#like nothing he does is interesting his backstory sucks and hes got the personality of a cardboard box

[famousblueraincoatmp3]

chris carter answer for your crimes. season 8 and 9 of the x files

[barb-l]

Vaggie is my favorite character, so I want to know where all of this hate for her came from. Like…people hate Vaggie yet love Lute, for example….. wtf? How? And I’m not saying people have to like the same things I do, but I’ve seen mfs bash Vaggie for things other characters have done. Again… what? The? Fuck?

Oh hohoho

I'm in a ranting mood, so let me tell you exactly why by paraphrasing some of the hate posts I've seen classlessly left in the chaggie tag before I blocked the OP's for said posts

"Vaggie has nothing going for her character. All she is, is Charlie's girlfriend"

- not even remotely true. She has a lot going on with her character aside from being The Girlfriend. She struggles with deep self-hatred, something that doesn't necessarily revolve around Charlie, although it does affect her relationship with her(codependency). It's a huge character flaw, though not necessarily bad character writing. It's something she needs to grow from, and something we can still see unfold in the coming seasons. Although she's helping with the hotel to be a supportive girlfriend, it is also something Vaggie believes to be the right thing to do regardless of Charlie. As Rosie inferred, Vaggie saw helping with the hotel as a way to atone for her sins and to do better. Even if the person running the Hotel weren't Charlie or anyone she fell for, I believe it's something she still would have helped with given her backstory. She has connections with other characters too that can be explored more in the future. Aside from just being "Charlie's girlfriend", she is Carmilla's possible additional daughter figure, she is Alastor's biggest obstacle in gaining whatever tf from Charlie, she is Lute's rival, and finally she is Lucifer's blatant parallel.

"Being a fallen angel is the only thing carrying her character. And we barely got any build up on that."

- let's say that's true. IF that's the case, why isn't anyone spitting hate on characters like Husk whose only "thing" is being a past overlord? Even though this had less foreshadowing than Vaggie's angel secret? Even though his only purpose in the story so far is to be Angel's love interest? He may be an alcoholic, but it's barely touched upon what terrible effects that may have for him. And although having his soul owned by Alastor sucks, does he actually suffer aside from that one time Alastor threatened his life? All Alastor is making him do is man the bar(so far). He has nothing to develop from with his character either. In fact, aside from the swearing and the grumpiness, he's a pretty swell guy who doesn't seem to fit in hell. He doesnt have a flaw that the story can aim to have him improve from. All he has going for him is his romance arc with Angel, and his past as an Overlord. Which, i repeat, isn't a bad thing! But how come Vaggie would get so much hate for similar criticisms, while Husk is widely loved by majority of the fandom?

"She doesn't have any chemistry with Charlie"

- something told by someone who ships:

Ch*rl*stor - two people who have only had direct interactions in the pilot(a quick dance number), episode 5(Alastor taking advantage of Charlie's daddy issues to curry favor with her and hit Lucifer's ego), and ep 7 (Alastor taking advantage of Charlie's dejection to make a deal with Charlie). A ship involving the kindest soul in Hell and a serial killer who has no desire to change and ridicules the dream Charlie holds so dear and is so passionate about. It isn't a bad thing to crack ship. Hell I do it too, but it's such a hypocritical thing to say that a canon ship has no chemistry only to claim that two people who have barely any meaningful conversations and positive interactions objectively look more like a couple and would be a better choice to be canon. Just because you like how they look in your imagination doesn't mean canon is objectively bad.

Ch*rlie/Emily - two characters who share so much similarities they can be sisters. It is such a personal thing. I have nothing against those who ship them. It just isn't for me because of the amount of similarities they have. With the intentional parallels, I personally think Emily would be better off having a gf that resembles Vaggie. Where Chaggie has a sunshine demon X grumpy angel duo, Emily could visit hell and fall for a demon who would be her opposite.

Ch*rlie/Lucifer - it's. Incest. Cmon.

"She doesn't care about the denizens of Hell"

- Vaggie's in Hell in the first place because she spared a demon's life. She cares TOO MUCH!

"Vaggie lied to Charlie. Even Adam was more honest with her!"

- I dont even... It should be common sense why Vaggie, who had just been betrayed by ANGELS, would not trust a demon princess with her true identity. Charlie and Rosie already talked about this. Or did they have their eyes and ears closed throughout episode 7?

"She ruined Lucifer's song by reprising it. Why would she do that when it's supposed to be Charlie and Lucifer's thing?? Why would she go and use a song about familial love and change the meaning to romance??"

- musicals that reprise songs to change its initial vibe has always been a thing, first of all. Vaggie reprised Lucifer's song specifically because they have been parallels of each other for the whole show. In fact, Lucifer indirectly echoes back Vaggie's reprise, with his lyrics in The Finale mirroring Vaggie's lyrics. It's not about Vaggie "stealing Lucifer's thing", it's about these two angels who both love Charlie reminding her of that love and how much they believe in her, despite being withheld of Heaven's love and losing faith in it in the process. It's about these two forms of love withstanding Heaven's abandonment and being there for someone who wants to face Heaven head on.

This is probably one of the most ridiculous anti-Vaggie criticism I've read. It's so weird to see such an earnest act of love as something audacious. If anything, Lucifer's the one with the audacity. I love him a LOT, but he did not deserve to be forgiven just because he had a beautiful song number with his daughter. It doesn't change the fact that he neglected Charlie for ages. If anyone deserved to sing More Than Anything, it was Vaggie because she has truly shown her commitment to Charlie. But, yunno. Baby steps.

Honestly for a lot of the characters in this show, all it seems to take for the fandom to like them is to have a song number that they like. People find Vaggie's songs boring. So they find her boring. Not a lot is known or shown of characters like Vox, Velvette, Alastor, and Husk, but apparently they're better developed. Just because they have sick song numbers doesn't mean they're better developed...

[takerfoxx]

So I've been having people trying to get me to watch Re: Zero for a while now, and I've always resisted because Isekais just aren't my thing, and I avoid multi-season shows as a general rule. But then I found out about the return from death gimmick, and how they actually take the trauma of dying and resurrecting seriously, and that definitely is up my alley, so now I'm finally giving it a shot. Just finished the mansion/demon dogs arc, so here's some quick thoughts.

I admit, most of the pilot didn't really grab me, as it was standard isekai fare. I even rolled my eyes a bit when Subaru started lampshading common isekai tropes. Like, how long has this genre been a cliche? But once he started dying and they began to really make use of the gory groundhog day loop thing is when I started to get into it.

However, the mansion arc really grabbed me.

I like this. I've always enjoyed traumatic time loops. Higurashi. Madoka Magica. Summertime Rendering. There's something about immortality that's as much a curse as a blessing that really vibes with me, and I got sucked in watching the poor guy try to unravel the mystery, trying different things each time, only to fail miserably every time. Even if he was functionally "immortal," it really makes you cheer for him to finally break the loop and make it to the next day with everyone else alive.

Also, I just like Subaru. Design-wise, he's nothing special. Standard anime protag. But he definitely is not you're standard bland isekai self-insert vehicle. Like, this guy has a personality. He's riddled with doubts, anxieties, and trauma, and overcompensates by being really extra and dramatic with a forced cheerfulness that people do come to see through. I also like that even though he's crushing on Emilia hard, he's also not doing the standard "can't spit it out" thing that I really dislike and find cringe. Instead, my man is shooting his shot! Over and over! And for as silly as his method is, he's so over the top with it that it keeps working!

Plus, even though he can be a real idiot sometimes, he's also clever. He examines his mistakes from previous lives and makes changes to try to unravel the mystery. When he finds out that he's cursed to being unable to reveal his return from death thing, he takes advantage of that, using the curse's dark magic as bait for those who could sense it! He uses his shadow magic's instability to his advantage. And though he makes mistake after mistake, he still learns from them and acts accordingly.

