#its best when it's being a wholly character focused story

[nagitosstolenhand]

okay does anyone else find it very icky that immediately after finding out kurogiri is a nomu and a victim of nonconsensual medical experimentation and malpractice. the pros n hpsc ppl immediately transfer him to a hospital for their docters to do nonconsensual medical experimentation on him to try and both see if they can turn them back into oboro and also just to see how the nomus tick. like maybe its cause i am a firm Kurogiri Should Be Allowed To Be Their Own Person And Should Actually Be Allowed Agency In Their Story believer but genuinely even if you think kurogiri is just amnesiac oboro this still feels shady on SO many levels.

also the fact we get NO comment from Mic or Aizawa. ik grief and anguish over the fact your dead highschool friend is an undead villainess butler now but they are the only vector we ever get updates on kurogiri so them never bringing it up just makes it feel like they dont care. let our dead best friends reanimated corpse be poked and prodded by a team of random government doctors. who cares what the actual person made from him says as long as theres some small vain hope they might get their long dead friend back.

this could all be very interesting and explore the hypocrisy of the heros/hpsc and give Mic n Aizawas relationship with kurogiri some genuine depth, but we don't get that because the kurogiri-oboro plot was inserted in for extra angst and an excuse to make aizawa extra pissed at and resentful of shigaraki and was just left there when it was time to chase another big shonen boss fight. i hope they actually manage to address any of this when the kurogiri-mic-aizawa plot actually shows up again but with how things are going. i severely doubt it. and after spinner and dabi i severely doubt they are actually going to find a genuinely satisfying conclusion to this arc. which is honestly just so fucking disappointing.

[tokiro07]

Perhaps I should get out of the habit of thinking about future games every time a novel and groundbreaking video game gets announced, but the endless potential is the best part for me, so let's talk about what Echoes of Wisdom could mean for the Zelda franchise if successful

Outcome 1: Playable Ganondorf

If Nintendo is willing to listen to our collective desire for a true Zelda game, there's now the possibility that they'll listen to the slightly quieter but still significant desire for a Ganondorf-led story in the Zelda universe

If Zelda's game is puzzle-focused (Wisdom), and Link's are exploration-focused (Courage), then Gandondorf's would be combat-focused (Power). Perhaps Nintendo could take inspiration from Dark Souls or Devil May Cry depending on whether they want to focus on difficulty or style, giving the player either a sense of earned skill or a power fantasy

I also wouldn't mind if we got other playable characters going forward, though aside from Ganondorf I can't really see any character being a big enough name to draw a general audience. Like Tingle is a super popular character in Japan, so he got a couple of games, but how likely is say, Midna to get her own game?

Though, she may not need to get her own game, per se, when instead...

Outcome 2: Other Playable Zeldas

It seems like Echoes of Wisdom takes place in the same era as Link's Awakening, assuming that Grezzo isn't just reusing the art style. If that's the case, then this is the same Zelda as in Link to the Past, which means that this story is expanding on that particular iteration of the Zelda bloodline

If they do more Zelda Zelda games, they'll certainly want to introduce or experiment with different mechanics rather than just doing the Echo mechanic ad infinitum, and the sheer number of Princesses they have to work with means that they have plenty of places to draw inspiration from while also being able to revisit each of their associated eras

Revisit Ocarina for a Sheik game. Revisit Wind Waker for a Tetra game. Revisit Skyward Sword to explore Zelda's relationship with the Goddess Hylia. Revisit Twilight Princess so she can team up with Midna. Revisit Adventure of Link to elaborate on the fact that there are two Zeldas running around there!

I'd love to learn more about Vaati and the Minish, or Byrne and the Lokomo, or Hilda and Lorule! Whether these are sequels or interquels, Zelda's perspective in each of these eras would be such a great opportunity to expound on the franchise's lore

Not to mention Breath of the Wild's Zelda! I know they said they won't do another sequel in that era, but Zelda's time in the past in Tears of the Kingdom could easily have been its own game! If they want to continue on with the Breath/Tears style, I really think that Zelda herself would be a fantastic way to keep things fresh

Of course, there's also the distinct possibility of...

Outcome 3: NEW Eras

Rather than recycle old content, Nintendo could just continue to add new eras and iterations of the reincarnation cycle as they always have and just bounce back and forth between using Link and Zelda based on which they feel is more appropriate for the story or mechanics they feel like designing around

Thinking of novel ways to shoehorn a plotline into existing Zelda stories might be difficult, especially if doing so would require contradicting or negating major elements of said stories. Doing something for the sake of being cool goes to waste if it just pisses off the fanbase, so it might be better to just make something wholly new

The Echo mechanic is kind of out of nowhere anyway, there's nothing about it that requires it be in the Hero of Legend era, or even that it be an ability unique to Zelda specifically. Link's a blank slate, but one who always holds a sword, so the overall gameplay of the franchise has a pretty consistent throughline. If Zelda keeps getting her own games, they'll likely keep coming up with new magic-based puzzle-centric mechanics to differentiate her from Link, but each one will feel completely distinct from the others, possibly to the point of being unrecognizable aside from sharing the name alone

However, it's also possible that there will be one particular throughline to make them feel consistent...

Outcome 4: 2D/3D Split

As I said, Nintendo has gone on record that they plan for the 3D Zeldas to be in the open-world Wild era style for the foreseeable future, and it's been almost a decade since the last 2D Zelda at all (assuming you count Tri Force Heroes, and if not, it's been well OVER a decade since Link Between Worlds), so it really does seem like Nintendo has been moving away from that style

Until today, that is. With Echoes of Wisdom, it's clear that Nintendo hasn't completely abandoned the more traditional top-down style, and instead may be attempting to give it more of its own distinct identity. It's a great opportunity to rebrand, as one of the reasons they may have been hesitant to make 2D games was for fear of muddling the brand. I personally think that would be silly if true, but I also will embrace this excuse to revisit my preferred form of Zelda gameplay

I'm not saying that they'll permanently make the 2D games exclusive to Zelda herself, but it does seem like something that might become emblematic of the current era until there's either another change in artistic direction or in management

None of these possibilities are mutually exclusive, and there are certainly other possibilities than what I've projected. There may not be any intention of making a Zelda-led franchise, or they might specifically root this series in this specific iteration of the Zelda character with different abilities

Whatever happens, whatever Nintendo chooses to do with this section of the series, I'm extremely excited for Echoes of Wisdom and I look forward to the breath of fresh air it brings to the franchise as a whole

[helioshellion]

hello helioshelion.. i wonder what ur thoughts are on majima's (absence of) backstory up until age 20 and how u deal with it canon compliant-ically or in aus. i find it frustrating like everyone else but at the same time any kind of explanation people come up with to fill in the gaps doesnt land for me... i am unsure why. maybe becuase theres so little to go off so its basically entirely made up? or maybe because its not in the vein of his character? anyway i think you are the yakuza man so i would like to know what u think happened in that time. snake eyes is kind of narratively satisfying to me because patriarchs being father figure adjacent and imparting traits and shaping their subordinates is the closest thing to kind of. growing up i think?? that majimas story has. so having sagawa and shimanos influence transposed onto his actual developmental years actually feels like the most character accurate backstory to me even if it is removed from canon. (i dontknow very much sorry if i got anything wrong) butyeah anyway love ur models im like OH SHIT!!!! HES FUCKING MAKING!!!!!!!! ok thats it have a good daaaaayyy

I think what's important and vital to this narrative is for Majima to not be the central focus. Of course I believe the most interesting concept for Snake Eyes is Majima's exploration and coming into his own in a way that justifies who he is within what we DO know of his past, aka Y4 and 0. I believe it is within Dead Souls' cabaret where Majima tells the hostess that if he could go back to any time to redo things, it'd be 14, and therefore it's where I landed on a timeframe- the moment Majima meets Shimano. I believe Majima is at his best as a character who is reactive, but not focused on. He is entirely a character who is shaped by the people around him, both within the lore and within the meta itself, he is not the main character. He is swayed and changed by the events around him, with little to no control in changing this, because he is simply an NPC, and that's the small tragedy of Majima. A character who is so strongly tied to the idea of control, of shaping his own future, when really he has no agency, not within the narrative, not within the game. Anyways, that is the central focus on Snake Eyes. What kind of man Shimano Futoshi is, and by extension, what that says about Majima Goro as a boy. Is there any parallels I can make between the men Majima would later on follow in life and the man he swore his name to? I wrote earlier about agency, and that's something I think that's very important to Shimano's character as well. Present day, you wouldn't exactly compare Shimano to Kiryu, or Saejima, but that's what I find to be the most interesting thing to explore- if I can make a case that there are those similarities, what would change so drastically that Shimano would become the man you see in the series. Sagawa is merely a pawn in this exploration, just the same as he is a pawn in 0. I really enjoy connecting narrative within gameplay. Majima's a stone in the tide, I'd say, stuck on the bottom to be shaped over years and years and years.

So yeah! Snake Eyes is about Shimano, and how he changes the people around him, and how that changes him. Uroboros or whatever.

I think what's funny is that despite being the AU guy, I try to keep myself strictly to canon compliancy, and the things I do change I need to justify. Like me making the decision to have Sagawa be Yasuko Saejima's birth father. We knew her dad was an Omi man in Sotenbori, and that he was money focused. It was a loose comparison, but the idea of exploring that was so interesting to me. Yakuza is all about fatherhood sometimes, so why not.

