#mostly cuz i want to establish a better sense of space | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hopevalley · 3 years

Text

@kvanbooven said: I agree with you on this. I love Nathan character but from this episode until the triangle is resolved I feel like I might not. I was excited with the direction they were going that even tho she shut him down when he declared his feelings, he was still going to try to “pursue” her cuz he feels she felt the same way and if they both didn’t try, they would both be cheated. But ever since that, I was afraid with how they were going to do it. I was all for Nathan still trying be friends and civil with Elizabeth after the awkward period was over, and then his feelings would have subtly shown through during that time to show the audience and Elizabeth that he does still care for her and is there when she’s ready in stead of aggressively pursuing her when she’s with someone else, which is what he’s doing now which kinda rubs me the wrong way. Like yes I understand he needs to be more forward than he was in S6 and s7 but it’s just weird that he’s being that aggressive and directly told Lucas that he’s going to steal Elizabeth from him. He actually has been pretty laid back up until this episode and purposefully tried to move on and avoid her but looking at next episode it looks like aggressive Nathan is still there. I would be all for this if Elizabeth hasn’t been dating Lucas this whole time, but because she is, it’s weird. I was afraid this was going to happen, that to show that he’s still interested they have to make him super aggressive even tho she’s with Lucas and she told him no. I do understand it’s probably to show he has flaws and that not every character is perfect, especially in this situation, but ehh I think there might have been a better way to do this exact storyline with the same plots and character development and feelings and flaws showing with the outcome we are at now without going about it in the way they have. I’m not a writer so I don’t know how exactly, but still. Do love seeing flawed Nathan, just not the storyline I guess for me.

Thanks for the super long comment! Lots to unpack, here! :D

The biggest complaint about Nathan in the last two seasons was that he “wasn’t a real man” because he wasn’t very forward with his feelings or in pursuing Elizabeth. I didn’t see that here on Tumblr but it was a pretty big opinion on Reddit and Instagram, and sometimes Twitter. This could be in part an answer to that perceived issue, though for what it’s worth I liked Nathan’s laid-back attitude because it meant he wasn’t pressuring anyone, and that’s the kind of story I wanted to see explored with him. Elizabeth had the sweeping romance with Jack already, she was wooed with dances and candlelit dinners. I am still of the opinion that with Nathan it needs to feel different. Lucas brought the grand romantic gestures and Nathan brought the little things. So I didn’t really feel that Nathan’s behavior in S6 and S7 was to be criticized. It felt to me as if it was a deliberate choice to set him apart from Jack and from Lucas, and let him be his own person.

Also, Elizabeth REALLY needed some space, and by not being too forward with his thoughts/feelings, Nathan was giving her that. I enjoyed it.

In this season, I didn’t mind him deciding to take a chance and declare his feelings more directly. It happened once, it was done privately, we know he cares about her... Great! Elizabeth chose not to pursue it, and in fact made it clear by leaving that scene, by saying “I can’t,” and by courting Lucas...that she is not interested in a relationship with Nathan.

Like you, I expected him to fade into the background a bit and struggle with getting over her while trying to remain friendly and approachable until she was Ready (if we dare to assume that Nathan will be her choice). I’d have liked that. It’s well within his characterization as it’s been established.

But then we got beat after beat of Nathan being a jerk. He’s a pain in the ass to Bill during the whole inquiry, he tells Allie one thing and does another, and then he had a conversation with himself instead of listening to Carson (which was rude) where he determined that Elizabeth just needed to get to know him better (?????) and that he wasn’t going to give up on her!

That rubbed me the wrong way because getting to his conclusion was almost nonsensical. If his reasoning was “she has feelings for me, she’s just afraid of them because of what happened to Jack” why didn’t the conversation just...go that way? Instead it just didn’t make much sense. We were all already assuming it anyway (as indicated by her “I can’t/lose you the way I lost Jack” conversation with Nathan).

But. Then. He had to go and drop the bomb that Jack was sent on the mission that ultimately killed him because Nathan disobeyed Hargraves’ orders and acted on his own and had to be officially disciplined for it.

So... he knows she’s afraid to love him because she’s afraid of losing him LIKE SHE LOST JACK. And he knows that Jack died because he replaced him on that mission. In theory this should make a person spiral out of guilt but it’s like Nathan doesn’t feel any guilt? Except he almost has to or he wouldn’t have kept it a secret for three years? Like, he KNOWS IT’S A BIG DEAL. And despite knowing all of this he still thinks he’s a worthwhile suitor?

WHERE DOES HE GET THIS CONFIDENCE? He hasn’t had even a scrap of it for two seasons and suddenly he’s the cockiest man in town!

I don’t think it’s great writing but I can’t imagine it’s bad on purpose. They probably just wanted to make sure we knew that Nathan had flaws, too. Except they mostly just. Made him kind of gross?

With Nathan carrying that kind of knowledge all this time, I think all of the season needs to be rewritten to fix what they’ve done to Nathan. It’s okay for him to have flaws, but for all of his flaws to be giant red flags?? No thanks. I can’t imagine what they’ll do to make the relationship palatable if they end up still going with Nathan at the end.

Luckily for me I don’t watch for these characters, but I can’t say I’m not disappointed. The writing up to this point wasn’t too bad. But I feel like they mixed two chemicals that have a toxic reaction when they come into contact with one another lol. IMO pursuing Elizabeth after she made it clear she didn’t want him was a cringey enough (and believable enough!) flaw. I think they should have had him harboring a smaller secret: that he found Jack’s body. It’s still upsetting that he would keep that from her, but it’s not upsetting in nearly the same way.

#answered mail #kvanbooven

6 notes · View notes

aqvarius · 4 years

Note

I hope the rmd mc for kasumi is a bit different cuz she rly be hittin on my last nerve and I don’t think she would rly v✨i✨b✨e with kasumi in her current given state

i’ve decided i need to play matsunaga and cc before getting a better sense of the eicu guys but honestly some of these recent asks feel like my own brain jumped out of my head and started sending me anon asks lmao bc i totally agree. anyway i know it’s a controversial opinion to not like the rmd mc and i’m TRYING to be fair and put aside my bias against her and try to analyse what exactly it is that i don’t like, but yeah i just don’t really find that she has romantic chemistry with the characters (that i’ve read, i.e. takado and hosho). not that anyone ever asked for this, buuuuuut this ask has basically triggered yet another mc rant so stop reading here or get ready and settle down with some popcorn lmao.

DISCLAIMER: this is all just my personal opinion! and i’m sure many of you will disagree with me. please place a “i think/believe/feel” before every claim i make as everything i say here is just my own feeling towards her. i also need to disclaim that i have only properly read takado and hosho’s routes (bc i’m still...mad at sen’s route, and i’ve only made it through one chapter of matsunaga so far) and i understand (and fully subscribe to) the idea that mcs read differently depending on the route as well. and as always, please don’t let my opinions affect your own enjoyment of any characters or titles that you love!

ALSO as i was writing this, i went back and read my previous rant about her and i realised that i’m more or less reiterating the same points i made there but in a (hopefully) more structured and slightly more developed manner whoops.

so here’s almost 3000 words and a whole bunch of screenshots under the cut because i don’t want to spam everyone’s dashboards with my unprompted Opinions(tm).

so anyway i’ve been thinking it’s a translation/tone thing. when i have the time/energy, i might sit down and really try to analyse the actual language, but just going off my intuition, i think maybe it’s because:

1. sometimes they choose to express something idiomatically and so that tone doesn’t come across as sincere. this isn’t a real example, but let’s think about the difference in tone between “oh no!” and “yikes”. because of modern day vernacular, we kind of associate “yikes” with a sarcastic and judgmental tone, whereas “oh no!” might connote a more genuinely concerned reaction. so sometimes i think that the use of very contemporary vernacular (which, lbr, trends towards a more sarcastic tone in general bc us gen z kids are mean) results in a lack of sincerity which makes the mc come across as a little more callous and less... actually kind and nice? i did get the feeling that hlitf mc has recently swayed towards this sort of tone as well and suspected that they had the same translator (which was confirmed later in a voltage Q&A). i’m definitely #biased but i can forgive this more because we had a good amount of content with her being adorable before the tone switch so i have a pre-established impression of her in my mind.

by the way, i just want to say that while i do have this critique, i do really admire and respect the voltage translation and localisation team (and am... super indebted to them) and i do think they do fantastic translations generally.

anyway, i believe this linguistic issue is at least partially responsible for my personal perception of the rmd mc’s personality that i expand on in the succeeding points, but my next point has more to do with the writing and characterisation of the most recent wave of mcs.

2. rmd mc has very few visible vulnerabilities. i think this is one of my biggest qualms with the new title mcs like rmd, destind and mk but i think stories are at their best when you get to see the mc fail and be vulnerable and wallow. the reason why i love certain mcs - particularly the ones whose titles and storylines centre around their careers (hlitf, irresistible mistakes, my last first kiss, scandal, celebrity darling, kiss of revenge, sleepless, otbs, arguably msb, etc.) - is because we get to see them fail and then grow. not only that, but you often get to see the relationship between the mc and the love interest deepen in these moments. but if you have a ‘perfect’ mc, then there’s no room for growth, so plotlines are forced to fall back on drama and trauma on the love interest’s side which... is exactly what rmd and mk do.

this is not to say that rmd mc doesn’t make mistakes, because she certainly does, but i don’t find that they’re ever genuinely serious mistakes. for example, think about hlitf mc’s repeated mistake in season 1 of going after small crimes without seeing the bigger picture and thus potentially messing up an entire investigation. they allow her that space to mess up and be completely wrong for public safety. then they give her the time to be self-reflective and run away back to nagano really think about what her mistakes are, and where to go from there. she is confronted with humbling failure, and is forced to address issues about her own pride/ego, and matures into someone who has a more nuanced idea about justice. on the other hand, rmd mc never has to (consistently, afaik) go through a genuinely humbling experience, so she her pride/ego/arrogance never gets seriously called into question. maybe this is because the premise of rmd has to do with life and death and they don’t want to make it seem like she’s directly responsible for someone’s death, but hlitf also deals with life and death issues and the mc learns that if she messes up to save one civilian, she may actually be jeopardising the lives of tens or hundreds or more.

anyway, taking takado’s route as an example, because this was our exposure to her as a character, the most frustrating thing is the way that she tries to lecture takado that he’s wrong about his attitude towards amputations, and never actually has to personally experience the potentially disastrous consequence of putting her ideology into practice. i think i would have enjoyed the route a lot more if she had gone over his head and naively made the decision not to do an amputation and then the person ended up dying or having to have a larger section amputated all because she was like uwu we can’t just cut off people’s limbs without waiting. i think if that situation had happened, we could have seen her actually have to confront her own naiveté and realise that she’s a noob and too idealistic and that reading a lot of medical journals does not translate to having actual field experience and intuition and who is she to question him like that when she knows nothing. she only realises that omg... we may have to consider some things with something called nuance... basically when more of takado’s backstory is revealed.

(maybe this is because i work in academia so it extra-frustrates me, but omg if i had to one-on-one mentor a student like her, i would genuinely go nuts. she reminds me of some students that some colleagues and i have had where they “well, actually” at everything you say bc they read some stuff on reddit or twitter that has absolutely not been proven through practical application of, or research conducted through the lens of, their theory. like imagine i told my advisors “despite being experts in [their respective fields] and having written numerous very important books, you’re wrong because i don’t agree but i have never myself conducted proper research to counter that!!”)

basically i wish they treated takado’s route like kaga’s routes (bc lbr takado and kaga are maybe... the same person?). look at the self-reflection here:

and here:

she does get down on herself at times, but look at the way that she humbly accepts her mistakes. sometimes she wallows on her mistakes, as anyone would, but look at the way she examines her failures and turns that feeling of inadequacy into motivation to work harder and smarter.

by the way, these screenshots are from his ms1 and ms2 - so pretty early on - and we get to see her learn from these mistakes because she’s allowed to make them. we also get to learn more about kaga’s strictness and his kindness because of these mistakes.

i don’t know if the whole refusal to allow rmd mc to make significant errors is a response to readers who are like “omg.... why are voltage mcs so weak, why can’t they be perfect women who never get anything wrong” but ANYWAY i just feel like they never confront or address her hubris properly.

3. following on from point 2, i find her one-dimensional. i’ve mentioned this before in a rant, but i don’t find her to be a very deep character bc to me, she reads as mostly surface level sass. i said: “her dialogue with them often reads as like they put 100 points in “snark” and 0 points in any other personality trait” lmao. so she’s great in one-off screenshots where you can see her bite back with a very screenshottable one-liner, but i find it tiring to have 30 chapters of her just literally running her mouth. because of this constant tone that they keep giving her, i find it really difficult to see any emotional depth in her character. because she’s the perspective character, her internal dialogue is just as, if not more, important as the love interest’s external dialogue in terms of carrying the emotional weight of falling in love, and i just don’t understand how there’s any sense of two people falling in love and getting to know each other when every sentence out of her mouth is just sass. can you imagine you meet someone and you get to know them but never have any genuine conversations bc every line out of your mouth is sarcastic? like your date is opening up and telling you about some difficulties he’s going through (which i’m sure you all know is a very vulnerable and scary thing to do) and instead of being empathetic and kind and understanding, you’re just like “sucks to be you dude”. and instead of saying “you don’t need to carry everything on your shoulders”, you say “you’re STUBBORN and i’m RIGHT”. OF COURSE i’m being kind of hyperbolic here (not even that much tho, see screenshots below) but that’s basically the tone she constantly takes.

so when takado opens up about the rina thing, instead of being like “oh shit i’ve been judging him all this time and i’m genuinely sorry because i didn’t know a thing about you and yet i’ve been running my mouth”, she says “your head is as hard as a rock ya know?” and then KEEPS GOING.

where’s the empathy sis? where is it? i’m looking but i can’t find it.

