#they're as far from that as can be

[wanderingmind867]

Kevin Conroy is probably my least favourite animated Batman. Because I grew up with three on TV (either live or on reruns): Kevin Conroy, Rino Romano and Diedrich Bader. And you know what Diedrich Bader and Rino Romano both have? Emotion. Lots of emotion. Kevin Conroy always felt like an actor as dry as cardboard. I don't remember him ever joking or smiling or doing anything beyond being grim and gritty. But Rino Romano's Batman has a very special relationship with Alfred and (later on) with Batgirl and Robin. He smiles, he likes around, he shows grief and anger and many other things. Diedrich Bader also showed a lot of heart in his performance. But I can't tell you of one emotion Kevin Conroy expressed, because I always found his acting dry. I know he has many fans, so I feel bad admitting this. But I just... I have to be honest with myself, and that requires my true feelings on something like this.

[wishfulsketching]

Well, I tried to doodle the team. And Thor and [insert any goa'uld here, they're all just wormies]

Drawing actors is scary

[lucabyte]

Taking pride in One's own appearance.

[ulteri0rm0tives]

It's actually so heartbreaking that in the temperance ending Johnny just.. leaves. Gets all these calls, maybe even texts, from people who don't know the extent of what happened. Who are accusing him, that are mad at him. Especially in the frame of reference that this was V's last wish. That it was V who gave the body up. That it was V who wanted this, wanted to save Johnny, Johnny essentially powerless to stop them ('just scared for ya').

And the thing is.. Johnny just lets everyone. Lets them make their own conclusions, lets them be mad at him. Lets them blame him. Lets them think, that after the love of his life the person who's ever wholly understood or cared about him the most like no other ever could had 'died', that it's his fault, that he could do that to them... Or just lets them think the worst of V as their final lasting impression or mark on this world. Doesn't try to defend himself nor V. He just leaves. Just takes it.

And you would think. You would think the one he would at least tell is Kerry. That the one to actually understand the most would be Kerry. I don't think any of the other love interests could get the whole engram situation like him, they don't have that personal history or connection to the code on the relic like he did after all. Kerry knew Johnny. Enough at least. But Johnny doesn't tell him, and Kerry just thinks V ghosted off on him and Johnny just lets him think that. And it just makes you wonder.. why would Johnny do that? Why would he do any of this?

[thebramblewood]

There's nothing Lilith loves more than a good scheme.

Previous / Next

Present day Lilith, narrating: When we made our escape, we were certain we’d never lay eyes on Forgotten Hollow again. For several years, we lived large on a stolen fortune we thought would never run out. How could we have known any better? We’d never handled our own money in our lives. Of course, our naive illusions were quickly shattered. The economy tanked. The war started. We were broke and terrified of exposure. We drifted aimlessly, staying in whatever shitty little hovel we could scrounge up the pennies for. I stalked and killed and thieved to keep us going, but the well was running dry. We finally landed in Brindleton Bay, a dreary seaside town that perpetually stank of fish, where we rented an overpriced yet barely habitable room. The situation was untenable. I began to hatch a plan.

-

Lilith: Sorry I couldn’t bring more. They have a guard posted outside the blood bank now. I… subdued him then grabbed what I could. It wouldn’t be wise to go back.

Caleb: Thank you. You don’t have to-

Lilith: But I do. You won’t accept it any other way — of course, even if you did, pickings are slim lately — and I hardly want to watch you die for your morals. [sighs wearily] I’m just so goddamn tired.

We’re both tired, Caleb. The only thing I hate more than the fact that you won’t hunt is that you can’t. It makes you too vulnerable.

Caleb: [dismissively] I’m fine.

Lilith: You’re not! I’m not! [pauses meaningfully] I think it’s time we go home.

Caleb: Home? Lilith, you know we can never-

Lilith: It’s been thirty years. Not to be crass, but Mother and Father are dead and all that money is surely going to waste.

Caleb: If we show our faces in Willow Creek looking just like the day we left, we’ll be driven out by mobs with pitchforks before sunrise.

Lilith: We’ll obviously not show up as ourselves. We’ll procure fake documents — death and birth certificates, social security numbers, that sort of thing. We can pose as our own children.

Caleb: Do you not hear how preposterous that sounds? Assuming we could even get our hands on those things, no one would believe us.

Lilith: They’d be even less likely to believe we’re vampires. People don’t like things they can’t explain. If we provide an explanation to them, no matter how flimsy, they’ll gladly take it.

Caleb: There’s still too much risk.

Lilith: What risk? We could eat all of Willow Creek alive if we wanted! It’s not up for debate, Caleb. We’re the true and rightful heirs. It’s time we claim what’s ours, and no one will stand in our way.

