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jellazticious · 10 months ago

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bing bong bootleg SS au

very long ramble under the C

stuff are subjected to change

The working title isn't solidified but I'm leaning on either Candy Castle or Pastry Castle

Tho I think I'm gonna go for pastry cuz it has the same amount of letters as castle much like pizza and tower have the same number too

The tower is a gingerbread castle. According to a friend of mine (It's Beefy, it's always Beefy go follow him) that Hispanics love their bakeries and yeah, I guess that makes sense. Not only do I have a theme based on the protag's culture but also the theme gets narrowed down to just baked sweets. Candy in general is too broad, I would die figuring out how to put every kind of sweet in it, and if I did it's gonna be really cluttered hooboy

Noise is called Theo because that's Peppino's name formula. Peppino is a nickname for Giuseppe so I thought I'd give Noise's swap a nickname to Theodore as the main name

Hazel Nutt is pretty self explanatory cuz Noisette means hazelnut in French

Their outfits are pretty simple to mirror Peppino and Gustavo's with just coloured shirts and aprons

Hazel doesn't get a mount because she would have Theo's prototype rocket skates. Just like Gus, she would have different stages of getting used to the skates per floor. First she gets blasted from end to end cuz she can't control the thrust. Second, she manages to turn it off but she's trying to keep balance on it. Third, she catches her breath now that she could stand still without moving or slipping. Next she would make a card castle, in reference to the very castle they're inside. and lastly she'd be holding a box of sweets without giving a shit about the scary floor.

To parallel the og Noisette, Hazel would smile bigger when Theo faces her direction.

Hazel is also Theo's delivery gal to match and switch with how Peppino WAS Gustavo's delivery guy

The "kick the rat" function would be Hazel swinging one of the skates and the cops grabbing Brick would instead hold a weapon detector that also functions as a magnet

Unlike Peppino, Theo is more aggressive than anxious. Imagine an injured cat defending itself from what it thinks is a threat

the name of Pizzaface's swap is Pieface for obvious reasons 😭

but HEAR ME OUT

both pizzaface and pieface are used as insults. pizza face is used for people with so much acne and pie face is used for someone with a flat face or dull expression. It isn't just a pun on what food the characters are made of. Pieface is also a reference to the trope where people headshot other people with pies. With the mech floating towards the protag, it would look like a pie is being thrown and targeted at Theo

Honestly drawing what food makes his face is so fun. Did you know that before the croissant smile it was supposed to be syrup shaped to a smile? The nose was a long whip of cream before turning into a cut strawberry for the mustache effect

Pizzahead's candy version would be called Gingerhead because of how ridiculous it sounds.

Gingerhead is based on Willy Wonka much like how Pizzahead is based on Ronald McDonald which is why he has more of a showman look than a clown look

okay side note, it just occured to me how ironic PH being based on Ronald is considering McDo's isn't a pizza place

actually Wonka doesn't even sell cakes and shit so, I guess it's fair game

Theo has the nickname Muffinman to reference the rhyme. but this time, it's the gingerbreadman chasing the baker

Next up is Mr S, who would be Peppino but he becomes rich. Mr S is the stage name he uses. He is a known celebrity much as Noise is but he is more of a boxer than a host. Like Dwayne Johnson or something. His name is partially a reference to ResEvil's Mr X, another absolute unit of a guy

also the reason why he doesn't wear a shirt. He's committing to the bit. If he needs to cover himself when he isn't playing a role, then there's his robe. He doesn't take out his mask most of the time tho

Mr S's mask is based on the Chef Raider design but also part of the scrapped superhero design much like Pizzano. Actually speaking of Pizzano, S is characterized so similarly to him cuz Pizzano is the only SS character who was actually written well to my standards. To be fair we've seen too much of Peppino to flunk characterizing him sksksk

Since this is Peppino that Mr S is based on, he's not as tech savvy or as self centered as Noise so he doesn't have robots that look like himself. Instead he has ants for a crew

the ants swap the place of rats. the rats in PT reference the new york pizza rat while ants just generally eat your food especially if it's sweet when left alone for five minutes

the ants come from Mr G, who would be Gustavo's swap with Noisette. He's Mr S's lawyer. at the end of S's bossfight, G would snatch him away with Click (the ant) because S would make a foul and embarrassing move on live camera

I can't seperate Gustavo and Brick so Click stays with Mr G instead of assisting Hazel

inside what would be Noisette cafe, instead of Mr G and Click being behind the counter, they would be sitting as customers next to Caraman. the barista isn't seen anywhere

Honestly when I'm writing everyone, my logic of swapping them isn't "make them switch places AND personalities" but more of "write every single one of them with the og personality because giving them a different lifestyle/role would drastically change their motives and how they behave"

I'm practically just swapping each character's place of birth

I mentioned this because it's kinda funny with Noisette and Gus since they play the exact same role of assisting Peppino/Noise so swapping them won't change much in how they act. They also have the same cheery and welcoming personality by default so Hazel and Mr G would act REALLY similar to their og

The only difference is that Gustavo can be threatening whenever Peppino fucks up. It fits right in with being a lawyer for the same goon

Now we got Mel Caraman who would become this au's Vigi. Lemme just say off the bat that Caraman is just as delusional as Vigi. He gets hired as a guard for floor 2 and took it way too seriously that he thinks he's some sort of sentinel. Hired as a guard but thinks he's an ancient guardian or something

his name vaguely references James Bond because you also VAGUELY get "caramel" out of "Caraman, Mel Caraman"

Caraman is a caramel apple but he's half glazed to form an eyemask. he's also got a stick poking out his head that stretches his chorro hat. the big hat makes him look cooler anyways. Bro I was so ready to settle for a shitty wild west mayor hat and I owe Beefy one for suggesting a new hat. I was gonna make him look like Doug Dimmadome with the short brimmed tall hat😭😭😭

but yeah Caraman doesn't have the same dignity as Vigi does. He can fight crime decently on normal circumstances and badass when he's full serious. But like day in day out he's so obnoxious about looking for crime that people get tired of him nor would they take him seriously

he would also be mistaken for a pepper

Next to last, Cam M. Bert or just Bert who would take place of Pepperman. he's an artist who appreciates the world instead of himself, a freelancer also. There was only a bossfight because he was coincidentally commissioned to make a mural for the castle the same time Theo busts in. He didn't like how Theo ruined some of his works with his rush to open the door

Bert is a cream cheese instead of a cheese slime. his beret is actually a little cherry to distinguish him from the other creams.

Bert is really chill and humble, He's like Bob Ross, whenever he can, he'd try to talk about how every beauty in the world should be immortalized through a canvas

In parallel to Vigi's delusion of thinking he's a human, Bert thinks he's actually a living painting (which is completely possible for someone to be in the PT world since Pepperman was able to do it with his own art)

instead of a :{ face that Vigilante has, Bert has a :3 face

the naming formula is taken directly from Vigi

Vig E. Lantte

Cam M. Bert

There is a type of sweet cheese that's really creamy called camembert which his name is a direct reference from. Here is a picture of a camembert since it's hella cute

Camembert cheese was also suggested by Beefy, brother thank you for not allowing me to name this cunt Creamlad

Mr Lardo would be in place of Mr Stick but his motive is that he's collecting Theo's money on BEHALF of Mr Stick. They're probably the only ones who completely stay intact because there's not much canon info of Stick WITHIN the game itself I also feel he's a crossover character from his own "series" with how long McPig has him prior to PT so I just swap the character who makes the "cameo"

The toppins are still called toppins because they'd be used to decorate a cake or pie. They would be

Strawberry - Mushroom

Cream - Cheese

Cookie - Tomato

Icing (in a piping bag) - Sausage

actually I dont know yet for the pineapple but I'll get to it. I've only been figuring out this au since four days ago....

