#i will probably try and post more ideas about it at some point

[motley-box-rose-1]

This is a really well thought out take on the show! I just finished the series, so I’m still mulling over the feelings and ideas that it left me, but the show as whole felt very…. Not just women-centric, but really focused on marginalized people. Which is probably obvious, because each character could be read in that way, but that aside there does seem to be a definite focus on Bride, Nina, and women in general. Honestly, I don’t think the show comes off as misogynistic at all—or at least not enough for me to get that read on my first watch. All of the female characters feel autonomous, multi-faceted, distinct from one another, visually unique, and are genuinely entertaining. just as importantly, they’re allowed to have moments of horror and vulnerability that reflect types of real experiences that people—and women—go through.

I guess I can admit that the show feels a bit *thirsty* at times, but honestly it feels way less creepy than some actual comic books I’ve read, the superhero genre notoriously being all about showing off abs and butts and boobs. I don’t think it crosses a line beyond in that area, or if it does then I wouldn’t say it focuses that lens exclusively on women.

However, getting back to talking about what you bring up, I’m still trying to piece together the over arching theme(s)—the WHY behind how each episode was structured. The show never gets preachy, but there are some specific moments that stand out as being there to SAY something.

To sum all this up, thanks for pointing out Rick Flag and WHY he was paired with Eric. It makes his role in the narrative much more clear, and also explains and gives context for how he chooses to handle Eric—Rick doesn’t care about Eric’s intentions towards Bride or whether she’d actually want Eric to find her. Maybe it crosses his mind for an instant very early on, when Rick visibly realizes that Eric is totally off his rocker, but he’s obviously willing to set that aside for the sake of pursuing what HE wants and considers more important. And while I wouldn’t label Rick as necessarily a bad guy who has malicious intentions, I don’t see him as a particularly strong character either. And by “strong” I’m referring to moral integrity and backbone. Rick has morals and good intentions, sure, but he neither sticks to his values either Ilana, nor does anything to really help the monsters despite acting like he views them as people and saying he wants the group to trust them. And maybe you could blame the Ilana thing as Rick just being lonely and naive? But that little dalliance and his reaction to Circe’s news comes off as kind of immature, especially when he’s supposed to be an older guy who’s been around the block.

Anyway, that’s just me rambling. Regardless, it’s nice to see some great posts related to this show!

Spoilers for Creature Commandos

I saw a post on her critiquing James Gunn’s portrayal of women in his show Creature Commandos. This post states that he usually does a very good job of writing women, but this just isn’t it and cites Princess Ilana’s sexual advances towards Flag, Nina’s nude portrayals in the bath, The Bride’s backstory, and Amanda Waller’s comments on Circe’s outfit. And while all these criticisms are completely valid I would like to raise a point that these scenes exist to critique the way women are viewed not just in society, but especially in comics

Creature Commandos hinges on women. Women are the center of everything.

Firstly, we have The Bride, who many point out does not even have her own name. She is made for a person who does not care for her or anyone yet feels entitled to her to the point of pursuing her for centuries, determined to capture her even if he has to knock her unconscious to do it. She is groomed by her father and taken advantage of. Eric’s continued pursuant of her leads to him teaming up with Flag.

Next, we have Rick Flag who initially comes off as a stand up guy. He doesn’t like the sexual advances of Princess Ilana… until he does. It’s repeated that he’s a much older man, which while he’s hot, leads to him infantilizing her. He views her as this innocent princess which is why Circe’s vision causes him to flip out and show his true colors. He immediately tries to accuse Circe of lying, and when no one believes him states that Themyscira isn’t event real, to which he has to be reminded that it is. His next action is then to team with Eric and try to discredit the expert on Themyscira. He refuses to see women outside of how he wants to see them, and while he’s not entitled and violent like Eric they are teamed up together thematically for a reason because they will burn the world down to get the girl they believe is theirs whether that girl exists or not.

On that topic, Themyscira is brought up as a recurring theme throughout the show. Almost every episode it is brought up in some capacity and it’s very existence is constantly called into question by the men of the series. The news anchor says it may not exist despite the fact that Circe is there in the present. Rick Flag denies it exists, and must be reminded it is. Despite this he stalks a woman and breaks into her house to prove that 1. She’s full of shit and 2. She’s not a real expert. When Themyscira is acknowledged to exist it is met with blatant misogyny.

The picture used on the news is of girls in bikinis. The Sons of Themyscira feel entitled to it because it is a land of all women. Even when Flag is corrected by someone about Themyscira’s existence that man then says that a land of women sounds like heaven, implying sex. Even Waller comments on the inherent sexuality of Circe’s costume.

To that comment, I think it is meant to point out how sexualized female characters are. Something we saw with Suicide Squad (2016) vs Birds of Prey, is a break down of the male versus female gaze. What does a woman’s outfit look like when it’s designed for sex appeal vs practicality. I think Waller’s call to attention to Circe’s outfit is to call into question would SHE dress herself this way? Obviously male artists are going to draw her that way, but why does SHE choose it. It meta-reflects how women are being portrayed in comics especially when most female costumes start out hyper-sexualized.

Finally, Nina nude. I think, once again, this is done intentionally and on purpose. Nina is the only character who does not want to kill. She hasn’t. She has no abilities outside of the water and really shouldn’t be on the team. She’s vulnerable, but you don’t see how vulnerable she really is until it’s shown her naked, cramped into a tiny bathtub. She’s alone and out of place despite literally being in her element, and she still has no protection. She is physically vulnerable the way the The Bride, Ilana, Circe and all women are vulnerable to the male gaze and men’s attitudes towards them.

