#the overall narrative and design hold up super well

[jacquelinemerritt]

Final Fantasy VII: Machinabridged Episode 2 Review

Originally posted on September 11th, 2015

Episode 2

Real life is full of assholes. Self-entitled, manipulative, obnoxious assholes. And Takahata101 knows this. And more, he knows that the most extreme groups in the world, the ones that will stop at nothing to get their way, are filled with even worse assholes.

These assholes, more often than not, have a guiding philosophy or set of beliefs that allows them to justify their assholery. Militant atheists have the teaching of Dawkins, radical Christians have the teachings of their pastors, and AVALANCHE has a twisted environmentalism as its guiding philosophy.

And the leaders of AVALANCHE, Tifa and Barret, are so convinced that “saving the planet” through violence is a good thing that they will use any tactics to do so, from blowing up a power plant, to using threats and manipulation to recruit members.

This is why I find the prison rape threats held over Cloud to not only be unproblematic, but thematically poignant. Prison rape jokes in general are fairly unfunny, serving to reinforce homophobic ideas and harmful stereotypes about prisoners as well as reducing a severely traumatic event to a punchline, and there aren’t many occasions where they can be redeemed.

But Takahata101 does just that by leaning into the real horror behind rape, and acknowledging that Tifa reinforcing those fears onto Cloud is utterly reprehensible. It makes for a dark turn, and while it happens somewhat abruptly, it’s completely effective at establishing the immorality present in AVALANCHE, who originally were goodhearted underdogs.

This deconstruction of our heroes shows a lot of promise, and if Takahata101 and Anthony “Antfish” Sardinha continue to handle this darkening of the source material this well, it’ll make for an excellent thematic core to the series (especially if they also follow through on Cloud’s identity crisis).

On a similar note, we’re only two episodes in, and yet I’m already finding the incredible contrast between Final Fantasy VII: Machinabridged and its source material to be absolutely fascinating. I mentioned last week that Final Fantasy VII is frequently lauded by its fans as the greatest RPG of all time, and while I don’t agree with that statement,1 I do believe that FFVII is a wonderfully written RPG, thanks to how well it deconstructs its characters.

Cloud is your typical antihero, but then it turns out he’s not, and has been lying about being this antihero since the beginning. Barret easily fits the “Angry Black Man” trope, but he’s primarily concerned with being a good father and protecting the environment. Tifa’s tough physicality and visible sexuality doesn’t preclude her from having a strong intellect and an incredibly kind heart.

I could go on,2 but I wanted to highlight the difference between the characters we’ve met so far in FFVII:MA. Cloud is no longer brash, confident and brooding; he’s a nervous wreck with no sense of identity. Barret is cruel, vindictive, and probably not a very great parent, and Tifa is cruel and manipulative instead of kind and caring.

Now, in Episode 2, unlike the last, each of these characterizations hit on an emotional reality (last episode they were caricatures crafted to fit the theme, which was perfect for the first episode), and that emotional reality drives their relationships forward just as well as their characterizations in the original, even though these new characterizations can be a lot darker.

Rating: 4.5/5

Stray Observations

1On the grounds of writing alone, FFVII falls short in comparison to other games in the series, like VI, Tactics, and XII, all of which have stronger and better developed characters and storylines than VII (not even mentioning more recent Westerns RPGs like Oblivion, Mass Effect, or The Witcher, which outshine the storytelling of FFVII even more).

Gameplay wise, it’s also definitely one of the worst in its series (materia is fun but ain’t no esper, and they really weren’t ready for 3D until FFX), with only II and XIII really being definitively worse. And while very few Western RPGs outside of Dark Souls have gameplay I would consider “good,” they’re still streets ahead of FFVII’s clunky menus and Active Time Battle (which was perfected in VI).

2Seriously, every single character in this game is a deconstruction of their own archetype. Aerith is a manic pixie dream girl who abandons the male hero she’s “supposed to save” and sacrifices her life for everyone, leaving the male hero more alone and broken than ever.

Red XIII is a scientifically engineered wolf-creature who uses his fierce appearance to hide extreme intelligence and sensitivity. Cid is a loudmouthed redneck who is interested in and competent at flight and interstellar travel, and he also chooses to abandon his dreams of traveling into space in order to save the life of his assistant.

Reno and Rude, two “mindless thugs” from Shinra, are suave, cool, and genuinely good people, who refuse to question the actions of the men who have treated them incredibly well since the beginning. Rufus Shinra is a spoiled bratty kid who constantly questions the legacy of his father, and doesn’t realize until it’s too late that he’s been on the wrong side since the beginning.

Sephiroth… is a bit harder to pin down, because he’s mostly a parallel to Cloud as well as a warning to him of what he could become. His “ultimate” design is also interesting, as when he is at his strongest and has achieved “godlike power,” he takes the form of not only a fallen, but a broken, one-winged angel, showing the futility of his quest.

“REBELANCHE!”

Tifa: “Let me guess, you’re all pissy because that was ‘freedom-fighting’?” Cloud: “No, that was terrorism!” Tifa: “Oh, come on, how was destroying a factory that sucks the life out of the planet terrorism?” Cloud: “Every part of it was terrorism!”

Tifa the Liar.

Barret: “Did you f*** up?” Cloud: “What even is f***ing up?”

“Shinra determined that the explosion was caused by the group AVALANCHE.” *sounds of jubilation* “Little is known about this group…” *more jubilation* “Until today.” *sounds of dismay*

“Coming up next, the dark, demented reality of Chocobo breeding.” I’m literally shivering thinking about those horrors.

Cloud: “Please, like anyone’s gonna recognize me from that picture.” Tifa: “Hair.” Cloud: “Oh, you’re so right.”

Cloud: “That metaphor makes me uncomfortable.” Please let this be this series’ “I need an adult.”

[crimswnred]

my thoughts on volume IV

whoever decided it was smart to dump all of the girls should be fired, I'm not joking

see, as I'm on a Raf route, I was expecting Daphne to want to be back with him, to me, she's the only girl that the narrative makes sense

after all, they were "super close" or whatever

(but if I were Daphne I would be crying too, her ex boy wants me, her current boy wants me, it's hard)

Evan is cute, I like his personality as well. He sees Daphne flirting with Rafael so I don't hold the fact he wants to explore stuff with us against him

he seems to be the chill type and I like how passionate he is about his art. he and my MC have that in common and the game acknowledge that?? (MC is a graphic designer)

they still can't write dance scenes 😭 it's been 7 seasons and you guys still can't describe twerking omg

Summer is still the funniest person in the room

Alex's wood weekend comment 😭😭

the gem scenes are getting EXPENSIVE. 29 gems to talk to my baby boy???

worth every penny tho 😭😭 guys I love him so much, Rafael is the sweetest guy ever. the way he said he was gonna put on the effort for us, that he would captivate us every day AAAAAH

I like how he's also aware of how he behaved in the past and that he wants to have the real thing with us. it's definitely reassuring to know we're not just another random girl he felt like love bombing

his chat was also funny but not like trying hard funny. it was giggling and kicking my feet funny.

Uma and Alex are so cute. I feel like MC/Rafa and Alex/Uma are the friends who always go out in couples, you know? like double dates? and they just support each other's relationship 🙏 it's so cute how they are with each other!!!!

Now, Bryson, if I were Willow I'd curse you to the end of days. WHY would you twist with Bonnie and give up on her literally the next day? GET A GRIP

Summer and Joyo are exactly how I thought they would be: extremely sexual. again, I think their energies are pretty much the same and they get along really well.

NOW, WHY DO WE HAVE TO CHOOSE WHO'S GOING TO THE HIDEAWAY? if we can pick ourselves, then just let us go??

but just quietly I think they did that so we don't actually need to go. so many people were complaining they were forcing guys onto us the previous season...

anyways, we FINALLY had a sex scene with Raf!!

and let me tell you, I know they can't be so descriptive but I kinda hate the use of the word "crescendo"

aaaaaaand bombshells, ofc!! both Vicky and Travis will want MC, I bet. maybe a little Cora and Tom situation. I DON'T WANNA BE STOLEN 😞

overall the episodes were boring. Fusebox is back to the formula they established on season 4—challenge, bombshells, recoupling, challenge.

I'm afraid they will be ruining this season, again.

last but not least: fuck daphne

[lotties-ashwagandha]

my full review of hard home bc i have so much to say 🫡 4/5 stars from me just to give an idea of where this is going , spoilers under the cut!

first off i just want to say the amount of angry men in the reviews of this movie is enough to have me content with it all. be mad but middle aged women who revenge-kill evil men will forever be my favorite tv genre and will never fail, not to make it political but this is a movie we need right now. i think this movie was insanely under marketed for what it could have been, there is an audience for it — a woman who kills her daughter’s murderer by locking him in her smart house that she has built and designed herself is radical media compared to the typical young adult white male insanity we’re given in so many other popular murder movies. look at the early scream movies for example and how they compare to hard home: scream is told from the point of view of the victim who is only the victim (sidney), and we know almost nothing about the killer until the end. in hard home, we start out with the point of view of the victim (in the sense that we’re given — mary wasn’t killed, but her daughter was, and we are meant to see her as the target of the killer) BUT it’s established that she’s not just the victim/target of this man, she’s also hunting him and she’s just as much a danger to him as he is to her. it’s established very early on the power that mary holds in this situation, and that she’s taken it herself, it was never given to her.

the representation of mary as a grieving mother (mother mary?? did we all catch that line?) in hard home in comparison to other films also caught my attention. so often we’re fed the narrative of grieving mother who relies on men to soothe her, men to make it better, men to fix things. but in hard home mary takes things into her own hands and tells her husband to go fuck off — no man is fixing her pain, she admits that even she cannot fix her pain, but that she is entitled to retribution and that she’s taking it for herself instead of charging a man with completing it is fucking badass in my opinion. it’s not something that is portrayed as radical or out of the ordinary in the film as well which I think is beneficial. women in hard home are delivered through a lens that encourages the portrayal of women’s strength and denies any dependence on men. whether this was intentional or not I can’t say, but I do find it amazing that this film turned out with such feminist undertones considering the amount of male influence in the production.

mary is not portrayed as insane in this film either. she’s showed as grieving, in pain, and there is a fullness in the narrative due to the background information and depth we are exposed to throughout the movie that compliments the explanation of her motives.

my complaints though! to be really super honest I think the dialogue in the family scenes fucking sucked. it’s my only major complaint with this whole thing, I feel like the dialogue was so forced and just did not fit the rest of the movie’s energy. it’s not an issue of the acting, the actors did what they could with what was given, but I really really would have appreciated more thoughtful and naturally flowing dialogue scenes between characters. they felt unnatural and stereotypical for how a family should converse. in contrast tho, mary’s talking to herself moments and her talking to the killer did feel natural and I thought the scenes of them together were very well done.

another thing I would have appreciated is more dramatic camera shots/angles. maybe some more shots where it’s filtered as if we’re looking through mary’s cameras. call me picky but I want wide shots of mary in front of the house, making it seem big. I want angular close ups, I want to feel unsettled. i want what they did in saltburn or blue jay, where the setting becomes part of the characters themselves through the way the camera settles on them.

overall though, I really enjoyed hard home and I’ll be rewatching it im sure. give me simone kessell cutting out a man’s tongue and setting him on fire any day of the week and im happy. ive been waiting for this movie for so long and it did not disappoint :)

[alexissara]

In-Depth Fire Emblem Engage Review

Fire Emblem Engage is the 17th or 13th or 14th or 18th or 20th game in the Fire Emblem series. The franchise has been a favorite of mine since the very first English release. Since then I have played every Fire Emblem Game and loved a good chunk of them. I played on Hard/Classic and cleared the first two waves of DLC before writing this review. The first beat will be a quick review TDLR style with everything under the read more being a bigger break down of what I liked, didn't like, and where I think it holds up with the series.

Fire Emblem Engage is a really fun game, it's got a fun cast of goofy characters with a few touching moments mostly touching on fairly common human experiences that most people would get sad about. The map design has improved from the last several entries in the series with much more fun maps even if objectives remain basically kill the boss on every single map. The game's lessened focus on deeper characters and on romance both feel like serious step backs from the direction they were moving and the localization is at times terrible making extremally odd choices to try and remove romantic context. The voice cast is preformed very well and the game is a visual treat to look at being the best looking game in the series with animations that rival the GBAs amazing work.

The games story is lacking in depth and in politics, it doesn't have an ambition to really get into the weeds of the things going on, even things that exist in the plot are more a driving excuse rather then something explored in deep conversations. Some characters are really one gimmick with one character talking about tea in basically every support. While gimmicky Fire Emblem characters are nothing new this game has such a weird mix of characters who have their supports mostly be one thing and characters who have a bit more going on. This game has some of the most meh characters in the series and some of my favorite.

Overall the game is a really good experience but doesn't reach the heights of the series best games in terms of narrative or character. It does however have some of the best gameplay in the series. While a lot of the gameplay innovations come from a gimmick I don't want to see repeated, I do want these mechanics to carry on into future titles. There is flaws in the mechanics but for the most part the engage mechanic is fucking amazing and so is basically everything they did. Like two colored hair this game can often contradict itself with things that are great and things that are mid. Overall it's a great title and probably one of my favorite video games.

