#with how many tragic characters in here and also the interesting ways you can fit two or more characters together to deal in this world

[fishareglorious]

r1999 pacific rim au anyone?

[theresattrpgforthat]

Any TTRPGs where 'Genderfuckery' (i.e. playing around with gender in some form - trans characters, nb characters, in-game genderbending, crossdressing, etc etc - anything that 'fucks around' with gender and conventional ideas of gender) is a central mechanic or thematic element in some form?

Heaven is Here, by Rae Nedjadi.

This is a game that is deeply stepped in magical surrealism, it is desperately mundane, it is laughter in a coffee shop, and sacrifices made to the moon. It is friendship bound up in art, in gender, and what it means to be human.

This game uses the Belonging Outside Belonging system, which encourages collaborative storytelling with simple rules. You are artists, people made of many layers caught up in entanglements with one another. You are magical beings, because to create art is to create magic. Art is expression and creation, tied intimately with who you are and who you wish to be. Discover what inspires you and what holds you back. What does your art mean to you? How do you feel about the art others create? What new forms of inspiration will you uncover?

Rae describes gender in this game as ever shifting. As artists, your gender is connected to your art and what you love. It is a game about big questions in mundane scenarios, called Moments. Currently there are four playbooks and four Moments, as the game is still in development, so it is likely best experienced in a smaller group.

Giant Metal Bodies, by TheGiftofGabes.

You have a Giant Metal Body. If you run out of juice, you’ll probably die, but you might just flee to die another day. If you survive at the end of your mission, it doesn’t matter. The war will continue to try and kill you another time. If you die, it doesn’t matter. The war doesn’t care about your sacrifice.

Giant Metal Bodies is a game about what it means to be a Giant Metal Body in a war much bigger than you, that doesn't care about you, and which will destroy you no matter what.

I know that there’s been a lot of talk about trans allegories in mech stories, so this game feels like a very fitting way to talk about the trans experience using tragic themes. It was also submitted to the Trans Fucking Rage Jam on Itch a year or so back, which likely has a number of submissions that you might find interesting!

Expanse, by TheTrueToad.

Expanse" is a short solo-RPG made for pondering and expressing one's own gender. Create an expansive map of values, colors, and textures for the landscape of your gender.

I love the example aspects that you can choose from in this game. You have your traditional genders, such as Masculine, Feminine, and Androgynous, but you also have options such as Purple, Timid, Voidlike and Witty. You will map out a landscape that represents your gender by drawing from a regular deck of playing cards, and reading the associated prompts. Each house in the deck responds to a different categories of aspects. I definitely am interested in how this game can provide alternate ways to think about gender; and you can create a lovely map along the way!

This game was made for the Trans Joy Jam, the counterpart for the Trans Rage Jam.

Elf Genders, by Lucian Kahn.

Elf Genders is a worldbuilding tool for creating your own new systems of fantasy genders. Most humans are women, men, or nonbinary, but maybe elves are… something else? Elf Genders helps you decide what!

This is not an rpg, but if you want to fuck with the genders of your fantasy game, this is a great place to start. This is a game session (or sessions, if you get really into it) to help you establish a setting and lore details of your elven folk, and what gender means for an elf. If you or your game group already have a game in mind, this is definitely worth looking at.

AetherNet, by Legendary Vermin.

The Internet as we know it ceased to exist after The Incursion, and in its place the sprawling Virtual Hyperreality of the Æthernet stretches horrible and festering in every direction. Plumb its depths in search of riches, miracles and ruins that the keepers of the mundane world will pay heartily for, just beware of the Daemons and UNGODS waiting for you in its depths, hoping to bend and shape your flesh to their own ends.

Make a character in seconds, ruin them for hours. The Player Book contains the minimum essential rules and setting information, and the Ref's Handbook fills in the other rules and tables you need to run the game.

The game itself takes place in a dystopian cyberpunk future where magic and technology are connected - and dangerous. There is actually a section in AetherNet titled “Genders” that asks you to roll 1d2 (or flip a coin) and roll a d6. This will give you one out of 12 options for your gender, which include options such as “a daemon bound you into a pact” or “once, you were a ship or space station and its crew”. Your Gender can also be changed or corrupted as you play, gaining qualities such as “without fear” or “too persuasive.” This is the most wild example of gender I’ve seen in a game so far, and I definitely recommend you check it out.

Sleepaway, by Possum Creek Games.

Sleepaway gives us long hazy days, chilled summer nights, kids screaming and chasing fireflies, crackling campfires, and a gaunt, cruel monstrosity forever hiding just out of sight, always asking, “What do you do next?”

In Sleepaway, you play as a group of camp counselors at a not-so-ordinary summer camp besieged by a strange and ominous cryptid, the monstrous Lindworm. It is a GMless horror game for 3-6 players, which uses the Belonging Outside Belonging system created by Avery Alder and Ben Rosenbaum. In it, players take control of not only their characters (which include archetypes like the Lifeguard, the Songleader, the Crafter, or the Athlete) but also the world around them, picking up Setting Elements to react to their friend's decisions. As the game goes on, the players also invite the Lindworm to play with them, causing horrific events to callously occur throughout the place space.

A Belonging Outside Belonging game, Sleepaway is a game that can be played without a GM, because each player will pick up a setting element sheet and be responsible for it throughout game play. This is the closest to what I was looking for when it came to gender, because your characters have gender options such as “A Robin,” and “A Particular Colour.” The game itself is a great setting to explore danger and liminal spaces, as summer camps are excellent places for self-discovery, as they take place away from your typical surroundings. Also, Possum Creek Games has a well-deserved reputation for making games that play well and make you feel something. You should definitely check it out.

Games I've Recommended in the Past

Women are Werewolves, by 9th Level Games.

Wanderhome, by Possum Creek Games.

Blood Feud, by Bläckfisk Publishing.

Gay Crime, Sapphics Against Capital, by Evey Lockhart.

Here, There Be Monsters! by wendi yu.

Dream Askew / Dream Apart, by Buried Without Ceremony.

[perplexingly]

Ok so you like self destructive tragic characters right. Self inflicted trauma on top of external trauma type stuff. (I've been thinking about Anders lately and you described him this way and I. can't stop thinking about it.) Can you elaborate on this type of characterization and what exactly makes a character written this way successful and not come off as just incompetent, frustrating or pure evil? I've found myself keeping an eye out for more characters like this but I haven't found any more that aren't shoved squarely in the "evil villain" box both by their source material and their fandom. As a character creator myself I'd love to write more characters like that and given how much you seem to appreciate them I'd love to hear your input. (Hope this ask isn't too weird, I just love well rounded characters that don't fit the status quo and I'll take that wherever I can get it.)

(Also, I've been replaying Skyrim recently before getting back into DA and once again our gaming interests have somehow realigned and all your posts about Enderal are tempting me to try it myself. I'm curious what mods you use, if any beyond Enderal itself? Your posts are the first I've heard of it so I'm not sure if it's even recommended to use mods lol, but I thought it was worth the ask)

Hello! Yes I love characters like that, but I’m afraid I won’t give you the analysis you need, I don’t have many thoughts in my head…

I think that characters like these do come off as all these things you mentioned (just look at all the Anders discourses around, or how Hamlet is perceived as indecisive and pathetic, Captain Ahab as insane, and Victor Frankenstein as “the real monster”), but regardless are still compelling, maybe because they often have very strong convictions, embody that “road to hell is paved with good intentions” proverb? Some of them are also just straight up charismatic (and often kind too!) and it’s easy to like that, though I don’t think that’s a necessary trait to find them interesting. (Anders came off as charming in Awakening as well, but then again, I liked the way he acted in DA2 more). Oh another thing is that they’re almost always the thing that moves the story forward.