Female solidarity is what keeps the plot moving, and male Interference is what creates the drama and conflict. Circe views Ilana as a literal threat, not just a helpless princess. Amanda Waller believes Circe immediately, and when there are still doubts she calls in an expert. She trusts The Bride to lead the team because the Bride won’t fuck Ilana. The Bride looks after and protects Nina because she knows Nina isn’t supposed to be in jail or in a combat situation at all. However, Flag’s infantilization of Ilana + Eric’s violent entitlement towards The Bride has led to a horrible team which have jeopardized the mission and may have caused Circe’s future to come true.

In conclusion, let James Gunn cook.

[twopoppies]

https://www.tumblr.com/twopoppies/779120652808536064/hi-gina-im-already-sick-of-myself-typing-this?source=share

War flashbacks…

I read Daisie’s timeline, and I realized that the way Shia quit the movie and Harry came in to replace him happened almost one right after the other. I’d say it was a rushed negotiation, and no one really thought through the consequences, plus I doubt anyone saw it coming.

I think Harry was trying to be as professional as possible with her, but there were moments where he definitely seemed upset: like during one of the Boston shows (before Harryween), then the whole yachtgate situation, and when he found out the nightmare was going to last another year and was seen at Sony office. You could also tell he didn't want to do pda with her until they probably told him to put in more effort.

As for the tattoo, we’ll never know what made him get it, but I think she wanted an engagement—there were even rumors, I believe—but I guess at that point he said 'I’ll just get your name tattooed instead.' I wouldn’t be surprised.

The only positive thing is that Harry—because I truly believe it was more him than his team—was able to negotiate keeping her separate from the album and didn’t let her mention him outside of the movie promo. I feel like that was a last-minute negotiation too, because it really seemed like they were going to link the album to her, but thank God that didn’t happen.

Nothing will make me believe that relationship was real, even without considering larry—things just didn’t add up, and Harry showed his frustration in many ways.

And for those who use the excuse that she interacted with his family and friends, believe me, if Harry were my friend, I’d try to protect him and help however I could (because that’s what friends do). And if that means going to her birthday just to keep up appearances and prevent my friend from another pap walk with her, I’d do it.

I absolutely agree with you about friends and family helping to keep him from suffering through more interaction with her.

I think the leak of the video of her begging Shia to stay, while also shading Florence, probably enraged Harry. I would bet she was covering all her bases and doing all of that while also courting Harry to be in the film (and we already know she lied about Shia being fired, and lied about his behavior on set, when he actually quit because the script for the film was terrible and there wasn't enough rehearsal time).

I think the tattoo exchange for an engagement was a fan theory originally (because I know I had that theory, and I saw others saying it, too). We really have no idea, but it seems like a logical leap to make.

Frankly, I think she was thrilled for it to last a second year and probably didn't fight it for one second. It was originally supposed to be released at the end of 2021. Then, in early 2022. It kept get pushed later and later (I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't please her case with WB that she could drum up more excitement for it the longer she played the PR relationship game as Harry was becoming more and more popular as his tour continued and as Harry's House was released).

The shoot went a full month longer than expected (partially due to Covid, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was due to the mess that everything was because of her). Then she literally checked out completely in terms of post-production and was so busy being a rock star girlfriend that the movie needed to be re-edited and shown to test audiences at least three times (with all reports being leaked pointing toward a disaster). Then, somehow Warner Bros decided to cancel every single movie it was making except DWD (and some movie starring the Rock that I can't even remember the name of now) and pushed its premiere to the fall when all the big Oscar contenders are released (as if. LMAO!) and somehow got it to the Venice Film Festival.

I very much think Harry's House was originally meant to be linked to her (the same way Fine Line was linked to Camille). The fact that it seems as though the Zane Lowe interview was shot and edited by January 2022 and then re-shot at Coachella in April of that year tells me everything I need to know about that. He swerved hard and cut her out of the narrative completely (THANK GOD).

[ariasakka]

A Taste of Forbidden Pleasures

Jinshi smut! Fingering, 18+, virgin, female reader, obsessive Jinshi, oral, pussy eating, dick sucking, fingering, maybe tiny bit of size kink?

!!NON KINKY VERSION!!

kinky version posted. 

(Well maybe this might be kinky to some people but it’s not imo and isn’t compared to the other version.)

I felt like my original version might be a bit too kinky for the fandom so I made this one for people who aren’t really into kinky stuff

You’re both virgins, you both try your best not to take it too far. At first it was convincing yourself you’d never date Jinshi then it was convincing yourself you’d never fall in love with him because it was doomed to fail. After all you were a servant girl and he had high title, nobody would take it seriously. Clearly you failed and fell head over heels in love with him. You were both set on being eachothers forever and only partner no matter what. No matter the cost. That being said you both tried to tell each other it was best not to take it further than kissing.

Tonight the both of you were making out in his chambers as you always did. Only this time his kisses were more needy. He was whimpering inbetween each kiss. You were trying to contain yourself and not to the same. You succeeded on that but you were growing annoyingly wet with every kiss. His knee was inching closer and closer to your groin as the minutes went by. Jinshi knew his knee was creeping closer and closer to your sweet spot. He knew exactly what he wanted and he wanted to make you needy and whiny underneath him just like he always was under you when you make out with him on his lap like usual. Only this time he was on top of you so he had leverage. When Jinshi finally got his knee touching the sweet spot he longed for he felt a wet spot on the tip of his knee. You let out the sweetest gasp he’d ever heard in his life. He couldn’t contain himself. He left your mouth and started kissing up your neck until his lips met your ears and he cooed “Let me fuck you y/n, please”

You grab onto his robe not expecting him to say such a lewd thing “Jinshi no, you’d probably be too rough!”

He holds your face in his palms and looks down into your eyes with such a beautiful look. One almost too hard to resist. 

Jinshi “No I would not do you really think that about me?”

