#rather than whatever bs they made up in their mind
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Ok so She-Ra pulled such a great hat trick with Hordak's characterization, and I LOVE it
One of my favorite things about 2018 She-Ra is Hordak's story and development (and Entrapdak cough but that's not the point of this particular post), and the cleverest thing is that so much of it is actually being set up and told to us in seasons 1 and 2 before we even realize that that's what's happening.
When we first see Hordak in the show, he's giving "generic evil overlord" vibes. Garden-variety baddie. Maybe a little more reasonable than some and clearly capable of long-term thinking, but that just serves to make him intimidating. Everything about him--the way he runs his empire, his armor, his color scheme, his minion, his Villainous Eye Makeup(TM), even his name--are all projecting to the audience "yup, Acme Bad Guy here. Move right along."
But then, backstory. And everything snaps into focus. Not only is it one of the first big oh SHIT moments of the show, where we suddenly zoom out and realize that there is SO much more going on than we realized--it's also the start of the audience seeing Hordak as a character rather than an archetype. Suddenly we realize that he's not conquering Etheria because he wants power, or hates happiness and sparkles, or whatever--he's doing it out of a desperate attempt to prove his worth to his brother/creator/god. This moment where Hordak lets Entrapta in is also the moment the show lets us in on what makes our favorite spacebat tick.
On top of that, we've also seen him bonding with Entrapta and opening up to this person that he respects and trusts...probably the only person he's ever respected or trusted apart from Prime. And she's Etherian--someone of a lower species, someone he's supposed to subjugate, someone who he has been raised and trained and programmed and mind-controlled into believing is below him in every way.
But instead she's brilliant and creative and mesmerizing. She's not afraid of him, and she's fascinated with his work. For the first time since being abandoned by Prime, Hordak finally has someone that he can talk to, who is on his level and both understands and cares about the science! (because he is a giant nerd). She's kind to him, a mere defect. And it just sends his whole worldview into a spin, and that's all before--
Bam, mans is a goner. Entrapta's "Imperfections are beautiful" comment punches right through all the toxic bs that Hordak has been steeped in his entire life. You can see on his face here--I think it's the moment Hordak fell in love with Entrapta, but this is also the face of a spacebat reevaluating his entire worldview. If Entrapta, who is amazing, believes something different from Prime...what does that mean? If Entrapta, who is brilliant, believes that he is worth something, and that she herself is a failure...
Well. We know what happens after that, and how Hordak begins to doubt, and eventually fights back against Prime (and remembers his love for Entrapta after TWO mind wipes help my heart ack). But we also get to see what life in the Galactic Horde looks like: the only life Hordak ever knew before coming to Etheria.
It's not nice.
It's really not nice.
Prime operates in a very specific way, and we learn a lot about it in season 5. Prime expects complete obedience, devotion and worship from his clones. He allows no individuality from his subjects, not even a name. Failure or deviations are punished, mind-wiped, or destroyed. We even learn from Wrong Hordak that facial expressions are considered a privilege reserved for Prime (apart from, presumably, expressions of rapture caused by being around Prime).
And once we learn all of this, suddenly thinking about season 1 Hordak becomes very interesting indeed. The time we spend with the Galactic Horde and Prime throws absolutely everything that we know about Hordak into a whole new context. Now all those traits that made him a generic villain are actually hugely effective characterization! And what that characterization is telling us is that Hordak had already moved much farther away from Prime than we (or, probably, he) had realized, even long before he met Entrapta.
Horde Prime does not allow his underlings to have names, personalities, or any differences of appearance. Not only does Hordak allow this among his own troops, he chose a name for himself as well! Season 5 tells us that his very name is an act of blasphemy against his god. And yet Hordak took one for himself, and that name is part of the core identity he is able to hold on to when rebelling against Prime.
Horde Prime cast Hordak out when he showed signs of physical imperfections. Hordak not only keeps Imp (who is by all appearances a failed clone or similar experiment) around, he treats Imp more gently than we see him treat anybody or anything before Entrapta. Imp is not simply "generic evil guy's minion," he is proof of Hordak's capacity for compassion, and evidence that Hordak cannot bring himself to cast aside "defects" as easily as Prime. Considering where Hordak came from, Imp's existence is a huge, flashing neon sign telling the audience this guy here is better than the hell that molded him, and we don't even realize it until 4 seasons after it's been shown to us!
Very cool, ND.
There's more, though. Hordak's red and black color scheme? His dark eye makeup and lipstick? Very Evil Overlord chic. But nope! Actually these are actually expressions of individuality on a level that Hordak knows would be abhorrent to Prime!
Reading between the lines, I see this as Hordak desperately trying to reconcile two diametrically opposed beliefs in his head: (1) devotion to Prime, whose approval he desperately craves, and (2) maintaining some degree of unique personhood, of Hordak, from which to draw strength. Because a failed, defective clone cannot survive on a hostile world, cut off from the hivemind and from Prime's light. A failed clone cannot create an empire to offer Prime as tribute, nor build a spacetime portal from scraps and memory to call Prime back. A failed clone cannot create cybernetic armor to keep his hurting, weakened body alive; to force himself to keep going no matter what, to fight through the pain and the doubt by sheer force of will.
But maybe Hordak can.
And so there it is. Hordak had plenty of time to gain and explore his individuality while separated from Prime, but I think the reason he did it so effectively (while still deluding himself that Prime would forgive him for these little sins, if only Hordak could prove his value) is because he had to.
Wrong Hordak gained his individuality surrounded by kind, quirky people who took care of him; Hordak was ripped from the hivemind by Prime himself and had to fight for his survival against all odds. And that produced a dangerous and damaging foe for Etheria. But it also produced the one clone with the strength of will to defy Prime himself.
This is long and rambling, but ultimately my point is that 1) I love Hordak, and 2) I love love love love that the show was so clever about his characterization. We learn so much about him and how much progress he's already made in breaking from his psycho abusive cult upbringing, and we don't even recognize it until the show wants us to. Hordak had come so far, all on his own, before he met Entrapta. She just helped push him over the edge and finally realize (at least consciously) that Prime's worldview might not be the correct one.
Idk, I just don't know if I've ever seen all the trappings of Basic 80's Villain(TM) so successfully subverted, where looking back 4 seasons later is actually a smack in the face with the "effective character building" stick. Amazing.
#spop#she ra#she ra and the princesses of power#hordak#entrapdak#entrapta#horde prime#Spacebat#Deep character analysis#Gotta love clever writing#Seriously I could go on about this show for ages#I just love the characterization for everyone but especially Hordak#Best spacebat#I mean I love Wrong Hordak too but you know
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a method guide ⋮ 1 ⋮
there are so so so many methods you could make use of when manifesting … at times, it can really be challenging to maintain an overview of it all — which is why i made this guide for you! here, i want you to be able to find a method that aligns with you and your personality the most.
which method suits you ?
affirming ✿ you like to talk but also think a lot. affirming can be done in several ways, some like to complain about how well everything is, some sing about how lovey dovey their lives are and some just repeat affirmations robotically in their minds whenever they have the time or aren’t really occupied with anything. you like to make use of your free time and like to use as much time as possible to declare — but also to remind yourself! — that you have whatever you want. most effective for people that tend to overthink, get doubts frequently, forget about their desires and remain persistent in the old story.
visualising ✿ you are good at imagining things. you are creative and have fun creating scenes in your mind. you probably enjoy daydreaming and may also zone out sometimes throughout the day and get lost in your own imaginative world. most effective for people that replay unfavourable things that have happened in the 3D, tend to get lost imagining old circumstances or prefer to visualise desired scenarios rather than affirming.
askfirming ✿ you question many things. you are either a very curious person or ask yourself why things are the way they are in a rather comedic manner (or you like to complain a lot). again, you also think or talk a lot, similar to the people who like affirming, especially as askfirming is just another way of affirming. most effective for people that often end up asking themselves why nothing seems to work for them or struggle declaring that they already have their desires.
accepting ✿ you manifest the best way by just declaring that you have your desire once and then move on with your day. you have a clear mindset and have an easy time cutting out unwanted and negative thoughts as you don’t easily give in. most effective for people that have overconsumed or done many methods in the past to force a change in the 3D. info: accepting is something we all do, it’s not the method itself. the method here is called "affirming only once".
scripting ✿ you like to write. you like to predict things as it makes you (quite literally) feel like the author of your life. you like to determine your own fate and destiny. you also enjoy the process of writing. it could be analogous with a pen and a notebook or digitally on your phone, tablet or laptop. you also enjoy going into detail, making sure that everything goes according to your plan, but also like the satisfaction of "getting something done". most effective for people that like to be more specific about their desires (rather than using umbrella affirmations) and cannot repeat affirmations without wanting to write them down.
decreeing ✿ you like to command things. you have zero chill. you want something? you will make sure to get it. you have no time for bs and go straight to the point and remain faithful to your subconscious mind. you are quick and like to make manifesting as effortless as possible. most effective for people that get tired of affirming for too long or don’t want to put in any physical effort to make themselves feel fulfilled.
remember.
you can do any method, even if these descriptions don’t resonate with you. the reason i prepared this post is to guide people to a way of manifesting that resonates with them the most and also feels the most natural for them. because that‘s what manifesting is about! rising to the naturalness of consciousness of having or being the thing desired. and in order to do that, you shall feel natural about it. it’s up to you which method you want to try! if i was you, i would try each one and see which one (or how many) of them fulfill me the most. ♡
with love, ella.
#loa methods#law of assumption#neville goddard#loassumption#loa#manifestation#manifesting#the law of assumption#manifest#spiritual#spirituality#manifest it#manifesting it#master manifestor#affirm and persist#loa blog#loassblog#loablr#loa tumblr#scripting#affirming#affirmations#void state#sats#state akin to sleep#askfirmations#lullaby method#visualisation#visualizing#visualising
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Milton Grimm should have been the Big Bad
This man. Is it obvious that I hate this man?
Look at him with that punchable face and that annoying little mustache. I just wanna rip those two sad little whiskers right off his smug, pudgy face.
This man should have been the main villain. The final boss. The endgame for the characters of Ever After High. But he wasn’t. He just fell into the background after Thronecoming. Sure, we got some Evil Queen action. But what was his reaction to the destruction of the Storybook of Legends, the symbol of tradition within their society?! He must have been p*ssed!!
But we never get to see it.
Milton Grimm is and should have been the main villain. Here’s why.
1. Crybaby Backstory.
Let’s face it. This attempt at a tragic backstory was underwhelming. To recap, Milton and his little brother Giles were best friends and shared opposite views than they did when they were adults. Because of this, Milton dragged Giles into a cave said to be inhabited by trolls because he was convinced it was only a story. Surprise, surprise: trolls are real (I mean, doi, kid! You live in a fairytale world. What did you expect?!) and Milton runs out of the cave, leaving baby Giles behind. Milton runs back to his father to get Giles back and Giles returns home, safe and sound. And out of guilt, Milton promises never to go against the stories again. Yay, happy ending.
