#it would be interesting to speculate how either of these characters would fare if they swapped places | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bcbdrums · 4 years ago

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(Super long ask ahead)

Ok I really wanted to add and talk more about how bad the wiki got, just look at some of this lines:

As is common for a fictional underdog, Ron has a tendency to have low expectations of his performance and to set low standards for himself, both academically and socially. He lacks focus and often appears to fare poorly due to either a lack of effort and a lack of belief in his own abilities or through trying too hard and coming across as a clown.

Shocker, he is a teenager boy who sometimes can be insecure and seem awkward, as the series goes on he gains more confidence in himself, but why do they make it sound so mean? Going on a bit of a tangent here with this being a personal headcanon, but doesn’t this also sounded kind of albesit? because come on how many times have somebody called a person with adhd that they are “ lazy”, that they”lack effort” or “focus”? This so unnecessarily mean

His efforts to fit in are often hampered by the fact that he is moderately hyperactive and has a tendency to act with a pronounced level of immaturity, which has earned him a reputation as a loser among his peers. However, for the most part, Ron's type B personality means that he either does not notice this, and thus tends to embarrass those around him more than himself

I mean it was shown that Ron was friends with various characters in the show, which usually shared his same interest inside and outside of school such as: Tara, Zita, Felix, Yori

And besides Bonnie, who ever considered him or called him a “loser”?

Ron has also displayed considerable bouts of jealousy throughout the show, especially when he feels that he does not have Kim's undivided attention. However, all of Ron's Kim-centered jealousy is entirely restricted to the instance of Kim paying attention to others over him.

Like what considered bouts of jealousy? One or two times and even when Kim dated Josh or Eric, Ron was always supportive of her and he basically shelved his agenda because he recognized Kim looked happy and he did his best to be supportive and still helped Kim with whichever he could (like when he brought her the flower in the first episode)

And you know which other characters also had “considerable bouts of jealousy”? Kim, Shego and Drakken, but when has the wiki page being edited to go out of it’s way in order to call Shego out of this? Never (of course that’s the shippers fav, they will never do that)

Ron's type B personality means that he either does not notice this, and thus tends to embarrass those around him more than himself, or that he passes his quirks off as part of his intrinsic "Ronness" and ignores what others think.

Like notice how him not caring about what others think of him, something that made him and Kim such a great dynamic because they complemented each other is suddenly portrayed in a bad light, why is that? Isn’t being authentic a positive character trait? Why is suddenly the wiki page so means towards him and Kim? (Now I know why: toxic shippers)

And the wiki also tried to said that the reason for his “low-expectations on himself” was because of Kim, and I’m like: Could you not? So, dissing on Ron wasn’t enough, was it? Whoever edited the wiki also had to diss on Kim as well and blame her for things that weren’t even her fault.

Kim herself often performs a similar function for Ron by motivating him, encouraging him to participate in some areas, and attempting to dampen down his enthusiasm in others.

When does Kim does that? look at the wording: Kim sometimes encourages Ron but more often she “damps Ron down” nah, she is very encouraging on him specially on season 4

And just notice the wording: “Kim sometimes encourages Ron but more often than not she damps him down”

Ron's personality is defined by ego [..] Ron has on occasion expressed his usually hidden arrogance , which typically results from a bout of self-confidence combined with his tendency to go overboard with things. Kim once commented that Ron is "prone to big-headiness." The statement came as a result of the sudden ego boost

He is not egoistical by any means, he has moment of big headiness sure, but he is never defined by thus, you know which tower characters also have moment like this? Shego, Drakken and Kim, why is Ron the only one being called out while other chats yes (Shego) have nothing but praise in their pages? Even Kim is being so harshly criticized

Another effect of this personality type is that Ron tends to doubt himself more often than not, making himself subservient to Kim. It is highly probable that his behavior patterns have been influenced by Kim's frequently overbearing and hyper-competitive Type A tendencies causing him to back down as a trained response because he knows that Kim does not like to lose. Because he values Kim more than anything, Ron is willing to sacrifice anything for her, including his own potential for greatness.

What? Did we even watched the same show? Kim encourages Ron to excel and be more active in general and this goes both ways, ron isn’t subservient to Kim, he is actually one of the few people who can and will call her out on her flaws, this goes both ways and both of them grew because of this

All of these self-imposed restrictions are lost, however, when Ron becomes his alter ego, Zorpox. Because he is evil, Zorpox does not care about hurting Kim's feelings and therefore has no problem unleashing his full potential

No, those “self imposed-restrictions “weren’t caused because he “didn’t wanted to hurt Kim’s feelings” it was because Ron is by nature an anxious person, I hate how they are trying to blame Kim for Ron’s character flaws, if anything it was because of Kim that he grew more proactive and confident, he always stepped-up and confronted his fears when Kim needed him the most.

He tends to "trip over his own feet" in most episodes, often in comical or socially embarrassing ways

This is straight up just a Jab against his character at this point

Ron's problems are accentuated by his overall lack of focus, and by a tendency towards laziness which, at its most extreme, included expecting his lab partner to do all of the work on the grounds that their natural motivation to succeed would compel them to pick up his slack.

He keeps up with Kim academically and he is in almost all of the classes he is in, he even said he was an average C + student at worst, he goes with Kim in all of their missions and it was shown on episodes that he would even travel half of the world in order to aid Kim because he knew Kim needed him, he applied himself more in school in the last seasons and even applied to a lot of schools.

And this is me projecting, but Ron tends to apply himself on the subjects and hobbies that are interesting to him, he might have adhd (even the wiki had a section in which this was speculated) this sound si low-key ableist

And I just hate how bad they are talking about him, all of his character is so negatively described: “jealous”, “immature”, “clown”, “Lazy”, “egoistical” “subservient”, “embarrassing”

There is zero mention of his positive character traits, being selfless and committed? Nah, that makes him subservient somehow , no caring what others think by being authentic to who he is which is a great counter-balance to Kim? Nah, this makes him embarrassing and dense, What about every time he is able to apply himself and do something great every he gains a little more of confidence (usually because Kim inspires him to) nah, this just mean he is defined by his ego and that makes him arrogant somehow.

They did my boi so dirty here.

i'll refer you to the anon i just answered before yours...

if someone out there wants to take the time to try to fix the wiki, or start a new one, i fully support it. i just don't have the energy to fight them anymore.

but you're right, this is character slaughter. their so-called evidence is all things being broadly and grossly interpreted to be extremely and unfairly negative to ron, and in some cases plainly made up, when we know that's not what the majority of fandom sees. in fact i'd wager that ron is the second-most popular character to shego. you've just got your people out there who are clinging to their pedo out-of-character ship for who knows what reason... 🙄

perhaps anon, if not edit the wiki yourself, you'll take time to make a positive character post about ron? 👀

#kim possible #ron stoppable #kimxron #kim/ron #kim x ron #kimron #kim ron #drakgo #dragko #drakken #shego #drakken x shego #dr drakken #dr. drakken #kp

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disneydeb1928 · 4 years ago

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One Piece Theory: The SWORD Initiative

The SWORD Initiative

SWORD first appeared in Chapter 956 when it was discovered that X Drake, a member of the 11 Supernovas was, in fact, an undercover Marine. Not much is known regarding this organization other then Drake is the Captain and Koby is also a member.

Storytelling: Oda is not a newbie when it comes to storytelling. I’ve said it a million times, but I will say it again: Oda has mastered a very unique type of storytelling. Many others will tell you the same thing. He is a man who values how you feel about characters above how you may feel about his organizations overall. This is why, he always introduces characters, allowing you to make your own judgements before revealing more information on them. With that being said, some people may believe that since this is a recent addition to the plot that this organization must not have been around long. However, that just isn’t true. Oda would never create something this relevant to the story that isn’t routed deep in the past. He loves to make his reveals and have us gasp because suddenly something that happened 200 chapters ago now makes sense. With that being said, I think it is safe to say that there is more to this organization that meets the eye. Therefore, let’s first establish their existence within the established timeline.

Timeline:

X Drake was born on October 24, 1491. We know that he was taken in by the marines when he was 20 years old (in 1511) after the incident of Rosinante stealing the Ope Ope no Mi from his father’s pirate crew. The wiki says that “He [would] eventually enlist as a Marine himself” indicating that he didn’t join right away.

Drake doesn’t appear in the story until chapter 498 (in the year 1522). That means that there are 11 years unaccounted for. In that time, we know he apparently rose to the rank of rear admiral before defecting (Ch. 509) – again no timeline specifics have been give (but I don’t doubt we will get them in the future).

However, me may be able to speculate based on other Marines.

· Tashigi was able to go from Master Chief Petty Officer to Ensign (skipping Warrant Officer) in the couple of months that took place between the Loguetown Arc and the Post-Enies Lobby Arc. After the timeskip, Tashigi was a Captain (skipping 4 positions). Therefore, overall, for her to go from Master Chief Petty Officer to Captain, it took roughly 2 years and a couple of months.

· Similarly, Smoker was able to from a Captain to a Commodore and then to Vice Admiral in the same time period (2 years and a couple of months).

· Therefore, one could speculate that to go from Master Chief Petty Officer to Vice Admiral it would take around 4 years and 6 months. Since Rear Admiral is only one rank below Vice Admiral I’m going to say that the times are probably similar. [Disclaimer 1: I say this recognizing that there are probably 1000 different things that go into promotions within the Marines (such as accomplishments, age, etc) and that not every person is going to advance at the same pace. With that being said, I do think that we can still learn a lot from it – He’s not a background character after all]. In conclusion, I think 4 years and 6 months is a decent ballpark to aim for and I am willing to speculate that it would have taken Drake at least 4 and a half years to reach the rank of Rear Admiral, putting his age at around 24 (placing this in the year 1515) [Disclaimer 2: This age is completely based off the possibility that Drake joined the marines during the first year he was with them]. All this means, is that at the earliest Drake was a Rear Admiral by 1515.

We are led to believe that his defection has always been staged, and that from the beginning, everything he did was towards advancing SWORD’s goal. So that means SWORD has existed since before the beginning of the series.

We do not know how long he was a pirate before he made his appearance, however, by the time he did, he already had a full crew and a bounty of 222,000,000. We know that Cavendish became a Supernova in 1521, so I think we can make that the latest that Drake could have possibly left the Marines.

Flashing forward, I think we can pretty much conclude that Koby joined SWORD at some point during the 2-year timeskip.

The Creation of SWORD

If that is the case, that we can conclude one of two things. Either:

1. Drake created the SWORD organization and began his own mission alone

2. SWORD already existed before that point and someone approached him to join and start his mission

There isn’t enough information available at this point to really say either way. However, I would speculate that SWORD wasn’t Drake’s idea.

Possible SWORD Members

1.) Issho / Fujitora & Ryokugyu

Issho and Ryokugyu are both new Admirals to replace the positions that Kuzan and Akainu left open during the 2-year timeskip. From what we’ve seen of Issho’s personality, I think he is probably one of the more likely options for SWORD members. He intentionally blinded himself when he became disgusted with all the evil and corruption he had seen in the world (Ch. 799). Some might say that he joined the Marines to fight that evil but perhaps the Marines are the evil he wanted to fight? We’ve seen multiple instances where he put the good of the people above capturing Luffy and the Straw Hats. So much so, Akainu and him got into a heated debate that ended with Issho being band from any Marine base until Luffy was captured (Ch. 801).

Outside of personality wise and evidence of him going outside of Marine orders, there is another reason he is on this list, as well as why I grouped him with Ryokugyu, who we know almost nothing about. And the answer to that is: The Folklore of Momotaro.

An excerpt of the Folklore of Momotaro:

“When he matured into adolescence, Momotarō left his parents to fight a band of Oni (demons or ogres) who marauded over their land, by seeking them out in the distant island where they dwelled (a place called Onigashima or "Demon Island"). En route, Momotarō met and befriended a talking dog, monkey and pheasant, who agreed to help him in his quest in exchange for a portion of his rations (kibi dango or "millet dumplings"). At the island, Momotarō and his animal friends penetrated the demons' fort and beat the band of demons into surrendering. Momotarō and his new friends returned home with the demons' plundered treasure and the demon chief as a captive.”

It has been said before that Aokiji, Akainu, and Kizaru’s Admirals alias are based on the three animals that helped Momotaro (pheasant, dog, and monkey). A fan wrote to Oda in the recent SBS (Vol. 76) and theorized that Fujitora and Ryokugyu (The tiger and ox) are based on the oni (demons) that Momotaro had to face during his adventure, which would imply that they could be against the World Government. Oda jokingly responded, “I’m not saying a single thing about whether this theory is correct or incorrect, okay? (cold sweat)”. If this is true, I think this could serve as proof that they are either members of SWORD or even the Revolutionary Army.

2.) Kuzan / Aokiji

Kuzan, very similar to Issho, has had multiple instances where he has deviated from what Akainu refers to as “absolute justice”. For starters, he was the once responsible for allowing Nico Robin to escape from the Buster Call on Ohara by providing a small boat while also a trail of ice for her to leave safely. Another example is when he (similar to Issho) didn’t arrest Luffy because he defeated Crocodile, saving Alabasta.

However, I think a big reason why many people speculate that he may be a part of SWORD are the parallels between him and X Drake. After the timeskip, we discover that after losing the Fleet Admiral fight between him and Akainu, Kuzan resigned from the Marines. Afterwards, he became affiliated with the Blackbeard Pirates, just like how Drake resigned and created the Drake Pirates. I will say, that these similarities give just as many reasons as why he would be a SWORD member as for why he isn’t. It’s possible these stories are too alike for Oda to tie them to the same cause. However, it is possible that the SWORD initiative is all about going undercover as pirates. But if that was true, then why is Koby not undercover? Just food for thought.

3.) Smoker & Tashigi

If we were to make a list of likeable Marines, Smoker would probably slotted right behind Koby. From the moment he comforted that crying little girl in Loguetown, he gained a lot of fan-fare. I think a lot of people hope that Smoker is a member of SWORD. Like the previous two Admirals above, he has had his fair share of compromising the Marines’ belief in “absolute justice” in order to do the right thing. In fact, out of all of the Marines mentioned on this list, he has done this the most. All of those moments have served as an example of his character. Outside of that, I think it is interesting that Smoker decided to request transfer to G-5 at the beginning of the timeskip, a place known for having difficulties. I think it is definitely possible Smoker is a member.

4.) Rosinante

Very similar to Kuzan and Drake, Rosinante placed himself undercover in order to stop his brother, Doflamingo. It is very possible that this was a very early SWORD mission. Or it could have what led to the creation of SWORD.

6.) Sengoku & 7.) Monkey D. Garp

Like Smoker and Tashigi, these last two are an example of ‘we like them, so we want them to be a part of this good organization’.

Honestly, I have tried to wrap my mind around why the heck Garp is even still involved with the Marines. The only other ‘D.’-bearer we know that was in the Marines, was Jaguar D. Saul, who ended up defecting in order to save Nico Robin during the Ohara Incident. If Garp is not a member of this shadow organization, then there is a deeper reason for why he joined the Marines and stayed.

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hellzyeahwebwielingessays · 5 years ago

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The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 27: AMJ #3.1

Previous Part

Next Part

Master Post

*pinches bridge of nose* Oh my God this is so bad

I was hoping last issue was a fluke but no. This issue also demands we dissect the recap page.

Let me just spell out for you all some fundamental dos and don’ts of a recap page.

DO please recap the events that happened in prior issues, or relevant context from any other issues.

DON’T introduce new information.

Last issue was guilty of that. And now so is this issue, arguably moreso.

This recap provides us with the working title for the Mysterio biopic. That’s right, the very first time we learn the name of the movie is on this recap page not in the actual story!

Want to hear another oh so slightly important DON’T to bear in mind?

DON’T contradict the story you are recapping!

The recap claims funding dried up when the footage of Beck abusing a crewmember leaked. That wasn’t the situation in issue #2. MJ speculated that that might be part of the reason. But the bigger reason was that Beck had sold the investors one one type of film and delivered another.

Let’s also consider this line from the recap.

…video of Cage acting more like, well, Mysterio…

So the recap (and by extension Williams, the editors and presumably MJ herself) acknowledge that Mysterio being abusive is standard practice for him. Good to know they are aware he’s a horrible dangerous person but are just ignoring that then.

The recap also confirms for us that MJ is definitely the only person who knows ‘McKnight’ is really Beck. So absolutely everyone on the crew are unwittingly putting themselves at risk, and MJ is just letting that happen. If they knew they might not want to work with him for one reason or another, but MJ and Beck are knowingly withholding that choice from them. It doesn’t matter that they are only getting this shot because of Beck’s charity, at least some of them would think twice if they were aware of the potential scandal they were working on.

The recap also contradicts last issue’s recap in regards to the staff of the movie. Last time it was staffed by ‘outsiders’ but now it’s ‘newcomers, rejects and outsiders’. Which is it? I’m not claiming this is irreconcilable or that big of a deal storywise but it’s another example of the incompetent craftsmanship on this title. Not to mention this recap again omits the fact that active villains are working on the film.

The recap also implies Mary Jane is ‘invested’ in the film. Let me get this out of the way now to save myself time later. Mary Jane wouldn’t be invested in this movie, at least not the way the story is depicting her as.

To a large extent this touches upon earlier instalments where I explained why MJ wouldn’t sympathise with Beck, why she wouldn’t regard him as a kindred spirit and why she wouldn’t value her career above the greater good.

Having said all that I don’t feel it’s necessary to dedicate a whole instalment to why MJ wouldn’t be invested in the movie. The idea that MJ would endanger herself and others for the sake of an artistic project she believed in or was interested in is fucking ridiculous.

The idea she’d be chummy with Mysterio is fucking ridiculous given their shared history and what she knows about him. But, just as a little reminder, here is Daredevil v2 #8, where MJ basically says Beck deserves no pity.

As we open up the story proper, Mallorie rescues a veteran actor (Sonny Diperna) cast as the Vulture. Specifically she rescues him from the Scorpion who trashes the set.

This scene has an admittedly funny meta-gag about Michael Keaton having played both Adrian Toomes in the MCU and Birdman in the eponymous movie.

Mallorie is also pretty cool here. Initially I was going to complain about how unlikely it is for there to be two capable and resourceful civilians in this story (MJ and Mallorie). However, in thinking about it, MJ didn’t become resourceful in the first place due to rare life circumstances. Therefore it’s perfectly reasonable that Mallorie be similarly resourceful in a crisis. Plus her job on set opens up the idea that she knows how to muddle through a crisis.

On the next two pages Vulture menaces the set and we are more formally introduced to his Savage Six. They consist of Vulture, Scorpion, Stegron, Tarantula (I don’t know which one), Rhino and King Cobra.

Whilst Williams characterization of Beck is generally great (albeit too sympathetic) the same can’t be said of Vulture. Making art or artistic vision a theme for this series (and Mysterio specifically) is perfectly invited by the premise of the story. However, it’s very ill fitting for a character like Vulture. Vulture is absolutely not defined by that theme whatsoever. He’s an inventor. He’s a grumpy, bitter old man. He’s someone who’s got a chip on his shoulder, out to prove that he isn’t passed his prime.

With that said, what the Hell is up with this dwelling upon ‘art’ in these two pages?

Fleeing the chaos, Diperna mistakes the villains as part of the film; a fact Mallorie goes along with. As Kangaroo (who’s basically the muscle on set) gets defeated, MJ and Beck try to escape. MJ insists they get the staff to safety which Beck agrees with, deciding to act as a diversion. MJ is concerned for his life, but Beck assures her it’ll be fine. Just then he’s dragged away by Scorpion.

MJ seeks out Noah from last issue and drives his truck towards the Rhino.

The art isn’t exactly clear on what she does next, but the end result is that she’s gathered up all the cast and crew into the truck. Meanwhile, Beck begins to engage the six by conjuring his trademark green smoke.

Mallorie and Diperna make it to the truck, with MJ lowering the ramp to allow them access. She is visibly concerned for Beck as they move out of sight of one another. The cast and crew for their part are star struck by Diperna. Diperna explains that he came out of retirement to play the Vulture as it was something different from the roles he was usually typecasted as. He elaborates that the movie has Hollywood on edge and that the elites do not want the film to succeed. He joined the cast to help them out a bit.

Elsewhere, Mysterio duels the Savage Six. He uses his illusions to trick them into believing they are in the desert. As they begin miles of marching, Vulture speculates McKnight is a double agent for A.I.M. When the illusion ends they find themselves at a national park, prompting Vulture to swear vengeance.

Much later MJ laughs at Beck’s trick complimenting his cleverness. However, the event has prompted several cast and crew to leave and delayed shooting even more. Thankfully Beck’s found a safe new location to film at.

Sorry for that lengthy description. I just felt it was more efficient to get through that whole sequence and then break it down fully.

First of all, see all my prior comments about how bullshit it is for MJ to compliment, laugh at, be concerned for, or be sympathetic towards Beck. I also find Williams choice to frame him in a heroic, self-sacrificing light to be questionable. He is after all none of those things. Just the last issue the story called out the movie as a vanity project.

Additionally, this whole situation is exemplary of many of the points I made in parts 19-23. Here we have a major crisis with super villains on the rampage. Civilians and property are in jeopardy.

