that would be difficult to do even if you hated the person)

Not showing human emotions such as fear, worry or anger

Sometimes his personality came across as too selfish to be realistic

Not showing any signs of fear E.g. when Niragi waved a machine gun in his face, he didn’t even flinch

Sometimes his fancy words became a bit annoying

Everyone trusts him, regardless of how manipulative they know he is

Overall, he is a very entertaining character. In my opinion he’s like the personality that throws a match into gasoline then walks away like he didn’t start it. Although his realism in character isn’t exactly good, he is definitely loved for his good looks and sly actions by the audience.

____

Niragi - Antagonist

As much as I dislike this guy as a person in general, when it comes to creating a interesting and great character, he hit the nail on the head. He has one of the most realistic evil character developments probably in the whole series. His personality is so complicated and psychotic, which is what makes him an amazing antagonist and probably the second most popular character among the audience.

Some aspects and scenes of Niragi that makes him a more convincing and realistic personality:

Has a tragic backstory, making the audience believe that’s why he’s so psychotic

Having the delusional mindset that human nature is violence

Makes the audience feel bad for him, despite being a horrible person

Being a hidden antagonist (didn’t expect him to cause all the trouble in the end)

Showing obvious signs of psychological trauma

Conveys positive (yet destructive) emotions and behaviour, which is always a good break when all the characters are serious 24/7

Hits a breaking point in his emotions and goes on a killing spree

Shows loyalty to Aguni

Being awful to everyone, probably due to the fact that everyone was awful to him when he was younger. It’s a way of revenge

Becoming embarrassed when someone challenges him

Scaring people into submission (tactic for some leaders)

Conveys no care for anyone, honestly just uses everyone for either his own entertainment or his own benefit

Has a trademark, his machine gun and checkered shirt

Being self-aware of how evil he is

As evil and bad as he is, he’s one  of the most endearing antagonists I’ve seen in a while. He is a very psychotic and emotionally wrecked personality to him, as if you know something traumatizing must have occurred in his life for him to be able to murder anyone without batting an eye.

[regrettablewritings]

Finn Fluff Meme (I, K, V, & Y)

Because fucka this, it’s my blog and we need more Finn love dammit!

I = Impression (What was their first impression?):

Sweaty. You thought he was incredibly sweaty. And not in the sexy kind of way, but in the “somebody just got caught doing something they probably shouldn’t be doing” kind of way. And given that he appeared to be sneaking around the escape pods, you had every reason to determine that that was exactly the case.

It only got worse when you learned that this sweaty, stuttering mess was actually the same man whose name was traveling fast among the remaining Resistance members. Suffice to say, you had a completely different image built up in your head when you’d first heard about Finn: Strong, courageous, confident, cool . . . You might’ve been setting yourself up for disappointment when you had learned that, well, he was such some kid no older than yourself, just as frazzled as you were about your current circumstances but more willing to show it. Truth be told, you couldn’t exactly blame him, but you also couldn’t let him know that.

Admittedly, Finn didn’t exactly think much of you -- which wasn’t to say he thought lesser of you or that you had no redeeming qualities about you, he just wasn’t in a mindset to think much of you beyond “shorter than him”, “not Rey/unrecognizable”, and so on. To be fair, nearly everyone else he sprinted by had gotten just about the same assessment from him: He was more so focused on what happened, what was happening, where he even was, and where Rey was. Not the most pleasant first impression, where the person who would become your significant other is too busy focusing on another woman.

Thankfully, he got a second chance.

As it turned out, you were correct in your initial expectations of Finn -- to a degree. He was certainly brave, if foolhardy at times; his strength lay in his resilience and loyalty and willingness to help out in the end, even in the face of his own worries and wants; in addition, while there were very few especially unsavory characters you’d come across in the Resistance, Finn was, by far, one of the sweetest. You took back all your previous concerns: Finn was, without a doubt, the hero you’d imagined him to be -- only better.

And yet, the entire while, Finn didn’t see those traits about him. In fact, while you were convinced he was a hero, he was convinced more and more every day that you fit the hero title better. After all, you were competent even at the first sign of danger; you were able to actually compartmentalize and know when to be intense and when to allow your natural sensitivities show. When the two of you talked more, you weren’t too afraid to admit to him that you were actually constantly worried and sometimes even found yourself questioning the sense of it all, if the future held any promise worth fighting for. Yet here you were, a pilot still willing to fly out upon the first command. Not out of blind obedience, thankfully, but to you, it simply made sense: You didn’t know for sure if the Resistance would be victorious in the end, but you had to fight because at least there was a chance; by not fighting, then you already knew what the answer was.

It did well to remind Finn of this from time to time until, eventually, the roles were switched: In the beginning, you thought Finn would be your hero. He still was, though in a much more familial sense. Meanwhile, you had become Finn’s own hero.

K = Kiss (How do they kiss? Who initiated the first kiss?):

First kiss was sudden, excited, and very awkward; almost like a schoolboy’s. But it could be forgiven for two reasons:

For one, it’s not as though Finn had been in the right environment to learn how to properly kiss up until relatively recently. And for two, you were pretty sure he was riding on a high of excitement: A transmission had come in from one of the squadrons that the mission, initially deemed bleak, had turned for the better. Much better, in fact! Clearly, Finn had to ride this as far as he could -- including, apparently, down a path where he asked to take you on a date.

“Or, you know, well,” he stammered, face burning with blush. “As date-like as we can get in a more or less run-down base? Er, that didn’t sound promising . . . But I can promise you, I’ll make it work -- ”

You would’ve been a complete nerf-herder to say no to the Resistance’s “Big Deal”!

In hindsight, he should’ve known better than to be that excited. You hadn’t exactly been secretive about how fond you were of Finn: The two of you had grown rather close in spite of the less-than-promising first impressions. Any spare time he had that wasn’t spent resting or training was spent with you, talking or trying his best to stay awake just to he could enjoy every moment he could with you. And any free time you had, you were more than happy to spend watching him work or train or sharing stories of your life before joining the Resistance.

But then again, just because it wasn’t exactly a secret didn’t mean that neither of you requested a certain decorum about it: You had made many a threat to General Dameron that if he kept referencing your obviously budding feelings, you would “push him down a slope and make it look like an accident.” And while Finn’s attempts at shushing his friend weren’t as violent, he had no qualms attempting to manually shut his mouth. Thankfully, though, Poe wasn’t there to smirk proudly at the sight. And to directly witness what happened next.

In hindsight, Finn wasn’t even sure what possessed him to do it -- maybe he subconsciously saw other partners in the Resistance do it when they reunited or something? Maybe he thought it was just something you were meant to do? Maybe he was just way too high on the excitement of the moment? Well, whatever the hell it was, he sure did go for it: He grabbed you by the waist, picked you up, and went in for the kiss he’d been dreaming about for so long.

In hindsight, he should’ve probably taken it slow. Maybe keep his eyes open for a bit. Long enough to make sure your lips were actually going to connect, maybe. At least he had the decency to place you down gently, despite the sudden pain caused by your heads colliding and teeth bonking against one another.

As he sheepishly ushered you out of mission control and towards the infirmary to treat your now bleeding nose, that was of course when Poe decided to show up.

“The Hell did you do to her, did you headbutt her out of happiness?!” he quipped as he watched his hugely embarrassed companion skitter down the corridor with his new datemate, of whom was currently occupied with looking upwards while pinching their nose.

