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inkblackorchid · 8 months

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What the hell happened with Crow: an autopsy (Part 2)

Hope you didn't think I'd forgotten about this post yet. Lads, ladies, and other lovely people, here we go. I have more yelling about bird boy to do.

But first, a few disclaimers. For people who may have missed part one, yes, as the title implies, this post is part two of an attempt to analyse Crow's character throughout 5Ds' whole run. You can find part one here. Now, both for people who may not have the time/energy to read my first, huge post about this right now, let me explain what I'm about here before we start again: My analysis is not meant to deter people who like Crow from liking him. It's also not meant to convince Crow haters otherwise, even if I admittedly personally like Crow. All of this stuff is just my personal attempt at dissecting how his character was handled in the show and why that might have been. And because this is part two, and I covered the Fortune Cup and Dark Signers arc in the first post, I'll start with the pre-WRGP arc, then dig into the backstory Crow was given directly before the WRGP begins properly. Also, mind the length of this post. I'm physically incapable of writing short things.

I also feel the need to reiterate another thing before I really get into the meat of things again: If you were hoping to see any old rumours about 5Ds confirmed, this is the wrong post. In fact, thanks to the very thorough work of someone over on Reddit (another shoutout to @mbg159 here, who's the author of those posts), I know for a fact that literally all the big rumours surrounding Crow are one big pile of logistically impossible horseshit, and I think after so, so many years of people citing this nonsense, the fandom as a whole finally deserves to let these go:

No, Crow was not meant to be a dark signer, least of all the final boss of season one, and Blackwings were not the reason he got more screentime later.

No, Aki being sidelined was not the result of her irl voice actress' pregnancy.

Yes, I know these two posts are both a long read each, but I cannot begin to tell you how tired I am of these rumours. So even if you don't have time to read the stuff above, please take away this: The big 5Ds production conspiracy theories are. all. bullshit. Because, to put it in as simple terms as possible, none of them work out logistically. The events people have pretended affected the show's production in a major way all don't line up with the actual production timeline. So just can the rumours already. Please let them die. And no pitting Aki and Crow against each other on his post or because of this post, yes? I beg you, I am so tired. Ok? Ok.

All right, now we can get to the good part. In my previous post, I left off at the end of the DS arc. So, in what position is Crow at the end of the DS arc? He helped save the world by defeating Goodwin and got his very own signer mark after Rudger/Roman Goodwin's death.

And now, where is Crow at the start of the pre-WRGP arc?

(Bam. Delivery bird boy be upon ye.)

This time, Crow wastes absolutely no time coming back on screen. We see him again within the first episode of the second half of the show, and wouldn't you know it! He moved in with Yusei and Jack and the three of them have a funny, brotherly, bickering dynamic between them. Also, as a fun little add-on that is very much in line with his deeply Satellite, down to earth characterisation from the first half, Crow now works as a delivery driver to earn money for the household. That's all very nice and good.

But what is his role in the plot from here on out? Well.

First, a small note about the pre-WRGP arc. Though this arc is fun to watch because it gives us a lot of silly character interactions the show no longer found the time for once the WRGP started, the pre-WRGP arc really can't be said to bother with actual plot much. It's the known filler arc of 5Ds, and as such, Crow is not the only character who gets pretty much nothing plot-related to do during this arc. Thus, I'll only give a quick run-down of what he does get up to, just in case any of these tidbits end up showcasing a relevant aspect of Crow's character I might come back to later.

Furthermore, another thing that's pretty much obvious to everyone who's ever watched the show in its entirety but still bears mentioning: Crow gets a lot more screentime from this point on out. Technically. Why do I say "technically"? I'll get back to that further below. For now, just keep it in mind.

So, how does Bird Boy spend his time during the arc where the plot's on the back burner? To be honest, on the sidelines, mostly. Don't get me wrong, Crow's there. Most of the time. But he gets pretty much only two episodes where he's the focus, and both of those aren't exactly known for being 5Ds' most memorable episodes (even though I still like them both tbh, but I digress): For one, in episode 68, he gets to convince Bashford to move in with Martha so the depressed old man isn't spending his entire retirement living in a scrapyard.

(This episode's comedic moments are actually fairly solid. But those are just my two cents.)

And for two, in episode 85, Crow gets to bond with the boys' somewhat cranky landlady, Zora, by duelling some sense into her son, Lyndon. (Which also introduces us to a duelling tactic only Crow uses that we will later see again: Losing on purpose.)

(And here we can see Crow showing off his skills at dealing with petulant children.)

Now, do these two episodes where he gets to be relevant actually do anything for Crow? As a character? Debatable. If nothing else, they strongly reaffirm the values Crow represents which we were introduced to in the first half of the show, though. They reintroduce us to his stubbornness, to his (in comparison to Jack and Yusei) more playful nature, to his very Yusei-ish dedication to doing the right thing, to his penchant for spite, and to his strong sense of family and community and his belief that these two things shouldn't be abandoned unless you have a damned good reason for it.

You may notice that there's a sizeable gap between these two episodes. That's because those episodes are where we get the only smidgens of plot in this arc. Among them, highlights like Sherry's introduction, the first reveal of accel synchro, Aki's turbo duelling license exam, three separate story beats hinting at the machinations of the emperors of Iliaster (Luciano's little stunt with Rua and Ruka, Placido getting started on building a killer robot army, and the Jack double being unleashed onto NDC), and Bruno's introduction. So, here's the thing: Crow is technically present during most of those episodes, too, but he doesn't actually get to meaningfully interact with the plot-relevant elements. (Which is not to say he doesn't have nice moments here and there. He does get to bounce off the other characters, and, just as one example, helps Yusei and Jack upgrade Aki's duel runner, as well as help Yusei build Rua's duel board. Crucially, he doesn't get to do anything that later becomes plot-relevant, though.) Moreover, not one, but two characters who end up becoming major players in the series' finale are introduced here, which is relevant insofar as that Bruno and Sherry both end up needing a good amount of development before they can impactfully take their later roles. Now, I say this with nothing but genuine appreciation for both these characters, because I do like them, but I feel the need to point out what this means not just for Crow, but for pretty much everyone who isn't Jack or Yusei: Every minute of screentime that was dedicated to Bruno and/or Sherry was one minute less the writers could spend on the rest of the cast. This is not to say that time shouldn't have been spent on them, they needed it, especially because they were introduced so late, but it's something I do want people to keep in mind when talking about who got how much screentime and whether or not that time was well spent. (I also have a larger gripe with the definition of "screentime" in general, but more on that later.)

So when does Crow get to be relevant to the plot again, now that he's even a signer and all? Well, not until episode 94, when the WRGP arc has already started. (Note that I'm using the 5Ds episode list on wikipedia as a general guide for which arc and which season starts where. You can find it here.)

*Deep breath*

So. Episode 94.

(Pictured: One very scruffy dragon. Bird? Dragon-bird. Bird-dragon. You figure this shit out.)

That episode. The episode where Crow, who was awarded with the status of a signer during the finale of the DS arc, finally gets a dragon to match his mark. And the episode where we finally, finally, get some actual backstory for Crow that goes beyond his involvement with the Enforcers and childhood with Jack and Yusei. A backstory that's only Crow's own. Except. How do I put this politely...

This shit doesn't make a lick of sense. Neither the events in the duel between Crow and Bolger in the present resulting in Black-Winged Dragon's appearance, nor the Pearson backstory.

