#it can be a way to get to know the character better also I think

[valenteal]

Okay I actually really hate this take I’m sorry. Anakin was not possessive or selfish and that’s not what the Jedi taught him.

The way I think of it is that Jedi pursue inner peace by disconnecting themselves emotionally from situations, they feel empathy in a very detached way. That’s what having no attachments means. It’s in the word. The Jedi are Detached from reality as it is perceived by humans.

The Force gives Jedi a glimpse of what it is to be a 4th dimensional entity with consciousness no trapped in a single moment in time. So to a certain extent they don’t actually perceive time linearly and thus do not feel they’ve lost something because it still exists in the past.

So now that we’ve established that yes Jedi are detached from the present let’s move onto the more problematic statement about selfishness and possessiveness.

It is not selfish to want unconditional love. That’s basic human nature. Anakin, a person who clearly suffers from borderline personality disorder which comes with symptoms such as fear of abandonment, an unstable view of the self, devaluing or overvaluing relationships to the point placing of one’s self-worth entirely in another person’s hands, and more, literally needs unconditional love and support. And he developed this disorder in large part because of the Jedi order and the way they treated him. He was simultaneously considered the “chosen one” and considered a burden or a problem. He had to change everything about the way he thought to fit the prescribed mold of what a Jedi should be, and he was held to higher standards because of his perceived “chosen one” status and people were disappointed when he failed to meet them. I know from experience how truly awful it is to be told “i know you can do better” in a disappointed voice when you’re honestly trying your best.

And that’s not even touching on how in Phantom Menace he created strong bonds with both Qui-Gon and Padmé only to have both of the ripped away right after he’d left behind everything he knew and loved. After the movie he was around nothing familiar or comfortable. He didn’t know Obi-Wan and he knew that Obi-Wan hadn’t actually wanted him as an apprentice or even in the Jedi order. So he was surrounded by a bunch of people who all thought he didn’t belong and only let him stay because of a dead man’s wishes. He was NINE and being told that everything he ever learned was wrong and backwards and leads to being evil and that he needs to be perfect for anyone else to think he belonged because even the smallest mistake would just confirm their preconceived beliefs about him.

And that’s not even mention Sidious’s manipulation. Anakin never would have become anything like Vader without Sidious leading him.

Also! There is a difference between possessive and protective! Anakin is protective! He has lost so much he’s clinging desperately to what he has! He wants to protect the one good thing in his life. He doesn’t try to control Padmé, they actually have a very healthy relationship, it’s the situation that’s toxic. Anakin doesn’t view Padmé as a possession, I don’t know why anyone would think that. Oh wait the Clovis arcs. Right. Those exist and other people actually consider them canon. That’s a whole ‘nother rant about writing that I’m not going to get into here. But let’s make this one thing clear, Clone Wars Anakin and movie Anakin are 2 totally different characters psychologically because of the awful reception of the prequel trilogy when it came out.

"no attachments" in SW literally just means "don't be selfish and possessive". that's it. that's all there is. doesn't mean jedi can't have friends and loved ones. they can. just. don't be possessive and selfish about it. don't murder thousands of people in an effort to save one.

[seredelgi]

Do they get jealous?/ JJK x fem!reader

Featuring: Satoru Gojo, Suguru Geto, Toji Fushiguro, Megumi Fushiguro, Yuuji Itadori, Kento Nanami, Ryoumen Sukuna

tw: kissing, making out, jealousy, possessive behavior, toxic behavior, implied/referenced sex, raw sex, groping I guess

Disclaimer: all featured characters are depicted as adults

Gojo would never admit it. He loves to think of himself as the carefree type, one confident enough not to fear other men stealing you away from him. However, he is also very much aware of how hot you are, and he can’t help but count heads turning when you stroll down the street, your arm securely hooked around his. You pretend not to hear his teeth gritting and not to notice the way he possessively circles an arm around your waist to keep you closer to him. He’s not jealous, they’re just too damn greedy.

Geto’s eyes immediately darken as soon as he catches sight of another man looming over you at the club. They’re awfully bold, honestly, considering you’re usually already grinding against him as they confidently approach the scene. As soon as the poor things meet his gaze from over your shoulder they’re able to catch a glimpse of the silent threat hidden within them. But he’s not satisfied with just that. No, he carefully snakes an arm around your waist, his palm shamelessly spreading across your belly to make them unequivocally aware of who you belong to. And if they still dare touch you, then they deserve what’s coming to them.

Toji acts cold. He freezes you out until he can have you as he properly wants. Whatever he’s had to endure while out with you, whether it be yearning looks from other men eating you up with their eyes or you exchanging words with way too lustful strangers in lousy bars, he patiently waits for you two to be alone to vent it out. As soon as you’re past the threshold of your apartment he slams you against the wall and claims your lips in a heated kiss. He takes you raw that night because he can, making you moan his name so loud that you’re sure the whole building can hear. That’s what you get, after all, for putting him in such misery all night.

Megumi’s not the type to get jealous. He knows how beautiful you are, and he loves the way boys look at you whenever they notice, too. He’s not scared of such attention, as long as you’re not bothered by it. His only response to the occurrence is to provide the comfort of his presence whenever it makes you feel somewhat uncomfortable. It always does the trick to pull you flush against his chest and start peppering sweet, passionate kisses down your neck, driving looks away and shifting your attention back to where it ultimately belongs: to him.

Yuuji’s not possessive in the slightest. He knows that you easily draw the attention of other men, and he’s okay with it. However, from time to time he does get a bit insecure about it. He wonders if you could find someone to satisfy you better than he can, if you would leave him were that to ever happen. That’s when he comes looking for cuddles and pitifully pouts at you as he asks “ You love me, right?”. You can’t help but chuckle at the display, affectionately bumping your nose on his before answering him “ Only you, always”. It’s enough to dissipate any lingering doubt, enough to make him playfully nuzzle his face in the crook of your neck and inhale in your scent.

Nanami’s fully confident in your loyalty, that’s never been a matter of concern to him. However, as soon as anyone tries to do anything even remotely disrespectful in your regards he feels compelled to step in, first and foremost politely asking them to back off. Unfortunately, sometimes that doesn’t work, and considering the size of the man, you’re dumbfounded by how often he’s got to resort to the second option. Let’s just say none of the boys that have made him go with it have left his sight unscathed.

Sukuna’s not so much jealous as he is proud to showcase you around. You're always the prettiest girl at any part he takes you to, and it shows in the way jaws immediately drop to the floor as soon as you walk by. He’s happy to circle his arm around your shoulder and dive into deep make-out sessions in front of anyone who dares look at you as if you were up for the taking. You’re his alone, and if the hickies covering your neck are not enough to make them stay away, then he’ll make sure to give them a little show by shoving his tongue in your mouth instead.

So what about the way they kiss you?

What about AOT men?

[dykedvonte]

Curly had two days to act and Swansea had two months.

I think it’s just interesting that every defense of Swansea not immediately acting are the same ones that are argued against for Curly. “He didn’t want to alert Daisuke or makes things worse for Anya either Jimmy!” I mean people also assume that about Curly and the crew. “He has to think about his plan of action and a right moment!” Again so did Curly, power and authority aside, he still would have to think of what he had to do. “He makes sure he doesn’t have to be around Jimmy!” So did Curly and they only do this to an extent, both give Jimmy more than a few opening to keep harassing Anya.

This isn’t defense of Curly nor a damnation of Swansea. Their actions are very parallel to each others in tragic and sour ways when it comes to how they approached helping Anya. In the grand scheme of it all they both did the same thing: Nothing. No action either took stopped the inevitable outcome of her death nor Jimmy’s continued damage to themself.

The only real difference is Swansea didn’t like Jimmy which is pretty substantial, but also just as damning as Curly knowing how bad Jimmy could get to an extent. He had even less of a reason to wait, even more of a reason to act seeing as he was now worried for Anya AND Daisuke. He is not bound by the possible procedure as Captain and actively does not care about what happens next. So what does it matter if he acted in the moment? Why did he wait? I think he’s just as morally complex and grey as Curly and we hold him on a pedestal that still perpetuates things in rape culture the game critiques.

It’s not just enough to dislike and be abrasive to predators/abusers like Jimmy. It’s not enough to just put yourself between them and the other person. It’s not enough to hold tensions when you know someone is vulnerable. He and Curly do the exact same things but on different sides of the coin. I ask how is it better to not turn a blind eye but still not really do anything about what you are seeing? Not until it affects you atleast…

The game makes a big point to not put men doing the bare minimum or who wait to do more on pedestals and I’m actually surprised so many are missing that point.

[dduane]

I just read the part where Kirk experiences the Enterprise's point of view in The Wounded Sky to someone else, where she sees the crew as children she is training up to the Great Desire of exploration for exploration's sake, especially Jim. His reaction, essentially: "That was really pretty. ....And then he blows her up."

I hadn't thought about that before! I checked the copyright date, and it looks like The Wounded Sky came out a year before The Search for Spock, so you were writing without knowing that sacrifice would eventually happen.

