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perpetualexistence · 2 months

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It Takes Three to Tango On a Train: An Alenoaheather Fake Dating AU Song Analysis

Yeah you read that right, I'm back with an Alenoaheather Fake Dating idea WOOO-

Again, coming from the most unlikely of places given that the last one came from a Veggietales song. But don't worry, this one isn't a Veggietales song.

It's a Thomas the Tank Engine instrumental remix that perfectly encapsulates Alenoaheather scheming in this specific AU.

Hear me out. I've got mental imagery for how their dance works.

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I'm not an expert on music theory or recognizing instruments, but I'll try my best with explaining my thought process. And if you do know things about music and want to correct me, please do.

The song as a whole is the theme of a sinister schemer slithering their way along. Which can basically describe the three of them at their worst, but there's more nuance within the song.

It starts with Noah. He's the steady bass throughline of the whole song. He's got the tambourine and the same three bass notes playing over and over again. Throughout the song he's unchanging and unyielding. He does the least amount of work relatively speaking, but still helps to move the song (and the scheming) forward by providing a steady rhythm.

Noah has his own 'dance' as he goes along. He's lazy at heart, but the rhythm is still encouraging him to move. He's nodding his head along to the steady three beats. He snaps each time the tambourine hits. He's standing in place because he refuses to move. The only movement coming out of him is nods and snaps.

Then comes Heather with the wind instrument at 0:15. She immediately comes slithering in to offer Noah the deal of an alliance. She's using a snake charmer's music because she knows it's something that would work on her. She recognizes like, and wants to snap at the opportunity to have him dance to her tune.

Heather's dance is a ballet. It's a dance she's known since she was young based on the canon of season one. It looks elegant and beautiful, and is one of the most difficult dances to learn. It takes a considerable amount of work to do well, and even more to make it look as effortless as Heather makes it. For Noah, she pirouettes inwards. She wants to draw him in, and knows she doesn't have to move too much in order to do it.

Noah's still unchanging in his tune, despite Heather's best efforts. But they're harmonizing, because this is a good deal for both of them.

Then along comes Alejandro with a rival wind instrument at 0:31. (I want to say a pan flute? Again, I can't recognize instruments by sound.) He's offering the same kind of deal as Heather, but in a slightly different flavor. Hence his instrument being in the same family as Heather's. He wants Noah dancing to the beat of his rhythm instead, but Noah remains unyielding.

Alejandro is still convinced that the deal is made, which leads to the introduction of the brass at 0:46. Now that Heather and Alejandro are convinced they have their own alliances with Noah, they can focus on going after each other. The brass is them fighting each other.

The two circle around each other. Not touching, because they know what the other is capable of. Heather continues her ballet. It's a solo act, and other people should be grateful that they can witness it. She uses the same manipulation tactics in every situation. She's not changing for anyone, either. She's performs the pas de chat, the step of the cat, as she moves. It allows her more distance to stalk her prey.

Alejandro's dance is cumbia (stop at 1:46). It's a dance where the dance partners spend more time apart than they do together. The focus is on the footwork, the machinations of planning. The hands are often on the hips or behind their back. The hips are swaying and showing off. It's a dance that allows Alejandro to preen himself while giving Heather a chance to do the same.

Meanwhile Noah is still snapping and nodding. He's outside of their circle, watching them size each other up. He knows that getting in the middle of their fight would be the death of him. So instead, he keeps an eye on where they're heading, and adjusts himself when they get too close or too far.

There's a five note musical sting that starts at 0:51. This represents the people who get caught in their machinations. It happens twice in rapid succession: first when it appears, then immediately after it gets subsumed and muted into the brass that is their fighting.

Anyone else who gets close to them, or who they set their sights on, has to deal with the combined threat they pose. When a person gets close to Noah, he doesn't outright attack them. Rather, he bares his teeth at them, daring them to come too close. His snapping turns to a subtle way for him to use his thumb to point the threat towards Heather and Alejandro to have them deal with it. He knows what he's sending them to, and it's not his problem.

When a contestant is caught in the middle of Alejandro and Heather's dance, they have to deal with whoever decides to approach them first. With Heather, she dances closer and closer to them. Until, suddenly, she performs a grand battement. She turns something elegant into a high kick directly into the face. It sends whoever she wants reeling, if not completely out. When she's done, she simply carries on back to circling with Alejandro.

With Alejandro, he switches from cumbia to merengue. He grabs his victim by the hands and starts twirling them around. He pulls them close to have them let their guard down. He makes them think they're the only one that he cares about. Then, once they trust him, he twirls them away never to be a bother again. He won't hesitate to knock them down with the sway of his hips if he feels it necessary.

Things switch up again at 1:16 with the introduction of strings and castanets. Because at this point, Alejandro and Heather have noticed that Noah has been outside of the circle this time, gaining from the fruits of their labor. So they start dancing around Noah. He's caught in the eye of their storm.

He's expecting them to immediately go for the kill, but neither do. They're dancing around him and they're watching. They are threatening to drown him out, and his instruments do go a bit quieter. But they continue. He keeps his steady pace of nodding and snapping.

He's been watching them, too. He knows he can't beat them in a fight. That doesn't mean he can't survive them. To anyone else, Heather and Alejandro would be a deadly duo. But he knows them now, as they know him.

He waits for the right moment as they circle around him. And then, he spots the gap between their circle. He rushes for it before it can close, and turns so that he never has his back to them. He's part of their circle now.

All the while, the musical sting is still playing. They're still eliminating others. And they're fully realizing how amazing they are together. They create a vortex of death for all who oppose them.

They take a step towards one another to tighten their circle. Then another. Each of them knows what the other two are capable of. They're all enjoying this dance, and all of them can tell. They will get rid of anyone else that gets in their way, but never each other. They don't want this dance to end, and want to get even close to each other.

They step closer and closer until they're almost touching. The music fades as they are eye to eye with one another. Just as Noah started the song, he finishes it off.

And the three start talking about what to do next.

#my brain really just went brrr on this one #fake alenoaheather au #fake dating alenoaheather #fake dating au #alenoaheather #td alenoaheather #total drama alejandro #total drama noah #total drama heather #td alejandro #td noah #td heather #td character analysis #character analysis #total drama au #total drama #alenoaheather fake dating au #song analysis

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shorthaltsjester · 13 days

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you're 100% correct, but at this point, it's pretty clear that laudna isn't going to take that initiative to get rid of delilah because she truly believes that giving into her and getting more power is the only way she can contribute to saving the world and imogen

so some form of outside intervention is truly required. i need imogen to confront her so bad - she's the only one laudna will listen to. and she's spiralling fast and i fear one of these days someone's gonna get killed because of it

i mean i definitely agree that it’s clear at this point that laudna isn’t going to take the initiative to get rid of delilah (or as is more relevant atp i think, stop actively listening to and acting on the claims made by delilah). i don’t think that’s in contest with anything i’ve said.

in terms of outside intervention, i really don’t know what can be done by the hells that hasn’t already been done short of something akin to chetney’s response to ashton re: if your focus at this point is yourself even when under the guise of For The Group, it’s probably best that you leave. i also don’t necessarily agree that imogen is the only one laudna would listen to given that she hasn’t been really listening to her thus far re: what she values in laudna and how she feels about delilah. i think right now laudna isn’t really listening to any of the hells, that’s what makes her spiralling so clearly a spiral and not just her doing a cost/benefit analysis of giving more power to the evil mage in her head in the effort to save the world.

like, i want to be clear that i say this with extreme empathy for laudna and that my insistence on an internal basis for any change of heart she has stems from that empathy. i am heavily leaning into the addiction interpretation of laudna because it’s one i’ve seen for months and it’s one that’s been echoed by marisha, so i feel pretty comfortable with analyzing her through that lens. and based on that lens, it’s essential that it’s laudna’s initiative. and it is complicated by the fact that there are times when she isn’t in full control, but that’s the same with addiction, i mean that’s one of the hardest parts of recovery. trying to find the balance between “this thing that i give myself over to ends up taking control and so there are some things that i might be able to forgive myself for” and “i can stop choosing to give myself over to it — though i have multiple reasons not to do so — and so there are some things i must bear responsibility for.”

so, i guess, Yes some form of outside intervention is required, but i think that outside intervention is likely to work best if it is not a person or people saying Hey This Is Bad, but rather for laudna’s intentions to amount to a situation so catastrophic that she cannot deny the responsibility that seems so simple to shed in her circumstances with delilah. i agree that she’s spiralling fast and that someone might die because of it, but i think it seems increasingly likely that those kinds of stakes are the only ones that will awaken laudna to the reality of her power to change the situation she’s in.

#anonymous #asks #critical role #cr3 #laudna #cr spoilers

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shakesqueers13 · 6 months

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Hi there!

This might seem odd, but I wanted to ask something as a fellow Shakespeare fan. It’s more on my behalf, truly.

Next year I will be going to a school in England (don’t know which yet) to focus on acting, specifically classical acting if I can. I love Shakespeare and classical works immensely, and I would just love to dedicate my life to it.

Not to reveal myself, haha, but I’m only 18 years old. While I love Shakespeare, and I think I can generally understand what one monologue says, it does take me multiple readings of the text to understand the plot and even longer to analyze the text within the entirety. It makes me feel kind of stupid, because so many other Shakespeare fans seem to be able to pull this texts out, with great analysis (yourself included) and for me, it takes an embarrassing amount of time.

I have an opportunity to maybe direct a show, and I’m stuck between Richard III and Cymbeline, but fear I’m too dumb to understand the text properly.

I know this is probably just my insecurity, but the reason I wished to ask at all is to wonder if that’s just me? Do other Shakespeare fans struggle to get it, and have to work at it? Even when I watch productions, I have to really really focus to understand each bit or I get lost (though watching is easier to comprehend)

Perhaps I’m just not intelligent enough to get it quicker, and not as a dig but a reality. Regardless, I love the work and I strive to understand it though I fail.

Hope this isn’t too insecure/pick me!! Just thought it was worth the ask. Thanks for keeping the stories alive :)

Hi!

It’s funny you sent in this ask because just last night I was thinking I should make a post about how there’s absolutely no shame in struggling to understand Shakespeare. I think it’s one of those things where every Shakespeare student secretly thinks they’re the worst at understanding/reading Shakespeare, but that’s totally not true. Everybody struggles, myself included. Shakespeare wrote in such an elevated level of voice that not even most Elizabethan citizens would’ve been able to understand a lot of what he said when they were watching his plays — he was making up words left and right.

I think everyone has to read the text multiple times to grasp the full meaning, and if they don’t, they’re probably missing out on a lot of important stuff. People wouldn’t still be getting PhD’s and publishing research about Shakespeare if we already knew exactly what he meant by everything he wrote.

I definitely struggle to understand Shakespeare a lot of the time. I’m dyslexic so reading the words off the page can be really difficult for me - I almost never read any Shakespeare for the first time off the page, I always try to watch a version while I read. Some other practical tips are to use the OED (Oxford English dictionary) to look up words from the year the play was published because it tells you what archaic words meant at the time. You can also just Google passages you don’t understand and often an explanation will come up. Finally, if you can afford an annotated edition of the complete works, like the Norton edition or the Folger editions, that will be very helpful as well.

I would also caution you if you’re getting the majority of your Shakespeare information from tumblr because a lot of people on tumblr sadly post misinformation, or theories with no textual support. It’s unfortunate but I see it happening a lot with Hamlet. If someone posts something that throws you off and doesn’t seem quite right, either ignore it or triple check it. You can use Google Scholar to find reliable articles—just type in Google Scholar and search articles from there with whatever subject you want, like “Ophelia’s death” or “Shakespeare’s late romances.”

Also, from your ask I’m guessing you’re still in high school? Unfortunately it’s quite hard to learn a lot about Shakespeare without taking specific, focused classes in university. My knowledge and love of Shakespeare grew about 1000% my first semester in college when one of my professors taught Richard III and I actually got the opportunity to study with a professional. The thing is, there’s really no substitute for studying with a professor who you can ask questions and who can explain exactly what they mean. The more you study Shakespeare, the more sense things will start to make.

All in all, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Just take the texts line by line and work away at them until it makes sense. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to learn this stuff while you’re still in high school or about to start college. Watching the plays while you read will be your best asset.

Lmk if you have any more questions. Good luck!

#shakespeare #ask #william shakespeare #academia

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emblazons · 1 year

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I've thought about this a couple of times already, but i wanted to see your opinion on it; do you think Max is going to wake up early into the season or will it happen in like.... a climax moment in the later episodes? Because it feels like they'd want it to happen in the later episodes bc what is the point of putting her in a coma, right? But i think it could feel jarring if she stays in a coma for the majority of her screentime, so not sure how they are gonna do that especially if there is some sort of a time skip. I wonder if they will reduce her screentime and mostly focus on Max through Lucas and El's dedication to save her, instead of focusing on Max's POV/character? It could also align with what the duffers said about returning to the OG characters (the boys and El). Like. That sounds like Max will stay in a coma for a while to me while we watch El and Lucas trying to save her instead.

Honestly—and I’m gonna be transparent with you in saying that this isn’t based on any deeply researched fact or analysis, because that’s not really where my focus has been for most of my rewatches—I personally think Max will probably be in a coma for a solid portion of the season, but…we might get more scenes with her as we learn what exactly Henry does to the people whose essence he absorbs…since we already know they aren’t “gone,” just “in here” the way One tells us they are.