(After Poe got the story, he had to excuse himself from the room and wheeze himself into an infirmary visit.)

Thankfully, Finn hadn’t broken your nose, and thankfully you were a pretty good sport about it. 

“You were just caught up in the excitement, that’s all. It was cute, if a bit painful,” you smiled weakly. But you had meant it: As bonked up as the attempt had been, the one thing you couldn’t say was that it was forgettable. Though, from then on, you wanted to keep “kisses” like that strictly to that one memory: Any kisses from now on needed to be authorized so that surprises like that wouldn’t wind up with visits to the medical wing like this.

Though, you were more than happy to help him practice that.

V = Vaunt (What do they like to show off? What are they proud of?):

His accomplishments. To say that Finn ever saw his life turning out this way would be to tell an outright lie: The only expectations Stormtroopers are allowed to have is to remain loyal, to fire when told, and to be ready to lay down their lives for the First Order. The only hope or dream one could personally have is to live to fight destroy another day. But escape did happen in spite of the odds.

And even in the present, Finn has difficulty entirely believing that it had happened at all: He has a better understanding of the world around him; he has loved ones; he has a purpose where he, as an individual, is valued; he has a life! Ever since he could remember, he’d been taught to be melded with everyone else and to not stand out. So, as one could imagine, the rise from faceless Stormtrooper in sanitation to the general in a resistance organization would be nothing to sniff at or gloss over. And, truth be told, he can’t help but be prideful about it. Not arrogantly so, but enough to joke about it to you.

“Is that any way to speak to a general?” he jokes whenever you call him a goof.

“Come back safe. That’s an order from your superior,” he’ll tell you before you fly off for recon, adding in a clumsy wink.

(Additionally, Finn is actually proud of the fact that he’s Force-sensitive. Not loudly so, mind you, but in a quiet way. He’s not especially prone to showing it off due to his lack of experience with it, but that’s not going to stop this mad lad from trying to use it to pour you a cup of water, or bring him his jacket even though you’re right there. Heck, he’d going to try to use it to bring the jacket because you’re right there. The only problem is that when he does this, there’s a 50-50 chance that the water jog will go careening into a wall or be defenestrated, or that his jacket will collide so hard into his face that it’s accompanied by a slapping sound.)

(If there’s one thing Finn may not be proud of, it may be asking Rey to help him train after one too many Force Incidents.)

Y = Yes (Do they ever think of getting married/proposing?):

Yes. Eventually. Maybe. Just not now.

Let it be reminded, once more, that Finn’s entire life has been a cluster: He went from serving the First Order to going on the run to winding up with the Resistance and participating on the other side of a war he never wanted anything to do with in the first place. Don’t get the wrong idea, Finn doesn’t regret a bit of it. After all, so many great and amazing things came from this: He got out of a bad environment; he made lifelong friends; he discovered his Force sensitivity; he helped win on the right side of history; and he met you!

But all these happened sort of at once, all things considered. He needs a bit of breathing room. And now, with the war beginning to wind down, it seems he’ll have more opportunities to embrace exactly that.

Not having to stick around to be a general for a resistance group means he can explore his freedoms as never before. It means traversing the galaxy without needing any real reason to besides for enjoyment. The thought is actually almost overwhelming for Finn: There aren’t really any orders left to follow as the dust settles. The temptation to go buck wild is strong, but he does fight it off because alongside that, there’s also the excitement of knowing that he can now focus his time on himself. That is, exploring himself as he explores the galaxy -- with you.

He wants you to be there with him as he learns for the first time in his life what a freer world feels like. He wants to be there with you as you get to experience planets without being covert or on a mission. You both just want to be with each other without any expectations besides where you plan on going.

It is said that love in a time of war can bloom much like a flower in stone slab, and you both would dare to agree that you’re living proof of that. That being said, marriage can wait: For now, you’re both plenty fine with just being yourselves in a new era -- whatever that may mean for the both of you respectively.

[kentthewolf]

How To Rebrand YOURESELF, YOUR BUSINESS & EVERYTHING around YOU!

Who doesn’t love a good transformation story?

Someone who went from 0 to 100?

A Cinderella make-over?

A revolting little caterpillar who crawls along in life until one day he figures out how to arise a butterfly and daze the world? Take that you haters!

However, for the greater part of us, our transformations are a little less dramatic. These life transformations are what we call — self development.

That awkward inclination you get when the life (or business) you've so carefully made for yourself begins to feel… not exactly right.

From the start, it resembles a tingle you can't exactly scratch — it’s irritating, vague, won't-disappear from your conscious mind and you don’t know what to DO. Then that same feeling gets stronger and louder; that now you have to DO SOMETHING about it.

So you start to ponder on life. The habits you’ve accustomed to. At times even asking yourself, Is it possible for me to do all of this another way? opens up an entire universe of potential outcomes.

You come to the realization that you’ve gotten too comfortable, life was passing you by and got messy fast. This causes you to tumble down and hide in a deep dark hole full of regrets. Then as you start minimizing inessentials, maximizing things that bring joy in your life and arranging how you want your future to be. You begin to play with the possibilities and recapture your purpose in life once again.

You reach the alarming conclusion that you are unquestionably in more control of your life (and your business) than what you could’ve ever imagined.

Here’s a guide of 11 ways you can get back on track:

1. Get the simple things right.

To be successful, your attention to detail must be unwavering. So you start with the little things, like making your bed and cleaning the house. If simple tasks like these cannot be completed, not only do you pay the price for it when you get home from work tired, but also shows your diligence for the harder tasks. 

The lesson: If you can't get the simple things right, you can't expect to successfully tackle more daunting tasks.

2. Set both realistic and unrealistic goals.

Successful people are relentless goal setters. They break down larger milestones into smaller, more achievable tasks. For example, one of the most unrealistic goals a SEAL candidate can set is completing Hell Week. You don't sleep for a week. You run countless miles with boats, logs, and backpacks. You swim dozens of miles in the frigid ocean. You run the obstacle course daily and do more pushups and pull-ups than you can count. All while battling second-stage hypothermia, sores, and often fractures. Some students quit just minutes into Hell Week. You can't allow yourself to imagine what the end will look like. So you make--and achieve--one small goal at a time and pray for the sun to come up the next day. 

The lesson: A series of near-term realistic goals will help you get closer to your big audacious ones.

3. Work hard.

This one seems obvious, but many people underestimate the level of effort it takes to be successful and achieve aggressive goals. It astonishes me that some people show up to life changing goals and put no real time or effort into preparation. 

The lesson: If you don't work hard preparing for potential success, you won't change that behavior when things get really tough.

4. Get others to work with you.

When setting goals and pursuing success, you must sometimes lead and get others to work with you. You can't do it all alone. The minute you realize that you don’t know everything and need help along the way, the better off you will be.

5. Don't make excuses.

Successful people don't make excuses for failure or shortcomings. They acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses and seek feedback from trusted advisers. The longer you sit around making excuses, the further you will drift from the possibility of achieving your goals.

6. Don't underestimate others.

Pick a handful of random people, with overly confident and timid personalities —  place them in a daunting situation. Usually the overly confident are the first to go. Underestimating people, whether peers or competitors, is one of the worst things you can do. People who go far in life measure others by qualities such as integrity and strength of heart. Empower those around you, and you will be surprised by the outcome.