Lastly (of the characters), the Faker in this would be mechanical to match the original Noise's familiarity in robots

Fake Theo (temp name) would be engineered to be "Theo but way better" while actually being succesful with it. Faker would also sort of look like a mini figure of a ballerina. Referencing The Nutcracker

Opposite to Fake Peppino, Fake Theo is more graceful than terrifying but it's so uncanny how unnaturally pretty it is

and now some misc stuff

Title of the final level is When The Cookie Crumbles

the pepper pizza will be replaced with an extremely sweet pie and the immunity is caused by the sugar rush from it

Pizza Time is called Crunch Time

Pillar John would be a giant graham cracker since the walls are made of cookies instead of bricks. Gerome however, is a solidified bar of brownies. like a shittily made brownie that it just turned into a construction brick

Snotty is a pure white cream cheese and that's cuz he's actually made of glue. His name is Sticky

Pigs would either be bears or rabbits with how many times those two animals represented sweets

I'm gonna be clear with everyone here. I literally made this au cuz I'm going insane trying to make swap stuff with Pascal/Stefano when the au itself is so empty. sure it's colourful but it's so empty like I can't draw SS characters outside of poses

I tried like doing fanon modifications as I always do then there's so much I "modified" that at this point it's not Sugary Spire anymore. Just straight up a completely different au. The only similarity is that it's a swap au with sweets

it is what it is yknow. this is my life now. I said fuck it and went with the flow and boom, new personal au that I poured too much into

basically I blame Pascal for this

#Pizza Tower #tagging them as their og until I solidify the au #Pizzaface #Pizzahead #The Noise #Peppino Spaghetti #Noisette #The Vigilante #Pepperman #Gustavo and Brick #i drew this #Cookie Castle

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fuckitwebhaal · 1 year ago

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the dark urge

please do not come for me these are just my takes and opinions on the durge route, as someone who has run it through a few times and is pretty familiar with the lore in regards to the previous games. also massive spoilers below. like if you do not want any dark urge spoilers stop reading now.

The Dark Urge (henceforth referred to as DU), whether approached narratively as resisting or as succumbing, is more of a solidly fleshed out origin for a customizable player character compared to Tav. The reason for this is because the DU follows the precedent set by the previous Baldur's Gate games where the main player character is a Bhaalspawn. (If I recall correctly, that was also the intention for BG3, but it was scrapped and the origins split to allow for a fully customizable option).

I'm not going to get into the history of the Bhaalspawn, save to say this much: The protagonist of BG1 & 2, Gorion's Ward, is referenced on rare occasion throughout a DU playthrough and is implied to be dead. (Though they are never named as Abdel Adrian from the TTRPG canon, it is implied that it seems to be following a blend of canon from BG2 and the TTRPG canon). Bhaal, who had split his divine essence into his many children, relied on their deaths and a ritual so that he could return--in a physical sense--to the planes and reclaim his godhood as the Lord of Murder.

You, BG3 DU protag, are crafted purely from Bhaal's divine essence. This was confusing to me at first, because I had believed Bhaal incapable of having any more mortal children (due to not having a physical presence), but it is implied that Bhaal's spiritual and divine essence is strong enough to form you from himself, he is merely lacking the ritual that would return him to physicality. Which is where you come in. And, Orin, I guess.

Because you were crafted from Bhaal, it is implied that any cultural or genetic claim (such as half-elf, dragonborn, or whatever race you choose) is but Bhaal's mimicry of what those stereotypes should be. You're a killer, a Bhaalyn through and through, and you'll be the one to slay the world and slit your own throat on the carcasses left behind to bring about Bhaal's return. The only thing is, you got cocky. Confident. Comfortable. Careless. You got comfortable in your alliance with Gortash and Ketheric. Orin was jealous and wanted your blessing--your place as Bhaal's chosen--, so she struck you down, muddled your mind, and infected you with a mindflayer parasite. That's why you have no memory, and why you ended up on that ship.

So, here you are. You have no memories, but you have a rage and a disgrace and a vengeance you can't quite place. You've got an urge telling you to kill, kill, kill.

Pause. In previous games, the Bhaalspawn protagonist didn't have a "dark urge" that caused you to want to commit violence or murders outside of your control. (Not including Siege of Dragonspear (2016), which does include one uncontrollable murder. This DLC was released as a bridge between BG1 & 2 and came out after the pitches for BG3 had begun). It's implied that this is because of your pure divine creation--think Jesus. Think godspawn. God and mortal. That's what you are, murder incarnate.

The main crux of the DU run, then, becomes this: what do you want to do with this? There are a few paths laid out before you, but the narrative is pretty clear: you are a killer, and you'll always be a killer. This is where I first ran into my concerns with the DU; I was afraid it was going to be an edgelord-y, murderhobo-y playthrough that sacrificed story and companion mechanics for the sake of a bloody kill and edgy narration. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't the case, because the story unfurls really well no matter which way you go.

A friend of mine played the DU run totally evil; every bad option, every urge indulged, so I asked them what they thought of it. They said it "It definitely involved a lot more violence and death than [their Tav] run, but it's not like [they] murdered everyone [they] came across", and "It did feel a lot like someone very confused with themselves becoming very drunk with the power that comes with the urge".

I played my two DU playthroughs in two parallel ways. The first being Kyr; a DU who wanted to resist his urges and talked a good talk, had a good heart, but at every major moment, he failed to resist and ultimately succumbed back to Bhaal's embrace and became his Chosen.

My other playthrough is Nyris; a cynical, mistrustful bastard, he started out a little rocky, but growing with his companions caused him to reject the evil in his blood despite his other moral shortcomings; in the critical moments, he rejected Bhaal's influence and overcame.

How the DU presents to me, then, is this: nature v nurture. Which will win, which will overcome? By playing Kyr, it felt as though the nature was his driving force. It didn't matter how removed he was or how hard he tried to convince others that he could do better--how hard he could try to convince himself he could do better--he was already doomed by the narrative. Bhaal's manipulations drove him back home, and he didn't even realize that he'd been sucked back into the cult until it was far too late.

But, then, what about Nyris? To him, it felt like nurture. If you remove the cult from him, the indoctrination, what was left? A man struggling to make his own identity, but among those who reaffirmed it every chance that they could. He relied on his own strength and that of those around him to overcome, even if he was unsure, afraid, doubted. It feels like the nurture, or lack thereof, of Bhaal and the Bhaalist cult meant that he was free to grow and learn away from it.

It's something I find further supported in conversations with Jaheira and Minsc, who both talk about "their Bhaalspawn companion", otherwise known as Gorion's Ward from the first two games.

[ID: Minsc: "If Minsc did not inherit the flaming red hair of his mother, or the bushy red beard of his father, why would the spawn of Bhaal inherit his wickedness?"

Kyrran: "We should talk about nature versus nurture some day."

Minsc: "It is simple. As with all battles, the winner will be the one that carries the bigger sword."]

So, in my opinion, the personal arc of the DU and one that the player must engage with is the idea of nature versus nurture, and how your DU will cope with the revelations of their paths in light of the new memories and friendships that they have forged. That's not to say you can't always swing to one extreme; never indulge or always indulge, it's still digging into that nature versus nurture idea.

There is, also, the more overarching theme of BG3 in regards to breaking cycles of abuse, power, and control. If you lean into the idea of nature v nurture, and you realize that there were originally foster families involved in the upbringing of the DU (before said families were murdered, or the DU stolen away by the Bhaalist cult), you have to consider two things:

1.) Bhaal is comparable to both Shar and Vlaakith as gods that indoctrinate their religious followers, and

2.) Bhaal is comparable to Mystra and Cazador as those who take control of a severe power imbalance to inflict their will.

The narrative informs you, if you accept Bhaal's gift as Chosen, exactly the consequences that will fall upon you. It is the same as the consequences that are so heavily explained to you in regards to Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Gale, and Astarion.

[ID: *A gift from your god, your Father. An offering of his affection for you, or confirmation that he owns you.*]

[ID: *For a moment, the brine-pool of your brain clears. To die: to rest, to save the world from yourself. To accept, to become his prophet - in any disobedience, subject to his lash.*]

A lot of people say that the DU run is the "evil" playthrough, and it truly isn't. Just like any of the other decisions you make in this game in regards to your companion quest, it is a question of power and control. Power you give up by rejecting Bhaal is also control that he loses over you. Power you gain in accepting him, to exert over others, is also the control he will take. It's up to you how you will approach the DU, but I think it is shortsighted to say it is the "evil" playthrough if you are not fully engaging with the themes. You can make all of the good options that you can make with Tav--but you are fighting the narrative. The narrative has a plan for you. If you want to resist, you will have to fight for it.

#anyways. i will probably add on more to this. at some point.#fiwb meta #bg3 meta #bg3 #baldur’s gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 spoilers #durge spoilers #the dark urge #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #dark urge spoilers #bg3 dark urge #bg3 dark urge spoilers #spoilers #spoiler tag #meta tag #meta

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rex101111 · 3 months ago

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Ratchet and Clank size matters got added to the PSN store and I got a a major nostalgia pang so I went "eh, why not" and quickly played through it. And I do mean quickly, I know it was a PSP title but dang, last time I finished a R&C game this quick i played Nexus. Anyway, the thing that struck me about this game is that Ratchet is...a bit of an asshole here. And that struck me as odd because for the last few entries...he isn't.

