#DAMN YOU APPEALING CHARACTER ARCHETYPES!!!
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im having that thing where an AU I've made has spun so off the rails it can no longer really be considered a fanwork and has enough original elements to be it's own story but also to anyone familiar with the source material it is PAINFULLY obvious who the characters are supposed to be a spin off of
#DAMN YOU APPEALING CHARACTER ARCHETYPES!!!#i once saw criticizm of origibal work that was originally a fanfic say 'what many of these lack is good world building since the fanwork#relies on pre-existing worldbuilding of the source. it instead focuses on the character dynamics which are made more uniteresting and bland#as they lack the original context'#im obviously paraphrasing theres jo way id remember a qoute that long#my point is that im having like the exact opposite problem#there is so much new worlbuilding and so much that i added or changed about the characters but I feel like if I told this story ti anyone#theyd immediately be able to clock which characters this was originally supposed to be 💀😭#does anyone relate? foes anyone share my plight?
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I'm a different anon, but your answer to that person, about how we all have our own perspectives and such, got me curious if you wanted to talk about your favorite things about Anakin? I really like how he has this earnest passion in everything he says and does, no matter what the consequences are. He lets his instincts and heart influence what actions he takes. I think you could say the same about Obi-Wan too to a degree, but I think Obi-Wan errs to keeping his emotions/intentions concealed until he has the best advantage he can get. And I think that this sort of "two sides of the same coin" contrast between them is part of what makes the ship appealing. Anyway, yeah, I wanted to know what you enjoy about Anakin ^^ And that other anon too, if they want to send another ask about their feelings/thoughts
Oh man, what a question. You've activated my trap card. Anakin Skywalker is possibly my favorite character of all time. It's endlessly fascinating to read stories about him, and writing him allows me to articulate the messy, painful, thwarted parts of myself. He's half my brain, and Obi-Wan is the other half, and resolving their differences brings me deep catharsis.
Everything you said about him is so true, his earnest passion is so deeply appealing. Obi-Wan called him passionate, fearless, forthright, and he is the embodiment of those traits, but he's flawed too, and flawed in ways I feel in my bones, and regrets the same things that I regret. He's so beautiful and so damned, a fallen and risen angel, you know?
Stover wrote that the brightest light casts the darkest shadow. He ends up at just the nadir of cruelty and violence, but he begins from a place of pure generosity and light. His intentions were so good, and he was so impossibly brave. It seems like arrogance, that cocky assurance of what he was capable of, but the universe bends around him to fit his will.
He's more than human, he's half-divine, a mirror and barometer of the entire galaxy's mood. His life is coextensive with the rise and fall of an empire, his personal tragedy from greed is both archetypal and relatable, and he is the scaffolding the narrative rests inside. Luke is the hero of the story but Anakin is the embodiment of the world he strives against.
He is painfully earnest and a liar, a villain and a victim, naive and jaded, brilliant but foolish, perfect and deeply flawed. It's so easy for me to understand why he was so beloved. He's absolutely the other side of Obi-Wan's coin, the heart to Obi-Wan's head, the passion to his reason, the instinct to his experience. The Team together is one complete and fully realized being, separation means incompleteness and disaster.
Vader is just one of the most iconic villains of all time, and Lucas defied all expectations in the prequels. He used his character to tell a cautionary tale about greed rather than give excuses for why he became such a monster. He is intentionally shown to be so generous and kind as a boy, handsome and daring as a man, with infinite wasted potential for good, it's incredible.
Idk man, I like him and I love him, I hate him and I want him; he's one of the best characters of the modern age.
#anakin skywalker#darth vader#long post#sorry#i really do mean trap card#hayden is also gorgeous. that is part of it. but it will keep my extolling of his physical virtues to dirty fanfic lol#sw
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Be My Favorite - Flaming Hot Trash Watch Action
Ready for this?
Adapted from the y-novel You Are My Favorite by JittiRain this is one of those “rewrite the past to change the future.” Starring Krist (SOTUS) + Fluke Gawin (DBK, Not Me). I expect this to be low heat, full of LIES and manipulation.
12 eps of approx 45 min fresh content each, and I guess I am drinking on frigay for the next 3 damn months
Main tropes: time travel/slip/loop, paranormal, university setting, soft romance, low heat, sunshine/tsundere with GMMTV’s heavy hand on classic Thai BL tropes, product placement, and high production values.
Trailer | MDL
I’m getting some shizz outta my system before I start putting the alcohol into it...
Story issues
Let’s get this on the table. I have a mixed relationship with Jittirain’s stuff because unlike Mame who is trash to her characters with plot, Jittirain is trash to plot with characters. All characters (what limited characterization there is) will be obedient to the plot and act against personality the moment it is necessary for whatever insanity is required for audience manipulation. We The Watchers WILL feel jerked around by these jerks (but as this is GMMTV there will be no actual jerking). We WILL be lied to, and the characters will lie to each other FOR NO GOOD REASON.
In addition to Be My Favorite JittiRain is behind: Vice Versa, 2gether, Fish Upon the Sky, and Theory of Love. Mmm humm. Yeah. Drinks are defiantly required.
Actor issues:
Krist: Who knew Krist would do a BL again? Like seriously? His career has been riddled with controversy and his skills as an actor widely challenged. Regarding the first, this is not that blog, take that discourse/cancel culture elsewhere. For the second? I will judged his acting based on the usual criteria: this BL, this role, this pairing, this script, and the fact that this is Thai style acting. Okay?
Gawin/Fluke: I will likely slip and call him Gawin because that’s what he used when he first crossed my radar. I have said this before but he looks like an ex of mine. So my baggage with him is all personal. Said ex and I are amicable, but it wigs me out sometimes. They even have a similar voice. I will try to get over this.
Also the both SCREAM straight. I mean I don’t wanna judge insult or anything but these boys got breeder smeared all over them.
Okay, so what are we doing here?
Well, as previously established: DRINKING.
AND
A new trash watch!
Although there is always the (however faint) possibility it will become a praise watch. Sometimes that happens. But this is Jittirain so... I doubt it.
Ready?
Here we go!
Episode 1: Sake & Fear
I have heartburn already. Or maybe that’s the extra chili I put on my noodles + booze + EXISTENTIAL DREAD.
Kawi = loser, poor, stupid, shy, and friendless (AKA Japan’s ordinary bottom uke archetype) - he’s a downer, this is an issue with this kind of character, not likable.
Pearmai = the sunshine faen fatale Kawi has a crush on
Piseang = the tall handsome cute popular perfect seme, plays basketball perfectly (waves at Love O2O), is also a DJ (nash)
Most of this ep was spent establishing this dynamic and some kind of secret santa for college kids, a magic time travel snow globe, and the fact that the wrong couple got together.
Why is there a dandelion in the snow globe?
Is it a wishes thing? Do they have that superstition in Thailand?
A 12 year time jump is v Japanese. Which life-point is closer to Krist’s actual age? Ooo, half a bottle of sake and I’m salty af.
Apparently Kawi still has same problems and the same haircut as he did as a fresher.
Could we please talk about this? It’s in ALL BL. Why does NO ONE change their hair as they age? My hair changes by the week.
Meanwhile our ordinary bottom has turned into a wild imbecilic tsundere and our seme clearly likes that and I am too drunk for this. So is Kawi.
You know what, it’s not as terrible as I thought it would be. I don’t like it but I can see the characters becoming appealing. Maybe? Hopefully? Why do I do this to myself?
I’m not a monster, I will give it a chance.
At least no one has yet picked up a guitar.
See you next week, same Jittirain time, same Jittiran place, new bottle of sake.
