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yourstruly-thenarrator · 3 years ago

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The narrator misses hates stanley.

Lore + sketch!

The narrator sat silently in his office watching stanley frozen in time for who knows how long before letting out a huff. He thought back to comments he'd received from others in the past days, since he found himself in this new strange exsistance.

"Maybe thats why your stanley doesn't listen to you.""im not sure if you knew this, but protagonists aren't particularly easy to find.""well what if I want them to be happy?""but stanley didn't seem to enjoy that."

The narrator groaned, attempting to shake theese types of thoughts from his head. Why were they sticking with him so much? He'd never cared about any negative comments on his story before, why should he now?

He looked at stanley through the screen and chuckled, remembering the narrative of "cookie9" and steam reviews he'd created to explain this ending.

The fact of the matter was, the narrator had never seen a single review of his game. He wasn't even sure people played it up until he met the other versions of himself.

No, the real reason that this narrator had created the skip button was far different. Stanley had long since refused to speak to the narrator, thinking it one of his only true choices. The narrator merly called him childish for such a thing, but did seem to grow annoyed at the lack of feedback.

But, not speaking did come with its downsides for stanley. He could no longer talk back to the narrator, no longer argue with him. So stanley found different ways of taking a stand. This time, for example, stanley speedran the game over and over. He didn't ever gave the narrator even a moment to speak. He was speadrunning the powerful ending no less, wich was not lost on the narrator.

After hundreds of runs, the narrator slammed the door infront of stanley before he could leave his office. "So you dont want to listen to me, hm!? That much is clear!" He bellowed, spit flicking onto the microphone infront of him. "Why don't I just add a skip dialog button to the game, hmm? You like buttons, don't you!? You'd just love to spend the rest of your sorry life brainlessly hitting the same button over and over!" He hissed, voice dripping with hatred.

Stanley would normally be satisfied that he got through to the narrator, but hearing him this violently angry terrified stanley. He knew his narrator well, he knew not to stray to far from his good side. No matter how small and impossible to reach that good side seemed to be, if he even had one at all. Stanley gulped.

The door to Stanley's office swung open to reveal a new, hastily constructed room he'd never seen before. It seemed to be made of concrete, with a chain link fence, and a few other items sprinkling the room. But in the center, was a glowing yellow button with a black symbol atop it. Stanley walked into the room, unsurprised at the door clicking shut behind him. Stanley merely stood quietly in the room for a moment.

"Well? Aren't you going to press the button then? Or, are you not going to just becau-" Stanley pressed the button. "...Mm, oh yes, hello Stanley. Did you have fu-" Stanley pressed the button again. "Oh, yes, drink it all in st-" Stanley pressed the button again. "Welcome bac-" Stanley slammed the button, again. "STANLEY, WAIT!" Stanley flinched back from the button, and looked up twords the ceiling. He hadn't mapped out where the narrator could see him best in this room, having only been in it once, so he just made his best geuss.

"Oh thank God you stopped in time. See, Stanley, the way this button seems to work is not by simply skipping my speak forward, it instead pauses you in time. Now, because I was in such a rush making this skip button the time its taking between skips seems to be... inconsistent. You were stood in place for an hour that time, Stanley."

Stanley's eyes shot up in shock. "So, I would very very much appreciate we go back to the parable, and stop pressing the button. Can you handle that for me?" The narrator spoke in a condescending tone, but Stanley knew him better. He could hear the fear in his voice. Stanley nodded, and went to open his office door.

When he opened it, however, he was only met with more of the same concrete the rest of the walls were made of. "Ah, yes, you see-" the narrator hummed. "In my rush to make this, the room itself also may not be-- the best designed. It seems as though its no longer.... physically connected to the office." The narrator had spoken matter of factly.

Stanley l looked up at the roof, then twords the button mischievously, as though to say "well? What else is there to do?".

"No, Stanley," the narrator spoke in a commanding tone, understanding what Stanley had been implying, but Stanley walked twords the button anyway. "STANLEY, N-" and Stanley pressed the button again.

"Oh, Stanley? Thank God you're back. You- you were gone for a week, Stanley! A week!" Stanley looked up at the ceiling in disbelief. Not only at how long he'd been standing there, but the concern in the narrators voice. Out of all the things Stanley'd heard him say, he'd never ever heard him concerned like this.

Stanley walked over to the still open door and knocked on the concrete, then looked up at the ceiling. "Yes, yes thank you. I do belive I may have figured out a way we can get out of here!" The narrator spoke excitedly, with slight sinister undertones. Stanley ignored them, and looked up hopefully.

"You see that ladder over there?" ...Stanley nodded. "Well, im sure its tall enough, if you jumped off enough times I'm sure a reset would be inevitable!" The narrator spoke joyously. All hope drained from Stanleys demeanor. "Oh come on Stanley, don't shake your head at me like that! Surely it won't be worse than just staying here and- Stanley what are you doing? No, NO STANL-" Stanley slammed his fist into the button.

"... Oh, hello. Its you." The narrator hummed. "Its been... hmm, let's see... well I lost track after a year." The narrators speak sounded spiteful, despite how tired he seemed to be. Stanley looked himself over. He hadn't aged a day! But, the room around him on the other hand, had.

The narrator sighed. "I've tried everything, Stanley. I've tried braking the walls, making new doors, there just isn't anything I can do from here." The narrator sounded sad, exhausted. Depressed, even. And Stanley, well, stanley was happy.

The narrator chuckled at the smile on the other man's face. "Well, im glad someone's enjoying themselves." He spoke genuinely, as though he really was happy to see it. "Im sure you'll get a kick out of this- I even tried to force a reset. It didn't work, of course, without your input, but it hurt me just as much as always." The narrator spoke, a slight bit more energy in his voice, but nothing malicious.

Stanley sat on the ground and listend. He tilted his head, with a surprised expression. "Yes, really!" The narrator chuckled, and it sounded like he sat up in his seat, wherever he was.

"But" the narrator started, sounding hopeful despite his tiredness. "from what I can tell, a forced reset would work! I know their painful for the both of us, but it has to be better than... than the ladder for you, right?" He sounded apologetic, somthing stanley had also never heard from him before this room. Stanley nodded. It would be less painful.

"See? Here, ill start it from my end whenever you give the word, and then you just reset. And bam! Back in the office, good as new!" The narrator sounded hopeful, exited even. Stanley smiled, and shook his head. "Wh... oh, oh I see." The narrator spoke softly. "Stanley... I know, that i... that I havnt treated you the best, in the past. I understand that. But... hey, I mean- maybe, when we get back to the office, I'll let you just sit in the lounge for a while? Without me yammering on about getting on with the story, or going through the wrong door? How does that sound? No strings attatched!" The narrator paused, waiting for a reaction. When he didn't get one, he continued. "I'll even open the door to the vending machine! Free, cold drinks! I won't even comment on you not needing it, ill just let you enjoy them!" The narrator had a pleading tone to his voice.

Stanley hardly managed to hold in a chuckle. Never in all the years he'd been trapped here had he heard the narrator sound so... human. So vulnerable. Stanley stood up. "Good... good deal, right?" The narrator sounded hopeful. He couldn't imagine Stanley not taking the deal.

Stanley merely smiled, and walked over to the button. "...stanley?" The narrators voice sounded weak. Scared. Stanley smiled. Stanley looked up at the ceiling, he made sure the narrator saw him. He turned to the button, and he pressed it again.

The narrator sighed, pulling himself back to the present day. No matter thinking about such things now. He'd gotten himself into this, all because he wanted to punish stanley.

"A punishment worse than the skip button"

Another narrators voice once again rang through his head. He winced. And began to speak aloud to himself, drowning out his thoughts. "Their all so... feelings-y twords their protagonists. So dependent. Its gross." The narrator looked at stanley on the screen, still frozen in place.

"I dont need you. I dont need them either. I dont need anyone." The narrator crossed his arms. "Never have." He sat in silence for a few minutes.

"But... just to prove them all wrong. I could make a new protagonist. Yes. Ill show you just how much I dont need you, stanley, you'll feel so worthless when you wake up and I've replaced you. Yes. Its perfect." The narrator convinced himself.

Then he began to get to work. He typed, and he wrote, and he researched, and he planned. Until eventually, he thought, it was ready. He'd created plenty of things before. Buildings, objects, plants. All for his stories, or even his own amusement. Hell, he'd even created everything in the very place he stood in. But never before had he created a sentient living being. He'd always much preferred to rip a human out of their own life and stick them into his stories. The reactions were much more visceral that way, he felt.

But now, now he would create a life. He clicked the button he'd rigged up to spawn in the creation infront of him. A perfect replica of stanley, that's what he had in mind whilst working on it. More obedient, even. A better stanley. A humanoid figure began to materialize infront of the narrator, and he repressed a squeel of excitement.

But, when it was finished, it didn't look like stanley. Not at all.

It was just textures in the shape of a human. Even the eyes that hed managed to get to appear weren't colored correctly. The narrator frowned. "Uhm... Hello, stanley!" He spoke to the being he'd created. It looked at him.

"Ah! Thats wonderful! You are sentient!" He grinned, happy with himself. The creature merly blinked. "Well? Go on, say somthing. I made sure you were able to speak for a reason." The narrator chuckled. The creature blinked. "....erm..." the narrator cleared his throught.

"Stanley spoke to the man infront of him!" He narrated, voice coming from everywhere all at once. The being opend its mouth. Or at least, where its moth should be opend up. But instead of words, guttural, Inhuman noises spawned from the creature. "Okay, okay, thats enough! Never mind!" The narrator shouted over the sounds. The creature stopped imeadeatly.

The narrator frowned. "Well... I suppose that form of communication is out the window. Do you know how to write, stanley?" The narrator asked. The creature seemed to simply acknowledge the fact the other was speaking, not seeming to understand a word he said. It did react slightly when the name stanley was spoken, though. As though it knew it was being spoken to.

The narrator frowned again and summoned a pen and notepad, handing it to the creature. "Here, write somthing. Tell me somthing." The creature held the pen and note pad, and looked down at them. It blinked. The narrator sighed.

"Oh, this is never going to work..." he grumbled, and slumped down into his seat. The creature continued to stand there, unwavering, unreacting, uncaring. Inhuman. "Stanley?" The creature looked up to the narrator. "Go, do whatever. Explore or somthing, can you do that? Just, get out of my sight." The narrator orderd. The creature promptly dropped what it was holding onto the floor, and walked away. The narrators eyes widened slightly and he hummed.

"Well at least he understands that."

End.

#holy shit this is long #sorry if its not good #haha #tsp rp #tsp narrator #tsp rp community #tsp #tspud #fanfic #tsp stanley #tsp skip button #boyohboy its narrator time

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inkyquince · 3 years ago

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Omg thank you, i thought i was the only one who skips the dialogue like?? Some of my friends are a big fan of genshin characters and how they interact with each other and they analyze their convos and I'm like?!!??!?! How do they do it

I would love to analyze conversations. But I cant. Im in constant danger of Paimon breathing.

No but legit? Like, when Paimon aint screeching, listening to Zhongli and Childe chat, its quite fun? Maybe Xiao interacting with any character is fun too. And Shenhe? Love her.

But with the plot? Side quests? I wanna get back to the combat. I'm truly bored. RN, im smacking past dialogue with Thoma, i like him, but my god, im bored. I don't care. The only part of the main plot that i liked wasn't even apart of the main plot, was the bit with Dainsleif. It was intresting and I'm so mad Paimon wasn't crushed to death in the end.

Okay but real talk right now?

I have studied narrative in stories, mainly focusing in constructing a narrative in table top games and video games, then secondly focused on novel driven plots, followed by tv plots. Im shaky on plays, but anyway.

Genshin Impact is carried by its combat and characters. I'm not joking.

So, the main issue I have is the "dialogue trees". Basically, they were first created in games, to have the character choose how to respond to something, to have a choice.

I have the same issue with Genshin as the same I had with the dialogue trees in Deus Ex Machina reboot games.

They serve no fucking purpose. NO FUCKING PURPOSE. It doesn't serve to solidify what type of person the Traveler is, like in Mass Effect. It doesn't lead to a different outcome, like opening up a separate way to lead deal with a situation. At most, it allowed you to stall a quest for a bit.

So why the fuck are you giving me two different sentences to say to an NPC? It doesn't impact anything, at most, they have a slight change of dialogue. And that doesn't???? INFLUENCE ANYTHING?

It's the illusion of choice. Just... Do the silent protag thing properly. Have the blond little bitch nod along or look annoyed, like you already do, BUT THAT AWAY THE MEANINGLESS DIALOGUE. YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO MAKE YOUR GAME SEEM LIKE MODERN RPGS, BUT YKNOW. THOSE DIALOGUE TREES SERVE A GREATER NARRATIVE PURPOSE.

You basically have two different sentences to say on the way to agreeing to do the quest, in the same way as intended. That's some shit for brains game designing.

I have written four different essays on Narrative Games Design, that i turned in to my tutor, who forwarded it to the NEXT UNIVERSITY OVER, WHO HAD A GAME CREATION COURSE, because he wanted her to read through. The same next door univeristy tutor wanted me to make my final dissertation on fucking game design, but i wanted to explore Jennifer's Body and how it applies to feminism before linking the entire process of creating it and marketing it really just showed the movie's point, and im glad i did.

But my god, i studied game devices and narratives and impacts on the player, and for fucks' sake, Genshin makes me so fucking angry because it somehow doesn't fucking grasp that.

Some of the side quests are so fun too, so its a shame.

Also paimon is the worst thing to do to a player. People were already fed up with Navi from Legend of Zelda, how was inflating the little bitch and making her worse, a good idea?

Also silent protagonists are so good. How did you ruin that completely? Silent protagonists allow the player to be alone with their thoughts, to be able to project, to think through this new world they've been introduced to. So, why make the traveler... SILENT. if you were just going to replace their voice with paimon's???

PAIMON DOESN'T NEED TO BE THERE. EITHER HAVE THE MAIN CHARACTER HAVE A VOICE TO POINT THINGS OUT TO THE PLAYER OR MAKE PAIMON A BETTER COMPANION LIKE WHEATLY FOR A SILENT PROTAGONIST.

death to paimon.

#god i hate this little bitch #sorry to go all grad student there #but fuuuck #i like this game but fuck me it sucks #quinceyeasyspeaky #ask

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madillhethen · 3 years ago

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Might come off as an unpopular opinion (I think I say this a lot about my thoughts/opinions it’s probably self-depreciating.) but everyone is making a big deal of Byleth being the enemy in FE:3Hopes and honestly….I could care less.

