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controlban · 11 months

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some atsv thoughts...

i was a year older than miles when i saw the first movie when it came out. now the second movie has come out, and im 20, but its not my fault the sequel took nearly 5 years to release. ageing up is fine and exists for situations like these where a piece of media didnt maturate properly with its initial fanbase, and thus didnt allow for them to naturally grow in tandem. that's literally part of what fandom/fanfiction is for. fandom and fanfiction are for people to expand on their favourite piece of media and remake it into how they want it to be. the same thing happened with mcu!peter parker. i was abt 1-2 years younger than peter parker when homecoming came out, and i was 2-3 years older than him when no way home released.

whatever happened to just judging silently, and moving on with ur day? why are people being so mean and exclusive now?

obvi ped0s are fucking vile, but no one's being a ped0 here. go find ur common sense and thinking skills.

and i bet the same ppl who are being so weird abt this fandom rn are the same ones who think the movie has copaganda... what??? tell me ur a spiderman/marvel tourist without telling me ur a tourist, smh.

this movie uses typical spiderman tropes, and makes a meta analysis of miles morales as a character and whether or not he deserves to even be spiderman. the movie uses this as a narrative device. one of the core elements of spiderman is parental figure death/trauma, his/her relationship to the police/the city (often times by way of the police chief to represent all of the police, and/or by way of the media to represent public perception of spiderman, ie.: hero vs menace).

if we wanna only talk about movies, then all 3 live action series of spiderman have done the exact same thing. the comics do it even more.

but these ppl just watch movie, see ‘cop not intrinsically bad in this one’ and go ‘hey guys, this is bad right? am i right? please agree. when are we going to do something about it’. it feels like a very uninformed and performative analysis and reaction. and its always the people who aren't the ones being affected by police/police brutality that seem to put on the biggest show about supposed copaganda. how about you do something about the very real problems happening in the real world if you're worried abt copaganda? because i'll bet every dollar i have that every person that was bird calling on twitter abt atsv never set foot anywhere near any of the many protests that happened this year for the lives of those lost to the unjust american judicial system in just this year alone.

there are ways to consume media while also being smart. stop letting twitter raise u. you don't have to constantly perform for everyone to prove you're a good, socially-conscious person.

twist your head back on.

#miles morales #across the spiderverse #atsv #atsv x reader #miles morales x reader #hobie brown #hobie brown x reader #spiderverse

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fromchaos · 2 years

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gw rating??? im glad you liked mor i want her

i want her too, anon…. i want her too….

general rating: 8/10 generational traumas

detailed, spoilery rating under the cut

it felt like half-dream, half-info dump??? which is partly why i'm still working out how i feel about it. it was definitely different from cdth and mi, in that the action-packed moments were more spread out. here, the action of the book takes place as much on the page as it does in our minds as we have to refigure what we know from the previous books with the knowledge we gained. reading the other books, i took a ton of pictures of the pages i wanted to comment on- i only had that urge once or twice while reading gw. (i'm sure other ppl have plenty of screenshots they'll post analysis of- i'm just not a big meta writer)

it felt like a more resolved and polished series ending than trk was to trc, and yet i'm not sure if that made it any more "satisfying." i may have preferred another chapter of immediate aftermath/a smaller timeskip over the epilogue we received- as much as i was glad to see my beloved sarchengsey and psychics for a brief moment, i'm not sure i wanted everything tied up so neatly and cutely as it was in that epilogue!

even though i was sure that nathan would end up being the actual antagonist after mi, that reveal didn't feel entirely "earned," in part bc we spent so much more time with bryde, delving into his philosophy and motivations. i have a lot of questions about him. i also wish we'd learned more about The Lace. those are the two things i think could have had more page-time.

i am realizing that this is awfully negative considering i gave it an 8, so here are the things i really enjoyed:

-as always, my beloved farooq-lane. mwah mwah mwah. impeccable.

-farooq-lane and hennessy's flirtation and general dynamic.

-hennessy getting to be a big damn hero (and not by suddenly not being crazy and shitty)

-ronan saving adam after everyone was predicting that adam would have a way bigger role in this book and save ronan. (not that he didn't help ronan come back to himself, he totally did)

-bryde and matthew's scenes made me crack up. i'm pretty sure @crimeronan called their dynamic to a t.

-the fact that it really did feel like a vivid dream

-mor shooting declan <3

-matthew punching declan <3

#greywaren spoilers

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o-king-of-suns · 3 years

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Hi ^^ I've recently found ur blog and read ur meta. Ur analysis is great! I'm kinda new here but I've seen so many ppl talk about Levi's guidebook page, referring to it as "the confirmation of what Levi was solely fighting for in the final battle i.e revenge by fulfilling the promise" I'm sorry if this has been pointed out before but as a Levi fan who believes otherwise, I'd love to read ur interpretation. Also u also believe the GB is implying this? I think ppl are having the wrong impression.

Hi! :) Thank you so much! I am glad you liked my meta! English is not my first language, so I try my best to express what I want to say.

Almost everyone agrees that the final guidebook is just an ABSOLUTE hot garbage! xD At this point that no one is taking seriously anymore! xD It straight up contradicts what happens in the manga, has VERY reductive and nonsensical descriptions of the characters and is FULL of errors.

The main reason to why many people have issues with Levi’s part (apart from it having nothing new or because it mainly focused on the promise) is one word that was used in the text that has been translated by some biased people into “obsessed”.

I asked 3 Japanese people (including my teacher) about the word that was used in the text and the meanings that I was given were: (be) dedicated to; have an uncompromising commitment to ; to really focus on; to be determined to; etc. From what I understood, this term is always a headache as it truly depends on what the writer wants to convey and what it “feels” right in the context. "Obsessed” is like, the most reductive reading of that word, and it's the exact word that Er_ris chose to use xD

Japanese is often qualified as vague, and it CAN leave room for interpretation. For example, the word (きれい) Isayama used to say Levi was the opposite of Rorschach could mean "pretty" or "clean" based on the context, but here's the thing: Rorschach is notoriously ugly, so it makes sense that Isayama meant that Levi is "pretty" (and it IS officially translated to "pretty" ), but I have seen MANY Japanese people say that Isayama meant "clean" not “pretty”! This word meaning in the text literally and solely depended on Isayama's intention even causing translators to get confused and translate it to “pretty”! If we look at the context of Levi’s character description in the last gb, the last line mentions that after his final mission, Levi “meets his friends with a calm heart”. Why would Levi be able to meet his friends with a “calm heart” if his entire arc was about him being “obsessed” with a personal goal and revenge?! Is this why he salutes them and they salute him back in the final chapter?! I am 100% sure that the word “obsessed” was not the one that the person who wrote the description wanted to use.

Now let’s stop talking about language translation and focus on Levi in the manga xD Is the gb version Levi the same Levi whom Isayama described as "as an existence more superior to myself" during Levi’s statue reveal just last March?!

You know, when I asked my native Japanese teacher to help me translate Isayama's statement about Levi, she sent me a 4 minute voice note breaking down the terms Isayma used and explaining how much respect the person speaking (Isayama) has for the person he's talking about (Levi). I was embarrassed to tell her that the person he’s speaking about is actually a fictional character lol

Isyama used 頭の上がらない which literally means “can’t raise someone’s head” but it actually means “can’t raise someone’s head in front someone else for how much respect they have for this person”

Now let’s look at Levi’s actions in the manga to see if we can reach to the same conclusion.

Levi is one of, if not the most, perceptive characters in SNK. In one the official short stories, he was described as a person who is able to “know the true nature of Man”. For Levi, Zeke is a man who cheered with satisfaction as he threw rocks through fifteen year olds. He’s the person who nonchalantly explained to Levi the process of gassing an entire village of unsuspecting civilians and flinging them into an eternal nightmare in order to weaponize their bodies. Zeke’s manipulations are the origin of almost all of Paradis’ problems, whether it’s encouraging Marley to ramp up aggressions or pulling shady shit with Kiyomi, Yelena and the Jaegerists that destabilizes their already vulnerable island. And what’s worse - because we’re reading a story where torn-up characters are often excused by circumstances of coercion or perceived necessity - he doesn’t care. He feels no remorse. He wants to do this. Levi doesn’t know Zeke’s ultimate reasoning of course, but he recognized through the smoke of the campfire a man who doesn’t give a fuck about the wishes and agency of others. Who will force his own will on a race of humans and call it mercy. AND YET, Levi stays with him for A WHOLE MONTH in the forest bringing him books, drinks and a pillow to sit on. He keeps asking him about what happened in Connie’s village trying over and over to understand him. And then the guy transforms Levi’s own teammates in front of him, forces him to kill them and taunts him with their suffering. Levi perceives a person who’s arrogant enough to consider his cruelty compassion as he decides whether the lives of their children are worth living.YET, Levi decided to keep him alive because he believed that it is what’s the best for Paradis; a decision that eventually caused Levi’s severe injuries and the activation of the Rumbling!

