#protagonists change but are kinda related

[actual-haise]

Doctor Who is like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure for British people

[lilac-read]

Rewatching Community again and I love how the show immediately sets up parallels between Jeff and every other character.

Jeff and Abed were both raised by tv (also I totally hc Jeff as being autistic too)

Jeff and Troy are trying to find themselves in some way (troy abandoning his football player persona, and Jeff learning to not be alone)

Jeff and Pierce are both headstrong and insecure.

Jeff and Annie are both manipulative and selfish.

Jeff and Shirley are both kinda mean (but in the affectionate way).

The only one who doesn't have a direct parallel to Jeff? Is Britta. And honestly, I feel like that's part of why her character gets butchered. Each other main character has something that causes them to relate directly to Jeff, the protagonist. Even Chang and Dean Pelton have that. But Britta doesn't.

[aromantic-diaries]

Yknow I feel more represented by characters who aren't confirmed to be aro/ace or even written as such, but can still be interpreted that way because of how they're characterized, rather than characters who are confirmed to be aro/ace through word of god while the actual story has no implications of that character being aro/ace beyond them not having a love interest. The latter kind of waters it down to not wanting to date or have sex which isn't really all there is to it. I get that not all representation has to be a 100% accurate, deep and touching depiction of the aro/ace experience, but that doesn't mean completely ignoring the character's identity beyond not giving them a love interest.

I will elaborate with two examples under the cut

So for the word of god representation, let's take Lilith Clawthorne from the owl house as an example. I think she's a great character, I liked her, and I think the owl house is a fantastic show that deserved better. However I don't think of Lilith as good representation because the only real confirmation we have is outside of the actual show. It's not in the canon material, she doesn't have a love interest but she's not even the only character who stays single so that doesn't mean much. She isn't shown to be any different from anyone, her being aroace isn't really relevant in any way. I'd say the best word for describing this type of representation is Passive. We know she's aroace because it was confirmed outside of the show, she doesn't have a love interest, but it doesn't really go beyond that. I get that the show was cut short and maybe it would have been elaborated on more but that's just a generous assumption on my part. My point is, I don't really see any real aro or ace experiences reflected in her character, neither mine or anyone else's. She doesn't really represent any actual aspec experiences at all which is why I don't consider her to be good representation. I still understand the community's attachment to her though, we take what we can get and what we get is very little. So while I love the owl house, the aroace representation is pretty dissapointing compared to the great representation of other queer identities and I'm kinda bummed that the aroace character still gets sidelined in an otherwise very queer friendly show

For another example I'll bring up my all time favorite, Rudy Waltz, protagonist of the book Deadeye Dick by Kurt Vonnegut. Deadeye Dick is not a feel good story. The story is dark, bitter and the conclusion is no different. Still, I would describe it as oddly comforting and pretty funny at times. So what does that have to do with anything? Well, our Rudy can very well be interpreted as asexual and probably aromantic as well. He isn't referred to as such, he describes himself as a neuter, the author states in the preface that the protagonist's disinterest is a metaphor for his own declining sexuality, and the book was written before the term aromantic was even coined. However, as an aromantic asexual reading the book, I could not help but deeply relate to Rudy's lack of interest in ever having sex or finding a romantic partner. I felt kinship with him as he described knowing how many people there are who are just like him and yet they go unnoticed by most people, because I was one of those people. I related to him and the way his disinterest in sex was met with such confusion from another character. Despite not being described as such, Deadeye Dick is very much in part an asexual and an aromantic story because the protagonist's experiences line up with that of someone on those spectrums. You could argue that calling him aroace is problematic due to him fitting a negative stereotype due to his emotional detachment, or that he only fits the label because of said detachment, but that does not change the fact that he is still better representation than a character who was confirmed outside of the story with no real implications. I see myself in Rudy more than I do in Lilith because Rudy actually feels like an aroace character

Anyways, rant over. Feel free to disagree with me

[synergysilhouette]

Everyone keeps talking about "traditional villains," but in retrospect, I wish Disney had gone in a different direction for the Revival Era. Hear me out...

King Magnifico's failed characterization and poor writing in "Wish" really bummed me out. I was looking forward to a complex villain who was kinda right. I was hoping it could usher in a new age of Disney villains who were more grey than black and white, who made the characer grow as a person because they challenged their perspective. But then I realized that the opportunity existed in earlier revival-era villains:

Dr. Facilier is a villain first and foremost, though thinking back on it, I do think he is kinda proto-Magnifico, granting people's wishes, only for them to find that what they wanted isn't what they expected. I do wish he tied a bit of truth in with his scams, mentioning (similar to Magnifico) how people's dreams are very difficult to achieve--especially in the post-WWI American South, particularly POC. Naveen is generally assumed to be a POC himself, so he could juxtapose this viewpoint as someone who's never really had to experience such hardships. Dr. Facilier could still be 100% villainous, but further emphasis on dreams, wishes, and hard work would be part of his character. However, this is the reverse of "Wish"; Tiana has already worked hard, but she's lost a lot of her innocence and light-heartedness trying to achieve it, thus causing her to reevaluate how important love is and how she may not have realized it, being more practical about her dreams. It all starts with a wish.

Mother Gothel was already right; the world can be dark and cruel, and will destroy any light it finds. However, similar to Magnifico, since she's completely evil, the protagonist she goes against doesn't really change to understand what she's saying. Rapunzel doesn't see the world as dark or dangerous anymore; it's the opposite, thanks to her experiences. Because of this, I do wish Rapunzel did have a bit more negative experiences independent of Gothel to prove Gothel's point rather than it being "hey, she's just saying that because she's the villain." Maybe Rapunzel tries healing someone and people start lusting after her hair.

Hans is DEFINITELY a missed opportunity. He was the anti-Anna; isolated and alone, and he became bitter and cruel because of it. It's mentioned that the deleted song "More than Just the Spare" was removed because it made Anna too much like Hans. I don't think that, and if anything, it furthers my point: Hans gave up on his brothers, who he felt overlooked by and pestered by (he doesn't even mention his parents). Maybe give Hans less brothers and feature them a little in the movie so we can see how they interact with Hans and how it's a "what could be" for Anna and Elsa. His evil character is exactly what Anna is trying to avoid, but she understands how he became this way rather than it simply being for shock value.

Yokai was a great villain to me, but the reveal happened too late. I'd have loved seeing a more thorough exploration of his character and parallels to Hiro (which were done great in the film; I just wish it was expanded on). Highlight how people quickly forget about the dead and don't always learn from history, how there's this cycle of loss and hatred that you have to break.

Bellweather was on a power trip, but I do wish she had a storyline similar to Judy and Nick, since--in an interesting twist--they come off as more interesting and complex than the villain. She doesn't really say what made her act like this, and comments that "fear always works." I wish we got more of that, especially to play the two sides card; Zootopia is mainly predator-phobic, and challenges to this, ie predators playing down predator-related crimes in order to get people to look past their identity (and the fact that many predators are in positions of power) may have caused Bellweather's abuse by predators to be overlooked, causing her to want them all gone.

Te Ka is interesting. Despite "Moana" being a great film, I do feel like Te Ka and Maui's storyline was underutilized. It's revealed Maui stole Te Ka's heart for humans, but from what we see, Moana lives in this ideal community where their heritage, culture, and nature is loved and respected. Maybe embrace the fact that Tala is the only one who tells the story of the ancestors and how being they became "comfortable" since they were no longer voyagers, being used to the hierarchy and their stagnant society. Highlighting some humans' selfish natures would've been nice rather than Maui just telling us about it, with Te Ka being a metaphor for the destruction and disregard for nature and love.

Namaari is such a missed opportunity. Despite caring about her community, she comes off as more villainous than an antihero since she doesn't show any sympathy or care for Raya--in fact, she seems rather smug about hurting her. By making her a villain burdened by expectations and love for Fang while slowly being redeemed would've been better to me, shifting her POV slowly, making Raya angry with Namaari but understanding her motives. Having some regret about her choices--even if she believed they were the right ones--would've gone a long way for Namaari's characterization.