And I really like that they're not skimping out on the trauma that his repeated deaths is causing him. His boisterous is very much a mask, one that almost slips several times, until it finally does and he breaks down. Yeah, I can get behind this guy.

Though I do feel sorry for Emilia as a character at this point. As the love interest, she's fine. She's cute, kind, has an interesting power, Puck's funny, I can see why Subaru fell for her. Unfortunately, right after her introductory arc, she got overshadowed HARD!

So, you mean to tell me that you're going to give us Rei Ayanami. Who is a maid. And a demon. Who can kick all kinds of ass. Who also has a really tragic backstory that ties into her personal flaws and character. Who undergoes a hell of a character arc despite still being a supporting character. And there's two of them?

Yeah, I can see why I didn't know who Emilia was before starting the show but already knew about Ram and Rem. No wonder they're all over the place. And Beatrice is just hilarious as well. I really hope Emilia gets her own focused arc, because the twins have only been around for a few episodes, but they're easily the most interesting thing about this show.

But it's still early and there's plenty of time for character development. Needless to say, I'm kind of hooked. Gonna start the next arc tonight.

[wormbloggign]

i love that brian is your favorite and you've immediately picked up that hes kind of a lame teenager who's prone to golden retriever behavior about the girl he likes and incoherent word vomit, because vast portions of readers 1. buy into his "i am a cool professional adult man guy, and not a teenager with problems" act and 2. underrate and ignore him. when you get to around arc 4 there's gonna some word of god from wildbow about his backstory you should read bc wb (probably due to the racism) fails to ever mention it in the story despite it being literally foundational for understanding his character in full

from what i've seen his family dynamic is honestly really tragic, especially his mums drug habits (ive had family who've fallen into that stuff and it really hurts seeing someone systematically destroy their life). its clear he was forced by the people around him into becoming the adult in the room from an early age, after so long it becomes second nature in him to take control of a situation, like you see in snare (act 13) where he begins leading taylors plan and forcing himself to be in harms way rather than others -he does this a lot actually, its harder to pick up on because we can see with taylors bug eye view system but whenever he shrouds his team in darkness for a tactical advantage, he functionally removes their ability to see, hear and smell which forces them to rely on him and follow his lead- the scene where he got fridged was devastating because the most effective thing he could do in that situation until divine* intervention was NOTHING, he had to take a passive role there.

its really disheartening how frequently he gets shunted in the story outside of the romance subplot with taylor (which i dont really see happening, because what he needs in a partner is clearly very different from who taylor is as a person, also lisa has way more romantic chemistry with taylor) which sucks because when we do get to see his story, its really fucking interesting

i do need to ask tho, where do i find the word of god from wildbow? ive been avoiding stuff like the comment section and most fandom stuff bc of potential spoilers

[reel-fear]

Do you think the bendy franchise will improve? It's my biggest special interest but dark revival literally was like "all of bendy is actually Joey's weird torture fanfiction because Henry rejected him"

Idk why ppl like that game

Dark revival I think brought almost as much good as it did bad to the franchise. I do agree I think people are strangely in love with that game when I think it suffers from a lot of the same issues BATIM does [not all of them but a lot of them] but honestly writing wise BATIM and BATDR are almost equal for me with just a few things making BATIM worse.

As for if Bendy will improve... I'm gonna be honest and say I don't think so. Mike and Meatly rarely respond to feedback from fans, even on smaller things like the design of the ink demon. Or how Secrets Of The Machine had no flashing lights warning which would've been very easy to add, etc. Mike and Meatly just never seem to want to listen to feedback or critique and honestly? I think Dark Revival proves that really well.

There were both a lot of improvements which I'm sure lead some people to think they were taking feedback from what fans said about BATIM... But honestly I see a lot of things that somehow got Worse going from BATIM to BATDR that really tells me Meatly and Mike both don't know what's wrong with Bendy but even worse, don't understand the appeal or the good things about Bendy. One of BATIM's strengths was the staff all being so distinct and memorable just from their voices and recordings. They were written to be simple yeah, but they are insanely memorable even characters with One tape to their name like Lacie got a ton of attention, designs and love from fans, because her character is simple but very well portrayed! From the moment you hear her, you understand who she is, her voice holds a strong personality her simple dialogue is endearing and very specific to her... She literally only has one tape, but I love her!

The strength in that lies in a simple but very strongly written character. No two staff are quite alike in BATIM, they all have very strong voices, ways of speaking and personalities that make you remember them. They all have something unique to say.

But in BATDR most of the newer staff are super forgettable, they're either too close to existing staff's personalities [Like the girl whose literally just Norman 2.0] or just don't say anything interesting [So many of the tapes are just people saying 'man this studio sure sucks. lol'].

Like what does this tell me about Phil Clark, he doesn't like Joey looking over his shoulder, he seems excited about his job when he's not being bothered by him. But then right after it pivots to him giving I guess... Backstory? To that one lost one who you literally kill right after he says nothing to you but 'collect my drawings'

Honestly, I find the implication of the various ways BATDR somehow gets things wrong that BATIM got right to be way more horrifying than say the things BATDR n BATIM both get wrong. Because to me it implies we're not just dealing with devs who don't know what's bad about their writing, they don't even know what's good.

That's a level of ignorance about your own story I think that speaks volumes. But it also says something horrifying about the future of Bendy. Really think about this for a moment...

Mike and Meatly, in my opinion, have shown they don't actually know why BATIM got so popular, why it appealed to so many people, The factors that lead to it being so beloved. So as you see in BATDR a lot of those things faded away, weren't as strong or even removed entirely. The projectionist is a fan favorite character and they didn't give him Anything in BATDR. The new ink demon design basically ditches the rubberhose cartoons gone evil aesthetic that drew so many people in. We took almost as many steps backwards as we did forward.

At least to me, this implies Meatly n Mike are So disconnected from what Bendy fans like about Bendy that it means you can't even really trust that the good things in current games will make it to future games. Not being able to tell what's wrong with your story is bad sure, but I think it speaks to an extreme apathy towards it to not even know what's Good about it.

Bendy just feels like a franchise that hates itself honestly. It feels like Mike and Meatly just don't understand why people like Bendy and don't care to. Mike talks [or talked] about working on Bendy on twitter like someone was Forcing him to. Like he hated that Bendy was the project that got so popular. Bendy is just constantly changing as if struggling to find out what it wants itself to be. For as many steps it takes forward it also takes a few back. Maybe the cage will genuinely show a lot of improvement on things that were bad in BATDR but what does it matter if it also ends up removing the good things about that game too??

To me at least, I don't see Bendy improving anytime soon. But that's also why I'm so excited seeing such awesome fan content for it all the time. If the Bendy devs can't understand why people love Bendy, I can at least trust the fanbase to and to take the aspects of Bendy that didn't work and fix them.... But most of all the take the good things about Bendy and enhance and focus on them, to take what was good about it and make it Great. To show the world the potential Bendy currently wastes.

[marvel-television]

The X-Men: Evolution tie in comics suck, issue 1

I typically talk about the old MCU shows on this blog, but I also really love X-Men: Evolution and finally got around to watching season 4 the other day. It is far and away my favorite X-Men adaptation, and up there with the likes of Agents of Shield, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Cloak & Dagger in terms of my favorite marvel shows.

After I finished the show, I started getting mad that there wasn't more, and that TAS got the revival instead of Evolution. Lo and behold, there was a nine issue long tie in comic series for the show, made during the second season. Of course I decided to read them, you can't go wrong with more X-Men Evolution, right?

Wrong. These comics fucking suck, and I'm gonna show you why. Let's start at the beginning, with Issue 1, "Lines in the Sand".

The first couple of issues take place before the first season of the show, and provide some extra backstory for certain characters. This first issue starts with a couple of guys finding Logan half naked in the middle of the woods, before cutting to Xavier, who just finished a college lecture. A car crashes into a tree nearby, and Storm, who is currently a grad student, uses her powers and rescues the people inside.