Even if Max isn’t out of her coma, her consciousness has to be somewhere—probably something similar to what happens when people have vecna visions x a million, because it’s all consuming and (at this point at least) unbreakable without learning the mechanism for recovering people from Henry/One/Vecna?

It is canonically possible to ‘break into’ Henry’s mind through a possession or “taking” (if you want to call it that) already though, considering Will managed a bit of it when Henry was in his mind (while still alive physically)…and we also get him asking how Max “got into his head” when she somehow leaves the vision he is terrorizing her with re:Billy to head into his mindspace.

At least to me, this means it’s (perhaps) entirely possible for Max to be aware somewhere with some aspect of agency and consciousness (given she, unlike the others he took, is still physically alive) despite being in a coma in the physical world….which means we might still get her perspective.

Learning how to “free” Max might take a while for our characters, which means Max’s body will in fact be in that coma for a while—but that doesn’t mean we won’t have interactions with Max (or see Sadie) for the majority of the season. Even if we follow her struggle to understand Henry from whatever space she occupies alongside all the others he’s taken before, we might see a fair amount of her…especially since The Duffers love taking multiple (seemingly disparate) storylines and meshing them to a specific end…in this case, Max’s soul returning (however that is accomplished) to her body.

Outside the universe of stranger things though…I also don’t think The Duffers are foolish enough to spend an entire season relegating someone who is easily one of their most objectively gifted actors (a woman casted in an Aronofsky film no less) to lying in a bed the majority of the season, even if it doesn’t come about in the most linear way. Max’s internal perspective as someone who has worked alongside the party and El for three seasons now trying to sort through Vecna “from the inside” is also an insanely unique opportunity for a writer imo, and would be a waste to throw out to just leave her in a lifeless coma until she’s saved.

But again—that’s not analysis, just me wondering (and maybe a little hoping) aloud. Still, thanks for the ask!

#if they have Sadie laying there lifeless no acting half the season I’ll riot is what I’m actually saying with this lmao #she’s too talented to do that to fr #but anyway!#max mayfield #vecna #henry creel #st s5 #stranger things #asks

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solarpunkpresentspodcast · 6 months

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Fantasy, feminism, and philosophy

Recently, I picked up two novels published in the late 1980s by CJ Cherryh. I’ve been avoiding reading books since I finished my dissertation, as the act of opening a physical book seems a little too reminiscent of work, no matter the content - I’ve been enjoying audiobooks, but find it more difficult to listen to fiction than non-fiction, and so my consumption of published material has been skewed one way for several years.

I decided to break that cycle by returning to one of my pre-teen loves, which I read voraciously: high fantasy, the kind of novels with swords and sorcery right there on the cover, in all their pulpy ‘80s glory. I am a fast reader and can finish a ~250-page novel in an evening, given few interruptions, so long as I am hooked. I was looking for that hook.

I found it! And one other book by the same author, which I thought was high fantasy, but turns out to have a science-fiction, world-hopping backdrop. But I also am now armed with a lot more knowledge of feminist theory and the rise of women’s and feminist fiction* (well, science fiction) during the ‘70s and ‘80s, and so I found myself reading with an eye to the representation of women and a constant feminist narrative analysis going in the back of my brain (don’t be sorry; it was rad as hell). It takes a lot more for me to be satisfied with a narrative these days, and it’s not necessarily any sort of literary snobbery on my part, although I do consider myself to have higher standards now. I will read the pulpiest genre fic that I can find, but I will only truly recommend it if I find something redeeming in it - and not just plot and characters. I’m looking for a specific kind of feminist philosophy in the narrative.

Seems like a lot to ask from genre fiction, right? But to me (and to scholars in the entire discipline of English literature going back centuries), stories aren’t just stories: they’re vehicles embodying cultural attitudes and messages about the way the world works. Even a hastily-written piece of flash fiction will still contain the author’s biases and worldview in it, from the characters, the plot, and down to the words they choose to use (or avoid). Science fiction are stories (often) told in the future, but they are actually about present issues; fantasy are likewise stories (often) told in the past, but they reflect the author’s (and audience’s) view of and struggles within the present.**

And so I couldn’t help thinking, as I was reading, about my thesis’s second chapter, which was all about gender and post-apocalyptic science fiction during feminism’s second wave, because I think there’s a fair amount of those conclusions which are cross-applicable to fantasy from the same period.*** Not to put too fine a point on it, but post-apocalyptic sf is itself a fantastical narrative, and though it’s not “fantasy” as we think of the genre, it certainly draws from some of the same imaginative sources.

Some background

I’m gonna try to keep this brief, not least because others have written on it better and more comprehensively. In 17th century Europe, the Western scientific enterprise as we know it today was coalescing, and unfortunately for all subsequent practitioners of science, the values of 17th century European cismales were hard-coded into the philosophy underpinning the scientific worldview. Hence fun things like scientific racism, eugenics, devaluing animals and nature, and sexism, which keeps cropping up throughout the subsequent centuries, and is also what I’m going to focus on now.

You know what else was happening in 17th century Europe? Witch hunts. I’ll spare you a history lesson about it but in short, that’s the background cultural context of what was going on at the time. The milieu of misogyny, you might say. Carolyn Merchant, who wrote a pretty foundational ecofeminist text tracing this history, points to the writings of Francis Bacon as instrumental in advocating for “the control of nature for human benefit” in which he “used the language of nature as female to articulate an experimental philosophy that would extract nature's secrets.” (ENVIRONMENTALISM: FROM THE CONTROL OF NATURE TO PARTNERSHIP, 4).

Merchant argues that scientific discourse about nature codified the gender of nature as a female to be exploited, inviting abusive interrogation much in the same way as a torture victim on trial for witchcraft; her link between women’s persecution and the ramping-up of the exploitation of nature is echoed by socialist ecofeminists such as philosopher Val Plumwood in articulating the fundamentally misogynist underpinnings of a rationalist economics system that glorifies a separation of (masculine) intellectual reason from denigrated (feminine) bodily situatedness. Thus developed a scientific ethic that saw no problem with manipulation and use of the earth to satisfy scientific curiosity and capitalist gain within a patriarchal system of society.

Still with me? The female-nature connection in western culture is actually a lot older than 17th century, but before the industrial revolution there was emphasis on the mystery and power of nature and the life-giving capacity of women, which inspired respect or, at least, fond feelings for a “Mother Nature”. This crops up a lot in a lot of fantasy narratives, by the way, since most of them are set in a pre-industrialized past and also in some post-apocalyptic sf that assumes a catastrophe of some sort will set humanity back a millennia or two and with it will come this older worldview. Merchant argues that this older attitude served as a “cultural constraint” on the actions of human beings, since “[o]ne does not readily slay a mother, dig into her entrails for gold or mutilate her body” (Death 3). The advent of the industrial era and of scientific inquiry was made possible not just by advances in technology but in a philosophical shift in attitude to view feminine nature as inviting—and deserving—of violation by scientific and technological enterprises - which were, of course, male-coded.

Feminist critiques of (old) feminist fantasies

These two different attitudes - let’s call them the science fiction (post-17th century) and fantasy (pre-17th century) attitudes - aren’t as different as they might seem at first glance. Both adhere to an essentialist logic that is hierarchical, valuing “masculine civilization/culture” as inherently superior to “feminine nature.” I’m just going to mostly quote my thesis in the next two paragraphs here:

Essentialism understands “the feminine” as a repository of unchanging truths, determining substances, and ground of being, quite literally: it holds the historical European cultural conflation of women and nature as truth, and radical feminist political thought (and many feminist utopian fantasies) of the 1970s leaned into this binary, but flipped the moral hierarchy. Publications such as Mary Daly’s Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism (1978) and Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance (1979), for example, embraced the identification of non-human nature and the feminine, celebrating the power of chthonic forces, the moon, fertility, and historical goddess worship. Radical, goddess, and other essentialist feminisms drew on deep ecology, following the same binary logic as Francis Bacon did, but reversing the moral weighting, holding the “male” forces of civilization, culture, and science as bad, or at least incredibly sus, given their collaboration with/outright endorsement of the systematic oppression/torture of women and the earth, if not the very reason for women’s suffering. Ciswomen’s bodies, traditionally the reason for their exclusion from cismale-only spiritual and intellectual spheres, were instead celebrated by some feminists as the ground of human life and part of the mystery of creation itself. ***

Feminist community based on an essentialist notion of cisfemale experience was and is a fantasy that, in addition to being violently exclusionary to trans and genderqueer persons and invested in creating and maintaining a distance between ciswomen and all others, at base replicates the same power structures that fuel patriarchal ideology, only with the values reversed. There is still a hierarchy in place, a flipped version of the fantasy attitude: there is the same conflation of women with nature and its consequent essentialist logic. Female empowerment is crucial to the realization of women’s full humanity, but its celebration at the expense of others leads directly to an ideology of exclusion, perpetuating the structures of oppression that make it necessary for female empowerment in the first place.

For example, some questions that bubble up when I encounter certain stories ask things like, Is this lady knight actually a strong female character, or a vehicle for a male power fantasy with a ciswoman subbed in and nothing else changed? Is this story about a witch/sorceress/magick-user main character really compelling, or is it subject to tropes from both the science fiction and fantasy attitudes, so she is either an evil conniving force to be subjugated (or romanced, depending on flavour) or a mystical feminine cipher in touch with the natural world…. or both? Both happens a lot.

In my thesis, I have a whole paragraph following those paragraphs on essentialism to disclaim that I’m not dissing the enormous contributions of many writers to fantasy whose works completely upended the hierarchical gender binary, boldly challenged gender roles, and stomped all around a genre that up until the ‘70s was almost exclusively made up of male writers. I’m convinced that we’re politically and socioculturally in those authors’ debt! I’m just skeptical of the fantasy genre because of the abovementioned history of the fantasy attitude. In my view, it takes an author who has an attitude (fantasy OR science fiction) that is consciously disloyal to its own roots in essentialist, sexist nonsense to write a narrative that isn’t fundamentally regressive.

Moar, tho…

It’s nice to fantasize about a world where the people whose gender that we identify with are pedestalized, taken care of, comforted, respected, given the benefit of the doubt, empowered, etc. Especially in this day and age when the demands of neoliberalism and late-stage capitalism pile up into an exhausting, overwhelming, threatening force against which it feels impossible to stand alone. Escaping into a world where powerful women are actually respected and can make tangible change in the world (through politics, or magic, or swinging a big sword around) is pretty great.

But it’s not wrong to demand more of our narratives. It’s not wrong to be critical of something that you love (I often joke that it’s the things that I love most that get the most harsh criticism). It’s not wrong to ask that the stories that I read articulate a non-binary, non-hierarchical society that people of all genders can move freely in, instead of being expected to act a certain way (and punished if they don’t perfectly conform).***** Flipping the gender hierarchy just isn’t enough anymore and isn’t even all that feminist, in the end.

In any case, I can highly recommend the work of CJ Cherryh; I think even thirty-five-odd years on, it still holds up because of the way she writes her characters, regardless of gender or age, as human beings and not essentialist tropes. I’m not surprised she won the Hugo, multiple times. She seems to have an underlying philosophy that values humans for who they are, not who they are supposed to be dependent on their predetermined roles in society.

What are some fantasy novels you would recommend? I’m not a huge short-story reader, and I’m a fan of wordplay and have spent the last eight years or so thinking about novels written by and for people living in the 1950s-80s. I need some good contemporary stuff! Or perhaps there are classics I am missing out on? Let me know in the comments!

PS: I’m indebted to the works of Donna Haraway, Celia Åsberg, Myra Hird, Helen Merrick, Élisabeth Vonarburg, Joanna Russ, Carolyn Merchant, Lisa Hogeland, and way too many others to list for influencing the direction of my ruminations here. Any issues are a result of my taking research on historical Canadian SF and bending it to apply to fantasy. ___

*They aren’t the same. It’s akin to assuming all Jewish people are Zionists. One is an identity category, the other a political one.

**Caveat: I’m not saying authors of sff sit down and are like “ah yes what issue griefing me right now am i going to put into this book” - it’s usually a subconscious thing. Sometimes authors do that! But it’s rare.

***Again, they aren’t the same: I’m not a scholar of fantasy, merely an observant fan who has a bit of a scholarly background in another genre literature.

**** This attitude is alive and well today in the politics of trans-exclusive radical feminists (TERFs), a subgroup of radical feminists whose reification of biological essentialism leads them to deny trans peoples’ identities. Fuck TERFs. Their philosophical worldview is warped.

******It’s also not wrong to love something even though it’s Problematic (tm), or just want to turn your brain off with a fluffy read. So long as you’re self-aware.

#feminism #philosophy #writing #worldview #gender #hierarchy

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shadowmaat · 4 months

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A llama for drama

I've been thinking about why I tend to get really interested in drama/scandals that have nothing at all to do with me.

Part of it is, of course, escapism. The world is so full of horrors right now that being able to focus on something less dire but still fully dramatic is, I guess, a bit of a relief. "Haha, the world is on fire, but this tiktokker is trying to sue people for hurting her feelings!"

I think another part of it is just that controversies sometimes provide a fascinating glimpse into the lives of other people and how organizations operate. I'll never have a book eligible for a Hugo, but reading about the wild amounts of incompetence and failures at the most basic levels from the award admins highlights some pretty serious issues with the way they operate.

It can also be a little reassuring. My life is nowhere near what I hoped it'd be, but at least I can say that I never tried to discredit a professional safety engineer by implying he was a pervert for having examples of his work in his home. I never submitted official documentation full of personal insults, speculation, and irrelevant material. And I never ridiculed anyone or accused them of not understanding "basic English" just because they wanted clarification from me about a questionable judgement I made.

