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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 2 years

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Character bingo for Ortho and Jack?

***Standard disclaimer: These are just my personal opinions of the character(s); regardless of what I may think of them, sharing my thoughts is NOT meant to offend or to shame anyone that thinks differently.***

***CONTENT WARNING: mentions death!***

This is going to sound so bad out of context, but I LOVE dead children.

... in fiction only, of course! It legitimately opens up many interesting avenues of discussion and exploration within the stories they exist in. This holds true for Ortho and the role he plays in Idia’s life, and especially in episode 6′s main conflict. Episode 6 didn’t really focus as much on Ortho’s inner thoughts as much as it did for Idia’s, but I could only imagine what kinds of existential questions and dread were swirling around in Ortho’s circuit boards before and during his decision to act outside the bounds of his programming.

I think that a lot of people underestimate Ortho because he’s technically younger than everyone else at NRC, or because he’s a robot rather than a living being, but it’s because of his youth and his status as an inorganic being that makes him so much deeper than you may think he is. Imagine being Ortho, who exists solely as an entity to help someone else cope with loss. You’re hyper aware of what your purpose is, that you’re just imitating someone else, that you’ll never truly be loved and never truly be able to replace what was lost. And yet... you still want to help that person you call your creator and your brother, because you just want to see him happy, because even if Idia doesn’t have faith in his future, Ortho always will have that faith for him. MAN, IT JUST BRINGS A TEAR TO MY EYE WHENEVER I THINK OF IT 😭

Pre-episode 6, I still loved Ortho because having a little kid in the cast really shakes things up! I He has an air of innocence and the curiosity of a child, but also processes data in a very cold and calculating way... like the robot that he obviously is. That contrast is just so cool, and it made me get really invested in learning more about Ortho and why he is the way he is. DJIASBSODIABD S THIS MIGHT ALSO SOUND KINDA SUS BUT I THINK IT’S HILARIOUS THAT HE HOLDS THE SCHOOL AT GUNPOINT JUST TO SAVE HIS BROTHER 🥺 That’s how you know it’s true familial love, when you threaten to laser beam a building full of innocent bystanders to the ground to force them to rescue your family 💞 And because Ortho is a kid, his mischief comes off as cute, well-intentioned mistakes rather than the purposeful dick moves most of the rest of the boys pull off. I WOULD HAPPILY EXCUSE ORTHO OF ANY CRIMES HE COMMITS 😤 BUT FUCK EVERYONE ELSE. I just wish people would overlook him as a character just because he’s a kid 😓

If there’s one major gripe I have about pre-episode 6 Ortho, it’s that he didn’t seem very... well-defined, if that makes sense? Like, the vast majority of the time I saw him, it was in some relation to his brother. It felt like Ortho couldn’t really act or do anything on his own without somehow being tied back to Idia or having to ask for Idia’s help (and in hindsight, I completely understand why this may have been intentional, because it made the payoff in episode 6 so much more impactful). I’m SO glad the Ortho-Idia dynamic was improved and that my precious robot son can finally be free to do whatever he damn well pleases 🥺 When I saw Ortho in his College Gear for the first time... man, I felt like a proud parent that had just witnessed my one and only child’s graduation ceremony................................

JUST SO I CAN END MY THOUGHTS WITHOUT SOBBING ON MY KEYBOARD, I want to say that Ortho has some of THE best outfits in the entire game. I don’t care what anyone else says, the fact that Ortho is a robot adds to (NOT detracts from) his wardrobe. He can’t wear “normal” clothes like everyone else, so it forces the TWST devs to get very creative when designing Ortho’s equivalents. He can have all these extra functions and attachments that no one else has because he’s a robot, and that really enhances his ensembles. His coolest look by far has to be the Fairy Gear; it’s so fancy ✨ Plus, the outfit holds a lot of character significance, seeing as 1) it’s designed by Crewel rather than Idia, his usual designer and 2) Ortho puts the outfit together himself AND comes up with a special addition to his routine using it, all WITHOUT Idia’s help. The Fairy Gear helped cement Ortho’s new identity, and his special place in my heart.

“I don’t really have much to say about them.” **PROCEEDS TO GO OFF ABOUT HIM ANYWAY**

I apologize to all Jack stans, but he is just not that memorable to me. I think part of the issue is that Jack doesn’t have a clear connection to a particular Disney character or even a group of characters, unlike Leona (who is twisted from Scar) Ruggie (who is twisted from the 3 hyenas). For a game that so heavily markets itself using the Disney logo and its properties, it’s so odd to me that Jack doesn’t seem to be based on any particularly prominent wolf characters across the plethora of things The Mouse owns. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course! It just makes it difficult for my brain to remember Jack 💦 especially when he’s competing with Leona, who has the most powerful presence in Savanaclaw, and Ruggie, who I find to be much more adorable.

Inspiration for Jack aside, I don’t care for his design. I don’t mind a character with an intimidating looking face, but I don’t like how muscular he is or the weird spiky haircut he has (which???? I think is a mullet in the back????). To me, Jack’s best physical attribute is his fluffy tail, but I stop short of wanting to actually touch it or to pet him because he’s a wolf 😔 which is closely related to dogs... and I’m scared of dogs asdhlabyafibifabispfossdipb SORRY JACK

In terms of his actual role in the main story, I thought that he was severely lacking and didn’t fully meet my expectations. I was under the impression that the first years in particular would play major roles, with Ace and Deuce being the main duo tagging along with MC. However, to me it really felt like Jack was just... there, not contributing much and not saying much either. He did do important things in episode 2 (namely telling MC and co. about Leona’s plans), but I thought the way his unique magic was introduced was kind of ham-fisted and could have been executed better. It also did not help that episode 2 had the weakest storytelling out of the entire main story, so whatever Jack did happen to do didn’t get the proper chance to shine because of how poorly constructed the events surrounding him were. I don’t know, maybe Jack just generally came off as having no presence because he’s more of a stoic character that prefers to keep to himself rather than actually interact with others 💦

When Jack returned in episode 3, I felt that his role was greatly diminished and he didn’t offer much to the team despite being present. Ace was the distraction while people snuck into the museum, the Savanaclaw mob students helped overtake the Mostro Lounge while Ruggie swiped the key they needed off of Azul, and Leona stole the contracts. Compared to all of that, Jack kind of felt like more of a detriment than a help (for example, Azul spotting Jack’s tail when the were hiding after breaking into his office), or just generic extra muscle they needed around. I know there’s more to Jack’s character than that, but the main story certainly isn’t doing him any favors. Epel not only got more screen time in episode 5 AND episode 6, but also actively contributed to the VDC team and the rescue team; I wish that Jack had been allowed to do just as much.

Outside of the main story, I still don’t find him to be very interesting. Like... yes, I get that he’s a Good Boi (TM) beneath his scary face and standoffish “lone wolf” attitude, but I don’t find that alone to be compelling. I’m just not a fan of the “looks like he can kill you, but is actually a cinnamon roll” trope in general, so ashdbasoidbapds Jack unfortunately hits a lot of the points I dislike.

If it’s of any consolation, I do think that he’s substantially more interesting when he’s interacting with others (particularly when it’s a really REALLY shitty person, because then we get to see their personality and Jack’s clashing). One of the few things I do like about Jack is his strong moral conviction; it’s fascinating to see how that plays out with the scummier characters in the cast and how Jack vows to stick to his moral compass and live up to his promises even if they are for people he thinks are sketchy (like when he works for the Mostro Lounge to atone for trashing some of Jade’s mushrooms). Jack also has no issues calling others out on their bullshit (ie fake Octavinelle’s crying, Ace heckling him, Leona’s foul play in episode 2, etc.); it’s these moments that I really enjoy and wish that we got more of. I don’t necessarily think Jack is “wasted potential” (which is why I didn’t check that box off in the Bingo board for him), because I can’t think of what exactly is “missing” or could make him ‘better” in my eyes. I think the TWST team definitely did try to make Jack loveable but it just fundamentally does not appeal to me.

#Jack Howl #Ortho Shroud #twst #twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #ask game #notes from the writing raven #spoilers #character opinion bingo #tw // death

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frozen-odin · 2 years

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Arcane Review

Ok I know it’s been a while since the show came out but this has been on my mind recently so I wanted to get some thoughts out.

Premise:

Arcane is a tale of two cities, but more than that it’s a tale of two sisters. Violet and Powder (later called Vi and Jinx) were orphans in one of the many civil wars between Piltover, the shining city on the hill, and Zaun, its irradiated underbelly. Both sides of the city are technological marvels in their own right. We even see innovations in this technology when Violet and Powder steal from a young Piltover man, Jace, who seeks to combine technology with magic. The ensuing devastation leads both cities as well as both sisters into a new conflict with no clear heroes.

Overview:

Arcane is a beautifully animated series based on the League of Legends video game. Don’t worry if haven’t played the games, I haven’t either. And as expansive as the world of Runeterra is, Arcane made the smart decision to go deep instead of wide. Almost all the action takes place in the split city of Piltover/Zaun and the show serves as a prequel to their conflict that happens in the games. It only ever starts to mention one other location in the latter half of the show, which we gradually learn more about through a handful of secondary characters.

There were very few times I actually felt like I had to look up background knowledge from the games to understand the show. Even then it was mostly cameo appearances or hints certain characters may not be who they seem. The vast majority of the lore is exposited through the character of Heimerdinger, a two foot tall furry immortal who helped found the city of Piltover. As strange as he is, it’s clear that Heimerdinger and his history is meant to be as distant to us as the audience he is to the other characters, making it easy for them to dismiss his council to ill effects.

Characters:

The team behind Arcane instead decided to focus on a deep character-centric story and was able to balance fleshing out many familiar faces from the games as well as adding new ones that are central to the story. The focus characters are of course Vi and League of Legend’s flagship character, Jinx. Despite their popularity, their in-game lore was largely left open to interpretation. The fact that they’re sisters was only speculation before Arcane came out. Both also underwent overhauls to their designs and story.

Jinx has been the go-to mascot of League of Legends since her creation in 2013. In that time she had largely been a one-note manic pixie nightmare girl who takes Harley Quinn-esque glee from her explosions and the other pranks we see her play around Piltover. Her official bio hints at some dark tragedy in her past that drove her mad, it’s not until Arcane that we see her mental illness treated with respect and tgravity, especially as we learn what the tragedy was that caused it. Yes she still does grow up to be the manic explosives expert we see in the games, but there’s a lot more beneath that which she tries to hide. To see the difference in her character look no further than the 2013 Music video “Get Jinxed” and compare it to the promo-video put up just before the release of Arcane, “Enemy” which features Imagine Dragons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nlJuwO0GDs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9G1VOjN_84

Obviously not every character from the games can make it in the show, even those native to Piltover/ Zaun. However almost every character who does make it in are amazing in their own right and I can’t go into them all. Vi is one of the simplest as the archetypal big sister who retains her “punch first, ask questions later attitude” from the games, but now must balance that out as she’s put into a buddy-cop romance with the well-born enforcer, Caitlyn. The scientists that the sisters stole from, Jace and Victor, mirror much of Vi’s and Jinx’s relationship as the application of their technology and Jace’s new-found fame also push them apart. The show also features several new characters such as Vander, Silco, and Mel; all of whom give us more insight into the political turmoil that dual city is in, while protecting their own more personal interests.

A few minor characters do stand out as weaknesses in the writing though only by comparison to how well-developed the other characters get. Another fan-favorite from the games, Ekko, gets very little exploration despite one of the best fight scenes in the show. There is also one clear incident of fridgeing in this show, which is a low point in otherwise seamless writing. A good number of mysteries are left unanswered and which I hope to see better down in season two.

Art and Music

The French studio, Fortiche, did an amazing job with this series. The stylized 3D animation blends quite well with the the limited 2D animation used for the many explosions and other effects, helping to give the series that comic book/ video game look. Piltover and Zaun and very visually distinctive with the former being bathed in sunlight in almost all the shots and covered in gold and royal blue. Zaun by contrast gets almost no natural light, so it is instead bathed in the artificial green or bisexual lighting that helps display the irradiated nature as well as contribute to the feeling of a shunned society looking up to heaven.

Bisexual lighting is hugely important as it also matches the cotton-candy blue and pink hair colors of Vi and Jinx. Most notably, the main two novums of this world are also colored blue and pink. By the end of the series the pink-haired Vi relies on hex-tech power sources made in Piltover which are colored blue. Meanwhile the blue haired Jinx gets deeper and deeper invested in the Zaunite drug, Shimmer, which is colored pink.

I’ve already pointed out the fantastic music video prepared by Imagine Dragons, but sound track has plenty of other bops as well. “Playground” is great backdrop to our introduction to Zaun that makes us see the protagonists’ love for it despite all it’s flaws. “Snake” is a wicked action scene that furthers the since of paranoia and betrayal central to the series, and “Misfit Toys” is a departure that nonetheless reinforces the alternate views and the plurality of the series.

Final thoughts:

Watch this show. I don’t care what you think of League of Legend or arcano-punk settings. It’s a unique and visibly distinct world with very real characters leading it. The art is beautiful and the team did an amazing job balancing the huge cast into a comprehensive and satisfying character work even if it does leave a lot unanswered. Just be prepared for the darker tone and reinterpretation of traditionally more light hearted characters. There’s a lot of places season two can go, whether if it’s continuing the Piltover Zaun conflict or bringing in the Noxus setting we learned about near the end of last season. There’s so many more stories to tell.

#arcane #league of legends #Review #I know this is llate #just wanted to write it

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vonaegiremblem · 2 years

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So, today is my first day not playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Yesterday I received my reward for getting all the art (spoilers: you don't get anything for finishing the entire museum) and after speedrunning the final phase of the DLC that I never finished, I can say that I have "completed" ACNH to the extent that I wanted to. And now I want to talk a little about it beneath the cut

I hold that the last day in an Animal Crossing game, after you've made the conscious decision to stop playing, is a sacred thing. If you're like me, you've almost every day since launch and gotten into that comfortable Animal Crossing groove, where you can get basically everything you need to do in a day done in, like, 30 minutes and only ever go out of your way to check if a specific special NPC is on your island that day. On that last day, though, things are a little different. You spend a little bit of extra time with your villagers, you finish up maybe a few small projects, and then close the game for what will probably be the last time ever. You wave your virtual friends goodbye and lose a part of you that's been there for over two years.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is so interesting because it got delayed twice(?), came out exactly when it needed to, and became one of the fastest and best selling video games of all time. In fact, I think if you exclude Wii Sports for being packaged with almost every Wii console and Gen 1 Pokemon for being four separate games, I think it is the best selling single platform game. It was a phenomenon. It even got my mom, who was not played a console game on her own since Super Mario RPG, to continually play it to this day. And soon after it came out people genuinely debated over whether New Horizons or New Leaf was better. I think now that the game has received all of its planned major updates, New Horizons is without a doubt the better game, but I think there were some legitimate reasons to think New Leaf was better back when New Horizons came out.

New Leaf has very clearly defined progression. As you go through the game, it is really easy to see when you've reached a new milestone because you unlock a massive new building on Main Street. With the town management side of things, you unlocked more you could do as mayor and more public works projects as your approval rating increased. There was a tree in the middle of town that grew as time went on, and if I recall correctly, you did not unlock the the credits for the game until you had played for a year. New Horizons on the other hand has basically nothing to indicate progression after the first three weeks. Within three weeks you can get K.K. to your island, have basically all the special NPCs and shops unlocked, and see the credits. This is due to a shift gameplay focus. ACNH tasks the player with creating their own progress by allowing the entire island to be customizable.