This right here shows the first issue with these comics. In the first two seasons of X-Men: Evolution, the public doesn't know that mutants exist. In the first ten minutes of the first episode of the show, the Professor erases a cop's memories when Scott got his glasses knocked off and accidentally blew up a propane tank.

Meanwhile, several times throughout these comics, mutants will use their powers in public, and Charles just does nothing about it. Again, these comics came out during the second season, there is no excuse for the people writing these comics to not know that this is a part of the show's lore. I'll keep bringing up these moments when they happen, but for now, let's move on.

Anyways, later in the night, Professor X comes up to Storm while she's walking home, and tells her that she's a mutant, but what's strange is that he doesn't seem as though he actually knows for sure what mutants are and what causes their powers. I don't think it contradicts the show, and it's kinda interesting, but still, I thought it was worth bringing up.

Cut to the mansion, the Professor and Magneto are discussing Storm, and he reiterates that he didn't know there were any other mutants. This is all pretty standard Charles and Erik mutant philosophy talk. Take note of the maid, she'll be important in a minute.

Erik turns on what I guess is the TV equivalent of LiveLeak, and there's Logan, wrestling a bear and using his claws. Again, nobody is supposed to know about mutants other than the people in this room. I genuinely don't know how this got through to release.

Erik mentions that Wolverine is in police custody, and the Professor says he's gonna go save him. As he leaves, we see the maid revealed to be Mystique, and the Professor had no clue that she was a mutant, somehow. He can literally read minds, how did he not idly sense that? Her being immune to mind reading isn't an argument, since she doesn't unlock those powers until later on, and even if she did have those powers, you'd think Charles would be able to notice that he can't read this random maid's mind.

The Professor locates Wolverine through Cerebro, which Storm supplied the electricity for, and they head off to find him. By the time they get there, Logan's already escaped from jail, and while the cops are sent in the wrong direction by Mystique disguised as a homeless person, Storm gets him to stop running long enough for the Professor to give him his whole pitch for his ideology. But then Magneto shows up, and also starts giving his pitch.

Logan chooses the Professor, obviously, and Magneto pretty much just leaves after that. This next page is literally the last one before a timeskip. No fight, nothing. Come on, man...

Fast forward to a year later, the Professor has an upgraded Cerebro, and locates Scott Summers, who they're gonna recruit in the next issue.

All in all, the first issue isn't great. The issues with mutants just using their powers out in the open really prevent me from seeing this as an actual backstory for how Storm and Logan got recruited, and the climax of the issue was very boring. It's far from the worst issue of the run, but it's sure not great, either. I'll continue this series with the next few issues whenever I feel like it, because the problems with this comic are only getting started.

[peony-pearl]

"someone PLEASE dare me to talk about the writing of Ursa's story from the comics"

This is your sign, child. Tell me all you've got

BLESS YOU!!!!!!!!

A bit of a foreword to anyone reading: I am going to be speaking about the writing of Ursa's trials from the comics in a critical light in the ways that her story was chosen to be written this way. If you find any kind of comfort or catharsis in her story, this post may not be for you. I am not here to be an anti, I am here to look at changes made to a character that I think could have been a lot more interesting if she had been allowed to keep her original backstory.

That being said:

Ursa's story of being plucked out of a happy home to marry 'the bad guy' could be interesting!

My problem with it is the inconsistencies it creates in it's own narrative... and the fact that it's such painful woobification of a woman who was willing to commit a high crime to save her son in the way that her circumstances create an issue where she is nothing but a martyr. It also continues the whole 'good lineage vs bad lineage' idea that completely undermines the power of Zuko's arc.

Ursa, in the comics, is presented to us as this bright eyed hopeful actress, in love with a man named Ikem when Azulon rolls up with Ozai, unlike some earlier lore where she was born into royalty and was the perfect match for Ozai. Now she's subjected to a wretched life which I can only imagine they put her through to make her completely sympathetic, because otherwise she would have been just like the rest of the royal family - EVIL.

Which I really hate that train of thought, but this is a family friendly show and as good as atla does with it's good vs evil nuances, I often remember I have to cut it some slack... but then I get a bit more frustrated because of the whole 'just because it's family friendly means they can simplify things' which I also don't care for but again... eh. I can't be too picky at times. (I was also raised on Gargoyles which did a great job on showing villains in sympathetic moments and heroes having big major flaws so I'm already a little biased)

Regardless; completely rewriting Ursa's backstory to the point that we no longer see her view of the war (or Ikem's! So they're good people!! We promise!) just comes off as almost manipulative and middle-school fanfiction-y. Ursa is a good person to sympathize with because she's being forced into these situations :C

And as such, she's a good person because of Roku!! And so Zuko is a good person because his mom loved him so much!!

And such, they don't have to show any changes on Ursa's part. No moral failings, no her and Zuko butting heads once they reunite to show how much he's grown... his morals come from her and Roku, because Avatar lineage = good.

And that grinds my gears so hard because then just like Ursa, that's robbing Zuko of his autonomy to make bad choices.

When Iroh tells Zuko in The Avatar and the Fire Lord that his legacy is the good and evil within him, it sucks because Zuko's legacy should solely be his own choices (I have my own issues with Zuko's view of the crown). Not the bloodline within him that he can't control. THAT'S A MAJOR POINT OF THE SHOW. People aren't born evil.

and yet Ursa is GOOD because she is Roku's GRANDDAUGHTER. That's really it. Yes, I can understand that she was raised in the moral compass left behind by him. But Ozai is only really good/charming to Ursa right up until their wedding when suddenly he's just EVIL and he's like 'you're MINE now hehehehe' like there's no in between, you just have to show Ursa in this miserable predicament which then also doesn't allow for any interesting development in our Ozai, aka previous big bad which could have been him following his father's orders to marry some woman and maybe he legitimately TRIED to make things work because NO ONE IS BORN EVIL. Ozai is such a shadow of Zuko that he would try to appease his father, and he might take this marriage on in the hopes that it would start building a bridge between them.

And we're not even getting into the fact that we don't learn that Ursa is the Avatar's granddaughter until the final season, JUST IN TIME for Zuko to learn this while he's locked in his self loathing and is utterly directionless. Again, this takes away the importance of his own choices. The boy who started the series completely devoted to returning home, willing to put himself and others through constant danger and misery just to appease his father is given a free ride card of 'oh you're actually good on the inside! Just do the good thing!'

Because he's Ursa's son, the woman who didn't want to marry Ozai because he was so so awful that his bloodline is OBVIOUSLY why Azula is the way she is (ugh).

Like this could work in more fairytale/simpler story settings but atla has gone so far out of it's way to continue to say 'no one is born evil' and 'people can change'; but when it comes down to it, they're really restricting the moral compass.

In the end, Ursa is good and suffered. Ozai is BAD because VILLAIN. (which yes he is but... ugh).

I don't know if I've made sense. I had a more cohesive idea when I wrote those tags but this is more or less my views of Comic!Ursa.

I don't hate her. But I hate that they just kind of shoved her on the misery train and kind of went 'wow that sucks right? This makes you want to see Zuko find her right?'

And then he does and all is well. Because Ursa is a GOOD WOMAN unlike that EVIL OZAI.

[uselessheretic]

one thing that i feel like is annoying with villain discourse is this weird insistence that if you like villains then you MUST like then exclusively because they suck and want nothing more than that and for them to be evil. like? not all villains are flat out evil! sometimes villains can have nuances! it's weird when people say they hate when villains are given backstories or made sympathetic because i love it when they are? an evil villain whos evil for no reason can hit p hard esp if they have the cunt aesthetics to back it up, but the ones that stick with me are often the ones with detailed characterization who are sympathetic.

like i love killmonger! i love that he does bad things! i dont think hes evil though. i empathize with his struggles. i can understand how he got to where he is and i feel mournful that he never got to have a happy ending.

i think hisoka hxh is a fun villain, but mereum, when he was given human emotion and changed from pure evil to a person with the capacity for love, that's what made me sob in hxh! is he evil? whos to really say hes just an animal doing what his nature tells him to. thats not an important thing to dwell on for me though when im more impacted by being able to see his character show compassion and receive it in return.

