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midnightsunnyday · 5 months

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Spoiler warnings for the Shout Your Heart Out Devilgram but...

for those of you who expected a good romantic romp with Diavolo after being given literally crumbs these last two seasons...

The entire Devilgram is nothing but you third wheeling as Diavolo reads from an entire scroll, in front of an entire audience, how amazing Lucifer is. That's it. That's the story. Dude is literally just listing off every quality Lucifer has and at the very end, all MC is treated with is what essentially feels like to me, a pity kiss.

And considering that NB has significantly decreased in its romance, I couldn't help but feel cheated. Like, who is this for? Clearly, the DiaLuci shippers, but Lucifer behaves so indifferently to Diavolo, that it even drops the ball on that. It especially fucks up the DiaMC moment by having our entire existence in that story serve as a fucking wingman for another character.

I already ranted about this with a few others on Reddit, but the entire Devilgram just left a sour taste in my mouth, and it's gotten to the point where sometimes I can't tell whether Diavolo's obsession with Lucifer is written for laughs or purely romantic, but I'm tired, y'all. I don't even know if it's right to call it queerbaiting or not, but Diavolo says so many off the wall things about Lucifer that it's hard to interpret his feelings as anything less than friendship. Either say the quiet part out loud or stop waisting my emotions in believing these characters actually care about romancing me, seeing as you've been lacking in that aspect for MONTHS.

And I know this sounds so fickle, but as a yumejoshi we rarely get games like this where an MC is non-descriptive with the ability to self insert as we please. Despite what you assume, otome players don't tend to self ship. Most enjoy reading the story seperate from the MC and that's a pretty large sum of people in that fandom. This story is literally a slap in the face to that.

Lilke, tell me the truth, y'all. Am I overreacting? Is it crazy to assume that an otome game, or what advertises itself as an otome game, should focus on the MC and their relationship with the LIs? And if you weren't going to make Diavolo a serious romantic option, then why make him an LI to begin with? Frankly, he was better off as a nondatable because it doesn't even feel like he gives a shit about the MC. At least in the OG game, there was a balance. Now we don't even have that.

Like, fine. Give the people their fanservice, but it just feels shitty that in a game where the point is to romance characters and have them love you, you're treated as an afterthought by the characters you're suppose to be dating.

#obey me #obey me mc #obey me lucifer #obey me shall we date #obey me nightbringer #obey me diavolo #obey me devilgram #possible dialuci #i dont know anymore #at the risk of sounding crazy with this post but idk im just tired of the writers clearly doing this #like it's very blatant at this point #like that's not your friend lol

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pocketsizedquasar · 5 months

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TPOC-Prioritized writings on anti-transmasculinity / transandrophobia

transandrophobia / anti-transmasculinity are both theories that have been spearheaded primarily by trans poc, particularly Black transmascs and transfemmes.

unfortunately, as with Everything created by queer and trans poc, particularly Black queer ppl, white trans ppl (regardless of gender, and regardless of whether they "believe" in this form of oppression or not) have coopted these theories and dominated these conversations, such that both "sides" of the "discourse" are divorced entirely from the racial connotations in which these theories were created, and the ways in which they were created specifically as an intervention against white feminism, and to highlight the ways multiple marginalizations affect the marginalization of masculinity. these are theories that explicitly interact with and can only be understood in conjunction with transmisogyny, as well as other oppressions like racism and misogynoir.

*"anti-transmasculinity" as a term and theory was coined by Black trans folks (some of whom's writings are linked below), and is specifically a theory within the context of Black transfeminism antiBlackness, and transmisogynoir, and cannot be divorced from that context. i try be very intentional about my use of the terms 'anti-transmasculinity' and 'transandrophobia' in different places here, because i do not want to dilute the former’s very particular context.

anyway, here's a list of miscellaneous writings on the subjects, with a priority for collecting writing from trans poc (not all of the authors are tpoc, but this list was intended to prioritize tpoc voices). the intention of this is not to be a be-all end-all on the subject, nor exalt any one of these individuals or pieces as exclusively ~correct~ or whatever, but to combat the whitewashed nature of these discussions online, and raise awareness to the myriad of people speaking on this subject. (nor do i claim to speak for any of them, or claim that any of them speak for me. i tried to make sure i didn't platform blatant racists, zionists, transmisogynists, or other bigots, but i'm not pretending to be 100% accurate about that.)

they aren't in any particular order (except the first one, which i think is an extremely foundational text for anti-transmasculinity theory as delineated by its creators, within the context of antiblackness and transmisogyny, and necessary reading to understand anti-transmasculinity as a theory). I tried to group all the links from the same authors together.