And Mary Jane’s abilities to help are limited. They are in fact incredibly reliant upon Mysterio covering her. Noticeably, he is the one actually fighting the Savage Six. MJ’s abilities to help are limited to shepherding and transporting people to safety. But she’s only able to do that with Mallorie’s help and the presence of a huge truck that was there purely by chance.

What If Beck wasn’t present, or worse, on the Six’s side? What if Mallorie hadn’t saved Diperna? What if there hadn’t been a truck? How would MJ have succeeded realistically? I’m not saying it’s impossible but her chances of survival were slim at best and would’ve been reliant upon finding other resources to exploit to her advantage.

Furthermore, the Knagaroo was injured in the fray. Maybe not seriously, but he was nevertheless injured and MJ was powerless to prevent that. He was lucky to have survived at all, now imagine if he was a normal security guard who had no experience fighting super powered type? How likely would he have been to live?

Now of course, the Six’s attack wasn’t exactly Mysterio’s fault. We could argue if Beck hadn’t endeavoured to make the film or omitted to include the Vulture the situation might’ve been avoided. However, this isn’t the first production in the Marvel universe to include ‘real’ super villains. Had the real Cage McKnight (or any director) made any movie featuring the Vulture at this time, it would’ve happened. In fact without MJ or Beck’s presence the cast and crew’s likely wouldn’t have fared as well.

Nevertheless, as far as MJ knows a similar situation could have occurred (or could still unfold) with beck and/or his criminal crew. Last issue she already saw Beck start a panic in the streets by throwing a tantrum. She doesn’t know all the crew so well as to guarantee they wouldn’t do anything nefarious. And in such a situation, her abilities to help would be extremely limited and situational, just like they were here. In fact if Beck has just explained to her how he single handily dealt with six super villains (who’re all stronger than him by the way) shouldn’t that spell out to MJ just how dangerous he is? That he could very easily ‘deal’ with her too if he wanted to and her chances of victory would be extremely slim?

Then we have the revelation that cast and crewmembers have left the project. The implication is that these crewmembers left because of the Six’s attack. Either they were hurt or more likely they were concerned about the risk. However, none of them were aware that they were already taking a big health/career risk by working under Mysterio himself; whilst he was stealing someone’s identity no less. MJ’s complicity in this deception is removing the agency of the cast and crew for no justifiable reason.

More problematically we don’t know if any of the crew who left were the active villains spoken of in issue #1. If they were then MJ has just allowed them to walk away without facing justice! And realistically given how they are fugitives and the film was a unique opportunity they are very probably going to go back to crime! But Mary Jane is laughing!

Now in the interests of fairness I should point out Beck did put himself at some risk for MJ and the others. This is one of the important factors that has led Peter to giving criminals a chance at redemption in the past. We looked at several of these back in part 10. However, noticeably most of those people weren’t as bad as Beck. They also hadn’t hurt Peter or his loved ones as personally the way Beck has from MJ’s point of view. There were also other extenuating factors going on that led to Peter giving them a shot. Often this entailed Peter knowing there was something or someone capable of reliably keeping the reforming criminals in check. Whether that was his own super human abilities or an official body monitoring them, the point is MJ hasn’t got anything like that in this situation.

Beck might’ve shown a glimmer of promise, but MJ is fully aware how villains like Venom and Sandman have displayed moments of self-sacrifice too. They’ve continued to do bad things in spite of that, or gone back on any promise they once showed. That doesn’t mean that Beck definitely would, but it’s a humongous gamble to take with no insurance.

And let’s remember what Beck was willing to sacrifice himself for? His cast and crew? No. His art. Look back at the page introducing the Six. Beck accuses them of being ‘Enemies of Art’.

Yes, the most generous interpretation is that Beck genuinely cares. But it’s also more than possible his care fro his cast and crew extends merely to their contributions to his vanity project.

On the next page we discover Beck’s new, safe location is something of a shithole.

Beck’s hired a new crew, but with everything that’s happened cuts will need to be made. MJ suggests they cut the romance scene with her character. Beck points out that it’s less screen time for MJ. MJ counters it doesn’t take away from the hero’s development and that it was always self-indulgent anyway. She follows up that they are making a biopic, not a fantasy film. Beck seems miffed at this point.

There is a fair bit to unpack here.

MJ is being self-sacrificing here, which is true to her character. She’s allowing her career opportunities to suffer in order for the project over all to succeed. This further hurts the argument that MJ is sticking around for the sake of her career.

But the context is confusing.

In ASM v5 #29 dialogue from the script was ripped straight from Webspinners #1-3.

This dialogue involved Beck talking to an old flame (Betsy Schneider), arguably the only woman he was ever in love with. She was noticeably not a super heroine, yet in the movie she was. I didn’t bother to bring that up before because, this being a vanity project, it’s not unbelievable that Beck would misrepresent his life inaccurately. ‘Look at me I got a sexy super hero for a girlfriend! Aren’t I cool!’.

MJ wouldn’t necessarily know the truth of Beck’s lover so I didn’t bring it up before. Here though, Williams is implying that she has sussed out that Beck was making that aspect up. At which point MJ should further realise the movie is an exercise in self-indulgence. She even says so in this scene.

More confusingly, in issue #1 Beck heavily implied to MJ that he was making this movie (and wanted her in it) largely because he felt he let Betsy down. That being the case, wouldn’t cutting out the romance undermine the point of the movie? Or at least undermine it from MJ’s POV? Honestly, that’s not that big of a deal though. Beck’s motivations for making the film have already been contradicted since issue #1 anyway; it’s already a goddam mess.

Furthermore, the scene specifically says romance ‘scene’, as int eh singular. Call me crazy but whenever there is a romance between a protagonist and a love interest in a film their romance isn’t confined to just the ONE scene. It’s usually a few scenes at least. In this case, MJ’s character exists in the story fundamentally to be Beck’s lover. She’s been given much more than that due to MJ’s suggestions in issue #1. But that was still the primary role she existed for. This means MJ’s role in the movie goes against the entire reason Beck included her. So why would he agree to that? Why would MJ suggest it if her investment hinges upon sympathy for Beck? She has basically taken Beck’s original intention for her character and gone from improving upon it to basically substituting all of his original intent for something else entirely.

She even calls its inclusion unrealistic. That could be a display of her trademark confidence (MJ is fully aware she is attractive) and/or a dig at Beck. Either way she’s tempting fate there. She already saw him throw a tantrum last issue and now she’s altered arguably the most important role in the movie to him and thrown shade at him over it. Real clever.

Additionally she refers to Beck’s role as the hero. This further contradicts issue #1’s assertions that the film was portraying Beck as a villain. It’s also rich for MJ to claim the romance should be cut as the film is a biopic. By that logic Beck shouldn’t be framed heroically, empathetically and the film should apologise for his acts of evil.

There is also a meta-argument to be made about Williams’ intentions with this page. It’s possible she’s critiquing the superfluous nature of so many romance stories in Hollywood films, arguably super hero films in particular. I don’t really have any praise or problems with that if it is the intent. Just thought I’d point it out.

As for the new crewmember…we’ll get to them later.

Over on the next page ‘McKnight’ tells Mallorie to give MJ a producer’s credit. Beck explains that the new location is an abandoned zoo, hence why it’s a shithole. He proceeds to introduce the new members of the crew.

The only thing of note is Beck giving MJ a producer credit. This raised an eyebrow from me because it epitomizes so much of MJ’s role in the story thus far.

MJ’s most famous profession is an an actress. In the majority of adaptations that’s her job. It was part of how she was introduced to us in ASM #43. It’s one of the things that thematically connects her to Spider-Man. It’s also through her renewed interest in acting that we got this story.

In fact MJ gave a heartfelt monologue specifically about acting in ASM v5 #25 and it was this monologue that led to her job on the biopic.

And yet in this story Mary Jane has spent very little time acting. The story itself has ruminated very little about her role as an actress or depicted her acting at all. Mysterio has been acting far more than Mary Jane has.

MJ’s main role thus far in the story has been as Beck’s right hand, as his producer.

Isn’t that rather problematic? That wasn’t the story as advertised in Spencer’s ASm run, nor even in the initial build up to AMJ’s release. It also goes against the themes that have traditionally defined Mary Jane, especially within the context of her actually working on a movie.

I have a tinfoil hat idea as to why this might be the case though. Here is an excerpt from an interview Williams gave prior to issue #1’s release:

It's set in Hollywood and it's a film production, and my work background is actually in film production. I lived in LA for a little while. So drawing upon the full arsenal of my Hollywood hot mess stories of what goes on on film sets, that has been an absolute delight. Because then I can also demonstrate how MJ is able to think on her feet and be like, okay, well let's not do the bad thing. Instead, let's be smart about it. Very cathartic, again. So cathartic.

-From Bleeding Cool

I’m not going to presume working in ‘film production’ means Williams was a producer per se. I’ve also been unable to find any evidence that she was a credited producer nor that she worked as an actress.

But it seems to me Williams in drawing upon her personal experiences is skewing MJ more towards the jobs she personally did. In other words Williams is writing MJ as closer to a producer than an actress. It comes across very much like Spencer/the editors handed her a certain premise and she then terra formed it into what she wanted to do, rather than what the direction he set up implied.

That is all total speculation on my part. I have no hard proof at all to corroborate that.

But if that is what’s going on, then I find it kinda shitty. It’s not exactly what the role asked of her as a writer and more poignantly it’s not what MJ’s history invites either. It’s not that MJ couldn’t be a decent producer it’s just that that isn’t where the thematic resonance for her character lies. At least, not within the context of making a movie.

Let’s leave it there for now and continue next time.

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millenniumfae · 5 years ago

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Reyes Vidal Theories And Headcanons

To start off, we’ll begin with all the canon facts we know about our favorite Kadara King, almost all thanks to his writer’s twitter;

He’s in his late twenties

He’s from Chile (born and raised?)

His first language is Spanish, but speaks English (fluently?)

After arriving to Andromeda but before the Nexus Uprising, he was a shuttle pilot assigned to Initiative callsign ‘Anubis’

He’s a dog person

Fan of alcohol??

And that’s it. Everything else about him is all speculation and random headcanons. ME:A has no further single-player DLC upcoming. No new comics, either. It’s really sad to say, but it seems likely that the canon story of Reyes Vidal ended with Mass Effect: Andromeda.

But not if I have anything to say about it! Below are my various Reyes Vidal headcanons and theories. And more to come, along with other Mass Effect characters!

1) Reyes as a ‘Shuttle Pilot’

People in the game sometimes describe flying vehicles as a ‘shuttle’, but technically, a ‘shuttle’ isn’t a type of vehicle, it’s the name for a delivery service - short routes, higher frequency, simple fare. You can shuttle passengers or objects place to place. If Reyes was a ‘shuttle pilot’, that meant he was flying things to-and-fro the Nexus on the Initiative’s orders, delivering people and goods by standardized rates.

We’ve already known a shuttle pilot in the franchise before; Steve Cortez of Mass Effect 3 was the Normandy’s shuttle pilot, because he had to deliver the ground team to-and-fro the ship regularly. Those fugly box-like skycars you see in the ME franchise seem to be Alliance/Initiative standard vehicles, described as ‘UT-47′s by Steven in 3, or a ‘Kodiak’ for similar models. Steve also takes Shepard on a skycar ride in the Citadel DLC, and talks about his piloting passion as if they were indeed on a plane and not a car (”There’s a lot about this bird you don’t know/Pilots would wear G-suits”).

Plus, Steve also trained by flying fighter jets, not ‘cars’. So when we say a character is a shuttle pilot, we really do mean pilot and not ‘flying car driver’. Reyes is a pilot in all sense of the word. Even though those boxy cars can indeed use FTL drive to fly between systems and planets, Reyes worked under the call-sign ‘Anubis’ so we can assume he flew a plane specifically. Aviation call-signs are for aircrafts and not cars. The dock manager would ask for the pilot’s verification, and the pilot would respond with the aircraft’s verification name and number - N-503 call-sign ‘Anubis’.

We never see him flying in-game. On the mission we meet Reyes’ ex Zia, we do see his plane outside the house where the supposed cargo was to be. It’s a poopy-brown, double-turbine-winged helicopter thing, and it’s also the plane he escapes onto if you save Sloane. He’s never flying it, though, it’s always him hopping in/off.

I’ve seen some fics where that’s actually where he sleeps, which I don’t think would be realistic - that plane sees a modest amount of action, not just during fights but also during ambient Kadara Port skydrops - you see it flying by sometimes. Inside isn’t big, you see like three seats and nothing else, good for five people maximum. Reyes would have to have this plane flight-ready at a moment’s notice. He’s still smuggling, after all.

It’s a very different plane from all the others you see. It’s not a boring basic Initiative box car, it’s not a bubbly green Angaran car, it’s not a green mess like the Kett’s. The only time you see a plane like that is during the Meridian final battle, where there’s two-three of those same planes, no matter if it’s Sloane or Reyes. I think it’s a plane that was created after the Nexus Uprising, crafted specifically by exiles. You find guns unique to exiles, after all, why not planes? Kadara exiles have wind turbine engineers, doctors, and not to mention the Angara who must be involved. They gotta have some people who can design and produce good planes. It’d be poetic if Reyes’ plane was a hybrid of Angaran and Milky Way engineering.

2) Reyes being Chilean, Brown, and Bi

I’ve said this before, but I was never happy with how Reyes was handled as a Latino man. I’m not Latinx myself, I’m Asian, so I speak from a different perspective of color. Reyes is a token Latinx person in the game, and he (along with his ex Zia) have thick accents and a sexualized history/personality. His accent in particular is super grating, since it’s faked by a white British actor and you can definitely hear it. As an Asian person, I am NOT a fan of seeing faked accents pasted onto a stereotyped love interest.

So when we see a character like Reyes, we make the best of it. We make him ours, and not Bioware’s very spotty writing. Canonically, Reyes is a flirty spicy Latino bi man, but he’s more than that. Romanced or not, you get to see the man behind that mask. He’s silly, insecure, and very intelligent. He’s good with guns, explosives, and planes. He can play politics to the point where he can become the driving force behind an entire planet.

But all that canon stuff still doesn’t erase the spots on Bioware’s record when it comes to making Reyes. They wanted to create a shady morally grey love interest, and Reyes is the direction they took.

Us fans, on the other hand, can actually give Reyes as a bi Chilean man some weight. We can write his Spanish as actually being specific to Chile, we can explore his sexuality the way bi people do. The Mass Effect universe takes place about 160+ years from now. It’s been more than a century. We all know that progress isn’t linear, but for the sake of our liberation, we’ll say that humanity’s ideals of sexual/racial politics have improved.

So unlike us, maybe Reyes didn’t grow up in a world that attacks brown/queer people. Today, being brown means you’re ashamed of your skin color before kindergarten, and being bi means your sexual journey is hindered by marginalization. Reyes, on the other hand, might have not faced these things at all. Humans of the Mass Effect world might see queerphobia/racism as something incredibly archaic, like oppressing redheads.

Not like Bioware’s good at portraying this type of progress. Sure, we never see anti-lgbt rhetoric in-game, nor marginalization of brown humans, but we don’t see any true evidence that the Mass Effect world has gotten rid of these things. I don’t for a second believe that there would be so many straight humans 160+ years from now. Or so many aliens that fall squarely into the human gender binary.

Headcanon; Reyes, being raised on Earth, sees himself as brown and knows the bloody history behind it. His skin color matters to him much the same way my browness matters to me - its a connection to your family, your people, and the way you look at yourself in the mirror. And he doesn’t identify as bisexual as loudly as many of us do, but not because he doesn’t like lgbt culture. He’ll checkmark the ‘bi’ box if you asked him to write out a census survey, I just think he’s one of those people who’s kinda casual about it. Especially if he doesn’t face the marginalization we do.

But being a queer man means he’s got that flamboyant side a lot of us do. He’s romantically cheesy, he likes red wine over candlelit dinners, he finds flower arrangements beautiful, he’ll go to great lengths to make sure he looks and smells nice (even on Kadara’s nasty sulfer atmosphere), he think he looks amazing in a fitted suitdress. And if he could, he’d repaint his plane to be a nicer color other than that fugly brown, like a sweet duochrome blue-purple, but unfortunately its a color that blends in well with Kadara’s landscape.

3) Reyes as the Charlatan

What’s canon about the Collective? They work from the shadows, cultivate poison, steal supplies, have torture rooms where they keep captured Outlaws, and information between them can get muddled or compromised. They’re not a pretty bunch, and the Charlatan isn’t a pretty business.

Compared to the Outcasts, they’re definitely the more gentle organization. And perhaps with the Outcasts out of the picture, they drop a lot of the shadier stuff they do, what with no one left to torture and assassinate. But their business still runs on crime, opposing the Initiative and the Angara directly at times - such as stealing supplies, illegal mining and producing of resources, and drugs. And Reyes oversees all of that.

You can also compare Reyes’ crimes to Vetra, who’s also a smuggler, but a lot less shady. Vetra does a lot of things without bloodshed or violence, and doesn’t even seem to steal things. Instead, she makes business deals that slip underneath the red tape and break regulations. Reyes, however, had to work under Sloane’s violence for many a month, and adopted immoral methods to work around her.

I truly believe Reyes isn’t supposed to be a violent man who likes bloodshed and murder. He sees it as necessary, and his goals are worth getting his hands dirty. Reyes wasn’t just scared about Ryder finding out he lied, he’s worried about the whole, you know, Collectives being a violent mob gang thing. As Kadara improves, he lets up.

When he’s not hanging out in Tatarus, out smuggling, or doing various other shady things, I headcanon Reyes as actually having multiple places to sleep and hie away. Not the Collective Base, though. No one there has ever met the Charlatan, and even the leader, Crux, only gets orders as messages. Before the big reveal, Reyes doesn’t confess any connection to the Collective. He wouldn’t show up at the base. His living spaces are probably within Kadara Port’s various shitty apartments, and also hideouts in the badlands.

Always he’ll be on call for Charlatan business. Even at the Meridian party, he’s clicking away at his omni-tool while talking to Ryder. He keeps odd hours, probably only managing minimal sleep schedules. And when he’s not available, his most trustworthy representatives take up his mantle. And if Sloane’s killed, he only gets more busy.

With an outpost settled, there’s legitimate money to make and Reyes gets right on that. I assume that, at first, establishing the outpost costs a lot more money than it makes, but having an initiative settlement eventually draws in a lot of resources and commerce. Reyes isn’t just the leader of Kadara Port, he’s the King of Kadara the planet and the outpost is part of his jurisdiction. Ditaeon may have been Ryder’s doing, but it’s Reyes’ town now.

4) Reyes and Ryder - Love And Trust

“He already lied to you once. Guys like that don’t stop lying,” - Vetra.

A romanced Ryder is obviously a big deal to Reyes. He even confesses to his right-hand woman Keema that he worried about what Ryder might think about him, and that’s something pretty personal to exclaim. He’s in deep and his self-esteem is heavily affected by what Ryder says to him. If you don’t decide to kiss him on the rooftop, you can instead say that he’s more genuine than you thought, which actually seems to hurt him.

There’s an animation difference between Scott and Sara - Reyes will slide right up against Scott’s personal space during their first meeting at Kralla’s Song, while he’ll stay a modest distance away from Sara. To our eyes, seeing an unknown, shifty man being so close to a woman at a bar is pretty creepy and scary. You, as a man, do not touch a woman you don’t know. To us, being in a place like Kadara Port and alone at a pirate bar means violence against women is a fear at the forefront of our minds.

He’s so uncomfortably close to Scott, though, probably in an effort to intimidate him slightly. But he’s not gonna pull that shit on Sara, because that would mean something completely different.

Reyes makes a big deal about being the perfect gentleman, which is something of a rhetoric joke. Because he’s not a gentleman when it comes to honesty and honor; he steals, cheats, and lies, he brought a sniper to the duel. But he is a gentleman when it comes to compassion and sympathy. He set up a soup kitchen for the slums. He donates money to the clinic. He prioritizes the Angara native to Kadara. He lifts the ‘protection fee’ nonsense and doesn’t exile people to the badlands.

He said he came to Andromeda to ‘be someone’. I think that’s supposed to be a double-meaning. He wants to be important to people, but why rule from the shadows if that’s the case? Because he wants to make a difference. He actually does want to help people and set up an Initiative outpost and dispense justice. That’s the ‘someone’ Reyes wanted to be all his life, and it grew into a passion when he finally upped and abandoned the Nexus.

Being a ‘gentleman’ is kinda old-fashioned, but Reyes seems to have a special interest in old-fashioned stuff, playing Soft Jazz while dancing quietly with Ryder. I think it’s just something he enjoys, like having actual full-blown romantic dates. Too bad he rarely has the opportunity to explore them.

About Zia; his alleged ‘ex’ is a mystery. Umi, a bartender, pinpoints her as an ex-girlfriend, but Reyes will say they merely had a few drinks and things apparently never went far. And when Zia shows up, there’s no love lost between the two of them, even though Zia apparently knows Reyes well enough. Relationships with a tail-end like that were probably never serious, but still had enough time invested to become actual, significant history.

I don’t know why Bioware wanted to write, direct, code, and implant this mission, as if it adds something to Reyes’ characterization. Zia in particular is a unique character model, which is weird because very few characters have a special face and texture. What does Zia mean to Reyes? To us?