New Horizons's greater focus on customization I think is also part of the reason why some New Leaf fans were disappointed. When the game first launched, player to villager interactions were basically the same, if not scaled back some from New Leaf. It also really didn't add much for the collector type players. Sure, there were some new things to donate to the museum, but there really weren't a ton of new things to give to Blathers compared to New Leaf. The only really new collectible was crafting recipes. For players more interested in the life-sim or collection aspects of Animal Crossing, New Horizons really didn't improve much on New Leaf (at least at launch).

New Horizons is fundamentally a game about design and customization. You can play any item basically anywhere on your island. Choosing the landscape of your town in older games was a big deal because it couldn't be changed. In NH, though, you can create and remove rivers and cliffs to your liking. Villagers used to randomly choose where to set up there houses. In NH, you get to decide where houses and any building, excluding town hall, placed, and you can move them whenever you want. The villagers you got used to be entirely up to chance. Now you can spend resources from playing the game to get a chance at picking a villager of your choice before letting a completely random one show up. Placing furniture in your house is no longer a grueling and tedious task since they added in the HHD UI. Even the DLC points to the customization aspect. The two primary rewards for completing the DLC are new ways to design rooms in houses, and the ability to customize your villagers houses. ACNH is a game about designing the perfect island first, and a life-sim game second.

Perhaps the biggest difference between New Horizons and its predecessors, though, is its shift away from inconveniences of old Animal Crossing. Your inventory is expanded, you have tons of storage, and, most importantly, the game does not hold a gun to your head, telling you to play every day. There is no longer the Sword of Damocles that is your villagers randomly moving out. You're free to just skip a day or two or ten and your villagers will never leave, at least not without asking you first.

ACNH is the best Animal Crossing game in the series as of now, but its not without its flaws. The first is the villager dialogue randomization. You start to get repeat dialogue really fast, which is weird, because even in the last few months of me playing, I would still randomly stumble into dialogue I had never seen before. They really should have had the game track what dialogue you've read and prioritized the dialogue you hadn't. Other than that, though the villagers are great and feel more real than ever. The fact that they have routines, and things they like to do throughout the day is really cool, coupled with the insane amount of interactions they can have with furniture on the island. Also, when they aren't spouting repeated dialogue, they have some special dialogue for really, really obscure situations. The other major flaw in New Horizons is the lack of multi-crafting. It should have been added in an update and its absence in finished product discourages people from crafting.

Overall, it's really hard to summarize my feelings for Animal Crossing: New Horizons. It's a game that's been with me through a lot, and I think it deserves at least a little recognition for occupying me for over two years

#animal crossing #new horizons #acnh #I'm not proofreading this; y'all are just going to have to deal #Also; I would like to just say that Harv's island being turned into a place with the special npcs was so smart #and made getting all the artwork just a little less miserable #also eliminated the need to trade others for specific variations on furniture; which was cool #long post #like really long post I went on for a while #I guess now I'll just use the additional time to play all the other video games in my backlog

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mark-selasky · 3 months

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Image 1: The first image is of a display board in one of the dorms here at MSU. The contrast that I noticed in this was the way each piece was rotated, for example the pieces on the left were rotated a little be to the left while the pieces on the right were to the right slightly. That is how the contrast is achieved and this draws attention to each half of the display board. This can be seen as passive design because there is no significant difference between the way the images are rotated as they are all rotated about the same degree each way.

Image 2: The second image is of another display board, but what caught my eye was the contrast between the scale sizes of the different text boxes in this display. This way it brings each box to your attention with each different size and perhaps it leads you to view the larger text boxes before the smaller ones. There's even a variance of long and short text boxes as well which contributes even more to the contrast of this piece. This could be considered an active design because there is a great variety of sizes of the scaling of these different text boxes.

Image 3: The third image is of some graphic design on a wall and the contrast that stood out to me was the difference between textures in this piece. It looks as if there is this rough texture that cuts through the smooth texture of the actual design. Perhaps this decision is to draw your attention to the text or even perhaps distract from the imagery of the design maybe. I think this could be viewed as passive design because of the fact that there is no major variation of different textures as it is only the smooth and the rough-cut textures used in this piece.

Image 4: The fourth image is of a parking lot sign here at MSU. The difference/contrast that I noticed in this sign was the different font sizes used. This sign could be considered progressive design because from top to bottom, the font size gets progressively smaller. Perhaps this decision was made because the more important information that people need to know while parking is in the bigger text to see it better, then if they need more info, they can look closer at the smaller text to see what that information might provide them. It pretty much forces the viewer to read the piece from the top down.

Image 5: The fifth and final image is of a big outdoor poster that I noticed on one of the buildings here at MSU. The contrast that I noticed here was the spacing/weight of this piece as left side feels a little bit heavier with all the text and the logo, whereas the right side just has that one image. It feels as if they want you to focus on and read the text here in this graphic design more than look at what the actual image is. I feel this is again passive design because there isn't really any great amount of variation between the spacing and weighting differences in this piece.

#module2 #gd260

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0613magazine · 8 months

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031723 Consequence

Jimin of BTS Breaks Down His “Very Intense” New Single “Set Me Free Pt.2”: Exclusive

Stepping into the solo spotlight, Jimin reveals the details of his new single

When asked about the music video for “Set Me Free Pt.2,” Jimin smiles in a way that can only be described as mischievous. The dancer, vocalist, and BTS member is chatting with Consequence over Zoom in a conversation designed specifically around the dynamic pre-release single for his upcoming solo project, FACE, due out March 24th.

Clad in an oversized bomber jacket and trusty bucket hat at HYBE’s office in Seoul, Jimin displays the kind of range in conversation that many think of when watching him perform onstage — he’s playful, cheerful, and talkative; he’s also equally thoughtful and earnest in reflections about his work. “When this song was made, I felt really attached to it,” he recalls. “I went to the US myself for the choir recording, and listening to it right next to them was truly amazing. I remember it as a really good memory.”

This album marks Jimin’s first solo project — like his fellow members of BTS, he has plenty of individual tracks within the band’s sprawling discography, but the release of FACE will see Jimin taking center stage in a different way. He phrases it as “a new starting point.”

When the track list for the album was revealed, many noticed that this pre-release single was designated as “Pt.2” despite the fact that Jimin doesn’t have any existing songs to his name titled “Set Me Free.” He confirms that it’s a nod to a track on bandmate SUGA’s second Agust D mixtape, D-2. “There isn’t a connection, and we weren’t trying to divide part one or part two,” he explains. “But since it turns out my song talks about freedom and moving forward, and SUGA’s song talks about some of the stories that come before, I thought it would be good to come after that.”

Dedicated fans — and anyone who has been lucky enough to see BTS live — recognize Jimin as a one-of-a-kind talent. His background in contemporary dance and ballet shaped him into a hypnotic stage presence. His unique vocals stop people in their tracks. He’s the next member of the band to release solo material, work he didn’t take lightly. “You know, the members felt very nervous before releasing their solo albums, but compared to those feelings, their results were absolutely great,” he shares. “I don’t want to be an embarrassment to my members. I want to be a proud member of BTS.”

“Set Me Free Pt.2” is a song that announces Jimin’s solo arrival in a major way — big horns, the aforementioned choir, assertive lyrics, and a serious beat. As with every other decision around the record, the choice to lead with this single (the album’s closer) was intentional. “This album talks about how I look back on myself and how I overcame… If people understand the emotions I’m trying to express, I’ll consider the album a success,” he says.

Listen to “Set Me Free Pt.2” and read Jimin’s Origins breakdown of the key points behind the track below.

Performance

First, we tried to focus on the performance and express the really intense vibe of the song. The key point was freedom — and actually, we were drinking at the time. This is the last track on the album; the last of the emotions. It’s very intense, so I wanted to announce a “Jimin solo” in an impactful way.

Autonomy

We tried to express the grand scale of the song and [the ideas of] determination, passion, and overcoming. “Set me free” means setting myself free, so I thought it was important that I be the one to set myself free — not someone else. In the end, I’m the one who has to set myself free.

Performances of “ON” by BTS

There is a song called “ON” by BTS. I think you can feel the same vibe watching the “ON” performance as you will watching this performance. You’ll feel that feeling once again.

Light and Dark

I would say the song has the energy of a light in the darkness. I wanted to express that kind of picture everyone has in their head — a ray of light coming into the darkness is the only thing you can see. If I had to say specific colors, I’d say black and white.

Source: Consequence

#2023 #bts #jimin #consequence

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amorphousfurrysnakething · 1 year

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Thinking about computer games/media and politics, specifically the Transformation mechanic in Age of Wonders 4 (as yet unreleased and yes I am very excited).

This was inspired by someone saying they wanted an option to remove pronoun selection from the faction leader creation screen on grounds of "it's too political" and they play games to get away from politics.

So, they were mocked for this, but mostly on grounds of being thinskinned or it being a lot of work for very little point, and not what I think is a far more salient point: this game is already political. It's a wargame, and war is political. The default assumption is that the player character is attempting to form an imperial hegemony, even if they're trying to do it 'nicely' that's what they're doing. A major player character option is to be a godlike wizard invading from another world in pursuit of power. It it critically examining these things? Is it taking a political stance on these issues? I doubt it, it's a fairly cartoonish general fantasy wargame that's built to be a fun wargame. But these political themes and issues are still present. And if you want explicit political stances, there is an alignment system, and what decisions are declared as 'good' or 'evil' is a political statement.

But none of this reads as political to this person.

The potential, oblique reference to trans people, however, is unacceptably political. (The main reason this option exists is to properly facilitate custom faction leader titles, something that's a fairly basic feature that I wouldn't imagine them leaving out given the customisation focus of the game's design)

But that's all fairly standard for the genre. A political issue that is more specific to this game is the aforementioned Transformation mechanic. A thing the player character can (and is expected to) do is perform great rituals that fundamentally alter a race under their control, ranging from 'minor' shifts to be more bestial (buffing troops while near animals/cavalry) or universal glowing runes (for warding against hostile magic), to 'major' redefining shifts, such as making the entire race demons or angels.

In game (and the depth I expect it to be explored), this is mostly a stat-change, giving in-play large scale buffs and deepening the cultural customisation design elements. But if you wanted to read it politically, or from an in-universe position, this is a massive violation of bodily autonomy, one of the more divisive political issues of the day. Complete redefinition biology for not only citizens of your empire, but every member of their species/culture. There's no opt-out, no exclusion of those who don't accept your leadership. An aspiring god-king decided its convenient for them to say you have rock growing out of your body so you do, with no say in the matter.

And this is an alignment-neutral action. That's a political statement. It's probably one made for mechanical reasons (it would be kinda sucky to lock out such a large mechanic from people who want to play 'good', for the same reason that 'justified' wars and conquest don't ding your alignment because this is a wargame), but it's still saying something, even if that wasn't the intention.

That is a massive political concern that is present in this game that this person thought was apolitical.

(To be clear, I'm not criticising this mechanic here, in fact, I'm quite looking forwards to playing around with it because it looks cool, I'm just thinking about politics and media and how it gets into everything).

#I know this is very basic media theory #but also I wanted to vent so fuckit #transphobia #imperialism

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rotationalsymmetry · 2 years

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Re: getting mad at Republican voters for Roe v Wade’s overturn

I’m not gonna argue directly because I don’t think it’s going to help anything. But I will say some things on my own damn blog.

A Supreme Court that is majority Republican appointees came about for several reasons, including Trump being in office for four years, but that is not the only reason and there are other ones, including decisions that Democrats made. And Trump being in office for four years in turn is partly the result of people who voted Republican, but there were many other factors, such as Trump running (let’s not forget that Trump’s decisions in office are primarily his responsibility, morally speaking) and the prevalence of TV commercials and other ads as central part of the campaigning process which means they campaigns are expensive, which in turn means politicians are beholden to whatever special interests (eg corporations and industry groups) give them money at least as much if not more than to the people who voted for them. And also the two party system, which means that often people vote against the person they hate more than for the person they like.

Voting is a factor. It’s one factor among many. When people focus exclusively on voting, and blame half the population of the US for their problems rather than either the individuals making the actual decisions or more systemic factors, like the legal bribery that is campaign contributions, it’s, you know, well, if I was very invested in keeping things the way they were I would absolutely love that, you know? That Americans perpetually blame everything wrong with the government on other Americans.

Basically why the fuck are you identifying with politicians in a way that divides the general public into people who are on your side and mortal enemies? Who do you think that serves?

Most Republicans — the electorate, not the politicians — aren’t evil. On the whole they have somewhat different values than liberals in a way that scares me: more authoritarian, less inclined to value critical thinking, less inclined towards thinking diversity is a thing, more prone to white supremacy, etc. But most Republican voters are basically just people trying to do there best under difficult circumstances: we live in an age where it can be hard to tell what’s true, humans are psychologically designed to not like to disagree with our family members and neighbors, we tend to prioritize our feelings over sound arguments. All of these make people very, very easy to manipulate, and in many cases vote against their interest or even vote for things they don’t actively want because they’ve been lied to about what they’re voting for. It’s a human thing. Everybody’s vulnerable to it — mostly the differences between a Republican voter and a middle of the road Democrat and a radical leftist are not any innate differences in character or ability, but just who you hang out with and what ideas you get exposed to.

And yeah I’m saying this as someone who lives in liberal bubbles and maybe it looks different if you’re one of the few and the proud who consistently vote against your neighbors, I don’t know.

I don’t think looking at all the available facts and concluding that we got here primarily because individual citizens make fully informed decisions of their own free will to vote for Republicans rather than Democrats, is an especially accurate or useful analysis. The system runs on Democrats and Republicans hating each other, on Americans accepting the premise that Democrats, as in politicians, and Republicans, as in politicians, are in fact reasonable proxies for Democrats the voters and Republicans the voters, and you can’t dismantle the master’s house using the master’s tools.

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finelinevogue · 3 years

Note

I love your “little moments” series… I have a weak spot for dad!Harry💕 and I love the relationship between the family’s members 🤗 and I really hope u will continue to update it! And for this series I would like to request Harry doing the 73 questions interview for Vogue and his kids and wife make an appearance (u can choose if the kids are toddlers or teens) and they even answer some questions OR an Howard Stern interview where Harry is asked about his family,maybe the host makes like not so nice-low key shady comments on his wife and on Harry’s daughter coming out story. Ok I’ m done, so sorry ik it’s so long 😅 it’s just I love your series sooo muchhh 🥰🥰 ok I’m done love u have a good day 😘

i’d love to answer this one!! thank you so much for loving my little series💕this one’s for you and for the other request i got which i’m combing with this: “Harry is doing a interview on facetime when his kid crashes the interview.” so pls enjoy and yeah enjoy;

oli - 6, felix - 4, belle - 1

The day had finally arrived for Harry Styles to complete the 73 Questions with Vogue.

It had come to be the promo for ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ and his schedule was booked with interview after interview after interview, and it wasn’t ideal for this to all be happening months whilst also having to look after three meddling toddlers, one of whom had only recently turned 1 years old.

The house was chaos. Fun, but chaos. And it was also the setting of this interview.

