#I really want to give it hope and think it can redeem itself but this is just sad

[yamishika]

At this point I’m just hate reading 100 YQ to see in how many more ways it will disappoint me

#So…Yukino can copy Lucy’s star dresses that took her a year’s worth of practice + a sacrifice of one of her keys to develop because…? #Ok the key sacrifice was for the CSK but there’s weight still there in Lucy’s sacrifice for her power development you know #Mashima really out here discrediting the development of his own characters smh #My god each chapter makes it worse #Nothing makes sense anymore #I keep thinking we’re at rock bottom but lo and behold I’m proven wrong #I really want to give it hope and think it can redeem itself but this is just sad #How many more gripes does Mashima want me to have with his writing? #WTF is actually going on in this sequel #AND WHY DO THE GIRLS HAVE TO LOSE THEIR CLOTHING IN EVERY DAMN FIGHT???? #Anti FT 100YQ #Anti Fairy Tail 100 Year Quest #Anti Fairy Tail

[stainedglassthreads]

One thing I think I just realized is, in addition to being dissatisfied with how stories deal with Toriel’s grief compared to Asgore’s and Asriel’s, and how I don’t see many instances of Toriel and Asgore’s quarrel being addressed in a way that satisfied me... I don’t think I see that many AUs that quite get the responsibility Asgore feels... right.

Yes, I’ve seen several that portray his grief, depression, and how badly he doesn’t want to be in this position well, even if it’s disappointing how not everyone seems to be aware of what you learn about him in a Neutral run where you’ve previously killed Flowey. A lot of people can get aspects of his characterization very well, the broken man, the goofy dad, the intimidating monarch. But I think the reason I don’t see people capture the weight of his responsibility quite as well in fanfics and comics is... well. Oddly enough it’s in the way the monsters treat him.

It’s not just the fandom that has issues with idolizing or demonizing characters. It’s also the Kingdom of Monsters themselves--and they all idolize Asgore. Yes, he’s a very grounded and compassionate individual who invites his subjects to share all their problems with him, and who Papyrus insists will just let you pass through the Barrier. But he’s also a bit of the subject of a cult of personality for his subjects. When they say he’ll absorb seven souls and become a GOD, it’s not an expression of his arrogance, but rather their own adoration. While out-of-universe the Angel is generally agreed to be either Asriel or Chara(or us), in-universe I wouldn’t be surprised if Asgore was considered the Angel.

It’s not long now. King Asgore will let us go. King Asgore will give us hope. King Asgore will save us all.

Yes, individual monsters may want to collect a human soul for their own individual wants and desires. But it’s only the capture of a human soul, or using a single soul for their own benefit, that they really aspire to. (With the exception of Toriel, who wants no souls, and Flowey, who is Flowey.) Of those area bosses who earnestly try to take just one soul, Papyrus and Undyne both want to hand you over to Asgore, and Mettaton wants to protect humanity FROM Asgore. Literally everyone in the Underground seems to fully believe that Asgore will be the one taking all the Souls and fulfilling his promises, and all are content. (Again, barring Toriel, MTT, Flowey.) No one seems to ever doubt he’ll do as he says, even his ex-wife, and no one’s greedy to take the power for themselves or take the burden of being a savior for themself, except his kid who has both a God Complex and a Savior Complex.

With Chara, and with Asgore. They take a person and turn them into a representation of something More than any singular person could ever be. And then in the worst route Chara does it again, to themself. Asgore is freedom and salvation and retribution itself, and everyone including the woman who was once married to him agrees and reinforces the role. Chara is the feeling of a number going up, and the fandom agrees and reinforces the role.

And I dunno. There are fics and AUs where Asgore never lost his kids and always remained an affable, friendly guy. There are AUs where Asgore is the main antagonist and an awful villain with few redeeming qualities. There are fics and AUs where Asgore gets to recover in a post-pacifist setting. But I’m not sure any fics or AUs have ever quite captured how everyone else just talks about the guy, for me. Toriel is simply ‘intimidating’. But Asgore is a GOD.

#undertale #undertale analysis #undertale meta #asgore #asgore dreemurr #this is why i think in post-pacifist asgore should live far away from all his subjects for a few years #be a normal guy. no responsibilities. let them calm down about the unwanted god-king stuff #like i've seen many stories successfully make asriel or chara feel othered and idolized by the underground but #somehow not asgore as much despite how everyone in-game treats him as a personification of his declaration of war #and lets that be the FIRST thing that influences how they treat him #even undyne to some extent. she's so psyched to free monsterkind. to get him to free monsterkind

[kenshimybeloved]

Part 2 of me talking too fucking much about these men!

At this point in the story, we start to see Johnny filming everyone/everything that he finds interesting enough to include in his stories. The first thing we see him film is an interaction between Kung Lao and Raiden at Wu Shi Academy. As pictured, you can see Johnny finds them important enough to the story to film, but his face and body language aren’t exactly giving excitement- he’s more so just doing a task. Again- not that he dislikes Kung Lao and Raiden or that he finds them super boring- but at this point he’s just kinda filming to film. He then approaches the two and starts complaining about how long this all is taking, and how he needs something crazier to happen to include in his movies. This is when Kenshi walks up

[side note: THE WAY HE SHOWS UP ON SCREEN STRETCHING IN THIS SCENE DOES THINGS TO ME]

and immediately begins an argument with Johnny over his motives for being here. Despite training together for months, the two are still butting heads at every interaction- or so you’d think if you were any of the characters in the game. I want to take extra time here just to fully acknowledge the fact that this interaction is not only happening in a public space but directly in front of Kung Lao and Raiden who are the two original people of this conversation (Johnny really saw them having a good time and decided he needed to come in and whine about shit and Kenshi saw that as an opportunity to start an argument with him- can these bitches just let Lao and Raiden be happy together??). The conversation leads to the comment ‘my ex’ll rue the day she gave up on me’ from Johnny which immediately earns an eye roll from Kenshi and the sarcastic reply ‘so selfless.’ I want to note that Johnnys been here for months- he says “ex” casually enough to imply that at least most people know he’s going through a divorce but most people don’t know enough to know her actual name. Or, he’s specifically putting emphasis on the fact that they are very much over and Johnny is very much single in front of a certain somebody. Maybe a healthy balance of both. I also want to note that the way Johnny speaks of his ex wife is very much indicative of the fact that Johnnys motive currently is to redeem himself and prove to everyone that he isn’t a lost cause. These movies becoming a success is his only hope at this time. However, this also means his focus should be shifted from Sento onto his movies now, right? Wrong! You’d think since now he’s putting all of the pressure of getting his life together on these movies he’s be willing to give up the sword that used to symbolize his past life, but no. Even tho his focus is now on something he can do currently/in the future to get his life back on a track rather than fixating on an object from his past, he’s still clinging to Sento. Though he’s now looking forward, his goal is still centered around people from his past (him wanting to prove to everyone that left him that they were all wrong about him rather than fixing himself for his own sake). The argument escalates to Johnny calling Kenshi ‘tattoo’ and tells him he’s only here for his sword anyways.

[side note: him calling him tattoo despite Kenshis effort to cover up the majority of his tattoos means a couple of things- Johnny is studying Kenshi. As mentioned in my previous post, Johnny is absolutely infatuated with Kenshi and wants to know everything he can. It also means he’s poking at Kenshi, letting him know that though he may try to be reserved, Johnny will stop at nothing to get to know him. He’s just going to keep observing the little things about him until Kenshi can open up about the realer shit]

IMO, Johnny very clearly knows what Sento represents for Kenshi and saving his family is much more important than the sword itself (at this point it’s important to remember nobody knows of Sentos powers- it’s just a symbolic thing to Kenshi since it’s his family sword). Deep down he knows objectively this sword should go to Kenshi, but he’s unwilling to admit it. Here’s where a lot of headcanoning happens for me- since this is a new timeline, we can’t guarantee things we know about these characters from previous games are still true. However, based on how Johnny behaves, I think it’s safe to assume his relationship with his dad was still rough as a kid (is this mentioned in this timeline? I can only seem to remember it being mentioned in MK11). I headcanon that while his dad was abusive, his mother was his rock. Unfortunately, living with both a negative and a positive parent in the same house creates instability and often leads to things like NPD, BPD, Bipolar Disorder, etc. I don’t specifically think Johnny has any of these, but maybe just aspects here and there that show up. For example, when you grow up with your needs unmet and never being a priority of your parent’s, you learn to provide for yourself. Sometimes this can be in a healthy self sustaining way, and sometimes this can mean over compensating when you perceive that somebody doesn’t think your problems are very important- like Johnny knowing that Kenshi deserves the sword more than he does, but hearing him say it leads Johnny to double down and cling to the sword with his life. Anyways, this is getting too long so there will have to be a part 2 of my analysis of the scenes at Wu Shi Academy.