Like this is still early series Ratchet, still on the PS2/PSP, released just before the first PS3 title, which was in retrospect a bit of an incredibly soft reboot. In the newer games, Ratchet is a fairly straight forward protag, nice, willing to help, only a little bit sarcastic if he's really strapped for time or dealing with someone especially annoying. Early Ratchet? Early Ratchet was a jackass, a dick, a selfish, quick tempered loner that only went on this quest because there was a tangible, direct benefit to him specifically. Seriously, in the first game Ratchet couldn't go two sentences without insulting somebody, and that's when he's in a good mood. In act 2 he's even worse, gnashing his teeth at everyone he talks to and threatening to sell Clank for scrap. It takes hours of in game time and half a dozen levels before Ratchet finally chills out, and a few more levels before he actually resolves to act like any sort of hero, and even that only happens after something he personally cares about gets threatened. Ratchet could give a damn, he can be convinced to help people, but he's still a selfish person who needs the situation rubbed in his nose before he realizes how dire it is. Clank having faith in him, throughout the entire game, even when he's being a dick, even when Clank himself is furious with him, meant something. When in the penultimate level he says "that's the Ratchet I always knew was there" and Ratchet brushes him off, you buy it, that beneath this sharp outside there's someone with the capacity to be a hero, an actual hero, a hero who isn't selfless, but one capable of overcoming his selfishness when it matters most.

Back when the first game came out, people complained about this, about their platformer mascot protag being a huge dick, and even the very next game addressed this by toning him down a smidge, but Ratchet in the PS2 trilogy is still very much not a perfect sunshine person. He's very sarcastic, pretty cynical, is very quick to call other people on their bullshit, and still has a very short temper. (Plasma city, anyone?) Ratchet had texture to him, he bounced off the much more straightforwardly nice Clank in a lot of ways, their friendship felt like it had weight and meant something because these two had so many differences between them that the fact they did get along so well and cared about each other so much showed that their friendship was genuine. I like the newer Ratchet and Clank games, played every one of them, but I've never been really happy with the direction they took with Ratchet. Each game made him nicer, friendlier, smoothing down his edges. And the reboot game had it the worst, they retold the first story, where Ratchet was at his worst and a major thread of the plot was him learning to get over his bullshit, but had the sanded down kitty cat of the later games instead of having confidence in their early work. Dickhead Ratchet worked, he had a place and it gave him a place to grow, while still maintaining his inherit sharpness. Ratchet should get to be an asshole again, just for a bit, let him get angry, properly. Sure, he's a hero who's saved two galaxies three times over and then some, but he did that while being a sarcastic little shit who made a joke about a plumber's ass crack showing and fired rockets at people while complaining about how high the prices are everywhere he went.

I dunno, maybe its a bit too late in the game to say this, but something got lost in the shuffle a while back, and getting a reminder of what was simply put it into perspective for me.

#ratchet and clank #random crap #just some loose thoughts #...i need to replay the trilogy again

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mineral-vulture · 3 months ago

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The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions

You know, for Go Rush (and Sevens) being the lighter and sillier Yugioh series in tone it really does have moments of sorrow.

OKAY I wanna talk about Sevens and Go Rush and how both series have this weird underlying of tragedy in it. So uh spoilers for both series below. Oh and it will be long.

My boyfriend @siromany and I watched Go Rush first because we were fascinated that one out of the three protags (I will die on the hill that Yuamu and Yuhi are protags along with Yudias) is an alien. We were watching it and wondering the series' connection to Sevens especially when we would see shots of Yuga. We did eventually figure out it was in the past. After we watched the episode where Yuga, Yuamu, and Yuhi go to the future as cats seeing the time period where Yuga came from we discussed the possible turmoil that Yuga feels. At this point what we knew about him was that he made rush duels in his time, somehow ended up on the past, and had to make rush duels to help prevent the valgerian's war. Seeing one of his friends inform him that the game he created, rush duels, also went through the same thing like in the real yugioh meta. Overly complicated, unfriendly to new players, and pushing out children who are the main demographic from the game. We both felt sadden for him finding this info out but it seemed like he was able to take it in a "Well that just means someone else has to come by and fix it again" sort of positive view. Not long after watching that episode I suggested we watch Sevens since this series is going to have more references and connections to it. That and there is context we are missing. So we did just that and I will say I am glad we watched it the way we did because it gave a unique perspective on both series. Watching Sevens we were able to see how the Go Rush counterparts are inversions to how each dynamic was different which was super cool. When we were getting to the ending of Sevens both of us felt the pain of knowing what was going to happen to Yuga. We kept thinking back to the Go Rush episode where he returns to his time and now that episode is more painful with full context.

Returning to Go Rush and watching Yuga's journey it truly sunk in that him going back to the present for a bit only to be told that what he did in the past did not change the present but in fact CAUSED what all happened was NOT good for Yuga to find out. Yugioh in 7 out of 8 series has always had the theme of going against destiny and being able to fight against it, Vrains being the exception, and how the main characters can prove the antagonists wrong in some way. Sevens and Go Rush seem to have more of the theme of "You can fight against destiny but there is a consequence to it and you may not like what that is". I vaguely know there are people who don't really sympathize with what Yuga did in the later half of Go Rush which like I can kind of get. However lets put ourselves in Yuga's position, shall we?

You are a 10 year old child who has been thrust into the past after trying to protect your creation from a man who wanted it destroyed. A creation that was made from joy and love of duel monsters. Trying to bring the game back to the demographic it was made for, children. Making rush duels simple to understand but also fun to play. You a stranded in a place that is both familiar and unfamiliar and you need to find a way back home. But you are stopped by a man and his crew who are demanding you to create rush duels. You don't want to do this, you know this could affect the past. But you overhear that his man's species have been fighting in a big war for a long time and that the conflict has not ceased. Dueling from your experience has brought people closer and you can communicate through to people's hearts to make them understand (a common yugioh staple about dueling) and while you may not know why this guy wants rush duels to exist or how he knows of them, you have hope that maybe this could help stop strife. Maybe making them this early wouldn't be so bad? That and maybe making it early that could mean you could change the past of dueling and therefore the future of it for the better. You not just do such but along the way meet the ancestors of people who look similar to your friends. But they aren't the same people which logically makes sense but doesn't hurt any less. They remind you of home, a place that now you have kind of given up going back to. But hey, chin up! Rush Duels ending up saving the Velgearian and ending their war! That's great, you DID have a positive impact! Making Rush duels in the past was for the better.

Wait, now these two random guys have created Maximums by turning people into cards? Uh, that is a lot worse than how they were originally made. You get turned into card and two whole years pass while you are in that state. But no worries, you know you can trust you ancestors and their Velgearian friend to solve this. It'll all be fine. You then get sent back to the present just for a bit to observe your friends. But going back you are told by one of them that Dueling became complicated and out of the reach of kids. What you did in the past didn't change it. In fact, YOU caused the same cycle to happen. You try to ignore that thought and tell yourself that it can be fixed, you can change this. You head back to the past promising you will return home...hopefully. unbeknownst to you, your presence is creating a rift between two best friends because of their feelings for you. Feelings you are unaware of because at this point you are a 12 year old boy. One of them is the ancestor of the six ceos of Goha company, a company that in the future creates duel monsters, while the other is the ancestor of the Mutsuba company that deals with construction and is of now the owner of the city. Where you came from the town was called Goha city, not Mutsuba, the descendant of Mutsuba talked about how her family lost power and how Goha took over everything. In the past both companies were super close but then everything fell...and that falling is happening before you but you aren't even aware of it. But well at least the Maximum situation has been sol-oh a prototype of the Velgearian species is causing issues? Great, okay that can be solved. While it does get solved...you find out that the Velgearian are dying and fast. They are being wiped out, but why? You thought they were immortal, what could possibly be causing their extinction? They are using their energy while rush dueling which is shortening their lifespan. The thing you created to help them is what is going to end them. You are responsible for their demise. But then you find out that proto-Velgearian was trying to find a way to stop this. That he was looking into a way to revive the Velgearian but that research stopped. Your friends are trying to complete his goal but you begin to put the pieces together and realize what is being made, Monster Reborn.

The card that began the domino effect of the destruction of Rush Duels in your time. A card that alters the memories of others. The card that caused strife between siblings where they decided to destroy rush duels along with each other. It is now sinking in how everything is repeating itself and how this could be your fault. You have to, no, you NEED to stop this. Even if it means hurting those you care about. Even if they see you as their enemy and you are alone, you have to do this. You have to destroy what you love, you have to become the person you tried stopping before coming here. You now understand why he was trying to stop you those years ago. What other option is there? You can't tell them why making this card would be bad because your Velgearian friend wants his comrades back. He won't listen. No one will listen. The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few as they say. You fight your ancestors tooth and nail only for the card to be used and now all three of you can see each other's memories. Your ancestors now know what all will happen. You loose against them and the card is now unleashed. You couldn't stopped it. Your duel caused a rift in reality to open where now you can go home but you are leaving behind a road of the damage you have caused. Made worse with the fact that Monster Reborn can't even revive the Velgearian which is why the proto-Velgearian stopped his research. Making the card was pointless, and trying to stop it was utterly pointless. Your fighting to change the future only caused it to happen. You have to live with that. But not just you, but your ancestors too.