Of the top off my head I can think mostly of self destructive characters in classic literature but I’m sure every media and every time period has plenty. Besides previously mentioned I’d also consider characters such as Captain Nemo (by the end of the story at least, for the most part he’s presented as noble and high-functioning), Jekyll of Jekyll&Hyde, Marlowe’s Faust (this one is 100% self inflicted without much external tragedy), any protagonist of any Dostoevsky book, maybe Balladyna (she’s a villainess akin to Macbeth though), maybe Orestes and Electra

Oh for modern works, definitely Captain Flint from Black Sails, Tolkien’s Turin (though there is a literal curse on his family line), Mrs Danvers from Rebecca, maybe Fitz from RotE (though he is more passive than any other character I listed here). I’m sure there are much better examples, it was all off the top of my head though :D

About Enderal, yesss I recommend it highly!! I didn’t use any mods, but there’s a bunch on Nexus (it has a separate page from Skyrim, though I believe Skyrim mods should work as well??). Enderal is more akin to a stand alone game than a mod though, for me it took 60hrs to beat and I didn’t do all of the side quests/didn’t meet all of the named npcs 🥹

Also, good luck with your endeavors!!

[themattress]

Re:Celestia Ludenberg, GOD DAMN IT!

So this happened again over 5 years later, this time on a short video centered around Celeste's character. And while I am glad that we're at a point where damn near every commentator is able to say "No, that's wrong!" since Character Perception Evolution toward her has become widely spread toward what I said also 5 years ago, I also wanted to spare some thought as to why the misunderstandings even occur among people. Whose fault is it?

The answer: half Kazutaka Kodaka's fault and half the people themselves' fault.

I think Kodaka writes Celeste in the original Trigger Happy Havoc game wonderfully. But you know what he didn't write wonderfully? Chapter 3. It started "Chapter 3 syndrome" and why I'd argue it's the best of the lot, that still doesn't make it good. And this sadly extends to how he ended up depicting Celeste's role in it. Beyond leaning way too hard into her not being as competent as she would like to be to the point where the case itself is too easy to solve and thus frustrating to go through for players after the legitimately spooky set-up, there's the matter of the girl behind the facade. We have seen glimpses of Taeko Yasuhiro in the prior chapters and Celeste's FTEs, but now when it really needs to shine through to clarify how twisted yet tragic a character she is, it mainly just comes through in her raging breakdown. Thus while we do also get her humbled acceptance of defeat and her whole parting words that hint at deeper reasons than greed for her turn to villainy and buried affection for her classmates despite trying to get them killed, it's overshadowed for many by how pronounced the crazy side of her was, and so the impression that makes + her lies as she tries to remain in-character as Celeste to the end = the "she's just a fucking psychopath" misinterpretation. Tellingly, the manga, anime and stage show versions all pronounce the true sad reality of Taeko more, and all without losing the fun of her crazy side, so I definitely prefer those here.

But as for how it’s the people themselves' fault? Beyond many of them just being dumb?

Umineko's motto fits perfectly here. Celestia Ludenberg is egocentric, condescending, and all-around off-putting, and that's before she becomes a villain who tells some truly heinous lies and works some insidious manipulations in a plan that leaves two dead and with more intended just to achieve a ridiculous, shallow dream. Her design, voice and manner of speaking are all pleasant, but otherwise, let's be honest - she's a difficult person to love.

However, almost every other character in the game is the same. Chihiro and initially Sayaka aside, all the students have truly glaring personality flaws that can easily turn people off of them...heck, three of them (Byakuya, Toko, and "Junko" once the truth about her is revealed) are even worse than Celeste. But the game still invites you to love them; to learn to love them through FTEs and interactions during trials, to say nothing of School Mode (which btw wasn't in the original Japanese PSP release of the game and is thus an absolute God-send.)

You really do have to love Celeste, or at least want to, in order to be motivated to put in the work of uncovering the truth about her. Makoto gets halfway there, but the rest is on you. Kodaka has been open about that: as the Queen of Liars there is almost always different thoughts and feelings that contradict her words and actions, and you have to actively engage with her as a character in order to sort those out, with the end result being a regular, introverted, socially awkward and somewhat childish teenage girl with no self-esteem who desperately wants to live as what she believes to be a more interesting, important and memorable (even if bitchy) character, and whose fears and insecurities surrounding the environment she was trapped in did more to push her into villainy than the allure of money.

Without love for Celeste, flaws and all, Taeko cannot be seen.

[quibbs126]

I think I’m too influenced by other people’s opinions

I mean yeah, I know that, but I mean this specifically in the case of my current fixation, aka Transformers, and that I really don’t know what to think on it anymore

Not about whether it’s good or bad in general, but more how should the story and characters be interpreted, and what were poor decisions or not

Like for example, Megatron. I was thinking about making this its own post today, but it fits here. I feel like having my first two pieces of media I consume in this current dive into Transformers being Transformers One (where we see the tragic fall of D-16 and I’m really invested in him and Orion’s bond and just want to see them get back together, and also this version of him has done relatively very little so it’s a lot easier to redeem him) and then after that Transformers Earthspark (where we start out the series with redeemed Megatron and we almost always see him in a positive light, plus it’s the only non doomed megop) is the main reason why I’m so invested in Megatron as a character and want him to have redemption stories. Like I feel like if I started with another show, I might not feel this way. I might still appreciate him as a villain, I like him in Animated, but he would not be my (I think) assigned mess of a character I obsess over and want good things to happen to

Because it’s like, I want him to have a redemption story, I want to see him turn to the good side (and probably kiss Optimus idk. I would be open to other options if there’s others). But a part of me also recognizes that Megatron is definitely not the most deserving Decepticon of that title; Starscream at least deserves it more than him. And to top it off there’s the problem of him committing so many war crimes and atrocities that gets really hard to justify him getting any sort of happy ending that redemptions usually come with. TFOne Megs is like the one with the least amount of that problem, but it’s probably not going to become common

And also when I say this, I don’t mean I want it for every version of Megatron. I’m saying that when I try to make up stories or my own version of a continuity, this is what I want to do

Like it’s to the point where I’m trying to invent in my mind characters to be more evil than Megatron or be above him so that he can get that redemption, until I realize that what I’m doing would better fit another character. Megatron is supposed to that big bad evil, it’s literally what he’s here for

So I think that wanting this is a bad thing and I just shouldn’t do it. But then I also see other people who think the story of Megatron having a redemption is an interesting idea, meaning that it is something that has merit. So I don’t know now whether I should. Can you give Megatron a believable redemption story or not? And does it depend on whether you need to tweak him to polish out some of his big flaws?

