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goldensugarywaffles · 2 years

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A Very Merry Christmas! (Oops I Summoned a Succubus!)

Authors Note: Merry Christmas you filthy animals! (lol just wanted a reason to say that so I wrote this fic). This is my first smut fic so be gentle with me. Though feedback is appreciated. After I finished writing this my computer crashed and the screen started flashing like crazy so I think that’s a sign that this is pretty good or really really bad. I’m not sure which one yet. It is a Christmas spinoff of one of my newest series but you don’t have to read (the one chapter that’s posted lol) it to read this fic.

18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Genere: Smut, slight fluff, fantasy if you squint (I mean y/n’s a succubus but that doesn’t come up much in conversation)

Warnings: Grinding, Thigh riding, finger sucking, masturbation, choking, spanking (like once?), dirty talk, over usage of pet names.

Grammatical Warnings: I can’t space stuff properly, editing is hard, have mercy on my soul. Probably some typos I didn’t see after editing.

Parings: Switch!Reader x Switch!Maknae Line x Dom!Hyung Line (I’m sorry I’m too lazy to write out names and the story conveniently worked out this way.)

Christmas time was the boys’ least favorite time of year. Brand deals, Christmas music, photoshoots, and other promotions filled their schedule. It was so hectic that spending time with each other was their very last priority. But this year, things were going to be different. It had been about two years since the boys summoned you, your presence turning their world upside down. Soon your unorthodox friends-with-benefits situation blossomed into a relationship, and the boys have never been happier. This would be one of the first Christmases where all eight of you would be together, and the boys wanted to make it special for you.

Which leads them to their current dilemma. What exactly do you get a demon for Christmas? While the hyungs struggled to find you the perfect gift, the maknae line finished their shopping within the hour. Taehyung had raided almost every lingerie store in the city to buy the sexiest and highest quality sets he could find (though Jimin pointed out the lingerie was more of a gift for Taehyung himself than for you). Jimin bought you several designer brands outfits and accessories after you complained that the boys always outdressed you on every occasion. Jungkook thoughtfully bought you a Nintendo switch and various games after he accidentally converted you into a full-on gamer girl.

The four eldest men were now poking around an electronics shop hoping to find you a gift that was even better than the youngest’s gifts (despite Namjoon’s protests that it wasn’t a competition, knowing you would love anything they bought you). Yoongi was thoughtfully looking over various brands of headphones, wanting to get you the best and most durable type since you broke your last pair after losing to Jungkook in Overwatch. Namjoon was right next to him, debating on what cellphone he should get you after he cracked the screen on your current one.

Seokjin sighs not really interested in the stuff around him, “We could have bought all this stuff online guys.”

“I can’t check the quality of the headphones online babe,” Yoongi patiently chastises.

Seokjin rolls his eyes in response. All seven of the men had been in the mall for hours, the youngest three rushing off to the food court after picking out their gifts. He was exhausted, and the crowded mall put him on edge. Feeling a pair of warm arms wrap themselves around him, he relaxes a little. Hoseok smiles softly, resting his chin on the elder’s shoulder. Glancing down at the bag in Jin's hands, he silently asks what the oldest member got you. Opening the bag, Seokjin unveils a polaroid camera. Hoseok hums in approval, shuffling around to show Seokjin his gift for you.

Opening the sleek black box he was holding, the dancer revealed a beautiful silver chain choker. Dangling from the necklace was a pendant engraved with the words Bangtan’s Girl. Seokjin groans in frustration, you were going to love that choker and there was no way his polaroid camera was going to top that.

Namjoon tuts, "I told you guys it’s not a competition."

"But if it was, Hobi hyung totally won,” Taehyung helpfully adds. The boys had just returned from their food court run carrying various amounts of food. Jungkook pouts in agreement offering a bite of his cheese corndog to Seokjin in an attempt to comfort him. Never one to reject free food, the eldest obliges.

“Are we done yet? Y/n is probably wondering where we are,” Jimin prompts the men. He had hoped to get home before you, knowing how nosy and mischievous you can be. Yoongi nods and goes to checkout dragging Namjoon (who ultimately decided to buy two cell phones) with him.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The drive home was quick, and the boys ultimately decided to leave their presents in the car so that they could sneak them inside the house later without you noticing. Happy to be home and eager to get out of the cold, the men hastily unlock the door and scramble inside.

“Boys, I think Santa dropped off your Christmas gift a little early."

Freezing in their tracks the boys are greeted with the most beautiful sight. You’re sitting on the couch clad in nothing but a lacy lingerie set and red thigh-high stockings; a pretty red silk choker sits against your neck, and the sight has Hoseok groaning. He definitely picked out the perfect present.

You flash the man a sultry smile, and your bright red lipstick has Taehyung tightening in his pants, wanting nothing more than to smear it all over your face with his cock. Jimin is fairing any better; the idea of you leaving lipstick prints all over his body causes him to shudder with excitement.

Lacking the self-restraint the other men have, Jungkook is already in front of you on his knees. Rubbing his large hands up and down your legs, he mumbles praises in between the kisses he’s placing on your thighs.

“God noona, you look so good dressed like this. Fuck. Can I taste you Noona? Pretty please?”

With an airy laugh, you run your hands through Jungkook's hair, gripping the strands; you pull him away from you.

"Not yet Kookie. You have to be a good boy and wait until Christmas."

The room is instantly filled with protests. Pushing the youngest out of the way, Seokjin pulls you onto his lap, running his hands up and down your body, “Oh, angel, how cruel. I thought it was the season of giving.”

Hoseok joins in, planting kisses up the side of your neck, "Come on beautiful, you can't dress like this and tell us not to touch you.”

From you right, Yoongi scolds you, "How naughty, kitten, getting all pretty just to tease us."

You shiver at the pet names. They knew what they did to you, and they were clearly using them to their advantage. Though that wasn’t the only skill they were using. The youngest three boys were all at your feet, placing wet kisses on your legs and sucking hickeys into your skin. Glancing up, you look at Namjoon, who was palming himself while sitting in the armchair across the room, looking like absolute sin. You weren’t even sure when they all moved, but you didn’t care either.

“Joonie please, play along. Pretty please?” you plead. Namjoon’s eyes darken at your words. He always loved when you begged.

The leader hums, pretending to think it over, "I don't know, baby, it really doesn't seem fair. I think you’re going to have to convince me.”

You suppress a smirk, he may pretend to resist at first, but Namjoon always loved to spoil you.

Grinding your ass against Seokjin you make your case, “I was thinking that we could watch each other get off. You know, touch ourselves but not actually touch each other. What do you think Jinnie?”

The oldest only curses, any response he had died on the tip of his tongue after feeling your ass rubbing against his dick. Yoongi frowns in mock contemplation, “Hmm, I like the idea, Kitten. But what I think there should be one little change.”

You tilt your head at the rapper inquisitively as he exchanges a look with the other boys. Seemingly excited by the silent suggestion, Hoseok answers your silent question.

“You can’t touch yourself beautiful.”

“What?” Any playfulness leaves your body in an instant. You’re grinding against Seokjin, slowly coming to a halt. Jungkook would have almost found the look on your face funny if he wasn’t so blinded by lust, his hand already in his pants, slowly stroking his cock over his underwear.

"Aw princess, it's only fair; look at you are being so naughty, grinding against Seokjin hyung like that. Not to mention how you’re teasing us dressed like that,” Taehyung gestures at your body as if proving a point.

"We're not saying you can't cum, sweetheart. You just can’t use your hands,” Jimin reassures you. You nod slowly, understanding what the boys want. Hooking your leg over Seokjin's, you straddle his thigh, the seven men groaning at the sight. The sound of zippers and belt buckles rings in your ears and sends a shudder down your spine.

“Come on baby we’re waiting," Namjoon prompts.

Slowly you start grinding against Seokjin’s thigh, the feeling of your lace-covered pussy against his jean-clad leg sending you reeling.

"Does it feel good, princess?" Taehyung eyes are locked on where your pussy and Jin's leg meet, the sight causing him to tug on his dick with a bit more force.

You moan at his words, pushing yourself down harder against Seokjin.

Locking eyes with Jungkook, he's already jerking himself off at breakneck speed. "Kookie baby, slow down. I don’t want you to cum yet,” you coo. Jungkook huffs in frustration, his words almost incoherent, "I can't help it, noona, you look so good using hyung to get off like that. Can I- shit, can I see you?”

You comply with his request pulling your bra down to expose your breasts. The cool air of the room causes your nipples to harden, and all the men groan in response.

“Fuck your tits always look so pretty. I want to suck on your nipples so bad. Please sweetheart let me make you feel good? Please? I’ll be so good for you,” your eyes roll back at Jimin’s words. His pleads driving you crazy.

“Shit, Jimin baby, don’t beg me like that. I can’t control myself when you beg like that.”

“You should beg some more Jiminie, look at how cute she looks when you beg for her. She looks absolutely wrecked as she makes a mess on Seokjin’s pants,” Taehyung taunts.

“Taehyung,” you purr, a bite in your tone, “when I get my hands on you I swear to god-”

Smack!

You let out a yelp when Hoseok’s hand comes down on your ass, the sting settling into your skin.

“What happened to my good girl? She would never say such mean things to Taehyung,” Hoseok scolds. He spanks you again, loving how you jump at the feeling.

“Maybe you shouldn’t talk at all if you can’t say anything nice,” Yoongi suggests, “what do you think Joon?” Namjoon acts as if he’s thinking over Yoongi’s question, but the smirk on his face gives him away.

“I agree hyung, I don’t want her hurting anyone’s feelings.”

Yoongi grins and shoves two fingers in your mouth. You obediently suck on them despite your original no-touching rule. You were already fucking yourself stupid on Jin's thigh, anyway. Seokjin grabs your hips and moves you faster against him, a silent demand to increase your pace. You whimper around Yoongi’s fingers at the delicious friction the increase in speed gives you.

“Fuck, what I wouldn’t give to feel those pretty lips wrapped around my cock right now,” Namjoon grunts, stroking his dick faster. You choke on Yoongi's fingers at the thought; Namjoon was not small by any means, and the idea of him stretching your throat with his cock had you shivering with pleasure.

Seokjin is in heaven with the way you’re rubbing yourself against his thigh. Your panties are soaked through, and he can feel the mess you making on his jeans. He wraps a hand around your throat, and you moan so loud around Yoongi’s fingers that Seokjin almost cums right then and there.

Your eyes start to flutter at the overwhelming pleasure, tears pooling in your eyes. “I know that face noona. Are you about to cum? You going to cum all over hyung’s thigh? Going to make a big mess on his pants? Don’t worry noona I’ll clean it up, make as big of a mess as you want,”

Jungkook's words are filthy, and you desperately look at Namjoon, knowing you are going to cum soon, with or without his permission, no matter how hard you try.

If your mind wasn’t overpowered by lust, you would have noticed that all the men were close to their orgasms. Their hands were nothing more than blurs rapidly moving up and down their cocks bringing them closer to the edge.

Your breasts were bouncing up and down, sweat was dripping down your body, mascara running down your face, and your lipstick was smeared around your mouth and Yoongi’s fingers. Namjoon took one look at you and cracked.

“Fuck, go ahead and cum for us baby.”

The words barely left his mouth before your orgasm washed over you. Your whole body shook at the force creaming all over Seokjin’s thigh. The boys follow soon after cumming all over their hands and pants.

Releasing Yoongi's fingers from your mouth, you collapse against Jin. Basking in the lovely high you always get after sex. Each of the boys looks fucked out, and you silently thank the gods that you ordered a pizza earlier. Planting a kiss on Seokjin's cheek, you get up to go start the shower, wanting to take care of the boys after your fun. You peel off your panties on your way, uncomfortable with the way they cling to your body, and you can't help but laugh when you see Taehyung pocket them.

After cleaning up, you and the boys settle in on the couch cuddling up to watch some cheesy Christmas movie. Though you'd never admit it out loud, the after-sex cuddles were your favorite part. Namjoon presses a kiss to your temple, amused by the huge grin on your face. If it were up to him he’d call you a cuddle demon rather than a succubus.

“What are you thinking about baby?”

You hum in response,

“Just thinking about how much I love you guys.”

"Aw guys she loves us!"

"How embarrassing. I'd never admit that out loud.."

You laugh loudly, and the boys melt at the sound. Shaking your head, you bury yourself deeper in their arms.

“You guys are idiots.”

“We’re your idiots.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Merry Christmas my idiots.”

“Merry Christmas Y/n.”

…

“It’s technically not Christmas yet so…."

"Taehyung seriously?"

“What? Am I wrong?”

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themovieblogonline · 1 year

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Martin Scorsese Wants Cinema Saved From Franchise Films

Martin Scorsese has been keeping his name in the headlines since the start of his career. He is currently promoting his upcoming film Killers of the Flower Moon (out October 20th), but his body of work (and decades of strong opinions) means that interviewers aren't only asking him about the movie. In a recent profile with GQ, Martin Scorsese shared some thoughts that essentially bash franchise films, going as far as saying that cinema needs saving from them. And, based on his recent disgust in superhero movies, we aren't surprised. What Does Martin Scorsese Think About Franchise Films? Scorsese shares some studio feedback from one of his most beloved films, The Departed, in his recent profile. According to the director, Warner Bros. was eager to see one of the film's main characters (played by Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio) survive the story. Though, if you've seen the film, you know that it doesn't end so happily. Scorsese took from their perspective that the studio wanted their stories to go on, meaning that a franchise would be born. And that's not Scorsese's modus operandi. Scorsese goes on to share that franchise films (which we so often associate with superhero films now, thanks to Marvel and DC) pose a danger to our culture, sharing that "there are going to be generations now that think movies are only those- that's what movies are." And he isn't wrong. How often do we go into films hoping to see our presumed dead favourite characters make an appearance, signaling an opportunity for a revived story? And how excited do we get when a backdoor pilot pops up in our latest binge-watch? It's not just Marvel. Everything has been jumping into franchise territory these days, from the big screen to the small (like with Stranger Things' upcoming spinoffs.) So How Does He Save Cinema? Scorsese's perspective comes from a man who has spent his life working in film. He has seen trends come and go, but his love of filmmaking has not wavered. His solution? To fight back stronger: Which means that we have to then fight back stronger. And it’s got to come from the grassroots level. It’s gotta come from the filmmakers themselves. And you’ll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you’ll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean? And hit ’em from all sides. Hit ’em from all sides, and don’t give up. Let’s see what you got. Go out there and do it. Go reinvent. Don’t complain about it. But it’s true, because we’ve got to save cinema. - Scorsese to GQ His solution is eloquently put and, fortunately, doesn't shine the most negative light on movie-goers. Instead, it looks at the filmmakers and begs them to keep working on their craft. Auteurs like Christopher Nolan and the Safdie Brothers are creators who have come out with undeniably creative and gorgeous films. But Nolan has also famously taken part in franchise work with his Dark Knight trilogy. That doesn't write him off from Scorsese's list of favourite directors - it just means that he has to keep original content in mind to keep the craft alive. Scorsese has caught a lot of flack over the past few years for his hatred of Marvel movies and cinematic universes. And I get the frustration. These franchises have kept movie theatres alive and well in tough times. But I also have to agree with Scorsese that it's led us too far from the light. We have grown used to waiting until credits have rolled to get a look at what's next rather than simply appreciating what is in front of us. Can we have the best of both worlds? Can we have incredible and creative franchise films, and new perspectives and standalone magic? Of course! As long as we, as the ticket buyers, keep showing up. And after seeing Oppenheimer's impressive box office numbers, I'm not worried for a second. So, what do you think about Martin Scorsese and his frustration with franchise films? Do you think they are changing the way that we look at cinema? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and if you agree with his proposed solution. Read the full article

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mainspuzzle · 2 years

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Q music rescue team

If you don't know how much I praise this game for its story, I wrote a review that you should read right effing now, and go play right away. This is the theme most commonly recognized as the track music that plays when SPOILER ALERT GUYS, THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT, IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED THIS, I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND READING ON, Grovyle sacrifices himself to ensure that you and your partner can continue your crucial mission to stop the collapse of Temporal Tower and save time as you know it. Through the Sea of Time (Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky) I've included YouTube links to each, and some have awesome fan renditions that are worth checking out!Ģ5. These are the best musical selections of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games. It's just awesome and deserves to be talked about, so let's just get on with it. Is there any particular reason I'm talking about the music? No not really. I can't get enough of this series, and sometimes, I just gotta do something to highlight just how much I love these games. One of these games is easily in my top ten favorite video games out there. It's not only my favorite Pokémon Spinoff game series, but my favorite Pokémon game. Or you can take a deeper dive through the lens of the UnthinkaBot, Glassman.If you've been living under a rock foot the entire time I've been present here on DA, I love Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. Once kids have reached this point, you can choose from an array of Superflex products. Superflex: A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum.Teach BEFORE or alongside teaching the Superflex curriculum if working with kids ages 9-12. Books should be introduced in this order: Before sharing this book with children, parents and educators need to start at the beginning, introduce core concepts, and work through the Superflex curriculum. New to the world of Superflex? Explore what it’s all about in this article, and learn strategies for teaching self-awareness and self-regulation in our Superflex On Demand series. Cumber to shift attention to the positive powers for managing Glassman. To help children compare and contrast the inner workings of their brain in tackling everyday social challenges related to problems and reactions.Cumber) to figure out problem sizes and reaction sizes To call upon their own Thinkable strategy (Kool Q.To help children celebrate their ability to manage Glassman.Sensory and language based strategies to manage Glassman: calming my body, breathing in, tightening all my muscles, breathing out and relaxing them using positive self-talk, etc.Īdults who are using the Superflex curriculum and concepts can use Superflex and Kool Q.Learning to match reaction size to size of the problem.This illustrated storybook connects to and supports these Social Thinking Vocabulary concepts: As kids learn strategies to manage the Unthinkables (officially changing Unthinkables to UnthinkaBots over the course of 2021-22), they strengthen their flexible thinking and are better able to self-regulate in challenging times. This engaging book is part of our Superflex series, which is designed to help children learn about their own and others’ thoughts and behaviors, and practice strategies for self-regulation across a variety of situations. As Sam feels Glassman ruling his thoughts, he uses the strategies he learned from Kool and the five Power Pals to figure out a reaction that matches the size of the problem. In the story, Aiden’s friend Sam becomes frustrated with problems throughout the day. Kool helps Social Town citizens stay “kool” when problems happen, and then use strategies to figure problem and reactions. Cumber to the Rescue! book introduces readers to the Thinkable Kool Q. San Jose Clinic Services (all links open San Jose website)ĭigital version must be purchased separately -only on Apple Books and Google Play.Social Academic Connection & Goal Writing.Self Regulation, Social Responsibility &.San Francisco, Bay Area | Dec 1 & 2, 2022.Social Thinking Thinksheets for Tweens and Teens.