During the final battle, Levi offered to act as a bait for Mikasa so she can try to bring back Armin and risks his life TWICE to save Jean and Connie risking his chances to ever fulfill his promise to Erwin.

Please tell me now that these are actions of an “obsessed” man who is only focused on killing Zeke and revenge.

The first time Levi mentions the vow after the time skip, he says: “Erwin, I think I will be finally able to fulfill the vow I made to you that day. Your deathS had meaning. At last I will be able to prove it” Levi clearly associates giving meaning to his comrades’ deaths WITH fulfilling his vow to Erwin. This is the line that proves that the vow has always meant something more.

Levi made a promise that came to represent the fulfillment of the goal all his former Survey Corps comrades laid down their lives for. Slaying the Beast Titan took on symbolic stature, a tangible way of giving their sacrifices meaning - especially in a world where the circumstances had drastically shifted and enemies, allies, and other were suddenly seen from a completely different perspective.

In Ch. 136, Levi remembers his friends and reflects upon their sacrifices and what they meant. They did not sacrifice their lives to “trample the lives and hearts of others”.

We never got a SINGLE panel in which he says that he fulfilled his promise! In the last apparition of his fallen comrades, Erwin isn’t even in the center. He salutes his fallen comrades for devoting their hearts for humanity and they salute him back for honoring their sacrifices.

If there is one thing that Levi was “obsessed” about, it is him trying to give meaning to the deaths and sacrifices of the people who truly devoted their hearts to humanity and whom he truly loved

#anon ask #ask

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dystopiandramaqueen · 3 years

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Hi! I really enjoy your input of the character dynamics of THT. Wanted to run something by you to see what you thought about it. I think this season was phenomenal when touching in the topic of anger. Usually we see people that have suffered something make it out of whatever wrong was done, victorious by doing and feeling what society thinks this person should do or feel in order for those around the victim to feel comfortable. If you do what your abuser did then you lose, because you become like them. We don’t see anger as a valid tool, because one can get lost in anger. Yet this season we saw that battle between what’s right and what’s wrong to feel after trauma. We saw it in June and her internal battle and how she correlates what she feels with her motherhood. We see it in Moira wanting to move past anger and the person that victimized you. In Luke as he’s trying to simply move on and trying so desperately hard to get something for himself for his sense of comfort. And in Emily who has hidden that part of herself so well I think in order to heal and in order to fit in as well, but it’s there and she enjoyed that she and June feel exactly the same.

I think the ending was perfection. I felt happy watching it, and I know a lot of people will and have issues with why the show went there. Why make the main character (“hero”) of this story cross that line. When one analyzes it, I think we also have that internal battle as June just became like them. I know this won’t bring her closure, Lawrence says it, it won’t be enough for you. But I think it’s what she needs to heal as weird it might sound.

And Nick knows it, he gets it. And he doesn’t question it. I seriously doubt he would’ve done this if he thought this would’ve damaged her. He would’ve don’t it himself if he knew this spared her of more trauma. As he’s done for the past 4 seasons he’s supported her, looked out for her but hasn’t for once tried to change her or not allow her her journey. He’s walked along side her giving her her own identity and I fucking loved how the writers did this.

Sorry for the long post. I enjoy analyzing too and I just wanted to see what you thought. Thanks!

I love long posts, I’m wordy too. It means you feel passionately and have lots of ideas, it’s a good thing. 🖤

I love this ask. This is a great Meta analysis.

Everyone has traumatic experiences.

Experiences that overwhelm our ability to cope and rewire our brains. That change us permenantly.

Everyone responds to their triggers differently.

Whole generations have denied the existence of mental illness, self medicating with alcohol and gaslighting their poor frightened lonely children instead.

Some hide and freeze like Emily.

Some start over and build a new life like Moira.

Why do we feel we can judge their coping mechanisms?

Imagine a drowning man clinging to a splintered raft in the ocean.

Should we get on discord and blog about how ugly his raft is? Lol like … omg dude get a real life raft wtf… that’s just a log man god get your shit together! Dude he should have planned ahead and had a radio so he could call the coastguard what a fucking loser it’s really his own fault he wasn’t more prepared for the shipwreck.

Do you see?

When we are drowning. We survive the best we can.

Some cling to new beginnings. Like Moira.

Some make themselves very quiet and small like Emily.

Some drink or smoke to dull the pain.

Some binge eat.

Some hyperfixate on television shows and live in an elaborate fantasy world where we write happy endings in fic over and over so we can believe happy endings are possible for us…

*cough* other ppl do that.

Not me. 👀

Not you. 😅

No but seriously.

When someone shows you where it hurts.

You say: I believe you. I’m sorry that happened. That must have been horrible. How are you coping?

Stop trying to decide if the way they are surviving is “good” or “bad”.

It’s ok to smile when June avenges herself.

It’s ok to feel good when our hero heals and regains agency despite all the shit she went thru.

It’s ok for us to do the same.

#meta #ask #the handmaid's tale #osblaine

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incarnateirony · 3 years

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idk if you are on twitter, but there's a journalist named Natalie fisher that basically just said we should believe that episode 18 was mishas last? on one hand a lot of the analysis you provide makes sense, but also like,, she is a journalist so idk what to do with this information

...Listen, I’m going to tell you something.

Someone literally told that same journalist exactly what was going to happen in the 15.18 confession scene before it happened and she argued with them that it wasn’t going to happen.

I only know this because a friend explicitly asked me if they were allowed to tell her our exclusive leak which was different from the original script leak but had to do with a fluke interception of the episode in transit. Because other countries exist that dub the show. But of course you can't just swing that around, so it was proposed, and apparently, she sat there refusing it. Well, we tried.

Our own server was so damn well prepared the bot was coded to link a Whitney Houston song any time someone yelled WHITNEY, as was expected inevitable, because the general vibe was

An entire server of clowns had like 60 memes ready. But here she is, arguing. With someone who knew better. For 2 months. Condescendingly even. Like wow that's stupid it would never be that loud ignore it lolol.

In fact in her misguided confidence she basically gaslit both herself and the friend to the point the friend rolled back what they believed and started questioning if it was a translation issue since it didn't arrive in english and maybe cas reall WASN'T going to tell dean he had always loved him and tell him why he deserves it before the empty takes him.

Uhhh...

So like.

Take it with a grain of salt.

Natalie is usually good, for the record. Among journalists, she’s okay. She’s even friends with Meredith. But that said Meredith clearly didn’t tell her that, and that had been planned from go. She’s been stonewalled, she’s not getting screeners, she’s not getting intel, she’s /just as blind as you are right now./

Also her own logic is self-contradicting. What she is functioning on is anxiety.

Just like everybody else. She’s not used to flying blind. She’s used to knowing exactly what’s going on. She’s not used to doing fandom CSI and frankly, she even has been known to uh, borrow meta, but most meta right now is “DeanCas?” and she doesn’t want to do that because “getting up people’s hopes” or whatever. So she doesn’t have her direct feed line, she doesn’t have her screeners, she doesn’t have her normal press access and she doesn’t even have content to lift.

Summarily: she has no idea how to function right now, and I actually mean that in the kindest way.

As for that conflicting logic? Read her thread and apply your brain.

She acknowledges that Misha said he was going to be filming 5 more days after episode 18.

She then says that covid might have changed it.

She then also says that the reason he can’t come back is actually because that would just about demand reciprocation from Dean which, she personally believes they can’t do (just like she didn’t believe a week and a half ago that they were going to do ... uh, 15.18.)

Okay, so riddle me this: if the logic is that Misha can’t come back cuz it’s too gay, what does covid have to do with that change, and why would that change from literally the day after they filmed 15.18?

Logic people. Use it. Stop letting anxiety drive your CPU.

Like either they had a way to handle it or they didn't. You don't cut one of your leads for extras after a major plot decision. And she even breaks out the stupid HE WAS FILMING A DIFFERENT MOVIE THATS WHY HE WAS IN VAN line.

Protip: spn was the only thing back in production then. They were the first ones back and a testing ground for Vancouver protocol.

Protip: the Amazon movie he's filming is filmed in the US

Protip: he went through multiple beard and haircut waves between each of these events, changing for each role.

What this actually means is, in lieu of actual sources, she's lifting fandom created noises that simple checks shoot down (eg being in van before van filming opened to film a us movie that didn't start filming for weeks even after his covid quarantine period in the wrong goddamn fucking country). Fandom, so goddamn desperate to find some validation for noise, decides to ascribe extra meaning to words and ideas they themselves halfassedly created and got a confused fandom journo to repeat in lieu of other sources. This is like the Trump Fox loop.

