#so i ended up on a guy whos not really pitiable at all. objectively a bad person and also playing stupid games to win stupid prizes. lol.

[antisolararc]

4 and/or 5 for the worldbuilding prompts !

This is looong, so I'll put them under the cut.

4. What are some major landmarks you encounter on your travels? Do locals tell tales about their origin? Write about how these experiences might affect you as you continue on your journey.

THE SEA OF SOLACE

As the ship approached, the silhouette in the mist begins to sharpen. Meru, the great volcano, greeted them in the distance. They were already familiar, of course. Well, sort of. Meridian had never been there, but they knew plenty about it - it's the center of the universe! In the days before anyone reached it, they said it was so high up that its peak pierced the heavens. Once people got there, they brought it down, though. Far down, they thought spitefully.

Even from here, they could see that the surface of the mountain had an opalescent shine to it . They squinted. It was kind of overwhelming, actually. Golden clouds poured down from the caldera and congregated around waterline, keeping the island afloat. They weren't close enough to see Ruyi, yet, though. Meru's evil stepsister had a much lower elevation.

A great magicians' circle had taken over Meru, or so they'd been told. Primarily benevolent, but not above the great sway of politics and violence. 'They've got this code,' Reynardine had said. 'They're really serious about it. Best I don't play around with them too much.' When Mery had inquired further, he'd just shrugged.

Ruyi, on the other hand, was under no such rule. The magicians' circle observed, sure, and intervened if they thought it was a threat to them, but sounded like just about anything went at the sorcerers' market. That was the appeal, after all. Anything you desire for the right price.

They peeled their hands off the guardrail and slowly, stiffly, headed back inside. Thinking about it too much was making them uneasy.

XALABASE

Eyes wide, Odd stared for longer than he would have liked. He hadn't expected it to be this impressive. The temple was a whole complex within itself. Later, he'd just blame the pictures, but, inwardly, he admitted to himself that he didn't realize it was possible to make (not to mention maintain ) a structure like this without the aid of magic.

It was easily as elaborate as one of Ranlindyr's monoliths. Not only that, though -- unlike the sleek, smooth monoliths, every surface was intricately detailed with some sort of art. In the center of the courtyard, a great sculpture of the universe had been automated to keep the time.

Faintly, he could hear it ticking. That's annoying. Luckily, he could make his own devices run with complete silence -- otherwise, it would seriously increase his odds of being caught. Well, he supposed that was one thing they hadn't figured out yet.

VALONVYR

Suddenly, the barren landscape turned into a forest of palms. If it felt uncomfortably unnatural, that's because it was. The trees were unnaturally, artificially green in a way that clashed with just about everything they'd seen thus far. And, of course, the ad banners hung in-between them didn't help. On the left, "DON'T FORGET, GOD ALWAYS REMEMBERS." On the right, "SLIPPERY STEVE'S HASH SHACK -> 1 MILE OFF EXIT 3."

"Wellspring City!" Ivrel threw her hands up with a derisive scoff. "The jewel of the desert! The oasis of indulgence! Why, the good lord must've put all his favorite souls here, lest the dust sap all their virtue out and leave 'em like tadpoles with a puddle. S'pose someone's gotta stay late to clean up after, too, though..." She scratched her chin. What the hell was that, a monologue? She was letting Tjong rub off on her too much.

Next to her, Zee didn't really seem to absorb any of what she said -- she was too busy trying not to sideswipe any trees along the ever-twisting road.

"Ah!" She yelped as she made a sharp right. "Why's the road like this!? What's with these trees!?"

"It's a windbreak," Ivrel grumbled.

"With palm trees? I didn't think those grew here..."

"They don't."

The implication must have been clear enough, because Zee only replied with "oh."

RANLINDYR

Instinctively, Vita jumped.

This thing stood out as starkly different from the rest of the city. It wasn't unnaturally smooth, it was scaled. Great spires of glass shot out from its back, each glistening with a different color. She glared at the gargantuan gargoyle with distaste. What bizarre waste of space! It's own grotesquely painted eyes threatened to subjugate her own, though, so she quickly redirected her gaze.

She leaned into Odd, tugging on his arm so she could whisper in his ear. Begrudgingly, he obliged.

"What the hell is that!?

"...What?"

They jerked their head in the direction of the strange structure.

"Oh." A pause. "That's the Obsidian Crocodile," he said, as if it was obvious. "Never heard of public art?"

"It's garish!" She clicked her tongue. "I wouldn't figure this fits within the city beautification guidelines."

"Uh, yeah, I think that's the point." He crossed his arms. "It's supposed to remind us of our sins, or whatever." He didn't meet her eyes. "I mean, you can figure it out..." Suddenly hesitant, Odd trailed off.

Yeah, Vita could figure it out alright.

They turned away from him as their frowned deepened. Ranlindyr had a sort of melancholy simmering beneath its skin that she hadn't quite anticipated. It wasn't like Valonvyr, where grief turned to brazen displays of bloodshed. Here, the vulgarity lurked more subtly. Much to her displeasure, it made it made the hair on her arms stand straight -- something that her homeland had never done, despite it all.

LANTERN ISLAND

Just the sight of it made her a little uneasy. She'd only seen The Traveler's ship a few times, and, even then, she'd always quickly averted her gaze, praying not to catch the eye of a malicious spirit. Other people stayed to watch for it with a sort of glee in their eye. Some even managed to board the ship. A few returned with ancient treasures, but others never returned at all. There must have been an intricate labyrinth inside.

Zee used to wonder why anyone would do that -- so scary, so dangerous, and for what? A piece of history they'd have to shun? But things were different now. She understood, perhaps too well. The old Kalayan vessel brought with it a sea of fog, and it suddenly became much harder to see.

"Was that the boat?" Meridian asked from somewhere in the haze.

"Uh, yeah! It's super haunted!"

"...No kidding, ah?"

KALIBARU

Theoretically, it was very easy to slip into an alleyway in Kalibaru, considering the sheer abundance of them. In practice, his size served as a significant setback. Tjong was used to feeling large, and, usually, he rather liked it. Right now, though, he felt like he took up too much space in the crowd, despite the fact that he went largely (unusually) unacknowledged. Vendors crowed at him, hawking souvenirs and street food that he couldn't eat, but only children bothered to shy away from him as though he was a beast.

Although he'd never admit it, he once fantasized about such a thing. To traverse the world as if he were a human, or at least something akin to one. Perhaps his fantasies had been naive. To his right, another, smaller path branched out in-between two buildings. Before the crowd could surge again, he slipped into it.

The light wasn't so bright here, thanks to the looming shadow of a massive complex of shophouses. The alley opened up to a small courtyard with a stone carving of a horned frog in the center. Water poured from its gaping mouth into a little pond. The chatter of the masses had disappeared, replaced by the gurgling fountain.

Unlike the main road, this area was empty, at least for the time being. In comparison, the emptiness should have felt uncanny, but Tjong found that it was far more comfortable. It reminded him of his home, in a way that most of the city was simply too lively to do.

As he wandered, an old stone shrine caught his eye. It was for some local ancestor he was unfamiliar with. The structure itself was weathered, but, even so, recent offerings lay before it -- fresh fruit, pastries, shells, finely crafted trinkets.