How did you feel about that? Do you wish that writing decision had been made differently? (If, as a Trek writer, you're allowed to comment on other Trek writers' choices!)

You know, I tend not to think a whole lot about such issues. First of all, because (in the long run) it gets you nowhere in particular that's useful. And secondly, because it's not a thing that, as a Trek writer in any medium except film, you have the slightest power to change.

Now, at this end of time I think we can safely say that no one's going to hire me on to write a Trek film. And also that no one at that end of the creative spectrum is going to pay the slightest attention to anything I say, either. Both of those situations are just What's So, and neither of them bothers me. (Since I have universes of my own to manage at the moment, and that's where my attention properly lies.) So as regards my opinions about other writers' work, I'm pretty much off the hook.

If I had been on screenwriting duty for that film, would there be things I'd have wanted to do differently? Hell yeah. From the premise up. But the important thing here is: would those things necessarily have worked better on the screen / with the audience? Impossible to tell. And speaking as someone repeatedly given permission to work in someone's universe, the main thing to be aware of is the expectation that your chief responsibility is to do what best serves the characters and the IP of which they're part. (There's a post over at Out of Ambit with a lot more of my thoughts on the subject:)

The other thing to remember is that, though I've worn the Canonical Hat in my time, novel work is by definition non-canonical. Doing it, you are at all times working with the understanding that the licensor rarely views your work as anything better than a corporate side hustle—a way for the IP to make some cash on the side—and will ignore you and the stuff you've created unless given pressing reasons to do otherwise. (Such as when they might make some unexpected money off it... at which point you remind yourself as forcibly as necessary that what you did is Work For Hire; they own it, lock, stock and barrel, and you should not realistically expect to be given any credit.)

And, if you understand the rules and enjoy the work enough, all of this is okay. The reward is not in making a lot of money doing it, or even in having aspects of your work openly assumed into canon. The reward lies in being allowed to contribute to a given universe in public (and, yeah, getting paid for it by the licensor). It's not payback: it's payforward. And you're left an astonishing amount of freedom to bring your vision to that universe. (Sometimes... as one colleague has McCoy say... you have to be "very, very careful" to get away with it. But it can be done.)

The truth is that even in the 1980s, I was sharing this level of playing-in-a-universe with a goodish cohort of editors and writers: a big roomful at least. Now I'm sharing it (retroactively speaking) with hundreds of them. With the best will in the world, even in the 80's the licensors (as regarded film) couldn't have realistically polled/listened to all of us regarding our creative opinions about the screenplay end of things. As for what that'd look like nowadays... I'll leave you to your own deductions. 😏

Anyway, thanks for the question. It's always nice to know that there are people who want to know what you think. 😊

[scotchiegirl]

# like yeah okay paralleling the two characters in a romantic relationship makes sense. but also this has nothing to do with shipping. #do u understand what im saying

(tags from @achromic-red-dreams-doze-angrily )

Yes absolutely! In fact I'd say that Nate and Eliot have the same parallel feeling and while I know some people ship them it isn't generally considered a romantic relationship at all. But the other interesting thing is the pairings that allow one of the characters to grow in our understanding of them not by what we see in contrast but by what we see of them in a vacuum.

For Parker, it's Sophie. Sophie allows Parker to be herself and then helps Parker understand who that is. And by listening to Parker talk, sometimes Sophie understands things better about herself. (The Grave Danger Job, The Very Big Bird Job)

For Hardison, it's Nate. Hardison is in a lot of ways being raised by Nate in a way the others aren't. Hardison's been more sheltered and so when he decides he's gonna try something new Nate provides him the protection to fail and see for himself that it doesn't work. (The Bank Shot Job, the Carnival Job, The Gold Job)

For Eliot, it's Hardison. Hardison genuinely wants to know about Eliot, but while he lacks the understanding of having the same type of character as Eliot (like Nate or Parker) he also lacks the concerned judgement that Sophie would bring to it. So Eliot can tell Hardison about his ex and his dad and feel (if not comfortable) at least safe in doing so. (The Wedding Job, The Low Low Price Job)

For Sophie, it's Eliot. He's different enough from her but similar enough to Nate to understand her in a way that she's not able to understand herself. And on top of that he isn't in love with her so he doesn't feel the need to know her the same way Nate does. But he does understand her enough to know what she isn't saying about herself and reassure her. (The Long Way Down Job, The Tap-Out Job)

For Nate, it's Parker. She listens to him when he doesn't think he's speaking and it's by her contrasts to Nate that we understand him and he understands himself. He trusts her judgement when he doesn't trust his own in a way that he doesn't with the others to the same degree, and he's proud when she fills his shoes even when he's not there. She understands him and through her understanding despite his not actually telling her anything, we understand him. (The Nigerian Job, The White Rabbit Job, The Broken Wing Job)

All of them have characters who are their black backdrop who they individually get to shine against as contrast, and I think that's just as beautiful as the paralleling too.

You know, I really really do enjoy how every time we learn something about Parker, we learn something about Hardison as well. Almost in response to learning something about Parker or like... like how learning about Hardison re-contextualizes what we've just learned about Parker.

Thinking about season 1 especially and The Stork Job, one of the first real vulnerable moments where Parker herself not only reaches out to the team but where she actually tells them something about herself. Tells Hardison about herself. She opens up about being an orphan, about being in foster care, and she expects him not to understand. And then he opens up about Nana and how she wasn't his grandmother but his foster mother. And it just softens Parker's story, not by downplaying it, but by giving her another angle to her rigid thinking. It is based solely on that conversation and her conscience that she does a 180 and goes back to fight for those kids.

Thinking about The Juror #6 Job too and how that went down and how Sophie may have been the one to point out that Parker had never reached out to the for help before, but Hardison was the one who got Nate to change his mind and indulge Parker. And he did it by opening up about his childhood, about being raised to be good with his words and charming and to know how to ask for things. And once again it re-contextualizes Parker. It shows what she grew up without and how hard this is for her not on a professional loner level but on a personal scared-little-girl level.

I'm sure there's more, and there's times when the opposite happens and we learn about Hardison through learning about Parker, but yeah. The brilliance of the writing to do it like that... wow.

[deliciousnecks]

But can we talk about how powerful nandor is? like yeah, he might be a bit silly, and not in touch with the modern world, but if he wanted to, he could have already conquered whatever the fuck he wanted to. (he built an army, and jerry is still looking at maps over there).

like let's just start by pointing out that nandor didn't need to be a vampire to accomplish all these great things that he wanted in life. vampirism only made him more dangerous. nandor has always had too much power in his hands, that he tends to misuse, but that's actually a good thing for the people around him because if not, the truth is that they would be fucked.

He was born in a position of privilege, one that put him later on in his life in positions of power, he was a leader who did fucked up shit. As a vampire, he can hypnotize thousands, but even if he couldn't, nandor knows how to attract people to him when he puts his mind to it, as we were able to see, but guess what? he also has doing everyone around him doing whatever shit he wants, because rarely people can say no to him. What nandor wants, nandor gets (even the stupidest of things).

Now. Don't get me started with his pyrokinesis. The dude can create and manipulate fire. Like come on, you know all the batshit crazy things that he could be doing with that? people should be thankful that he's not going around acting in unhinged ways.

He's a formidable warrior, the fact that he live as long as he did as a human, through battles and wars, and the guy didn't get killed? i don't know, but I think that says a lot about his kills. he also can use a large variety of weapons, so now imagine. This guy who's the greatest warrior of his time, gets the strength and the speed that comes with vampirism. he becomes a fucking killing machine (not like he wasn't one already), but now he's unstoppable and on top of that, immortal!

As i said in the beginning of this post, time and time again nandor has been given power, too much power I should say. he even got those 52 wishes and the things my guy here could have accomplished with them? ridiculous! but he was feeling silly, so... he decided to have fun instead. Good for him.

Now, we now he conquered places and won wars, and while his years as a ruler were bloody, it seems like he did a lot of Al Quolanudar when it comes to territory. What I'm trying to say is that he's a good strategist, he's good, no he's the best at what he does. he excels in what he was trained and taught to do (and even the vampire community acknowledges this).

People always like to underestimate him (the fandom included. it's true.), say that in a battle he stands no chance. That X, Y, and Z are more could easily demolish him, that he can't do shit for himself, but like excuse me, he's the oldest vampire in that house, look at all the shit that he can do, so no. He's the strongest and most powerful piece in that chessboard, mam. Nandor could go on a killing spree and no one could stop him.

This latest season really brought forward this qualities of his that had always been there. Nandor can be competent, he can be assertive, he really just chooses not to, but if he did! well, we saw what can happen when he is.

nandor is powerful, skillful, and dangerous in more than one way, and yes! smart when he needs to be.

And i make this post, because some people have made him into this character that's just an idiot with 0 qualities, and those qualities that he does have, are always being diminished to make other characters look better (yes. to make guillermo look better. i said it, which is highly unnecessary because he can shine on his own).

It's not that he can't do shit, the fact is that he doesn't want to.

