I mean i looove Valeria, i think she's portrayed nicely as a woman in a world dominated by men BUT what i don't get is how it goes over someone's head to call her a tragic hero instead of villain?? Aus and all that are fine, I'd do that too but she's literally murdering people in las almas to send a "message"??? She's a friggin drug crime lord that has possibly done god knows what to her city and beyond just because she acknowledged to herself her way is better.

And now she's going to fight fire with fire with Alejandro. C'mon like villains can be evil and they can still be great characters, no need to goodify them smh , sorry for a wee rant

It's true and you should fucking say it

I kind of hate all the comparisons between kipperlily and like. Those fuckass "affirmative action fucks me over I wish I was [minority] so it would be easier" people because none of that. Is what she said. She said the bad kids already had more experience with adventuring before they got to augefort and it meant they had an advantage. Which is true. Yeah Riz was lower-class but his mum was a COP. Riz, Kristen and Fig had parents who were heroes (Sandra-Lynn is an active ranger, Kristen's parents are paladins, Sklonda is a rogue), Adaine's family was super rich and politically influential, Fabian had both. Gorgug's the only one who wasn't actively at an advantage [IN THE CONTEXT OF HAVING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HEROISM] and she didn't have shit to say about him. Kipperlily was the first person in her family to try heroism, the bad kids are largely legacy admissions.

Additionally to the people comparing it to the "anti-affirmative action" crowd: do you know what affirmative action is. The bad kids didn't receive special consideration on their admissions to aguefort or scholarships or additional financial support or extended assessment times or anything. How could she be mad about affirmative action if none of these people received affirmative action. What they DID have was knowledge about their classes that started much earlier than high school, which is what Kipperlily said in her file that she thought grading should be adjusted for because she did not have that.

To me it's less like affirmative action and more like augefort is like an IQ test. They pretend that it's fair and objective, but you can be taught how to do those things from a younger age, and if your parents took the time to teach you pattern recognition and shit then you'll do better on an IQ test than someone who wasn't trained for it and everyone will act like that makes you innately smarter when it doesn't. It just means someone taught you how to do that earlier.

Barring Gorgug, every one of the bad kids had access to information about heroism and their class at a younger age than Kipperlily did, which primed them for success in their classes. Every one of them got additional information about mysteries from their families (and even direct battle-tactics training from Bill), Riz especially with getting classified info out of his mum. Kipperlily does not have hero relatives. She's the first in her family line to attend a hero school. She knew nothing about it before her first day, meanwhile Kristen was already the chosen of Helio, Adaine had already been attending the best wizard school in the country, Fabian had already spent his whole life training with his father, and Riz was already involved in solving mysteries using info and tactics he got from his parents.

They aren't necessarily "privileged" (except Fabian and Adaine), but Kipperlily didn't say they were, she said that in the specific context of attending a hero school they had a prior-knowledge advantage. Saying they didn't is like comparing the grades of a kid who's academic career started with preschool with a kid who didn't attend until middle school and acting like one of them wasn't better prepared.

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My boys! (Mr. Svarog I really adore you but idk how to draw robots I'm so sorry)

Trailblazer like "look at this guy! he's half a unit!" and Dan Heng just unimpressed with that being enough to add to the count.

what are your thoughts on Madoka and Sayaka's relationship? I always thought it was underrated for how complex and tragic it is.

Madoka and Sayaka's relationship function similarly to that of a knight and a princess, so both their friendship or couple pairing are interesting to me. It seems to be intentional that Sayaka was crafted with a knight motif in mind to click with Madoka's vulnerability. The tragedy is that Sayaka was way too young and inexperienced to be shouldering such expectations in a friendship. Taking up the role of a protector at every turn because she wanted to protect everyone has always been a contributing factor to how fast Sayaka burned out.