I think Zia was an old smuggling/piloting partner of Reyes, and the two of them might have struck a connection during the first hopeless months of the Andromeda Initiative. Zia grew to know Reyes as a selfish man with no friends, split off from him and ran a competitive smuggling shtick, and even says a romanced Ryder will soon know how wrong they were to place faith in him. Its a side of Reyes we don’t hear from anyone else, and I think it’s meant to shake our confidence in Reyes as the future leader of Kadara - or as Ryder’s love interest.

After all, why would Reyes ask the Pathfinder for help in finding some random lost cargo? Because it was probably something super important. Worth not just money, but morality too. Reyes wouldn’t tell someone as unsubtle as Ryder that they were about to look for some misplaced escaped ark survivors (or whatever’s also super important, I dunno), or everyone and their mother would know they were up to something big.

Zia lured Reyes with the promise of something very big, and tried to take him down because she wanted to make more money. Reyes, on the other hand, isn’t completely money-driven. Zia represents the Charlatan we were told to fear, while Reyes is the true face behind the shadows. And after all that business rivalry, Reyes still buries her.

But Zia still says Reyes is a selfish man, and she knows him much better than Ryder does. Why would a fellow amoral smuggler care if someone was selfish or not? Was Reyes selfish to her specifically? Like, in a bad lover way? That’d suck, but he probably didn’t feel that much affection towards Zia in the first place. Or did Zia have ulterior motives that Reyes didn’t agree with, and cut off contact because Zia wanted to cross lines Reyes didn’t feel comfortable with? That’d be a nicer way of looking at it. Reyes was ‘selfish’ because Zia wanted to, I dunno, hit civilians for extra cash and Reyes said no.

My headcanon; with Ryder, Reyes definitely doesn’t take things super casual like he probably did with Zia. He eventually dedicates himself to them, and invests a lot of his emotions into their relationship. It might even be something he never did before, but a hero’s love is worth so much to him. He can’t leave Kadara, and Ryder can’t stay with him (at least at first). And secrets will continue to bloom between them. But Reyes will continue to improve himself, ‘becoming someone’ to not just Kadara, but to Ryder.

5) Random and MISC

Being an exile-in-an-outlaw-town-during-a-cluster-wide-war-against-the-Kett-and-the-Scourge means shitty food. Which Reyes hates and he does his best to avoid the Jim Bakker bucket-esque MREs that the Initiative hands out. And Angaran nutrient paste doesn’t sit right with Milky Way species, so he doesn’t eat that either. Life on the frontier means adopting to local flora and fauna, which means old fashioned Angaran dishes like Adhi roast, Kaerkyn shell soup, Taurg flank steak, and Drall bits. But no, he doesn’t cook if he can help it - he’s not terrible, just not good, and he’ll instead buy food from vendors on Kadara Port, or order it from the bar. And he’ll get dessert when he can, too.

And he loves Kadara Port. It’s his own little cyberpunk neon noir city, even if it does smell vaguely of sulfur. He loves looking out the window and seeing the bright glowing signs overlapping each other, hearing the shady bustle of exiles 24/7, the patter of acidic rain. When he begins to get involved with Ryder, he begins to take extra time to gaze at the city’s horizon and be sentimental. That’s what falling in love does to a person.

He’s canonically a dog person, and by dog we do include Mass Effect’s alien dogs such as adhi. The Collective is trying to domesticate wild Adhi, which is a project Reyes started to make them into guards and weapons, but a side of him just loves the idea of having an adhi as a pet. If he could, he’d have five rescue pups of varying breeds (and species), posting those Sexy Dog Instagram Photos of all of them at the beach, or something.

Time as the Charlatan means less time to work out. So his muscles aren’t big, and he’s got enough fat to cover them, too. If he undressed, you’d see that he’s smaller than his clothing would imply, no Ripped Taint or Tight Glutes. Lotsa hair, though, all down his chest and pelvis and legs. He actually doesn’t really like it, but he only has resources to shave his jaw.

All his outfits are the typical humanwear that all colonists to Andromeda have access too, but with extra touches because he Cares about his appearance. Fancy gloves, a nifty belt with a shiny buckle. He uses the slighest amount of product to slick his hair up, gotta stretch it out until he can find an Andromeda replacement. Uses a nice deodorant, and will get expensive cologne when he has the chance.

He hates the cold, and Kadara has modest winters that won’t freeze the water but will spread a frost everywhere. That’s already too much for him, and throughout the whole season he’s more tired, grumpy, and seasonally depressed. When spring breaks through again, he gets a burst of energy and happiness from the relief.

If Ryder ever lives with him for an extended period, they’ll quickly learn the difference between a 22-year-old’s living space, and an almost-30′s living space. Perhaps with Sloane out of the picture, Reyes gets a legit place to live and invests in real furniture and interior decor, while Ryder’s still stuck in that college student trash stage. Reyes forbids scratches on the table, or bath towels crumbled up, or windows left open during the rain, etc. Ryder think its cute that Reyes is so domestic, Reyes is just trying to save his expensive couch from shoes on the cushions.

#Reyes Vidal #reyder #mass effect headcanons #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #me:a

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kotofvi · 5 years ago

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THE MEGA RP PLOTTING SHEET / MEME.

First and foremost, recall that no one is perfect, we all have witnessed some plotting once which did not went too well, be it because of us or our partner. So here have this, which may help for future plotting. It’s a lot! Yes, but perhaps give your partners some insight? Anyway BOLD what fully applies, italicize if only somewhat.

Mun Name: Leo Age: 27 Contact: IM, Inbox, Disco

Character(s) I rp: Canon: Shiro, Sebastian, Dirk, Kyoya, Kurama, Nelliel, Maka, Dwicky. OCs: Hades, Google, Emogene, Dominic, Seirios, Iso, Felix, Reeves, Nyx, Zeru, Ren, Charlie, Dakota, Nemo, Bluejay, Koko, BD, Raven, Cora, Sammie, Lucie, Poppie, Ollie, Alphie, Bambi, Abbigail, Hiraeth, Bonnie, Rei, Rory. Which muse(s) inspires you the most atm?(for MM): Nelliel, Shiro, Rei, Bonnie, Hiraeth. Current Fandom(s): Bleach, V/LD, Naruto. (I’m not deeply involved in the fandoms themselves anymore.) Fandom(s) you have an AU for: Uhhhhh.. I basically have an AU for any fandom if I know it well and am asked for it. My language(s): English. (I’m learning other languages but I don’t RP in them unless it’s just a sentence or two.) Themes I’m interested in for rp: Fantasy / Science fiction / Horror / Western / Romance / Thriller / Mystery / Dystopia / Adventure / Modern / Erotic / Crime / Mythology / Classic / History / Renaissance / Medieval / Ancient / War / Family / Politics / Religion / School / Adulthood / Childhood / Apocalyptic / Gods / Sport / Music / Science / Fights / Angst / Smut / Drama / etc. Themes/Genres you have an AU for: Modern, Mythology, Medieval.

Preferred Thread length: one-liner / 1 para / 2 para / 3+ / novella. (I legit love all lengths, tbh, it’s more so with one-liners I tend to lose interest if there’s no substance to further it.) Asks can be send by: Mutuals / Non-Mutuals / Personals / Anons. Can Asks be continued?: YES / NO only by Mutuals?: YES / NO. Preferred thread type: crack / casual nothing too deep / serious / deep as heck. Is realism / research important for you in certain themes?: YES / NO. Are you atm open for new plots?: YES / NO / DEPENDS. (I’ve admittedly been v busy, so if you’re fine with me takin’ forever-- YES) Do you handle your draft / ask - count well?: YES / NO / SOMEWHAT. How long do you usually take to reply?: 24h / 1 week / 2 weeks / 3+ / months / years. I’m okay with interacting: original characters / a relative of my character (an oc) (It really depends here.) / duplicates / my fandom / crossovers / multi-muses / self-inserts / people with no AU verse for my fandom / canon-divergent portrayals / au-versions (as main or only verse). Do you post more ic or occ?: IC / OOC.(I post more IC, but the gaps between IC and OOC make it seem like there’s more OOC at times???) Are you selective with following others?: YES / NO / DEPENDS. (This is entirely because half the fandoms some of my muses come from are absolute shit so I have to be careful.)

Best ways to approach you for rp/plotting: IM or Inbox-- tbh, Just kick my inbox in and screech that you wanna plot/rp with me so long as you’re a mutual. I’m honestly so laid back?? Sure, it might take me a minute but this is entirely because IRL things and not because I’m putting anyone off.

What expectations do you hold towards your plotting partner: Having fun? Having ideas? I guess, just, mutual interest? I mean, I’m here to write! I’m here to have fun! If you’re not interested in that much alone then?? I guess bye?? ‘Cause I’ll become very annoying to anyone who doesn’t have an interest purely because I’ll randomly ambush my partners with excitement and ideas.

When you notice the plotting is rather one-sided, what do you do?: Oh I’ll just straight up ask if they want to continue the thread or start a new one! I mean, I get it, you can lose interest or otherwise just not feel it anymore and that’s fine! If you’re not interested in that particular thread, then no worries, we can always start more! If you’re just being one-sided in general, however?? I’m not gonna be interested at all and I’ll likely tell you as such.

How do you usually plot with others, do you give input or leave most work towards your partner?: Normally it’ll just happen? I’ll do my “Hey what if they ___” thing and then a rapid bombardment of inquiries and excitement later, there is a thread. It’s usually mutual, the involvement of creating this plot, but sometimes it’s just me being excited and them being excited and then suddenly BAM THERE BE THREADS. S’all good over here!

When a partner drops the thread, do you wish to know?: YES / NO / DEPENDS. - And why?: I mean?? I’d like to know, yes! But I get that sometimes it’s incredibly anxiety ridden trying to tell someone that you’ve lost interest in a thread. It’s alright if you don’t tell me, but if you can muster up the courage to do so I’d appreciate it! I’m not gonna be upset at you for losing interest/muse in a thread! If I cared deeply about the story, I might poke at you and then you can tell me?? Either way it’s fine and tbh, I don’t mind. However, please let it be known that you can take forever on a reply as well so don’t worry about just hoarding a draft too! Tbh, I had someone reply to a thread literally a year later and I was still excited for it! - What should your partner do when dropping a thread?: Just shoot me an IM or hell, make a list of threads you’re dropping and tag me in it??? Which ever! Or don’t even tell me at all, whatever works for you sugar!

What could possibly lead you to drop a thread?: Hmn, being overwhelmed-- I tend to accumulate a lot of drafts and 90% of them are long so sometimes I’ll drop a thread or two to help myself get by. Also lack of muse/interest is a factor. I won’t drop a thread purely out of being overwhelmed unless I just can’t muster up the muse to respond to it. - Will you tell your partner?: YES / NO / DEPENDS. Sometimes I get overwhelmed myself and I’ll drop a thread, forget to tell my partner, etc. Other times I’ll tell them before I even delete the draft!

Is communication in the rpc important to you? YES / NO. - And why?: Yes and no~ Yes primarily! I get that others can take a minute to muster up the courage to talk to others and would just prefer to keep things to a few sentences at first! However, I can and will ambush you with conversation and interest nonetheless. Because communication is important. If you’ve got something you wanna say to me, say it! I’m here for it! - Are you okay with absolute honesty, even if it may means hearing something negative about you and/or portrayal?: Yup! If you’ve got an issue or something that might come across as criticism to say, say it! Civil discussion is absolutely wanted here and I would like to work out any issues you may have with me or my portrayal. - Do you think you can handle such situation in a mature way? YES / NO.

Why do you rp again, is there a goal?: To write and have fun! To explore in depth the characters I create or take on! I mean, c’mon, lbr here-- my gremlin ass muses require some more in depth speculation and investigation into their characters! I love the creativity, the world building, the constant drive to do better and to make others feel something from words alone. The capability to rend emotion from another living being simply from reading and reacting to something I created is amazing and I want to make others cry, laugh, smile and think. I want to create.

Wishlist, be it plots or scenarios: Oh man, there’s an endless supply of things I’d like to do! I want to explore the depths of my muses’ histories more?? Like Shiro, I want to write out the things he must’ve seen, felt, experienced. How Nelliel was when she was alive, how Shiro fared in the Arena when he wasn’t fighting, Seb’s life torn between the various throws of data and reality-- there’s so much! And ALL THE AU’s!!!! All of them!!!

Themes I won’t ever rp / explore: Sure, I work with a lot of darker themes like torture, gore, etc-- but I will not write Rape, sexual abuse, nor will I write child loss.

What Type of Starters do you prefer / dislike, can’t work with?: I can work with most starters! However, if I’m randomly given a starter that I can’t work with for the muse selected, I’ll inform the person who wrote it! I appreciate the effort given but don’t expect me to be able to reply to every random starter given! Sometimes, they don’t even show up in my tag.

What type of characters catch your interest the most?: Okay, I’m a sucker for the underdogs, aggressive folks and the villains. I’m not even going to try and lie and say I don’t immediately look at the Aizens and Kenpachis and go ah yes, those fucking gremlins, give me ten. I also love the background characters? The side characters in a show that seem so unimportant but have a crucial role? I love characters that have such an obscure involvement that you have to stop and ask why and how their involvement was crucial. I also love the soft beans? The ones who are so hyped with positivity and gleaming interest that they just can’t be ignored?? But then turn around and whoop some poor sap’s ass with that sparkle sparkle smile. Also love the upstanding moral types that also acknowledge that some things can’t be avoided and that morality is a grey area dependent on the perceptions of the individuals themselves.

What type of characters catch your interest the least?: Hmn-- I guess the kind that don’t seem to have much substance to them? The ones that are just uncharacteristically too kind. Yes, I love the overwhelmingly positive types but?? Also?? The ones that are too kind and without flaw just?? Don’t strike me as interesting. Also the ones that are just cruel for some obscure reason just to give them a reason to be villains. I mean I understand but also?? Villains don’t have to have a reason?? They can be cruel just to be cruel. Idk that’s always just been a thing with me.

What are your strong aspects as rp partner?: I guess that I’m fairly laid back? I don’t mind if you take 10 years to reply, I’m going to get excited if you message me with some random idea, I’m not going to be bothered by any ideas you suggest?? I can also sometimes give u doodles?? I don’t have time to doodle a lot but sometimes, once in a blue moon, you’ll get a random offering of doodled booty for ur blessing. Also gonna hit you up with random HCs, ideas, threads, etc?? Always?? Idk, I’m not too good at thinking about positive aspects of myself lmfao.

What are your weak aspects as rp partner?: Hnnn, I’m too laid back at times. I take too long to reply and I’m busy af IRL. I’m often goaded into being irritated by some asshole or another so I can come off aggro af too when I don’t mean to be. Sometimes I can get overwhelmed and disappear for a week, other times I can end up overwhelming someone else by being too excited? I tend to watch how much I do and say because I feel like I might come off as smothering and am too used to being shut down and told to shut up so I just don’t?? Do anything sometimes. I’m also not very good at initiating contact sometimes so I tend to go days and weeks without speaking to others.

Do you rp smut?: YES / NO. Do you prefer to go into detail?: YES / NO / DEPENDS. Are you okay with black curtain?: YES / NO. - When do you rp smut? More out of fun or character development?: Usually only if it’s developmental for the characters involved. Sometimes it’s just fun to do! It really depends on the characters involved + if I have any muse in general for it. - Anything you would not want to rp there?: ???? Kinda vague, Idk? I mean if I don’t wanna rp somethin’ I’ll say so.

Are ships important to you?: YES / NO. Would you say your blog is ship-focused?: YES / NO. Do you use read more?: YES / NO / SOMETIMES. Are you: Multi-Ship / Single-Ship / Dual-Ship — Multiverse / Singleverse. - What do you love to explore the most in your ships?: The relationship, the depth of two muses who can be wildly different or even similar. The multifaceted involvement of others to that relationship, the angst, the arguments, the sad moments along with all the happy things and how hard one might try while the other is cold-- etc. I don’t just want happy dates and sunshine, that’s not how relationships work after all! - What is your smut tag?: Kettledrums

Are you okay with pre-established relationships?: YES / NO. - And what kind of ones?: I like a lot of pre-established relationships! However, I can be a tad wary of child muses? Aka: The ones who are children of one of my muses. Reason being, sometimes even I don’t know how they’d raise a child so the muse in question would be off putting to me because it’s out of my realm. Beyond that, I’m down for just about everything!

► SECTION ABOUT YOUR MUSE.

- What could possibly make your Muse interesting towards others, why should they rp with this particular character of yours now, what possible plots do they offer?: Since I have so many damn muses, I’mma just go with Shiro for all of this-- I suppose what they could find interesting is his very multifaceted dynamic as a soldier, human, technical non-human (Zombae), war worn, space exploring person. He can be rainbows and sunshine but also can suddenly become incredibly aggressive and cold. He’s not one or the other, he’s all and everything that he’s learned and encompassed while still remaining fragile and human in the end. Writing with him can be inspiring and can be soul wrenching, depending on the thread. As for plots, dude your character could be in space in one thread if the otherwise couldn’t be. There’s so many ways to go about writing with him?? He’s such an amazing character and the plots he can be instilled in are almost limitless with just his main verse.

- With what type of Muses do you usually struggle to rp with?: Hmn-- I guess the main one I have issues injecting him into place with would be the ones who are strictly non-tech oriented?? I mean, I can still have him there but getting him to fit is just?? Really difficult. Also with people who RP villains of his fandom and expect him not to be volatile. I’m sorry, but if you’re writing a S.endak or a Z.arkon-- you’re not going to get roses and butterflies with Shiro, plain and simple. If that’s something you can’t accept then don’t approach him with those muses. - With what type of Muses do they usually work well with?: He works really well with most anyone! So long as one goes into it knowing he can be hostile with soldiers, Galra, etc; then he can be used no matter what. He’s one of my most capable muses that doesn’t have much of an issue when it comes to responding.

- What interests your Muse(s) in general: Space, mechanics, biomedical engineering, people, freedom, fighting for a cause, flowers, his mother, violin, cats, sparring, getting stronger, constellations, nebulae, engineering, literature, alien languages, cooking. - What do they desire, is their goal?: The safety of others, the freedom of others, the ability to choose, hope-- he wants to make sure those he cares for and all others are free and safe from the Galra take over. - What catches their interest first when meeting someone new?: How they look at him. If they show signs of pity, of fear, he tends to walk away from any possible meeting with them. Otherwise, their appearance is what first catches his eye. How they dress, how they respond to him, how they talk and if he can make them crack a smile with an awkward joke. - What do they value in a person?: Hope, Strength, Loyalty, Purpose, Honesty, Patience. - What themes do they like talking about?: Shiro’s more of a listener than a talker, but honestly he’ll talk about anything of interest and question anyone’s as well to get them to talk about it. It’s what makes conversation with him easygoing most of the time. - Which themes bore them?: Himself. He’ll try to avert any conversation about himself if it’s too personal or too close to something. It’s not so much that it bores him but that type of talk is reserved for those insanely close to him. Also talk of command bores the FUCK out of him. He’s never been one to really like rank.

- Did they ever went through something traumatic?: So. Fucking. Much. Between being a prisoner of a war he was never involved with to being told he was a leader of a rebellion for said war, being a prisoner in the Arena and forced to fight and kill others, being held down and sedated as he tried to warn the others, DYING-- this boy has been thru too much. - What could possibly trigger them?: Certain noises, textures, Galra, medical equipment, certain lighting. - What could set them off, enrage them?: Galra, someone protecting him. - What could lead to an instant kill?: Any bloodlust towards him or those he cares for. Most of the time, he has this under control and tries to be merciful, give them a chance; but sometimes, especially during an episode; there’s no stopping him from gunning for someone’s throat if they had any intent to harm another or himself.

- Is there someone /-thing they hate?: Z.arkon, S.endak, L.otor, H.aggar, Druids, himself a lot of the time. - Is there someone /-thing they love?: The paladins, space fam in general, his mother, his friends, people in general.

Is your Muse easy to approach?: YES / NO. - Best ways to approach them?: Just approach him? Honestly, Shiro’s one of the easiest persons to converse with and get near. That doesn’t mean his guard is dropped, but he’s very easy going a lot of the time outside of battle. So long as you have a reason to approach him (even simpler ones like: his appearance, his arm, etc) then you’re set. - Where are they usually to find?: Oof, honestly? Anywhere. Space, Earth, other places-- he’s constantly on the move. If you want a set place, just say somewhere on Earth and I can work with that.

Something you may still want to point out about your muse?: Shiro is certainly easy to get along with, but he is not without flaw or issue. He has a plethora of issues even after the fall of the Galra Empire. He’s not without his scars, physical and otherwise. Approaching him is easy but getting close to him is not. Don’t expect him to be an open book. Just because he can talk about war, battle, fighting with a straight face doesn’t mean he wasn’t effected by it. He has suffered greatly and it will show the closer you get to him.

CONGRATS!!! You managed it, now tag your mutuals! ♥

Tagged by: @skyvar [ <3 ] Tagging: IF YOU WANNA PARTAKE IN THIS INSANITY, PLEASE DO AND TAG ME IN IT SO I CAN READ IT!!!

#Thx Snow I'm dying now #I think I just filled my word quota that I didn't even have #Dash Games;#Long post //#Shiro;#Shiro Tidbits;#But tbh this was fun to do!!