#Q music rescue team

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fingertipsmp3 · 6 years

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It is the year 2547. The final Shadowhunter Chronicles book has come out. Against my will, my skeleton rises up from the grave to read it. The protagonist is Jace Herondale’s mother’s cousin’s cat’s friend’s great-nephew. New York is the setting. New York no longer exists.

#pls do not yell at me i love the shadowhunter chronicles more than i love myself #i’m just starting to get frustrated with all of these spinoffs which i know i will read but am still not happy about #i’ve done the calculations and i’ve figured out that with one book published per year #i will be 29 years old when the final wicked powers book comes out #i was 17 when i started reading these books and i didn’t even start until the first 2 series’ were out like...#how is it possible that i’m still reading this #it’s been 84 years #but i’m with you to the end cassandra. wherever this goes #i don’t have a choice at this point #i’m going to feel like frodo in lotr when i put down the last wicked powers book. i just know it #‘it’s gone. it’s done’#i’m 3/4 of the way through qoaad and i thought i would feel this way #but then everyone was all ‘lol two more trilogies :)))’ so of course i have to read those #because if i don’t i’ll get spoiled anyway and i want to know what happens to these idiot kids so i might as well #can’t wait to be a 29 year old woman crying about these children #if the world survives that long it’s going to happen #personal #tmi #tda #tid

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middle-earth-mythopoeia · 2 years

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I’m tired of the argument that Amazon will “bring more fans into the Tolkien fandom.” It’s technically correct: there will undoubtedly be some people who get into Tolkien through the Amazon show. But does it have to happen that way? And what exactly is the point of making that argument?

Lord of the Rings isn’t obscure. The books and movies are popular and well-known worldwide. You’d have to live under a rock to not at least tangentially know about LOTR, even if you haven’t read the books or watched the movies. Even if Amazon’s TV show will bring more fans into the fandom, what is stopping those same people from engaging right now with the books or the movie trilogy? Nothing. Nothing is stopping them.

What I find frustrating about the argument that Amazon is going to “bring more fans into the fandom” is the unstated message that follows from it. The implication is that since Amazon is going to bring in new fans, which is a good thing, then we should somehow be grateful to them and stop criticizing the show.

Whether people mean that is, unfortunately, beside the point. I’m sure that many people saying “there are going to be new fans!” are just trying to be positive, and that’s fine. Here’s the thing: any new movie or show that is being made in an established fandom will bring in at least some new fans. A bad adaptation will bring in new fans. A good adaptation will bring in new fans. It’s a redundant concept: it’s reflexively true. Of course new movies/TV shows/spinoffs/whatever bring in new fans. Why even point it out? Because of what’s not being said. “The Amazon show will bring more fans into the fandom... therefore it’s a good thing.” That’s what’s not being said.

Again, this might not be what people think they’re trying to say, but it’s what comes across. In the last year or so, and especially in the last few months, a lot of Tolkien fans have been upset about how Amazon is approaching Tolkien’s works. It’s in response to those concerns that people started saying, “but the show will bring in new fans.”

Bringing more fans into the fandom doesn’t make Amazon good. It doesn’t mean that Tolkien fans need to be grateful for a poor and disrespectful adaptation of stories we love. It doesn’t negate all of the bad choices Amazon has made on the TV show, or the fact that they’re releasing it on the day Tolkien died, or the sheer hubris of the showrunners, who think they can create “the novel Tolkien never wrote.”

Here’s an analogy. Let’s say you have a little town in the mountains surrounded by big forests. Then a logging company buys up a bunch of the land and starts cutting down the trees. But they employ local labor! So now you can say, “well, they created a bunch of jobs, so this is a good thing.” That’s kind of how I see the argument of “Amazon is bringing more fans into the fandom.” Because the logging company that’s now destroying the environment wasn’t the only way to bring more job opportunities to the town. Amazon’s atrocious adaptation is certainly not the only way to bring more fans into the fandom. You know what would be another way? An adaptation that’s actually good. Arguments saying that Amazon is bringing new fans into the fandom come across to me a bit like, “well, this is good for the economy!” while ignoring that it’s not good for people.

The other thing is, it’s not like the Tolkien fandom is a barren wasteland. On the contrary, I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a more active, thriving fan community, and one that is also very international, multilingual and multicultural. New people are coming into it all the time, entirely without the help of a greedy, corrupt megacorporation.

To be clear, if I see people making fanart, fanfiction, or edits of the show, I will simply not interact with them. I won’t gatekeep them, I won’t start debates with them about what’s canon and what’s not, I won’t criticize them for engaging with the show, and I hope you won’t either. My criticisms are of Amazon. Nor is this post aimed at anyone in particular; it’s just addressing a topic I’ve been thinking about for a while.

All in all, I mean no ill will towards people who happen to find Tolkien’s works through the Rings of Power show. I just wish it didn’t have to be that way.

#rings of power #lotrrop #amazon #fuck amazon #my writing

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lermisv4 · 3 years

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Zelda ost is vanishing

So, many of you Zelda fans out there look up Zelda music on YouTube. To study, to chill, to vibe, etc. Some of you may pick a specific game and listen to the whole soundtrack, while some others may put a playlist of some mix of games. I know there are many people who listen specifically the the dungeon OSTs. If you look up “zelda dungeon music”, the very first result on a blank browser (not logged in) is a list titled “zelda dungeon music - UPDATED”.

I am the one who created and maintains that list. And I’m posting this to complain about Nintendo.

I honestly can’t remember when I made the list, only why. I noticed that the previously most popular list was incomplete. I think they did not have the Link Between Worlds soundtrack? I don’t know. But I was kind of disappointed about that so I figured “hey I’m doing nothing on my account” (I haven’t uploaded a single video, lol - hell, at the time the only reason I even HAD an account was because Google had just bought YouTube) “so may as well make the list myself!”

It was... mildly difficult. For the most popular games, I could just go to GilvaSunner’s channel and pick the tracks, but for most of the 2D games I had to look for channels of the same quality and pick tracks from there. There was also the fact that I REALLY wanted the playlist to cover everything, so I had to make a few choices on WHAT to choose. Do I include caverns? If not, why? If yes, why? Is it fair to include the caverns of one game and not the other? (eventually I decided on “depends on whether you get a key item from them / plot significance”) Do I include spinoff titles, like Hyrule Warriors? (I decided no) How do I manage games with a stage-type structure, like Four Swords? Do I put the songs in the order I find them on the playlists or according to their in-game appearance? Do I include the dungeon intros? I tried that, but it didn’t flow well. Hell, at one point I tried to add ALL THE VARIATIONS OF THE TRIFORCE HEROES STAGES but not even a third through I was like NOPE. Yes, I know the titles in that part in the playlist are in french, I honestly thought it was a quirk of the game due to the whole “fashion” thing.

Eventually, I had a cool playlist I was happy with more songs than THE most popular playlist, and I was secretely hoping it would surpass the other playlist in views because clearly mine is the better one! (yeah, I know how that sounds) It was slow going at first and I was frustrated when for a long time YouTube searches would not show it among the results - I can’t remember how long it took me to make, but it was a while. But over time some people started noticing, I got a few thousand views, and it started growing increasingly popular until it had almost as many views as the most popular one. I added UPDATED on the title to let people know that THIS list was up to date.

That playlist had become really important to me at that time. I know it’s stupid of being proud of something like that, but I listened to it all the time - whether I was studying or writing fanfiction and needed a vibe trip to the fantasy realm or whatever. It got me through some pretty tough exam periods, let me tell you.

Then Breath of the Wild came out. That was when I started noticing problems.

I was a few months late to the party because real life kicked my ass (still does), but eventually I watched a full walkthrough of the game and obviously decided it high-time I add the new tracks. After all, it has “UPDATED” in the title, I can’t leave it without the tracks of such an immensely popular game.

So first I went to GilvaSunner’s channel to add the new tracks. But they weren’t there. Okay... I found a different channel. Oh nice. I added the new tracks, making sure to include additional ones in accordance to my broadened standards. I left the list alone, happy once again.

A few months later, I noticed that all the BotW tracks had been deleted. I was EXTREMELY weirded out. I found another channel which took those tracks and reuploaded them. Oh, okay, problem solved. Then THOSE tracks were taken down. The channel reuploaded them again. I readded them. Then slowly, over the course of time, I noticed that various tracks in the playlist would randomly go missing. Like the dungeon theme from Phantom Hourglass, or the stuff from a Link to the Past, or that something happened to the Spirit tracks soundtrack. Each and every time, I would search YouTube, trying to recall WHICH tracks were missing (I never wrote the list anywhere because I have my criteria memorized), reorganising them - sometimes on my phone, during class - and always with a low-key nervousness that I may have forgotten something. Oftentimes I would find notices of the type “this video is not available in your country” which REALLY pissed me off.

Then, last year, all the Ocarina of Time songs went missing. I borderline panicked back then, but I was able to - once again - find the tracks and replace them, but with the thought of “who tf would take them down”.

I know who would. Nintendo, that’s who. By that point I kept hearing stuff about how they would take down stuff like mods, or some channels, but I never thought they’d attack a channel that’s been there forever and was abandoned for a few years.

Yesterday, I decided to replay the list. The entirety of Majora’s Mask, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Link Between Worlds, and most of the Skyward Sword and Link to the Past soundtracks were taken down. And I DON’T KNOW WHEN.

I freaked the F out. I spent literal hours looking for the tracks online, wondering what else was missing, if I would even find what I needed online, how long would it take, and when the hell did this happen!? I slapped an “under repairs” notice on the playlist and went searching. Eventually I found replacements for everything.

Then today, the original LOZ soundtrack and the rest of the Skyward Sword ones went missing. The LOZ dungeon theme I had on the playlist was a 30 second video. And they deleted that. It was online for about TEN YEARS. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find replacements for that stuff? You’ll find extended versions and dozens of different covers, but never the originals.

As for Skyward Sword? Today I was only able to find a few extended versions of the missing tracks. NONE of the originals. So I put the “under repairs” label on the list again, and now I can only hope somebody uploads them, and that no more game music channels will be attacked within the month.

I freaking HATE Nintendo for doing this. Remove the soundtrack? Some of these games are older than I am. Piracy? Bitch please. If you didn’t want people pirating your content, THEN YOU WOULD HAVE MADE IT AVAILABLE TO ALL. Yeah, I pirate the shit out of everything. But I WOULD buy if it was AVAILABLE! “Buy the official comic” they say WELL MAKE AN OFFICIAL TRANSLATION SO WE CAN. “Buy the official version” well maybe if you would sell it without requiring some weird regional check and subscription - if you even sell it to begin with.

I hate this. I freaking hate this.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make a community post so I would at least have a means for others to inform me if they noticed something wrong. I have like - only eleven subscribers but that’s not the issue, I have a playlist with over 200.000 views that people obviously like and I want to deliver. I failed at making a post because I couldn’t find the freaking option and I gave up out of frustration. And today THIS happened.

I am seriously considering downloading all those tracks in a sound only format on my laptop, and if something gets deleted again to upload it myself. But the thought scares me. I did not even WANT that Youtube account. I have uploaded absolutely no videos. I simply have a few playlists of shit that I like. But like I said, that Zelda dungeon music playlist is the most popular on YouTube. What if they decide that “no, that’s not acceptable” and decide to strike with the banhammer?

I don’t know if anyone CAN offer a solution, but I really needed to vent. I started this thing for the vibes, I don’t want to chase around the uploads for who knows how many years in the future. Sometimes I even think that whoever takes down this stuff may be finding obscure YouTube channels BECAUSE of my playlist. But... I know it sounds stupid but I can’t let go of it.

So here. That’s my confession. I needed to get this out of my chest. You can look it up yourselves. Yeah, that’s my real name there I won’t deny it, nothing to hide. Enjoy my playlist because I don’t know how long it’s going to be around. And please keep in mind that as of the time of writing, the Skyward Sword section is missing most of the tracks.

Thank you for reading.

EDIT: UPDATE - I managed to restore the full playlist and download all the tracks I needed on my PC. Here’s hoping there’s no new round of takedowns on 2023.

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mochiable · 3 years

Text

requests | masterlist

— i spy.

pairing husband!renjun x fem!reader. genre fluff. wc 0.554k

“daddy, daddy! can we play i spy?” your son asked from his seat in the back of the car, receiving shouts of support from his younger sister.

renjun, who was sitting next to you reading the reviews of the restaurant you were on your way to, let out a laugh and looked at you with complicity.

“sure, champ! shall i start?” your husband asked, tapping your first-born on the knee, who shook his head emphatically as you could see from the inside rear-view mirror as he let out a simple ‘no’, “all right, you start then.”

“i spy with my little eye something green!” he shouted excitedly as he swayed in his seat.

“something green?” renjun looked out of the window and immediately laughed when he knew what his son was referring to, but decided to play dumb to let him win, “i don't see anything green, can you give me another clue?” he asked, turning around again and leaning his face against the back of his seat, earning a laugh from your youngest daughter.

“what do you mean you don't see any green, daddy?” the little boy replied with mild frustration as he pointed his finger towards the large trees planted on the side of the road, “it’s very tall and i always climb it when we’re at grandpa's,” he explained, opening one of the bags of biscuits in his backpack.

renjun turned around again and waited a few seconds before answering. “the trees?” he asked in mock confusion, getting a ‘finally’ from ulsan and making you and your daughter laugh, which brought an instant smile to renjun’s face as he saw how much they sounded alike, melting with tenderness inside.

“now it's daddy's turn,” the youngest of the family excitedly announced, jumping up and down in her seat.

“i spy with my little eye...” your husband began, looking out of the window, “something blue.”

“blue?” your son frowned as he ate his third biscuit.

“the sky!” nabi squealed, clapping her hands in delight.

“that’s right, sweetie!” renjun congratulated her, stretching out his arm to tickle her tummy.

“dad, but the sky isn't blue today!” he complained, softly kicking his father's seat, who laughed in amusement at his son's behaviour, “it's not fair, you have to do another one!”

“okay, okay,” he gave up, returning his gaze to the front, “let's see, i spy...” he started, going silent for a few seconds, thinking about what to say. suddenly, when you stopped at a red light, he turned to look at you and gave you one of the purest and most sincere smiles before he continued, “something beautiful.”

just as if you were seventeen years old and it was the first time you’d seen him, your cheeks turned pink at the compliment.

“i know, i know, it's mum!” he replied confidently as he laughed, “that was an easy one, because mum is so pretty,” he whispered to his sister, who simply nodded with a giggle.