Though it’s gotten to the point where upon reflection, I think my issue isn’t necessarily wanting it, it’s the way I want it as opposed to how it should be done. I think I’m gonna need to find more interpretations of redemption Megatron to really see how it should be done, because I know what I want probably isn’t the best for the story. As far as official media goes, I assume my best bet is IDW, since that’s the one that actually introduced the concept and showed the redemption. But even then, I wouldn’t know what’s considered a good version of this idea and what isn’t until someone tells me

Crap I spent a bit too long on this topic. I actually had a second one to mention. Well, since we’re here anyways, might as well

The other big point of contention for me is the matter of the origins of the Deception cause

Because personally, I like the idea of it starting out as a noble cause, and/or at least the idea of the Decepticons not being pure evil and more a group of Transformers with differing opinions and morals from the Autobots

But then you come to the issue that: they’re literally called Decepticons and they’re supposed to be the bad guys, no matter what sympathetic backstory you may give them. They only aren’t the bad guys when something else more evil shows up, and that’s usually only temporary

Like, to borrow words I heard elsewhere, how do you believe in your cause with a name like that? It’s so evil sounding, and how do you justify giving them a name like that? And for the second point, what does it say when these guys are ultimately supposed to be the villains?

And like I’ve seen people criticize the more modern backstories given to the Decepticons and by proxy Megatron, in part because they’re the villains. From what I understand, in Aligned, the Decepticon cause started from a genuine want by the lower class citizens for equal rights and a distaste for their genuinely absolutely corrupt government who didn’t care about them. It is essentially a worker’s revolution, and them being violent doesn’t necessarily make them evil, as we have historical proof that taking violent action has ultimately worked to change things for the better in our society (though it also isn’t always the solution, just that it has worked before). So what does it say when these people, at least later, become the objective villains of the story? And what does it say when the Autobots, the good guys of the story, weren’t largely made up of this group of people fighting for equal rights? Yes, Optimus agreed with their initial stance and worked with them because he genuinely believed in their cause, but he wasn’t a low class bot, Megatron was

Like I understand that criticism when it’s spelled out like that. And not to mention, it is a bit ridiculous trying to justify a name like Decepticons, just when you look at it on paper

If they had a more neutral sounding name, like the Autobots, we wouldn’t be in this situation. But it was the 80s and they needed an obvious bad guy name and we’re never going to get rid of it, so

But also I really think you’re losing something by just having the Decepticons be evil and nothing more, and their cause being nothing more than conquest and other evil things. But then where do you draw the line so you don’t go to the point where you’re questioning why they’re the bad guys? I just don’t know

I’m realizing now that these issues I’m bringing up are just things that probably require nuance if you want to execute them well. Maybe that’s the reason they confuse me; I have no moderation and can only go one extreme or the other, unless someone tells me what the correct balance is

But my point was, I have thoughts on how I want Transformers things to be done, but I don’t know what the correct way to do them actually is, probably because I listen to too many people with a bunch of different view points because I just want to see all sides of an argument

And now it’s left me unable to truly know what I think, because I just don’t know who’s right

I feel like maybe I just need to take a step back and just watch the shows without sticking too deep into the fandom to figure out my own personal opinions and what I’d want to do. But at the same time, I’m ass at binging these shows right now and I can’t not interact with the fandom, I need the content

[energydrinkking]

Furina's constellations and their meanings!

Furina is known for having extremely long constellation names. Many know that all these names are taken from operas and songs, in character for Furina since she loves operas and arts in general. But… is there more behind it? Here are my thoughts on the constellations and how they fit her story and character!

C1: “Love is a rebellious bird that none can tame”, the lyrics are taken word by word from the opera “Carmen”. The lyrics of the opera often reference love as multiple things at the same time. “Love does not know law!”. “Love is far, you can wait for it”. “Love is a child”. The opera itself deals with proletarian life, immorality, lawlessness and the tragic death of the main character on stage. Furina’s love for Fontaine does not know law. She impersonated a god, which is punishable, but she still did for her people. Her love for her people cannot be tamed by law, or by anyone. She would choose to act out this painful act another 500 years if it meant that her people would be safe.

C2: “A woman adapts like duckweed in water”, the name is a stretched-out version of the opera “Rigoletto”, the original title of the opera is called “La maledizione” (The Curse). it deals with a curse that was put on the main character, and it only comes to fruition when Gilda (the female love interest) starts falling in love with him, he is then saved by her, sacrificing her own life for him. Sound familiar, no? A curse, a prophecy, a sacrifice. Furina fits all these themes in one way. Furina also, quite literally, adapts to any situation thrown at her (like duckweed in water).

C3: “My secret is hidden within me, no one will know my name“, the sentence is taken word by word from the opera “Turandot”. The opera follows the Prince Calaf, who falls in love with the cold Princess Turandot In order to win her hand in marriage, he must solve three riddles, with a wrong answer resulting in his execution. Calaf passes the test, but Turandot refuses to marry him. He offers her a way out: if she is able to guess his name before dawn the next day, he will accept death. Furina often uses her God name “Focalor” when describing herself, to keep her image as a god. In the opera, the main character is glad that the princess doesn’t know his name. However, in Furina’s case, she is probably saddened by the fact that she can’t let anyone know her “real” name. Everyone knows the name “Furina” but do they really KNOW “Furina”?

C4: “They know not life, who dwelt in the netherworld not!”, is a retelling of the ancient legend of Orpheus and Eurydice and comes from “Orpheus in the Underworld” Orpheus in the play is portrayed as carefree, indifferent to the loss of his wives, even eager to escape the constraints of marriage. This might draw parallels with Furina who, to the people of Fontaine, appeared inactive in the face of Poisson's disasters.

C5: “His name I now know! It is…!“ the sentence is also taken word by word from the same opera as the C3, “Turandot”. The princess finally learns his name at the end of the final act. She uses the words “It is… love!” I 100% believe this is a reference to Neuvillette.  With her C3, where she is telling everyone that no one will ever know her name, and in this constellation, she seems weirdly happy about knowing someone’s name… or in better words: knowing someone. Seeing Neuvillette grow as a person and learn to love humans as much as she does. She now knows the true Neuvillette, the one who loves and adores humans. As she has a close relationship with Neuvillette, he can open himself up to her, he has no secrets that he must keep from her. Many fontainians have tried to get close to him, but all have been rejected. No one knows his full name, except for Furina. She, however, cannot ever let Neuvillette get to know the real her. Her secret is hidden within her.

C6: “hear me – let us raise the chalice of love!” is a duet from “La traviata” and is considered a brindisi (a song that encourages drinking). Now, this is going to sound lazy but I feel like this constellation name is something Furina would say out of the blue when she’s drinking alcohol. Clorinde once had to stop her from getting up on the table when she was drinking too much. I also want to mention that Furina, who has acted as someone she was not, may fall back into that character. It was also mentioned in Furina’s voice-overs that she sometimes cannot separate the real Furina with the “god” Furina.

These are my thoughts!

[i-heart-hxh]

Hi again! I've had this thought in terms of hxh meta that I personally have not seen discussed, so I'm gonna dump it here for you! There's an underlying theme I've noticed of characters throughout the series being one that lost their other halves. Like, most obvious, Leorio and Kurapika lost their childhood best friends. Melody lost her friend to the devil's music. We see Nobunaga lose Uvogin, and so on. So Killua saving Gon instead of letting him die after CAA seems to be a "breaking the cycle" so to speak, although I'm not sure what that would even mean! Nothing much to say besides those details I've noticed, but I wanted to know if you had thoughts? Or perhaps it's just an interesting background detail that is up in the air in terms of being significant?

Hello, thank you so much for sending an ask again! I've put some thought into this topic as well, so I'm happy you brought this up! How I'm answering this is both somewhat abstract and far-reaching in the series so it's a little difficult to summarize and express simply, but I hope you and others might get some meaning out of it!