Majima's character in Snake Eyes, again, meant to justify who he is later on, but also I do not want this idea of Majima being wholly good and brought into evil. I do not think it's black and white. There's something in Majima that was probably there long before Shimano, something that brought him to the point that men like him were to be followed. In the right light, even the worst actions can be seen as heroic, justified, admirable, especially to a kid. Kind of like Ichiban, I guess!

Another funny thing is that I tend to steer away from the idea of Majima needing a backstory. I believe how he is is perfectly suitable and fine for who he is. I do not want to see where he grew up, but I do like using implications to paint an idea of how and why he is who he is. It's sort of why I have an OC who exists as Majima's birth father in Snake Eyes, meant to sort of paint this all literally. Discarding this past for the sake of the role you are meant to play. Maybe it's a nihilist perspective, but I believe Snake Eyes is a nihilist's story. It's a perfect parallel for Forever Yours, an optimistic exploration of fatherhood and how that shapes a person.

This was a lot. hope you enjoy to read.

[summonhouse]

kwbk casts gender/sexuality journeys over the courses of their lives ok? including the dead kne

Yknow what i oeep thinking about getting this ask when kwbk is known and thinking about the massive disclaimer ill put above and below every post asking for my personal readings of the characters.

Their sexualities and genders are not really crucial to the story, except the vague impression of ezra and max specifically being outcast from society and likely emilys crucial feelings for sarah. Ultimately too, i prefer to leave the art up to interpretation, reading, and rewriting by the viewer. Especially given my lack of scope or personal investment (???); i cant speak on the experiences implied nor explicit for any female based sexuality or gender

SO with the forethought that its not very important and that viewers can have much more meaningful readings of the text than i can as the creator who does not intend to focus much on it;

EZRA: likes women. Unsure of her tolerance for men nor how she perceives her own attraction to women; she has had no crushes on anyone before the story because she does not have any female friends. KWBKs focuses on her homoerotic tension with Some girl (deciding. Possibly emily) but she probably doesnt recognize it as romantic, she finds the whole thing very very scary given the scenario. IN THE FUTURE, if i do commit to a post story epilogue; ezra is a sex repulsed (and likely male repulsed) nonbinary lesbian (her memories of the events of KWBK leaves her frightened of men and relinquishing control to anybody with anything vulnerable). Her nonbinary..ness.. stems from her gender encompassing more than, and straying away from, femininity.

MAX: considers himself a straight male for the entirety of KWBK. In the far future and blooming within him throughout is transfemininity he simply cannot face given the scenario. IN POST STORY: he sheds his former identity and takes on a new one, likely experimenting with his gender for the purpose of hiding and causing feelings about it. His exploration of his own sense is explosive and desperate; he is unable to analyze ANYTHING about himself in a reasonable linear manner. Especially not with his confusing identity which-- hey, dont point discourse at me, but the best categorization is probably lesboy

SARAH: probably a lesbian but shes too busy being a popular girl to accept that so she doesnt gaf. It doesnt matter to her, shes happy as she is milling about and shes letting it wash over her in time. And then she died!

EMILY: likes women, unsure of her tolerance towards men. Maybe not explicitly romantic, more like strange, parasocial, dependent (to the cadence of codependent but only on her end) on sarah in a way thatd make for a wholly dysfunctional failure of a relationship if it ever came to anything, which it wouldnt; she just doesnt think about it, mostly. Might be involved with ezra but im unsure yet, she might be replaced with Anyone else idk

ZOE: im genuinely unsure how to code her in a respectful manner because i dont know the meta about implicit identities. Like i genuinely dont know if its offensive to make the hulking hyena character intersex or trans or appear as a mean lesbian so im just. Im not going to touch her its anything, shes Definitely not cishet though and likely one of those "if we like each other im making you queer one way or another" types.

[fzzr]

What Is It About Dinner Parties?

Spoilers for:

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Shrek 2

A Civil Campaign (Vorkosigan Saga book 13)

The Nightmare Stacks (Laundry Files book 7)

I recommend every one of these works, with the caveat that you should really get into their respective series where applicable for the best results. Spoilers will not completely ruin the experience, but if you have the patience and opportunity to watch three movies and read several thousand pages, go do that first. (After is acceptable if you prefer.) When obtaining books remember to first check at a library or local bookstore. Do not buy from Amazon if you can avoid it. Audible is Amazon.

Content advisories: Works discussed here include depictions of sexual assault, murder, cannibalism, adultery, and various anti-LGBTQ+ phobias. (Rocky Horror is the main offender but some of the others contribute.) Additionally this explores awkward social situations in great detail, so you may want to skip if that sort of thing lives in your head.

I have noticed that fictional works often use scenes at dinner parties as key turning points in their stories. This is achieved through a combination of rising tension, humor, and tying together many plot threads at once. It's possible to do something similar without the humor (eg. the Hitchcockian suspense of a bomb under the table) but that's not what I'm looking at today.

A note on definition: when I say “dinner party” here, I mean a social event in which a group of people who do not share a household meet for the main purpose of sharing a meal. This is different from a regular party, gala, ball etc. where activities other than the meal are the focus.

In my observation, the anatomy of a dinner party is as follows:

Stage Zero: Setup

A key element will be the interactions between characters who would prefer not to deal with each other. There are a few ways to build the guest list to achieve this. You can have the simple case of someone bringing a plus one without warning in advance who (or what kind of person) they would be. It's also possible that invitations were sent before a conflict came up, or the host may be unaware of the issue. There may also be a broader social obligation on attendees, such as a holiday. Wholly uninvited guests usually don't happen in this sort of scene (those are more characteristic of less intimate social events, like a charity ball turned hostage situation).

Rocky Horror's dinner party takes place right after several less than fully consensual sexual encounters and a very bloody murder, with the characters being assembled through social force and implied threat of violence. Shrek 2 has it as the first sustained interaction between the title character and his royal in-laws after his elopement with Princess Fiona. A Civil Campaign spends about half the book just building up to this event, with protagonist Miles so focused on making it a success for his main goal that he loses control of the guest list, the menu, and even the staff. In The Nightmare Stacks, it's a family meal introducing two prospective (and unconventional) significant others to the parents at the same time.

Stage One: Civility

The scene begins with all parties acting superficially civilly. The threads of the narrative and the stressor are both on the back burner as action begins. There will be hints of the conflicts to come, especially as the principal characters become aware of the full guest list and its implications. This phase may be very brief, or even skipped if the story uses immediately previous scenes to establish sufficient tension.

The Rocky Horror party's first minute strains the definition of "civility", with awkward silence accompanying deliberately sloppy table service. Shrek 2 likewise uses silence to delay interaction as long as possible. A Civil Campaign has a very large cast to introduce, but the atmosphere is casual with just a hint of stress as Miles does his best to manage the bloated guest list. The Nightmare Stacks barely gets everyone in the door before the incompatibility of hosts and guests becomes apparent.

Stage Two: Interaction

This generally starts with the appearance of food and of necessity seating of guests. This is the point where the characters in conflict are first forced to interact rather than passively stay away from each other. It's possible for this stage to still be indirect, but proximity means that there's no way to sustain the illusion of civility.

In Rocky Horror they can't even finish singing "Happy Birthday" before things start to escalate. Shrek 2's initial interactions are wordless, using the series' signature facial expressions to show to what degree everyone is already hostile or unaware. A Civil Campaign has Miles realize his carefully arranged seating positions have been disturbed by someone with different priorities, but most of the social tension is surprise rather than hostility. The Nightmare Stacks stumbles past this step right into the next when it turns out the guests have mutually exclusive dietary preferences.

Stage Three: Conflict

Next, some minor issue arises, like one character breaking a social convention. There is almost universally some issue with the food itself as well. Depending on the number of characters and plot of the story, this can go on for some time. This is often where most of the comedy of the scene comes in. Events may become more and more absurd, allowing things to escalate without over-burdening the reader with stress. Often the issue isn't even directly related to the core conflict of the story, or starts with a lower-stakes side plot. In doing so, it can weave such plots into the main one.

Rocky Horror is already under so much stress that it takes just the smallest spark to get things burning. Shrek 2 likewise gets here quick, as Shrek's cluelessness with regard to etiquette kicks off an escalating series of indirect and then direct criticisms. In A Civil Campaign the awkward seating arrangement makes social interaction difficult, and Miles realizes that the menu has been undermined in a way that could cause an uproar and deeply offend some very senior guests. The Nightmare Stacks lays on the dramatic irony, where a conservative father is too busy learning about gender nonconformity to worry whether his son is actually dating an Unseelie Fae princess (the answer is "unclear", but only about the "dating" part).

Stage Four: Eruption

The issue that led to the tension established before the scene is exposed to all present. More often than not this is caused by something in the comedic action accidentally exposing concealed information or causing a stressful event to be discussed or even repeated. Sometimes the comedy itself is the issue, with the disruption alone being enough to expose the issue eg. if it’s due to contrasting social norms. Regardless, this is the climax of the scene where everything comes to a head at once.

Shrek 2 kicks into high gear, with characters becoming so incoherent they can only scream out each other's names. Rocky Horror and A Civil Campaign reveal the truth about the meal they've been eating. The lack of coordination in A Civil Campaign causes Miles to move forward his social plans to disastrous effect. The Nightmare Stacks has the meal collapse into such disarray that the protagonists are able to escape unscathed.

