#if you want to redeem a bad character they have to fix what they originally did wrong

[ronancebyler]

saw someone say that billy wasnt abusive to max

did they watch the show?

reblog to put billy directly in harm's way

[miiilowo]

Highlights / Notable info from the second Scott Cawthon Dawko interview for people who don't want to watch it

MISC/START OF INTERVIEW

- scott says the 1 thing he'd wanna go back and change/fix the past 10 years is FNAF world; said a lot of weird/bad decisions were made going into it, that he didn't like the graphics and it Could Have been a good game but he doesn't like it overall & he may consider making an improved sequel

- he was scared to hand FNAF over to steel wool but he thinks he got lucky w/ them

- refuses to play both FNAF VR games because they genuinely scare him too much; didn't want to beta test them (funny)

- he very much knows the fandom prefers pure horror and the supernatural but cant resist leaning into scifi stuff

- doesn't like the names burntrap and glitchtrap and they were supposed to be temporary

SECURITY BREACH

- half blames covid splitting up steel wools workforce for the games lack of quality and delays

- says his "vision of the game" was misaligned with steel wool, that he had a "very specific story in mind" for security breach and it didnt pan out like he wanted

- he takes fault for it, saying he conveyed it in a bad way; "I was trying to tell steel wool to do specific things throughout the game, put specific items in specific places, have specific characters do certain things, meanwhile not TELLING them what the story plot was. Because in my head, I was thinking 'Okay, when people find this, they'll connect this to this to this & it will all be revealed, and I thought I could do that without telling steel wool the story plot. That didn't work out very well because they got all of these pieces, and they thought it was their job to connect them in a way that made sense. And so really what you ended up having were the same pieces telling completely different stories...I don't blame them for that, I blame myself for that, because what I should have done was gone 'hey, heres the story, the pieces are here, here's how theyre supposed to connect'."

- burntrap originally even supposed to move; just supposed to see something you saw in between machinery or in corners, that you werent supposed to know his purpose even though he used to have a very specific one (that the fandom doesnt know)

- he knows it didnt turn out like anyone wanted & thats why they made the RUIN dlc, he hopes it redeemed security breach

- he said hes learned from that mistake with security breach and things should be better in the future

- he cannot share any thoughts on the mimic

- he likes vanny a lot, shes one of his favorites and he thinks that shes underutilized and should get more spotlight in the future

THE BOOKS

- process is 'he has an idea, he proposes it to the writers, they flesh it out'

- he likes bunny call the most, and that it's not entirely made up; he took his family to a summer camp. 2 older kids 2 babies. one of the things you could sign up for was a 'panda call' . a very 'deceiving title', he says. early in the morning, a bunch of the camp counselors dressed as killer clowns would come into your cabin and scare the kids to wake them up early and drag them off to do their daily activities (?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????) and he knew this was the case, & before it happened he started to sort of feel bad that he signed up his two youngest kids for it so he crept outside in the dark and 'started listening for screams' early in the morning. 'somewhere in the dark in these trees theres clowns and theyre coming for my cabin'

- acknowledges the fazgoo is weird and bad.

- the 'creature on the cover of blackbird is my sleep paralysis demon' (quite literally)

- says his least favorite story is the guy getting pregnant with springtrap's baby and that he Doesnt Know What He Was Thinking, that he swears he 'wasnt trying to pick on matpat'

- he says theres potential for the books to be adapted into shorts goosebumps style, but hes afraid it might be 'too much' and oversaturate the franchise

THE MOVIE

- he says a big issue was that there was material thats difficult to translate to the big screen; the nuance of the antagonists being that the animatronics are possessed by the spirits of innocent children, and he wanted to preserve the innocence of the victims while also having the horror and the kills, and thats a big part of why several screenplays got scrapped; he was more picky/cautious about that than anything else

- says the victims are sort of like 'confused, scared animals backed into a corner, who believe that adults are out to get them' & thats part of why they kill people + the manipulation from william afton

- he likes the movie overall but thinks specific things could be improved and they aim to do that with the second movie, but doesn't want to dwell on those shortcomings too much

- hes perfectly happy with critics hating it but the fanbase loving it & that was his goal for it

- when the movie began showing in theatres he said: 'i told myself i wasnt gonna go online i wasnt gonna read any reviews i had already told everybody at blumhouse and i told my legal team DONT talk to me DONT call me DONT email me DONT send me charts DONT send me facts or figures i dont want hear ANYTHING', saw 1 negative review on accident then started reading all of them immediately before the 2nd showing even happened

- 'for a couple of hours there i was distraught, i thought it was a complete disaster' (based off the initial negative critic reviews, before learning how much the fans loved it)

SECOND MOVIE

- Not giving away many details, but following the same formula; 1st movie based on 1st game, 2nd movie based on 2nd game, etc

- Thinks people will like it, that the setup for the 1st movie was the hardest part but now that they have that launch pad to go off of and hes really fond of what they have planned

- Emma Tammi is also directing the second one

INTO THE PIT GAME

- was originally just supposed to be a short novelty game, but they made something really good and he encouraged them to keep going & its turned into a full-fledged game

- he says its going to be a very 'unique experience' and that everyone will like it a lot

- says working with megacat (studio for the game) has been 'weird but good', that theyll vanish for several months and return with a bunch of info

SPINOFFS, GENERAL FRANCHISE STUFF, FUTURE PLANS

- Would want to work on a game based off of Fetch and that he thinks it'd be really cool

- Says he feels like he's sort of lost touch with the fanbase as things have gotten bigger

- Wants to have a better structure for managing a twitter page, official news feed, etc., wants more management than just Himself because it'd better service the fanbase

- He says theres another game planned with steel wool (not the mimic game) way down the line that hasnt been announced yet

- Making more choose-your-adventure fnaf book stuff

- He's 'very careful' with collaborations because he wants to preserve the fact its fnaf and he doesnt want it to be distorted or tainted, & even if he really really likes a game he won't do a collab if the vibes are mismatched, but he's a little more open to things like that now (but we have FNAF X DBD now! yay)

THE BOX.

- (paraphrased) His process for a lot of the lore in games is that he'll come up with half of a mystery and then come up with an answer as things progress, that he feels something is there and he makes the path for that thing to be revealed

- 'but sometimes when things progress the roads that have been put in place arent the same roads that were there before'

- he had something planned for the box. the progression of the story did not allow for the reveal of whats in the box

- he never pursued whats in the box. and he will never know whats in the box.

[harukamitsuki]

I need Bakugou stans to realise that it's not that I hate him as a person. It's that I hate him as a character.

A lot of my favourite characters are unrepentant assholes, or assholes who are set to or have already been redeemed. Vegeta from DBZ, Ouma Kokichi from DGR: V3, Dio from JoJo, Laxus from Fairy Tail, Greed from FMA: B, Bill from Gravity Falls, and the list that goes on.

If a character is a terrible person, that's fine by me. But if the author tries and fails to redeem them, yet still acts as though they are suddenly this amazing person, that's when I have an issue with it.

Bakugou was originally written to be a minor antagonist, and that would have been fine, if Horikoshi didn't suddenly go "I drew him crying so imma fix him".

Redemption is such a complex yet simple thing to do. So when you try to do it and fail spectacularly, um, yeah, I do not enjoy that character or your writing.

That is my main issue with Bakugou. I do not think he deserved any redemption, not because he's a bad person, but because there is nothing to convince me that he could change.

He gets one scene where he goes, "boohoo I lost and everyone is stronger than me" then cries, and that's supposed to be enough for him to become a better person? That is nowhere near enough.

There was no moment that made me believe he genuinely regretted and took accountability for the abuse he put Izuku through in middle school.

"He changed!" That's not my issue. I don't care that he's changed. I care that I don't believe in it. If there was a plausible reason as to why he changed, then I would be fine with it. Maybe I'd even enjoy him!