Now, I'm not saying this to step on anyone's toes. From a writing standpoint, I can even make a fairly reasonable guess as to why this episode/mini-arc is here, I think: As I mentioned in part one of this analysis, Crow was not only introduced very late, but also got very little backstory of his own, which set him apart from the other signers. Don't get me wrong, he did get some backstory—we know of his strong connection to Duel Monsters because he learned to read from cards, and we know of his involvement with the Enforcers/Team Satisfaction. Crucially, though, Crow doesn't really get a backstory segment that feels as unique to him as the others. Aki gets her tragic past with her parents and her powers, Jack gets his betrayal of Yusei, which also doubles as part of Yusei's backstory, who as the protagonist understandably gets the most backstory, and even the twins, though they are as always treated as one unit, get their very own segment about the time when Ruka was essentially in a coma. Meanwhile, Crow only has that one-off tear-jerker moment about learning to read from his cards and his being a part of the boys' duel gang, which, and I cannot stress this enough, is treated as more of a Yusei and Kalin/Kiryu backstory by canon than a Crow backstory. Thus, it makes perfect sense from a writing standpoint that the Pearson/Black-Winged Dragon mini-arc would be here. Crow, up until this point, has neither a backstory segment dedicated solely to him, nor a signer dragon to call his own. So, how do we solve this? Give him both in a strategic double-whammy! The math checks out. Unfortunately, the writing of said mini-arc... doesn't.

Now, look. The juicy question of whether Crow would have worked better as a non-signer or not, which I already discussed in part one aside, I personally don't hate what this backstory is trying to do. It's just that the whole Pearson-drama has some very notable, logical holes which I'll get into below. Furthermore, this is not the first time something related to Crow has some unfortunate, logical and/or chronological issues. I already brought up the infamous fridge and Rex Goodwin's rather confusing backstory in part one, both of which raise some serious questions. However, Pearson and everything surrounding him arguably blow that clean out of the water. Let's examine this more closely, shall we.

The long-overdue backstory we get for Crow begins with a mystery: Mikage and Trudge, for a reason that is never given to us, are investigating the death of Robert Pearson (whose death would have been several years ago at this point), whom Crow knew very well, and they're doing it because they found a hint that the person who killed Pearson used an illegal card, Crimson Mefist, to do it.

(Post redemption-arc Trudge actually doing his job instead of bullying random Satellite citizens. Who would have thunk.)

Thing is, here, we already encounter our first, minor problem: Pearson has never been mentioned up until this point, not even as an aside. And this issue is compounded by the fact that not only Crow seems to know him, but Trudge claims to as well, because "Satellite used to be his jurisdiction". So, a named character who's familiar to both one of our protagonists and a notable side character, and we've never seen hide nor hair of him. If we pull our heads out of the story for a second, the irl reason for how this came to be is probably pretty obvious: Pearson was never mentioned before because the writers had nowhere near as solid of a plan for Crow as they did for the other characters, which leads to him being introduced out of nowhere here because we need a backstory and a dragon for Crow and we need those now. Moving on.

The mention of Pearson having been not simply killed in a fire, like Crow previously assumed, but having been murdered through a special, illegal card immediately makes him suspicious. So, he goes to consult Bolger/Bolton, another never-before-seen character who gets introduced in service of this backstory, and who knew Pearson well. And while this guy certainly acts amiable towards Crow at first, implying that the two have a good rapport, at least, he quickly starts acting suspicious when Pearson's murder comes up. Moreover, we as the audience at this point already know Bolger's looking for Black-Winged Dragon so he can use the card essentially as collateral to save his company. And the name "Black-Winged Dragon" already leaves very little to the imagination as to whose deck this monster is supposed to fit into. But, in a small twist, we learn from Crow that this was apparently Pearson's card, and supposedly lost in the fire where said man died, to boot. Then Bolger challenges Crow to a duel, too, offering to tell the truth about Pearson's death if he loses, but demanding Black-Winged Dragon, which he believes Crow to be in possession of, if he wins. So far, so good. We've got a mystery here, and canon is not contradicting itself just yet. Until we get to the actual backstory, which shows us the time Crow spent with Pearson, that is. Before we get into that, I'd like to highlight one theme this mini-arc introduces that actually feels like it fits Crow: Legacy. Over the course of meeting Bolger again and being reminded of his time with Pearson, Crow starts thinking about whether he's taking over his former mentor's/father figure's legacy well enough.

(Crow having some Deep Thoughts TM, featuring one of Yusei's most relaxed, easygoing smiles in the entire show, probably.)

This theme, I would argue, is one of the major things this backstory introduces that really meshes well with the Crow we already had until this point. He's a community-focussed guy and absolutely a family person, if him taking care of Satellite orphans is anything to go by, so leaving behind a good legacy for the people after him (read: the kids he took care of) would absolutely be something he cares about. We see this element of legacy again in his cards during this episode, too, which canon implies he inherited from Pearson. (I'll get to THAT can of worms below.) And on paper, with the themes he's already got going, Crow being the only one to inherit his deck rather than build it all by himself would actually make sense!

However. This is where we have to get into the meat of the backstory. I'll start by listing the barebones information Crow's backstory with Pearson gives us, then going into why several aspects of it are either logistical or chronological nonsense.

So, as canon tells us, Crow met Pearson after Kiryu/Kalin was arrested, when the Enforcers/Team Satisfaction all went their separate ways. During this period, Crow had already set up shop near the original Daedalus Bridge and started out taking care of orphans, but it wasn't all smooth sailing. He was, by his own admission, "living aimlessly". Then, during a pinch, Pearson and Bolger show up, take care of some bad guys for Crow and the kids, and Crow sees a new role model in Pearson. Pearson, who rides the Blackbird, plays a Blackwing deck and owns Black-Winged Dragon. So, he joins up with Pearson, presumably learns how to work on duel runners from him, and also befriends Bolger. Then, one day, a fire breaks out at Pearson's workshop and the man in question dies, but leaves Crow his runner and his duel disk before he does so. End flashback. Because I want to tie this together nicely, we also learn later that Pearson technically left him Black-Winged Dragon, too, by sealing it in his runner. And, of course, that dragon later becomes Crow's very own signer dragon.

Several points to be dissected here. And funnily enough, Bolger's duel with Crow isn't relevant for any of them. Let's start with the big one: The timeline. I want you to remember that as far as canon is concerned, Crow is 17 during the DS arc. Moreover, it's canonically stated that Jack stole Yusei's first duel runner two years before the show's start, at which time Crow would have been 15. And their time together as the Enforcers must have been even before that, because Kiryu/Kalin was already in prison for a while at that point and Crow and Yusei don't reunite until the DS arc is basically in full swing. So, I'll make a vague estimate here and say that during the time of the Enforcers, Crow would have probably been 13-14. (Which is hilarious when you think about the fact that this gang of angry teenagers essentially took over the entire duelling underground of Satellite, but I digress.) Now we add the idea that Crow met Pearson after the Enforcers, but that he died before canon starts into the mix. That means Crow first ran into Pearson sometime around age 15, and that he then died presumably before Crow turned 17. So far, so good, that still slots into canon, even if it makes Crow pretty damn young for some things. He's even missing the personalised Blackbird duel disk he later wears during the Enforcer days, I went back to check. What he is not missing, however, are his Blackwings. And this is where canon may or may not have made an implication that, if intentional, breaks this timeline. See, during the scene where Pearson's workshop is burning down and he's already trapped under debris and has embraced death, he tosses Crow his duel disk and leaves him his runner.

(Two important screenshots, in sequence. One, Pearson with his duel disk still strapped to his arm. His deck is very obviously still in there. Two, Crow with that same duel disk, as made obvious by its distinct shape.)

