#or if they all had more than one line of dialogue
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velvetvexations · 2 days ago
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my personal take on "antigonism" is that it's entirely what you make of it. which is to say, i agreed with your post explaining why you felt such a term was necessary, and i do think this mentality of "most of us are normal about each other" and simply assuming we understand each other's experiences by virtue of being trans is reinventing artificial gender solidarity between cis people ("bros before hoes", "girl's girl") but superimposed onto trans people. which can be particularly contentious, given that we're an extremely traumatized bunch with a lot of baggage and massively diverging perspectives on all kinds of things. relating to each other outside of conventional gender relations means we have to put in that much more work to bridge the gaps between us, because we can no longer rely on the common assumptions made about men and women to carry our interactions, if that makes sense.
i do think a whole word for transfem-to-transmasc solidarity does toe a line between being unnecessarily inflammatory and conditionally useful. i'm genuinely glad for the people who felt seen and appreciated by the fact that a transfem made so explicit her stance on intracommunity issues. i'm also sympathetic to the people who feel put-off by such a word. when does allyship become chauvinistic? there is no word for a non-misogynistic man to signal to women that he is explicitly anti-antifeminist, for example. do we need one? i think a vast majority would say no, on account of simply stating he believes in feminist principles to suffice. so i'm wondering what specifically the push was for you to coin a word around tfem4tmasc solidarity, because while i do think trans people as a whole need to take significantly more initiative about rooting out transmisogyny and transandrophobia both, i'm not quite clear on what could signal more clearly a transfem's stance on intracommunity dialogue than just saying "i believe in transandrophobia and condemn all radfems". all feminism, transfeminism included, has had their malicious actors-- the existence of transradfems isn't really anything noteworthy as far as the broader feminist conversations go.
i hope this doesnt come across as confrontational because i think the people who found comfort in the fact that you are willing to go that far for them is truly heartwarming. i just don't want to see us splinter further into microfactions over something like one person coining one maybe-overenthusiastic word on the internet
Sincerely, there is a word for men who are anti-anti-feminist, though, they're feminists. Granted, self-identified "feminist" men have somewhat of a negative stereotype associated to them, but still, feminist men are feminists.
One of the biggest reasons I think a term would be useful is because so many people feel unsafe in the trans community because of trans radical feminism right now that it can help them relax a lot when they see a trans woman identifies as such. Just reminding people with assurances that most trans women are Normal doesn't really help that when they keep running into ones who aren't over and over.
TRFs are aggressive about this stuff. Seriously, every single day, post after post, their primary form of activism is crying about TMEs stealing kinks and liking a children's toy too much. I feel strongly that should be countered. Even if they aren't the majority, they sure as hell act like it and repeat how great it is that every single trans woman except velvetvexations alone agrees with them.
To be absolutely clear, I do not think I'm the only non-weird trans woman! That is just literally what they say about me! They may be the minority now but that frog is boiling.
IRL transmascs are forced out of spaces and talked over when they're let in because mascuwinity is scawy, No doubt transfems have similar problems because some spaces are TERF-y, but that problem is exacerbated when social media is filled with TRF rhetoric because it gets drilled into people's heads they need to be worried about that, and I don't think "touch grass" is a good response to that.
Hell, what if someone touches grass and then they do happen to end up having people be transandrophobic/exorsexist/intersexist/etc. to them? "Oh, well, that didn't count, try again somewhere else, I prommy that's not Normal."
It's all about volume. I feel very, very strongly that volume is necessary here, to combat the feeling that that radical feminism is around every corner and help people feel at ease and know trans women are with them.
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galedekarios · 20 hours ago
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i need those thinkpieces of how you can't actually be evil in datv to stop.
it's not the point of the game to be evil and they never claimed you could be evil. it's three different flavours of hero, the same it has been in all bioware games.
bg3 did claim you could be evil and it had to add those evil storylines in about a year later bc it was literally devoid of consequences other than npc = dead.
no one complains that you can't join the wild hunt in tw3, no one complains you can't bash in atreus's skull in gow, no one complains that you can't join the reapers in me.
i am so tired of this double standard with datv by people determined to bash it for clout and who haven't engaged with it genuinely on the basis of what it is: a bioware game in a long line of bioware games.
there are legitimate faults with the game that we can talk about all day (lore inconsistencies, retcons, writing quality of dialogue i.e. my personal pet peeve of using the word 'okay' in fantasy settings and far more egregious examples, the secret ending, etc), but bashing it for something it never claimed to be is utterly idiotic.
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dalishious · 14 hours ago
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Veilguard Companion First Impressions
So, I’ve finally recruited all the companions for the Veilguard! And as such, I thought I’d share my initial thoughts on them each.
Please keep in mind that as the title says, these are just my first impressions. I am nowhere near finishing the game yet. My thoughts very well may change after getting to know the characters more as the story progresses. Also, please do not take any opinions you do not share as a personal attack against you.
Bellara
Bellara might be my #1 favourite.
I’ve seen some people just say Bellara is “a Merrill rip-off” but I don’t think that’s fair at all. If all it took was a few similarities to say a character is a rip-off of another character, than I can think of so many boring white cishet male characters who would be guilty of that. But heaven forbid we get more than one elven woman who is passionate about her people’s culture and history!
Frankly, I think Bellara is a breath of fresh air in terms of Dalish characters specifically. Finally, a Dalish elf who isn’t punished for being proudly Dalish by the narrative.