You pause for a moment before saying “It wouldn’t fit even if you were gentle.”

You knew quite a bit about sex so helping others wasn’t an issue but the few times you’d touched yourself you could tell you would have a hard time taking anything larger than your own fingers.

On the other hand you had taken lots of time practicing your skills with your mouth on vegetables. You had no doubt you’d be able to please him in that regard. You’d always expected to do something to him first. He always got a bit carried away with kissing you were worried he would have no idea what he was doing and hurt your poor insides even though you know sweet Jinshi would never mean to.

Jinshi would like to be more experienced than he is. Luckily he has done quite an embarrassing amount of reading up on the topic. He wasn’t too interested in doing that sort of thing with someone else. That is not until he met you. He had re-read all of the old books he did before and a large sum of new ones just to learn all the ways he could please you one day. In his alone time he had done some practicing with his fingers on various fruits such as peaches and oranges. He had no doubt he was quite skilled with his fingers at this point. He had no doubt he wouldn’t be able to please you now. If only you’d let him. He can be quite needy for you but he had practiced on enough fruits even an egg yolk to know his way around a vagina. That being said he did break a lot of egg yolk for the first few times but not after that. He practiced hundreds of times after that just to be sure he wouldn’t hurt you. A bit obsessive. But who wouldn’t be when it comes to the love of their life?

After a long pause you say “What if I do you first?”

Jinshi shakes his head no. “Next time.” He wants this to be about you. He’d spent countless nights imagining your face, your sounds, as he pleasured you. Though imagining your pretty little mouth or tiny hands on his cock was nice too he was in the mood for something else. For your release. 

Jinshi “Just my fingers please my love.”

You cross your arms “I said you’d be too rough.”

Jinshi “I’m gentle.”

You “Really?”

Jinshi smirks “Yes, especially with my fingers” 

You “You can barely contain yourself around me. The first time I said I love you back while kissing you came in your robe. How am I supposed to think you’d be gentle now hm?”

Jinshi “I’ll show you just. Trust me.”

You “Yeah whatever, you can never keep your lips off of mine kissing me aggressively 24/7 like you’re in heat.”

Jinshi “Yes I can”

He leaned down and kisses you gently. He teases his tongue on your lips, similar to how he would like to one day to your lips down below.

You can’t tell if his tongue on your lips moving the way on your lips they are is intentional but it only makes you want him more. You involuntarily grind onto his knee, getting lost in his soft kisses. He releases after a moment. Your lips feel cold you want him back. You let out a pout and try to pull his face back but he takes hold of your hand and holds it down above your head on the bed with his own. 

You “See, can’t keep your lips off of me.”

Jinshi “That was gentle no?”

You “Yes I suppose…”

You didn’t notice you were getting completely soaked on his knee. He pressed his knee to your pussy harder. Pressing down on your clit. Your eyes met his filled with lust.

Jinshi “You’re soaking my knee. Please. I just-I fucking need you pleaseeee y/n.”

You bite your lip “Okay.”

Jinshi needs to hear you say it “Yes?”

You “Yes.”

He gently removes your clothes until there’s nothing left but your soaked panties. He took much longer than you wanted him to. His slow kisses all over your body, taking his time, it was driving you crazy. You were the one that was hesitant at first but now all you wanted was for him to hurry up and take you. When you were in nothing left but your panties he traced his fingers along the hem with one hand and rubbed your hips with the other, taking in your beauty. 

You whine “Jinshi pleaseee.”

Jinshi “Can’t I admire how pretty my princess is? Alright Jinshi will hurry up, shh princess.”

He finally removes your panties. A string of wetness glistened as he removed them. Jinshi grazed his fingers along your pussy gently. Avoiding just the spot you wanted him to touch. You bucked your hips begging him to feel you where you needed most. Your face was so red anyone else would’ve thought he’d given you an aphrodisiac. He read up on foreplay. Oh, he read up on a LOT of foreplay. You were exactly where he wanted you. He spread your legs wide open and spit directly on your clit. He watched in awe at how you convulsed at the sensation.

He chuckled. “Alright, alright.” Jinshi traced his thumb up and down your slit gathering your sweet juices. Then he traced two fingers over your throbbing clit. He was much gentler than you expected him to be. You never expected you to be the needy one in this situation. You started moaning so loud you were sure everyone would’ve heard you if Jinshis house wasn’t so far away. 

Jinshi looked as you in awe “Fuck you sound so pretty for me, don’t hold back.”

You kept repeating a plea of “Jinshi please!” You weren’t sure what you were pleading for. All you knew was that you didn’t want him to stop. He knew exactly what your body wanted from those begs. He began to place two fingers at your entrance. He gasped when he felt how tight you were. His books had always said to start with two fingers than add more but you were far too precious to him and he never wanted to hurt you. He removed the tips of both his fingers and settled with one. He lowered his middle finger gently into your cunt while rubbing your clit with his thumb. That went in much easier. He knew he would have to work on stretching his precious pretty girl out for a while before you could take his cock but he didn’t mind that one bit. Your hips started involuntarily moving on their own at the sensation of his finger. You were so sensitive under his touch. You knew you must have looked so stupid right now. How could the roles reverse into you being the needy one so fast? You desperately tried to hide your face in your hair or the sheets but all Jinshi did was brush the hair out of your face and force you to face him. “Don’t hide from me pretty. Aww so sweet, are you sensitive? I’ve got you. Let Jinshi do all the work okay princess.” He held your hips in place while he fingered you. Once he felt you opening up more he slowly slid his pointer finger inside you as-well. You tilted your head back. Jinshi felt you pulsing around him hard. He was obsessed He leaned down and started kissing your neck. He was moaning inbetween kisses. At this point he returned to being the needy one. He sounded as if he was almost enjoying this more than you. He can’t help but grind into your legs as he’s knuckles deep inside your perfect cunt. To your surprise despite how needy he’s gotten he’s still remaining just as gentle. His fingers filling your  hole mixed with Jinshi being a whimpering hard mess is sending you over the edge. You’d only came on your fingers a few times but this, this felt much more intense. Jinshi could feel you getting close. He lifts his head up from your neck to watch your face. He wanted to watch how beautiful his girl looked when she came all over his fingers. The feeling around his fingers as you came mixed with the look on your face was too much for Jinshi. He came all over his robe just as he was letting you ride out your orgasm on his fingers. You chuckled. You knew your Jinshi would return to his needy lusted out self. “Such a beautiful boy”

He releases himself from your cunt. 

