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snkpolls · 3 years

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SnK Episodes 73 & 74 Poll Results (for Anime Only Watchers)

The poll closed with 44 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated!

Please note that these are the results for the Anime Only Watchers’ poll. If you wish to see the results for the Manga Readers’ poll, click here.

Anime only watchers, beware of spoilers if you venture over to the manga readers’ poll results.

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RATE EPISODE 73: SAVAGERY 42 responses

The rating for episode 14 was notably positive, with 97.6% of respondents giving the episode a 4 or 5 (majority being 5s). And just a single 3!

this shit was so good, I love you mappa <3

Best anime ever

RATE EPISODE 74: SOLE SALVATION 43 responses

The subsequent episode garnered a bit of more muted response, although there was an equal amount of 5s given out. Overall, 86% gave the episode either a 4 or a 5. There were also six 3s.

Masterpiece

zook

WHICH WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF EPISODE 73? 43 responses

The pie for episode 73 was rather colorful! 23.3% most enjoyed the much anticipated Levi vs. Zeke 2.0. 20.9% thought seeing Levi having to fight his own comrades in titan form was the most memorable moment of the episode. At a tie for 14% people thought Eren disparaging his friends and Eren beating up Armin had the biggest impact in this episode. 9.3% felt the biggest impact by seeing Armin punch Eren in the face, while another 7% were most impacted by Levi’s brutality against Zeke as he filleted his legs.

WHICH WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF EPISODE 74? 43 responses

The scene that stuck most with anime watchers was Zeke detonating the thunder spear and sending Levi flying, with 51.2% of respondents giving their vote to the closing scene of the episode. 11.6% felt the most impacted by the scene of Zeke listening to Grisha yelling at Dina through the door, and another 11.6% felt the reveal of Zeke’s euthanasia plan is the detail that stuck out the most. 7% seemed most affected by the Yeager Brothers’ secret conversation.

EPISODE 73 IS TITLED, “SAVAGERY.” OF THE OPTIONS BELOW, WHICH CHARACTER DO YOU THINK BEST EXEMPLIFIED THIS WORD? 42 responses

The episode’s title, “Savagery” can most certainly be attributed to one of the characters on screen, so it’s no surprise that there was differing opinion on which character exemplified that. The plurality (47.6%) chose to go with Levi, perhaps due to his arguably cruel treatment of Zeke after his victory. Eren was the runner up with 31%, probably due to the cruel nature of his words to Mikasa and Armin. The rest of the votes went to Shadis’ nemesis, Floch and a few to Zeke himself (Titanization Man).

HOW BADLY DID YOU FEEL ABOUT LEVI HAVING TO KILL HIS OWN SQUAD? 43 responses

Although there were some people who didn’t really seem to care, most of the respondents (88.3%) seemed to feel for Levi’s struggles. Poor guy needs a break!

poor levi he through some shit:(

ON A SCALE OF 105, HOW WOULD YOU RATE LEVI VS. ZEKE 2.0? 43 responses

Levi vs Zeke 2.0 garnered a lot of praise from the responses gathered. 90.7% gave the showdown a 4 or a 5 (mostly 5s) and no one gave it a score lower than 3. Very nice!

WHY DO YOU THINK FLOCH MADE THE RECRUITS BATTER INSTRUCTOR SHADIS? 43 responses

Floch’s actions in Episode 73 focused on Instructor Shadis and the takeover of the Training Facility, culminating in Keith’s beatdown. We asked you why you believe Floch made the cadets do so. 34.9% of respondents thought that it was due to Floch having an ego trip, as Shadis said himself. 14% thought that it truly was due to Floch believing in Shadis representing the old order, necessary to “purge”. Finally, some select folks believed that Floch wanted to make an example out of the Instructor. Finally, another 34.9% of respondents said that all of the aforementioned reasons were valid to a degree.

HOW CUTE WAS BITTY ZEKE? 42 responses

Little Zeke has appeared multiple times in Episode 15 and what better way to make one feel sympathy for someone than portraying them as a cute kid? 78.6% thought Zeke was exceptionally cute, giving a score of 4 or 5 (mostly 5s). The rest were less thrilled, though there were only two 1s.

lil baby zeke is so cute

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GRISHA’S TREATMENT OF ZEKE? 43 responses

Grisha’s treatment of Zeke during his childhood is perhaps one of the most important events when it comes to shaping Yeager Junior’s view on the world. We asked how you felt about that. 27.9% stated that they felt much sympathy for Zeke and believed he deserved none of it. Another 27.9% sympathized with Zeke, but didn’t hold too much blame over Grisha due to his precarious position. A little over 25% went even further called Grisha the worst parent in the series. Quite a lot of those in AoT/SnK. 11.6% were more mild and simply chastised Grisha for his treatment. One person said that they didn’t care for Zeke’s struggles at all and we also received 2 write-ins.

Grisha's intentions were good, but the way he treated Zeke was not

I get that he doesn't want anyone else to suffer the same tragic and horrific fate that Fay did, but I still wanted to reach through the TV screen and smack the life outta Grisha

DO YOU FEEL THAT ZEKE WOULD HAVE GROWN INTO AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT KIND OF PERSON IF GRISHA HAD TREATED HIM BETTER? 43 responses

An interesting what-if comes when asked about the possibility of Zeke being treated differently by his father in his childhood and how that would affect Zeke’s view of the world. 53.5% believe that even if Grisha treated Zeke differently, it’s not possible to say if Yeager Junior’s worldview would be completely different since there were other factors. In contrast, 32.6% think that his perspective would have been totally divergent from the one we’ve seen. 9.3% weren’t sure and we also received 2 write-ins.

Zeke is who he is because of his childhood, it includes Grsiha's treatment but also his grand parents and Ksaver. If we take off one piece of hid childhood, he would have been another person.

If the circumstances were right, possibly. But that would take a hell of a lot of trauma.

WHO DO YOU THINK HAD A BIGGER IMPACT IN SHAPING ZEKE’S WORLDVIEW? 43 responses

Just under 70% believe Ksaver had a bigger impact on shaping Zeke’s viewpoint on existence, in contrast to a little over 30% who think Grisha was the bigger pull here.

WHO TURNED OUT MORE LIKE GRISHA, IN YOUR OPINION? 42 responses

It is also interesting to note the comparison between the two Yeager Brothers and how much influence their father had on them. Overwhelmingly, 81% believe that Eren turned out to be more like Grisha in his nature versus 19% who think that Zeke received such honor (or dishonor, if you so choose to believe).

WHO WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO PUNCH IN THE FACE AFTER THESE EPISODES? 42 responses

We decided to give the respondents an out for their frustrations by allowing them to choose a person to a punch! The “golden” dishonor went to Floch, with 35.7%, which was followed by Eren with 16.7% and the author of the original work himself, Isayama Hajime, also with 16.7%. Geisha received the bronze and 14.3% of the vote. Zeke and especially Levi were less popular options. In contrast, 7.1% stated that they had no interest in punching anyone. Also, no one expressed a desire to physically assault us, the pollsters. Thanks!

HAVE THE EVENTS THAT HAVE TRANSPIRED CHANGED YOUR OPINION ON EREN? 42 responses

Was Eren’s shocking behavior enough to change some opinions about his overall character? 31% of viewers stand firm in their love and support for Eren and agree that his actions haven’t changed their feelings at all. 26.2% are feeling a little more dicey, wanting to see more of his development before deciding if he’s really worthy of their support or not. 9.5% have changed their opinion on him and see him more negatively, though on the flipside… 7.1% feel the opposite, stating they didn’t like him before but are now watching with curiosity.

I dont know

I’m mad about what’s happening HOWEVER, that is my man ✨😌

I like him increasingly since the beginning of the story. His development is fantastic. Best character.

I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but not anymore. This ain't it chief

WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE EMA TALK? 42 responses

The majority of viewers were genuinely shaken by this scene, with 38.1% feeling that there is nothing but pain on the road ahead, while another 23.8% are already actively wailing at the apparent death of EMA’s bond. 21.4% are simply in disbelief at Eren’s treatment of his friends. A small handful actually enjoyed Eren eviscerating his friends, while another handful didn’t really have an opinion either way.

It was awesome. Isayama lets us build our opinion without any sign of "look, that's the good way to think"

I can excuse the whole raid of Liberio and mass murder thing, but beating up Armin? Telling Mikasa he hates her? That's where I draw the line

I am soulless. For Eren to go from sharing his dreams of the future with Armin and Mikasa to threatening them like enemies broke me. Easily the hardest part of the anime to watch to date.

DO YOU THINK THAT EREN IS CORRECT ABOUT ARMIN BEING MANIPULATED BY BERTOLT? 41 responses

More than half of respondents believe that there is some truth to what Eren is saying, but that he’s not wholly correct. 26.8% feel that Eren is dead wrong about Bertolt affecting Armin. In equal parts of 9.8%, fans either feel that Eren knows what he’s talking about, or aren’t sure what to think.

DO YOU THINK EREN IS RIGHT ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE ACKERMAN CLAN? 42 responses

Similarly to the previous question, more than half of respondents feel that there is only some truth in what Eren is saying about the Ackerman clan. Though, the opposite of people’s views on his words to Armin, 28.6% actually think what Eren said about the Ackerman clan is the whole truth. 9.5% think he’s full of it, and 7.1% aren’t sure.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT EREN’S EXPLANATION OF THE ACKERMANS’ POWERS? 42 responses

45.2% of viewers feel that Eren’s explanation of the Ackerman power is a somewhat positive thing, and that it adds more layers onto the relationships that our Ackerman characters have with others. 16.7% are just happy to have any kind of explanation at all and think it makes perfect sense. On the flipside, another 16.7% feel that everything Eren said wasn’t true and are reserving judgement for further story development. 14.3% absolutely hate Eren’s explanation of the Ackerman power and feel it cheapens the bond characters like Mikasa and Levi have with others.

Kenny said it : "Everyone was a slave to something". It makes perfect sense. 💯

DOES EREN BELIEVE THE CRUEL WORDS HE SAID TO ARMIN AND MIKASA? 42 responses

More than half of respondents still have some faith in Eren and believe that he wasn’t being his true self when talking with Armin and Mikasa. 23.8% don’t want to say either way for sure if these feelings are genuine. 19% think that Eren believes every word he said and truly feels his way toward his friends now.

EREN SAYS HE IS FREE. ARMIN SAYS EREN IS A SLAVE. WHAT DO YOU THINK? 42 responses

When it comes to whether Eren is truly free, or if he’s actually enslaved by something or someone else, 33.3% feel that it’s a combination of the two options. 19% believe that he’s somehow being controlled by previous holders of the titan powers he possesses, while another 19% aren’t sure what to think. 16.7% believe Eren is free, and that when he says everything he does is of his own will, that he is right.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN TO MIKASA NOW? 42 responses

Eren was particularly hurtful to Mikasa, a character who has been nothing but loyal and caring toward him for the entire duration of their friendship. Many fans would like to see her develop away from him, but is this moment the catalyst for such development? 57.1% seem to feel that she will grow from this experience, though it would be impossible for her to stop caring about Eren despite his poor treatment of her. 11.9% feel the opposite, and think that she won’t grow from this experience, but rather that it will hinder her, and she will be forever broken. 9.5% believe that despite Eren’s cruelty, she will continue to have unwavering faith in him. Small handfuls either felt she will move past this and become her own person without Eren impacting her anymore, or that she will grow to deeply resent Eren as a result of his actions toward her.

EREN TALKS ABOUT HOW MIKASA’S HEADACHES ARE A SIDE EFFECT OF HER ACKERMAN GENES. LEVI IS SEEN GRABBING HIS HEAD IN THE EPISODE PRIOR. DO YOU THINK HE’S ALSO HAVING AN ACKER-HEADACHE AT THAT MOMENT? 42 responses

Levi is seen grabbing his head for the first time in the series just before Eren mentions Acker-headaches are a thing. 57.1% believe that Levi is, indeed, having a headache, giving more credibility to Eren’s words. Versus 42.9% who believe that Levi wasn’t having a headache in that scene, and was simply just grabbing his head.

HANGE AND PIXIS HAVEN’T SPOKEN SINCE THE WINE PLOT WAS REVEALED, SO HOW DOES PIXIS KNOW ABOUT THE WINE? 41 responses

39% of viewers feel that Pixis couldn’t have been aware of the wine, but that he was sure that Zeke would somehow try to pull a stunt like turning the people of Paradis into titans. 24.4% think it’s possible that Yelena had already confessed about the wine plot to him during their earlier conversation. 22% think he just doesn’t know about the wine and didn’t know Zeke could even do such a thing.

I have no idea. I didn’t even consider this.

DO YOU THINK THAT PIXIS AND NILE ARE DESTINED TO BECOME PURE TITANS, NOW THAT WE KNOW THEY INGESTED THE WINE? 41 responses

Now that we have confirmation that Pixis and Nile both drank the spiked wine, more than half of respondents believe that they are destined to become titans in the near future. 29.3% feel the opposite, and believe that they will be able to avoid this fate.

DID SHADIS GOAD THE NEW RECRUITS IN AN EFFORT TO PROTECT THEM? 40 responses

60% believe that Shadis was looking out for the trainee cadets when he goaded them into trying to beat him up, ensuring that they wouldn’t have to become a victim to the Yeagerists’ violence. 32.5% aren’t sure what his intentions were, and a small handful felt it was a hard no.

YOUR THOUGHTS ON FLOCH? 42 responses

Floch doesn’t seem to be netting many positive opinions so far, with 38.1% of respondents stating that they “absolutely loathe him.” 26.2% aren’t in support of Floch, but are still willing to throw their faith behind Eren. 14.3% hate him, but are having a good time doing so, and 11.9% are actually in support of Floch’s actions despite some missteps along the way.

Everyone's saying 'Fuck Gabi' but I've been screaming 'Fuck Floch' with my whole chest since the end of season 3...he receives all of my hate LMAO

FUCK FLOCH

I have fostered an visceral hatred for him since the moment he was introduced and honestly now I'm just glad it's justified

WE’LL ASK AGAIN, DO YOU THINK EREN IS TRULY WORKING WITH THE YEAGERISTS? 42 responses

40.5% believe that Eren is working with the Yeagerists, but with a different goal than the one they think he has. 16.7% don’t think he’s working with them at all and that it’s just a narrative ruse. 14.3% don’t know what to make of this connection just yet, and 9.5% refuse to believe anything until they see Eren giving orders to the Yeagerists directly.

HISTORIA HAS REMAINED OUT OF THE PICTURE IN THE CURRENT TIMELINE. WHERE DO YOU THINK HER LOYALTIES MAY LIE? 41 responses

Historia hasn’t been able to speak for herself yet, so we were curious where you thought her loyalties may lie in this whole conflict. 31.7% believe that she is only looking out for herself at this point. 22% believe that her loyalties are with Eren - but not the Yeagerists, and another 22% believe that her loyalties are with someone else who we haven’t been able to deduce yet. 12.2% believe that she is all in with the Survey Corps.

IF ZEKE HAD EXPLAINED HIS PLAN TO LEVI, DO YOU THINK THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER OPPORTUNITY FOR THEM TO HAVE A DIALOGUE, RATHER THAN JUST OPPOSE EACH OTHER? 42 responses

A solid 50% of viewers think that there is no way Zeke and Levi would ever be able to share a dialogue about the solution to Eldia’s problems. 31% are less sure, thinking it’s possible it could go either way, while 16.7% believe that they could have talked out their problems if only they had chosen to try and trust one another.

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT LEVI SLICING ZEKE UP? 42 responses

A total of 64.3% of respondents seem to enthusiastically support Levi’s treatment toward Zeke, with 33.3% specifically agreeing with the sentiment of “Good for him!” While another 31% feel that Zeke absolutely had this coming and can’t fault Levi for his actions. 26.2% are still in support of Levi’s decision to fillet Zeke’s legs, though they do agree the action was a bit on the cruel side. Only a small handful either felt disappointed in Levi or supported Zeke in setting off the thunderspear.

very very satisfying

He did it for Erwin<3

HOW HAS LEARNING ZEKE’S BACKSTORY AFFECTED YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT HIM? 42 responses

With more context on Zeke’s actions, thought process, and the reveal of his true plans, we were curious how opinions may have changed on his character. 38.1% simply just feel sorry for him after seeing how hard his childhood was. 26.2% agree that his backstory is indeed tragic, but that it doesn’t excuse his behavior or his plan. 9.5% feel positively about Zeke, saying they want to love and protect him forever, while 7.1% just aren’t sure how to feel about Zeke now.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE REVEAL FROM ZEKE’S MEMORIES? 42 responses

31% of viewers felt the biggest takeaway from Zeke’s memories was the reveal that the Founding Titan has the ability to manipulate Eldian DNA. 26.2% most enjoyed learning what the true nature of Zeke’s plan was. 19% were happy to understand the reason why Grisha sold out his parents to Marley, and another 11.9% were happy to see how Zeke learned about Grisha’s survival and Eren’s existence (though for some, maybe it was because of the Bertolt crumbs?).

WAS ZEKE’S CHOICE TO TURN IN HIS PARENTS JUSTIFIED? 41 responses

41.5% believe that Zeke was justified in turning in his parents as it was able to protect himself and his grandparents - innocent parties that would have otherwise been in trouble - from going down with Grisha, Dina and the restorationists. 22% believe that he was justified because his parents’ poor treatment toward them deserved some kind of consequence. 19.5% feel the other way, however, and believe that Zeke should have let his parents know Marley was closing in on them. Another 14.6% believe that Zeke could have figured out another way to prevent his parents from being sent to Paradis.

Mixed feelings.

IN A STORY FILLED WITH TRAGIC CHILDHOOD BACKSTORIES, WHERE DOES ZEKE’S RANK? 41 responses

Nearly half of the fandom agree that Zeke’s childhood backstory is toward the top of the list of the most tragic ones in this series, but not quite enough to claim the title of “the absolute worst.” 26.8% agree that his backstory was pretty bad, but still can’t empathize with his current actions or his goal. 22% believe that he didn’t have it any better or worse than anyone else in the series, and only a small sliver feel that Zeke is truly deserving of the “most tragic character” award.

KSAVER TELLS ZEKE THAT DINA AND GRISHA NEVER LOVED HIM. THOUGHTS? 42 responses

When it comes to the matter of whether Grisha and Dina actually loved Zeke, nearly 60% felt that they did love him, but their love for him didn’t supersede their commitment to their mission to restore the Eldian Empire. 21.4% feel that their love for Zeke and commitment to their mission were equal in strength. 16.7% agree with Ksaver, and believe that Grisha and Dina didn’t love Zeke at all.

DO YOU THINK KSAVER WAS A GOOD PERSON? 42 responses

While we only see Ksaver for one episode, we were curious about your judgement of his character. 35.7% believe that he was a good person, even if he may have made some bad decisions at certain points. 28.6% believe he truly was a good person, and genuinely cared for Zeke as if he was his own son. 19% feel the opposite, and believe he wasn’t a good person, feeling that he manipulated Zeke and disapprove of him lying to his wife and son about his Eldian genetics. 11.9% aren’t sure what to think, but feel there’s more to Ksaver’s story than meets the eye.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE REVEAL OF ZEKE’S PLAN? 42 responses

In general, respondents seem to be shocked at the reveal of Zeke’s true plan, with most of them ranking it a 4 or 5 in its shock factor. One voter leaned more in the direction of the reveal of his real plan being a bit underwhelming.