He paused to examine it with a wistful longing in his eyes.

Longing for what? He wasn't sure he could say.

5. Write about someone you’ve lost along your adventures, how did you deal with that loss?

"Apologies, perhaps this is impolite…" Anata clasped their hands. "But Dr. Alquarix's death-"

"He was asking for it." Odd curled in on himself defensively.

Literally. Even if, despite his great accolades, he didn't truly understand what he was asking for.

"I don't doubt that he was." They laughed. Don't laugh at me. "But you followed along, didn't you? I suppose your reason is obvious, I was just curious… Why then? What was the breaking point?" The old man was excruciatingly good at pulling out the most loaded questions as if they were just the tiniest bit indelicate.

Odd shrugged, looking away. "…I dunno. It was just… all of it, really." He shook his head. "The opportunity was there. Who could blame me?" A lot of people, it turned out. He growled, baring his teeth. "Long overdue, anyways. Someon- I should have done it earlier!" Well, that part was the truth, at least. His face flushed in embarrassment. Shame for how foolish he'd always been. Hindsight's twenty-twenty, huh?

"Are you relieved?" Anata's knowing smile made him itch. "To be free. Now you can follow your dreams!"

"Yeah." His voice was hollowed. "I can follow my dreams."

[rickytickychow]

I don't even have words for Apology Tour, it was such a great follow-up (types so many words)

idk if Stolas understands how Out Of Nowhere this whole crystal thing was for Blitz. Like sure, it had been a few months, but Blitz was truly expecting a "same as always" kind of affair, misread Stolas's advances and got shut down and shut out the MINUTE he made that mistake. Stolas's little "thank you" speech was visibly genuinely confusing and horrifying to Blitz.

And then (AS BLITZ EXPECTED!!) the prince who supposedly loves him soooooo much walks away after ONE MISTAKE.

Also Stolas, annoyingly enough for Blitz, will never understand why Blitz feels looked down on and mistrusting until he acknowledges his objective place in hell's society. Stolas has never felt like he looks down on or demeans Blitz because he truly put the guy on a pedestal for so long. Now he's assuming that because Blitz didn't respond to his love confession mutually, Blitz didn't actually mean any of it. Bc God forbid your grand romantic gesture out of nowhere doesn't make the other person sweep you into their arms.

The amount of exes at Blitz's party shows how little patience he truly has for relationships despite trying to connect to others, but it's also showing us how much contempt and impatience people really do show him. Objectively, Blitz knows he's a difficult person. He doesn't know how to navigate his OWN feelings, much less someone else's. It's soooo funny to me how he does indeed end up at the "I hate Blitzø" party.

ALSO????

"I don't think you meant to hurt me, cuz I don't think it meant a thing at all"????? STOLAS DID YOU SEE ALL THE BULLSHIT HE DID FOR YOU I THINK IT MEANT SOMETHING TO HIM IDK

Blitz is not someone who does things he doesn't want to. He may have been hasty agreeing to the full moon deal, but he VERY CLEARLY enjoyed it and didn't want it to just... End.

And the Striker thing was also a low blow on Stolas's part. Moxxie and Millie saved his ass, taking BLITZ'S van after he already explained that Loona had an appointment that COULD NOT be missed. I can't imagine Blitz enjoys being in any given hospital longer than he has to. But despite the audience knowing what affects these things, Stolas does not.

This is kinda disjointed but while I feel bad for them both idk. I feel worse for Blitz bc Stolas has every opportunity to get better once he heals his emotional pain. Every Single one. He's still dealing with the divorce and moving sure, but he's a prince with magic, resources, and as Blitz pointed out, a nearly immortal body.

Blitz has all this inner turmoil and... None of that security. He has more to lose by letting people in. He's had to claw, fight, and drag himself for everything he currently has. It's hard for him to apologize because honestly? None of his actions are excused by this fact whatsoever, but he's owed a lot of apologies from people over the years, too. When he says "they're for pussies and no one deserves them anyway," I don't think he's just bitter about giving them. I think he's bitter about the idea of receiving them. Wanting someone to apologize means admitting they can hurt you. Blitz is well aware he can and has hurt others, but loath to admit when he is hurt.

For all his talk about not thinking Stolas can get hurt, Blitz is the one who actually acts like he's infallible - that makes others expect more from Blitz, but he will take them being angry at him over being perceived as weak or pitiable.

Stolas lovvvvves being weak and pitiable because he was expected to grow up quick, and the tragedy of that doesn't excuse his part here either. Anyone can agree that his attitude toward Blitz has taken a complete 180, with no visible effort to see things from Blitz's perspective. Sure, Blitz has been an angry asshole about it, but people seem to think that not showing anger makes whatever shitty behavior they choose automatically better. It doesn't.

I can't wait to see more about Blitz and Verosika too. It was really eye-opening for both Blitz and the audience to see that side of her. There's probably more to their breakup than her saying "I love you," but that being the catalyst for Blitz up and leaving is the WORST. That had to hurt, and even if he just felt unworthy/unable to say it back right away, Blitz should feel bad about just running away.

Since he plays things so close to his chest and acts aggressive, it's easy for everyone around Blitz to overlook any selfless actions and label him as angry and selfish. It's pretty heartbreaking how his relationship to the world and his trauma responses make him lean into the idea that he's a terrible person.

TLDR GREAT EPISODE WHOA these emotional disasters warm my heart (with rage ❤️). Welcome back Verosika lmao

[princehendir]

fear and hate for brosca? (from the ask game not just sending them fear and hate in general)

[ask game]

fear: What is your OC's greatest fear? What do they do when confronted with it? Are they open with their fear, or do they hide it away?

That her mother was right about her. That ultimately, her clarity of purpose, her natural talent, her belief that she was meant for more, all her hard work, isn't enough to prevent her from ending up like her mother, or Oghren. Alone, miserable, pitiable, drunk, destined to die poorly, in an ugly way. Unremembered, or worse, remembered poorly.

Later on in his life though (Inquisition-era) he's really specifically terrified of being resented. This is kind of an offshoot of the last thing, he resented his mother for most of his life, he knows how that is and he doesn't want anyone he loves to feel that way about him, and as he's probably reaching the end of his life due to the Calling the worry starts feeling very urgent. Are people going to be relieved when he goes, the way he was relieved when Kalah finally passed? Is there anyone carrying the same sick feeling in their guts for her as she did for her mother all those years? Is it too late now to fix it?

He worries about Alistair a lot specifically. I have it written down somewhere that if some demon wanted to do some extreme psychic damage very quickly it could do it by telling him that Alistair regrets not taking the throne and now resents him for "keeping him" from it. That he resents that he had to go through the dark ritual just for her, and this is all he got for it. He worries similarly that Morrigan resents him for all she went through to keep him alive, and it's a big part of why he's so hesitant to go speak to her when he finds out she's also in Skyhold.