I strongly believe that one of HxH's great overarching themes is the transformational power of love and how it grants people second chances in life. In this post I'm referring to love in a broader sense, not just romantic love, as of course many different types of love are portrayed and have deep importance in HxH. We see the theme of transformative love in so many different relationships and instances that it's difficult to even summarize them--a few examples are Gon and Killua, Meruem and Komugi, Meruem and his Royal Guard, Ging and Kite, Killua and Ikalgo, even in less major character pairs like Ging and Razor (Razor: "Ging taught me it took only one person, one person in the entire world who will trust you, to save you.") and Kite and Koala, but that's only scraping the surface. I reblogged a previous wonderful meta that pointed out the domino effect of Killua's act of kindness towards Ikalgo, which ended up changing the ultimate trajectory of humanity's war against the Chimera Ants. This is a great example of this theme in action!

But of course, while meeting and loving someone can transform that person's whole life, so also can losing someone significant. It can set someone on a completely different life track than they would have been on had they not lost them--Kurapika, Leorio, Senritsu, the Phantom Troupe (especially with their flashback in recent chapters), Gon and Kite, Kacho and Fugetsu (though this hasn't played out all the way yet) come to mind, but there are many more throughout the series as well. Not all of the losses that fit into this are someone losing their other half/most important person, but there's a solid enough percentage that it certainly seems to be a trend Togashi is establishing and exploring.

It's difficult to explore one of these themes in depth and with honesty without the other--love happens, loss of loved ones happens, both are deeply transformative, and both can ultimately be placed under the broader umbrella of the transformative power of love. After all, if losing a person causes someone's entire life path to change, chances are they loved them a great deal and the force behind the change that occurs in their life is the love and grief they still feel after the loss.

HxH has many tragic elements and Togashi certainly doesn't shy away from the heart-wrenching and long-lasting results of loss, but I think it's fair to say from the 400 chapters we have so far that HxH's themes are not ultimately tragic and hopeless on this topic by any means. In HxH:

Death is not always insurmountable, i.e., Kite, the Chimera Ants in general

The life path one ends up on after a major loss need not be a tragic one, i.e. Leorio deciding to be a doctor and help children in poverty as a result of losing his friend

Death in itself can be an act of love, i.e. Meruem and Komugi, Netero and humanity

Even if one ends up on a dark path as a result of loss, that doesn't mean they can't be saved by someone else's love for them, i.e., Gon and Killua, this could also end up being the trajectory for Kurapika and Leorio potentially?

With Gon and Killua, their whole relationship is based on them transforming each other and giving each other second chances:

Gon saving Killua simply by not judging him, befriending him, and showing him another life path

Gon retrieving Killua from the Zoldyck family when Killua's resolve broke down because of Illumi

Killua pulling the needle of out of his head out of sheer love for and desire to protect Gon

And of course Killua not allowing Gon to die, simultaneously saving him and transforming Alluka's life.

(And Killua's ability to save and help Alluka is of course, a direct result of the kindness Gon extended to Killua and the love Killua has for Gon.)

There's no way to know for certain what will happen in their future, but I definitely think their relationship has one more transformation in it at least, in the form of a reunion and reconciliation.

So, in summary, I think these themes of someone losing a person who was their other half and how one continues to live after that are another way of exploring the broader theme of what it means to love someone and be transformed by meeting them, which I see as a primary theme of HxH. I also think some of these relationships are intended to be comparisons to or foils of Gon and Killua's relationship in a sense (especially Kurapika and Pairo and Kacho and Fugetsu, but others as well), expanding on the themes of their relationship and how a love that deep affects people, both in beautiful and in deeply painful ways.

[littleaipom]

Propaganda post about my fave medias time! [#1]

Hiiii, I just wanna talk about and recommend some things I like on my blog here! I don't always draw fanart for everything that I like and find inspiring, but I like sharing what I feel are gems with others. (the gifs im adding arent mine)

I've got a small handful of movies that involve animals and a predator+prey relationship, with plenty of cute moments mixed with heart-aching moments. They're all animated kids movies with the potential to hit pretty hard. There's something tragic to the way each movie acknowledges nature and has a character try and fight the standard order of things.

One Stormy Night

Over time, this one has become my favorite of these. This movie can provide such an unexpected comfort with how it approaches friendship as something that can transcend all else, and not need any complex reason to exist. It centers around a friendship between a wolf and goat, from how they first become friends and into how they have to fight to keep their friendship. The art style and protagonists are adorable and goofy, maintaining a delightful levity and earnestness throughout the whole movie. There is still plenty of drama surrounding their romeo-and-juliet-type relationship, and the lengths these characters go to to be friends is captivating. I rewatch this movie every now and then and it still manages to make me cry through it's earnestness and the truths it speaks to.

You are Umasou

The art style for this is extremely bright, unrealistic, cartoony, and adorable. The story is similarly cartoony, and yet it hits on some very grounded topics about family, facing difficult truths, and finding your own path in life even if it doesnt fit what's conventional. This movie gets bonus points from me for having two main predator+prey relationships that mirror each other. It's heartwarming and silly and has plenty of entertaining action moments with a good dose of drama. It's really charming and sticks with me.

Chirin's Bell

Heads up, this one is bleaker than the rest, and I love it for it's tragedy(behind the very cute artstyle for the sheep, no less). The protaganist sheep starts from an understandable position where he is tired of being the prey, the victim. His journey to do something about it pushes him to see and do things he never would have done otherwise. And it's this path he takes that has both impressive and unintended consequences. The film seems to pose questions like "is it better to live in ignorance if you can?", "how far will you go to ensure you can't be hurt again?", and "how do you reconcile with abandoning your origins?". The ending feels inevitable and yet haunting all the same.

Leafie: A Hen into the Wild

This one has held up for me perhaps the least, due to it's specific brand of cartoony-ness and unexpected gross factor(this ties into the original vs english/censored versions of the movie. arguably it's a personal preference thing in the end, but i'm actually glad i watched the censored version first.) However, it has still hit home for me several times before and deserves it's credit! The movie tackles the idea of remaining locked inside a system vs living free in the wild where there are many more dangers and mistakes to be made. It also focuses heavily on motherhood, where love and selflessness win in a fight against the uncaring and unmoving whims of others and nature itself. The protagonist's determination to be free and live the life she wants despite her ignorance and the pain it causes her is very moving to me. There is tragedy sprinkled thru the movie and yet it's underscored by how the protagonist is resolved see it all as worthwhile. The movie is often goofy, often dramatic, and overall bittersweet.

So yeah, check them out if any sound interesting! ^^

[thelordofgifs]

On Maglor’s Fate

(and why it’s a good thing)

I’ve seen several excellent posts by people far more knowledgeable about HoME than I pointing out that Maglor’s fate in the published silm – wandering the shores in eternal lament – was in fact taken by Christopher Tolkien from a single draft of the legendarium, and that JRRT’s later conception of Maglor’s fate was that he died by suicide at the same time as Maedhros, casting himself into the sea along with his Silmaril. This is a very good point, but despite the fandom’s general lack of adherence to published silm canon (see the prevalence of crispy Amrod truthers, or the lack of consensus on Gil-galad’s parentage) most people seem to have cleaved rather strongly to the idea of Maglor’s survival. Why?