But, it’s not.
I’m sorry, but I don’t think this backstory is enough justification for forcing an entire society to follow their parents’ (often terrible) stories. Yes, Milton was a child at the time, and he thought he had accidentally killed his younger brother. I can see how that experience would be traumatic for anyone. But, we know Giles is fine now and is actually more well-put together than his older brother. I think it would have been better if we say Giles’s POV from that day, actually have him meet the troll, have some tea with him or whatever, and have him hear the real story of the troll’s life. Giles could sympathize with the troll and learn not all stories should be followed.
What I can gather from this backstory is that it led Milton to develop crazy control issues. He and Giles built an entire school to indoctrinate several generations of fairytales. To ensure no one would go against what he saw as dangerous, he lied and basically threatened everyone “not existing” if they didn’t do what he said. Giles saw right through this BS, and when he confronted his brother about it, Milton cursed him to speak near-gibberish and locked him up underneath the school. This goes far beyond a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
2. Giles.
This man is a cinnamon roll and must be protected. Thank you.
Unlike Milton, Giles is warm, friendly, and open-minded to the stories the Brothers Grimm have collected over the centuries. He’s the former librarian, he has made personal connections with his students, and he sees them as people rather than characters. He is a clear foil to Raven, having gone against the status quo to make something better only to be quashed and locked away for it.
Yes, he did trick Raven, Maddie, and their friends into breaking his curse. (I’m pretty sure manipulation runs in the family). But, he deserves a win for what Milton put him through. And speaking plain English would have helped him and the girls more than having Maddie constantly translate for him (and in a language that is purposefully open to interpretation).
When Giles finally confronts Milton for what he did, I’m honestly disappointed. No, I don’t think Giles would have punched him in the face or anything. That’s too out of character for him. I was hoping Giles wouldn’t have forgiven him, or at the very least say something to the effect of “I forgive you, but that doesn’t mean I trust you.” Brother or not, I just can’t see anyone forgiving someone that quickly for what is basically impairment and imprisonment.
3. The Apple Debate
If Giles is a foil to Raven, then Milton is a foil to Apple.
Apple saw Milton and destiny as gospel. She was brought up, groomed, and traumatized into following destiny to a tee. Like Milton, she experienced a childhood trauma that made her believe destiny was the only way to stay safe. She has little to no regard for what others have to go through to follow her destiny. Her reasons seem petty and childish, but they make sense to her.
This is no fault of her own. She’s intentionally portrayed as naive, entitled, and selfish because she grew up in the most privileged of settings. She has the best destiny out of anyone, and growing up to be a beloved queen of the entire world sounds like a pretty sweet gig. She also holds genuine, if misguided, care for her friends and terrified for them if they don’t follow their stories (in a “I’m trying to save your soul from damnation” type of way).
She is also the daughter of one of the most influential political figures in the world, so she has to set an example. She puts so much pressure on herself to be perfect that she walks around blind. She needs glasses, but she can’t bring herself to show any sort of flaw about herself lest she lets everyone down.
Lastly, Apple is a child. She has room to grow and change like everyone else in their teenage years. Like Raven, she has time to figure herself out and could benefit from some self-reflection.
That being said, Milton is an adult. And he has been an adult for at least 200 years. He’s had time to look over his actions and think “Hmm, maybe what I’m doing is borderline dictatorial.” Yet he never wavers from his position. He has never admitted that he was wrong about anything or apologized for anything he’s done in regard to his students’ lives. Meanwhile, Apple has gone through some genuine growth as a character and as a person, because she loves her friends. It would have been interesting to see what Milton would think about his star, his favorite, his most devoted follower, suddenly turning on him.
4. The Redemption “Arc”
It felt more like a redemption splat than an arc. In my opinion, Milton didn’t deserve to be redeemed. At the very least, not this quickly. He would have made a fantastic antagonist to Raven. It would have been so exciting and frustrating to watch him tighten the reins even more on his students until they ended up all turning on him. It would have been a great commentary on authority, freedom, and societal views on individuality. But instead, we get brotherly moments in the background with him and Giles. I’ll admit, it’s kind of cute. But, this show’s conflict was created by Milton Grimm, and the show just left that plot point hanging.
Milton should have stuck to his guns for much longer, have him be the stubborn old man who will not budge on his beliefs. If you are to give him a redemption arc, have him realize his mistake after it’s too late. The final showdown between him and his fed-up students would be so much more satisfying than what we got. Please, for the love of God, Mattel! Bring this show back so we can do this story done proper.
#eah#ever after high#eah milton#milton grimm#giles grimm#apple white#raven queen#eah raven#eah apple#thank you for coming to my tedtalk
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A little rant about leaks because I'm lowkey dreading them. And I'd appreciate it if you'd read it (and if not... 👁👁).
I find the jjk fandom's (though it's true for others too) reliance on leaks very off-putting. I know people want to look forward to something in the middle of the week and talk about it, but this just feels disrespectful, while also being at the cost of other people getting to enjoy it as they want to whether you care about getting spoiled or not.
So many people just don't tag leaks and spoilers properly (forget places where tagging doesn't even make a difference). Seeing things trending with the context of previous chapters explains everything. Not to mention people mis-tagging spoilers and leaks interchangeably (you can remove leak tags after the chapter is officially published but not spoiler tags!!) And no, you're not subtle with your 'out of context spoilers' to someone who has all previous context.
But what boggles my mind is why would you want someone to shout the punchline of a joke in your face before any of the setup has been done. You'll have a bunch of deepfried 2 pixel screenshot of screenshot quality manga panels of crucial moments with none of the build up and pacing. Paired with the most lacklustre explainations of what's happening (the phrasing of which can be biased to the leaker's opinions). Translating isn't easy. To convey what exactly something means from one language to another in an effective and in the intended way isn't easy (shoutout to fan translators tho y'all are amazing thank you for your time and effort)
And whether you care about the story or not, heck even if you think the mangaka themself doesn't care about it, it is just so disrespectful to the content that you're consuming. Making comics and manga isn't easy (churning them weakly is insane imo esp when a lot of mangaka aren't even full time artists) so why wouldn't you allow yourself to consume their story the way they've themself laid it out. Where one panel comes after the other. Where one expression has context in the next page. Where a dialogue has weight only when placed with another dialogue. Give the creator(s) this little grace too, because whether you like a story or not, there is still a huge amount of effort and skill, by multiple people, going into it.
And I personally love interacting with the fandoms I'm in, literally sometimes the only source of joy I have (yes ik leave me alone) is interacting with other fans and having my mind blown over their art and writing and theories. And I'd rather not be spoiled unless I'm myself seeking them out or just reading the actual chapter. So this involves me either spoiling it for myself before someone else does it, or spoiler dodging for 5 OUT OF 7 DAYS A WEEK EVERY WEEK.
I'm not even saying you should only look for official sources or whatever because I know not everyone has access to legal places to read (tho the shounen jump app is there for those interested, but yeah i get it for other publications), but there are better ways to read/hate-readyour fav/least fav manga out there without ruining it for someone else. The wait is juuust a couple of days more. There is absolutely no dearth of fan made content that can't help you last another few days, maybe your new fav fan creator is right around a little wait (ahem check my bs out if you'd like ahem ahem).
I just want to be able to interact with the fandom for more than just 2 days a week, and I don't like my accounts dying because i dissapear 5 days either, and is that a such a bad thing? I come online to have fun, not run an obstacle race y'know?
#i know nothing i've said hasn't been said by someone else but i felt like it too#i was lucky enough to be so down in the dumps the last week that i missed a lot of the leek stuff because i wasnt online much#still got spoiled tho mind you#and like i get it i feel like im making a bigger issue out of this than necessary#and ik for many peoplw its not that deep#but i do really believe this and I'd like you too see what i mean#anyway#jjk#fandom#fandoms#manga#damn this rant ended up being much longer than i intended#if you read through it thanks!#whether you agree or not i hope you at least get what i mean and what im sure many people feel#fandom rants#i do appreciate all the fan creators who do wait till the chapter drops to put out their content even when they've seen leaks tho!!#y'all rule#man ok.#no nickel for niinnyu's thoughts
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(1/2) so i've been thinking about how all of raven's constant aggressive self-justification (see: literally every other scene she's been in) is completely absent in this scene. it feels to me like that means her "All Of My Decisions Were Very Smart And I Have Nothing To Regret" mindset is a direct result of trying to absolve herself of her part in summer's fate. all her "the strong survive", "one save" etc rhetoric might all flow down from answering the question "how could i let this happen?"
(2/2) suddenly it occurred to me: i'm pretty sure we have 0 evidence raven returned to the tribe immediately after leaving. she might have spent years just being an independent huntress. to me, her attachment to the tribe has always seemed rooted in her need to justify herself - they give a convenient excuse for her (fake) motivations wrapped up in convenient evidence for her claims about strength. so if this mindset only came later, maybe she didn't even go to them until after summer's mission.
i don't think it's completely absent—the telltale signs of it are present in her "you're better at that life. better than i was.", the way she doesn't even look at summer at that point, trying to convince herself she made the right choice and that she doesn't regret it—but it's definitely more muted.
it's the difference between 'little hope' and 'no hope', y'know?
whatever happened on that mission definitely played a part, tho, but exactly how much depends on couple things: 1. did raven witness what happened to summer or had she already bailed? and 2. if summer is still alive and working for salem, does raven know or does she believe summer is dead?
actually, kinda third one, but "you sound just like your mother" after ruby makes a speech about working together and "we had each other" -> summer says "if i do this right", there's no 'we', by all means if it all depended on summer there was no need to work together, she also wasn't taking any of raven's bs, so when exactly would she have made the same kind of, such a heartfelt speech?
i have so many questions and no answers—i mean, i could answer them but there are so many possibilities that i need to stew on it a bit more.
it's true we have zero evidence on raven returning to the tribe immediately after leaving—our only timeline is the spring maiden, and that's if we assume raven is absolutely telling the truth; spring ran way over a decade ago, and the tribe picked her up sometime after. 'over a decade' is obviously playing it very loose, but if summer's disappearance happened around 15 years ago (considering ruby's age), then it would match that raven actually returned to the tribe after this mission when all hope was lost rather than before.
it would of course raise a question what raven was up to before that for those few years (and that alone gets my brainworms moving again re: who's idea this mission was and re: has raven already met salem before this, because the answers to those two questions could have some serious implications) between her departure and summer's mission.
raven also doesn't have her mask yet, tho that could be just her not carrying it around all the time. but if it's actually the former, then that's another mystery and a "when did this happen" to the list.
there's definitely something raven is trying to justify to herself (and perhaps to others as well—"i've stared death in the face over and over again, and every time i've spat in that face and survived, because i'm strong enough to do what others won't!" comes to mind) and it most likely has something to do with this mission but what exactly and is there like, actual fault in play or perceived fault, is the question.
it's like summer said: it's mystery after mystery.