I was never attached to Byleth, same with the traveler in Genshin, same with Guda in FGO. The idea is that they’re player insert, the ideas of options is just for player agency but it doesn’t actually affect anything. The characters themselves don’t have an impact as a character, they have little background and zero personality besides a default somewhat ‘caring and more somber personality’ and the typical ‘sassy, type of attitude one’. More than once Paimon and Sothis comes off more as mouthpieces than anything. And if I look at it in this perspective—replacing the player with any other character or removing them entirely wouldn’t change the story. Which to me is a bad take for a ‘character’ because they’re not characters. They’re the player.

But you know what? Link, Joker and Yu are some silent protagonist that have options in game, but they feel like characters to me. Their options were based on a specific type of aspects they could have. You can’t replace Joker and expect the game to be the same.

The one time Byleth even mattered as a character is when their dad died but then they reverted back to a window for the player. On top of playing FE3H a lot of people told me it was better than Awakening, and yes, it made way more improvements, humanized and expanded on characterization but for me it took a step back from the protagonist. I still think Robin was done better than Byleth. Byleth felt like Vaan to me from FFXII where the essential role as protagonist was pretty much useless to the grand scheme of the plot.

I’m pretty sure 3H made some bs or another about Byleth’s heartlessness or lack of emotions but I don’t know, it felt cheap to me. Maybe I need to replay it, maybe the Ashen Wolves will explain more.

#fire emblem #fire emblem three houses #Byleth #silent protagonists #Mad’s thoughts #well I never played Golden Deer or Silver whatever route #i know the Blue Lions I didn’t like Byleth #Black Eagles was a bit of an improvement iirc

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hyliareborn · 1 year ago

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Another update: Akechi is definitely an ENTJ. ENFJ is how he tries to present himself to the public, but he’s actually all strategy and no real consideration for others’ feelings. Which isn’t to say that ENFJs are automatically kind people with pure intentions, but Akechi just doesn’t make decisions based on feeling first. He shows inferior fi in the third semester when he digs his heels in at the suggestion that they take Maruki’s deal, because that would mean living under someone else’s control and sacrificing his autonomy for the “greater good”. He lashes out at Ren for even considering it, because if he can’t live freely then he doesn’t want to live at all.

Second, I’ve seen Haru typed as ISFJ a few times, which is valid! I’ll have to rewatch her social links to decide what I think. And I guess I’ll try not to be biased because she’s the most relatable to me and I’m an INFP 🙄

Third, I’ve seen Ren typed as ENTP, INTP, ESTP, ENTJ, and I think ENFJ, to which I say: maybe! He’s the quintessential silent protagonist; you can decide whatever you want about him. I’m a strong believer that he does have his own personality in canon, which I still believe aligns best with ISFP, but I can’t really argue against other types either. I still think he’s most likely an se user though.

Persona 5 mbti

(a work in progress because I’m not completely sure about all of them and for some I only have their dominant function (also, spoilers (also also, this is just my thoughts and I’m not a professional who spends their free time typing video game characters on tumblr for some reason))

Akira Kurusu/Ren Amamiya/protagonist: Feeling dominant, probably an ISFP

Ren is completely driven by morality. He sees a woman being attacked and doesn’t think twice before coming to her aid, which ultimately puts him in jail, but he willingly does the same thing again during his probation when he discovers that the PE teacher at his new school is abusing students. He knows that working as a Phantom Thief could easily cost him his life but he refuses to back down because he knows he’s doing what’s right. I’m unsure whether he uses introverted feeling or extroverted feeling—several characters mention that they have no idea what he’s thinking or feeling half the time and he appears rather withdrawn, but he’s great at rallying new teammates to his cause and he works to impact lives on a global scale. Regardless, I think he uses ni and se. His vision is unwavering and he’s definitely a man of action, sometimes bordering on recklessness.

Morgana: ENTJ

Morgana makes sure that the team is operating at maximum efficiency and he can be rather blunt in his practical observations. Fi is definitely his weak point. He’s empathetic and concerned with improving the lives of everyone he can, but he stubbornly suppresses his own feelings and refuses to talk about them until he’s already acted out. Morgana also shows strong ni in having a singular goal that he clings to desperately (becoming human, which changes very slowly to staying a part of the team.)

Ryuji Sakamoto: ESFP

This one feels pretty self explanatory. He’s a rather immature ESFP, never thinking twice before acting on his strong emotions and convictions (attacking Kamoshida as soon as he brings up his home life, wishing he could brag about being a Phantom Thief to get some recognition.) It takes some time for him to begin considering the consequences of his actions.

Ann Takamaki: Extroverted feeling dominant, probably ESFJ

Ann does everything for the good of other people, and eventually herself as well. She doesn’t report Kamoshida because she knows that would negatively impact her best friend and only retaliates in the Metaverse because she’s outraged by how he treats her and the other girls at Shujin. Her motivation to join the team is to give hope and encouragement to anyone who’s suffering the way she did. I can’t really decide whether she uses si/ne or ni/se, but she‘s generally pretty grounded and in the present so I went ESFJ.

Yusuke Kitagawa: INFP

I really hope this doesn’t seem stereotypical, but his fi is all over the place. He’s mostly oblivious to how eccentric he appears to other people and focuses on following his own whims in search of enlightenment. Everything holds a symbolic meaning and can be connected to another concept. Practicality is not his strong suit, he sucks at managing his money because he just spends it on whatever he thinks will inspire him instead of food or housing.

Makoto Niijima: ISTJ

Makoto excels as the team’s strategist because she’s incredibly detail oriented and good at creating a logical plan of action. She goes to Ren in hopes of “broadening her horizons” when she realizes that she can never see the forest for the trees (inferior ne) and can’t connect with other, more laid back people her age (low feeling function.)

Futaba Sakura: ENTP

Futaba is both analytical and playful, and she enjoys messing with people a little just to see their reactions (tert fe.) At her very lowest she dwells obsessively on her distorted visions of her past and can only see an empty, hopeless future for herself (inferior si.)

Haru Okumura: INFP

Haru is a VERY different brand of INFP than Yusuke, but I think the shoe fits. She internalizes most of what she feels until she explodes, and she takes a while to open up despite her sweet and caring nature. She has a few moments of emotional intensity when she has enough of how horribly she’s been treated by her father and her fiancé, and when she sees how horribly her father treats his employees, too, because it goes so strongly against what she knows is right. Haru is also a dreamer, hoping to completely overturn her father’s company and change it into her idealized vision of what it could be (ne).

Goro Akechi: ENFJ

Akechi easily becomes whatever he needs to be in any situation and is a master at manipulating the public’s opinion on the Phantom Thieves by appearing kind and trustworthy on tv. Over the years he became desperate for love and approval, even from someone he despised, and is fascinated by the group’s dynamics when he sees that they’re friends instead of just teammates who serve their own agendas (fe). He is incredibly single minded when it comes to killing Shido and even drives himself insane in an attempt accomplish this goal and ignore the Phantom’s offer of friendship (ni). He modeled his entire life after what he hoped would carry out his plan and only slips up when he takes a liking to the team. Bonus: he’s a 3w2 on the enneagram, imo. He believes that he’s loveless and he wants to gain validation through his achievements and by devotedly helping Shido no matter what it is that Shido wants him to do.

#long post #persona 5 #mbti

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partyinthemysterymachine · 3 years ago

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Do you have music headcanons for silent hill protagonists?

I feel like Harry Mason likes 50’ -70’ songs, specially jazz and blues (maybe he likes Sinatra idk) while James likes Reddit sad man music, there’s no way this dude doesn’t like at least one Radiohead song.

I don’t have more headcanons </3

i'm actually straight up cackling, my hc are the OPPOSITE! (well, sorta.)

i've tagged James to like a lot of oldies with a cutoff of maybe around mid-80s? he can be a liiiiittle bit of a "new music is trash >:(" kind of person. Frank influenced his music tastes a lot, always had the oldies station on in the car, would turn it on at home, and well, all the vinyls at home, too.

For Reasons*, James has a particular fondness for Sherry Baby by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons ( https://youtu.be/Uybtn6ebG0I ) (SORRY, THE NEW TUMBLR POST MECHANIC DOESN'T LET ME PROPERLY FUCKIN ADD LINKS TO TEXT DGLKDGFLKFGLKG), and is just a Four Seasons fan in general; as well as The Ink Spots, Billy Joel, Carole King, Linda Ronstadt, The Carpenters, The Beach Boys, Four Tops, Otis Redding, big band stuff, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, The Eagles (sorta), Frank Sinatra (to an extent, he liked The Rat Pack stuff better), Nat King Cole, The Beatles (it’s complicated), Bobby Darin, a smattering of other crooners and types of artists, etc etc…….

.. but he’s not much a fan of Barry White LOL. (sorry Mary :\ ) he really doesn’t like baritone or bass voices in general, though. he finds them eerie. (loser’s missing out tbh) tho i think too you're right about jazz! he's just..... kinda picky about what kind, i think. dude's pretty picky :\ i also think blues are a hit or miss with him. now, HARRY..

Harry is also an oldies appreciator, can appreciate the blues quite a bit, and his music tastes can goes way back and all OVER the place! he and James share a few favorite artists, but uh……. our boy Harry here likes to rock the fuck out!! LOL

Harry’s been a HUGE fan of Rancid since he started listening to them probably around 1995?? big fan of jam bands too, including Counting Crows (yeah) and CBDB! other artists he likes are Neil Diamond, Jonathan Coulton, The Grateful Dead, Meat Loaf, Brown Bird, Tom Rosenthal, Selena (it’s complicated……), Cyndi Lauper, Scorpions, Celine Dion (it’s complicated), Stealers Wheel, Seals and Crofts (it’s complicated), Jimi Hendrix, Jim Croce, Electric Light Orchestra, 16 Horsepower, Dio, Motley Crue, Motorhead, Fleetwood Mac, Cher, Sonny & Cher..

.. among others! he likes some Motown (and honestly, James does too!! Motown fucks) and a few Spanish artists, like Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz, Mercedes Sosa, Antonio Aguilar.. aaaand some others he can’t name. (thanks, Jodi and family!)

quite a few artists are Complicated Relationships for various reasons (such as Jodi..) and others, eh.. Life Experiences.

Harry IS a car-jammer and lip sync-er. catch that fuckin weirdo drumming the steering wheel and air guitaring. catch Heather trying to jimmy the child lock on the door and leap out into traffic

Harry actually really loves karaoke as well! .. watching more than singing. you’d have to get him a liiiiiittle blitzed to encourage him to get up there. there’s a 70/30 chance he’d just want to sing something completely stupid tho, like Re: Your Brains by Jonathan Coulton. ( https://youtu.be/IIlITc1nkk8 ) his singing voice/style is awfully fucking cute of him; i sure will say that….. (because idiot writing brain might not like me giving some fine details away to the general public yet..

.. and if you know, then you know, and SSSHHHHHHH.)

it has to be said, tho: for as extroverted as this man is, and how much everyone - as well as he - jokes that he should’ve been an actor, he the MASSIVE amounts of stage fright can really hold a person back….. and besides. it would’ve disrupted the timeline; he’d’ve just been so good, he’d’ve put Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise; hell, even Georgie Clooney! out of work.. ssssssoooooooo he was just being courteous. that’s all. .. yeah.

JAMES and karaoke, tho….. heahsdfhehrhghdgh IT’S COMPLICATED DON’T FUCKING LOOK AT HIM [drives into a large body of water]

i think he had a wee little fantasy about being in a barbershop quartet :| that’s what growing up on oldies/big bands/crooners will do to a person. it’s unknown if he can sing, or much less understand how to keep a beat. it wasn’t anything big enough to actually want to pursue, per say.. just one of those types of little daydreams :)

i’m actually working on playlists for them!! they’re intended to be their “mixtapes” - what you’d typically find them listening to in the car. i’d actually kind of forgotten about them until this ask……….. ahah oops…. well shit i’ll just have to get back to it huh??

thank you so much for the ask!!!! :)!!! that was such a sweet little morning surprise, bless, hope u have a good one and stay healthy and safe!! xoxo 💖🙏🥚🥚💖🥚💖🥚

*GOOMT

#ches writes #harry mason #james sunderland #WHEE THANK U THAT WAS FUN CHEEEERS oh shit i need to get drawing it's gonna be HOT today and my POOR TABLET--

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willgrahymn · 4 years ago

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Strangely Estranged

this is my gift to @romansandersprotectionsquad for the @sanderssidesgiftxchange!! I really hope you like it :]

Description: Remus just wants to make his art, but Roman is still distressed by the events of SvS Redux/POF and it's affecting both of their abilities to create. When Remus goes to confront him about it, he gets a little more than he bargained for. Content warnings: Some Remus being Remus-y type lines, blood mentions (again, Remus), a good amount of swearing, and throwing some shade at Janus. Word count: 2747 I’ll rb with the ao3 link :]

- ’Honestly,’ Remus thought, ‘this painting could use more blood.’

He stared at the incomplete project. It was at least the 7th time he started on something today, but no matter what he always came to a pause.

Roman, that motherfucker, he probably had a creative block. Remus didn’t care much about only being half of Creativity, hell, it was fun coming up with the most gory stories he could imagine, but it seemed like whenever Roman hit a block he just had to drag him down with him.

He leaned back against his wall, tossing his paintbrush and catching it again. He stuck the brush in his mouth. Blue paint didn’t taste as good as green, but maybe he was just biased.

Remus glared at the painting. If it had eyes, he was sure they would be staring back, mocking him. Maybe he’d scrap the thing and use it as a target next time he played with his throwing stars.

He ground his foot into the stained carpet. Whether it was paint or blood didn’t matter. Come to think of it, he’d been at a pause for some time now. Roman hadn’t left his room nearly as much either. The only people he’d seen Roman hang out with recently were Virgil, Logan, and (inescapably) Thomas. Then there was Patton and Janus who hardly spent time together before. Now they never left each other's sides. Remus would be a liar if he said it wasn’t somewhat upsetting.

Remus loved drama. He loved watching people fight and be seconds from either murdering each other or making out right then and there. It was exciting to see people so close to their limit. Roman’s drama wasn’t fun though, it was just fucking sad.

He was pretty sure it would stay that way unless he took matters into his own hands. He grabbed his morningstar. He didn’t think he’d actually use it, but if he had to literally knock some sense into his dear brother, then so be it.

Walking down the hall of the mind palace the lighting got brighter. Silently, he wondered how the hell Virgil had managed to live with the other three for so long. With Roman’s obnoxiously loud personality and old villain accusations, he doubted the rogue raccoon could’ve slept the day away like he did when he tried to avoid him.

He stood in front of a tall, white door. It looked like something you’d find in a children’s movie or fairy tale that told the protagonist there was some sort of grand adventure on the other side…

How boring.

Without bothering to knock, Remus opened the door to his brother's room. Maybe for Janus, he would have knocked. There was hardly anything that could truly shock him anymore with all the fun little fantasies that ran through his head, but Janus’ wrath was something he would save for a day when he needed that extra kick.