The fact that he's changed doesn't mean shit if it's not believable.

"That was in middle school!" Okay. This one pisses me off the most. That was a year pre-canon? Oh, wow, I guess that's completely fine! It's not as if characters are the way they are based on their past. Oh, Itachi killed the Uchiha clan before canon! Okay, maybe comparing a massacre to bullying is a bit unfair. Still, just because it happened a year ago, it doesn't mean it never happened. It doesn't mean that he's changed considerably.

"Izuku doesn't have any lasting damage and forgave him!" And? Just because your friend forgives their bully, it doesn't mean you have to forgive them. And, again, I do not believe Bakugou's apology was good in anyway. He was trash-talking Izuku, blaming All Might for Izuku's behaviour, and didn't accept any culpability for what he did to him. He didn't tell anyone else what he did to Izuku. Also, if Izuku really didn't have any lasting damage from the bullying, then why did Bakugou's apology make him calm down? If he didn't care about the bullying, then why is he so relieved by the apology? BECAUSE HE WAS AFFECTED.

"Bakugou was being abused!" ... NO HE WASN'T!! Mitsuki is not abusive. Yes, she hit him round the back of his head. After he threatened her. Anyone with Asian parents can tell you that her hit does not hurt. Not only is it somewhat normal in Asian families, but it also doesn't hurt. We have no evidence that she is abusive. Horikoshi knows how to set up abusive families, as seen with the Todorokis. This not that. Either way, even if she was, being abused doesn't mean it's okay to abuse others. You can hurt without hurting others.

"It's the school and teacher's fault!" No, it's not. Part of the fault lies with them enabling him, but Bakugou is already fifteen when the series starts. His mother clearly doesn't agree with his attitude. The school is only partially to blame. Bakugou should have learned by himself what is right and what is not. In fact, he clearly does know considering he doesn't want any of that stuff on his records in case U.A. rejects him.

Again. I don't care if he's a terrible person. I care that he's a terrible character.

So the next time someone says that I'm stuck in Season One, take a moment and think about what you're saying. Bad people in fiction are entertaining. Bad characters are not.

[wilcze-kudly]

If worked for the team who made Avatar TloK. How would you rewrite TloK?

To be completely honest, rewriting tlok wouldn't fix all it's issues. Tlok just needed to have longer seasons, an actually established amount of seasons so they weren't pressured to make every single season a complete story for fear of not getting more time.

But let's say, hypothetically that I murdered mr Crabs or whoever is in charge of Nickelodeon and removed any studio meddling from the show.

My perfect world would include:

More filler episodes that focus on a singular character. Think Sokka's Master or the Painted Lady. The Krew are all fascinating characters with a lot of potential, however, due to the runtime of the show, their storylines are rushed... or completely nonexistent. Give me more details of Mako and Bolin's childhood. Show me emore of Asami struggling with her father's arrest.

I'd try to cut down on the westernisation of the show. I can see why these foreign aspects slipped in, since the closer the Avatarverse inches to our modern times, the more blurred the lines become. At least to my whiteass. I'd try to lean towards silkpunk, rather than the much more west based steampunk. It would be a fascinating endeavour to imagine what a world with mostly eastern influences would look like.

I'd make Vaatu the overarching villain/final boss of the story... it would require a bit of moving around of the timeline but I think I'd structure it as: Red Lotus> Kuvira> Amon> Vaatu. However I'd blur the timeline more. Make Amon a background threat in the eariler seasons, only for him to rise in popularity and power after people see what benders like Kuvira are capable of, for example.

This would also allow for certain villains to become redeemed or at least helpful in some way, later on. Mayhaps Amon and Kuvira team with the Krew to defeat Vaatu in some way.

Also, instead of destroying Vaatu completely, I'm leaning towards Korra absorbing him, in a way. Yes Vaatu is a dark spirit, but 'darker' urges are necessary for humans' survival and happiness. Korra embodies the duality of man very well. I think it would be a fascinating idea to see the Avatar become the embodiment of both light and darkness.

In general, making Vaatu and Raava more morally ambiguous, rather than the simple good spirit/bad spirit thing they had in the og show would be a fascinating concept.

I'd do my best to pull away from the show's original centerist narrative. Have Korra learn from the villains and make active changes to the world, showing her growth as an Avatar and person. Perhaps she's reluctant to see the Red Lotus' point of view at the beginning of the show, but sympathises with Amon at the tail end of the story.

Make the entire Krew queer. And talk about queerness more, in general. Have the characters have open conversations about queerness in their respective enviornments and cultures. Tlok already has a very queer undertone to it, even before korrasami became canon, but touching on this subject more overtly would provide great opportunity for characterisation and worldbuilding.

Have the story span several years. Watch the Krew grow up. Tlok works very well as a coming of age story even in its original form. Have Vaatu and his darkness and chaos symbolise the uncharted waters of maturity at the end of teenagedom. This especially works if Korra merges or accepts him like i suggested.

There... that's some basics. I think that most of my criticisms of the show could mostly be solved if the studio wasn't being a bitch but well. We can't have nice things, can we?

I took a while to answer this ask because it was genuinely such an interesting, but overwhelming question.

Also now I have wayy too many ideas about a potential tlok rewrite, so feel free to ask me about that if you want to hear me ramble.

[shrimp1y]

"wrio isn't a cop hes a king"

Can someone with brains please please PLEASE talk about the disgusting portrayal of cops, crime, court proceedings, justice system and prison incarceration in genshin impact's fontaine update because I cannot SIT HERE and see people completely destroy their brain cells just so they could play a mediocre game and make some fictional men fuck in their mind

I'm deadass surprised there isn't more people talking about it??? I'm honestly so ??? It's literally presenting prison labour as a good thing. Wriothesley, the prison administrator, got rich off of making his inmates build police robots for the state AND HE'S PRAISED FOR IT. AND THEY'RE PAID IN COUPONS THAT CAN ONLY BE USED IN JAIL. HE WAS REWARDED FOR IT WITH HIS DUKE STATUS.

The fact that the fucking MC's mascot was like "oh the prisoners get one free meal a day? you're making life too good down here what if no one wants to leave :(" what in the bullshit. What in the. There's also a fighting ring in the prison, by the way, and you can bet on it with your coupons you just can't bet on both fighters.

The. This is a scene people think is hot. "But that's a bad guy!" THAT'S HOW THE NARRATIVE IS WRITTEN. THEY ARE ALWAYS THE BAD GUY IN FICTION. THAT'S HOW COPAGANDA WORKS, they make you think people in power can just beat the shit outta anyone and of course the person deserves it because they are clearly always the bad guys! And the people in power are always right! This is sarcasm btw.

Neuvillette and the magic judgement machine are literally seen as undeniable justice ordained by magic and NO ONE KNOWS HOW IT WORKS. NEUVILLETTE HIMSELF HAS NO CLUE WHAT HE'S DOING HE'S ACTIVELY FIGURING SHIT OUT AS WE SPEAK. And yet it's what sends people to The Worst Most Dangerous Super Scary Prison Ever Where There's No Laws [but 1 meal a day's great /s].

"But he feels bad!" Genshin has repeatedly chosen to highlight the pains and troubles of the oppressors [Eula] [Ei/Shogun] and there's literally never any repercussions for them aside from when they portray The Haterz clearly as villains or they turn it around and say "Well it was a misunderstanding all along! No one's to blame here!"

I'm not smart enough to go into details I'm just saying. This. needs to be talked about. I'm not telling you to stop the game bc Hyperfixations not really smth that can be controlled or whatever I get It I Got Back into the game when the first trailer dropped I drew neuvillette fanart and then everything just went downhill since then and I'm like why the fuck did I expect anything better than racist, pro cop dogshit from Mihoyo It needs to be talked about ESPECIALLY by people who still cares about it to critically. assess what the fuck you are absorbing because this shit isn't okay. This is literally paw patrol for weebs they just didn't call anyone a "cop"

PLEASE. TALK ABOUT IT.