#mk1 #mortal kombat #johnny cage #kenshi takahashi #johnshi #johnny x kenshi #can you tell I spend too much time thinking about them #i just think they're neat #their arc together is so well done #I love every little detail about these two #navi rambles about johnshi

[sezez]

Throughout Poppy Playtime, the Protagonist is quite the mysterious character. But in Chapter 3, we get a bit more info on them. I find the Protagonist very interesting and I hope that MOB Games might give us a clear answer on them. (And I may sound stupid for saying this over and over, but I really want the Protagonist to have a voice so we can hear what they're thinking about all of this)

The Protagonist is employee who happens to look like a specific scientist/employee familiar to the toys:

It's by this point that the Protagonist might be a scientist or someone who knew about the experiments and came back to find the employees, but is now gonna help Poppy to redeem themselves.

But, I personally believe that the Protagonist was a normal employee, they didn't know about the experiments and only came back to search for the missing employees.

But you may say: "But the toys recognize the Protagonist." Or "There are clear signs that the Protagonist knew about the experiments."

To which I know and agree with. But if the Protagonist did knew about it all, then why bother to come back if they knew what the toys were capable of?

Anyone who knew that Huggy is alive is about to get the hell out of the factory the moment he disappeared. And yet the Protagonist didn't. (But maybe it's also because the door leading to the entrance closed itself, I keep noticing that while everyone else doesn't.)

Anyway, I also think that the Protagonist might look familiar to the experiments. Like the Protagonist's hairstyle is similar to a scientist, or their face looks like higher rank employee or perhaps is the way they're dressed. Just something about them looks familiar to every toy.

The toys are (un)welcoming the Protagonist back after leaving them:

During the nightmare, the Protagonist runs into a radio on the floor and it's saying something in reverse. This is what it said:

"8-8-1995. I find your presence intrusive. After all this time you've return, you come in here and yet you kill and murder. You pillage and destroy. Your presence was demanded 10 years ago and yet you didn't show up... 8-8-1995. You were suppose to be here, why weren't you here? You missed the event, you missed the meeting, you missed the party. You have no right to be here... 8-8-1995."

I believe this is Exp. 1006 talking to the Protagonist, he's mad that they weren't at the factory during The Hour of Joy on August 8, 1995 and got killed. And now the Protagonist is back and they're killing he's subordinates, ruining and interfering his plan.

And 1006 doesn't seem to be the only one who's mad, the other toys too. For example, Mommy Long Legs, she seems to hold a grudge against all employees of Playtime Co. and wants them to die.

Is the Protagonist really gonna help Poppy:

This has been on my mind for a bit, because I wonder if the Protagonist is gonna help Poppy just like that?

Poppy lied to the Protagonist about letting them escape and then the train crashed, hurting the Protagonist and getting dragged by Catnap to a crasher that could have killed them. And when the Protagonist and Poppy do reunite, she just left them on their own while she and Kissy Missy were above on the elevator, even though she literally said she was there to help.

And it's suspicious that the next destination Poppy leads the Protagonist to is deep below, where possible all of the dead bodies of the employees are.

Why would she lead the Protagonist there?

If the Protagonist is a employee who had zero idea about the experiments, then it's quite understandable for them to be angry at Poppy and not wanting to do any of this any longer because they just wanted to know what and where the other employees are, and the Protagonist got the answer, they're all dead. That's it, it's time for them to leave and never, ever come back.

If the Protagonist was a scientist who was involve in the experiments, then perhaps they're doing it because they feel guilty and want to redeem themselves. But if the Protagonist is actually evil, then they're just helping Poppy to cover up everything and possibly betraying Poppy in the process.

#poppy playtime #poppy playtime theory #poppy playtime player #poppy playtime protagonist

[genericpuff]

And with that, 2000 years of history and 10+ years of an animated adaption later, Attack on Titan is over.

I wasn't planning on making an essay post about this but like all of my essay posts, it got crazy out of hand, so here we are. I have a lot to say on it and the more I wrote, the more I realized exactly what the Attack on Titan finale was about. It's cathartic. It's also kind of a big shitpost but not for the reasons you might think.

Spoilers for the Attack on Titan finale ahead! CW: DISCUSSION OF WAR AND GENOCIDE AHEAD!

Now for anyone who knows what I'm about to talk about (and anyone who follows my stuff here), I'm sure you're wondering , what side do I fall on in regards to Attack on Titan's ending? Am I about to talk shit about it? It's very divisive and somewhat inconclusive. It followed the exact ending in the manga which, while expected, was still disappointing to many who had hoped the anime would take some other path.

But I have to ask, could there have been any other way?

Eren committed mass genocide, bordering on extinction of the entire human race. There was no way that he was gonna come out of it redeemed or as a hero, and he knew it. He went straight up Walter White core here and like Walter White, he is not a hero.

The fact that the Marlayans have been constantly going to war with other countries using Eldians as their personal soldiers goes to show that for countries that seek out conquest, there's no target too small or insignificant that can't be marked as an "enemy", and we see that reflected in Eren as well, in his pursuing of "freedom", an ever-moving goalpost that can never truly be satisfied.

The Jaegerists were hellbent on creating a new empire on the bloodshed of Marley - 'an eye for an eye', so to speak.

Nothing was ever going to truly satisfy either 'side' in the conflict of humanity vs. Eldians because such conflicts' origins have been obfuscated in hundreds of years of history, propaganda, and generational trauma that has repeated itself for so long that many don't even know what they're fighting for anymore, aside from one thing - that they don't want to suffer, that they shouldn't have to suffer for the actions of their ancestors, that they want peace and happiness but don't know where to start with taking the first step.

I think people are disappointed in this ending because, let's face it, it's anime, and it's an anime adaption that took years to finish. We always want to see some kind of vindication from stories like these, but I think in having vindication, it ultimately removes the point altogether of what's being said.

As much as we may try to fight it, try to deny it, the course of human history travels in a circle. Conflict will always arise. History is written by the victors, and those victors will be seen as heroes by whichever side they're fighting for regardless of what heinous acts they may have committed to justify their salvation. And after all of that conflict, regardless of the result - time goes on, and new conflicts arise.

But I don't think that means we have to succumb to grief and suffering and that's a point that I'm seeing missed in a lot of the discussion around the finale. There's a very powerful scene between Armin and Zeke, in which Armin talks about how he was born to run up the hill with Mikasa and Eren. He recognizes fully that if his life isn't meant to be long, he can still cherish those small moments that he thinks back on fondly, the moments that defined his life with the people he cared about.

And that's really all life is. Small moments and experiences that stick with us until the end. The very act of being born in and of itself is a cosmic miracle that gives us the chance to experience things that bring us joy and stay with us forever - however short or long that 'forever' may be. We take these small moments for granted when we're comfortable, but we look for them the most when we're suffering.

If I can relate all this to another piece of media that says the same thing - albeit with a much brighter ending - FF XIV: Endwalker also asks a similar question to Attack on Titan - is the only meaning in life to suffer and die? Of course, by its end, we learn that while death and suffering is an inevitable part of life - not something that should be avoided - it shouldn't persuade us to give in to fear and despair as a constant state of being. And I think Attack on Titan goes for a very similar approach, albeit slightly more as a cautionary tale - a nihilistic reminder that ultimately, the losses and victories we find in our current point of history are still just that, a single point, a blip that will be forgotten until it's ultimately repeated, and there's no escaping that.

It cautions us that freedom cannot exist without constant vigilance for war and conflict. It cautions us that our values and core beliefs for attaining freedom, love and happiness can be twisted into a weapon to cause harm, vindication gained at the cost of another. It cautions us that when left in the wrong hands, power can and will be abused by the ignorant while propagandizing itself as "the greater good".

So why not just find the joy that we can? The friendships, the little moments, the things that bring us happiness even if only temporary. Conflict is inevitable, suffering is inevitable, but that doesn't mean life isn't worth living. "Happiness" is not a tangible end point - it's the side effect of living a meaningful life that's true to yourself.

Attack on Titan is over. Some will argue the ending was the only way, others will argue that there could have been another way and that the anime adaption had the chance to change it but still didn't for reasons beyond their comprehension.

But isn't that the whole point? We'll argue. We'll bargain. Many of the arguments made will reinforce our own beliefs further rather than sway us. Many of us will insist there had to be another way, just as Armin insisted that this couldn't have been the only way, that humanity must have had another option. Meanwhile, many of us will acknowledge that at the end of the day, this is the story Isayama wanted to tell, and regardless of whether or not it makes him an idiot toying with his audience and admitting defeat by lampshading it in the penultimate scene of Eren admitting to his own idiocy, this was the power given to him and he used it in the best way he knew how.

Much like in any conflict, there's one thing that unites both sides - the human need for joy, connection, and freedom.

We might not agree on how Attack on Titan ended, but we can agree that it was a hell of a ride, and I hope we can all agree that it was worth riding, even if it wasn't satisfying for everyone in the end. It brought many people together regardless of their backgrounds, experiences, and differences, and connected them through something they all loved for over ten years. And despite how big a part of our lives it was, life will still go on, and we'll move on to other things to watch, enjoy, and argue over. Isayama will move on to whatever awaits him next, knowing fully well that his choice was his own, that he created the series he wanted to create regardless of how people feel about it. We'll all look for our own forms of joy and happiness as life moves on around us, as conflicts come and go.

Isn't that really what freedom is at the end of the day?

