#Maid Analysis

[mageofmindfr]

Maid of heart? And can a maid of heart put her splinterself into toys, plushies and any inanimate object?

I don't usually delve into the theoretical powers one would have during a game session unless it's relevant to personality things or is just something I haven't seen mentioned anywhere... but I can definitely try?

We're starting with personality analysis though, I'm still a mage of mind after all.

SO! Starting with the class, maids are a creation class. I believe I've mentioned that before briefly, but now I get to expand that. So, maids are a class that can make more of their aspect out of thin air, pretty much. Aradia seems to be so far the only player we meet that I can think of that therefore uses her classpect in a creative way; when dog-Jack attacks their session right before they win, she stalls him, giving her session... more time. Porrim puzzles me because I can't understand so much of the alpha trolls' session so bear in mind if her actions in their session completely contradict me it's because I actually really dislike most of the alpha trolls and therefore skipped most of their dialogue, apologies in advance.

So, what are maids actually like, then, as a creation class and as people?

Well, for one, maids are pretty goal-oriented people, but in a rather big-picture way. They want an ideal life for themselves and everyone around them, if they can swing it, and aren't afraid to fight for it if that's what it takes; however, in pursuit of a picture where there's nothing apparently wrong, they miss details. They're idealistic enough to think some problems are "less important" for the moment, and can be returned to when everything is "fixed" so to say. It's hard to get a maid to leave the theoretical perfect world behind, because they really want to make just that much of a change; and I'm not saying it's impossible, but Rome wasn't built in a day and the world can't be fixed by one person. I hear a lot of people say sylphs are healers, but it's actually the maids that want to change everything for the better.

Maids aren't afraid to take action, but also tend to turn a blind eye to problems they don't know how to fix. Procrastinators at heart, they want the change to be immediate and are intimidated by lengthy processes; but they're definitely determined. With people at their side telling them to keep going, a maid on a mission can make waves. They're people of very distinct opinions who voice said opinions to anyone willing to listen. They talk with a passion about the change they want to see and can be charismatic about it. Like sylphs, they're great friends to the people around them, but they also tend to be polarizing; you either love hanging out with a maid, or you can't be in the same room as them. And the maid won't change for you, because if their loud exclamations at the world are too much for you, whether you disagree or are simply intimidated by the maid's pure fiery passion for the topic... well, the maid probably wouldn't much like having you around, either.

So, maids are an acquired taste, and are fierce and passionate and very loud about their opinions. What about that aspect, then?

I'll be honest, last time I wrote anything for the heart aspect was my second post here and I was too nervous and tired to go the whole way and write the many paragraphs heart players deserve, so, here we go.

Heart is an aspect that regards the self first and foremost. It's about having a sense of self and experiencing emotions to the fullest. They're usually very emotionally intelligent people (Dirk Strider notwithstanding, but he's a prince so I suppose that makes sense enough) and should be willing enough to listen and give advice if they sense something is wrong. I think the heart-bound are very animated people; they're bright and tend to gesture wildly, and people notice when they're not in the room. Heart players are also very sensitive, and their emotional range is so wide I almost made a shrimp colors metaphor. They're really unique people and would probably wear that adjective with pride; they likely wear a lot of adjectives with pride, actually.

Heart players are explorers, they like to see and experience the world, but they also like to explore their own selves. They're not very good when it comes to understanding other people's thought process, and can thus be a bit awkward to converse with for the first time, but they are anything but shy about it. Heart players can be considered very impulsive, mostly because their emotions can sometimes overcome their logic; even those of them who pride themselves for being incredibly logical can sometimes let the world in too deep and interfere and get hurt, the moment something becomes personal.