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hopelesstvaddict · 5 years ago

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Hi do you think jonsa was only d&d creations because they have romanticised other pairs as compared to their book counterpart? Do you think Sansa will able to soothe the beast in Jon in books after Resurrection or jonsa happening in book?

Hi !

To he honest I kind of doubt that D&D came up themselves with Jonsa given what we know about them and the image they project regarding the quality of their story. However I'm not one to dismiss people like that just because their creation is flawed.

There are things they indeed created for the show but it was always based on something from the books they wanted to adapt (characters like Talisa for example) So if indeed they created Jonsa it was based on something from the books. I don't think they intentionally set them up romantically - although the amount of tropes and imagery pertaining to romance is a bit puzzling - but they did build up their relationship at least on a siblings level, that's for sure. So that means that in the books, Jonsa is meant to happen at least on a siblings level. Jon and Sansa are meant to reunite at some point and they will likely wage war together to retake Winterfell. So their relationship will be explored in the books as well on some level. That is a certainty now. Now the question is on which level.

By this point in the books Jon has died and the show has confirmed he's going to be resurrected. Now in the show Sansa arrives at the Wall pretty much soon after whereas in the books she is still in the Vale so it's possible Jon leaves the Wall and they meet up elsewhere or Jon stays and she arrives later. But they will meet up. Show!Jon was upset and shaken with his death and resurrection but we all agree that it will be more violent for Book!Jon given the magical aspects that the show eluded. If Jon indeed survives because he wargs into Ghost then yeah it's possible that Sansa will help Jon find himself again. But that is already a given in my opinion. I can't see the point of reuniting a wild Jon with his long lost sister if it's not to give him a purpose again. On this, the show has already adapted its own version with Sansa giving Jon a reason to live and to fight again. A more literal example - though I don't know if it was intentional or not - is when Jon beats Ramsey to death but stops short when he sees Sansa. The crew has already commented on this scene and the fact that Jon has lost his humanity there and become a beast/monster. Sansa stops that. She gives Jon back his humanity.

Now if we're talking Jonsa in romantic terms that's another thing. There's enough foreshadowing in the books to support the theory and enough context to see why it would make sense for the overall story. There's also enough visuals now in the show to logically and legitimately think that they support what transpires in the books. But given what we know about D&D it kind of jeopardizes everything because we can't be sure they did this and that on purpose or just got lucky. It seems weird that all these scenes that could be read romantically were all kept in but we can't put it past D&D to have let them in and not realized it was setting a potential romance they did not intend. Perhaps they just reused romantic shots that worked for a woman and a man before - Robb/Talisa, Jon/Ygritte, Jaime/Brienne, Sam/Gilly (yeah that's pretty much all the couples) - that they liked and used them for Jon/Sansa without realizing that Jon and Sansa weren't supposed to be a couple. Oops. But then if we're going that way why not use the same shots for Jon/Daenerys? Oops.

Basically since the show ended like it did, with only the big main storylines finished but all the details and subtleties left out, the speculation can go on. Martin has said the show and the books would roughly have the same general ending. That means that in the books Jon will also team up with Daenerys and that it will end in disaster. That much is confirmed. What the show didn't really conclude are the characters' personal wishes. The journeys, they did finish but at the cost of their life dreams. Or rather it left it open-ended. Sansa's dreams of marriage and motherhood are now left for her future. Jon's dream of a peaceful life is now left for his future. I believe the books will be more complete in that regard especially with Sansa whose storyline basically revolves around marriages and the suffering that stems from each of them before she (temporarily) sheds it to fight for the North. If we're talking about a satisfying ending, she's meant to marry for love and experience a happy motherhood while also leading the North politically and ending up Queen in the North. Or a combination of these. But it would be a bit anti climactic if she completely abandoned those dreams of having a husband and children. The show did not state that she did set those wishes aside, it just implied that she would eventually do it later on.

One thing that the show did here in its ending is that it didn't close any doors. It left everything open. Fans have speculated for a long time who would be the final love interest of Jon and of Sansa. We know now that Dany is not it for Jon. And fans have agreed that Sansa's final partner is not going to be a random character. In the books, she's paired off with pretty much all important male characters - Sandor, Tyrion, Robyn, Theon, Harry the Heir... The show either refused to acknowledge the importance of these relationships or flatly benched them by having the guy killed or Sansa concluding the relationship on her own terms. And proceeded to present ONE relationship that defines Sansa's storylines for the final three seasons. ONE. That hasn't even happened in the books. If Tyrion or Harry or Sandor was the one for Sansa, surely Martin would have told D&D. We can't really be sure that D&D didn't write themselves into a corner and decided that they would diverge on this aspect but in my opinion, Martin told them Sansa's defining relationship would be Jon. Perhaps I'm giving D&D too much credit but I dont think they are the morons the fandom want them so desperately to be. Sure their writing is a bit on the wall and they are things they could have done better. But they ARE writers and producers and they do know how to do things. Maybe they did indeed rush things in the end. But they do know how to write romance - Robb/Talisa, Jon/Ygritte - and they are capable of planting seeds leading up to a big reveal - the Red Wedding for example. Earlier seasons and episodes like Baelor, The Battle of the Bastards, The Winds of Winter are proofs they can do great things if they want. Their script for the series finale was light, yes, but the visual result wasn't and we know that unscripted moments were kept in. These include Jon/Sansa scenes that do nothing to shoot down the relationship whether romantically or not. The directors were D&D themselves and they chose to keep these in. Coming from two guys who, per basically everyone's admission from the cast to the various directors, have exactly in mind what they want to see and won't easily let improvisation or something else than their own vision creep into the final montage, that's kind of huge.

Add all of these with Harington's acting choices. This, we can't really count as a definitive argument for Jonsa. Maybe its just the chemistry he shares with Turner. Maybe that's how they are in real life, maybe it was his own acting choice. But it is still strange that all of these scenes with double-entendre were all kept in by all these different directors/that no one picked up on it if they weren't meant to form an overall entity. And when you start piling up all of these, the acting choices, the sceneries, the unscripted additions, the foreshadowing in the books, all the parallels between Ned/Cat, the fact that Jon and Sansa have been built up for the last three seasons... it kind of becomes a bit big. What was left out really was just the culmination of it all. So that's why my opinion is that for some reason Martin asked them not to spoil everything and just do the strict minimum to complete the general storyline. Maybe in the end it will also amount to nothing. But then it will be really hard to explain.

TLDR : in any case, no I dont think that D&D intentionally created Jonsa, they merely followed Martin's guidelines for the upcoming books. Meaning that strictly on a siblings level, Jonsa will happen in the books. It's a given that Sansa's presence will help Jon especially if he has a problem with his humanity in light of his resurrection. A romance between the two is definitely still on the cards and in any case they will still fare better than Jon and Daenerys in the end.

This got long as I expected. Thanks for the ask !

#jonsa #jon x sansa #sansa stark #jon snow #got #game of thrones #game of thrones analysis #game of thrones meta #game of thrones thoughts #got analysis #got thoughts #got meta #actuallyjonsa #sansa stark meta #jon snow meta #kit harington #sophie turner

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gascon-en-exil · 5 years ago

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I’m still plotting out the gameplay details of Hubert and Ferdinand’s Fabulous Fun with Imperialism, co-starring Edelgard (i.e. Crimson Flower using all the male Eagles and their leader), but while I’m doing that I have a bunch of thoughts on that still completely unsubstantiated Wave 4 DLC leak I linked to the other day. Posting about it is not merely an excuse for wild speculation on content we won’t see for another seven months, but a useful means of starting to work through some things early in the event that this is like the suspiciously accurate Thanibomb leak and as such just some kind of weird marketing ploy that happens now. In any case note that I am not suggesting that we should take the contents of that leak to be completely or even partially true, so if it gets debunked this will turn out to be little more than a speculative DLC wishlist.

On the classes:

Vanguard - predictable non-hybrid infantry sword user which everyone has been wanting, also makes sense to be male-locked like hero; will still be inferior to war master and anything on a mount for most characters, but on-demand Aether sounds handy

Grandmaster - predictable non-hybrid non-mounted unisex magic user which everyone has been wanting; dark knight is probably still better for movement but harder to access, while gremory would only be better for extra white magic uses; passive rally effect looks underwhelming at only +1 to all stats, but then it is passive

Zenith Flier - predictable flying magic user which everyone has been wanting (see a pattern?), but gender-locked and based on faith and not reason; renders holy knight even more irrelevant which makes me sad, and screws male casters and specifically male faith specialists (so, uh, Linhardt) over even more; I don’t really understand how the mastery works but it sounds like a combat art that functions like Rescue which...wow

Demon Fighter - I don’t think anyone predicted a second dread fighter under a different name, but this one uses axes and doesn’t totally suck for dark magic users; seems tuned to play perfectly into the odd hybridization job they pulled with Edelgard; mastery is a nerfed Galeforce, and that alone makes it better than mortal savant

On the characters:

Adding new students to the houses and another staff unit honestly seems like the most organic way to throw in new characters, so I hope that this is true about the leak if nothing else. This batch offers some interesting things not seen in the current cast, like Crest-bearing commoners (Byleth and Mercedes don’t count), a second default dark mage (I hope he joins with a Dark Seal, ditto Jeritza in Wave 3), and additions to the roster that break the existing gender parity of the Eagles and Deer and turn the Lions into even more of a boys’ club than it was before.

The above assertions assume that Juris, Balthazar, and Javi are male while Constanze is female. Each new character seems built around one of the new classes, so Juris and Constanze can be inferred via their corresponding class’s set gender, Javi begins in a male-only class, and Balthazar is a biblical male name. Admittedly, so is Micaiah....

That said, if Juris and Balthazar are indeed bi options this would even out the number of bi student options to three of each gender, with the infamous Alois and Gilbert S ranks now counterbalanced against the wacky magical incest pairings of Rhea and Sothis. Juris would finally give the Deer a splash of palpable queerness, while I’ll be fascinated how bi-for-Byleth Balthazar fares in the company of the bi-for-each-other male Lions. I’m as always more interested in the non-Byleth supports than the ones with Byleth, but if m!Byleth does indeed get more dick I suppose that counts as a victory of sorts.

Constanze not being a bi option makes for some hilarious irony, especially given the high chance that Dorothea will be trying to sleep with her in their supports. Who could have imagined that the most heterosexual female students would be the two pegasus knights?

Onto the gameplay stuff: Juris is a dull but serviceable physical frontliner, Balthazar has the best spell list in the game (Thoron, Luna, Bolting, Rescue, and Warp? If there were any one thing that would make me call fake on this leak...), Constanze seems destined to be a mostly offensive light magic user(!!!) even outside of zenith flier since sword and axe weaknesses screw her out of the physical flying options, and Javi has an unusually high number of physical proficiencies as well as a reason spell list almost as good as Balthazar’s. Interesting to note that Balthazar and Javi use black and dark magic together which currently only Edelgard does; also of note is that the 1-3 range dark spells are still exclusive to Hubert so at least he’s still got a small niche all his own.

On Abyss Mode

I have no idea how this is going to work. Where would they add chapters? This is genuine question to ponder even if this leak turns out fake, because Three Houses as it is now doesn’t really have a way to add in new story content longer than a single quest or paralogue. Will it occur during the timeskip? Get bundled into certain calendar months as a side story alongside the main plot? We also have no idea what it’s going to be about either.

April seems so far away. At least in the interim we’ll have Jeritza and Anna to look forward to, not to mention all the homoerotic highjinks that will no doubt unfold in the sauna.

#Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses #Speculating is fun #Just don't take any of it as guaranteed fact

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littlemisssquiggles · 6 years ago

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RWBY Musings #50: Oscar’s Great and Powerful Semblance A Squiggle Meister’s Views on ThatKaitoDan’s RWBY Theory.

megashadowdragon asked “what are your thoughts www(.)youtube(.)com/watch?v=9YElXr5_Mqw”

Squiggles Answers:

Well first off, appreciative shout out to both @che1sea-xiao-long and @megashadowdragon for sharing this video with me.

I actually really, REALLY like ThatKaitoDan’s theory on Oscar’s possible semblance being sealing---the ability to permanently take away someone’s ability to use their semblance in combat.

I like Dan’s concept because I appreciated how he was able to connect it back to Princess Ozma---the Wizard of Oz character that many RWBY theorists have speculated Oscar to be influenced by. So that titbit I enjoyed the most about his theory commentary. If Oscar’s semblance does have a sealing kind of effect then I can anticipate it being what finally stops Hazel Rainart in his tracks, should he and Oscar have their inevitable rematch.

The last time our heroes faced off against this rampaging juggernaut, none of them were successful to stop him. Neither the combined efforts of everyone teaming up to combat him nor Weiss utilizing her summons amplified by Jaune’s semblance was enough to thwart Hazel. Hazel, with his own semblance that enables him to block out pain, is a nearly unstoppable villain which currently places him as a very unbeatable foe.

The heroes were fortunate enough that the arrival of the Mistral authorities and the announcement of Cinder’s fall was what caused Hazel to retreat with Emerald and Mercury. If the battle had been allowed to continue, I don’t think they would’ve fared well.

Though Oz did make mention of Hazel having a ‘limit’ to his semblance, this still makes him dangerous because if Hazel can take being empowered by two shards of dust crystals into his body, then how much can he take? What exactly is Hazel’s limit?

I’m curious to know just how many dust crystals Hazel can take before he completely overloads himself on power. And even if he does combust from all the energy within the crystals, I don’t think a still rampaging and unstable Hazel Rainart will be any less a threat against our heroes.

Here’s what I think. I think in a rematch, Hazel will use so much dust that he’ll literally risk killing himself in the process. He’ll lose control and put his life at death’s doorstep. I think it’s in a moment like that where Oscar possessing a power that can seal or perhaps nullify another’s semblance would be a powerful asset. It’s what I think could be a very key factor in finally stopping Hazel.

Picture a crazed Hazel transforming himself into a human dust golem, no longer able to control the power being emitting from the embedded dust in his body. It’s in this moment where Oscar gets a crazy idea to climb on top of Hazel’s back.

Removing both of his gloves so that he can have better physical contact, Oscar uses the full extent of his semblance on Hazel; nullifying his abilities. This tactic works as it slows Hazel’s movements. With his pain resistance switched off a la Oscar Pine, Hazel begins to thrash around, now wreathing from the excruciating pain with Oscar holding on for dear life but still managing to keep the giant man neutralized.

This will later allow for the other heroes to quickly remove the dust shards from Hazel, ending his tirade. I figured this would’ve been how they defeated Hazel during the Haven Battle but no, the most we got was Nora Valkyrie going all supercharged on him and whaling him through the front door. This still by the way, didn’t stop Hazel either.

As I said already, the next time the heroes go up against Hazel, I doubt they’ll be able to stop him like last time. Not to mention that I figured a rematch with Hazel would be the best opportunity for Oscar to unlock his semblance in the heat of battle. The events of V4-V5 already set up Hazel being a sort of arch nemesis to both Oscar and Ozpin so if I had to predict a perfect time for our veteran farm boy turned wizard incarnate to awaken his own hidden power, it would be then. But this is just my assumption.

If Oscar can disable Hazel’s semblance then he can finally stop the juggernaut.

In Dan’s theory video, he referenced the scene from V1 C6 where Pyrhha used some of her aura to unlock Jaune’s. Another lovely tie in since I don’t hear folks often talk about that scene.

Speaking of which, there’s something I’d like to point out about that particular moment. As Pyrhha unlocked Jaune’s aura, she recited something:

“…For it in passing that we achieve immortality, through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above us, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder, protect thee...”

I made note of this in my RWBY Recap of Volume 1. In my notes, I asked myself if it was absolutely necessary for Pyrhha to recite this whenever using her aura to unlock another’s. Almost like a little spell or ritual incantation of some sort. I’m curious about this since it was never mentioned or brought up again. We haven’t even seen another character use this technique after Pyrhha.

I call attention to this quote because its words make me wonder something.

Pyrhha said ‘For it is in passing that we achieve immortality, through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above us, infinite in distance and unbound by death…’---why does this line somehow make me feel like Pyrhha is somehow still alive. Not physically but like…perhaps spiritually.

If Remnant is a world where super powered human beings, monsters, immortal beings and magic exist as part of the norm then surely supernatural beings such as ghosts and spirts are plausible things too, right? It shouldn’t be too farfetched if there are spirits who roam Remnant, right?

I can’t shake this inkling of a feeling that after she died, because of her virtuous nature and her willingness to sacrifice herself for the sake of protecting her school and loved ones, that Pyrhha basically cheated death and returned as this sentinel spirit that now guards Beacon including the Vault of the Fall Maiden.

Ozpin mentioned back in V5 that he made things very difficult to find the Vault of the Fall Maiden. So my idea is that the Vault of the Fall Maiden is probably constructed like some kind of labyrinth with many hidden rooms and equally hidden traps and puzzles.

I sincerely hope that Fall’s Vault is more fortified because what disappointed me about the Spring Maiden’s Vault was that it wasn’t as reinforced as I expected it to be.Another point is that Oz chose Pyrhha as a candidate to become the next Fall Maiden, right? Imagine how interesting it would be if Pyrhha’s Spirit went on to become some kind of Guardian of the Vault or Beacon Academy.

I don’t care if her physical body got turned to ash. May Pyrhha’s spirit return as an eternal hero, still continuing to protect her school from beyond the freaking grave, dagnabbit? A squiggle meister can only dream.

Anyways, back to talking about Oscar. Although I really do like Dan’s idea, I’m still standing by my own theory about Oscar having a mind semblance. While Dan’s theory connected to Oscar’s character influence, I based my idea more so on Oscar’s personality or…at least my interpretation of what little glimpses of it we saw last season.

As you guys know, V5 C5 was my all-time favourite episode of the last season purely for the scene between Oscar and Ruby. I love how Oscar was able to get Ruby to finally open up about how she truly felt regarding everything she’s been through since V3. Oscar has only known Ruby for a couple of weeks during that time and already he was able to do more for her than what any other character has done in just one scene.

Not to mention that he even attempted to do the same with Hazel by trying to reason with him during their fight.

That whole impression of connecting to others---understanding the way they think and feel and ultimately helping them come to their senses and thus assist them from within--- I figured these traits could be adapted into a strong mental semblance where Oscar is able to connect to other’s via their mind---seeing their memories, reading their thoughts and thus understanding them from an empathic point of view that wouldn’t require much physical effort. It’d be a supportive power as Dan mentioned in his video.

I based that purely on his current predicament being connected to Ozpin and forced to share a mind space with him while also considering Oscar’s inclination to want to reach out and understand others; be it ally or foe.

Not as fleshed out as Dan’s but…I really do like the idea of Oscar’s power having something to do with his mind. After all, the mind is a fragile thing and it represents the uncharted inner corridors of one’s very being.

Can you imagine a character having power over that especially if they’re a hero?

I also dig this concept because it also provides the threat of Oscar being able to possible control; manipulate someone’s thoughts and/or possibly destroying their mind.

I just have this thought of Oscar letting his emotions get the better of him and becoming so furious that he uses his mental semblance to stop someone and the results leaves the person either brain dead, brain damaged or at least mentally unstable.

For all the Young Justice fans in the FNDM community, remember how in Invasion, Miss Martian turned Aqualad into a vegetable after becoming angry and overdoing it with her telepathy powers on him? That’s how I figured it would be for Oscar.

We rarely talk about the dark implications a powerful semblance can have on a victim.

While Dan sees Oscar being like Eraserhead from My Hero Academia, I was more leaning towards a Professor Xavier from X-Men kind of power for Oscar.

In a way, I think both can work really well cause they tie into Oscar as a character. As a matter of fact, I’d like to take both Dan’s idea and my own and combine the two together.

Theory Fusion Activate!

Oz mentioned that one’s semblance can grow and evolve, right?

So what if…Oscar’s semblance is Nullification. He unlocks the ability to disable one from using their semblance for a period of time depending on his aura levels. In the beginning, he’s only able to use this power by making physical contact with said person but in time, with more training, his ability evolves to the point where he’s able to nullify another' with his mind. While doing this places a bit of mental strain on Oscar’s part, the mental nullification proves more effective than the physical version.

Not sure how much this makes sense in the context of Ruby but it can work. It takes the best parts of both mine and Dan’s ideas and merge them to form something plausible for Oscar to have.

My reasoning behind wanting Oscar to possess a mind or mental-based semblance is because at the moment, Emerald Sustrai is the only mental-based semblance user in the cast and she’s with the villains.

I wanted another mental-semblance user on the side of the heroes in order to counter Emerald.

Let’s say, Emerald is fighting Oscar and tries to use her illusions on him. But because Oscar’s power is Nullification, his semblance makes him completely immune to Emerald’s tactics so he’s able to negate her illusions. That’d be awesome.

Or even better, imagine Oscar’s Nullification growing to the point where he’s able to just activate his semblance by merely looking at his opponents. So anyone who dares step within close proximity of his line of vision gets their semblance rendered useless against Oscar. The only limit to that is at first Oscar is only able to nullify one person at a time but again, with more practice and training, he can grow till his range of ability could expand to more than one person depending on his mental strength.

To make sense of how Oscar is able to do that, let’s return to my theory of his semblance being mental or becoming mental-based in time so his Nullification evolves from requiring physical contact to just a stronger mental focus. So Oscar would need to become stronger mentally to help enhance his semblance which fits into his character. This could lend to Ren providing Oscar with some mentorship in meditation and focus.