What this implies is that Pearson also left Crow his deck. Which, yeah, fair enough, if I were dying in a fire I'd probably also think "fuck it, not like I'll need my cards in the afterlife". What this (and Crow's look the first time he sees Pearson's monsters) implies, though, is that Crow didn't start playing Blackwings until Pearson left him his deck. Which is factually untrue, because there is literal evidence in the show that Crow already had Blackwings during his time as part of the duel gang, before ever meeting Pearson. (The exact episode, if you want to check for yourself, is 33, where Crow summons both Bora the Spear and Blackwing Armor Master during a flashback.) However, I will concede that the show never actually states this is the case, it's just implied by what we see on screen, so perhaps the idea here was that Crow already played Blackwings before Pearson, but grew to love them even more through his mentor/father figure, and so later happily integrated the deck he inherited into his own. Crucially, canon never states this outright, either, though, so the option remains on the table. But, to give the benefit of the doubt here, the possibility that this could still slot in with canon and that it was just handled poorly is there. The same cannot be said for the Blackbird, however.

(Uh oh. So much for canon continuity.)

The above two screenshots directly contradict each other. First we have Yusei, upon reuniting with Crow in Satellite during the DS arc, casually remarking that Crow finished his duel runner. Which means that canon at this point suggests to the audience that one, Crow built this duel runner by himself, for himself, and two, that Yusei knew about it for a while already. Then there's the second screenshot, from the Pearson backstory episode, where Crow outright claims the Blackbird was left to him when Pearson died. I don't think I need to tell anyone that these two things can't be true at the same time. And again, I think this is where Crow fell victim to the writers not having a clear outline for him. At first, he was supposed to be this scrappy guy who also built a duel runner for himself, just like Yusei. But now, he's a signer, needs a backstory and a dragon, and because a theme of legacy is introduced alongside Pearson, the runner suddenly needs to be inherited, as well as (possibly) Crow's cards. Now, a crafty fanfic writer could probably reconcile the above contradiction somehow, and I know some stories that accomplished that. But the point isn't that we, as the audience/fandom could make this work, the point is that canon didn't make it work. What canon, sadly, also didn't get to work was Black-Winged Dragon.

(We meet again, bird-dragon.)

Here comes the next elephant in the room: Everyone and their mother who has watched 5Ds knows that Black-Winged Dragon was never implied to be a signer dragon up until the duel where Crow acquires it. In fact, an entirely different dragon is teased so heavily long before BWD ever shows up that it to this day is one of many people's major gripes with the show's writing.

(Why, hello, Life Stream Dragon! Fancy seeing you here.)

And yet, Black-Winged Dragon is turned into a signer dragon before Life Stream Dragon, who was teased more than sixty (!!!) episodes before BWD was ever even mentioned. Why? Simple: Because Crow became a signer and Rua/Leo didn't, because the signers all need dragons (or else the "5Ds" part kind of doesn't work), and because Life Stream Dragon thematically doesn't fit Crow.

Now, I've seen people post theories to reconcile this weird hitch in canon, hell, I've even posted an idea for how it could be reconciled myself. But, again, that isn't the point here. The point is that as far as good old, barebones canon is concerned, it isn't reconciled. Canon at first states there are five signers, suggesting that there are also five dragons. But then, the fifth dragon never shows up, and one of the signers dies, to boot. Only for canon to then teach us, oh, no, look, the signer marks can wander from one person to the next. And to add insult to injury (at least where the show's writing and internal consistency is concerned), the signer mark that was "freed up" by Roman/Rudger's death doesn't wander to Rua/Leo, who any attentive watcher would have expected to become a signer because it was heavily teased during the DS arc, but to Crow. Frankly, I'm not surprised many people were angry about this, but in case my disclaimer didn't make it clear, I don't think it's productive to pin this on Crow by claiming his cards became super popular irl. There was definitely an out-of-left-field writing choice made here, but the only answers as to "why" were left in the 5Ds' writer's room, I believe. At a guess, if you want me to throw out a non-sugarcoated theory as to why, though? They probably thought Crow would be a more interesting character for their target audience. He's a scrappy guy who sticks it to authority, he's brave, he's funny, he plays a cool deck, and most of all, unlike Rua, he never embarrasses himself in a duel on screen. Why am I highlighting that last part? Because I feel like people sometimes forget that the target audience for this show, at the time of its creation, were about twelve year-old boys. And you can feel free to contradict me on this, but most twelve year-old boys I've known and know don't want to project themselves onto a chracter who loses and gets his butt kicked a lot, and who's a bit awkward and steps in it sometimes, which is much closer to how actual twelve year-olds are—but that's exactly why they prefer the cooler characters. And Crow is the cooler character, by average twelve year-old boy logic, regardless of what the grownups of this fandom think.

So Crow gets a dragon and the writing doesn't bother explaining the how or why of it, let alone tackles any of the implications made by Black-Winged Dragon's existence as a signer dragon. (Like what does this mean for the larger worldbuilding? Does the Crimson Dragon actually have more than five servants, but chooses to only ever bestow five marks at a time? Can any "dragon" the Crimson Dragon chooses be a signer dragon, and it just so happens that the constellation of signer dragons is nearly the same as the original one in present-time 5Ds canon? Did the Crimson Dragon specifically elevate BWD to a signer dragon because it felt like it? Was BWD always supposed to be a signer dragon? Was Pearson supposed to be a signer, but died too early before the dark signer prophecy was set into motion? Am I overthinking this? (Yes.)) He also obtains his dragon in what feels like the weirdest way possible to me, because it suddenly??? Just decides to appear in his runner????? Out of nowhere??????

(Why is that here. How did it get there. Why did Pearson even put it in there. And HOW. Is it just wedged between the machinery or what???? And how on earth did Yusei, Bruno, and/or Crow never find it before this point considering how often someone tinkered on the Blackbird on screen???)

(This scenario, of course, also raises the question how the other signers even got their dragons. But like many other, interesting questions, this episode chooses not to interact with that one whatsoever.)

In short, this backstory is a bit of a mess, to say the least. For as much good as it tries to do by contextualising Crow's character and giving him something that sets him apart from the rest of the protag group, it feels like a rough draft of an episode was given the green light to be produced without any editing, judging by the contradictions and weird implications. As such, it harms Crow's character as much as it builds it, as evidenced by how much fandom backlash he still receives years later for the things that were bungled in this backstory and also in different aspects of his character writing.

Now, you may notice this post has gotten stupidly long due to just how convoluted the specific hangups of Crow's backstory are. I originally meant to cover the WRGP and even the Ark Cradle arc for Crow in this post, too, but due to how much there was to say about canon's attempt to finally make Crow a "proper" signer, I've decided that trying to force another two whole arcs in here would be a disservice to the analysis and the character, and also make this agonisingly long, so I'll close this part out here and write a part three, perhaps even a part four depending on how much material the WRGP gives me to work with.