"if youre going to like izzy like him because he sucks dont make him sympathetic" okay but i dont want to. i love that ofmd challenges our perspective, that stede himself is a morally ambiguous character that occupies the role of the villain in another persons story. izzy to me is more interesting and a better written character when hes given complexity. being mean to ed for no reason is dull. trying to hold on to someone you love so hard it hurts you both though? thats the good shit.

i like when villains are given redemption arcs. i like when heroes look at someone that hurt them and can still feel compassion. i love any story where the love for another person compels a person to make bad decisions. its more fun for me this way at least partially bc if i wanted black and white morality at all times i would turn on PBS!

[arcplaysgames]

So as far as beach episodes go: P4G > P3P > P5R

this one was a snoozefest, so let's touch on the important bits that stand out and then talk about Beige Boy and Solid Snake.

One, I have fully turned against Ryuji on the basis of his frequent and repeated disregard for Morgana as a part of the team and frankly as a full person. I am getting really teed the fuck off because for the last five hours or so of gametime, I have been watching Mona get more and more anxious about his place and about whether anyone on the team cares about him and his journey to the heart of Mementos

and at every fucking opportunity, Ryuji basically reinforces to Morgana yeah, you're not really one of the guys, you're not really part of the team, you're the mascot.

If I had agency in the world of this game, I would take Ryuji aside for a Fucking Discussion about this, because the fuse is lit and I am certain we are headed for a rift between Morgana and the team,a nd you know what? I'm on Morgana's side. He should be pissed, he should be hurt, because I'm hurt on his behalf just watching this unfold.

Fucking Ryuji, you are the bottom barrel of the Token Best Friends. Yosuke would never do me like this*. And if Junpei were here, he'd be Morgana's BFF, are you kidding.

(* in fact yosuke did the Literal Opposite and adopted the 'mascot character' lmao fuck you ryuji)

Yusuke is the fucking load-bearing column holding this game up, i swear to god. I have never understood the Moronsexual joke until right now. I imagine Reverie is like "I have to marry him, he'd be fucking hopeless without me???? it's just the right thing to DO"

Alas, Atlus hates me.

Futaba trying to grab the lobsters while Yusuke holds them out of her reach is the best rigging and animation this game has given us thus far.

Futaba picks her name, Oracle. And she is explicitly here to learn more about her mother's research, less to save people. Which is respectable and she's very up front about it.

THAT'S THE BEACH TRIP. like this one just was..... ugh. it had the weird queerphobic stuff again and it pulled the "the boys try to pull girls and fail" gag again but this time with ZERO charm at all. I remember that scene in P4G with Kanji, Yosuke, and Reverie was one of my favorites because it was genuinely really funny. This had nothing.

SIGH. WHATEVER. LET'S TALK ABOUT MORE INTERESTING STUFF.

blah blah blah evil evil evil blah blah blah

i have at this point accepted that Persona just sucks at foreshadowing the Big Bad of their games and P3 was a fluke. interested to see how P2 does when I eventually play it.

oh shit this game caught some of the Sony Hot Sad Dads disease, huh? Iwai has a dweeby looking son named Kaoru and he's ex-yakuza.

Do I like Iwai or do i just miss MGS2 Solid Snake? Who could say.

Also his shop theme tune fucks severely, it sounds like SMT4.

Anyway, after that we're having very domestic funtime at the cafe when

oh shit Beige Alert

Futaba immediately hides behind Reverie because she got Vibe Radar. Vibedar, if you will.

I feel like when Akechi enters your vicinity, your phone should get one of those emergency PSAs. Like when a tornado touches down in your county.

Okay so. /points. Eyes closed.

/points.

The fuck is happening here. Like, bruh, you showed up and immediately mentioned the lady who threatened Sojiro's custody of his daughter, and now you are looking like a wounded puppy because it turned the atmosphere frosty.

You did that, homeboy, that was you. I know you are astute enough to know that.

He sadly drinks his coffee and reveals his backstory: he was raised by a single mom who died soon after, then got stuck in the foster care system for a while.

THAT FAKEASS SMILE AGAIN. See, this is why I know he stirred up the hostile energy on his arrival on purpose, he is extremely good at tone and social cues, enough so that he can use or not use them to his advantage.

I would tell Reverie to install a deadbolt on his door but he doesn't have a door lmao this is going to be great

I keep saying this but: Bryan Fuller vibes. My god, Bryan Fuller vibes.

Futaba realizes she missed the fireworks festival so she runs out to get some small fireworks, and Morgana goes with her to make sure she's okay.

Morgana is the fucking best. He really gives a shit and puts himself out there for people and I just want him to be appreciated dammit!

This is Reverie's family now, yep. See that gurl? She is his sister. See that old man? That's his dad. Yep!

Also Sojiro doesn't even know Morgana is a person and treats him better than Ryuji.

yeah this is me going full kill bill sirens on Ryuji, sorry. i will slam dunk him into a fucking dumpster, i'm so angry with him for his MANY MANY fuck ups and, specifically, how he doesn't seem to learn or grow from any of them.

I think that's my beef with him. Like, P3P, Junpei did multiple big fuck ups, but he both apologized explicitly for them and also learned from them and became a better person for it. He was my ultimate ride or die. I romanced Akihiko but my true love was my broship with Junpei.

Yosuke also fucked up a lot and even went full Joker Mode once, but he also experienced one of the longest arcs of character growth in the game. I remember when I started to like him after being tepid on him for the first third of the game and how annoyed I was that he was growing as a person!!!! But he wound up being a fave.

I need Ryuji to get his shit together and start growing tf up bc I am real sick of his self-important bullshit and how he steps on Morgana's feelings. I am hoping whatever the upcoming blow-up with Morgana is leads him to wake tf up, but also I'm not holding my breath.

At least I have Ann and Yusuke.

[gayjaytodd]

am kinda on the fence abt Mayfair Witches so far -- it doesn't feel anywhere near as sumptuous as iwtv, and the story feels kinda,,, rushed? idk, the buildup to the deaths in ep1 wasn't really there for me -- what makes especially lemle's death impactful for rowan in the book (where it's part of her backstory obviously) is that he's her mentor, she's been working with him for years, and she's almost corrupted by him

I don't remember keck at all, I think he's made up for the show? idk -- but it also feels odd that they would make up a new character for rowan to kill instead of using her adoptive dad

I do like that we got to see ellie mayfair and that she got a bit of a story

I don't mind that ellie knows abt the talamasca (can't remember if she knew in the book) or that she contacts them, but I don't like that they've combined michael and aaron into one character; I've always loved michael for the contradictions of him (blue collar, self made, college educated, intellectual) and combining him with aaron kinda erases those contradictions -- and I think some of the story is lost if michael isn't there with his new orleans background and his near-death experience

(also, erasing michael means erasing the meet-cute of rowan saving him from drowning which sucks)

(wanna stress this is nothing to do with the actor being black; I would've loved for a black man to play michael -- that could even work as a change from the Irish roots of book!michael)

having the guy who's gonna become the love interest be a member of the secret magic society kinda feels too --- cw teen drama imo

also aaron lightner is just a neat guy, like, he's old, he's british, he's an intellectual, he's psychic, he's everyone's grandfather, idk, I just love him, and I think removing him takes smth away from rowan -- denies her a guide in a way

actually, that also does smth to the dynamic between rowan and michael/ciprien bc in the books it's like. rowan is far superior intellectually to michael, and there's no doubt she's in charge; as outsiders to the supernatural world, they're on even footing re. knowledge of what's going on, but by making ciprien a member of the talamasca, they lose that equality; now he's suddenly the one with answers, the guide she has to look to -- and I don't like that

I'm very curious to see what's gonna happen with deirdre tho bc the preview kinda suggested that she's gonna wake up from her sedation -- which would be a humongous departure from the books (and not a change I'm personally in favour of)

also its seems they've combined carlotta and nancy into one character which just. Doesn't work

I do very much like alexandra daddario tho, I think she's really well-cast, and the same goes for harry hamlin as cortland -- cortland has always been a favourite character of mine, and harry hamlin seems to have hit the nail on the head with him

[sketching-shark]

Im kinda am getting annoyed how much they r avoiding saying swk actual name. Like whats the point of him having a name if the show is not gonna refer to him with his name besides having moments of characters chastising him using his first name. Ie: just yelling out wukong.

