#the other character got to learn from the perspective of someone who doesn't live nor condone the idea of a monarchy

[buffkitties]

Idk, even if there's a systemic ultimate/non-ultimate oppression axis outside of the game Komaeda wasn't just pointing out people's privilege, he was parroting the ideology at its highest extreme himself. An irl equivalent would be something like a gay person with severe internalised homophobia constantly expressing those ideas and trying to help a random straight person win the game, not someone talking about systemic homophobia and getting bad reactions for it.

The rest of them had zero autonomy over the killing game outside of- from their perspective- whether or not to go with Komaeda's idea to sacrifice everyone else to get one single ultimate out of the game, or to try to keep as many people alive as possible for as long as possible in case someone rescued them or they found a way to escape.

The former's insane to jump to at the very start of the game, knowing nothing about their broader situation, but Komaeda tried to force it immediately without discussing it with the group. He became partially responsible for Imposter's death in the process, justified it with rhetoric that reduced them to their Ultimate status and treated their lives as interchangeable, and repeatedly expressed intent to do it again afterwards.

On a meta level I hate how DR handles mentally unwell characters, Komaeda included, and I'll die on the hill of him being fundamentally good, but imo the others' ostracisation of him was completely understandable and not just avoidance of an uncomfortable topic. He wasn't the only character to cause problems, but he was a continuous threat that didn't show any intention of changing after the case he was involved in. And the cast were high schoolers with no expertise in mental health.

I finally have the mental capacity to respond, so here's the first thing: I don't know where you got me saying the privilege thing from since I've been saying this whole time that Komaeda makes them hyperaware of their privilege the way he talks rather than just mentioning an uncomfortable topic

Additionally, I think the gay/homophobia comparison in this case is a wrong example, especially since it wasn't taught to him, nor does he have anything internalised. A better example would be how religious trauma victims are born into a severely corrupt space and turn to cling to the only thing they know, while not exactly even believing it themselves.

I make the religious comparison a lot.

My original post was referring to the way Komaeda repeats things more directly and how he keeps to strict rules, including the toxic pedestal that society puts the talented on. While he does repeat them, that is because he clings onto the only ideals that he knows because they are the only things he could actually learn. Being a person who had to raise himself and distanced himself from people, only having access to media and probably limited human contact, he was merely observing. As a person who is a victim of talent and one who had to be observant of his surroundings and the people around him from a young age, he definitely noticed how worthless people are treated, and that the talented are superior in some way.

And while he doesn't believe in those himself, which is obvious by the fact that he is one of the only characters to see past talent and see the person—for example, Hinata in sdr2, who he definitely suspected had no talent, even in the prologue. Komaeda is perceptive, and there was no mention of memory loss at the moment, so the fact that Hinata did not remember his talent, a thing that mattered greatly in their society, and that defined him, told him all he needed to know. And even if you ignore that fact, he didn't know Hinata's talent (or lack thereof), yet he still treated him like everyone else, or better. But he implies through the entire game that he knows, even outside the free times, with things like comments about relating to Hinata and feeling the closest to him, etc. Yet, he believed in him, trusted him. He loved him. He believed he was worthy of the same things as everyone else. Or the others, and how he doesn't tolerate bullshit from them, and expresses distate for a lot of their actions and even interests, like he would towards anyone else.

And which is also obvious by the way he talks about them, with clear exaggeration and like he's using terms he doesn't even know the weight of, or like he's trying too hard.

He does that by speaking to them like he thinks he's supposed to.

I still stand by my word that he doesn't put them on a toxic pedestal because, to me, it seems like the opposite. It feels more like he's trying to be respectful because he believes that is how things are, and the hyperawareness of their social issues makes him act the only way he knows how toward people who are great compared to him. The only way it becomes toxic is because it has always been harmful and biased. And that's what I've been saying the whole time. Because people reduce this fact only to Komaeda and act like he invented the whole thing.

Moreover, I still believe that Komaeda was getting more frustrated/impatient with each chapter because everyone kept avoiding the truth and turning back to the same mindset and wanted to stop the killings, which was a meaningless situation for him. The way he talked about it seemed to prove it, especially with the "next time I'd appreciate it if you just talked to me and killed me" stuff.

While the others had no control over the killing game and their discomfort around Komaeda was understandable to some extent, his overall treatment is not okay.

They barely treat him like a person, and it's just pathetic that they hold so much hatred for him but then forgive the actual murderers. And yeah, they can feel uncomfortable. That's understandable. But they way they treat him? No, it's not. That's not justifiable, nor normal. To go as far as letting him starve? To constantly insult him? To act like he's not even a person? To treat him like he would be better off dead? To only consider him nothing but a bother? That's not okay. Avoiding him? Sure, I would understand that. It's a killing game, and the fact that they would go to the extremes is also understandable, but it goes beyond just the killing game, doesn't it? While I don't care for DR3 because it's horrible, I was talking about how people basically praise the cast for treating Komaeda like shit, and that includes that awful anime.

It was mostly aimed at how the fandom sees it and stuff

[squeakadeeks]

whew! core lineup for Delta is complete, ft Rhea, Rem, Puck, and Raken.

Delta has an overall dream theme, the main conflict revolving around the Dream Queen trying to put people to sleep forever by giving them perfect, ideal dreams (well intentioned but obviously an issue haha)

Raken, as the nightmare lord, is working to counteract her and maintain balance with the help of his three henchmen, Rhea, Rem and Puck.

in terms of design themes, Rhea is dreams, Rem is nightmares, and Puck is daydreams 🫣

close-ups and more character details below

Rhea was a woman in her mid-20’s living a monotonous life when some point due to her excessive sleeping and lucid dreaming exploration, she falls out of her dream into the dreaming kingdoms. She is first found by Rem, who mistakes her for someone who fell victim to the dream queen, and takes her to Raken to attempt waking her up. Raken tells her about how she fell out of her dream, and that she will not be able to wake back up until she can find her original dream current, which is being occluded by the dream kingdom’s tampering and muddying of the dreaming sea.