The stories not very good at all, it's consistent in it's badness, in that it's lack of depth or engagement of it's world remains at the same level so it isn't super noticeable. The personal journey for Alear and Vayle is compelling but it's not a game about 2 people breaking away from their abusive dad, it's a war game that gives you soooo much of the plot on the back end.

It is not in depth as something like Three Houses/Hopes or Path Of Radiance/Radiant Dawn. Hell, it isn't even really more in depth then something like New Mystery Of The Fire Emblem. However, judging it on it's own terms it still fails it's own potential narratively. They decide that the 4 heirs to the thrown can't die but they aren't used by the plot outside of their intro arcs other then to say a few lines. Then there we see clear favoritism.

The plot twist of Alear being a fell dragon is super predicable, the four hounds being constant villains on maps lowers their feeling of threat given you've kicked their ass so many times before you seal the deal, Sombron's motivations aren't revealed until the very last chapter. it's just not very good. The story probably would have been better if they let Zephia be the main villain using Sombron as a puppet, in truth long dead and unable to return. Zephia is the driving force of narrative conflict for the vast majority of the game as it stands. Instead she is in the long line of evil Fire Emblem women who just wanted the main baddy man to love them.

By the end I did like All the Four Hounds, I did like Lumera, I did want more of the other queens, I want more but that more isn't there even as fun bonus content. Unlike Awakening, we don't have fun free post game content that lets you learn a bit more about the baddies and dead characters. Instead, we probably simply will not get more content of them given it seems the wave 4 DLC story is set in an alternative universe. That isn't so bad if not for the fact I didn't care to know more about a ton of the roster of this game. Most the characters are fairly lack luster. There is some of the best characters in the series like Yunaka, Timerra and Merrin who I really like. Yet, it also has a lot of the most broing ones

The lack of paired endings also really lessens the games overall impact, there is no shipping element which reduces a lot of the fun of Fire Emblem but it also really locks every character into 1 predestined fate. Including several endings that are like "They marry some random NPC". If the game didn't want character chosen romance they could have chosen to have canon relationships between characters, sexualities explored in depth, characters with romantic histories, desires, and how those might come in conflict with their roles. Despite deromancing everything the game still needs to leave everything ready for the player character, for us to be able to marry anyone we want. Now no longer homophobic but also the game censors and dulls a lot of the romances from the Japanese end which only makes it weirder.

The lack of shipping mechanics truly is a regression of the series and a regression of the plot. I am totally pro people having canon sexualities and having limited relationships but I am also pro being able to pair up anyone with anyone. However, this game only took steps backwards outside of the wish filaments fantasy of being able to give that pact ring to anyone. Which for people playing in English is still a let down with the lack of I Love Yous and other clear signs of romance, in fact several characters using terms that actively throw away the idea of romance in that.

This too could have been done better, if the intention was for a bunch of platonic relationships, which I think is a bad choice, it's still lacking. The supports instead very often lead to the A rank having the people declare they are friends. Even people who knew each other for a long time before this are declaring friendship at A rank. As if like, they weren't already friends. It often makes these supports feel like C rank supports in other games. C rank is when a bound of friendship that is important should be forming not A rank. A rank doesn't need to be romantic but it should mean this person is irreplaceable like a best friend. Instead some A ranks are like "I guess I don't hate you totally" and that is just, not compelling as a reward for going through so much together.

Then we have the Somniel which without voice acting feels a lot more lifeless despite the ability to see characters in a bunch of settings and in different outfits. It's extremally lack luster and everything in the somniel could have been better.

The minigames are mostly annoying or pointless, the Fishing game at it's highest rank feels impossible, the wyvern game is my favoirte, it's fun but it has 3 stages it's nothing, petting somni feels weird, and the training mini game is a rhythm game with no rhythm. if they had cut any of these features to further develop the other features it would be a massive improvement.

Then there is cooking, which lacks the vast array of voice acted special lines between characters and feels far less personal and far less desirable if not for the low amount of support gained it would be a feature that mostly just exists to maybe give minor stat buffs but could also tank your stats.

The core features you want to access the Area and The Ring Chamber are behind loading screens and have no menu access making them take an extremally long time to go between and making them fairly annoying to access especially for someone trying to optimize their characters. The ring chamber is mostly full of pointless features, there is only a handful of decent bound rings, polishing is nothing, buff the weapons of emblem rings requires you to grind a very slow bonus mode or online. The Arena is mostly hurt by not just little you do things instantly they need to load you into a mock battle that then can be skipped only after both characters have done a voice line and then if your raising emblem ring levels the support has to load then you can hit skip then return. It's very inefficient.

Then there is character customization, what should be one of the best features of the game is utterly pointless. There is no mechanical benefit which is not needed but there is also no real cosmetic benefit. The Sominel RNGs characters so you may not see your favorite in the cute outfits you pick for them and no outfit can be worn into battle a feature that massively reduces the fun of dress up, they don't even show up in supports. It is just a hole to waste precious smithing resources into. Dress up is one of my favorite things in games but eventually I just stopped caring at all because it was just done so poorly.

The Emblem Rings are a great addition to the game but also feel lacking in their features. Gender locked avatar characters is one annoyance but due to how few lines they get in their pact supports you don't get a great sense of character. instead they mostly are just a mechanical tool and narrative McGuffins. Sometimes their supports are great mini jokes or whatever and good like Soren's but it fails to give the level of attachment the characters in the game feel to the emblems which makes many scenes in the game far less impactful.

The way they work mechanically is great, they feel amazing, powerful, useful, and fun. They really make the moment to moment gameplay a lot better and they bring some really fun flashy shit to the table that is just an utter blast to see. They for sure make most the characters feel legendary with the exception of like Leif who sucks.

The map design is fairly solid, while the game forgoes any form of diverse map objective, every stage being defeat the boss it uses mechanics on each stage to make it feel more like the objectives they are emulating and make each chase to defeat the boss more exciting. It's not as fun as the wildly diverse objectives of pre-awakening games but it is the best map design since New Mystery.

Skirmishes are functionally useless for grinding leveling up old pals and SP gain is slow making it really easy to fuck up builds and just have to live with it. Then it is just so easy to become over leveled on accident anyway but the game feels fun when your stomping it so it's not that big of a deal but it feels like a little flawed in several ways. Sp books should have been obtainable through normally non online gameplay.

Overall, I really like the game, I think the game is utterly full of flaws but like there is a lot of steps forward here i want to see followed. I am not going into full detail about every system but in general the gameplay is just so good that it carries it through most the flaws. However, if these flaws aren't addressed in future games the gameplay can't do the heavy lifting. I leave the game feeling disappointed but having fun. My hope is the DLC waves ignite some kind of massive fire in me of "wow this is a master piece" but I doubt the ability of some multiverse story to do that. I just hope whatever it is we see added to the game will add more to it in an exciting way.

I think this is a game that will be highly highly loved at it's time and slowly but surely fade from relevance as a game people remember faintly like "Oh ya, I did like that game didn't I" unlike a lot of the other huge memorable bangers which invoke a strong feeling of hate or love from people. Let's hope IS takes lessons from this game for future titles and makes something that can easily be the best game in the series for now, it's above average for a Fire Emblem Game.

7/10 Good but not great, not amazing, not perfect. It will probably be one of my favorite switch games of all time cuz I am a long term fan and there is enough fan service but the lack of post game, NG+, romance, etc simply means I don't feel driven to play it again and again like I felt with Awakening, Three Houses, PoR, RD, etc.

If you enjoyed this review please follow this account or go support me on Patreon or give me some ko-fi all of which you can do by going to the Carrd in my bio.

[chronicas]

Okay, FINALLY getting around to the games played 2022 top ten ranking!!

10. Hollow Knight

VERY fun although I unfortunately didn’t spend much time on it. It definitely presents a pretty significant learning curve because it’s not very much like many other games I’ve played. I hope to revisit it soon!

9. Astro’s Playroom

This cute little platformer comes with the PS5 and demonstrates many of the consoles new functionality! It’s a great way to see what the console is capable of and is also just VERY cute and enjoyable!! Definitely don’t skip this game if you get the chance to play it!

8. Pokémon White

The second oldest game I played this year and also the first non-Pokémon GO Pokémon game I’ve played. Was a lot more simple than I thought it’d be and it’s super fun. I may not know much about Pokémon, but it was really easy to grasp. Really enjoyed it and loved it as an introduction to the franchise. I hope to play more Pokémon games in the future!

7. Bloodborne

My first Fromsoft game hopefully of many! I love the gameplay and design. It’s a really fun game for when I want a challenge! I absolutely adore the boss design in it and would love to you know.. actually beat it someday.

6. Ratchet & Clank (2016)

Despite my many criticisms for this game, it was VERY enjoyable. I still argue it doesn’t quite live up to the original, but the level design being overall the same certainly made it enjoyable! It’s definitely lower on my list than other R&C games, but again! I had a great time with it.

5. Oxenfree

I’m not usually a fan of these kind of point and click games, but the narrative of this game was so so fascinating that it’s actually one of my favorite games I played this year. Only outranked by some of my favorite games in general. I highly recommend giving this game a shot and I’m VERY much looking forward to the sequel.

4. Final Fantasy VII Remake: EPISODE INTERmission

A lot of debating back and forth if this DLC really counted as a “game played” this year, but I decided it did because of how much I enjoyed it. I definitely had my issues with it, mainly all stemming from DOC being my least favorite part of the FFVII Compilation. However with Yuffie being one of my very favorite characters, I think her getting her own dedicated DLC was well deserved! It makes me incredibly excited to use her move set more come Rebirth. While I wasn’t a fan of the narrative of this DLC, the gameplay more than made up for it!!

3. Destiny 2: The Witch Queen

I was EXTREMELY excited about this expansion and I tell you it did NOT disappoint! The story of this expansion was one of my favorites since The Taken King and is in my top five Destiny storylines. The Lucent Hive are among my favorite enemies right after my all time faves, the SIVA corrupted Iron Lords. Something I have wanted since TTK was a storyline about fighting against enemy guardians (not in the Crucible) and this is probably one of the BEST ways they could’ve done that. Oryx, Xivu Arath, and Savathûn are in my opinion the most interesting characters in Destiny, and getting to see Savathûn in action was EVERYTHING I hoped it would be. She unfortunately didn’t live up to the hype of her brother Oryx, but there’s only so much you can do to live up with that without turning into a goddamn kaiju. Still, EXCELLENT expansion and a GREAT place to start if you’re looking to get into Destiny right now!!

2. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

ONE OF THE GAMES OF ALL TIME!!!! Rift Apart ABSOLUTELY lived up to the hype and is in my opinion the best game for next-gen consoles to be released so far. The story is INCREDIBLY enjoyable, the new characters are WONDERFUL additions to the franchise, and the gameplay is hours and hours of pure enjoyment. It was a wonderful use of the new features of the PS5 and absolutely didn’t hold back on using the console to its full potential. If you happen to own a PS5, this game is an absolute MUST!!

1. Sonic Frontiers

SONIC FRANCHISE SAVED!!!! I had a lot of hopes riding on this game and this game blew my expectations out of the water. Ian Flynn’s writing was exceptional and truly captured everything that I love about Sonic games. The open world design was SOOOO much fun and I REALLY hope to see more of it in the future! The boss fights are probably my favorite in any Sonic game I’ve ever played. The MOVESET was SICK AS HELL, I loved the use of combo attacks in this game, not a single battle ever felt boring. The enemy design was EXTREMELY fun, every miniboss was extremely fun and creative. And SAGE?? Everything to me, I hope she appears in every single new game from here on out. The game isn’t without it’s issues, the Cyber Space levels have many of the same issues I had with the level design in Sonic Forces, but that’s pretty much my main complaint. This game makes me EXTREMELY excited about the future of Sonic games. If you haven’t played it yet… do it immediately. There is no game I’ve played in the last five years I would recommend higher than Frontiers.

[gatormeister]

Gundam SEED Destiny Final Thoughts!

It’s fine. I liked it.

No seriously, that is pretty much my take away. I liked the characters, Athrun in particular this go around. Sure, Shinn’s an angry idiot a lot, but he’s not wrong to be angry, and the show’s pretty clear in showing how he’s supposed to be wrong at times. Cagalli’s hesitant to put her foot down for a lot of the show, but that’s to show how she’s struggling to make decisions out of a fear she might hurt Orb or throw away her father’s legacy. Kira doesn’t do much other than the same shtick as the end of SEED, but he’s also not super present in the story for most of it. Durandal actually has a personality that isn’t the “kill all naturals” of Chairman Zala, so he’s an upgrade by default. Purple hair guy whose name I don’t remember makes you want to see him get punched in the face, but that’s so he can get punched in the face later. It’s nothing bad in my opinion.

The same goes for the plot. It functions, I can follow it just fine, and I can enjoy the little pay offs as they happen. But it’s still just fine. It does what I wanted a sequel to do, so I can’t really complain that much. It’s fine.

But that’s the real problem, isn’t it? It’s just fine. Can I really say I liked this show because it’s good, or did I only like it because I thought SEED was genuinely great, and this is a competent follow up? I can’t imagine someone who already doesn’t like SEED would get anything out of Destiny.

