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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 3 months ago

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I feel like Unparalleled Aeons and Far Out songs stands out to me is how both members were given equal screen time (Given they are two). Because I guess the issues with the songs is how they have small amount of time for some. Well I don't blame some not just the number of members but also how some of them aren't professional singers like

Notice how the rest of the songs, the way housewarden sings like being the main singer (make sense on who is twisted version they are) the rest being like back-singers but still have some good solos. Meanwhile, the way Idia and Kalim sings doesn't feel like Jamil and Ortho are back-up singers nor them being main singers but like partners with equal parts. When I listened to the other songs, I can't tell who's who while the Ignihyde and Scarabia I can tell.

I don't hate the songs, but you can't help but notice that makes it interesting. Overall, I love all songs that have their motifs, themes, and lyrics. It's kinda sad these songs couldn't be use in modern Disney that much.

[My personal ranking(s) of the dorm songs here!]

I definitely feel like Far-Out and Unparalleled Aeons had the most evenly distributed lyrics of all the songs. As you said, maybe it was more challenging for the composer to balance larger groups, or maybe the composer was limited in how he could write the songs due to some VAs being less skilled with singing. However, I also have to wonder how much of this was intentional??

These are dorm songs, right? And the VAs are singing in character. So to me, it feels like the songs are storytelling too, telling us about the dynamics of the group through their performances.

Looking back on it, the two most balanced songs belong to the dorms where its members are the most deeply intertwined with one another. Kalim and Jamil are locked into a toxic codependent relationship due to their families' history. Kalim relies on Jamil to do practically everything for him, while Jamil is stuck in a servant position he wants to break free from and always forced to play second-fiddle to Kalim. Idia is constantly haunted by Ortho's death, and Ortho plays a huge role in providing support for his older brother's mental faculties (encouraging him to get out of his room and mingle with peers). Ortho is very reliant on Idia for much of his own identity and presence at NRC (prior to book 6), only allowed to be there because he was registered as Idia's + Idia provided tech support for the school. Idia also designed many new forms (gears) for Ortho.

Many of the songs are structured to feature the dorm leader--which I'd argue is thematically appropriate, as I will soon get into. I have a pretty bad ear too, but I was surprised at how many of the voices I could distinguish. The card soldiers, Silver and Sebek, and Epel and Vil were the only ones I couldn't quite make out. There was enough variation for me to tell the others apart, especially Savanaclaw (no way would I mistake Ruggie for Jack or even Leona for Jack).

Every song not only has its own genre, but also its own vibes. I like that Twst can be its own thing and not necessarily kowtow to Disney's more traditional musical roots. I personally wouldn't want these to be incorporated into modern Disney film or TV productions. When Disney tries to do this, it ends up sounding so tonally dissonant or mismatched with the rest of their OST(s). ... Anyway, here's a very brief analysis of each song's arrangement + some lyrics and how they're divided up-- (MVs not taken into consideration; I unfortunately don't have the time to analyze every frame and how it lines up with the lyrics.)

Heartslabyul's Obedience is interesting in that it is very symmetrical with its vocal pairings. Cater and Trey sing with one another while Ace and Deuce sing with one another. The third years are deliberately paired with each other, while the first years are deliberately paired with each other. Trey and Cater, the original loyalists, have lines about "[playing] your cards right" and how their ruler is looking righteous and smug. Meanwhile Ace and Deuce, the rebels, sing about not being "caught" by their dorm leader's gaze. It's not until the second half of the song where they mix things up (Deuce with Trey, Ace with Cater), but it's still very predictable with the blends (always a third year with a first year). Trey and Deuce, the more level-headed duo, bring up setting the table, while Cater and Deuce, being more of the "hide your true feelings"/"avoid responsibilities" duo, "[hide] behind a smile" and warn to not "get caught with your tongue sticking out". This goes along with the song's theme of following the rules to a T; all the card soldiers are in place! You can even say that the song starting off with the rhythm of a military band indicates the song coming up will be regimented and structured. The only part I would say outright "breaks" this rule is when Adeuce sing with Riddle (around the middle of the song?) but in a way, that also makes sense given that those first years rebelled against Riddle in book 1, but eventually come around in book 7 to become his supporters. Then they of course all chant together for the English portions ("Yes, your Majesty!", "My pleasure, my Queen!", "As you wish, my Queen!") where they express their devotion to the Queen, indicating that these phrases are something "[the Queen wants] to hear". (Riddle chants with them too, to show respect for the rules.)

I think the true chaos of the song comes in the second half. Trey and Cater mention running through a maze and how the Queen's righteousness breaks at that moment, then Adeuce elaborate it scatters like cards. Riddle remarks how this--the twisting maze--"[hides] the true colors of [his] heart". This parallels how there was an elaborate chase through the rose maze in the depths of Riddle's book 7 dream, obscuring his loneliness.

You definitely get the vibes that although everyone has their little solo, Adeuce, Cater, and Trey are there to support their dorm leader. Riddle gets about the same amount of lyrics as the others, but his parts are more embellished and have more vocal flair to them. The lines specifically assigned to Riddle also feel like he's the Queen welcoming you to his territory full of his followers ("This is the path to the Queen's rose garden", "The cards are lined up and awaiting their (next) orders", etc.). The lines assigned to the card soldiers seem intentionally designed--as if the cards are reminding you of the rules so you don't upset the Queen.

DIADEM is reflective of the relationships between its dorm members too, but the relationships are very different than Heartslabyul's. The song begins with Jack singing, followed by a line in which he and Leona sing together. Then Ruggie has a solo line, which is also followed by a line in which Leona joins him. It's only AFTER Leona has already shared lines with Jack and Ruggie that he belts out his own solo, which stresses that they will continue to roar, no matter how many times it takes for their message to be heard. This gives the impression that he swooped in to support Jack and Ruggie with their own parts, just like a benevolent king or mentor figure/senpai might do for his people or mentees/juniors. This is also what Leona essentially does for his dorm in book 2. Then once Leona makes his own declaration, they're all able to sing together, united as one. It's like he uplifted Jack and Ruggie to join his rebellion.

There's an interesting part in the chorus where Ruggie and Jack break away to sing (without Leona) about fate and laughing through the hard times which. Has some heartbreaking implications when you consider that Leona expressed as late as book 6 (and is strongly implied in his book 7 dream as well) that he sees hope in others, but not himself. So??? Him NOT joining Jack and Ruggie in singing about laughing through difficult times seems pessimistic. Around the middle of DIADEM, Leona shouts out commands ("howl" and "roar", respectively), each of which is punctuated by Ruggie and Jack joining him with the English phrases "BEAT DOWN" and "DO MORE". These come off like a leader rallying his allies, and those allies responding with chants for their cause. This is especially the case because right after we get Ruggie declaring that his blood is boiling (ie he's pumped now) and he's eager to destroy a future that has already been decided for him. Then Jack enters, saying that he, too, wants to tear down an unjust world. There is NO Leona in this part, it's ONLY Jack and Ruggie, who have been newly emboldened by his words. The song really highlights how much the juniors are motivated by their strong leader.

In Heartslabyul's song, you get the sense that everyone else exists to prop up the Queen/Riddle and try to keep each other out of trouble by reciting the rules. In Savanaclaw's song, you can see how Leona encourages his dorm members and they react by taking to the words that lift their spirits. Both dorms' members are showing deference to their dorm leaders, but in different ways.

Entanglement opens with Jade imploring the listener to spill their secrets to him. Then Floyd comes in, continuing the charade. Azul takes over from there. This framing makes me think of Octavinelle's usual schemes--that is to say, the twins advertising Azul's "services" and then finally introducing us to him, this supposed "wish granter" (a procedure described to us in book 2). The order of the characters' presentation slots in nicely with this: we start with the more polite and unassuming twin luring us in. Once Jade has set the bait, Floyd, the more conspicuous brother, feels safe to step in and really talk up what Jade laid out in the beginning. Only after both twins are pitched Azul does Azul actually show up to make his offer. Jade and Floyd make up the majority of the chorus, singing together to coerce the listener into making a decision, even framing it like the decision is being made exclusively based on YOUR free will ("It's all up to you"), when really, it's not. Azul shockingly says very little solo in the chorus, only "Now, go on, we're all ears", before the twins join him and they urge you to share your wish with them.

The latter half of the song gives Poor Unfortunate Souls energy; it features Azul telling the listener they won't find a better bargain than this, then Jade saying they're drowning in their own desires and finally Floyd putting on the pressure to close this deal. Azul then mentions paying a price and how his rules are reasonable, which is very similar to how Ursula demands her a toll be paid (how it isn't "asking for much", etc.). The twins also very characteristically warn you what will happen if the contract is broken ("punishment", "squeezing", "no escape"), like the potential consequences if Ariel cannot get the kiss of true love from Eric. Overall, Entanglement reads as the extended experience of you being roped into a Bad Deal.

Far-Out opens with Kalim (the dorm leader), with Jamil (the vice) following. This pattern of Kalim first, Jamil second (which reflects their dynamic in general) also occurs when they speak English in the song; Kalim gets his verse about the magic carpet first, Jamil gets his verse about treasure later. The dual nature of Kalim and Jamil is also made apparent here: Kalim is allowed to fly "whenever [he] wants", while Jamil is only allowed to "dream" about "treasure whenever [he] wants". When the two sing together, this duality persists: "good and evil intertwine", "[falling] into a sea of ecstasy", the part where they list several people of different social standing, etc. The one time when Jamil sings before Kalim is at the beginning of the second verse, before Kalim mentions a scarab flying in front of him. This comes off as if Jamil is leading the way for his dorm leader, like some puppetmaster dangling his puppet and tugging it along by the strings. I think it's very telling that Kalim's opening line is about describing the scorching heat of their homeland but Jamil's opening line is about... TEMPTATION??? Hilariously on-the-nose, seeing as how Jamil is the one with the literal mind control UM and he describes a serpent in the night with sharp eyes in the lyrics to Far-Out (literally describing himself). Meanwhile, Kalim's UM chant seems to be referenced, as he talks about singing and dancing. Both Scarabia boys sing about "giving in" together, but as the song goes on, the framing of the lyrics makes it clear they're "giving in" to different things. For Kalim, it's "the heat" (a stand-in for Jamil's mind control), which is made apparent by Jamil immediately saying "indulge in this feeling until it takes over" and Kalim later says he is "captivated by the heat". For Jamil, it's "treasure", something he repeatedly indicates as wanting to take throughout the song. For example, Kalim sings about endless riches, and then Jamil has a solo line where he says "if you desire it, take as much as you want"--and his dream in book 7 shows him taking all that was once the Asims'. They're both venturing to a metaphorical oasis to seek relief, but seem to be distracted by things along the way ("heat", "treasure", etc.).