That said, the "larger" effects can be interesting, too. The Hugo Awards have been rife with controversy for years and have made some pretty idiotic choices (Raytheon as a sponsor? Really?), but the Chengdu situation is calling into question the very validity of the selection process. The deeper you dig into how the thing is organized, the more WTF you find. Will this be what finally breaks the Hugos in half and sinks their ship? Probably not, but I know a lot of people who will no longer take them seriously. Not without a lot of overhaul and some honest Q&A.

The Lauren the Mortician thing is more of a gift that keeps on giving. LOL! One aspect is the weaponization of frivolous copyright claims. That's a known and ongoing problem in the modern world, but it's clear this is something Lauren does whenever anyone criticizes her, but now it's very likely to backfire on her because she's decided to bring her grievances to the attention of the court.

Another aspect is how she and her lawyer SWATted one of the people she's trying to sue. That is every bit as horrifying as you think it is. I think they thought they could fly it under the radar except their victim paid to have the transcripts made available, so the malice is pretty clear.

Then there's the lawyer. I assume that she does, in fact, hold an actual degree that allows her to practice law, but boy howdy does it strip away the idea that you need to be smart to be a lawyer. She tries to use "The Law" as a shield, but it's clear she has no idea how the laws she's trying to weaponize actually work. A judge actually had to explain it to her. She also doesn't use a spellcheck on legally submitted documents, makes vague accusations rather than providing concrete examples, and writes Cease & Desist letters so massively unprofessional (and badly spelled) that other lawyers are left clutching their heads and laughing in horror.

And, well, I could go on and on about every piece of trash in this particular dumpster fire, but we'd be here all day and I have better things to do. lol! Grab some popcorn and look it up yourself. For legal analysis I recommend Runcle of the Bailey, a Canadian lawyer who's been following this out of morbid fascination (thanks for pointing me to him, bluemaskedkarma).

Oddly enough the "Emmy snub" drama that's cropped up isn't as interesting to me. Probably because, unlike the Hugos, which at least had a smidge of respectability, the Emmies are more widely known to be corrupt and meaningless.

Anyway, I have a feeling we're never going to get any real answers from the Hugo admins, so unless someone actually speaks up and admits to wrongdoing I think they're just gonna try and wait this one out and plan for the next big shindig.

Lauren's case is still evolving. If no one talks any sense into her (if that's even possible) then there's a good chance this will not only go to court, but do so in California, which has anti-SLAPP laws so aggressive there may be nothing left of her when it's over. We can only hope.

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kusaka6e · 2 years

Text

TUTOR

two | three | four

chapter list

———

you'd been at the library for about an hour, doing homework for your other classes while you waited for 4:30 to hit.

someone dramatically sitting in the chair across from you makes you jump, pulling one of your earbuds out.

baji is sitting in front of you, slamming a notebook down onto the table.

"did you have to make such an entrance?"

"didn’t wanna be late.”

"i didn't know you cared about being on time."

he scoffs at your comment, pulling out a pencil.

"what are you doing in chem right now?"

"i have no fucking clue." he replies blankly

you choke back a laugh at the deadpan look on his face, knowing he's being completely serious.

"you have any notes to look at?" he shakes his head, making you roll your eyes.

"no wonder you're failing, you don't have anything to study with."

"my teacher talks too fast for me to write anything down! and he just talks to us like we're stupid if we ask questions." he crossed his arms over his chest, angrily furrowing his eyebrows.

"i can look in my dorm and see if i still have my notes from last semester, you can have them if i do."

"really?"

"i've already taken all the chemistry classes i need for my major, it's not like i have any use for them."

"so what happens until you find them?"

"you can't think of one thing your teacher talked about? or have any exam you've already taken, or something?"

he clicks a few times on his laptop, face scrunching with concentration as he scrolls.

"here's this." he turns the screen towards you, a triumphant smile on his face. a '35/100' is in large numbers next to the assignment name.

"damn. looks like i've got my work cut out for me."

"shut up!"

he searches through his surprisingly organized notebook, pulling out a few sheets of paper from a divider.

"this is the written work."

"give me a second." you look over the problems, analyzing his work and where he went wrong. his handwriting was a little wild, but to your surprise he was pretty detailed in writing out his calculations, which made it easier for you to explain his errors.

"so, you got all the numbers right on these but you have to mind your sig figs."

"what the fuck is a sig fig?"

"significant figures. in chemistry calculations, you have to be really accurate. sig figs are like a set of rules to keep numbers accurate."

"how is that any different from just using a calculator?"

you flip to an empty page in his notebook, making a small title to write about significant figures.

he watches as you scribble down the notes, your eyebrows creeping together with focus.

why is my chest tingling ?

ew this is weird

"so, every time you do a calculation you have to follow these rules with your answer."

"so, even though this is what the calculator says, that's not the whole answer."

"right, it starts with two zeros and those don't count."

it takes about a half an hour, but he's eventually able to get through a set of problems without error.

"good job."

"i did it! i'm the best chemistry student the world has ever seen!" he dramatically flexed his arms, proudly grinning

"you sure about that?"

"of course i am."

"okay, show me how to do dimensional analysis." his face pales, smile dropping. you let out a chuckle, turning to a fresh page in the notebook

"you couldn't just let me have my moment?"

"not until you don't need my help anymore."

two hours pass, and you've covered a good amount of information. you could tell as hard as he was trying, baji was quickly losing focus.

"okay, let's call it a night."

"finally." he breathed out, tossing his pencil on the table.

"damn, i didn't know you were that excited to get away from me."

"if you come near me with any more chemistry stuff right now, i might punch you."

"i'd like to see you try." you raise a brow, making him smirk.

"you’re a lot more dense than i thought, but i think you’ll be able to pass. the fact that you actually care so much helps.”

"don't call me dense, i don't know what it means." you burst out into laughter, making him roll his eyes before he lets out a chuckle.

"just because im in toman doesn't mean i don't care about school. we're all humans too, we don't eat sleep and breathe fighting."

"i never said you guys aren't human. but it's nice that you care about your grades."

"well don't make me out to be some softie!"

"i'll see you later baji." you roll your eyes, waving as you head for your dorm.

you open the door, hanging your keys on the wall hook.

"how was tutoring?"

you whirl around, seeing emma, draken, and mikey sitting on your floor with uno cards in their hands.

"how the hell did you guys get in here?!"

"picked the lock." mikey grinned

"you’re all insane."

"i'm surprised you both made it out alive." emma giggled

"he’s even dumber than i thought, but he’ll be fine.”

“baji might seem like an idiot, but he’ll surprise you.” draken doesn't look up from placing down a draw four, making mikey's jaw drop.

"kenny! this is betrayal!"

"you hit me with draw fours three times in a row last round, get over it."

you grin at their banter, mikey dramatically whining about draken breaking his heart.

"deal me in next round, i'll destroy you losers."

"you're on." emma grins, grabbing the stack of cards.

as the next round begins and you're looking over your cards, your phone buzzes.

unknown

today, 7:32 pm

hey

can we meet agn tmw

hey baji

more questions already?

i'm still at the lirbary

libary

LIBRARY

i was looking at the notes u rote and i got lost

same time tomorrow

#tokyo rev x reader #tokyo rev #tokyo rev fluff #mikey tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers headcanons #tokyo rev x y/n #baji fanfic #baji fic #baji x reader #keisuke baji #baji keisuke #baji

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shitpostingkats · 2 years

Note

Hi! I recently found your blog, and I just wanted to say that I adore your commentary on all things Yu-Gi-Oh. So much. Words cannot express it. Partly because your insights and takes are just so good and also partly because it’s so incredibly refreshing to see someone who has good things to say in this fandom instead of focusing only on negatives and/or fighting about so many simplistic things.

(It’s also great to see that I’m not the only one borderline obsessed with/constantly analyzing these card game shows and their characters, but that’s an entirely different subject…)

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for all the wonderful commentary, and keep up the great work! You’re legit the only reason I even came back to this hellsite after over almost two years away from it, after accidentally stumbling across one of your posts through Google. Seriously. I can’t stand Tumblr, but I might just start a YGO blog here for the sole sake of spam-hearting/reblogging your posts.

PS: And also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how fricking refreshing it is to find someone who actually gets the characters. So thank you so much for that, too. Like, I mean, specifically Jaden/Judai and Yusei. Seriously, the amount of time I’ve gone on and on about how both these boys are actually great and valid and not at all like what some parts of this fandom would have you think only to try to be shut down with a dime-a-dozen, repetitive excuse that I’ve outargued countless times and yet — sorry, it’s just… it’s great to see that someone actually more or less see where I’m coming from. I’ll stop there, because if I start on a rant about how and why both Judai/Jaden and Yusei are surprisingly really deep characters I’ll be here forever. I would very, very much love to read more of your essays on these blorbos, but, of course, no rush.

Oh my gosh thank you so much for the kind words! ❤️

It legitimately means to world to me to see people enjoy and resonate with my funny little musings. While I started this blog as a place to just record/organize my hyperfixation essay nonsense, a nonzero part of it was to put my thoughts out there and hope it reached an audience other than my non-yugioh obsessed friends who lovingly put up with me spamming our discord with no context analysis.

One of my fondest loves of the internet is picking apart and examining stories that maybe weren't intended to looked with such scrutiny. Especially ones that get a bed rap for being "bad writing" or "dumb". Flawless cut diamonds, while pretty, aren't the only gemstones with facets.

I also made this blog as a place where I can wax poetic bullshit to my hearts content.

But yeah, the internet can be a pretty rancid place, and I really get bummed out seeing such a strong focus on beating down stories rather than lifting them up. I wanted my blog to be a safe place to just discuss anything and apply depth and positivity to whatever took my fancy. And what is absolutely rotting my brain right now is these silly card game boys. Hearing that other people not only read, but enjoy my bizarre combo of pretentious lit. student, heart-of-gold dumb-of-ass, and astonishingly attention-deficient, makes me know I'm doing the right thing, and that other people need that kind of space too.

(I swear, I didn't mean to write this entire response without mentioning the blorbos of the hour themselves. Rest assured, I will be posting a ton more thoughts on them, and your ask has only bolstered my resolve to do so. They are. So good. Always feel free to barge into my house and just start infodumping about the yugioh kiddos. I care them. And I care that other people care them. <3)

#asks #ask response #yugioh #ygo #yusei fudo #jaden yuki #pinned post #I hope you don't mind me using this as an intro to my blog. It just tapped into everything I want people to know about me when they arrive

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flosalatus · 1 year

Note

❌, 🌱 , 🔮

@knaivcs | Prompts I'd Like to Recive: Headcanons

❌ ] is there something your muse struggles with that they might never overcome? what is it? why do they have so much trouble with it?

It's hard to pin down the exact words because its a big cocktail of things that all bleed into eachother. His self worth, guilt, the desire to stick to the morals he's chosen, they all blend together and just make life a Struggle:tm:

I think if I had to narrow it down for this ask...the guilt. It's almost entirely self-imposed but he carries it none the less. Guilt for every life he fails to save or protect, taking every confrontation on his own shoulders because this or that town only ended up in trouble becuase he was there.

And he struggles so much with it because even if its something that can;t be helped, even if the blame more logically should be put on the people chasing after him, rather than his own sheer existance, he can't bring himself to see it that way.

All he knows is that danger and trouble follow him, people get involved, get hurt, and the easiest way to avoid that is not to let people near him.

So clearly, if he's the catalyst, it's all his fault, right?

🌱 ] what themes are relevant to your muse?

Oh man the amount of meta-analysis posts ive seen abt this subject on twitter.

Personally I think...I wanna narrow it down to/focus on the themes of...like...morality, choice, finding good in hopelessness, because those are what I personally see and enjoy most in Vash. There's so many, in the whole show, manga, just every medium of Trigun as a whole let alone what Vash represents, but for me?

Yeah, I think the theme of choices and morality, and moral choices, is a big one that I like to think abotu and play around with. Becuase Vash isn't 100% good and kind by sheer nature, he activly makes the choice to be how he is.

Sure it's made a little easier maybe by the fact he's an absolute sweetheart, but he's not incapable of violence. Of negitive emotions, fear and anger, lashing out. He just has a tight reign on it and choses not to. He choses to smile and let it all roll off his shoulders. Choses to be kind in the face of unending cruelty.

He chose his moral path, and sometimes he has to fight so viciously to hold onto it. He fights tooth and nail almost constantly to cling to the good in humanity, when the whole plant seems to be doing it's best to try and prove him wrong.

And that's just. Really fun and interesting to me.

🔮 ] what is your muse’s relationship with religion and spirituality? were they raised in a certain religion? have they stuck with the same set of spiritual beliefs all their life, or have they changed over time? are they settled in their spirituality now?

Just from the sheer fact that Trigun exists half way over the edge of the "being bible fanfic" cliff I wanna say he's been exposed to a decent level of christianity, but personally lands somewhere between "beleives but doesn't practice any faith" and "if god exists he hates me"

Okay but in all seriousness. Vash I think....he doesn't hate the idea of a higher being, and he's ABSOLUTELY never going to be the type of dismiss or look down on another persons religion, but he's just kind of...in a religious limbo, I guess.

