#very Death the Kid character design approach imo | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

shadowtongued · 4 years ago

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𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝟗 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫.

this was SO MUCH fun i spent all day on it and was pretty hard since sliske is already his own thing, but there ARE indeed characters my own interpretation of him plays off of since jagex shoveled his characterization into a garbage disposal post TWW.

𝐈. · 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐁𝐀𝐋 : anyone who has spent some time as a mutual knows i relate sliske a lot to dr. lecter. it’s the cold, cunning, and charming with and ability to measure ones steps without faltering. the ability to lure someone in with polite, harmless demeanor, only to RIP the carpet out from under them with some of the most scathing, deep insults from all the things he’s gleaned from your psych. the soft analytical approach and patience to wait for things to fall into place. also, neither of these fuckers BLINK often enough and remain fixated on their prey eerily. this includes book lecter which, imo, was p superior in magnificent little details.

𝐈𝐈. · 𝐕 : i am a simple woman, i see an enigmatic anti-hero with knives and smooth moves and i go ‘ooh ahh’. v was a real showman with a mask and worked very cloak and dagger, his personality almost too happy and charismatic despite the domino effects he had planned, much like sliske. i wouldn’t call sliske an anti-hero but he had his moments of bringing about cruel but deserved justice to a few individuals who deserved it and even in endgame, made sure people were very aware of some of the lesser gods flaws and hidden crimes. plus uh, knives man. the knife fighting holy shit.

𝐈𝐈𝐈. · 𝐉𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐇 : c’mon, who am i if i don’t put the only man who wore a collar maybe bigger than sliske? even as a kid i was really just taken by the goblin king. i mean just look at the dude. the fandom has already made enough jareth comparisons to sliske and goddamn i’m glad. the outfits, the labyrinths, optical illusions, the slight of hand tricks, enigma and soreness over love. plus i just love bowie and theres not a day i don’t miss him with immense fondness. :c

𝐈𝐕. · 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐑 (𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐕𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐓) : have you seen the show? good, then you literally have the majority of my interpretation of sliske’s personality. playful, charismatic, subtly suggestive, and hiding a really emotional side ft. bad temper. sliske is a lot like lucifer in the sense of only living for the pleasure of life and all it holds with a rich sense of hedonism to fill a void of complex emotions and spite under that mask. plus his human glamor just looks so similar, even before i started watching ( and still need to catch up. :/c )

𝐕. · 𝐃𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 : i’mma be real with y’all. i know jack shit abt doc strange outside the mar.v.el movie(s), which if i had the time to sink into comics i would bc i just like the aesthetic of the magic and the world he is in. i may have only seen the movie but the magic is a wet dream of what i WISH magic in runescape looked like. which at one point in concept arts, the whole magic circles shit WAS supposed to be canon but design/graphics restraints kept it from being real. sliske also heavily uses illusions, projection, and the psych in his magic. plus the outfit. the cape, the collar, y’know?

𝐕𝐈. · 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐑 ( 𝐁𝐈𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐋 𝐕𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐓 ) : gee channy, why does sliske get (2) versions of lucifer? bc i said so. i rambled about this comparison in this post , tl:dr; lucifer wanted free thought, individualism, and self pride before god found this an offense and cast him out. hmm that’s really familiar, innit?

𝐕𝐈𝐈. · 𝐌𝐄𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒 : okay yes, this is quasi-“devil” entry number three, but good old mephistopheles the demon is very campy, germanic devil in jester flavor who tempts and manipulates you.... with humor because he can sense you’re on the path to hell anyways. plus his name means “scatterer or plasterer of lies”. that’s metal as fuck. google him, look at his smile and nubby little horns and tell me that’s not sliske.

𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈. · 𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐏𝐄𝐑 : death man in hood and shadows who comes to collect your soul and might take a deal to let you live longer just fits the bill. have you seen grim in all the old paintings? shadowy, wraithy, ominous? yeah, you get it.

𝐈𝐗. · 𝐇𝐄𝐗𝐗𝐔𝐒 : your honor, i ain’t explaining shit. i plead the fucking fifth. if you’ve fuckin’ seen it, you know. ( mr. curry sir, this is a children’s film but PLEASE go on i guess. )

tagged by: @sylvansoldier ! ♥ tagging: IDK STEAL IT PLEASE, just don’t ramble like i did.

#cw long post #i got out of hand officer i'm sorry. i'm guilty of making long posts all the time. uwu.#✦ │ 𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽𝚂 & 𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙾𝚁𝙸𝙴𝚂 ––– i do hate parting with information.#✦ │ 𝙳𝙰𝚂𝙷 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚂 ––– oh how i love games of chance.

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jackoshadows · 5 years ago

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One of the reasons for why I love Jon Snow in the books is because I find him to be the character who adheres closest to values I find admirable. IMO, Character traits like being broad-minded, intelligent and loyal tend to be more attractive in a character rather than than say good looks or good manners. Jon is selfless and honorable - to a certain extent. He can be pragmatic and bend the rules if necessary.

Jon Snow stands out as the only leader/main character in the series whose central narrative theme is about unifying people against a common threat. This is underscored by GRRM sending him off to the wall at the start of the books and Jeor Mormont telling Jon Snow:

When dead men coming hunting in the night, do you think it matters who sits on the Iron Throne - Jon Snow, AGoT

With this in mind, we see Jon continually grow as a character from book one to book five gradually killing the boy to let the man be born.

When we first see him at the wall, he’s a bit of a privileged brat and offended by the other recruits. But after Donal Nye sets him straight, he uses his education and knowledge to help the other kids in the NW. Jon grew up otherizing the Wildlings and saw them as people to be kept on the other side of the wall. He then spends a lot of time with them and comes to see them as human beings same as him and the rest of Westeros. He wants his childhood desire of being Lord of Winterfell, but understands that he swore an oath to the NW and his job is to defend the realm.

There are two quotes that embody Jon Snow best in the books:

‘You know nothing, Jon Snow’ – First used by Ygritte to educate Jon Snow on his ignorance about Wildlings and then later used by Lord Commander Jon Snow to remind himself that he still has a lot to learn even as a leader of men. A take on Socrates ‘I know that I know nothing’ – a humble acknowledgment that even the best leaders are not experts but human beings who can mistakes.

‘We look up at the same stars and see such different things’ - Jon is able to understand that two people can see the same thing and have such different opinions and that their opinions are colored by their upbringing and situation. As someone who has to unite people against a common threat, this is an important understanding that Jon has earned – this could be why he is a damn good negotiator in the books, earning praise from even Stannis.

Jon is able to acknowledge these important little lessons because he is at heart a fundamentally good person. We see this in how he treats characters who are disadvantaged and mistreated by Westeros society. These are not big moments but small character relationships that highlight how Jon Snow often stands out in thinking differently to a majority of Westeros.

Jon Snow as a child comforting Arya when she comes crying to him about being a possible bastard because of her looks. Imagine how much this would have hurt? But he loves Arya enough to put aside his own hurt feelings to reassure her.

Once he gets to know Tyrion personally and differentiates him from the rest of the Lannisters, Jon is quickly able to see past appearances and Westerosi prejudices and considers Tyrion a friend:

He ran back to the common hall , where he found Tyrion Lannister just finishing his meal. He grabbed the little man under the arms, hoisted him up in the air, and spun him around in a circle. “Bran is going to live!” he whooped. - Jon, AGoT

Asks Tyrion to comfort and help Bran in whatever way possible. This is in contrast to Robb’s immediate dislike and distrust of Tyrion. Jon judges a person based on their actions.

“Thank you, my lord of Lannister.” He pulled off his glove and offered his bare hand. “Friend.”

Tyrion found himself oddly touched. “Most of my kin are bastards,” he said with a wry smile, “but you’re the first I’ve had to friend.” - Tyrion, AGoT

Realizes how Sam Tarly is ill equipped to fight, figures out what Sam is best suited to do, talks to Maester Aemon about it and arranges for Sam to work for the Maester instead.

Appoints Satin Flowers, a former male prostitute from OldTown as his steward despite opposition from his bigoted department heads. And he does this, because once again, he judges based on a person’s actions and skills, rather than on the labels society places on them

“My Lord, the boy’s a whore...a...dare I say... a painted catamite from the brothels of Old Town”

“What he was in Oldtown is none of our concern. He’s quick to learn and very clever. The other recruits started out despising him, but he won them over and made friends of them all. He’s fearless in a fight and can even read and write after a fashion. He should be capable of fetching me my meals and saddling my horse, don’t you think?”

“Most like,” said Bowen Marsh, stony-faced, “but the men do not like it. Traditionally the lord commander’s squires are lads of good birth being groomed for command. Does my lord believe the men of the Night’s Watch would ever follow a whore into battle?”

Jon’s temper flashed. “They have followed worse. The Old Bear left a few cautionary notes about certain of the men, for his successor. We have a cook at the Shadow Tower who was fond of raping septas. He burned a seven-pointed star into his flesh for every one he claimed. His left arm is stars from wrist to elbow, and stars mark his calves as well. At Eastwatch we have a man who set his father’s house afire and barred the door. His entire family burned to death, all nine. Whatever Satin may have done in Oldtown, he is our brother now, and he will be my squire.”

Jon appoints Leathers of the Freefolk as his Master-at-arms once again, against objections from the likes of Cellador and Bowen

Bowen: Is it true that you mean to replace Emmett with this savage Leathers as our master-at-arms? That is an office most oft reserved for knights, or rangers at the least.