Episode 2: Nigori & Serenity
The sake I’m drinking tonight is described on the bottle “silky & mild” which is also a legit review of Gawin’s acting.
WAIT A MINUTE.
What is going on?
What am I feeling?
They’re lying on the grass talking to each other in a meaningful way. It’s cute. I am enjoying it. How appropriately collegiate.
Is this... enjoyment?
Am I enjoying this show?
OMG I AM.
help
I ate booze-filled chocolates AS WELL AS SAKE.
Maybe it’s the double dose?
Am I becoming silky & mild?
I got a slow down. I can’t do this every week for 12 weeks in a row. I’m not in uni anymore. I might end up being a nice person if I continue down this road. Can’t have that.
Honestly, I do like the fantasy of getting to re-live your college years as a cooler version of yourself.
Although, frankly, I did fine with mine.
(Oh thank fuck, asshole me is back.)
I don’t know where Max came from but he is officially the most interesting character in this show.
Also... does he look a bit like a bad boy bunny to anyone else?
It isn’t actually like it, but I am getting a distinct 2gether vibes from this show. It makes it feel kinda dated for BL. What a fucking crazy thing to say. Ignore me, I’m drunk.
OOOOO.... Nong teasing. Very nice.
The over dramatic drunken kiss made me giggle. First time Krist has been properly kissed in a BL.
Sigh.
What do I do?
I’m enjoying it!
Damn it.
Episode 3: Tipsy Waffling
I was out at the club, came home faintly tipsy. Frankly I feel a little unwell, so I’m not gonna drink anymore. So this is an unprecedented semi-sober trash watch. I’m not sure if I’m ready but so far this show been beating expectations, and I don’t expect a derailment until next ep so I’m feel okay about my life choices.
Okay Gawin is good. I’ll give you that . His little moment if realization (and giving up). The “oh shit” look.
Wait.
That’s Title!
When did he leave Wabi Sabi and join GMMTV’s stable?
Look I kinda enjoyed this bit, because it was a joke.
BUT I AM NOT HAPPY WITH THE ENDING.
Is this the beginning of the JittiRain of Doom? Or it this just good angsty story telling?
No way to know until next week.
(JittiRain of Doom - see what I did there? Aren’t I a clever little lush dragon?)
I should go to bed now.
I think we can safely say clouds are on the horizon and whether this is good storytelling or bad, only episode 4 will tell.
Episode 4: It’s Happened! The Suck!
not in a good way @heretherebedork said ep 4, can they call it or WHAT?!
I’m officially calling Kwai’s pink haired Maximum hotness bestie “my café fae” and YOU can’t stop me. I love him. Or I want to be him? Or I AM him?
Difficult to know.
Checks own hair.
Not pick at at the moment. Mostly blue actually.
(I weirdly adore that blue open weave draw-string vest thing he’s rocking. Checks own closet. Wonders idly about turning a mesh laundry bag into a shirt.)
Anygay... Café fae and I are running away together and not putting up with any of this Jittirain nonsense.
Right?
Because this beach frolic...?
Too cringe. Too awkward. I really don’t like all of embarrassment factor for everyone, not to mention humiliation and hazing and older kids picking on younger kids.
I’ve been done with this plot divice since SOTUS. And I’ll take it in small doses from Korea but no more Thailand. Stop it. And...
is that...
A GUITAR
!!!
NO SINGING.
Oh, I hate this show.
Everyone listening in on the phone while he’s humiliating himself with a girl? This is fully terrible.
I’m so uncomfortable with this whole episode.
And yet. Secure. Because finally we are in the territory I was expecting. But ALSO I can’t bear it.
Please make it stop.
At least Piseng is a decent human being.
And Pair.
Screw all y’all. I’m eloping with Pair.
Wait.
What about my cafe fae? Hummmm.
Ah! Got it. Thrupple!
I’m not gonna lie. That was rough going.
And I am not OK.
Although I’m digging this thrupple scheme of mine.
Episode 5: I Am V Drunk
For those of you following the soga of ABL is a lush...
I got my cocktail!
Then got distracted by meeting colleagues at the bar.
Then went for dinner and wine.
Then got another cocktail and finally made it back to the room.
So by the time I started watching this week’s installment I was... quite drunk.
Take this recap with a grain of salt margarita salt rim... no... not that kind of rimming, that’s just in KP, sadly... wait... what am I doing? I got distracted. This is GMMTV. Def no rimming.
So!
Kawi deserves his new asshole friends (stop it ABL no rimming).
I just don’t like him. He’s too straight and whiney and homophobic.
Could we have a romance between Pisang and Max?
Asking for a friend me.
Bet there would be rimming. They both seem very game. Just saying.
Different show ABL. Different show.
Where was I? Apparently I went to the land of Bed Friends for a moment there.
Why does anyone like Kawi?
Max deserves better.
Pear deserves better.
Pisang deserves better.
OMG!!! His utter wistful yearning over the happy gay bar. Poor baby.
Awe don’t run away from Max. We love Max. Max is the best. You NEED a Max in your life. We all do!
Someone described Max as “tired gay,” and I feel this keenly.
NO SINGING.
I DON’T LIKE WHERE THIS THREAD IS GOING.
NO NO NO NO NO
SKIP! Skipskipskip.
Next week look like a classic ep 6 kiss then angst. Whatever.
It was fine.
This was a fine installment.
I’m very drunk.
Hotel all spinny.
Hi, bed! Make me a sammitch.
Episode 6: I Am Less Drunk Than I Should Be
I just wish this were Pisaeng’s story instead of Kawi’s. It would be a lot better. In fact, it is a lot better. Any time we get PS alone or with any other character it’s a better narrative. Any time with him and Max talking it’s the best of everything, That’s all I want on my screen.
In fact, Max is all I want.
I love his “care bear kpop” clothes.
This is definitely one of those shows where I don’t understand why anyone likes the central character - his friends, his love interests, his father, his audience, tumblr.
No one should like him. He started out a loser and he’s only getting worse, and nasty to boot.
Yes, it’s good we see him apologize, but there’s no logic behind the choices that led him to needing to make the apology in the first place!
(No one does, honey.)
We are heading into classic Jitiirain where are the characters are going to betray us and themselves in order to serve the narrative.
And I’m not drunk enough for this.
Honestly? I think Krist what is miss-cast as well.
I’m not in the anti-Krist faction but just imagine... what if Kawi had been played by Khaotung? He has a much softer more dynamic screen presence. I think he could’ve carried even Jittirain’s patented nonsense. KT is... in fact... CUTE.
Gawin is not an issue. (Which surprises me, since I came into this with a bias against him.)
Because we can see PS thinks that K is cute even before the script felt the need to tell us this.
Even when he’s being an arsehole, PS’s eyes are all soft for him. I guess some guys just are attracted to arseholes.
Heh.
See what I did there?
Meanwhile I hate PS’s mother!
She = evil.
I RECOGNIZE that balcony!
PS’s house/apartment thingy is the same as MaxNat celebrity pad in Y-Destiny. Another one for the location trackers.
That’s it, that’s all I got.
Only one gay pun for you this evening.
I have one job to do and I’m blowing it.
snerk
Nighty night. Don’t let the mosquitos bite leave hickeys.
Episode 7: NO SINGING
I guess Kawi is one of those “straights” who just gets gayer the drunker he is. I know the type.
Boozing the Kinsey Scale.
Beer goggle queers.
Cockeyed.
Three sheets to the flame.
Dick wasted.
What else do we call them?
Oh yeah... cock tease.
Episode 8: STOP SINGING
Pisaeng for these last two episodes...
(singing cat never gets old, bite me)
Good for you Pisaeng for standing up for yourself. Stop letting the straight boy jerk you around.