“yes, she is,” your husband said, clasping your hands together and stroking the back of your hand gently with his thumb as he looked at you with love and gentleness.

that’s when you felt like the luckiest person on the planet and you were sure you wanted to enjoy these little moments for the rest of your life.

a/n: god this is so cheesy ahhhhh i’m so sorry. the truth is i wrote this in five minutes so forgive me if it's not too good. my final exams are next week and i barely have time to breathe. thanks for reading guys, ily<33

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alcalexandria · 2 years

Note

I’m a big fan of the terminator series, and I’ve read through some of your posts. You’ve mentioned a couple of times that T1, T2, and DF are “canon” and I was wondering if you could go into depth about that?

I'm sincerely sorry for missing this for like... ever. Sorry!

So "canon" is always subjective. What's considered gospel is always down to how you define it, but I generally defer to either whoever had the biggest part to play in creating or making something, or to what is current at time of writing, in the story universe, in the format of the original... depending on which has a stronger case at the time.

So what Chris Carter says is "true" to the world of the X Files is canon - what a spinoff novelisation has Mulder and Scully romp around doing is not, even if it's licensed.

It gets a bit trickier when you talk about something like Star Wars - George Lucas would historically have been the arbiter of ~Canon~, but no longer is. Star Wars is an ongoing movie universe now without his involvement. So, because the timeline is current and Lucas has bowed out, I consider the modern Star Wars movies to trump the older EU spin off content. They have the strongest claim to canon.

Canon is in some ways more fungible than usual when it comes to Terminator - it has multiple, mutually exclusive timelines branching out from T2, and the nature of the premise means something canon in one movie can be unravelled by the next even if they're in the same timeline. This is arguably even true in some ways of T1 and T2, which have contradictory concepts of time travel or where the future goes from here.

That said - let's start simple.

We can pretty much all agree T1 is, obviously, canon, because it's the first movie the rest all spring from.

T2 is canon, because James Cameron made it, and because *every* subsequent movie follows on from it as if it remains true. So there's no contest to it.

Dark Fate is a little less ironclad - but it still meets both the criteria I consider qualifying, easily.

Firstly, right now it's the "current" timeline - it's entirely possible it will be displaced by another movie in future, but right now it's the heir apparent. It overwrites all the previous movies since T2, and nothing has been handed the torch since.

Secondly, Cameron was heavily involved with it.

Technically, he produced the movie, and is credited as such - but James Cameron is a notorious control freak, and a James Cameron producer credit means something very different to what it seems to mean for most, as Robert Rodriguez can attest.

It's clear how involved in the conceptualisation he was in any of the press interviews he did -

youtube

In another interview I can't get to hand, he even went on to suggest he hoped to be more involved in any follow ups DF generated.

We know he had input to the script directly, having contributed set piece ideas to it - the first death we see (yes, that one), and the plane-to-dam stuff were his ideas - and even scenes (Sarah and Carl's confrontation) and was rewriting script pages up until shooting day, as has always been his habit.

We also know he also retained veto power - Tim Miller has mentioned a number of elements he would have done differently if not for being "overruled" by Cameron, including how the humans are faring in the war - and he was involved in edit suite decisions, much to Miller's frustration.

So we can say that, more than just giving it his seal of approval for the promo circuit (something he has, in fairness, done for previous post T2s), he was very actively involved in devising, making and steering the movie, had the final say over what ultimately went on to the screen, and even intended to tell stories continuing from the "facts" it established.

And on that point - in the Special Edition commentary for T2, Cameron makes it clear he actually considers the *Theatrical* cut of that movie canon, not any of the extended ones - which means that the chip removal scenes or Sarah's Kyle dream aren't considered gospel to the continuity. He considers these "might have been" scenes, referring to them as "donut holes", ie the fun little off-cuts of the real product.

Dark Fate takes his ruling on this as law - it adheres strictly to the "rules" of the Theatrical Cut, which is why we see a T800 capable of learning on its own. Per the Theatrical Cut, in canon, T800s can learn by themselves, so that's what Carl has done.

(And indeed, as brilliantly executed as the chip scene is, nixing it resolves an apparent contradiction in how the un-modded Phone Book Killer was already seen to learn independently in T1).

Now it is entirely possible Dark Fate will be overwritten in future - just as T3 or Genisys were - or that Cameron will withdraw the relay baton from Dark Fate and pass it elsewhere. But as it stands, at time of writing, I consider it pretty much as certified and canonical as it's possible to be. It's the current state-of-the-plot, jCam was all over it, it has the most direct continuity with T2, and it was the one Cameron hoped to run with.

So by my reckoning at least, that makes the official, canon, sealed by Word of God sequence of the Terminator story to be -

The Terminator -> Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Theatrical Cut) -> Terminator: Dark Fate

...at least for now.

I'm always open to argument otherwise though. :)

#terminator dark fate #dark fate #grace harper #dani ramos #terminator #tdf #terminator: dark fate #sarah connor #james cameron #terminator franchise #scifi #terminator 2 judgment day #the terminator #t2:jd

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advancedpottery217x2 · 2 years

Text

ミツメイしか勝たない件について

I don’t know how many people actually look at this, but ミツメイ至高主義者 is the first line of my Twitter bio. I wouldn’t blame anyone for not remembering since I don’t talk about it much online but there is very much a reason why I put it before everything else.

Mitsumei (ミツメイ) is the Japanese pairing name of the characters Miles Edgeworth and Franziska von Karma from the Ace Attorney series (I will be mainly using the English names in this post because I would feel weird otherwise in this English language post). 2022 marks the 10th year since I have started shipping these two, which also makes it the 10th year since I started learning Japanese. Since 2012, I have held an unwavering belief that nothing I will encounter will ever top Miles/Franziska for me, hence the Twitter bio. This belief has shaped a large portion of my life for better or worse. Ten years of time have not changed that, so I thought now would be a perfect time to try to indoctrinate people reflect upon this.

In the first half of this post, I will talk about the pairing itself within the context of the Ace Attorney series and my own experiences. As such, there will be spoilers for the first three games. In the process of talking about why I like it so much I will also probably turn into a incomprehensible fangirl so don’t say I didn’t warn you. In the second half, I will talk about how it has influenced how I view other media. There will be large spoilers for Mawaru Penguindrum, Mirai Radio to Jinkou-bato, Soukou Akki Muramasa, as well as numerous others.

I recall why I started playing Ace Attorney.

In middle school I was looking for DS games to play and I knew a friend was playing the first Ace Attorney. I asked if they found it interesting to which they replied yes, which led to me playing the first game. After finishing that, I continued with the second, third, fourth, and even Investigations, eventually finishing all the available games on the DS in English at the time.

I do not particularly recall why I started to ship this pairing.

I remember being excited for Franziska's appearance in the second game for some reason to the point of staying up a bit to get to the part where she showed up in court for the first time. I remember feeling a bit excited the times she was the partner character in Investigations, the spinoff game where Edgeworth is the protagonist, and the time I spent walking around the map during those times just to see the sprites walk with each other. Timeline wise, something must have changed in the time I spent playing the second game, third game, and Investigations, but I just can’t seem to remember what happened ten years ago. I’m almost frustrated at this fact considering how deep in I am now.

In time I came to do what any budding fan of something does and went online to look for fanart and fanfiction. I searched... and I searched... and I continued to search yet again to the point where I believe I have exhausted most of the available English language content on Mitsumei as of now (If there’s something you want to show me, then by all means go ahead though). This is, in fact, the direct impetus for me improving my Japanese reading skills. And in the following years I worked on that through scouring the internet again for more content, this time in Japanese. While I am less confident than I am for the English side, I have seen a lot of what can be found online. If any people reading this know me as the person who manages to find shit online, I’m pretty sure it comes from this period of my life.

The Story So Far (Roughly)

Okay okay enough of my own backstory that I sometimes type the basic version of when the topic of learning Japanese come up, what I’m here to talk about today is my insane thought processes that lie behind this backstory.

First, an overview of the characters and the stories in the first two games where most of their background is established.

Miles Edgeworth (御剣怜侍, Mitsurugi Reiji)

Everyone’s favorite Ace Attorney prosecutor with lots of trauma. When he was younger, he wanted to become a defense attorney like the father he greatly admired. In fourth grade, he defended his classmate Phoenix Wright who was falsely accused of stealing lunch money, saying that there was no evidence that he did it. Afterwards, Edgeworth became friends with Phoenix as well as another classmate Larry Butz. Then the DL-6 accident happened.

On December 28, 2001, Manfred von Karma killed Gregory Edgeworth in a courthouse elevator. Earlier that day, the two had faced each other in court with Gregory managing to expose a small part of Manfred’s evidence manipulation to the public. As a result, Manfred received a penalty from the Chief Prosecutor--the only one in his entire career. Later that day, an earthquake hit the area causing the courthouse to temporarily lose power. During that time, Gregory and his son Miles were in an elevator along with a bailiff. The power outage led the elevator to stop, trapping the three for hours and the increasing lack of oxygen (or perception of such) led to a skirmish between Gregory and the bailiff. In the confusion, the bailiff’s gun dropped in front of Miles and he desperately threw it towards the fight in an attempt to get them to stop. In a curious turn of events, the gun ended up firing through the elevator window right into the shoulder of Manfred who happened to be standing outside. At that moment, the people in the elevator lost consciousness and the courthouse power came back on, leading to the elevator doors opening. Manfred looked inside the elevator to find the unconscious Edgeworths and a gun on the floor. With the anger of Gregory destroying his near 30-year flawless win record still fresh on his mind, he pulled the trigger.

Of course, Miles didn’t know that Manfred was near the elevator at all. All he knew was that he threw a gun and heard it go off, and that afterwards his father was dead with a bullet in him. Gregory did not know of Manfred’s appearance either, and when his spirit was channeled by a spirit medium in attempt to clear the situation he naturally named the bailiff as the culprit. The bailiff’s lawyer got his client free by pleading insanity. But this created a dilemma for Miles. If the bailiff was truly not guilty, then he was the only other person able to kill his father. If he denied that possibility making the bailiff guilty, that would make the lawyer who got him off a heinous and despicable person. For the boy who had admired his father so much, the prospect of choosing between denouncing defense attorneys and loathing himself was a harsh one to face at such a young age. The fact that he had recurring nightmares about shooting his father and a debilitating fear of earthquakes now probably didn’t help. These conflicting feelings eventually resulted in him wanting to be a prosecutor, someone to make sure criminals were given guilty verdicts.

This led Edgeworth to study under the legendary Manfred von Karma, a prosecutor who had never lost a case. Beneath that prestigious veneer were suspicions of underhanded tactics used to maintain it, such as manipulating witnesses and evidence. When Edgeworth’s career started at the tender age of 20 and he also became known for having a perfect win record, those rumors began to circulate around him as well. This continued until his first loss to Phoenix Wright in the first game (1-2, Turnabout Sisters). Coupled with his loss in the following case (1-3, Turnabout Samurai), Edgeworth again began to question the values instilled into him for over 10 years. This culminates in Turnabout Goodbyes (1-4), where Edgeworth is accused of a murder days before the statute of limitations for DL-6 was to take effect.

In the end, the key persons of that case were all related to DL-6. The accused, Edgeworth. The victim, the lawyer who defended the bailiff in the DL-6 trial. The actual perpetrator, the bailiff who had his life ruined by DL-6. And the person who planned it all, Manfred von Karma. Manfred intended for Edgeworth to be convicted all along. And with any luck, he could also get him to confess to killing his father all those years ago and make sure no one would ever find out about Manfred’s actions. Since the trial ended on the last possible day before the statute of limitations would go into effect it probably would have even worked too if it wasn’t for Phoenix Wright, who partially became a lawyer because of Edgeworth’s defense of him in elementary school. With Phoenix’s unwavering belief in his client, the two of them eventually reach the truth of both the trial at hand and DL-6.

While Edgeworth was finally able to reconcile with the fact that he did not kill his father, the issue of his existence as a prosecutor still remained. His job was to convict criminals in court, but that worked on the assumption that the accused was always guilty. If that was not true, then would his decision to become a prosecutor over a defense attorney have been for nothing? His answers to these problems and more are discussed in the second game...

Franziska von Karma (狩魔冥, Karuma Mei)

With Edgeworth not the main prosecutor anymore, we have a new kid in town. Before Phoenix faced her in court in Reunion, and Turnabout (2-2), he only knew that the prosecutor for the case was a von Karma. Of course, Phoenix had no idea what this meant as he brought Manfred’s crimes to light in the first game. When the trial began, he learned that his opponent would be Manfred’s daughter who became a prosecutor at the age of 13. Although she was born and raised in Germany (localizationized America), she stated that she flew over to face Phoenix Wright in an act of revenge. Of course being an Ace Attorney game, Phoenix gets a Not Guilty verdict in this case, shattering another prosecutor’s perfect record (starting to sense a pattern here).

In Turnabout Big Top (2-3), Phoenix and Franziska end up in a conversation about her revenge. Phoenix assumed she wanted to defeat him in revenge for getting her father convicted and was about to point out the futility of such an action when Franziska pointed out she had never mentioned her father up until that point. Her true reason for revenge was Miles Edgeworth. At the end of the first game, Edgeworth left behind a note in his office saying “Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth chooses death” and disappeared. So in “revenge” for this, Franziska decided to defeat the man who had presumably driven Edgeworth to such a state. She also wanted to confront Edgeworth for sullying the von Karma name and figured defeating Phoenix would be the best way to drag him out of hiding.

Of course being an Ace Attorney game, there is a small scene at the end of this case showing Edgeworth looking at a newspaper with Franziska’s picture in it, and not because she won that case. This leads into the finale of the second game, Farewell, My Turnabout (2-4).

What at first seemed like another Ace Attorney Case for Phoenix quickly took a turn for the worse when his assistant Maya Fey got kidnapped and the kidnapper pressured him to get a Not Guilty verdict if he wanted to see her safe. While he was busy worrying about accomplish this, Edgeworth made his return to the frustrations of both Phoenix and Franziska. In any case, Franziska’s third attempt to defeat Phoenix Wright would have gone on just as planned if it were not for the fact that someone shot her on the way to the courthouse on the first day of the trial. Not only was she shot in the right shoulder just like her father in DL-6, Edgeworth took up the prosecution in her stead to her great dismay.

On the final day of the trial, Franziska helped deliver the final pieces of evidences to the courtroom after an accident nearly prevented the detective in charge from doing it himself and the trial ended with the truth behind the case revealed. Phoenix reunited with Maya and his client got his due justice. Edgeworth revealed that he discovered his true duty as a prosecutor was to not only believe in the defendant’s guilt, but to believe in the defense attorney’s belief in the defendants innocence as well, leading to more possibilities being brought up and the truth being revealed. But Franziska didn’t understand how Phoenix could look so relieved when his client was guilty, or why Edgeworth was so confident in his approach while going against her father’s teachings, and left the scene of celebration while discarding her whip, which Phoenix picks up.

Later, Phoenix gives the whip to Edgeworth and encourages him to return it, leading Edgeworth find Franziska at the airport about to board a flight. Like Edgeworth in the first game, Franziska was on the cusp of questioning her ideals and the very meaning of her existence up until that point, which was part of why she attempted to leave her whip behind. In response, Edgeworth clearly stated that this moment would be their fork in the road if she decided to stop pursuing the path of a prosecutor. In that moment, Franziska burst into tears and declared her intent to keep “competing” with Edgeworth while leaving for her flight.

~The End~

Sorry to anyone who hasn’t played Ace Attorney because I omitted a lot of details here, some because I felt they weren’t strictly necessary for this post at all, some because I will elaborate on them later, and some because I felt they veered more into the personal conjecture territory (and probably some combination of the latter two). If this somehow made you interested in playing the games, then by all means go for it.

You may be thinking “Well this is quite the relationship, but how did you end up shipping this for 10 years?” and you would be absolutely right. Honestly Edgeworth and Franziska don’t interact much in the main games, although there is some improvement in this department in the Investigation games, so I’m used to not seeing much content about these two, official or fan-made, romantic or platonic. Like I said earlier, I don’t remember why I started shipping this. But I do remember the thoughts that have gone through my brain countless times after that point.

The More I Think About This The More I Go エモくね？　～沼怖ぇよ編～

Before I get into the finer machinations, I want to establish the physical/technical characteristics of this pair to make them easier to visualize in the mind after the lengthy story discussion.

In the second game, Franziska is 18 and Edgeworth is 25

Their heights are 162 cm and 178 cm, respectively (Please consult the handy chart below for reference)

In Japanese, they both use the first person pronoun 私 (watashi)

Franziska has a mole beneath her left eye

very important things to keep in mind in this post trust me (especially the last one, fanartists)

Now if you asked me what I liked most about this pairing, the answer I would give would depend on the time of day. But I think I would most likely say the certain immutable aspects of their relationship. Nothing will ever change the fact that Manfred killed Edgeworth’s father, and nothing will ever change the fact that Edgeworth was none the wiser when studying under him. As Franziska also studied under her father, this meant the two of them interacted not knowing just how fragile the foundation of their relationship was for an extended period of time. And as shown in the flashback case of Ace Attorney Investigations 1 (AAI1-4, Turnabout Reminiscence) and S2E6 of the anime, they seem to get along just fine. That probably wouldn’t change much if it weren’t for the fact that they had to find out one of their dads murdered the other. That’s gotta fuck up you relationship at least a little bit. But due to how the games work, it doesn’t quite end up like that.