Stage Five: Tone Shift

The comedy is (usually) suspended and drama kicks in. This is often also a turning point in the larger story. It may mark an act transition (typically second to third) or just a change in the intensity of the conflict. In a romantic comedy, this is a prime opportunity to get into the things-just-got-serious phase where the core relationship is under threat.

Rocky Horror's dinner party serves to launch the climax by getting everyone in place for the final showdown. In Shrek 2, where it's the act two kickoff, it establishes the stakes that Shrek can't simply slide into place as a socially acceptable fiancé for Fiona. In both A Civil Campaign and The Nightmare Stacks, the result of the dinner party is the revelation of the true intentions of a main character, respectively openly courting another (it's complicated) and tricking her counterpart into meeting her parents (it's complicated). They both leave the protagonists with few paths open to them and even fewer good ones.

Why do they work like this?

I think the main thing that makes the dinner party so effective at progressing a story in both plot and tone is the contrast between natural and unnatural human interaction. Sharing food is one of the most basic interpersonal activities, with archeological evidence going back further than anatomically modern humans. This is in tension with the artificiality of the actual situation, where precise details of food presentation, respect for social norms, and personal behavior are under scrutiny from individuals you may not fully trust. Food in general also has a visceral impact on everyone. No one is sophisticated enough to willingly eat all of "Meatloaf", escargot, "bug butter", and vegan "pizza", so you as the consumer of the work are forced into empathy with the characters.

Given a scene where everyone is under stress by default, you add on the wider context of the story. Any plot where progress is blocked by "well what if everyone who isn't getting along just avoids each other" is immediately reinvigorated. It's often the case that not everyone is aware of other moving parts, so things can move forward by broadening the impact of ongoing issues to the rest of the cast. If it's too early in the story for things to really blow up, the dinner party can still raise the stakes or expose fault lines that were previously unseen.

If you accept either of the theories that humor is built on tension and unexpected relief or on juxtapositions between the familiar and the incongruous, the natural/artificial split in the dinner party setup also provides these. Everyone on both sides of the fourth wall expects a certain degree of decorum, but it soon goes out the window and leaves you and the characters equally off balance. Likewise, the sharing of food presupposes that everyone can actually partake in the food presented, and undercutting that is a further violation of the common vision of what a dinner party should be. The way characters react to that challenge is another easy hook for comedy.

Conclusion

Putting it all together, dinner parties really do it all. Tension and release, humor and drama, heightening and resolution - the dinner party has the tools you need. Next time you read or watch a dinner party scene, think about the role it plays in the story and the way it's constructed to fulfill it. They're some of my favorite scenes, and I bet they could be some of yours too.

Detailed Examples

Originally I planned to give each spoiler-warned work a stage-by-stage breakdown, but they needed so much context that tumblr's editor broke. Instead I will give them dedicated posts and update this one as I go.

[jaynovz]

for the fanfic ask game: what work of yours do you feel is the most underappreciated/do you wish got more attention? could we have a small sample of a bit you like?

Okay I thought about this for a long time, cuz I WANTED to say the FlintMadi series or maybe hanahaki or petplay ot4. honorable mentions lol.

But I think the True answer is the John Silver backstory aka a stained glass variation of the truth.

I knew when writing it that like maybe a handful of ppl were EVER gonna engage with this for multiple stacking reasons: the dark subject matter, the underage archive warning, the huge amount of OCs, the Silver/OMC. Lotta death knells for readership lol

but guys I'm SO fucking proud of it and I've read basically every other Silver backstory and mine sort of stands alone in being the most extensive and focused example, by which I mean it doesn't venture into canon events, it tells its own story and is a true prequel (perhaps another death knell lmao) but yeah I'm just really proudddddddddddddd of that okay, I did SO MUCH historical research and historical WRITING isn't my strong suit but I killed it

oh also just to like, clarify, I subscribe to the "all and none" Silver backstory mindset. Meaning that, anything we can dream up could be correct and also there's no answer, these facts exist in my mind simultaneously. What they did in the show, leaving it up to the viewer, leaving it implicit? Yeah that was some fucking MASTERCRAFT and I don't mean to say that one *needs* a Silver backstory per se.

So yeah me writing it wasn't some be-all-end-all statement, but it Was an intensive character study exercise for why I thought he might turn out the way he did.

Anyway, I do not expect this answer to get literally anyone who hasn't already read it to check it out but there it is! thank you for asking <3

and yes here's your excerpt--

The voice John knew well raged inside--venomous, accusing.

Weak. He had to rescue you because you are weak. And now he’s dead. Just like everyone else.

Belatedly, John realized Solomon had been his friend. He had cared about John beyond his usefulness or their alliance. For as skilled as he was at reading people, sussing out their wants, their needs, their tells like the hidden flesh in a mollusc… John had utterly misread Solomon. In the moment, it had seemed so clear-cut, but in retrospect...

He remembered months spent joking warmly, sharing the toil, taking meals together, playing cards, privately mocking the worst of the crew, and telling lie after extravagant lie to one-up each other. They’d been set apart from the other boys, both too clever by half, opportunists who understood each other almost too well. Solomon was always teaching John--how to scale the rigging, the nautical knots, the best hiding places on a ship. He remembered the easy affection the older boy had expressed and the wedge it had driven between them, that John had put there. The recollection pained him and he slapped the side of the ship in anger. As usual, John was too late to recognize and appreciate anything good.

No. A rational voice pushed back. Solomon was a fool.

A mistake. It was a mistake to care about him, it was a mistake to care about anyone but yourself. Solomon had cared about John and what had been his reward? To die, to be forgotten, to be filled up with water and subsumed into the abyss.

In the end, boys like John, like Solomon, mattered to no one. Not to the crew of this ship, nor to the ferocious, unknowable sea, nor to the machinations and fates of the larger world. Boys like them had to make their own safety--carve a spot for themselves by whatever means necessary, be it force or duplicity. He'd learned, many times over, that caring too much for the well-being of other people was wholly incompatible with this goal.

I won't make their mistakes.

The next day it was business as usual for the crew of the Bridgewater; the storm had calmed and they weighed anchor. The drunken man who'd attacked John went unpunished. Indeed the entire event went unremarked upon, as none of the other crew asked after the missing cabin boy.

John had a surreal sense of deja vu; again, it was as if it hadn’t happened at all.

And isn’t that easier? To let it fade into irrelevance?

The other boys eyed the empty spot next to John, but said nothing. They were meek shadows, poor beaten things, colorless compared to all that had been his friend. Numbly, he completed his daily chores, all too aware of the heaviness of the workload. That which used to be split, yoked over two sets of shoulders to lessen the burden, was now his responsibility alone.

Tom. Scrap. Ollie. Lizzie. Mary.

Solomon.

Despite his best efforts, it was yet another name he would try and fail to forget.

[dextixer]

There is no WBY in team RWBY - Volume 9

With Volume 9, our main protagonists, team RWBY got sent down to the Ever After, a fairy tale world based on the real life story of 'Alice in Wonderland". This was done very much heavily in part because RWBY has had problems with developing its main plot together with the characters and their personal journeys for a long time now, in no small part due to having a way too large cast.

And yet... Watching Volume 9 i could never get rid of one question. What exactly was the point of WBY parts of team RWBY being in the ever after, considering that their presence was wholly superfluous to the Volume?

Introspection

Sure, WBY parts of team RWBY did help facilitate Rubys eventual breakdown, but her breakdown could have easily happened without them. In fact, i would argue that the Volume focusing mainly on Rubys introspection would have been better. Or better yet. A volume dedicated wholly to both Ruby and Jaune.

People have complained about Jaunes inclusion in the Ever After, i was one of them. But in the end, he and Ruby have the most comprehensive character arcs in the entire Volume. Yes, the arcs end up resetting in the end. But they were still pretty good on their own merits.

We could have had a return to V4, with Jaune and Ruby leading the charge in the entire Volume. Both dealing with their own problems, supporting each other, and yet also confronting each other at points. Through both conflict and reconciliation both of their characters could have grown together.

We could see parts of it in the current V9. After all, it is mainly the conflict between Jaune and Ruby that is the final nail in Ruby running away. In the story, both of them have also experienced simmilar pains. Both of them lost important people in Beacon. Both of them have an antagonistic relationship with Cinder. Both of them are leaders of sister teams. Both of them have encouraged and supported each other.

And yes, i know that many people are not a fan of Jaune, but we kinda have to acknowledge at this point that the Banana haired boy is not going away. So its best to think about how he could be included in the story rather than how to remove him.

Especially since the WBY parts of team RWBY were pretty much... Unneeded this entire volume.

The Clown

Let us first cover the clown of the team. Weiss. It pains me to call her that, but there is no other way i can describe her with how CRWBY chose to portray her this very volume. In Volume 7-8, she has to confront her dysfunctional family. Almost loses them. Loses her (admittedly shit) father. And loses her home, the kingdom where she was born and raised.

It is true that there are moments in the Volume when we are shown that she is unhappy with the situation. But as far as i remember, at best, Weiss had 2-3 moments engaging with what happened. Most of her screentime in V9 however was spent with her being the slapstick comedic relief. Constantly getting harassed by the magical physics of the Ever After.