This is a non-exhaustive list! I will likely come back and add more writings as I find them. please feel free to recommend to me any works to include (including your own! especially if you yourself are a Black trans person or a trans POC).

Now with an Archived Read-more Link!

Racial-Class Paternalism and the Trojan Horse of Anti-transmasculinity by Nsámbu Za Suékama. if you read nothing else from this list, read this.

“But even as TME struggles escape the mainstream imagination, they persist, and are often both fueling and being fueled by the war on trans women and transfeminine people. Nothing makes this clearer than in how a Western binary system triangulates that war with Anti-transmasculinity. This is why I say that Anti-transmasculinity is a Trojan horse for Transmisogyny. Like the wooden horse in the Greek myth, it might not seem like what it is, for its actual contents and character are invisible, but at the heart of it, there is a violent campaign going on that is key to how the West aims to lay seige to its civilizational "enemies." And, like the walls of the city of Troy, materialist transfeminism has fortified the opposition to Western domination, in such a way that to overcome the stronghold requires a new strategy for the Man, one that follows up the open and vicious attacks on TMA people with a different, more hidden form of warfare.”

“today’s gender paternalism frames any manhood and masculine embodiment outside of (western) cisheteronormativity as not just biologically illegitimate but also the result of a barbaric threat to civilization. And who typically figures as the face of that barbarism but the Black trans woman? Materialist transfeminism has to theorize Anti-transmasculinity.”

"Non-Men", maGes, and Black Masculinities by genderfugitive / disrupthehuman

One such argument, which is really a collection of arguments but can be consolidated into one, is that trans men are attempting to take a place alongside cis men in the hierarchy of patriarchy. In other words, while they may not have been so before naming themselves as trans men, they are aspiring to be oppressors. This employs a number of rhetorical devices that I have identified before including the idea that trans men are “betraying” cis womanhood and therefore should be seen as threats unless they act as footsoldiers for transmisogyny. The problem with this is that it treats trans manhoods as embodiments that exist as something which merely aspires to be cis manhood.

"For Those Seeking Fight or Flight: Black Trans*feminist Nihilism" / primer on transmisogynoir by genderfugitive / disrupthehuman (not about anti-transmaculinity specifically (though it does come up), but a very good + important read on Black transfeminism & transmisogynoir, so I'm including it)

anti-transmasculinity needs its own theorizing outside of general "transphobia" by genderfugitive / disrupthehuman

anti-transmasculinity & antiblackness inherently linked (& another) both by genderfugitive / disrupthehuman

There is a hidden epidemic of violence against transmasculine people by Orion Rodriguez

a thread master post linking to multiple threads about anti transmasculinity by Salem L. Void / thewarmvoid

a thread on anti-transmasculinity as an epistemic injustice (translated) originally by magicspeedwagon in French; English translation by Salem L. Void / thewarmvoid

Not transmasc invisibility, but erasure by Salem L. Void / thewarmvoid

Girlboy Boygirl Blues - antitransmasculinity as a denial of individual history & more by Salem L. Void / thewarmvoid