Although the Ace Attorney franchise mainline games are numbered, you don’t have to have necessarily played the previous ones to play the ones that come later. In fact, the games outright avoid giving major spoilers for previous entries (Dai Gyakuten Saiban being the big obvious exception). This is sometimes talked about online as the no-spoiler rule. Of course, events are sometimes alluded to, but the exact details are never explicitly stated leaving old fans to fill in the gaps and new players none for the worse. This even occurs in the first three games which are seen as a tightly woven trilogy. This means that the relationship between Edgeworth and Franziska’s fathers is never discussed beyond a simple, “Hey these two went against each other in court and Gregory pointed out Manfred’s oopsie.” If you only play the first game with no outside knowledge you don’t even know Franziska exists! This pairing is established through two games but that same requirement means it never explores its full potential in canon!!!

This hurts even more in Investigations 2 which introduces the character Shigaraki (sorry, I played the Japanese version), a former assistant of Gregory and now a lawyer in his own right who heads Gregory’s law offices (he doesn’t even change the name from Edgeworth Law Offices........). When he first meets Edgeworth he is very snappy towards him for his “betrayal” training to be a prosecutor under von Karma because now people know he didn’t exactly do legal things. But the fact that Manfred killed Gregory is never mentioned. Now maybe news in the Ace Attorney world is the kind that doesn’t publicize the fact that a case that went unsolved for 15 years was connected to a prominent figure in the legal world, but if you’re going to hate someone I think hating them for becoming a prosecutor and taking after the person that murdered their defense attorney dad is a very valid reason. No juice in that department though. Although brief, Shigaraki also interacts with Franziska in this game and much like Edgeworth doesn’t dig deep into what the Edgeworths and von Karmas think of each other. Now I understand Ace attorney isn’t exactly the kind of game series you go to for extended character relationship dissections but it does make me a bit sad. Thank you Investigations 2 I enjoyed the game especially that case where you play as Gregory very much but there wasn’t enough bloodlust in it.

Back to the immutable part, even if Edgeworth and Franziska have relatively normal interactions in the games, there will always be that shadow hanging over them. No matter how many people in the world look at them and say that they had nothing to do with the actions of their parents, nothing can ever change the fact that one of them murdered the other. It makes me wonder just what is going through their minds when they talk to each other now that they are adults that know the truth. This contrast between the fact that I wouldn’t blame them if they harbored animosity towards each other and the fact that they don’t show that at all (in regards to their fathers) fucks me up because it’s really good. It’s fucked enough that it works really well as a platonic relationship and I love it enough as it is. BUT it gets so much, much, MUCH more delicious if you decide to add the element of romance.

Perhaps the number one example of this is thinking about when they first realized they had feelings for the other. Lots of juicy variables depending on whether this happens pre-AA1 or post-AA1. While I have imagined a variety of situations and read multiple fanfiction concerning this, usually I settle on Franziska/pre-AA1 and Edgeworth/post-AA1. Pre-AA1 while she does have a desire to overcome him and is slightly antagonistic about this, she knows deep down that they get along normally and takes solace in that fact (but is never fully cognizant of it or shows that to anyone). Over time, those positive feelings would grow closer to what most people would call “love,” whether platonic or romantic, still at the back of Franziska’s mind. The kind of feelings that would have stayed there never to surface if the truth of DL-6 didn’t come to light. When faced with the fact that her father did irreparable damage to Edgeworth, harboring those feelings or even interacting with him at all could be seen as pity/rubbing salt in the wound. And imagining how she channeled those emotions into an intense hatred for Miles Edgeworth (looking back at the screenshots I posted earlier) only for him to interact with her at the end of AA2 in such a firm but nonchalant manner and how this transitions to their interactions in AA3 onward is very good. I have a less firm grasp on Edgeworth’s side of things but I definitely think he would be reluctant in part because of the fact that he was one of the direct causes of her father’s conviction. Due to this and the fact that I think Edgeworth would take the age gap into consideration it would be harder for him to recognize any feelings as romantic love even when compared to Franziska who I think would also have a hard time in this regard. At the minimum I’m actually thinking post-AA2, most of the time around the AA3/Investigations time frame, but having him realizing after the 7 year time skip Apollo Justice (AA4) made the series go through has its own share of delicious minutiae that can only come from these two being around 30 at that point and Edgeworth becoming the Chief Prosecutor. The two of them overcoming their feelings of guilt towards each other and dealing with the ramifications of the sudden absence of a figure who held so much influence on their lives to enter a relationship is one of the most important parts of this pairing for me. I would be here all day if I continued so this is only one example! こじらせ最高！

Another very important part of this pairing is that the relationship between Edgeworth and Franziska is both a childhood friend and brother/sister combination (no not cousins) and not at the same time. Don’t worry, it both makes sense and doesn’t make sense to me too. The fact that there is not much outlined in the games doesn’t help much either.

While it is known that both Edgeworth and Franziska studied under Manfred to become prosecutors, little else is made clear. The exact time Edgeworth began his studies would affect the nature of their relationship and how close they would be pre-AA1 and that is where I’ve seen the widest range of interpretations. For example, in my observations of the western Ace Attorney fandom, it seems to be common consensus that Manfred took in Edgeworth relatively soon after DL-6 and raised him in Germany, with him meeting Franziska around that time as well. When I started reading Japanese fanfiction, it kind of surprised me to see versions where he met her at an older age as the probability hadn’t even crossed my mind at that point. There is also the issue of where these studies took place due to minor setting differences between the Japanese and English versions but that is outside the scope of this post.

There is a clear association of the von Karmas and perfection and there is no doubt that would have extended to Manfred’s education policies as well. This is in fact the focal point of the airport conversation in 2-4. Franziska spoke of the pressure she felt to keep up with expectations with her legendary father and Edgeworth being a prodigy while knowing she was not. Even so, she worked hard enough to become a prosecutor at the tender age of 13—nearly the same time as Edgeworth. But since Edgeworth started his career in America, there would be an ever-present physical distance. In addition, seeing him “choosing death” and coming back in such a seemingly easy manner further instilled the idea that she would never be able to stand on the same level, let alone overcome him no matter how hard she worked (There is also that moment in AAI2 where Edgeworth temporarily renounces his prosecutor’s badge and Franziska has a few words to say to him but yeah... not enough bloodlust...). She thought she could finally achieve that goal by defeating Phoenix Wright while Edgeworth remained in his disappearance, but found herself questioning herself just like Edgeworth must have after the first game. The difference this time was the presence of someone who already went through that soul searching, perhaps the only person who could understand the pressure Franziska felt, as someone who also studied under Manfred. Maybe that’s how he knew he’d get max damage by juxtaposing these lines in that scene.

‥‥キミは今日、私に追いついたのだ。われわれは今、ここに並んで立っている。 ‥‥しかし。私は立ち止まるつもりはない。‥‥キミが歩くのをやめると言うのならば‥‥ ‥‥ここでお別れだな。狩魔　冥。

Bonus: This is the text you get if you don’t present the whip to Edgeworth at the end of 2-4.

Therein lies the crux of the relationship between Edgeworth and Franziska: the exact emotional distance between them (距離感). Or rather, the inexact nature of it. While they did study under the same mentor with an ostensible common goal, the difference in their true goals and inner feelings would later cause events like the above paragraph to happen (especially the AAI2 one... feed me the genuine shock, the unbridled acrimony...). While they did know each other for an extended period of time, the undefined nature of it means that the term childhood friends may or may not be applicable, and that they may or may not be seen as siblings. This ties back to my statement about seeing them as childhood friends/siblings and not at the same time earlier. I believe their relationship is not so easily definable as to allow only one interpretation. I can accept most any interpretation and have it coexist with the others in my brain. I simply believe in all the possibilities of their relationship!

But I do have to dedicate a paragraph to talking about how the western Ace Attorney fandom sees this pairing as incest. In the consensus outlined above that Manfred takes in Edgeworth after DL-6, it seems to be a fait accompli that this was an adoption, making Edgeworth and Franziska adopted siblings. When taken together with the fact that they would have been around the ages of 9 and 2, respectively, during DL-6, I understand why it is an unpopular ship. Now I could go on about about this point in relationship to the western Ace Attorney fandom as a whole and Edgeworth’s sexuality, but that’s a whole other can of worms. What really disappoints me is that I feel calling them siblings, period, without leaving room for anything else erases some of the complexity of their relationship. That’s why it seeing people praise their “sibling” relation makes me a bit sad even if i agree with the points they make. I don’t expect people to think of them the same way that I do but sometimes it feels like an absence of thought. ロマンがない……

Now when that’s all said and done, why do I believe Edgeworth and Franziska would make a good romantic relationship? Their unique shared past of studying under Manfred gives them the opportunity to be emotionally vulnerable with someone who understands them in that part of life and can deal with their difficult personality in a way that other characters cannot. Although on the surface they seem uneven specs-wise, there is a delicate balance when they actually interact from the third game onward and they have a great amount of respect for each other’s careers which sometimes makes me forget they have a seven years age difference (but it is there, a very good one at that). They’re both not good at expressing their feelings honestly even though they’re both capable prosecutors, a profession where words sway the verdict of the case, which makes for one of the the most powerful combinations known to man, the double tsundere. And because I think that having a good talk with each other and choosing to be together in a romantic relationship of their own volition after what Manfred did is pretty raw. ...And so on.

Honestly, I know full well that the version of these two I love in my head is a culmination of everything I’ve seen and imagined of them over a period of ten years, something which is different from anything that was shown or will ever be shown in the games and alien to pretty much anyone familiar with the series. But I don’t care. I’ve been in this hole for 10 years and I’m gonna stay here until I feel like getting out. Although considering the amount of time I’ve already been here I don’t think that’s coming anytime soon...

Miscellanea: This Still Keeps Me Up at Night Sometimes

While I did go over the broad strokes, there are some details that I had to scream about somewhere that didn’t make it so here’s a small bonus section.

While Edgeworth and Franziska are referred to as 兄妹弟子, Franziska always makes it a point to refer to herself as the 姉弟子and I think it’s really cute, just imagining saying Edgeworth is the 弟弟子 to his face when they have a seven year age gap. Due to this I also see the two of them as being both the older and younger sibling type at the same time.

When I said that both of them using 私 (watashi) was very important I meant it. Even if two characters both use watashi, it’s usually a pick two between 私, わたし, and ワタシ. Or maybe 私 is just moonlighting as あたし (atashi), わたくし (watakushi), or any of its variants. But no, in this case both Franziska and Edgeworth use 私 (watashi) which I have not seen much (or at all?) for a het pairing. I didn’t know not being able to distinguish who’s speaking in Japanese from the first person pronoun alone could be so thrilling. As an aside, nine-year old Edgeworth is shown to use boku.

In the third game, Edgeworth calls Franziska to prosecute the first day of the final trial because Phoenix fell off a bridge and got sent to the hospital, with him becoming the defense attorney in Phoenix’s place. At the end of the trial, the following line can be found:

Still thinking about this line since it is quickly moved on from and because Edgeworth uses 相棒 for Phoenix. Tell me what he is thinking Capcom.

While I will consume most anything about this pairing, I will skip most R18 works where Franziska is underage depending on how skeevy the premise is/how it is depicted. Just not into that...

While imagining situations for fictional characters when listening to music is a time-honored tradition I don’t think anything could have prepared me for this official song from the Ace Attorney Pachislot soundtrack:

どうすれば思い出す幸せだったそんな時をうらやんでいるだけじゃダメだとわかっているよ戻れないことがほら僕たちを明日へと導かせぬけど消えないんだ笑いあった日々もすべて僕の中にあるのさ（だから今��）

(Lyrics are personally transcribed so may not be fully accurate)

VGMDB doesn’t have a lyrics credit so I don’t even know who to scream at but to have lyrics that match this close to my mental image in an official songs is bonkers.

Their in-game themes are the same with a different intro.Thank you GBA-era space limitations.

Edgeworth and Franziska occasionally refer to each other by their first names. This stands out even more in Japanese because of how infrequently first names are used. And because when they do it’s in katakana with no honorifics. Even I don’t use Edgeworth's first name where I can help it. You keep on rocking guys.

Franziska’s voice actress in game-related official media is Sawashiro Miyuki. I want more Franziska content even if it’s only for this reason.

That one image from the second ending of the anime’s second season:

What is the explanation for this anime staff???????? It’s been three years and I’m still thinking about this picture. Who decided to put this in???????????????????? I would like to thank them very much.

Last but not least, an unexpected crumb of content in the year of our lord 2022. I watched this year’s Ace Attorney orchestra concert online and one of the songs performed was the ending theme of the third game. The video played on the screen during this song featured a scrolling timeline of the cases in the trilogy along with characters saying what I think were new lines made for this occasion. And then this line appeared:

Now this line is clearly lampshading the airport scene in the second game, a scene has not been referenced in any Ace Attorney media that is not an adaptation of 2. They decide to drop this bombshell for 2 seconds at an orchestra concert video and here I am now, wondering if they ever plan on making Franziska appear in a game again and talking about something that happened in a past game.

The Search for What Once Was or: The Advent of ミツメディア

Unfortunately, there are no bottomless pits of content in this world. Although I am an Ace Attorney fan, I am 90% I was able to stay one for this long because I got into Mitsumei, meaning that I had but a passing interest in other fandom content after playing all the games. And due to the fact that I got really into this pairing at a relatively early part of my Ace Attorney history, I did not (and still do not) have a marked interest or disinterest in any other ships in this series. With all this in mind I had no choice but to set my sights outward.

Of course it’s not like I abandoned all other media even during the early heights of this obsession. But looking for things to enjoy when you know you pretty much have no content in a certain area feels very different. That is why I yearned for something that reached the highs I felt while engaging in fanworks, something that would leave a lasting impression on me. While it’s easy enough to find things to like, finding things that live up to those expectations and years of emotions is a much more Herculean task. For example, if I reread a fanfiction, it doesn’t matter whether I last read it two weeks ago or two years ago, my heart never fails to swell with emotion and I pretty much will always tear up at the same places. When reading/watching other things it feels harder for tears to well up, but if I hit a certain line in a fanfiction they come out whether I want them to or not. Ever since ten years ago, I’ve only ever been chasing for that high in other media. That’s the real reason I decided to get into visual novels starting with White Album 2. I figured that I could find a romance—or any kind of story really—that could take me to similar heights. And White Album 2 did satisfy me in that front a great deal (I even bought the Vita version and replayed it to get to the console-exclusive scenario before Extended Edition was a thing, and I ended up buying EE too). And recently (okay that was 2018... four years ago...) Tears to Tiara has succeeded in leaving a lasting impression in me and recreating the emotions I felt the first time I played every time I see certain quotes from the @arawn_b account on Twitter (See previous blog posts).

But there was still a certain peculiarly shaped hole in my heart. It was only a few years ago that I realized that shape could only be filled by Mitsumei. I don’t know how long it took me to realize that when I’m probably the person most obsessed by this pairing on this side of the internet. Filling that hole is actually quite difficult, especially when you realize that most romances can never even dream of getting close to what my mind soup has been cooking for years. that While I have seen many relationships that have bits and pieces of what Edgeworth and Franziska have such as shit between the parents that may or may not involve murder, age gap, studying under the same mentor, feelings of inferiority, and knowing each other for X amount of years, there is nothing with all of them at once and to the degree at which they are present in Mitsumei (If you have any recommendations hit me up). And I know that finding such a relationship is pretty much impossible, to the point where I realize it makes me a bit more passive/narrow-minded when seeking new things to try out. But still I continue to consume, in hopes of reaching that mountaintop.

I will now introduce some works that I have enjoyed throughout this journey despite my now permanently attached Mitsumei goggles in relation to the pairing at hand. This will be my last warning that I will not hold back on spoiling anything.

Mawaru Penguindrum (2011)

I first watched this around 2012~13 so I didn’t make the ミツメディア connection that much, even when I rewatched it a while afterwards (I don’t remember when this happened). But seeing other people post screenshots I went to myself, “Oh so that’s why I liked it so much“ and decided I had to rewatch it for this post. I still really, really love this show but I’m sure there are many other blogs out their with their own Penguindrum analyses. In this post I’ll mostly be talking about the relationships between the Takakura siblings and their relation to Ringo.