EVEN TAKADO WAS LIKE “I WAS TRYING TO TALK SERIOUSLY ABOUT IT”

and then the writers just push off her rudeness as like “it’s okay it’s chill!! takado laughed about it afterwards and it made the issue sound insignificant!!” even tho it’s obviously an extremely traumatic thing? WHY does he even fall in love with her??? i don’t UNDERSTAND alsdkfjs she has NO FEELINGS!! i just want genuinely romantic moments... is that too much to ask... it’s called romance md...

once again, let’s compare that to hlitf mc, when she finds out about kaga’s trauma. literally the FIRST reaction she has is to consider his feelings.

without even hearing his side of the story, she defends him because she trusts him and immediately empathises with him and the first thing she does is try to understand him and where he’s coming from.

later on, when she hears him just dismissing things and playing callous, she actually cries on his behalf, which shocks him because he’s not used to people caring about him:

isn’t that a MASSIVE difference in reaction to essentially the same character opening up about their trauma? which do you find more conducive to developing emotional intimacy? in my opinion, it’s so much easier to fall in love with someone who supports you and has your back and trusts and believes in you and tries to understand you and can have a genuinely caring conversation with you when you need it. by the way, it’s not like kaga’s mc doesn’t sass him either! they have great bantery chemistry and she shit-talks him ALL THE TIME (a lot of the time under her breath and he’s like HUH? it’s great).

and yet... we still actively see her caring about him... instead of being like WHOOPS my tongue slipped, i can’t help that i’m naturally insubordinate ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

by the way, i’m not trying to put the onus on female characters/heroines to be caring/empathetic/kind/loving. i’m putting the onus on ALL characters to be caring/empathetic/kind/loving in their own ways if we’re supposed to be convinced that they’re falling in romantic love. sure, kaga’s mc is exceptionally loving but kaga returns that love with his own ALL the time ;~~; anyway i’m gonna stop talking about them for now bc otherwise i would just completely derail and keep going on and on about them.

anyway, back to takado, i actually find him to be more caring and loving than his mc? i actually genuinely like takado as a character and i think that real life me and him would be great together so i’m like extra offended that he’s with her rather than ME??? i would treat him so much better.

i consider this lack of emotional depth to actually be a bigger hindrance on my enjoyment of the game than the lack of flaws thing. voltage’s recent wave of mcs with the love choice titles have been trending towards the ‘perfect woman’ type of mc, but while i have some Thoughts(tm) here and there about the other protagonists, none of them strike me as being as hard to get along with as rmd’s mc. so i’ve mentioned my issue with the masukisu mc’s weird moral boundaries (more an overall voltage issue that manifests the most strongly in her character), but i also do find that they don’t let her make big mistakes and they present her as this perfect superwoman figure with no weaknesses which like... unrelatable. but at least her banter is flirty banter and there’s a lot of chemistry there (even if it’s sometimes lacking emotional depth, as in some of kazuomi’s scenes - and that’s not her fault, that’s 100% on kazuomi lol). you can definitely understand why they’re attracted to each other at least, and you can definitely see real, deep love form between her and yuzuru the most. even though the masukisu mc is a ‘perfect woman’, the premise is designed to spark relationship conflict and the writing really helps us understand the emotional turmoil of falling in love with a target because of how much it lets the mc dwell on it. destind too basically has a perfect mc in terms of work/career, but they let her have her very glaring weaknesses and, once again, the premise forces her to address her shortcomings with regards to her idealistic view on soulmates/destiny and explores the head vs heart thing where she has to really examine her emotions and how they potentially come into conflict with her preconceptions of and preoccupation with numerical compatibility.

thinking about it objectively, i feel like takado’s mc and mlfk ayato’s mc have a couple of similarities in the way that they don’t realise they’re in love for the longest time (although obviously childhood friends to lovers provides a better context for not realising that love - same with my boi natsume), but there’s just something lovable about mlfk’s mc that i don’t see in rmd. without going too deeply into it bc (1) i’m tired and (2) i’ve been going on about this for WAY too long now, i think that comes back to tone or writing (and possibly translation) style. i think at some point, i might actually go and compare the language in the “omg am i in love...?” scenes between takado’s mc, ayato’s mc and natsume’s mc but uh... not tonight haha.

actually, at some point, i genuinely wondered if rmd mc was aromantic. i really just thought she did not experience romantic attraction because i literally got no sense of it through her internal monologue bc they kept pushing the whole like “i only relate to people’s ~aesthetics~” thing. and then i wondered how they were going to make an aromantic mc fall in romantic love...? because... it’s an otome game? (btw i’m not saying that aro people can’t enjoy otoge, i definitely know people who do! but there’s a big diff between someone playing an otoge vs someone being a character falling in romantic love in an otoge. but please call me out if i’m misunderstanding aromanticism!). anyway, long story short, rmd mc (takado’s especially) falling in love is absolutely unconvincing to me because i find her dialogue - both internal and external - rather unfeeling.

these three points (1. translation that favours colloquialism over communicating emotional tone; 2. characterisation of a hubristic mc who doesn’t need to overcome significant challenges; 3. lack of emotional depth and empathy/understanding) are basically why i don’t think that she has good romantic chemistry with the love interests in romance md that i’ve read so far. i also have some very petty personal gripes (sekai...........) but they’re not relevant to this particular topic and frankly just... really petty so i don’t want to get into them here.

so anyway, long story short: i agree that i don’t think she would really vibe with kasumi in her current given state. like, they could be friends, maybe.

#romance md: always on call #rmdaoc #munechika takado #i'm... afraid to tag this #but i must do it to keep my blog organised so i can come back and find this #her love in the force #hlitf #hyogo kaga #voltage inc #otome romance #love 365 #love choice #snow writes #meta #snow rants #that should be a new tag #voltage mc

15 notes · View notes

redandfranticfeelings · 5 years

Text

okay ive been wanting to make a post like this for a while but i wanted to make it an essay and i dont know if i can really organize my thoughts in that way yet, so here’s a chronological bullet-pointed dump to explain my very important thesis:

be more chill is about internalized ableism, and jeremy, michael, and christine are all highly autistic coded. this is going to be very long and detailed but only because there’s a lot of details that work very well under this lens.

there’s probably even stuff i missed but this is already extremely long so it basically just functions as a way for me to collect a bunch of details that i can piece together later in a more coherent manner.

“more than survive” in the context of jeremy being autistic works so much. the theme of wanting to be just socially acceptable enough to not burn out or be harassed is so relatable, and it visually establishes very early how jeremy is isolated from his peers due to his own awkward behavior and hypersensitivity. it’s coupled with his very obvious anxiety disorder, but the social aspect just screams autistic coding to me. i take this song to basically be “not having a meltdown is basically my goal but i would love to be neurotypical enough so i can heighten my standards and actually enjoy my social life.” some choice segments:

“if i’m not feeling weird or super strange, my life would be in utter disarray, cuz freaking out is my okay”

jeremy’s house being a mess is partly due to his dad’s serious depression, yeah, but i believe the other aspect is that jeremy’s executive dysfunction makes it just as hard to clean up in his place

he gets super anxious at the prospect of his expected routine being shaken up and having to make the decision on his own of how to get to school

“so i follow my own rules and i use them as my tools to stay alive” honestly sounds like a euphemism for autism to me

jeremy not really realizing that he’s staring at chloe

“avoiding any eye contact at all” explains itself

michael’s introduction, oh my god, every time i watch this part i just adore it. i could talk a lot more about michael’s autism later but this whole segment sells it especially.

first off, michael keeping his hood up and headphones on in a deliberate attempt to avoid social interaction and stay in his own space is such an autistic mood. even before this scene he’s constantly moving in the background to his music a la stimming. in the later performances he spends a lot more time playing with his hoodie strings and even chews on them!!

the fact he doesn’t talk to or even really look at jeremy until his song is done playing also feels very autistic to me! and the way he dances so confidently and basically pretends even his best friend isn’t there for the time being because he’s engrossed in his own passions.

michael is a great friend but it’s clear that he doesn’t really understand that his coping mechanism doesn’t really work for jeremy, and that even though michael feels confident reclaiming his identity as a ‘loser,’ jeremy doesn’t really feel any better about it. i think a lot of autistic folks, or at least i do, have this tendency to assume what works for us works for everyone around us at first due to our struggles with empathy. michael tries his best but struggles to see outside his point of view. it’s mind-blindness in action and jeremy can’t communicate why it upsets him any better than michael can pick up on it not working for him.

near the end of the song, they have a brief moment where all the ensemble crowds in around jeremy and the lights start flashing, which i interpret as a visual representation of sensory overload.

we’ll talk more about her soon, but outside of jeremy’s fantasies about her, christine also avoids social interaction during this number, constantly hiding her face in a book and avoiding eye contact just as much as jeremy. people forget that she’s not comfortable with unexpected social interaction, and that really informs my headcanon for her which brings us to....

“i love play rehearsal” is an autistic anthem. it also works, possibly even better due to in-text evidence, as an adhd anthem, but combined with the above it makes so much sense for her to be comorbid autism/adhd. i did a breakdown of the song in this context before, but i’ll sum it up here

the song showcases what having a special interest/hyperfixation is like. christine is singing to jeremy, yes, but she really seems so caught up in her own passion without much regard for how jeremy is following it, and even cuts him off from responding to her once or twice because she’s just so hyped up on her own feelings. she also basically implies her happiness is reliant on her special interest which is very relatable.

lines like “you follow a script so you know what comes next” also really sell the interpretation that christine isn’t good in unpredictable situations, and has so many identity issues and likes having something to look to where things are laid out for her. i think that stability is what a lot of autistic people look for, especially teenagers.

also with that in mind, look at how upset she gets watching a play she loves about get rewritten into something weird and new that she doesn’t know.

also gotta love how she still self-isolates before this song by focusing on her book, until she has a reason to infodump to jeremy. and then feels guilty afterwards and goes right back into her book while apologizing for getting “carried away”....biiiig mood there

the whole intro scene showcases both of their awkwardness so much. jeremy gets completely thrown off by her sarcastic comment about the swim team and almost believes it, which implies that he can’t read tone very well. and then christine’s “you’re a virgin” comment comes across like she really didn’t think about how that would sound to jeremy before saying it since she only made the clarification after he was ready to panic about it. she has a habit of speaking before she thinks, i think, the self-harm comment is also very awkward considering she barely knows jeremy.

after that scene we get “more than survive reprise” where jeremy admits to routinely having such bad breakdowns that he needs to step out and go to the nurse which works for both the anxiety disorder and the autism interpretation.

i’m not quite sure whether i see rich as autistic (i see him with a lot of mental issues for sure though) so i can’t say much on “the squip song” but there’s definitely something to describing a confused autistic kid as “almost helpless.” rich definitely has a habit of giving too much information though, i’ll say that.

“two player game” is just jeremy and michael being autistic solidarity: the song. i guess this is a good place to say that jeremy and michael work well as a contrast b/w two sides of autistic community, the side that struggles to function and desperately wants a change bc they’re afraid of being alone forever, and the side that tries to love all their symptoms and embrace their autistic pride. and as coincidental icing on the cake, jeremy wears blue (associated with the derogatory views from autism speaks) and michael wears red (associated with combating said views through autistic pride).

btw you could probably attribute michael’s ability to casually down a long-expired crystal pepsi as a sort of weird sensory quirk. and his fixation w/ that sort of memorabilia honestly feels like a special interest in its own right!

both “nice sideburns....wolverine, right” and “like in x-men????” using fiction as a reference point for real life always gives me autistic vibes (esp the first point where he awkwardly uses it to start conversation). can we assume x-men is a special interest? :3

jake referring to jeremy as a ‘freak’ when the squip turns on is really sad in this context but it also does make so much sense

now we get to the squip.....and what do you know, it uses tactics from abusive therapy used on autistic children. dare i say that “be more chill” as a song isn’t just an abuser’s song, but an ableist’s abuser’s song.

first off, the “spinal stimulation.” here’s a not so fun fact: electroshock therapy has been used to discourage autistic behavior in very recent years. (content warning in link for graphic description of ableist torture)

then the lyrics, in which the squip mostly focuses on jeremy’s posture and physically punishes him for disobeying. jeremy is shown to really struggle to stand up straight and pose himself in a normal, confident way, and i think that tendency to be unaware of what our body is doing is a pretty autistic thing?

the fact the squip singles out stammering and refers to jeremy’s “tics and fidgets” brings attention to two more autistic traits of jeremy’s

the squip basically punishes jeremy for responding “incorrectly” to social situations like rejecting brooke, even if they aren’t objectively wrong. it eventually just starts speaking for jeremy because jeremy seems incapable of acting natural. the squip is an abusive autism parent.

“sync up” demonstrates jeremy’s weird relationship with empathy. he wants to be nice to everyone- will has even called him “deeply empathetic”- but he’s initially really bad at seeing other people’s point of view, which is why he positions himself as sort of against the world, seeing everyone as better than him or trying to set up these barriers of Coolness where everyone else must be perfect compared to him. he’s so surprised to learn that the popular kids also hurt because of his strict idea of the social structure. it’s a combination of low self esteem and a black-and-white viewpoint.

let’s go back to christine. the squip, already established as ableist abuser, finds her “highly unusual” for acting in a way that disregards everyone who views her. she has very strange and specific visions in her head, and it seems very natural for her even if jeremy struggles to follow along.

in later performances, she chews on her sleeve and spins around during AGTIKBI. that’s stimming, babes. also gotta acknowledge “i don’t always relate to other people my age, except when i’m on the stage”

i’m gonna use this section to talk about jake and christine. christineis a bit unsure when interacting with jake, until he validates her interest- her acting is what really touches him. but jake, while good-hearted, has trouble being self-centered and thus not fully aware of christine’s own needs and space. so christine is always a little uncomfortable around him, especially in public, and not always willing to socialize. he is right about her being kind of stuck in her comfort zone, though, not doing anything off of her stage. and he is genuinely nice to her, it’s just a matter of their social strategies clashing.

the fact that the squip blocks out michael...i’ve had a lot of times in my life where i was told that socializing with other “weird” people would be counterproductive for my social development and it was part of why i was stuck with so few friends. so i really feel the idea that blocking out the person who helps you feel confident in your atypicality is framed as a good thing so you can act more socially adept, and that doing otherwise would just drag you both down.

hot DAMN does “loser geek whatever” make so much sense for an autistic kid with internalized ableism.

“it’s not only school that’s rough, being lonely’s stupid tough” makes it pretty clear this isn’t about the school social scene as muc as it is the entire social scene of the world. we may not see it, but it’s just (not) interacting with people in general that jeremy can’t stand.