[fenxshiral]

Yeah, I'm trying to give this game a fair shot, but so far I'm not impressed. So far, the game in a vacuum isn't bad. The problem is that *by bioware standards* this is bad. Not gonna spoil anything, btw.

Dialogue is very… not good. It feels stilted, forced. Like dialogue written by a DM who’s new to DnD, or a college creative writing student writing a story they don't care about. This does not feel like dialogue written by Bioware, it feels like dialogue written by a new studio stocked with inexperience writers, or by a studio that’s never made a story driven game before. I wouldn’t necessarily classify the writing as *bad* so much as it’s amateurish. I know that most of the writing team is completely new for Veilguard, as most of the old guard has left or been let go from Bioware - but unfortunately it really shows. While I had my problems with DA2 and Inquisition, dialogue in the previous three games was tight and flowed naturally. It felt like dialogue written by seasoned pros who really knew how to make characters feel natural. This feels off in the way that only rushed or amateur writing can feel off. And it’s not an issue with voice acting - even though that isn’t the greatest either in some parts (but that’s another discussion) - it’s very much an issue with the quality of the writing. People accept things they shouldn’t, they question things they shouldn’t. This is dialogue written by people who don’t take the time (or don’t care) to think about how characters will think, feel or react. It’s dialogue written for the purpose of getting from point A to point B rather than to actually engage with the story and the world.  Again, not necessarily *bad* but it’s certainly not good. Maybe this is early game woes and the story struggles to get off the ground. I’ll revisit this later if the dialogue quality changes or stays the same.  

Character introductions are very lazy. So far every single character introduction has been the character popping out of nowhere to destroy something or to just Be there. It’s very lazy writing and I expect better of a studio with the pedigree of Bioware. I would accept this quality of writing from a new studio, but not a studio like Bioware that has shown they can do *much* better. It’s also very rushed. I don’t get to explore an area before the game goes “HERES A NEW CHARACTER WE WON’T DESCRIBE ENOUGH ABOUT FOR YOU TO CARE ABOUT THEM OKAY BYE.” So far the game has been cutscene simulator that has combat and dialogue tacked onto it. And not in a good way.

This is the quality of writing I’d expect from a Bethesda game, not a Bioware game. Again, not bad in a vacuum, but by Bioware standards, this quality of writing is atrocious. And to be completely honest - after the absolute dumpster fires that were Anthem and Andomeda, they really can't afford to release a game with 10+ years of hype behind it and have it be anything less than spectacular.

I really hope this game gets better in quality. Because so far, it's worse than inquisition in many respects and while Inquisition was better than DA2 it was still inferior to Origins in many ways.

I desperately want to give this game a fair shake because I've been enamored with this series ever since I first played Origins back in 2009. So we'll see.

[httpvomitello]

Helloooo, can I request something for the 2018 turtles (ROTTMNT)? The reader arrives with the guys to show them the softshell turtle they got as a gift at a school science fair. Since they're not very sure how to take care of it, they go to the guys for help. And the turtle... it looks just like the one from The Amazing World of Gumball. I just think it would be fun to see the turtles (especially Donnie) interacting with the evil turtle haha 😭

OMG NOT THAT FREAKING TURTLE 😭😭 When I learned that Donnie is a softshell turtle, my mind immediately went to that turtle from Gumball. Like... Seriously??? That turtle is the reincarnation of evil, that's for sure. Anyways ~ i hope you like it! ♡♡♡♡

Leo is so pumped when you show up with a turtle

He’s already imagining the epic sibling turtle bonding he’ll all have, and he’s definitely scheming ways to turn your new buddy into his own personal sidekick

But as he leans in to get a better look, he catches the turtle giving him a super intense, villainous stare

"Uh, why is he looking at me like that?" Leo laughs nervously, tapping the glass of its little tank

The turtle does not break eye contact

In fact, it somehow looks like it’s plotting something

After a long, intense staring contest (which Leo loses), Leo's more hyped than ever

“Oh, we’re keeping him. This little guy’s got edge.”

He decides to call it something like "Sidekick Jr", and he tries to train it to glare on command, thinking it’ll be perfect to bring it to battle with him

Obviously you don't let that happen.

Raph’s eyebrows shoot up the second he sees the turtle

“Whoa. That turtle is… cute.”

Lying is not Raph's focus

He is all in for helping you take care of it

But as soon as he leans in, the turtle levels him with a stare so intense that Raph is slightly taken aback

“This guy looks like he could plan a heist,��� he jokes, but he’s half-serious

He’s convinced the turtle has some secret agenda and will not let it out of his sight

Raph takes pride in helping you build a “fortified tank” to protect it from any “potential escape attempts.”

He even draws up “exercise drills” to help it “build character.”

He ends up calling it something like “Lil’ Warrior”

The turtle's name is Bob

And he spends a suspicious amount of time training it to recognize commands, because “A turtle like this needs discipline.”

Donnie’s reaction is extreme caution

Like... wtf? How is this turtle so ugly?

(He completely forgot that he is also a softshell turtle)

He’s thrilled you came to him about turtle care, especially because this guy is a fellow softshell

But then he notices the turtle’s… ominous glare

For the next ten minutes, Donnie just stares back, analyzing every detail

The turtle doesn’t blink

It feels like a showdown

"This isn’t just any turtle, you know," he mutters, more to himself

He immediately runs diagnostics on it, pulling out his tools to test its temperament and intelligence level, just in case

Donnie takes the turtle care seriously, sets up the perfect tank, gets the optimal UV lamp, and is constantly researching enrichment activities, but he still doesn’t entirely trust it

You catch him putting up tiny lasers around the tank "just in case."

And he insists on renaming it something like “Professor Menace” because, in his words

“Look at that face—he’s clearly up to something.”

Mikey’s reaction is pure delight. “Aw! Look at the lil’ guy!”

He immediately wants to hold it, but as soon as he picks it up, the turtle gives him a side-eye that could curdle milk

Yes, the turtle is judging Michelangelo

He tries everything

Offering lettuce, sweet-talking it, giving it little pets, but the turtle just stares, expression unreadable but somehow… sinister

“Why does he keep looking at me like that?” Mikey wonders, confused but determined to win the turtle’s affection

He’s convinced it just needs a bit of “good vibes,” so he tries playing calming music, talking to it about his day, and even painting a little flower on the tank

Despite the turtle’s apparent indifference

(And slightly ominous glare)

Mikey’s convinced they’re best friends

He starts calling it “Lil’ Grump,” swearing it’ll warm up eventually.

[ranticore]

I've often seen people ask you for drawing advice(which yes absolutely!) but what kind of writing advice could you give someone who wants to start? (or just narratives as a whole)

Ok my biggest advice and the thing I always spend most time on when editing is that u should tell the audience way less than you think you should tell them. Provide information sure but don't draw connections and don't hold a reader's hand. Like for example one minute ago I was reading over a paragraph with the final two sentences (paraphrased): "The word 'faery' didn't quite make it out of his mouth [in reference to himself]. He'd never thought of himself in those terms" and my editing comment was to nix that last sentence entirely because it's just saying out loud what the previous sentence is telling us, like holding ur hand and pointing at it saying "hey this is what that last sentence meant btw". it's easy to end up with a lot of that but you need to go back and cut all of those out. think about a reader drawing their own judgements, how much more engaging it is

Other random stuff I've picked up over the years

Kerb your worldbuilders disease ur writing a story not an encyclopaedia

Read your paragraph aloud to identify repetitive or weirdly structured sentences

There should be a clear causal chain running the length of the narrative - x happened because of y, which happened because of z, and so on. No matter how many links in the chain you should know it start to finish

Written media gives you an unlimited time budget, a reader can take as long as they like with it. You don't have to make it quick and snappy. You get to show & explore things that visual media can't, so take advantage of it. Also ditch every piece of writing advice which is like "trim all the fat and also imagine camera angles and scene cuts like it's a movie" because it's not a movie and you aren't constrained into a short runtime.

First draft is rough it's supposed to be rough just write it

It's impossible to write dialogue that nobody would ever say.. easy to scoff and think "nobody talks like this" but they do

I can't in good conscience advise everybody do this but the slush draft (draft 0 as it were) of stbh was narrated entirely in first person by the pov character in each chapter, with the framing device that they were explaining their actions to a judgemental third party. This was just done for fun before any other world building or even plot it was just to get the characters right first & to sort out how they would attempt to justify their actions, when they'd try to make themselves sound better (or worse), and just their voice in general. It ended up being absolutely invaluable

[elainsgirl]

Yk the main difference for me that makes or breaks a couple is their dynamic.

I can see Gwyn and Azriel being playful to each other as well as soft. They are the kind of couple that could go on and on about some topic and also offer comfort when one is having a nightmare.

And I have yet to get that vibes from elriel. All I get when I think about them is "The weather is exceptional today" "I agree"

I know this is a troll but what I find absolutely hilarious is how they want elriel but simply want to switch out Elain for a character they love more.

“the kind of couple that could go on and on about some topic”

Canon Gwynriel:

“how was the party?”