I know this is the goofy card game show but what the fuck. I didn't expect Yuga to become one of the most tragic yugioh protags. Watching his desperation of trying to stop the pain that is going to happen in his time and in turn having to destroy the very thing he loves was just heartbreaking. Anyway, I hope whoever reads this enjoyed my ramblings on Sevens and Go Rush. That and I hope people who weren't sympathetic to Yuga try to at least understand my perspective and such. Though I tend to like tragic characters a lot so maybe that is why I am sympathetic to him.

#yuga ohdo #yugioh sevens #yugioh go rush #yugioh #fanart #traditional art #Velgearian #the relic #pierce draws #mineral vulture art #fandom frenzy free

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linkspooky · 4 months ago

Note

Just got done with reading your "How To Do a Dark Deconstruction of your Shonen Hero" post, first off amazing work as always! As much as it pains me to hear (good faith, non-reactionary and well thought-out) criticism due to having gotten into MHA in middle school when I was impressionable and attached onto works quicker than I do, it was satisfying to hear someone as well-worded as yourself put into words a thought that I had. For a while I could only summarize it by thinking "Man MHA sure does feel toothless and inconsistent about what it delivers on, and what ideas or themes or messages or what have you are left in the fridge and forgotten about."

It was also fun to hear about Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, growing up YGO was only ever a game some of my friends played or "HEART OF THE CARDS" and Kaiba memes, so hearing that there was a lot more to the series was a welcome surprise, even if quite anecdotal on my part.

As for the question part of this ask, near the middle of it you brought up how despite being quite captivated with the idea and the final result, you weren't as impressed with how YGO got there, and vice versa with MHA in how it was paced better but so far(let me have a little bit of hope lol) ultimately hasn't made good on it's "storytelling promise" if you will.

With the preface that no story is "perfect" along with the fact that everyone has their own interests, biases, icks, etc., I wanted to ask if there was a story which in your opinion, that blends proper pacing and build-up, with proper follow-up and payoff? I had the idea of deconstructing the perfect shonen protag or similar character in mind, but I'm also curious to hear about other ideas as well if you have them.

PS Thanks again for writing and posting these. They're often the highlight of my day when I remember to get around to reading them. And apologies for this long-ass ask hehe.

If you want a shonen series with similiar themes of "saving the villains" as MHA and Season 3 of Yu-Gi-Oh GX! but better pacing, buildup, payoff and overall story structure then both manga then I strongly reccomend another Yu-Gi-Oh series, Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal.

To begin with as a disclaimer I think Yu-Gi-Oh, but especially the spinoffs post 5DS get a bad reputation. For several reasons, the dub, but also the Duel Monsters anime adaptation is kind of bad. A lot of people forget that Yu-Gi-Oh! started out as a very dark urban fantasy, or just the fact that it runs in the same magazine as MHA and JJK. Once you get over the fact that it revolves around card games, Yu-Gi-Oh is as much of a battle shonen as MHA or JJK.

If you give Zexal a chance, it has everything MHA promised us. A conflict where there's really no heroes and villains, a story about what it means to save people, and a protagonist who wants to save everyone.

Yu-Gi-Oh no Cristo!

If you want to take my word for it that Zexal is good, and avoid spoilers then don't read any further. However, I thought I'd demonstrate HOW Zexal tackles the same themes that My Hero Academia tried to tackle.

I'm going to limit this analysis to Zexal I, because while Zexal II is superior in every way I don't want to spoil the whole darn show. Zexal deconstructs the idea of what it means to save others, by having the central conflict in its first season focus on several different factions where no side is the clear good guy. it also tackles the theme of "revenge", and how no character's revenge is justified no matter how wounded they are.

Zexal has three main characters, Yuma, Kaito, and Shark. The latter two are deuteragonist, and tritagonist respectively, and vacillate between being rivals and outright antagonists. If you wanted a story where Shigaraki post My Villain Academy was basically given deuteragonist status alongside Deku then this is the story for you. From her on out I'm going to focus on the cycle of revenge and also the intertwining arcs of Yuma, Shark and Kite and how these characters develop the themes.

Before I get to the World Duel Carnival, I would be amiss to mention that Zexal has a faster start then any Yu-Gi-Oh anime barring 5DS. The introductory arc is episodic in nature, but it does two things really well, first establishing Yuma as a character and second laying the groundwork for both Shark and Kaito showing they are human beings with their own motivations even when they act as antagonists to Yuma. World Duel Carnival starts at 27, but in my opinion the real conflict starts in episode 33 with the introduction of the Tron Family.

In comparison My Hero finishes the Stain arc around episode 33, so I'd say they equally have as strong a start, and both works have introduced their main trio in that time.

With the Tron Family the secondary antagonists of the season we're finally introduced to the season's main confict of revenge. There are four factions and I'm going to take the time to explain each one's motivation before digging in deeper.

The conflict starts with the parents of the three main characters, Lord Byron Arclight (who will later return as Tron), Dr. Faker, and Kazuma Tsukumo. The three of them were studying alternate dimmensions together when Dr. Faker betrayed his two close friends. Kazuma and Lord Byron were dropped into an alternate dimmension as sacrifices to open the door between dimmensions. Kazumi did his best to try to save himself and Lord Byron, but he was unsuccesful and they both dropped out of the world.

Arclight wandered around between dimmensions, until he was eventually saved by the Barian world, a world of pure chaos kind of like the flipside of our world. However, his salvation came with a cost he was reverted from an adult man to a ten year old's body, and he also lost half of his face which is now a black hole (it's weird I'm not sure how that happened). The only thing that sustained Tron was the idea of getting revenge against Dr. Faker and now that he's returned he's determined to have it.

Tron had three sons, Michael, Thomas and Christopher. Which he renames III, IV, and V because he can't be bothered to remember their names I guess. Tron was once a very loving father and left his children behind on what was supposed to be a temporary research trip. However, their father apparently died, and Christopher the oldest was not old enough to take custody so III and IV were sent to different orphanages. At the same time Christopher was broken-hearted to learn that the man who killed his father, was the father of his student and close friend Kaito Tenjo, and ended that relationship for those reasons.

With the return of Tron the family was allowed to be back together with a now older Christopher taking custody of his brothers and now parenting his ten year old father (which is hilarious by the way). However, Tron distorted by the Barian world and his desire for revenge now uses his sons as tools in his revenge scheme against Dr. Faker. All three sons comply on the thin hope that if they complete their father's revenge, he will go back to being loving Byron Arclight. The Tron Family is a family united by revenge, but also defined by an intense family loyalty to each other, both as siblings, and to their father. While their father may not deserve it, all three sons love him deeply and would do anything to try to save him.

IV: You can't trust me that much. Just because I can't become an obedient servant to you like III and V. IV: But even so...I still also...for your sake. IV: Dad, you always smiled gently in the past. IV: But... after you returned from the parallel world it's like you had an entirely different personality. IV: Despite that we were still willing to follow you, Tron. Shark: Stop pretending to be a victim. Shark: Even if you were being used, I won't forgive you for what you did.

Which dovetails nicely into the conflict between Shark and IV. IV, obeying his father's orders challenged Shark's sister to a duel in a building that later blew up. He knew about the first part, but not the second, but still is somewhat responsible despite his ignorance. He did his best to save Shark's sister from the flames getting scarred in the process, but she was left comatose.

Soon after, IV engineered Shark's disgrace as a duelist, by purposefully letting his cards fall on the ground so Shark could see them during a tournament so he'd be disqualified for taking a peek.

All of these under his father's orders to turn Shark into yet another tool of revenge against Dr. Faker, as a wildcard to be pointed in Faker's direction. IV further antagonizes him by giving him a Numbers Card knowing that the darkness of the Numbers card will soon possess him in order to further his father's scheme. He also just wants to flat out defeat Shark so he can prove to his father he's more useful.

Shark looks like the clear victim in this situation, but his complete lack of sympathy for IV is total hypocrisy. Because, Shark is also only after revenge for what was done to him and his sister. Shark was hurt by IV's revenge, but Shark will also attack completely innocent people, including Yuma, just to get his revenge against IV. Shark is the aggrieved victim, but he fights only for revenge not to save someone and he just does not care for anyone other than his sister, himself and Yuma to an extent. Unlike IV, who has the added motivation of saving someone, and also is self-aware that he did something wrong that he can't take back.