“michael says that weird is rad but feeling weird just makes me sad” as stated above, makes a Lot More Sense with the idea that michael is both a more confident autistic and really bad at addressing jeremy’s own internalized ableism and desire to make connections outside his small friend group.

everything about jeremy boiling down all his problems to his “instincts” sucking and needing to basically be told what to do really highlights how autistic kids can feel broken because of their inability to fit into the social norm, to the point where we repress every behavior that actually makes us feel comfortable and unique.

not to mention the line about him being seen as a “normal handsome guy” since autistic people tend to be infantilized and never seen as desirable (will roland also implied this line has trans coding which is another discussion altogether but i feel i should acknowledge that here)

all of those terms that jeremy calls himself near the end- namely weirdo, misfit, oddball, freak, failure- all of this sounds like the shit people throw at autistic kids. like this goes beyond anxiety alone, this is jeremy being outcasted and oppressed by the general public due to his behavior. especially the “please don’t speak” part, considering how often autistic kids are mocked for misunderstanding when to speak, how to speak, and what to talk about. jeremy needs some freaking love. :(

“michael in the bathroom” is a panic attack, related to severe anxiety, but i do see a lot of aspects that play into autism as well. the little nervous stimmy movements of foot-bouncing and picking at grout, the explosive sensory overload during the “knock knock” section of the bridge, the whole concept of losing the only person you ever managed to connect to without sacrificing who you are, dealing with this massive change to your sense of philosophy and reality where you pinned everything on one person to ground yourself, and thus you’re now completely lost trying to isolate yourself from this big overwhelming social gathering...neurodivergent anthem all around.

jeremy and christine’s couch interactions during halloween give me such autistic positivity. christine basically echolales jeremy’s weird noise and they both have so much fun vocal stimming that they forget there’s another person in the room. it’s such a sweet moment until jeremy ruins it by realizing that asking her out right after a breakup is Not Really Good For Her.

christine’s reaction to the fire demonstrates a clear case of hyperempathy to me. it isn’t discussed as much as a complete lack of empathy, but autistic folks are prone to feeling way too much especially when it comes to others’ pain. christine talking about how she hates that everyone’s hurting and desperately wants to help but doesn’t know how, and how we’ve already seen how much she struggles to connect with others like jake....it’s a very relatable, very specific autistic mood.

going back to the theme of jeremy and empathy, christine’s above hyperempathy kind of breaks this mold, and while jeremy always does feel for the other kids, by this point he feels so strongly- particularly for christine, who he also saw as a perfect confident being until now- that the squip can manipulate him into “fixing” everyone the same way the squip was supposed to “fix” him. and he never considers that christine doesn’t need to be fixed because he just projects his own insecurity that strongly onto everyone else who seems “weird” in the same kind of way- hence why he assumes michael is jealous of him back in MITB. it’s likely a result of the squip’s manipulation but i feel like mind-blindness is a factor, even if jeremy switches between struggling to process others’ emotions and being extremely empathetic.

michael’s special interest saves the day!!! :D

the whole fight b/w jeremy and michael, assuming it comes from a genuine place of repressed bitterness, has a lot of added subtext with them both being autistic. jeremy accusing michael of “giving up” on social interaction, michael envies jeremy for trying bc michael is clearly Not comfortable in most large social settings, jeremy envies michael for his pride, it just hits home for me i guess

rich calling michael “antisocial headphones kid” honestly how is michael not canon autistic

in the off-bway version michael briefly speaks too loud forgetting that jeremy’s head still hurts which is a relatable Forgot About Boundaries thing. plus him smacking rich playfully forgetting that rich is Still In Pain

“voices in my head” works nice as a fuck-societal-norms-and-just-be-happy song. “embrace the traits that make you so odd” in particular :’)

jeremy remembering christine’s infodump about her obscure bowling alley performance art idea and bringing it up to her again!!!

the squip doesn’t go away because ableism and the anxiety it brings and all the upsetting symptoms of autism don’t go away, but with the right support and confidence you can live with them!!! good message for mental disorders in general and works very well in this context!!!

so in conclusion.....be more chill is autistic pride!!!

#be more chill #bmc #actuallyautistic #autistic headcanons #long post #be more neurodivergent #queue are so busted

278 notes · View notes

alternativewinxcontinuity · 5 years

Note

will the winx alt. con. keep with canon relationships? cuz sky and bloom could be a dope couple with good writing, and aISHA AND NABU OHMYGOD-

TLDR:

Yes and No?Stella/Brandon are basically the same, while Sky/Bloom and Aisha|Layla/Nabu|Ophir are getting a little bit of a more obvious over haul they will still be A Thing.

Tecna/Timmy, Flora/Helia and Musa/Riven are... less so, like, if they happen as a romance thing, it will be a long time coming, or less obvious.

Mirta/Lucy& Palladium/Avalon are also A Thing, but more background than any of the others.

So in terms of ships in the Canon show: they are a mess. On the surface they seem plausible, maybe even okay, but the longer you look at them, the worse the relationships get. I've tried to keep the basics, but change certain circumstances so things are less... bad foundation-wise

Bitching and Alt Con spoiler alerts below the cut.

Stella/BrandonBloom/Sky (feat. Diaspro)Aisha/Nabu|Layla/Ophir (feat. Roy (&Nex))Tecna/TimmyFlora/HeliaMusa/Riven (feat. Darcy)Mirta/LucyDaphne/ThorenPalladium/Avalon

Final heads up, I'm about to say a lot of sh*t, and none of you have to agree, we all interpret things differently, I'm the kind of person who pulls things apart and finds the smallest speck of 'rot' and grows it in a mental Petri dish to see how awful things could be... that is a terrible analogy, but long-and-short-of-it: my opinions may be based on worst case scenario analysis, rather than any analysis you may use, and I am not saying you should not ship things, by all means, ship all the things.

I apologise for the high levels of in-coherency and absolute aggro.

Stella/Brandon

On the surface, this ship is changing perhaps the least because they're a “pretty stable” couple, unfortunately, they also began their relationship with a lie and that was never fully addressed in Canon. I tried to combat that by having Brandon and Stella 'test the waters' so to speak, with Brandon asking early on if Stella thought she'd still like him even if he wasn't a prince, and Stella later mentioning to Bloom that yeah, she would.

I say “pretty stable” because they don't break up every other episode, but their relationship is kind of... on the opposite end of the problem spectrum, like: “I'd jump off a cliff with no knowledge of what was below and no safety harness or ability to fly for you,” they've displayed a concerning level of co-dependency.

I tempered that a bit in the Alt Con, mostly be removing the situation where that (jumping off the cliff) happened, because it was the result of characters being sudden!dumb! But I also feel like, whatever universe, they'd be the kind of couple who'd get through rocky points in their relationship because they'd try to make it work because they are connected.

Canon treats them a little weirdly, because they are (excuse my language) psychotically-in-love, despite both being established as generally flirty people, but it only once really put the jealousy thing into play, in season 4 when the writers tried to make us take Mitzy as a 'serious villain' by turning her into Stella&Brandon's 'Diaspro problem'.

Alt Con Stella&Brandon are more reasonable, but are still very much 'our eyes met and something clicked' kinds of in love, but they definitely put work into a stable foundation, and were able to weather the SkyBrandon reveal with only a small wobble and some breathing space.

Bloom/Sky (feat. Diaspro) aka: the Drama Llama ship.

I think this one is changing the most, of the three main ships that are 'staying'. Alt Con Bloom&Sky didn't actually start dating until late in season 2, and are being very cautious with their relationship.

Unlike Canon Sky, Alt Con Sky was hesitant to begin a relationship when he knew he would have to end it, and knowing it would be a douche-bag move. Likewise, Bloom's Canon displayed empathic ability came into play, warning her that Sky was hiding something from her, and making her hesitant to even try dating while that was looming between them.

The biggest change with the Bloom/Sky dynamic is that it didn't start under falsehoods, and Diaspro was treated with the respect she deserved, rather than an unwanted crazy ex (even before she was the ex).

Canon Sky was a cheater, pure and simple, we've (probably all) talked the matter to death over the years, and there's no interpretation where what he did and didn't do, was okay. But it also explains his later douchey behaviour: people who cheat are more likely to suspect others of cheating.

Canon Sky has always been quick to jealousy, see season 2's full on stalking bullshit, and of course the thing with the FrEaKinG unicorn.

And of course, since he did start his relationship with Bloom as a cheater, Bloom knows he has a history of cheating, and cheaters don't typically 'find the right person and change their ways forever'. Sorry, but they don't, which explains why Bloom is so ready to believe Diaspro is succeeding in stealing Sky back, whether she actually is or not.

Canon Bloom/Sky have no trust foundation, like zero, none, maybe even negative trust foundation.

Fixing that was simple: I didn't let them get together while there were lies to be had.

Now, love her, hate her, pity her, Diaspro is a huge part of the Canon relationship, so I do have to talk about her.

Canon treats her like an increasingly manic instant drama dispenser, and I think we're all sick to death of it, not just because Diaspro has become more and more difficult to sympathise with, but because we're sick of the Bloom/Sky (relationship-status: “Yoyo's would be dizzy by now”) continuity.

But she's a princess, which means she should be more politically aware than what she is in Canon, she's marrying in to The Royal Family of Eraklyon. Sky's already there, he's set, he is the 'scheduled in in pen' Future King of Eraklyon, he ain't got to do shit.

Diaspro does. She has to be liked by the current king and the people, even if not her future husband, her marriage is a job.

So Alt Con Diaspro gets to do 'diplomacy' first, she gets to make first contact with the Winx, rather than being randomly attacked by a crazy ass fairy and being humiliated in public.

But this also means that Bloom wasn't humiliated in public, because Alt Con Diaspro was tactful in revealing the truth about the SkyBrandon switch. (Because the switch wasn't actually life or death protection.)

That whole first meeting in Canon was disaster from the word go, and put such a taint on the relationship that it's season 8, and the writers are apparently still trying to beat that dead horse.

The main thing that stops Bloom/Sky from moving past their beginning in Canon, is that they just don't communicate. They run into the slightest problem and suddenly they're breaking up and they stop trusting each other and its the end of the world and boohoo, blah blah woof woof.

They get back together as a matter of course, like its on a freaking check list for the writers to tick off, but they never really deal with what happened. It's all: Inciting incident, zero to sixty in three point five break up, way too long stealing the B plot's screen time being pouty and childish, 'oh we were wrong and are back together now without dealing with the actual problem because there wasn't one we're just dumb.'

Starting them off with knowing that they have an attraction to one another, but listening to a combination of common sense/basic decency and intuition so they wait until they're at a place where they can be honest and upfront about what needs to be spoken about, rather than having them run head first into what is nothing more than a revolving door of relationship drama was important for the Alt Con, because ain't nobody got time for that shit anymore. (Have you seen the new time line, it's condensed AF.)

The Alt Con also does something else I always wanted to see: addresses the fact that Bloom is now in a position to marry into a Royal Family.

Alt Con Bloom/Sky is a lot more tentative than Canon, they started of on a better foot, without that lie and cheating between them, but they're going into the relationship knowing that if they work, and they feel like there's a good chance they will, Bloom will have to assume the role of Queen Consort of Eraklyon one day, she's not just dating Sky, she's dating his family and his Planet which means they have to take it slower and more seriously.

Spoiler alert for season 3 of the Alt Con: the love potion is still happening, the set up of the relationship though means there's less 'why doesn't he love me anymore' and more 'Diaspro was (not totally fine with it but) prepared to accept the change, this isn't like her,' and 'Sky and I were okay last time we talked, he wouldn't do this without telling me, something is wrong here.' (Diaspro is not a psycho b*tch/Mark of Valtor theory coming well into play here.)

Aisha/Nabu|Layla/Ophir (feat. Roy (& Nex))

So in Canon, Nabu and Aisha first met when Nabu just randomly up and stalked Aisha through Magix on her day off after their engagement was announced. And because apparently princesses can't date first boyfriends who don't lie about their identity, Nabu introduced himself as 'Ophir'.

Look, I get that he was shy and embarrassed or something? But what the genuine frick-frack?!

The writers have apparently never had romantic relationships before because that trend was really friggen messed up. Like... none of the relationships in Winx Club are what I'd call ideal and healthy, all of them have some aspect of 'oh god run!' to them, but Aisha got the short end of a ratty stick.

So Canon timeline (allegedly): Middle of third year, Aisha's home world is under attack and she can't do more than she's already done. Trying to take a mental health day with her girls, and this rando dude up and stalks her, then, because she's a decent person, she chooses stalker's life over the Magical Dimension (Agador Box), and it turns out, this random ass stalker has lied about his identity and stalked her because he's the fiance she never wanted.

And yes, they do eventually end up falling in love and choosing one another... right before he fricken dies less than a year later.

So you know, Aisha does her 'vengeance is me' spree, which was awesome but designed to put her in a bad light, let's be real.

And then: nothing, an extra heaping of man hate because Aisha is an angry-girl, but no one really addressed her grief after the fact, like you don't just wake up and get over the death of someone that close, and yes, I know that people do move on, but we never saw her moving on, she calmed down after an episode of revenge and then she was 'all good' bar the aggro-tude. She spent season 5 and 6 angry at everything male, then suddenly she was dating Nex and... I'm sorry, I do block a lot of the later seasons out, but I genuinely do not remember them getting together, they just suddenly were after a season of Nex being an asshole with an almost redemption scene when he saved Roy, who mysteriously vanished, despite sticking around post his job-arc in season 6, but I guess that was for drama.

I don't really care for Nex, but that's a complex and layered issue that is only partly about shipping, and only partly about the fact that he was an absolute asshole who almost killed Roy during training basically on purpose, even if I didn't particularly like Roy, I don't hate Nex either.

Aisha has had all the boys thrown at her, and it was annoying, because she never needed one, she sure as sh*t didn't need a second and a third who inexplicably 'won her hand' or whatever the hell happened there.

I would have been fine if Aisha had stayed single after Nabu, like, just because people do move on, doesn't mean she has to date again.

So, Alt Con, Nex and... urgh, 'Thoren' are persona non grata, because let's be honest, they were introduced for shipping purposes and Daphne/Thoren was the stupidest thing to ever be shipped in Magix, I apologise if you like the ship, I don't mean to start a war, but it felt like it was so forced and it came out of even less than nowhere than Aisha/Nex.

Also Daphne isn't returning to life in the Alt Con, sorry, spoiler.

But Nabu isn't dying either. (I thought about it, but it was a stupid drama grab, so it's been chucked and set on fire. I did have an idea of a plot line for the closure, involving Nex as the son of a Valkyne who'd left Waltevy, and him taking Aisha to say a proper goodbye to Nabu, and freaking waiting for her to be ready to date again and just being a decent friggen person... but, yeah, nah.)

Salvaging Roy, even in Canon is actually pretty easy: Roy volunteered for the duty of driving Aisha around because he was actually good friends with Nabu, they went to school together before Roy joined the royal guard (or whatever), and while they never got the chance to meet while Nabu was alive, Roy wanted to get the chance to meet the young woman who stole Nabu's heart, the young woman who loved Nabu like he did. (yes, Roy is gay now.)

Boom! Roy: kept, forced attempt at shipping: gone, call back to that one dead character everyone loved in a way that could lead to closure: available.

(So yeah, Roy is also gay for his bestie in the Alt Con, but also understands that Nabu will never feel the same, and puts their friendship above his romantic interest... he might get someone one day...)

With the Alt Con, there are places where I want to run parallels, and the Aisha/Nabu|Ophir meeting is one of them, but also not.

Again, season 3 spoilers apply: Aisha will be meeting Nabu under the name Ophir, but it's not for 'nefarious purposes of deception' like Canon, it's just a misunderstanding no one cleared up until too late. Part of (Alt Con) Androsian culture is something called a 'Sidhe name', something that an Active magic user takes on when they achieve a certain level or status. Nabu's Sidhe name is Ophir, which he uses for important or official situations, like during the siege of Andros.

Ophir and Roy are showing up early on to take part in the defence of Andros, and to fight along side the Winx, not as love interests, but just as two guys who were available, who are capable and who are helping out.