Liek i want to here his various other titles besides monkey king. Its pretty weird how they’re solely just calling him monkey kings when hes just 1 of many monkey kings :/

Sometimes, i wonder if they knew that they could have kept swk w all of complex characteristics without having to downplay any of it so they can uplift mk. (Mk is such a amazing character dont get me wrong i do adore him. But it suck that in a equivalent exchange of a good character we get a frankly a worse vers of sun wukong.

Like not even other versions of swks ever acted(or granted made such repeated mistakes) like how lmk swk do. Like theres no one defending him within the shown(mk doesn’t count bc literally thats his teacher. But even he himself doesn’t realize he’s afraid of becoming like swk.) and as much as lmk writers, producer etc etc. want, they have to actually have to show swk’s side. Bc by the time lmk is over, its going to v hard to give him justice when almost everyone have a right idea of keeping him away bc how much hes a danger to everyone.

I also am a lmk LEMH hater forever. i just think he shouldn’t of have that type of importance to swk when hes just a dude w a pent up superiority/inferiority (he can have both bc yea)complex thats in a parasocial relationship to swk. Like sure he died and all but so did all the other demons in jttw. Hell he didn’t got the vore kill treatment like other demons like azure lion did.

Monkie Kid spoilers below

AWETTHGRFRWETETFGDSD THE VORE KILL TREATMENT THAT'S A PHRASE THAT WILL STICK WITH ME FOREVER ANON.

But YEAH this is a pretty good summary of many things said before anon...in particular it's genuinely disheartening how Qi Xiaotian's experiences have brought him from a state of being excited at the thought he could be like Sun Wukong to now being terrified that he's destined to be like the Monkey King...but then again how could be not be. We're now 4 seasons in and everything just gets worse and worse for the little monkey lego man in large part because of the things his shifu did or failed to do. At this point even with the hints of the torture headband making a significant appearance, trying to defend or even understand SWK's actions in the present kind of seems like a fool's errand, and I genuinely am worried that no backstory Flying Bark gives their version of the Monkey King will provide a satisfactory reason for why he acts the way he does. As it is there's been a pretty consistent flow of popular fan works about the Monkey King getting punched & yelled at & portrayed as completely in the wrong, and well I do not see that ending any time soon given the events of canon material :(

As always I want to note that I'm fully capable of being too negative and pessimistic & forgetting the good sides of SWK's lego show character and that yeah obviously there's a lot of other characters running around with more antagonistic intentions (including perhaps this mysterious person who may be behind Azure Lion being freed as part of some greater scheme). But between this already firmly established characterization of SWK as a liar who's ideas routinely end in nothing but catastrophe for even those he loves and the show itself pretty clearly having little interest in including SWK in the story's adventures outside of an explodey ending or being a problem that needs to be dealt with because of his disastrous decisions (given how much he keeps getting shoved out of the plot), well...you can see why many people think this could easily end with even Qi Xiaotian thinking Sun Wukong is a lost cause.

[6ilent-9ufferer]

Part 2 of my trolls 3 rant

⚠️ warning ⚠️ there will be spoilers

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

K, here's something I forgot to mention last time: Tiny Diamond. Why is his voice so low? Being that tiny, it should be much higher.

On that note, why and how can he think and speak like a grown man? Are all baby trolls able to think and talk like an adult? How are trolls even born? Do they just come out of the ground like a goron? How fast or slow are their metabolism and how long do they live?

Come to think of it, I don't think I have seen any other baby trolls around in any of the movies I have seen (I've never seen the second, so I don't know if there have been any in it). They should have answered at least SOME of these questions.

Also, what is a literal 1 month BABY troll doing driving? Why are they letting him? To boost his baby ego? With how John Dory likes to be in control, you'd think he would be the one driving. It IS his bus after all, or did I miss something? Why is Tiny diamond in this movie at all? Nothing would have changed if he was scrapped.

Now moving on to the "villains".

I really liked the concept of a psycho sister roping her pussy brother into whatever she wants, but...there wasn't enough development with either of them, mostly because they didn't get the screen time they deserved to really earn the title of "villain" or "antagonist".

I genuinely laughed at the jokes when the twins were shown. I just wish we had got more of their backstory other than that scene where we learn that they lived in the suburbs and that their parents were dentists.

"Were". Why the past tense? Are they dead metaphorically or literally, or even dead at all? Were their parenting good, bad, or mediocre? I wanted to know why and how Velvet became the way she is every time I saw her. In the one flashback, it seems like she was always a brat, and really had issues. What were her motivations to being the 'bad guy' other than talent and the fame it brought? It really feels like there should have been something more to it than what was shown.

I wanted to hear Veneers singing voice, but he never willingly absorbed Floyd's essence. I mean. He cares enough to not use him himself. That's a redeeming quality. I guess.

Veneer quickly became my favorite trolls character because he had good humor (that sass 🤣) and the potential of being a well developed character, but that potential was wasted by DreamWorks.

I wonder if he was pushed around and bullied by his sister into doing anything she wanted even as small children. I also wonder who he was before she changed him into someone he's not: someone like her. He doesn't want to use Floyd, or kill him, and even suggested they practice. To which Velvet scoffed in disgust.

It would have been interesting if Floyd's words about Velvet actually reached him and actually let him go. Maybe even try to escape with him; as Veneer said, I feel like Velvet would be vindictive enough to literally kill him if his usefulness expired. Literally unhinged.

What if Veneer HAD some talent that he dared not express due to his fear of his sister and her throwing a fit or even attacking him for it? Like, he could actually be good at singing but pretends to suck at it as much as she genuinely does.

Who does their fit? Like, I didn't see a personal designer for their performances anywhere. Veneer could have a talent for fashion design.

Or he could be good at writing songs like the music and or lyrics. That would be awesome and would open the door for original music in the movie.

Where's the villain song that establishes Velvet's role as a villain?

How did they trollnap Floyd anyway?

Couldn't have been Velvet. She would have gotten someone else to do her dirty work for her, so...who did Velvet force to do it? It could really be either Veneer, or Crimp depending on when they met her, if it was before or after the trollnapping.

And Crimp. Every time I saw her, all I could think was "who is this Cousin It looking-ass".

How did she meet them, and is she an assistant? The twins being musical 'talents', you'd think they'd have a manager of some sort.

Maybe even a financer for the concerts and performances? With how they treat her, I'm surprised she hasn't left yet. Sure, she's pathetic and gullible AND naive. But she could have left anytime.

Instead of the opening scene being the origins of the 'Brozone breakup', it would have been better to open with how Floyd was taken. That would have hooked me a bit. And establish who the baddie is right off the bat.

'Show don't tell', as they say.

Dude, what if we got a Veneer solo song reflecting on his past, present, and future? or a duet with Floyd bonding over having controlling siblings? These would have set good character development, I think. And maybe even encourage him to come clean earlier than in cannon. Instead of only coming clean because they were caught and sent to prison (how old are they?). At least he accepted it with a smile. I'll give him that.