#also ok i know this turned into a philosophical post but like #i'm still just talking about fucking anime #so please for the love of god i don't want to be seeing anyone using this post as a way to play devil's advocate on real actual war crimes #human conflict in and of itself is an enigmatic inevitability but blatant actions of genocide and colonization are not #and that was made VERY clear by the end of the series through eldians and marlayans putting aside their differences to take out eren #also ymir being in love with king fritz was a bit of a weird thing to do but that's for another post #i think it spoke more to her just being that desperate for connection that she fell into an abusive relationship #but idk it could have been executed better esp because a lot of the 'romance' in AoT is weird #still i really enjoyed the finale tbh and i don't think we're supposed to be left feeling strictly one way about it #the fact that we're arguing over whether or not the finale was good is literally just proving isayama right ngl LOL #attack on titan #attack on titan finale #attack on titan spoilers #shingeki no kyojin #shingeki no kyojin finale #shingeki no kyojin spoilers #essay post #long post #tw genocide #tw war

[boylikeanangel]

I'm absolutely bonkers over the commentary that ofmd s2 is giving us on morality and redemption actually.

specifically what ed's conversation with hornigold after realising he's in purgatory says for the wider messaging this show has on the idea of retribution. because when he asks "who decides whether I live or die? you?" and hornigold says "no (...) this is on you" it kind of really does call into question a lot of big ideas about the stance this show is taking on what makes someone a good person, or more specifically, what makes someone worthy of being able to live, and ultimately be happy.

it's not like hornigold is some kind of arbiter or higher power with the ability to dictate ed's fate. no one sent hornigold to judge him. ed brought him here himself so they could talk it through and he could decide for himself what the answer is, whether he knows it or not. it's not about god or anything else like that choosing who gets to live and who gets to die. morals don't come into it. it's not about who deserves to live.

it's about who has the strength to try.

and for a show that deals with a cast whom the majority of are objectively bad people, that's such a fucking interesting and actually really enlightening position to take. if this was the kind of show that concerned itself too much with morals or trying to define objective goodness or badness, it'd get very stuck when trying to flesh out a fully realised development arc for its main characters, and they were very smart to not spend too much time trying to answer those questions. in fact, I'd argue that it actively rallies against the notion that only certain kinds of people are redeemable or deserve happiness.

both ed and stede have lived for most of their lives believing they are irredeemable, even that they deserve to die, but they both in turn later have to contend with the truth that they actually don't want to (stede first of all when he kills nigel, then later on faces the firing squad and literally breaks down at the sudden certainty of his death, and ed in the most recent episode). they want to live. they just have a hard time believing there's any reason why they should be able to. it's like they've been waiting for permission. but permission has nothing to do with it. no one's going to decide for you. there's no higher power that tells you an absolute "yes, you deserve another chance" or "no, you're beyond hope". you have to make that decision for yourself.

when stede is first faced with death, that's the first time we hear the question that now echoes across the entire series again and again.

"do you want to live?"

and stede is, in that moment, contending with the realisation, for the first time, that he might be a terrible person. and in that moment he doesn't know how to answer that question, because in that moment he realises he might not deserve to live. but oluwande is asking him, plain and simple, do you WANT to? and he says yes. despite everything, he wants to live. and so our story begins. a story not necessarily about redemption, but about rebirth. about choosing to live, even if you don't think you've earned the right.

and in the first three episodes of season 2, we see ed go through the same motions as he contends with everything he's done. like, hornigold is literally a manifestation of all the terrible things ed's done and the things he hates about himself! and he looked ed in the eye and told him "I don't dictate whether you get to live or die. you have to decide that for yourself. not based on what you think about yourself, or whatever you think you deserve to, but based on if you want to or not".

he's literally faced with the human embodiment of every evil, reprehensible thing he's done, and it tells him that it doesn't decide. that's not what this is about. they don't weigh up what ed's done, about where he crossed the line, about what he can and can't take back or undo, not even about what ed likes about himself, but very simply, what ed likes about living.

like, answering the question "at what point does someone become irredeemable" is an extremely difficult line to tread, and this show could have so easily slipped up whilst trying to answer that question, considering that the majority of its main cast are, yknow, thieves and murderers. ed more than any of them. and yet he's the romantic object of this season. and they make that work by not concerning themselves or anyone else with tricky moral lamentations about goodness or evil. what they ask instead is, "is any of that a reason to give up?"

dying is not a victory. dying is not even necessarily retribution. dying is the only reason things will never get better. even if you think trying to put things right and live a better life is impossible. and it might be impossible. but you will never know unless you try. you might fail but you have a 100% better chance of making things right and doing better if you choose to live than you would if you chose to die. and that's absolutely the journey ed's going on this season.

one thing in particular I'm so glad they've abandoned is that thread about ed not killing people. because it unnecessarily complicated the moral framework of the show and put a kind of expectation on ed's actions that were too hard to maintain with the direction they wanted to take his character this season. they knew it would only muddy the waters when it came to paving out his journey to something better, and I'm glad they took the time to establish that ultimately it was only something that mattered to him, not the narrative. to him it was like he could maintain some semblance of being a half decent person if he only ever killed one person. but now that's gone. he's broken the one rule he had for himself, the one thing holding him back from going off the deep end. and the question remains, can he still come back from this? can he still put things right and fight for a better life for himself? when quite literally all is lost, can you still find it again? and ultimately, the answer is going to be yes. no matter what he's done.

I don't know how much exactly if at all of this is in response to some pushback they got last season about how their main cast are, when all is said and done, pretty bad people, but either way they came out of the gate this season saying actually yeah, you're right. they are bad people. but that doesn't mean they don't deserve a chance at happiness. that's our thesis, actually. it fucking threads that needle and embroiders itself perfectly into the stede-centric narrative last season that told us reinvention was always possible and it was never too late to start afresh once you know what you want from life and it's fucking beautiful. I can't believe they took the moral ambiguity of its principle characters and turned it into the POINT. and I cannot stress this enough, it did this in THREE episodes. I love this show so so much we are so fucking back.

#this isnt as detailed as id like it to be but its already so long #ill probably make a more detailed response later on in the season when we got more stuff for eds arc #our flag means death #meta tag #ofmd spoilers

[hamliet]

am I the only one who thinks death as a redemption distasteful?

I mean, no, you’re definitely not the only one!

Honestly, the trope is oversaturated now. Everyone and their mother wants to have Darth Vader while ignoring the specific context that made Vader’s redemptive sacrifice work. I wrote about when redemptive death works in the linked meta above.

See, I tend to think the problem isn’t the trope itself, but instead treating the trope as an easy way out, or as a moral necessity when really it should serve the character, the plot, and the themes. The genre also matters. But... yeah, how it's used in 99% of stories nowadays is lame and distasteful. It's giving up, not pushing through. It's bad witing.

Like, writing a story where someone fucks up in every aspect, where they are evil, but in the end have one lone thing they love and sacrifice everything for that love—that’s beautiful. And I don’t think it’s a miserable ending either; bittersweet, but it’s hopeful. It talks about the humanity in each of us that can’t be snuffed out no matter how we try. 

I dunno, man, I have loved ones who are so beyond messed up. I want to believe there is hope for them even if it’s an eleventh hour “wait, I love this one person.” Will that redeem them to the world? No. But is it enough to comfort their loved ones? Maybe. It’s not an easy answer. That’s why redemption via death can work masterfully in a story. It can give life and hope. But it’s so often misused that I also get why people hate this trope now and kinda hate it myself lol.

In stories, actions have consequences. They’re symbols, and so are the characters. If you skirt consequences for a character that’s how you get Marty Stus and such. If death is an established reality in your world, then it’s logical some characters may die. Death is a fair consequence, but consequence does NOT mean punishment. It just means that if something happens in a story there should be a reason it happens, not just “for the sads” or “because they were bad and I want to punish readers who see themselves in them.” If a character has done certain things, and the rules of the world make it clear death is likely, that’s not inherently bad writing. 

But for a lot of the oversaturation of "redemptive death," it’s, frankly, cheap. Because it’s not used as a genuine way to end a characters arc with thematic weight or to honor them. It’s done to give the audience a “there there, we made you care so we won’t kill them off as a baddie but we don’t want to take responsibility for making a complex character and actually use them to add meaning to our story.” And that’s been most of the redemptive deaths post Vader, let’s be real. 

But on the other hand, death is a reality people have been grappling with in stories since the beginning of time. I’m serious; the oldest stories in the world are about humans trying to understand how to live in the face of death.  But death is the only thing that humans are all equal in. The only thing. I wrote about that here.

So when you have people who refuse to acknowledge death at all, and act like killing a character including in redemptive death is a moral statement that they deserved to die when it really isn’t—it’s just a different side of the same coin as the cheap “death redemption” people. Both view it as a moral thing or as an easy way of wrapping up their writing instead of letting it fester so that audiences can continue to think on it, to ponder it, to wonder what if.

Not all stories are designed to preach or teach morality, and even fewer good stories are designed to do that. (Which is not the same thing as saying good stories are inherently amoral, either.)

If a character redeems themselves via a sacrifice that costs their life, then their sacrifice needs to matter. It needs to be dealt with, to bring life or criticism, rather than being an easy hand wave away so that the story can just continue like it didn’t matter. I

Redemptive death itself is not the problem. The problem is bad writing of characters and themes and plots that leads to an oversaturation of a trope in a pale attempt to imitate a good story rather than actually write one.

