#they just kinda live passively as characterization

[princenothinq]

orion is so interesting to me. idk if it was intentional but ever since i saw he and draksons style b I've kept thinking that doom brulee is inspired by mcr in some way or another even tho theyre industrial. and i have to pick at crumbs for however long bc idk if he'll even be in the next game/lh i think itd be extremely funny to have one where hes a worker

hes so appealing to me and its always surprising to me more people dont post more often abt him (if they do i havent seen it/its untagged) and im so AHHHHH!!!! myguy. ever

to me he is thai, he originally started playing to cope in a more healthy way, and eventually started a band with drakson once he was older. idk if ill keep the 6 year age gap between them i feel like it should be more like 2-3 years instead. either way drakson looks up HELLA to orion and that kinda pressure stresses him out so bad.

AND THE ARGUMENTS! i will die actually he worries so much about drakson but leaving doom brulee for a brief solo stint does very much for his own mental health

also hes transgenderrrr. and queer. hes 5'8 normally bht with his boots hes around 6''. and i also refuse to believe hes skinny and gangly i think hes ripped and FIGHTS!!!! super stupidly low pain tolerance tho. he cried and vomited getting all his piercings/hj

he acts like hes confident and calm ans in control but really hes just a kid trying to learn how to be an adult a little late lmao. hes like 23-24.

also he has an obligatory celebrity crush on duke gotcha

[13eyond13]

.

[maximumqueer]

In lieu of the second season of OPLA starting production, I want to talk about my mixed feelings on the first season of it.

Because I got into the anime and manga through the live action. So I will always like it at least a little bit for introducing me to honestly my favorite piece of media ever. But now that I'm caught up with the anime and manga, and know the characters and story better, I find myself having more criticisms of it.

The overall narrative is rushed in a way that leads to important character moments being glossed over. Syrup Village in OPLA is a good example. Usopp does a lot less in the live action, most of his big emotional beats cut for what I can only assume were time constraints. Reducing Gin's role to a one time appearance, and the Don Krieg Pirates to a cameo also feels like a product of the limited runtime, and cheapens Sanji's reasoning joining the crew, as we never get that moment where Luffy witnesses him feeding a starving man, and decides then that Sanji will be is cook. Replacing it instead with Luffy seeing him fight and tasting his food. Which in my opinion kinda misses the point of why Luffy wanted him to join. And that was because of Sanji's kindness, which is not nearly as present in the live action.

OPLA also removes a lot of side characters from the islands the main cast visit, making the world feel smaller, and the stakes lower. Like, the reason I personally cared so much about Luffy and Co. helping out places like Orange Town, Syrup village, Cocoyashi Village, is the people that live there who we get to know (in the anime and manga). I feel far more invested actually knowing the names of several of the people and the village, and knowing that their lives will be better after the big bad is taken down. It's not just a fight for the sake of having a fight, but a fight to help out a group of people who need it.

These characters also end up trying to free themselves from the big bad. Them playing an active roll, and not just being used as hostages (like they were in the live action) is just so quintessential to One Piece in my opinion. Having characters native to the island already willing to stand up to the force controlling them, and Luffy's involvement being to aid them, and not just swoop in a save a group of passive bystanders who were simply waiting for a hero to save them, is subversive for shonen (hell just fantasy in general) and having the live action remove that just feels wrong, as characters having freedom and agency is a big overarching theme in One Piece that has been there since day one.

Then there is the characterization. Zoro is probably the most egregious change. Zoro (bur especially pre-ts Zoro) was far goofier than his live action counterpart. And I do think that that level of goofiness is essential to him as a character. Like, I cannot picture OPLA Zoro attempting to cut off his feet, fail, and then decide to strike a cool pose while he is slowly turning into a wax statue. I cannot picture that version of the character beefing with a bird while lost, when said bird is LITERALLY a compass. OPLA Zoro just feels like your stereotypical stoic cool guy, when he is very much not. He is a bit of a loser (affectionate) and to see him be treated like he isn't feels off. Nami and Sanji are closer to their anime/manga counterparts, but are still different.

OPLA Sanji is not pathetic enough. To use an analogy, OLPA Sanji would take off his coat to place it over a puddle so a pretty woman didn't have to get her shoes and feet wet. Anime/manga Sanji would hurl his body onto the ground, and have the woman use his back to prevent getting her shoes and feet wet. They said this change was to dial down the more pervy parts of his character, which is fair. But that aspect of his character only really starts up in a bad way in Thriller Bark. The part of the series that adapted was when Sanji was pretty much only presented as a hopeless romantic who worships the ground all women walk on and would do anything a woman asked of him.

Nami is similar to Zoro, in that she is just to serious. They both lack the whimsy their anime/manga counterparts have. And she just feels a bit more one dimensional in the live action because of it.

As for Luffy. Him referring to himself as a "good pirate" just feels all sorts of wrong. He has never shied away from that label, and never has had any issue with being lumped in with "bad" pirates in the anime/manga. He never was angry about being framed for crimes, but I get the feeling that OPLA Luffy would be more likely to be angry about that, because he is a "good" pirate. This Luffy doesn't feel like he would go on a rant about not wanting to be viewed as a hero. They also made him nicer overall, and this sounds like a weird thing to complain about, but Luffy not holding his tongue and just telling people how he feels about them, positive or negative, is what makes him as a character work. Is what separates him from a typical run of the mill shonen protag. Him being a kind, but not nice and overall blunt in conversation is pretty integral to his character, and I can't help but feel that the writers and directors of the live action were afraid of keeping this character trait because it could make him unlikeable. (despite that fact that he as been #1 in literally every One Piece popularity poll)

And obviously this is not a critique on the actors, I think they did a phenomenal job portraying their respective characters. This is more about how the writers/directors/producers decided to adapt and change the characters.

I kind of suspected that when I watched the anime (a more one to one adaptation of the manga) as well as read the manga (the source material) that I would end up having more issues with the live action. I do still like it for what it is, and I'm planning on watching the second season when it comes out, I just wanted to share how my opinion on it changed after reading/watching and catching up with the anime and manga.

[sepublic]

The more I appreciate Mata Nui's arc on Bara Magna, the more salty I am about his ending. Dude spends most of the story's run asleep, so much of the story is dedicated to waking him up. And then he finally does wake up but in less than ideal circumstances, but nevertheless you get the emotional investment of him learning to interact with others as a (relatively) regular mortal and guy, getting to make friends who know him as a friend and not as some god to worship. He gets to actually truly live and connect with the world around him, instead of passively observing it, hidden by his camouflage systems.

And then it ends with him going back to sleep for what is probably the indefinite foreseeable future. And I get WHY, I get the idea of Mata Nui not wanting the people of the Matoran Universe to depend on him. But it's kinda depressing to see him cut off from everything, he doesn't really get to sit down and relax, nor retire, like the others. He doesn't get to live anymore.

Plus, given how much Mata Nui was hyped up in 2001-08, it'd be interesting to see the characters from that arc actually get to meet him and realize, Oh, he's just a guy. An imperfect guy. No wonder Makuta realized he could take him down... But also he means well. He's trying. I'd have loved a scene where the Turaga Metru get to meet Mata Nui in person, and get some closure by asking; Why us? Why did you choose us to thwart Makuta's takeover?

In 2005, Mata Nui is framed as this all-wise god who works through unknowable ways and means, and is quite the clever mastermind himself, but for good, outsmarting Makuta. So it'd have been nice to hearken back to that characterization, maybe show Mata Nui being quite the trickster during his Bara Magna arc.