Kalim mentions a golden scarab crossing his eyes in one line, and while this is an obvious Aladdin reference, it also makes me think of Jade's one golden eye interrogating him in book 4; this would be another time in which Kalim is taken advantage of by others. First by Jamil, then by Jade. At the very end, Kalim sings about undoing shackles (most likely referring to Jamil's) while Jamil sings about a party (of which Kalim throws many of) that will eventually exhaust. The other Scarabia character is at the forefront of each boy's mind, and it is also where their respective desires (friendship for Kalim, freedom for Jamil) derive.

La Volonté is French for "will" or "willpower", which is a huge theme in the song. Unlike the other songs so far (which open with a solo or duet), La Volonté begins with all members of Pomefiore singing about their "one and only wish", and how they intend to immortalize their beauty. This is fascinating in that all three of them have very different personal goals (Epel wants to be strong, Vil wants to be seen as a "hero", Rook wants to pursue beauty), but they sing in unison anyway, because this validates all of their goals as being "beautiful".

Rook, the most secretive of the trio, mentions a heart locked away in a box, then Vil joins him in speaking of a truth entering his ear--like in book 5, when Rook convinces Vil to go with the more unconventional picks for the VDC/SDC auditions. In one of Epel's solos, he tells of sweet poison dyed in crimson, which is wording that is very close to his UM name. When Vil joins him, they sing, "A little more, a little more...", which makes me think of how Vil intends to "perfect" Epel into a weapon to use against Neige in book 5. The fact that Rook sings about their goal "[being] within reach" is ironic, given that it's ultimately his vote that decides NRC's loss.

Though this song starts off with the Pomefiore boys together, this is definitely one of those songs that centers the dorm leader over the others. There are many parts where it's just Rook and Epel singing ("Let all freeze", "[...] grant eternal slumber", etc.) and Vil joining in later or getting a solo after them. The first "waltz upon white snow" invokes the image of Vil standing over the cold body of his fallen rival Neige, but later on Rook and Epel join in singing about this. I wonder if that's an intentional callback to book 7, when they delved into Vil's dream and found Neige... dying. It's Vil singing somberly about all the hands that seek to pull him down (all his haters, all the people who assume he is as evil as the villains he plays), not knowing "the worth of a true star" (ie himself). It's Vil issuing the order for your breath to still (as if your breath has been stolen away by him; this is also the beginning to Epel's UM chant). And, most importantly, it's Vil vocalizing to end the song--a song which, need I remind you, started off with ALL of Pomefiore singing. Now Epel and Rook have stepped back, allowing Vil, the "true star", to command the stage.

Oftentimes fans—and even the Twst characters themselves—will compare Riddle and Vil on the basis of strictness. This also holds true for the compositions of Obedience and La Volonté. Both songs have their respective queens front and center, but La Volonté is definitely moreso than Obedience. Maybe it’s Vil’s celebrity status that has him commanding the spotlight? It could also be that Rook and Epel are simply more inited under a common front (“beauty”) whereas the card soldiers are more selfish and follow Riddle’s rules as a means to avoid punishment for themselves rather than truly subscribing to his strictness.

Unparalleled Aeons has Ortho starting us off, and it's framed kind of like the middle of an argument between the Shroud brothers?? He seems to be addressing Idia, asking if he will shut himself away again, only for Idia to respond that "[he's] just one soul" and that "[he's] the problem". The fact that the song begins with Ortho and not Idia--the dorm leader--makes me think it's symbolic of many of Idia's social problems "originating" with the original Ortho's death. This would go well with the theme of persisting despair in the early verse. In any case, they continue to have this back-and-forth, with Idia stating that he has known dreams are hollow for a long time (likely a reference to his backstory and how he's destined to be Director of S.T.Y.X. one day, whether he wants to be or not). The two later on talk about sulking in the Underworld, which is something Idia notes is a common trait between him, his father, and his grandmother--previous or current heads of S.T.Y.X., and what awaits him too.

The chorus has both Shrouds singing, and it is very much structured around the book 6 disaster in which they attempt to open the gate to the Underworld, unleash Phantoms upon the world. They reference their "happy end" and Cerberus's engine revving up--perhaps to call attention to Phantom!Ortho, the third "head" and sibling to the Shroud brothers. Idia sings about how his loneliness spawned into genius (could he mean how his grief led him to invent a new Ortho?) too. In another verse, the Shrouds declare they will "rearrange the cosmos" and Ortho jeers about heroes that arrive too late to stop them. They're almost gleeful in the "whirlpool of {swirling) souls", full of despair and chaos as they finally realize their shared dream. Hilariously, Idia and Ortho shout "FEVER TIME", a special state that grants temporary advantages in games--indicating that, at least to the Shroud brothers, they see this all as one big game.

At one point, Ortho has a solo line about how a happy ending with tears is crueler than being forever alone. Is he talking about bittersweet endings here? Does this not describe book 6's conclusion--an ending in which Idia is forced to say good-bye to one brother, while also embracing another brother? Idia gets his own line about having all of the cheats and going at full throttle, which paints the image in my head of him putting together that cheat tool and delivering the weapons + armor to Silver and Sebek via magiwheel in book 7. Ortho's solo line in the chorus mentions entertaining trials and tribulations, which I think calls back to book 6, when he tested each of our little groups with mini games. Unparalleled Aeons is simply packed full of internet lingo and gaming slang, all being weaponized to taunt the listener.

The Shrouds lament about how they've been "forsaken by [...] Fate", then make reference to the Fates cutting a Thread of Life, sending them crashing towards "The End". They also later call to attention knowledge of past, present, and future, which are concepts associated with the Fates too. The cut life might be the original Ortho's death, or it could be Phantom!Ortho finally moving on, and thus Idia pushing past his grief. The chorus wraps up with Idia whispering "Welcome to the Underworld"--very fitting, seeing as I recall him uttering a similar line when welcoming the OB boys to S.T.Y.X. HQ (the domain he will rule in the future) for the first time.

Unlike Far-Out, which has an insidious vibe due to the clashing nature of Kalim and Jamil’s parts, Unparalleled Aeons allows Idia and Ortho to be on the same page. It really feels like a Final Boss and his top-ranked henchman scheming together to destroy the heroes.

Capricious Calamity is technically another song which centers the dorm leader, but not in the same way that La Volonté does. In La Volonté, Vil has many solos, whereas in Capricious Calamity, Malleus is the subject of the song, the one being praised and worshipped (using archaic terminology). Given that Diasomnia seems to be a cult of personality around Malleus, this direction makes sense--and the choice to open with Sebek, THE Malleus fanboy, singing about his master's radiance shining brightly in the night, also makes sense. Sebek also closes off the second verse, declaring "unending tribute" to Malleus.

The first verse slowly evolves with a new character added per line. First there's only Sebek, but then it becomes Sebek and Silver together. It gives the vibes of wandering into an old castle and running into the ruler's guards who are evaluating you before you may be graced with their lord's presence. Lilia (the eldest and most experienced of them all) then gets a brief solo before making way for Malleus. It feels like Lilia showed up to announce their prince's arrival, and how all should make way for him. And of course the first thing Malleus says is that he "knows not of celebration"... This is followed up by Silver mentioning that Malleus "wishes for a miracle" (to be invited/included). Then Silver, Sebek, and Lilia speak of this as a transgression which warrants judgment. Again, Lilia concludes this verse with the line about judgment, which harkens back to earlier, when he seemingly "announced" Malleus.

Malleus leads the chorus once Lilia has summoned him. He calls himself an omen that comes with the lightning (his signature), then his dorm members chant that all shall kneel before his green light. Disembodied voices join in, echoing that the listener should give their entire being to the thorns. It paints the image of loyal knights kneeling before their king and beckoning others to do the same in order to quell his rage. This is also the note that Capricious Calamity concludes on, which just further drives the message home.

Silver starts the second verse, noting Malleus reflected in the dark skies. (Sebek begins the first verse, and Silver he second; the two youngest in Diasomnia are also the "start"--the start of, perhaps, a future where fae and humans can live in peace together.) When Sebek joins Silver, they sing about how Malleus, even at his lowest, burns brightly. These phrases paired together, said by the first two of Diasomnia to "awaken" in book 7, make me think of them staring up in horror as Malleus's draconic form takes to the skies. They're terrified and in awe of his might. There's a part where Malleus and Lilia share a line, commenting on a commotion and the cries of the weak ringing out. These two, the strongest in Diasomnia, remarking on this... It calls to mind their battle within Lilia's dream, or even Lilia intervening when Malleus (as a dragon) intends to strike Silver and Sebek down.

At the very end, Malleus announced another omen, this time harkened by spreading thorns rather than lightning... thorns, like the very ones he summons to drag us all into a deep, deep slumber--the trap he sprung in book 7. I think it's telling that it's Silver that joins Malleus in song before the entire dorm sings together. This duo sings about an aurora that is overtaken by the abyss. Is this meant to be a reference to Silver and Malleus's final confrontation, and how Silver refused to slay Malleus at the crucial moment?

It’s really interesting to compare this song to DIADEM, the two performances featuring a prince. In Capricious Calamity, Malleus is propped up by his dorm members—but in DIADEM, Leona is the one propping up his dorm members. This really speaks to (and feeds into) the idea that Malleus and Leona are opposites of one another. A prince worshipped by his people and promised the throne. but still left lonely and emotionally unfulfilled… versus a prince scorned by his people and forbidden from having the crown for himself, yet he’s surrounded by people who look up to him and trust him to lead them… OTL

#if you wanted me to do a line-by-line breakdown + analysis of each song's lyrics 🤡 sorry but this post isn't it #I'm just talking generally about the arrangements #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twst #disney twst #notes from the writing raven #heartslabyul #savanaclaw #octavinelle #scarabia #pomefiore #ignihyde #diasomnia #twst analysis #twisted wonderland analysis #twst character analysis #twisted wonderland character analysis #Neige LeBlanche #book 1 spoilers #book 2 spoilers #book 3 spoilers #book 4 spoilers #book 5 spoilers #book 7 spoilers #book 6 spoilers #unrelated but a friend had a theory that jade is the younger twin bc the first years lead the songs #in scarabia kalim is the younger one + non-OB boy so he leads #and in octa azul is technically youngest but he's dorm leader so he cannot open...#so friend theorized that jade who leads entanglement is the younger one of the twins

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butterflydm · 4 months ago

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WoT 3x02 Deep Dive (book spoilers addition)

Any and all thoughts that strayed into book spoilers territory will be found here. Spoilers through A Memory of Light, just to be safe.

The funniest possible thing that show could do is simply never clarify whether or not Moiraine and Elayne are related. We'll probably know soon enough whether or not they plan to, because either we'll hear about Tigraine's son that she left behind to go into the Aiel Waste or we won't and if they don't hint about Galad then, there doesn't seem much of a point to do it in the future, since Rand's story never actually crosses Galad's, and he left Tar Valon before the princes arrived.