"irl we just kiss" - ‘transmasc vs transfem’ discourse & reactionary ‘boys vs girls’ politics in trans spaces by Salem L. Void / thewarmvoid

transmascs & being treated as predatory by Salem L. Void / thewarmvoid

transmasc mental health statistics by Salem L. Void / thewarmvoid

violent anti-transmasculine hate crimes by Salem L. Void / thewarmvoid

thread on examples of systemic anti-transmasculinity by magicspeedwagon

a thread on anti-transmasculinity and its erasure by storyjunkie

anti transmasculinity & transmisogyny and the degendering of Black people by afrodykee

anti transmasculinity & transmisogyny cannot be theorized in opposition to each other by afrodykee

white transfeminism's anti-transmasculinity by afrodykee

Black trans people & erasure of TPOC voices from the trans community by thatspookyagent

transmasculine nonwhite expereince by thatspookyagent

trans men being silenced by thatspookyagent

queer POC being pushed out of conversations by thatspookyagent

cis women's harm to trans men by novascotioducktoller w/ addition about TMOC by thatspookyagent

medical violence in anti transmasculinity by Caleb / sethpuertoluna

example of medical anti transmasculinity by Dominick / transguyenergy

response to inclusion of a trans man in an ad (thread) by Dominick / transguyenergy

anti-transmasculinity around periods by Dominick / transguyenergy

anti-transmasculinity towards pregnant trans men by Dominick / transguyenergy

transitioning as a transmasc of color by gendercriminals

white (cis) women & racist transandrophobia by dead-lavender-society

transandrophobia as an indigenous trans man by petrichorvoices

examples of transandrophobia by transvermin

the “lost lesbian” narrative & antitransmasculinity by vaguefiend

cis women & transandrophobia by vaguefiend

intersectionality & transandrophobia by visible-schizo-spectrum

more transandrophobia from cis women by cock-holliday

tl;dr : there’s LOTS of theory and discussions out there abt anti-transmasculinity, transandrophobia, how these things relate to other forms of transphobia, how it interacts with other marginalizations, most especially race, and the ways in which it affects transmascs. this information is everywhere. it’s out there. y’all (white ppl) are just refusing to engage with it.

#trans #lgbtq #queer #transphobia #transandrophobia #anti transmasculinity #transmisogyny #racism #long post #quasartalks #been compliling this for ages but i think it's finally at a point where i feel comfortable posting it #like i said though it is very much subject to change! i would love to add more things to this #it is extremely shitty that discussions on antitransmasculinity and transandrophobia have been dominated on here by racist yt ppl and their #token trans poc that they so clearly are just using as a shield against when ppl call them out on aforementioned racism.#anyway. dont bother clowning on this post i will just block <3 #so much of this 'discourse' boils down to: transmascs and trans men (esp transmascs of color) saying: 'hey i experience this thing'#and other ppl (esp white ppl!) going 'no you don't.' it's so blatant lmao #it's just the complete denial of our Authority to talk about our own experiences. we are not trusted to be authorities on our own lives.#which. where have i heard that before. smells like racism. smells like misogyny.#also bc ppl can't read: none of this means transmascs have it worse than transfemmes; that transfemmes oppress transmascs; or that these #-experiences ONLY happen to transmascs. those are all extremely bad faith readings of these discussions.#AND ALSO to the (especially white) transmascs who also can't read and take these discussions as excuses to be racist & transmisogynist:#we cannot combat transandrophobia & anti transmasculinity without combating transmisogyny. they are linked.#anyway. good night

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beholding-moth · 6 months

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so that second half of the hbomberguy video huh...

#yes i know im late to the parade as always ahah #even tho the video IS BARELY A DAY OLD GUYS HOW DID IT EVEN COME UP ON MY RADAR WITH HOW MUCH I LIVE UNDER A ROCK-#hbomberguy #if u havent watched it yet tho i recommend it big time!! hbomberguy makes a lot of rly good points and its good to learn a thing or two abo-#about how to cite ur sources well and how to handle the materials you cite!#i cant believe im saying this but its not even about the plagiarism for me.... its the blatant theft and erasure of queer content creators-#that resulted from that plagiarism thats getting to me..... like thats some huge and wild shit. a very big smelly dump of it.