Pls ppl i beg you to use your braincases.

Like us, sitting here staring into the abyss of a transcript of not just words but events, trying to shoot holes in the source for months, peering into the abyss of the chain link saying "Destiel is going canon" (though i disagree with the fandom use of the term still) and even we weren't ready for the merch line that Stands had planned for a year and a half and also not told anyone.

Is this a way to promise your specific destiel goalpost is hit, no. But it's a point that currently she knows no more than you do, she has been violently wrong on just this topic matter recently, and her points don't even MAKE SENSE.

As it is, even on set leakers have been wrong. The original march leak came attached to a statement of having read 19 and Cas not even being mentioned. How did that work out for you?

But sure. They decided a groundbreaking swing for Cas with marketing for Dare To Defy everyone called queerbait that he and Jensen were both put in and a full planned merch line but stopped their plans because of the gay covid.

Again, do i promise your personal destiel landmark, no. Am i confident that Misha will be in the finale? Absolutely. If you remember in regards to destiel, before the season started, I commented that with the change in WB leadership, having its first woman CEO, having more women, people of color, and lgbtq people in high-ranking positions that ever, they're repackaging plan to recover from the AT&T bounce, the complete crash out of CEOs in their child and sister companies, and more, Anything Could Happen. I believe I used the term, it is a roll of the dice. Somewhere in the depths of my blog from season 14 and 15 Hiatus is the phrase, with the right roll of the dice, we could do anything. That line, from the god corporate told them in s11 they couldn't kill so they would find another way, has still slapped the taste out of my mouth from the Trap.

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phaltu · 2 years

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zan, i wanted to ask you something - and i hope you don't mind the lengthy ask, but i'm gonna split this into two (or three). i wanted to ask you this because you are one of my favorite writers in danmei, and i wanted to get your two cents on this. so. if there's one thing that i've noticed in danmei fandom, it's that there seems to be two groups of ppl - i'll call them A & B. A are those who don't necessarily create, who are more there to rlly digest and meta the texts. if they do create 1/

- then they're most likely to be canon compliant, e.g. following mxtx's rules of no switching, no separating. B is what i would call the transformative one, who aren't rlly canon compliant and who break those "rules", so they switch up dynamics or separate the main cp. personally i'm not inclined to switch or separate, but even so, if it's not done because bottoming is seen as "weak", which is another thing altogether, then i think it's all good? and my ask is - 2/

- i've seen ppl in group A diss ppl in group B, calling them stupid for shipping character a of main cp with side character b (regardless of whether or not they want that ship to be canon, which is not usually the case), and even outright saying that ao3 sucks (which is okay, warranted, giving that ao3 lacks in the blocking/reporting feature), but generally i'm just a little.. surprised because i come from fandoms where practices in group B were the norm, ppl would go ham with canon 3/

- and altho both groups are not mutually exclusive, you can have someone who is very canon compliant in their own fics but reads more transformative works, i just. i guess i'm confused (and paranoid) because i don't know what should be, or is the right "approach" re: fandom. on the one hand, i like canon compliant, and do write canon compliant, but on the other, i would also like the wiggle room to create freely. i don't want to be cancelled by group A for having OOC characterization 4/

or get called out for "writing OCs with the characters' faces just pasted onto them". and i know, i get the irony, why am i, a fully grown-adult (ha!) so concerned abt what other ppl on the internet think abt me and my whims? a few years back i was worried i wasn't wild enough with my fics, because i was very canon-compliant, and a few years later i'm worried i'm not canon enough. just - may i ask what is your approach to fandom, in general and in danmei? i know i said only 2-3 asks but ;_; end/

----------------------------

Honestly I think it's all about who you follow! I follow a wide variety of folks and funnily enough, people I mutual'd from one danmei are rigid with canon and people I mutualed from others are WAY more open to being like group B. Both have their pros and cons-- the former, I have to end up seeing ships and concepts and pairings I loathe untagged, and with the latter, I can't run blockchain on their insane friends that rant like they and the author because then I'll accidentally block people I actually like talking with.

anyways my approach in fandom has really...always been to just do my own thing. compared to how I was when I participated in Voltron, I don't really get involved in discussions about characterizations and meta and critical analysis or what not. First, because I like to put that energy towards writing personally, and while others get joy out of it, I don't particularly personally, and second, I pretty much have only 2, 3 friends I talk about the danmei I consume with when it comes to actual headcanons because we're on the same page when it comes to how we interpret texts, so it's fun.

I love making things for fandom and I like consuming things and I love fandom community that way. I love the what-ifs and the horny ideas and what not. But critical analysis and head canons and meta in general is just not my shtick. anything i have to say about the character, i say it through fic which brings me to my last part in this rambling answer which is that as long as the fic feels right to me, it's going to go up.

I've written some OOC stuff myself but as long as you have the confidence in what you're writing, people are going to be really forgiving. Sometimes when I doubt myself, I think about all the people tweeting wildly incorrect meta with their whole chest talking about how you need reading comprehension if you don't see it their way, and channel the same inner confidence, as misguided as theirs may be.

if someone was to rip me for my characterizations I'd feel hurt for sure but I don't pre-emptively think about it when I'm posting something. If I do, it's kind of a "well if it sucks it sucks I guess" which is part in due to me just getting slapped so much irl that fandom is low on the list of things to spend time having a crisis about

also if you're following anyone that says ao3 sucks just unfollow them. mute them. get rid of them. if they're mutuals mute them. so many mutuals have to cycle through the mute bin for my own sanity and in some cases, our friendship

ANYWAYSSSSSSSSSSSSS long rant over just post that fic!! do it!!!

#answer #long story short i closed myself off more after vld and it worked wonders #isntead of brain there is just mii music

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rookisaknight · 2 years

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Figured I'd send you an ask instead of tacking onto an already quite long post while the tag for said posts is going thru Something(tm)- I like reading your analysis, but it also touches upon smth that was discussed when I was in college (studied film/animation) that they unfortunately didn't go into too much, but: there's multiple ways to analyze a narrative, 1) in the meta sense, where you treat characters as the narrative tools they are and delve into how they fulfull their narrative purpose, or 2) in-narrative (i'd call it diegetic but to most ppl that's just a music term), where you analyze characters like they're people with motivations etc. etc., which I feel like is the more common way that shows, movies, etc. are discussed online. I personally greatly enjoy reading about both, which is why I don't mind these rambles of yours, but it might make it easier for you/all of us to distinguish these two ways of approaching FC3, because I agree, it can get messy/complicated, and depending on which method you use, you're probably going to get wildly different outcomes on whether the standard Symmetry theory makes sense or not

Oh trust me I'm very familiar with the diegesis question (I got my Master's in English). and yeah tbh there is, a simplicity in splitting the uprights on those two modes of reading. There's definitely plenty of texts where I do prefer to engage with one over the other. Into the Woods, for instance, I read non-diagetically: its a story ABOUT fairy tale logic and it does a disservice to the text to react to actions of characters like they're real people. On the other hand, I read A Song of Ice and Fire almost entirely diagetically. Non-diagetic readings of ASOIAF can be compelling to me (there's a really good essay I found on the Others as perpetual warfare), but ultimately what I find the most interesting about that series are the complicated interpersonal tensions. It doesn't do me any good to really think about what these characters represent on a meta level because how they interact with themselves and each other as people is what's interesting to me.

With Far Cry though, that "mess" I refer to in all honesty is what makes the series so interesting to me. There's this constant underlying tension between what these characters represent within their meta narratives versus who they are within their own worlds. Its not just that they're different, but in the case of Citra and Vaas they can even be completely contradictory roles that, like you said, provoke completely opposing reactions from their audiences when looked at in isolation. That's not a negative so far as I'm concerned, its part of why I keep returning to this knot to untangle it and part of why I keep picking at a proper essay outline. Because I think there's something this series tries to say, and each game since 3 is a different attempt to get that meaning across, each with its own unique strengths and weaknesses. Part of my interest as a media crit guy is unpacking what works and what doesn't (from my perspective, for all that's worth lol)

That's not to say I don't enjoy other kinds of content. I have OCs for the far cry universe, I have fic concepts that are entirely about the interpersonal, I enjoy fanart and a whole variety of means of engagement. In the end you really kind of do have to pick and choose how you want to enjoy certain aspects. But the is the one that tends to linger the most with me and that keeps bringing me back here is just staring at this strange and contradictory piece of media and trying to see where one thread joins into the next.