Jinshi “Told you I’d be gentle.”

You “I’ll believe you next time.”

Jinshi “Better.”

Jinshi licked his fingers clean. The haze over his face from the taste of your juices was intoxicating. He nearly looks as if he’s drunk from just tasting you. “C-can I taste?”

You “You just did Jinshi.”

He kneels down resting his face just where he wants it “You know what I mean.”

You “Yes please”

You grab a fist full of his hair and lower his face down to your cunt. You’re so sensitive after just having came but you don’t care. You can’t get enough of him. The feeling of his tongue inside your walls is addicting. He can’t release his mouth from your lips. He is in love with your taste, with your feel, your insides are so soft on his tongue. On his lips. He loves it. You can tell he’s hard all over again just from the way he’s grinding into the sheets. You’d never heard much of men getting hard from eating a girl out and especially not getting hard again after they’ve came. You didn’t mind though. At this rate you’re all worked up again and desperate to taste Jinshi if he’ll let you. You’d seen him hard through his robe many times but never the real thing. You’ve wanted to many times but were too worried more would happen if you did. Now you don’t care. You pull him by the hair off of you and throw Jinshi on his back. You straddle his lap. Jinshi is confused he was enjoying his meal. 

Jinshi “Satisfied?”

You “No.”

Jinshi pouts “Was my tongue not to your liking princess?”

You “That’s not quite what I mean. I liked that very much.” You begin to take off his robe. You can fell his hardness pressing against your ass. Good that’s just what you wanted. 

Jinshi gasps, his cheeks grow bright red. “What are you-“

You “May I?”

Jinshi nods.

You begin to kiss down his chest and go to down lower. You palm his cock in your hand. “Mmm pretty.” you kiss the tip. He can’t take his eyes off of you.

Jinshi “Fuck princess-god. Ahh!”

You lick up the side of his cock while making eye contact “Want me to stop?”

He shakes his head no and grabs the back of your hair for something to hold onto. He tries to be soft he doesn’t want you to overdo yourself. 

You “You don’t have to hold back with my mouth you know. I don’t have a gag reflex.”

You appreciated how composed Jinshi was with his fingers but honestly you really wanted to see him let go. Not have control. At least your throat could handle that. 

Jinshi “What did you just say?”

You “I have no gag reflex.”

Jinshi sits up and places two fingers down your throat to test. He’d came many times imagining your mouth wrapped around his cock but he didn’t want to do too much if you wouldn’t be able to handle it. When his fingers bottomed out in your throat and you didn’t gag he hissed. He added a third finger because that was closer to the size of his cock. When you didn’t gag at that either he raised a brow and you smirked at him deviously. He began slowly thrusting his fingers in and out of your mouth. Your eyes rolled back at the sensation. It felt nice to you. Jinshi removed his fingers. He was panting already just by the site of that. 

You “Believe me?”

Jinshi “Fuck I believe you!”

You “I want you to thrust into my throat with your dick.”

Jinshi “Are you sure my love?”

You “Yes please.”

Jinshi “What about when I cum?”

You “Just pull out and finish mostly on my chest. I don’t know if I’d like the taste just yet.”

Jinshi “I understand. Okay. Here, kneel on the stool that’s infront of the bed and I’ll stand infront of you.”

Your face lights up, you’re excited to see your lover let go. Your excitement has him leaking with precum. Once you’ve gotten on your knees atop of the stool he stands infront of you. His cock at perfect level with your mouth. You stick out your tongue eagerly. You grab hold of his hips inviting him inside. He grabs the back of your hair to push himself deep inside your mouth. You start bobbing your head to assure him you’re fine. You push his hand on the back of your head harder to motion him to let go. Once he’s assured you’ll be fine he starts thrusting down your throat. His pace is fast, though he still holds back slightly not wanting to hurt his princess. Jinshi is a moaning mess. You look so fucking pretty like this. To pretty. He’s not sure how long he’ll be able to last like this. He wants to do this to you all night. His hands are definitely never going to feel as good after this. While he’s busy bobbing your head up and down with one hand. You take hold of his free hand and place it on your breast. That sends Jinshi over the edge. He pulls out of your throat and finishes on your chest. 

You “Maybe next time you can cum inside.”

Jinshi pants “You’re going to kill me if you keep saying such things!”

You “You were such a good boy.”

Jinshi draws the both of you a bath. He carefully washes your body then you do his. After the both of you cuddle in his bed chambers. The both of you should get dressed but neither of you care if someone catches you anymore. 

You “You know Jinshi you’re oddly skilled.”

He smiles to himself proudly. He’ll tell you about his practice another time.

Kinky version ↓↓↓

[career-mahoushojo]

my magia exedra thoughts so far!

stuff I liked:

- original artwork and animations are really nice! always fun to see some new original stuff.

- the girls are 3D! love love love the models, I feel like they did a good job translating all the characters' visual styles.