I feel like, espcially after meeting Wolfwood (if we take as an example, a Wolfwood who is more religious...if dubiously)Vash has maybe sat down once or twice and tried to pray, if he's felt desperate enough, curious enough. He probbaly asked WW to teach him more about religion, too, since he probbaly got a barebones education thus far if that.

He's definitly not a practicing christian/catholic, doesn;t activly seek out god or let religion influence his life and decisions. But he can understand and even sometimes feel for himself the comofrt those kinds of people get from having a figure like God to take comfort or look for help in.

#id like you to know this exhausted my brain /pos #ʚ ɞ HC

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temporoom · 3 years

Text

Analysis of VnC’s main characters clothes’ symbolic

Someone asked me some time ago to make an analysis of VnC’s clothes, and given such a vague task, I replied that I wouldn’t. Yet here I am, a few weeks, tons of documents checked one after another, and a few notes in my schoolbooks corners later, to give you the results of my analysis. Because there is indeed something to say about VnC’s outfits, and given that someone asked me to do it, I will be the one to talk about it with you all. Even if there are probably a good amount of people more capable than me who could have done it.

To start, I want to mention that I will deliberately ignore all historical aspects of the clothing to solely focus on their symbolic. The reason for that choice is due to the lack of historical accuracy in Mochizuki Jun’s work, so instead of trying to pull my hair searching for garments that could vaguely fit what is drawn in the manga, I will simply ignore it altogether. Also because I am not an historian, so I would probably make more mistake than raise points if I ever tried to show the differences. (I want to mention that I did try to search for historical accuracy... hence why I decided I wouldn’t anymore)

Secondly, this post will be about the main four characters (Vanitas, Noé, Dominique, and Jeanne) and their “main” outfit. Any variations, or alternate outfits won’t be analyzed here, but they can be mentioned if needed.

Finally, this post will contain spoilers for the manga up to whapter 53, if you are not up to date, I would advise you to leave this post aside and take it back once you are. If you are, or if you don’t mind being spoiled, then go ahead.

Now, buckle up, because it’s going to be a long ride.

Before we start, here are a few things to note about how those analysis will be structured, as well as some things to remember when reading them:

Introduction: Just a few lines to remind you of some of the character’s traits which could influence this analysis, as well as give you a taste of what I will explain.

Base color: Forget about color theory here, the signification of colors varies wildly from cultures to peoples. Here, in MochiJun’s works, they symbolize an affiliation to a group.

Black and White: Given this story is drawn in black and white, those hues are important to effectively represent a character in this format. In The Case Study of Vanitas, we add another layer to it by adding a symbolic using the Yin and the Yang, a Chinese concept which literally translates to the “dark” and the “light” and serves to demonstrates how two contraries cannot exist without the other (as well as to explain various things about daily life). I will make a clear distinction between “opposing” and “completing” when it comes to those.

Outfit’s Cut: The length of this part will vary from a character to another, it can either reflects their personalities, or references another thing entirely.

Some Details: Optional and depending on characters, it’s usually about small accessories.

Conclusion: A few words to end the character’s clothes analysis and summarizes everything I explained during it.

Now that you have the basis to start this post, let’s get right into it.

Vanitas

Vanitas is an interesting case since his outfit by itself, and amongst all other characters, puts into light his true character. For someone as mysterious and as secret as him, his look actually gives out a lot about who he truly is. Most of what Jun Mochizuki gave out is presented on a practical standpoint, but I assure you, there is plenty of symbolic behind it.

First, his color palette: blues and black. As expected, the blue is here to represent his affiliation to the Blue Moon Clan and his role as the heir of the Vampire of the Blue Moon’s name and powers. You can also note that he shares his base color with Luna and entire palette with Mikhail.

As for the black: Vanitas represents the Yin, which, funnily enough, is associated with concepts that… overall describes him very well (I will only write here the ones that are worth noting): moon, earth, winter, night, what retracts, the woman, the commoner, mourning, the student, silence, and receiving. I put in bold the obvious, and the rest is going to be explained through this analysis.

If you remember what I explained about what the Yin and Yang are, then you certainly understood why Noé’s color palette works so well with Vanitas: he is the direct completion of his hues (dark coat over white shirt, white coat over black shirt), which makes of Noé Vanitas’ Yang. But also with Jeanne, not as his completion but as his opposite this time (since she doesn’t have black in her outfit). Luna also served as a form of Yang to him by fitting the archetype of the teacher to his student, though they are most certainly more of the Yin type as well.

Now, onto the cut of his outfit, there are two main points about Vanitas’ outfit and one more minor one: the two main ones are about how it directs your eyes and how it protects him from the cold, and the minor one is about how weirdly feminine it is. Because yes, there is some kind of logic behind the outrageous shape of his coat, the gloves with integrated nails, the piercings and the many glorious bows, beyond being extra.

When you see Vanitas’ outfit, your eyes are immediately drawn to one part of his outfit or another: whether it is the kimono sleeves or the balloon shape of his coat, or his long dark gloves with what seems to be claws, or maybe the large bows on either his hips or his chest, or even the amazing jewelry to his ears… The fact is: you are not looking at him in the end, but at his accessories. That is of course on purpose, and since Vanitas is a contradictory being, he will of course make you look at him, so you don’t actually look at him. You will see his coat without seeing the weapons under it, you will see his gloves without noticing the Vampire of the Blue Moon’s mark, you will look at his jewelry without looking at his face… You think you are looking at him, you think you have him figured out, but you aren’t, you only have the façade he wants to show to you. Only by removing all those artifices should you be able to finally stare right back at him.

Since the coat will be our main subject of this analysis (there is a lot to say about this coat), don’t you think it seems rather warm? Vanitas often uses the sleeves to hide his hands in it after all, and it looks rather large and comfortable. We can’t also forget the fact that he always has spats over his legs. We already know, as there is an emphasis on it in the story, that Vanitas can’t stand the cold. He is constantly protecting himself from it by adding layers over layers but doesn’t actually seeks source of warmth in his environment. Remember what I said about Yin? The winter. Vanitas is by nature cold, and so, he naturally attracts and is attracted to people that represent the summer (Noé) and the spring (Jeanne), both aspects of the Yang. (It’s also worth noting that in all of the modern AUs MochiJun has made, Vanitas is always wearing warm clothes such as cardigans and scarfs).

And to finish with the coat, that minor point about Vanitas clothes: they are… weirdly feminine. I mean… We are talking about a coat which basically gives him a silhouette similar to the ideal feminine silhouette of the time and long kimono sleeves which were clearly only worn by women. Without forgetting his long hair, the belt with the bow on his hips (which is either a children garment’s accessory or a woman’s one), the pants which gives an impression of wider hips… I have my doubts about this one, hence why I added it as a “minor” detail… But It really does strike me. Though as I am lacking clear evidence of what it could mean, this remains as only a thing to remember in case it is ever brought up.

To finish this off, I’ll give a reminder about his hourglass earring. Symbol of time, imagery of inevitable end and/or death… It was only natural that someone with a name such as “Vanitas” would have this as an accessory. As for its importance, beyond what I said about its symbolic, it is hard to tell at this point in the story. So let’s simply remember this fact in case it ever needs to be brought up again.

In conclusion: Vanitas’ look is a reflection of himself. A contradictory being, wishing to be seen and yet not uncovered, fearing the cold but preferring to hide behind layers of fabric rather than going close to an actual source of warmth… Only when the artifices are taken away will he finally reveal who he truly is under all of those. Though just like the coat slipping off his shoulder, he already has revealed some of his light to those he gave his trust.

Noé Archiviste

Noé is a difficult case. You see, we learn under the cover of volume 3 that Noé doesn’t buy his clothes himself, instead, his teacher and Dominique do it for him... Because of that, it’s hard to tell who is the one in charge of his appearance: him, or the people who buys his clothes for him? In this analysis, I will mostly consider it as Noé choosing the way he dresses when it comes to the overall look. Though I want you to remember that the small details were most likely chosen by his Teacher and Dominique.

Noé’s color palette is made of purples and white. It demonstrates his affiliation to the Shapeless One as seen through Louis and Dominique’s color palettes which also leans towards some shades of purples for the most part. (And while we don’t have the Teacher’s exact color palette, it is still pretty clear that Louis, Dominique and Noé form their own group amongst vampires). It also serves to place Noé as a neutral figure between the Blue Moon Vampire and the Crimson Vampires, since if you remember, mixing red and blue gives purple.

For his white… As you know, Noé is Vanitas’ Yang’s counterpart. Again, it fits him on numerous points: sun, sky, summer, day, what expends, the man, the noble, marriage and birth, the teacher, the word, and giving. You probably noticed that I didn’t put in bold the words which serves as direct counterpart to Vanitas’. It’s simply because the use of the Yin and the Yang is mostly a loose basis for those character designs, while it can fit perfectly on some points, it can also not fit for others. Without forgetting that some of those symbolics can also be used by other characters.

When it comes to the cut of his outfit, Noé is the most historically accurate character in the entire story for now. Dressed elegantly, but also comfortably (to let him move as he pleases), in contrast to Vanitas, there is no mysteries in his look. Noé’s skin tone and hair color already make him stand out amongst other characters, and given his issues with being Archiviste, it is no wonder he dresses in order to fit in the crowd. While Vanitas direct the eyes towards him to hide himself, Noé makes sure the eyes don’t end up on him. We can also see this as him dressing like a blank canvas, something that has yet to be painted or written.

To end with a detail, I want to talk about Noé’s small mirror on his top hat. Similarly, to Vanitas’ hourglass, this mirror tells a lot about what his role and fate are in the story. We can also note that the Teacher also wears a similar mirror as a brooch but his is broken. As an Archiviste, Noé can see people’s memories by drinking their blood but also feel them as if those were his own. In a way, looking at Noé after he drank someone’s blood is like looking at the reflection of this person in Noé. He is the mirror of people’s feelings. There is most likely a second meaning behind this mirror, just like the hourglass, but at this point in the story, it is hard to tell. So let’s just remember it for future uses just in case.

In conclusion: Noé’s outfit serves to complete Vanitas’ one. By being the neutral and discreet one, he contrasts Vanitas to shine in his own way. There is not much to say about his look because Noé has yet to give out his own mysteries. But do not worry, even if we are merely looking at a reflection for now, soon enough, we shall find out what lies behind the mirror…

Dominique de Sade

If I talk about Noé, I have no other choices but to follow with Dominique. As mentioned above, Dominique is one the people who dresses Noé, so some parts of his outfit end up referencing her, whether it is on purpose or accidentally. She is also one of the most complex character when it comes to her outfit since it gives out many information whether it is about her role in the story or who she is as a person, even more than Vanitas.

Right off the bat, something is striking with Dominique: she has more than one base color. Her current color palette is made of purple, gold, and magenta, with a well-balanced mix of white and black. Why is that? Well, I could argue first that it seems to be a de Sade thing, since her older sister Veronica has a similar color palette (albeit she replaced the magenta with some dark reds), which makes me think it is used as a way to demonstrate how the de Sade are divided by their beliefs and morals yet united by blood and lineage. As such, Dominique wears the purple of her grandfather, the gold of her status as a noble (or it could the de Sade’s base color but for now I mostly think it’s to represent nobility) and finally… the magenta of the Crimson Vampires. (More about this color in Jeanne’s part) I could also suppose it could be used as a way to demonstrate Dominique’s mixed feelings towards herself, and how she feels dissociated with her own being.

Let’s further develop that feeling of dissociation by talking about the hues of her clothes. Dominique is one of the rare characters who mixes both the Yin and the Yang and isn’t catered to only one of the two. But this equal mix of both isn’t natural, since her base was indeed a Yin as you can see from her hair color and her dark clothes in the flashbacks. If you look at what the Yin symbolizes, you can easily link it back to who she is at her core: autumn, what retracts, the woman, the youngest sibling, mourning, and silence. While her association to the Yang is more about what she aspires to be, how she wants others to perceive her: what expends, the man, the noble, the elder sibling, marriage and birth, and the word. Then is her Yang merely a performance compared to her Yin? I don’t think so. I believe both of those parts are inherent parts of who she is, based on the balance of hues in her outfit, as well as what we have been able to witness in the latest chapters. This fusion of the two serves one purpose, one which aligns with what I have said up until now about her color palette: her duality.

After her brother’s death, Dominique acquired Yang traits in order to fill the void left by his absence. If, as twins, we consider that Louis was Dominique’s Yang, then it becomes clear that once he was gone, she ended up with part of herself left incomplete. But unlike Vanitas or Noé who ended up finding someone to complete their Yin and Yang respectively, Dominique overcame this by “acquiring his Yang”. To add to this: if you look at Dominique’s current clothes next to Louis’ clothes, then you’ll notice how they work to complete one another, just like how Vanitas’ and Noé’s garments do. The anime emphasizes this idea of “fusing” even more by giving to Dominique two hues of purple: a desaturated one which represents Louis, and a more saturated one which is supposed to represent herself (you can also notice it in the countdown arts MochiJun made for the anime).

Let’s switch to an entire new subject: the cut of her garments. Dominique’s entire look is a reference to a type of androgynous female characters, more precisely to the protagonist of Versailles no Bara: Oscar. Oscar is a young noble woman who was raised as a man by her father (but kept “the heart of a woman”) and became a royal guard at the Versailles’ court, during the events which would later lead to the French Revolution. MochiJun could have simply want to use this archetype for Dominique, but given the context of Versailles no Bara, I doubt it’s merely a coincidence that Dominique fits Oscar’s description so well. You can also note that Oscar wasn’t just any royal guard, but Marie-Antoinette’s personal bodyguard, the future queen. If you remember my mention of Dominique’s magenta and what it means… I think you won’t have any troubles putting two and two together.