Motivated and interested in the dreaming world, she wants to tag along and help Raken both for the feeling of doing the right thing, and to potentially help herself wake up. Although she has somewhat superficial reasons, “this is cool!” “I want to learn cool dream magic too!”, She really genuinely wants to do good and be good, and does want to stop the well intentioned dream queen. But as such struggles with the moral greyness of intentionally giving people nightmares in Raken’s plan. She works very hard to find a “perfect” resolution that convinces the dream queen to stop, addresses the harshness of the waking world, and doesn't involve giving people a worse alternative in the form of horrific nightmares every night. 

Rhea is insanely silvertounged and very good at talking herself out of situations and convincing people to think something/do something. Rhea wants very badly to make everyone happy and have people like her, sometimes to a fault. Rem is her best friend and she is very close to Puck and Raken personally as well outside of being Coworkers™️. Shes optimistic and has an intense, perfectionistic ambitious drive. She doesnt just want to solve the problem, she wants it done as perfectly as possible. Rhea is very skilled with dreaming magic largely from natural talent and unusual creative angles to problems. 

Rem is the next core character. Where Rhea is a well beloved extroverted friend, Rem is the cool, calm, charismatic, competent leader. Raken is by far the closest to Rem of the three, viewing him as a son-like mentee. He’s wicked smart and extremely competent and experienced with dreaming magic due to his diligence and hard work. Rem is the sort of head hech between the three henchmen. At first hes this bombastic, upbeat leader trying to preserve their morale during their fundamentally morally complex and messy task of giving people nightmares to wake them up. He’s someone Rhea and Puck turn to for advice, and he always is the one calling the shots outside of Raken.  He’s also very close with Rhea, being her best friend and working hard to find a way to let her wake up/giving her reasons to wake up again. He’s got a weird, codependent thing going on with Puck that even when everyone was on good terms probably wasnt helping the cause, but at least their respective messiness was contained to each other.

Despite being naturally analytical and intelligent, he is incredibly prone to bad, emotional, impulse decisions, and often jumps to conclusions. He really loves the people close to him but is convinced they dislike him or need more from him constantly which makes things Complicated.

If Rhea has natural talent and charisma, and Rem is diligent and intelligent, Puck is…just sort of there. He’s not especially talented in any one category, nor is he immediately deft from a social perspective. Puck is sort of a loser ngl, hes nowhere nears as talented, skilled, smart, or capable as the others, he just wants his life to be easier but hes constantly stuck in situations that are over his head and he perpetually has to struggle and feel objectively inferior. He really puts the hench in henchmen, he is very infrequently given the opportunity to contribute to plans, hes often just the one that has to carry them out. He was genuinely uncomfortable with the dream queen's plans when employed by the kingdom. He was previously employed as an entertainment clown in the kingdom that no one took seriously which is part of how he was able to overhear the plan, which caused him to leave and join Raken. He has a good heart and strong moral compass and is actually able to see problems far more clearly than Rhea, who gets tunnel vision around perfectionism, and Rem, who gets swayed by his emotions very easily. He is actually very good at getting people to trust and open up to him, and likes making people happy too, just isnt as skilled in it as Rhea. He often gets ignored or taken for granted which he leans into. Sort of a “good things happen to good people, so if bad things happen to me i deserve it” energy.

Raken is the struggling single father trying to wrangle all his henchmen. He is not a bad guy at all, he understands the role he has to play in the dreaming world and takes his responsibility seriously. He loves history and tradition, and values his mantle but does bemoan the inherent suffering he brings. he tries his best to do his job as carefully and conscientiously as possible. He views himself as a mentor figure for his henchmen and tries very hard to help them, but theyre A Lot and he can only do so much. in particular when Rem goes fully off his rocker all he could really do is be like "are you winnin' son"

[ymaohoh]

Max's relationship with Eddie and Chrissy headcanons?

This is a GREAT prompt. Thank you!

One of my favourite Hellcheer fic/prompts to read are the ones coming from other character perspectives (POV's). I've seen a few from Max's viewpoint and they are KILLER.

(I want to quickly link two fics in particular which stole my heart: 'still awake, playing chase with the sunrise' a oneshot by @cyraclove and 'she said to me forget what you thought' multi-chapter by @majicmarker)

So my thoughts (and this follows the 'Chrissy Lives AU idea')

Max initially minds her own business about Eddie and Chrissy's flirting because why should she give a rat's ass about the way he clearly goes all gooey and soft for her, and the way she gets all silly and pink and giggly? Dustin and the others LOVE it and drag Eddie to filth for his antics but Max is more reserved. She's got her own stuff going on, you know?

But she's good at observing. She's the first one who twigs Eddie's made up excuses to walk past Chrissy's locker a hundred times a day (which is NOT on his route) and the way his eyes are glued to a certain table in the lunchroom. She notices Chrissy peering at Eddie over Carver's shoulder and the way she giggles into her hand when he says something weird and wacky. She doesn't share these observations with the group because it's not her business but she rolls her eyes when they finally piece it together - 'idiots', she thinks, looking at Lucas fondly.

Max knows Chrissy speaks to Ms Kelley too but she never brings it up, nor does Chrissy. Following Chrissy's first encounter with Vecna, the party try and figure out connections between the victims but Max stays totally silent when they ask. That's Chrissy's business and she's sure as hell not ratting her out. Chrissy appreciates this and they share a knowing look before they both spill the beans that yeah, their lives suck.

When they realise how important music is to keeping them grounded (literally) and how it helps against Vecna's visions, they sit down together and create 'happy playlists'. Their music tastes are way different but it's an oddly fun way to spend an afternoon. She's kinda' glad someone else is going crazy too - makes her feel less alone.

Chrissy is right off the bat keen to be nice to everyone and show she wants to help (they don't expect much initially but she proves them wrong after demonstrating a killer dropkick and she's a crack shot - her dad's a member of the NRA). Max is reluctant at first - she doesn't trust easy - but Chrissy is persistent and Max finds herself opening up. It's nice to have another girl around and Chrissy is kind and honest and sweet. If she ever had a big sister - she'd want her to be like Chrissy, you know? She listens when Max talks.

(Chrissy wins El round too which helps. Max learns she can enjoy the odd girly moment and not have it diminish her 'tough girl' exterior - Chrissy paints El's nails bright purple and shows Max how to bluff at poker. Sometimes they team up with Nancy and Robin too).