- combat is really fun. feels smooth and enjoyable, I've been enjoying it a lot. I have it on reasonable authority however that it's kind of pulling pages out of honkai star rails' book- which is fine, I have no interest in hsr, but I'm curious what hsr players think of magia exedra, if you've played both please share!!!

- Namae-chan and AQ are really fun!!! I can feel the roots of a very interesting story, but I fear that her unknown origins will drag on.... More on that in the next section. The idea that AQ is something "special" and "non-kyubey" is really compelling.

- the setting is lovely- I really like the lighthouse and its layout.

- I actually really like the little scenes where Namae-chan walks through the memories and the silhouettes of the involved girls appear and vanish around her. it's a nice compromise to get the points of the memories across while keeping the rehashed story as optional.

okay. now my gripes, below the cut.

stuff I didn't like (note: a lot of this will probably change! hopefully!!! I hope that as I progress through things and they take time to update the game these points will become moot!!!! In a beautiful, perfect world I will look back on this post and laugh at my own naivete):

- this game seems to be struggling with whether it's for established fans of the series or trying to pull in new people, which is... A hell of a piece of indecision for a game relying so heavily on its legacy characters. it acts as though it's trying to appeal to newer fans in rehashing the story of madoka and others as its main quest, but the character stories and vignettes that are supposed to give us more character insight are a confusing mix of backstory rehashing and kind of unsatisfying little side stories so far. I've been enjoying some of them, but everything feels more disconnected than it did in magireco, where many of these characters were introduced (therefore kind of allowing the writers to build their stories from scratch).

- speaking of, the UI is such a downgrade! (I guess technically Ui was pretty central to the magireco plot....... lol) I miss the opulent buttons and skeuomorphic, gemstone-y designs of the buttons and menus in magireco. everything in magiex is so flat and generic :(

- the... main gameplay. I hesitate to even call it that. How sad that a concept like labyrinths, which seems absolutely tailormade for a more persona-esque dungeon exploration mechanic, are reduced to a mechanic so linear you can literally automate it. I don't even dislike the atmosphere of the labyrinths! the fixed camera angle is interesting as an artistic choice! but WOW it is not used that way. really genuinely such a bummer, kind of my biggest beef with the game so far to be honest. there are definitely some elements that I like though- the liminality of some of the levels, the map overlays are fun, and even the ambient familiars are nice (the distant line of Anthonys dancing on top of the buildings :3 )

- I miss doppels and connects :(

-i am both excited for and nervous about Namae-chan's story... On the one hand it could turn out to be really interesting! It could be a deeply compelling story! On the other, more-likely-due-to-the-nature-of-mobile-games hand, it could drag on forever, with Namae-chan basically just eternally going "wow. emotions are crazy huh." I am hoping and praying we get the compelling plot we deserve and it doesn't just string along with the same, status-quo ass premise ad nauseum. I choose to believe in Namae-chan 👍

- a surprising amount of asset reuse. holy shit the anime screenshots being used for the main story is so egregious. tons of stuff that clearly just copy pasted from magireco. and not even the good stuff!!!! please for the love of God give Yuma better art at this point!!!!

- honestly it just needs a lot of optimization. drains my phone battery like crazy. menus and cutscenes get laggy and I know I'm not alone in thinking that.

I'm sure I'll think of more things that I both like and dislike- I'll probably make more posts as I see things but these are the big immediate standouts. would love to hear others' opinions, tell me what you liked, what you disliked, if you agree or disagree with my opinions! I'm definitely going to be playing regularly, so I'm excited to see this game change and evolve over time. :)

[multifamdomfan]

Could we possibly get some appreciation for Frank Zhang's muscles?

Absolutely! I've actually thought about this a lot and already wrote something about this but didn't publish it because I wasn't sure if anyone cares but I'll post it now.

The Frank Zhang Pull-Up Bar

Hazel had always known Frank was strong. She had seen him fight off monsters, lead an army, and, on more than one occasion, lift her like she weighed nothing at all. But lately, his strength had reached new levels. His Roman training had turned him into an absolute tank, and Hazel was not subtle about how much she admired it.

Percy, being Percy, was the first to call her out on it.

"You keep staring," he teased as they stood in the training yard of Camp Jupiter, watching Frank practice with his bow.

Hazel blinked, pretending she hadn't just been admiring the way Frank's arms flexed as he pulled back the string. "I do not."

"You so do," Percy said. "And honestly? I get it. I mean, look at those things. The guy could probably bench-press a centaur at this point."

Frank, oblivious to their conversation, had just finished his round of archery practice when Percy called out, "Hey, Zhang! How much weight do you think you can hold?"

Frank turned, frowning. "Uh. I don't know? Why?"

Hazel suddenly had a brilliant idea. "I bet you could hold both of us."

Frank looked startled. "Hold you how?"

Percy grinned. "Like a pull-up bar."

Frank blinked. "You want to—what?"

"You've got huge arms," Hazel said matter-of-factly. "We could totally do pull-ups on them."

Frank's face turned red. "That—that's not how arms work!"

Percy, ignoring him, had already moved into position. "C'mon, Zhang, don't be shy. Just hold them out like this—" He raised his own arms to demonstrate. "We'll grab on and see if we can do a couple of pull-ups. Easy."

Hazel clasped her hands together. "Please, Frank?"

Frank sighed, knowing there was no winning when Hazel looked at him like that. "Fine," he grumbled, extending both arms.

Hazel grabbed onto one. Percy took the other.

"Alright, on three," Percy said. "One, two—"

They both pulled up at the same time. To their surprise—and Frank’s—he barely wobbled.

Hazel let out a delighted laugh as she did a second pull-up. "Frank, you're amazing!"

"Yeah, dude," Percy said between breaths. "You're basically a living gym."

Frank, now fully red-faced, mumbled, "This is the weirdest compliment I've ever gotten."