“Alright you lot, this way.” You shoved your children along to your living room, giving Harry the space he needed with Joe Sabia - the interviewer.

“Thank you love, see you later.” He blew a kiss to you and returned his focus to Joe. This interview was the first of many and it was also a major marketing ploy. These types of interviews were so highly recommended for Harry to be involved in and Jeff had thought it was about time for him to do one.

Joe had arrived around 15 minutes ago, just to

run over the script and remind Harry of the pre-determined questions - which reminded him of the answers that you’d run through with him the night before. Now the cameras were set up, the mic people were all at stand-by and Joe was ready it was time to begin. The children had been so fascinated by all these new people, after not seeing anyone for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, which is why it took a lot of trouble to get them to shuffle away from their beloved dad.

A fake door knock arose.

“Harry Styles hello!”

“Hi!” Harry waved at the camera.

“I’m here to do the Vogue 73 Questions, shall we get to it?”

“Of course! Come in!” Harry welcomed Joe into the house and shut the door behind him, not trusting his little ones to not escape if they were running wild.

“Beautiful house! Is it your only one?”

“No, but it’s my only one in London.” Harry made a point of not exploiting how many houses he did have and where they were. In fact, you still didn’t know about the Island that he was currently investing in just for you. You were a huge conservation activist and so Harry thought you could spend your free time helping the fragile ecosystem on this island.

“Did you design it yourself?”

“Me and my wife built the plans, but we go the experts to finish it all off.”

“What’s your favourite room?”

“Um, probably the living room.”

“Why?”

“So many of my favourite memories have happened in there.”

“Could you give us some?”

Harry could give loads, but they were far too precious for him to just give away. The living room wasn’t even a massive room, it was quite quaint with a couple of sofas, a logwood fire and then rugs and paintings on the walls. It was a home within a home. It was where Felix had taken his first steps. It was where Oli had spoken his first words. It was where Belle had fallen over for the first time and given herself nasty carpet burn. It was where presents were opened at Christmas. It was where you and Harry had made love next to the fire. It was where Felix and Oli had had their first tiny argument. It was where you spent family nights. If your house was a map then that room marked X the spot.

It was treasure. Priceless.

“My favourite would probably be when my wife, Y/N, spilt red wine all over the new white carpet and then proceeded to throw white wine over the stain because she’d read somewhere that it helps to get rid of it.” Harry chuckled at the memory.

“Did it?”

“No, God no. The carpet’s grey now.”

Joe laughed, as did Harry.

“I have to say Harry, you’re looking very fashionable today who are you wearing?”

“Gucci.” He blushed, because he knew that everyone would’e known that without question. He was wearing a lilac silk shirt with his name embroidered on it - but really it was to symbolise your last name not his - with a white wife-beater shirt and white shorts. He looked rich.

“Shouldn’t have asked really? Is your wife as much a Gucci avid fan?”

“She hates anything expensive. I think she still wears the same jeans she was wearing at university!” He knew you’d hit him later for saying that.

“So she’s a hoarder?”

“God yeah. She keeps everything and anything.” Harry laughed in admiration.

“Has she always been?”

“Always. When we went on our first date, her bag was so full that she couldn’t find her purse and she was so embarrassed because she thought I would think she was taking advantage of who I was. Anyways I did end up paying that night, but she had actually, I don’t know how, sent me money for her portion of the bill. From that moment I knew it was going to be her.”

“Do you write songs about her?

“Every day.” He smiled at the thought of the one he’d written just this morning.

“Which one is your favourite about her?”

“I don’t know about favourite, but the one I hold closest to my heart is probably ‘Fine Line’.” Harry stopped there, not wanting to share the intimate details of why and Joe respected that.

“Do your children have a favourite song of yours?”

“They go crazy for Kiwi and Golden. Belle loves Treat People and Oli knows the dance to that one actually.”

“Did you choreograph the dance for TPWK?”

“Partially, but I had help from my friend Paul and Y/N helped too actually.”

Harry and Joe had now made it through the house, weaving in and out of rooms, until they had made it to the Garden. Unfortunately, you’d forgotten to shut the bifold doors to the living room and so as soon as Harry came into focus for your children they immediately ran for him. Oli and Felix could run quite well, but Belle was a lot slower. She was only learning how to walk and so she fell a lot, unless she was being supported by you or Harry. Oli reached his dad first and then Felix, to which Harry knelt down to embrace them in ‘super-dad’ hugs as he liked to call them.

“And who do we have here?” Joe asked.

“Trouble.” Harry replied in jest, but whispered something into his boys ears before backing away.

“Hello i’m Oli.” Oli waved proudly to the camera.

“Hi i’m Fix.” Feliz shied into his dads neck, embarrassed of himself. Harry kissed the back of his head and kept a hold oh him around his back for comfort.

“Fix?” Joe asked at the peculiar name.

“It’s Felix, but he can’t pronounce his own name for some reason so we just call him Fix now. Or Flix. Don’t we buddy?”

“Oh my! I’m so sorry about this!” You ran out in panic, knowing your one job was to keep the kids entertained and away from their dad. At least that was the original plan, but both Harry and Joe like this idea so much more. You were blushing red in embarrassment, picking up a fallen over Belle on your way over to everyone else. “So sorry.”

Belle became restless in your arms, reaching forward for her dad. She whined when she couldn’t quite reach and Harry immediately stood up to take his winging daughter from your arms. As he did, he leant into you and whispered in your ear whilst leaving it a warm kiss behind.

“You’re okay love. Don’t be sorry.”

“Hello Y/N!” Joe spoke.

“Hiya! How are you?”

“I’m great, and you?”

“Peachy.” You laughed, leaning down to collect Felix who was making grabby hands at you. Oli was quite happy standing next to both his parents, one of Harrys hands running through his tiny locks of hair.

“So now we have the family together, how do you feel to all be together?”

You looked to Harry smiled to find him smiling back already at you, knowing you both had a very similar answer. “It feels right. It feels like home.” You answered and Harry nodded in agreement, giving Belle a gentle rock in his arms.

“Are you okay with showing your children’s faces publicly?”

“No we’re not.”

“Looks like we have a hell of a lot of editing to do back at HQ.” Joe laughed, but completely understood the reasoning behind yours two decision. If needed, you could re-film scenes of this interview so that it didn’t include your children. Joe had done his best to keep the camera on you and Harry and luckily the children kept their faces buried in their parents necks anyways. “Is that going to be forever?”

“When they are old enough to decide whether they want to be in the spotlight then we’ll see.” Harry smiled, holding onto Belle tighter because all he wanted to do was keep her protected, and his, forever.

“You two seem like very good parents.” Joe spoke sincerely, and it made you swallow down a sob because it was always really lovely to hear such compliments - knowing you’d struggled with postnatal depression.

“Thank you Joe.” Harry nodded respectfully.

“Okay let’s carry on?”

The interview carried on until Harry had answered so many questions. He redid bits, due the children being too involved and he re-filmed answers to questions he found difficult to answer the first time around. He had such a great experience and was happy with the way that the day turned out.

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theweasleysredhair · 4 years

Text

Breathless [F.W.]

Character: Fred Weasley

Word Count: 2783

Requested?: Yes/No

Summary: “Stop biting that fucking lip!” In which Y/n is a sales assistant working in the Weasley’s store; Fred likes her but finds it difficult to show this, especially since all he wants to do is to throw her against a wall and shag her.

WARNING: this is NSFW, 18+, smutty, sexy times, idk how else to say it. read with caution. or delight. idk anymore.

Tags: @gracemayhateyou @wand3ringr0s3 @theweirdsideofstuff @harrysweasleys @thoseofgreatambition

Disclaimer: Gif isn't mine, credit to whoever made it

A/n: I DID A THING (Fred Weasley is one hot motherfucker just saying)

also this was supposed to be a drabble... oops?

~*~

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST MY WORK! REBLOGS ARE ABSOLUTELY FINE! <3

+ + + + +

Fred wondered why he had hired you.

Well he knew why he had - because you were amazing at your job - but right now, as he watched you, bent slightly at the waist, interacting with some young children who had entered the shop, he severely regretted his decision. The only reason for this was that, due to the nice summer weather, you had decided to wear a skirt. A form-fitting skirt. A skirt that made Fred’s pants a tad too form-fitting themselves.

It wasn’t your fault - the sun had come as a welcome change, prompting the majority of people to be wearing lighter clothes as they hurried through Diagon Alley, so as to beat the heat. You’d just happened to have chosen a skirt that made Fred wish he could bend you over the till counter and pull said skirt up to your waist.

He couldn’t help the way his eyes wandered down your form to the curve of your bum as you reached up to grab products for the customers you were with, or - even better - this morning when you had bent down to pick up something someone (Fred) had dropped. His heart was pounding from the thought, and he was still trying to live down the fact he’d had to ask to swap with George, who was behind the till, in order to hide a certain problem of his from customers and from you - something George had found hilarious, joking about it every time he passed his twin throughout the rest of the day - “Alright there, Freddie? Working hard are we?” - earning more than a few glares.

Merlin though, Fred wanted you. He wanted to be able to kiss you, hold you, love you openly. He wanted to ask you for your input on new inventions, to ask you for your opinion on anything - everything. To be the last one to kiss you at night and the first thing you saw in the morning. And he definitely wanted you in his bed. Or in the shower. Or against the wall.

Preferably all of the above.

He couldn’t remember when he first caught feelings - sometime during your years at Hogwarts, but Fred couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he realised he was in love with you as opposed to just loving you. Perhaps it was that one game of truth or dare that lead to you kissing him - a thought he savoured and thought back to a lot. The way your lips felt against his and how he was able to hold you close in that moment.

All he knew was that he was left breathless in your presence.

He spent the rest of the day with thoughts of you in his head, swirling around as he tried to focus on serving customers. This proved a difficult feat considering you were right by him on the shop floor - talking, laughing, smiling. Fred cursed himself for being so caught up on you, but he couldn’t help himself.

He was so wrapped up in watching the way your lips turned up into a smile, the way your hips swayed as you walked, imagining how they’d feel against his own that he nearly missed George bidding his goodbyes after the store had closed for the day - something about meeting Angelina - as he made himself busy tidying one of the stands near the entrance.

“Hey Fred?” You called from the storage room. Fred blinked, pulling his thoughts away from his fantasies and back into reality, “Yeah?”

There was silence for a moment, and Fred placed the vial he was holding back into its place before wandering over to the storage room just as you entered back onto the shop floor.

“George asked if we could find a place to put these new products,” you said, bringing out a couple of trays of a new product designed to give the taker the temporary ability to read minds.

Fred frowned slightly. He knew for a fact that this product was supposed to be set up at the weekend, not today, before he both cursed and thanked George mentally as he realised his twin had given him some time alone with you - and an excuse as to why.

You’d placed the trays down and began looking around the shop, trying to work out the best place to display them, absent-mindedly pulling your bottom lip between your teeth as you did.

Fred’s gaze was directed at where your teeth met your lip and he swallowed, his jaw clenching as he imagined himself being the one biting your lip, and what sounds you’d make whilst he was doing so.

In his haze, he hadn’t realised you’d moved to the opposite side of the till counter, placing some other products you’d taken from another display down as you leant on the counter yourself. The movement caused Fred to glance over at you and his breath immediately hitched in his throat.

He could’ve sworn your top was buttoned all the way to your collar just moments ago and yet now, as you were leaning on your elbows on the counter as you spoke about the idea for the display you had, all he could focus on was the sight of the top of your breasts, in perfect view from the way your top had fallen as you’d leant.

“I suppose we could always move the love potions stand to the other side of the shop,” you looked up at Fred to see his response and instead were met with a soft gaze and no hint that he’d heard what you’d said. You raised your hand up in front of his face, an amused smile now playing on your lips as you watched him jump slightly, pulling him from whatever daydream he’d concocted in his head.

“I’m sorry, love, what we’re you saying?” He reaches up to stroke the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Were you not listening again?” You teased, giving him a playful eye roll. “I’m sorry, I was just distracted,” he replied.

“By what?”

Fred cleared his throat, not wanting to admit that he was very much imagining throwing you against the nearest wall and snogging the hell out of you. He instead changed the subject, he hoped subtly, as he returned his focus to the tray of products on the counter, “We could move the Pygmy puffs over and put the new stand nearer the front.”

“That could work,” you looked around and bit your lip in thought again, “Yeah and then we could move...”

But Fred’s focus was lost again. He knew he should be paying attention, that you’d beg him to know what had him so distracted but he couldn’t help it. Not when you were stood barely five feet in front of him, with your top practically unbuttoned and your skirt hugging your curves the way it was.

“What do you think?” You turned back to him happily, before seeing him in a trance again, “Um... Fred?”

Fred blinked, “Oh um yeah, yeah sure, sounds good!”

“Okay good! And then where should we move the snack boxes to...” And there you went again with the lip biting. Merlin, were you doing it on purpose? Could you tell how badly it was affecting him?

And suddenly Fred was only vaguely aware of you being mid sentence as he interrupted your planning with a growl, “Will you stop biting that fucking lip?!”

You jumped, a bewildered look dancing across your features, “What?”

“Stop. Biting. That. Fucking. Lip.” He spoke in a low tone that hit you between your legs and your mouth dropped slightly.

That’s when you saw it. His skin flushed, jaw clenched. His darkening eyes. Your own eyes wandered down his suit-clad arms, sleeves rolled to his elbows and displaying his toned forearms, knuckles white from gripping onto the counter.

You watched his tongue dart out to swipe across his bottom lip and nearly whimpered.

“Oh yeah? Or what?” You challenged him, purposely pulling your bottom lip between your teeth again.

“Or this!”

And suddenly Fred had slammed you against the nearest flat wall, his hands around your wrists as he easily pushed your arms up above your head. Your chests were pressed together, heaving from the deep breaths you were taking, his forehead resting on yours before he crashed his lips against your own.

He held onto your wrists with one hand, using the other to pull you closer to him by your hip, his tongue licking into your mouth as you moaned, completely taken by the man pressed against you. He ran his tongue across your bottom lip and gently nibbled, finally finding out what it felt like to bite your fucking lip.

You felt him through his pants, hard against your thigh as you sighed into his mouth, your hips rolling against his and making him let out a guttural moan.

He dropped his grip from your wrists just long enough to shake off his suit jacket, leaving him in his shirt as you ran your hands down his chest, revelling in the feel of his abs through the material.

His lips were still on yours, as if he was trying to imprint the feel of kissing you into his brain forever. In case this was a one time thing. In case it never happened again.

And then suddenly his mind was taken over by the feeling of your hands on his chest, unbuttoning his shirt as his own hands ran along the skin underneath your own shirt, fingertips reaching up to dance along the base of your bra, his hands gripping your back as you worked to take each others’ clothing off.

You pulled away for just a moment, pulling your shirt over your head as Fred did the same, throwing your bra somewhere in the middle of the floor, instantly forgotten as Fred put his hands back on you.

You shimmied your skirt down before making quick work of getting Fred out of his pants, mouth almost watering when you saw his hard cock pressing against the material of his boxers.

He pushed his lips back on yours, holding your bum as your hands reached around his neck to pull at the tufts of hair there, earning what you could only describe as a growl from him.

“Tell me to stop,” he groaned, taking in the sight of you, breathless and writhing under him.

“What if... I don’t want... you to stop,” you gasped as his mouth ghosted down your jaw, pressing the occasional open mouthed kiss to your skin.