Then again, maybe he was wrong to say that he couldn't be shocked. Not when Prince Perfect’s room was such a mess. Not when one of his mirrors had been knocked to the floor. And certainly not when he took in the sight of the other half of Creativity, sitting there at the side of his bed in his black undershirt and dress pants.

Something in Remus’ guts told him there was something wrong here, and this time it wasn’t because he had been impaled or ate something Logan and Janus insisted he shouldn’t have. No, this was something else. Something he hadn’t been allowed to see since the two split up. One brother deciding he needed to be pure as white, and the other allowing himself to be the darkest black imaginable.

He stepped closer. Roman hadn’t made a sound, not yet, but it felt like approaching a lion. A lion that stood for courage yet fell to shattered pieces of what it once was.

And maybe if he hadn’t been feeling real, genuine concern for something other than Thomas’ lack of flare in his art, he would have laughed when his mind went to Scar and Mufasa.

It wasn’t like he cared though. Concern, maybe. But he couldn’t be bothered to care for his brother who he hardly ever spoke to for purposes other than making him uncomfortable with his ideas.

Roman shifted on his bed, still not bothering to look to see who entered. “I already told you I don’t want to talk about it.”

Remus rolled his eyes. Of course his brother would choose to be a little bitch about this.

“First off, you didn’t tell me shit.” He said. Roman sat up, looking at him. A mix of defense and curiosity in his glare. “Second, I’m not the one making your life any harder than I normally would.” His brother scoffed. “Aren’t you though?”

“You’re the one affecting my work!”

Roman huffed, pulling his legs up to his chest and hugging them closely. He liked the pressure. Logan would probably be able to tell him why if he asked. He remembered hearing a conversation between him and Virgil when the darker first showed up. Something about pressure was a stress reliever.

At the same time, Remus crossed his arms, tapping his boots and rubbing his fingers against his sleeves. Whatever response he had been waiting for didn’t come. Maybe he should leave. Pretend whatever this was wasn’t happening and go focus on something else until the other half got his shit together. That would be a lot easier than standing here, the air of the room suffocating him into silence.

Either way, neither brother knew what to say. It would be easy for the pensive prince to turn around, to tell the other not to speak to him and to go back to wherever he came from. At least it should have been.

Remus bit down on his lip not minding the pain. It wouldn’t do any good to try to beat at what was already broken. “I can go find someone else.” It was more of a statement than an offer.

His twin tensed. “Please don’t.”

Remus just nodded. He didn’t know what to do or what to say. Normally he didn’t have to think this hard. He didn’t want to care about his brother and his problems. He knew at least part of the reason behind the other’s mood was because of him because Roman hated him and being compared to him. Yet still, despite being twins he couldn’t help but feel like he had to care for his baby brother.

‘What the fuck am I supposed to do now?’

He was Dark Creativity, the embodiment of intrusive thoughts and other so-called disturbing ideas and imagery. It wasn’t something that ever upset him, and hell it was fun making the other Sides and Thomas uncomfortable. It was fun telling Patton things that would make him shift in his seat and try to change the topic as if nothing had happened. It was fun to create thoughts that would fuel anxiety and haunt the sad little Side who harbored them. It was more than amusing to sit beside Roman, watching as he tried to do his work and ignore his bothersome brother’s constant suggestions that ruined his fairytale fantasies.

If Thomas didn’t want to use all the available ingredients he gave him to create that was fine. He could manage just fine! Really, the repression only made him stronger.

But Roman knew how to make people feel those warm fuzzy feelings that were like caterpillars in your ribs. Something that looking at it now, maybe Remus regretted not trying to pick up on the wholesome little messages that his brother always cared about. At least maybe then he’d have a better idea how to deal with all of these emotions going on. Even Logan would have done better in this situation.

His brother sighed, sitting up and turning to finally face him. He looked worse than expected. No wonder he didn’t want to see anyone else. Remus couldn’t tell what he was feeling, taking in the sight of this mess. Roman’s brow furrowed, his jaw clenched. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his nails digging into his skin.

“Why are you still here?” He asked.

Remus bit his lip and chose to ignore the question. “I know you’re pissed about Jan being accepted.”

“Yeah duh,” Roman scoffed. He sounded like a dam ready to break. “Excuse me for not being absolutely overjoyed at this… Manipulative Malefactor being accepted by our very own Moralidad.”

The Duke nodded. Sure, you could call him friends with Double D, but he wasn’t going to be like him and lie and deny that Janus certainly had… a way… of getting what he wanted, whether it meant using others as a stepping stone or not.

“I never should have trusted him.” Roman continued. “I mean, I never even liked him. Hell, right after he revealed himself to Thomas I said I hated him… I only went along with what he wanted because he pretended to be someone I’m supposed to be able to trust, and then he used me again by flattering me with fake love and bringing up Thomas’ dreams. And I just– I just keep falling for it because I’m an idiot and I keep fucking everything u—”

He hadn’t noticed Remus approaching him or pulling him into a hug until it happened.

It was tense at first. Roman froze at contact. Slowly, he sunk into his brother's arms, not caring about the way the material scratched against his face. He just wanted to feel safe.

“What’s happening?” He asked.

Remus wasn’t sure he had an answer.

“I think Patton would refer to it as brotherly bonding, but I really don’t know.” Remus laughed lightly.

Eventually, Remus slowly pushed his brother off of him, still holding onto his shoulders and smiling in a way he could only hope came off as sympathetic. On any other occasion, Roman would despise the fact that his brother was just the tiniest bit taller than him, but right now he didn’t care. He wouldn’t tell him it was good for hugs though, he hadn’t lost all of his dignity.

“Listen, Ro-bro, we’re twins. What affects you affects me too. I know it might not change much, and you might still not want to be around me. That’s fine. Just… remember that we’re two Sides in a trenchcoat trying to make up for one, got it?” Roman nodded, rubbing at his eyes and smiling slightly. “I would have expected a darker way of phrasing that from you.”

Remus shook his head. “I may not think much, but I do know enough to understand it’s probably not the best timing for it.”

He smiled, watching as his brother lightened up a bit.

The room was still a mess. They’d have to fix it up later. Not right now though, he didn’t think his brother was ready enough to face his own destruction.

“C’mon, get your outfit on.” “Huh?” “You weren’t planning to stay locked up in here like Rapunzel all day, were you?” “I mean… kind of, yeah?” Remus shook his head. “Not happening,” He said. “We gotta do some dumb shit to make you feel better.” “Ree, I’m fine now, really.”

He ignored him, grabbing Roman’s stupidly bright white shirt off the floor and throwing it at him. Checking around for his sash afterwards.

“You at least gotta put yourself together! I know how you are about your looks– even if mine are better.”

Roman rolled his eyes before pulling his shirt on, grabbing his sash from under his pillow. “I can’t stand you.” They both knew it wasn’t the truth. Not right now at least.

“I’m going to fix… this.” Roman said as he waved his hand in front of his face.

The prince left to his bathroom, grabbing some of his makeup from his desk as he went. Remus flopped onto his brother's bed. This wasn’t exactly where he expected his day to go. It was fine though. Actually, it probably went a lot better than whatever he originally planned. Bitching at Roman could be fun, but he doubted it would have made anything better. Hopefully getting rid of some emotional block would stop the art block too. It sounded like something Logic would approve of.

Remus stared up at the glow in the dark stars that littered his brother’s ceiling. Roman’s room was less loud than usual. More quiet. Like a heartbeat that once echoed so loudly had suddenly stopped, or a fire which finally died out leaving nothing but smoke and ash behind.

He heard it when the faucet turned on, when a hairbrush hit the floor, and when Roman cursed at his eyeliner.

‘His hands must be shaky.’ They’d have to fix that.

Remus got up again, half-assedly making his brother’s bed and tidying up the place. He didn’t know where everything went, so he could only hope he was putting stuff where it shouldn’t have ever been. Even if he was trying to cheer up his brother now didn’t mean he couldn’t work in advance to cause trouble for him later.

When Roman came out he looked as if nothing had happened. Like nobody would be able to look at him and think twice of if he was okay. It was an art in itself to be a raging storm and to settle down to the tranquility of dewdrops on flower petals within a matter of minutes.

When had he learned to do that?

Or maybe it was just that he didn’t spend enough time around the other to know. Maybe if one of the other Sides saw Roman now, they wouldn’t even have to study his movements or expression to know he had been upset. It would be as easy as looking at him and recognizing the scripted smiles and rehearsed words for what they were. Was he really that bad at being a brother to fall for his own twins’ tricks?

Roman shifted on his feet. “So… What are we doing?”

“Oh!” Remus bounced, the beads on his shirt clicking together. “Well I was thinking about it earlier and since Papa Patton and Daddy Dee are spending so much time together–” “Never call them that ever again.” “You never let me have fun! But fine. You know how those two have been hanging out more.”

“I can’t let you do anything mean to Patton, he’s off limits.”

Remus pouted. “I thought you were mad at him!” “He’s Patton!” Remus glared, and Roman glared back.

Remus sighed. “You’re so lame, but I guess we can just focus on the snake. Oh! And don’t worry, I can take the fault. Besides, I haven’t fucked around with him in a while and have been waiting for a good day to do it.” He grinned. Roman would have considered it evil, but this, this was pure sibling mischief. “I was thinking we could start subtle like moving his shit 2 inches to the left and work our way up from there. I was thinking about leaving my pet rats in his room and letting them go wild, but he is a snake and I don’t trust like that…”

Roman tried to stifle a laugh. Remus tried not to smile. Remus turned away, heading to his room to put his abandoned work away before anything else. Roman, he noticed, hadn’t followed. Slowly, he turned to him. “Are you coming?” “Oh, yeah I just...“ Roman paused, taking a deep breath and smiling softly. A real smile, not the mask he had given before. “Thank you. For doing all this.” Remus’ eyes softened, nodding as he spoke again. “Don’t go getting too soft on me, Ro-bro. I’m still going to attack your side of the Imagination.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” The two brothers stood there, an awkward yet comfortable quiet moment of understanding neither wanted to interrupt. “C’mon,” Remus said, waving his brother along. “We have vengeance in our hearts and glitter in our pockets. Let’s fuck shit up.”

The prince glanced to himself in the mirror. Now wasn’t the time to focus on his shattered world view, or how his brother may not be as horrible as he thought. Now was the time to have fun messing with the one who had messed with him.

He looked to his brother, eyes sparkling. “Let’s do it.”

#Sanders Sides #Roman Sanders #Remus Sanders #Creativitwins #platonic creativitwins #aaa #I hope this is good #Virgil's Volumes

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akechicrimes · 5 years ago

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not to speculate too hard about the inside of a silent protagonist’s head, but the more i think about joker persona 5, the more convinced i am that he’s firmly entrenched his approach to relationships in hiding aspects of himself from others so that he can fulfill some sort of transactional relationship. and the more i think about that, the more i really do think that akira’s whole thing about emphasizing transactional relationships and almost intentionally surrounding himself with only selfishly-motivated people is a fear of intimacy.

i was talking with @aryashi about this post with akira’s really heartbreakingly cynical opinions on friendship, and the weird phenomenon where in persona 3 and 4, the protagonists are intentionally pushed to reconsider their views on friendship and making bonds with other people, and come out of their journeys with friends who’d ride and die for them. but with akira in persona 5, it’s odd because akira has a very well-documented transactional/cynical view on how relationships work, but he isn’t quite ever pushed to reconsider that point of view.

which is to say, persona 5 as a game is much less about relationships and friendships than persona 3 or 4. in persona 3, minato has only two personality traits, and those are that he’s a 2006 emo MCR fan and that he’s self-isolated. his entire character arc is about him un-isolating himself, learning to have relationships again, and learning that other people make life worth living. in persona 4, souji (or yu) is a city boy sent to a tight-knit community where everyone knows everyone, winds up learning first-hand just how judgmental small towns can be even in their proximity, and is forced to confront the perils and rewards of other people knowing you for who you truly are.

in comparison, persona 5 likes to say that it’s about justice and societal reform, and seems to actively encourage akira to mask himself (or at least parts of himself) in order to achieve societal reform. he is quite literally hiding half of his activities (thievery, mostly) from the other half of his life (his day life as a student). arguably, he’s also hiding his confidants/social linking side business from his own thievery team, too. logistically, this makes sense, since akira is avoiding getting put in jail for thievery by hiding his identity. the flip side is that akira works for a better society while never once being known for who he really is, which is a fairly common trope among masked heroes who do work for the whole of society while never once being thanked or recognized for their work, but it’s a stark contrast to the other games.

so in a lot of ways, not only is akira not pushed to reconsider his views on relationships, he’s actively encouraged to keep masking parts of himself from others, and to use his anonymity and ability to hide to his own advantage. in particular, akira is encouraged to find people who he can gain something from, people who stand to gain something from him, and to strike a deal; and this deal usually involves akira hiding parts of himself so that his new confidants will continue to work with him.

which is cool and also highkey relatable, sure, but it sure does seem to be one of the reasons why akira walks out of the game with a whole bunch of friends who seem to................. not really know him very well, for some reason? and all his social links are, like, a collection of business partners or sponsors?

that’s not to say that his relationships are always built on akira hiding parts of himself to fulfill a transactional deal. a lot of his relationships wind up being non-transactional even if they started off that way, and a lot of his relationships end with his confidants guessing that he’s a phantom thief. but i wonder if akira himself views them as non-transactional. or, that is to say, akira seems to move away from viewing relationships as purely transactional, but he’s never pushed to embrace a relationship that is purely, 100% altruistic.

he starts every relationship with a transactional deal from the beginning of the game to the end. he uses relationships as a “we mutually help each other out” sort of arrangement as far into the game as his last conversation with sae as his lawyer. and the fact that these relationships become deeper and more meaningful than a simple business arrangement doesn’t mean that they’re not still fundamentally business arrangements. it’s a bit like getting to know your local barista: you might have conversations and learn more about them and even become friends, but at the end of the day, fundamentally the arrangement is built on interactions where you pay them money for them to make you coffee. (and to keep going with the barista metaphor, such a business relationship depends entirely on presenting only certain aspects of oneself to another person so as to keep the relationship going.)

or, also consider what akira said in this tweet as linked in the first part of this post. it may be that he knows that, for example, kawakami comes out of her social link adoring her student, and would go above and beyond to help him if he asked. but that in itself is a transactional relationship of another kind, isnt it? akira has to continue being the sort of student that she likes in order to continue to have her support; in return, she lets him get away with all sorts of wild shit in her class. rather than a one-off transaction, the relationship moves almost towards a type of sponsorship, which akira trades behavior that she approves of for her continued, continuous help. so the relationship remains transactional, and in a lot of ways, akira is not only trading with supporting kawakami emotionally, but he’s hiding parts of himself in order to maintain the relationship he’s built.

