#so i genuinely really hope her characterization is intentionally this way
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this is in reply to @yannaryartside 's question in the comments, thank you for asking my insight, first off. Here are my thoughts on Claire and her portrayal as a doctor-
Aside from the fact that she has far too much free time being an ED resident, is injecting a kid?? and in general doesn't look like someone in a job that's as stressful as being a chef, these intentions in her as a doctor really set me off ->
When s2 came out in 2023, i was in my Intern year, which is the year where we work in every dept of the hospital to get a hang of things. Coincidentally, I had finished my ED duty just a couple of weeks prior, so she really didn't fit in with the real life images of ED residents i had seen first hand.
S3 was worse, because even as a fresh doctor then, I never made the mistake of missing an allergy. Nor did any of my classmates. Or any nurses. You could miss a past history of surgery or smthng like that (v v v rarely) but something like ALLERGY??? it's the first thing we have to ask and keep in mind.
My ED residents, no matter how burnt out, never committed such a mistake either. This was one huge red flag.
But my BIGGEST red flag in all this was that- normal doctors are not morbidly fascinated with death and disease. There is NOTHING even remotely romantic about that, most of us are so burnt out by it.
And I say that as someone who is looking for a residency match in pathology, which is literally the study of disease.
Curiousity is one thing, morbid attraction, another.
I have never heard someone from my peer group saying it was fascinating to stare at something broken which is why they chose to become a doctor.
I guarantee you, if someone said something like that in a group of medical professionals, all of us would find it very concerning.
Curiosity when it comes to disease, is often when it is not attached to a real live person in front of you. It was extremely disconcerting to see her talk about the fact that her very first impulse was curiosity about the brokenness, and not concern for the pain.
Not to mention the very casual way in which she talks about all of this.
There is a lot of self-absorption in the way she talks about her experiences, and while it looks like she's being nice and vulnerable, from my experience of recounting and listening to patient stories told by doctors, I found her's to have a palpable lack of empathy.
All in all, I was confused whether they wanted to show her like this or if it was just poor research. As of now, I think it's a mix of both.
Though I can say one thing for sure, Claire is a character that romanticizes the pain in others, precisely something that doctors are never supposed to do.
I'm waiting for my residency match, so while I wait, let me tell you that being a doctor doesn't look anything at all like how they've shown Claire. I wish the showrunners did some research.
#it felt really weird to have a medical professional shown this way tho i have to say#so i genuinely really hope her characterization is intentionally this way#sorry if i rambled too much lol#the bear#sydcarmy#anti claire bear
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This isn't meant as hate but genuinely wondering.
Why did you make Katelyn, the one with huge anger issues and who almost never wears skirts and stuff, the by far darkest skinned one of the main cast?
Doesn't that fall under some black stereotypes like the hyper-masculinization of black women by society and the angry black woman trope?
My main reasoning is that this is a proper rewrite, not some headcanon. Anything I didnât like in the original Iâm free to change, and that included Katelynâs personality. If I had kept her exactly as she is in the series yeah my choice would be kinda yikes. But sheâs quite different in my version.
First off, my Katelyn isnât all that masculine, though honestly I never saw her as masculine in the og series either, more so athletic. True, Katelyn isnât much for dresses in daily life in my version, but thatâs because sheâs a fighter, and she feels most comfortable in her armor or anything that will let her spring into action quickly. But when she needs to dress up, shes happy to put on a dress and makeup, and her face design is my go-to âdraw pretty girlâ face.
The reference I posted of Katelyn isnât the best and is quite old, but the more recent parkour pic i think highlights the difference between Katelyn and someone like Nicole, who I intentionally characterize as butch.
Second point, Katelyn aggression has been aâŠtopic of controversy to say the least, and I think itâs important to separate mystreet and mcd because her characterization is just so different. So Iâll stick with mcd.
Yep, my Katelyn still has a lot of emotional issues, issues that are explicitly linked to her trauma of being trapped in the jury. Sheâs got some serious PTSD and she struggles to admit when sheâs not doing well. Sheâs constantly on edge and has trouble trusting new people (just to note sheâs not the only one with a dark backstory). But this never manifests as aggression towards her friends. After realizing what the jury did to the Golden Heart sheâs 100% devoted to protecting Aph and her people in hopes of redeeming her actions on the jury. This is a self-imposed goal, Aph forgave her the moment she learned Katelyn was doing it to protect her family.
Katelyn vents her emotions by training and fighting, which while maybe not the healthiest coping mechanisms are at least useful in a world where the characters are fighting bad guys regularly. Outside of combat, Katelyn is usually a quite soft character, especially around Aph and Travis. Not to say she doesnât have some sass, I imagine she has some great dry wit, but I literally have no scenes of her being legitimately angry with her allies.
Thereâs really only two scenarios I have where Katelynâs aggression is a problem. Her fight with Ivy, where Ivy is able to use her anger at the jury to goad her into the fight, and the aftermath of that fight, where Katelyn is physically unable to fight and thus has to learn other coping mechanisms. The lesson is not âwow you have anger issues maybe chillâ itâs âwow youâve been basing your self worth on how well you can take hits in a fight, maybe we should talk about thatâ
Instead of Katelyn being the token âangry black womanâ sheâs a strong and capable character who nonetheless still struggles with her trauma and expressing emotional vulnerability. She sometimes feels sheâs not worthy of her friends sympathies, so bottles up her problems. She is acutely aware of her new team and would never take her feelings out on them, and overall the story is Katelyn learning to trust her teammates the same way they rely on her. Whoops I accidentally made Katelyn a Raph Kin
To summarize, in my rewrite Katelynâs not the only character to reject traditional gender roles, and sheâs not the only one with emotional struggles. Hell, Laurance is right there next to her for all of season 2. They arenât the only key components of her character, sheâs not the most extreme manifestation of those traits, and several other characters have related traits, so sheâs not alone in her characterization, which is why I think her redesign works. Granted yâall donât know any of that yet, so I see why her stand-alone redesign can come across that way.
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Nightwing #80 Review
woot woot iâve kept it up for three issues lets gooo. i liked this issue more than the last one. thereâs a lot of fanon dick characterization peppered in, but not so much that it puts me off entirely. also, iâm getting increasingly concerned about bitewing. but i did like tim in this one, very nice
look at all the blue and purple and pink. honestly at this point, iâm a broken record but come on come on come onnnnnnn. the blue and pink is very pretty though. this coverâs a bit offputting at first, and a bit spiraly, which iâm sure was the intended effect.
this is a genuine concern of mine. dickâs a vigilante, and he doesnât have the same sprawling network and resources that bruce does. (even if he is a billionaire now, he hasnât amassed the same collection of crime-fighting equipment that bruce has.)Â
iâm not sure if heâll be able to take care of bitewing. damianâs got plenty of pets, but alfred used to take care of them, and now bruce plus the rest of the batfam is taking care of them. as far as we know, babs only drops by occasionally, and the same goes for dickâs family and friends. will dick be able to give bitewing the love and time and affection that a traumatized puppy like her needs? i really hope so.
she does look adorable in this panel tho.
dick. richard. richie. baby. why are you shirtless.
you have scars upon scars. probably chemical burns. bullet wounds. weird fucking squiggly lines from knives that only psychos with blade fetishes use. no normal person has the body that you do. and you donât think that showing up shirtless in front of the police is going to raise suspicion? you donât think that the people accusing you of murder are going to look at someone who looks like theyâre a fucking mob enforcer and go hmm thatâs a bit suspicious?
put on a SHIRT jesus CHRIST itâs like youâre not even trying to hide your identity.
look at this pompous little princess demanding only the highest quality head pets iâd burn down latvia for her. (no offense latvians it was the first country that popped into my head.)
pretty boy pretty boy pretty boy pretty boy-
no seriously kudos to the artist here. his expression is so human i wanna cry. dick, right now, is sheepishly asking a question. he knows heâs not going to get into any real trouble, he knows that heâll be able to talk his way out of or somehow maneuver his way off this mess. but heâll play nice for the police, so heâs asking a friend for a favour, part self-condescendingly and part oh-well-what-can-you-do.
and his expression reflects that. rather than a stoic expressionless face most male comic characters have when asking someone for something (or all the time really), rather than the weird desperate supposedly âseductiveâ face that most female comic characters plus dick grayson have when asking someone for something (or all the time really), heâs making a face that i pulled like yesterday. or the day before that. itâs kind of silly, kind of casual, very much human. i like it.
thank god. proper (in character) acknowledgement for officer grayson. yea, fuck cops in general, but i like that they included this line.
obviously, heâs not talking about the actual criminals, heâs talking about the police force itself. the bpd was too corrupt, and dick realized that he wasnât helping. not only does one clean cop not make a dent in an overall dirty force, but dick was putting his allies in danger too. not only that, but it wasnât good for dickâs mental health either. he was spreading himself too thin, and surrounding himself with some of the worst of crime 24/7 did a number on him. dickâs got a history of self-sacrificing tendencies, and iâm just glad heâs not a cop anymore.
dick has a gotham rogues mug. they make gotham rogue mugs, and dick has one.
what kinda city looks at itâs frankly horrible crime history and long list of certifiably insane serial killers who are all still alive and actively committing war crimes and goes âoooooh yea imma put that on a coffee mug!â gotham, thatâs who.
this isnât important i just like how all of bitewingâs barks are blue
back straight, hand on his hip, cheerful smile on his face as he says heâs being accused for murder. love that for him.
they couldnât have said âyea itâs complicatedâ in a better way even if they put the words âyea itâs complicatedâ right there on the page in bold red letters. literally all the love to the artists.
dick please. youâre KILLING ME what the actual fuck IS THAT???? WHY DO YOU HAVE A MUG OF THAT???
anyway nightwing collects novelty mugs confirmed.
this paneling is so beautiful.Â
timâs the focus, but heâs not the first thing you see. heâs placed in a way that forces the reader to drag their eyes all the way up the page in order to reach him. it us know just how high up tim is carelessly crouching, especially close to the ledge of the building too. i cannot think of a single better way to introduce a character, and this character in particular:Â you instantly know this is a version of tim with plenty of experience and training, is comfortable in his body and knows his limits, but still hangs onto that civilian awe of being in a high place and overlooking a brightly lit city.
absolute classic robin. i love it.Â
this isnât even that important but it made me happy. this is how you train surf.
you donât crouch or bend over when you get to a tunnel, which is oddly enough what most people think (at least from my experience). you bend backward. that not only 100% ensures that youâll make sure youâre low enough to make it through the tunnel (because you can see the top of the tunnel, unlike when you crouch or bend), but it also makes it easier to get up: all you have to do is push up with your arms into a bent stance, and youâll be in a ready, moving position. from a bend or a crouch, getting up is more awkward and more slow.
on a meta level, i like that this creative team knows what theyâre doing when it comes to the small, almost unimportant stuff like that, because it makes the action more real. (as real as you can get with a guy running around stealing hearts.)
on a in-universe level, it once again drives home both dick and timâs experience and professional level skill.
regardless of who you side with in the âshould tim drake be robin again?â debate, you gotta admit that timâs rebirth robin suit is r a d as fuck. if iâm not mistaken, this is the same one he was wearing in 2019 young justice for a little bit? itâs cute and hella cool i like it.
remember what i said about human expressions? doesnât happen as often to tim bc heâs a Child, but itâs still nice to note when someone humanizes him, too. (thatâs why i love the duckboy panel so much lol.)
me, at first: thatâs not a âgood callâ dick thatâs just common sense
me, now: sprinkled throughout the entire comic we can see dick bending to timâs instructions if only briefly, joking with him to keep the mood light while still maintaining a serious mood and retaining control over this particular outing. this implies that dickâs doing it intentionally, purposefully leaving places in his sentences blank and offering affirmations, in order to encourage tim and train him in things bruce might not necessarily touch on, such as social chameleoning and misdirection techniques and love/affirmation from a family member. dick is not only a loving and supportive big brother, but he never stops training his younger brother in better vigilante tecnhiques because he wants tim to be better than him. in this essay i will-
d o g g o
also bitewing is getting so many head pats today iâm living for it
look at him, standing on a telephone wire with ease. nice flex, dick.
also look at how heâs silhouetted. the moonâs full bright, bright enough that the sky around dick is light, too. (at least. iâm like 99% sure thatâs the moon.) not like most batman comics, where itâs sometimes hard to distinguish bruce from the background, which is entirely on purpose.
gotham is a dark gritty city, and so is bruce. the two of them are one. bludhaven may be a bit of a mess, but itâs being portrayed in all these different shades of blue and purple and pink, that are all light enough that dick stands out from the background. he hasnât been swallowed up by the city, and chances are that he wonât ever be. also, the colouring helps establish bludhaven as a city too. thereâs still hope for it. the light colouring means that itâs not going to sink into a pit as deep as the one bruce wove gotham into. the whole point of this nightwing arc in particular is to turn bludhaven into a better place, and itâs (most likely) letting us know early on that dick is going to accomplish that. heâll struggle, but heâll do it.
so dick??? dick designed his escrima sticks with a situation like this in mind? he created his signature and most iconic weapon (other than his chatty mouth), with a built in feature that turns his escrima sticks into timâs signature and most iconic weapon???? just so that if he and tim ever got into a situation where tim didnât have his staff, dick could make sure tim had the thing that would give him an edge over anyone he was fighting??? heâs such a big brother oh my goddd.
also timâs smirk in this is just *chef kiss.* a staff is something he can work with, a staff is something he wields like an extension of his arm, a staff is means that someoneâs about to get their ass kicked because timâs about to beat the shit outta them.
this is my new phone background.
they really made sure we remembered that hey, those first few months when bruce was grieving too much to be any sort of a mentor to tim and was still unwilling to properly train him to be robin out of fear that he would end up like jason, dick was the one who stepped up (once he got over himself and his own fears and hangups with bruce) and trained tim to be robin, trained him how to fight and flip and fuckin fly out there, all while changing his own style a bit to be the more experienced one in the partnership while still trusting said partner to hold their own, so dick and tim have a very unique and cohesive fighting style that makes it hell for anyone who fights them together, didnât they?