Magnifico...well, you already know he could've been one of Disney's most complex villains. Horrifying backstory and powers that are the result of hardwork left him with a jaded view on wish granting. He wants to help others, but has MANY reservations about it.

This is just my POV, of course; some of you may disagree (or feel like the aforementioned villains already achieved what I ask for), but I do hope future Disney villains have that "they're kinda right, even if they're wrong" characterization. It'd be a nice new era as the successor to traditional villains and twist villains--though just like twist villains, this trope requires VERY good writing.

[crimson-chains]

*Reading the latest update of star crossed*

So Alcar really said "he's not the worst person you can have by ur side" while a few months ago he sabotage his OWN YOUNGER BROTHER star powers or creatures(something related to their star magic and brush),steal his kingdom and tried to banish him from his own galaxy yet he continues to say yuildun the one who's been protecting Polaris from his bad deeds in the past and still NOW is not the worst person to be by Polaris side

Like seriously what's he tryna say, he's the PeRfEcT person to be by Polaris side after he neglected his OWN YOUNGER BROTHER because of his stupid jealousy and the funny thing is bro didn't even apologize for all he's done like excuse you

He shouldn't even try to play that protective older brother at this point cuz it ain't working for me,like anytime I see him in the comic trying to play that caring and protective older brother I'm always like bruhhh please don't do that

I'm sorry if this sound like I'm hating on ur character or something but it's just that to me in a comic,webtoon,anime, movie or manga if a Villian is a Villian he remains a Villian to me even if they turn good or their just broken heroes,if they try to harm the protagonist in anyway, either emotionally,mentally physically or spiritually their Villians to me.

So that's kinda one of the reasons why anytime I see Alcar all caring for Polaris I'm always like

What I'm trying to say here is that yuildun is the BEST person to stay by polaris side,purr.

Anyways I can't wait for the ceremony,I wonder what yuildun's gonna wear and are other royals from other kingdoms gonna attend to or is it just a ceremony within their kingdom 😀

Lolololol Definitely Yildun is a great man for Polaris and I'm happy you're excited for the ceremony! X3 It's totally fair if you don't like Alcor! I personally think that it's interesting to see how people change and grow after they've made mistakes. And he did save them during the original duel when Yildun and Polaris were falling ^^ But, also valid if you personally don't think his growth is something you can trust or just something you're not interested in!

[lxikobsd]

It hurts that it feels like the way Kunikida was created to be a bit more of an important character but the plot constantly shafts him

You're telling me we have a character who was introduced in the very beginning of the story, who is the main mentor to Atsushi our primary protagonist, and current partner of Dazai our secondary protagonist, so important roles to both characters who kinda share the spot of being the main protagonist.

You're also telling me that we are constantly told that he's the person who embodies the values of the ADA the most, the main organization of the manga and is one of the things that we as the audience are supposed to care the most about. So we have the character who is the human embodiment of the beliefs of the ADA, who is the character that is going to be the next leader of the ADA, and is the character that was specifically targeted to be broken first because of these reasons.

so not only all that, but Kunikida's Matchless Poet has arguably some really strong parallels to The Book. We've got:

An ability that allows the user to create anything they want by writing it into a special book.

A special book that allows anybody to create and change reality into anything they want by writing in it.

Obviously there is a massive difference being the scale, The Book being able to change reality, and The Matchless Poet only being able to create notebook sized objects to our current knowledge. I don't genuinely believe there's gonna be any relation between the two but the parallels are still there and we also don't know the full strength of Kunikida's ability due to Fukuzawa's ability and lack of a proper backstory for Kuni showing what it was like before the ADA. There is a very good chance that The Matchless Poet is stronger than what it's shown to be but its purposely kept to such a small size because of practicality.

I'm not saying that he isn't important at all, but it definitely feel's like he's been shafted the most out of the ADA, except for maybe Tanizaki. At least give us a backstory please.

[pixelatedraindrops]

Happy 1st Anniversary RainCode!

☔️6🔎30👻

Thank you for bringing me so much joy 💜💕

(and thank you for giving me the gift that is yuma kokohead)

I didn’t think I’d make art for it at first, but I figured this game has done so much for me, so I’ll give back by drawing the duo that started it all 💜🩷 These two are such an iconic pair and I will draw them together as much as possible c: (tho Shinigami will be mostly in her ghost form if I do)

First time drawing human form Shinigami non-chibi, and I admit she was a little tricky with that outfit. But I think I did it decently enough… xD

little bonus for the kokogami enjoyers 💕

miss death god is too much woman for this little boy to handle~ 🤭

i know he's an adult but can you honestly look at him without context and say this is a man??? he's just an eemey meemey little guy.

Personal Rambling below (because I love this game so much)

WARNING MINI ESSAY INCOMING (lmao)

Oh RainCode... Where do I even begin...

RainCode is a game that has changed my life along with likely many other people’s lives. Although the premise of it is fairly straightforward, the characters and atmosphere make this game so much more. The successor to Danganropa is honestly its own unique story and structure, and tbh I think I love and enjoy it far more than Danganronpa. But this game…is just so much more for me.

I truly never expected this game to be such an impact on my life, let alone become my next fixation.

So, for history, I was honestly in no real hurry to get the game on its release date last year, so I got it a day later. On July 1st, I played the game for the first time. And I didn’t think much of it at first. The only thing that was on my mind when I started this game, was that I was positive I was going to be treating the protagonist like Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri’s son the whole time.

This was the first post I made about RainCode back on twitter in 2023.

Yeah... Kinda silly when I look at it now... XD But I do still beleive this headcanon.

When I started the game my 2016 fixation of Danganronpa came back a bit. As a previous DR lover, I did make comparisons here and there to all of the characters. Yuma was very much like Naegi with his shy and timid demeanor at first due to having amnesia, and it felt like déjà vu when playing through the start of the game. But then it happened. The moment that solidified Yuma as my next and now permanent target. When he got sick/dizzy on the train... God that moment still lives rent free in my head. (I know the cause of it was different/related to the first mystery/case, but as someone who enjoys any sort of sick whump moment, regardless of if its little crumbs or a whole-ass meal it still counted for me) I was still shy and hid in the shadows with my silly little niche back then, but I told myself. Yep, once I finish this game, I’m writing a sickfic for this game and he’s the victim. (though what surprised me was that I wasn’t alone on that, 3 other people made sickfics with yuma before I did so that was a pleasant surprise xD)

As the game went on it shocked and impressed me in many different forms. I realized that this game isn’t the Danganronpa clone I thought it would be. Sure, it had a lot of similar elements and mirrored mini games like Hangman’s Gambit, Spot Selection, and of course the Conclusion Comic of the whole case, but the story the world and the mysteries were honestly different from the way DR structured them. And it pleased me when not many people from the main team had died. Most of the deaths were of side characters that had appeared in their respective chapters. Which honestly was a breath of fresh air for me, and I think that’s the real reason it’s separate from DR. It’s not as cruel and not as stressful. It’s a lot more chill, but the mysteries were still enough to get me excited and look forward to the next maze I would enter. The mystery labyrinths were probably my favorites elements of the game. They were just so much fun. And every single character was so likeable, (yes even some of the peacekeepers were fun aside of one or two that I absolutely despise. mostly yomi and guillame lol but I guess I kinda like yomi a bit more bc of the fandom)

And I grew to love Yuma EVEN more. He is honestly one of the best written protagonists I’ve seen in a long time. It’s hard to do timid protagonists right, but RainCode definitely nailed it with Yuma. He had his moments, but it wasn’t enough to be obnoxious. He also shined in more ways than one. And my god, so many relatable moments… (I have anxiety too xD) He was so charming and cute the whole time and even had his badass moments. This little guy is the whole package and I LOVE him for that. Truly a unique and fun main character that blows every DR protagonist out of the water.