#by the way i hope the opening paragraph doesnt come across as like snotty or anything #i dont expect you to magically intuit my academia credentials i just have chronic grad school give background disease asdkfjhsakdfjh #thank you so much for all the questions by the way its been a good way to clarify a lot of this #far cry #girthy ramble #far cry 3

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silver-wield · 4 years

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Do you have the language of flowers body language discovery event analysis? Would like to know your thoughts on it.

Okay, language of flowers discovery, which is something else that's all about Zack.

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be long.

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Please check my master post to see if I've already covered your question, thanx

Let's mosey!

Recap time!

After completing all the quests in sector 5, which Cloud was not a happy bunny about, he and Aerith head back to her house because her mom made dinner. Before that, though, Aerith heads over to one of the flower beds and calls for Cloud to join her.

Just gonna add that this is completely avoidable if you ignore Aerith and go into the house, same as alone at last is avoidable if you go back to the bar. Because I did this. I checked it out. After some dumdum tried to say you can't skip it. Because you can.

Also, you have Marle in alone at last who stops Cloud for a chat, but here, it's just Cloud and Aerith with no one else for a pre-chat chat.

Yeah, that's Cloud's face the second we see him. I mean, the boi doesn't look impressed. He's like “da fuq?”

And when Cloud asks if Aerith's talking to the flowers, not that he even gets to finish that question, she shushes him. What's really interesting about that moment, is that although Aerith initially gives Cloud a bright smile like she's playing, before she's even brought her finger away from her lips she's giving him a less than pleased expression. Then there's the fact she shushed him at all. For people who say this is romantic, shushing somebody when they're trying to talk to you is rude.

And it's here that the black, white and red butterfly first appears and begins hovering near to Aerith. It stays around for the entire scene. The symbolism of this type of butterfly is drawn from several sources, but the overall implication is that it's a departed soul of a loved one. Since Aerith is obviously talking to Zack and not the actual flowers during this scene, the butterfly symbolises his presence beside her.

Aerith speaks the line about the day she had in a resigned tone, indicating she wasn't having as much fun as she made it seem. Aerith is someone who hides her feelings behind a bright smile – which is often misinterpreted by her fans as something it's not. She likely endured much of Cloud's bad mood just as much as he endured her. The meta knowledge she has says they're friends and she misses her friends because she gives each and every one of them a bright smile when they meet again, but she's also aware that she could hurt Tifa because of Cloud, so she's already making an attempt to keep him at a distance, while also trying to become friends with him again.

This is so obviously her thinking about Zack I shouldn't even have to bring it up. She looks like she's having a conversation with him, tilting her head, smiling and looking more happy than the entire time she's spent with Cloud. We get zero shots of Cloud during this. Instead, we get a shot of the flowers. Surely, if she's trying to engage with Cloud we'd see him? It's like he's been cut from the scene. There's no sounds from him to say he's part of the conversation and there's no reaction from him to show he's even still there. Aerith's focus is totally on that flower bed and Cloud could've left and I doubt she'd notice.

And if the fact she's ignoring Cloud isn't evidence enough, she's blushing here. After tilting her head to listen to something the flowers said and one touched another. So, a language of flowers kiss from Zack to Aerith and she sighs and blushes.

Zack's a bigger dork than Cloud.

And that butterfly is still hovering around Aerith, because one of the meanings of that kind of butterfly is that it shows up to chase away any potential rivals. Cloud isn't even a rival, but it's gonna make sure he doesn't get a chance to become one lol

We can't see Aerith's face exactly here, but her mouth is a straight line and she's looking at the ground with a vacant stare. Seems like she's lost in thought.

We still don't get to see Cloud's face during this. He's basically a totem that the audience is using to sit on so they can watch Aerith. It could literally be anybody standing there and we'd get the same result of that character being detached from what's happening because we don't get to see their reaction.

And then we get a mid range shot of the two of them standing pretty far apart with the butterfly flitting about between them. In the background we can see the house with its triangle windows, which are dark for now indicating the LTD aspect isn't lit up, which means we've not reached any LTD references yet. Which is interesting because in the OG we've had several before we reach Aerith's house.

That line is such a Zack thing to say there's no way she wasn't talking to him and imagining what he'd say to her. He died five days ago and she knows that, so it's actually heartbreaking that she'd choose something he'd say as a reply here. It shows how close they were that she'd know his speech patterns and phrases he'd use. It shows how much she loves him that even when she's hurting from his death she'd choose something he'd say just to try and bring herself closer to him.

And that butterfly is still between her and Cloud.

Cloud offers polite interest because he's been learning lessons and applying them. It's called character development and isn't that special seeing how he already asked Biggs about Jessie and then offered Wedge encouragement when he felt down all the way back in chapter 4. He didn't say anything with the level of importance of “if you wanna talk, I'm listening,” because he doesn't know Aerith, but he's trying to join in the conversation and not be such a closed off asshole to people.

Aerith they didn’t say anything, but she looks depressed as she says that because she wishes she could hear Zack’s voice. It’s in her downed dialogue that she hears his voice calling to her.

Then we get Aerith looking at us. Because Aerith does that. A lot. Of all the cast who do a 4th wall break and look at the audience, Aerith does it the most and usually it results in her trolling the players. Which is hilarious and I support it!

Aerith shrugs and, still looking at the camera—us—says it's not like we'd believe her. This is so damn funny! She's basically saying even if she outright said to everyone that she loves Zack, she isn't interested in Cloud and actually likes Tifa and doesn't wanna be part of their toxic nightmare LTD that those people still wouldn't listen to her. And the look on her face when she says it is like “We've all tried for 23 years and you still won't listen.”

And Cloud barely gives her enough eye contact to suggest they're talking to each other and then dismisses her. Which feels like it relates to the meta message Aerith just gave about fans not listening to them.

Then he stops. Has another thought about not being an asshole. This is all soldier Cloud btw, I checked and there's none of those real Cloud hints we get around Tifa and and post resolutions.

Aerith seems surprised at this change in him, since she's not done anything to warrant it, but obviously she doesn't know about stuff he's done with Avalanche and anything outside of her general knowledge. She wouldn't know about Marle or the Jessie job or him flirting with Tifa or any of that. She only knows about him from what OG Aerith knows and she'd only know about Cloud from the moment they met.

And again, Aerith's looking at the flowers. Obviously this message is plot related and hints at Aerith's upcoming fate. She says it won't be much longer now, meaning she doesn't have much time left to live. The flowers having an important message to give her is one of those mysteries that we're not gonna get an answer to yet because it's something that's related more to how the flower metaphors unfold and isn’t part of any romantic context.

And when we cut back to where we can see Cloud we see he's not even looking at Aerith. Polite interest, like I said. He's not actually interested. But the butterfly is still flitting around Aerith, so it cares at least.

Then we get a shot of Aerith's right hand, which is a symbol of strength, protection and resolve. Aerith knows what her duty is and she's determined to see it through, even though she's likely very scared about what she has to do.

Cloud looks meh about this. There's literally no reaction happening here and the only reason I'm including it is to show that Cloud has no reaction to what Aerith just said.

But when Aerith speaks of giving up and it's what she does best he gets another big mood face on. If what she did that day was giving up then he probably doesn't want to know what she's like when she's trying lol

He even says he doesn't believe that about her. “Could've fooled me.” People really don't listen to Cloud, do they? He's not meta, doesn't do double speak. He says what's on his mind. He doesn't say everything on his mind at every moment, but when he shares, he's straight with it. If he thinks Aerith isn't like how she thinks she is then that's how he thinks.

Aerith says today is special, Cloud looks away as he asks why and then we get another bit of Aerith trolling the camera. She gives it a long look, laughs and keeps her gaze on it and gives it this knowing little look like she knew people would get all excited by her doing that and that's why she laughs. It's got nothing to do with Cloud. Although we know Cloud doesn't like it when people laugh at him, so she probably accomplished a couple of goals there by alienating him a bit more.

Which, yeah, she did, because his face is not amused. Cloud doesn't like gossip or being made fun of.

Cloud says to the flowers to learn to talk to her, but the flowers are a representation of Zack during this scene, so he's saying to Zack to learn to talk to her, and then we get the butterfly in the frame again, front and centre this time confirming the symbolism.

I might've suggested Cloud's words were about himself with Tifa, but he's very much soldier Cloud during this, so I don't think he'd say anything out loud about her unless real Cloud prompted him to, and since he's absent from this scene I can't see it being anything other than soldier Cloud drawing on real Cloud's dork personality trait and trying to sound cool with it.

Aerith asking if the flowers said anything and Cloud repeats the Zack line. Her answer of “that's the spirit!” has a double meaning. It could mean that's the attitude you need to have towards it. Or, it could mean, that's Zack's spirit.