There's one more thing I need to get back to before I finish up this part, though: The "screentime" discussion. I mentioned far above that I take issue with how some people seem to be using the word screentime, and now I can explain why. First, I want you to take a look back at the episodes I covered here, those being 65-95, essentially. Now, as anyone who usually dislikes Crow will tell you, Crow is present in most, if not all of these episodes. He's on screen. He's getting screentime, and, according to many people, hogging it, even. Okay. Now, I want you to look back up at the analysis. How many episodes did I cover where Crow actually gets something to do? As in, where he's either the focus of the plot or gets to contribute to it in a significant way? There's the old man Bashford episode. There's the Poppo Time clock episode. There's his two backstory episodes. That's four. Four episodes. If you're generous, you might add in the episode where he gets to narrate Yusei's backstory alongside Jack and the two fake Jack episodes where he gets to have an emotional moment or two with his foster-brother. If you're less generous, you'll note that none of these episodes have Crow actually interacting with the main antagonists in a meaningful way or set up anything important that pays off later. (Hell, he doesn't even get any, and I really mean, any meaningful setup interactions with Sherry, who ends up being his final-boss-level opponent during the final episodes! Aki gets more meaningful interactions with Sherry than him, not that this ever gets a payoff.) And this is why I take an issue with people claiming Crow gets so much "screentime" post DS arc. Because to me, "screentime" should be time spent letting a character act meaningfully within the story, which most of the pre-WRGP episodes aren't for Crow. He's on screen, yes, but in many episodes, it wouldn't matter one whit whether you replaced him with a nameless side character, which isn't exactly a great look for a supposed third of a protagonist trifecta. Perhaps I'm being too strict with my definition of "screentime" here, fair enough! But the claim that Crow hogs screentime already rubs the wrong way during this comparably unimportant arc, so I can't leave it alone. It feels very decidedly malicious to claim a character who during some episodes seems to only be there to provide exposition or make whatever jokes Yusei and Jack's personalities aren't suited to is stealing screentime from other characters. As for the WRGP duels and whether he's "hogging" anyone's screentime there, I'll dig into that nonsense in the next part, please be patient with me.

...Phew. Okay.

Now, before I leave you to wonder whether I'm every finishing my Crow analysis in full again, I want to attempt to do the same thing I did in part one—propose some changes that could have been made to the writing for Crow's character in order to make things slot in better with the rest of canon. With a small disclaimer, of course: These are just my suggestions as to how Crow's character could have fit into canon more smoothly and been done less of a disservice by his own backstory.

So. First, a quick-fire thing about the pre-WRGP, to get that out of the way: Crow, alongside Aki, is the only signer who didn't get his own confrontation with either Iliaster or their minions. (Yusei had Ghost, Jack had fake Jack, Rua and Ruka had Luciano.) Instead of having him confront a cranky old man in a scrapyard or Zora's son, they could have easily given him a very short side-story where he gets to experience the threat of Iliaster up close and personal, too. Hell, they could have very nicely cut the recap episode where Crow and Jack lie in the mess of Jack's terribly built coffee table and philosophise about Yusei's backstory for this, too. (As funny as their interaction about the coffee table and Jack lying on the floor with a perfectly intact coffee cup are.)

(Pictured: Two idiots (affectionate) contemplating life among the scraps of a shitty, broken coffee table.)

Then, there's the Pearson backstory, of course. So, here's the thing, I think two very different kinds of "fixes" could have worked here. Crucially, they both depend on Crow's status as a signer. I argued in part one that Crow might have worked better as a character if he hadn't actually become a signer, so I'll give both versions here. Let's go.

Option A: We try not to touch canon too much and Crow stays a signer.

How to do this? Frankly, I think what Crow's mark and Black-Winged Dragon were majorly missing was setup. The mark is the smaller offence here, since, fair enough, the idea that signer marks can wander from person to person isn't too out there for 5Ds canon. However, the lack of a dragon despite the alleged 5Ds stands out, and Life Stream Dragon's wasted setup only makes it worse. Thus, making Black-Winged Dragon make sense would have required giving him the same amount of foreshadowing as Life Stream Dragon, at the very least. And you know who could have been great for that? Sweet, ever-forgotten-by-canon Ruka. She was already shown having flashback dreams to the signer dragons' first battle against the dark signers, so who's to say she couldn't have gotten dreams about a shadowy, new dragon she's never seen before? Perhaps even dreams where she's not sure if the dragon is good or bad at first! It could have provided intrigue, it could have made the audience curious. To strengthen that, canon could have also bothered taking the question "hey why are there only four dragons now" seriously. No character in canon ever questions why there are five marks, but only four dragons. Even Rua, who was previously hopeful that he might secretly be a signer, never brings it up. If canon had bothered to actually point this mystery out, they could have used it not only to foreshadow Black-Winged Dragon, but to aid Life Stream Dragon's setup, too. What the fuck am I talking about, I hear you ask. Hear me out: Life Stream Dragon is shown way, way later down the line, long after the audience probably already accepted that it was simply never going to show up, literally bursting out of Power Tool Dragon's armour. We are not provided with an explanation as to why. Imagine if they had sprinkled in another dream Ruka could have had about the ancient past here. Imagine if they had used the opportunity to show something like, oh, during the battle, Life Stream Dragon got injured so badly they had to protect its wounded body with a suit of armour, in the hopes that it would heal. And with one original signer dragon out of commission, the Crimson Dragon sadly had to choose a replacement in between, because the Earthbound Immortals were sure to return. Bam. Black-Winged Dragon. Two signer dragons, set up simultaneously, without forcing the canon lore to do somersaults. Furthermore, to actually explain why Pearson had the dragon but wasn't a signer, they could have easily sprinkled in a flashback between him and Crow. Maybe Pearson could have mentioned how the dragon always feels like it's never really his, as a joking aside. It would have been enough for me to suspend my disbelief, you know? And then the rest of canon could have played out exactly as we know it. Crow could have confronted Bolger, could have obtained Black-Winged Dragon because maybe the dragon finally decided he was worth throwing its weight behind. The mystery behind the missing fifth dragon could have been solved, and it would have made for satisfying payoff without kneecapping Life Stream Dragon's setup or conjuring an extra dragon out of thin air. And really, stuff like the runner thing could have so easily been solved by simply picking one version (did he build it himself or inherit it?) and sticking with it. All it took was a little more care.

Option B: We assume Crow didn't actually become a signer, but try to keep his backstory intact.

Okay, this version works under the assumption that Crow, despite partaking in the final battle against Goodwin during the DS arc, didn't receive a signer mark. To make this work, I would, bluntly put, simply make it so that Black-Winged Dragon doesn't exist. Pearson can still play a powerful Blackwing monster during his flashback that Bolger wants to find and sell later, but it simply isn't that dragon. Really, Blackwings have enough to choose from there. If the backstory episodes had been placed a little later, say, during the pause in the middle of the WRGP, he could have even received something like Blackwing Full Armor Master here. (Yes, I know that card didn't exist at the time, but my point is that he could have simply received a powerup like Yusei and Jack did, instead of a completely new monster.) With this setup, they could have still added the intrigue of taking the question why there are only four signers now seriously. They could have still set up a mystery about why no one ever saw the fifth dragon outside of dreams. And it could have made Rua becoming a signer later, and in this version getting the tail mark instead of a completely new one, that much more satisfying. And Crow could have kept his "fuck destiny, I'm trying to save the world here"-attitude from the DS arc, providing a nice, amusing counterweight to our heroes chosen by an ancient Incan dragon deity. All it would have taken would have been not giving him a mark and switching out Black-Winged Dragon for something else.

So, take your pick, I guess. In the meantime, I'll try my best to work on part three faster than I did part two, lmao.

See you next time!

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sigyn-foxyposts · 19 days

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Smite!Loki analysis! (Spoilers for The official smite comics)

I haven't made this kind of post about smite Loki before because he genuinely scares me. Look at this face, I have good reason to be. No, but in all seriousness my question is what is wrong with him? Why are you the way you are sir?

YOU MAKE ME GO FERAL AGHHH-

Anyways I find this version of his character so interesting and I need to learn more about him. But we don't have THAT much honesty.