Closure for all our protagonists, who work so hard to see this guy be awakened, only to never really get to see or experience him, would've been nice. Just a single scene where they talk and discuss. Maybe one way you could reconcile both ideas -Mata Nui wanting to leave people alone, and Mata Nui getting to actually meet them- is by having him fake his slumber. But in reality he uses the Ignika to create a separate, remote body elsewhere for Mata Nui to transfer his spirit to. And then he does a Metro Man, lives the rest of his life as some guy, whose true identity he shares with only a select few people, particularly his Glatorian friends, and probably the Toa Nuva, Mahri, and Turaga. Given how much they sacrificed for him idk.

...Still. Could you imagine if Greg HAD continued the serials, and actually did have Mata Nui return from his slumber to help out during a climactic arc? That'd have been SUCH a hype moment.

[ladyazurith]

Vil Schoenheit Headcanons

These are some of my headcanon’s for Vil and how I write him/ characterize him.

The woman who gave birth to Vil walked out on both him and his father right after he was born. She and his father were never married, and he was born out of an on-set fling. The woman that is actually VIl's mother, was a makeup artist, who Eric met when Vil was just a baby, and they married, and the woman (I named her Caroline) treated Vil as if he were her son. This is why when he’s asked about who he could have gotten his magic from, he says he doesn’t care. That woman wasn’t really his mother. 

One of the reasons he loves the Fairest Queen and her story so much is because he remembers his mother reading stories about her to him as a small child.  Unfortunately, the woman fell ill when Vil was about 5 years old, and her health declined rapidly and she passed away. This was a very traumatic event for him, that he’s suppressed. 

Most of Vil’s interests lie in his line of work, cosmetics, fashion, acting, etc. But one that he doesn’t talk about much is gardening. Especially cultivating rare and exotic flora that can be used in various potions. 

Vil’s ideas of love and romance are very skewed and jaded because of the fact he grew up in the film industry. With the death of his mother, he lost the one positive example he had in his parents. And was surrounded by people who tended to treat love as leverage for PR and personal gain. This is also why he’s so harsh concerning Cater when he’s been shown to be rather unbothered by other people who are clearly out to use his fame to their advantage. (Azul, Jade, Ace, etc). It’s the romantic angle that ruffles his feathers so much, because of how he’s seen it play out time and again all around him.

He has a terrible sweet tooth, he just has enough willpower to fight it off most days

As shown in Chapter 6, he’s got a very clear personal vs professional side. He’s able to compartmentalize them as separate and distinct. When he talks about Rook’s actions not bothering him at the end of chapter 5 and the start of chapter 6, that’s his professional side talking. On his personal side however I do believe he was hurt, not that Rook voted for RSA, but the fact that he hid his obsession with Neige from him all this time. That I think would feel like a bigger betrayal. (And specifically not that he was a fan of Neige’s but the hiding it bit) 

Vil knows the nonsense that Rook gets up to, stalking Leona and the other beastmen, etc. He turns a blind eye to it because he doesn’t want to lose who he sees as the only real friend he’s ever had. Despite how he might act passively and brush off Rook’s behavior (like in Rook’s portion of the Tsum event when they go to his room) his companionship means more to him than he’s willing to voice. And Yes despite what I said above, I do believe they are great friends. Friends can hurt you sometimes, even if they don’t mean it. People aren’t perfect. 

This is also why I think Jack’s friendship means a lot to Vil, more so than it does to Jack. Jack was the first person who stood up for him and how he was treated. But to Jack, he was just another kid who lived in the neighborhood and hung out and played with him sometimes. 

Leading into, I think part of the reason that Vil has such strong negative feelings toward Neige, isn’t just because Neige was the hero to his villain, but because Neige, despite acting like they’re close friends, never did anything to stop the way he was treated. Yes I know Neige was just a kid, no I don’t really expect him to have truly done something to stop it nor hold him responsible for Vil’s treatment, BUT Vil was also a kid, and I can’t blame him for feeling that way. Kinda like that kid who says they’re your friend, then goes and hangs out with the other kids that bully you. Never registering what the problem is.

We know Vil is a deeply insecure person, especially when it comes to his typecasting as a villain, and I think this extends to his outlook on love and romance, as I stated above he hasn’t had the best examples in his life, but typically the villains don’t get a happily ever after love story, and I think he’d projected that onto himself. Something else he wants but feels he can’t have so he doesn’t try. 

I also think he doesn’t know how to make friends or communicate with people in a casual/social manner. This helps account for how few friends he has. And the one he does is Rook, who basically adopted him and didn’t go away. This is also why I think he can come off as abrasive even when he’s trying to help. Like how he dealt with Epel. 

I also defend his treatment of Epel. I grew up in a very small and isolated town like Epel. I grew up with a lot of backward views because that’s all I was exposed to as a child. In a place where being even slightly different can make you a social pariah, if you step out of line it can be a nightmare. And it takes a lot of stern force to help someone overcome that. Not letting them make excuses. I’m grateful for the people in my life who helped me see differently, my version of Vil essentially, and I was so happy that they showed that Epel appreciates what Vil had done for him. 

I have more but that’s enough for now. 

[phantomram-b00]

Okay I wasn’t going to be active today, but I saw this post about Crowley, and I do recommend you check it out it bring up many good points. It does inspire me to make a post about something I’m kinda surprised no one talks about exactly (or maybe they did idk.)

Now keep in mind, I do love Crowley and Aziraphale, they’re both my favorite characters and also my comfort characters/ship. Not just for their good deeds and characterization but also because they flawed. Or as they said in the blitz episode, they shade of grey. 🩶 I just feel like Crowley behaving a bit stupidly here. (But here might have more validity but still felt it was unwarranted)

Now onto the post, probably wondering what I could be talking about The Jim Situation all the way back in season 2 episode 1

So I’ve been meaning to talk about this, but I wasn’t exactly sure if it would be well received or wouldn’t make sense. But I think the post I linked help me have some confidence, as I do feel that people when talking about it forgot that, Aziraphale DID NOT want to help Gabriel at all. He never wanted to see him again after 2019; why would he, he not only approve of the first armageddon but also wanted to execute him (specially but also crowley) and overall was passive aggressive asshole towards him. Why would he ever want to help his toxic ex-boss? He kinda didn’t have a choice here, now he did say no at first when Gabriel asked to come in (I mean— idk about you but your ex-boss who’s naked want to come into my house I wouldn’t let them inside neither just no-) but he did bring him inside because he felt obligated because everyone is looking at him and the naked man friend, I think if things were different I think Aziraphale wouldn’t even think about helping him as another thing, Aziraphale moved on from everything that happen, he’s living his life, he even said so to Crowley when talking how he doesn’t report to them anymore. So the have this happen, just felt like ABBA song “Mama Mia here I go again”.

But another thing is that, Aziraphale also (while hesitantly) want to know what happen to Gabriel? Why has he forgotten about himself or really everything? And asking him or the empty box didn’t solve anything at all. As patient as aziraphale is, even his was running really thin as he talk to Gabriel. Not to mention of the fact Gabriel revealed that something terrible might happen which understandably terrifies Aziraphale. So, he turns to Crowley, which gifted us Nina asked about the naked man friend (Sorry I love his face when she drop that, the expression speaks so much volume I love it! XD)

Okay back to my ramble, now at first I’ll give the benefit of the doubt of why Crowley was kinda suspicious at first, Aziraphale wasn’t being up front about it at first (though to be fair, trying to tell someone “hey my naked ex-boss is in my bookshop and doesn’t know who he even is” is probably the most bizarre to even try to explain or tell anyone). And then as they go inside the bookshop, he got spooked rightfully so, this was the same person who wanted to kill Aziraphale, even saying the worse thing he can ever say: “shut your stupid mouth and die”. So to see him again, yeah, being scared is a valid response even as well as being showing keep resentment.