The final form would be the sealing---permanently stopping a person from using their semblance for good. As Dan already mentioned, the series pointed out that aura can be used to unlock someone’s aura and training one’s aura is what leads to them eventually unlocking their semblance, correct?

So if semblance is awakened by aura and aura can be used to awaken aura. Then what would happen should someone learn to use aura to permanently disable someone’s aura so that they can’t use their semblance?

Aura is a term in RWBY that still eludes me a bit. Aura has been described as the manifestation of the soul. So…if someone were to seal off another’s aura…couldn’t that potentially kill a person if used incorrectly? Just asking.

If Oscar does gain that kind of power in the end, then I’d imagine that it’d be a tactic Oscar would only resort to as last alternative because of the dangerous consequences of using it; not just on the victim but on Oscar himself.

Dan referred to Oscar’s sealing power being like Energy bending in Avatar the Last Airbender.

Wasn’t one of the drawbacks of energy bending that the user could be corrupted by the essence of the person who’s bending they were taking away?

I can’t recall where it was said but I think I remember the lion turtle mentioning that to Aang when they first met. I…think? Correct me if I’m wrong here guys.

But let’s say…Oscar does gain the whole sealing power as part of the final form in his Nullification Semblance. I only like the Sealing aspect of Oscar’s semblance as a last resort because I imagine a power like that could be very unsafe to use freehand. The dangers of such a power are that one, this technique could run the risk of killing the victim since we are messing with aura---meaning one’s very soul, here.

Not to mention that it places the user---Oscar at risk as well. Finally two, this technique would require a lot of aura on Oscar’s part or at least I’d imagine so. Like a lot especially to account for the victim resisting against the sealing process.

After all, Pyrhha used some of her aura to awaken Jaune’s right? So let’s say each time Oscar uses his semblance to nullify an opponent’s semblance, the effort to maintain this feat requires aura so the longer he maintains the nullification process, the more aura he drains from himself.

Somehow I’m visualizing Oscar’s nullification powers like chains that bind his enemies with an analog timer ticking down to how much longer Oscar can restrain his victim. A little exaggerated but you get the idea.

So if sealing becomes a power for Oscar to have, it’s something that could help win a fight but can also potentially kill Oscar. I know it takes away the light-hearted ease of use of Dan’s original point but…this squiggle meister thinks a power like that would come with risks. After all, with great power comes great responsibility.

But that’s just me. The more I think and elaborate on this, the more I’m really digging the concept of it.

ThatKaitoDan is a genius for coming up with this theory for Oscar’s semblance.

I doubt he’ll ever read my Tumblr post response to his theory but I would’ve loved to have heard his feedback on my add-ons to his theory. I’d love to hear his thoughts on my thoughts.

He really is onto to something awesome and his idea for Oscar’s semblance is now one of my favourites apart from my own and the combination of our two theories.

So if I had to pick which powers I can see Oscar having, it’s either a mental based power (like telepathy) or sealing or nullification---the grand combination of the two as I described in this post. That’s this squiggle meister’s thoughts on that.

ThatKaitoDan’s Oscar’s Great and Power Semblance: RWBY Theory

More Squiggles’ RWBY Content

~LittleMissSquiggles (2018)

#megashadowdragon #oscar pine #rwby theories #rwby volume 6 #thatkaitodan #squiggles answers: rwby #rwby musings

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theculturedmarxist · 7 years ago

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Is there a doctor in the house?

“How do you expect anyone to do anything in Communism? If a doctor is paid as much as a janitor, why would I do all the work to be a doctor? Checkmate, commies.”

Trying to talk to people about Communism, and the general conception of what that entails, can be a tricky sort of process. Generally speaking, communist thought is contingent on at least passing knowledge of the principles derived from the broad and numerous bodies of socialist thought in the 19th and 20th centuries. There are innumerable books, pamphlets, essays, and so on full of rigorous thought and speculation about the circumstances of today and what they entail for our future, and how we as communists should go about ordering that future.

One of the greatest difficulties though when introducing someone to Communist thought is trying to coax them out of the bourgeois conception of society that most people have been ingrained with more or less from birth. The above is a tiresome refrain of those believing they’ve btfo Communism. It frequently jockeys with the whole ridiculous mudpie “argument” for the most popular brainlet thought-ending cliche.

If you look back to the media of the previous century, with the advent of the Space Age and then the Computer/Information Age, you can see a variety of imaginations trying to conceive of what all these radical changes will mean for society. Disease would be banished. Poverty would be impossible. Racial and religious differences would be treated as irrelevant, just as they truly are. Humanity would have bases on the Moon and Mars, toeholds that set the stage for mankind embracing its spacial destiny. There would be plenty for all, onerous work would be obviated, and the potential of the individuals of the world would finally be enabled to expand to its fullest.

In short, people were imagining a world beyond what they had then. What of now? Popular media, especially in the realm of science fiction, is emaciated. There is no future, no daring or imaginative alternatives. “Now” stretches on and on into forever, even when it would make no sense for such an arcane system as Capitalism. This isn’t because people are content with things as they are, but because their conception of what is possible has been carefully curated so that any alternative is branded as “utopian,” and anyone with a burning need or passion for change is only a single step away from the ever-lurking Liberal geist of “fanaticism.” Robespierre did his job only too well, apparently.

The soil of the imagination has been salted by the bourgeois enamoration with things as they currently are, and in seeking to maintain the status quo, anything as dangerous as an alternative to Capitalism has to be either excluded from public thought to the greatest degree possible, or else slandered and lampooned until all that’s left is a ridiculous straw man of anything or one that could endanger the unmitigated flow of profit.This is why in popular media, Capital is an omnipresent force, whether in fantasy, historical or contemporary drama, or projections into the future. “We’ve reached the end of history,” blah blah blah.

It’s difficult then for people to understand what Communists want, and how Communism is conceived. There are innumerable dogmatic conventions on what Communism should look like and how, which to describe them all in an exhaustive sense would be beyond this post, so for now I suffice with an unspecific, generic meaning when I’m speaking of “Communism.”

As Capitalism is the absolute, when non-Communists listen to Communists describing the things they want and the changes they make, they don’t consider what any of these alterations would mean, or what would need to happen in order to make them possible. For whatever reason, they can only conceive of now, but different, as if such a thing were possible.

Inevitably the question gets asked, “why would I be a doctor instead of a janitor?” It immediately gives away how deeply subsumed they are by their ideology. Health isn’t an interest of the individual or community, it’s not something to be cultivated, or even a fundamental human need; to them, it’s a service or commodity to be dispensed by a “professional.” Their class character is exposed, along with their ignorance of life outside of their comfortable cell. The suffering or need of others is dispensed with, and human life is devalued to whatever baubles this person believes they should be showered with for all of “their effort.”

Do they imagine that people would simply do without? Just lie down and die if people refused this tyrant’s “expertise?” It flies in the face of reason and precedent. Previous to modern times, educated medical professionals (to the standards of their time) were vanishingly rare. Most ailments were treated with a variety of home and traditional remedies. Do they really imagine then that a parent would sit idly by as their child wastes away due to lack of a doctor? As reckless as it might be, if the likely ultimate result either way is death, then WebMD and a prayer is certainly preferable to looking on in impotence.

This hypothetical would-be doctor imagines that society as it would exist then would be society as it exists now, only with a mandatory minimum wage. “No one would become doctors if they didn’t get rich doing it.” Again, reason and evidence shows them definitively to be in error.

I am not a fan of Cuba’s interpretation of Socialism, but I can’t help but admire their resourcefulness in such extreme deprivation. In retribution, the criminal blockade by the United States starves and isolates the island, but examining the circumstances of life there and the accomplishments they’ve managed despite that are quite remarkable. It isn’t much talked about, how Cuba, immiserated by poverty as it is, has an astonishingly small ratio of doctors to patients. They export their medical expertise to other countries, trading doctors for necessary resources. They’ve managed to eliminate mother-to-infant HIV transmission, and have even developed a cure for a certain cancer. Doctors are well respected, but they aren’t nearly as privileged in Cuba as they are elsewhere in the world.

I doubt every last one chooses their profession out of simple altruism, but to my understanding they aren’t made rich, either.

One of the most remarkable manifestations of Cuba’s adaptations to their radically changing circumstances was its reaction to the disappearance of the Soviet Union. The USSR provided most of Cuba’s industrial needs, and their sudden collapse meant not only the disappearance of Cuba’s most significant trading partner, but also the immediate evaporation of the means to maintain their existing industry and produce new goods.

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Unable to provide for their people, they took the radical step of providing the people with the knowledge and expertise they needed to provide for themselves. Technical and engineering manuals and textbooks were distributed. Everything was recycled as needed. Motors from broken washing machines were cannibalized to motorize bicycles.

As the crisis grew more severe, people’s creativity grew more powerful, and everywhere you looked you saw solutions. Ernesto Oroza

In Trotsky’s 1934 article, If America Should Go Communist, he makes a very salient point.

At present most Americans regard communism solely in the light of the experience of the Soviet Union. They fear lest Sovietism in America would produce the same material result as it has brought for the culturally backward peoples of the Soviet Union.

American and Russian circumstances were and are worlds apart. Russia’s expression of Communism resulted from the dire situation it was left in after the first World War. Its industry was smashed. Its people were starving. The interim Liberal government that came to power after the abdication of the Tsar continued to fight the ruinous war against the Central Powers, pouring millions of men into the theater of industrial murder. No sooner do the Bolsheviks take power and end the war than every industrial power on the planet invades. On top of years of misery under the Tsar, are compounded years of civil war the most vast country on the planet. After this, it is scarcely another decade before another World War washes over the CCCP, killing tens of millions of people and leaving Russia’s industrial and agricultural heartlands in devastated ruin. Despite all of this, the CCCP managed not only to industrialize, expand education and literacy to its large population of impoverished, illiterate peasants, but managed to make it the number 2 power, and eventual superpower, on the planet, and the first space-faring nation to boot.

America would not have such problems, Trotsky says. Is he wrong? The US is majority literate (more or less). They have already a sprawling (if crumbling) infrastructure, the benefits of the Internet, already existing industrial and technological capacity, to say nothing of the country’s rich farmland and abundance of natural resources, much of it mapped and explored and exploitable at need. They have over 200 years of democratic experience and tradition, and one of the most educated populations on the planet.

Believing that the United States, were it to adopt communism, would look anything like Soviet Russia in form or function, is nothing but ridiculous. It’s an immature bogeyman, a ghost story the bourgeois use to convince workers that, like children, they should be afraid of the things they imagine lurking under their bed.

Adopting Communism would mean dispelling the bourgeois fiction of private and intellectual property (as opposed to one’s personal property). It would mean an end to the dictatorship of capital, and the social controls that the bourgeoisie have erected to constrict human activity in order to farm us for profit.

Instead of educating our children to prepare them for “a career,” they could be educated in the skills of living. Our health and physical education classes could indeed return to teaching health and physical education. The whole population could be given the basics of medical care and the rudiments of identifying and treating disease.

Freed from the anxieties and pressures of Capitalist society--no longer having to worry about where one will live, or how one will eat, or where all the other necessities of life will come from--at a stroke much of society’s afflictions would be eliminated, improving health dramatically without a single pill or incision. With no profits to sustain it, the sugar industry would wither and die, severely impacting national obesity rates. Imagine the impact the elimination of the automobile industry would have as well, reducing the number of wastefully produced luxury vehicles and their billions of tons of emissions, clearing our air and skies. The ridiculous regime of mandatory testing, and the poisonous “education” that has evolved to support it, would vanish. With access to higher education a guarantee, and no private property to starve such “unproductive” members of society, our children could enjoy the simple pleasures of recess again. No longer cooped up in jobs that they loathe and indeed make them ill, Americans would have uncountable hours instead to spend in recreation with their friends and family, enjoying among other things their country’s wealth of natural beauty.

Technology changes more and more day by day, and we’re rapidly approaching the point where even the most rural areas have access to the sum of medical knowledge on the internet. Where infrastructure or remoteness limit the availability of medical care, an internet connection to sophisticated medical AI can provide millions with immediate and accurate medical advise. Consider technology like the epipen or asthma inhaler. While I don’t imagine it’s possible to simplify all medical devices to such pick-up-and-use types of equipment, with the medical education they receive in school and access to reliable medical information via the internet, it would be possible to make equipment and techniques that any able individual could use to treat themselves for common and mundane afflictions. Medical care need not be the exclusive province, or entitlement, of some wealthy elite class of privileged gatekeepers.

Yet, still, what about the doctors? There would still be a need, however improved living conditions and education become. Some things cannot be left to amateurs, however enthusiastic or skilled, and specialized training will remain a necessity to one degree or another for some time. Would we need then to elevate doctors above the mean of hoi polloi, just to ensure that these necessary skills exist in our society?

I believe that assumption to be fundamentally false, and indeed another unconscious betrayal of the pervasiveness of bourgeois ideology. The popular belief that money is the primary, if not only, motivating factor for people. Despite the use of money being the exception rather than the rule throughout history, the fantasy that people are indigent and lazy without cash in their pocket or a knife at their back has been relentlessly cultivated in the popular mind, and yet we know that this simply isn’t true. Most people aren’t motivated by money, and compulsion only breeds misery.

Without the constant population shuffling caused by the modern market economy, I believe that people would begin to settle as they did in bygone decades. Individuals would no longer need to leave home to “find a job.” Friends and family and other social connections would congregate, and the community could rebuild itself. This would be the source of your doctors and surgeons, the natural human instinct toward community participation and effort, and those remarkable people that feel this most strongly. Those individuals who become physicians only to grow rich would be excluded--and rightfully so--from the profession, and the quality and abundance of medical care would rise. That’s aside from the salutatory effects of the diminishing alienation resulting from strengthening communal ties. Happy people, surrounded by friends and family, secure in their bodies, homes, and livelihood, are fundamentally healthier people. This would be the most major contributing factor in expanding the availability, access, and quality of medicine: to begin with, there would be fewer sick people. There would be fewer sick doctors, too, no longer burdened by the insane costs of medical school and the large debts accrued from long years of study.

This is a rather rosy estimation, but I think it is the correct one. Communism doesn’t mean poverty; it doesn’t mean now, but different; nor does it mean Capitalism, everyone makes the same wage. Communism is the complete transformation of society, by our own hands, by our own rational actions to satisfy our own needs and those of our community, in the absence of all the coercive and exploitative forces by which we’ve been imprisoned and to which we’ve been conditioned. Just the thought makes me feel better already.

#medicine #medical care #Communism #Socialism #Communist Society #CCCP #Cuba #a different world is possible #and we can make it

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croik · 7 years ago

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Lots of TEW2 thoughts

So I finished The Evil Within 2 and I have a lot to say, but Seb can handle the short version.

To be honest the marketing had already put my expectations pretty low, so I can't say it was much worse than I already figured it would be? And I can see why the pro reviewers are scoring it as high or higher than they did the first one. And I'm also willing to accept that my opinions of the first game are probably biasing me a little. But despite a couple of cool ideas and segments, overall I didn't like the game and I think it was huge step backward creatively speaking. I can't think of a more generic and safe route for the story to have taken than what they gave us. Even without having ignored the two largest cliffhangers from the first game, they disregarded a few major plot points and rewrote entire character relationships? So much of the acting was terrible, most of the new characters were 1 dimensional, and I wasn't a big fan of the changes in gameplay. It felt like I spent half the game in crafting menus and the only improvements that were made to the weapons/combat options were things every other similar game has (especially using bottles like shivs from TLOU, sidequests across a limited worldmap with waypoints etc). Having just recently replayed TEW1 I can't say that the controls were much smoother and there were still a lot of performance issues (and one major crash).

When I played the first game I finished in 19 hours with 112 deaths, and I rated it a B-. I finished TEW2 in 13 hours (dunno how many deaths) and I'd give it a C+. The plus is for Kidman.

And the rest of my thoughts are spoilers so under the cut!

So to get this out of the way, the fact that neither Joseph or Ruvik are properly addressed is bullshit. And saying that "Joseph is alive we'll talk about it later" is not addressing it.

From the opening cutscene there's a very clear sense from the writing that they didn't particularly care about continuing or addressing major plot points from the first game, with the way Sebastian reacts to Mobius. For the first time in three years he has confirmation that Mobius exists, but prior to going into the machine he doesn't ask what happened to Joseph who has been missing the whole time, or to his wife, who he also knows was taken by Mobius. He doesn't spare a thought for Ruvik who has been on the loose all this time (but then again, neither did Mobius), and even when he sees a large specimen jar labeled with his daughter's name, his first thought isn't "that's just her brain in there." Because that's what it ought to be, given his experience with Mobius.

And then Seb is inside Union, and he can't stop talking about how much it's like Beacon while still acting like he's never been inside STEM. He calls out to civilians to make sure they're okay. He gets upset when Stefano kills roomfuls of "people" even knowing that those are NOT people, they're STEM ghosts whose real human bodies have already been disconnected. When he sees a vision of Myra in his own mind, giving him a pep talk, he knows (and WE know) that she is not the real Myra, she can't be, but he believes her anyway. He basically is talking himself into forgiveness and it works! He spends the entire game just chattering away to himself, repeating plot information we just learned, making bland jokes, not one bit of his dialogue challenging or interesting. It's like the writers heard people complain about how boring Seb was in the first game and thought the solution was just to have him talk a whole lot more about nothing. That's not giving him character, he's still the same tired hero cliché we've seen a million times. That's just highlighting his faults by putting them on display more often.

And it's basically the tent pole around which all the game's story problems hinge. With two notable exceptions, no one in the game makes any choices that take them outside the narrow box of their generic characterization. Sebastian doesn't do anything throughout the game that no one else in his position wouldn't do. He sets out to save his daughter, he does. All the Mobius goons are mostly loyal up until they realize their own life is on the line, and then they righteously rebel. Theodore and Stefano are power-hungry maniacs, just like the Admin is a power-hungry maniac, no complex thought required. In the first game, we had several different motivations at play, between Seb and Jo trying to escape, Kidman trying to save and then kill Leslie, Ruvik's revenge, Jimenez covering his own ass, Mobius and their whatevers. When Joseph realized he was losing his mind and tried to kill himself, that was genuinely unexpected and added another layer to the narrative—now Seb doesn’t have to just worry about him going nuts, he has to worry about him hurting himself, too. That plot line may have solved itself off screen in an unsatisfying way but at least it added a layer to the narrative. In TEW2, EVERYONE is either trying to save Lily or control Lily, and there's virtually no changing of sides or shifting motives. All the heroes accomplish what they set out to do from the start and even those that don't make it have their deaths telegraphed far in advance.

Everything is just so expected, every character boiled down to their most obvious character traits. Seb takes the brunt of it but I'd argue Myra is the worst offender. The game comes out and says that there's nothing left of her personality except for her maternal instinct. In the previous game we only got hints of Myra from Seb's journal and other items, but it was still enough that we got several aspects of her personality, not just "mom" but wife and detective and administrator. And now that we finally get to meet her all of that is gone in favor of generic overprotective mother figure. With her perfect bun and pearl earrings and mom sweater…. This game has more women in it than most so I can't complain too much about a female character being reduced to mother trope, but it is a disappointment that after so much speculation about Myra and her character and why she's in Mobius, that they went with the safest course and most one note characterization for her. Especially since they contradicted canon once again to do it.

So let's talk about contradicting canon!

When I was writing Myra meta after the DLC I noted how the description of Myra as a mother changed from Seb's journal to the flashbacks Kidman sees. In TEW1 Seb notes that Myra took a three year leave of absence from the force in order to be a stay at home mom for Lily, before then hiring a nanny. In the DLC, Seb notes that she stayed home for only a few months and wanted to get back to work as soon as possible. He expressed some disappointment in her not being more motherly than that. The DLC was also where we learned Myra was working for Mobius, and it seemed obvious that they were linking the two together in an ominous way. But now in TEW2 we have Sebastian tell us again that Myra was an amazing and devoted mom. If the DLC was made knowing a sequel was also coming, why add that detail of Seb commenting on Myra's lack of maternal instinct, when TEW2 is about nothing BUT? It's a such a small, thoughtless contradiction, but the game is full of them.

Seb's relationship with Kidman is another one. In Seb's original journal he describes Kid as a cold fish who he doesn't trust. In the DLC Kid describes Seb as "seemingly drunk all the time." But then in Kidman's flashback we see Seb's determination to train her, and in TEW2 the pair of them talk about being friends and working together as a team. So what is the truth?? Why is it so hard for the writers to keep straight how these characters feel about each other? In the DLC Kidman had no idea that Seb was ever married or had a child, despite being recruited and trained by Myra. In TEW2 we learn that Lily was intended to be the heart of STEM all along, and Myra recruited Kidman specifically to be part of her "fuck Mobius forever" plan. So did Myra send Kidman into STEM the first time without warning her about the dangers, that she was expendable? Or did Myra's intentions for Kidman only come into play after Beacon? Or did Myra really just hope that Kidman would get Leslie out, because then Mobius would use him instead of Lily? But that wouldn't allow her to go through with the plan of destroying Mobius.

And speaking of Mobius, what the hell is their problem??