Max gravitates towards Eddie more than Steve or Nancy (or the other 'adults'). Maybe because he's from the same crappy background or because he doesn't care about shitty family drama and require a million answers. She likes his Uncle Wayne too and his accent when he calls her 'Red'.

Max is (unfortunately in her view) the one who witnesses Eddie and Chrissy taking their...whatever it is...to the next step. She's hanging outside her trailer when she sees them hurrying out of Eddie's van. Eddie's hands are ALL over Chrissy as he practically carries her inside. Eddie spots her though, and later asks (with the cockiest smile ever seen) if she can keep it hush hush until Eddie and Chrissy figure out what this means exactly, but Max responds flatly, "cat's out of the bag, dipshit. Everyone knows already." Eddie flushes bright red but she doesn't think it's from embarrassment at being caught - he looks so crazy fucking happy.

But she thinks they're good together. She watches as they progress (quickly) from friends with feelings, to sucking face, to becoming honest-to-god soulmates. They work well together. Eddie brings Chrissy out of her shell and installs some of his notorious confidence in her, and Chrissy cares for Eddie and makes him stand taller. Max thinks that's what relationships should be like.

(she finds Chrissy upset at school when the cheerleaders ditch her after finding out about Eddie and Hellfire, and she tells Chrissy bluntly they suck and helps her dab at her spoiled make up. Those phonies don't matter - she's got real friends now. It's the first time she calls Chrissy a friend).

She's never seen Eddie look so serious as when it comes to Chrissy and her safety - which is different from his usual goofy dramatic self. When Steve suggests using Chrissy as bait (a Daphne, if you will) Eddie gets a real hard look in his eyes and tells him to think of something else before Chrissy says bravely yes "if it'll help". Eddie watches her, makes sure her ammo vest (which is way too big) is strapped on tight, and Max see's him fucking lose it when Chrissy comes this close to danger. When she gets back, safe, Eddie holds onto her hand like it's a lifeline. ('synchronized denial' by empress of snark inspired this one).

(Chrissy screams like a banshee when she sees Eddie being attacked by demobats. Max spots real fire in her eyes as she swings at it with her baseball bat).

She's never believed in soulmates (thought it was a gimmick for movies and love-sick tweens) but when she looks at Chrissy and Eddie embracing after Vecna is finally defeated? (the soft look on Eddie's face, the way Chrissy nuzzles into the crook of his neck), she understands Eddie and Chrissy are just meant to be together and would be in any alternative universe or dimension. Fucking Star-Crossed Lovers. She doesn't know if she and Lucas will ever be like that (she's still a kid, okay?) but maybe one day.

(Chrissy doesn't live)

Max doesn't know Chrissy personally but she knows she speaks - spoke (goddamn it) - to Ms Kelley too. Knew she was vulnerable and she was hurting. When the party are talking about connections between victims, Max remains silent (again). Fuck that. She's not giving up Chrissy's secrets even if she's no longer here. Chrissy deserves better than to be discussed like a throw-away character in some dumb horror movie.

As she grows closer to Eddie and the others, she notices the weight around Eddie's shoulders and the haunted look he gets when he mentions Chrissy and what happened in his trailer. He flinches every time her name is uttered. She wonders if there was more to their relationship then just a brief moment in the woods?

Thanks 'nonny

[anomymoussoapbar]

hey, I saw one of your posts and your account and said you wanted to learn more about proship, right? (Sorry I can be a lil overthinker at times) I can explain my own causes if that can help you learn another perspective. THIS IS GONNA BE LONG SO PLEASE BE PATIENT.

First off, I am mostly a darkshipper! darkshippers ship the illegal stuff, like incest and you know all that. I am myself a darkshipper mostly. I ship things like "stalker x victim", "yand3re", "obsessive dynamics" and all that stuff similar. I DONT ship the illegal incest/ age gaps but Instead I prefer to go with the illegal toxic dynamics!

Now as to WHY I am a darkshipper and why I use this KIND OF FICTION to 'cope' comes from a past experience of mine. Not gonna go into detail, but I used to be very obsessive and have unhealthy attachments! They weren't good at all! I even had harmful intrusive thoughts because I would get jealous and live In a constant fantasy of "yandere wannabe" (Lol- I was 11 at that time ok💀) Which almost led me to end up harming others irl! (Hopefully I never did) and Now, I am out of that phase, I went to therapy for a while but then my mom got me outta there for idk why, which is why after i finished therapy, I wanted to manage my same intruisve thoughts and urges as much as i could! which is what led me to discover proshipping! (Or darkshipping specifically)

I project myself onto my dynamics and characters, so i can relieve myself when im feeling stressed or have a strong urge to go back to that horrible phase of my life and not care about anything else (to be short, i am impulsive. Also, ive also tried things like writing and drawing but they dont help as much)

Shipping these kind of fucked up dynamics GENIUNELY GENIUNELY helped me figure out the severity of it and gave me more control and the common sense to not do those things irl. Since I am now taking out the intrusive and impulsiveness outta me in fiction and not real life, I am not harming anyone! Nor do I truly wish to. My preteen years were f'ed up but I am better now and darkshipping has helped me through that. I don't condone abuse nor toxicity irl, and I NEVER WILL, since I am now aware of how grave the situations are if you take it out of fiction and put it in a real life setting.

The main reason for darkshipping is to relieve myself in fiction without worry I am harming others (because it's fiction) whlist knowing the severity of the ships if they were in in real life. As a proshipper (someone who's anti-harassment and supports problematic media, pairings, or are laid-back about it), most of us go by this saying: "ship and let ship". Also, we KNOW fiction AFFECTS reality, it can and it will, but not on a 1:1 scale (meaning it only affects reality when the shipper doesn't have the common sense to differentiate the two or if it's a kid, who's brain hasn't developed yet)

I WILL always keep my ships in fiction, and I am no longer feeling as impulsive as I did all those years ago, because darkshipping for some reason helped me figure out a way, which was projecting onto characters as well as exploring dark dynamics for fun!

Each Proshippers/darkshippers/comshipper's stories are a reason for who they are now. We don't go around and go committing those things we ship irl because it's very wrong to do so. As someone who almost attempted horrible things irl at such young age like 11, I myself now have the common sense and the control within myself now that I'm a little more grown up. Now i am older, I know have the care and healthy attachment to keep friendships and hang out with others, be more self-controlling and of course, more understanding of myself and others.

