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aixeko · 4 months ago

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❣ " Your Strength Won't Die With You. The Torch Will Be Carried On… By Me. " ❣

| Starring | Scout!Arlecchino x Scout!Reader

| Setting | AOT Alternative Universe

| Scenario | [ DRABBLE ] ANGST! Hurt no comfort. Pronouns are not used. Mention of Clervie.

► RADIO CHANNEL [ Author note ]

× Since I haven’t posted in a while might as well. Maybe once I’m done with work then I will probably turn this into a oneshot. × I imagine Arlecchino as Levi Ackerman and the reader as Hange Zoë, like it’s so right to me. Levihan, my beloved doomed couple. × Please bare with the quality, I'm writing this half awake at midnight 😭😭

[ Word count: 2009 ] | Art credit: Anko on Twitter

The sun hung high in the azure sky, no longer obscured by the thick roiling clouds, casting the world in its muted, almost sickly warmth. The haze once clouding the environment now reveals the onslaught accursed by humanity's exterminator, known as the Titan. Your comrades, individuals with a name, a family, and a lifetime of histories, are now nothing more than indistinguishable pieces, the Titan's mnemonic of their victorious reign over humanity.

You stand tall in front of a headless comrade, your expression unreadable, yet the heart telltale a great difference. You have been doing this for years; yes, you have seen your ally die in dedication to their heart to push forth humankind for a chance at advancement, but the experience does not account for the hardship the mortal heart has to endure.

You crouch down and wrap their head in a blanket, preserving all that remains to honor their life with a proper burial. One of the scouts came to retrieve the corpse from you, a solemn expression displayed on his face, exactly mirroring the rest of the regiment.

In the corner of your perception, you observe a hint of pink. Your eyes soften ever so slightly at the familiar identification of the fallen scout. So that's why that Titan is beaten hollow. You thought, your gaze turning to the carcass of bones and to the slaughterer of said carcass.

Arlecchino? The first time her name rolled off your tongue, it was with an inquiry rather than a declaration. It was an unfamiliar hesitation as if in fear of mispronunciation, leaving an unwanted first impression.

She was a new addition to the scout regiment, someone from the lowest part of the three divine walls separating humanity from its destructor, the underground. Arlecchino had come with another, a pink-haired girl by the name of Clervie. The duo had ill intentions to assassinate the scout regiment commander in exchange for gaining citizenship in the wall farthest from Titan territory and the most extravagant of the three.

In turn, the outcome of the attempted extermination led to this: Clervie's unfortunate death and an outraged, newly reawakened Arlecchino. It was pitiful, really, to harbor such confidence in one's own ability with such lackluster experience in Titan territory; their fate was always bound to end in tragedy.

You perform the same repetitive, heartfelt action you've carried out on hundreds and thousands of fallen soldiers. A blanket wrapped around their cadaver, a funeral to release their soul, and a flame carried on by the living.

You give the body to a scout, and with Clervie's cloak in hand, you make your way to the living corpse that is Arlecchino.

"Welcome to the life of the Survey Corps."

At the feeling of the cloak dropping onto her lap and the reverberation emitted from your voice, Arlecchino's head slowly tilted up to gaze at you. The intensity of those unique crimson-marked eyes is fuming with seemingly all of humanity's rage, and you can't help but admit the overwhelming predatory and prey-like dynamic in the air.

"The loss of the one dearest to you is the tragic reality as humankind hopes. The scout regiment has long lived with losses since the founding of its creation, but does that result ever dwindle the flame? No, it doesn't."

Your hand lifts from its position and outstretches in a proposition for her acceptance.

"Losing is all we ever know, and those who brave through it are the ones to continue igniting the flame of the passing and the living. Become the strongest," the corner of your lip curves upward in a smile, "and lead your comrade to a victorious battle; that's what they lived and died for; that is what she would have wanted for you."

Arlecchino The second time her name left your lips, your tongue rolled with expectation for the capabilities the woman held in those limbs of hers and for the beginning of a profound bond between soldiers.

A lifetime seemed to fly by before there was some sort of reaction or action. Arlecchino wraps Clervie's cloak around herself and goes onto her feet without accepting your hand.

"Fine. I will follow you," she says, standing beside you, her once-lowered head now raised to the sky. "Foolish, suicidal bastards."

Like second nature, your posture straightens, a widening smile stretching all over as you clench your right fist and strike your chest just above your heart with firmness.

"Dedicate your heart."

Arlecchino made a sound of disapproval, a clear indication that she did not resonate with the Survey Corps salute. She moves from her position and makes her way to her horse. You shake your head with the smile still on your face; soon enough, you follow suit onto your own horse, making your way back to the safety of the divine walls' protection.

Days, months, and then years passed by since that day; you both aged together in the weak and strength, the mature and the experiences. Death scythes had struck many times at the both of you and each time survival was granted, an invisible thread seemed to tighten around the two of you, especially in the most vital and fragile part of the human body, the heart itself. If it ever dared to break, then the consequence of its utter annihilation would be so great that death would be a gentler fate.

It was meant to be another mission, a normal and non-risky one; nothing should have gone wrong according to the commander's calculations.

You're mounted on your horse alongside your fellow soldiers, and beside you is your partner, Arlecchino, the strength to your weakness and vice versa. You wave to the awing citizens, awaiting the gate of the wall to open so your expedition to survey outside can begin.

"You see that, sister? The crest on their cloak—those are the wings of freedom! It shows that they are our saviors; I want to be like them when I grow up!"

Your gaze softens upon overhearing the conversation between a young boy and his sister. Oh, how pure and innocent a child's mind is; if only they knew the nightmare that each member of the scout regiment has to endure every expedition.

The gate lifted up, and every soldier turned their attention to it, and simultaneously, every horse began building momentum to charge out.

"Isn't that Captain Arlecchino? They say she's worth more than hundreds of soldiers; if only there were more of her, then our taxes wouldn't be wasted on dead corpses."

Your eyes furrow at the backhanded compliment as you pass by the gossiping citizens. You shake your head in disapproval, and it seems Arlecchino has heard it too; sharing the same displeasure, she mutters a distasteful comment about their words. You turn your head to her, a knowing smile stretched upon you; in turn, she gives you her usual nearly unreadable expression; at least to everyone else, it's unreadable.

"You achieved what you sought; are you not satisfied with the compliment?"

The gate fully opened, and the commander's voice boomed in announcement of the beginning of the Survey Corps expedition outside the wall. Soldiers roared, and horses soared in determination.

"You're one to talk."

Arlecchino sprints past you, making you let out a laugh as you follow behind her. The outside wind blows against your hair, and your eyes are set forward, shining with hope and perseverance.

It was meant to be a normal and safe mission, so why did this happen?

ARLECCHINO The third time her name slipped past your lips, it was an involuntary one, sparked out of fear and anxiety for your closest ally's life—feelings that you hadn't truly felt in a long time.

With your two blades in hand, you strike the nape of the Titan looming over Arlecchino. A hint of relief flashes, and I'm grateful you weren't too late. You retrieve your omni-directional mobility gear [ ODM ] and land beside the injured Arlecchino.

"What happened? Can you move? Is it your arms, your head, or your legs?" Questions spur out at an inhumanly rapid pace, faster than you have ever talked. You were scared; you were so scared.

Arlecchino placed a reassuring hand on your shoulder.

"My legs, but it will be fine. A horde of Titans came my way; other groups came to help me and tried to fend them off, but unfortunately couldn't. What about your group? Where are they?"

You were going to answer her with the same regrettable answer; your entire group had also been completely wiped out, but your words would forever be left in the void because the next thing you knew, Arlecchino shoved you away.

A sound of pain is produced from your mouth as your body makes contact with a tree. Your hand clutched your chest as you tilted your head upward from the ground. You're left gaping as a 15-meter titan has its foul mouth clutch around Arlecchino's hand. Without thinking, a sudden phenomenal rush of adrenaline submerged you against all logic; you used the last ounce of strength left in you and charged with your broken ODM straight at the titan's nape. Due to the malfunction, your ODM wasn't fast enough, and because of this nonstrategic decision, you served yourself on a silver platter to the beastly abomination.

"Idiot," Arlecchino grumbled under her breath.

With only a single available hand, she manages to strike the Titan's nape, releasing you from its grip. Arlecchino crumbles to the ground as her bleeding intensifies at a substantial rate. Sweat and blood bead on your face; you push yourself and slowly drag your battered body to Arlecchino. You wrap a hand around her in a protective manner; the very moment your eyes set on hers, tears stream down your face. With great speed, you scan for the purple signal flare, a smoke indicating an emergency of some kind.

"Stay alive for me—okay...? Help will be here soon, please- I.."

Before you could say anything more, Arlecchino fired the purple smoke signal for you.

"Take my gear; yours is damaged. You can still save yourself."

"What-?"

"You know better than anyone else that my injuries are too grave. By the time we reach the wall for help, I won't be alive."

Your eyes meet hers; no longer does it share the same characteristics as the one you saw all those years ago. No longer were they fuming with rage equivalent to humanity, but rather a reflection of tranquility and delicacy as that of a hare.

"Don't do this to me... please Arle-"

She brought a hand to silence you. Her gaze softened, and following along, there was a small smile.

"My real name is Peruere," she uttered in a hushed tone.

A wider smile spread across her parched lips. With her fist clenched, she struck your chest, exactly where your heart is located.

"Dedicate your heart."

With a final, whispered breath of your name, the weight of her eyelids, burdened with exhaustion, at last forced her eyes shut. The realization finally dawned on you at her modified version of the Survey Corps' salute.

Peruere. The last time her name escaped your lips, it was a cry of anguish and betrayal soaring through the dimming sky. The grief gnaws at your fragile heart from the crushing fact that you failed to protect and save one of the only people who ever genuinely mattered to you. The sting of betrayal scorches your soul because she will never get to experience the entirety of your life while you get to live through every moment of hers. Soon enough, the memory of her eyes, her features, the memories, everything, will be lost to the world, haunting you forever, a thorn in your side at the price of freedom that came with the loss of your love.

And in the end, the only solace you have is the weight of her absence, one that echoes louder than words ever could. All that is left is emptiness, a void that can never be filled by anyone else.

► RADIO CHANNEL [ Author note ] × Originally, I didn't intend to kill Arle but rather the reader. It just came to suddenly and since I couldn't decide I spun the wheel lmfao.

#erise short #arlecchino x reader #arlecchino x y/n #arlecchino x you #arlecchino #arle angst #arlecchino angst #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin wlw #angst #hurt/no comfort #arlecchino genshin impact #genshin

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em1e · 1 year ago

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SELF-SHIPS.

ERROR: 404 🚧 [ UNDER CONSTRUCTION ! ] [ PICS TBA ! ]

◞⁺⊹． EMJI. ── baji keisuke

childhood friends to lovers, black + pink coded, is death the end? maybe! but i will love you forever! final timeline // that asshole everyone tells you to not be with, Very Normal developing life together.

out like a light ; the honeysticks. ★ i love you so ; the walters ★ talk to you ; ricky montgomery ★ 12 fractures ; pierce the veil ★ meteor shower ; cavetown ★ you're gonna miss me ; rio romeo ★ no mercy ; deathbyromy ★ absence ; rio romeo

◞⁺⊹． GIMMIE. ── gin akutagawa

doomed yuri, rivals to lovers, sneaking kisses and secret dates, super fun until it's Not, romeo and juliet themes, 'we could just leave' 'i can't do that', the world is working against us.

wasted summers ; juju<3 ★ fracis forever ; mitski ★ my heart is buried in venice ; ricky montgomery ★ magnolia ; laufey ★ mercy ; sir chloe ★ velvet ring ; big thief ★ right side of my neck ; faye webster ★ pork soda ; glass animals ★ once more to see you ; mitski

◞⁺⊹． SUMIE. ── geto suguru

friends to lovers, "i'd follow you down a dark path as long as you hold my hand", trigger of love heavily insp by our dynamic, older brother!haibara dies and idk what's left, found family.

my love, mine, all mine ; mitski ★ unknown / nth ; hozier ★ i know the end ; pheobe bridgers ★ your best american girl ; mitski ★ strawberry wine ; deana carter

◞⁺⊹． SAKUMIE. ── oda sakunosuke

friends to lovers, "you like me? that's so embarrassing" "we've been together for four years", found family, "we'll get out of this life together" "yeah c:" (we both die quickly and tragically), my death adds character development for Him.

the adults are talking ; the strokes ★ a kind thing to do ; cavetown ★ using you ; mars argo ★ maggot ; dazey and the scouts ★ drink ; destroy boys

honorable mentions that may be added later + ship names that may be changed: inumie (inumaki toge) // yukimie (fukuzawa yukichi) // emjiro (mikey sano) // katsumie (katsuki bakugou)

#>//////<#self ship #ask me about my ships !#(do not perceive me)

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ladystoneboobs · 3 years ago

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just thinking about how songs appear in asoiaf and how they relate to the stark ladies. specifically with jenny of oldstones being introduced first in arya’s then catelyn’s povs in the riverlands through the song about her.