#river thinks too hard#nightwing 80#nightwing 80 spoilers#nightwing#dick grayson#tim drake#red robin#robin#nightwing 80 meta#nightwing meta#dick grayson meta#tim drake meta#red robin meta#robin meta#dc meta#dc
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I agree with the whole Paimon thing!! I think its cute that Paimon is child like, to me it makes her seem like a little sister to the traveller!! Not to mention Paimon is really the only friend to the traveller, she asks for things like food which the traveller can easily obtain and she gets excited about it!!
Paimon literally waited HOURS in Sumeru for traveller to come back and CRIED because she thought we left her!! Thats the saddest thing IV seen in Genshin đ
The same people who say Paimon is annoying are the same people that say the Harbingers are good people because they are following there Archons orders..um besties??? THE TSARITSA IS LITERALLY THE MAIM VILLAIN??? AS OF NOW??? NONE of the Harbingers get passes for the things they did especially fucking Dottore who we learned did horrible things to Collie and gave her massive PTSD from it!! But people still defend him đ
YES I LOVE THE LITTLE SISTER THING it's so cute! Especially between her and the traveler, the found family crumbs are so sweet </3
I CRIED the voice acting was too good oml I was in tears the whole time :') And the inazuma cutscene after Raiden's first fight, she looked so scared! Honestly I adore the way they characterized Paimon, as someone with two younger sisters, it's cool to see accurate representation of childlike behavior. Same goes to Klee and NPC children.
YES HOLY CRAP I love the fatui because it showcases a lot of gray morals and tough situations, but the fandom takes it way too far. Characters like Childe and Signora did bad things to follow orders or because they were tricked, and don't like doing a lot of the things they do. Scaramouche has so much trauma that everything adds up and is reasonable for his situation. But characters like Dottore who are genuinely horrible people because it's fun? They defend that? Because they find him attractive?! I hate the fandom fr
YES YES YES COLLEI'S STORY ALWAYS PISSED ME OFF I despite Dottore with a passion, he quite seriously makes me angry hrgfgg
tbh I just don't have a tolerance for characters that harm children intentionally, or that are creepy to them. hisoka, adam, dottore, my holy trinity of "i hope they and their stans burn in hell"
#kycasual#i've always hated the defending characters because people find them attractive thing#'but they're fictional!' stfu please#foxy <3
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hi shai ^^ i've watched westworld too years ago,which is your favourite season so far ? Also what do you think of the setting in s3 ? And if you really really only get to pick 1 character as your favourite, which one will that be ? :p i am curious.
If you like Westworld I want to recommend you to watch another show, it is actually Jonathan Nolan's earlier work, I don't know if you know that/have heard of that already but it is called "Person of Interest". It is one of my favourite show : ) i hope you have a great day/night and i enjoy seeing all your westworld edit/reblogs :3 x
hi chuck!!! đ„° thank you so much for asking!! im obsessed with the show rn so im delighted to talk about it with you lol.
favorite season so far is probably season 2! particularly the way it expanded the character of dolores. it's probably one of the most interesting and compelling arcs I've seen for an AI character in that she ends up coming to a conclusion a human would never come to and moving in a direction a human would have difficulty going -- ie that her positive emotions and the genuine love and hope she possesses are intentionally programmed in and carefully designed to keep her where she is, so what for a human would be natural feelings and part of our humanity, she begins to see as elements of her enslavement and tries to keep them locked away but at the same time she's unable to help holding them dear. just really beautiful character and thematic work and i also love the expansion of william's backstory and persona, the truly crazy amount of willores parallels, bernard's storyline about identity and memory and agency and his continued complex relationship with ford, akecheta (!!!!!), lee's redemption arc, maeve's reunion with her daughter. It's a tough choice because i really really loved season 1 as well, and season 2 occasionally had issues with wasting some time, but overall i think i like season 2 the most. :)
As for season 3... it's tough because i really love the environment of the parks for a lot of reasons, partly because that idea of an artificial, tightly controlled world is just a very interesting setting with a ton of potential. I do hope we'll get to see more of the parks again at some point. But that being said, thematically the story was at the point where it just couldn't stay in the parks anymore and dolores needed to have this arc of kind of seeing beyond her own experience and working through how westworld was in many ways just a reflection of the real world, and ultimately humanity broadly speaking was not her enemy, but just a bunch of other people who are trapped under systemic oppression and not given a real chance to meaningfully choose, just like her. I did think season 3 was the weakest season thus far by a pretty wide margin, it felt largely like setup for a future part of the narrative to me (especially maeve's and bernard's arcs which felt like total afterthoughts, they barely even fit into this part of the story at all except on paper and were basically just tagging along after dolores the entire time) and the setting was definitely more grim, felt a bit flat due to the quick pace and was generally less fun. But I do think it was a necessary change at least for now and it basically worked for what it was. I'm curious to see how they characterize the outside world going forward as obviously they intended for it to look very different after s3, but it's not clear how yet or what that will mean for the characters.
my favorite character is william! đ i dearly love all the characters (esp the main 4) and i think they're all interesting and compelling in their own ways but he is my #1 blorbo for sure. It's hard to explain why i connect with him so deeply but i think it has to do with (I've said this before so you might have seen that) my own issues with struggling to see myself as a good person, because he has this thing where he'll behave ethically or do something good, but everybody around him keeps insisting that it doesn't matter because deep down he's bad and nothing good he does really "counts" or weighs in his favor. It sounds a lot like the voice in my own head that tells me i'm just faking it every time i do something nice, and that i don't deserve it when people are kind to me in return -- and of course william has actually done terrible things to an extent that i haven't, but I really like that the viewer is kind of repeatedly encouraged to consider how real his supposed "badness" actually is and exactly how deep that goes, and what that idea even means. because after all we as the audience were made to care about and really fall in love with william initially, as dolores did, before finding out everything about who he really is at the same time that she did, and there's a part of us (and of her) that wants to see the good in him and wants to believe he isn't fundamentally bad deep down, or at least be able to authentically honor the goodness he's had in the past and the concrete benefits of help and care that he's given to others. So there's definitely a very sharp intentionality to the dualism of his persona that i really love on a craft level as well as relating to it personally, and i love how the show has explored the question of his character so far (especially as of the ending of s3). Also this is maybe a bit on the nose but i like that he's a total insane weirdo freak because... i relate to that too for obvious reasons lol. <3
I am familiar with person of interest!! I've seen some of it although I don't think i got past season 1, (it's just kind of a long show and i think i got distracted) but it's a really cool premise with some great writing so I'll be sure to watch more :) thanks for the recommendation!
thanks again for asking chuck, you really made my evening âșïžđđ hope i answered all your questions but feel free to ask again if not! I'm really happy that you're enjoying my westworld blogging because i keep worrying that I'm being annoying about it lol, so it's nice to hear that it's actually appreciated and entertaining. you have a great day too!! <333
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Hello! This is a bit different from your usual gwynriel/elucien asks, so I hope you donât mind, but itâs something thatâs been bothering me lately and I wonder if anyone else has noticed.
Iâm not sure if itâs because if the upsurge in popularity of acotar on tiktok/twitter with a younger audience reading it, or if Iâve just been lucky and not noticed it before, but Iâve seen so many Tamlin stans coming out of the woodwork and it honestly bothers me.
I definitely do agree that Tamlin is a complex character and of course, itâs fine that people are interested in him (I really donât care about him, but to each their own)! But lately there have been so many people in the fandom arguing that heâs a victim of PTSD who deserves better, often villainizing Feyre/Lucien because of this.
Iâve seen takes that Feyre was gaslighting Tamlin when she told him she was happy with Rhys because Rhys still had the whole night court persona going on?? And that Lucien and Feyre were a horrible support system because they wouldnât stand up to him (completely ignoring that when they did Tamlin ⊠ya know ⊠physically hurt both of them)? And that somehow Feyre spying in the Spring Court in ACOWAR was also abusive and manipulative towards Tamlin?
I just genuinely donât understand where all of this is coming from. I try to be critical of SJMâs writing because I understand that it can be flawed, especially since I have problems with how Feysand was written after ACOWAR, Azrielâs issues with women, the ICâs treatment of Nesta, etc. But I just canât seem to get behind these interpretations and Iâm not sure if Iâm just missing something (or âbiasedâ by Feyreâs POV as some claim).
Wooooooo boy, so I didn't know that this was a thing happening but lemme break down how wrong these people are with some of these arguments! This is going to get long.
(I definitely don't mind, I appreciate any ask that's not just about ship wars!)
So I'm going to lay out the claims people are making and talk about them one at a time.
Tamlin has PTSD:
Probably yes. In the beginning of acomaf, Feyre mentions that he has trouble sleeping, just like she does, and I believe he gets up at night, and this is when their relationship really deteriorates. I can't say for sure what he was experiencing, but it seems like he had a lot of anxiety and fears left over from Amarantha and watching Feyre die. The things he was experiencing emotionally are 1000% understandable and valid, even if it wasn't diagnosable PTSD.
But you know who else likely has PTSD? Lucien and Feyre.
Say it with me everyone: emotions do not always justify behaviors.
Feyre is gaslighting Tamlin:
Hell fucking no.
People need to learn what gaslighting is. Gaslighting is not just "lying". Gaslighting is not "disagreeing". Gaslighting is a very specific tactic used to make someone question their memory, their reality, to twist the truth.
Rhys definitely had a persona. That was a calculated decision. But when Feyre tells Tamlin that she is happy, she is not lying at all. Her telling Tamlin that she is happy has nothing to do with whatever lies or manipulations that Rhys did in the past. Why? Because even if Rhys was a super asshole dark dude, Feyre saying she is happy with him is still the truth. Feyre isn't lying, let alone gaslighting Tamlin, that idea is completely laughable.
The only way that people could say that Feyre is gaslighting Tamlin is to say that she is responsible for Rhysand's Dark persona, that she is the one who created it with the intention of making people question what they thought was true. Which she isn't. That isn't even the reason that Rhys created the persona. He created it to obscure the truth in the first place.
And even his persona isn't gaslighting? He isn't trying to make people question their reality. He isn't trying to make people question themselves. He is trying to make himself look scary. And so when he drops that persona, he is telling the truth. He isn't gaslighting people, he is saying "hey I wasn't being honest before but now I am".
And i think that's a big, big difference that people are failing to understand. Gaslighting is about trying to change other people's reality. Rhys's persona was about him. Feyre saying she was happy was about her. Neither of those things were about trying to make people feel like they were crazy.
So there has to be this reality. Let's say Rhys was spotted being menacing. Person A is like "hey, you look scary!" And he's like "noice, my evil plan is working." Then later on Rhys is like "hey you know what, I wasn't being honest before, I'm actually a Super Cool Dude." Person A might be confused for a minute because what they thought was true wasn't true, but they'll get there.
If it were gaslighting, on the other hand, it would go more like: Rhys: *is nice*. Person A: "hey, I thought you were scary though?" Rhys: "nah, that was my good twin, Rhysnaldo. I've never been nice a day in my life. You must be confused." Person A: *questioning everything they thought they just witnessed".
So yeah anyway, people gotta stop using that term if they don't know what it means.
Feyre manipulating Tamlin:
Personally, I agree with the argument that she manipulated Tamlin in the beginning of acowar. I don't think that's even a matter of interpretation, she went to Spring with the intention of burning shit down.
Feyre was not abusive towards Tamlin. She knew his weaknesses and exploited them. I don't care that she did that to him, I think that she deserved a bit of vengeance. However, personally I cannot stand the fact that in doing so she caused a lot of collateral damage and did not gaf. Deal with your abusive ex however you need to, Feyre. Don't knowingly, intentionally bring harm to other people in doing so.
Feyre and Lucien failing as a support system:
NO.
Feyre literally saved Tamlin's life by killing and dying for him. Lucien was also tortured by Amarantha because of Tamlin. Neither of them broke and betrayed him. They were incredibly loyal to him throughout acotar. Even now, when Lucien is being emotionally and physically abused by Tamlin, Lucien is still trying to work with him, make sure he is fed, make sure he doesn't completely lose his humanity fae-ness. Lucien is the only reason that the Spring Court hasn't completely collapsed while Tamlin wallows in his beasty feelings.
Any time that either Feyre or Lucien try to stand up to Tamlin, he gets manipulative and abusive. He emotionally manipulates Feyre into feeling guilty for wanting to be able to defend herself. He emotionally abuses Feyre by making her afraid of his anger and afraid of how he will react to anything that she says or does. He glares or shouts down anything the Lucien says.
Also, Tamlin is a High Lord! They can only do so much when it comes to standing up to him.
For real, Feyre and Lucien did literally everything that they possibly could in order to try to support Tamlin, and much of that was to their own detriment. In trying to support Tamlin, they got emotional and physical abuse in return. So no, fuck that. Being supportive does not mean we have to put up with abuse.
Being biased in Feyre's favor:
We are not biased by Feyre's POV in the sense that she is trying to mislead the reader, but we are limited by her POV because she doesn't know everything. She tells us the truth as she knows it. That is very different from a narrator who is intentionally trying to hide things or lie or mislead.
But even if we were biased by Feyre's POV, so fucking what??? Is it so wrong to take the side of a victim of abuse? Why do we need to try so hard to understand Tamlin's side? People can do that, of course, I have myself, especially later on in the story. In acofas I started to feel sorry for him. I've been mad at how Rhys treated him in acofas. But the idea of being biased in Feyre's favor means that we would have to question her, in some way, when she recounts the story of her abuse. That's disgusting, to me. What reason do we have to think she isn't telling her story truthfully?
We might naturally have more empathy towards Feyre because we heard the story from her POV, but again - why is that a bad thing? To hear a story from the victim of abuse and feel empathy for them??? Call me crazy but that's not a problem. I'm going to empathize with Feyre, and I'm going to believe Mor (and Rhys, and Lucien). The end.
A final word
Just something you said in the last paragraph struck me, in regards to Azriel's view of women and how the IC treats Nesta: those are not thing to criticize in sjm's writing, I think. Just because Tamlin is abusive doesn't mean that sjm shouldn't have written him that way, ya know? If there are inconsistencies in characterization or a lack of understanding of abusive dynamics or alcohol abuse or something like that, those are things we can criticize in her writing. But characters do uncomfy things, that's supposed to happen.