PLEASE PLEASE take care of yourself, if anything bothers you distance yourself from it, drink plenty of water and go for a walk or do your fav hobby, anything when you're feeling a little down ❤️ I'm GLAD I could talk to someone about this! So sorry if it was very long but I hoped this helped with your perspective. You're loved and you're very amazing, I love your account, and I'm willing to share more some other time. Bye👋

Hello :*)

Thank you so much for sharing your reasoning. I love how you found yourself a healthy way to vent out feelings and express them in ways that you can realize how realistically would be harmful. Interesting how darkshipping is actually quite common now that you defined it.

Killers/stalkers/kidnappers x victims are a common trope people love and the complexity of it is something I see everywhere. Even self proclaimed antis use these tropes as well. I never really thought about it until now LOL.

Also, thank you so much for the ask, you are very kind. I am sorry I took so long to get to you 🌸💕 and for the other askers as well. I will get to you all soon. I love you all and the support I have received in this blog.

Explanation for inactivity under cut

I have begun my studies again, and have focused SO much on them I have been neglecting my tumblr. Specifically this one. Trust me when I say this is NOT bait. I promise.

-Soapy

[reelvibes91]

We Live In Time Falls Flat Emotionally

Some films try and balance multiple different angles. It is often hard to do this depending on the subject matter of the film. A lot of films either focus their energy on the wrong spot or end up not showcasing enough of what you want to see. We Live in Time falls victim to that during multiple moments of the film when it does not need to.

First things first. The non-linear form of telling this story absolutely hurt the momentum of building up a particular moment. It sort of took away all the impact of each particular scenario. When you set yourself up for a dramatic scene and right at the climax, that scene jumps you lose the weight of the moment. You lose that over hanging emotional resonance because you just tipped your hand that the characters overcome it.

Perhaps the idea they are aiming for here is that in life, we overcome so many of those moments. It just takes the ability to let actors like Pugh and Garfield showcase their raw talent away from them. It should have given them each heartbreaking moment to really deeply show how hard life is. Of course, we, the audience, having lived our own lives, do not need to be spared. That is the movie we signed up for and didn't get.

All of us who ever lost someone knew the brevity of each moment that was on display. While Pugh got the brunt of the difficult moments, they truly complimented each other nicely in terms of pushing the narrative forward. However, there was always that expectation we were going to see more. These two brilliant and amazingly talented people were going to make us weap. Not just that moment where tears swell but full-on ugly cry. Sadly, that moment never came to be. Truth be told, it should have. That's what this movie needed to elevate itself into the conversation of best of the year. It had the story. It had the actors. It had the necessary plot beats. Still, somehow, it came out underwhelming for various reasons.

It is hard to juxatpose light-hearted moments among the concept that life is fleeting. However, all the great movies of this nature have done just that. Whether it be a loss of true love, learning to cope with life after said person we have all experienced that. What stories can avoid that real life doesn't is the ugliness of that. It can sugarcoat it in a way that tries to remind us to carry on. What the great movies capture is the rock bottom before that happens. This one chooses to avoid all the moments that could have showcased the beauty of life along with the sadness of it all as well.

What we get is a movie that is neither bad nor is it great. With the star power attached and the raw nature of the trailer, the expectations were high. It simply did not reach that for me. Hopefully, it can be for other people viewing it from their own perspectives and vantage points in life. It was a movie to me where two generational talents have the ability to make this a film a career defining moments. Sadly, in the end, it seems they were let down by the choices from a writing standpoint.

[captainkurosolaire]

I know I tell you this all the time, but always remember that you are loved. You are doing amazing, even if sometimes it doesn't always feel like it. Bad days are just bad days and they are allowed to happen. It doesn't mean you have regressed and undone any progress <3

I'll be here to cheer you on and remind you not to be hard on yourself!

Truly, I greatly appreciate all you are to have such a genuine soul in my corner. I'm glad to have long lasting people to know and especially friends or followers, mutual, anyone that's shown support over this journey.

I'm someone who's very tenacious. Stubborn and extremely rough around the edges, it's a lot of character faults. Being overly tough on myself is kind of how I've endured all that I do.

It seems like in-order for me to ever be my prime self, I have to possess and maintain passion and I've gone through it all, in-order for me to maintain that, I have to challenge myself and push and set very ludicrous expectations.

To get more personal about it all. I've got multiple incisions and surgeries that just tore to shred my body early on and left me with a body that's nearly four decades more than it should be. I've got some mild autism, and ADHD. Used to have to be Homebound and even with special schooling, I struggled even lasting ten minutes in a sitting position which was often supposed to be three hour sessions. I never can maintain control of normality.

The one thing that was my glimmering beacon was writing and creating. It's all I've managed to keep in my actual joys.

When you're linked to passion and once it diminishes, it's really not viable for a lot of people to stick around or handle a star that's destined to fall. So eventually even though I really like long-term RP there aren't many who can tolerate that type of thing or even a friendship, I learned that overtime, and it makes sense when someone is often met with silence when I descend what's a point of it in orbit. I struggle, even wanting to put into that ordeal and I've diminished considerably in a lot of aspects.

Blame is to myself and really no-one in particular, nor am I trying to do anything out of sympathy. This just me explaining better my entire process, it's easier to understand something when maybe a vivid picture is put into perspective.

Dealt with having to accept a lot of things, quitting stuff outright, It became much easier for me even to not dabble in pain medicine for my main rare colon disease. As all that did was hamper me further and I didn't ever want to be reliant or be dulled.

So I've gone through nearly a decade on my own path learning trying to figure out what I could even replace. Then in the form of writing I was able to literally find a therapeutic way to not only divert my focus if my passion was strong enough, I could even have mastery of myself and work on aiming better beyond my faults.

Ever since then It's been a process, a lot more to the entire road. But ultimately just gradually climbing up in challenges, doing more, figuring out all this time in Tumblr more about myself and limits and just having a place to lay it out.

Last year, I performed with every bit of my heart a tribute strongly for my first real friend and wanting to send that energy into the writing I did and despite it all being my hardest obstacle yet and I actually crushed it. For those three month's I really did experience living after a long distance from it.