(Yes, I said what I said.)

And the ending, GOOD LORD THE ENDING?? It was so well executed, and the ending twist villain was immediately my second favorite character after the protagonist. I could go on about how much I loved the ending but if I did, we’d be here all day and I don’t want to spoil the entire game…so… I’ll leave it at that.

When I finished the game, I was so satisfied. (Yes I love it more than DR, what are you gonna do about it?) It left me super happy and made me want to make some fan content for it. Though I was still very quiet on twitter and had a feeling since twitter is a more complicated platform, I couldn’t gush about the game too much due to fear of spoiling other people…and when one of your favorite characters is just the whole secret of the game’s core mystery, I couldn’t talk about it too much… >.>

So, then I did the unthinkable. I went back to tumblr… It’s a little embarrassing but this account is actually my old one I had from years ago. I was on tumblr more 2013 to 2017 before I abandoned the site when it no longer seemed fun and there were times that I’d rather forget... (let’s just say that I used to RP with my OCs and…one of my RP ex friends catfished me and it made me feel VERY uncomfortable. I wanted to forget it, so I ran away and never returned.) I was super nervous to come back and try to post again, so my first RC related post was about him being a naegiri child.

After that I began making more edits once I gained access to the sprites and full body arts. I made some Pokémon AU edits because those were always fun, and then I started making feverish edits of Yuma’s sprites. My first post ended up becoming a hit and I caught the attention of some people. They liked what I was doing so it gave me a bit of confidence to continue. I got even more attention, and it made my confidence go up even more.

And then I started trying to draw art again, something I gave up long ago. My first few arts were a little rocky at best, but so many people enjoyed it! One of my older arts ended up becoming pretty popular. Through this my few pieces of art, my many sprite edits, and my first fan fiction (Home Is Where The Heart Is) got me pretty well recognized in the Rain code community on here. So much so that I felt confident enough to give myself a title. The CEO of RainCode Whump or “Whumpcode” and all of this confidence made me decide to turn my blog into a fandom and sick whump blog. It became a full blown obsession that possessed my mind that I've become TOO passionate about. Never thought making these little guys suffer would bring me this much joy... XD

Over time, I’ve drawn more art and written more fics than I ever had for a fandom. Before I never ever made fandom art, and I would usually only write one sickfic per fixation. (my last ones being demon slayer and spy x family) But here I am, making more art pieces than I ever have before (hell even doing a MONTH ART CHALLENGE) and improving even! And having 7 fanfictions of RainCode, 6 with Yuma and one with Makoto. And those two became my prime targets and muses for my art. Drawing them is easier for me and they’re my favorites so it brings me such joy to draw them. I love MakoYuma so much. Maybe not so much romantically, but friendship and familial. They have such potential to be so much, and I adore them. Plus putting them in sicknarios and situations is fun (I think we can all agree on that haha)

I think I’m talking too much, so I will say one more thing. I never thought my fixation on this game would last this long. I was positive it would go away after just a few months at best. The game is great but nothing amazing to keep thinking about for too long for me. But I think the main reason I was able to keep my fixation on this game for almost a year (and ongoing) is because of the fandom. (specifically, the Tumblr fandom, but some people on twitter are cool too) I’m honestly so happy I returned to tumblr and was able to make a name for myself in this community. I have met so many talented artists and creators and even made some new friends (and even got a few apprentices to take under my wing) If it weren’t for everyone’s support, I don’t think I would have ever done this much and made it this far.

I’ve essentially made a platform for myself, and I didn’t think tumblr would be a place I’d check daily ever again. To think this silly little game…would change my life so much and make me happier than I’ve ever been in such a long time. I feel recognized and like I belong, I’m finally able to be loud and proud about my passions for sick whump and not worry too much about it, I’ve finally found my prime target and I have fun with him every time, I’ve gotten back into the arts of drawing and writing again and I think I’ve made some of my best work yet, and I’ve met so many wonderful people and even collaborated with them on some fun projects too! (Here's the most popular one and also the first one I did!)  It’s just been…so wonderful… I am so happy to be part of such a chill talented and fantastic community TwT So thank you everyone… this is all thanks to your support… <3

Sorry I’m getting a little mushy here aren’t I… x’D I just couldn’t be more grateful for this game if I tried… So, thank you so much Rain Code, for existing and doing so much for me and making me so happy… I have never had this much fun in a fixation before, and I never felt like I was ever truly part of any fandom and was always just a lurker. It feels so good to finally feel like part of a fandom you love, and also be well liked, admired and accepted by others despite your niche being a little on the odd side… XD

I really hope there will be a sequel for this game, and we’ll see all these wonderful characters again. After all I’ve been through with this title and how much joy and purpose it brought me, consider me a fan for life. I will be dedicated to every future title in this series and play the hell out of it. And I hope it gains a wider audience come October when it is released for more consoles. (Just hoping no weirdos take over and ruin it with stupid drama and horrible things like the DR fandom…)

Though once new fans come in and are also tumblr users…I wonder what they’d even think of me and my place and takes when it comes to this series… XD (hopefully they’ll be nice to me… XD)

Anyway, I’ve said enough.

Happy Anniversary RainCode!!

☔💜👻🔍

[inbarfink]

I already talked about, like, the Obvious Symbolism of Simon reaching his lowest point literally dressed like the Ice King and then gradually gets back to his old outfit as he starts climbing out of his depressive spiral, at least somewhat.

But it’s also really interesting, maybe even more interesting, how Fionna’s outfit has been gradually shifting and changing with basically every adventure.

My first thought was that it really shows Fionna coming into her own as a character. The more she grows and also the more character development she gets - the more the audience learns to see her as more than just Girl Finn - the more her outfit moves away from just being a slightly girlier version of Finn’s classic look and into being its own thing. 

Because Fionna is her own character. 

But my second thought was more about the first time Fionna’s classic outfit got an update in this series.

This wouldn’t really relate to my first reading, since it just kinda makes her outfit closer to Finn. But it does relate to the most important Theme that her character arc revolves around - Fantasy versus Reality.

Fionna starts out the story interacting with the idea of magical adventure and heroism via the lens of fantasy. She compares everything to video games and just thinks about everything in terms of it being cool and fun and she literally tries to chase down a person from her dreams.

And her mindset was probably only reinforced by discovering she was literally created to be the Main Character in God’s little fantasy universe literally created out of self-indulgence for his silly little stories.

And because of that, she starts out the story with a huge Protagonist-Centered-Morality blind spot where she can’t recognize when she and Cake are in the wrong

And she rushes into action and violence just thinking it’s ‘cool’

And, like, in general acting without thinking of the consequences.

And at basically every step of this adventure, these kinda actions clashed against the reality of her situation. And it all started when she pointed out to her own creator that the outfit he designed for her is cute - but extremely unrealistic for an adventurer like herself

And from there we move to Fionna experiencing more and more of the harsh consequences of assuming everything should fit into her fantasies of heroes and villains 

And that she should punch first and ask questions later 

And in general that it’s always better to trust her guts over her head. 

And with every one of her experiences, the bright and adorable outfit that is a reminder of her origin as God’s Most Self-Indulgent OC gets tweaked in more way - turning it into something that looks a lot more, for the lack of a better word, gritty. And also turning it further and further away from the outfit of her own literal fantasies.

And all of these horrible traumatic experiences and the general dangers of the magical and very different world she’s in have all weathered down Fionna’s original optimism and eagerness and brashness that originally defined her and turned her terribly overprotective and scared instead. And it really reminds of how Simon’s own trauma weathered him down. 

Turning him from a kind man with a passion for adventure and the fantastical and a powerful parental instinct to a miserable jerk who aches for mundanity and made a little girl cry

Until he got to his very lowest point.