One of the more obvious parallels between Penguindrum and Mitsumei is the fact that the Takakura parents are labeled as criminals, with one of the victims of the subway attack being Ringo’s sister Momoka. In the present, Kanba, Shouma, and Himari live with the fact that a lot of people in Japan hate them through the actions of their parents and Ringo feels she has to take on the burden of the death of her sister tearing her family apart by “becoming” Momoka. Even then, they eventually grow to see each other as their own persons individual from their relatives. I liked how Panguindrum showed that yes, there were people who didn’t through the character of Tabuki. During my most recent rewatch, when I got to the scene where Tabuki denies any ill will towards the Takakura siblings I was pointing at my screen like that Leonardo DiCaprio GIF. Because then there’s the episode where Tabuki puts Himari’s life in danger at the construction site and reveals the hatred pent up inside the darkest corners of his heart (Yes! Bloodlust!) and how petty he was in how far he was willing to go to take the siblings down in an attempt to find their parents and get revenge. Ringo also comes face to face with Tabuki as an individual with his own past and trauma and not as a prize to be won and become a glue to keep her family together.

I also greatly admire how the Takakura siblings are portrayed in this anime in that they exemplify both ends of the family/strangers (他人) dynamic. In the first half of the show, there is no denying that Shouma, Himari, and Kanba are a family through and through, as shown through both words and actions. It feels natural every time the brothers say they’re doing everything for Himari, every time Himari is shown doing what she can to show her gratitude. But it’s clear that there’s something in the background, and I’m not just talking about that one Kanba/Himari kiss at the end of episode 1 (still wondering what this means). In the second half it’s gradually revealed that none of them are related to each other by blood with Shouma being the sole Takakura from birth. Kanba taking his actions to greater extremes, Himari reflecting on her past and how differently things could have gone, and Shouma desperately trying to keep everything together all while a tabloid reporter is clearly trying to seed mistrust among them strains their relationship as both family and 他人. The fight between Kanba and Shouma and Himari leaving the house acts as both the surface-level culmination of those negative emotions and proof of their strong love for each other, no matter what form it may take. Having Himari receive and give back Shouma’s scarf—the symbol of them becoming a family—in consecutive episodes was pretty devastating. Including these quotes because I just like them a lot.

生きるってことは罰なんだね。でも、罰でも晶ちゃんと一緒にいたかった。だから、選ばれたかった。

これで私と晶ちゃんは他人だよ

Everything comes together in the final episode, and I believe that depicting the Takakura siblings as both family and 他人 at length made the finale and the displays of love that much more impactful. Although I didn’t realize it the first time around, I think this is why I’m so firm on seeing Edgeworth and Franziska as both family and not family at the same time, without denying one or the other. I also just like things being vague and defined at the same time. I will eternally thank Penguindrum for being the show that showed me those possibilities with such conviction.

Anyways time for Triple H posting.

Penguindrum is good... I hope the movies get a US release...

Mirai Radio to Jinkou-bato (2018)

When I played Hakuchuumu no Aojashin (See previous blog post), I knew that Cases 1-3 were somewhat based on Laplacian’s previous games although I didn’t bother to play them before Hakuchuumu. But in the end my curiosity got the better of me and I ended up doing them all anyway. While playing Hakuchuumu, the setting of Mirai Radio interested me the most what with the global network connection pigeons and the concept of living in a world without that. And in the end I think it actually is my favorite setting out of all the Laplacian games even over Hakuchuumu.

I see this game getting blasted online for having not enough content and saying the trial version was the peak and honestly I kind of get it. The common route had that build-up leading to the satellite crash with everyone working together to build and distribute the radios and disable the artificial pigeons. But then Kaguya decided to tell everyone that the reason the pigeons don’t function as a communications network anymore is because they’re working to basically be her life support and if they die, she will too. Since the cast is a nice group of people, they try to find another way to stop the satellite crash but at the end of the common route, Kaguya dies as the satellite crashes into her home at Terminal 1. That’s right, the end of the common route has the protagonist Sora desperately running to the terminal trying to save Kaguya as the satellite plummets towards Earth. I got so into the game at this point that although I was also playing Muramasa at the time I decided to finish this first. After this incident, Sora wakes up a month later with no memories of what happened.

I looked up where the trial version ended after I finished the game and it was right after he first woke up after the incident. I can understand the complaints here because honestly while it is a good stopping point it is way too much to put in a trial considering how much content there is afterwards and after this point it does kind of feel like a different game. But that’s why I like it so much. The second half of the game is actually about how people deal with trauma differently and that’s so sexy of Ono to write about even if the routes still feel half-baked like the previous games. While this theme is also present in Mizuki and Akina’s routes, I will mainly be talking about the relationship between Kaguya, Sora, and Tsubaki.

The artificial pigeons and their network functionality was developed by Hazuki Izana (Kaguya’s mother) and Azamino Tsubaki. It is widely known that Izana caused the pigeons to go rogue and stop functioning but even Tsubaki didn’t know the reason why until Kaguya figured out and told everyone. This made Izana an easy target of hate, especially in this case for Sora, who lost his parents in the resulting airplane crashes. Kaguya’s secluded upbringing in the abandoned Terminal 1 made it that much more shocking when Sora outwardly displayed his disgust at her mother’s actions before knowing the truth behind them. The two later develop feelings and and confess to each other, but that only solidified Kaguya’s resolve to sacrifice herself to restore the pigeons’ network functionality for Sora’s sake. But after Kaguya died, the network didn’t come back.

In Tsubaki’s route, Sora finds out why—he is actually being kept alive by the artificial pigeons as well.

Ironically, Sora found himself in the same situation Kaguya did in the common route. Faced with the knowledge that your every breath is dependent on an event that caused the suffering of many and your death would be able to end that can be a pretty good reason to contemplate suicide when push comes to shove. Luckily, Tsubaki was able to convince him to live a natural lifespan and the two worked on compressing the new info they learned into audio data, banking on the fact that it would be caught by the future broadcasts on Sora’s radio. And that’s how Kaguya’s route proper branches from the common route.

While the end of this route is pretty okay.jpg, I like how it highlights the thought processes behind Kaguya’s decision in the original timeline and how her interactions with Sora help her acclimate to living in a world outside the airport and recognizing the human urge to live. Also Izana creating the future radio because she wanted to know there was a possible future where her daughter was happy and healthy is very good.

While the main relationship between Sora and Kaguya is nice enough on its own it cannot compare to how delicious the one with Tsubaki is. The game’s official site states that Tsubaki is bi and you do find out that she had one-sided feelings for Izana (And has been with women but not men before. Cowards.). That makes it so both Sora and Tsubaki are NTRing each other from dead people.

Speaking of dead people, one thing I really liked in this route was the treatment of Izana. She died seven years before the story starts so Kaguya and Tsubaki have no choice but to talk about her through distant memories. Throughout the game I kept wondering if there were going to be any flashback scenes with Izana speaking. In the end there weren’t and I find myself appreciating the game all the more for it. There are only fading memories that appear in dreams and that Zippo lighter Tsubaki has with the photo of her and Izana on it. Specifically I would like to point out the residual Izana voice files in the pigeon data banks. It’s two or three voice files and they are all of Izana’s voice lines in the entire game. Seeing Tsubaki desperately repeat those clips really makes it hit that she still isn’t over losing Izana and is a stark contrast from the nonchalant personality she’s shown up until this point. Sora decided to create a simple AI with Izana’s voice, synthesized from those voice clips. Tsubaki is then able to have a simple albeit fabricated conversation with Izana, and ends up leaving the program within the radio Sora gave her in the place where Kaguya buried the dead artificial pigeons finally putting her lingering emotions to rest. It’s so good how the “real” Izana never truly speaks and this game is one of the few times where I really felt for the pre-story death of a character where there were no flashbacks with them. Even when Sora realizes the person he’s been seeing in his dreams is Izana, he is never able to hear her voice or see her face and I love that. I still want to see Izana interactions with Kaguya and Tsubaki though.

Of course, I can’t talk about Tsubaki’s route without talking about the ending scene, also known as:

Gyakuten Kenji 2 (2011)

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Now that that’s out of my system, I love Tsubaki so naturally I love this scene. How she desperately pleads for Sora to live after having to go through both Izana and Kaguya’s deaths. How they both are “selfish” for leaving the pigeon network as is in favor of living their present lives. The piano version of the opening song fitting so perfectly in this scene. One thing I have to point out is that Tsubaki mentions Kaguya dying before her very eyes which would imply her being in Terminal 1 when Kaguya committed suicide but there is nothing else in the game to corroborate this so I am still confused. Other than that I love Tsubaki. Also she is the hottest character in the game.

Mirai Radio really was a slightly good game that could have been a gooder game if it had some more meat to it but it just... doesn’t. It has some parts about trauma and life that I really like mostly because of the Mitsumei goggles so it’s hard to recommend to normal people. One unbiased thing I can say in its favor is that the music and songs are really good, even though I first heard them in Hakuchuumu. In fact when I replayed Hakuchuumu with the Steam version I found myself feeling emotionally compromised when they played certain tracks. Sorry, after playing Mirai Radio any rendition of Seia no Wata being played in scenes without any of those characters is going to make me feel complicated.

To end this section I will leave the common route ending song and the lyrics that destroyed me.

白い鳥に願う　罪の終わり新しい朝のむこうに自由な空あなたが羽ばたけばどこまでも飛べる　明日はわたしを翼にかえて

「白い鳥に願う　罪の終わり」って、うわぁーーーーーーーーーー

Soukou Akki Muramasa (2009)

I have had an interest in playing Muramasa for quite some time, and finally decided to get around to playing it when I saw the English version was going to be released (Note: I actually got around to starting it after the English version was released). I was interested in the alternate history and wondered about the 善悪相殺 memes going in but nothing could have prepared me for how much I would obsess over what would continue to occupy my mind to this day: Ootori Kanae.

I enjoyed my time with Muramasa much more than I expected and found a lot of things to like about it but Kanae simply eclipses everything else in that section of my mind, so I will not be talking about other parts of the game much.

Even in the common route, I could tell Kanae was definitely the kind of heroine I loved, and I’m the type who saves their favorite routes for last so I would have done her route second even if that wasn’t the most recommended order. But seeing her in the common route tempted me just a bit not gonna lie.

First her uniform looks really good on her (not that we have any other female GHQ officers in this game to compare) and I love women with guns so the sprite above sent the serotonin rushing in the brain.

Sometimes she acted flirty but there was definitely an unhinged side to her that I was extremely curious about.

And after going through the emotional turmoil of common route chapter 5 and Ichijou’s route with a basic grasp of 善悪相殺, I finally reached the promised land...

I think just seeing this title card got me excited. And miraculously, that excitement never waned in the entire route.

Even the scene in the very beginning where Kanae and Kageaki are in the rain and you can feel them probing into each other through their conversation got me very worked up because I was sure that this route would deliver what I wanted.

And it did so in quite a spectacular manner with Kanae killing Kageaki’s foster father right in front of his eyes. Since Kanae was in her tsurugi (the mechs in this game, okay I know the European ones are called cruxes) and Kageaki didn’t know she had one, he didn’t even know it was her. But since Kanae did know about Kageaki’s tsurugi, but not the fact that the person she killed was related to Kageaki, this created a very delicate situation, a situation ripe for DRAMA unfolded before my very eyes and I brought out the popcorn for the fun times ahead. I was about to get the bloodlust I wanted, and this time with the blood included.

Also with that brief dream scene that took place after I can’t believe Muramasa made itself Ace Attorney media so quickly.

But what everyone’s looking forward to is the scene after that, the initial confrontation between the two of them after such a charged scene (They also casually drop that Kanae has a sister seven years younger than her no I’m not going anywhere with this).

Kanae reveals that Yuuhi, the boy Kageaki killed at the beginning of the game, was her cousin and one she loved very dearly. And of course, she won’t forgive him. But to her surprise, Kageaki does not beg for forgiveness, but instead thanks her profusely after confirming multiple times that she will never forgive him for his actions. His absolute desperation here after being denied his desire to be put on trial for his actions from the people he thought would give it to him is great. And then he starts going on about dedicating himself to her because he sees her as a sort of savior in a world he believes will never acknowledge the true horror of his actions. The CG in this scene is very good at showing the absence, with neither of their eyes being shown. Everyone rightly screenshots the line where he thanks her and I do agree that that is the highlight of the scene but what really gets me is this small part near the end.

Throughout the scene, Kanae has just been standing there dumbfounded at Kageaki’s reaction to her terse judgements. And then at the end there is this one line, this one simple line that got my brain juices flowing more than Kageaki’s words of thanks ever did. In her stupor, Kanae can only think about how she does not understand Kageaki at all. Thinking back to the common route, she gradually finds out Yuuhi is dead and Kageaki is the one who killed him, all while interacting with Kageaki in an unchanged manner. Due to her nature as an undertaker of revenge, she must have conjured an image of what Kageaki must be like underneath what she could see on the outside. And all of that came crumbling down the moment his knees dropped to the floor in front of her. That was the moment I became enamored between the relationship between Kanae and Kageaki. I think people having imprecise mental images of each other only to realize they don’t actually understand the most critical points is very sexy.

This moment brought to mind that AAI2 scene where Edgeworth renounces his badge and Franziska expresses disbelief at him leaving her behind again which I totally get when you think back to what he said to her at the end of AA2. Franziska thought he would stay in that sort of rival/fellow prosecutor position and he threw it all away in such a simple manner (in her view). Edgeworth certainly had balls for doing that after saying he would part ways from her if she did something similar. This is completely unforgivable if it weren’t for the no-spoiler rule because this is the game where Edgeworth doesn’t recognize DeKiller which I also could not begrudgingly handwave otherwise. I kind of love that Edgeworth just does shit like what I mentioned above and the “choosing death” incident because while he is quick to discern what he wants to do to further his ideals as a prosecutor he also does not really consider the effect these actions will have on the people around him which gives us scenes like Phoenix and Franziska not holding back on the malice when he comes back in 2-4. Edgeworth having that legit asshole side to him in addition to Franziska having an unabashedly selfish personality (although they do improve a bit) is very good actually.

Back to the topic at hand, Kanae finds out that the person she killed in front of Kageaki was his foster father which puts a wrench in her cleanly laid plans to kill Kageaki in revenge. Now that Kageaki unknowingly also has grounds to enact revenge on her, Kanae has to think a bit more about how to apply her life principles. ...But not now because it's time to stop an atomic bomb from being deployed!

Had to mention the airship section. It was pretty fun and I managed to solve it without guides. The atomic bomb couldn’t be stopped though so lots of things went boom and Kanae and Kageaki escaped to the countryside for a bit.

This section of the route includes the infamous coin-stacking scene but I also want to mention the scene the CG above was in and how there is zero comment as to what Kanae is wearing and instead they talk about politics and the types of pottery of cups used in tea ceremonies which I think is sexy in a different way.

I just think this line is kind of funny out of context but if only I knew how true this line would come to be in the coming hours...

After this the gang heads to the Ootori estate for some political fun and turmoil and also to kill Shishiku. The train conversation that happens here before Sorimachi decides to ruin the fun is one of my favorite scenes in the game. I just love the atmosphere of it with both Kanae and Kageaki having so many things to say to each other but voicing none of them, opting instead for empty pleasantries and forlorn gazes out the window. The silent, growing tension between these two until the climax of the route is palpable. It boggles the mind why I did not take any screenshots of this when I played the game.

Sorimachi appearing leads to the trauma-inducing Guts Eider fight—and quite literally at that as Kageaki throws up at the end of it. He already hated himself enough for killing Yuuhi and then he had to realize he was about to kill Konatsu as well when it was too late. Although he didn’t actually end up doing any killing in the end, Guts Eider still came to a deadly stop taking the people inside with it. The horror of these actions furthers Kageaki’s self-loathing as well as his desire for Kanae’s swift judgement.

God he’s so pathetic here... I love it... The pathetic little screams... The fact that Kanae is secretly there just staring in a daze at the scene in front of her...

Anyways they head to the Ootori estate and to one of the funnest arcs in this route.

She’s perfect... Guns under the skirt are so good... I love her...

The scene where she kills Shishiku is very good with them screaming at each other and Kanae’s gutteral laughs and the transition where you only see the sky as the mansion burns and you hear what sounds like Kanae sobbing until it turns into laughter and you really feel the unhingedness settling in. But the best part is still yet to come.

Well there is the H scene where Kageaki fully embraces his fate of getting killed by Kanae, which is excellent and one of the most visceral ones I’ve ever read, but nothing could have prepared me for what lay ahead.

The final showdown of this route, the true beginning and end of Kanae as a character, is what mind broke me (compliment) more than anything else. To be honest, up until this point while I really did vibe with this route, you didn’t really see things from Kanae's side so it felt a bit off. If only I knew they were saving everything for this one moment.