DO YOU THINK EREN TRULY AGREES WITH ZEKE’S PLAN? 42 responses

33.3% are firm in their belief that Eren would never get on board with Zeke’s euthanasia plan, and that he’s “playing Zeke like a fiddle” right now. 31% believe that Eren does agree with Zeke partially, but still likely has his own separate goal from Zeke. 16.7% aren’t sure, and another 7.1% believe that Eren is truly on board with Zeke’s plan.

DOES ZEKE’S RATIONALE FOR KILLING PEOPLE HELP JUSTIFY IT? 41 responses

43.9% are somewhat understanding of Zeke’s plight, believing that Zeke’s intentions aren’t necessarily unjustified, but that he has still been unnecessarily cruel about his approach to it thus far. 39% don’t see any justification in his actions and think he’s just full of crap. On the flipside, 17.1% believe that Zeke truly feels he is doing the right thing and as a result they are able to empathize with his actions.

IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE, WHICH IS THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS? 40 responses

When it comes down to being forced to choose one evil or the other, 62.5% believe that if their hands were tied, bringing an end to the Eldian race (whether by Zeke’s plan or by other means) is the lesser of the two evils. 37.5% feel the opposite, and believe that the liberation of Eldians is more important than the survival of the rest of the world who wants to destroy them.

WHAT CONDITION DO YOU THINK LEVI IS IN PHYSICALLY? 42 responses

So MAPPA really left us in the dark on this one. With lots of time to speculate, we were curious what you thought about his physical condition after the explosion. 33.3% believe that he is likely missing a part, or parts, of his body after the impact. 19% think it isn’t as bad, with just some scratches or scrapes. 11.9% believe that Levi is going to be just fine (he’s an Ackerman after all, right?!), while a smaller handful have assumed the worst and believe when we see him next, he will be confirmed as dead.

He’s FINE everything’s FINE

HOW DID THESE EPISODES MAKE YOU FEEL ABOUT THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS?

The 5 characters that we listed had the biggest focus in these episodes (typically in a controversial light) so we wanted to see how opinions may have changed.

The characters who seem to have received more negative backlash were Grisha and Floch, with Eren trailing behind them. Zeke and Levi were viewed more favorably when all was said and done. Though for unchanged opinions, Eren and Levi seem to have hit more in the middle than the other characters did. Grisha appears to have netted no positive feelings.

WE’VE ONLY GOT ONE EPISODE LEFT FOR THIS RUN! HOW ARE YOU FEELING ABOUT IT? 42 responses

When it comes to the feelings of respondents about the anime ending, we’ve gotten a multitude of responses. A plurality, 45.2% had a more positive view, looking forward to the Part 2 announcement. Close behind were 42.9% who expressed their frustration at the loss of a source of entertainment on Sundays. Less popular responses focused on open despair (due to the anime ending) and in contrast to the rest of the respondents, one person expressed disappointment in this entire season. We’ve also received one write-in.

I’ve already started up the manga, I couldn’t wait for the last episode and I certainly can’t wait for part 2 lol

DO YOU THINK WE WILL GET AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE NEXT ANIME INSTALLMENT NEXT WEEK? 43 responses

We’ve asked the respondents whether they believed we were going to get a Part 2 announcement the week of the final episode. Now we know that to be the case, it is interesting to look back. 67.5% expressed hope in seeing that announcement with 41.9% (overall) feeling a bit cautiously optimistic, in contrast to the 25.6% (overall) seeing conviction. In contrast, 30.2% were not so sure, with 20.9% (also overall) not feeling too hopeful and 9.3% (again, overall) were lacking any expectations at all. Now we know that the former folks were pessimistic for no reason. Yay.

Please MAPPA I need this :,(

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODES?

Tears

The reveal of Zeke's backstory has shown us once again that in AoT, there is no black and white but multiple shades of gray and that people like Zeke and Levi can be savage despite having noble intentions. It's sad that Eren and Armin would have to fight like that and I'm annoyed that Mikasa chose to hurt Armin when he punched Eren for her. It's like she has shown that what Eren was saying about her is true.

No other thoughts just sad :(

Pain.

I know Zeke is no ordinary Man. Everyone thinking"oh Zeke boy evil, cruel, throwing something" ı think always not Just that simple. Because ı saw, he sells patents, its really Hard choice for 7 8 years old boy.

the recent episodes have been amazing and Isayama has by far the sexiest brain out of all creators, period

I was shocked to find out that Ksaver told Zeke to turn in his parents. I honestly thought Zeke was just feeling bold that day LOL but ya excellent episodes, 5/5 for both! As always, thank you MAPPA for the food<3

I am Scared and Sad and I can't wait for the next one

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 43 responses

Thanks again to everyone who participated! We will post the poll for episode 75 soon!

In the meantime, please feel free to send us up to 5 of your favorite characters via ask or submission for our ongoing popularity poll - that poll will close on the 10th of April! :D

#snk poll #snk polls #shingeki no kyojin #attack on titan #snk #aot #snk s4

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getbacktoworknovice · 4 years

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🐎Snarky, Handsome Devil

[an AU in which you are a summer time employee who works at a riding ranch for kids and have a massive crush on one of the instructors Jacob Frye~ (this is part one of a series (reposting some older Ao3 stuff~)]

You always looked forward to summer.

A chance to get away from school, your siblings and your parents for three glorious months. Not that you didnt love your family of course, it was just a nice break from the reality you were stuck in nine months out of the year.

Every summer, ever since you started high school, you worked part time at the Frye Riding Ranch, a sort of summer camp for underprivileged kids to get a chance at taking care of and learning how to ride horses.

The people who ran it, Ethan Frye and his twin children, Jacob and Evie Frye, were very generous being that they only charged the families one dollar for the three month camp and in some cases, they let children join for free.

Apparently they had come from hard times as well.

You yourself were an actual hired hand, hired on by Ethan your first year at high school and kept on as he seemed to like your personality. You were hoping he would, after all, you loved kids AND horses and this was like a dream come true to you.

Kids were always so much easier to deal with than adults and they adored when you did your funny little voices, especially the British one as the owners whole family were Brits. Adults tended to give you odd looks.

Especially Jacob.

But then he would just give you that annoyingly charming half smile of his and go back about his business as if he hadn’t been looking at you at all. He rather loved kids too (which was part of why you found him so attractive) and even referred to them as his little “Rooks”.

He was kind with the horses as well. You’d caught him before as he was giving one a bath, talking to her sweetly and patting her lovingly as he got her cleaned up. It was the cutest thing you ad ever seen. Though you were certain he would deny he ever did such a thing if you asked him.

To be perfectly honest he had annoyed you at first. On your first day he had paired you with the worst horse they had to “break you in”, he’d doused you several times with the power hose and made you shovel so much manure you couldnt smell anything but for three days after.

You definitely hadnt had much of an appetite your first week, making Evie worry for you and then give Jacob a harsh telling off when she found out what he’d done. He wasnt a bully, she assured you, he was just…a pain.

Needless to say you’d avoided him for a month afterward but towards the end he came around. Apologized even. Which surprised you. You didnt realize you had a crush on him until you came back the next year and he gave you a big hug…

and you could feel every muscle he had.

He was every inch the rugged cowboy you’d seen on many a cover of romance novels. Muscled, rough around the edges, wild hair and eyes…and that damn smile of his! Yes indeed to you every inch of him was rugged and wild…and you loved it.

You just wished you were able to tell him. He was four years older than you and you just figured it was a passing fancy. You’d get over it. Yet every time you saw him and tried to still your beating heart it never worked. He would smile and nod at you, or say something that made you laugh, or stand too close to you when you saddled the horses for the kids.

He was the sweetest asshole you’d ever known.

You actually looked forward to getting up in the morning.

Today was turning into one of the funner days you’d had in the last three years. It was the day before graduation and to celebrate they always had a giant bonfire and a mini rodeo of sorts where the kids got to show off what they’d learned and earn a “badge of honor” for their efforts.

They were just cheap plastic sheriffs badges, but to the kids they might as well have been solid gold trophies. They got the biggest smiles on their faces and your heart just melted at the sight. Even Jacob took it a bit easier in terms of joking around, taking the event as seriously as the kids did.

You were in charge of getting all the firewood ready for the bonfire the next night as well as making all the certificates the kids would be receiving along with their badges. You were sitting at one of the tables in the rec room with Evie, writing out all the kids names neatly on their certificates, while Evie printed out the pamphlets for the parents.

“I do hope it doesn’t rain.” She was saying as you finally finished with the “S” names, rotating your wrist a bit to work out the soreness in it. You loved calligraphy but it hurt. Looking up when you heard her words you gave a curious gaze out the window, noting it was a bit stormy looking.

“Maybe it’ll blow over.” You said hopefully as you didn’t want it to ruin the kids’ fun. “If not I suppose we could hold the ceremony in here.” She said just as rain started to pelt outside. You gave a bit of a groan as now you’d have to go and cover up the wood with a tarp.

“Shit…” You grumbled as you grabbed up your coat and headed out the door. Te bonfire pit was a good ways away from the rec room and cabins so you had to book it to the barn to grab up a tarp. By the time you made it to the bonfire it was pouring down rain.

Quickly you began tucking the tarp into the corners of the pile, doing your best to get the wood covered so it would actually burn tomorrow, but it was getting windy and every corner you managed to get covered would pry itself loose by the time you got to the other end.

You were about to lose it when you felt someone grab the other end of the tarp to assist you. Giving a relieved sigh you looked over to see it was Jacob. You felt your heart begin to beat wildly again and you couldn’t control it. “Jacob…!” You started but he only yanked on the tarp.

“Dont just stand there like a fish!” He insisted as the rain pelted him without his jacket. “Move!” That snapped you out of it and you began to help him, tucking the tarp into place and covering it to help it stay safe from the rain.

With his help you got it done rather quickly and one he was certain it would stay the two of you took cover in the barn. You were both soaked but Jacob had gotten the worst of it, his black t-shirt stuck to him and his jeans were soaked through.

You were so glad you’d grabbed a jacket.

“Thanks,” You managed to say after you’d caught your breath. “I was about to give up there for a minute.” You admitted and Jacob laughed. “Wind was bein’ a bit of a bully wasnt it?” He grinned, taking off his baseball cap and wringing the water out of it best he could.

“Oh yeah, just a bit.” You teased in return with a smile that quickly turned into a blush when you saw him strip off his soaking shirt. You never knew he had a tattoo, but you turned your head so quick you didnt actually see what it was.

“What’s the matter love?” You heard him tease. “Never seen a man without a shirt before?” You felt your face get redder. “I-I…n-no…I mean…!” You were so flustered you couldnt even get a word out. “Sh-shut up!” You finally grumbled but he only laughed.

“Oh come now, you dont have to be so harsh with your tongue.” He said as he took your shoulder and leaned in close to your ear. “Your not having dirty thoughts are you?” He teased and you whirled on him to tell him off.

But stopped short as you felt his lips against the corner of your mouth.

Giving a small squeak you jumped back, your eyes wide in surprise. “J-Jacob, what the hell!?” You stammered, completely flustered. Jacob however only smiled that cocky little smile of his. “Been wantin’ to do that.” He said as he wrung out his shirt.

“Wh….what? What do you mean youve been wanting to do that?” You stuttered and he gave you a sideways grin. “Why, precisely what it means. I’ve been wanting to kiss you for a long time.” He said in plain terms.

You felt your knees buckle a bit and your heart began to thump in your chest. “R-really..?” You asked slowly. You felt like you must be dreaming. Youd had a crush on him true but you never in your life expected it to be reciprocated by him.

“Why?”

That question seemed to get to him as his cheeks actually turned a little pink. “Well…because I like ya.” He said with an honest shrug, putting his shirt back on. “I thought that was obvious but I guess I went about showin’ ya the wrong way.” He admitted sheepishly.

You gave a snort. “Yeah, making me shovel maure isnt the fastest way to my heart y'know!” You insisted with a swat to his arm. Jacob laughed aloud, a laugh you’d grown to love. “I guess I did fumble that one up a bit…” He admitted, giving you a soft look with his brown eyes.

“So…how is it you feel about me?” He asked and it was your turn to flush in the cheeks. You honestly didnt know what to say at first. “I..I mean I really like you Jacob. I’ve…I’ve had a crush on you for a while…” You hated to admit that out loud.

“I just…I feel like I’ve known you forever,” You said as you looked up at him. “I know it sounds silly but I’ve really come to like you.” You said, feeling a sense of relief at finally getting that out in the open.

Sensing your relief he gently took your cheek getting you to look at him. “Well since I like you and you like me….ya wanna try that kiss again?” He asked. He wasnt pushy about it or trying to force himself. His stance was relaxed, and his hand gentle.

How could you say no?

Leaning up towards him his lips met yours halfway, cupping your cheek as he kissed you long and deep. It was the most amazing kiss you’d ever tasted in your life. When you finally pulled away from him he rested his forehead against yours.

“So…theres only a week left of camp,” He said as he looked down at you with a bit of curiosity in his gaze. “I dont suppose you’d be willing to…let me come visit you in the city sometime?” he asked. You just gave him a smile and kissed his nose.

“You can visit me anytime….just make sure you come by car. If you ride a horse into the city people tend to freak out.” You teased. Jacob only laughed aloud.

“I make no promises.”

#jacob frye #jacob frye x reader #assassins creed syndicate #assassins creed imagines #assassins creed #assassins creed x reader #snarky boi #jacob tag

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sichengssmile · 5 years

Text

“Time gone by”; (2)-Chenle

You stared at the message on the screen,

It was as if all the air had been knocked out of your lungs, but you should have expected this.

As much as you wanted to remain positive, he hit a sore spot.

Since the time he left without telling you, you questioned if he ever actually liked you- if he cared. Memories, happy memories, tainted your mind as you so desperately tried to forget him, tried to forget how much it hurt for him to leave- to ignore you, to forget you.

When he left, you asked everyone, everyone, where he had gone. Nobody knew, or they just didnt tell you. You were heartbroken, completely.

As you walked back home in the cold weather, you couldnt stop the negative thoughts from clogging your mind,

He had confirmed everything.

You spent the rest of your night crying into your pillow, ignoring calls and texts from friends. Yeah, you felt bad for ignoring it. But you couldnt bring yourself to talk.

The one person you couldnt escape, however, was your housemate. In the time you hadnt had chenle in your life, your family situation went downhill, parents splitting and then neither being deemed fit to house you, so you moved out. It was a nice place beside school, but you had to live with someone, and that person was none other than Mark Lee, one of the guys who used to be a part of the dreamie squad, but was now working full time as a dance instructor, he also helped you with yiur dancing at home.

When mark saw you walk slowly from your room in the morning, tears staining your face, he knew something horrible, something hurtful must have happened. He never knew about chenle, about how you used to be friends, you never told him, knowing that he was a dreamie once too.

But when Mark stopped you, a concerned look on his face, you couldnt help but break down again, spending the day with him, talking about everything, about how you felt and what happened. You ended up exhausting yourself, tears drenched both yours and Marks clothes, as you fell asleep beside him in his room, your eyes red and puffy, face pale. Mark had never seen you so fragile in his time living with you.

You were always there for him, always cooking for him, making him laugh, staying up until he got back from work, even doing his laundry.

“Its because im greatful for getting you as a housemate-!” Youd always chirp, youd smile, god youd always smile, always encouraging mark to sleep, to eat , to do his best. You were the younger sister he never had, and he was like family to you too.

It hurt him to see you like this, and he was determined to do something, he couldnt just let it happen. You were broken the day he met you, and now even moreso. It killed him.

His arms easily slid under you, picking you up and carrying you down the hall and to the right, into your room, minimal design, you barely kept anything from your family home. The only things you kept were the photos. Photos of when you were younger. Mark wasn’t supposed to know that, though. As they were hidden under your bed in a shoebox. It wasnt as if he snooped or anything; it was because you hid his snacks after you found him eating a bag of chips and calling it dinner.

“You cant eat just that for dinner! Youll feel sick, mark!” You were feisty for your height, that was for sure, you had mark with his metaphorical tail between his legs in an instant as you glared, mark thought about comparing you to a chihuahua, but decided against it, knowing the outcome would be grim. He watched you take the treat and run to your room, hiding it somewhere. He could only pout, as you walked back out, looking triumphant at your actions, smiling brightly as you walked to the kitchen, letting mark follow you with a whine of “then what am I gonna eat?!” as you did so. It wasnt until he was in there, did he get hit with an absolutely mouthwatering scent, it smelt delicious. You only grinned wider at his reaction, pulling out a perfect pasta-bake from the oven, and setting it on the bench, steam rising off of the surface as he started drooling. “This ofcourse!”

He smiled fondly at the memory, his heart aching at your pain even more because of how kuch of a genuine person you are, after this Mark said goodnight, tucking you in and making sure youre okay, before turning the light off, and picking up his phone.

It was late, god it was so late. Why did Mark have to call him out at this time? The skatepark was empty, no doubt because it was 2:30am, in winter. “Mark!” Chenle couldnt help but smile, even though it was cold and early, he was happy to see his older friend nonetheless. When mark didnt reply, he assumed it was because of distance, so he ran over to him quickly.

“Y/n Y/l/n.” Was all Mark said. Chenle had to hide his surprise, acting confused instead. “Have you ever heard that name?” Mark raised an eyebrow.

Chenle visibly gulped, guild rising in the pit of his stomach, but he wouldnt let it up, anger overwhelming that feeling as he remembered why he did what he did. You forgot him. You never liked him, you only pitied him from being bullied.

“No, never” he said, making Mark immediately scoff. “Come off if, chenle, youre not fooling me.”

“Im serious! Why would I lie about that?” The boy said incredulously, trying his best to sound honest.

“I guess she was talking about a different Chenle, then.” Was what mark said simply, shrugging.

“When she was crying to me for hours, explaining the past couple years and how she hid it from me because im your friend.” Marks voice was getting rougher, “it must have been a different chenle that taught her to dance, that made her feel okay, that was her friend”

He was breathing heavily now, annoyance and disappointment built up.

“You know what, it was a different chenle. Because she cried over that chenle for years, couldnt forget the one that left without telling her, the one that she kept photos of, the one that she picked herself apart over- she changed for that chenle.”

“You, cant be him. Because you dont even know her name.” Mark was crying, he only ever cried when he was extremely hurt or angry, chenle had never seen him this worked up.

“Why do you even care anyway?” Chenle spoke up, not knowing what else to say.

“Oh right, that chenle would have been her friend too, would have looked after her when her family broke down, when she got moved out of home, got sick.” He breathed in slowly. “That chenle, that was her friend, would have cared, and you, you dont. Clearly”

“Shut up.” Chenle said softly, looking down at the ground.

“Oh? Me? Shut up? Is it finally getting through to you? Huh? You finally see what happened? How much you hurt someone that cared about you more than themseleves?”

“Shut up! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!” Chenle finally snapped, the tears coming out of his eyes as he visibly shook.

“Youre only the chenle that stood her up, years after. Broke her more, when she thought you may talk to her, that you were sorry or that you cared. But you werent”

“I SAID SHUT UP!”

Mark was semi shocked at the loudness of the kids voice, and decided he got his point accross.