“You want me to keep going?” He asked, sucking at the skin just below your jawline. “I want you to make me feel good,” you said as you stared up into his dark eyes.

“Darling, I can make you feel better than good,” Fred promised with a smirk.

His lips were then busy licking down your neck, towards your chest and he gently teased a nipple into his mouth, nibbling and earning breathy moans from you. One hand gripped your bum as the other held the back of your thigh, slowly moving round and under your skirt as he lightly ran a finger along the lace of your underwear. “This wet just for me?” He grinned, pulling away from your breast to meet your gaze as you nodded breathlessly, “All for you, Freddie.”

“I like the sound of that,” he replied as he moved to your other breast, giving it the same attention as he hooked a finger under the band of your underwear.

He began trailing kisses down your stomach and then kneeled before you, slowly pulling your underwear down your legs before pausing, looking up at you, “These expensive?”

“I can buy more.”

And with that, he ripped them from your legs, throwing them off to the side, falling somewhere with your discarded shirts.

His warm breath hit between your legs and he gripped your thighs before plunging his tongue inside of you, licking into you and making you gasp. The sound you made when he gently bit your clit was downright filthy, and you swore you could feel Fred smirking against you. He pushed his fingers into you, lazily thrusting them in and out as you leant against the wall, eyes closing in pleasure.

Just as you felt yourself getting close, your breathing staggered as you edged towards your climax, Fred decided to pull away from you, the cold air hitting you suddenly, making you open your eyes and you whimpered at the loss of contact.

“Look at you, being so needy. My needy girl, huh? I’ll make you cum, don’t worry, I’m just... dragging it out a little,” Fred smirked as he stood up, his fingers suddenly entering you again but this time only moving slowly.

You desperately thrust your hips into his hand, hoping for more friction, sighing frustratedly as he tutted and removed his hand completely.

He stepped away from you, pulling his underwear off and you finally caught the sight of his cock, long and thick, precum covering the tip. He grabbed himself, slowly stroking himself as he stepped back towards you.

“Can I..?” You spoke, your eyes following his hands. “Be my guest, princess.”

Fred could’ve died happy, he thought, with your pretty lips around his cock, your hands pumping what wouldn’t fit into your mouth, letting out groans as your tongue swirled around the tip.

He felt himself twitch, when suddenly you’d pulled away and he knew as he watched you stand up with your swollen lips curling into a smile that it was your way of paying him back for denying you yours before.

“Dangerous game you’re playing here, love,” He warned, stepping towards you.

“I’m playing to win,” you replied, crossing your arms over your chest and absent-mindedly pushing your breasts up with the action.

Fred groaned, “I need to be inside of you.”

His hands were back on you, kissing you again before he guided himself to push inside of you. You both groaned together, breaths hitting the other as he thrusted up into you, pinning you against the wall. He grabbed your waist, his muscles flexing, sweat beading along his collarbone as you leant forward to kiss his neck, biting the spot under his ear that made him suddenly moan and his hips stutter.

“Look at you, taking my cock so well,” he breathed out, his abs tightening with every push into you.

He then nodded over to the till counter just behind you, “See that counter? I’ve been thinking about bending you over it all day.”

“Then why don’t you?” You gasped out your breath hitching in your throat as he gave a particularly deep thrust.

Without a reply, he pulled out of you, making you whimper at the empty feeling, before pulling you over to the counter quickly. He shoved the product trays onto the floor, unbothered by them crashing to the floor as he pressed a rough, dirty kiss to your lips before turning you around and bending you over like he’d imagined so many times before. His hands roamed across your bum, squeezing before pushing back into you and making you cry out.

His hands were on your waist as he pounded into you, before he reached around to pull you up so your back hit his chest, both of you glancing towards the large front window of the shop.

“Anyone could come by and see us, but you don’t care about that do you? Just as long as I keep making you feel good,” he growled in your ear, and you felt yourself clench around his cock, earning a groan from him.

“Freddie,” you whispered, your head falling back against his shoulder as you felt your stomach tightening, building up to your release, “I’m gonna- I’m gonna-“

“There’s a good girl,” Fred praised, a hand running up your stomach to hold one of your breasts, “You’re so good to me. Come for me, princess.”

You let out a moan as your climax washed over you, collapsing forward onto the counter as Fred thrusted into you a couple more times before releasing inside of you, gripping your hips as he groaned, his head falling against the back of your neck as you both tried to catch your breath.

“I love you,” he mumbled, his lips tracing across your back and down your shoulder. And in that moment, as you were coming down from your high, whispering the words back to him, you knew this was the start of something that neither of you were prepared for.

After all, you left each other breathless.

#fred weasley #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley smut #fred weasley imagine #fred weasley imagines #weasley twins #weasley twins imagine #weasley twins imagines #harry potter

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tiramisiyu · 3 years

Text

Thoughts on Xia Yan’s Anniversary/Kiss Date

Not a translation, but rather an unleashing of the many thoughts I had for his date because it made me feel so many emotions and think so many things;;

Wordcount: 2.8k

Date Translation

Preamble

Tears of Themis’ 1st anniversary features one of the most significant in-story events you can view within an otome game - the confession event between MC and respective male leads. The gravity of this confession event, however, is intensified with respect to the ML Xia Yan, as their emotions towards each other is not the only focus of said confession - he must also reveal the heartbreaking truth that his life is likely to end in three years.

In the below sections, I will discuss the significance of various components that comprise Xia Yan’s anniversary date. My primary focuses will be on Xia Yan’s internal struggles, his care for MC, and the nature of the confession, and I aim to ultimately express why this date had such a major effect on me and whoa if you’re still reading this rambling part, I applaud you. I’m really just doing a fancy thoughtdump here.

The Nature of the Confession Event

From the beginning, XY never intended for the confession to be full of pomp and circumstance - and this was out of concern for MC, fearing that she would be too swept up in emotion to make it. Based on how the other guys’ cards look (them being outside and MC’s all dressed up), I assume that there was some ceremony-like aspect to their respective confessions, and I think that this draws a stark contrast to XY’s (who staunchly refused Yang Xiao’s offer to help make his confession just as ceremonial). In XY’s, MC’s not dressed up the way she is for the others, and both have been drenched in rain and are dissolving into tears of sadness as they speak. In addition, their desires are conflicting (rather than a situation where both parties confess and get together, and thus have coinciding interests) - despite what XY has said before, he does not want MC to be with him, while MC wants the exact opposite. It’s not a beautiful or gorgeous scene by design - instead, it’s very raw, very 狼狈 as the two lay bare their own painful emotions, discuss/cry about heavy topics, and show very vulnerable sides to each other, trying to get through to the other person.

Speaking of showing vulnerability, the fact that Xia Yan is so anguished by what he has to say that he has to sit down and cry hits particularly hard because he has always, always tried to put on a strong face in front of MC. Whenever his illness strikes and MC sees it, such as in aquarium date or Neruda poem date, he’ll smile and/or joke about it after. When the two were talking about his posthumous letters during the RRG date, he still had a calm smile on his face. Even when he talked about being shoved into a car trunk to be “disposed of”, he was still calmly smiling. As MC noted, his job has taught him to have extreme control over his emotions, so it’s almost overwhelming, trying to imagine how much sadness pushed him to that point.

Pathetic fallacy also plays a part in increasing the impact that the confession event had. In the days leading up to the last part of the date, storms keep striking suddenly, such that it’s even described as “strange”. Storms are, of course, generally associated with less-pleasant things, such as conflict, anger, depression, difficulty, and so on. The meaning behind why they appeared suddenly or frequently is a little harder to understand, but my assumption for the frequency of the storms (rather than an ongoing storm or gloom) reflects how things could not completely “clear up” (despite uplifts in emotion from time to time) until they confronted each other with their feelings. During the confrontation, not only is the storm still going on, but they’re also harshly drenched in the cold rainwater. It is only after the kiss, after their interests finally coincide, that the storm lifts and the beautiful starry sky casts its light on Xia Yan, who was holding the majority of the conflict/sadness/depression between the two of them. (This is also highlighted in how MC notes that Xia Yan feels slightly cold (during the kiss), and she tries to transfer her warmth over to him, trying to alleviate that heavy emotion that’s wrapped itself around him.)

The Location

The attic of their old home remains an important location for these two, and I pretty much can’t think of a better choice to set the confession. It contains their childhood memories, and it also came into play during Xia Yan’s first birthday after his return (i.e. the idea of continuing to make memories there). It’s also interesting to note that Xia Yan, from his rational mindset, did not intend to see MC… yet he still came to this place - a place that was equally meaningful to both of them, and a place where he’s likely to get lost in emotion. He may be restraining his emotions for MC’s good, yet they still show in small places. (At least, there doesn’t seem to be any logical reason for him to be there, since he wasn’t setting anything up there…)

The Humanizing and Internal Conflict of Xia Yan

I call it “humanizing” because I’ve done some commenting before on how Xia Yan has felt a little superhuman - so many skills everywhere, and rarely a moment of weakness. Now, this date really drives home that he is just human too, with the harsh reality of imminent death hanging over him (especially since we also learn a few more concrete details on exactly what his illness is). This point is brought into attention when he talks about how he’s neither able to be as brave as Schumann (who acted based on emotion) nor as silently strong as Brahms (who acted based on reason). He’s pulled in so many directions for all the things he wants - a desire to stay by MC’s side and do so much with her, whether as family or as something more, versus his rational mindset that tells him to not see her at all, to disappear from her life after, or to push her away even after her confession. There was also his “rationally” created plan in which he would give her the letter and let her decide, yet he still tries to convince her to not be with him.

The Schumann/Brahms comparison shows how he keeps getting pulled back and forth between reason and emotion. He reveals his feelings to MC (Schumann), but wants her to make the optimal decision, which he believes is to not be with him (Brahms). He then kisses her after hearing her conviction (Schumann) and then gives her the gift that’s linked to Brahms. In realizing that he’s not able to stick to either path, he calls himself a coward - but he doesn’t need to be like either person. As MC says, his restraint is a part of his own background, and his emotional wavering is because of his care for MC - all in all, his motivations are because he is Xia Yan, not Schumann or Brahms.

Personal Story Chapter 2 Parallels

In Xia Yan’s personal chapter 2, Yang Xiao sets up the story of 零/Zero and 玛丽薇莎/Marivisa to mirror MC and Xia Yan (respectively). The mention of what will bring Zero and MC happiness is starkly similar in these two situations:

⊳ Personal Ch.2-9

Xia Yan: 因为...这样，零会更幸福... 她不是在牺牲，她只是用自己的方式让零能幸福。Because this way, Zero would be happier… She wasn’t sacrificing herself. She was only using her own methods to make Zero happy.

MC: 但零的幸福就是她啊。But Zero’s happiness is her.

Xia Yan: 她已经无法给零幸福了。 It’s already impossible for her to give Zero happiness.

⊳ Date

Xia Yan: 如果你选择别的男人。。。只要他能给你幸福。我只会带给你不幸，我没有时间了。。。If you choose another man… As long as he can make you happy. All I can bring you is unhappiness. I don’t have much time left…

MC: 你怎么可能带给我不幸，你怎么可能做不到给我幸福。你在我身边，你的存在本身，就是我的幸福。How is it possible that you can only bring me unhappiness? How is it impossible for you to bring me happiness? You being by my side – your very existence – is my happiness.

Yes, the Zero/Marivisa story was intentionally made to parallel these two, so it might feel moot to compare them like this. However, I still really appreciated that they brought this discussion of what brings MC/Zero happiness back, especially since XY’s chapter 2 was very major in developing his character. Back then, MC is vehement in that Zero would have been happier spending all the time he could with Marivisa, as well as even having the choice to spend that time with her. I think that this part was instrumental in Xia Yan eventually deciding to tell her the truth and letting her make her own decision (as he explicitly stated to Yang Xiao in part 1 of the date). However, he still wasn’t fully convinced by what MC said back in chapter 2, so we satisfyingly see this discussion of happiness come full circle by the end of this date, when Xia Yan finally trusts MC to make the best decision for herself.

Xia Yan’s Considerateness

Xia Yan’s enduring consideration for MC displays itself in nearly every single action within this date.

The flashback, when he thinks about MC potentially having to go through what the widow is now experiencing, and how his own happiness for three years isn’t worth that

His conviction to give her the right to decide in this matter that involves both of them, because he can’t be the one to decide everything

He insisted on not making it a romantic event, because he wants MC to make the best decision without having a mind clouded by emotion. He’s also made peace with the idea of not being with MC, for the sake of her long-term happiness. All he wants is for her to know the truth of his feelings and illness.

His decision to still make MC a gift to retain some aspect of the romance in the confession (but he only gives the gift after MC has made her decision, again to ensure that her mind isn’t clouded). I think the concept of the gift is particularly beautiful - the little, happy holograms of them inside the glass, as if ensuring that he will always be by her side in some way; the music that brings back their childhood memories and alludes to an enduring, quiet, and protecting love that puts the recipient first (i.e. Brahms to Clara); and the rainbow, which has its childhood memories and treasure implications that are already mentioned in the date, but it also reminded me of the miraculous double rainbow in his Lost Gold date. That double rainbow was the trigger for Xia Yan to proactively seek out a future with MC, when he took the initiative to ask MC if she could be with him to seek out more miracles. Overall, there are a lot of beautiful memories and implications wrapped up in that music box/snowglobe.

The little comical segment where he worries about the optimal time to deliver the letter, worrying about MC’s sleep or if she’ll be able to eat well.

His stress over what he should’ve done after the letter was delivered, and how he immediately answered MC’s call out of pure worry, despite being so resolute about not answering her calls that he’d turned on airplane mode before.

Their ensuing discussion in part 3 is just full of Xia Yan’s consideration for MC at its peak -

Rather than being ecstatic about MC’s confession, his first instinct is to tell her to take a few days to think about it logically. (But really, emotions aren’t logical to begin with, so it’s not like MC would’ve stopped liking you after mulling it over for a few days, haha)

His immediate apology after yelling that he has to mention his death

His worry about how MC will cope after he’s gone, going so far as to saying that she would be better off with another man

I think that this particular (above) line got a particularly visceral reaction from Xia Yan fans, including myself. Because like MC, our initial thoughts fell along the lines of “How could I ever choose someone else when the only person I like is you? There’s just no way someone else could make me happier…”. Another reaction that I’ve seen among Xia Yan fans (yep, including myself) is how we originally viewed the story in third-person, seeing “MC” in the story, but this date (and this particular scene, where MC says nearly everything that I myself would want to say) dragged us into a first-person position.

The heartbreaking scene where Xia Yan cries from being unable to give MC the happiness that he wants to give her (or so he thinks).

He’s just so painfully selfless. I also really like the line during the kiss where MC tries to transmit her warmth to him, trying to balance things out between them and have him feel better, when he had already written himself off by thinking that his happiness is better off sacrificed for hers.

Jin Xian’s Voice Acting

Jin Xian’s voice acting deserves a whole section to itself, because I think that he did an amazing job of portraying the intense emotions Xia Yan feels during the date. Just going to list some lines that really hit hard - both because of the content, and because of the voice acting that really considered how Xia Yan would be feeling then.