So let's start with my biggest question! I apologize if I am all over the place.

What happened between him and his children to the point jormungandr and fenrir ended up hating him so much? We don't know what happend between them but luckily we have Hel. They made it very obvious in the comics what kind of father he is to her at that point in time, what their dynamic is ect.

At this point we know he has already killed Baldr and been punished for it, hence the black scarring on his face. (Sigyn where are you?)

Loki and Hel worked together to obtain Zeus's Thunderbolt only for Loki to take it for himself when Hel needed it to free Fenrir.

What does Loki do with it? Have create chaos and scare people!

He might be a little unhinged after his torment but he is clearly trying to stop Hel from helping her brother.

Also when Hel does confront Loki they end up getting into a fight, something Hel was willing to do keeping Fenrir in mind and the things Loki tells her.. I want to assume is a heat of the moment thing.

Something clearly happend between these two in the past for Hel to insist they go through with the plan and Loki is like: "No that's insane!"

Also what's up with this plan they keep bringing up? I'm pretty sure it's about them starting Ragnarok since Hel's only goal is to free Fenrir and start Ragnarok. Even though it has been stated in the game that Hel has the ability to choose a different path other than to the propechy tied to her since birth.

Out of nowhere though, after Hel manipulates the other gods into stopping Loki and convince them she's on their side. Loki suddenly starts speaking the truth about what Hel is doing even though he could've sooner? (He was too busy beating up other gods and insulting them)

Maybe it's a way to save his ass but it came across to me as him being genuine at the same time, despite causing so much chaos himself. Do you think he is ashamed about his kids? Heck, even afraid of them with the way he doesn't want to start Ragnarok previously calling it insane?

Also not to forget he says they're monsters. He is basically agreeing with the other gods. But then again he is CRAZY AF to the point he has embraced the negativity..

Perfect timing to move onto his character!

I only have his mythical counterpart to base off what could've happend to him (even though it's very obvious) because they keep referencing Sigyn and his punishment.

Also Sleipnir! (they're yet to be shown and we still don't have a trace of Narfi and Vali + Angrboda was only hinted at in a joke voice line of a Loki skin 💀)

So personally to me, it's giving: He is an alternative version of myth Loki but if Ragnarok didn't happen and he went mad.

You can't tell me he is obviously left with all his trauma and scars. This Loki is unhinged, cruel and a broken image of his former self. He is a masochist, embracing what previously burnt and ruined his face, the poison that hurt him. It's all he apparently needs. He is proud to be what children fear at night. (Me too, I'm afraid of you/j)

What hits harder is that he seems to hate what he has become to an extent, with how he fought himself in his dko god reveal. Though he did trick Hercules to his death (Uhm..poor guy?? 😭)

youtube

Maybe I'm overreacting or over analysing this but why else would they add that in the way they did? To show he can't be trusted, not even with himself? That would make the most sense, right? 🤨

If I had to have a therapy session with this guy he would definitely have some issues. Don't make me fill in the gaps here hirez, I'm too used to doing this..💔😭

YOU UGLY MAN I HATE YOU (ILY THO)

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thelikesoffinn · 10 months

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Hello! I keep browsing the tavstarion tag and asks from you blog keep coming up, and every time they do I enjoy the hells out of reading them. All the Astarion asks got me thinking though, and as I'm in the process of writing a fic, I figured I'd ask your thoughts (out of curiosity).

First thing's first: I understand Astarion's trauma responses are very... prickly, for lack of a better word. My question is how you think he would deal with a Tav who has a very people-pleasing response. For example, focusing entirely on anyone else's problems and completely neglecting their own, or only being able to say "no" when in such acute distress that they physically cannot give any more.

The second part (because I am guessing his response, based on how he's reacted in-game and also from reading your analyses) is how he might react to learning that that people-pleasing response is because of trauma they went through, either in their teens or young adulthood. How might that recontextualize some of his earlier assumptions? Do you think he would have any mixed feelings?

I wanted to write a Tav that's internal and solitary, who thinks they're "over" the trauma that happened to them. I thought the dynamic of someone who's been coping for years and has distance in comparison to Astarion who literally only just got out of his situation was interesting.

Hiya dear!

I'm happy you like the asks, haha, although I must admit hearing that they're very noticeable amongst the Tavstarion things is making me self conscious! 🫠

When it comes to people pleasing - or fawning, as it's also called - I think we can all sort of guess how Astarion would react. The boy isn't secretive about his displeasure regarding all things "noble" and I'm sure that, at first, the respect he holds for your Tav will be very low.

The thing is: When we see someone whose initial response is to fawn, we don't automatically default to trauma. Most people are far more likely to just view them as a really good and kind person or, especially in work settings, as a suck up. It takes time to realise that, hey, maybe Jeff from accounting actually just can't say no.

I don't think it will be different with Astarion. (In fact, out of all the companions, Wyll might actually be the most likely to notice that your Tav is having a hard time saying no.)

Depending on your Tav's general attitude, Astarion might default them to yet another kind hearted do-gooder that runs around the world with childish naïveté and that? That is a sitting duck.

To act 1 Astarion, kindness relates to weakness.

And weakness is something he can exploit easily.

As we all know, Astarion craves safety, which is why he latches onto Tav to begin with. And if Tav's someone who others listen to AND who seems easy to manipulate? Fuck yeah. That's an in if he's ever seen one.

If Tav is prone to saying yes to anything and prone to avoiding conflict, he won't even need to do much to get them to do his bidding. The right words, some puppy dog eyes and a hint at what he wants done, and they'll go and do it without protest. Add a couple of compliments, and he'll have them wrapped around his finger. That is exactly what he needs to be safe, and he'll not be shy of making use of it.

And I think it would be somewhat amusing to him, to see Tav try that hard to make everyone happy because he, quite plainly, doesn't get it. He doesn't understand why someone would care that much about others because to him, his own survival and happiness is what matters the most. Everyone else be damned if necessary.

(Just a tad bit presumptuous, seeing as he himself tends to salute and follow orders at the cost of his own personal boundaries if the person he deems the leader demands it - i.e. the Araj Oblodra bite - but let's let the poor guy have his delusions.)

Once he grows closer to Tav, his former amusement will likely quickly turn to frustration. In Act 3, we learn that Astarion is extremely loyal and, apparently, rather protective.

Part of why he insists on ascending for so long is not just for him - he wants to be able to protect Tav, and he thinks his spawn self is not enough to accomplish that. (This is highlighted by the fact that romanced Astarion is much more insistent on ascending than one you're only friendly with.)

Tav is important to him. They're his person and watching them bend over backwards for everybody and their mothers prostitute before thinking of themselves is probably not going to sit well with him.

He doesn't care about other people, but he cares about them, so he wants them taken care of.

BUT Astarion is not versed in the art of caring for others, not the best at communicating - he's trying, we can see that over the course of the game, but it'a process that takes time - and he is very prone to frustration, so I wouldn't be surprised to see his worry mostly expressed through sniding remarks, sarcasm and arguments.

Once he realises WHY Tav is the way they are...well, that is a bit difficult to pinpoint down, because it has a lot to do with his own mental state at the time. How he views himself and his trauma will reflect on how he views them.

An act 1 Astarion who is still very raw, very afraid and very much in pain might be somewhat disgusted and deny the very obvious similarities between the two of them.

Tav was hurt. People had hurt them and yet they're still trying to appease everyone. They're always doing whatever anyone asks of them without hesistation, even when they clearly shouldn't. How much of a pushover can one person be? Don't they have any self respect? It's pathetic.

