#its such a small moment in the manga considering the scale of everything else going on but I cant. stop thinking about it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

tundrainafrica · 3 years

Note

So, what's your overall opinion on snk 139?

Something doesn’t sit well with me with how people on Twitter are complaining about 139. Personally (Hange backstory aside), it was satisfying and despite what people are saying that it ‘romanticizes genocide,’ I do not agree. I wanted to give my thoughts on the chapter overall so I decided to write it out.

In fact, I have another take on the overall message of the story and I hope people would give this a read.

Disclaimer: Sure, I am defending the story line and the ‘message’ that’s coming with it but I in no way, agree with the genocide. But there is a more nuanced take on this which I think will help people understand that there is an underlying message to all this and I wanted to just talk about it below.

Also, I found some cringe-worthy moments, I do not agree with Armin’s take on ‘Thank you for committing genocide for us’ one of the most horrible lines ever and I like to retcon that and never think about it again and I intend to read the Japanese raws though to check if it was just a translation error.

Maybe there is someone who already explored this but yeah, I’ll just write this in case no one has.

For now though, allow me to give a more detailed analysis of the message over all so people stop hating on the ending for ‘romanticizing genocide’ because I think this is a low key pretty shallow take on the whole thing and I want to provide some information, some analysis and some comparison to make people realize, this isn’t as easy as people claim it to be.

So let me start by mentioning something about the war with Marley to give people some perspective.

Yams pretty much set up a trolley problem on a wider scale and Eren was the one with the lever.

For people who don’t know what the trolley problem is, allow me to explain it below.

Here is a sample I found online: (See this link for details)

“A runaway trolley is heading down the tracks toward five workers who will all be killed if the trolley proceeds on its present course. Adam is standing next to a large switch that can divert the trolley onto a different track. The only way to save the lives of the five workers is to divert the trolley onto another track that only has one worker on it. If Adam diverts the trolley onto the other track, this one worker will die, but the other five workers will be saved.”

There are a lot of variations to this like:

“A runaway trolley is heading down the tracks toward five workers who will all be killed if the trolley proceeds on its present course. Adam is on a footbridge over the tracks, in between the approaching trolley and the five workers. Next to him on this footbridge is a stranger who happens to be very large. The only way to save the lives of the five workers is to push this stranger off the footbridge and onto the tracks below where his large body will stop the trolley. The stranger will die if Adam does this, but the five workers will be saved”

And there are so many other variations of this.

The runaway trolley is going after your mom vs. five escaped prisoners.

The runaway trolley is going after Pope Francis vs five serial killers.

These trolley problems show the moral tension between two schools of thought which are in two different ends of the moral spectrum: ‘Utilitarian ethics and ‘deontological ethics’ which are both either way, inherently flawed yet not totally bad. Utilitarian ethics focuses on the net happiness of doing an action as a determinant of whether something is good or not. So a utilitarian will find a way to kill less people and will probably go for the action which will actively kill people if it means saving others.

Deontological ethics emphasizes that the attention should be on the act in itself not the result is what makes something good. So ‘NOT pulling the lever’ even if it kills five people is the good thing to do.

The thing is, the trolley problem is not completely applicable in real life because you cannot really predict what’s gonna happen. Utilitarian ethics assumes that you will know what will happen in the end.

And here’s the thing, in the massive trolley problem created by Yams, Eren was the one with the lever. This was already proven in 138 and there were clear cut results. Eren knew what was going to happen. If he could, he would have just yeeted off to the woods with Mikasa and lived their remaining life together.

If he didn’t do anything, Paradis would have been completely destroyed and lost in five years or so. Marley was gonna overrun Paradis, the other nations were going to destroy it, take their resources and massive genocide was going to happen anyway.

Sure, Zeke and Hange offered their own suggestions to stop it. But as the founding titan, I’m sure Eren knew it probably wasn’t going to work. Because his daydream or the reality he saw where he lived in the woods with Mikasa implies that someone else took over the peace negotiations and Eren said himself, they had at least five years of peace before Marley and the other countries invade.

So with the results of both choices of the ‘trolley problem’ in Eren’s head at that time, he had a clear choice to make. Lemme quote the trolley problem again and apply it to his case.

“A runaway trolley (aka the war) is heading down the tracks towards Paradis who will all be killed if the trolley proceeds on its present course. Eren is standing next to a large switch that can divert the trolley onto a different track. The only way to save the lives of the people of his hometown is to divert the trolley onto another track that has the rest of the world (or at least the victims) on it. If Eren diverts the trolley onto the other track, the genoicde (the intended genocide), but Paradis will be saved.”

Okay fine, it looks like Eren did do something horrible because he pulled the lever and let more people die which is considered bad under the paradigm of both utilitarian and deontological ethics.

But lemme show you another variation of the trolley problem which can put Eren’s choice into perspective:

“A runaway trolley is heading down the tracks towards your beloved family who will all be killed if the trolley proceeds on its present course. You are standing next to a large switch that can divert the trolley onto a different track. The only way to save the lives of your loved ones is to divert the trolley onto another track that has complete strangers that have only hated you and are ready to fight back and kill everyone you love if you let them live. What will you do?”

This is difficult right? I don’t think it would be easy to make a choice to kill your family right?

So Eren went for the easier choice...

“A runaway trolley is heading down the tracks towards Eren’s loved ones who will all be killed if the trolley proceeds on its present course. Eren is standing next to a large switch that can divert the trolley onto a different track. The only way to save the lives of his loved ones is to divert the trolley onto another track that has complete strangers that have only hated him and are ready to fight back and kill everyone he loves if he lets them live.. So Eren diverts the trolley onto the other track, this trolley kills the current victims of the rumbling, but his hometown Paradis will be saved.”

So, what fueled Eren’s choice? Can love fuel Eren’s choice? Is love a valid reason to push or to leave the lever?

I personally believe love is the answer. But here my explanation.

Utilitarian and Deontological ethics are on two different sides of the ethical spectrum and at their extremes they are both inherently flawed paradigms to live by. Most people actually flit between the two when making decisions in morally gray situations which I believe is generally the most appropriate way to navigate ethics.

Let me introduce one new ethical paradigm to this discussion. “Aristotle ethics’ or Nicomachean ethics which claims there is a golden mean for everything. So goodness is finding that golden mean.

So I personally believe the most ethical and the best option is the finding that golden mean in between utilitarian ethics and deontological ethics, and what is the golden mean?

It’s difficult to find but I always believed the golden mean for something as complex as morality is the ‘most loving option’ but believe me, the most ‘loving option’ is very difficult thing to find.

I never believed that ‘true love’ was an emotion. I always believed love to be something born of deep discernment more than everything else. Although Eren had touched on love when he made the final decision to kill, he lacked the discernment which makes his decision still inherently flawed in the grand scheme of things.