Also, why was Crimp the ONLY one to go scot-free? Last time I checked, she wasn't guilt-free. She still helped them, made the shoulder-pads, and didn't help Floyd in any way. Of course, she was a victim of verbal abuse, and really naive. But naivete should not be rewarded. The least sentence she could have for being coerced to be involved in the crimes she listed is community service. I think that's fair.

I might have forgotten some things but this was a long tangent and I'm bad at remembering things. That's all I guess. All this is just my personal opinion, no hate if you actually like this movie.

EDIT: I forgot something. It was Tiny Diamond saying "fuck". Even though it was censored, why did they feel the need to make him say that? Was a 1 month baby swearing supposed to be funny? It wasn't. It didn't fit the tone of the movie either, being a kids movie at that. That's all I forgot.

EDIT 2: I lied. I forgot one more thing.

I've been wondering how long it took the twins to become famous. It couldn't have been overnight. Right??

Imagine in the beginning, after the trollnapping scene they participate in a Mount Rageus thing -a festival, talent show, whatever.

She absorbs Floyd's essence and uses his talent, and wins -if its like America's got talent or something. Or if it's just a yearly festivity, they participate and get recognized by a scout agent. We would then see them grow in popularity and fame exponentially over time.

And after every performance, and every concert...a little bit more of it goes to Velvet's head. Veneer gets more and more concerned about it over time, then disturbed by it, and eventually afraid of her.

Let this be the last thing I forgot. Please brain.

[spikeinthepunch]

spierverse 2 spoilers. but also a long post diving into Villains in recent (animated) movies

i dont rly plan to make any super long posts about all of this movie bc theres just SO much to think abt and a lot of people are saying what i would say. but i have thought a lot about the villain, The Spot. mostly in relation to my last fave animated movie's villains- Puss in Boots 2

PIB got a lot compliments for its villain(s). You had Goldilocks who was an antag but a character you can see some reason to sympathize with, but she isnt the big bad. You have Death who is a conflict to hinder Puss' progress, and then you Jack Horner who is a villain that you have no reason to feel bad for, as its shown many times how he is just a privileged ass. It was a movie that finally really had a bad villain you werent gonna see redeemed, and had no reason to see redeemed. Goldilocks was an antag as she was Puss' enemy but we had no reason to hate her, and her siding with them eventually made sense. Death's conclusion with Puss was less so any end for the Villain's arc but for a personal Arc Puss was facing that drove the main plot.

Many people saw this movie and were pointing out how bad Disney/Pixar's movies have been with villains. I cant even think of any villain in their last movies, theyre all so samey. and a lot are trying to be the same "oh well now you can feel a little bad for them because we showed some sad backstory!". its nice to have some times where theres a complicated grey antagonist that explores the divide in interests and pushes boundaries but thats not what Disney is doing.

Often times, Superhero movies have cut and dried villains. Not bad- its just that there is a formula. You have a guy with a name and a gimmick and they bad, they must be defeated. Even in comics where things get expanded on for backstories, sometimes with troubled pasts etc, it still doesnt change it? They don't get reformed and stop being the villain.

So lets look at the first Spiderverse before 2. Kingpin was the first (major) villain (along with some on the side) and they were established villains. The thing thats important with Kingpin is that while we were given information about why he is doing what hes doing, no one ever finds it as "okay". no one thinks they should just deal with it by fixing him or feeling bad for him, because Kingpin wouldnt take that. He IS awful, hes selfish and terrible. and Nothing he does outside of those personal feelings actually reflects that. Nothing else he normally does as a criminal is related to his family that he lost. These kinds of superhero villains are often already criminals with an intense violent history, and theyll keep being a criminal.

Going to Spiderverse 2, we get a villain thats a bit different, The Spot. Its interesting because he starts goofy- he actually is trying to be a criminal too actually. He decides because of his circumstances, he needs to rob and do things like that and its makes sense, he has no where to go. But hes so confident and normal about it, cocky etc, that you dont feel bad for him. hes not desperate or sad or begging with the weight of his sad backstory. Hes annoying, goofy, and no ones will take him as a serious criminal at first. And then he starts to explain more seriously what happened. And it STILL doesnt come across like a "woe is me" kind of story. He *still* annoying and cocky. he wants to be bad. he wants to destroy everything. Does it suck what happened to him? Yeah. Does it suck that it ruined his life?" of course. Do you want to redeem him? i mean no, i wouldnt. hes still a jerk. and thats the key thing.

you can have a villain who is relatable and grey but its not The Spot. Its not Kingpin. They had some kind of "tragedy" but they arent ever going to be good and you shouldnt use them as aan example and soften them up to be easily digested and garner sympathy with. thats just not the kind of story you can have all the time. you NEED to remind people, mostly kids, who the bad guys are. and the samey bland villains of disney havent stuck in my heads at all in recent years. its not to say their movies were all bad- i liked a lot of them (Encanto, Turning Red). But i can hardly recall any clear "villain" plot lines. Theres a time and place for those vague instances, and many times they just dont work because it makes the whole story so vague and directionless. It makes it hard to remember the key points when its not strong enough from its other elements.

I just feel like we are losing classic villains because people for some reason started to think it was boring and we needed more "nuance" but this "nuance" isnt.....that. its bland written media by big studios that cant actually have morally grey characters because it would actually be too sensitive for people.

[svedupelle]

alright. watched all of re:zero. mixed feelings. its got some good highs but a recurring thread of either baffling or boring writing decisions

i like a surprising amount of the characters. though i do not like subaru (yes he is the main character and yes this makes things difficult).

but i found that no matter how much i could enjoy a character, it was really hard to enjoy them consistently. subaru for example oscillates constantly between pretty fun and unbearable, while other characters tend to get progressively worse the more they develop/are explored. characters will be set up with compelling backstories that make you interested in their development, only for it to become more and more boring?

few examples:

- garfield, at first, seems to be struggling with the fact that both his mother and sister left the sanctuary and him behind, while he is incapable of overcoming his trial to do the same and follow them. its revealed that although their mother left them behind for her own sake, frederica left in order to create a new home for the rest of their people, in preparation for when they one day would leave the sanctuary. this is pretty cool! it gives us a good reason to predict garfield being the one who will liberate the sanctuary in place of emilia or subaru, since it could lead to the resolution of his conflict with his sister, which we naturally want to see. and the trials are literally there to help characters overcome their inner turmoils. except wait, their mother never abandoned them, she just died before she could return (to a landslide, leaving no one to blame for it), and also frederica never overcame her trial, she didnt need to because she could leave anytime, and so could garfield??? its so strange. garfield at the start seems like a representative of the people of the sanctuary (who receive exremely little screentime), both to us the audience and to emilia's gang. someone who was trapped there, and had been trapped for years, and had given up hope of ever leaving, unlike his sister; the most natural arc for his character would be to find that hope and help the people he cares about so much to a brighter future. him being abandoned by his mother would be reflective of his people being abandoned by the outside world, while frederica would be the opposite, sort of like a call to action and a test of faith (someone out there is waiting for the day they're all freed, ergo there is hope for them). instead we get garfield's personal conflict being mostly disconnected from his people's and once he resolves it he just leaves it all in the hands of emilia and more specifically subaru. its so fucking boring

- rem, beatrice and ram. im covering all three at once because they have the same fucking problem and i hate them for it: their personal conflicts are replaced/amount to nothing more than them loving some guy. its genuinely the worst part of the show to me. they all suck. rem and ram have a compelling sibling relationship and conflict at the beginning, but once the mansion arc is done rem's character is so watered down and reduced that i dont think she mentions her sister in the entire second half of season 1 even *twice*. instead its all subaru. subaru subaru subaru. its also just dumb? in the mansion her arc seems to be about being able to find value in herself outside of her relationship with her sister and the service she can provide in ram's place, but it just ends up with ram being replaced by subaru in her mind. before she did it all for ram, now she does it all for subaru, so you end up feeling as though she hasnt progressed at all, and unfortunately i dont find her relationship with subaru that compelling.