“fine.” He realised a heart beat later it wasn’t socially acceptable answer, “it was nice” not much better. “Did you and the priestesses havs a celebration?” “Yes, though the service was the main highlight”

“I see.”

And as Gwyn was about to open her mouth - what does Azriel do? Change the topic. So no actually, other then made-up Hcs gwynriel clearly aren’t the type of couple that can go on & on about some topic

yet

You have Azriel choosing to sit and listen to Elain talk about her gardens, at 3 in the morning.

”playful as well as soft” - the way a faint smile bloomed on Azriel’s cheek when he saw Elain clutching her fork? Az and Elain sitting together out in the gardens - with Az casually going through paperwork & Elain enjoying the sun? (If that’s not the definition of soft and domestic Idk what is) The way Az showed Elain the gardens? Elain calling his scars beautiful? All of these moments are soft, gentle & beautiful interactions.

“Offer comfort” - the way Az saw how uneasey Elain felt due to Amren so he took the attention of her? The way he offered her comfort throughout acowar in regards to her visions? The way Azriel put her at ease in acomaf? The way Elain went out of her way to find a solution to Azriel’s headaches?

It’s funny that elriel give off the “weather is exceptional today” vibes when Gwyn and Az have the most basic, mundane conversation in which Az was actively trying to be polite and Gwyn was giving half-hearted answers that left no room for discussion- I’ve had more interesting conversations with strangers then Az and Gwyn have.

At this point - yall are just making it clearer you want elriel but bcs you don’t like Elain you want to swap her out with a more tolerable character like Gwyn. The way gwynriel is predicted to be, canonically speaking- Elriel are already written to be like that.

[dr-spectre]

I think that it's now more important than ever to keep making art.

Whether it's some scribbles on a piece of a paper, paint on a canvas, typing out erotic fanfiction about two cephalopod women, i need you to keep going. OKAY?!

Keep going at your own pace. Don't feel like you have to "grind" to achieve success, you're probably young as hell, you don't need to become a masculine obsessed fucking nutjob that is so obsessed with "discipline" and all this bullshit. Sure "discipline" is cool but... That shit takes a LONG TIME to develop and it only comes with experimentation and see what you believe in and what you enjoy. Don't get.... heh...... heh heh..... BRAINWASHED!!! by women hating bald bastards online who wanna turn you into a fun hating robot that's all about "work work work." Fuck them.

You are a human with flesh, blood, bones, a heart and a brain. You are not a machine. Got it?

Anyways, in talks of art, i wanna give my own sort of help for my writer friends out there! I thought it would be fun and plus, there's too many damn writing tips out there that boil down to "you HAVE to do this thing, you HAVE to follow this structure" and i think that is bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit that gives you more stress than needed. You know how many boring mid action movies come out that follow the hero's journey? The three act structure? The story circle? It is better to just make shit and learn what you could do for next time.

There are no rules, all of the "rules of storytelling" are just optional suggestions that you can either take or leave. Plus it seems like every fucking YouTuber has a different set of rules that conflict with each other anyways. However, I wanna share my own sort of "basic ass fundamentals of stories" that can fit into any story structure you want! I got these guidelines from the YouTube channel The Closer Look. I like their content, it's very insightful.

Here's Dr. Spectre's basic ass fundamentals for stories.

Characters. Simple, a story must have characters otherwise you are making something else that is not a story.

Progression. Is there a sense of progression? Does it feel like for every second of story it isn't stagnating or getting dull and boring? Does it feel like shit is happening and growing? If it feels boring to read for you, then it's gonna be boring for another person reading it. Progression could be plot based or character based and them growing as the story goes on. Doesn't matter which one, can be both or one. Good stories never feel like they are staying the same or spinning their wheels.

Delivery (Aka. Setup and payoff). Do you deliver on the promises in the story? And do you deliver them in a way where the audience after they finishing reading or watching, they felt like it was all worthwhile and they didn't waste time consuming your story.

Everything else? IT'S OPTIONAL!!! COMPLETLY OPTIONAL! YOU KNOW HOW MANY STORIES BREAK THE "RULES"?! Do not become reliant and dependent on these "rules" because it'll slow your development and discourage experimentation. Not every story is gonna fucking follow the Save The Cat format.

There is also the talk of theme and i will say this.

Theme is not "this story is about sex, drugs, greed." No. Theme is a message or argument, it is not a word, it is something you are trying to say via a story. People don't have to agree with the theme, but it must make people think about it. If your story is about sex, what is it trying to say about sex? That sex is a scary thing and that it's okay to feel scared and worried about your first time? What are you trying to say about greed? Etc. Etc.

I read through a Sonic comic recently that everyone loves called Scrapnik Island and guess what? I fucking love that comic too.

Scrapnik Island isn't truly about Sonic and Tails getting stuck on an island and Mecha Sonic is there and he becomes evil and does all this stuff. No, what it's ACTUALLY about is that your worth as a person isn't determined by successes and failures, Mecha Sonic feels like he is worthless and is a failure because he not only failed to kill Sonic, but also failed to help his friends on Scrapnik Island. However, Sonic snaps him out of that bullshit mindset and it's truly, truly wonderful stuff.

Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion isn't truly about Agent 8 being trapped in a facility and defeating an evil ai. It talks about racism and what does it talk about specifically? That it doesn't matter what someone looks like, as long as they are a good person that's all that matters. That life is varied and beautiful and it's worth protecting from those who wish to destroy it.

There's a reason why Agent 8 takes the time to soak in the fresh air and sunlight near the end of Octo Expansion, why Eight has memcakes to collect and we see their thoughts and wishes. it's there to explore that theme, that idea of what the story is truly about.

Splatoon as a franchise is about how wonderful creativity itself is, that art and life are connected and grow together and are important and deserved to be protected. Commander Tartar, Mr. Grizz and Overlorder are all opposed to that idea and that's why they are the antagonists. DJ Octavio less so because he is trying to save his own culture and art, even as to go far as manipulating a mentally ill Callie who was already growing distain and tiredness from her own culture, so it just so happens that these two chaotic forces share the same ideology.

Now, I wanna say, do you NEED a theme to make a story? No. BUT! If you don't have something to say and that connective tissue, then it's gonna weaken everything else and the action, plot and characters have to be fucking top notch. The "Rule of Cool" only works when... you know.... it's cool? And well done?

Anyways, I've rambled long enough. Please keep making art, please? Especially now considering what has happened. I need you to hold onto hope, hold onto creativity and fun. You must. You have to...

Be good people.

[crooked-wasteland]

I think what annoys me so much about the way the show blasts Blitzo for being a cold and unromantic partner is that it’s a perfect example of ignoring worldbuilding to make a character look worse.

By human standards, Blitzo abandoning someone when they tell them that they love him is pretty cowardly and understandably upsetting. But in Hell standards? Verosika should’ve fucking known he’d run away because Hell seems to look down heavily at the concept of love. This is like knowing that it’s taboo to kiss and then getting mad at a character for not kissing you. You can’t blame someone for being adjusted to what society expects of you. Verosika can still be hurt but it’s genuinely insane how much she clings on to this hate like he did a crime.

And the fact that we just skip over seeing their relationship is also infuriating because I get the feeling that Viv was both not interested in actually showing us what Verosika was like and also afraid to make her do anything that feels more in line with her character which is act angsty and spiteful

I've had a thought about Verosika. From the we've seen this season, the writers have actually listened to and addressed criticism for the show. The Ghostfuckers leaks show an overhaul of the original story, the fact that episodes got shifted around at the start of the series, the blatant un-writing of the assassination plot, and the fact that Unhappy Campers was the only pre-special episode to not be in the season 2 trailer (most likely because it was still in the early stages of animation due to massive rewrites to incorporate more Millie) are all evidence to this. It's obvious the crew is not happy about it, but they are listening.

With that in mind, the show has repeatedly been accused of extremely sexist writing in favor of the male cast. As such, it's not surprising to see the pivot more towards "humanizing" the female characters in specific. I remember seeing a lot of comments about how they wouldn't forgive the show if they made another female character irredeemably cruel and brainless following The Circus, and even louder after Western Energy.

What fans had wanted was a complicated or even toxic dynamic where both characters weren't perfect, but still held Blitz accountable for his actions, fairly. What they got was the cheapest, laziest writing I've ever seen. Not only does it not make sense in regards to the established world building of Hell's attitude towards love, it still makes no sense for Blitz to run away just because Verosika said she loved him, only to then adopt a child. He explicitly goes to the pound looking for a pup, pivoting to taking in Loona out of pity. It's like saying marriage is too much of a commitment, but still having kids.

Instead, Medrano overcorrected to pander to critics the same way she panders to her fans. Verosika is not an irredeemably cruel and stupid, spiteful woman. She's a perfect victim actually. Not only is her only crime falling in love, but the relationship ended so fast and sudden that she didn't have any time to do anything.

All these choices feel not only deliberate, but resentful in how little care went into the writing. The most drastic overhaul being to Ghostfuckers where the entire narrative trimmed down and immensely reworked already existing elements into the script. It goes to show the level of improvement possible to an idea when given better direction, but it also shows the limitations of not having actual writers on the team.