And quite frankly. At that point. What is the point of her character? Because quite frankly i do not believe that RWBY has any need, nor any time to spend on the prettier version of Jar Jar Binks. The Ever After already should be rife with wacky characters and various weird occurrences. Why make Weiss into one? A character that just lost her home?

Imagine that in Volume 4 Jaune did nothing but be comedic relief. He grieves for Pyrrha in 1-2 scenes and the rest of the time he is a joke. Would that have been good? Or worse, imagine YANG in Volume 4 being in the same acting position as Weiss. It would just be tone deaf...

And yet here we are. One of the best written protagonists in the show, turned into a clown.

Marriage

Blake and Yang... Im sorry, but at this point i cant even refer to them as separate characters. They arent. Not anymore. Does anyone remember Blake back in V1-V3? Blake the rebel? The troublemaker who wants to make the world better, a determined girl who wanted to atone for her being a part of the WF? Does anyone remember that strong willed woman? I do. And regardless of what one things of the writing of V4-5. For the most part, Blake still had a lot of signs of that rebel. It takes large amounts of bravery to stand in front of your house on fire and tell your countrymen to gear up to stop a terrorist organization.

And then from V6 onward. None of that is there. She is just there to be Yangs girlfriend and nothing more. For crying out loud, NORA, NORA of all characters cared more about equality and social justice in Volumes 7-8 than Blake. NORA! If that alone does not show how Blake was done dirty, nothing will.

So, Blake and Yang end up in the Ever After...

And they are the same as they have always been. Together but not together. The entire "arc" of Blake and Yang this volume was them eventually becoming Official. I have no problem with that but... If that was their entire contribution to the volume... It just further reinforces the point that these characters literally have nothing else but themselves. They are not even characters anymore.

There is no Yang, there is no Blake.

There is only Marriage.

And Marriage contributes nothing to this Volume in regards to having actual character progression. In fact, them almost completely ignoring Rubys mental state and then just going "whatevs" after seeing Ruby commit suic*de just made them look WORSE. And as i stated before, the Volume could have still had Ruby break-down without them.

Congratulations to people for Marriage confirmation. But i personally dont think it makes them valuable to the volume, or needed here.

Point?

So i have to end with simply saying that there is no point in the WBY portions of team RWBY being in Volume 9. All they do is take up screentime and do nothing of note. The roles that they play in Rubys eventual descent into her lowest point could have been just easily done through other means like hallucinations or more metaphorical journey through the ever after, or simply done by Neo and Jaune as it was mostly done in the show.

[nono-bunny]

Thoughts on the last two episode of the Gokushufudo live action (and some other bonus general stuff now that I'm done with the show)

It was... A very weird deviation from the original premise and it didn't work too well imo, mostly just because of how out of place it felt. Don't get me wrong, I watched the last one while eating dinner and I literally cried all over my pasta anyway, but like. Even the "reveal" was weak, which is weird because the story is already basically just based around these misunderstanding bait and switches so?? Idk ig they aren't as good at making original ones- point in case being these two episodes which were all just original stories and felt completely wrong for what the show is. Idk, I guess focusing on drama and high emotion stuff just doesn't really work here. The addition of Yukari and Sakai HAVE proven that the people working on this adaptation were capable of making some great unique additions to the original story so. Idk

Anyway the whole show is very different in one crucial detail: people here seem actually aware of Tatsu's past as compared to the anime where everyone is mostly just scared of his vibe. It isn't like, a good or bad thing, it just ended up really changing some of the dynamics, which I guess is kind of necessary here with a more permanent recurring cast than just... A bunch of random animated characters that can be voiced by whoever. I really liked Tanaka for example! In the anime Tatsu has like, a whole bunch of different housewife friends and I really liked that here there's just the one badass and her slightly more timid friend- which?? I feel like it didn't start off as Tanaka and this one particular friend but they narrowed it down to mostly the two of them, which works, they're both cool and it was nice seeing her attitude towards Tatsu change

Tbh the Masa abuse really fucking got on my nerves, it's funny at the start but like. It genuinely got excessive and uncomfortable, I just... Don't even really like Eguchi and Hibari as much at this point and it's a lot to do with their attitude towards him, it was wholly unnecessary and they both obviously had other things going on so I don't know why they decided that focusing on a "yes honey" dynamic was the comedic direction that they're gonna focus on. They're honestly a disaster couple lol

There was a lot of focus on getting Tatsu back to the Yakuza which?? Feels super weird to me considering they've established it's been two years since he left, why now? Why are they all still bothering him? It was strange and the show was definitely at its best whenever they weren't focusing on the Yakuza stuff- since that's literally what the OG premise is, and why it's so beloved... Idk it really felt at times like it's trying to tell the story of Tatsu's life shortly after leaving but. It's been two years, and it just doesn't work. Same with the Himawari drama, it was all obviously forced and a bit out of nowhere (also wtf I hated seeing him hit her) and idk not that fun to watch when compared to them just riffing on Tatsu being weird yet ultimately accepted, y'know?

Anyway, despite all of my gripes here, this was genuinely a great adaption overall!! I just... Think the ending was really weak and weirdly completely out of tune compared to the rest of it so. I'm glad it isn't the end and that there's a special and a movie!

[edotfightme]

Adrift in the Snow

This was a writing assignment I completed based on the story of the Ragvindr Brothers from Genshin Impact. It focuses on Diluc's time in Sneznhaya on his quest for vengeance. The entire story was also based around a quote from the Margaret Atwood book, Hagseed. Said quote is mentioned at the start.

Each character is renamed, so here is the guide: Diluc Ragvindr = Adustio Fenix Crepus Ragvindr = Calidus Fenix Kaeya Alberich = Jurian Niminul Albedo Kreideprinze = Consano Niminul Il Dottore = Il Dottore Sneznhaya = Zamoroz Mondstat = Donmun

Theme warning:

Talk of genocide

Mentions of Kaebedo (don't like, don't read)

Il Dottore (He's creepy in this)

Stalking

Unhealthy Obsessions

Mentioned burning someone alive

Mentioned bone breaking

Blood

Again, Dottore. He's creepy to Diluc here.

You've been warned.

“It’s taken a while, but revenge is a dish best eaten cold, he reminds himself” – Felix (Hagseed)

----<>----

Dramatis Perfonae

Adustio Fenix {A young nobleman’s son and dishonoured knight, on a quest for revenge}

Jurian Niminul/Fenix {A young gentlemen and captain of Donmun’s calvary}

Calidus Fenix {The deceased father of Adustio and Jurian Fenix. A nobleman with many secrets}

Consano Niminul {The kind-hearted spouse of Jurian Fenix and a renowned scholar, known for his study of alchemy}

Il Dottore {A twisted doctor who performs sick experiments on innocent victims, bringing death and destruction where he treads. Murders of crows follow him in droves}

Zamoroz {The country of ice and snow}

Donmun {The country of wind and wine}

----<>----

When one talks about the kingdom of Zamoroz, the first feature they bring up is the snow. The kingdom of eternal winter is known throughout the nine lands for the cold winds and fierce weather that drives most away. In the southernmost parts of Zamoroz, travellers must bundle up extensively to survive a trip to the market. In the north, the part of the land where the sun no longer rises, even that would not be enough to survive a minute.

However, when one is blessed with a god’s eye they can last that bit longer. They are powerful like that, god’s eyes. Creations gifted by divine beings to mortals, able to enhance the strength of even a meagre farm boy to that of a knight. On the other hand, there was a creation of humans that no mortal dared to even whisper its name. A creation of shadows and malice, eating away at the soul of the beholder in exchange for this very same power. A devil’s soul. And it is with that, that wholly cursed item, that Adustio survived.

[ENTER ADUSTIO]

The man, barely in his twenties, trudged through the ever-thickening snow. His clothing was weighed heavy by the blizzard raging around him, but he only had eyes for the distant settlement he knew to be his goal. The haunting cries of crows and carrion feeders sung a song of death and decay as they watched the weary and tired red head. Crimson eyes occasionally glanced down at the weapon concealed on his glove, the life sustaining soul of the demon that both gave and took in equal measure. Three long years of strife and torment, of torture and despair, have led to this moment. The fire in his soul burned bright as he glared ahead.

Adustio was a man of commitment, having dedicated himself to the knighthood of his homeland long before his journey had taken place. Blessed with an eye from the god of flames, he had thrived happily alongside his father. But of course, that was not fated to last. Three years ago had seen him on his eighteenth, watching his father die because of his failure. Watching his brother, his dearest little brother, turn traitor against him. The demon on his glove was his only lead to the source of the tragedy and following its whispers had finally led him here.

----<>----

----<>----

The bright lights of the northern town drew him in like a moth to a flame. The men at the gate welcomed him easily, bright smiles on their treacherous faces. As if they weren’t harbouring a monster. He got a few odd looks at the crest on his cloak, but none of the fools mentioned it. It would have been poetic if they had. Then they would know the importance as they burned to death at the flames of his phoenix.

The cheerful chatter of the townsfolk filled Adustio’s ears as he made his way through the town. He watched each face carefully, waiting for his target to reveal himself. That evil, vile man. He knew that he was here, all his carefully gathered sources stated it so. Adustio was so distracted by his revenge that he failed to notice the guards approaching his position.