There is a substantial flashback showing how Kanae’s tendencies for killing and revenge got their start in her childhood, and how firm those tendencies were grounded within her to her father’s great dismay (and also partially his fault). Her love of killing and revenge-based justice went well together, so enacting that revenge in place of others became kind of a life duty for her.

I love Ace Attorn(ry

But she had never met anyone who so willfully desired that revenge, who basically prostrated themselves in their desperation to be killed, who denied their right to exist in the world until the moment Kageaki did so right in front of her. Kanae’s revenge had always consisted of both her and the opposing party’s belief in their sense of justice, that their killing was right in the eyes of at least one person. That was why she fulfilled her revenge in combat with the other party. But Kageaki was always hesitant in killing due to Muramasa’s curse. He knew the weight that taking a life would bear on his soul even as his blade sunk into human flesh. Unfortunately due to the denial of his wish to stand trial, the “safety net” he had that tied him to human society disappeared, making him cling to the existence of Kanae all the more. That kind of revenge would be far too one-sided, which plays a part into why both of them use their tsurugis in the final battle. To Kanae, she is getting revenge on Kageaki for killing Yuuhi. To Kageaki, he is getting revenge on the mysterious crux who killed his father. Ironically, this veil of metal separating them was the only way to make their acts of revenge more “equal”.

To Kanae, Kageaki’s thought process was like a denial of her very existence. If her revenge didn’t bring anguish to her target, would it truly be in the benefit for the ones who died? Who does benefit from revenge in the end? This small blip in her world view that popped up was the start of a mental spiral into questioning her actions up until this point. The game poses the age-old dilemma: Is revenge truly fruitless? Perhaps it is; after all there is no shortage of works depicting how revenge draws people into madness and often ends up in their deaths as well.

But this revenge story is not of those people, it is about Ootori Kanae, a woman practically born to enact revenge in this world. And her revenge is not for anyone in the living world, least of all herself.

It exists solely for the dead. It does not matter what she feels about the people involved because she is simply a tool used for that revenge, that justice. And that is why there was only ever a single option in the end—to kill.

Goddddd everything in this sequence just sequentially destroyed my brain (compliment) more and more. It answered all the questions I had about Kanae’s character and then some. It made all the little moments in the route fall into place in such a satisfying manner. And the “answer” to revenge that she derived was really refreshing to see and quite fitting for her character. Really, a perfect conclusion to this route.

But my true favorite scene in this route (and possibly the entire game) is the post-credits scene. Kageaki is dying in the snow after the two of them attacked each other and then he faintly recognizes Kanae and goes “大鳥大尉...” Right at that moment her theme starts playing, which made me absolutely convinced that that song was made for that moment alone because of how well it fit the scene and how perfect the timing was. I’m probably wrong but let me dream with this one.

At the very end, they were able to kill the person they wanted to, and at the very end, they died without ever truly knowing each other. Kageaki doesn’t even realize that Kanae killed his father (although he does get very close). And so, the curtains close on their tale of revenge.

Honestly I would give Kanae’s route alone an 11/10, that’s how much I enjoyed it. I have nothing bad to say about it. It’s the one thing I’ve read that’s come the closest to what I’ve been searching for all the time. Some of the finest クソデカ感情 I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing. Kanae is definitely one of the most characters ever. I also enjoyed the rest of the game but I never reached the ridiculously high highs when playing Kanae’s route. Somehow I ended up playing the fandisc/spinoffs Janen-hen and Shokuzai-hen right after and while I enjoyed them in varying degrees I was also pleased by the new Kanae art in them. She is very pretty.

Special mention to Kanae’s crux which is my favorite tsurugi in the game for a very simple reason: it has a fucking crossbow. Its dormant form is the bass she plays. What really makes it special is that its power is a copy of Williams Tell’s auto-tracking arrow ability but shittier, so the user has to manually change the target coordinates every time they want to change the arrow’s direction. In the hands of any other person this would be way too inconvenient to use in battle due to things moving around all the time, but Kanae just so happens to have some... ”special” eyes so she has the ability to perceive time at a far slower rate than humans normally can, making her able to control the direction of her arrows at will. The fact that Kanae and Barrows were pretty much made for each other is very sexy.

Also couldn’t resist screenshotting every instance of “The paradox of ‘Tell and apple’.” because of how cool it sounds.

Bonus: this game has a character named 来馬豪 when Manfred’s Japanese name is 狩魔豪(かるまごう) so this makes Muramasa certified ミツメディア. You cannot change my mind.

Honorable Mentions: It’s Almost Over, I Swear

Unfortunately, not every piece of media can cause my brain worms to multiply like the ones above did, but there are a lot that get me thinking. Here is a small selection of such instances.

In Aete Mushi Suru Kimi to no Mirai, the protagonist is an adopted child of the Sawatari family and in his sister Nanagi’s route, it is revealed that this was due to the guilt the Sawatari parents felt as the other party in the car accident that caused the protagonist to lose his parents. There were some good quotes in there but unfortunately this revelation happened after the H scene quota was filled so there was no brooding over this fact while having sex, although I guess I shouldn’t have expected to see that from a brand named Alcot Honeycomb. Also Nanagi is a pretty standard Eroge Imouto™ so the relationship doesn’t set my radar off in any other department.

I have never interacted with anything in the Muv-Luv franchise, but sometimes I remember that one of the characters is named Mitsurugi Meiya (御剣冥夜) making me wonder if I accidentally stepped into the worldline where Mitsumei is married (no).

I played Riddle Garden because one of the heroines also voices Arawn from Tears to Tiara and I really enjoyed it (except for Phils route fuck Phil's route). It made my heart beat faster than anything I've read outside of fanfiction which I have to tip my hat to. Interestingly enough, there were two (2) characters I liked more than the one voiced by Arawn, although I liked them all (except Phil(ry). It also made me think that maybe 女性向け is really where it's at because in my time scouring the Japanese web for content I have a feeling most of the Mitsumei content was 女性向け (furtively glances at my doujinshi collection). The same goes for Ace Attorney in general I guess, especially now that its doujin heyday is way past. I do have an increased interest in otome games but I am still as lazy in starting things as ever. Where else can I scream at things like this?

ｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｱｯｯ

In the novel series Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru, there is a line in one of the earlier books that’s remained in my mind: 「遺族は一生遺族」 (paraphrase). The series is pretty good at going through the implications of this while Sakurako solves mysteries and the like, especially near the end when she finally finds out the truth behind the death of her little brother. When’s season 2 of the anime........

I think this cover of the season 1 Kaguya-sama opening (the best one) by Kaguya and Shirogane is very good.

(Direct link because cucked from embedding by Sony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=motF91gTdO0)

Here’s to Ten More ～至高主義者の道～

Congrats, you made it to the end of this post! If you read it all, good for you. If you just decided to just skip to the end, I commend you for wanting to see what the hell is down here. This concludes my post on how I ended up shipping something 10 years ago and how it affected my life way too much.

The first ideas of this post came around the time I played Mirai Radio and Muramasa. Because I played them both in a very close time frame and had all those thoughts I wrote above pop up in my brain in the same time, I felt that I had to write them down somewhere. But I also felt I couldn’t truly express why I liked them so much without also explaining how Edgeworth and Franziska dominated my mind and media consumption. I also kind of wanted to let people know that no matter how much anyone thinks I ship them, it’s actually much, much deeper and much, much worse than other people can feasibly imagine. I saw that this descent started nearly 10 years ago and came up with the mega post idea for this year, which leads me here.

Will I ever stop thinking like this? Maybe, maybe not. What I do know is that finding something you truly enjoy from the bottom of your heart is a very lovely feeling and I hope everyone gets to experience that in their lives.

Thank you for reading about the endless thoughts in my head and I hope you have a nice day.

ミツメイはそのうち万病に効くようになると信じてるあと世界平和の鍵にもなる。まる。

#ミツメディア

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dontcallmecarrie · 3 years

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wrapping up this spinoff of an AU of an AU, because why not. Heads up for minor profanity of the ‘fuck my life’ variety, and some alternate character interpretation [aka I am bitter about how the Maximoffs were handled in the MCU]:

“It was horrible!” Justin Hammer sobbed into the handkerchief he’d pulled from who knows where, visibly rattled and jumpy as he sat down in the interrogation room. “I almost died, you have no idea, they were going to— kill and replace me, and before you say anything, I know because they flat-out said it didn’t matter what I heard because I was dying anyway—”

Director Fury and Agent Romanov shared a frown. “You’re sure?”

Justin’s scoff sounded more like a sob. “He had my face, what do you think they were planning? Just because I’m not Tony Stark, doesn’t mean I— I have money, and my time’s almost up, and they knew it. I am so, so lucky you guys found me when you did, I ran but I— it still—”

“We understand it was very traumatic for you,” Agent Romanov cut in, trying not to sound too frustrated with the blubbering mess before her.

“You don’t!” Justin snapped, surprising both her and Director Fury for a moment at the fire in his eyes, before he curled in on himself and shivered. “They were. Organized. I don’t know what kind of backer these guys had, but their plastic surgeon was good, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to have nightmares now—”

“So these unknowns grabbed you and were planning on stealing your identity.”

“It was terrifying.” Justin nodded earnestly. “I want protection, like, stat.”

“That’s a bit premature.” Director Fury raised an eyebrow, and for all of Justin’s crying, he couldn’t help but pause to scoff for just a moment.

“Ha, that’s what you think. I haven’t even gotten to the good part yet.”

“They said more?” Agent Romanov frowned, and almost missed the minute twitch at the corner of his mouth. And sure enough...

“Oh, yeah. But if we’re doing this, I’ve got some requests of my own, because it’s a doozy.”

“This doesn’t add up,” Natasha muttered to Director Fury as they took a break. “I know we didn’t have much time, but I don’t see how my read could’ve been that off.”

“You know Hammer best, what’d you see?”

“Looks like kidnapping didn’t change him beyond the latest case of nerves, and he’s as opportunistic as ever. Can’t tell how much it affected him, though, he might be playing it up for sympathy.”

“And what about his evil twin?”

“In the five minutes we saw him?” She raised an eyebrow for a moment, then shrugged. “Calm. Very controlled, I was starting to wonder if he’d had training— which he did, apparently, if we take Hammer at face value. Competent. Charismatic.”

“Do you think he’d have succeeded in what Hammer’s saying?”

Natasha snorted. “Wasn’t annoying enough to deal with, he’d have been made in less than five minutes. Or the first time he opened his mouth, now that I think about it, actually.”

“But if they’d been able to observe him...” Director Fury mused.

“That’s the problem, isn’t it? I wouldn’t trust Hammer half the distance I can throw him, but...the evidence doesn’t lie. And Hammer’s not competent enough for anything remotely this level.”

“Damn. We’re actually going to have to hear him out, then.”

“Probably. But at least we’re the ones in control of the situation, it’s not like he’ll be able to get anything too outrageous. Besides, it’s Hammer. What’s the worst that can happen?”

Less than five minutes later, they were forced to reassess the situation as several bombshells were shared in quick succession.

“...well, shit.”

Suffice it is to say, Justin Hammer got an early release from his sentence.

The fact that HYDRA was quietly yet systematically expunged from SHIELD’s personnel was a mere coincidence, really, as was the fact that the Avengers were called in to deal with the situation.

If Justin Hammer hired a bodyguard not long after he quietly left prison, citing he didn’t feel safe after having been kidnapped from a supermax, well, nobody was going to question it much.

So what if said bodyguard was a bit eccentric, and refused to take off his mask? Hiring a bodyguard, at least, was a much more reasonable to kidnapping than building a potential weapon of mass destruction and carrying it around like a briefcase.

...or, at least, that was the commonly held assumption, before some idiots with guns thought Justin was an easy target and had to be sent to the ER.

Whoops?

Loki pulled his strange counterpart aside, as their strange group proceeded with their preparations to leave.

“There’s something you should know. I don’t know if he’s a problem in your universe, but...have you ever heard of Thanos?”

Wanda Maximoff frowned at the man who’d been mentoring her and her brother for the past month.

“You’re sure?”

“Kid, if things went down over here like they did back home, nobody could afford Stark. We were lucky to get Hammer weapons, let alone Mr. ‘Official Supplier of The U.S. Military For Literal Decades’ here.” Victor von Doom scoffed. “Also? I’m not kidding about needing to go home. So scram, I did what I could to show you the ropes and you’re already better off than when I was your age.”

“We’re going to miss you, you know.” Pietro said with a sad smile, and Victor made that face where he was obviously very emotional but categorically denied anything of the sort.

“Luck of the draw, I guess. Who knows, maybe you’d have hated me, I know I’m not the easiest person to deal with. Meanwhile, I’m glad you guys didn’t listen to those HYDRA assholes, because I’m not entirely sure but if your father’s who I think he is, he’d have been rolling in his grave.”

“I know. You’ve said this. Repeatedly.” Wanda rolled her eyes.

It’d been shocking the first time— with a sharp twist of the knife, to boot, only now learning that her and Pietro’s father had a different last name, specifically to avoid his enemies from finding them because he’d apparently made a name for himself hunting Nazis and who knows what else— but now it was a refrain that she refused to admit warmed her as much as it had the first time, simply because it was a reminder that someone cared.

That someone had taken the time to help them with what he could, and for two orphans of a decimated country still recovering from the civil war they’d grown up in?

Victor von Doom would’ve needed a crowbar to pry them off, by the end of the first week.

And he kept complaining about it, to nobody’s sympathy, because his friends teased him about minions but Wanda and Pietro were learning valuable life skills and Sokovia’s shitty foster care system didn’t hold a candle to this. Even if their mentor never failed to gripe about it the entire time.

“—is is how you finish an op, and if I told you brats once, I told you a million times that you need to—”

“Tie up loose ends,” Wanda and Pietro finished with him, and Victor smirked.

“Well, if nothing else, at least you know that. I...don’t know what you plan to do from here, but I wish you two stubborn brats the best of luck what whatever you plan to do after I go home.” Then he leaned forward for a second, and clapped them both on the shoulder and his eyes gleamed. “Give them hell, from one Latverian to another.”

With all the chaos going on in the world, nobody noticed when Justin Hammer made a few new friends. Why should they, when the Avengers were busy with Loki’s latest appearance and HYDRA’s or AIM’s latest plot?

And if the world quickly became a lot more colorful and frenetic than before, well.

That was just a coincidence, surely.

...and that’s all I’ve got for this thought exercise for now!

Not pictured: Wanda and Pietro go from pestering Victor to pestering Loki, and proceed to get their powers that way— though Loki gets a headache when he thinks about Pietro’s speed for too long because gdi magic doesn’t work that way, goddamn Midgardians—and they, along with Bucky and Justin, proceed to form their own League of...Something. Not Evil™, but definitely not as light and fluffy as NHDD’s Cabal.

But not as actively malicious as in canon, they’re more chaotic neutral than anything else even if they all have a beef with the Avengers. Hela’s an old friend of Loki’s [...because she’s his daughter in Norse mythology and I will never forgive the writers for butchering that], and probably joins in too.

At some point, Wanda’s going to go “finders keepers” with an Infinity Stone, probably because it’s pretty and shiny and somehow wound up in one of the few family heirlooms she and Pietro have left, and Thanos is going to have a very hard time because good fucking luck trying to take it away from these two hellspawn.

Doesn’t help that they were a) mentored by both Victor von Doom and Loki, and b) have a support system of heavy hitters and the minute Hela gets wind that asshole who’s been harassing her for fuck knows how long is now bothering two of the brats who somehow managed to worm their way into her heart, it’s game over for Thanos.

#No Hero [Downward Descending]#My writing #schrodinger's canon #3 am musings

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gwyns · 3 years

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I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone draw parallels between Feyre leaving Tamlin for her Mate to Elain leaving Azriel for her Mate. (Ignoring the fact I hate Rhysand, the books obviously want me to think he's the best person ever so I'll just pretend). Because that's what I see happening.

Elain and Azriel are so clearly rebounds for one another. Elain's still grieving her human love and life, and Azriel is still hung up on Mor. They're both quiet and available, so they jump to each other. That's it. The Azriel POV was purely about what he wants. How he wants to fuck her and taste her. He's just sex to her.

Even if E/riels had a more convincing case, it's not like SJM hasn't pulled a SIKE on us before. If she goes anywhere with E/riel, she'll undoubtedly pull it back. SJM doesn't take Mating bonds lightly, and she's stated that she loves Lucien. And if anyone deserves the happiness of a bond, it's him.

Feyre and Rhys, and Cassian and Nesta, all had relationships/lovers before Mating. Elain "liking" Az now, (which we're not even clear on), doesn't really mean much.