"She[Arya] will leave on the morrow, with us," Lord Beric assured the little woman. "We're taking her to Riverrun, to her mother."

"Nay," said the dwarf. "You're not. The black fish holds the rivers now. If it's the mother you want, seek her at the Twins. For there's to be a wedding." She cackled again. "Look in your fires, pink priest, and you will see. Not now, though, not here, you'll see nothing here. This place belongs to the old gods still . . . they linger here as I do, shrunken and feeble but not yet dead. [...]” She drank the last of the wine in four long swallows, flung the skin aside, and pointed her stick at Lord Beric. "I'll have my payment now. I'll have the song you promised me.”

And so Lem woke Tom Sevenstrings beneath his furs, and brought him yawning to the fireside with his woodharp in hand. "The same song as before?" he asked.

"Oh, aye. My Jenny's song. Is there another?"

And so he sang, and the dwarf woman closed her eyes and rocked slowly back and forth, murmuring the words and crying. -Arya VIII, aSoS

[Cat, to Robb:]"Oldstones, all the smallfolk called it when I was a girl, but no doubt it had some other name when it was still a hall of kings." She had camped here once with her father, on their way to Seagard. Petyr was with us too . . .

"There's a song," he[Robb] remembered. "'Jenny of Oldstones, with the flowers in her hair.'"

"We're all just songs in the end. If we are lucky." She had played at being Jenny that day, had even wound flowers in her hair. And Petyr had pretended to be her Prince of Dragonflies. Catelyn could not have been more than twelve, Petyr just a boy. -Catelyn V, aSoS

without any real context yet for jenny’s story, it’s clear from the first mention of her song that it was a sad one. this adds to the tragic atmosphere of the stark-tully riverlands story even before the red wedding, as both mother (with robb and edmure and co.) and daughter (with first the brotherhood without banners and then the hound) move ever closer to doom at the twins. the lack of detail makes it more subtle than the more fully-told story of the tristifer iv mudd with his grave in oldstones and its ominous foreshadowing for robb. easier to remain blind to the upcoming tragedy if one focuses on the romantic aspect (flowers in her hair) and ignores the hint that the song is a romantic tragedy, one of several coloring the setting of the riverlands.

the next we hear of jenny and her song is in a return to oldstones, this time with an undead cat and tom o’ sevens and the rest of the riverlander outlaws traveling with her instead of with arya. by this time, the red wedding is past, the time has come for vengeance, and the tragedy of the song and the setting is unmistakable. it is now clear how both the story of the fallen “hammer of justice” and the story of jenny of oldstones relate to the tragedy of the young wolf.

Fallen leaves lay thick upon the ground, like soldiers after some great slaughter. A man in patched, faded greens was sitting crosslegged atop a weathered stone sepulcher, fingering the strings of a woodharp. The music was soft and sad. Merrett knew the song. High in the halls of the kings who are gone, Jenny would dance with her ghosts . . . -Epilogue (Merrett Frey), aSoS

#asoiaf meta #valyrianscrolls #arya stark #catelyn stark #robb stark #a wolf with a fish in its mouth #No man calls my lady of Winterfell a traitor in my hearing #jenny of oldstones #asoiaf #(c)lsb

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maxwell-grant · 3 years ago

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Jumping off from my previous question/suggestion, might I please ask if there are any superheroes you think would make fine Pulp Villains and any Supervillains you think would make convincing Pulp Heroes?

I'm gonna go ahead and remark that I'd personally suggest to anyone who's trying to create pulp characters inspired by superheroes (which would be probably about 90% of you who may want to do that sort of thing) to flip the script around a little. As in, don't try to create pulp analogues to the Justice League/Avengers upfront, but play around with some of the lesser-known icons and filter those through your idea of what “pulp” means (which is gonna be quite different than my own or anyone else’s).

I’m not gonna really mention characters I’ve already talked about before like Vandal Savage or Namor, instead I’ll pick new ones and see what can be highlighted about them.

Regarding “Superheroes who could make fine/convincing Pulp Villains”, even though he’s a character I've read basically nothing on, Martian Manhunter definitely leaped out to me as an obvious option. He’s a Sci-Fi Superman who takes the first half of the name to an extreme that borders on comical, except he’s not a square-jawed white man, he’s a 1.000 year old green alien from Mars with shapeshifting powers who can look as monstrous as the artist desires. He’s the product of an advanced civilization and genetic modification, and on top of the Flying Brick powerset and shapeshifting, he also has incredibly powerful and extensive telepathic abilities, he can become invisible, phaze through matter, use telekinesis and other weird abilities. A lot of pulp stories closer to sci-fi were based around the idea of taking one of these abilities and extrapolating horrific consequences for them, and J’onn has those by the dozens. He also has an extremely mundane weakness that would allow him to be beaten by Macready with a blowtorch if that’s where the story ended.

He was also a law enforcement officer from Mars who became a police detective and it’s even right there in his name, and again, I have never read anything he’s in (I should probably pick the Orlando mini), I know he’s for all intents and purposes a generally nice man who tends to job a lot in crossovers and cartoons, but the idea of taking all those great vast and horrifying alien powers, combining all of them into a single character who also happens to be the last survivor of a doomed planet (and one who actually lived through it’s collapse), and then making that character a former cop trying to resume his work on Earth?

That is a Pulp Supervillain begging to happen, and a particularly horrifying one at that. And hey, speaking of The Thing-

Now, Plastic Man’s potential for horror has already been explored quite a bit in some of the darker DC continuities like Injustice and DCeased, and it’s quite funny seeing a lot of these turn Plastic Man into The Thing because there were quite a handful of Wold Newton pages that ran with the idea that Macready from the original story was Doc Savage, and that the secret chemicals that Eel O’Brian was hit by that gave him his powers were actually samples of The Thing contained in one of Savage’s labs. Regardless, the idea of a former street crook suddenly gaining bizarre shapeshifting abilities that allow him to reign terror on his gangster associates could make for a great premise as a pulp crime story that veers into horror as the gangsters gradually figure out what is Eel O’Brian’s deal, and then the story can take a more tragic turn.

The thing about Jack Cole’s Plastic Man that modern takes on the character neglect is that, while Plas was a lively roguish anti-hero (arguably the first of it’s kind in comics), he’s still for intents and purposes “the straight man” (HA, right, Plastic Man being “straight”). He’s the relatively sane hero who plays off Woozy’s wackier misadventures and the imaginative madness that Jack Cole paints his adventures with, and it makes for an interesting contrast considering Plastic Man is already a weird character, having to ramp up the strangeness of the world around him so that he still remains the sane man. There are ways to twist this into something quite horrifying, even tragic for Plastic Man as he either struggles to maintain coherency, or embraces the shifting chaos the world’s spiraling into for better or worse (and definitely for the worse towards those on the receiving end of his vengeance, or even his humor).

Now, onto the flipside, regarding Supervillains that could become Pulp Heroes -

Normally I’d not mention the Batman villains here, because I already have a lot to talk about in regards to them as is, they comprise some of my favorite comic characters, but I pretty much have to make an exception for Two-Face in this topic, as not only a pretty obvious option but one with even case studies to prove it, as not only do we have The Black Bat, a 1930s costumed pulp hero with an identical origin story and several other conceptual overlaps with Batman, as well as The Whisperer, a young hotshot police commissioner who dresses up as a disfigured vigilante to kill criminals without consequence (and who’s somehow less of a maniacal asshole in his secret identity than in his regular one), but it turns out that there actually was a 1910s pulp hero called The Two-Faced Man:

Crewe was created by “Varick Vanardy,” the pseudonym of Frederic van Rensselaer Dey (Nick Carter, Doctor Quartz), and appeared in three short stories and two novels and short story collections from 1914 to 1919, beginning with “That Man Crew” (The Cavalier, Jan. 24, 1914).

Crewe is “The Two-Faced Man.”

He is in his forties and has gray hair and a “sharply cut and handsome profile—until one caught a view of the other side of his face and saw the almost hideous blemish that nearly covered it, and which graduated in corrugated irregularity from a delicate pink to repulsive purple.”

Crewe is two-faced in another way. Crewe is a saloon owner in below Washington Square. But he has another identity: Birge Moreau, portraitist and socialite hanger-on. Crewe uses both his identities to solve crimes as an amateur detective.

The only person to know about both of Crewe’s identities is a police inspector who is also Crewe’s friend and who Crewe helps in pressing cases - The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heores by Jess Nevins

And speaking of obvious picks for Supervillains turned Pulp Heroes,

Assuming I even need to make a case for Kraven the Hunter other than just presenting this cropped panel from Squirrel Girl and in particular the art painted on the Kra-Van, or even just telling you to read Squirrel Girl and it’s take on “The Unhuntable Sergei” (I had no idea most of the people saying “Kraven’s arc in Squirrel Girl is as good if not better than Kraven’s Last Hunt” weren’t actually joking in the slightest and I speak as someone who has Kraven among their absolute favorite Marvel characters, it had no right being that good), I’m going to quote the brilliant Rogue’s Review from The Mindless Ones that lays down in painstaking detail why Kraven could make a killer protagonist in that horrifically over-the-top pulp fashion

One thing that strikes me writing this, is how well Kraven could hold his own comic. There’s always room for a book spotlighting a ruthless, hardcore, gentleman bastard, and Kraven’s raison d’etre makes him supremely versatile, so well suited to any genre, any environment. It’s odd that more writers haven’t jumped on the fact that in a universe where off-world travel is possible – indeed, common – a hunter like Kraven would have a field day.

I can just imagine the opening scene – herds of weird cthuloid bat creatures grazing in the gloomy green nitrogen fields, bathed in lethal, bone splintering fog, when, suddenly, LIGHT! from above and an unholy bellowing: “CTHGRGN fthgrgnARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHGN!”

They look up in fear and then they start to run – ploughing into and over each other, tentacles flailing, as from the space-ship’s docking bay Kraven silently plummets, barely dressed for the cold, a glowing knife smothered in elder signs jammed between his teeth.

You should have seen him one night previous, sipping alien tokay around the Captain’s table with the other guests, discussing the morning’s hunt; and the way he insulted the Skrull dignitary by forgetting himself and accidentally sporting his favourite piece of formal wear: his boiling unstable dinner-jacket of many colours, fashioned from the hide of one of the Ambassador’s super kinsmen.

Whoops!

Midway through Kraven explaining how the best way to irreparably damage a symbiote is to wait until its bonded with you and then seriously maim yourself, the Skrull decided it might be a good idea to simmer down, while his beautiful Inhuman lover hung on every word.

The deeper I get into this the more convinced I am that the MU’s hunter-killer extraordinaire wouldn’t limit himself to bloody planet Earth. And neither would he limit himself to this dimension, or universe or timeline. The guy’d be just as at home leaping, sword raised, onto the back of a T-Rex in the Savage Land, as he would be ploughing through werewolves in the graveyards of Arkham or tracking a howling Demon across Mephistopheles’ realm.

He’d work perfectly in all these environments because he has a damn good reason to be casting a bloody swathe through them: wherever there’s big game, you’ll find Kraven.

The next choice I guess is an oddball, but not that much of an oddball if you know already what is my main frame of reference towards Marvel

I don’t think people appreciate enough that the main reason Shuma-Gorath has anything resembling a fanbase has nothing whatsoever to do with the comics he was in, but entirely because, when Capcom designers had a list of Marvel characters to pick from to work on Marvel Super Heroes, they took a look at the diet Cthulhu and went “gimme THAT one”, and then went all-in in giving the alien squid monster a funky personality along with a great stage and music and animations and all that great fighting game character stuff, and now he’s maybe the most popular Dr Strange villain along with Dormammu and Mordo, despite having ZERO film appearences or major showings in comic sagas.

Capcom's designers redefined Shuma-Gorath from a nebulous cosmic evil into a comically smug cartoon bastard who can rant about devouring all dimensions and souls horrifically while also cracking poses and zingers like “How do you expect to win a fight with only two arms?” and having dinners with Dhalsim or hosting Japanese game shows in his endings, and it kills me that none of this ever made it’s way into any depictions of the character outside of MvC.