Anyways, she's willing to be pretty open with being afraid of dying unremembered, dying alone, becoming weak and pathetic (her words). She actually talks about this a lot on Origins with the rest of the group, Kalah telling her how she'll just die in the dust like everyone else, how seeing what Oghren is stresses her out, etc. But the fear of resentment she is not open with at all. She can't bring herself to admit it or say it out loud, it's an inside thought. Which is fine probably.

hate: What does your OC hate? Why? How do they act towards the object of their hatred?

Hates injustice generally. Hates needless cruelty. Hates oppression. Hates the carta, hates the lyrium trade, hates templars, isn't so fond of the chantry most of the time. He doesn't usually go out of his way to say as such unprompted, but if you ask him directly he'll give you a direct answer. And if there's something concrete he can do about a specific injustice (killing a specific guy, helping someone who's in trouble, foiling an organization's plans, etc) he'll do it.

There are also some specific people in this world that she really hates, but can't kill because That Would Be Wrong, and usually her response to being exposed to them is to just. Not talk. At all. Because she isn't very tactful and can't lie or pretend to not hate someone for very long. So, silence. Arl Eamon was fully convinced she was a mute for like, months.

[carewyncromwell]

Oh boy, oh boy, not kidding, I thought about sending you this ask just because I wondered about it earlier today 😄

In all your AUs, the core characteristics of your characters generally stay the same and only change slightly due to circumstances.

What was the biggest change you put one of your characters (OC or not) through across all your AUs (not counting Flipped!AU cause that speaks for itself)? Which was your favourite and which did you find hardest? 💛💚

*considers this* Hmm...that's a very interesting question! Let's see here...

For both the biggest and hardest change, I gotta go with Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Lack of Lamb Sauce.

...Yes, really. 😂 For those of you who haven't read my way-too-long train-wreck, I set about taking on the challenge of giving the entire Malfoy family something of a redemption arc, including Lucius, who would easily be the biggest challenge to show a better side to, out of the three. The HP fandom is generally very on-board with forgiving Narcissa for all the stuff she was involved in, considering she ended up covering for Harry at a critical moment, and forgiving Draco for everything he did because HBP showed him in a pitiable light and J.K. said that he and his wife Astoria raised their son Scorpius better than how Draco himself was...but Lucius? Nope. No way. This is the guy that many fans claim abused Draco, using the films' interpretation of Lucius largely as evidence, since in the books, there really isn't any such cold, abusive undercurrent to Lucius's treatment of Draco. Lucius is often written as singularly bad in fanfiction in order to make Narcissa and Draco seem more sympathetic, and honestly, even if you don't write him that way, I still think Lucius in the books is an objectively terrible person. So trying to find a way to give Lucius any sympathetic depth that could potentially open him up to the slightest bit of positive change was a hurtle I wasn't sure if I could climb. In the end, I decided to break Lucius's character arc into several steps --

Put Lucius and his family in an objectively terrible position. Not only does Lucius nearly die completing a mission for Voldemort, but Voldemort refuses to help save his life, forcing Draco to seek help from someone who has no reason to help them; Lucius loses both of his arms and one of his legs through an incredibly painful process; and worst of all, Lucius has to pretend he's dead and go into hiding without his wife and son, just to keep them from being punished by Voldemort further.

Put Lucius out of his comfort zone. While in hiding from Voldemort, Lucius is forced to live in very modest living arrangements alongside two Muggle-born teenagers, an elderly witch whose daughter was married to a Muggle, and a Squib. This forces him to see those who he would've persecuted previously as individuals, capable of emotions just as valid as his own.

Give Lucius a relatable interest that has nothing to do with his identity as a Death Eater or even as a Malfoy. In this case, I chose choir music, which actually is my mother's greatest passion! Not only does it give us the chance to see Lucius loving something as opposed to hating it, which gives us a new angle to his characterization, but exploring why this interest is news to us (namely, Lucius decided not to pursue music as a career, so as to uphold the Malfoy name) gives his relationship to his family nuance. It also gives other characters a backdoor into his heart, by engaging with him through the things he enjoys.

Explain Lucius's misguided thought process, and then -- naturally -- challenge it. Clearly prejudice has no logic to it, but bigots do still try to find reasons to justify their belief systems and terrible behavior. In this case, Lucius grew up hating Muggles, and rather than seeing how his family's hatred of Muggles prompted his mother to write letters justifying her blood purist beliefs to relatives, which were understandably condemned when they were made public, Lucius solely sees the pain his mother felt at being rejected, rather than how justifiable the backlash to her was. He loved his mother and father, but that love blinds him to how wrong their beliefs were -- just as he was blind to how much him following in their footsteps and chasing glory and status for his family by terrorizing others was wrong. And through his interactions with his fellow tenants and the Muggle World, Lucius comes to see that there's value in the world he used to scorn and that the people he's met don't match the image he'd always had in his head of what "their kind" is like.

Have Lucius stumble a bit, but ultimately learn and grow. Even if in the end, Lucius doesn't exactly make up for everything he's ever done, and so there's still plenty of ground for his arc to cover after the story is over, we see that he's still a much better person than he was at the start, in how he's learned to treat people differently than him with respect and how he even feels the urge to introduce his "bunker family" to his wife and son.

It was a really fun challenge, and one of the things I'm proudest of about Lack of Lamb Sauce is that my mum -- who is as big of a Potterhead as I am and hated Lucius Malfoy more than anyone else in the books besides Umbridge -- said that he ended up being one of her absolute favorite characters in my fic when we read it together. 💜

Favorite changes-wise, I think I'll nominate Pirate!Jacob Cromwell and Merman!Duncan Ashe in the Pirates of the Caribbean AU. I just absolutely loved the dynamic these two ended up having, and it made me ship Jacob/Ashe (Jacashe?) even more than I did already!! 😂 It makes me all the more excited to do more with Duncan in the Tangled AU.

Fanfic Writer Friday!

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #481

Top Ten Pixar Villains

Those rascals and rapscallions at Pixar are famous for twisting our emotions, aren’t they? Perverse masters at making us cry with sadness or joy, often at the same time (I’m looking at you, Inside Out, with your yellow and blue marbles). Oh yes, they’ll stick the knife in and give it a good old yank, like John Travolta teaches his daughter to do in Face/Off when he’s not really John Travolta and it’s a bit icky but then she stabs him at the end of the film so it’s alright really.

Where was I?

Oh yeah. Pixar, renowned for turning grown men into blubbering messes, mostly because an adult character was convinced to part with old toys he no longer plays with. But I’d argue that one thing they’ve done less well than their parent studio (that’s Disney) is crafting iconic baddies. I mean, we all know the Disney Villains; they’re so iconic and successful as pop culture icons that there’s an entire trilogy of movies based on what would happen if a bunch of them had kids (apparently they’d sing a lot). Pixar baddies though? Hmmm, maybe not quite so iconic. I can’t see someone making a live action prequel movie about Chef Skinner.

But that’s not to say they’re not great; in fact, rather than going down the route of snarling, moustache-twirling villainy, Pixar actually does a great job in creating antagonists instead. Sometimes they’re misunderstood; sometimes they’re not the person you thought they were! Quite often some kind of redemption is offered, and the villains are very, very rarely dropped off something tall. A lot of them aren’t even defeated, so to speak! A good deal of nuance and shade goes into a Pixar villain, and if they haven’t made as many all-time-great iconic ne’er-do-wells, it does seem as if their approach is starting to rub off on Disney mothership (the likes of Frozen II and Moana either don’t have, or at least subvert, the notion of all-powerful bad guys).