(I see you in your matched couple shirts.)
Omg I HATE Kawi just WHY IS ANYONE FRIENDS WIH HIM?
Stop. Just this show would be so much better if he weren’t in it.
I’m glad he lost Pisaeng and I enjoyed watching him cry.
Even if he still made everything about himself.
We return yet again to the fact that I love Max. Max and I are running away together.
Pisaeng is just never Kawi’s priority, whereas the opposite is always the case. Talk about one sided love friendship relationship everything.
Kawi the coward.
To little too late.
I do keep thinking about Big Eden with this series, Kawi just seems so straight no matter what he says or does or kisses.
Poor Pisaeng he gets what he wants but it’s all out of pity, fear, and desperation.
And all he wants is a chance to flirt?
Is he an actual saint?
Fuck this damn show.
(source)
As always with these trash watches, I update the original post until Tumblr has a brain fry and won’t let me anymore. Then it becomes an updated repost. Life in the dumpster fire is never dull.
#Be My Favorite#Thai BL#GMMTV#Krist Perawat#fluke gawin#trash watches#ABL trash watches BL#save me from myself#trash watch#JittiRain#thai drama#thaibl#You Are My Favorite
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Person here who is really into the trolls au scene here on tumblr....yeah I definitely! Have been seeing a trend of John Dory and other character focused aus floating around, it really does make me sad to not see a lot of like. Like ALL character centered aus????? If that makes any sense. That and 100% THE AMOUNT of gore filled/sad aus..like I do like some angst here and there but...idk.
But I do think the main appeal of making aus is like! Taking stuff or ideas or really just anything you enjoy like...concepts or hell even already existing media and just..mixing them all together. Playing dollhouse with these funky little troll dudes. Putting these dudes in SITUATIONS AND PLACES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Absolutely how I feel!! I understand why people pick their favorite brothers (that usually aren’t clay or Bruce lol) because they Did get a whole movie to themselves, but like!! These movies have so many characters! Do you remember poppy? I do! A lot of people don’t seem to though!
And ANGST yes thank you I feel like that’s a better word to describe what I meant. I really don’t understand the fixation on making these guys so damn sad or scared or whatever all the time. Especially when a lot of them sort of feel like they’re stripping away integral parts of these characters personalities to make them angsty or edgy.
I get the appeal though! I absolutely don’t have a distaste for aus, I’ve got my own fun ideas that ping pong around here and there. Putting characters in situations is really fun! And a good au is always exciting because I love seeing how things get translated and the thoughts behind it. I guess a lot of the au stuff I see just feels like plastering the vague archetype of the characters onto a plot that doesn’t mean a lot and it just feels boring. But thats just kind of my overarching beef with au stuff regardless of fandom.
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Are you Jewish, and if so, do you feel like the movie Tangled is anti-Semitic?
I am indeed Jewish (patrilineal and reform but Jewish) but I am terrible with 'this is antisemitism in media' as opposed to 'this is antisemitism in real life'. My thoughts on media anti-semitism are complicated.
I actually enjoy characters that are antisemitic* caricatures if they're charismatic enough. I actually like Shylock and Svengali** because damn they really manipulate people and get what they want. I also will analyze that Shakespeare and Du Mariner were appealing to antisemitic tropes of their times and that those characters are now archetypes wielded against us. People are accused of being a "Svengali" or a "Shylock".
Tangled doesn't have that kind of reach so it's not as worrisome to me but it's disturbing to see tropes from the Middle Ages and the 19th and 20th century surfacing in the 21st.
Mother Gothel also has an appeal to her that will likely make her a nostalgic Disney villian to Gen Z and younger millennial. Those who are gentiles and don't catch the coding. I didn't as a teen until it was pointed out to me.
Mother Gothel has both a hooked nose and the bouncy black ringlets typical of young Jewish women. She steals a blond-haired child to live forever and while she doesn't steal Rapunzel's blood or life force she's clearly using a very typical white gentile child in order to live forever so it's still blood libel just watered down (pun intended).
Also this is a film that associates broken and hooked noses with villians and (reformed) thugs, while our two leads are traditinally attractive. This is of course classic Disney but here it just so telling.
The fairy tale story of Rapunzel itself positions a witch stealing a child from a good christian couple but it was the movie that made her look as Ashkenazi as possible.
It's antisemitic as the early harry Potter books are antisemitic**. Accidentally tapping in to old fantasy narratives that are very bigoted and not updating the bigotry.
Did I answer your question?
footnotes:
*apparently it's better to not hypenate 'antisemitism' to distance from the roots of the it's coiner who was a racist antisemitic eugenicist who wanted something more pseudo-academic sounding than 'Judenhass' - 'Jew-hatred'. I write it as one word but I don't see how one is better than the other.
** The antagonist of Du Mariner's book 'Trilby' who hypnotises people to his bidding so he doesn't have to get his hands dirty. He is explicitly an ashkenazi Jew who is so many antisemitic stereotypes that a 'Svengali' is now a derogatory term for a manipulative person especially a one who is Jewish.
***as opposed to Hogwarts Legacy which was written by an alt-right crank and is deliberately antisemitic. But what appealed to him was Rowling's already antisemitic portrayals of the Goblins
#asks#answering asks#antisemitism#coding#antisemitic coding#tangled#mother gothel#tw harry potter#tw hogwarts legacy#my essays#literary analysis#literary analysis with cecil
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in the spirit of being excited about my passions rather than annoyed, here's some of my favourite things about zmyx!
one: the costuming. oh, god, the costuming. look, i'm a pretty regular sewist, and a lot of my wardrobe, small as it is, is specially curated. in zmyx, every character has a distinctive look, and they all look good. ruan nanzhu, as often as he changes outfits, always looks hypercompetent and impeccable; lin qiushi dresses in largely loose outfits that give him a sense of innocence not from a lack of experience, but rather because he carefully maintains his optimism. their outfit design is carefully chosen to convey their character archetypes, and it works. and, on top of that, it's not just the leads—the side characters, the minor characters, hell, even the npcs, are dressed with care and attention, and it shows. my favourite outfits so far are ruan nanzhu's second door outfit, which gives off used car salesman vibes, and lin qiushi's sweater/overalls combo, which looks so silly and yet fits him perfectly. and, of course, the jiejie in the sister drum door. ah, the red wedding robe! the way you can't tell if it's red naturally, or from blood! wonderful, stunning, marvelous, can i get ten more.
two: the chemistry between the leads. i know this is a point i brought up in my annoyed post, but here i'm going to talk about it on the positive end. the leads have excellent chemistry, and the yearning? the yearning. oh, god, it's off the charts. ruan nanzhu is looking at this man, and you can see the instant he falls in love, inescapable as the gravity well of a black hole. and lin qiushi is no different! the way he handles ruan nanzhu tenderly, the way he smiles at him, the way they interact—be it playful, worried, or jealous, all of it feels real in a way that's hard to capture in film unless actors click. and ruan nanzhu keeps just saying these batshit lines that amount to entire confessions in and of themselves, i-love-you-so-damn-much, please-let-me-make-sweet-sweet-love-to-you, live-with-me-forever. fucking 我需要你?????? and lin qiushi, who not only doesn't flinch, but half the time, encourages him? i've lost my damn mind, my entire damn mind, this show has ruined me, i'll never be the same.
three: lizi. i love so much that they used an actual cat rather than cgi, and i love that the cat actor they got never appears to be alarmed or uncomfortable. so often in shows with feline actors they're making clear signs of distress, but not here! no, lizi really just is a slinky, adorable, darling ball of fluff. i want to pet lizi so bad, oh my god.
four: the dialogue. okay, this i've touched on somewhat already in point two with the chemistry, but each character has their own distinctive voice, and i love it. it makes it easier to write, which is nice, but more than that, it makes the characters feel lived in. lin qiushi, kind but with a thread of hidden steel; ruan nanzhu, one moment soft and flowing, almost seductive cadence towards the man he loves, playing up the aura of mystery, the next moment whining and jealous as he fends off perceived romantic rivals. and the npcs! it would be so easy to make them feel flat, but each of them feels like a real part of the world they're in, and many of them have their own backstories and regrets and lives. the first door, with the innkeeper, and then the sister drum with "xu jin"? ah, perfect!
five: the visuals. technically costume falls under this, but this show just looks so fucking good. so goddamn good! visually! people have mentioned this was low-budget, and honestly, i was stunned, because this looks like someone threw a netfix show's worth of funding at it. yes, the cgi wolves at the start are a bit janky, but other than that? the sets, the lighting, the camerawork? everything is so lush and well thought out and visually appealing.