Jon: Leathers is savage. I can attest to that. I've tried him in the practice yard. He's as dangerous with a stone axe as most knights are with castle-forged steel. I grant you, he is not as patient as I'd like, and some of the boys are terrified of him ... but that's not all for the bad. One day they'll find themselves in a real fight, and a certain familiarity with terror will serve them well

The Freefolk women: Jon sees them as capable and equal in all ways to the men. He sends Val off all alone to find Tormund. He garrisons Long Barrow fully with Spearwives, entrusting them to defend that castle and the wall.

And we find that Jon is hungry for knowledge, and in his spare time he learns the Old Tongue from Leathers so that he can communicate with the giant Wun-Wun. He is always reading the books Maester Aemon left him, conducting science experiments on wights and even thinks of building a green house on the Gift to grow food. Once again, Jon acknowledges the importance of learning that he picked up from characters like Aemon, Sam and Tyrion.

I have a realistic grasp of my own strengths and weaknesses. My mind is my weapon. My brother has his sword, King Robert has his warhammer, and I have my mind.. and a mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.” Tyrion tapped the leather cover of the book. “That’s why I read so much, Jon Snow.” - Tyrion, AGoT

There’s a reason for why Jon’s so good at what he does. Look at the people from whom he learns – Ned Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Jeor Mormont, Donal Noye, Qhorin Half-hand, Maester Aemon, Samwell Tarly, Mance Raydar, Stannis Baratheon etc. Every one of these men gives him a tidbit of information that he ends up using in the books.

Jon is very astute and has a deep understanding of the way the North and people in general work:

"The free folk despise kneelers," he had warned Stannis. "Let them keep their pride, and they will love you better." Soon or late, however, Tormund Giantsbane would assault the Wall again, and when that hour came Jon wondered whose side Stannis's new-made subjects would choose. You can give them land and mercy, but the free folk choose their own kings. - Jon, ADwD

Early on he advises Stannis to go with the Umbers instead of the Karstarks. Later we see his advice hold true as the Karstarks betray Stannis while Mors Crowfood allies with him. He also advises Stannis to approach Manderly – a decision that once again works out right. He explains to Stannis in clear detail how to approach the mountain clans for help

“And they will fight for me, you believe?”

“If you ask them.”

“Why should I beg for what is owed me?”

“Ask, I said, not beg.” Jon pulled back his hand. “It is no good sending messages. Your Grace will need to go to them yourself. Eat their bread and salt, drink their ale, listen to their pipers, praise the beauty of their daughters and the courage of their sons, and you’ll have their swords. The clans have not seen a king since Torrhen Stark bent his knee. Your coming does them honor. Command them to fight for you, and they will look at one another and say, ‘Who is this man? He is no king of mine.’ ”

In a way, it makes sense that Jon tries to see the humanity of people, tries to teach them, weeds out talent and designates based on merit and skillset – he works with the lowest of the lowest. He’s the military head of a group of outlaws, murderers, rapists, bigots, smallfolk with no education or access to education. He has to be able to see beyond labels to get this ragtag bunch ready to face an apocalyptic threat.

Contrast this Jon Snow to Jaime Lannister in AFfC who hangs some outlaws in the Riverlands and then proudly calls himself ‘Goldenhand the Just’ for meting out ‘justice’, failing to even acknowledge that those hungry outlaws were created by his war – a war that started because of his incestuous adultery.

To conclude, Jon Snow ending an 8000 year old feud between the north and the freefolk, bringing them over to this side of the wall, including them in the realms of men, making real alliances between old Northern houses and the freefolk epitomizes what Jon Snow stands for as a character in the books.

There’s a reason for why GRRM describes Jon Snow thus:

Jon Snow is the truest character--I like his sense of realism and the way he copes with his bastardy.

#Jon Snow #ASoIaF #A Song of Ice and Fire

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bigskydreaming · 5 years ago

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In the extremely unlikely event that Bruce dies for real, or finally retires, who out of his various children do you think should (not could) inherit the Cowl? Just based on skills and temperament, who do you think would be a perfect fit for the next Batman?

I’m a firm proponent of the Cass For Batman movement.

Here’s the thing…..I think by the time any of the Batkids are old enough/tall enough to pull off the cape and cowl look….any and all of the Batkids have the skills to be Batman, or hell, even to surpass him. I’ve always said the high concept of the Batfam is that they’re a family of Mary Sues, that’s their point. Put any one of them in a room with any non group of Bats, and they’re all by default likely to be the most skilled, best fighter, etc, etc. But them together….eh, too many people IMO spend too much time trying to rank them when it seems pointless to me…..you put a family of Mary Sues all together in the same room, they’re all still Mary Sues. (And keep in mind, I’m not using Mary Sue as an insult. Obviously. I love them all, lol. And Batman is the original Mary Sue as far as I’m concerned).

So bottom line is, any one of them could be Batman, skill-wise. Cass I think is the only one who has consistently truly wanted to be, temperament and ambition wise.

I was a big fan of Dickbats, when he wore the cowl. He was good at it, both times, after Bane and then when Bruce was believed dead. He’s Bruce’s eldest and has been by his side the longest of all of them, there’s a degree to which part of me wants to say it should always go to Dick after Bruce, just in acknowledgment of all of that, but honestly? It shouldn’t IMO - again, I liked the Batman we got when Dick wore the cowl before, but it took a toll on him from a character standpoint, because he’s never wanted to be Batman is the thing. He wants to be his own person, of his own design….yeah, he stepped up and made being Batman work for him, on his terms, but it was never his first choice, and IMO never would be, and I’m all about Dick getting to choose. So no, it shouldn’t be him.

There’s at least one Earth in the DC Multiverse where Jason became Batman and was good at it. But with Jason its all about temperament. I honestly don’t think Jason wants to be Batman, not anymore. He wanted to be Batman during Battle for the Cowl, but that Jason was written extremely OOC then and by Morrison as well after that, IMO. He cared more about making a point to his family - or at least Bruce (or even just the ghost of Bruce) - than he cared about innocents, and that’s never been a take on him I find convincing or compelling. I’m fine with Jason killing, I’m behind him on a lot of occasions, but that’s only a Jason who kills out of empathy for the victims who will never see justice otherwise, because a broken system just flat out doesn’t care about them.

And I think ultimately Jason’s biggest grievance with Bruce is he sees Bruce’s refusal to kill his murderer as proof that Bruce ultimately doesn’t care about Jason, based on an inverse of the same logic - and with this being something that Jason has trouble just flat out owning up to in that specific sense (at least after UTRH), because he refuses to be a victim, and Bruce has already made his choice there once, as far as Jason’s concerned, and Jason is too proud to beg or ask a second time. But during the Battle for the Cowl era, Jason wanted to be Batman, but to prove a point, that his way of being Batman is better than Bruce’s, and like I said…..that just never felt like Jason to me. His conflict with people is often based on him believing he’s right, but its not truly about proving that or needing to, IMO….he just believes he is and does what he does. He craves being avenged, not being validated.

So bottom line is, I don’t think Jason in this main Earth would ever really want to be Batman, because BFTC aside…..I think he’s perfectly aware and comfortable with the fact that his way is not Batman’s way. That who he is by choice is not who Batman is, or would really choose to be. And he’s fine with that. The thing about Jason, as far as I’ve always seen it, is he’s never been upset that Batman wouldn’t kill the Joker, his murderer, that Batman wouldn’t avenge him. He gets why Batman wouldn’t. The thing that he can’t ever really reconcile is that Bruce, his Dad wouldn’t avenge him, whether as Batman or just as a grieving father. And that ultimately has nothing to do with Batman as a concept, as a hero or anything with someone who is not Bruce under that cowl. And thus who and what Batman is, ultimately has nothing Jason really needs or wants to be.

Tim, just like the older two, is more than capable of being Batman…..but he doesn’t want to be either. He’s afraid of who he might be as Batman, ultimately. He’s more than once been shown visions of a future where he’s Batman, or faced time traveling future versions of himself as Batman, and its never been a pretty picture. Tim as Batman, in the various futures he’s seen that come to pass in, almost as a warning, is someone who in each of them has kinda gone full Dark Side, embraced the idea of vengeance over justice, or total control over even the chance of chaos befalling someone he cares about, etc. Because Tim does have these tendencies, I’ve always maintained, and he’s not oblivious to them either. He doesn’t deal well with loss, and has a tendency to lose himself in his refusal to accept loved ones as being gone (even though yes, admittedly he is sometimes right to), or just….a denial of the way things are.

And Tim, like any of the Batkids, is more than capable of circumventing the way things are, by virtue of genius inventions, time travel, etc, or manipulating powerful beings into acting exactly as he needs them to in order to achieve some end, etc. So the thing is, any of the Batkids losing themselves to their refusal to accept things the way they are, the natural order of things, is a potentially dangerous thing, because there is very little they aren’t capable of when they put their minds to it, but Tim is the one who is most afraid of this possibility. Dick rejects the possibility as willfully and stubbornly as he can, when people try and force it on him. Jason has at times accepted it and not looked back until much later if at all. Cass has lived it and found it to be her worst nightmare, and Damian was taught to embrace it and had to unlearn that.

Tim is distinct in this regard, in the sense that he’s the one most afraid of being tempted by it, and afraid that he could be tempted…….its not so much that he’s walked a fine line with this in the past, he’s never really done all that much in terms of becoming the future versions of himself he fears, here and now in the present….but he is aware that something about him and his choices attracts the likes of Ra’s al Ghul’s attentions the way Dick attracts the attentions of Slade, Cobb and various other assassins. Ra’s tends to focus on Tim and trying to get him to side with him, more than he really ever does the others, not because any of them couldn’t be just as deadly were they to side with them, but rather I’ve always viewed it a matter of temperament……I think Ra’s has always viewed Tim as being the one he has the best chance of convincing to side with him or try things from his POV…..because he knows or believes, or at least Tim sees it that way, as Tim being the one who could be potentially sold on the idea of total control. Of having the power to ensure nothing harms anything that he is protective of, that he has power enough to stop even death from reaching his loved ones.