I'd like to hear your thoughts! You're so good at this, and you always explain my thoughts so perfectly. Love and light 💕💕💕

honestly there are quite a few feysand/elucien parallels that people either don't see or choose to ignore.

rhysand was first presented as a villain to feyre, the same could be applied to lucien just bc of his envolvement with tamlin (that he wrongfully gets blamed for btw idk why e/riels love blaming tamlin's mistakes on lucien). feyre was engaged before she went to rhys, elain was engaged before she met lucien. both were/are? still hung up on their former fiances. feysand as a couple represents the night, elucien would represent (at least in part) day. it's literally night and day with them. they're similar but also wholly their own pairing, it's fascinating to me.

anyway i think i will use this ask to spill some of my e/riel opinions sorry about that! alright let's start off with this controversial statement: i don't think e/riel was ever meant to be endgame.

i've seen it said a few times over the years that sarah changed her mind about elucien and while that's possible bc she also previously changed her mind on lucien and nesta one has to ask themselves..... if she wanted to write a mate bond rejection why didn't she stick with her original plan of lucien and nesta being mates? she's said herself that they wouldn't work but she chose to change lucien's mate to someone who compliments him better, and it's to feyre's other sister no less. that tells me lucien is important and powerful, he's mated to one of the sisters, one of the key players of the entire series.

another point is we can assume (and we could be wrong, let me put this here before someone yells at me or vague blogs about it) that sjm had an elucien endgame in mind when writing acowar, right? and when she was touring for that book hadn't she already started work on acofas? and we know that she's never on social media, so if she had an elucien endgame in mind when she wrote all of the supposed e/riel "evidence" where does that leave us?

drama. tension. conflict. angst.

i think that's what it all comes down to. people will say that elucien was a front while e/riel is the true endgame but... it all seems a bit easy, doesn't it? e/riel is right in your face while elucien is silently brewing in the background. what if the bait and switch isn't elucien, but e/riel?

sarah has shown us before that she likes to use her characters as ways for her other characters to end up with their endgame matches. for example, without tamlin, feyre wouldn't have met rhys. and moving over to throne of glass for a second, if not for chaol, aelin wouldn't have met rowan. and in turn, if aelin hadn't given yrene the money she needed in tab, chaol wouldn't have met her.

are the e/riel scenes romantically coded? yes, probably. i'm not saying they aren't, some people picked up on it but i personally didn't get that vibe myself, especially in acowar, but acofas kinda blurred the lines a bit. but even then, i didn't think they'd work out and i still don't understand the arguments that are supposed to be in their favor from that book. elain says she doesn't want a male so that excludes lucien but not azriel somehow? that line means she doesn't want any fae, she wants a human man, she wants graysen. then we have lucien saying he can't even stand to be in the same room as elain which i never read as a "oh i hate this person" kinda way. no, it's bc the whole situation between them is awkward and it obviously makes both of them uncomfortable. it doesn't help when literally all of the inner circle is constantly around them, and being in the night court in general doesn't give them the privacy to get to know each other.

some people like to ask why build e/riel up at all if they're not going to be together? one thing i've always loved about sjm's books is how she can write relationships. now, let's say you meet someone irl and you like them, eventually maybe fall in love with them, and fail to notice how they're not good for you. maybe everyone around you can see it, but you don't. you want a relationship and you're in a decent one, it should work out. like they're not a bad person, this relationship just isn't right for you in the long run. why waste your time? it's life. sometimes things are good for you at a certain point in time but not later on. sometimes you just end up in a relationship that was never good for you. sometimes you fall out of love with someone. you're constantly learning and adapting to things and that's my stance on e/riel. i think they're both looking for companionship and they're the "safest" and most available option.

taking it back to acofas, azriel was relived to not have to get elain a gift and was still gazing longingly at mor. now in acosf he's avoiding talking about her while wanting to fuck elain and getting defensive when helion mentions mor. he's not over her. he's not going to just completely forget 500 years of pining bc elain showed up, especially when they haven't even helped one another to move on. if they had, we would have seen the proof of that. not just "oh she's hot we both want sex", that doesn't make a healthy relationship.

as for elain, she's been taught she has to act a certain way her entire life. she has to downplay her trauma and emotions to appease others so they don't worry about her. maybe she's even had visions involving lucien that upset/scare her somehow and she's reaching out for something else. i think they're both lonely and desperate (at least on az's end) for someone that they ultimately are drawn to the wrong people.

as for the lack of elucien development... this is how i see it. if they're endgame, why would sarah have all of their big moments happen off screen or as a throwaway line in acosf? elain is getting a book, we know this, and with how much of the story is tied to lucien and how much is left unresolved with him, we can also assume he'd get a pov at some point. so imo it makes sense for the fact we got little to no development for them in acosf. no, she wants a huge wedge between them so we can watch them come together. the payoff will be that much sweeter. kinda similar to how she put a wedge between nessian before acosf, sure they had more development in acowar than elucien but i think that's bc sarah knew they'd get the first spinoff. she had to give them that development whereas elucien can wait, a bit longer. it's frustrating yes but i do think we'll get something in acotar 5.

maybe i'm an optimistic fool, maybe sarah did at one point have an endgame in mind for them, but i find it hard to believe she wouldn't see how wrong they are for each other in the long run. she's very good at showing us how well characters fit together with just a few lines.

#sorry this envolved into my rambling lol #i swear i was going to talk more about the feysand/elucien parallels bc i made a list awhile ago #but i forgot some of it so here we are 😬#BUT YOU'RE SO SWEET!! im glad someone enjoys my random thoughts lol #thank you i truly appreciate it 🥺💕#acosf spoilers #a court of silver flames spoilers #asks #aquafaith

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youwontlikethisblog · 3 years

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Betty, My Betty! Part 2.5 (Hopefully the last one)

Alrighty, I think this will be my last post for tonight? This morning? But it is still in the same vine of Armando being possessive so he is the main subject of this breakdown but I will also be discussing Mario a lot here so this in an attempt to be the final post regarding this episode will be a lengthy one.

Again I accidently bought the bootleg version of the novela so some scenes and episodes are missing as well as the chapters aren't titled.

We are in the same episode of Armando reacting to Betty having a boyfriend.

Right now Betty is exiting her office, she just hung up the phone with Nicolas who warned her that they needed to pay a loan to the bank because their 24 or 27 days were up.

Mario is leaning over Armando's desk and Armando is leaning forward as they are both discussing and whispering (that part is so short you can't really pick at what they're talking about but you can imagine what it is. I'm assuming that while Mario was telling Armando not to question or judge Betty on her personal life that Betty was in her office on the phone with Nicolas and when Mario leaned forward to talk to Armando Betty was about to end her call so they are essentially talking about how to go about finding out who Betty's boyfriend is) something I cannot hear. As Betty fully exits her office Mario moves from being up front to in the back of the room by the doors that take us to the meeting room. He looks Betty down and up as if checking her out.

This small frame(I don't know if when they were whispering it was them arguing over Mario's proposal of the plan or if Mario hadn't proposed it yet and it was just them talking about how to find out who Nicolas is because again, since this bootleg version isn't the complete one some scenes are missing so I could be wrong about this one! but the episode I saw on NBC showed the exact same scene so I'm going by the first "(red)" in the paragraph above) allows us to depict Mario coming up or starting to scheme the plan.

We know Mario Calderon will screw anything that has legs, wears skirts, and breathes and consents that is(<-hopefully). Every woman who has had a seggsual relationship with him has said so. Marcela warned Paty about it before they got involved so I'm assuming that in this scene Mario is checking out Betty to see if it's possible for someone to really love(lust) her and if not than he needs to figure out a plan and a way to convince Armando to follow through said plan.

When you're writing a novel you write down the key points you want to make but as you imagine certain scenes you really delve into detail of characterization. You make sure that whatever happens in that scene that your characters behave as themselves. So you really spend time getting to know your characters. This is a general rule of thumb for any creative writer. The plus of being a novelist or writing literature is that you can really go deep into details and write scenes in really long poetic ways. I don't know how to write scripts but I've read some from TV shows I've watched and they are written differently than a novel. Scripts have more dialogue than poetic descriptions and they are usually blunt with what the writer wants from each character in that scene.

For example: (Take this with a grain of salt I don't know how to write scripts I am going off based on how I've read them)

Ana walks into the room. The camera focuses on her face. There's lighting outside and we see the lighting flash on her face.

Julian turns to see her. He is surprised to see her. He thought she was dead. He stands up slowly. The camera focuses on his face and then Ana's.

She smiles at him, tears forming in her eyes.

"Is that re-really you?" He stutters. He then walks slowly towards her.

In a script you write where the camera goes, where the actors move, the facial expressions, the mood of the room, and so forth. Yes directors do have a say on how they choreograph scenes and actors can add their own two cents but script writers have a pretty good idea of everything that is going on the scene and why it is. If in novel writing(that's not the correct term) we focus a lot on how the reader will imagine the scene and being able to correctly and artistically discribe it as well as how they will understand it because we are not focusing on visual cues like script writers but rather focused on using words to be able to paint a inner visual picture than in scripts the writer usually focuses on tone and movement. The same rule still stands though; show don't tell.

Why do I even bring this up?

This helps us understand that what is shown here isn't just an accident. We aren't being fed what we're told, we are being fed what we see. What we see is the final vision of the writer. Fernando Gaitan was the only one to write this novel and he wrote every detail with the intention of it to mean something.

I have no doubt that the actors added their own flavor as they are excellent actors and the reason why we were able to fall in love with these character. The directing is amazing as well. The scene cuts, the frames, and the choreo are amazing(tho some stills are funny and y'all know which ones) but the writing has a lot to do with it. If anyone is a script writer or knows what that's about correct me if I'm wrong!

I say this because what we are being told and shown is that Armando had feelings for Betty and not a crush like Betty did. He actually cared about her, as a friend. I know many don't agree with that because Armando was a crappy boss. We see them always interact as boss and employee but the reason why I continue to bring up the fact that he started to blur those lines is because we were being told and shown that.

Armando is mechanical. He is emotionless to the outsiders. As he once told Betty that she probably thinks he is a man of ice and later on in the future we see Betty daydream telling Marcela that she knows Armando acts like he's got a heart of stone but deep inside of him he needs a lot of love. However Armando isn't a man of iron and he tells that to Betty himself.

We are told this but what are we shown?

We are shown an erratic, often driven by emotion, and neutronic person. Now the people he has surrounded himself with aren't the most loving and welcoming people. They are pretty judgy and stuck up. So often the emotions he shows and knows how to distinguish well are anger, frustration, and most of all being erratic with the emotions mentioned above. These emotions drive him. The people around him think that he is a man of stone and that nothing moves him. However we then meet a woman who isn't like that at all or like any of the people he has surrounded himself with.

This person is kind, loving, respectful, and sweet to everyone. She loves her job, loves her friends, loves her family and secretly loves her boss. In a very poetic way Betty is color in an otherwise black and white world. She brings warmth to Armando and because they work so closely, how is he not supposed to be affected by this? How is he not supposed to be changed and moved by this?

He is an awe of her morals, of Betty's qualities and her general presence and though we aren't bluntly told this by the characters themselves we are shown this and it's not by accident and not by mistakes of post production.

Take a break if you need it.

It isn't an accident that we see Mario so much in these scenes just standing in the background taking it all in because he truly is the mastermind behind Betty's downfall. He truly mapped out and planned the way to seduce Betty and how to manipulate Armando and didn't even care if it hurt her or his best friend. What he cared about was that his best friend remained President because titles mean everything to him. As we saw in the past when Armando and him were arguing over the deal with the Panamanian fabric seller, while Armando focused on how it not only affected him and the major shareholders but everyone, Mario reminded him that he was also a minority shareholder, but a shareholder nonetheless. Armando's inner turmoil was that he was jeopardizing the livelihood of not only the company's shareholders, and his family but the entire company's employee roster while Mario was more focused on himself, telling him that he too had a lot to lose but not understanding what really weighted down Armando's shoulders.

Think about it, Mario in a sense is a leech. He gets the crumbs of women Armando doesn't want. If I'm not mistaken in the spinoff Eco Moda Mario himself says that women only ever showed interest in him because they wanted to get close to Armando. Mario lives off of the crumbs of Armando, not only with women but socially. Armando is one of the major shareholders of Eco Moda, he's attractive, charismatic, and an important figure in society and not only among the Fashion world like Mario is. Mario Calderon wasn't going to let his best friend lose the title of being President for anything because than it would be bad for him. It would be bad for his reputation to have been his close friend and accomplice to Armando while also being a part of a disastrous presidency term in the company.

Mario is charismatic, one could even say a lot more than Armando seeing as I myself even like him even when I know all of this about his character. I find him funny, charming, and at times endearing but of course that's when you look at him on a surface level.

Mario Calderon is despicable. He is downright selfish and egocentric down to the bone. He maps out this plan so easily because he knows his two victims well. He has seen Armando's disagreements with Marcela, he has witnessed first hand Armando's change towards Betty and silently observed Betty's interactions with Armando. He himself has thrown out his conclusions on Betty's actions by a simple snip bits of conversation that he's either been in the room to hear or heard from Armando himself.

Who better to make Betty fall in love than Armando? Because Betty has those feelings there and who better to do be the one to do this than Armando? Not only because those feelings are there but because Armando can stomach the job. The man who is confused about his feelings and behaving erratically and emotionally driven than Armando?

Because Armando proposes for Calderon to do it. At first Calderon is grossed out by the idea but Armando presents everything telling him he isn't the boss, that he has no morals and he was perfect for the job. Mario agrees with all of that, even asks for a bigger percentage of shareholding and Armando agrees. This gives us the understanding that Mario would be willing to seduce Betty.

I realize this contradicts my own personal opinion that Armando agreed to do this because it meant he was saving Betty from Nicolas but lets remember that Armando was afraid to face those feelings and he wasn't even aware that they were there. Here Armando and Mario weren't talking about love, as he thinks Betty is so in love with Nicolas that he is her eternal love and that Nicolas would take advantage of that and poison her against them, they are talking about seduction, meaning seggsual. Which I've said before Armando thinks lust is love and therefore that if he ain't wanting to jump they bones in that instant that it cain't be love therefore my mans thought he had no feelings for Betty(idk why bc we do get two scenes where he checks her out briefly (I am sure of this because it's the episode where Betty tripped and was limping and when Mario brought it up Armando asked if she didn't already walk like that, if he had been noticing her walk than he would have been aware of the limp but his eyesight went from the top of Betty's head all the way down. Do with that information what you'd like :)) and where he gets jealous when Charlie Zas kissed her cheek(someone once said that they were celos de jefe and excuse me ma'am jealousy is jealousy and a normal boss would not feel that. If my boss or manager ever did that I woulda done been fired in that instant))

Take a break if you need it.

Okay return back to this scene.

While Calderon does this mila second rundown of Betty, Armando and him share a stare. Either Armando wants the room to himself or is looking at him for a confidence boost. Then Mario nods and lets him know he'll leave them be.

Armando sticks to the script by not removing his trust from Betty. Instead he encourages her and congratulates her on doing things well.

In this scene while Betty has been entirely focused on the work at hand and being professional Mario was busy assessing the situation while Armando... is hard to read here. He is keeping himself composed rather than being emotionally driven or erratic or neurotic. In truth he is showing one of his best traits so far, composure. When he is sure of what he wants to happen Armando is really good at keep composure, feelings at bay, and controlling the situation. Something he later loses as he begins to get more lost and confused in his own feelings and understanding them.

Betty here is endearing, honestly I find Betty endearing at all times lol. She's super cute and such a good sport since her character is written to capture your heart, not by sympathy but by empathy. Again just like Armando how are we not supposed to be affected by such a sweet character? Constantly putting her feelings aside for Armando's, who hasn't done that? We empathize with her because at some point or another we've been her and ironically it's the exact same reason why we sympathize and empathize with Armando because at some point or another we've all been there where we let the worse get the best of us and we've learned to live with it and deal with it same as he.

As Betty starts to leave the office Armando calls her name, stands up in a slow but steady way showing us that he is the one in control in this situation. His tone is controlled but not enough where you don't hear that resent.

"Betty you didn't hadn't told me you've got a boyfriend"

Betty looks taken aback by this behavior of his. As she stares at him a bit shocked and rocks on her feet, seeming uncomfortable with this but also worried.

Armando proceeds to say "and that that boyfriend is Nicolas Mora, your friend from university. The one you've got in Terra Moda" Notice how now there is a waiver in his voice and he no longer is being as composed or in control of his emotions. As he for split seconds allows those emotions of jealousy and possessiveness to sweep through his tone of voice.

In this scene Armando isn't so much giving us body language as he is stiff, showing nervousness and discomfort himself, often we see this whenever Marcela is interrogating him but he is giving us tonality in voice.

Again the sequence as he names the list of what and who Nicolas is shows priority. First, Nicolas is Betty's boyfriend, that guy she's talked about who she went to university with, and she's got him working in Terra Moda. His priority: Betty has a boyfriend. He knows who said boyfriend is and he knows what he does.