But, as they went to the very Va-Va-vroom yellow backroom, Crowley first idea was to take Gabriel somewhere far away, which if you really think about, wouldn’t solve any of their problem. It like putting a bandage or tape on a crack, sure it might help for now but more cracks will come up and will eventually break (I’ll get back to this later). What aziraphale said kinda valid, Gabriel does need them because who knows if this something terrible would only affect Gabriel, it could very well affect him or even Crowley or earth, so in Aziraphale’s view helping him out might neutralize whatever’s going on or will happen and taking him to dartmoor as Crowley stated do anything.

Now okay to give more benefit of the doubt, again, I do understand why Crowley was acting this way, and Aziraphale selflessly helping Gabriel is infuriating for him. As Crowley seeing this as “how can you help the person who want to murder you? How can you look past and forgive them this easily? How can you possible find it in your heart to help him after everything?”, which is pointing out Aziraphale’s flaws, him being selfless and need to help. Gabriel could’ve curse him out or bring him down to his lowest yet he still want to help. Now, there nothing wrong with being selfless, it an honorable thing to do, however, it become an issue when your selfless without thinking how it’ll affect you or the person involve. But, as I mention before, Aziraphale never wanted to help Gabriel, the only reason Aziraphale’s want to even do far as help this angel is because 1) he was obligated to as who else could possible help an amnesiac angel? 2) Gabriel mention something terrible will happen, so aziraphale want to know what can that be to prevent it. And 3) he’s pushing away his qualms against gabriel aside just so he can help him. So I don’t think Aziraphale’s exactly wrong for not wanting to sent Gabriel away as it wouldn’t solve the something terrible.

But Crowley doesn’t want to help (at first), so Aziraphale despite desperately loving nothing more but for Crowley to help him; said he’s welcome to go. He’s at least giving Crowley the opportunity to choose. Even though, Aziraphale want his help more than anything as the one thing both of them share is that, they don’t want to see Gabriel anymore. However, with aziraphale telling him he can go, Crowley well leaves. But not before (granted he did try to calm down though):

Aziraphale while most likely understands why Crowley left, I feel given his expression just wished Crowley tried a little harder rather than just walking away that easily. I almost said maybe he also feels envious that Crowley got the choice to walk away from this but I don’t see Aziraphale as someone who’s envious to that degree, but I feel Aziraphale wasn’t at least wishful he could avoid this whole Gabriel thing more than Crowley. But it just their luck.

Okay back to Crowley again, so we back to see him inside the car and then he is teleported back to hell by Beelzebub, there Ze tell Crowley what Shax mentioned before that Gabriel is gone and try to bribe Crowley by saying he can name his own price and even get his job back. Then tells Crowley that heaven up and arms about the disappearance and will dealt with anyone who’s helping Gabriel with extremes sanctions. Which absolutely mortified him because then there that possibility of being erased from the book of life.

And no, I don’t think Crowley’s original plan would’ve solved anything because in a way, that’s still helping Gabriel in some way. Does it more or less benefit Crowley and aziraphale yes but not by the long run. Like I said, it’s putting a bandage/tape on a crack, it could hold but not for long as it will ultimately fall apart and they would still be punished by doing this. So I think that’s why I never got why he still said “no no no aziraphale what have you done!?” Like sure even though I said my benefit of the doubt, I feel he should’ve at least understand this wasn’t Aziraphale’s choice neither, or even that this isn’t all on aziraphale anyway. It was Gabriel that just showed up and came to Aziraphale’s bookshop in the first place, so this was sprung on him. So I felt this was kinda irrational for him to think this way as Aziraphale never wanted this at all.

So Crowley comes back and Aziraphale decides to play petty (which sure valid since he did walk away but he did give him a choice? Idk it complicated), and Crowley goes on to say he was right which prompted to aziraphale wanting the apology dance from him (which okay imma be real, I have a headcanon where I think Aziraphale was dying to see this day. Been waiting until they first invented it which— I’m curious who idea was this.)

Now, you can debate if this thing was apology dance worthy but frankly, to see the dance, peak performance. But this isn’t about the dance, it about the grey heroes so let get back into it. Now Crowley does decide to help after all, and they decide to do what it seem to be the most powerful miracle anyone probably have ever seen or ranked. And it was only a half miracle. Which is really interesting. But I think even though Crowley does decide to help, I felt his earlier action was not exactly stupid but was unfair toward Aziraphale but at the same time it valid because of what I’ve stated and his underline trauma towards heaven period, so I can’t really call him stupid for this, but more or less deeply flawed here. However while the situation itself was unfair for Aziraphale as he want to help whatever going on I felt he should’ve also been more considerate about Crowley’s feeling with this whole ordeal as was equally unfair to Crowley in a way too. But I think the most common thing is that they don’t want to do this and want this thing to be resolved so they can move on with their lives. And even if Crowley did what he did, at least Aziraphale foot at forgiveness :) (I hate myself for making that joke— someone sedate me)

Now that’s my thought, this probably is controversial, so you’re welcome and valid if you disagree or even agree with this. Tell me what you think or if you agree/disagree tell me why? If you guys do have good omens question or question in general you can ask me on the AMA. But if you have any commentary on this blog you can unleash them, just please be mindful that’s all I ask. I have more analysis I got plan but for now, imma head to bed and relax. I’ll go haunt with you guys later but for now I’ll go haunt somewhere else. Hope you enjoy this blog and please check out the post I link on here, it was an interesting take and help me inspire me to make this one ^v^ so hope you enjoy that post too.

[secretmellowblog]

Valjean + 7 & 8 (game ask)

For this ask meme: #7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like? And #8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Thanks for the ask!!

#7: a thing fandom does with this character that you like:

I love fix-its (I just want him to live!) it’s great when Jean Valjean gets to have a happier ending than his bleak passive suicide.  

Fics that explore Jean Valjean interacting with Other Characters (outside of Cosette) are also  great. He has such a narrow social circle in canon — he has basically no friends outside of his daughter— so playing him off other characters is really fun. It’s especially fun if (as is canonically accurate) he struggles very hard to interact with people and comes across as deeply weird. Jean Valjean tends to get “trapped in his own head” a lot, and exploring the relationships he could have with other characters– or just how other characters would be utterly baffled by him, while viewing him from the outside– is always great.

I also love fandom stuff that acknowledges how deeply strange he is. Any fandom stuff that features Jean Valjean breaking into people’s houses to give them money is always chefs kiss.

#8: A thing fandom does with this character that you despise:

I  was originally going to answer this with a whole passionate overlong essay about fandom tropes around Jean Valjean that bother me, but…I’ll keep it short lol because it's not really a big deal, haha. Like, I don’t want to be mean or unfair, and I like being in a fandom so large I can afford to be picky about characterization. I don’t like holding fanfic  to a higher moral standard than big “professional” media properties that are doing far worse. The most popular Les Mis fanfic on ao3 has maybe a couple thousand readers; BBC 2019, which is an utterly vile horrible conservative take on Les Mis and on Jean Valjean in particular, had millions of viewers. Fanfic writers have no budget and often no editors, so we don’t deserve to be held to the same level of scrutiny as massive projects like a tv show . Like I don’t want to overstate harm– fanfic is fine! Les mis fanfic is a tiny niche of a niche, and so small no one’s really being hurt by it. If I don’t like something, I don’t read it, and all that. I'm not here to be the fandom police XD.

And I really don’t like ever positioning myself as an “authority” on these characters or the person who does them “correctly,” because I’m not. 

That being said, if I were to be petty and summarize my personal Problems with the way Jean Valjean is often handled in fandom really briefly–

My core "pain" is that I feel like a lot of fans miss that the police are the villains of Les Mis. The police are the villains of Jean Valjean’s story and they’re the villains of Javert’s. Prison is evil. The carceral system is cruel and unjust, as a system. It is not a problem of Javert “not being nice enough to Valjean,” the entire system is fundamentally violent and vile and needs to be burned to the ground.  acab, and all.