But, at the same time, Tim is also the Batkid who is most invested in…..kinda….preserving the idea, and the reality, of the Batman who has been his hero since he was a kid. The Batman that he tracked down and sought out in order to try and help him in any way he could when he was only thirteen. To try and keep safe and to keep from becoming the darker version of himself he was becoming after Jason’s death in his grief.

Like….to Dick, Batman was always just Bruce, his partner….he wasn’t someone he had a lot of preconceptions about before he met him. He’s never really been anything but Bruce to him, and thus he’s never actually been some larger than life figure. He’s known him as his guardian and father figure as much as he’s known him as his mentor and teacher…they go hand in hand for him, not really much of a time gap in between him being the one and becoming the other. So in as much as Dick has always looked up to Bruce from an early age, Batman has never been any kind of mythic ideal for him….its just Bruce in another guise. His guardian, friend and eventually dad.

And then to Jason….I’ve talked about this before, but I think Jason and Dick are both the reverse of Tim and Damian because the latter two came looking for Batman and stayed for Bruce, but the older two came to trust Bruce first and only came to trust Batman because of that. And so to Jason, Bruce was his dad even before Batman was his mentor and partner, and no matter how much Jason may have enjoyed being his partner at times and wanted to impress him as Robin, it was always Bruce that Jason valued far more than Batman. If he had to choose between the two, he’d choose Bruce every time, and at times I would describe their conflicts even before his death as being the result of Batman kinda getting in the way, when Jason just wanted to talk to Bruce, his dad.

But to Tim….even while its not like Tim as Robin was naive or had this unrealistic view of Bruce or the fact that he was as human as anyone else….and even though its not like he didn’t value Bruce for who Bruce was aside from Batman, and eventually see and value him as his father……there’s always been a difference to the way he speaks of Batman, the idea of Batman. He’s the first of the Batkids to ever really approach viewing the cape and the man underneath it as something….necessary to Gotham. That the city or even the world needed, the way Batman was before Jason’s death, and that Tim felt driven to try and bring him back to. Dick and Jason were both aware of Bruce’s good qualities and all the things Batman did to protect the world of course, but while to them that was more or less just Bruce doing things in the way that made the most sense to him or worked best for him, Tim’s the one whose first real glimpse of Batman and view of him was formulated at a distance, where all he could really see was what the Batman presented to the world and thus represented, before he was close enough to see the man behind the mask.

So he’s the one to first or most wholly truly grasp the symbol of Batman….and that’s what I’m trying to get at there. He respects what Batman stands for, the necessity of that, the Batman he’s dedicated so much time and energy and his own life to safeguarding and preserving that heroic/protector spirit of his as much as he has prioritized physically guarding that Batman’s back as Robin…..like, Batman as Tim wholly believes Batman should be, matters far to much to Tim to ever ‘jeopardize’ by giving into Ra’s temptations, or his own dark visions or future glimpses of who he might become. And so no, Tim would never want to be Batman either, because he’s afraid of the Batman he might be, and its too important to him that Batman be what Tim believes the city and the world needs Batman to be.

And then there’s Damian, who again, is more than capable, at least by the time he’s an adult, and unlike pretty much all the others, has spent most of his life intent on becoming Batman. He’s always viewed it as his birthright, his destiny…….but that was before he came to Gotham, met his father as well as his brothers, and was Robin to Dick’s Batman. There’s a lot of reasons why I think whether he’s even totally realized it yet or not, I don’t think Damian still wants to become Batman even as of this point. Such as the fact that with the right writers, he’s discovered that he likes the freedom to choose who he might be, the unknown of it all rather than the certainty and thus the restrictions of being confined to an inevitable destiny. Various events since he’s come to Gotham, like him dying, discovering his grandfather intended to try and use him as his new younger vessel, etc….many of them to different degrees have made him view fate as being just as likely to be a trap as it is to bring the freedom and power he once thought his fate promised him. He’s still young (and he’s still written by a bunch of shitty writers who see him and think “Oh, this is a brat with an attitude and a history of violence, that means he’s basically the Antichrist like that other Damian was, yes?”) so there’s a lot of stopping and starting with this character growth, but the growth is there, if you focus on it and not just the writers who are like “I see a kid named Damian, I write that kid named Damian as pure evil, cuz I gotta, its the rule.”

But also……there’s an endless number of ways in which Dick and Damian are the mirror of Bruce and Dick at their beginning, and this is just one more of those to me. Because I think deep down, Damian no longer wants to be Batman, not all that dissimilar to how Dick never wanted to be Batman. Because it was never that Dick didn’t respect everything Batman stood for, and I don’t think it was ever that he was afraid of drowning in the darkness typically associated with the mantle….because Dick was the one who was truly in the dark spot when he first met Batman. Batman was his light before Dick ever climbed out of his depression, reignited his own inner light, and became Bruce’s light too. So Bruce’s Batman didn’t ever equal just darkness to Dick in the first place. No, Dick’s real issue with being Batman was always just that it wasn’t him…it was his dad. He didn’t want to wear his dad’s old clothes, he wanted to be someone that was uniquely and distinctly him.

And I think its the same thing for Damian at this point. Even though he’s been Bruce’s Robin as much as he was Dick’s, Dick was Damian’s first Batman, the one who made him Robin in the first place. And I think despite what Damian grew up thinking Batman was….when he came to Gotham he really only had enough time to grasp the fact that nothing he thought he knew about Batman or his father was accurate….before Bruce was believed dead. So the new image he formed of Batman, of who and what he was, the Batman that replaced those false impressions…..was Dick’s version of Batman. And now, I think, that’s forever kinda immortalized in Damian’s mind as what Batman is supposed to be, and so I don’t think he wants to be Batman anymore, because that’s not him.

And not even because of insecurity, like he wouldn’t be capable of being that Batman, but rather because I think Dick is the one who taught him to seek more for himself than just what he’d been told was his destiny by others, to choose it for himself….and so I think Damian would never truly want to be Batman at this point because to him, Batman is forever the guy telling him to be his own man, something new, something he hasn’t even thought of yet…..not just some other version of the identity he’d thought was his destiny since he was old enough to talk.

Duke also would be more than capable of being Batman, and I could see certain AUs where it might end up being him, and I’d like to see some of those AUs, but ultimately I don’t see him wanting it either for much the same reason as most of the other boys: Duke’s someone who’s also found power in finding himself in his own identity, building his own mantle and persona and name for himself from scratch as The Signal, rather than step into the shoes left by someone else. I’m short changing Duke here, as he deserves more than just that sparknotes paragraph, but this post has more than gotten away from me already and its late, so I will happily come back to that at a later time if anyone wants.

But that brings me back to Cass. As I said, its not about her being the best fighter of them, like, that making her inherently more suited for the cowl skill wise or whatever….since any and all of them are hyper-competent across the board and possessing their own various specialties. So they’re all more than skilled enough. But its a temperament thing, the thing she has marked off in the pro column of “Why I Should Be Batman” that none of the others do. Its that of all of them, she’s the one who truly wants it, and for the right reasons. Who sees power in it, for herself, the kind of power that she would choose to wield in defense of others, power that she wants to be the kind that defines her and who she is as a hero. As opposed to the boys who see it as something they’re leery of, or that they feel embodies a sense of self that just isn’t them.

Any of the boys as Batman, just like Dick did, would likely do better at it than they thought. They would likely do so through each of them subtly redefining it in their own ways, making it their version of Batman, a Batman each of them could comfortably be, without losing themselves in it. But the same isn’t true for Cass, I think, because that’s the point: she wants to be the Batman that Batman already is, to her.

She wants to fill those shoes, because of all of the kids, she and Tim I think are the closest here, in that they’re the two who never fully stopped seeing the larger than life symbol of Batman, even after getting to know and love the man underneath it….but while for Tim, that symbol was more about what it represented to Gotham, what it could be for the world….for Cass, that symbol was more about what it represented to her. Batman was her hero, before she ever saw him be anyone else’s…..he was what saved her, that made her believe she was worth saving, and Batman, that Batman, is what Cass in turn wants to be for other people. The hero for them that he was for her.

At his best, Bruce has been many things to his various children, as both Bruce Wayne and as Batman. He was the light that first showed Dick the way through his trauma, he was the father that Jason never had, he was the symbol that Tim believed in from afar and that lived up to that promise even when Tim met the man underneath, and he was the legend that Damian heard and wanted to be.

But for Cass, and only Cass….he was all of those things at the same time.

And that is why I think Cass is ultimately the only true successor to the Batman that is, (or at least, the Batman that he is, when at his best aka not written by Tom King or those of similar ilk). Rather than a successor who would become a Batman in name, but with their own individualized take and reinterpretation of the cowl and what it means or stands for when worn by them. And its why I think Cass is also the only one who truly wants to be that successor, and for reasons she finds fulfillment in, rather than seeing as baggage that weighs her down or keeps her mired in the past, in grief, stuck walking the same path someone else already walked. She knows who Batman is to her, and what his symbol represents, and she knows that its everything she wants to be, and nothing that she would feel trapped or limited by, rather than empowered by.

I think any and all of her siblings have the potential to someday mirror their own pasts with Batman and Bruce, and who he was to them:

For Dick, being who and what Bruce was for him when he needed him first - that means being Dick Grayson, with Batman merely a secondary title. Just like it was Bruce Wayne he had needed, with Batman merely incidental to that….and all of this being born out as true with Damian, when he ultimately responded to Dick’s efforts to reach him far more than Dick-as-Batman’s.