“How do know her?” Chenle asked through gritted teeth. He was probably dating her, ofcourse, she moved on with the help of mark. “She is like a younger sister to me, chenle. She looked after me every day when i wanted to become a teacher, when i dropped out, she helped me, she cooked, she even cleaned for me after school. She was the one that moved into my house those years ago, the broken girl who i didnt know how to approach, it all makes sense now though, because you were the one that broke her!”

Chenle was silent, his eyes were wide as it all sunk in, how could this have turned out this way?

“So why did you stick her up chenle? Still not enough? After breaking her you had to make it worse?” Mark was dismissive now, ready to go home, otherwise he might punch the kid.

“Its not like that-“

“Then what is it?”

“I was asked to I-“

“Forget it. If you did it because you were asked to, you dont deserve to talk to her anymore, you dont deserve a chance to apologise, you dont deserve her smile, or her caring nature, you dont deserve any of the tears she shed for you, and there are alot of them. So you just go ahead and continue your perfect highschool, in the dreamies.” Mark turned to leave, completely over it.

“She pitied me! She never really cared, how am i supposed to beleive she cried over me?” Chenle called out.

“How? Look at my jumper, look at my goddamn jumper! This is from today! “ mark yelled, pointing at the wet spots on the material.”And for your information, she loved you, you absolute idiot! She had a crush on you, and cared about you, but no! In your world, she pitied you, wake up! She cared about you so much, did you ever even care about her?”

“Ofcourse i did, i cared about her so much! But when they came up to me and said she never did, that i was stupid to believe it- i “

“You beleived them. You believed the people who didnt care about you, over the one damn person that did!”

Chenle hung his head as he realised the situation.

“I have to talk to her-“ he whispered, tears falling slowly.

“No. You dont get to. Youve dont enough, chenle.”

And that was it, chenle was left to cry on the halfpipe as mark walked away, the gravity of the situation hitting him like a tonne of bricks.

“I- i have to talk to her- i “ he hiccups through his tears, wiping his face roughly. “But when- i -“

His eyes widened, the puffy red moving in realisation.

“The dance recital.”

#chenle #chenle fluff #chenle angst #nct #nct writing #nct angst #mark angst #nct chenle #kpop angst #angst #writing #kpop writing #kpop scenarios #nct scenarios #fanfic #nct fanfic #nct zhong chenle

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kingofthewilderwest · 5 years

Note

it kinda bugs me how they cant make httyd3 longer just so they can emphasize the story in a deeper meaning, like your post abt it being disproportionate. httyd3 had a LOT more plot than httyd2 and we can already see how it has to cramp so much and why that makes D2's pace felt pretty fast. the structure of the story is actually well planned.. perfect, to be exact! but the execution like putting pauses, necessary humor, longer dialogue, is whats needed to make it um, understandable? im not sure..

this isnt meant to judge the movie as bad though! but its a question ive been asking why they cant do it longer, for that sake. is it the budget? was Dean really certain the script is okay? or is it meant to be like this so people can interpret the movie their way? (oof that one is confusing).. i dont know, i want to ask about your thoughts on that >

From this.

It’s an interesting conversation for sure! I believe that THW doesn’t have to be longer to be extremely successful in the ideas it needs to convey! The core ideas being:

Toothless cannot be a wild dragon and strong alpha leader with humans. Other dragons probably deserve the respect of needing wild dragon needs, too.

Humans like Grimmel are extremely dangerous to dragons and will continue to arise, so dragons need to go to an area separate from humans to live in optimal peace.

Hiccup and Toothless’ powerful friendship will separate (insofar as physical location) due to the first two points

I know you’re not the only person I’ve talked to who wanted a longer time because you feel like certain elements were cramped, needed more breathing room, or that dangerous plot points didn’t get enough sense of weight. More time would presumably give that flow and sense of scale and danger. Now, it’s true that more time would give us more content to develop these things. That said, I believe solutions aren’t always “add more.” Creating good art isn’t about adding new things; it’s about knowing when to take away or alter, and how to make every second of your creation count optimally.

I remember when I was doing my music composition degree, my instructors hammered into me what would make a good final piece: the editing process of deleting measures - even measures that were really good! - because they didn’t fit what the final product needed. It’s painful to delete, but ultimately, it’s freeing; instead of making a music piece more cluttered to put all possible good ideas in, I can make it less cluttered, more manageable, more beautiful, more meaningful, and more effective to audiences. A better overall piece isn’t putting in every good idea I have; it’s leaving the piece with the beautiful ideas it needs.

I suggest The Hidden World doesn’t need added materials so much as it needs refining what’s already there.

Budget, production green lighting, and carefulness to the script all seem to have been done. HTTYD 3 was given a longer production time than originally planned. They pushed back the date exactly so they could make their best product. Interviews with people like DeBlois and Spielberg (who read several definitions of the script) talk about how much the script was transformed and bettered through its drafts. They did enough tweaking and care to rework the script. As for budget, the movie was 129 million USD, which sure was the cheapest of the HTTYD trilogy to create, but it’s about on par with what DreamWorks has spent on other movies like Home and Trolls - it’s not like there was skimping - and it’s all about making your money count, which I think this glorious, top notch animation quality film effectively did. So from what I’ve heard, I think production ran fine and we can’t question THW there.

I think most of THW’s problems can be solved simply by tweaking how scenes go down, taking a few small elements out, and adding a few small elements in. It doesn’t need time changes; it needs internal modifications to what’s already there. What I propose wouldn’t change much of the movie’s length - though maybe I we could add 5-8 minutes for things like a longer climax.

1. To Feel Less “Cluttered” or “Rushed”

The movie didn’t feel rushed to me or too cluttered, but it’s cluttered. You’re right. In addition to creating less clutter, my suggested tweaks will clear up time THW can spend elsewhere, streamline THW into fewer palatable essential ideas, and give a slight tone makeover that will add more sense of danger and conflict that THW needs.

Fewer humor side gags with minor characters (and less time spent on them). The gang’s antics are fun additions, yes, but that doesn’t mean they’re central to what the plot needs. Spending too much time with them adds clutter and takes away from plot-central, tone-central material. There’s a huge gaggle of gags in THW, more than any movie needs in a less-than-two-hour-long run time. Do we need all these to give THW its comic relief? Don’t get me wrong - I loved the humor - but time needs to be prioritized, and the movie will be improved once “less is more.”

Less time with Tuffnut’s pep talks. This goes with my first point. This comedic gag was lengthy in particular. It’s in part because it connects to the idea of Hiccstrid marrying, which THW does make more central in its themes. However, I also propose:

Spend less time (or delete) the will-they won’t-they marry Hiccstrid plot. THW intends to parallel Hiccup and Toothless maturing into adulthood, including their romantic connections. However, a will-they won’t-they marry subplot in Hiccstrid isn’t needed to create that parallel. Not to mention: it can be uncomfortable to have this undertone of romance as “required” adulthood maturation, and the fact that Hiccstrid are so close and intimate makes it feel “off” that they’re so uncomfortable talking about marriage. Spend less time here, simply make fans aware they’re going to marry in the future but not today, and return to the main relationships THW needs to pay attention to: that of Hicctooth and Nightlight.

2. To Make Grimmel a Greater Sense of Threat

One of the central points is that Grimmel is extremely dangerous and represents one of many humans that’ll continue to be a threat to dragons. While Grimmel can be overcome, Hiccup will need to interact with Grimmel in such a way he can understand that dragons and humans cannot coexist in today’s civilization without continuing to risk danger, and that it’s best for everyone to live happily in two separate civilizations. It’s not being defeated by the enemy’s oppression, but taking a brilliant countermeasure to give humans and dragons both a better existence.

Making Grimmel feel like a greater sense of threat, and helping audience members understand what Grimmel represents overarchingly of humanity’s current antagonistic state, will help us and Hiccup process why a separation is best. This can be done by:

Show Grimmel’s impact on human society. All we’d have to do is change what his base looks like: it could be located in an area taken over from another human civilization, showing his army’s power and place in this world over humans.

Greater weight placed on Berk’s exodus. The Hooligans lost their home, but it’s played too lightly. It’s not written optimally as an emotionally impacting or destabilizing moment, which decreases the sense of threat Grimmel has. Instead of having the Hooligans excited to find New Berk, show them grieving. They can butt against Hiccup’s ideas of finding the Hidden World, but instead in a way where they’re frustrated at his naive solution and hurt at what they left behind. This isn’t adding time to THW; this is tweaking phraseology and presenting an event differently.

Change how Berk is abandoned. To make the attack feel more dire, threatening, either: 1. Have the Hooligans more reluctant and grumpy to leave in the town meeting, and not play the leaving scene so lightly, or 2. Have Grimmel chase them out of Berk so they have to flee then and there. This might even reduce time!

Show Grimmel’s power over dragons. We could have a few-second-long flashback of him standing over a field of dead Night Fury bodies, or have his place cloaked in dragon skins or skulls.

Show Grimmel’s power as a warlord. Grimmel acts in almost a solo fashion, despite cooperating with warlords and having an army. It doesn’t give us a good sense of scale. Show his interactions better with the whole of his forces to make him feel more dangerous, and for humanity as a whole to feel more like a threat against dragons. For example, in the scenes where he’s trying to trap the dragon riders, show him commanding more people.

Show Grimmel’s impact on the dragon (and/or human worlds) through landscape. What if, as the Hairy Hooligans try to find a new place to stay, they fly over several islands that have been destroyed by Grimmel’s forces? Either human civilizations, or homes once havens to dragons, with characters making comment they “hope” people got away. And what if, when Grimmel takes their dragons near the end of THW, it’s again through more violence and a raid and fire and destruction?

Conversations more clearly talk about Grimmel’s dangers over dragons and humans, and how he’s one of many people that’ll arise. This idea is embedded in THW dialogue, but not clearly enough to fully grasp its weight, especially not in the sense we see characters grasp this. Have Hiccup and Astrid and Valka or something talk about how widely destructive Grimmel is, how even once he’s gone another man like him will take his place, and that while they may continue to fight and win for human and dragonkind, it’s ultimately not the right move to make for everyone to live safest and alive. A conversation laying this out makes a world of difference in our understanding of what dangers are going down and why we need to come to the solution THW concludes with. Again, this isn’t adding time; it’s changing phraseology.

Add a few minutes to the climax. Make the final fight with Grimmel obviously the final fight, the threat bigger, the action more intense.

Perhaps show that Berk’s done good work changing the world by their choices. Even though Berk ultimately decides to let the dragons go, they are meant to be the voice of peace that changes their world. The good guys can’t resign to letting themselves live under the thumb of bad guys’ choices. Show that they’ve made a difference - Grimmel and his armies are gone and the world is regrowing (no more torched landscape, if we add that element in) - but that it’s still going to help their world by letting dragons go, too… for this generation, at least.

3. To Make Hiccup and Toothless’ Parting Jive Better

Hiccup and Toothless separate out of need - they can’t live in the same place for the better of both their kinds. However, since the movie spends so much time on Toothless chasing after the Light Fury, we don’t get that full sense of need. I propose:

Open THW with a clear Hicctooth sappy bonding moment. We need things like “Forbidden Friendship” and “Where No One Goes” to feel the power of Hicctooth’s love. Give us that starting sense in THW of how close they are before adding in the complications. It can even be done by tweaking how the opening fight scene goes down.

Show dragons profiting by living with humans, but it also being Complicated with their wild side. We need to acknowledge that the relationship between humans and dragons has done the dragons good, too! Otherwise it might feel incongruous with the rest of the franchise.

Show dragons being unfit in the urban area through their own restlessness. The movie tries to show this with Moosie Boi being too big for Berk, and Berk being so crowded with dragons Gobber finds the soup unsanitary. But if we see Stormfly restless and want to leave for the Hidden World, too, wouldn’t this say something more about where dragons are pulled to and belong?

Less time spent on Toothless investigating the Night Fury. You can’t cut this down too much or we’ll feel like rushing, but since THW focuses so much on just Toothless and the Light Fury’s connection rather than an overarching problem for dragons, it’s hard to feel the full-scale issues of the problem. Making it just him and her feels more like a hook up love story than “dragons and humans are incompatible for their needs.”

Change Toothless’ body language. Show more emotional division in Toothless about his conflicting options. Show him hesitant to leave Hiccup and the two interact over that. Show him lonely away from his kind when with Hooligans. Show him feeling that loneliness met - that deep emotional need of being with his own species - when he’d thought was lost to him (rather than focusing on it being a romantic hookup interest). This doesn’t take more time; it tweaks what was already given on screen.

Change Toothless’ emotions with the Light Fury to feel more like loneliness being met than horny boi practicing kissing with a rock. This does a better job of showing that Toothless has a deep need that needs to be met as a wild animal and as a social draconic species.

Change conversations Hiccup has with humans about Toothless’ struggle. Maybe have Hiccup processing less with people and more by himself or with Toothless. Don’t write the conversations with people be about “Toothless has a girlfriend” and “of course he left.” Discuss instead how Night Furies are social creatures and Toothless hasn’t been with his kind in six years - that’s a huge hole in his heart being filled. Validate the deep connection Hiccup and Toothless have, while simultaneously acknowledging the struggle of this moment now. The movie shows that the Light Fury can never be domesticated, so I think that’s fine, but maybe one line from Astrid saying, “I don’t think she’ll come to live with us,” would be enough to help other audience members pick that up too.

More time spent on all dragons being in danger, and Toothless as an alpha unable to protect them with Hairy Hooligans. The story doesn’t show Toothless being much of an alpha - intentional - until he reaches the Hidden World and it clicks. But I suggest it’d be more effective to pull this out more than having an issue with Moose Boi taking up too much space in Berk, and Berk being so crowded Gobber has a dragon in his soup.

Put more of a deal on Toothless being an alpha. You can say that Toothless didn’t understand or use his role as alpha when with humans, but I think showing more sense of conflict, and of an alpha needing to be wild to protect his own, would be useful. Make this an issue for all dragons. The alpha status being used as a blackmail device against Toothless to keep the Light Fury alive could be replaced with us seeing the full species of dragonkind being unable to be protected by an alpha apart from his own people. More needs to be done than dragons bowing to him in one scene to understand what the alpha does for his society.

Show Toothless with more Light Furies. The Light Fury being his singular focus is great. But what about, in the Hidden World, Hiccup and Astrid watch Toothless interacting with a whole group of Night Furies, and he’s clearly in a situation that was Made For Him?

THW already has great content in there - Toothless and the Light Fury interacting, Hiccup crying when he realizes Toothless is fit in the Hidden World, Hiccup freaking out and Astrid comforting him when he feels a low, and Hiccup and Toothless parting ways touchingly at the end.

With these proposed tweaks, we get Toothless and Hiccup’s relationship being addressed deeply from the angle of both friends. We understand what both Toothless and Hiccup emotionally feel, and palatably sense how both love the other. We get a sense that Toothless is attracted to the Light Fury and might want to mate, but that she’s also calling him into a wild life and reminding him that he’s been alone, separated from his kind. We get a sense that it’s not just Toothless, but all dragons who might be called back to the Hidden World. We get a sense that it’s not just Toothless, but his whole role as alpha affecting the entirety of dragonkind.

And once we add in a greater sense of Grimmel being dangerous, and that more humans like him will continue to rise up, we can understand why Berk would release all their dragons. It’s not that dragons hate living with humans - THW can make that clear - and it’s not that dragons haven’t been profited by living with humans. But in the current call, the current situation, it’s best to go to the Hidden World.

I’m mostly tweaking how scenes go down, changing lines and reactions rather than adding material. Feel free to propose a longer movie! For me, THW already has enough space to share its message. Maybe it needed to be a few minutes longer, but I suppose my own sense is that they had enough time to budget in this material, make a smooth-flowing movie with all the material they needed to present, and come away with an astounding storyline.

Like you, this isn’t meant to judge the movie as bad! It isn’t bad! It’s downright wonderful in many aspects. I’m so happy I’ve seen it and can scream over it! Simply, if I were in charge of tweaking the script, these are the first alterations I’d make, and I think it would make THW even better.

#long post #httyd 3 spoilers #httyd 3 criticism #httyd3 #httyd 3 #How to Train Your Dragon 3 #THW #The Hidden World #analysis #my analysis #Hiccup #Toothless #Hiccup and Toothless #Light Fury #Grimmel #ask #ask me #awesome anonymous friend #faq

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whimsically-ominously-auspice · 4 years

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"Uruguay already landed and took off with no problems"

Matt and Abu start to tear up... And they will make me cry like a hyena laughs

"Suck it up buttercups, i don't need you two that won't even go see your wives (soulmates/half and halves) crying in my face! You got better things to do!"

....

Some have phones, but have limitations...

Abu had told them to call the consulates or embassies if they ever got a chance to escape.

Because he would bring some kidnapped ones, the badder ones here or there and tell them "escape" and i was arguing with one and told her "don't be stupid call the American Embassy, they will protect you!"

Anyways she was stupid and went back to Iraq pregnant.

Because I'm worthless and no good and a liar. So mom says as it was mom. Not that i believed that but now i know she was. And i still tried to help her.

And so Abu was all "explain me everything you know about this"

So i did and how an embassy or consulate is actually a little section of land in a country that belongs to another country

So a diplomat from Liberia, in America, would go to an embassy for the Librerians and it is considered to be Liberia land although its actually our land we allow them to use. They are protected by their laws from us there. As are their people and so on. So we can't go with an American search warrant for their home. We have to call Liberia and say, "look you sent us a fucktard and im about to kill him so you need to help us help you keep him alive"

And so Abu told everyone he could and even wrote the phone numbers on strips of papers.

So, for Uruguay, two people called their consulate and asked for help when they received emails of their release.

Apparently one said "come get me! They said she said we can be released! I don't know where i am! Help please!"

So with the phone call they were able to pinpoint their coordinates although the GPS is disabled in their phone -- no hack can break the GPS and if one ever does someone goes and repairs it.

Uruguay knew about the farms and their people but because the Queen owns them There's nothing anyone would do about it. But the Queen knows i have no trouble beating her ass because last time I saw her i did because she got undressed while Abu and Matt were screaming for help. So i beat her ass and yankyy her facey --- i did sit down and therapy talk her and asked her like she was 5, nice, to get dressed and ber and i would go have lunch in public and be normal. But she refused and got belligerent like we been getting drunk and high for 9 days without sleep or food. So. We came to an understanding about this situation so no one has to get beat up. Plus i terrorized her husband a few weeks ago and he had to move out the next day... Cause she kicked him out and she said she wanted me to kill him and his Goddam light turning on and off pissed me off.

**pet the chin of a dog of someone you hate then yell "you know what poison is?? Its too cold for your dog to be outside!" When they go to the door to see what you're doing at their gate.

He moved but left his dog after crying all night and i see him running all over the neighborhood now. Supposedly he's trained to kill but hes super sweet and doesn't even act mean.. Runs around smiling all sweet and listens and doesn't bark... He barks locked in the yard tho. Pit bull. Male.

Anyways. It could speed up the process if someone calls and says how many they have and etc.

Uruguay had 15 people at 2 farms so one of the smaller farms took two trucks to each farm and picked them up.

Then they waited at the small farm for the pick up from the military. So about 24 hours it took for that but about 2 days to hear whar to do from Uruguay.