aryashi said that he should have come out of the game with some ride-or-die friends like the other persona protags--friends who know him completely and entirely, and would go above and beyond for no transactional reason whatsoever. she said that he should have had at least “ryuji, or akechi,” which was so fascinating to me because those two characters are so entirely and completely polar opposites, but reflect akira’s issues of isolation from two really important angles.

ryuji’s probably the character who has the most altruistic relationship with akira. he latches onto akira and from the first time they meet, ryuji selflessly tries to sacrifice himself to save akira, who ryuji barely knows, met about five minutes previous, and actually doesn’t even know the name of. ryuji couldn’t have an ulterior motive to help akira if he tried. and ryuji’s remarkably consistent about his selflessness, too; there’s no benefit to ryuji when ryuji gets mad on akira’s behalf to defend him, and it continues all the way through P5R.

but in a weird way, it’s like akira doesn’t--understand this? although ryuji is the character who seems to care about akira himself the most and consistently defends akira, especially in regards to akira’s record, the instant ryuji’s social link starts, the social link progresses in the same manner as a lot of other social links, in which akira exchanges emotional labor and support for better teammates, better teamwork, better personas, better social links. suddenly it’s not about ryuji caring about akira, but akira helping ryuji through his track team problems. it’s like akira and ryuji are speaking entirely different languages, or are simply thinking so differently that akira just had no idea what to do with ryuji when ryuji goes out of his way to reach out to akira just for the sake of kindness. he seems taken aback by ryuji’s enthusiasm and sincerity in several cutscenes.

which is not to say that i dont think that akira doesnt value ryuji immensely, because i think he does, and i think that ryuji reaching out to him when akira had first moved to shujin and was entirely alone meant the world to akira. but i think that going through a friendship constantly feeling like ryuji’s altruism has an expiration date, impending dealbreaker, or is simply just incomprehensible because it doesnt have any transactional value to it is a type of isolation in itself. and if not a type of isolation, then definitely a type of emotional barrier that prevents akira from really embracing a relationship or person like ryuji--if not out of confusion, then maybe just out of fear.

confusion or fear, or maybe just a history of being rejected for who he is--either way, i do think that one of the things that’s so notable about a transactional relationship is that it makes intimacy much more controllable. persona 4 intimacy was a fucking gauntlet to be survived, because it was just a sheer, undiluted blast of your entire self being put on display. in persona 5, intimacy can be controlled if you know what a person wants out of you. if you know what they want, you can be that thing they want. if you know what they want from you, then you can leverage what they want. if the terms of the deal are clear-cut and determined from the start, someone like akira doesnt need to be afraid of being rejected, and never has to guess at what a person wants from him, and need never take an emotional risk himself. the more selfishly motivated a person is, the easier they are to please, and the easier they are to extract a working relationship out of, and the easier they are to even have a relationship with.

which brings us to akechi, because it does seem to be the case that akira gets along so well with akechi because it’s understood between the two of them that akechi is NOT here to be friends and he DOES have ulterior motives. even without the whole shido thing, akechi is pretty obviously there to nail akira for being a phantom thief; the kindest possible interpretation of akechi stalking akira is that akechi is there to pick up blackmail material on him.

not to speculate too hard about the insides of a silent protagonist’s head, but i do wonder if maybe that’s why he got along with akechi so well: he assumes that akechi wants something from him that benefits only akechi himself, and akira is totally right. that sort of selfish motivation is something that akira can understand, predict, and accommodate.

nobody is allowed to tell that one anon who keeps showing up in people’s inboxes trying to convince everyone that shuake is an unhealthy ship, but it’s not a great dynamic. it’s also not any different from any of the other social links akira has. it’s pretty par for akira’s course, actually.

it’s also what akira understands, and it’s what akira is comfortable with, and oddly it serves as a point of connection between the two of them, especially in their P5R s link. and the more that akechi pushes at various emotional issues throughout his social link under the cover of “i’m only here to investigate you,” the more emotional intimacy they can get away with while pretending they aren’t doing exactly what they’re doing.

which is like. bro. when goro akechi is better at emotional intimacy than you are. you done REALLY fucked up.

but at the same time it’s like........................ it’s very clear that akira walks away from the game with more or less the same point of view on friendships and relationships that he went into the game with, because akechi wasnt going to be the kind of person who pushes him on that point. again, akechi and akira having a relationship that started off transactional and grew to become something else doesn’t necessarily mean that either one of them have changed their general modus operandi on this point. the person that would have really pushed akira to change would have been ryuji--but for whatever reason, ryuji didn’t wind up being the catalyst for that sort of change that he should have.

i dont really have a conclusion because this is my blog and i can do whatever i want and nobody has yet paid me enough money to buy my silence, but if you really want a conclusion, have this: pegoryugoro IS a valid ship and they DO have an interesting and compelling dynamic and i SWEAR to god i will make it work one day.

#mine #maybe dont take this post too seriously #i didnt really think for most of this rant

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doberbutts · 1 year ago

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Hmm. Well I would say it probably feels very generic JRPG because it's existed almost as long (1987) as the FF franchise (1987 also), and so quite a few JRPGs that came after were based on established rules stemming from those two as well as a few others. It's sort of the LOTR problem- if your first entries into the fantasy genre were things that took inspiration from Tolkien and fine-tuned them, then of course once you get to Tolkien's works you're going to feel it's very generic. These are series that define the genre, so elements introduced there are pretty much everywhere at this point.

I'm not super into the Deep Lore of Y's, more of a casual enjoyer of the games that have come to the US I'd say, but on a surface level Y's is about the adventurer Adol (who, like Link, is traditionally a silent protagonist that is perfectly able to communicate and be understood despite lack of voice) (he's been given a voice in some of the recent games which I'm still on the fence whether I like) and the various adventures he has along the way.

The games are episodic in that you do not need to play one game in order to understand the next (adventure-of-the-week type storytelling) but they will reference past and future adventures to give you an idea of an estimated "timeline" of these events. The core crew mostly remains the same- Adol and his buddy Dogi and sometimes a tagalong from whatever adventure they've just had- but the wider cast changes each time as does the setting and the stakes.

There's some larger stakes with the goddesses, a vague sense of something larger building in the background, some sort of prophecy involving Adol, but at time of posting the company hasn't really done anything with it yet. Maybe Y's X will be different, who knows. Similar to older Zelda games, there's usually a lot of backtracking and needing a piece of gear to access certain areas (you need the fireproof shoes to walk through lava, you need the oxygen tank to swim underwater, etc) but unlike those games there is less puzzle solving and more just action adventure.

The soundtrack and graphics are always a delight and personally I felt the PSP era was very strong, but I'm biased because that's when I started playing these games. I have most of them in some way at this point and have played- but not always finished- pretty much every English-language entry. I think they're pretty fun and you won't dislike them if you like the JRPG genre. I also don't think they're particularly earthshattering (sorry Y's fans who follow me) like some other JRPGs have been. I don't really think that's a problem or that it means they're lesser quality- making a solid game that's really fun to play and then not having a single lackluster entry in the series (imo anyway) is a pretty difficult thing to do that those other companies haven't been able to accomplish. Final Fantasy might knock it out of the park here or there but they've also produced some real stinkers, you know? I haven't regretted a single Y's purchase by comparison.

What'cha playing video game wise, Jaz?

Need to finish AC Valhalla but I'm having a hard time staying on track. I got Sigurd back and he's a bag of dicks and I knooooooow it ties into the story and I knoooooooow being a bag of dicks after being tortured for weeks (months? unclear how much time has passed) is a pretty normal trauma response but also. Currently he's a jerk and Eivor's dedication to him while he's being a jerk is admirable but I can't relate. The game is fun but the story right now is not particularly rewarding. I don't like doing a lot of work and bringing it to someone only for them to throw it in my face and tell me I'll never be good enough. So I don't really like where I am in the plot atm.

So instead of being mad at Sigurd all the time, I'm playing Harvestella and working on finishing that. Truly it did not deserve the wankfest made about it when it first came out. I will say having gotten much farther, it's less "final fantasy meets stardew valley" which I think set a lot of people up for expectations that would absolutely not be met. It's more "Nier series with some farming/gathering elements" and even makes more than a few heavyhanded Nier Automata references. People (myself included) saw SquareEnix on the cover and assumed Final Fantasy and I think that was overall detrimental to its reception because it's very not a FF game but it's probably as close to a Yoko Taro game as you can get without having him on staff. I've been a fan of his stuff since the original Drakengard so I'm fine with that but his stuff is *weird* and often weird in really unexpected ways, so if you're not expecting that out the gate it can be a pretty big shock.

I am still not sure if I want to actually play FFVII Evercrisis- I'm interested in the additions to the overall lore and plot and I like the convenience of having the full compilation in one easy-to-access location (including supposedly a few Japan-only entries I never actually got ahold of) but at the same time the demo was pretty micro-transation-y and as a general rule I hate gacha systems especially when they rely on real money to use. First Soldier was one thing because the gacha stuff was mostly cosmetic, and you didn't need the gacha weapons or armor to win (as evidenced by my wins having spent 0 money on anything). But the Evercrisis demo had gacha items needed for progression which means inevitabily I'm going to hit a wall and not be able to progress the story without spending money, and I hate games that do this.

Once I'm done with Valhalla it'll be Elden Ring (thanks @khayr !) and then FFVII Rebirth will probably be out by the time I'm done with it, which I'll play to death I'm sure. I still have to play Horizon Forbidden West (thanks follower whose URL I can't find again) and then go back and play the additional content I have for KH3, Ghost of Tsushima, and the new update stuff for Ghostwire Tokyo... as well as various switch games I need to just finish already... oh and the new Y's is coming out soon and at some point I need to snag FFXVI... and then there's AC Mirage whenever that releases plus I'm really looking forward to Red and Jade... and besides I have to go back and actually finish Origins and start Odessey (and black flag, and rogue, and unity...)

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the-yellowturtle · 4 years ago

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The Curious Case of Master Katara (Pt.5)

Summary: In the sixth year of Fire Lord Zuko’s reign, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe is assassinated. (OR: Katara Becomes the Painted Lady! AU)

Rating: T

Chapter Summary: Zuko remembers Katara & has an encounter with the Painted Lady.

Note: you can read the chapters as a standalone if you want

Part 1 (Toph), Part 2 (Toph & Gran Gran), Part 3 (Sokka), Part 4 (Suki & Katara), A03 Story Link & special thanks to @levitatingbiscuits for enabling me :)

Reflective of the Reconstruction Period’s changing values, Fire Nation plays and stories originating from this time often depicted protagonists as virtuous and noble. Even the most popular romances of the period featured characters who were willing to sacrifice their chance at true love for the sake of others. This is clearly seen in Mou Ren’s Love Amongst the Spirits :

FIRE LORD. (Pleadingly, on his knees) Please tell me that it is not our love that has led to your current state! That the time we shared has made you unable to pass on to the next life!

PAINTED LADY. (Resting a hand on his shoulder) I loved you, but it is not my attachment to you nor any other man that has led me to this position. I simply cannot sit by while there is still the opportunity to help one more person, one more individual. Only when there is peace will I be able to fully detach myself from humanity.

- Culturally Significant Works of the Reconstruction Period

Zuko gets to say goodbye.

In fact, it’s the last thing he says to Katara before her passing.

The morning after they fought about how to best resolve the water pollution problem, he had found her getting ready to set sail from the docks. She had won. She would be going ahead of the rest of the relief despite his concern over reports of the New Ozai Society potentially being in the area. However, Zuko knew it was futile to get her to stop once Katara had even the slightest suggestion that there were people out there who needed her. That’s just who Katara was.

And so she had smiled at him and said goodbye, and he had replied the same and given her a hug. And that was it. That was the last time Zuko saw or heard from Katara.

___

The officials and citizens would talk about it sometimes. About how they thought it was obvious that he was in love with Katara. About how they spent too much time together to simply be friends, how Zuko was too considerate of her opinions for it to simply be platonic affection.

The hearsay used to always make him scoff; caring for his best friend did not make him in love with her. Zuko had read all of the great romances and devoured the scripts of all the plays as a child (and admittedly re-devoured them as an adult looking for some stress relief). Zuko had read about love and he had heard Sokka go on about it in length; Zuko knew what love was supposed to feel like, and what he felt with Katara was nothing like it. When he was with her, he did not get sweaty palms, his face did not flush a scarlet red and his heart did not feel like it was going to escape from his chest. With Katara he was at peace, not agonizing over his words and yearning for her lips.

So Zuko had thought it was a ridiculous notion for him to be in love with Katara. After all, he was far too busy with his duties as Fire Lord to be falling in love with his best friend. Besides, if he was afflicted with eros, then surely he would have noticed the symptoms.

After her death, Zuko doesn’t think about the great romance his people think they shared. He orders the construction of the Southern Waterbenders Memorial because it is the right thing to do. He builds the Katara Public Park because his citizens deserve to have more public spaces and Katara always did like the flora of the Fire Nation. He funds more shrines and temples in honor of the Painted Lady because her popularity among the people has exploded in the post-war period. Depictions of the Painted Lady in these places of worship always look like Katara because it’s based on firsthand accounts of the Spirit, and because Zuko heard the truth from Aang.

He orders the installation of a Painted Lady shrine in the royal palace because sometimes he likes to believe that there’s the possibility she can hear him when he talks to her in the middle of the night.

Zuko is aware that his actions further encourage the rumors of his tragic love affair with Katara. He’s seen the posters for the blatant adaptations, and accidentally attended the showings of the ones with more subtle advertising. Zuko knows that everyone thinks he was madly in love with her, but he wasn’t. He was not in love with her. He would have known. And she certainly was never in love with him.

___

Eventually he finds a semblance of happiness in his life as Fire Lord. The New Ozai Society is demolished and similar groups become insignificant threats that are easy to handle. The economy begins to pick up again, and international trade flourishes. The Four Nations are in a relative state of peace when he meets his future wife.

Tian is a non-bender from one of the surviving Air Nomad enclaves that hid themselves in the Earth Kingdom’s far south. A proponent for the equality of benders and non-benders, the first time he meets her she informs him that he needs to change the Fire Nation’s rules of succession to allow a non-bender unless he wants to alienate the non-bending population. She’s right, so he finds himself proposing the change when he returns to court.

Over the years, he finds himself seeking out her company more and more at peace summits. Tian is passionate and empathetic and just cares so much. He falls in love with her, and somehow she ends up feeling the same.

They have one child together, Izumi. She grows up loved and immersed in both of her parent’s cultures. Tian teaches her chi-blocking and frequently takes her out on shirshu rides. Zuko meditates with her every morning and performs bedtime stories —with the voices!— every night. In a way, Tian’s first words to him end up being prophetic when their non-bending daughter is officially declared the heir to the Fire Nation.

He loves both of them, but it is this love and decades more of lifetime experience that makes him realize that perhaps the rumors had been right all those years ago. That he had been in love with her then. That maybe a part of him would always love her.