For Jason, being who and what Bruce was for him might mean being a father someday - and with who he is as the Red Hood potentially being the thing that gets in the way of that, just as Batman was what sometimes got in the way of him and Bruce. And thus with the Red Hood being the thing he might have to choose to hang up and put behind him, if he truly wants to learn from the mistakes his father made with him.

For Tim, being who and what Bruce was for him at first, would ironically mean being the darker, grief-driven version of himself that needed someone else to remind him of who he was…..a version of himself for some precocious would-be hero to save the way Tim had once been determined to save Bruce from himself.

And for Damian, being who and what Bruce was to him at first, would unfortunately mean being in someone else’s eyes no different - and no more approachable - than the legend Bruce originally existed as for him. It might mean being distant and out of reach even as what someone really needed was for him to be there and in the flesh. And thus by extension meaning that given the choice, Damian would likely prefer to be for that someone what Dick taught him to be, what Dick was for him…..real and present for that someone else, even if they weren’t that person’s first choice.

And so only for Cass, would being who and what Bruce was for her, mean Cass being someone’s hero. The person who saved by inspiring, just as Batman had saved her by inspiring her. Protecting her by the mere act of proving that he wanted to protect her. Who gave her a new life just by showing her what was out there and what that life could look like.

That’s the Batman that Gotham’s future needs. The same Batman she needed, and the one only she can truly be because of that.

And that’s why IMO it should be her who ultimately takes their father’s place as Gotham’s Dark Knight.

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watercolorwillowbrook · 5 years ago

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Let’s talk about the REAL story (spoilers)

Ramble warning ahead. All recall too because I gave the comics away aaaaages ago.

Okay kids. I am an old lady. Back in my day we didn’t have the cartoon (yet), we had the comics and my parents HATED the fact that I read x-men (due to the way the women were portrayed)

But let’s talk about what those comics were and why the movies make me physically ill. Especially in regards to jean, Phoenix, and dark phoenix. One— Jean is lacking in the movies. More often than not she is just portrayed as the ass that Wolverine wants but can’t have. What was she really— Jean’s power came about from her LITERALLY stopping someone’s soul from passing into the afterlife. That friend that everyone glazes over? Yeah, that soul. AS A CHILD. If I recall correctly. Professor x even admits to the fact (in early issues) that she potentially is more powerful than him as a psychic and telepath, though her telepathy is bound at that point. He knew from day one when he came to help her, AS A CHILD, that she was one of the most powerful minds in the universe. And he wasn’t the only one to notice. There are clear hints that Phoenix, as an entity, saw this struggle to keep her friend, and intervened at the risk of Jean being dragged into the afterlife along with her friend. During her early days with professor x, he purposely bound her powers because she lacked maturity and wisdom. Her wreckless emotional abandon was what nearly killed her, and he recognized that she needed a normal life experience to learn how to cope and use them effectively later on. Not to mention that she was being driven into insanity. She fears her powers to the point of her health deteriorating, and it gets to a point where professor x has to help redirect her to focus on normalcy. The first time she really uses her power without fear is to pull up a psychic hologram of Scott, who she had developed feelings for. (Side note, the whole time her parents have no idea she’s a mutant. They just think she is emotionally disturbed.)

Fast forward to the x-men getting caught up in intergalactic bullshit. Now, the comics were by far more telling than anything else. The movie glazed and the cartoon had to skip over some stuff to meet a rating standard. But literally, when Jean took over the ship to take everyone home there were multiple scenes of how radiation continually hit her and how she was withering away, her hair was falling out, her skin was mottled and dying, her muscles were disintegrating... she literally was being fried to death. It was pretty graphic. Her will to save her friends, and her love for them, and once again her fucking mental strength caught the eye of the Phoenix— now the Phoenix is a literal force. It has no physical form and cannot experience anything on its own. So, in exchange for helping her (and subsequentally making her pretty much immortal) the Phoenix approaches Jean And makes a deal. Power for a chance to be a living, feeling being. On that note, we see something that will come back later— we already know Jean will do anything out of love for her friends, but also, we see that she’s scared to die. And that is important for later, and it completely makes her relatable.

So, they all live and times goes on. Now if you pay attention throughout the ensuing issues, you notice that Jean GRADUALLY becomes more powerful, more ruthless, and more sexual. She goes from being a very demure woman to a very provocative one. So how did it happen? Now I missed this as a kid because it was all subtle (comics were censored a lot so everything had to be implied) when I reread the series after the cartoon in the 90s came out, it clicked more for me. So during a fight with magneto, a huge chunk of the x-men get lost in the savage lands. Only Jean and beast make it back. Thinking everyone dead, professor x goes with lillandra into space and beast runs off to join the... avengers? I think? I am pretty sure. ANYWAY. This leaves Jean all alone, so she goes to Muir island, since Moira was pretty tight with her. Starting from the flight over, Mastermind fucks with her head— and you see this in flashbacks and thoughts from him as the story progresses. He approaches her as a priest on the flight to get her to confide in him, then again approaches her at a beach where he literally ends up sleeping with her (raping, really, since he is manipulating the situation) and then running into her as Jason. This takes place over a good few months, and that is when Emma Frost provides a way for mastermind to infiltrate Jean’s thoughts and start giving her mental illusions of a past life where Jean was married to mastermind and they were in love. And Jean falls for it because emotionally she is starved— Scott is dead to her at this time. Again the cartoon and several remakes forget to include this. Jean herself is beyond loyal, and the only reason she fell for any of it was under the belief that Scott died.

SO, this manipulation goes on for about a year and a half until BAM, the x-men manage to get home and suddenly scott isn’t dead anymore. (Emotionally whiplash. This shift happens a lot.) To speak to her character, Jean inmediately tells him everything. Scott had a bit of a fling too, but they both decide what happened, happened, but that they want to be together. La la laaaa...

For what good it does. ANYWAY. Time goes on and we continue to see an escalation in Jean’s behavior. She gets more aggressive and savage, dresses more provocative. She gets her Mack in with angel in front of everyone (Lol it’s meant to be innocent, but Jean/ Phoenix are also highly aware that warren pursued her when she was younger.) off and on, she has dreams and visions of her and Jason in the 1800s or whenever, where she is deemed the black queen of the hellfire club. Then the M’krann crystal saga goes down. MORE shit goes down in which Scott and the others start to suspect that the hellfire club is part of it (you know, instead of just being a kinky sex club. They should have just stayed in that lane imo)

So, they have this great idea to crash a hellfire party. Unfortunately it’s been YEARS, and mastermind has continued to work on Jean this whole time, so it is no problem for him to manipulate her into turning on her friends and joining them. She literally thinks she is doing it for the love of her life. (Mastermind) really whatn he does is he psychically manipulates her into succumbing to the personality HE has designed for her as the black queen.

At some point Jean and Scott do a fucking Vulcan mind meld thing, and they are in each other’s heads, mmk? This is before they crash the party. So while scott is all kinky bondaged up, he tries to reach her telepathically. Mastermind catches him and psychically kills him. He, as most people do, underestimate Jean. Seeing Scott killed sets her off and she reverts back. Now we see a brutal side to Jean here as she literally psychically drives mastermind into a state of insanity. I am pretty sure she puts white queen into a coma too. Anyway, this is just a taste of what is happening. A fight ensues and they all leave, but on their way out a bunch of shit hits Jean.

1. She realizes she had been fucked with over and over for years.

2. Mastermind literally mentally and physically raped her. Over the course of years.

3. She enjoyed the feeling of turning on her friends and having the adoration of the hellfire club AND tormenting frost and mastermind.

So, Jean also feels guilt for it all, and unable to really cope, she mentally seems to collapse which allows the Phoenix (which is an entity that craves feelings) to rush in and grab all those dark emotions and run with them. Because Jean wouldn’t let Phoenix experience it— she regressed those feelings in herself.

That is how dark Phoenix came about. The cartoon and movies make it all appear to happen over a short course, but the truth of the matter is, she was mentally manipulated and physically assaulted over the course of YEARS by the hellfire club. I recognize that some of this isn’t appropriate for cartoons, and it would be Difficult to show in a movie that’s only a couple hours long. However it does an injustice to Jean’s character because she RESISTED for such a long time because she was strong, and a good person. She didn’t just get her rocks off on power right away and loose her shit. It was trauma after trauma.

ANYWAY, after a huge battle and getting Jean back under control, the fkn Shi’arr (Sp?) pop in to be the galaxy police, eventually Jean goes back to being Phoenix, as a stepping stone to being dark Phoenix again. There was a battle so it wasn’t for anything, literally once again all of her friends were being harmed in effort to protect her. (Even though she killed billions of people by snacking on a star and destroying a solar system buuuuuut...) Jean still had a lot of control, and on the blue side of the moon comes a few realizations

1. This wasn’t who she wanted to be

2. She is tortured by the understanding she killed billions of people (Remember that Jean is a loving and kind person who has a fear of death both for herself and others)

3. She cannot live an immortal life always being in control and being unable to slip at any moment. Literally a prisoner within herself.

It at this point we see more of Jean’s strength. Jean who, from day one has feared death, now accepts that it is the only way to truly protect everyone that she loves. Granted they all try to stop her, but in the end she takes her own life. This puts an end to her being an uncontrollable force, as Phoenix goes back to being an entity without a physical manifestation, and stops the feud between the aliens and the x-men.