Finally, if we have to talk about the cut of the outfit without talking about what it references, then we have a uniform which gives us an androgynous look. It’s both impersonal and extravagant, something to be expected of someone trying to fit in with the de Sade. I wouldn’t call Dominique’s appearance a façade however, as I do believe Louis’ death helped her to explore both her sexuality and gender through her attempts at imitating him.

In conclusion: Dominique’s outfit is a representation of her duality. She belongs to multiple groups without knowing where to lie her allegiance in yet, and fits both male and female traits through her imitations of her deceased brother, Louis. Dominique is by essence divided within herself and has yet to find out who she truly is or what she truly desires. I personally like to describe her as a “princess dressing as the prince she is waiting for”, since she tries to complete what she lacks by her own means and is still so indecisive. The question is then: Will she find the “prince” who will save her? Or will she leave the tower through her own strength?

Jeanne

We are finally to our last outfit analysis of this post: Jeanne. Who is, as you may already know, an entire reference to Joan of Arc. (Who I will call Jeanne d’Arc because I’m French) It’s kind of important for this analysis, so I’ll a make a quick summary of Jeanne d’Arc’s story in this introduction: during the 15th century, Jeanne d’Arc was a 13-year-old girl living with her family in a small village in France, one day, she heard voices from saints telling her to go the capital, to make the heir of the kingdom of France king, and free the country from the English invasion. She did exactly just that, winning a great battle in Orleans at 17, but was later captured by the English who burnt her alive at the age of 19, in Rouen. She changed the course of the Hundred Years’ War through her actions alone, was canonized in 1920 and became a Saint. Of course, our Jeanne in The Case Study of Vanitas is not the actual Jeanne d’Arc from that time, merely someone sharing her name. But given that she is known as a witch amongst the vampires, and her role as Luca’ chevalier (the heir of the throne), we can definitely see the similarities. But now that this reminder has been said, let’s go back to our clothes’ analysis!

Similarly, to Vanitas and Noé, Jeanne has a straightforward color palette made of magenta and white. As I mentioned in Dominique’s part of the analysis, the magenta is the symbol of the Crimson Vampires. The reason for this color to be the one affiliated to the crimson vampires instead of plain red is because magenta, like cyan and yellow, is one of the primary colors… and the VotBm’s blue is actually closer to a cyan than an actual blue. We are using the primary colors used when creating light here, and not the ones used in painting, hence why you must be slightly confused. Trust me, it makes sense. But in other words: if Vanitas represents the Blue Moon, Jeanne represents his opposite, the Crimson Moon.

As for her white, of course you can expect it to symbolize the Yang, but in Jeanne’s case, it seems slightly more complicated than that. If you look at her Bourreau outfit in her flashbacks, you can see it was entirely black. In that case, her white has nothing to do with Yang, but rather about how she is in a better place now, that she isn’t forced into darkness like she used to. Rather than give her some traits which could symbolize her, it rather shows her progress in life. Though I will still list some of the Yang traits that fits her: sun, spring, day, what expends, the sovereign, the eldest, marriage and birth, the word, and giving. (Some of the words I chose are based on speculations). We can also note that unlike our three other main characters, her outfit is entirely devoid of black, which serves for me to confirm to you that she is not Vanitas’ completion but his opposite.

Finally, for the cut of her outfit: MochiJun seemingly went for a mix between different coats and uniforms over the centuries for this one, the result is that the upper part of her outfit looks weirdly Russian with its closure on the side and the fur alongside the edges (I’ll suppose it was accidental). Though the lower part is clearly meant to serve as a reminder for who is her reference with the armor arts over her legs, as well as the round pattern around the edges of her socks with is reminiscent of edges found in some middle-age clothes.

It also, just like Vanitas’ clothes, looks pretty warm. As for the reasons for such a choice, I still don’t know them. Is it because she is supposed to bring warmth to Vanitas? But then why would she be needing it as well? Or maybe it simply means nothing. In any cases, we should know soon enough.

In conclusion: Jeanne outfit serves to represent her as Vanitas’ opposite. If Vanitas represents the Blue Moon, then Jeanne represents the Crimson Moon. If Vanitas represents the darkness, then she represents the light… But despite having such an opposition, they are not made to complete one another. Though it raises a question, if Jeanne is the Crimson Moon… then who is she really?

Final Thoughts :

This analysis is meant as a base for other analysis and/or theories, as such, most of my speculations were cut in order to allow you to form your own opinion on what I deduced. I could even go further and go on a full rent about the chromatic circle, primary colors (light) and what it could mean for the future of certain characters in VnC. Whether those details and peculiarities in their outfits were intentional or not, we can at least acknowledge how well they fit their character.

I hope you enjoyed your reading of this analysis as much as I suffered making it (4 draft of 7k words each), but the result paid off so well I can only feel pride. If you want to listen to my theories of VnC and colors, or what things I deduced from this analysis, don’t hesitate to go in my askbox, or my curiouscat to ask me anything. Though I warn you I doubt I could make such a complete analysis again before a long time.

Thank you for reading me, and I hope you have a nice day!

#Vnc #vnc vanitas #vanitas no shuki #les memoires de vanitas #vanitas no carte #the case study of vanitas #Noé Archiviste #Noe Archiviste #Dominique de Sade #jeanne vnc #Analysis

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animefreak1145 · 3 years

Text

The Brilliance of Break On Through

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Mission Break on Through—An Analysis

I have replayed the campaign of COD:BOCW numerous times—too many times truly. Did a whole playthrough where it was Hardened and soon I’m sure I shall do Veteran(something I have never done for any COD game. Not even Hardened.).

All missions have their own unique qualities—parts where the player gets a little rush of adrenaline depending on the kind of mission and how they choose to play it (Nowhere Left to Run just a plain shooting match while Brick in the Wall you can choose to remain stealthy like the good spy you are or go crazy like an eager homicidal maniac).

Even within the safehouse, there are plenty of little details to discover if you take the time to look around and observe everyone. Or, everything. (The radio if turned to a Russian station/correspondence, Adler changes it back immediately before Da Nang mission. Watching Park’s body language, as you talk to Adler and she periodically looks over to you two. Adler suspicious when you go to the Red Room or the locked room with the arcade. The T.V. being turned on in the Red Room)

But the amount of details, details, in the mission Break on Through is outstanding. I have played this mission more than any other due to me wishing to look at all the details. There’s so many, I think I may miss some. And I can’t show them off all to you cause I suck at creating gifs and don’t know how to transfer that from Xbox to my phone.

To lighten it up a bit, I won’t focus on the four different scenarios you go through—at least not each one. That would take too long and I do not have gifs/pics to show it off since Tumblr limits it to ten anyways.

I will, however, try to guide to what parts of the game you all can explore if you choose to do so. As well just how detailed they did this mission.

I am going to start with the different statements Adler says to you throughout all the Scenarios(17, 6, 11, 1). We only go through four in the actual game—but the fact it goes up to 17 or possibly more shows just how far they went in and messed with Bell’s mind.

Now, Adler seems to be a bit bipolar on how he talks to you whether or not you listen to him and all his directions. Either totally blasé and cold to giving you and pumping you up with more MK or meds, or actually a tad concerned and patient as he guides you through.

If You/Bell Stands Still/Does Nothing:

Example 1

“So you did nothing? What were you, in shock?”

He throws the words callously, mocking. As if Bell isn’t confused and lost at what is going on. He even sounds irritated that you might actually be in shock due to these memories that are just fake—not even real. Not like what he has.

Example 2

“What’s wrong with Bell?” -Adler

“I’m not sure. . .” -Park

“I guess we’ll just wait on you to proceed, Bell.”

The contrast is dizzying. He sounds concerned when he asks Park on what could be wrong with you. If he pushed you too far and now you’re just frozen. And, instead of rushing you due to how the fate of half of Europe is at stake, he decides to give you space. Just wait for you and you’ll come out of it soon enough.

He does these sort of reactions numerous times. Jumping from intimidating to the Adler we knew as the player, as Bell—kind and always in your corner that believes in you. He switches tactics based on what he believes will work really—or he just felt really on edge at times and threw the farce that you two were friends out the window.

Other examples include:

Scenario 11–Napalm Strike-in the lab in the room where you were brainwashed

“Christ, what’s happening with them?”-Adler

“A mild seizure. Sims, past me a benzodiazepine.” -Park

Again, concerned. Worried. Almost…at unease?

In the lab—tripped up on drugs. If you run through the tight shrinking hallway back and forth like so(I suck at making gifs, I’m sorry):

“Why is Bell repeating themselves?”

“Bell, stop speaking in circles.”

Now, as others may have suspected, Bell is talking to everyone as they’re stuck in this horrible loop of mental torture. Most likely muttering, hands clenching and arms pulling against the straps of the gurney, moving their head back and forth depending on what they’re seeing. I always saw Bell as muttering quickly in Russian as they go through all of this—their mother tongue where it may comfort them as they’re panicking and speaking to Adler.

It’s just a nice detail showcasing how exactly Adler knows that Bell is on script—Bell saying what they’re seeing and doing and what’s going on. It shows also just how hard they put Bell through the ringer(badum tss. I’ll leave now).

All the details too when the game shows how the drugs they put in Bell affects you. Like so. The hallways appearing long. The lights looking yellow. You feel so fast—look how quick you can run. Run towards the Red Door that Adler so desperately wants and maybe this can stop. Ah, why is it running away from you? What’s going on?

I don’t know about you, but I was so lost and confused at what was going on my first playthrough. For the majority of this mission, the possibility of me being brainwashed didn’t reach the BACK of my mind till probably I actually saw the flashes of scenes about Vietnam and calling Bell a subject. So like right here.

I personally thought that I had a repressed memory or something due to me going through the Vietnam War. That whatever I saw with Perseus, I—or rather Bell—repressed it from our mind due to how violent or horrible what we saw or experienced was. And that Adler suspected and just really wanted to know about it.

I didn’t expect for the man to actually brainwash my character—us—Bell! The game made Adler your mentor, who always defended you from Hudson and believed in your skills very highly. How he and Bell were basically perfect partners when the two of you were together.

It’s amazing—cause I think that’s what the developers were going for. The absolute trust. The loyalty. The denial that ‘maybe Adler is being a little harsh but hey, this is to help Perseus so it’s okay?’ It’s perfect. Because I’m sure that is what Bell actually felt in real time.

Yet, if you go through the total rebellious choice of not listening to Adler, some thing’s make sense. The Rebellious Side shows you way more than if you just listen to Adler like a Dutiful Soldier.

You go through this room if you choose the rebellious route, the T.V.’s automatically turning on the closer you get. Of Vietnam. And now, all those T.V.‘s that turned on by themselves(the Red Room, Lubyanka, Cuba) make sense. You were actually being brainwashed. Poor Bell probably can’t ever have a turned off/broken T.V. again. The trauma.

Said trauma being shown multiple times too. Not just the T.V.‘s. But the absolute terror that Bell felt, before they became Bell, with Adler.

Like do you see this? This terrified me when I saw it at the end of the hallway. I just saw a red shadow in the distance and I legit thought I was about to be chased. Call of Duty became a horror game(I also went through the door to the ground too my first playthrough, so before this I went through zombies and I think my heart was going to jump out my chest) I thought. I didn’t want to get closer. I had to, with each step I see that it’s not a shadow but a body. And than I see the familiar jacket, the sound of whirring in my ears and see it’s Adler’s head being twisted back and forth, side to side, up and down, in a speed that in inhumanely possible.

Makes one wonder if Bell themselves sees Adler as inhumane. Not human. Adler seeming to just be a god in their head. All the Adler shaped rocks/boulders you go through and see. Even one point the V.C. becoming Adler and you killing him over and over and dead bodies of Adler being everywhere.

The man has entered Bell’s head and won’t leave. Just like Adler won’t leave Bell alone.

Heck, there’s one point in my playthroughs of this mission I was by the bridge yet there were parts of the lab by it. I jumped towards it, noticing down below there were different floors of the lab that eventually reach the ground. I jumped to reach the next floor and missed and I died.

And Adler mocked Bell committing suicide.

That was the kicker really that Adler truly is indifferent towards Bell. Like complete disregard. I know it’s fake. We know it’s fake. Adler knows it’s fake—but to Bell, it felt real. That’s the crazy part. All of this—this whole sequence feels real to Bell so each time they die they actually feel it. It’s insane. It’s cruel.

But we all know that Adler isn’t known for his kindness. Still like his character though, he’s layered.

I don’t have the exact quote he said, didn’t wrote it down like the others. I was shook he said it at all.

Moving on to the final details I’m going to talk about.

When you go through the room, I believe this comes out for both rebellious and dutiful, really depends. You see it filled with post it notes, articles, plans, and newspapers. And you see once more just how Bell has been scarred.

I don’t know Russian or German, but I imagine the notes are similar to what the English one’s say. If I’m wrong, please point it out.

There’s also post it notes which I believe is in code as well due to all the numbers—I’m not sure what those could mean since I am no decoding expert.

Poor poor Bell. And with all these pictures and plans—of Adler included—it begs the question that Bell may have been warned about the famous America’s Monster beforehand. Had to have—since Adler is basically Perseus’s adversary due to how stubborn the American man could be. It just adds more to the story, despite Cold War having quite a short campaign, they made it up somewhat with all these details everywhere.

When you finally and actually reach the room.