So what do we have? Well, hopefully, we’ve got a list of really cool villains from Pixar movies. most of them are presented as the film’s “big bad”, although there are a couple of lesser baddies. And I think we do see the pattern emerging, of more mundane levels of villainy; the selfish and greedy and damaged. It makes for great characterisation and some beautiful storytelling; some complex and pitiable characters. And, yes, a few absolute bastards too. Let’s tut disapprovingly.

Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear (Ned Beatty, Toy Story 3, 2010): a superb performance from Beatty as a seemingly nice, jovial old bear who’s really a manipulative, power-hungry, gaslighting bully. Realistically portrayed as damaged and bitter, he has a tragic backstory that feels real, and a sense of pain and loss that feels earned in this universe. Questions the nature of everything the movies are about, and is a genuine threat in more ways than one. Plus he literally leaves them all to die in the furnace!

Syndrome (Jason Lee, The Incredibles, 2004): Buddy Pine’s backstory is one of belittlement and rejection, so his switch to villainy is as well explored as many a comic book bad guy. But he’s interesting partly in what his character says about Mr. Incredible – in a way justifying the criticisms of superheroes, as Mr. I does ignore the admittedly-annoying Buddy rather than mentoring or respecting him – but also because he prefigures notions of toxic masculinity about a decade or so before they became, well, a threat to global democracy.

Al (Wayne Knight, Toy Story 2, 1999): Like how Lots-o can be seen as a dark examination of toy life (all toys are replaceable, kids don’t really love you, etc), Al also shows us another dark facet of toy-dom: namely the life of a “collectable”. Toys, in this world, want to be played with, preferably by children, so a big ol’ man-child who stores them in boxes or puts them on display is not ideal. It’s an inversion of what a toy is for; an object of joy reduced to a commodity. Is it entertainment versus art? Who can say? Also, he’s really just a massive jerk and a huge slob, so we feel no pity for him once he gets his comeuppance at the end of the film.

Sid Phillips (Erik von Detten, Toy Story, 1995): man, they nailed the Toy Story villains, didn’t they? Maybe there’s even more to come! But right out of the gate, Sid was a classic. An utter sadist in a skull t-shirt, torturing toys for kicks; adults can see the traits of a genuine sociopath (some serial killers start by torturing animals, remember!), and he’s portrayed like a character in a horror movie. Seriously, in 1995, Sid’s room was legitimately disturbing. I’m not sure what moral lessons his actions teach us, but just as a pure article of terror, he’s supreme.

Hopper (Kevin Spacey, A Bug’s Life, 1998): it feels a bit weird, if I’m honest, to celebrate a Spacey performance. But as a character, Hopper is excellent, one of the best things about the generally-overlooked-but-still-a-bit-lesser-Pixar Bug’s Life. Riffing on biker gangs, Hopper’s locust swarm in, revving their wings. Hopper’s a classic tough guy thug, dominating through violence and threat; a creature with a small amount of power determined to hold onto it, and ultimately eaten by a terrifying bird. Just don’t look at the cast list.

Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt, Coco, 2017): after the horror of Sid and the thuggery of Hopper, de la Cruz is a different, more insidious villain. He’s a thief and a betrayer who exploited and murdered his best friend, condemning him not just to death but to a forgotten obsolescence in the afterlife. He’s a perfect example of the gaslighting, friendly-seeming bad guy, more in the mould of Lots-o, but with the world on his side and a sweet guitar. Genuinely hissable.

Stinky Pete (Kelsey Grammar, Toy Story 2, 1999): what, more Toy Story? Well, yeah. Don’t blame me, blame Pixar. And so Stinky Pete; a far more relatable and understandable villain, one driven to desperation through a lifetime of rejection and broken promises. Unlike the Machiavellian, power-hungry Lots-o, Pete just wants everyone to retire quietly together; he can’t accept the risks of freedom and only becomes sneaky and, indeed, violent after all else fails. But he does kinda get a happy ending, even if he doesn’t realise it; this is a villain who I feel could eventually be redeemed.

Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi, Monsters, Inc., 2001): Waternoose is the real baddy in Monsters, Inc., of course; a conniving capitalist who’s prepared to sacrifice the world’s children to keep his monopoly. But it’s Randy who sticks in the mind; his selfish, vain lackey, a monster with a huge chip on his shoulder. His design – lizard-like, snake-ish, with a huge mouth and invisibility – is seriously disturbing. Hearing Buscemi’s voice come from that form – an aggravated teacher, a furious accountant – adds something special, something darkly hilarious.

Evelyn Deavor (Catherine Keener, Incredibles 2, 2018): visually and conceptually, The Screenslaver (great name) is pretty cool, but when it’s revealed that the Big Bad is really under-appreciated tech genius Evelyn, that’s a great twist. A smart woman propping up her schmoozing brother, her criticisms of the heroes – like Buddy Pine’s – have resonance, although she’s learning the wrong lessons from tragedy. Her relationship with Elastigirl, from friendship to enmity, is very well-written and performed, and her belligerence at the end is a nice touch, denying the heroes of any catharsis from her capture.

Shelby Forthright (Fred Willard, WALL-E, 2008): I was originally going to feature the autopilot, but then I figured, if you can get Fred Willard in your list… and really, who’s the big villain here? It’s us, right? We killed the Earth. But Willard’s smiling, happy CEO is there, encouraging his customers to buy, promising them safety and security, promising them a repaired world… but really he’s shovelling them off the planet, secretly commanding the computer to take humanity far away and never look back. It’s a devious, horrible plan, giving the people unending luxury, making them want for nothing, turning them into fab, soporific blobs, basically because that’s easier than the alternative. It’s a horrible indictment of humanity (also: he’s the CEO of a company, but also – it looks like – that makes him rule the world? Creepy). So, yeah, the autopilot might be a baddun, but it’s the man in charge who’s the real villain of the piece, even hundreds of years later.

Sadly no room for John Lasseter, who may not have tried to enslave humanity or torture children, but still managed to be a huge jerk and a phenomenal disappointment.

[moviemunchies]

Do you remember back in the day when found footage movies were all the rage? No? It was like this: everyone and their mother was trying to make a movie that looked like it was filmed on someone’s home camera, usually to make it easier to do jump scares. There were like twenty Paranormal Activity movies made like this.

Anyway, in the midst of this trend there were some people who were trying to make movies this way that weren’t horror movies, and one of the most critically acclaimed ones was Josh Trank’s Chronicle, a superhero movie that got ALL the praise, to the point that 20th Century Fox hired him to do a big budget film adaptation of Fantastic Four and that didn’t… do well.

Anyhow, _this_ movie’s pretty good.

Our lead is Andrew (Dane DeHaan), a high school senior with problems because his mother’s sick, his father’s abusive, and he’s not good at making friends. He goes to school every day with his cousin Matt (Alex Russell) out of loyalty to the friendship they had when they were young. He starts filming his life with the camera he’s bought for himself. At a party his cousin practically drags him to, the two of them, along with popular classmate Steve (Michael B. Jordan--yes, he’s in this movie) investigate a large hole in the woods nearby. Inside they find a strange object which gives them telekinetic powers.