In the books, I believe that the House Trakand symbol is a silver keystone, which I don't see any evidence of in the throne room, but perhaps Andor's symbol overrides that. I don't know how royalty works, lol.

The Houses that we see here are all Houses that are staunchly anti-Trakand once we get to our on-page Succession War in the books, I believe, and the show did such a good job showing how Morgase's short-terms gains with her ruthlessness here may lead to a much harder fight for her daughter to claim the throne, as no matter what Elayne says, her rivals have reason to believe that their lives are forfeit because they put their names in first (and since Elayne is not around when the Succession Crisis begins, they might well believe that they've been trapped and locked in once she shows up).

For the people who are uncertain about Morgase's characterization -- it's heavily implied that Thom killed Taringail (Galad's dad) for Morgase (it might even be said outright; I don't recall at the moment). She was not against a spot of assassination when she believed it necessary. I do wonder if maybe Elayne is going to learn some unsavory things about her mother when she meets Thom later this season (I believe there is the tiniest clip of them together in the trailer at the end of ep1). Genuinely, I think anyone who would put in their name for a throne and fight a war for it... is probably capable of the sorts of things that Morgase does in the cold open of this episode.

I am also seeing the vision of... okay, Trakand politics are cutthroat and so are Seanchan politics (politics in general...) but one thing that might end up being a huge difference is how Elayne is protected and sheltered and adored as the heir who has had no need to prove herself worthy of the title (until she herself decides she needs to earn it) vs the Imperial family fighting it out and killing each other off. Elayne has no rivals inside her own family. She's had nothing but love and protection from her family, sometimes so much love and protection that it stifles and smothers her. So that might end up being a huge point of contrast between Elayne & Tuon, if we're able to catch a glimpse into the Court of the Nine Moons and the family dynamics of the Imperial Blood.

Everyone else has already noted the variations in the two brothers' uniforms, I'm sure, but -- Gawyn has on red trousers (and he chooses Elaida/the Red Ajah) while Galad has on white trousers (and he chooses the Whitecloaks). Very neat bit of visual foreshadowing that would mean absolutely nothing to people who don't already have an idea about their potential future paths.

So! Gawyn is still First Prince of the Sword and Galad is 'of House Trakand' but listed as 'Galad Damodred' in the credits. That's all pretty interesting. Again, the funniest thing would just be to never clarify any of these family relationships, but I am definitely curious about what choice the show will make.

Bets on whether or not Morgase is gonna survive? I think she's going to die, for a few different reasons.

her subplot meanders around mostly to give us insight into plotlines that we can just do a cold open about in the show

her subplot begins to feel like pointless trauma after pointless trauma at a certain point

it just feels silly for under 20 year old Elayne to stay the Queen once we all know that her mom is still alive

it will make it less silly that Gawyn holds his mother's death against Rand if Morgase is actually dead

Elayne standing up to Morgase here to forge her own path feels like a strong note for their relationship to end on

So, yeah, I feel like she will probably bite it in the show.

Galad's mild disparagement of the Aes Sedai here makes me feel like he's already been reading the Children of the Light sourcebook, but another possibility is that this is something being influenced by Rahvin, who likely is trying to subtly encourage discord between Andor and the White Tower.

"There's almost nothing we can do for afflictions of the mind."

Set-up for Nynaeve's future arc! She's gonna be the one to figure it out! I really like her trying to help Mat with his mind as foreshadowing for her cracking how to heal the Dark One's madness on male channelers' minds. That's really elegantly done.

I do wonder how much the show is going to dive into the potential parallels between Rand's past life haunting him and all of Mat's past lives haunting him. They deliberately changed Mat's storyline to make it more closely match Rand's, making it his own memories instead of the lives of random soldiers/generals. The most obvious reason to make their situations even more similar is so that Rand has someone to talk to about his Lews Therin situation, because we don't have the benefit of an interior monologue, the way that the books do.

Obviously, the earliest we would possibly explore that would be season four, but that's the most obvious reason I can think of to make this specific change in the way that Mat's memories work. Mat's storyline at the end of s2 didn't need for him to be an actual Hero of the Horn for it to work. That was a choice that the show made. It was a gorgeous choice; that scene makes me cry, but when they've made changes like that to the lore in the past, it's paid off narratively. Will this be the same?

In the books, Egwene and Aviendha had developed a fairly close friendship by this point and were calling each other near-sisters during their time together in the Waste, which definitely hasn't happened in the show yet. There really wasn't space for it in the earlier episodes but I hope that we do see them becoming friends as they go through some Wise One training together. Hopefully Egwene won't be too separated out as 'dreamwalker only'. Egwene has been separated from all her friends this season (just as Rand has) and her relationship with Rand is... yeah.

So she could really use a friend.

Aviendha taking a moment to stare at Rand before she complains about him not being Aiel enough: classic Aviendha.

"those who call themselves Aiel" I just realized that the prophecy contains an epic burn against the Aiel because of them breaking the Way of the Leaf. These people who dare to call themselves Aiel even though they don't follow the old ways of peace! Never noticed that before, though I'm pretty sure this prophecy is straight from the books.

So... the show wanting to explore this idea of Rand going mad and killing his lover might be part of why Rand & Egwene's relationship has been drawn out past the point when they broke things off for the last time in the books. That's perhaps not a theme you want to touch on during his actual endgame relationships; it's something you want him to be able to deal with first, so that he can go into those relationships maybe with more control over himself emotionally. I do wonder if this is building up to showing us Ilyena's death, but I'm unsure if we'll get that this season. The promo has implied that we'll get to see Ishamael, because he was on the glass columns promo poster, and we know we'll get at least one Age of Legends flashback in the columns of Rhuidean (with Mierin). Will Ishamael be there or will we get a second AoL flashback in 3x08, as has been tradition so far?

Anyway, Alanna obviously isn't a Darkfriend, but I am curious both about how quickly she got to the Two Rivers and why she's there. It gets confirmed for us in 3x03 that Maksim doesn't know why they're there either, so it's a proper in-show mystery right now.

So, Elaida's timeline... not sure I have it on lock-down yet, and how it interacts with Siuan's. Did Elaida try to become Amyrlin while she was already working as Morgase's advisor? Siuan didn't have any drive to try to become Amyrlin Seat until after she and Moiraine received the prophecy about Rand, and it looks like Elayne is only a year or so younger than Rand (Rand was born "twenty years ago" in s1, Elayne was born "twenty years ago" in s3), so did Siuan go straight for the Amyrlin Seat as quickly as possible after the Aiel War? Since she and Moiraine were already established Blue Sisters in the show at that point, it's plausible. If that's the case, then Elaida may have bounced to Andor directly after losing the Seat to Siuan.

Verin... "warns" Siuan here about Elaida being "well-liked" which... does not actually seem to be the case when we see Elaida trying to get in good with the rest of the Red Ajah. Is this Verin following an instruction from Lanfear? We know that she does still need to act as Black Ajah in order to preserve her cover with them. And she was the one who appears to have scooped up Min from Cairhien and brought her back to the White Tower.

No forcefemmed Min here, which I was really glad about. Stuffing Min into a dress and forcing her to be high femme and ditzy was not a super-fun note for me in the books. If we do get Rand-Min in the future (depending on if we get renewals and potentially on how long the show runs in total, since if they only get 5 or 6 seasons, they may just do avirandlayne and not try to introduce a fourth person into the mix), I think we can pretty sure that she won't do all the weird "Men Like This Stuff" changes to her appearance and behavior that she does in the books to try to entice Rand.

If Verin is reporting to Lanfear, then Lanfear also knows about all the viewings that Min has been seeing about fighting and death inside the White Tower.

Siuan mentioning Nynaeve as a potential weakness for Liandrin. I have been pondering the idea of Liandrin perhaps dying in the fight against Moghedien, to save Nynaeve's life. This might be a hint towards that.

So... is Fain currently leading the Trollocs, or is it 'Lord Luc' who is doing that? I could glance at imdb to find out when Padan Fain's actor is appearing in the show, but I will refrain, lol.

The Bair/Amys merging situation and the confusion around it is definitely interesting and a little bit odd. I wonder why they couldn't just change Bair's name to Amys after they realized they couldn't have both. Was it a legal issue with the contract that the actress had signed? Because this is absolutely just straight-up Amys wearing a nametag that says "Bair".

Ah, Matrim Cauthon. I have strong feelings about the way this name was used in the last few books. Namely, one of the biggest tells of a for-sure Brandon Sanderson scene was someone using "Matrim" who'd never used it before. I suspect because Sanderson felt like it was a more "fantasy appropriate" name than just Mat. In the Jordan books, it gets used very sparingly and is fairly effective to show either formality or annoyance (towards Mat), but in the Sanderson books, everyone and their fish uses "Matrim" and it kinda loses its power.

This scene with Siuan definitely makes me feel like if the show decides to take it that direction, having Siuan be there with Mat to save Moiraine would be really awesome.

The scene between Morgase and Elayne reminds me of one of the beats that we get much later in the books, after the two of them reunite, with Morgase admiring how Elayne handled a political situation. Another reason that I suspect Rahvin might really kill her in this one (or, a horrifying thought that just occurred to me, Compel Galad to do it and that's the reason that Galad ends up running off to the Whitecloaks? We have the precedent of Andoran families killing their own Head of House, here in this cold open)

Tigraine name drop! Very soon before we're about to learn more about Tigraine in Rhuidean! Very exciting! I do note no mention of Galad being Tigraine's son here, where it might have been natural for it to be mentioned.

I do like the show explicitly connecting Tigraine's disappearance with Morgase's ascendance -- while Tigraine being told to go to the Waste was primarily for Rand's birth, Elayne does end up being pretty important to the events of the Pattern as well, and is a key figure in the Last Battle in her role of Queen of Andor/Cairhien (though maybe just Andor in the show).