7. Be willing to fail.

When entering this phase of my life the odds are not in your favor. If you don’t try, you would never forgive yourself. You would rather try and fail than be the individual who says, "I was thinking about trying that." You simply can't look at life through a lens of fear. If you take a calculated risk and fail, at the very least you have a valuable learning experience. Get back up. Dust off. And never, ever, be out of the fight.

8. Embrace the repercussions of your actions.

On your path to success, you will make mistakes. Learn from your mistakes and turn the consequences into something positive.

9. Don't back down.

My favorite passage used by Navy SEALS reads: "I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity. My Nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight." Enough said.

10. Laugh when you want to cry.

Staying positive seems like an obvious trait for successful people, but it's easier said than done. Your character is defined by what you do when things get tough. The person who finds the strength to laugh during a complicated situation is the type that usually takes control of any challenge no matter the sacrifice. When things get rough and are out of your control, don't forget to laugh.

11. Make sacrifices.

Success comes with sacrifice. Let selfish ways fall by the wayside, and know that you can't have your cake and eat it, too. The most successful people in the world have made significant sacrifices along the way. Give up comfort, and the discomfort only increases the further you go. But you get used to it, because you know what you are doing is worth it.

The path to success is paved with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, but you can't lose heart. Stay strong, be humble, and lean on others for support when necessary.

[ficsinhistory]

We are finally getting close to the debut season of BH6's second season, so I'm going to combine two of my favorite things: Character Analysis and Karmi, one of my favorite characters in the series.

I want to remember here that my intention is not to excuse any negative traits she has, she needs to change and improve, and I do not close my eyes to that, but, she is not pure evil. Remember that in the end, she is a fictional character. No fights, okay?

Come on!

If you just arrived at fandom and do not know who Karmi is, she's a deuteragonist (practically at this point) in the Big Hero 6 series. She was SFIT's youngest prodigy until Hiro arrived. She is described by Disney wiki as: Intelligent, moody, lovesick, envious, sensitive, obsessive, oblivious, what are all truths. But here, I'm going to get deep into what I've been able to perceive in order of appearance, and believe me, there's a lot!

"Issue 188"

Here we have her first appearance, which already gives us some ideas.

At the first contact, we saw that she was pretending and that all the enthusiasm she showed was pretense, and that she was not at all enthusiastic enough to socialize. The one who takes the first remark, she can pretend, but she can not do it for long, and when she does it, her attitude becomes very strange and superficial, being easy to know when Karmi does it (she's so good at pretending as much as Hiro knows how to lie and it was proven that Grandvile did everything to help Karmi, soon she should know of her adverse reaction) so she is not a pathological liar or something, although what she did was not cool and Karmi did not need take such an aggressive attitude.

Then we saw her as normal, doing her job and seeking the least contact with Hiro. Showing that even though she does not like it, she tolerates his presence and things do not seem to walk so bad. We also learn that she loves her viruses, and even treats them as friends. And that shows very interesting things.

Karmi has a very bad socialization. Not only that, she has suffered a lot in the past with this. How I know? Not only because of the fact that the scenes show that usually she does not go to the cafeteria - bringing up the fact that she is reclusive, since she does not even go out to have lunch in public - besides when she questioned that she spoke with Hiro she answered aggressively and exaggerated.

When you first see it, it seems to be just a thick answer to an innocent question, which it was, but, from experience, those words reveal much deeper things. Karmi is on the defensive.

Before, she was calm, but when asked to be "strange" while doing something she loved, she soon replied, exaggeratedly to a seemingly innocent question. This situation shows someone who has probably been so provoked because of her interests that she went so far as to assume that any questioning by someone who is not known to her is a joke or has mean intentions. This is sad and explains a lot, besides Baymax himself saying: "Hiro, you have a strong network of friends. Karmi does not. "Baymax is programmed to recognize the health of a patient not her social, so with a simple contact she may know of with Karmi is isolated, this must have deeply affected her mental and emotional.

Things only get worse when Hiro accidentally kills one of Karmi's viruses, the one with which she has a strong emotional attachment, and Baymax copiously says that was a good thing. There, for me, it's the exact moment when she decides that she does not want Hiro's friendship at all, not only did he take what Gogo said she most prized, how she killed one of her "friends" with his robot saying that this was good while she outplayed how much N5-4 was important to her. (And Hiro did not even apologize, he just said he needed to leave, which, in Karmi's already traumatized head, might sound like he just wanted to get away from the damage he had done without consequences. done before.)

Then we saw her in the cafeteria, which I think is a very cool symbolism, in my opinion.

I like to notice how she is among the stacks of books, as if they were a round about her. For me, that means how much she lifts walls around herself, as well as illustrating well the only environment she feels comfortable with: among her books, research, and viruses. This is painful. She must have been through so much that being alone with no one is better than risking. Which sums it up well in the episode: she does not want to make friends, she does not want Hiro around, she does not want anyone around. Because she does not want friends, she does not want to go through everything that has happened again.

Then we find out that she has a fall on Hero Hiro, which is hilarious and cute, and in the end we have what I find most interesting, Hiro does not talk about how she really treated him. And how she reacts: she is satisfied, confident, happy to maintain a false reputation? Not! It looks like this: 

She is astonished. She did not expect him to say good things about her, even if she had said it before, Karmi obviously had no faith and was probably just to push him away. She does not believe anyone really gave her the benefit of the doubt after all she did. She did not plan everything meticulously to protect her reputation in the end, here I see a girl who tried hard to fend off someone who is equally stubborn in approaching, she was willing to let Grandville know how badly she treated Hiro, and that could change the fact of how Grandville saw her, if it meant she would not have to socialize again. She was counting on him telling her the truth of how she treated him badly! Karmi wanted Hiro to deliver her. She does not believe he really tried to be cool. Here's a link to Ari's review of a specific scene from that episode that I could not do better to close here. 

"Failure Mode"

Here we see the worst of it, honestly. It was boring the whole episode and I recognize it.

She was quite annoying and did not need her to act this way and that to me how much she is flawed. And it was really cool to see the end where Hiro takes a picture of her, giving the change for what she did the whole episode. And what I want to point out is that she can change and that involves ceasing to act as she acted this episode and that we have a way to go and that's okay. Someone can be boring and learn to change, as long as we do not close our eyes to those flaws. Being one of the things I expect, let her apologize to Hiro as she acted before if the writers really want to present a healthy relationship.

"The Impatient Patient"

She appeared little here, but it does not mean that I'm going to stop pointing things out. It is from this episode that comes out this incredible analysis and shows how much Karmi is responsible for their work and safety, draw their own conclusions. In addition to showing how cheerful and agitated she is because of her work, which is cute and shows how much she appreciates her interests. Check

here

. 

"Small Hiro One"

Oh, I love this episode! Mainly because it shows how many layers the character of Karmi has!

(besides showing off cute moments from my ship!)

Here the first appearance of Karmi is as usual, she and Hiro being like elphaba and Glinda, with her disturbing Hiro and vice versa. Karmi can enter the lecture while Hiro is left out because of her age, however, she ends up being expelled early on. After a while out, she sees Hiro and will try to annoy him by saying that she had only take in a clean air when this happens.

This boy says she was lying. Instead of being angry at having been discovered or tried to lie more to not admit anything to the boy who until recently was implying to try to feel better for not being able to enter, she simply decides to tell the truth. When she was exposed, she did not lie, did not get angry or awkward, she looked like this:

Here she seems to be reflecting and pondering her own actions and probably coming to the conclusion that it makes no sense to annoy Hiro if she herself was expelled, something much more humiliating than being barred by age. Karmi here recognizes that he is wrong and that in the end they are in the same boat and that the truth is better. Not only that, she was waiting for Hiro to make any comments, but one that would show empathy. So much so that when he spoke a simple word of solidarity, her face changes completely.