Contrarily, Madoka's struggle with her own helplessness throughout the show was also part of the reason why Sayaka said a lot of terrible thing to her, but deeply regretted her actions to the point where she succumbed to Witching out away from Madoka. Madoka, at least in this "final" timeline, was not there to see her own childhood best friend change into something else. To, in a way, "die", and be reborn as the same monster that all magical girls were hunting after in a frenzy. Homura was right that Sayaka brings Madoka grief — it seems that in almost timeline, since Sayaka becomes a Witch as long as she becomes a magical girl unlike Mami or Kyoko, Sayaka is a consistent source of Madoka's grief. Whenever Madoka becomes a magical girl, then, her aspirations are based on Sayaka's sacrifice and ideals, except Madoka actually has the power to "save everyone". I believe Madoka loved Sayaka as Sayaka may not have been an "effective" magical girl, but she was the one who was willing to sacrifice her soul for her ideals, regardless of how naïve they were. To Madoka, who was so ensnared by her sense of uselessness, Sayaka was the closest thing to an idol or a star for the courage required to be a magical girl. Sayaka's desire to make the world a safer and justified place for people was so inspiring to Madoka that even when Madoka becomes Kriemhild Gretchen, the Witch's whole gimmick is "creating heaven on earth, a Witch content only if there is no more grief in existence". A prospect deeply held onto by Madoka that even Gretchen embodies it.

It's probably why Madoka's wish to save all magical girls would definitely sound equally impossible to he audience and the incubators, but Madoka herself says, "If someone says it's wrong to hope, I will tell them that they're wrong every time." Sayaka was often called foolish for her ideals and hopes, and Madoka was the only other person aside from Kyoko who understands Sayaka's struggles so much that she outright tells people that Sayaka was never wrong — this is how Madoka protects Sayaka. Madoka would never want anyone to say any of the magical girls' wishes were wrong or foolish. It was how Sayaka also found her peace at the end of the show: to be understood and not viewed as an object that would eventually be replaced in the cycle of magical girls and Witches.

Madoka and Sayaka eventually learned how to protect each other. Sayaka doesn't need to suffer from her own overbearing expectations anymore, and Madoka can finally be something even more to protect her angel: A God.

i do love canon amy & rory but god, does some part of me wish they really had gone with the idea of the doctor picking up a child as a companion (and then later, that child’s best friend with a huge crush on her.) with the rest of the season really not changing at all, except now it’s amelia pond with an angel in her head killing her and lost alone in the woods. it’s little rory who dies and is forgotten and becomes a toy soldier. if this is going to be a fairy tale, then let it be one. children have never been safe in fairy tales.

I know I am never going to be a Star Wars Fandom Person and that I am not reacting to Ahsoka the way the rest of the internet is reacting because that was, without a doubt, the funniest dumbest gay thing I've ever seen??? HER STORMTROOPER FRIENDS LEFT

AND SHE STARTED CRYING

AND THEN RAN AWAY ON A WOLF (yes it's a howler i know it's a howler shh) TO BE SAD IN THE MOORS ALONE FOREVER(????)

NO ONE GIVE HER A HUG THIS IS FUCKING INCREDIBLE, I need to see her carve BAYLAN SUX into the side of a spaceship with her lightsaber. I need to see her dramatically tearing up as she learns that Evil Doesn't Pay I want her to listen to Space Evanescence alone in her room in the dark I need her to go to the Space Hot Topic and spend too much money on nail polish that DEFINITELY DOESN'T MAKE HER THINK OF SABINE this is critical to my enjoyment of Star Wars.

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zeno's ultimate pokemiku tierlist ⁉️(it's all his opinion and he loves them all regardless⁉️)

“Martha... How do you stop- How do you stop it?” “You don’t.”

Martha from Ravenous (1999) ~ requested by anonymous

"she met a pinecone's fate" was hysterical the first time around and it's still funny but the longer I think about it the more unsure I actually am about the line

🖊 + ⚔🩸faustina🩸⚔

FAUSTINA was gifted her name by his holiness escribar. she was an orphan and didn’t have one, so he gave her the name faustina, which means “fortunate”— which. is ironic. because she certainly is not fortunate. he thought so as a sick joke, of course.

how fortunate for her to have been found and given purpose, praise the miracle, etc etc but she is NOT living laughing or loving cs she’s in a constant state of having to prove herself and not once has it worked in her favor. the single time that it does is when she’s DYING.

yellowjackets rant time :)

people whining that natalie’s death was “shitty writing” makes me want to bang my head against the wall. like are you seriously shocked that the show about tragedy and murder has tragedy and murder in it. are you seriously shocked that the show about fucked up people has fucked up people in it.

why does everyone have the worst fucking trauma bestowed to anyone ever, like creator, what did they ever do to you?

