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raayllum · 2 months ago

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What Is Up With Terry :: the Thread of Necessity

Intro

Terry is an interesting character in a lot of ways. He's unflappably kind and optimistic, accepting even to a fault, and he's an elf with no issue with dark magic yet doesn't seek out its use for himself. He's a non-traditional antagonist for starters, he's trans without being overly sanitized, and he most notably provides a sounding board for more overtly 'evil' characters like Viren in season four and Claudia in seasons five and six. Most of this is in service of Claudia's goals, with Terry not having many of his own goals outside of his support of Claudia and Viren; this is, mind you, not too dissimilar from Soren with Ezran in arc 2 as well, or even Amaya with Janai.

I also think he's a very important in a character in a lot of ways, for the ease with which he explores and exemplifies

You can love / support Viren and Claudia and that doesn't make you a 'bad person' in the show

You can be okay with dark magic without changing your mind and that doesn't make you a bad person either

You can kill someone in TDP and that doesn't automatically make you a bad person either

We know all of this is true (and will likely continue to be true) as we know in S7 there is an episode about Terry related to him still having a "true and pure heart," which is about as classical "good guy protagonist" speak as you can get. In those lenses, I think Terry was a fantastic choice in introducing a new character to not only contrast against Claudia and Viren, but also in terms of getting us to be more sympathetic towards them (particularly Viren) than we might've been inclined towards in arc 1.

That said, I think the most important thread that Terry carries is that he is a character who truly and wholly does whatever is necessary for his cause, nothing more, nothing less.

But what does that mean, tangibly, within TDP's narrative? Well, let's talk about it:

Necessity

The concept of necessity—I needed to do this, or I have to do this (even though I don't want to)—is one that has been central to TDP for a while. We see this characters who cite a lack of agency ("He was going to take Claudia's life, I had no choice" / "Every step I took, I took because I had to" / "I'm sorry. I have to do this") throughout the show, both dark mages and not, particularly Rayla, Soren, and Callum.

And in return for perceived necessity, as Harrow states, "I have done terrible things. I thought they were necessary. Now I don't know." We increasingly see people justify, or struggle to justify, worse and worse actions. Claudia's mindset has become very transactional, for example ("He saved you, and now we have to save Aaravos" / "It's a mistake! I saved you! You owe me your life!"). Generally speaking, the show treats these things labelled as necessary as unnecessary (hence the regret they experience, and even Terry disagreeing more adamantly than he ever has before).

This is, of course, because 4x09 and 6x09 together very clearly spells out what is important for Terry to believe something is necessary: it must be done entirely out of love, no more and no less.

I've seen you do a lot of awful things, dark magic things, but I always believed in you because you had a reason [saving your dad]. But what you just did, the way you tricked that Moonshadow elf? It was just cruel.

Maybe it started out as a story of love, but along the way it got twisted. [...] He isn't doing anything for love. He's doing it out of revenge.

To Terry, you do what you have to do but go no further; you don't give into anger, you don't give into revenge. You act entirely out of love, and keep acting out of love and let it temper you. This is why Terry resonates, I think, and seeks guidance from Viren after the mage's initial assessment of what's been happening, emotionally:

This is similar in practice to why Viren (and Claudia to a lesser extent) are characters with such fraught paths. Not only because of their dark magic use, but because of their denial. Viren violates Lissa's safety and trust to save Soren, but then blames Soren for it; Claudia heals Soren and brings back Viren, and doesn't understand why fixing things physically wasn't enough. "I had no choice" for them means "I have no accountability," and that's why they kept spiralling deeper till Viren broke out of it. He atones then not by swearing off dark magic (although it helps) but by taking full agency in the choice to do dark magic and in what manner (not sacrificing his family again) and without a desire for ego, which was his biggest character flaw in a lot of ways.

The reason I bring this up is to provide a contrast for Terry in a few ways, such as

Terry always being very emotionally open, rather than repressing or offloading blame onto other people

Mandates that he had no choice (4x03, 4x04) but to kill Ibis verbally, but is also aware that it very much was

Is able to accept that this was a choice and move on

Terry does what he believes is necessary. He feels things about it. He doesn't go further into outright self destruction, and he doesn't escalate to what harm is deemed unnecessary. That doesn't mean Terry's levelheadedness can't be a flaw (he absolutely should have told Claudia to give up magic in 6x04) or that what he believes is necessary always is / that his choices are perfect (they're not), but that in his contrast to Claudia and Viren, he continually provides that contrast. He can be held at sword point by Rayla, a total aggressive stranger, and still recognize that withholding her family from her is what he deems as unnecessary cruelty (but more on that later).

For now I want to talk about patterns, specifically two that he engages in with Claudia.

Patterns

The first pattern is unsurprising, perhaps, given that Claudia-Rayla have continually had parallels, given that:

1) Claudia keeps leaving him

This is, of course, most obvious in 6x01 when Claudia states her intention to do so, or even in 6x09 wherein Aaravos literally lifts her away from Terry:

But we also see it earlier on with even the choices Claudia makes in her mission. Terry is a passive person, much like how Claudia at her core is ("Tell me what to do" + 90% of interactions with Viren that aren't about saving him), and therefore Claudia leads the way, and Terry is happy to let her.

He never really considers that he might be a core part of her truth, and that she wants more active advice (see the way Rayla counsels Callum about his dark magic use, comparatively, in 6x03, or nudges him forwards elsewhere throughout the seasons). While Terry isn't wrong to encourage Claudia to think staunchly for herself, and in fact she very much should, it does leave her more vulnerable to the next first person willing to tell her what to do: Aaravos.

We also see Terry's passivity go even further back to one of his first episodes, as well as in the S5 finale.

Each entry in the pattern is a little different.

4x03: Claudia leaves / goes in alone and fails at her mission. Terry follows and saves her by killing Ibis at great cost to his personal emotional state.

5x09: Claudia leaves / goes in alone and fails at her mission. She goes further into Aaravos' clutches (the ocean here metaphorically) and returns of her own accord.

6x01: Claudia succeeds at bringing back her father but cannot make him stay. She leaves on her own in an attempt to break her family's cycle of abandonment without realizing how she's continually perpetuating it, but returns in a devastated and dejected state.

6x09: Claudia succeeds at her mission of freeing Aaravos, and the Startouch elf takes her literally into his clutches and away from Terry.

Each time it is her choice to leave, with only 4x03 firmly having Terry following without her returning by her own merit. Whereas Claudia plays out her family's cycle of abandonment with all its members—her mother, her brother, and finally her father—Terry plays it out with just Claudia, over and over again. This doesn't mean their relationship is bad or that some of these times are unreasonable—Terry is willing and supportive to let her go in 4x03 and 5x09 much the way Callum is supportive of Rayla in 4x09, 6x05, and 6x09—but it is a pattern that has then taken on a negative slant in S6 and will likely to continue to worsen in S7 before it gets better either in the season or beyond.

Then, we have the pattern of how

2) Claudia gradually stops listening to him.

This is probably more interwoven with the thread of necessity than the previous pattern, since as stated before, sometimes when Terry is letting Claudia go off on her own while it's imperfect in the narrative, it makes sense within their dynamic / resources. Like as previously mentioned, too, Terry is more often correct than he is wrong about the next moves people should make. He's right that Claudia will need help in 4x03, he's right that they should go look for her in 4x07, he's right that she needs rest in 5x02, and right to be wary and against Aaravos in 6x09.

In the beginning, Claudia listens to him.

But as the seasons go on, this gradually changes with twice back to back in 5x06.

T: It won't chase us anymore, you won. It's trapped. Please. C: You're right. It won't follow us. But not because it's trapped.

Season six is arguably the season where Claudia listens to him the least despite Terry reaffirming her agency most directly (6x04) as she ignores or doesn't listen to every reservation he has.

T: It's him. It's your Dad. C: Then I have to... T: No! Please! Please don't... I don't think you should see him like this. C: I have to! I came all this way to see him one last time. I need him to show me the right path. T: This won't give you answers. Only anger. Only pain. I'm so sorry. He's gone. He is gone.

And Terry, who does things only that are necessary, only out of love, would know the difference: unlike Rayla, or Claudia, or numerous other characters arguably in the show, he always has, particularly when given broader context the way he is in 6x09 (which hasn't always been true in his relationship with Claudia, either).

None of this is to say that Claudia is a Bad Partner or that your partner should always listen to you, either, because neither of those things are true in life or in TDP. Healthy couples in TDP disagree all the time in both healthy and unhealthy ways. Rayla left Callum when he explicitly made her promise not to, and Callum did dark magic to save her twice despite 100% knowing it's not what she wold've wanted.

But the first thing I want to address is the difference between Claudia leaving out of grief and trying to feel in control after losing everyone but her boyfriend, and Rayla leaving out of grief and trying to feel in control after losing everyone but her boyfriend because they are wildly different for one main reason.

Rayla left in the middle of the night while Callum was sleeping because "you’ll wake up and try to stop me… from doing what I know I have to do. Leaving. But I can’t let you stop me, Callum. No matter how much I want to. [...] And if you said even one word to me, I wouldn’t be—couldn’t be. If I stay even until your eyes open and you yawn your silly morning yawn, I’ll break" (TDP reflections, Dear Callum).

Terry, meanwhile, is actively begging and pleading with Claudia, and he is still abandoned. Granted, Claudia seemingly comes back within a day or two, not two years, so that does mitigate things, but the fact remains that Rayla thought she wouldn't be able to leave to protect Callum if she even heard him speak a word or yawn, and Claudia was able to leave to protect herself while having a full on conversation. Ouch.

Nor does this completely absolve Terry of the one time Claudia straight up asks him to tell her what to do, or what he thinks she should do, Terry doesn't (6x04). He's not wrong that she needs to choose the way and figure out what she needs, but him emphasizing that he can't tell her what to do and then immediately accepting her premises that Viren can and should tell her what to do is something that's already bitten both of them in the ass.

Terry also only asks Claudia to listen to him, really listen, and to tell her what she should do when he thinks it's absolutely necessary.

This is also one of the reasons why she and Terry are suited to each other. Both value and respond to necessity, scaffolding everything else on top of what needs to be done or doesn't need to be done. What's risky about this mutual understanding is the potential for it to stop being so mutual if they start to have different views on what's necessary. And as we see in 6x09, that's happening more and more. What is going to continue happen when Claudia keeps viewing Aaravos' actions as necessary, and Terry doesn't?

Questioning

So Terry is, presumably, going to increasingly be wary and against Aaravos. What is that going to look like?

We have a decent idea, honestly. As stated / noted before, Terry actually pushes back against Claudia fairly often. He's just rather gentle about it, and usually is trying to prioritize her wellbeing (or someone else's) when she isn't. Examples include:

4x09 over the coins / being cruel

5x01 ("You'd think if dark magic does this to a person they might not do it")

5x02 over resting

5x06 over attacking the dragon

5x06 over killing the dragon

6x01 over her leaving

6x04 with telling her what to do

6x08 over seeing Viren's corpse

6x09 in helping / freeing Aaravos

However, we're also yet to see him be angry in his questioning or when pushing back, which is what I think would be most interesting to see change (think the moment where Iroh finally yells at Zuko beneath Lake Laogai). His pushback with Claudia has gotten more and more consistent as well as more dire throughout the seasons, and just like how Viren and Claudia eventually disagreed and split up, I think Terry and Claudia will too. How permanent that split will be, I think, is up to her (I could see parallels happening between Soren and Terry teaming up to try and bring her home, with Ezran and Rayla doing the same for a brother-partner tag team Callum duo), but I do think that Terry's testament of "I love you, I will never leave you" is apt foreshadowing to see what it would take for him to break his promise, and do just that.