It sounds cruel - it is cruel - but, in th end, he's not truly talking to Tav here. He probably sees part of himself, the part that jumped when Cazador said so, the part that listened to every order just so that he wouldn't have to suffer. He sees the part of him that grovelled, the part that gave up.

The part he hates the most.

(Fun fact: My least favourite state of healing to work with, because clients can actually be really difficult during that time.)

A more stable Astarion, however, could actually reevaluate a lot of Tavs behaviour. He might see them less as a naive child and more for what they are: Someone, who's trying to live.

They don't want to get hurt again, so they try to not offend anyone. They'd rather be stressed and tired and overworked than suffering again. They're not uselessly kind, they're not stupidly selfless - they're scared.

What he does with his body, they do with acts of service. They're protecting themselves in the only way they know how.

That realisation could somewhat mellow him and, most prominently, it can give him a sense of community.

It's a bit difficult to explain, but people who have experienced abuse and are now in the process of healing might start to experience a sense of community with those who had similar fates. Not in the sense of: "Let me bare my soul and dump my trauma onto you now - so when I was 12, my dad..." but in a very specific, comfortable way.

It creates a sense of understanding, if you will.

It means that the other person understands, even when you don't say anything. You don't need to fight; to explain yourself - they understand. They might not understand all of you, but they understand enough not to let it cloud their judgement. You'll be alright and they understand.

So Astarion won't need to tell Tav every little thing, he won't need to explain every reaction, every misbehaviour, every slip up. He won't need to fight for his right to be quiet, sad, angry or sulky.

He won't need to explain because even if he doesn't, they'll know that he has his reasons, and they'll be there when he's ready to talk.

Anyway! Those two options are really just a few of all the reactions he could potentially have, because, as I said, it's so hugely dependant on where he is mentally and how he views Tav, himself, his past, etc... It's really difficult to narrow down properly.

The dynamic you have chosen is really, really bursting with potential - both for drama and healing - and I hope it's as fun and rewarding to write as I imagine! ✨️

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate #baldurs gate #astarion #astarion x tav #astarion ancunin

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lillyanne4writes · 4 months

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JJK/Gege Akutami appreciation post

Yeah, you read that title right. I get it that the entire fandom is upset with the latest leaks but I've seen so many angry/hateful comments toward Gege and it's making me sad. So here's a post to highlight some things I like about JJK. :)

This is in no way a complete list, so feel free to add on with your own takes too! Also, it's a long post, so I'm putting the meat of it under the cut.

The characters & their dynamics

Jjk has a huge cast, and yet every character is so unique and compelling. The reason I got into this anime (and later the manga) despite not really being into anime in general was how charming the main four characters were. Yuuji, Nobara, Megumi and Gojo immediately hooked me; I could probably watch 10 seasons of a slice of life show that's just them getting into shenanigans.

Fun interactions aside, my favourite thing about the characterisation is how everyone in this manga is allowed to have their own view on the world, especially on what it means to live a good life and die a good death. The narrative allows those views to clash without preaching about who is "correct". Characters disagree and learn from each other and their views develop organically (not necessarily in a positive direction, but always dynamically in a response to the situations they find themselves in - Yuuji's arc on how he views himself and his goals comes to mind). That stuff is really hard to write.

And it's not just the main cast either. The supporting characters are very memorable too; even minor ones have distinct personalities and clear motivations and often a backstory to explain why they are the way they are. My personal favourite background characters are Mai, Noritoshi and Tsumiki.

The worldbuilding

Can we talk about how creative the concept of curses and cursed energy is? Negative emotions accumulating into physical manifestations of things that people fear, hate, etc. is a hell of a cool idea. This is why the curse villains are my favourites in the series: from Mahito as a representation of the worst of humanity in his childish glee and sadism and cowardice to Jogo's philosophy of curses as "true beings" because they don't hide their nature and Hanami's almost sympathetic care for nature are all interesting explorations of how we view the world around us that would not be possible in a different kind of magic system. Add to that the array of creative techniques that sorcerers possess, the cursed objects, and the grade system that conveniently allows us to keep track of the danger levels of all this - you get an impressively complex magic system that still remains understandable (and fun to watch even if you don't want to keep track of the nitty-gritty and are just here for the spectacle).

Not to mention that jujutsu society is, well, a society. We get a sense of who the powerful and the oppressed are in this community, how their powers factor into that, how different characters feel about this, what they are doing to change it or on the contrary, to keep the traditions going... Every character exists in the web of a clear power structure which they interact with, influencing it and being influenced in turn. This results in a super interesting dynamic where certain characters can be enemies one moment (for example when the Kyoto students try to kill Yuuji during the exchange event on Gakuganji's, and by extension the higher-ups' orders) and allies the next (when it's time to pull together against a curse).

I'm reserving my judgement on the plot, themes and overall character arcs for now, because those things can only be really analysed once the story is complete. But even if I'll be unhappy with the ending, I'll still be very grateful for this unique world and its loveable inhabitants.

Of course, you might disagree with me on all this, and that's fine. Dropping the manga because you don't like the direction the story took is fine. Choosing to live in fanfiction delulu land is also fine. Gritting your teeth and sticking it out till the end despite disliking the plot because you're too invested to quit is also fine. Criticism and jokes are fine. The one thing that isn't fine is hating on the creator for the way they are choosing to tell their story.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

Tl;dr: If you're upset about the direction JJK is taking, please try to remember why you cared so much about it in the first place. And remember that Gege is just a person sharing a story with us, and disliking someone's story is not an acceptable reason to hate on them.

#i'm aware that probably no one will read all this but i had to get this off my chest #the fandom is getting so toxic it's such a shame #gege is out there writing a manga where dehumanisation and the pressure to be perfect and how damaging that is is a MAJOR theme #and people are getting mad because the story isn't perfect/up to their standards #am i the only one seeing the irony here #how can people be mad at someone for just... creating something?#even if jjk has the absolute worst terribly written dumpster fire ending imaginable i'll still be defending gege #they came up with an incredibly creative world and a huge cast of memorable loveable characters and i'll always be grateful for that #i was trying to keep this post positive but the ranting kind of slipped into the tags sorry #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jjk manga #jjk fandom #fandom culture #can we stop hating on creators for creating please #gege akutami #gege when i catch you gege #i'll say thank you for creating a story that impacted me even if it wasn't perfect

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katyspersonal · 7 months

Note

8, 15, 16 and 20 for peace ask meme!

(Asks from this ( x ) meme)

8) common fandom opinion that everyone is right about and should say it

Well.. I did not actually expect this to become the common opinion the last time I used this ask meme, but things have changed within past half a year, you know? Now, that Micolash and Laurence being academic rivals, featuring inherent homoerotism within it, is a common thing I CAN SAY THAT fandom is right and should say it dfsjhhfhsd

Now I am just waiting dynamic to transcend the ship and include Rom and Caryll for Choir and Byrgenwerth stand-ins (which is which doesn't matter, either works), so the rivalry takes true MULTI-TRACK DRIFTING and does this:

15) that one (cool) thing you see in fanart all the time

Okay, bonk me on the head very hard if I've already brought it up once, but I kinda love 'foreshadowing' in fanart? For example, Rom featuring flovery accessories in her hair or playing with spiders long before meeting her fate, Adeline picking flowers or liking sea life long before Research Hall, Micolash or Bloody Crow playing with actual corvids as kids... all that! Part of me questions the concept sometimes: is not it more impactful, from story standpoint, if the characters got 'taken into' something that absolutely didn't fit them, changing forever...