I also really appreciate that so much of her can be easily understood by her backstory, too. Like, her feelings of never being good enough is reflective of the very realistic grief she is experiencing.
Lucanis
If Bellara isn’t my #1 favourite, then Lucanis is. They really both dominate that spot neck in neck. I can’t decide if I want to put him in a jar and shake it to see what happens, or wrap him up tight in a quilt and give him some good coffee.
I’m just a sucker for Lucanis’s character archetype, is the thing. I love taking him out simply because he’s so much fun to have around. And in terms of companion arcs, his is the one I am most intrigued to see where it goes.
Taash
(While I haven’t personally gotten to Taash’s non-binary plot yet, I am aware Taash switches to they/them pronouns, so that’s what I’ll be using.)
The moment I met Taash felt my heart skip a beat. The only thing hotter than their appearance is their voice. I know BioWare probably left Taash out of a lot of the advertising because they wanted to keep Taash’s gender stuff a surprise, but oh my god, because of this I was taken by quite the surprise. And so far Taash seems to be the type to keep a hard outer shell to protect a much softer side, and that is yet another character archetype I really love.
Davrin
My initial gripe about Davrin’s writing being so exclusively about Assan rather than Davrin himself is slowly peeling away, I hope. While I still think its bullshit that you can welcome Assan into the Veilgaurd but not Davrin, at least I’ve finally gotten a few bits of dialogue to get to know more about him finally. I just want to keep this momentum! Because Davrin as a concept has so much potential, in my opinion, and what little bits I have gotten from him have captivated me. But I can’t tell yet if it’s intentionally part of his character that maybe he’s just a closed off person who takes a while to trust others, (a little like Taash?) Or if the writer just cared more about griffons than the actual guy. I’m really, really holding out hope for the former.
Emmrich
Emmrich is so much more charming than I expected, and I found him instantly endearing the moment we met him. I also really like that we’re finally hearing some different stances and insight on death and necromancy than we ever had before from a companion! It makes him feel so fresh and completely new!
Harding
I’ll be real with you: I was not anticipating caring about Harding so much. She was who I was originally least interested in, when the companion line-up was announced. But the direction they’re taking her in has me questioning so much about bigger lore questions.
Unfortunately, I still don’t see much in her except being a vessel for those bigger lore questions, though. Like, Harding as a person has me mildly curious at best.
Neve
I’m really sorry Neve fans, but I just find her really boring so far, in comparison to everyone else. She doesn’t have a lot going on, and what she does have going on, doesn’t really captivate me much. Maybe I was just hoping she’d have stronger stances on things than she does? I don’t know.
It could be that I just really fucked up with Neve, and it won’t be until another playthrough that I’ll get to experience more that will change my mind. Because I will admit I am very good at picking choices she disapproves of, with my first Rook.
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glisten-inthedark · 10 hours ago
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Sorry if its too much to ask but im a mileven turning into a byler and i honestly doubt it happening, can you convince me or at least explain so i can understand
Hello, how are you doing?
Ok, so first things first. I won't try and convince you of anything because I genuinely do feel that shipping should be organic, but I'll provide textual evidence and comparisons you can use to guide you.
This got extremely long lmao.
Will Byers was always meant to be canonically homosexual
I think the most important point to start with is this. Will was always meant to be gay, and his queercoding was present from the start. His own father used the f- slur to talk about him, his bullies always attacked his sexuality and even Hopper assumed he was the victim of a hate crime.
So we know that from the very beginning, they wanted him to be gay but his sexuality was never treated as a joke. I think is important to note the difference between internal dialogue and external dialogue when it comes to writing or presenting an idea.
Mike and Will's relationship has been treated differently from the start
Let's assume they were always meant to be viewed as closer friends. This could possibly work if weren't for Dustin and Mike's conversation during season 1 where Mike explicitly tells him that he and Lucas are his best friends. So theoretically, there should be no difference in how their relationships are shown within canon.
It'd be one thing for the three boys to address that Mike and Will are different, is another thing for the story to show and tell us that.
And you might be asking yourself, how do they do that?
Firstly, they do it by singling Mike out. When Will's "body" was found, we see all of their reactions right? But the only person that snaps to someone he was being kind to up until that point is Mike.
Just him.
Lucas says: "It's really him" and Dustin appears to want to cry, but Mike is the one who snaps at El, who tells her she told him Will was alive, and then he asks "What is wrong with you?"
He's the only person we follow home, he's the only one we see breaking down in his mother's arms. He's the only person they really focus on, and this is where I need you to ask yourself why.
I won't give you an answer because I really want you to think about it, but if all these boys are best friends, if all of them collectively care about Will like we know they do, why was Mike singled out for his reaction?
Mike is also the only person, besides Will's own mother, who believes wholeheartedly he is alive. When questioned by Lucas about it, he claims he doesn't have an explanation for the body, but he just "knows" is not him.
Considering that not even Jonathan believed Will was alive - and we all know he loves his brother more than anything - I also ask you to ask yourself why that is.
Why did Mike seemingly "just know" Will was alive when the only person who had that same gut feeling was Will's mother, the person who gave birth to him? No one else did. Not Lucas, not Dustin, not Jonathan.
Just Mike and Joyce.
Again, if these boys have been friends for years at this point, why is Mike's belief system the one that diverges from the others? Why didn't he also keep assuming Will was dead until he heard his voice?