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starrysharks · 10 months

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every art critic, teacher or tutorial maker who tells you that your character designs must be conventionally attractive or appealing is a big fat liar

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kafkaesquedyke · 1 year

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The new Velma show seems to neatly fall into this trend of tv shows (paramount heathers, leaked powerpuff girls script) that want to seem progressive by having a diverse cast, while simultaneously wanting to preserve that same edgy, punch-down comedy style found in 'centrist' or conservative media. They want the praise for having female, queer, and characters of colour while still retaining an audience made up of mainly edgy white men laughing at how ridiculous ‘the minorities’ are behaving. It’s a punch-down comedy wolf in progressive sheep clothing.

The fundamental flaw in this logic is that show runners assume the audience that would enjoy this humour will see past that supposedly progressive façade… and that often doesn’t happen. A lot of these specific edgy types see diversity as a red flag and immediately presume some type of agenda. It’s almost like seeing a minority participate in the joke (even though they’re still very much the punchline) zaps all the humour out of it or they can’t understand that the joke is still for them if it isn’t said by someone that looks exactly like them. And because they (especially, but not only, cishet white men) recognise all the jokes from things they like, but don’t find them funny anymore, the only reasonable explanation they have is that diversity is bad and makes it unfunny, instead of realising their inherent inability to recognise and relate to any character that isn’t a white man.

Meanwhile, an audience that would appreciate a diverse cast does recognise the comedy for what it is: cheap jokes made at their expense. At most there are occasional jabs thrown in at the white and/or male characters which often don’t relate to these identities in any fundamental or even realistic way. So you have this show that constantly uses it’s minority characters as punchlines and only includes vaguely progressive, but ultimately pretty universally accepted, messaging hoping progressive audiences will be enamoured with the occasional ‘girlboss moment™️’, while not noticing that vast amounts of regressive ideals.

In the end neither audience feels appealed to and the show is a massive failure. While it might be satisfying to see that these conservative audiences are too blinded by, let’s be honest here, identity politics to recognise something that is clearly made for them, ultimately all that is remembered is that ‘the comedy show featuring a lot of diversity’ failed. And it becomes harder for people who actually want to make media with, and especially for, minorities have a harder time getting any funding. Shows like these are a lose lose situation when it comes to furthering diversity in the media landscape and it’s increasingly frustrating to see this happen again and again.

#most of the criticism I’ve seen so far is hinging on the expectation that this show would be progressive because of the representation #but if you see it as just another family guy copycat you can see all the ‘weirdly problematic stuff’ not as flaws but part of the design #meanwhile most of the criticism coming from conservatives is ‘wokeness ruined scooby doo’#we can’t assume just because something features minorities that it is for those minorities #especially with the rise of anti-intellectualism and ‘the curtains are just blue’ mentality this seems to happen more and more #they also often feature the surface acceptance of women queer people and poc while still being very blatantly bigoted towards other groups #many of which are discriminated against as well but their activism efforts are not as widely recognised #so you might not have as much blatant racism and sexism but incredible amounts of ableism and fatphobia #meanwhile the more obvious bigotry is either subtler or deflected by characters pointing it out like that erases the joke #this isn’t even touching on how all of these shows also wildly misconstrue the purpose of the media they are adapting #scooby doo #hbo velma #velma 2023 #paramount heathers

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maliciousalice · 6 months

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#The audacity to imply she is fat and doesn't have cheekbones in this movie lmao but whatever her whining about that commentary is cute #I AM LOOKING VERY VERY RESPECTFULLY #lots of blatant body image cruelty but it was the 90's and it's kind of the point of the movie...reminded me of death become her in that wa #its pretty mean at times and that comes straight out of the horses mouth but there are also sweet moments too so dont worry lol #this movie is weird little ride... it's kind of surreal and cartoony #I like hearing kate swear it's very funny hehe #and ah man when she isn't bouncing off the wall she appears so beautiful (the bouncing around personality is cute too)#its funny to compare her driving scenes in different things shes in during this movie she is a little bit insane and nearly takes out peopl #that first picture is insane she has the GALL to be like 'couldnt model' when asked (relatable hahaha) she looks fucking stunning

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drbtinglecannon · 2 years

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Just gotta say. Between the framing of this where Luz & Hunter are panicking to each other about being hated for helping Belos/being a Grimwalker respectively, then when it pans out only Willow & Amity are visible before focusing back on Luz & Hunter's worried faces, and their gazes likely being focused on different people (Luz is obviously looking at Amity & with Hunter's eyes not looking at the same spot as her & Willow being the only other thing in the frame right beforehand he has to be looking at her) ...