In conclusion

This is pretty much Aerith and Zack with Cloud as a bystander/third wheel. There's some great meta moments from Aerith where she trolls the players and calls out their bs about LTD stuff and anything else to do with her or the other characters having their own opinions.

On the surface of it, the only reason I can see for people to even think it's something it's not is the fact that Aerith is smiling and perky. Like, someone isn't allowed to be like that unless it's romantically motivated. But, Aerith is like that. She's the girl who hides her pain behind a smile.

Cloud isn't really present for much of this scene when you really notice it. We get his back more than his face and when we do see his face he's not looking at Aerith or he's looking bland af. The most animated expression he makes is right at the start with the one eyebrow lift. After that, his face is in lockdown lol

#final fantasy 7 remake spoilers #scene analysis #language of flowers #it's all Zerith #I was surprised how little Cloud's actually a part of this

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bigskydreaming · 5 years

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fhalkfhaklfhlkak i hate this

TW really truly literally ruined the word ‘spark’ for me. Like the whole damn word. I hear it now and I’m like, NOPE, like...idk, some people who cringe when they hear the word moist or panties. Apologies to anyone who hates those words and cringed, i dont actually know if thats a thing or if like, I just have weird friends. Probably just the latter.

But anyways, Im just like...lmfao. Its so visceral too? Like I have this one original project, Waveriders, that I’ve been fiddling with off and on in the background of other projects for awhile, might have talked about it on here, idk, I don’t keep track.

Basically its a far future sci-fi novel/setting for linked shorter works set on a gas giant that was settled by humans who figured that they can’t possibly be stepping on anyone’s toes there, its a freaking gas giant, hello, no one’s home, right? They literally have to make their own ground by using technology to form anti-gravity wells in the habitable zone of the atmosphere and like, make floating cities and then these kind of buoys scattered across the planet that create these electromagnetic currents that flow in specific ‘routes’ between the cities, and people travel between them in these flying ships that use magnetized hulls and solar sails to ride these currents, and blah blah blah, yada yada yada, bc like, why would I resist an opportunity to have floating cities and sky pirates and ancient cyborg machine dragons? Doesn’t make sense.

Anyway, so couple thousand years after settling this planet, and by then for Plotty Reasons there are people who have what’s called waveriding abilities, like they can ‘hack’ certain wavelengths or types of energy and manipulate them in various ways, but only one kind of energy per person, and they each have their own little names and niches.

So, y’know, basically just like ATLA, except for like, its energy powers and there are cyborg machine dragons and floating cities and sky pirates, obvsly. Plus areas of totally fucked up gravity called the badlands that are all like, criminal underworld metropolis because normal people are like lol nope, we like it when up is up and down is down, all of this is very just...nope. And also because shocking and totally unexpected plot twist, they were totally wrong about the planet being uninhabited just cuz it didn’t have Earth type ground...like, so in addition and on top of and in conjunction with all of the above and whatnot, there are these beings called Chaos Angels, that are basically like sentient quantum waveforms that can take any shape or appearance, but just, have no physical substance and yet are really good at faking that they’re not totally there when they fuck with humans, which they do a lot, because well. Why not, y’know?

But other than that, its exactly like ATLA. I’m a derivative hack. I disgust myself, truly I do.

BUT the point of this particular synaptic misfire aka ADHD ramble, is that so, okay, these different types of not!benders are all called waveriders as an overall umbrella term, but with ten different subsets of this in total, right? So people who can ‘hack’ light and manipulate it in various ways are called brightriders, and people who are tuned into soundwaves are called echo-riders, and some can manipulate the more electricity-skewed side of the electromagnetic spectrum and those are shockriders and the ones who skew more to the magnetic side are steelriders but I’m probably gonna change that because it sounds like a porno? Yeah no, just saw it outside of my notes for the first time and can confirm, definitely sounds like a porno so they’re not gonna be called steel-riders, but they will be called something steel-rider-esque. You get it.

And then there are the five weird ones that people aren’t totally quite sure how their waveriding shticks work because the kinds of energy they hack aren’t like....the kinds that work in the same way as the others with their easily discernible and patternistic wavelengths, and scientists and scholars are always arguing like but skyriders aren’t even in the same FIELD as the other waverider types because gravity isn’t even an actual ENERGY, just because we talk about gravity waves doesn’t mean they’re remotely the same thing as lightwaves, they make no SENSE, and I’m just like hahaha, I am your god, fictional scientists. Fucking deal with it. Plus it does make sense, you just don’t know the Secret Rules and Logistics that I do, pfft.

Anyway, so the other types are boomriders who hack kinetic energy and skyriders of course obviously manipulate gravity, and then the last three are really weird, and super rare and thus don’t really have set names and just have lots of nicknames and are often just thought to be rumors. So those are the bio-riders who manipulate chemical energy though it often gets mistakenly referred to or just handwaved as being ‘life energy’ as though that’s a thing, ugh future way advanced people are so dumb sometimes, honestly. But so they can manipulate biological processes in various ways and do things with healing and also hurting, and basically just don’t piss one off ever. Like. You’ll die. And then there’s the psi-riders, who are essentially psychics and hack brainwaves, and I’m not at all bitter that I lack the balls to just go for broke and call them ghost riders like I want to, because ghost riders obviously sounds way cooler?? But also, Marvel would definitely sue?? Because they’re just, like that.

And like, the last of the Weird Ones are the ones so super rare and also so hard to actually....tell if someone actually IS one, that most people think they don’t actually even exist and are just an unsubstantiated like, theoretical idea some scientist had once while high and then just, never shut up about so eventually the idea caught on. And those are the quantum-riders, or luck-riders, basically they theoretically manipulate quantum wavelengths in ways that are almost impossible to identify, like theoretically they wouldn’t even know they were doing it? Anyway, so lots of times, what are actually quantum-riders are just jealously thought to be like, really fucking lucky assholes. Even though the way their powers work really don’t have anything to do with luck or even probability, specifically, like that’s a simplistic approximation and its more like they manipulate possibilities but also shut up me, nobody cares.

ANYWAY, people who can count and who actually bothered to would probably notice by now like the funky little geniuses they are that all of those still only adds up to nine. And that’s because of the last one, the one that SHOULD go up in the brightrider, shockrider, notpornIswear!steel-rider hierarchy or taxidermy or whatever the fuck. And these are the ones who manipulate what’s essentially thermal energy, or more accurately the microwave-skewing side of the ultraviolet spectrum whereas brightriders are just the ones who skew more to the infrared side of it.

And the long and short of all of this Unnecessary-ness and the source of my fit of pique and ensuing ramble-palooza....is that ORIGINALLY, they were SUPPOSED to be called sparkriders.

But OBVIOUSLY I can’t call them that anymore, because like. I tried, and I was like ugh you drama queen slash whiny pissbaby, it was just a shitty teen supernatural show and SPARK WAS NEVER EVEN CANON, do not let THEM win and ruin a perfectly good classification name! But I did. I did let it ruin them, and its. Well. Its a problem, because I kept thinking up ways to kill off the sparkrider characters for absolutely no reason at all instead of like....thinking up ways to make the plot do what it was outlined to do in their parts of the story.

This may come like, way out of left field, and just SHOCK and STUN and BEWILDER some of you, like....no way, srsly? But yeah, true story, among my many canon mental neuroses like ADHD, PTSD, magical depression hour and super fun anxiety like....there is a tiny possibility (aka actual diagnosis) that while I don’t talk about this much, or ever really, I do have a smidge of ye old OCD? Its not like, a big thing and doesn’t really affect my daily routines and that’s pretty much why I never usually bring it up or list it alongside the rest of the crap on my neurodivergence resumé or whatever, because like, there’s already WAY too many misconceptions out there about what OCD actually is and what constitutes it, and tons of people are always jokingly but also thinking they’re kinda half serious, like ‘oh I’m so OCD about this and this and that’ and its like. LOL. Are you though? You sure?

Anyway, but point being, the way mine manifests for me is like...not actually a problem? Like, I don’t actually have any REAL complaints about it at all, just half-assed little fits of pique ones like this, which is the other part of why I never bring it up, because too often ppl just can’t fathom that OCD or even any kind of neurodivergence can be...WANTED, or a good thing, and lololol, that’s ableism, folks. But its true, I don’t actually mind mine at all, even if it occasionally makes things frustrating, when I get stuck like I am now. But the flip side of it is....its actually a pretty huge part of my creativity and just the way my mind works in general....like, what people accredit to me being particularly insightful about character analysis or drawing connections or stuff like that in meta or fics or my novels or worldbuilding...that’s what it is. That’s my OCD in action.