我可以去追她，我甚至可以和她结婚。我可以把最后的三年过得很好，过的毫无遗憾，但是然后呢？她一个人要怎么办。。。谁陪她走出来，谁来照顾她。。。(“I could pursue her. I could even marry her. I could live my last three years happily, without the slightest of regrets. But what about after? How will she cope on her own… Who will be with her as she handles this? Who will take care of her…”) The ups and downs of this section’s voicing really hit hard.

The gentleness with which he speaks about what he plans to tell MC, especially the line 她从来都是这样 (“She’s always been like that.”)

He’s so cute in Part 2!! The tone’s a lot happier and relaxed and it’s really nice to see and hear.

In part 3, the vehemence with which he talks about how the risks of MC’s work aren’t comparable to his established time limit, which then softens into something sadder when he talks about how Yang Xiao’s efforts haven’t extended his time by much.

The intensity when he says 我必须说 ! (“I have to say it!”) (when MC reacts to him using the word “death”), and how he immediately softens his tone after. But then his voice starts to rise again as he worries for how MC will bear his death… and then he takes a break to calm down, and then makes the suggestion of MC finding another man with a near-inflectionless tone that gradually slips into a whisper

His whispering voice makes the impact of 我在乎。。。！(I care…!) hit even harder because it’s suddenly loud, and you can clearly hear the tears in his voice. Once again, he takes a breath to calm himself down and quiet his voice. But even as he keeps talking in a voice that descends into a whisper again, you can tell that he’s still on the verge of crying…

Also the 我也。。。好喜欢，最喜欢你. (I also… like you. I like you the most) line left me screaming with how it was whispered but really strong and adamant-sounding aaaaa

Anyways I could list more but at that point I might as well list Jin Xian’s entire script lmao. He did such a good job!!!!!!

Sound Effects

I’m laughing at myself for including this section - if you turn off the music that accompanies Xia Yan’s card, you’ll… hear some very interesting sound effects [狗头]

They’ve got to make the most of their limited time together, after all, and this is the only date out of the set of four that’s indoors… it makes sense…

Other Thoughts

Two kisses!!

What sort of treatment would leave Xia Yan infected with drugs with prohibited components? What were they even trying to do?

The date was short relative to the other, super-long Themis dates, but I’m personally alright with that because it places focus on the confession itself. It hit all the points that I personally was expecting for Xia Yan’s confession, including his past struggles with the idea of staying with MC, his confession about both his feelings and his illness, and how resolute MC is about staying with him vs. how hard he tries to get her to understand the implications of being him, considering that he doesn’t have much time left.

I think now’s a good time for the two of them to get married if they’re well aware that Xia Yan’s time is limited, so Xia Yan, where’s the ruby ring?

I wonder what implications this will have on the main story - e.g. will the rest of NXX find out about Xia Yan’s illness in Chapter 7.2? Or will they never know? Actually, I wonder if they’ll have MC be aware of his illness in the main story because… that implies his confession happened, which might anger fans of the other boys.

Conclusion

I love Xia Yan and I love this date.

#tears of themis #xia yan #luke pearce #rambles #this whole thing is kinda messy so kudos if you made it through

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shihalyfie · 3 years

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Yamato, Adventure’s most dramatically emotional cast member

The “edgy cool bishounen rival” has been such a staple of shounen anime for years that the moment you look at Yamato and his position next to Taichi, it’s easy to go “ah, yep, there it is.” But just like how Taichi’s actually very different from the shounen hero stereotype, Yamato, despite what his first impression and character design might suggest, is in fact the complete opposite!

Actually, I’ll start this off with an interesting story from Yamato’s own voice actor, Kazama Yuuto:

Yeah. When my agent asked me which role I wanted to try out, I thought I couldn’t do a pretty boy character like him, so I was really astonished when I was chosen for the role. Afterwards, when I asked Kakudou-san [the director] about it, he said that he’d decided on me the instant I’d come in... I’d heard that Yamato was a cool character, which I thought was a part of him that didn’t agree with me. So there was that factor in the beginning. But I learned that he was actually quite similar to me, and a surprisingly passionate guy.

I don’t generally have a huge tendency to include voice actor comments in analysis about writing, but I do think it says a lot that even his own voice actor walked in expecting the typical “pretty boy rival” character to the extent that he felt he’d have difficulty doing the role at all, only for the actual nature of Yamato’s character to catch him off guard! Because, yeah, that really is the case: Yamato’s first impression really is very deceptive, and his actual personality is, indeed, full of open passion and emotion in nearly every way.

Yamato in Adventure

...No, really, it really does not take long for it to be very clear that Yamato’s immediately not like the stereotype his character archetype would suggest, considering that even as early as Adventure episode 2, he was depicted as very obviously being open about his opinions, even if that made him quick to criticize.

When you talk about “rival” characters, usually, the reason such characters seem cold and standoffish is that there’s a certain degree of pride to them, or, in other words, they want to keep up a facade of being “cool” and rational and thus aren’t quick to show their emotions. But Yamato isn’t like that at all! From the very beginning, he speaks often, is very open and honest about his thoughts, and doesn’t seem to even really care what others think at all.

The Adventure novels do, in fact, make clear that he was more closed-in prior to arriving in the Digital World, and these bursts of emotion were actually unusual behavior for him at the time -- but it’s not because he’s prideful or anything! Firstly, it wasn’t necessarily that he deliberately cut himself off from others -- rather, he was still willing to engage in some degree of friendly interaction:

It wasn’t because he was lonely. In fact, many of his classmates would greet him with a friendly “Yo!” or “Hi~!” when they came across him and, naturally, Yamato would respond back with a smile.

And, in fact, said novel indicates that there’s a lot going on deeper than him merely suppressing his emotions for the sake of it:

The people around Yamato may have thought that he was a cold, aloof person, but that was only because he didn’t show what he thought to other people. When had he become like that? He hadn’t been like that when he was younger. But after his parents decided to divorce and his mom took Takeru by the hand and left home… Don’t go! Please don’t go! Don’t leave me! The truth was, he had wanted to plead with her and cry — but he couldn’t. Part of it had to do with his father standing by his side. Maybe his mother had secretly wished for Yamato to say that to her. But at that moment, Yamato had thought that he would never show weakness in front of his mom, even if he died from it. It was his own decision to follow his dad. Ever since coming to the Digital World, even Yamato was surprised by how much emotion he expressed. All of the emotion that he’d held back while at home, at school, had come bursting out without pause.

It’s also important to understand the reasons why he blows up so easily at Taichi in Adventure episodes 3 and 6 and whatnot -- he does it because he’s constantly looking out for the others and worried about their welfare. Pretty much all of the arguments he has with Taichi for the majority of the series involve him objecting to his perception of Taichi as insensitive, because Taichi has a tendency to tease others or bid for everyone to keep pushing forward into dangerous situations or when they’re tired. So, really, Yamato gets angered and emotional and picks his fights with Taichi because he cares too much, not because he’s deliberately trying to cultivate an image of being detached. Once they were outside the range of his family and their classmates and stranded in another world, Yamato’s bleeding heart instantly won out, and he started advocating for the welfare of everyone else.

This is why Yamato’s the one who gets the Crest of Friendship, because even though he starts off by putting up a defensive wall between himself and the others and seems very difficult to deal with, even when he gets angry and upset, he’s constantly upset on other people’s behalf. Even from the very beginning of the series, he’s actually one of the most caring people in the cast!

Really, the entire first few introductory episodes with Yamato can be pretty succinctly described as Yamato coping really badly with all those years of emotional suppression and letting it out in some pretty severe outbursts, especially when it comes to Takeru, whom he’d never been able to properly take care of as an older brother due to their parents’ divorce. (And while he’s definitely a little better at managing it, Takeru himself is actually also doing a pretty bad job with that whole emotional suppression and lack of catharsis thing.) Standoffish and cold? Nah -- not when Yamato has the single highest count of openly breaking down and crying out of the whole cast in Adventure.

And, for all it’s worth, remember that stereotypical “cold rival” characters in this kind of shounen series would normally be very ashamed at others seeing them so emotional, but Yamato...doesn’t really seem to care about the others seeing him do some really embarrassingly reckless stuff during his episodes of exploding over Takeru’s welfare. Once it’s past him, he doesn’t really dwell on it and moves on. Again: Yamato isn’t the kind of person who actually cares that much about what other people think of him.

Adventure episode 18 is an often-overlooked episode when it comes to Yamato, but it’s significant because it makes it clear that he doesn’t really have a problem being conversational and friendly with others (especially since, remember, any emotional suppression had more to do with the trauma and sensitive feelings surrounding his parents’ divorce and a desire to not show weakness) -- he starts a very lighthearted, friendly chat with Koushirou over why they’re looking for their Crests, and even admits that the reason he wants his own Crest is that he’s self-conscious about the idea of everyone else changing and improving as people while he gets left behind. That’s a really personal thing to admit, and arguably something very sensitive! It’s something you wouldn’t even blame him for potentially being self-conscious about! But he’s perfectly humble in admitting that this is something he wants to improve in, and carries on this entire conversation in a light-hearted, cheerful manner.

This episode takes place during a time where everything seems to be “safe” (they’re within Piccolomon’s barrier and finally have a proper place to sleep), and are on the verge of finding their own Crests in a situation that does not ostensibly involve running for their lives, so this is when you get to see Yamato in a relaxed situation. And, really, he’s very friendly and open, with no restraint about it. He really isn’t the kind of person to be condescending or cold by nature!

It’s even more incorrect to pin Yamato as someone who tries to act more on rationality (again, like the “cold rival” stereotype would suggest) because, in fact, he’s the kind of person who gets completely carried away by his own caring for others to the extent of irrationality. For instance, in Adventure episode 23 when his conflicting loyalties to Takeru versus wanting to help Jou in his situation get all mixed up, and he tries to buy into PicoDevimon's trick to turn Jou against him as a solution to taking sides before Jou clearly indicates this is the case, and Yamato doesn't hesitate to feel really bad about it. Openly so. Condescension? Nah.

No, really, I could just keep taking screenshots from Adventure all day if you want evidence of “Yamato is openly and passionately emotional to explosive degrees because he cares too much about others, and makes no real pretense of hiding it.” If you’re still not convinced, I don’t know what to tell you.

When Yamato infamously succumbs to Jureimon’s bait in Adventure episode 44 and ends up picking a fight with Taichi -- possibly his most self-centered action in the entire series -- it’s interesting to see that Jureimon does use the word “rival”, the same word used in anime trope lingo to describe “the person you’re constantly fighting with and competing with in order to improve yourself”. The reason why this is fascinating is that Adventure is making a point here that this kind of “stereotypical anime rival” relationship would be extremely unhealthy for these characters.

No, really: at least as far as Yamato’s concerned, and what defines the kind of “friendship” these particular kids need, what these kids need is mutual emotional support, not engineered conflict that can be passed off as “they fight but it’s a sign of how much they know each other!” Remembering that Adventure is, in many ways, a series that prioritizes wanting to focus on portraying the intimate nature of human behavior, it’s not surprising that it goes out of its way to make clear that centering your relationship with a friend around needing to “outdo” them is a really bad thing. (Observe how 02′s Daisuke and Ken also don’t fit the “rivals” archetype at all and are merely a straightforward relationship of best friends in little to no conflict, despite occupying the stereotypical position.)

But Jureimon successfully digs into all of Yamato’s insecurities about his perceived lack of self-improvement and his tendency to compare himself to the polar-opposite Taichi in terms of Taichi’s charisma and way of (ostensibly) playing better to Takeru’s dislike of being coddled. And so, the engineered conflict happens, and, of course, it traumatizes everyone around them. When Yamato finally manages to get over himself after some timely intervention from “the one who seeks stability” (Homeostasis) in Adventure episode 45, everyone in the group is miserable from the ordeal.

Adventure episode 51 basically lays down the two major issues Yamato had been facing up until that point, and ties it into a neat bow: the reason Yamato had become so obsessed with self-improvement was because he wanted to prove he was "independent" and "not weak", but in the end, he still sees himself as an inferior person compared to everyone else -- culminating in him eventually seeing Taichi as a better person than him. Gabumon reaches out to Yamato by clarifying Yamato’s right to not compete, but be unique; it’s not about competing or being a “better” or “worse” version of others, it’s finding his important niche in the group or in the world with the things only he’s good at. Yamato says it in explicit words in Two-and-a-Half Year Break:

Dad doesn’t remember. On the day when we had to decide whether Takeru or I would go with him… Neither Dad or Mom could decide, so I did. I thought, this way, Takeru would be able to stay with Mom. I chose for myself. And after that, I always chose for myself. Or that’s what I’d planned to. Even though I was called a Chosen Child, it was me who was going to choose what to do. No way was I going to be used for other people’s convenience. Maybe that’s why I went so far to keep myself from making friends. But in the end, I acknowledged that what I was doing was unreasonable. After all, I’m not living in this world by myself. If I hadn’t met Gabumon, I never would have realized that. The person I am right now, is not alone.

As long as Yamato only ever sees himself as a replaceable piece meant to fill in the same niches as everyone else, he’ll continue to be horribly critical of himself for not being a perfect person and ultimately being “useless” or “not necessary”. But it’s not about being perfect or a better or worse replacement, it’s about embracing himself and what he can do in his own way, and, indeed, at the end of the episode, Yamato’s arrival on the scene makes it clear that the group ultimately needs both of them, not just one.

It’s also interesting in that, whereas most of the kids (especially in the Adventure finale) are very open about their own feelings to their own partners, Yamato and Gabumon are capable of “communicating” in some sense just by Yamato playing the harmonica. But it’s perhaps because Yamato is normally so open and passionate about his own feelings that such a tacit method is something they can do -- they’ve already bared themselves to each other so many times already, that in the end, all they need to do is just enjoy the abstract things together.

Yamato in 02 and after

So by the time we get to 02, any trace of coldness or detachment from Yamato has completely vanished.

I cannot emphasize this enough: completely vanished. Even in the middle of being a heartthrob for the teenagers in school thanks to his good looks and work with his band, he’s open and lacking in condescension whatsoever, and it’s basically like seeing the openly friendly Yamato from Adventure episode 18 for a whole series. Actually, it already says a lot that he’s in a band, considering it feels like shifting his music activities to a full-on band is there to make a deliberate statement that Yamato is now much better at socializing and working in organized groups now -- it’s a far cry from having to work solo or independently, and it’s significant that “the person who wanted to be able to do everything by himself” is now interested in doing something a bit more cooperative. (And to lend further to the idea he’s sentimental and constantly thinks of others, his band, the TEEN-AGE WOLVES, is all but confirmed to be named in indirect tribute to Gabumon.)

He’s open, conversational, makes a lot of silly faces throughout the series, and basically the only thing he has left that remotely resembles the “pretty boy rival” stereotype is that he’s deep in the aesthetic. But even then, you get the impression that he just does that because he genuinely likes it, not because he’s trying to be “cooler than you” or anything. And it’s easy to see why: Yamato, quite simply, got over himself. He stopped restraining himself all the time in his attempts to become a perfect person, and simply let himself loose to express himself how he wanted, and ultimately became a perfectly sociable and friendly person who’s now even popular at school!