To what he knows needs to be done, even if that means walking away.

Misc. Season Thoughts

Terry also has some interesting things that don't fall under the necessity umbrella that I wanted to talk about as well. One of those things is

TERRY AND IDENTITY

This isn't to say I think Terry actively has an identity arc in seasons 4 through 6 the way other characters (Callum, Rayla, Viren) are, but that Terry like most of the main cast is linked to arc 2's continual increased emphasis on identity and choosing your own identity. This is true particularly in 4x01, which opens after the intro with Callum running through / clarifying his titles (or identity roles) and concludes with Viren and Terry being introduced to one another. Terry gives details on his name ("[Terrestrius] is a bit traditional, but my friends call me Terry") and then asks for clarification on what he can call Viren.

Later on in S5 and S6, we see Soren and Rayla respectively see through the 'monstrous' / threat of others by reaffirming their similarities ("I know what this is like. I know how you feel" / "This storm isn't your rage, it's your grief. I know how you feel") and bestowing agency through naming conventions. Rayla identifies the monster isn't a monster but a pet, and more than that, gives Esmeray back her name. Elmer does the same when he overthrows Finnegrin and Soren likewise affirms it: "We literally didn't [defeat him]. Elmer did."

Why is this relevant? Well, in an arc that's all about emphasizing over and over again to see other people's personhood by using their name(s), recognizing that you have a choice, and choosing who you want to be...

So often queer characters in media are regulated to their queerness being happenstance (i.e. they fulfil a certain story role regardless and just happen to also be queer) or it's all their character gets to be (a "figuring out queerness and/or a coming out" arc). One of the reasons I myself (as a queer and trans person) has always deeply appreciated Terry as a queer character, specifically as a trans character, is precisely the way that his transness is interwoven with TDP's broader themes of chosen identity, self-actualization, and knowing / name motifs. In having these themes and ideas for multiple cis characters, Terry's interplay gets to be enhanced by his trans identity and simultaneously let him enhance the thematic explorations the series has going on, and I think that's pretty cool. Identity is one of the main themes of s4, and for Terry as well, so it's nice to see the ways that's reflected.

I expect season 7 to challenge his identity further ("I'm going to be strong enough to do whatever I need to do and still have feelings") if forcing him to confront who he wants to be, who Claudia is becoming, and who he thinks they can still be together. In a lot of ways I'm expecting S7 to be a sister season to S4 thematically even as S7 builds on S5/S6 in terms of plot and character arcs, since S7 seems geared to be about identity directly even more than S4 was (and much more than S5 or S6 were).

TERRY AND COMMUNICATION

If season four is about identity, season five has a strong emphasis on communication. This is, again, likewise true for Terry, as he encourages Claudia to communicate in various ways across the course of the season.

The situation is urgent, and you're worried I'm not treating it that way.

Terry consistently having clear communication is also something that puts him in direct contrast to Aaravos, who is a master manipulator and very careful liar-not-liar in his own way. Terry is always open and while thoughtful does not really bottle things up; he communicates clearly with other people and is comfortable doing so, and is very good at validating others as well. Whenever he does push against Claudia, he always clearly explains why he's doing so or why he disagrees but leaves the choice of what to do next in making amends or carrying on up to her. Aaravos, meanwhile, continually withholds or omits information, and presents things in certain ways in order to get, well, his way.

I don't have as much to say for season six, given that Terry is only in about half the season (6x01, 6x03, 6x04, 6x08, 6x09) and one of those is entirely silent. I'd say his main idea in s6, like s4 with identity and s5 with communication, would be the theme of Questioning (scaffolded under 'supportive'). He's supportive of Viren and Claudia's searches for meaning alongside his own increase questioning of what they and Aaravos are doing and why. I'll be curious to see what his main character beat may be in s7 going forward.

Conclusion

There's more I could talk about with Terry (Viren dreaming in 5x03 of chasing after Claudia only for her not to listen, only for Terry to live out that worst fear in 6x01 directly, for example) but I think for now these are the main things I wanted to discuss without going further into speculation than I already have. I hope this maybe brought a new perspective or appreciation for Terry as a character and for his arc in the show so far! As always, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy.

#tdp #tdp terry #tdp meta #the dragon prince #terry #analysis series #analysis #parallels #clauderry #arc 2 #multi

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moonsun2010 · 1 month ago

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Man seeing the CEO's reaction to Black Myth not winning GOTY, saying they came to the awards for nothing (they won Player's Choice), that he wrote the acceptance speech 2 years ago, and all that shit about feminists and wanting to assault the female members of the team, make me glad they lost. Despite me playing the game way more than the rest.

Wait what post had the thing about feminists and assaulting female members? If you mean the Weibo post CEO Yocar wrote on 14 Dec 2024, I don't find any mention of the sort there. If you've any citations/links to the Chinese non-translated posts or screenshots that would be good.

If you want to read an actual good translation/paraphrasing of Yocar's post, I recommend this article.

1) "saying they came to the awards for nothing" you mean "今年入围的游戏都很出色，可我真没搞明白这次年度游戏的评选标准是啥，我特么白来了！" which basically states that "the shortlisted works are all outstanding, but I really don't understand what's the selection standards". The last part is like similar to "goddamn waste of my time" but not exactly, like waste of his attendance?? Like "The competition was strong but I didn't understand the rules, so why the heck did I attend for no reason! (exasperated tone towards ownself)".

Additionally, is writing an acceptance speech 2 years ago something negative...? Are creators not allowed to be proud of their work? This is the portion of Yocar's post that the "acceptance speech 2 years ago" came from:

"从昨天到现在，我也从很多玩家的言论中看到了强烈的不满情绪，看到了不甘与不爽——大多用了幽默与解构的方式表达，笑死。

我完全能理解这些不甘，同感这些不爽，因为我知道这些情绪的背后，不是痛苦与恶意，而是自尊与自信。

如此自信却没得到他人的认可，有点脾气，很正常。

我其实……比你们更自信（参考我在知乎的第一个回答），年度游戏登台的演讲词两年前就写好了，居然没用上😭😭😭" meaning:

"From yesterday till today, I've seen a lot of severly dissatisfied reactions from my conversations with (Black Myth Wukong) players, discontent and irritated—most of who expressed themselves in humourous and yet structured ways, which I found hilarious.

I understand entirely the feelings of those who are dissatisfied and frustrated, because I know that these feelings are backed not by harmful or evil intent, but a sense of self-confidence and self-esteem.

If one were to have pride in themselves, only to fail to gain the same recognition from others, it's quite normal to feel slighted.

Actually I'm... even more confident than y'all (see my first answer on 知乎*), so much so that I wrote my Game of the Year acceptance speech 2 years ago, which I ended up not using 😭😭😭"

*知乎 is another forume-sque platform that's kinda like Quora for asking and answering questions.

It's at worst a display of arrogance that in fact, seems to be used in a self-denigrating manner in the post. I don't have the exact same emoji, but surely one doesn't need to speak Chinese to understand what its use there means right? All I see is a pretty normal statement from a game dev empathising with the fanbase's disappointment over not getting GOTY, and soothing those pains by being self-deprecating about this own confidence in his creation.

In fact the rest of that 2nd paragraph (post is split into 7 paragraphs) makes the fact that he's focusing on the fact that he just has pride in his game even clearer:

"在这款游戏的研发��程中，很多同事没有我这么乐观。他们可能因为玩过了太多的中间版本，��免觉得这个游戏还有太多的瑕疵，也不大可能按时上线。

我在公司的一个主要工作，就是不断安慰他们我们已经做得很好了，产品一直在进步。

是的，你不能只在已经赢的时候才自信。

那不是自信，是对结果的复读。

今天输了，明天还可能会输，可那又如何？

影响结果的因子太复杂，所以结果必然是不确定的。我们唯一能确定的是选择自己在做什么——

做具体的事，做困难的事，做相信的事。

在做这些，当然应该自信。" meaning:

"In the process of developing this game, many colleagues weren't as optimistic as me. Maybe they'd replayed the WIPs too many times, such that they'd inevitably think it had too many flaws and wouldn't be finished in time.

In this company I have a very important role: to continuously reassure staff that we've already done a very good job, and that the game is continuously improving.

Indeed, you cannot have self-confidence in yourself only when you win.

That is not confidence, but preparation for/repetition of the end.

You lose today, and you can lose again tomorrow—and so what?

The end is never certain, as after all, the factors involved in determining are too complicated. The only thing we can be certain of is our own actions—to do things with purpose, difficult things, things we believe in/confident actions.

To do these, of course we must believe in ourselves."

The other paragraphs continue in the same encouraging spirit—generalised summary:

3 talks about how Game Science persevered in developing BMW because they trust in their game to deliver a quality story rooted in Chinese culture

4 talks about how Yocar thinks a common proverb few know is from Journey to the West "世上无难事，只怕有心人。/Nothing is impossible to a willing heart" does not mean that overcoming difficulties is simply a matter of mental fortitude, but that he thinks "因为难，才好玩" aka its fun because its difficult but also alluding to a common sentiment in fanbases that form around a love for difficult games... like BMW (and yknow the whole genre of Souls-like and Bullet hells and games that you love because they are so painful).

5 talks about the origin of Game Science's name, 6 about how they're fortunate to even be able to work on games, 7 a lovely, lovely conclusion that I think deserves to be translated in full:

"最后，希望黑神话的这个故事，能够给到某些还在迷茫中的人一点勇气，让更多在还在黑暗中摸索的人看到了一点光亮，然后以平常心继续前行。

希望大家都能继续怀着自信与雄心，保持勇敢、诚实与善良，踏实做好每一件具体的小事，坦然接受不确定的结果，一直走在取经的路上，直到生命的最后一刻。

就像海明威说的那样：这个世界很美好，值得为之战斗。" meaning:

"In conclusion, I hope that the story of BMW (both the game and the story of the game's development?) can give those who are still lost some courage, give more of those still searching in the darkness some light, and progress with a peace of mind.

I hope everyone will continue to embrace confidence and ambition, to be brave, sincere and kind, to properly do everything with purpose, until life reaches its final end.

Just like what Hemingway said: "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for."

It's honestly a very earnest and sweet post?? If you can read Mandarin Chinese its way more poetic and kind of tear-inducing—even more so if you're a creative of any kind, or just someone who's ever put high expectations on themselves to produce good results, only to seemingly ""fail"" by not achieving the unrealistically fantastical ideal you've built in your head.

Anon, I'm glad that you've played the game, but I don't think your interpretation of Yocar's post is fair at all. Creators are allowed to have high expectations about their own work, and to be disappointed when they aren't met. The post he's made is just that—a joking expression of disappointment, yet determination to carry on producing more games he can be proud of, and will bring happiness to others. Nowhere in this is the unhinged bashing of TGA that Yocar is supposedly to have done. If this sort of encouraging statement is considered inflammatory, I... genuinely don't know what to say.