And if all of their friendships were meant to be seen as equal, why did the reveal of the walkie-talkie happen with just Mike there? I mean, all of them cared about Will, so why not have all of them there? Why not show them collectively reacting to it?
During season 2, we again see Mike being singled out when it comes to Will.
Again, Mike himself told Dustin they were all his best friends. That's what was said to us, so is not really about friendship, but rather about the intricacies of caring and of love.
In season 2, Mike says: "He's quiet today" and Lucas says: "He's always quiet" and Mike says something along the lines of "This feels different or this is different". Again, they are showing us that Mike appears to be more in tune with Will.
This proves to be the point whenever Will is having one of his visions and Mike is the one who pulls him out of them. When Will calls Mike during Halloween, Mike mysteriously shows up there almost as if he heard him call.
They also drew a very explicit parallel between Will and Mike and Nancy and Jonathan. When Nancy got through the mini portal, she started calling out to him and he pulled her back. When Will was in that vision state, he called Mike and Mike pulled him out of it.
And just a forewarning, I will make comparisons to Mike and El's relationship but I mean no disrespect to you or your ship. Is just how I perceive things but that doesn't mean you are less valid for seeing things differently and I'll try not to get into deep about how I feel about their relationship.
When El called Mike, he never heard her. He never felt her.
He thought he saw Eleven, but didn't go after her nor did he actively try and find her even when he kept trying to reach her in his walkie-talkie. He never dragged himself to the middle of the woods to find her, he never went against explicit orders from a police officer to go after her.
And then we have a scene that tells us exactly how Mike and Will met.
We face the same conundrum when Mike blows daggers at Dustin for trying to help Will and tells Will "he'd take him home" only to take him to his own house.
When Will explains to him what is happening, he tells him not to tell the others because they wouldn't understand and then he says he feels like he's going crazy and well Mike says they'll go crazy together. And the thing is, the writers could have easily thrown in something innocuous like: "No you're not going crazy", or "This feeling will pass" or not have Will say anything about going crazy at all. The scene would come off as way less romantic and it would still have worked.
And again, we know all of them care about each other, that they'd do anything for each other. But, Mike is the only one of them who is there.
He is standing there, watching his friend be in pain, and he tells him that asking him to be his friend was the best thing he ever done.
So I ask you again, why was Mike singled out. Why was he the only one there from the party?
And let's compare the content of what is said, shall we?
Joyce informs Will of his birthday, and how he gave someone a toy because the person was sad.
Jonathan tells Will about the day their father left and they built Castle Byers together.
All of those moments start to sound really small compared to this monumental thing Mike shares because the thing is. Will is aware that his birthday is March 22 (and so are the writers but I digress), and he knows that he and Jonathan built the castle when Lonnie left.
And he also knows when he and Mike met. What he didn't know, up until that point, is that it meant that much to Mike. Was that, canonically, Mike viewed it as the best choice he ever made.
During season 3, both Lucas and Mike were the source of Will's anger, and yet Mike is the only one who follows Mike out of the basement and he immediately backtracks and tells Will it was a cool campaign.
Now, did at any point Will tell Mike he didn't like girls? Did he, at any point, make passing remarks about not feeling attraction towards them?
Was there any realistic reason for Mike to say the words: "Is not my fault you don't like girls" instead of saying: "Is not my fault you can't get a girlfriend?" or "Is it too bad that I want to spend some time with my girlfriend?" All of these are far more acceptable responses to Will's argument than what he said and yet he went straight for the jugular with no reason whatsoever.
In canon there was no reason for him to assume Will didn't like girls - especially considering he urged Will to dance with a girl a few months prior -. So how the hell did he go from Will should dance with a girl (which implies he didn't assume anything other than Will being straight) to: "Is not my fault you don't like girls?
And we can see he immediately feels sorry, and when Will bikes away he goes out after him without hesitation in the pouring rain to apologize.
Now, another parallel to Mike and El. When they break up everything around them is colorful and bright, Mike doesn't look upset, or heartbroken, he just looks pissed and Max straight up tells El he'll come crawling back and asking for forgiveness in no time.
Does he do it?
No.
But who does he go after immediately after fighting? I don't have to tell you.
Mike had been dating El for a while up to that point, you'd think he'd be upset that she broke up with him, instead, he looked at him like "What the fuck" and kept complaining about it. He looked more guilty about what he said to Will than about the fact he was lying to El.
And by the end of the season, we can see he looks terrified the moment El kisses him and tells him he loves her. He doesn't close his eyes, and he doesn't kiss her back, he just stands there looking utterly lost and confused.
And then they did something that is particularly gut-punching.
They used Heroes by Peter Gabriel again - the same song was used when Will's body was found.
Not only the music was the same, but we saw Mike staring at Will's house with this somber expression and biking away. As he gets home, he holds his mother and if you're thinking that this sounds familiar is because it is. We saw it before: The same exact thing happened when Will's body was found.
Now we have to remember that Mike was losing both El and Will. That both of them are leaving, and yet every single visual and musical cue tells us who Mike is subconsciously thinking about.
They could have chosen any other song, they didn't need to make it look like Mike was about to have a panic attack when El kissed him (and make it look like he was terrified) and they sure as hell didn't have to use the same song they used when Will's body was found and for Mike to hug his mother the same way he did that fateful night.