[brekkie-e]

I have mixed feelings on the discussion about how "nice" Astarion gets if you go the Spawn route with him. Now, I am not reading fic so I've not personally seen the extent of how far people are running with the “redeemed” narrative. I might be completely unaware of some truly unhinged “Astarion helps old ladies cross the road with a smile on his face and kindness in his heart” takes. And I will be the first to point out his approval in Act 3 doesn’t always point towards a huge change of heart.

The flip side of that conversation that I’m not seeing discussed that much is the way Astarion talks about himself as well as the way the companions talk about him after choosing the spawn ending. In the scenes directly afterwards, and even in the epilogue a bit- you can see a very changed man. Not necessarily a humane society volunteer, but at the very least someone who’s taking responsibility for their life and viewing the world in a way they hadn’t before. Spawn Astarion’s growth cut scenes were almost jarring for me to watch after years of being comfortable with the bitch boy from Early Access.

Astarion is not the only one talking that way though! Karlach, Wyll, Minthara, Jaheira! They all respond to him as though he is a changed man. I scoured to find the actual lines since I’m away from my computer, but no luck. That being said, I do know that pretty much each companion reacts to his decision not to follow through with Ascension and his time afterwards by essentially saying, “You can’t fool me, we know you’re a good person.” In various degrees of intensity.

I know in his dialogue with Minthara he dead ass says, “Yep, love fixed me. I’m better now.” And he says it with zero shame, he’s happy about it.

At points the way the companions and he talk about it makes me frustrated with certain reactions and approvals that remain in Act 3. The further you get from finishing his plot line, the less of a changed man he really seems. His approvals in general still line up with Ascended Astarion’s. Some of his reactions to things seem out of touch with the man seen in the grave yard. For example, his reaction to being cheated on with Mizzora. Not only does his acceptance of that just seem like a different character than the one we see in his scenes after the palace, a man who clearly views your relationship as a serious commitment that he is proud of. But it also seems bizarre that he would be okay with you betraying Wyll at this point in the story. The man we see telling the spawn to go to the underdark, who thanks Tav for standing by him, and gushes about being excited to live again and embrace the good with the bad seems entirely juxtaposed to the asshole he continues to be.

Which is not to say that I want him to be all sunshine and rainbows. It just seems inconsistent. I think a part of that comes from the need to keep his reactions neutral enough that they might work for both endings. The problem with that being that Ascended and Spawn Astarion are such vastly different people in their main story scenes that it’s kind of impossible to line them back up again afterward. For me, it was hard to find it believable. Either his post Cazzador scenes were out of character, or his continued reaction scenes were out of character- it just depends on which you prefer.

Circling back to my original point, I guess what I’m trying to say is that his graveyard scenes and the companion commentary do make me think that he is still heading in a redemption arc direction. That it isn’t inherently out of character for him to be written as a character with a complicated relationship with morality, but more often than not ending up on the good side of the spectrum these days. The way I interpret it, it’s not so much because suddenly he’s altruistic and nice. It’s that he’s actively choosing change, which feels like a continuation of his recovery. He’s surrounded by people who hold him accountable. He’s trying to be better than he was. He’s trying to do right by the people who have helped him. He’s still going to bitch about it, and act like it’s stupid. But he’s going to independently prompt that the group save the kid from the hag because “that’s just what we do, I’m done fighting that reality.” In his post-Cazzador life, his only real loyalty is to his team. If that team is full of annoying do-gooders? Their his annoying do-gooders. He’ll complain about it, but he’d not trade his found family for anything. It kind of gives Loki in Thor: Ragnorak showing up with the ship. Or Megamind saving the city. I’m here. I’m going to be the hero because I guess I have to. I’m going to be positively insufferable about it though.

I certainly don’t think he’d be nice all the time. I think he’d still be a loose canon that lashes out. He’s in the middle of healing, not at the end of it. But I think if his redemption journey ends where it did in the game, the emphasis on how changed he was in his scenes and the companion commentary was a bit over done.

[traceofexistence]

The Q&A from last night with Sam, put Karlach in a lot of perspective.

age wise, because of what Karlach says about her sex life, Sam prefers to think of her as a young adult during being Gortash bodyguard +10 years in Avernus

so between 28~30+

I have personally estimated a 27~33, but I'm old so I preferred the older options in my headcanons lol

that being said Karlach is played to be a bit immature, especially when it comes to romance. which makes sense, since she was young when she was taken to avernus and there she stayed celibate by choice as she couldn't trust anyone.

we do have lines of her being very sexually frustrated, and burning her tent while masturbating, and getting too excited. Which means she even had to keep her self pleasure toned down, because of the damn engine.

the soul coin analysis is soo damn interesting and well written. it plays on Karlach's morality and character. (consuming soul coins is equal to war crimes, and they are also addictive like crack)

and she has consumed them, even though she knows that she condemns a soul by doing so, and she has a craving for them, and you have to speak her out of it, as tav, and she has to make the choice herself when you play origin.

we know from her back story, in game dialogue etc, she's been around the wrong crowds as a kid(especially after her parents died), and as Sam pointed out, she probably had made some very bad things as Gortash bodyguard, that she justified, as "being loyal" to the person who helped her.

So Karlach as we have seen in the game, she's very loyal, and she despises being tricked and betrayed. but if you show her care she will stay with you forever.

she's not above murdering people as long as she does it to protect herself and those she cares about.

if tav signs the contract with Raphael, she's very angry (understandably so) but she vows to go back to avernus for you, and break the contract for you, because you are worth it, she will go back to the place she hates the most, the place that she choices death over returning to, but she will do it for you, because you have treasured her, kept her as your companion, romanced her, fixed her engine, killed for her, even advocated for her when you barely knew her.

that's why it hurts her so deeply, when you betray her.

I also love how Sam poked on the fact that Karlach has done some very bad things, but when she escapes hell, she is adamant to start anew, and do good by choice

and I think that's the most important aspect of her character, she wants to do good by choice.

I also love Sam's opinion on Lae'zel

she rightfully criticizes the space racism that is going on, but also acknowledges that Lae is very young, and a product of her upbringing, therefore redeemable.

and let's be real here, contrary to some people's believes, Lae, does change dramatically throughout the game, even before she realizes that her whole world was a lie.

I bring up Lae in this Karlach post, because Sam mentioned her, and how Karlach just outright attacked the tieflings (her own kin) to save her, without a second thought, because Lae saved her from the nautiloid.

and back to Karlach

is she best girl?

ABSOLUTELY

nothing will change that

does it means she never done anything wrong in her life?

absolutely not.

sadly in recent years, fandoms suffer from what we call "purity politics"

if a character is not 1000% the purest of pures who has never done a wrong ever, then they are bad and we should be ashamed for liking them.

but purity politics is stupid, and do not belong in my reality.

like every companion, Karlach is beautifully flawed, and she's best girl because she sees the positive first, actively chooses to be good, and she finds the join in life, regardless of what fucked up situation she's in.

she's also fucking adorable so what's your argument really against her being defined best girl I dont understand.

remember friends

DON'T! POKE! THE KARLACH!

[storytellers-and-co]

Ya boys about to hit Shadowbringers

I got through Stormblood post-game last night and BOY what a ride it was!? I could barely put the game down, even when I was trying to pace myself so I don't leave certain friends too far behind. Adding spoilery stuff below the cut, because I know one of 'em reads this blog (I just need to gush a little while things are still fresh in my mind)

Okay so. All the revelations of Garlemald and how, WHY it was created? I loved that, it so easily explained why a whole ass country has been the default 'evil conquerors' for so long without any real challenge or change until now. Because the real man behind the whole thing is STILL AT IT. Change don't happen if the original reason, the original driving force is still kicking about.