My brain like...REQUIRES that I find patterns in....pretty much everything. Even day to day mundane stuff too, though like I said, its mild enough there that it doesn’t fuck with my routines too much, but like, I have to order things into nice, neat patterns and groupings. And if there aren’t any that are immediately obvious, I kinda pretty much HAVE to dig deeper until I find some on a slightly deeper level, something beneath the surface or first glance, and keep going until I find something.....or worst case scenario, I have to like....add stuff and embellish and fill in gaps with my own ‘content’ until I have the rough edges rounded off into something that CAN be stacked neatly atop some other part of the story or whatever it is I’m focusing on? And the obsessive-compulsive part for me is like, lol, I gotta find it SOMEWHERE, SOMEHOW.

My brain literally won’t shut off or grudgingly accept being diverted to a different subject until I’ve made some kind of pattern or flowchart or classification system. It will literally keep me up for hours, going over the same things over and over from every angle until I find SOME way to....reassemble or restructure it in some nice, neat little order of some type. I mean that’s basically what it is. My brain insists on me forming some semblance of order out of any glimpse I have of what I would otherwise term creative chaos. And it won’t give up until it gets what it wants, which when you throw in my ADHD and how often I’ll get derailed off on slight tangents but with my OCD then sooner or later forcing me back to the original focus, rinse and repeat ad nauseam....like. LOL. I learned to operate on very little sleep from a pretty young age by necessity, its just...my brain, dudes. Its just like that.

But the perks are like, I pretty much think this is WHY I’m so creative....because my brain, for as long as I can remember, has always just kinda....forced me to be? Also probably has a lot to do with well...eh, I don’t need to talk about that right now. Whatever. Anyway, point being, so....I do like the end results very much so, and for all its....Why Must You Be Like This eccentricities, I’m quite attached to my brain and would not be very likely to agree to a trade even were one possible. I mean don’t get me wrong, I could do without the PTSD and anxiety, if we’re just, like....talking some pruning shears or whatever, but the actual creative machinery, I’m keeping. Ultimately it just means I really fucking like patterns and finding patterns or making patterns where previously there were none, or at least none that were easy to spot.

But ugh, man, these are the rare times when I’m like omg, just call it a day, we don’t ACTUALLY have to come up with the perfect replacement name for that one relatively small and insignificant detail of a much larger story that isn’t even in the Top Ten list of my main priorities at the moment. And my asshole of a brain is just like....yeah no, we gotta. You know the rules dude, you decided it was official, that name didn’t work anymore and was never gonna, so now we gotta find a replacement or else things will be UNEVEN?? The pattern will be...missing a piece? There will be CHAOS AND ANARCHY IN THE STREETS THAT RUNNETH OVER WITH BLOOD? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT??

And so I’m like....literally sitting here googling synonyms for spark because I’m just like that sometimes, lmfao. Oh and of course its gotta be a GOOD replacement, naturally. I can’t just shoehorn in a somewhat acceptable substitute that in the back of my mind I’m expecting to only be temporary, until I come up with something better. See, because my brain will KNOW, and it will NOT be okay with that, because that is CHEATING. And my brain, apparently, has strong feelings about cheating, which is weird and fairly unexpected of me, IMO.

Anyway, kudos to anyone who actually read through that instead of scrolling, I honestly have zero idea why I felt like sharing it, I just did and thus I did. *shrugs*

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f-nodragonart · 6 years

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@blackeyedkids-official: Shin Godzilla is supposed to invoke radiation burns with his design and his whole thing is that he's an unnatural metamorphosis of whatever a Godzilla is supposed to look like in this continuity so I think it's intentional

@leafex: 2016 Godzilla is ugly as sin and I love him. The movie really sells that he's a walking ball of unnatural pain

ooooo I like that, actually. I’m a lot more willing to excuse his broken/warped look, if that’s the case

@party-werewolf: I don’t see what’s so hard to take seriously about shin Godzilla’s design. It’s supposed to look unnatural and imposing, whether or not it’s using a suit. 98 Godzilla just doesn’t have that presence or sense of awe. And yeah it’s not anatomically possible but that’s why it’s called science fiction, you gotta stretch your imagination.

come come, sit with me, right here-- yes, right here next to me. comfortable? good, now let me repeat to you, in no uncertain terms, the EXACT question that was posited to me about Godzilla in that ask:

“which iteration do you think has the more plausible/reasonable anatomy?”

I wasn’t asked to give an in-depth analysis on how each Godzilla’s design fits in their narrative, nor on the meta-commentary each design achieves. hell, I even SAID OUTRIGHT I hadn’t seen any of the movies besides 2014, so I couldn’t comment on the narratives. while I do appreciate context, as it helps me better understand the design (and possibly even gives me enough reason to give the designs a pass, as seen in my response to the replies above), at the end of the day, that wasn’t the purpose of that post. that post was PURELY an anatomical critique, and given context or not, Shin Godzilla has godawful anatomy. context may explain or even outright excuse bad anatomy in certain cases, but it’s important to still be able to recognize what actually even IS bad anatomy in the first place. not a lot of ppl are able to recognize bad anatomy, even if that bad anatomy is intentional, so I’ll ALWAYS point it out, no matter the context. especially considering, y’know, someone ASKED me to do exactly that

and as a quick side-note, I prolly didn’t elaborate as much as I should have on why I couldn’t take Shin Godzilla seriously. while the anatomy takes me out of the experience to some degree, it’s more the body’s movement and weight/presence on-screen that feels off (at least what I could see from various trailers like one, but maybe it isn’t as bad in the actual movie). from what I can see, the only part of the body that moves w/ any sort of life and fluidity is the tail, while the rest of the body is weirdly stiff. this is esp tru for the upper half off the body, w/ arms that I don’t see move at all, and a head that only moves for the close-up head-shot roaring scene. this may have also been intentional, to imply that Godzilla has been injured by the radiation, but it looks WAYY off when paired w/ such a mobile tail (like why isn’t the tail equally stiff from injury?). it just gives the impression of a dude in a suit that doesn’t have a lot of ability to move around and emote w/ the body, which is why I can’t take Shin Godzilla seriously

-Mod Spiral

#mod spiral #replies #godzilla #blackeyedkids official #blackeyedkids-official #leafex #party werewolf #party-werewolf

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dontcallmecarrie · 6 years

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Natasha's judgment is so off for a spy. Could we get insight as to how they're thinking? I know you wrote a chapter but maybe some backstory or such to explain why she dislikes Tony on principle? Why she's so quick to insult Maria and choose Steve? Is she caught up in the goodness and honestly Steve seems to project? Does her judgment on his decisions become biased bc she's used to reading ppl who mean harm not ppl who unintentionally/subconsciously harm? Does Steve make her feel like she's good

I’ll see what I can do to clarify this in-story, because odds are you’re not the only one who’s seeing it. Hopefully, though, at least some of my reasoning showed through.

Under the cut, because cue meta and you guys know how much I ramble when I get going:

There’s several factors to it all:

First and foremost, there’s the unreliable narrator thing to consider.

JARVIS, for instance, hasn’t trusted her since before she stabbed Tony in the neck, back in IM2.

Add to that how he died trying to protect Tony [and at least managed to give a bit of a warning, when the Penthouse Incident happened], coming back online [with all the trauma that entails, even if he doesn’t quite show it], to see Natasha doing absolutely nothing while Tony was a flick of the wrist from a snapped neck, and you get a budding Skynet who harbors absolutely no goodwill towards Natasha Romanov [and it shows through in his POV, even if it’s hopefully subtle].

Tony’s slightly more chill, but he’s known that Natasha doesn’t like him, and after the disaster that was his sole attempt to reach out towards Bruce, well…once bitten, twice shy.

Then, during the Penthouse Incident, he’s 50% on the defensive while the other 50% is in shock because JARVIS died and only Maria Hill even cared. [That he was being attacked was secondary, at that point.] So when someone’s attacking the only one who gives a damn about JARVIS, Tony’s not exactly feeling very charitable towards the woman who introduced herself as Natalie Rushman.

…also, anyone notice the codependence going on between Tony and JARVIS? There’s a reason I’ve been warning for it.

As for my take on Natasha’s perspective: I did my best, and hopefully my dislike didn’t show [much].

Thing is, TWiFFON is a spitefic at heart.

I started it in reaction to the turn the fandom took when it comes to Tony Stark especially after Civil War, so I’m not going to be exactly very friendly towards Natasha [or anyone on Team Cap for that matter, if you guys haven’t already noticed].

And that leads me to the next point.

Fun fact: I actually like Natasha, for the most part. Her characterization throughout the entirety of the MCU’s been through the wringer, fluctuating from movie to movie, though, and I took advantage of that when I outlined this fic.