Shark is very much a case of "well, my revenge is different from your revenge" somehow, and it makes him look like a hypocrite. Which is why Shark wavers between being an anti-hero and an anti-villain, because in spite of his mroe heroic qualities and his friendship with Yuma he pretty consistently is only motivated to duel for revenge and not for saving others like Yuma is and the show is clear on it's themes of "there is no such thing as a justified revenge."

Shark does not get his revenge, in fact the same way IV is manipulated to pointing his anger at Shark, Shark gets manipulated by Tron to pointing all of his anger at Yuma. Yuma basically has to act as the punching bag, in order to try to calm Shark down again and in Shark's own words even if you were being used, I won't forgive you for what you did.

Shark won't forgive IV, but he ends up committing the exact same unforgivable acts, and by his own logic manipulation is not an excuse.

Now that we've introduced Shark as the wildcard, the last faction is Dr. Faker's. Kaito and Dr. Faker both are fighting to save Haruto, Faker's second son and Kaito's little brother. Here is the twist with Dr. Faker's betrayal he's presented as a "I did everything for power" type of villain, but he's actually doing everything to save his son from dying and is willing to backstab his closest friends to do so, and turn his son Kaito into a pawn. There's an added layer of complication where Dr. Faker is legitimately using his son as a pawn, but much like the Tron Siblings, Kaito is also willing to comply because saving Haruto is just as important to him.

Kaito is a numbers hunter who rips out the souls of people in order to reclaim numbers cards from them, something which ages them and leaves them completely comatose. Kaito also blatantly says on several occasions, he doesn't care how many people he has to hurt to save his brother. So Kaito's motivations aren't revenge like Tron's, but he's also just as willing to get innocent people involved. He even attacks Shark once who didn't even have a number card, simply for GETTING IN THE WAY when he was trying to steal Yuma's key.

Kaito's not just an "I'll do anything to save my brother" type of character, he actively does not care about how many victims he creates along the way.

KAITO: You're wrong. Just one person matters to me. I only care about Hart.

And he sure does mean that. His own allies? Don't matter. His former friend Christopher? Doesn't care. Yuma who actively wants to save Hart too? Get out of the way bucko.

YUMA: Kaito, Droite fought desperately against Tron for your sake. YUMA: Droite liked y- KAITO: That's none of your concern.

Kite's obsession with saving his brother is all-consuming, and even ignores that Haruto does not want Kaito hurting himself for his sake, because it is just as much about Kaito as it is about Haruto.

Kaito also clashes with V from the Tron Family, and is deeply hurt by the fact that V will make punching bags out of both Kite and Haruto in order to get revenge against their father.

However, Kaito who has at this point put several people in comas in order to save his brother (the exact same motivation V has for his father and two younger brothers) is a complete hypocrite in this regard.

V: Friend you say? V: But that ideal was completely wrecked by Dr. Faker. V: Could you forgive that person's son? V: When I realized the truth, I... KAITO: Enough of this nonsense.

I'm sure none of the people Kaito put in comas had brothers, and they all kicked puppies when no one was looking. Even after Kaito realizes that Christopher was only trying to save his family the same way that he was, and promises to inherit his feelings, he forgets all about that when dueling Tron.

Kaito's one and only loss in the whole series comes from when he loses himself to revenge against Tron after he provoked him one too many times by tormenting Haruto. Once again, no matter what the reason revenge is never justified in Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal!

Tron: You're right I have no emotions. Droite and Shark... I was willing to even use my sons in order to create rage. Kaito: Say what? Tron: You did pretty well, too! You get angrier and angrier when it comes to Haruto. It's all thanks to you, have a look.

As much as Kaito would like to make a martyr of himself, he is just like the Tron siblings, just like Shark, an angry little kid lashing out against innocent people for the pain both him and his brother has suffered. Even kaito who has the most explicit desire to save someone, succumbs to revenge in the end when he's pushed.

The tragedy of season 1 is that basically every faction involved has a case of "my revenge is more important than your revenge, and my loved ones are more important than your loved ones". Even though both the Tron Family, and Kaito are fighting to save their families, neither of them ever backs down or considers the other side's motivations because THEIR PAIN is more important.

The last faction of the story is Yuma's, and as stated above Yuma is the only one who attempts to see his opponent's side. Yuma's central motto is "if we've dueled each other, then we're already friends." He also believes that duels should never be used as tools for hurting each other, something Shark, Kaito and the Tron Family all gleefully do in their conflict against one another.

Yuma is a deconstructoin of the "save everyone" because while he is involved in the conflict too because he lost his father to Dr. Faker, unlike the other three factions he has a support system. He still has his grandmother and sister, childhood friends, friends at school and Astral.

This fact is explicitly called out in his duel against III who by that point Yuma considers a friend. III spends a day with Yuma, bonding with him over their shared love of archaelogy, seeing his family and home life, only to turn against him.

Yuma tries to reach out to III the entire time through the duel and talk him down, and it doesn't work because Yuma with his support system, cannot truly understand where III is coming from and the desperation that drives him. Yuma's not caught in the same rock and hard place that III is, and all the sympathy and good intentions in the world cannot overcome the difference between that.

Yuma also in spite of his desire to solve things peacefully is basically forced to still fight, because if he loses a duel his close personal friend Astral will die, so it's actively a challenge for him to seek the third way to settle things without contributing to the cycle of revenge.

So Yuma represents the correct path, forgiveness and understanding the other's point of view, but it also shows that Yuma is able to do that because unlike everyone else he has a support system. Yuma is not internally more good than Shark, Kite, or the rest. He's just in a place where he can afford to look at the other people's perspectives because he's not desperately fighting for survival.

It's also a challenge for him to do so, because Yuma is someone very immature. As I said with III he does not understand the depths of what they are feeling even if he wants to make the pain go away. He tries to offer his unwavering support to people, but he fails just as often as he succeeds due to his immaturity.

In Yuma's case it's less being a perfect hero, but rather making an unrelenting effort to help others and offer a hand that matters. Yuma's character development in season 1 for me crystallizes in his final redemption of Tron, the character besides Faker who makes him the most angry because of his gleeful abuse of his sons for the sake of revenge. Not only does Yuma start to get through to Tron at points in the duel, because he tries so hard to make Tron understand how much he's hurt his sons, but at the end of the duel he mirrors his father's own action of trying to save both himself and Byron Arclight I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Yuma: I won't give up! Tron: But why? Why are you trying to save me? Yuma: It's obvious, isn't I? Everyone I duel are my friends. Yuma: I don't understand all that complicated stuff, but we create bonds through dueling. And since you dueled me you are my friend. Tron: I finally understand. Your dueling goes beyond my desire for revenge. Yuma I can't live the same way as you and Kazuma, but I can't let Dr. Faker go either. I'll release all the souls I captured.

Yuma does represent the themes of love, and understanding being the only way to heal revenge (because more revenge does not fix anything) but he's not just propped up as a saint by the narrative. He's a character who has to go through serious character development before he's finally able to back up his good intentions with actual concrete action.

Yuma isn't just good internally, but rather his constant efforts to find the third path, and befriend other people is what makes him the hero of the story. Yuma is Deku done right and I will stand by this.

I hope I've been able to demonstrate the themes of Zexal, and I would be amiss to mention this is just Zexal I. Zexal II the second season does all of this even better. The Barians are an even better version of the League of Villains because despite starting a war with the main characters, they are all sympathetic and their point of view is just as valid as Astral and Yuma's. I don't want to spoil Zexal II though, so if anything about Zexal I caught your eye I reccomend watching both series.

#yu gi oh zexal #ygo meta #shark #tron family #christopher arclight #thomas arclight #tron #yuma tsukumo #kaito tenjo #michael arclight #metasks

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real-fire-emblem-takes · 3 months ago

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I really, sincerely hate Ephraim. I have yet to play Ephraim route but his stupid face makes me want to kill someone. Fe8 could've been such a great feminist story, where the hero is a woman who doesn't exist in the shadow of male characters but no!!! They decided to have Ephraim!!! WHY!! IT COULD'VE JUST AS EASILY BEEN A LITTLE TEAM OF SOLDIERS LEAD BY SOME NOBLE GUY FROM RENAIS BUT NOOOOO they just HAD to take attention away from Eirika. My friend who has played Ephraim mode insists it has important lore but guess what. I would bet two ribs that you could just as easily have all that lore by extending the game to be 30~ chapters like most other games in the series. There's no reason for Ephraim to exist but fulfill some qouta that every game has to have a male protag. And then in feh they completely ignore Eirika's entire thing of being a strong independent woman by making her an accessory to Ephraim!! And you know what the worst part is? Because Eirika has a brother, it is impossible to look at fe8 content without seeing deeply upsetting incest crap. Best case scenario, you just see some still awful shit of Lyon in a poly relationship with both of them but where they are not dating each other. Absolutely vile and I hate this fandom and the writers of fe8. The only silverlining is that Ephraim is a loser who had to have Eirika come save him but Eirika doesn't even get to have that victory because she would have been dead if it weren't for Seth noticing that Orson was suspicious as crap. Also final addition but they don't pronounce Ephraim's name correctly. In feh, Eirika says it as eh-frem when in fact it's pronounced as ee-fra-im. Dude is such a big failguy that they don't even get his name right.