And I saw someone argue that he looks like that because he realized he loved. If that was the case, why didn't he just say it then? She heard him say it before, and she tells him she loves him too, so not only does that let him know she feels the same, but it should also help with his insecurity about not being sure he feels like that in season 4. And also, she signed all her letters as "Love, El", and he didn't pick up on it? Unlikely.
Not only do we have Finn's acting to rely on, but we also have the script that explicitly states that as El kisses him, Mike feels confused and asks "What is wrong with me?"
And oh my am I rambling, I am so sorry lmao but I still have thoughts™ so I hope you don't mind lmao.
In season 4, we see that Mike has no issue hugging Dustin and that he has no issue maintaining his friendships with his other friends or with talking to El but wouldn't you know it? He hasn't been talking to Will for months.
Then there's the infamous airport awkward af half hug, and Mike casting furtive glances toward Will the entire time (you can rewatch the scene and see it for yourself).
Another important thing to note is that there was no single moment between Mike and El where they were alone if we don't count their argument about him not telling her he loves her.
Every other single moment of the season they share has Will standing there. They force us to feel sorry for him, they force us to confront the fact that Mike and El being together is breaking his heart, and they make us feel even sorrier for a boy who's already been through too much.
They even tell us a few facts while they are it:
Will loves Mike. Mike doesn't make him like a mistake at all, he makes him feel better for being himself. Will pictures himself with Mike by his side forever, and he doesn't think he'll be ever able to move on from him and from how he feels.
He literally Cyrano de Bergerac's the shit out of the situation because he couldn't stand the thought of Mike thinking about himself in that way. He loves Mike so much that he gives up something sacred to him just so that Mike gets to be happy. He rips off the band-aid because he lost all hope, and he has come to accept that he won't get his happy ending.
And there's something even more inherently tragic in what Will does - from an anthropological standpoint that is, because he's not giving Mike just a painting, but a sacred part of himself, of what makes him "him"". He wraps it up with lies, closes it with a beautiful bow, and signs El's name on it. He says what he feels and assigns those feelings to El, but what Mike truly has will always be a part of Will, not a part of El.
We don't even know if and where Mike keeps El's letters, and yet, every single one of Will's drawings was kept safely by Mike.
And finally, we have the final shot of the season.
At first, we see El Mike and Will standing together in the middle. Then we have Jancy and Jopper at their side.
Then El steps away and goes to the front, while Mike and Will stay behind, right in the middle, with the other couples of the show. I have a really hard time believing that was coincidental.
They could have ended the season a million different ways and yet, they didn't.
So again, ask yourself why that is.
There's a lot more I could say, but I feel like I already scared you enough as it is lmao.
I know I'm not giving you all of the answers, but I genuinely believe that the best you can do is analyze the show in its entirety. Is for you to approach with questions instead of preconceived answers. Ask yourself: If they could go this way, why did they go that way?
I hope this helped you in some way, and I also wanted you to remember this is a process. The show was meant to be redigested and reassessed, it was meant to be watched over and over again.
If you pay attention, if you look closely, you'll see small moments of Will and Mike's relationship since season 1. If you pay more attention, they'll become more noticeable as you go.
But if you take a step back, if you start to wonder why Will has to fall in love, if you question why his love had to be implied as unrequited; why at the same time Mike and El never really talk after his supposed love speech, why is this happening at all, that should also tell you a feel things.
I don't know if this helps at all, but I hope it does, somehow.
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mizuki-foreshadowing · 9 hours ago
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Kamiyama High Festival, Episodes 6 & 7
Feeling hurt from the two students from earlier, Mizuki retreats to the rooftop, an old habit. There she sees Rui. Their middle school days were defined by these lonely impromptu hangouts. Rui knew Mizuki before she became Mizuki, and he had been the one to help her back then.
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We learn that the context of the flashback to Mizuki and Rui with Mizuki in the boys uniform, is that it's the first time the two had met.
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Their first introduction is very worth delving into. Rui introduces himself and asks Mizuki's name. She refuses to give it, but Rui already knew it. He says the reason he asked anyway was to hear what Mizuki would say. Under the reading that Mizuki is a closetted trans girl, this interaction makes perfect sense; Rui picked up on Mizuki's self-loathing and wanted to be considerate and kind to a fellow loner. It was an invitation for Mizuki to give him her real name [Mizuki].
Likewise, the metacontext is that Colorful Palette wants to be kind and considerate to people like Mizuki; they're telling her story in a sincere way. The first and easiest way they do this, made even easier by Japanese grammar, is to not refer to her with a masculine pronoun. Japanese allows the omission of a pronoun if it's clear from context, which combines well with the depth that can be conveyed with [name]-honorific, as well as simply using either the first or the last name. Akito, for instance, who's heard the rumors about Mizuki, exclusively calls her Akiyama in this event story.
It's a little harder to do this in English, which requires a subject for its sentences, and only really offers the use of first name or a pronoun. In English, students who know Mizuki's secret, at worst, refer to her in the text of the game with 'they'. The dialogue of N25 members, at least from what I've seen, is careful to only use 'Mizuki' or some other wording to refer to Mizuki. (as a trans woman, I'm very sensitive to when 'they' is used for us) They don't know her secret after all, and would otherwise use 'she'.