So I’m guessing next up for Fionna is getting to see her regain some of her old identity that the Trauma has been tearing away at - getting back some of that cheerfulness and brash attitude and adventurous spirit. Because while it has put herself and her teammates and others in serious troubles - it’s also been a huge help at other times (especially as she's a good counterbalance to Simon ‘slow but dependable’ Petrikov)

She needs to find the balance, learning the lessons from her multiverse adventure without losing all the things that made her Fionna Campbell in the first place.

And I wonder if this development is gonna be paralleled with a return of some of the more ‘classic’ elements of her look - or if her outfit is instead going to diverge farther?

[alpaca-clouds]

The Orphan Without Friends (or: one of my absolute writing pet peeves)

I talked about this before. Without a doubt the strongest influence on my writing has been Digimon Tamers and apart from that the general writing from Chiaki J. Konaka. And there was something I learned from Digimon Tamers that I ever since internalized a lot into my own writing.

See, if you write a story it is very easy to just slide into the trope of making your main character like an orphan without family or friends. It simplifies so many things, especially if you want to send your character onto this epic adventure. This goes doubly so, if you have a character, who is still a minor and would usually be somewhat accountable towards their parents in regards to where they are supposed to be. Also, any friendships the characters form within the story seem so much more meaningful, if your character just does not have other friends.

Meanwhile I am sitting there like: "Thanks, I hate it."

Don't get me wrong. I did the same thing too, when I was a young writer. Heck, even as I was learning from a lot of what Konaka was doing and was able to realize how this kind of writing tended to hurt stories, I still did that. Like all my original stories I wrote before the age of like... 22... followed this kind of writing. Main characters who either were orphans or had abusive parents and no friends.

But here is the thing: It kinda makes stories worse. Especially in terms of character writing.

There is two main aspects to this:

Characters without friends, who like them, are inherently less likeable. (Yes, there literally are studies on this topic.)

Characters without friends and a social environment also tend to come across as less... deep.

Let me explain. See, we humans are still very social animals and as such we tend to subconsciously orient us through other people. As such we are more likely to actually like a character, who is liked by people. Even though those people are not real, our subconscious will still orient itself at it.

You know this kind of YA protagonist, right? The "I am bullied and alone, because people do not get me, because I am not like the other girls!" Which tends to be relatable to a certain subset of readers - but basically everyone past a certain age is probably gonna roll their eyes. And this gets partly back to that. It really gets to the core there. Lonely characters feel like "oh, so special" quickly.

And yes, obviously this can be prevented if you actually work with this. Either turn it into a character weakness of some sort - or at least reflect within the story.

The other aspect is, that through giving character a social group, you actually will develop the character a bit more through those people that surround them. Because we humans have this thing called social cognition. Basically our mental processes will change depending on how we interact with social groups.

And as such... You actually will develop a character through giving them a social group. And it will show. Because who the character is friends with and how the character interacts with their family actually shows a lot about who the character is. It helps. It really helps. It allows you, too, to define the character without going into weird mologues or the likes.

I really am kinda frustrated with how often media really just does not allow characters to have friends outside the group of main characters. It's okay that they have other friends. That is fine.

[markantonys]

This is actually really funny but I came across a post a few days ago arguing that the show made the characters more assholes than they were in the books and it was the most baffling post I ever read. Cause like they softened the characters in the show. Everyone is nicer and not as prickly I guess I would say. Which of course helps so much with the EF5 feeling like actual friends!

i feel like i've seen takes like that too and it is SO wild to me haha i guess maaaaaaaybe moiraine is more of an asshole in s2 than she was in the books? but that's because she's undergoing a major trauma she didn't undergo in the books, and also because by moving her from Mysterious Mentor to Actual Protagonist in these first 2 seasons, the show is endeavoring to portray her as a deeper, more layered, and therefore also a more flawed character since she's filling a main role rather than a supporting one.

then as for the kids, i can't imagine why anyone would think they're bigger assholes in the show! early book!nynaeve goes around beating people up with sticks and being an absolute terror to everyone around her, whereas in the show she's still got her fiery nature but it's toned down so that she feels more like someone who is a reasonable adult despite being hot-tempered (......okay, semi-reasonable. bless her <3). and one thing that really strikes me is how caring and tender she is with mat in 1x06 (and vice versa with him being so happy to see her) when in the books the two of them were so weirdly antagonistic to each other for most of the series. changes like that really make the EF5 friendships so much warmer, like you say, and it's especially great with nynaeve to show how fiercely devoted she is to ALL her people, including mat.

meanwhile, book!mat is allergic to admitting he cares about his own best friends, but in the show he's much more openly affectionate, though without losing his jokester nature. book!perrin is a condescending jerk in so much of his internal narration, but in the show he's a total sweetheart and so kind and lovable, and actually IS the gentle giant that book!perrin only claims to be. book!egwene is already flawless in my eyes, but she does seem to genuinely care about and respect her emond's field friends more in the show (in the books she sometimes viewed them as kinda like her cringe friends from home she doesn't want to be affiliated with now that she's moving onto bigger and better things haha tho ofc she did always care about them when push came to shove). i thought her jealousy-of-nynaeve arc in s2 was so well-handled because it was obvious how much love and respect she still has for nynaeve despite being frustrated with her currently, which felt like a realistic representation of a troubled time in a lifelong friendship and made egwene come across as sympathetic and relatable instead of as petty and jealous, as an arc like that could have easily reduced her to if not handled properly.

and rand, i suppose he has rougher edges and a hotter temper in the first 2 seasons than he did in the first 3 books, but that gives his character some much-needed grit and definition since his personality is pretty bland in the early books, and underneath that the show makes it so incredibly clear how much love he has for his friends and how kindhearted a person he is (just like they do with nynaeve despite HER temper)

[blueesnow]

First Mai mention from Masa... And then there's a chance it was actually George/Enjouji Madoka by full name (Ren's butler and also related to Renge if I'm not wrong(?) hence why he's the only one taking care of Ren despite his father's order to everyone in the house to ignore him and I'm sure there's a memorial in Ren's repeat from his POV where Renge asked him to do that in case she was not there anymore ;;w;;) from Ren's private story when he mentioned how there's one of his acquaintance who used to brought him to Italy on his childhood and I perfectly remember there's a spesific memorial for that back in the otoge (is it debut?), and now you're telling me there's also Tomochika mention from Camus's private story? 😭 Although her va already retired it's nice to know they still keep her around ;;w;;

(Oh yeah not to mention I've heard from ppl who had Camus UR that you can hear Alexander's sounds too in the side story and outside of that you can hear Camus mentioned him from time to time which is cute www)

Ringo and Ryuya (especially Ryuya cuz of Yamato) also got mentioned from time to time too which is nice www so far there's only Raging 3D model appeared in the main story and since it's only 3 chapters and they promises to update it later there's chance they probably going to bring back Shining with 3D model too, I mean this is the character who made utapri famous after all www

Ngl at first I didn't have quite a lot of expectations for raiemo when it got announced like yeah maybe I'd dl and play it like SL though maybe not that obsessedly playing cuz my girl's not there and the story of it is kinda...boring for me (their AU had great ideas but 5 lines for each chapter is a bit eh...)

Athough I'm happy they bring back Haruchan to the cast I'm worried whether they will be going to do her justice ever since the recent events of her treatment in the series but my god they really went beyond from what I expected 😭 I'm glad they really made her much more of a protagonist than I've ever thought and I love how you can see her personalities from it.

I'm also glad how the boys mentioned her reckless attitude when it comes to composing, "You tends not see your surrounding when you were composing please take care of yourself" Or "You probably haven't eaten anything aren't you?" like those little details of haruka being 音楽夢中 is so nice 🥺

(in case you didn't know this girl is music-obsessed okay. Idk why the anime change her background like that though she still keep a few of her personalities in (then again they also did the same thing with the boys changing things that didn't have to be changed so idk) You see she was such a shy and quite a loner girl before, she didn't know how to have a conversation with ppl using words as it's too difficult for her but she learnt that she can express her feelings using music.