Betty tells him that she doesn't have a boyfriend: "Ay ay no Doctor, eso no es cierto." Betty normally has a waiver her voice whenever she's nervous or scared so it's not unlike her to have it here, she smiles and chuckles nervously. In translation what she says is lost so by interpretation this is what she said "Hmm? No sir... um that's not true."

Armando's tone is now accusing her. He seems angered by Betty's "denial" as he tells her "It's not true? I heard it-" we then get a frame of Betty's reaction. She is truly concerned over this as we later find out at the end of the day that she was worried that it could cause Don Armando to build distrust towards her. Again we are shown that Betty is keeping it all professional whilst Armando isn't.

"I heard when Bertha told you, right in front of me. [Y'all] started gossiping, didn't notice I was there. You both forgot about me, no Betty?"* He is shaking as if agitated and he sports a cocky smile because he feels like he caught her in her own lie.

[*]This could be taken in a double sense. In his eyes Betty was so excited about hearing that her "eternal love" called her that she forgot he was in the room and in a figurative way, Betty forgot him.

Betty's understanding of his behavior is rational. He's upset that she withheld vital information from him after she told him she had nothing else to hide(when he interrogated her the previous night) and this is related to a professional work related situation.

Armando now sports similar traits to that of Marcela when she is looking for reasons to act out on her anger. Armando is agitated as stated before and while Betty goes to explain herself Armando grabs his glass of whisky, not taking his eyes off Betty and drinks(cantinero, otro whisky!(Now his behavior here is very interesting because as he grabs the glass to drink from it he takes in a deep breath. At first I interpreted this for anger but after seeing it a few times I realize it's panic. While at first he was composed and sure of what he was feeling which was anger, now he is faced with uncertainty from feelings he doesn't recognize and he doesn't know where this conversation is going to head or how he'll react or feel so he enters panic mode)). She tells him that it was something the cuartel came up with because she once mentioned Nicolas and since then they haven't gotten it out of their heads that he is her boyfriend "I don't have anything with him."

Then relief starts to wash over him as Betty's final words are reassuring him that she doesn't have a boyfriend. In this frame Armando no longer has a drink in hand and he doesn't seem as tense as before.

"Definite? We're sure of that?"

Betty chuckles and nods and his tone of voice returns to being soft spoken and calm, even hopeful as he tells her "Okay, okay it was only curiosity." (What kind of curiosity tho?;))

Betty leaves his office and has a slight smile and was on the brink of a daydream when Sofia interupts her from doing that.

I have this dumb theory where Aura Maria and Freddy are in some way a parallel of Betty and Armando except that Aura Maria takes on the role of Armando while Freddy takes on the role of Betty and if y'all want I'll write a post explaining this.

Take a break if you need it.

Skip a scene we've got Armando interacting with Freddy. Usually everyone pays the burnt of Armando's anger and in this scene he looks anything but angry. He actually humors Freddy which allows us to know that after that conversation with Betty, he has one less problem(you know the one that topped all the others). He then laughs at Freddy(I find it ironic that Freddy told him that what Jenny and him have is strictly professional at which Armando laughs and repeats the same thing. The reason I find it ironic is because we as an audience know that what J & F have is not strictly professional and the conversation Armando just had with Betty wasn't strictly profession. In other words, Fernando Gaitan has a good sense of humor) and tells him to show him his lil dancy dance and leaves to go to Mario's Office.

When he enters his office he informs him he spoke to Betty about that infamous boyfriend.

"What did she say?" Mario asks.

"Well no, that she doesn't have a boyfriend." his smiles and says happily. He the catches him up on the gossip.

While Armando is now showing an array of emotion and excitement Mario is poker face, fidgeting with his pen and studying Armando.

He tells him "You know what this means? That I'm a happy man!" he chuckles and looks around the room as if really taking in the news and letting the relief settle in. "What a relief, finally some good news today, ah" he says the final part as if he were an italian chef. This lets us know that Armando is truthfully relieved to find out that Betty, his Betty is single and that he is still her special man.

In the previous post I talked about how Armando went about listening his excuses to start drinking early that day and how he basically went going from his smallest problem to the biggest one as he says that the one that topped all of his other problems was Betty having a boyfriend.

See, all his other problems were a cause of stress and anger, emotions he is very familiar with so they don't disconcert him however, jealousy or fear of losing Betty, are new territory for him that alone freaked him out but the fact Betty had a boyfriend was enough to just push the boy just close enough to the edge he needed a drink so early in the morning because it was anguish.

Mario tells him he has never seen him so relieved and happy to find out a woman doesn't have a boyfriend to which we pan out to see Armando roll his eyes and slouch against the chair, annoyed at Mario's insinuation once again.

Mario reminds him of the last time he saw that same expression on him which was when he found out some woman was separated from her husband. Armando then tells him not to diminish the good news because it meant Betty hadn't ommited any information from him.

To really bring this post to the full potential of it being analytical let us break this down.

Why was it important for him that Betty not omit information from him? Especially relating to something so personal and intimate of Betty's life outside of the office? (Again the argument that this is only about Eco Moda and Terra Moda are disproven in the previous post).

[EDIT: Sometimes as I write I've got two ideas at the same time and forget to finish writing them. It wasn't only important for the reasons mentioned below but because he does in fact want to know more about Betty as he later tells Bertha the same thing].

Armando went through the five stages of grief.

Anger, denial, anger, denial, more denial, and then moving on.

He did not accept that Betty had a boyfriend therefore when she told him she didn't he fully believed her, didn't ask more questions.

For Armando Betty's character means a lot. I don't mean the individual personification of Betty as a fictional character in this novela I mean as in her inner self and what she represent. To him Betty represent stability, comfort, unconditionality, honesty, and most of all fidelity and loyalty and the last three qualities are what he is always naming. If she withheld something from him it would mean that Betty was no longer that. She no longer would be an object of reassurance and comfort but like everyone else she'd become an unpredictable and untrustworthy individual in his life. Some one more that he needed to keep at arm's length or pretend around.

Armando has gotten a taste of being around someone who doesn't judge him when he is himself and doesn't hold it over him when he makes mistakes based on his neurotic nature or anger issues. Instead he has been around someone who understand he's like that, someone who is patient and knows how to call him out on it and how to handle his erratic behavior so he has learned to let his guard down little by little and found a niche of comfort in his assistant but if she lied to him it would take all of that away. It would be betrayal in his eyes.

That's why it was so important to him that Betty didn't keep secret from him. Especially seeing as they were forming a friendship that was based on honesty and respect towards each other. This explains why that was important to him. It's important for him to have trust in her.

However we ain't kidding anyone because his reaction was possessive over Betty because Betty has given all of these things to Armando, who has never really received them without some fine print, and he doesn't want to share her with anyone else. This is possessiveness and it is not love or romantic. It is a toxic trait because not one person belongs to someone and Armando feels that Betty belongs to him. Be it romantically, platonically, or work related, a person is a human being and they do not belong as an object or property to anyone.

Armando is a very emotionally immature individual and this shows us that.

Mario then proceeds to be his classical self, which is to sow the seed of paranoia in his best friend as he starts to point out that her friends wouldn't be saying that if Betty hadn't given them a reason. His hands clasped in front of him show a position of power. Right now he is holding the cards and he is well aware of that.

Right as he see the reaction he wanted from Armando he leaves him to ferment so to speak in the paranoia he has left in him. Armando becomes nervous all over again and susceptible to it.

He is left with himself and he says "Y quien es el.." now if you're hispanic or latino you'll find the humor in how that scene ends as he starts to sing in a sorrowful tone a very romantic and a song that I'd say most listen to when dealing with a break up "y en que lugar se enamoro de ti?"

Which translate to "And what is he like? and in what place did he fall in love with you?"

I won't read too much into that as I'm sure it was written in for humor or added in for the humor effect as we've had some pretty heavy emotionally driven scenes in this episode but I do think it's an ironic placement of humor.

Now to bring the final scene that I will be discussing regarding Armando finding out about Betty's boyfriend we come full circle with Armando asking Bertha about it.

He acts charismatic, composed and professional to get Bertha to talk to him.

"The subject is the following: I've got a long time working with Betty and It's just until now that I find out she's got boyfriend. Do you know who he is?"

"Well like really know? No, because she's so reserved"

He then with a pierced mouth nods. Again those feelings are creeping back up. I get it. He's feeling paranoia, distrust, betrayed, hurt, offended, scared, jealous, possessive and angry but this proves what I mentioned about Armando having his guard up at all times because he doesn't show any of this to Bertha, at least not enough where she picks up but because we as an audience are given so much detail regarding his character, we can.

Quickly he asks her "And you don't know how long she's been dating him?" brings us full circle again. The same tone he had with Betty when he told her that he was in the same room as her when Bertha said that she had a boyfriend, minus the smirk and actual reaction of his, once again proves that Armando knows when to show his reaction and how to be in control and composed.

Bertha proceeds to tell him the "actual" story in which she tells him "dating dating? No, but he does have her eating from the palm of his hand because she's stupidly in love with him." and we hear Armando gasp and say "No." we then get a frame of his face which shows us... the opiset of happiness, joy, relief, tranquility, peace, serenity but with someone trying to be composed.

Bertha tells him that Mariana read her the cards and said that he was Betty's dream man and that he was going to change her life and she was going to change his life. I don't care for that but for the sake of this breakdown I'll mention it.

We know that Betty's dream man is Armando, not Nicolas. However everyone else thinks it's Nicolas. Armando's facial expression shows someone once again panicking.

He not only finds out that Betty has boyfriend, now it turns out she didn't just omit something from him but lied when he asked her and to top it off she so happens to be stupidly in love with him and on top of all of that he is Betty's dream man and to finish it off, he will change her life and she will change his life in the mildest of riches, meaning with Betty becoming the sole owner of Eco Moda and Terra Moda, making her rish rish $$$.

This is when it no longer is just about his mixed up feelings for Betty but now the entire livelihood of his family and everyone that works for Eco Moda.

Eco Moda is Armando's pride and joy. He does love that company which is why he started that scheme in the first place because he didn't want to lose it, let his father down, prove Daniel right, and throw away 30 plus year of his father's work and life time(Also as we're told because of his goals). The company means a great deal to him and in ways he's not aware of yet, so does Betty.

However someone is aware of this, not to the deep knowledge that Armando has regarding whatever he thinks he is feels towards Betty but they've got some sort of idea regarding this and they innact and come up with a plan to secure the company, the presidency, and his statues and reputation.

Step one: Tell Armando that he needs to make Betty fall in love with him to secure the company. Women in love will do anything for the one they love therefore if he beats Nicolas to the goal we secure the company. It worked with Paty(he's stupid so his logic doesn't work)

Step two: Convince Armando that he is the right candidate for the job. If that doesn't work, manipulate him with paranoia and make him fear Betty. If that doesn't work, tell him you were sure that Betty was in love with him before you found out about Nicolas.

Step three: Tell Armando I will be in charge of all the corny details because he will freak out and get way over his head and ruin the plan.

Step four: make fun of him.

Step five: Go on a trip and write a letter that explains the entire plan in detail and leave it on my desk without telling my secretary to not let anyone touch it or go near it except Armando so that she can go into my office, and I know how she likes to be nosy, and she can then think it's in the wrong office and give it to her assistant who takes care of all of his stuff, literally, and she finds it, reads it and does exactly what I was afraid of and made my best friend afraid of as well and that will then bring her downfall, his downfall, therefore the entire company's downfall.

Step six: never realize how stupid I am or take full accountability for it and apologize sincerely for all the wrong and harm I have caused.

Obviously I'm not saying Armando is innocent or that he didn't do anything wrong. He did. He allowed his best friend to manipulate him when he said he wouldn't listen to him again(the panama thing), he allowed his best friend to make fun of Betty and was a coward to admit his true feelings not only to himself but to his best friend. He was a willing(felt guilty for it but nonetheless willing) participant in the plan.

By now breaking down these past episodes and scenes allows us to understand where Armando was coming from so we can sympathize just a bit for him and his confusion and how he was so easily manipulated by Mario, however this doesn't mean he isn't guilty. At the start of it he too to some degree thought no one could love Betty, (yes we later find out that he did care for her as he tells Mario that he feels endearment for Betty and he looks relieved to find that out. I will be breaking down that scene when I get to it) because of her physicality (I already talked about this but when the time is right I will go into deep detail regarding this part of Armando's character).

It is eleven AM. I have been writing this post for the past seven hours and I am beat and tired. I hope this makes sense.

Once again, 'til next time.

HAHAHA OKAY I FORGOT TO ADD SOME COMMENTARY ON THE REST OF THIS SCENE.

[Edit:

Bertha proceeds to tease Armando about him liking gossip and being Nosey. He gets annoyed at her but in order to get the information he wants he stays composed and tells her that he just wants to know about Betty.

"It's not that[I like gossip], it's just that this is about someone who is really close to me everyday-who I work really close with- and truth be told I am a little curious about Betty's life. You know, one just imagine her a little ugly and with boyfriend...? You know? Why don't you tell me the whole thing?"

At first he is a being defensive while trying to justify the fact he is being nosey. His tone then changes to endearing as he tells her "truth be told I am a little curious about Betty's life." and his face goes along with the tone as he says "you know, one just imagines her a little ugly-" he catches himself and say "and with boyfriend...?"

Overall what we have learned here is that Armando is really good at dismissing his feelings on the spot, suppressing them, and running away from them(I too do that and it's a pain in the butt). He does this as a sport.

Bertha then tells him "The thing is that Betty doesn't like it much for you to know about her private life." and this again offends Armando as he straightens his face and stares at Bertha in shock and as Bertha says "How is it, Sir..." and he quickly sits down to listen to her. "that this morning when we left your office she pulled me aside and told me that she didn't want you to know about her intimate life?" he rubs his chin, eyes still on Bertha and whispers "Really?"

Armando knows that Bertha can't tell half a gossip so instead of asking her to keeping telling him, practically begging her to tell him the whole scoop he manipulates her by saying "If this is going to cause problems then don't tell me. Let's leave it as is, Bertha, thank you." his tone is somber to tug at her strings, how could she possibly leave this man curious over this juicy gossip? and how could she not tell the whole story? Especially because it's her boss?

Bertha chuckles and tells him that she, of course is going to tell him, that she is dying to tell him. Armando then tells her "Well then if this is between us two it doesn't leave the planet, go on, tell me how did it go?"

Armando starts to bit his nail as he listen to Bertha start from the beginning.

She tells him word for word what Mariana said about Betty's dream man. She's obviously describing Armando, but to everyone else that's Nicolas, so the impression or idea that Armando now has of Nicolas is that he isn't some loser or nerd or some nobody but he is an important man who is the type of man woman lust over. They will have an intense relationship that will be strong and that the man is fundamental for her life.

This describes a man that is both important and that will be for sure in Betty's life.

Now Bertha goes on to describe the man Betty told them about. He is desired by woman,tall, handsome, strong, isn't rich but has money, has a big car, and his name is Nicolas Mora. However Betty clearifies that she has nothing going on with him, that she just likes him and she feels a strong attraction to him but that nothing has happened between them.

Then Mariana tells her that something will happen because it will change both of their lives.

Take into account that though Betty's life in a personal aspect hasn't changed much in the professional aspect it has. She's got a respectable job, a boss who values her work ethic and her enough to hand over his company which means she's could be rich. She's abandon some of her morals to collaborate with her scheming boss and is doing things that aren't morally correct.

Armando's life has changed not only professionally but personally. For one he's begun to let his guard down and given more of himself to a woman he isn't in a relationship or knowingly attracted to, his relationship with Marcela is only getting worse and Betty is usually the center of their biggest fights, he has now built a friendship with said woman built on trust and respect, something he has never done with any other woman and of course professionally he has sunken his and his family's company into debt.

I'd say Armando's life is changing a lot and that's not even the peak of it. Betty's life is also changing a lot and they haven't even started dating.

Armando is aware of how Betty's life is changing on a work related level so he obviously believes everything Bertha is telling him because he knows things she doesn't know.

Impatiently and annoyed Armando tells Bertha to explain what she means by "it's going to change their lives." which again since he "knows" things Bertha doesn't, therefore Tweedledum has sowed the seed of paranoia and Tweedledee has given it the perfect terrain for it to flourish so Armando is now listening to Mario's voice that Betty could turn against them though the important thing to note here is that Armando isn't mistrusting of Betty instead he is really mistrusting of Nicolas, because again, who could really fall in love with "ugly" betty. Except that's a joke on it's own because the idiot was already having feelings for her.

They are interrupted by Guti Guti and this is where I will end this post.

Truthfully until next time. ]

#analysis of ysblf #armando mendoza #armando ysblf #don armando #mario calderon #betty pinzón solano #betty ysblf #betty la fea #ysblf #yo soy betty la fea

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