They determine that STEM can only be core'd by a psychopath or a child (which ought to be the first clue that this is a bad idea). This a requirement that's not touched on at all in the original game, since Ruvik was the core first, and after modifying STEM only someone compatible with him would have been able to take his place. How Leslie would have fared as the core without Ruvik is left as a total mystery, because while his mental issues gave him a child-like demeanor, I'd argue that he's pretty much the opposite of an egomaniac, which is the defining requirement. But in any case, Mobius kidnapped Lily originally because she was just so smart and special, things you can totally determine about a 5 year old /s. Timeline wise we're not sure when this was compared to the main story. According to Seb's journal it was no more than a year or two before the beginning of the game, but in the DLC Kidman refers to those flashbacks as "way before I got here," and Seb and Jo are visibly much younger. So at what point relative to Ruvik sabotaging the machine was Lily taken? There are very few references to Ruvik in the game so we don't really know if Mobius determined STEM's supposed requirements before or after the first game.

I feel like the only timeline that makes sense is that Ruvik completed STEM, Mobius decided they wanted to use Lily as the core, and when Ruvik found out as much, he sabotaged the machine so that it would only work for him. They then had to put Lily on ice for a while, so to speak, while they de-brained Ruvik and tried to go forward with just him, then moved on to Leslie. And once the main STEM became totally useless, they went back to the original plan of using Lily. But that raises the questions of 1) Where they really planning to put Lily into the STEM as its core during the timeframe where Ruvik was using it exclusively to torture people? And 2) Why would Mobius ever allow Myra to join them under those circumstances?

Because we now know that the timeline is that Lily was kidnapped, Myra investigated, found Mobius, and was allowed to join. Which is out of this world, that Mobius is so powerful as to control a majority of the globe's politicians and media, while also being foolish enough to let a mother who is also a decorated police detective join their cult after having kidnapped her daughter. Hoffman insists that Lily wasn't mistreated but they had her sealed up in a jar for YEARS. The notes say that a Core can't be missing for more than a few hours before things start to go loopy so once Union was up and running she was in there pretty much all the time. Did they really think Myra would be okay with that? Especially when up until that point STEM was a torture device that killed anyone who connected to it?? Did they try to brainwash her and it just didn't remotely work? How do you let a police detective with a grudge against you join the ranks of your world domination cult and expect her to stand by idly while you perform inhuman experiments on her young daughter?? And not only that, within a very short span of time they promoted her high enough that she was recruiting and training agents of her own!

If Mobius is so cavalier about the kind of people they let in, why didn't Myra just recruit Sebastian once she was on the in? She went through the trouble of telling Lily that her father was dead, let him stew as a drunken waste for 3 years, and not once just suggested bringing him in? No one would have even noticed he was gone at that point. And if that was too dangerous, why not slip him more advance warning of what was up? She instructed Kidman to take Lily to Seb once they got her out, but didn't give him any kind of heads up even though he was a jobless wreck. Mobius is lax enough that Theodore, Myra, and Kidman were all able to meet in public and discuss their plan, so why couldn't one of them at least drop him a note to be ready of some kind?

In any case, these are all relatively minor quibbles when compared to the entirely faulty conceit of the game's main plot: the Wireless STEM.

A note in TEW2 explains that the STEM needs to log a certain number of people and the data that represents their consciousness before it can achieve a wireless state. This completely flies in the face of the previous game, because in that, the wireless feature was something that Jimenez simply installed himself based on Ruvik's original blue print. It had nothing to do with Ruvik connecting enough people physically in order to achieve wifi. He got MORE powerful the more people he connected, with references to his influence outside the machine, but all they had to do to go wireless was to turn the damn thing on. It makes even less sense because in the TEW2 note, it says that they need at least 20,000 people to have been connected at one point in order to have enough data, and there's no possible way Ruvik had that many people in STEM. I mean, I guess it's possible with help from Mobius, but damn. Did they really go through that twice??

There's also the issue of The Core. We don't know where in Union Lily was supposed to be that matters so much that her leaving that place sends the whole city haywire. We don't know at what point she stopped being the Core and Myra took over, or how Myra was able to accomplish that when she's neither a child or psycho (and her selfless devotion to her daughter is the opposite of the "unfettered ego" Hoffman describes as being necessary). We don't know why Hoffman was perfectly aware that the Core is a little girl named Lily, but O'Neal was baffled by the concept (even though Lily's name is literally printed ON the Core itself). Some of this might be explained in notes but we don't really know how Stefano or Theodore were able to wield Lily's power just by having her be near them, or how they thought they could achieve wireless by fucking up Union beyond repair. After all, Mobius stopped importing people on the regular into STEM as soon as there was a problem, so why didn't Theodore wait to make his move until wireless was ready? How did he expect to achieve it, just by the Admin putting in teams 5 people at a time until they reached threshold?

More importantly, why the fuck do all Mobius operatives have a kill switch in their head, INCLUDING the Admin himself? The chips are explained as being a protection AGAINST the influence of STEM, so that the high ranking can continue to monitor the system. Obviously the Admin doesn't want his mind to be at the mercy of a child. So how is it possible that a failsafe AGAINST STEM can so easily be manipulated into a murder signal by STEM itself? That is the OPPOSITE of its intended purpose, how was Myra able to change the programming on chips inside of people's heads enough to achieve that without anyone noticing?? Why did Mobius link up their global transmitters before the STEM had been fully realized, and why wouldn't they shut those off in the case of an emergency, given what happened with Beacon?

Gosh there are just so many ways that this new game contradicts the original (though to be fair it also contradicted itself a great deal). There are a million examples I can think of, on top of things that simply don't make much logical sense, scenes and characters that add nothing. Why did they imply in the first game that Tatiana was a Mobius agent only to completely discard that and make her Sebastian specific? How does Mobius retain control of the entire world supposedly when every Mobius agent you meet is willing to abandon ship at the first sign of trouble? Did Hoffman know that even if she helped you reach Theodore, Myra's killswitch would have killed her, too? Did Sebastian ever think about that later? Why don't you see Myra's body connected to the STEM tubs, why didn't Sebastian try to retrieve it? Why did Myra make a big deal out of telling Sebastian to go get Lily at the end of the game, as if it's a last goodbye, only to limp up to the house herself and do the entire scene over again?? Why is she made out of plaster, what is the significance? Why did Ruvik's notes at the end of the DLC about Kidman and the Admin having bits of his consciousness inside them not come to anything? Why is Seb's hand bandaged as to suggest he has one too, except not really, he just got in a bar fight or something I guess?? If the Mu church is of a Scientology-like standing how does no one recognize the symbol when it's all over Beacon, and if it was created as a front and not the actual origins of Mobius, why is it given such significance in Ruvik's mind?? And where the fuck is Ruvik anyway???

Where is Joseph, and more importantly, why doesn't Sebastian care!?

So yeah you could say I have a lot of questions, and I intend to New Game + so I can get all the files I missed and hopefully piece something together from this mess.

But it's not all bad. In the last part of the game, when Kidman becomes a total badass, that was AWESOME. Unexpected that we would get to play as her and kick ass. That was the most cinematic and interesting part of the game hands down. I found Seb's family drama to be overly cheesy but at least pairing it with Kidman's assault and urgency helped a lot. That was great stuff.

I also really liked Liam's little arc, such as it was. He's pretty much the only character that goes through character development that wasn't broadcasted a million years ago. Seb coming to grips with his guilt and saving Lily was the most obvious and safe route for him to take. Liam going from coward to pawn to sub-boss to repentant was really fun, and he looked fantastic as the hognose. The thought that he was going to motivate the plot through betrayal was a breath of fresh air after a slog of "find Lily find Lily find Lily." His death was tragic without being overstated. Good shit.

And of course, The Upgrade Chair <3 Sebastian's conversations with Tatiana were a lot more interesting than anything he had to say to the other characters, too. While everyone else is just blah blahing exposition at you the whole game, Tatiana's conversations had some mystery, some level of unease that called back to the first game in a way the rest of TEW2 failed to do.

Because THAT was what was so intriguing about TEW. As irritating as it was at times to feel like you were entirely in the dark with no answers in sight, that at least gave the game a sense of momentum. I felt driven to complete the game because everything was just so fucking weird and I was desperate to understand what was happening to the characters. That didn't pay off in an entirely satisfying way, but at least it was interesting, at least it made you really think. In TEW2 everything is spelled out for you and the only thinking that needs doing is "Did these people actually play their own game before writing the sequel?" Because I'm honestly not sure.

It's obvious whoever's doing the comic did not, at least.

So yeah. I'll be starting a new playthrough to get more things and take some notes, because if nothing else I'd like to determine SOME kind of workable timeline. Why does the article about Sebastian's mental health describe Lily's death as "recent" but Kidman says that Lily was taken "long before joined them." Was it recent, or long ago? Do the writers even know???

Ficwise I don't know what I'll be up to yet. I'm open to suggestion and I'll probably make a separate post about that later. And if anyone wants to talk about the game, please lemme know, there's still a lot on my mind I didn't manage to get out here.

#The Evil Within #tew meta #tew discussion #tew2 #this fucking game #i have so many questions #and a lot of rage

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man-creates-dinosaurs · 7 years ago

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GODZILLA - A QUESTION OF ORIGINS: AN ESSAY ON GODZILLA’S PLACE IN PALEO-FICTION

Earlier this month Toho Studios and Polygon Pictures unveiled to the world the latest incarnation of Godzilla via a 2-meter tall statue erected in the lobby of the Cinecitta’ Theater in Kawasaki. While this new version of Godzilla, which will appear in the forthcoming anime film GODZILLA: PLANET OF THE MONSTERS (Nov. 17, Dir. Kōbun Shizuno & Hiroyuki Seshita), has an overall familiar silhouette, it is also in many ways radically different from anything that has come before it. With a forest green complexion, skin which looks like twisted roots and leaf-shaped dorsal fins, this new Godzilla has a rather arboreal look to him.

A subsequent press release from Toho published on Sci-Fi Japan provided further confirmation regarding Godzilla’s Swamp Thing-like new look by noting that this incarnation of Godzilla will be a “plant-based” life form. Needless to say this statement was fairly vague and raised numerous questions as to what exactly is meant by “plant-based.” Will Godzilla actually be a plant or part plant? Will he be an animal with a symbiotic relationship to plants? Maybe it just means he’s a vegetarian? It’s still too early to say but this has not stopped many Godzilla fans from reacting with consternation and condemnation (at least on this side of the Pacific, I have no idea what Japanese Gojira fans are making of all this). Much of this outrage stems from the fact that most fans take as gospel the idea that Godzilla’s origin is that of an extant dinosaur whose exposure to radiation from atomic bomb tests in the Pacific in the 1950s mutated the creature into the familiar kaijū known around the world today.

But is this actually the case?

It should be stated upfront that Godzilla’s creator, Toho Studios producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, is on record as saying that he originally conceived of Godzilla as “a dinosaur sleeping in the Southern Hemisphere [that] had been awakened and transformed into a giant by the [atomic] bomb.” However, Tanaka gave his statement to The Washington Post in 1984, many years after the fact and while promoting the then new film THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (1984, Dir. Koji Hashimoto) which, as we will see, was the first in a series of Godzilla movies which began placing greater emphasis on Godzilla’s connection to dinosaurs. Furthermore, digging into the production of the original Godzilla film from 1954 reveals that there was in fact no consensus early on regarding what exactly Godzilla should be. Special-effects director Eiji Tsuburaya campaigned for Godzilla to be a giant octopus while early concept art by cartoonist Kazuyoshi Abe depicted a monster more allegorical then biological in appearance, as it resembled an anthropomorphic living-mushroom cloud. It wasn’t until Toho art director Akira Watanabe took a pass at the design that Godzilla’s now familiar dinosaurian look began to emerge. However this essay is not interested in events which transpired behind the scenes but rather those which ended up in front of the cameras. In other words, the question being asked here is if the commonly upheld assertion that Godzilla is a ‘radioactive dinosaur’ can actually be found in the 31-films which make up Godzilla’s current cinematic legacy. To this end, the following essay will look at those films in the franchise which both explicitly and implicitly deal with the subject of Godzilla’s origin in order to find out what is and is not actually said about the King of the Monsters and where he comes from.

As a final note before proceeding it should be observed that because the role of science in science-fiction films is often to merely lend a veneer of scientific veracity to the events on screen via the use of technical sounding jargon it should not be expected that the paleontological claims made by various characters in the Godzilla films are in any way accurate or a reflection of what actual paleontologists have ever thought was true about dinosaurs. Nevertheless, there are moments in the franchise where actual paleontology – both cutting edge and hopelessly out-of-date – has been invoked, balanced out by scenes of utter pseudoscience. Because of this fact, this essay will endeavor to highlight which ideas are true, which are blatantly false and which fall somewhere in between. What this essay will not attempt to do however is use the tenants of contemporary paleontology to try and explain Godzilla’s origin – mostly because I am not a paleontologist. Readers who are interested in that kind of speculation have a number of essays on this very topic written by actual paleontologists including Kenneth Carpenter, Darren Naish, and Mark Witton which they should consult. Now on to the films…

Godzilla (1954)

In GODZILLA (1954, Dir. Ishiro Honda) Japanese fishing trawlers begin mysterious disappearing off the coast of Japan. When some of the survivors wash up on the nearby Odo Island journalist Hagiwara (Sachio Sakai) goes to investigate. He learns that the locals blame the disasters on a mythical monster called Gojira/Godzilla and that night, during a storm, Hagiwara briefly spies the beast. In response to Hagiwara’s report the Japanese government dispatches a team of scientists to investigate including paleontologist Dr. Kyohei Yamane (Takashi Shimura). Once on Odo Island, Dr. Yamane observes huge saurian footprints crisscrossing the terrain and discovers a living trilobite – a kind of extinct marine arthropod – in one of them. He also notes that the footprints are highly radioactive. Dr. Yamane isn’t on the island long when Godzilla reappears – this time in broad daylight – peeking over a nearby cliff before disappearing back into the sea. Based on his discoveries and observations Dr. Yamane returns to Tokyo where he delivers the following statement to government officials…

“About 2-million years ago, this brontosaurus and these other dinosaurs roamed the earth during a period the experts called Jurassic. During the following geological period, the Cretaceous, a creature somewhere between the marine reptiles and the evolving terrestrial animals was born. I am convinced there was such an intermediate creature. [Brings up photo of Godzilla to audible gasps from the audience] This creature, according to Odo Island folklore, is called Godzilla. As we look at this photo of Godzilla’s head from a hill on Odo Island, we can estimate that this creature stands approximately 50-meters tall. So then, how can we explain the presence of such a creature during the present day? It probably survived by eating deep sea organisms occupying a specific niche. However, recent experimental nuclear detonations may have drastically altered its natural habitat. I would even speculate that a hydrogen bomb explosion may have removed it from its surroundings.”

Dr. Yamane continues to elaborate upon his theory, showing off the trilobite he recovered from Godzilla’s footprint and explaining that the sand extracted from its shell is the same as that found in Jurassic era fossil deposits. This same sand also contained traces of “Strontium-90” a radioactive isotope “generated only from an atomic bomb.”

While Dr. Yamane’s never overtly declares that Godzilla is a ‘radioactive dinosaur’ his references to “brontosaurus and… other dinosaurs” – words accompanied by slides showing acclaimed paleoartist Rudolph F. Zallinger’s paintings of dinosaurs – strongly suggests the idea. More specifically, Dr. Yamane appears to believe that Godzilla represents a transitional form between terrestrial dinosaurs and marine reptiles (i.e. plesiosaurs, pliosaurs, ichthyosaurs and mosasaurs); a notion which is phylogenetically erroneous though perhaps not quite as egregious as the blatantly false assertion that non-avian dinosaurs were roaming the earth as recently as 2-million years ago.

Godzilla: The Shōwa Era (1955-1975)

As the Godzilla series progressed, emphasis on the question of Godzilla’s origin was gradually sidelined. Dr. Yamane returns in the franchise’s second film, GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN (1955, Dir. Motoyoshi Oda), just long enough to confirm the Japanese government’s fears that a second Godzilla has been discovered following the death of the first one in the 1954 film. To make matters worse a second kaijū, Anguirus, has also appeared and been identified by another scientist, Dr. Tadokoro (Masao Shimizu), as a type of Ankylosaurus.

What is interesting to note here is that while the Japanese films chose to deemphasize Godzilla’s possible dinosaurian origins, the American localizations of these same films insisted on actually putting more emphasis on such ideas via additional dialogue added either through dubbing or the insertion of new scenes. For example, in Warner Brother’s reworking of GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN, re-titled GIGANTIS THE FIRE MONSTER for US audiences, Dr. Yamane and Dr. Tadokoro’s brief bout of exposition is expanded into a nearly 7-minute long spiel featuring some of the most outrageous pseudoscience ever committed to screen in a 50s B-monster movie… or possibly anywhere else. Highlights include Dr. Yamane declaring that dinosaurs “were born out of fiery matter, their very existence was based upon the element of fire. They breathed fire, they survived in fire, fire was part of their organic makeup” and Dr. Tadokoro reading, allegedly out of paleontological textbook, an excerpt which reports that “somewhere, although it is not known when, these creatures may come alive after years of hibernation due to radioactive fallout.”

Universal’s 1963 Americanization of KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (1962, Dir. Ishiro Honda) fared no better. New scenes where added featuring United Nations reporter Eric Carter (Michael Keith) interviewing Dr. Arnold Johnson (Harry Holcombe), head of the Museum of Natural History in New York, who uses a copy of writer Darlene Geis and artist R.F. Peterson’s children’s science book Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals (1959) to explain that Godzilla is a hybrid between a Stegosaurus (a late Jurassic era, Ornithischian, herbivorous quadruped) and Tyrannosaurus Rex (a late Cretaceous era, Saurischian, carnivorous theropod). The mind reels.

Godzilla: The Heisei Era (1984-1995)

While the question of Godzilla’s origin quickly faded into the background during the Shōwa era, Toho’s second series of Godzilla films would revive the issue, placing new emphasis on the question and ultimately delivering what is to date the most detailed account of Godzilla’s dinosaurian beginnings.

In THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (1985, Dir. Koji Hashimoto), Godzilla’s sudden return after a nearly 30-year absence throws the Cold War powers of the United States and Russia into a tailspin with Japan serving as a reluctant middleman. Brash, young reporter Goro Maki (Ken Tanaka) has the inside scoop but is barred by the Japanese government from publishing his report due to concerns that the revelation that Godzilla is alive and well may cause an international panic. Maki then visits biologist Prof. Makoto Hayashida (Yosuke Natsuki) to learn more about Godzilla. Like Dr. Yamane, Prof. Hayashida never openly declares that Godzilla is a ‘radioactive dinosaur’ but the insinuation is clearly there. Prof. Hayashida’s lab is full of miniature fossil skeleton models of various extinct species and a coffee table in the room is covered with books on dinosaurs. When Maki asks the professor if he thinks Godzilla is a biological animal, Maki says yes but clarifies that due to his exposure to radiation Godzilla has been transformed into a “living nuclear weapon.” Prof. Hayashida then passes Maki a copy of David Lambert’s book Dinosaurs (1978) while intoning that he has also come to believe that Godzilla is “immortal” – the implication here being that Godzilla is not only an extant dinosaur but one which possibly has been around for millions of years.

This idea is further bolstered by Prof. Hayashida’s eventual plan to defeat Godzilla. Noting that Godzilla appears to follow the same migratory routes as modern birds, which are the evolutionary descendants of dinosaurs, Prof. Hayashida theorizes that Godzilla has a similar “homing” instinct to birds and that if they can find a way to manipulate this then they can effectively trick Godzilla into going where they tell him to, including having him walk straight into the mouth of an active volcano – which is exactly what they do!

Of course, Godzilla doesn’t stay there and eventually escapes for a sequel, GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE (1989, Dir. Kazuki Ohmori), which doesn’t feature any paleontological content. However, its sequel, GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH (1991, Dir. Kazuki Ohmori), does being the first and so far only film in the franchise to reveal the origin of Godzilla on screen.

The plot of GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH involves time-travelers from the year 2204 who come back to warn the Japanese that in the near future Godzilla will destroy the country of Japan entirely. In order to prevent this the time-travelers propose going back to the year 1944 and locating the extant dinosaur that would become Godzilla and moving it to another island in the South Pacific where it won’t be exposed to radiation from atomic bomb tests - thus negating Godzilla’s entire existence. The only problem however is that the time-travelers don’t know what island the dinosaur is on, which is why they have come to the year 1992 to find science-fiction writer Kenichiro Terasawa (Kosuke Toyohara) who is currently writing a book about Godzilla’s origin with the help of a scientist named Prof. Mazaki (Katsuhiko Sasaki) who has previously published a monograph in which he argues against the scientific consensus that dinosaurs went extinct 66-million years ago. Based on eyewitness accounts from surviving Japanese soldiers stationed on Lagos Island during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, Terasawa has concluded that a living dinosaur was present on the island and theorizes that this same dinosaur was subsequently mutated into Godzilla. Terasawa, Prof. Mazaki, and several other characters, join the time-travelers and journeys back to 1944. There on Lagos Island they witness the dinosaur, which Terasawa unoriginally dubs Godzillasaurus, fight off an American military platoon thereby saving the Japanese troops stationed on the island.