#inbox #ask tag #black myth wukong #black myth #black myth: wukong #黑神话：悟空 #黑神话 #tried my best to translate lmao better chi speakers pls feel free to correct #easy to misconstrue chinese devs as vicious if you dont understand them i guess. nothing is ever good enough.

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ixiot-ghostrebel · 2 years ago

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Another sagau reader hearing someone insulting characters and going apeshit but when someone insults reader are like "......hmm shodul I drink hot chocolate or tea today?" This time ganyu( becose I still pissed at one guy who insulted her i her own story quest) bennet and nilou (another chance to make azar feel terror)

COMING RIGHT UP, ANON. THANK YOU FOR REQUESTING OMG 💀 I have been too dead without these requests, fr.

Click Me For Part 1!

When Someone Insults Ganyu, Bennett, and Nilou vs When Someone Insults Reader...

(Disclaimers: Might Be OOC, Mentions of Violence, & Quest/Genshin Impact Lore Spoilers!)

Ganyu

Okay, first of all: Yes, I am adding that stupid idiot cough Xin Cheng cough into this.

You were just following the Traveler and Paimon, joining Ganyu's Story Quest which, for some reason, was not completed yet. So, you decided to tag along to see Ganyu!

You weren't hyped when that beggar came out of nowhere and started to do all that fairytale stuff even you don't approve of—and you were someone that sticks themselves into your own head, thank you very much.

So when this man started to gain the audacity to insult Ganyu, you knew you had to step up and do something. No one, and you quite mean it, was going to insult her and get away with it.

"Hey!" You came out from your hiding spot (you're the Almighty Creator, you know it'll make the situation worse). "Just what the hell do you think you're doing, huh?"

Xin Cheng pales at the sight of your enraged figure. He stutters to make an excuse, but you cut him off. You're having none of it.

"Get your useless self out of here, before I decide to kick it down the mountains myself!"

To say that Ganyu was shocked that you were getting angry over a mortal was an understatement. She was beyond surprised that you even stood up for her.

But she did have to intervene with your threatening—after all, she is still an Adeptus. Protecting the people of Liyue was still her duty.

"Your Grace...Please let him go. I'm sure he already understands his mistake." Ganyu's soft voice only made your anger increase—she sounded so upset!

"Y-yes, please, Your Grace! I understand what I've done wrong, I—"

"Silence." You glare down at the mortal. Your turn back to Ganyu, and considered your choices. While you wanted to wreck absolute vengeance on this man, you also didn't want to hurt Ganyu's feelings more.

Guess you were going down Trauma Lane, then. You sigh, and stomp your feet as you turn around to glare at Xin Cheng, catching his petite form by surprise.

"If I ever see you do this again..." Your eyes narrow. "Believe me when I say it—you will be granted no mercy by any adeptus nor Rex Lapis himself. Now SCRAM!" With that, he was running for the hills. You weren't entirely satisfied, but you'll take it. For now.

What would Happen if Ganyu heard you get insulted? Well, first of all, she would gasp quietly to herself. What was this blasphemy? She's utterly horrified.

Ganyu thinks she might faint once she realizes you were nearby, checking out vendor goods next to where the gossipers were spilling terrible insults of your image.

"Y-Your Grace! Please accept my apology on behalf of the people of Liyue." Will literally run up to you and apologize for them. While she may not be the one who did it, she's still cares about the People of Liyue—and thus her reasoning as to why she's askign for the mercy of the Almighty Creator.

Your puzzled look turns to Ganyu. "Who are you apologizing for?" Ganyu blinks.

"The, uhm—the gossipers..?" You're still confused, until your eyes shine once recognition hits you like Truck-Kun.

"Ohhh, those dudes! Yeah, don't worry about them—they're pretty boring, saying the same thing like a broken record. Say—wanna shop with me? I'm paying, of course."

And that's how you got Ganyu to be more comfortable around you! :D

Bennett

Ah, our unlucky yet optimistic adventurer! This boy—he is good. He's cool, and he's rather awed by most of the kids in Mondstadt.

He was hanging out with Razor and Fischl when someone decides to insult him. this genuinely upsets him—after all, they were insulting his ability and his position in the Adventurer's Guild...

Already, Razor and Fischl were already up to defend him, but what they didn't expect is for the Almighty Creator (aka you) got to it first.

"I beg your pardon," you say through gritted teeth. "How exactly is having a bad luck aura got to do with ANYTHING related to being an adventurer?" You're glaring so many daggers you could practically say you were breaking all the walls. "Perhaps we'll see just how lucky you are when I send you to Dragon Spine and watch your dead corpses FREEZE TO DEATH?"

The insulters were paling the more you went on. Razor and Fischl aren't sure what to do—you're already there, dealing with the situation.

But Bennett? Well uh, like usual, his bad luck got the best of him, and he accidentally stumbles towards you (miraculously). He bumps into you, and you shift your gaze onto him.

"Uh—Sorry, Your Grace! I really didn't mean to bump into you, I swear!" Poor guy is scared because his bad luck affected him at the worst time of all. He thinks he might get killed.

You though? Oh, hell nah. Your gaze already soften, and you decided to show favoritism! You pull the boy into a hug, glaring at the insulters one more time as a warning to scram, before you go back to enjoying giving the boy affection!

But when Bennett hears you get insulted? Well, first of all, screw his bad luck because the insulters were quite literally telling him how bad of a Creator you were!

He immediately tries to avoid getting too deep into the discussion, trying to sway the topic elsewhere to no avail, and he pales when he realizes you were literally a few steps away from them!

And it seems his bad luck gets in the way again, because you just turned right as he was staring at you with shocked eyes!

However, instead of being mad, you were actually beaming when you see him. You wave at Bennett, smiling.

"Bennett! Help me choose some flowers, yeah?"

"Uhm—uh, Sure, Your Grace!"

And that's how the insulters were hiding in their homes for the rest of their lives as you merrily dragged Bennett out of that horrendous conversation.

Nilou

Honestly, do I need to say who decided to insult this amazing dancer?

Yes, it was fricking Azar again. What is up with this crazy old man, nobody knows. Perhaps you should put him in prison for a while until he's gained a sense of appreciation for the Arts. ALL of the Arts.

Apparently, when you had drilled fear into this man, he thought it only applied to flipping Nahida. As much as you love Nahida, you are not going to have Azar twists your words and make it seem like you grant him permission to snark down other people—especially the people of Zubayr Theater.

So when Azar finally decides to have scholars gain the nerve to insult Nilou on behalf of his stupid brain, you (of course) just had to get yourself involved with this.

"Excuse me, but since when did you have the audacity to judge someone else's profession of art, simply because it isn't 'academic' in any way?" You spat. "Where I come from, Art courses are necessary in order to move on in your academic life." When Nilou hears you, she, first of all, is grateful of you stepping up for her, and, second of all, very scared of what might be happening next.

The scholars pale, but they seem to have taken your comment as a debate.

"With all due respect, Your Grace, the Arts are anything but educational—"

"Was I looking for a second opinion, dimwit?" You narrow your eyes. "Besides, have you yourself ever tried the Art of Dancing or the Art of Music before?"

"Well—uhm, no, but—"

"Then shut up, then." The scholars begin to panic as your voice becomes low and dangerous. "You don't have an excuse to be judgmental if you haven't even tried this stuff yourself."

"Ex-Sage Azar told us to say this!" They blurt out, and that only increases your rage. Seeing that things might escalate, Nilou steps in.

"Your Grace, let's not be too harsh!" She exclaims, waving her hands frantically. "I'm sure they understand what they did wrong. There's no need to have them punished." You narrowed your eyes in disagreement, for a half second, Nilou thought she made the situation worse.

But when you sigh heavily, she knew you relented. You glare at the scholars again.

"Tell Azar if he does this again, to ANYONE, I'll cut his head off, and there's no more excuses there. In fact—bring me to him. I'll have a talk with him myself."

Yeah, Azar got traumatized again :)

But when Nilou hears you be insulted? Quite literally behind your back? She thought she was going to faint from the gossiper's comments alone! You being there to listen it to it all only made her feel worse.

She was about to confront them, until she saw other people nearby dealing with the situation. So, Nilou decides to check up and see if you were okay...After all, those comments weren't nice.

She was pretty shocked when she realized you were contemplating over wares instead, completely unbothered by the drama going on behind your back. Nevertheless, she was still going to apologize in case you were just hiding your emotions.

"Uhm, Your Grace—I would like to apologize on behalf of all of Zubayr Theater. We should've done something earlier." You look at her, confused.

"What are you apologizing for, Nilou?" You ask. She blinks.

"Uhm, the gossipers, Your Grace..?" Your eyes widen, before you bark a laugh.

"Oh, those dudes! Yeah—don't worry about them, honestly. Say—help me pick: should I get hot chocolate or tea from this lovely store?"

Let's just say you had a fun time hanging out with Nilou for the rest of the afternoon :)

AND THAT'S IT! WE ARE DONE! I AM SO SORRY FOR BEING INACTIVE AND TAKING 30+ YEARS TO FINISH THIS, BUT IT'S HERE! :D I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED IT!

Ghost Rebel Side Notes: To anyone who's waiting for The Lost Shining God of Celestia, yes I have been writing on it. However, due to personal life problems and other IRL circumstances, it's taking a little longer than expected. I am sorry, everyone!

✦ Check out The Ghost Rebel’s Blog Description & Info Page to See if Their Mailbox is Open! ✦

#yandere sagau #sagau genshin #genshin impact sagau #genshin sagau #sagau #sagau fluff #genshin cult au #sagau x reader #self aware genshin #sagau ganyu #sagau nilou #sagau bennett #genshin self aware #platonic genshin x reader #platonic genshin impact #platonic #sagau razor #sagau fischl

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hms-no-fun · 1 year ago

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I know you said you're cautiously optimistic about HS2, but the newest blog post has me kinda worried. The talk of "fixing the fans broken trust" and how even the new writers don't like a lot of story decisions that were made by the old team seem really off to me, like it's throwing the old team under the bus. I want to expect good things from HS2 but when the people working on it don't seem to like the story as it stands right now it really just seems like they might bend over backwards to appease the shitty side of the fandom. What do you think about this whole thing?

this is in reference to the october 30th 2023 news update on the hs:bc website. i give the date because the news posts don't seem to have individual links atm, so if you're reading this in the future you might have to scroll back.

to your worry that the new team might bend over backwards to appease the shitty side of the fandom, i wrote at length in my prior hs:bc post about why i don't think that's gonna be a problem. i'd also caution against reading too much into what james says about the attitude of the hs:bc team at large, for reasons that should be apparent by the end of this post.

i think it's perfectly reasonable to take a diplomatic position towards a fandom that is historically very hostile to this continuation. a lot of people haven't read the epilogues/hs2 and hate on them anyway because of what they've been told they contain, and refuse to question those received opinions on principle. many who did read them seem to have been inattentive or otherwise needlessly aggressive, sometimes owing to a baffling refusal to accept the premise of postcanon. plenty of others maybe just need a reason to think that homestuck is for them again. for this project to succeed, the fandom at large needs to be given a reason to revisit the epilogues/hs2 from a position of safety and critical distance. i have my own barbed opinions about this state of affairs, but it is what it is.