'Ophir' and Aisha get along pretty well during the events, and Aisha's parents, having been quietly worried about finding someone who would be a good match for their 'not as courtly as she could be' daughter, reach out to Nabu's folks to see if he's in a relationship, and all parents get a little ahead of themselves which leads to the surprise engagement, which leads to Nabu tracking Aisha down to apologise and see if it is something she'd like to pursue or if they need to sit their parents down for a talk, which leads to the reveal, 'Ophir isn't my birth name, sorry, surprise I'm your fiance' moment, which is no longer a 'surprise your chosen-for-you future-husband is a rando stalker' event.

And because the parents went off the pre-existing mutual attraction rather than just up and picking a dude, it's less stupid when they get together anyway.

(I'm sorry but, Canon Aisha did not want to get hitched to some random guy, but he ended up being her first love? Urgh, maybe I'm just too jaded, but it just always hit me as a 'if you stick it out long enough you'll learn to love him, settle now to be happy later' message. I am so happy they did find love and happiness together, as brief as it was, but... come on not all arranged relationships end well...)

(And yes, Aisha will be taking Layla as her Sidhe name, because it is such A Thing within the fandom, I had to find a place to throw it in.)

Tecna/Timmy

Look, this ship is not a bad ship, I think I just don't like it because I liked that there was a romantic relationship that wasn't... standard hallmark romance or whatever. People aren't all the same, friendships and romantic relationships look different on different people, and I enjoyed that Tecna and Timmy were a... “bromance” style romance, that they knew what they had, and it was enough even if it didn't look like the other couples' relationships. If we had to have their relationship take up screen time, I would have preferred it wasn't a forced dinner date.

They were so uncomfortable, but as that damn subliminal message likes to tell us: 'normal dating is correct dating, your love is wrong, so in the end, their friends forcing them to do something they didn't want to do, and meddling in their relationship was “the right thing all along”'.

>:(

No, none of that in the Alt Con.

Tecna/Timmy is a lot slower in the Alt Con, because their friends are more respectful of their different emotional needs. Tecna is learning how to express herself in ways others can more easily see and recognise, but the Winx are also learning to read how Tecna expresses herself normally (for her).

Timmy is a capable leader, but also a bit introverted, while he can take charge, he's more of a team tactician, gathering the data and making it understandable.

Their relationship in the Alt Con is romantic, but it won't take up much 'screen' time, and it won't necessarily 'look' romantic.

Tecna and Timmy of the Alt Con are... shared spaces, quietly working on their own projects while in the same room, sharing tools as they work, they're technobabble too fast for anyone else to keep up, they're leaps in logic that only the other seems to follow in full, they're hooking pinky fingers together when they stand close.

They're slow and methodical and contented and they know where they are together, and they communicate well, even if they don't communicate like Brandon and Stella who do it loudly and with giant gestures and exaggerated facial expression, or Bloom and Sky who sit and hold hands and sometimes struggle to word things trying to make sure they're understood by the other because they're a little afraid.

Tecna and Timmy clicked quietly one piece of a puzzle at a time, and they know they don't do things like everyone else, but their way works for them, and that's what's important.

Flora/Helia

Look, I'mma be honest: this ship kinda irks me a little. It felt like Aisha showed up so Flora had to start the romantic process, because a maximum of 1 Winx may be single at a time. Again: this is not a bad ship, it just felt forced. (Like in Sailor Moon Crystal, how just because Serenity and Endymion were dating, their friendship group/generals/guards had to be exactly matched and dating each other too. This is not just my K/Z|M/Z shipper heart being bitter, it just always feels weird to me when this happens, like just because Juliet and Romeo had a thing, doesn't mean the Capulets and Montagues had to start dating one another... bad analogy let's move on.)

At this point, I have no plans for Flora and Helia to be A Thing in the Alt Con, but if it feels like there could be some natural development, I won't rule it out. Helia will still be around, he and Flora just won't be auto matched.

...I fell a little bad I don't have more to say about this ship... I guess... as 'blah' as I feel about them, even I think season 7 did them dirty?

Musa/Riven (feat. Darcy)

Ah yes, the other ship we probably all have strong 'fix it or end it forever' feelings for.

We as a fandom have talked this one over as well, we all know that no matter how passionate it was, the writers just could not let them get to a healthy place and stay there.

Any time it looked like these two dorks were going to be okay, and move past their rocky beginnings: NOPE! Misunderstanding because Riven is a 'Bad Boy' and Musa has abandonment issues which makes it hard for her to trust him... or something???

… honestly it's a little tricky to pin down exact reasoning with these two, because again, I don't think the writers have ever been anywhere near a healthy and supportive long term relationship, and they need to prolong the 'she can fix him if she just holds on' token relationship.

Because realistically that's what this one is, the ship that tells young girls that they can fix 'bad boys' if they just stick it out, that boys like that can be or want to be fixed and 'good boyfriends are prizes you get for fixing shitty ones'. It could have been so much more than that.

The problem is there was never any space where Musa wasn't 'in crush' with Riven or in a relationship with him, and there was only a few times when Riven got to not be an asshole, all of which were typically wipe away for status quo reasons within a few episodes.

So the starting point for these two (versus relationships) in the Alt Con, is Darcy. You all remember when Riven and Darcy dated in the first season, but it was so she could use him as a maybe spy? But she might have liked him for reals? But she totes dumped him like a sack of crap once he was no longer useful and once he did his redemption act, no one ever brought it up again?

I'm not the only one who remembers that right?

So Alt Con Darcy/Riven were actually in love, they met and clicked and it sizzled, and Darcy regretted having to choose between Riven and her sisters, to the point where she helped Riven escape, even though it ended up leading to her own downfall.

And Riven was genuinely in love with Darcy, even into season 2 and 3 he's still in love with her, but he's also trying to get over her, because she's a bad person who tried to rule/destroy the universe.

He had a shitty childhood, he has reasons (not excuses) for being the way he is, and being jealous of Sky's leadership position, but (and this is the important part) Riven knows he's kind of an asshole, and he knows he's not the nicest guy, and the one who wants to make Riven not an asshole, is Riven.

(Reasons: This is why I did the thing. | Excuses: This is why you should let me get way with it.)

Riven is relying on his friends, and yes on Musa too, to help him become a better person, but he's not leaving it all to them, they aren't forcibly shoving him down the road to redemption, Riven is taking responsibility and trying to be better for himself.

Fixing him is not Musa's job, she's just a friend who's supporting another friend on his road to self improvement.

That's not to say that Musa has only platonic friendship feels for Riven, oh no, she thirsts for that capable warrior man, but she also knows that he's kind of an asshole, and a pretty face is not enough to make a shitty attitude worth it.

Though she still occasionally checks him out, (because she has eyes, she can look,) Musa has set aside romantic ideas for the time being, and after season 1 the two settled into a bumpy but solid friendship.

If Musa/Riven do become A Thing, it will be far down the road after a long term friendship, once Riven has gotten to a place where he feels both okay with who he is as a person, and that he has moved on from Darcy and can share his heart with a new person the way they deserve (rather than forever being second string to his first girlfriend) ((and because they grew together while they were growing as people, not her getting a reward for waiting it out)).

(Yes I do understand she wasn't some blameless victim in an abusive relationship as this rant may have seemed to indicate, these two were both to blame for their poor communication and hang ups, but mostly because the writers were ass hats. This show is designed for young girls, every message in it is first intended for young girls, though they can be shared with anyone, and because my brain: what's the scariest maessage that can be taken from this fiasco of a relationship? ^that shit^)

Mirta/Lucy

It was Canon, and I'll hear nothing to the contrary, but holy shit did Lucy keep running back to the Trix and treating Mirta like crap.

I am giving them a little more screen time, and an ongoing background arc, so I let them talk it out.

Alt Con Mirta and Lucy are in 'denial' (they just shy) about being 'together' as of the end of season 2, but they've moved past their fears of being abandoned by one another just because their lives and magics have taken them down different roads.

They'll finish figuring their shit out eventually.

Daphne/Thoren

… no, none of this. Just... just no, thank you. She's staying 'dead' and he doesn't exist.

Palladium/Avalon

So in Canon, Palladium had a crush on who he thought was Avalon, but was actually a monster in disguise. This was never addressed, nor was any trauma Avalon may have suffered during his imprisonment, or the fact that people at Alfea would have acted like they knew him, when they didn't and that would have been confusing until he got to know them all.

This was a ship in it's infancy that never got to be, because it was based on even more of a lie than Bloom/Sky, Stella/Brandon, Aisha/Nabu in Canon.

The Canon of this ship was straight up (ha, pun) queer baiting, let's be real, so Alt Con switched a few key details.

1: Avalon was possessed by a demonic sleeper agent rather than an entire fake!Avalon, so the relationship actually happened, and didn't get retconned last minute.

2: The students ship it

3: Avalon feels like shit about being possessed, but he and Palladium are working through it together

End Note:

I personally feel like the two biggest problems facing the relationships in the Winx Club was the absolute lack of communication between people allegedly in relationships, and the writer's need for Status Quo Drama.

(Status Quo Drama: things that happen to create drama and are never truly solved in a satisfactory manner despite being 'resolved' by the end of the arc in a way that leaves all characters right back where they started while pretending their was some kind of progression.)

#Winx #winx club #Winx Alternative Continuity #Winx Alt Con #winx ships #shipping rant #I APOLOGISE FOR EVERYTHING #ranting about shipping #i’m just bitching now #I got an Ask!#Asking Alternix

25 notes · View notes

unproduciblesmackdown · 4 years

Text

see ppl would be like “lars would just wanna leave the planet again” and i would be like :///////// boy i hope that’s not what happens tho................lol

cuz idk for me it’s like. hmm i would have hoped that he’d be able to Find His Place amongst his actual home and like, find that sense of belonging there which was so important to him? out of maybe somewhere on the entire planet? and i def think there’s multiple ways of looking at / interpreting this but mine is like.....not loving this aspect of lars peacing off of the Entire Planet (i will just keep saying that lol...the wholeass world)

i mean first of all it was weird that like. lars dies and is entirely gone but there was seemingly way less of an impact back home than you would’ve thought? or i mean, maybe not more than you would’ve thought (just a random kid in a random shop) (but also! uh he died!!) but like, it’s seemingly confirmation that he Didn’t belong there and nobody cared that much? like he’d have reason to be upset about that lol......and then like. timing-wise it was also weird that finally being Back was like, a ten second deal lmao like uh where are his parents!!! somebody gonna tell them or. and speaking of, where are his parents when he’s all “yeah i’m leaving the entire planet again” lmaoooo like okay but they have no simple direct way of getting in touch with him!! bro you are in space.....bro

and like, it Did make sense that sure, lars could thrive Innnn Spaaaace in ways he couldn’t back home just cuz of like, hey everything’s completely different and you have these very solid goals and these people are totally new to you, there’s no pressure of what-ppl-expect-from-you and i don’t just mean that in an “achievement” way, but just like, ur established relationships with whoever and Performing How You Think They See You or etc etc.....and yes a group of weirdos who nobody likes is potentially gonna be real accepting to other weirdos nobody likes. and i think for a character like lars it can kinda make sense that like, such a drastic Fresh Start could even be welcome to him. and also it seems sort of like a portal fantasy situation? like, look you’ve left the Regular World and now you’re in some totally different scenario where you’re now considered remarkable just via being so unusual but also you kind of have superpowers, and nobody here knows you and you can be whoever and you have this new status and a purpose and etc etc etc etc etc etc like, imo for kids who Really Do Not Feel They Fit In for lgbtq and/or depressed-ass and/or nd reasons, etc etc, it’s like.......portal fantasy content hits different!!!!

but yanno, irl there’s no Portal Fantasy situation that hits (like, you can sure travel a distance and be in an entirely different situation / environment, but not like, narnia) and when you get older it’s obviously more like. lol okay but seriously how do i fit in Here...........and like, ppl aren’t always gonna Find that greatly improved sense of belonging or anything, definitely not always right away, but it’s still like.......i mean i was real :///// about the idea of lars being like “he’s totally fine now, this is his thing, he’s good” Before this, and maybe it will continue to Not have this be like, his ~end point~ but the idea that Lars In Space, Again, might be the “he’s totally fine now, this is his thing, he’s good” deal is even more ://///////////// cuz like. he doesn’t belong on the entire planet lol??? and once again it being not that huge a deal to ppl that he’s leaving the entire planet, except to the guy who’ll have the easiest time talking to him (but still not a Direct way)........i was all like oh hey lmao is buck gonna talk to him wow!! i’d be way into that!!!! but then.....no.....i’ll take “standing next to each other” for Something but like. idk to me it feels like it’s confirming that Lars Didn’t Really Belong And Couldn’t Belong and it’s like..................................well it’s very understandable that lars could end up feeling that way and have made some level of peace with that (when he has a Portal Fantasy option :|||||||||| ) but uhhhh like. not a .........good thing???? doesn’t seem like To Me????? like again maybe this isn’t the true final point of his arc but like. already it’s shown that him Leaving The Entire Planet is seemingly no more a big deal than going to medical school and like. maybe like, attuning the perspective on the situation re: fantasy elements, you could interpret this as the equivalent of just like, moving somewhere really far away, what with one person having his cell phone number and it not Having to be a one-way trip, but.................shouldn’t it still be a bigger deal than this. and idk he’s still Not Belonging Anywhere On The Entire Planet like. what if he hadn’t happened to land in this situation of intergalactic fugitive making friends w/ a few aliens?? he would just have never belonged? anywhere on the entire planet????????????? again like, i appreciate how like, for the most part the Places You Can Be options here are mostly “this one particular small-ish town” and “goddamn outer space” and i can also appreciate that yeah, maybe lars wouldn’t end up feeling like he belongs in this one small-ish town but like. even if he could never befriend the other Peers whom he was trying to befriend, there......are other peers even in this one town

i also appreciate that probably the “probably living for millennia” thing was going to make Feeling Like He Belongs difficult but like, that’s another thing he’s not alone in nowadays. and like wow a new way it’s difficult to feel comfortable in The Way Things Are? what else would be new. like, why would we expect him to feel like “trying not to die twice in space” fixed everything forever.....which is why i was :/// about the idea that yknow, prior to this we could assume he was totally gucci. i guess the thesis statement i wandered to is that like, it seems like lars’s sense of alienation was only affirmed? like, litchrelly bro you fit in better with these actual aliens........and like, i can see how that can be interpreted as validating, and i’m not saying i think that that interpretation as wrong, but for me yeah it’s like. oh so lars really did Not belong, and all that time he spent beating himself up over thinking that nobody was gonna want him around? well!!! he is leaving the entire planet it’s kinda a “c’est la vie” matter apparently. like, i can assume he Does want to leave, but it’s still ://///////// like well lars every time you self-sabotaged b/c you thought you couldn’t fit in? you didn’t have to have done that but you were right to think that you weren’t gonna find the connections you wanted. like, god damn. is how i feel about lars going into space :///////////////////