As you grow closer to the table, to your chair in the conference room while everyone else seems to have their own spots, there’s something I noticed.

There’s glasses. As well as a hat. And it’s Bell’s. Or at least, it used to be. Why else is it on their side of the table? By their chair? I believe it might be reading glasses due to all the decryptions Bell does, whether on paper or through a computer, it’s hard on the eyes. (I’m sure I’m not the only one who noticed this. For look at @second-vtoroy ‘s Bell)

I believe through the brainwashing, Bell might not need glasses anymore. After all, apparently they were a smoker like Adler before too but they took that out of you. What else they changed of Bell? It makes one wonder how far they truly went into molding a person.

Which just adds onto how mind boggling this mission is—this game is. This is my favorite COD game, despite how short it is. The details and choices and interactions with everyone and able to create your own character(albeit it’s very standard and not specific but it’s good enough for me) is AMAZING. I’ve always been a sucker for RPG’s and able to get that even a little in a COD game? Truly wonderful.

I couldn’t touch on everything because it would’ve gotten long, but the fun of the Break on Through mission never gets old. It’s genius multiple ways you can do it. All the details. The feelings you feel as a player as you go through it.

They truly did a unique job with this and I hope they continue with this type of game storytelling. Hopefully longer as well.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this rant basically!

Gifs made by me and used the video down below to help.

https://youtu.be/t6QkmkGGHSQ

youtube

#russell adler #call of duty #cod #black ops cold war #call of duty cold war #cod cold war #cod bell #cod analysis #cod:bocw #call of duty analysis #bell call of duty #Adler and Bell #Cold War

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kicktwine · 3 years

Note

do you have more thoughts on keyblade fighting that you need to put somewhere, because i have two hands ready to catch Should The Need Arise

anon: hey I heard you mention you’d analysed the combat styles in KH and what you said in the tags was already alluding to really neat stuff, but I for one would love to hear more of what you came up with!! so if you ever wanted to share any of your analysis then the floor is yours

aHAH, MY EXCUSE!!

Okay, so first some words on “standardized wielding styles”. These are styles shared by Terra, Aqua, Vanitas, Riku, and Xehanort and every other scala and daybreak kid. I will make the argument that the red style is the fanciest standard style, while the purple is seen often to make it easier on the little chibi sprites. BUT, I cannot discredit Eraqus, who uses the purple variant in bbs, nor can I discredit half of the Foretellers (Gula and Ava, at least, use this. Invi and Aced use the first type). So, two standard styles. For simplicity, let’s say one for primary offense, one for primary defense. The standard offensive style really wasn’t popular before Scala-era society.

check this difference out, specifically between ava invi and gula:

then between eraqus, hermod, and xehanort, and eraqus and terra.

These two were likely popularized and standardized for education in Scala ad Caelum for their predominant lack of obvious weak spots.

After this, we have unique styles. Those include Sora Kairi and Xion’s (similar to standard defense, but more mobile at the expense of form — Kairi takes after Sora but less confident, she hasn’t been hit that heavily yet), Ven’s (backhand, heavy range and mobility), Roxas’ (modified for two keyblades, but takes after Sora), and Axel’s (taught himself, comfortable with chakrams).

So! Let’s go.

Standard (offensive)

All styles have sub-variations, of a sense. Different wielders can choose where their keyblade points, and how they hold it exactly, based on what makes them most comfortable. Terra and Aqua point theirs downward, while Vanitas and Riku hold theirs above their head. What is recognizeable to this style is a hand for the sword, and a hand for guarding/blocking/items/magic.

It’s incredibly efficient. With only one hand on the weapon, you not only free up a hand for other things, but increase your range of movement with said weapon. Test it out yourself! The keyblade hand is always your dominant hand, held behind you for increased power when attacking (since you lose a significant amount of it by choosing not to grip with both hands). This style also decreases the speed of the defense you have, but with that increased mobility and swing power, along with a hand free to brace against the keyblade (defense strength up!), it makes up for it. Many people who use this also have strong barrier spells — both a testament to their preference for coverage and an acknowledgement that any directional block will take a little longer and be weaker if they try it with one hand.

The pointy end, though. What difference does it actually make, the height it’s at?

I think it’s half a matter of attack style preference and half intention. Riku, Vanitas, and Xehanort stab quite a bit. Aqua and Terra slice more. Not that they don’t do both, but it’s the first instinct. Aqua and Terra are also likely taught to hold their keyblade neutrally, in a safe position, until someone starts attacking. It’s polite! Eraqus also holds his one-handed, neutrally, until he gets into position. Riku and Vanitas learned to fight assuming everyone was out to fight them. Invi and Aced may like this style because of range (i hc she’s blind and strikes very very quickly, and he’s already very powerful with just the one arm and wants better motion).

and on character specifics: Terra often switches to two-handed, to copy his dad and add extra power to his hits without always sacrificing the empty hand. Vanitas likely was forced to relearn how to fight, as instead of solely being trained to be better at withstanding, he was constantly being made to better his own attacks. The moves Xehanort uses would best be replicated in the same style. Vanitas is wild for holding the massive spiky x-blade like that.

Now, what‘s good on this style does not correlate to what’s bad in the other. The two standard styles simply have different ways of dealing with each con they create or taking advantage of each pro.

(Here’s an interesting side note — Gula uses standard defensive, but in this instance, swaps. One hand… likely to display confidence! Wrong move, but hey. He got cocky. He’s also doing it wrong, and swaps back to two-handed to take Aced’s attack.)

Standard (defensive)

The main detriment of this style is the lack of ease of long range movement. Hold a wrapping paper tube out in front of you with both hands, then run. It goes to the side, or tucks in to your stomach, right? Dodge. Your legs will get in the way unless you know where to move that sword. It requires, interestingly, a little more discipline. You’d think Aqua would like that, but no, she wants movement and practicality, and she loves magic, and remember that you must take a hand off this style to grab a potion. You’d think young Eraqus wouldn’t, but remember that he’s a fancy royal lad.

The main draw, though, is tankiness, readiness, and power. You don’t need to move as much if nothing dares hit you! Ava and Gula might be attracted to this style because they’re not as physically strong, but want protection in close-quarters fighting. Using this style when your muscles aren’t as big but you still want to Hit Things Good, or when you want to be a boy you can’t knock over with a pail of water (horse stance rules), is probably solid advice.

Traditionally, this is a lot less like fencing, and a lot more like a samurai sword or kendo. Your blade is held in front of you, giving you very easy access to blocks and frontal attack/defense. In losing some twirly spinniness, you gain power and minimize your opponent’s ability to parry and block.

you gotta dodge master Eraqus so mcuh

All styles will swap between one and two hands for different moves. Eraqus, notably, swaps to a stance very similar to Xehanort when channeling a metric ton of magic.

Both of these styles require a degree of upper body/core strength, as does all swordfighting. I would be interested to see someone whose keyblade style relies on leg strength.

Sora, Xion, and Kairi

please look at the difference between the foretellers’ or eraqus’ two-handed grip and Sora’s. Do this with your shoulders and a top-heavy object.

They’re both in a hard stance, but hon. What are you, a gremlin? Anyways, a traditionally taught master would have… better form, even if it’s harder to learn at first. It’s habitual. Sora nearly crouches, and holds his keyblade back-pointed with two hands, which makes it easier for him to dodge roll, push off his feet quickly, and pull off those spinning combos he loves. It‘s really gonna hurt his muscles, in the future, though, since he’s doing a squat for like…. hours. Pulling on those shoulderblades and neck. Xion, too. Replicas had better have correct muscle dynamics. Kairi is brand new, so… maybe Aqua can teach her how to hold a sword so it doesnt hurt you.

Okay, now look at the grip itself. Held in front versus held to the side-back. They’re really attempting to combine both standard styles subconsciously, giving themselves more attack power while really wanting to keep that hard defensive parry, wanting to prevent all attacks to the front while also wanting mobility. It’s working for them really well, they fight like an anime character, and manage to get the best of both, with a minor sacrifice of length range that they don’t care about. We’re flexible and full of magic, baby! Holding the blade like this makes it pretty easy to let go with one hand without sacrificing that crouched defense position.

Now, Sora, specifically, is very adaptive. He’s had two keyblades, claws, guns, yo-yos, and a giant shield, to name a couple. He retains a bit of that alert crouch no matter where he goes, but Sora knows how he wants to attack and how to balance that with the most effective way to use his current weapon. He’s a smart kid! Sora has the most ridiculous shotlocks, which are also probably due to not always wanting to go standard for it. He also prefers to keep his focus on the enemy, which is evident in his reprisals and lack of very many effective “escape” moves.

Xion is very similar to Sora, but she does have some moves that are all movement. She switches to one handed for strikes a lot — using two for defending, one for smacking. In her data battle I’d swear some of those heavy hits are claymore-like. But anyways, since we’re magic, Xion cares not for the laws of exhaustion, and will ping about as a ball of light everywhere. Short range? Up in your business. Mid-range? In your business with one hand. Long range? Throws a boomerang. Hit her? No you dont. Ball of light. She’s above you and wants to bash your head in. (Vanitas also does this! A lot. It’s an easy way to catch someone off-guard. I’ll argue that the soras are very tough and strong, but not tanky. they want to avoid being hit a lot)

Another interesting note about Kairi. I say “unconfident” not because she doesn’t hit hard, but because her stance is also often tilted back, ready to dodge. It’s two handed, but almost all her moves are one. She does love spinning and throwing the thing! It looks like she’s been taking notes from the wielders she knows. It would be easy to teach her a standard style, I think. See here, she lets go on the strike, and by trying to do both, actually ends up with an advantage (being confusing) and disadvantage (losing both the power of two handed and versatility of one handed).

A counter to Sora and Xion is difficult to pin down. Time? Probably. Lack of heating pads. Something that takes all their attention is about the only way to get a sneak attack in, and then you have to hit hard. A counter to Kairi would be anyone who can knock her off balance. She needs a sturdier stance. .

Roxas

Roxas is interesting. He takes after Sora for the one blade. Wielding two, however, nets him a totally different way of fighting. Roxas’ clavicle muscles n… deltoids and stuff must be Ironclad. Also, two handed means you are very fast and sharp all the time. He has the advantage of standard defense (horse stance), and the advantage of offense (range of one sword, but twice).

Roxas generally attacks in two ways — simultaneous hits, and follow-up hits. Either he hits with both at once, or hits hard with the first one, and adds the second one as a bonus smack. He can attack by hitting in opposite directions with the two, like a drum, but that will be a little awkward and leave him prone to being tangled. That established, the follow-up hit method means he spins a bunch. As do we all.

Roxas gets a little complicated because we are not in the real world. We have magic and turning into light and physics that let you become a circular saw. So, typically, disadvantages would include: being unable to let go of a weapon to grab something or use an item, having just a very big silhouette to attack on, having difficulty with close-range attacks because Oathkeeper and Oblivion are kinda long, and convenience. Roxas gets to dodge #1 (keyblades can be unsummoned) and #4 (keyblades can be unsummoned). Speaking of dodging, he also gets to skirt the difficulty of dodging and rolling with two swords because he turns into a beam of light. But he can’t dodge how difficult it is to use two swords effectively — he needs to concentrate on fighting, and nothing else, or he risks messing up. He has to be very, very coordinated, and undistracted. Luckily he’s pretty good at making his opponents shut up, most of the time. Blocking is another thing — theoretically his blocks could be strong, but Roxas has no real brace: crossing your blades and taking a hefty stab might smack one of them back into your face. He mostly uses reversals and dodges, because of this.

The takeaway to this is Roxas is built for speed and power, and he is very strong. He’s a mid- to far- range fighter who if you’re not careful can snap you in half if you’re too close (be SO careful of that cross blade scissor).

A perfect counter to Roxas would be a tank that can grapple, and also be very distracting. If you can take hits, be talkative, and get close enough to stop his blades, you have a chance.

Ventus

This is a bizarre choice, my guy, but I get it.

Backhanded weapons are very impractical for a lot of... attacking, mainly in mid-range combat, and Ven likes to either fight very close or throw the keyblade like a boomerang (and hey, backhand gives it a good whip for throwing). His attacks aren’t meant to one hit KO, but they do come with a bit of power to them, especially on the backslash. Like holding a knife for gouging. It’s for very close defense — pretty good when Wayward Wind and Missing Ache have hooks.

Backhand also, while retaining that empty hand for potions and guarding, gives you an extreme coverage boost. By which I mean Ven’s sword hand now has a nearly 270 degree sweep of “I see you, don’t touch me”, very quickly, based on just flicking his wrist. It sacrifices a ton of strength/sturdiness, but you don’t need that if you’re dodging. You also don’t really need to block, which is slower, but relatively sturdy when Ven does it, as he blocks with mostly the chunky hilt between crossed arms. He sacrifices (again) a bit of strength for coverage — an attack would hurt his arms, not his chest, if he were hit head-on.

His attacks often have him flip the blade around in his hand, too. Quick swaps between standard moves and backhand ones. Basically, Ventus is built for moving, protecting himself, and quick attacks that wear down the enemy, not outclass it. Likely because he’s good at fighting, but everyone he’s fought hits harder than he can! It doesn’t matter how he holds it, getting hit will hurt. So he just. Doesn’t. He’s not a buff little guy — but he is a persistent one. Ven very likely made this up on his own, in Daybreak, and it was too hard to fix his whole style, but it was enough to correct most of his form so he doesn’t hurt himself too much. He is going to have to really stretch that shoulder and wrist (maybe get a brace), though. At least his neck is ok. … not sure about his knees tho dang boy that crouch

A perfect counter to Ven would be someone big and fast, who hits hard mid-range. He’s already been sparring with Terra, though, so when in doubt, try scruffing him?