I owe it considerably to meeting someone like you who showed me all the makings of a friend and identified it and many others.

I can't promise not to be hard on myself. That's just how I need to be wired. But I also learned just as many bad days they're also paramount so I can build up an incredible one eventually.

But I know with people like you real genuine hearts, I can be relieved of a lot of stuff and be myself.

Typically when I deplete, I just go dormant cause I don't want to bring that or a lack of energy that would dampen anyone. I'd rather be positive and bolster people up cause I've found a lot of people kindred to me. That also motivates me. So that's why I often choose to just go solitude and stockpile up and hibernate until I've had enough recovery.

After tasting a sample of that feeling during and after the three month's last year, I want a year to just go out and really express every single day and Tribute this entire thing to myself. Give back all the time's I couldn't hang or stay consistent to anything prior.

[your-brilliant-lady-m]

Part 5 - Basic Concepts of Miraculous Ladybug: Guardians

Helloooo! Did you think I was done? No!

My PhD thesis chapters were approved last week, so have some celebratory meta. I haven't seen the latest Season 4 episodes, so do forgive me for not being up to date.

Welcome to the next part of my analysis of the basic concepts of Miraculous Ladybug. Today we are talking about Master Fu, Order of the Guardians and how little everything here makes sense. I highly recommend reading previous parts to fully understand this one, but I'll try to quote most parts of earlier posts.

Order of the Guardians

Order is an international and ancient organisation (New York Special showed us the guardian from North America and he was dressed like Su Han). Presumably, Miraculous jewels were created by these people. Guardians are responsible for the preservation of jewels and knowledge about them. They also distribute Miraculouses to worthy people around the world to combat mostly magical threats, but sometimes jewels are used against normal threats too. It's implied that Master Fu used Miraculouses during WW2 when he was in Paris. Perhaps he performed some spywork with Marianne, but the magical nature of his interferences was discovered and he was forced to flee, before returning to France many decades later.

Why does the Order need so many people to take care of a 3 Miracle Boxes? If its only purpose is to preserve knowledge, keep magical secrets and distribute Miraculous jewels then wouldn't it be more logical to have Master-Apprentice system? It's much easier to keep magic knowledge a secret and train a few people in martial arts than doing the same in the self-sufficient temple full of people, keeping in mind that a good part of them are teenagers and children, who are bad at keeping secrets. Also a single person can travel around the world much easier to give out Miraculouses. Imagine that we have a few active guardians traveling the world with Boxes. What do other people at the temple do in the meantime? They teach the next generation about the powers of each Miraculous and Mirakung Fu, but besides that?

Master-Apprentice system gives us more personal conflict between Fu and his mentor and makes his relationship with Marinette and Adrien more nuanced. In this scenario Fu accidentally caused the death of his Master at 14 because he wasn't careful. It makes sense for him to take on only 1 or 2 students if this is how things were done with Miraculous Guardians. This Wang Fu is very cautious and protective, he spent the majority of his life afraid of hurting someone else and never took an apprentice as a result. But now he is ready to try again, since he is not getting any younger and he likes these 2 kids. He wants them to succeed. Maybe Master Fu, becomes the father figure for Adrien in this situation and a guide for Marinette. Just think about it. This way writers avoid the need to develop all these extra characters (Su Han) and traditions related to the Order. All inconsistencies I mentioned before and later in this post are gone now! Hell, even memory loss and the changing of the Miracle Box shape could make more sense. We also raise the stakes post-amnesia, if it happens of course (the whole Season 3 finale didn't make sense, so stay tuned for my next meta). Marinette and Adrien are on their own now, there's no one who can give them answers. It's very fun scenario, which has potential to be brilliant. Any thoughts on that?

The existence of Order of the Guardians is not quite a secret, at least it wasn't in XIX century China. Master Fu in "Feast" says that guardianship was considered "a great honor". It implies that people who lived close to the temple of the Order knew about Miraculouses and what exactly guardians did for the greater good.

The existence of other Miracle Boxes around the world makes sense from a real-life perspective. Writers have the ability to create many stories set in the same universe and use them for merchandise and an almost unlimited amount of content. Judging by the unholy amount of specials in production, this is exactly what the creators are going to do. It probably won't go down well, but who knows?

However, it doesn't work in our main story. The main conflict is Paris-centred. Gabriel's motivations revolve around Emilie's resurrection and Season 4 gives us more reasons to suspect that Adrien's mom wasn't as wonderful as everyone says. Hawkmoth still remains the main villain of the show and most likely it's going to stay that way. There's no point in moving the main story to different places for the sake of introducing more Miracle Boxes from around the world. Ladybug and Chat Noir aren't needed to fight something halfway across the world unless Hawkmoth also changes locations.

LB and CN are centrepieces of this franchise. They brought success and money to ZAG. Creators constantly need to remind the audience that this new piece of media with new characters who will never be mentioned again is connected to Miraculous Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Writers have to come up with reasons to include our heroic duo into the story even if makes no sense.

New York Special had to introduce American Heroes whose names rarely come up in the fandom because people stopped caring about them or their stories shortly after the release of the Special. I barely saw any content dedicated to them. In order to bring LB and CN into the story, you have to include Hawkmoth too. Gabriel suddenly needs to get his hands on the Eagle Miraculous and goes to USA. Marinette and Adrien suddenly have a class trip to New York. Unfortunately, their presence in this story is required only to expand the world of Miraculous and attract fans of the show, so that they could keep an eye on new content related to newly introduced characters.

In the end, it's not their story. Events of the special don't affect main story of the show and the development of the love square is merely an illusion, because Adrien and Marinette are no closer than before. In season 4 LB and CN are growing apart and their test of trust in NY Special doesn't matter. Perhaps, some people don't see it that way and it's their right, but I find it hard to see NYS as a valid contribution to canon. I mean, even people in large portion of the fandom state in the tags on AO3 that "specials are not canon", "specials didn't happen" or "ignores both specials". It speaks volumes about continuity and preferences of your fandom.

Shanghai Special didn't give us more information about the Order, which is located in China, history of Miraculous jewels. We still don't know much about how Gabriel and Emilie found Peacock and Butterfly. Maybe, Marinette's family had connections to Miraculous jewels. Maybe, Adrien does some snooping and discovers research his parents made while Gabriel is away. All of these are relevant to the main story. However, we got something much different in the end.