[evilherehotel]

ok admittedly they are startign to grow on me

[lulu-draws-stuff]

My sort of future au designs (traced/edited their psychonauts 2 renders for this) :] they are like 13 here

[bumblingbabooshka]

I love Vulcans we need to get more into the emotional lives of Vulcans without imposing Human standards onto them. "The way you feel is wrong/repressive because it's not the way it's "supposed" to be from my perspective as an alien called Human" is boring to me especially when it's treated as correct. I wanna know how the aliens feel about their alien way of life. Vulcans are so interesting to me when written AS aliens and not as analogous to repressed Humans. I think about Tuvok's description of attachment to his family and how that isn't the emotion 'love' but something else, something that he feels no shame about having and sees as normal, as naturally Vulcan and I love it and I love it because there aren't any Humans there to go "Um actually checkmate you Vulcan s.o.b - that's emotion!" and he isn't being influenced by anything. These are his authentic thoughts. He sees his children, his family, as part of him. They were at times illogical, incomprehensible, and it was extremely rewarding to be in their lives. He thinks about them every day. They were well behaved. As teens they were contemptuous of authority and convinced of their own superiority. His youngest son loved one 200 verse story so he sang it to him. He'd rather die than betray his wife even in spirit. He's incomplete without them. It's obvious through Tuvok that Vulcan life is not inherently devoid of pleasure, comfort, or love and thus Human life (I think) should not be portrayed as inherently having something greater, deeper, more meaningful. I'm not talking here of society but of...emotional life. Interiority. There's this sense that all Vulcans are the same and miserable for it. That they hold themselves back and are indistinguishable and antagonistic to the self, repressed and wrong. That to be Vulcan is to suffer endlessly and Humans are all about Freedom Man and I don't know, I like that Tuvok's existence sort of challenges this as much as I acknowledge that Vulcan society is in fact repressive and unwelcoming to those who don't fit neatly into it. I'm not saying Vulcan society is a utopia, I'm questioning the perception of Vulcan emotional control - that way of life - as being inherently bad, devoid, or lacking. That Vulcans walk around with 'empty cups' and are only deluding themselves that to be that way is good. If only, Humanity moans, they could taste how delicious life could be! Tuvok is an average Vulcan. He does not struggle with emotion, he is not mixed species, he was not raised atypically, and yet he has a family he cares about and a wife he's loyal to and friends he values and none of these things seem to be Un-Vulcan to him. If Vulcan life was truly devoid of love and care, Tuvok wouldn't think of his family. They're not here, so why bother? When his pon farr came, he'd be trying to find the most compatible mate rather than risking his life by trying to meditate through it out of loyalty to T'Pel. T'Pel would also have just given Tuvok up for dead instead of waiting and his children wouldn't have traveled all the way to the most holy temple on the planet to say prayers for his safe return. I think these things are interesting and I wish they'd been explored more. The fact that caring about your family, caring about your friends, is not Un-Vulcan. The fact that Tuvok at no point longs for Humanity, sees nothing better or of interest to him in it. (Even in his teenage rebellion he only says he's sorry he was born Vulcan which reads less as Vulcan v Human and more like 'I hate this goddamn family' ykwim?). I want to know more about how Vulcans interact with each other, how they care for one another, what it means and what it's like to be Vulcan in more of an everyday way rather than what it means to be Vulcan vs Human.

[copia]

you're satanized. and you're satanzied. and YOU'RE satanized

[lucabyte]

So does anybody else ever think about how Loop felt the need to demonstrate that the party's deaths wouldn't have any effect on the loops. I know I do but that's besides the point. Anyway I don't think Loop actually needs to bathe, they just like to feel included.

[yoosung-ah]

So nobody ever saved V...

[pastelsugar6w6]

Emotionally abusive Maedhros telling Maglor that it's fine if he wants to leave, to give up on the Silmarils and the Oath. It's fine if he wants to abandon Maedhros to pursue this damnation and no longer wishes to be beholden to the promise made to their father. Truly, he understands. All that Maglor has done has, of course, all been at Maedhros' command. It is all Maedhros' fault and Maglor should not have to suffer any longer for simply enacting the will of his brother long lost to madness. Go! Go on then! Return to his music and his foster-sons and his peace. Leave Maedhros to his Ever-Lasting Darkness and welcome the Ages that come long after he is gone. Maglor will be sorely missed and is dearly loved but Maedhros has had plenty of time to know how to be alone.

[kenzan-brainrot-mp4]

The situation between Kiryu and Majima is mostly just really depressing. But I think you kinda got at a silver lining with Majima ending the game by talking to and spending time with Kiryu in a normal way.

Majima has done everything except be upfront with Kiryu about his feelings. Instead, he does a lot of self-destructive things for Kiryu’s sake that would only devastate Kiryu if he knew the extent of what’s been going on with him (thinking of Kiryu being a mess in 5 over Majima’s “death” and then Majima nearly actually dying for Kiryu’s sake).

Majima just spending time with Kiryu in the hospital and telling him about what he’s been up to probably goes a lot further in making Kiryu happy than if he had actually shown up with a immortal elixir that he put his life at risk to get.

Yeah, looking back I wish I'd taken more time to reflect on the new, more positive development between Majima and Kiryu at the end of the scene, because as depressing as their situation as a whole is, that silver lining is genuinely really significant. I believe it really does show that their relationship is not doomed to depressing hell forever, and that is largely in part to Majima's own growth in this game.