But then, at the same time, there is equally sinister vibe, or even irony to it, if someone was introduced to the concepts associated with their darker path early, like if their life path was already marked! ..or maybe I am overthinking what is just a fun think visually again. x) In either case, I like it when people do This Thing. I am pretty sure there are more examples I will recall!

16) you CAN understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

I can understand why so many people like to put Gehrman, Laurence, Ludwig and Maria into a group of four! It works naturally as these characters are all connected, especially all being linked to Gehrman. There are other relevant characters like Logarius (from Church's side) or Djura and Gratia (from Old Hunters' side), or like how my friend @fantomette22 adds Caryll as the fifth person, but like... again, they just work together! The four is a good number before it becomes hard to keep track of characters, but also they are all distinct enough! Ludwig is energetic and often is the brightest part of the team, Laurence is the leader with great ego and ambitions, and Gehrman and Maria interchange roles of 'the depressed friend' and 'the cool badass friend'!

20) part of canon you found exciting or interesting

How about ALL OF THEM. You are talking with the person that had a genuine joy digging through every single history implication across Chalice Dungeons, or analysing implications of weapons and even hunters' hats, or found that Yahar'gul Hunters all have plenty of fundament for lore and personalities!!

Alright, I think for this time I'll pick the fact that Yamamura has seen some real shit and his story. He really IS an odd one out of the League, reciting a Healing Church's motivational prayer as the one thing to still keep him sane, as it is stated that League's "mission" was what drove him insane as he stared into human dregs AND he is a summon in Yahar'gul, Research Hall AND is jailed in the prison for people that learned too many Church's secrets, AND there is a Yahar'gul hunter jailed too (so he helped him to escape Yahar'gul?), AND Valtr does curse "mad doctors" as well.. I already mentioned my headcanons about what went down, but is not it interesting detail that after everything he's learned, he is latching onto what Ludwig was saying? A simpler explanation, coping with the idea of "holiness", even if illusory, was a good distraction from the horrors of human nature. A more complex explanation.......

I can just said it increased up my interest in the character significantly back then!

#thank you for an ask!!#it improved my mood a little bit to talk about these things.. (had a very bad mood recently)#bloodborne #ask replies

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maybenotmei · 2 years

Note

hi mei <33 if possible can i req masuki satou or riddle rosehearts w a very sarcastic reader ? thank you very much and feel free to deny (≧▽≦) !!

— bittersweet tea !

please answer loud and clear.

— (*'ω'*) —

notes: me when i can't find a suitable title so i get poetic /j hope u dont mind me choosing riddle hehe ALSO HELLO???? I LOVE YOUR WORKS BTW

sorry for mischaracterizations as well as this being short if ever i havent done character analyses in a while (for anything but enst <—— stuck in hell + exams)

probably fed up with you.

imagine being sarcastic towards him during chapter 1/ prologue before all the insane stuff happened or before he had even just a small amount of patience for rule-breakers... i'll ask octavinelle to handle funeral payments for you

but all of that has ended now so i think it's safe to say you're Somewhat fine. i think.

now if you're deliberately breaking rules While being sarcastic it wouldn't end well, riddle doesn't tolerate rule breakers after all. and when you sarcastically respond back to his scolding? funeral costs are Not on me btw

but if you're not doing so (you probably just like to sarcastically respond to orders in a little silly lighthearted fashion) then i think it's all good. he'll definitely throw something back at you and it'd be a back-and-forth conversation with your sarcasm and riddle's responses. he stops when he appears to be getting late. he still very much follows his schedule, thank you very much.

don't let it go too far, alright? he'll apologize if a response actually did hurt. he doesn't mean to actually hurt your feelings as he replies to your sarcasm (which i hope isnt to hurt his feelings either)

at this point, your back-and-forths with riddle are quite a known thing in heartslabyul, in most of NRC even. i think your dynamic is somewhat like azul and riddle's, except you're much more direct and you get on riddle's nerves easier. poor guy probably had to re-arrange his schedule because he'd deliberately try to avoid you on the way to important events (no offense)

you've probably been collared at least thrice for mimicking his words. two out of three of them were times you thought he wasn't there,

OH ace joins in sometimes and you two become a power duo against riddle. if ace alone was bad enough, just imagine the both of you. you're lucky he has some patience since none of you seem to be breaking any of heartslabyul's rules, so he's willing to not instantly punish you both.

his head hurts from you. but can he even deny he has a soft spot for you? why do you think he has some patience for you..?? he genuinely appreciates your cooperation despite your sarcasm and when the timing is right, he gets a good laugh from you.

he does enjoy civil talk with you over some good tea together. whether it'd be about school or just a general day, he appreciates it when these little conversations happen.

oh, but he's always ready to reply to any sarcasm you decide to add to the conversation. and there goes your "civil" talk...

#not sure if this can help clear things up on my perspective #but i think your relationship would be like you: 'siyempre kaya ko yan. magrereklamo muna ako'#whenever riddle asks you of something n u reply sarcastically with 'no'#twisted wonderland riddle #twisted wonderland scenario #twisted wonderland headcanons #twisted wonderland x reader #twisted wonderland #request #riddle rosehearts x reader

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riffin-eh · 2 years

Text

so uhhhh, interaction, huh

I… don’t really get a lot of what people say about social anxiety with typical, day-to-day interactions that you have to do. But more complex interactions? Just shoot me now, I’m gonna screw up. Obviously it’s different for everyone, but I guess I judge everything on intent. Going into a conversation, both parties have an intent, whether conscious or subconscious. If those intents are aligned, and both parties know that, then the conversation is easy. For example, I go up to the counter of the local McD’s and ask for some nuggies. The worker wants to get my money and give me nuggies, and I want to give the money and get nuggies. We both know each other’s intent, so the interaction is all about facilitating that. No bullshit, easy stuff. That’s why I find so much of this day-to-day stuff in the wider world so easy, especially retail interactions. But more complex conversations, where I don’t know the other person’s motivations? Now we’ve got a problem.

Let’s start off with a controlled scenario, one with less variables, so I can illustrate how even that is tough. I’m gonna draw upon an interaction I had. I was playing Splatoon with who I thought (think? I’m not sure anymore, things are kind of in the shitter right now for me socially) is/was a friend of mine. Now, my goal here is simple and easy to understand. Keep a good conversation with involvement from both parties going, and get to know this person better because they seem pretty nice. But their goal? It could be a lot of different things, and I’m not a good judge, because weewooweewoo social anxiety here to screw you over. The first assumption one might make is that they have the same goal as me. I would definitely like to think that, because that means we’re working towards the same goal, and so things are easier. But uh oh, here’s anxiety coming in with a piledriver! What if they’re just being polite? What if they’re only putting up with me because of another friend? I know these things aren’t reasonable, but you sprinkle in a little context of it being hard to contact them to set things up and them not initiating conversation, and it suddenly feels a lot more real. And so, I get overwhelmed after the fact. I over analyse. Annnnnd I don’t contact this person who I honestly had a good time with again. And that’s just a simple 1 on 1 interaction. Now add in multiple other people, who I might know more or less, dynamics between all of those people, and it just becomes a nightmare to manage. All different senses of humour, things that are ok and not ok, interests, etc etc etc make it tough to manage at the best of times, and I'm rarely at my best of times socially.