I still can’t help but feel like Destiny didn’t want to play to SEED’s greatest strength, which was the character drama and the complicated web of relationships that would be built around it. Destiny decided to try something different, more directly focusing the narrative around the conflict directly, and I can appreciate that, but it never manages to elevate any of the other aspects to the same level of quality. It doesn’t really have the same wow moments like Athrun beating himself up over the belief that he actually killed Kira and Cagalli helping him come to some sort of sense. There’s no unspoken tension you can just see between Ramius and Badgiruel aboard the Archangel.

The best way I can describe my feelings on the show is that it’s overhated, just isn’t the complete anger inducing mess people can make it out to be, but it’s also not underrated, I can’t say it’s up to the same level of quality as IBO, or G-Witch, or SEED, and it certainly doesn’t hold up to Zeta Gundam. I’d probably put it somewhere next to Gundam Wing as far as how I’d rank it for very different reasons.

That said designs wise this show is still pretty great. Just a fantastic range of mobile suits from great mono-eye designs to cool Gundams. Destiny’s overall quality of designs are a good improvement over SEED’s already good selection. They were all really well utilized in the action scenes too. The Destiny and Legend looked great, though the Legend doesn’t hold a candle to the providence imo. The Dom Troopers were fantastic. The Murasame’s I’d say are a step down from the Astrays, but a pretty small one, and Waldfeld’s custom colors really did look fantastic. Same for Neo Roanoke’s custom Windham. The Akatsuki’s a good downgrade from the Strike Rouge though, not a fan of that sorta gold coloring.

Next up for my list of things to watch will be SEED Freedom to close out the Cosmic Era!

[eri-cheri]

Now that we have reached the last chapter of the year. It is time to do a 2020 roll call of what I like to call, “State of the Shippers”:

1. IzuOcha. Status: Placated.

-IzuOcha’s could celebrate several cute tidbits throughout the year. Mini moments as they say.

Anime Highlights: The OVA’s came in clutch with moments for shippers all around and IzuOcha is no exception. We got a cute tidbit where Izuku and Ochako bumped into each other and were flustered.

Manga Highlights: Christmas kept on giving to this fandom as the AM doll Izuku gave Ochako made many appearances. A cute fist bump between the two was also exchanged and Mina was right there bouncing with y’all.

Heroes Rising: Izuku super man carried Ochako to safety. And was Angy she was injured. Fans could enjoy the small Lois Lane moment.

Troubling Signs?: Ochako said “I would like to be excluded from this narrative” when it comes to her feelings for Deku. She’s a hero damnit! So if they are in for something, probably won’t be while they are still in school.

II. DabiHawks. Status: Yikes.

- Dabi and Hawk’s very public breakup set this fandom in disarray but also kind of disayay?

Anime Highlights: None yet. This fandom was cruelly cock blocked by Bones. Sorry DabiHawks stans.

Manga Highlights: Where to begin, my goodness. With these fans, I guess the good and the bad is a plus in this homoerotic double agent relationship. We have the notion that Dabi may have known Hawks when they were kids, which may be a positive? Hori sure loves his childhood friends. Other than that. The GIRLS WERE FIGHTIN’. Hawks is now permanently scarred by Dabi and I don’t think it was kinky folks. Tokoyami inserted himself in the middle to White Knight Hawks, Dabi broke up with him via YT expose and overall, shippers could anguish in the absolute MESS that this ship endured this year. But I’m sure that’s part of the appeal. So...yay?

Heroes Rising: They were both in it.

Troubling Signs?: The entire relationship is a troubling sign which again, is part of the appeal. Maybe Hawks will cuddle up with Dabi’s father after the war. That’s troubling! Speaking of...

III. EndHawks. Status: Yearning and Burning.

-If there’s one thing Endeavor couldn’t stop worrying about, it was his hot (in more ways than one) new side piece who probably should have looked at the fine print when signing a contract to be a recurring guest star on “Keeping up with the Todoroki’s”.

Anime Highlights: A fateful meeting finally in high definition for all our eyes to see! Hawks’s unwavering support of his biggest hero was endearing to watch and their shenanigans together spurred the anime onlies to finally jump on the biggest May-December ship in the series.

Manga Highlights: Endeavor’s admiration and concern for Hawks seeped through the pages as we entered our most exciting arc in the manga yet. Fate split these two up yet entwined their downfall together. And that Fate’s name was Dabi...or should I say ⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️⚫️ or should I just say Touya!

Heroes Rising: “Don’t bite my head off, Endeavor.” Geez, can you flirt a little less loud Hawks?

Troubling Signs?: They say never meet your heroes and Hawks is in for a rude awakening. We shall see just how deep his admiration runs or if Endeavor’s past will split our dynamic duo up for good.

IV: TodoDeku. Status: “Precious”

-Shoto’s “Midoriya is in Danger” radar was highlighted in both manga and anime. 4th User’s quirk, who?

Anime Highlights: “Midoriya hasn’t returned yet.” “Where’s Midoriya?” “Midoriya! Grab my hand!” “Have some of my Soba Midoriya.” Shoto gets it. His emotional support friend is a danger magnet. TodoDeku’s also enjoyed tiny tidbits in the OVA such as a hand grabbing scene. Gotta hold tight to those crumbs.

Manga Highlights: Two Words. “Precious Friend.” Deku comes in w/o arms or legs fighting for Shoto and Shoto’s honor. These two spent the entire year worried sick about each other, and going against all odds to save each other. Precious Friends indeed. TDDK fans ate.

Heroes Rising: Shoto kicks some dog ass and then faints thinking of Deku (and Bakugo but shh. Let the shippers rejoice.) On the bright side, we have a 3rd movie coming featuring “The Three Musketeers” so shippers of TdDk can HOLD TIGHT to what’s to come.

Troubling Signs?: Shoto still doesn’t know about OFA and he’s gonna have LOTS of questions after this arc. Will Deku finally tell him? If not, it could make or break the ship.

V. TodoBaku. Status: “Shining through the city with a little funk and soul.”

-Who knew the greatest comedy duo we needed was Shoto and his hot headed “friend” or not friend? It still remains unclear to Shoto. Regardless, these two had a fun year.

Anime Highlights: “I wanna see your cute face”, disco dancing, and more fun in the provisional license training. Plus the OVA added some cute moments between the two such as Bakugo staying behind to save Todoroki during a dangerous excercise and his adorable plan neatly animated for us. I’d say TodoBaku’s really were resurgent and energized this year!

Manga Highlights: Shoto, that is not how you properly Catch a Kacchan, I’m sorry. But at least you did it you mad lad. As with Deku, Shoto spent the year worried sick about Bakugo. While the anime let us have our fun, these two were suffering in the manga.

Heroes Rising: Again, Shoto put a dog down and then fainted with Bakugo on his mind (and Deku but we ignore that. Shush.) TodoBaku’s have the 3rd movie to look forward to which is bound to have some amazing content!

Troubling Signs?: They have a lot of trauma to deal with. And a lot of Deku to worry about. I also imagine Shoto will be hurt about being left out of the OFA secret. We shall see what 2021 has to offer.

VI. KiriMina. Status: Unbreakable.

-Changing your hairstyle to match the gal who inspired you in middle school? Sorry y’all but if Mina were a guy, I’d say that’s gay af.

Anime Highlights: We got that backstory Bois. Red Riot’s origin might as well make him be called Pink Riot. Again with Hori and the childhood friends though I wouldn’t exactly call them friends. They just went to the same middle school but Kirishima was highly influenced by Mina’s Chivalrous spirit! A ship is born!

Manga Highlights: The influence is mutual! Mina creates a move based on Kirishima’s unbreakable and we all let out a collective “awwww”. Also in the war arc, we got Kirishima making sure Mina’s chivalrous spirit shines through right into Gigantomachia’s mouth! KiriMina may just be the unsung MVP’s of this arc.

Heroes Rising: They were in it.

Troubling Signs?: I can’t think of a single one. KiriMina’s can enjoy a peaceful sailing.

VII: KiriBaku. Status: Crumb Collectors.

-2020 was an uneventful year for KiriBaku but Bones made sure there were crumbs aplenty! Thank God for OVA’s!

Anime Highlights: KiriBaku’s did thrive in one episode! Kirishima reflects on the sludge incident and evolves his quirk based on inspiring words from Bakugo! Hooray! KiriBaku’s can thrive in their blossoming friendship. The OVA also has Kirishima (and Kaminari but shh) once again following Bakugo’s lead when it comes to the training excercise. How can you not? He’s so manly!

Manga Highlights: Not gonna lie. There is nothing much here this year. I did find a teeny tiny flake in Aizawa’s flashback. Kirishima and Bakugo are sitting next to each other. Oh! And at the hot pot gathering, Bakugo sits next to Kirishima! Eat your crumbs KiriBaku’s! There’s always next year!

Heroes Rising: Kirishima hangs with a lazy Bakugo and delivers the most hilarious line in the whole movie. “Silly Bakugo, there won’t be villains here!” Hahah... Silly Bakugo. Oh you~ KiriBaku’s can inhale the fact that those two sure love to hover around each other!

Troubling Signs?: With great crumbs come little responsiblity. No trouble if there’s no content! 🤔

VIII: KamiJirou. Status: Singing their hearts out 🎶

-If there’s any ship that’s coming close to canonization, I think this is it, folks! “Think of the person most important to you!” Can’t argue with Midnight!

Anime Highlights: Kaminari does non stop encouraging of Jirou and her hobbies! He works super hard to learn guitar for her sake! We love a king who can encourage his queen!

Manga Highlights: Kaminari thinks of the most important person to him and surprise! It’s Jirou! All of the feels can commence.

Heroes Rising: They were in it!

Troubling Signs?: Kaminari does love his women. And men. Kaminari overall is a huge flirt. But Jirou appears to have his heart strings. ❤️

IX: BakuDeku. Status: Rising. 👑

-Alternative Statuses include Winning, Thriving, Soaring. It’s just been non stop content this year. 2020 is truly the year for BakuDeku. The shippers can rejoice.

Anime Highlights: Three words. Be. My. Cane. The OVA’s helped fan the flames of the BkDk hearts with a surprise! Deku tops! Not only that, we got a lovely shoulder tap of encouragement in the canon material. While in season 4, Deku’s primary focus was Eri. Bakugo and Deku still had their moments to be hella gay.

Manga Highlights: Where do I even begin? I guess we’ll just cut to the chase with Bakugo Katsuki: Rising. We finally saw Bakugo’s true feelings manifest for Deku and if getting stabbed for him isn’t the ultimate showing of love, then idk what is. BakuDeku’s rounded out the year with the Volume 29 cover AND the volume 29 cover drafts to eat at our heart strings. Overall, their relationship got the spotlight in the manga this year. And we’re bound to start 2021 with a dramatic confrontation. Hand holding seems to be the key with these two and it didn’t stop with Heroes Rising...speaking of.

Heroes Rising: The entire movie. Like....yeah. That’s it. [OP, your bias is showing. You have to be SPECIFIC.] {But random criticizer in my head, if I lay out the entire plot of the movie, my post will be too long} [OP....] UGHHHH Okay okay. The POPSICLE MELTING. THE HAND HOLDING. THE CHARACTER DESIGNS OF WHAT MIGHT AS WELL BE THEIR LOVE CHILDREN. Did I mention? “It’s fine if it’s you?” CAUSE YEAH. Oh and All Might randomly officiating their wedding in their heads like idk. Isn’t it just simpler if I say the whole movie??!

Troubling Signs?: Well these two’s relationship is extremely delicate and while it has non stop soared this year, Deku might not take too kindly to Bakugo almost dying for him. Will they stop pushing each other away? Time will tell.

That’s all for this year folks! Happy Shipping and good luck to everyone next year!

[honnojis]

i beat violet and reached the credits! i'll talk without spoilers about how i felt about the maingame (yet to do postgame), but i'll put it under the cut nonetheless.

i mentioned it on twitter too, but despite the game being extremely riddled with bugs and broken lighting (gamefreak please fix your fucking game so it plays normally without me having to restart it to fix the memory leak issue temporarily im begging), the actual contents of the game are REALLY fun and the writing in the game is the best it's been since gen 5.

Narratively it surpasses the previous couple of games in many ways (and swsh in EVERY possible way and more lmao) and honestly? that redeemed the game for me. no you can't change my mind. The whole endgame sequence had me actually wanting to stay up to play more but unfortunately my switch ran out of battery and i forcibly got stopped so i had to go sleep LOL

The tera mechanic is fun and adds a nice layer of depth to gameplay without making it obnoxious like GMAX was, game felt pretty balanced and I even had a couple of moments where I struggled to get by, which was great! I love that. Thank you for not making the game too easy at some points. It also definitely did not help that half my team was weak to either ground or fighting LOL but that's aside the point

Speaking of teams, the mons in this gen have been a bit hit or miss. Some of them really feel like they could've used more depth to their designs, look better in 2D than in 3D or are just... really not my thing, but the ones they do hit the mark with, they hit it GOOD and they introduced some of my favourite designs across the whole franchise with it. It's probably still the least solid gen in a while though, which is a bit of a shame as I was hoping for better.

The technical issues with this game REALLY are holding this game back though. I'm even mad this shit even got through QA at all and released in this state, how the fuck did they overlook such a huge performance issue? What's done is done though and the game's out there, so instead let's hope for a solution; if they release a patch with some fixes for lighting issues and the memory leak that keeps tanking the game's frame rate and performance, then this game will feel much better to play, even with the switch being an underpowered console. Restarting the game from time to time has shown that it can run relatively smoothly as it fixes the memory leak problem temporarily. Sure, there's definitely some stutters still, but the average frame rate is definitely higher and it would do the game well to see that fixed sooner than later.