Katara did not make his heart race nor did she make him stumble over his words, no, when he was with her he felt safe. Accepted. Loved.

Maybe his true feelings had and always will be seared onto his chest.

___

When the palace doctors declare that his granddaughter is unlikely to make it through the week, he steals her away in the middle of the night and brings her to the royal family’s private gardens. He brings the baby girl to the Painted Lady shrine by the lake he had commissioned all those years ago.

Zuko has never personally encountered the Painted Lady, but he has heard the tales from his citizens, the ones of travelers from abroad, and from his own friends. When the Painted Lady is not busy influencing the weather to attack polluting bodies, she will most often be sighted healing the sick. Zuko knows that a Spirit has a limited influence on the human realm, but just this once Zuko prays for a miracle that she will hear his call.

He cannot bear to watch his daughter lose her own child.

Holding his granddaughter in his arms, he gets on his weary knees to bow before the lake and beg. “Please help her. Please.”

“I need to be able to see her to do that,” whispers a woman.

Zuko jolts up to find a veiled figure floating on the lake before him: the Painted Lady.

Words don’t come to him, so he simply follows her instructions and presents the bundled up child to the Spirit. The Painted Lady is silent as she reaches out to smooth the black tufts of hair on his granddaughter’s head, soon after a blue glow emits from her hand.

When the Painted Lady is presumably finished, she steps back and the child stirs for a moment in her sleep. The movement brings tears to his eyes as he takes in the improved complexion of her chubby cheeks.

To his surprise, she’s still standing on the lake when he looks up. He can’t make out her face from beneath the hat, but he would recognize her necklace anywhere. It really was her. She was not reborn among humans, but made a guardian of them.

“Katara,” he gasps, causing the Painted Lady to tilt her head, surely confused about why a human was directly calling her personal name. “Her name is Katara,” he clarifies, holding his granddaughter to his chest.

Zuko had been surprised when Izumi informed him what she was naming her second born. It was no mystery when she named her eldest after Uncle Iroh; they had been fairly close when he was still alive. However, Izumi never had the pleasure of meeting Katara, and had only heard about her when Zuko could bring himself to share the memories he had of their short time together.

“I want my daughter to be the type of person who never turns away from the needs of others,” Izumi had explained, “Surely the name of the woman who helped save the world is fitting.”

So when Zuko has the spirit of the woman he had loved in front of him, he has to let her know in some way. She may be revered as the Painted Lady, but there were still those who knew and loved her as Katara. Long before she took up the position of Spirit, she was already saving others.

“Her name is Katara,” Zuko repeats.

The Painted Lady slowly glides forward, only stopping when he can make out her cerulean blue eyes. He can barely breath as she reaches up to rest her palm on his left cheek. “Thank you, Zuko,” she smiles.

He can’t stop the tears that rush down his face. “I think I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

#zutara #zutara fanfiction #zuko #katara #the painted lady #mine

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citizenscreen · 5 years ago

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‘Tis the season to spread cheer and I’m doing my part by recommending classic movies, paying them forward in hopes that these memorable distractions take people’s minds off negative goings on. I’m asking that you join me, recommend your favorites and #PayClassicsForward on your blogs, by noting your recommendations in the comments or sharing across social media.

Let’s give the gift of movies.

Here’s the challenge…pick movie recommendations to the “12 Days of Christmas” theme as I’ve done below. Keep in mind that movie choices should be those you think would appeal to non-classics fans. Let’s grow our community and #PayClassicsForward

Have fun!

On the first day of Christmas, etc. etc…

One hat

The “one” listing is always a difficult one due to the fact that classics lend themselves to plenty of choices. That said, I came up with a category that encompasses important decades and several genre of film – the fedora. By following the history of the fedora in film you’ll be made privy to the best gangsters, greatest funny men, and most memorable lovers of Hollywood’s golden age. So here it is, a signature fedora:

Note that in researching my favorite fedora portrait I learned that trilbys are often mistaken for fedoras. Since experts seem to be confused between the two types of classic men’s hats that leaves little hope for me. I can’t say for sure whether Bogart is wearing a trilby in the above image, but he may well be. Descriptions of this type of hat explain the rims are shorter than your average fedoras. Either way, it’s a cool, suave look and Bogie rocks it.

From GQ: What’s the difference between a fedora and a trilby?

Answer: Traditionally a fedora has a wide brim and in the UK a wide ribbon band and bow. A trilby has a narrow brim and narrow ribbon, although there are some American trilbies that still have the wide ribbon.

Two Fairbanks

Things were not simple between Douglas Fairbanks and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. as it is for many families, but the son wore his father’s name proudly. I chose this father and son combination because if you watch their films you’ll get a healthy helping of everything from silent adventure to pre-code delicacies through some terrific television work. These are careers worth following.

Three Trios

There are quite a few choices for memorable trios in film including Cattle rustlers Robert Hightower (John Wayne), Pedro “Pete” Rocafuerte (Pedro Armendáriz), and William Kearney (Harry Carey, Jr.) in John Ford’s 3 Godfathers. That one is definitely difficult to pass up. That said, I think the following trios are likely to be looked at less by casual fans and they all deserve attention. These are my choices of trios in movies:

They are such a joy to behold. I remember them fondly from my days as a child watching them on TV. It seemed then that they appeared in a million movies, but that wasn’t the case. Still, these siblings are a joy in films like Buck Pirates with Abbott and Costello and their film debut in Albert S. Rogell’s Argentine Nights (1940). The Andrews Sisters made 17 films, more than any other singing group and all are a terrific way to be introduced to the movies. If that record does not impress you, then maybe this one will: LaVerne, Maxene, and Patty garnered 113 charted Billboard hits with 46 of those reaching the top 10. That’s more than Elvis Presley or The Beatles.

youtube

I have nothing against Disney. In fact, I enjoy their classic animated films immensely. Due to that I’m less than enthusiastic about their constant remakes, which – in my opinion – disrespects those wonderful, older film accomplishments. Today I pay tribute to one of them by way of a trio of glorious characters made in the memorable Disney vein we’ve all come to know and love, that combination of warmth and delightful comedy that permeate those wonderful films. These characters are Princess Aurora’s three good fairy godmothers Flora, Fauna and Merryweather in Disney’s 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty. They alone pay tribute to an enchanting legacy.

“Each of us the child may bless, with a single gift no more, no less.”

The final mention here goes to three Russian envoys who have arrived in Paris to sell a fortune in jewelry, imperial jewelry, the money of which is to go to the Russian government, which is in need of cash. The three, Iranoff, Buljanoff and Kopalski (played hilariously by Sig Ruman, Felix Bressart and Alexander Granach, respectively) who are supposed to be doing work for the Russian government, immediately get caught up in the excesses of capitalism and fail to sell the jewelry. Moscow then sends a special envoy to Paris to investigate what’s going on with the trio and the jewelry. The envoy is the rigid and humorless, Comrade Yakushova – Ninotchka (Greta Garbo). The charming Melvyn Douglas plays Ninotchka’s love interest in Ernst Lubitsch’s delightful comedy, but it’s the three envoys in the hands of Ruman, Bressart and Granach that make this movie among the greats in the annals of comedy. I just want to get to know them better and so should you.

Ninotchka with Iranoff, Buljanoff, and Kopalski

Four Skippy Performances

It’s no wonder this wire-haired terrier was the highest paid canine star of his day. Often referred to as “Asta,” thanks to his successful appearances in The Thin Man movies, his real name was Skippy – and we love him to tears. Although I’m choosing only four of his film performances, Skippy never made a bad movie and starred opposite some of Hollywood’s biggest names. If you keep an eye out for Skippy’s filmography on TCM, you will no doubt be introduced to an astounding talent as well as a terrific movie. It’s guaranteed. My Skippy suggestions are:

Skippy as Asta in The Thin Man movies opposite William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles. I can’t imagine you haven’t seen The Thin Man (1934), but may not have given any of the sequels a try. If that’s the case you will be delighted by Skippy in any one of his key performances:

in ANOTHER THIN MAN

in AFTER THE THIN MAN

Skippy is wonderful as Mr. Smith in The Awful Truth. Worth a custody dispute between Warriner and Warriner played by Cary Grant and Irene Dunne, this time Skippy is required to add straight drama to his repertoire as he is required to choose between his two humans right off the bat. There’s also plenty for him to do on the comedy front, however, so this one is a must-see.

forced to choose between the Warriners in court

front and center in the awful truth

Skippy as George in Howard Hawks’ Bringing Up Baby opposite Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Another terrific outing for our favorite pooch as he is central to action thanks to his burying abilities.

Holding his own in Hawks’ beloved screwball

This sequel to Norman Z. McLeod’s 1937 hit Topper lacks some of the charm of its predecessor, but the talents of Constance Bennett, Roland Young, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbry, and Skippy make it well worth your time. Here, Skippy matched Bennett’s ghostly wit by ghostly wit in a role that stretches his talents to matters beyond this world and he approaches it with signature enthusiasm.

so famous he made it into this spectacular publicity photo with Constance Bennett

Five Lords-a-leaping

No explanation needed.

Cagney

Nicholas Brothers

Kelly

Astaire

Six Vivien Leigh GWTW Tests

Gone With the Wind is celebrating its 80th anniversary on December 15 and, as the biggest, most famous movie ever made, it deserves at least a mention here.

On that day in 1939, Atlanta’s Loew’s Grand Theater was buzzing with Hollywood’s biggest names. It was such an occasion for Atlanta that the film’s opening was a 3-day event as Governor Eurith Dickinson Rivers declared a three-day holiday. Other politicians asked that Georgians dress in period clothing. A lot had happened in Hollywood leading up to that premiere though including the famous search for the film’s leading lady, the protagonist of Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 blockbuster novel, Scarlett O’Hara. Every female star it seems auditioned for the part. Among them were Bette Davis, Jean Arthur, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Bennett, Claudette Colbert, Frances Dee, and Paulette Goddard who, as stories go, was close to being chosen. As we all know, however, Scarlett went to the lovely, British Vivien Leigh who possessed an outstanding talent. Leigh made the part her own and, along with the film, became tantamount to Hollywood royalty. To honor Vivien Leigh and her memorable Scarlett O’Hara here are six make-up and wardrobe test stills:

Seven Justices

Judge James K. Hardy in the Andy Hardy movie series

Judge Margaret Turner in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer

Judge Taylor in To Kill a Mockingbird

Judge Weaver in Anatomy of a Murder

Judge Henry X. Harper in Miracle on 34th Street

Judge Dan Haywood in Judgment at Nuremberg

Judge Chamberlain Haller in My Cousin Vinny

Eight Serials

Follow the links to watch episodes of these dramatically exciting serials. It might take a few chapters for you to get hooked, but you’ll get hooked.

The Perils of Pauline (1914) starring Pearl White

The Vanishing Legion (1931) starring Harry Carey and Edwina Booth

The Green Hornet (1940) starring Gordon Jones

Zorro Rides Again (1937) starring John Carroll

The Master Mystery (1918) starring Harry Houdini

Flash Gordon (1936) starring Buster Crabbe

The Phantom Creeps (1939) starring Bela Lugosi

Holt of the Secret Service (1941) starring Jack Holt

Nine Ladies Dancing

Ann Miller

Ruby Keeler

Eleanor Powell

Lena Horne

Betty Grable

Vera-Ellen

Cyd Charisse

Ginger Rogers

Dorothy Dandridge

Ten Directors

Watch their movies… live, love, learn, and laugh.

Michael Curtiz

Akira Kurosawa

William Wyler

Fritz Lang

Ernst Lubitsch

John Ford

Alfred Hitchcock

Mervyn LeRoy

Ida Lupino

Lois Weber

Eleven Movies about Millionaires

Since I recommended movies about hobos in a previous year, I thought the time came for millionaires. There are many wonderful movies about the super rich, particularly during the Great Depression when audiences loved seeing the plight of these people play out for laughs. That theme made for some of film history’s best screwball comedies. The super rich, however, have lent themselves for entertaining movie fare ever since the movies began and in every genre. Check out this terrific list from Forbes spotlighting millionaires in movies.

As for me, I have quite a few favorites with millionaire themes that appeal to most others as well. These include such popular titles as The Philadelphia Story, the shenanigans of the Charleses in The Thin Man movies, My Man Godfrey, The Lady Eve, How to Marry a Millionaire, and movies featuring recognizable names like Charles Foster Kane and Bruce Wayne. For this purpose, however, I recommend lesser known, but worthy millionaire movie stories I’ve watched through the years – some in terrible condition, a few greats, and some for plain ole fun. Here are the 11 rich and classic…

Phil Rosen’s Extravagance (1930)

John G. Adolfi’s The Millionaire (1931)

Clarence G. Badger’s Miss Brewster’s Millions (1926)

Frank Tuttle’s Love Among the Millionaires (1930)

Mitchell Leisen’s Easy Living (1937)

Anthony Asquith’s The Millionairess (1960)

Robert Moore’s Murder by Death (1976)

William Asher’s Bikini Beach (1964)

Walter Lang’s I’ll Give a Million (1938)

George Marshall’s A Millionaire for Christy (1951)

Roy Del Ruth’s Kid Millions (1934)

EXTRAVAGANCE (1930_

THE MILLIONAIRE (1931)

LOVE AMONG THE MILLIONAIRES (1930)

MISS BREWSTER’S MILLIONS (1926)

MURDER BY DEATH (1976)

I’LL GIVE A MILLION (1938)

A MILLIONAIRE FOR CHRISTY (1951)

THE MILLIONAIRESS (1960)

KID MILLIONS (1934)

BIKINI BEACH (1964)

EASY LIVING (1937)

Twelve Feature Acting Debuts

Some of my favorite and/or most memorable film debuts…

Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween – effective after all these years.

Orson Welles in Citizen Kane – although Welles’ performance is what I find hardest to like in Kane, I cannot deny its impact and status among characters in film.

Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday – appropriate introduction for royalty in film and in life. She charms you from the first moment.

Eva Marie Saint in On the Waterfront – exclamation point to begin a stellar movie career.

Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl – a tour de force and a phenomenon

Peter Lorre in M – brilliant, nightmarish, heartbreaking. Described by director Fritz Lang as “one of the best in film history.” I agree.

Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins – Her debut should have been as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, but we’ll take this and so did she. Not only did Andrews win the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of the magical nanny, but she won the hearts of the world in the process.

Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People – ordinarily superb.

Angela Lansbury in Gaslight – small part, big impact. Undeniable screen presence.

Edward Norton in Primal Fear – convincing and chilling.

Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr. Chips – She wanted a worthy role as her screen introduction. She got it. She killed it – as she did from that moment on.

Eddie Murphy in 48 Hours – I love this performance highlighting the scope of Murphy’s talent.