Heart players are entirely the center of their own world, but not anyone else's; to their knowledge, everyone's center is themselves, and it kind of makes sense. You are made by the things you like and the people you know, and not those of any other person. They expect people around them to be just as driven towards self-achievement and understanding, which makes their first impressions be either intimidating or standoffish, depending on the mood and whether they expected to meet a new person or not; they just want to get to know you, and are surprised when you hesitate and not know some obscure thing about yourself that they know about themselves, like your favorite movie studio or dog breed or whether or not you like an obscure music genre. Obviously when such questions arise you have to explore both yourself and the world around you and form such views, who doesn't? (I'll tell you who, it's people who aren't heart players, that's who). As such, they're also very decisive people, who form an opinion and hold onto it like it's their defining characteristic; because every characteristic is defining to a heart player, and all those traits can only make up one person who cares so deeply about things like the name of a childhood plush or how many teaspoons of sugar you put in their tea, and that knowledge can make heart players very detail-oriented, in the way where they want to know everything about you that you'd be willing to tell them- it also makes them great at understanding interpersonal relationships between any two people; because this person is a cat person, while this other person actually does have a favorite dog breed, so they're going to have disagreements in a work scenario but be good friends if they aren't (I'm very much extrapolating; I'm no heart player, I could be completely wrong and hyper dog fans can entirely get along with cat people, who am I to know?)

... So, now that we've done both class and aspect justice, let's see how well they combine, yes?

Well, let's start with things the class and aspect have in common, the things most likely to be describing a maid of heart; they'd be a passionate person, who cares a lot about the world around them, but they might also get scared off if they don't know how to help a friend in need. They're idealistic yet charming in their awkward and sincere conversations with their peers. A maid of heart is true to who they are as a person and isn't afraid to yell it from the rooftops, which can be either mesmerizing or terrifying, depending on who you are. They're creative thinkers and explorers who aren't afraid to try something new and try to make everything better, though they might find troubles that would make picking themselves up harder once they fall, which makes them also dependent on the unspoken support of the people dear to them, as they are very in tune with both their own emotions and those of the people around them. A maid of heart with a good support system is unafraid of challenges and is energetic to meet new people. Find your true friends who let themselves feel to the fullest around you, and you will thrive.

... Now, that the analysis is all over, I do want to try my hand at theorizing about the powers a maid of heart might have, so, let's give this a shot after the cut;

Here's an obligatory disclaimer because the fun thing with classpect powers is that, depending on how you interpret your aspect and how creatively you think of it, your game powers can be incredibly diverse, and this is just my take on the powers of a maid of heart; if you have a different interpretation and can justify it well enough, who am I to say it won't work?

Well, as I've said in the personality analysis, maids are creators; they make more of their aspect where there is none. Heart players have a strong sense of self, which can result in splintering and making multiple versions of oneself, and are also in-tune with the emotions of themselves and the people around them. So, a maid of heart can make... more of themselves? I'm imagining either Aradia-bot style duplicates or some version of time-shenanigans, or maybe they're just actually multiple different people in a trench coat, what do I know. Alternatively, a maid of heart can intensify emotions, or bring new emotions to a person; imagine you're angry and suddenly that anger is being overshadowed by overwhelming love for your enemy, that would be a possible power for a maid of heart.

To answer the question of whether a maid of heart can put their splinterselves into dolls, I imagine not? Taking a preexisting thing and inserting part of your soul into it feels more aspect-manipulation-class, like knights or witches, than an aspect-creation-class, like the maid. However, you might be able to make more of yourself inside the dolls to begin with, or make the dolls when you make more of yourself automatically.

Again, this is entirely my personal interpretation of how those powers should work; the only things limiting your powers are your imagination and your interpretation of your classpect.

Hope this helps! ^^"

#maid of heart #heart aspect #maid analysis #maid of heart analysis #classpect analysis #classpect #homestuck classpect #homestuck #no offense meant but a maid of heart sounds like such an intimidating person #like I might genuinely cry if a maid of heart tries to talk to me heart players yall so cool Im actually scared #/lh but also fr yall intimidating

[wifegideonnav]

not people on instagram calling paris paloma’s labour “female rage.” like don’t get me wrong it’s a good song, it’s catchy, but it is feminine displeasure at most. girlies if you saw the type of feminine rage i support you’d call it problematic.