“Halt.”

He froze, staring at them – or more accurately, their insignias – the ones that marked them as the personal military of his target. So, the villain was here all along then.

“Sir, we have been ordered by our commander to take you into custody. Do not resist.” The stocky soldier stated, a hand passively resting on his sword. Adustio ignored the concerned murmurs of the townsfolk in favour on focusing on his enemies.

“Doctor Balan.” Adustio muttered, moving his devil’s soul higher. The soldiers tensed as they locked eyes with his enraged crimson ones. “Do you know him?” All he received was silence, so instead he said a name he hadn’t in years. “How about Calidus, does that name ring any bell inside any of your useless souls?”

Weapons were drawn, solidifying his resolve. These soldiers, this whole town! They were all involved in his father’s death! And for that, they must all pay!

It was not hard for him. He has had three years to get used to it. Once the soldiers were down, the rest were next. His great sword spun and twirled as he darted across the snowy ground. He was brutal and elegant with his work. A craft forged and sharpened over three years.

The eerie calls of the crows sung a choir boy’s chorus of bloodshed and violence. The bonfires of revenge burned bright around the town as the crescendo of screams and cries sung their own melody of despair. Adustio’s path of destruction and devastation lead him around the town. Not a man, woman, nor child were safe from his gaze. Despite the cacophony of misery, the only thing the red-haired avenger could hear was the encouragement of the stone on his glove. The poisoned whispers fed the flames of his wrath. This was no longer a man. Men don’t do what he did.

----<>----

----<>----

A paper letter drifted softly to the ground, and Adustio picked it up with shaking fingers. Tears welled in the corner of his eyes as he recognized his little brother’s handwriting. Jurian had always been far too neat, though the flourishes were new.

My dearest brother, Adustio. You have yet to return the letters I send to Zamoroz, though that does not surprise me. You have never been one to speak to the ones you hate. However, despite our conflict the night of father’s death, I wish to send you a request. Donmun has been alive ever since the kind Consano Niminul asked for my hand in marriage. We will be married come the third winter of your absence. I pray for your safety every day, but today I send the gods my prayer for your swift return. I end every letter with this request, but I implore you this. Answer my question, either in person or over ink and paper. How have you faired in our years apart, I am most curious. Your lovely brother, Jurian Feniks.

He stared at the swirling handwriting, wondering if it was the blood loss that made it hard to read. Dottore laughed, low and menacing, as he plucked it from the man and tucked it safely back into his vest. “Oh, how I wish you were able to see your own face. I have never seen such an exquisite concoction of despair and regret. Mourning a man who still lives, how exciting. Truly, you are my favourite plaything, dear Adustio.”

Adustio only knelt in the snow, the horrible memory of the night it all went wrong playing in his mind like a demented note. The whispers of the devil’s eye moving a flaming blade against his brother. Blood and mud coated the ground, blue hair splayed out. A periwinkle eye, staring at him with terror as he bore down on him. Words long forgotten flew like arrows. But there was a sound he knew well, always in the background of his dreams and delusions. The screams as flesh sizzled and burned. Shakily, he looked around as the massacre he caused. In every dead soul, he saw his little brother.

“This is not what father wanted.” He whispered, horrified at his own actions.

Dottore knelt down, looking the son of Calidus Feniks in the eyes. Distantly, Adustio analysed the twisted man’s face behind the mask. If it were anyone else, he would have a kind face. But it had been marred by the horrible cruelty of a criminal.

“Now tell me, my dearest Adustio. You are happy to call me a monster, and I will not deny that I am. But now I have a question for you.” Sinister cerulean eyes stared deep into his soul. Adustio couldn’t help but wonder if Il Dottore ever was human. Maybe once, a long time ago.

“When does a man become a monster?”

----<>----

----<>----

Glossary of Terms:

Adustio: A latin word meaning inflammation, kindling, rubbing, burn, sun.

Fenix: Another, older method to spelling Pheonix

Calidus: A latin word meaning hot, warm, brisk, prompt, impetuous, fiery.

Jurian: Derived from the latin word Injuria, meaning wrong, injury, injustice, oppression, hurt, harm.

Consano: A latin word meaning heal, remedy, restore, satiate.

Niminul: Derived from the latin word Animulus, meaning heart, soul.

Zamaroz: Derived from the Russian word замороженный (zamorozhennyy) meaning frozen, blocked, and frappe)

Donmun: Derived from the latin word Domum, meaning ‘to the house’, home, at home, homeward, homewards.

Il Dottore: A character from commedia dell’arte, though twisted into a more sinister version in this gothic story. On panels 17-20, there are swarms of text covering the majority of the page. The text reads “save us”, “help us”, “You did this to us”, and “repent”. This is an artistic device and not meant to be read in any form.

----<>----

If you made it this far, thank you for reading my work! Please give me some indication you saw this, I put lots of work into this.

[modgirlyreposts-revamped]

Yuta Kosuke is Masumi’s primary alter, though it’s safe to assume he probably has more headmates than just Yuta. However, when Masumi’s distress gets the best of him during the killing game following the unfortunate death of a dear f…riend, he starts experiencing bouts of dissociation, depersonalization and derealization, which aren’t focused on, but shortly after said death, Khenan Reed, the ultimate filmmaker, comments Masumi has been wandering around at night, talking to himself, and this raises suspicions around Masumi. However, upon being pressed about this it becomes apparent he has no memory of it. Over time, Masumi’s demeanor becomes unlike him far more often, and in chapter 5, it becomes apparent Masumi is literally a completely different person.

It’s implied that Yuta is a male introject (alter in a DID/OSDD system based on an outside source, like a real person or fictional character) of Yuri from Doki Doki Literature Club, but this is never explicitly stated because I feel like that might raise some sort of copyright issue?? Either way, it’s also not really relevant enough to the story to confirm anyway but I do intend to imply it with Yuta’s personality, being a quiet “tortured artist” type, similar sounding name (though Yuri means lily and Yuta means gentle) and his affinity for the color purple.

The most explicit reference to it though is that when they’re discussing the fifth death, despite that it’s pretty tame compared to some of the murder scenes, executions and the states of the bodies, Yuta becomes disturbed to the point of becoming physically ill when they begin discussing the manner of death being repeated stab wounds, so much so he starts gagging and coughing like he’s about to vomit.

While Masumi wasn’t unbothered by death, he saw little value to his own life, and could handle the trials fine as a result of that amount of desensitization. However, Yuta isn’t like Masumi, and while he can handle death, several specific manners of death cause him heavy amounts of stress, including suffocation, which is one of the big things that tips the survivors off to the fact that they’re… not talking to Masumi. Masumi had helped solve a strangulation case fine, and only became upset when he realized who the killer was.

Yuta doesn’t actually know he has DID, just that he isn’t Masumi, and in a less unbelievably ableist version of THH chapter 2’s turn of events in trial 5, Masumi and Yuta’s “strange” behaviors cause him to be a suspect as Yuta is unlike the boy they know. However, while Yuta promises he’ll accept any punishment they see fit for any dishonesty including torture, he hesitantly and worriedly refuses to speak of his symptoms at all, despite acknowledging silence as dishonesty. Alice once again being the one to save the trial with psychological prowess, realizes Yuta seems to be a different identity state, and the holes in Yuta’s alibi against allegations of being the killer or even the mastermind are filled in as it becomes clear Yuta has no malicious intent, but a wholly different person with his own personality and rituals that Khenan had happened to capture snippets of. The name Yuta comes from its similarity to Yuri, and Yuta ends up essentially becoming the new host of Masumi’s system. But because of the life Masumi had been crafting, Yuta finds himself suddenly being expected to be someone he absolutely isn’t, an actor instead of an observer, someone supposed to put himself into fire for others’ entertainment. He’s even met with shock when he begins outwardly complaining about pain in his hands and wrists, which Masumi had been dead silent about, and willingly taking anti-inflammatory drugs and wearing braces on his wrists and hands.

Turns out, Yuta and Masumi’s body’s immune system has more problems than Masumi ever let on. While his vitiligo was obvious, what never seemed to occur to anyone in the class and what he kept totally quiet about was the fact that he had another condition caused by his immune system attacking itself- early onset rheumatoid arthritis. Unlike Heiran (maybe I should talk abt her next if ur ok w it—) who has piebaldism, a skin condition that doesn’t pose any serious health risks, but creates heavy stress and self esteem issues for Heiran, Masumi’s condition is indicative of an underlying stress and health issue. Heiran’s condition is genetic and causes her vanity and self esteem issues, which is her biggest problem, but Masumi’s is from environmental stress. Masumi doesn’t hate himself, the world seems to hate him, but while the world seems to love Heiran, she hates herself.

While Yuta’s body’s arthritis was known by doctors, Masumi had never done anything about it and was willing to risk ruining his future to not feel like he was nothing in the face of his condition the way the world did- an extremely unhealthy outlook. Yuta knows how the world sees him and hates it, but doesn’t want to crumble and obsess over it and ruin his life. He feels both bad for Heiran and slightly judgmental as she allows herself to obsess over it with a desperation for everyone else to see her differently. Yuta in that sense is an opposite to Heiran, who was born at the top, but she hates herself because the beauty industry thrives off of making people hate themselves. Yuta came from the bottom, literally formed because his brain and body could not cope with any more stress, but he is fine with what he is, and he doesn’t want to chase anyone else’s love.