I remember there's a description where she used to have like long hair and especially long bangs (the reason is because she's scared talking with ppl while making eye-contact so she never cut it off) but the one who made her want to change herself was Hayato on TV. To her Hayato is this shining and dazzling presence and sometime she even wondered how could a person have a smile so bright that she can't take her eyes off of him. While watching Hayato she learned that she can't keep being scared around ppl anymore so she actively tried to have a solo performance from time to time (with her original musics that she made) outside with her keyboard cuz music is the only way where she can properly communicate.

That's the time where she properly met Masato. She was doing her own solo performance as usual in the middle of the snow (she didn't care it snowed + she's more than happy knowing that barely anyone around bcus of it www) when suddenly a man suddenly singing in sync within her plays. They both talked and praised each other talents and later on promised to themselves not to let that talent go to waste. They're both each other's reasons why they went to Saotome Academy. After meeting Masato was the time where she finally feeling brave and cut her hair short to what it is now. You see, while Hayato gave her hope to walk, Masato gave her courage so that she could run. It's a shame the anime kinda ruined that ww

Also speaking about that masaharu meeting, in Debut prologue when she first met Ranmaru he asked her whether he had seen her before but he avoided the topic later cuz he thought he was probably mistaken or something but in fact in Masato's route it was revealed that the area where Ranmaru used to perform before was around the place where Haruka used to live and it's also one of the places where she used to perform too so chances are Ranmaru probably heard her performance before cuz this guy is also quite a music lover, another reason why he kinda tolerated her and gave her a chance on the beginning of debut and AS too 'cuz of Haruka's passion for music—even if he was mean to her when he was on his woman-hater phase www

It also didn't help Ranmaru also had the same problem as she did, that communicating with words is kinda hard on him but he can express himself freely with music so they're both are kinda alike hence why both of them are attracted to each other.

There's also like one of her bad habits when it comes to music which is being a workaholic www She's the type of a girl when she's too deep in her zone she can't see her surrounding at all so sometimes she tends to skip sleeping and eating (I love how her debut profile literally state that bad habits of hers www)

Because of that sometimes you could hear her talk about how she didn't sleep for days and later on collapsed out of exhaustation or just got sick and even got taken to hospital or just sleeping anywhere except her own room (Natsuki literally found her sleeping in the recording room before instead of her dorm room when he went to pick her up while Ranmaru found her sleeping in the office, he scolded her for that though he's surprised when she mentioned that she haven't been sleeping for 3 days and later on when she went to his home the lack of sleep finally caught on to her and she's asleep in Ranmaru's room www) —and these things happened in a lot of the boys routes wwww

Her quotes in Otoya's route is... something else XD

"I doubt human would die just because they didn't sleep for 3 days" -said her as she finished a months worth of work in by a week 😭 Girl, once a time it's okay cuz that's totally unavoidable when it comes to work but after knowing about you the chances of you doing this almost every day is high enough so pls stop.

Even Shining was like speechless and called her a demon for it, though girly is quite an airhead and she's in her I-look-up-to-you-Principal phase so she thank him for that which impressed Shining even more wwww

There's also her quote in Otoya AA once she moved to agency's dorm when she found out that the equipments much better than the school dorm and that it was a one person-one room, "I could definitely composing here for 24 hours straight~" girl pls don't.

There's also tomoharu convo when she went to her dorm room (otoya's repeat after story I remember(?)) and Haruchan just casually mentioned how she's so concentrated in her composing that without her knowing the sun was already up when she glanced on her window which just flabbergasted Tomochika and she's like, "My god, did you even sleep!?" Tomochika's thought after that was interesting cuz to her Haruka used to be this calm and reserved girl but she tends to be this wild uncontrollable being(?) that she didn't know on how to scold her www

In Ai's memorial when she got sick in his route and she can't be contacted no matter how long he waited for her so he went by force to her dorm room only to found the girl collapsed in the middle of her room www As he finished taking her to the bed he heard her calling him out which he thought she finally awoken but alas girl is sleeptalking and it was... 😂 "Senpai... I... finished the song... " Ai's reaction to that is hilarious www *This girl... She's still composing even on her dream? Just how much does this girl likes to work" 🤣

Another memorial after that is also hilarious cuz apparently after he nurse her back he still can't trust her to take care of herself, that once she wake up the next morning she'll do the same thing over and over again which turns into a cycle www so he in his own way try to message her (got interrupted by Reiji and Ranmaru 😂 and it had 3 versions of message, one by Reiji, one by Ranmaru, and one the combination of ReiRan which made Ai speechless until he dediced he write it himself www) in the morning telling her to stop working for awhile and take a full-rest until she finally got better. (Which reminds me when he went to make her food when she's sick she's so uncomfortable with letting her Senpai cooks for her so she's like let me do it but Ai's already done with it and told her off "This is Senpai's order, sleep." and girl silently went back to her bed it's cute 🤣) And after she got better and they went to their usual pace of work, Ai made sure to made her stop when it's gotten too long and force her to take a break from time to time. 😂

In another memorial of his, apparently the reason why she can be fully concentrated and good when it comes to music but not the other things (as in she's slow learning other things to which Ai scold her for it hence the 8bit meme) cuz according to Ai is because she used all of her brain only just for music so she didn't have any left to receive other things. Like her brain's only got plugged when it's about music 😂 The first time I read that what comes to mind was the Patrick episode where he went genius www

Also her becoming music-obsessed also tends to had few of boys getting jealous and feels like they lost by it (Reiji especially in ASAS 😂 imagine you try to propose to your gf but she told you that she can't imagine herself being a bride bcus her wish for now is to write music for as long as she wanted to, poor guy www—it didn't help that before that there's this scene where they were walking around at night and Reiji told her how he loved her smile and what should he do to make her smile which she replied by hearing music! Which later on made Reiji realized somehow music tends to make her smile much more brighter than himself which made him self-conscius so he promised to himself that he'd do his best to make her much more attracted to him in the future so that he won't lose to music which Haruka responded "???" 🤣)

There's also like Ren side too where he showed her how to play basketball and somehow the sight of him and how the ball went to the ring gained her inspiration to make music so she went all talkative about it to Ren which Ren just replied "Lady really loved music, huh" "Hm? Yeah. Why you ask?" "Nah, it's nothing. Somehow I got a feeling that I can never win against it" "???" 😂

And welp on Nacchan's repeat love end after story (you know how there's still Satsuki but it was rather called as wild Natsuki) these two were having fun in the forest until Natsuki's glasses went off, boy went blind without it so he literally try to grab anywhere to find his glasses and somehow that sight of Nacchan awoken something in Haruchan that she decided to be a naughty for a sec so she told Natsuki the wrong location for his glasses multiple times until wild Natsuki appeared and so these two are doing hide and seek as a wolf and red riding hood until he finally catch her and whisper to her what she wanted (in a sexy way okay) but sadly haruchan's like "I want to hear Natsuki-kun's singing voice or him playing a viola or—" which pissed off Wild Natsuki and he called her "You music-idiot woman!" 😂 which was supposed to be Sacchan's nickname for her from before he was still Satsuki(?)