What follows is the three of them hanging out, developing their powers, and learning all the different ways they can use them. Soon enough, things get out of control, and they try to put limits on their power. And because this is a movie about teenage angst, Andrew starts using his powers for darker purposes as the story goes on and he becomes more alienated from the people around him.

Part of the appeal of the found footage genre is the budget--you can get away with not having too many incredibly over-the-top special effects in the story. There are, of course, special effects in this movie; they’re moving cars and flying before the movie’s out after all. But because they’re mostly things that don’t take too much CGI, being filmed on what’s supposed to be a home camera, any problems you find with special effects can be chalked up to the quality of the footage.

There are also times when I’m kind of baffled about how much is being filmed. Some of the scenes are from cameras that aren’t Andrew’s, which makes it a bit better. Matt is given a love interest who also likes filming everything for the purpose of giving another camera to the characters for the audience to see events when Andrew’s not filming. It mostly works. There are some situations where I have no idea why these characters are filming things--not only is it something that would be really bad to have on record if it’s found by someone else, but they’re moments that the characters aren’t proud of. But that’s just part of the way found footage stories go, I think.

I’m not sure if what we’re seeing is meant to be found footage? It’s not as if I remember there being a title card claiming that this footage was found on a camera somewhere and was being shared, or if this was something the government was keeping hushed up or anything. That’s not a block at all to my enjoyment of the film, I just wondered what, in-universe, this footage is meant to be.

One thing that does somewhat bother me, in a meta sense, is that while this is often described as a take on the superhero genre, and for good reason… this isn’t really a superhero movie, because at no point do the protagonists consider using their powers to save people or fight crime. They use it all for pranks and tricks. Which isn’t unrealistic, I don’t hold it against them or this movie, but it is a bit strange that the trio of teengers get superpowers, and they never talk about becoming superheroes. They do discuss using their powers more responsibly, but that’s it.

Hm.

Andrew’s mostly the star of this story. And he’s the most complex character, so it works, though of course this story kind of takes exactly the turn you expect it might from the emo abused kid with angst getting superpowers after failing to fit in. But just because you’re not surprised by the turn of events, doesn’t mean it isn’t well told, you know? 

And it does a good job of making you, the audience, think that maybe, just _maybe_ everything will turn out great for these three friends, even if the missteps along the way are all screaming and waving red flags that they won’t. Because you see Andrew seemingly triumph several times before crashing down even harder, 

But you know Steve gets the short end of the stick here. Of course, he’s the best one out of the three, the Ace, so of course what happens has to happen for the story to go that way. But I am a bit uncomfortable that out of our characters, the black guy is the one this happens to, who has the least development. Yeah, he’s the coolest one, and doesn’t adhere to black stereotypes. But it’s the spirit of the thing, you know? 

At least Michael B. Jordan’s career soared after this movie, so maybe I shouldn’t feel too bad. He’s pretty great in this movie. Even though he’s THE popular kid in the school, he always comes across as friendly and wanting his friends to have a good time. Mind you, there’s some usual teenage boy BS in there, but given he IS a teenaged boy that’s clearly intentional, and once people start getting hurt he clearly shows concern and tries to help.

Dane DeHaan does a great job in the lead--creating a character who is both very pitiable, but you can also see him being rather nasty and cruel without losing sight of how he got there. I hope you don’t ever really get to the point that you agree with everything he does, but still sympathize. He’s sort of like a teenaged Magneto, although with less of a good backstory (I mean, it’s hard to beat _the Holocaust_ as a villain backstory).

Alex Russell as Matt is maybe the weak point of the three leading cast members. Which isn’t to say that he’s bad, but I feel as if he gets the least...he sticks out the least. As a kind of average guy who is trying to fit in, and sometimes screws over his cousin in doing so, but finds a way to bond over their powers--Matt’s not a bad character, but his arc is less focused than Andrew or Steve. Part of it is that he’s not the one with the camera, but towards the end his love interest has a camera and I kind of don’t understand what draws him to this girl.

Still, he feels responsible for what happens, and he does his best to see the good in Andrew no matter what, so I still find him an admirable character.

If you like the found footage format, or wanted to find an example of the medium that wasn’t a horror movie, this film’s definitely worth checking out. If you like superhero films, and want to see something that’s a very dark teenage angst version of the origin story, you’ll like this film. Even if that doesn’t sound particularly appealing, I’d recommend giving it a try just to see something a bit different.

[kendrixtermina]

SUBJECTIVE OPINION TIME re: Rhea

Me: * Finishes Empire Route * Maybe it’s just because both dogmatic zealots and quasi-parental figures than only love you “conditionally” tend to set me off personally, but man, Rhea is scary

People: “Well she goes off the deep end there, in the other routes she’s much nicer”

Me: Alright then lets see what nice Rhea is like * waits for it *

[...]

Me: ...where is it?

Rhea: *Is barely IN the other routes* *Never once talks to any of the people who are so loyal to her* *it looks more and more like Edelgard did everyone a solid by removing her from the equation and they dont even know it* 

Rhea’s support chain: is nothing but major creepo vibes (and some Jeralt backstory I guess) - you do get “personal space plz” dialogue options so this isn’t entirely unintentional

Rhea’s S support: “I fabricated a false history, deceived everyone and was literally giddy about the prospect of you becoming a meat puppet until you offered me your tits/dick”

the vibe is very much “This character was basically evil until just now, but sinse she’s somewhat (sym?)pathetic we’re letting you redeem her if you’re really comitted to it” - and why not? Video games are all about freedom. And it makes total sense that she could be swayed by someone acting as a strong protector to her since she has a very childish, self-centered mentality and basically wants her mommy. 

Just saying, none of the lords require you to screw them for them to listen to reason.  You could run off with their best friends if you wanted. 

Alliance Route: Edelgard was right about the censorship and shady meddling... actually, it’s even worse, because she’s to blame for the rampant xenophobia and closed-mindedness too!

I already suspected that Nemesis wasn’t going to turn out to actually have been good/ that there must be a bit more to it, but I’d had a lot more sympathy if she hadn’t basically enslaved 1000 years worths of humans for something their distant ancestors did. Nemesis and the elites were dead. In fact she killed them, and rightly so! But even if she could kill them again and again it wouldn’t bring back Sothis. And what did the commoners ever do to deserve this?

All while the actual Culprits go unchecked, cheerfully inflicting similar slaughter on, say, Edelgard’s and Dimitri’s families. 

They had sad backstories too. Almost the same one (”Agarthans killed my whole clan”). What did Edelgard do with it? Decide that she will uproot both the meddling shadow factions, end inequality and give power to the people even if she has to give up everything she cares about, so the same never happens to anyone else. Sure, she had a much harder time trusting or connecting with people and dealt poorly with being cornered but she recognizes that her classmates aren’t to blame for what their fathers did. What did Dimitri do with it? Well he struggles alot, but he definitely developed empathy for the downtrodden and other victims of violence and he makes an effort to be aware of his shortcomings and be a good person most of the time. He never believes that trying to do good or fight evil means that hes perfect or cant be criticised. At some point he definitely held some resentment against Adrestians as a whole (not just Arundel or Edelgard themselves), but he got over that and became a dedicated peacemaker. 