So what was the whole point of the story?

I never believed AOT to be a manga that ‘romanticizes genocide’ regardless of what people are saying.

I think what Yams was trying to set up here, after giving Eren the very difficult decision, was ‘who set up the tracks in the first place?’

Who forced that young boy from Shinganshina to stand at the side of the tracks and have to make the decision to kill millions or to let his family die?

Was it the cycle of hatred? Was it the crapsack world that just forces everyone to be an asshole?

And the thing is, their world is a shithole. Just like ours.

Everyone is forced to do evil every once in their life (even through small ways) but it doesn’t mean that these people are completely at fault. There are structures in society that force us to do ‘evil’ to survive and the Catholic concept of social sin explains this. I won’t go into detail about this but I just want to say...

Morality is incredibly complex and I do not believe a clear cut right or wrong exist. But I believe if everyone discerned for themselves what right or wrong is, if everyone did their part to make this world a better place, maybe so many people wouldn’t be faced with their own version of the ‘trolley problem,’ maybe so many people wouldn’t be faced with the decision to make such an ethically gray and questionable decision like Eren.

So what’s the message that I believe Yams is trying to relay with his story?

Stop the cycle of hatred, start talking, start discourse. Stop fighting. And I think he has shown it multiple times with Eren and Reiner’s conversation and with Marco’s screams of ‘WE HAVEN’T EVEN TALKED THIS THROUGH YET.”

Anyway, I hope this meta or this rant whatever you think it is, just gives some new perspectives on the ending. Don’t get me wrong, Eren made a very ethically questionable decision but it had never been an easy decision to make to begin with.

And I hope this type of analysis and reflection could be useful to your own thoughts and your own ways on how you choose to navigate life.

#snk 139 #snk spoilers #snk ending #eren jaeger #meta

65 notes · View notes

gunnerpalace · 4 years

Photo

And I’m 💯 sure that you’re blocked and you can eat it.

But I would like to talk about this idea a little, actually. So, here are a couple of points:

The thing that a lot of modern-day “Bleach fans” don’t get is that as far as Japan is concerned, the only thing that really sells Bleach to the mass-market general audience is Ichigo and Rukia interacting. The hard truth those “Bleach fans” refuse to accept is that most of fights sucked, most of the mysteries sucked, and other than the two of them (and maybe Toushirou and Byakuya) most of the characters aren’t interesting to the average person. If you liked Bleach for any of those three reasons (or any other minor reasons), then you are in the absolute minority of nerds.

The cold, iron truth of economics is that you sell media properties in one of two ways: either by drilling down to a highly dedicated fanbase (e.g., moe-blob anime with extremely jacked-up Blu-ray prices) or by appealing to as wide and shallow an audience as possible (e.g., the Marvel Cinematic Universe). The interesting thing with Bleach is that those two audiences, by the numbers, are actually interested in the same thing: Ichigo and Rukia, and more particularly, IchiRuki.

Bold claim, I know. But you don’t have to look hard to see it. This is why the musicals were focused on them. This is why the LA movie was focused on them. And this is why both of those deemphasized other ancillary characters, especially Ichigo’s human friends like Chad—or Orihime: because they are essentially irrelevant to that largely singular fixture of the series and are forgettable other than to some hardcore nerd. (The only other thing that comes remotely close to being as iconic are the Soul Society fights, especially Ichigo vs. Byakuya.)

This is also why every time the property has been reinvented for a new market (again, e.g., the musical and the LA movie) the focus has always been on early Bleach: because it most showcases their interactions and establishes their foundational emotional connection. This is in large part why arcs that more and more deemphasized their interactions suffered increasingly worse sales, to the point that Bleach was consistently ranked 20th out of 20 in Weekly Shounen Jump’s ratings on a week-to-week basis. Less Ichigo and Rukia, and especially less Ichigo and Rukia together, means less sales. This is why TYBW and WDKALY sold abysmally, and I’m willing to bet that CFYOW’s numbers aren’t too great either considering it features neither of them at all.

This is furthermore why Studio Pierrot gave them so many moments, like the ice-skating and fireworks date that they used to send off the anime: because IchiRuki sells. And not much else does.

So, having established that, let’s talk about your idea.

Ichika and Kazui don’t make sense, because their existence in TYBW isn’t established. They simply appear, like the rest of the ending, with no buildup or explanation. In other words, there is no reason to invest in them as characters; they are simply designs walking and talking on a page. (And surprise, the only people who cared “about” them at all were people like you who were pleased as punch that it was evidence that Ichigo and Orihime, and Rukia and Renji, fucked. And even you lot don’t care about them, because there is nothing about them to possibly care about. You care about them as symbols and nothing more.)

However, what would make even less sense is to introduce them without having TYBW at all. For the anime to jump from Ichigo and Rukia having an ice rink not-date to having Ichika and Kazui running around in their places would be a bit like jumping from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, to Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens in 1983, instead of having Return of the Jedi. It really isn’t possible to overstate how much that big of a leap would lose an audience, whose reactions would be, “What the fuck is this? What happened?”

As I have previously calculated, animating TYBW would take about 4–5 seasons and about 3–4 years of production. So, unless you wanted to pull one of the strangest continuations ever in media history, you’d be waiting for that to wrap first, and presuming its financial success (which is dubious, for the above outlined reasons, and its relative historical print failure which got the manga cancelled).

Setting all that aside, Ichika and Kazui are not photocopies of Rukia and Ichigo; they are genderflipped photocopies of Renji and Orihime. There is a reason why, despite the best efforts of IH here on Tumblr Dot Com, the IR community has never warmed up to them: why would you take a cheap clone knockoff that can’t even trace the original properly when you could just have the original? This will likewise hold true for a general audience. If a random-ass person in Japan knows anything at all about Bleach, it’ll be Ichigo and Rukia. Going, “This isn’t them, but here’s the same great taste but less filling!” is going to get you a response of, “No thanks.”

Setting that aside, what exactly would be the premise? The Espada were retconned in from the aether and people were fine with them, since they were basically just the inverse and mirror of the Shinigami. But people didn’t much care when Xcution were retconned in from the aether. And they didn’t like it when Yhwach and the Sternritter were retconned in from the aether. And they really don’t care now that Tokinada, Hikone, and Aura were retconned in from the aether. Are you really going to have a fifth group of baddies we never even vaguely heard of before showing up? Or are you going to just recycle a set? “Oh, no, Aizen has escaped Muken and has made the Super Fullbringer Espada…” Please. The concept is tapped out: it either has to keep inventing new bullshit and pretending it was always around, or it has to recycle the same ideas but in a less exciting way. Or it has to be rebooted.