I gave this final topic a lot of thought as there are many worthy contenders. For instance, I’m sure many would choose James Dean’s turn in East of Eden, as big a legend-ensuring performance as there ever was, but it’s not a favorite of mine. Tatum O’Neill’s performance in Paper Moon is another one I considered as were Marlee Matlin’s in Children of a Lesser God and Lupita Nyong’o heartbreaking Patsey in 12 Years a Slave. Finally, I adore Robert Duvall’s debut appearance in To Kill a Mockingbird. And I could go on and on. We just have an embarrassment of riches.

♥

Phew! There you have this year’s movie recommendations. I hope you enjoyed the list and that – in the spirit of Christmas – you take this challenge and…

#PayClassicsForward

Visit previous year’s lists as shown:

2015

2016

2017

2018

The Challenge: #PayClassicsForward for Christmas ‘Tis the season to spread cheer and I’m doing my part by recommending classic movies, paying them forward in hopes that these memorable distractions take people’s minds off negative goings on.

#12 Days of Christmas #12 Days of Classics #Movie Recommendations #Pay Classics Forward #Pay Classics Forward for Christmas

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radkoko · 5 years ago

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Novel Idea

Second day, second prompt. Books

Ao3 Link

~~~

Iruka browsed the covers of the novels on the new table as he waited for Naruto to run through the store grabbing his senior year reading books for English class. They both wanted Naruto to graduate high school, and that meant starting early on the reading for the year.

He had far too many books at home, and Iruka knew he was going to be spending far too much on Naruto today, so when he picked up the unassuming romance novel, he wasn’t looking for anything -or expecting much- more than a distraction while Naruto searched.

It wasn’t until halfway through the first chapter that something felt off about this book. Iruka felt like he’d read this before because he was getting a strong sense of deja vu. He’d just have to blame it on the stereotypical protagonist, as most romance novels went she fit the mold, brown hair, brown eyes, the ‘not quite skinny, but not fat’ body shape, and… a scar? Okay, well that one wasn’t usually on the list.

Iruka heard Naruto call out for him, but suddenly he couldn’t take his eyes off this book. The scar she described was so strikingly similar to his, and her name… Ruika… it was all so close to him that it just didn’t seem possible. He skimmed through this coffee shop love story, picking up pieces that felt so much like memories instead of a new book.

Completely engrossed in the book, Iruka jumped when a hand clapped him on the arm and tore his eyes away from the pages.

“You okay Iruka?” Naruto asked. He looked at Iruka with his big blue eyes full of concern and a basket full of books at his side.

“I’m fine,” Iruka waved off Naruto’s concern, “You get everything on the list?” He questioned the teenager who was notorious for forgetting things.

“Yes,” Naruto grumbled, Iruka stared him down looking to get a better answer, “I went through the list twice, I swear.”

“Ok,” Iruka took him at his word, “Let’s pay and get out of here. I was thinking we could pick up ramen on the way home.” Iruka offered up the treat as a reward for a successful ‘mission’, one Naruto would never say no to.

Iruka turned to put the book down, but his curiosity got the better of him, so instead he dropped it in the basket as he took it from Naruto on his way to the register.

~~~

Iruka was a fast reader, but that wasn’t the only reason he finished the book before he went to bed that night. The book was -he’ll admit it- good, but it was the fact that it was so eerily similar to his life that stopped Iruka from putting the book down.

The girl, Ruika, was shown as practically living in the coffee shop. She had a standard table that she spread out her important paperwork on, and stayed there for hours on end. Iruka felt his life was subpar compared to hers, where his paperwork was just his student’s homework that needed to be graded. He did however have a table that he had claimed, just short of writing his name in it, for those afternoons that he sat down to get some work done while waiting for Naruto to finish soccer practice.

After seeing a standard day go by the author introduced the love interest in a scene that hit a little too close to home.

Ruika, being the self described clutz she was, proved her nature by tripping and dropping her coffee all over a man sitting at the table next to hers. Iruka remembered this being a particularly embarrassing event that happened to him about six months ago. His phone started ringing, and he rushed to pick it up in case Naruto was calling about something happening at practice. It ended up being an annoying telemarketer instead, but it was enough of a distraction that Iruka tripped over a chair that had been pulled out from a table and his coffee went flying.

He’d been lucky enough to only spill it on the floor, but Ruika’s had gone over the cute guy at the table and launched them into their great romantic love story. Iruka had tried to make conversation with the guy at that table and was left sitting in silence as the whole of the coffee shop stared at his misfortune.

If it had been just that moment Iruka might have forgiven the book for being a bit cliche, but it kept going. The time he’d offered up his table to the elderly couple. Or the time he’d gone to pick up all his papers and dropped them on the floor. Even the time that he’d gone running out of the shop, only to run back in for all the paper’s he’d forgotten to pick up before leaving.

The story even had his exact coffee order, mocha with hazelnut syrup, and the way he’d finish it off with a little extra cream from the bar.

It was all too much to be pure coincidence.

Iruka had to know who wrote this, and his best lead was the coffee shop. He’d have to start observing everyone else to see who had been watching him.

~~~

Iruka picked up his drink from the barista and sat down at his usual table. It was fortunately, or unfortunately, in the center of the cafe. So while it meant he had the best view of almost everyone, almost anyone could have been watching him. It wouldn’t help him narrow down his search for the author by seating choice.

He started looking for other clues. Sukea Chidori. That was the name printed on the cover of the book. The name sounded female, which fit Iruka’s expectation for a romance author, so that’s where he’d start. He took a mental note of all the women in the shop...

A college student, furiously working through her stack of textbooks. An older woman reading a book, maybe doing what he was, waiting for after school activities to finish. A gaggle of teen girls, each showing their phones to each other and gossiping about something. And last the barista, completely overwhelmed with the line of anxious customers wanting to get their order and leave.

Well, that didn’t help one bit. None of them seemed to fit the profile, not to mention they were all too engrossed in their own world to be noticing anything that was going on around them.

Maybe he’d just have to look at different days, who knows what kind of schedule the author kept. Iruka wasn’t about to change his routine because of a book, so he was sure to have plenty of time to keep looking for the author.

~~~

Days passed, and Iruka felt no closer to finding the mysterious author. He was getting more desperate by the day, but just couldn’t picture any of these women as the author. Even more evidence was that none of them were here day in and day out like he was. The rare few, like the college girl had a schedule, but they managed to be the few that he could rule out completely.

Frustrated with his thoughts Iruka pulled out the hair tie holding back his mess of hair. A habit of his, often fiddling with it when he got anxious.

“Hmmm,” Iruka stopped himself.

That was something he hadn’t thought about. Why did the author make his character female? Sure with his hair down he could look a little feminine, but it didn’t add up. Authors often put a bit of themselves in their protagonists, and if it was a female author then wouldn’t they be the leading woman, and leave Iruka to be the man?

No, he’d been thinking about this all wrong. The author was never female, they had to be male, and they must be something like the male lead.

Iruka whipped out the book from his bag and started reading through the sections with the love interest. Loner, always on his computer, light hair, lithe body…

There.

Iruka found his match in an instant once he was looking on the right path. He knew this guy… that was when he remembered. This guy was the man he’d tried to talk to after spilling his coffee. The exact moment that the whole book had been based around.

With an idea in mind, Iruka packed up all of his stuff, leaving out the book, and walked over to the guy.

He dropped the book down next to the guy’s computer with a thud, and sat down at the table without an invitation. The noise had called a little attention from the cafe’s patrons, but he was only focused on the author who was watching him with wide eyes.

“Mind if I get an autograph?” Iruka asked, wondering if the words sounded as menacingly sweet to the other man. He knew it was accusatory, but Iruka was certain he’d solved the mystery and was desperate to understand.

“Why would you want that?” the man asked trying to keep a fake calm that was, unfortunately for him, not very successful.

Iruka evaluated him. Silvery grey hair standing up in all directions, and ghostly grey eyes that pulled him in. His turtleneck was pulled up to cover his chin and his fingers worried the edges as if it was a bad habit like biting one’s fingernails. How he was able to wear such a thing when it was so hot outside was a completely separate question.

“You wrote this, didn’t you?” It was less of a question and more of a confirmation. The man froze in place, staring somewhere between his computer and the novel at its side.

“Why did you do this?” Iruka questioned, wanting his answers, but that man continued to stay silent. “Sukea?”

“Kakashi,” he finally spoke up.

“Huh?” Iruka started to question whether he’d gotten the wrong person.

“Sukea is a pen name. My name is Kakashi.”

“Ok, but why this?” Iruka pointed at the book.

“I…” Kakashi started to talk, but seemed to have trouble finishing what he wanted to say.

“Would it help if I said I won’t get upset?” Iruka offered, “I’m mostly interested in understanding why.”

Kakashi chuckled, a sound that made Iruka smile, “You are the most inspiration I’ve ever had to write.”

“Me?” Iruka felt his cheeks flush up.

“Yeah,” Kakashi’s voice soft with reverence. “I’ve started half a dozen stories and they all sit here unfinished, but the day you spilled that coffee, my fingers just started typing and didn’t stop until I wrote that whole story.”

It was Iruka’s turn to go silent.

“It was also my chance to change our first meeting,” Kakashi gave a tentative smile, he looked scared as if Iruka would run away if he said too much, “I was too nervous to say anything that first time, but in the book I could write it all.”

“This is what you wanted to say?” Iruka asked tapping on the book. He’d read the book a few times over by now, and that first meeting between Ruika and her love interest was a total meet cute. If it hadn’t been so real to Iruka, he would have swooned at the idea of meeting someone in such a way.

“Most of it,” Kakashi admitted.

“How about we start this all over?” Iruka offered hoping to turn this awkward meeting into something a little more novel worthy.

Kakashi nodded in agreement before fixing his turtleneck and lowering the top half of his computer to give Iruka his whole attention.

“Hi, my name’s Iruka. I think you’re a fantastic writer.” Iruka held out his hand for Kakashi to shake.

“Hi Iruka, I’m Kakashi. I think you’re cute, and I’d like to get you a drink.”

Iruka laughed, “Thank you, I’d like that.”

#My writing #kakairu #kakairu week 2019

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cosmiciaria · 6 years ago

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In defense of Dragon Age 2 (review - no spoilers - long post!)

It seems I'm only allowed to play games in disorder, because I played this one after Inquisition, and guess what I'm almost at the end of now (yes, you guessed it, Origins). But it's not a problem for me, because after I *checks notes* ejem, played, uhm, like nine playthroughs of Inquisition, cof, cof, I've learned all the tiny details and branches and possible endings of each installment. So this game's story wasn't a surprise in many aspects – although there were still things I didn't know or I didn't expect.

So DA2 is the black sheep of the family, and somehow I can see why. It differs greatly from the origin prologue you get to play in the first one, and the silent protagonist is gone, replaced by an already created and established character, Hawke. Hawke can be male or female, mage, rogue or warrior – but they are only human. We are ripped off of the option of choosing between races.

And that's not the only thing the game takes away from us – we are used to travel around Ferelden, searching for allies, to fight the Archdemon, because the End is Nigh and we Must Save the World united with friends and so on – here, it's just a city. We only get to know Kirkwall, a Free Marches city that used to be owned by the Imperium and now rejoices in its so-called freedom. Kirkwall consists in some neighborhoods and some notorious buildings, but that's it. It's just the city. And I daresay, it's another protagonist of the game.

Yes, you get to go outside a few times – you even go through the ( I don't know WHY) still mandatory Deep Roads quest and whatnot – but the main storyline will still happen inside the city walls.

And that's… not so bad. But I'll get there in a moment.

So you play as Hawke, the older sibling of the Hawke family. You're escaping from Lothering, which you may remember from Origins – yes, it's the same town you visit right after Ostagar. Lothering has been overrun by darkspawn and so you take your mother and your two younger twin siblings with you: Carver, a warrior, and Bethany, an apostate mage.

In your way to the port, you come across Aveline, a well seasoned captain, and her husband Wesley, a templar. Wesley isn't in a very good condition but you still allowed them both to join your escape.

It isn't so long before the darkspawn reach you, and you make your last stand here.

Now, in this part of the prologue, what matters the most is the class you chose for Hawke. If Hawke is a mage, Bethany, the other mage, will perish at the hands of the ogre that is leading this barricade of darkspawn. If Hawke is a warrior/rogue, it will be Carver the one who makes the ultimate sacrifice so his family would survive. As I have stated in my Inquisition review, I love mages, so of course I created a mage Hawke, and so I watched Bethany, so young and rebellious, die in front of my eyes (Wesley, Avelin's husband, dies as well but we don't care much for him sorry not sorry).

Choosing a class isn't a minor or just a gameplay thing here, because it leads to two very different stories. Carver is resentful with you, he blames you for the death of his twin, and he can't get over the idea that you (and him, as well) are being hunted by templars. He can even become a templar if you choose the required options – so ironic, you a mage and your own brother a templar! His inferiority complex makes it really hard to get on well with him. Bethany, on the other hand, seems to care more for her older sibling, and bears a great admiration for their father, who was a mage and the one who taught her everything. She's guilty over the fact her family is doing everything they can to protect her from the templars and the Circle, and her attitude towards Hawke always follow that line. Her destiny has more options than Carver, though, so it makes me think that maybe Bethany was the "canon" sibling who survived – Still, I always play as a mage so I'm used to Carver by now and it feels kind of contradictory to see Bethany alive and well.

Amidst the chaos, a dragon appears, stretching its wings – it destroys the rest of the darkspawn, and soon we see that it's not just a beast. It transfigures into a human, quite known for us DA's fans: Flemeth, the Witch of the Wilds, Morrigan's mother. She's saved us, but of course she wants a little favor in return, nothing too problematic. For those who are wondering "but HEY I killed Flemeth in Origins", well this encounter happens before you do that. And if you know anything about Flemeth is that she always comes back.

Finally, you reach destination, the almighty Kirkwall, with its columns that seems to go on forever into the sky. Here, you'll start over. Here, you'll pave your way to your future. And the plot begins!

The story is divided into three well marked acts: the first Act you'll be saving money to go on an expedition to the Deep Roads to gain enough coin and reclaim the Hawke estate in Kirkwall; the second Act has you going around playing the diplomatic link between the Viscount and the Qunari who have made the city their headquarters; and the third Act, well, everything blows up. Literally, I might add.

Between the prologue and Act 1, one years passes. Between Act 1 and 2, three more years go by; and finally, Act 3 happens three years later as well. The whole story takes up like 8 years or more inside the same city. This… wasn't a good decision on the developers, in my opinion, but I'll say it after I talk a little about the characters.