If in "Issue 188" we can see the exact moment when Karmi decided that she would hate Hiro with all her strength for killing N5-4, here I see how the exact moment things could change for the better. She is genuinely touched by the empathy that Hiro showed, and for the first time in the series, she actually smiled at him. So yeah, it's possible these two get on well and she recognizes here how cool he was. She has the most beautiful smile in the series fight me! However, this does not last long and they soon return to normal. The next attitude that Karmi takes catches my attention.

Here, I see one of the cutest things she's done in the whole series. After being expelled, Karmi here tries not to focus on her problem, trying to help Wendy with the children and strives to sing a song about Biology. The most interesting thing here is that she does not seem to have been forced or anything like that, Karmi truly seems to like children and tries to cheer them up, doing the same thing Wendy did when she had her work stolen. This shows an important feature: Even though she was sad and sulky for a while, she did not dwell on it all the time or gave up and went home. She is a prodigy, blessed with incredible intellect and always, ever since the first appearance, wanted to help people. So she searches her viruses for therapeutic uses, studies hard and sings for these children, she wants to help people like Honey, Gogo, Hiro, Wasabi and everyone else, their motivations for study are people. Because she's a good person, though. Karmi does not always make all the right decisions or always acts perfectly, but she is not a heartless soul or something, Karmi is a 16 year old adolescent who does not like Hiro, that does not mean that she is insensitive to everyone  all the time. They say that you know a person by observing what they do when they do not have control of the situation and need to adapt to the environment in extreme situations, and they try to do good by doing good deeds. The point is: just because Karmi does not like Hiro at the moment, does not make it a lost case or is destined to be a villain. This proves how well written she is, because she has nuances!

"Fan Friction"

I always thought this ep should have come before the series timeline, but ... anyway! Here we find that Karmi likes to write fan fictions about Big Hero 6, to the chagrin of Hiro.

First, I would just like to punctuate how important this is on a level of recognition. Let's be honest, we all at some point already write fan fics and see Karmi, a girl of color, doing so, is a good example. Girls of color seeing this and relating is incredible.

Second, I felt personally attacked with this episode, lol!

Well, fan friction was strange in large part because our protagonist was also the protagonist of the stories, so we see everything, in large part, from the perspective of Hiro who as such, was panicked because of it all. And honestly, it was hilarious to see that. And I do not shoot his reason, writing about real people is always delicate. But as I am here analyzing Karmi, I will try to see things from her point of view.

We know that she has a huge passion in Hiro's superhero version, even that is her primary motivation to write, so much so that she was really happy when Momakase thought they really dated. More thinking a lot about the whole episode, I came to a conclusion.

Karmi does not mind writing about real people because she treats them like characters. Let me explain.

Hiro was annoyed, for obvious reasons, however, Karmi does not know that Hiro and "Capitan Cutie" are the same person, so the idea of ​​writing about it does not look so strange and she would expect the heroes of her stories to be people who nor knew it well. Then we saw that she was surprised to discover that Capitan Cutie actually read the story and she asks if he liked it, why? Because as much as she is completely in love with this hero and writes insert fics about it, she never really expected him to read or respond to what she feels. Karmi likes him yes, but she knows how to separate reality from fiction and she does not expect him to fall in love with her either. Because as much as she writes, it's her feelings there, not his. She gets excited about everything that happened and she practically fulfilled her dream, she fancy yes about her great love to match what she feels and wishes he was there, but she knows to separate the real from the non-real, so much that she sees problems in writing about it because she knows it would not happen. Because in the end, she's just an ordinary girl. And that what she feels involves the feelings of another person. (Man, I really want to see when she finds out that Hero Hiro and Hiro are the same person.)

"Big Problem"

Ah yes, the episode! I love it! Here we see that in fact the relationship of Karmi and Hiro is a little better. They are not teasing you so much and all her attention was to something she was projecting. Needless to say it was amazing to watch that, was not it?

The point that called me were several: The first and most important thing I found: She and Hiro do not like each other, but Karmi never did anything that actually harmed Hiro. In every episode, no matter how much she implied with him, it irritated him, she never caused any of these situations that she took advantage of. She did not arrange for Hiro's work to be ruined in the presentation in "Faliure Mode" for example, it was for Hiro to procrastinate that everything went wrong; she did not set up so that the age of the lecture would be for the acclaimed 14, it was Yama. Even when they were forced to work together, it was Grandvile's idea. Karmi, even if he had an affair with Hiro, always had a sense of morals and never sabotaged or threw him dirty, and if you watched cough * ladybug * cough , you know what "rivals" do to stay on top.

Second, we know that Liv is her heroine and that she was very excited to see her. Even so, she knew that Amara had gone to see Hiro, so what did she do? Did you sabotage the meeting, interrupt them, or say bad things about Hiro? No. Even excited, she waited patiently for Liv to finish talking to Hiro, only then did she introduce herself. She did not interrupt or disrupt Hiro's abilities. On the other hand, even knowing how much Karmi was excited about the visit of her heroine and that she did not have many friends and who had finally found someone with whom she had something in common, Hiro could not bear the idea of ​​liking Karmi more and not only interrupted their conversation at lunch, but also tried to steal the spotlight and bring Liv's choice to the personal side. Even knowing that Liv is studying biotechnology and it would be easier for Karmi to have her sympathy, he detracts from Karmi's scientific abilities by saying that everything she does is the worst, out of sheer jealousy! In addition to Karmi's attitude on how she defeated Knox, and I've done a whole review here!

Anyway, in short, Karmi is a flawed character, but that does not make her either evil or a villain. She has good qualities and a perspective of change for the better and her central nature is not essentially evil, cruel or sadistic, in the end she is just another teenager. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Rebloguem and speak if you got, thanks!

[januskrug]

10 Favorite Female Characters

Started as a reblog from @lynmars79 , but it has become a “thing” so I’m putting this in its own post to avoid stretching everyone’s dash. There will be spoilers for video games, books, and tv shows; to avoid you’ll want to avoid the blurbs and just enjoy the names and pictures.

“RULES: write your 10 favorite female characters from 10 different fandoms and tag 10 people.”

10: Ms. Pauling, Team Fortress 2

Ms. Pauling makes the list by being both a fascinating character with her fiction of origin, Team Fortress 2, as well as the game’s first Knight of Cerberus. Introduced as the overworked assistant to the mysterious “Administrator”, Ms Pauling was depicted as a sensible, inexperienced-yet-capable office worker who just happened to be both ethically alright with and quite skilled at disposing of people whom the Administrator decided were more troublesome alive than dead. Even in the insane world of Team Fortress 2, Ms. Pauling stood out as ruthlessly competent and loyal to the shadowy powers that be, easily manipulating people around her and expertly disposing of evidence that would ruin her boss’ plans, all with the intent of rising to the top alongside them. Her starring role in the TF2 comics and the final cinematic short released by the team only served to expand on her nature as one of the most competent and capable characters in a fascinating series.