One of the most curious aspects about this whole scenario regarding Godzilla’s origin is the way in which the surviving Japanese soldiers come to revere and worship Godzilla as Japan’s savior. Early on in the film we see Terasawa interviewing a veteran named Masukichi Ikehata (Koichi Ueda) who has just managed to get himself kicked out of a natural history museum for walking around with banners and a megaphone declaring that…

“A long time ago, I saw a real-life dinosaur. You don’t know what it was like, but I certainly do! That dinosaur is always watching us from somewhere. And if we ever become helpless and desperate… Right when we’re about to be broken, the dinosaur will always come. A warning to the humans who desecrate the dinosaur. The dinosaur are sacred. Hear the voice of the dinosaur. I encountered it on the doomed battlefront of the War.”

Less extreme is wealthy business tycoon Yasuaki Shindo (Yoshio Tsuchiya), who was also stationed on Lagos Island in ’44 and witnessed the dinosaur, an incident which has led to an apparent life-long obsession with dinosaurs to the point that Shindo’s corporate office is filled with model dinosaurs and a huge dinosaur mural hangs on the wall behind his desk.

Takayuki Tatsumi, who is a real-world professor of literary theory and American literature at Keio University, writes that such devotion as displayed by Ikehata and Shindo recalls the practices of Ōishigori Shintoism which was a splinter sect of the Japanese national religion of Shinto which is an animistic faith that teaches the worship of nature as an embodiment of the divine. Ōishigori Shintoism, pioneered by Meiji era clairvoyant Ōishigori Masumi (b. 1832 – d. 1913) – who feared that Shinto was falling behind the rival religions of Christianity and Buddhism as well as then cutting-edge scientific thought such as Darwin’s Theory of Evolution – conversely taught that the Japanese were not the evolutionary descendants of early hominids but rather arose from dragons born of stone pebbles filled with chi by the gods. According to Ōishigori these “dragons” – the ones mentioned in Shinto texts like the Kojiki and Nihon-Nihongi – were actually extant dinosaurs. Furthermore not all the dinosaurs had evolved into humans. Rather some had remained hidden deep in the sea where they lived on as Dragon Gods. Either way, what Ōishigori was ultimately advocating was a worldview in which the Japanese are both the descendants of dinosaurs and worship dinosaurs as living-gods.

Having explicitly established Godzilla’s status as a living dinosaur, the fifth film in the Heisei series sees this information put to use. A scientific expedition lead by Prof. Ohmae (Yûsuke Kawazu) to Adona Island in the Bering Sea – which is described by one character as a “nuclear junkyard” – leads to the discovery of the mutant pteranodon Rodan and the recovery of a gigantic unhatched prehistoric egg. Prof. Ohmae initially believes the egg is Rodan’s, but is proven wrong when it eventually hatches revealing an infant Godzillasaurus. By studying this creature the scientists at the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC) learn that Godzilla’s species has two brains; one located in the skull and another at the base of the spine. Using this knowledge they plan to attack Godzilla’s second brain with hopes paralyzing the monster.

The idea that Godzilla would have two brains may seem odd but is actually based on a real-life theory about dinosaurs developed by acclaimed and controversial 19th-Century Yale paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh who observed that many of the biggest dinosaurs – specifically sauropods and stegosaurus – had an unusually large medullar cavity in the sacropelvic region of their bodies. Because the heads of these giant dinosaurs seemed so absurdly small for their massive bodies Marsh concluded that this sacral cavity must have housed a second brain which worked to control the back half of their bodies while the one in their skulls controlled the front half. Marsh’s double-brain hypothesis was eventually overturned and paleontologists now believe that such cavities housed rich stores of glycogen rather than extra grey matter. Nevertheless the myth of the two-brained dinosaurs persists to this day popping up as recently as 2013 when it was invoked by scientist Dr. Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day) in the film PACIFIC RIM (Dir. Guillermo del Toro).

Godzilla (1998)

The origin of the Godzilla which appears in 1998’s GODZILLA (Dir. Roland Emmerich) is a matter of some controversy. After a destroyed Japanese fishing boat washes ashore in Panama with a series of huge saurian footprints leading away from it, the US military assembles a team of scientists to assess the situation and determine what kind of creature might be responsible. Among the team is paleontologist Dr. Elsie Chapman (Vicki Lewis) who early on deduces that they are dealing with an extant “Theropoda Allosaurus;” a theory which is met with skepticism by her teammates Dr. Nick Tatopoulos (Matthew Broderick) and Dr. Mendel Craven (Malcolm Danare). In Stephen Molstad’s adult novelization of the film, Dr. Craven, in particular, raises a number of objections to Dr. Chapman’s contention that Godzilla is a living dinosaur including the issues of how it would have survived the K-T mass extinction, why no one has seen it before now, that it is hailing from the wrong part of the globe (Allosaurus fossils are found in the American West, not the South Pacific), and the fact that theropod dinosaurs are not generally believed to have been amphibious.

However despite these serious objections neither Dr. Craven nor Dr. Tatopoulos are ever actually capable of refuting Dr. Chapman’s contentions and it does not appear that Dr. Chapman herself ever abandons them. In fact, it would appear that both of her colleagues may have later actually come to agree with her. Evidence of this is found in Molstad’s novelization where we learn that Dr. Craven eventually authored a book about Godzilla called Cretaceous-period Park; a title which suggests a belief that Godzilla is a relic dinosaur. Furthermore in the pilot episode of the animated GODZILLA: THE SERIES (1998-2000, 40 Episodes), Dr. Tatopoulous discovers a baby Godzilla in the sewers of New York. The infant imprints on him (like a bird) and comes to believe he’s its parent. When his colleagues learn about this second Godzilla they initially want it destroyed leading Dr. Tatopoulous to plead with them to allow the creature to live, at one point saying to Dr. Chapman: “You’re a paleontologist. Why would you destroy your only living specimen?”

The alternative theory as to this Godzilla’s origin is that it is a mutated version of a contemporary reptile; either a marine iguana or a member of the Varanidae family which includes both monitor lizards and Komodo Dragons. The opening credit sequence of the 1998 film alludes to such an origin via its juxtaposition of images of South Pacific reptiles and atomic bomb detonations. Additionally this is the pet theory of Dr. Tatopoulos, having come to him, according to Molstead, in the form of a recurring nightmare. In H.B. Gilmour’s junior novelization of the film this theory is all but validated by the book’s opening page which describes a scene set in “June 1968” in which the eggs of a “six-foot-long reptile” living on an island in the Pacific are exposed to the fallout from an atomic bomb test. [1]

Godzilla: The Millennium Series (1999-2004)

Toho’s third series of Godzilla films would once again sideline the issue of Godzilla’s origin, be it prehistoric or otherwise. The movie which proves the exception to this rule however is 2001’s GODZILLA, MOTHRA, KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTER’S ALL-OUT ATTACK (Dir. Shusuke Kaneko) which is notable for not only tackling this issue but in doing so also effectively appearing to tear down and dismiss everything which had previously been established about what Godzilla is and where he comes from.

In the film, the ghost of folklorist Prof. Hirotoshi Isayama (Hideyo Amamoto) prophesies Godzilla’s return. He also explains that Godzilla is the embodiment of “the souls of countless people who fell victim to the Pacific War” and who have returned to attack Japan “because people have forgotten… Forgotten the agony of those killed in the war… Forgotten their cries…”

In making the claim that Godzilla is the personification of the restless spirits of those who died during WWII, Prof. Isayama is essentially positing that Godzilla, rather than being a biological entity, is a supernatural one, specifically an onryō, or vengeful spirit, like those seen in such Japanese horror movies as RING (1998, Dir. Hideo Nakata), PULSE (2001, Dir. Kiyoshi Kurosawa) and JU-ON: THE GRUDGE (2002, Dir. Takashi Shimizu). While such an interpretation may appear to be totally out of left field, it actually reflects a widespread interpretation of Godzilla which became popular among real-world Japanese folklorists – such as Akasaka Norio and Nagayama Yasuo – and film critics – like Yomota Inuhiko – in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Such an interpretation would also appear to be about as far removed from the understanding of Godzilla as ‘mutant dinosaur’ as one can get.

However, as mentioned earlier in conjunction with GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH (1991), such a theory also raises the specter of Ōishigori Shintoism again and the idea that the Japanese are somehow both spiritually and evolutionarily related to dinosaurs. How else do you explain why the souls of dead Japanese soldiers would manifest in the form of a huge dinosaurian monster like Godzilla?

Godzilla (2014)

Much like its depiction of the monster itself, the second American-made Godzilla film, GODZILLA (2014, Dir. Gareth Edwards), does a good job of obfuscating the issue of Godzilla’s origin. Despite having presumably spent their entire careers studying this creature and others like it, biologists Dr. Ishiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Dr. Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) are only willing to say that Godzilla is “an ancient alpha predator… Millions of years older than mankind, from a time when the earth was ten times more radioactive than it is today.” It is unclear exactly what geological time period the scientists are referring to here. Earth has frequently been bombarded by cosmic radiation throughout its 4.5 billion-year history leading to periods when the planet was indeed “more radioactive than it is today” (though only 10x more seems to be low-balling it). This could mean that Godzilla came about as far back as 2.5 billion to 3 billion-years ago – which seems unlikely since the only known life on the planet at this point was photosynthetic bacteria – or as recently as 1.7 million-years ago when our hominid ancestor Paranthropus Robustus was walking the plains of Africa.

However, the movie’s official prequel comic, Godzilla: Awakening written by the film’s scriptwriter Max Borenstein alongside his brother Greg, has a much younger Serizawa claim that Godzilla and his fellow Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms (or MUTOs) originate from the Permian Period which ended roughly 252.2 million-years ago. If so this would disqualify Godzilla from being a dinosaur since dinosaurs did not appear until after the Permian Mass Extinction, known colloquially as the Great Dying, which was the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history resulting in the end of nearly 90% of all marine species and 70% of all terrestrial species. It would also contradict Dr. Serizawa and Dr. Graham’s later contentions that such creatures thrived in an intensely radioactive environment since there is no evidence to suggest that the earth was particularly radioactive during this time.

While Monarch’s scientists may be unsure of what Godzilla is, protagonist Ford Brody’s son Sam knows a dinosaur when he sees one and proudly identifies Godzilla as such when he first spies the creature on television. Likewise in Greg Cox’s novelization of the film, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) finds himself thinking that Godzilla resembles “some unknown species of dinosaur” despite the fact that it is “at least thirty times larger than even a Tyrannosaurus rex.”

Shin Godzilla (2016)

The most recent live-action Godzilla movie from Toho Studios, SHIN GODZILLA (2016, Dir. Hideaki Anno & Shinji Higuchi), spends the most screen time since the Heisei era elaborating upon Godzilla’s hypothetical biology and offering up an explanation for everything including his dorsal fins which are theorized to help regulate body temperature; a popular theory also proposed about Stegosaurus’ iconic back plates. The film also explores Godzilla’s origin via data discovered in an envelope found by the Japanese Coast Guard in an abandoned yacht drifting in Tokyo Bay at the beginning of the movie

Eventually the yacht is identified as having belonged to Prof. Goro Maki (Kihachi Okamoto), who is presumed to have committed suicide prior to the start of the film. A quick glance at Prof. Maki’s CV shows that he specialized in Integrative Biology and additional information discovered by the film’s protagonists reveals that following his wife’s death in an unspecified nuclear accident (possibly the Fukushima Daiichi disaster?), Maki abandoned his job as a Japanese college professor and went to work for the United States Department of Energy. There Prof. Maki focused his research on the effects of nuclear waste dumped by the US on the South Pacific Ocean floor. He eventually discovered that the waste was being fed upon by a certain marine organism which had mutated into the creature that would eventually become Godzilla. Prof. Maki’s report was subsequently suppressed by the US government.

Though it is not stated in the film what kind of marine organism Prof. Maki believed had fed on the nuclear waste, a five page English language essay titled “Inventory of Radioactive Material Entering the Marine Environment” found in The Art of Shin Godzilla making-of book and attributed to Prof. Maki reveals that the scientist had concluded that the culprit was “most likely… a prehistoric marine reptile” either a Mosasaurs or an Ichthyosaurus. Like Dr. Yamane, Prof. Maki seems to have also believed that such a creature would represent a transitional form between Mesozoic marine reptiles and dinosaurs, or at least that is what one is left to conclude from the otherwise paleontological non-sequitur that is Prof. Maki’s declaration that “any ichthyosaur that is the size of a chicken or larger would be recognized as a dinosaur.”

Godzilla: Monster Planet (2017) and Beyond…

Due to the respective domestic and international box office success of GODZILLA (2014) and SHIN GODZILLA (2016) both Hollywood and Toho Studios in Japan have committed to producing a slate of new films in the Godzilla franchise. This includes at least two more films in what Legendary Pictures is calling the MonsterVerse cinematic universe that already includes GODZILLA (2014) and this year’s KONG: SKULL ISLAND (Dir. Jordan Vogt-Roberts). It is unknown if these two new films, GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS (2019, Dir. Michael Dougherty) and GODZILLA VS. KONG (2020, Dir. Adam Wingard), will attempt to elucidate the murky origin of the second American Godzilla but if KONG: SKULL ISLAND, which did a great deal to clarify various aspects of the MonsterVerse’s underlying mythology, is any indication they probably will.

However, as mentioned at the top of this essay, the next theatrical film which fans can look forward to will be the animated GODZILLA: PLANET OF THE MONSTERS from Toho and Polygon Pictures and which will debut in Japan this November before heading to Netflix for worldwide distribution either late this year or early next year. As noted this new film has raised the possibility of botanical-based King of the Monsters, an idea which strikes many fans as anathema. For this contingent of fans Godzilla is a dinosaur, both now and forever. What this essay has attempted show however is that while the idea that Godzilla is a mutant dinosaur, or some other kind of similar prehistoric reptile, is one which has been present throughout the franchise’s 60+ year history it is also not one which has been clear or consistent in its fundamental contentions.

Perhaps the key here is to think about the idea of Godzilla as dinosaur not in a strict scientific sense but rather in a symbolic one. As I often remind my students when doing my class on dinosaurs in popular-culture, much of the dinosaur’s power come from the fact that they are inherently liminal entities. This means that they exist simultaneously between two conflicting states of being. In the case of the dinosaurs their liminality arises from the fact that they are simultaneously both real and imaginary. They are real because we have their bones, we know they existed. But they are also imaginary because no human has ever seen one and so we must be content to use our imaginations to tell us what they were like. This fact transforms dinosaurs into a potent symbol. An empirically verifiable fantasy. In this way Godzilla, as dinosaur, lays claim to a status that other more purely fantastic creatures cannot. IMAGE: Godzilla, having laid waste to the cities of man, welcomes back his saurian brethren in artist Pete Von Sholly’s “The Return” (2014)

[1] It is also possible that both Dr. Chapman and Dr. Tatopoulous’ theories are incorrect or, perhaps, only partially correct. In the same pilot episode of GODZILLA: THE SERIES a subsequent scene featuring both scientists find Dr. Chapman noting that many of Godzilla’s behaviors fly in the face of conventional notions about “carnivorous dinosaurs,” while Dr. Tatopoulous concedes that Godzilla does not behave “like a lizard” either.

#dinosaur #dinosaurs #dinosaur movies #godzilla #shin godzilla #godzilla 1954 #the return of godzilla #godzilla 2014 #godzilla 1998 #godzilla vs king ghidorah #godzilla vs king kong #godzilla monster planet #godzilla mothra and king ghidorah: giant monsters all-out attack #godzilla planet of the monsters #anime

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katelynrushe26 · 5 years ago

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Rereading “Remnants”

I want to start this review by adding to an idea from my Everworld review. I speculated that the Scholastic Corporation had been afraid to promote a young adult book series from the late 90's called Everworld, due to it being written by the same authors as Animorphs but possibly being too mature for the same audience. This seems all the more evident now that I've reacquainted myself with Remnants, a third book series that K.A. Applegate and Michael Grant also wrote together. The beginning of every Remnants book features a list of the pair's other Scholastic titles, and while that list includes Animorphs, it doesn't include Everworld.

This could be forgivable, since Remnants was also geared towards a younger audience than Everworld, but the final Everworld book actually promoted Remnants. The finales of both Animorphs and Everworld presented a full-page ad and a chapter-long excerpt from the first Remnants book, and yet only one of them got a shoutout in return when Remnants came out. I still can't say anything for certain, but this one-way "cross promotion" really suggests that Scholastic wanted readers to forget Everworld and embrace Remnants as "the other K.A. Applegate series" instead.

This is ironic for two reasons. The first is that despite its lack of adult content like swearing, sexuality, and alcoholism, Remnants is actually way darker than Everworld in tone. Multiple gruesome character deaths occur in almost every book, and most of the proceedings have a bleak, humorless, mean-spirited vibe to them. The second reason is that despite all of this favorable treatment from its publisher, Remnants really didn't fare much better than Everworld. It only ran for about two years with fourteen books, fell into obscurity afterwards, and has very little information about it available today.

And as someone who tried reading it once before as a teen but didn't get halfway through the series, I have a pretty good idea why.

Remnants tells the story of eighty humans who escape from Earth right before an asteroid destroys the planet. After five hundred years in hibernation, they wake to find they've landed aboard Mother, a deserted alien spaceship that can simulate any environment. The catch is that Mother currently has no operator, and three hostile alien species are fighting the humans to seize control of it. Totally unarmed, the humans have to dodge perils at every turn as they wander the ship's patchwork of environments in search of the command bridge.

At least that's what the first half of Remnants is about. The second half centers around the humans, now more or less in control of Mother, rediscovering what's left of Earth and trying to return to it so they can rebuild the world they lost — all while three mutants in the ship's basement try to overthrow them and use Mother to conquer the universe.

Notice that I didn't mention any character names in that summary. That's because when you get right down to it, Remnants isn't really about its characters. Unlike Animorphs, which was almost entirely character-driven, and Everworld, which was more setting-driven but still had an interesting main cast, Remnants is mostly plot-driven. It's about weird things happening and other weird things being done to resolve them. The characters' emotions are largely glossed over, and while some of them do grow and change throughout the series (at least the ones who survive), their primary role is just to witness and carry out all these bizarre happenings until the main conflict changes again.

To be fair though, here are some of the core characters. The main one is Jobs, a fourteen-year-old computer wiz and romantic idealist who just wants the group to have a home again. There's also his best friend Mo'Steel, a fun-loving adrenaline junkie with an easy-going, can-do attitude; 2Face, a girl with a half-burned face who wants to be a strong leader but is too aggressive, manipulative, and paranoid for her own good; Violet, a sophisticated, no-nonsense art expert who always does her best to help; Yago, a selfish, entitled bully who constantly tries to divide the others so he can control them more easily; Billy, a quiet Chechnyan orphan who goes mad during his hibernation and is the only human able to control Mother; and Tamara, a Marine soldier who gave birth to a creepy, possibly alien baby in hibernation that is now mind-controlling her to do its bidding. Like I said, bizarre happenings.

I should point out that unlike Animorphs and Everworld, which were written in First-Person with a different narrator for each book, Remnants is written in Third-Person with numerous shifts in perspective throughout each book. It could be that this different writing style just makes the Remnants characters seem less personal since it's not what I'm used to from these authors, but I also think that having a lot fewer characters would have done this series a world of good. Most of the characters that I didn't list above are either red-shirts who are just there to get killed or seat-fillers who have nothing to do half the time. Some characters die offscreen in between chapters or even in between books, and one who manages to live through the whole series doesn't get mentioned in the final book's epilogue. The story just seems to forget about him.

The most engaging characters are probably 2Face and Yago. We never quite get the full details of how 2Face got burned, but she sees her disfigurement as sort of a scarlet letter for the "ugly" side of her persona. Eventually, that inner ugliness alienates her from the group, and she becomes so desperate to redeem herself in their eyes that she'll stoop to any low towards the end of the series. She's tragic and despicable all at once, much like her supervillain namesake.

Yago, in contrast, is so over-the-top slimy and egotistical that it kind of gets funny after a while. You can actually love to hate this guy at times, especially in Book 6 when he makes Mother simulate a world where he's the president of the United States. Surprisingly though, the series manages to give him an arc towards the end that leads to some of its few legitimately poignant moments.

But since the plot is the real focus of Remnants, how does that hold up? Well, it holds up fairly well for the first half of the series. The mystery surrounding Mother, Tamara's baby, and the various alien species is all kind of intriguing, and we get just enough answers in each book to keep it that way. Other developments, such as Billy learning to harness Mother and some of the other humans learning that they've gained mutant superpowers, can also make us curious about where the story is going. The climaxes of Books 5-7 are imaginative and exciting, and while the characters don't quite resonate enough to give us an emotional connection to anything, the end of Book 7 still feels like a satisfying achievement.

The second half of the series is where the real trouble starts.

Again, I can't say anything for certain due to the lack of info, but I get the sense that sales for Remnants really started to drop halfway through its run. Books 1-8 have fancy, embossed, metallic lettering for their titles on the front covers, but Books 9-14 have flat, standard printing for theirs. The cover art also starts to look more slapped together after Book 8, and the books themselves start to get shorter on average. It feels like Scholastic saw the writing on the wall and started doing whatever it could to cut corners and wrap up the series as quickly as possible.

But getting back to the plotting, Books 8 and 9 are about the same in quality as the previous ones, even though Book 8 starts with a three-month time jump from the end of Book 7. Book 10, however, is hands down the worst book in the series.