-🛟

#character hate #eirika fire emblem #fe8 #fire emblem sacred stones #story takes #feh #fire emblem heroes #fe #fire emblem #🛟life ring anon🛟#sexism mention #incest mention #fandom takes

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yall-hate-kids-tourney · 10 months ago

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Round 2: Nanami Kiryuu (Revolutionary Girl Utena) vs. Ken Amada (Persona 3)

Propaganda below the cut

Nanami Kiryuu:

In a show where major characters regularly engage in domestic violence and sexual abuse, the one character fans hated for decades was the 13-year-old grooming victim who tried to bully her peers to gain some semblance of control in her life. She wasn't even good at it

(Mod note: Please be advised that RGU contains dark themes beyond what has already been tagged if you plan to look into it. A comprehensive list of content warnings can be found here)

Ken Amada:

y'all are all for "murder and revenge plots" until is a 10 y/o boy who watched his mother die and started to become conflicted after realizing his moms killer is a secretly kind traumatized teenager to the point where the 10 y/o boy attempts to kill himself by giving himself up to assassins.

bro he's 10.

----

ken amada is such an interesting character with the unfortunate circumstances of having little screentime and atlus deciding to ruin his reputation forever by giving him a romance choice in the fem protag route. ken is a child who lost his mother at NINE. nobody ever believed him when he said that she was murdered, and that he saw who killed her. hes miserable, and all everyone around him does is give him sympathy while hes suffering and was forced to grow up before even going into middle school. hes angry and determined to get revenge on the person who killed his mother, and he doesnt even see the own value in living anymore beyond getting that revenge. hes more mature than most of his peers, and is desperate to be seen as an adult.but at the same time, he is still a child who likes superhero shows.

----

OH GOD WHERE DO I START

First there's the normal "The fandom hates kids" complaints of "He's so whiny" "he's so annoying" "oh my god kid just SHUT UP" y'know, the typical fandom stuff that makes you wonder if these people have ever talked to a child in their life

Second, there's (spoilers)...

October 4th, and the ENTIRE FANDOM is calling this kid a murderer.

For context, the moment in question doesn't necessarily paint him in the best light but its still understandable. Your team is going on a mission while Ken and another character named Shinjiro are away. In an alleyway, they have a talk where it is revealed that on that night a year priar to the game, Kens mom was killed in that allleyway by Shinjiro's Persona (Which, by the Rules of the Game Lore, basically means By Shinjiro). Ken tried to tell the authorities, the authorities didn't believe him because Magic Reasons and the death was ruled an accident.

Of course Ken is Fucking Pissed and wants revenge

However, because of Talk, he ACTIVELY CALMS DOWN, and realises "Hey, I probably shouldn't kill someone. Despite them, y'know, killing my mom"

HOWEVER REVOLVER JESUS COMES IN AND RUINS EVERYTHING BY SHOOTING SHINJIRO. AND LIKE, IF YOU PLAY P3P YOU CAN /AVOID THE DEATH THING/

AND EVERYONE BLAMES /KEN/. AND ONLY KEN.

And third (yes, there's a THIRD) IS THE FUCKING FEMC ROMANCE THING. WHICH JUST...SHOULDN'T HAVE EXISTED IN THE FIRST PLACE. BUT NOW HE'S "SHOTA BAIT" BECAUSE WE HAVE TO BLAME THE CHILD FOR THE AUTHORITY FIGURE COMING ONTO THEM 😒

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alola-reblogging · 5 months ago

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Hi idk if requests are open? I was wondering If you could do a request for what the alola crews addictions are? I Hope this makes sense! Thanks have a wonderful day/night 😊

Hi yes requests are OPEN! Though...I wasn't sure who you meant by Alola crew so I chose who to write for if that's okay? Re-request with someone specific if you like :) also not sure if you mean like addiction or addicted as in obsession?

Hau

I mean...its gotta be malasadas right? If you thought the answer was anything different then that's on you, my friend ♡

Gladion

Ima say Monster true emo kid bc I imagine he had a lot of long nights out training silvally, especially since they could only train at night. He needed the extra energy to stay awake. Not to mention all of the late night jobs he probs had to do for Team Skull as well. He also totally collects the cans with cool designs and keeps them displayed in his motel room, theyre all neatly stacked like its 2006 again

Moon

Judging by the manga...I'd say medicine! Moons a pharmacist in the manga so I'd say her obsession is plants/poison types, anything that can improve medicine or be studied.

As for in game Moon obviously people can kinda make her how they want too since she's a protag, but I think pokemon battles are a safe bet!

Also cannon that she's a masked royal fan! So I guess she could be addicted to battle royals too!

Thou since I'm a big fan of lonashipping ima throw Gladion as an obsession into the mix too hehe

Professor Kukui

Pokemon battles for sure, but specifically the moves. Like we know he basically uses himself as a test subject for his Pokemon to test their moves against so I guess he's a move addict? I mean let's not forget that one line in sumo about my body is ready! Woo!

Guzma

Weed. Like really....let's face it...Team Skull are definitely all pot heads. I mean one bro tried to steel a bus stop??? If that MF wasn't high then Pikachu is a dragon type.

Plus he probs smokes up to forget all of his childhood trauma stuff.

Nanu

Cat man. This guy is addicted to Meowths. I mean it's literally cannon, every conversation you have with him in game that isn't a cutscene he's legit talking about meowth. Man sees a random meowth outside, just chilling? He's taking it home fr

Lillie

It's cannon she loves the stars and astrology, so ima go with that! I know she loves fashion and sewing but I'd say the cosmos has been a more life long addiction...

Also loves plushies

Sophocles

Coding & hacking !! This guy could hack into any bank and deposit 10 billion pokedollars into your bank account if he wanted ~ but he's a good boy so he won't!!

Molayne

Weeb. Big phat weeb! His addiction is anime & video games, Molayne's secret dream is to one day become so advanced with computer science he can bring his waifu to life.

Also what is this gif I love it xD

Lusamine

I mean....it gotta be ultra beasts...she was crazy for them afterall....like anime lusamine doesn't exist in my book....even ULTRA sumo Lusamine don't exist....that first expirence playing sun left me fucked up fr....those poor frozen pokemon 😢

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rindragon-from-twewy · 17 days ago

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Lol ok so I've had the mdarc dlcs for a while but I've only just now found the time/motivation to play them. I binged them all in one go and ig I just wanna talk about my opinions on each one a bit (I have nobody irl to talk to about it so I figured posting is a good enough substitute lol) It's a long read tho so buckle up!

Spoilers for all of them below the cut. And feel free to comment/rebog with your own opinions too cuz I wanna hear now that I know the full context for them all!!! <3

Desuhiko's; Someone take this man to rehab for recovering cringefails, he needs help. While I love him, having him in the protag position honestly made my skin crawl a little. He's built to only be a funny side character imo. Enyne's obviously a lesbian and also my girlfriend now I'll have you know- that's why she rejected the proposal cuz she's already married to meeeee! /j ... But also I'm just a sucker for the detective x thief trope and for that reason I can't pretend that Desuhiko was completely dumb for proposing like that- you'll find a girl (or guy) who's into cringefail losers eventually my dude. Honestly if I had to change one thing about it (besides the constant second hand embarrassment enducing dialog-) would've been cool to see him interacting with the phantom thief before his elaborate plan to catch them started. But that could just be my oumasai brainrot talking.

Fubuki's; BABY GIRL BABBYYYYY!!!! Why didn't she get much focus??? Halara and Desuhiko did basically everything- they stole her spotlight :(! She totally could've figured it all out on her own if she'd found the dice herself, I'm sure!!! She didn't need anyone reminding her of her own powers nor did she need Desuhiko to accompany her to see the fortune teller! She's not an idiot, the others just don't give her a proper chance to prove it! It was an interesting mystery though. I loved seeing the trio interacting more without Yuma around. I'm guessing all bar the Yakou dlcs take place before Yuma's arrival? Slay. Also, also the fact that she took an interest in card games afterwards??? And she's so good at them that she doesn't need her forte to win?! She's so precious! I need to give her a hug! TwT

Halara's; This case what honestly easier to solve then chapter 3's but also... damn I can't believe Halara kicked Kinger from The Amazing Digital Circus in the face like that. I can't tell if he was referring to Halara or his fiance when he said "I can kill the woman anytime" but I feel like Halara kicked him extra hard for misgendering and/or demeaning his own fiance like that, depending on which it actually was. Either way it was hot as fuck. (Yeah I've been a Halara simp this whole time, now that's a lore reveal!) I loved how Halara agreed to the job even thought they knew they couldn't accept the "we can keep a cat here" payment- it means that Yakou probably found out about their affections towards cats before Yuma did! That's cute- to think they think they're so on the down low about it but it's just so obvious! I wish the culprit wasn't so obvious but oh well- these cases aren't meant to be difficult after all!