Also I wanna kick Solus. I wanna kick Solus so hard. Props for the animators, writer and Rene Zagger, it's on sight now old man, I'm coming for your kneecaps!

Speaking of voice actors, Luke Allen-Gale! Hot damn did he do a good job as Zenos (and the possessed Zenos)! I have complicated feelings about Zenos, ngl - He's one of those characters that I know cannot be saved, fixed, or redeemed, but I can also see why he's such a popular character? Personally it's the voice and certain lines that did it for me. Got some shivers out of certain line-deliveries.

He's actually a character that makes me kinda sad - it's a reminder that there is some characters that are doomed by the canon, they'll never be good people, and yet you can see a glimmer, a potential of what-ifs, could-have-beens and all that. A road that was there but refused by the character because that's just not who they are.

Also Varis is also on the kick on the face list. Black Rose is bad. Stop it.

AND NOW ON THE LATEST THING that actually got two of my friends laughing: The final fight against Zenos-Zombie! Zenbie? Zomnos? The- the dead body possessed by the Ascian who I keep calling Ildi because names hard. Ildinos.

So the final fight against him. One, I absolutely loved being Hien for a moment, he quickly became one of my faves through the Stormblood (he's such a fun, up-beat character that takes the life by stride while also not being a pushover, and that's such a good quality to have!).

Two.... GOD DAMMIT WHOEVER YOU ARE, COULDN'T YOU HAD PICKED A BETTER TIME FOR YOUR BLOODY HOUSECALL, YOU NEARLY COST ME MY HEAD! If it wasn't for our local stray cat of a dragoon, we would've lost then and there and you would've lost your chance to have the WoL helping out on the count of NOT HAVING A HEAD, pick your times better oui raatmacc raqan! (This is a joke I know he couldn't have known I was locked in a death-match. I hope.)

Now if ya wondering why I am not more outraged about the fact they've effectively kidnapped my friends, I uh. I actually felt a huge surge of sympathy at the start for the character. idk something about the voice painted a picture of someone desperate and... sad? Upset? Distressed? Something like that just got my empathy flaring up. So while I am mad that I keep getting these calls and everyone around me is panicking in fear, I also want to get to the bottom of this because apparently my empathy levels are far too fucking high.

(Yes I am the type of person who wants to help everyone in any of the games I play in. It's my ultimate power fantasy, being able to help and comfort folks without my actual personality coming in the way)

I think that's all for me now folks, I am taking a small break before heading to Shadowbringers - I have few alts that need to catch up to HW at the very least, and a laundry-list of things for my main to go through. Like all the gathering side-quests, Eureka, unlocking all the primal fights and fixing my glamors etc. We're also trying to get a house for Storytellers, so i gotta help gather some extra funds + items.

[vivianbernadetteaurora]

What do these three people have in common? Well their birth charts to start out a very similar and they have all had very similar kind of accusations truth and also being able to brush it off at the same time. I have start with Wendy Williams who notoriously worked in I guess the 80s and the nineties to become radio host and almost like a gossip blind item of the original of what people are doing now and people dislike her but they’re all doing the same thing, she worked really notoriously and her and was often at times. The only woman and probably had a lot of and did have a lot of discrimination and black. She was the middle child children when she was younger she was overweight and her parents were very nasty to her about it actually all of these people have this in common as well, that he said he was a fat little fucker when he was younger and Courtney was not fat but chubby people who were not cause I don’t agree with the whole thing of medium because that’s what caused my own differently to what I was anyway so they had similar child all born in 1964 I believe They had people. I’m not too sure about this. She says she’s had money taken away from her and embezzled and from the Kurt Cobain estate but she was very unwell in the early 2000 Tyson had it he had it with Robin givens,his mum who wanted to really see the relationship like a lot of Hollywood relationships as a agreement and a More kind of relationship if you know you know he was very real for not wanting that and then he had the charges of rape against him which he won’t prison for which a lot of people has persecuted the victim which I think is disgusting. I’ve seen an into the victim and I believer, but what am I getting to in this? This, what I’m getting to all these three people have very redeemable characters and they have redeemed themselves in many ways Courtney with drugs and sort of now emigrating to England if that’s alright living in London now and not being in the spotlight so much where is before she lived for it I think all three of them dead Wendy Williams that’s a whole Nother topic really because I think she Has had an MK2 kind of situation where they have wanted her to shut up she was the original of what did he was doing in fact one of her last interviews on her show was with him meant to be making up on it and seven so they have the modalities cardinal fixed and mutable all evenly distributed in the chart which is good because you don’t sometimes want too much of one and not of the others so that brings me to all three of them are cancers with the Sun in cancer they all have Leo Mercury so they always think they’re right when they’re not.

They always have to be a bad person to have to say and that can be the part of people putting the people not liking them so much because mercury does not like to be in Leo, it’s not a good time for Leo basically or plan to be in because it’s first attitude with words which is partly what makes them so excellent at what they do especially and in the fact of the business is there but you can also make you dislikeable because you won’t anyone else approach we have the fact that they all are Gemini Mars and Venus which is a trait I said in a chart I I’m really charming when Venus and Mars are in the same. You’re gonna get somebody who is very good at fitting in social they might have a problem with boys definitely have a problem with balancing out their masculine and feminine inside and it could be pleasure versus pain a lot and you can see that just by looking at these people

and what they have gone through in Life, the whole accusations Courtney had and still does to this day over Kurt death things are going on and supposedly stealing money off her and not being able to have access to it while looking really unwell as I said previously embezzling Tyson and him but these people matured as a man Tyson has able to redeem himself in a lot of ways they all have lived really many lives. They’ve all had drug problems too and they’ve all just done out their things because of the similar to their chart. I do not no Tyson rising sign to me he could be a cancer rising but he could also be a tourist rising even arising because of the boxing so it’s hard obviously with the data they put on birth choice so you don’t know even a chart with an AA rating Rod and rating he can’t always tell so I tried to carefully celebrities and tried to talk about their Mars and Venus signs, and maybe not even that moonshine because we don’t know because I still think Beyoncé could be a Leo. Everyone thinks she’s a libra rising I don’t believe. so Courtney with her labouring that’s all the looks and how she’s a bit obsessed with looks and mentions it a lot in herself and others that can be the shallowest but it can also be that Gemini side with the gift of the gab and the fact that she did this song about the dress with her and cat For this dress and it became a massive thing , when is an Aquarius rising of course makes so much sense to me alien like big big boobs over the top boobs kind of like Nicki Minaj it’s very funny because they’re in that sense of having that Aquarius first house as well. You do get a lot of Carians that are too, although I think this isn’t talked about much but yeah, this is why I think these personalities are very similar .

Final PSA to this is a fact that Courtney Love called out Harvey Weinstein in 2005 and got blackboard for her never to see the live date or many years later and that’s only the light of day so people with Gemini placements can be whistleblowers but you need to be careful because they do embellished the truth a little bit sometimes not all of them. It’s more common in the women and I believe that the man.

[demonsfate]

I've already went over why TK8's story didn't work for Jin, despite the fact it was clearly meant to "fix" him. But since I am in a ranty / analytical mood today, I will go over it to add to the other post lol.

Jin's characterization is actually pretty damn good in TK8. It's the first time, since TK5, that Jin felt like the Jin I love. However... the characterization is where the good ends. The story still messes him up tremendously, if not WORSE... which? How tf can they even ACHIEVE making a bigger mess of the current mess? Especially with proper characterization?