Well, I would like to argue, because it’s SO much more interesting.

Of course, your headcanons are valid! If you prefer thinking that Maglor died at the end of the First Age, go for it; most of the texts support you! But for all the Maglor girlies (gender-neutral) out there, here’s a non-exhaustive list of reasons why Maglor’s survival is better, more satisfying storytelling, and you should continue to cling to this one outdated draft of the silm.

It fits Maglor’s arc better. For such a popular character, I always find it interesting that Maglor is only really developed in the final chapter of the silm – but what we do get in that final chapter is so fascinating. He takes pity on Elrond and Elros, he speaks against stealing the Silmarils, and, most pertinently to my point here, he effectively relinquishes his claim to Eärendil’s Silmaril. The straight line from "its glory is seen now by many, and is yet secure from all evil", to wanting to surrender to Eönwë, to actually throwing a Silmaril into the sea is SO delicious. A lot of that character growth is wiped out if Maglor instead casts both himself and the Silmaril into the sea.

It better sets up Maglor as a foil to Maedhros. I will never shut up about how Maglor's last debate with Maedhros is the best and most heartbreaking dialogue in the book. Its construction is exquisite, and one of the things I love about it the most is the way they mirror each other's words, becoming, in a way, reflections of each other. ("Who shall release us?"—"If none can release us...") All of Maglor's actions in the final chapter are in direct contrast to Maedhros': compare the fostering of Elrond and Elros with Maedhros' failure to save Eluréd and Elurín, and then consider why it is that Maglor still seems to have some hope that things will all work out (which is why he wants to surrender) while Maedhros despairs completely. That contrast makes it important to me that Maglor reacts in a different, more optimistic manner than Maedhros to the Silmarils burning them. ("More optimistic" by the bleak bleak standards of the end of the silm, at least.) I also really like the kidnap fam parallels of Elros and Maedhros both choosing death in very different ways, whereas Elrond and Maglor both choose life - E&E almost repeating M&M's decisions in a healthier and more wholesome manner.

It better preserves Maedhros' arc. Leading on from the last point, but, I think, separate. Maedhros' suicide, in addition to being just ridiculously tragic, is fascinating. The despair, the profundity of the realisation that it was all for nothing, the idea that Maedhros, who spent decades as a captive of Morgoth, is the one person knows exactly what being burned by the Silmarils means - aahh it's so good I can't dissect it all here. But do also consider Maedhros begging Fingon to kill him, and how he finally got his wish, centuries later! That terrible fall from grace is Maedhros' story. I think having Maglor also die by suicide actually diminishes Maedhros' tragedy, with the rather perverse outcome that two deaths end up being less sad than one.

Unresolved endings are good. This is a rather more personal one, tbh - but I love those last messy loose ends, and Maglor's survival is a quintessential one. Don't the great tales never end? There is, of course, so much excellent fanfic potential in Maglor still wandering Middle-Earth into the Second and Third Ages. Here's a legend from the Elder Days, and you can have him stroll into Rivendell if you want! So much more satisfying than neatly wrapping the story up and tying a bow on top.

As far as I can tell, Tolkien's own reasons for having Maglor die instead were that he wanted Galadriel to be the last surviving leader of the rebellion of the Noldor; I've also seen it argued that Maglor needs to die so that Celebrimbor can be the last surviving Fëanorian. To be honest, I don't think Maglor's survival does much damage to either of these arcs. He's effectively a non-entity after the First Age; the text specifies that he "came never back among the people of the Elves". So you can definitely prefer a version of canon where Maglor lives without losing all those Very Important Feelings about Celebrimbor!

There are, of course, myriad self-indulgent reasons why you might also prefer to think Maglor doesn't die. Maybe you just like him and it would be too sad if he dies; maybe you ship him very specifically with someone born in the Second Age; maybe you just want Elrond to have one thing left after everyone he's lost. I didn't include these in the above list because that was attempting to focus more on literary reasons why Maglor's survival makes for a better story, but they are all so valid and I agree with all of them! But hopefully Points 1-4 can be emphatically whipped out the next time someone implies that the fandom is clinging to Maglor's survival for solely sentimental reasons. There are good, solid grounds for wanting Maglor to live, we promise! It actually improves the story!

you're just jealous our blorbo survives and yours doesn't—

[thefirstknife]

To take a break from this week's awfulness, I wanted to tag in on Calus in LF. As you deftly laid out, it's perfect for his character & his relationships with the Witness & Caiatl. It shows him as vain & pathetic. But that's precisely why it fails *as a game villain*. He needs to be scary & powerful for our final battle, but it was just sad to me. A sad little man, unloved & desperate. Compared to Sav, Oryx etc it's a big emotional difference. What do you think from the angle of *game* villain?

Oh that's an interesting question, no worries!

Honestly, it really depends on what type of a villain people expect or prefer. I can see why some would prefer a villain to not be this way or at least if they didn't know all the details. I personally really love villains like this; villains who have put themselves into a path that led them to being just sad, abandoned, lonely and desperate people, despite being given options and a way out, multiple times. But their refusal to accept change is what ultimately led them to their fate.

Calus fits this really well! There's definitely a tragedy to him and his life as a whole. This doesn't really bring the same sort of joy over his defeat as it would be to defeat someone who is villainous in a different way so I can understand why people would feel off for killing him. But personally I believe that Lightfall's whole theme fits this with Calus. He was a sad little man, who rejected everything to overcome his problems and grief and instead chose the simpler path, unlike us; we worked through our grief and took the more difficult way but ultimately more rewarding. It's the primary dichotomy between the way of Light and the way of Darkness. The Witness is also important to consider here because the Witness looks for these types of people in particular for manipulation. A sad little man like Calus was overjoyed to meet the Witness, ages ago. The Witness played with that aspect of him and promised him everything he wanted; most of all, to be important and to be seen.

And in truth, he simply wasn't. He was being used, as all who side with the Witness are. With the whole setup of loss at the end of Lightfall, yeah; his defeat didn't feel as triumphant as it would've been if he'd been different. I believe that was intended. It definitely gave me more of a sense of relief that we put him to rest, rather than triumph. The Witness does that to people. You're kinda glad that you're putting those irreversibly manipulated by it out of their misery. It's also reflected with Caiatl who was basically just tired of it all and just wanted to know if it's done.

I'd even say that Oryx was a similarly tragic figure, though not exactly in the same way. Oryx was also manipulated and he struggled with his doubts all of his life. And when he finally came to attack us, he was literally just a father struck with grief over losing his child. He was more of an imminent threat to the solar system of course, so there was more triumph in defeating him. His story was also much more obscure overall (given how D1 did lore). To a lot of people, Oryx was just a scary monster that arrived to kill everyone. But once you know the background (and especially now with the full scope of it and the role of the Witness in shaping the Hive into who they are), I believe that he is also one of those villains that are ultimately just tragic people. I know Oryx is like that to me.

So yeah, I think this is a really interesting perspective to consider. I still think that this does work for villains, it's just not something that everyone equally enjoys. An expectation for villains is that we should feel good for ending them. But Destiny in general has given us many questions about that over the years; Uldren is a perfect example. He was also painted as a villain, but even back then (and especially now with Crow post-Haunted), I genuinely felt like crap for what we did to him. And that was kinda baked into Forsaken as well; our revenge rampage was never meant to be heroic. There was no real glory or justice in it.