Vivia's: EMOOOOOOOOOO!!!! SEND HIM TO EMO JAIIIILLLLL!!!! DERPESSED EMOOOOOO BASTAAAAAARD!!!! <3<3<3<3<3<3 Still though- this doesn't change my mind about being neutral about the Vivia/Yakou ship. I tolerate it, live in harmony with it... I just don't see their dynamic as inherently romantic? But I get where the shippers are coming from now at the very least. I could maybe see them as queer-platonic? But that's all besides the point ig... Ryo's also much sweeter then I thought she'd be. It's interesting to think that Vivia can always see and hear ghosts. Creates a sort of chicken and egg situation. What came first? His Spectral Projection or his ability to see ghosts. Kinda reminds me of this British drama series called Ghosts - the protag has a near death experience and can see the ghosts haunting her house from then on - so I wonder if something similar happened to Vivia to trigger all this in him. Still... nice to hear a character saying that they rely on protagonists of stories they like to get enjoyment. I think a lot of people can relate to that... :>

Yakou's: ... :,( ... Why would you do that to me? Why??? It was so sad!!! Also they just photoshopped his sprite to have a green coat and no glasses that's so funny to me- Also also his wife's thiccc- 10/10 would also murder for her also tbh. Ok but in all seriousness- why couldn't they name drop her??? I feel so awkward having to give her a made up name in my own au cuz it's like what if they do eventually drop it in the future??? Like come on people, most of the other dlcs had named characters (minus Fubuki's)!!! I adore how Yakou's flashbacks were for other dlcs tho- like that's so fucking adorable. Someone really aught to move the zombies to better living conditions though- like I'm sure they could find somewhere that isn't dilapidated so they could be more comfortable. The zombies obviously have some level of consciousness remaining and I'm sure they'd all appreciate it :(!

#master detective archives: rain code #raincode #mdarc #yapping #potential hot take?#ive seen people come up with their own tags for when they go yapping so...#rindude rambles #thats fun!#but fr i loved all of these sm

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akechi-stole-my-heart · 1 year ago

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no. 1 thing people get wrong about sumi? (Or royal trio in general)

i mean honestly that she's terribly written. she's not. there are flaws because of the time constraints of third sem being so short, and i do have issues with her writing, but people complain so much about things that aren't issues or were the entire point. for example, the first half of her confidant being boring. she's supposed to feel like half a person, like a mask, like there's something Off, that there's more to her she's keeping secret.

something that haunts me is how little she talks about her dead sister, which feels like should be the key to her character arc and her slump--she mentions her once, in passing, and doesn't get very upset about the fact that her sister and best friend is dead! but the thing is, sumire thinks she is the one who died, and so she doesn't mourn herself. because of course kasumi wouldn't care. no one would care if sumire died. anyway, my point is, before you find out she's sumire, the way the narrative completely brushes over the fact that her sister died just months ago feels like missed potential. but it's actually entirely intentional. that's how the whole first half of her confidant is.

oh here are a couple other things about sumi that i've seen people be wrong about in the past. there was a post going around about how sumire should have been allowed to be more angry and go apeshit about being herself and allowed to be depressed for a while and like i just don't understand that? did we play the same game??

sumire DOES get angry she DOES go apeshit she LITERALLY TRIES TO KILL YOU so she can remain kasumi. after you defeat her she refuses to talk to you for days and for the next couple ranks she's visibly upset and depressed. sumire's arc is about recovery. they had to show her getting better in the short amount of time they had, so she couldn't continue to be dark and depressed beyond those couple ranks, but it is there.

and like. sumire wouldn't get angrier or darker than she does, because she's far too respectful? it's not in character for her to be rude or angry beyond how she already is in the game. and on top of that, she idolizes the protag. so she's not angry with him, she's angry at herself for failing him by refusing to face the truth.

the other thing is the take that cendrillon in her entirety represents sumire, while cendrillon at the ball represents kasumi. which is a really nice idea and i'd love it were it true, but it just...isn't. when sumire awakens to cendrillon the second time, it's kasumi's "spirit" or memory that transforms into the persona. cendrillon is always symbolically tied to kasumi, whether that be sumire's desire to become kasumi, or sumire carrying on the memory of kasumi. and the latter idea is nice, but it doesn't quite work for me without a middle step where sumire embraces that she is herself, without the baggage that is kasumi, first. (which is why i gave her odile in code violet.)

as for royal trio, probably the idea that they're a really boring and overrated trio, which just. isn't true. i get that there is limited content of them, but royal trio is all about the potential. as someone who has written a 100k+ fic about them, trust me. the potential is there and just waiting to be explored.

and this isn't really a royal trio take persay, but the idea that goro doesn't care about sumire, dislikes her, only sees her as a useful teammate and nothing more, or is indifferent to her, is objectively false. seriously. the moments are few and far between, but goro does show that he cares about her. in navi dialogue, one particular moment during the royal trio infiltration that lives rent free in my mind where he seems genuinely concerned for her, even the way he refuses to fight her is in its own strange way an expression of care.

and ofc, most notably when he saves her life after their fight with maruki by stopping her from going after him. "he only sees her as a useful teammate" my ass. if that were true he could have let her kill herself going after maruki and it'd have been nothing to him, because their fight with him was over and her usefulness was moot. but no, he stops her, because her safety matters to him. can you tell i'm insane about that moment? because i am so insane about that moment.

#this is way too long i am sorrryyyyyy #p5 #sumire yoshizawa #royal trio #goro akechi #sera answers #onitekka

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realclemhours · 3 months ago

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Hi alright take another ramble because I watched the newest episode of the Game Grumps Danganronpa V3 playthrough and this is more of just an introspective dive into my feelings about this trial since I read through some comments and I wanna get my feelings out there.

Idk spoilers for V3 trial one under the cut

Okay so as I said above I both read the comments for the latest episode of the Grumps Playthrough and watched their reactions, and that made me realize that this trial is pretty polarizing and I 100% get why.

The clues leading up to the twist and the murder itself are sloppy and kind of confusing. It’s such a left turn because after you play for this character, who is the first mainline girl Danganronpa protag btw, for only one chapter with seemingly no indication she is now suddenly the murderer you guys have been looking for the whole time. To add insult to injury, the new protagonist is now the guy sidekick, so yeah not great.

However- despite all it’s misses, despite how I know this trial is objectively sloppy, I still really get into Chapter 1 of V3. Even knowing what was coming and seeing Dan and Arin’s rightful confusion in live time, I still felt dread leading up to the reveal. I felt genuine dread and sadness to a sloppy twist I knew was coming, and I think that’s because despite all of V3’s many many many flaws I’m invested in Kaede and Shuichi as characters.

I’m invested in watching a protagonist slowly being lead into the very game she swore against out of desperation to save everyone. I’m invested in Shuichi’s trauma and him slowly picking up on the fact the Kaede did it, but being unable to say anything for the longest time due to how much he cares about her and his trauma. I’m invested in how despite Kaede going into a death march she still has a class trial in one last attempt to save everyone and how she uses her final moments to build up Shuichi’s confidence for his own sake and for the sake of the survival of everyone else. I’m invested in them both breaking down crying blaming themselves. I’m invested in how Kaede in her final moments pushes on her will to save everyone onto Shuichi, not realizing how intense a final wish like that could be and how he struggles with it for the rest of the game. And I’m invested in that final goodbye in Kaede’s lab, with Claire De Lune playing in the back as he mourns the loss of someone who, despite only knowing her for a few days, changed his life.

V3 trial 1 has a very strong emotional core. I think it’s the strongest one out of the whole franchise tbh (that doesn’t equal best btw I think V3 trial 4 or 5 are objectively better), but a lot of that gets muddied with an upsetting twist and a confusing murder, so I get why a lot of people don’t like this trial. However, I really love this trial even after all these years and going through the Danganronpa series again and realizing I find a lot of it mid.

That’s kinda how I feel about V3 as a whole honestly. It’s an objectively bad game with sloppy writing, a lot of filler dialogue, and some gross problematic stuff. I would never recommend this game to anyone in a million years, yet under layers and layers and layers and layers of hot garbage, there’s some moments that really do shine to me. Not for everyone, but for me they do.