It is clear that something or other is happening with regard to Bleach for this “anniversary” event, but the evidence, in my eyes, doesn’t match what you would see for TYBW being animated, let alone for some kind of Boruto-style series.

The event has been marketed in a rather low-key fashion, which is weird considering the 2020 Olympics are a once-in-a-generation event which provide the perfect hype vehicle (and which Shueisha has been using to push other WSJ properties). If you were working on a large or risky project, you’d want a lot of hype—either to prepare the audience, or to maximize your initial buy-in and returns if it’s going to flop (e.g., Anthem). Being cautious indicates both the scale and risk are small.

The emphasis on the voice actors who are appearing at the event are all for classic and popular characters: Ichigo, Byakuya, and now Rukia. You know what fans don’t like? Having a bait-and-switch pulled on them where their classic faves are affiliated with something, only for them to be radically deemphasized in the actual final product. (Just look at the three recent Star Wars movies for some proof of that one.) It is far more likely to be something focused around them.

MegaHouse is making new Bleach figurines this year. But the designs they’ve chosen so far are… Fake Karakura battle Armored Yoruichi (who I’m excited for), and Hueco Mundo style unreleased Grimmjow. If you were going to make merchandise for TYBW or a next-generation show, it’d make a lot more sense for that merch to be… actually related to those events, rather than “classic” designs, now wouldn’t it? To go to the Star Wars well again, they weren’t trying to sell Qui-Gon Jinn or Lando Calrissian toys with The Last Jedi.

To me, all the evidence indicates that whatever it is will be some sort of “Greatest Hits” OVA or something like that, with a focus on the Aizen era of the series. Maybe a lot of the “best” battles redone in really high quality. Maybe a video game. Maybe a reboot of the series from the start. Hard to say. But it doesn’t look an awful lot like TYBW, let alone a next-generation effort.

Now, I’m not saying that either of those things are impossible. I’ve been wrong before in this life (for example, I didn’t think Putin would invade Crimea), and I will be wrong again. I could be wrong about this too. I can only speak in probabilities.

But what I will say with confidence is that committing to TYBW would be fairly dumb as a business decision given everything that is evident about what makes Bleach sell.

And committing to a next-generation series at this stage before doing TYBW would be even dumber.

And doing a next-generation series without doing TYBW would be even dumber still.

Now, stupid people are in ascendancy worldwide in all kinds of endeavors, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that someone greenlit something so dumb. But if they did, I don’t think it’s going to do so hot.

So, good luck, I guess.

#Asks

48 notes · View notes

xox-hitorabu-xox · 7 years

Conversation

||Part of this really happened, though I improvised a bit.||

Person who has only seen Durarara!! Anime and admits to being too lazy to read novels: Why would anybody like this guy? *posts gif where Izaya is saying*"People are my playthings."

Me: There are reasons I like Izaya: For one, he's intelligent, charming, cunning, has class, cares for and values his friendship with Shinra in his own way even though he has trouble with empathy(something I relate to), and despite everything, he's just a human even though he's able to bring down an entire organization like Amphisbaena. Not to mention I'm pretty sure he's jealous of practically everybody he comes into contact with. Shizuo, Mikado, Shinra, even Celty.

Me: He punches a telephone pole upon realizing he'd be betraying his only friend by normal human standards.

Me: And he was neglected by his parents emotionally. That's a very typical cause of personality disorders, just so you know. It's not entirely his fault that he is the way he is. Just saying. But I enjoyed watching him outsmart Amphisbaena. And I really like reading the novels for his philosophical views. Plus, he's kind of agnostic and fears death more than anything, something I can relate to.

Me: Haha his hand was literally swollen up because of slamming it into the telephone pole. But you know what happened when his sisters expressed concern for his hand?

This-

Mairu tilted her head and asked as she saw his right hand, “What happened, Iza-nii? Your right hand looks swollen.”

“...Health (Are you alright)?” Kururi looked at him with worried eyes.

Izaya stroked her head with his left hand and lied with a sigh, “Yeah, I got this when I was running away from Shizu-chan.”

“So you deserved it after all—”

“Keep yourselves away from muscle idiots like that one. Or you could die, you know.”

The siblings continued their conversation as they disappeared into the city night. The city, which took in everything it was offered, absorbed their talk into its nightly cacophony as it did any chit-chat within any normal family.

That was from the ninth Durarara!! Light novel.

But what was even sadder was the scene before that -

The twins flanked Izaya as he began walking, a bitter smile on his face. Mairu, who was on Izaya’s right, raised her face to look at him and said in a natural tone, “Say, Iza-nii. We know that you probably don’t treat us any differently as you treat other people, but keep in mind that we still think of you as family, OK?”

“All of a sudden you’re saying things that would actually make me happy. What happened?” Izaya felt that the line didn’t sound like Mairu, who usually told him to “Die!” and highkicked him when she saw him. He glanced at his sisters’ faces—and saw that they were smiling innocently back at him as they continued.

“So, if you get killed by Shizuo-san, Iza-nii, we’ll make sure to cry a little bit for you before we laugh about it.”

“Small (Just a little)...”

“...I was a fool to expect any family love from you.”

Izaya chuckled and walked faster.

- Also from LN 9, I have no clue why it wasn't in the anime. It really should have been. Especially the scene where he actually punched the telephone pole. But another reason I like Izaya is because not only is Izaya changing, but Narita himself said, "I have a feeling there was a scene where he cried, but he didn't let the readers see."

Somebody else: There are many reasons that make me like Izaya Orihara, like his fascinating personality, but that doesn't mean I think of him as a good man ¯\_(ツ)_/ ¯ I love it anyway

Person who has only seen the Durarara!! anime:

*throws in lame ass argument about what 'bad' things Izaya has done, without arguing, even though the argument could go both ways, considering he did take down Amphisbaena, and took Jinnai Yodogiri's corporation, giving Kasane Kujiragi back her freedom.*

Me: He's neither good nor bad. Most people can't be classified as either. We're all selfish in our own ways, and have a dark nature down deep that makes us want to test people at points. But without proper nurturing that can become harmful by nature, and it can consume us.

Somebody else number 2: The funny thing is that most people fail to recognize that they are of equal good/bad scale to Izaya without realizing it. It's only because Izaya is presented as an antagonist going against the common societal view that he is seen as a villain. Anyone that stands out against what is accepted is seen as bad because that is what we are taught at a young age to believe.

So saying that you hate Izaya because he is evil or bad is playing into those accepted, ingrained, and common beliefs.

Person who has only seen Durarara!! anime:

I don't have to like Izaya. I don't agree with you, and I don't want to argue about this. Izaya is pretty terrible. He started a whole war for fun, and told a girl to commit suicide. Any Shinra was just assuming when he said that Izaya has a fragile heart. Shinra is just some underground doctor(me: that doesn't know what he's talking about)?