It's what I've been saying since the start of this blog, they should've just retconned it. Like, it's even easier than most would think to retcon it. But they didn't. Dunno why, but they didn't. And it'd be one thing if they didn't retcon it and just had Jin say "I gotta redeem myself!" once, but... the problem is, they keep DOUBLING DOWN on TK6's story. They persistently remind the player about it... except only reminding the player about it on a surface level. Like if you didn't play TK6, or you've forgotten a lot about it - TK8 will literally just make you believe Jin killed all these people for no actual reason other than he was once a Bad Guy kinda like Kazuya. Who, btw, are both irredeemable in this context.

Every time TK6 is brought up in TK8, it's either to tell Jin that he's killed COUNTLESS people and only for Jin to essentially say "shut up!" or "but I'm learning to move on..." as responses. It... uh... doesn't put our main hero in a very good light when he can't even defend himself for these actions. And whenever Jin thinks back to it, he's like "wow I was bad but now I must atone myself!" again, NOTHING actually tells you what he did in TK6 beyond the war, and WHY he did it... you just have no clue about this character's motivations and why he's suddenly good again. And honestly? If you're a longtime player, you're probably still confused about it!

To this day, most people still believe Jin started the war to purely get rid of the devil gene. That is a very incorrect misconception. Getting rid of the devil gene was merely a bonus for Jin. Jin's main goal was to save the world from Azazel, since Azazel suddenly came to him and said "yup I'm destroying the world someday". Then there were just two other goals Jin figured he could do along this main one. The second one being that he theorized there's a possibility that killing Azazel would get rid of the devil gene, considering that Azazel's the origins. (Very flawed logic when you think about it but that's TK6 writing for you). The third reason was that uhhh... he thought he could end corrupt governments????? That was thrown in at the end of TK6, likely something to force his goals to seem Slightly Better.

If TK8 really wanted to present Jin in a better light, they could've... REMINDED US IN THE STORY OF THE GOOD REASONS WHY JIN STARTED THE WAR?? That, according to TK6's writing, it's something he HAD to do, had no other choice?? Or at the very least, they could've mentioned his goals to topple corrupt governments was a success??? But no.

And that's another problem. All of Jin's reasons for stopping the war had failed. Killing Azazel: Failed (at least during the war, he supposedly successfully did it when fighting Kazuya) Destroying the devil gene: Failed. Overthrowing corrupt governments: ????

So that fact that Jin failed every reason he started the war over, it makes him feel very incompetent, and also makes the war feel completely pointless in the first place. That all those people died for no reason at all.

The Tek wiki even does a better job at this by mentioning that Devil did indeed have an influence over Jin.

Which again, also would've helped if Jin wasn't in his right mind. So say, why didn't they.... oh right.

Because the Devil Gene is now no longer a "bad" or "good" thing. It all depends on what the host uses it for, and how they accept it. Devil [Jin] was never bad. In fact, he was only trying to protect Jin the entire time. 🙄 Which means Devil couldn't have influenced Jin to do something Fucked Up lmao. Jin was the idiot boy for not listening to and giving into his devil! Sure, at first glance, this seems sappy and a decent "accept yourself!" story, but it also falls apart when you remember the previous stories. Again, if the devil gene was never that bad to begin with - then it also makes a part of Jin's war pointless (even if, as I said, that wasn't actually a priority of his).

It also goes back to what I was saying about why fans dislike Jin. One of the reasons is because they believe he's "whiny". Which I always disagreed with that. Jin had every reason to hate the devil gene and most of his family. Except... oh wait, these changes do make Jin's haters' take valid. Because if the devil gene really could've been a beneficial factor for Jin, then Jin really was loathing himself, ready to kill himself, hiding from his friends & family... for absolutely nothing. The devil gene wasn't a problem and Jin was absolutely crying over nothing. Again, this makes him feel like a protagonist that just constantly fucks up. And not even an intriguing line of mistakes, but just frustrating. It makes Jin out to be a very bad protagonist, and an even worse "hero" for our story.

So uh... yeah! Even if on surface, TK8 looks like it portrayed Jin well... once you start looking at it critically, really looking into all the changes and choices, you realize it actually made things worse for Jin. Which is just absolutely wild how they managed to pull that off...

[depizan]

I wonder if Disney should just have done a Kelvin timeline with Star Wars.

No, wait, hear me out. The sequels are basically a reworking of the original trilogy anyway, and most of what Disney has put out (at least in TV shows) happens before the sequel trilogy. Which gives a lot of it a weird feel because it's all kind of doomed in a way previous Star Wars things weren't. (It also doesn't, at least IMO, quite feel like it's set when it is. Like the Disney!New Republic era doesn't have its own presence, the way Legends!New Republic, and the way other eras, Legend or otherwise do.)

If Disney had acknowledged that they were already kind of doing a darkest timeline thing and just done a timeline where the rebellion failed have worked better?

Okay, failed isn't quite the right word, but... they wanted Empire vs Rebellion, right? So why not just do that? In the original timeline, Return of the Jedi happens. In this timeline, the battle over Endor goes differently. The Death Star isn't destroyed, the Emperor isn't killed, and the Empire continues.

Maybe Vader still saves Luke and dies in the process. Maybe Luke is rescued later. Maybe Luke dies.

If Luke lives, there's far more reason for Luke to have given up his idealism and hope and be living on a remote rock. If he dies, well, there's no shortage of potential grumpy old Jedi or semi-Jedi it could be instead. (Ahsoka, Ezra, a semi-redeemed Vader, an entirely new character...)

Of course Leia's still leading the rebellion.

Even Han fucking off to be a smuggler again makes more sense: their son turned to the dark side, the rebellion has been going on for decades, it's all hopeless.

It even gives a new in to Ben's turn. Clearly, all this rebelling is just getting people killed. The Emperor can work on that in his mind and get him to join up for the good of the galaxy.

The more I write this out, the more it feels like this was what they really wanted to do all along. Even the underlying cynical feel of the novels (at least the ones I read) would fit a true darkest timeline better. It explains some of the stranger character turns. The strength of the bad faction makes more sense as a contiguous Empire than as a mysteriously uber powerful but ignored Imperial remnant. It makes the sequels being a kind of redo of the originals make more sense. And you'd have to do weirdly little rewriting of the TV shows to fit this timeline.

(Hell, an alternate timeline even gives Kenobi more reason to exist, if you decide to alternate timeline things earlier than Return of the Jedi.)

Would that fix everything? No. You still need much better written movies, for one thing. And the fans would've still been upset to find the original movies deemed Legends timeline. But would there have also been at least some curiosity to off set that? Instead of just "they did our faves wrong!" I don't know. Maybe?

But I think it might have been easier to have a coherent story for the sequels and fit better what it feels like is going on in Disney!Wars anyway.

[im-not-here-im-dead]

perhaps.... flowey and/or undyne?