What I'm trying to say is that there is a difference between criticizing a character's actions, and criticizing the way they have been written. Pretty much everything above falls under the realm of "analyzing a character or story", not criticizing the author.
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(Part 2. Picking up where the last part left off, because image limit)
And from then on, he works as a member of the ANBU, serving not just Root, but the whole of Konoha.
But we get to see a bit more of how Yamato feels in his infinite tsukuyomi dream... He doesn't like the harshness of the ANBU (likely as a result of his time in Root), but he doesn't want to be alone. But since he has no family and no significant connections outside of Kakashi, he just saw it as the best option he had.
But then when he was placed on Team 7, he comes to see them as friends/familyâa place to belong. He can't rid himself of the fact that he's just acting as a temporary replacement for Kakashi, but he wants nothing more than to remain as "Captain Yamato" alongside Team 7, and this is reflected in his dream.
And then we come back to that scene once more... Knowing everything we know about him (I do not see the end of the series/Boruto, I refuse to acknowledge how they treat him đ), it makes me appreciate what he says and does here even more.
First of all, he wastes very little time before pulling Naruto aside and telling him the truth. Of course, he wanted what was best for everyone in that situation, and even deflects some of the blame for Sakura's injury toward himself to ease some of Naruto's guilt, and he even outright tells him that the reason he specifically was chosen to lead Team 7 was because of his ability to suppress the Nine-Tail's chakra, so as long as Yamato was by his side, he wouldn't have to worry about causing such catastrophic damage if it took over.
No, the reason he told Naruto the truth was simply because he recognized that Naruto had intentionally let himself be consumed by the Nine-Tails. He didn't want to see Naruto trying to become stronger by relying solely on a power like that (much like Sasuke does with Orochimaru's curse mark, which is an interesting parallel to note), or to feel like he's any weaker without it. He never had to tell Naruto any of this, but he did because he wanted Naruto to become genuinely strong all on his own.
Yamato does already care about Team 7 in his own way. He can't hold their hands like Kakashi did, because they're shinobi, and that isn't his job. But there are moments like this that show that he genuinely does care about and want what's best for them, and he does what he can for them in his own way.
In his own words to Sakura the episode priorâto comfort her for feeling like she couldn't do enough to help Narutoâit doesn't really matter whether what you do for someone is big or small. What matters is how much you truly care about them.





Just thinking about how much care Yamato has for his team, and the ways he shows it, makes scenes like these so beautiful. You could pick up these things without knowing anything from the fillers (and you can argue none of this matters since "it's not canon!!!"), but imo, the extra depth added to characters in some of the fillers to add context or extra weight where the manga lacked it is what makes some of them worth watching. And in this instance, Yamato's characterization in that filler arc truly does make the more important scenes with him so much more impactful.
I could rant about this for ages, or about how Kishimoto makes the most emotionally moving characters and then proceeds to treat them like shit once their arc is completed (or just outright kills them)!!
But I think everyone and their mom is giving me a Dirty Look about the length of this thread as it is, so uhh, this is a wrap! Hope you enjoyed my mentally ill rambling, go watch (or re-watch?) naruto â€ïž
Gonna do something stupid and bring over a thread from my twitter because I'm maybe possibly still brainrotting over it just a little??
I was thinking about this scene from episodes 45-46 of Shippuden and I honestly love it so much, especially in hindsight, after having watched the Kakashi ANBU fillers (yes, I watch the fillers, leave me alone). So, I'm gonna nerd out and way overanalyze this for a hot second, don't mind me.


(In actuality, this ended up being half Yamato character analysis/appreciation and half actual scene analysis, and I may have lost some coherency towards the end because I was high af while writing most of this lol whoops. Enjoy? Please don't hurt me? đ)
When you watch this scene for the first time, you'll likely be viewing this more from Naruto's "persepctive", so to speak. You'll probably empathize with him more personally, as he's the protagonist you've been following since the beginning. You understand why he does the things he does, why he feels the way he feels.
Being so desperate to save his friend but not confident enough in his own strength that he succumbs to powers of blind rage and accidentally hurts himself and others around him in the process... It may not be a relatable struggle for everyone, but it's a sympathetic one.
And thus, you would agree with Yamato's words to Naruto in this scene; he is strong on his own, and should rely on his own power to save Sasuke.
Naruto feels the same as well. Despite being initially horrified by the revelation that he had hurt Sakura and caused so much devastation again, he genuinely wants to become stronger by his own accord and protect those that he cares about. Yamato's words resonate deeply with him.
On a second watch through, however, what I really loved about this scene is what is says about Yamato as a character.
In the Kakashi ANBU filler arc, he first realizes through trying to save Yukimi that he can protect the people he cares about in his own way.



Then he's ordered by Danzo to steal Kakashi's sharingan. He sees Kakashi at Rin's grave and sees him as the cold-hearted "friend-killer". So he tries to go through with it.
"The mission is absolute." Kakashi asks what kind of mission would ask someone to kill their friend. He asks why, then, Kakashi killed Rin, unless it was also his mission to do so. But Kakashi retorts, he hadn't wanted to kill her. She died because he couldn't protect her.
Kakashi captures him, having every intention to take him back to the leaf, when they're suddenly attacked by one of Orochimaru's experiments. Kakashi risks his own life to save him despite the fact that Yamato had just tried to kill him.
He could have just left him to dieâeither of them could have left the other to die at any point, but neither did. Yamato's conviction wavers. It was his mission to take Kakashi's eye, but he ultimately finds he can't bring himself to do it. So he abandons it, and for the first time, even in the face of the consequences, he questions everything; the missions, the purpose of Root, his identity, and his own will.



He realizes, thenâfor the second timeâthat he is free to think for himself and make his own choices, and that he can protect people.
But Kakashi realizes that Yamato would be punished for what he did, and urges the third hokage to help him, and they're able to pull him out of Root, much to Danzo's displeasure.
#naruto#naruto shippuden#yamato#tenzo#character analysis#scene analysis#i really like yamato can you guys tell
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C.B.H.!
new chowder oc dropped. Youre gonna hate this guy so much
first of all, corned beef hash is a character that my siblings @collectiveazaelasâ & @castingcometsâ and i have collaborated on making. from the bottom of our hearts, we hope you hate him as much as we do
at first glance, corned beef hash serves as a narrative foil to ms rhubarb. his initial conception centered loosely around antagonizing her, but his personality quickly grew beyond that. he is a beast unto himself and others. his only goal is to be self serving and (intentionally) get in the way of others in his life, primarily the other OCs kumquat and pimento, but also canon characters as well. he does this not out of spite or dislike for others, but rather itâs just because he can, and it is often times the fastest route to his goal. he is the freudian id, if the id had a sense of self control and awareness (though he does occasionally blip out on the latter).Â
cbh's age isnt exactly clear. he exists in the comically broad adult world that most of marzipan city seems to: anywhere from 25-2500; whos to say? he graduated valedictorian from law school. around this time, he terrorized his dormmate (and future "friend"), pimento (a ram-like man with a few loose screws), to the point of dropping out and going into the culinary field, as "a kitchen during rush hour is still less stressful than sharing a living space with cbh." cbh is at times a petty thief, and at times a criminal mastermind - it depends on his current "schemes" and what is funny at the time. he knows the law to the letter and sometimes uses it to his advantage. though others sometimes think he is a temperamental idiot, most actions are done through thought-out choice and by utilizing his own strengths.
He has a stand in the farmerâs market at which he sells an assortment of mysterious wares and occasionally baked goods that are Evil & Wrong. The quality of his stock ranges anywhere between genuine artifacts to actual garbage from the dumpster, which he will then try to âspruce upâ and sell as something more. Heâs a hustler no doubt, and he earns his supply through meticulous dumpster-diving, talking down prices at thrift stores, and general vaguely-illegal tomfoolery. At times, heâll get his hands on elusive items, and how he accomplishes this is seldom explained (he once was arrested and jailed for 12 days because he âaccidentallyâ was selling illegal dognip). He frequently enlists in Kumquatâs help in his various endeavors and typically has her do the dirty work. For example, one of their foraging techniques involves his hooking her onto a fishing line and casting her out to sea; itâs usually just junk, but sometimes sheâs clutching a few shiny souvenirs when reeled back in.
He does move the physical location of his stand around a lot, both to âdrain fresh pocketsâ and to avoid growing too known and hated in one area. That being said, heâs been at this for a while, so every vendor at the farmerâs market knows him and is all too familiar with his cycling. The clientele are just unfamiliar enough to fall for his beguilement, though, save for a few skeevy regulars who seek him out for his stuff.
yes he was valedictorian. yes he was a frat boy all throughout college. yes he does beer kegs by pouring the beer directly into his head. yes hes a criminal mastermind. No its not a big deal
being a âbottleheadâ (as he calls himself), he doesnt know what sex is (why would he need to?) but he doesnt know that he doesnt know. he loves the culture of it and heâll hit on anyone. he doesnât get vocab, but heâs raunchy without hesitation (see quotes section)
he has his eyes on the front of his skull because hes a pursuit predator
his tragic flaw is that he has no flaws. likewise, his lack of complexity is what makes him complex. He has no insecurities. This guy is a black hole. He is everything, but most importantly, he is Nothing.
Itâs typical for him to throw around callous, vulgar, and at times offensive references. Case in point: his favorite nicknames for kumquat are Cumsquat and Cumsquirt. Likewise, his nicknames for pimento are Pissmentos, Bimento, Bitchmento, etc.
whenever he does something to boast about, he pounds his chest, turns around, flashes the back of his jacket, and chants C.B.H.! the way a frat boy chants his college's name
he's largely inspired by the way chris fleming characterizes the massachusettsian frat boy. in our minds, he also shares a voice with him.
he feels no shame and he does not hide himself. He may be a bullheaded, grandiose individual, but that doesnt mean he'll withhold his words of affirmation. he'll say something and really mean it - he gives and withholds performances for no one, as he only serves himself.
He devotes no time to introspection. itâs debatable that he might not even know how, but it would be time squandered as thereâs not much to introspect On.
itâs a mistake to misinterpret kumquat as his little buddy whom he feels affection for; in his mind, theyâre on the same team is all. hes gotta protect his own. Itâs as if theyâre in the same frathouse. that being said, hes not a good team player. he gets along with kumquat and at times pimento because theyâre both socially passive, and the same goes for any relationship heâs ever had. Working with someone of his caliber would guarantee the butting of heads and stalemates on stalemates. A disaster
heâs heavily inspired by 3OH!3
his other inspirations include grunkle stan, brucie kibbutz, and caesar from big top burger, in equal parts
his species is potion
his mother is a lava lamp, his father is a science flask, and he has several siblings, with one of which being a bong named Oregano.
Cannot stand being called Corn
QUOTES
âC.B.H.!â
âYou wanna go? You wanna start some BEEF with the HASH?!â
âBy the power vested in me by the state of marzipan city i now pronounce you FUCKED PWNEDâ
âIâLL SUCK YOUR MOMâS DICK, BRO, DO NOT FUCK WITH ME!â
You want to know if his potion liquid is adhesive so you ask him if he has a meniscus and he thinks that youre asking him smth dirty so he says âhey hey iâm on my day job right now. Come by after 8 and ask me then, see what happensâ
âIf itâs not broke, we donât sell it!â (motto)
âYou wanna throw rocks at this glass house?â
 âOh iâm sorry. Iâm sorry. I didnât know it was politically incorrect to have my TITS OUTâ
âBroskis can you keep it down, im trying to get my wicked sleep gnar gnar onâ
âIâM GONNA COME UNCORKED. IM GONNA COME UNCORKED. IM SERIOUSLY GONNA COME UNCORKEDâ
âBro, i canât deal with you trying to kiss me & shit. Iâm not gay. Like, yeah, iâll fuck a dude, marry a dude, but i seriously canât be seen smooching someone with horns that big, you dig?â
âMY MOM DOESNâT LIKE YOU, STOP PRETENDING SHE DOES!â
âYeah, no, yeah, yeah, iâm looking at the fucker right now.â
âWhose bottle do i gotta brush to [XYZ] around here?â
his uncieknuckies-type shitpost blog:Â @corndbeefhashâ
and finally, his difficult person ranking:
#cbh#chowder oc#chowder#draws#weve actually had this guy since september but it took us a long time to organize everything... it's bonkers#anyway most of the written section was written by my siblings! theyre brilliant and super funny and so good at making characters#I FORGOT TO SAY THE WORDS ON THE SECOND DRAWING ARE A 3OH3 LYRIC
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eight months in somebody actually asked me abt visualive instead of me immediately annoying ppl about it without former notice. I might actually write properly for once đłđłđł
OK OK!!!!! In this essay I will.... I will.... Visualive Adachi.... Visu/BURSTS INTO TEARS/
OKAY OKAY for real I just care Visualive so much (as someone who canât fully understand Japanese AHAHA)
First Iâll add some foundation about what Visualive really is, then I talk abt Adachi in the latter parts of it because this is technically the first time Iâm properly talking about this hehe đż
T....table of contents???
Visualive
Visualive the Evolution
Masami Itou
Visualive Adachi
Visualive the Evolution Adachi
Terms and Legend
VL - Visualive
VLE - Visualive the Evolution
stage - shortened for âstageplayâ
éąçœă - omoshiroi (itâs just that specific)
Yuuya - VL Hero name
Hayato - VLE Hero name
Baba - Hero
Masami - Adachi
Taniguchi - Dojima
Saotome - Daisuke
Mamiya - Izanami
I add honorifics but sometimes I forget the hyphen intentionally or unintentionally Iâm sorry if it makes it hard to read lol
all links have automatic timestamps for easy viewing. i mean. i hope the timestamps work
VISUALIVE âPersona 4.â A stage adaptation of SMT: Persona 4 by Atlus. It adapts the first part of the story, from the heroâs arrival to after recovering Mitsuo Kubo from the TV world. It also ends on a cliff hanger, showing a teaser of Shadow Naoto being projected on the screen.