#wot #the wheel of time #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot s3 spoilers #wheel of time s3 spoilers #butterfly watches wot #wot 3x01 spoilers #wot book spoilers #wot meta #my wot meta #wot 3x02 spoilers #wot 3x03 spoilers #a memory of light

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shadowsofdread · 6 months ago

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inspired by the poll about theron shan's romantic chemistry with each of the origin classes, i wanna pose a somewhat similar question because i love thinking about it. it's a big thing in the swtor fandom that people tend to write relationships between their mains of each of the origin stories, and certain trends/combinations tend to be common - namely, sith warrior & jedi knight, jedi knight & jedi consular, sith warrior & sith inquisitor, etc.

so an open question i'm putting forward for anyone to reply to is what are your favorite pairings of classes - platonically, romantically, secret third thing, antagonistically, etc. you don't have to name an "underrated" one, but my question is based more on the chemistry between the classes, like, in general as opposed to specific iterations of that class. i.e., by all means use your OCs as an example of why you like that pairing, but like. i am talking more broadly about archetypes than specific characters. does this make sense. anyway, some of mine:

sith warrior & jedi knight

you knew this one was coming. i think the SW and JK are positioned pretty well to act as foils to one another, and there's something very interesting about how the transitions between Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of each campaign mirror each other, with the finales of their respective campaigns leaving them on opposite sides of a current or future antagonist - with the SW ending up on that same side as the JK by ziost. i've interpreted this as a shared sense of personal responsibility - through their actions, one way or another, they make the most sense for being the emperor's number one enemy, which may lead to a sort of alliance between the two characters, depending how you spin it. or, hey, maybe your sith warrior is actually loyal to the emperor even still, at least until they are ultimately betrayed by valkorion. in which case, lifelong, bitter enemies. where maybe they should've had a common cause, maybe the pieces should've been there all along for them to fight together, but against all sanity and reason, the SW chooses again and again to stand by vitiate/valkorion.

sith warrior & imperial agent

next to SW&JK, this is the dynamic i keep coming back to over and over again - there's a reason why taizi's met most of @tiredassmage's agents. it's also the one i have the hardest time explaining why i like so much. there's the appeal of like ... hypercompetent pairing with vastly different skills but very good at those skills. it's kind of like a variation on what scratches my brain about SW & quinn in that there's a lot of toying around you can do with sith/imperial power dynamics - made even more interesting depending on the type of agent you're playing, and regardless an agent who has had their literal brain fucked with by the dark council, i.e. the castellan restraints.

sith warrior & jedi consular

listen. have i actually gotten to use this one much in the "playing blorbo barbies with my friends" sphere? not exactly. it's a very new one that i'm still rotating, and i don't know how to explain what it is i like about it but i really, really want to see more of it. i think it could be delicious, brent. please let your warriors and your consulars talk to each other more. one thing i will put forward is i think SW & JC scratches a similar itch to SW & JK to me, but in, like, a slightly different font? i dunno, man. i just wanna see it more.

honorable mentions:

jedi consular OR jedi knight & trooper: it's like jedi / clone trooper but without the ethical issues and cognitive dissonance! /lh

sith inquisitor & jedi consular: could be taken so many different ways, i just don't think enough about SI to do much with it

imperial agent & jedi knight: only really seen a few iterations - two of them being my own - but like. something in here's really fucking good.

#META.#keywords:#sith warrior #jedi consular #imperial agent #jedi knight #base game

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athena-gundampla · 2 months ago

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HGUC 1/144 Principality of Zeon Mass Production Mobile Suit Ace Commander Custom MS-05B "Zaku I" (Late War Type)

Back to the classics with this older Zaku I build. This 2006 kit isn't the oldest version of the Zaku I from the HGUC line, but it certaintly shows its age. The MS-05B is the version of this mobile suit used towards the end of the One Year War, during the events of the original gundam anime, and is a refit of the original Zeonic suit (the MS-05A) meant to hold its own with newer suits like the Zaku II and Gelgoog.

Being from 2006, there's limited colour separation, but being a design from the original 1979 series, the suit itself doesn't really have that much in terms of colour variation in the first place, so there's not really much to correct. I did re-do the booster nozzles in red (although you can't exactly see it at all in the final pictures), and I also decided to add some extra colour by giving the suit a red pauldron and yellow command fin.

I used one of the multipurpose waterslide decal sheets from Bandai to add a few markings as well. I kept it light, to match the simplicity of the build, and I think it turned out fairly well. The decals are a little thin and fragile, but they're super vibrant too. I find that white decals can sometimes be a little see-through and disappear on darker colours, but they really pop on this kit. There were a nice assortment of markings, including some numbers, rank markings, and even thin lines that you can cut and wrap around round parts (although this was really tricky to pull off). There's even a set of hit markers depicting downed Federation ships, which I just had to include. This build has the Zeon rank marking for a captain.

I also did a decent amount of weathering on this kit, mostly just a bit of sponge chipping, drybrushing, and silver pigment powder to give the raised edges a worn metal look. I've outlined my process in this post, and pretty much kept to that process, except I chose not to add any surface damage this time. I think weathering helps to add a lot of visual interest to simpler kits, especially older ones, and also provides an oppurtunity to hide any stress marks or nubs that are often a little more prominent on older kits.

For an older kit, this comes with a surprising amount of extras. There's two pistol grip right hands, one for the bazooka with an angled joint, and one for the older-style zaku machine gun with a normal ball joint, as well as pretty faithful recreations of both weapons. There's also the requisite two open fist parts, and an open left hand piece which is designed to fit the right hand inside it, recreating the iconic shoulder barge pose from the anime.

Unfortunately, just like many of the kits from the 00s, the articulation is significantly limited, especially in terms of hip and thigh rotation, and it's difficult to force the kit into the dynamic poses that were present in the anime.

The kit also comes with a swappable head panel to allow you to build the kit with or without the command fin, as well as a removeable shoulder reinforcement designed to allow the suit to safely fire its bazooka (given the lack of shoulder shield that the Zaku II has). It has just enough articulation to hold the bazooka over the shoulder.

There's also the spike shield - a repurposed Zaku-II shoulder shield turned knuckleduster, which has storage for a "sturmfaust" (a mobile suit sized panzerfaust, which is a type of ww2 recoilless rifle) - and a heat hawk which slides into a holster on the side skirt. Along with a fold-down part on the rear-skirt for the bazooka, this means unlike many other kits, you can store almost all the extras on the kit itself.

Despite its limitations, this kit was a lot of fun to put together and customise. I just wish it had had a little more articulation, because it was a pain to pose.

#gunpla #my gunpla #hg gunpla #model building #plamo #gundam #mobile suit gundam #ms-05b zaku i #ms-05b #zaku i #zaku

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clonegirl99 · 2 months ago

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Bet I Can Make You Smile

Delta fluff for @orangez3st

“I’m going to make you smile, Sev, and you’re going to like it.”

The gruff commando looks at you, undoubtedly withering glare hidden behind that eerie blue T-visor that makes them all look like minor variations of the same over-engineered droid, then storms off down the narrow passage of the ship you had helped Delta “requisition” back on your home world.

And now, well, you couldn’t exactly go back there any time soon - not that would would want to. You’d been looking for a way out and helping these friends of a friend acquire transportation let you use your well-honed skills to aid the Republic in its fight against the Separatists. You couldn’t care less about the alleged stakes of the war; you just saw the way the droid-lovers were treating the locals and decided you wouldn’t mind kicking in some Techno teeth on your way out the door.

You hadn’t banked on enjoying the experience as much as you have been, and you weren’t complaining about it. Four handsome young men with vastly different personalities were keeping you company as you effectively ran away from home to join the circus.

“Fierfek, that man needs a hug,” you grumble, rolling your eyes dramatically and flopping onto the padded bench in the crew mess that had become your bed and de facto throne, where you rein over your court.

And by that, you mean play sabbac with Scorch and compete to see who could tell the most outrageous stories. He seemed sure that you were hiding something far more interesting and scandalous than the career you’ve made in the strategic relocation of interplanetary vehicles. Conversely, you had a feeling that most of what Scorch told you about his debauchery on leave was entirely manufactured.

“It’s not made up,” their leader, Boss, corrected as he joined the two of you, like Scorch, his helmet and upper body armor already doffed for the night. “Just not his stories.”

“Come on, don’t blow my chances at impressing our lovely guest!” Scorch protested.

“You already did that yourself,” Fixer stated flatly from the doorway where he’d appeared, helmet under his arm.

You laugh and rub Scorch’s back jovially. “Aw, it’s okay, Scorch. You’re still my favorite.”

“Hear that? She says I’m her favorite.”

“She’s just being nice,” Boss grumbled.

“You think you’re her favorite, Boss?” Fixer jumped in, the most personality you’d seen from him since you’d liberated your current ride with his slicing assistance. “Charming her with your sparkling conversation, are you?”

“Hey, can the chatter,” Scorch teased, a hint of defensiveness in his voice.

You look back and forth from one brother to another, amused by their playful banter. You hadn’t yet gotten to see them all together much outside of the limited action of grand theft starfighter. You weren’t sure what you had expected, but you had decided you enjoyed their dynamic even if you weren’t sure if they actually liked each other or not. It made for a great distraction when things were too quiet.

“Mereel,” Scorch confirmed, turning his focus back to you. “Our older brother. All his stories. You wouldn’t like him, though. Cocky. Always chasing after anything in a skirt.”

“But you were stealing his stories to impress me, so what does that say about you?”

Fixer turned around to poorly stifle a laugh while Boss just looked at Scorch with his eyebrows raised as if to challenge him to respond to your teasing.

“Well?” You giggle and prod his armored shoulder. “What does that make you if you want me to believe you’re the arrogant womanizer? And what do you think of me if you’re acting like this uncouth brother of yours who chases just anything?”

“Wait, what’s that?” Scorch redirects, grabbing your wrist to push your sleeve back, revealing a long, silvery scar that ran up most of the inside your right forearm. It looks alarmingly like a self-harm scar, something you’ve had to address numerous times.

“Oh wow. Never noticed before. Looks like a scar…”

Boss and Fixer, who apparently care about you more than you realized, move to get a better look.

You sigh and roll your eyes dramatically again. “I didn’t do it myself. Well - I guess I did, but not on purpose and not to hurt myself.

“Y/n, you know I already find you incredibly interesting. Now I’m absolutely fascinated,” Scorch says, back to acting like his brother Mereel.

“For fierfek’s sake, Scorch…” Boss groans.

“Oh come on, y/n, you can’t start a story like that and then not say anything else. Spill. What did you do to your arm?” He’s not done with the attempted flirting, tracing the jagged line with an ungloved finger.

“Fine,” you begin. “But it’s not that exciting and you each have to tell me about one of your scars after. Deal?”

“Deal,” said three completely different voices from three nearly identical faces.

“Okay, well, obviously I didn’t get my start lifting jump-equipped starfighters. A girl’s gotta start somewhere, and I started with… eh… a little light B & E, if you will.

Boss snorted. Scorch grinned and leaned forward. Fixer stared.

You rolled your eyes yet again. “Oh, don’t you three go playing all innocent with me. Like you haven’t smashed a window or forced a lock here or there when circumstances required it.”

“The circumstances that require us to do those things are war and fighting a war, y/n,” Fixer began.

“And mine were, I needed to eat and I needed creds. Fighting to stay alive, one might even say. And,” you add with a cocked eyebrow, “very little collateral damage in what I was doing. The people we stole from were all scumbags who had it coming anyway. But do you want to know the story or do you want to lecture me?”

Scorch bit his lip to stop himself from laughing as Fixer, suitably chastened, raised his hands in apology.

“Please, go on.”

“I mean, that’s pretty much the story. Last time I ever drank before we hit a place. Makes you bleed a lot more. Never got caught, though. Probably because they took me to a wild bird rescue to get glued back up.”

Scorched finds this all quite amusing. Fixer alternates between impressed and disapproving. Boss just nods slowly.

“So you got your wing clipped then sewn back together by a bird vet. Pretty feather-brained scheme all around.”