So that’s kinda what I’d go with. I’d take Capcom’s Shuma-Gorath, depower him a bit obviously from his canonical power, and run with the premise of his MvC3 ending where he decides that, well, if he's the unlikely savior of this pathetic planet and these wretched human dogs like him so much, and he’s clearly having a much better time here among them than he ever had drifting among the stars cealessly consuming life, then maybe he can take a break from all that eldritch business and keep up hosting the Super Monster Awesome Hour and maybe fight whatever PITIFUL villains think can take HIS planet. I mean, he’ll probably still end up destroying the planet by the end, but why not give this hero business a try?

Just until he gets his full powers back of course.

I mean you can’t deny he DOES look pretty good in that bowtie, surely The Great Shuma-Gorath wouldn’t be so unmerciful as to deny these vile wastes of flesh something good to look at in their brief and miserable lives.

#replies tag #marvel comics #marvel #dc comics #dc #pulp heroes #pulp villains #martian manhunter #plastic man #kraven the hunter #two-face #shuma-gorath #marvel vs capcom

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kuroos-world · 4 years ago

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I know I already sent in a request but I just thought of one and hopefully I can share it!! This is a hanahaki au. So basically Reader like tsukishima and has hanahaki. Y/N decides to confess their feelings cause hey maybe there’s a chance to not die. However, Tsuki rejects her and reader gets the surgery instead. In the end, tsukishima realizes his feelings, but it’s too late since she already doesn’t feel anything for him anymore. I just want some painful angst at this point:,)

Tell me you love me - Tsukishima Kei

A/M: it took me a while but I really hope you like it !! Thanks for sending in this request, I thoroughly enjoyed writing this!

Masterlist

** Hanahaki - coughing up flower petals because you have unrequited feelings for someone **

You didn’t know how it started, first it was just a sore throat. But the more time you spent around the tall blonde the worse your throat hurt, you started coughing a lot. It began with just a petal or two, but now it felt like a whole rose bush had settled in your chest. It was painful but nothing could be more painful than loving such a cold person.

The two of you were kind of friends, though you were much closer with Yamaguchi, you had managed to forge a friendship with the two. You studied with them, you were always present at their volleyball games cheering them on obnoxiously loud. You’d even managed to score a spot in their weekly movie night, that’s where you were right now, sitting between Yamaguchi and Tsukishima watching Jurassic Park. Tsukishima didn’t know you had Hanahaki but Yamaguchi did, you could tell by the way he looked over at you solemnly when you held in your petal filled coughs, “stop moving so much,” Tsukishima scolds,

“ ‘m sorry,” you mumble, still holding in the petals, you try to get up to spit out all the petals. But before you can you cough harder than before and outfall all the petals you had been holding. Your cheeks flush deeply in embarrassment, “disgusting” Tsukishima says glaring down at you, you rush to pick up the petals and Yamaguchi crouches down to help you until Tsukishima stops him, “don’t touch that, let y/n do it. The petals are covered in saliva,” his tone is more cold than you’d ever heard it.

Needless to say you don’t get invited to movies nights after that, both boys start to distance themselves from you. Tsukishima treating you like you didn’t exist, but you were persistent after all they were the only friends you had, “Tsuki!” You call, running to catch up with him and Yamaguchi, “stop calling me that,” you frown slightly but at least he acknowledged you. “Yamaguchi calls you Tsuki though,” “well he’s my friend,” your frown deepens, “then what am I?” “Nothing but a pest,”

Tsukishima looked down at you with an icy glare, your breath hitches, not only from the beautifully cold boy in front of you but more from the thorn covered bush that grew inside of you. You run past the icy glare and past the guilt filled eyes that we’re watching you, running all the way to the nearest trash bin and cough up a twig full of thorns and petals. The petals were a creamy shade of pink, if not for the pain they caused you probably would’ve loved them.

“Tsuki you were too mean” Yamaguchi tuts but it’s only met with a soft glare and a “shut up”

You ended up eating lunch alone that day, and everyday for the next few weeks. And every day you pretended not to hear the snickers and taunting from the girls in your class.

“Poor y/n“ one girl mocked, “ so desperate for love,” the other girls giggled “no one wants them so they have to give themselves flowers” they all laughed when you coughed in pain. Akito, the prettiest girl in your grade, she is we relentless, “poor y/n, it’s beihijre in love with Tsuki, huh?” Her laughter grew when tears formed in your eyes.

—

After weeks of icy flares and merciless taunting you decide to just confess, if the petals don’t stop when you’d take your mothers offer for a surgery to rid you of the pain you felt. “Um Tsukishima?”

“What?” His tone was uncaring, he didn’t even need to present to sound uninterested,

“Before you go to practice today can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Why?”

“Just hear them out Tsuki” Yamaguchi whispers nudging him,

“Fine but you only get a minute,”

The rest of the day goes on and you grow more anxious by the minute, you knew the girls had gotten word of your conversation with the two boys that morning. You could feel them watching you all day, by the time school ended you were a flustered mess. You meet Tsukishima in front of the stairs, you bow once he’s in front of you,

“Tsukishima, I-I just wanted to say I like you and I have for a while now. I have Hanahaki which you probably know and it’s painful, all because I love you. And.. and I know you don’t feel the same, I’ve tried moving on but no one makes me feel the way you do. The things they say, I simply I don’t care, they’re not you and I get so bored. They can’t do what you do or be who you are, so why would I even dare? Don’t leave me please, without you I’d be doomed, stuck with all the rest..

Do you think you could give me a chance ?”

you stand once more, tears filled to the brims of your eyes, you’re heart bared out for him. Tsukishima just pushes up his glasses and glares at you, “pathetic, it’s not my fault you decided to fall in love with me you idiot” he scoffs before walking away, leaving you to down in your tears and choking out sobs and flower petals. The more your heart broke the more beautiful the petals became ‘how beautifully tragic’ you think trying to catch your breath. You hear someone laughing from behind you and there she is, Akito, with her beautifully long hair flowing behind her, phone in hand recording you as she walks closer,

“Poor y/n, why would you even think you had a shot? It’s obvious Kei has better taste than someone like you,” next thing you know you’re surrounded by girls, all of them mocking and laughing at your pained state.

That night you tell your mom of the horrible way they treated you and that you’re ready to proceed with the operation, so the next morning while all your classmates go to school, you go to the hospital. There they prepared you for the operation, they explain that not only will you lose feeling for Tsukishima Kei but there’s a high chance you’ll never fall in love again,

“Is it worth it?” A nurse asks you, “loving him does nothing but cause me pain, i could’ve endured the pain had he given me a chance,”

They begin the operation, and the same nurse says, “tell me everything you love about him,”

“Tsukishima Kei, he’s beautiful and intelligent..

He scrunches up his nose a lot, and the way he pushes up his glasses is adorable.. he’s an incredibly talented volleyball player, he’s a middle blocker…

** Meanwhile**

“Looks like y/n’s not here today,” Yamaguchi sighs feeling bad for you, “Tsuki I think you should apologize,” the blonde just shrugs, “Tsuki you were too cruel,”

“Apologize to that pathetic loser?” Someone says behind them “honestly I don’t think you were cruel enough Kei,”

“Don’t call me that,” Akito pouts, walking towards him and wraps her arms around him, “you can do so much better, baby,”

“Ew get off,” Tsukishima shakes her off,

“Akito, what do you mean he wasn’t cruel enough?” Yamaguchi asks, she rolls her eyes at him,

“I wasn’t talking to you but Kei I was meaning to tell you, I like you and after that pathetic attempt to make you love them, I put y/n in their place” she grins pulling out her phone. The two boys watch in horror while Akitk laughs, “it’s what they deserved,”

“You’re a sad excuse for a girl, girls are supposed to be beautiful but everything about your existence screams ugly and useless,”

** back at the hospital**

After you stopped talking the nurse presses again,

“What else do you love about him?”

The doctor removes the final branches from your chest

“Nothing”

You were able to go home the next day, and once you get there Tsukishima is waiting. Your mom goes inside giving you space to talk,

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know they were treating you that way,” you shrug uninterested in anything he has to say,

“I-I changed my mind, I want to give you a chance.. I want to give us a chance” you laugh

“It’s too late, I got the Hanahaki removed and with it went my feelings for you.” His eyes droop sadly but he has no one to blame but himself,

“Tell me you love me,” he demands,

“I love you,” you respond all too quickly, as if the words held no meaning.

“Say it again,” you giggle this time, giving him a sly look, “I love you” you say sweetly. He knows it’s not real but chooses to believe you away,

“One more time” you cling your body onto his,

“I love you.” Your tone went cold as did your eyes, betraying the words you said and the way you cling to him..

#haikyuu x reader #haikyuu!!#haikyū!!#haikyuu tsukki #tsukishima kei #hq tsukishima #tsukishima x you #tsukishima scenarios #tsukishima headcanons #tsukishima imagine #tsukishima smut #tsukishima x reader #tsukishima x y/n #tsukki x y/n #tsukki headcanons #tsukki imagines #yamaguchi tadashi

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caseyah · 4 years ago

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.flow

I just finished playing through .flow, so I think I’ll try to give my full thoughts and interpretations on a lot of I found and experienced in the game (in the form of a series of points, because my thoughts are scattered even at the best of times).

for now I will be just be tackling characters roughly in order of how relevant I believe them to be to Sabitsuki’s life and experiences, while I will talk about Sabitsuki (and, by extension, Rust) at a later time.

CHARACTERS:

Black-Haired Girl / Onigo: Sabitsuki’s life began with a death. Specifically, the death of her mother. Onigo represents the very few things Sabitsuki both remembers about her mother (her distinctive long black hair and blue dress) and what she was told by the hospital staff (the fact that she died giving birth to Sabitsuki). The reason why she dies so often in the game itself (childbirth event, every time you encounter her as Rust) is because thats all Sabitsuki can relate her with. Sabitsuki also likely feels guilt in relation to "causing” her mother’s death, as she manifests the idea in the form of the incredibly visceral Childbirth Event.

Oreko: Sabitsuki’s childhood friend, another child who either “lived” in the hospital like Sabitsuki or simply another kid who met Sabitsuki during a time she was in the hospital. Oreko would grow interested in technology and machines as she grew older, eventually becoming something of a mechanic/scientist (though Sabitsuki likely never exactly understood what Oreko’s machines were, which is probably was she internalized them as looking quite bizarre and scary). She also likely had a very big interest in the seas, explaining why she wears the divers helmet and why Sabitsuki associates her with the ocean. Oreko was Sabitsuki’s only companion in any sense throughout the majority of her life, someone who was there for Sabitsuki no matter how much abuse Sabi sustained from society or no matter how bad Sabi’s illness got. Unfortunately, Oreko’s life would eventually be cut short. Sabitsuki most likely never figured out how her best friend perished and was likely in denial about it for some time before making peace with it (Finding Oreko’s ghost requires interacting with her “alive” self a decent amount, and the area her specter is found in is relatively calm compared to most other areas containing significant characters). Oreko’s final appearance to Rust in deadhole could be the last remaining shred of “normal” Sabitsuki having one last memory of her best friend, before she disappears and only Rust remains.

School Girl/Kaibutsu Sabitsuki: Sabitsuki’s manifestation of what she once was/fears she could become again, the one who was harmed by and later took revenge on Smile and the one Sabitsuki is always running from to some extent. School was likely a very, very bad time for Sabitsuki on a personal level, possibly due to Oreko’s death (though there isn’t anything that really indicates when Oreko’s death happened in relation to Sabitsuki’s life so it could be for any currently unknown reason). Kaibutsu Sabitsuki is what Sabitsuki remembers herself as during that time: a violent monster who hurt the only person Sabitsuki was even remotely close to at the time.

Smile: Though Smile is obviously a very significant person in Sabitsuki’s life, exactly what their relationship was and Smile’s history in general is very vague. His appearance in Disposal is likely a representation of his first meeting with Sabitsuki, as he isn’t wearing his usual outfit and lacks his tattoos (their appearance while as Rust may just be because Rust always sees Smile as his “true” self) and seems to react to Sabitsuki’s presence with mild confusion more then anything else. They later met properly during school, where by this point Smile had gained his tattoos and they obviously had formed a relationship of some sort (whether it was just an acquaintanceship, a friendship, or something more significant isn’t exactly clear but Smile was at least comfortable enough around Sabitsuki to have her visit his house and meet his sister). Unfortunately, their ambiguous relationship didn’t last. Sabitsuki’s corrupted school event shows what I believe is likely the end of their relationship and the last time they ever interacted with eachother. For one reason or another, and I suspect the cause was likely Sabitsuki herself, Smile attacked Sabi in the basement of the school. On a personal level, Sabitsuki likely viewed this as an injustice against herself (even if Smile was likely only doing what had to be done) which is why Rust later imagines herself getting revenge against the boy.