It takes up a speedy recapitulation of the heroâs spring life, before slowing down and showing in depth his school life in summer. A day before Morooka-senseiâs death, there is a little skit with Kou, Daisuke and Adachi. The hero walks into the conversation before the two other boys leaving, and Morooka-sensei walking in on the student and detective. The next day followâs the teacherâs death and the Investigation Team (IT) begin investigating their new lead.
From the words âvisualâ and âalive,â the niche of this stage was meant to be the fusion of live acting and visual digital projections. All seen from the stageplay with the colorful cast of actors and CG animations being projected on the screen. This offers an opportunity for characters to summon their personas, perform cool visual effects, change the backdrop, or even confront their own Shadows.
Performed in Sunshine Theater from the 15th to the 20th of March 2012. The screenplay was written and directed by Shintaro Asanuma from the theatrical group âbpm.â The video production produced by Shutaro Oku, a film director and visual planner. He later takes over as director for VISUALIVE THE EVOLUTION, the sequel stage. The stage music was produced by Shunsuke Wada, with a special show exclusive vocal track sung by Shihoko Hirata.
On this note, I havenât seen any sort of original soundtrack released for any of the stages and Iâm SO SAD. The last song in Mitsuoâs boss fight was such a BANGER and literally EVERYTHING ELSE Marvelous, Wadasan please take my MONEY
Regarding the cast, there were some special accommodations for Teddie, Rise, and Nanako, all of which did not have live actors at the time. During the casting, actors for the three characters could not be found or simply left the directors unsatisfied they couldnât cast anybody. An exception for Rise, who was able to have a live actor in the sequel stage. It has been stated that there werenât any âpretty boyâ actors that fit the âTeddie Criteria.â While there werenât any child actors that were believed to portray Nanako well.
Teddie was only ever seen in his bear costume while Rise was busy talking through a call, all voiced by their video game cast. Nanako has never appeared on stage, only being scarcely mentioned in the script. Again, this is different in the sequel stage where her role was extremely important and was shown as a screen projection.
VISUALIVE âPersona 4â THE EVOLUTION. A sequel stage. Beginning abruptly in the middle of Shadow Naotoâs boss fight, the story continues from there until the âtrue endâ of the gameâs original story. *Certain characters are introduced while others have been reintroduced. And on a personal note, when itâs all comedic in the beginning, itâs all for whatâs coming right after.
I donât know if Iâm salty or just find it really funny AHAHA I might go talk abt it some other day with more context ehehe
Performed in The Galaxy Theater from the 3rd to the 9th of October 2012, only a few months after the PSVITA Persona 4 Golden release, which is July 2012. The screenplay was now written by Jun Kumagi while directed by Shutaro Oku. And music production finally taken over by Shoji Meguro himself.
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HAHAHA this is starting to look like a wiki page. moving on. I might start rambling rn
(warning LONG !!!! aaa,,)
My thoughts on the stage adaptations. For the first Visualive (VL) I believe itâs pretty close to canon! I enjoy the characterization and how much love and care was present when handling the entire production.
Actors were busy playing the game itself, wherein a PS2 was present in the practice room. Along with magazines and game guides explaining the gameâs story and the characters itself. Actors performing together and even improv acting together to get a grasp of their characters. All of them knowing well of Persona 4 as a well loved game, delicately handling their characters and hopefully performing them right while making the audience happy.
The staff taking care of each other while the director and video producer, Asanuma-san and Oku-san, working together well to make their vision into a reality.
The same thing happened with VL the Evolution (VLE) and literally every other good stage. Except... I feel the script kinda got out of hand with too much liberty where it feels a bit more disconnected from canon. But! It makes up for it in its content, whether comedic or (INCREDIBLY) dramatic! Itâs great as its own story at that point. So in this case, I like to take the first VL and get to connect it canon, while I donât know what the hell happened in VLE to the point Iâll just enjoy it as its own content.
These opinions deserve its own essay, post whatever bc I have SO much to say abt this. ANYWAY. VL ADACHI
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Tohru Adachi is portrayed by Masami Itou (äŒè€ăă”ă), a screenplay writer, director and an stage actor himself. He does have a single character voice role along with a fellow troupe member in the same franchise, but mostly works as the former three. He is part of Asanuma-sanâs entertainment group âbpm.â On a similar note, Masashi Taniguchi, Dojimaâs actor, was also part of their group from 2011 to 2016, which may explain their good synergy as the boss and the bumbling fool dynamic. I mean, somebodyâs gotta get hit in the head every few skits.
With Masami-san being an important part of the cast, he doesnât appear as often as Taniguchi-san in backstage content like the VL bonus disk or the official blog. Mentioned in his own personal blog, he had been busy with his roles as assistant director (I am assuming also for VL).
Also fun to note, because his role is mainly comic relief, he has been using his liberty to change up the material almost everyday making each performance exciting. This also leaves some other actors jealous of his freedom in his role, such as Saotome-san, Daisukeâs actor.
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VL Adachi really has a... how do I say this? an adorable speech pattern (THE SAME SPEECH PATTERN THAT DROVE ME MAD TRYING TO DECIPHER I THOUGHT YOU WERE A CITY BOY OSSU OSSU MY ASS /shakes you violently/). Overall, he really fits the loose lipped bumbling fool, and his accent really makes him seem more casual and invested. What Iâm saying is... VL Adachi either actually has genuine empathy or he actually has more energy to fake it (compared to some other edgelord. i mean you saw my p4ga analysis. Iâm sick of him lol ahaha).
One of my favorite ways to explain this (OTHER THAN CHAIR CAR ADVENTURE MY BELOVED WEâLL GET TO THAT LATER) is the rice field scene with him and Dojima. Itâs overanalyzation time đ
youtube
(43:04)
While investigating, Adachi whines about being tired while Dojima smacks him in the head. In this case, itâs established that Adachi doesnât want to be there, yes? Itâs the country, itâs hot and it smells like green.
"Ah... Dojima-san..! Why don't we take a break? (...) There really is nothing out here... Is the criminal still even here at all? (...) I wonder if I've passed being a rookie yet. Haha, but this city doesn't even have convenient transportation. I can't go to leisure lands (recreation, amusement parks, arcades, ect.) and head home at all."
Adachi then tries to tell Dojima a story. âwhen I got to this city after being newly assigned, I met an interesting guy (...) Yeah, I remember that the cherry blossoms haven't bloomed yet. So, I was driving my car and got near the station and--â Dojima gets a phone call.
Adachi politely puts his hands down waiting for his boss to finish so he can finish the story. Again and again, Adachi attempts to talk to Dojima about a story heâs so persistent trying to tell someone about. It was so éąçœă that he would find someone to talk to about it. Even being polite and patient enough to wait for a chance to speak. He even gets fed up with it and blows up in front of his boss, clearly irritated heâs not given a chance to talk.
Sure, it could be Adachi feeling fed up like a normal person where someone agreed he to listen to him, before being constantly ignored. Or Adachi trying to be a more annoying whiny brat, depending on where you look at it.
If the story wasnât too âinterestingâ to Adachi, he wouldâve just brushed it off and stopped talking to Dojima entirely, or start up new small talk, or even complain some more. But no, he had a story he wanted to voice out so bad that he got irritated that the one person in the vicinity couldnât listen to him.
Only after Dojima told him to continue their investigation elsewhere did Adachi finally stop and focus on something else. Maybe that story was for another day, or maybe it was never meant to be told.
What if it was just original (game) Adachi? Heâd find a way to squirrel out of the investigation as usual, or push Dojima to âinvestigateâ elsewhere. âHey boss, donât you think itâs hot? Why donât we go elsewhere? Weâve seen this place too many times to count and I doubt anything newâll turn up. How about we take a break at Junes, yâknow? Where itâs cool? Câmon boss,â something like that.
og Adachi is just really annoying and silly to me. Some grown man thinking he can freeload because he never gets anything out of putting in more energy and effort? I donât care how tall he is, I will smack him in the head.
Yeah VL Adachi whines, too, but at least it doesnât look like heâs going to escape and waste his time somewhere else. He just sucks it up stops trying to leave the situation.
Or maybe Iâm getting this all wrong and VL is exactly the same and my rage just gets dampened because of Masamisanâs execution of character hmm...
SO. What was his story about anyway? The one he really wanted to share to Dojima?
I mean... itâs obvious enough
youtube
First day in town? Spring? Actually mentioned driving a car when literally out of every single persona 4 media at the time was there not a SINGLE mention of Adachi having a car OTHER THAN the same stageplay itâs being mentioned in?
A story, from somewhere around uhh four? five months ago? was something that he remembered so dearly and was willing to share despite it obviously embarrassing him even if he puts the blame on a certain somebody in the same story?
Or maybe itâs because he really had nothing to talk about ever since he realized all his stories from the city werenât actually that funny or interesting in the first place.
BUT then that would mean out of all the things he could talk aboutâmore whining, complaining, complimenting, small talkâhe insisted about talking about this story in particular.
Okay, look. Iâm just. Just. As someone who talks too much, of course I have things I actually want people to hear out of all the bullshit that comes out of my mouth. And if the thing I actually want people to listen to doesnât even get heard, Iâd go mad.
Sure, Adachiâd be fine when his complaints or intentionally unfunny jokes get brushed off. But a story of a guy that he thought was so funny, interesting, éąçœă gets ignored, he really blew up, even just for a split second, maybe.
And ALL the things that happened in that storyâon his first day in Inaba! His car got dented, he had to deal with a weirdo dumbass employee that knew zero personal space, yelled in his ear, who didnât know how to do their job, got his station reputation messed up on the first day, got his ass grabbed, got (unintentionally?) mocked for his lame stories, and got his car dented for the SECOND time. Probably MORE
And he STILL wanted to talk about it /punches through concrete wall/
yes Iâm overthinking about this of course i am
This little tidbit of VL Adachi kinda makes me go insane sometimesâhis entire characterization in VL in particular. It was really refreshing to see and how they included both of his characters in it, his facade and how irritated he is of a lot of things underneath. And how flexible his character is immediately working with other characters when thereâs sudden improv to balance the situation. Like him and Dojima, Morooka, the attendant, or even Yuuya (hero) himself.
Iâll take Taniguchi-sanâs messing around in the VL bonus backstage disc in place of Masami-san being so busy he couldnât appear in it as often as other characters.
For stagetime that lasted for fifteen minutes or less, my appreciation for VL Adachi, even if he was just comic relief, really rocketed. I say VL, bc Adachi the edgelord heâs supposed to be in literally every other media is something I analyze separately.
I havenât even gotten to VLE oh my GODDDDD
Like I said, I donât really regard VLE close to canon but as something to be appreciated for what it is by itself. But the way Adachi was characterized there, in or out of character, still struck me.
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Yes, there was his strange fan-agreed-canon which is,,, now canon obsession with cabbages (not that thatâs a bad thing lmao). There was also him being a lot more jumpy and intimate in a clowny way, patting people on the shoulder or even downright hugging them just to mess around. Even FORGETTING who the same goddam loser who grabbed his ass almost a year ago is. But like, canât blame him they literally changed their actor (and screenplay writer) AHAHAHA
ha... no more comedy, only dorky sword fights now
(speaking of sword fights I think itâs a fun thought how Mamiya-san [Izanami, also one of the youngest in the cast] admitted it was his first time doing sword fight choreography and even thanked Masami-san and other staff members for guiding him)
One thing unintentionally in character was Adachi accidentally nabbing the sushi overdosed in wasabi. Masami-san didnât actually account for a joke sushi and didnât immediately eat itâuntil Taniguchi-san (who also made Dojima go off his shits compared to VL) jokingly yelled at him and even riled up the audience for him to eat it. He even went off stage to get water just for him to eat the goddam sushi.
And Masami-san did! (kinda choked, but heâs fine).
Continuing from the same scene, while being overly giddy about sushi dinner (and I mean overly--he was singing about it while hopping to the Dojima residence), he tried to remind the two, Dojima and Hayato (hero), that Nanako was sleeping. Probably where she was sick if the scene was translated from the game.
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And... the dramatic parts of VLE
Adachi was the one who reported to the IT that Dojima was chasing Namatame in the rain. While Naoto was discussing Namatameâs journal entries, Adachi, as giddy as he is, took it from Naotoâs hands and reveled in the discovery of evidence so childishly(?). He even ran to Dojima when he began regaining consciousness and immediately called the nurses to help him wheel Dojima to the ER.
Then, The Hospital Sceneâąïž, right after Nanako flatlines.
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Adachi, who recently walked into the scene, immediately worries about Dojima and IT who were ALL crying. He looks down, devastatedâbefore yelling how Dojimaâs heading to Namatameâs room.
He yells in terror and the same grief at his injured boss, all while running past and even jumping over children, who fell to the ground sobbing, to get to him. He continues yelling in a pained fashion while immediately reprimanding Dojima to stop. He gets carried by the collar before being tossed to the ground at Hayatoâs feet, all while being pat by the same boy.
Dojima makes his speech about how unfair it is for the âkillerâ to be alive when his daughter isnât. When he finally falls to his knees, Adachi rises from the ground, humbly saying heâll do his best to take care of Dojima (or something like that Iâm in tears I literally canât do VLEâs hospital scene i h8 this). He finally starts crying along with everyone else, being pushed away again but still tries again, trying to usher his boss away from the door.
With the help of the guard in front of the door, they all disappear off stage
please... I know this scene doesnât need that much translation because of how important this scene is in the entire story. and I know my narratives arenât enough so just,,,, just watch it please itâs so much more than this. everyoneâs acting was just spectacular
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So, after the IT (YOSUKE. JUST YOSUKE. good job Mae-chan) stop themselves from k wording Namatame, it was ADACHI who reported Nanakoâs miracle recovery. He ran to the same corridor where they all cried in, even panting and falling to the ground in relief trying to report the good news. Then he pats Hayato on the shoulder and says heâs going to Dojima.
With this... /slaps roof of half of VLE/ ALL of this....adachi.... adachisan.... he Caresâąïž..... holy shit.....
now. comparing to the game. do you even remember what og Adachi did? did he.. even do anything?????