See, Phase1-and-pre-AoU!Natasha’s got a good head on her shoulders. Her, I like: she’s badass and loyal to people rather than institutions and ruthless enough to do what’s necessary to keep her people safe [gee doesn’t that sound familiar]. She’s outwitted Loki [even if he was under the influence of the Scepter at the time], and survived the Red Room, for crying out loud! [If you’ve read my fic idea Welcome to the Family, you know that’s the one I had in mind at the time of writing.]

…however, that’s not the Natasha we’ve seen recently.

Phase2-especially-post-AoU!Natasha didn’t think to call the genius who’s company she infiltrated during a time they could’ve really used his expertise, didn’t see the problem in letting the fugitives she’d been helping chase go, and didn’t think twice about attacking the Crown Prince of a monarchy that just lost its King. I know it’s probably just bad writing in general [where the hell did the Bruce/Natasha thing even come from? Or the wanting a kid thing?! Canon or not, that’s just…nope], but still.

She unironically tried to go “I’m not the one who should watch my back”, in Civil War, despite having painted a target on anyone she ever worked with [yes I’m still salty about it], so it really should be no surprise that this is the Natasha I have in mind when writing TWiFFON. [Not very nice, but like I said, spitefic.]

So, that’s a good chunk on my approach to Natasha, right there. The rest involves her backstory.

I’ve yet to read a comic, but via tumblr and Phase 1, I got the feeling that the Red Room isn’t exactly very kind. [No comment on Phase 2′s interpretation bc I hate AoU with a passion rivaled only by Civil War.] As such, I can extrapolate from there that Natasha’s had some hardcore training, and to be fair, she’s very good at what she does, and her confidence in her skills is mostly justified.

However, she’s been born and raised as a living weapon, a child soldier and spy: that skillset is not exactly conductive towards being an analyst, or tactician.

Infiltrate consulates and take out hit squads singlehandedly? Sure. Reading people for the short term so she can use that to her advantage? Absolutely. But what she gets up to later on in the MCU is nowhere in her job description [coughcough*analysisinIM2*cough]. She can make a decent facsimile of it, sure, but she just isn’t qualified to diagnose people [though I have a headcanon for that scenario that explains why, but that’s something for another post].

But she can read people very well, and since it’s worked thus far, Natasha doesn’t think twice about it. Due to the life she’s had, she doesn’t look back, which I completely understand because if she had she might’ve drowned in regret because I get the feeling the Red Room’s upbringing was nothing less than cutthroat. Those two things get a special mention because of how she’s introduced to Tony.

Now, let me backtrack a little: I’ve done some meta before on how good Tony is at masks, enough so that he’s fooling everyone even as he’s dying. He grew up in front of the cameras, and learned how to work them from a master of the art [his mom, in my AUs].

So, when a spy rocks up expecting a show, Tony puts it on, and Natasha buys it. I don’t doubt she twisted some things to suit the analysis at the end, of course, but between his public image and his masks, Natasha ends up falling in the same trap everyone else does.

Anyone who gets close to him knows it’s bull, but since Tony in TWiFFON is more guarded than ever before, and he’s not about to let Natasha in now.

As for Steve Rogers…Tony’s image is a general “everyone knows” thing; it’s subtle and low-key “oh what’s he done now? Another Fashion Week Fiasco?” Kardashian-style sort of thing, which is part of why Natasha fell for it. Steve’s image, on the other hand, was blatant propaganda since the start and only became more so over time […I wonder what the Second Red Scare would’ve looked like, in the MCU now, ngl], so for Natasha, with her Red Room upbringing, it’s pretty damn easy for her to tell.

From when she first meets Steve, and later on down the road, it’s a no-brainer to look past the propaganda and notice the lonely man who’s adrift in a world that’s moved on without him. And from there, it’s very [almost scarily, for someone who’s very guarded when it comes to personal stuff] easy to make friends.

Steve sees Natasha where others see the Black Widow, which isn’t something many people do [Phil and Clint’re the exception, not the norm], though, so it makes sense that she warms up to him so quickly. Plus he’s a good man, and given the life she’s had, Natasha can fully appreciate just how few of them there are in the world.

And since we’ve already established that Natasha’s fiercely protective of the few people she likes, it makes sense she’s just as fierce to attack if the situation ever arises.

During the Penthouse Incident, Natasha’s immediate take-away of the situation was: Tony’d fucked up somehow and needed to own up to it, meanwhile Maria Hill was on his payroll, defending him when he was in the wrong, and had a gun pointed in the general direction of the people she liked more than the people she didn’t. Of course Natasha was going to yell at her for it!

And it wasn’t like Thor was going to hurt Tony or anything, his hand was obviously positioned in a way that was meant to be nonlethal and if he’d really wanted to kill Tony his grip would’ve been different.

After the fact, once Ultron’s made clear just what he is, she’s mildly apologetic about it. But since she didn’t really like Tony anyway and Maria Hill seemed to have forgotten about it, well, it wasn’t like it was anything major anyway, right?

...meanwhile, Maria’s very good at hiding her grudge and venting whenever she’s at one of the SWORD meet-ups while the others are patting her on the back while continuing to plan Phase 3 and checking out rich protocols, but that’s a story for another day.

Also: bear in mind that Natasha, in my AUs, has the Red Room’s version of the serum, so she forgets that not everyone’s as durable as she is. [that’s the only explanation for why I see her being so chill during That One Scene because the alternative’s incoherent internal screaming]

#behind the scenes #meta #if you're going to be evil might as well do it right meta #now the time is here for iron man to spread fear #if you're going to be evil might as well do it right #The War is Far From Over Now #Natasha Romanov #Headcanon #kinda #canon went screwy years back here's my attempt to fix it

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triumviratuse-blog · 7 years

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cassidy, denis, & immortality

hey kids, i’m back w/ even more meta bc last night’s ep broke a fundamental part of my soul me. anywhoooo, on to the analysis!

i think one of the major thematic points that will be addressed later this season will be that of immortality-- this of course relating to cassidy (and to a lesser extent, the SOK). we’ve only ever been teased with cassidy’s immortality, seeing the more instant effects of being immortal (i.e., regeneration) and less about how living for so long can affect a person.

cass is a walking disaster to be sure, and the revelation of denis being his son should not be taken lightly. in the summary for the next episode (s2 ep 7 “pig”), it says that denis asks cassidy for a favor. and, if we’re judging from the mid-season trailer that was shown at comicon, it looks like cassidy is trying to patch up his relationship w/ denis-- using what he knows best: debauchery and alcohol. put this all together, and it definitely makes one question what exactly denis wants cassidy to do for him.

this is a crack theory really, but i wonder if denis will ask cassidy to make him immortal.

hear me out; while i doubt most ppl would want to be immortal at the tender age of 70+, it would make sense if denis were afraid of death. afraid of what exists (or doesn’t exist) after one’s last breath. when the SOK is poised to kill him, denis doesn’t accept his fate. he fights as best he can, yelling at cassidy over the phone in french to save him. he’s old, but it doesn’t seem like he’s made peace with the inevitability of death-- perhaps from having a literal vampire as a father but ya know *insert shrug emoji here.*

on a related note, i kinda want to defend cassidy a bit here. he’s a morally grey character to be sure, but one that, for the most part, tries to do the right thing. if we’re going to condemn cassidy’s manipulativeness as a sign of him being truly “evil” and equivalent to his comic-book counterpart, then we’re going to also have to assign the label “villain” to jesse and tulip. jesse sent an innocent kid to hell and had zero qualms about tossing the SOK (and part of his own soul) into a swamp. tulip has explicitly murdered people on screen as well.

cass’ treatment of denis is just another example of his carelessness and lack of ability in regards to taking care of others. it’s apparent that he at least kept up with denis for his diminutive/elementary years (if his handing denis a half-eaten pack of m&m’s and trying to tie his shoes for him means anything) and probably dropped contact for a bit once denis was physically older than cass was. it’s rough to watch ur child grow up and age and die-- the only equivalent i can think of that we as normal humans face is that of when our pets age and die before us. it’s messy, it’s sad, and frankly, it’d be nice if we could run away from our problems like cass does.

i think cassidy pulled a jesse™ and compartmentalized his feelings about denis and his inevitable aging. that’s why he equates denis to allie’s age, and tells her to go watch tv with him. in his eyes, barely any time has passed. i imagine that for someone immortal, time passes in the blink of an eye. 10 years galavanting around is nothing to cassidy; but for a regular person, that’s enough time for a father-figure to turn into a stranger. his occasional drop-ins to check on his son (and bringing all sorts of debauchery to his house) eventually became something denis abhorred rather than anticipated.