I think part of why that gets missed is that many fans are laser-focused only on Javert–  and often on a highly specific musical-inspired fanon reading of Javert where he Did Nothing Wrong. (I'm not throwing shade, this was kinda also me when I was 13 lolllll.) And then they don’t analyze Jean Valjean anywhere near as deeply, if they analyze him at all, and don't pick up on the larger themes of the novel. And that's a shame, because Javert’s characterization will also suffer if you don’t have that wider context! I think the “problem” is just that if you acknowledge the complexity of Jean Valjean's character and his trauma, if you recognize how deeply Jean Valjean was ripped apart by prison,  how he has not recovered from his imprisonment and never will, and how he doesn’t view the criminal justice system with ‘total forgiveness’ but actually does have complicated overwrought repressed useless grief and rage over the system that abused him and the injustices he’s undergone, how he actually doesn’t like Javert on a personal level and only saved his life out of the same pity he would’ve shown to any other person in Javert's position–  it is much harder to see Javert as a Good Person and the police as a Good Institution. So as a result fanfic!Jean Valjean often  kinda has to be written as a bland saint patiently agreeing that Cops Are Great and Prison is Fine and Javert Did Nothing Wrong...because if he isn’t, the author has to acknowledge Javert has hurt Jean Valjean in ways he will never heal from, and question the morality of both  Javert and the police. 

 I think lots of people take the line “there’s nothing that I blame you for/you’ve done your duty nothing more” from the musical, interpret it as a sincere compliment, and then graft that interpretation onto the book— to the point of making it the entire core of Jean Valjean’s character. But Jean Valjean complimenting Javert with the Nuremberg defense (“it was all fine because you were doing your job”), and this being portrayed as Correct and Wise, is just not a compelling take on the character to me XD. I do not like it all. So I just don’t read fics that head in that direction. I'm not gonna content-police people, I just don't read it, haha.

I’ve been recommended multiple fics where Jean Valjean becomes Javert’s cop partner, or enthusiastically encourages him to return to the police, and it’s always a big “He Would Not Say That.” XD Jean Valjean, the most well-known victim of police brutality in the history of fiction, the character whose entire personality is built on the trauma of surviving incarceration and attempting to save others from his hellish fate, would never enthusiastically participate in incarcerating people–not even if they were  ‘bad’ people! It’s literally the core of his whole weird little Deal. it’s his whole schtick. 

And it's not that I hate Valvert either. I actually think Valvert can be very compelling-- and also funny, which is the most important thing. But part of the reason I’ve often stayed away from the valvert  fandom despite enjoying the Funky Weird Little Relationship is that I’ve had lots of trouble finding fic that gives Jean Valjean an actual life or character outside of Javert, or that also acknowledges the anti-police anti-prison themes of the novel.  But! There are a tiny handful of people who do it occasionally! And that's enough.

And again, this isn’t like the biggest deal or anything! I’m not a fandom cop trying to police what people write, especially because most people are just extrapolating from the musical/lots of people change their minds on characterizations over time/it’s hard to write without a team of editors to help you navigate things. These are just some fandom trends I personally don’t like, that I personally avoid,  and that I hope change over time….so that I have more fanfic to read that lines up with my own feelings on the characters XD.

But yeah those are my (abbreviated) years of spicy fanon Jean Valjean hot takes!!!

[algrolo]

Game Concept

I want to make a game about knowing your neighbors. I really like sharp, line based 2d artwork like Gris and Zean Macfarlane's architectural sketches, so itd be a stylized 2D platformer. I remember playing Little Big Planet and being enamoured with the colors and characterizations and zaniness of its world, and Id want to also capture that attitude.

Youd play as a pseudo-silent protag, which Ill be refering to as The Rider. Heres a quick animation I did for them as a concept

When I say psuedo-silent I mean that they dont speak and have extremely limited time when they would "say" things. Think like Frisk from Undertale; they technically do "say things" but never as like. A speech bubble.

Anyways, so far all Ive gotten is this idea of connections and knowing your neighbors. You live in an apartment building and theres a scripted order in which you meet your neighbors. Each of the real playable levels would be a neighbors apartment, which always transcends into a much bigger world than just their apartment. One of your neighbors has an 8yo daughter who loves everything pink, cupcakes, sweets, and is super bubbly. Her "apartment" would be a world that reflects her interests.

I dont really want dangers in these worlds, similar to how Gris plays. Gris only has 2 moments where your character gets reset for failing an objective. I admire this commitment to gaming as a step of passivity and possitivity. You dont get a game over, you dont lose a life, and theres never a notion that you died, just that you got reset.

Simple sketch of what happens when you fail a section where there would be danger (maybe only bosses?). Rider just kinda crumbles to their knees, and the background fades out, and upon pressing [X] you get back up to a specific save state.

Maybe it should be nicer like GET BACK UP. Im working on tone here. I think I want there to be a common thread of Loneliness prevailing through the game. Like, maybe the little girl is the first neighbor, very fun and bubbly and she invites you over. Maybe The Rider just moved and is all alone in a new place. Maybe they had to leave somewhere, also isolating them.

I think its very easy for loneliness to creep up on us as we get older. Exhaustion from work and life creep up in your 20s and suddenly you find yourself reminiscing about school and when you had more free time and you talked with friends all the time, etc.

So you, as The Rider, begin to learn who your neighbors are. You take a step at combatting the loneliness. And your neighbors range from little girls to old men and various other characters of all walks of life and with each neighbor you meet, you develop a sense of space and community. Furthermore, you enable neighbors to meet each other. Sometimes, its not just you who struggles with loneliness and making friends.

Ive got so many ideas for potential neighbors and worlds, considering I can just adapt my interests to themes of each neighbor. One who loves trains and mechanical things. Another one who loves card games and board games and silly thing of that like. Another who loves bugs and moths especially. And each world finishes with the creative landscape in which you are exploring of your neighbor into a simple scene in their apartment. The little girl you are watching for your neighbor while she ran out for a forgotten grocery. The card game enthusiast is showing you his favorite card game and is incredibly grateful for your willingness to listen to his rambles and all the rules. The train expert is showing you her model trains.

The intent is to show that everyone has their own interests and things they like, and sometimes it can be intimidating to find people to share your interests with outside of an online, cultured space. Most people like to share their interests, they just want others to listen. And its always good to just know your neighbors.

[timetoddddavis]

jirou x otoya

chase x gou

ankh x eiji

for ship asks?

This took me a little longer to get to, sorry!!

-Jiro and Otoya

Does it made sense? Yeah, like, more than I expected, watching Kiva. As I said when I was watching it, Jiro wants to speedrun Fuck Marry Kill with Otoya. If Jiro could fuck Otoya to death, dismember and spatter him across the walls, and then Otoya'd just pop back like a toon for Jiro to curl up around and wuffle tenderly against his neck? And they could do it all again tomorrow? Like, that would be the perfect world for Jiro. And Otoya, for his part, is so… like ok he's written with all the fun 2008 homophobia that Mister Inoue could muster but I truly feel like Otoya would/has fucked men, and he'd just say it didn't count, or like, that he's not gay because he's… receiving, or because he's topping, or because any number of reasons that would all be really dumb and contradictory. Otoya makes an excellent dog toy, I don't know, and he's a brat, and like they would be so mad at each other the whole time but like… yeah?? Otoya would love to tease Jiro until he got punished?? And then get one over on him and then they can do it all again?? Does it compel me? Yeah. I've read an AWFUL LOT OF IT, but I cannot see myself writing it.