Marinette chases Adrien across the globe and they make new friends. Fey becomes Ladydragon and now has a direct contact with Marinette through her uncle. Gabriel's desire to get his hands on the Prodigious comes out of nowhere. Apparently, he had been planning this trip for years, presumably even before Adrien was born. It probably happened at the same time as Agrestes found 2 Miraculouses. He bought bracelet-key (which is also a Miraculous apparently, but its Kwami is a Guardian of the Prodigious and they existed separately for a very long time - and let us not dwell on this mess) from some shady mafia boss, who can easily find out just who Gabriel really is (fashion designer billionaire) and use this information to blackmail him. This Special didn't answer important questions, but it gave us a new superhero character.

The real question is whether Miraculous as a project will survive long enough for writers to create content for every minor character they introduced in all specials. This is only a beginning after all.

Miraculous is not a global show and it can't be globalised in a way that makes sense, at least with Ladybug and Chat Noir in the centre of action. Case closed.

Mirakung Fu

I liked the idea of Mirakung Fu introduced in "Furious Fu". It makes sense and things rarely do in this show. Miraculous grants its holder superhuman strength, stamina, endurance and ability to fight. This means that essentially transformed heroes are guided by magic in combat. There's nothing personal in the way Miraculous holders fight. You can predict their moves and learn how to fight this magic guidance, which is what Su Han does.

However, if the holder has any special training, skills or knows any martial art in their civilian life then they become more dangerous opponents during transformation because now their fighting is a mix of magical moves and their personal knowledge, tricks and style. Therefore, Adrien and Kagami as skilful fencers have more chances of winning against someone who knows Mirakung Fu than Marinette, for example.

Memory loss

At the end of season 3, we find out several things:

apparently, now Miracle Box can change appearance to suit its guardian;

when Guardian passes down the Miracle Box to someone else, they lose memories not only about everything related to Miraculous, but also about pretty much everything in their life (Fu doesn't recognise Marianne, instead he experiences the love at first sight)

Master Fu trains Marinette to be the proper holder and next Guardian off-screen. He says that her training as the holder is complete in "Feast" and wants her to become the next Guardian. Fu told her lots of things, and yet, he never mentioned the fact that he would lose his memory after relinquishing the box, nor the fact that Marinette would lose her memory afterwards. She finds out about this from Wayzz after the battle with Miracle Queen and the letter that Master Fu gave her. That's not proper training! How on Earth do you forget to mention this memory loss? How?

Master Fu's amnesia is a convenient plot device that removes him from the narrative almost completely. That's mostly all there is to it. Why? Because it doesn't make sense.

Fu was around 7 or 8 when he started his training. The disaster at the temple happened when he was 14. He stated that his training was never complete, which means that he never passed any magical ritual, never swore an oath or was bound by some kind of spell that made him subjected to the rule of memory loss.

Miracle Boxes belonged to the order, not Fu. Their design reflected their country of origin because these Miraculous were made and kept in China. They were just standing there on the shelves not magically bound to anyone in particular. When Feast attacked, monks just tossed Wang Fu the miracle box and grimoire. No one at the temple lost their memory after Fu took the box with him (Su Han is the proof). Su Han not only remembers Fu and his mistake but everything that happened that fateful day as well. In "Furious Fu" Marinette explains Su Han that Master Fu lost his memory in the very first conversation they have. However, after Ladybug and Chat Noir fight Su Han on the roof and escape with the Miracle Box, the latter searches for Fu and attempts to take his staff from him. In this scene, Su Han acts like Fu knows very well what is going on and who he is.

Su Han should be aware of the memory loss rule as the Celestial Guardian. He remarks on the different shape of the Mother Miracle Box and calls her "incorrect", which means that Su Han should have been able to easily tell that previous Guardian lost his memory and the Miracle Box is now bound to someone else. But he doesn't say anything. Moreover, since Su Han is supposed to know about amnesia, he seemed awfully chill about forcing this 14-year-old girl in front of him to give up the box and her memories. Hell, Chat Noir wasn't on board with this. But we get zero reaction from Su Han.

During the first conversation between Marinette and Su Han, he doesn't ignore what she is trying to say, instead he actively comments on every word. Even if Su Han didn't listen when Marinette told him about Fu's memory loss, than he still should be able to understand that Fu doesn't recognise him, because of common sense and the "incorrect" shape of the box. But nothing of the sort happens. Because writers apparently forgot that "memory loss" is supposed to be known to everyone in the Order. On-screen it looks like Su Han is not aware of the "amnesia rule".

"Furious Fu" makes the concept of memory loss a plothole no matter how you look at it. Just like "Timetagger" and "Chat Blanc", as well as "Kwamibuster" this episode is not consistent within itself. It does not surprise me, however.

Grimoire and Guardian Staffs

Let's talk about the Miraculous Grimoire. Good things first.

There are no illustrations of Miraculouses in camouflage. Kwami can't read its contents, only guardians can. Certain elements are written in riddles as an additional precaution. The book contains only the information people have learned so far, which means that Miraculouses have more unexplored potential ("Mr. Pigeon 72"). It describes powers of each Miraculous, provides information about weapons, has instructions for potions that don't make sense (see previous parts).

Unfortunately, everything is about to go downhill from here.

Guardians are taught how to read the writing in this book. They can read it just like people learn to read texts in a different language. This means that one can read Grimoire like any other book (you don't need to consult some guide to decode each letter or word). Master Fu proclaimed Marinette an almost fully trained Guardian. He should have taught her how to read the Grimoire then (he doesn't know the code very well, but he knew enough to understand the general meaning and content of the book according to "Collector"). He didn't. We don't know why. He shows her powers of every Miraculous but doesn't teach her the code.

Master Fu knows that Grimoire now belongs to Gabriel Agreste. He knows that it's dangerous for someone else to have it. If they knew how to read the Grimoire, they could discover all secrets of Miraculouses and harm Ladybug, Chat Noir and other heroes. It's very important to keep the information about the code top secret because Fu is not the only one with the source material.