Honestly I tends to joke that "haha did Haruchan have a 声フェチ" after seeing her first reaction being mesmerized by Otoya's voice and all her monologues about is...something else that she forgot she was sexuallly harassed on the train before and Otoya came to save her www but ngl seeing her reactions after hearing the boys voice after that...it might be not that impossible 😐 It also didn't help that this girl had sensitive ears too so playing with her ears will be--okay I'm gonna stop :")))

Anyway back to Haruchan's bad habits, Ai's memorial in ASAS is also hilarious. Like the end of his B Route is that he gave her key to his house and told her that she could go there even if he's not around while baiting her with all of his equipments on his studio which would made her composing easier. So boy finally went back from work and is glad to know that Haruka used his key. She's still working even after she greets him though Ai's kinda not bothered about it so he sat beside her while waiting for her to finish as he told us how his home now feels more homey now that it finally got decorated bit by bit by Haruka'a touch, like Haruka tends to bring these sea creatures plushie and keeps it in his house which is cute XDXD Like there's a penguin one, a dolphin and jellyfish. So he plays with one of the plushie while he waits for her until he just... got bored of it. Like it's cute he suddenly said this on his mind "I'm here right now and you won't even pay attention to me" though him sulking while still decide to wait for her is much more cuter XD

Welp until he finally decided to told her to take a break and she responded, "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just a little bit more" Ai... Ai's reaction hearing that was hilarious 😂 "That face... is definitely not just 'a lil bit more' face" Ai soon remember her habits 🤣 This robo suddenly went into detective mode and searching through all of her surroundings such as her empty mug and how only the table she's working on had music sheets all scattered around. He even went so far as to calculate how many hours she spent there which he definitely decided it's more than just four hours worth of work so he decided to be blunt and said, "You, you haven't take a break since 1pm didn't you? " "H-How did you know!?" and he... he literally took her by force from her workplace after that 🤣

Oh yeah, another cute facts about Haruka... remember how she was a fan of Hayato? She was such a fangirl before that when the topic change into Hayato she turned into this talkative girl even though she was so shy before and it surprised and intimidated Syo when he first knew about this side of her XD It happened on his memorial when he supposed to do a report with Hayato and Haruka's like "I got you" so she brought him to his room and showed her all of her recording collections so they watch Hayato together until Haruka decided to go full fangirl mode on Hayato like their conversation went like "Look at that Syo-kun! Isn't Hayato-sama Amazing!?" "Uh...yeah.." "Look this part is where he's adlibbing! Look look" which later on made Syo so quiet which is hilarious 'cuz you know this guy is the loudest ppl 😂 And usually syoharu convo were literally with Syo speaking talkatively with Haruka sometimes responding in a calm manner so it's interesting since their dynamic change here www

Also her being an idol fan didn't stop just with Hayato. After she dated her idol bf apparently this girl had a habit to buy anything to support her bf which is CD, merchs, anything. So you see, the thing with the CD... is seriously hilarious okay. I mean the CD was a song that she made by herself, and the reactions of the boys when she went and buy one is... Syo was perplexed and mentioned how the agency already gave them one when it got produced but girl already went to the store (Natsuki's Repeat Friend End After Story), when Haruka was going to go to the register and buy the CD Ai suddenly came up behind her and asking why is she buying one when he already gave her one as a celebration (Ai ASAS A Route End), Masato's a bit confused when she suddenly running to him with CD in hand while shouting that she managed to buy it but he's happy knowing her happy (Debut Masato). And out of all of that reaction... the one with Ai is hilarious. So apparently in the shop there were like two of Ai fans in there so they kinda noticed him and want to try approach him and he realized this so Ai told Haruka to let's get out of here but Haruka... 😭 She insist that he lets her go to the register and buy the CD first before they took off and... he actually lets her 😂 They didn't show how it went since the scene skipped after they finally ran away but my god Haruchan... 😭 "My idol bf almost got ambushed by his fans but oh no my CD is much more important" 🤣 this girl's priority XD

I also remember there's a scene where she bought Ranmaru's poster and told him how she's going to hang it up in her room.... forgetting that she lived with him now. But she still decided to ask him can she still hang the poster which the man responded, "Hell no, what kind of an idiot who hangs a poster of their own face in their room" 🤣)

Anyway I've just realized I talk way too much about this girl, I'm so sorry you can't just ignore that giant wall of words:"))) But yeah, I did like Haruka back when I watch the anime. But my god I never expected to actually loving her so much after playing the game, even more than the boys www. Like she's the reason why I'm still enjoying utapri until now. Any contents that had her in it I quickly went and prepare my spoon and fork while waiting for the meal. Broc pls release more merchs of her I need to buy more i'm still salty I never got the 10th anni merch by kurahana sensei cuz my god girl is so sexy she's full of confidence also pls don't forget about dolce vita--

Anyway back to raiemo, I've noticed that almost all of the backgrounds they used in raiemo literally resemble the ones from the ori game; such as haruka's dorm room, each of the boys's dorm room (starish), Saotome Academy's Classroom, and I also found out they also used Ai's room (studio) just like how it was back in AS in his UR side story (there's also a good chance the other senpai will have their own room displayed too asdfghjkl if any of you had their ur and unlocked their side story let me know)

So yeah I had a lot of fun right now enjoying raiemo, seeing Haruka still working as a composer and learning about the boys once again. I hope they keep mentioning and bring out the sub characters more in the future if by chance they mention Hakase and Kaoru I'm dead but I hope they mentioned the parents too I miss hearing Nacchan's Dad Story or Syo's parents (which their dynamic is interesting cuz his mom is the one wearing the pants in the relationship www)

[gffa]

Kinda vibing off the other anon’s ask…how did you reconcile with Anakin’s portrayal in the clone wars cartoon? I keep trying to, but the movie version and cartoon version seem like completely different characters at times. Like Hayden’s Anakin is so emotional and reserved and idk, vulnerable? (also prettier lol) Just generally more relatable in his struggles with his fears, anger, etc. And the cartoon version is so…not. Just kinda feels like a generic hot headed, himbo protagonist. Which is weird since that’s supposed to lead to the man we see in RotS. (I have similar issues with Padme and Obi-Wan’s portrayals at times too. But that’s not nearly as bad as with Anakin) So like any advice  or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!!!🙏

This may not be a super helpful answer, but it's the truth of how I came to reconcile the two: 1. Trying to view Anakin's character through the lens of how the war changed him, how in some ways he was rewarded for it (because he's so good at killing things, he has a new confidence, ego in the stratosphere, self esteem still in the toilet, so he seems "settled" in his own skin at times, he gains a more confident demeanor, his issues manifest as the more traditional anger issues, etc.) even as it was slowly chipping away at his emotional foundations. I try to view Anakin (and the other characters) through the lens of how being in the middle of an active war zone practically 24/7 would change his day to day demeanor, even if I acknowledge that the real answer is "because they were trying to 'correct' Anakin's portrayal", this can pull the two versions a little closer together in my mind. 2. Focusing on the bigger themes, like rewatching the first season of TCW, I was struck by just how often Anakin was willing to throw people to the wolves to go rescue the ones he cared about. Like the whole thing with refusing to wipe Artoo's mission logs, so he's willing to risk his entire squad of clones to go rescue him, because that's what attachment is--the willingness to get a thousand people killed because you have been afraid to live without the one you love. Moments like that help bridge the gap a little further for me as well. Or the entire Mortis storyline is one I will defend as being a great look at Anakin's character and the themes of the Force (basically, it's the Force trying to get Anakin to get his shit together, that everything that happens in that arc is a reflection of Anakin's struggle as the Force tries to get him to face his inner self, because that's what the Force does) and that helps me with enjoying TCW, too. 3. Just giving it some time, not just since I first watched it, but settling into the idea that I will never fully reconcile it, it's just not possible for me, and that there are some ways I can reconcile it. Just... time to settle into the idea of its imperfections being okay and I still enjoy the good parts of it. 4. Maintaining my boundary of, "My foundation of understanding of Anakin's character comes from the movies, that is who the character is at his very core, that is the structure that everything else must rest on." and anything TCW adds on is still canon but is the layer over the movies. The movies/Hayden's portrayal will always come first for me, and anything that conflicts with that, I tend to view as "something else is driving the way he acts", "this is a partial layer, rather than a whole layer, like the movies are", rather than that it's a core component of who he is. That's pretty much it for me--I view TCW as part of Lucas' canon, but I also see it as connective tissue to Lucas' canon, rather than the foundation, which means that sometimes it feels a little off, and I can go, "Well, Anakin's acting like this because the war has made him appear more confident, but once that's over, at his core he would still have been that reserved, emotional, soft-shelled person we see from Hayden's performance."