-Chase and Gou

So, like, within the framework we have: Gou is canon bi. Gou wants to take Chase on dates. Gou has incredibly deep, complicated feelings about Chase. Gou and Chase have been like… spiritually… merged? And that (among other things) made Gou want to live for the first time in a long time. I have complicated feelings about GouChase, in the same way I have complicated feelings about Drive in general. Gou is tortured, like truly tortured, and makes horrible decisions all the time because of it. In a sense, he and Krim are on the same mission, kill all of the monsters that they made as a way of atoning for creating them. Gou obviously didn't create them himself, but he's so obsessed with his absent, abusive father that he connects himself to that guilt. (His obsession also leads him to trusting Banno, he wants approval SO BAD, it doesn't matter if his dad is a monster, the boy wants to be loved by his dad.) And I find this incredibly compelling, as a story and a character. Gou is neglected! He's abused! He's passively suicidal! He's making bad choices because NO ONE IS HELPING HIM! And it's consistent! It's good characterization! The dude is fucked up and not coming down off his hill because if he admits he was wrong Enter Chase, the one guy who is helping him. The guy who stands there and listens and prevents Gou from burning it all down and takes all of the rage Gou throws at him because he wants to be here. He wants Gou to be stable. He wants Gou to be Ok. He loves and protects him as a human being, even if Gou doesn't care about himself. I see the romance, in that. I see the appeal of 'it's rotten work, but not to me', here. And I could see my way to the idea that Gou has Uncomfortable Sexual Tension with the guy he hates, leading to romantic feelings for Chase due to his intense guilt post series. I've read some GouChase, and I've enjoyed it, but like… once they get together all the interesting parts are kinda… over for me? Their relationship is too interesting as an angst-ridden emotional exploration of a deeply traumatized individual to flatten it out into 'they live happily ever after'. AND FURTHERMORE… I just don't think Chase sees him that way. He wants to be with him? But I don't know that it's… really about that. Again, that feels like flattening out the nuances of their dynamic. And further furthermore, I actually think Chase is ace. I think all of the Roidmudes are on the ace spectrum, actually. So to sum up, I get the math it took to get here, but for me it Doesn't Make Sense, and it Does Not Compel Me. I… hope that makes sense. I apparently have a lot to say about them.

-Ankh and Eiji

I went into this in another ship meme once upon a time, so I'll be brief but basically… I get it, but it's not for me. I just don't see them as having the time or the emotional intelligence to actually be vulnerable enough to explore any kind of romantic/sexual attraction they may have had for each other. For me, that's compelling enough! Two people who care about each other in spite of their situation but never had the time to get into it? The intense tragedy of that? Of not having enough time, of always thinking you had tomorrow until all your tomorrows were gone?? That's delicious. I like that more than the idea that they were smoochin' between the scenes. So… Makes Sense, in that I see why it's so popular. Doesn't Compel Me, in that I genuinely just don't ship it.

[tucsonhorse]

As a Midwesterner who lives literally like 5 miles from Minnesota, I think the quickest way to explain the undertones behind "weird" in the midwest is to consider it as a more polite way of saying "deviant".

So like how southerners say "bless your heart" to mean "fuck you" when they want to be passively aggressively polite, midwesterners will say someone is "just kinda weird" when what we mean is they're a deviant, with all the baggage that word includes.

And yeah, for Republicans who consider themselves the total, central norm characterizing them as deviant is not something they can absorb. But they also can't outright say why it's a bad thing because you can't acknowledge the subtext, much like with "bless your heart", without actually putting yourself into that category of someone who breaks social taboos.

It is very funny seeing Trump supporters lose their shit over being called ‘Weird’.

It absolutely attacks them at their core.

[light-koe-pinsky]

Man we need more high budget looney tunes bc I miss bugs and daffy particular comedic body language.

So much of their charm is based on their movement. Daffy is more wacky and energetic and bugs usually has more subtle ademants, therefore in a less careful animation i get that is way easier to save the looneyness for daffy and the calm and collected pose for bugs, but they add so much to his characterization that when you take those details away he feels kinda watered down.

I feel like ive been over this way too much lol but I still don't feel like I get the point across that Bugs IS actually supposed to be funny AND have fun.

He's a clown.

Daffys charm comes from him being a mess up, he's clumsy, accident prone, slapstick is his forte, guy's a living elastic band.

While bugs also posses this quality is not quite as often that this happens so in the meantime his charm comes from his grace, his movements are graceful but silly, because of his TIMING, thats what makes him a good clown.

While I love how these two characters complement eachother, bugs doesn't exist solely for the purpose of making daffy the joke of every sketch (argh looney tunes show I love you but you have your flaws) they're both individual characters that can shine on their own and not one is zanier than the other if you think about it. Like bugs status didn't became a thing just to shit on daffy.

Actually Im not that sure of the historical accuracy of this but the status of bugs is more of a response of the actual public?

Bugs wasnt created to be loved by everyone in the looney tunes universe, lmao if you watch the classic cartoons you realize that bugs is often hated by everyone, he's annoying, loud, an inconvinience where he goes, tex Avery and the other directors before the Chuck Jones era versions were like that.

Bugs just doesn't give a fuck, in fact he craves for more, like that one cartoon where hes trying increase the recompense on rabbits.

Thats where his charm comes from, he doesn't let people tell him who he is, he's this kind of anti hero, who sometimes does good deeds but is a) out of Pitty or b) to inconvinience the bad guy.

What Chuck Jones did was subvert bugs's priotities, suddenly bugs was mostly this hero godlike figure, he took this heroic version of him and just sometimes shows the antihero part in subtle passive agressive outbursts, and it WORKED.

BUT seems like he got encaged into that characterization. And I feel like is because CJ scalated on how untouchable he could be and then didn't know/care how to de-scalate.

But truth is hes not so funny when you don't have the whole picture and THIS is where I think people who write him off as someone boring/always the voice of reason get him wrong, so let me tell you what I mean

Is not just the clothes, this character is so funny:

Because You know deep down he's this character:

I'm often saying how he needs a transformation from hero to villain bc it gives both characters (him and daffy) what they need but he has already gone through an evolution before which just goes to show that the idea can work

Anyways i'm losing the track here, hope i somehow make sense

What i'm trying to say is either through dialogue, body language or the enviroment, bugs is a cunt, i mean clown.

[sodalitefully]

okay, i'm super intrigued - what's your beef with matt sorum?

I never really liked his vibe, but I was pretty indifferent to him until his autobiography came out. The official version was published this year, which reminded me that an earlier version was leaked online in 2019 or so, so I tracked down that version and read parts of it, and he just comes across horribly.

He seems to have an abundance of self-importance and a shortage of self-awareness, and he's clearly resentful about not being included in the gnr reunion. He's also pretty shameless about his sleazy behavior with women, while he was in both gnr and velvet revolver.

I also just don't like the way he wrote about his bandmates. Slash and Duff in particular: whenever Matt writes about them he sounds judgemental, he was determined to characterize Duff as spineless, Slash as emotionless and self-serving.

I'm sure it served his "woe is me I'm the real gnr drummer I should be back in the band" narrative to characterize them that way – he didn;t get left out because of his ability/personality, it's because his friends betrayed him, right?

Anyway, after reading about Matt Sorum in his own words, I've concluded he's a dick. I put some screenshots under the cut that kinda show what I mean (mostly about Slash bc... you know me).

Matt is judgy about S&D being passive/non-confrontational. He brags about how he tried to confront Axl when they wouldn't, but it didn't really amount to anything in the end.

Regarding royalties/finances. Honestly I think this is an interesting bit of insight to Slash's character, but clearly Matt didn't mean it in a complimentary way.

Matt keeps harping on this Slash/money thing. God forbid someone in this band is sensible about money.

More about money, also he's bothered by Slash playing with other people for some reason?? I don't even know where to start with that. It's also interesting that he's so sympathetic in his characterization of Axl, considering their history of not getting along. I think he would have written this book very differently pre-2016...

Regarding the name "Slash's Snakepit." You could argue about who was in the right here, but Matt's 'this is the real Slash' thing strikes me as overdramatic.