#ask hamliet #redemptive death #redemption via death #writing #tropes #rambles

[ultfan]

@gravity-wall sent in: Give me your baseline crossover headcanons for both sinner demon and winner angel Komaeda.

before i begin i'm gonna establish that both of these take place after dr2. specifically i think this is a world where komaeda is not woken up after the neo world program due to actually dying — with his weak constitution he was unable to endure his virtual death and actually passed away instead of slipping into a coma. with that out of the way... let's go:

sinner komaeda: it's natural komaeda end up in hell for his actions. even outside of ultimate despair he still was an agent of chaos and despair in the neo world program — even if his intentions were to make hope stronger. i think komaeda would view ending up in hell as the ultimate bad luck. which means... he's actually excited to be here.

now, don't get me wrong, komaeda doesn't necessarily think he deserves to be in hell after his stunt in the neo world program. he doesn't know the result — so he assumes it worked. and his delusions of grandeur during that stunt gave him the idea that it would make him the ultimate hope. however, he also understands why he would end up here. after all, he used to be a remnant of despair. so he understands why he'd end up in this place.

due to this being an extreme case of bad luck for komaeda — probably the worst he's ever experienced — that means there is insanely good luck on the horizon for him. he's not scared to be in hell. like i said, he's excited. komaeda has never been able to properly process bad situations due to his luck cycle. and there's no way things could get worse from this point. i think komaeda's luck might get really out of whack because of the circumstances. it seems to work like a balancing act normally — swinging back and forth between extremes to balance itself out. since komaeda would be consistently suffering as a sinner in hell... his luck has to balance out that suffering.

i think komaeda would end up accumulating a lot of power in this scenario. perhaps gaining some notoriety as "the lucky demon," constantly stumbling into good fortune. no one dares bet against him in any game of chance because they are destined to lose. — if komaeda keeps up his self-proclaimed "ultimate hope" bullshit in the afterlife i can see him possibly attempting to become an overlord.

komaeda wants hope to prevail — and he wants every little bit of despair to be destroyed. as he put it in udg: he wants it to be burned down all the way to the roots. and what is the most despair-ridden place of all time? hell.

i'm sure you can imagine his intentions. he's probably a fan of the extermination stuff.

i think komaeda would also really admire charlie — someone seemingly so hopeful in such a despair-filled place. he'd really like the idea for the hazbin hotel, although i think he'd disagree with the idea that anyone can be redeemed (in a very hypocritical fashion). he can understand if people ended up here undeservingly, but if people have fully given into despair... he wouldn't believe such weak, detestable people deserve a shot as heaven.

i could see him checking into the hotel to kinda offer challenges and shit to the residence — really test their limits and see how strong their hopes to reach redemption really are. in which case he'd probably butt heads with alastor. but these are just hypotheticals so who knows.

angel komaeda: the greatest stroke of luck he's ever gotten — a ticket into heaven. against all odds. but if the ultimate luck couldn't win against any odds it wouldn't be much of a talent, would it? of course, due to this extreme stroke of luck... komaeda is on edge.

heaven is everything komaeda could ever wish for in a world. it's beautiful — the people are beautiful — there's no hint of despair. it's truly paradise. and it unsettles komaeda how good everything is. because, as his luck cycle dictates, what follows extremely good luck is extremely bad luck. and he has no clue if or when it might hit him. or whether that even applies in the afterlife.

but... if heaven is the paradise for the dead that it is meant to be... and nothing does happen to shake things up... i think komaeda would get bored with it. of course he would admire it for a long while. he'd be in awe — amazed that someone as wretched as him could have a place here. he would also be on his best behavior. polite and happy and praising everyone around him. putting everyone up on a pedestal. he probably weirds people out with this behavior, but he clearly means well. and this is heaven, so... there shouldn't be anything to worry about, right? even if he's a little odd.

but the thing is... i think komaeda is someone who needs conflict. he needs to increase the stakes. he can never be content. like when naegi became the ultimate hope and junko died — that should've been the peak. everything he's ever wanted. the ultimate hope destroying the ultimate despair. and yet... he wanted to continue to push naegi further. he wanted to make a new ultimate despair for him to fight against. so he can grow stronger and stronger.

heaven initially seems like a place full of hope — but komaeda would eventually realize that there is nothing "hopeful" about being stagnant. about being complacent. because hope has no limits... that means this can't be it. perfection is something you constantly strive for... so maybe heaven itself isn't perfect. maybe heaven has been complacent for too long.

i'm not sure how he would do it, but i think he'd definitely start stirring trouble up in heaven. causing actual conflicts people would have to face in order to grow. and... he might find a way to support the people down in hell. not because he's on their side, but because he wants to create a strong enemy for heaven to overcome. to give them an actual challenge for the first time in a long time.

#hazbin hotel tw #✁ ⇾ answer. #✁ ⇾ out. #gravitywall #''baseline'' you say #me: writes an essay #oops

[meadowlarkx]

I really think the years of Maglor's reign as High King of the Noldor in Middle-earth (& Maedhros' captivity) are so key to his character. Maglor whose defining feature, in the end, is staying with and yielding to Maedhros, even when it's patently not a good idea anymore.

During Maedhros' captivity, the crown falls to Maglor, who has until now been safely living in the middle sibling zone far from ultimate responsibility. He's a famous minstrel, but he's never had to lead or expected it. And suddenly, for these thirty years, Maglor's left ostensibly in charge of managing things. Fëanor is dead and Maedhros is gone. The Fëanorians betrayed and abandoned Fingolfin's host and have no hope of seeing them again. Yesterday they learned about violent death and committed atrocities, and today they lost their brightest and most charismatic leaders who also happen to be Maglor's father and beloved elder brother. Now they're stranded in a new land in the dark. It must have seemed near hopeless. I think it's really interesting how 1.) Maglor is never explicitly named as king (iirc) in the Silmarillion, and 2.) There's no word (in Silm) about any moves the Fëanorian camp make during these 30 years. They're holding on, probably a difficult task in itself, but they aren't accomplishing much more than that. I imagine Maglor spends this whole period teetering on the border of despairing altogether.

What we do get of this time is that Morgoth makes them an offer—if the Fëanorians give up their Oath/leave Beleriand, he'll give them Maedhros—which the brothers, under Maglor's leadership, don't take (since Morgoth lies and the Oath is too important to renege on.) It's right after they refuse in the text that Morgoth hangs Maedhros on Thangorodrim.

Then Fingon rescues Maedhros, proving that it could be done. If Maglor hadn't already hated himself for rejecting Morgoth's offer of an exchange, for not saving Maedhros, and for failing to do more than just hold the camp together in the meantime, he's got to now. It's this sense of overwhelming, loving debt and guilt towards Maedhros, I think, and fear of feeling lost (& fully responsible) without him again, that dominate Maglor's actions from then on. He places his trust in Maedhros' leadership, relieved Maedhros can make the final decisions now. How can he really trust himself when he was wrong before? And he places his hopes in redeeming himself to Maedhros. Maglor, without any apparent opposition whatsoever (I would say gratefully), hands the crown back to Maedhros—and promptly on Maedhros' bidding (again without any noted opposition—I would say eagerly) goes to the most dangerous region of Beleriand to be the first line of defense against an invasion. (And then he "fails" Maedhros again by losing the Gap in the Bragollach.)

When Maglor is right in their conversation about stealing the Silmarils, of course it's hard for him to stick to it. He's used to trusting Maedhros more than himself. He owes Maedhros his loyalty for those horrible years of inaction. And probably most of all, he doesn't want to be alone, without Maedhros again, adrift and hopeless.

#maglor #silmarillion #my posts #i know i shove this notion at like everybody i have talked to off of here but i'm still so sold on it #girlfailure maglor #my poor little mew mew #it's been so long since i tried to write a meta post that i have lost the remembrance of how #of course maglor contains multitudes more than this but i think it's a strong uh thread w/ him

[sotwk]

Hai. What should I call you?

Btw I love your story and headcanons, but I am to afraid to ask at the first. But here I am...

I want to know about your headcanons. How Thranduil would react if someone kidnap Legolas, cause I need it for my story.

Thank you 💙

Hello my friend, the Elvenqueen! :)

My Tumblr "kids" call me Nana, but that's probably weird for everyone else, so you can just call me Sotwk. Just pretend there's an "i" between W and K-- Sotwik. My name is just the acronym for "Sons of the Woodland King", which is the main point of my blog and Tumblr existence. <3

I am so honored that you enjoy my writings, because I think very highly of your blog as well! Your "incorrect quotes" and funny convos between Thranduil and the other elf lords are hilarious. It's like a Middle-earth sitcom, and I agree with how you characterize everybody! I too believe that Oropher and Gil-galad had a pretty intense rivalry going on, and that Thranduil and Elrond were always great friends, with Thranduil being the snarky one and Elrond the long-suffering one. :)

Now, regarding your question: "How would Thranduil react if someone kidnapped Legolas?". The situation would depend on whether it's Legolas as a child/baby, or Legolas as an adult. How old would Legolas be in your story? Is the Elvenqueen still alive then?