#surface level very baseline feminist analysis #focusing bizarrely on setting itself in a nebulous past but not committing to doing anything with that #and yet #💃 all day every day therapist mother maid nymph then a virgin nurse then a servant 💃 #anyway we need more media about women killing people and I’m not joking #op

[highoncatfood]

Rainstuck part 2.

(more notes under the cut ^_^)

maid of doom yakou is probs my 2nd fav classpect out of all the characters ive done (right after knight of void makoto)

an additional note for yomi: to add more to the 'ghosting heart' part im thinking sth like brainwashing/manipulation of thought to erase rational thinking and instead leave strong emotion/emotional attachment?? in their place would be fitting when it comes to his relationship with martina. though it would probably make more sense if he was a witch of mind but as mentioned before i was considering making him one soooooo

pt 1 here

#rainstuck #eeeee #rain code #yakou furio #yomi hellsmile #classpect #classpect analysis #maid of doom #prince of mind #also why r they all fucking libras and geminis whats up with that #master detective archives: rain code #mdarc #raincode #catfood art

[dukeofbenrebay]

Been watching thomas tumblr through the window for a while and figured it'd be cool to jump over a bit more :3

Thought a good place would be with a fav, Emily~

Became more fond of her as I got older, eventually becoming basically my favorite^^

Model's made from card, cardboard and painter card. Do quite like her, very much :3

My fav autistic Scottish sapphic queen, a force to be reckoned with and will absolutely chase down a bitch in 8 inch platform heels to hit someone with a bat.

#thomas and friends #ttte #ttte emily #idk how to tag this #scratchbuilt #scratch build #autistic emily she just like me for real for real #would love to go on about charavter reads n analysis sometimes #esp her friendship with henry and also how henry n besr gay as fuck #shed be Henry's maid of honor at their weddings #should probably mentiom her look is more based on my AU #Sudrian Bliss

[paimonial-rage]

DILUC AND 8 (their pet peeves) -- @milkstore

[Character Analysis Ask Meme]

What are Diluc’s pet peeves?

Lack of respect for service workers - Some may find it surprising seeing how rude Diluc is to the Knights of Favonius, but it’s true. Growing up on the winery, Diluc has seen firsthand the amount of work that goes into making wine and caring for the mansion. He understands the pride his workers put into their jobs. Not to mention his father raised him, not only to respect those under him, but to protect them as well. Is it really surprising then that he does not stand for those who harass his workers? To him, they’re the scum of the earth.

#genshin impact #genshin x reader #diluc #diluc x reader #my writing #character analysis #i realize now that the question is plural but i only include one whoops #oddly enough although i think we may have talked about this before but i think wanderer shares the same trait #though i think this is a trait most people know it’s still one of my favorite #i think kaeya mentions in his hangout that like… #one time diluc thought that someone was harassing the maids so he ran out with his claymore in hand to beat them up LOL #that being said diluc and pet peeves are hard because imo…… he doesn’t seem like the type that’d get irritated very easily #that is to say….. with very unique things #inefficiency irritates him… injustice frustrates him… but pass that? #*past #i don’t really think a lot of things bother him haha #oh! maybe people trying to flirt with him for his money would… but most would feel that way in his shoes #oh and also people that binge drink on the regular would annoy him too #but other than that imo he’s p chill. just has a mean rbf #it’s hard bc we usually think of diluc in the presence of kaeya but when you separate the two like… #he doesn’t have much to be bothered over imo #maybe i’m wrong but i just see him as an awkward but kind person #thank you for sending in a diluc ask tho like he’s so mid but i still love him <3 #but with this i am caught up on all my asks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #now to actually write HAHA

[ya-kiri]

Just a random thought but, I am so glad they left out Claire slapping Lene in the manga and anime adaptations. I read the light novel before the anime was even announced/greenlit, and I was worried about that scene (amongst other things). I really didn't like it. Putting aside what we find out about Lene later 😬, it was really uncalled for, came out of nowhere and reflected poorly upon Claire. Lene was basically Claire's sister figure, they grew up together, she helped Claire with the grief over her mother's death, Claire defended Lene from mistreatment.