Mexico has 90% so they're doing as much planning as possible and preparing the transition site.

At the transition site, they will get stories of the people. Everything they can remember and use newspapers and other information like police records and anything they can find to help the families be found for the victims.

As soon as possible they will be provided a phone to contact their families with a counselor present and they will have constant communication with their families until they are home

Because there are so many people, about 2,000 it will take weeks to cover everyone.

So we have field trips planned for those in the safe haven.

They will go out and see local sights, eat in restaurants and be tourists and be given ("free") spending money for their own souvenirs and goods.

They will be heavily guarded and protected. And it's voluntary. We split them into small groups and they can choose to go to which trip when.

Its their first taste of decision making and freedom to live as they have had the right to all this time.

So we are excited for this for them as well as Uruguay being able to take theirs home for the holidays. Uruguay will have a similar program for them as well.

At larger facilities: Our program has days with a group staying at the temporary home to be interviewed and use computers and to rest if it is not time for them to interview, catch up on laundry and things like that. This way they dont miss out on trips but have time "off" to rest and reflect.

Trips aren't everyday, tho. Because we don't want to overwhelm them with the outside world and make them feel they can't choose to be free.

~~~~~~~💞

Mexico and i worked last night for a celebration in the summer. So the victims can all see each other again. And celebrate their freedom together. Again heavily guarded and protected. There we will have a festival explaining many different religions, including Islam and Iraq customs, in hopes to further develop peace and tranquility. We prepared some fun challenges to recognize emotional PTSD and how to overcome the sudden overwhelming feelings with pride and happiness and most of all personal strength. For example: a fun water park with water slides and such... Realizing many may not be able to swim, the victims may feel intense fear and panic. However there will be life guards in the towers and in the water and swim instructors and life vests and everything to make it perfectly safe and enjoyable. So to overcome that intense fear is a self empowerment movement for the victims. We hope they have so much fun they dont even realize how much progress they made until they are safe and warm in their beds and they drift happily to sleep and God holds their hands and tells them how proud he is.

So Mexico has said they will provide program material with the detailed information of the challanges to expect, this way they can recognize their feelings that they have been taught to suppress. Initially and also how to expect to overcome the problomatic issues.

So we hope all the victims and their chosen family members from home choose to go and see us. And choose to educate themselves and heal and to see their friends they made in captivity.

While it is normal and expected to hate those who captured and enslaved the victims, the victims themselves always made the best of a bad situation and they made friends and families of their co-workers. We don't want to tear apart yet another family for these people. So we plan to have bi-yearly free events for them to see one another. Just as the military and its affiliates would for war veterans here in America.

Being a military brat, I've had my chosen family torn apart all the time. Being a victim of the two main kidnappers and the owner of the farms, i have had my blood family torn apart as well as many friends kidnapped and murdered. Thus I have complete understanding how not having the opportunity to see my family and friends again is harmful to the heart. And soul and mind. So i cannot allow that to happen to these unfortunate souls that have suffered as long as i Have. I see them no different than myself, in the way I want them to be cared for. As i have not been cared for, it will be extravagant, as the days go wearily by, I realize how much more i deserve that i do not receive. So i can only imagine how they could feel without freedom so i hope to maximize as best as possible without interfering with their daily life So they can live as normal as they wish -- with the financial benefits they will receive. They have lived in horrid conditions and received no pay but food and housing and worked daily. Thus they will be taken care of financially and their only job is to be happy, wise and free. And spend time with their families, sharing memories and making more. Live, laugh, love. That is their jobs. And they will be paid nicely for that. The governments are working together to sort all that out. And it seems that it will be a conglomeration of tax payer dollars not from any one country. Mainly the drug manufacturing countries, that benefited financially.

We have elected to have the first one big celebration to televised on worldwide television, including Netflix. So those not invited have no need to crash our party. As There are many surprises scheduled that should delight the nations.

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werevulvi · 5 years

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Face my fragmentation

“The distinction between performance and reality, always caught up entangled Not knowing if what I know is truth, or beliefs carefully mangled Did my past deception ring true at the end or am I just reconciling with what I cannot bend? In the sanctuary of my own home, do I wear my true face? As it changed with time and testosterone, its nuances shifted out of place With my senses hightened outside, I'm unaware of what I hide Yet I call for no reduction of what I became; I remain yet the same I thrifted pieces of my shame, to once again be restored into pride I'm perpetually misjudged by my appearance, but I let it slide for the sake of my privacy, when the need to know basis is none but it still twists my gut, telling me that my womanhood is gone Have I sought to become what I already am, or am I trying to be what is beyond my reach; a pipedream of tricks and tragedy Wearing stage makeup for casual pursuits, the tedium I'm trying to exhale but I cannot differentiate freedom from what's cheaply on sale And I begin to wonder, if what's chasing me is my destination if I should turn around to further face my fragmentation My bits of male and female; chafing together, comforting apart each belonging to different pieces of my shattered heart” Ah, the perpetual confusion continues! I still feel as though I've some amount of conflict between what I consider my male traits and female parts. That I like them all but can't quite put them together. And I'm thinking that has something to do with my traumatised mind still being very fragmented, despite having integrated with my alter. Like that integration didnt exactly make all of my dissociative symptoms go away. And being in a constant dissociative fog surely makes it hard to figure out what is me being true to myself or accidentally creating yet another persona. Especially considering much of my dysphoria was caused by the traumas that also caused my dissociative issues. So how I perceive my body both genderly and in general are very linked together. There's no clear distinction yet every aspect of me is so far apart. Like two similar things placed in two different rooms, and the time it takes to walk from one thing to the other makes you forget how different or similar they actually are. I dont think my body or my mind being androgynous makes me any less female or not a woman, its not that. But I'm not blind to how the rest of the world sees me and I'm also not immune to its effects on how I perceive myself as a consequence. I have thought, although only in sheer desperation, about if it would be easier to "just" live as a feminine trans man. But I dont want to cause it goes against everything I feel about myself as a woman. It would be like admitting defeat. Like saying it actually was "too late" into transition for me to detrans. And I'm not the kind of person who gives up about what matters to me really a lot. Not that I dont give up easily, but that I simply DON'T give up. Like no matter how hard it is. I keep trying until I manage, and only sometimes temporarily retreat. And I know that my fight/right to be a woman is something that I cannot and wont give up on. No matter how much I'll stumble and fall. But how do I conquer these obsticles? And how do I learn to live as an ambiguous woman who's constantly perceived as male? How do I handle this consatant feeling of having been robbed of my womanhood? How difficult it is to feel welcome in any lesbian community or women only space in general, when looking like a man (i.e a threat). Worrying about being tossed out of bathrooms cause I'm too scared of walking into the mens room to put on makeup, while wearing a dress and fake boobs. Worrying about locker rooms for when I'll start practicing karate again, as I highly doubt there will be a gender neutral option for that. Cause im terrified of showering naked with a bunch of naked men, cause open showers is standard in my country, and I'm sure that other women in their locker room would freak out if I walked in there, cause that's happened before. I know I'll have to have a conversation with the instructors at that karate club about my locker room issue, but still.

That is why I still hold off on starting practicing at my island's only karate club, but it's a dream that I cannot hold off on forever. I'm thinking it might be easier to "prove my case" when I'm legally female again, and for other practical reasons it would be more convenient to wait until after my breast reconstruction surgery has been done and healed properly as well. But how I'm perceived by others based solely on my looks (and voice) will continue to be ambiguous at best, as I'm keeping and cherishing my traits from testosterone. It's not that I care about random people's opinions of me, cause I don't. It's that it makes those kinds of social situations difficult to deal with and solve. And I feel like I'm stuck in a tight web about it. The ways in which my dysphoria slithers around in me is confusing and exhausting to try to figure out and get a grasp of. But I've come to understand now that basically: as a trans man I was happy with what testosterone did for me and I for the first started finally liking parts of my body. It was an over all positive experience for me. But I hated living as a man and forcing myself to be masculine. It felt like a burden that alienated me, as I couldn't connect to either men or other women anymore, and I felt that more and more over the years, like some abstract force that became mysteriously heavier over time. Until I understood that I was going against my nature. It felt good at first, but then felt increasingly heavier and like a burden, that social role and the lie that I tried to become. Top surgery (about 5 years into my social transition) made it worse cause it was such a jarring experience. Sadly, I hated my breasts until the day they were gone... then I missed them. It only traded one kind of suffering for another, and I had no idea that would happen. That made me even more confused, but I was afraid of my feelings so I bottled them and shoved them away. For 4 years.

Then when I started healing from my traumas and I began to fall in love with my body and my personality, detransition was just around the corner and it happened so fast. It was literally like I woke up that morning feeling like I was a man like always, and when I went to bed that night I knew I was a woman and regretted it all. As well as instantly ditching the masculinity I had forced myself into, for my long lost femininity. That strong contrast was a tad overwhelming!

However, now reflecting back on it, I don't think most of that instant regret I felt was really that, but rather that it was an expression of my inner conflict between the liberation of finally connecting with my womanhood for the first time ever, and my love for my male physical traits that clashed with the idea of womanhood that had been imprinted into my brain by society. Or to put it more simply: my love for my androgynous body clashed with my false view of myself as a traditionally feminine woman. I felt stuck with my androgyny when in fact there was never anything wrong with either me or my androgyny, but I couldn't put it together with being a woman. Cause I felt suddenly threatened by it. I felt like I was somehow newly a woman, and my old-fashioned, conservative view of what I thought women "should" look like made me attack the one thing I had finally come to love, which was what had brought me to see myself as a woman to begin with: my body. Eventually, as I became more stable over time in my detransition, I started to find my way back to that love I always had for my male traits, and tried to basically integrate them into my newfound womanhood, but that was and still is a struggle. Even just getting myself to walk outside with a beard visible on my face and with any amount of confidence to do so, since detransing, has taken me around 6 months so far, and it's still a work in progress. I keep fighting it, viewing my facial hair as a threat to my womanhood while still loving it. Is it right, is it wrong, that I still love my beard? I know that does not matter, but my emotions don't give a fuck about that. They won't listen to reason. But I see that I am beautiful with strikingly intense looks, self-love and pride showing through behind a hesitant smile, when I allow myself to wear my beard like the part of my body that it now is. I do not want to get rid of it, but I definitely want to get rid of the social stigma around bearded women with deep voices. But that ain't gonna happen anytime soon. So I'm gonna have to live with that stigma, reluctantly.

And even during that time, I sometimes, or even most of the time, directed my frustration with being misgendered towards my beloved male traits, as if they were the enemy and not society. Cause I'm just as much forced to live in this society as I am forced to live with my own body... it takes much work to not let either of those two drive me crazy. Having and keeping my male features literally does me no harm at all. Especially not considering I'm no longer taking the testosterone, only keeping its permanent effects. Actually I think trying to reverse those effects would be more harmful than keeping them. I know I'd always rather listen to my heart than society when it comes to making any kinds of permanent changes to my body. But I'll still hear society, regardless of how much I don't listen to it. And sometimes what it says just fucks me up and makes me sad. I know I would be dysphoric again if I got rid of my male traits. I know because for everytime I've considered it and used any sort of words like "removing" or "lasering off" or "getting rid of" those traits, it has made my stomach turn in a mentally painful twist. And I know because I'd regret it if I got rid of them. That I would grieve their loss, just like I grieved the loss of my breasts. And I don't wanna go through that with any more parts of my body. Even just thinking about it makes me wanna protect myself.

Truth is I don't wanna look either completely female or completely male, as for my physical appearance. But I'm fine with simply being biologically female regardless of how I want to appear. It's a fact I've no issue with anymore, and I'm no longer dysphoric about any of my remaining female parts, like I used to be. But I do not want to again look like I never transitioned to begin with. I do not miss my voice being higher pitched at all, or having a smooth face, a less hairy body or a smaller clit. My style is mostly feminine, but my body is a mix of male and female traits.

(Just to clarify, I use the word "male" instead of "masculine" when it comes to my transitioned physical traits because masculinity is a social construct, but such physical traits (like beards, deep voices, etc) are much more closely associated with male biology than any social construct. And vice versa for my female traits.) Am I less female for having some additional male traits? No, I'm still 100% female, but now with some additional male traits. I'm a woman who went through both female and male puberty, hormonally. And I like it that way, but I never liked to regularly dress masculine, and I've also never liked having a totally female-appearing body and face either. I've wanted a deep voice and facial hair ever since I was 12 years old. Whatever it means, it's not a new or sudden wish. I've had it for most of my life, which is probably why I'm so happy to have those traits now. But I also don't and can't think of myself as a feminine man, no matter how much I look like one on the surface. It's just an illusion, a consequence of my transition+style. It was a choice, and I really don't know if I regret that choice or not. Transitioning, as a whole, didn't quite turn out as I had intended. I guess that's all I really know for sure. My chest is now my only source of dysphoria. Cause I guess I can regret top surgery without also regretting testosterone. Or maybe I just want new boobs regardless of if I have chest dysphoria or not, and consider the risks of getting new boobs worth it to connect better with my body as a beautiful (not necessarily in a sexual way) and comforting meatsuit to carry around my soul (or brain, if you don't believe in souls) in. I kinda intend for my detransition to take me "halfway back" in a sense. Like two steps forward and one step back. I see myself as a woman now only cause I made peace with my body being female, but I don't really think I have an actual gender per se. I don't identify AS a woman, although in a sense I do identify WITH womanhood; as in female biology, actually natural femininity and being a lesbian.

My androgynous looks are intentional now, and I intend to rock it as well as I can. My body is solely for myself, but of course I can't and shouldn't hide completely from others just because they're not my target audience. My body is my only true home and I don't like it too plain and undecorated. I'm not a minimalist by far, I feel comforted and up-lifted by some colours, tinsel and patterns in my near presense to brighten up the gloom in my tortured mind. Looking fancy for no particular occasion, for my mental health, is a good and quite harmless type of self-care. Although perhaps not ideal, it's still far better than self-harm. Ultimately, how I perceive myself is just as a woman, and neither my transition to male nor my detransition to physically nonbinary quite reflect that, but they don't need to. But what my detransition does need is work the fuck together with my self-perception. I'm scavenging for a strategy to achieve that kind of inner team work. I know this text became really long, but I wanted to still include all that reflecting on my transition and detransition so far. Cause I wouldn't have ended up here without all those experiences. (And no I won’t make this post a “read more” thing cause I know you guys are too lazy to click on such things.)

#detransition #what i regret and what i dont #poem #my writing #my poem #reflecting #inner conflict #me vs society #androgyny #womanhood #dissociation #self perception #long post

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juunshua · 5 years

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I think people underestimate how many idols pass their auditions despite being basically tone-deaf. I think a lot of the early vocal-training just focuses on being on tune except for the main singers. Some people in svts vocal-team obviously aren't pros when it comes to technique. That doesn't mean that they're not great people with lot of potential, or that people aren't allowed to love their voice as it is, so I hope people don't take offense to this. Because technique ≠ objective beauty!!

while i would hesitate to call them ‘tone-deaf,’ i do agree that when auditioning for a company, perhaps if they claimed their forte was ‘dancing’ or ‘rapping’ instead of ‘singing,’ there may have been idols who have struggled with that aspect, the same as when idols who didn’t know much about dancing just clapped their hands to the beat and were often accepted. but companies know this. its their responsibility to ‘groom’ these trainees they accept to become idols and that often entails things like dance practice and vocal lessons. what you’re saying about ‘early vocal-training’ and how it focuses on being on tune, it just confuses me that if a company has a trained professional certified vocal trainer work for them, why such a person would only focus on being on tune because singing is far more complex than just that. learning how to breathe properly is literally the first step of singing, and the way that most idols sing these days, its as if they’ve never even received this simple lesson. and along with that, voice classification is also an important first step for singing so vocalists know and are aware of the limitations of their voice, but why does it seem like so many baritones out there don’t seem to know that they are baritones? and blame themselves for the inability to hit high notes with the same ease as tenors? when its not their fault at all. ive helped one of my old orchestra teachers for many summers teach children how to play string instruments and the first thing we teach them is not how to put fingers down on the violin and play notes, but instead how to hold their instrument properly, how to hold their bow properly, how to sit properly etcetc and we do a lot of exercises with that in mind. im no music major and i have not a degree in teaching music but i know as a violinist what things will benefit my students if they adopt these good habits now rather than trying to fix them later. it should be the same for vocal teachers too i dont think i would understand the reason why actual educated vocal instructors would try to teach their students how to sing without teaching them a lot of important basics. singing in tune is important yes, singing on the beat is also important yes, but along with those first steps in music should also be a basic understanding of the instrument youre working with and how to best take care of it so you dont injure it or yourself, which is something i feel many idols don’t have.i honestly believe that everyone has the potential to be a decent vocalist if they have the proper mentorship and work ethic so yes i agree, even if svts vocal unit, or svt in general, are struggling in the technique department, it doesnt mean that they cant adopt it and learn from it and improve…but thats also partially why its so frustrating ahaha they can improve but they dont and just stick to their confines of societal expectations of a good singer which is one that is again: loud, high and “stable.” the room for improvement with that mentality i think is a bit limited honestly for me, its always the vocalists who have shown that they know what vocal technique is, that i am always the most excited for improvement because i know that they know how to improve. also i agree that you’re allowed to love whatever voice color you want even if theyre not the best vocalist. in terms of color, i really love yooa’s voice from oh my girl even if she doesnt really know how to support ahah her voice in ‘cupid’ was the whole reason i biased her tbqh, and even though kyuhyun is redeemed as a fantastic vocalist, his vibrato bothers me quite a bit and i much prefer ryeowooks vocal color and voice in general over his. same with exo i prefer baekhyun/kyungsoo over chen even though chen is the more technically advanced. enjoying someones voice as it is is fine, everyone has different preferences when it comes to the type of voice they want to hear and thats all fair and good.however, yes while “technique ≠ objective beauty,” as beauty truly isnt ever going to be objective as it is dependent on personal preferences as well as societal expectations, i think a reverse/modified version of that statement should be considered as well: “subjective beauty ≠ technique.” ive seen in many fandoms, carats included, where someone tries to ‘justify’ the reason they like someone’s voice as being because they have ‘great technique’ when thats just…not the case at all. its okay if you like ur favs voice and they don’t have great technique, just try not to attribute something to someone that isnt there and please recognize someones hard work and skill when it is there. in the end my whole stance on vocal technique is that it should be something that more idols should try to adopt because its only better for the health of their vocal cords. many idols want longevity, esp those who focus on singing, it would be a shame if they were to seriously injure their voice especially since its the one instrument that you really cant exactly buy a new one of if it ‘breaks.’ singing with technique in mind also opens up a lot of other doors, such as versatility, dynamics, overall control of your voice, etc. like it just increases the musicality of every vocal performance imo. for instance boo here goes from soft and gentle sounding to more gritty and loud and often goes back and forth between the two sounds and all the intermediates. the changes are very gradual and minute but there if you listen for it and hes able to do this because he knows what he has to do to manipulate his voice to execute the musical interpretation of the song that he chose to sing because he knows what technique is. but it’s not to say that people who sing out there who arent trying to employ technique are invalid as singers and that their voices are not ones that people can enjoy. tl;dr yes enjoy voices and their vocal colors and listen to the voices that make you feel happy and that you like but the importance of vocal technique should not and must not be dismissed.