Lumity & Huntlow parallels canon

#toh #toh spoilers #the owl house spoilers #toh s3 spoilers #lumity #huntlow #luz noceda #toh hunter #amity blight #willow park #rip the haters but the symbolism to both caleb/wittewife & lumity is Blatant at this point lmao huntlow is very likely to happen & its cute #tc posts

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vt-scribbles · 25 days

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Posting this on my personal instead of on my book account-

There's a canonically transgender character in Find Your Wings, and I just KNOW that no matter how blatant I make it, people will still argue it isn't there lmao

That's okay, though.

In the end, it's not for the transph0bes. It's for the people who want to see the themes I put in.

#fantasy #urban fantasy #LGBT #Find Your Wings (story)#Find Your Wings #I cannot spoil who it is #but if you pay attention #you'll figure it out quickly #There's also a genderfluid character! But they're a bit more blatant and there's not meant to be a lot of focus on it lmao.#I was watching Blue Eye Samurai and man. Shouldn't have looked up people's takes on the themes LMFAO #I mean hell sometimes a character will straight up say 'yeah I'm trans' and people will still deny it so I've accepted this at this point #anyways #I hope the story hits home for the people it's meant to <:)#I'll be ecstatic if I see even one person like. being happy to see the trans character's story #if I can touch even one person through their very personal story #that'll be enough

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hyperfixated-unicorn · 1 year

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Another sxf vs bd fandom war in Twitter 🙄 Worse, it seems like a lot of sxf fans and bd fans can't stop being homophobic or misogynistic in their takes. Seriously, just rest this shit already and enjoy both shows.

#spy x family #buddy daddies #i thought we are just one big found family fandom #kazuki rei and loid are all attractive without having to fit in with your toxic masculinity bs #yor forger is not just some ditzy school girl and very much a character on her own #so much yor slander when this woman carries sxf s2 i swear #bd is more than just 'gay sxf'#you can prefer one over the other while not putting the other one down you know #i'm tired of this discourse but i keep seeing them in my tl #don't even get me started on that anya vs miri takes #besides of the obvious different found family takes between the two they also differ in their format #like bd is meant to be a single season 12 episode series (afaik) so developments will be more blatant and faster #meanwhile sxf is meant to be a slowburn so every progress and emotional growth will be more subtle and gradual #a lot of people really missed the point and setup of these shows and i felt like it is a disservice to both #anime #found family #twitter

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wesblr · 3 months

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Why is doc like that

this question made me laugh really hard when i saw it

thats a good question! as tempted as i am to respond with a jokey answer that he's just a freak like that, i would like to give an actual answer (though i will be making an assumption on what you mean when you say "like that")

a brief summary of a cleanup crew related concept that is relevant to doc: all of the employees at the company are stuck in "the cycle" - basically, once someone working at the company dies on the job, they are brought back to life when the ship goes up into orbit.

before doc started working at the company, he actually was a licensed doctor. he had grown incredibly disillusioned with the amount of people that he had to watch die, the amount of people that he couldn't save despite his best efforts, and he eventually moved on from his job and took up a position at the company.

doc hates death. he does not want anybody to die. once he found out that nobody that works for the company can die, his whole world changed. he had an appreciation, and over the course of years and years working for the company trapped in the cycle, that appreciation turned into a devotion. a devotion to the company, to the cycle.

collecting scrap is the least that they can do for the company, the company who solved death. and if he could ever meet somebody who worked for the company that wasn't just a lowly scavenger like himself and so many others, he'd feel the need to show his appreciation.

tl;dr: a combination of past disillusionment and being stuck in the cycle for so long has given him a twisted view on his situation