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I would like to draw more but I find myself overthinking it and then losing motivation. So, I was wondering if you ever had a similar issue and if so what do you do to stay motivated and not overthink?
Really good question actually!
What nipped the overthinking for me was just completely dropping the planning stage of drawing. I don't put much thought into composition, colors, etc. I don't have any solid ideas of how I want things to look before I begin. Obligatory disclaimer that this is from my perspective as a hobbyist and therefore not practical for an aspiring professional, & this is gonna sound like BS but hear me out lol
Most of the time the only things I have in mind are 1. What character(s) I want to draw and 2. A vague idea of the atmosphere I want the finished product to convey. And "finished" can mean a lot of things -- a messy sketch can be finished, a fully rendered piece I spent an entire day could be finished. A common pitfall people fall into is having an impractically rigid idea of what a "finished" drawing is and subsequently what they want their art to look like, all the bells and whistles etc, when realistically your art is never going to look exactly how it did in your head. But is that really such a bad thing?
I guess the overarching concept is to just fall in love with the process and enjoy the journey rather than the destination. This obviously sounds easier than it is in reality, but imo people focus way too hard on what they're producing rather than how and why they're producing it. Other people loving what you draw and praising it is wonderful, but if you don't enjoy the process, what was the point? Drawing (and I would venture to say most other forms of art in general) becomes a chore with that mindset applied.
A lack of planning may very well mean you wind up drawing a lot of stuff that doesn't seem interesting, maybe haphazard, difficult to parse, etc, but this is all your perception. It's cliché, but there is always going to someone out there that adores something you think looks like a dumpster fire, and that applies to the things you draw too. Over time, just doing whatever you want and enjoying the process has this trickle effect that will improve your output. In the same vein, constantly overthinking will also inevitably trickles into your output. You can often tell when someone enjoyed the process of something they drew vs when it was just a slog for them to get through (at least relative to their other works).
I would venture to say that you could spend your entire life studying and could be the most technically knowledgeable person about illustration ever in the world, but if you don't genuinely love the process, your work will never be as good as it could be if you did.
If you finish something and think it looks like shit that's always a bummer, but if you had fun with it, I think that was time worth spending. I've said this before, but most of the time I only truly dislike something I've drawn when I spent any part of the process frustrated with how it was going. It's counterintuitive, but I really think that placing so much emphasis in how you want the finished product to look is what ultimately is going to make it look like shit to you.
All that being said, once you do get past that initial overthinking phase, you can start to get more specific with planning and whatnot. The key is to just stop holding onto the idea of what you want and allowing things to develop as you go. Your art will naturally improve this way since you're actually enjoying it. To me, that's what people mean when they say they can tell something was made with love.
Side note: Let go of the need to be consistent/have a developed style. Just let yourself be inconsistent. You don't need strict consistency unless you're like an animator who needs to keep characters on-model or something. Experimenting is not only way more fun, but leads to improvement and discovering new things to implement into your process/style at large.
Tl;dr just get a lil silly w it :3c
#hope this made sense i feel like it sounds like mumbo jumbo but it works for meee#yip yap#if you saw those typos no you didnt
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so this is a dumb stupid one-shot based off @absolutely-normal-about-x 's amazing Legends Reborn AU (just with the unfortunate setting of my own bs) because holy moly the capacity for angst just got my imagination rearing its ugly head. So uh... enjoy
St. Clarity
Fandom: Megaman X, Megaman Legends
Words: 4,914 words
Angst, Hurt & Comfort, Humor
"I don't know you
But I know what you do"
-St. Clarity, The Paper Kites
A discovery in an old ruin leads to some uncovered memories.
One of the last things Volnutt had ever expected in his life, was to find out he had a family. A pretty big one, at that. Four siblings, countless uncles and aunts (that he would unfortunately never meet), his father, it still boggled his mind. He kept thinking at some point he was going to wake up and find it all to be a dream; that he’d still be on the Flutter, looking for the next dig site.
Don’t get him wrong, Volnutt was immensely grateful to the Casketts. They had taken him in freely when he had had no other place to go, after all. And Roll was practically a sister to him! He wouldn’t trade them for anything. But he couldn’t help but wish that someway, somehow, someone else could have uncovered all the stuff that lead to X and his family waaaaaay earlier than he and the Bonne’s had. …Was that selfish of him?
“Hey pipsqueak, keep up!” Fefnir called, causing Volnutt to lose his train of thought. Despite the harsh words, he couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he picked up the pace to keep up with his older brother. He knew Fefnir didn’t mean anything by it. “Seriously, these ruins are BORING,” the red clad carbon complained. “Not one single bot in sight.” Volnutt couldn’t help but chuckle. “Hey, I said I was fine doing this one alone,” he reminded Fefnir. Volnutt had decided to explore the dilapidated building after X had told Barrell that it had once been apart of a city he had lived in. Abel City, he had called it if Volnutt recalled correctly. He wasn’t sure what he’d find, if anything. He had been able to deduce that this had once upon a time been some sort of residential building, but not much else. The surrounding buildings had been pretty well picked over. Why this one wasn’t, Volnutt had no real idea. He’d heard some Diggers call it haunted, but he hadn’t seen anything out the ordinary.
“Eh, dad insisted I come,” Fefnir grumbled. “Something about having too much energy.” Volnutt struggled not to let his snickering be heard. That definitely sounded like dad. And Fefnir, for that matter. But he didn’t feel like getting a noogie, so he was going to keep that to himself. Rather, he decided to distract himself with the surroundings. These sorts of ruins always made him a little sad. People had lived here, once a upon a time. Decaying chairs, torn up sofas, …suspicious mush, at one point it had all been new. It had been used. Perhaps even well loved by the owner. But now, now it was just… destroyed. No longer worth anything. It always made him melancholic.
“I’m not gonna tell you again, squirt!” came Fefnir’s voice from way down the hallway. Volnutt hadn’t even realized he had fallen so far behind. “Sorry!” he apologized. “Just-“ A loud, exaggerated sigh from Fefnir cut him off. “Sometimes I wonder how on Earth you managed to get this far as a Digger,” he chastised. Well now Volnutt was a little miffed. “Hey, I’ve been doing just fine, thank you,” he bit back. The older sibling merely rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he grumbled. “I’m going to fall asleep if I have to keep going at your pace.” Volnutt narrowed his eyes at the red clad Carbon. “Then just go ahead without me,” he snarked. “I’ll be fine.” Fefnir considered his younger sibling for a minute before smirking. “Fine,” he agreed. “Just don’t tell dad.” And despite all his irritation with his older sibling, Volnutt couldn’t help the smile that spread on his lips. “Deal,” And with that, Fefnir went on ahead. Leaving Volnutt alone with his thoughts. Now, he had a chance to actually look at all the rooms. Well, to call them rooms was a bit of an understatement. They were like mini-houses. (Apartments, his brain supplied). Eventually, however, he came across something strange.
It was a door.
Which wasn’t that strange in of itself. It was just the fact that beneath all the hundreds of thousands of layers of dust, it was a different color from all the other doors in the building. And it was closed. How did this one manage to stay unscathed from the hundreds of Diggers before him? Giving the knob an experimental turn (perhaps this apartment just had a draft that automatically closed the door), he found it to be locked. That was… definitely weird. Volnutt recalled the stories of this particular building being haunted; perhaps there was a teensy bit of validity to those claims… Did he feel like being a horror movie protagonist?
Eh. Worse comes to worse, he could just call for Fefnir to deal with it. He’d probably enjoy trying to fight a ghost.
Bracing his shoulder against the frame, Volnutt shoved himself against the door. It opened quite easily, splintering into thousands of pieces. Oops. Guess he should have figured it was rotting. Inside, he noticed that unlike the hundreds of other apartments he and Fefnir had passed by, this one was completely untouched. Well, unless you count all the stuff flung on the ground due to seismic activity. So, Volnutt wandered inside. While the furniture was cool, he had a sinking suspicion that none of it would last very long if he so much as touched it. Abel City was from his dad’s prime, for goodness sakes. Rather than risk irreversible damage to the inanimate inhabitants of the house (and risk making the potential ghost angrier!), Volnutt instead chose to step into the kitchen portion of the room. There were a couple of appliances on the counter, really old tech though. He wasn’t sure if there’d be any sort of price for that. Although… there was always the possibility that maybe someone was collecting this sort of stuff. Next to said counter was a long dead refrigerator.
Hard pass on looking anywhere near that.
Instead, he chose to look inside of one of the drawers. And was surprised to find silverware. Much like what he usually ate with. He recalled X saying something about Abel City being apart of a country called… Japan? Maybe? Either way, he had claimed that a vast majority of people there used something called “chopsticks” to eat food with. Which was basically just two sticks one held in a certain way in order to pick up and grip said food. Sounded super complicated to Volnutt. So it was odd seeing regular old silverware here. Who knows, maybe the last owner found the concept of chopsticks complicated, too.
Closing the drawer, Volnutt looked towards the living space. There was a simple couch, and an egg shaped chair. That was kind of cool. All the tables, however, had all sorts of clutter on them. Like the owner was far too lazy to find a proper space for everything. Maybe they just thought there would be time for it later…
Ok, that’s enough sad thoughts.
In any case, maybe there’d be something interesting over there.
As Volnutt made his way over to the space, his boot crunched upon some glass. Looking down, he noticed a couple of picture frames on the floor. Crouching down, he gently picked one up. It was upside down, of course. So he gently turned it over.
And his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Within the frame, was a picture of X. Back from when he was still a reploid. He was sitting at a desk; looking over some sort of thin, holographic pad, while holding onto some sort of wonky looking mug. There were some markings on the cup, but they either must have been decorative or in some old language. Volnutt couldn’t make heads or tails of it. But… just the fact that this picture somehow survived everything was a miracle. Maybe the person who lived here was a fan or something. X had mentioned that he had been pretty well known back in the day, after all. Heck, maybe this person had more! Excited at the prospect, Volnutt quickly flipped over another picture.
This one, however, was not of his father. Rather, it showed a young woman standing next to a different reploid. He looked pretty young, not that that meant much from what he recalled X telling him about reploids. The reploid was clad in navy and grey armor; red marks could be seen going down it in intricate patterns, with a bright, blue gem on both the chest piece and helmet. His ears reminded Volnutt of a cat, almost, and his red hair was spiked up like a fire. The most defining feature of the reploid, however, was an ‘x’ shaped scar spreading across his nose. The woman, on the other hand, was rather plain. Ruddy brown hair pulled into a long braid off to the right side of her face, she was dressed rather casually. Just a mauve shirt, jeans, and a comically oversized army green coat. Both her and the reploid were smiling, striking a victory sign at the camera.