This is why each medium and how things are presented is important. With comics being released in (originally) 8 page monthly installments, the reader really got a sense of the time for the story to build up. The pacing was there. With the animation and the movies, it all feels rushed and kind of forced— hence why I personally do not care for them. I have to look at them in a different way, but to me, there is a lot more power in the comics.

Just my two cents. Imma shush now.

#spoilers #jean grey #x-men #dark phoenix #phoenix #marvel #comics

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hirazuki · 6 years ago

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I’m going to try and summarize what bothers me about VLD from as objective a standpoint as possible. A lot of people, including myself, have already made posts pointing out specific issues, especially with regards to the messages it sends to abuse victims, so I’m not going to touch on that or any type of emotional issues here at all. I’m going to skip specifics except where needed as examples, and just talk about the nature of story telling itself. As someone who not only has used fiction for escapism, but who has studied story telling both in terms of literary analysis of novels and of religious texts, it’s a subject that I feel very strongly about.

Warning: long ass post.

Okay, a couple of disclaimers first.

One, I am a firm believer in the “don’t like, don’t read” mentality. If I don’t like something, I don’t talk about it, I just move on. Y’all have never seen a single discourse post about The Dragon Prince, right? Yup, that’s ‘cause I really didn’t like it. It goes for countless other things too. I don’t expend time and effort and energy on things I don’t like, that’s just wasteful. So, why am I harping on VLD? Because I really enjoyed it, despite a couple of what I felt were minor issues at the time, for most of its run. That’s why I -- and I imagine the same goes for many other fans -- am so bitter.

Two, I came late into the Voltron universe. I joined in a couple of days before s6 dropped, and only watched DotU as well as the other Western versions in the past couple of months. Haven’t had a chance to see the original Japanese anime yet.

Three, I’m not a shipper, in general. I don’t ship anything in VLD except Zarkon/Honerva. Romance/sexual stuff is just not my thing, I’ll take swords and explosions any day over that. So my saltiness regarding the series has nothing to do with ships.

Alright, so I think my major gripes with the series can be sorted into three categories:

1. Inconsistency of Story Type:

This is, of course, my own opinion, but through my time of consuming fiction, I think there are three types of stories:

Good vs. Evil: the most basic type of story. The good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and everyone stays well in their lanes. Think Disney movies, typical Saturday morning cartoons -- the heroes are exemplary of good traits, the villains are one-dimensional and unrepentant, evil for the sake of being evil. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this story type imo, and there are several stories of this nature that I really do enjoy.

Grey Morality: a much more nuanced take on the concepts of good and evil, right and wrong. Due to the very nature of grey morality, there are varying degrees to which this can be implemented. Probably the most common one I’ve seen is where the heroes do some bad/questionable things, the villains/antagonists do some good things or have the right motives or are “noble” in some way; but overall, there is a sense that there are certain lines that shouldn’t be crossed, certainly by the heroes but also sometimes by the villains/antagonists too. An excellent example of this is Firefly. Another example, that puts a total twist on it by having the protagonist also be the “villain,” is Death Note -- even though the story resolves in a way that to the audience is, really, the only sustainable way possible, it still leaves neither the characters in-show nor the audience with any sense of victory. This concept is taken to the extreme by a series like Tenpou Ibun: Ayakashi Ayashi, where no one is right and no one is wrong, but at the same time everyone is right and wrong, and simply just human. There is no good and no evil, just context, circumstances, and choices.

Combination: this type of story starts with the Good vs. Evil dichotomy but, as the story progresses and the protagonist becomes more acquainted and involved with their environment, both the protagonist and the audience come to understand that the picture is actually much more complicated than that, and it evolves into Grey Morality. Bleach is a great example. We start with seeing the Hollow as evil, mindless monsters that need to be killed; we learn that they are actually human spirits that have transformed into “monsters” through pain and grief and, therefore, we pity them but also understand that it’s a mercy to put them down; we then find out that, actually, not all are mindless and they have a complicated society and culture of their own; and, eventually, come to accept them as (reluctant) allies against a bigger threat, understanding that they are creatures in their own right.

From the moment that Keith -- arguably the character within the main cast that had the most time/character development spent on him -- was revealed as being half-Galra (that is, half the “evil” race of the show), VLD promised to be that third type of story. Because there is no way that the writers would make one of their protagonists evil by default because of his blood in a kids’ show, duh, so by logical conclusion this means that that race is not all evil, after all. This was further emphasized by Lotor’s introduction to the plot -- a severe departure from his character in any previous incarnation -- and cemented by the episode, “The Legend Begins,” where we finally get to see the other side of things and the fact that not even Zarkon and Haggar were “born evil,” as well.

After the Keith reveal, we got shocked reactions from his teammates, notably and understandably Allura; got only an apology from her and not the rest for their treatment of him (which could have been better but, whatever, it was a step in the right direction, great!); and then... back to a weird strained relationship in working alongside Galra without another word on the subject.

Okay. Fine.

Then we get Lotor -- again, some of that initial resentment/treatment could be understandable to some extent, and eventually on the road towards, seemingly, genuine acceptance. Cool.

I won’t go into details about the colony episode, because that’s been done to death already, but, woah, major setback there. Back to the knee-jerk reaction of treating individuals of a race as complicit and responsible for the actions and perception of that race as perpetuated by a handful of individuals. And then -- flash forward to s8 -- we are welcoming Galra allies in our cause! Please join our Coalition! We want to help you!

Look. I’m not saying that you can’t retcon stuff; that you can’t go Good vs. Evil, develop into Grey Morality, and then reveal something and BOOM, jk, it was Good vs. Evil all along, gotcha! I’m sure that there is an author somewhere out there that has pulled that off effectively (I can’t think of any examples myself right now, but I’m sure it must exist somewhere).

I am saying that if you’re going to do that -- if you are going to pull the rug out from under everyone’s feet and sacrifice some crucial character development (and crucial characters themselves, let’s be honest) -- you better have a DAMN GOOD IN-UNIVERSE reason for doing so. And no, shock value or getting rid of a character because they were overshadowing the protags doesn’t count. Otherwise, your protagonists will look like giant jerks. Unless, of course, that’s what you’re going for, but I highly doubt that was the thinking here.

And then, we proceed to flip flop between “I knew it, the Galra are irredeemably evil, what’s wrong with these people?!” (I think Hunk -- HUNK, by far the most empathetic character -- said this at some point in s7?) and “Here, we can work together towards a brighter future” or some shit. You can’t do that. I mean you can, but you’re gonna get major backlash from your audience. Pick a fucking direction and stick with it.

For the past three seasons, it has really felt like the story line is being pulled into two different directions: 1) staying true to the original source material of Paladins = good, Galra/Drule = bad, and 2) providing the viewers with a groundbreaking, nuanced interpretation.

My dudes. You can’t have both. Trying to implement both of these approaches means having morally grey, nuanced characters operating within a narrative framework that is subject to an overarching principle of a strict Good/Evil dichotomy. Do you know how fucking hard that is to pull off effectively without diving headfirst into the pitfall of punishing your morally grey characters by default, simply because they happen to exist in a universe that cannot, by nature, support them???? I can think of only a handful of authors that have managed that and, I would argue, that the man at the top of the list only managed to be so effective and influential because what he wrote was, in essence, a mythology. Mythologies have a totally different set of concerns surrounding them. And even then, he went to great lengths, both in his works and outside of them in discussions/interviews, to note that the “evil” in his world could never have happened without it intentionally being part of the larger cosmological design, i.e. balance. I’m talking, of course, about Tolkien.

Why the fuck would you attempt to pull something like this off in a kids’ cartoon?! Avatar: The Last Airbender, since everyone loves that comparison, was defined by a black/white view that developed into a very simple grey morality, and it was this limited scope that allowed it to be presented so effectively. None of this sashaying back and forth.

Especially when this flip flopping is done for le dramatic effect/shock value, with seemingly no good in-story reason?? Of course it’s gonna fall flat.

2. Concept vs. Execution:

This is probably what drives me crazy the most about VLD.

As an idea, it was fucking brilliant -- anyone who has watched DotU, even with all the nostalgia, I imagine, can admit that it was very much a cut and dry 80s cartoon, with simple concerns; Vehicle Voltron attempted some nuances, but the Lion Voltron part of the show, which was by far the more popular part, was pretty stiff in that regard. VLD took that and introduced themes like: being biracial (Keith, Lotor, etc.), having to choose between duty and family (Krolia), having to choose between personal dreams and important relationships (Shiro), having to overcome deep-seated understandable prejudice and work with people you never thought you could come to stand for a greater cause and through that see that not everything is black and white and attain a greater understanding of the world (Allura), leaving home and learning to survive in a totally foreign environment in the worst circumstances possible (the paladins), dealing with disability, mental illness/ptsd while also dealing with issues of being in a position of leadership/power (Shiro), parental abuse (Lotor), substance abuse (Honerva and Zarkon), being a clone and coming to terms with that (Shiro/Kuron), learning to compromise and sacrifice personal integrity/morals for the betterment/survival of those you have made yourself responsible for (the paladins), and so much more than that. Lotor’s relationship with Honerva/Haggar had serious undertones of both Mother and Child symbolism, as well as Arthurian legend. The whole quintessence thing drew pointers from ancient and medieval concepts of alchemy.

The inclusion of any of these things, injected into a pretty straightforward and tame original source material like DotU, was inspired. What an absolutely fantastic take, with incredible potential.

... and it was the shoddiest, shittiest implementation and execution of any concepts that I have ever seen. Like... how? How did they manage to not be able to successfully see any of these themes to a close, and to actually offend the vast majority of their fanbase (regardless of background, age, race, sexuality, literally from all walks of life) by the way these themes were handled????