A bit of Matt's sleazy shit, he goes on to explain how he imparted his wisdom on S&D, taught them how to bring their pick of girls backstage. He describes something similar in VR too, but he throws his wife under the bus. Interesting how Matt will be judgmental of their lifestyle one minute (usually about alcohol), then bragging about being 'better' with women than them the next.

This one's my favorite. Scott Weiland shows up to an important event late and high, Slash is pissed. You don't get to see Slash angry too often. It really couldn't be more obvious in Matt's description that Slash is upset, but of course he still has to make a snarky comment about Slash 'not showing feelings.'

This is pretty much how he characterizes Duff post-reunion. Matt seems to think that Duff wanted him in gnr, but wouldn't stand up to Axl about it. Possible, but patronizing to act like Duff can't make up his own mind. And personally I wouldn't be too surprised if S&D were done with Matt after VR.

And then this. 🤷🏻‍♀️ (edit: he has since recorded & released a track with slash and duff on it)

Look, I'm not normally one to get all defensive over rock stars, I don't know their lives. But Matt's bias and motive are pretty clear, in my opinion, and he also just grates on me personally. I didn't take any screenshots about how he characterizes himself, but he has the vibe of the guy who thinks he can get away with saying anything because 'being brutally honest is just how he is,' an expressive extrovert who makes no effort understand that some people (cough slash and duff) don't work the same way he does.

So thanks for giving me an excuse to rant about it lol. And if any of you want to know more about his book, lmk and I can def help you out or answer questions

Oh also, I haven't read the official published version of his book, but I'm under the impression that it's more toned down. So take that as you will.

[ducktracy]

Different anon here but can you go into more detail about how the original shorts are uncirculated and misinterpreted in certain fandom circles? I was under the impression that they were the most iconic and well-known versions of the characters and the other LT stuff wasn’t as popular.

I don’t want to go too in-depth about this because I don’t want to come off as hateful towards TLTS however I will say (with no disrespect towards people that like it and esp not the people that worked on it) that I feel the reason for its sudden resurgence has less to do about the show *in particular* but more how it presents the Looney Tunes cast in a consistent domestic setting with consistent characters—which is much more easily consumable for fandom than shorts with VERY little continuity and characterizations that could depend on director, year, or even just that short.

☝️this previous anon i just got completely hit the nail on the head and shares my sentiments exactly. The Looney Tunes Show hit a HUGE resurgence of popularity in the past few years (which is great, anything to get people interested in the characters) but i sometimes get the impression people wholly base their impressions on the characters off the show, and the show is VEEEERY far removed from the attitudes and personalities of the originals

i ALWAYS go on about him and have used this comparison countless times so i apologize for going on about it again, but a great example of this is Porky—i have a lot of issues as to how he’s portrayed in TLTS because he’s often portrayed as a helpless dweeb who everyone picks on and beats up and he’s just supposed to take it. this portrayal has sort of been adopted in a lot of modern LT media as a whole, but there’s a tendency to generalize characters, take one trait and run with it. Porky totally could be passive and a little dweebish in the originals (but often from a standpoint that paints it as endearing rather than mean spirited and sympathetic by proxy), but i have a hard time believing the same character who has spelled “START PRAYING DUCK” with a spray of bullets in the white flag Daffy was waving as a means of surrendering would totally be fine with having Daffy throw… was it butter? bread? i forget but there’s an ep of TLTS where Daffy lives with Porky and then just turns him into his personal assistant and throws stuff at him and Porky’s just fine with it. this is the same guy who nearly drove a domesticated dog to jump off a bridge and successfully shot a cat dead because it was keeping him awake

what little OF the originals is circulated again from a very fandom centric point of view… this isn’t an issue exclusive to the LT fandom, but viewing everything from a lens of “i MUST ship these two characters together everything has to be shippable” (i did this when i was first getting into things too—it’s a hard habit to break but i promise you do not have to ship anything and everything to get fulfillment) is so restrictive and makes people concoct their own personalities for the characters WHICH IS FINE, but trying to pass those interpretations off as cold hard fact is not so great. a lot of misrepresentation gets circulated that way and it all just kinda turns into one big loop

i realize how pompous i sound right now so i just want to say: don’t take any of this too seriously. my main point of this is to say curate your OWN experience and make opinions for yourself by watching the originals, and that INCLUDES me. if you watch the originals and don’t like them and want to keep doing things your way, DO IT! feel free to disregard all of this. i promise i’m speaking from a place of passion and love rather than scorn and gatekeeping. we all come from different places and have different points of view and different ways to experience things that we find the most fulfilling. if you enjoy shipping the characters and searching for a continuity and deeper meaning, that ROCKS and more power to you. i just wish more people would check out the originals or at least base those headcanons with an acknowledgement of the original mindset in mind, because i feel much of the popular consensus on the characters ranges from generalized/surface level to wholly misrepresented.

to say people have to enjoy and experience LT a particular way is totally wrong, and HAVING FUN should be a priority first and foremost. but i really do think you should familiarize yourself with the source material so you can have an understanding of what’s actually there versus so you can build off of that or at least acknowledge it. the LT characters are not one big happy family, they’re not ALWAYS actors unless explicitly stated otherwise, there are trends and continuous character traits or formulas for certain characters, yes, but the shorts themselves have no continuity. these characters change constantly in the originals. there are at times 3 separate conflicting interpretations of the same character at the same TIME from different characters. some people have a tendency to view that as a sign of weakness, and that’s WHY i encourage people to check out the originals because that variety and humanization and FEELING THE HANDS AND MINDS AND BACKGROUNDS THAT MADE THE CARTOONS is such a fulfilling and UNIQUE experience. revel in the variety and confusion and dissonance of the originals. there doesn’t always have to be an explanation or an end justifying the means. it’s 7 minutes of characters beating each other up, saying funny lines, and making outdated radio or celebrity references. enjoy it for what it is

[xenosagaepisodeone]

Kikokugai, or: How Urobuchi Leaned So Far Into the Misogyny Allegations That He Kinda Beats It Almost Depending on How You Look At It

this is it. the Kikokugai longpost about the only component of this game’s story that I find interesting enough to post about, with pictures and everything. hit ‘keep reading’ if you dare.

for a general background: Kikokugai is a revenge story. Taoluo is seeking to kill 5 assassins who raped and murdered his sister, Ruili. Among the assailants is Ruili's husband, Haojun, who orchestrated the event. After her death, Ruili's soul was split up into 5 gynoids that were given to those who partook in her murder (the initial in-game explanation for this is that there is an underground market for gynoids that are able to experience unscripted fear, pleasure, etc, of which fragments of human souls are able to facilitate with authenticity). Should Taoluo retrieve the fragments of Ruili's soul located inside of each gynoid, it is possible that he may be able to resurrect her.

(Taoluo and a gynoid he’s given to host her soul)

What I refer to when I mention the misogyny in this game (title is a joke btw I don’t think Urobuchi is sexist LOL) is that the progression of the plot is entirely measured in how much physical or psychological abuse Taoluo witnesses the Ruili gynoids endure-- to the point were actually introduced to the abuse of a Ruili gynoid before we get to see Ruili herself. While there are b-plots, Taoluo only gets closer to his goal by meeting both one of Ruili’s killers and their respective gynoid, and the condition of the latter is used to characterize the former (the game actually uses the abuse of the Ruili gynoids as a framing device to explain details about the abuser, their motives and their life). the Ruili gynoids are the only other female characters in the game, they are also passive recepticles for abuse; they are regularly raped, mutilated, threatened and broken by their owners. They are only minimally receptive to the world around them, only knowing how to take orders, make animal-like noises and exhibit human fear. The version of this game I played was the 15+ rating remake released in 2011, so the descriptions and visuals that accompany this aren’t long or gratuitous (they’re actually depicted quite matter-of-factly before we see the next scene), the plot does however depend on their existence. Taoluo only on one instance expresses concern for the state that he finds a Ruili gynoid in (this is less due to any apathy he has towards his sister enduring abuse and moreso because he believes that he can literally fix her by saving her soul), so the weight that all this abuse should have in a rape-revenge story just isn’t there. Ruili’s pain (at least, at the beginning) is a plot device intended to drive the emotional core of the story forward, without really having the momentum to do so. To be clear as well, I’m not deeply offended by this (its not even the worst offender I’ve seen in this genre), I merely find it pronounced enough that it sticks out oddly.