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Some Quick Thoughts on Dungeons & Daddies Season 2
I just finished episode 37 of Season 2 and I think everything with this show makes sense.
I’ll be honest, while I love the show, I never really felt like it hit me as hard as it should have. Only a couple times was I like “damn, this really compares to that first season”, and those episodes were honestly some of the best ones in the canon.
I was kind of worried about how they would pull this off--how they were going to keep me invested inside of all of this, because while I loved the show, I loved the show for the Dungeons & Daddies crew. I loved the original daddies so much, but the teens were weird. I never really got to meet them eye to eye. I never really understood them, and that’s probably a result of me being a teenager while listening to this.
Then this episode came out and I think I understand Season 2 now.
This series is about multi-generational trauma. I knew that on paper, but couldn’t really see it until now. There were hints of it, smidges of the pains of being a teenager, and the ultimate story of the show, but I never really saw it until now. The pain and the triumphs of these characters, seeing how they’ve changed and warped. I’m so happy to have stuck with this podcast because I now understand the teens so much more than I possibly could. At first, I didn’t see the appeal nor did I really feel the depth of character, until it was right in front of me. Until I heard the tears of Link and Scary, the fears of Normal, and the true Happiness of Taylor. Maybe I’m developing tunnel vison, but after this episode I realized this isn’t a show about people who are learning their stereotypical lessons, but a true presentation of being a teenager. That feeling of not understanding yourself, building a role and mythos about yourself so you can attach yourself to identity. This is almost the inverse of Dungeons & Daddies Season 1. Stereotypes of Dads fall into D&D Archetypes and must go through an adventure to break out of their molds and understand themselves: the series starts off semi-generic and one dimensional and grows with its own. Dungeons & D.A.D.D.I.E.S. Season 2 says the opposite. It’s stereotypes of teens who almost know they are stereotypes. They are trying to fit in a broken world. It is about people who haven’t developed enough of a identity or mold to even have anything to break out of. They are people learning themselves and, damn, isn’t that beautiful
#dungeons and daddies#dndads#dndads 2#dndaddies#beautiful#a true masterpiece#thank you#haz a great day
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I was thinking that the series looked a bit Gainax-y, so I looked into the staff, and it turns out that Sushio, for one, animated this cut. Sushio.
It looks fantastic, honestly. A lot of really great layouts too, and I really like the silent interview/documentary style they used to open the series with.
Content wise, it's a bit pandering to the otaku audience (a lot of girls all at once, some boobies, not much happens so if it wasn't for the presentation it'd be pretty boring), but if it can match up content wise to the presentation, I'm in for a treat.
I'm making a lot of Love Live parallels (yes, Umi above), but I noticed that the girls in general seem younger here. Middle school mostly? Not all, of course. I don't think that's a problem necessarily. Younger girls tend to lean into goofier comedy, which I like.
But the series also makes it clear it is about IDOLS. There's already talk about appealing to guy fans and talking to boys, etc. I guess it depends on how sexually exploitative the series will be (don't imagine it'll be much, but the older the girls, the better if it's the case)
But, we'll see. It's a much more grounded series than Love Live so far. A lot of balancing work and personal stuff, etc. But with so many girls I'd like for a lot of comedy, but it's making clear it will also dig deep into what actually being idols mean to these girls.
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an ed just for iori gives me the impression that we'll get one for each girl? would like that.
still some initial impressions to the show, but it's not as funny as love live and it's leaning a lot more into its archetypes. but i think this is one of those shows that need to grow on you. it's not as high energy right from the get go. always looks great tho.
we got a nice, down to earth conflict here tho which worked much better at giving the characters some texture. feels like the series is gonna be like that. more so a collection of smaller stories than an overarching plot.
my faves so far.
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The conflict here being very much just "girl afraid of guys for no reason" feels very pandering so the male producer can "protect her", but damn if the execution doesn't sell it as hard as it can.
And we are continuing the solo EDs for each girl, which I am happy about.
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You know, it's as expected. I'm having a bit of a difficult time swallowing Idolmaster. Cause they do show that the camera man at the cooking show explicitly leers at the girls, but then don't comment on it any further, so that makes it okay then??? It's just pandering, I think.
They included a joke at the beginning where the girls can't change because the (male) Producer is there, and when they fall on their butt the camera (of the anime, not cooking show) sets up the angle real nice. It's exploitative in the show and fan-service for us.
This was always gonna be difficult for me. Because, once again, I don't actually like idol shows as a genre. Love Live was an exception for several specific reasons we could get into, but Idolmaster is about the industry and doesn't seem interested in criticizing it at all.
I still feel that the characters are much more adhering to their archetypes and it all feels very stereotypical idol (as in what one would imagine how a typical idol anime portrays its characters), but it's overall still charming? I prefer Chihaya's demeanor more so to LL's Umi.
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Idolmaster is a good show.
I'm really liking the much more mundane portrayal of an idol’s life. Not just in how stuff like the “765” on the studio window has been written in duct tape, but how we get to see the girls "off-camera" and how they work there. And we actually spends a lot of time in that space.
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Yeah, Idolmaster has hit its stride now. Very silly episode that had very little to do with the actual idol work. Just spending time with these characters in goofy scenarios. It's fun.
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idolmaster is having such fun jumping genres lol
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Thinking About Combat Schools
In an attempt to try and write at least one decently sized essay post that isn’t about Arknights for once (and god is that difficult) I’m going to talk about something else that is near and dear to my heart.
Combat School Anime/Manga.
Along side my thoughts of how Hypergryph is doing everything in their power to make Vigil suck as a unit I’ve been thinking a lot about the Combat School genre of anime and manga recently. It seems this odd sub-genre of the late 2000s and early-to-mid 2010s is making a mild resurgence with shows like The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World, Reborn to Master the Blade, The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World, Reign of the Seven Spellswords, and so on. The world is slowly but surely leaving the realm of isekai and going back the formula of classrooms about battle and facing enigmatic foes of various species and organizations.
And most of them suck.
Okay, I’m being a dick here, but they really don’t do anything I like and most of them feel like they have the same problems that Hundred. Few of them take the aspect of a school revolving around combat and martial prowess seriously since most of the students either don’t take the classes seriously or are at the schools for reasons aside from learning combat. Few of these shows give the protagonist a legitimately good reason for being at said school since most of them are unnaturally strong and dust through the classes with ease to the point of them being there is pointless. And very few of these series have protagonist that interest me since most of them boil down to the same Gary Stu archetype of being the best or having the most potential for greatness right out the gate with little trouble in terms of the combat portion of the combat school.
Like, folks, you can make this genre interesting.