What does he do then? Master Fu proceeds to write a French translation of Grimoire for Marinette, a translation that he doesn't even need. He carries it with him at all times on a tablet (without any precautions) just like the Miracle box after "Feast". Naturally, it means that in "Miracle Queen", Gabriel and Nathalie easily managed to get their hands on the tablet and Miracle Box. It allows the plot to happen, sure. But it doesn't make any sense.

"Furious Fu" created another curious plot hole. It will probably be ignored, of course. Su Han has a staff with a magical compass that allows him to find any Miracle box, but not the Miraculous jewels for some reason. How does the staff work? Can it locate the box without the Miraculous? If yes, then it seems useless. What's the point in the ability to locate an empty box? If it can locate the box only with the Miraculous jewels inside, it implies that the staff can track the location of every Miraculous too. So, Su Han could just locate the Butterfly and Peacock without any problem. But he talks about reassigning Ladybug and Black Cat to adults and defeating Hawkmoth like locating the Butterfly is not possible. This situation makes the Guardian Staff a simple plot device that creates plot holes and its only purpose is to explain how Su Han found Marinette.

Also, I have a few more words to say about this. Master Fu had a Guardian Staff that was never mentioned before. I wonder why? That's because the staff didn't exist before "Furious Fu" was written. Writers just went: "Do you know what would be cool? If Fu's cane was really a secret Guardian Staff with a compass all along that he decided to keep even after he lost his memory? It would make people wonder whether Master Fu is faking amnesia, and everyone will definitely call him an awful mentor after this even though we kind of tried to make him a good and responsible person."

Fu didn't give it to Marinette and didn't mention it to her. Why? When he gave up his memory, he should have written about this in his letter at least. Why did he decide to keep it? He can't use it anyway now.

Please note how in the flashbacks Fu didn't take any staff with him when he escaped the temple. Su Han seemed to know how Fu's staff looked like. It means that Master Fu didn't make this staff himself, because it belonged to the Order.

Su Han wasn't even surprised that Marinette didn't have the staff as the current Guardian. Was she not supposed to have it? He never questioned the fact that the former Guardian without memories has the staff. Su Han actually returns this staff to Fu after he is deakumatized and Fu acts like they have never met before. Why did Su Han gave the staff back when he knows what it is and to whom it should belong (to him or to Marinette as the current Guardian)? The staff is useless in the hands of the civilian. Does Marianne know about its secret? We'll probably never find out, unfortunately.

Guardian Staff of Master Fu has a compass too and therefore this also makes it a plot device, just like Su Han's staff.

[ravencl-awh]

july 5th, 2021

okay this will be kinda long since i'll be talking a bit of my day, answering some of @myhoneststudyblr 's summer study challenge, plus a review and a lil talk about the book above. i'll answer the challenge questions first and under the cut will be the review and my talking of my day if you're interested!

july 1st - what are your plans for the summer?

originally i was going to try for my driver's license but i've decided to until i'm 18 since i can't even bring a car to my college campus 😂 instead of learning how to drive, i actually need to brush up on my bike-riding to get around. for now, i'm just trying to catch up on things that have been prolonged, such as getting an ID card, renewing my passport, and opening a bank account.

july 2nd - do you have a specific goal for this summer?

perhaps it's not a lot as others but i want to read 20 books overall this summer. i'm 5 books in already!

july 3rd - do you have a lot of work to do for school, university, or your job this summer?

not at all 😂 i have nothing actually

july 4th - what is the most important task that you need to complete this summer?

i need to get my real ID card this summer bc i kinda got nothing right now haha

july 5th - do you have any special plans or activities for this summer?

nope, none, zilch, nada

okay here's the part where i talk a little about my day haha. today one of my RPG sites "launched". the way these sites are made are that someone has an idea for a site based off a fandom and they pitch the site to those who code and manage them. then when they give the okay, they and others who join on the project have to raise a certain amount of money to launch and go public on the internet. and today, World of Monarchs, a RPG site based off the CW show Reign launched and i'm really, really happy about it! a bunch of people from this community joined today and i'm just having such a fun time right now. i literally cannot wait to see how this site grows and all the fun backstabbing roleplays that will be written! book review: (the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by mark haddon)

haha okay so, this is like my third time reading this book? i started rereading it a few months ago, but stopped and i finished it on the 29th of last month. i've had this book for around 4 years now, which is why the outline of the dog is so tattered. the book is wonderfully written, the main character being a boy named christopher boone who, while not explicitly said to be, has traits associated with autism. christopher's mother is dead and he lives alone with his father, but one night, his neighbor's dog wellington is found dead. christopher takes it upon himself to find out the killer as if he were a detective in a mystery novel while writing a book about it as well.

often the main "conflict" of the novel is not quite the situation of the dog and his parents, but christopher himself. he has a lot of troubles when around other people, and a lot of his interactions with others is what makes up a lot of the story and his journey. while yes, this proves to be difficult, christopher also shows multiple layers of himself that the reader gets to know about as they read his writing that one might not usually know if they were just talking to him. he has a love for math which is why the chapters are all numbered in prime numbers. he has a pet rat who he takes care of well and he knows what he does and doesn't like (he doesn't like yellow and i 100% agree christopher, i 100% agree.) one thing i like about the book is how there are a lot of pictures/diagrams. christopher thinks very logically and explains everything very thoroughly, which makes it easier for the reader to see through his perspective. i will admit though, i did skip a lot of the diagrams just because i don't have to brainpower nor the intelligence to actually figure them out or follow along with his thought process in these parts. i am horrid at math.

haddon has an amazing way of showing his character's speaking patterns and ways of thinking in his writing, as shown in the diagrams, how christopher makes connections that make the most sense to him and how a lot of the sentences start with "and". perhaps it's not the most grammatically correct but it fits with christopher. it all seems very personal which is great because it's supposed to have been written by main character!

it's a good read overall, but this will be one of the books i'll be selling to a used bookstore soon!

rating: ✩✩✩

[revchainsaw]

Judge Dredd (1995)

I must confess that I have never read a single Judge Dredd comic book. I did own one issue of Batman vs Judge Dredd when I was a little kid, but I mostly just flipped through the panels and enjoyed the edgy art work. I can't speak to how faithful and adaptation that Judge Dredd is, but I think that may just be the best way to review a film. I may not have said this before on this blog, but I do not believe that being a faithful adaptation is the same thing as being a good movie, nor vice versa. I love the later adaptation, but this is a fascist super cop of a completely different breed. Let us see if Sylvester Stallone's crack at a 90s Super Hero flick will make a suitable sacrifice at the altar of the cult film God's.