(very tempted to ask about asgore but)

hi! this is several months late! i apologize!

ask game

anyways, i’ll start with flowey

first impression

not too different from most of the fandom’s impression of him. little more than a weird two-dimensional villain character. i didn’t even realize that he is not a separate person from asriel for a good while. like, come on. there was a whole dramatic twist and everything. it should not have taken me as long as it did. (the fandom didn’t exactly help though -_-)

impression now

he is my favoritest boy in the whole entire world and, in my opinion, the best character in the game (though chara is still my personal favorite). it’s sad to see him get watered down to just “evil flower” and “poor little goat kid”, cause there’s so much more to him. he’s a fantastic character and he means so much to me.

favorite moment

i can’t chose between these:

“…why are you being……so nice to me? I just can’t understand…”

“I’m not ready for this to end. I’m not ready for you to leave. I’m not ready to say goodbye to someone like you again…”

in the true route you don’t have to forgive him, but you can still comfort him

when he talks to “chara” when you try to reset after the true ending, showing that he truly cares about frisk and the others and that he’s grown as a person and that he’s ready to say goodbye to his lost sibling

when he takes care of toriel in the ruins

matching red scarves

idea for a story

sometimes i wonder what would happen if he ended up being the sole surviving dreemurr and the king of the underground… hmm.

on a more lighthearted note, i would really like to see him form a sibling bond with undyne as well as frisk. it would absolutely melt my metaphorical heart. big sister undyne my beloved <3

unpopular opinion

flowey is NOT emotionless! where the heck did people get that idea???

hello???? he is THE MOST emotional character in the game!!

him staying a flower isn’t a bad ending for him. and not being able to feel love doesn’t make him any worse or less of a person. he doesn’t need to be ‘fixed’. he needs support and guidance. the only thing i think could happen if he suddenly returned to his original form is cause him to panic because he’s not ready to let anyone else (especially his parents) know who he is. i don’t think either ending is worse exactly. they both have a lot of potential that often sadly falls by the wayside because of common perceptions of ‘flowey’ and ‘asriel’ that wouldn’t be so pervasive if people had a better understanding of his character. so anyways, yes. it is okay that flowey doesn’t feel love. —signed, a real life loveless person

i think the loss of his soul and him being reincarnated as a golden flower is a metaphor for how his grief/trauma/actions/etc. have changed him as a person rather than him. literally being a different person. others have said it better than me, but, like, the only time he kinda separates himself from his past identity is in the true route, and i think he does it mostly out of shame. he wanted ‘asriel’ to be remembered fondly and put to rest because he can never again be that same sweet, innocent, loving, little boy everyone knew him as. if his parents found out who he was and what he had done, surely they’d be devastated and disgusted with him. if chara was alive to see what a disappointment of a friend and brother he was, surely they would be too. why would they not? he can never redeem himself. he can never be worthy of mercy. (he just can’t understand). so he plays the villain, the sinner, the good-for-nothing, the miserable creature, the one who came back wrong, because he just can’t reconcile himself with the fact that he’s still that same person, just changed and evolved over timelines. frisk has seen who he is. the good, the bad, and the ugly. and yet they still see him as a person, worthy of mercy and a second chance at life, despite everything (it’s still you)

favorite relationship

i’d say the ‘relationship’ between him and the player (aka: me specifically because flowey is already supposed to mirror the protagonist, but he and i have so much in common it’s scary so that makes things really interesting) but i dunno if that counts, so i’ll say his friendship with papyrus.

favorite headcanon

one of my favorite flowey headcanons is that the first soul rebellion in the omega flowey battle was staged. it just adds a whole nother layer to fight.

also the headcanon that he needs glasses. the world needs more pictures of flowey wearing glasses.

now undyneeeeeeee

first impression

i always thought she was cool, though i wasn’t as invested in her character because i was more focused on other characters (papyrus and chara to be exact)

impression now

she is totally awesome and definitely one of the coolest characters in the game, but i’m starting to realize and appreciate more and more that she is not larger than life. she has her own flaws and insecurities that make her complex and real. it took me while for me to get a feel for her character, but this fic series certainly helped a lot. it’s one of my all time favorites and i highly recommend it (heed the warnings though. it gets pretty rough)

favorite moment

ah. this is. another really hard choice.

that moment of cognitive dissonance when frisk gives her water after she collapses from the heat

the scene where frisk visits her house and she slowly begins to realize that she might be wrong about them and lets her guard down and opens up to them

at the end of the undying battle when she’s on the verge of death but still smiling triumphantly

those are just the ones off the top of my head. there’s probably more that i’m forgetting. she’s got a lot of great moments

“Don’t ask me what a grooty is!”

idea for a story

i really want to know her origin story. where did she come from? who were her parents? what was her childhood like? i am putting my hands on her shoulders and i am shaking her like a rag doll. i want to know. everything.

unpopular opinion

she absolutely should have been the fan favorite instead of sans. i don’t know what happened but i am very confused as to how she isn’t way more popular than him. no hate to sans by the way. he’s a great character and he deserves to be popular. undyne is still outrageously underrated and i will never not be mad about her getting overshadowed and watered down by the fandom at large.

favorite relationship

man i dunno. i’m stuck between papyrus, alphys, and asgore (i also think her and toriel’s dynamic has so much underutilized potential).

favorite headcanon

my favorite headcanon about her is that she’s autistic. because she is. so autistic. and you cannot convince me otherwise.

yes thank you i am grateful for any excuse to talk about asgore

first impression

i didn’t really think about him all that much, but it always made me sad when i saw people hating on him or treating him like a joke. i knew he wasn’t the greatest person, but he wasn’t a bad person either. i always liked his design too. very nice and fluffy.

impression now

………this man has been plaguing my adhd-ridden mind for the past year and BY GOLLY has it been a miserable experience for all parties involved. if i’m being completely honest here, out of all of the characters from undertale and deltarune, asgore has had the most emotional impact on me. haha. you’d THINK it’d be chara, or flowey, or… hell, even berdly! BUT NOOOO, KING FLUFFYBOY HAD TO CAUSE ME MORE EMOTIONAL DAMAGE THAN ANY OTHER FICTIONAL CHARACTER BARRING GOD HIMSELF. and, yes, most of that emotional damage was because of that one scene from that one neutral route (which i’m still not sure if i’m ready to talk about directly), but also because of literally everything else. literally everything about this guy makes me want to burst into tears. and part of what makes his story so painful for me is that i relate so many of his struggles. i’ll spare you the details, but i just see SO MUCH of myself in him, and it means so much to me to know that he gets better. pain and suffering aside, i just think he’s a really fascinating character and i care about him a lot.

favorite moment

okay, at first i thought of the moment where he destroys the mercy button (which is still a phenomenal moment) but, then i took a good look at another scene.

in his regular battle, he bows his head, hiding his face in shadow, resolved to kill or be killed, but giving frisk every chance he can think of to ensure that they are not the one who is killed.

but in his lost soul battle, frisk looks him in the eyes and promises him that they won’t hurt him. no matter what. that moment shakes me to my very core.

idea for a story

i really want to explore what would happen if frisk were to absorb his soul and cross the barrier to find a way free monsterkind peacefully.

unpopular opinion

asgore is not a Hawaiian-pattern shirt guy. he is a floral-pattern shirt guy.

favorite relationship

him and chara!! (him and frisk is a very close second) i LIVE for the parallels.

favorite headcanon

i like to think that he became king at a really young age basically right after the war happened and his parents left huge shoes to fill. i mean, his tendency to laud his children as the hope for everyone’s future when they weren’t ready for the responsibility had to have come from somewhere, right?

(i don’t think he was a child king, but i can’t see him having been more than a young adult when he was coronated. old enough that it would have been legal, but young enough that he was still grossly underprepared and largely depended on others for guidance in executive decisions. writing laws and giving orders had never been his forte. his strengths lied more in giving speeches, helping with manual tasks, providing moral support/comfort/encouragement, connecting with his people personally. he was always very good at being part of a community, but he was never an excellent ruler)

okay i’m tired byeeeeee

i really want to explore what would happen if frisk was to absorb his soul and go to the surface in search for a way to unite humans and monsters and break the barrier. i have a whole bunch of ideas for this, but unfortunately i have so many other works in progress that starting on this now will just add to the ever-growing pile

Unpopular opinion

asgore is not a hawaiian pattern shirt guy. he is a floral pattern shirt guy. i said what i said. feel free to unfollow me for this /joking

Favorite relationship

him and chara (him and frisk is a very close second). i live for the parallels

Favorite headcanon

i like to think that he was became king at a young age pretty much right after monsters had been imprisoned underground and his parents left huge shoes to fill. i don’t think he was a child king, but i can’t see him being more than 18 or 19 when it happened. i mean, his habit of lauding his children as the hope for everyone’s future when they weren’t ready for the responsibility couldn’t have come from nowhere, could it?