Yamato’s punch on Taichi in 02 episode 10 is often taken as evidence that Taichi and Yamato embody the “rivals who constantly get in fights but are somehow still friends” trope, but this tends to avoid the actual context of the rest of the scene -- in fact, Daisuke himself rightfully points out that if Yamato had done this out of any actual anger or condescension, this would have been a really cruel thing to do to Taichi when he’s already going through so much. But Yamato’s not doing this out of resentment or condescension, he’s doing this for Taichi’s own sake to help him get out of his stupor, and the important part here is that he immediately holds out a hand to him afterwards. Or, in other words, this isn’t something they’re doing out of conflict, but out of communication, and it’s now at the point where Taichi understands Yamato’s intent, and Yamato knows that what he wanted to do would be conveyed to Taichi, without words.

That is why Taichi and Yamato are finally so close now: they understand each other’s feelings. They’re not competing with each other. They’re not resenting each other. They’re sympathetic and forgiving of each other, and they communicate, verbally or otherwise.

It’s followed by a scene in 02 episode 11 that’s also often construed as Taichi and Yamato advocating fighting as part of a healthy friendship, but, again, this omits context: they talk about their fighting in past tense! They’re referring as fighting having been part of the things they had to do to understand each other now, when they clearly aren’t in that kind of conflict anymore. The idea they’re espousing is that Daisuke and Takeru need to let out their feelings and have some catharsis if they want to truly understand each other (which is, indeed, how Taichi and Yamato eventually settled their differences) and hopefully get to a position of mutual understanding, instead of the others forcing them to have peace for the sake of peace and not letting their feelings get out on the table. (And, ultimately, Daisuke spends the rest of the episode thinking about Takeru’s position, and none of the 02 kids ever end up in this bad of a brawl for the rest of the series, yet manage to build a friendship in spite of that -- so, yes, the important part was that they had their feelings out in the open and got catharsis, not fighting in itself.)

Yamato also has an interesting role in the 02 drama CDs, including one entirely devoted to him (Letter). Said drama CD has quite a few things to note:

Gabumon says that Yamato being rather silent and not speaking up about what he’s thinking is unusual behavior for him.

As much as Yamato’s managed to do a better job opening up in general, he’s still suffering from extreme self-worth issues, considering himself as worthless if he’s not able to do anything for a girl in the hospital, even though it’s of course completely reasonable he can’t do much. Despite that, he continues to emotionally fixate on her welfare and basically self-flagellate and do a lot of pretty emotionally occupied things in the process.

Speaking of getting emotionally occupied, as much as he ends up snapping a bit at the people on the beach who keep annoying the hell out of him, he eventually feels so bad for the shaved ice seller that he forces himself to eat it just for him. (Even though it’s freezing.)

Yamato’s a really poetic person. Almost sappily so.

On top of that, Armor Evolution to the Unknown gives us an ever-so-slight glimpse of his dating life with Sora -- which, while he hadn’t been super-flagrant about, he also hadn’t been hiding either (he’s clearly willing to engage in a bit of PDA as per 02 episode 43), and, if the admittedly-kind-of-crack drama CD is to believed, he’s actually very emotionally passionate about his relationship to her, and very dedicated! Beyond just the (very sudden) passionate declaration of love to her in the middle of tap dancing, when Sora is found to have been worrying about him being cold lately, he immediately goes out of his way to try and make things right and prove his love...

Yamato’s initial appearance in Kizuna pretty much defines in a nutshell what his and Taichi’s relationship eventually turned out to be: they’re willing to banter because they’re comfortable with each other, but when it all comes down to it, they appreciate and trust each other deeply. Again, the point is that Yamato and Taichi are emotionally there for each other, considering that (even if he ribs Taichi a bit for it) Yamato’s willing to come all the way down to meet Taichi for late-night beer and talk to him through his emotional troubles.

And, yes, Yamato’s still there to be a concerned minder for Taichi and to make sure he doesn’t get too inconsiderate of what he’s doing -- but there’s no conflict over it, just the two of them balancing their necessary roles as part of the group and keeping each other in check. Again, as was made clear back in Adventure, it’s not about one person being more necessary than the other, it’s them both working together to fulfill their own roles.

As one of the central characters in the movie, Yamato’s also having an existential crisis of adulthood, and in his case, it’s that he’s playing everything too much by ear but isn’t really sure what he wants to commit to. He’s still enjoying music as a hobby, but it’s apparent he doesn’t want to commit to it as a career (which is, well, quite the common thing for those who have hobbies in middle school) -- and moreover, the novel indicates that it’s not bringing him happiness the way it used to. (The movie goes out of its way to depict Yamato feeling isolated with both a harmonica and a band, referencing that neither Adventure nor 02′s ways are doing it for him anymore.)

Beyond the motorcycle we see Yamato driving a few times in the movie, the official website profile makes it clear that this is one of his major new interests, and it’s presumably why he’s also attending an engineering school -- he can’t decide on a long-term goal, so he’ll at least experiment with the thing he likes. Yamato’s always been someone who thinks with emotions and feelings, so it fits him.

We also learn that he’s surprisingly studious, and is picking up some things that run contrary to his image (the glasses!), including the fact he seems to like school enough that he wants to do more school while he figures out what he wants to do. This is something that happens in real life for a certain kind of person in a career-based existential crisis -- as many people as there are who play very badly with educational structures, there are also people who rely very heavily on the structure of college or grad school basically handing you tasks to do on a plate, and find the job market to be scarier than staying within that bubble. It’s not too unreasonable to imagine that Yamato, who in certain ways has never really been the kind of person to assertively have an idea of “this is what I want to do!” and generally works by immediate feelings instead of long-term goals, would end up becoming that kind of person. As he says, it’s really just him trying to postpone the inevitable decision and get a grace period.

Since “shutting out one’s own partner (and therefore one’s own inner self)” is key to the cause of partner dissolution, Yamato’s way of it isn’t as direct as Taichi or Sora (who end up actively shutting out their partners in a bid to become an adult), but is most certainly there -- especially when he’s the one who drops a mocking line about the idea of bringing Gabumon to his school. (It’s not about whether it’s actually doable or not; it’s the fact that he laughs and scoffs at how stupid this is.) The fact he treats friends drifting apart as an “inevitable” thing, and eventually is shown very obviously to be keeping Gabumon out of the phone conversations (in stark contrast to the 02 quartet going out of their way to keep them involved on the other end) ultimately boils down to: neglect. Yamato’s coasting by on everything he likes, but it also means he’s just letting everything happen, instead of consciously pursuing things and passionately following things with gusto, the way he used to.

But we do see Yamato’s single-minded and passionate side come out again -- while Taichi shuts down and ruminates on what to do about his impending loss of Agumon, Yamato’s the one who desperately runs around trying to figure something out, recruiting the 02 quartet into it, losing sleep over it, and eventually having a passionate confrontation with Taichi as the climax approaches. (Note that this, again, is not a real conflict in nearly the same way the two of them would be spitting insults at each other all the way back in Adventure; it’s just the two baring their own feelings, and Yamato quickly accepts Taichi’s answer very easily because he, too, feels the same. Again: they’ve become very good at communicating.)

Yamato does eventually let Gabumon back into his periphery instead of neglecting him so much, and their final scene together in the movie involves them resuming their old method of tacit communication that they’d once shared together, with Yamato playing the harmonica. It’s a sign of Yamato finally embracing those things in the past that used to make him happy rather than cultivating an uncomfortable relationship with it just because he’d kicked it out of his career prospects, and ultimately coming to terms with what he likes and what makes him happy.

And speaking of career prospects...

The question of “why did Yamato become an astronaut?” is one that’s infamously weirded out people all over the globe because of how much it clashes with his image, and how much of a kind of “out-there” thing it is that had virtually no precedent whatsoever in Yamato’s prior hobbies. (Although, if you really think about it, space travel isn’t that huge of a hurdle as it sounds for a world like this where Digital Gates exist to bend space-time; you just send a probe with a Digital Gate link up there...) The original meta reason was, simply, that it was a holdover from one of the original ideas for the third Adventure series, in which they would be investigating forces that were obstructing evolution from space. (The original logical progression was that Adventure would have a threat from the Digital World, 02 a threat from the real world, so the theoretical third series would be space...) When you think about which of the original Tokyo Chosen Children would be the most likely to actively pursue this route, it actually is likely to be Yamato, given that Taichi is more of a person who’s an overall leader and coordinator, whereas Yamato, who’s much more up-front aggressive and openly passionate, would be more likely to want to tackle the situation with his own hands.

Kizuna -- or, more specifically, its novel -- offers another (and not mutually exclusive!) explanation:

While studying at graduate school, Yamato came up with a dream he had for his future. He wanted to study cosmology, and become an astronaut. The way there would not be easy. There was a whole mountain of things he’d have to do to get there. But Yamato had a certain ambition in mind. Someday, he was going to go to space with Gabumon. Whenever he thought of that future, Yamato was willing to do anything to get there.

Remembering that Yamato was at an engineering school (presumably originally from the motorcycles connection), it seems that he eventually “ran into” the career option by chance and happenstance, and thought about it and decided he wanted to follow it for the sake of going with Gabumon. It’s a very “romantic” and sappy kind of “out-there” dream, and, actually, that’s the point -- Yamato is a ridiculous romanticist, the kind of person who waxed about barbecue back in Adventure episode 6, and compared his relationship with Takeru to Hikoboshi and Orihime back in 02 episode 17, and spouted a bunch of poetic words at the sea during Letter. And, remember, he’s always been openly shameless and passionate about everything he’s felt and liked, and has never cared what other people would think.

And in the context of Kizuna, where Yamato was slowly losing touch with himself and his passions and eventually lost Gabumon as a result, it’s a very important sign that everything’s on its way back to healing, and that he’ll be able to achieve that future where they meet again.

#digimon #digimon adventure #digimon adventure 02 #digimon adventure last evolution kizuna #ishida yamato #yamato ishida #shihameta #kizuna spoilers

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crystalelemental · 2 years

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I have finished Legends Arceus, in as much as it can be completely done. All Pokemon, complete dex, Full Star rank, all the Old Verses. There’s nothing else to collect or to beat. I am finished. And while I’d usually take a bit of time to marinate on my thoughts, I think I’m ready to go on this one.

Legends is one of the best Pokemon games. Like, at minimum, easily the best of the last three generations. Depending on what you’re looking for, Gens 3-5 could be considered better, but I think this one’s strong. And before I get into specifics, I need to talk about a big component of what makes this game work.

Legends is the culmination of three generations of quality of life improvements, finally given proper context for them to succeed.

When you analyze the last three gens, you can kinda see the intent behind them. Gen 6 intended to open up more accessibility for the game, creating the EXP All and giving EXP for catching. While potentially good improvements that eliminated The Grind, the game became incredibly easy with it active, and they didn’t really compensate for how much EXP you’d be gaining, or the fact that traditional structure of the series had gone out the window. Players would have a full team of 6 by gym 2, easy, but gym leaders and major challenges would still only have like 2-3 Pokemon. The changes weren’t accounted for in the overall design, and it made the game really easy.

Gen 7 got the message and went for difficulty, aiming for a new approach to the game’s systems. Problem: all their decisions were bad. It brought back scaled EXP, but in the process introduced Hyper Training that demanded level 100, which...ugh. Call for Help is a nightmare, 1v2 battles are pure frustration for the sake of artificial difficulty, and their solution to complaints of “I can one-shot everything with super-effective attacks” was to stack stat boosts until it was completely impossible to keep up. And it still failed to stop those complaints. Also absolutely nothing was all that different. Had they taken a more wild approach, it may have succeeded on novelty, but the inevitable return to a traditional E4 kinda hinders the feel of the region.

Gen 8 went back to traditional approaches, but really leaned into the EXP All and making things accessible by eliminating the need to grind. But to compensate, they didn’t really up challenge. They just removed encounters. Which isn’t inherently awful, no one wants to deal with the Team Rocket segments of Gen 2 where you battle three billion of the same grunt teams for like an hour even in a speedrun. But the removal of those encounters wasn’t supplemented with anything, and the region feels incredibly hollow due to a lack of engaging activity.

Legends takes the good pieces and crafts something new. EXP is still obtained through capture, and is still scaled. Trainer battles are largely non-existent, but is supplemented by capturing Pokemon. The region is meant to feel distinct, and due to its lack of direct trainer battles and absence of traditional challenges to overcome, it does in fact feel distinct. Legends finally puts together the QoL improvements in a new experience where they’re not just over-simplifying the game, or making the traditional experience feel shallow by comparison.

I really can’t praise the game enough for finally breaking away from the expected formula, and actually making something fun. Even the basic premise has altered entirely. Your focus is on capturing and completing the dex. But like. For real this time. You are meant to study these Pokemon, collecting adequate sample sizes of each and finding different variations of the Pokemon and applying knowledge of what food it will eat or what items will scare it, etc. It’s a great concept.

And in gameplay, it’s fantastic. I think in the mainline games, there can be a point where they feel like a bit of a slog to get through, primarily when you’re running around trying to catch something rare, or working through the grind in older games. But man, there was never a single dull moment in this game through the entirety of the 27 main quests. The only time I felt like the game was dragging was near the end, when I had to find a few key Pokemon and decided I wanted to get Full Rank. Finding the baby Pokemon is...a chore. Like it’s about as bad as any other “This Pokemon spawns like 5% of the time” encounter from the main series.

Except it’s not, because you’re not constantly going through the animations of getting into a battle and having to run or take it down. You’re able to run around and just see stuff. And unlike Gen 8, this is an absolute feature. There’s no hidden random encounter in the grass, it’s just there in the open. Unless it is in the grass where it’s hard to see but you can lock on and it’ll tell you what it is. As a result, the gameplay loop is fantastic.

That said, the game isn’t going to scratch an itch for battling Pokemon. Not really. Aside from just few battles, the mechanics are bizarre. Damage is high. Like, broadly, it’s high. And this is partially so encountering an Alpha isn’t an immediate game over; you can power through with a full team. But it does mean that most battling is over very quickly. Boosting moves are reduced to one stage of boost, but the value is much higher. It also condenses them into two categories: boosts offenses, or boosts defenses. You cannot boost speed, which I...agree with. Speed boosting is bad, especially for competitive. But it does leave moves like Calm Mind feeling hysterically broken given you get this massive boost to 4 stats at the push of a button. The tradeoff is, they’re impermanent. They go away after a few turns. Same thing with status; it leaves after a few turns. But the tradeoff is, status is more accurate, stronger, and actually seems to work for catching Pokemon. I almost never failed to catch a Drowsy Pokemon. It’s so nice to have a system where putting things to sleep actually does its job.

As a secondary layer, there’s Strong and Agile attacks. When a move is mastered, you can add these modifiers. Both consume 1 extra PP. Strong gives +20% damage and accuracy, approximately, but slows down your next turn. Agile reduces damage 20% but speed up turn order in your favor. Turn order is determined by speed, and high speed now means you can get two actions before the opponent can move. Which could be cool, except Strong attacks are the only worthwhile option. Agile techniques almost never mattered, very rarely gaining me an extra turn. But Strong style is the guarantee that your Sleep Powder hits, and that’s fantastic. Oh, and these also work for non-damage moves like Recover. Healing 75% HP is hilarious. And getting to have even stronger boosts with Calm Mind is also hilarious. But again, Agile doesn’t really...do much for you here. I feel like the balance of the system could’ve been a bit better, especially give how hard it hurts some stat spreads.