But I digress. And rather than mindless complain about all I currently hate about the genre’s reemergence I believed it would be better to channel my venting into something worth a damn and just talk about some of the more interesting and fun points of the genre, maybe with a few recommendations thrown in as well.
But first, as always, a synopsis.
The Combat School genre of anime essentially focuses on a school setting that revolves around teaching students combat, martial arts, or efficiently utilizing their supernatural abilities in a semi-controlled environment for the sake of them graduating and using those abilities to better society. Most of the time the end goal of these schools is to work as a paramilitary academy to train students to either fight ambiguous monsters of some kind like in Katana Maidens or Hundred, and sometimes it’s to work under a government-sanctioned supernatural military force like in Absolute Duo or Chivalry of a Failed Knight. There’s also the third option of simply keeping all the super-powered teenagers under one concentrated location for the sake of keeping an eye on them, but that’s rarely done or discussed save for one series I can think of and mentioning it would be a huge spoiler of its premise so I’d rather not.
But anyway, onto why exactly I like this odd little sub-genre.
The Appeal
Originally I was going to break this down into two different types of appeals but I’m scrapping that going with just a few key points. This sub-genre has a lot of fun bits and aspect about it both from a mechanical writing perspective and emotional one, and for the sake of your time and my sanity I’ll be doing the appeals in a semi-short list form of each aspect I like about this series.
So... with that said.
Easy Action: Action junky I am, it’s pretty easy to show off action in a setting that allows and likely encourages both organized combat and unorganized combat due to the school’s very setting focusing on the eventuality of battles, and those battles will have the narrative weight of not only our characters having to be good fighters for the sake of not getting hurt, but being good students as well. High school can feel like a battlefield at times, and this genre can make that very literal.
Easy Worldbuilding: This one’s a bit tricky to do smoothly, but a combat school setting being a school usually gives us, the audience, a good reason to quite literally be lectured to about the setting when it is an in-universe lecture that the main cast is also listening to. This can get boring if it isn’t done well or the teachers in question don’t have interesting ways of give that information, but usually it’s excusable by the nature of use needing to know this information as much as the character, no matter how boring the exposition might be.
Cast Diversity: This often depends on the world’s settings and other specifics, but it’s pretty easy to get a wide and varying cast of characters by the nature of it being a school, especially if the main character is a transfer student of some kind. Not to the mention the chance of getting an exchange student or some other outsider that isn’t the region’s usual demographic or ethnicity. Things like that are easy to justify in a school environment and gives a good reason to explore the world outside the setting without leaving it.
Easy Character Arcs: Being a school, the amount of personal stakes you can attach to things like tests, competitions, and even romance will be both natural and in character with a cast of teenagers. Plus the more intense settings could have more straightforward stakes like risk of injury or death depending on how gritty you want to make the series. You can also focus on more tertiary that aren’t explored as the main cast of students to keep things varied without it feeling out of nowhere. There were plenty of Assassination Classroom episodes that focused on the D-Cast without it feeling weird after all.
Power Levels/Powerscaling: As much as I want write essays on this topic I’ll keep things brief. Being a school that often revolves around learning how to either fight or use the world-specific powers to fight grants the writer a lot of interesting ways to limit and expanse the magic system/power levels of the world, letting them increase the escalation of the level of threats and powers in a smooth fashion. Teachers tend to be the aspirations in terms of power with professionals and graduates of the school being a step or two about that. It varies, but that’s the gist of things to make it simple.
There’s a few more, but these are the immediate advantages of the setting I can think of. Overall, the Combat School setting is very inclusive to a number of different ideas.
And... I’ve honestly seen only a few that do this well, and the handful that do usual have a massive asterisks in front of them.
Quick Notes on Other Combat Schools
Just going to make a quick list here since I don’t really have anything worth endorsing with confidence. Like I said, most other combat school series tend to have some kind of asterisk to it that makes it hard for me to recommend. With that said...
Absolute Duo has a pretty decent opening with a more down-to-earth setting compared to other combat schools that really understands the school is about combat, but it falls into a lot of fanservice and harem tropes that aren’t needed since Tor and Julie’s narrative journeys and general school activities are already interesting enough to hold the plot together without a needless panty shot.
Chivalry of the Failed Knight also takes the combat school portion of it’s setting seriously, but post anime a lot of the more... specific issues surrounding the big tournament and spoilers of the events during it tend to break my suspension of disbelief in terms of the antagonistic force in the setting that isn’t Ikki’s family actively screwing him over because of political reasons.
Hundred... I’ve talked about already, but to keep it short feels like an action series that takes place at a school rather than being a combat school series.
Armed Girl’s Machiavellism is actually a good series all things considered, with a main character that’s fun to watch, a female cast that’s interesting without them all being completely tied to the male lead, and some decent action shots in it, but I consider it more a school with a lot of martial arts and combat in it than a proper combat school. The setting is mostly a school where the student body knows martial arts and swordplay out of convenience rather than it being a part of the school’s curriculum, so technically I don’t think it should count.
Overall it just feels like a lot the more recent combat school series don’t see the fun potential in the genre and instead just... have school with some combat in it. And that’s just not fun, or at least not interesting. If I had to be honest I’d say the only decent Combat School series out right now is Reign of the Seven Spellblades with it actually taking the whole wizard thing seriously and letting the characters learn and understand the wonder and dangers of magic as well as the kind of place a school that encourages magical growth and experimentation is like. And even then I consider it more a magic school series than a combat school.
I don’t know. All this talk about the genre’s potential now has me in the mood to try and write my own. Tempting, but... I’ve got enough on my plate already.
Anyway, that’s all I wanted to talk about. A bit meandering, but just wanted to get my thoughts out somewhere. Maybe I’ll talk about something a little more concrete in the future. Anyways, be seeing you all later.
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My opinion of MOM is only slightly changed from when I first saw it on Mother’s Day 2022. It has good entertainment value but, much like L&T, falls apart narratively when you look at it beyond that superficiality.
Largely forgettable. That’s the problem with a lot of the Phase 4 films. Wakanda Forever, Eternals and NWH are the only ones that really stick with you or stand out narratively. Don’t have that problem with the miniseries. But I digress. Back to MOM.
I’ve never understood people saying this is “Wanda’s movie” when A. she only has 29 minutes of screentime and B. Much like Stephen, she has no real arc. Her only role in this installment is to be The Villain™️, and she’s not even really the villain here. An antagonist sure. That damned book was manipulating her grief. I’ve also noticed the majority of discussion surrounding her actions here are pretty evenly split between people who have children versus people who don’t. Wanda stans, even childless and/or childfree ones, tend to fall into the former camp.
Stephen throws in her face TWICE that “her children aren’t real”. Yes, that’s true. But they were real TO WANDA. Yes, the Darkhold might’ve turned them into Living Emotional Crutches that Wanda felt she needed to have by whatever means necessary, but they were real to her. Stephen’s attempt at logic-ing Wanda out of this was always going to fail because this is an emotion-based situation. Wong recognized this and tried an emotional appeal on Mount Wundagore. Yes, it would suck knowing you in this reality can’t have what makes you happy but knowing your children are out there happy somewhere is the important thing. For all the grief some people have given him for bringing that up, 838!Wanda uses that exact same argument and it gets through to Sacred Timeline!Wanda.
Another thing, it’s very weak writing to rely on The Darkhold so heavily. In an unfortunate piece of particularly weak storytelling, the script beats you over the head with “the book is the real villain” while also presenting Wanda as the problem. Speaking of bad writing, it’s abundantly obvious to me that Waldron does not understand nuance. He thinks of these characters as surface-level archetypes and that’s it. There’s no depth to Stephen or Wanda or Wong, either Christine, or even America. Stephen is on the defensive the entire story. Wanda is the Darkhold’s latest sword.