Furthermore, it was established from the beginning that Claire pulls her punches when bullying Rae, not wanting to do any lasting physical harm despite her distaste for commoners, which makes it all the more jarring that she doesn't lay her hands on Rae, whom she has only known for awhile and is constantly annoyed at her, yet she would, without any hesitation, slap her sister/childhood friend that's she known, cared for, and depended on for her entire life? Just, no! Went on a bit of tangent there, I'm sure no one else cares about this but I wanted to put my thoughts into words.

#i'm in love with the villainess #rae taylor #claire francois #yuri #gl #light novel #manga #anime #blog #maid lene #lene aurousseau #i read the light novel a few years back #maid #lene #literary analysis #spoilers #i'm in love with the villainess spoilers #wataoshi #watashi no oshi wa akuyaku reijou #wataoshi spoilers

[fumifooms]

Howl’s moving castle dunmeshi AU

I’ve cracked the code I know why I love Marcille x Chilchuck so much. They’re literally just like Howl’s Moving Castle Howl and Sophie. Okok indulge me for a sec I’m about to dump so many pics and ramble for a bit. I want you to see my marchil vision. It’s fabulous extra cringefail hopeless romantic drama queen x grumpy old sad angry caring hardworking person cursed to be here & cursing fate and giving tough love to everything in a miles radius. No one is safe. From either of them. Calcifer or Micheal is Izutsumi. Wait wait no Calcifer is Senshi and Michael is Izutsumi. Senshi as Calcifer works bc Calcifer is just chained to Howl and is there reminding Howl to not die and take care of himself, giving hints about how to break the curse to Sophie, also the fire demon cooks the eggs and bacon checkmate. And then LAIOS IS TURNIP HEAD OH MY GOD THAT WORKS OUT PERFECTLY. Chilchuck & Marcille, screaming terrified of the weird scarecrow chasing after them, meanwhile the weird scarecrow that’s harmless: :(. Wizard Suliman is Falin and the second fire demon is Winged Lion, so bam everything comes full circle.

I’m assuming most people who’ll see this post maybe saw the movie but not the book, and what you need to know is that the movie makes Howl so much dreamier and collected and cool, whereas in the book he’s just a drama queen 24/7 that’s it. He’s a wet cat dressed in expensive sparkly glittery gowns that needs to be yelled at to do anything he needs to do. He complains. He bemoans. Meanwhile Sophie is, honestly pretty like in the movie? Less contrarian and anger issues but will grumble and yells while cleaning nonetheless. Hardworking but will pathetically sit down on a chair in a dark corner to cry about her aching bones and OHH this is ALL because she’s the eldest child and she was doomed for unhappiness and no one can ever love her… So she’ll whack everyone into order and purge her feelings through aggressive cleaning and using weed killer. IS THIS NOT GIVING MARCILLE & CHIL TO YOU?!

There’s this funny widespread take from the fandom:

And it couldn’t be more true in a marchil context either. Like come on. For all of this post just swap the names of Howl for Marcille and Sophie for Chilchuck.

(Last one with the art by Cookiekappa on Tumblr)

Tell me this isn’t so Marcille. Tell me Chil wouldn’t run away from home thinking he’s failed life and is no longer in shape to work and now has to waddle in self-pity, seeking out wizards which he hates and finds shady bc it’s his last option, and then end up a maid & cleans everything out of spite and also worry for the person living there. Tell me Marcille wouldn’t throw a depressed slime tantrum so bad that it causes a partial town evacuation because her wails summon unknown horrors, over her HAIR. Forget slime she’d blow up the house instantly. She would breakdance as refusal to go see the king. Chilchuck would call her a slitherer-outer and she would gasp in offense and they’d have a fight.

Marcille having full on poems laying around and then Chil & Izu seeing them and being like "Ah yes, this must be a spell, it makes no sense and is so extra, just like how silly our resident witch and her magic is". Izutsumi going "Okay peepaw I’ll teach you how to use a magical bucket just take one step forward-" and they immediately fuck it up and they’re left stranded in far unknown lands. Chilchuck complaining that HIS BACK HURTS. And at every turn or something mildly inconveniencing him "NOTHING GOOD EVER HAPPENS TO THE MIDDLE CHILD".