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NO!!! he just stood there!!!! being a bumbling fool but.... inappropriately!!! man. he didnât act concerned enough.
adachi: /walks into a bunch of kids crying outside a hospital room/ âlmao why tf are yâall crying? did uhhh whatâs her face uhhh nanako. did she d word or something? rip, I guess lolâ LIKE????? CAN YOU IMPLY FASTER
and then heâs like âwgat hmm Whereâs Dojima-san Heading Because Thatâs Not The Way To His Room đ€â and only when heâs asked he actually mentions heâs heading to Namatameâs room and still needs to get choked by a first year for the room number like..... zero consideration
and his boss??? where his daughter he loves so much just??? di*s???? and heâs so devastated heâs doing what he can that very moment while heâs so numbed of thinking of the consequences???? And adachi goes âuhh boss thatâs illegalâ LIKE. BITCH. /punches through a concrete wall but harder/
---
And??? His confrontation scene??? Like, I know they mashed it up w his tv confession scene to save stagetime for other scenes BUT IT WAS SO MMBMBMBMMGN /gestures in a good way/
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UM?? guy behind everything??? in a vulnerable area where he could easily get physically assaulted bc hes not in the tv world w his persona?? Trash talks women like he absolute misogynist he is??? getting yelled at by a bunch of kids and YELLING BACK IN THE SAME AGITATED MANNER even TAUNTING THEM then and there to GET HIS ASS?????
og Adachi was such a pussy he got caught and just scurried off into the TV world where he ended up having powers like...ok....scared of getting beat down by a bunch of highschoolers unless you have powers...ok....
he only taunted them to get him when he was in the tv world too.....he rlly couldnât say shit in the real world huh... lol
(yeah yeah this shows how VLE Adachi knew abt his TV world powers which would make you think if he ever went into the tv world and came back out alive. Or heâs really just a badass who doesnt give a shit abt anyoneâs opinions and CAN beat anyoneâs ass. i have a separate thing abt this but bc i like to laught at vle rather than overthink its own lore i might. not. idk lol)
and ??? VLE Adachi can??? He can swordfight??? he doesnât even NEED a gunâhe even reflects bullets w his blade (but apparently he can still get slapped by a flying fan more often than any other attack). His fight choreo was just...so poggers. Heâs like short villains done goodâlike??? heâs short compared to everyone else!!! but he makes up for it for stuffing all the energy inside him while is bursts out making him him the over energetic gremlin he is!!! go VL adachi!!!!
(am I low key making fun of Madono-san in the TUUSH stageplay Iâve seen four minutes of? maybe)
OK!!! Yes I was gushing abt Masami-san again back to Adachi.
Itâs portrayed that while not being afraid to admit his crimes, he also goes out of his way to be a bastard and have the gall to get a bunch of kids to fight him, one on eight. He can use a katana, probably a narrative dark reflection of the hero, Hayato which I thought was niceâand he can fight!!! It also shows his persona, yes, but...it doesnât make it clear if heâs overwhelmed by his Shadow like in the game, where his eyes were yellow and he was emitting a dark aura.
But it gets interesting how he sees heâs getting overwhelmed and starting to lose his edge towards a bunch of kids. He falls to the ground even banging the floor like a whiny brat while literally the IT tries to tell him to turn himself in. Again, like a brat he tells everyone to shut upâbefore getting incapacitated. While some of the IT rejoice, he bolts up unaccepting of his defeatâbefore getting hit in the stomach.
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And his words from when he drops his katana, âWhy..?â He grabs the foldable chair against his stomach, and with a remorseful look in his eyes, he says âIâm sorry..!â
THEN HE BACKFLIPSâthen Hayato slashes him.
In a tone of disbelief, he goes âno way...â and collapses to the ground, being possessed by Ame-no-Sagiri.
Blah blah blah then Teddie rockets himself into the eyeball spy cam and then they both explode aaaaa
Teddie survives but I really donât know where Adachi went. Not even a mention by Dojima if he turned himself in or was ever foundâor I need to review VLE for the 48274827482nd time hehe
WHOO then the whole cast appears for the dance number at the end of show YAHOO
#long post#persona 4#persona 4 visualive#persona 4 visualive the evolution#tohru adachi#sulululat#pagsususuri#p4#p4v#p4ve#//HAPPY 4K WORDS VL ANON#// if theres anything u want to ask... im right here /collapses/#// i almost went ham over actor relationships like. talking abt bpm was ENOUGHHH we're talking about the character not the assistant direct#// aaa this took so long... i literally mashed up so many other idea documents into one.. man.
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Nobody asked for a Qi Ye reaction post but here one is nonetheless (at almost 1500 words.... hello.)
[~spoilers~]
One of the first things I can say is that I love love LOVE Priestâs writing style. Itâs hard to say how much of this is a translation thing, because I did get the vibe that this translation was a lot smoother and better than the other cnovel translations I happen to have read. But god!! Her style is very densely allusive, and a challenge to follow at times, but so so beautiful. The storyâs narration also shifts perspective a lot in the middle of chapters, which gives it this almost cinematic birdâs eye effect for me (except with internal-emotional states more than visuals). I can see it being the kind of thing that might bother people, but I love it â and I think that it ties in with the themes about the ephemerality and impermanence of life, and the way these little moments are all part of a much bigger sphere of existence.
I also like the way she does humour more than MXTX, honestly? I find the slapstick humour in MXTXâs works to be overdone and distracting from the other story and characterization work going on in her works. Whereas here, the humour landed more and also felt like it tied in more with the actual development of character and themes. Like, for instance, Liang Jiuxiaoâs battle with the sable wherein he gets scratched every time and exhausts Beiyuanâs entire supply of antidote â itâs over the top, but also genuinely funny to me, AND I feel the comedic setup of Liang Jiuxiao constantly being an unwanted visitor contrasts very well with the entire heartbreaking scenario involving Beiyuan drugging him for Zhou Zishu, as well as his general progression from a Pure of Heart, Dumb of Ass archetype to being completely shattered by the evil and corruption in the world.
(The Sex and Kissing stuff is also, imo, more sensual and generally hotter to me than MXTXâs stuff â not trying to pick on her specifically, sheâs just my only point of comparison for these novels.)
The main romance is ehhh⊠Mixed Feelings? I loved Wu Xi in all the parts he wasnât playing the role of âlove interest who expresses their love via violent jealousyâ, but the parts where he WASâŠ. woof. Like, I donât necessarily mind jealousy when itâs internal sensations, or when itâs a very intentionally fucked up dynamic, but I like it less so when itâs couple whoâs riding off into the sunset and are the only foil to the general aura of melancholy and sadness in a story? Really hope thatâs a one-off specific piece of characterization and not a general Thing for PriestâŠ
I did actually like the gradual development of Beiyuanâs feelings, and the way thereâs no Big Moment of Realization â or rather, there is a moment of realization, but itâs not super dramatic, itâs just sort of settling into something thatâs been there awhile.
Another problem with their relationship for me though, I think, is how rushed the denouement of the book is, and how many important things are glossed over. Like, okay, theyâre riding off into the sunset, but are they actually going to talk about the fact that Beiyuan seduced Wu Xi for Deception Purposes and then drugged himâŠ? Taking advantage of Wu Xiâs very earnest and intense feelings in the process? Like, they stay in the capital for three months of negotiations before they leave, all while Wu Xi hides Beiyuan in his house â there must have been conversations and Relationship Negotiations? And yet we donât See any of that, weâre just treated to them riding off in a carriage with some cheeky little line about how Beiyuan has the rest of his life to make things up to Wu Xi (presumably by having rough sex)⊠like ok.
The racism⊠there was a lot of it in the presentation of Nanjiang! I think the thing that stood out to me though was the line about Wu Xiâs having a kind of intuitive understanding of how people are (an intuition attributed to children, even!) despite not being cultured â it slots so perfectly into the kind of colonial propaganda that posits colonized people as having this innate, intuitive understanding of the world or connection with nature or what have you â but of course theyâre not mature, theyâre not cultured, they donât have the capacity for rationality, that we do. To be fair, the line Iâm thinking of is also applied to Liang Jiuxiao, but it is of a piece with how Nanjiang is characterized throughout the novel â like, oh, theyâre so simple! When they like someone they just get married! Itâs presented as a romantic ideal, but in a way that portrays Nanjiang as being Simple and Rustic and lacking the cultural complexity of the Great Qing. (Especially since we b a r e l y see the country or its people on the page.)
(Not to mention the way Wu Xiâs bodyguards from Nanjiang are portrayed as being confused and grossed out by him being in love with a man â contrasted with the commentary about how commonplace sex between men is in the Great Qing. Feels very like Nanjiang gets cast as less âenlightenedâ?)
I think those elements are also part of why the romance doesnât fully stick its landing for me â because Wu Xi does take in and consider Great Qing cultural stuff, and incorporate it into his worldview alongside the influence of his home culture â and we donât see Beiyuan doing something similar in return. He wants to leave for Nanjiang in part because heâs exhausted with capital politics and wants freedom, but why Nanjiang specifically? What does the country mean to him? Howâs he actually going to fit in there? (This is another thing that also could have been filled in more with more actual writing about what goes down after that final battle.)
I honestly was deeply moved by Helian Yi. I shed literal tears for that man on multiple occasions. I do feel like I would have benefitted from more actual exploration of his past life-relationship with Beiyuan? Because as it was, I felt like that aspect of Beiyuanâs characterization was kind of informed rather than fleshed out â what did he see in Helian Yi in the first place? And I think the unrequited love would have been more poignant if weâd had more flashbacks to when it was requited.
Also, the possible-incest reveal?? What even was the point of thatâŠ? (I know people have posited that thatâs why Helian Yi originally had Beiyuan killed, but with that final deleted-on-JJWXC extra I feel like itâs meant to be that he thought Beiyuan was responsible for Su Qingluanâs death. Another thing that should have been elaborated on, plot-wiseâŠ)
In general, the ending was very rushed. It gave me distinct âproject due the next dayâ vibes.
ZHOU ZISHU!!!! â my main emotional engagement with this, tbh. I loved what was done with him, loved getting to see more of the atrocities he was behind (haha), loved the chilling âends justify the meansâ ideological track he was on, loved how enmeshed he was in Hierarchy and political intrigue and how Carefully he handled himself around his social superiors⊠yeah. Â
I am alsoâŠ. Also losing my mind over the entire Vibe between Zhou Zishu and Liang Jiuxiao. Misplaced devotion⊠broken pedestals⊠weird subtextual hard-to-define Feelings... selfishly wanting to hide the worst parts of yourself from someoneâŠ. Ahhhhh itâs good. Love those intricate complex homoerotic friendships. If there Exists any fic (whether platonic or less so) that anyone wants to rec⊠pls do đ
I have to say, another problem I had with the ending was that I donât think the tonal dissonance was well-balanced. Like, thereâs a very melancholy atmosphere for pretty much everyone except the main couple, and I do understand that their getting away from the capital is the only thing that engenders that happiness (as a big theme of the book is that the politicking in the capital is exhausting and demoralizing â and to my understanding that is similar to the themes at work in Faraway Wanderers.) But I donât feel as though those two streams were working in communication with each other in the final chapters â I would say that the cutesy scenes with the main couple just felt jarring in contrast to the sadness and regret that permeated the rest of the narrative. I think perhaps they were too saccharine, rather than emphasizing escape and looking forward to different possibilities? Iâm not sure. (It also seems questionable to present Nanjiang as an Escape, given that Wu Xi is in charge now?? Theyâre still right in the thick of politics?) Anyway, this all is why I like the placement of that final extra at the end of the narrative, because it Is a turning back to melancholia that I like to see during nominal happy endings.
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PART 1 of 4(?): LUCIFER ON THEURGY AND HOLIES, NARRATIVE STRUCTURE THERE.Â
Bullet pointed thing not separating out good and bad stuff because most of the bad stuff is just like, failures to follow through on good stuff? Or weird arm-twists when the good stuff starts implying things a little too numinous and rebellious to the worldbuilding order and gets forcibly reined in?
Incapable of organizing my thoughts properly even though I tried so Iâm just going to post all my thoughts and semi-arbitrarily break them apart into sections, Iâll probably come back to add links to the other parts later:
(I broke this in half lol becuz is was seriously too long but anyway part 2 which is more holies stuff is here)
Bullet 1. Fuck, theurgy is so good. Like the concept, the entire idea of it. Just fuck that is so good. *Much better explanation of wtf it is in this meta post.*Â
But itâs especially good as like a gateway to interactions or concepts too complex or liminal or interactive or emergent to be captured in anything like âa normal physical objectâ â and it makes for a really really great process from the point of view of the characters doing it (or in Tamarâs and Eliyaâs cases, interacting with someone elseâs for the first time.)Â
The hint comes percolating through, slowly, inexplicitly, (or maybe itâs just because I read that meta post I linked first? Iâm not 100% sure) â the whole world is made by this. Infinite recursion of souls.Â
1.a Yet itâs........actually pretty shallow simply from explanation of what it is, almost new-age-y vibes that really do it a disservice, and even more an underwhelming disservice when characters are being told how to do it. This is abrahamic fantasy! No embodied and tangible rituals? No songs and chants, no mysterious properties of specific things, which would have an extra layer of meaning because all things are souls? Eliya comes up with, in total (but forcibly unacknowledged) defiance of Lucifer, spoken-word ritual type things towards the end that DO help her, powerfully so. But so much of the bookâs discussion of it seems almost designed to make it sound....lame. Thank G-d for Yenatruâs early-on pov of doing his own theurgy or I would have disliked it a lot, and thanks even more to that meta post I linked.Â
1.b Itâs justâŠ..weird and a bit of an um, self-own, that learning about theurgy was done through the characters literally just fuckingâŠ..being taught to about theurgy. As if this was a non-fiction book! Instead of a fiction book, a fantasy one no less, where information-communication is inherently always done differently. Why not have Eliya learn theurgy by subjecting her to various theurgies, manifestations of various people, sending her on a hunt for manifestations and making her have to try to figure them out or understand what this meant until finally she understands enough to ask questions? Why not have various elaborate rituals for theurgy?