A more difficult way than pronoun usage, for the team to be respectful of Mizuki and players who they want to reach out to with her story, is to not deadname her. If they ever gave a birth name for her, it could be used by hurtful fans as a more correct way to refer to her, doing only harm. Rui and Mizuki's introduction is meant to be read as Rui asking for a different name from Mizuki. She refuses to give any name. This would otherwise signal the conversation as being over, so Rui skips the introduction for her, saying he already knows her name.
Is this all enough evidence to support that 'Mizuki' when used in flashbacks of her in a boys uniform is a way to respectfully censor out her deadname? Maybe, but there is one more piece of evidence, in the next episode. Episode 7 opens with a timeskipped flashback. Mizuki and Rui have been having their loner hangouts on the school roof for a while now.
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It's not something I can capture in a screenshot, but Rui refers to Mizuki in this line with "Mizuki-kun". This is clearly still Mizuki before she transitioned, and she's still just as icy and bitter in the way that she talks as she'd been in Episode 6. But more than that, [I checked and] Mizuki is an unambiguously feminine name. It means 'hope', and the only suggested spelling for it is with the kanji that Mizuki's name officially uses. Conversely, -kun is typically reserved for a male addressee. While Rui also uses -kun for Emu and other members of the cast younger than him as part of how he talks, he no longer uses -kun for Mizuki. At the end of Episode 5 and all throughout Episodes 6 and 7, Rui in the present uses just Mizuki to address her, which acts to respect her in the same way friends avoid using 'dude' or 'guys' when addressing a trans girl. Rui using -kun in the flashback may reflect that the name in-universe it's spoken with was not actually 'Mizuki' and that we the players read it as 'Mizuki' as part of the writers respecting her character.
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This is the Mizuki who Mizuki talks about when she tells people about how she used to feel confined by people's expectations, always wondering how much she should change herself not to inconvenience those around her. That Mizuki can't understand why Rui refuses to act more normal and try to fit in, even as herself doing so is the source of her own misery.
Rui's response is there are many things that are very much worth finding in solidude. Among them, Mizuki herself, with the silent hope that Rui is also that for Mizuki.
Mizuki understanding that getting rejected by the other people around her isn't the end of the world, and that she can still find meaning even if she does so alone, is the first step toward the person she'll become, of somebody who does things her way and is so much happier for it.
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laylanightingale · 2 days ago
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Broken-Smitten Parallels
Ok, so we do see how my beloved fits Smitten in the Tower. Devoted, loving, nigh-impossible to talk out of that "delusion". Although the leader-follower position is painfully reversed.
We all know (or may have a hunch) that Fury for the Broken is like Burnt Grey for the Smitten. They're both going through a lot of grief due to having lost their beloved at our hand. The Broken, however, instead of redirecting his anger to just one Voice, calls out the entire gallery ("heathenS"), which could show him as being more emotional and less selective about it (Smitten calls out The Narrator, then the Cold and then the Hero). He also is less confident in this regard, needing a coping mechanism and sending out less than credible arguments ("It didn't even work, it doesn't count." regarding the stabbing attempt). They both hope for their beloveds to be alive to... "salvage things". Clearly not in the best of states, both of them.
Come Apotheosis and the Broken starts defending his Lady ever so vigorously, even disregarding his teammates. He also sounds a lot like Hamlet intonation-wise as he panics ("It's just a fluke, an accident, that's all!") Mate clearly stands with Her, but unlike Smitten, he can at least be convinced that it's his Lady who's bad, not the surroundings or partners. Smitten won't have this nonsense, it's the vile Narrator's fault.
My mind is getting hazy, since I'm about to write the part that I love. Fact is, Broken can't just be convinced that Apo's bad. He understands the fact himself. How do I know this? If we listen to the dialogue before that, my boy sounds like his normal self, squealing slightly higher as Apotheosis wrangles his hooves, but should we choose to [Fight back], after the Paranoid and the Hero have chimed in in their usual demeanors (for the route) the Broken sounds like:
A. He just got the coolest idea ever. In secret.
B. He's proven a hidden hunch to himself.
C. He's finally fed up with Apotheosis' shit.
The sudden change of intonation shows that something inevitable has clicked inside his brain. Like he has understood the gravity of the situation. And I mean gravity, because his voice from there on, countering the physical pain, gets extremely deep.
The Smitten's voice upon Damsel's death gets higher instead, showing that the poor guy has just witnessed a murder (to my beloved's credit, he barely had time to react to his). Hamlet's crying, partially rasping his lines out. In Burnt Grey he turns into a deep grumpy gus... unless he's thinking his beloved's alive. On a physical level.
With the Broken, the gash is much, much deeper. It's mental now, the realization that the one he's been protecting and adoring this whole time would do something worse than hurt them all. To escape alone. Leaving th-- him behind. That is much, much worse than Not Good with Rejection. And it's hella justified. So as Smitten fluctuates from deep hatred to excited chirping, Broken stays down, likely a true bass. Growling like a guard dog ready to pounce any second now.
One final detail I want to notice is that Broken also wants revenge and actually does it, but unlike Smitten, in Her direction. He keeps saying he wants to "show her how we've felt", trying his damndest to keep himself in check, his sanity slipping. The Smitten, on the other hoof, unleashes a barrage of insults, prompting the Hero to be the therapy dog - here though, no therapy is needed. The damage has already been done and the retribution awaits... her.