DF: The only thing the sillies have done to me is deciding to get into my brain and living inside it, rent free, consuming my every single thought and everything I know.

If I cannot escape the sillies, then the sillies sure as hell won't be able to escape me.

When I approach Yelan (or anyone else I've written), I don't just look directly at her character, but I also look at her surroundings. Both the ones that she knows by some semblance of necessity, but also those that she chooses. Like here, I talked about the Chasm, and what being 'okay' with existing down there needs to mean for a character, because it's not normal. Someone's surroundings, room, or home say a lot bout who they are and what their mindset, or specifically, their perspective is of the world. And sometimes, I think it says more about people than even the characters realize.

This brings me to the topic of the city of Fontaine. Now, I personally think it's rather obvious that a lot of the nation takes from historical France, and so when looking at it, I think it really adds to remember its monarchy, the view that the 'common folk' had of it, and its inevitable demise to non-existence today in terms of importance as a result. So my first question is, who constructed or decided on its layout? Was it Furina, Neuvillette, Egeria? Whoever it was, there's a lot that can be said about their view of the world and their placement in it when you look at locations of buildings. Look at where Palais Mermonia, its governing body, is located within the city; it sits at a rather astounding elevation in comparison to, well, everything and everyone else in the city. This frequently represents the concept of 'distance' between groups in one way or another, and seeing the consistency in other nations, this is something that is rather intriguing to me, especially keeping Fontaine's characters in mind (and considering this is the nation of 'justice'). Mondstadt has everything almost entirely uniform, with arguably the church on the highest level (but it isn't greatly elevated in comparison to all else), but it's joined with the plaza and statue which are a common gathering site for all people in the city. Liyue had the gods and adepti visibly living among the humans back in the days of the Guili Assembly for reasons of 'integration' (my apologies to numerous from our dear Guizhong!) The fact that numerous adepti now live far outside of the harbor is a different matter entirely, and the one who seems to function within a semblance of separation of sorts is Ningguang with the Jade Chamber (but I'm not one to speak on behalf of her character as I don't bear the knowledge). Inazuma also has the Tenshukaku at a higher elevation in comparison to the rest of Inazuma City. Sumeru is interesting, but ultimately Nahida was kept at the very peak of the city, far out of reach of humanity— but that's exactly the common denominator that has my interest, the distance between the 'governing body' and humanity for one reason or another.

But Fontaine really takes separation to a different level in my opinion (and again, think of this when you think of the person having designed the whole city), not only because of the above which I'll elaborate more on in a moment, but also its separation from the outside world. Now, this is interesting to think about if you keep in mind that it was perhaps done in eventual protection of the city's inhabitants in terms of the prophecy (which means that this would have been constructed anywhere during or after Egeria's reign), but then why is only Palais Mermonia far above the water's reach? If the walls surrounding the city were ever breached during said prophecy, all its inhabitants are pretty much immediately caught in the flood and would drown, which tells me nothing positive of the city's 'architect' or whoever signed off on the designs. But if not done for the prophecy, then why? Stand in the middle of the Court of Fontaine and really look around you, the only sights you really have of the outside world are the sky, and it's obstructed by a fair bit of the waterways and gardens that hang overhead, which you can only properly enjoy when you take the ages long elevator to the upper level where the palace is located (which, credit due, seems freely accessible to everyone in present-time). But if you don't venture up, how much of the outside world do you get to see? It feels very secluded, very much under lock and key. On some level (and this is one of the many reasons why I think that the Meropide is so excessively important in Fontaine and it's likely why we spent so much time there; it's all to show the ever, ever important contrast and nuance between this 'autonomous nation within Fontaine' and, well, 'Fontaine'), it almost feels like a prison, regardless of how pretty it may look or come across (and despite not 'lacking rights'). And considering how people in the Meropide speak of not always wanting to return back to the 'overworld' following their sentence, I think that there's definitely quite a bit of truth in that. But again, stand there and look around for yourself.