Me: You don't have to like him, but you can't just deny canon. First off, he didn't want to start the war entirely for fun. He's an atheist/agnostic, and is terrified of death more than anything. The novels outright called Shinra, "his friend, the first person to see through Izaya to his true nature.". And Shinra described Izaya's 'true nature' as being more human and his heart more fragile than anybody else. Nextly, Shinra isn't 'just' some ignorant doctor. He has the potential to be the most manipulative character on the show if he really wanted to, and he's not ignorant. He's actually fairly insightful and observant, even when others aren't even though he ignores them because he only cares about Celty. Even Tom seemed weary of Shinra, implied by the novels.

Somebody else 4: Whether you like Izaya or not doesn't matter, because it's not just interpretation, it's canon, so in other words, you're just ignoring facts to justify your hatred for him.

Person who has only seen Durarara!! anime:

I mean he could made different choices and it could have turned out better.

Person who has only seen Durarara!! anime: I think Izaya's the worst one because he started the war.

Me: The same could be said for pretty much every single one of the characters, who all have done some pretty bad things, and crossed over things Izaya never would. *points out Shizuo's non justification for his hair trigger and how if it weren't for Simon, Shizuo could have killed somebody. Points out Ran's joking about raping both Saki and Mikage, as well as his abuse towards his brother, not to mention what he did and threatened to Saki(though he is jealous of the love Aoba receives from his parents, and the natural leader role Kyouhei has), points out Anri's hypocrisy in siding with Saika just because she saved her, points out Masaomi's cowardice(even though he has his really good moments), points out how Izaya saved Saki and multiple other girls from abusive situations, and especially Kuon's sister's experience with Izaya and how they can't properly seem to live without Izaya, points out the fact that, in reality, Mikado stabbed Aoba because he wanted to fulfill his ego, as well as the fact that he shot off a gun and caused a spark in the Awakusu-kai, points out some of the things Namie and Seiji did, not to mention Shinra's manipulative nature. Above all, points out all the trouble Nasujima caused and the terrible things he did(to Haruna and her family especially), as well as Jinnai Yadogiri sending Vorona(serial killer for fun at first, likely because of neglect) and Sloan to kidnap a child and do who knows what with her, considering all that Jinnai did to Ruri(also serial killer, but less for fun and more for revenge to get back at those who killed her parents)(not to mention Jinnai doing experimentation on her), though killing still starts to consume her because she feels freedom by doing so), Adabashi beating Shinra to a bloody pulp(though not apparently as bad as Shizuo has supposedly done to Shinra in the past, according to Shinra himself)(after which Izaya had Izumii break Adabashi's leg broke and kept him in his apartment for three days until he managed to escape.)* I'm not going to even go into Shizuo beating up a guy for simply questioning the purpose of life and telling him to go die, or the things Vorona, Shinra, Walker, Erika, Aoba, Rokujo, even Celty,(probably)Simon, and many others have done. Because every character has flaws and weaknesses that make them human. Minus Takashi and Jinnai Yadogiri, everybody has a least one person they have an attachment to of some sort and can feel a little closer to than others, even if they won't admit it, mostly everybody has unhealthy obsessions, Izaya nonetheless. But most everybody is changing, Izaya has even took the huge step of NOT calling Shizuo a monster, and instead admitting that Shizuo is just a man that distanced himself from humans. If that alone is not an improvement for him, I don't know what is.

Person who has only seen the Durarara!! anime: *obviously didn't read much of anything* Eh, Izaya's not good, and I just can't find it in myself to like him. If he were a real person, I might sympathize with him a little bit, because he could find help, but he's just a character, and there's no real justification for why he is the way he is.

Other person who has only seen the Durarara!! anime:

The anime is made for you to interpret Izaya however you want.

Somebody else number 4: This is why people need to read the novels. There is more to Izaya than what is portrayed in the anime.

Me: Plus, both the anime and manga is there to promote the original sources, so, naturally, they are going to leave out stuff, because they want you to read novels.

Somebody else number 5: Izaya isn't evil. He's not a sociopath. He's not a psychopath. He's not a troll. He is indeed only human and only wants a little more in his life than sitting on a bed and binge watch anime. There's so many reasons to like him

#izaya #Izaya Orihara #orihara izaya #drrr!!#Drrr #Durarara!!#durarara #durararara #durarara light novel #durarara light novels #chat

353 notes · View notes

ministryofgamers · 7 years

Text

The FIX - Bren

I’ve been doing YouTube for a LONG time now, well 8 years certainly sounds like a long time to me.. but eerily doesn’t feel like a long time. We’ve been through so many changes and trails, trying different things, making movies, TV shows, Interviews, Press events... you name it, as a content creator for the video game community I’ve made it. I’ve always wanted to be a successful youtuber when it came to video-games, these days that usually means you have to figure out a silly name and play lots of games and make a fool of yourself (and yeah i’ve done that too). A youtube star is someone that has millions of followers, uploads daily, sometimes twice daily, but I have none of those things... does that mean i’m not successful? I dont’ think so. I’ve conducted interviews with lead game designers, been to top tier invite only press functions, had 2 shows on UK TV for video games, a movie, and run an active community driven youtube channel that has a great gathering of awesome people. So why is it that I feel like I’ve failed somehow? is it because I didn’t find the right audience? is it because I didn’t get launched to super stardom for my time as a games journalist... would I even want that if it came knocking... i’m not even sure I would like it to be honest. It's strange, I've always felt like I’ve wanted to be successful in making video content, films, art, always wanted to entertain and make something that would make someone say “wow” and I have done that, but on a small scale.

Now on Youtube I see things are very different, attention spans are miniscule, kids are starting channels left right and centre, no knowledge of how to frame a good shot, how to use a decent microphone, no knowledge on how to make a proper video... vertical videos of cats being dicks, fail videos, pranks, challenges, all of that stuff to me is benine crap, redundant. I feel the same about reality TV and how most formats prey on schadenfreude( german phrase meaning "to take pleasure in anothers missfortune") I find it nausiating that television, for the most part, has become so mundane, fuelled by adverts and les than average production values. I recently watched a shocking piece of output form the BBC where they seem to have forgotten that sound levels are important... as well as whitebalance and did the OP forget his tripod? Hand held is ok, but this chap looked like he'd had a bit too much rum in his coffee that morning.