i understand and to an extent share your misgivings over that Q&A post, but it simply is not james roach's job to relitigate the conduct of the hs2 team. to even broach the subject in more than a general sense would constitute the opening of a massive can of worms, because the truth is muddy. mistakes were made on all sides, some worse than others, and to really contextualize where the hs2 team were coming from you'd need to explain the history of the hs fandom, the leadership of the reddit/discord, the overall tenor of twitter post-2016 and especially leading into/during 2020, the history of pgen and the homestuck renaissance, the lack of PR training or oversight or guidance from anyone at WP, the history of audience hostility in homestuck, and on, and on. for what it's worth, i think that context is essential-- but i don't know that anyone working on this project ought to be the ones to tell it (nor do i think they want that responsibility), and a brief casual Q&A post as a halloween treat is certainly not the place to publish it.

and ultimately, none of that has much at all to do with hs:bc. they are not beholden to or responsible for the choices made by the hs2 team. they have been entrusted with the reins of this story, and with that trust comes their own admitted desire to take it in different directions than what was initially planned. the hs2 team did this to the outline andrew hussie gave them; it's only fair that the hs:bc team has the same leeway over the outline they inherited. acknowledging fault in prior leadership, admitting disagreement over past creative decisions, is an olive branch to a largely skeptical fandom. i bristle at some of this because the hs2 team were my friends and i'm very protective of their work and that moment in history, but that isn't james roach's (nor the hs:bc team's) cross to bear. his choice, as the new public face of homestuck, is to move forward rather than linger on the past. it's good that he's burying the hatchet, frankly. i'm sick of that fucking thing.

love it or hate it, agree or disagree, the hs:bc crew has to exercise diplomacy right now. they've reopened the patreon and want to sustain this project for the foreseeable future, ideally without subjecting the workers to intensely traumatic levels of scrutiny and harassment. this involves clearing up miscommunications, admitting fault, gesturing at shared disagreements over story direction, and otherwise putting on a friendly face for strangers. and let's be clear, i know for a fact that plenty on the original hs2 team had a panoply of disagreements with the choices made in the epilogues! the operative condition here is not unquestioning devotion to / hatred of prior material, but a willingness to build upon that prior material constructively regardless. that's what matters most to me, and i have every reason to believe they're taking the constructive route.

i'll end this saying what i've been saying from the start. the measure of this project's success or failure should be taken in the work itself. if james roach blanket dismissed the prior team, but hs:bc constructively evolved in a way that didn't invalidate or undercut prior material, i'd still consider us oldschool hs2 fans the winners. i wouldn't be HAPPY about it, but the art is what we're all here for, and it's the art that people will remember. i think often about how the showrunners of the tv series LOST insisted from day one until the very end that everything in the show had a scientific explanation, despite the fact that they *always knew* this was a bald-faced lie. they told this lie because ABC did not want to fund a fantasy show and would've canceled it otherwise. some fans to this day decry the lack of scientific explanations in the text of the show, even when you point out that the promise of such explanations was false from the start.

point is, there are material realities to leading a creative enterprise. james roach has put himself in a genuinely dangerous and scary position, a fact that's easy to forget with how casual and welcoming his posts have been thus far. but this is perhaps the single most mismanaged property of the internet age, and there's no walking that back without stepping on some toes. over-correction is expected and probably necessary. if it ruffles your feathers, that's fine-- but let the work speak for itself, and judge it on its own merits. all this other stuff is ancillary and will inevitably fade into the distant fog of time.

#homestuck #saraphosts #hsbc #homestuck 2 #james roach

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waltwhitmansbeard · 4 months ago

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20. “What were you like before I met you?”

Hmm… let’s make this interesting. Keyleth meeting the Mighty Nein and getting to know them.

20. "What were you like before I met you?" so this happened bc, not for the first time, i read "mighty nein" and saw "bells hells," and, not for the first time, saw "bells hells" and thought "orym." so basically, this in no way resembles the prompt, but it is what i have lol

All of the most important people in the world are leaving, scattering and coalescing into their various war rooms and private councils. The Hells are getting sidelong looks, which Orym can understand; yesterday, they were strangers, interlopers, nobodies—today, they're heroes.

He watches Dorian fall into conversation with his father and tries not to use his keen lip-reading ability to follow every word. He imagines a thousand different ways that conversation could go, but it's up to Dorian to tell him about which one it ended up being, if he wants to. Chetney's been flagged down by one of the Sanctuary's scalebearers, and Orym just has to see the phrase "C-POP" on his lips to know he wants nothing to do with whatever that is. Braius is being reconfronted by Highbearer Vord, but Orym has learned in their scant few hours together that if anyone can lie their way out of trouble, it's Braius Doomseed.

So he takes this moment to find the Voice of the Tempest. He appears at her elbow silently, making the Dwendalian representative she's speaking with jump, but the Tempest doesn't even flinch. "Hello, Orym."

"Tempest." He ducks his head. "Do you have a minute? I don't mean to interrupt."

"Of course." She bids goodbye to the Dwendalian and leads Orym away. "What's on your mind?"

"Well, uh, first I wanted to thank you for those titles, the ones you gave my friends. It...means a lot."

The Tempest snorts ungracefully. "You should have seen the first six drafts." She smiles down at him. "It was my honor, Orym. I know what it is to have the fate of the world on your shoulders. The very least we could do is acknowledge it appropriately."

"What were you like before I met you?" Orym asks.

The Tempest laughs. "Orym, I've known you since you were the size of a housecat."

He flushes. "I know, I mean—what were you like when you were...like me? Part of a group with the fate of the world on its shoulders?"

She drums her fingers thoughtfully along her staff. "Hmm. Well, I was younger," she quips. "More optimistic, I think. Definitely more naive. I really thought that if we tried hard enough, if we cared enough, we could stop all the bad things from happening." She smiles again, this time wryly. "My secret, though, is that most of the time? I still think that way."

Orym's heart sinks a little. "So...you never had any doubt? You just always knew you were going to get the job done?"

The Tempest throws her head back and lets out a barking laugh that draws the attention of the surrounding dignitaries. "Oh, fuck no, are you kidding?" She crouches down then, gets to his eye level in the way that has never once felt to Orym like a parent condescending to a child, but rather someone speaking to their equal. "Orym, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the doubt is there literally all of the time. Even today, putting forth that plan with Vex and Allura, I had no idea how that was going to go, if the others would accept it, if it's even going to work. But the alternative is doing nothing, and I have never been good at that."

"Is that why you're so strong? Because there is no alternative?"

"I am strong, Orym, for the same reason you're strong." Her fingers dance briefly between them, and suddenly, she's holding onto the stem of a pearly white snowdrop. "I'm strong because there are people counting on me to be strong. People I love. People I couldn't bear to let down." She hands him the snowdrop. It is soft and alive in his fingers. "You have those people. I know you do." He doesn't miss the way her eyes flick over to Dorian, who is just now walking away from his father. "And a word of advice? From someone who waited and will carry the regret of that waiting for the next millennium?" There's a twinkle of something almost mischievous in her eye. "Do not take too long to let those people know how you feel. You and I know better than most that you never know how long you have with them."

She stands then, tall and regal, gives him a wink, and glides away, leaving Orym speechless and holding the flower. He watches her disappear into the throngs of the Platinum Sanctuary, and then his eyes catch Zeru Wyvernwind walking down the steps. He stuffs the snowdrop into his pocket and jogs after him, suddenly finding himself with quite a bit to say.

#ask #tiamat-zx #critical role #critical role fic #cr fic #my fic #bells hells #bells hells fic #keyleth #orym

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mostrandomgallery · 4 months ago

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What happens when you combine the greatest Fire Emblem game of all time with the greatest animated film of all time? Besides an AU that absolutely no one—not a single soul—asked for, you get the newest house at Garreg Mach Monastery...the Cotton Candy Elephants!

Unlike the Black Eagles, Blue Lions, and the Golden Deer, the Cotton Candy Elephants are open to accepting students from every region of Fódlan (so more like the Ashen Wolves), while the main three houses only accept students from their respective regions and conquered territories. This house has 9 students currently enrolled in it, one of which is the current house leader, Allegra von Hresvelg. When she made her appearance at Garreg Mach, Edelgard von Hresvelg of the Black Eagles was elated to find a surviving member of House Hresvelg that was close to her in age.

The house mascot is based on a majestic beast that lived in Fódlan's distant past, said to be part elephant, part cat, part dolphin, and made of cotton candy. Reportedly, it could cry candy and drive a chariot powered by song. Now lost to time and legends, Allegra chose to commemorate this beast in her house's banner.

Unlike her cousin Edelgard, Allegra is vibrant, lively, and positive, and has an eternally optimistic outlook on life. However, she can be a little immature at times. She loves her classmates even when they drive her nuts, the closest of which is her personal retainer, Tristesse von Edmund.

And now, it's time for Allegra's in-game stats:

Crest: Seiros (major)

Heroes’ Relic/Sacred Weapon: Seiros Sword, Seiros Shield (due to weakness in Axe, is not viable to have her use Aymr)

Strengths: Faith, Lance, Reason, Flying, Authority

Weaknesses: Axe, Brawl, Heavy Armor

Hidden Talent: Sword

Personal Skill: “Joyful and Bright”—When adjacent to any friendly/ally unit, grants a 5+ boost to Res, Lck, and Cha at the start of each turn

Unique Class(es)/Promotions: Noble → Lord, Light Flier → Holy Flier (a faith-based variant of the Dark Flier class)

Ideal Classes (generic): Soldier, Monk, Priest, Bishop, Pegasus Knight, Falcon Knight, Gremory

Learnable Magic: Heal, Fortify, Nosferatu, Aura, Abraxas, Seraphim, Warp, Rescue, Sagittae, Agnea’s Arrow

Ideal Combat Arts: Wraith Strike, Grounder, Hexblade, Finesse Slice, Tempest Lance, Knighkneeler, Glowing Ember, Monster Piercer, Euphoric Sparkle (unique to Holy Flier personal class)

Selection Quotes (Academy): "Alrighty!" (normal) "Let’s stay positive!" (mid-health), "I’m looking on the bright side!" (critical health)

Allegra has good base stats and excellent growth rates. Her best stats are Lck, Mag, and Cha. Her high growth rates in Cha make her an excellent tea party candidate, and she excels at choir practice. She is easy to build support with, and has very few disliked dishes; her favorite dishes being Sweet Bun Trio, Fisherman's Bounty, Pheasant Roast with Berry Sauce, and Peach Sorbet. If you want to build support through gifts, you may want to gift her a Tasty Baked Treat, a Goddess Statuette, a Board Game, an Armored Bear Stuffy, or a Sunflower. She can build support with everyone in her house, but her inter-house/faculty supports are limited to: Mercedes, Hilda, Ingrid, Ashe, Edelgard (yes a leader support!), Catherine, and Constance. As for S-Support, she is only available to Male Byleth.