Now to return to the original topic, but keeping the last one in mind as well, look at one other thing that I'm unsure how many have really kept an eye on: the massive effect Palais Mermonia's level has on the rest of the area (inside and outside of its walls). Have you ever walked through the city of Fontaine at any given time of day or night, north to south, east to west, clockwise or counter-clockwise circling through it; have you ever seen how it overshadows an immense part of the streets below it either entirely on its own (which to me signifies a very domineering presence), or together with those outer walls that surround the city? I know how I've spoken thoroughly with people before about how much I enjoy Fontaine and how dark it is in its storytelling, but despite how gorgeous this region with its water- and landscapes are; its city bears quite a heavy weight to me. I don't know who designed it, or ordered it to be constructed in this way, but nothing about the city itself truly, rationally, shows a healthy perspective versus its citizens.

Me: /continues on to ramble in tags because I'm me and I'm a nuisance with always more to say than I know how to coherently put into these posts.

the girl in the tower

Flora Reinhold never left the tower. The writers wouldn’t let her.

I’m not writing this essay to say Flora does not have agency. In fact, she actually has a lot of it. Layton offers her the choice to come with him; it is up to her whether to lay St. Mystere to rest; and she is never forced to come along on the adventures, it is always her decision. Even before she’s left St. Mystere and left behind being the Golden Apple, she’s around haunting the narrative -- it’s not as though she had no choice while being trapped in the tower.

The Rapunzel archetype tends to be imprisoned. Flora was not being forced to stay in the village. She could have physically left. It was emotional attachment and a sense of obligation that imprisons her, which can be just as much a force as a person. And, of course, Flora had to be there, for the sake of the plot. They frame Flora leaving the village as Layton giving her freedom, but she’s not free.

The tower was destroyed. She was supposed to no longer be the girl in the tower; there wasn’t even a tower for her to return to.

The thing about girls in towers is that their agency is constantly called into question by the people that built the towers and the others around them. Still, it was Rapunzel’s choice to let her hair down for the prince, and it was Flora’s choice to leave with Layton and Luke.

So who built the tower?

Bruno may have built St. Mystere’s tower, but the writers are the reason Flora was even in the tower in the first place. And even though they destroyed it, they never really let her leave.

Despite all the examples at the beginning of this that demonstrate Flora’s agency, Flora’s ability to fend for herself is constantly questioned by Layton and Luke -- the narrator and the protagonist.

This isn’t the main problem, however. It’s that the narrative proves them right for questioning it by kidnapping Flora. Not once, but twice. The writers acknowledge that Flora is abandoned, that it is wrong for them to abandon her just because they think she’s less capable.

But they won’t let her leave the tower they’ve built. Diabolical Box treats Flora’s rescue as a secondhand thought rather than a mission objective, but Unwound Future actively makes rescuing Flora the priority. She is stuck in the tower again, and so she must be saved.

You can take the girl from the tower, but you cannot take the tower from the girl. Flora is constrained by her role in the narratives the writers constructed. The adventures were designed for Layton and Luke, after all. They let her break free for a bit where it fits -- they need her on the train, they need her in Future London, they need her to foreshadow her own presence in the tower. They need her to have some freedom, but only as far as it goes to serve the plot. They need someone in the party for Don Paolo to imitate so he can get to Folsense; they need someone expendable for Clive to take.

Flora is the girl in the tower; she is made to be imprisoned. She was supposed to be free of it, but the writers never freed her from the tower. She will always be the Golden Apple, the Mysterious Girl, the Rapunzel looking for someone that will save her in the eyes of the story. Her purpose in the narrative is not as a third investigator to the Layton and Luke dynamic. Her purpose in the narrative of Diabolical Box and Unwound Future is just as it was in Curious Village; to be imprisoned and then set free by Layton and Luke.

She is never given a chance to exist beyond that.

never forget that colleis one of the few playable characters who have canonically Killed before and not just one person either itbwas multiple

IT JUST WAS SOOOO aughhhh it FELT like doctor who. maybe a bit too high of a budget still but its BETTER. it even had the nonsense science talk and the plot points that are awesome but fall apart if you look at them too hard. its perfect