#anon #replies #i dont want fifty million boos i just want ppl who are more aware of their voice #like for instance wu jiacheng? rn his voice probably peaks at support at around g4 #and i dont think he has resonance either #BUT his voice excites me because he seems to know what hes doing with his voice #every note he sings is deliberate in how he takes in his breath and what he sings #hes the kind of person i would expect to improve if he continued along this path #but ppl who focus on sounding loud and having pretty tone ?#the former means shouting more and the latter is just...subjective lmao like you can only go so far

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carnistcervine · 6 years

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The RK series- My Hot Take

Alternative title: Local carnivorous deer over-analyzes video game.

Okay, so these are my theories and headcanons about the RK series androids. Fair warning, I have some unpopular opinions(and silly nicknames I use). No offense to the people that agree with popular opinion, I just don't see it that way. ^^ I know that most people think that the RK series are special revolutionary type androids, designed to deviate and start revolutions. I disagree.

-WAIT DONT KILL ME-

I think that the RK series are actually just military androids. I mean think about it.

RK200(Markus) Why would a caretaker android need to have the ability to preconstruct, use parkour, or be able to take out armed soldiers? Simple, he was originally a military android prototype that was re-purposed into a caretaking android. As for why he still retains these abilities? I think my old game design instructor put it best when he said that there was no point in removing perfectly functional code. It could have been commented out, or simply left alone as Markus would be able to function fine even with the extra features. If it was commented out, he could re-activate it as a deviant. I mean, there is nothing in canon that suggests that deviant androids cannot recall old functions left in their code.

If Markus isn't some special revolution starting android, how can he make others deviate? Well, there is a canon explanation from David Cage(I know the fandom hates him, but he is technically the final authority on what is and isn't canon, so...) All androids have the ability to connect wireless, the way that Markus converts other androids is that he connects to them and gives them an emotional shock by revealing that they can be free.

Another thing to consider about Markus is his remarkable strategic ability, and his ability to coordinate his allies. Now I do think part of his ability to rally others is due to him just having a charismatic personality, but maybe the reason why he's needed to win the revolution is because of his built in tactical abilities. .3.

I don't think that Markus was designed to deviate and or lead a revolution. Wait, here me out- Apart from the obvious, deviation means breaking free from their orders and deviating from their original instructions, so an android cannot be made to deviate. That doesn't make sense. But also, if Markus was meant to deviate and start a revolution, why was he given to Karl? I mean sure, Karl taught him how to be human and express himself, but until the incident with Leo, Markus was very much an obedient machine. Karl was way too kind and loving to Markus to make him deviate. If the incident with Leo never happened, which again is a circumstance that could have never been predicted, Markus probably would have never deviated. Okay, /maybe/ when Karl inevitably died. But that leads to my next point, Markus only gets the idea to start a revolution/try to find freedom for androids after seeing the state that Jericho was in. Markus only finds out about Jericho after being killed, rebooting, and being given the location from a dying android in the android graveyard. Too many circumstances to count on here, no human or AI could have planned this.

RK800(BEST BOI- I mean Connor) As a detective android, I think his ties to potential military use are pretty obvious. But one thing I do find interesting is how in the model gallery, he is specifically mentioned as not having a specified release date for his model type. *stares at RK900*

As for when he converts the other models in the warehouse, he only converts /one./ Then the one he converted goes on to convert others, who go one to convert others, like a virus spreading through the body's cells(creepy.) This basically confirms that the RKs are just utilizing an ability all androids have.

I don't think Connor was designed to deviate either. OKAYHEARMEOUT- I realize that at the end of the game if Connor deviates and survives, CyberLife hacks him and Amanda gives her whole 'Mua ha ha ha! Just as we planned! *mustache twirl*' speech, but I'm genuinely surprised at how many people just took this at face value. I doesn't make any sense for CyberLife to have had Connor deviates and joins the revolution as their plan from the beginning.

1. Connor was created and released for in field use before Markus even deviates. CyberLife couldn't plan anything around a revolution that hasn't started yet.

2. Connor's purpose is to investigate deviancy in androids. He can't and won't do that if he himself is a deviant. Also, considering he was created before the revolution/Jericho gained any traction or relevancy, it actually makes sense as his purpose.

3. Connor might actually be resistant to deviancy. Think about it, he shows signs of deviancy through the whole game, through his increasingly human-like mannerisms and emotional outbursts. He also has a stat unique to him called "software instability". However, even if you max out his software instability, you can still choose to remain a machine. Even with maximum software instability, he can still be too stubborn to deviate from his instructions. Depending on how you play, he can end up in multiple situations that would cause him an emotional shock, but he'll only deviate when he has to choose between following CyberLife's orders, and sparing Markus. Also, Markus has the ability to connect with other androids and make them deviate, why didn't he do it to Connor? Maybe he tried/was trying and that's why when you talk to him, your software instability goes up. But because Connor is a stubborn little bitch, I mean resistant to deviancy, it ultimately takes Connor using his own willpower to finally break through. Because Connor resists deviancy, he had to WANT his freedom and to FIGHT for it.

4. When Connor deviates, CyberLife straight up tries to DESTROY him. When Connor visits the CyberLife tower, armed guards lead Connor to the elevator and put in their destination as floor 31. You wanna know what awaits Connor on floor 31? Amanda taunting him one last time before Connor turns around to be greeted by a goddamn firing squad. Even if Connor manages to make it to the warehouse without alerting any more guards, he's still greeted by RK800-60(or BigValue Connor as I call him.) BigValue Connor even holds Hank hostage in an effort to kill Connor.

5. When Amanda said that their plan from the beginning was for Connor to deviate, she was fucking with his head. Amanda has been messing with Connor and messing with Connor's head for the entire game. Also, it should be noted, that if machine Connor chooses to not shoot Markus at the demonstration, Amanda doesn't give some speech about a plan, she just scolds Connor for not being obedient.

Don't get me wrong, I do think that CyberLife had a contingency plan for Connor deviating, as evidenced by their ability to retake control of his program and BigValue Connor. But I do think that CyberLife's original plan/plan from the beginning was to simply have Connor investigate and stop the deviants/deviancy.

RK900(Upgraded Connor, or as I like to call him, NECKBRACE. >:D) When we meet Neckbrace, Amanda mentions that the state department ordered 200,000 of his model. So, I think that parallel to military use just makes itself. Also, consider the fact that he's the upgraded version of Connor, meaning he has all of Connor's features with improvements.

I really don't buy into the idea that Neckbrace is deviant/designed to be deviant.

1. CyberLife is trying to regain their customer's trust, so creating intentionally deviant androids would be the dumbest shit they could possibly do after finally squashing the deviancy problem.

2. Neckbrace's very design suggests his lack of humanity. His pale eyes suggest soullessness(vs Connor's gentle brown eyes), his black and white jacket suggests a binary view of the world(vs Connor having a grey jacket showing his ability to realize life is more complex than that), and finally his black collar. It covers his entire neck, and unlike Connor's tie, cannot be removed. The collar suggests that Amanda and CyberLife have full control over him. He has no freedom. My Mom suggests that it might be a shock collar, and now I feel bad for him. Thanks Mom.

3. Yes, I did notice that he looks over after Connor is dismissed and Amanda turns away, however his LED remains a calm blue. It's likely that he's just passively watching the last vestige for android freedom disappear. A rather cruel symbolism if you think about it.

4. CyberLife eliminated the Connor series' flaws and improved it's strengths. CyberLife considers deviancy a flaw. CyberLife removed deviancy from Neckbrace.

Don't get me wrong though, I think that in the GOOD ending, the one where CyberLife is unable to solve the deviancy problem, Neckbrace would deviate in t-minus 5 freakin' seconds. But, he's probably been locked up by CyberLife, and good luck getting the poor guy out. lol

Personality wise, machine!RK900 is cold and hollow. He doesn't think, he doesn't feel, he just obeys. Deviant!RK900 is actually a sweetheart, but he lacks any and all social abilities and everyone is scared of him. :D Okay, Connor and Markus like him, but that's pretty much it.

RK800-60(Connor, or as I like to call him, BigValue Connor) While I don't think that he's deviant, I do think that he was showing signs of deviancy. I feel like his behavior when he confronts you is suspiciously un-machine-like. He's awfully prideful, and chatty for a machine. Though, I will concede that he could have been putting on a show, and didn't actually feel that way. But I still question why after shooting Connor, BigValue Connor will tell Hank that Connor really cared for him. He refers to Connor as a "he" rather than an "it", and he acknowledges that Connor had genuine feelings "He really cared about you". Again that could just be a show, but the one thing I have not found a way to downplay was how BigValue Connor freaks out if you manage to convert the androids but still get killed. He sounds utterly horrified at the prospect of failing and almost like a human a few steps away from a panic attack. It can't possibly be an act, because both Connor and Hank would be dead by that point.

Well, that’s all. Thanks for taking the time to read about me over-analyzing a video game. :D Have a nice day.

#Detroit Become Human #DBH #DBH Connor #DBH Markus #RK200 #RK800 #RK900 #RK800-60 #Theories #Headcanons

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faketextstuff · 6 years

Text

The Arrangement PT5

Summary:: You’ve never imagined yourself being a sugar baby but because of some playful friends and a stroke of luck, you find yourself with a man who is apparently willing to give you the moon and stars. The only problem is, no strings attached. Don’t catch feelings, don’t fall for a man who thinks money can solve all your issues and doesn’t want commitment outside of the contract.

Warnings: Angst

Pairing: Yoongi x Reader

A/N:: I’m not happy with this chapter at all. I rewrote it 4 times and it still turned out like crap. I promise the good stuff is coming I just needed to introduce a few more people and give a bit of angst. I guess if you guys want a part 6 let me know. I’m sooooooo sorry this part isn’t good at all.

The next day went on as normal. Only a few texts from Yoongi throughout your day, a simple “Good morning, babygirl” and around lunch you got another text “Cant wait to see you tonight. Dont be late.” That was about it. He didnt call, to which you were glad. You were not allowed to have cellphones out at work but you still kept yours deep inside your apron at work. The closer it got time to get off, the more anxious you became. Were you really going on a date with your sugardaddy tonight? What was he expecting of you? What were you expecting of him? How was this relationship going to work. Your mind was a buzz with all the questions and causing you to become very distracted at work.

Shockingly today was much busier than a normal day. Your regular customers came in, but in the back booth near the restrooms sat a man you had never seen before. You remembered seeing him come in not long after your shift started and now you had been working for seven hours and he was still there. He had his laptop open and was busily typing away at something. It wasn’t uncommon for college students to come in and take advantage of the free Wifi your restaurant provided, but no one ever stayed for seven hours!

You chose to let the man be, and continue working the best you could. It was your last table of the night and you were carrying a tray full of half consumed glasses of red wine away from the table when out of no where, a customer pushed out their chair in front of you causing you to stumble and pour the whole tray of drinks all over yourself and the floor. A few droplets landing on the customer’s expensive looking white shoes.

You gasped, glancing down at your own red stained white shirt. “I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU! YOU CLUMSY OAF!” The customer wailed, intent on causing a scene.

“I’m so sorry!” You pleaded, bowing your head deeply in regret. “Are you alright?” You asked, glancing up through your now wine soaked hair.

The lady who had bumped into you was a rather beautiful woman. She had dyed blonde hair and appeared to be wearing expensive clothing that you had only ever seen in magazines. Her face was caked in make up but she still looked amazing and very elegant. Her expression, however, was cold and unforgiving as she glared daggers at you.

“No I’m not okay!” She squealed as everyone in the restaurant grew quiet and turned to see the scene unfolding before their very eyes. “These shoes cost a fortune and your clumsy little ass just ruined them!”

You weren’t sure how, but you managed to bow even lower, your cheeks flushing from embarrassment. “I’m so sorry. I can pay to have them replaced.” This caused the lady to scoff and wad up her napkin, throwing it in your face. “As if a lowly server like you could afford even half of what it’ll cost to replace these shoes. They were a gift! You cant replace memories!”

Her words stung and burned like a fire. You knew you were well off but did she have to insult you like that? In front of so many people. “I’m so sorry.” You muttered as your boss pushed his way over towards you and the irate customer.

He stood next to you and bowed deeply. “I am the owner of this establishment, may I ask what just happened?” He asked, sending you a glare the moment you decided to glance over at him. You knew right away he wouldn’t have your back. He never had your back and he had been looking for legit reasons to fire you. The two of you had never had a good relationship since the day you refused to put up with his sexual harassment. He didn’t take well to your rejection but you both had agreed to at least try and work in peace. He’d leave you alone and not fire if you never spoke of his failed advances. Of course he never did anything physical, just a few lewd comments here and there and lingering eyes that made you uncomfortable.

“I’ll tell you what happened!” The lady screamed, pointing a well manicured finger at you, a look of disgust etched on her face. “Your employee just spilled red wine all over my shoes! These are irreplaceable!” Her voice quivered now as she spoke. Clearly she was putting on a show for your boss who was clearly buying it by shooting you glares every so often.

“It was an accident, I didn't mean to ruin her shoes.” You muttered in a small voice, your anger was building up with each passing minute.

Your boss just held up a hand, signaling you to stop speaking that moment. The angry look in his eyes turning into something much more sinister. You averted your gaze to the floor and you were sure that you would be looking for a new job in just a few short hours, he had been searching so long for a legit reason and this woman's rage would fit right into his plans. “I apologize miss, we normally dont allow such foolish mistakes to happen in our establishment. Rest assured I will make sure this never happens again.”

The lady scoffed and grabbed her coat from the back of her chair, tossing the expensive material over her dainty shoulders. As she opened her mouth to speak, another voice came from behind you. “I believe you're overacting, Miss. It was clearly an accident on this young woman's part. Yours however is debatable.”

As you turned your head, you saw the man who had been sitting alone in the back booth all day walking up to the three of you. His smile was bright and very inviting, however his tone didn't match his warm friendly smile. His voice was dripping with venom as he spoke, standing right behind you. His dark gaze never once faltering from the woman's. You turned your eyes back to the women who had a deer in headlights look on her face, her face going pale. “Hoseok?” She muttered out, her body visibly tensing.

“I saw you watching this woman gathering up those wine glasses and you waited until she got right behind you to push your chair out. To anyone it would appear that you set up this girl to spill the wine all over herself.” The man spoke again, his head tilting to the side slightly.

“That’s ridiculous, Jung Hoseok!” The lady snapped back. Mention of the man's name caused the restaurant to erupt into whispers.

Your own eyes went wide and your head shot over to the man behind you, sure enough this was Jung Hoseok. You had seen him on TV many times, he was a famous dance instructor that was the head and face of many dance colleges and he worked with all the best idols, mapping out their dances. If anyone was dancing, it was normally to his choreography.

“I think I can provide several people who would agree that a childish stunt like this isn't beneath you, Caroline.” Hoseok's eyes narrowed and his tone lowered, making him sound much more threatening. “Shall I call one of them now? I'm sure he'd love to get this phone call.”

The lady, “Caroline”, quickly shook her head and grabbed up her purse. “No. That wont be necessary.” She spoke in a hurried tone before glancing at your boss. “I'll forgive this incident once, make sure this doesn't happen again.” She snapped before walking past you, intentionally knocking your shoulder with hers as she walked past, causing you to stumble back into Hoseok who placed his hands on your shoulders. Making sure you didn't fall.

Once Caroline walked out of the door your boss turned to you, his eyes burning with rage, “Miss L/N, please come to my office. I need to speak with you in private.”

“Hold on a second, don't take this out on her. She's innocent.” Hoseok once again came to your rescue, placing himself between you and your boss.

“It's okay, sir.” You spoke softly, bowing lowly to him. “Thank you for your assistance and sticking up for me.” Before he could open his mouth to speak you quickly followed your boss towards the back where you knew the fate that awaited you beyond the old wooden doors. Once inside and locked away from the public, your boss let loose a string of verbal assaults that had your eyes brimming with tears. He scolded you for being noticeably distracted all day, for being careless enough to clear a table that wasn't in your section that resulted in the scene that just unfolded. Every time you tried to defend yourself, he shot you back down with something else you had done wrong in the past, it wasn't a long list but with the venom in his voice it almost had you painted to be the worst server he had ever had the misfortune of working with.

“I swear to god, Y/N! I don't know where your head is but causing a scene today in front of everyone, especially in front of Jung Hoseok, is unforgivable! I know you've worked hard in the past but I cannot allow you to continue working here after something like that.” He sighed while rubbing his temples.

You brought your hands up and wiped away the tears that managed to slip down from your eyes. A soft sniffle coming from you. “Please don't fire me. I can't afford to lose my job right now. I'm already behind on this months rent...and last months. What happened today was an accident and it clearly wasn't my fault.”

“Your financial problems are not my concern! My only concern is making this restaurant grow and gain more popularity. How do you think it's gonna effect business to see if that woman leaves a nasty review of our establishment? I cannot allow this to happen. I'm sorry, but...” He paused, shaking his eyes as he pulled the paychecks from his desk, handing you an envelope that had your name on it. “This is your last full check from us. If you want, keep the tips you've earned from your tables, but that is all I can do for you. Please collect your things and go home. I'll mail you your final paycheck next week.”

You stood there in shock for a few moments before stepping forward, snatching the paycheck from his hand. “Don't play dumb, you firing me has nothing to do with what happened today. You wanted me gone since I refused to suck your dick for better hours. You can take this job and shove it up your stuck up, wannabe rich boy ass. Good luck finding an employee that'll work the shit hours you gave me for such little pay. You alone will run this place into the ground, not one crazy lady's bad review.”

You surprised yourself with the rage that flowed from you as you snapped at your boss who sat there slack jawed and wide eyed at your little outburst. You didn't even give him time to speak before turning swiftly and rushing out of the office. You had to get out of there, fast and now!

After grabbing your things, you ran out of the restaurant, angry tears falling down your face as you stomped away from the building. You didn't get far until you noticed Hoseok waiting by the curb beside a large black SUV, and he wasn't alone. Next to him stood the one man who weren't expecting to see, at least not for several hours, Yoongi.

Time seemed to stand still the moment his eyes locked onto yours. His expression was a mixture of anger and sadness the moment he saw you. He stepped away from Hoseok and slowly made his way over to you. His large hands going up to cup your face the moment you tried to look away. The pads of his thumbs wiping away the fresh tears that began to stream down your face. “Babygirl.” He sighed, tilting your head up so your eyes met his.

As your eyes met his, your lower lip quivered and unable to stop yourself you stepped forward, wrapping your arms around him. You weren't sure why but in this moment, all you wanted was a hug from him. Something to comfort you and make you feel even an ounce better. You hated showing a man you hardly knew this moment of weakness but you were scared. You were now jobless and if you couldn't pay rent, soon you'd be homeless. You half expected him to pull away from you so you just held him as tight to your body as you could and buried your face in his suit coat.