Rhyperior is not good in this game. At all. Low speed means the opponent often doubles, and low special defense is...a problem. Especially in a game where most battles wind up being 1v2-4, and there’s no AoE. I get that Strong attacks are meant to be the compensation; they’re slow but they hit super hard. But because of things like getting ganged up on in space-time distortions, it’s really hard for Rhyperior to not just get instantly overwhelmed. High damage numbers broadly also makes having multiple weaknesses incredibly dangerous. A super-effective attack, even at low BP, can one-shot. I don’t like it.

“Wait, 2-4 opponents at once?” Yeah, it’s another system they introduced. For main story battles, sometimes your opponent has three Pokemon at once, with a clear main that’s the high level, and two that are about half the level. Because high damage numbers, it’s dangerous. But because half level, you have the option to take out the weaker ones quickly, or if you’re big tough, one-shot the main threat and just kinda deal with the smaller sides. It’s a much better “outnumbered” situation than the Gen 7 approach because it’s finite and offers possibilities to approach the battle, not just “deal with the fact you’re outnumbered forever and only focus on the biggest threat.” Also I think it’s worth noting these happen for story reasons. Those trainers don’t use Pokeballs, so these Pokemon just follow them around and are their friends. N would be so proud.

The last battling thing worth noting? EVs are dead. And it is about time. Full disclosure: EVs are a terrible system. “Yeah, so you can increase your stats naturally as you battle through the game, but you get this seemingly random amount per victory such that every four of them equals one point at level 100 and-” what are you even talking about? Seriously, EVs are both never explained, impossible to see in most games, and a nightmare to keep track of. This game removes all of it, and introduces Grit. When you release Pokemon or beat certain Pokemon in battle, they drop Grit items. There are four: Dust, Gravel, Pebble, and Rock. They increase your grit level, from 0 to 10. They’re for upgrades 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10. It’s super easy to follow, super easy to make work since you catch so much, and it’s a shame no other series in video games has something like this so we’ll just call it the Legends Upgrade System from now on.

“Okay, but Pokemon’s as much about its story as its gameplay anymore. How’s the story?” Honestly really good. There are portions of it I do not love, mostly surrounding Kamado, but on the whole? It’s fantastic. Super cool concepts being thrown around. The lore is peak Sinnoh, including a lot of neat stuff about why the Lake Trio is responsible for keeping Dialga and Palkia under control. The Old Verses give tremendous backstory to Giratina, who otherwise remains unreasonably cool, but doesn’t get as much involvement. To say nothing of the interesting stuff with Arceus itself being like...an actual, literal deity at this point.

The characters are all really solid, and I think a part of my enjoyment of them despite some not being that developed is that...they’re not annoying. I think the last three gens’ simplicity and emphasis on story came at a cost. It’s too little gameplay to too much story, getting stopped like once every route for people to just talk at you. But this game? You can see the major story markers on the map, and can just...ignore them until you’re ready. Gameplay lasts as long as you want it to, and you can blitz the story if you want. It makes things far less frustrating on the whole.

But I think the biggest thing that I like is that...your efforts matter. Like, a big component of this game seems to be building the connection between people and Pokemon in a significant way. Your quests are largely about fostering that connection. You get things like the little girl learning more about Magikarp, the guy who’s afraid of ghosts learning they like mushrooms and finding connection, the guy tilling the fields getting help from Pokemon to make their crops better, and the old lady who wants to get rid of a Chimecho that moved in learning that its preferences are much like hers and deciding she does love this little thing after all. It’s just really cute. Majora’s Mask is my favorite Zelda game largely because of how your actions feel more about helping the townspeople directly than about being a big hero man, and this game has a similar sort of feel. You’re highly involved in the day to day, and as things start moving toward trust and companionship, it feels like your efforts here mattered.

I’m not sure if this will wind up being my favorite Pokemon game overall. I haven’t had enough time to sit with it, and there’s something to be said for re-playability. Time will tell, but man, this definitely feels like one of the best we’ve gotten.

#pokemon legends arceus

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herinsectreflection · 3 years

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I Don't Sleep on Bed of Bones: The Slayer as a Killer Across the Seasons

A pretty constant question throughout Buffy's arc - arguably the central question of the entire show, that Buffy must answer, is "what is a slayer? What does being The Vampire Slayer mean?". And a major part of that is the question of whether a slayer is just a killer. It's a question central to S5, but ripples throughout the rest of the show too, with some of the most iconic scenes in the show in converstion with each other around it. Inspired by an ask I received about this from @potterkid, I took a look at how this idea develops and resolves itself over the course of the show.

In S1, being the Slayer means accepting responsibility. It's metaphor for growing up - a metaphor that recurs throughout the show along with other ideas, but is strongest in S1. Buffy is torn between her teenage/human wants and her adult/supernatural responsibilities. She accepts her mortality and her duty (fighting the Master), and wins when she manages to integrate that with her personal desires (fighting the Master in a kickass prom dress with her friends and boyfriend). There's some stuff around the classic superhero idea that being around the hero is dangerous -e.g. in Never Kill a Boy on the First Date, but not much on the idea of a Slayer being a killer exactly.

In S2, being the Slayer means making hard choices. It means accepting that sometimes all your options are bad ones, but choosing one anyway, even at personal cost. This is introduced through Ford's story in Lie to Me, with Buffy's words to him forming one of the core thesis statements of the show ("You have a choice. You don't have a good choice, but you have a choice."), and it's climaxed beautifully in the tragic ending of Becoming. There's not much direct allusion to the idea of Buffy being a killer here, but this is a vital moment in that discussion. Ultimately, Buffy does make the decision here to kill Angel - not to slay Angelus, but to kill him. To take the life of her ensouled lover in order to save others. It's kind of the opposite of the decision that Ford makes - the best of two bad choices. It's the classic trolley problem, and Buffy's hand is on the lever by design - she has to make that choice because she's the Slayer. We will see this moment returned to again and again as this Slayer-vs-Killer theme develops.

Also, Ted is a very important episode for later. Buffy herself feels guilty specifically because she used her slayer powers on what she thinks is a regular human, and therefore killed him. Specifically, being the Slayer made her a Killer. It's also notable that this is where the idea of Buffy having a free reign to kill is first introduced - by Buffy's original shadow self in Cordelia no less.

Cordelia: I don't get it. Buffy's the Slayer. Shouldn't she have... Xander: What, a license to kill? Cordelia: Well, not for fun. But she's like this superman. Shouldn't there be different rules for her? - 2x12 Ted This isn't explored massively here but will be revisited again and again going forward.

S3 is where this theme really comes into focus. Faith enters as Buffy's shadow self and a representation of hedonism. How that manifests is as a Slayer who gives herself a license to Kill. She posits the idea that as slayers, they can and should decide who lives and dies.

Faith: Something made us different. We're warriors. We're built to kill. Buffy: To kill demons! But it does not mean that we get to pass judgment on people like we're better than everybody else! Faith: We are better! - 3x15 Consequences

Obviously, this is something that Buffy has to reckon with and fight against. But there is a glimmer of truth here, because at the end of S2, she does take the power of life and death into her own hands. She is faced with the choice between Angel and the world and decides that Angel should die. She had to, that's the position she has to be in because she is the Slayer. She has to be a Killer because she is a Slayer. So the two are intertwined.

More than this, Faith is someone who at least appears to revel in the kill. Up until now, we hadn't really seen Buffy enjoy being a slayer, but Faith does. Buffy is genuinely drawn to that, to slaying for pleasure. The equation of slaying/killing and sex for Buffy is first explicitly drawn by Faith in this season. ("Isn't it crazy how slaying always makes you hungry and horny?"). Slayers are very much like vampires in that respect, blurring the line between sex and death. In general, Faith introduces the idea that Buffy is drawn to killing - not just to protect people (the ideal of a Slayer), but for its own benefit. That's something that Buffy continues to struggle with going forward.

I have said before that Faith in S3 is an echo of Angel in S2, both in Buffy's relationship to them both and how that shifts mid-season, and in how it ends. In Graduation Day, Buffy again is given the power of life and death. This time, it's more personal - she can stop Angel dying by killing Faith. It's not such a straightforward (for want of a better word) decision as Angel .vs. the literal entire world, it's just the value of one life against the other. Another trolley problem, and it's not an easy choice, but it's still a choice. Just as she chose the lesser evil in killing Angel in S2, she kills the person filling the Angel role in S3. And this time, the choice is explicitly tied to the idea of being a Killer. Faith is set up as the person that Buffy could be in a slightly different world, and that person is a Killer, as Faith herself claims.

"What are you gonna do, B? Kill me? You become me. You're not ready for that, yet." - Faith Lehane, 3x17 Enemies

"You did it, B. You killed me." - Faith Lehane, 3x22 Graduation Day

In the act of choosing to pull the lever, Buffy has to kill. In the act of killing, she has become her dark mirror. In the act of defeating/becoming Faith, she becomes again the sole Slayer. Being a killer and a Slayer again intertwined. It's interesting here that she then makes the decision to feed herself to Angel. She unravels the trolley problem by throwing herself on the tracks. It's fascinating that between the dual trolley-problem finales of Becoming and The Gift, where in the first Buffy chooses to pull the lever, and in the latter she refuses and chooses a third option, Graduation Day exists in the middle as a stepping stone where she kind of does both.

The bulk of S4 is a little lighter on this theme, instead examining The Slayer as a role that must be juggled amongst a series of competing roles as Buffy's life as an adult becomes more fractured. There are flavours of it in Fear Itself, where Buffy fears that her friends will leave and her destiny lies with death and the dead, but otherwise not too much jumps out at me. Except, of course, for Restless, which is so heavy with this theme. It's one of the many reasons why I kind of consider Restless an honourary part of S5, as it's setting up the themes and arcs of S5 as much as it's wrapping up the like from S4.

RILEY: Hey there, killer.

BUFFY: We're not demons. ADAM: Is that a fact?

RILEY: Thought you were looking for your friends. Okay, killer...

TARA: I live in the action of death, the blood cry, the penetrating wound. I am destruction. Absolute ... alone. BUFFY: The Slayer. FIRST SLAYER: No friends! Just the kill.

OK, so SO much to unpack here. This is all within the under-10-minute sequence of Buffy's dream, and in that sequence she constantly shows a fear that she is in fact a "killer". It's clearly strong in her mind. Riley calls her "killer" multiple times, and Adam equates her with him, and with demonhood. I also find it very interesting how she responds to Tara's words, which are very literally describing the act of kiling ("the action of death...the blood cry...the penetrating wound"). She hears that and immediately identifies her as the Slayer, so slayerhood and killing are clearly bound up together in her mind.

Central to her concerns is the dichotomy between friendship and death. This was built up in Fear Itself, and it's central here. Riley and Sineya both frame it as a choice, between friendship and "the kill". This is a fear that Buffy has already, since S1, that her Slayer life will stop her ability to have a "normal" life of friends and family, but it also sets up her arc in S5 nicely. She chooses her friends over becoming a pure instrument of death in Restless, but that does not resolve her ongoing fears. They existed before and continue to dwell even more strongly in her mind, with words that both Sineya and Dracula repeat.

"You think you know ... what's to come ... what you are. You haven't even begun."

This sets the stage for S5, and her arc of choosing between family and being the Slayer. Friendship and family are presented as more of less one and the same a few episodes later in Family, and the choice Buffy is faced with in S5 is another trolley problem - the life of Dawn against the world. This time, it's more specifically tied to the Slayer/Killer dichotomy through the prophecy that Buffy is faced with ("Death is your gift"). This frames the similar choices she faced in Becoming and Graduation Day in the same light, with Buffy even specifically comparing this to the former.

BUFFY: I sacrificed Angel to save the world. I loved him so much. But I knew ... what was right. I don't have that any more. I don't understand. I don't know how to live in this world if these are the choices. If everything just gets stripped away. I don't see the point. I just wish that... I just wish my mom was here. The spirit guide told me that death is my gift. Guess that means a Slayer really is just a killer after all. - 5x22 The Gift

S5 is soaked in this Killer-vs-Slayer idea, and that's part of why I love it so much. It opens with Buffy having gained an appreciation of killing. She goes out not to patrol, but to hunt. To revel in the enjoyment of the kill, just as Faith did. There's also a constant theme of people identifying Buffy as a Killer. Importantly, it's a theme of her believing them. She knows that there is a kernel of truth there, and it develops from a subconcious worry in Restless to a more concrete fear in Intervention, where Buffy explicitly says that she is afraid that being the Slayer means losing her humanity and ability to love, and become nothing more than a "killer". Eventually, Buffy is so ground down by it that when The Gift rolls around, she simply accepts that the Slayer is "just a killer" as an inevitability.

BUFFY: Yeah, I prefer the term slayer. You know, killer just sounds so... DRACULA: Naked? - 5x01 Buffy vs Dracula

SPIKE: Death is your art. You make it with your hands, day after day. That final gasp. That look of peace. - 5x07 Fool for Love

FIRST SLAYER: Death is your gift. - 5x18 Intervention

I also like the way that Joyce is repeatedly linked to this idea. Buffy's response to Sineya points to Joyce's death as a rebuttal to the idea of death being a gift ("Death is not a gift. My mother just died. I know this."). Buffy talks about Joyce just before accepting that "a slayer is a killer" in The Gift. Spike's speech about Slayer's having a death wish comes immediately before Buffy finds out that Joyce is going into hospital. The idea of the Slayer as an instrument of death, killing every day, is juxtaposed against the mundane horror of what death is really like, as demonstrated in The Body. As the Slayer, Buffy must cause death, but this is what death looks like. It's hard and painful and mortal and stupid. Eventually Buffy reaches a point where she just can't do this anymore. She can't live in a world where she must choose to be a killer, because she understands death more now than ever.

It's here that the show explicitly connects the ideas of utilitarianism and being a killer. Buffy says that killing Dawn to save the world (and by association killing Angel to save the world, or killing Faith to save Angel), would make the Slayer "just a killer". This goes back to S3, and Faith arguing that the death of one innocent was washed out by the many people that they save, and that being Slayers gives them the right to make that calculation. Tara points to Giles in this episode, the voice of utilitarianism, and identifies him as a killer. Giles himself identifies himself as one when he kills Ben, and here draws a line between being a utilitarian/killer, and being a hero.

BEN: Need a ... a minute. She could've killed me. GILES: No she couldn't. Never. ... She's a hero, you see. She's not like us.

Some people criticise the moral absolutism of this, and could very justifiably argue that killing Ben, or even killing Dawn, would be the most moral thing in this situation. Who are we to say that Dawn's life is more valuable than the lives of a thousand other 14 year old girls, with families of their own that love them just as much as Buffy loves Dawn? But within the context of the show, I think it makes sense for them to reject utilitarianism. Buffy is a Sisyphean story. There will always be another apocalypse after this one is stopped. There will always be another impossible choice with innocent lives in the balance. Through that lens, the idea of "killing one to save a thousand" becomes meaningless, because there's a thousand apocalypses, and if you kill one to stop them all, then you've killed a thousand. That's how Buffy feels - she killed Angel, she killed Faith, now she has to kill Dawn? Where does it end? Eventually it all just gets stripped away, so what's the point? There's no winning move here. The only way to break the cycle is to change the game.