Ghostfuckers does an amateur's best and comes out generally okay, but still suffers from over reliance on tropes without narrative substance. It's the genuine best that can be done with this team. And unfortunately that's still not good enough.

[soodoonimin]

Logan Howlett and animal instincts (or in other words my long winded analysis of a comic book character)

So before I start, just know that I have read a lot of comics but I don't know everything. I can take notes all day long but I have a bad memory and comics are confusing so please be nice and enjoy, this took a lot of effort to put together, it’s mostly my thoughts on the character as I read the the comic books. The movie character is a lot different and I will also probably do something like this for movie Logan as well (though it will be significantly shorter).

Also there are some pictures that have blood and body horror so beware.

What does it mean to be human? Well that's a question we as humans have been trying to answer since we could think to ask it and ever since then we've never been able to give a fully conclusive answer. Why? you may ask, well because think about it like this, the traits we most often associate with humanity (higher thinking, creativity, empathy, and love) may not and some times do not always exists solely within us when applied to fiction, we write whole stories about how robots can be human too, how aliens can be human etc etc as long as they have these traits (more or less) AND LOOK I'm not going to get into a whole philosophical discussion about the nature of humanity on Tumblr.com but I do want to take a second to talk about how those traits are applied to Logan and how he has to fight to prove his humanity.

So mutants are an oppressed people but being a mutant isn't always the same for everyone. You can be a mutant like Rouge who can kill people with a single touch or mutant like Storm who can bend the weather to your will (the most obvious example). You can be a mutant like Jean with no obvious physical signs of your mutation or you can be a mutant like Kurt, where 9/10 people think you’re a demon of some kind.

But what happens when you're a mutant like Logan Howlett? I mean you look human enough, sure you're a little more hairy than most people, you have fangs, you smell, and oh yeah the claws but those are retractable so overall....you're just a normal person right? Nothing you can’t hide, right? Yeah, for the most part, yeah. But there are a couple of other things about you that someone might not know from looking at you, you have an extraordinary healing factor, you have almost animal like senses and when you are pushed to your absolute brink you go into a monstrous like a rage and kill everything in sight.

For every gift Logan was born with theres a very real curse attached to each one.

Healing Factor: Logan still feels pain, the healing factor isn’t just limited to his body but it also messes with his memories, and more importantly he’s lived a very long life. In The End comic and Old Man Logan comic etc, when he’s out lived most of the world, he’s miserable.

Keen senses: Seems great, until they’re exploited, imagine what being able to smell and see and hear that well all the time without relief must be like. Imagine not being able to tell when someone is going to die? Or when they’re lying or when they haven’t showered etc. sure you might get used to it like you might get used to pain but that doesn’t make it pleasant.

Claws: Need to really touch on this one? Aside from the obvious please remember that Logan’s claws aren’t in his knuckles but in his fucking forearms so when using them he needs to make an effort to direct them or….

Berserker rage: great to get you out of a pinch but you can’t control it. (We’ll talk more about this later)

Most people don’t see these very real downsides of Logan’s mutation, they just see a small, angry guy, who’s good at fighting and can take a hit better than almost anyone.

Here’s what worse, a lot of people (X-men included) don't see, they don't all the ways Logan hates himself (and those who do don’t see the depths of that hate he has for himself). They don't see the scared little boy whose father was killed in front of him. They don't see that little boy who killed his father's murderer and was abandoned by all but one person for one person (Rose). They don't see the young man who accidentally killed his first love while trying to protect her from his brother. They don't see the man who lived a relatively miserable life being plucked up by a group of people who only saw him as something to be experimented on. They don’t see the man who believes that if he loves someone he's destine to hurt them in one way or another because he has multiple times over (even if it wasn’t always his fault). They don’t see that for all the times that they call Logan an animal, he already believes them and he’s called himself worse many times over.

(Deep down he truly believes he deserves be to alone, especially in death. That would be his “deserved” hell. Eternal loneliness.)

Which is funny because I think Logan goes back and forth in deciding on whether or not he has any humanity in him in the first place. See in the Black, White and Blood comic, the FIRST story told in this series, is an account of Logan’s time at Weapon X and we get this…interaction:

Pourquoi tu me fais ça?///Why are you doing this to me? This "monster" asks him this on the cusp of death....

(Moments during the Weapon X program, be they real memories or not, when Logan’s humanity shone through)

And THIS almost immediately snaps him out of mind control he's under going. I don't know if he understood the words per say but I think even if he didn't, he still understood the plea on a human level. Because it wasn’t Weapon X who responded, it wasn’t the berserker, or Wolverine. It was Logan Howlett. It was a moment of humanity that broke the conditioning he’d been put through that answered that plea and stopped him. Because if you think about it, if these two memories actually are real, that means that Logan recognized this plea as the same one gave to the scientists. Now determining what did or didn't happen during the Weapon X program is difficult to parse out because they implanted false memories. BUT regardless of that there was always a part of him that held onto his humanity. But I think that just adds to the horror of it all. Imagine not being able to know what memories are yours and which ones are not? So let me ask, even if those memories are “false” does that make them any less real? Does that mean that Logan suffered any less under their stewardship? He was still kidnapped, he was still experimented on, still tortured. He still had the adimantium grafted onto his bones, he was still made into a living puppet and was still seen as nothing more than a weapon, an animal, a monster by the very people who were doing all of this to him and in some respects they are the reason he is seen as a monster by others.

At the end of that comic (where he was momentarily snapped out of his conditioning) he states that no his humanity wasn’t stolen from him but he still lives with that guilt of everything he can’t remember and the things he can remember are unreliable.

I know a lot of people haven’t read the comics so I’m not trying to do annoying about it BUT if you get the opportunity to PLEASE go read The Weapon X comic (by Berry Windsor-Smith) & Wolverine’s first limited series run (by Chris Claremont).

I specifically say that second one because I think the story that’s told is probably one of the more interesting told for Logan because of the relationship he has with Yukio and Mariko. I’m not going to get too deep into it because I really think you should read it for yourself but the basic outline of it is that where Mariko loves the man, Yukio loves the “monster”. And when he’s initially trying to court Mariko it’s his attempts to in a sense to court humanity but he fails and when he turns to Yukio. And for her part it’s not just as simple as her loving the “monster” but more than she goads it out of him, for thematic reasons and plot reasons. But needless to say, they both love Logan but they both love an incomplete version of him. (It’s a really good story and it’s literally what sold me on the idea of reading through any of the older comics.)

Anyway, (in the comics and movies especially) some people solely see him as a man with an uncontrollable side that they’d run from at the first sign of aggression and others only want that animalistic side and don’t love the man that Logan is. The thing is, he is both of those things. Think about it like this. As humans we like to think ourselves above the food chain, we like to think of ourselves as *more* than animals. And sure we’re definitely one of the most successful species of animals on Earth and we definitely don’t act on instincts in the same way most animals do, we’ve created society and rules and we do things a lot different than other animals but we are still animals.

So Logan isn’t both a man and an animal anymore than you or me. But he is a man that is more in touch with those animal instincts than the rest of us (bc of his mutation). Which I think is why when he does act on those instincts, people see him as less, because we (yes even comic book characters for this argument) only seem associate those traits with animals, with something lesser than ourselves.

The thing is, being “an animal” doesn’t need to be an insult or a condemnation of any kind. Humans are still animals but humans are still kind, and caring, humans have still created beautiful art and music and food and architecture and have got to the stars will probably go beyond the stars all while still being an “animal”.

So I think where most people get hung up on word “animal” is because it has such a negative connotation when applied to humans. And thus that negative connotation basically perpetuates itself so the only time we call other humans animals is when we mean to attack their humanity.

So back to Logan. Imo, there is no better example of this than the way people, Logan included, treat his (and subsequently him) berserker rage. Logan describes it as a monster that shares his soul, something else inside him, the real thing that makes him a monster, something that he doesn’t like, something he’s scared of, something he can’t always control but that he does everything in his power to keep away from the people he loves. Because Logan doesn’t like to kill, he doesn’t like hurting people. He might be good at it, he might be known for it but that doesn’t mean he likes it. Even when he thinks death is a deserved punishment, he isn't ever happy about having to kill. And he even says as much at one point in the comics.

And as a real quick aside, but this is almost exactly what sets him apart from Victor Creed. They're both men whose mutation gives them heightened animal like traits. The only difference is that Logan is ashamed of those parts of himself especially when they pertain to violence where Victor likes it, enjoys it; he goes out of his way for violence.

(If there is more to Victor Creed than meets the eye please tell me bc I gotta say I don’t actually know too much about him except that any time I see him in any Wolverine media I immediately laugh bc I know the two around to brawl. And I’m almost never wrong lmao)

And mind you there are times when Logan is also a hammer in the sense that he tends to punch his way through most of his problems. But he doesn't go out of his way for it in the same way Victor does despite having every reason to.

Logan has killed people but unlike Victor he isn't a killer. Even if that's what he's "the best at".