BULLET 2. Lucifer isâŠâŠâŠâŠ!!!$$%%???&&**???>. I loathed Lucifer as a constructed character, an execution of a part of a full narrative story. Absolutely hated them. Could not stop thinking about how much I hated them, how bad it was, all the ways the execution of them completely fails and takes out huge amounts of the overall book â character arcs, concepts, worldbuilding, resonant emotions â with them in the blast radius of the author utter failure at executing them.Â
And yet, Luciferâs CONCEPT isâŠâŠâŠ..amazing, their BACKSTORY is phenomenal. Absolutely incredibly original and drop-dead clever and woven into the worldbuilding in a way where dozens of tiny details about them, about theurgy, about G-d, about angels, etc, all line up to collide and open in the reveal *perfectly*. On the other hand, they are absolutely loathsome as a person. But this isnât the problem. In fact itâs awesome. Itâs not a problem on the front hand of it, at all, that they are so so so awful, as a person. It fits. This is what trauma does. Tells a truth, but then that truth metastasizes into a demanding cancer covering the world.Â
2.a (In this book, Luciferâs (incredibly sympathetic) fall is very, very far from either the traditionalist folk depiction (ewwww rebellion against the wise and good laws of Heaven) OR the now-ubiquitous folk resistant reading (oooooh rebellion against the unjust and oppressive laws of heaven!) Their rebellion is instead basically a rejection of The Way Angels Are Naturally Existing, which is entangled with G-dâs soul in a lawless chaotic orgasmic orgy of unchecked creation that has the pitiless one-way un-budging This Is What Is simple Being-ness of nature and the universe. And it makes so so much sense, that in the intensity of traumatized backlash to this, Lucifer is not simply wise in the ways of ethical demands for justice from G-d and the world the way (I think) Lilith is, but is instead cruelly, reductionistly, circumscribingly dogmatic. They are many other bad things â projecting, saneist, insincere, avoidant, glib, safety-fetishizing, lacking in the tiniest budge of character development, but all these mostly go back to being dogmatic.)
None of which, again, I emphasize again, is anything except BRILLIANT and perfect from a characterization perspective. All of these things fit their character conception and trauma backstory perfectly. The issue is really that not a single one of these things are unearthed or bounced off of as the bad things they are. By which I REALLY donât mean âugh why didnât any of the characters explicitly Call Them Out [tell not show] for how awful they are while theyâre just minding their own business being awful [shown not told] as a character in this storyâ. I hate that kind of thing. I mean simplyâŠ.the other charactersâ personalities, natural reactions, and in fact the entire world around Lucifer, warps wildly in order for their creepy narrowing way of steamrollering and falsely-restating-using-âitâs just my issueâ to be enshrined and stated [telling not showing] as Correct and somehow The Way and The Truth, the Reason Yenatru is happy now, the Reason Eliya succeeded at theurgy. When thereâs not a single way this actually tracks.
2.b Why does Yenatru care about this person when everything they say would be horribly devastatingly harmful to Yenatru if its content was aimed at a slightly different category of people, but happens to not be harmful to him simply because this person happens to understand him specifically? Not the tiniest bit of supporting evidence why. Thereâs a tiny moment, where Lucifer challenges Yenatru to challenge them, in a way where I would almost claim that Lucifer was hoping Yenatru would challenge them and argue back against them, and continue to argue against them throughout the book because Yenatru is one of the few people who could do this without deeply triggering Luciferâs trauma. But it never ever happens.  Itâs also not acknowledged but sadly refused along with their friendship later on, as it also could have been. Itâs devastatingly disappointing and brought my liking of Yenatru, which was so so promising and deep because he in many scenes and aspects is written so well, down many notches.Â
2.c Why does Eliya successfully uncritically learn anything from them? Why does she [telling not showing] credit Lucifer with anything she learned, when she very very clearly [showing not telling] actually learned everything about herself and about theurgyâs weight and truth from Yenatru and from Tamar? It shatters the imagination to think that any of what Lucifer told her would not be grade-schooler basic knowledge for a lifelong resident of this non-portal-fantasy world, unless theurgy was a Secret Misunderstood Forgotten Art (which it very explicitly and clearly is not). I could see the information Lucifer gave her as perhaps so basic that it could easily fade into the background as not really Meaning anything or being graspable â which is exactly where Yenatru and Tamar, as an unusually gifted and deeply expressive theurgist, and an unusually extreme soul-appreciator and lover, respectively, come in!!!!
2.d And also it could have been where Luciferâs rigid, trauma-calcified, dogma could have very expressively and poignantly come in too, as something that purports to be about How Souls Are and is illuminating by dint of how hyper-specific and inapplicable to most other people it is, how itâs actually not what souls are, but is very much what a traumatizing but successful struggle to Not Be Steamrollered Into Something Youâre Not is. This would have been intensely sympathetic even. And speaking of, hereâs the thing: I would have liked Lucifer a thousand times better if they [as a person] had been openly *worse.* If they were outspoken and explicit about their horrible ideas, and if the book [as a narrative] had let them be a mess incapable of intentionally teaching anyone functionally (and therefore much more poignant and illuminating-of-theurgy just by existing as an example of a person, an example that changed the world). Instead of them smoothly tucking their prescriptive ideas into the stretches between other unrelated scenes of âoh this is just my issue, these are my own weird biasesâ. They would be far better if they werenât being twisted into having the narrative state [tell not show] like they were right about everything.
Bullet 3 Itâs this â thatâs what I mean. Insincere and politely erasing nonviolent-communication (a specific thing I have encountered a hundred time, more damagingly than any blatant articulated disgust and hatred I have ever encountered) -- with repeated statements of âno itâs okay to be you :)â âi donât think youâre immoral :)â âeveryone is different :)â despite everything they say belying this. Which when placed alongside everything Lucifer says when not being confronted, does not ever function as a genuine âdonât listen to my biasesâ, but instead functions as a way to avoid actually stating (and therefore baring up to an argument) any of the erasing assumptions underlying their authoritative explanations of other things, so that those assumptions sneak through undetected when they would be interrogated and valuable if they were stated.Â
3.a. For example, if Luciferâs [obvious to me, but probably not obvious to anyone else who hasnât been personally subjected to a lifetime of this language] revulsion for the Holies and Tamar was openly stated and if they tried to actually argue they were right to be revoltedâŠ..I would have loved them! Even if they are arguing Tamar (and indirectly, I too) was a disgusting thing â a âleper-soulâ (to quote this fanfic), mad and lost and ruined and degenerate (to quote *this canon book quote*)âI would have loved them! I have nothing but delighted love for people whose clawing desperate insistence on not being what they were raised and created to be, no matter how hateful that makes them towards my loves and experiences.
If Lucifer had said and stuck by this until proven wrong by the narrative [show not tell, or even tell or not show!], instead of simply going âoh donât worry, I donât think youâre bad :) I donât think itâs harmful :) itâs just my issue :)â whenever speaking about Holies, it would have been GOOD and I would have REALLY respected them. Even while everything theyâve actually said about their opinion of souls in other contexts is such that it fundamentally precludes and rejects, as sick and as nothingness and deluded and incapable of being real, the entire concept and lived real existence of Holies (Tamar: I saw them, I am someone whoâs done that) â but then Lucifer being actively explicitly validated [again, i mean âgets validatedâ as in the book states this, with a positive-presence, tell not show wording, while also refusing to admit anyone else influencing Eliya as much or more. i do NOT mean âwaaahh itâs Obviously Validated becuz Lucifer doesnât get explicitly called outâ or whatever].Â
In fact, this specific struggle, between what they state to be True, and what Tamarâs very existence declares to be a truth, would have echoed the struggle of their backstory, and conveyed the message of this book more powerfully, more clearly, more sincerely. But seeing Lucifer instead warp a way into an actively (tell not show) defined enlightened master position in the bookâs narrative structure made me shake a bit, not going to lie.
Continued uhhhhhhh soon, links to other parts (continually updated) under the cut:
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#LONG POST#i have 99 problems with this book and it's the most direct contact with my soul anything's had in years and complaining is really fun#the eternal combination#coal reads the stars that rise at dawn#girl with burned out and still burning eyes#VERY sorry if i forgot to put in a link somewhere i intended to.....lol#coal sings#<-new original post tag
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DUUUUUUUDE I'd love to see your classpects for the boys, n compare them to my own personal hc!! I love godtier stuff, and imagining them in bright silly outfits is justđ
This was so fucking PEACEFUL to work on it was a delight to do so letâs do this. Iâm doing extended zodiac signs too because i CAN. Also, putting this under a cut cause it got LONG
CLASSPECTING THE SKELEBROS
UT!Sans: True sign is Scormino, Sign of the Fatalist
So, a point by point breakdown
-Cerulean: something that immediately woke me up to Sans as a Cerulean was the idea of a âmask for every occasionâ. Sans is not one thing to all people. He flips between personas, adjusting it a little for each encounter. This isnât because heâs manipulative per se, but because he genuinely thinks itâll just make things easier for everyone
-Prospit: Prospit repression yo. Not to mention heâs more go with the flow than he is âfuck the systemâ.
-Doom: Rather than explain this connection, Iâm just gonna paste the description for Doombound, since its practically a textbook description of Sans himself
Those bound to the aspect of Doom are fateâs chosen sufferers. It may not sound like an overly pleasant aspect to be aligned with, but it does come along with great wisdom and empathy. The Doom-bound understand that misery loves company, and they are ready and willing to provide said company. The Doom-bound wonât fix you; they arenât healers. They are commiserators, aware that sometimes the only thing you can do for a person is let them know that they are not alone in their suffering. They are not the advice friend-theyâre the friend you go to when you need to vent about a rough day at work. They are not necessarily noble martyrs, either-the Doom-bound can become quite irate about their lot. At their best they are wise, kind, and non-judgemental. At their worst, bitter, resentful, and fatalistic.
This is a summary of Genocide route Sans so succinct it couldâve been written about him intentionally. I did consider time for him, but ultimately Time is an aspect defined by a struggle. Sans does not struggle against the oncoming fate. He buys it a drink and hopes it leaves as little damage as possible in its wake.
As far as class goes, I classpect him as a Mage of Doom. One who understands or understands through their aspect, and no one understands the coming storm quite like Sans does. Mages are also traditionally understood as suffering as a result of their knowledge of their aspect whether too much or too little. In a sense, Sansâ relationship with the Anomaly encompasses both.
UT!Papyrus: True sign is Aquius, sign of the Whimsical
-Violet: Violet signs are noted for their eccentricity and individuality. I have a harder time coming up with two adjectives more fitting than that for Papyrus. Additionally, they have a reputation for craving social interaction to the point of being clingy, which is also extremely fitting
-Prospit. Not much to add to this one beyond going with the flow and an aversion to going off the beaten path.
-Breath:The aspect of freedom, confidence, imagination, and fun. Something notable about Breath players is that theyâre at their best when they let loose and be themselves. Papyrus canât really be who he wants to be when heâs trying to play a role, of guard captain or human hunter. When heâs being authentic Papyrus though, heâs capable of inspiring hearts and minds.
I classpect Papyrus as a Sylph of Breath. Papyrus does both literal and metaphorical healing. If you get knocked out during your fight with him, he carries you back to his shed and nurses you back to health. Additionally, Papyrus reminds people that they are free to chase their dreams and their own potential. He tries to make the Player recall their better intentions. He pumps up Alphys, restoring her confidence that sheâs lost over the years. He heals the relationship between the player and Undyne in order to liberate Undyne to be her more authentic self: a woman who just wants to help her people. Additionally, he is a key facet in liberating the Underground, restoring the sky to people who have been denied it for so long.Â
UF!Sans: True sign is Tauriborn, sign of the Covetous
-Bronze: Bronze just has that earthy quality I eat with a SPOON for Red. Additionally, they navigate that space between a genuine desire for stability and a tendency to stubbornly commit even when it hurts you. Additionally, thereâs a hedonism associated with Bronze signs that feels very fitting.
-Derse: restless skepticism, a tendency to mistrust, and rebellion in the blood? Sounds like a skeleton whoâs been living rent free in my head for long enough.
-Rage: Thereâs of course a very literal level to this. Redâs one of the angrier of the skelebros. Additionally, though, thereâs a resentment of lies and false civilities. Red hates liars, hates convenient likes. He tends to play his own cards close to the chest, but resents it in other people. Additionally, thereâs a burn it all down impulse thatâs very present in him that resonates with this aspect.
I classpect Red as an Heir of Rage. I tend to understand Heir as one who is surrounded by their aspect, or surrounds other with their aspect. Red surrounds himself in a field of rage, and those who are the target of his wrath are too. Additionally, though, he inherits the positive aspects of wrath, the bullshit detector and the impulse towards seeking out the truth. Additionally heirs tend not to take a very intellectual approach to their aspect, because they donât have to. They embody it unconsciously.Â
UF!Papyrus: I kind of went over this but for the sake of coherency: True sign is Saginius
-Indigos: in addition to having a rep for being the bastions of order, indigos tend to devote themselves entirely to their interest. They can be sociable, but have a tendency to not really consider other peopleâs emotions, leading to a lot of unintentional hurts. Edge has a cold abrasive personality at many points, but itâs rare that he intends to hurt the people closest to him. It just sort of happens to him.
-Prospit: Again, Edge doesnât rebel. He works with the society cards heâs been dealt. His prospit associations are where heâs closest to his Tale self.
-Hope: Hope is the aspect, not just of optimism, but of order. Hope players have a very black and white approach to the world, and dedication to ideals that they see as higher than themselves. Both of these are to me very Edge qualities, even if heâs not the most sunshiney person. He has things he believes in strongly, and he doesnât wave.
I classpect Edge as a Knight of Hope. He defends his aspect, defending his ideals and the things he chooses to dedicate himself, and defends with his aspect, using his internal compass as a bastion against doubt and misgivings. Additionally, Edge has an inherent lean towards protecting and working for others, even if at his most unhealthy point his ego can make him bossy.
US!Sans: Blueâs true sign is Arcer, sign of the Officer
-Burgundy: Rust signs tend to be characterized by an unbending determination. Its not that theyâre immune to the bad things in the world, its simply that they tend to roll with the punches and try to make things work regardless. Blue is quick to trust and overly excitable, but a loyal friend and an imaginative companion. All of these are Rust characteristics.