[olderthannetfic]

u have a no nonsense perspective i appriciate. am i being overly sensitive if i'm kinda triggered by those adhd comics where the protagonist gets diagnosed/accepts themselves and says something along the lines of "i get to forgive myself?!"? because my brain automatically injects "unlike those other people who don't have a reason to fail and cant/shouldnt forgive themselves". im neurotypical so im not the target audience but my friends keep putting that stuff on my dash and idk how to deal

--

A lot of "my minority is so great" art is kind of implicitly saying so at the expense of others. Dwelling on it is oversensitive, but I think you're right that there's a bit of weird subtext sometimes. (My personal most hated flavor on tumblr is Smug Asexuality Comics, but there are many versions.)

Lots of people can run into Executive Function, What Executive Function? problems, both from other neurodivergence and from things like situational depression, anxiety directly caused by stress, etc. If life throws a lot at you at once, you won't necessarily escape all these symptoms just because you don't happen to have a specific diagnosis of neurodivergence or chronic mental illness.

A lot of shit overlaps and so do a lot of coping mechanisms that can handle it. The named problems are just a specific constellation of symptoms that are particularly long-term, particularly intense, and that don't relate as much to changes in environment. So perhaps some people deserve extra help coping and extra understanding, but the building blocks of all these problems are things that everybody could use a helping hand with.

I doubt most of these comics are trying to say "nobody else deserves nice things", but one does sometimes come away with that impression.

What you should do next depends on whether your problem is that your friends are posting things you find annoying or whether you feel like you are not allowed leeway and forgiveness (by your own brain, by your friends, by your family).

One of these should be ignored. The other...

[qpjianghu]

Do u have any thoughts on the writing of Shan Gudao? I think earlier on in the series I was pretty excited that maybe Li Xiangyi really did , through his own hubris and difference in the way of seeing the world drove a wedge between him and his brother. Even after he was revealed to be alive I kinda wished he became ‘evil’ through a complex set of emotions and circumstances. I’m not saying SGD is completely 2D I just wonder if we could have had a more of a ‘Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian drifting apart (ie; not pure inferiority complex)’ style tragic slant. Li Xiangyi truly #did nothing wrong, but I kinda wish he was a little #more wrong.

Anyway, I’m sure SGD is still thematically very coherent, but is there anything you’d change/ponder changing about his storyline with LXY, or just your thoughts about this topic.

This is a great callout @lei-llustrations!! The short answer is that I agree, and if I had one criticism of the writing in Mysterious Lotus Casebook it would be this. Jiang Cheng is an excellent example of a protagonist foil with more internal complexity, and Shan Gudao is definitely very one-note. I wonder if part of it is the performance -- Jiang Cheng always projects this sort of buttoned-up rage, whereas Shan Gudao's jealousy presents itself as sadistic glee, which is just not as relatable (and believable) an emotion.

But at the end of the day I still enjoy the character of Shan Gudao as exactly what you said, OP -- a thematically coherent foil even if he's not a realistically coherent person. Because of MLC's overarching exploration of meta-narratives, I think his character works as a performance of villainy -- and maybe it even works better because it's so over-the-top and slightly divorced from reality. In fact, it's interesting to see the shift in the character of Li Lianhua after Shan Gudao's treachery is revealed, and specfically after Shan Gudao outs him as Li Xiangyi in front of all of Tianji Hall in episode 33: Li Lianhua suddenly transforms into the badass hero everyone imagines Li Xiangyi to be. You can actually literally see the change in his eyes from world-weary to steely when it happens:

(Cheng Yi, you are a marvel)

Or, I should say: When he decides to make that shift. Shan Gudao's grandiose display against Tianji Hall, and his specific call to arms against Li Lianhua, necessitates a turning point for LLH: Now that he's been exposed, will he once again take up the mantle of the heroic Sect Leader Li Xiangyi?

In this moment, he does, but by this point in the show we know that it's just a performance. However, at the end of the day, Li Lianhua still has a kind heart, so he reluctantly puts on the mask of the hero Li Xiangyi in order to save the people of Tianji Hall. As Shan Gudao pontificates about the show's MacGuffin, Li Lianhua agrees to stage the hero/villain performance with him. It even looks like he's literally stepping out onto a stage when he separates himself from the crowd to confront Shan Gudao and his army:

The scene is badass and triumphant... but it's also, on rewatch, devastating and tragic -- because it marks the moment where Li Lianhua seemingly becomes fatalistically trapped by the narrative he's been so desperately trying to escape. (And that's why I love love LOVE @redemption-revenge's post about Li Lianhua finally escaping the narrative at the end! Importantly in a "bonus" episode, which is... not a "literal" part of the show itself. ;)) Since Shan Gudao is performing as a paragon of villainy, Li Lianhua / Li Xiangyi must rise to meet him. (Yin and yang, in a sense.) And that's why Li Lianhua becomes so fixated on vanquishing Shan Gudao for the remainder of the show, though it feels quite out of character for him -- it's so like a prototypical hero. Shan Gudao's performance of villainy necessitates Li Lianhua's equal and opposite performance of heroism.

Which is so interesting and juicy!!!! because of Li Lianhua's series-long internal struggle trying to escape the hero narrative so many characters try to fit him into. (As @redemption-revenge also talked about here -- clearly we're brainrotting on the same wavelength lol.) In a weird way, I feel like the overall lack of nuance in Shan Gudao's performance of villainy actually allows for even more shades of grey in Li Lianhua's character. Not only does he have to reckon with in-world conflicts and consequences, but he's sort of engaging with the meta-narrative as well: can he escape the narrative that the other characters around him and also the show itself is trying to thrust upon him?

As a potentially controversial aside, this is why I actually loved the Nanyin royal blood reveal. It's so dumb and cheesy and predictable and part of the traditional hero narrative (maybe I'm looking at this through a very American "rags-to-riches" narrative lens, but bear with me here) -- but that's the point, according to the meta-narrative. Our reaction as viewers is also Li Lianhua's reaction. For Li Lianhua, this is the exact opposite of a gratifying, triumphant, and redemptive moment. I haven't gotten up to this in my rewatch yet, so I don't have have specific visuals in mind, but I do remember even from my first viewing the look of utter devastation and resignation of Li Lianhua's face in this scene. It marks the final nail in the coffin of Li Lianhua trying to escape the narrative. Like in epsiode 33 when his identity is finally revealed, Li Lianhua once again resigns himself to following the script of the traditional narrative, which is how/why he ends up heroically sacrificing himself for Fang Duobing and his family.

But anyway, back to Shan Gudao as an effective foil: In addition to serving a purpose for the meta-narrative, I also think Shan Gudao's one-dimensionality also works well with Li Lianhua's internal conflict regarding his feelings of guilt and self-blame. You're right, OP: I wish there was a bit more actual blame to lay on LXY -- though I think we can still blame him for being arrogant (to borrow the loaded iqiyi subtitle term) since he was clearly blind to his shixiong's real feelings, and blind to the feelings of those around him as well (including Qiao Wanmian). Though even if you take the track of Li Xiangyi truly never did anything wrong in his life ever (*heart emoji*), this makes his arc even more tragic. This is why I love him so freakin' much -- he feels less like a character and more like a real flesh-and-blood person. And the reason he feels so real is because he acts in ways that are often contradictory and self-sabotaging and illogical, because he's decidedly not following the traditional (heteronormative hero narrative) script. Even when there is a Grade-A villain right there in front of him to take all of the blame, Li Lianhua doesn't take the bait. He has a prime opportunity to look at Shan Gudao and come to the logical conclusion that he (LXY/LLH) actually did nothing wrong, that he's not to blame for any of the terrible things that have happened to him and to others in his name... but he doesn't take the out. He still refuses to forgive himself, he still internalizes all of the guilt, he is not suddenly "cured" from his trauma. He is so real for that, and it's gut-wrenching.