I'm planning that on her route, Rhea decides to entrust the Seiros Sword and Shield to Allegra to fight the Adrestian Empire. Well, jokes on Rhea because Allegra plans to join up with Edelgard and destroy both the Church of Seiros and Those Who Slither in the Dark.

Fun Fact: The name "Allegra" is Latin for "joy". Since Spanish is my first language, there's obviously a connection to the words alegría (joy) and alegre (joyful). Originally, I wanted her to be part of House Bartels and bear the Crest of Lamine, but since Edelgard is a character that brings me joy, I made her part of House Hresvelg instead (even if it breaks the game lore, I'm just having fun!).

DO NOT REPOST!!! Also on deviantART

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wingzie · 1 year ago

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Hi.

Your experience as a Jikookers is the same as the experience of Taekookers. Extreme shippers fighting and having meltdowns on the TL make a lot of people equate the unit name with these behaviors.

Sadly the first thought that came to my mind when Jimin mentioned JK is that tkk would make a scene about it. Instead of just feeling relief they are doing well, or just comfort we're getting news, I felt dread. And the worst is I was right.

I'm really struggling with the state of the fandom now, especially twitter fandom. People say you just have to curate your online experience and most sane armys are just taking a break from SNS and everything will get better once the guys start coming back from MS. I'm not this optimistic.

I've been thinking finding fellow ARMY irl could be better. But there's still a good chance to meet someone you would block straight away online.

I'm not a very social person. I used to come online to find people remisniscing, celebrating, sharing.. There's always been hating but now it feels like it's only hating (and comparing numbers). There was a clear shift from COVID on. It's not just solo endeavors and MS. You said it, how the way to handle things has changed.

I don't know how to fend off all the negativity any more than I know how to casually meet ARMY offline. I dream of an ARMY community manager, of a campaign about mental heal, abusive relationships (how many think they know better than the members what's good for them and think they are actually showing love and support when they are just being abusive), how to make the parasocial relationship a positive thing, etc.... A lot of these people who make ARMY spaces unbreathable actually need help.

Hi Anon! I'm sorry you feel this way. I feel like some Army experienced feelings of anger or betrayal since the Festa Dinner, which has made them unfairly lash out on the members. Some cannot cope that we lost an aspect of control, but this has always been the members decision and we have to accept that with respect. As I said in my other post, the heart of Army is massively the same. Just this morning I saw a Tweet about the Purple Ocean from Muster and it reminded me of the Flashlight project during PTD. There will ALWAYS be discourse online. That is the reason for it's existence. I am in other fandoms and they all suffer from the same issues since Covid and Elon. However, for every "bad" person or post, there are plenty of good ones out there. If you look for then. I mentioned to someone yesterday that it's like when people always leave awful reviews for a bad meal, but very rarely mention when they have a good meal. That's why I always try to find a balance. Both Jimin and Namjoon have told us over the years to not engage with negativity and I have always taken those words to heart. Things in online spaces have changed, but I guess I am more of a fighter and optimist. For each negative post I see, I spend more time posting/repositing posts that spread positivity or praise. I see no point in boosting some random February 2024 account sprewing hate. We have to be responsbile or our own spaces and I DO think things will improve once Jin returns. There's still that shared joy and excitement whenever a member posts or content comes out. It's just that the negative is less contained than it used to be. As for events offline. My first event was for a local screening of one of the concerts. I then attended a few events for members Birthday's. With the HYYH anniversay coming up, maybe you could look into seeing if there's any events for it? It's also Sope's Birthday soon and I plan to go to events for each of their Birthday's, so that could also be an option. However, if you dont' feel comfortable going in person, then that is perfectly acceptable. I'm sure there will be no judgement! We all have our own ways. For example, I always buy a mini cake for each members' Birthday haha. Though I had some negative experiences offline, there have been some really good ones. That's just how things are and then you can take the steps to protect yourself afterwards. I'm actually going to another event with the same group I mentioned before. If it doesn't go well, then I will just leave. If things have improved, then I will stay and enjoy myself. I understand it's not easy though, especially when we have certain expectations. Please do look after yourself though and feel free to DM me if you wish to discuss further. Much Love Wingzie/Becca

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gunsli-01 · 7 months ago

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Hey, personal life update.

Yeah so I started to get to know this person from a fandom if you follow my sideblog you know which one. Ultimately this person and their significant others consistent mistreatment of me made me hate myself talking about milgram or doing anything. I was consistently stressed and anxious around them and in a state of hypervigilence/anxiety for several months. It wasn't just due to these two though. I also had issues in real life before getting involved with this fandom.

That friends know about already and can be picked up on from the ways I discuss media generally. Along with my general concerns when it comes to fandom. However, these people's just overall hopeless and ableist dsposition really only made my situation worse. As one would weaponize or site everyones diagnoses as reasons for their inability to do anything right. In a way that implied to me that nothing could be done about it because, well, you've got x, so it's better to not even try.

Came off as really just accept you're not capable of x because you're y. The other was just a conflict avoidant individual who ghosted me multiple times and left their significant other to speak on their behalf. Who told me and Star to just not talk to them. So that's what Star and I decided to do earlier this week. So why am I saying this. I'm not one to really regret my behavior and in hindsight considering all the personal shit I was going through I can understand why I was being so defensive and antsy about talking about or even doing anything I enjoyed.

Because it wasn't just fandom stuff, I really wasn't enjoying doing anything. Because I didn't know when or how this person would pop up or if things were fine when they'd just go to being shitty again. I do want to note this as a reminder to myself as what not to do in the future. While working out what caused it.

Honestly, the environment was bad, and the only thing I could do was try to get through it. I had no motivation to continue personal projects or share them. This impacted the idea to make videos out of theories, and I generally had no interest in doing anything. Plus, I was very actively suicidal for all those months. However, since having a more open discussion with Star and her looking over the ways these individuals treated me then going oh yeah that's fucking abusive block them.

I really felt unwelcome and at times downright harrassed in the fandom I was involved with. I was incredibly isolated, and whenever I wrote something on the thing, I was made to feel like I was committing a crime. These two didn't say things that made me feel like that, but their actions did things that made me feel worse. So, just noting as a fully grown adult with a good support system how fucking harmful, isolating, and demeaning people online can be. Along with the longterm and unseen impact it can have on a person.

Along with her helping me go through the process of cutting them off. I've been feeling optimistic about talking with others about the things I love and setting boundaries or stating how I would like to be treated. Something I was anxious about doing for a time because when I would state those things, it'd either go ignored or they'd seemingly actively do what I asked them not to in order to test my feelings for them.

I recognize this may just be how I feel about this or perceived it to be. Which is fine they could have a completely different perception. Yet it doesn't change the fact that their actions hurt me regardless of their intent. And I don't need an apology because the best apology to myself is not constantly feeling on edge, waiting for the next shoe to drop or to hear what I did wrong this time. And instead like talk about shit I like with people who don't treat me like trash because they don't know how to not do that.

But yeah, this treatment impacted how I responded to certain events in fandom and my lack of patience with others exhibiting the same behavior in a space I was trying to relax in. Honestly, I did my best in the circumstances I was in, which was under consistent immense stress. So, I'm proud of myself there. I guess I'm just disappointed that people really can just say I love you and treat you like shit. Actively watch how their behavior impacts you and basically celebrate that you're hurting because at least you're hurting together.

Some people really are just assholes to themselves and then perpetuate that treatment on anyone else they happen to run into. Sucks but I'm feeling better.

#gunsli rambles

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ant1quar1an · 9 months ago

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Hello

I have come from the darkness to ask you for your thoughts;

Errorink (Error x Ink)

Swapmare (Nightmare x Swap/Blue/Blueberry)

cream (Cross x Dream)

bloodycrops (Horror x Farm)

and

MurderSwap (Murder/Dust x Swap/Blue/Blueberry)

Thank you for your time!

OOOO!!

Errorink is a ship I could see working in some situations; providing they didn't have a deep close connection and it was more of a situationship. Most because Ink is incapable of feeling without his vials and I feel like it would really hurt Error to find out that Ink doesn't actually care about him- because he can't.

I feel like a lot of relationships with Ink are rather toxic- not because i don't like the silly guy (I genuinely do, he's such an interesting character)- but rather because Ink is simply just. . . incapable of feeling.

I can definitely see them having a rival-like friendship though.

Platonic Vibe

Swapmare is definitely an interesting concept! Depending on the situation, it's either fluff with a tad bit of toxicity, or full-blown toxic. Depends whether we're doing "Dadmare" or his canon self.

Assuming it's the Nightmare that actually cares, I feel like it'd be a relatively alright relationship. Definitely a lot of bumps in the road, though I like to think of Blue having a very strong belief but being generally morally ambiguous. There's definitely a big power difference at play, but I feel like Blue would have a reasonably good affect on Nightmare.

. . . Stretch would be absolutely pissed and so concerned though, so there's definitely that. I'm not about to say that Blue wouldn't leave Stretch behind (wouldn't fully, at least), but I do have a co-AU of Blue where he dusted everyone. So, uh, I can imagine Blue being fiercely protective of Nightmare, and if lines are crossed- dust is shed.

A Vibe, in the right circumstances.

Cream is... one I had to think for a while on. On one hand: Cute! Interesting! I can see it working! But on the other hand: No.

Again, everything is purely up to circumstance, but I do headcanon Dream to struggle with controlling his constantly positive aura. Dream might take up Cross as a "i can fix him" project, but Cross doesn't want to be fixed. He just wants freedom. Cross is very duty-bound, and Dream is often portrayed to be so optimistic it hurts sometimes- 'cause y'know, he has to be.

I feel like Dream's ceaseless positivity and general optimism would tire Cross out to the point where they just. . . stopped working as well anymore.

It would start out well I think, but I like to headcanon that Dream can't really look past the sin; similarly to how Classic can't look past the LV and EXP in most cases. Dream may be a positive influence and try to help everyone, but at the end of the day, I don't feel like he's that empathetic, and clearly needs to work through a lot of things before he can be healthy enough in a relationship for Cross and Dream to work together properly.

Less of a Vibe.

Bloodycrops is a ship I like. One that's actually quite healthy, though I can imagine a bit of struggle for Saejun to fully accept the things Horror has done (having not really gone through anything bad enough to understand why Horror did what he did). I feel like gradually they'd grow together, over a long period of time, and it'd be quite sweet.

Though, dealing with Horror's base instincts popping up and those he'd learned is going to be difficult. So is how long it's going to take for Saejun to fully realise just how many trauma triggers and trauma responses Horror has from what he's been through (Recovery is a very windy road with a lot of roundabouts).

As someone who plays as Horror in an SMP, I feel like whenever he feels as if he's getting dangerous or angry, he needs to leave that situation and be out in the wild for a while. This leads to Horror being gone for days- or weeks- at a time, out in the forest, away from everything as he gets a grip on himself again. But every time he comes home, it's always to a familiar grin and a cup of hot cocoa.

A Vibe

Murderswap is pretty interesting! If we're going off of my Headcanons for Blue, I think there would definitely be some struggles here and there. As sweet and awesome as Blue is, he's never gone through enough struggle to get why the others around him did what they did.