Anyway, back to Youtube. I'm a part of a few "small youtuber" groups on facebook, basically if you don't have 500,000 subs these days you are considered to be pretty small time. And in these groups I see thousands of the same posts everyday "yay i got 20 subs" or "how many views do i need before i can monetize." and the best one "sub for sub anyone?" honestly pretty much everyone on those groups that i've looked at (except one or two) literally have no fucking idea what they are doing and couldn't make a video if it meant saving their own life. Time and time again I see the same shit, constantly. It honestly makes me Wince at the thought that these kids are about to embark on the most dissapointing crusade of thier lives. I started youtube in 2009 and it was a bloody good time to do so as there were pretty much no such thing as lets plays or video game shows etc... we had an amazing show, 4 presenters, heavily edited reviews, sketches, comedy! And best of all we were in with the big boys, interviewing people I never thought i'd ever get to meet! "But Bren, why didn't you just keep going with that?" Well, thats a whole different story and i'll just sum it up by saying there were differences of opinion and it fell apart.

Starting GameGazmTV was very freeing... I had decided that I needed a platform where I didn't care too much about what content I put on it... I had boxed up my camera equipment and used a phone to film most of the stuff for it... we slapped half naked manga girls all over it with flames and rock music in the hope that we would offend someone enough to just come and look at the channel... even the name "GameGazm" was fucking ridiculous. It wasn't long before we started to slowly change everything. Removing the semi naked girls, and some "dead weight" and started to clean up the brand... but it didn't do anything really.. I started to slip back into the "everything must be good" routine, so started heavily editing videos again, making bigger productions, adding more visual effects to everything... graphical updates, weekly updates, started doing let's plays for more content, live streams... then by year 4 we changed the name fully to Ministry of Gamers in the hope of finally shedding the GameGazm crappy beginnings. And now I've suddenly realised... that I hate most of it... I look back at a lot of our content and pretty much 90% of it I could throw in the bin and no one would bat an eyelid. The content I love the most on our channel is 2 videos... Solstice and Top Gun. 2 videos that I think are actually really worth watching... the rest of them i'm not that bothered about... but solstice and top gun both took 6 weeks each to make... thats a lot of time... and then the most successful video on our channel is a video about a fucking controller that we shot in an hour because we thought "why not" I couldn't give a crap about that controller... but its the only video that i've spent the least amount of time on and its the most successfull thing ive ever made.... talk about a kick in the teeth... thats some way to really get yourself down.

Up until this point if you asked me is YouTube worth doing, should I start a channel? I would have said " yeah its really fun to do, and totally worth it." but ask me right now? i'd say "no... don't do it.. its really not worth the stress you'll put yourself through, its not worth seeing comments like "shut up and stop reviewing games you fat cunt." on a video that you spent DAYS writing, recording, editing. Its not worth making any video that takes you longer than an hour to do, because honestly... your effort is the last thing youtube gives a crap about." Youtube does not care if you stayed up for a week straight slaving over an edit, making sure your colours are good, sound is balanced, Youtube doesn't care if you spent days crafting a CGI intro for your channel, making custom graphics, building a brand! It DOESN'T CARE... but make a controller video, slap it up, and youtube will give you £300 and a pat on the head..... great... just film your cat doing something retarded and you'll be a millionaire in no time. don't worry about talent... its not required here.

Basically youtube isn't the kind of platform I would like to be on. But not being on Youtube is like saying "I don't want to be on the biggest viewing platform available." throughout my video carrer I've only ever really been interested in making content about videogames. It's my passion so what else would I do? I have a couple of thoughts about other avenues I could explore. But if I really cared about them then I would have been doing it already. No I still care about making content for videogames but now its time to change the focus... change the direction because something has to change... i'm no longer going to use youtube as a platform to give content thats about something else.. i'm going to make it about ME and my team as people, its not a show anymore. I want it to document OUR struggle, OUR journey through a project, how we as people are focused on making entertainment. Youtube doesn't need another gaming channel, it needs to hear about how crushingly difficult it is to get anywhere with content creation, and thats where I want to be now. I'll be working on something I really care about, and i'll provide updates to that on youtube.

I can't keep going the way I have been, a constant viscious circle of dissapointment and failiure, over and over. I'm done trying to fill a gap that just doesn't need to be filled. There are other ways I can use my time and thats the most precious thing to all of us.. becasue there really isnt' that much of it.

Why have I written this? I guess to just put it all down somehwere other than my head.. the more I write at the moment the more I feel it leaving me.. literally like ive turned a tap on and the water was filthy and its slowly starting to clear up. My main point to all of this though was to fully understand why i'm so successful at failing, I make incredible work that never gets anywhere and no one really cares that much about, but its still MY work, and even if only one person sees it and is entertained by it, then to me, i've won. So in closing, I am a youtuber, and a fucking successful one. And no one really knows it...... yet, and of course i'll never give up, I firmly believe I have something to offer a wide audience, i'm not quite sure what that is yet, but I feel like its my mission to figure it out, I owe it to myself to keep trying! and always give my best. Take pride in what you do, and if you believe in something enough, you will get it... after a long bitter road of absolute mental turmoil.... you'll get it.

Bren.

2 notes · View notes

chromemuffin · 7 years

Photo

Shoukoku no Altair Liveblogging (Chapter 13)

I feel like I should at least try to keep ahead of the anime...

Bit of a time skip, it is apparently 15 days since the fighting broke out over the port town. And Mr. Glorious Hair is here to lead the assault. If you notice, here, even the archers behind him all have subtly different appearances...

Chapter 13: Lizard of the Back Alley

Interesting chapter title.

Talk about an uphill battle, yeesh.

There hasn’t been that much gore or violence so far, relatively speaking. Until now.

Ouch. The arrow even broke through the shield.

Not only is this an example of an uphill battle, it is also a lovely way to express just how brutal the Empire is, even with its own army.

Harsh. Not unrealistic for the times, but harsh. However, it is written that the most dangerous soldiers are trapped soldiers. With nowhere to retreat, and an overwhelming force in front of them. But it’s also advised to avoid trying to take over walled cities if at all possible. Guess they’re counting on the fact that they have enough meat shields to overcome the Phoenicians’ defenses or starve them out.

Nice ship. I forgot who the Venedik were though...

I’ve been blogging sporadically, so I keep forgetting everyone’s names...This the second or third time the manga has labeled Constantinos and the others. Usually I read straight through so it seems superfluous.

Hm, Constantinos is really confident, but this looks to be a very bad situation. The Empire can attack them from the sea and land, and the only way they can really win is if their allies manage to show up.

I don’t have that much to say this chapter, just that I have a feeling things aren’t going to end very well...Or at least, things will get worse before they get better.

Mahmut is an interesting combination of a thinking protagonist and young and impulsive. He’s definitely a thinker, but his youth supersedes that at times. Like a few chapters ago, he thinks, but is too quick to self-sacrifice, or he jumps to conclusions.

He is being incredibly realistic here, perhaps because he has less personal stock in the immediate situation than the Phoenicians.