If the game had like... six more months or even a whole year extra in the oven, I really do think that it would've been better for this game, but unfortunately TPC likes money too much to not have GF run on fumes all the time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it's not the games that rake in the big cash after all, it's the merch made based on the new mons.

tl;dr, game fun, story was good and actually had me super invested near the end, gameplay was fun but could've been better in the mons' overall design department, please fix your fucking game GF and release a patch to fix the biggest issues, thanks. but also TPC stop stretching this game company thin you freaks

[fermented-writers-block]

Lus and the Human Portal Clone Theory

Even before Keeping Up A-fear-ances aired, I have been working for almost a year now on running through all the possible various suspects with wonderful folks like @sepublic​ , @anistarrose​ , and @elementalist-kdj​ . Like the post title indicates, from sheer process of elimination, the only conclusion that made sense to me was a clone made of Luz by the portal door, and I’ve been working on refining and reworking said conclusion up to the version I will lay out here.

Now, as @safetayy​ , @theowlhouseheadcanons , and @50shades-of-blue have heard from me before, the portal I've long suspected was not made to go from the Demon Realm to the Human Realm, but rather to go from the Human Realm to the Demon Realm by humans, for humans. This is because it then could tie into the hypothetical existence of a Luz clone without having the issue of asking where Eda, Lilith, and King's clones are, as the clone in this case is the result of a function of the door to create a basic level duplicate of any human that passes through it rather than it happening for just anyone that passes through.

With this, it's because the suitcase form of the portal looks as thought it indicates it was used for temporary trips to the Demon Realm, much like how suitcases were used when railways and international boats made travel more accessible for the middle and lower classes. For example:

Going by the way the door “faces” and the way it swings open, the ergonomics of the portal makes it look an awful lot like a right handed out swing door, with the Human Realm on the “inside” and the Demon Realm on the “outside.” And the arrow in the diagram depicts the general direction of traffic that such right handed, out swing doors are typically design with in mind - ergo, showing what way the portal appears to facilitate travel in.

Now, before you ask, the reason why I think the portal could have been created in the human realm in the first place is that it might require an extra component/bit of help or two from the Owl Deity which I’ve discussed before in the past as hinted by these connected designs:

I’ll explore how I feel the revelation that such a twist about the portal’s origins could play into the themes and narrative of the show under the cut, but overall, I feel these are potential significant details to keep in mind for the rest of this arc of building a new door and handling the idea of Lus having initially been made as a temporary-duration clone, hence how "Luz" comes off so uncannily in the letters as she wasn't meant for long term impersonations.

That, and why I named this the Human Portal Clone theory, for those wondering about the name.

Alongside this, my thought has been that walking back through the portal to the Human Realm basically makes the portal send a recall signal to tell the clone to return to it, where the clone would be reabsorbed into the portal and its memories are given to the original. However, with Luz going back into the Demon Realm for a brief time in YBOS, I am of the mind that it doesn’t just make another clone, but rather that doing so merely made the door turn off the recall signal and allowed "Lus" to resume the impersonation.

And as for the clone itself and why they’re writing letters to Camila, well, imagine it from Lus' perspective. To her at the time of creation, the last thing she probably knew was that she had been chasing the cute little owl that took her Azura book into the woods, and right when the bus to Reality Check Camp was about to arrive.

Also, if you think about it, Lus being the work of someone we/don’t know yet raises way more plot threads/questions than answers compared to being the work of the portal, as outlined below:

TLDR at end of post for those wondering

Belos? How and why before YBOS where he actually started paying attention to Luz for the first time and actually got his hands on a portal? 

Eda? Why would she do all this and not tell Luz she can goof around without needing to worry about her mom or the camp/in time to fool the camp, especially when it took a good amount of time for Eda to even start feeling that close to Luz? 

Hooty got ruled out from the getgo since he can’t hold pencils, King just isn’t that subtle, and everyone else that Luz knows has the major issues of just straight up not knowing about the camp in the first place. Well, that and a lack of another known method of getting to the Human Realm in the first place.

The camp? Why would they worry about a missing camper whose disappearance is all HER fault and thus would more logically result in a call to her parent than some convoluted clone conspiracy? 

And finally, some currently completely unknown third party?

If we’re talking a Changeling, A) it’d be easy for Luz to dismiss them and B) that just makes all the ominous portrayal of Lus super straightforward instead of a subversion like is the show’s shtick.

If we’re talking dimensional counterparts, A) they have to REALLY have led a very similar life to Luz’s in order for there to be enough common ground for Luz to listen, and B) dimensional counterparts aren’t even a confirmed or likely thing that people cooked up from Episode 1 side characters influenced by Amity’s concept art.

And if we’re talking some complete surprise third party group or another, it doesn’t make sense to introduce a third party and their motives and plans to the show this late in when Belos is already taking up the bulk of it all.

Hell, if anything, the continued existence of the duplicate in of itself would indicate that the target of the conspiracy is none other than Camila Noceda than anything to do with Luz or Eda, especially with the complete lack of anyone taking advantage of Luz and or Eda. 

From the getgo, Witches Before Wizards already hard-baked into the show the idea that Luz is NOT inherently special or anything into the foundations of the show from the getgo - ergo, Camila likely just is an absolutely regular human being, someone who has no justification for such a convoluted conspiracy to surround them.

That said, I believe that the idea of the portal having originated from the Human Realm could potentially play into some interesting stories to be had with Camila and Lus here, especially as the conspiracy board shot from the promo was confirmed by Dana to apparently be from S2A, not from the episodes past Yesterday’s Lie:

After all, with Luz searching the library for a way home this coming episodes, perhaps she might figure out something the next couple of episodes that allows her texts to send through, which would logically lead to the above picture. That, and Camila and Lus being confused by and trying to figure out what’s going on there.

I mean, the cabin in the woods likely has a very close connection to the portal and it’s origins given how closely tied the two structures seem to be, and as far as we can tell, Luz never mentioned the cabin in her videos to Camila, but if Lus tries to retrace her steps, that would be a natural vector to lead Camila to the cabin and thus allow us a chance to actually investigate it.

That said, all following the trail would do is lead her and Lus to a dead end at the abandoned cabin, where they would have nothing else to do except discuss their complicated relationship concerning Luz and twiddle their thumbs while waiting for Luz to finish things on her end - which while something I think would be interesting to see, I just don’t see how much of a way to keep them in the greater picture of the show without some kind of project or activity that the two of them could work together on on screen. 

And that’s what leads me to a particular train of thought here, starting with the question of what if Luz FAILS to make a working portal over the course of S2A and such?

With the possible in-universe mystery over what the heck is going on with Lus, perhaps the cabin might hold some notes from the original last human owner - if not potentially the creator - of Eda’s portal as well as potentially some of the same materials and such from previous trips.

Cue CAMILA building a working portal, following in the footsteps of the original creator and such and thus finding a reason to stay on screen, all the while potentially demonstrating both why Belos wanted the portal instead of making his own, as well as diving into the Owl Deity’s connection with the original portal. Heck, maybe the Owl Deity is only accessible in the Human Realm and that plays a part in Belos wanting to get to the Human Realm, which would bring Camila directly into contact with the magic her daughter has been interacting with.

Also, just imagine the internal conflict going on here with Lus. After all, helping Camila build a portal to get the original Luz -and hoo boy would that be a tough thing to grapple with- would most definitely do that and make both Lus AND Camila question how much the latter likes Lus vs Luz.

Like, just imagine it. There would be major chances for Lus and Camila to discuss what would happen if and when they’re finished with the portal, and what will happen to Lus’ relationship with Camila if and when Luz gets back.

Does Camila really prefer her daughter to be all more “normal” like Lus, or does she prefer the old, “weird” daughter from before the summer with Luz?

Perhaps she might be able to figure out how to strike a nuanced balance between the two, and all on a metaphorical journey to truly build a better connection between her and her daughter(s?). 

TLDR: Or in short, I can’t help but feel it would be fitting to see Camila building a bridge WITH Lus TO Luz. 

Particularly, by being the one to craft an actual working portal in the Human Realm instead of Luz in the Demon Realm, showing a parent putting in an active effort to get down to their child’s level rather than waiting for said child to try to get up to their parent’s level even if they can’t or find it incredibly hard to do so.

[pynkhues]

i get that it’s hollywood and they want the actors to look good, but why do you think the costumes are seemingly so expensive? aren’t the bolands super in debt and beth is wearing gucci shirts and expensive zip ups?

Ah! I can actually answer this question fairly comprehensively, anon, as my sister’s a wardrobe stand-by/set costumer and occasional costume supervisor and designer for film and TV here in Australia! I’m fairly across her process, particularly at the moment given she’s been staying with me while she works on a Netflix show here in Melbourne. 

It’s something that’s pretty fun to talk about, and really makes you realise that costumes are more than just the clothes that the actors wear. They serve thematic functions, logistical functions, narrative functions and more, all of which contribute to the choices that are made around what’s bought. 

So! Let’s break that down a little bit. 

Costume Team

Costume teams vary in shape and size depending on the need and budget of a show or film, but generally speaking you’ll have at the bare minimum, a designer, a standby/set-dresser and a runner/PA. 

Bigger shows and movies though have a lot more than this. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for instance would probably have an entire sewing room with about 20 seamstresses, and even a show like Good Girls would likely have one, maybe two seamstresses who are there to tailor, fix and adapt costumes. Shows like The Walking Dead would also have a big team of costume agers. 

In fact, one of my sister’s first major jobs was as a costume ager on a big budget fantasy movie where her entire role was to make the costumes for battle scenes look - - well, like they’d been through battle. 

(Remember that last one, because we’ll come back to it.) 

What this looks like though is that a designer will usually be hired by the production team with a brief of what the show or movie is, but not with any scripts. The designer will be hired based on their prior experience (a big concern in particular with things like period dramas, war dramas, fantasy, etc, but also experience with - for instance - difficult actors or directors), and then that designer will start to get a sense of what they’re going to need and start building their teams based off of those needs.

Branding, partnerships and product placement

Around this point, a few things become pertinent:

Do any of the actors have clothing sponsorship deals with particular brands? Does that sponsorship deal mean they have to wear certain brands, or can it operate as an in for the costume team to get clothes for free or cheaply for the show from that company? 

Does the show itself or the network have any advertising / product placement responsibilities which include (or exclude) clothing brands? 

Are there ways they can get clothes easily, cheaply or even for free? Something Good Girls definitely did with utilising Superstore’s Cloud 9, but also costume libraries are pretty widely used, even though they often are more specifically used for period dramas.

Does the designer or anyone else on the costume team have good relationships with certain stores, companies or designers that will cut them a good deal for the show? 

While a lot of the clothes on TV are bought, they’re also rarely bought at the retail price, and usually the result of a deal between a company and the costume team. 

For instance, my sister worked on a show which featured a lot of lawyer characters, and she was able to go to a mid-to-high end clothing chain here and negotiate a deal for a bunch of clothes at a heavily discounted rate, and in turn, the clothing chain was able to promote the fact that they were featured prominently on the show as a branding exercise i.e. their clothes were shown on hot young lawyer characters .

Camera Tests

Which brings us to another early consideration – not all clothes are made equal, and not all clothes are designed to be filmed. Something might look fine in day-to-day life, but be off-colour, reflective or worse, see-through, beneath the harsh environment of a set. I know my sister in particular has a really big issue with a particular fabric that’s because it looks fine in real life, but comes up shiny on camera in a way that’s distracting. 

That’s not necessarily something related to price, but it can be, and so often certain items like a black hoodie might seem easily substituted and done on the cheap, but aren’t. 

Breaking the Scripts

The scripts actually often come fairly late to the crew. The show my sister’s working on right now for instance, they only got the scripts three weeks before they started shooting. 

That doesn’t mean they weren’t able to work on it though. They had a breakdown of the characters, actors and locations / settings, the show’s themes, and episode outlines. This allows them to start building suites of clothes for the actors, and for a crew like Good Girls buying things like - - say - - a bunch of Fine & Frugal uniforms, a suite of school uniforms for Ben, etc. which they know they’re going to need. 

Once the scripts drop with the crew, a member from each department will do a script breakdown. That’s where each department works out what they’re going to need on a scene-by-scene basis for the episode. The sound department is thinking about microphones, art department about sets and props, and costume about, well, costumes! 

This is where they work out how many changes will be happening, make thematic choices based on what’s happening with the characters, and start to think about what needs to happen with those clothes, which is where things can get a little more fiddly. 

Needs of the clothing

Because those needs really vary! Some clothes need to be tailored or altered, some aged up to look lived in. Some blood stained or torn or marked with food or paint. Some need to have a particular shape to hide things like microphone packs or thermals to keep the actors warm if they’re shooting in particular environments, some need to have mic pack pockets sewn in, or be adjusted to fit things like fake pregnant bellies, or even harnesses for stunts.

And every show has stunts, even if it might not entirely look like it! My sister just had to go out last week and rethink a character’s costume for what was supposed to be a simple rollerskating scene. The actress said she could rollerskate during casting, and it turns out she can’t, haha, and as a result, they’re putting a stunt harness on her with leads so they can hold her upright and keep her safe while she does it. They can digitally remove the leads, but not the harness, so my sister had to adapt the clothing to something that would conceal it. 