Those details aside, here are a few headcanons I have about Thranduil and his protective nature, especially when it concerns his family:

Thranduil was a bit of a hot-head in his youth, and as he grew into a warrior, he developed a violent streak. He fought in the extremely bloody War of Wrath, so he became accustomed to a "kill to survive" or "kill the evil" outlook. Killing has never really bothered him as long as he believes it is for just reasons. (Like in Desolation of Smaug, where he just hacked that orc's head off without blinking.)

A lot of this was tempered by the love of his life, the Elvenqueen, who is very kind and sweet and definitely more of a pacifist. She, more than anyone in Middle-earth, is able to reason with Thranduil and calm him down through his rages.

There is literally only one thing that has ever scared Thranduil, and that is losing his wife. Obviously he is scared of his sons being harmed too, (or just Legolas, if you believe he was an only child) but his love for his Queen is beyond measure. Not to sound cliché, but she is definitely Thranduil's greatest weakness.

Once he became a King and a husband and father, Thranduil's nature softened to someone calmer, wiser, and more peaceful. He learned to be more lenient with violators of his kingdom's laws, giving them fair trials and opportunities to redeem themselves.

However, offenses against the royal family were met with harsh judgement, and anyone who so much as threatened the safety of the Queen or Prince(s) were shown no mercy. Orcs, men, or dwarves were simply executed. Elves were given a chance to choose banishment, depending on the violations.

What if Legolas were kidnapped? I actually think this would be nearly impossible to do, especially in my SotWK universe where Legolas has four older brothers looking out for him. But if it were somehow to happen, Thranduil himself would ride out to hunt down and deal with the kidnappers, and would not stop or rest until they are found. Most of Mirkwood's armed forces as well as their hunters would be deployed to join the search.

The only way a kidnapper would succeed in taking Legolas out of Mirkwood is if they are able to exit the kingdom's forest borders before Thranduil realizes what has happened. Thranduil has a special connection to the forest itself, and would be able to use certain powers to locate any movement within his realm. (This power diminished somewhat late in the Third Age as the darkness of Dol Goldur spread, but he never lost it.)

Once the kidnappers are caught, there will be no trial or recourse for them. They would be executed on the spot by Thranduil himself.

I hope these headcanons can help you write your story or inspire other ideas! Thank you for the ask and for everything you bring to our Elvenking's fandom!

#thranduil #thranduil headcanon #sotwk headcanon #sotwk answers #legolas #thranduil oropherion #the elvenking #the hobbit

[hxllo-nana]

Ok, gonna talk about underhell now:  So https://www.tumblr.com/underhell-png and/or https://berrynanapngxunderhell.blogspot.com/ 

So I just wanted to ramble some more about this AU and stuff, esp. with Hazbin Hotel Season 1 getting released.

And I just gotta say, both Alastor and Husk give me even more/so much Sans vibes and stuff.  Like, both have a  love of puns/Dad jokes, the hidden motives and secrets and/or etc., almost always smiling, to the point where u can’t always really tell what is behind that smile and is going on in that head of theirs (though with both Sans and Alastor, u can usually tell when they are pissed), Alastor’s sclera can get black and Sans’ eye-sockets can go completely black, both have powers that can help them suddenly disappear and/or etc. (Sans teleporting and/or time freeze powers) and Alastor’s shadow powers (Sans also hides in the shadows when u first meet him), I could see Sans’ losing hope in sinners not being able to get better/he could see them as being too far gone and/or basically/pretty much too far gone, and just overall more nihilistic in sinners redeeming kind of (but not exactly basically ofc) like Alastor, and/or etc.  They actually fit each other really well in a fair amount of ways, honestly.  

Husk and Sans also give off kind of similar demanours to me, and way of speaking kind of to me.  Also, Sans has a casino look, has a good poker face, and is very good at reading people, and Husk has connections to cards and stuff.  Both Alastor and Husk are quite and/or very smart too, like Sans.  Then there is the relationship of Husk and Angel Dust too.  Though, Sans as Alastor fits the Chara, Sans, and Asriel relations more.  And/or etc.  So yeah, both fit Sans pretty and/or very well actually.

(I know/I'm pretty sure Sans is some combo of like Alastor and Valentino, though btw, in some form.  Kind of like Gaster; kind of.  I don’t really know what to say about that though more specifically.  Yeah, whoops).

Asgore fits Lucifer very well; like so well.  They are both depressed Dads who are separated from their wives.  And just want to be good and/or better Dads and/or people.

(and both Alastor and Sans hint/show/have connections to thus separated wife.  I.e. Lilith and Toriel, lmao, hahaha).

I still love Chara as Charlie (Chara’s name itself is even kind of close) so much.  I just do.

I don’t really know what to say about Asriel with S1 info, I did like what u were already doing w/ him, but I am not sure what I would do with the S1 info with him, yet.

Undyne as Cherri Bomb and/or giving Cherri Bomb vibes still feels quite fitting and very good for her, but I am not completely sure.

I have no idea who Vaggie would be.  Like, I would say Frisk, but I know u have them as an Angel, and there is an Angel (whose name is escaping me at the moment, even though I like them) that wants to help Hell and stuff, that could also fit Frisk.

Muffet (or Truffet) gives me both Velvette vibes and Rosie vibes.  If u want to play more into Sans’ relationship w/ Muffet and them being friends, and give/have/keep Alastor inspiration for Sans and stuff, then Roise/more Rosie inspiration for Muffet would fit more.  I think both could fit her though.  Rosie seems to fit Muffet’s more formalness more and/or more the more darker parts of Muffet’s morality (though Vel has her own dark parts of her morality too; I just think Rosie’s own brand fits the darker parts of Muffet’s own a bit more).  

Vel’s fashion, way of speaking some, her influencer ways (I could see Muffet enterprising like Vel to get the stuff she wanted, Muffet’s quite the business-woman herself, and/or etc.), and/or etc. also fit Muffet quite well.  Muffet’s current (very cute and pretty) design kind of gives me Vel vibes too (for some reason).

Alphys I know u have as a the Cotton Candy Killer, and honestly, I don’t know where I who we would place her as and/or take inspiration from with the S1 stuff.  Vox?  Mimzy??  Rosie???  Maybe even Velvette too????  I don’t know.  I am not sure.

Gaster I don’t u have inspired by Valentino.  But I could see him being inspired by Vox too perhaps?  Hmmm????

I also, still love Paps as Angel Dust.  I just really like it.

Also, this is just me rambling a lot lol.  U don’t have to do any of these ideas for ur Hazbin Hotel Undertale AU/Underhell AU; it is ur AU after all!

Anyways, done with all the Underhell AU rambling!  And ur AU and stuff rambling in general.

I just want to say these very last things.  Happy late-ish birthday, ahaha.  And bye and good day and night, for now!  3/3.

LAST ONE, THANK YOU!

HAZBIN HOTEL SPOILERS IN HERE A BIT

- I REALLY want to change some roles in the hazbin au because holy shit i tried guessing the plot and none of them went my expectations 💀 .HUSK IS GIVING SANS VIBES AND HONESTLY IT’S MAKING ME WANNA CHANGE HIS CHARACTER A BIT. I plan on giving Sans the character of Alastor still (too many MANY similarities between the two aaaaa) and and something about husk’s character align into what I want to do with his character since Pap has the Angel dust role. I will play more into that later when I’m free with time lol. (God your giving me good ideas that fit into what I wanted to do HAHA)

- Valentino’s role is getting split similar to how Sans got 2 characters into him. Mettaton and Sans. Sans have traits to Val but Mettaton will tale most of Val’s role in terms of figure. Mettaton as a villain intrigues me HAHA.

- Muffet as Velvet takes my cake but in all honesty i think it’s best to change her role to Rosie’s role due to the fact that Rosie is friends with Alastor and Rosie is a cannibal like Muffet. The real Velvet i’m switching to Mew Mew. It fits the M&M (Mettaton and Mew Mew) like the Vees (Val, Vox, and Velvet). Also Mew Mew is as sassy and aggressive as Velvet and Mew Mew easily kicks/fires anyone who pisses her off similar to Velvet.

- Asgore as Lucifer I am so glad I have that character done right as well with Pap as angel but god..TORIEL AS LILITH, i’m eating this shit up istg. Asriel still plays as Vaggie. (Spoil) You know how Vaggie was found to be an exorcist? Well guess who in this au “betrays” Chara….*bounces across my room* Frisk is perfect for Emily(holy shit i didn’t expect and angel character similar to them but i’m so happy she is here) Undyne is still perfect for Cherry bomb. Here me out on the gay royal gaurds being Lute and Adam and no I will not take criticism from ANYONE. Temmie is still Nifty. AD is still fat nuggets.

- Alphys….i’m changing her to pentious. She has the same background as the “cotten candy killer” and i’ll get more into her character on how this weirdo became reedeemed lmaooo

- For Gaster….Let’s put this on a pause because I am leaning into Eve…

- WE LOVE ANGEL PAP IN THIS HOUSE HOLD

- Oh yeah, Alastor’s!Sans will be in Inkubator’s arc working with the dark council but he isn’t a major character, I will not say much more on this part.