[brightblurr]

What did you like about Gundam Seed Freedom? What did it do well?

Lol I mean.. there was some bad but some good too.

I can make a list of the things I loved that they did that fixed Destiny issues:

1. Athrun and Cagalli got their happy ending. They didn't shove more Meyrin at their pairing and finally let them conclusively be together. Their working relationship, with the trust over the remote control, shows they are finally in tune with each other. They trust one another. We know Athrun is not in Compass and new released artwork shows he still wears his Orb uniform. I am so happy the movie let them be together. And didn't shove them in our faces unrealistically like it did Lacus and Kira. They were shown as a strong unit.

2. Shinn had a fantastic moment piloting IN HIS OWN SUIT and it truly showed that he was an amazing pilot. Durandal chose him for a reason. And he had a better battle prowess than Athrun and Kira combined. He honestly did not need the fancy guns and weaponry, he knew how to utilize the Destiny better than anyone. They addressed him being the Freedom Killer and showed that he had changed and was there to work with Kira. Such fantastic character growth. Amazing way to bring a character who had lost his growth in his own series back up to par. They really did not have to go so hard to redeem Shinn but they did and it really showed. My entire theatre applauded Shinn when he got in the Destiny. The fight sequence against the Black Knights just shows how deadly Shinn is when he is focused and capable, and how he knew that he could take down the Black Knights. It was everything an ace pilot should be.

3. Athrun being the proper legend he is. Even in the Strike Freedom, a machine he likely never used, he pretended to be Kira and fooled everyone who was watching. He was always brought up as if he was an amazing soldier and strategist. Kira was never revered as much by the Black Knights as Athrun was. When he did make his appearance it was absolutely epic. When he was in the Infinite Justice, he both planned for his enemy by having the remote control and knew how to battle in it. His enemies constantly spoke about him. It was just the best way to honour that Athrun was a legend in the movie.

4. Sai, Miriallia and Kuzzey make appearances. Dearka and Yzak have big roles with their classic mobile suits, the Duel and Buster. Amazing homage to the original Seed crew.

5. I really enjoyed Meyrin. I originally didn't like her character as did many AsuCaga shippers, but this movie removed her from being focused on Athrun and opened her up to being a great pilot, great with technology. She became very independent of Luna and Shinn. It was as if they really expanded her character and helped make her growth believable. It was a nice change.

6. This might irk some people but I found Orphee and Lacus almost star crossed destiny kind of amusing. Orphee was vying for her hard. She was sort of into it at first. I almost want to say the movie did too good of a job setting Orphee and Lacus up. I'm weirded out that I could have shipped them in another scenario. Kira put none of that effort into Lacus.

7. The movie closed off the Destiny issues that were left behind. Everyone had a happy ending. I genuinely could not point to anyone who didn't. It felt like a do-over from Destiny to be honest. Orphee and Maha were just Durandal and Rey.

Overall these are very shallow things to enjoy. I did a post about what the movie did wrong for me, mostly centered around Lacus becoming too powerful. But it still did good and I'm happy I got to see it.

[itssideria]

srry for doing this in your inbox but ykk the phrase “character assassination” rlly kinda sums up my issue with cdream in the final stream bc on reflection ctommy was really not the problem there. i think a Lot of things couldve been fixed if, when ctommy tried empathizing, cdream went really quiet (leaving ctommy to argue w cpunz) and then lashed out when ctommy hit the nail on the head…. yk? like hes always done up until now because he doesnt like it when people that are Against Him understand him. and it coming from ctommy in particular would make him feel unsafe. but by getting mad abt it, it would reinforce to the audience that ctommys analysis is right And would highlight a similarity in both of their personalities (irrational aggression as a coping mechanism to deal with unwanted emotions). like i dunno i think it would make the stuff they were going for more poignant if they made cdream act like ctommy at his worst while ctommy is, at least emotionally, at his most clear. it would be a really nice mirror without muddying the original intent, which was to highlight cdreams humanity after the aggressive deification they did directly beforehand . iiiiii dunnnooo (hi mari)

HELIII HI BACK!!!!

and. yeah, man. there is so much that could have saved that ending scene for me and even this right here is one of those things. like, i love cdream as a character! for the longest time i thought he was really, really cool and i got excited to see him on screen!! and a massive part of that excitement was that he was unequivocally A Guy That Went Too Far. that is cdreams character summary—a man that maybe could have been good, but let his obsession with the fixing the past and taking control take him farther than he could ever hope to he redeemed. and i loved the little moments that made him human in the story!! the parts when he was afraid, or emotional, or had his plans foiled—those were GOOD. they made him REAL. i did not like cdream bc i wanted him to win all the time.

character assassination is the phrase i chose and character assassination is right. cdream is obsessed with control. he Cannot, under any circumstances, be wrong. his need for control makes him scary and sadistic and ready to do THE most fucked up bullshit (refer to the LITERAL SAW TRAP FROM FINALE STREAM #3) anyone on the server has done. this guarded, angry, fucked-up-beyond-recognition man will not bend because some kid almost got him right. and if he did bend, he certainly would not go soft. the irrational aggression you mentioned is so much better snd makes SO much more sense because like—I CAN SEE THAT! i can SEE cdream lashing out doubling down, i can see him throwing every angry phrase against the wall to see what sticks, i can see him desperate to hurt ctommy one last time. and it functions beyond that, too, because it doesn't leave punz (who tbh having him do staged disc finale was a bad decision but eh) useless, it doesn't make cdreams final moments sympathetic, it doesn't make us feel sorry for a literal abuser. or at least, not sorry in an "oh youre so sad and baby :(" way but more of a "man. this obsessive fucker lost everything, huh" sorta way.

its so sad because SO many little changes could have had us keep the exact same plot and redeem that ending but. Man. ty for talking heli <3

[malaierba]

Fans want everything to be resolved NOW and don't give shows the opportunity to set up all the pieces needed in a story before it gets resolved in a way that makes sense from a narrative stand point. Doing that takes time.

Not only that, but for hopefully obvious reasons the characters need to have conflict, be misguided, and show their flaws, so there'll be SOMETHING to resolve and so they can have some growth.

Getting specific about Helluva Boss below the read more

A common criticism that the series gets is that it has too many female characters that are bitchy and evil and that's it, and who are barely developed outside of their link to a male character. I see where this opinion is coming from, but I think it ignores a lot of the basic premise upon which the show is built.

Helluva Boss is about Blitzø, and how his self-loathing tendencies, abusive upbringing, and fear of being vulnerable, have messed up most of his past relationships + his present attempts to build something good that won't implode under the weight that is his self.

Because of that alone you can already see why most characters must have a link to him, a guy. We get glimpses of the other characters' personal lives just as far as they can have some sort of butterfly effect on Blitzø's (ie: Stolas' personal life, since he's his main love interest; Fizz's personal life since he was basically a brother to him, he accidentally disabled the guy, and his relationship with Asmodeous is going to impact Blitzø/Stolas' somehow; Moxie's because the show was originally conceived with him + Blitzø as main characters and they're meant to be foils)

When we look at the "evil women" I feel like we gotta keep in mind that this is mainly from Blitzø's POV? OBVIOUSLY Verosika is miffed with the guy. He was horrible to her. In his bad trip, we see he's aware of this. Barbie, his sister, even tells him why exactly she hates his guts.

While they're both antagonistic to Blitzø, we see in the way he reacts to the accusations that they strike a nerve. He thinks they're justified, that he's the one that messed up. Thing is, Blitzø is the type of mfer that will lash back if he feels cornered, which only makes everyone angrier at him (lol).

Both of them are, trust and believe, eventually have their arc with Blitzø much like Blitzø just fixed his relationship with Fizz. It's just not the right moment just yet??