That’s why I love V3 Chapter 1 and V3 as a whole so much, despite everything. It made me captivated with a handful of characters and moments even if the overall quality was bad. Growing up is realizing that not everything you like is of good quality and that’s okay. “My Class Trial Our Class Trial”, and by extension V3 as a whole, just so happened to be the media to make me realize that.

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #media literacy #drv3 #danganronpa killing harmony #kaede akamatsu #drv3 kaede #shuichi saihara #drv3 shuichi #my class trial our class trial #discussion #analysis #introspection #Spotify #clemrambles

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eversleepings · 7 months ago

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disclaimer: i love kel omori

was talking to juno (hi juno!!!!!!!!) last night about something or other and i got on the topic of kel. and i thought about him.

i generally like the interpretation that he's accepted mari's death.

i know some people like to make it so that he hasn't, that he's faking a smile, but i truly believe he did. mostly because my idea of acceptance =/= never grieving. i still think kel is grieving, but he's accepted that mari's dead, and he's accepted how mari died, and maybe he's accepted that there was nothing he (a 12 year old at the time) could've done to help her (or what he thought was happening).

tl;dr: kel is complex (but not in the way most people think) and i would like to read more flawed kel please. a scrap for the desperate.

this is, obviously, a stark difference from the rest of the cast. sunny is directly in denial of her death, and in the first few days, convinces himself she's just in college. aubrey doesn't directly deny her death, but she seemingly is unable to accept that mari would kill herself - and hero moves from being unable to accept mari's death as a whole to accepting her death, and that she killed herself, but not that he couldn't have helped, and not that he isn't at fault (again, all theories)

so kel accepted mari's death. seemingly, this is where most misunderstandings come from over the game. what i want to talk about is one of the bigger ones: (apologies for the bad photo quality)

[in case you can't see - KEL: You know, MARI would be really sad to hear that...]

THIS scene right here.

this is also the scene where aubrey drops the bomb that mari is dead. The "It Means Everything" scene. one of the most iconic scenes in the game. but I never see anyone ever talking about this line of dialogue from Kel and one of his earlier ones, where he brings up how they used to be friends.

kel throwing mari's death in aubrey's face and i don't even think he meant to do it.

he truly believes that because they used to be friends, aubrey should listen to him. he truly believes, and is probably right, that mari doesn't want them to fight. but he throws her (seeming) suicide in aubrey's face in order to try and get her to see things his way, and stop bullying basil, and she lashes out, resulting in the following fight.

i see lots of interpretations where kel is knocking on sunny's door for 4 years. if that's the case, why didn't he talk to aubrey? since we have no knowledge of the 4 years, we can only assume that either 1. he did, and was rebuked (likely if he was 'too late'), or 2. he didn't, period, for whatever reason.

and the thing is, i didn't even like aubrey when i first played omori. i thought she was annoying and a bully, and i thought her "redemption" was underwhelming and rushed, and i hated it. i've gotten over it now but we are framed to see (rightfully) that aubrey is in the wrong - allowing us to ignore kel's part in this.

the game establishes aubrey as an enemy pretty quick. she fights you in her first scene, her hooligang are the obstacles for most of your tasks on the first day, she stole something from basil (someone you likely have an emotional connection to via. headspace, and sunny as our pov character has a connection to) and she's bullying him. the only other people we fight in the rw are all imaginary.

kel is our deurotagonist (secondary protag) for the real world. he's our guiding light, the rock in the shore. he must be right because we have to be right. and he generally is!

it is wrong to steal and bully from basil. and aubrey is in the wrong to attack us. but, while not an excuse, kel hurts her emotionally, and doesn't even apologize or acknowledge it - and this is likely why despite kel's seeming social prowess, it's hero (a neutral third party, who always has deescalated their arguments) who has to step in to stop their feud.

kel tries to get aubrey to see how he feels, and in doing so, says some of the most hurtful shit on the planet. so aubrey says it right back. this is the fundamental misunderstanding that separates them, even though they seemed really close, despite their arguing, as kids.

i just think kel is pretty complex, but not in the way people think he is (the earlier mentioned fake smile stuff). i think he also has his flaws, like the rest of the cast (minus mari and hero) that we miss because we're so focused on aubrey here (esp since her reaction afterwards is again, really iconic) and i wanted to share my thoughts.

also made this post because i want more flawed kel please. please give us more fucked up kel thanks xoxo

#omori spoilers #kel omori #omori theory

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randomahhbrainrot · 13 days ago

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Why I Hate Teddie and How I’d Fix This Idiot (Yes, spoilers)

Yes, I know the image is low quality. In all honesty, he deserves it.

Teddie is honestly one of the worst characters I’ve ever experienced. I genuinely have no clue how people prefer this walking garbage bin to Morgana. I might be a bit biased to Morgana because I genuinely love him, but I can understand what turns people off of him.

Morgana has a nice story and relationship to Joker, but his relationship with Ryuji is painfully unchanging and grating to experience, especially during the break-up arc. Speaking of that arc, Morgana DOES steal away the spotlight from Haru in both the introduction AND the ending where he was the one to get the last word against Okumura before the battle instead of, I dunno, his actual daughter.

BUT NONE OF THAT IS WORSE THAN TEDDIE’S FLAWS.

When first playing P4G (great game btw, loved it all the way through except when I realized that I accidentally locked myself out of the true ending and got so mad I had to take a break from the game), I was fine with Teddie. In fact, he was pretty neat, being so innocently supportive of the protag after the first awakening. I was perfectly fine with having him around as an innocent otherworldly being who gets eased into the ‘real’ world and grows attached to it and wants to be a part of it.

The big fuckin’ issue is that he STOPS being that at Yukiko’s palace. At first, when he got introduced to the ‘hot stud’ thing, it was a fine joke. Innocent character gets introduced to saucy talk and doesn’t know what exactly it means. But then suddenly????

Suddenly, Teddie starts acting exactly like some suave pick-up artist??? Why??? Wasn’t the point that he had no idea what any of it was, so why was he suddenly acting like yet another pervert added to the team? We already had Yosuke and he’s enough pervert for the whole game. I love that guy, wish he was gay, but I only had enough patience for ONE pervert.

And the worst part is, Teddie continues to play the role of “I don’t know anything and I want someone to help guide me through it all so I can be useful”, while still clinging onto the “charismatic” (in HEAVY quotation marks) perv who tries to sweet talk any girl within his range.

INCLUDING THE MOTHERFUCKING 6-7 YEAR OLD NANAKO. AND THE WRITERS STILL HAD THE AUDACITY TO CREATE A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO. YOU HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO WATCH THE LITTLE GIRL YOU’VE CREATE A BROTHER-SISTER TYPE RELATIONSHIP OVER THE COURSE OF THE GAME START LIKING THE PERVERT WHO HIT ON HER.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.

THIS ISN’T A MAIKO “Let’s get married when I grow up! :D” SITUATION. THE OLDER PERSON IS THE ONE WHO INITIATED IT AND IN THE SAME PERVERTED TONE HE USED ON EVERY OTHER GIRL HE HIT ON.

TLDR: Teddie is presented as an otherworldly being who wants your help to navigate through the new world he’s found himself in, just as you needed his help in the Midnight Channel at first. In reality, he’s another fucking pedophilic pervert who’s somehow worse than the hormone addled Yosuke AND allowed to have a deeper connection to the fucking CHILD he hit on.

If I were to fix him, I’d want Teddie to actually be that innocent and naive person who’s completely clueless to social situations.

First off, his SL is fucking trash. Why is every single rank up dependent mostly on what the investigation team’s doing? You can just call his link “Investigation Team 2” or hell, fucking 1.5, because it’s literally just spaced BETWEEN the ranks of the actual investigation team SL. His SL needed to be quiet one on one moments with the protagonist, updating him on all the new things he’s learned ever since coming to the real world and adapting to it. You could BE the sensei he keeps calling you. He’d come to you on advice on how things really are, admiring you for your leadership and guidance. He’d open up about how out of place he’s felt since becoming a part of the team and how his lack of memories frustrates him.

And you know what that’d make him?

Childlike.

Teddie should’ve been legitimately more childlike. In wonder, in discovery, and in social situations. And THAT would honestly make his relationship with Nanako much more warranted, AND much sweeter too! They’d both essentially the same; with Teddie being the one that Nanako could lead with her own experiences. Nanako would have a friend who thinks just as childishly and innocently as she does, with Teddie having a genuine friendship with her. Not that his relationship with you isn’t, but you’re more his mentor and superior that he respects. Nanako would be the friend at an equal level.

But alas, instead we have Persona’s own Pedobear. What a joke.

#persona series #persona 4 golden #persona 4 #p4 #p4g #teddie #persona Teddie #persona 4 Teddie #persona 4 golden Teddie #p4 Teddie #p4g Teddie

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