Axel

Theres not a ton to say about him — he‘s not a swordfighter. He uses his keyblade like it’s a frisbee. Because that’s what he’s used to! His neutral is behind his back on his shoulder, which is terrible for readiness, but okay for chucking the thing. It’s good it has a sort of… ripstik like… boomerang quality.

Axel’s fighting style is completely made up, like most of the self-taught wielders’. His strengths lie in some of the benefits of standard offensive style (one-handed), and some of the same coverage stuff as Ven, having a cocked wrist most of the time so no one can sneak up around him without risking getting whacked very quickly, and having an interesting range due to the pointy end being basically on a spinny swivel wherever his hand moves. He’s not going to be good at close-range and he knows it — his attacks are mostly distance. And the guy has ZERO defense, combined with zero coverage when idle, so it’s for the better.

Distance-wise, though, he rocks. Treating the blade like it’s a flaming throwing weapon means his idle is actually great for sudden flick-tossing and attention-guiding for sneakier attacks, and his stance itself (…nonexistent) serves a different purpose: bait. Basically a big "come hit me". Fun, when you have a lot of fire magic and two friends who are beasts and love to take advantage of a distracted enemy — distance on the blade, proximity on the burning.

A perfect counter to Axel would be someone pinging around very close <—> very far and circling him incessantly. Like, data Xion could wreck him, as he has to wait for the boomerang to come back -- he no longer has two spinny wheels. Also someone with water magic.

SO! In conclusion! Having a teacher who teaches you correct sword usage rather than instinct may detract from overspecific styles that benefit you most but leave weak spots, but your muscles and your oversights will thank you. Everyone is glad we have the power of the Mouse and anime on our side.

Keep in mind again that I have done cursory research, and have had minimal actual sword instruction, I am not an expert and this is all for fun anyways :]

#I ran out of images which is homophobic #KH #ask #mojimallow #THANKS MOJI #If you’re wondering what the counter would be to Terra and Aqua; in terms of counters there are no counters #not style-wise anyways. That’s why they’re standard.#Terra can’t react very fast and Aqua needs more mp but that’s individual #and we are mostly talking BASE COMBAT here #of course lingering will can use keyblade transformations and there’s magic strategies — but that would make this post… much longer #brrrrrrr #kh analysis #kh meta #thanks to the handful of other people who asked me to expand on the same thing <3<3<3 #REALLY wanted to include one of Invi blocking — just go watch invi and aced fight for two standard offense #it Shows off their strengths and weaknesses #… no living adults do the two handed grip. Watch Sora and Xion’s data battle for an approximation I guess??#you. Hey you. Look in the notes rn #metazone

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nikadoesanart · 3 years

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Dazai living in a shipping container analysis

I’ll be talking about the “pros” and “cons”, if you can even call them that, of Dazai living in a shipping container near a dumping site. Also I am using what architecture knowledge I do have on the subject of container homes.

This is on the longer side so brace yourself. Also Stormbringer spoiler warning, in case that wasn’t realized yet.

Before I actually start I’ll preface this by saying that I’m a former architecture student but it was with a design focus. I have also previously designed a shipping container home so although I have some knowledge, it does have its limitations.

Also this will be updated when the fan translations get to this part of Stormbringer. Currently, I’m getting the information from chazukekani and popopretty’s summaries and translations, so please check them out too!

As a general reference for what to expect of a shipping container home, the average shipping container is 8 x 20 ft or 8 x 40 ft. As a more visual example, here is a portion of the container house I designed. Note that it’s total length is 30ft because I have two 20ft long containers stacked on top of each other, with a 10ft offset. The space beyond the sliding doors is a balcony and can basically be ignored for the purpose of this analysis. With the pictured dimensions, you can consider it to be insulated from the outside, so as not to sacrifice internal space. Despite this, you can see that it feels fairly cramped even with minimal furniture (a sink, toilet and shower unit in the bathroom and a bed, desk, and wardrobe closet in the master bedroom).

Dazai’s current living arrangement

Now for comparison, let’s first take note of what’s known of Dazai’s living conditions for comparison.

he’s living in an illegal dumping site, and there are toxic substances coming from the ground because of this

“Not even a field mouse would dare to approach it.” (Popopretty)

the area is not on the map and Dazai lives near the center of it (which can easily be one of the worst parts in terms of health and safety)

the container was previously “used to export passenger cars overseas” (popopretty)

his only furniture is a fridge, (exhaust) fan, desk/table, a chair, and a bare light bulb

no one would approach “not just because the place itself was weird. It was because no one could predict how Dazai would react if someone approached his private residence.” (Popopretty)

it’s been a year since he’s joined, yet no one trusts him → he could’ve been living here since before he joined but we don’t know as of yet

he’s sitting in complete darkness, lightbulb off and door shut, until Verlaine opens the door and walks in

Verlaine asks if he’s living here because he’s afraid of property taxes but Dazai claims that he’s afraid of Verlaine. He’s not actually addressing his choice of location because he only corrected Verlaine on what he fears, and gives no actual explanation for why he chose to live here.

The “pros”

Naturally unapproachable location. Even if Dazai being PM Dazai wasn’t a factor in people staying away, the nearby smell alone means no one would normally approach it, much less suspect a Port Mafia executive of all people to be living there. It’s also unmapped territory so even less reason for him to be found. This means enemies and allies alike would have a more difficult time trying to find him (ie. to come for his life) and there’s unlikely to be anyone else around. After all, if even a mouse won’t go there why would a whole person live there?

It costs him nothing. Not that it’d make a difference with what we can assume of his financial wealth. He has money, likely more than Chuuya who lives in a nice apartment in a nice area, yet chooses to live in a shipping container in an illegal dumping site. This is beneficial for Dazai, since there’s no paper trail or record of where he lives, which goes right into my 3rd point.

Ease of abandonment. Considering his whole goal at the time is to off himself without troubling others in the process, it makes sense that he’d want to leave minimal traces behind. No unpaid rent or mortgage, no one on a waiting list to move into a nice place, and no personal belongings or attachments. This winds up being a pro/advantageous when he does leave the PM since there wasn’t a trace to follow him with in the first place. He can simply grab his few things of importance and find a new shipping container or abandoned building outside of the PM’s territory. In fact, he might’ve even been able to stay there or in that general area since no one dares to approach it in the first place.

The “cons”

Or should I say say the dangerous living conditions he’s in. I don’t find them surprising because again, he doesn’t have a long term plan to live at this point. He doesn’t have much reason to care about what happens to himself, as we can deduce from his overall disregard towards being constantly injured and in danger for example. This is also where the architectural stuff comes into play.

Let’s start with the most visible one, lack of insulation. With a shipping container home, you can insulate from the inside and lose about a foot of interior space in each direction (6 in. off each wall) or from the outside and lose the aesthetic of the textured walls. Either way, it costs time and money to do it. We know it’s not insulated from the inside because of the illustration and, in my opinion, it’s very unlikely that Dazai would’ve gotten it insulated from the outside because at the very least, it would make his container stand out among the others nearby. You need to insulate a container home because they get very hot or cold in the summer and winter respectively, as they are made of metal. I’ve heard that at the very least, Japan’s summers are HOT.

This one is a little harder to confirm and will likely be updated as fan translations are released, but a likely hazardous set up for electricity and (hopefully) plumbing. If you don’t have the insulation on the inside but you still have your electrical and plumbing, it can possibly become both a visual mess and a safety hazard. It’s possible that he kept it all in the back portion of his container for example, or maybe he has it taped to the floor or walls somewhere, but that also brings the question of where it’s connected to on the outside. Since he’s on a dumping site, then where’s the electrical going to go at the very least? Sure he can use nearby public facilities but every day? He has a fridge, single lightbulb and a fan but where is the power is connected to? In terms of plumbing, I think it’s equally likely he found a Porta potty nearby or there’s (hopefully) some sort of public or PM owned facility nearby. Really, his hygiene, especially during the PM days when he was (as far as we the audience are aware) likely at his lowest, can easily become its own separate question/discussion for another day. After all, we’re just talking about the condition of his container in this post.

The possible fumes and chemicals left over. The paint on shipping containers is meant to withstand the sea water splashing on to them, so it may contain harsh chemicals. And we know that his container was used previously to ship cars overseas, but that still leaves the possibility for things to have leaked on the inside at this time. We don’t actually know if it’s been used more than once, but seeing as we do have a usage history, I’d say there’s a fair enough chance for it to have been a single use container. Still, chemicals could’ve previously leaked and the paint may be a concern in the long run. It’s also possible that it has begun rusting as well, due to the metal being exposed to the likes of sea water. Also, let’s not forget the toxic substances from the illegal dumping site itself, possibly going into the container over time.

Also as far as we can tell, there seems to be a lack of windows. This means no natural light, aside from opening a whole door. Keep in mind that windows can help with indoor temperature control, not just natural light.

Living in a dump site, especially an illegal one. This one should speak for itself but I’ll list some concerns anyway. Seeing as it’s illegal, we can probably just forget about regulations altogether, much less any possible existing ones being followed. This means that there can be literally anything from hazardous waste material, to dangerous and sharp objects on the ground, to who knows what kind of smells and fumes, etc. In short, not a safe area to live in, for health concern reasons at a minimum.

Again, my knowledge on shipping container homes themselves is limited and I do recommend checking out Belinda Carr’s videos on some of the downsides of them from a professional’s POV.

7 reasons why shipping container homes are a scam

Responding to comments: shipping container scam video

Also, just because Dazai was making presumably LARGE amounts of money obviously doesn’t mean that he has to spend it all or live luxuriously if he doesn’t want to. It’s not that hard to infer why Dazai did choose to live in such conditions and I mainly wanted to draw attention to how these conditions can affect him, with both the advantages and disadvantages.

#bsd spoilers #bungou stray dogs #stormbringer #bsd dazai #bsd storm bringer #bsd theories #bsd analysis

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familyagrestefanblog · 3 years

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Analysis of the Family Agreste Portrait

Quarantine strikes again and since the Agreste family portrait has fascinated me for a loooong while now I decided to put my thoughts into words and write another essay x3

The amount of informations we get out if it is amazing and its not only highlighting the absolute TRAGEDY it is that this family is about to face such a horrible fall out, it also hints at the former family dynamic before everything went to hell.

So make yourself comfortable and get something to drink, because we will be here for a while.

Here we go: My analysis of this beauty of a fictional portrait

Let's start with the most obvious one: Hawkmoth.

Its commen knowledge by now that the background makes it seem like Hawkmoth is standing behind the Agreste family like a bad omen waiting for fate to take its course and cause their doom. The portrait is brilliantly designed so the illusion is created that Gabriels body (here in a blue suit closer to Hawkmoths normals dark purple one) overlaps with Hawkmoths and a darker line is connecting the two faces as well, which rest on the same height right beside each other. The very same line grows bigger as it goes further behind Emilie - coloring her entire background - showing us that EMILIE is all Gabriel sees when he becomes Hawkmoth. But notice that Adrien on the other hand can hardly be concidered part of Gabriels “sight” at all.

Its forshadowing 101 and damn beautiful if I may say so. But this isnt what I want to focus on in this post.

I want to elaborate on two other key factors that tell us about the former dynamic of the Agrestes instead and what they tell us about the present and future.

The heart:

This is hitting me on another level because look at the heart these three form with Adrien right in the middle! He was so LOVED. This family may have never been anywhere close to ideal but still, there was LOVE and now he's gonna loose it all.

Adrien already lost his mother which led to his father getting even more distant and cold and now his father is becoming increasingly more abusive as he falls deeper and deeper into villainy. Gabriel was never a good father, the show has already made this clear with episodes like "the bubbler", “the collector” or "Gigantitan" for example but gosh there was hope for their little family! The end scene in "Jackady" portrayed it perfectly and I wrote a whole other post just covering the sigificants of Adriens and Gabriels hug in that episode. Check it out here if you want, it goes hand in hand with this one.

Miraculous is all about love and the completely different ways it can affect us, our behavior and actions. Because love isnt just wonderful, pure and empowering, it also can be twisted, destructive and cause the darkst nightmares. And with this family the writers know how to portray the complex love in an abusive houshold thats destined to go up in flames and they also know how to hint at their troubled past with the family portrait.

But this heart visual tells us even more in connection with the positions of their hands. And with these two key factors, lets start with Gabriel:

His hands convey it so strongly. He loves/d Emilie and Adrien so much and no doubt this love for them was certainly the reason why he started his quest as Hawkmoth. But he is now losing himself more and more in the pleasure of his villainy to the point where he forgets why he's doing it in the first place and becomes a complete monster (of a father). But this turn and spiraling into villainy didn't came out of nowhere - this root already had to be in him to grow like that. And this is also something the portrait indeed hints at as well.

Because Gabriel is the only one of the three who:

1. We see so completely open and without hesitation reach out and hold BOTH his family members.

2. Is visually “cut off” from them as well.

But this doesn't mean he was excluded and the only one who truly cared and loved, it just shows that things were more... complicated...as usual.

This is best explained with Adriens hand placements:

One hand is holding his mothers but the other one is visibly not reaching out for his father. But as we all know, that's not because Adrien doesn't love him. In season 1-3 it is made more than clear that Adrien does not hate his father - he loves him alot and tries to be there for him and be patient because he knows that the loss of his mother brought his father terribly down.