#if this isnt what you meant by “like that” send me another ask anon #wes.txt #asks #anonymous #cleanup crew #doc #my ocs #docs point of view has a very blatant hole in it #which is the presence of pain #death very much is still something that still hurts #he is so deluded that he cant see it as a bad thing though

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stormflute · 1 year

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Pretty sure this is how the end of s4 went

#lego monkie kid #lmk mk #lmk macaque #lmk season 4 spoilers #but not really #love that he showed up at the very end in an attempt to make mk less depressed #which he does via a blatant copy of swk's video game #and mk misses the point so bad macaque just tells him to his face #truly one of the scenes of all time #also the fact that he encourages mk to go fight things but has zero intention of participating #is extremely funny #he's like yea you go buddy #I'll just sit back here with a bag of popcorn #good luck #what a guy #my art

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diari0deglierrori · 4 months

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I love that every time there’s a flashback of some characters as kids they always have the exact same haircut as when they’re older

#I mean that way you can always tell exactly who is who right away #but idk it’s so funny to me #99% of the people I know have had so many different haircuts along the years #I personally never drastically changed it so it’s always been pretty much the same #sometimes very long sometimes a bit shorter but never short short #ah! no I had bangs at some point too #awful decision #twice actually but the first time it was by accident as my sister cut my hair #after we watched the parents trap movie? if that’s the name #I cut hers and she cut mine #but the second time it was a conscious decision at like 11 #wait no 10 because I had them when my brother was born #probably already made that post some time ago but now there are more #and it’s even more blatant

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dimiclaudeblaigan · 4 months

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I know you all know by default how much I love this conversation, but in RD at least, a lot of characters fall out of relevancy after a certain point (whereas in PoR you could argue that having full supports prevents this). Shinon is one of the only side characters who doesn't really do this, having three base conversations throughout part three (which is pretty fucking good considering several of the chapters aren't even with the Greil Mercenaries).

Back in PoR, Shinon asks for praise/gratitude. Expects it. By this point he doesn't want it anymore. He didn't want it when he was selling bows for emergency income (which Rolf took up as well) and he doesn't want it here either. His personality has chilled out so much from being a hothead and he's much more expressive of his actual feelings (even if you compare his standard death quotes in both games, he's much more emotionally expressive in RD).

A lot of characters - most honestly, including even the GMs (barring Boyd if he A supports Mist which gives him more content and expresses a whole lot of maturity compared to PoR Boyd) tend to drop off in development. They might stick around (ex. PoR puts all the major groups in the spotlight until the next group shows up and goes through all of them), but the development eventually stagnates outside of supports (including in base conversations, which this one is such).

Since RD doesn't get supports with full conversations, you only get snippets of development/characterization through them, while the base conversations may offer insight into the characters and show you how they've changed over the years but don't truly develop them. Shinon is a very lucky situation for his character because he keeps returning in both games, and it helps develop him across both games with a full timeline (similar to Naesala, who has a fully fleshed out story and personality development over both games and never stops dead at any point in the pair of games).

In PoR Shinon was distant and selectively a bit cold (Greil, Rolf and Gatrie excluded from that, and Mist to an extent as well). RD gives the impression that he just... doesn't care about all that anymore. He's fine where he is and has learned he can live with these people and not have to expect betrayal. He doesn't have to anticipate being on his own ever again. There's no real reason for him to keep up the walls and barriers to protect himself, and he's not living just to survive anymore.

Most times when I end up loving a character it's because of the content given to me and what have I to work with, rather than loving a character and searching for things to love. I fully expect that that's why I finally, after years of being unable to decide who my Tellius favorite was because I loved several of them too dearly to decide, found myself able to settle on Shinon.

When I got older and gave it more thought, considering all the development and traits of each of them and how responsive I was to them, one day I asked myself, well okay, what if someone asked you who your favorite was? What if you still did love the same ones as your number one, all of them, but could only give one name quick and simple? Who would you pick? The first name that instantly hit me was Shinon. That was enough for me to decide okay, there's a reason he's the first person who instantly came to me if I had to truly settle on one. I hadn't quite figured it out yet, but I knew there was a reason that if I had to pick a single standout, it would be him.