And as I listen... I notice something weird. Is it just me or Brook is gasping for air the entire time? What's wrong? Is he being super overwhelmed with emotion and holding back a ginormous scream? Or is he... crying? [Was that the breakdown I was looking for?] The Smitten definitely did cry as he mourned his Damsel on the spot and swore revenge to the gallery. Here tho, it sounds much more mise-- no. Forlorn. Betrayed. Abandoned. Bereft. Those are exactly the passions, echoing in the depths of his bereavement that we wanted to hear in the Smitten... we get to hear them here. Like it's the final call. Like it's the end of the line just for them both. She's dead to him. They're through. Forever.
The abused finally stood up to the abuser. No other party wants to see each other no more. Especially, the abused. Nothing even to tell her in return to her apology, because never will it ever be accepted. It's over.
I... can't but bring my condolences to my best Voice as a recent divorcee and... that's exactly where I see the deep, profundo beauty in him.
Discussion open. I apologize for the wall.
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anemicjellyfish · 3 days ago
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I don't usually like to comment much on stuff like this, but I'll give it just this once. Because there's been something I've been wanting to say and I think this moment is the right time to say it? (Please pretend you don't see any typos or grammar issues, I'm trying my best after a concussion I got recently.)
Helluva Boss respects its audience.
Our beloved demon show is full of jokes, gags, visual and audio stimulation, and more. It's wild, it's silly, it's emotional, and it's weird. All of which are good things, imo.
But when I say it respects it's audience, I mean the show (the writers, producers, etc) trusts us (the viewers) to understand what they're trying to say without necessarily saying it aloud.
I don't have to provide screenshots by now, and I won't because I'm tired, sorry. But we've all seen the evidence that there is a big class divide in Hell. Since this divide places imps near the bottom, we see the world of Hell from the bottom tier* (or close to it, I'll touch on that in a little bit) because imps make up a lot of the named characters.
Even ignoring every instance of "small/tiny" said by multiple characters, we get a line from Striker about how it's impressive for an imp (Blitzø) to own their own business.
We see imps in difficult and humiliating service roles to the higher ranking members of society.
Seemingly successful imps like Crimson shouldn't be considered the standard by any means. We found out that his "business" was failing. He tried marrying off Moxxie to get whatever fortune Chaz had amassed (even if it did turn out that Chaz was penniless himself & had lied).
I highly doubt that Crimson's criminal empire really fell to pieces because one little Moxxie ditched him. The system is rigged against Crimson and the only way he could try to get ahead was by running a literal mob/mafia group.
We were shown through world-building and snippets of dialogue that imps haven't been treated fairly in society.
Helluva Boss told us all of this without characters breaking the 4th wall like a 1990's Saturday morning cartoon educational end segment. They pulled a "show, don't tell," on us, and I respect them so much for it.
And I don't want to be too harsh to those who didn't catch it earlier. It's totally fair and understandable to miss these things. Which is why I think they had Millie be the one to spell it out for everyone.
An imp, from a presumably poorer background (edit at the bottom**) than her two imp coworkers, was the one who put into words that imps are seen as "less than" by just about everyone else. She's our down-to-earth, badass character, who has no reason to just make up excuses for why things are so difficult in life. If Millie is acknowledging the classism, it's serious.
Personally, I think a lot of reactors get caught up in the act of reacting and don't get the chance to take in the media they're watching. Yall know that moment when someone shows you a video on their phone and you have to watch the video knowing that the person is watching you watch it?
Yeah, I imagine it's something like that. In not sure I'd come up with the best takes if I knew people were waiting for me to make online content about other online content.
* One slight add-on here is that Hellhounds appear to be below imps in social standing. Blitzø is seemingly able to walk into a shelter/kennel and take his pick of Hellhounds to adopt. So if I had to guess, imps may rank a little above Hellhounds. But honestly I'm just so tired and I think I'm gonna have to call it on the analysis here. Sorry!
I've had so much respect for this show since I first saw Harvest Moon Festival with the way they treat the world building.
** sorry I think I worded this differently than I intended, and I'm not even gonna blame the concussion this time. What I meant was maybe Millie wasn't necessarily closer to/deeper in poverty than Blitzø during their youth/early adult life (Moxxie seemed better off than both). I meant that it seemed like she stayed "poorer" for longer? In the sense that Blitzø was already working for himself when they met; he seemed to already be surviving on his own and was able to save money to start IMP and give them an office. My stupid brain is a mess, again sorry for being weird.
Danny Motta so fundamentally misunderstands Blitz and it boils my blood. Oh well. I will not elaborate.
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sudoscience · 2 years ago
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I like hatching my eggs in Mesagoza because it's a big circle and the soundtrack slaps, so I often end up photobombing this girl taking selfies with her Pachirisu. I wonder how many of her selfies I'm in...