#hot minute since there was a multiparagraph post abt the guy but here we are #honestly i wasn't expecting him to get Any development necessarily (or focus!) cuz i thought that maybe where he was was meant to be his End #Point and that there was no need for him to grow or nothing more to deal with or anything......so in that sense i guess it's uh. a relief.#but uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh #honessly for a second i was a lil hype he was gonna get to talk to buck like normally once ever lmao....That woulda been some type of #validation for sure. comfortably address ur celeb crush. try to be long distance boyfs but also one of you will outlive the other by #thousands of years.....but when has that ever stopped (anyone in the series b/c uhhh the main character....)#speaking of: i did v much enjoy what has frankly always been such a vital Arc from the start of the series lol s1e1min1sec1...#going from ''ur super annoying little brother ruining your life'' to ''ur little brother is still annoying you but also you're Like That''#(Like That = doing the ''we're tight'' pointer-middle-finger-entwine gesture)#anyways this wouldve been a tag essay but i didnt see any posts w/ anyone bringing it up already #oh when i say ''timing-wise'' i mean like. timing of content delivery. the fact that this show survived its Release Schedule in any way.....#but also the timing of figuring out how fastest-ship-in-galaxy leaves like 32 weeks ahead of this other ship and arrives Way Late.....hmmb..#i once had a dream abt [lars finally arrives back] that was like 50x more heartwarming than what we got #i think everyone agrees the pacing / handling of this particular storyline of Bro...Lars Is In Space is weird and not v effective #sweet Leaving The Entire Planet look tho!!!!!!#edit: i mean remember how there was a Whole Episode abt lars being upset that it felt like he was being left behind coz of sadie diving into #band stuff & having a blast despite him being totally gone...and the whole moral like bro nah!!!! the band is just living their lives!!!#u had best believe that you are Not necessarily being left behind coz you know this person cares about you!!! and lars was like ok u right #except uh!!! now it's like ''no but seriously while i was in space my life did diverge from the lives of every1 i used to know'' like.......#sure this might be a fairly Realistic way for this all to have gone down...u dont see some1 for months n have dramatic life changes apart #from each other & oop now you're not as close as you were....oop now you're just not That close at all....but like. once again it seems like #lars's overwhelming anxieties were validated!!! aughhh...#like yeah it's great that he has 9 Space Friends and is still tight w/ steve but like. idk. just seems like he was right abt not Belonging @#all....like.....oh worm yeah lars just couldn't have ever fit in here cuz he only has really Belonged when he went off and Died In Space :|

8 notes · View notes

imreallyhereforplance · 6 years

Text

Why No One Addressed Pidge’s Well-Being or Lance’s Outburst (+ S8 Plance Theory)

So I see that there are some posts where people are expressing an understandable amount of disappointment that the torture scene wasn’t expanded upon. That we didn’t see Pidge thank Lance or anyone ask Pidge if she was alright.

I was also confused, so I did some thinking, and came to a conclusion that’s actually pretty comforting to me: The writers did this to preserve atmosphere, and this scene will be addressed and/or paralleled in a future episode. Not just because we ship plance and we’re hoping for more scenes, but because it would help the writers reel the audience (or anyone who cares about Lance’s well-being) in during this future episode.

I COULD BE WRONG, but I’m actually pretty optimistic, and this post explains my thought process. It’s long, but if I can write it, then I believe that you have the strength to read it (if you want). Good luck.

@lancemccutie, this is dedicated to you ;)

As I mentioned, people have been disappointed at seeing NOBODY ask Pidge if she’s okay. And us plance shippers really wanted Pidge to thank Lance or something sweet like that.

But I feel like that’s just not the writers’ style. In a calmer situation where everyone is together, they might brush upon romantic subplots or, more commonly, illustrate the power of friendship/teamwork in general. In a more intense scene, though, they focus on events, like “Torture. Cut to Acxa. Hacking. Sentries.” That kind of thing. Because it’s all about ATMOSPHERE. So let’s talk about it. (I promise this is relevant.)

The torture scene. Wow, that was an emotional rollercoaster. Personally, I WAS surprised that no one said anything to Pidge, and I too was disappointed when we didn’t see her react to Lance. But remember that it was an intense portion of the episode, and an intense episode in general. There were multiple events going on, back-and-forthing between Coran, Acxa, the mice, the prisoners, and Ezor and Zethrid. The creators clearly outline this as an eventful episode, and they work hard to build up an atmosphere. This episode especially, since it’s the first time our heroes have actually been apprehended.

So in order to build this atmosphere, this dread, and make you really hope and really root for these characters, including Axca of all people, who might be their only hope, the writers cannot include anything that might subtract from what’s happening, even if it “makes sense.” (Like I get that there was some humor sprinkled in this episode, but it was mostly Coran giving away their location, which was a BAD thing.)

It makes sense that someone would ask Pidge if she’s okay. Which is why I am CERTAIN that someone did, we just didn’t see it because we had flashed to another character perspective. And why did we need to miss it? Because that would give us too big of a relief, we would have the subconscious feeling that it was over, things were better now. And of course we feel relief when they stop messing with Pidge, that’s unavoidable, but the creators realize that, and don’t want that. Or at least, too much of it. Because it’d be like spoiling their work.

Remember why the creators chose that she would be tortured in the first place – To BUILD atmosphere. To make you DREAD what’s happening. Like the popsicle post said, it “will make you gasp.” It tells the audience how bad the situation is. And it was remarkably effective. However, once she was released, they knew the audience was going to feel slightly better, and they didn’t want that. They wanted the audience to remain anxious. They wanted to minimize the feeling of relief so as not to take away too much from the dread that they’ve built up in their audience – the same dread they just created by including the scene.

So once Ezor stopped, the writers don’t bring any more attention to how Pidge is doing. Asking “Are you okay,” and Pidge saying “Yeah...I’m fine” would make us feel pity or concern at her particular well-being rather than concern at the situation as a whole. Instead, they want us to remember that the situation is still SUPER bad, so it’s treated like a “Nope, moving on. We gotta go – now!” kinda thing where they aren’t going to address this, and we the viewers are taken along for the ride. Having her tell us that she’s okay SUBSTRACTS from the atmosphere they’ve made from her being threatened, and instead draws our attention to Pidge particularly for a little too long for the writers’ liking. It would be a pause in what’s going on. Yes, it’d be a brief pause, but still there.

With this in mind, I guess you could say that Pidge is thereby used as a means to an end, but isn’t that true for everything that happens to these characters? Cuz the point is to tell a story, and you tell a story using those characters. You build an atmosphere using those characters.

(Also, real quick, this logic potentially means that Pidge really could have thanked Lance as well and we missed it because the writers wanted the general audience to get the most excitement/emotionally out of this episode. Which I respect and, as you’ll soon see, doesn’t bother me, because the scene as a whole MAY STILL BE ADDRESSED LATER ON IN THE SERIES.)

So, THAT IS MY REASONING FOR WHY WE NEVER SEE THE TORTURE SCENE BEING ADDRESSED AGAIN. (For that episode at least.)

HOWEVER, even if we didn’t see it as the viewers, there is NO WAY IN CANON THAT THEY DIDN’T ASK HER IF SHE WAS ALRIGHT. It doesn’t fit their characters at ALL.

Moving on from that specific episode, we all know that Voltron is not just a bunch of events. There are lots of beautiful relationships and lots of character development. But there are certain times for that, and they work better than in such an intense, action-packed, back-and-forthing episode. (And sometimes a juxtaposition of emotion and action are intentionally put together, like when Keith fights Kuron. Intense, but also deliberately emotional.)

Usually when the story focus on relationships, whether platonic or romantic, it tends to have a particular atmosphere that’s different from “In the Way Forward”. When the Paladins built their trust in one another and talked things out when they were stranded in space, almost the ENTIRE EPISODE was dedicated to it. Because it was important to the story that they worked things out and built Hunk at this time in the season. (And the hallucinations and sense of the unknown alone built an atmosphere imo)

The creators work out when a good time to focus on these relationships is, such as the aforementioned episode, and in “The Feud!” Notice that at these times, the atmospheres are a bit calmer, everyone the story is focused on for that episode’s plot is together, there’s no back-and-forthing between characters.

So what about the A//urance scenes? The creators included it because they felt it was important for whatever direction their relationship was going to take, and they included it at a relatively appropriate time. Not in the heat of battle, but before the battle. They let the audience know where these two characters stand, and they do it briefly because it’s not the main focus of the episode, but apparently needs to be addressed. (Interesting….)

Now that all this ATMOSPHERE stuff has been established, let’s move on to PARALLELS. Particularly, between Pidge and Lance. This is when I start specifically talking about future plance goodness along with Pidge and the torture scene.

SO. You know what I think would be veeery appropriate?

A reverse “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER” scene.

Let me explain. If you think about it, Pidge and Lance have sooo many parallels. And sometimes these parallels occur over multiple seasons.

And because this particular scene stands out to all viewers, whether you ship plance or not, I feel that it’s likely, based on the pattern we keep seeing, that something reversed and similar will eventually occur.

Such as, someone ridiculing Lance, and Pidge saying “Back off.”

Or – and this is what I think will happen – an enemy approaching Lance and Pidge saying “Get away from him!” or “Get off him!”

At first glance, these scenarios seem a lot more subtle than “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER,” and the receiver of Pidge’s outbursts may very well not even acknowledge her if she tells them to get tf back, but I think these hypothetical scenes fit with what we’ve been seeing for a while now.

You know why these would work? Because like “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER,” it’s not lovey-dovey. It’s not superficial. It’s not OUT OF CHARACTER IN ANY WAY. No matter what happens in season 8, whether Pidge has a crush on Lance or not (I believe she does), whether she confesses or not, NO ONE can reasonably say that these lines are OOC. They’re not lovey-dovey, but they still speak volumes.

WHICH IS WHY IT WOULD MAKE THE PERFECT PARALLEL TO “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER”.

It supports my rant on atmosphere because, in the case where Lance is about to be hurt by some enemy, Pidge screaming “Get away from him!” DOES NOT SUBTRACT from the atmosphere. It actually BUILDS the atmosphere. It makes you MORE scared for Lance. It makes you MORE desperate. Like, “oh shi-“ kinda desperate. A “Get away from him!” is more telling in the story than a “thank you, Lance.”

And this is why a parallel to “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER” is not only possible, but probable because it would accomplish a job that the creators want accomplished – atmosphere. (I told you atmosphere was important :D ) And for those of you who read my other post, Plance: A Ramble, (https://imreallyhereforplance.tumblr.com/post/177048118646/plance-a-ramble-im-just-going-to-warn-you-this) this could possibly fit in with the fight where the broadsword appears or the optional fight afterwards where Pidge expresses great emotion towards others.

I think that this can also be applied to @artemisarya‘s wonderful theories as well. I did say “no matter what happens in s8” this parallel would work, but I honestly do think that plance has a remarkably good chance anyways.

Also, just for the fun of it:

Remember how in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which we’ve been comparing plance and “DON’T YOU TOUCH HER” to for a little while now (looking at @truegryffindorforever2), the dialogue was:

Ron: GET OFF HER

Then there was some scuffling.

Hermione: No! Leave him alone!

So I feel like, while it’s not INEVITABLE and the creators could choose not to parallel this special scene, I think there’s a lot of potential for it in season 8, one that would even benefit the writers.

And, who knows? Maybe they will address the torture scene, but at a more suitable time plot-wise. Like, when Pidge and Lance are having a heart-to-heart? Pidge could thank Lance THEN, during an undistractedly emotional moment, filled with feels and nothing else demanding their attention. Instead of thanking Lance super quickly in front of all the other characters (including people like Krolia and Romelle) when the audience is supposed to be focusing on the direness of the situation. Personally, I think the former is an AWESOME time to have them discuss the torture scene.

The purpose of this post is not to tell anyone that their disappointment is unjustified or invalid. Rather, the point is to share my personal thoughts and to give you hope that something that, to me, seems more like the writers’ style might come into play in S8. They might see a “thank you” during an intense scene as a SUBTRACTION from that episode’s suspenseful atmosphere, and will instead have a “Get AWAY from him!” moment to ADD to the atmosphere in a future episode. They’re saving it up to remold it in a way that’s noticeably beneficial to the story! (Again, it builds up atmosphere before something happens / almost happens to Lance.)

Also, despite how positive I might sound, I am obviously not a creator / writer / producer / anything-other-than-big-fan-of-Voltron. I could be completely wrong, I might make no sense, I might be overanalyzing, I may be missing the point. But this is what I think, and I hope it helps some of you <3

Sorry it’s so long. If you have any patience left, tell me your thoughts!

Edit: I am aware that the "Lance! No!" scene can be interpreted as a parallel to "Don't you touch her!" and I agree with that perspective. To clarify, the parallel I am suggesting above does not only have similar energy, but a similar tone. The "Dont you touch her" scene was a much darker, slower, and more intense moment where Lance is not in a position where he can do much to help Pidge. This is what I envision for season 8 - where Pidge is prevented from coming to Lance's aid (whether it be because she is bound, hurt, or physically blocked) and the audience is aware that Lance is in grave danger. Hence the importance of atmosphere building as I've been discussing.

Once again, thank you for reading 💚💙

#plance #pidgance #flirtyrobot #seasalt #rainforest #this took me hours #i have to work #why cant i put this much effort into school #the fact that i could be totally wrong #has not escaped my attention #but i felt the need to do something #because people seem disappointed #so here's an explanation i guess

269 notes · View notes

comicteaparty · 5 years

Text

May 13th-May 19th, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from May 13th, 2019 to May 19th, 2019. The chat focused on Damsels Don’t Wear Glasses by J Alice Bown.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on Damsels Don’t Wear Glasses by J Alice Bown~! (http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until May 19th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. In so far, what aspect of the world-building catches your interest the most? Why is that so? Also, what theories do you have in regards to differences between places like Persephone and Hestia?

Delphina

For serious scenes, I think I gotta go with the big swordy magic scene where she saves Jake from being crushed by the statue (http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/?comic_id=202) because the lighting effects are gorgeous and seeing Lave doing big magic stuff with her sword was really really cool. For silly scenes, the one that always sticks with me is Lave trying to be a host and failing miserably. (http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/?comic_id=123)

keii4ii

2) I really liked this page. http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/index.php?comic=20180423 How she just asks a random person on the street for a magic shortcut and gets an answer right away. While it's always been clear that magic is an ordinary thing, this kind of little details really shows exactly how ordinary.

Capitania do Azar

I really like the prologue, particularly the part where they climb the lamppost. There's just so much character into the entire scene, and the exchanges are really cool. It's a very strong beginning for a story too, imo!!