I’m sure time restraints, direction from above, etc., played a big part in it, but still. If you don’t have time to properly develop the interpersonal relationships between the core members of your main group of characters -- to the point that, say, Keith and Pidge? Hunk and Shiro? Did they ever properly, truly have any meaningful interactions? -- there’s no way you could properly handle all of this.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Also? As stories are being fleshed out, they and their characters tend to take on a life of their own. The Lotor/Keith parallels? I totally believe and understand how it’s possible that it was unintentional. But when that happens, you go back and rework the rest of your plot to make sense with what you now have before you. You adjust and adapt. You don’t barrel on ahead headless and not acknowledging it, and you don’t force your characters into straitjackets just because you want to doggedly follow this one idea.

3. The Female Lead:

Let me begin by saying that I really, really wanted to like Allura, and the way she was written was one of the biggest turn offs and disappointments for me. I won’t go into specifics regarding her, as there many posts that already address the problematic nature of how she treats people of her race vs. anyone Galra, but I will just look at her character development as a whole.

Perhaps the easiest way for me to voice my frustrations here would be with a comparison. Let’s look at my favorite female protagonist of all time, Nakajima Youko, from Juuni Kokuki (aka. The Twelve Kindgoms).

Youko starts off as a very meek high school girl, from a typical modern Japanese family. Class representative, top grades, is scared of conflict and wants to live up to everyone’s expectations of her, which makes her very submissive, a total coward emotionally, mentally, and physically. She seeks to please everyone and, as a result, harms her own development by never giving any thought to her own desires and ends up bullied by everyone around her. Magic happens, shit goes down, and she is whisked away to a different world that is parallel to our own, along with two friends from school; ripped from her home, her family, with absolutely no way back. This other world has a different language, people who end up in there from our world are treated like garbage and are slaves, has a medieval level of tech/advancement, and Youko with her friends has to figure out how to survive. She finds out she is actually queen of one of the realms in this world, which makes her a target of various groups. She is betrayed by literally everyone around her, everyone she places her trust in, including the two friends that got transported to this world with her.

She goes from meek and mild to bloodthirsty and brash; lashing out at everyone around her, plotting to kill those that offer her a helping hand, becoming unreasonably suspicious and racist and way out of line. Understandably so, but the narrative doesn’t, for one moment, present this as okay. Some more stuff happens and she finally snaps out of it, comes to a couple of realizations, and has major character development. She develops the attitude that, yes, people have betrayed and hurt her, but their actions towards her and their opinion of her is none of her business. It will not stop her from acting in ways that are in line with her own morals; if people choose to betray and use her, that’s on them. She will simply do what she must, and treat everyone as an individual according to their actions. This doesn’t mean that she adopts a pushover mentality -- it just means that she loses her knee-jerk reaction, and doesn’t rush to conclusions. She becomes a badass warrior and queen, strong and just, and, frankly, one of the most well-developed female characters I have ever seen.

Do I think this is the only way to write a strong female character? Of course not. But I’m convinced this is what the writers wanted to do with Allura, this kind of progression and path, from being angry, lost, and alone to being a confident, capable, magnificent ruler. And, imo, they totally missed the mark.

I think that the writers were so focused on giving us a “strong” modern female character, and getting as far away from her DotU damsel in distress depiction as possible, that they ended up writing her as, basically, a bully. Sure, they tell us -- both through other characters’ words in the show and through interviews -- about her diplomacy, peaceful nature, leadership quality, open-mindedness, etc., but they never show it to us. In almost every key moment in the series, she has been written to be combative and suffering from tunnel-vision.

And a huge part of this is that they simply didn’t give her any room to grow. Youko’s character started off at maybe... 5% of her potential? She was honestly so “weak,” I thought about dropping the series. But by the point the anime ended (because the story itself is unfinished and unlikely to continue, unfortunately), I’d say she’s at around 70%. That makes for an extremely dramatic, fulfilling, and believable character development. The VLD writers started Allura off much higher than that. Too high. From the get-go she’s a highly accomplished martial artist, has incredible physical strength due to her Altean heritage, a seemingly natural affinity for leadership and for appealing to people, she’s very attractive, well spoken, had a loving and supportive family, is a princess, had a brilliant alchemist for a father, has access to the universe’s greatest super weapon -- I mean, yes, she’s had to deal with immense loss and grief and come to terms with it in a very short period of time, and lost her father a second time so to speak with Alfor’s AI -- but overall, everything has been set up and handed to her in a nice package. Other than overcoming her hatred towards the Galra and idealization of Altea/Alteans, really, there’s nothing left for her to do that would be defining for her character.

That’s not to say that characters that are extremely accomplished from the start are a bad thing. But in their case, their emotional and mental development and maturity is that much more important, because that’s all that’s left to work with. The writers didn’t really give Allura any significant room to grow in terms of any of that. (And no, I don’t consider her new alchemical powers from Oriande as her growing; she expended no effort for that, it wasn’t really a trial at all for her; it was like me playing a video game on casual mode with the “killallenemies” console command enabled). Her overcoming her racism towards the Galra, beginning with Keith and BoM and continuing to do so with subsequent Galra allies, had a TON of potential and I had been so excited to see where it would go; but that fell flat, totally forgotten by the story.

In contrast, you have Lotor -- we see him struggling to claw his way out of the hand that fate has dealt him, to grow beyond his family’s influence and abuse. Both on and off screen, even described by his own enemies in great detail, we see just how much he has had to fight and to earn everything he has and he is, even things that shouldn’t have to be “earned” in the first place. He’s lost Daibazaal and Altea, both his father and his mother, he’s too Galra for anyone who’s not and not nearly enough Galra for anyone who is. Literally nothing has been handed to him. The juxtaposition between him and Allura, had Allura been given more breathing room by the writers, could have been fantastic and I would have shipped the hell out of it, like I do in DotU. She’s had everything he’s ever wanted (loving family, supportive father, Alfor himself, exploration, alchemy), etc.; envy would have been extremely appropriate on his part, and very interesting to work through, but that was never explored either.

So, I feel like what ended up happening was that a huge imbalance in how these two characters came across was created, made only more evident when their relationship with each other was what was front and center. And, at least for me, this is what makes me completely unable to see Allura’s side of things, and I freely admit it -- I simply don’t understand her or her actions, because I don’t feel like I’ve been shown enough of her inner workings as a character to be able to care about her in the slightest. I can definitely see where the writers were going with her, or where they thought they were going. But unless they actually meant for the character that is, for all intents and purposes, their female lead to be a racist, abusive, immature person playing at being an adult and at being the leader of a coalition spanning galaxies, who has no problem condemning millions of lives to death and devastation at a whim of her emotions because they are Valid™, and who wades dangerously close to “Mary Sue” territory many times due the way the narrative frames her... then all I see on screen is an unfinished character. Unfinished, because the writers didn’t take any opportunities in the narrative for the flaws and issues she does have to be addressed and overcome, opportunities of which there were plenty! I absolutely don’t mind that she has flaws -- flawed heroes are amazing. But, you gotta do something about them, i.e. address them and work through them. Otherwise your heroes remain static in a plot that is evolving and that’s not a good look.

And, you know, I honestly think DotU Allura is a much stronger female character. She works for everything she gets. She works her ass off. She has to fight to not only be allowed to be part of the team and fly a lion, but even just to do everyday common things like be out in the fields or swim or whatever; forget practicing martial arts. Coran literally ties her up at one point to prevent her from participating. Nanny is a constant battle for her. Over everything, from her clothes to her manner of speaking to where she’s going. But she doesn’t stop, she doesn’t give up. And she fucks up, BIG TIME, several times, she does TONS of stupid shit. But she learns, acknowledges it, gets called out on it, tries again, and keeps on trying. DotU Allura’s biggest battles, in my mind, aren’t with Lotor or the Drule forces or Zarkon, but with her own team and those she considers family, and her struggle for the others’ acceptance of herself and her skills within the group. And for that, she is a much stronger, more solid female character than VLD Allura, despite all superficial appearances and frilly pink dresses and 80s voice acting.

Again, like I said in a previous post, I don’t conform to the view that creators owe their fans anything. Write things however the fuck you want. You want to kill Allura off, fine. Do away with Lotor too? Cool. I completely understand people who want happy endings in fiction because, it’s true, reality fucking sucks; there are several fictional works I turn to whenever real life is too much. And I would be lying if I said that I don’t crave stories where characters like Lotor are given happy endings; of course I want my favorite characters to be okay. But overall, I’m the type of person who, as long as things make for an effective, compelling narrative, I’ll be content with it, regardless of whether the ending is tragic or happy or anything in between.

So you want to kill off your morally grey character and your female lead, who is also one of the only women on the team, who is also a princess figure, who has also been completely visually redesigned in such a way that you know women of color will relate to her? That’s fine by me, go right ahead. But do so in a way that is meaningful and makes sense within the larger narrative you created, and isn’t some empty, sensationalist gesture.

And also be aware of your fanbase. This is a reboot -- that comes with certain expectations attached, as a number of the viewers will very likely be fans of the old series, watching out of curiosity, nostalgia, etc. Expectations like, the princess lives, the heroes aren’t assholes, etc. (and I’m referring to expectations from DotU and other Western iterations, rather than the original Japanese series). You don’t have to conform to these expectations -- personally, I’m a big fan of tropes being subverted -- but you need to be aware of them. You need to know the rules before you break them, and if you break them, you better break them damn well.