- I plan on getting to Underhell soon when I have the extra time *w*

- Thanks for the f e b r u a r y birthday wish! I’ll see you next time Chat I love receiving your asks and support it means so much!!!

#underhell #ask

[that70sshowgoldencouple]

“I know waaayyy back the og fans who watched during original run had referred to them as the Park Walkers....it connects to my least favorite T7S espisode out”

Just curious but why is that your least favorite episode?

Mother's Little Helper in terms of Red and Kitty is such an OOC episode that really doesn't redeem itself in anyway. This is the episode where Kitty wants Red to read "The Joys of Sex" book and Red flat out refuses. I honestly can't see in character (s1-4) Kitty doing this, she might pick up the book and maybe make comments about it something like 'We'll that doesn't seem humanely possible' or 'Oh Red and I tried that once, who knew it had a name?' However getting the book and making Red read it and refusing to cook until he does? Nope not buying it.

What's even more out of character is Red. Even though I can understand him not wanting to look at the book, because it's coming from Kitty I don't think in character (s1-4) Red would've had the reaction he does in this episode. Refusing to read it, hoping that there is a bigger problem that is making Kitty suddenly interest in this book-really? No, just no. Also just last season he was reading and enjoy Kitty's dirty girl novels in Do You Think It's Alright?.

Red and Kitty were shown to have a healthy sex life, where they both were still attractive to each other and there was no one sided kind of thing like in other sitcoms, where one of them was always in the mood and the other begrudgingly agreed. Red and Kitty would share a look and head straight up those stairs. It made no sense for them to have this story line. Thinking about it now I feel like this storyline actually fits more of Mr. and Mrs. Roper from Three's Company than Red and Kitty (don't ya think @those70scomics ?) That scene when Red finally gives in, I can almost see the exchange being had between The Ropers.

Red: Alright Kitty. I want you to be happy, I really do. And to make that beautiful, illusive dream come true I'm willing to try page 46 ( he hands her the book ) Kitty: Really? Oh Red, thank you. Oh. Page 46 that is so fancy. Red: What? Oh dear God no! Not uh not page 46. I meant page 47 . Page 47 . And no funny stuff after I fall asleep.

The wrap up to the Red/Kitty storyline doesn't wrap up much better either. Like in Babe, We've Got a Good Thing Goin' Red's OOC behavior (which I actually think might have a bit of motive behind it) is forgiven because we get real Red and Kitty back in their last scene in the kitchen where they share a really heartwarming moment. Mother's Little Helper does no such thing and goes straight for the laughs with Eric walking in on Red and Kitty playing their sexy Marco Polo in the kitchen. After not enjoying the rest of the episode that tag scene doesn't make me laugh much either.

Aside from the Red and Kitty stuff the gang's story line has to deal with the play fighting that apparently girls can't do. And that's about all I remember. I know Eric also has a talk with Kitty about why she wants Red to read The Joys of Sex and, that scene just feels more awkward than funny to me. This is where the Park Walkers name came from btw

I really hope to one day write a rewrite of that Red/Kitty episode it has potential but they chose laughs over character and for this Red and Kitty fan those laughs didn't even land well. I skip it every time, luckily it's a filler episode so it doesn't have in part of the rest of the season.

Thank you for the question, sorry the response was so long! To quote Mean Girls, 'I just have a lot of feelings' lol Thank you again @hydesjackiespuddinpop

#that 70s show #answered asks #red and kitty #red forman #kitty forman #red and kitty forman #mother's little helper #season 7 #worst episodes #omg i got a message! #kind people #thank you! #hydesjackiespuddinpop #that '70s show

[sketching-shark]

I really don't feel like the show did much to redeem Wukong in Macaque's eyes. Up to the S4 Special, Macaque has now risked his life twice to save Wukong. But we don't really see Wukong do much of anything for Macaque. Which is so weird because the show confirmed that Wukong is basically the sole reason for their friendship crumbling in the first place. Yet Macaque is doing all the work to repair it? I wanted to see Wukong take that first step towards reconciliation, but instead, it's Macaque. Overall, I think this relationship is just so poorly executed.

Monkie Kid spoilers & mini-rant below, so skip if you don't want to read:

SIGH yeah anon I did see someone else comment that they thought forcing this relationship between the two was a major detriment to both Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque and well I fully agree. Because at this stage not only has the Monkey King been revealed to have been and in many ways still be just as stupid and selfish and thoughtless as Macaque repeatedly said he was, not only did it turn out that he was never a king either loving or otherwise in the first place because the monkey yaoguai of Mt. Huaguoshan seem to have never existed (major L to Azure Lion for pinning all his hopes and dreams on an eccentric park ranger), not only did he either kill or trap each and every one of his sworn brothers and then apparently did literally nothing about that for centuries if not millennia afterwards, but this revelation completely re-contextualizes all of the previous interactions between LEMH and SWK into making the Monkey King quite frankly extremely cruel.

While I know people often balk at the mention of Xiyouji itself when talking about Monkie Kid, I still think it worth bringing up that all of SWK's dismissive jabs against LEMH, along with him clearly not caring about the shadow simian like at all up until the very end of season 3 when the plot suddenly decided he did, made a lot of sense because in the og classic LEMH is the guy who literally hurt both SWK's monkey family and pilgrim family and tried to murder-replace him. But now that it turns out LEMH never did anything wrong ever (well he did but good luck getting the plot to acknowledge that now lmao), we're now dealing with a SWK who's major response to seeing his apparent bestest of besties has been to insult him, go for the throat almost immediately, and oh yeah not give af that said bestie literally exploded right in front of him. And yes yes I know that a lot of season 4 was about SWK regretting basically his entire past but ultimately going forward with hope and something of the reality that he can be better (at least in terms of working as a team), but all of this is intermingled with the sense that he's already done this whole song and dance before on account of the pilgrimage and still ended up causing so much destruction and pain to so many people during the show's timeline, even if he is trying to do the right thing. So here's our Monkey King as he was and still in many ways is everyone! A genuinely terrible leader, a genuinely terrible teacher, and a genuinely terrible friend. And for what.

Honestly, it is kind of morbidly funny at this stage to think that even at his very worst the murder monkey himself Xiyouji SWK never did anything as bad, either deliberately or inadvertently, as play a big part in the near-destruction of all reality :[

So all of that does leave Macaque in this position that frankly sucks because from what's been shown his entire first life was hinted to in large part be him just going along with SWK's selfish and dangerous whims, and then his second chance at life was defined by nothing but his violent obsession with getting revenge against SWK to the point where he has no friends, family, or even hobbies that aren't in some way or another tied to the Monkey King, i.e. the guy he hates so much that he thrashed and threatened MK repeatedly for the crime of being associated with SWK (another thing that makes his whole "yeah I thought SWK was pure evil but then on the journey west he got better ahaha" kind of hilarious in its hypocrisy). I've said before that fully and explicitly leaning into a plot about just how much Macaque defines himself through someone he hates could be a very interesting story line, whether he eventually becomes completely lost to his obsession like potentially with Xiyouji LEMH or learns to stand as his own person, but as it is as you said anon it just feels like he's been left not forging his own path but only offering the umpteenth chance to a guy who literally killed him, or at least who he fully believes killed him. Because yeah, speaking of other morbidly funny things it's still wild that even in a cursed hell scroll that constantly replays your worst memories AND even when Qi Xiaotian explicitly asks LEMH what the hell even happened between him and SWK, his only response was "..." and looking sad before that subject got completely dropped. idk if that was Flying Bark being like "we need more time to figure out how to make the murder-replace plot of the True and False Monkey King arc all SWK's fault!" or if they're saving that bit of story to spend even MORE screen time dragging out this ever-more tedious drama between SWK and LEMH, but you would think that this "I hate the Monkey King because he murked me" plot would at least be mentioned as one of the things that either SWK or LEMH would feel needed to be addressed??? Instead of just going right to "it's okay if you killed me I'll trust you again because reasons :)"???

So yes as always need to note that I'm likely being to harsh on a silly lego show and/or letting my typical negative nancying detract for more positive points, but if I had any advice for Macaque and his evil twin as it currently stands, for Sun Wukong it would be "atonement is an active process" & for LEMH it would be "if it sucks hit da bricks."

#monkey critical #also still waiting to find out what happened to the og pilgrims since they all died too :[ #and I guess congratulations again to the 'swk sucks' truthers #anon answered

[warsofasoiaf]

I know you're a big Baldur's Gate fan. Did you play Baldur's Gate 3?

I did, yes.

For a long time, I didn't want to play Baldur's Gate 3. For me, Baldur's Gate was the tale of Gorion's Ward, the Bhaalspawn, and it was decisively concluded in Throne of Bhaal. You either ascended to the Throne of Bhaal as a god, or forsook the power, and that's it - the story was over. Initially, hearing about a Baldur's Gate 3 felt like desperation: we don't have a good enough idea to stand on its own so we're going to cleave back to the old success story's brand and hope that you buy it. I also don't go for Early Access games as a general rule even among highly-regarded publishers like Larian. They're janky. But I finished it up, and I can tell you what I think. Spoilers below the cut.