2) http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/index.php?comic=20130423 I really think this part has a lot to show about world building like, here's this weird magical event going on, but everyone is just "I was just trying to show you something cool urg" and "well this ain't it"

duskglass

for the worldbuilding, i especially love the variety of creatures/nonhumans we've seen so far, and how well integrated they are with the setting! it's got a classic urban fantasy vibe while also being very fresh and unique

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. What do you think Lave’s backstory is? Do you think she got all her scars from her job, or might some of them predate her job somehow? How do you think Jake will change the way Lave handles and deals with her life?

ClauseArt

heeey I just saw this! This is my comic! Thanks for taking the time to read it! c8

RebelVampire

1) i definitely gotta go with the scene where jake is in dream world like place with aishe. I really love how this scene just suddenly adds 1000 layers of mystery. Plus, i really just love the change in color scheme. It really gives it this other worldly feel that gives me goosebumps. Plus, I also just like Aishe's design. 2) I've really been enjoying the differences in magic. Like, for example, how most zombies actually suck cause ya know...theyre dead. I feel this adds such a great twist what we expect, cause every change I feel fits a more logical setup for what the magic does. Again, like how the zombie thing makes 1000% sense cause dead bodies are not the sturdiest. I am curious about why Lave had such a reaction to Hestia magic schools, but I don't have any theories outside of magic must be viewed very differently in places.

3) Kestrel because he's such a precious failure at life. Like...he just cannot catch a break and for some reason that makes him super endearing to me. Plus now hes got the whole aishe connection thing going on so that makes him double interesting. But mostly I want to boop him for all his failures. 4) I would think some of her scares would have to predate her job. Cause she's...she's got a lot of them. And considering she mentioned having been in jail, I'm kind of struck with the idea that maybe she ran with a gang or something. She super gives me the impression of someone who mostly raised herself and didnt have a huge loving family involved in teaching her how to deal with life. I think Jake will be a good influence on her though and teach her to be more careful. Cause she seems very fun loving and reckless, and while that can work when youre solo, its not great when you have other ppl. Like i think the Kestrel thing was a good example cause I felt Lave perhaps was too loose cannon with it, which semi resulted in Kestrel almost kicking the bucket. And Jake is like 1000 times more fragile, and I think it'll force Lave to see that she cant protect anybody if she goes around without a plan.

ClauseArt

@Capitania do Azar that scene with Kest and lave interacting around the lamp-post was actually the moment I decided Kest worked well as a main character. He was honestly going to die in the original draft. @keii4ii thanks! I super love just....the mundane feeling of everyday magic. @Delphina Honestly Lave just being a f--k up is probably my fav part of writing her character, especially for comedic effect XD Next to drawing glowy magic scenes of course.(edited)

@RebelVampire Oh wow this is a lot. Thank you! ;-; dammit I really can't respond to these kind of questions cus spoilers. But I'm glad you noticed a lot of my characters having...well a habit of messing up (and Lave did not handle that first chap well cough) XD Also Aishe is my fav character to draw, because Kest is my fav character to draw only its + because glowy effects. I do really like when more real world logic is put in fantasy, like corpses making for bad heavy hitters unless they're in a swarm. So I'm super glad you liked that!

Capitania do Azar

4. If Lave's style has always been what we've seen so far, then all those scars don't surprise me at all! They'd be the natural consequence of past encounters, work related or otherwise. It just kinda feels that everything ends with someone getting punched around her

3. I've really liked pretty much everyone, but I think Lave's my favorite cuz she's sturdy but messy and I feel there's a lot to be learned about her aha

And also she prolly also has a lot to learn

RebelVampire

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. Why do you think Jake is in Persephone with no guardian? What theories do you have on Jake’s hatred of non-humans? Will Jake be able to overcome his prejudice?

Capitania do Azar

6. Jake feels a lot like is somebody important's family but important could mean a lot of things. And has for his discomfort, I think it mostly stems from not knowing/being used to all this magic, which gives me the idea that some of these cities are less magical than others

5. Not an illustration, but I really love how in the last pages, as the sun rises, the colors become brighter and the sky becomes pink!!

It really helps bringing home the feeling that the night is over and the quietness of early morning, which is kinda fitting since they also stopped fighting

Delphina

I think I gotta go with Lave as my favorite character too because competent + ridiculous + magical +swordy is my entire jam so she's sorta the best of all worlds. Gena holds a special place in my heart too because she's clearly trying to keep a lot of things together.

Illustration-wise, I love how things like Jake's anxiety (http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/?comic_id=198) or Chirovision (http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/?comic_id=237) or Aisheland (http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/?comic_id=225) traveling through magic spaces (http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/index.php?comic=20170501) make the palette and rendering different depending on the mood. Really good use of a more abstract style to convey tone and worldbuilding.

(Now I want there to be a DDWG theme park where there's weird places like Aisheland)

varethane

Lave is my fave!!!! I love her goofy attitude paired with how much butt she kicks when it's necessary. I love seeing people underestimate her and then get surprised, haha.(edited)

My favourite illustration is.... hard to pick, but probably this page: http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/?comic_id=206

Capitania do Azar

oh yeah, I really love the color work for those scenes, it carries out the emotions very well

RebelVampire

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. For what purpose do you think someone sold Kestrel the cursed orb? How does this tie into the axe theft mystery Lave is asked to solve? What overall is going on regarding these illegal items, and how will it tie into the story?

Capitania do Azar

7. Anything that comes out of Kestrel's mouth is gold, but when he and Lave bicker it's even better!!!

Please just let them bicker more for my amusement

8. It really feels like someone's around trying to spread SOME mayhem and if one object was possessed then maybe it's not the only one... could be a tricky situation

Delphina

Will second that Lave and Kest definitely need to bicker more

RebelVampire

5) im kind of cheating by saying i really like the extra page about the leylines http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/index.php?comic=20160620 its really simplistic yet i think the illustrations work super well to help convey all the world-building information. its just a nice combo of huge info drop with some pleasant visual accompaniment 6) I assume Jake is probably an orphan from some important family? Or that Jake's family is super high up in rank somehow and just went "nah man we dont want this kid no more." while i def think some of jake's hate comes from ignorance, i also get the impression that jake had a bad experience with non-humans. something about jake's reactions just really strike me as ptsd. overall yeah, i think jake is gonna have to overcome it. plus, exposure breeds familiarity. its hard to be in the lion's den and continue to hate the lions.

7) jake and basically any non-human. I really just enjoy seeing jake's various reactions of "eww no" and then having to be confronted with the fact that not all non-humans are bad. It just makes me more and more curious about jake's past. plus, all these interactions really serve as a great tracking devices for how jake evolves in opinion. 8) With Kestrel, I kind of think someone is trying to draw Aishe out. I mean Aishe does have pretty neat butterflies and powers, so I can't blame them. Though I assume its a revenge thing cause I get the impression ppl arent all that happy with Aishe. But thus why other illegal items are being involved because you need powerful stuff to get to the powerful people.

Desnik

That leyline page is gorgeous and informative, I love the combo of worldbuilding and infographics

RebelVampire

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. Who exactly is Aishe and what are their goals? What does this have to do with the undead from the first chapter? Why did Aishe help Jake? What will Lave do when she learns about Aishe?

RebelVampire

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. What do you think the story with Chiro is? How did he wind up as Lave’s roommate? Will Chiro and Jake learn to get along? Also, do you think there might be anything special about Chiro that might affect the story?

AshAngelV

6. I think he's come from an entirely different world that doesn't have non humans and magic.

AshAngelV

11. The world building and color scheme are definitely strong points. It feels fully fleshed out and magical, but also very grounded like it's this amazing magical place that's also totally normal. Also, the characters. Having a bunch of flawed characters with baggage is always more interesting than having perfect characters with no problems and even the bit characters feel dynamic. Like they have their own story and interests rather than being part of the scenery exsisting only for the MCs to interact with.

RebelVampire

9) The thing I appreciate the most details wise is just the physical flaws. Especially Lave's scars. Adding details like that can be really tedious, yet it really helps deliver so much character that I always enjoy when the time is taken to include things like that. 10) I feel like Aishe is probably some necromancer from the past who is trying to rectify a mistake that was made. I think Aishe helped for the reason they said: Jake did a kindness and gotta pay that shit forward. I feel like Lave is 100% not going to trust aishe and basically just encourage everyone to do the same. Maybe suggest Kestral seek professional help. But yeah, I don't see a green butterfly person flying with Lave XD 11) I think this comic's strengths lie in two areas. First, the implementation of magic. There are clear rules, there's enough deviations from the standard to be interesting, and the fact its presented as a normal culture thing is well-integrated. second, the color palettes are really amazing and suit the tone and atmosphere of each scene really well. 12) I feel like Chiro might be a bit special since that one person did wonder what species Chiro was or something like that. And that because of this specialness Chiro was outcasted. Hence why he wound up with Lave cause ya know, outcasts gotta stick together. I think Chiro and Jake will bond for sure down the road. Cause i mean Chiro did just help save Jake's butt, and thats gotta earn him some Jake points right?

AshAngelV

12. I think Chiro might be a vamp that just stays in bat form or maybe only has bat form.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. What do you think Kestrel’s role will be in regards to the larger story? Can Kestral and Aishe be detached from one another, or is the attachment permanent?

AshAngelV

14. I think he'll be the guy that's in a constant state of terror and peril. And I think the detaching will be up to Aishe.

ClauseArt

man its super hard not to chime in on these ahhh D8

Delphina

Rebel makes such good questions XDD

varethane

I am looking forward to several things! - what is Jake's deal and how is he linked to aishe -Lave's bite mark scar!!!! what is it!!!!!! -what will Kest do next -more Lave plz(edited)

RebelVampire

@Delphina thank you for saying so~!

13) im looking forward to more aishe doing aishe stuff just cause i dig that aesthetic a whole lot. im also looking forward to learning more about jake so more concrete theories can be made about wtf jake's deal is. and also why nobody else could take jake besides lave cause i mean seriously...theres gotta be more sane choices XD 14) Kest is gonna become a real mage and do magic stuff. also ya know, hide out with lave cause now the ppl he owes money too are probably gonna be out for blood. as for detaching...maybe not so much. i more feel like once Aishe is done with their tasks, their essence will just kind of disappear and merge with kest.

AshAngelV

Hang in there Clause.

ClauseArt

@AshAngelV I will try D8

I can at least promise a lot of these theories are gonna be answered sooner or later

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about Damsels Don’t Wear Glasses this week! Please also give a special thank you to J Alice Bown for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked Damsels Don’t Wear Glasses, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: http://damsels-dont-wear-glasses.com/

J Alice’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JAliceBown

J Alice’s Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/A732E2D

J Alice’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlicesBrainPad/

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #damsels don't wear glasses #j alice bown

3 notes · View notes

castlehead · 6 years

Text

makeshift feels from the opinion lab

kafka wrote in a journal urhmherm of being limited to prague, then his room, then his bed, then nothing at all. to be limited at last to nothing at all. well. turns out i guess the most kafkaesque sentiment came from franz kafka.

enjoi ya rickety gethsemane while it is still to be dreamed, young writers, young writers of youth.

after a job on a hot day back in april or may or something i started listening to this while walking out of the truck towards the gas station convenience store and abruptly pivoted away from the sliding doors to sneak around the side and weep near the green fencing around some boilers. it occurred to me how little i could ever forgive myself for doing.

the shit ive done, all of it, i havent forgiven myself. if i did it and it was bad, or even meagre, dumb, really no big deal, bet yr ass it still keeps me from thinking i deserve happiness. i do not forgive myself for anything ive ever done. no deed is too temporal to etch itself cleanly into my head as something unforgivable, if only it makes a small point.

i know this is true because no joy i ever feel is felt fully, because i do not think it is deserved; and because i allow myself to be joyous only when i think of the truth of my unforgiven, unforgivable state. never to be. Never will.

and that is what is depression.

There must be something here, in me. Here where the jackals caterwAul Like streetcats Mewing their gizzard After this night’s heat, What’ll it be Jackals, Buzz off, shit man

i feel like the key to life is knowing that 90 percent of anxiety & depression, either in degree or in its truth, and at least somewhere not wracked by war, is unsubstantiated (the ten percent being actual crises, like fear of violence, a death in the family, etc). The problem is how persuasive these feelings can be that lead to the fulfillment of the very fear or solidifying the reason for being depressed. But with positive feelings, the least thing, whether true or no, can always be rewarding. A bit of happiness must be allowed to be felt, indiscriminately, because it is more useful to us than a bit of sadness. Take the fierce dialectic u use to establish a depressing ‘truth’ and persuade yourself of something good. If one is far fetched, let it be the something bad. Until it happens, after all, all of it remains in your head, to do with what u will.

You don’t get to lower taxes on the rich and gut social services at the same time. The reason social services are in place is to provide a fair shake for john q public. Mostly investors are feeling the benefits of the corporate tax cut. They’re not giving the money towards a better product that would help the people. but one day there will be no sesame seeds on the bun of yr Big Mac and you’ll wonder how that’s possible with an entire sesame seed dept that just got a pay raise.

tax reform should be done to help a free market, so that the rich can be poor and the poor rich. Taxation helps the people so that social services become less necessary. Social services were developed because the percentage of taxation was unequal between higher and lower class. Poor folks felt the pain while rich folks shrugged it off.

Thats why I say you can’t do both: social services are a protection against the world being entirely controlled, if it’s not already, by those from the very swamp this president wants to drain. T**** hasn’t drained shit.

i feel like writing takes over for your thought process. You can’t think and write at the same time, or something. something turns off or it switches where it’s doing the shit it’s doing to a different place, like yr hands. I don’t think you can write down one linear thought with another thought being thought in your head. This is why people say their mind goes blank in extended periods of inspiration. The functioning has gone from being untethered and temporal, ie wandering thoughts, notions, speculating, to being possessed in a focused place, ie yr hands, which usually leads to a more focused expression of perhaps a thought of particular value, enough in the first place to require writing down. But tho this can be easy for some talented people, who might, as Joyce said, polish their nails while writing some genius thing, what does not come easy for anybody, because it is imposssible, is thinking two disparate things, of the everyday and of some behemoth philosophic concept, for example, without either one taken place after or before; or, one of them being intermittently disturbed, tho linearly, by the other, like a notification on yr phone- until at last one of the two breaks down, and the foxus superseded by the one left. This is especially novel. One thinks; one does not think and also think. That would make it two people in one head. Therefore we can presume that ones identity is found in the unity, or internal focus, of their story in thoughts down one narrow wire: thought can cross many paths and examine everything under and beyond th sun, but per person it is still in the singular. It cannot divide into two simultaneous paths of equal focus. there can be multilayered thoughts with a similar core concept behind them, and these can be thought simultaneously as much as one can ante up and dole out shades of emotion and shades of thought, and so on. But I cannot think of a teleological explanation for all creation and with the same focus Apply myself to letters in the mail. There is a dominant voice, and the rest, the mundane voice, is seen thru that lens.

ya cant say yr colorblind then gripe about people hatin ya cuz u r white. contradiction of terms no? if you really didnt see color, ud say people hated yr ass because yr a damnfool entrylevel, grunt-ass lowbrow. not because of the color of ya skin, which ya recognized and put to the forefront in making that very statement.

feel like uh, a priori is not intuition alone. Intuition is a function of the mind, while a priori is, if I understand Kant correctly, a representation synthesized before there is an object of focus available for the senses to interpret, ie an essentially true conclusion drawn, that has no need for a combined manifold, as, Kant tells us, is offered by merely living in space and time: time to extend and progress from cause to effect to cause, and space to do it in. In other words, intuition is cognitive- psychological, and a priori, theoretical- logical.