This is definitely something that not everyone will perceive the same way and that not everyone will equally enjoy, especially when considering what the expectations are going into it.

[asap-n0-rocky]

Top 10 personal favorite protagonists (unordered)

Maybe one day I’ll put them in order but I just felt like showing some appreciation for my favorite protagonists

10. Nicole from Class of 09

It might be recency bias but she’s definitely one of the more interesting characters I’ve come across recently and a lot more complex than I few people give her credit for. She’s a horrible person and even an outright villain sometimes but if you look at her environment you can understand how she became that way.

9. Cesar from the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy

Seeing his development throughout the movies and him saying less than 10 words in the first movie to basically being fluent in the third movie was truly something to behold. Also a Christian it was really cool how many religious themes they managed to fit into these films and his character.

8. Thomas Shelby from Peaky Blinders

Although I haven’t finished the series yet (this list may be changed in the future) he is still such a cool yet complicated character to follow as he’s not really a good person by any means, but we root for him and his family because there’s worse people out there. (And I love stories like that)

7. Master Chief from the Halo series

343 is not a perfect studio by any means but I absolutely loved how they handled his character. They struck a perfect balance between being the stoic force of nature he was established as while also adding more emotional depth to his character. He also means a lot to me personally as I started playing the games shorty before entering high-school and he’s been one of my favorites ever since.

6. Walter White from Breaking Bad

Admittedly I can’t say a whole lot about him that hasn’t been said. He is still such a great and complex character to this day as well as a cautionary tale of letting your pride get the better of you.

5. Lou Bloom from Nightcrawler

Jake Gylenhall’s performance is one of the many reasons this is my favorite movie of all time. One of the best ways I can describe this character is that he feels AI generated, and that’s not a bad thing in this case. He does a good job of playing somebody who feels less like a human and more like a monster or alien pretending to be human.

4. Anne Boonchuy from Amphibia

The best protagonist to come out of Disney Tv Animation IMO. Her character arc with her learning to stand up for herself and the frogs combined with Brenda Song’s great performance make her so memorable. Also her voice is very unique.

3. Emma from The Promised Neverland

Usually I don’t like characters that are as morally good as her but she works so well. she had every right and reason to become jaded and lose her joy but she never did. Her sheer persistence and love for her friends and family make her such a compelling character. Now that I think about it her and Nicole are kinda like two sides of the same coin.

2. Barry Berkman from Barry

I never said though I would find Bill Hader of all people scary until I discovered this show. One thing I hate in writing is when the creators don’t allow their flawed characters to be flawed, and Barry doesn’t do this at all. It does a great job of making you feel sympathy for Barry while also making you understand he is not a good man and what he does is evolve. I won’t get too personal here but I also relate to his struggle of wanting to overcome his struggles and vices while also continually falling back into them due to the people around him and his own actions.

1. Saul Goodman from Better Call Saul

I know I said this would be unranked but Saul is hands down my favorite protagonist of all time. Seeing what he went through in Beter Call Saul completely recontextualizes his character in Breaking Bad. It’s truly remarkable how the writers turned his character from (haha funny lawyer man) into one of the most tragic and complex characters in TV history.

[little-meowyao]

Hello, MDZS fan! Can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from MDZS? And why you loved them? Also, your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Thanks 🤩

Jin Guangyao

He's just. My blorbo. He's so amazing and so interesting and you can fit him in SO MANY ROLES. He's so versatile and he's so so complicated as a person. Going a bit into headcanon realm here but I like the idea that despite being incredibly ruthless when situations ask for it, JGY is also deeply empathetic (and shameless link to a fic sorta about this)

Everything he does has such deep implications for the MDZS society and his upbringing and is just. Wow

2. Lan Xichen

This guy is just so afjshkhagjj. Insane. I love his daddy issues and how they influence him (I love how he basically becomes QHJ at the end. Very sad but thematically aproppriate I think). He hurts so pretty. He's my darling. My little punching bag. I love his characteristic of not taking conclusions without having the whole story (and how that colors post-canon him because he CAN'T have the whole story anymore ☹️) and how that contrasts with killing JGY because of a rumor (metaphorically). MXTX says "I know a guy that is so well-adjusted" and takes you to LXC

3. Su Minshan

Give it up for the most normal guy in the entirety of MDZS! I just [INCOHERENT SCREAMING] You have no idea how much I adore this man. He's a cool guy. He's a cringe loserboy. He dies because he uses too much power.

I like the paralel with JGY and how neither, at end, will ever be more than their origin (son of a whore/lan traitor). I love how deeply resentful he can be and how his loyalty is so ridiculously easy to win but at the same time, in the canon situation, only JGY would be capable of that

He's doggishly loyal and that appeals to me in a atomic level because I'm like that too. A man like Minshan would fix me actually

4. Song Lan and Xiao Xingchen

I know you asked for top 5 but I CANNOT separate these two on my mind

I love how the eye situation paralels chengxian. I love how utterly tragic they are

I love how XXC takes SL's hurt-fueled "I never want to see you again" at face value. I love how utterly self-sacrificial he is. I love how SL spends the rest of his life looking for him. They are so utterly tragic and you cannot convince me they aren't soulmates

(I love how the entire eye situation comes about because SL was mildly repulsed about being touched by XY, as he is with every because of his mysophobia, and XY took that as an insult)

I adore them

5. Nie Mingjue

I don't know what to say about him but he appeals to me deeply. I love how he's dying and he knows he's dying. I love how the conflict with JGY stems from "It would kill me" not being a valid excuse not to do something on his mind. I like how rigid he is in his moral code. The issue with NMJ is precisely that he's NOT a hypocrite.

The man that he is. I love how he flips on JGY and never flips back. I love that he perceives killing JGY as saving him from himself. I love how he is bound by duty in his relationship with LXC, and unlike JGY, unwilling to pretend they can have something they can't.

Da-ge the man you are

As for favourite moments:

JGY's death

I love him taking the last shred of agency he can and also (attemping) to take the culpability of his death from LXC's hand

2. SMS's death

He dies because he uses too much power :( and he dies for JGY

3. The Nightless City scene

I adore how much that says about JGY's relationship with WRH. Ruoyaos my beloveds.

4. JGY giving LXC back the jade token

EMOTIONAL DAMAGE.

5. The teacup scene

I love how LXC can be so subtle in the way he conducts a situation but he KNOWS how to do it! It's like a slap to the face to the people that were wiping their fingers

[tabbyclaw]

It's that time of year again! Candy Hearts is here again, and I'm here with it, in the hopes that crossposting my letter will get more eyes on the exchange in general (and me in specific; I'm not entirely altruistic).

General Likes: humorous stories, happy endings, casual physical affection between friends/family members, banter, low-stakes/personally important adventures, characters getting to show off their competences (especially goofy ones, but I love keeping the goofiness as well!) "what if [canon event] had happened differently?" AUs, character exploration, mutual pining, accidental feelings realizations. First and third POV both welcome. I signed up specifically for fanfic, but I am open to treats in any medium!

DNWs: explicit sex, unrequested non-canon pairings, unrequested identity headcanons, non-canon character death, tragic/bleak endings, characters dealing with real-world bigotry, mundane/modern/setting change AUs, non-canon severe illness/injury (canon-typical comedic, non-permanent injuries in cartoon canons are fine), animal harm.