Really, none of these characters have any arc whatsoever. They just exist to fulfill plot functions and have no agency. We talk and talk about how Wanda is incredibly OOC here, and that’s true, but you know who else is? Everyone else! Even characters we just met here or are MCU OCs (the 838 cast).
Stephen is reduced to a Pinball Protagonist from literally the moment he wakes up. Nothing he does effects anything or anyone. He doesn’t defeat Wanda or make her see reason, he doesn’t destroy the Darkhold, he doesn’t really DO anything. His plot function is “protect America” and that’s it. Weirdly enough, he does have a tiny sliver of an arc if you squint. I just couldn’t really tell you what it is.
Related to point 3, this is the most blatantly “plot-driven” installment of the entire MCU up to this point. The film really suffers for it.
It’s Evil Dead With MCU Characters. This is not a compliment or a positive comparison.
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tea and books asks 📚🫖
@firemandeanbuck tagged me to answer these!!! so thank you 💖
What period of history do you enjoy learning about?
I'm gonna out myself here and say I'm not that much into history, sorry 🥲 I like reading fiction set in the past and in the future, but I don't particularly engage in studying one specific period in time.
Who is your favourite fictional character and why?
Damn, that's a difficult question! Right now it's Dream, but I have many others, surely, that I can't remember right now. Loki is my Marvel fave, but I'm sure anyone could tell lol
What do you order at a café?
A slice of cake and an iced-tea. I can't drink coffee, unfortunately
Libraries, botanical gardens, or art galleries?
All of them. I want them all.
Do you have a favourite film soundtrack?
I'm trying to answer these genuinely without looking stuff up to not pretend I have a favourite soundtrack so... no. None that I can remember.
What does your dream home look like?
Very different from the one I'm currently living at, you can be sure of that lol. I'd really like a space that I could maintain on my own or with little help needed. Other than that, I would like to have a studio to record vocals and other stuff and a nice reading/craft room. Probably just one TV in the whole place too.
What makes you feel better on gloomy days?
Long showers, always. Water has great healing properties.
What are your top three films? Books?
Films
🥇 Howl's Moving Castle (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
🥈 Capernaum (dir. Nadine Labaki)
🥉 Sorry to Bother You (dir. Boots Riley)
Books
🥇 We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
🥈 Greedy - Notes From a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much by Jen Winston
🥉 The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Are you an organized person, generally?
Yes and no. People tend to say I am but I know for a fact that I'm not.
Do you have a favourite classic novel?
The Portrait of Dorian Grey
What character archetype or trope is your favourite?
All-knowing yet dense queer disaster
Do you prefer baking or cooking?
Cooking.
Which season do you feel at home in?
Early spring
What is your opinion on poetry?
I'm a songwriter, so I owe my craft to poetry. I love it!
Do you speak formally when texting and emailing?
When emailing, yes. When texting, only if it's not someone I know well.
How do you organize your music playlists?
By mood!
Who is your favourite author?
Chai or hot chocolate?
Never had chai, but hot chocolate doesn't have the same appeal it used to have.
Do you prefer forests, sea shores, or meadows?
Sea shores.
If you were to cultivate a fruit orchard, what would you grow?
We actually do grow fruit here! I have an acerola orchard and we grow pineapples too :)
this got VERY long, but if you wanted to know a lot of information about me without any context, this is the post for you lol for this very reason, I'm not tagging anyone, but all my dreamling nation children are obligated to do this now lol
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If you're still doing geomancy fortunes, I bring Whitekit, a small black tom-kit. Despite his slightly diminutive size for a kit of his age (and parentage) he's rather evenly proportioned. (@stonefall-wc)
You're in luck! Very last SandClan submission. I got no more sitting in my inbox as of now. This is the last geomantic birth chart I'm drawing up for the foreseable future, although I'm open to the idea of doing more eventually.
Now, the chart Featherstorm would've drawn up would look a little bit like this:
[Image ID: Under the header “What will Whitekit’s life be like? (02/19/2023)” 16 rows of tally marks crossed out two by two until there is only 1 or 2 left uncrossed. To the left, a shield chart at the top with the following geomantic figures: Populus as the first mother, Cauda Draconis as the second mother, Coniunctio as the third mother, Amissio as the fourth mother, Acquisitio as the first daughter, Coniunctio as the second daughter, Caput Draconis as the third daughter, Populus as the fourth daughter, Cauda Draconis as the first niece, Fortuna Minor as the second niece, Fortuna Maior as the third niece, Caput Draconis as the fourth niece, Albus as the right witness, Rubeus as the left witness, Coniunctio as the judge, and Coniunctio as the sentence. Below the shield chart, an astrological house chart with the first twelve geomantic figures above mentioned assigned to houses 1 to 12 in the order mentioned above. /end ID]
NOW! I was getting a really strong sense of dejavu looking at this chart and I worried that perhaps I had somehow drawn up one of the 65,536 mathematically valid charts twice. But looking at the figures more closely and flipping through my notebook I noticed while not the exact same, this is a very similar chart to the one I drew up for Ocotillostripe. Only four figures here are different: the third and fourth mothers and the third and fourth daughters.
In an effort to give y'all an interesting interpretation I'm deliberately not consulting what I wrote for Ocotillostripe, BUT. It is a very similar chart and naturally there will be overlap.
So, without further ado!
The sentence and judge figures are both Coniunctio, connections and communication. So, we've got a cat who is very straightforward. Communicative and social are his main character traits. When we look at the right witness, Albus, wisdom and experience, and the right witness, Rubeus, anger and uncontrolled aggression, we get the sense the way it became like this is due to how he is able to be a cool head in the face of heightened emotions.So, a mediating influence in SandClan. Our cats tend to fall into either this archetype or the hyperaggressive type to be honest and a polarization of influences like that sounds like... an interesting writing challenge of a community to write.
Now going down the houses of the house chart we have:
Populus, stillness, in the first house! A cat that is not inclined to do much. A background character, crowd filler kind of dude. Not the worst role to play, a Clan does need some members that are there to fill the ranks and he might just yet have interesting quirks or a backstory the fans could flesh out so let's keep going...
Cauda Draconis, endings and foregone conclusions, in the second house! Damn this one's hard. You all know that I am notorious for having a proble interpreting this house specifically, as the cats have no material posessions, but I've sometimes used it to indicate something about food or hunting prowess. Unfortunately I have no clue here how that connects. Perhaps... he's just kind of average? IDK.
Coiunctio again in the third house, representing close platonic and particularly familial bonds! I like the idea that he'd be close-knit with his littermates. Sibling relationships are just in general appealing to me so yeah I'm taking the opportunity here. And particularly because...
Amissio, loss, in the fourth house! Orphans are a classic and also a common feature around SandClan. Wonder if it would be warranted to bunch up a lot of them and have them lose them in bulk to a particularly bloody war. Aggressive factions and harsh seasons are already a reocurring theme in the charts. Hmmmm.
Acquisitio, gain, in the fifth house! This contrasts pretty directly with the previous house, presaging bountiful legacy. I'm thinking we have enough prolific parents, we'll let him be a mentor figure.
Coniunctio int he sixth house! I do remember what I did for Ocotillostripe when this one showed up! I gave him a congenital cataract to have him bond with an elder over going over a similar experience to a condition due to aging at a young age. I like that idea so let's give White something similar! I'm thinking hip dysplasia so he can relate to an elder with arthritis. You described him as small despite his parentage so I'm thinking that while as a kit he may not feel the health complications of it but as he comes into his adult size and bulks up his size is going to make the condition worsen.