Volnutt couldn’t help but smile back at it. He remembered both his father and siblings speaking about how awful things between reploids and humans used to be. At least these two somehow managed to get along.
“Is this where you’ve been the whole time?”
If you asked him, Volnutt definitely did not scream. Not even a peep. No sir, he was definitely not taken by surprise from Fefnir’s sudden reappearance. The laugh that Fefnir let out, however, would tell you this was one hundred percent a lie.
“Dang, now I’m really wondering how you’re still alive,” Fefnir teased. “You’d never survive out on the battlefield.” Volnutt turned away from his older sibling, -definitely not hiding a blush- glaring at the wall. “Whatever,” he grumbled. “Did you find anything?” Fefnir let out a puff of irritation. “Nope, not even a good fight,” he complained. “How about you? Find anything in this dump?” Volnutt rolled his eyes at his siblings blunt language. “Kind of,” he said, showing Fefnir the frame he had been holding. “There’s also one of dad from when he was a reploid!” Fefnir grabbed the picture with an interested look on his face as Volnutt picked up the previously discarded photo of their father. The older sibling also glanced at the picture in his baby brother’s hands. “I mean, that’s definitely him,” Fefnir mused. “But not how I remember him looking. Must have been an older model then. Now this…” he raised the picture in his lap hands. “You know who that is?” Volnutt shook his head. “Do you?” he asked. Fefnir let out a snort. “Yeah, that’s Uncle Axl,” he grinned.
“Wait, what?!”
“Yeah, I remember seeing pics of him in the archives,” Fefnir explained. “Not my favorite place, but hey. Had to learn some stuff somehow. No idea who the chick is, though.” Volnutt shrugged. “Maybe a friend,” he guessed. “Or, I don’t know, maybe a fan?” Fefnir shrugged as well. “Who knows,” he said, tossing the picture onto the ground. “I’m ready to go home. I’m hungry.” Volnutt let out a scoff as he quickly picked up the discarded photo. “Fine,” he grumbled, gathering the two pictures in his arms. “Let’s get out of here.” Fefnir quirked a brow. “You’re bringing those home?” he asked. Volnutt nodded, glaring at his brother. “Yeah, I think dad would like them,” he insisted. “Besides, then this wasn’t a total bust.” Fefnir merely rolled his eyes. “Whatever, pipsqueak,”
“Whatever, jerk face,”
Fefnir let out a laugh at that.
It was cathartic, to say the least. The life X was now living. No longer was he the legendary Maverick Hunter, nor was he the leader of what remained of society. He was just… X. A source for historical knowledge, to be sure, but there was nothing hanging on his shoulders. He could just… be a father for his children. It was truly the greatest privilege he had ever experienced. Currently, said privilege involved making dinner. Nights were slowly becoming colder as fall was settling further and further in the year, thus he had decided on an easy and simple soup. It was then that he realized it was uncharacteristically quiet in the house. That rarely boded well.
“HARPUIA, I WILL END YOU!”
Ah, there it was.
“Levi, we do not yell in the house!” X called out to his daughter from the kitchen. He had no idea what had happened this time, but it was a common occurrence for arguments to break out. “He went into my room!” Leviathan argued, entering the kitchen. “I did not!” Harpuia called from the living room. "We still do not yell,” X chastised. Levi just let out a loud groan. “Now Harpuia, did you go into Levi’s room?” X asked, he had a sneaking suspicion it was not in fact Harpuia, but rather the younger… more mischievous son. “No, father,” Harpuia answered. “Of course you would say that!” Levi grumbled.
“And what exactly is your proof?” X asked her. “I found feathers all over the floor!” she argued. “Ah yes,” Harpuia snarked from his seat on the couch. “I went into your room where I know you don’t want me, and made sure to leave a ton of feathers specifically so that you would know I was there. Truly, a brilliant plan on my part.” Levi let out a snarl at him. “That’s enough, you two,” X snapped. Sometimes he wondered how they had managed as Guardians. But, carbons were far closer to humans than they were reploids; it made sense that they wouldn’t be quite as mature in this form as they had been, once upon a time. “Phantom!” he called out for his younger son. “Yes, father?” the purple clad boy answered in a honeyed tone, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Had X not been used to combat all his life, he likely would have been startled. However, it was that coupled with the fact that Phantom had a tendency to sneak around like a cat that left him rather used to it. “Stop sneaking into your sister’s room,” X chastised. Phantom put on an offended expression. “I would never!” he said, acting aghast at the mere mention. “Is that why you wanted some of my feathers?” Harpuia asked, finally entering the kitchen.
“YOU,” Leviathan yelled at her younger sibling. “Leviathan!” X barked. “What did I just say?!” In lieu of answering, Levi leapt at her younger brother. Phantom’s quick reflexes were the only thing that saved him from winding up on the ground.
Just another day.
“NOT IN THE HOUSE!” X yelled at his two younger children. Neither acknowledged him, of course. Phantom was currently running out of the kitchen with Levi in hot pursuit. X let out a long-suffering sigh. He loved his children, but they certainly were a handful. “I’ll make sure they don’t break anything,” Harpuia sighed as he trailed off after his siblings. “Thank you, Harpuia,” X groaned as he turned back to the task he had been interrupted in. It was nearly ready, he just had to add the noodles. As he did so, X took a look at the time. It was slowly getting darker out, causing worry to bubble up in his chest. He hadn’t heard anything from Fefnir and Volnutt yet… X knew his boys were capable Diggers, but he still couldn’t help but worry about them whenever they were a little late. The two hadn’t said anything about it being a long excursion, but things often had a tendency to change.
In any case, X knew better than to make mountains out of molehills. If anything had gone wrong, those two knew exactly who to call.
The sound of the front door slamming dragged X from his musings with a quiet groan. “Sorry!” called out a voice he hadn’t quite been expecting, much to his relief. Volnutt and Fefnir had made it home safely. X couldn’t help the fond smile that spread over his face as he turned to see all five of his children enter the kitchen. Phantom looked a little worse for wear, but it seems that Levi had shown mercy; Fefnir was currently teasing his brother about it. Harpuia was shaking his head at the three’s antics, while Volnutt was carrying something in his arms. “How was the dig?” X asked. Fefnir let out a loud groan, a disappointed look on his face. “Complete bust,” he grumbled. “Nothing worth fighting, nothing worth a buck, and it was BORING.” X let out a chuckle. “What about you, Volnutt?” he asked his youngest. “What’d you find?”
Volnutt froze for a second, still seemingly unused to the amount of attention he’d often get from his family. “Oh uh…” Volnutt shifted the contents in his arms. “It’s… It’s nothing.” X watched Fefnir give him a weird look, but ultimately shrug. The blue clad carbon thought about pressing his youngest on the matter; it certainly didn’t seem like ‘nothing’ the way he was clutching it to his chest, but perhaps it was just something he wanted to keep to himself for now. “Alright, well, go ahead and get washed up,” X said. “All of you. Dinner is almost ready.”
It then became a mad dash between all five to get to the bathroom sink first.
Never a dull moment in this house, X thought to himself.
That evening, after all the dishes had been washed and put up (a family bonding activity that X made sure everyone participated in, much to their chagrin), X was sitting down in his study. It was… sparse to say the least. Books were on the rarer side, something X often missed. They had been seen as a novel thing, back in his day; what with holopads being seen as more convenient. But he had often preferred the feel of turning physical pages. Now, while holopads were a thing of myth, so many stories had been lost due to time. Even with all the effort the Neo Arcadian archivists put in all those years ago, some things just couldn’t be avoided.
A knock at the door brought X out of his thoughts. A knock he knew well. Checking the clock, he saw that it was a still a good amount of time before he preferred be in bed. Not that he was getting old! Well, he was (something he was admittedly grateful for) but not that old! “Come in,” he called; and just as he suspected, his youngest entered the room. Volnutt was holding something behind his back, peaking X’s curiosity. “What can I do for you?” X asked with a fond smile, putting the book he had been reading off to the side. “Uh… well,” Volnutt started, staring at the ground. “While Fefnir and I were on that dig, I uh… I found something interesting.” X let out a chuckle. “So you did find something, then?” he teased, causing Volnutt to blush a bit as he tried to come up with words to defend himself. It was far too easy to fluster the poor boy.
“I’m just teasing,” X assured his youngest. “Let me see what you found.” Reluctantly, Volnutt handed over an old, (rather destroyed) picture frame. Looking over it, X was flabbergasted to see a picture of himself from before the Elf Wars. “Where did you find this?” he asked, puzzled. He certainly didn’t remember this one being taken. It looked like it had been taken within one of his homes rather than the usual Maverick Hunter HQ photo-op. “Fefnir and I went to the Abel City ruins,” Volnutt explained. “I found this in one of the apartments.” X gave a hum of understanding. While he was still raking his brain to try and place the moment when he would have had this picture taken, Volnutt had already brought out another frame from behind his back. “I uh… I also found this one of Uncle Axl,” he explained. That caught X off guard. Perhaps the boys had stumbled upon the home of an old fan. In any case, X set down the first picture in order to hold onto the second.
He was not prepared for what he saw.
Volnutt noticed the shift of his father’s demeanor immediately. X had gone stock still, a hand slowly reaching up to cover his mouth. Had… had he done something wrong? Or… maybe his dad just hadn’t been ready to see an old picture of his friend after so long. Finally, after what felt like forever, X let out a watery sounding laugh. “That… that makes so much more sense now,” he mused, a melancholic look to his eyes. Volnutt was confused. What made sense? “Dad?” he asked. X shook his head. “Sorry, I just-“ he let out a deep sigh; closing his eyes as he shook his head.
When he opened them again, Volnutt saw that there were tears at the edge of his eyes. Ah crap, he hadn’t wanted to make his dad cry! Now what?! “Was that Uncle Axl’s girlfriend?” Volnutt blurted out. Ah yes. Real smooth. X let out another laugh. “Oh no,” he vehemently denied. “No, no, no. That-“ he let out another chocked sound. “That,” he tried again with a sigh. “Is you’re oldest sister, Brook.”
Volnutt looked at the picture in disbelief. His… oldest sister? “What?” he asked. “I don’t-“ X cut him off with a shake of his head. “It’s… it’s my fault,” he murmured. “I… I hadn’t thought of her in years. It hurt too much.” Volnutt glanced at his father, not entirely sure what to say. What do you say to that? “What happened to her?’ Volnutt quietly asked. X didn’t answer, but Volnutt could see that his grip on the picture had tightened by the whitening of his knuckles.
“War,” he finally, quietly answered.