9: Satya “Symmetra” Vaswani, Overwatch

Overwatch is one of my favorite games right now, and it has a host of awesome ladies, but by far my favorite of them from a story standpoint has to be Symmetra. A brilliant autistic girl and amputee (though we do not know when she lost her left arm, particularily if it was before or after she was recruited), from the slums of futuristic India, Satya was recruited by the mega-corporation known as Vishkar at a young age, and all but raised within the company to become one of their finest hard-light architects. Her upbringing engendered great loyalty in the young woman as she mastered the cutting edge technology developed by Vishkar, and she dreamed of using the technology to create a new world for humanity, one of perfect order where suffering is nothing more than a distant memory. So capable did she become that Vishkar created a special costume and armor so that she could be sent on clandestine missions to uphold Vishkar’s interests and expand its influence in foreign nations. After the events of her first comic however, Satya is questioning if Vishkar’s path is truly the correct one.

Symmetra fascinates me as one of Overwatch’s most complex characters in general, not just the female ones. Her struggles between her loyalty to Vishkar and growing recognition that it may not be the benevolent overlord it is painted as resonate deeply, and I am a sucker for stories of a good person stuck in a bad environment with the potential to grow into a true hero.

8: Veronica Santangelo, Fallout New Vegas

Veronica is a member of the dwindling west coast Brotherhood of Steel by the time she meets Courier Six in the Nevada desert. Spending most of her time outside the Brotherhood’s bunker in order to scavenge for tech and supplies, Veronica is probably the most forward thinking and levelheaded member of the nearly extinct force that was once the most feared in the former southwestern united states. Yet another woman who’s struggle largely is due to conflicting loyalties; the Brotherhood is her family, both in blood and love, but their refusal to grow beyond what they are as they slowly die breaks her heart, as does their refusal to accept her as a lesbian since they feel every brotherhood member’s duty is to breed another generation, since they refuse to recruit outsiders or change any of their failed doctrine. There are no happy endings for Veronica, and that hit me harder than any other companion story in New Vegas. I cared for her in ways I didn’t with the other companions, and she provides a stark reminder that in the wasteland, there are no truly happy endings.

7: Aveline Vallen, Dragon Age 2

Aveline from Dragon Age stands out in the game that features her as the Serious One and probably my favorite version of the “Mom friend” in fiction. After joining the Hawke family in their flight from blight-doomed Fereldan, she essentially adopts the main character as a little sibling that needs to be watched out for. She mutters, complains, and advises Hawke even as she steadfastly marches at his side in full armor, intent on keeping them safe from harm, even after she rises to Captain of the Kirkwall city guard. She is an amazing straight man in nearly every scene, a much needed voice of reason among the companions, and her special companion quest where you get to wingman for her on the most ridiculously poorly thought out date ever is probably among my favorite Dragon Age moments across the entire series.

Also she can become immune to boss phase transition stuns and that is the most badass thing ever.

6: Karrin Murphy, Dresden Files

In a series filled with magic users, monsters, and gods, Karrin Murphy is the badass normal to end all badass normals. Introduced as the reasonable police officer willing to take a risk and hire a Wizard out of the phone book to help with strange cases on the Chicago PD files, throughout the series Karrin shows again and again why the smarter supernatural beings in the universe are wary of humans even as they prey on them. She doesn’t know magic, she doesn’t have super strength, and only occasionally will deign to pick up a magical artifact to lay down an ass kicking, as she prefers human made weapons like her signature p90 submachine gun, sometimes loaded with special ammo depending on what she’s up against. She’s very much a paladin who shines on her own alongside literal holy knights of god in the series, to the point she was scouted by them before turning it down. Her dedication to protecting her friends and the innocents of chicago gives her the strength that other characters need supernatural sources of, and it’s all wrapped up in 5 foot blond package of kickass and dedication to the rule of law.

5: Makoto Niijima, Persona 5

Makoto is definitely my favorite lady from the Persona series, and that’s saying something since the long running rpg series has had some great ones. Makoto stood out to me in the dichotomy with how awkward she is in social situations (typical for a japanese student valedictorian dedicated to their studies) and how effective she is when she has a clear goal put before her. The moment where she joins the Phantom Thieves is a big one for the team, as she quickly realizes that while the protagonist provides leadership, he doesn’t provide strategy, and quickly starts analyzing situations and filling a much needed gap. Her connection to the metaplot is also incredibly strong; as the little sister of the chief prosecutor on the phantom thieves’ case, Makoto gets to struggle not only with her sense of identity but also with familial loyalty, and the game makes a decent case of the idea that, perhaps, she’s the traitor who sold you out. Finally, in a genre that so often uses the “Silk hiding steel” trope, I’d argue that Makoto is Steel hiding Silk, as her intimidating and business like ways cover a softer side around her found family that she will do anything to protect and guide, both as their friend and their student council president.

4: Ashley Williams, Mass Effect.

Ashley is my #1 bioware love interest because I honestly feel like she’s the most three dimensional and believable of them all. A career soldier trying to wipe away an undeserved black mark on her family name, she is dedicated, honorable, and close minded early on, and this sets her up for a fantastic growth arc that ends with her becoming a Spectre second only to Commander Shepard.

Ashley starts off with her main obvious traits being untrusting of aliens and desperate to prove herself as a soldier Earth can be proud of. However, her feelings towards aliens are not simple bigotry, but a belief that they are in fact too human; and thus when the chips are down likely to be happy to sell out humanity to save their own skins (a fear that proves to be well founded come mass effect 3). However, the ability of the player to influence her though process, taking the high road, fighting alongside alien races, Ashley comes around by the 2/3 point of the first game, willing to fight to protect her alien comrades just as hard as she would any human, eventually adopting Paragon Shepard’s view that all life is worthy as she fights at his side. Her absence in mass effect 2 and the rocky step in the friendship/romance that it takes is fully understandable to me; Shepard is wearing Cerberus colors, a terrorist organization that performs terrible experiments on living beings and assassinates politicians that investigate it, and that believable rockiness continues on into the third game when they rejoin to stop the Reapers. She watched Shepard die, only to have them come back filled with Cerberus tech, and even when she accepts that yes, this is indeed actually Commander Shepard, who knows what that tech can do? Finally she is asked to choose between her pragmatism and her faith in Shepard as the hero of the galaxy, and she overcomes it, saving the lives of the council and following Shepard all the way to the end. 

I 100% headcanon a happy ending after the destroy ending because, dammit, Mac Walters cannot take that from me.

3: Maiev Shadowsong, Warcraft

Maiev Shadowsong is absolutely my favorite female character across blizzard franchises, and it’s a damn crime that they didn’t use her more in Legion, though at least they were smart enough to realize that her portrayal in the novels was friggin’ stupid and gloss over them. A driven, harsh jailor of the Kaldorei’s greatest traitors and criminals, chief among them Illidan Stormrage, she goes too far in a believably delicious way as she is antagonized again and again throughout the strategy games. From Tyrande shooting her way through the Watchers to release Illidan, to the loss of so many of her Warden sisters including, let’s be honest, her beloved Naisha, to having to choke down Tyrande’s presence in the reinforcements who come to aid her in capturing Illidan, she is neither hero nor villain but simply a narrative force, dedicated to justice and seething with rage at those who get in her way. No warcraft character gets as many headcanon hours out of my head that she does.