Season 2 has prominently focused on the racism/classism of hell, what with Strider's arc, both kidnappings and now Ozzie/Asmodeous. All of that needs to be developed a bit more before it makes sense to go into whatever happened with Verosika and Barbie, which are probably going to address the themes of past relationships and stranded family — Themes that make more sense to explore after Blitzø and Stolas are finally at a point where they're talking couples dynamic + how their families fit in that.

Besides, to be super honest? I don't think there's more pointlessly evil women than there's men. See:

Verosika and Barbie, who we know will get to eventually share their side of the story and thus be redeemed. Their male equivalents would be Fizz (who got redeemed) and Striker (who probably won't, and good for him tbh)

Stella. Yeah I know, everyone wanted her to be smarter and to have more of an emotional connection with Via at least. Idk what to tell you, I agree it would make for a more complex story. At the same time, she's obviously the embodiment of a narcissistic abuser. If that's the story that Viv wanted to tell, that's up to her, right? Anyway from a narrative POV, she's comparable to Moxie's dad, who's another abuser who mainly sees Moxie as a means to secure his influence and wealth and had little emotional depth beyond that.

For whatever reason people sometimes bring up Luna and Octavia as meanie one dimensional girls because.... They're moody teens? I mean. Luna has anger issues that are very obviously a result of being institutionalised as an orphan who likely had to raise herself in a selfish environment that, to boot, sees her as a lesser race. And Octavia is a spoiled and sheltered teen, dealing with her parents divorce. She was probably sheltered from the reality of their marriage too. I don't understand why people say they have no good motivations. They both have had some interesting growth too, getting to explore the world for the first time, even bonding with each other (+ others in Luna's case).

Glitz and Glam, I don't see how they would've been treated any differently if they had been guys tbh. Their main narrative purpose is to be competition, and it's been established that in hell being able to talk shit is a daily skill. Aren't they just like any other episodic villain we've seen so far? Not every character needs a sob backstory, come on now. They're literally about as deep as Mammon is and that's okay, they're not challenging the main characters from an interpersonal standpoint but rather from a societal one.

The one female character I agree with my whole heart could be better, as in, given more depth, is Millie. In unhappy campers we finally see her declare that she wants to do things and be recognised for them, for herself, and that she tires of having to forego those desires in favour of coddling Moxxie. That was... So good. Even her falling back into the relationship' dynamic of going along with Moxxie was arguably good (realistic), as long as we see her break the pattern in the future. Unfortunately I don't think her scenes hit as hard as they could've. I think it was a scripting issue, the writers could've taken her dialogue farther but they didn't 😮‍💨 Still, I think they've set her up for conflict in the future.

Anyway. Be patient with your indie media. There's a reason why the story is being told over several chapters rather than being a short.

[gourde]

Hot takes coming in HOT. Most are hot takes, like actual hot takes.

IDW Sonic is the best iteration of the character sorry. He's not too different from what Sonic has always been at his core and he feels more like a character than anything. Maybe it's just me being a Transformers fan and there are so, so many different versions of the characters. One of the best TF shows is Animated and it took a ton of risks. Doesn't mean it's bad. Still has the main idea at the core.

And while Archie Sonic is mean as hell he is in no way the worst.

The most boring Sonic media in general is Sonic X. It's nothing to me. It's like white bread. If I want to see aliens from another world with a couple human characters I'd just watch Transformers. And it's not just my tastes, it's just. Nothing. Really. X's Sonic is the worst in my opinion.

Also back to Archie people are way too mean to it. STOP BEING MEAN TO ARCHIE I DON'T EVEN LIKE IT BUT I SEE WAY TOO MUCH HATE ABOUT IT IT'S JUST A COMIC SERIES THEY'RE JUST LIKE THAT though there is a ton of misogyny and racism you can easily tear into it about that.

The Sonic racing games are fun and such an obvious idea for a spin-off.

Satam isn't a good show either. I think most people like it just cause of nostalgia.

I'M SO SORRY ABOUT THIS ONE BUT I JUST CAN'T GET BEHIND SALLY. I don't like her. She's just... a character trope I've seen a thousand times before. Crazy male character, dumb male character, smart male character, and then level-headed female character who keeps them all under control. Like seriously? That's just. So common it's everywhere. Also her design sucks. It's bad. She is not a chipmunk at all.

In fact most Sonic characters look NOTHING like the animal they are and it BOTHERS ME

This is a common thought at least in the circles I'm in but so, so many fan ships are just. So boring. No matter what fandom you go to there will always be the token MLM ship where both male characters are all lovey dovey and kissy and smooshy it's not original.

Sonic and Shadow differ so much in personality they would never get together. Ever. I can't see it at all.

SONIC IS TOUCH AVERSE!!!!!!!!!

SURGE IS UNIRONICALLY THE BEST CHARACTER IN SONIC AND IT'S NOT EVEN CLOSE. Female character who hates everything, is evil, used, self destructive, around the age of 14, she would've been the best thing ever if she existed when I was in my early teens. Also she's GREEN and has SHARP TEETH and is allowed to be COOL AND SCARY EVEN THOUGH SHE'S A GIRL LIKE WE NEED MORE CHARACTERS LIKE THIS IN GENERAL IN EVERY MEDIA EVER

And people are SO SO QUICK to redeem her. I love redemption arcs as much as the next person but like. Let her be evil please. No one was clambering for Starline or Mimic or any other evil male character to be redeemed but suddenly peak female character comes in and she NEEDS TO BE SHIPPED WITH AMY STOP ITTTT STOP

AMY COULD NOT CONVINCE SURGE TO BE NORMAL AGAIN. Sonic already tried it. What would Amy do that would be different. Other than falling into the tired, bored trope of "Romance and love fixes broken people!" STOP THAT

Sonic Forces IS as bad as people said when it came out. It's not good. You can have fun with it I don't care but it's not a well made game at all.

Sonic Colours by extension despite being one of my favourites and I certainly have nostalgia for it (Especially the soundtrack) suffers a lot when it enters 2D. It's slow and bad to control. Like Sonic Forces but you can actually stomach it.

The original Sonic games and momentum are overrated as a gameplay mechanic. Games will evolve over time and switch things out. Character will evolve over time. That's okay. If things didn't change, even if you personally don't like it, the series would get stale and stagnate.

SA1 and SA2 are not as good as everyone remembers. Ignoring the jank there's just better 3D platformers out there.

That said SA1's spindash is so fucking fun I love spamming it in the hub world WEEEE WOOSH WOOSH WEEEE!!!

Sonic Heroes is SO broken you CANNOT ignore it for nostalgia sorry it's just. God. It's so infuriating to play. YOU FALL OFF ALL THE TIME

In fact nostalgia and constant shipping brain are kind of my biggest gripe within the Sonic fandom.

Sonamy is the worst ship in Sonic and it's not even a contest. It truly sucks so bad. Neither of them are good for each other. THE AGE GAP.

Sonic Frontiers is truly what we needed. We really, seriously needed Frontiers.

And while I am complaining a lot I think people complain too much about the Sonic games because it isn't what they look for in Sonic. It's such a long running franchise that has changed up many things about it which means there's a ton of people all looking for different things from Sonic. You cannot make a Sonic game that will make the majority happy. That's okay. We probably won't go back to 2D momentum in main line Sonic games (Ignoring classic games). That's also okay.

People just gotta be more chill regarding changes in Sonic in general.

Now that I think about every Sonic show has it's own big problems. None of them are great. Except Sonic Boom but it's indicative of a rather big slump in Sonic that relied on humour instead of sincerity.

But talking about that people ALSO have to realize that Sonic is for kid's first and foremost. It won't do anything insane crazy dark. It'll stay within parameters. It's for kid's. If you want toxic romance or whatever just go watch an adult show. This goes for any fandom really.

And finally, SONIC ISN'T WHITE!!!!!!