Hazel, still hanging onto him, just smiled. "Get used to it, big guy."

Frank Zhang was used to being strong. He’d spent enough time training at Camp Jupiter to build muscle, and as a son of Mars, strength came with the territory. But he wasn’t used to people treating him like actual gym equipment.

And yet, here he was.

Percy and Hazel were hanging off of him like he was a pull-up bar, and worst of all? He was holding them up without even trying.

“This is ridiculous,” Frank muttered, though he didn’t actually put them down.

Hazel, still gripping his arm, beamed at him. “It’s impressive.”

Percy, hanging from Frank’s other arm, was grinning like an idiot. “Dude, you are literally the best workout equipment ever. We could start a whole new training regimen at Camp Jupiter. ‘Zhang-ercise.’”

Frank groaned. “You’re both insane.”

Hazel easily pulled herself up again, her braid swinging behind her. “Come on, Frank, just admit it—you’re ridiculously strong.”

Frank’s ears turned pink. “I mean, I guess—”

Percy tried to do another pull-up but wobbled slightly, adjusting his grip. “Okay, okay—serious question—if I shift my weight, can you still hold me?”

Before Frank could protest, Percy swung slightly to one side, putting all his weight on one arm. Frank, to his own surprise, barely felt it.

Hazel’s eyes widened. “Oh my gods, Frank! You’re not even shaking.”

“What is happening right now?” Frank muttered.

Percy cackled. “This is amazing. You’re, like, unmovable.”

Hazel, still clutching Frank’s arm, looked so proud of him that Frank felt like he might actually melt. “I always knew you were strong, but this?” She squeezed his bicep for emphasis. “This is next level.”

Frank, still holding them both like they weighed nothing, felt his entire face heat up. “I—uh—” He cleared his throat. “I’m just… glad you guys are having fun?”

Percy let go, dropping to the ground and shaking out his arms. “Okay, ten out of ten experience. I give ‘Frank Zhang, the Human Pull-Up Bar’ a perfect score.”

Hazel dropped down too, but instead of stepping back, she leaned up and kissed Frank on the cheek. “I give it eleven out of ten.”

Frank nearly forgot how to breathe.

Percy, watching this unfold, snickered. “Dude, your face is so red right now.”

Frank groaned and covered his face with his hands. “This is the worst.”

Hazel just laughed, slipping her hand into his. “No, Frank. You’re the best.”

[solimavi]

First, I do briefly want to turn the conversation back around to the "Heart of the Dragon" topic after I've given this some more thought beyond what my more immediate response was. I accept what you're saying as true, but I would like to bring up that in Japanese media, the physical heart is occasionally used as symbolism for the metaphysical heart. Some examples I'm aware of:

Chainsaw Man: This one is ripe with this kind of symbolism. Pochita, Denji's only source of emotional support throughout most of his life, saves him from death and becomes his literal heart. That physical to metaphysical symbolism becomes prominent in moments such as Denji's distress over people pursuing the Pochita heart over his own metaphysical heart and (trying to be vague here for anyone who cares about CSM spoilers) images of the physical Pochita heart being ripped out of him when he's emotionally at his lowest.

Kingdom Hearts: When referring to their hearts (using "kokoro"), characters bring their hands up to their chests where the physical heart is.

Attack On Titan: This one is a bit weaker than the other two. "Shinzou wo Sasageyo". It's a battle cry, so it could literally just mean "give up your literal beating heart for this effort". But if following the sort of physical to metaphysical symbolism as the other two, it would give the war cry a double meaning in putting your heart and soul into the fight and also being ready to give up your actual beating heart.

All of that is to say that the metaphysical heart and physical heart aren't locked in the same word the way that they are in English, but in storytelling, these are cases where the concepts are intertwined under symbolism. That's not to say I can say with 100% confidence that's what happened in PYIH. There are probably other ways you can interpret the use of ambergris as a plot device and choosing to go with naming that treasure (because the writers chose the name) based on this idea that may have existed at some point that ambergris is produced in the physical hearts of whales.

Alright, moving on to the post-credits. I can't comment on the Japanese script, but you mentioned it not being vague in the official English translation and I disagree with that. Saejima mentions Majima "went to Hawaii to chase a dream", but he doesn't state what that dream is. Instead. we get this conversation where he uses what happened in Hawaii with the elixir to build up to the big wham line Kazuma Kiryu namedrop moment where Saejima arrives at the point he had been building up to. It's an approach that makes more sense than immediately suddenly slamming a verbal baseball bat into Majima's face by opening up the Majima's dream conversation with Kiryu's name where to both the audience and Majima, opening up with Kiryu as Majima's dream would have kind of come out of nowhere. Like, it'd be sweet, but without that build-up of putting the puzzle pieces together concerning what this whole adventure was initially for, what does Kiryu have to do with anything that's happened so far? But again, this is all about the English script so I'm not sure how meaningful it is to keep lingering on this if there's translation issues.

Not much to say about the magazine stuff. I think you cleared that part up.