If it’s ok with you I might talk abt another character next too-

Yuta being an introject of Yuri is interesting, and I don't think you have to worry about copyright all that much like by just vaguing what his source is

[flutishly]

Spoilers for House of the Dragon season 1

I was a bit late and backwards with House of the Dragon. While I know a lot of people who have read Fire & Blood, I had not. This was in contrast to my experience with Game of Thrones, where for its entire run I watched as a book fan who much preferred (and continues to generally prefer) the books. I came into House of the Dragon with no idea what the story was going to be about, nothing about its factions, nothing about its characters, nothing about its narrative arcs. I also watched it with a few weeks’ delay, meaning that I was fully out of the loop on discourse and its live reception. In a way, I felt like I was watching the show in a bubble - I knew no one watching it in real time, nor anything about where the story intended to go. I simply... watched.

And I liked what I saw, for the most part. My takeaway from the early episodes was that I - surprisingly - liked almost of the characters. My second takeaway was that the show felt so much tighter than Game of Thrones; while A Game of Thrones starts out mostly focused on the Starks, the story does include other (distant) narratives from the onset and it widens remarkably fast. House of the Dragon (and again, I cannot yet speak to Fire & Blood, though I do want to read it; no spoilers, please!) is much more of a family drama. While two continent-wide factions emerge by the season’s end, the story is still anchored by two sets of contrasting characters: Viserys versus Daemon, and Rhaenyra versus Alicent.

It’s the latter relationship that really defines the show. Part of what I loved about this first season was the way the show took advantage of its time jumps to convey a lot without necessarily saying it outright. The fact that this very aspect was criticized by most reviewers is baffling to me; the show managed to stay nimble while still establishing everything it needed, before reaching its intended climax. Game of Thrones stumbled most when it started dragging its story out. House of the Dragon simply moves onward to the next checkpoint, with the viewer cleverly left to fill in the blanks. We don’t need to be told everything! We can see the effects laid out so clearly.

I once posited that every television show has a “central relationship” around which the rest of the show revolves. Sometimes it’s a romantic relationship, sometimes it’s a familial relationship, sometimes it’s a hero-villain tension, and sometimes it’s a friendship. In House of the Dragon, it quickly became obvious that though the first episodes were teasing Viserys-Daemon, the central relationship is Rhaenyra-Alicent. The intimate friendship turned imbalanced rivalry turned tentative reconciliation turned outright war appears in every episode, even if one of the characters doesn’t. In the final two episodes, we see either Alicent or Rhaenyra (and not both together), but the other is still wholly present. Alicent refuses to allow the men around her to murder Rhaenyra, despite what it means for her family. Rhaenyra, on her end, refuses to simply leap into a war that would pit her against Alicent (and younger siblings, though I highly doubt Rhaenyra really thinks of them as such...). Their broken friendship doesn’t drive the plot, but it’s the emotional pillar.

I have lots of other thoughts about the show, but this is the part I keep returning to. Against the promise of war, against the backdrop of a factional succession battle, against the constant tension between different power brokers, the show continues to tell one real story, that of the House of the Dragon. It tells of two (arguably three) women who hold some power, but not the power that the could (or should?) hold, whose power keeps being redefined by the men around them, who are often trying to make the best out of terrible decisions, who care for their families above all else. It uses time skips to continue telling one main story, despite teasing other, “wider” threads which may or may not have a deeper impact on our core cast of characters. It focuses so neatly on its characters that it’s hard to deeply dislike most of them (Aegon being an exception...), even when they’re antagonistic, because they’re still interesting.

It’s not a perfect show and I have loads of questions as to where it’s going. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m going to read Fire & Blood after watching this season; the story is interesting and very clearly on the upswing. But having finished it several weeks ago and finding myself still thinking about it, I can’t help but give it credit for what it’s done well and recognize that I enjoyed it quite a bit, almost against all odds. I truly wasn’t expecting that.

[hectormcfilm]

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I can't lie and say I was a massive Hunger games fan when I was younger, I watched the first two films and enjoyed them but never watched the Mockingjay films. It is strange to look back that only a decade ago this genre of dystopian teen drama was so prevalent in the film industry and very successful financially, there was Hunger Games, The Maze runner trilogy and The Divergent trilogy. Despite this genre dying out the new Hunger Games prequel has just been released to a very mixed reception. I thought the trailers looked promising but were definitely overly long and gave away too much. I am very mixed on this film but I would say I enjoyed it, I will mainly be criticising its mistakes in this review but don't think its a bad film.

My biggest issue is definitely the characters. I think the two leads of Snow and Lucy Gray have some good chemistry and an engaging dynamic. The way they grow closer and genuinely get invested in saving the other, eventually falling in love was great. However, the end of their stories ruin their relationship for me. Lucy Gray is on board with Snow's actions until the very end where she suddenly starts acting strange and implying she will report him and get him hung for murdering people he needed to kill for both their survival. She then just runs away never to be seen again, not showing the audience anything that happened to her, creating a completely inconclusive and wholly unsatisfying non ending for her character. Snow's arc I was enjoying at first, the scene of him killing a tribute was excellent and a good hint to his future villainy but then the film rushes to him becoming ruthless and seemingly insane within a couple scenes, hunting Lucy Gray down trying to kill her and then joining forces with the antagonists and murdering Peter Dinklage's character, it all felt quite forced and underdeveloped. Sadly these two are still the bets character, most of the side characters are underwhelming. To start off Peter Dinklage has a great final scene revealing the truth of his cruelty but I still don't think it explains why his character seemed so inexplicably evil and it confuses his motivation as if he wanted the hunger games to end why did he promote changing and improving it? The most out of place and strange character for me was Viola Davis, her character acted as a mad scientist caricature who was comically evil at times and felt very tonally inconsistent with the more gritty realistic world the film wanted.

The rest of the side characters are all lackluster, the tributes besides Lucy Gray are given nothing, some are just blatantly evil, others are given no personality and basically no lines at all, ones only characters trait is literally just that she has a cough, very weak writing. Similarly, Snow's classmates and friends are all just rich and pompous, ones entire character being she takes credit for Snow's work. The one with the most character is his *closest* friend who I felt never seemed like a good friend, they didn't have enough time together so Snow's breakdown and final turn being centred around him felt weak. I know not every character can have lots but something more, even one little scene of the tributes bonding or telling their stories could've worked.

Overall I actually enjoyed the hunger games part of the story despite my complaints, it was tense and there was some good action and smart trickery by Snow. My main issues come from the last 1/3rd of the film which focused on Snow in district 12 and his turn, it killed the pacing and just all felt rushed and underdeveloped, wanting to turn into a full blown political war drama but doing it unsuccessfully.

The best part of this film is easily the set and costume design. The red uniforms of the capital children is so visually striking and the contrast of the poorer rags of district people to the lavish capital costumes is simple but effective. All the production design feels grand and has a great sense of scale. The steam punk aesthetic in the district also has a clear visually style.

I have some final random negative aspects to discuss. Some dialogue moments felt awkward and like a first draft such as Snow saying paste tasted *pasty* and Snow's final line *Snow always lands on top* being a call back sure but feeling cringe and unrealistic for someone to actually say. I also don't like the reference and nods to the original quadrilogy. Having Lucy Gray sing the hanging tree song which was non-diegetic in the original films feels distracting. Even worse having Lucy name the root she finds a Katniss was absolutely eye roll and groan inducing. Finally, some of the editing felt amateurish, there were some very abrupt cuts and some continuity issues that ended up being distracting.

[spoke-n-languish]

Alignment: Quixotic Good

Super!! Another spoonful of people I don’t recognize in places I’ve never been speaking languages I don’t understand… no you’re right — that clears everything up perfectly. How could I possibly be so ingracious.

I am well aware that even though I cannot answer the question, “What has happened to me, or ?”, I can say for certain that it took more people than just 424574514 (I will continue using this name as I do not know how else to refer to her). As amazing and gifted as she is, that is, or at least should be, understood. So, when I am begging for the truth of what has happened to me, I am looking broadly at the community as well as focusing in on my so-called friends, family and loved ones for answers… not just 424574514. I get that nobody expected me to fall so wholly and probably foolishly in love, but who in the history of mankind has ever understood how love works? And, I assume that there is a vast majority that does not understand why I can’t just let it go or move on… if it were a normal break up, yes. I would have by now.