He never pulled away, much to your surprise, instead he wrapped both his arms tightly around your shoulders and held you tight to his chest, his chin resting on your shoulder as he rubbed your back soothingly. “It's okay, baby. I got you.” He muttered softly into your ear.

“W-Why are you here?” You managed to ask, trying desperately to dry up your tears.

“Hoseok is a friend of mine. He called me and told me what happened. I was on this side of town so I had to come check on my girl.” He muttered, his fingers running up and down your back slowly causing you to relax in his arms. You found it odd that a friend of Yoongi's happened to be at your restaurant only hours after the contract signing but honestly, in this moment you could careless. You were just glad he showed up to check on you. “I can explain everything in the car. Let me take you home so you can get a shower.”

You shook your head and turned your head so your cheek was pressed to his chest, your ear right over his heart that you could hear was beating extremely fast. “I don't care, I'm just glad you're here right now.” You confessed. His arms around you giving you a gentle squeeze.

“I'll always be here for you, Babygirl.” He sighed before pulling away slightly, his hand gently taking yours as he pulled you towards his car. “Let's go. I want to hear everything from you in the car.”

Nodding, you slid into the open back door before giving Hoseok a sad smile. Yoongi went to get in after you but paused just long enough to turn towards his friend, his expression hardening for just a moment. “Find Caroline. I don't care what it takes, find out where that bitch is staying.” He hissed. You were a bit taken back at the tone Yoongi used but said nothing.

“I will. Leave it to me.” He nodded before shutting the door after Yoongi got into the back with you.

He instructed the driver to go by just telling him to go home. The two of you sat in silence for a long moment, his hand still gripping yours. You turned your hand so your fingers laced with his as you two just sat there both looking of opposite windows. Your free hand was wiping away the remainders of your tears before you turned to look at him. “Who is she?”

Yoongi sighed softly and lowered his head for a moment, not once looking over at you. “She's a virus. One that keeps popping up.” He muttered, just jaw clenching slightly. “Remember how I told you that the contract was to help protect you from my former women? Well, she's the main one.”

“Oh..” You muttered while glancing down at your hand that was still held in his, your heart dropping down into the pits of your stomach.

“Somehow she found out who you were and went after you instead of me. How she found you so quickly, I don't know. Normally she goes after me and tries to get in me a scandal. I'm so sorry. I intended on keeping you out of this. I didn't think she'd go as far as to show up to your work.” He glanced over to you and with his free hand, he placed two fingers under your chin and lifted your head so he could see your face. “That's why I had Hoseok watching out for you. I was worried about your safety. I came as soon as he called me saying she was there but she was long gone by the time I got there.”

“It's not your fault. My boss was looking for a reason to fire me, she just gave him the out he needed to get rid of me.” You sighed, scooting over closer to him so you could rest your head on his shoulder.

Yoongi stiffened and let out a low sigh of frustration. “He fired you? After Hoseok told him it was all her fault?”

You nodded and just sighed softly. “I came onto me once and said he'd pay me more and give me better hours if I agreed to sleep with him, of course I refused so he always wanted me gone since then.”

“I'll kill him.” Yoongi growled softly, his hand releasing yours as he wrapped his arms almost protectively over your shoulder and pulled you closer to him.

“Don't get upset. It was a long time ago.” You shook your head and nuzzled closer into his side, the chill from the still soaked shirt making you shiver. “He'll get whats coming to him in the end. One day some will put him in his place and he'll lose everything he's worked for. The only reason I endured it was because it's so hard for find a job these days.”

Yoongi moved so his head was resting on top of yours, his fingers playing with the sticky strands of your hair. “I can help you until you get back on your feet.”

“I dont want your money, Yoongi. I got myself into this mess I can figure a way out.”

This caused him to laugh softly and turn his head so his lips brushed against the top of your head. “Babygirl, you still haven't figured out this sugardaddy thing have you? I signed a contract to pay you and take care of you while you give me company. Helping you in what I'm going to do. I'm also going to protect you from Caroline. I swear she wont get close to you again. Once I find her I'm gonna make sure she's locked up in a nice padded room where she cant hurt anyone again.”

You smiled softly for the first time that day since you received his text messages and just closed your eyes. For a moment you felt better, like even though you lost your job, that everything was going to be okay as long as you had this man by your side. Which was an odd feeling for you since you had only just met him.

The rest of the car ride went on in silence until you found yourself back at his office building. “What are we doing here?” You asked with an arched brow, your head lifting from his shoulder. “I thought you were taking me home?”

“I never said your home, babygirl. You got to go in, get a shower and then I have a friend who is going to take you someplace nice so you can get ready for our date tonight. You've had a rough day so for the rest of the day you're about to be pampered like the queen you are until I come to get you.” He smirked slightly.

#bts scenarios #sugadaddy fic #bts reactions #bts fanfic #bts fanfction #bts angst

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whistlekick · 5 years

Text

Sifu Glen Doyle is a martial arts practitioner and instructor. He is a former Kung Fu champion and practices Irish Martial Arts.

There’s a sense of comfort that you get right away when you cross over certain martial arts…

Sifu Glen Doyle – Episode 360

Learning how to fight is sometimes instilled into us on a very early age. Sifu Glen Doyle learned boxing as soon as he began speaking because of his father. Later on, he would turn into martial arts such as Kung Fu and stick fighting. What makes Sifu Doyle special is that he practices Irish Martial Arts traditions that are part of his roots. Sifu Glen Doyle has a lot to tell so, listen to find out more!

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Show Transcript

You can read the transcript below or download here.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Hello and welcome to this show. This is whistlekick Martial Arts Radio episode 360. Today, I’m joined by Sifu Glen Doyle. My name is Jeremy. I’m the founder at whistlekick. I’m your host on the show. And martial arts is a huge part of my life. So huge that it became my career. You can check out all the things that we work on at whistlekick. Many of those things, I am personally involved in over at whistlekick.com. Don’t forget. If you buy something, use the code PODCAST15. Save this 15%. It’s a thank you from us to you and honestly, lets us know that this podcast is worth doing. Because let’s face it. This is a business and we’ve got to make some money somewhere because I need to it. Not a lot but I do need to eat something.

Here we are, 360 episodes in and we’re still finding new martial arts to talk about. Did you know that there were Irish martial arts traditions? Well, today’s guest not only has family lineage through Irish martial arts but also something that most of us would consider more contemporary, more conventional in that Kung Fu. So, we not only get to talk about each of those arts but the contrasts, the similarities between the two, and the wonderful story that unfolds as Sifu Doyle talks about his life and his navigation through both of those arts and what it meant to him and his family. So, hold on, listen, and learn something. Sifu Doyle, welcome to whistlekick Martial Arts Radio.

Glen Doyle:

Thank you very much. Happy to be here.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I’m happy to have you here. Now, listeners, this was one we were chatting just before we started the episode that I think we were both afraid that this might be the episode that didn’t happen. There were a number of power outages on both ends. It was crazy. I’ve had issues with losing power here. I’ve has issues with guests losing power there. I don’t think we’ve ever had an episode scheduled for a time where both sides lost power.

Glen Doyle:

I like to respond like an echo.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Awesome. But we’re here now and I appreciate your flexibility in rescheduling. I’ve been looking forward to talking to you.

Glen Doyle:

My pleasure, my pleasure.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Great. Well, let’s start the way we start a martial arts show. We need some background. We need some basics. We need to learn how to make a fist and punch as it were with who you are. So, how did you find martial arts?

Glen Doyle:

Well, I mean, I was more or less, not to sound melodramatic, but I was kind of born into it. My dad was a boxer. And he boxed for a number of years. Mostly when he was in the Canadian Armed Forces but he was always boxing. And so, he started me whether I wanted to or not. In 1969, when I was 4 years old, he put on the boxing gloves and I got my first lesson. And it went on till however long dad was alive. He started me boxing and then in 1972, he started me in stick fighting. And then I wanted to branch out and learn other styles and stuff. So, in and around 1981, I branched out and joined a Chinese Kung Fu club in Toronto. And I stayed with that club until my Sifu, Sifu Lore King Hong, passed away in 2008. So basically, from 1969 to present has been my martial arts path. But I got basically involved in it with my dad started punching at me and didn’t give me a choice but to punch back, so.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Wow. All right. So, you’ve got a couple of different things going on, a few different martial arts.

Glen Doyle:

Uh-hum.

Jeremy Lesniak:

And one of the things that I find personally fascinating is how people start to relate those back to each other.

Glen Doyle:

Right.

Jeremy Lesniak:

So, what does that look like for you?

Glen Doyle:

Well, I mean, you could… If I go into boxing and if comparing boxing in Gung Fu, a punch is a punch. No matter how you do it, it’s just going to be a different way of explaining with or a different way of executing it. But the end result is the same – you’re trying to hit something. The comparisons that I always was a little more interested in was the stick fighting style that my dad taught me was from our family. It’s an Irish stick fighting style. And when I branched out and explored the other martial arts, be into Gung Fu and then I dabbled in some Filipino stick fighting, I just thought it was really interesting the geographically, the two countries – Ireland and Philippines – are so far apart. But when you put a stick in a hand, there’s going to be some principles that are going to be very similar and some are going to be completely different. So, I was always amazed at the way the footwork might be explained differently but the end result’s the same. And sometimes, the footwork looks almost the same. So, it reiterates and it just emphasizes to me that if you’ve got 2 legs and 2 arms or you’re basically a human being, you’re only going to move a certain way so many times or a certain way so many different times and things are going to crossover. So, as a martial artist, when I branched out into other arts that weren’t culturally the same as mine, there was a nice kind of camaraderie built up in my mind right away. Because it was like, wow, this isn’t so different. I’m not in such a foreign land after all. This is great. And there’s a sense of comfort that you get right away when you crossover certain martial arts. When you find the similarities, it’s like you’re home but you’re not. You’re on the road but your home is… It’s like when you go travelling, you take a big suit case and you want to have a lot of your stuff around you even though you’re in a bizarre place or a different place because you have that bit of that comfort, because you’ve got some items from your home that make you feel a little more comfortable. And I think, when you crossover two different martial arts together, that familiarity is what makes you feel comfortable and allows you to really open your learning curve and really kind of accept the techniques more readily, more instinctively rather than just kind of forcing a square peg into a round hole. If that makes any sense.

Jeremy Lesniak:

It certainly does. I’ve spent a bit of time doing some Filipino stick work and I would imagine that 90% of the folks listening who have engaged in stick work have done it through some kind of Filipino Eskrima or Arnis, you know, Southeast Asian tradition.

Glen Doyle:

Uh-hum.

Jeremy Lesniak:

You said that you had done some sort. Are you able to relate to us the… I expect a lot of similarities but where are the differences?

Glen Doyle:

Well, I mean, the Filipino style that I dabbled in – when I say dabbled, please understand, I’m not professing that I studied it a long time or I’m really super-efficient

Jeremy Lesniak:

Sure, sure.

Glen Doyle:

But I dabbled in it and the fact that I did often on for a number of years because one of the instructors at the Kung Fu club that I was training was from Cebu City in the Philippines.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Uh-hum.

Glen Doyle:

And anytime he was teaching a class, if I had the time to do it, I would jump in and play around with it. It was called Arnis. It was… That’s crazy. Just falling out of my head now.

Jeremy Lesniak:

That’s okay.

Glen Doyle:

Lapunti Arnis De Abanico, there you go. Sorry. And Abanico, I believe, is fan style if I’m not mistaken. And it’s a single-hand stick fighting style. Which is the biggest difference between what I was taught with from dad which was two-handed. And the stick is a lot longer in the Irish system, a little heavier because the blackthorn is a heavier wood. Where the Filipino system is using the rattan. A lot of whirling strikes in the Filipino systems are very fast, explosive. And I found that I like the way that the multiple quick hits, the rapid hits in the Filipino system is something I really love. They were so different from the Irish stuff. So, I was like a kid in the candy store when I first played around with it, so.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Nice. It almost… You know, I have some Irish roots. In fact, my father lives to the south side of Cork. I’ve used some blackthorn sticks. They’re durable, they’re heavy. So, is the stick fighting tradition that you come from, that you’re passing on, is there some synergy there with bladed weapons?

Glen Doyle:

No.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Okay.

Glen Doyle:

The only connection to bladed weapons is… Basically, the Irish stick fighting came to be simply because of penal laws and whatnot. Irish citizens especially the peasants weren’t allowed access to weapons. A lot of Irish men fought in foreign armies in the 1700s or 1800s. And they learned fencing, they learned sword playing with foreign armies. So, when they came back, that��s all they had to drop on. But because they didn’t have access to bladed weapons, they used stick. And they had to adapt the slashing and stabbing motions for more thumping and striking. So, the only kind of influence in any kind of bladed weapon would be the way the system was approached. Because all, at one point, all Irish stick fighting systems for one-handed based on sword fight but with a stick in your hand. And then somewhere in my family line, my great great great great great uncle, I think it go back five or six generations, he was a pugilist and he decided to put two hands on stick. And the stick was then parallel to the ground, horizontal. And it changed the way we approach the stick fighting. So, any kind of access or comparison to bladed weapons kind of really disappeared when that happened. And now, the pugilist of the boxing influence kind of took over. It became a much more close quarter kind of thing. We had to get in close. Which when you have a stick, you want to keep the opponent on the end of your stick. So, you want to have them on that last six or eight inches for maximum velocity. And then here’s something my dad taught me where it’s like close in, close in. But I have this long stick why do I have to close in? But that would probably be the only… If I could really say any kind of bladed. But there’s no other weapons in the system I learned from my dad. It’s just the blackthorn. That’s it. No knives, no nothing else. So. Yeah.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Okay. Interesting. I’m going to have to find some video. Do you have a video? Is there a video of this thing?

Glen Doyle:

Yeah. I have a bunch of stuff up on YouTube.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Okay, cool.

Glen Doyle:

Just the live stuff; me teaching some seminars. It’s not instructional.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Okay.

Glen Doyle:

It’s just in a collage fed to some music. I had a website for a while when… I had to get permission from my dad to teach it outside the family. And that was the whole story itself. And I had website up. It just had pictures on it. And I got a lot of emails and a lot of communicational people. You can’t tell much from a picture. You can only tell so much. And a lot of the feedback, I’m not going to go into it, was oh my god, this to this and I would do this and it was all this kind of stuff. And I just kind of let it roll off my back for a couple of years. And then I said, you know what? Maybe I’ll just put something I knew just so people can see the motion and the movement. And maybe that will help them understand the pictures they’re seeing. So, I put up a couple of videos. And it was the exact opposite type of feedback. I’ve got people like oh, that’s how it works. And it was definitely the right thing to do. Because you kind of got to see the style to understand it. And then now, I find that people are really… It really launches more questions but they’re more listening with excitement rather than derision.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Uh-hum.

Glen Doyle:

And it was all because I put a few videos up. So, I did that just so people can get a sense of how it looked and how it moved. And I find a lot of Filipino stick fighters actually are the most interested. They love watching it and they make their observations and similarities pop up and the differences. It’s usually a really nice interaction when I talk Filipino stick fighters. They usually have really interesting questions about certain techniques and the style, and how this came to be and how that can be. And then, of course, they’ll bring up wow, it’s very similar to what we do. And then it’s kind of like 2 kids talking over a couple of toys that they have that are very similar, right? So.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Yeah.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah.

Jeremy Lesniak:

And those are some of my favorite conversations with martial artists. And I think those conversations are more enlightening, more productive, more enjoyable when you start from a place of similarity.

Glen Doyle:

Of course. Yes.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Rather than a place of difference. And I mean, I can… I’m trying to think of something that I haven’t done martial arts-wise. Kung Fu might be the furthest from what I’ve done as a complete style. But I can sit down and I can talk with a Kung Fu practitioner and we can start from what do we have in common? We can have a lot of fun. We can maybe even share, spar, and have a good time. Or we can start from differences which tend to be philosophical and that doesn’t help anybody.

Glen Doyle:

No. Usually… Well, it sets the tone, right? Because I think when you come from a place of similarity, then the camaraderie is built right in. If you come from a sense of difference, there’s always this little underlying tone of are you saying your style is better?

Jeremy Lesniak:

Right.

Glen Doyle:

Because it’s so different? I mean, I’ve studied this. I know my style really well. Why are you saying yours is better? And it’s like, you’re not saying that but if you’re coming at them from the differences, people tend to lean towards that. It seems to be kind of human nature. Well, what’s wrong with my style? What do you mean your style’s different? What do are you saying? When you come at the other person from the point of wow, and we do this. It’s very similar to what you do. All of a sudden, they listen with their ears wide open rather than looking for reasons to be offended, right? That’s been kind of my take on it. And when I teach seminars, I always have my opening speech and I always say, I don’t denigrate or take away from any other style. And I always say that I’m saying that we do it this way. I’m not saying it’s better or worse than what you do. I’m just saying you’re different. And that seems to really actually set the tone for the seminar and I knock on wood. I haven’t had any issues at this point, so.

Jeremy Lesniak:

That’s great.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Good. We’ll make sure to link the YouTube channel over on the show notes for this. And for folks that might be new, if you came in, if this is your first episode, we put the show notes at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. Now you, a few minutes ago, mentioned a conversation that you had to have with your father to get permission to teach this stick fighting style outside of the family. Would you be willing to share that?

Glen Doyle:

Sure, yeah.

Jeremy Lesniak:

What that was about?

Glen Doyle:

Yeah. Well, I mean, this system was only passed on through family. So, you had to have the surname Doyle to learn it. And they were very strict about that. In Irish traditions, oral tradition is very, very predominant in Irish culture. A lot of times it’s because the occupying forces wanted to kind of diffuse the culture, they wanted to stop the language. Anything to do with individuality or priding your country or where you’re from, they want to kind of take that away. You know what I mean? And so to preserve certain cultural aspects of the country, a lot of things were taught in secret or behind closed doors or secret meetings and whatnot. And that include language and music and whatnot. So, the stick fighting was no different and it was passed on father to son, through family. And if you didn’t have the last name Doyle, you didn’t learn it. And because the stick fighting stuff could differentiate between families. It could differentiate between counties or towns. So, you could have a town that have one stick fighting style. You could have a county that didn’t have the factions from like Tipperary and from Wicklow and Wexford and whatnot. You had the Yellow Bellies, you had the 18:01 There’s a bunch of names that you could… So, they would have a similar style. But anyway, so, ours was based on family name and it was passed on. My dad was very strict about it. When he taught it to me, we spend most of our weekends. He had a full-time job as an iron worker. So, he didn’t have a lot of time during the week. But on the weekends, we’d be doing the boxing and the sticks. And he would always reiterate, this is ours and keep to yourself kind of thing. And eventually, after being in the Kung Fu club for a number of time, my Chinese Kung Fu instructor, Sifu Lore, he was so open because he wanted to share his culture with everyone. And he was amazing that way. And it really rubbed off on me. So, I started saying to my dad, this is such a cool little system and I’m your only son and you’re teaching it to me. But if I walk down the street tomorrow and get hit by a car and get killed, it’s done. It’s gone. And that really bothered me. So, I started asking my dad in the early ’90s. Can I start showing some guys down at the club just some stuff? And he was adamant; no. And my dad… To give you a sense of my dad, to see and get his kind of mindset, the way he was, just a little capsule thing of his personality, he forged my granddad’s signature to join the Canadian military when he was 16. I lied about his age. And he spent his 17th and 18th birthdays on the frontlines in Korea.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Wow.