Oh. Volnutt took another glance at the photo. It… it was a lot sadder now. “Were she and Axl good friends?” he asked, trying to distract X. Another watery smile crossed X’s face. “Oh, they got along like a house on fire,” he said, a slight chuckle in his voice. “To this day, I am still surprised that they never did. They sure tried their darndest.” Volnutt smiled at that. “How is she… uh… related?” Volnutt didn’t know if that was the right word, but oh well. X shook his head with a fond smile. “Well, I wound up taking her in after she pulled quite the stunt at sixteen,” he explained.
“What did she do?”
“She disguised herself as a reploid in order to hunt Mavericks.”
Volnutt stared at his father in disbelief. “What?” he exclaimed, as X let out another small laugh. “No way! How’d she do that?!”
“Well, with the help of an old, retired hunter, she managed to make a set of reploid armor that would help disguise the fact that she was human,” X explained. “He also walked her through on how to reverse engineer a buster into a rifle. You had to have special permits to buy a buster where she lived, and only hunters were eligible for that.”
“Why couldn’t she just be a hunter?” Volnutt asked. X let out a small sigh. “For starters, she was too young,” he said. “Age restrictions were taken a lot more seriously back then.” X gave Volnutt a pointed look at that. The younger carbon looked away; he knew his dad wasn’t the biggest fan of how young he was when he became a Digger, not that he had had a choice in the matter! “Not only that, but humans either had to be in a partnership with reploids,” X continued. “Or join what was known as the Guild in her country in order to hunt Mavericks. It was a safety thing.”
“So… why did she do it then?”
“Nobody else would,” X sighed with a defeated tone. “This was before the flood, so there was a lot of land back then. And a lot of places where farmers and people who didn’t want to live in cities lived were getting overlooked by both the Hunters and Guild. Mercenaries wouldn’t go out there either; not enough money to be made. So, she decided to do something about it.” Volnutt was quiet for a minute. “What about her parents?” he finally asked. “Why didn’t they stop her?” X sadly shook his head. “Brook’s parents…” he sighed. “They had died two years prior. Mavericks.” Volnutt made a quiet ‘oh’. “So… how’d she get found out?” he continued with his questions.
X glanced at him. “You remember me telling you about Massimo, Marino, and Cinnamon, right?” he asked, to which Volnutt nodded. He liked hearing about Massimo. “Well, they had been dispatched to a small city where Brook just so happened to be tracking down a Maverick. She wound up saving Cinnamon, actually. But, she definitely was not acting like a reploid should when they tried talking to her.
“So they wound up calling me as well as HQ to report her as a potential Maverick. And I chose to see what was going on. She was not an easy person to track down, let me tell you.” Volnutt couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Only reason I wound up catching her was because she fell out of a tree.”
“Was she okay?”
X shrugged. “A few broken bones, but nothing too much worse,” he told Volnutt. He winced, that certainly didn’t sound like fun. “So what caused you to take her in?” the younger boy asked. “Well, given that she broke a lot of laws, Brook was facing a lot of trouble,” X continued. “But, the news of what she did spread pretty quickly. And practically every farmer took her side. They were threatening to stop working if she was jailed. So the government decided to go ahead and enlist her into the Guild despite her age.
“And I just… I couldn’t let that happen,” X let out a sigh, a sad look on his face as he looked at the photo again. “It was bad enough to me that she had started acting as a mercenary, the rest of her life shouldn’t have revolved around fighting either. I just… I wanted to get her away from it and live the rest of her life as a normal human.”
“Did she?” Volnutt asked. X looked at his youngest with a wry smile. “Not even a little bit,” he sighed. “Oh, she was so angry when I told her I was taking her to Japan. That girl was dead set on fighting Mavericks, one way or another. We had so many arguments about the smallest things. Part of it was her hating the city, and the other part of it was her hating me, I think.” Volnutt gave X a bewildered look. “No way,” he denied. “There’s no way she could have hated you. You’re the best dad ever!” X chuckled as he ruffled Volnutt’s hair. “You have no idea how much that means to me,” he told his youngest. “But, in her defense, she was dealing with a lot of baggage already. And quite frankly, I had no idea what I was doing. We both had to figure things out.” X then let out another chuckle. “She one time bit a kid at school,” he said.
“What?!”
“Oh yes,” X laughed. “She got into a fight with three boys at school and wound up biting one of them. That was by far the worst argument we got into.” Volnutt looked incredulously at the picture. Who would have thought. “So did she wind up joining the Guild?” Volnutt asked hesitantly. X let out a long sigh. “No, she instead wound up joining the Maverick Hunters,” he murmured. “Wound up losing her citizenship to her birth country because of it, but a deal was struck. Whenever there wasn’t a crisis, she would lead a team of rookies, whenever possible, to rural areas to track down stray Mavericks. ‘Coon-hunting’ she called it.”
Volnutt let out a chuckle. He didn’t know what a ‘coon’ was, but it was a funny word. “So what did she do?” he asked. “Like… in terms of fighting. I mean… I doubt she was doing what you, Uncle Zero, and Uncle Axl were doing.” X shook his head. “Oh no,” he said. “Brook was smart about it. She kept her distance. Sniping was her profession, and she was very good at it. Saved Axl’s butt on more than one occasion.”
X sighed, gently placing the photo down on his desk. “She would have loved all of you,” he muttered, wrapping his arm around Volnutt. “Thank you, for this.” Volnutt returned his father’s hug, glad to have shown it to him. “Hey, so if those photos were in that apartment we found,” Volnutt began. “I bet that means that might have been hers. Do you… do you maybe want to go look at it tomorrow?” X’s eyes softened. “I would love to,” he said. “Awesome!” Volnutt cheered. “OH! And maybe we could bring everyone else! They could hear about her too!”
“I think I would like that.”
It was a shame carbons had lost the ability to see Cyber Elves. If they hadn’t, perhaps the two exiting the room would have noticed a familiar face currently watching them with a sad, but fond smile.
In any case, it was time to go.
#mmx#mmx fanfiction#legends reborn au#OC#i should note this is basically an au of my fic#spoilers#but only in relation to things ive already writtwn
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wednesday 1st feb 2023 ~ Collective Reading
hi collective! hope you’re having a good day.
i’m seeing that today would be a good day to give some love to the darker aspects of ourselves - or rather whatever we consider that to be. it could be the parts of ourselves that we feel have been demonised or shamed - and i feel like it’s primarily about self love. that might sound like a strange message but many of us have been shamed for showing ourselves love and care, especially through making ourselves look good in order to feel good. miserable people who are ugly on the inside (and who probably feel ugly physically too) have thrown jealous ass, hating ass energy towards us over the course of our lives for doing what they can’t bring themselves to do. however that’s their problem. for them to even be threatened by us, they must’ve seen beauty in us in the first place right? something that they don’t feel like they could ever have. which is why these bitches didn’t want us to see that within ourselves. because they knew that if we did recognise it, we’d be untouchable. now’s the time to identify it again though. look in the mirror for a good minute or two (or three or four - however long you want to 😂) and try to see your physical state of being from your higher self’s perspective. remember that beautiful, cute ass infant child that you were (and still are in many aspects?). you’re them - but just grown now. would you call them ugly or nit pick at their appearance? hopefully not. it’s a disservice to do that to yourself because you ARE them. they haven’t gone anywhere and neither has your internal and physical beauty. people have just clouded your view from it with their bs and fuckery. if you could go back in time, you’d never tell your 5 year old self that they’re going to grow up to be ugly would you? no. you’d let them know that they’re going to grow into the prettiest/most beautiful/handsome person to walk this fucking Earth. and guess what? you’re the physical embodiment of that now. practice some self love - physically and in terms of emotional + mental care. this doesn’t even have to be anything drastic. try to get out of bed and shower if that’s something that you still need to do. or eat. or watch a movie. make some tea. read a book. bop to your favourite music in your room alone - and do all of this mindfully. there’s an extra message to also love and honour your anger. your anger is your protector and you may be feeling guilty for projecting it onto someone who deserved it. don’t be. again, if your inner child was provoked to anger and ended up reacting to that, would you expect them to beat themselves up about it? no. maybe their toxic ass parents would. or toxic ass teachers, bullies, and “friends” would. the provokers and perpetrators of mistreatment - but who gives a fuck about what they think when they’re the types of people who choose to deal with their personal issues in the form of abuse, mistreatment, and suppression of others? they’re not who we should be listening to, and i feel like many of us still have their ugly ass voices echoing in our minds whenever we exercise our human right to feel and express emotions. or to feel good about ourselves. you don’t deserve punishment. they’re the ones who made you feel less-than and ugly because they were threatened by you. nobody’s threatened by people who they don’t believe holds more power than them, right? they tried to dilute our power but it’s time to find it again. even if it makes you feel “egotistical” or “selfish”. there are abusive motherfuckers walking this earth with the biggest, narcissistic egos you’ve ever seen. if they can have a “healthy” or big ego, so can you - someone with a genuine heart and good intentions (unless crossed 🙃) who just wants better for themselves and others.
#pick a card#psychic readings#pick a photo#pac#tarot reading#divination#tarot#pick a picture#spirituality#pac reading#collective reading#intuitive#daily tarot#tarot cards#tarotcommunity#free tarot#naya tarot collective#tarotdaily
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omg what happens in Paris??? I'm so curious, I don't mind spoilers! pretty please???
Another Anon asked a similar question that actually has a spoiler in the question, so I've put it and my reply to this one under a spoiler cut:
Anonymous asked:
So I gotta be honest and say I'm a rather casual IWaV viewer so I haven't seen all episodes because I would rather wait for entire s2 to be out to watch it all then but I watched an entire ep 7 and... i fully expected Claudia to die??? but she didn't??? wasn't she supposed to die by being grilled by the sun? (I mean that's what I remember from the movie from '94? )
***
Claudia dies in Paris.
She is killed by the Theate des Vampires, a group of Vampires whom Armand leads.
After Louis and Claudia escape Lestat and go to Europe, they spend time in many places across Europe looking for others of their kind but find nothing.
Then when they arrive in Paris, they discover the Theate des Vampires. Or, more like, the vampires of the Theater discovered them.
Armand and Louis pretty much fall for each other, Louis believing he's found someone more open and honest than Lestat. (Because, in the book, Lestat held back on telling Louis anything, who his maker was, etc. The show has completely changed that point - Lestat actually telling Louis these things, so it'll be interesting to see how the show does it.)
However, the issue is Claudia. Being that she was made a vampire at 5 years old in the book, she does not in any way have the ability to take care of herself. In the movie, she was 10-12 when she was made, and the show has her 14, where she can kinda take care of herself in more ways than either book or movie Claudia could, but still not fully. (As Bruce showed.) If Louis becomes Armand's new companion, who will take care of Claudia?