beatrice is the fucking same: she was abandoned by echidna to look after the library and wait for someone to take her place, which she misinterprets as someone who would "sweep her off her feet and carry her away" or whatever, effectively dooming herself to never connecting with the people around her and also never learning to love herself, until all she wants to do is die (LEARNING TO ACCEPT OTHERS LOVE FOR ONESELF AND THUS LEARNING TO LOVE OENESELF HENCE FINDING VALUE IN ONES OWN LIFE IS THE *EXPLICITLY STATED THESIS STATEMENT OF SEASON 2*) but the conclusion to her arc is completely half assed! beatrice doesnt leave the library because she wants to live and give the world a chance, she never fucking connects or even interacts with another character except for subaru and puck, she leaves the library because she decides to bet it all on subaru because he's the specialest little boy or whatever. even subaru himself doesnt ask her to give other people a chance, he asks her to choose him, specifically. her arc is nothing. its a bunch of whinging about how she cant wait around for a knight in shining armor to come save her forever, until that exact thing happens. and no, i dont think you can disguise this with semantics about how subaru doesnt choose her over emilia or whatever.

as for ram, i honestly really liked her character until the moment she tells roswaal that she loves him. after that idc

with all of this im just reminded of chainsaw man part 1, where a big part of the characters is the multi faceted relationships they form. "love" is not just romantic. in re:zero, however, when a character loves another character it feels like there is seldom any room for interpretation. the exceptions to this are familial love, such as puck and emilia, subaru and his parents and the various sibling relationships. even if some of these relationships are meant to be moreso platonic, like maybe ram & roswaal, the show makes no effort to really convince anyone of this nor explore it in any measure, and since so many of them are very explicitly romantic i dont really end up feeling compelled to investigate the matter either. its annoying since love is a big theme in season 2, but it doesnt feel explored nor multifaceted.

- subaru. the show seems to try to ~subvert isekai tropes~ by not making subaru all powerful, but it feels half assed because he does end up all important. everyone cares about subaru. subaru can convince anyone of anything. everyone listens to what he has to say and he always has something important to say. characters who find him irrelevant at first will end up admiring him, depending on him and liking him after he dies a few times, just you wait!... there's some dissonance here, because the show DOES try to make it clear to subaru that he should consider the people around him just as seriously as he does himself, in the sense that he needs to respect them. but it doesnt feel like the show itself does that, when every character orbits the star of the show. the show is telling you that the side characters arent just npc's, but it has a hard time actually committing to that at times.

- echidna. honestly not much to say here except i was a bit disappointed. i just sort of expected... more? as it stands i dont think i even had firm grasp on what her goal is, and it doesnt feel like she ends up doing much. at the beginning she seems charming yet off-putting, so you naturally expect her to be the future antagonist, but then that role gets delegated to roswaal instead, leaving echidna with.. surprisingly little. i might have to think some more about her idk

im not sure how i feel about the second season tho. it grinds the overall pacing to a halt and spends the entire time on the sanctuary conflict, but said conflict lacks a good, compelling narrative and emotional core. what is it about? the half-breeds who are trapped? roswaal, beatrice and ryuzu meyer? emilia's backstory? the witches? it wants to focus on all of it, but i really dont feel like it does it very well. parts of it are completely unrelated from one another. season 1 at least keeps a red thread with subaru and emilia's relationship, and season 2 kinda does as well, but idk if i like it as much.

man i dont even know. its really hard for me to pin down my thoughts and what i feel the underlying issue is here. doesnt help that it just.. wasnt my cup of tea.

[sbd-laytall]

Right?! To be honest I've always seen Mike as a father and mother figure for Leo cause the parents died when Leo was 12 and Mike was 17 so he took on he roll of being the parent (I think 4-5 years between them?) they moved in with an aunt or uncle not sure and Leo rebelled kind of with this and started acting out making rash decisions and bad choices and Mike had to bail him out all the time.. Leo hated how Mike started acting much more mature and not like the brother he always knew so they kind of drifted apart but for Mike he just worried about Leo and his actions unsure where his little brother was going to go in life as he took nothing seriously but Leo just pushed and pushed and Mike gave him a shot one last one but Leo blew it and so Mike went it alone to Terra Venture cause it was a test to see if Leo could change and handle responsibility but going with him there was far too important for Leo to not take seriously and so he just had to leave him behind..He never told his friends about Leo cause he's more of a closed book that doesn't open up much if at all about his family or what happened to his parents so he just keeps his worry and personal stuff to himself.. But Leo couldn't handle Mike leaving him behind whilst they weren't as close as they use to be Mike was still his big brother and he wanted him back to being that more than anything just that not the parental figure he seemed to of taken on but he didn't want to have to ask he wanted Mike to realise it on his own and for them to sort things out but then he loses Mike after he saves him and suddenly nothing that happened between them mattered half as much and Mike was thinking the same after Kendrix challenged him about being so hard on his little brother and admitting he just worries a lot about him.. Whilst Leo doesn't feel it matters half as much anymore he resents Mike for saving him and leaving him alone the one thing he has always been terrified off since the parents had died and why he acted out and didn't take things seriously cause lifes to short and cause he didn't want to screw up he didn't think he was good enough and if he didn't try he couldn't find out he was nothing compared to Mike.. He was so conflicted and just wanted his brother back so he could kick his butt for taking the choice from him to die rather than him always saying his little brother not thinking of what it would do to him to lose his big brother..

OMG sorry this is super long and probably sucks I do apologise!!

No, don't apologize! This is a really cool backstory you've developed, and I thank you for sharing it with me, @iamtitaniium

I've also headcanoned that Mike had to take care of Leo because their parents were indisposed in some way (great minds think alike, LOL), so he had to step up and that complicated their relationship badly.

I can imagine the parentification that Mike was put through caused Leo to reject his authority, which in turn caused Mike to resent Leo for constantly making him be the guardian when Leo would get into trouble. Naturally because the shifting from brothers to caretaker/caretakee would be very hard to deal for both of them to deal with and Leo, as a person, has been shown to be very emotional and sensitive, so it's entirely possible that Leo resented Mike for taking their parents' place.

Huh, I always saw Mike leaving on Terra Venture as him putting himself first and leaving Leo to live his own life, but I think your theory is interesting. It being a test for Leo is a really complex idea and I think it does have some merit because quite frankly, the show didn't really give all that much motive as to why any of the characters were so willing to leaving their families behind that they never really mentioned them.

Mike having not told any of his friends about Leo always got me so curious because, to me, that indicated that he really wanted to shed off his old skin and become someone new (someone who wasn't a caretaker, for once).

Leo coming onto Terra Venture to be with his brother is a compelling idea, for sure. And the fact that they both lost one another after really highlighted their dynamic. Mike lost himself in saving Leo because that's his first instinct (Leo will always be his first priority), but Leo just wanted to be with his family, which kind of doomed Mike. As much as I enjoy Mike coming back, I think it would've been really interesting for him to not because for the first half of the series, he really was haunting the narrative and being this tragic motivation to keep Leo going.

Mike dying definitely enhanced Leo's low self-esteem as well as his abandonment issues because the idea that he was the second choice? That must have been such a torturous thought for him. Thinking that he couldn't measure up to Mike, but thinking that it was his own fault that Mike wasn't there. It's just this really unhealthy mix of self-loathing and resentment for his brother.

At the end of the day, they both acted the way that they did because they wanted to keep whatever semblance of family they had left, but they had to through tragedy after tragedy in order to do so.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I really enjoyed reading through your ideas and once again, I thank you for sharing them with me.