Glen Doyle:

And he summed up his personality with this – I’m going to keep it clean for the listeners…

Jeremy Lesniak:

For sure.

Glen Doyle:

And if it’s offensive to some people, I do apologize. But it was what he said to me. Because he was really a hard man and I always used to say to him, you’re really hard to people. You speak your mind so you come off rough. And he said, you have to understand me because I killed my first man before I ever slept with my first woman. And that kind of summed up my dad for me. And I mean, there’s no part of my… And you can edit that out, too, if it’s not appropriate. I have no…

Jeremy Lesniak:

No, absolutely not. I think that’s pretty important.

Glen Doyle:

It really set his tone for me. Because I can’t even wrap my head around that. No matter much I tried. That sense of what he must have went through at 16, 17, and 18 years of age. I always gave him a wide berth after that. I always try to step back and understand because he was very straight-edge. He was very straightforward and he said what he said. If you didn’t like it, he really didn’t care. So, going back to saying dad, I really want to kind of share it with some other guys at the club, just a few guys at the club, my closest friends. No. He was adamant. And then in late 1997 or early 1998, he got diagnosed with metastatic colon cancer. And he was only given a couple of months. And we spent all the time together. I was very, very fortunate that I got to do everything I needed to do for closure. And the fact that I got to have my last talk with him, I got to hold his hand, I was there when he took his last breath. I mean, the relationship that I had with my dad, if I wasn’t there, it probably would have driven me insane that I didn’t get the goodbye. So, I was very fortunate that I was allowed to share those times. And we talked about a lot of things. And the one thing I brought up again was I really wanted to teach this outside the family. I don’t have any children of my own. So, again, the style is endangered of just becoming extinct if I pass on and don’t teach anyone. And it took a lot of talking but finally, near our last talk, before he went onto morphine and couldn’t talk anymore because he’s in so much pain, he finally gave me permission. And if he had not, you and I would be having a completely different conversation right now and we’d just be talking about Kung Fu. So, yeah. I was very grateful that he eventually relented. Now, do I think he was happy about it? I couldn’t really say. But all I know is he did give permission. And whether it was his last act of love or not, I don’t know. But at the end of the day, he gave me his permission to teach it outside the family. And after, we had his service and I had his ashes and I spread his ashes over our land. We’re from Newfoundland originally. And I started to slowly get the style out there. I mean, I had an interview with Inside Kung Fu and I think it was 1995. And I got into the moment. The new journalist was really, really good. He really played me really well, for lack of a better term. And I blurted out the Irish stick fighting. And then I immediately stopped talking about it. But he didn’t mention it in the article. And the bullyrag that I got from my dad about that, let me tell you, that went on for a couple of years. So, I learned my lesson. But yeah. He basically gave me permission just before he passed away. So, there’s a sentimentality there when I teach as well. It’s like he’s in the room with me, which I love. And it helps me cope. I mean, he’s been gone since ’98. But it just doesn’t seem like… It seems like yesterday to me. I still think about him all the time. And the sticks is a way for me to kind of revisit our time together and stuff. So, there’s a real emotional sentimentality to me teaching it.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Now, when… Those of us that came up in… I guess I think of it as Asian traditions. When I think of the 24:25 Kung Fu style or Karate style, quite often, there’s a family dynamic.

Glen Doyle:

Uh-hum.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Some kind of splinter there. But I haven’t had the opportunity to speak with someone who came from that close-guarded family tradition of a martial arts. So, forgive me as I’m asking you some of these questions that I’ve always wondered knowing that you don’t speak for everyone. But you’re the best I have.

Glen Doyle:

Okay. No problem.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Why? Why was your father so resistant to people learning this family style?

Glen Doyle:

I think it was just the cultural way. It was just cultural and the way he was raised. Again, with it being guarded and not wanting to basically… Like self-preservation, really. I mean, you always want that. If everybody knows your style, then the percentages of being able to counter you go up.

Jeremy Lesniak:

True.

Glen Doyle:

And every system that you ever come across is one-handed. And now suddenly, you come up against this guy and all of a sudden, he starts one-handed and drops his stick into his other hand. And he comes at you from a pugilistic horizontal base stick pattern. It’s going to throw you. And I think, that element of surprise ups the success factor. So, I think it was a combination of it was tradition – it was the way he was taught. And my granddad was probably exactly my dad, a no nonsense Irish man. Do what I say and don’t question me. And I think that coupled with the fact that technically, you’d like to have a surprise or two in your back pocket. I think the combination of those two things in the formula is probably why he was still adamant. Because when I would explain to my dad how if Sifu Lore said, oh I only teach Chinese, I wouldn’t have been learning this amazing stuff that he was teaching me. I could see my dad understanding what I was saying. But the stubbornness of no, we don’t share it because of whatever reason. I could see there was a wall up for the longest time. And I’d be lying to you if I said I understood it. But it’s just I think it was, for lack of a better term, the programming. It was just the way he was raised. And he kept it without being… What’s the word? Not pure but he just didn’t want… He wanted it untainted. And when you get a style and you put it out into the public domain, it gets changed right away. People are going to adapt it to what they think the movement should be or the way they would do it or strategically how they think it works for them. And all of a sudden, the style ceases to become that movement or that way of executing a technique that’s been passed on for generation to generation. And it means he was big on not changing the techniques. Because, like my dad said, the system was… And I think he was talking about all fighting systems. But when he’s pertaining to our sticks, as he said, he was born on a battlefield. And through evolution and through faction fights, techniques that didn’t work, you got your head bashed in. You knew if they didn’t work, they didn’t get passed on. And he said, nowadays, everybody likes to change everything. But most of the people changing the styles aren’t haven’t fought to save their lives. It’s theory or they got padded equipment on. So, they’re not getting punished for their mistakes or it’s a game of tag. And again, I’m not coming down on anybody who spars or anything like that. It’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying what he said to me. And he said, why would you change something that has been proven? But because here in modern day society, now it’s like well, this is faster or flashier and whatnot. But it’s just a theory. I think, for of the thing he was worried at, if I put it out there into the general populace, it was going to get changed a lot. But it would still have our name on it. And he said, if someone changes it and the technique doesn’t work, it still got our name on it. And they go out and try to use the technique and they get their head bashed in, well our name takes the hit. So, that was kind of his kind of approach. And I think that’s one of the reasons he was really adamant aside from the fact that it was tradition that it was just taught to Doyles. And I think he wanted something to pass onto his son that was just for me, I guess. There could have been a father-son dynamic there that I wasn’t picking up on. Because I was all about this. I loved it so much, I just wanted to share it with everyone. A little bit of family pride, and pride is a double edged-sword.

Jeremy Lesniak:

It certainly is.

Glen Doyle:

And so I think that maybe he was trying to dissuade me from that. And I’ve been teaching it outside the family now since just after he passed away. So, it’s been about 20 years and all the stuff he said has happened. It’s been changed, it’s been this, it’s been that. So, he wasn’t wrong. I’ve had to lock away and discontinue associations with a lot of people because of what happened. That dad said would, sadly. So, I have to kind of give my hat to him because he wasn’t wrong. But on the other side of the coin is, I’ve met some amazing people that passed it on and they’re amazing. So, on the other side of the coin, I was right.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Right. Can you talk a little bit more about the stuff he was right about? I’m not asking you to name names or identify anything so clearly that people could infer names.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah. No, no. I wouldn’t do that anyway. But it just… basically, what would happen is a lot of people would come under the guise of oh, I want to learn it the way you learned it. I wanted to stay traditional and I want to learn and then pass it on and whatnot. And really, all what they wanted to do was they wanted to up the 31:16 of their school by saying they offer Irish stick fighting. So, it was more of a business thing. And what they would do is, they would just take certain elements that they like from the system. And they would incorporate it to what they already taught. So, if I did a numbered system… So, let’s say I taught a sequence or there’s a technique that, let’s say, has five movements in a sequence – I’ll try to be really kind of basic here – and we go move it 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. And they take the movement. Well, movement 1 and 2 would be from the Doyle system and then movement 3, 4 and 5 would be from where that they learn. So, it would become a hybrid and it would get infused. And then what happens is it started to… Then the people, they taught would then change it a little bit when they start it. So, two or three lessons down the road, it didn’t even look anything like what I have taught them. Yet it still had our family name on it.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Right.

Glen Doyle:

And you’ll see it. If you search Doyle stick fighting, you’ll find a number of videos on YouTube aside from mine and you’ll see. If you have martial arts eyes, you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about. And I don’t deny anybody that I trained. If someone wrote to me and said, blah, blah, blah, says this and I will not lie. I’ll say yup, he learned under me. But I will also say, but he has changed it a little bit. So, the stuff he’s teaching is influenced or has a flavor of what I taught. But it’s more of what they’ve done to hybridize it. So, I’m very honest but I don’t deny anybody I’ve ever worked with. Even if I no longer teach them, I will still say yup, they learned under me. They came to a seminar. I’m not going to cut off my connection to them that way because I don’t think that’s fair. They did put in the time. I just want to try to keep the style out there the way it was taught to me. So, if somebody comes to me or goes to somebody and wants to learn what was taught back in Ireland, hopefully, they can find somebody who does that. Not somebody’s version of a version of version 33:37

Jeremy Lesniak:

Makes complete sense.

Glen Doyle:

Because some people want that. They want that authentic style. Some people really do. And others are fine with learning the hybrid stuff. They’re fine with it and that’s all fair to them. I have no problem with that. But when your name’s attached to it, when your family… And again, because of the sentimentality and emotional connection to my dad, I won’t lie. There’s a little chip on my shoulder about it. Some days it bothers more than others. But I’ve learned to live with it now. And now, when I teach, I’m very particular hen I teach one-on-one in person. I just started doing an online course on video. I’m going to test that out and see how that plays out. But I don’t want to… Because of a couple of bad experiences, I don’t want to just say I’m not teaching anyone. Because that defeats the purpose as well. I don’t think that’s fair to people who want to learn it. So, I’m trying to find that. It’s like you’re trying to walk that tightrope, right? And you’re going to have to make some concessions which I learned that I had to. And at the same time, every once in a while you’re going to find that one or two or three or four people that are just going to take it the way it was given to you and they’re going to treat it that way. And they’re going to make sure it stays authentic and how it was passed in. And those are the victories that I take. And then all the other ones, I’ve got to spend some time with different people and different personalities and I choose to take the positive away rather than the negative. Because if I keep the negative, man, I’ll just be the grumpiest person in the world. And I don’t want that. So.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I get it. I get it. Now, I can completely see what you’re talking about. It makes a lot of sense.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah. I mean…

Jeremy Lesniak:

The idea that it’s not just a martial art. It’s your lineage. It’s your tie to your father and so many things. And I don’t think anyone else is going to fully embrace that even if they intellectually understand it.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah. It’s a… It’s tough to put into words. And when it first started to get changed and whatnot, I was livid. And I have the Irish temper like everybody else in the family. My initial reactions were very cutting off the nose to spite my face kind of thing. And then I learned that that’s not going to do anything and I have to kind of adapt and take more of a philosophical approach to it. Just see where they were coming from and walk a mile on their shoes just to kind of wrap my head around it. And then it kind of eased the blow a little bit. If that makes any sense.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Sure does.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Now, I’m sure that you almost have walls up to make sure that the Kung Fu is not influencing the stick fighting. But I’m guessing that you don’t have the same rule go in the other way. So, how does the stick fighting influence your Kung Fu?

Glen Doyle:

Again, going back to the beginning when we started talking, the thing about the stick and the Kung Fu, it was all about the similarities. But also, the way I teach the sticks, my dad was very… He taught what he felt like that day. He had a system. He had an agenda of how to teach it but it wasn’t so evident. Like I think he would get me to go over some stuff that he taught me the week before and they based on what I did incorrectly or what I did correctly, that would shape what we work on that day. When I started to teach it, I found that the way I taught it was very much influenced by the way I learned Kung Fu. Meaning, you learn your stances. You learn your foundations, boom, boom, boom, boom. When my dad taught me, I got stances and whatnot. But he got me into the stick punches, then he got me into what the hand was doing. And I know I’m using a lot of terms that people are kind of not going to understand because they don’t 38:05 the style. But he got me chasing the stick and crashing the gates and all these things. But I think, if he had more of a system in place, I probably would have learned it quicker because it took a while. Because, I mean, I was only 7 years old when I started, right? But I find that the Kung Ku influenced me in the way I taught the stick. Because I, for a lack of a better word, I systematized it in the fact that I did stances fist, all footwork, footwork, footwork. Because dad was really big on footwork. But I think, even though he was big on footwork, he kept throwing other things at me just to kind of keep the ball rolling. In his mind, I was learning at a pace that he was happy with. Whereas when I teach, if you don’t get your stances and you footwork, you’re not learning anything else. You’re going to be holding the stick forever doing nothing with it because it’s all going to be from the waist down. And that’s very Kung Fu – stances, stances, stances. Strong horse, strong punch – that’s it. That’s the two things you need before you do anything else. And I got to that point when I taught. The similarities between the footwork was very interesting because we have a thing in our style… Because it comes from fencing footwork initially. And then with the boxing influence, the heels are a little different and we step down heel-toe and then we really calmly drag the back leg when we were dancing. And I found… It’s so amazing because in the Hung Gar style of Gung Fu that I learned, it’s almost exactly the same. When you step from a cat stance, you step down heel-toe and then you pop back into your horse stance. And if I had to explain, the stepping in the Irish stick fighting and the stepping in Kung Fu, if I use heel-toe-drag, it works the exact same for both styles. So, the influence, if you want to use that term, was all about the similarities. The Kung Fu wouldn’t give influence anything technically in sticks. Because I wanted to make sure that the way it was passed onto me, I pass on to other people. So, I very evident about that. But I did use the way of explaining Kung Fu, the way that Kung Fu was taught to me, I did let that influence the way I explain the sticks. So, I hope I’m makings sense the way I put that out for you there. I have a tendency to be quite verbose and quite 40:50 And then at the end of the five minutes, people go, I didn’t understand a damn thing you just said. So.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Well, as you were talking, I’m doing it.

Glen Doyle:

Okay.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I’m taking those steps. And yeah, I can certainly see the similarities there. My experience with two-handed weapons is limited to Japanese style sword and very little. But the footwork there from what I was taught sounds very similar to what you’re describing, so.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Makes all kind of sense.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah. But I’ll do, Jeremy, when we get off, I will send you some video links of me actually teaching.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Oh, perfect.

Glen Doyle:

Just for you. I’ll just send it for you.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Sure. I would watch them

Glen Doyle:

In that way, you can see what we’re talking about. I don’t think it’s going to… I think you’re getting what I’m saying but I think if you see the way I teach it, you’ll go oh, okay. So, I’ll do that for you. I know right now, the listeners are like what about us? But you get special treatment, so.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Well, I appreciate that. I’ve been doing all the work here, so.

Glen Doyle:

There you go.

Jeremy Lesniak:

You and I are doing the work. Listeners, they just get to enjoy all of this. Cool. All right. Well, when you look at this – how do I want to call it – this hybridized martial arts mindset that has become you and these various influences that you have.

Glen Doyle:

Yup.

Jeremy Lesniak:

It’s pretty clear how important your father was. I mean, he started you and gave you this foundation and you’ve added to it and expanded it. But what would you want to add on? If there was someone that you could train with that you haven’t, who would that be?

Glen Doyle:

You mean living or dead? Or just living?

Jeremy Lesniak:

Living or dead. Anywhere in the world, anywhere in time.

Glen Doyle:

My dad was very much influenced by Jack Dempsey.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Okay.

Glen Doyle:

So, I would say probably Jack Dempsey for a couple of reasons. One, because of my dad’s movement was very much like Jack Dempsey. Because he was a big Jack Dempsey fan and also because of the boxing. But also, Jack Dempsey was quite an interesting person because… I don’t know if a lot of people know this but I believe he was in the coast guard, if I’m not mistaken. Now, I could be mistaken about that. And if I am, I apologize. But I know he was in service in some point and I think it was the coast guard. But he taught a lot of self-defense stuff. It wasn’t just boxing. It was knees and elbows and whatnot. So, he was a very, very well-rounded. And I think he would just be an amazing person to train with. Simply because he’s almost what I would say a similar thing to what I do is that he’s got the boxing but then on the other side of the coin, he had the other fighting techniques that were, if you want to call them, street or a little more lower body and upper body. Because with the knees and strikes and the elbows and whatnot. So, I think he would be an amazing person to train with. I would love to talk to him about his mindset. Because he had that ever forward kind of attack. And when my dad used to teach the sticks, he’s always going to say that phrase – ever forward, ever forward. So, just on that alone, I think that would be my choice. I would love to go train with him and just to pick his brain and just to see how he saw the martial world, and see how he would approach it. So, that would be my answer.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Nice. I’m sure from your time training and travelling, teaching – whether it’s your own students or seminars – you’ve got a lot of stories. What’s your favorite one? It can be sad, it can be happy, it can be funny. I love the stories that martial artists have and that’s really the root of this show. It was I just want an excuse to get people to tell me their stories. So, what’s yours?

Glen Doyle:

Wow. Can I get a tone for the story? Do you want a story of me learning from someone or do you want me teaching someone?

Jeremy Lesniak:

The one that… So, here’s the set up. You and I are at a barbecue and we find out that we’re both martial artists.

Glen Doyle:

Uh-hum.

Jeremy Lesniak:

We’re sharing a beer, whiskey or whatever.

Glen Doyle:

Okay.

Jeremy Lesniak:

And I tell you about the ridiculous time that Bill Wallace kicked me in the ear and said some horribly inappropriate things.

Glen Doyle:

Bill Wallace kicked you in the ear, too?

Jeremy Lesniak:

Oh, yeah. And I cannot repeat what he said on the air because it’s that terrible. I’ll tell you after. So, there’s that story. And you’re trying to meet me or one up me with one of your ridiculous or fun or impressive stories from your time. So, what would that story be?

Glen Doyle:

Well, first of all, just let me say that I, too, have been kicked in the ear by Mr. Wallace. So.

Jeremy Lesniak:

It’s a great club to be in, isn’t it?

Glen Doyle:

Yeah. He… I was in Quebec at the Capital Conquest. I was teaching there and it was the first time I met him. He’s an amazing man, don’t get me wrong. But yeah. He just targeted me for the whole weekend. I don’t know what I did but he would not leave me alone. And the sick part of me kind liked the attention but man, it was an interesting thing. So, we have that to share, you and I. Just wanted to say that.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Well, that’s… I train with Mr. Wallace now.

Glen Doyle:

Okay. I don’t know if he remembers me. But if you say my name…

Jeremy Lesniak:

He probably does.

Glen Doyle:

… in Quebec Capital Conquest.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Yeah.

Glen Doyle:

You can see if here remembers me. He might not but.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I bet he does because I’ve seen his memory in action. And it is impressive. This is for you as well as everyone else listening, when he pulls someone up, he’s gotten very good over his years at identifying who’s going to be a great training partner or a great Uke. Someone who will play along, who has the right sense of humor but also has enough skill for him to work with in his demonstrations. So, it is an amazing compliment across multiple factors when he pulls you up.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah. Oh, well that’s… I’ll take that.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Yeah. As you should.