First we have Hawke, our Champion. Their personality varies between diplomatic – sarcastic – upfront and direct. And this time is easier to know because gone are the days with the many responses available and now we have the wheel which shows you an icon displaying the "tone" of your reply. If there's something common across all the Hawkes you can create, is that they care for their family, they want to recover what's theirs, and there's no stopping them. They are loved by those around them and seen as a leader. Loyalty is a powerful word here, which will play a big part in the final act, because only those who are truly loyal to you will remain by your side. And it's endearing, really, to see the support of those characters that accompanied you the whole game. Oh, and they have voices. I say this because in Origins we have a silent protagonist (which took me aback considering I played Inquisition and 2 prior), and they are so well portrayed it makes them more human and approachable.

Now that we are on that topic, voice acting here is just FLAWLESS. I can't get over Gideon's voice for that stupid elf damn it.

Alright so, just like in the other games, you can recruit companions. I already spoke a little about Carver and Bethany, who are playable… for a time, at least.

This is the first time we come across Varric, our favorite storyteller. Varric isn't only just your best bud for life here, but he's also the one telling Hawke's story: he'd been abducted by Cassandra Pentaghast (yes, the one from Inquisition) who wants to interrogate him about the Champion. Varric is like your north in the game, he's always there for you, he's always supporting you, he doesn't take sides, he's funny, he's welcoming and he cares so much that I want to hug him. Goodest best friend forever.

Aside from him, you'll be crossing paths with Aveline again, now a soldier in the guard. Aveline is the correct type of person: she takes pride in her job, she wants things to get done well, following the rules. She respects honor, dignity and justice, and she doesn't approve of taking advantage of "illegal" situations and underground activities. If she's on your good side, you'll get a great supporter and a great friend, who will got your back, always.

Fenris is an elf who comes from the Tevinter Imperium – if we know anything of Tevinter apart from its blood mages, it's that they are slavers. Fenris used to be a slave who managed, somehow, to escape from his master. He bears a burning hatred towards the Vints, mages and every slaver out there. He always remarks he's a free man and he will disapprove of your support for the mages or any kind of sympathy towards slavery. So much so, that I started my relationship with him in -10 because I was a mage.

Merril is a dalish elf whom you'll be recruiting after finishing Flemeth's little favor. Merril is a blood mage, and she doesn't see the demons as enemies, but rather friends. She intends to leave her clan and go live in the city, because she's sure she can help her kin from outside instead of remaining cloistered and secluded inside. This will grant her the dislike of all her clan's members, but that doesn't stop her. She's naïve, she doesn't seem to understand most of human customs, and she's quite direct because she can't see through sarcasm or white lies. She's the purest of the team, although her abilities may tell you otherwise.

Isabela isn't new for us, if you come from Origins. Here she'll be joining us again after losing her ship. Her intentions remain a mystery most of the game, but let's just say she's quite involved with the plot of the second act. She's a forced to be reckoned with: she doesn't mess around when things need to be done and she gets them done in her own way. I'm still a bit spiteful about her because she abandoned my team after the second act, although I thought I was doing everything right!

Sebastian is only available through the Exiled Prince DLC – he's a chantry brother whose family was brutally murdered and his estate back in Starkhaven lies headless. He's conflicted about whether to remain in the chantry or go back to reclaim his land. He's righteous, he doesn't accept any rule breaking and, to be honest, he's pretty dull – specially if you're trying to romance him only because of those shiny blue eyes. The fact that he only joins you after Act 1 supports this allegation, in the way that he's not available through the first part for party banter, which always adds a lot of more depth to the characters you're playing with.

And at last… we have Anders. For those of you who played Origins' expansion, Awakening, Anders isn't a new character either. This time, though, it's not just Anders: he's possessed by a spirit of Justice, the same Justice we meet in Awakening. Anders remains in control most of the time, but when he loses it or when he enters the Fade, it's Justice the one who takes over. Anders serves as a healer in Kirkwall, helping refugees for free. He wants to move on from his past as a Grey Warden and he fights for the rights of the mages who are being hunted by the templars. Oh, man, of course I would fall for the subversive mage! Boy was I deceived… He plays a large role in the final battle, which, depending on your choices and your principles, will change your view of him forever. Let's just say that he's a pretty hated character in the franchise.

In this game you'll have choices as well, and your comments and actions will bear points of friendship or rivalry with your companions. This doesn't mean that if you get 100 rivalry points with one of them they'll abandon you, no, it doesn't work like in Origins or in Inquisition. Here you have to see the bar in both directions: the closer it is to one of the extremes, the better. The danger zone is the central one: if you have little points of friendship or of rivalry, the companion is likely to abandon you. This is what happened to me with Isabela: I had a good chunk of friendship points with her, but it seems I needed to max them out, which I didn't, and thus she flew away, goodbye. You can even romance characters with high rivalry points, and their romance plays a little different because of it. As it says, it's "rivalry" and not "deep hatred with death wishes", so maybe it spices some things up in your relationship.

Each companion will have their own questline that stretches across all three acts, and if you want to have all your team available by the end of the game, I recommend you do them. Although… well, you won't have the whole team, but I won't spoil it for you.

So I mentioned before I would talk about why the eight year story decision wasn't a good take for me after speaking a little about the characters – well, it's simple. In those three year gaps, the story acts as if nothing happens. Yes, sometimes the characters say "hey, I haven't seen you in a while" or "that thing happened three years ago" or whatever, but it doesn't work well. For instance, if you romance Fenris, you'll sleep with him in the second act, and then he goes away, seemingly not wanting to continue with the relationship. Three year pass, and then you resume your romancing with him, and he's like "yes, idk why I left that night I so regret it lol" DUDE, you're like just two meters away from Hawke's house, are you truly telling me you didn't talk to them after what happened in these three years?

The story plays as if there are no gaps in time. In fact, if you take away Varric's narration, which states that x amount of time happens between act and act, you won't even notice it! And that's the thing: I don't know why they chose to do this. I mean, I guess I understand the point, they wanted Hawke to make their own name, to be known and loved by the citizens as years went by, they wanted them to start in rags and rise to fortune, I get it. But something similar was accomplished with the Inquisitor in the third game: time passes, I believe almost a year, and you feel the love and respect you've earned from your companions. It didn't take my Inquisitor eight years for that. It didn't even take her half a month to get Cullen in love with her ok sorry. What I mean is, the eight years thing isn't well developed, and characters act as if no such time had passed, and the story is planned as well like that. It's almost as though they wanted to stray as far as possible from Origins in terms of design and choices, which is a great idea, but some things just don't add up.

For example, in Inquistion's expansion, Trespasser, two years have passed. And here you see, you feel that your characters have been away for long. They've all been following their own paths and when they finally reunite they catch up and speak about their futures and what they want for themselves. It truly feels like two years have passed. There's a huge impasse between the ending and the expansion, which marks a milestone, and you can understand why all these characters haven't seen each other for a while. Whereas between Act 1 and 2… it's like… yeah we went to the Deep Roads and yeah… hmm… Varric really three years and you still didn't hear of your brother or… wait is this letter by Carver just sent? I mean he's been away too long now but he could always send me letters why wait three years…. and so on. It breaks the continuity. In fact, it doesn't only do that, but it also makes your characters stupid. Are you telling me Anders has been in love with me for three years and he still hadn't done anything?? What are you, fifteen?

But apart from that, I believe this game is really good. I enjoyed it from beginning to end. I enjoyed the mechanic regarding your siblings: their appearance changes depending of what preset for the face and skintone you choose for Hawke. I like the idea that only one of the twins is available throughout the game. I like that the gameplay has been improved from Origins, I love that as a mage you feel so destructive with all those spells, I love that it's fast paced and more colorful. I got also really involved with some of the companions, specially Anders, Fenris and Aveline. I love that, even though they may disagree with you on some topics, they still remain by your side if you were a good friend, because that's what friendship's about. Friendship/rivalry here feels like a human thing, something quite relatable, instead of just shoving gifts onto your companion so they'd like you better. I like that somehow all of your companions are entangled with what happens in the city, and this leads me to my final point about why DA2 is still a good game.

Kirkwall. Our vedette. Our goddess. Kirkwall is the scenario for 90% of the events of the game. We're not saving the world here. We just want the peace for the city. Who should rule? Whose forces should Hawke support? Is Hawke good enough to be Viscount? Are the templars doing a good job? Or is Knight-Captain Meredith going too far?

Political intrigue. And just one city. Not all of Ferelden. Just one bad person trying to control the strings in this small portion of land, not an army of zombies or a dragon ready to consume the world. I love that the plot is just restrained to this small thing, because it lets you go deeper into everyone's stories, and it doesn't mean that it gets less epic, on the contrary. I enjoyed the final boss here way more than I did with Corpypheus in Inquisition. Here Meredith has an actual goal and she's acting upon what she thinks it's right, and at some point and to some extent, she's right! But her methods are questionable, in the least. She's not just a bad guy for the sake of being a bad guy, like it happens with Corypheus. She's bad, but she has her reasons.

You don't get to know a lot of people, because you just know those who live in Kirkwall. The familiarity, the warmth of its streets, it's like you've been living there as well, sharing with these characters and learning about their pasts. Instead of allowing you to see a huge picture with hundreds of characters involved, you just focus on those you care about, explore them more in depth. Sometimes covering everything doesn't lead you anywhere, so it might be better with just a handful of well written plot points and characters.

I'm not saying that Origins is the worst because of this, because it seems like I'm hating on it. In fact, I can't still speak much of it because I haven't finished my route yet (although I know how it ends). I'm just saying that Origins is good, that Inquisition is good, and that DA2 is also good. It's different, but still a good game. Sometimes you're tired of playing as the chosen one hero who must save the world, and maybe saving one city is enough for your heroic career.

I loved the game. I loved that it pushed my beliefs of helping the mages to the limit, to the point of questioning myself. I loved that it played tricks on me like that with the romance option. I loved the sarcastic Hawke, such a well written script. Also, Cullen is here so of course I'd love it.

Just… don't hate it that much. And if you still haven't played it, give it a shot. You might be surprised.

#dragon age #dragon age 2 #dragon age origins #dragon age inquisition #da2 #dai #dao #bioware #hawke #anders #varric #fenris #videogame #videogame review #review #gamer #ea games

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natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk · 6 years ago

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Happy 32nd Birthday Nobuhiko Okamoto!

Personal Note:

I’ve been preparing for a while because I wanted to make this with a lot more thought. Sorry for the length of this post. I spent quite a bit of time on it, but I didn’t realize it would get so long! He is one of my top favourite voice actors (both English and Japanese) ever. To me, he’s a relatable, awesome, and passionate inspiration. He puts his all into every role he does, and he never gives up no matter who tells him to.

I could probably go on about how much I like many of the roles he’s done, but that would be a whole other essay in itself. I even considered watching Corpse Party (the scaredy cat I am) because I heard he was in it. Yeah, I’m one of those people who gets drawn to anime when I figure out certain studios and voice actors are attached to it. I have watched a few episodes of some really bad anime because I heard he was in it. No regrets! Okay, maybe I have a few... I still haven’t watched them all though! I plan on watching a ton more, and that includes a few bad apples here and there.

Despite all the hurdles and adversity he faces, he overcomes it! He has had so many amazing roles, he sings, he’s good at shogi, and he’s just a good person. I respect him a lot. Honestly, I can’t word stuff too well, but I sincerely hope he continues working, maybe gets married and has kids (since he said he wanted to), and experiences all the happiness he deserves.

Table of Contents:

Top Roles (+ clips)

Trailblazer arrangement

Facts + Q&As

Music Recommendations

Additional Sources + other cool posts

Top Roles:

I watched to include even the ones that I didn’t watch entirely, so I put together a whole list. It’s generally not too strict in order, but I went from his good to his best. If I wanted to put a few words, I just included them in square brackets. In those, there will also be recommended clips if I feel the need to add any in.

* = ones that I haven’t watched completely (or up to its current point)

Rui Tatsumi* - Starmyu

Ivan Karelin* - Tiger and Bunny

Shin-ah - Akatsuki no Yona

[This character didn’t talk much, so he actually got to play a MOB character as well. I found this character kind of charming though.]

Mitsuo - Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou

[He’s the one who dropped the hot dog. Rest in Pieces. This anime made me laugh, and even though this character barely appeared, he made me laugh every time he did. Recommended clip: “Glasses”]

Gladion* - Pokemon Sun & Moon

[He’s actually the perfect choice to play this edgy boi.]

Yumeji Fujiwara* - Yumekui Merry

[RIP the can]

Makoto Kashino* - Yume-iro Pâtissière

[I just started this one]

Mizuki* - Kamisama Hajimemashite

[I watched six episodes of this one.]

Rei Ogami - Code:Breaker

[This wasn’t a very good anime, it’s a mediocre manga, but I still enjoyed it.]

Nikaidou Harunobu* - 3-Gatsu no Lion

[I watched around 6-8 episodes of this one. This character is a pure round boi, and I like the way Nobu portrayed this character. Recommended Clip.]

Io Otonashi* - Acchi Kocchi

[I watched around 5 episodes of this one. His bishounen game is very strong.]

Takeru Fujiwara* - Prince of Stride

[These anime characters run like how I run from my life responsibilities and problems. His bishounen game is also very strong. The strong and silent type is always popular. Sadly, I’m the quiet and extremely frail and weak type.]

Shouta Kisa* - Sekaiichi Hatsukoi

[According to Tumblr, he has never done an R-rated (18+) BLCD, but he has been in some shounen-ai anime.]

Issac Foster - Satsuriku no Tenshi

[My reaction to this anime. Don’t worry, I’m following this to the end.]

Ryousuke Kominato - Diamond no Ace

Ryou Kurokiba* - Shokugeki no Souma

Age - Sakasama no Patema

[Yeah, that’s his actual name. If you name your child something that stupid, I would personally like to have a word with you. This movie was really nice though.]

Accelerator* - Toaru Majutsu no Index

[I had to include his laugh to this]

Jurai Andou - Inobato (Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de)

[And jail is just a building you live in! I can’t remember the context of this line.]

Kiyoharu Hyoudou - Welcome to the Ballroom

Yoichi Saotome* - Owari no Seraph

Eiji Niizuma* - Bakuman

[Recommended Clip]

Obi - Akagami no Shirayuki-hime

[When he looks into the mirror and realizes he’s missing his eyebrows.]

Takumi Usui* - Kaichou wa Maid-sama

Yuu Nishinoya* - Haikyuu

[Recommended Clip: ROLLING THUNDER!]