[doctorweebmd]

ok now for a brief list of examples of manipulate mansplain malewife characters that are compelling because they suck for a specific reason and how Dazai could have used said motivation logically in canon to be more engaging as a character:

1.) Goro Akechi - pretty-boy genius liar and master manipulator. Their physical resemblance is the reason I actually started watching BSD. Akechi's motivation is extremely clear and so beautifully simple. He wants revenge. And he will go to whatever lengths it takes to get it. In the end, his motivation is to be in charge of his own destiny. To break chains or manipulation, be it from his father, Maruki or God Himself.

Revenge would have been an extremely easy pathway for Dazai. Mimic killed Oda. Mori purposefully got Mimic into Japan to stir up trouble and its heavily hinted that he informed them of curry shop and where the orphans live. If Dazai said: the reason my friend is dead is Mori and the Port Mafia. I will now do everything in my power to destroy/dismantle/ruin them to ease my own grief - that would be such an easy reason to explain away why he abandoned Akutagawa and Chuuya with no contact for four years, as well as add significant tension to all these 'team-ups' as well as willingly 'working with Mori.'

2.) Gen Asigiri - king of being two-faced and manipulation - knows always what to say, how to present himself, and what to capitalize on to get on top. He's an expert in human nature and, by that front, the 'negotiator.' Gen's motivation is also very simple - at first, it was so survive, meaning he gets to be on the winning side where he gets more pleasures from life. The second is simply believing in Senku and the world he wants to bring; using his manipulative qualities over and over again to save his friends and create new allies. But, per Gen, its super simple: his motive? Be on the winning side so he can end up powerful and spoiled. WE, as the audience, can see he also just like... loves and wants to help his friends.

Power and money and being on the winning side are also huge motivators. Again, if Dazai showed an interest of dismantling or at least hurting the Port Mafia somehow, that would also make a lot of sense with his backstory. Caring about his friends or wanting to see a better future are also REALLY easy motivators and probably the one where a lot of people would say 'but that IS his motivator! He cares about the agency!'

...Does he? When exactly has he shown that? If that was the case and if he was driven to look out for these people, it again would add a significant richness to his character. But every time he seemingly does something 'kind' for any of the characters, its a means to an end. He's trying to manipulate them into doing or saying something for him. Pep-talk to Kyoka during the Guild Arc? Sure, you could call it a point of connection and a kindness to reassure her that a 'murderer' can become a good person. But this was all to motivate her to fly said plane into the Moby Dick, thus preventing Moby Dick from destroying Yokohama. How about Ango? How about Chuuya? What about any of the people that love him, that go above and beyond for him when he does what seems like nothing in return? The strongest argument you can make here is for Atsushi.

So lets talk about that. Lets talk about our MC and who Dazai is supposed to be for him.

Dazai is supposed to be the mentor-figure. The all-knowing, experienced guiding hand to help Atsushi grow.

Hm. What other mentor figures do we know with that personality?

3.) Reigen Arataka - Reigen's character act is frankly fantastic and powerful. He is proof that an utterly unserious loserboy scam artist can have a meaningful development and huge impact on the story without losing that core aspect of his personality. Reigen ran lots of scams until he found the paranormal investigator role and, when Mob got involved, you could say that he lied to him, manipulated him and used him to make money and grow a successful business. BUT. Its been quite natural. We see the way Reigen starts to change himself and bad habits because of and for Mob. He runs into danger without a second thought for Mob. In the very end, he confesses, with shame and so so much love for this kid, that he'd been lying to him this whole time. Despite not being able to train him in a 'psychic' way, Reigen looked out for Mob, motivated him, treated him like a person when no one else did, and taught him the things that he wasn't naturally good at - like having self-confidence and talking to girls and being a leader. And he continued as such - with Tome and Serizawa, he continued to use his skills to help others and created a safe haven for people that don't feel like they belong anywhere else.

It would have been so, so easy to demonstrate Dazai slowly starting to care for Atsushi. Training him. Teaching him. Motivating him. Watching out for him. Finding joy and meaning in 'helping out some orphans.' Seeing the world through Atsushi's eyes, his joy, his fear, and becoming more human for it. And yet... the only times we see something vaguely along these lines is: Dazai getting 'captured' by the Port Mafia to see who put out a bounty on him (hm,) Dazai slapping Atsushi out of his hallucination when Q got him (hm........) Dazai ''''comforting'''' Atsushi when he realized the headmaster died (hmmmmmmmm.....). One can argue that instructing Akutagawa to save Atsushi is, outside actually recruiting him into the agency, the biggest thing he's really done FOR Atsushi - but, listen. It took NOTHING from Dazai to do that. He sacrificed SOMEONE ELSE who would do anything for him, someone he seems to not care for at all, to save Atsushi. Cool. That's a point for Akutagawa, not Dazai, because in the end Akutagawa made that choice himself. In all honesty, Akutagawa has a LOT more impact on Atsushi's development than Dazai does.

He does not train Atsushi (thats Kunikida.) He doesn't really teach him anything (thats also Kunikida.) He doesn't change as a person because of how much he cares about Atsushi. (Thats Akutagawa and Kyouka.) In the entire series, Dazai shows minimal, if any, growth or development.

4.) Satoru Gojo - look I'm not trying to kick the hornets nest here. Out of all of the above, Gojo is probably the closest person that one can parallel to Dazai (and not only because they have the same English VA.) Gojo plays the 'classic' shounen mentor role. He's extremely powerful and is highly motivated to protect the jujutsu sorcerer way of life. His motivators include being the strongest (classic) as well as raising a generation of jujutsu sorcerers who are hella powerful. His whole thing is getting the kids in and out of jams. He practically raised Megumi (after killing his dad. but. you know.) and defended Yuuji while personally showing him how to develop and control his power. He also has a dramatic and very engaging backstory (Hidden Inventory you will always be famous.) He has a clear motivation to change the entire system that he is a part of, and dies doing it.

Dazai has no interest in changing the system he is a part of. The tri-party system for protecting the city works just fine for him. As mentioned above, Dazai doesn't do shit to ACTUALLY put himself in danger for the sake of his 'mentees.' It might be because Dazai wears the world's thickest plot armor, but him being ''''captured'''' by the Port Mafia or even being ''''arrested'''' and put in jail would be a lot more meaningful if, you know, Dazai actually had to risk or sacrifice anything. The only time he actually risks himself to save someone physically is with Sigma in the elevator, but even THAT is muddled by Dazai barely knowing Sigma but being aware that the way to beat Fyodor is via Sigma's ability. So its not because he's a good person or that Sigma is important, but because preserving his ability takes priority for this 12-dimension game of chess him and Fyodor seem to be playing.

look. i dont think there's anything wrong with a 'coolest hottest smartest undefeatable genius character who can manipulate literally everyone in the world and is also god's favorite.' But there have to be stakes. There have to be risks. There have to be repercussions. Dazai doesn't even feel like a character - just a plot device to keep the other characters moving.

Now. Listen. Here is how we can fix Dazai. What if he, at some young age, got a hold of The Book and read it. Or even wrote in it. What if that is what makes him so nihilistic and uninterested in existing in his own universe. What if he read about the way he dies (way in the future, preferably brutally and horribly) and it made him obsessed with his own death and trying to make it happen on his own terms, not the unfeeling hands of the universe? And that no matter how hard he tries, no matter what insane scenarios he gets himself into, he cannot die? Because he spends all this time in existential dread, hoping that the Book was some kind of cosmic joke, trying to rebel against it but the outcome is still the same. That would explain how he seems to know everything about everyone and never makes the wrong move. How he can treat everyone around him like nothing and they're still dedicated to him. How he can just be an empty shell and still somehow the most important person in the plot.

Kafka Asagiri. Listen to me. THIS IS HOW WE CAN STILL SAVE BUNGO STRAY DOGS.