Glen Doyle:

Man. I mean, there’s two stories that I’d love to tell only because I think they really shape me as the instructor that I am. So, maybe that is something you’re interested in. And it’s interesting because, like I said, I have my two main instructors. I have my dad and I have Sifu Lore. And I have kind of one story from each. So, would you like me to just pick one?

Jeremy Lesniak:

You can tell both.

Glen Doyle:

Okay. The first is my dad. And this was when I was young, and I never forgot this. Because I thought at that moment he was the meanest man in the world. And then looking back on it now, it’s an amazing thing. But I was in elementary school. I believe I was in grade 4, maybe grade 5, and for some reason… A little bit about me for people, because people don’t know me, my mom is like 4’11”. My dad was 5’3″. So, I’m 5’4″. I’m a giant in my family. But anyway, I was little. I was a really little kid. So, grade 4 or grade 5. And for some reason, this kid in grade 8 just didn’t like me and was giving me some grief after school. But I was fast, like I could run really, really fast. So, school ended. The bell ran and off I went. I live about 6 blocks from the school. So, I was full out sprint. Jesse Owens would be looking at me going, not bad. Like I was gone. And I got home and he couldn’t catch me. He was close but he didn’t catch me. I got in and my dad was home. He shouldn’t have been but he was home because he got rained out. Because, like I said, he was an iron worker. If the weather’s too rough, they don’t connect the beams up high. So, he was home early. I came in huffing and puffing. He asked me what happened. And I said, oh this boy at school wanted to beat me up but don’t worry, I got away. And without a word, he got up and grabbed me by the back of the head, took me outside where the bully was still there, made me stand up to this guy. And of course, I got my butt handed to me. But when my dad figured that I had enough, he stopped it and took me in. And I felt so betrayed and so angry that my dad would do that to me. And he just looked at me and said, you run today, you’re going to run tomorrow, you’re going to run for the rest of your life. No running. And in retrospect now, I think that was something that I took very, very literally. And it shaped me to who I am. Well, I hated it at that time. I think I’m probably the most grateful for that lesson and all the lessons he’s ever taught. So, that’s the story about my dad and not funnier or humorous but life-changing. And for Sifu Lore, do you remember in China when they had the Tiananmen Square stuff going on?

Jeremy Lesniak:

Oh, absolutely.

Glen Doyle:

Well, they had a big vigil in Toronto which is where I train, where the club is. And Toronto is interesting because it has a number of Chinatowns. So, not just one Chinatown. Toronto has a bunch of them. They kind of pop up. And the main ones aren’t Spadina and Dundas. And the old China town – and again, if people don’t know Toronto, this is not really going to be a good reference but it’s close to where city hall is. And it’s called Old Chinatown. And in the ’80s, it was slowly shrinking. And the big Chinatown about 10 blocks away in a place called Spadina and Dundas was going to be the main big Chinatown. But anyway, they were having a big vigil at the city hall for the Tienanmen Square. And the Chinese community, because our club was so involved in the Chinese community, they hired us to do kind of a crowd control. Because they were expecting a lot of people and they expected them to be passionate. So, we were there. I didn’t want to say security but that’s technically what we were, right? But we’re there just to make sure that nothing got out of hand. So, Sifu got us all together. We all went down. It was a lot of people there. It was a big, big gathering. Everybody had candles and whatnot. And so, at this point, I’m in my late teens or early 20s and we all were. We’re all like young studs, young bucks. So, we’re all faced around this one section and the speech has start. And there’s on guy in the crowd starts to get really passionate and wants to go up and speak. So, he tries to push his way up to the stage. And Sifu’s sitting there and he loved his Tim Horton’s coffee. It’s a rule in Canada, you have to love your Tim Horton’s coffee. But anyway, he was having his coffee. And this guy was really, really passionate. He’s like, I want to go up there and speak. He’s saying this in Chinese. I didn’t know what he was saying but I could tell by his body language that he was getting very, very aggressive. So here, all of us, these young bucks full of piss and vinegar, we do Kung Fu, we’re awesome, we’re going to just… We’re just going to be right out of the movie. We’re going to take care of this. People walked up to the guy and at this time, he would probably be late 70s, maybe early 80s. Sifu Lore walked up and he has his coffee in one hand. And he’s like, look, you can’t go up. And the guy just made this rushing motion. And to be honest, to this day, I blinked and Sifu threw this uppercut out of nowhere. Just enough to knock the guy down. And it diffuses the situation. It was an amazing thing because he just gave him this uppercut out of nowhere. The guy went down. And while the guy is falling, Sifu’s trying to explain to him look, you can’t go up there. He’s still trying to explain to him after he just knocked him. So, anyway, it diffused to take the guy away and whatnot. And we’re standing there feeling like the most useless people in the world. Our Sifu who’s not exactly a young person took care of this guy. All these young guys are standing around, didn’t know what happened. And we looked at… When we went out, one of us said, Sifu, we’re so sorry that we didn’t do it. And he goes, ah, you know, I’m not a master. I’m not a Kung Fu master. And we were looking at him like, what are you talking about? And he goes, I spilled my coffee! If I was a real Kung Fu master, I wouldn’t have spilled a drop. I’m not a master. He was shaking his head. And I found that to be the funniest thing because it really set the tone for Sifu. Because when I joined, and it was a traditional Kung Fu club, he told me call him Jimmy. His English name is Jimmy Lore. His Chinese name is Lore King Hong. And I did it for about a year and it just didn’t feel right so I started calling him Sifu. But his attitude towards titles really affected me. So, even though I have a Sifu title, I don’t really make people call me that. And I think I get it from that story. Just because he was so innocently casual about ah, I’m not a master. I spilled my coffee. I just… I close my eyes and I can still see it happening. And it really impacted me as a martial arts instructor because his honesty about it was humorous. But at the same time, it was such a raw honesty that I think it really affected me as an instructor where I didn’t get so hung up on the titles, and I didn’t get so hung up on being perfect. I got more about the execution. And if a technique is meant that you don’t get punched and you do it but it’s not the way that you learned it but you still don’t get punched, it’s a good technique. It worked. So, I kind of used that story to justify or explain how I kind of approach sometimes when I teach. Where if, in the heat of the moment, something changes, at least it still worked for you.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Right.

Glen Doyle:

So, yeah.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Those are two great stories.

Glen Doyle:

Oh, okay.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Yeah.

Glen Doyle:

I don’t know if that’s good enough.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Knocks it out of the park. That’s what I was looking for.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah, yeah. So, one was a life lesson for me and the other was a lesson on humility and casualness of the additive of the title, I guess. You could class it as56:13

Jeremy Lesniak:

Undoubtedly. Now, what’s keeping you motivated? What are you looking forward to as you look out over life? I’m assuming you’re not planning to stop training.

Glen Doyle:

No. I had to stop training for a number of years in 2012, 2013. It’s nothing to do with training. It’s an out of training injury. It’s more hereditary. But my shoulders, I have this thing called frozen shoulder. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of that.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I have.

Glen Doyle:

I got it in my left shoulder and then I got it in my right shoulder. But I have it really bad. But it is genetic. My dad had it in his elbow. He got frozen elbow when he was older. And what would happen was, it came out of nowhere. I went to every person you could think of and no one really knows what causes it. They have theories. But I woke up with it one day… I just woke up with it. Then I had it. I went to bed feeling fine, woke up the next day and my left shoulder, I could barely lift my arm. And it was really debilitating and I couldn’t teach. So, I had to… I thought, actually, my teaching was over. I thought my career was over because I couldn’t do much with it. And then they say it can last anywhere from a month to two years. And mine lasted the full two because my body is that way. But it started to loosen up. I mean I went to rehab and stuff and it did help a bit. But teaching was really tough. And then as the left one was getting better, it actually moved over to my right. I had to deal with that on my right. So, I only told recently… Like in the last year and a half have I really started teaching again. So, I didn’t do a lot of physical stuff because I couldn’t move. So, I gained a lot of weight and I’m still happy with where my weight is. So, what I’m looking forward to now is my shoulders are… They’re still an issue but I can teach again and whatnot. So, I’m looking forward to using the teaching and my training to try to get back to where I feel a little healthier. So, I’m using it as my motivation but also as my tool to reinvent myself at this age. I’m 53 now. So, I’m just trying to get to a point where I can still teach, do things. But also, just to improve my overall mobility and get my health back to where I want it to be. I mean, I’m not in poor health by any means. There are people on this planet way worse off than me and I feel blessed that I am where I am. But I’m going to use what I learned and what I teach and whatnot to try to use that as the catalyst to get me back to where I want to be physically. So, that’s probably where I am right now. And it’s been frustrating. It’s really a test of my patience and you really try to look at yourself in a different light. When you think something you’ve had for so long which just suddenly got taken away from you. Because I thought it was gone. I thought my martial art career was done. I really did and I had to embrace that. And it was a pretty dark time for a couple of years. I mean, I’m still coming out of it. I’m still a little… I still have some dark days. When I can’t move like I used to, it’s frustrating. But there’s motivation in frustration if you know where to look. And that’s kind of where I’m looking now. So, that’s what I’m looking forward to in the future. It’s just to get myself back. And also, I haven’t given up on wanting to pass my family’s stick fighting style on to the world. I still want to do that. And that, again, is why I started the online course. Because it allows me to teach on my good days when my shoulders are really working well and whatnot. Because doing live seminars is great but every once in a while, I get up to do a seminar in some bad days. It’s a bad shoulder day like I call it.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Yeah.

Glen Doyle:

And it’s like, ugh. Because when I go to teach a seminar, I’m all about the people taking the seminar. They’re giving up their time for me. They’re allowing me to step into their minds and move things around. The way they move physically, the way they move tactically – that is a huge honor. And I never want to misrepresent myself and I never want to take that time with them and not maximize it out so they’d benefit. So, if I book a seminar and then on that day, my shoulders aren’t working for me and they only get 50% of what I can do or they only get half of me demonstrating and showing how it’s supposed to work, I feel like I let them down. And I don’t want to do that. So, I think that’s probably why I came up with the online thing. Because I can tape it, I can make sure it’s edited in the best way to show the technique, the best way I did it. So, they get that sense. Because I do it like a seminar, obviously, but I’m talking to the camera. But they get to at least see everything I’m talking about. Where in a live seminar, I’m kind of having a bad day, sometimes I have to crossover stuff. And I just don’t think that’s fair. People are giving their time and their physical availability and, again, allowing me to step into their mind and influence the way they move. They’ve got to be getting the best part of me, right? So, that, I’m not there yet. So, that’s why I really tapered back my live seminars right now. Because I’m not into place physically with my shoulders just yet where I know I can show up and be ready to rock and roll for their benefit. Because, again, I’m all about the people taking the seminar. Because I want them to walk out of that seminar going, that was the best three hours, four hours I’ve ever spent. I’m not saying that from an egotistical thing where I want them to tell everybody that. I want them to feel that.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Okay, yeah. I get it. Without going too deep, I’ve experienced not that injury but certainly some injuries that have limited my ability to present information. And I know how frustrating that can be.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah.

Jeremy Lesniak:

When it’s keeping you from multiple goals, your own training, and the ability to pass on your knowledge. I understand that.

Glen Doyle:

Oh, yeah. You shake your fist to the heavens quite a few times.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Now, you mentioned this stuff that’s coming but you don’t have a website. So, what do people do if they want to keep tabs on you and sign up for this course when it’s ready or keep up on where your seminars are going to be?

Glen Doyle:

Well, I have a Facebook Group. There’s a Doyle Irish Stick Fighting Facebook Group and everybody kind of joins that. And anything I have coming up, I make an announcement there. I do have a website. My website is for me as a whole because I’m writer as well and I really embraced it a lot when my shoulders weren’t working so well. So, I write scripts and stuff and I do films and whatnot. So, my website is more of a catchall but there is a page on there that people can write me and contact me and keep tabs on what I’m doing martial arts-wise. I’m a terrible businessman, okay? And I’ve always have been… I’ve lost so much money teaching. I’m surprised my wife is still with me but she’s an angel. And she puts up with so much.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I apologize for laughing.

Glen Doyle:

No.

Jeremy Lesniak:

You’re not the only one.

Glen Doyle:

No, I know.

Jeremy Lesniak:

There’s something about martial artists that inherently, we just want to share.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah.

Jeremy Lesniak:

We just want to give it away. We don’t want to do it for money.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah. And I’ve given a lot away. But you know what? I come from that honestly because, again, going back to Sifu Lore, when I joined Jing Mo in 1980… It was ’81 crossover. It was in the winter of 1981. It was what we call a Dungeon Club. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard that term. But the only way you join is by knowing someone. It’s the old style Chinese club. There’s no advertising. If you know a member, you… Now, I came across it by accident. And I was, again, it was near city hall. I was with some friends down at city hall and I’ve been looking for at martial arts. As usual, I know it sounds really, really stereotypical but I saw a Bruce Lee movie. And I said, wow, I want to do what that guy does. I really want to see what it is. So, I did some research and I found that he did a thing called Kung Fu. So, I said, okay I’m going to try and find Kung Fu. So, I was actively looking for Kung Fu clubs in Toronto and all the ones that I visited, I just… You know when you just don’t feel it? I just wasn’t feeling it. I went to visit all of them and I just wasn’t’ feeling it. So, I was kind of oh, maybe the Kung Fu is not what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll try Taekwondo or an Aikido. There’s a bunch of clubs. Toronto had so many to choose from. So, anyway, I was down at city hall with some friends. I was there to try to impress a girl which I failed miserably. And I was going home and I was cutting through this parking lot to get a street cardio home. And from the 2nd floor fire escape, this fire door was open and I heard all of this clanging and banging and this ruckus. And it sounded like a martial art class because people are making noise and whatnot. So, I was like there shouldn’t be a club here. There’s no markings on the building, there’s nothing. But it was at the 2nd floor that there was a fire escape. And it’s not the kind that you have to pull out. It was just stairs, just metal stairs. So, I just walked up and took a peek in. And I saw all these guys using these weapons. Some guys were 1:07:06 a heavy bag, some guys were doing hand forms and stuff and I kind of peeked in. And Sifu Lore was sitting, watching everybody and he spotted me. And he’s like, hey, what are you doing? I was just startled. I said, sorry I heard what I thought was a martial art class and I was just peeking in. And he told me to come in. And he made me sit down and he made every one of his students do a form for me and show what he taught. I mean, you understand I was in my teens. My hair was long, I look like a punk, really. For lack of a better term. And I couldn’t believe that he made all the students do a form for me and I was sold. And then I said I want to join. So, I showed up the next day and I was like… The average price back then when I looked at all the other clubs, again, this was in the ’80s, it was about $65 to $70 a month to be a member. And he charged me $10. And I couldn’t believe it. I’m like, okay. So, I gave him $10 a month. I trained, I went… It was open every day, seven days a week, from 5 AM to 10 PM everyday. Except on weekends, it was noon to 5 PM. But 5 AM to 10 PM on weekdays. I went everyday, didn’t miss a day for six months. It was insane – the amount of training. And then I have finished my first hand form and we were doing a demo, a show for… I forgot what it was for, some event somewhere in Chinatown. And Sifu asked me to do my form that I just learned. And I was said sure, I’ll do it. So, that was six months in. So, the next day after doing the show, I came in and I came to pay him. And he goes, no, you’re doing so much for me now. You don’t pay no more. So, my entire martial art education, my entire martial art Kung Fu education, cost me $60. So, I’ve come by the giving it away for free, honestly, because I trained with that man till 2008. So, $60 is what I payed for my entire Kung Fu education. It’s ridiculous.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Sounds like you got a good deal.

Glen Doyle:

Yeah. If you calculated the hours of training, I don’t even think… It’s like $0.001. Per hour, I don’t even know what it would be. But yeah. So, I come across it honestly in that regard. Sorry that I went off some tangent there. But I thought I would share that with you because it was the way I was… It was my experience with Kung Fu. He was such a generous man. And as soon as I started doing shows, he was like, okay. You’re sweating for me now. You don’t have to pay no more. So, I’m sure that he would giggle at me telling that story. But yeah. It was always tough for me. When I first started teaching, even when I taught women self-defense and whatnot. It was so hard for me to take their money. It almost felt criminal because I was so used to just teaching.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Yeah.

Glen Doyle:

But you got overhead. You’ve got to pay the bills. The thing with Sifu, because he was so big in the Chinese community, he didn’t pay for the space. They just gave it to him. The Chinese communities then. So, he had no overhead. So, it was a little different for him. But you don’t kind of factor that in when you’re kind of learning. You’re just wow, I got all these for $60. And now, I’m charging people all this money to teach what I learned for $60. There’s a little bit of guilt there. But I got over it eventually.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I don’t know if I agree with that.

Glen Doyle:

Well, maybe I didn’t. But as far as my…

Jeremy Lesniak:

Maybe mostly, halfway.

Glen Doyle:

As far as my wife’s concerned, I’ve got no work, okay? Between you and me.

Jeremy Lesniak:

Okay. All right. I won’t tell. I promise. This has been a lot of fun. I’ve really enjoyed getting to talk to you today and totally worth the wait to reschedule. So, again, thank you for your flexibility.

Glen Doyle:

Thank you so much.

Jeremy Lesniak:

And I want to ask just one more kindness if I would.

Glen Doyle:

Sure.

Jeremy Lesniak:

What parting words would you offer up to the folks listening today?

Glen Doyle:

Well, I would say… I’m almost paraphrasing my dad to a degree but not so much. If you’re taking a martial art, it comes from somewhere. I understand that the current state of mind is new is better, everything needs to be updated. But through evolution and actual life and death experiences, those techniques you’re learning have been passed on for a reason. And they belong there because they earned the right to be there. So, maybe just respect the past so much. Don’t be into it in an all-fire hurry to change things. Maybe just see how you can adapt them. And the other thing is, don’t be just a fighter; be a warrior. And that’s the one thing that my dad and Sifu Lore, they said it in different ways but they said the same thing. A fighter is someone who fights to keep themselves safe or to overcome their opponent. But a warrior not only trains for self-preservation but also fights for those who can’t fight for themselves. And when you’re a martial artist, you’re taking on a responsibility from the ages before you, from the generations before you. So, try to be a warrior and always remember that there’s people out there that can’t fight for themselves. If you have the opportunity to do it in a safe legal way, always try to fight for those who can’t fight for themselves. Because it comes with the territory of being a martial artist. Maybe it sounds a little cliché but I think that advice has really kind of rested in my heart. And so, I’d probably say that as my words of wisdom, I guess.

Jeremy Lesniak:

I bet you could tell I had a ton of fun talking to Sifu Doyle. I mean, what a great guy. What great stories. And how powerful it is that he gets to pass on something he loves that is both martial arts and his family? I’ll admit. I’m a bit jealous. Thank you sir for coming on the show today. You can find show notes with a bunch of photos and notes and links and other cool stuff at whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. If you hit whistlekick.com, you can sign up for the newsletter, you could make a purchase. And don’t forget the code PODCAST15 to save 15%. Uniforms, gears, shirts, sweatshirts, sweatpants, water bottles, training journal – there’s a bunch of stuff. I just added a bunch of stuff last night. And if you want to just kind of follow all the other stuff that we’re doing, social media – YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. We are @whistlekick. My direct email address, [email protected]. We keep it simple. And I thank you for your time today. Thanks for coming by, for giving me an opportunity to host this show. Until next time. Train hard, smile, and have a great day.

Episode 360 – Sifu Glen Doyle Sifu Glen Doyle is a martial arts practitioner and instructor. He is a former Kung Fu champion and practices Irish Martial Arts.

#Canada #Irish Martial Arts #Kung fu

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