The Cleaners: The Cleaners are people who “clean up” (i.e. kill) those with the illness Sabitsuki suffers from. At some point in the past, they massacred the residents of the hospital Sabitsuki was staying in (as seen in 0.16) but left her alive for whatever reason, taking her away to live an actual life beyond the hospital walls. Why they spared Sabitsuki specifically isn’t something I can explain really, but its possible she was simply much less far along in her illness compared to the others and had the potential to be “saved”. Sabitsuki likely doesn’t view the Cleaners as a threat or “enemies” as it were and rather seems fairly neutral about them despite understanding what they do on some level (as seen by obtaining the limbless effect from one’s chainsaw). The Cleaners also had a second purpose asides from their main directive: working at the Sugar Hole (or whatever its “real” equivalent may be). Given Sabitsuki’s fondness of the place (it being one of very few areas in .flow that aren’t directly threatening or foreboding in some way), its possible The Cleaners brought her to the Sugar Hole shortly after leaving the Hospital with Sabi.

The Girl In The Yellow Dress: Buried far in Sabitsuki’s subconscious are the few memories focused on a mysterious girl known only for her faded, dirty yellow dress. Though not strictly always buried far beneath (being seen in Deterioration very easily while smoking in the hall) and never reacting to Sabi’s presence, she is clearly someone Sabitsuki lost tragically and has done her best to bury all the remaining memories of. So, who is this girl? Though my theory is abit shakier thanks to just how vague a character she is, I believe the Yellow Dress Girl to have been a sex worker who briefly acted as Sabitsuki’s caretaker before she somehow met her end. Maybe through knowing the Cleaners somehow or just being in the right place at the right time, this girl ended up as the guardian to a young Sabitsuki. Working as a prostitute (either already her job or something she took up to support Sabitsuki), the young Sabitsuki grew to genuinely appreciate this girl as a motherly figure and they briefly shared a legitimately nice life together (as seen in the “sugar float days” event). However, it didn’t last, and thanks to the darker side of her job creeping up and taking over her life, the Yellow Dress Girl ended up separated from Sabitsuki and possibly even dead. Sabitsuki, unable to properly deal with the trauma of losing someone who did so much for her and she held so dearly, repressed the memories of her and pushed the Yellow Dress Girl into the furthest points of her mind, where memories of the good times were fleeting and brief while memories of the end lingered unchanging.

Little Sabitsuki: Little Sabitsuki is fairly self-explanatory: she represents how Sabitsuki remembers herself as a child, either weak and bedridden (hospital), or lost and forgotten (snow world). Little Sabi’s condition worsening as regular Sabitsuki’s does could represent just how sick Sabi truly believes she is, unable to see even her past self as anything but diseased and broken. Sabitsuki never got to experience a “proper” childhood, she has no memories beyond the hospital, the overgrown halls, and the cold.

The Inner Demon: Underneath it all, this is how Sabitsuki truly sees herself. A bloody, diseased demon who exists only to cause suffering to both the world and people around her, aswell as her self. A manifestation of all of Sabitsuki’s sins and wrongdoings in the form of a dark mirror, buried so far deep within Sabitsuki’s subconscious the idea of confronting it leads Sabi to vomit her own blood in anxiety and terror. Only once Sabitsuki sheds her sense of self and becomes Rust can she properly confront her demon. The years and years of self-loathing building up from her birth, to her disease, to the loss of her friends, to the loss of control, to the loss of her self, leads Rust to perform a metaphorical suicide as she beats the demon to death as the final action taken in her own subconscious.

Kaibutsu: What Sabitsuki fears she will become should her illness completely take over. They take the form of grown-up versions of her fellow children at the hospital, possibly meaning that she believes all of them would be doomed to become a Kaibutsu, or perhaps that she saw multiple children become Kaibutsu at the hospital.

Fetuses: Sabitsuki’s physical manifestation of her illness, only appearing by the time Rust takes over (as while Sabitsuki rejects and is terrified of the illness, Rust embraces it).

Takibi-san: A homeless girl Sabitsuki spent a small amount of time around after leaving the hospital. Sabi mostly remembers her thanks to Takibi’s distinctive pink hair, a very uncommon trait in .flow’s world.

While this is all for now, I do plan to do a similar analysis for Sabitsuki and Rust. If that goes well enough and I still feel up to it afterwards, I will do another two analysises for the maps and the effects.

#.flow #smile #oreko #smile (.flow)#analysis #.flow (game)#sabitsuki #rust #.flow spoilers #spoilers #theory

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tinkonka · 4 years ago

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charlime fic: love

didn’t know how to end this, but i was pretty proud of it, so here you go!

With a flick of her hand, the wretched demon that she had delightfully banished had reappeared in mere seconds. She joined Zizel in staring at Lime, who was coughing uncontrollably and covered in gaping red holes. The chatty demon that she and Zizel had indulged in prior was reduced to a tragic heap before their eyes. If Rouge had to admit, it certainly was surprising how much of a contrast this was to the demon she knew formerly.

"...What?" came her sickly sweet voice, muddy brown eyes darting around as she took in what was going on. "...I'm... back?"

"Yes, for the time being, you have been relinquished of your punishment." explained Zizel, voice calm and relaxed - a stark contrast to the sickly mess before the two. Lime was confused to say the least - and who was to say that wasn't welcomed? This rarely happened, people were rarely released from the hell worse than hell. Rouge was just as confounded as Lime was.

"...Why?" Was all Lime managed to say, heaving her trembling body up and bringing her left arm to cling onto the particularly deep wound that had been inflicted on her right. "Why am I back?"

"With the current movement to taking over the mansion, it's getting more and more chaotic. Charlottes constantly holed up in her room and doing the bare minimum, Noel's a pushover, and the other haters are just plain useless." Rouge explained with a foul tone. This certainly was not helping her distaste for the demons below her. "As such, we require more assistance. And as deranged as you may be, you offer a good work ethic."

"..." Silence. Whilst the two purebreds would usually be content with this, it was rage-inducing for Rouge. Impatiently, she took a step towards Lime, folding her arms across her chest. "Well? What'll it be? Will you assist?"

"...You're giving me another chance?" Lime whispered, a foreign spark lighting up in her eyes.

"Make no mistake, girlie, if you make a single wrong move I will not hesitate to banish you to the hell from whence you came." Rouge threatened in a low tone, glaring at Lime. Her harshness had not faltered in the slightness, whether the person she was addressing was terribly wounded or at their best health.

"...Okay. I'll help." Lime decided, a small smirk making her way onto her lips. "Where's Charlie?"

"As I stated, the woman never leaves her room. You must be the cause for this - go see her. I've nothing left to tell you, ask Zizel if you need anything. I have other things to attend to." the red-head replied, and with a wave of her hand she disappeared with a pale red flash.

As Rouge disappeared, Limes attention was placed on the shorter pink demon. She was greeted by a soft smile.

"Good to have you back. Ta-ta." And in a blink of an eye, Zizel disappeared as well.

...Well, nothing left to do except to except see Charlie. Lime decided with a small smile at the thought of seeing her best friend. Although out of practice, she snapped her fingers and fortunately appeared directly outside Charlie's door.

"Ohhh, Chaaarlieee!" Lime called, her voice rising a few octaves as to fit her cutesy persona that she had adopted prior to being rightfully banished. Granted, her voice was noticeably grainy, as she was out of practice. And trying to keep up the facade whilst you scream of horror as you're draped in bloody gashes... isn't particularly worth anything.

Nothing but silence, but then came a scrambling noise from behind the door (with a discernible squeak that no doubt came from a few of the stuffed toys that Lime remembers the demon being so fond of) and in a heartbeat Lime was crashing into the ground with the familiar ginger head now ontop of her.

"GUH-" grunted Lime, painfully reminded of the wounds all over her body that were now throbbing from the impact. Though, her attention was now focused on the hater demon currently wetting the front of her dirtied shirt with her tears.

...Huh?

"Charlotte?" squeaked Lime, out of breath from the fall. What was this? She could feel Charlotte trembling against her, held in sobs wracking the petite girls body. What was wrong? Why was she...

...Did she miss her?

"Charlotte, hey, I'm here-" the green-haired girl hissed, a particularly harsh throb coming from her arm. She sat up with difficulty, the hoodie-ridden girl ontop of her following suit and sitting up herself, gloved hands wiping her eyes, in an attempt to stop the seemingly never-ending flow of tears dripping onto her legs.

"You... you're back!" Charlotte exclaimed, a rare, genuine happy smile making her way onto her face. "You're here again, you're back... I..." She paused to let out a sob, head bowing down in an attempt to conceal how much she was crying. "...I missed you."

"...What?" Bewildered, Lime was staring at the hater demon, expressionless. Charlotte let out a chuckle, though it sounded more like a cough than anything.

"I know, shocker." Charlotte looked up, the smile still on her face (though smaller, Lime could see). "Demons having feelings for other demons? Un-be-lievable." She sarcastically remarked, a ginger laugh accompanying the statement. For the first time, Lime could see Charlotte was genuinely happy. She wasn't sure if this was due to her emotional incompetency, or if this was just the first time Charlie had felt true joy.

Either way...

"Why? Why did you miss me? I don't understand." Lime spoke, her emotionless tone encouraging Charlotte to snap out of her cathartic stupor. The tears slowly began to stop, giving the hater demon room to begin speaking a little calmer.

"...You don't know love." Charlotte began, swinging her legs out from under her to suit a more comfortable position. "I've told you that countless times, haven't I?"

"Yeah, way to rub it in. Your point?" Lime spat, her voice shifting to a cruel-like manner. Had Charlotte just put on a show to make her feel bad for not being able to understand??

"You spent your entire life living a nightmare. Nothing but despair." the red-head demon's grip tightened on the toy bunny - Rabi - she always had in her small hand. Though noticeably, the scissors that usually accompanied the stuffed toy were strangely absent.

"What are you trying to say? I've been punished, Charlie, you don't have to hur-"

"But isn't that my fault as well?" Charlotte exclaimed suddenly, her tone growing shrill as she sat up and stared at Lime directly in the eyes. "I could've made a change, I could've at least done something to make it better- I knew you were hurting! And I did nothing... and you disappeared. You were here and then you were gone- I-" The tears started back up again.

Beforehand, all Lime could observe in those curious ruby orbs was hatred - explainable hatred for humanity before her. But gazing at them now... she sensed a deeper pain. Hurt. Hurt that was all too familiar. Hurt that Lime had felt time and time again, stretching on for what seemed like an eternity.

Realization struck her like a bullet. Quivering lips, trembling hands... all Lime could do was recall her time when she was walking on this planet just like everybody else... And the pain she was witnessing seemed mirrored her days when she was human.

She wanted somebody to love her. No different than Lime, Charlotte wanted to be loved.

Against her best interests, Lime reached forward and pulled the shorter demon into a tight hug. It obviously took Charlotte by surprise, but it quickly melted into mutual touch, with her smaller, trembling arms wrapping around Limes scarred back and clutching onto it, as if she was holding onto something she held dear.

Compassion, benevolence, the ability to empathize, all of which were concepts that Lime had ridiculed, envy being the sole reason for her doing so. She wanted somebody to understand her, she wanted to be loved like Noel loved Claire or like Ashe loved his family. And the fact that she wasn't able to get that kind of love drove her to do things out of her wheelhouse, which, of course, led to her inevitable doom.

But holding Charlotte like this, tenderly rubbing the back of her shaking form... a foreign warmth began to make its way into Limes body. And with a smile, she buried her face into Charlotte's hood, shedding a tear herself.

She had pondered for centuries as to what love felt like, but as it coursed through her veins, she recognized it almost immediately.

She was loved.

#charlime #charlotte witch's heart #lime witch's heart #yes akira i did it #witch's heart

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hopeshoodie · 4 years ago

Note

Please do share those thoughts if you want to, cuz i would love them!