Both of them have more maturity and self-awareness at 23 than Rhea has at 23 hundred.  

Church Route:  Well, at least Mama Eisner actually DID die of natural causes and there’s no indication that she mistreated her ‘experiments’ in anyways, but it can’t have been great for Byleth’s mom, to grow up knowing that she’s considered a ‘failure’, that her mother figure would so much rather that someone else take her place and is just waiting for her to die of old age so she could repeat the process. 

And then there’s how she made all the higher ups of the church drink her blood/ crest stones

Would this have happened to Jeralt if he hadn’t died when he did? Heavens could she have monsterified anyone who disagreed at any time?!

And just to twitch the knife she just HAS to call poor Byleth “mother”to their face at the very end  after they went through all the trouble to rescue her and forgave her for the meat puppet thing. 

Kingdom Route: 

- The Ashe/Cassandra support DEAR GOD

...did she just get off scot free? 

It’s not like I want her dead, per se, just not-a-threat-anymore.. She lives in her S support but she also partially recognizes her wrongdoings and that she’s unfit to rule and even goes on to atone, so, no objections from me. Whereas here we never see her realize that she was wrong in any way. Sure she’s stepped down but she’s probably discarded and assumed new identities a bajillion times. Just because she CAN cause trouble again doesn’t mean she will but if it were me I’d want some minimal assurance that she wont...

People: “But she has a sad backstory/sympathetic motivations/characterization other than muahaha”

Me: That’s decent writing, not morality. 

By “evil” I don’t mean “cackling disney villain”, I mean that a certain critical mass of badness is present and that her motivations are mainly selfish at other’s expense. Sanctimonious delusions just make it worse.   

Like you might feel sympathy towards some guy who was beaten by his father until you find out that he then went on to beat humiliate and mistreat his own children. It’s the same principle, though I recognize that this is by naturally subjective. 

She’s clearly intended to be tragic/pitiable and I’m certainly not going to get on anyone’s case for feeling sorry for or emphatizing with her (let alone liking her - you’re allowed to like antagonists and not every opinion has to be some great act of moral value)

But wether or not one wants to use the label “evil” which by nature is a subjective emotion-charged thing, or the entirely separate question of what one would or wouldn’t view as appropriate countermeasures,  there’s no denying that the results of her actions were net negative and that she was just plain incompetent and accountable to no one. And she wasn’t ever gonna stop.

It’s hard to give her a pass for being childish when Edelgard, Claude and Dimitri (eventually) take on so much responsibility and determinedly pursue altruistic goals though they are young and inexperienced. 

As I see it, Rhea’s a “rule the world” villain whereas the Agarthans are a “destroy the world” one. Lawful vs Chaotic evil.  Out of the two you’d probably prefer to be subjugated by Rhea because she’ll act as a benevonent tyrant as long as you do not openly defy her but both view the surface-dwelling people as lowly animals. In Rhea’s case, you get to be the pet cat, and she may even protect you like a pet cat. But pet cats dont get any say in how they are governed. 

[acetokens]

My (post game) opinions on the ndrv3 cast

Alright, before the game came out I made this post where I basically vomited out my opinions on how I felt about the newly revealed ndrv3 cast onto a post and it was 50% jokes, 50% venting at fangirls. But now I've actually played the game, delved into the fandom and looked at the changes between the Japanese and English versions, I feel I can make a more genuine list of how I feel about all these good kids that deserved better. I realize my opinions are just that, and I’m probably yelling into the void here. But I felt I had to do a followup to the last post because MY GOD WAS I WRONG ABOUT (MOST) THINGS. I've listed every character in ‘favorite to least favorite’ order for convenience sake. Also this post will contain Spoilers. You have been warned.

Placed under a break for your skipping convenience. Ya’ll are welcome.

1. Himiko Yumeno - I absolutely adore everything about Himiko. Her design, her lazy attitude, her voice (NYEH), her development across the game to become a more driven and energetic person...I found her really funny, really cute and oddly relatable. Himiko is probably in my top 5 DR characters of all time. Which is even crazier when I remember she’s one of the few survivors. I've never had a favorite character who survives a killing game before. So unlike past Dangan Ronpa games where my interest sorta dies off by Chapter 6, Himiko kept me fully invested in everything until the end. She’s a special bean and I love her.

2. Gonta Gokuhara - Continuing the DR trend of a Big Guy who’s a Big Friend, Gonta was so good and so pure and so friendly and deserved so much better. He was always trying to do his best and protect everyone until the very end. R.I.P Gonta. You were a true gentleman. Chapter 4 can suck my ass.

3. Tenko Chabashira - I literally D E S P I S E D Tenko when she was first revealed. I hated her stupid, sexist guts. But come Ndrv3′s release and Tenko turned out to be a dorky, kind, protective and strong willed girl who was skilled enough to be admirable but pathetic enough to be pitiable at the same time. I loved her undying adoration of Himiko (even if it was a bit creepy at times) and the two make a really cute ship. I was expecting some kind of tragic backstory in her FTE’s to explain why she hates men (I believe she mentions a drunken father at one point, and I really wish they went more into that), and the lack of a reasonable explanation for such a strong hatred is what prevents her from sharing (or even taking) the top spot in my book. But misandry aside, Tenko is a Great Gal and I wanna hug her. Although she’d probably bodyslam me.

4. Kirumi Tojou - Kirumi was my favorite when all the characters were revealed at first. I made multiple posts about how I’d die for her and how she was beautiful and whatnot and I was confident about two things when the game came out: 1) She’d be my favorite. And 2) She’d die - following in the footsteps of all previous ‘best girls’ before her. And well, I did really like her. Just...not as much as I thought I would. Kirumi is efficient, brave, elegant, caring and has a really cool design. But her talent occupies most of who she is as a person, and she isn't too dissimilar to most maid characters in anime or manga. So it made her quite predictable at times and I feel they could’ve done so much more with her..ah well. Kirumi is still a super awesome maid and a great Mom. Even if she hates being called that.

5. Kaede Akamatsu - Ahh...I remember when I was wishing someone else would be our protagonist when she was first announced...I think I cursed it. Because Kaede was just *incredible*. She was headstrong, perceptive, kind and left such a big impact on me after Chapter 1. You know that ‘Do It For Her’ meme? Yeah, that about summarizes the rest of Ndrv3 for me. Also Kaede is a huge gay and all the Ndrv3 girls are her girlfriends, pass it on.

6. Ryouma Hoshi - Congratulations to Ryouma for being the only non-standard design character not to be terrible. Far from it, in fact. Ryouma is a badass! A lil’ badass with such a depressing backstory and death that when they showed his motive video, I let out a single manly tear. Or several. Or many. I just...I just want this man to be happy...