Imo, VLD ultimately failed to deliver on these fronts, and pretty much fell prey to what a lot of series do -- it couldn’t handle the shift from being primarily episodic in nature (i.e., each episode is self-contained, with a clear beginning, middle, and end, while operating under a distant general goal, like defeating Zarkon; so, s1 and s2) to becoming a more complex narrative unraveling a hidden agenda (s3 onwards). Kind of like how the paladins made no provisions for how they would handle things after Zarkon’s defeat, it feels like the writers didn’t really have one solid plan for how to develop past that point as well.

tl;dr: Whoever is responsible for the way VLD turned out should write a book: how to offend your entire audience in eight seasons or less.

#okay i think this is my last personal post on the matter #i think i've vented about everything that's been bugging me for the past couple of seasons #i'll still reblog and comment on things i find interesting #but i'm gonna focus my energy on constructive stuff #like plucking the hairline of lotor's wig and writing fanfic :)#talk: v

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backtodc · 6 years ago

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As fun as it is to throw salt at Gosho I think this could be a good time to talk about some good DC cases. So, which are your top ten cases so far?

Hmmm, this took some thought–presented chronologically because I couldn’t pick preferential order XP

Billion Yen Robbery (013-016): Even disregarding its long-term impact on the plot, this case on its own had a good twist in how Akemi disguised herself and the lies she told to track down her robbery partners. I’m always a fan of people, rather than going for big heavy-duty disguises, just using little details of makeup and presentation to completely change their appearance. Ran’s big heart was evident in this case and how strongly she felt about “Masami”‘s safety after just meeting her twice, and this one also what is still one of my favourite ninja-Ran moments to date. Potential kidnapper/murderer across the street? Maybe we should call the police, or run down the stairs OR I GUESS WE COULD JUMP OUT OF A FIRST FLOOR WINDOW AND CHASE HIM ACROSS THE STREET AND DO A FLYING KICK TO DESTROY HIS CAR WINDOW AND ALSO HIS NOSE

Akemi’s death opens up a shitton of plot, and, despite how it gets slightly overused later on (not quite to “did you know Bruce Wayne’s parents got murdered” levels but definitely a biiiiit overused) it’s still one of the most genuinely tragic deaths, especially since Shinichi admitted his real name to her to try and offer her some comfort as she died. TEARS Q_Q

A Haunted Mansion Murder Case (017-019): The case that introduced the Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta. I always think of this one quite fondly. It had a genuinely creepy atmosphere–the “haunted” mansion looks the right side of cliche-creepy, especially once it turns out there’s actually someone around, and honestly I can forgive the incidents of the kids wandering off alone and vanishing because they’re six, of course they’re gonna do silly shit like wander off alone in a haunted mansion. And the truth of the matter is something that’s vanishingly rare in Detective Conan, something I wish we saw more often: a crime of passion.

There’s no clever trick to the murder: the son, Akio, just loses the rag under a torrent of verbal abuse and smashes his father’s head in with a candlestick. There’s no clever trick to the cover-up, either; his mother messed with the crime scene a bit and reported it as a robbery, and given that the family’s obviously very wealthy, money probably changed hands if any investigating officer did think to suspect anything other than a robbery. All she’s thinking about is protecting her son from the consequences of his crime; all he can think about is his guilt and horror over the murder he committed. The case goes from genuinely creepy to honestly tragic. It’s a proper emotional story, and at no point do any six-year-olds have to witness a human corpse, which I’m always in favour of. And I like Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi and I’m glad they were introduced shut the fuck up

The Hatamoto Family Case (020-025): This was another case with good creepy atmosphere, a solid closed circle situation, classic big fucked-up family situation but at the heart of it, Natsue and Takeshi are a genuinely sweet couple who really don’t deserve all this bullshit and you spend the case really hoping for them to be safe and things to turn out okay for them, the traumatic deaths of several close relatives aside. The murderer is pretty sad, though I feel like Gosho intended him to be more sympathetic than he actually was–he certainly could’ve done with less abuse from his grandfather and been allowed to emotionally invest in his art more, but the cousins thing aside, murdering multiple people over a girl you’ve never even approached marrying somebody else with whom she’s had an actual relationship and is in love with is… not sympathetic. But I’m also glad that the nice chef uncle came out alright too, and that all three of the sympathetic family members reappeared in later cases since they were all very likeable characters.

Moonlight Sonata (062-067): This one sticks in a lot of people’s minds, and I think it’s for the same reason that the haunted mansion case sticks in mine; atmosphere. This is another one with a good, genuinely creepy atmosphere from the immediate sense of “small town with a dark secret” we get as soon as the Mouri Detective Agency arrives on the island. Gosho was very good at building these atmospheres once upon a time, I would’ve liked to see him write a horror manga. The case is deeply tragic from start to finish, from the murders of the Asoh family, to the fact that Seiji/Narumi got the idea for the “curse” from playing a funeral song for a man who’d just had a heart attack after admitting to murdering their family, to the complex nature of Dr Asai’s grief and guilt that they felt the need to avenge their family but simultaneously called for a detective in the hopes that they’d be stopped, to their suicide at the end because they can’t live with what they felt obligated to do. There are Gosho’s usual… issues… with gender, and given the bigotry that became obvious later he probably had no clue at all what he was doing with Dr Asai’s gender, but I feel like they weren’t handled unkindly for an AMAB character living as a woman? I could be wrong and I wanna open this one up to the trans folk in the audience because I’ve never found a trans fan’s commentary on Dr Asai and how they think they were handled, but goddamn I still cry thinking of their suicide at the end and I appreciate that this was a one-off case that had a visible long-term emotional impact on Conan.

Magic Lovers’ Murder Case (192-196): As well as being an interesting murder involving some quite sympathetic characters, this is a really good case for seeing what Kaitou Kid’s like under the mask (or was like; I feel like he’s lost depth since this?) as expressed through Katsuki Doito. He came along to investigate suspicious user activity, but he joined the magic-lovers’ forum because he is a nerd for stage magic and stage magicians and enjoys nerding out about stage magic and stage magicians. He gets to unapologetically fanboy over his late father with other magicians, with is pretty goddamn cute imo. He also gets to show off knowledge and fondness for other magicians, and his knowledge of magic tricks is useful in solving the case, even though, by his own admission, he’s no detective, and it led to tragedy. We don’t really see how Kid felt about being unable to prevent that murder, since he was still being played as pretty mysterious at the time, but it was a good choice for his second appearance in DC imo since it cemented him as Not A Bad Dude. Also, Conan gets to be one of Those Shonen Protagonists by running across a burning bridge, which, y’know, is always cheesy, but also always kinda cool (the artwork was particularly effective imo)

Twilight Mansion (299-302): I genuinely enjoyed the gathering of the knock-off famous detectives and was pleasantly surprised by Hakuba’s appearance (back when I still held out hope that that kind of thing meant that Kid would get more involved in the plot). The mansion itself is actually quite gorgeously designed and rendered, especially at the end when the exterior crumbles, and again, DAT CREEPY ATMOSPHERE. I guess it’s officially plot-important now, too, which I just wanna say, I officially called nine years ago, but also I was hardly the only one calling BO involvement with Karasuma.

Most of all, in general, I just really like watching and reading things involving skilled people being very competent at what they do, so the fact that ALL of the gathered detectives (save that one dead one) figured out what was up and were able to communicate and come up with a plan without revealing themselves to the brilliant detective BEHIND the whole thing, and the execution of that plan, were all very, very good and I liked it. I might reread this one right now, actually, while I’m thinking about it, I really do enjoy it top to bottom.

Golden Apple Case (350-354): PEAK interesting backstory on the part of Vermouth and Yukiko, a reasonably interesting murder, Yukiko’s RAD driving scene, and one of my favourite Ran moments ever. The confrontation with the serial killer/Vermouth is tense as hell, and the fact that Ran reacts instinctively to save his life and just can’t bring herself to drop him and let him die, to be responsible for a death, no matter whose, is a very powerful statement on the integrity of her character. She’s just to her core, and Shinichi does steal the moment a bit by helping her pull the serial killer up and getting the really good “you might need a reason to kill, but you don’t need a reason to save a life” line, but this still feels entirely like a Ran moment for me. We find out later that this incident had a profound effect on Vermouth, too, and is possibly the entire reason she’s hiding Shinichi’s secret from the BO and explicitly the reason she doesn’t want Ran to come to harm. Shame we haven’t had much Vermouth character development in a while because this stuff was JUICY.

Two Cases Under One Moon (429-434): An ICONICALLY good Bo-fightin’ case where everybody involved is putting in Maximum Effort. Heiji puts on an extremely good show as a fake Shinichi (the boy’s an extreme drama queen and Heiji does that very well), Yukiko’s disguise skills are valuable and well-used, we finally get the revelation that Vermouth has been Dr Araide for a while AND that she’s maybe immortal (…not… that we’ve gotten ANYTHING on that since..) AND we get the VERY interesting nature of her feelings concerning Shinichi and Ran. Also, we get Ran so concerned about Ai’s wellbeing that she hides in a car boot and then jumps into gunfire in order to protect her, GOD that’s SUCH a good Ran moment. Shinichi, Jodie and Akai all also get to be very brave and very smart and very badass, and ugh really I just wanna go back to everything about Vermouth in this case and explore more of that forever. Please. Also more Jodie, whose backstory we finally got in this case after revealing that she’s not Vermouth. What is it with interesting women disappearing as soon as their backstory is out MOVING ALONG

Clash of Red and Black (595-609): This case is a cracking case. This one was long and complicated and many-layered and everybody involved was on their highest gears and it was great. Akai and Conan work as a fantastic team and Conan gets free reign to do some very good detective work for the FBI (I still believe he told Akai who he was during this case, it would make sense and undercuts how concerned I am with all of these grown adults letting a six-year-old run all around an active incident). We get a good look at the incredible power and cruelty of the Black Organization when they cause immense collateral damage just to flush the FBI out. We get the story on both Akemi and Akai’s relationship AND the Hondo family, and OH BOY THE HONDO FAMILY.