The Message

1995's Judge Dredd is a Science Fiction Comic Book Adaptation starring Sylvester Stallone and Rob Schneider and it took me 3 attempt to finally get past the first few scenes before I could actually not feel like I was wasting my life watching it. The first thing a viewer will notice about this film is exactly how expensive everything looks. Oh God, how glorious and how massive these set pieces, costumes, and effects must have been, and I can't lie. I LOVED it. Unfortunately all that good will is lost when the plot tries to kick in. For all the force and action a title like Judge Dredd promises, it's story kicks in with a whimper and dialogue and lore that feels as if it was written by an angry 14 year old in his free time after he got detention for using a racial slur.

The film revolves around Judge Dredd, a super cop with a black and white perspective on the law so unrelenting that he has become a legend. He is seen in the early parts of the film teaching at a Judge Academy, single handedly ending anarchic riots, enforcing traffic citations. It makes you wonder exactly what the Judges council think they are doing, like they can't seem to figure out what to do with this guy.

It is revealed that Judge Dredd was a mutant experiment created by the fascist world leaders but the program only produced violent psychopaths (of which Dredd is one). The other Janus project reject is Rico, who builds awesome puppet robots who look like they belong in Return to Oz, and makes oopy goopy Judge Dredd brother babies. He also frames Judge Dredd for murder.

Once framed Judge Dredd's years of service buy him good graces with the totalitarian regime he works for and he is simply banished to the wastelands where he runs into Rob Schneider, and the movie just gets worse from there. The only saving grace here is more very expensive set pieces and crazy cyborg practical effect cannibal rednecks. It's so sad that this movie isn't more awesome. Judge Dredd does kick some ass though and his Daddy Boss shows up just to be immediately murdered.

Rob Schneider and Judge Dredd break back into Mega City One to defeat Rico, recruit Dredds coworker Hershey, and save the fascist dystopia they all live in from any significant social change. Hooray!!!!

The Benediction

Best Feature: Looks like 90 Million Bucks

The Movie is great to look at. The only gripe I have with anything in the costumes, effects, or set pieces is that the judges helmets in particular look like cheap plastic, but in the era of the Tim Burton Batman movies, this is actually not a huge kicker. It's honestly amazing that the movie was given this much to work with, a 90 Million dollar budget in 95 for a Superhero flick. If only it were enough to save the film. It honestly hurts it a little. We are supposed to believe that the world is lawless and dismal but the technology is so sleek and beautiful and the sets are emaculate when they aren't occasionally shooting out sparks. Honestly, it seems like a utopia with occasional riots. Nothing seems lived in but everything seems new.

Best Effect: ABC, That's How Easy Love Can Be

Ricos Robot, the ABC Warrior, was just eye candy, and it wasn't without competition. I also really loved the Goopy Janus Judges and the Egg Timer Cannibal Cyborg. If this movie leaned more into it's insanity it would probably have a better reputation. It's a shame that most people will skip this film on reputation alone. The plot is mind numbing, inconsistent, and dumb, but the effects like the ABC Warrior I could watch by themselves for hours. It's a cartoon, but damn if it's not a great looking cartoon.

Best Character: Officer Her-She (cuz she's a girl duh!)

In a movie that doesn't realize it's trying to get us to sympathize for a bunch of fascist totalitarians, or is trying hard to get us to ignore that fact, a villain like Rico is actually hard to hate. He has a line that says "you gave up your life to embrace the law, I gave up the law to embrace life". It really seems like I'm Team Rico here. But he didn't want freedom, he just wanted to be a different kind of monster. For that reason, I think Hershey is really the stand out character here. She's the only competent Judge, she makes reasonable decisions, and even though she seems to be Stallone's love interest, this movie does very little to diminish her to that role, or to exploit the actress. For a movie like this that is saying a lot. The only time this film doesn't suck is when Hershey is on screen or a cool practical effect is happening.

Best Kill: Tis But A Flesh Wound

I wish someone would have killed Rob Schneider, but unfortunately that didn't happen. There is a pretty cool kill where the ABC Warrior picks apart a corrupt Judge like a troubled kid does to a random bug. I guess since that had some blood and stuff we'll call it even.

Best Set Piece: Jailhouse Rocks

There are many vast and impressive sets throughout this film, but the one that really stuck out to me was Rico's cell. The wall mounted turrets getting featured instead of just being static objects stuck to the wall was one of those extra little steps that makes all the difference.

Worst Character: Rob Schneider is a Stapler? a Carrot? Annoying.

I didn't even learn Rob Schneider's characters name. But he's obnoxious. I learned that while filming Demolition Man, Stallone met Schneider and insisted he be in this film. It wouldn't have been all that bad had he done his piece and been left behind, but he clings to Dredd for most of the film. It's especially unbearable because several more likeable characters come back onto the scene to help Dredd but they are either killed or written away so that we can get more of Rob.

Worst Feature: It's a Dumb Movie for Kids

Judge Dredd is a case study in why we don't get cool effects heavy films anymore. Looking at Judge Dredd makes the Marvel Films look like cheap dookie. What I wouldn't give for some of these kinds of effects in an Iron Man or a Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Hopefully we will get some kind of compromise. But the writers, producers, and studio were not willing to take the property seriously enough to do their high budget justice. The plot of Judge Dredd is so stupid and the themes are so mismanaged that of course this movie is remembered as a piece of shit. It's reasons like this that no one will take chances on a big budget practical effects film anymore.

Summary

Judge Dredd is confused. There are ways that writers can make an audience root for a hero like Dredd even though he is absolutely representative of oppression, the way to do that is not to preach about how great the law is and how bad the poor people who are suffering under the boots of the judges are. You can't make the bad guys motive that he values freedom and individuality. Judge Dredd looks great, has backwards ass messaging, a very stupid script, and keeps insisting things via exposition rather than showing us in it's world building. It is a frustratingly difficult movie to buy into, but it's good qualities buy it enough good will to keep it out of the dumpster fire.

Overall Grade: D