These clothes have a lot of functional needs, and so they often need to be of good enough quality that they aren’t going to tear or wear out during the process of getting them to look like what the show needs them to look like. 

Even looking at 4.01, I’d say all these clothes have been aged to look lived in, which is a process of deliberately fading and weathering the clothes: 

A stark juxtaposition to say, the Boland Bubbles uniforms which look deliberately crisp and new to mark the first day the store’s opened.

And hell here, these ones are not just aged but sweat-stained and paint-stained: 

The costume team needs to find fabrics they can do that to without wrecking the clothes, and fabrics that are going to show those sorts of marks on camera beneath the harsh stage lights. For things like sweat stains or blood stains, they’ll ideally be clothes the costume team’s not going to be having to re-dampen too much between takes too, so they’ll be picking fabric that retains the liquids that they want it to. 

Actors Get a Say

And finally, depending on the set, actors can get a say in what it is they wear too, even beyond their branding obligations if they have them. I don’t know if the cast has too much of a say on what they wear on set, but the costume team for Good Girls seems pretty flexible overall – I mean, think of how much Manny wears his own jewellery as Rio, haha. 

Point is, there are a lot of reasons that contribute to the way shows pick clothes! That’s not to say that some shows don’t value and prioritise the authenticity of a price point – Broad City’s costume team did that and there are a few great interviews about that! – but different teams prioritise different things, and for Good Girls, I think price was probably put aside for the sake of some or all of the above. :-)

[twh-news]

Loki’s production designer on the Modernist inspiration behind the show’s stunning visuals | The Art Newspaper

By Helen Stoilas

Kasra Farahani explains why the Time Variance Authority waiting room looks so much like the Breuer building, and how the inside of a Fabergé egg became an alien train carriage.

Fans of Modernist design can find a lot to appreciate in Loki, the television series starring Tom Hiddleston recently released by Marvel Studios on the streaming channel Disney+. The stunning production is clearly influenced by Brutalist and Neo-Futurist architecture, as well as Soviet Socialist art and sculpture. Visual references can be seen from the very first episode, in which the magic-wielding god of mischief is apprehended by a universe-spanning police force known as the Time Variance Authority for “crimes against the Sacred Timeline” (stay with us).

One early scene, for example, was filmed on a custom-built set that bears a striking resemblance to the lobby of the Marcel Breuer building in New York which once housed the Whitney Museum—and now houses the Frick—while another was shot on location in the Neo-Futurist Atlanta Marriott Marquis hotel, designed by the architect John C. Portman, Jr (with some monumental statues later edited into the soaring atrium). The Art Newspaper spoke to the series’ production designer, Kasra Farahani, about his inspirations for the look of the show.

The Art Newspaper: Loki's director, Kate Herron has called this series a love letter to sci-fi and you see a lot of visual homages to films like Brazil, A Clockwork Orange and Blade Runner. But there's also a clear influence of Modernist design on the look of the series overall. You studied industrial design early in your career. Were there specific examples of Modernist architecture and design that you were looking at when you started working on the series?

Kasra Farahani: So many, everyone from Frank Lloyd Wright to Breuer, to Mies van der Rohe to Paul Rudolph—you have a shot in the John Portman building—to Oscar Niemeyer. And then a lot of Eastern European, Soviet-influenced Modernism played a big part in it as well. I can honestly tell you that my first and foremost inspiration was Modernism. Part of that is because the TVA (Time Variance Authority) is a bureaucracy and I think, archetypically, so much of what we know a bureaucracy to be is that post-war, highly funded institutional look. And there's a lot of different versions of that, whether it's the Washington, DC version, like the Hoover building, or whether it's what we had in Los Angeles, where I grew up, where there's a huge amount of post-war architecture built for the population boom. Like the elementary school, middle school and high school that I went to were all mid-century Modernist.

I was also looking a lot at Brutalism and the Modernism in former Soviet states, that are heavily influenced by Socialism and Soviet architecture, and where scale is such a big driving force of the design.

The size of some of the buildings in the show are kind of overwhelming. I know that some filming was done in the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, with that huge soaring atrium. You just completely get dwarfed by that kind of architecture.

Yeah, that's right. That one we used for the TVA archives because we couldn't justify building a big set, but once I scouted it, I saw that we could bring in these massive Time-Keeper sculptures at the scale you would typically only see in an exterior, which is a fantastical thing. The TVA sets themselves, which were almost entirely full 360-degree sets, were very much designed as an intentional paradox between the stoic, large-scale Brutalism form language, and the surfacing and palette and whimsical patterning, which is very much taken from American mid-century Modern. Those two things create these spaces that feel at once super intimidating and then uncomfortably inviting and warm at the same time.

That’s kind of the irony of a lot of Modernism, Brutalism especially, it had these utopian ideals of creating affordable social housing, but then a lot of the people found it really oppressive to live in.

Yeah. Modernism has been that way the whole time—it was designed to be super cheap and utilitarian and routinely it ends up being the most expensive kind of architecture. Another thing readers may be curious to know about is the TBA expanse, which is essentially the view outside some windows.

That futuristic cityscape you can see….

Yeah. They had very strange and unique parameters to try to design that. The TVA exists outside of the physical world—so there's no weather, there's no roofs, there's no difference between interior and exterior, there's not necessarily even gravity in the way that we know it. But there are these meandering colonnades that we took a lot of inspiration from Brasilia—and obviously a lot of the super cities that were drawn in comics. But also there's some really beautiful conceptual sketches that Frank Lloyd Wright did of a version Los Angeles in the early 20th century that had Roman-like colonnades and plazas and a lot of that fed into what the TVA expanse is.

You mentioned all the sets you built for Loki, especially for the TVA. There's two that where used a lot. The Time Theater, where so much of kind of Loki’s personal story gets told, and looks like its straight out of the Barbican in London, with these huge colour-coded directional numbers on the walls. And then there's the Miss Minutes waiting room with those circular lights that looks almost exactly like the lobby of the Breuer building in New York—to the point where I reached out to the museum to ask if you’d filmed there. You even got the silver-tipped light bulbs right.

We were very inspired by that, but it's different in some very subtle, but for me, very important ways. Number one, the size of the bulbs is much smaller, they were manipulated to create eyeballs, basically. Another important difference is that in the Breuer building, they have these dishes hanging in space, whereas in ours, they're negative space, there's a solid ceiling. It creates a matrix of eyeballs peering down, like the always-watching Time-Keepers. And maybe the most important difference is that the ceiling is slammed down—you know the cheapest apartment you can go into has an eight-foot ceiling, this is six inches shorter than that, and our actor is about six-foot-three. The idea was to create a sort of trash compactor feeling in this claustrophobic space with this matrix of eyes, watching as all of this is happening.

The time theater was for me very inspired by Pier Luigi Nervi.

I liked that waffle coffered ceiling you have in that room.

Thanks. We were very happy with it, and it created this kind of forest of light columns which helps set the neo-noirish, interrogative nature of the space. And the unnecessarily large super graphics that you mentioned are a very Paul Rudolph sort of a thing, he did that in his building too, and I love that.

For me, it’s very important not to reference a set design from other films, that why I reference architecture, painting, photography, these other art forms, more than anything else, because inevitably when you’re working in archetypes, there’s a lot of overlap.

And as Loki goes into different times and locations, you get a completely different design environment in those places. There’s a scene on a train car, that has a very Art Deco look.

That was inspired by the inside of a Fabergé egg, Art Deco meets Alien.

And when you finally meet the Time-Keepers in the most recent episode, it’s like they're in a pre-Colombian pyramid or a ziggurat.

I was looking at Indian stepwells, this almost fractal quality with these descending stairs going into one another—but we imagined them going out every direction, with an Escher-like quality, like they are tessellating themselves to infinity.

I read on Twitter that you literally bought a bowling alley from Omaha and brought it to Atlanta to create Loki's Palace in the Void in the last episode, which is this crazy, surreal, amusement park, junk yard-like place.

We bought the floor of a bowling alley, everything else we built. That was a lot of fun because the script gave us a lot of runway. The proposal was to do this bowling alley because essentially everything in the Void has been discarded from time, and more things fall into it and accumulate and so you end up with these strata. I liked the idea of like a bowling alley that's been smashed over your knee or something. The net effect is when you first enter, you have all these lane lines pointing down at this throne, which was supposed to be stolen from a mall Santa. And then there's these crazy alien plants that are growing through it that have taken parasitic hold of the place. In many ways, I think its a narrative microcosm of the Void itself, which is like a salad bar of these disparate aberrations slammed together. Things like the bowling alley all have these micro-narratives that we in the art department have come up with to help flush out the design and make them specific. For example, there's portraits on the wall of like bowler of the month, and they’re not quite human. It's not in the episode, but those things are important for us in the art department.

At the very end of the most recent episode, we get a glimpse into this city that Loki and Sylvie (played by Sophia Di Martino) are walking into. Can tell us anything about what inspired those scenes, what we're about to see?

You can call me back in a week. All I can say is that the TVA is definitely the visual and narrative anchor of the story, but there's a lot of great worlds to see. And I think what people are responding to is the breadth of the visual variety of the show. And episode six won't be any different. It's really cool, and maybe some of my favorite stuff.

[icy-hxt]

can you tell me what you think about the kids at 1a?

hi anon, I'm sorry that I took so long to answer this, when I saw your ask I felt really lazy, because there's too many people in the class lol

this is going to be a long post, since we have 20 characters to cover, so I'm putting it under the cut

okay, first of all I want to say that I don't hate any of the kids at 1a besides mineta, BUT, I do have a feeling of indifference towards at least half of them and do dislike some, I always thought that the story would been benefited if there were less people in the classes, since hori would've been able to develop them better, so don't expect me to talk a lot about everyone. also, don't take everything that I say too seriously, this is not a character analysis, I'm just doing it for fun.

anyway, the order that I'm using to list them is their seating arrangement in the class, so let's start

yuga aoyama: I already said this here before but I really like aoyama, he's ridiculous in the best way possible, he feels like a character that horikoshi took away from ouran high school club or something. since the chapter where he and deku became friends were released I felt like he deserved more screentime, because his backstory about him thinking of himself as different than the other kids in the class because of his quirk being "defective" is really interesting, I always wanted to see more of his friendship with deku and he overcoming his fears (since he was shown to be easily frightened)

mina ashido: I LOVE mina, I think that her design is so cool and her personality is really likable, when we had the kirishima flashback and we saw her protecting her friends from machia even though she was scared too was the moment that I decided that we deserved to see more of her in the story, I really liked to see she having a bigger role for a female character in a shonen, I wasn't too bad in the war but I still want more

tsuyu asui: okay, this is going to be controversial because I feel like everyone likes her, but I feel really indifferent towards her, maybe I was influenced by one of my friends that really doesn't like her but since that scene where she says that going to rescue bakugo is the same as acting like villains I started to not care about her all that much, and yes, I know that she admitted that she was wrong and everything but yeah, I don't really click with her personality (but I don't hate her, please don't be mad at me kdbdgsusj)

tenya iida: ah, what a respectable little man iida is, I really like him, I think that the way that he take everything so seriously is hilarious, like him acting super dramatically in their exams to be as similar as possible to his vision of what a villain is. I really like how he grew since the stain arc and how he decided to be a hero that prioritizes the safety of others in detriment to fighting the villains. I'm really happy that he became the focus of the story lately and that he was the one who could hold deku's hand, I want him to have a bigger role in the story for now, maybe even encountering with stain again and showing to him that he's now a great hero

ochaco uraraka: I love her personality, she's really cute, and her fight with bakugo at the beginning of the story was a highlight to me back then, but, I feel like her character became too much attached to deku after aoyama made her realize that she likes him, almost felt like her personality was gone and her only defining feature was having a crush on him, anyway, thank god that apparently she's going to have importance right now in the story because she's too much of a cool character to become just the romance interest for the male lead

mashirao ojiro: denki playing with his tail is cute, I think that is funny how horikoshi always describes him as the plain one, it was cool when he refused to participate in the sports festival because he didn't felt like he deserved

denki kaminari: oh this sweet dumbass, I love him, he's so funny and cute, I think that is that funniest thing how he just decided to call bakugo "kacchan" and is super overly friendly with him and bakugo just lets him, I actually don't think that he's "stupid" as part of the fandom seems to think, I strongly believe that people can be smart in their own ways, maybe he's not the brightest in math for example but he already showed to be able to come up with strategies, I feel like denki has a lot of anxiety inside of him because of his quirk, but i also feel like he's really genuine in trying to be a hero, overall I really like him, he's really sweet

eijiro kirishima: this swee- I mean, super manly man is amazing, I feel like kirishima is for bnha what rock lee was for naruto, I really really really like him, I love his personality and I love even more his backstory, he's really a great person and he deserves all the love that he get from the fandom, I hope that we're going to see even more of him in the future

koji koda: he's adorable, his voice is really adorable the japanese dub, his quirk is like a disney princess

rikido sato: he bakes, I like cakes and pies, we would've been best friends

mezo shoji: since I saw that hori said that he uses his mask because people are afraid of him I'm impatiently waiting for his face to be shown, and if he doesn't look like a junji ito monster or something I'm going to be pretty disappointed, anyway, I like his personality, he was really cool at the forest arc (I clearly don't remember the arcs names, I'm sorry lol), and I feel like he could have a bigger role in the story if hori finally decides to address the prejudice against people with mutant quirks

kyoka jiro: she kind of reminds me of a girl that used to bully me in middle school because of the way that she treats denki but I still like her lol I liked how she learned that is okay liking to sing and music in general and being a hero at the same time, because after all a lot of people were saved by music and/or their favorite artists, but since I find her quirk so cool I wanted to she her fighting more

hanta sero: he's funny, even funnier than denki, he has a really relatable sense of humor and I love him for that, his quirk is really cool, but I feel kind of bad for him because deku now has practically the same one and he's not the only spiderman in the story anymore (his quirk being similar to spiderman was actually what made me like him in the first place because peter is my favorite hero ever)

fumikage tokoyami: my 12yo emo self shakes inside of me every time that I see him, anyway, I really like him, how would I not? he has a bird head, he's nice without being overly friendly and dark shadow is really cute, I don't really remember everything that happened in the war but I remember him saying to hawks that he believes in him, so I really wanted to see him frustrated at his mentor because of what he did to twice please horikoshi address the consequences of twice's death, I'm tired of waiting

shoto todoroki: ah my angel, shoto was the reason why I started reading the manga back in 2015, I knew that he was going to be my favorite just by seeing his character design. I love shoto, I want him to become the happiest person in the world because he really deserves it, I know that everyone thinks that deku is what an ideal hero looks like but o me it is shoto, he's kind, sweet, forgiving, has a heart made of gold and is just genuinely a good person, I could talk about him for a whole week without pause and still find more things to compliment about him so let's move on before I write over 10000 words about how much I love him

tooru hagakure: she... exists...