They'd have to learn to grow with each other over a long period of time, and Blue would have to get a lot less scolding and grumpy whenever Dust's areas are messy. Dust doesn't like being ordered to do things, which is why his Nightmare usually asks him to do things- or gives him an incentive to get it done. And he doesn't like being lectured, either, as it reminds him too much of his Papyrus and that can and will make his LV jump if Blue's not careful. Playful arguments and goofy grumbling is probably alright, though.

Stretch is definitely a roadblock. Not only would he absolutely detest Dust for having done what he's done, but he'd probably find some sort of way to attempt to get Blue to stop visiting Dust.

( Everything is down to circumstance, though. )

Pretty Much A Vibe!

You're welcome for my time lmao- and thank you for yours!

Wonderful ask. Much appreciated

#Everything is up to circumstance #Arian's Asks #Arian's Games #Vibe or no Vibe #ask game

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alarrytale · 1 year ago

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“They refuse to break up though, they'd both be miserable and all they've fought for over these years would be for nothing.“

A couple days ago there was a discussion at Gina’s asking her opinion about their relationship and she said something like even she doesn’t know if they are still together, she believes they are and would be sad if they manage to break up after everything they’ve been through. And it make me think and came up with some theories. First of all, I’m optimistic in the believe that after all they’ve been going through and how 1dhq/sony/syco whatever tried to tear them apart but they made it (literally like Louis is singing haha) what would be a point of those fights, surviving multiple stunts/beards and inventing such a way of communication like were rainbow bears if at the end of the day they call it quit after some sort of disagreement? I believe being on this long relationship you just rather find compromises and solutions and work for your relationship than just throw the towel into the ring and give up. And another reason, from learning a bit from local gay community (my close friend is gay), I believe when you find your perfect match, you just work for your relationship because it’s also possible you won’t find your soulmate in years and maybe never again because a) it’s still a minor community, b) let’s be honest, they are very promiscuous and I just see how hard is to find a serious relationship for my friend. And if I’m not wrong, most of famous openly gay men are in long term relationships because (i believe that since they) once found their soulmate, they just lock it up than date for a year f.e., break up and move to another relationship. That’s my theory I made after thinking about them and how they are just perfect for each other literally getting it all serious while still being teenagers. What are yours, Marte?

Hi, anon!

I've said this a million times before, but it bears repeating. If they'd broken up we'd know. Not just a hunch, not just a feeling or a notion, but we'd know for sure. I've talked about the signs before of a break up between them so i'm not going to repeat myself.

I agree with some of your points (without perpetuating stereotypes about the queer community). I agree that gays have a more difficult time finding life long partners and that they face more scrutiny, and it's more challenging for them to maintain a relationship. So if you've found the one, the love of your life, the one that just gets you, the one that makes life easier and your days brighter, the one you call first when you're happy or sad, and you have made it though challenges, made it though good times and bad, funerals and births, and think you can deal with everything that comes your way as long as you stick together, then you fucking fight for that relationship. In H and L's case they've faced so much pressure to break up. Their careers would be a hundred times less stressful and difficult if they just broke up. But they refuse to. Not only because they love each other, but because they shouldn't have to break up in order to have a career in music. They have faith in themselves and the world. They would be accepted and so loved if they were allowed to be out. So they stick together and continues their career, despite the attempts to break them up and break them down.

We're the greatest

It's you and me until the end

Life for us is never over

#larry genuinely happy #boyband politics #this turned sappy #i'm not like that at all lol

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yours-the-author · 6 months ago

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Danganronpa Masterminds Extended Zodiacs - My Thoughts

It occurred to me a day or two ago that if I'm going to do Extended Zodiac analyses for the protagonist, assistant/helper, trouble maker, and my favorite characters, then there's another category of characters I've completely neglected: the masterminds! You can't have a killing game without a mastermind! And thus, I'm making a separate list for their extended zodiacs, which is this post you're reading right now!

Brief recap in case you don't know what any of these things are: Danganronpa is a video game/anime series about a group of highschoolers who get locked up in a mysterious location, and the only way to escape is to get away with murder! These "killing games" usually have a "mastermind" orchestrating the entire situation, for one reason or another, and those are the characters I'll be discussing.

The Extended Zodiac, meanwhile, is an extension of a webcomic called Homestuck. The Extended Zodiac takes the standard 12 celestial zodiacs and adds other factors, namely the Lunar Sway and the Aspect, to create a more tailored zodiac.

Edit: Hey, I've finished Danganronpa 2 and V3's Extended Zodiacs! Here's a Table of Contents for if you want to look at the others:

Trigger Happy Havoc

Masterminds (You are here!)

Goodbye Despair

Killing Harmony

Enough gab, let's get into it! Spoilers for Danganronpa under the cut, of course:

Junko Enoshima - December 24

True Capricorn - Sign of the Capricious (Capricorn, Prospit, Rage)

Merry almost Christmas! Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair, is a Capricorn!

Capricorns are known for complete and total devotion: to a cause, a lover, or a philosophy. For Junko, despair checks all of those boxes! Despair is the one thing that makes her happy; she loves it, she lives it, and she shares it with anyone and everyone who crosses her path. No matter who tries to convince her otherwise, no matter how many times she loses to hope, Junko stubbornly refuses to accept that hope can always outdo despair, and stubbornness is a very Capricorn trait to have. Her macabre sense of humor and entertainment (killing games, all day, every day!) is also something Capricorns are known for, so her zodiac is pretty cut and dry...

...Unlike her Lunar Sway. This was an extremely difficult choice for me, and the "title words" didn't make it easier, since they both match her pretty well, but eventually, I decided that she's more Prospit than Derse. Contrary to popular belief, Lunar Sway isn't black or white, "good" or "bad", optimistic or pessimistic, etc. Believe me, this choice would have been easier if it were. While Prospit is known for flexible optimism, it's also a very emotional Lunar Sway. Their thoughts, feelings, and even personalities may shift from moment to moment. People like this are often called capricious, which means "given to sudden and unaccountable changes in mood or behavior". You might see where I'm going with this; Junko changes her personality, accent, and even some her facial features in the blink of an eye, and even when you have context for her monologues, the exact cause of these changes might not always be clear. She's practically the embodiment of capriciousness... which is my main reason for assigning her as a Prospit dreamer. Derse lines up in its own ways, too: they're much more closed off about their true nature with people they don't trust, and they rebel against the status quo like it's in fashion, and Junko certainly goes out of her way to rebel against boring old hope. In the end, though, I think she's a little more Prospit than Derse. While good at masking who she is, she's also quick to make her opinions known once the mask is off, shouting her love of despair from the rooftops to anyone who will hear. Also, given that being a Prospit dreamer makes her a True Capricorn like Homestuck's Gamzee Makara (I doubt he needs introduction), I think I can make this choice fairly firmly.

Finally, her aspect: Rage! This may seem too obvious, since Rage is often seen as the "big bad" aspect (though given the chaos that the two rage players have wrought, it's not an unreasonable thought). Rage players are quite chaotic, though, and Junko definitely fits that bill. She eagerly tears the world down into a dangerous place in the name of her "truth", despair, and it's impossible to convince her that it's not the best thing ever. The way she changes the world so completely could be considered revolutionary, a common trait with Rage players, but she's also cruel, uncompromising, and vicious, with too many examples to list here.

This leaves her word: the Capricious, which I explained in detail in the Lunar Sway section, though another reason I'm torn between making her Prospit or Derse is the word for a Capriborn (Capricorn, Derse, Rage): the Malignant. Junko's despair knows no bounds, infecting anything it can touch like a virus (literally, in Goobye Despair's case). Junko will do anything for despair, even killing her own sister, and it's difficult to argue if she has a shred of goodness in her at all.

While I ended up making Junko the Capricious, I'd readily agree with anyone who says that she makes more sense as the Malignant; it's just a matter of which traits seem more important to her character, which is subjective.

---

Mukuro Ikusaba - December 24

Caprimini - Sign of the Perilous (Capricorn, Derse, Doom)

While technically not *the* mastermind of Trigger Happy Havoc, Mukuro Ikusaba *was* in on the scheme... until Junko murdered her. Whoopsie-doodle! Anyway, since they're twins, she's also a Capricorn!

I haven't watched the anime, so I don't know as much about her as I could, but as the Ultimate Soldier, I imagine Mukuro must be a very dedicated and hardworking person. Her unfortunate past and recruitment into Fenrir would certainly encourage such things, and she was devoted to the cause of despair- and to her sister- until the painful end. She's a pretty straightforward Capricorn, if you ask me.

Unlike her sister, Mukuro's Lunar Sway was much easier to pick: Derse. From what little I've seen of her anime appearance, Mukuro keeps to herself, and she sticks to her guns in terms of rebelling against the status quo of hope (pun intended). It's also mentioned in the game that Mukuro never received a single injury while working with Fenrir, which I imagine makes her not only physically capable, but mentally capable, planning attacks and using quick thinking to never get a scratch when she fights. Much more cut and dry than Junko.

Then there's her aspect: Doom. From her unfortunate past to her unfortunate death, Mukuro gets the short end of the stick a lot. Junko certainly doesn't help; treating her like a tool and killing her off just to feel that intoxicating rush of despair makes Murkuro's life seem pretty miserable. Whether or not she feels irate about her lot in life, she knows there's no sense in complaining. Misery loves company, and she has plenty of that now that she's dead.

Finally, her word: the Perilous. Danger and risk follow Mukuro's every step, from the moment of birth to her untimely death. "The one known as (part of) the Ultimate Despair... watch out for her." A soldier like her has doubtlessly seen death and destruction first hand, and experienced it too, in the end.

---

Izuru Kamukura - ???

Capripia - Sign of the Brusque (Capricorn, Derse, Light)

Simultaneously the Ultimate Hope and part of the Ultimate Despair, Izuru Kamukura... doesn't have a set birthday. It's unclear when he was born/created, though it would have been at some point during the school year. I bet if you tried to ask him, he'd dismiss the question for being boring and pointless to ask. Technically, he's in the same body as Hajime Hinata (theories range from the two of them being the same person to having a shared system [there might be a proper term for such a thing, but I don't know it off the top of my head]). Thus, in theory, Izuru's "birthday" is the same as Hajime's: January 1, aka, a Capricorn.

Izuru doesn't really need to work hard like a Capricorn normally would; everything comes naturally to him since he has every talent. The main thing that Izuru has going for him in terms of matching the Capricorn personality is his tendency/insistence to say what no one else will, coming across as blunt and perhaps even a bit uncouth in his speech. He instantly calls Junko out for being full of herself, and while he doesn't share all the details, he's not afraid to tell Komaeda about his scheme to insert a virus into the NEO World Program. Not a perfect match, but we can make it work.

His Lunar Sway is fairly easy: someone with such a great hold of his own mental landscape, as well as his less socially inclined personality make him an easy Derse dreamer. While not inherently rebellious, Izuru is very dissatisfied in his day to day life. Everything's predictable and boring; how could he possible be satisfied with such a life? He doesn't share his feelings easily; unless I'm mistaken, I think the only person he shares anything with is Chiaki in the Danganronpa S Ultimate Summer Camp game (I'm pretty sure I saw a cutscene of the two of them talking about video games together, anyway). Izuru's a Derse dreamer, no questions asked.