You all groan at Scorch’s terrible joke.

“Don’t quit your day job, Scorch,” you tease.

“He would have to start actually doing his day job well to justify that.”

Sev has joined your little party, keeping his distance at the other end of the room, wearing just his black undersuit that left nothing to the imagination.

“Welcome, Mister Sev! To what do we owe this honor?” You play it up to get under his skin.

“Can’t sleep with this damn bantha rodeo happening on the other side of my bunk wall.”

There’s no way the man had been trying to sleep. His damp curls, longer than regulation after so much time in the field, were uniform around his entire head. No flattened spots or frizz from his pillow. It wouldn’t surprise you to learn he slept in his undersuit even when off duty so he could be mission ready in a heartbeat. Either he stopped in the mirror to tuck things in just right before coming out here, or he made himself look good to come spend time with you.

“If you’re joining our fun, you have to share a story behind one of your scars,” you direct.

“I wasn’t party to this contract. I have no intention of participating in this game. Just letting you know I can hear you on the other side of the wall. I’ll stay right over here while you finish… Then we should probably resume watch shifts in the pilot’s seat, 3-8...” His final sentence is weighted with a combination of criticism and annoyed rationality.

“Autopilot works quite grand,” you responded, corner of your mouth quirking up into a crooked smile.

Sev rolls his eyes, possibly to mock your frequent expression and certainly in response to your statement.

You respond with an even more dramatic rolling of your eyes, complemented by a highly performative flop back on the bench.

“Can you tolerate our rowdy party for a few minutes, petunia?”

Scorch snorts his appreciation of the epithet.

“Laugh it up, six-two. You have to tell her about your little nap on the Prosecutor while I was being tortured and Boss and Fix were under heavy fire.”

“I was concussed. You let yourself get captured.”

You look back and forth between them, wondering if this was more teasing or another argument. “I was actually going to ask why your eyebrows are thinner than the others’?”

His squadmates laugh as he scrubs a hand over his face.

“Go on, Scorch. Tell her,” Fixer taunts. “We’re lucky he hasn’t blown up the whole squad yet,” he tells you.

“Look, it was just a minor incident. The charge wasn’t properly wired to begin with. Not my fault.”

“Should have checked the charge before you applied it.”

“Lesson learned,” Scorch responds with a roll of his eyes.

“That’s how he got his name,” Boss tells you. ��Not just his own eyebrows, but our training sergeant’s too - You’re lucky he didn’t give you a thrashing.”

Scorch grimaces. “Guess he thought I learned my lesson the hard way already.”

He turns back to you. “Our training sergeant is a mean old bastard. But it’s kept us alive.”

“So, you messed up a training exercise and scorched yourself?”

“Exactly,” Boss confirms.

“First of many stupid moves,” Sev adds.

“Not as stupid as how you got that -“

“Shut it, six-two,” the sniper growls menacingly.

The other three stifle laughs and your interest is piqued. He refuses to make eye contact with you.

“Your turn, Fix,” Scorch prompts.

Fixer and Boss share their stories, Scorch and even Sev adding the occasionally bit of color commentary. By the time they finish, you feel closer to and more integrated with the squad, though certainly still an outsider, especially with Sev.

“Back to it, then,” Boss orders, still team lead but more casual than you’d seen the squad previously. “You’re up, Scorch.”

Boss and Fixer shuffle back to the crew quarters as Scorch climbs into the cockpit, leaving you to yourself except for Sev’s brooding presence.

“You’re reckless, girl.” His voice, gravelly as ever but relaxed of some of its usual grit, almost made you jump. “Gonna get you in trouble one of these days…”

“That so?” You grin up at him. “You gonna bail me out?”

“No,” he replied, as though the answer was already evident, but you could see the ghost of a sparkle somewhere behind his eyes.

“Is that a smile that I see?”

“Absolutely not.”

It absolutely is.

“I’m not that bad. Gotten this far with no problems.”

“Says the girl with a scar the length of my sidearm.”

“Oh, come on, it’s not that…”

You trail off as Sev pulls a blaster pistol from a holster hanging on the wall. He drops the energy clip and cycles the weapon to ensure he wasn’t as reckless as he has just accused you of being, then saunters over and sits down next to you - right next to you. Hip-to-hip next to you.

He has to know what he’s doing.

Without taking his eyes off yours, he gently pushes back your sleeve to expose the scar.

“Alright, let’s make a wager,” you interrupt. The words come out higher pitched than they should have, like he was making you nervous or something.

“A wager?” He cocks an eyebrow at you. “Alright, Princess. Let’s hear it.”

“Princess?”

“I’m using the term loosely.”

You chuckle and check him lightly with an elbow. “Alright, Princess.”

He gives you a look that makes you snort a laugh.

“Hey, if I’m a princess, so are you. And you’re much prettier.”

You could swear he nearly blushes before chasing it away with a scowl and mumbling something that might have been, “you’re the pretty one.”

You pretend to have missed it. “If I’m right and the scar is shorter than your pistol, I get to give you a big hug.”

He sighed heavily. “Fine. And if I’m right, you have to stop taking stupid risks. No more break-ins or hijackings.”

“I’m not a hijacker, Sev. I just find ships lying around and…”

He’s glaring at you with such intensity that you feel naked and pinned under his gaze. It makes you squirm, which he notices.

“Deal?” He asks, seemingly amused.

“Fine. But no backing out if I win.”

“You won’t.”

“I wouldn’t sound so sure if I were you.”

“You’re not me. And I am.”

You harrumph and extend your arm out so he can lay the blaster next to the scar for comparison.

You howl in triumph as he grits his teeth - at least a centimeter shorter than the pistol.

“Aw, Sev, if you really wanted a hug so badly, you could have just asked. Didn’t have to embarrass yourself too.”

He grumbles under his breath, another implied smile somewhere behind his glower.

“I want a real hug too. Up.”

You stand, your side suddenly cold from his absence. He gives a performative sigh and towers over you, so close you can smell the soap he used in the ‘fresher.

You wrap your arms around his waist and feel him relax as much as he may be capable before he tentatively drapes one arm over your shoulders. You may be imagining it, but his breathing may have been a slightly shallower, just a bit shaky.

Rather than thinking too much about it, you chalk it up as a victory and grin.

“Not so bad now, was it?” you tease as you pull away.

He seems uninterested in hurrying the moment and you think he might be hesitating before letting his arm fall before he grunts and turns away so fast you’re certain it’s so you can’t see his face.

“Goodnight, princess,” you call as you pull your improvised bedroll out.

He pauses and now you’re certain he’s smiling and blushing a bit.

“‘Night.”

#star wars clones #the clone wars #clone wars #clone wars fanfiction #fanfic #republic commando #star wars legends #star wars republic commando #repcomm #fluff #clone commando sev #clone commando scorch #sev x reader #clone commando fixer #clone commando boss

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silver-soul00 · 4 months ago

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MORE POST ON WEDNESDAY, MORE ANALYSIS HELL YEAH!

Mostly because I want to correct myself on a past headcanon I had tried to theorize.

More than a tsundere, Ortega's Wednesday Addams is much closer to a kuudere ✨

But what the hell is a kuudere?

Context: Have you ever asked yourself why certain characters in your favorite anime have recurring behaviors in other series? Did you know that the personalities of Anime characters, however multiple, ambiguous and singular, have specific terms that describe it in their most general sense? All of these personality of characters are defined in the large category of “-dere,” that is, characters who have personal characteristics that stand out from the others and emerge especially when love is involved.

What precisely do these words ending in “-dere” mean, though?

-Dere comes from the Japanese “deredere” (デレデレ), an onomatopoeia meaning “in love” or “sappy.” The types of -Dere are characters who express their affection in different ways just according to the character's personalities.

Most types of -Dere refer to how protagonists react to falling in love.

Among these, the archetypal kuudere represents a particularly fascinating and complex figure.

The term, derived from the fusion of the Japanese words cool (クール, “cool”) and dere-dere (デレデレ, “affectionate” or “in love”), describes a character who appears aloof, apathetic, and inaccessible, but who hides beneath the surface an emotional depth that reveals itself only to those who can earn her trust.

Wednesday Addams, in her most recent incarnation in the series Wednesday (2022), played by Jenna Ortega, perfectly embodies this type.

Her gothic aesthetic, sharp, scissor-like language, lack of emotional expression, and stubborn rejection of social interactions place her as an exceptional kuudere within the Western landscape.

However, what distinguishes her from a mere stereotypical figure is the depth of her psychological development, which emerges through purposeful interactions, subtle reactions and moments of vulnerability that enrich her characterization.

• Emotional Inscrutability and Social Detachment

One of the primary characteristics of a kuudere is her apparent indifference to social dynamics.

This aspect is clearly manifested in the way Wednesday handles human interactions.

"I find social media to be a soul-sucking void of meaningless affirmation."

-Body Language and Detached Behavior

Wednesday maintains a rigid and composed posture, walks with a slow and measured gait, and rarely changes expression. Her eyelids remain perpetually lowered, giving her an air of perpetual disinterest. Her voice is also devoid of emotional variation, making her sharp sentences all the more impactful.

An obvious example of this detachment occurs in the first episode, when she is introduced to her new school, Nevermore Academy.

While her classmates introduce themselves with enthusiasm or curiosity, Wednesday maintains an impassive gaze and responds with minimal sentences, demonstrating a complete disregard for pleasantries.

When the principal asks her how she is doing in her new environment, her only answer is:

“"I’ll only be here for the semester.

I’ll be out of here in no time."

• Sharp Sarcasm as a Defense Mechanism

Kuudere often compensate for their lack of emotional warmth with sharp wit and cutting sarcasm. Instead of openly showing affection or empathy, they use language as a weapon to keep people at a distance.

- Cynicism as a Philosophy of Life

Wednesday does not just respond coldly: she often adds a touch of dark irony, which reinforces his image as a kuudere.

Wednesday's responses are laced with dark irony, reinforcing her kuudere persona.

When discussing her perspective on social interactions, she mentions:

"I act as if I don't care if people dislike me.

Deep down... I secretly enjoy it."

- The Rejection of Sentimental Involvement.

Even when she shows potential interest in Tyler, Wednesday never expresses it directly.

When he tries to approach her, she maintains an ambiguous attitude, avoiding giving clear answers or letting go of explicit emotions.

This is typical of a kuudere, who struggles to accept romantic feelings and masks them under a facade of indifference.

Even when potential romantic interests arise, Wednesday remains emotionally distant.

When Tyler expresses interest, she candidly warns:

"I will ignore you, stomp on your heart, and always put my needs and interests first."

- The Hidden Side: Protection and Discreet Affection.

What distinguishes a kuudere from a simply cold or insensitive character is the presence of a hidden side, which is revealed only at particular moments.