For the most part, I enjoyed myself in Baldur's Gate 3. I found it a great way to introduce people to 5e D&D and found the amount of content and rewards for creativity to be quite gratifying. You were genuinely rewarded for thinking outside the box, exploring the map, and using untraditional uses of spells. Protecting characters in fights so they could provide bonuses or become party members was likewise gratifying, it added a risk/reward ratio that made it *harder* to play a hero. That's rewarding in video games because the game is tying the psychological thrill of beating an encounter to a material reward over and above continued play. Sometimes that could be aggravating - the AI could sometimes do really stupid crap, and sometimes you got screwed on initiative and it seemed like your NPC allies died before you could do anything.

The opening felt a little too gonzo at first. Big illithid invasion where you plane-hop to the Nine Hells is a bit much especially for someone not really well-versed in D&D lore, but I understand what it was going for. It tried to create a main story arc that every character regardless of alignment or personal backstory wants to fulfill - staying alive lest you turn into a nasty squid-creature. By saddling you with a cast of characters with the same ticking clock over their heads (and the mystery of why you haven't converted already), it gets you stoked into going out and digging into the main quest. The hand-waive of the delayed conversion is clearly meant to also provide a Watsonian reason why your character can long rest and spend time dicking around on sidequests like any good RPG, but the actual lore reasons service the story far more than Bethseda's "Find Your Missing Family Member But Also Do Literally Everything in the Wasteland" main plot of their Fallout entries.

Act I serves to both flesh out the world and later conflicts and recreate the exploration-based feeling of early Baldur's Gate. Faerun is a place with its own specific lore, and while Bioware might have expected many people that played Baldur's Gate to know about the Forgotten Realms (although given its hit status, they were probably delighted to be wrong about that), Larian knows that gaming is far more mainstream over two decades later and so needs to spend some time immersing the players in the unique cosmology of Faerun itself. Little things like "hyenas can worship the demon lord Yeeonghu and give birth to gnolls" is a nice fascinating piece of horrible lore that is visually presented well on the screen. Auntie Ethel was a delightful little sidequest that was acted well. The Underdark is a bit too overexposed, but the questing and map design were fine, including a fun little puzzle boss in the Adamantine Forge. There's a good blend of quests from puzzles like the Arcane Tower. The main quest is fairly binary good-and-evil, but that's standard fare for D&D. The tiefling refugees are clearly the morally right thing to do, and it's only really secret Shadow Druid Kagha that makes things only slightly grey. Pretty much everyone in the goblin camp is a piece of garbage, only the Priest of Loviatar redeems himself primarily by being hilarious.

Where the moral ambiguity comes to is in the companion characters. In Baldur's Gate I, the many party members were almost completely interchangeable save for some light flavor dialogue. Khalid and Jaheira mattered to the main story, as did Imoen, but you didn't need to take them if you didn't want to. Baldur's Gate II learned from this, every character has their own companion quest that usually ties in with one of the major stronghold-type quests. This isn't the case in Baldur's Gate 3, Larian has clearly invested effort to building these characters, from the morally-upstanding to the callous and practical. Each of the characters have their own opinion, but spend time doing their quests and they generally seem to warm up to you. All of the origin characters have their own long-form quests, while the other characters that join later have quests they're involved with and quests you need to do in order to recruit them (cleaning the Shade-Touched lands, not getting Jaheira killed by the Cult of the Absolute). For the most part, the characters are a little cliché but well done and well-voice acted. Shadowheart acts as a nice little introduction to Selune and Shar, another fun piece of Forgotten Realms cosmology that essentially asks if you're playing good or evil. Astarion's quest is "do the obviously extremely evil ritual or not." Wyll angsts a little too much about the cost of dealing with devils when everyone knows that when you do deal with them, they fuck you over. His lack of regret is honestly more refreshing than when he does feel the sting, I would have liked for Wyll to play that part up a bit more before starting the painful consequences later on; having someone know the other shoe is coming but not have it show up for a third of the game would have been pretty refreshing. Karliah is just a big old sweetheart, a normal trope but an enthusiastic one, solid barbarian trope all around. Lae'zel takes a bit of working to get to know her, but since any good illithid story would deal with the githyanki, having her along is a welcome change of pace, especially when you dissect her story and realize that she's putting on a front - she's a kid trying to act tough because she's a kid that knows she's facing doom, which then segues nicely into shattering the illusion of just how awful Vlaakith is - when Lae'zel finds out she is crushed but shows spirit enough to save the githyanki instead of wallow. Gale at first seems annoying and flippant along with eating my magic items, but eventually you learn about Karsus's folly, the nature of arcane magic, and the fickleness of Mystra.

The other characters aren't as well-developed, which is a pity. Halsin seems like a decent enough chap, just a guy trying to do the best he can. The two characters I found the weakest were ironically enough, supposed to be the strongest because they already were established: Minsc and Jaheira. Jaheira just doesn't seem like herself, there are no good roasts like the classic: "You are amusing, in a 'what the hell is wrong with you' kind of way," like there was in Baldur's Gate. Jaheira in Baldur's Gate faced down dragons and gods, yet she's comparatively fragile (and her own epilogue was ignored). Minsc is shallow, the humor in Minsc is that he's a bit of a punchline, whereas here it's just referential humor regarding Boo. Other returning characters get it even worse: Sarevok and Viconia are specifically brought back to show how much they've regressed, undoing some of Baldur's Gate's best writing. Sarevok was a tormented soul, unsure of what to do after coming back, but he goes back to his old tricks regardless of what I did, which just feels...careless. Sarevok was more than just a glowing-eyed spiky boss monster that he was in BG1, to have him returned to that was dull and uninspired. Viconia had some hints of her self in her regrets for destroying the previous Sharran enclave, but is still happy to be a boss battle for no other reason than to conclude Shadowheart's questline.

Whereas Act I was a bit scattershot, Act II benefitted from incredibly tight focus. JK Simmons did a phenomenal job as Ketheric, and the pacing and threat within the Shade-Cursed Lands is well-earned. You have clear objectives, the antagonists are always properly menacing, and there's still enough time to explore the Monastery and the githyanki creche. You have to do so anyway to start learning more about the Astral Prism, but the githyanki questline comes into its own with Lae'zel's betrayal at the hands of Vlaakith, they actually feel like part of the story and they begin to set up Prince Orpheus's later introduction into the story. It can be a bit jarring going from handling the Nightsong to immediately storming the Moonrise Towers, but it allows Shadowheart's midpoint arc to handle itself. The fight against Z'rell on the bottom layer isn't bad, although the Harper AI keeps doing its best to have Jaheira kill herself. The fight with Ketheric is great from a mechanical standpoint, the avatar of Myrkul fight is a bit easy given it's supposedly an avatar of a god, but Simmons sells Ketheric.

The surprise twist that the Dead Three have enslaved an Elder Brain has me thinking: "Alright, this is a decent enough plan." The Absolute's war creates plenty of death that empowers Myrkul, cults of murder spring up to empower Bhaal, and Gortash takes control of the city and subjects those within it to Bane's tyranny, exporting Bane's power after his success and creating an empire to super-charge Bane. By implanting worshippers of other gods, they deny souls and petitioners due to D&D cosmology which weakens them. That's fine, except all three of their Chosen are looking to betray each other, which would destabilize the Crown's control over the Netherbrain. Gortash at least tries to adjust to his plan falling apart by allying with the player character, grabbing Orin's Netherstone and reuniting the Three to reassert control over the Elder Brain. Orin, however, seems largely to fall into Stupid Evil territory, just happy to murder people for no reason. The revelation that the Dark Urge was the original Chosen of Bhaal actually makes this work since according to the lore, even with the Dark Urge's murderous impulses, they kept them in check. It further cements that the Dark Urge is the canon main character, and it ties neatly back to Baldur's Gate, when you find out in Throne of Bhaal that the Bhaalspawn do have an instinct to kill - one that wasn't expressed mechanically in the game save for the fact that you will easily have a four-figure body count when all's said and done. But that introduces a further wrinkle, Orin was unstable, and if they needed this plan to succeed, they should have opted for Sarevok, not Orin who can't think ahead.

Act III suffers from rushed execution. Several of the climatic moments in the final act are undercut either by bad programming or poor encounter design. Gortash's confrontation is shockingly easy, if you grab the grenades you get free attacks - it's so easy it's almost confusing. Orin's confrontation as the Dark Urge is narratively satisfying but a single Luck of the Far Realms attack can positively melt her health. This isn't the case for all of the fights - when the encounters are good they are really good. The House of Hope was an incredible level from start to finish, capping off in a great fight against Raphael that combines handling the cambions, burning down the pillars, and trying to survive against Raphael (at least until you find out that he has a crappy Wisdom and the game become keep him under Otto's Irresistible Dance or Hold Person), but even that works out well narratively after confronting his incubus lover and realizing that Raphael is a hedonist and thus would have a lower will save.