So when he goes into this specific rage that labels him a monster (an animal) it’s almost always in front of someone he loves and it’s almost always in a moment when he’s trying to prove his humanity (when it’s being used thematically and not for plot convenience). Like if you go read the comics 9 times out 10 when Logan is being called a monster or animal by some scientist or an enemy looking to humiliate him. But it’s almost always in the mitts of a life or death situation. A situation that anyone would fight light hell to get out of even with an amazing healing factor like Logan’s.

Because he still feels pain.

He still wants to survive.

He still feels.

And at the end of it all, he feels ashamed and horrified with himself and he'll always have to live with that guilt and shame. There's a point in one of the comics when he describes his heart as being slower to heal than the rest of his body and I think its interesting because although that story he's talking more from a "heart broken" sense. I also think that can apply just as equally to idea that it also harder for him to heal from not just heart break but also from shame and guilt. In certain situations, it takes longer for him to forgive himself emotionally because he suffers physically in the short term. He’ll never have a physical scar of his wrong doing and so he carries the emotional weight of it with him.

But also because he isn't just dealing with himself. In those moments when he comes out of that rage, the people he loves are in shock and are scared because they saw the “monster” and some people do reject it and in so they reject him and although rejection is something Logan thinks he deserves, it doesn’t make that pain hurt any less. it doesn't make it any easier to heal just because you agree with them, and in a way I think that's what slows down that healing process. Logan's inability to forgive himself.

Because that's the thing, Logan, would rather be scared of himself than forgive himself, be it because of his past trauma or because of the Weapon X program (which in the Weapon X comic it’s implied if not outright stated that the scientist at Weapon X are the reason he feels the fear he does about himself). Logan is scared of no one on Earth more than the man he sees in the mirror. And that’s because in his lowest moments when he looks in the mirror he doesn't see a man, instead he sees an animal, a monster. He doesn’t need the rest of the world to tell him what he already thinks of himself, it just doesn’t help that he has a choir of voices that are sometimes louder than his own telling him his worst fear is real. He is the monster that hides under his own bed but the problem is, while the monster is 'real' is a physical sense, it does not share a soul with him anymore than the boogeyman does. He wrestles with himself. Somedays he believes he's a man like anyone else and other days he can't drown out the voices telling him he's nothing more than a monster.

And as my last touch on the beserker rage, I want to posit my own theory about it. Personally believe to some extent that it isn’t part of his natural mutation and that instead it’s something that was “given” to him by the Weapon X program. The reason I say this is because I think it would make a lot of sense that like the adimantium claws and false memories it would make sense to give you “weapon” this uncontrollable rage (that mostly comes out in times of great duress). Not just because it would be one more thing Weapon X has taken from him (control over his own emotions/body) but also because wouldn’t that just make sense on the side of the people who ran the project? That your living puppet have a fail safe of sorts in case it ran into something bigger than itself? During the Weapon X comic, the scientist are constantly surprised by how resilient he is and even though some of this surprise happens in a false memory, they really do believe they can kill him at one points so if they thought they could kill him, why not something else? Why not give their investment insurance? And what better insurance for an animal than monstrous rage. 

But of course none of this is even to talk about the kind of person Logan really is. The thing that I think most people (in the comics) tend to ignore about Logan, in favor of focusing on his rough exterior (and some of his more questionable characteristics) is that he really does have a heart of gold. Now do not get me wrong, he can do some pretty fucked up shit (I will not talk about the Jean and Scott love triangle bc it gives me a migraine) but he does regularly do things that show how much empathy he has. That show that despite what he (or the rest of the world) might think, he isn’t a monster. The best examples of this are his relationships and more specifically the relationships where he’s a father/mentor. Like his relationship with Kitty Pryde and Jubilee, two kids that he basically adopts/takes under his wing and constantly goes out of his way for. Some of you might remember this post and the reason Logan does eventually fuck Wade’s shit up is because Wade literally punches the ever living shit out of Kitty in front of Logan. In another comic issue (after this), Logan beats the shit out of Wade again for punching Kitty, it’s funny but it also just goes to show that he does take protection of his family seriously. And mind you he doesn’t hunt Deadpool down, he find him by sheer plot coincidence when he’s getting a book signed for Kitty and the author just so happened to be Deadpool’s mark.

And mind you, Logan does have love for his own kids (Laura and Daken) despite the troubled nature of both this relationships but again those are a little more complicated. That’s partially for plot reasons but also because they play into just how much Logan hates himself that he struggles active show the same love for his adopted family to his “blood” family (again with Daken it’s a lot more complicated) but I also think that not only are his relationships with them fraught because of how much he hates himself but because both Laura and Daken were experimented on just and manipulated like he was (and in Daken’s case by a major player of Weapon X) so while he does love them past his own self hatred, they are also a reminder of his deepest traumas. It’s not their fault and it’s not necessarily Logan’s fault either, it’s just the cards their characters were dealt. (I haven’t read any comics with them yet so once I do I will most likely write my thoughts on his relationship with them each individually)

Regardless, Logan, depsite what he’d like you to think, is a deeply loving, empathetic and loyal person and this doesn’t just extend to people who considers family:

(Logan says this a man who not only a few issues ago was trying to kill him and his partner/friends. He saved Roughouse (the character he went berserk on a few pictures ago) because he was being experimented on in a way not too dissimilar to the way he had been by Weapon X. And if I remember correctly this is before he even knows how he got the adimantium in his bones)

He is James 'Logan' Howlett. He is a man whose life was stolen from him so many times over. He is a man who believes that the worse parts of him are all that matter and fails (or refuses) to see the good he has done in the lives of the people he cares about and believes that only death will truly bring him peace. He is someone who despite his flaws can’t help but to be kind. He is someone who fights like hell for what he believes is right. And even if he believes he’s a monster, even if the world believes he’s a monster, he will try to do the right thing because although he knows his soul is damned that doesn’t mean that exempts him from doing what good he can. He is someone who gives and good as he gets and then some. He’s the best at what he does but for him, that isn’t alway what he thinks it is.

And I think that’s the beauty of Logan as a character. Someone whose life is so wrought with tragedy and yet he is someone who can’t help but to be kind, someone who can’t help but love and care and find the humanity in the world despite the world seeming to be hellbent on taking his humanity away. Even though he (and many people in universe) might disagree with me, he is not only a one of the best humanity has to offer but he is also a shining example of the tenacity of the human spirit.

[the-swift-tricker]

i get a little sick of all the hot takes that are like "uh actually you were never meant to root for scott pilgrim" and usually their reasoning is scott being a deadbeat and dating a 17 year old when he himself is 22 which like yes very good that's fucked up but also that's kind of the point of the story? when we're first introduced to scott he's been dating knives for a week and they haven't even so much as held hands. then as the story progresses we find out the reason scott likes hanging around her is because she blindly adores him and thinks he's the coolest person ever instead of seeing him for what he is. a loser. he's lame as fuck. then he meets ramona. and as we continue on scott improves himself. and then he gets worse. and then he gets better. he cheats on knives. he realizes that was terrible and he also should've never dated her to begin with. he gets a job. he makes an effort. he fucks up again. but he tries. over and over and over again. and you know who else is like that?

ramona flowers.

she's hurt more people than she cares to remember. she abandons people who care about her. she runs when the going gets tough. she cheats on scott. she fucks up and tries again.

the main point of the story is that every one of the characters are painfully human. scott's friends suck just as much as him. kim makes out with knives when they're both drunk. oh yeah scott and his friends let knives get drunk with them.

knives gets used by people, she gets led on and taken advantage of, she doesn't know how to handle all the feelings that these knew experiences are leaving her with, she gets hurt. knives outgrows them all.

kim is a loser who still holds a torch for scott despite wishing she could move on. so she finally moves on. makes a serious change in her life and leaves. fucks up and tries again.

envy is the same way. she hurt scott and got hurt by him. thought she was better than everyone else and then had to come to terms with the fact that she was just like them. fucked up and tried again.

nothing justifies anything they do so all that they can do is own up to it, move on, and try harder. try again.

[silentstaresfanficandfanart]

*I gleefully read every word* this is FANTASTIC I love the level of detail they went into- aaaaa I could read stuff like this for hours talk about an amazing character exploration this is part of why I love enstars the sheer depth of all the characters IS so immense that you can write a whole essay just about a single aspect of said character- i wonder if in a way this is also part of the reason eichi calls keito his "cute little shinigami"

If we go with a more modern anime-esque definition of a shinigami they often more heavily fulfill the actual idea of a God of death (the further back you go the lore for those gets messier and messier but he also very heavily resembles that depiction to speaking of which if you intend to study shinigami info be wary it can get very dark if you're sensitive to the subject I just figured I'd warn you)

I just realized if I go any further into this topic I'm not going to bed before 3 am I better stop here but it's really interesting- but the tldr of it is some of the traits keito represents are also heavily featured in modern depictions of shinigami

(And I think it's very fitting how he represents both a modern and non-modern shinigami depiction so heavily though I think a particular specific version comes to mind I don't know how to explain off the top of my head...it bring fitting because of course akatsuki is a very modern yet also very traditional idol group-) ok ok stoppingnow but I love this all so much aaaaaaaAAAAAA

Eichi's "Left Hand": An Archetypal Analysis of Wataru Hibiki's Role

Well, specifically of Wataru as Eichi's left hand, anyway. There's way too much ground to cover for Wataru's archetype to do it in one post.