Well, Claudia herself can see that Louis is going to leave her for Armand, so she takes the matter into her own hands and chooses a human woman named Madeleine to become her "mother" and caretaker. She makes Louis turn Madeleine into a vampire for her, something Louis did NOT want to do because he NEVER has made another vampire and never wanted to. But he does it for Claudia. And in doing so, basically destroys in himself whatever humanity he had left in him (in his view).
But, PLOT TWIST! Unbeknownst to them, Lestat is in Paris! Yep, he made his way there to come and ask Armand to allow him to drink some of Armand's powerful blood so Lestat can heal faster from the wounds Louis and Claudia inflicted on him when they "killed" him. Lestat, for his part, has NO IDEA Louis and Claudia are in Paris when he gets there to see Armand. Lestat tells Armand that it was a "woman" vampire fledgling of his named Claudia that tried to kill him and that his other fledgling, Louis, ran off with her, though Louis had nothing to do with trying to kill him. (Rising up and trying to kill your maker/coven master is against the "Old Rules" that many vamps, particularly in Paris, follow. Lestat never taught Louis or Claudia those Old Rules, so, you know.)
This goes on for like a day or two, and then Armand calls BS, and tells Lestat that Louis and Claudia have been seen in Paris and that Claudia isn't a woman but a vampire child. Which the creation of is a HELL of a big NO. (And hey, some props to amc-Lestat who told Louis - in french - that Claudia was too young when Louis was begging him to turn her.) Lestat stumbles and tries to explain, but it's useless. Armand tells him there is going to be a trial for Claudia's crime of trying to kill her maker.
The trial happens, but it's really just a mockery though, not a real trial. The vampires of the theater wanted to kill Claudia anyway because she was created at too young an age. The whole "tried to kill your maker" thing was just an excuse to put on top of that.
It's kinda implied that Armand is influencing Lestat on what to say because, due to his weakened state, Lestat isn't fully there mentally. And Armand hasn't given Lestat any of his own blood to help heal him like he came to ask for in the first place.
So Claudia and Madeleine are killed via sunlight exposure.
But, PLOT TWIST! Armand was actually the one who, through his Mind and Spell Gift abilities, was the one who really influenced Louis to turn Madeleine. Because he wanted Louis for himself. So at first decided to influence Louis to do that and THEN, when Lestat showed up, just decided to have Claudia killed to get rid of her for good via the mock-trial thing.
Armand tells Lestat - whom Armand STILL hasn't given any of his blood to him to heal himself - that Louis was killed by the other vampires after they killed Claudia. He then throws Lestat off a roof, which just adds to his already weakened state.
Louis thinks Lestat is dead because, in revenge for what happened to Claudia, Louis burned down the Theater. So Armand and Louis go off together as companions. And are so for decades. But Louis knows Armand had a hand in Claudia's death and despises him for it. Armand also told Louis that he influenced Loius to make Madeleine a vampire, which helped to destroy Louis’ sense of self.
And what Armand had loved in Louis pretty much died in the creation of Madeleine and the death of Claudia.
So yeah, it doesn't work between them. It pretty much died because of everything Armand did to try and have Louis to himself in the first place.
The 1994 movie changed this last bit so that Louis and Armand weren't companions for decades and Louis and Armand just part ways a day or so later instead.
So yeah. That's what goes down in Paris.
And it's clear that, in the show, the 2022 scenes are very much Louis post-Claudia death, thinking Lestat is also dead, depressed state of being. (I don't think the show is changing Claudia's fate. Louis having all her diaries, I think, is a MASSIVE hint that she's dead. Plus, her death is what sends him into his whole well-known depressive state in the story as it goes forward anyway.)
Also, writing all this out makes me think we might be in some weird stage where Armand is trying to bring back - via repressed and altered memories - the Louis as he was before Claudia's death. The Louis he first desired when they first met in Paris.
#Armand#Louis de Pointe du Lac#Lestat de Lioncourt#Claudia#Interview with the Vampire#iwtv spoilers#book spoilers#The Vampire Lestat#spoilers#spoiler#amc iwtv#iwtv#ask#ask and answer
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@greatwyrmgold
continued from previous reblog, replying to you in a new post rather than reblogging bc I don't want to derail the OP with my rant about shield hero, haha.
Would you believe I actually didn't mind that part as much? If only because I have a high tolerance for bs, especially if introduced as part of the premise. However, if you did get squicked out by the slavery nonsense and dropped it immediately, I'm happy for you, because it means you dropped it before it could get to the royal execution/punishment arc, which is straight up one of the most embarrassing scenes I've ever seen in fiction.
Protagonist dude gets the villain's own mother to legally rename her to "slut," while all the characters around him can't stop talking about how much of a kind and generous man he is for not killing, torturing, or raping her instead. The newly named "slut" is then forced to bow down and thank him for making her a "slut" and "whore", while all the audience cheers.
Just. Come the fuck on. Beyond the completely juvenile middle school level of revenge nonsense, beyond the fact that this is just the series doing a PG-13 version of revenge rape fantasy, beyond all the dozen reasons I can't stand this scene - it's just the most pathetically obvious "we'll have our protagonist fulfil his most base desires, but then somehow turn that around and make that be praiseworthy and have the narrative validate and morally justify him" crap that makes it impossible for me to regard the story with any amount of respect.
That was the final straw getting me to drop the series, but honestly it's more emblematic of the flaws of the series as a whole, and the terrible writing of the protagonist that undermines the whole thing.
I think the concept of the series - the basic premise - is actually quite interesting. An isekai'd hero where the focus is on how by being transported, he no longer has the social connections and safety net of the world he knows, who is immediately othered, ostracized, and betrayed by the new world around him, until his sense of trust in others is shattered. this pushes him to moral rock bottom, engaging in slavery and mistreating even his closest companions out of lingering trauma. To succeed, he must confront his own issues and grow as a person, building a place in this new world and making up for his mistakes.
I'm not embarrassed to admit that if this concept was executed even half competently, I probably would have greatly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, a concept like that inherently requires mature handling of moral wrongs done both by and towards the protagonist - and do you really think a writer who would make the capstone moment of a character arc be "you suck so badly that even your mother chose me over you, and also everybody around you says that you're sexually promiscuous and morally bankrupt" has the maturity to write anything close to what would be required?
Whatever promise the initial premise had doesn't even last ten chapters. After the introductory arcs, the writing loses all sense of ambition - it becomes too afraid to actually have the protagonist be in the wrong, and therefore has to frame everything he does as unambiguously sympathetic, that he is a nice guy, and also say he is somehow "deserving" of the power fantasy that the series becomes. This directly contradicts the character arc he's set up to have - It's difficult to simultaneously have a character be an edgy antihero making poor choices, and also have them be always in the right, and so the series bends over backwards to say all his decisions must actually be morally correct, regardless if they actually are. Which was the type of character writing that OP of the original post was complaining about, and also why I can't stand this series.
I don't know. I have friends who tell me the worldbuilding and plot gets really interesting later on. but I don't have any interest in trying again. I think I gave the series a fair shot and it just made me both angry and uncomfortable. If I wanted a progression fantasy with cool worldbuilding, and sometimes I do, there are plenty of those online to choose from.
(Again, I don't have anything against people who like this series, everybody has different tolerances for certain writing flaws and I don't think it makes one evil or dumb or actually accepting of slavery to like the series.)
#not going to tag this as shield hero bc i don't want to put a long rant about the series in a tag for fans#step.animanga
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Hey! I was wondering you had any thoughts on why Troy was like.. so upfront with Madison in 3.15 about being the one to lead the horde and how he doesn't feel bad and he'd do it all over again (or something like that, I forget his actual words) bc I'm like is he dumb 😭 did he think Madison would somehow not care? (I guess so, bc he does start saying how Madison gets it or something like that)
I've always (always as in for the last three months bc that's when I first watched the show..) been like why would he not at least pretend to feel bad and regret it? I guess he's just really that deep in whatever bs his dad fed him to make be Like That idk
I feel like I mildly get it but also I can't wrap my head around it at the same time, at least not well enough to put into words so I thought you might have something to say about it :)
Ok. So. Listen. Listen
That scene, omg, that scene. I knew something bad was coming since I have been warned by a kind fan beforehand. I knew it had to do with Madison and once he started his confession I was all "NOOOO" but also "ok this is it, he's done for". But also, I… had difficulty finding an in-world motivation/explanation for his behavior in that scene for some time. I mean, it kinda seemed to me more like the writers deciding "Troy's gotta go" than it being a natural conclusion from… what has been going on in the show. Especially how… unreceptive to Madison's clear discomfort he was during his confession. How he did not read the room. He appears pretty perceptive normally, so I didn't quite get that. It was like he was shouting "KILL ME ALREADY" (which, I mean, I still think he low-key had a deathwish through all of s3, so…it kinda fits?). Itt was, as you said, dumb of him. Very dumb and it made me a bit angry (ask me sometime about Troy's very fluctuating uh abilities. Like when they (writers) need him to, he's like the most clever person and than other times he's so dumb. What's that about… (I mean, I kinda explain this away by uh seeing ftwd as from the POV of the Clarks. We don't really get into Troy's head, but we kinda do know what the Clarks are thinking… so maybe that's just their view of him, and yes that could explain it. Sorry went off on a tangent there…)
Also, about pretending to feel bad - I don't think he would have. He.. doesn't seem like the type to put effort into hiding his emotions or making them palatable for others. But, you know, he could've just not said anything. That would've saved him (for the moment, no one's to say he wouldn't have fucked up later on 😂 It's Troy, he's just learning to be a human).
Anyway, for a long time I just chalked Troy being dump up to 'he needed to die so that's what the writers came up with, whatever'. And didn't spend too much time on that.
But then I wanted to use this moment in one of my fanfics and well… I had to make sense of what he was doing not by explaining it away with the writers but with Troy's own motivation. Get into his head in this moment after all... And I hope it's ok if I just quote the relevant part here.
Troy felt relieved when he heard Madison asked,
“Why would Daniel want to kill Troy?” This was it, he was sure of it. This was the missing piece to get back into step with Madison. Because even though she’d just told him “we’re good” he knew they weren’t. He had sensed her trepidation in her ingenious smile, in the hesitation in her voice. And now he was sure it was because he was still keeping a secret from her. A secret that only become one because of Nick, because he had followed Nick’s lead on this. And he hadn’t minded, understood that Nick rather not tell his sister Jake died partly because of him… But now he couldn’t keep quiet anymore. Not if it talking could mean that it would bring Madison and him close together again. Not if it meant it could again be as it was, before, between Madison and him.
And yes, their conversation got heated once he admitted what he’d done. He should’ve expected that but he was too caught up in it. In trying to explain himself, in trying to rush to go where they’d been before. He should’ve given her more time to process… he knew she would’ve, eventually. She understood him. They were the same – and that was what he was trying to tell her, remind her of, however clumsily.