The aspect was a bit more difficult, but in combination with his word (more on that later), I eventually ended up with Light. While Izuru technically knows how to do everything that requires a talent, that doesn't mean he knows everything everything. Which is more powerful, hope or despair? Why does this one girl he's never met (Chiaki) make him feel something besides boredom? Izuru will do anything to find answers, even letting himself and the rest of the Remnants of Despair get captured and put into the NEO World Program to see which side comes out on top. Someone as talented as him definitely knows how to be resourceful, and he does have a tendency to be insensitive to people he finds boring, so I think Light fits him pretty well.

Lastly, his word, which was definitely an important deciding factor here: the Brusque. People who are brusque are abrupt and offhand in their speech and actions, and Izuru fits into this pretty easily. He's quick to dismiss and talk down to anyone he finds boring, and given that he's essentially a glorified lab rat, the machinations of his mind are an enigma; who knows how his brain works or what he's going to do/say next? Quite brusque, indeed.

---

Tsumugi Shirogane - August 15

True Leo - Sign of the Disciple (Leo, Derse, Heart)

Like idol, like follower; Tsumugi is a true sign, and her summer-time birthday makes her a Leo! With two true signs like this, I'm reminded of Kurloz Makara and Meulin Leijon from Homestuck: an intense loyalty that may or may not be due in part to mind games and deception.

Leos are often agreeable, generous, and lucky. Given that she's the 53rd Junko Enoshima, I think it's safe to say that she's probably been pretty lucky to stay alive and active as the mastermind for as long as she has. She's comfortable with how things are, creating live fiction that constantly battles between hope and despair, so when the last members of the 53rd killing game reject both hope and despair, she gets upset and panics, like a Leo would in the face of things they don't understand. She lines up quite nicely, then.

Assuming her personality while in character is only partially honest, I chose Derse as Tsumugi's Lunar Sway. She's self-aware, and with her mind always focused on the future of Danganronpa, it fits really well. She's also surprisingly shrewd and calculating, predicting that Kaede's murder plot could fail so that she could make sure the job was done herself. Can't get more Derse-like than that.

Finally, her aspect, which was quite easy since her talent is the Ultimate Cosplayer: Heart! She can switch between masks and personalities as quickly as she can her cosplays, and she's a very competent "descendent" of Junko with her scheming ways. She's also cold and inflexible, doubling down on the "fact" that the characters we come to know in Danganronpa V3 are no longer real people with real desires. Tsumugi's Extended Zodiac was the easiest to choose out of all the masterminds, thank goodness. I was running out of steam.

Oh, and lastly, her word: the Disciple. Fitting for the 53rd iteration of the Ultimate Despair, wouldn't you say?

---

You might notice that I didn't do Kazuo Tengan, who I'm pretty sure is the mastermind of the killing game in The End of Hopes Peak Academy, but as you've probably gathered, I haven't seen the anime and don't think I can make a proper judgement. We do know his birthday, though: January 17, which makes him a Capricorn. Awful lot of Capricorn masterminds, huh? Maybe it means something, or maybe it's just a coincidence.

Anyway, that's all for tonight! I'll eventually get to Danganronpa 2 and V3, but not for a while yet. I'm all Danganronpa'd out. Goodnight everybody!

#danganronpa #extended zodiac #homestuck #junko enoshima #mukuro ikusaba #izuru kamukura #tsumugi shirogane #this was fun #but I've gotta go #for I am eepy

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navree · 9 months ago

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...at least it's not the snyderverse? i'm trying to remain optimistic. 😣

Confession time, I have ambivalent feelings about the Snyderverse. There's stuff I didn't like but there's also stuff I liked a lot.

For one, I think it had really solid casting. Cavill nailed the look of Superman, J.K. Simmons as Gordon is brilliant, Ray Fisher was really good as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons is brilliant in anything and God almighty I wish they'd kept him for The Batman as Alfred cuz I loved his Alfred, and Ben Affleck is a really good actor and he had some great moments and great looks as Bruce Wayne. The only duds were Ezra Miller, who's psycho, and Gal Gadot, because she's not a very good actress (most of the success of Wonder Woman, which I loved, came from Patty's writing moreso than anything intrinsic in Gadot's performance).

There's also some good ideas and good bones to Snyder's ideas for the DCEU. I like most of what he was trying to do with Superman's origin in Man of Steel, and honestly, Batman's motivation for his conflict in Batman v. Superman makes a lot of sense. Bruce is someone whose abhorrence of senseless violence is the cornerstone of his beliefs; his parents were killed in an act of senseless violence, and brutality for brutality's sake without a thought to consequences is something he fights against at all times. It is absolutely reasonable that Bruce, seeing not only wanton destruction from someone who is making no attempt to mitigate it, and has infinitely more power to do real harm than anything else Bruce has seen, has serious concerns and wants to at least be prepared in case he ever goes rogue, not to mention the movie does give us solid reasons for it to be personal with how he loses people in the destruction of the WE building (and also that scene of him running into the danger while everyone runs away? brilliant). I also like that this is an older, more jaded Bruce who has been distinctly marked by the death of his child and the havoc that wreaked on him (though I don't give a FUCK what Mr. Snyder says, that is not Dick Grayson, when has Dick Grayson ever been the dead Robin, that is Jason Todd, I accept nothing else, it's Jason who Bruce lost even in the Snyderverse). It's canon to the comics that Jason's death made Bruce more violent, more volatile, and actively changed him for the worst in a way that not even Jason's resurrection has been able to fully heal, so that being part of Bruce's issues in the Snyderverse works as well.

And I also want to acknowledge that Snyder has absolutely been shafted by WB. The director's cut of BvS does make more sense and have more to the story than the theatrical version. And then there's the whole mess with Justice League, even though I don't fault Snyder for leaving production due to his daughter's death, and I'm fine with the push to see his version that came out of it, especially given a) how bad Josstice League was and b) Joss Whedon being a shithead in general. And there's the fact that WB was clearly gunning for a DC MCU from the getgo, without understanding that, for all its myriad of sins (and oh boy are there many), that took time, and you really had to build up a lot of those characters individually before slowly mixing them into a shared universe that could be its own entity. WB didn't get that, so demanding a Justice League before we even got solo movies for any of the players besides Superman was always gonna be doomed to fail, and executive meddling can't be laid at Snyder's feet.

And I do want to mention that the Snyderverse had movies that weren't created by Snyder or had much input from him, both good and bad. Wonder Woman and Aquaman, I thought, were great, and those were made by different creatives, and Suicide Squad (2016) was atrocious (though I did like that Affleck was willing to make cameos to lend credence to the universe, and that it had Harley as a participant in the death of Robin, because most people don't really grapple with the fact that, even though Harley didn't exist when ADitF happened, any retcon to have her involved with Joker from the getgo is going to have her as a likely participant in the torture and murder of a child, and it's an interesting way to delve into her character and how her own agency intersects with her being a victim of the Joker's abuse).

But there are some serious, serious issues with the Snyderverse that did make it really hard to root for.

Most glaringly, Snyder has good ideas, like I outlined, but I don't think he's a very good writer. Take, for example, the much derided Martha scene. I get what he was going for, Bruce is lost in rage and Clark's focus on saving his mother not only reminds Bruce that Clark too has people he loves, just as Bruce does, but that he has his own underlying humanity, humanity that Bruce cannot ignore anymore and has to confront, that Clark is more than a threat, but a full person. It's a way to highlight how lost Bruce has become in this mission, and to show how humanity comes from who you are, not where you're from, and that Clark is good to his core in a way that's admired. That's the point of the scene, I get that, I understand it, but there had to be a better way to write it than that. I mean, Hell, just have Clark start talking about "my mother" as Bruce is getting ready to gut him, which can lead to confusion on Bruce's part because "your mother's an alien", which leads to Clark struggling to explain that his mom's in danger even as he's near death himself (and also idk why Lois is there, I love Lois as a character, though I wasn't overly fond of Amy Adams's version despite my love for her as an actress, but she shouldn't be there). But instead we get the Martha thing, and it ends up reading as Bruce realizing, somehow, that there are more people named Martha than his mom, and it ends up reading really stupid. This is what plagues a lot of Snyder's DC stuff, especially in BvS and with Bruce, which is that the ideas work but his execution in the minutia really doesn't and bogs the whole thing down. (I will say that I did like the writing of Bruce in the scene at Luthor's party, especially when he was being sneaky, that was good).

Snyder also is a good director in terms of visuals, very good, I like his visuals in a lot of his stuff. But I don't think he's a very good director when it comes to performances. He can't really pull anything stupendous out of any of his actors. And some people, like Ben Affleck, are good enough that you can still get good stuff from them irregardless, but some of them are not. And Henry Cavill, however much I love him in The Tudors, is one of those actors who does need a director to guide him to give a truly memorable performance, especially if he's as outside of his wheelhouse as he was with Clark. So Clark, who's our first introduction to the Snyderverse and also its emotional lynchpin a lot of the time, falls flat, because Snyder doesn't really seem like an actor's director, in spite of his visual eye.

There's also the killing thing. For one, just off the bat (heh), Batman shouldn't kill. Ever. It is the antithesis to who he is on every level, and there's a reason why he sticks to it so rigidly in comics canon and why any attempt to make him a killer, even via inaction (cough Nolanverse cough) rings false and hollow. For two, Superman is a killer in this universe. Not great, but Superman has killed in the comics too. But somehow, this doesn't really seem to bother him. Clark is, indirectly, responsible for a lot of civilian casualties after Man of Steel, and BvS really should have shown him grappling with that continuously, in a serious way. He's standing as a symbol for hope, he wants to help wherever he can, and there are now scores of people who've left behind grieving loved ones, because of him. It should affect him a lot more than it does, drive a lot more than it does, especially as we watch how those deaths harden Bruce, and yet we don't really see anything from him, and it affects his character. Not to mention it makes him a hypocrite when it comes to Batman. "Oh the Batman branded someone while stopping them from sex trafficking young girls, he's so terrible!" you have literally snapped someone's neck, shut the fuck up. And also, yeah, Clark killed Zod. That should also affect him a lot in the next movie, not just because of how killing and loss of life should affect him in general, but because Clark, a Kryptonian orphan with no connection to his homeland, no people like him, has just decimated the only concrete connection to his home that he has. If BvS wants to highlight Clark's solitude, Clark's loneliness as an alien and how that affects him AND the people around him along with the general populace, his feelings on having to cut off a Kryptonian connection to save human lives should get a lot more screentime.

And, while I do laud Snyder having good base ideas, some of the base ideas didn't work. I understand wanting to shift Lex into being the kind of billionaire most people in the 2010s would recognize as "classic billionaire", make him more of a Zuckerberg or an Elon Musk, but the way they went about it didn't work at all. Doomsday coming in last minute didn't work, having Death of Superman this early didn't work, making Batffleck an angry Batman rather than the sad Batman he was born to be didn't work, Jonathan Kent's death didn't work, etc. And honestly, having it be a Dark Knight Returns adaptation really didn't work. Even beyond the general cultural stuff that influence TDKR, and my issues with it as well as Frank Miller as a creative, the Batman against Superman stuff didn't work in the Snyderverse, because Snyder doesn't seem to get why those stories hit so hard. They work because Bruce and Clark are friends, best friends, closer than brothers, they love each other so dearly and would risk so much for each other, put their lives on the line for each other no matter what, be there at their lowest (there's a World's Finest issue dedicated to Clark trying to help Bruce with the aftermath of Jason's murder, it's really good). Seeing them at odds, seeing them fight, it hurts because we know what was once there, and seeing it fall apart into enmity and violence is painful. Longtime friends turning on each other hurts to witness. It doesn't work if Clark and Bruce don't know each other and don't have any personal connection, because that takes away the edge that makes those stories tug at our emotions.