katsuki bakugo: while shoto is my favorite, I have to admit that bakugo has the best character development in the hero side of the story, I used to hate him at the beginning of the series but now I love him, a lot, he shows that horikoshi knows how to write a compelling redemption arc if he planned it since the beginning, I love that he started only having "fight" points at the entrance exam for ua to now having his first priority at saving people, bakugo is other that I could talk about for hours so let's move on

izuku midoriya: I like deku when he's not putting his nose at the todofam business, he's a good kid who needs some self esteem urgently, the way that he never seemed to care about his own well being always made me nervous, even though I never felt like he was in real danger, he's the mc for a reason, to summarize: I like him personality wise but some of the narrative choices that hori made for him are not my favorites

minoru mineta: I don't care, I hope for him to vanish from existence

momo yaoyorozu: she's the stereotypical anime girl with glasses (but without glasses in this case), I like her personality, she's really cute, her quirk is neat and she's super smart but, everytime that she puts her hero costume on... I feel super uncomfortable... this is not her fault of course but I think that I would like her even more if she was less sexualized

I could write more if I take more time to think, but I'm not going to do that today, if you want to know my opinion about other characters or something more specific about the kids feel free to send me other ask

also, I'm sorry if there's any atrocious grammar mistakes on this, I didn't reviewed the text and wrote just what I had in my head in the moment at four am

[painted-starlight]

Frozen 2:The Impression of Accountability, Iduna and Agnar Characterization Analysis

Warning: LONG POST, Anti-Frozen, spoilers for Frozen 2, swearing, talking about racism and mentions child abuse. If I get anything wrong on the issue of accountability, please don’t hesitate to correct me. 

Summary: Examining the inconsistencies between Frozen 2′s depiction of the behavior of Iduna and Agnarr and how this affects the overall themes of Frozen.

Introduction 

I’ve let myself sit on Frozen 2 and how I feel about it for a couple of months now. I’ve mostly focused on the meta-aspects of the film, from it’s character design to the early spoilers, but nothing too in depth until recently. 

And I’ve come to this conclusion that Frozen 2 is almost accountable, but backs away from any true accountability on the part of Arendelle and, most controversially from the response from my posts, Elsa and Anna’s parents. 

Arendelle: The Spirits Hate Them But Not Really

Frozen 2 is often praised for it’s handling of holding Arendelle accountable for it’s crimes. The spirits are angry with Arendelle for the previous king, Agnarr’s father Runeard for killing the leader of Northuldra. It is up to Anna and Elsa to right the wrongs of the past and destroy the damn that brought only grief to the Northuldra and the spirits of the Enchanted forest. 

So, I have a question. If the spirits were so angry with Arendelle, then why trap the Northuldra and allow Agnarr to leave to rule Arendelle without any real repercussions? Sure, King Runeard is killed in battle, an immediate consequence for his actions but that was ultimately a good thing because he sucked. Only a few soldiers were left behind as well. And King Runeard was later succeeded by king Agnarr, his son, who sucked slightly less than him. 

Arendelle was allowed to prosper with a better king, and Iduna is rewarded for saving his life by the spirits by having her child be gifted with magic. 

For saving the son of the man who murdered the Northuldra leader. 

Because that is something to reward...?? 

I’m starting to think that the concept of accountability is kind of twisted in Frozen 2. Arendelle is explicitly in the wrong, and yet, they are rewarded constantly for no reason. 

The entire Northuldra community, who have a good relationship with the spirits and were merely acting in self defense, were collectively punished and forcibly kept in a magic barrier for 34 years. That doesn’t sound very fair to me.  

Arendelle is Rewarded Rather Than Truly Punished

Yeah, Arendelle is wrong, but they get more benefits than punishments in long run. In fact, you could argue they were exponentially REWARDED for their heinous actions because as a result of the battle they have:

A super powerful monarch who wields magic (which no one else has because Elsa is special)

A better king than the one who died in battle to succeed him (King Agnarr) and who is married to the woman who is the favored child of the spirits

Citizens allowed to go anywhere they want and do trade with other countries to their benefit

Any consequence of said powerful monarchs magical actions (eternal winter) maybe only lasted three days, TOPS. After that she is immediately accepted for her powers and now Arendelle is essentially bulletproof because they have a magic ice queen to defend them.

Allowed to get a warning before the flood of Arendelle, but the Northuldra didn’t get any. 

Allowed Elsa to stop the flood to spare Arendelle, because for some reason the spirits are super cool with Arendelle now?

Like, how fucking crazy would it have been if the spirits woke up and immediately destroyed the dam while everyone in Arendelle was sleeping? THAT would’ve been a life or death conflict. 

But the movie is determined to deal with accountability with kid gloves, or weasel out at the last minute. 

Part 2: Iduna and Agnarr

Now, the aspect I want to talk about is the way that the story frames Iduna and Agnarr and how this contrasts with what we know about them up until the most recent movie. 

This is an examination of the theatrical installments of Frozen because they are the most canonical. Extra stories in books or supplemental material that wasn’t widely released or accessible don’t really count. And not to mention, the consistency between the theatrically released movies and shorts are mostly made by the same team. Therefore, have most canonical elements to them.

Iduna and Agnarr’s Relationship with their Children

Up until Frozen 2, the general consensus was that Iduna and Agnarr’s parents was...misguided. 

Misguided being a very soft term in my opinion because I truly feel that what they did was completely out of line and extreme, crossing the border of abuse. But that’s my personal opinion and it’s not how they are framed in the movie. 

Control vs. Love Theme

Iduna and Agnarr love Elsa and Anna. That much is true. However, Frozen, like a lot white disney princess movies believes that good intentions means benevolent actions. (Please note: I’m going to refer to Elsa and Anna as white coded, because that appears to be the most appropriate given that they are canonically white passing Indigenous characters. Yet, all the white disney princess tropes definitely apply to how they are framed and their characterization in the first film). 

However, this is not true whatsoever in reality, but most importantly, it’s not consistent with what is shown as a result of their desire to control Elsa. 

And yes, their desire to control and contain her meant that their “love” for Elsa-- least the impression they gave her and never made her feel otherwise--was conditional love. It means that as long as she controlled her powers they approved of her and gave positive reinforcement.

Iduna and Agnarr’s Love Had Conditions, Anna’s Didn’t

Their approach love can be compared to Prince Hans, because he is another extreme: He wouldn’t be interested in Anna if she didn’t have the power he desired. Many characters in Frozen are compared in whether their love comes with conditions, or is unconditional. 

Iduna and Agnarr, unwittingly, proved to Elsa that their love for her was conditional. Yes, they loved her, but they didn’t love every part of her. And that, in of itself, is placing conditions on their love. 

If we go by the narrative context of Anna’s love in comparison, hers comes without condition. Elsa’s powers are at their most controlled when she is given love without strings. Which is why the solution was (admittedly very cheesy and somewhat out of place) “love.” 

The more specific kind is the love Anna has for her sister. She never stops loving Elsa, even after she is hurt by her. She might be angry, frustrated, but in the end loves Elsa the right way.  

Frozen Fever

Subsequent installments drive home this point even further. In Frozen Fever, more is revealed in implications about their parents without directly referring to them by name. 

Iduna and Agnarr don’t celebrate Anna’s birthday after the incident. Elsa cannot recognize when she is sick and in need of medical attention. She feels like she needs to go overboard in celebrating Anna’s birthday, is highly self critical, because their parents never allowed either of them to celebrate it. 

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure goes even further into the theme that Anna and Elsa are moving away from their parents traditions and expectations. 

Elsa laments not having a Christmas tradition, because her parents only rung the bell in front of the citizens as a superficial way to signal “everything’s just fine,” when it wasn’t. When all the mandated bell ringing was done, they went back to separating the sisters. 

At the end, Elsa and Anna make their own unique traditions, and that ringing the bell doesn’t matter anymore. Their bond is what makes Christmas special for them. This is narrative cue that they are moving away from their parents and looking toward the future. 

Frozen 2: Iduna and Agnarr’s Love is Depicted as Unconditional

And then we get to Frozen 2. 

I have problems with the way they portray Iduna and Agnarr as parents in Frozen 2. It started when the film opened with Elsa and Anna playing with Elsa’s magic while their parents look on smiling. 

That’s confusing, and a little out of character. I didn’t get the impression in the first movie or shorts that Iduna nor Agnarr particularly cared for Elsa’s powers, and I also didn’t think they would be so cool with her using them so blatantly. 

Elsa’s ice powers were the bond that kept Anna and her together. That’s why they had to go and play in secret. Because Elsa’s powers were supposed to be something that couldn’t be played with out in front of their parents. That was the first cue that something was very different about this Iduna and Agnarr. 

And Frozen 2 is telling it’s audience that the parents would be supportive? Then why would Elsa feel so anxious about using them and locking herself away for so long after her parents explicitly made changes to the staff, the access to the outside, and refusing to tell Anna about Elsa’s powers? Her actions didn’t come from nowhere. Their negative reaction to Elsa’s powers was a common occurrence. 

In fact, that very same night where he looks on lovingly at Elsa’s ice magic, we hear Agnarr immediately placing blame on Elsa for an accident and exacerbating her trauma. This is a reprimanding that has been done before. Her ice powers were something to be hidden.

Agnarr: “Elsa, what have you done? This is getting out of hand.” 

Elsa “It was an accident, (to Anna) I’m sorry Anna.”

Iduna: “She’s ice cold.”

Agnarr: “I know where we have to go.”

Does this sound like the same man and woman who, just hours earlier looked on with happiness at his child using her ice powers to play pretend with her sister? It really doesn’t. 

King Agnarr and Queen Iduna specifically decide to “Lock the gates, reduce the staff, and limit her [Elsa’s] contact with people. Keep her powers hidden from everyone...including Anna.” 

The filmmakers really pulled out all the stops in the sequel to make sure that all the pain and suffering Elsa went through was actually totally just her own decisions, and the not the decisions that her parents made for a young child. 

I’m not going to lie, I get why they made so many changes. They wanted to expand on Iduna’s heritage and explain Agnarr’s view of magic without complicating the story too much. 

But these morally gray elements to their characters and the revelations on their backstories didn’t need to be mutually exclusive. If the filmmakers held Agnarr and Iduna accountable, we could’ve had a very unique set of parents in disney canon. 

Personally, I think that portraying them without the morally gray areas of their actions and having with an unambiguously supportive relationship with their children in Frozen 2 conflicts with their earlier actions. It makes the story flow a little bit better in the sequel to uncomplicate their relationship, but I think the way they set them up would’ve been interesting too. 

Olaf’s Recap Removes the Parent’s Decision to Lock Elsa Away

I was also tipped off that the whole framing of the parents was being twisted when I saw Olaf’s recap in Frozen 2.

Olaf: [As Elsa] Anna, no too high! Blast! [a Anna] Ohhh! [as Elsa] Mama Papa Help! Slam, doors shutting everywhere, sisters torn apart. Well, at least they have their parents. [beat] Their parents are dead. 

The way he describes the situation is bizzare to say the least. He doesn’t mention “conceal, don’t feel” even once. He mentions the parents positively, stripping their role in Elsa and Anna’s separation and only leaving it between the lines. I think this is because if they remind the audience about the things the parents did, the audience would have a harder time accepting their sudden support for Elsa’s powers. 

If the parents actions weren’t controversial, then I think that they wouldn’t have this problem. But it’s like they went out of their way to make it appear that it was actually all Elsa’s decision to lock herself away instead of her parents expecting her to do so without protest. 

It Was Iduna and Agnarr’s Decision to Isolate Elsa, Not Elsa Herself

When we really look into the specifics of Elsa’s isolation, we can’t ignore Iduna and Agnarr’s role. The only reason why Elsa became so secretive is because she was conditioned to do so by her parents. 