“I’d do it all again,” he implored her, trying to make her see, “All of it, Madison.”
~ I'd do it all again, Chapter 1
So, as you can see, I don't think he thought Madison wouldn't care - it was worse than that. He thought she would… well almost like thank him for it. Not for what he did but for saying it. And I do think he really thought she'd get it. He thought this would show her their similarities, remind her of it again (and maybe it did, and maybe *that's* why she killed him (or not killed as we now know)). He thought it would bring them closer together. He thought he'd found his people with Madison and Nick, those who could understand him, tolerate him (maybe even be thankful for his existence). But he badly misjudged and he realized too late. And you know, now that I'm writing this out… I remember back to the ask about Troy's expression in his moments of imminent death and how it looked to me, among other things, like there was acceptance there. If it was, maybe he realized that Madison killing him is kinda proof of what he said to her, the "And you would, too, I know you would." Because she kinda did, didn't she.
So on this depressing note, I'll end my explanation. Hope it was what you were looking for and thank you so much for the ask 🧡🧡🧡
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Hey, so I saw this theory somewhere and want to build on that. Currently, we don't know what's up with cetras and how *exactly jenova works. All we know is that it can appear to look like something else. So, okay, someone brought up what if during the time where cloud attacks aerith later in the story, he actually Sees tifa instead, a jenova tifa. Maybe jenova made him see a hallucination. Sephiroth talking shit affecting his fragile mind. This is coming from the those you love part but he doesn't love aerith. Now, it could not be but I'm thinking this because of her "whatever you do don't.... it's just your imagination" maybe he sees a fake tifa in her and the hallucination is the imagination. Since we both know the mechanics don't do anything to the story, and according to nomura, the story is linear only to tifa, the rest is fan service. It means there's no build up for any other character, even if we take non optional into consideration.
Now now, he could just be trying to kill her because he's controlled and cetra etc but having that line in her resolution? Chekhov's gun points me to something sinister like this. Otherwise, the initial interpretation cleriffs or certain cloti has of it will only turn into unnecessary fans service and honestly what's the point of that other than BS? At least if it's the former, it's something life or death situation.
I think this would also make aerith's vagueness during that resolution as reasonable. Either she can't say that he'll be hurting "tifa" and in part 1 that's unimaginable so saying that will be pointless, or she doesn't actually understand why he attacked her but he did went "closer" to her , she misinterpreted that, and then he tried to kill her.
It can be said that he might have learned his lesson when he tried to kill tifa before, but he is unstable, unhinged, and that scene could only be a foreshadowing. I really just hope they don't twist this into " oh he l*ved her that's why he tried to kill her" BS or that "l*ve can also be platonic" BS. Because that really makes no sense with how they're really building up cloti. Tifa is the only one exclusive for that "love" while sephiroth is exclusive to "fear".
What do you think? Sorry if it sounds stupid.. I tried my best.
Aerith said that because she's an arrogant bitch who thinks Cloud has feelings for her when it's just her all on her own. The devs even stated she's mostly telling herself that rather than him because he's clearly never been interested in her.
Idky people think she's not a bitch when every opportunity she has she behaves like a bitch. Someone needs to turn the hose on her.
As for what cetra do, my older sister put it best. They're hippies.
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The Person On Your Mind in January 🏔️ 2024 - Libra
Whole of their energy towards Libra: 8 Swords
Feelings: 9 Wands
Intentions: 10 Cups
Actions: Page of Pentacles
I get this being family for most, it’s possible it’s a relationship/friendship too, marriage material came out for your message. I’m taking the messages as “these are decent people”, you’ve just gone through some bs or had it out, and they want to come back around after not speaking for awhile. Who isn’t speaking to who, idk, they do seem to be apologizing as the action, for some. Whatever has gone on between you has probably had Spirit’s hand in it, with Wheel of Fortune it’s like a lot has changed since whatever went down or made you part ways. Like say you two bickered over borrowing clothes and hairbrushes, now it’s more like one of you has kids that do that and the other person has been through hell…it’s not the same anymore. You’re both not. This person feeling 9 Wands is hell, they’re exhausted from a situation that’s been lacking in stability, whether it’s financially, family, relationships, they’re working through something that’s hell on them and The Fool shows them at a new beginning, they will persevere towards new things.
Intentions being 10 Cups, very positive, they want to be happy with you, whether together or with a family, maybe the instability has just been with you, and they want to fix it. For some outside of you, and they’re still want to fix it. They hope you’re not angry (still?) at them but they aren’t sure. Is it fixable? In action they will message. Maybe even apologize, for Strength & Ace of Cups. Holding back love? Not being there for you. Or they’re offering friendship and not love at all, for some this love just exists, especially with family. Page of Pentacles is platonic, a friend. Taking it slow, feeling you out, hoping for 10 Cups sure but they’ll take an Ace and a friendly conversation if that’s all you want.
Side note: because of your message of other people, and what may be family drama, you could ask this person all of the gossip you’ve heard or they might, trying to clear some things up, or they are, one or both of you may have assumptions or information that’s nonsense based on what other people think or say about things they don’t even know, could be part of the problem.
Messages:
Their side:
- We have a great time together! 🎉
- Wise Spirit
Your side:
- What other people say matters too much to me.
- Marriage Material 💍
Possible signs:
Heavy Pisces, Sagittarius, Aries & Scorpio
If you’re dealing with:
The Chariot is great energy to be in, it can refer to traveling or conquering obstacles in your path, goals, ambitions, and the determination to succeed. It will affect your people all differently, but this is a positive omen for you, that you’re going places 💯 or at least progressing - that is the goal.
Aries - doesn’t really like you or unsure they want to cooperate with you, they don’t really talk much or tell you how they feel, silent but judgy, you may *have* to work together
Taurus - the kind of person that just *is* love, for all of their people, and you’re one of them, or if it’s romantic - you’re the one for them
Gemini - probably in love with you but they won’t say so, they’re moving very slowly towards romantical things and act way more casual than they actually feel 🤐
Cancer - could be proposing, or you are, they take this relationship very seriously & love you, or whoever they’re with if it’s not with you - it’s getting serious
Leo - kind, helpful, very generous, not at all interested in love right now though, it’s not you
Virgo - could be making a large purchase on something they’ve always wanted, or something is happening at work that is like a dream come true - they keep getting that message 💯
Libra - conflicted about being alone, or would rather be alone than fight with you
Scorpio - I heard “pain is motivation” and it’s focused on home/love/family, they’re inspired to make changes based on a difficult experience
Sagittarius - getting over toxic bs and moving on, maybe even moving away or traveling
Capricorn - dreams, fantasies, or fears of taking romantic action towards you, or that you will towards them, maybe someone else…something about you makes them feel insecure
Aquarius - healing - gone for January 🪧
Pisces - settling some unfinished business, or taking care of necessary things so they can close something out, could be around a home
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Sorry for the rant, feel free to ignore.
I love bts and I love all the members and I always have. But I can’t lie and say it’s not majorly disappointing when songs/works that seem like they least deserve it, end up with the awards or the records (though I’ve never personally cared for records much, awards are what’s actually important aside from the actual music of course, but kpop fabdoms are obsessed with records and numbers so it’s easy to fall into that)
Like I remember feeling it most strongly with dynamite. Sure it’s a fun song to listen and dance to, but it being the first bts song to be nominated for the Grammys? And it being their first song to land a #1 on the hot 100?
And I understand popularity, and success in the US specifically plays a role in this but that’s kind of my point.
The songs they quite literally poured their blood sweat and tears and that we can literally hear and feel every emotion from them will never achieve the kind of things songs like dynamite or butter do. And what’s worse, is that bts become recognized for those songs. And the reason for it is quite literally because of how close minded a lot of people in America are.
I feel like an anti for saying this, and that’s because of my disappointment and also due to the fandom calling anyone who thinks this way an anti, but it does get pretty frustrating especially when the fandom acts like certain songs are giant masterpieces when actual masterpieces made by bts exist.
I always tell myself it’s not that deep and who cares which songs are more successful because in the end, it doesn’t change who they are and what they do but then shit like bang od saying “we’re gonna focus on America” or whatever happens and it’s like “are you fucking kidding me?”
And it’s not that I have anything against jk (he’s literally in ny bias line and I’d feel the same way if it was any other member) but the idea of his most popular and successful work all being tied to that fucking man and those being the most successful soloist songs are so frustrating for me and they shouldn’t be but they are.
Like I love all of jk’s other music and he has one of the most beautiful voices I’ve ever heard, but it’s not those songs that are ever gonna get a lot of attention. It’s the ones he chose in America and the ones he’s tried on different people’s style rather than his own (since he’s still trying to figure out his, he’s said)
And that’s his choice and everything and as a fan I should respect that but it’s like…he has so much more potential than just being another basic American pop singer though that seems to be what he wants. It shouldn’t bother me but it does and I hate that, because who cares? He’s happy and it’s not like it’s bad music, so there shouldn’t be an issue. (But the kind of disappointment still lingers, and it hasn’t stopped since dynamite ngl. Like since dynamite a lot if things have happened with bts and now with their solo projects and if I’m being 100% honest, I saw that coming way back in 2021.)
Also here’s where I know I sound like an anti but it feels unfair that this English American produced and written by big names album will be compared with the other members’ solos by literally everyone.
Like they’re not on the same level at all in terms of promotion, and in terms of the target audience, but this fact will be ignored by everyone except for bitter antis but then those guys will focus on trying to prove “jungkook actually secretly sucks” (which is bs because he is insanely talented and he puts in so much effort into everything he does ) instead of the simple fact that “an album like golden is completely separate in every way from albums like jitb,indigo, face, d-day, and layover (and what ever Jin’s gonna come up with when he gets back)”
Idk maybe I am being one of those bitter people because I tend to be rapline biased (and v biased when it comes to vocal line) but I just don’t see it as a fair comparison.
The biggest music industry in the world is America and golden is made for America and American charts and American audience. Comparing it with albums not really made or advertised much outside of Korea/the Asian market doesn’t seem right.
And the thing is, Jungkook’s album would probably be one of the most successful even if it wasn’t mostly American or wasn’t targeting a western audience. The difference is that I wouldn’t have felt this way because yeah he deserves the success and it would be on the same level as the others.
But here, it feels weird. Because it’s not. Not pointing it out feels like anti behaviour, but also not saying so I don’t get criticized and hated feels like it’s a bit of a cult (if that makes sense)
I know I shouldn’t take this seriously and it’s usually easy for me to not get bothered and remind myself kpop isn’t worth all that, but sometimes things do get frustrating.
ESPECIALLY when you learn about all the sabotage certain members got from certain people/areas that other members did not.