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spacedlexi · 8 months ago
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people dont talk enough about how heartbreaking the marlon betrayal mustve been for clem too,,
this dude saves the life of her and her kid. takes them in has them patched up gives them their first hot meal in who knows how long. gives them a safe place to stay. possibly permanently. confides in her that hes trying to be a good leader but feels like and fears that hes failing. asks her to help him take care of the rest of the group. helps her get over her fear of dogs by asking her to trust him. and things go well. she feels safe. like this place could really finally be the home shes been looking for
but as soon as she finds out what happened to the twins. that marlon planned on giving up her and aj too. she immediately becomes a liability to him and he attempts to kill her for it. locks her in the basement to die by walker. then tries to turn the group against her so he can shoot her instead when the first method fails. and he nearly succeeds
then a majority of the group turn against clem the minute aj kills marlon. ignoring marlons mistakes but condemning aj for his. like clem wasnt betrayed by marlon in the exact same way he betrayed the twins. like she literally wasnt almost killed twice? and how long had he been considering giving her up? was it always some contingency he planned? did he truly want to keep them around and things only changed when he feared the raiders had returned? she'll never know
#i think about this a lot... the betrayal... clems deep trust issues... then they all want to kick her out (except vi aasim and tenn 💕)#when she was just as impacted if not more so than the rest of them. since she was the only one with her Life on the line#thats why violet fighting so hard for them to stay is so important imo and would MEAN SO MUCH to clem too#vi and aasim are the only ones who can see past the bullshit and realize that theyre safer with clem around#while the rest would rather kick her out so they dont have to acknowledge their confused feelings about marlon#like first marlon betrays her then the rest of the group tell her to get fucked and die. dont come back. we never want to see you again#but she does. and she saves them#personally i do think marlon had 'good' intentions but he was a scared and fucked up kid who made bad decisions#and continued to make bad decisions to cover for his previous fuck ups#but that just makes him interesting :)#and i like teaching aj the difference between people like marlon and people like lilly#all of clems 'wow i feel so safe here :) and these guys seem smart :)' personal dialogue around ericsons makes me 😭#she was so happy to be at ericsons. and they turn against her so fast when she was more of a victim than any of them#aj is a literal baby. do not treat him like an adult who can make fully rationalized decisions. hes a baby and he only knows survival#at least they slowly get over it after clem comes back (some take longer than others...)#but the lack of compassion in voting to kick them out is heartbreaking. she was heartbroken#and thats not acknowledged as much as it should be#posting this old drafted post now cuz it expands my feelings on clems broken heartedness about the marlon situation#it speaks#twdg
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shallowseeker · 3 months ago
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ngl i love my girl anna but the reason cas was more compelling is that he was arcing into doubt
there is a better post somewhere but cas is confused about his loyalties, lending intense tension that fed the pre-existing themes
EDIT: all i'm saying is there is more natural tension in a person coiled/standing on the precipice than there is in the one already splayed on the ground
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what-is-it-to-be-pk-esque · 5 months ago
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My partner finally finished BG3 but has no idea that his ending was actually bad cause he was a pro-Vlaakith githyanki who rode off with Lae'zel but got NO EPILOGUE where Withers points out y'all died im 😭😭😭
they have no idea what happened with Gale or anyone else (who was still alive) after flying away 🙃🙃🙃
#i cant even tell him cause hes gonna play again more “normally”#its so tragic he would like skip dialogue and just fight to get the jump on boss battles instead of waiting for the cutscenes to start#and he didn't exhaust dialogue trees!! like... how... why...#and also he staked Astarion 😭 and p much never reloaded#and didn't clear the shadow curse so no Halsin#also everyone at Last Light Inn died so Dammon was gone and Karlach only got 2 upgrades#and he didnt know moonrise towers was basically a second town#and his game was buggy a lot maybe? cause he kept trying to be hella creative with things and do things out of order#like killing gortash before doing steel watch 🙃#it's fine it's fine everyone plays differently#he tends to care more about gameplay than anything else but still!!#i just want him to know all the character backstories and see everything that made me emotional#i mean he did say he was sad when Lae'zel broke up with him in act 3 and when Karlach died and when he had Gale use the orb in act 2#which he considered his canon ending :/ sigh#i dont think he got Jaheira's lines about death#and he didnt understand why Karlach wouldn't go back to the hells#and he thought Wyll was happy being the duke (and has NO idea you could save his dad cause the mission didn't happen!! 😭)#the iron throne was like my fave mission outside of killing Cazador and I can't discuss either one cause he didn't do them properly yet 😭😭#he also avoided talking to children so he missed those quests and yenna glitched so no cat appeared in camp 🙃#sighhhhh cannot believe he plays so differently than i do lollll#he didn't even do unlimited kisses with Lae'zel!! meanwhile im over here kissing Astarion every night hahahah#hoping my partner doesn't see IRL if I have the office door open as if it matters lmfaooooo#i need him to play again and see why im in love with a video game character lol#maybe we could both um... benefit from knowing more about all of Astarion's scenes lmao#but like he has NOT SEEN Astarion's silly or sweet side yet just him being a bit of a chaotic vampire#and thinks i like him cause of vampires WRONG!! play the game again and see that i love his silly & sweet real self!#bg3 spoilers#baldur's gate 3 spoilers#bg3#baldur's gate 3
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desertdragon · 4 months ago
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This shit is so ass I just want it to be over