As I touched on in another post, Majima walking away from the viewer to Kiryu’s hospital room parallels very interestingly with how Yakuza 0 ended, when Majima walked away from Makoto. In y0 silences his feelings and walks away, choosing to maintain a physical And emotional distance between them that he carries all the way to yk2 (and that he Does Not Let Go Of, even In his saga in yk2), leaving all of the self-sacrificing and self-destructive gestures but none of the actual fulfillment of the ability to just. Enjoy each others' company when the danger has finally passed.

Meanwhile in pyih you see him walking towards Kiryu in the final seconds of the game, confronting him head-on (with encouragement from Saejima), just to. Talk. No business, no "take care of x for me" no "I'm Depending on your for y", just having a normal conversation like they should've, could've done in yakuza 3, like they could've done in infinite wealth, what I wish they'd done in 5 and what they Definitely didn't do enough of in Gaiden. (And, just like what Majima and Makoto should've done too in yk2, if Majima had actually grown).

Its interesting because Majima, who's all about impulsive and grandiose gestures and actions and the need to die in a way that matters for someone else, technically didn't even "win" with his plans this time, like he did with Makoto. He didn't get to pull off his hundred-millionth self-sacrificing gesture for Kiryu. He didn't get to die valiantly fighting. A giant squid (lmao) or run back to Japan with the treasure that he dug up with his own blood sweat and tears. But he seems. Strangely okay with the aftermath, all things considered (I know I've been sticking to the word "resigned" when describing how he feels in this particular moment all this time but. What I'm getting at is that he's more okay than you may expect, considering the circumstances and the stakes at hand.)

(I want to (very abruptly lol) point out the fact that we've seen this kind of arc with Majima on a smaller scale before. Majima had a lot of the same deal in y0/4, where he pushed himself with the goal to die for Saejima for Years before his release from prison and was ready to go through with it the day of. However, this ended up being another situation where he "didn't win." What he got by the end of it wasn't Saejima claiming his title as new Tojo patriarch over his dead body, but rather (after a fight goaded on by Majima himself and some pushing by Saejima) they got to just. Talk things down. And just go back to being the bros they were before that whole mess. And Saejima's been able to be Majima's rock for the rest of the games since.

I just think someone would've benefited a Lot from taking notes. And that someone is Not Saejima.)

Like I kinda-did-kinda-didn't get to at the end of the whale post, I think the most important takeaway for Majima at the end of this game is him learning to not constantly throw himself into the fire for every person he wants to protect. Getting himself killed for Saejima and Kiryu wouldn't have made them happy. Keeping himself away from Makoto didn't make her happy, and now the ship of them being involved in each other's lives has long since sailed.

Keeping himself emotionally distant hasn't helped any of them Once, and this is why it's so important that he tries to cross some of that gap now with what is honestly his worst case of lifelong devotion yet (even if it's in a way that's small, in a way that's arguably insignificant for the emotional rift they have, even if it's just through telling some pirate tale, even if Kiryu might not know the true significance of it all even now. At least its Something. At least they just get to be. People, together. It's much more casual than anything they've had with each other for the past like 5 games, but strangely that casualness is arguably more intimate, after everything that's happened.)

Honestly this decision from Majima aligns perfectly with the admittedly cheesy (but I mean this in a loving way) ending of the main plot of pyih itself; by the end of the adventure Majima seeks not the grand impossible treasure he was originally chasing after but to rather cherish and enjoy the time he spent with the people he has come to care about over the course of the game (the photo). Such simple kinds of wishes are rare for Majima at best, but that's why it's so important he gives himself that now: the ability to just sit down and talk with the people he cherishes. That literally would've saved him so many damn times, I think. I think that's something he's desperately needed with Kiryu especially since Yakuza 3. And I think that those final moments in the last cutscene of pirate yakuza means he'll let himself indulge in it, just a little.

I really just hope that it'll be enough to give him and Kiryu some of that peace and closure that they seem to chronically lack, especially when it comes to each other. I hope it means they really can be happy with each other, just for a little while. Most of all I hope it means Majima can be at least some degree of upfront one day, before it's straight up too late 💥

(tl;dr Yeah, honestly, Majima just sitting down and talking with Kiryu for once means more for himself than killing himself over that eternal life elixir ever could have. He's an old ass man, he should learn to settle down a bit, you know?)

[cannimumsable]

while I see the appeal of izuku calling kacchan katsuki I think if he does katsuki should be allowed to burst into tears immediately

[akemiiya]

i think clover is equally as tight lipped about their past as flowey is. i think those two would have spent so much time together that they intimately know each other's likes and dislikes, do's and dont's, which buttons can be pushed and which can't. yet when it comes to each other's backstory, all that comes up is a blank

[pseudophan]

extremely important question do any buffy fans here actually like angel (the series not the character) because i swear all i see lately is people saying it sucks and they couldn't get through it and it's like you can't ALL be that wrong