Fandom-specific likes and prompts

Darkwing Duck (1991) Drake Mallard/Launchpad McQuack, Drake Mallard and Gosalyn Mallard and Launchpad McQuack

I would really love to see a blend of the heroic and the domestic for these guys, how Darkwing especially balances (or doesn't balance) his crimefighting capers with his everyday devotion to his unconventional family. If you're going the Darkwing/Launchpad route I'd love to see romantic feelings taking them both by surprise, and navigating falling in love while one of them is publicly pretending to be two different people. For stories involving the whole family, maybe something with Gosalyn trying to take a more active part in the crimefighting and how the grownups react to that? The balance between wanting to help your kid grow and wanting to keep her safe. You are also welcome to combine these two requests and have a family-centric story where Darkwing and Launchpad are also explicitly together, but that's certainly not a requirement.

Gravity Falls Mabel Pines & Stan Pines

Sometimes you have a request that boils down to "I just love them together; more of that, please!" and this is that one for me. I love Stan's gruff, reluctant affection for Mabel and her endless optimism about him, and all her efforts to help and support him whether he wants it or not. Maybe Mabel drags Stan into doing something "girly" with her and he accidentally gets super into it, all the while insisting he's just there for her sake. Or, on the complete opposite end of the scale, crime! Stan talking Mabel into doing something legally questionable, ethically dubious, and unlikely to actually have the profitable results he expects it to (and her turning it around on him somehow and turning it even more ridiculous and probably aggressively nice) would be a delight.

Kim Possible Shego & Team Go

There are so many options for where you could go with these guys. We know how they got their powers, but how did their actual superhero careers start? I'd love to see something pre-canon when they were learning to work together, or what it looked like back when things were going well between them and how Shego fit in with her brothers, or even the inevitable downfall and how it all fell apart. You could even set it during or after canon: now that Shego's family knows where she is and how to get in touch with her, maybe they manage to talk her into visiting for Christmas or a family reunion or some other major event, or the publicity from her and Drakken's world-saving brings them out of the woodwork to try to bring her back to the side of good. Whatever way you want to want to take it, what I'm really interested in seeing is Shego's tension between loving her family and not entirely fitting with them, and (if it's present or future-fic) all of them possibly trying to find some middle ground they can meet on for short periods of time without driving each other insane. If you want to write about them as civilians I have no real preferences or dislikes regarding their names as long as it's clear who's who, but I strongly dislike the common fanon that their parents were neglectful or abusive or otherwise just not good parents. I find it much more interesting if they were loving and healthy and did their absolute best, but were unprepared for wrangling five superpowered children.

Oxventure D&D Corazon de Ballena/Prudence

One of my favorite pairs of terrible people who are very bad at pretending they don't care about things, especially each other. They have the potential for all sorts of hijinks together, the chance to both show off all the things they're surprisingly good at and also turn it into an absolute mess in the way that only the Oxventurers can. Anything that involves accidentally realizing and/or revealing their feelings for each other would be great, and I would especially love to see them in a fake dating plot that gets way more real than either of them ever intended. Pre-finale is my preferred setting, but go where your heart tells you and I will gladly follow.

[zelda-the-sacred-realm]

As much as I enjoyed the story of totk, I feel like it doesn’t really do ganondorf justice in terms of personality and goals. Throughout the game all he does is boast about his desire for power and how he hates how peace has made people go “soft”. I don’t necessarily think that he has to be this tragic sympathetic figure, I just wish he had the same depth and nuance that the other characters had in the game.

I always thought a great way of demonstrating a more complex and nuanced approach to his character would be dark foil to Link. Him growing up as a sorta chosen one and hero of his people with initial goals being the power to provide for his people and create a world of great warriors. However his pride and ambition combined with his transformation into the demon king corrupted and warped his mind until all he cared about was his own power to make the world as he saw fit. By the time Link and him meet, he’s resigned himself to his role as the villain of this story cause he believes that this is what the world intended for him. Him consuming the secret stone also highlighting the moment his armor finally breaks as he can’t bear to think of the idea that everything he’s fought and sacrificed for was all in vain. So he’d rather give it all up just to say he at least destroyed the man that ruined his plans once and for all. But his last ditch effort to wind not only destroys his mind as well as omit his influence on hyrule, but he’s defeated shortly after by the light dragon and Links combined efforts. In the end Ganondorf was his own worst enemy.

I like your thoughts on Ganondorf, I also think that he is always the villain positioned in the story but that he doesn't have an obvious reason to be so evil.

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with some games is that little attention is paid to the motive of the villain, it is easy to create a character, position him and tell the player, here, he is your enemy. But why is that character evil? Why does he want to kill and conquer? What's in his past? Ganondorf doesn't respond to any of these, and maybe that's the reason why I'm never interested in him at all.

I have an example of a really well developed villain, he's from Final Fantasy XV and his name is Ardyn. An incredible story was developed for him, he was a good person, dedicated to saving his people from a deadly virus, the brother, on the other hand, was selfish and violent. Well the oracle announced that Ardyn should ascend the throne, but his brother knew it and set a trap for him, which ended with the death of the oracle herself, who was also Ardyn's sweetheart.

Moral of the story is that his brother ascended the throne and locked up Ardyn, and for many years Ardyn swore to destroy the family that descended from his brother.

For me this is an example of how to characterize a villain, giving a reason for his actions.

Sorry if I dwelt too much, but the topic interested me a lot, so I hope that sooner or later Nintendo will take care of giving Ganondorf a motive, so that maybe the players can also understand him.

Thank you for discussing this topic with me!

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Two-Face ought to be a top Batman sexyman!

Of the candidates left in @batman-heritageposts' Batman Sexyman tournament, in my mind Two-Face is the best suited to be considered the best Batman sexyman, even though unlike Scarecrow, he does not even have an actual entry on Sexypedia! To prove my point, I have gone onto Sexypedia's trope list and taken the liberty of actually compiling a list of all the sexyman tropes that I believe can definitively apply to him. So for your viewing pleasure, the list:

Angst Tragic backstory. Lamenting the life he's lost as well as his own present existence. Two-Face is FULL of all kinds of angst! And given that he used to be besties with Bruce, he even makes Batman angst too!

Chaoslord Comes with the territory of his gimmicks. He is often noted as being Batman's most unpredictable villain because he lets a coin make all of the decisions for him! Even he can't predict what he's going to do next! Chaos vs order is a persistent theme with him.

Criminal Obviously.

Dealmaker More in a gambling way than in a supernatural 'deal with the devil' way. But he often makes promises and deals and will keep to them so long as the coin flips the right way. Also he used to be a lawyer. Kinda comes with the territory.

DILF He may not be a canonical parent right now, but boy does he have the vibes for it!

Distinctive Voice (Two-Face) While Harvey tends to talk in a pretty normal voice, Two-Face often talks in a growl. Depends on the iteration though.

Divorced We know for a fact that Harvey was married... And while in current canon his wife is supposed to be dead, in many canons it's often unclear whether she's dead, they split up for whatever reason through whatever methods, or whether they're still together. Because you know. Continuity! In any case, him being divorced from Gilda isn't an unpopular theory. A valid one, certainly given how he's caught up in a cycle of being at Arkham and on the streets as a criminal.

Dominating (Two-Face) Usually Two-Face, not Harvey so much, and through sheer force of personality. Big step on me vibes here!

Duality The basis of his entire character and gimmick!