Caput Draconis, new beginnings and endless potential, in the seventh house! Dude must be quite handsome and lucky in love, he can get whoever he wants. I'm not thinking he'd be the kind to want a family though, I already did commit to him being plentiful in legacy through mentoring so let's go with that.
Populus in the eight house! Nothing terribly interesting on the matter of death and dying. Good, if this is going to be a mostly background dude he better not have anything too dramatic in that department.
Cauda Draconis in the ninth house! Foregone conclusions in the place of journeys. With what we've discussed I can only feel like this is just telling us he's doomed to remain background.
Fortuna Minor, dependent or short lived success, in the tenth house! I also remember what I did for Ocotillostripe in this one and once again I like the idea of it for here. In the house of authority this suggests the idea of someone whose main accomplishment is just the status that comes with age. So, yep!
Fortuna Maior, independent or long lasting success, in the eleventh house! For a cat that is good at forging connections and facing hot heads with a cool one this makes sense he'd succeed in making friends and such. Very much one way to interpret it I feel.
And finally Caput Draconis in the twelfth house! Endless potential in the house of antagonism and enemies. I feel like this could indicate that were he to seriously pursue using his connections to elevate his standing he would face enormous opposition. Good for him he doesn't really I suppose!
And for our final round of putting it all together!
Whitekit's immediate future involves a tragedy, loss of parents, possibly to an incident that involves most of SandClan. However, he won't be too turn up about it, having basically never known them. It will however, result in him growing close to his littermates. Though he won't be interested in having a family his legacy will nevertheless be plentiful through being a mentor. He will grow into a size more like the parents he never knew, but unfortunately, this will bring with it the complication of hip dysplasia, giving him a taste of aging very young and prompting him to bond with the elders. Nevertheless, he will still be pretty active in the social life, and particularly dating, of the Clan even if his condition will have him withdraw from taking part in many duties. As he ages for real he will begin to reap the benefits coming from age and be regarded as a great friend by many. Were he more ambitious he would've made many an enemy, but he always preferred to keep a low profile.
#warrior cats#wc#warrior cats oc#wc oc#fanclan#sandclan#woo!#these were a lot of cats#I will compile an allegiances eventually#but for now good game everybody!
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I wonder what your thoughts are on the various "Superman but bad" characters that never caught on like Zod or Bizarro did. I'm talking Wraith, H'El, Ulysses maybe even Nuclear Man and so forth. Destined to be forgotten or salvageable at all?
I've written my thoughts on most of those specifically which you should be able to find by searching either their name or the rogues gallery tag on my page. But yes it's an archetype that writers have very clearly been fond of using, Superman versus Evil Superman has been arguably the focus of Superman stories in the 2010s. The question is why?
Part of the answer lies in the shallowness of the writers. They begin with the assumption that Superman's Rogues Gallery sucks and his Rogues can't pose a legit threat to him, so they decide to create a villain who can challenge Superman on a physical level. You can then have that big slugfest where Supes and the villain punch each other really hard until one of them falls, something people claim Superman doesn't get enough of (because they aren't actually reading his books and never will). But the problem is that if this is solely a physical conflict where it's just a question of "who will win?", well that's pretty damn boring because we know the hero will win. Batman can beat any of his Rogues except Bane and Ra's in a one on one fight with ease, the question is can he stop their plans? Batman has to outthink his villains as well as outfight them. Spider-Man wrecks the majority of his Rogues in a straightforward brawl, but the fight is enhanced by the question of "how is this fight with a villain going to affect Peter's personal life, where even winning the fight doesn't mean he didn't lose?" which is the soap opera element that makes Spidey so appealing. Unfortunately many writers don't make the same effort to construct a situation where a fight between Superman and his villain has more at stake than just a simple contest of strength.
Most try to add some depth to the slugfest by molding the character into something that acts as a challenge to Superman's morals or methods on a simple level by contrasting with him. Wraith is Superman as a servant of the government (i.e. DKR Superman), H'el is a repeat of Zod in being a Superman who prioritizes Krypton over Earth, Ulysses is a Superman who identifies with his adopted homeworld over anything else and is desperate to prove himself to it (Byrne Superman), and Nuclear Man is a simple contrast with Superman's anti-nuke stance in Superman IV. The problem is that the guys writing these characters - outside of Superman IV which at least knew what it was trying to say - aren't sure of what the response from Superman should be. Should meeting H'el prompt Clark to turn his back on his Kryptonian heritage, or inversely embrace his alieness more? Does encountering Ulysses make Clark ask himself what lengths he would go to in order to ensure Earth didn't suffer Krypton's fate? For the most part no, meeting them doesn't affect him in the slightest. Hell most of the time these "evil Superman" Rogues are just used to reaffirm that Superman's status quo is just fine the way it is.
That's why they just fade away once their creator departs and nobody bothers to pick them up after. They don't challenge Clark on any level but physical despite the attempts of their creators to make them do so. Could they be salvaged? I think Ulysses is the only one I personally would have any interest in writing, but any villain can be salvaged with the right creator. Likelihood of that happening however? Not high.
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TRICUBE TALES
I'm going to start moving (and updating) reviews from my website, and today I wanted to start with a rules-lite system that packs a surprising amount of punch:
Tricube Tales by Richard Woolcock of Zadmar’s Games. There’s a lot I want to say about it, which is crazy because it’s also pretty lite and simple. Also, the damn game is free (full thing in the DTRPG preview) so you can easily check it for yourself.
I’ll keep this brief: Tricube Tales is a minimalist, lite RPG using a mechanic where you roll 1 to 3 six-sided dice, and if any of them hit the target number you succeed. It uses fluctuating difficulty (a base scale of 4, 5, and 6) and Players make all the rolls. This makes it a great system for solo gaming and asynchronous play-by-chat games over Discord.
Character creation is very straight forward, appearing almost too simple but there is weight for it. Here’s what a playable character looks like at a glance:
Sam Strongblade, a Brawny Dwarf Soldier
Perks: Dwarf Stamina
Quirks: Wooden Peg-Leg
Karma: 3 / Resolve: 3
That’s it. You can glance at that, have an idea of what the character does, and maybe dismiss the fact that there’s no stats (Karma and Resolve are point pools, which I’ll explain in a bit.)
That first statement is your archetype, which includes a trait (Agile, Brawny or Crafty) and a concept. Your archetype will help determine if you’re rolling two or three dice (or 1 if it has nothing in common with the action being performed). Your Perks establish special qualities, powers, abilities or unique equipment. Often you can spend a Karma point to use a perk significantly in an action (such as lowering the difficulty). Quirks, likewise, can hinder the character. A player can actively choose to work their Quirk into the narrative, taking a penalty but in doing so restores 1 Karma.
So, if you haven’t guessed yet, Karma is the luck/fortune/power pool that lets the players do cool things. Resolve is the stress/health/endurance pool for every character. When a character hits 0 resolve, they’re taken out of the conflict, and the victor (either PC or GM) gets to narrate what happens. When this happens to player characters, they return next scene, their Resolve restored but now with an Affliction — usually a temporary quirk, but sometimes these can become more serious. Character death isn’t off the table as long as GM and Players agree to the arbitration.
Running things on the GM side is pretty easy-peasy. Most challenges are static pass-or-fail; more elaborate obstacles or tasks are assigned a pool of Effort tokens (where each successful die roll against it removes a token). Combat encounters can track multiple foes separately or you can just say “a horde of goblins” and track a single pool of effort tokens.