BET (winx rambling under the cut)

These are just generally disorganized thoughts rather than critiques or points but

Winx was the first show that I ever got to experience the ‘magic girl’ format. I’ve never been an anime person, but I think the genre was created or controlled by Sailor Moon? Either way, from what I understand of the genre it’s very ‘find new power/girl/outfit’ oriented. So the Winx model of ‘each season follows the girls all leveling up in some way’ was novel, but simplistic enough to be compelling

The ‘heros’ academy makes me laugh so much. I get it, they need boys in the show. But... These non-magical dudes are all segregated to a ‘hero’ school where they... Drive hovercars?

I said it before and I’ll say it again- I LOVE the world building of having a fantasy world but then also just... Having sci fi existing alongside it? Like of course a future fantasy world would have technology. But the different realms being like... Planets and all the interdimensional travel? Super dope.

Mirta being turned into a pumpkin for like... A whole season... is on the same level of hilarious as when Dean and Sam Winchester left their brother in hell for over 6 seasons.

Also I don’t know if I just got the ‘Sky is a prince and Brandon is his guard but they switched places for security” reveal confused in my tiny child brain, but rewatching the series as a teen I was so confused??? I could’ve sworn Sky and Brandon were switched in like... Who they were dating and their appearances.

Enchantix is OBVIOUSLY the best powerup. The song? Slaps. The outfits?? BEAUTIFUL. Having to save someone from your home to unlock it, thus dooming Bloom to confront her tragic past and never fully get to access the power? Amazing.

Yes all the winx (except Stella) are hot as hell but the TRIX???? THE TRIX??? The trix were so sexy holy shit I could not handle them as a 8 year old child.

Valtor is like... the coolest villain. He is camp. His relationship with the trix, his spells, his voice acting.... they were just so iconic.

Dark Bloom. Need I say more.

I’ve said this before but I was so obsessed with the episode where Stella turned into a frog monster and the one that she had to give up her face to escape a labyrinth that I printed out screencaps of both of those episodes and pinned them to my childhood wall. And I’ll do it again BAP BAP.

The outfitsssssssssss. I always loved Techna and Flora’s outfits the best, but that sparkle texture had me wanting to both eat and wear it. Same with Annaliese's’ pink dress in Princess and the Pauper. I wanted to rub my face in that pink shimmery fabric and then put it in my mouth so bad.

I didn’t like the pixies as a kid and still don’t. Bloom already had Kieko we don’t need any more small comedic relief characters.

I loved Layla’s backstory as a kid but now, as an adult, it’s just kinda..... Boring. Ugh. I get it, it’s literally a kid’s show and mermaid princess is a kids show concept, but like... Stella got so many royal intrigue episodes and Layla’s all happened off screen.

Roxy is annoying and S4 sucked.

Whenever my elementary school friends and I ‘played’ winx, I wanted to be Brandon (gender issues who), but then my friends would tell me I had to be a girl so I would always play as Lucy

A lesbian icon.

Riven!!! is a male manipulator and Musa deserved so much better!!

They shouldn’t!! Have given Techna long hair!!! in her transformations!!!

Everything went downhill after S3. The reboots are shit.

But I think it was inevitable that the show would die a slow, cruel death because of its premise. A show designed around fashion and magic girls is tailor made for merchandizing- primarily dolls, where you can collect different outfits and hair styles for the different points in the story. But because it’s so marketable, artistic integrity has to go by the wayside as companies try to capitalize off of the merchandizing. You can’t have an organic conclusion to a story if your dolls are making more money than the show itself, because the show must continue marketing until it’s not profitable anymore.

Also the argument that the show is bad because it gives kids body issues? In my opinion, doubtful. In animation especially, I don’t think any of my body issues were because I was trying to look like my barbie dolls or the winx, they were because of the adults around me and the realy human celebrities in media (though I definitely experienced gender envy the first time I watched Danny Phantom so maybe there’s something to be said). Like the girls aren’t drawn realistically, they’re drawn like Parisian and Italian fashion sketches. I don’t see how that’s any more problematic than Disney reusing the same ‘massive eyeballs, no internal organs’ design for their modern princesses.

The whitewashing in the newer seasons was BAD. Layla/Aiesha and Stormy are black, and they just... Forgot that... Yikes.

#not lithegame

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oveliagirlhaditright · 3 years ago

Text

If You Love Something, Let It Go

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34024771

A oneshot where Neku and Shiki are Erik (the Phantom) and Christine from "The Phantom of the Opera." AU.

Shiki had been kidnapped by Neku, essentially.

And of course she had. She’d known that that had been her situation for a while now.

Even when she tried to convince herself that she was Hades and Persephone-ing it with him of her own free will—for the greater good, in fear of what he might do otherwise—the back of Shiki’s mind knew that this was the case.

And even when her heart ended up sympathizing with him something fierce.

But if she was a hostage, more or less… and she was the Persephone to his Hades, Shiki supposed there were worse places for her to be.

This “House on the Lake”, that he’d fashioned for himself on the Shibuya River was quite lovely, all things considered.

Earlier, when Beat had been fretting on whether Shiki really loved him or not—when she’d explained to him everything that had been going on--he’d quite keenly asked if it wasn’t every girl’s fantasy to be with someone who fashioned themselves a king of such a place.

And while Shiki missed her freedom—missed being above ground and perhaps the flowers there most of all—she supposed she could understand what Beat had meant in that moment.

Neku had made a lovely domain here, all things considered (she wondered where he got the yen for all the candles, but she figured it had to be coming out of the money he’d swindled out of Def Märch’s hands). And Shiki’s room here, too—the one that he’d allowed her to create—was quite lovely, she had to admit.

“You should eat more, Shiki,” Neku scolded her now, but good-naturedly, she knew, as the two of them ate dinner together. “You tried too hard to be your friend Eri. And she’s anorexically thin, and having health problems for it now. And you followed that trend for nearly as long as she did. If you don’t turn it around now, I’m worried it’ll be the same for you.”

Part of Shiki wanted to snap at Neku here. Because she knew he didn’t like Eri. He thought that she was airheaded and conceded, and was getting roles that Shiki herself should have been. And Shiki despised that Neku felt this way about her best friend. She despised Neku a lot, actually. And it was crazy to think that she’d once thought that he was her Angel…

But at the same time, she knew that he was just concerned for her and genuinely trying to help. In a twisted way, everything he did was for her. And you couldn’t help but be in awe at that love sometimes, despite yourself.

Especially when, after Shiki’s parents had died, Shiki had thought she’d never again have that feeling from anyone again.

But then Neku had come into her life with such powerful feelings for her… far too powerful for her to handle.

There was a darkness to those feelings from him, she knew. And on nights when Shiki could almost make herself forget about the people Neku had killed to get her her singing parts (because he didn’t know better, as he’d never been shown a better way, her empathetic heart knew), and the terror he surrounded her with in general, she found herself wishing that he had fallen in love with someone other than her. Someone better than she could be. Because that darkness did exist within Shiki—she had experienced in some of her and Neku’s arguments, for one thing—but it scared her and she didn’t know how to fully unlock it… And she knew that it was best, for so many reasons, that she did not.

“That’s sweet, Neku… I’ll try and eat more. Especially if you’re going to go as far as to try and get ice cream for me or something. I know you really don’t like the stuff, save for mint chocolate chip.”

“Of course Neku doesn’t like ice cream most of the time, Shiki. It messes with one’s singing. You should know that better than anyone,” Neku was blinking at Shiki like she had lost her mind… and it was honestly kind of cute. And Shiki found herself somehow giggling for it.

She was almost taken back to the first night she’d been here… before she’d known that her Angel and Neku were also the Phantom of the Opera, and she’d just known that her Angel—the one who had given her voice lessons, and who sang so beautifully—was this “Neku person”, who was suddenly standing before her… and they’d blissfully sang the night away, before it had all gone to Hell.

Even with how things had gone between them since then, there were times where they could almost recreate that moment.

Sometimes.

And Shiki got the feeling that today was going to be one of them.

And it made her glad… for so many reasons, of course! She was thrilled to know that she would be safe with Neku for another day, and he wouldn’t go off the deep end and doom all of Shibuya over her! And she relished in getting to be with her friend again… but she felt awful in that, maybe Beat’s worries about her and Neku’s relationship weren’t always unfounded. But she couldn’t think about sweet Beat right now! She had to think of the here and now, Shiki reminded herself, as she tried not to panic and begin having her arms wave frantically.

“Speaking of singing… can we sing tonight, Neku?” Shiki asked cautiously. There were some nights where this was a “no”, surprisingly, because Neku was too caught up in his most recent compositions or one of his moods to entertain the idea. But that didn’t seem to be an issue tonight.

“I’d have it no other way, Shiki. You know me,” Neku whispered to her, as he helped her out of her chair and took Shiki’s hand, so he could lead her over to his study.

Once there, Shiki sat down on the couch that looked like a pair of pink lips that Neku had brought in to his home only for her—as it wasn’t his style at all—and it made Shiki belatedly realize that it wasn’t just her own room here that she’d decorated… and just how much of a life she did have here… and if that meant she should be feeling guilty about certain decisions she was in the process of making right now.

But Neku brought Shiki out of that funk by beginning to play a piece that had a lot of winds to it. And he played how it would sound via the horn, and then the trombone, and finally the trumpet, before he finally sang the tune for her, so Shiki could imagine how it would all sound coming together.

And Shiki listened on, mesmerized, as it began to make her heart flutter and feel like it was going to beat free of its ribcage. This piece was lighter than Neku’s usual work… and she wondered what the change was for, but she certainly wasn’t complaining as he sang to her in his high tenor.

When Shiki had first heard Neku’s speaking voice, she had been astonished that he could sing as high as he did—and that higher notes were actually easier for him—but it just went to show what incredible range the genius had. And she knew some people just were like that, with their talking voices and singing voices being way different. Everyone was different, and it was a beautiful world that way… and that was why Shiki was fighting so hard to protect it.

“Neku,” Shiki moaned in pleasure at the song, getting to her feet once she thought he was done with the piece. “Your voice, combined with those instruments, is really going to be something! Here, let me play one of them, so you can just sing! But what- what was all of that for? It reminds me of something, but I can’t put my finger on wha-”

“…Does it remind you of the sound of lace rubbing together? Because it was somewhat supposed to. You once said you would have liked to be a seamstress, right, Shiki? So, this song is my gift to you.” And Shiki would remember, later on, he’d been looking at her then with the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. But if that had partially been because he’d been crying, she didn’t know. She just didn’t know.

“Neku… what are you saying?” Shiki demanded now. As much as she wished he would have a change of heart and let her go—and not have Shibuya’s safety be dependent on her staying with him—she honestly didn’t think Neku had learned enough or changed enough for him to do that.

And the way he was now digging into his face with his nails, in his self-hatred at his deformity, seemed to be proof of that.

Shiki gently took his hand in her own, and simply held it as it shook to get him to stop. And it was a testament to how far they’d come together, that he let her do this and didn’t harm her for the action right now.

But then Neku looked at Shiki with the most tragic eyes that she had ever seen… and she didn’t exactly know what she was feeling when he did so, but it was something. She felt something in the pit of her stomach, and she- “I’m saying that, as much as I’d like to keep you—and for my fake little ring to stay on your finger—I know the odds. So, if you do escape and make it as a seamstress with your Beat… remember me and this song, I guess, Angel.”

And not at all knowing what had possessed her in this moment, Shiki leaned forward to kiss Neku on the lips for what was surprisingly a sweet kiss.

And she breathed out his name, “Neku,” while he cried for her bliss, and for so many other reasons, she knew.

Author’s Note: When I was writing this, I actually wasn’t planning on the ending being the moment where Neku/the Phantom lets Shiki/Christine go. But maybe it is. It works for it perfectly in this fic and it can be. -shrugs-

Also… I’m PRETTY sure this a modern day retelling of the Phantom of the Opera somehow, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be whatever time you want it to be.