The ruler's "right hand" is a pretty common archetype and trope that you're all probably familiar with. The "left hand," less common, shows up in different places as well.

The "right hand man" is defined by Merriam-Webster as "a very important assistant who helps someone do a job." The term comes from archetypal understandings of the function of the "right hand" which have evolved over the last centuries. In general, because most people are right-handed, the right hand has been favoured across many cultures, associated with luck and goodness.

The right hand is traditionally the hand which holds the sword, and so it is associated with action; the "right-hand man" enacts the will of the king. In his description of "the king/queen" archetype, J. E. Sandoval writes:

The sword represents power over life and death, as well as defense against those that threaten the greater order.

This is the exact role that Keito takes in Enstars. When Eichi is ill at the beginning of the year in ES!, Keito takes it upon himself to ensure that the school does not fall into disorder, tightening his hold on students and making the regulations very strict. He does this for the purpose of securing Eichi's place on Yumenosaki's "throne" while Eichi is away, and once Eichi returns, this is still frequently the role that Keito plays.

The right hand represents Deity. The aggressive hand, hand of growth and strength. Right hand laid on a person conveys authority, blessings, power, strength. Right hand lifted to heaven, and oath, swearing.

(Gertrude Jobes, Dictionary of Mythology, Folklore, and Symbols, quoted here)

The king depends on the right hand for recognition of his power and authority; the right hand is his strength and the one who exercises his will.

On the other hand (lol), the left has often historically been treated to unfavourable interpretations. Left-handed people have historically been discriminated against in many cultures and even forced to learn to use their right hands rather than their lefts.

In symbolism the body is divided vertically into halves, the right half being considered as light and the left half as darkness. [...] the light half was denominated spiritual and the left half material. Light is the symbol of objectivity; darkness of subjectivity. [...] darkness is considered as the veil which must eternally conceal the true nature of abstract and undifferentiated Being. ... several early nations used the right hand for all constructive labors and the left hand for only those purposes termed unclean and unfit for the sight of the gods. For the same reason black magic was often referred to as the left-hand path, and heaven was said to be upon the right and hell upon the left.

(Manly P Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages)

We see this reflected in the "narrative" created by Eichi and Keito. Keito is a member of the student council, the force of justice and order at Yumenosaki Academy, and the vice-president, cementing his role as Eichi's second in command. Wataru, by contrast, is one of the "Oddballs," who were castigated by the student council and made enemies of the public at Yumenosaki. Wataru plays the role of a "jester," associated with trickery and mischief, and Keito constantly fears that Wataru will corrupt Eichi.

The right hand bravely holds the sword, whereas the left hand does the ruler's "dirty work" in the darkness. Wataru is a member of fine, and is frequently treated to being part of Eichi's unsavoury business - trying to buy up Hokuto from Trickstar, threatening Ra*bits, and facing off against Wataru's own friends in UNDEAD and Valkyrie. The student council enacts "order" in the school through rules and regulations, and creates the guidelines by which students are subject to judgment (DreamFes participation is reflected in grades, for example). fine, on the other hand, is how Eichi threatens others using their status as a peer unit rather than by invoking the student council's authority. He challenges and uses underhanded methods to get others to compete against him, and really gets into the thick of the "battles" on the stage.

In the ES! Main Story, Eichi compares Wataru to Mephistopheles, a charming demon who (seemingly) reluctantly lured Doctor Faustus down a path of corruption and to hell, after Wataru threatens his plans for Trickstar. Eichi's plans were cruel, but they were done in the name of the student council, and so Wataru was like Mephistopheles in that he was pulling Eichi away from his own "just" decree and imperial edict.

Wataru is often the one who commentates on Eichi's tyranny - he refers to him as a tyrant, to start with, but also lauds praise upon him for his majesty and ruthlessness.

You are definitely not "evil"! You are "justice", and yet you commit atrocities and greedily devour the tears and dreams of others! Love and hatred! Hope and despair! Dreams and nightmares! You have achieved a way of life that is contradictory and conflicting!

(Ensemble Stars! Novel Adaptation, translation by maluridae)

The left hand has also been associated historically with the feminine, because it was often the hand that held the shield while the right held the sword. In China, the right hand is associated with the masculine yang, strength, and war; and the left hand is associated with the feminine yin, and honour (Carla Huffman).

... as the source of Being is in the primal darkness which preceded light, so the spiritual nature of man is in the dark part of his being, for the heart is on the left side.

(Manly P Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages)

Part of what makes the left hand so fearsome and threatening is that it's connected to the "heart." The honourable right hand which lives in the light does not know the truths concealed in the king's darkness. Femininity has historically been associated with chaos, emotion, and "touch," whereas masculinity is associated with rationality, order, and and "vision" (I don't have a source on hand for this one but I got my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in gender studies so just take my word for it; I'm sure it's easy to look up). The right hand is the sword and the "all-seeing eye" which dispassionately and honourably enacts justice; and the left hand guards the heart and represents desire, intimacy, and unpredictability.

The left hand has the potential to unravel the power of the king because it appeals to his heart.

Wataru plays this role so, so many times throughout Enstars. In one of their first conversations (which Eichi may have imagined, but it doesn't make a difference symbolically, because it still represents what Wataru is to Eichi), Wataru asks Eichi if he's meant to be the villain who dies or the princess who embraces him with a kiss. Eichi tells Wataru that he struggles to imagine him losing, and confesses that it pains him to see Wataru in this position even though Eichi is the one who put him in it (Element).

When Eichi tries to tear Trickstar apart, invoking his position as the Student Council President to pull Hokuto into fine, Wataru gives Hokuto a letter from his grandmother encouraging him to hold fast to his dreams. Eichi is famously angry about this, and his expression of it is incredibly intimate:

He lightly runs his fingertips through Wataru's long silver hair and, like a child throwing a temper tantrum, suddenly grabs it. With a grip so tight that Wataru's hair could possibly tear, Eichi brings his face so close that they look like they are about to kiss. He's like a woman who has gone mad with jealousy.

(Ensemble Stars! Novel Adaptation, translation by maluridae)

After some back and forth between the two, Wataru says to him:

"That is how you wished for this to unfold, yes?" Whispered to him like a fallen angel, Eichi does not react to his words; he reluctantly stays silent. He always speaks so fluently, so it's rare to see him have such trouble coming up with a reply.

(Ensemble Stars! Novel Adaptation, translation by maluridae)

This quote shows that Wataru knows what's truly in Eichi's heart and that his actions are motivated by this. Subaru asks Eichi later in Main Story why he created an opportunity to be defeated in the first place, and Eichi admits to him:

Hehe, I sure wonder why... I might have wanted to see it happen. A miracle. To see your shine that enables you to overcome any fate, no matter how hopeless it may seem. To see your limitless potential. I was born with a weak body. I've cursed the gods countless times. However, if somehow a miracle can happen in this world... if there's hope, if there's love... Then I'd also be able to love this world. That might have been what I was thinking. You can't be an idol with only love. However, if you don't have love, you aren't qualified to be an idol. I just, simply... wanted to become an idol.

(Ensemble Stars! Main Story, translation by Freddie24f)

Wataru knows what Eichi wants before Eichi knows what he wants, and he ensures that Eichi will get it even if it means doing things that Eichi doesn't like in the moment. This is the defining pattern of their entire relationship. It is the exact reason why, in the hospital before their DreamFes, Wataru says to Eichi:

I am not quite sure if it is because the script is just simply awful or not, but it is difficult to see what part I have in this! [...] I do not know whether I should be stabbed by a knife and die while letting out a scream of death and agony, or give an embrace and a kiss!

(Element, translation by Shoe/maluridae)

That what Eichi really wants is intimacy and love is obvious to Wataru, despite all of Eichi's posturing as though he wants Wataru to be the villain. Wataru lets him keep his narrative, but joins fine shortly afterward. In Diner Live, Wataru baits and then switches Eichi by challenging Knight Killers to a "showdown" against Träumerei, only to surprise him by turning the performance into a joint live and switching out all the penlights which the audience was supposed to use to vote into ones that emit rainbow light, representing togetherness. When the live is over, he tells Eichi that his real motive was to express his desire for the two of them to keep performing together as equals and stay together in the future. Eichi agrees and tells Wataru that this is his true dream too.

Wataru grants the wishes Eichi can only make in his heart, the ones that are too unconscious and in the dark to articulate - and it is the role of the "left" to know the unconscious desires that the heart conceals.

Because of this, the left hand has influence over the king that the right hand does not. The right hand is blunt, offensive, the upright "hand of justice." When the right hand and the king are not on the same page, when they disagree, it undermines the king's power and causes tension and friction, but the right hand does not have much ability to influence the king to change. The right hand is unsubtle and doesn't speak directly to the king's heart. The right hand and the king must be in sync to secure the king's authority.