We should also keep in mind Buffy's words at the start of the episode. She fears that the Slayer is "just a killer", but she is also identified by the guy she saves in the alley in the opening scene as "just a girl". And Buffy agrees ("That's what I keep saying."). Buffy is The Vampire Slayer, which dictates that she must make these impossible choices, but she's also Buffy, which means she is a human being with the power of free will. She gets a choice - not a good choice, but a choice. As a human being, she can reject the options in front of her and find a third way. She can transform the whole game, and turn "Death is your gift" into an empowering statement. This was heavily foreshadowed of course - the Guide in Intervention outright stated that Buffy was full of love, and that "love will bring [her] to [her] gift". But it takes Buffy working through these fears and emotions and realising that she simply can't take Dawn's life. She chooses a new way. She avoids being a killer by rejecting utilitarian ethics. To paraphrase The Last Jedi, she wins by saving what she loves. Ultimately, she's not a killer, but a girl, a friend, a sister, a Slayer - a hero.

So season five is very much the climax and resolution of this theme. Very few themes ever disappear entirely from this show though, and this one continues to echo throughout the show. In S6, Buffy again fears she is slipping into darkness. That there is some kind of darkness that is innate within her. But where in S5 this was a fear that she recoiled from but at times seemed inevitable, in S6 it is something that she is drawn towards, that disgusts her but that she takes a kind of comfort in, because it's easier than facing the mundane reality of her depression.

This yearning for her own darkness takes the physical form of Spike, who she uses for what is basically sexual self-harm. Spike steps into Faith's role as Buffy's shadow self for much of the later seasons, and , and like Faith he represents killing as hedonism, and as sex. There's no vampire who so aggressively blurs the lines of sex and death/violence as Spike. Her fear that killing is part of her nature, and her fear of her own sexual desire, are very much one and the same. When she breaks down in Dead Things, she talks about the darkness within her, and of her shame over her own sexuality.

Spike also repeats Faith's utilitarian justifications from Consequences in the episode which forms the climax of Buffy's self-destruction, Dead Things. When Buffy attempts to metaphorically commit suicide by turning herself into the police, she does it while constantly identifying herself as a killed. She repeats some variation on "I killed her" four times in just two scenes. She wants to be punished for being a killer, and not protected for being the slayer. She has grappled with this several times, and is still resolute that being the slayer does not give her a license to kill, but this time she is desperate to be seen as a killer, to give justification for her own self-hatred.

The final way S6 explores this idea is with Willow. When she is after Warren, Buffy tries to stop her, not for Warren's sake but for Willow's. She knows that taking a life changes a person, and implicitly draws on the first time she chose to take a human's life, the moment she "became a killer" on that rooftop with Faith.

Buffy (re: going to kill Faith): I can't play kid games anymore. This is how she wants it. Xander: I just don't want to lose you. Buffy: I won't get hurt. Xander: That's not what I mean. - 3x21 Graduation Day

XANDER: She should be coming down at some point, shouldn't she? I mean, back there she was out of her head ... running on grief and magicks. BUFFY: Doesn't matter . Willow just killed someone. Killing people changes you. Believe me, I know. - 6x21 Two to Go Killing Warren might have been justified given what a complete piece of shit he was - just as killing Angel was justified, just as killing Faith was, just as killing Ben was. That doesn't matter, because Buffy still recognises that the act of killing leaves permanent psychological scars, which she is still bearing.

In S7, we get the final major exploration of the "does the Slayer have a right to kill" idea in Selfless. Here, Buffy seems to have reached the conclusion that Cordelia, Faith and Spike (all her shadow selves) were right, and she does, in fact, have the right to pass judgment because she's the Slayer, when she decides she has to kill Anya.

"It is always different! It's always complicated. And at some point, someone has to draw the line, and that is always going to be me. You get down on me for cutting myself off, but in the end the slayer is always cut off. There's no mystical guidebook. No all-knowing council. Human rules don't apply. There's only me. I am the law." - 7x05 Selfless

However, I don't think the show wants us to take this as gospel. Buffy is conclusively proved wrong in this episode, since killing Anya doesn't work, and it's Willow who finds a third option that saves the day. In S7, the idea of the Slayer-as-Killer is more an incidental theme, while the central exploration is the idea of "one girl in all the world". It explores the nature of that tragedy, that Buffy is by definition alone. Because of this, she necessarily must be a killer. She does have to pass judgement, because there is nobody else capable of it. She has to be the one to hunt and kill vampires. She has to face the choice to kill Angel, to kill Faith, to kill Dawn, to kill Anya.

This is where the theme ends up - as a tragic inevitability. Buffy must always make that choice. Making the selfless choice to kill her boyfriend doesn't stop it. Avoiding the choice and dying herself doesn't even stop it. That boulder just rolls down the hill again and again, and Buffy is the only one who can push it back up. The Slayer is a killer because the Slayer is alone. So the only way to break that cycle is for the Slayer to no longer be alone. There are still elements of The Slayer, and of Buffy as a person, that are linked to death and killing, but she has mostly made peace with those parts, and now can be free of having to be "the law" too.

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collisiondiscourse · 3 years

Text

on the wonder duo (part 1)

(BNHA Analysis Post Ahead! This isn’t explicitly romantic, but it is an analysis of the relationship between the two most popular characters in BNHA--Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya. Split into two posts because I realized that this was gonna be long as HELL)

yall ever think about the fact that the wonder duo is perfectly set up in so that bakugou and deku together are the better version of all might?

bc like. ive been thinking.

everyone knows the win to save and save to win parallel. How they are supposedly two halves of a whole perfect hero (which, previously, was defined as all might)

but ever since bakugou and deku started working as one—growing together to win AND save and continuously reminding each other that they shouldnt try to do things alone, ive realized that its BECAUSE theres two of them that they surpass all might. its not a case of deku and bakugou both being 50% of an ideal hero, but rather i think that they are 100% of what all might SHOULD HAVE BEEN from the very beginning.

as early as the AM v AFO battle in kamino, we see the effects of all mights flawed existence. the fact that he, the greatest and supposedly infallible symbol of peace, was destroyed—society had begun to collapse. there was suddenly no pillar to hold people together and the impacts were so severe that even in the latest chapters of mha it keeps on getting worse. the truth is, all mights biggest mistake was the burden he placed on his own shoulders

with bakugou and deku... its different.

its different for them because down to their attributions, they seem like two halves of a whole person.

i think that the wonder duo are going to surpass all might because of the fact that they work together.

@bakugoukatsuki-rising @svpercraigus @tybee @isaustraliaathing

(batshit crazy and conspiratorial essay under the cut !)

1. Complementary Colors

I’d like to first preface literally everything I say by the fact that I am not an expert analyzer or literary major in any way. I am literally just some random fan on the internet who has wayyy too much time and looks wayyy too deep into things, but here we go!

A common thing we see when we talk about bakugou and deku is the way they are... sort of an inverse of one another.

Down to the design of their features and the way they move, Deku is the obviously softer of the two. There’s an intentional contrast between the two of them, in the way that Deku’s drawn with round shapes and curvy hair and the way Bakugou is literally all spikes and half-mast eyes and rough muscles. Bakugou’s movements too are languid and showy, with the way he leans when he walks and splays his legs and kicks open doors. Katsuki, in a casual sense, is loud and dramatic.

Deku on the other hand s finicky. He jitters when he walks and he’s often fidgeting and mumbling. Comparatively, the aura he radiates is energetic and frenzied, even self-conscious to a point unlike Bakugou’s calm and confident movements.

the point is, there’s a clear difference in how either of them are designed and what exactly they are supposed to represent. They utterly complement each other down to the way they behave and even their main colors (red-orange and blue-green) being literal complementary colors.

Now, moving to my more ungrounded points, this is quite a bit of a stretch so I’ll try as much as possible to make sense of these with hyperlinked sources because. yeah.

Down to their names, I think Deku and Bakugou both symbolize something deeper. I think that the way Hori expresses characters and what they’re meant to do is something that we have to pay close attention to when we talk about the Wonder Duo’s rise to success.

Izuku Midoriya (緑谷出久), as some of us may know, does have an interesting meaning when broken up. According to a lovely fan translation of his name, ‘Izuku’--while not an actual name used commonly in real life--means to ‘Come out’ or ‘Long time’. ‘Midoriya’ on the other hand means (Midori) ‘Green’ and (ya) ‘valley’. The translator further pointed out that his first name ‘Izuku’ could be a reference to him being the first legendary hero to come out of the long-running All Might Era. (or, if you’ve been reading @/bakugoukatsuki-rising’s posts, the first significant anime protag in a long while to come out as queer, ppfft)

but that isn’t my focus right now.

We know that Hori LOVES telling stories with names, and more often than not in the BNHA universe, names alone tell us a lot of things about the characters. When referring to Izuku’s last name, Midoriya, it’s important I think to step back and realize that hey, maybe there’s something more to Green Valley than just the fact that his motif is all green.

After searching for a lil on the specifics of green valley, I’ve found out that across many cultures, the colour green and valleys in general tend to represent life. From dream analysts, to Christianity, and even old Taoist teachings, valleys are seen as areas of fertility and escape. They are seen as safe havens and often escapes for people to come to after running away from bad circumstances.

(Sound familiar?)

Deku, in essence represents life and peace. He represents being the “salvation” that the world in BNHA needed. To me, it sounds like Horikoshi is trying to say that he is the long-awaited hero in the sense. The one that people can feel will create a society that feels safe for everyone after years of All Might just saving people from themselves as a band-aid solution.

On the other hand, we have Katsuki Bakugou (爆豪勝己), who’s name we commonly know means (Katsuki) Winner and (Bakugou) Explosion Master. He is essentially, the champion. The power. His name means success and power and all the things that make up winning.

When putting them side by side, it then becomes increasingly... interesting to me how their names almost perfectly slot into All Might’s save to win and win to save mantra, and how they are both quintessential parts to what made All Might as a hero.

2. Hero Too!

Now, I’m not even gonna really TOUCH much of what happens in canon. If you want me to do a step by step breakdown of their arcs in regards to the plot of manga and anime, feel free to send me a gratuitous ko-fi tip so I can pay for the headache I get after trying to organize my thoughts into word vomit.

What I WILL talk about on the other hand, is the subtle shift both of them slowly have in regards to how they look. Bakugou and Deku, while growing up, seem to have MANY many parallels--but before I elaborate on all of that, I wanna talk about something else.

Detour: Deku’s Red Shoes

We all know the iconic symbol being Deku’s red shoes. For all his life, save for some outfits like his hero one, we see Deku more often than not wearing his signature red sneakers which have become a running joke in fandom.

But the funny thing is, in Japan, red shoes seem to have an interesting connotation.

In 1922, a popular Japanese nursery rhyme was written, called “Red Shoes”. The interesting part to me about this song was the symbolism that, in my tiny pea-sized brain, I could connect to the story of BNHA.

The story goes that there was a little girl with red shoes named ‘Kimi’. She was from Shizuoka prefecture (which, if you didn’t know, is most likely where Musutafu supposedly is) and was raised by a single mother. When she was young, her mother had to entrust her with a foreigner under the impression that they would give her a better life in America. The stranger is a man named Charles Hewitt (who was described to have blue eyes) and supposedly took her away.

The singer of the song (supposedly the mother, but some argue it was written from the perspective of a childhood friend) believes that Kimi is happy and living a better life away from them, when the reality of the situation was much worse. The young girl with red shoes in actuality had Tuberculosis, and thus the foreigner whom she was entrusted to had left her to fend for herself and eventually left her to go to America while she died alone and orphaned.

“When I see red shoes, I think of her.”

A very interesting story with very interesting implications indeed.

Anyway, moving on to the more... “nuanced” and connected parts of this section, I have every reason to believe that Bakugou and Deku were simply MEANT to be working together down to how they dress. Now, I’d like to discuss their hero costumes.

At the start of their series, using these godawful pics for reference, it’s clear to see that neither of them seem alike in any way--reflecting the dissonance in their relationship at that point in canon.

ough. deku why. (yes we know why its because you love your mom you stupid little bunny <3)

Anyway, we see an immediate gap in how the two of them are. Deku’s first costume is one that reflects how he treated his dream of being a hero. He was still in that childlike idolization phase, the one where his dreams and aspirations were hinged on pure feelings and inspiration from All Might. Katsuki on the other hand was a lot more tactical--professional to an extent. The gap between their respective development with their quirks is something that is clearly felt in every fashion decision they’d made.

(Notice how Deku’s green is a lot brighter and less like the green accents Katsuki has all over his costume.)

As time progressed however... their costumes changed. The colors, the silhouettes, the practical functions, most things.

(Deku’s Gamma Costume and Bakugou’s Winter Costume used respectively)

we begin to notice a few similarities.

As the show goes on and we see more evolutions of their costumes, it almost seems like they begin to look like a matching pair. Deku’s green grows darker and almost teal in nature, while Bakugou’s orange is veering towards red territory. This is important to note because red-orange and blue-green as I said earlier were complementary colors as compared to simply orange and green. The minute shift is something I really wasn’t quite sure was intentional, but something I find interesting to pick up nonetheless as the colors they used to accent their costumes begin to match up.

Secondly, I think and important thing to note is silhouettes. The way that both Bakugou and Deku’s costumes are designed follow a lot of parallels that typically we don’t see with the rest of 1-A. For one, they both have a combination of tight long-sleeved tops with a bulkier set of bottoms. They also share the use of utility belts and metal pieces typically worn around their necks. Deku has his bunny-eared hood that mimics All Might’s hair, while Bakugou has his orange and black explosion ear-pieces that mimic his own quirk.

i don’t think any other people in class 1-A match each other as subtly yet strongly as these two. Uraraka and Deku and Bakugou and Kirishima do come close however.

“But Codi, you fucking knob!” I hear you plea. “This is such a reach and tells us practically NOTHING!” And yes, I’m inclined to agree with you! You’d be sort of right in the idea that this is a reach. Maybe I am looking too much into this, and maybe it really isn’t that deep--but I do think that them subconsciously matching outfits means something quite brilliant.

In the way that their costumes are designed, each aspect of either outfits have a very logical explanation. The changes were strategic and made with their fighting styles vividly in mind, so what that tells me is that BECAUSE these costumes are so complementary or similar in nature (Bakugou’s reinforcing his arms while Deku reinforces his legs), these two are implicitly showing the audience that their combat styles are complementary as well.

The evolution of their design choices and similarities tell us that even unknowingly, their minds line up in strategy on the battlefield--a clear exhibit for why they would be INCREDIBLY POWERFUL as a Hero Duo to begin with.

When I look at their hero costumes side by side, I see a mirror. I see the way that these two are reflections of each other and are strong where the other isn’t. The point I see in BNHA repeatedly is that EVERYONE HAS A WEAKNESS. Nothing is infallible, regardless of how hard you train or how powerful your quirk is. Everyone will always have a weakness, but the significant difference I see when fandom discusses the future of Pro-Hero Society is that the new generation is finally raising itself to be RELIANT on each other.

Observing their fighting styles and the simple use of their quirks, its obvious that they are indeed two parts of a whole hero. Bakugou, who’s quirk emphasized his arms and hands and the power that comes from it, while Deku who’s quirk now emphasizes his legs and lower body and the way he’s always running to save people.

IN CONCLUSION:

As they become heroes, it is easy to assume that if nothing else, Bakugou and Deku will cover each other’s weak spots (especially when you consider the way Deku probably won’t be able to keep using his arms with the way both the anime and manga are going...) (also chapter 285, anyone?)

Part Two: Interactions, OfA

kofi || commission details

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