(the Ruili gynoids, the last 2 are absolutely serving I wish they were in better games)

While Taoluo cares about his sister deeply and possesses a poise that his enemies do not, an important facet to remember about him is that he is a morally grey character. Prior to Ruili's death, he was an assassin himself who was celebrated for the brutal efficiency of his work. He sees his life with Ruili as refuge from the reality of his profession, and consequently places her on a pedestal. Ruili, as Taoluo knows her, is pure, kind, charming, intelligent and ladylike. He lives with her in a bubble far away from the maligned conflicts of the hypermodern society that Taoluo is forced to participate in. The equilibrium he needs to maintain his character is based in the happiness of Ruili and her marriage. Resurrecting Ruili is therefore not simply a matter of getting his sister back, but also retrieving his only beacon of peace and hope. Their flashbacks are even filtered in a sickeningly sweet pink glow that contrasts the damp darkness consisting the main story.

(it’s so gooey that I didn’t realize her hair was actually black and not brown)

Where the game becomes interesting emerges a little over the midway point. Taoluo has done an untold amount of damage to his body in pursuit of Ruili's killers, has slaughtered allies, turned entire industries upside down and has discarded his morals. Only at this point, is he confronted with the thought that the Ruili he resurrects may not be the same as the one he remembers. Besides the trauma that was inflicted upon her prior to her murder, by the start of the story, it has already been a year since her death. The gynoids containing fragments of her soul have been abused continuously by their owners, and there's no guarantee that their pain will dissipate once Ruili is whole again. Will Ruili be traumatized? Will Ruili adopt some of the more lascivious habits of the machines she was inhabiting? Most importantly, this is the only point in the story in which Taoluo acknowledges that he was never truly able to read his sister, despite always being with her. How much does he know her heart, really? Taoluo ruminates about this until his Ruili gynoid (posessing 3/5ths of her soul), attempts to come on to him. He shuts her down immediately (I really want to stress that there aren't any actual H-scenes in this VN in spite of how otherwise explicit it is) and cries, believing that his Ruili may have been defiled to her very core by abuse. Another important piece of context for this scene is that it comes right after a fight where Taoluo is forced to cut down an enemy that symbolically represents both who he was prior to Ruili's death, and the simplicity of his past relationship with his sister.

(comparison of how Taoluo cherishes a docile fragment of Ruili’s soul vs his discomfort with 3/5ths of her person acting autonomously)

(Taoluo stating that shutting down gynoid Ruili would feel akin to killing her.....before he does when she starts acting un-Ruili like)

When Taoluo hobbles into his confrontation with Haojun, the latter curbstomps him upfront with 0 issue. Taoluo has more or less exhausted himself over the course of the game, but is willing to risk complete destruction to see Ruili. With Taoluo downed emotionally and physically, Haojun reveals the plot twist: Ruili was the one who orchestrated her own rape, murder and the splitting of her soul. Haojun explains that Ruili was in love with Taoluo, and that it crushed her to the point of absolute despair to continue to pretend to be his perfect platonic sister while he seemed to only be drifting away from her. The details around the rape are a bit convoluted as the rapists seem to view what they did as straightforwardly nonconsensual, while Ruili views it more as a humiliation of the saddened proper ladylike person she was(??they emphasize she was smiling? I think it’s to imply that there’s more to her than Taoluo assumed). She would rather experience destruction than have him not reciprocate her feelings. Haojun states that Ruili wanted to split her soul over many bodies so Taoluo would need to go to great lengths, pushing himself physically to the brink, forgoing all he valued and feeling the utmost despair, just to save her. She wanted to see her pained longing for him reflected in his pursuit of her. The narrative absolutely whips Taoluo for not just failing to reciprocate her feelings or for letting her fall into despair, but also for failing to know her beyond her polite superficialities. Haojun agreed to go along with Ruili's plan because he loved her, and only wanted to see her happy (I will completely vouch that he is a full on wife guy to his core, all of his interactions with the Ruili gynoids are dripping with nothing but kindness and I think it’s kind of sweet). Haojun does acknowledge that he has gone insane, but it's not framed as Ruili corrupting him with her feelings as it is instead used to punctuate the the extent of her despair (and consequently his, as he expresses anger at Taoluo for not taking responsibility and reciprocating his sister's feelings. yes this is the actual text. thanks nitroplus.). Haojun and Taoluo kill eachother (Haojun cursing Taoluo with his last breath while Taoluo states that he’s exhausted and just wants to be with his sister), Ruili collects the last of her soul, and is effectively revived.

(Taoluo speedrunning the madonna-whore complex while Haojun is a hater)

To most people, the above paragraph would read as profoundly stupid (understandably so, not just for the bizarrely flippant approach to sexual assault, the incest and the unnecessarily complex way of dealing with potential rejection, but also for the fact it's two men that spell out a female character's dimensionality). What rehabilitates this scene for me a bit, however, is how the final chapter proceeds.

(Ruili, revived, talking about her brother)

Ruili, now fully herself, returns to the scientist, Xie, that she had tasked with splitting her soul. They banter for a bit on the nature of identity, and we see Ruili for the mature and mysterious person she is. Xie comments that she is the only person to have undergone a full soul transfer operation, and that she is now functionally immortal. He goes on to insist that it's possible that you can't even categorize her as human anymore, considering how he's not sure how dying, being split up and recombined may have effected her. In an earlier scene, Taoluo compares agreeing to collect pieces of Ruili's soul to revive her using Xie's science as a Faustian arrangement (as he views Xie negatively for agreeing to split up her mind at all), a similar unease is elicited but not -outright- stated as Ruili discusses how she approached Xie with the offer to allow him to continue his highly revered, deeply illegal research on the nature of souls using her body in exchange for him going along with her grim plot (Ruili playing the role of the devil in this case, of course). It’s implied that nobody, not even Haojun who furiously advocated for her right down to the last moments of his life, truly knew her. This epilogue makes Ruili look less emotionally driven and more cunning and insightful than previously thought. If she is the mastermind behind everything, it makes her actually pretty interesting.

Ruili convinces Xie to upload the soul of Taoluo into her own. Taoluo awakens, curious and semi-amnesiatic (not wholly unlike the Ruili gynoids) in a beautifully nostalgic landscape. His mind has been affected just enough by grief and trauma that he's become open and tender, as she wanted him. Ruili and Taoluo's roles have now reversed: She's the one who lives in the outside world and keeps him safe in their idyllic paradise. She is the caregiver, while he is the one who brings her tranquility. He does not need to fight anymore. They embrace, and regardless of what happens next, Ruili has won. I was initially peeved that the first half of the game had very little of Ruili in it despite her being the core of the plot, and while I understand why this was the case now, I still say that I wish this game truncated the revenge aspect and expanded on Taoluo's fragmented relationship with his sister.