It’s also one of the most interesting Eisuke cases, imo, where not only does he do some solid investigation to find Mizunashi Rena, we get a glimpse of some real deep trauma over losing his last family member that’s driven him to be willing to attack Rena with scissors out of desperation to get answers about what happened to his father and sister. I mean, I am most definitely not advocating stabbing coma patients, but for Eisuke a lot of the trauma of your whole beloved family dying or disappearing was just implied and not explored, and then he got booted from the series immediately after things got interesting with him, so bleh. We also barely see Hidemi after this, and ?????????? because she’s a CIA agent who’s in DEEP to the BO after surviving a HORRIFYING situation where she has to proudly boast of murdering a man who was secretly her FATHER, who SACRIFICED HIS LIFE TO PROTECT HER… why are we dicking around so much with Mystery Family instead of exploring this one??? This case is kind of the last hurrah for anything interesting happening with the Hondos so I love it for that.

And I love the complicated counter-bluff involved in delivering Kir back to the Black Organization without looking like they were delivering her. Again, this was apparently in exchange for her assisting the FBI and she barely appears after this…? Nope this isn’t about salting at Gosho moving on

The Life-Threatening Broadcast of Love (804-808): I love this one solely and 300% for the part where Miwako Sato jumps out of a helicopter, shoots a noose off of her boyfriend’s neck, grabs him, wraps her coat around him to protect them and knocks both of them out of the range of a bomb blast at the last second, like the goddamn action hero that she is.

So in no particular order, those are my top ten: how about the rest of you?

#peggaboo #detective conan

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theangry-ace · 7 years ago

Text

R18 drama cd short review

I actually wrote this with other aro and/or aces in mind, but then again I never met or talked to another non-sex repulsed aces and I don’t know if they do this type of p0rn. so this is just a short review from a new fan for new fans who just need a title to start. I tried not to be too spoilerific.

you can sampled everything from airavalky.

nobody asked but here’s part 2. part 1 is here.

Hatsukare ecchi [finished, maybe] story: 4/5 icha icha; 4/5 review: story is pretty cute. younger type guy. theme is sharing all the first times with this dude.

Hetare dakedo Suki na Kare [finished] story; 5/5 icha icha; 4/5 review; abt a passive/low self esteem office worker guy and his web designer girl who is quite the opposite of him, personality-wise. the whole story is sweet imo since the girl never forced the bf to 'man up' or some shit but rather let him has his time and pace and give encouragement whenever necessary. i'm all about this positive relationship. plus points for tetrapot<3

Honnou no kajitsu [finished, maybe] story: 4 / 5 icha icha: so much sex / 5 review: concept is someone ate a fruit and personality got a 180 degree change. story is interesting... if you can get over the sex in every tracklist. buckle up! vol.1 (sawa manaka) = storywise this is the best. guy started as a selfish asshole who treats his girl like a toy. he ate a mystery apple and changed for the better in the end. vol.2 = a friend with benefit between a office worker and her boss. not much story here i think but guy started as a bully then after mystery fruit he wanted to be the one bullied? vol.3 = this is a 3P. a drunk/drugged type. i dont do much 3P to compare but this one has anal if that's your concern. i'm not comfortable at how kinda forceful/not sober this one is. vol.4 (aoi yuuma) = can't really catch what is their relationship together but it started out nice and ero but after track 5, fucked up twist happen. you can already guess what it is at this point. dude also mentioned about the mystery fruits but i can't quite catch if it's his creation or not.

In the room [finished] story: 5/5 icha icha; 5/5 review: i never expected to cry to a porn but i did. i would never have expected such a sad story from a drama cd's cover art so generic. def give this a try if you want story. it started out strangely direct with the sexing but later you learned that the guy is desperate for a good reason. chasuke really did a convincing acting i cried for him. the story is about a girl asked to come to a mansion to meet a guy. she has no memory of him but somehow he knows everything there is about her.

Incubus lullaby [finished, maybe] story; 4/5 icha icha: 4/5 review: well i like it. kinda need a sequel though. basically abt a girl dumped by her bf so suddenly and a strange man approached her and they had a one night stand. the guy kept finding her later and revealed to be an incubus. dont quite catch the why he chose her though.

Inma [finished, maybe] story; 1/5 icha icha: only sex and more / 5 (bonus 3P) review: interesting concept of two polar opposites character voiced by one actor, but my brain got fucked halfway it kinda made me uncomfortable. if you just need the porn and not really the story, here is a good choice. trigger warning, some might passed over the rape borderline.

Kannou shousetsuka [finished, maybe] story; 3/5 icha icha; 4/5 review; there's two volumes that i can find and my current level of japanese can't really tell if they're continuation of one another or independent to its plot. both is abt the same guy, an erotic novelist, and a girl i assume his girlfriend and his work's fan who is also the muse. he'd ask her to play out a scene he wanted to get the surreal image for his writing or something. one volume is abt outdoor sex while the other is bondage. the bondage one ends pretty badly since he went overboard and scarred her. always have a safeword, kids.

Kangoku [finished] story: 3/5 icha icha: 3/5 review: when i see tetrapot i just instantly believed i would like it. but then this is not the type of story i am comfortable to enjoy. story is about a town/city conquered i think and girls got snatched up to be made sex slave at prison... i think. our guy is supposed to be the 'nice' ones bc he said unlike other guys he dont hit and injure his pets. good to hear that, dude, you want a cookie? anyway there's another plot going on that lead to our guy murdering his superior but by then i lost my interest completely.

Kare pillow story; too many volumes to rate but as general 4/5 icha icha: too many volumes to rate but as general 4/5 review: a pretty big series and there's lots of good voices and the story is pretty good too. first volume is car sex. i have no idea that's a thing. also this is where i got into Hirai. he very moany but voice is very sweet.

Kare to soine de shitai koto zenbu story: 3/5 icha icha: 4/5 review: just sex in bed but with various voices to meet your likings. kinda sweet.

Kimi no te de iyashite [finished] story: 4/5 icha icha: 3/5 review: aww it's about a guy, played by domon, taking care of his girlfriend who got hurt from a fall down the stairs at work i think. the sex right at the end which is rather unnecessary at that point imo.

Kioku no fiance [finished] story; 5/5 icha icha; 4/5 review; storywise is very good. the girl was to marry a first born of a family but he died before they do. so the most logical thing is to let her marry the younger brother instead??? the younger brother has personal problems in living in his brother's shadow. together though they got through everything and i dont ask much more than this for a happy ending.

Koakumakei danshi [finished] story; 3 / 5 icha icha: 4/5 review; the type of character i like sawa mannaka to play as. a kouhai from school with a liking to tease the girl. sawa fits best as playful toshishita in my book. basically abt a guy who found his crush back in school drinking alone, then later... well you know what comes next. what ~ always ~ comes next after a love confession lol.

Koibito vs nijigen story: 5/5 icha icha; 5/5 review; repeat after me, if you want lol in ur drama cd, pls find one with murano. this one i'm pretty sure has a second volume but the one i have with murano is basically abt a guy whose gf is a fujoshi and he tried his best trying to imitate her fav 2D bf to make her like him better. made me think that i really really want to buy all of murano's work.

Koibito miman [finished, maybe] story; 4/5 icha icha: 3/5 review: i think the theme is how a couple was born. yuuki (asagi yuu) - this was the first time i got to know asagi and he's very calming. it's about two ppl who never got their feelings honestly conveyed, their friends had to lie to them abt their group trip to a ryoukan, just so they have the privacy and time alone together. saeki - they're osanajimi but with a large age gap between them. dude was very worried when he noticed he no longer sees the girl as a little sister he needs to protect and more like a woman he wanted as a wife. tachibana (sawa manaka) - guy is a very cheerful and tease a lot but he actually has feelings for his senpai from part time work. he'd go through a fucking typhoon to make sure the girl will be okay since she lived alone and had stepped on broken glass when the electricity cuts off. he is best dude bc he gives girl her own time to think abt what to feel abt him.

Kyokugen joutai [finished] story: in spaaaaceee / 5 icha icha: zero gravity sex / 5 review; interesting concept but kinda fell flat halfway. i think we started in a colony or something in space but something blew up so the guy and the girl ran to an emergency pod and drifted in space. zero gravity sex later, some spaceship did came to pick them up but weirdly can only take one of them. guy wanted for the girl to go but she refused so they drifted again. i haven’t actually got to the last track (got disinterested at this point) so idk if they survive or not.

Kyuuketsuki night parade [finished, maybe] story: 5/5 icha icha; 5/5 review: ok. i like the concept of vampires now (fuck you senbura) and this is a very good series. pls do more. please make more vampire shitttttt. anyway, there’s a ball in a mansion and some ppl would find themselves in there unconsciously. it was actually how the vampires lured human into their realm to find a mate. vol.1 = a very cheery guy who's very happy to find out the girl is a vampire and offered to be her mate. i like this one best but it does gets to you when he talks about how he had friends and family and wanted to tell them abt everything even after the girl kept saying he can't ever get out of the vampire's world anymore. did he want to stay or not?? vol.2 = ...honestly this one is not that interesting I barely remembers anything. I’ll give it another chance later. vol.3 = this is the deepest voice i've listened to. guy is actually a vampire hunter who at first planned to murder every vampires in the mansion bc of his vengeance of his entire family's death.

#drama cd hell #reviews #drama cd #someone please help me from this fandom

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