For a lot of people, conversation is a given. They read between the lines, read the mood of the room, and chime in an acceptable amount to keep them in the conversation without too much thought, at least that’s what it seems like. But when conversation is a skill? Things get hairy real quick. I think I just need more experience, covid and being at home a lot has kinda screwed me on that. Hopefully I can figure it out. I’m better than I was, so if my conversation skills continue to develop at the same rate, maybe I’ll be able to have normal conversations with the other patients at the nursing home in a good 70 years. Have a nice one, horrible 1am rant brain out.

#social anxiety #neurodivergent #anxious #venting #small rant #my thoughts

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saheira-dreams · 26 days

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01/09

Happy back to Hogwarts day!

Its happy to think and romanticise about but honestly I'm still kinda down about not receiving my hogwarts letter.

But the reason I finally thought to post: is it just me but isn't symbolism lowkey a variant of stereotyping? Like ok I'm not that well read of a person but why do owls symbolise wisdom, for example? Cuz I'm quite sure not all owls are wise in their actions right? Just like how humans have different personalities, like how each of my three cats have their own dynamic personalities, dont all animals have their own unique personalities??

Like I was thinking about this other post that was talking about how humans are social creatures at heart or smt like that and I just thought, like, for me, it makes sense cuz despite how much I enjoy being alone, being with my close friends makes me feel good and even energised during that time when I'm with them. But not everyone is like that. Like some people would rather stay alone than meet with even their closest friends when they're down or bored or just annoyed with life.

Like symbolism is such a huge part of literature but how do we know if thats really what the author wanted to use the object for? Like so many people perceive the hidden meanings behind objects in many different ways. Not everyone will say that the blue curtains in the sad character's room represents their sadness. It could represent the sense of peace and positivity they wished to feel in their home when they first bought it because the colour reminded them of the vastness of the sky and ocean. Or maybe that shade of blue was simply their favourite colour. There doesn't always need to be a why or how. Like some things are just the way they are.

Anyway, why so we need to use objects and events to sumbolise other things? I get that the point of a story is to convey a message, often through a character's experiences but it's really not realistic. Like in real life, not everything will symbolise something in my life. The dead roses I've kept on my desk are literally there just for the aesthetic cuz I was into dark academia at the time and now they've grown on me and I can't bring myself to throw them away. Its not like they symbolise that a part of me has died but that gave rise to a beauty of some other sort or idk smt like that. Like to an extent, that interpretation could apply to me but that's not the reason why I keep them so whats the point in analysing it?

Okay okay so maybe I'm just being frustrated with the concept of literature itself and why we spend time analysing these little things that are probably just things that the author decided to add in their story or poem. Like making a hot headed character having blue as a favourite colour doesn't represent their desire tobe more cool tempered like maybe the author's favourite colour was blue so they included it or maybe it was completely random. Who knows but the author?

Anyway, to those who reached the end of this, thank you so much for your patience with me, I'm not totally sure this makes sense but I just needed to talk to someone about it. (It's the school holidays and im not really able to contact the friends I normally talk to abt this kinda stuff) Again, thank you so much for listening to (reading) my lil rant.

Hope you have an amazing day, week, and really, rest of your life too 🌷

#chaotic academia #sorry for the rant #rant post #personal rant #venting #ranting #literature

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govindhtech · 2 months

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Filmora AI Features Adds NVIDIA RTX Video HDR support

In the NVIDIA Studio series features featured artists, creative tips, and how NVIDIA Studio technology improves creative processes. They also studying the GeForce RTX GPU latest technology, resources, and capabilities and how they greatly accelerate content development.

Filmora AI features

Wondershare Filmora, an AI-powered video editing app, has joined the ranks of editing programmes such as Cyberlink PowerDirector and Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve by supporting NVIDIA RTX Video HDR.

Video quality is greatly improved by NVIDIA RTX Video HDR, guaranteeing that the result is appropriate for the greatest monitors on the market right now.

Twitch Enhanced Broadcasting is now supported by livestreaming tools OBS Studio and XSplit Broadcaster, providing streamers with more control over video quality through client-side encoding and automated setups. The functionality, which was created by Twitch, OBS, and NVIDIA together, also opens the door for future developments, such as vertical live streaming and more sophisticated codecs like HEVC and AV1.

Updates for creative apps spanning the summer are included in the July Studio Driver, which is available for download right now. To keep GeForce RTX PCs up to date with the newest NVIDIA drivers and technology, get the NVIDIA app beta, the indispensable companion for artists and gamers.

Come talk with NVIDIA at SIGGRAPH about the most recent developments in generative AI and graphics, and listen to a fireside discussion with NVIDIA CEO and founder Jensen Huang and senior writer at WIRED Lauren Goode on Monday, 29 July at 2:30 p.m. MT. Sign up right away.

Additionally, this week’s highlighted Kevin Stratvert, an artist in the NVIDIA Studio, talks extensively on Wondershare Filmora AI features like film creation AI capabilities.

Wonderfully Show Off RTX Video’s Beauty

In order to create HDR10-quality video, RTX Video HDR analyses standard dynamic range footage, expands the colour palette to create sharper, more vivid frames, and improves the impression of depth for a more immersive experience.

Filmora users can produce excellent footage that’s perfect for gaming videos, trip vlogs, or event filmmaking using RTX Video HDR.

Visual quality is further improved by combining RTX Video HDR with RTX Video Super Resolution, another AI-powered technology that use trained models to sharpen edges, restore features, and remove artefacts from video. An NVIDIA RTX GPU linked to an HDR10-capable display or TV is necessary for RTX Video HDR.

If your PC has an RTX GPU, you can use the Filmora desktop client to submit files and continue editing with local NVIDIA Studio acceleration. If you have dual encoders on a GeForce RTX 4070 Ti or above GPU, you can double the export process’ speed.

Find out more about the AI-powered features of Wondershare Filmora.

Making the Most of Filmora AI Features

With the heart of a teacher, Kevin Stratvert has always enjoyed imparting his technical expertise and advice to others.

They had the idea one day, “Why not create a YouTube video to provide users with direct explanations?” An instructional guide on how to obtain Microsoft Office for free from Office.com was his first major hit. After the video received millions of views and a tonne of interaction, he started making more stuff.

Stratvert has been particularly interested in elucidating the advantages of AI, particularly in relation to Wondershare Filmora AI features. Explains the AI effects that video editors can employ to speed up their operations in one YouTube video, Filmora Video Editor Tutorial for Beginners.

As examples, consider

Smart Edit: Modify automatically generated transcripts depending on footage, including multilingual versions.

Smart Cutout: Instantaneously remove undesirable things or alter the background.

Speech-to-Text: Produce interesting titles, descriptions, and captions on-the-fly.

According to Stratvert, “AI has become an essential component of my creative toolkit, especially for refining details that really make a difference.” “AI makes the process go more smoothly and efficiently by taking care of these technical tasks, freeing up my time to focus more on creating content.”

NVIDIA ChatRTX is a technology that Stratvert has also been working with. It allows users to engage with their local data, install and configure different AI models, efficiently prompt AI for text and image outputs via CLIP, and more.

With the help of NVIDIA Broadcast, Stratvert now has a polished setup for web conferences and livestreams. The app’s capabilities, which include virtual backgrounds and background noise reduction, aid in keeping things looking professional on screen. It’s particularly helpful in home studio environments, where it might be difficult to regulate environmental conditions.

Stratvert emphasises how crucial his GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card is to the production of content.

Even in demanding settings, NVIDIA claimed to have noticed a significant improvement in render times and playback smoothness using an RTX GPU. Furthermore, more complex tasks like real-time ray tracing and AI-driven editing tools are supported by the increased capabilities of RTX GPUs, which can lead to new creative possibilities in my edits.