I believe somewhere around the end of October or beginning of November I myself thought I was going in that direction… this is not to say that I have in any way changed my heart’s proposed intentions or reversed my position in any form. It is possible that only one person understands why I adamantly refuse to soften in this regard, and even she most likely did not foresee this outcome as much as I’m certain that at least initially there was a tumultuous emotional uncertainty of how to best handle the unusual nature of my decision. After all, who in their right mind would insist on pursuing a chaste life of celibacy to maintain a love unrequited and reduced to long-distance friend-zone while it has already long since been established that the object of affection was not only a pawn in an elaborate confidence scheme, but also a key component of the penultimate betrayal at the anticlimax… most likely only me, and only for you (see rule #1). But to clarify this conundrum for the rest of you. I promised to the woman I love who was never in her life prior shown the true meaning of unconditional love that she would feel it and know its power. This is how I believed when I swore it and so I shall hold until proven to the contrary by the one to whom I am beholden. Rule 1 is simple, but more beautiful by its simplicity. It states, “I love you, this will not change.” That is why I am bound by honor to stoically weather all attempts to tempt or convince or persuade me astray, and because it is unconditional, any and all wrongs are immediately forgiven. That is also partly why I have fallen prey to being triggered over and over and why I do not seem to be learning lessons as others may have hoped. Is it fool-hearty of me? - most likely, will it change? - no. But I know that there is a select cadre that knows that there are other reasons why I have been shackled thus without being able to rejuvenate or progress Their umbral machinations have made certain that I be quite successfully rooted as mired. I also believe that outside of this select private council the greater group as well as the community at large do not know the actual cause of my physical health issues nor why I was not working… instead this collection outside of the elite have been successfully gaslit (it would seem more successfully than I myself was) into believing the skewed version of the story as the select few would have it be known. This not only serves to further the objective of reinforcing the defamation of my character while polishing the hell out of that turd for you, but also in protecting you from any backlash for your deceptive subterfuges if not fully nefarious and malicious actions. So again, I beseech you — all of you, if any would be so kind as to share with me truths, for these are the keys which could set me free. And my love and my light my heart is yours. I only ask that you look within yourself. If your heart is of like intent: I will wait for you until I die. If your love has affectations for another than I shall be your most loyal friend to whatever degree you two deem appropriate. But if neither of these are things you desire, please offer a kindness and forgive this man for his old-fashioned chivalric notions and ways… if you have no intention or desire of reuniting in any way then I pray that you (as you are the only one who can) will see fit to release me from my vow. But outside of this, pray tell my lady in what fashion may I be yours?

[phantomtutor]

SOLUTION AT Academic Writers Bay Please respond to the questions (and sub-questions) below. Please make sure that your answers are focused on the questions and that you’re writing as grammatically as possible!. Please use quotes to support your answer, but try to quote only a line or two at a time, maximum: Mostly, I want to read your analysis! When you answer questions, always explain why you’re answering them in the way you’ve chosen to answer them. In total, you should write about 750-1000 in total for this assignment. (More is fine, and even recommended!) 1. Drama—Imagine that a friend has come to you for help. She is auditioning for a play, and she wants to use “The Fish” as her dramatic monologue. She wants you to help her craft the best performance possible. So she asks you to help her figure out: A. How should her emotional state change as she reads the poem to convey the realization the narrator has at the end of the poem? B. How should she play the narrator? How old is this person, what is their personality, what do they value. etc.? C. Your friend doesn’t want to put on a costume for the audition, but she does want to imagine what her character looks like and is wearing while she performs. What do you suggest? D. Likewise, she can’t build a set, but she wants to imagine a location where this is taking place. What do you suggest? E. What lines of the poem do you think she needs to emphasize most in her performance? 2. Fiction A. The poem almost wholly devoted to describing a fish. How does the description of the fish become the plot of the poem? In other words, how do the descriptions help you understand what the narrator is thinking, and how do those  thoughts lead her to what is perhaps the unexpected ending? (Remember, use examples to explain your thinking!) B. What is the tone of “The Fish”? How does the tone help you understand the descriptions? C. What lesson(s), if any, do you think this poem is trying to impart to readers? 3. Poetry A. What are some specific images that Bishop uses that are unusual? How do these unusual images lead the reader to an understanding of the poem? B. The poem is slim on the page; its lines do not often end where a sentence or even phrase ends. In other words, Bishop is breaking the line of poetry early and often in “The Fish.” Why? How do the line-breaks and the slimness of the poem contribute to a reader’s understanding of it? C. “The Fish” is a very famous poem, but it is clearly using elements of drama (specifically, dramatic monologue) and fiction (e.g. it has a very clear plot). What does this dramatic story gain by being written as a poem? The Fish, by Elizabeth Bishop I caught a tremendous fishand held him beside the boathalf out of water, with my hookfast in a corner of his mouth.He didn’t fight.He hadn’t fought at all.He hung a grunting weight,battered and venerableand homely. Here and therehis brown skin hung in stripslike ancient wallpaper,and its pattern of darker brownwas like wallpaper:shapes like full-blown rosesstained and lost through age.He was speckled with barnacles,fine rosettes of lime,and infestedwith tiny white sea-lice,and underneath two or threerags of green weed hung down.While his gills were breathing inthe terrible oxygen—the frightening gills,fresh and crisp with blood,that can cut so badly—I thought of the coarse white fleshpacked in like feathers,the big bones and the little bones,the dramatic reds and blacksof his shiny entrails,and the pink swim-bladderlike a big peony.I looked into his eyeswhich were far larger than minebut shallower, and yellowed,the irises backed and packedwith tarnished tinfoilseen through the lensesof old scratched isinglass.They shifted a little, but notto return my stare.—It was more like the tippingof an object toward the light.I admired his sullen face,the mechanism of his jaw,and then I sawthat from his lower lip—if you could call it a lip—grim, wet, and weaponlike,hung five old pieces of fish-line,or four and a wire leaderwith the swivel still attached,with all their five big hooksgrown firmly in his mouth.

A green line, frayed at the endwhere he broke it, two heavier lines,and a fine black threadstill crimped from the strain and snapwhen it broke and he got away.Like medals with their ribbonsfrayed and wavering,a five-haired beard of wisdomtrailing from his aching jaw.I stared and staredand victory filled upthe little rented boat,from the pool of bilgewhere oil had spread a rainbowaround the rusted engineto the bailer rusted orange,the sun-cracked thwarts,the oarlocks on their strings,the gunnels—until everythingwas rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!And I let the fish go. CLICK HERE TO GET A PROFESSIONAL WRITER TO WORK ON THIS PAPER AND OTHER SIMILAR PAPERS CLICK THE BUTTON TO MAKE YOUR ORDER

[mango-dolphin]

Big question: do the heroes parties know how old they are? specifically Ren and Itsuki cause they aren't even 18 yet. I don't remember Naofumi telling Raphtalia or Filo his age either, and the story isn't focused on the others enough.

I can imagine Itsuki telling his party he's 17 so he can get "wow you're so mature and heroic for your age :))))" type compliments, Motoyasu will tell any woman trying to hook up, and Ren might purposefully avoid it so he's not treated like a kid(he is).

I can imaging his party asking Nao how old he is, and them just freaking out when they learn he's 16!!! after they freak out to Ren about "why didn't you tell you you are only a CHILD". since i think they are all like complete adults(youngest being 18).

canonically: no clue </3 i DO remember Naofumi mentioning offhandedly in the anime (s2 i believe) that he was 20? but i don't remember the context (let alone which episode; was probably before the Spirit Tortoise arc tho?). and like you said, the story (especially in the anime) isn't focused on the others enough to really give us any ideas? you could make inferences based on the passing glances of their parties, but they'd be a lot of conjecture.

i DO get the impression raphtalia and filo are aware of his age to some extent—raphtalia in particular i feel would be the best bet out of his current (anime s2) party to know his age. that said, it's wholly possible that raphtalia doesn't actually know the exact age either: naofumi seems like the type of person to just not mention much about himself (even before getting betrayed by Myne!)

not that he'd go out of his way to hide stuff about his character (in fact he seems pretty unapologetic about himself mostly within reason), but rather he just wouldn't think to say anything. i am very much the same way where i just won't mention shit about myself, even if it's relevant. i tend to hide my birthday from people for instance because i don't want it to be a big deal—i don't have any birthday traumas, i'm just a tad private like that.

(imagining one day naofumi mentions offhandedly somewhere casual in luroluna that he's 20 while everyone starts losing it to some degree. rishia and eclair thought he was in his 30s. melty thought he was 16, for some reason. filo was actually exactly on the mark, strangely enough—no one expected her to have that good a grasp on the passage of time, let alone its relativity to others. raphtalia, having a skewed perception of human ages, assumed naofumi was either in his late teens or mid-20s], and got cllllose enough frankly)

headcanon-wise: god. GODDDD i can't agree more with the assessments on itsuki and motoyasu it's absurd.

itsuki would definitely think being 17 would simultaneously be a badge of maturity (he's so close to being 18! plenty grown and so close to graduating high school! practically an adult!!) as well as a bragging right (he's doing such heroic and marvelous things at such a young age. he's not even 18 yet! what a brilliant mind with such a bright future!!!). unfortunately for him, announcing this fact just makes his gullibility that much more obvious

from what i've read on the wiki and inferred from the anime, it seems that this would've definitely been something that itsuki's party capitalized on. he was practically announcing to the world that he was a young, impressionable mind that could be influenced and controlled. (and this is why we practice internet safety, folks!)

he'd probably really hate to be reminded that he's 17 in those ways (e.g. that he's young, naive, inexperienced, etc), even if it's not outright said. probably reads into things a LOT so sometimes he might snap about it in a situation where the other party wasn't actually trying to belittle/demean him at all. it can make it a little more difficult to talk itsuki down, because he seems like the type of person who'd hate to be told that he can't do something. especially because of something he can't necessarily control, like his age.

probably felt even more insecure about his age when rishia, also 17, joined the party. just another reminder of who he used to be: some pathetic, easy-to-bully weakling struggling to keep up with the rest of the pack.

(but also, wouldn't it have been so comforting? so relieving? to finally have someone your age by your side again?)