A lot of it harkens back to this conversation. It is development in and of itself, and also very expressive of who he is. The fact that he also doesn't fall off in conversations and is more recurring than not also gives me more to examine about him and more to think about. It puts him in a more likely position to think about him and who he is than I would for characters the writers didn't really bother developing (including other recurring characters like Marcia, who keep coming back in both games similar to Shinon, but see no development as a person - unfortunately in her case, in either game).

He has a very rich, detailed and unforgotten-by-the-writers character and one whose story ends on a very high note. I say "ends" in the sense of main story/base content, but it technically continues if he's taken to the Tower and gains the ability to A support various other characters who he otherwise could not support or could only reach a B support with, such as Sanaki, Tibarn, etc. This conversation is like an accumulation of his growth between both games, including the subtle things you can only pick up on through actions/other character lines.

Ike says he (everyone, which includes Shinon) chose to stay with them when he told everyone who their next employer was/what they'd be doing/etc, and Ike gave him and Soren an out if they weren't comfortable with it. They weren't all forced to go. That says by itself that Shinon made that choice on his own. He chose to stay with them when he was not yet totally comfortable with laguz and was still working on that part of himself (the fact that he uses the term "laguz" at all is already a huge step up from where he leaves off on his A support with Janaff, which did not leave off poorly at all).

Last time Shinon was uncomfortable with something in the Greil Mercenaries, he made the choice to leave. When he did come back, he was not exclusively surrounded by only the GMs and otherwise, purely laguz (which prior to meeting Janaff I would argue he was not ready for at all at the time). Here, he was, and he still made the choice to stay with them knowing exactly what his situation would look like.

Another thing worth considering is how much of a hothead Shinon was in PoR, but he still took Rolf on as a student. While I'm not sure exactly how accurate Mist's statement is about "forcing" Rhys to teach her (it's possible she was pushy about it because he didn't want to, such as because it might mean she might end up on the battlefield), we do know Rolf wanted to learn and was accepted.

We can easily infer through their conversations that Shinon would rather teach him to survive and have a safety net rather than worry about him being on a battlefield. Shinon saw that he was motivated to learn and, regardless of the fact that he was still in survival mode himself and not of the mind of "I'll be with these people forever and want to help them", taught him while apparently having told him "things like this happen" with mercenaries (i.e. different employers, separation, etc). If they ended up on opposite sides but Rolf could wield a weapon, that could endanger him, but he does it anyway. His priority is always survival, but it's also the survival of children and anyone he cares about. He also dies begrudgingly in his PoR death quote, which is completely opposite of his death quote against Rolf.

Another thing for me: he's also very confident and aware of his capabilities as a marksman. He knows what he's worth and at this point, he no longer brags about it (he used to all the time in PoR). He sees no reason to have to prop himself up. There's no insecurity in him that makes him feel the need to try to be open about being better than anyone else. He knows and accepts what he's worth without feeling the need to tell people about it.

If someone asked him what he thought of himself/his own worth, yeah, he'd admit his skill and capability without being too humble, but he also wouldn't go overboard with it or say it during instances that don't really warrant it (basically, if absolutely nobody asked, he'd say it anyway in PoR. In RD he doesn't really seem to give a shit anymore about letting the whole world know how good he is). He's lost the whole pick me, look at me sort of attitude. Imo it's also due to a higher amount of respect he has for himself now, and a much healthier one. He doesn't care about being the best anymore (he'd be perfectly happy if Rolf was instead) and is just satisfied knowing his skill on his own. He's satisfied not being alive just to survive, but to be with this mercenary group and actually able to live.

As a side note, we never actually see him having drunk or in the middle of drinking in RD, so... it's also likely he's worked on his possible PoR drinking issue too!