There’s a lot more going on — the game covers some quick ground on genre rules, like handling cybernetics, fear, magic & psionics, varying power levels, superheroes and vehicles. For the most part, all of these are just common-sense guides for arbitrating things based on context. This may be the deal breaker for some — this is a game system where players and the GM should be comfortable going back and forth making their own judgment calls on how things go down. It’s pretty much “Roll the dice, and if you succeed — narrate what happens.” It was a system originally designed with kids in mind, but obviously it has appeal to older gamers as well.
I love the damn thing. I’ve played solo games with it, and even made a pocketfold game based on it.
Definitely check it out, and if you dig it — toss the guy a couples bucks. Buying the game gets you a PDF scaled for tablet/PC use as well as a Word doc so you can hack it and make your own stuff with it.
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YYH Episode 6, please XD
CLEARLY the correct choice, friend :D God, I actually made it 5k into this recap before one OFMD event hit, then the next, then the fanzine, then the Big Bang, then freaking Ice Queendom dropping three episodes at once... I'm so sorry, YYH. I swear I'll get back to you soon.
Until then, an excerpt!
I wasn't joking about the screaming though. Yusuke passes through the gates of his school and sends the entire student body running. I mean, wouldn't you? I know I said this last recap, but can you imagine the insanity of seeing someone you know died suddenly show up for morning homeroom? This isn't an unsubstantiated rumor that gained traction before Yusuke put things to rights. A good chunk of the school—including the principal!—attended his funeral and, as discussed above, Yusuke's demise has had quite the impact on the community. Is he a ghost then? A demon? An imposter? Yusuke's long-lost twin given the same name? It's one of those situations that's so damn weird you can't really do anything about it. The dead guy wants to attend chemistry class? Alright, just let us scream about it first.
Kuwabara arrives and gives Yusuke the most intimate and yet simultaneously creepy look I’ve ever seen animated I mean wHAT IS THIS?
And am I really supposed to believe that it’s straight??
It only lasts for a second though as Kuwabara leaps back and begins his usual spiel about beating Yusuke to a pulp. Life is hard, you were a ghost, I’ll make you a ghost again even though I went to extreme lengths to bring you back, la-de-da classic “The rival doth protest too much” stuff. His speech is interrupted when Okubo points out that he should probably thank Yusuke for saving his kitten. Yeah. Of course. He's not a monster, Okubo. He’ll do that after he beats Yusuke to a pulp.
“Not much has changed at all,” Yusuke says. That's because the archetypal nature of these characters is largely why they’re appealing and a deep dive into the impact of Yusuke’s death would detract from the established action-adventure, street fighting focus. Keep up, Yusuke.
Takenaka joins the crowd and interestingly, he's the most chill about Yusuke’s resurrection, at least among those not in the know about the spirit world. He just bops him on the head with his bag and reminds him that first period is about to begin (which Yusuke, of course, wants to skip). Despite the fact that I just emphasized YYH’s priorities, AKA not dwelling on Resurrection For The Plot, I’d KILL to get a glimpse into this man’s thought process. I mean, he literally cried over Yusuke’s coffin, mourning this kid's potential and grappling with guilt over his demise. Now he's acting like Yusuke was just suspended, or something. What the hell did Atsuko tell the school to re-enroll her dead son?
The camera shifts to inside the building, showing the gang from an upper-story window. The focus is on Iwamoto who, despite being The Worst™, is at least reacting to Yusuke in a semi-sensible manner. “It doesn’t make sense,” he seethes. “He’s like a cockroach.” Of course, Iwamoto isn’t going to follow that thread. This isn’t the story of an asshole teacher unraveling the mystery of his student’s supernatural resurrection; we segue straight back into a rekindled desire to “squash” him.
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Mimi: Get informed of Kawaguchi's character development.
Osaka-ko.
Harken Tower.
Standing at a solid 60m, and overlooking the river port, the tower’s Mongolian motifs and darkness at night make it stand out amongst the industrial skyline.
Inside is the “Room of Whispers”-- a much smaller model of the “Hall of Whispers”, that still stands in Haumea.
There, a good one to two dozen people would be in constant, rotating duty, each side of the group mind explaining the decisions of the group and helping everyone come to consensus.
That was years ago. When there were hundreds in the groupmind.
Now, there’s only six. Three to each ‘side’. They are still nascent and learning, but here is where they discuss integration candidates, problems involving the whole groupmind, and consider possibilities for wielding the unwieldy mass of the extended personal and temporal power they possess.
So, this “room of whispers”-- a single table, a minimalist setting, a pair of comfortable chairs, a triangular window to let the light of the sun in.
The master of this place is Monkhiin Harken, and it's easy to see why the locals might call it things other than 'Harken Tower', given its master. At a very average 154 cm, and herself and her 'posse' composed of incredible personal power, these are overshadowed in the typical mind by the fact that her bust is nearly as wide around as she is tall. STR 24, secret martial arts, and raw arcane power can cover a multitude of sins, but it doesn't change how you're viewed.
Opposite her, Nezu Mimi-- a literally mousy librarienne, with a wry sense of humor, in that she named herself that on her applications. A little bit taller than Monkhiin, her attempts at prim and proper existence are undercut by the fact that she seems to have absorbed every hot librarienne fantasy in the barrel at the same time. Like all librariennes, this is an irritation to her more often than it’s a fantasy.
And pouring the two of them tea, Okamoto Nara. Patterned after the ‘yamato nadeshiko’ archetype, through the twisted lens of a shut-in obsessed with creating the ‘perfect woman’ in terms of both sex appeal and personality appeal, her true identity has been lost to time, though Monkhiin is making inquiries. The rest of the people who were changed all agree on this point, however-- Okamoto was the first victim of what would eventually become the Osaka Deep Dungeon, and the first lady and household manager of Harken Tower.
Considering just how many people live and work here, it’s a tough job, but she seems to handle it with aplomb, even as she pours tea for Monkhiin and Mimi. Monkhiin did not ask her to be here, but regardless, says, "Thank you, Okamoto-san. I'm sure it shall be pleasant as always."
Okamoto nearly vibrates, blushing a little with the praise.
Mimi takes the cup indelicately and sips at it, her ears perking up briefly. "It's quite good."
Monkhiin takes her time with it. “Indeed. Of course Okamoto-san would be able to produce such tea.”
Mimi takes another sip. “So Kerry’s birthday...”
“Ah. Yes. That was a weekday, so there wasn’t much time for a celebration, something quiet at home. That weekend she went out with the senshi and Pochaco. I haven’t heard much about it since, so I assume it was a good time.”
“I see. That’s good to hear. It’s not often we get a good celebration anymore. Everything’s way too busy.”
“Well, that’s what you sign up for with children, I suppose.” Monkhiin carefully ignores the increasing vibration of Okamoto as she continues. “You usually don’t show up for this session, Mimi. Is something the matter?”
“Kawaguchi’s been missing for days.”
“Mm. That’s trouble.”
“It is. He’s usually a magnet for trouble. It’s that damned complex of his, thinking he’s the hero.”
“To be fair, we thought that for a long time, too, didn’t we?”
“It’s true.”
“Still, he’s obsessed with us, so it’s probably better if I ask around...” Monkhiin closes her eyes, and... “I fear there’s a related matter.”
“What’s that?”
“Beacon’s been cut out again. I suspect she’s gone to another universe-- and a quick bit of speculation indicates that Kawaguchi likely isn’t far behind.”
“In the Darkness? That’ll kill him.”
“If he’s lucky.” Siiip. “But Beacon’s a smart girl, she should be able to get a message to us soon.”
Just such a paper arrives, appearing as if by magic, because, of course, it is.
Will be a few days longer than expected. Kawaguchi-chan is here. How she managed to follow me, not sure. She’s psionic. -- Beacon
Monkhiin stared at the carefully worded Message, and then slipped it over to Mimi, who choked on her tea.
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