I love how downright menacing he looks here. Of course, it’s not actually Mahmut who is menacing, but the threat of the Empire/Minister Louis. When this series plays with the lights and shadows, it really makes an impact.

Considering Mahmut’s track record with suggestions that involve him going off alone to resolve a situation...not sure if I should be relieved he’s taking a stand or worried.

OH NO. THE PARALLELS.

Sad face.

But also happy face, because self-awareness!

How many countries were absorbed into the Empire, anyway?

Hellooo again, Kyros! I can’t believe the anime is basically caught up with this liveblog, lol. I’m so slow...

But, here’s a cute moment amidst the tension! A derpy Iskander and surprised Mahmut. I love the little faces he makes when he’s caught of guard.

Wait. You’re related to...him?

Haha. They don’t look alike at all...

lol wait is that Suleyman. Before everything went to hell for him. Ironically, they both work under the same man now.

lol wait what. He got captured once?

But look at that face. It was probably on purpose.

I love that lizard tattoo. Come to think of it...the title is Lizard of the Back Alley.

lol from this...

to this.

Mahmut. That. Is not. What he meant.

Slipping through the Empire’s forces is probably even more dangerous than staying in town.

Ah, he looks so self-assured. He’s doing the right thing this time! Yup! Totally not going to screw this up. The thing is, these things he comes up with are completely logical and even necessary, he just...doesn’t realize he is but one person.

lol you can join the club of people Mahmut unintentionally exasperates.

More symbolism here! The light goes out, leaving them in total darkness. To make matters worse, the floor beneath their feet is not exactly stable.

Sort of like the situation Mahmut has found himself in this time.

ugh he sounds small and desperate here, but his argument is weak. It seems like he is trying to convince himself, never mind Kyros.

Mahmut always seems to find himself floundering like this. He wants to help Turkiye. He’s desperate to do so. and yet cannot find the “right” way to go about it no matter where he turns.

They don’t seem like much, but these panels actually bring up some important points.

It’s clear Mahmut has issues with expectations. He expects himself to be as competent as people twice his age or more, and is frustrated and disappointed in himself when he doesn’t live up to those expectations. So he tries to either overcompensate (by self-sacrifice) or, here, thinks of what the more ‘successful’ people in his life would do.

I like the process of his growth and development. Yeah, he already learned to rely on others in order to become someone reliable, he learned that his self-sacrificial behavior helps no one. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to be perfect right away.

It sort of shocks me how much Mahmut feels like his age.

...And how much he does not feel like his age at the same time. At least, not how seventeen year olds of today are like.

But! He does show more growth here! He learned from his blunder at Hisar.

This is actually quite interesting - he’s really a shounen protagonist at heart. He wants to help people, and feels for them. He’s not like Zaganos who would seemingly toss any number of people under the bus for the greater good.

But he is also a soldier. And if he ever wants to become pasha again, he has to remember that the safety of the country he swore his loyalty to comes before all else.

btw, he looks great for someone who is dangling in midair, supported by someone who has equally bean-like arms as himself, and thiiis close to falling to his death.

lol he got me fired up too. Mahmut can be very convincing when he gets in the mood.

NO IT’S LOUIS AGAIN.

Don’t like him very much, but I’ve got to say his hair gets more and more impressive by the chapter. It’s going to reach his chin soon...

I love this little detail. The pieces are on little ships! Because they’re fighting at sea! It’s adorable.

THAT TAKES SOME GUTS. Or, alternatively, a lot of pawns and death threats.

How the hell did they get past the whirlpools and scale the crystal cliffs anyway?

I take that back, her hair is even crazier.

Anyway, that was a decent set up chapter. It’s certainly raising a lot of red flags (Constantinos, I’m looking at you, you just doomed your city by spouting all that confident talk). I’m looking forward to how the hell our little MC is going to salvage this situation, it should take at least some time to get to Venedik, and time is not something they have a surplus of...

← back・onward →

#Shoukoku no Altair #Shokoku no Altair #the very long altair liveblog

5 notes · View notes

sylvaniaschoolofmagic · 7 years

Text

Quidditch pt. 2 (The Trouble with Treble)

[Sonic and Knuckles wonder how the hell Vector hasn’t burned down his own house yet, and discover something interesting about Espio.]

Sneaking out of the castle after dinner wasn’t as easy as the two friends had expected. They promised not to tell anyone about what they were doing, which included Mighty and Ray, who had been hanging around the entrance hall all evening. Knuckles wouldn’t have a hard time leaving the castle through a window, especially since he could glide. Plus, the Hufflepuff common room was only partially underground, so climbing out one of those windows would just lead him directly to the lawn outside. Sonic, however, would be in Gryffindor tower, a much harder locale to escape from if one was trying to be stealthy. He could jump out the window and then run down the side of the tower to catch himself, but there was a much higher chance of someone seeing him if he did that.

What they eventually wound up doing was having Knuckles sneak out through the Hufflepuff common room, then sneak over to the base of Gryffindor tower, and catch Sonic as he jumped out. It was much quieter than the hedgehog sprinting wildly down the side of the tall tower, and Knuckles’s strength made it an easy catch. Because they had to coordinate their breakout, though, they took a little while to sneak out of the castle. They hoped they wouldn’t be too late to meet Espio, if he’d been able to sneak out at all.

“Espio’s a chameleon,” Knuckles whispered as the two started sneaking across the grounds, keeping close to the treeline so they wouldn’t be easily spotted from the castle. “He can probably blend in pretty well. I bet he got out of the castle no problem.”

“Yeah, but even the best chameleons can’t become completely invisible,” Sonic tsked under his breath. “And even then, he wouldn’t be able to turn his clothes invisible. He’d have to be out here without shoes on, and it’s been getting colder out.”

“Well then, we’ll ask him when we get there. On top of all the other stuff we need to talk about,” the echidna hissed as they crept through the grassy hills.

They half snuck half ran to Vector’s hut, not going full speed but fast enough to make up for lost time. The grass rustled underfoot, and they could hear the trees creaking in the autumn wind as they passed. It was light enough outside that they could see where they were going, but it was still pretty dark and creepy. All in all, not a night they would like to be caught sneaking out on.

The two reached Vector’s hut by the edge of the forbidden forest, their trek not taking too long at all. They slowed as they reached the house, the lights on but all the curtains drawn. Smoke was billowing out the chimney, suggesting there was a big fire in the fireplace even though it wasn’t terribly cold yet. They could hear voices coming from inside: Vector’s unmistakable brass, and Espio’s more hushed tones. The two friends shared a nod before Sonic walked up to the door, placing fist to wood.