And let me rephrase what I said a little differently. "Most notable queer characters" -> "Characters most notable for their queerness are either put in the background or on a bus". When you think of Mine, what do you think of? One of the things that probably comes to mind first is that he loved Daigo. Nishitani? Yeah, most people probably remember him as the kind of wacky bi guy. These are characters that were either very in your face with their queerness within the main story with how it came up again and again and wasn't subtle (Nishitani) or was very, very relevant to the main story (Mine). What do we get besides this? Put yourself in the shoes of someone just playing the games who isn't doing fandom deep dives and getting much more niche information. There's little details with no relevance to the main story (Seonhee's attraction to women), optional side content that can be easily missed (the honk honks), and information you would actively have to look for outside of the game (How many people who play these games know what Watase's actor thinks of his character's sexuality?) I'm not saying these things don't matter here. But let's bring back what started this discussion in the first place and really put things back into perspective. We were talking about Majima and Kiryu. The most well-known characters from the franchise aside from Ichiban. Most popular character and the first main character. Go all the way back to Y1 and have been with us for 20 years now. And what we were talking about was the idea of one or both of them having romantic feelings for the other in the main story of a game. Something that would recontextualize 20 years of history between two not just iconic RGG characters, two iconic video game characters in general. If something like this was put in the main story of a game, not only would it be memorable. It would be one of if not the most memorable and talked about things from that story (assuming one or both of them don't also die in that game which would be talked about more I'm sure). I know I have shipper brain to some extent, but I don't think that's an unreasonable assumption to make. That isn't to say doing something like this would be the "be-all end-all of portraying queerness", but I think it's fair to say it is different in terms of scale to what has been done before and would get a lot more attention. And that brings things back to that original question of why would RGG hesitate to put this in the games?

One obvious answer is that they just don't want to. That romance just isn't part of the vision. But let's pretend there is an interest in putting this in. Why else would they not do it? One possible answer is there's too much pressure to get it right in the "live up to the hype" sense of doing something that major with these two big characters.

Another possible answer is they're worried they're worried about doing right by their queer fans in how they depict this relationship.

Then we move closer to the answer I jumped to. I notice you keep bringing up the personal politics of the staff, but what they personally believe aren't relevant to this area of concern. Going off of the assumption they want to do the relationship, we can assume the RGG folks are on board with having queer characters and having them really in the spotlight even. The question is why would they not go there despite being on board with it? So let's look at the controversy concern. I'll break it down into two parts.

First part is financial damage. Concerns about pissing a bunch of people off and getting boycotted. But as you've pointed out, their demographic has changed and now has more people less likely to feel alienated by seeing fandom darling Majima be in love with another man and are more likely to even be happy about it. So maybe they can take some risks here and rely on those people to show up for them.

Second part is wellbeing of the workers. We can give anecdote after anecdote about the state of the RGG fandom and how good of a place it's in all day probably. But when you look at the political climate and how people engage with media within that climate, things aren't great to say the least and a lot of the anti-woke crowd is more extreme than they've ever been. When these people get riled up, they get vicious towards people who do work for whatever piece of media they’re pissed about and put targets on the backs of whoever they've decided to make the face of their problems. We've seen this with RGG before, including the harassment part, and that was when the far-right hive mind was experiencing one of its many glitches and a lot of them didn't even know what the hell they were mad about. "Something something woke Western localizers are ruining Japanese games". What if RGG actually did something as big as making Kiryu and Majima a thing and gave them something concrete like that to rally against?

So, there's maybe some concern about losing potential buyers and they might also be thinking about what circle of hell a bunch of frothing at the mouth fascists (many of which never otherwise gave a damn about the games) might try and send their workers to. Is all of that to say this is why they don't make Kiryu and Majima a thing? No. The point is to say that if they even wanted to in the first place, it's not that far out there to think that even with their hearts in the right place, these are still potential concerns. I don't think it's ridiculous to even consider that might steer them towards playing it a little safer. Maybe controversy is a factor, maybe it's not. Maybe it's the other concerns about getting things right, maybe they just don't want to add the romance in in the first place. I thought they probably did when that "Heart of the Dragon" thing seemed more like slam dunk evidence and that's where I was coming from, but that situation has changed.

Anyway, I wasn't short and to the point like I said I would be at all. I did a lot of talking again and it's getting late. The latter part, about motivations for whether or not to put the romance in the games, has gone a bit off the rails I think since I already admitted in the last response I jumped the gun with making assumptions. Maybe they really don't care about controversy. Just in this hypothetical scenario where they do want to make Kiryu-Majima a thing or do something comparable to that, I don't think that's something that can be confidently crossed out as a factor and I don't think looking at what they've done previously is evidence they'd just slam the gas pedal on doing so if they really wanted to. They haven't done anything queer rep wise that gets anywhere near the amount of attention and controversy as making their two most iconic characters a thing likely would.

Hello! The twist ending of PYIH kind of shocked me. 'Twas really foolish of me for thinking that for the entirety of Kiryu's saga, Majima has just that twisted obsession with Kiryu, being a "Mad Dog" and all. I came across your PYIH analysis the other day and it really brought home what they were conveying with the ending.

I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around the premise of PYIH. Is the sole purpose of Majima's "filming/documentary(?)" is to rehearse telling it to Kiryu? Because if it had been, that would be even crazier.

Oh, and at this point, is it even reasonable right now to interpret their relationship as platonic or brotherly? What do you think?

YEAHHHHH imo I think yakuza kenzan yakuza 3 (rooftop scene) is where we first truly starting seeing a glimpse of a deeper dynamic between Majima and Kiryu that goes beyond the "weird twisted obsession" reading, and we see more examples of it later as the series goes on (gestures at yakuza 5 and IW) but moments like those were decently subtle/blink-and-you'll-miss-it (not to mention they lessen in frequency also probably in part to Majima's lessening screentime throughout the series), but pyih's ending really goes out of its way to ensure that you actually Know how deep and genuine Majima's feelings are, which I am both extremely appreciative of and Kinda Crazy about