2: Elisa Maza, Gargoyles

Every character on Disney’s Gargoyles was fantastic. Elisa is the best of an amazing group. A detective in New York who stumbles across the titular Gargoyles and becomes their best ally in a strange, new world because she recognizes their nobility, and who with nothing more than a firearm and solid martial arts training of the kind you’d need as a woman in the NYPD, stands by her friends against whatever threat comes at them. She fills the role of guide to the new world, particularily the rules and laws that govern it, source of supplies for her friends who can’t just head down to the store themselves, and as a thorn in the side of every human force seeking to abuse the gargoyles since, unlike them, she is very much a public figure who has the power to Ask Questions that get in the Official Record. Her mixed lineage provides fascinating stories, and her loyalty to those who need her and refusal to back down in the face of danger garners the respect of hero, villian, and viewer alike. She’s featured in nearly every episode, and those that don’t have a lot of her suffer for the loss.

1: Esme “Granny” Weatherwax, Discworld

Granny Weatherwax is the ur-witch. She lives alone in the woods in a strange looking cottage, the villagers for miles around fear her temper, she’s grouchy, eternally single and fine with it, snaps at anyone who says something stupid in her presence (And oh boy does she have a wide and well-defined view of stupidity), and is one of the greatest heroes the Disc has ever known. Not in the Cohen the Barbarian sense, but in the “standing between the bad guys and the little guys” sense. When something threatens the lands under her care, be it treacherous nobles, fair folk, vampires, or anything else foolish enough to disturb her idea of order and calm. it can be sure to have a run in with a Granny Weatherwax who can’t be having with this. It is easy to see that despite her craggy demeanor, she cares deeply for the people who live under her care, serving as a healer, veterinarian, and midwife, and feeling any loss that inevitably comes with the same power as those who suffered it. For all her magic and headology, Granny is just so very human, and that makes what she does even more incredible. The world would be in a better place if we stopped to think once in a while what Granny would say about what we’re doing.

Tagging: You’re all adults. I did enjoy this exercise, so I encourage anyone considering it to go in and do it. We need more celebration of awesome ladies in fiction.

[tatiletotesamaze]

Benedicta

Long character development QA under cut.

Does your character have siblings or family members in their age group? Which one are they closest with?

Yes - Rochester is her younger twin brother, so about half an hour. She’s not emotionally close to him, though they share a Force Bond (mostly one way.) Their older brother is Geoffrey. She’s not overly fond of him.

What is/was your character’s relationship with their mother like?

Sylvia is something of an adversary to Benedicta. She represents an ideal to Benedicta, though one that seems unachievable to her, whilst also seeming oddly un-Sith. Not to mention, being Sylvia’s only Force sensitive child, Beni had all of those hopes and trials heaped onto her and though there was affection there, it wasn’t the sort she wanted, or needed. As an adult she still tries to prove herself to her mother and feels resentful about this, a resentment she projects onto her mother, though she’d never dream of voicing it.

What is/was your character’s relationship with their father like?

Sees him as an obstacle to her family’s social position (Sylvia is from old, aristocratic blood, her husband is a merchant, from upper middle class), an oaf and a bore. She also believes him to be weak willed and a poor example of Imperial spirit and mores, because of his hunger for profit and expanding his company. She is also aware of his early plans for her future: being married off in a power play. Usually that would be expected, if she were to have been married off to a fellow Sith, not a random Force blind child of a business partner. Thankfully Sylvia and her family put an end to that before it could go any further. The disgrace would have been unfathomable.

Has your character ever witnessed something that fundamentally changed them? If so, does anyone else know?

Her Force connection to Rochester means that she felt, in its raw emotional form, a part of the abuse he suffered during a pretty traumatic moment in his life. That itself was in its own way traumatising to her, as she wasn’t expecting it, felt the terror and the pain, and for a good while was frozen by it, unable to anything but be a mute witness to something happening star systems away. She throttled their connection on that day, hid it away and denied it. It has made her doubt her own emotions, her own thoughts, and doubt the integrity of the people around her. The threat of violence is visceral and real to her, where once it was simply existential, a possibility, not a probability. In a way it has made her almost nervous of meeting new people, interacting with others, especially those she doesn’t know or who haven’t been vouched for by someone she trusts. Also, Rochester has become a symbol of that threat of violence, and as with their mother, she projects her fear of the world onto him, in a form of disgust. But also she pities him, because she knows, deeply, what has happened to him. No one knows this though. She could never breathe a word of it, because to her it’s a weakness for the effect it has had on her mental state.

Her upcoming experiences - which I’m to write about soon, I promise - will change her attitude to power and responsibility. Her classism, her Sith ideals, her holding strength of the individual above all, will be tested for their merits when she has to lead a small group of Imperials, and decide the fate of a town on an Imperial held world. She will have to become a leader for the betterment of the Empire and she will have to learn what that means. Likely what she is at the moment will be found wanting and she will have to change.

On an average day, what can be found in your character’s pockets?

Hair ties, handkerchief, keys.

Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?

Acceptance, home, loving, safety.

Does your character have recurring themes in their nightmares?

Desolation, abandonment, failure.

Has your character ever fired a gun? If so, what was their first target?

No, those are for poor people. She uses a lightsaber. Her first target was a target dummy. Her first kill was when an official duel went awry and her opponent attempted to cheat with his own lightsaber and she turned it around on him. Her use of the Force in that fight led her down the path that in-game is essentially the Assassin.

Is your character’s current socioeconomic status different than it was when they were growing up?

With the death of Ziost, the Empire’s grip over its worlds is faltering. A renewed (albeit scattered and not entirely unified) offensive from the Republic has weakened supply lines and wartime rationing is starting to come into effect. Luxuries you usually only need to buy once, but a scarcity of basic necessities is entirely new to her.

Does your character feel more comfortable with more clothing, or with less clothing?

Depends on the situation, but the default is more clothing. If she’s in a sexual situation with a partner and she’s the only one wearing clothes, she’ll feel very awkward though.

In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

Leaving her academy to study under her Great Grandmother, Darth Theli’a, at the Old Family House. The Old Family House is a sprawling estate and the bed of Darth Theli’a’s power and is staffed with many old and distinguished Sith. It’s an intimidating mix of heritage and expectations.

Thus far that’s the most scared she’s been.

In what situation was your character the most calm they’ve ever been?

Any of the physical exams at her academy - duels, drills, obstacle courses. When she practiced and trained she was driven, working herself into a frenzy of anticipation. Actually doing all of those things, the stress melted for a little while, only to flood back when she was alone. This being a learned mechanism for her emotions is not good when she starts to actually go out and do.

Is your character bothered by the sight of blood? If so, in what way?

No, not really.

Does your character remember names or faces easier?

Faces, names come later. Sometimes they come together. If it’s a famous Sith or Admiral she’ll have the name memorised but not the face.

Is your character preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not?

Benedicta believes money is a thing that just happens. Unlike her brothers she doesn’t have to buy anything, she gets an allowance but not so much a wage. Managing an estate isn’t something she’s doing yet, and managing supplies is what you have workers for. Money is far more of an abstract concept to her.

Which does your character idealize most: happiness or success?

Success. She believes it begets happiness.

What was your character’s favorite toy as a child?

She had a doll she rarely played with, as she was had a lot of private tutoring as a child, Sylvia would make her practice forms, and then when her cousins were around they would all play in the grounds. The doll sat on her shelf. The doll was modelled on some old, famous Sith beauty. She represented a lot to young Beni.

Is your character more likely to admire wisdom, or ambition in others?

Ambition, but she’s learning wisdom is often the more useful trait.

What is your character’s biggest relationship flaw? Has this flaw destroyed relationships for them before?