Like I said, ultimately I'm ambivalent. There's stuff that worked, especially in concepts and in broad strokes, and there's stuff that didn't, like Snyder's writing decisions once detail had to get involved. And between that and the ten million behind the scenes issues, like the studio constantly meddling in everything, like Ezra Miller's issues, like Amber Heard having the nerve to be abused by her husband which got everyone real mad at her because he was popular twenty years ago, it ultimately made the whole thing a giant mess that was doomed to fail, even if Snyder had been flawless (which he really wasn't, but the outside stuff that kept coming up in every single installment certainly exacerbated everything).

I'm hoping the studio backs off Gunn, and that he keeps up his good writing streak that we've seen with stuff like Guardians, and that the decisions I've seen that are worrying me turn out fine (or are at least rectified and dealt with in pre-production why is the FUCKING FLASH DIRECTOR in charge of Batman why God why?????? and also again please don't have the starting Robin be Damian I have strong feelings about that even though I love my dear boy), but it's early so we'll see. Fingers crossed.

#personal #answered #anonymous #snyderverse #wow turns out i had a LOT more to say about the snyderverse than i thought #yeah anon i'm not a big snyder hater #and also i think a lot of hate for him comes from the fact that a lot of his online fans are insufferable #like being assholes to gunn and the new dc universe for no reason #snyder as a person seems pretty cool #and that whole justice league debacle honestly made me like the dude #cuz he dealt with it as best he could in trying circumstances and his version was better #but as a creative yeah like i said above #good and bad #and unfortunately the bad is more prevalent to the failure of the dceu #the devil is in the details as they say #and snyder like i outlined has a lot of struggles with the details #also if you're wondering why i talked about bvs so much that's cuz it's the movie i've watched most out of the ones snyder did

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iss600 · 8 months ago

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The Little Spitfire (Committing to the Joke)

I would recommend reading the document but I'll crosspost below the "Keep Reading" line. Warning, it's very long.

As this is Tumblr and the place for all sorts of weird things, I bring you mine. Probably the strangest thing I put effort into writing. 6 pages of what amounts to a joke idea.

If anyone has an idea of who Eric and Triton should be, tell me, because I don't. At all. I'm so lost.

T.L.;D.R.: The Little Mermaid but it's the Skylanders as the cast instead, primarily the SuperChargers.

The Little Spitfire

(Committing to the Joke)

Somewhere high above and beyond your imagination is an adventure in fantasy. The Little Spitfire is a joke taken way too far and one that I have committed to solely for the meme. It is a Skylanders take on the story of The Little Mermaid (1989), replacing the original cast with our own flame-spirit SuperCharger Spitfire, optimistic lark Stormblade, gloomy Dreadwalker Nightfall and many more.

The Context

This joke came about while I was brainstorming cutscene dialog for a cutscene in my fan-game. This cutscene took place in an underwater kingdom and I was listening to "Under the Sea" to give some ambience. What I had come up with was that all Skylanders of all elements had been magically protected against the waters and were now swimming freely beneath the waves, making their way to an underwater palace. Spitfire and Stormblade would be chatting as they swam, with the conversion involving Spitfire expressing difficulty/confusion at swimming. Stormblade would then suggest he "does it the mermaid way" and would “demonstrate” what she meant (furiously wiggling and spasming up and down like a maniac). Spitfire would then copy her (much more fluidly and gracefully due to his merman-esque body shape). The conversation would then go as follows.

Spitfire: For some reason, I feel like I should get up on a rock and sing about being part of the world above. Stormblade: Same honestly. Can we do that later? Spitfire: Absolutely.

The reason that the conversation would go this way is for 3 reasons:

This fan-game establishes that all Skylanders are fans of Earth media and consume a lot of it. Spitfire alongside others is quite familiar with Disney movies like The Little Mermaid.

The fan-game itself is very musical in its mechanics, so Spitfire having the urge to sing isn't that strange. In fact, singing is a necessary requirement for unlocking the main power in the story. Specifically, it’s working together with others and being in-sync with one another as well as being able to work in harmony that’s necessary. Singing and dancing being the easiest way to achieve that so that’s what everyone’s been doing. That's why Stormblade asks if they're going to sing later. She sees it as an offer to both have some fun and try and work together to harmonize.

Spitfire is willing to humor Stormblade's optimism and slightly odd suggestions like accepting offers to sing karaoke with her or play dancing games with her. If she wants to sing and dance all silly after a mission, he’s happy to join her. It’s not his usual style, but he doesn’t mind it, plus the above reasons of harmonizing would give him good reason to do it too.

Now, I didn’t disregard this at all, because quite frankly, I like merfolk way too much and I saw Spitfire having a tail similar to them as the perfect opportunity to make the above conversation into a wonderful brick joke that still made sense in the setting (I’m imagining either a full theater production of it, or just those two singing on a rock on the beach for fun). To quote myself: “I’ll be honest, it’s the fact he doesn't have legs. I was like "yeah, I can merman this”. I mentioned this in the Portal Masters Lounge Discord server and user “Firedanne” asked the following:

“Does he dream of living up in the sky and collect raindrops and pieces of shot down planes?”

I said “no, but that’s a great idea” and quickly the two of us realized that it made a lot more sense than Spitfire being a merman under the sea (which already doesn’t make a lot of sense, full admittance). And…well, the joke went from there and it did not stop. After replaying the official soundtrack for The Little Mermaid, I decided to do it for the meme and bring you all…whatever this can be considered. Crack post, probably.

The Actual Idea

Summary: Deep inside the volcanoes of Skylands, fire-spirit Spitfire lives in a glowing arcadia of magma and flames. But Spitfire wishes to live amongst the clouds, however his father King X* forbids him from realizing his dreams. One day, after saving the life of Y*, a creature from the air, Spitfire finds himself smitten with Y and makes a deal with a devious deadly witch to become an Air creature and must earn Y’s love before time runs out.

*X and Y are placeholders because I don’t actually know who will fill those positions. More on that below.

The Plot

The plot would be the movie’s plot albeit with potential for some minor modifications to it, either to be more Skylanders-y or just because. Not entirely sure but I see the plot as having the same beats and basic layout but being somewhat different in execution. It absolutely has the songs though, I’m not getting rid of that.

One of the most significant plot changes would be the role of Flounder if Stormblade takes that role. Stormblade would be a being of Air who would be Spitfire’s best friend and also his wingman, assisting him where necessary and such. Essentially, she’d be a much more extraverted and adventurous Flounder who’d act as Spitfire’s wingman and on-land ally (she’d be a secondary protagonist almost). Because in canon, the two get along and seem to be on friendly terms, I can imagine Stormblade as Spitfire’s good friend and the one who tells him all about the sky, brings him stuff, goes exploring with him etc. Plus, the opportunity for both to duet songs like Part of Your World and Stormblade soloing Kiss the Girl is a lot of fun to imagine.

After that, the rest of the plot changes would boil down to some slightly different scenes, different dialog (but with the same intentions) and so forth. Since the story would take place in the sky, the setting would also be different, but that wouldn’t really affect things all that much aside from some wording changes.

The Characters

Here’s the current cast list as it stands. The question marks mean I don’t know if that person I picked really fits at all, but it also means I don’t know who would be in that role at all.

Ariel = Spitfire Flounder = ? Sebastian = Dive-Clops? Scuttle = Smash Hit? Prince Eric (Y) = ? King Triton (X) = ? Ursula = Nightfall

Spitfire would be a flame spirit prince who lives beneath the surface in a massive volcanic kingdom. This is to keep his “no legs, merman tail” thing; now he has a reason to swim everywhere and also explains why as a flame spirit, he can’t simply fly upwards (and on that note, he doesn’t have his wings either, or his technical enhancements; he is pure fire and rock-body). He is stuck underground, but sneaks above onto the surface to explore and collect things that fall from the sky, birdwatch etc. He’d go to the witch and that’s where he’d get his wings and tech enhancement, but of course, he’d give up his voice and have the “get a kiss before 3 days is up” condition.

Now, here’s where it gets tricky for me. On the one hand, I could make Stormblade the Eric of the story (so she would be the Y character) and it would work perfectly fine. But on the other hand, I’ve also got another role for her, an expanded-upon version of Flounder’s role as detailed above and that also works perfectly. Both options for her work out really well because her canon relationship with Spitfire makes her ideal for both positions (as detailed in the plot section). I’m torn about what to do with her because if not her, I don’t know who would be the Eric role. It could be a man or a woman, but I’ve got no clue who I’d pick. I know who I wouldn’t want, but the elimination game hasn’t been super helpful.

The easiest role to choose however is definitely Nightfall as Ursula. She’s a Dreadwalker, she’s got the spooky colors, she’s menacing-looking, she has the tentacled hair and she absolutely would kill it singing “Poor Unfortunate Souls”. And while she’s not evil in personality, her personality would make her a more believable Ursula in comparison to say, Splat. Nightfall being of the Dark element also helps; she’s opposite to bright fire and daylight.

The roles of Sebastian and Scuttle were also OK to come up with, but I’m not too sure about them all. I went with Smash Hit for Scuttle because he’s a rather weird fellow, so he fits with Scuttle’s rather strange self. Dive-Clops is Sebastian solely because he’s the smallest of the cast (I’m talking about him suitless, mind you) and I thought it would be hilarious to put him in a crab costume, or something like that. However, neither of them are Fire or Air elementals, so in the context of the story, it doesn’t make all that much sense.

The role of King Triton is completely up in the air. I have no idea who could, would or should be in his role in the slightest. I know it should probably be a Fire elemental, I just don’t know who. The role of Eric is also unknown for reasons detailed in Stormblade’s entry above. I don’t have a set person at all; the closest I got to someone who wasn’t Stormblade is Ka-Boom and that was for a joke where Ka-Boom auditions and Spitfire struggles to drag him places, and also gets crushed underneath him because of size differences (to me, Ka-Boom look bigger than pretty much every Skylander by a large margin). It was not a serious consideration at all, full disclosure. I don’t have a serious consideration for Eric except for maybe Stormblade as discussed above.

The Music

I’m weak and I always make playlists and this joke is no exception. Obvious edits where necessary are obvious.

Fathoms Below: Opening song.

Part of Your World: Sung by Spitfire (maybe Stormblade too, depends on her role).

Under the Sea: Sung by whoever ends up being Sebastian.

Part of Your World (Reprise): Sung by Spitfire and no one else.

Poor Unfortunate Souls: Sung by Nightfall.

Kiss the Girl: Sung by whoever ends up being Sebastian or by Stormblade, depending on her role.

#Saying Stuff #Skylanders #Spitfire #Stormblade #Nightfall #Skylanders SuperChargers #The Little Mermaid #Disney

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