[alex-multiverse]

Kh Worldbuilding headcanons: Destiny Islands Edition

No one ever talks about the original worlds in kh and i find that a travesty because these places are a really, REALLY good mine to play around with. (u can also use them or expand on them if you really like)

So im gonna share some HCs i have about the original kh worlds, starting with Destiny islands..... but before that some basics: also this is kinda long so under the read more it goes

In general:

Kh "worlds" arent really floating in space. the stylized icons we see in game are more akin to dimensional rifts rather than actual planets (seriously who thinks this is how the world looks fr)

Following on with the dimensional rift: as the "worlds" arent really pieces of the original world, they are something more akin as parallel dimensions or something along the lines of something like ff14 (mostly because i would rather die first than live in a world with 5 different versions of britain existing at the same time)

As much as dark road is cool, the explanation for the empty worlds is dumb and for the purposes of this exercise, instead ofthe worlds filling the people gradually after it is created, i consider that the worlds as they exist are the result of the surviving children of the war making their stories real in the fractured reality of the original world (it also follows the weird theme of reality/unreality that kh4 seems to go for) and it turning into a different version of earth as we know it, with some exceptions, such as monstropolis (which exists independently as a parallel land to earth in its canon) and Deep space (which is straight up NOT earth and was more like, the rift of lilo and stitch's world pointing at the high counselor's fleet BEFORE the actual movie started) and also the OG worlds who dont have something to be based on for reasons to be explained later.

the only world that exists in the ocean between as it is, is the Keyblade graveyard. because it was so majorly fucked up by the war it both shattered in the physical and dimensional way after it happened.

Now that that rant is out of the way, LETS GO TO THE MOST UNDERRATED WORLD IN THE SERIES:

Destiny islands is in fact, more than 2 islands, being a big archipelago with a bigger "main island" where our three protagonists live at. this one we have seen before in kh2

Destiny islands, is, by far, not the only chain of islands in the world. in fact, theres way more islands beyond the horizon.

We know the islands have a mayor, thus we know that they must have cordial diplomatic ties with different islands near them.

Due to FF characters existing here, i am very tempted to assure that some of the races from ff8 and ffX exist in this world (you are now imagining kimahri playing with a tiny kairi after diplomacy stuff with her dad just ended)

Due to DI being an original world, it is actually a shard of the original world that didnt really changed much compared to the other original ones. its major difference is that it is an ocean world like Wind waker hyrule or the Grand line from One piece

Magic is a real thing in the original worlds populace, you just really need to get good at it, learn it, be magical by default, or cheat and get a keyblade somehow

Religion in the og worlds strike me as something akin to the way people prayed to the aeons of yevon in ffx or the astrals of FF15. with people praying to the ff summons on a case by case basis and depending on their preference for patron gods. Ie: Leviathan being a goddess of the ocean and water who is prayed to by sailors or fishermen, while scholars prefer ifrit using an interpretation of the fire of knowledge. (you know. like a furry prometheus that doesnt get eaten by an eagle daily)

I'll probably go on more detail later, but for now, the summons that get prayed to the most in DI is probably Leviathan for the aforementioned reasons, Ramuh for nature and agriculture reasons, shiva for tradition and combat reasons (related to riku in my particular headcanon) And Titan for economical reasons, wow alex making the rock man into the economy guy i wonder where you have heard it before

Speaking of economy, DI currency totally has tiny paopu fruit symbols in its coins and bills, and its a legal course currency in its neighboring islands because they too dig the paopu fruit symbolism

Munny looks like malleable diamonds because it probably just morphs into the appropate currency depending on the world we're in, moogles only use them as they are because they are both the people doing synthing and also shady as hell. do not trust the pompom people.

Going back to the Paopu fruit: its quite a common tree fruit in the islands and in fact is industrially harvested in some islands both as an export and in-island use.

The paopu folk story is actually mostly just a misconception for an older tale. originally involving sailors and a promise to return home safe. it eventually turned into "sharing one will entwine your fates forever"

Paopu pastries are a common dessert, and paopu wine is used often in weddings.

Monsters ARE real in the islands and roam the most inhabited places. These are often hunt for game and for safety reasons

THAT MEANS, chocobos are also a thing people use in the most rural parts of the islands for fieldwork, transportation and sometimes food.

Blitzball is MAD popular and they Often do tournaments involving several islands. DI itself was almost a perpetual champion up until jecht retired, then they win every so often instead of always

Boating licenses are a thing, but kids can still use their little boats because they have to row them. think like, the difference between a bicicle and a motorbike.

There are bridges for tram systems between islands that are close to each other, usually reinforced for sea and storm reasons.

Legally speaking, equal marriage is a thing and even polyamorous ones because why being an ass about it.

Healthcare is mostly public, but there are Specialty care stuff in the main islands that costs money because of course it is

Because sora and riku are japanese names, i prefer the island to be something like a tropical japan, so most of the people in DI have japanese names.

That would be all for now. tune in next time when i tackle on Twilight town, who may or not be in perpetual twilight (is not)

[talestales-art]

Reverse 1999 events/lore I would like to see mmmmmm (explodes)

GOLDEN AGE HOLLYWOOD EVENT

This is mostly because I love Bette. I would love to see a Hollywood focused event, especially with Sweetheart & Bette (and maybe even Blonney). Commentary on the film industry and on theme considering how much film related stuff is in the game (tickets, movie review achievements). At least a sweetheart anecdote. Films have also been mentioned multiple times in the daily login.

Black centered event

Can’t comment too much about this as I’m not black, but black people have done A LOT for the world and it often goes unrecognised. Deserves recognition. The game also needs more black characters. I would especially love to see a music focused event, since there’s not many music themed characters and black people invented essentially every music genre. African folklore is also really REALLY cool and I think that would be nice too see. But yeah mainly there need more black characters.

Early Iron Age Scandinavia (aka vikings)

I think it would be interesting to start it off with the 80’s with meeting Erick. Then going back in time to the Iron Age/viking age, and that’s where she gets her i2 garment. It would also be nice to see other Nordic characters, one I would LOVE to see is Njals from the Icelandic Fairytale Njals Saga. They also mentioned vikings in one of the daily login. Also it would be cool w folklore /viking stuff that’s not romanticised. Perhaps even Nordic mythology & folklore (folklore creatures > asatro gods imo).

Rabies lore

If you’ve read his story, you’ll understand. I really hope we get an anecdote or an event featuring Rabies. I would love to see who he was in his past, the emotions he experienced losing all of his patients. I also need bluepoch to release their Alicia/Alicja design. I want them to kiss. Please. Also read his story if you haven’t, it’s so tragic.

Yule event

Shamane yule goat garment when🕯️ also I like Yule, it’s an easy way to celebrate winter time without tying it to one specific religion or practice (as many places do yule in their own way). Also it would generally be nice to see yule talked about more, since christmas usually get the spotlight.

Mesmer Jr Protagonist

Mesmer Jr gets to be the protagonist of an event, just like Vertin, Sonetto, Regulus and Matilda (kinda) got to be. She deserves that. It would also be very interesting with more Mesmer Family lore, especially her finding out about Scott (three doors). Hopefully it would end with her joining Vertin’s team officially and distancing herself from the foundation/her family. Also she gets to change her name, she deserves a proper first name. Please bluepoch give her a happy development please I’m begging. At the very least there’s NO WAY there’s not gonna be a Mesmer family heavy event/lore, there’s already so so so much and they’re building it up for something I swear.

Tragic ballerina character

I physically need a tragic ballerina reverse 1999 character or I will implode. That’s the only reason I made my r1999 ballerina OC Aigrette. ALSO there’s a painting of a ballerina in the suitcase. Bluepoch, ballerina character is a need.