Egotistical (Two-Face) Harvey tends to be a pretty humble guy. He certainly has a lot to brag about, being a legitimate legal genius and all, but he tends to keep it on the down-low. Two-Face on the other hand? He ABSOLUTELY thinks that he's hot shit and will brag about it, and will shoot at anyone who doesn't want to listen or disagrees with him!

Eye Imagery His whole asymmetrical deal leads to him having very... Interesting eyes... In many iterations he doesn't have an eyelid on the scarred side, making that eye look bulbous in comparison. Also the whole getting half of his face melted off thing led to his eye color changing in many iterations. So as a minimum, he's usually portrayed as having some form of heterochromia.

Gay/Questionable LGBT Rep The fact that this man who is Bi everything NOT being confirmed as interested in men should be considered a CRIME! Let Harvey make out with Bruce already!

Hot-headed (Two-Face) Harvey can usually keep his cool, but Two-Face is noted for being very hot-headed. When Harvey loses his temper, that's usually when Two-Face ends up fronting.

Intelligence (mostly Harvey) While Two-Face is certainly no idiot, Harvey is likely the smarter one by sheer virtue of he's an actual genius when it comes to matters involving the law. Law genius also translates pretty well to criminal genius, turns out. There was a reason that Harvey was District Attorney. He was just the best damn lawyer in all of Gotham and for good reason!

Knifemurderer Yep! Two-Face sure has murdered a whole lot of people! Two-Face is probably most well-known for deciding whether to kill people or not based off of a coin flip.

Magnificent Bastard In many iterations, fits this trope to a T.

Power of Love In his third ever appearance, he decided to stop being a criminal because Gilda still loved him despite his appearance. Since then, this is a theme that continues to pop up now and again with his character- that so long as people love Harvey, he can be saved.

Questionable Neurodivergent Rep Is explicitly shown to be plural and having OCD. The representation is often... Not so great... Though it does seem to be a thing that many writers are trying to improve on.

Scars Literally half of his entire face, and oftenhis body will be scarred up too! It's where he gets his moniker of "Two-Face" and is therefore deeply tied to his character and gimmicks.

Tall Usually.

Twisted Freaking Cycle Path Yep! Usually with DID.

Unkempt (Two-Face) Harvey usually keeps pretty tidy, but sometimes Two-Face will be unkempt on his side of the body.

Villain Obviously.

Morally Grey Obviously, again. Also this is like his entire deal!

Well-Dressed/Suitguy He's practically THE suitguy of the Batman rogues gallery! With snazzy two-tones suits that are split down the middle too! Definitely among the best dressed of the rogues.

White Hair Often his disfigured side will have messy white hair, if he has hair on that side at all.

Meanwhile, how many sexyman tropes apply to Dick Grayson? I'll be honest, I know nothing about the Talon iteration of Dick Grayson and therefore more of the sexyman tropes likely apply to him than your bog standard Dick Grayson... BUT IS IT 27 TROPES!!!??? Even Scarecrow doesn't have 27 tropes attributed to him on his sexyman page! And I didn't even include the more subjective tropes the require a fair bit of popularity like Johnlocked, Controversial, or Fanon Splintering!

Do the right thing and prove that Two-Face is the best Batman sexyman!

Vote Harvey "Two-Face" Dent for Batman sexyman!

[battlekidx2]

The Ghost and Molly McGee Season 2 Thought So Far

I can’t believe I haven’t talked about The Ghost and Molly McGee yet. I have multiple drafts in my docs and on tumblr but I could never really get my thoughts across as well as I would like but I’ve decided to just put my thoughts out here because I really do enjoy this show.

The ghost and molly mcgee is one of those shows that shocked me with just how much I enjoyed it. I think that’s purely because it doesn’t fall into the tone of show I usually lean towards. I usually gravitate towards shows like Arcane, Invincible, Amphibia, and The Owl House to use recent examples. Shows that are very bittersweet (or in Arcane’s case straight-up tragic) and know how to gut punch you with emotional moments. I feel seen in certain aspects of these shows and the hard truths they portray that many people have experienced but that isn’t what I need all the time and the Ghost and Molly McGee perfectly fits what I need outside of those types of shows.

It’s a show that champions joy and connections and it sees the best in people. In a time that seems to be filled with hate and is hard to experience day to day, this is the type of show I need to unwind and feel a bit more hopeful.

The Ghost and Molly McGee had a phenomenal first season. It was an amazing introduction to the characters, world, and themes of the show that ended on a bang with Molly vs the ghost world. I had a lot of excitement heading into the next season, but was unsure of where the show would go from that explosive finale and I can safely say that the second season is off to a great start. 

I love the introduction of the Chens and how their profession of being ghost hunters comes into conflict with their friendship with the McGees. It's an interesting dynamic that adds a level of tension to Molly and Scratch’s adventures that wasn’t present in season 1. There wasn’t much of a threat of anyone discovering Molly’s friendship with Scratch or exposing their escapades, especially after Libby was brought into the fold, so I really like the decision to add threats on the human side of things.

The Chens themselves have a lot of potential as characters and are already interesting foils to the McGees. Most of them don’t have much development yet and they are very similar to the McGees in terms of personality, but the show has already set up very interesting plotlines for them. 

Ollie in particular has a lot of potential due to his discovery at the end of “I Really Wanna Dance with Some Ollie”. He made the conscious decision to not tell his mother that he discovered that Molly is friends with Scratch which sets up an interesting conflict in his character and it adds depth to his actions and bond with Molly. 

Right now he is a copy of Molly in many ways (as are all of the Chens with the McGees) but it’s only a few episodes into season 2 so there are a lot of opportunities for growth.

I also really like June and love that she’s canonically autistic. The Ghost and Molly McGee is great when it comes to representation. It is very racially diverse and I appreciate that it has background/normalized lbgtq+ characters and is now including main characters that are intentionally and explicitly neurodivergent. Representation matters. I’ve written about why I believe representation is important before so I’ll spare the essay but I believe that people being able to see aspects of themselves not depicted as frequently in media in characters on this show, especially this show’s age demographic, is a good thing.

Another development I really liked is what the show has decided to do with the ghost world, specifically the chairman. The idea that Scratch is forced into a role of authority after the events of the finale is really interesting. There are so many directions they can take this idea and it’s a really good way to force Scratch out of his comfort zone and get him to grow. This also expands on the lore in regards to the ghost world which we still know little about. I look forward to the ways in which this can explore Scratch’s character and give us more insight into the show’s lore.

Scratch gets some very poignant character moments even outside of the chairman development  in these episodes with the best example being “A Soda to Remember”.

“A Soda to Remember” is my favorite episode of the batch that dropped because of how it juxtaposes Scratch’s character and the glimpse of his past with the wacky antics of the episode. There’s a palpable melancholy to the flashback at the end of the episode that works so well considering the overall tone of the show. It builds a lot of emotion and intrigue around it that makes the episode and Scratch’s arc in it hit a lot harder.

Episodes in The Ghost and Molly McGee almost always end on an optimistic note so that final scene strikes a unique emotional cord within the show. This technique was used sparingly in the first season with it only occurring in the episode “Out of House and Home” when the McGees lose their house and when Scratch is taken back to the ghost world in “The Jig is Up”. The show knows when to slow down and allow these emotional moments to sit which is part of why I enjoy it so much.

This actually might be the plotline I am most interested in seeing explored in the future.

Overall I think the second season of The Ghost and Molly McGee is off to a great start!