After the knock, the voices inside stopped dead. Some skittering could be heard, and Sonic and Knuckles exchanged some confused glances. “Uh, it’s us? Sonic and Knuckles?” the young hedgehog said, just loud enough that his voice would carry through the door. “Espio told us to come?”

A moment later, the door cracked open, Vector peering out at them with one eye. “Hey, kids. Thanks fer comin’,” he said, pulling the door open all the way and quickly ushering them inside.

The small hut felt like an oven inside, the fire blazing hot and immediately drying out their mouths. The little house was primarily just one big room inside, with a large bed with multiple quilts shoved against one wall, and a well-loved kitchen against the other. There was a round table with chairs that were too large for the young students, and on one of the shelves was an old muggle record player that looked like it had been rigged to run on magic.

Espio was sitting on one of the too-tall chairs, his legs pulled up and away from the floor. This was likely because there was something shifting under Vector’s bed, causing the whole thing to shake and bump up and down as it moved. “Hey, glad you could make it,” the chameleon said nonchalantly, as if this kind of scenario was something that happened every day.

“What,” Knuckles said, eyes fixed on the bed as Vector closed the door behind him, “is under there?”

The croc beamed as he stepped over to the bed. “Oh, this little fella’s name is Treble. ‘Cause she’s a little treble-maker!” he laughed, goading the mystery creature out from under his bed. He was met by a little puff of flame, causing him to quickly retract his hand. Sonic noticed that his normally-white gloves were pretty burned up, somehow still holding together.

As the creature emerged, Sonic and Knuckles knew why Espio was curled up on a chair, and instantly moved to join him. A large, feral lizard crawled out from under Vector’s bed, smoke pouring out of its nostrils with every breath it took. It had dark scales, long, talon-like claws, and yellow eyes that seemed to focus on everything at once. Its snout was long, as was its body, and it had a pair of leathery, crumpled up wings on its back.

“Vector,” Knuckles croaked, perched on top of the croc’s dining table, “is that… a dragon?”

“‘Course she’s a dragon!” Vector laughed as Treble nipped at the toes of his shoes. “Y’ever see anythin’ else that breathes fire like that? Why’d’ya think it’s so hot in here, huh?”

“Whoa,” Sonic breathed, eyes open wide. He knew he lived in a world of magic and all, but he never expected to see a dragon up close like this. In fact, before that moment, he had never thought, oh hey, dragons exist! That’s right! He’d heard them mentioned in conversations once or twice, but it was always about how dragons used to be everywhere on Mobius. Nothing like this. “Um, is that really… Safe to have? It’s kinda big, and your house is sort of… small. And made of wood.”

“Yeah, that’s what I needed your help with,” Espio admitted. “Vector got the dragon egg without considering the consequences of raising an illegal dragon in his hut,” he said, giving the groundskeeper a squinted glare, “and now we need to get rid of her.”

“Can’t you just let her go? Release her into the wild?” Sonic asked, eyes glued to the dragon that was stalking around the floor of the hut.

“Are you kiddin’?” Vector said. “She won’t last out there! She’s too small and vulnerable to be on her own! She’s just a baby!”

“She’s a DRAGON,” Knuckles hissed, maneuvering himself to stay as far away from Treble as possible.

“We’ve already got a solution worked out,” Espio said. “We arranged for some former Sylvania students to come and take her. They’re studying dragons in Chu-nan, so she can grow up safely with her own kind. That way, Vector is happy, Treble is happy, and I don’t have to help him hide a dragon in here anymore.”

“Okay, awesome,” Sonic clapped his hands together. “So… where do we come in?”

“The only way for those guys to pick up Treble and get out of here quickly without being spotted is for us to get her up to the top of the astronomy tower,” the chameleon practically groaned. “Vector’s got a crate all set up for her, but the problem is getting her up there. Knuckles, you could carry her easily, couldn’t you?”

“Yeah, I should be able to,” Knuckles said, though he didn’t sound happy about it in the slightest. “Only looks like she weighs a hundred or two pounds. But still, getting her from here up to the top of the tallest tower in the castle won’t be easy. We’ll be spotted in a second.”

“Not if Sonic keeps a lookout and lures any teachers away from us. I’ve seen him run, he won’t get caught.”

“That’s true,” the hedgehog agreed. “I can get Froggy and whoever else off your guys’s tail, easy.”

“And if that’s not enough,” the chameleon said, a bit more confidently now, “I have a trick up my sleeve that’ll get us out of a pinch. What do you guys say?”

Knuckles grumbled something under his breath, a string of syllables that Sonic couldn’t quite understand. “It’s not like we have much of a choice,” he said, louder now. “Either we help you out, or Vector gets busted for having a dragon on campus, and we get hunted down as accomplices because we knew about it.” He sent Espio a dirty look. “You so owe us after this.”

“I’ll help you with every homework assignment for the rest of the year.”

“And?”

“And I’ll give you cash. Ten sickles. Each of you.“

"Aaaand?”

“Fine, and you can borrow my manga collection! All of it! Deal?”

“Deal,” the echidna smirked, shaking his hand.

Sonic shot Knuckles a quizzical look. “You like manga?”

“Nope. Just wanted to get under his skin,” Knuckles shrugged.

Espio rolled his eyes as Sonic laughed. “Oh good,” the hedgehog said, “I thought you only pushed my buttons. Good to know you do that with everyone.”

“If you kids are done chattin’,” Vector said, leaning over to pick up Treble like she was just a huge house cat, “we gotta get this girl boxed up and up on the top of the astronomy tower before eleven.”

Getting Treble into her crate proved to be a huge hassle. They not only had to cram the dragon into the container (that luckily had been charmed with a fireproofing spell), they also had to fit in fifty additional pounds of raw meat and brandy for the dragon to eat, and her blanket (a chewed up, ripped, and charred husk of cloth), and her teddy bear (which looked remarkably like the blanket, only with bits of fluff stuck to it). She wanted to be in the confined crate even less than she wanted to be in Vector’s confining hut. By they time they got her and her luggage into the crate and sealed it up, it was a few minutes after ten. They had under an hour to get the payload to the very top of the castle without anyone noticing them. Piece of cake.

ooo

Carrying Treble through the castle while trying to be stealthy was not easy. The dragon didn’t enjoy being in a crate, and she liked being carried around even less. She wasn’t too heavy for Knuckles to lift, but she kept moving and shifting, making her crate more difficult to hold.

“Where the heck did Vector even get a dragon?” Knuckles hissed, struggling a little bit juggling the crate and walking up the stairs. Espio was with him, helping him keep balance and guiding his feet. Sonic had run a little bit ahead, keeping an eye out for anyone wandering the castle halls at night.

“Apparently,” Espio rolled his eyes, “he won the egg off some guy in a pub. It hatched about two weeks ago.”