-Prospit: Again, unwavering optimism and a loyal temperament.
-Blood: Blood is the aspect of relationships and mutual support. Blue is an extremely social creature, prone to doing his best work via inspiration. He invests strongly in the people around him, and has a hard time giving up on others. Blood can also be the aspect of sinking ships. They tend to latch on to things and people otherâs might consider to be âlost causesâ and stubbornly refuse to leave them behind. I tend to characterize Blue with a low level of anxiety, constantly afraid that the people around him are going to leave him behind if heâs not good enough. Peak Blood player.Â
I classpect Blue as a Page of Blood. Like I said, Blueâs âSansâ tendencies come out in his interactions with others. Like most pages, he has a very shakey grasp of his aspect. He genuinely has the ability to make people feel cared for and comfortable. He even has great potential to inspire others to do better. However, heâs still in the process of learning how to command his aspect effectively, sometimes vacillating between overloading people with interaction and at other times barely confiding his emotions in even the people he should be close with. As this potential unlocks, though, thereâs no ceiling to all he might achieve.
US!Papyrus: Stretchâs true sign is Gemza, sign of the Shrewd
-Gold: Gold signs command intellectual prowess, quick wit, and reserved tendencies in a way Stretch has done his entire life. Something notable about goldbloods is they have a tendency to refuse to live up to their full potential. They find their niche and carve out their mark within it while letting the rest of their life functionally fade to the background as âunimportantâ. Stretch is adept and knowledgeable in his areas of interest and finds it hard to give a shit about the rest. Despite this, he still hangs on to the goldbloodâs usually innate likeability, albeit without much emotional vulnerability.Â
-Derse: While Stretch isnât exactly a rebel, Derse has an association with skepticism and a desire for rationality that inherently resonates with him. One thing that also stood out to me is a tendency to develop a very self-effacing sense of humor as a cover, which is a VERY Stretch quality. He doesnât quite have the repression for Prospit, nor will he let himself be put into boxes that donât suit him.
-Mind: Mind players (and Stretch) are defined by a certain sense of fluidity. They donât really feel compelled to develop a strong sense of self, preferring instead to react organically to how they think is best and most logical to the moment. Stretch is a creative and quick thinker, which combines with a very nasty FOMO and an aversion to simplicity. Absolute Mind Player Core.
His classpect is tricky, but I feel Witch of Mind is the most fitting for him. Witches are often characterized by having a more lackadaisical relationship with their aspect. They understand it intimately enough to know how to break it when it suits them. In addition to reason and choice, Mind is also the aspect of systems and rules (think Tereziâs justice core). Stretch is a quick study about systems, but doesnât necessarily adhere himself to them. Whether its a game heâs playing, a puzzle heâs solving, or a person heâs interacting with, sometimes the best thing in the world is to dig in and study until you find the point that breaks the whole thing open.
SF!Sans: Blackâs true sign is Cancen, sign of the Translucent
-Lime: Lime signs tends to be characterized by forceful and intense personalities, with intense emotions and a tendency to fixate on improvement. They can often be effective at inspiring people to follow their lead, but have difficult personalities to work with. All of this is extremely Black, with the proviso that I tend to characterize him as often needing to repress those intense emotions. He leans hard into his own anger, but often covers up his other extremes for the sake of their own safety.Â
-Derse: while Black has learned to cooperate with the world around him, heâs never not going to be looking for ways to get around it. Heâs often sardonic, and is usually extremely slow to trust those around him. He may put on a front of being the Queenâs man through and through, but thereâs a lot of Irons in the fire that he doesnât feel the need to make public.
-Heart: As I said, I tend to characterize Black as struggling against strong emotions that even he barely understands. He has a very distinct and strong personality, as well as intensive emotions. In moments of stress, heâs prone to intense self-reflection. Where did he go wrong, where can he improve. Additionally Heart players have an association with identity constructing, frequently diffusing their personality into a variety of splinter selves in a form of elaborate âroleplayingâ, which to me clicks nicely with Blackâs bossy and aggro Royal Guard posturing.Â
Its because of this struggle against his own aspect that I classpect Black as a Rogue of Heart. Rogues often struggle to cope with their aspect, and may even begin to crave the opposite. Black at his core craves the rational thought and pure justice of the Mind aspect. However, the more they embrace their aspect, especially in service to others (being a passive class), the healthier they often end up being. If youâve read my âTyrantâ fic, Black steals his and Rusâs performance of self to allow them the freedom to act and pass unnoticed by the guard. He represses his own emotions to give space to other peopleâs, and at his best can redistribute his own assurance with his purposes to the people around him, making him potentially an inspiring presence.
SF!Papyrus: Rusâ true sign is Capries, sign of the Bold
-Purple: purples have a tendency to dedicate themselves to causes or people they care about and work until they are either stopped or made incapable or working more, much as Rus works for his brotherâs well-being. Additional points of resonance were a macabre sense of humor, a tendency to withdraw when upset, a sense of fatalism, and a tendency to dig in his heels even if its against his own best interest. PlusâŠ.Clown Rus sexy what can I say.
-Derse: like his brother, Rus is inherently skeptical of easy outs. Like many Derse dreamers, heâs a problem solver, even if it comes at great personal cost. Rusâs Derseness is also exemplified in his tendency to develop strong bonds of loyalty to other peopleâŠ.without ever really allowing himself to be vulnerable with those people. He has the perspective that his emotions donât truly matter.
-Time: Honestly kind of surprised it took me this long to make one of the Lazybones a time player, but I think making Rus it was the right choice. Time players are often defined by a sense of struggle. Time players are seemingly incapable of taking things lying down. Even if they wonât fight for themselves (and Rus rarely ever will) they often have an internal moral code that makes them unable to be a bystander. Rus is lazy, heâs a fatalist, he has a hard time taking care of himself. But heâs unable to stop himself from acting, especially when it involves someone he cares about. Additionally, Rus has associations with death in his judge role, which he takes extremely seriously.
I debated making Rus another knight, but ultimately I feel Seer of Time fits him better. All the Sans derivatives are prone to a sort of restless curiosity about the world around them, and in Homestuck terms I see that as a desire to in some way sync up with their aspects. A Seer is one who invites understanding. Rus seeks to reckon with both the cycle of life and death and the wide variety of timestreams that are causing havoc in his world. Unlike the mage, he has a hard time accepting what he understands: Seers are in many cases notorious for resenting the idea of someone else controlling them. Still, heâs practically unable to stop himself from exploring further, continuing to pick and pick at the scab of his reality no matter how much it hurts.
#yes-virtualcollectorofpeace#undertale#underfell#underswap#swapfell#sans#papyrus#uf!sans#uf!papyrus#us!sans#us!papyrus#sf!sans#sf!papyrus#classpecting#extended zodiac#headcanon#long post
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I was sitting here thinking about the three lords and how they act post timeskip depending on routes. As a Dimileth AU following said timeskip: how do u think things would play out if Byleth, who chose Edelgard's path, realizes it isn't as just as she had hoped and made a choice to leave after seeing the extremes to which Edelgard would go and turns to Dimitri, deciding to help him stop Edelgard before she can do further harm?
A Byleth who sided with Edelgard and came to regret it is an interesting concept, because WHY Byleth would ever side with Edelgard is very up in the air and depends heavily on character interpretation.
When roleplaying in the game, I try not to project myself on the character avatar and just try to develop a personality based around information given, so Iâve developed a certain characterization for Byleth. I think, on some level, weâve all done that. But the way IâVE, personalty, characterized Byleth it doesnât really make sense that theyâd join Edelgard. Thatâs not to say that other people donât have characterization for Byleth where joining Edelgard makes sense, but is also the most logical path, but thatâs not my interpretation of their character. (Also, a note, I fundamental disagree with Edelgardâs path. This is not a decision I came to because I adore Claude and Dimitri, or I like their paths better. Black Eagles was my first play through, and I developed my disagreement and dislike of her philosophy long before I knew I would like either of them. So, yeah, Iâm pretty uncomfortable siding with Black Eagles, so this might not be my best).
So the first thing we need to tackle is why Byleth, as I understand them, would side with Edelgard.
The long and short of it? They didnât.
Byleth has a lot of complex emotions going on during the first half of the game. Not only are they an emotionally numb person being exposed to their emotions for the first time, but theyâre also experiencing a lot of tragedy while going through this process. What makes Bylethâs interactions with the various house leaders so interesting is that those very house leaders are the ones who are, intentionally or not, the ones helping Byleth through the emotional process. Not only that, but each house leader has a different way of helping Byleth through the emotional development. I think, in a sense, this also affect who Byleth develops as a person.
That said, itâs not the only thing.
Byleth is also affect by interactions with characters. Like their students and faculty. But the key characters in their development, as in the ones that affect it the most, are Rhea, Seteth, Jeralt, (maybe) Flyan, and the house leaders.
So, in a situation where Byleth is in the tomb, and Edelgard is revealed to be the Flame Emperor, I think based on my interpretation of them, siding with her would have been an accident.
Byleth does care about Edelgard, but theyâre moral enough that they simply canât overlook what happened at Rumire Village, and that, intentional or not, Edelgardâs allies were the ones responsible. And theyâre emotional enough to be the slightest bit resentful that she is working with the people she knows killed Jeralt.
But, all the same, Rhea is acting very fanatic. Sheâs blinded by anger, and wants Edelgard to die. A part of it is genuine care, and a part of it is pure pragmatism, because they can get far more out of Edelgard arresting her and trying to get information than outright killing her. It was a pragmatic move. A merciful one. One that would help them more in the long run.
They didnât know they were going to be marked as a traitor.
Before they can even begin to explain their logic, and what they were doing, Rhea loses her mind. Now Byleth is being run out of Garreg Mach, and straight into the Empire.
They hadnât meant to burn all their bridges.
They canât forget Flaynâs face, or Rheaâs rage. Jeralt always warned them there was something...off...about Rhea, to be weary, but they didnât think something like this would happen.
Staying with Edelgard is more of pragmatic move than anything. They still care for her, and try to guide her down the least violent path, but...they canât help but regret how things turn out.
They think over what Edelgard wants, how she plans to do it. It seems impossible to them that her plan will work, tearing down the whole system isnât something that can happen without violence, it isnât something thatâs realistic. Crest are breed into the system, and it needs to be bred out. Crests wonât just go away, after all, and even if Edelgard wins and destroys the Church, thereâs no way all the Crest bearing nobles wonât rebel against her ideals not that the church is out of the way. Itâs likely Edelgard will face untold numbers of assassination attempts for the rest of her life at best.
That and...Edelgardâs methods are pretty brutal at times.
Theyâve mostly put their foot down and decided to act as an adviser more than anything, but they still get drafted at times. For the most part they just hope for the best, trying to keep things as uncompleted and diplomatic as possible. Edelgard listens to them, mostly, so things are...better...they suppose, but they canât help but regret that they didnât just...
They donât let the thought finish.
Itâs not until theyâre standing in the rain, Dimitri on his knees and Edelgard raising an axe, that they draw the line.
They step in front of the axe just as sheâs about to bring it down. Edelgard barely stops the axe swing in time, hitting the ground instead. She glares, asking them what theyâre doing.
The same thing they did in the tombs, stopping someone from going too far, like Rhea has. They tell Edelgard that this is the moment that seems too far, that her whole goal seems like itâs too far.
Itâs an argument, a bad one, and Dimitri can only watch, his eye bleeding out. Thereâs words said, cruel ones, and Byleth is trying to stop all of this because theyâre clearly going too far. Byelth doesnât want to feel like the bad guy anymore.
Edelgard asks them why the saved her, then, when sheâs the invading force.
They tell her the truth.
They didnât, they wanted to capture and question her, if Rhea hadnât lost her mind when they saved her, they wouldnât be here right now.
#fe3h#fe16#byleth eisner#edelgard von fresberg#dimitri alexandre blaiddyd#Rhea#Black Eagles Route#speculation#introspection#I'm going to admit I'm biased against BlkE#I'm sorry#Not my best#asks
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đ„ + Poe
i hate the âshrug, he could still be biâ pivot after the zorri thing.Â
a) iâm a bi latinx person and my sexuality is not a fallback????Â
b)Â âyou canât have actually expected finnpoe to be canonâ poe being gay and finnpoe not being canon would not have been mutually exclusive. the zori thing was entirely unnecessary - even leaving it ambiguous wouldâve been kinder.
c) disney corp went out of their way to intentionally straighten a character many people saw as gay. this was an intentional, genuinely cruel, honestly deplorable act imo. even aside from his general characterization shift to Han Solo Lite. even aside from the drug smuggler thing. even aside from how his contributions to canon are minimized and made laughable in the service of Rey Is Better At Everything (Bc She Has The Force). the fact that disney TOOK A CHARACTER that people THOUGHT WAS GAY and gave him A FEMALE LOVE INTEREST was an intentional act to quash even that base subtext level of identification/representation -- they didnât do it with the intent of âwell he could still be bi.â They did it with the intent of âhe is straight but this random woman in the background we saw once before does kiss her girlfriend in a scene we can cut in âhomophobicâ countries so you queers better shut up about this.â The fact that so many of us have shut up about it bc we can still headcanon whatever we like and write bad bordering on racist finnpoe fic and joke about zorii/poe being wlw/mlm solidarity is so fundamentally exhausting to me. I expect Disney Corp to disappoint me. I would hope fandom would do a bit better, but alas.Â
Also Poeâs contributions being minimized is incredibly galling to me in light of how non force users are treated in basically every other star war compared to the sequel trilogy. Han and Lando are allowed to be competent and successful and respected even though they canât do space magic. Padme is AMAZING and sheâs not force sensitive. Jyn and Cassian and Bodhi et al save the rebellion and NONE of them are force sensitive. but the sequel trilogy is SO caught up on rey and her backstory and her powers and how noooo oone else understaaaaands (except for Kyle) and it totally marginalizes the arcs of anyone who isnât a space wizard (if theyâre even given arcs at all, rip rip any Rose Tico screen time).
basically idk man itâd be really fucking nice to be catered to by disney corp the way white girls and boys are, but a reminder that corporations donât give a fuck about me personally is i guess just as good.