Rin Okumura - Ao no Exorcist

[He’s such a likeable protagonist. Recommended clip: Rin x Shiemi because they’re adorable]

Mikoto Mikoshiba - Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

[This character made me laugh so much. He and Seo are my favourites. I haven’t seen another amazing anime with both Miyuki Sawashiro and Nobu. They’re my two favourites. I hope to see them acting together eventually (even if Mikorin and Seo never really communicated). Thanks to Nobu, we have a voice to this madly embarassed bishounen. Recommended Clips: Mikorin Clips, Mixer Clip]

Katsuki “Kacchan” Bakugou - Boku no Hero Academia

[Bakugou might not always be my cup of tea as a character, but his voice made me like him somewhat anyway whether he’s an asshole or not. There are a few scenes in season three that hit me with mad feels,, but even during season one and two, Nobu aced this role. This role is what shot him up to one of my favourite voice actors. Recommended Clips: Rage moments, Kacchan vs Deku audio segment (scroll down a little for this Tumblr post), Salty Bakugou S1]

Karma Akabane - Assassination Classroom

[While Bakugou is one type of crazy, Karma is another. Honestly, he’s such a sly, cunning, and mischievous character, but that’s what we all like about him, right?]

Trailblazer Arrangement:

youtube

This is my first time transcribing a song and arranging it! I improvised and made up some stuff (mostly guitar solos that just didn’t fit as well logically on piano). I usually don’t like (actually, I kinda hate) transcribing because it’s basically like trying to copy down a book that someone reads aloud (and you can’t look at the text). But it was worth doing this! He’s definitely not my favourite singer, but I’d still listen to him.

I didn't want to go with an original score for this one because I felt like I wanted to improve a lot more as a composer and artist (as if I'm qualified enough to be called those terms). When I make one for him, I want to go all out.

Facts:

I found some other interesting facts online. There are quite a few different sources. I’ll try to list them below all the facts (but I might link them to the actual facts as well. There are a lot, so there’s that.

All [Nat Notes] will be put between square brackets “[these]”.

These are all from THIS POST:

After graduating from secondary school, he entered some voice acting training courses associated with his agency (Pro-Fit) to pursue his dream as a seiyuu.

To be able to pay for his training, he worked at a 7-Eleven and a post office.

His family is very strict and conservative.

He was into video games when he was younger, but his parents were against letting him play video games and ended up limiting him to a one-hour per day time limit [THIS POOR BOI]

[Regarding his gaming] his parents told him, “If you want to play games, you can play shogi.” This ended up being the reason he started playing shogi.

He is a practicing Catholic [ironic since one of his most iconic roles is playing the son of Satan]

He’s a 3rd dan ranked shogi player, and he once aimed to be a professional shogi player.

He has a huge love for sweets. I follow his blog, and a lot of his posts involve sweets.

“His favourite [candy bar] would be Black Thunder chocolate bars (same as Kamiya Hiroshi and Ono Daisuke), and at one point, he always ends up buying Black Thunder by the box, stocking up on it, and eating up to 10 bars in one day, that his agency decided to restrict him into eating just one bar a day.” [let the poor guy eat his chocolate]

He is easily bullied by other seiyuu [check out the original post which has gifs of his mishaps]

“[While recording] …he ran away from the mic, forgetting that he was wearing headphones connected to the mic and ended up messing up the recording room, and the staff had to rearrange everything.”

He’s a big fan of Pokemon [He now plays Gladion in Pokemon Sun & Moon]

These are from “More Nobu Facts”

“As a student, he used to fall asleep on the train and miss his destinations sometimes. He thinks that it’s really comfortable to take a nap there.” [Yeah, you say that until you somehow end up in the middle of nowhere and wonder where you are and why you even exist.]

“He suffers from hay fever in the spring. Said that the symptoms kill him.” [You and me both except mine are year-round and gradually getting worse.]

“He played with Lego bricks when he was a kid.” [If he’s the type of person who left out the bricks and made people experience pain because of it, I will personally leave Lego bricks outside his door. Those things hurt when they’re unexpected.]

“He loves the indoor life.” [don’t we all…]

“He read the Harry Potter series.” [I did too! Not that I remember any of it.]

“His cute, foreign Furby only speaks English. Noburin stated, “English is very hard.��” [HOW DO PEOPLE SLEEP KNOWING THEY OWN ONE OF THOSE? I WOULD BURN IT IF I GOT ONE.]

“In elementary school, the girl he liked gave him chocolate on Valentine’s Day. He said he felt like crying from the shock.” [I haven’t experienced that. Was he happy because it was that girl who gave him chocolate or because he got free chocolate?]

“He was hospitalized before when he was a child due to a bad cold (or maybe the flu).” [Well, that diet sure doesn’t help, and I doubt screaming all the time is good for you. Weirdly, I can’t say anything more than that because I do both too except I scream internally while he does it as his profession.]

He tends to get sick within the first two weeks of October, right before his birthday. [I wish you luck!]

He likes to watch lightning and thinks that it’s cool. [I’M SO SCARED OF THUNDER]

During the summer as a kid, he liked to catch cicadas and dragonflies, and play with water guns. [SAME DUDE]

He was in the badminton club during secondary school.

These are all from his Q&A! [Part 1], [Part 2], [Part 3], [Part 4]:

I’m not going to include quotation marks for this one for the most part. I changed some awkward phrasing. I left out some questions from the original posts as well. Check the sources out!

Nickname: Pikorin

Favourite animal: Dog [Same. I love my dog, Penny. She’s my little sister. I have no shame.]

What are you fond of?: Squirrels [why?]

Description of your personality: Moody [Same.]

Favourite Colour: Black

Health and Beauty Routine: I drink two cups of milk in the morning and do squats two times a day.

First thing you do in the morning?: Rinse your mouth

First thing you wash in the bath: Face

Amount of sleep you get: 4 hours on the weekdays, 10 hours on the weekend [I wouldn’t live with that kind of schedule.]

Rain or sunshine: Rain!

What did you play as a child?: I slid down the slide and got many scratches. [I ran up slides a lot in elementary school]

Something you’re proud of: “I have a shiny legendary Pokemon.” [I ALMOST NEVER GET SHINIES. LET ALONE LEGENDARY ONES. THAT’S AN ACCOMPLISHMENT RIGHT THERE. The chances of getting one kinda vary, but it’s less than 0.1% I think.]

Favourite school subject: Math [Can’t relate. I’m dumb.]

Least favourite school subject: Civics

Best school memory?: I won a badminton tournament. [Can’t relate. I’m a blob.]

Previous part-time jobs: [...]post office, fast food, convenience store and then accounting, I’ve done different jobs.

If you could be reborn, would you be a man or woman? A woman!

Who was your first love?: We were in elementary school, in the same class. [Related post]

Any gesture of women unnerving to you?: My heart skips a beat when ousted or “shooed” by hand. [He gets shooed like a bug XD]

Where would you go for a date?: Tokyo Disney Sea. [You know you’re at the height of luxury when you can afford to take someone there. I want someone to take me to Disneyland or Disney World, or a Disney Cruise.]

Morning person or night person?: Morning person. [Can’t relate.]

If you could drive to any time period, what would it be?: Jurassic Period! [If it just so happens you do, *pats* it was nice knowing you (even though he doesn’t know me). He’ll get eaten by a dinosaur.]

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what would you want there with you?: My Nintendo DS or PSP. [Good luck without a charger or electricity. What games would he bring though?]

Favourite music genre: Anime songs [Me too fam.]

Do you play any instruments? No, playing the F chord on the guitar is my limit. [I like playing and creating music. I’m just not any good at it. XD He should try learning though!]

Favourite sports: swimming and badminton [I’m not good at swimming. I’m not good at badminton. I’m not good at sports.]

Sweets you usually eat: Macarons and chocolate-related sweets [AYE, that’s pretty much my taste too, so we pretty much have similar taste.]

Something you’re self-conscious about: The thickness of my eyebrows. [If his eyebrows were ugly, I would’ve commented on that already. XD (I usually say something along the lines of, “Is that a caterpillar on your face? It’s so thick and bushy! It looks like you took hair from your head and put it on your eyebrow! Maybe you can’t grow facial hair because all of it goes to those eyebrows.”)]

What will you do when and if only you became an invisible man one day?: Secretly observe Sugita Tomokazu-san. [Well, alright then. Fangirls have some competition? More importantly, Nakamura has competition!]

What’s the scariest thing to you?: In a sense, the most intimidating people. [All people are intimidating for me O^O’]

What is the title of the first game you’ve ever played in your life?: “Super Mario World”. [For me, it was Pokemon Pearl]

What would you be if you went into the fantasy world?: A witch. [Nobu, defying gender barriers. He’ll be a fabulous witch. I would similarly want to be a mage.]

What if I want to use a weapon to fight monsters?: Bow, crossbow. [I would want to use magic or a sword!]

Favourite season?: Spring. [I like winter because plants are dead (I have extremely bad allergies), snow, Christmas, my birthday, and New Year’s!]

At what spot do you like to linger around?: Starbucks. [Again, the height of luxury is when you’re able to afford Starbucks regularly.]

How’s your tolerance to alcohol?: I can’t drink much. [I don’t drink]

What good books do you usually read?: Original works that are adapted into anime. [I don’t read a lot. I’m an illiterate fool.]

What do you buy at convenience stores?: Fresh premium caramel roll cake. [I wish they had those in Canada…]

Favourite place in the country?: Okinawa. [I gotta go there someday!]

What countries do you want to go abroad?: Italy. [He recently said he wants to go to Italy for gelato and to be honest, I relate. Europe has good chocolate and cheese from what I hear.]

What are the challenges to your trip destinations like?: Pickpockets like to snatch! [He better watch out for those vans that say “Free Candy!” They might be meant for kids, but he might just stumble in.]

Are you nervous in public?: Recently it’s been okay; still nervous during events. [I’m always nervous in public. I would like to attend an event by the end of my life though.]

What would you tell your past-self (10 years ago)?: “Don’t give up and eat your dinner properly!” [I tell that to myself now XD If I were to send a message to myself, it would be something along the lines of, “What you feel, what you think, and what you believe is important. Listen to yourself. At the end of the day, you will figure out what to do. Don’t be afraid of being alone, and don’t be afraid to wander. Loosen up.”]

What would you message to your future-self (10 years from now)?: “The you in his twenties is having lots of fun. Are you having fun?” [Message for me ten years from now: PLEASE TELL ME YOU AREN’T AS DEEP INTO VOICE ACTORS AND ANIMATION. I BEG YOU, GET A LIFE.]

If the world was going to perish in 24 hours, what would you do? Gather all my friends and family, and have a BBQ party. [I would just write something in case it resurfaces. I would want to write my thoughts, opinions, and experiences along with the people around me.]

Where do you want to work?: A place where I could grow. [Same!]

What are your thoughts when you look back at 2010? I issued a sex appeal to play [Usui], and worked hard to reach the targets! [From the amount of screaming fangirls, I think you did just fine.]

What is your current aim?: To be more playful and get more out of acting.

Finally, a message to the world: I’ll work hard from now on to make a voice that everyone will not have a hard time to listen to. Thank you for your support! [Thank you Nobu! You inspire a lot of people (including me) everyday!]

Additional Facts! [SOURCES WILL BE LISTED BELOW!]

He likes watching horror movies (especially with his friends Ryouhei Kimura, Kouki Uchiyama, and Yoshimasa Hosoya. Kouki is a scaredy-cat.) When watching a horror movie, he experienced scary unknown noises and used salt to ward away ghosts.

His birthdate is October 24, 1986

He is 168cm tall

He is affiliated with the agency Pro-Fit

He won: - Best New Actor Award at the Third Seiyu Awards for his roles as Shin Kanzato in Persona: Trinity Soul, Ryuji Kuhoin in Kurenai, and Accelerator in Toaru Majutsu no Index (along with Yuuki Kaji!) - Best Supporting Actor Award at the Fifth Seiyu Awards for his roles as Takumi Usui in Kaichou wa Maid-Sama, Eiji Niizuma in Bakuman, and Accelerator in Toaru Majutsu no Index II

He loves sweets... a lot: - He’s a qualified patisserie - Where his love of sweets came from [I can also say that is a good portion of his blog]

He tried to be rebellious as a kid but got “clobbered” by his mom.

He would purposefully wear long-sleeves while in the hot recording room for “My Hero Academia” so that he would be agitated enough to play Kacchan!

He adds chocolate to his curry sometimes

He gave Ayane Sakura the nickname “Ayaneru”

He often celebrates fictional characters’ birthdays on his blog for series that he’s involved with!

He was once told to give up on being a voice actor!

youtube

Thank you for not giving up Nobu!

Music:

月刊少女野崎君-俺の手でSPARKING!! 御子柴實琴(CV:岡本信彦) - Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun: Mikorin Character Song

Kamisama Hajimemashita: Mizuki Character Song

Welcome to the Ballroom: Kiyoharu Hyoudou Character Song

『サクラメント』By Okamoto Nobuhiko Ending for Vatican Miracle Examiner

Promise - Kaichou wa Maid-sama: Takumi Usui Character Song

Restoration to 0 - Code:Breaker: Rei Ogami Character Song

Tiger and Bunny: Character Song

スタミュ Starmyu S2 Shadow & Lights 「沈黙のディアローグ」Ver. Tatsumi Rui

Blue Flame - Prince of Stride: Takeru Fujiwara Character Song

99.9% Noisy - To Aru Majutsu no Index: Accelerator character song

Oikaze ni Tsugu - Diamond no Ace: Kominato Ryosuke

Trailblazer - Ao no Exorcist

Kimi wa Hitori Janai

List of Links (Sources and other cool stuff!):

Some of the links were included in the actual facts themselves! If a source and other stuff is missing, they’re included above!

Voice Compilations:

25 Anime Characters That Share The Same Voice Actor as Boku no Hero Academia's Bakugou Katsuki

Voice Compilation [ 1 ], [ 2 ]

Wikipedia:

Nobuhiko Okamoto

3rd Seiyuu Awards

5th Seiyuu Awards

Haikyuu Stuff:

Haikyuu Awards Basically, they got the fans to nominate for awards like “Who’s the best dressed?” Then the cast got to comment (and maybe get praised by the two female cast members)

“Imagination Game” - Seiyuu Event Long story short: to win a pair of Karasuno boxers, the voice actors must answer all the same character when asked something like, “Out of the Karasuno team, who’s the most likely to [blank]”

Cast Pictures

Drama CD: Why Noya isn’t popular with women (This one is because I fricking relate because I’m too short for this tall world)

“Who’s Best Girl?” - Cast Comments + Nobuhiko’s comments [video with cc]

Nobuhiko Okamoto & Yuuki Kaji being bros [ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [That time they challenged a Guinness World record], [Nobuhiko’s message for Yuuki Kaji’s 30th birthday]

Nobuhiko’s athletic ability

Kouki Uchiyama, Daiki Yamashita, Nobuhiko Okamoto: [Comic] BNHA Cast Comments

Daiki lending Nobuhiko his jacket (this can potentially fuel Bakudeku fanfics. I can feel it.)

Nishinoya and Bakugou at Jump Festa

#Nobuhiko Okamoto #HAPPY BIRTHDAY #seiyuu #don't ask how long I spent on this #seiyuu facts #seiyuu songs #seiyuu roles #too many tags too little time

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