Pathos is the one thing most divine about people, for i see that in my worst state I can still grieve for the savaging of life’s last hope, and be uplifted, feel tears, at least for a little blessed while. There is no state so low that does not inspire one to at least pity themselves, and feel the comfort of passions, however mistaken or wretched the person.

i feel that / Some subjects do not even allow to be proved through the scientific method, yet they are still issues of a scientific nature and not just mysticism. the line is very thin however, since usually these subjects devolve into mysticism. In fact, if science only worked with that which could be proven, from the outset or otherwise, we’d have a pretty limited roster of discoveries. Sometimes discoveries can be made along the way towards proving; sometimes, discoveries can be made, scientifically, thru means that for lack of anything better, are entirely theoretical. And sometimes the search is not to prove something true but to clarify something. Science is not out to be incontrovertible.

The man in mismatched sox inhaled not as deeply as he would have liked at such a crescendo, even if on the third listen in a row, then, looked up at the massive pure blue upwards, cloudless, felt likely to cry for joy, but in the end simply mouthed the words:

“I’m gonna die of loneliness, fo sho.”

So often doth trespass our intuition upon realms and pathways of a more intimate enumeration of cause and effect than could be available to any witness, and that is available only to the actioning of objects involved in the event seen and analyzed by what and who were no player.

The crisis paid goodbyes in the form of telling your ass off, is what he said. But we all knew he thought he was merely a parable often enough already. We didn’t listen to the crisis, deliberately shut our ears like boxing them very slowly ourselves before anyone else could. Later in the year many terrible events would occur that were the direct result of ignoring his words. But nobody came around to believing he did it. The crisis was way off teaching prophecies someplace probably foreign. But if I refuse to be confined to learning from my own folly I should at least give the follies of others a chance. Fatass karma, and more hell than handbasket.

What the crisis he said was

HEY YOU DONT WANT TO FACE JACK, FACE? TELL ME ABOUT HOW CRUELTY CAN BE ELEGANT AGAIN. YOU ARE FACING NO SUCH BURDEN OF SIMPLY LIVING. TELL ME WHAT HALLUCINATIONS ARE, YOU SWOLLEN, DYSPEPTIC SHIT.

And to this day All I remember is him Looking slain already Like he’d be on the slab In days Or even hundreds of years from then And it’d be how, uh, how He looked then Slamming the door While my sister and things Was gatherin they buckets for weeping later In that queer disease of spite where You grieve for the vanquished enemy.

all triumph is in some sense humorous, for in itself triumph is the opposite of tragedy. that is why the soldier laughs as he shoots at a retreating enemy. there is an element of rowdiness that is somewhat comedic, taken in itself.

Numbers are the only symbols that stand for what they are. In this way they are more like hieroglyphs

is bed porn a thing? it should definitely be a thing.

THIS LIFE IS FILLED WITH DARKNESS THIS DARKNESS IS SO LIGHT GOD IN HEAVEN QUA SKY MUST BEAT WINGS TO KEEP ON GROUND NOTHING MUCH IS EVER FOUND NOTHING MUCH IS EVER FOUND. No symbols where none intended etc etc

No art is permanent, in that its aims in being created do not last, do not translate between epochs. I will never experience Homer as one living in Ancient Greece. Have not closely read Homer, but when I do it will be as myself in my time, with all the sullying context of those years from then to now only left to unguide me.

Kierkegaard tricks you into thinking he knows his insanity is illogical, the side effect of writing his labyrinths. The frightening moment comes when you realize how fiercely logical his insanity seems to him, and how insane the World actually is, and you wonder if it is that you do not understand it or just do not accept it.

#prose #powtry #prowse #poetry #collage #social media

1 note · View note

1928419420934-eurydicerr · 7 years

Text

Brutal Beauty

Pairing: Steve x Reader

Warnings: For the first time in a while.... I don’t think there are any.

Words: 1,677

A/n: Ah shit. I was supposed to post this yesterday but I fricking queued it up for next week on accident x| P.s. Look at me! I’m back at it with the horrible titles and summaries again. Aces.

Summary: Your feelings towards Steve are growing and it’s not as good as it seems.

How could he like someone like you? You were nothing like him. Forget that, you were an anomaly to your own self. You were and empath who displayed inhumane strength. Sometimes, you were out on the field, comforting a child while hold tonnes of concrete from crushing down on them.

He remembers a previous mission where you were so brutal with your opponents but as soon as you reached the civilians held hostage, you did a complete 180 in a matter of a few moments. The raging wreck was replaced by the concerned savior. It was really magical to see you out there.

That’s why it made Steve made mad when you’d almost put the lives of many civilians at risk. You were always calculated while trying to cause the least human casualties. You claimed you could feel all of them.

~Flashback~

“It’s when you near the end that your emotions are raging. There so much more powerful than anything. I feel the pain every time someone’s life flashes before their eyes. It puts me in a horrible mindset and it takes a toll on me physically as well.” You said.

“You feel that way with anything else?” Stark asked from his seat. He’d left the QuinJet on copilot after the whole place had gotten quite due to your confession. The mission had almost cost you dearly and Nat insisted why you basically jumped in front of the bullet to save a life.

“Heartache, Loss, there’s so many words for the same pain. It’s just- Not fun. I could feel the woman’s fear you know that?” You turned to Nat this time.

She looked down in contemplation, she was still trying to process what you said. “No. I didn’t.”

“Well, I did. I felt it. And the relief after that? I felt like I’d just broken the surface of water I was drowning under. The beat in my heart, it didn’t feel like it was being encased in a box anymore. Now imagine that ten times worse. That’s what death and loss feels like. It hurts me. I may not have many physical wounds like you guys, but my head isn’t right.” You finished.

“Don’t say tha-” Clint tried to interject but you cut him off.

“It’s not. That’s why I’m basically incapable of getting personally attached to anyone. I care for everyone but I can’t get too attached. What will that do to me when they’re hurt? It’ll wreck me.” The entire jet was quiet after. Steve had his eyes fixed on your face that was looking down. In embarassment or whatever. He couldn’t tell anymore. Not after what you just said.

Steve was the first one to speak up after a long pregnant pause. “Let's give (Y/N) some space. We need to recuperate before we reach the tower for de-briefing.” He said in a monotone voice. You only looked up in slight surprise. He couldn’t blame you. The both of you didn’t really establish a healthy relationship.

You were usually constantly avoiding him and that caused him to be offended, which also led to a large fight. You haven’t talked much since. You gave him a smile of gratitude and relaxed in your seat. He nodded at you in acknowledgement and left to keep you at your corner. Safe to say, you might’ve resolved your problems.

~Flashback End~

“What happened out there (Y/N)?” Steve asked calmly. After getting debriefed and reprimanded by Tony, you ran to the only place there were so many emotions, everything was muted. It just felt like a buzz of different sensations. Nothing you couldn’t handle.

“Why? So you can threaten authoritative action against me as well?” You grumbled. You still kept your back toward him as you faced the nightlife of Manhattan. He walked beside you and joined you in watching over the city.

“It may seem like a foreign concept but… I’m worried.” He then turned to you at the same time you did.

“It’s pretty foreign. You never uttered more than a sentence’s worth to me since the fight.”

“I didn’t want a repeat of the fight. I don’t even know why we fought anymore.”

“I do. You felt like I was childish since I was constantly avoiding you. And I defended myself. That’s basically the gist of it.” You said. You weren’t really mad. Not at him anyways.

“I- I’m sorry about that okay? I was the jerk there.”

“So was I. I’m sorry. I only avoided you cuz you oozed complete and utter annoyance the first time we met. And that was the day-”

“The day I found out about HYDRA being alive and well.”

“Yeah…”

“That wasn’t your fault. Can we put that behind us? Talk about what’s going on right now?”

You then looked back into the building in front of you, avoiding eye contact with Steve. “I couldn’t think. Or feel. I just saw the missile heading towards you and all my rational thinking went out the window. All I could think was that I couldn’t see you hurt. If it wasn’t for Wanda, I would’ve-” You stopped yourself. You put civilians’ lives at risk just because the thought of Steve getting hurt was unbearable to you. You were scared of what this meant for you. It meant absolute pain or absolute pleasure. And you didn’t want to take the risk with a man like Steve.

“No. It’s okay. It’s fine.” Steve places his hand over yours that’s resting on the ridge of the balcony. “Wanda saved us. That’s that. The only reason everyone is slightly mad is because they’re shaken up as well. You’ve never done something like this.”

“Exactly. I haven't. That’s why I need to leave.”

“What?” Steve exclaimed. This isn’t how he wanted things to go.

“I think I’ve gotten emotionally attached to you. I can’t- I can’t risk lives like this constantly. And trust me, it’ll happen again.”

“You can’t just tell me that and up and leave. What if I want you to stay?”

“You need to think about this with a clear head. If I stay, we probably won’t be able to go on any mission together at all. Would you be comfortable enough with that? Not being able to look out for me? I know I wouldn’t. God, I don’t even know if you like me nearly as enough as I do.”

“I do. Trust me I do. I’ve spent the past few months trying to make sense of it. We barely talked but every time I see you on missions, I just- I just want to spend an eternity watching you do what you know best. Which is saving lives with absolute grace. And if that means I can never see you actually fight anymore… Then I don’t care about that anymore. I know you as a person just by seeing the way you act out there. You’re gentle. But at the same time you’re ruthless. I can’t remember ever having seen something like that. It’s- It’s incredible.” He finished, slightly breathless. This was in no way real. A confession like this only existed in works of fiction and your heart was probably beating too fast for it to be safe.

You grabbed Steve’s hand and placed it right on your chest where you heart is. “Do you feel that?” You asked. You really had nothing to say anymore. How were you supposed to say something after what he said? He only nodded as he had his eyes trained on yours. “It’s never beat like this. It has physically but there’s no feeling of hurt accompanying it. Maybe a little fear but mostly- um I think this is how it feels when you’re in love. And I’m assuming so because you’re giving off the same feeling but- I could be wrong.”

“You’re not. How could you be? This what you know. Your specialty. You know better than anyone.”

“So… I’m not wrong? You genuinely feel the same way?” You asked. You needed to be reassured right now because you found yourself not being able to trust your emotions around him. It was a new territory and still confusing for you.

“Yes,” he breathed out. “Absolutely. Everything I feel right now, it’s all new to me and god it’s scary… I can’t imagine how it must feel for you. But you should know that I absolutely feel the same way. I mean… To the best of my abilities.” He chuckled along to which you joined in. It was short lived though as you both trailed off into a more comfortable silence.

Steve’s hand was still resting above your chest and his other hand had somehow placed itself on your waist. “So… What do we do after this?”

“Well, we’ll see what we have to make of this in the morning after you’re rested. But for now…” He trailed as he trailed his hand from above your chest to the back of your neck and pulled you painfully slowly to him. He stopped right before your lips could meet but they slightly grazed each other. “Is this- Is this okay?” He asked finally.

“What do you think?” You let out as you pushed yourself up to kiss him. A person can be impatient sometimes.

This is probably the first time you’ve felt like this after kissing someone. Your head was light and it felt like you could melt in his arms and you were so focused on his lips that you couldn’t figure out what he was feeling.

So naturally, in true you fashion, you pulled away to ask. “Please tell me that felt that felt as good for you as it did for me.” You asked, slightly out of breath. Steve couldn’t help but smile as he looked at your hopeful face. You’re features infinitely softer than they usually are. He’s suddenly having a hard time imagining as the infuriating person he used to think of you in the beginning. Suddenly, you were the brutal beauty and it made no sense, but oh, does he love it.

#Steve Rogers x Reader #Steve x Reader #Steve Rogers Imagine #Steve Rogers Imagines #Steve Imagine #Steve Imagines #Man I wish I could write better because I wanted so much more out of this fic.#Man #One day I'm coming back and polishing shit up #but for now I'll keep practising

73 notes · View notes

muthaz-rapapa · 7 years

Text

A few thoughts about KiraPuri Ep. 8...

Another long post. I’m sorry. -.-;

It was good episode. Very good episode.

But I hope I wasn’t the only one who was a little disappointed that last week’s preview tricked us into thinking this would be about Ichika bossing the others around and through that, mess up the camaraderie they’re supposed to be forming. Which would then be followed by everyone deliberating what to do to solve this problem and what Ichika has to do to correct her wrongs. Or something along those lines.

Again, how things played out was in fact, a lot better than putting Ichika in the main spotlight like how it was for the past seven weeks. Now everyone has a part in putting this team together, finding ways to work with each other and so on. Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better end to the ‘introductory arc’, where we often see the lead Cure taking charge more than the others.

Because I’m aware that it’s kinda necessary to have the them establish themselves into their leader roles that way (by being energetic and encompassing) so I’m willing to let that slide as far as the first 10 episodes go.

However, I still think it would’ve been interesting to see a flaw (any flaw) of a Pink Cure be portrayed in a negative light.

Mostly because I feel that a lot of times any aspect of the protagonist, even the very less than ideal ones, would rarely be displayed so badly that it would alienate the other characters or viewers from her.

For example, even if she was incredibly selfish and jumped into something without consulting her team members first, the plot would conveniently bend over to accommodate what she wants and then find some cheesy way to justify how ‘right’ she is or beautify her to such an extent that it leaves no room for argument against her. Then nobody would have a chance to call her out on her faults so that she can learn to fix it herself. Whether by virtue of her ‘purity’ or whatever glorified trait she possesses, it’s almost always guaranteed to turn out her way.

That’s one of the major reasons why I had so much difficulty tolerating Cure Flora in Go!Pri. As well as many other hero/heroines in other series and genres but those in Precure, especially, because this franchise seldom operates outside its usual formulas.

Maybe I’m not talking much sense but… it’s just this bothersome feeling I can’t help having on how the writers do their characterizations. Like, don’t just gloss stuff over all the time. Give me their ugly sides, give me unsettling confrontations between friends, give me something that won’t allow me to let her live it down but can also allow me to totally accept it as part of the composition of her character. Because that’s what going to flesh her out. She’ll be more of a person and less of an stereotypical image on paper. Flaws make a person a person.

Yea, yea, I do realize I might be thinking too deep into a children’s show but hey, since I invested myself in watching it, then it’d be dumb not to wonder about these things.

*sigh* Well, anyways, it’s a good thought exercise to have, nonetheless. And it’s still very early in the game for Kira Puri so maybe we will see some clashing development like that later on. Only the next 40 something episodes will tell.