(someone who might not necessarily understand everything you say, but gets so naturally in-tuned to it just by virtue of being in a generation similar to yours? even though you're from two completely different worlds?)

(someone who gets overwhelmed by all the demands that the world puts on them, and the demands they put on themself, just like you?)

(someone who is struggling just as much as you are?)

(someone who gets it?)

itsuki would prefer not to have any more teammates his age or younger. he doesn't need to babysit anybody.

motoyasu loudly announces his age, height, weight, blood type, and marital status to anyone displaying a mildly flirtatious manner in his direction.

ren doesnOkay i should probably elaborate more on motoyasu actually.

i think motoyasu's age is something that keeps in his mind a lot, funnily enough. he's 21, so he is (well, was) at that point of his life where he "had" to start figuring out his life direction. ESPECIALLY after learning that he was kinda modeled after (romantic?) VN protagonists, i got the vibe that motoyasu had kinda been... drifting? in terms of his self-identity, anyways.

he seems like the type to focus more on the moment of things, particularly at the expense of thinking out the consequences. honestly, w/the degree of delusion he tends to display whenever Enacting His Heroic Persona™, it's possible that this tunnel vision is something deliberate: so that he doesn't have to think much about his future, much less choose where he's going.

but once you hit that 21 mark, it's easy to fall into the trap of believing you're starting to run out of time (even though you Just finished being a teenager, still haven't gotten much life experience at ALL by virtue of being so young, and you could easily live quadruple the time you've already been alive—so you've got a LOT of time to use).

(i'm approaching this from an american perspective, so i don't know how applicable the 21 milestone is—HOWEVER, you're kind of considered an adult at age 20 (and are treated more or less as an adult in many legal things by 20, though the transition period starts at 18-ish).)

motoyasu's already 21. he could barely even choose a girl to love properly, and he didn't see the warning signs of the relationships he had haphazardly begun. maybe he should've done something about it. maybe he should have listened to those girls. he's just a body, after all—they probably know what's best for him anyways. otherwise he'd just be wasting his life away, right?

(foreshadowing my personal take on motoyasu's previous life. oops. i'm worried about him your honor)

all of motoyasu's party members know his age and would generally know his birthday month/season. he seems like he'd mention that kind of stuff offhandedly a lot: he gives me the impression he's typically an open book when it comes to his thoughts and his personal life. (that is, with some Exceptions. he's a bit of a master at dodging things he Does Not want to acknowledge to the point of essentially trashing them from his mind—raphtalia commenting that motoyasu's words were "empty" during the pope fight is something that echoes in my head a LOT.)

whenever he Does bring up these facts (like mentioning he's an april baby a lot—idk if he was born in april but motoyasu gives me april vibes), it doesn't seem like he's trying to nudge them towards doing something for him at all. he's a tad too oblivious/blunt for that. motoyasu is just a bit of a motor mouth who doesn't care for his own privacy. (not in the dangerous way that itsuki might, but rather just "oh, he's just easy to talk to")

I DIDN'T REALIZE I'D TYPE SO FUCKING MUCH. UHHHHH for ren my answer is actually incredibly simple:

Ren's party members wouldn't even know what he had for breakfast in the morning.

it's not that they don't pay attention to him or anything, because (especially in the beginning) they really really tried to. this bitch is just a puzzlebox of a person who adamantly refuses to talk about himself very much. he'll talk about necessary stuff and won't shoot down small talk by any means, but if naofumi is a passively private person, ren is an Actively Private Person.

it'd be hard not to suspect that ren was hiding Something acting like that, but it became pretty evident to the party (the longer they stayed) that ren just really sucked at divulging information about himself. which WOULD suggest traits of its own, hilariously enough

he's socialized and well-adjusted enough to hold thoughtful, in-depth conversations, but asking him about his favorite food is an exercise in confused futility. (he'd keep second guessing himself and forget the name of the food and then remember he hates x spice and so on and so forth and you wouldn't actually get much of value from the question you actually asked—)

i don't think ren's party ever got close enough to really see much of that kid's true self, outside of those fleeting awkward teen convo moments. not that he'd go out of his way to show it. but they probably got the sense (ESPECIALLY w/his loner behavior) that he was one of the younger Cardinal Heroes.

(i think it'd be a fair assumption to say that generally the people of melromarc would believe itsuki was the youngest cardinal hero, especially as he'd state outright that he was 17 commonly. no one really expected a 16-year old hero)

don't worry about ren's party asking naofumi how old ren is tho, because after the Spirit Tortoise arc ren doesn't have a party to worry about anymore :)

(i am so fucking sorry

[fairymascot]

Which comics or media do you like with Poison Ivy? Genuinely, I want to see the take on the character you like.

hi anon, thanks for the ask! :)

the definitive version of the character for me is in the harley quinn animated series! it's also one of my favorite takes on harley, their relationship with each other, and honestly the batman universe in general. if you want to give it a go, though, do note it's very much an Adult Animated Series TM with lots of violence, gore, foul language, and crude/off-color humor. people can be put off by it, but as someone who normally can't stand that type of series, i've found it carries itself with considerable elegance. it's genuinely funny and has remarkably good character development, many emotional moments, and great development for harley and ivy. so if you have the stomach for this kind of show, i definitely recommend it.

when it comes to comics:

gotham city villains anniversary giant: a villain-centric anthology that includes an ivy oneshot by g. willow wilson, serving as a prequel for ivy's current ongoing miniseries. featuring beautiful, delicate art and incredibly poignant and gripping writing, wilson does an amazing job of getting into ivy's head and sharing her inner world with the reader. she's deeply troubled, more plant than person, part gorgeous ethereal forest spirit and part terrifying bog witch-- but ultimately still incapable of burying her own humanity. if you only read one thing out of this list, read this!

poison ivy 2022: the aforementioned continuation of the above story, it's fantastic for all the same reasons. only one issue out of six is currently out, but for once in my life where dc comics are involved, i have very high hopes!

more under the cut--

secret origins: gardener is the current canon origin story for ivy in the main continuity, told from the pov of her college girlfriend turned also-ecoterrorist, bella garten. the art is lush and gorgeous, ivy is shown in an extremely sympathetic light (bella might be MILDLY biased), and it reinforces her romantic relationship with harley from early on. i'd say my only fault with it is that it insists on her relationship with woodrue being mutual and romantic, instead of y'know, her college professor exploiting her, conducting inhumane experiments on her and ruining her life. still, though, a great read! 

poison ivy: thorns is a young adult reimagining of her origin story, including gorgeous shoujo manga-esque art, an original female love interest for ivy, and a story that makes her equal parts sympathetic and fearsome. on its own, it's not exactly groundbreaking literature -- the plot is fairly predictable, the romance is shallow -- but as an ivy story, it's a gem. it focuses on her trauma & her craving for human intimacy that's ultimately eclipsed by her connection to the green, and spins a narrative of a victim that learns to stand up for herself and take revenge on those who've wronged her.

catwoman: soulstealer is another ya retelling, this time focusing on-- you guessed it-- catwoman. despite being clumsy at times (the comic adaptation has a bad habit of slapping entire paragraphs from the novel directly onto the page) and featuring a wholly uninteresting romance between selina and batwing (apparently that’s a real guy?), it's also got some of the best sirens content dc's ever put out. selina's budding friendship with ivy and harley is one of the focal points of the book, and the two of them are fully fledged, engaging characters in their own right. they're all just starting out in their villain careers here, and ivy is young, optimistic, and confident, her character focused less on the trauma of becoming poison ivy and more on the ways it's empowered her. (she's still, however, very weak for harley, and desperate for friendship). a very sweet and enjoyable take, if you skim through the dragging/cluttered sections. the art and designs are top notch, too!

dc pride 2021: features a short harlivy story by mariko tamaki and amy reeder which, despite being around twelve pages long, manages to nail so much of what makes their relationship great. it shows them bantering, arguing, revealing their vulnerabilities, and talking out major issues in their relationship that seem so obvious and yet have basically never come up in mainline canon. it was really great to see. plus, the art rocks!

dc: love is a battlefield: a romance-based anthology featuring a harlivy short, detailing the evolution of their relationship through the years. though it's condensed into a handful of pages, it shows probably my favorite 'redemption arc' for ivy-- in which she gets older, mellows out (in big part due to harley's influence, but also, i think, just due to the passage of time), batman and the justice league also mellow out, and then they kinda meet halfway when they realize that by compromising, they can join forces and actually make the world a better place. on the whole, it's a very sweet, emotional story.

though she’s only a supporting character in them, and they’re still ongoing series so who knows how they’ll turn out, the alternate universe titles knights of dark steel and catwoman: lonely city feature great takes on ivy, as well.

you’ll notice practically all of these recs are standalone, and don’t require immersion in any of the bigger canon titles to read. this is because getting into the meat of comic continuity is a nightmare process that is simply not worth anyone’s energy or time. there are a few points in mainline canon where i've enjoyed her characterization, like the everyone loves ivy arc starting in batman vol 3 #41, or the harley quinn and poison ivy 2019 miniseries. in my personal opinion, though, the majority of main canon arcs are so bogged down with crap that it’s just not worth it. they sprawl across a billion titles, featuring heaps of characters i don’t care about, and the plot itself is usually nonsensical at best. but yeah! if you’re interested in ivy, this list should keep you busy for a while! hope ya dig :”)