This is why, in the ES! Main Story, when Keito disagrees with Eichi's methods in breaking Trickstar up, he basically can't change Eichi's mind. He ends up undermining Eichi's intent instead by permitting and even encouraging Mao to leave Akatsuki and rejoin Trickstar. When the right hand is out of sync with the ruler, he takes on a quality that is hypocritical or mutinous, either resentfully enacting the ruler's will despite his own wishes, or betraying and actively acting against the ruler's will with the blunt force of the sword. These tensions culminate in Quarrel Festival, when Eichi challenges Keito to a straight up fight and threatens to disband Akatsuki, forcing Keito to acknowledge his own will and push back against Eichi. Ultimately, Keito explains that he does not feel bound by Eichi to any further extent than what he would want, but expresses that it was a relief to vent his frustration with the decisions Eichi sometimes makes.

The left hand, by contrast, is subtle, and can speak to the king's heart. This is why Wataru can influence Eichi while remaining at his side; in Jingle Bells, Wataru expresses disappointment with how Eichi handles Tori, and Eichi, although defensive, immediately reflects on how he should change his approach. Wataru's involvement in the ES! Main Story is another example of this. Eichi may become angry with him, but Wataru speaks directly to his deep desires, leaving Eichi speechless and subject to his influence.

The right hand depends on the ruler for its position and purpose, and the ruler depends on the right hand for its authority and power. The left hand, however, speaks to the heart and flows from the heart, and so it can act independently and exert influence.

A conflict with Keito is between Eichi's ideals and Keito's; a conflict between Eichi and Wataru is between Eichi's own actions and his own principles. When Keito betrays Eichi, it's because they don't agree. When Wataru betrays Eichi, it's because Eichi has betrayed himself.

Sandoval, continuing his description of the king/queen archetype, writes:

The king/queen archetype is, on the whole, not pacifist. It is always prepared to establish "justice", or order, by whatever means necessary. But because of this, it also requires a counterbalance from its opposite side - the idealistic heart [...] The king/queen archetype, if left to itself, can fall into a state of tyranny where the same power originally used to safeguard the city from harm eventually becomes the greatest harm to the city. Due to the natural passage of time, the king's commands eventually become outdated and dysfunctional as the world around him changes. If they are not revisited, via a return to the pure ideal that they were aiming to uphold, the king's reign will collapse. The role of the [...] compass, is to check the king/queen's values and character to ensure fitness to rule and to redirect them to their northern star.

As Eichi's right hand, Keito is the one who enacts Eichi's vision of justice/order. But as his left hand, Wataru keeps Eichi in touch with his true desires and ideals and subtly redirects him back onto his path while staying at his side and helping him do his "dirty work." Where Keito carries the sword, Wataru is a rogue at Eichi's side, understanding more than he lets on and performing sleights of hand and illusions that charm him and guide him.

As the carrier of the sword, Keito's role is comparable to the archetype of a knight. Wataru's role is closer to that of confidante - connoting "confidence"/someone you "confide in." The right hand doesn't necessarily have to be one person; it could be an army. The left hand is always one person; it connotes specialness and secrecy.

This is the archetypal pair that is regarded from the outside with suspicion. The ruler and right hand are "easy to understand." The ruler and the left hand have a special closeness that causes rumours to fly about temptation, corruption, and secret love affairs.

When Keito pleads with Eichi to get rid of Wataru, Eichi tells him:

If you're my right hand, then Wataru's my left. It'd be a shame if I got rid of either just yet... ♪

(Circus, translation by Enstars Translates)

In this quote, Eichi suggests to Keito that if Wataru is expendable, Keito is too. However, it's important to note that Eichi is actually left-handed, a point that Wataru actually comments on:

He calls himself "Eichi's right hand"! Even though Eichi is left-handed - how interesting! Ahh, interpreting those sentiments surrounding this matter gives me such a fuzzy feeling... ☆

(The Flag's Honor ＊ Flower Festival, translation by Shoe/maluridae)

Flower Fes was written by Akira, and so the symbolism behind Eichi's left-handedness with Wataru as his left and Keito as his right is definitely intentional. When Eichi suggests to Keito that he's subject to being gotten rid of as much as Wataru is, he is not suggesting that Keito and Wataru are equal. The loss of Eichi's left hand would be more detrimental to Eichi than the loss of his right. As much as Eichi loves and appreciates Keito, and has no desire to get rid of him, he needs Wataru in a different way than he needs Keito, and if he were to get rid of either of them, he would probably get rid of Keito first. (And indeed, he does try to push Keito away in Quarrel Festival, whereas he and Wataru are in the same unit and declare their intentions to keep performing together into the future).

Theories about the left and right brain also further illustrate their specific positions. The right hand is controlled by the left brain, which is associated with logic, math, and structure. The left hand is controlled by the right brain, which is associated with creativity and art. Keito represents "discipline" in Eichi's life, structure, order, safety, security, and the masculine values mentioned above. Wataru represents Eichi's creativity and imagination with his magic, and the two perform together as artists. Being left-handed, Eichi is more firmly planted in the creative side, despite his role of representing order in Yumenosaki Academy as part of the student council with Keito.

As Eichi's "left hand," Wataru fulfills a major role in Eichi's life; namely, that of representing his heart. Despite being associated with the darkness and looked on with suspicion, Wataru knows Eichi's heart and his unconscious desires. Independent from Eichi's will, Wataru is able to remind and guide Eichi on the basis of his principles, and subtly influence Eichi in ways that push him to grow and be his best self. He is Eichi's confidante, and, owing to Eichi's left-handedness, the person that Eichi would be most reluctant to get rid of. He is the unpredictable chaos that Eichi craves, capable of unraveling Eichi's best laid plans, and, because he knows Eichi's heart, Eichi knows that when he does unravel them, it's because that's what's best for Eichi.

Of course. I trust you more than anyone in this world, including myself. Also, I wouldn't mind a betrayal - if it's from you. I wouldn't care even if you did anything awful to me. Is this feeling love, as the others call it?

(Eichi in Tempest, official English Ensemble! Stars translation)

[thegaylink]

Biden and Harris shot themselves on the foot but sure the 500k people who voted Stein are to blame

Many things to work on here.

1. Stein is not the only 3rd party candidate.

All together, this amounts to 2,097,242 votes

2 million votes that were wasted on candidates that everybody knew wouldn't win. When we say every vote counts, this is why. They ADD UP. These numbers can change the course of an election, and they were tossed aside.

2. I never said 3rd party voters are the only ones at fault. If you chose not to vote, you are as much to blame as Trump supporters. Non-voters also make up an enormous number of people. Those kinds of numbers can change the course of an election, and they were discarded by people who chose to remain ignorant, uneducated, and uninvolved.

3. I assume you are the same person who sent me an anon message that says "genocide is bad" and YES. That's exactly what I said. Trump has been very clear about his plans for Gaza. He will not help them. He will continue to fund the IDF and support Isreal. He will help Putin invade even more European countries, and in doing so, he will fund the murders of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. I understand that Kamala Harris has contributed to the horrid deaths in Gaza, but the chances of getting a ceasefire/stopping support of Isreal were much better under her than Trump. If you seriously believe that voting 3rd party is going to help the people of Gaza, you are just as ignorant and uneducated as those who support the genocide.

4. Even with the genocides going on, the president's biggest loyalty should still be to the people of THIS country. They should be fighting for the rights, liberties, and happiness of the American people. Out of every candidate on the ballot, Harris has shown that she is loyal to America. She had worked in all 3 branches of the government, she has worked her way up and worked hard to get to where she is. She understands the struggles the average American faces. Trump is loyal to his own pocket, and that's it. He makes decisions not based on good values, but on how much money he's set to make. He is greedy in his professional and personal life. He takes from people over and over again, whether it's by taking their money, their trust, or their bodies. He grew up rich and stayed that way by running back to the comfort of his father so he can take more from him. He ran his business into the ground repeatedly, he ran his marriage into the ground, and he ran this country into the ground. He has no sense of loyalty. Not to his family, not to this country, and not to our people. He is loyal to himself and his wallet, and that's it. To see all of this evidence, these testaments to their character, these reflections of their values and morals, and still decide to use your vote for a candidate that you know will not be able to win even one state, even one county, shows where your loyalties lie. It is a testament to your character and a testament to your values. If you vote 3rd party, you do not value the people of this country. You want to be able to say you voted, to let people think that you used your power and your voice, while allowing your voice to be silenced. You want the praise from voting, but refuse to help. When you vote 3rd party, you prove your loyalties lie only to yourself, not to your community, and not to others. You are thinking only of your conscience, despite the fact that your poor choices will lead to thousands of deaths. You do it so you feel better when you lose, instead of fighting to win. Nobody will never agree with everything a candidate believes in, but elections are not for you to elect someone just like you, they are to elect someone who will lead the country with its people in mind, with loyalties to their people. If you vote 3rd party, you have failed at your role in this election.