Fear. It has destroyed her relationship with her twin, damaged her relationship with her mother, and made her irrevocably indifferent to her older brother and their father. Stubbornness comes in a close second.

In what ways does your character compare themselves to others? Do they do this for the sake of self-validation, or self-criticism?

She compares her ability, her level of success, her connections… everything pretty much. She’s forever measuring herself against the facades others present, thinking them to be truths. It is very much a destructive act.

If something tragic or negative happens to your character, do they believe they may have caused or deserved it, or are they quick to blame others?

Deeply she will believe she deserved it, but will almost always blame another for causing the hurt.

What does your character like in other people?

Not so much obedience, as agreeability. She wants life to be easy, she doesn’t want to have the rough edges that come with actual relationships, because she’s scared of finding out people’s true natures (and in turn her own.) In a way she likes fakeness.

What does your character dislike in other people?

Everything that she is: fear, anxiety, stubbornness, abrasiveness...

How quick is your character to trust someone else?

Slow. She’s apprehensive about the idea of trust itself but wants that connection to people.

How quick is your character to suspect someone else? Does this change if they are close with that person?

Very quick. It makes it difficult for her to have relationships and she has never really become close to anyone. The closest person is her mother and that is still, on Beni’s side at least, strained, but not for want of trying on Sylvia’s part.

How does your character behave around children?

Baffled. She’s nervous because they are so much potential as a person, but they’re so weak objectively but can be so destructive.

How does your character normally deal with confrontation?

Escalation! Anything can be dealt with by force, even if that force is indirect or by subterfuge.

How quick or slow is your character to resort to physical violence in a confrontation?

Rather quick, as she likes to stamp out resistance swiftly, without a chance for retaliation.

What did your character dream of being or doing as a child? Did that dream come true?

She wanted to be a powerful, strong, influence Sith! She’s a Sith at least.

What does your character find repulsive or disgusting?

Moist warm towels that just starting to get cold and they’re a little too wet so they only look moist but when you touch them water starts to pool out.

Describe a scenario in which your character feels most comfortable.

Practicing her lightsaber forms. Socialising at a cocktail party where no one knows her name and she’s met none of them before.

Describe a scenario in which your character feels most uncomfortable.

Family dinner night.

In the face of criticism, is your character defensive, self-deprecating, or willing to improve?

Beni gets highly defensive in the conversation, but later takes on the criticism - of course not in a healthy way at all - and pours a lot of her energy for the next week or so into overcoming whatever the “problem” is, if it’s something she feels is applicable, such as Sith or social mores for her class. If it’s not it broods on her until the next “unfixable” issue comes along.

Is your character more likely to keep trying a solution/method that didn’t work the first time, or immediately move on to a different solution/method?

Stubborn but temperamental, so she flip-flops between the two options, often giving up when perseverance would have helped and vice-versa. It’s a nightmare. And part of the reason why she’s struggling to rise to Lordship when she is her mother’s only heir.

How does your character behave around people they like?

Depends on the like. People she deeply respects and wants to impress, she’ll be unassuming and agreeable. People she wants to bed she’ll come across as rather… not strong, but straight-forward and willful. Friends? Stion’n is the closest thing she has to a long-term friend (Laertes as well), and they’re affable enough to each other, but they don’t talk about personal lives. Or at least Beni’s personal life - Stion’n is happy to air dirty laundry wherever, and for either sexual conquests are a fun, agreeable topic. When she’s chatting with Laertes it’s usually Sith stuff. Beni doesn’t much like to talk about herself.

How does your character behave around people they dislike?

If she has the information, she favours cutting personal remarks. She likes to verbally tear someone down if she can and is not above goading someone into a fight, particularly if she’s sure she’ll win. If they’re above her in status or power, she is more likely to avoid them or be surly in their presence.

Is your character more concerned with defending their honor, or protecting their status? Status first, honour second. Status affords a certain amount of reputation, honour does not afford status.

Is your character more likely to remove a problem/threat, or remove themselves from a problem/threat?

Remove if it can be removed, leave if it can’t.

Has your character ever been bitten by an animal? How were they affected (or unaffected)? No, she doesn’t tend to mess with animals. Did once see a school chum get bitten by a horse (or whatever is the GFFA equivalent). It was funny.

How does your character treat people in service jobs?

Utter indifference. Something goes wrong, address their superior. They’re so far beneath her that getting worked up over any slight on their part would be a display of contemptible weakness on her part.

Does your character feel that they deserve to have what they want, whether it be material or abstract, or do they feel they must earn it first?

She’ll act as if she deserves it, in order to convince herself and others that that’s how the world is, but again she has a somewhat self-destructive drive of earning things. I think she’s obsessed by perfection but paralyzed by the idea she will fail to obtain it.

Has your character ever had a parental figure who was not related to them?

No… Sylvia’s family tree is quite vast, and going into Darth Theli’a’s estate means that most of the people there are related in some way or other.

Has your character ever had a dependent figure who was not related to them?

Sana is distantly related, to the point where she might well not be. The crew of the Fading Sun would also count as dependents in this case, as she is for better or worse put in charge of them.

How easy or difficult is it for your character to say “I love you?” Can they say it without meaning it?

The words have never left her lips.

What does your character believe will happen to them after they die? Does this belief scare them?

She has no idea. She is aware of Force ghosts but the idea of being forever trapped to some place or object is horrifying, but the alternative (the Jedi idea of becoming one with the Force likely does not exist within the Empire and Sith, for it is Jedi and therefore wrong and an evil, but if she were it would be as the destruction of the self into a collective, which would be an anathema to her as bad as being a Sith ghost) is end, and that is just as bad.

[frostbite883-archive]

DBM Bra hating

These comments won’t be in order. With that said..let’s do it to it.

Tregrenos

So, is it Hyukhyuks turn to eat a Senzu in the middle of the match?

#GetGudBra

Me:...I doubt that would happen seeing as that hulking monster never did carried senzu beans after it’s ‘birth’.

A Poverty-Stricken Antelope

@Tregrenos

Now I understand another reason why I hate Bra: she heals mid-match like a little bi***. She wouldn't last 10 seconds in a Dark Souls duel.

Me: So you say.

Itsarge (gamergater or former GGer) and snowflake exchanging some words with each other.

snowflake:

My view on Bra: She's an awkward character. Literally. She's an entitled princess of a Deity-God-Warrior and Bulma, so she's a overpowered brat with a genius level IQ, and obsessed with strength and being better than everyone, which makes her relationships very one-sided and binary. She literally divides the world up into people stronger than her and not stronger than her, and only acknowledges one person as legitimately stronger than her. No, seriously. It's a problem. Try writing like a tomboy teenage girl would talk, who's obsessed with beating everyone she comes across. At best it would come out as parody. It is hard to find that voice, and harder still to make it resonate with a predominately male audience, and yet harder STILL to do it within the confines of traditional shonen story-telling, from which DBZ is inspired. So Salagir took cues from cocky, pre-redemption Vegeta (not a bad idea). But I believe it only jarred the readers more. The gender-swap seemed obvious and artificial and distracted the reader from the story. The same problem occurs in superhero comics. Iron Man? Everyone accepts that a white dude of indeterminate age can be of genius level intellect, have his own company, and be a superhero/playboy in his copious spare time. Riri Williams? A 15 year old black girl who reverse-engineered Iron Man's tech? Whom he then decided to fund and sponsor? UNBELIEVABLE, according to the backlash. Not a real Iron Man/War Machine, it was obvious that the writers simply "made her up." X-23, Laura Kinney? Not a true Wolverine. "Just created as fan-service." Dr. Jane Foster? Not a real Thor. "Just a writer gimmick." This begs the question, why not? What dissolves the suspension of disbelief with these characters, while the suspension of disbelief is limitless with traditional characters? People claim they want new and interesting stories and challenging plots and characters, the same way they claim they want to lose weight. But they really don't. They want the old chestnuts, the familiar, the predictable. The sugar and the salt. If a story is predictable, you don't have to think about it too much. It won't upset you. People dislike being upset. Shonen style stories are the most predictable on the planet. Good always wins. Evil is punished. Virtue is rewarded, and sins are rebuked and/or reprimanded. Good guys and bad guys are obvious and look the part. So Salagir set himself up with challenge in U16 Bra: an unsympathetic, one-dimensional character who happens to be a girl whose cockiness and obsession with strength is/was rewarded, not punished. Her morality is questionable. It's a deliberate inversion of the typical shonen character. But plot-wise, U16 is integral to the story. So she had to wear Plot Armor from the beginning, as well. Also DBM is moving along, plot-wise, at the pace of Freeza's kitchen timer. And there's also a peanut gallery of readers dissecting everything you do every page? Uh-oh...

ltsarge:

Regarding their statement people could buy iron man cause he is a white male... You know I take issue when people bring this line of thinking up. I think their iron heart girl, being a 15 year old black girl is a total cash grab gimmick appealing to their xtreme social left. In the same way that female Thor was a giant feminist spectacle that literally went around beating up misogynists. I don't think it's unreasonable to call out this type of pandering where it's seen. If marvel really wanted a black female heroine to take up the reigns of them iron man, they could have gone with this character. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_Knight It would be way more believable for an previously established in comics older black lady who has personally designed by tony stark tech, to take up the Ironman mantle than some 15 year old prodigy made up whole cloth. Same with female thor. If she - hulk or black widow went around welding his hammer (them latter which has occured), I would totally buy it. Having some super powered feminist be the new thor, and telling thor to check his privelege seems almost a parody of sjw influence in comics, yet it's played horribly straight. Sorry for the digression in this thread

snowflake:

But the entire superhero genre is pandering. Captain America punching Hitler? Meek and Mild-Mannered Clark Kent becoming Superman beating up anyone and anything with complete moral justification? Batman being the God-Damnned Batman? Itsarge - In the same way that female Thor was a giant feminist spectacle that literally went around beating up misogynists. That's a totally legitimate power-fantasy. It's just not aimed at you. At least you can console yourself it's likely to fail commercially. And just wait until the Enchantress gets her hands on her! As for Misty Knight, they were probably wanting to avoid anything smacking of blaxploitation. In fact, since Riri Williams looks like her exactly, she'll probably end up being a clone or something. Anyway, my point is that female superheroes are a challenge. They're a challenge to draw (how sexy is too sexy? how muscular is too muscular?). They're a challenge to write. They're challenging to present in an appealing light, and they're a challenge to plot for. And then there's the audience predisposed to hostility against such characters, and then there's the fact it's on the internet, which simply makes everything worse!

ltsarge:

1st up, female superheroes are not a challenge.  Just focus on making a good character, that happens to be female.  Black Widow, Ripley, Sarah Connor, Lara Croft, Rukia, Riza Hawkeye, Winry Rockbell, Bulma Fucking Briefs... (I can go on but you get my drift.) 2nd.  Anyone complaining about them being too sexy is either a prude or hypocrite, considering the over masculine features of male heroes which gives plenty of fanservice to people who like men.  And before anyone says any Anita Sarkeesian-esque excuse about how male superheros having amazing body appeal to the male power-fantasy, go do a cursory google image search on any male hero, ESPECIALLY if they anime, and take off your parental filters.  You will see endless fan art of male characters from Ichigo to wolverine to Raiden who are all in sexually explicit poses, if not flat out porn of them.  Probably the latter. Hell just look at fucking Twilight series if you want an entire series dedicated to the female gaze upon appealing strong masculine figures. The point is, if you're overly concerned about the sexual imagery of a female character, you're in either fear of the rabid feminist crow, or possibly the overly conservative crowd.  Considering their are female characters throughout comics and anime that are sexually appealing but renownly well written speaks volumes on how little an artist or writer should give a fuck about whether they are too muscular or sexy.   3rd.  Regarding superhero pandering like Captain America punching Hitler (or similar heroes punch insert political villain) in the face.  You may note that is something that is often mocked by comic book fans for how politically charged and nationalistic it was.  If that low bar is what we are setting as defense for female thor, than sure, well than I guess those examples of bad writing justifies absurd levels of feminist pandering.

4th.  Most of the arguments brought forth in the discussions regarding all this since the comment about "people are more willing to allow for a white male Iron man, but not Insert minority character" that have emerged as defense of bra, seem to be desperate attempts of justifications for an overall badly done character.  You don't need testicles or white pigmentation and blue irises to recognize the Bra for the most part has not jived with the fan base.  I've made a hefty list in this thread of why her character has problems, and none of them are because she has a vagina.  In fact, I have criticized many of Salagir's Original Characters for the same reasons, but Bra has either more or all of the flaws of the others such as Gast or King Cold. Let's be real.  If Bra was not a female character, people who defend her would not have certain cards in their arsenal.  If this character was Vegeta, and I was defending her, you wouldn't see me saying "Oh you vegeta haters dislike Vegeta because he's a male.  You are all sexist!"  or "its difficult to right an arrogant MALE character from space" I don't give a fuck that Bra is a strong female character.  I give a fuck that her blatant mary sue traits are not addressed, and in story she's not criticized for being a bratty person. Just because there is a lack of "strong female" characters in DBZ cannon (not complete absence, as there are still many in DB/DBZ), is not a good excuse for building a shitty one.  We don't need affirmative action in comics or fan comics.  If people want to make a strong female character, that's good, that's fine!  But if there is one that's made that has HUGE FLAWS, we shouldn't say "Well, there are no other strong female characters, so thank god for BRA."

snowflake:

Well, on the flip side, if Bra was male, I doubt we'd get as much demands for PUNISHMENT!1!11 or "Punch me harder, Daddy" jokes. At this point, we'll just agree to disagree. We're talking past each other. I have faith that all of your complaints with U16 Bra will be addressed in the story eventually. U18 and U16 have had limited interaction since the beginning of the story. There's a reason for that.

ltsarge:

I'd be happy to argue at length over female portrayals vs male, so if u'd like to merge some of this over to a new thread that be fine with me.

Me: Hopefully, they don’t do that. Not because I think they’ll lose any argument or whatever you’d have with them, but out of the fact that whenever they DO point out flaws in your arguments and show you evidence you’ll just conveniently ignore them. You’re def. not someone worth conversing with.

Me: And seriously, why would you liked their last post to you?

prphd and ltsarge like this

Me: I mean with the way you went after them, I’d rather they didn’t get a like from you let alone anything else (although, this could be your way of respecting your opponent or whatever you would refer to them as, still, it doesn’t make it any less awkward seeing as how antagonistic you had been towards that person, a stranger no less...who you try to inject your thoughts and feelings towards while replying to their post when it wasn’t warranted).

Me: And some Anti-SJWs wonder, bitterly, on why some social justice advocates don’t take them seriously. Let alone obligate themselves to even talk things out with them.