While I don't consider Kikokugai to be particularly good (some of it is just straight up not for me), I think it's interesting how this is unambiguously treated as a happy end as opposed to a bittersweet or even sad one. You're not supposed to think of it as grim that Ruili is willing to go through such lengths to get her brother to notice her. She's not vilified for not being the lovely passive woman that her brother assumed she was. The narrative rewards for utilizing the same kind of amoral means that the other characters do to see the romance she wants realized. Throughout the game, you're served scenes of the Ruili gynoids being abused or destroyed by their owners until Tauluo comes in and saves their soul- a process which the game also describes as morbid due to it's visceral destruction of the gynoid's body. while Taoluo was not cruel to his sister in any sense, I liked that both sides invoked different forms of debilitating objectification in order to dictate what Ruili is, and how Ruili taking control of her identity involved the complete and utter obliteration of everything that could possibly imprint expectations upon her. The game does not lean into discussion of gender at all, but the traditional gender roles and expectations embedded in the life Ruili lived are what’s most prominent in how both Taoluo and Haojun thought of her, right down to how they both perceived her betrayal. And both of them are played for fools in the end due to it. the Ruili gynoids being molded into extensions of their masters lines up fascinatingly with this reading as well. I don’t think the full extent of these implications were even considered during the writing process, but the ending is executed in a way that I don’t dislike.

 As Xie said himself: she's no longer human, she's not bound by conventional laws anymore. As someone who exists outside of society, she's free to pursue happiness as she envisions it.

(the last Taoluo sees of the Ruili gynoid as he dies vs what he sees of Ruili when his soul fuses with her resurrected)

evil women swag

[flowerbloom-arts]

Mymble please

Pffffffuuuhhhhhh... Mymbleeee... Mymble... Maybe it's mymbeline... I don't wanna disappoint since I know you're a big ol' fan of the big lady so I'll give it my best.

First impression: "Ohhhhhhh big lady, big lady cool, she's funny. Face is kinda weird tho."

To be honest I don't really remember my initial opinion of her, I think she kinda... Popped into my consciousness when she was introduced in the first episode of the 2019 series and stayed there quietly as I didn't take much interest in her story. She was nice and oblivious and a little funny and then I was forgetful about her as much as she was forgetful of Little My.

Impression now: "Big lady's cool, but didn't have the mysterious intrigue or really lovable personality for me to fixate on her at any point."

If my lack of Mymble content's proven anything it's that I'm... Not super interested in her, but I suppose I still haven't given her a big shot at trying to figure her out as a person, then again I have alot of characters I'm really interested in already so I don't quite have the room for her until I feel motivated enough to shove her into my brain space. But I don't know, maybe there's something there to be had with her near-mysterious backstory that is left untouched by the fandom (I don't read fanfiction but that's what I'm getting I suppose). Maybe I should look into her more at some point.

Favorite moment: The iconic "pouring lemonade on the kids to stop them from fighting" is the most memorable part of her character taken straight out of the comics, I think it shows alot about her character in that yes she's kinda oblivious or willfully ignorant of what her kids do alot but she has enough experience to deal with them quickly and easily if it gets out of hand. Makes you wonder what other tricks she has up her sleeves in child discipline.

My other favorite moment is from the comics where Little My bites one of Mrs. Fillyjonk's kids and Mrs. Fillyjonk's like "Your smallest child just bit one of mine!!" and Mymble's like "Well you should teach them how to fight better :)" while she's knitting. The smug side eye expression of Mymble's is too perfect.

Idea for a story: I think an exploration of her backstory is in order. Perhaps she was one of many Mymble children like her own offspring, maybe her family wasn't so lucky and her siblings kept dying/disappearing/being unsuccessful, whatever the case may be. I think there's a friendship she could've had with young Fuzzy as they both lived on Jones' island, maybe they started drifting apart as Fuzzy became quiet and disciplined from her family after she got in trouble big time and Mymble became more outgoing as her flirty Mymble instincts kicked in and started having children.

Unpopular opinion: I'm not... All too familiar with opinions or characterizations of Mymble. I guess I could say she wouldn't be too attached to Joxter as a lover in my opinion? I don't quite ship them terribly atleast as a long-term domestic romantic relationship especially since it doesn't seem to have worked that way with Mymble's other lovers, they could work amazing as friends though, being absolutely care-free creatures who (accidentally?) stir up trouble with their combined obliviousness and love for fun.

Favorite relationship: I think Mymble and Little My have something there. Mymble is very much an enabler and My is the leader of the newest batch of Mymbles, but opinions on eachother may be up in the air. What does Little My think of her mother? Does Mymble pay much mind to Little My as the rest of her kids or is there a more distinct feelings towards her physically smallest adult daughter? Do they love eachother actively or is it really just a super passive familial love, if they love eachother at all? There's something to think about with them!

Favorite headcanon: There's alot of theories/interpretation of Mymble's antennae out there. Some draw it as a general Mymble characteristic (even though only Mymble is shown with them only in Memoirs), others think it's a Mymble puberty/adult thing; I personally think it's a Mymble pregnancy thing to indicate when a Mymble is ready to have more children (has antennae = already pregnant/can't reproduce more at the moment, doesn't have antennae = ready to reproduce)

I hope this is satisfactory for you!

[jostenneil]

“she was able to break through to someone like wally, who was up in his head and sort of existing on a different, near self-destructive mental plane than everyone else for quite a few years before he met her.” What an amazing line; early in his flash run Wally is such a interesting perspective.

it’s a really fascinating time period of wally’s life to me bc like admittedly there is a lot about the earlier issues of his flash run that i hate. like the fact that we have mike baron continue the marv wolfman characterization of wally being this passive aggressive racist jackass gets on my Nerves bc god he was so different prior to the new teen titans, but at the same time, a lot of the other things about wally in those early issues are explained well by the toll that barry’s death takes on him and the introduction of his parents as abusive manipulators. iris and barry were basically his lone escape from the life that he lived in blue valley and being a hero used to mean everything to wally. but here we have a wally who has lost that escape and doesn’t quite know what it means to be a hero anymore, and yet out of love and grief and a sense of obligation he puts on the suit bc if he won’t be the flash then who will. it’s a nice callback to his character in the original flash run wherein he believed that if he was given these powers then he had a responsibility to use them for good. but obv that was then and this is now, and his uncle is dead and his girlfriend has ghosted him and his helicopter parent of a mother has moved in and he doesn’t really know that he has a steady purpose anymore. like yes, he saves people, and he does his job, but we also see that he moves through friendships and relationships near erratically. he’s friends with chunk and he genuinely likes connie but would it be a fair assessment to say that he presents the best version of himself to them and that he openly cares about them as much as he should? personally, i don’t think so. i think for quite a while after barry’s death, wally is sort of trapped within this legacy that he feels he has to carry and so that’s all he’s really capable of putting his mind to: is getting by and being the flash. and the convenient thing is that for the most part, people let him. they just accept that this is how wally is and how he’ll be bc for most of them there isn’t a wally they’ve known prior and then for people like his mother and father they’re so self absorbed that they don’t really give a damn.

but that’s where linda comes in, and where i think her position as a reporter is very valuable bc wally is kinda sorta this ornery, closed off guy who is like, “okay lady let me do my damn job and stop preying on all of these spectacles like a vulture” and linda absolutely will not have it. she’s simultaneously intrigued and pissed and it’s what drives her to follow wally to that cult thing where he thinks he can heal and possibly even communicate with barry bc it’s all so ridiculous on a transparency level, and she just has to prove it so. and that arc to me is when we have wally’s first real breakthrough in his run bc for the first time someone is shaking him by the shoulders and telling him to wake up rather than letting him continue to wallow and exist within his grief. linda just has this no-nonsense attitude that compels wally to begin to look outside of himself and start to take the costume and his own relation to it more seriously, i think, not just bc she gets fed up with him but also bc i think she kinda intuitively knows that he’s capable of being better bc he’s a hero. and it’s why i feel like it’s later crucial that wally is dating her before the return of barry allen arc bc to me part of getting over barry is something that’s possible to begin with bc linda believes in wally. to quote the famous terminal velocity lore: “but you looked at me and saw a man. only you. you believed in me when no one else did. . . and that’s what gave me the courage to make this life great. you’re my power, linda. you always were.” everything that allowed wally to be able to overcome the grief of barry’s death and the loneliness of his life and his fear of the costume has to do with linda