#the moment i saw it has FFX But From Wish.com my intelligence 100% just feels insulted#it was already boring this entire time but disrespecting X's point by turning it into a cheap commodity device is kicking my nuts#just spitting on Sakaguchi by trying to copy his homework in the hopes idiots will clap like seals bc they recognize the reference alone#but when hasn't msq's point been pushing out nostalgia and by the book trope slop for the sake of illiterate's money#gameplay and collectables is all this shit has ever had aside from the occasional side story or side character#i like the collectables. the gameplay is interesting enough. i have a story of my own at home.#they even ripped off IX for more HEY YOU REMEMBER FF9 RIGHT? BUY OUR GAME BC WE SAID ALEXANDRIA & MIMICKED SOME BUILDINGS#YOU'LL BUY IT AND LIKE IT JUST BC IT SAYS SOLUTION NINE LIKE ZIDANE EVEN WHEN IT HAS NOTHING IN LINE WITH FF9- YOU DUMB TOOL#the solution 9 plot is just the twist from ff9 but if it had nothing to do with anything aside from being one giant reference#it's never made to fit xiv itself and it only appears at literally the last quarter of the story with virtually zero mention of it before#and then to drag it out even more they added a sprinkle of ffx fayth but make them disconnected from the themes and have no personal connec#with the protagonist (s)#everything before this is pure seasonal anime lowest grade shounen tropes with no seasoning bc it's played so predictably flat and straight#zero novelty beyond fringe ideas that just get mentioned w/o much writing behind them which this game loves doing#they love mentioning shit just to postpone it to the last second when it's suddenly important despite having no depth attached before#saves money on actually having to write a complete story#they even got Wish.com Steiner in here lmao#if anything the time for them to rip off IX was in EW because those stories actually have themes in common to make some sense#also the way characters are expendable to the story in the sense the game forgets they exist after they play their role#is at the worst it's ever been- they drop even long time main characters like flies once their exposition is done#it's so abrupt too just when you think a character might contribute more they're already gone#this expac is everything bad about the game which makes it worse than bad- it's unbearably boring and tedious#even characters that were HYPED IN THE TRAILER literally only show up for a few lines of dialogue then leave
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dont-offend-the-bees · 6 months ago
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Bout to sit down to watch DW with the folks already internally cringing bc I saw it this morning and they are gonna haaate it
#I'm not even sure I liked it!#i like bits of it#but it's definitely upped the Silly Factor in ways that often feel more clunky and cringey than fun and camp idk#I feel like I'm being the fun police but is it too much to ask that my silly campy spacetime fun also be good???#i feel like it used to be#it was stupid and we had farting aliens and shit but like#very little 'oh i am actually kind of embarrassed to be seen watching this'#believe me i do not WANT to ve cringing about it I'm all for 'cringe is dead'#but I just think there's a difference between low budget surreal but grounded and deceptively well-made/written silly TV#and high budget cgi saturated awkward dialogue fest that barely hangs together and keeps making me wince#it's like I'm getting the wincing feeling from that one awful clunky 'like some kind of volcano' line from fires of pompeii#but ten times an episode minimum#i want to like it!!! i want it to be good i want ncuti to have an absolutely killer era!!#and it defo has its moments!#but bro....... so much tv is just. Bad now.#and it's probably a mix if factors#effects of writers strikes and producer meddling and whatever else#but I'm sick of tuning in to watch a new thing and finding them all riddled with the same brand of very fixable clunkiness#things that could have been fixed with very minor revisions more often than not!!#anyway not posting this in the tag bc i do NOT wanna be a hater or start fucking discourse about this#I just miss feeling excited about tv#i miss having some flimsy sense of trust that things might feel well put together even if i disagree with how they take the story#mr. bees speaks
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airenyah · 1 year ago
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wish me luck that i'll manage to fit 12 different examples into my analysis
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lecliss · 1 year ago
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Oh wow I had no idea the website I'm using actually color codes which episodes are filler or not. Looks like I don't need to find that article then.
#all filler binge watch here i come 👀👀👀#i did kinda get the urge to start watching the bort dub tho. but i still need to watch road to sakura and then The Last first#anyway RtN was awesome and i love iruka THATS NART'S DAD 2!!!! but i kinda dont have anything else to say about it after the end lmao#i guess if anything i just wish sasori had a line or two. i really wanted to hear jyb's sasori voice again 🥺#very funny that hidan had like. one scream laugh and that was it. of course thats all the dialogue he would get lmao#im assuming the LT akatsuki are kinda morally gray in terms of the mercenary work they do instead of just outright villains#considering kakuzu and hidan AND SASORI???? were still among them#i doubt sasori's personality changed much and clearly neither did hidan or kakuzu's. but being the LT at all means they must have#i mean. deidara was very fine with the work he was doing to help and tbh seemed more work oriented too#but maybe thats what happens when hes not bickering and arguing and hating uchihas so mucj#cuz he was fine working with. and i assume taking orders from itachi???#so i guess they do have differences that keep them in a smiliar line of work while remaining the same person at their core#but not like. AS fucked up????#very interesting to think about who they are in the LT. ALSO IM NOT OVER WHAT CHARASUKE MIGHT THINK OF MERCENARY ITACHI!!!#like. is he secretly worried about itachi's line of work???? did itachi have a falling out wit#*with their parents and left home to eventually become a mercenary??? is charasuke mad at him???#IS THE FUCKBOY PERSONALITY A COVER UP FOR HIS PROBLEMS WITH HIS POTENTIALLY STRESSFUL HOME LIFE DUE TO ITACHI'S LIFE????#I HAVE NEVER CARED ABOUT THEIR RELATIONSHIP MORE THAN I POSSIBKY COULD IN THIS MOMENT RIGHY NOE#FINALLY A VERSION OF THEM I CAN GIVE A SHIT ABIUT AND NOT JUST RELENTLESSLY HATE ITACHI FOR!!!!!#AND WE GOT FUCKING NOTHING FOR IT!!!!!!! FUCK#personal
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smuganya · 2 years ago
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also yeah the throuple sucks in this version lmao 
so does like
literally everyone that’s not dhruv and faruq 
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