How many times did Anna go to her parents and ask what was wrong with Elsa, only to be turned away to the point where she doesn’t bother anymore? 

How could they look at this situation for more than a week, and just allow this to happen? Easily, because it was a solution that worked for them. It honestly looks like they got used to the situation after years of Elsa’s isolation.

Just look at the body language of Elsa’s farewell to her parents, Elsa is NOT happy. Unlike Anna, she remains a good distance away from them. She is nervous and sad without her parents to direct her. 

This is reaction they are most likely expecting. Her parents smile on, almost as if to say “she’ll be ok for a couple of weeks, then we’ll be right back to normal and keep her in check.” It’s a reassuring smile, that things will go back to the way they were once they come back. And they don’t.  

Elsa Hiding Things is Learned

Look man, I feel like Elsa should be held accountable for a lot of things. Abandoning her people, twice, in the middle of a storm she created. Not getting help for Anna when she was injured and kicking her out of the ice castle instead. All things she should get shit for. 

However, I also think that her parents shouldn’t be let off the hook. 

My other problem comes from Frozen 2′s emphasis on Elsa hiding things from Anna. The constant references to Elsa shutting Anna out, making decisions without her, would definitely lead a more casual viewer under the impression that it was all Elsa’s decision to lock herself away for years at a time when this simply wasn’t true. 

On a meta note, I’ve seen people place all the blame on Elsa to lock herself away to in order to prop up her parents and give them the benefit of the doubt. That they were trying their best in a situation they didn’t have any knowledge of. However, this is an extremely inappropriate reaction to a character who is depicted as a child under the care of her parents. 

I think that there is an intrinsic desire for people to believe the framing of movies, and that good intent creates good results. But the text of Frozen shows this isn’t true either. Iduna and Agnarr should be able to be morally gray characters who made decisions that aren’t always beneficial, even with the best intentions. 

Elsa and Anna, like most siblings, have wildly different feelings toward them. For example, Anna insists to Elsa after finding out the truth about their death that she is not responsible for their decisions when Elsa blames herself. 

On one hand, this seems to be an acceptance by the story that they were not perfect people and that Elsa needs to take into consideration that she is not responsible for their actions. 

However, the way that this conversation is framed shows that this is a different conversation altogether. Anna means that they gave their lives to HELP Elsa, and that she is a gift for Iduna saving Agnarr. It martyrs their sacrifice, something that most fictional parents, who are portrayed as ultimately good, would be. They died to help her, because they were good parents who made good decisions.

They are Flawed Characters

But...they didn’t make good decisions. They were very flawed individuals. Once something is portrayed as flawed, it can’t be flawless. You can’t just dump their decisions on how they grew up, or say it’s all Elsa’s fault they treated her that way because mature writing means that you accept that your characters need to be held accountable for their decisions. 

No matter how many sad looks they give to convey their sympathetic nature in Frozen, the reason Agnarr and Iduna used the gloves and kept Elsa in a constant state of fear so much was because it was working. It wasn’t a good long term plan, nor ideal for them, but it was the one they went along with because it kept Elsa’s powers in check.

I personally don’t like how the filmmakers made them the idea of parents. Iduna is the idea of a mother and Agnarr, the idea of a father. We are supposed to put fond memories of good parents into their characterization because they rely on audiences not really remembering them in the first movie. The biggest scene with them is their death in the original movie. 

If they simply were just parents who died, then the characterization is Frozen 2 would be a welcome expansion of underdeveloped characters with little screen time.And within the vaccum of the sequel, their unconditional love for their daughters makes sense. If we place the generic idea of a mother into Iduna’s role, we get to know the mother who always loved her daughter finally reconnecting with her after her tragic death. With Agnarr we get a loving father who only wanted what was best for his daughters, who was misguided on the truth of the past. 

But Iduna’s big duet with Elsa, “Show Yourself” only highlights the parents role in her involvement with making Elsa suppress her powers with “conceal, don’t feel” since it’s a direct response. 

Agnarr’s misremembering of the past is used to highlight the truth that needed to be revealed. It’s portrayed as tragic, since we can assume he never learns the truth. And their treatment of Elsa’s powers is never brought up in detail, just glossed over. 

Even Parents With the Best Intentions Can Hurt Their Children

The problem is that we could’ve really examined how Iduna, forced with suppressing her identity, made mistakes in trying to protect her daughter. Sometimes people from marginalized groups who have no choice but to assimilate force their children to hide their identity to protect them from harm.

Agnarr’s upbringing is often pointed to as the source of his extreme views on magic, and that he inherited it from his father. But ultimately he is responsible for his actions, and he hurt his daughters. Sometimes people who seek to do better than their parents end up making the same mistakes.  

Maybe Iduna regrets hurting Elsa but felt it was a better alternative than being killed for who she is, or Agnarr so focused on protecting her he never realizes it was doing her more harm than good because it was controlling her and giving him the results he wanted. 

This could’ve been parallel with his lack of critical thinking when recounting the enchanted forest story. He doesn’t question why the conflict started, even though he has the pieces to put it together himself. He told it in a way that benefited him the most, without considering the people around him. 

Both parents could still be held accountable for the pain they caused Elsa and they would also be characters who inspire different feelings from both daughters. This could also be a turning point in Frozen 2′s theme that the sisters are on different paths. 

Final Thoughts

Like I said, I understand why the filmmakers of Frozen 2 decided to tone down the harsher implications of the parents actions. And maybe in the end, people really prefer this version of Iduna and Agnarr. But I can’t really ignore what they’ve done because their actions permeate the very themes of Frozen’s views on love and control. 

However, these are personal feelings toward this subject and I think it could’ve been handled a little better. 

[whocalledhimannux]

now that I’ve had some time to reflect on Return of the Thief, I have some more thoughts that are... slightly more critical, in both the thinking-deeply and not-entirely-praiseworthy ways. I’m not going to tag this post because I don’t want to harsh anyone’s buzz, but I’ll just say return of the thief spoilers and rott spoilers right now, and hopefully the blacklist will catch those, and if not the rest of the post is going under a cut

okay so like first off, I want to say that I still think this was a very well-written book and it’s very satisfying from a character standpoint. there are so many great interactions, indications of growth, etc, and the layered writing of the first person POV is, as always, stunning. my main character complaint is not enough Costis and Kamet (or Costis/Kamet)--but even that, upon reflection, I think is colored slightly by my anticipation for a blatant Comet moment. When you’re waiting for a big payoff, and the story isn’t designed to have that, it’ll feel like a bit of a letdown. But from a different perspective, the ending of TaT can be a perfectly satisfying narrative ending, establishing that Costis and Kamet’s storylines are now thoroughly and primarily wrapped up in each other; their contributions to the wider plot from thereon out are mostly incidental, because sailing off to be together is their bigger ending.

side note: a character development I actually loved was us seeing Eugenides teetering dangerously close to a breaking point and being pulled back. I think...... from what I have seen of the fandom in general--bearing in mind I was never a part of Sounis and have dipped in and out of the discord without being majorly involved--based on my general impression of the tumblr fandom, I think there is a tendency among QT fans to let the Thief characterization of Gen affect our reading of him in later books. I think there’s sort of an assumption that he’s everybody’s favorite and that his choices are, by default, correct and sympathetic, even as the series progresses and he makes more, increasingly difficult and sometimes pragmatic or even cruel decisions. and I think RotT really, really challenges that kind of view. Eugenides is under immense strain in this book, and several times he lashes out in ways that are indefensible. Sometimes, even if he’s not being cruel to others, he’s being risky to the point of masochism, and the revelations about his backstory also suggest that quirky innocent Gen of The Thief is also not all he seemed to be.

and I think that was resolved in a very enjoyable and narratively satisfying way. The threats to the Braels had a real edge to them. God!Eugenides was terrifying, in a noticeable step up from the ways regular!Eugenides is terrifying, and it felt like payoff for the increasing role of the gods in Eugenides’s storyline up until now. And I really appreciated the subtleties of Sejanus saying that he won’t tell Eugenides the conspirators because it will damage him in the longrun, and the way Eugenides ultimately decides to forgive and trust Pheris and Sejanus anyway--those scenes, imo, were great followups to the scenes in QoA, KoA, and ACoK that discussed how rulers can maintain their moral center in difficult situations.

but... the Medes. plot-wise, I’m struggling with the conclusion to this storyline.

I made a different post already about What the Fuck is going on with the secretary of the archives, because it totally feels like shit is missing there, and to some extent I’m okay with that? it felt to me like a stylistic choice--like, Pheris the historian is writing specifically about the Mede invasion, so maybe the full story of Baron Orutus, and Relius, wasn’t actually resolved til years later and he thought it was an overlapping but ultimately separate story. fine. I actually did kind of like the parts where that was done more blatantly, like his comment that two of the queen’s attendants became famous later on for unrelated reasons. it helped with the framing of the story.

but I don’t feel that way about the Medes plot. For one thing, we’ve spent a couple of books now harping on the fact that Ghusnavidas (sp? I’m tired and my book is too far away to check, y’all know who I mean) is dying and that the primary threat is going to come from Nahuseresh’s brother, Naheelid. Costis made a point of saying last book that if the Little Peninsula could hold out for a year against Naheelid, not only would they win but the entire empire might be in danger of collapsing.

So... they spent ~a few months fighting a single army at a single battle site, with the Big Threat Guy not even present, and that’s it? everybody goes home and the Medes aren’t a threat anymore? it’s not even clear to me how many troops the Medes lost--their principal losses were in the form of Bu-seneth, Nahuseresh, and Baron Erondites, who, yeah, were key officers, but if the Medes lost, saying, 30% of their troops or less, what’s to stop Naheelid from hiring more soldiers and better officers and coming back in a year? it totally makes sense to me that an army that saw Eugenides call down lightning is willing to pack it up early, but inevitably that’s going to be dismissed as rumor and distortion so idk how it’s supposed to be a lasting deterrent. it may not be super realistic, because the downfall of empires takes time, but I think a bunch of us were expecting that the Mede Empire would, at the very least, but conclusively beaten by the end of the book, and I don’t think we got that.

Also, speaking of Big Bads: Nahuseresh. Oof.

I know part of the point of TaT was that Nahuseresh’s situation was becoming kind of sad and pathetic but... I think he went downhill too quickly in this book. and tbh I think part of it is the fact that we’re getting this from Pheris’s POV, and Pheris for one doesn’t have a whole lot of close contact with Nahuseresh in this book, and for another didn’t have any contact with him prior to this. His little “I will be king of Attolia!” outburst honestly made me cringe a little bit, and while I’m not entirely opposed to the idea of Nahuseresh being killed by an anonymous soldier--it has a very “reality ensues, war isn’t a series of epic meaningful confrontations” feel to it--I do object to the fact that Eugenides spent a significant amount of time in KoA and ACoK nursing a grudge against Nahuseresh and then barely got to do anything with it. and a lot of what he did get to do, the reader barely sees.

I think there were ways to make Nahuseresh’s actions in this novel a bit more satisfying without fundamentally changing them. for example, bringing in more commentary from people who knew him before. if there was a passage where Eugenides looked at Nahuseresh and realized that his beard was raggedy, and he looked thinner, and there was a manic light in his eye and he just seemed pretty pathetic and honestly more comical than the villain Gen’s been building up in his head for years--I think that would go a long way towards establishing tone. it would feel more like the anticlimax is intentional and be more about Eugenides’s own character growth, whereas now it just feel like... Pheris doesn’t have a whole lot of personal stake in this conflict even though the reader has been waiting for it for so long.

(although I do find it interesting on a narrative level in contrast with Sejanus, who seems disproportionately important in this book imo--from my perspective, the threat of Nahuseresh has been a constant behind-the-scenes presence for the last four books and Sejanus stopped being important after KoA. and I get why the opposite would be true for Pheris, but I still... want more.)

anyway, I just feel like the villains in this book are a little--warped, somehow. like the huge enormous threat of the series up until this point actually isn’t all that bad and can be wrapped up in relatively little time. it’s a weird sensation for me wherein I’m glad where everyone ended up and I enjoyed the experience of getting to that end, but like... it just feels a little off. slightly anticlimactic. I mean, for a lot of us this series is All About the characters and from that perspective I’m mostly satisfied, but I feel like in previous books the plot has come together SO well that my expectations were really high, and this resolution didn’t really meet them.

and damn does it feel strange to be writing this. feels like I just cobbled together a few of my hottest and most controversial takes and like I need to throw in about twenty more disclaimers about how much I love the books overall, but I’ll resist.

[p1harmonyofficial]

[📰] P1Harmony Interview | EUPHORIA.

By Aedan Juvet

When we initially met P1Harmony in the fall of 2020, the six-member South Korean boy band promptly revealed themselves through a new, unexpected idea of creativity. Now, they’re back with a second EP to show a more comprehensive sound.

At the beginning of their unity, the group hit theaters prior to the studio, with a cinematic experience that constructed a fictional universe around their identity, P1Harmony to familiarize fans with what they had to offer. Their debut of work was showcased through a film lens, before the group was prepared to launch their fusion of pop music, R&B, and rap, making the K-pop talents fulfill the precise artistry standards that many company-signed South Korean artists have refined.