#twewy #neo twewy #neshiki #stalkerphones #au #alternate universe #oneshot #mine #my writing #shanna writes #fanfiction #nekushiki

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knownlesbianalexandracabot · 4 years ago

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some characters i would like to see on this upcoming season of riverdale(who’s chances of actually appearing range from not likely to absolutely impossible):

Bingo Wilkin and Samantha Smythe. i generally find the serpent plots annoying but serpent bingo and sam would actually kinda rule. non serpent bingo and sam would be cool too like theyre basically just the cooler gayer version of jughead and betty(even though bingo is an archie equivalent to most extreme degree possible)

Vic Johnson. he can work at toni’s high end cupcake business that ive invented in my head and/or more realistically be mentored by archie/reggie/munroe plus he can fulfill the big jock who’s secretly a softie trope that we didn’t really get with moose. also he’s fun and i like him, sue me

Sugar Blossom! it’s honest to god misogynistic that we havent seen sugar yet and i Know ras knows about her because he killed her as tragic childhood backstory in afterlife like he did with caramel on riverdale

Wendy Weatherbee. i want mr weatherbee back obviously but id take just wendy as well. she’s cool and i think she'd be a good friend for toni

Marcie McDermott. mostly because she’s my favorite veronica cousin but i think the riverdale versions of harper and leroy would be really interesting too. all 3 are fun distinct characters who could put a new spin on the usual lodge family drama

Sheila Wu. this one is completely self indulgent and mostly because i just really like sheila but it is criminal that we havent had some sort of charity fashion show episode yet. and who wouldn’t want another character with pink hair?

Cheryl’s psychic chauffeur. i dont feel like i really have explain this one

Joani Jumpp. honestly, the Girls should Unite Against Jughead and joani has the best hair imo. any of jughead’s other girlfriends would be fine too

Bobbi Suarez and Chloe Mancuso. as a cute little background b*ghead parallel high school newspaper reporter and photographer romance. one always wears their hair up and one always wears a unique accessory (“have you ever seen me without these yellow glasses on? that’s weird.”)

Superduck. okay not really as a character per say but like a reference or something

Mad Dr. Doom and Chester. okay i know ive complained about the amount of little archie characters on riverdale before but at this point i want them to commit and give us these icons. could actually be a good Big Bad or antagonist force if done well. and if not theyre still fun guys

#riverdale #archie comics #i Am aware that 3 of these are New Kids and 3 are relatives of characters already on the show #i have a A Type and we're all just lucky im not putting bella beazley on here

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thewrongexecution · 4 years ago

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thinkin’ ‘bout final fantasy

I go by Not The Author for exactly the reason that I ain’t no expert on any given work of fiction, but I do like to make connections what make me seem smart: an illusion, haphazardly crafted by incident accident and supplemented by precocious pretentiousness. All the same, here are some fun thoughts I had that you might also enjoy!

I do have a point, that I do get to. I feel like I should say that ahead of time, all things considered. Like, I can appreciate if you can’t appreciate a shaggy dog story? But there is a point to all this.

...Eventually.

Spoiler Warning:

Final Fantasies 1, 6, 7, 7R, 13 and 15

Content Warning:

Discussion of death

Cussin’

Length warning:

5621 words

13 sections

16 digressions

Let’s dig in.

- - - - -

Final Fantasy 1 was not my first Final Fantasy experience, but I think it was the first I ever played by myself? The remaster for the GBA, came bundled with FF2 on the same cart, which I played briefly but did not complete and do not remember, except that it had Cid.

FF1 doesn’t have a Cid, but I really loved the narrative anyway, straightforward as it was, because it was very specifically about spitting in the face of an uncaring god who would doom the world for a laugh. Take these chains that bind us to darkness and, though we be forgot to history, strangle with them that selfsame darkness to bring an end to its tyranny.

((it is a terrible curse, to love time travel. so many grand expectations, so few ever met. play ghost trick, chrono trigger, radiant historia, majora’s mask, outer wilds. have you any recs yourself, lemme know! I digress.

((I digress a lot, as I may have mentioned. they’ll be noted in parenthetical, like this.))

This is the foundation upon which Final Fantasy is built, and while any student of architecture could tell you of many and varied perfectly valid construction techniques, it resonates. Grappling with an immutable past to course-correct an uncaring future is, too, an apt description of personal growth; a theme as universal as being alive. And I, as an impressionable youth, ate that shit up.

((I assume I was young, at any rate. my love for time travel, be it era-spanning or moment-stretching, is, I suspect, not entirely coincidental to my terrible temporal memory.))

And that was the tale of the studio, too. Final Fantasy was so titled because, the story goes, the developers knew they would shutter if it didn’t make bank. Staring your imminent demise in the face, knowing your fate is doom, and giving it your all, all the same.

And then they made another twelve, plus two-and-a-half MMOs, and god knows how many mobile games and spin-offs, and now the Fantasy is that there could ever be a Final one. so say I: life parodies art.

((the half-an-MMO is FF14 1.0, which no longer exists and is a fascinating tale, a rally against bleak futures all its own. I’ll [link] Noclip’s three-part documentary covering the developer’s side of things, because that’s the one I’ve seen. there’s plenty other material to hunt down, though, if you wanna.))

- - - - -

Final Fantasy VII is a game about fate, too. Particularly Death, that most ultimate of fates. Tragic, to be sure; preventable, or at least delayable, in many cases; necessary, at times, for the growth of something new.

Unrelenting. Unstoppable. Inescapable.

Death, and the fights against it, take many forms. There are the fascist death squads that hunt down your ragtag band and any dissent against their cruel masters, but these will only truly stop by cutting off the hydra’s head and building an entirely new society; eight dudes and their dog, faced with a corporate private military, can survive but never win. There are such disasters as do slay that hydra, be they natural or man-made. There’s the space alien and the apocalypse it ushers. There’s literal illness and injury, physical or otherwise. There are the deaths of loved ones, friends and family, that lead to some subtler deaths within those that survive them. The deaths of relationships, by neglect or abandonment. The ideological deaths we inflict on ourselves, accepting ever-growing lesser evils in the name of some impossible ideal.

Every day, the person we were becomes the person we are, and soon, the person we are will give way to someone new, and this, too, is a sort of death. In this sense, we tally Cloud’s deaths at least five: failure to become a Soldier and rebirth in shame, the massacre of Nibelheim and rebirth in grief, arrival at Midgar and rebirth in delusion, his cratering at the Crater and rebirth in nihilism, and his death and rebirth in the Lifestream of Mideel.

((you could prolly hunt down another two if you wanna be cheeky, but I lack the knowledge, motive and patience. frankly, this whole thing is to create a leading line of logic and probably isn’t, uh. academically ethical? or whatever the term is. I’m not necessarily wrong, but I’m definitely scuttling nuance. oh well!))

Now, I say “rebirth,” because that’s how deaths of identity more-or-less work. There’s usually some new identity waiting in the wings to take over. And rebirth is itself a notable theme, inasmuch as it is one outcome of death. But death is oft more final than that, and what people do in its imminence and wake is key here, too. Wutai’s collapse into an insular tourist trap. Avalanche’s vengeful fervor, in general and post-plate drop. Bugenhagen trying to pass his knowledge on to Red. The whole party’s ongoing post-traumatic depressive episodes.

Ultimately, death is the inescapable fate of all things. It’s what we do, in light of that, that makes us who we are.

- - - - -

Final Fantasies 13 and 15 are the only modern Final Fantasies I’ve beaten, and I bring them up because both deal very prominently with fate and death, and as Square’s most recent mainline FF titles, Remake can’t exist without comparison to them. Here’s what I remember:

Final Fantasy 13 was a game I enjoyed. The stagger system mixed up my casual FF tradition of Get The Big Numbers by putting a prominent UI element onscreen that says You Can’t Get The Big Numbers Unless The Bar Is Full. Suddenly there’s a natural-but-enforced ebb and flow to combat built in, where you gotta juggle chip damage, survival, and crowd control while keeping resources enough to burst down a staggered foe, but maintain situational awareness to swap back into survival mode if you’re not gonna down your enemy, all in something close to real-time. Very obviously a direct precursor to the combat of Remake. I didn’t realize the depth of it, but it was still super fun.

People at the time didn’t like the linearity of the game and, I can see that in retrospect? I think it’s closer to, there weren’t breakpoints, there wasn’t variety. It was cutscenes, combat, and the stretches of land between them; the only real thing for the brain to get a workout on was the combat, and eating only one kinda food is gonna make that food taste bland.

((I didn’t mind, but I like idle games, and, also probably had depression around then. Take that how you will.))

The story, though, I loved. You got your uncaring gods forcing mortals to do their increasingly-impossible bidding, cursing them to agonized unlife if they take too long, and with blissful, beautiful death if they succeed. It sucks! And here you have a ragtag band of incidental idiots trying to rebel against a system that, actually, wants them to? Like that’s the plan? Have mortals kill god and summon the devil to destroy all life, because god, doesn’t.... like life anymore?

((The lore gets more than a little impenetrable, and I remember bouncing off it a couple times. The throughline of God Sucks And Makes Zombies was good though.))

The biblical parallels are obvious, and if they weren’t, the final boss’ design will clue you in, god that’s a good design. hang on I can add pictures and already tossed a spoiler warning, here, look at this:

(per the Final Fantasy Fandom Wiki [X])

That’s literally The Holy Trinity But A Sword The Size Of A Building. It’s perfect.

Anyway, I love this game, because the heroes win, which is what God wants, so in winning, they lose, as was fated to be, right? Fuck All That, say the lesbians from space australia, as they turn into satan and, as satan, stop God’s shitty metal moon from crashing into space australia and destroying all life.

((this awakened something in me, though, as is becoming a theme, I wasn’t aware of it at the time. actually hold up I’m gonna rewatch that sequence.

((yeah okay wow on review that was aggressively cheesy and had a whole bunch of weird emotional whiplash that just leaves a super-bad aftertaste. I don’t really like it as an experience, but big bazonga lesbian satan with arms for hair is still a look-and-a-half.))

The whole thing is not entirely unlike if meteor was also Midgar, and there’s more than a few points where I went, hang on, are they trying to evoke 7 here? “Lightning” is ex-military and bad at emotions, Sazh is a black dad w/ guns and emotional trauma and I love him, quirky pink healer girl who might be an alien is here, the game starts on a train and leads into a robot bug fight; obviously it’s not one-to-one but the connections are there for a brain like mine to make, and only more prominent for the fact that FF7 was the more satisfying game.

((I cannot speak to 13-2 or -3; 13-2 was fun up until the enemies were abruptly 30 levels higher than me, more or less a mandate by the game for me to do all the side content, which I was not on-board with. I skipped 13-3 entirely, especially when I learned the whole game is on a timer. did not and do not need that stress in my life.))

- - - - -

But okay, FF13 was “too linear” and wasn’t doing super great. Enter Final Fantasy Versus 13, by which I mean enter Final Fantasy 15 actually, we don’t need any more of this 13 crap. And once again, I enjoyed it! ...Right up until it was bad.

Final Fantasy 15 was not a finished game, and we know this for certain now, because all its DLC was to make it a finished game. At the time, though, there was uncomfortable and inconsistent story pacing, only one playable character, relatively sparse combat mechanics... but it was open-world, and hey, that’s what you wanted, right? open, non-linear environments? I picked it up because, Teleporting Swordsman With a Motorcycle Sword. I am of simple pleasures, and those are they.

Of the little I remember, one point that’s stuck with me is the sequence following the Leviathan fight. See, we’ve been talking about fate and destiny and how Final Fantasy likes to spite them. Here in 15, our main man Noctis doesn’t want the destiny he’s been burdened with, to Become The King and Save The World from the Coming Darkness, or whatever. He’d really rather be doing, anything else? like hanging out with his buddies or actually getting married or, I dunno, grieving the death of his father. Nope! You don’t get to do that. Go find the ghost armaments of your dead ancestors so you can ~saaave the wooorld!~ I would have been in college around then, so, eminently relatable.

Now, on this journey, you meet a guy called Ardyn. He’s the sort of character that was built as an attack on me personally: sleazy, charming, possessing airs of casual familiarity with people he’s never met, kinda helps you out in tight spots, and also, by the way, vizier to the empire that killed your dad and wants you and your friends dead too. But not in the “secret good guy” way, he just likes fucking with you! he’s perfect.

Right up until the Leviathan fight.

See, Lunafreya, your betrothed--

((I’m so mad about this stupid, stupid garbage. I love Lunafreya on principle, but the game doesn’t bother to give her screentime. you only ever hear about her incidentally, which can be cool if you then meet the character and get to compare/contrast what you’ve heard, but the initial release only has her show up for this one chapter, and your party doesn’t really get to interact with her that much.))

Your betrothed is here and she’s some symbol of the peoples’ hope, right? she’s got light magic or something, and can actually commune with the gods. the gods are on your side, but you can’t actually understand a word they say, but she can, and that’s sick as hell. anyway.

You lose the fight against Leviathan, because you’re a shitty emo teen who doesn’t know how to use your ghost swords, and she got beat up earlier when Levi got all pissy at being summoned. And then Ardyn shows up in his magitek dropship.