I think the whole documentary thing is interesting. Given the fact that they went out of their way to get the equipment/crew/etc. for the "film version", I would say that the Majima's retelling of his story at the studio and at Kiryu's bedside serve different purposes, and that him telling the story on set was not specifically for Kiryu (what Majima plans to do with the "film version" I'm not completely sure, but I guess for now we can assume it's just a project Majima wanted to do while getting Majima Construction back off the ground?) I'd say the premise of pyih is both to retell Majima's story as he presents it to the "general audience" And Kiryu, hence why the game starts with one and ends with the other. It's the same story to everyone, for the mostpart, and the main difference between the two 'versions' is How he presents it (to the cameras/the players/main audience he puts on the fuckass pirate costume and the theatrics, to Kiryu he tells it to him straight, without the extra show stuff for the cameras. We can Assume the story he tells to each audience is practically identical, considering that the cutscene of him telling it to us in the beginning of the game and him telling it to KIryu at the end of the game use identical lines (cough cough in the Japanese audio), but his tone of voice between the two are notably very different)

Uhhhh shoot I don't know if any of that made sense 💀 Point is I think Majima telling the story of pyih is, in fact, meant for Everyone, it's just that Kiryu gets a sort of special, more authentically told version of it if you will (After all, Majima could've just shown Kiryu the film when it was finally done, but instead he went out of his way to tell it to him personally)

As for the question of "is kazumaji canon now", WOO boy. First of all I actually lowkey want to thank you for asking that question, I've been wanting to post about it for a while now but kept putting it off lol. I mulled over this exact question quite a bit during the week-or-so long time period that I was writing most of my analysis after finishing the game, and, despite the fact that I myself am very vocal about liking kazumaji in a romantic scenario/context, I would not personally call it canon, and I say it is still absolutely reasonable to interpret them as platonic.

While many of the aspects we see in their relationship (especially on Majima's end) such as obsession, devotion, etc. etc. are often associated with romantic interest (Especially in fandom spaces), I don't think they have to be considered specifically romantic. People who have read through my posts may remember a while back that I did an analysis of The Sun at 36.5 wondering if the song was written with the intent to represent Majima's feelings towards Kiryu (for the record this was incorrect and the meaning behind it goes past the scope of the game) and I was going pretty insane about it lol. That's because, had the song been written with that in mind, it would've meant with almost 100% certainly that they would be, in fact, canon, and that would've been Insane. However, this is not the case, and other than that theory I had there's nothing else in the games that would specifically state that either one has Explicitly Romantic feelings towards the other. Do they have a very deep and complex relationship, the likes of which they don't share with many other characters? Definitely. Is it explicitly romantic? I wouldn't say so

The main example I would like to bring up to argue against it would be minedai (*cough* my second favorite yakuza ship I fucking Love Mine Yoshitaka so much he's one of my favorites). I'll link this amazing post with all the examples but essentially, while minedai and kazumaji share many of the same themes in their relationship/dynamic (again, obsession, devotion, you get the drill (can you tell Majima and Mine are two of my favorite characters yet LOL)) the main difference between them is that, with minedai, it is basically outright said Multiple Times in Multiple Sources outside of even Yakuza 3 itself that Mine loved Daigo, with words used Specifically to convey strong romantic connotations, a choice rgg went out of their way to make every single time they wrote about them together. Kazumaji, on the other hand, does not use these kinds of words to describe each other, whether it be in words coming from Kiryu and Majima themselves, or official relationship charts, descriptions, etc.

Can feelings including romance be heavily implied without needing to be explicitly stated? Absolutely, but with the way rgg tends to Very Obviously and Explicitly state when characters Are romantically interested in each other, and also simply because there is still (imo) plenty of room to read kazumaji as Not romantic, I wouldn't say it's canon. And for the record, I wanna reiterate that this is coming from someone who is personally very enthusiastic about kazumaji as a ship, so I'm trying to be purely objective here, and that is my verdict (Also this is just a random aside, but I really don't agree with the people who are (unironically) labelling Kiryu and Majima's relationship as "queerbaiting". but that's a whole other discussion entirely)

Thank you for shooting an ask !!

[bugsinshoes]

i freaking love star wars

[spotaus]

Late Night quick thing (New Age Sillies)

Bad news: That joke post about including Reset + Orchid is definitely not canon. (I legit got sad thinking about Reset being in a universe where Orchid isn't- because their stories are so so intertwined- but Nightmare 100% would NOT risk the whole twins exploding Error's soul thing.)

Good news: This means I COULD include Kane (Reset's older brother who usually dies in timelines where Reset is born) and use it to develope his character a bit more! Also! Perhaps a Blue × Dream kiddo is finally in the stars for me to design?

[raiiny-bay]

my favorite edits - 2023 edition 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9

[arsenicflame]

hey does anyone wanna bounce bellhands/they all went to pirate school together ideas with me? im trying to figure out the missing pieces of my personal set up and it might be easier with someone else!

[microwavetoaster-selfships]

All the stock images of the 10th Doctor are. Silly. Like geniune white-backdrop, doing some random pose or expression stock images. Like not "this is the picture png stock image that gets slapped on his wiki and other places" but like the if you Google "stock images of people" it's just that. Except him.

[bismuthburnsblue]

idk if anyone is following specific projects ive talked about/mentioned but. i just want to say i know this year (especially the last couple months) has been chaotic and scattered and ive kept starting things and then they just. disappear from existence. i wanna semi apologise for that & tell you that i will be trying to do a lot less of that from this point- i wont always succeed, in very whim prone ':) but. i will be trying to keep a stable focus. i think i have plans to help with that.

i hate to treat my craft as content, but i hope whatever you signed up for will be better next year. i love talking about what i do & figuring out problems with you guys, and im looking forward to more of it in the future.

[arolesbianism]

Thinking abt Sif Odile duo looping au again and I wanna be able to plot everything out more coherently but act 5 eternally looms overhead and boy I do not wanna look up

[angstandhappiness]

LMAO I have no idea who these guys are

a glimpse of what their early dynamic looks like

[a-simple-spiders-oc-dump]

quick post just to say I've loaded up the queue again with 22 more posts!! so prepare to get almost a full month of daily lore drops about these guys lmao