On the heels of their album late last year, the group has readily fought to prove themselves, earning over 20 million views between two videos and a handful of respectable nods at the Seoul Music Awards in categories with other heavy hitters. Having found their niche, the group is now ready to present DISHARMONY: BREAK OUT to the world, and as a sophomore endeavor, there’s a newly discovered conviction from the charismatic members of P1Harmony.

On the new album, the group has returned to their rap and R&B merger, expanding their display of confidence on the lead single “Scared” with a strikingly effective balance of chaos and clarity. Though it can be easy to get distracted by all of the new exciting facets of the industry, P1Harmony’s return finds focus by overcoming any rookie-haze, shown through a series of new radio-friendly releases that still feels ingrained in originality. Opposite their aggressively produced single is something like a more R&B-focused “If You Call Me.” The song paints a picture of P1Harmony’s diligence for storytelling through their discography ― this particular track details difficulties of commitment. On its own, the song proudly announces its spellbinding range to listeners, driven by a sultry chorus without a single weak spot in the three and a half minutes.

On tracks like “AYAYA,” P1Harmony embraces a bit of an edge, or there’s the effortlessly confidence-inspiring “Pyramid” embodying an opportunity to let loose. The overall union of songs on DISHARMONY: BREAK OUT paints a picture of what the album could be like in a live setting, and that’s largely a culmination of all of the group’s interest in taking risks. That same fearlessness towards pushing your limits is what keeps any musician adapting, growing, and expanding in their catalog, which in ways is put on display in this expansive story from P1Harmony. That pure courageousness in the studio isn’t always the easiest path for an artist to take, but for a group like P1Harmony, there’s an obvious respect for discovering what their collective strengths are, and what the future could be.

With a new album out, and having time to reflect on the sophomore release itself, we spoke to P1Harmony about their favorite tracks, confidence, and experience the progression of their maturity for the first-year artists.

If your first album was a way to introduce you to the world, what would you say was your goal behind DISHARMONY: BREAK OUT?

KEEHO: Through this album, we wanted to express and share a positive message with our listeners and our P1ece! [official P1Harmony fandom]. Our second EP, DISHARMONY: BREAK OUT, is mainly about not being afraid of anything, gaining confidence, and being more vocal; it’s also about “breaking out” of the things that are holding us back and moving forward with our dreams!

JIUNG: With this album, I want to give a voice to those who have been silent and help build their confidence so they can walk the path they want.

INTAK: I want a lot of people to listen to our album and find us to be different from other groups, and that we have our own distinctive style.

JONGSEOB: If our debut album introduced us to the world along with our opinions about systematic problems and social issues, then our second EP is about finding solutions to those problems, and why “breaking out” and having your own voice is important. Our goal is to make this message clearer through this new album.

“Pyramid” feels a lot like a song that has some confidence to it ― was there a certain inspiration that helped you create that song?

KEEHO: I think we wanted it to be super grand and loud. I get inspired when I watch a very captivating movie and passionate songs help me build my confidence. I think we made this song with the conviction that we are the best!

JIUNG: I think we wanted to give that majestic and solemn vibe that comes from an enormous amount of confidence. I think that’s why the song has a cinematic sound and powerful lyrics.

INTAK: The word “pyramid” was enough for me to be inspired; I just kept drawing pyramids in my head while writing the lyrics.

JONGSEOB: While I was writing the lyrics for this song, I had pictured a pharaoh and the sphinx in my head, so I think there are a lot of words like “crown” or “top” in the lyrics. When I’m writing, I tend to hold onto one main keyword and build lyrics around that keyword.

“If You Call Me” was probably my personal favorite, and it has a really nice slow, R&B vibe to it that shows off a new side to the group. How did that song come together?

KEEHO: In our first album, we had a song that all six of us worked on, which was ‘That’s It.” So, this time around we felt like we needed to add a song that we all worked on again so that’s how “If You Call Me” came about. I like and listen to a lot of R&B and so do the members. We all thought we needed something more chill and serene since the album is packed with high-intensity tracks.

THEO: I tried to express what I felt [empathy] during a certain time when the members and I volunteered for charity work.

JIUNG: First of all, thank you for selecting this song as your favorite! The first time we had a meeting about this song,  we discussed and confirmed the general narrative, message, and what the song would like. There were so many ideas that were being tossed around, but we, as a group, made the final decision to do something that sounded different from all our other tracks, which were all aggressive and high-powered. We wanted to find new ways of expressing the same message, and since most of the songs are about prosecuting the bad and criticizing injustices to make a better society, we also wanted to convey altruism.

SOUL: It’s really a song that includes every members’ thoughts and melodies.

JONGSEOB: It was the first time we designed our own melodies. We all came up with a melody for the song, and then picked a melody line that we all thought fit the best. It was the first time we’ve worked like that and would love to continue making music this way together.

We also have “AYAYA” and that’s a little edgier, and I’m already envisioning some excellent choreography to pair it with ― is there a song that you’re most excited to perform for fans in the coming year?

KEEHO: I think personally for me it’s “Scared.”

THEO: I think “Pyramid” and its choreography is really charismatic, so I hope we get a chance to perform it at least once for our fans.

JIUNG: I want to show “Pyramid” as well. The choreography is very artistic and beautiful and fits the solemn vibe that the song carries.

JONGSEOB: I personally would like to perform “Pyramid” as well, because I really enjoyed performing the choreography, and I also think it’s a great song so I think it would be nice to show the full performance.

From the first few seconds of “Scared,” it’s apparent that you guys wanted to create something different and unique, which works considering “don’t be scared” is a lyric itself! Do you feel like you’ve grown more comfortable in trying different combinations of styles?

KEEHO: I was always comfortable. We always work with an open mind and like to experiment with a lot of different musical styles and sounds, and I’d like to keep making music that way!

THEO: I think we are comfortable with trying new things because we are so close and are always openly sharing our ideas with each other.

JIUNG: I’m not sure if I can say it was comfortable, but I’ve gotten used to figuring out how to deliver our message by experimenting with all kinds of musical styles and genres. There are so many ways to express our thoughts. We don’t want to be confined to one particular style, so we are always exploring and try to make music that sounds unique and sophisticated.

INTAK: I think I’ve gotten pretty comfortable, sharing my ideas and working together as a group to create music.

SOUL: Me too!

JONGSEOB: I’ve gotten comfortable, too.

Of all of the tracks, is there a song that you’d say has a majority vote as the group’s personal favorite on DISHARMONY: BREAK OUT?

KEEHO: I would say”If You Call Me” and then “AYAYA.”

THEO: For me, it’s “AYAYA!” The melody is catchy, and it has an uplifting vibe.

JIUNG: I think it’s “AYAYA.” I always sing this song out loud whenever it’s on in the dance studio or in our car. We also had discussed this song as a group and thought it was the most addictive track on this album.

INTAK: My personal favorite is “End It.” I think it’s the second-best track (after “Scared”) that delivers the message of this album.

SOUL: I like the powerfulness of “Scared.”

JONGSEOB: I think “AYAYA” since it’s been selected by the majority of the members. I also think it’s a feel-good, energetic, and addictive track,  so it’s one I listen to it a lot as well.

What was the biggest change that you went through in between album releases as a group?

KEEHO: I think we definitely matured. I mean, of course, we are still very young and still have a long way to go, but we learned a lot in the last few months. We all wanted to show our fans everything we’ve prepared and that motivated us to become more mature and refined.

THEO: I think we got more comfortable being on stage and have more ease when we are performing and doing our personal or personal gestures [individual signature dance move].

JIUNG: I think our teamwork has gotten better!

INTAK: I think we matured, gotten more confident, found more ease, and made improvements.

SOUL: I think we matured a little bit, and I definitely agree that our teamwork has gotten better.

JONGSEOB: I think we gained more conviction as well as confidence in ourselves and as a group.

What would you say was the song that changed the most over the process of making this album in particular?

KEEHO: It’s “Scared” and “If You Call Me.” I think for “If You Call Me” there were a lot of edits and changes because we all worked on it together.

JONGSEOB: I think we had the most edits for “Scared’’ since it’s our lead single.

JIUNG: Yeah, “Scared” had the most changes. Since it was our title track, we wanted it to be flawless and therefore, made tons of changes and edits during the album-making process.

Looking back at the process of crafting this release, what would you say the most satisfying moment was?

KEEHO: It’s definitely the moment when we finished “If You Call Me,” we worked on it for so long and even gave up a couple of times in the middle of the process, but we pulled through. We put so much effort since it was our first project together as a team, and so it was that much more meaningful and satisfying when the song was completed.

THEO: I think it’s when we see ourselves on stage performing what we’ve practiced really hard for.

JIUNG: I was filled with pride and satisfaction when we finished recording the entire album, and album and heard the final outcome for the first time.

SOUL: I was really satisfied when the actual album came out!

JONGSEOB: I think the process of us evolving as a group and feeling like we’ve achieved something together is when I felt the most satisfaction.  

Make sure to check out DISHARMONY: BREAK OUT now, along with the music video for their new single “Scared.”

[emblemxeno]

1/? I think that there IS a lot to like about Fates (for instance some really cool character designs, the tweaks to how pair-up works, the MUSIC) and I do ultimately like it but what really hurts it and stops it from being GREAT for me is the Deeprealms. I just CAN'T get over the game deciding the best way to include a 2nd gen was to say that immediately after an S-rank the couple HAS a baby (meaning there's a 9 month or longer time-skip off screen) and throws that baby in a magic portal...

This ask has many parts to it, so the rest are under the cut.

2/? ...where time conveniently flows differently so the baby can grow up super fast in a handful of (offscreen) weeks. Like, it's obvious WHY the 2nd gen was included - it was popular in Awakening and they wanted to recapture that. But it honestly would have been BETTER to COMPLETELY copy it by having kids who time-traveled from the future where they were born AFTER the war rather than saying the kids were born DURING the war, because that really messes up the timeline and flow of the story...

3/? We don't have a set timeline for how long the war takes place, but surely the game doesn't expect us to believe the enemy patiently waited 9+ months while our army did nothing so one couple could have a baby (and the process repeats EVERY S-rank!). It drives me nuts. It also really hurts a few otherwise good S-ranks, like Hayato and Azura or Subaki and Rinkah.

4/? Hayato confesses to Azura and makes it clear he wants to be with her and she practically turns him down! She wants him to wait a few years and needs to be won over! But then immediately after that they have TWO babies. If this was a time travel situation it would be fine because it would show that yes, he did eventually win her over. But having the babies happen NOW doesn't leave ANY time for the relationship to gradually build up - instead they just ARE together despite what Azura said.

5/? That's the most egregious example, but really ANY S-rank that doesn't end with deep mutual love and a decision to get married NOW is hurt by it, because they all then proceed to immediately marry and have a baby. Surely going "in for a penny in for a pound" and just doing the time travel plot from Awakening again would have been better than severely hurting the timeline and many relationships for the sake of having a 2nd gen. And it also makes it weird/uncomfortable to romance them...

6/? Corrin, as the avatar, can marry whoever player likes. But the idea of marrying a 2nd gen kid in this game makes me REALLY uncomfortable because they were BORN during the course of the game and just... rapidly aged up so they could join the fight and be romanced. I distinctly recall Corrin mentioning BABYSITTING one of them in a support at some point. It just feels kind of like grooming, which makes the fact that the only female same-sex S-rank is 2nd gen all the worse.

7/7 I appreciate that the game lets me (or Corrin) be bi/gay, but I refuse to take that option if the only girl female Corrin can date is someone whose birth she was present for and who she babysat. Just... yikes. I genuinely LOVE many other aspects of Fates but the Deeprealms and 2nd gen really ruin it for me. Sorry to rant at you, but I wanted your take since you love the game a lot.

I agree with you on the Deeprealms being awful. While I think I prefer the second generation of Fates as characters over the second generation of Awakening (Heirs of Fate especially is a great side story), the actual way that it was implemented into Fates was bad and clearly made for those who liked it in Awakening.

I myself don’t let it stop me from considering Fates my favorite game in the series since it’s ultimately removed from the plot and so it doesn’t hamper my enjoyment of the main narrative. I also don’t think it makes the Fates parents seem like awful people tbh, since they couldn’t have known that the Deeprealms were like that, and while yes they should’ve put a lid on their horndog tendencies, a lot of the game really puts a focus on inheritance, legacy, and producing heirs so its not as egregious to me.

I will say though, that almost every confession that doesn’t have deep love or marriage was a localization choice. The JP version has most pairings say things on the lines of “will you be my lover/marry me”, whereas a lot of localized confessions have ‘be my girlfriend/boyfriend’ and ‘lets date’ instead because saying lover was too scandalous I guess.

I do get being uncomfortable with Corrin marrying the 2nd gen characters though, that is completely valid. I don’t feel one way or another about it myself, but I definitely understand others not liking it at all.

Overall, yeah, I don’t like the Deeprealm or second gen aspect in terms of story writing. It’s one of the things in Fates that I’m not gonna defend the inclusion of. The execution is more of a mixed bag, and the gameplay aspect of the maps and units was done really well imo, but other than that it’s not something I hold a high opinion of.

Though I also like to take solace in the fact that Heirs of Fate basically said “Recruiting the children in the middle of the war is actually non-canon and the parents were planning to get their kids after the war concluded therefore Corrin marrying them is also not canon”.