7. Miu Iruma - Miu has zipped up and down my lists more than any other character. I had her ranked highly pre-game, lowly during the game, and mid/high post-game. Her design and talent are really cool and she makes several neat inventions over the course of the game, but her personality was so damn prickly and vulgar that I found her really offputting while she was alive. It was only after finishing her FTE’s and seeing her Love Hotel scene that I realized holy shit this girl has some serious trust and abandonment issues. It put all of her behavior in perspective and I began to feel really sorry for her all of a sudden. The hurt/comfort potential here is just WAITING to be uncovered but, alas, most Miu fanfics I've come across are just smut or crackfics. Out of all the Ndrv3 girls, Miu deserves the most headpats. Lots and lots of headpats.

8. Kaito Momota - A good, supportive friend and an effective comic relief. His optimism was a bit grating for me now and again (I never like it when DR plays the ‘’Oh we should just believe in him/her because s/he’s our friend :)’’ card because of how biased it always is. Like, DR will sometimes bend over backwards and completely 180 its own rules to make sure certain characters survive. In a game where finding the truth by objective evidence and fact is key, the times where it just says ‘’nah fuck the truth who needs proof just b e l i e v e’’ just feel so...stupid). But criticisms of the series aside, Kaito is a bro and he’s great. Who doesn’t love the luminary of the stars?

9. Kokichi Ouma - I realise putting the most popular character at 9th is going to make hoards of fangirls despise me but!!!! I don’t dislike Kokichi. In fact I like him a lot. His character is probably the most enjoyable to analyze out of everyone, his interactions are hilarious but also disturbing, the Kokichi memes are funny, and I too think the changes they made to his dialogue in the English translation was utter bullshit (almost as greater character assassination as Mukuro in the DR3 anime). But, I really love most of the characters in the game which leaves characters I’m torn on (like Kokichi or Kiyo) hovering at a position which makes it seem like I dislike them when actually I enjoy them immensely. Just...not as consistently as some of the others. Also Chapter 4 was an kick to the nads that I can’t get over. Sorry Kokichi.

10. Korekiyo Shinguuji - I was prepared to LOVE this guy so much. Seriously. I was ready for the moment where it would turn out creepy noodle man would be turn out to be a Wholesome noodle man. But uh, I think I’m with the rest of the fandom when I say that Korekiyo’s reveal as the SHSL incestuous serial killer made me drop him faster than Kirumi dropped in her execution (sorry). So, now I've establish Kork is the *real* Worst Boy...why did I put him at 10th? Why not 15th? Especially considering he killed Tenko? Truthfully, it’s the memes. Just...the Kork memes. And the fact he’s such an awful person and so obviously a murderer that it becomes genuinely hilarious to me. And his design is my favorite out of all of them. I’m so split on him. So, so split...

11. K1-B0 - Keebo made me laugh a bunch of times, and I enjoyed him more than I thought I would initially. Also his upgrades in Chapter 6 were badass as fuck. But I just don’t really feel the same affection for him like I do other characters. I’m afraid cute robot girls will always be my weakspot. Cute robot boys...not so much. (Although I’m all for Agender! Keebo that’s my jam).

12. Shuichi Saihara - This is the point in my list where I finally reach true neutral. I have no feelings on Shuichi either way. He’s deeper and has a more interesting plot arc than Makoto, which makes him a more effective protagonist in my opinion. But Hinata will always be the best protagonist in my book. And I just keep picturing what it would’ve been like if Kaede survived instead...

13. Rantaro Amami - I never understood why he was uber popular before the game came out and I don’t think I understand why he’s so popular now either. I have no negative feelings on the guy; he’s mysterious and has a ‘big brother’ attitude that I like. But the poor dude just died too quickly for me to feel anything for him. 

14. Maki Harukawa - I only dislike three characters in this game. Maki is one of them. I knew *exactly* what kind of character she was going to be and I knew I wouldn’t like her much and I knew she was going to survive. I didn’t guess she was going to be an assassin! But outside of that, There isn’t much going for me for me. The tsundere is never an archetype I like and the fact the deaths in Chapters 2 and 5 are partly her fault and no one calls her out on it is kinda frustrating also. 

15. Angie Yonaga - Angie’s creepiness is her most appealing trait to me. That should explain how low the bar is set here. Its difficult to write what I feel about her without coming across as a salty atheist (because most of her problems revolve around her use of her god to manipulate people) so I’m just going to leave it there.

16. Tsumugi Shirogane - Y’know I distinctly remember labelling Tsumugi as ‘’Hifumi but likable’’ on my previous Ndrv3 opinion post. I was wrong. She was hovering around mid/low level for me while I played the game, and I often forgot she existed (kinda funny considering her self admitted plainness) and her references were quite obscure a lot of the time so I didn’t find her funny either. I didn’t dislike her, I just forgot her. Then Chapter 6 happened and everyone knows the rest. It’d be difficult to truly ‘like’ Tsumugi after her reveal as the mastermind, after all. Although she was certainly entertaining when she started cosplaying as all the previous characters and I did like how her eyes glowed when she went all DanganRonpa crazy. I did actually consider putting her above Angie for those reasons, but if I dropped Kokichi’s placement because he killed Gonta then I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t slamdunk Tsumugi into last place for technically being responsible for everyones’ deaths as well (well, responsible as part of Team DanganRonpa. I understand it wasn’t *entirely* her behind it all). You know there’s a problem when *Hifumi* looks pure in comparison...

If you read through all of this, then congratulations? I don’t know how to end long ass posts like this...just pretend I said something witty. 

I need sleep.

[ghostmartyr]

SnK 92 Thoughts

Dear Marley:

What the ever loving fuck is wrong with you people?

This is likely to be an incredibly short post. I know I keep saying that, but there’s really not much to go through here that I didn’t touch last month. Action scenes be actioning, and everyone continues to be a level of awful that...

Yeah.

Yeah, this is a little.

Okay, well, I guess I’ll start with the part of the chapter that already has me looking at my inbox in grim expectation. Usually I do the thing I care about most last, so I give everything I don’t care about a chance, but this is being distracting, and it’s not like anything was going to give me a chance at being happy this chapter anyway.

Galliard, your friendship status with me has been thrown into question.

Last chapter the assumption that Galliard had nommed Ymir drove me nuts. We’d seen something like two pages of the guy, shark motif seemed going strong, and we were still missing a Titan, so it felt like a bit of a reach to declare Jaws and Dancing the same Titan. Besides, he’s got the whole face armor thing going down. Totally reasonable to assume he’s doing his own thing.

This chapter, we get to see him in action beyond diving in front of some kids, and the similarities between his movement style and the Dancing Titan’s are significantly more pronounced. Also, they have the same teeth.

Thanks to the new season of the anime, the teeth thing is especially jarring. We haven’t seen Utgard animated yet, so Marcel’s end can only currently be found in the new opening, but as several people have pointed out, in Ymir’s flash to that event, the titan’s teeth are flat.

The manga version is pretty clear about them being sharp before the Shifter nomming, but the anime has a history of knowing more about the manga than the audience does, as well as correcting some of the manga’s mistakes.

Along with that, we do have an established history of Titans being named differently than their introductions implied. Eren’s officially the Attack Titan, not Rogue. Female Titan is Female Titan, Armored is Armored, but when there’s not a tower to swing around, what sense does Dancing really make next to Jaws.