The final climax of the Emperor vs. Orpheus suffers from incredibly bad writing. The Emperor already has massive lore problems, such as *somehow* miraculously getting off the Island of Balduran so he can become a mindflayer in the Moonrise Towers, without even the barest acknowledgement why, or how. He says: "I never lied to you," except that he *always* lies to you, and when you call him out on it, he basically says: "no, that's just illusion. Not the same thing." At the finale, he's just stupid though. The Emperor has been positioned this entire time as wanting to avoid the slavery of the illithid hive mind, and yet in the final confrontation, if you opt to free Orpheus, he immediately decides to side with the Netherbrain and willingly consign himself to slavery. No chance to see if Orpheus will side with you, not even the ability to say "look, if he doesn't play ball, you can snack on his brain at your heart's content." Nope, he sides with the guy he's been specifically dreading this entire time, something he was so terrified of that he stopped at nothing to stop it. It only makes sense as a binary choice for a video game, to pick which faction rather than actually rewarding the creativity you were previously celebrated for all game.

The mandatory ceremorphosis was likewise stupid. "Somebody's gotta squid up, don't ask questions, it just has to be done. Netherbrain is too smart." For a game that has been giving you creativity this whole time, the entire point is "welp, someone has to make a sacrifice," is just an arbitrary shoe-horned thing to make, to up the stakes for dramatic tension. Why we simply can't use Omelum if we rescue him from the Iron Throne, despite the fact that he has acknowledged teleportation powers? No that's simply foolish, it undercuts the dramatic flair of the ending, I guess. We have to have our tragic ending, but a mandatory tragedy *isn't* tragic, especially when it's railroaded like this. It feels like the Mass Effect 3 ending, a rushed mess out of nowhere. At least Cyberpunk 2077's ending has you trying to fix the problem, only to find that you probably can't, and at best the Nomads might be able to help you or you sell your soul to Arasaka. That actually has some tragedy - do the safe thing and survive, or try to find a solution even if it might not work, and it ends with you wistfully looking out into the horizon. To add to the shoddy nature of it, when you reach your allies, they treat you as if it was you that did it, regardless if Karliah took the bullet to save herself from the Infernal Engine. So much promise and potential, ruined by the rush to get it out the door.

So overall it was a solid game, hampered by a lackluster ending.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #video game reviews

[justaravingwritingdesk]

adding to my thoughts in a previous ask; i'd also argue that kdj's experiences shaped how he views the world, rather than that being evidence of him loving and hating himself the most. it's very common that the experiences you go through in childhood define one's understanding of 'how the world works', and it can take a lot of effort to deconstruct those views. i would argue that that is less on kdj loving himself most and more that he has a set knowledge base that takes time to shatter

of course, when it comes to putting that in the context of kdj's acts of love; it would delve into a deeper question of how love works, if it is selfish or selfless, which in itself is interesting but might take quite a bit of time.

it might be that we have different perspectives of love that has me tilting my head at your ideas; i can see kdj wanting to be yjh as a form of wanting to be better, ergo a dose of needed self-love, but kdj wanting to stand beside yjh... that is an act of love, to want to be by the side of your loved ones. perhaps it could be argued that loving yourself allows you to care for the ones you love rather than denying both of you the pleasure?

probably the one thing i'd like to prod on the most is your discussion of the most ancient dream, though - from my understanding, the scenarios of twsa were not thought of by mad himself, but by the author that wrote for him, in addition to the fact that the most ancient dream is very clearly depicted as not knowing that the dreams from his reading had been coming to life, so i'm perhaps just a little lost on that.

i hope these thoughts aren't too much of a bother! it's interesting to hear how other people view a story, and orv is rife with details to pick apart

Ah, yes, of course. Childhood experiences are what shape our mentality, with teenage giving way to change and maturity, and adulthood solidifying the end result. The older you get, the more drastic the needed change tends to be for it to stick. You'd have to reexamine yourself, which is admittedly not easy, and that's speaking from experience. You need to know what the problem is before you start with anything. That's why it takes a lot of time.

KDJ doesn't have that. He doesn't know what's wrong with him, not entirely. He knows he's "broken," in a sense, but that's all. He doesn't remember most of his past. What little he does remember outside of TWSA isn't always true. All this because of the Fourth Wall. Even if he tries to "fix" himself, he wouldn't know where to begin.

And that's just sad, because there's nothing anyone can do about it. Only the Wall, but he most like never would do it, because the flow of the story would be broken.

(And no, I'm not objectifying him, I'm just putting it in terms that are easily understandable and that I'm familiar with.)

Acts of love can be either or both selfish and selfless, but when we say love, it's usually selfless. Because that's what love is. It's not really about you, it's about the other person.

And self-love… You can't begin loving someone else, not truly, if you don't love yourself.

At least, that's how I see it.

I can also see KDJ want wanting to be YJH as a form of wanting to be better, but mainly because I think KDJ is like the young SYS when they first met. They've both done something they know is unforgivable, and they both think they're bad people who can't be redeemed anymore. But while SYS had KDJ to tell her that no, she isn't a bad person, that she had to do it to survive, KDJ had his mother to tell him that no, the blood wasn't on his hands, that he is innocent while she is not. KDJ gave SYS the truth and his companionship. LSK gave KDJ a lie and basically left him to the wolves.

What LSK did to KDJ left an impact. Despite the fact that he wanted to be with them, he couldn't think of any other way but to leave, to sacrifice himself, just so the Company could be happy. Even though he found a way to circumvent it via Avatar, it still doesn't change the fact that he left them with a lie, just like LSK did to him.

And you're right, loving oneself allows one to care for their loved ones. I think that's one lesson KDJ has yet to learn: loving himself would let himself be truly happy with the Company. That's probably one implicit lesson amongst many that ORV is supposed to teach.

And as for the MAD, it's true that the scenarios weren't thought of by the MAD himself, but that doesn't mean he had no influence on them. The Dokkaebi King himself said that everything in the Star Stream moves according to the MAD's wishes, conscious or not. The HSY who became tls123 only put the records into writing while the DK who became Fourth Wall passed it on so KDJ who'll inevitably become MAD can dream of it and YJH who became SP will live it. (The Unholy Trinity is actually the Unholy Quartet. FW is the ghost member and the only one without a split persona.)

That's the gist of it, I guess. Most of the referenced details are in the text somewhere, if you find the time to look for it.

Does this answer your question? If it does, well, I'm glad I could help, and if not, then oh, well. I had fun, tho.

#orv #orv kdj #omniscient reader's viewpoint #character analysis #yjh #fourth wall #he's a menace #so many parallels #i'm going crazy #i'm going to cry #i'm going to die #it rhymes

[paceplace]

Top 5 NPC toons!

okay so this was actually a bit difficult for me to answer because there are a lot of NPC toons i like LOL. answer under a readmore bc this got long

1) lil oldman. while i do get why a portion of the community disliked him (especially if you came from tto) i personally was always fond of him! this is mainly because he's one of the few npc's in tto who actually had a personality but also the more i think about it, it almost feels like the folks at disney were poking fun at how grindy it's own game was when designing his taskline? like you could pick up it was grindy at certain points prior but they really weren't holding back at that point. it's kind of a cruel joke in hindsight but it's amusing in a messed up sort of way.

clash's take on oldman is also incredibly funny. the way they wrote his dialogue is so good you can tell they had fun with it. i really loved how they referenced both the trading card lore (brrrgh's existence w/ the air conditioner) and the frustrations ppl had with tto oldman's taskline in the dialogue. even though clash wants to distance itself from the original game as much as possible, seeing stuff like that in-game truly warms my heart.

2) barnacle bessie. kind of a hot take but i said this before and i'll say it again: bessie did NOTHING wrong and i will die on this hill!! i always found it odd that ppl viewed bessie's actions towards misty as unreasonable/cruel esp when it's been established multiple times that the cogs have been stealing their resources and harming them. it comes off as ppl seeing bessie defend herself as a bad thing which is really backwards, imo. i think you can feel bad for misty while acknowledging that by being affiliated with a company that actively harms the toons, she will be viewed as untrustworthy by them. she also kinda reminds me of laurien in the sense that they're both resistance rangers who are used to/prefer working in the background but then got promoted to a higher position of power and initially struggled before finding their footing in the end (laurien failed being a leader in clo but got redeemed in oclo, bessie was struggling with the cogs in the beginning of bb, but was in a better position by the end of the taskline after our help). maybe i'm reaching with this comparison but idrc it's interesting to think about to me so i'm putting it here.

3) aunt arctic. i'm putting her on this list solely because of her toontask giving her the "i need to go sad." phrase. she being the only npc to tell you to go green yourself is comedy gold i don't care what anyone says.

4) mac opsys/winn dos. putting them together bc they're a package deal. i'm bad at trying to solve ARG's but i really like when these two show up! their friendship is super cute and i really hope we see them in-game at some point or learn more about them!

5) paletti swatch. while we don't know anything of their personality, i think it was super clever of clash to make it so that their design changes everytime you load into the playground! it's not a secret toons can change their size and shape due to their nature but it's a small detail that adds to the charm of a cartoonishly wacky, colorful world

some honorable mentions are doe vinci (her design is so cute! i love doodling her in my sketchpad), flippy, and tutorial tom.

#thankyou for the ask i'm so happy i got to talk about toons again!!! #toontown #talking tag #toonblr #toontag