All in all, he's just one of the few non-main characters who came a whole long way with a full story. He feels very different in RD, but not so much that he feels like a different character entirely. For me, I can feel the growth in who he is, and that to me is an excellent handling of a character. When I can feel how different they are from beginning to end, I can feel the intent of character growth behind it. I can't tell you with certainty that the writers took a liking to him and so biasly kept sticking in dialogue for him (and singlehandedly made him one of the solidly best units in RD, for that matter...), but he's definitely repeatedly present and has hefty, story/backstory littered implications.

His dialogue feels meaningful to his own personal story in all his conversations. In other words, he doesn't have a conversation that feels devoid of meaning. It comes across more as all of his content exists for a reason/has meaning behind it. There's no wasted dialogue with him. When he's there, it means something for his character (comparatively to other side characters who may have lengthy conversations but you walk away having gotten nothing out of it, be that in PoR and/or RD).

He has fewer supports than most of the cast in PoR, but every single one had some kind of direction to it. Even if you look at his C support with Janaff and go "well that's just classic early PoR Shinon", the point of that is exactly that: that he starts out who we recognize and develops from there. That support alone goes from that to a lot of growth in three conversations, and beneficially so on both sides.

Simply put, he has more content the average Tellius character (including all of his boss quotes in chapter 18), and everything leads up to who he is by this conversation. It's a full story for a side character, later including personalized support dialogue for A supports, and he just happens to exhibit a lot of growth and traits that I already lean toward (hence why he was in my top spot all along, just tied with others. Now he's not tied with others and has the top spot to himself!).

I think it's likely it's the fact that as mentioned, none of his conversations are throwaway conversations. You never walk away from his conversations having gotten nothing (I mean, I'm sure people who refuse to see it don't notice precisely because they are willing themselves to refuse to see it to find excuses to keep hating him). Even in his first RD base conversation, the fact that he acts as you'd expect but drops a "laguz" in there is already a hint for his growth direction on top of being there at all. It's really just up from there, as is the case with all his content.

I tend to lean toward characters with a whole fountain of insightful conversations and depth, and in FE games you often don't find those characters outside of the mains. While I'd argue Tellius is a lot less tropey than modern FE (there were some tropey types like Makalov and Ilyana whose characters are basically nothing without their tropes), a lot of its side characters are still reduced to very surface level characterization with no real growth.

Shinon was very lucky to get as much as he did, and I'd say he has just as much if not more personal depth and lore than even some of the mains themselves. Imo he's a very lucky and rare find in FE games, when there are so many goddamn characters that the writers can't flesh them all out (reasonably of course, but it makes it even more special when it happens for non mains). Even with the Fodlan games and all its content, a lot if not most of its characters are full on tropes with little to nothing in the way of anything else. Engage suffers from it too, with a few diamonds in the rough and not much else.

That's not to say I hate the games or their characters, because obviously I would not still be playing new titles to the franchise if I hated it. I'm saying it makes the ones with as much depth as Shinon a gold mine to be found amidst a very large cast of characters that don't usually get that treatment.

anyway i will always talk abt shinon more when able so this is Not The End but i will end this post here lest it turns into another 20+ paragraphs.

#DCB RD Run #Shinon #i was gonna post this a long time ago but then my fandom interests shifted again #but then a friend in said fandom showed blatant interest in shinon and that's all it took #i wasn't kidding when i said even when i go into other fandoms tellius just STICKS with me #shinon can't leave me and i can't leave him i am simply bound to him at this point #i remember back in the day when i couldn't determine who my fave was in these games #and i just asked myself like... if someone asked for your fave and you could only pick one char #who would you pick in that situation (since when trying to decide i was always like #it's oscar ike shinon ranulf and soren and probably reyson!!!) but if i had to pick only one?#asking MYSELF that was difficult... but if i considered someone ELSE asking me?#my answer was immediately shinon. as shinon himself would say! ''no hesitation''!#that was when i actually genuinely knew my answer. kinda hard to deny when my little heart and brain just #instantly processed that answer without any actual thought. I stuck with it since and honestly???#I've been so happy for it. I've been so happy expressing my love for him!#I love Ike too ofc but it's a very different feeling ig since Ike is already insanely loved by the fandom #shinon is like... my special little guy

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