- Care for Her friends

Despite her aloof attitude, Wednesday shows that she cares about the people she cares about, even if she does so in unconventional ways. When Enid is in danger, Wednesday does not hesitate to protect her, showing a protective instinct that contrasts with her usual cynicism.

The culmination of this hidden side manifests itself in the series finale, when Enid finally manages to embrace her and Wednesday, instead of flinching as usual, accepts the embrace.

This small gesture represents a huge emotional turning point for the character and definitely confirms her kuudere nature.

Her relationship with Thing also shows her more affectionate side.

Although she often treats him as a mere assistant, when she is seriously injured, Wednesday reacts with a desperation that contradicts her usual coldness.

This moment shows that, although rarely, she is capable of deep and sincere emotions.

But there is also the character of Eugene, who manages to be one of the few characters that little Wednesday can not only endure but also genuinely love (a brotherly love like)

Wednesday Addams represents an excellent example of the kuudere archetype because of her complex and multifaceted personality.

Her emotional detachment, cutting sarcasm, and rejection of social interactions are balanced by rare but meaningful moments of affection, which emerge only with the people she cares about most.

This combination of traits makes her a fascinating and well-developed character, capable of embodying an established archetype without coming across as predictable or dull.

Of course all this is just a headcanon, nothing confirmed but I always enjoy writing these texts about a character who is appreciated more for mere aesthetics than what he can really offer as a character.

#wednesday addams #enid sinclair #wenclair #wednesday #netflix wednesday #jenna ortega #emma myers #netflix #wednesday x enid #eugene ottinger #wednesday netflix #wensday addams #the addams family

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transingthoseformers · 1 month ago

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Omg did somebody mention Getaway's betrayal of Atomizer?! This is my OBSESSION recently. Atomizer has become my absolute favorite sidelined character, he gets zero attention in the fandom, despite having such an interesting and unexplored backstory and having a lot of au potential?? Like he's a fragging archer assassin in a universe that uses guns and blades and variations therein almost exclusively, and archers are simply sexy as hell. He's dangerous enough with that crossbow for Magnus to BAN him from having it aboard. And he's a weapons engineer, good enough to have worked at Kimia, and he was an interior designer before the war?? Like that combo is so interesting!

And then of course there's his really good story arc during the mutiny that leads to his death, where he goes from following Getaway basically unquestioningly to slowly realizing that oh, oh no, he's following the bad guy. They're winning, but they're doing it *wrong,* so very wrong. And he decides to switch sides at the moment when it's the most dangerous to him in order to protect people, like he always wanted to do in getting rid of Megatron. And you know he knew Getaway would retaliate. He'd seen how far Getaway was willing to go at that point, he'd experienced Getaway pushing *him* to go too far. And he did the right thing anyway. He's a flawed mech who made a lot of terrible decisions and fell in with a charismatic narcissist, but I think he ultimately wasn't a bad one.

Anyway there's also so much au potential with him. What if he'd realized earlier what was happening and tried to shut down Getaway much sooner, or maybe tries to sabotage the deal with Froid and Sunder? Or would he have led the movement to get rid of Megatron if Getaway wasn't there, and what would that look like?

I've got some waaay more angsty thoughts too. Like when Getaway starts tearing into him, he rips open his sparkchamber and finds that he's sparked, and worse, it's *his.* And if Atomizer was still alive at that point, what would he do? Maybe it would snap him out of the madness, but then he has to get help in keeping Atom alive, and there's no more good medics on board...

Or if instead of killing him in general, Getaway hands Atomizer over to Star Saber for "training," the same way Star Saber and Tyrest had tortured Getaway. So Atomizer is still alive at the end of it all, broken and beaten but now has to deal with the Consequences left in Getaway's wake and his own actions/inactions...

I'm sorry for the long ask, I'm just Atomizer's #1 fan and wish we'd gotten more around his character in the comics, or hell, if the Hasbro gods smiled upon us and put him in literally any other media.

Exactly!!!

You'd think he'd get more love considering his theme but no

And his dynamic with Getaway is just juicy, so juicy

He knew. He had to have known Getaway would retaliate. He knew.

Oughhh him realizing earlier had fun consequences

(really, in my mind? Atomizer wouldn't have lead the movement in Getaway's place. ... Though. Whirl might've tbh.)

Fascinating consequences on Getaway deciding that Atomizer was worth "fixing" instead of outright killing him, you can involve Froid and Sunder there too

Plus!!!! I think that Atomizer would look REALLY REALLY REALLY cool in quite a few different styles!!

#transformers #maccadam #atomizer #mtmte atomizer #mtmte getaway #mtmte froid #mtmte sunder #mtmte megatron #mtmte whirl #the idea of him trying to prevent the deal with Froid and Sunder is interesting #because part of me wonders of he accidentally makes that worse #considering what Sunder's like when we see him in LL #mtmte star saber #there's fun conversations in general between Getaway and Atomizer #makes me wonder what'd happen if the deal with the DJD didn't go as far as it did / failed earlier #you are right

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soullessjack · 5 months ago

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i think another really interesting angle of tfw2.0’s dynamic is how the original 3 handle things like regret or selfishness being directly opposed, or even juxtaposed, by how jack handles them as someone experiencing those things for the first time. there’s a MASSIVE generational divide between them (even more massive by Cas’ standards) and that divide basically lays the groundwork for A) how they approach parenting jack, and B), how jack mirrors their different aspects or arcs that they previously had

like. post-S12, dean and sam and cas are all relatively at ease with their pasts and mistakes. not to say they don’t still feel guilt or hold the burden of their actions anymore, bc they Do—they explicitly say so and relay that to comfort jack over his own guilt—but they’re also well past jaded by now. they’re ready to accept what they can’t change, move on, and commit to being better. then in S13, enter: jack, a Completely New Person who doesn’t understand the world, is experiencing literally everything for the first time, and doesn’t know how to even handle feeling strong emotions or experiencing traumatic events—much less how to cope with them. and to boot, he’s the son of Lucifer and has a bit of a complex about doing even slightly bad things.

i don’t remember what post this was on or if it’s even from this blog, but it was effectively about the same thing, with just a little more mention on how sam and dean are (loosely speaking) normal humans with normal stages in development and being in the world and all that. Castiel isn’t a human, so his development was nonlinear and primarily around unlearning his celestial fundamentalism and learning how to be a human being (like the glass animals album) especially in regards to human empathy and emotions. emotions that later bring on other human things like doubt, guilt, and love. also, sam and dean and cas have had unique arcs dealing with some “inner evil” variation that motivated them differently and you get the idea —but i say this bc 1) it’s relevant , 2) to add in the human-development part specifically , 3) jack being lucifer’s direct son narratively hits even heavier* than sam and dean’s destiny as vessels or castiel’s existential deconstruction & betrayals , and also 4) to disclaim that these particular things mean jack is baby-coded or whatever bc Cas had the same arc.

*heavier in the sense that they weren’t permanent biological factors more so than outside influences and alterations and not in any sense of diminishment of what they went through or what it meant at the time YOU GET THE IDEA

you see it the most in tombstone after jack has a “Baby’s” First Murder moment and can’t get over it no matter how much the guys try to console him. he’s worried about the security guard’s potential family, of the loss he just burdened them with and (in an older script version anyways) he’s also frustrated that he can’t control himself. in other words, jack can’t accept what he couldn’t change. he’s canonically very stubborn (I forget which episode/script but at some point dean mentions something like “you know how he is when he gets ideas in his head”) especially when it comes to his own plans/goals, and he also essentially feels like being a good person + living up to Kelly’s envisioning of him + being better than his father is his personal responsibility slash burden to bear specifically because he is Lucifer’s son. which unfortunately also means that any time he fucks up he will either run away from it or lock himself in his room for weeks on end trying not to feel like he’s fulfilling a dark patrimonial prophecy.

dean is the first person to be upfront with jack about the situation (no shade to sam or cas tho). when jack says ‘you’re afraid of me,’ dean responds that it isn’t jack The Person they’re afraid of, but the harm his powers could and already did do to others. ie, jack isn’t evil just because he’s dangerous and those things don’t necessarily have the same meaning. furthermore, what sam and cas told jack in the car— they’ve all done bad things, they’re all guilty and just have to deal with it, but they can be better (which he doesn’t realize because he was born two months ago and has no concept of complex morality) — is reaffirmed by dean saying that if jack has to be a monster for 1 accidental kill, then so do the rest of them for everything on their hands. and, going unsaid but still very important, We Can Be Better Together.

now, the writing with jack isn’t always perfect.. sometimes it’s extremely hard to watch, actually. happens to the best of us. but the way they set about writing a teenage boy character, who’s frankly not really written like a standard or even stereotypical Teenage Boy character, is something i personally consider to be one of their highlights. and i say all this to say, he’s not just a cardboard Millennial (chronologically incorrect but you get the idea) and the generational divide between him and sam and dean isn’t a Father I Cannot Click The Book boomer comic. if this show was about normal people and also 100% lamer it would probably roll like that tho. but naur instead we got Father I Cannot Cope With My Guilt and it fucking rocks

TLDR the perfect found family dynamic is 1 guy who’s like “ohhhh shit i did something bad and selfish and the guilt is eating me alive now im inherently evil” and 3 guys who are like “i think we’re ALL💜 a little selfish and guilt-ridden by our sins and the fear of inherent evil 🙏but we can do better 🫶”

#cal.txt #i think I’m still in post jail so this will be a draft #spn #supernatural #jack kline #dean winchester #sam winchester #castiel #tfw2.0 #team free will 2.0 #this was supposed to be mainly about the selfishness .. like jack was fighting so hard not to make the selfish choices after killing mary #and I think it’s worth noting that those selfish choices were voiced by his father……#but anyways #spn analysis #spn meta..question mark.#im just very passionate about them as antiheroes as you can tell

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melozy · 7 months ago

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✩ would anyone be interested in a BORUTO REWRITE ? (follow this link to read the fic)

here are the major things i'm changing from the series to fit into a more realistic storyline ↴

first, and this is very based, but i dislike boruto's name in general. i know it's an homage to neji's name (which translates to "screw"), and don't get me wrong 'bolt' as a nickname that references both neji and minato's legacy (since the latter was known as the 'yellow flash of konoha') is awesome. but in my story, i've given the main character the name akihiro (ironically known as hiro by his peers) meaning "bright" or "shining" with this kanji variation 明弘 [in which the first one literally translates to "dawn".]

also, it'll help if you read THIS first (a post made by me and my cousin two years ago! and it's only now coming to fruition :>)

other key points where this story diverges from boruto, both in terms of plot, themes, and character dynamics:

akihiro's personality and role

akihiro is much more charismatic and endearing, resembling a "sweet-talker" type who bonds deeply with others rather than boruto’s initial rebellious and aloof nature. he embraces being naruto’s son but struggles with living up to the expectations, rather than rejecting them outright.

this adds complexity to his growth as a leader and makes him more relatable and likable to a wider range of characters.