“This thing’s only two weeks old? Holy–”

Sonic sped down the stairs to them, his face reading pure panic mode. “Eggman’s coming,” he breathed.

Knuckles’s eyes went wide, and he cursed under his breath. “What do we do?”

“Set Treble down,” Espio said. “You two get out of sight.”

“What about you?!” Sonic gasped. “You can’t just–”

“I’ll handle it, it’ll be fine. Trust me.” The chameleon shooed them off, gripping the crate as Knuckles set it down on the stairs. The echidna climbed over the railing on the stairs and dropped down, landing on a staircase below as Sonic zipped away as silently as he could.

Knuckles landed safely on the stairs, and he looked back up at Espio. What the hell does he think he’s doing? He’s going to get himself caught! he thought, his heart nervously pounding in his chest. He could hear Eggman’s boisterous footfalls coming down the steps, getting closer and closer. He saw Espio set his hands solidly on the crate, and then… Espio vanished entirely, his clothes and the crate disappearing along with him. Knuckles blinked, wondering if he just missed something, or if he was tired and imagining things because he was up so late at night. But lo and behold, Eggman walked down the steps without noticing anything out of the ordinary. The professor hummed and muttered to himself as he walked right past Espio and the dragon, more preoccupied by whatever was on his mind than his surroundings. What the… How did he…? Knuckles thought, completely baffled.

Once Eggman was completely gone and out of earshot, he climbed back up the steps, getting back to where Espio and Treble were. Sonic returned a moment later, and Espio and their charge flickered back into view.

“Whoa!” Sonic whisper-shouted as the chameleon and the crate reappeared right before his eyes. “How’d you do that?!”

Espio shrugged, his breathing a little heavier than he had been a minute ago. “I mean, all chameleons can blend into their environment. I’ve always just been really good at it, I guess.”

“Yeah, but that was completely invisible!”

Knuckles nodded, furrowing his brow. “Yeah, plus you did it to your clothes, and the crate as well. I’ve never heard of anyone being able to do that.”

“I… Look, I don’t know. It’s just… a thing I can do,” the chameleon said awkwardly. The crate shifted and bumped, and he held it steady. “C’mon, we gotta get her upstairs.” He handed the crate off to Knuckles and started climbing the steps.

Sonic and Knuckles shared a surprised look for a moment before they started to follow after him.

The rest of the journey up to the astronomy tower wasn’t too eventful, with no other teachers currently stalking the upper floors. Treble had quieted down for the most part. Perhaps being invisible had mellowed her out, because she wasn’t moving around as much as she was before. Carrying her up to the top of the astronomy tower was a fairly easy job, especially with that part of the castle as empty as it was.

They climbed out of the hatch door at the top of the tower, climbing out into the chilly open air. Knuckles hoisted the crate up onto the roof and heaved a sigh of relief. “Finally, that felt like it took forever.”

“We got her up here, though!” Sonic smiled, stretching his arms up over his head. “Now we just gotta wait for her to get picked up. Then she’s home free!” He bent down next to the crate, peeking in through the gaps in the wood.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting attached,” Knuckles gruffed.

“Well, I mean, she is pretty cool. Not every day you get to smuggle a dragon through the school.”

The echidna rolled his eyes, and Espio grinned. “I don’t think I’ll be missing her much. My tail still has some bite marks.”

“Ouch, yeah, I guess you’ve been helping Vector out with her, huh?” Sonic chuckled. He patted the top of the crate and stood back up, looking between the box and Espio.

“Heh, yeah. Unfortunately. Thank you both for helping out with this by the way, I don’t know if I could have done this without your help.”

Sonic beamed. “No prob, Es!’

Knuckles raised an eyeridge, putting his hands on his hips. “You’re welcome, though it looked like you had things covered just fine back there.”

The Ravenclaw tucked his hands inside of his pockets and tapped one of his shoes against the stone floor. “Honestly, that was kind of a fluke back there. I’ve never made myself and something that big totally invisible before. I don’t even know how I do that in the first place.”

“I think I might have an idea,” Knuckles smirked. He opened his mouth to say more, but several brooms whooshed overhead, their riders circling around and landing next to them all on the roof of the tower.

Right on time for the trade-off, the small group of alumni had arrived. They didn’t stick around to chat much, having time to do little more than shake hands and say “thank you” before they started hitching the crate up to their brooms. That was fine by Knuckles; he was looking forward to going back inside and collapsing in his bed. It was a little too late in the evening for pleasantries.

It only took a few minutes before Treble was secure, her crate attached to each broom by a rope. The alumni left almost as quickly and quietly as they had come, wanting to get the dragon away from the school grounds as soon as possible. Sonic actually waved goodbye as they flew off.

“I can’t believe that actually worked,” Espio sighed. Though his posture change was subtle, he shifted and looked more relaxed already. He was eyeing the spot in the sky where the other wizards and Treble had headed, now far enough away that they were out of sight.

“Me either,” Sonic said, yawning now that their job was done. It was getting close to midnight, which for the eleven-year-old, was much later than he was used to staying up. “I’m ready to hit the hay. Either of you want a lift back to your dorms?”

“Um, the Ravenclaw common room is close enough to walk,” the chameleon said in a somewhat nervous tone. “And besides, I don’t have the strongest stomach. I don’t think I’m ready to move at your speed.”

The hedgehog shrugged. “Alright, suit yourself. Knuckles?”

“Yeah, I’ll take you up on that,” Knuckles said, rolling his shoulders around in his sockets. He was tired from carrying the heavy crate up all the way up there, and he didn’t want to have to climb all the stairs to get back down to the basement. “C’mon, before someone catches us up here. See you in class, Espio.”

“Yes, see you there,” Espio waved as Sonic and Knuckles climbed back through the hatch and entered the castle.

It didn’t take long for Sonic to carry his friend down to the basement, hoisting Knuckles up bridal style and dashing down staircase after staircase. When they got to the kitchen corridor, he set Knuckles down, giving the echidna a second to regain his balance after the dizzying run.

“Eugh, and I thought climbing up the astronomy tower was bad enough,” Knuckles grunted.

“Yeah, but it was worth it. Treble’s going to a good home now, instead of being stuck in Vector’s tiny house.”

“True. And we learned something about Espio in the process.”

“The whole turning invisible thing?” Sonic looked around, suddenly hoping that Espio wasn’t lurking invisible nearby to hear them talk about him. “Yeah, that was insane.”

“Mm. We’ll have to keep an eye on him,” the echidna said with a knowing nod. “I’m pretty sure we’re not the only Chaos-gifted kids in this school.”

#surprise espio is a big weeb #also chaos touched ;)#1st year #espio #sonic #knuckles #vector #writing #katie

14 notes · View notes