Because several members did face sabotage or did unfortunately not receive the fandom’s full and proper attention or care and that too plays a major part in how the albums succeed, and also in how bothered I get.
Because nothing about this equal.
At the end of the day, all 7 of them are successful as a group and as soloists and they all deserve all the success and appreciation so there’s that I guess
Hi anon! First of all, sorry for the late reply, I was trying to let Jungkook’s album marinate a bit so I could clear my head about it too.
I wanna start saying that it IS unfortunate that most of BTS masterpieces will never get the treatment that the english trilogy got, and it pains me because their korean songs and lyrics are some of the most beautiful pieces we could get, but as you said, Americans— or better, the western industry is still full of prejudices and xenophobia, a korean song will never have the chance to shine like a full english one because the western industry doesn’t put them on the same level. And it’s awful, really. (Even though I liked Dynamite but that’s because it was a happy song that those times needed)
I don’t think it makes you an anti saying that, I don’t think it makes you an anti having a different opinion from the fandom (I’m a tae biased, I have lots of diff opinions and the fandom hates me for all of them ahaha), I didn’t care about charts either but ironically because of the success of the english trilogy, BangPd /Hybe had a Eureka moment and since that moment they tried to recreate that success in every way they could, with every group they could.
Regarding Jungkook, he told us he wanted to try different genres and wanted to become someone who could do multiple different things, I think he kinda succeeded in it with Golden (I say kinda because at the end of the day, he didn’t really try different genres but just pop and pop sub-genres), to be honest I thought he achieved that with Seven already, which was/is a smash hit, and because seven happened scooter obsession started, Bang pd money hungry ass got interested, and here we are. I do think Jungkook likes Golden, I don’t think that’s the best he can do, I don’t want him to think that if one day he’s gonna release a self-written album he should expect a different reaction/support for it, because western support is not the most important (i mean, look at Layover) and the US market is not the only big market in the industry (Asia markets are very big too)…
Because the fandom became very chart driven you will always see those kind of comparisons, even though they are unfair because it’s not the same promo, not the same company support, not the same radio push, versions, remixes, etc etc etc… So I’d say to ignore people who compare stuff like that, at the end of the day it’s just wasted energy and akgaes got lots of free time. But yeah, I hope one day the other members will have a smooth release day like Golden, without sabotage :)
#feel free to rant whenever you want#sorry for the late reply and for the rant#bts#ask#i’m not gonna reread what i wrote sorry
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Partch 2 announcement is here. Guess I won't be finishing the game atm. I only have the point of no return stuff left. And if they promise to fix Karlach soon, I'd rather wait than see several flavours of miserable outcomes I do not want to experience.
But the thing that really got my piss boiling is this part
One of the reasons why we trimmed the epilogue is because we were afraid the ending cinematics were becoming too long and would detract from the epicness of the experience.
REALLY? Really?! Have they MET a single RPG player in their life?
NO ONE cares for one big 'epic' scene more than the fate of their character or companions.
If it was a linear game with no variations, with one named character with their own personality that is not affected by player in any way - then sure, one big epic ending with no epilogue makes sense.
But the moment you introduce event variations, player-made avatar and companions - no one gives a fuck about one 'epic' scene, no matter how good it is.
Surely, it will resonate with some players. The ones who made the same choices devs wanted to show off. But anyone else will be on spectrum of upset to frustrated to angry.
And if they wanted to end on one big boom of a final setpiece... Make an epilogue as a post-credits section.
It will both give a feeling of conclusion that does not 'detract from experience' (whatever it even means). And then you get a separate gated epilogue a player can experience at their own pace. If someone really does not want more content - they are free to skip that part and stop at credits.
The very notion of one 'epic' scene being better than detailed epilogue - in an RPG - really breaks my mind tho.
It's not a movie or a book or even a _linear_ videogame. Yes. In those cases excessive epilogue can be a detriment. But in this case the story is passively experienced.
The moment you introduce player's active input ... I'm sorry, writers, but this is the moment most people stop giving a fuck about your overall vision and themes and whatsnot.
It is a collaborative storytelling now. And I do not know a single RPG player who cares for world story more than their character(and the moment you allow player input, it IS theirs) or companions they like.
What players want from an ending might be considered 'bad writing' by professional writing standards. But it does not make it any less valid.
You actively invited people who are not professional writers to participate in progression of the story. You WANTED to make a game with player's input (otherwise you'd be doing a linear game with predetermined main character). You should give them the ending they want. Even if it is 'cringe', or 'narratively excessive' or 'detracts from intended experience' or whatever.
The moment you override players choices in favor of the ending _you_ want - you need to be ready for fallout and accept that this is a direct consequence of your own choice. As some people like to say, you cannot have your cake and eat it too. It is usually said about players who want sunshine-and-rainbow ending in an RPG. But it goes both ways, you know?
You - as an RPG writer - also cannot have both purity of your vision and player choices at the same time. Go write linear games instead. No one likes a game master who does not accommodate their players decisions.
Majority of players want an option to save everyone and ride into sunset with love interest of their choice. Even if it is 'cringe' or a 'teenage fanfiction' or 'marysue bs' or whatever other reason so many professional writers consider those endings bad.
There's a REASON people keep writing those. Life is miserable for so many. They do not need their escapism to remind them they will never get a good ending. That their loved ones will die no matter what. They get enough of this shit already in their everyday life. They do not pick up a FANTASY game that promises control over their fictional lives only to be crushed mentally again.
If you want your 'shades of grey' and 'nothing is ever good' or 'no victory comes without a cost' endings - just make a linear game. Do not fuck up other people's escapism by false promise of control over their fate just to pull the rug.
Honestly, Bioware jumped on a grenade for all of you with Mass Effect 3 ending. They went all in on 'no victory comes without a cost' ending with very little player agency in it, and it destroyed 10+ years of a franchise with movie deals incoming overnight. All for one creative director hubris. It should have been a lesson for every single game-with-choices designer. A masterclass on player expectation vs writers vision.
If you give player choices - you must leave your own writing ambitions at the door. Sure, make the ending you want. But also make endings that will satisfy the spectrum from edgelords to unicorn-and-raibow lovers! THAT is what makes games-with-choices good. The feeling your choices both matter and are respected.
And for the love of everything you believe in - if you make a character romanciable and then make them die/leave the player no matter what, do not play surprised pikachu when this is the only thing many players will care about. No matter the narrative themes you want to introduce. No one cares for it more than the fate of their pixel person and their pixel person's love.
Honestly, linear games exist. They can be good. Some of my favorite games ever ARE. Precisely because of curated story experience. And they are the space for writers who want to be in control of the narrative.
But the moment you introduce player choices - the game must respect all kinds of players. Even if you personally would never want a certain type of ending. Otherwise what's the fucking point of having the choices?
P.S. Maybe I'm an aberration, but I never gave a fuck about main plot of the game even once. It's not why I got the game. My reasons to get it were: to play a tiefling bard, and have Astarion, Lae'zel, Karlach and Halsin with me. I fell in love with other companions and NPCs too later on. But initial reasons were those five.
And I am very happy to wait for Patch 2 instead of actually finishing the game. Because I care about Karlach more than the plot. That's it.
Main plot is irrelevant. Just a framing for the things that truly matter. Something to deal with AFTER the things I care about (aka companion stories and favored NPC stories) dealt with. That's why I was so frustrated with Act3 really forcing Orin and Gortash interactions. They were always irrelevant to me.
So the idea devs cared about big brain confrontation scene more than main char and companions is just baffling to me. It's just the tool to make plot happen, nothing else!
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Care to share one or more of your takes you would consider controversial for atla.
Ooh this is tough cause I feel like I’m constantly sharing my ATLA opinions so they’re mostly known 😅
A rundown of bullet point takes that I won’t budge on & think are straightforward but see people debating constantly anyway 👁👁
The Boiling Rock Betrayal was well written & did make sense people just over complicate it. Mai & Ty Lee deserved more detailed examinations of their views in other instances but it’s extremely plain what happened in this instance: adrenaline fueled actions were taken in an emergency / life threatening situation. Mai & Ty Lee weren’t wrong to save lives (it also wasn’t planned? why & how do people think it was?) & Azula was sympathetic for being hurt after the betrayal (but she was still unequivocally the villain here)
We don’t know enough about Ursa from the show to truly know what her relationship with Azula was like, making multiple interpretations of the dynamic equally valid
This is less about the show itself (though the comics & the writers being insecure about their canon ship don’t help) & more the fandom but K.at.Aang vs. Z.utara arguments are some of the most obnoxious pointless arguments I’ve ever seen & the slander toward both Aang & Zuko from opposing sides is REALLY sad considering their friendship & character arcs are at the heart of the show. It’s a kid’s show y’all calm down you can want whichever cartoon characters you want to kiss it’s not that serious. These arguments also tend to frame Katara as a prize to be won rather than one of the most badass characters in her own right & it’s uncomfortable
Anti Zuko takes from Azula fans & anti Azula takes from Zuko fans are both equally embarrassingly hypocritical & ugly
Hm okay a lot of these have had to do with the Fire Nation characters, let’s mix it up. Sokka isn’t a super genius OR a dumbass. He’s someone who would get bad grades for not doing his homework cause it’s boring but he aces every test. He’d explain some complicated physics subject to you then eat pizza out of the garbage in front of you. This one might not be *that* controversial but I do feel like I see debates over his intelligence lol
Southern Raiders is a great episode & it’s not about shipping (I mean it *can* be but that’s not the main point) it’s about opposing ideologies. Katara not necessarily forgiving Yon Rha but also not killing him is an AMAZING Katara moment where she makes the best choice for HER. If you hate this episode cause of shipping discourse or bad takes or whatever you’re missing out on an excellent episode that finally explores the anger & grief Katara has over her mother’s death. I see so much discourse over this episode but I try to ignore it cause it’s one of my favorite episodes & I don’t want fandom bs to ruin that for me
I loved Jet & felt like there was a lot to explore in this kid who’s charming & manipulative because he had to become that way because of trauma & wanted to care for other kids. I loved his dynamic with Katara & later Zuko & seeing how he’d changed. I initially thought his death, while it made me sad, was narratively fair to drill home the brutality of war. But the vagueness & later jokey callback changed my mind. Can’t drill home brutality if you’re gonna write it like *that.*
Final take & this is about the fandom at large: we forget this is an early 2000s kid’s show. It was fantastic storytelling visually beautiful & we wouldn’t still be talking about it if the characters didn’t grip us. The endless discourse & debates over things that don’t matter are tiring & ultimately a waste of time & energy - so that’s my final unpopular atla take for the day 😄 (also I’m NOT claiming to be guiltless when it comes to partaking in these debates lol) (also this isn’t about *analysis* which is always fun I’m talking more about discourse over dumb shit like why iroh gave azula a doll)
Thanks for the ask!
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