Now earlier, Ardyn had Luna as his captive, completely at his mercy, and right now, he who would be king of kings, destined to save the world from darkness, is clutching at rock in a hurricane, beaten, wounded and dying.

Of the two, which do you think he stabs to death?

if you thought, “the protagonist, which will allow him to win, and subvert Final Fantasy’s themes of defying fate by having the villain be the one to do it, forcing everyone else to scramble for some alternate solution and deal with the fallout,” congratulations! You win disappointment, because that idea’s cool as hell and they didn’t. fucking. Do it.

((Ardyn, before this, had given me major Kefka vibes, and thinking on it now, the world descending into darkness in the 15 we never had could have played with even deeper parallels to FF6... but I never played 6, and that FF15 doesn’t exist, so... I’ll leave that analysis to better scholars.))

now, with the benefit of hindsight, that was never going to happen. too long in development hell, game had to ship, had no time or budget for mid-game upheaval. but at the time? made me lose any interest I had in Ardyn, made me mad at the developers for passing up on fulfilling the themes their series had explored in past, made me almost stop playing the game. I’m still mad about it for crying out loud!

((thinking about it gets me tensed up, coiled, with that sort of full-body thrum that’s best conveyed with letters that jitter around. best I can do here is bold italics, but it doesn’t have the right energy. it’s a fleeting feeling, but when it’s here? god. given the men that wrote this scene I would fight all of them and win.

((inhale...

((exhale...

((and move on.))

We, the player, never really meet Luna, so there’s no real... impact, no substance to it. It’s sad, but impersonal. villain kills damsel to inflict manpain on hero. that’s it. we’ve seen this song and dance before.

But kill Noctis? The character the player’s been controlling all this time, who they know intimately? Now it’s personal. Now your party members’ grief is a mirror to your own. And now you get to play as Luna, maybe? give the game time to flesh her out, have her bond with your old companions over their shared grief, and maybe use her connections and public speaking skills to rally the people of the world, in a perhaps-vain attempt to resist the oncoming darkness, while simultaneously using that public-facingness to drive her to hide her own fear and hopelessness...? That’s a complex character ripe for drama and tragedy right there! And then her, at the head of a story about people coming together to solve a global calamity themselves, rather than await their appointed savior?

Even then, but especially now... You can see the appeal, right?

- - - - -

Lemme step back and zoom out for a moment, because there’s one more kind of Fate to discuss before I finalize my thesis. Yes, I promise, there is a point besides being mad at FF15, this is still ultimately about Remake. Bear with me a little longer.

See, Remake’s premise is that it’s not quite FF7, but that itself is predicated on Remake being essentially FF7. Certain things must be in the Remake series, or it will cease to be the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series. The developers have gone on record saying as much, that they’ll still cover the thrust of the original, and that makes a lot of sense from a development standpoint. Building on an existing framework saves loads of time, and lets them focus on details as they have in Remake.

((I think they've already set up an in-universe justification for this, too. The party may have defeated the Whispers at Midgar, but the Whispers are the will of the planet. The only way to truly defeat them would be to defeat the planet itself, which: kind of the goal of the villains!

((a bit ironic, because the villains are the Whispers’ means to keep manipulating events. Remake backends a very large portion of the plot, and I don’t think Rufus seeing the Whispers is a throwaway detail. The party chases Sephiroth by chasing Shinra in the original, so even if the party has shaken free of the direct influence of the Whispers, manipulating Shinra should in turn manipulate the party.

((on top of which, Rufus prizes power, and the power to change or control fate-- something both the party and Sephiroth have seized-- would be as enticing as anything.))

But this begs the question: How much of Final Fantasy 7 is necessary before it stops being Final Fantasy 7? Do you need all nine characters? The Weapons? Rideable chocobo? Breedable chocobo? What about locations? Can you drop the Gold Saucer? or Mount Condor? or Mideel? How many minigames am I holding up? These are necessary questions, but so is this:

“Would a one-to-one recreation of the original game have the same emotional impact as when it released, twenty-three years ago?”

- - - - -

Now, the phrase “emotional impact” is necessarily kind of nebulous and subjective, so lemme dig into that a little bit.

The first significant chunk of the original FF7 takes place entirely in Midgar, which is one huge city. Every screen is densely packed; movement is typically constrained to narrow corridors and industrial crawlspaces. The whole world is deeply claustrophobic and visually hostile, by design.

This is FF7 for the first few hours, before a motorcycle chase deposits you outside city limits, and then... you hit the world map, and everything changes. The world is rendered in three whole dimensions, now! (Then, a technological marvel in its own right.) There’s a sky! There’s a horizon! Grass, mountains, the ocean!

Boundless, terrifying freedom.

From a mechanical standpoint, there’s only one real destination, an A-to-B with random encounters before a small enclosure with an inn and shops, no real change from what you’ve already been doing. But the mood? Everything’s fresh and new, now. Everything’s an unknown.

So, how do we do that again, two-and-a-half decades on?

Let’s say, something like this: Remake 2 starts with Cloud and Sephiroth en route to Nibelheim. For new players, this provides immediate intrigue: why are these mortal enemies hanging out in a truck? how did they get here, where are they going? For veterans, it’s familiar: oh, we’re in the flashback sequence.

For both, it provides mechanical familiarity. We just finished last game hanging out in Midgar, a bunch of town squares with shops and cutscenes connected to hazardous corridors. Well, Nibelheim’s a town with shops and cutscenes, connected to a monster-filled anthill and capped with a reactor. We know this. We’ve done this. We can do this again.

And when the flashback ends, we’re in Kalm. Another town, maybe with sidequests this time; Midgar looming in the distant skybox as a reminder of how far we’ve come.

And then you leave Kalm, and the camera zooms out, and out, and out...

Remake is essentially 7, and you can’t have the impact of 7′s world map reveal if Remake isn’t functionally open-world too. Square has plenty of experience with open environments, however successful their more recent attempts have been; I’m confident that the have the ability, at least, to craft an expansive world that feels appropriate to FF7.

((I’d like to take a moment here to talk about FF14, which mixes both compact twisty dungeons and wide-open overworld zones, and is necessarily wildly successful to still be operating as an MMO... but though I have played it briefly, I don’t claim knowledge sufficient to go in-depth. The point is, Square not only can make a game like that, they have, and are, and apparently possess non-zero competency. I have worries, but I’m not worried, if that makes sense.))

So, can you recreate a given kind of emotional impact? Yeah!

Can scenes from the original Final Fantasy 7 be rendered into a new context, more-or-less as they were? Absolutely!

Would a one-to-one recreation of the original game have the same emotional impact as when it released, twenty-three years ago?

- - - - -

Aerith dies.

If you opened this post and didn’t know that, well. There were spoiler warnings up at the top, the game’s more than two decades old, and the spoiler itself is basically a piece of pop-culture, up there with space dad and wizard killer. There’re probably plenty of people who know next-to-nothing about Final Fantasy 7 except that Aerith dies.

Everyone knows because, at the time, it was so big a thing. This was a title that Square hyped to heaven and back to push JRPGs into mainstream western markets, and it worked. And this was before major death was so common and arbitrary as it is today; even now, Game of Thrones and its ilk are a relative rarity. The death of a protagonist or love interest wasn’t a new thing for games, or any media really, but usually you knew it was coming, or it served some purpose. Aerith’s death was sudden, arbitrary, you’re almost immediately thrown into a boss fight so you don’t even have time to process it right away, and it’s the first stone in an avalanche of other pointless arbitrary tragedy. It’s an obvious narrative setup for the endgame confrontation with Sephiroth; instead, Cloud has a breakdown, Meteor happens, and now there’s an entire Disk 2.

Fandom has always been fandom, even before the continuous immediacy of the modern internet, but... people wrote letters to Square, and got sad on message boards. There’s an entire subset of forum signatures, back when those were a thing, that you could sort as “people fucked up over Aerith dying.” And again, this was the world. Not just Japan, or Asia, but everyone.

((Or, everyone with the finances to have a PS2 and/or an internet connection. Gaming as a pastime remains way expensive, whether played or watched. But you know how it is.))

And that’s the problem with answering that question.

See, FF7 is a lot of things, but for better or worse, it is defined by Aerith’s death. It’s one of many factors, but you can’t... leave it out, right? or it wouldn’t be FF7 anymore.

Aerith dies in FF7, and everyone knows it.

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But Remake has promised, repeatedly, that things will be different this time. Everyone is coming together to defy fate, and Cloud in particular is here to keep Aerith from dying. Bodyguard jokes aside, Cloud repeatedly has flashbacks (flashforwards?) to Aerith’s death and the events leading to it. When he meets her in the church, when they cross into Sector 6, twice in the final battle. Hell, the very first time they meet, Sephiroth taunts him about not being able to save her. Even from a metatextual standpoint, since everyone knows Aerith dies, that’s like, The Most Obvious Fate To Change.

If, after all that, Aerith still dies? It’s not just tragedy, at that point. That’s the developers, actively lying to the player about their intent in making this game series. That’s frustrating, and immersion-breaking, and when said death is likely to still have one or more entire sequels to come after? maybe not great for sales! I know I didn’t bother buying the complete edition of FF15; I couldn’t bring myself to care enough about a game that set up this cool possibility, and then just, failed to deliver on every count.

And, Remake is being made for two audiences. I’ve said “everybody knows Aerith dies,” but that’s not really true, is it? It’s been 23 years, after all. Remake could well be someone’s very first Final Fantasy experience. That’s why they’ve been telegraphing Aerith’s death so hard. Not everyone knows, but at least everyone can guess. Is it fair, then, to this new audience, with potentially no knowledge or understanding of the legacy of this flashy new action game, to foreshadow tragedy in the future, have everyone come together to say, We’re Going To Stop This, and then... not? Is that good writing? Is that satisfying? When this is a multi-game and potentially multi-console investment of time and money, is this, as a newcomer, a story you’d want to keep playing?

And then on top of that, it’s 2020.

I don’t mean that in the current-year-fallacy, “we’re better than this now” kind of way. Rather, the way I felt about Final Fantasy 15 is even more relevant now. People, in real life, are realizing that the powers-that-be are failing them, have failed them, have been failing them for far longer than twenty-three years. The people that already knew that are actually showing up for each other, to spite what felt and feels like inescapable fate and finding that, together, they might just be able to ruin God’s day.

Game development is, of course, its own whole beast, and projects in motion tend to stay in motion; deviating from a plan takes time and money that Square may be unwilling to spend. But, under current world circumstances: is making a game where the hero sets out to save one specific person from their fated death, and following that with a game where that one specific person dies anyway, aside from everything else, a good business decision?

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So... Aerith, shouldn’t die, right...? But, FF7 requires Meteor, and so requires the Temple of the Ancients and the Black Materia. And, Meteor can only be stopped by Holy, so FF7 requires the Forgotten City.

FF7 is a tragedy. FF7 demands blood.

...Hey, actually, hold that thought. How come Cloud can remember Aerith dying in the first place? He’s not from the future, right? He’s got a connection to Sephiroth, who is from the future... and Sephiroth can manipulate his memories...? but, why would Sephiroth let him, or make him, remember that?

Hey, how come Zack is alive, but like, in the “narrative scope” sense? Wouldn’t his presence circumvent Cloud’s delusions about the Nibelheim incident?

Hey, how come Cloud had multiple big climactic Sephiroth confrontations at what’s essentially the end of the prologue, including one that mirrors the very end of the original FF7? Shouldn’t that still come at, like, you know. the end?

Hey, how come--

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Remake has these... Callbacks? Refrains? Like my favorite, when Sephiroth throws a train-- you know, The Fate Metaphor-- at Cloud, who absolutely shreds the thing. Or, for a more direct example:

And it frequently uses these to show that people are changing, that things can change. You know, the whole Running Theme the game has going on.

Sephiroth gets a refrain, too.

At the start of the game (give or take a reactor), in his first real appearance, Sephiroth philosophizes at Cloud, makes sure Cloud hates him, and tells Cloud what he wants.

At the end of the game, in his last appearance, Sephiroth philosophizes at Cloud, tells Cloud what he wants, and makes sure Cloud hates him.

Structurally, these encounters more-or-less bookend the game; thematically, it doesn’t exactly indicate change. Barret may or may not have come around on Cloud, and his admission that Cloud is important to him after all is, itself, important. Cloud, on the other hand, was always going to defy Sephiroth. He stands resolute, now, ready to fight rather than flee, but apathy was never on the table.