Moving along!

I’m glad Yukari brought up the question on whether it’s true that “everyone” wants to open up this patisserie shop.

It implies that the lot of them might just be pulled in by Ichika’s enthusiasm and the fact that they are all Precure rather than being genuinely interested in participating because they want to.

Akira, in particular, is indirectly called a bit of a pushover which isn’t hard to see why since she often pampers her sick sister so that habit might have extended to their group where the majority of them are still in middle school. In other words, Akira has no will or opinion of her own. She just goes along with the flow to appease everyone and she’s being called out for it.

Yukari isn’t trying to be mean but it’s a question that really needs to be asked because lemme tell ya, starting and managing a business is no fucking stroll in the park. It takes a lot of time and effort and in this case, manpower, to get it off the ground and running.

If nobody but Ichika is 100% sure of really devoting themselves and a good portion of their schedules to this project out of their own volition or desire, then the patisserie is not going to succeed.

Thankfully, they all realize they do in the end but again, I have to say this because Toei is giving too many unrealistic expectations on what it’s like to run a shop. As a working person, I can’t just sit by and not say anything about it.

Another thing that got me concerned was how time management or store hours never entered their conversation and likely never will after this point even though it’s a super important discussion that you must have with your employees.

Because Precure universes have a weird sense of time in general but Kira Puri takes the cake in that I see these girls lounging around town and baking at the patisserie more than doing anything else that they should be doing. Like going to school, doing extracurricular actives, etc. I get that this season doesn’t prioritize those things but then…HOW do they make it work? It’s not like they have a fully-fledged, nontransparent and non-creepy adult to oversee the place when they’re not there.

Also, considering that 3 out of the 5 of them already had other commitments to attend to before the patisserie idea came up, it’s a surprise that nobody mentioned them until the very end of the ep. And even more of surprise when Ichika seems so shocked by it so you kind of wonder how self-absorbed she really is to forget stuff like that about her friends so quickly.

I’m sorry for dragging out these gripes of mine but honestly, things can’t possibly go so smoothly like what I’m seeing here. Not to mention, I hate the fact that they brought this up for comic effect when in hindsight, it’s really not something you should be laughing about.

So I hope at some point later in the season, there will be scheduling and commitment conflicts. Everybody might be on board now since they just finished setting the place up and all but when business is booming (I’m guessing it will anyway) and Ichika needs all the help she can get, how will they deal with it when the others can’t spare the time for the shop?

Anyways, while I do make too much of a big deal out of kid’s show, I also know that that’s not the objective of this episode.

The point of this episode was to see if the girls could learn to cooperate with each other. Cuz that absolutely had to happen first otherwise KiraPati would never have been set up.

And since it was set up, obviously they did find ways to work together.

Which introduces new pair dynamics as well.

We already got a good feel of Ichika + Himari + Aoi and Yukari + Akira based on grouping them by age. Plus Ichika + each Cure in their respective scenarios.

But it’d be boring if it was always limited to those so it’s high time that interactions not involving Ichika was finally delved into.

For Himari + Akira, you can see the relationship as that of an older sibling and younger sibling (cuz duh, this is Akira we’re talking about).

Tol and smol. Cute. <3

But you can also see them as marketing partners, too.

Akira, who’s already been assigned as KiraPati’s main garçon, attracts customers and investors with that welcoming, charming demeanor of hers, making it easier to lower their guard so she can pitch their ideas to them.

Meanwhile the more knowledgeable Himari backs up their proposals with the extensive details, showing how serious they are about their business and assuring people that they will be putting the resources they receive to good use.

It’s very encouraging to watch as they naturally come to bounce off each other in that respect.

Then we have the creative pair. The cool feline pair.

Stylish Mama Cat and Rockstar Lion Cub pair.

Their job is interior design cuz you want your customers to enjoy themselves in a nice setting under a pleasant atmosphere after all, right?

Yukari certainly got the aesthetics for the store down and Aoi, being an artist in her own right, most likely agrees with the concept she came up with. So it’s just a matter of organizing everything up to scale.

And of course, they do.

Yukari makes efficient use of Aoi’s muscle to help her set up the decorations and furniture. Not a space wasted but not too cramped (yes, I wouldn’t put it pass Yukari to be an expert on feng shui, lol).

And Aoi, well, it’s just scary how she manages to throw everything into the right spots with such precision (moral of the story: don’t mess with Aoi cuz she will kick your ass).

To think they were in such a messy state the day before but they can all come together like this and make that much progress in such a short amount of time.

It’s great. Their strengths complement each other well and they’re being productive about it.

It’s just great. ^^

Last but not least, the moment of crowning.

While it’s still debatable if the current Ichika is qualified enough to be a steady manager who puts a 14-year old in charge of a store? AND the cook (oh boy…), there’s no doubt that she definitely did earn her title as the leader of the group.

Ichika was the one who brought them together. She was the one who made the decision to use this space provided to them for a cause. She was the one who wanted to bring something good to others and get them to smile from the sweets they’ll serve.

She may not have Himari’s brains or Aoi’s strong arm or Yukari’s calmness or Akira’s maturity. And it’s true that she’s reckless and clumsy all over the place.

But it’s indisputable that she’s got the heart needed to make all this possible.

And that, I think, is the most critical element in sustaining their patisserie. You gotta have the intention to make people happy. There’s no other way you can open a business without that.

So it’s only fitting that Yukari would be the one to christen Ichika with the important position of manager. Because throughout this whole fiasco of building a shop together, Yukari was the only one who didn’t lose herself to stress over the situation (duh, this is Yukari we’re talking about).

Why? Cuz she predicted this would happen.

She knew that with the variety of people here, it definitely is possible to open a magnificent patisserie. Them getting off to a rocky start is just a minor bump in the road because no one’s going to do everything perfectly on their first try like how she was with the macarons *gets shot*.

And she knew that Ichika had the potential to live up to the expectations of being manager because Ichika has the determination to see it through.

If she didn’t know those things, she wouldn’t have stuck around to help because then it would be a failure and Yukari doesn’t accept failure. She doesn’t function on something flimsy like a whimsical belief. She has to really know there is a winning result at the end to see this as worthwhile.

(True moral of the story: Kira Puri wouldn’t survive with Yukari. Yukari knows all. They’d be lost without her. This season would be nothing without her. Yep.)

So think about what it means for her to entrust this huge responsibility to Ichika.

“I trust that you won’t bore me so do your best, little manager.”

Yukari, who’s the most capable of them all. Yukari, so capable that she can probably/easily be a better manager than Ichika but chose not to because that would be no fun for her. Yukari wants Ichika to rise up the challenge in overseeing this patisserie.

It doesn’t just imply how much faith Yukari has in Ichika. It also suggests that being manager will mold Ichika into an even better character. All the stuff she’ll have to face as the leader of her team, that is what going to serve as her character development.

And I so hope that is the case here. I really, really do. You’ve got 40 more episodes ahead of you to take this season’s Cures as far as you can, Toei. Don’t disappoint me.

And that’s that, I suppose.

lol, what the hell is bunnycake looking so tired out for? She didn’t do anything while the rest of them were slaving away to construct her restaurant. :P

Now bring on the fillers~

I can’t do this kind of review every week, it’ll kill me. =A=;

#now off to do a post for LWA #I'm so busy ugh #kira kira precure a la mode #usami ichika #arisugawa himari #tategami aoi #kotozume yukari #kenjou akira #pekorin

28 notes · View notes

kingoji · 7 years

Photo

I’ve been giving the Godzilla ‘Millenium era’ movies a bit of a binge rewatch in order this past week, since we finally got a blu ray player in the house that they work on.

It was quite an odd period of movies. Seems to be the selection that opinions are most varied on as well. I’m gonna share mine on a film by film basis.

For the benefit of anyone who’s just happened upon this and doesn’t know the history, the Millenium series is the name given to the Godzilla movies from Japan that were made from 1999 to 2004. Initially they came about as a reaction to Tri-Star’s 1998 attempt (the one with Ferris Bueller and Leon), but the dwindling ticket sales of their previous series of movies, the Heisei era, also encouraged them to rethink their formula some. What was decided was that three standalone movies would be commissioned with different takes on the franchise, and the most popular would be the direction they embraced going forward. This largely fell by the wayside, and all but two of the films of the era ended up becoming standalone features. Naturally, as a result the reactions to the films varied as the tones and themes of the films themselves did.

Godzilla 2000

This is my personal favourite of the Millenium movies, and not only because it was the first one made where I was aware it was being made at the time and, thanks to publications like G-Fan, was able to follow along with updates periodically. I didn’t get online until around 2006 or so, so this kind of niche news was extremely hard for me to get ahold of. Godzilla 2000 had a radical redesign for Godzilla. It may well have been an effort by Toho to show Tri-Star that you *could* be extreme in redesigns while still honouring and being recognisable to the original (I am a fan of the Tri-Star design as a monster, but as Godzilla it was a failure), but it was also a solid way to visually differentiate this series from the previous one. Production values were higher across the board, and it was much more experimental in its special effects, often integrating the suit-acted Godzilla into panning or otherwise in-motion real-world shots. Before this, the technique was only ever used to add Godzilla into static shots or the far background. It doesn’t always hit the mark, but you have to respect that they aimed for something and took a shot. The miniature city sets were actually the largest ever constructed at the time, and the decision to reduce Godzilla’s height by half meant that they could be made larger and more intricate. In other words, the city sets looked more realistic and expansive, meaning they matched the real-world shots better and would be demolished more convincingly. The lighting work was stellar for this film, too, with crimson skies replacing the blue-tinted spotlights of the Heisei.

The human cast here is probably the most realistic and likeable of this series as well. All too often people dismiss the human element and act like the monster stuff is all that matters, but I cannot stress how much I disagree. Having a human cast you care for makes what happens with the monsters more urgent. My favourite character in this one is Katagiri, the director of the Crisis Control Intelligence bureau. He is considered the villain of the piece, and the film supports this by making him needlessly dickish to the main character and dangerously glib as to whether he lives or dies, despite the man posing no threat to him, his company, his position, or literally anything else about him. Thing is, despite this overplayed animosity, Katagiri’s behaviour and personality are actually fitting to his position and responsibilities. If it weren’t for his chafing attitude, he could have been the hero of this film quite easily. He reminds me of ‘The Colonel’ from Akira, only less stoic and serious.

In fact, I’m not sure there is a villain in this film. Godzilla is immediately established as a natural threat, but at the same time there are two equally valid points of view voiced about him; that he is a danger that has to be stopped, and that he is an animal doing what he does and should just be contained for study. Katagiri is next to be introduced as someone we shouldn’t like or trust, but see above. Then there is the alien life form which takes longer to fully understand the motives of but is no less destructive in the meantime. The alien, which for the most part is always hidden within it's vessel, had been stranded on this planet for millenia, and for whatever reason cannot leave. So it does what any living creature would do and tries to survive. It engages Godzilla because his DNA contains the key to surviving this new environment, but when things don’t go it’s way the life form resorts to learning what it can about Godzilla from our internet data first. This hacking and absorbing of data is seen as a hostile action and humans treat it as such. Then it faces Godzilla again and gets what it wants, only for things to go wrong again and Godzilla’s DNA mutates the alien from it’s natural state to a grotesque monster which then has to fight for it’s life before being destroyed. Next time you watch the film, pay close attention to how Orga acts when it is revealed. It looks at itself with horror, and when Godzilla advances on it it backs up in a manner which seems to say “Whoa, whoa, time out!” and only really gets into the fight when it realises Godzilla is not going to stop. It’s outmatched from the go and knows it, and everything it does seems born of desperation rather than aggression or strategy. Orga is one of the most tragic creatures in the Toho stable; a creature of genuine intelligence trapped in a brutish, cumbersome form, killed before it can try to do anything about it. Of course, for most of the film the alien is an ass to humanity, so it’s hard to feel too sympathetic to it. Then when Godzilla has “saved the day”, he proceeds to lay waste to Tokyo himself anyway, reminding us that while he may not be the villain, he’s sure as shit not our hero.

Actually, I think that’s the only universal source of contention for this film; after evrything has gone down and before Godzilla goes on his rampage, the human cast wax philosophical about him. One notes that humans created him, and ever since have tried to kill him. another than asks why he then keeps saving us. A third postulates that maybe it’s because “Godzilla is inside each one of us”. Which makes no sense. The first statement is correct, but the question asked is wrong as in this movie’s timeline Godzilla has always been the threat, and only got into this fight for personal revenge. I don’t speak Japanese so I don’t know if this is a bad translation, but I personally choose to interpret the real meaning of the discussion as something closer to the second person asking if we deserve Godzilla, an the final replying that we all carry the weight of responsibility for him. That’s how I’d phrase it if I ever adapted it in some way. It would also lead in better to Godzilla setting the area on fire than the actual “cuz we bros, man” that we get.

Takayuki Hattori is the composer of the score for this film. His only other Godzilla score was 1994′s Godzilla Vs. Space-Godzilla, but in the west probably his better known work was on the anime series Martian Successor Nadesico. I loved his work on that show, and as such am fond of his work on Godzilla. It certainly has a flavour distinct from other Godzilla composers that I’ve often read as “sounding more like Hollywood”, but I actually think it carries over conventions of anime scoring. You have very strong and individual sounding ‘hero theme’, ‘villain theme’, ‘battle theme’, ‘comedy theme’ etc. which you could easily imagine being attributed to an episodic show, often short and punchy. Whereas Hollywood movies are mostly scored to match exactly what fits on screen at that moment, and while you may get repeated cues added into different scenes, rarely is an entire piece applied wholesale to multiple scenes. I think I preferred Hattori’s work for G Vs SG than here, as that was in general a more fantastical film and as such a better fit for his “animated” style. Despite the overt sci-fi elements of Godzilla 2000, it is still comparatively a much more grounded film (there are no maser cannons here, and this film’s idea of advanced military arms is a new missile which is better at piercing armour than anything before). That said, this score is still strong and suitable, and to me feels more complimentary to Akira Ifukube’s traditional Godzilla theme than other scores have been. When it plays in this film it’s fitting to the overall sound, which seems to enhance it’s effectiveness as the familiar “shit, you know what this means” piece to build the anticipation, whereas in the next film it’s a more jarring difference that just makes you go “Cool, they’re using his theme after all”.

As a final piece of trivia, this was the first Japanese Godzilla film since 1984′s The Return Of Godzilla to get a western theatrical release, and the last until 2016′s Shin Godzilla. The trailer for the American release used Rob Zombie’s fast-paced song ‘Superbeast’ as accompaniment, which tickles me to no end given that this film was a response to Tri-Star’s Godzilla and the repeated chorus is “Hey yeah, I am the one that you wanted! Hey yeah, I am the Superbeast!”

Next up: Godzilla X Megaguirus!

#Godzilla #Gojira #Godzilla 2000

7 notes · View notes