Sure, Adrien gets frustrated and angry with him, literally how could he not?? But Adrien tries his best to reach out to Gabriel so they can bond and come out of this tragedy stronger.

But this loving willingness to forgive his father for the chance of growing a father-son bond with him doesn't change the fact that these two didn't had a bond prior to this. And let's be honest here, does anybody actually think this distance between them was caused by Adrien? I don't think so.

So notice how Adriens hand - not reaching out for his fathers - is the only one in the portrait NOT inside or forming the heart.

When the connection of the hands between the family members symbolise their connection to another, then Adrien keeping the hand for his father away from the display of love is VERY telling. It tells us very directly what this distance did to Adriens side of the relationship. Despite Gabriels hand being right there, Adrien does not meet the gesture. And I cannot believe that he did it out of resentment, nothing in the show indicated such strong negative emotions from past Adrien.

It's much more likely that Adrien not reaching for his fathers hand is meant to show us that Adrien felt that he either CAN'T return the gesture because he fears that it'll end in an unpleasant reaction from Gabriel - that it isn't Adriens "place" to reach out to his busy and distant father like that, like it's demanding something - or Adrien simply didn't took Gabriel laying his hand on his shoulder, in the context of posing for a portrait, as a gesture of love and affection.

The way I interpret the portrait is that prior to Emilies dissappearence Adrien did not exactly try to reach out to his father the same way he did from s1-s3, which, I mean, of course wasn't the case. Not only is it NOT the 13 years olds (or younger) job to form an emotional connection to their absent parent - when that’s the PARENTS job - it also wouldn't be necessarily "needed" for Adrien to do so.

Because Emilie at this point was still in the picture so and she was the complete opposite. She was a (or maybe the ONLY) safe, reliable and loving constant of parental attention, affection and care in his life and because of these two HARSH contrasts Adrien learned from very early on to focus mostly completely on her in that regard while kinda blocking his father out.

That most likely wasn't even an active choice whatsoever - Gabriel proofed to be an unreliable resource so Adrien learned to subconciously treat him that way out of self protection. That doesn't mean he had any kind of dislike or malice against his father it just means that he wasn't able or allowed to connect with Gabriel the way he needed. Several episodes show that Gabriel deadass only parented like 15 minutes tops in his life with one of the worst offenders kinda being “Gigantitan” ngl.

So yeah, when I see that the portrait wants to tell me that prior to Emilies loss, Adrien - a 12-13 year old at most - is THIS used to rely solely on the strong bond he has with his mother and not even really reaching out for his fathers love, then I can't help but interpret it in the way that... Well... Gabriel was so distant and emotionally unreliable to Adrien for all his life, that Gabriel simply... wasn't needed by his son. Not at that point of time at least.

And while this may seem weird, because obviously Adrien only now starts to stop craving for his fathers affection and approval (which is btw a horrible, HORRIBLE thing and not something good. A half orphan losing the last remaining hope he had left of having the chance to finally get to form a bond with the only other parent he has left, just to be crushed by disappointment and abandonment all over again until he let's go, is REALLY NOT as much of a good thing people will make it out to be. This is... plain awful) it's actually quite logical.

Adriens hand outside the heart doesn't mean that his father meant nothing to him and therefore refuses to meet and accept his affection (that's literally the complete opposite of what the show shows us), it means that Adriens and Gabriels father-son relationship suffers from a fatal emotional disconnection caused by miscommunication/ a lack of communication.

And this was caused by Gabriel. How? Let me elaborate on that by going a bit far afield (cuz lbh we all have time for this. I’m writing this in quarantine and youre reading this is quarantine, so lets gooooooooooooo).

In "The bubbler" Adrien says that his father "always forgot his birthday", but I cannot agree with this in true honesty. Gabriel is controlling his sons entire life, calls him "the epitome of perfection" and temporarily truly gave up being Hawkmoth for him, he definitely never forgot Adriens birthday.

"The bubbler" even SHOWS us that Adriens perspective of the situation is actually not the truth:

This is Adriens first birthday after Emilies dissappearence and it's incredibly telling how Gabriel handles the planning.

What this entire little sequence tells me is that Gabriel is completely and UTTERLY used to NOT be the one to take care of anything related to Adriens birthday. So Emilie was always the one who did it but somehow - now without her - Gabriel apparently still hasn't even considered changing anything about that nasty non-involvement and just expected Natalie to pick everything up where Emilie left it.

Because let's be real here, knowing Natalie she would NOT have forgotten to get a present if Gabriel truly had told her to. Natalie is never presented to do mistakes like that but Gabriel on the other hand IS definitely presented to us claiming things about himself as ultimate, blameless and true when they simply do not reflect reality. A great example: Gorizilla

You didn’t even speared a minutes of your time for Adrien and he DID try to! Asshat… It's a problem guys. The lack of self awareness Gabriel displays in moments like this is legitimately concerning when you think about how deeply this man is falling right now.

But back to the topic:

Because even if Gabriel didn't even consider doing anything himself for Adriens birthday - not even taking the time to SEE his son (who just recently lost his mother, come on Gabe, really?) - one thing one cannot hold against him: he sure as hell remembered Adriens birthday like any decent parent would and it wasnt portrayed as a this-year-for-the-first-time thing.

And yet Adriens statement still makes complete sense. Because a big, BIG problem with Gabriel is just how much he takes things for granted. He EXPECTS things to be universally known and to never be doubted, just because that's how HE sees them. I will write 10 essays if it's needed to make people understand that Gabriel DOES truly love Adrien, it's just that Gabriel HIMSELF is such a rotten, twisted and toxic person that he cannot see how much his (oppressing) behavior and the way he (doesn't) express his love hurts Adrien and that HE is the one at fault. (for more, once again, read this)

Gabriel LOVES Adrien but he takes the love he feels as such a matter-of-fact that he just completely... forgets to show it.

And when we take Adriens words and look at the Family portrait it unfortunately seems that...

…. Gabriel ALWAYS forgot to show it.

Adriens hand - that should at least be reaching out to his father - is outside of the heart in accepting certainty. Because that's what Gabriels non-presence was for Adrien while growing up: an unreliable and unreachable certainty he had to accept early on as safer to not try to emotionally depend on too much or else he will get hurt.

So yeah, Adrien is the one in the portrait who is very openly not reaching out but only because Gabriel never gave him the needed affection and stability to be able to create that bond.

But let me correct what I said a little earlier: Adrien ALWAYS needed his father. Every kid, especially one in a bad situation like Adrien, does need their parents/friends etc as support system to become independent and confident in a healthy way. And if they don’t have that they WILL crave and look for it!

What Adrien has been doing up to now IS normal for a teenager - humans NEED affection, belonging and safety. What ISNT/SHOULDN’T be normal is Adriens disconnection towards his father in the portrait and just how much Gabriel fails to take care and BE THERE for his son in BOTH TIMES!

Collector:

Bother Christmas:

One thing I like about the show is that it portrays their young main cast with one very important truth: The psyche of a child/teenager of their age will react and adapt so it SURVIVES, even if it results in unfortunate consequences in other relationships and places. Thats the psyches main concern and it'll try to cope with the limited experience and development it has in whatever way necessary to get itself to the next day. A coping mechanism is not there to make you a better person, it ensures your SURVIVAL, everything else is a secondary concern.

So seeing pre-show Adrien not react to Gabriels touch and even feel completely unloved and disconnected from him is no surprise to me. Kids are incredibly observant. They may lack the needed experience and knowledge to truly understand that they deserve better and to stand up for themselves but they are masters in picking up red flags in people and can put this danger into perspective while comparing the different danger levels of their options of people and places to adjust their behavior.

Feast:

Stormy Weather 2:

So the broken connection between father and son we see in the portrait (that Gabriel doesn't even notice but Adrien fully internalized) isn’t there because Adrien “didnt needed” or wanted his father, its because Adrien NEEDED Gabriel so much in his isolated upbringing but Gabriel didn’t LET him need him - so Adrien had to adjust to that accordingly. Big, huge, ENORMOUS difference.

Honestly the most miraculous thing about Miraculous is that Adrien was able to bring up the strength to stay positive and friendly and to forgive Gabriel in hope for a better future. That boys situation is 7 kinds of depressing and traumatizing...

It's just flabbergasting to me how well this portrait shows how basically non-existent their relationship was at that point. And it's horrible to know that this estranged and unformed bond is all Adrien had left after Emilie dissappeared, just alot worse because after Emilie incident Adrien states that his father changed alot for the worse as well.

So to think that all Adrien had left wasn't even this former basically non-existent relationship with his aloof father - who would only barely show his true affection for his son because he's either not around enough to do so or he thinks it "unnecessary to proof his affection" for/to Adrien because he already thinks it so obvious and undoubtable.

Well he thought wrong. And GOSH, it breaks my heart!

So now comparing the "Gabriel" hand from Adrien with the one representing his connections with his mother conveys a pretty harsh contrast.

Because last but not least, let's take a look at Emilies hand placements:

But here is now an interesting difference to Adrien. Whereas we openly see that Adriens side of the Adrien-Gabriel relationship is completely disconnected from the heart/love - showcasing just how badly Adrien has always been neglected by his father - we don't see Emilies hand in her Emilie-Gabriel relationship AT ALL.

Once again just like with Adrien, this doesn't mean she didn't love her husband and that Gabriel was used and fooled by the woman he so utterly adored. It just means that from Emilies point of view things were a bit more complicated. What exactly this is, the portrait is keeping secret from us. We have no way of knowing if and how Emilie is returning her husbands gesture. All we can say is that if she does she is definitely not doing it in such an open and unconflicted way as she does with Adrien.

But since when has anything with this family been this easy?

One thing the portrait makes very clear, Adrien and Emilie had a strong and good bond. Definitely the healthiest because the Adrien-Emilie connection is the only one depicted without any kind of disruption from both sides. Both mother and son are reaching out for the other ones hand creating a whole half of the heart, showcasing their affection for another openly and without any of the implied doubts the other connections display. And honestly? Comparing all the hand placements, the one connecting Adrien and Emilie just comes across as strikingly pure and true (which makes it even worse that it was HER Adrien lost…)

As I said it's a HARSH contrast to the one Adrien shears with Gabriel. This contrast is highlighted even further by the way these three face on another.

Emilie and Adrien are positioned facing another and so are Emilie and Gabriel. Telling us that Emilie was "face-to-face" aka involved with both her husband and son. It is Adrien and Gabriel were this looks wildly different. These two have no way of seeing each other in the eyes the way they stand now/then, further displaying their deeply rooted disconnection. It's portrays perfectly how important Emilie was in this family dynamic, because even though Adrien and Gabriel bearly had a connection at all they at least had Emilie as a link between them, keeping the family together. But then they lost her and where this left both father and son off we know oh too well...

So to collect all the informations we get out if this portrait:

-Adriens and Emilies relationship was the strongest and purest. Both of their hands connect and reach out for another in the heart, showcasing that they had a loving and positive bond.

-Adriens and Gabriels relationship is heavily scarred by a deeply rooted disconnection leaving Adrien feeling unloved and unwanted by his father to the point where Adriens side of their dynamic is outside the heart altogether. Gabriel may love and adore his son just like he loves his wife and never thought he displayed his love for him in a lacking way, but fact is: this love never reached Adrien the way it should have and Adrien is the one in their dynamic who got severely hurt and damaged by it.

-Gabriel was the only one completely unconflicted and happily at peace with the former Family situation. He's reaching out to both his family members with open love and affection in blissful oblivion that neither his wife nor son could return them the same way (to different degrees for different reasons). Gabriel was the ONLY ONE in the Agreste family who didn't saw problems in their lives and thought them all happy, hence why he's so obsessed with changing the past and bringing THIS state of their family back. He was happy and he had everything he needed and loved right with him, of course he wants THIS back. He's not aware that Emilie and ESPECIALLY Adrien did not feel the same about their former situation and that bringing all of them back to this is not the perfect happy ending for their entire family as he thinks.

-Emilie may not have been as unconflicted with Gabriel as he was with her but she is NOT feeling the same disconnection her son feels and isn't depicted with negative feelings towards Gabriel. Her side in the Emilie-Gabriel relationship is neither shown outright positive as with her son or outright bad as Adrien with Gabriel. Her side of their bond is depicted through her unseen hand placement in the unknown area in between.

-Despite their not so unconflicted feelings towards Gabriel - and Gabriel himself being aloof - neither Emilie nor Adrien are actively trying to cut Gabriel out. They aren't flinching away from his touch or exclude him from the heart whatsoever. He's happily included, obviously feeling loved. They may not be 100% happy and Gabriel doesn't notice it, but they aren't denying him his happiness and make him unhappy. Again, he's the only one truly happy here. Something neither Emilie nor Adrien tried to take away from him.

-Emilie and Adrien are facing each other as do Emilie and Gabriel, implying the presence of communication and a bond. Adrien and Gabriel do not face each other, showing their disconnected bond. If they could see each others face Adrien would have been able to see that Gabriels hand is a gesture of genuine affection and Gabriel could see that Adriens expression does not exactly display pure happiness the way he thinks. This also goes for Emilie. Emilie just like her husband is placed BEHIND her son, so even if she is facing him she would not be able to really see just how much Adrien is not satisfied and truly happy with his life at that point (meaning how unhappy being looked up, friendless and at distance with his father actually makes him).

- This fascinating family makes me sad and I like it lol

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