akihiro is an only child

unlike boruto, akihiro doesn’t have a younger sibling like himawari. this shifts the family dynamic to focus more closely on his relationship with naruto and hinata, highlighting their efforts to guide him without distractions.

it makes akihiro’s journey more introspective and personal, with fewer family members diluting his arc. but this will tie into another plotpoint with sakura and sasuke's kid(s) looking up to him as an older brother figure, so he fulfills that role just as well. the reason i chose not to give him a sibling is because i'm still on the fence about giving akihiro the byakugan since it might be too cliché (but admit it, boruto's and himawari's designs would've looked pretty cool with the eerie edge of the hyuugas' pupil-less eyes). but i have no intention of making naruto pass on kurama to his kids, especially not to akihiro. so, the point of him having a sibling in the timeline where conflict arises pretty early (just after the events of akihiro's birth) is unlikely.

generation gap in konoha 9's children

the children of the original konoha 9 aren’t all the same age.

they were born across a realistic timeline based on their parents’ relationships (e.g., temari and shikamaru’s child is older than sakura and sasuke’s).

the reason for this was pretty much at face value, it just is highly unlikely that all the couples got together and fell pregnant at the same time. maybe some kids are same age but mostly spanning a five year range at minimum. this adds more diverse interactions across generations and avoids the forced "classmates" dynamic that boruto had.

right now i do have the konoha 9's kids figured out. from oldest to youngest, they are [this is during when my story starts, when akihiro is 15]:

shikadai nara (18) > chocho akimichi (17) > akihiro uzumaki (16) > inojin yamanaka (16) > shizumi nara (13) > sarada and souta uchiha (11)

stronger, more varied teammates

akihiro’s teammates are more specialized and powerful compared to boruto’s. yume kazemura, an immigrant from the land of mist with her water style and weapon specialty, and daichi hiiragi, a fire-style ninja with a less prominent earth style. akihiro himself would have wind and lightning style + hyuuga taijutsu — mostly because i wanted to divide each team in a way that balances each other out.

this team is a frontline squad, so their chakra amount and specialty is prominent. it also gives me a reason to make sasuke mentor akihiro later in the story since lightning style seems almost a precursor to space-time jutsu and no other konoha 9 member has an affinity for it.

in any case, their abilities are distinctive and critical in battles, unlike boruto’s team, which felt derivative of naruto’s team 7 and very replicated, in my opinion.

otsutsuki threat introduced as a mystery

a plot point taken from this post (which was actually made by my cousin, who is beta-reading this as we speak!), the otsutsuki threat is revealed gradually through mysterious portals, strange creatures, and sinister chakra bombs, rather than immediately presenting godlike enemies like momoshiki. the slow-burn introduction makes the otsutsuki more terrifying and allows the story to maintain a grounded tone while building tension.

the chakra bomb thing is introduced right after the events of "the last", a few months after naruto and hinata's wedding. a few konoha shinobi en route to kumo for their chunin exams (konohamaru's team being of them), come across a border villager in the land of fire who is on the brink of fever-induced delirium, somehow mid-speech just gives out an insane level of raw chakra pulsing out of his body before collapsing, dead.

the genin team leaders decide to investigate and find that an entire small village on the border was wiped out without a trace of struggle or attack. naturally, fingers are raised towards kumo who really have no clue what's going on. just when it was about to written off as an invasion by the rogue factions, another similar incident takes place in iwagakure. the land of fire and wind being the closest to it are now under fire.

then i plan on introducing a cult who are old regime supremacists (led by disciples of kaguya who were indoctrinated by black zetsu). they believe in the eradication of the non-shinobi factions, a play on the "survival of the fittest" morality. maybe i will integrate the bioengineering and technical development aspect. but it won't be nearly as advanced as the stuff introduced in the boruto universe.

by the time akihiro is 16, strange portals carrying behemoths (think chitauri from avengers, endbringers from worm or even kaiju from pacific rim) into the world open up all across the globe. each nation basically brings a standstill on managing the political uprising to secure their borders, working together to configure who is behind these attacks and where these alien creatures are coming from.

meanwhile, a kaguya cult member reveals the location of a portal leading to the moon base where a fee otsutsuki relics and shrines are found by hiro and his team. while the powerhouses are deployed to deal with the monsters, the village heads are swarmed with cases of riots, fights breaking out between borders and all in all, hostility brewing between the elemental nations.

eventually the behemoth attacks get so frequent and so far apart in distance from one another that it becomes impossible to manage them all — leading to the affected areas being vacated after entire cities are demolished.

this eventually leads to a showdown in the ruins of uzushio where the biggest behemoth shows up, alongside two otsutsuki clan members and most of the alliance is posted there for a drawn out battle.

eventually, after practically wiping the floor with the alliance, the otsutsukis leave but not without the promise of return to plant a chakra tree on earth and to clear it out of tainted blood so the trueborns can thrive in their new paradise. (since humanity right now is a mix of kaguya's blood which gives them control over chakra and human dna — basically, the otsutsuki want to cleanse the world of them and take over the chakra fountain that is earth).

political turmoil between nations

the story will include realistic international tensions among the five great nations. rogue factions, misunderstandings, and betrayals play a critical role in the otsutsuki conflict. everyone with be pointing fingers but due to an established alliance among the kages, no shinobi can act on their convictions without breaking the treaty and being ousted as a stray ninja.

this adds stakes beyond just physical battles, emphasizing the fragile peace post-shinobi war. it also involves side characters from other villages, making the world feel larger and more dynamic.

power scaling is even

the power scaling is balanced, with the konohamaru generation being significantly stronger than akihiro’s due to the chakra bomb conflict arising during their peak as chunin/jounin. while akihiro is talented, he isn’t overpowered like boruto.

battles require teamwork, strategy, and sacrifice. it will also make the older generations more battle-hardened, experienced and will give them knowledge to impart on their charges as sensei. this avoids sidelining older characters and makes fights more engaging. even lower-tier ninjas have meaningful roles (which will be even more prominent during the final battle arc).

akihiro's love interest

now, this is a topic i'm very conflicted on.

on one hand i have this incredible character planned (sayuri ayakami) with seishinkan, a kekkei genkai aligned with the spiritual power of chakra maneuvering. it affects perceptions, health and even can cause/absorb physical blows to an extent for redistribution later. it works on the basis of the very existence of the otsutsuki clan, how they manipulate space-time, dimensional and planetary jutsu.

[she's basically the non-overpowered and very much human version of eida]

akihiro has a unique romantic subplot with sayuri, a character tied to an ancient clan and her own burdens. their bond develops naturally through shared hardships and mutual growth. this romance feels organic and adds emotional stakes. while i have nothing against boruto’s dynamic with sarada, the uchiha-uzumaki thing feels a little overdone.

but this above all is a shounen series that i'm making with emphasis on action and politics in the ninja world. so, i'm not sure how romance will fly in this universe. (what do you all think?)

greater role for older characters

characters like naruto, sasuke, sakura, gaara, shikamaru, the other kages and the previous generation have pivotal roles throughout the story. they don’t fade into the background but instead serve as mentors, fighters, and emotional anchors.

especially during the stand against the monsters and managing the political uproar caused by the kaguya cult. this respects their legacy while highlighting the generational transition, something boruto struggles with.

a new way to beat the otsutsuki

like i said, many characters will play different yet very important role in building up to and even during the final stand against the all-powerful otsutsuki.

minor characters and even less power shinobi from the alliances collectively will help in taking down the enemies bit by bit. humanity’s triumph over the otsutsuki wouldn't rely solely on godlike powers or specific individuals like boruto and kawaki. instead, it will involve strategies and unique abilities from many characters, such as sayuri’s seishinkan severing dimensional ties.

this makes the victory feel earned by everyone, not just a chosen few, and emphasizes teamwork and innovation over brute strength.

sasuke's absence from konoha has a real reason

sasuke’s absence is explained by his investigation of the chakra bomb incidents as he is made to be the prime coordinator of the anbu of konoha and usually the first to respond to impacted locations on short notice due to his rinnegan prowess. it's not just due vague wanderings that's he's not with his family. his return then carries significant weight.

it gives sasuke a clear purpose and enhances his arc while tying into the main story. it also builds on how sarada and souta's dynamics are, and how each twin copes with their dad not being present and mom being busy with her obligations.

this is one of the reasons why they look up to akihiro that much more because akihiro with his natural charm, abilities and ties to the hokage is somewhat popular amount his peers. despite this, he is welcoming towards the uchiha twins and takes them under his wing, sticking up for them and not letting them be turned into social pariahs.

sayuri's seishinkan and her clan

sayuri's seishinkan is a unique spiritual kekkei genkai, not a derivative of the byakugan or sharingan. her clan’s history ties into the otsutsuki invasion and ancient conflicts. this avoids redundancy in bloodline abilities while adding depth to the lore.

villains across all tiers

the otsutsuki threat isn’t limited to godlike figures. generals, zetsu-like soldiers, and mutated creatures provide challenges for all levels of ninja. this ensures that even lower-ranked ninjas and civilians play meaningful roles, unlike in boruto where only top-tier fighters matter.

the pacing of the story

the story spans akihiro’s growth from age 16 to 19, with major arcs that focus on mystery, politics, and personal relationships. the pacing is deliberate, allowing for more character development and emotional moments. this approach feels more cohesive and satisfying compared to boruto’s often disjointed plotlines.

this rewrite creates a more balanced, grounded, and emotionally resonant narrative compared to boruto. it respects the legacy of naruto’s generation, develops a new generation with their own unique abilities and struggles, and introduces the otsutsuki as a nuanced, terrifying threat that can’t simply be punched away.

— NOTES. again, this is simply my take on the poorly faring sequel to naruto, a franchise that deserves to be hailed for it's dynamic worldbuilding and major contribution into shaping what shounen has become today.

if you want me to go in-depth about any of the plot points, feel free to ask in my askbox or comments. i want to start writing this as soon as possible and the more input i get from fellow fans of this universe, the better the end result will be.

#naruto #boruto #naruto au #boruto au #anime #anti boruto #naruto fanfiction #naruto headcanons #boruto headcanons #boruto fanfiction #sasusaku #naruhina #boruto rewrite #naruto series #naruto x reader #naruto fandom #naruto oc #boruto oc

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 3 months ago

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Do you have any headcanons or thoughts on what Sebek's family might be like? I'm so curious on their dynamic, particularly his siblings and how they had navigated being half-fae, half-human in Briar Valley.

I also wonder which parent they look like (Mr or Mrs Zigvolt), and how that could potentially affect their relationship with their grandfather, if Baul even is the type to favor his grandkids based on how 'fae-like' they look (I hope not lol). I'm also curious to know if those of half-fae and half-human descent always have the eyes of the fae parent and ears of the human parent, or if it is randomised like other appearance traits

If not an hometown event, I do hope Yana releases concept art/sketches of the other Zigvolts's character appearances + their dynamics >.<

I have a compilation of the Zigvolt family lore here, in case you’d like to reference what is actually canon.