needless to say, he is the epitome of a deadbeat dad, but he’s far from heartless. in fact, i’d argue that he cared quite a bit about denis-- though he never learned french (despite having “all the time in the world,” as he said), there is genuine concern for denis in his voice when he goes to call and warn him about the SOK. he chose to seek out denis and stay at his place even tho i’m sure the trio could’ve gotten a motel while in New Orleans-- it was cass’ choice to face his past and make peace with his demons. he didn’t have to go see him-- but its thanks to his perception of jesse’s “redemption arc” that cass is giving it a shot too.

as for the future of cass and denis, i have 3-ish theories on to what will eventually transpire:

1) denis will ask cassidy to turn him. cassidy will instead, try to help denis enjoy life again via all sorts of vices. 2) denis will betray cassidy and turn in him/the gang to either the Grail or the vampire hunters that ya know, haven’t been mentioned since the pilot episode 3) denis will die, having forgiven cassidy for his awful parenting (the ending i want) anyway, lemme know what u guys think’ll happen in the coming eps if ya want~

#preacher #preacher spoilers #preacher meta #proinsias cassidy #acacius writes #( i'm experiencing an emotion™ )#( also this was all over the place i'm sorry )#( but what i'm tryin' to say is pls ease up on cass-- monsters don't call themselves monsters ya know what i mean )#( this is so long and i honestly think i could've split this into 2 posts but oh well )

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silver-wield · 4 years

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Okay, as requested a few days ago, a Cloud and Aerith analysis. I feel like I've spent a lot of time in chapter 8/9 today lol

Ok, spoiler warning for ppl who haven’t played – do I still need to do this? Eh ok, (I tag FF7R spoilers as final fantasy 7 remake spoilers) and it’s gonna be reasonably long.

Also, this is one person’s interpretation of the scene, so if you disagree that’s cool and we’ll agree to disagree.

You’re also gonna have to excuse the janky quality on some of the screens, I’m grabbing them from Youtube and it’s frustrating af trying to get the exact moment I want.

Other analyses if anyone’s interested.

Shinra HQ vision scene (Cloti/plot analysis)

Chapter 3 (Cloti reblog)

Tifa character analysis

Aerith Resolution (plot analysis/theory – I should probably update this since I’ve had other ideas since then)

Train graveyard (not really an analysis, but I got some sweet screenshots of Cloti)

Clotiscrew tunnel analysis

Cloti reunion analysis

The Promise Analysis

Andrea’s approval (Cloti ask response)

Leslie analysis (not mine, but a good read)

Cloti action touching

Aerti friendship analysis

Cloti body language chapter 3

Cloti healthy disagreement

Cloti post heliboss battle (chapter 15)

Clerith playground scene

Cloti body language plate fall

Cloud and Barret friendship

Resolution scene analysis (A)

Barret character analysis (chapter 13)

Cloud character analysis (Honey Bee Inn)

Cloud character analysis (Barret's death)

Now, strap in and enjoy the ride.

Recap time!

Okay, our delightful heroine (I will rein in the sarcasm, but Aerith aggs me when Cloud says no and she ignores him. No means no.) and our moody af hero have finally got done with the flowery side quests, kiddos, Rude and the giant hands of crash crash boom oops there's an invisible wall there minigame trip through sector 6 to reach sector 7.

Aerith says “let's take a break.”

Cloud says, “No.”

They take a break anyway.

(I've already done the slide analysis, link above)

Back down from the slide and it's time to go. Aerith opens up the underground link into sector 7 and we're venturing into awkward goodbyes.

So, we're starting with Aerith being chipper and cute with the quips. Standard stuff. It's possible she's feeling regretful they're parting, but I've said plenty of times that of everyone in this, Aerith has the best poker face. There's very few times she lets that mask slip and lets us see what she's really feeling and it's usually in times of intense stress. This isn't stressful, although she was feeling down a few moments ago while talking about Zack, so maybe that'll make her a little easier to read. For now, though, she's fronting like a boss.

Hmm interesting. He's definitely thoughtful here. So, I'm gonna have to put together some possibilities.

He's clearly mellowed his attitude towards her – he was proper stroppy at her house the day before, shouting and so on – so this isn't negative. We could say he started feeling more positive towards her through their interactions over the day or maybe when he saw the whole Rude bit and realised she's not quite what he first thought. Or it might have been when he saw her looking downcast about not high fiving or it could've been their chat on the slide that finally thawed him out towards her.

And Aerith's the same. Her smile falters just a bit and she can't meet his eye. Maybe she knows they have no reason to meet again or that her mother told him not to see her. We don't know for sure, but it's possible, otherwise why is she disappointed? She could expect to see him again. They could make plans. It could be meta!Aerith knowing that Cloud is probably better off not getting to know her.

Eugh dammit. Does anyone know how hard it is to analyse people's motives when you can't see their faces clearly? I bet this was on purpose, thanks Square.

I mean, having to go by the above data I've mentioned, they could both be feeling the same lingering regret intuitively. You know like how you just get the sense how someone's feeling? That.

Their poses are identical, and coupled with the slightly awkward intonation on “so” I'd look at this and say this comes across like a couple of teenagers who kinda like each other and don't know how to take the next step. You know, that kind of immature I have no idea what I'm doing with my life kinda deal. That's not to say it's romantic, especially not from Cloud. He's an awkward introvert. Aerith has no social skills. They're not friends and up until five minutes ago Cloud was annoyed af at her. That'd make for an awkward goodbye.

Aerith laughs, Cloud doesn't, and she moves aside so he can leave. Looks like the moment’s over.

Before going, Cloud turns back to ask if Aerith can get home ok. This looks like polite concern, which I'd expect considering they just came through an area full of monsters, mech and bandits. If Cloud wasn't concerned, I'd call him a douchebag. His eyes widen a little as he speaks, but it's not that same kind of expression he pulls whenever we're suspecting a visit from real!Cloud. This is SOLDIER!Cloud asking.

(I've said that typically Cloud's eyes go very wide as a hint that his real self is reacting to things, but widening eyes on their own do not indicate real!Cloud. It's something about the way he does it that shows it's not quite right for the SOLDIER persona we usually see. I can't explain it properly, but it's likely something the devs have done to his microexpressions on purpose to differentiate between the two and without knowing exactly what I can't put a pin in it. All I can say is when it looks like real!Cloud is expressing himself and when it isn't because there’s a difference that I’ve picked up on.)

This is flirting. Plain and simple. Head tilted, little smile, crinkling eyes. She's amused and teasing him in a flirtatious manner and her dialogue backs that up, although at the same time the tone she puts it in also sounds quite matter of fact, like she's genuinely asking what if she wasn't ok? That likely does appeal to the protective SOLDIER side of Cloud. He wants to be known as the hero. Still not romantic.

That's what I like to call a shit-fuck-bollocks moment. The realisation he should take her back home and make sure she's safe, but then he's also got to get back to sector 7, and this is all SOLDIER!Cloud's debate. There's no sign of real!Cloud and there's a quick decisive result that he should do the right thing, which is why he says he’ll take her home.

This is nothing like in the honey bee inn later when you see the clear back and forth of his eyes darting around as he argues with real!Cloud about dancing to get Andrea's approval.

And Aerith laughs again because I think she's aware how ridiculous it is that he'll walk her back when he needs to get home. She was teasing the entire time, but it looks like it went over Cloud's head – colour me unsurprised.

I mean, there's no romantic undertone to her expression here. It's genuine amusement and I'd definitely say friendship towards Cloud.

Ah the image that certain people hang their hat on. Let's get this one done.

Aerith says she has a backup route for emergencies that's safer than the one they used. You can hear Cloud start to speak—- ask a question because the sound is a “W” -- then cuts himself off and smiles. That smile is a mix of bemused and amused.

For anyone who doesn't have a stupidly large vocabulary and thinks those two are the same thing:

Bemused

adjective: puzzled, confused, or bewildered.

Amused

adjective: finding something funny or entertaining.

Cloud's bemused because back at the start of the collapsed expressway he literally asked if there was a better way and she avoided answering. So, he's caught her in a lie and what can he do about it? Nothing. That's why he's all "of course there's a safer route".

And then we're back in control and moving onto the next part of the game.

Conclusion:

Well, they're awkward. Both of them. Cloud is an introvert with mental issues and Aerith has no social skills and a terrible personality flaw in which she bosses everyone around and doesn't listen.

I wouldn't say they're friends, more like comrades. Cloud's still very resistant to her company even after she helps him save Tifa.

#final fantasy 7 remake spoilers #final fantasy 7 remake analysis #Cloud Strife #Aerith Gainsborough #Character analysis

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