Now, Sephiroth’s whole Thing is psychologically manipulating Cloud to get what he wants, and as part of that, what Sephiroth wants is usually not what he says he wants.

All throughout the original FF7, Sephiroth riled up Cloud so that Cloud would pursue and defy him, culminating first in the Black Materia incident, and then again in the Forgotten City. None of the Sephiroth clones could survive the trip through the Northern Crater, so Sephiroth had to lure Cloud, with the Black Materia, to him, and then also convince Cloud to give up the Black Materia of his own accord. Mind control, memory manipulation and illusions were involved, but if Sephiroth could maintain those indefinitely, he probably just. Would have done that instead. Way easier,

The point is, in Remake, in addition to all the intermittent retraumitization sprinkled throughout the game, Sephiroth goes out of his way twice to directly ask Cloud, “hey, you hate me, right?” And, as part of that question, he tells Cloud, “this is what I want.” And Cloud? He hates Sephiroth, and will do his damnedest to keep Sephiroth from getting what he wants.

So. What does Sephiroth... say he wants?

- - - - -

One last aside before we cap off: This post would not exist without the valiant efforts of one Maximilian_dood. His devotion to the series kept myself and many others engaged and excited and, frankly, hopeful, in the leadup to the release of Remake, and his correlations between the rest of the FF7 series and Remake were enlightening and entertaining.

and had he not the gall to identify defying fate as a device to make aerith’s death more tragic, I would never have been angry enough to write this.

((I know, I know. Gaming and streaming and lit analysis are all hard individually, and I don’t begrudge losing one for the other two. And it was a first playthrough! I might have seen these lines sooner than some, but collating all this info was certainly not instantaneous. And Square can be hack writers at times-- see again my rant on FF15-- so even then, I can’t discount the possibility.

((but, still.

((Really?))

So, while I would like to believe that I have, by now, made my thesis on Remake’s narrative direction abundantly clear, here it is spelled out anyway:

- - - - -

At the bottom of the Forgotten City, at the shrine on the pillar in the lake, Cloud will find Aerith, who believes her fate immutable.

Sephiroth will descend, and Cloud will sacrifice himself, that Aerith should live.

This is Sephiroth’s plan.

- - - - -

Hey, thanks for reading this far! With my conversational tone and rambling tendencies, I’d have preferred to make this an audio post or, god forbid, a video essay, but I got a keyboard, and that’ll have to do. Diction is important to me, as the capitalization, italics and use of punctuation may have clued you in on, so... maybe you’ll get a dramatic reading sometime in the future? but, don’t bet on it.

Feel free to riddle me with questions, or point out inconsistencies with this big ol’ thing! I’m not exactly an expert, and I’m sure I glossed over, heavily paraphrased, completely forgot, intentionally ignored and/or aggressively misrepresented some stuff, but I love learning and teaching esoteric bullshit about The Vijigams. On that note, anything that sounds like it should be sourced is sourced from “I heard about it on social media or in a stream or youtube video one time, but if I actually had to hunt it down this whole thing would never see the light of day, and it has already been like three months,” which isn’t to excuse my lack of due diligence, but I do, lack diligence, so, tough.

Oh! but the Remake screens all come from [here]. Don’t care much for that splash screen, but, I Get It, so, whatever.

There were some other things I wanted to touch on but couldn’t really find a spot for. FF7 Remake as a metaphor for its own development, for example. Or, some of The Possibilities, like how Cloud’s death could very literally haunt Aerith, or how Remake sets up a more fleshed-out Midgar revisit that Cloud’s death specifically would make infinitely sadder.

On that note, if it was not yet obvious, I love speculation, and if they do go this direction, it’ll probably be their justification to go completely... off the rails? Remake only has to be FF7 until it doesn’t, after all. If there’s some wilder implications youall see for like... I dunno, a Jenova more fully-regenerated from also having Cloud’s cells back, getting into proper Kaiju-on-Kaiju battles with the Weapons, or anything like that? Feed me your brain juice, etc.

And, once more, for the road: this is interpretation; subjective, opinionated, and very much in denial of any kind of author-ity. Nor is this a claim on how things should be, or an assertion that this would be good or bad. Everything ultimately rests on Square's narrative design team and, we’ve touched on them already.

((but, for your consideration: I’m smart, and right))

Here’s hoping, whatever happens, we get the game we deserve.

thanks for coming to my ted talk, have a great day

#In This Essay I Will but for real this time #but hell if that's stopped me before #ff7 remake #blatant speculation #ff7 remake spoilers #ff7 spoilers #ff13 spoilers #ff15 spoilers #I dip into spoiler territory on more but these ones get a deeper dive #also if any of y'all know how to get images screen-read-able please lemme know #the screenshots are to point out that the game itself does do these things #but I don't wanna content-lock anybody out of my bad garbage #also also if the wordcount didn't clue you in:#long post #posting this right now immediately listening

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some-lists · 4 years ago

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Ranking all the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers

Go Go Power Rangers! I felt it was time for another 90’s throwback. Today I’m ranking all the Power Rangers from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Just about every 90’s kid was obsessed with this show. It was a phenomenon. It started out with the original five in its first season. As the show went on, we saw a number of replacements added to the cast.

As a child, I had my definite favorites based on my childhood memories. I later rewatched the series as an adult and my perspective on the characters really changed. This is my ranking based on what I observed as an adult looking back.

10. Kat Hillard (Pink Ranger)

Kat had the unfortunate task of filling Kimberly’s shoes as the new Pink Ranger. She was doomed from the start. The writers introduced the character as a villain -- a fellow student under an evil spell to undo the Pink Ranger. It made us not like her from the very beginning. Kat eventually grew into her role, especially in the following seasons of Zeo and Turbo. But initially, she felt like an imposter who literally did not fit the suit.

9. Aisha Campbell (Yellow Ranger)

I liked Aisha as a kid. I liked her sassy attitude and that she was girly and short. After watching the show again as an adult, I realized how completely useless she was as a ranger. She had no fighting ability whatsoever, couldn’t do any flips, and didn’t offer any brain power either. I actually felt embarrassed watching her fight scenes.

8. Rocky DeSantos (Red Ranger)

I think Rocky got a raw deal as the new Red Ranger. Many viewers were used to seeing the Red Ranger as a leader. However, when Rocky was introduced, he was just another ranger on the side. I don’t think this was his fault as Jason had already been demoted as leader after Tommy became the White Ranger. As a kid, I liked Rocky. I didn’t mind him as an adult either. His taekwondo skills were actually better than Jason’s. He was faster, more agile, could kick higher, and do more flips. Unfortunately, as one of the replacement rangers, he was always in the background.

7. Jason Lee Scott (Red Ranger)

Ranking Jason this low is gonna shock some die hard fans. As a kid, I absolutely loved Jason. He was one of my favorite rangers. I thought he was a great leader and strong fighter. He was the glue who got his team to work together. I especially preferred him as a leader over Tommy. But when I rewatched the show as an adult, I realized he really didn’t do anything! He had maybe two episodes about him. One was about him bench pressing a world record where he lifted weights the entire episode. That’s pretty much all he ever did. He lifted weights, punched bags, and occasionally taught a karate class or two. Essentially, he was there to flex his muscles and not much else. Even his sword, which I remembered being so cool, was pretty much useless. That was a big eye opener for me. I was also disappointed to see that his taekwondo skills weren’t as great as I remembered them. He was really slow, kinda clunky. Overall, Jason deserved better than what we was given.

6. Billy Cranston (Blue Ranger)

As the resident brain, Billy managed to invent the team’s communicators, which were also teleportation devices, and a flying car. He often operated the computers at the Command Center along with Alpha-5. It’s fair to say he contributed significantly to the team. He was a weak fighter in the beginning, but somehow became a super ripped expert gymnast by the end of his run. The show never explained that, but it was never a realistic show anyway.

5. Adam Park (Black Ranger)

I remember not liking Adam very much as a child. He was so quiet, shy, and often in the back as one of the replacement rangers. In my child mind that meant he was boring. However, as an adult, I realized how awesome he really was. First of all, he was way cute and I didn’t even see it before. He was smart and often operated the Command Center along with Billy (good ole Asian stereotyping). But mostly, he was an incredible fighter. His Shaolin kung fu style was a beauty to behold. His kicks, spins, and flips were so quick, effortless, and graceful. He had the best line in the movie: “I’m a frog,” which turned out to be the best zord as well. As the seasons went on (especially into Zeo and Turbo), he became much stronger, more confident, and a lot funnier too.

4. Zack Taylor (Black Ranger)

Zack is seriously underrated. He had a great personality. He was the life of the party, a great dancer, and funny. He even created his own martial arts style called Hip Hop Kido. He especially shined in the second season as he incorporated his karate with dance moves and incredible acrobatics. In my opinion, he was a way better fighter than Jason. If he had been given the proper treatment, Zack would’ve been on the same level as Tommy. After Zack left the show, the cast wasn’t nearly as fun.

3. Trini Kwan (Yellow Ranger)

Original Yellow Ranger Trini was the best. She was strong, brave, and intelligent. She had a spiritual side to her that was cool, calm, mature, and classy. She had natural leadership skills that were completely overlooked. I’d even say that when unmorphed, she was the true leader. She often stepped up and encouraged the other members no matter what situation they were in. She could understand Billy’s nerd talk and translated for the team. She also kicked serious butt. She became a big role model for many Asian American girls, as she was one of the first Asian American actresses with a visible role on television.

2. Tommy Oliver (Green & White Ranger)

I loved Tommy as the Green Ranger. His karate took the show to the next level. He was super bad ass and totally convincing as a villain. That evil laugh was perfect. Even after becoming good, the writers found a way to keep him around. His weakening powers and ultimately losing his powers gave him a tragic appeal. His relationship with Kimberly was also super cute. He was an exciting fighter and a compelling character. But, I didn’t really like him as the White Ranger. Once he became the White Ranger and the new team leader, he became a lot less interesting. He no longer had a real story. His martial arts was always top notch, but compared to the Green Ranger, White Ranger Tommy was too perfect and a lot more boring. Separately, I would’ve ranked White Ranger Tommy after Adam, but Green Ranger Tommy was awesome. Like I said, he elevated the show.

1. Kimberly Hart (Pink Ranger)

Kimberly was such a popular character. She was loved by girls who wanted to be like her, and by boys who had a crush on her. As an adult, I could easily see why and I was actually really surprised. She was hands down the star of the show. She had the most episodes dedicated to her out of all the rangers. Even when the episode wasn’t about her, she often saved the day with her bow and arrow. Seriously. She saves the team in almost every episode. Even though she wasn’t the strongest fighter unmorphed, her gymnastics skills were crazy impressive. Overall, she was the most valuable and consistent ranger on the team. Without her, they would’ve been toast.

Overall Thoughts

First of all, I couldn’t believe how poor quality the show was. They obviously reused the same footage over and over again. Even more unbelievable is how we all believed it as kids! But that cheesiness is now one of the best aspects of the show.

I was also surprised by how much the show favored certain characters over others. Kimberly had the most spotlight, followed by Billy. When Tommy showed up, it became all about him. Zack and Trini were tied for second to last place for air time. Jason was dead last. He was barely even in the show. It’s no wonder the three were unhappy and left the show when they did.

Rewatching the series also made me realize how much the movies glorified Tommy at the expense of the Pink Ranger. In the first film that meant Kimberly, who I mentioned in this list was an incredibly strong character. In the Turbo movie, they weakened Kat for Tommy to rescue her as well. That’s super disappointing as the show offered some really cool role models for young girls.

One thing I appreciated about the female rangers was how feminine they were. Kimberly was a fashion crazy mall rat, but she was never diminished for it. It just happened to be her personality. It was never a weakness. None of the girls were expected to act like boys in order to be strong. Later in Zeo and Turbo, Tanya was more tomboyish. She naturally excelled at sports and that was really cool too.

Overall, I was impressed by how much stunts these young actors did. The putty scenes were my favorite. We got to see the real actors (not costumed stunt doubles) do all their own stunts. They were all talented martial artists of various styles and masterful gymnasts. As the show progressed, so did the choreography. I can understand why the actors complained about not being paid enough.

Today, most of the newer Power Rangers shows don’t do their own stunts like the originals did. They’re a lot more flashier as well with explosions going off in every episode. Even though the budget is higher and the actors have more rights now, it doesn’t beat the nit and grit or the talent of the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.

#90s nostalgia #90s #90s throwback #power rangers #mighty morphin power rangers #red ranger #blue ranger #yellow ranger #black ranger #pink ranger #green ranger

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