Point is, while I am going to hold out hope that Ymir’s alive until I get a visual of her corpse, the idea that Galliard is her successor is no longer the reactionary accusation that has happened every time a new Shifter gets a panel. There’s some genuine credit to the theory. At best, I’d say that Jaws is definitely meant to remind us of Ymir.

What that means if you’re a nutty optimist is that it will enhance the shock when she turns up breathing. What that means if you have the dial at 9 instead of 11 for happy sunshine is that the seeds for Galliard eating Ymir have been successfully planted for a traumatic reveal.

I’m still willing to go with the first, which bodes great for the kind of fandom interactions I’m going to have.

Even if it turns out we’re dealing with the second (which will annoy me for a multitude of petty reasons before being really, really sad), I maintain that Ymir’s role in whatever story’s being told isn’t done. I know a lot of people object to how Bertolt’s death came about. Despite the lack of fanfare for his actual death, I was never one of them. I felt like Bertolt’s character development had pushed him into being a person who refused to develop, and that was the final nail in his coffin long before Armin’s gambit.

In the case of Ymir, though, you have a character who has repeatedly said she wants to live for herself sacrificing herself for others. Maybe all that means is that her story is a tragedy. She doesn’t get to live for herself, and she doesn’t get to marry Historia. She wants to, but too many parts of her take her down the wrong road for that. Sad, sad story, boo hoo, at least the people she’s leaving behind have a chance.

But as straightforward as Ymir is (what Historia calls “simple”), nothing in her character suggests that walking into an enemy stronghold, offering up her life to the enemies of people she loves, and giving them a weapon by letting them kill her, is something that she would consider a satisfying endgame.

She doesn’t want Reiner and Bertolt to die. She owes them, so she saves them, and she sees a way to protect them further down the line by being their prized prisoner.

Ymir is one of the most intelligent characters in the series. Her simple nature means that she’s willing to do nonsense like the above, but she isn’t oblivious to the implications. She thinks up the thought of getting Reiner and Bertolt out of trouble by being their tagalong pretty darn easily.

If she is dead, well, yay, something new to be sad about.

If she’s dead because she does absolutely nothing to fight back against Marley wanting her dead, I have my first real problem with a character decision for this series.

If she’s dead and Historia is going to be the one to off Galliard, I... will admittedly be bothered much less.

Since I’m stupid, I’m going to continue to be optimistic and hope that Galliard is a red herring. Most of the Titans we’ve seen are pretty unique, but the Female Titan, besides having breasts, mostly mirrors the Attack Titan, so maybe Jaws mirrors the Dancing Titan.

However, to the delight of people who aren’t me, Ymir’s possible link to Galliard is actually a very serious plot point.

If Ymir is dead, and Jaws and Dancing Titan are one and the same, we have a Titan missing from our roster. Without Jaws doing his own thing, we’ve got eight, not nine.

Founding

Attack

Armored

Colossus

Female

Cartman

Beast

Jaws/Dancing

So place your bets, I guess. Are we looking at an eleventh hour savior, a greater evil for all of the lesser evils to fight, or is Ymir still alive?

Considering the level of impact the first two options have, my happiness prospects keep going down.

On the other hand, one of the first signs that Ymir is peculiar involves herring. Introducing a red one is truly the natural progression of her story significance.

At the end of the day, I’m serious about holding out hope until I see a corpse. I’m similarly serious about Ymir’s story impact not being over even if she is dead (and no, not just because Galliard probably wants to nom Our Heroes).

But wow have her odds gone down, and wow do I find that ludicrously depressing.

On that subject, how ‘bout those flying titans?

Every time Marley does something atrocious, they manage to top themselves. It would be impressive, except it’s so horrifying that every new horrible thing makes my soul feel like it’s shrunk three sizes.

Does anyone else find it funny that Marley and the rest of the world curse Eldians for being able to transform into titans, then form their entire military strategy around them being able to transform into titans?

It isn’t ha-ha funny for very long. It’s sick.

Rudolph and his red nose get a lot of depressing posts about how the real lesson is that your differences are only appreciated if someone else can make use of them.

In the case of the Eldians, they don’t even get that level of appreciation. They’re used for their talents in the same moment that they’re cursed for having them to begin with.

On a similar level of amusement, people on Paradis, seeing the damage that titans do, and the terror they inspire, vow to remove the titans.

Marleyans, they of the reported persecution by their hands, do everything they can to make more of them.

Just. Wow, okay.

There is something abominably sick about a command that does this. And I have sympathy for the Warriors growing up and wanting to change things for their people, and being brainwashed into hating the “bad” Eldians who caused all of this, but...

This is how Marley fights.

“Isn’t war a terrible thing?”

Yes. War is terrible.

What Marley does, and what Zeke is actively complicit in, is worse.

Someone who doesn’t keep being distracted by that can probably put words to how when Eren screams, it inspires hope, but when his brother does it, it brings nothing but despair and destruction, and yay for that I guess, but fuck.

This is how Marley fights, and it turns the loyalty the Warriors we know best have to their cause... That was always a pitiable quality. You could see the honor in them, and the love for their comrades. They’re desperate, and they want their home, and they want all of this to be over.

When it’s just one wall, and they’re so young, it’s easy to hope for them, and want them to escape this nightmare, no matter how much of it comes from their own decisions.

Then you have this, and it’s a lot harder to give a damn about anyone who can go into battle with a blimp full of their own people and rob them of their autonomy, especially when that, for their side, is considered a victory.

What even the fuck.

I don’t even want to talk about it. As part of the story, oki doki then, but as something ripe for examination, Marley’s way of doing things is so unspeakably depraved that the adverb’s pretty much not hyperbole.

And I don’t know if the title, “Marley’s Soldiers,” is a mistranslation of Warriors, or if Marley’s version of a “soldier” is cannon fodder.

If you’re looking for amusement, Scouts are called soldiers back in Paradis, and they’re sent out to the chopping block just as often. Except Paradis soldiers are allowed the choice. Even the thousands of people who are sent out to “reclaim Wall Maria” are allowed to keep their minds when they’re ordered to die for the greater good.

Heck, “greater good” in that environment just meant getting rid of enough mouths so that the people left inside the walls wouldn’t starve to death. What’s the Marley version of that?

...So I am very, very clear about this: PARADIS BEFORE EREN’S ABILITIES CHANGE THE TIDE IS A TERRIBLE PLACE FULL OF TERRIBLE PEOPLE IN POWER BOWING TO THEIR WORST IMPULSES--and I would take it over Marley ever day of the week.

Paradis does not start out as a good place. It’s built on genocide and brainwashing. Our Heroes force it to be better, and they aren’t sparkly clean moral paragons, either.

But I have to actively remind myself of this, because Marley is so unilaterally awful that it’s hard not to look at the setting we left for it and start singing its praises.

Before this post turns into nothing but strings of profanity, I’m going to stop.

They would be highly deserved strings of profanity.

Oh, and thanks to Marley’s continued awfulness, Reiner and Bertolt giving Ymir up is... somehow a lot worse than it was to begin with, and it started out with “this person who saved your lives is going to be eaten alive to save your lives again.”

This was not a happy month.