I’ve been under the impression that the Zigvolts are a boisterous and loving family (well, if you exclude Baur not accepting his son-in-law and some awkwardness from Sebek towards his father). Sebek always seems to speak so fondly of the times he spends with his family, how much he admires his mother, how he’s proud of his grandpa’s accomplishments (and how hurt he is when Baur rejects him in Lilia’s dream), how he fishes and goes to events with his siblings… Sebek even seems to have a soft spot for his human father, whom he claims to not understand (yet he likens Trey to his dad and seems to find comfort and security in that).

Regarding the Zigvolt siblings, I always thought of them as taking after their mother. After all, Sebek’s older brother is a NRC graduate. I feel like someone with Mrs. Zigvolt’s stubbornness or a fae’s arrogance is better suited for NRC than someone more mild-mannered. like Mr. Zigvolt. Sebek also laments that he is a slow bloomer in magic, so I wonder if part of that worry comes from seeing magic come so much sooner to his brother and sister, as well as to Silver.

I feel like even though Baur is stubborn and anti-human, he doesn’t hold it against his grandchildren and seems to genuinely care for them (even if he claims not to). Maybe he had issues accepting it or made comparisons of their physical looks at first (like he did in the past, judging whether or not they have scales on their face or pointed ears). But Baur definitely seems to have come around by the time of Sebek’s birth? Baur was paying close attention to his interests and favorites, which led to him personally asking Lilia to train Sebek (since Sebek had expressed wanting to learn martial arts), as well as stocking all of his grandson’s preferred drinks and snacks in preparation for his visits.

Traits like eye and ear characteristics are varied in real life. I’d imagine that this same variation is observer based on how the genes are combined in a human-fae couple. Maybe Sebek’s siblings do have scales or pointed ears?? 🤔 And maybe being around them makes him feel like he’s not as much of a fae as they are, which only feeds into his insecurities…

One issue I take with hometown events is that they come out at such a slow rate (I’m starved for family content here) 💀 and for characters with relatively big families, we totally miss out on meeting the other members… It makes me wonder when, if ever, those other members will be shown to us??? There’s so far been no precedent of Twst art books or extended materials showing character designs for “missing” family members (like all the relatives Epel lives with, Trey’s siblings) or even granting “full” faces to the figures associated with the OB boys’s trauma (Viper parents, Mrs. Rosehearts, etc.) so 💦 it feels like there’s so much untapped potential. It’d be weird to shoehorn so much important lore like what our main casts’ family members look and act like to supplementary material and not… make integrate it into the game’s content.

Anyway, here are a frw personal headcanons I have for the Zigvolt family:

Zigvolt nii and nee-san always baby Sebek. To them, he will always be their baby brother, their cute little Sebek-chan. (Sebek loudly insists to them that he is a MAN, actually 😤)

The Zigvolt siblings stuck with one another in their childhoods, as the other kids would ostracize them for being half human. This occasionally led to shouting matches or even shooting magic at each other if things escalated.

There was a brief stint in which Silver crushed on Zigvolt onee-san. He got over it quickly, but for a second there Sebek was ranting and raving about how this means Silver would become his second brother “for real”.

Zigvolt nee-san is a skilled seamstress and spinner. Her family jokes that she can spin even straw into gold.

… Sometimes she chases Sebek around and wrestles him into clothes she has made.

The Zigvolt siblings are very competitive. They try so hard to prove they are “the best” and make everything into a game. For example, they frequently have competitions to see who can eat the most vegetables or who can make the loudest crunch when biting down on a bone. They also compete for their dear grandpa’s attention.

The kids are generally very formal with their parents, referring to them as “mother and father”. I’d like to think that the two older siblings are s little kinder and more accepting of their father than Sebek is.

Sebek was very upset to see his older brother go off to NRC (though he didn’t outright admit this was because he would miss him). To cheer Sebek up, Zigvolt nii-san told him to work hard so that he can one day be in the same place he is.

Mrs. Zigvolt lives for family gatherings. She and all her children are big eaters so she prepares tons of food. Of course, she invites Baur to these events (and sometimes Silver and Lilia).

Mrs. Zigvolt is very lovey-dovey with her husband. Calls him “honey”, “dear”, “beloved”, etc. and has a tendency to hug him or to hold onto his arm or hand. This causes Sebek great embarrassment.

Mr. and Mrs. Zigvolt would read to their children before bedtime. They’d take turns reading and alternate doing the characters’ voices.

Despite being a dentist, Mr. Zigvolt offers his children candy when they’re cranky, believing the sugar will help soothe them.

Mr. Zigvolt collects and preserves his children’s baby teeth, treating them like how some parents treat a scrapbook of all their kids’ “firsts” (first step, first word, first solid food, etc.). He keeps his collection in a special drawer and out the sight of any guests.

BAUR IS A GIRLDAD 💀 He interrogates Mr. Zigvolt at every gathering like he’s grilling a suspect in a high level murder case. Not accepting criticism/j

Baur makes it a point to grip Mr. Zigvolt’s hand super hard when they’re shaking in order to assert dominance.

THAT SHREK 2 DINNER SCENE EXCEPT IT’S THE ZIGVOL t fAmILY 🤡

#twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #Sebek Zigvolt #Baur Zigvolt #notes from the writing raven #question #twst headcanons #twisted wonderlsnd headcanons #Silver #Lilia Vanrouge #shrek 2

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ineffable-opinions · 6 months ago

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Mumbai Police

Ok, this is going to be a quick and short one. My original intention was to do an appreciation post for Ardhanaari (2012). However, due to the release of Deva (which many have guessed to be a remake of 2013 Malayalam movie Mumbai Police, based on certain replica shots found in the trailer) I thought I should post about it instead. Update: I just learned that the main character in Deva is not presented as queer. I’ll make the post about Ardhanaari next month and Moothon the month after, inshallah.

Indian Queer Media: Little Hearts | Kaathal the Core | Gaami

Mumbai Police is available for streaming on Hotstar.

This one is a thriller with non-linear storytelling and multiple layers of twists and turns. So basic premise is of an amnesiac cop trying to find himself while trying to figure out who killed his buddy and why.

(CW: heterosexism; PSA: Hema Committee Report)

tagging: @starryalpacasstuff

Spoilers Ahead

Our main character Anthony Moses (played by Prithviraj) is a rascal or flawed hero – one who is super macho, easily resorts to violence but is endearing in his own way and is truly loyal to those close to him. This is a tried and tested, typical hero that is pretty much the staple of Indian movies that delve into some social or political issue. This archetypical portrayal may appear lazy, but it helps to easily build and establish the main character, so that the movies can move on to discuss what interests it - be it caste, feudalism and the rights of forest dwellers like in Kanthara, or a myriad of issues in many social movies from Tamil Nadu and many classics from Bollywood.

The seemingly mentor like superior and Anthony’s brother-in-law, Farhan (played by Rahman), is the second most important character. It is his machinations that drive the plot as we see it.

In three-wise-monkeys style, the third in the chaotic trio dubbed “Mumbai Police” (they all served Q1 in Mumbai before getting posted to Kochi [in Kerala, not be confused with Kochi in Japan]) is the loosu paiyan, silly and childish, the one who carries his heart on his sleeves, Aryan. Jayasurya (who played Aryan) and Prithviraj have several movies together with really interesting dynamics and underrated chemistry, probably spicier than Prithviraj’s combination with Prabhu Deva in Urumi or with Prabhas in Salaar.

Rascal hero carries some burden and its through his vulnerability and pain that the movie focuses on the issues it tackles. For Anthony, it his forgotten past and uncertain future. As his past is slowly revealed to us, we learn of his good-for-nothing father, a life he had to build with very little support, of his rowdy ways, his sexual orientation and associated vulnerabilities, helplessness, loss of innocence and guilt that would haunt him forever.

“Mumbai Police” bond over a hasty, hot-headed decision that drives Aryan into bit of a soup. Farhan employs Anthony’s rowdy ways to rescue Aryan. Aryan and Anthony grow really close (their theme and its variations marking various phases in their relationship is just amazing). Aryan end up winning a Gallantry award for taking down Maoists (a hot topic in 2013 with the Kerala Thunderbolts coming into existence and making their presence known) - an act Anthony committed but easily relinquished credit in hopes of coming in handy to appease Aryan’s ever-demanding dad.

Anthony is punished for his rowdy ways as he gets transferred out of Kochi. Friendship-starved Aryan is upset. To mourn Anthony’s impending departure, he visits Anthony in his flat. He is furious upon learning that Anthony has parts of his life – his boyfriend and his androphilia in general – hidden away (while Aryan had been an open-book). He lashes out and threatens Anthony in a manner that is very potent and debilitating in the age of section 377. In a tragedy of Romeo and Juliet or Layla and Majnun proportions or Kanchanamala and Moideen proportions, Anthony kills Aryan and misleads the investigation, only to later learn from Aryan’s to-be-betrothed that Aryan’s rage was short-lived, he meant not harm and instead yearned to be closer to Anthony and was planning to forgo the Gallantry award in hopes of retaining Anthony in Kochi.

Among other issues such as police hooliganism and misuse of power, compulsory heterosexuality is challenged through very subtle yet hard-hitting moments with Aryan detailing his success as a flirt and Farhan joining in the conversation while Anthony is merely listening and does not feel comfortable speaking about his boyfriend. While the boyfriend knows of Anthony’s sister, Annie herself has no idea about her brother’s boyfriend.

The movie also challenges the ultra-macho personas of rascal heroes and calls attention to the societal evils (unsupported childhood and heterosexism in this case) that force them to act out in ways that may run contrary to their core beliefs and better judgement. Rascal Anthony and amnesiac Anothny feel like two different people. On a lighter note, amnesiac Anothny openly checks out Farhan before he learns that he is married to his sister. He feels less burdened by expectations until he makes sense of his pre-amnesia self. Afterwards, he is overridden by guilt and helplessness.

Since the screen-play writers decided on the motive of the crime after establishing the crime and those involved, they could easily introduce the androphilic hero to a largely heterosexist audience with relative ease and thus create an opportunity for the exploration of queer personhood in the context of a hostile state, judgmental and social-cost-extracting public and the common place existence of lives that are invisible in plain sight.

Mentioning movies that goes deeper into other marginalized folk discussed in the movie:

Kammatti Paadam (2016) for an honest exploration of lives of folk like Roy, the gangster.

Pada (2022) and Raavanan (2010) for a deeper look at issue of adivasi people’s rights and struggles.

Piravi (1989) and Jai Bhim (2021) - Police brutality

#queer media #queer cinema #gay #mumbai police #prithviraj sukumaran #queer #lgbtqi #desiblr #malayalam movies #malayalam queer movies #asianlgbtqmedia #let me know if you would like to get tagged #queer indian media #indian queer movies

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