See, Book 9 ends with a mid-battle cliffhanger, and instead of picking up from there, Book 10 jumps ahead another three months and just gives us a summary of how the battle ended. We find out that two somewhat important characters died in the fight, and then a third, more important one also dies pretty much offscreen with little fuss during the events of Book 10. We get two more massive time jumps over the course of the book as the humans sail Mother back to Earth, and then shortly after they land there, a fourth character who was finally starting to get interesting also abruptly dies. And then the book pulls a surprise twist that effectively throws everything the series was about into the garbage. I don't blame K.A. Applegate or Michael Grant for this, since I suspect Scholastic was starting to tighten the vice and I'm fairly sure Book 10 was ghost-written, but reading it made me furious.

Books 11 and 12 have the opposite problem; they try to slow things back down to establish the new characters, setting, and conflict, but they go too far and just drag. I was pretty much ready to pan the entire rest of the series after this point...but then Book 13 came along.

I've heard that this one was also ghost-written, but out of all the Remnants installments, Book 13 feels the most like Applegate and Grant's usual writing style. It's told almost entirely from the perspective of a girl named Tate who got separated from the other humans in Book 10, and it deals with her fighting for survival against the new villain trio in Mother's basement. Survival also happens to be the book's official subtitle, by the way.

This is a character piece first and foremost. It still has a lot of the weird, otherworldly elements you expect from the series, but we're allowed to single in on just one protagonist's view of them and see how she gradually comes to grips with them. The focus is on how those things impact her character, not on the mere fact that they exist and that they're weird. We also get to explore the protagonist's backstory in an open, honest, and meaningful way, and the things that we learn about her from her memories actually factor into her decision making throughout the book. Best of all, the ending throws more of those mind-bending Remnants twists at us, and while they could stand to be better explained, they have a genuine emotional resonance because the book let us properly get to know the character that experiences them. One of Tate's big discoveries at the end of the book even lends emotional weight to the entire scope of the series and makes us understand why it's so important for the characters to try and start a new life on Earth.

Book 13: Survival has Animorphs Chronicles levels of pathos. It's easily the crown jewel of the whole Remnants series, and I wish the rest of the series had been more like it. So it's only fitting that this wonderful exception to every complaint I've ever had about Remnants...is entirely skippable.

I'm not kidding. Everything that Tate accomplishes and discovers in Book 13 gets reexplained to the other characters in Book 14, so you don't even need to read Book 13. Good news for the superstitious readers, I guess.

Book 14, the finale, has the same problem as Books 11 and 12, plus it barely ties up any of the loose ends from all the mysteries that the series built up. One character gets a thought-provoking ending to their arc, another major one dies offscreen, and everyone else gets an ending that's earned, I guess, but the tone of it doesn't feel consistent with the overall series. In fact, I question if it was even Applegate or Grant's idea.

Despite this, I am glad that I finally went back and read all of Remnants. There was a gem or two in there, and when the series was imaginative, it was extremely imaginative. However, I think it's more interesting as a case study in how constant corporate deadlines and pressure can wear down a project. At least that's what I have to deduce it's a case study in. I'll always have the utmost respect for K.A. Applegate and Michael Grant, and while I do believe that Remnants could have been better under more ideal circumstances, I'm willing to view the series itself as the ultimate testament to its thesis: that no matter how disastrous things get, there's always a chance of something good surviving.

But seriously, Everworld is better.

#ka applegate #remnants #michael grant #book series #scholastic #animorphs #everworld #review #young adult #scifi #mayflower project #jobs #mo'steel #2face #yago

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ohcaptaintarthister · 7 years ago

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Brienne of Tarth: The Finale Death Twist?

Before I begin, some things first:

1. Brienne is my FAVORITE character in the books and the TV show. I love that her character has put into question the meaning of being a woman and femininity, and the portrayal of Gwendoline Christie is just perfect.

2. Being as she’s my favorite, I don’t want to see her dead. I don’t want her hurt any more than she already is in the books. She’s my baby.

3. In the immortal words of Ramsay Bolton, “If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.” (Ramsay Bolton deserves to be eaten alive by fire ants but Iwan Rheon was fucking excellent in the role)

4. Bear in mind this is just a SPECULATION. It’s not based on leaks but on what I’ve seen in the show this Season 7.

5. Again, she’s my favorite. I’d hate if this happens. As I told a friend, if D&D do this, they should throw themselves into shark-infested waters.

6. This post contains spoilers from Episode 6. Leave if you haven’t seen it yet. I don’t want to ruin it for you.

You’re still here? Here we go.

As a fan of Brienne, Season 5 was a huge disappointment. After a run-in with Littlefinger’s knights at an inn, the most badass warrior in the Seven Kingdoms arrived just outside of Winterfell and spent the rest of the season waiting for a light to appear in the tower. Moments before Sansa finally did what we’ve been waiting for, Brienne was told by Podrick about Stanni’s army marching toward Winterfell. I felt Brienne’s conflict at being caught between two vows: avenging Renly or fulfilling her promise to Catelyn Stark and Jaime Lannister to find and protect Sansa. She chose Renly.

Season 6 reminded us of the Brienne we’ve come to know and love. She rescued Sansa from the Boltons, reunited her with Jon at Castle Black, vowed to serve her and give her counsel if need be. Then of course came Episode 8, which reunited her, too briefly, with Jaime Lannister. It ended in another goodbye, yet it wasn’t as heart-wrenching as their previous partings. There was hope that they would meet again in Season 7 and maybe this time, stay with each other.

We know what’s happened to that so far.

With the show having no source material to draw from beginning Season 5, D&D were forced to advance character storylines and events based on rough outlines and their own interpretations of them. Season 5 was bad, bad, bad, without question. Season 6, which revisited some chapters of the books, was great.

Season 7 started on a good note. Not as great as we’ve been hoping but there’s really not much to expect from a transitionary episode. And then. . .you know the rest.

My frustration aside, I suppose it rocks that characters who either last saw each other in Season 1 or have never shared a scene together are now on a collision course. Tyrion and Jon! Tyrion, Jon and Theon! Jon and Daenerys! Arya! Sansa! Jaime and Daenerys! JAIME AND TYRION. DRAGONS! Euron. It’s obvious that it’s these meetings that matter and fuck logic. Fuck questions. Just sit back, watch and drool over dragons now the size of 747s. Alright.

But I can’t. I just can’t. I do understand the importance of reaching the finish line at all costs but the current season has made some compromises that I simply can not agree with. And one of that is Brienne.

Let’s be honest. In the books, after Brienne leaves King’s Landing, she just wanders around, gets attacked, gets her face eaten off. Then she gets hanged by Lady Stoneheart. She finds Jaime and lies about Sansa. The next time she’s referenced, it’s after Cersei is told that Jaime went off with Brienne and they haven’t been seen in weeks.

It’s not interesting TV seeing Brienne lost in Westeros and possibly failing to fulfill her vows. You want to see a character who succeeds so we get TV Brienne fighting against the Hound, Knights of the Vale and Bolton men. That’s fine with me. Because through no fault of her own, she already had, in a way, failed in her vows--she couldn’t protect Renly from Stannis’ shadow assassin, she wasn’t there when Catelyn was murdered. So yeah, I wanted to see her achieve something in the show.

Now there’s not one but three Starks back in Winterfell. She also managed to convince Jaime to take Riverrun peacefully rather than through violence. She didn’t get the Tully men but made it back to Winterfell unscathed. Here, she continues training Podrick. She becomes Arya’s sparring partner. She remains suspicious of Littlefinger. My question is, is this all that Brienne is left to do?

No. She has to do one more thing.

This is the part that’s unpleasant. I fucking hate it. I would love to be proven wrong. I don’t blame anyone who reads this for hating me. I hate myself for writing this too. But I am, anyway.

She’s not doing anything much in Winterfell. It’s painful to watch. It’s more painful than in Season 5 because at least you’re still wondering if she will fulfill her vow regarding the Stark girls. But as Podrick thought to point out in Episode 4 of this season, she has fulfilled her vows to Catelyn Stark. You might read that as Brienne being noble and honorable. I do.

I also read it as a death sentence.

No, this isn’t the unpleasant part yet.

If you’ve seen Episode 6, Sansa is sending her to King’s Landing in answer to Cersei’s summons. Holy Seven Fucking Hells. What was Sansa thinking? If she was sure that Cersei would take her as prisoner or worse (I don’t think Cersei is 100 % convinced she’s innocent from Joffrey’s murder), why would she think Brienne would be treated any nicer? Knowing how Cersei is, she’s going to take this as an insult. She’s high on being Queen, getting to fuck her brother openly, there’s another incest baby on the way. What would stop her from hurting Brienne?

I’m not yet on that hated, hated part.

Look, Brienne has not had anything to do this season. I don’t know what her point is anymore in the show unless something happens to her in the finale that advances the plot significantly. I would love if her presence yanks Jaime from the fluffy incest cloud he’s been on. But then D&D didn’t only had to shoot down the BT ship (thank goodness), they also had to announce that one of them will be killed soon. That’s going to be Brienne.

Think about it. If Tormund dies, so what? He’s not a POV character. His death would be sad for Jon, if he’s there. But for such a dispensable character, this might be the factor that ensures Tormund survives until a few episodes of Season 8. His death will do nothing to the plot. That’s his armor. When he dies, you’ll mourn for three seconds. That’s it. If you mourn.

Season 7 has been surprisingly sparing in known character death tolls. We don’t give a fuck about Ellaria and Bad Pussy although it’s horrible how they went. We felt and cheered for Olenna. But they’re not POV characters. I have a bad feeling that D&D are saving up a major death in the finale and it’s going to be Brienne.

Why Brienne? Again, she’s not doing much this season. That’s a bad sign. From a character that was instrumental in Jaime Lannister re-thinking about honor, she’s been slowly pushed to the sidelines. She’s become something other major and POV characters are propped on--Sansa and Arya, namely, maybe even Tormund. She’s used to give them meat. And I think Jaime Lannister is next in line.

Who is not furious with Jaime’s arc this season? It’s a BETRAYAL to the Jaime we know and kind of root for in the books. His disillusionment with Cersei begins much earlier. They never have sex after the deed next to Joffrey’s corpse. Everything that Book!Jaime has done to get us on his side has been undone or not at all by TV!Jaime.And with him more attached to Cersei, who has promised to acknowledge him publicly as their baby’s father, he won’t be leaving her side. Unless--

Unless Cersei discovers his other betrayal.

Remember in Episode 5 when she was taunting Jaime about being betrayed by Bronn? How she knew about their meeting with Tyrion but let it happen? She was testing him. After she tells him about the baby and they, ick, kiss and hug, she reminds him to never betray her again. I don’t think Jaime will be leaving her side anytime soon.

But what if Cersei hurts Brienne to teach Jaime about never betraying her again? Wait, Cersei doesn’t hurt people. She tortures them.

Alright people, this is the very unpleasant part. Look away. Stop reading this. Again, I hope I’m wrong. But we’ll know next week. I’m gunning that this is sick crack, okay?

Cersei has no idea in both the show and the books that Jaime charged Brienne with looking for Sansa and protecting her. When Brienne arrives in King’s Landing in Episode 7, and, being that this is the season for suspending disbelief (you don’t drown in armor nor fur, you won’t freeze to death falling asleep in the snow), I will have to believe that Cersei knows swords and she will recognize Oathkeeper. There has to be a reason why Sandor Clegane, Littlefinger and Brynden Tully have called attention to Brienne’s Lannister sword in previous seasons. It’s to lead to this moment. It’s not going to be pretty.

We probably won’t see torture (I hope not). But what if prior to the Dragon Pit scene, IF there is a scene here (I’m not basing my spec on leaks but on what’s been on the show so far), there’s a confrontation between Jaime and Cersei? Cersei reminds Jaime about his promise to never betray her again and he swears he hasn’t. Enter Brienne, clearly bearing signs of torture.

Cersei is barely keeping it together but she’s gleeful. Jaime is horrified. In order to teach him a lesson, she has The Mountain kill Brienne. Jaime is unable to stop her. Finally, he knows Cersei for what she truly is. But the price is too high.

Except for the population of King’s Landing, the people Jaime saved didn’t really fare well later. He chose to murder Aerys after being told to bring him Tywin’s head. Years later, he had to tell Tywin that he couldn’t believe he saved his father just for him to want his baby brother dead. Tywin is murdered by Tyrion. Jaime pushed Bran off the tower but his children died horribly, anyway.

What if there are callbacks to these in the season finale? He saved Brienne from rape and a bear only for her to be tortured and murdered at Cersei’s orders.

Brienne’s murder finally shows Jaime the extent of Cersei’s cruelty. He wasn’t there when she blew up the Sept (and is probably unaware she’s behind it). He didn’t know she had Ros tortured to keep Tyrion in line. He was off sulking while she gave Bad Pussy the Poison Kiss and sentenced Ellaria to the torture of seeing her daughter die so painfully. He’s finally awake. Along with the realization of the kind of person Cersei really is is also the realization that he contributed to Brienne’s death. That’s going to destroy him but no, Jaime won’t kill himself.

So if and when he leaves King’s Landing, it’s really over between him and Cersei. Away from this cesspool, Jaime has to try and live with honor. It’s going to be hell. Brienne was the only person who believed this about him. He has to try. At last, he will try.

**** I told you it’s upleasant.

#spoilers #brienne of tarth #got7 #jaime lannister

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centaurianthropology · 8 years ago

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Team Archive’s Roles

I’ve been thinking about the roles that Sims and Team Archives play, and why each of them is critical. Why each of them is irreplaceable in the eyes of the Archives. The below is going to contain both canon evidence and some massive speculation on my part, so yeah. Combo canon-analysis and fanon ponderings, anyone?

Jonathan Sims – THE ARCHIVIST

I think, in light of the increasing evidence that Sims was selected for this role by the Archive itself, and that he would be very hard to replace, that Sims is slowly becoming the embodiment of the archives. All others roles in the archives are ancillary to this goal, and to supporting him. Of course, how those roles get filled may well determine how much humanity and how much sanity Sims gets to keep, so they certainly aren’t any less important to us. They’re just less important to the Archive itself.

It’s interesting that the first urge Sims had upon assumption of his new job in early season 1 was to record. Not just to organize the archives which, while a daunting task, could go relatively quickly with his assistants helping carry and shelve. But instead of that direct and very archival job, he started trying to record his own voice reading out all the old statements. And when he couldn’t just put some of them onto his laptop, he dug out an old tape deck (almost like he knew without knowing that one would be there to find) and started recording himself that way. His own voice, amalgamating the words and experiences of others into a gestalt of information and fear and feeling. Into the Archivist.

Sims is becoming a repository of information himself, without even noticing he’s doing it. Even in the midst of his paranoia, he kept recording the statements. You could say that he was using that as the cover of his job, but I think it’s deeper than that. I think it’s a compulsion. His voice and his words MUST unify the information in order to turn it from separate stories into a single story. It’s a bizarrely meta approach to storytelling, if true (and good on Jonny Sims for it), that we are listening to a slowly evolving story, where it took us a while to realize there even was a large, evolving story, and as we’re doing that, as we’re realizing that there is a larger SOMETHING at play in the narrative, Sims himself (character, not writer), is creating a larger SOMETHING through the very reading of those statements.

Tim Stoker – THE OUTSIDER AND RATIONALIST

If we’re haring off the deep end into the uncharted waters of horror and madness, there has to be one person who tries to anchor everyone in sanity and rationality, no matter how futile that ultimately proves. Tim has slowly evolved to fill that role nicely. He always was the outsider looking at all these odd people, and finding the humor in the terrible events surrounding them. He was the one to keep it light, at first, to disbelieve and to work with people outside the Archives more than anyone else there. After the attack on the archives and Sims’ subsequent falling apart, Tim has become more and more blunt about being the voice of reason and about being the one who will tell Sims the unvarnished truth about how everyone is faring, whether or not Sims wants to or can hear it. He’s the first to express true doubt, and the one it’s hardest to convince that certain things are beyond their control.

Think about how shaken he was to realize that he couldn’t leave, and Sims couldn’t fire him. Tim is a person who is fundamentally about independence. He is someone who genuinely enjoys standing apart, and that was just ripped away from him. I really want to see Tim slowly figure out how to operate as an outsider while stuck inside, and I want to see him force the others repeatedly to remember how not-right things are. Part of staying sane in the archives, I think, is to remember that what happens there isn’t normal, to not get so immersed in the stories and the vast web that is the interconnected supernatural world that it becomes mundane. That way lies totally subsuming oneself in the Archivist’s role, so Tim is perhaps the most critical person in maintaining Sims’ humanity in the face of the archives. Tim’s greatest power in this situation is that he is stubbornly ordinary.

I also think that this shows us a bit about how much latitude a role can give its holder. Tim went from a relatively light and playful interpretation of his role of rationalist and outsider to a confrontational, angry one, but with the same basic drive and result: to force everyone around him to recognize how wrong the situation is, and to approach it rationally.

Sasha James – SEEKER OF TRUTH

Sasha’s original role throughout season 1 was to be the person who dug up information. She’s the one who continually provided context and elaborating details beyond the statements themselves. As powerful as those original stories were, it was Sasha more than either of the other assistants who had the technical ability, tenacity, and legal fluidity to dig up the threads that connected the stories, and the backgrounds that really sketched out the larger picture.

And I think this is critical to understanding why Not-Sasha is so fundamentally wrong. Because she’s obfuscating, rather than bringing new truths to light. She’s intrinsically more Closed Eye than Open Eye, and the Archives is far more Open Eye. While she lacks the technical acumen Sasha had, she also isn’t trying to make up for it in other ways. She isn’t hounding down old records in public works offices or talking to witnesses. In fact, whenever any of her colleagues attempt to say what it is she’s doing now, they draw a blank. It’s only her ability to make certain they don’t notice what’s wrong with her that’s letting her clear lack of work go unnoticed. If I’m right, that’s why the Archive is making Sims so paranoid, because the three-legged support he was meant to have is now missing a leg, and everything is in danger of tipping over.

I’ll be interested to see what happens to Not-Sasha should the real Sasha return and resume her role (or, if she doesn’t return, if someone like Melanie were to step in and take over that role). What happens to something the Archive rejects? We know Gertrude met a nasty end, but how much of that was the Archive's doing, or at least the Archive allowing it to happen within its own walls? How much control does the archive have over those under its sway? I feel like, with Not-Sasha, we might well get a far better elucidation of the nasty, dangerous side of the archive.

Martin Blackwood – THE PROTECTOR

Hear me out on this one. Martin has always seemed to be the carer of the group. He’s the one who makes sure everyone is fed, and tries to keep spirits up. He’s put himself in charge of Sims’ physical well-being earlier this season, and has attempted (with less success than he’d probably want) to help take care of Sims’ mental well-being as well. Not all of his efforts are actually good for people, but he does try.

But I’m not altogether certain that the Archive cares about the sanity or health of its Archivist. It cares about function, so he has to stay sane enough to remain rational (Tim’s job) and to link all the pieces together to form the gestalt (Sasha’s job). But as for personal well-being? I’m not sure that’s something that matters to the Archive at all.

Which leads me to conclude that what Martin is actually meant to be, and the reason he freaked out so much over accidentally leaving Jon and Tim to be eaten by worms, is that Martin is actually filling the role of a protector. He’s meant to keep Sims alive and sane enough to do his job. Everything beyond that is Martin’s own initiative and mother-hen instincts. But I have this funny feeling Martin is meant to be some sort of mystical bodyguard. Which is hysterical to me.

This also plays into the idea I’ve had for a long time (and I know a few of you share) that Martin’s mother is a runaway Lukas, and her difficulties have largely stemmed from her ties to that family. I think that Martin has old power in his blood, though his ability to tap that power is all but nonexistent. He’s got a little knowledge and a little aptitude, but far more than that, he has the will to protect Sims. We especially see it in his increasingly frustration this season, as Sims tears himself apart, and nothing Martin does seems to help. Martin is meant to protect Sims, but Martin himself has reinterpreted what it means to be the protector.

Gertrude Robinson – THE WOMAN ALONE

So what about Gertrude, who lacked assistants that we know of? First, I think she may well have had assistants in the past. I think Mary Kaey may well have been meant to fulfill either Sasha’s role or Martin’s, and maybe even did for a time. But Mary had the unique ability to remain unbound, and so she was one of the few people associated with the archive who managed to walk away from it.

Maybe it was Mary’s departure, or maybe it was the possible deaths of her other assistants that tipped Gertrude over to solitude, but whatever it was, Gertrude took on all four roles. She tried to keep herself somewhat grounded in rationality, wrapping herself in coldness and distance. She tried to tie all the threads together herself, flying all over the world and even purchasing Leitner’s books. She tried to protect herself.

And in the end, she failed in that last part. I don’t know if that was because she was never meant to do all those things alone, or if she broke with what being the Archivist was all about, or if her death had nothing whatsoever to do with the will of the Archive. But in the end, she died alone, without any support.

I don’t know what that means for our current intrepid team. I don’t know if it means that between the four of them, they could keep each other sane and safe, or if it just means that they’ll die with company. But I hope for their sakes they find a way to take the roles they apparently can’t leave, and make themselves as happy and sane as possible, for as long as possible.

#The Magnus Archives #it's a meta party!#I've been wanting to articulate this for a while

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