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Iâm well into the second season of Early Edition, and most of it has not been great.
PROS
Iâm here for Snowâs Cat, so Iâm loving the fact that he shows up more (if only to try and conquer all of the tables and counters). Now that I know that there are three cats playing one role, itâs really easy to spot the other two (Carl and Pella) compared to Panther (who has a broad face and flat nose).
Lou Gossett Jr. shows up in the second episode, and if you can stomach the overly patriotic themes of the episode, then itâs a pretty solid affair all around.
THERE WAS A CROSSOVER-ISH EPISODE WITH CHICAGO HOPE. Like, like, like, Iâm watching this wacky episode, and thereâs an usual amount of focus on these doctors trying to figure out why two guys and Marissa got brought in with plague-like symptoms, and amid the cringe-y Curse of the Mummyâs Curse stuff going on, it only occurred to me that, maybe, just maybe, my brain wasnât intentionally fabricating some fanciful crossover on a vague memory of show that got bodied by NBCâs ER.Â
I googled it, and yeah, it was legit (I couldâve look at the back of the DVD case, but, whatevs). Havenât finished watching it yet, but, itâs okay. Kinda makes me wonder if there was ever a reverse crossover episode like theyâre doing with Chicago Fire and Chicago PD. Probably not.
âShow Me the Monetâ (one of the first episodes I watched on YouTube after the Pilot episode) is a genuinely funny episode. Gary spends most of it pulling faces as he makes the usual bad excuses, bur the bit where he just walks out of his room dressed as a cop, unaware that thereâs a stick-up in progress in the restaurant, had me stitches. The ending, weird enough, is my favorite part. Itâs basically just Marissa and Chuck giving Gary grief about wanting to resume his hermit life and go to sleep instead of going out to have drinks like a ânormal adultâ.
If I pretend the sudden turn into Roman Holiday doesnât exist, the episode wherein some fictional princess tourists her way around Chicago with Chuck and Gary (âRomancing the Throneâ) is pretty fun as well.
âHomeâ, âThe Medalâ, âRedfellasâ, âA Minor Miracleâ, âWalk, Donât Runâ, and âShow me the Monetâ might be my favorite episodes of the season (so far).
The show has me wanting to visit Chicago like I wanted when I was a kid, and my common sense wants to hit me with a newspaper rn.
CONS
If I have to see another episode of Gary romancing a woman whoâs only appearing for one episode (or worse being harassed by a woman who thinks ânoâ means âpursue meâ), Iâm gonna screech. (But, Iâm also not looking forward to the final season where they hook him up with the cop chick.)
A lot of the scenarios in the first couple episodes (excluding the first and second episodes) feel like a case of spinning wheels and not a particularly creative use of the formula. Itâs definitely a sophomore slump in a bad way.
 McGinntyâs is such a wasted opportunity. The set looks great, but they do so little with it besides little moments of conversation between the leads. I was looking forward to Chuck, Marissa, and Gary being business partners in the food business (like, his friends quit their jobs to work with him), but itâs treated more like a front for Garyâs heroics than anything. Marissa and Chuck as business partners works better, but itâs never capitalized on.
Gary tends to come off as super insensitive to Chuck and Marissa more often than not whenever he complains about ânot having a lifeâ (he only has himself to blame for that, considering he outright refused to take the âlive your lifeâ advice to heart). With Chuck, it was justified in the first season because he was lecherous, but the character changes so much in the second season, Garyâs attitude toward his childhood friend is almost unjustified now. (Making Chuckâs character Jewish in S2 kindâve makes his characterization in S1 ..unfortunate).
I dunno, the show really seems to make a big deal about Garyâs lack of a life. I just donât feel like this manâs life is so hampered by the newspaper that he canât have a personal or interpersonal life (if anything, Gary doesnât want either). And scales of justice (regarding how he treats his friends) donât seem dole out proper punishment until Gary gets bodied by an entire football team (lmao) trying to save a guy from his own stupidity. It was around the end of the episode that the writers seemed to realize where they fell off track.
Marissa is supernaturally absent for a large chunk of the early part of the season - and Iâve no idea why. If she wasnât so present in the first season I probably wouldnât have noticed, but she was, and itâs like, what was the thought process behind that? Was Davis busy with other projects? And for some reason, Marissa keeps attracting murderous boyfriends (why wonât this show let her live???).
âJenny Sloaneâ (A crossdresser shows up just for a Dennis Rodman joke, pinches Garyâs ass and never reappears afterward. I dissociated from the episode so hard), âAngels and Devilsâ (was âHoopsâ not enough?), âA March in Timeâ (a very tone deaf episode trying to tackle white supremacy), and âA Regular Joeâ (Gary woeing about his life while, funny enough, being attacked by stock footage of 50s-era giant monsters) might be the worst episodes of the season (so far).
I totally forgot Dennis Rodman was on the Chicago Bulls (and I was a huge fan of that team as a kid before I latched onto the Utah Jazz).
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Punk Girl/Civil War Submission by The Wild West Pyro
Heyo, good morning/afternoon/evening/night
My friend on discord (The Wild West Pyro) had an absolutely mind-blowing theory concerning who the band âPunkâ Girl is, why sheâs important to the story, and how she will lead to the rift in the Calypso Twins relationship. I donât want to spoil anything for you guys, so Iâm just going to dive right in.
(A majority of this will be directly from our conversation, with [some edits by me]Â to help with context and add in pictures.)
Here we go!
So we figured Punk Girl is in some way related to the CoV, or the cult in general, as she makes an appearance on what seems to be a cult-centric shirt on the gearboxloot instagram page (more credit to @ifalnasminiatures for providing me with this link!)Â
âWell, there are [a few] ways this could go:
Punk is linked to the COV and is intended to spread their message even further with the typical subliminal brainwashing thing. So they can broadcast outside of the planets the Cult has a presence on.
Itâs a sore subject between the Twins, but one they hide rather well. The girl is related to them, sheâs just considered by one of them as âthat disgrace who refused to reclaim the birthright and ran off to join a band instead, ugh.â
Sheâs a band that works for the Cult sometimes. But in fact, sheâs the eyes and ears of the Alliance within the Cult. Best of all is that sheâs directly related to the Twins. Secretly, she disapproves of what theyâre doing, but sheâs the Allianceâs best hope of whatâs going on.â
[That last one is the one he goes over the most, and itâs super interesting.]
âThe Twins never suspect that the spy was in fact the one closest to their hearts.â
[my response: It would explain why there are no other bosses on the MoM that we know of (excluding the twins bc those are guaranteed), because sheâs never going to become a fight even tho she looks the part]
âAlso, [regarding] the last bit of your post, itâs just asking for a sidequest where itâs revealed that all the Gen 3.0 VHs known how to play some sick bass.
Punk Girl: âHey, my bass guy is sick, can you take over?â
Zane: âFECK YEAHââ
[We talk a bit here about a Scott Pilgrim-esque Battle of the Bands, with Mr. Torgue as the competition, so thereâs a bit of a transition thatâs missing.]
âHey, you know how Athena encrypted her messages between Engorge commercials? Punk Girl cleverly hides her messages in her music or backmasking. Thatâs how she sends her info to the Vault Hunters.
The twins never suspect a thing, and when she finally reveals sheâs been working for Lilith, theyâre genuinely shocked- and then the rift develops. One sibling would want to protect the girl, the other would want to punish her. The twins seem extremely close, so I personally feel itâd be odd if one of them up and betrayed the other [without outside influence].
It would be a great twist, too. Jack always had something planned out to trip up the Vault Hunters. But Lilith has learned much within these seven years. It turns out, Lilith is far better at pulling the strings than we ever thought Tyreen was.
Also, when Punk Girl reveals that sheâs a spy for the Alliance (likely mid-game), this happens:
Tyreen screaming âYOU BITCHâ amongst other horrible things and ECHOing up Punk Girl to verbally abuse her for hours, which continues through the rest of the game.
Troy trying to gently persuade his youngest sister to âPlease come backâ and âI donât want to kill youâ, attempting to smooth-talk her back into supporting the Cult. He keeps on ECHOing her gift baskets.
The twins arguing with each other over the fate of Punk Girl. Which, if done right, could potentially lead to a civil war within the CultâŠ
And to think it was all over a nice girl in a cool band.
Of course, both Troy and Tyreen are trying to kill the Alliance still, theyâre just now divided over the fate of the girl and whoâs gonna get the power of the vaults.
Which would add a human layer to it all- in the end, itâs just two selfish children squabbling over some big, universe-shattering toys. Albeit with billions of lives ended in the crossfire.
The war predicted by the Watcher was terrible. Zarpedon said so as well.
And, honestly, nothingâs more brutal and vicious than a civil war several galaxies-wide.â
[It was at this point that I absolutely lost my shit (in a good way) bc goddamn bro]
âIdeally, Tyreen goes out of her way to harass, demean and try to ruin poor Punk Girlâs life, and the [Crimson Raider] Alliance have to help her stand emotionally as Punk Girl undergoes a truly horrible campaign of cyberbullying, physical assault, very violent death threats and actual attacks on her band members. Tyreen mobilizes all her loyal followers to just try to hurt Punk Girl on whatever way they can.
Troy is a little different. Heâs supposed to represent the streamer who manipulates fans into giving him what he wants, or scams folks by pretending to be disabled or whatever. Or the handsome fellow whoâs a total self-centered jackass on the inside, but charms many peopleâs hearts nonetheless. So he tries to subtly brainwash Punk Girl into returning over to the Cult, and sweet-talking her to try and get her back on his sides. Heâs like the caring, warm big brother on the surface, but really he just wants a new loyal sibling at his side, someone he can control far more easily. Troyâs promises are extremely alluring, his followers appear to be proposing an alliance with the Raiders (which Lilith refuses at all costs) and itâs going to be difficult for Punk Girl to resist his brainwashing techniques and honeyed words.
Basically, protect Lilithâs most treasured and loyal agent, including asking out Atlas and maybe other friendly corporations for favors to protect Punk Girl and her bodyguards (the new VHs). Bonus points if Punk Girl really is a latent Siren or something, and her power has to be safeguarded.â
[So, we know the unknown Sirens (there are two atm) are, if we understand Siren powers correctly: 12 and 7 at the time of bl3.Â
HOWEVER. Itâs been stated by Danny Homan that there are multiple ways for someone to receive Siren powers:Â
The most important part of this exchange is the idea that, in universe, somehow, existing people can become Sirens. Now, I am not sure if this is solely through other Siren powers (Tyreen), or Vault bullshitery, or if they just wake up one day with the tattoos, but according to Homan, itâs definitely possible. In fact, I would go so far as to say the writers are keeping things intentionally vague for this reason.
What Iâm trying to reason here is that even if Punk Girl is older than 12 or 7 (odds are she is, if sheâs in a band!), she could still be a Siren, just that she got her powers at a later age, like 11 or so, meaning sheâd be about 23 or 18 in BL3, respectively]
âIf Angel does return, and Punk Girl is going through utter hell thanks to the twins, Angel will be the finest confidant and greatest friend sheâll ever have. Angel went through similar treatment at the hands of Jack, and sheâs not going to let another girl with wings get hurt again.Â
I mean, most of Punk Girlâs story arc would be heartbreaking, as it really seems like the Twins have fully turned their wrath on her rather than Lilith and the Alliance. Luckily, the Vault Hunters are there to act as her shield. Like, whenever you pass her in the ship, your character can give a random line of encouragement in the really tough times sheâs going through, or something like that.Â
And if Punk Girl turns out to be the final Siren after all, Lilith, Angel, and Maya would all ensure that sheâd never be hurt like they were in the past.Â
As the abuse Punk Girl would be receiving is from her own blood relations, [it] would be far more painful for someone to experience.
Now, for how the corporations may get involved, theyâll probably just start by trying to exploit this new galactic-wide civil war (especially as itâs hinted that the Twins do mass brainwashing or something [in the] Psycho character guide), then throwing each othersâ armies at their rivals in support of one Twin or another. Although Iâd imagine that Atlas and maybe Jakobs would stay out of it. [In addition], the Hyperion analyst in Mozeâs ECHO from Commander Lily has dialogue that implies that all the corporations are preparing in case a Second Corporate War breaks out, since the first one essentially made the BL universe what it is now.
There we go, we have the war set up, as entire populations turn on each other, having become psychos pledging undying loyalty to one of the Twins. Itâs going to be a mess.
[To end] on a comical level:
Maya: (hugging both [Ava and Punk Girl]) I love my dumpster children.
[Also:]
Tyreen, with this red background and thrash metal playing in the background and âangry war faceâ makeup: HEY MY WHORE OF A LITTLE SISTER, YOU ARE A [insert hate speech from evil liverstreamer gremlin here].
Troy, in a fancy suit and in a warm armchair with a fireplace roaring behind him: Hello, little sister. You remember the time we played at the beach together? Well⊠[insert sentimental tale of sibling love and fun here that is really a thinly veiled plea to rejoin the Cult].
Thatâs it, thatâs both their streams from that point on.â
[I donât have much to add, to be honest. This was great.
I love the whole thing, all the way down to his characterization of everyone involved. I can totally see Tyreen being the loud, explosive one out of the two, with Troy being quieter, but far more manipulative. I think it would contrast nicely with their designs and what people might be expecting from them, especially with how Troy is the big one with his cybernetics and always scowling, and Tyreen is shorter, always smirking and looking like sheâs in control. Itâd be so funny to see those two roles reversed and I really, really hope thatâs the plan. Especially after the reveal that Troy is the one with the braincell lmao.
The idea that this small incident could end up causing a huge, brutal war, not just between the twins, but the corporations as well, is great. We know the Watcher claims âwar is comingâ, and this would help explain what we should expect. It would be very interesting if we needed to pick a side of aid at the start of the fight (i do imagine this will be Troy if The Wild West Pyroâs characterization of the twins is true), then turn on that side once the other is eliminated.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I do!! Massive credit to The Wild West Pyro for literally all of it. It was a really fun read.]
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