And can we talk about the aging motif, the curse… Marcille never letting herself grow close to someone even though she does all these grand gestures for them at first. Meanwhile her fear of loss stares at her straight in the eye whenever she looks at 90 years old Chilchuck, and her deciding to not run away from their relationship is what ends up healing both of them. She gets over her fear of intimacy and he grows over feeling like a terribly dull unlovable failure. Me sobbing when I remember how Sophie’s curse of being old is a self-inflicted manifestation of herself thinking she’s romantically unlovable and weak…….

This is it for now but rest assured that I want to make art of this, have these memes for now

#Dungeon meshi #au #marcille donato #chilchuck tims #marchil #Fumi rambles #crossfandom stuff #I might edit in other details or things I think up of for this au wether scenes or analysis points #I did interpret chil’s character differently than I usually do in order to make him fit more in sophie’s shoes but it still fits imo #My soul needs an absolutely seething malding old Chilchuck maid au. It sparks joy. Go get it peepaw fuck shit up clean that house #He has a strong will and a gift he can speak life into things because he can motivate ppl by speaking frank and true ILY

[agent-calivide]

So- normally this blog is exclusively for IEYTD content- but I think I'm gonna shift to just be my interests, because there is one thing that I'm absolutely feral about and desperately need to scream into the void over.

Discussion surrounding the 2004 film Barbie Princess and the Pauper makes me irrationally angry.

Barbie’s Princess and the Pauper is a surprisingly decent film for being made purely to shill doll, with music that's absolutely gorgeous and a story that's a bit less dark than the original novel it's parodying.

A brief summary for those who don’t know- though if my YouTube recommended’s anything to go by Barbie is taking over the collective hivemind of nostalgia at the moment- Barbie Princess and the Pauper is the story of two young women, Anneliese and Erica, living two completely separate lives, one being a princess and one being a pauper. The twist, however, is that they were completely identical, save for their hair and a shockingly relevant birthmark for only being mentioned twice.

Erica is a poor seamstress who’s worked like a dog by her wicked boss, Madame Carp, trying to pay off her parent’s debts so she can pursue life as a singer. Truly, the best rep for anyone who’s suffered through retail with a shitty boss. Annelise meanwhile, is a princess who spends her days being lavishly spoiled as a princess typically would, but she doesn’t want to be spoiled. On the contrary, she would rather spend her day studying than getting her feet massaged and faffing about. At least- that’s what the song “I am a girl like you” and most of the fandom would have you believe.

In the song “I am a girl like you", we start with Annelise and Erica meeting, Annelise saying that she’s not looking forward to marrying this king and Erica responding with “At least you’re not an indentured servant”. Annelise asks for elaboration, and the song starts. Erica talks about how her mornings start with paying her boss money for a hot breakfast, then having to get up, walk a mile through cold, wet roads just to get the eggs for breakfast and then come back when all she wants to do is sleep in. Once again, relatable. She then looks at Annelise and asks her how her morning starts. Annelise pauses, and is visibly bashful, clearly hesitant to share, but Erica asks her to go on. Then, Annelise tells Erica that if she wants eggs she rings a bell and her maid runs in with breakfast and cookies, and while she eats she gets a foot rub and has live music being played for her, but she doesn’t want to be spoiled and doted on, she wants to be in the library!

If this was the beginning and ending of Annelise’s characterization? I’d get it. If Erica thought Annelise was spoiled, I’d get it. But she doesn’t. On the contrary, Erica hears this rich girl complaining about how she doesn’t like her life but is aware of how good she has it, and chooses to reach out. To say “hey, I can relate to that." “There’s somewhere else we’d rather be, somewhere that’s our, somewhere that dreams come true” If anything, this is a testament to Erica’s empathy, her kindness, and her ability to put herself in someone else’s shoes even when they objectively have it better. Throughout this song Erica will talk about work and Annelise will talk about the lighthearted fun parts of being a princess, but will casually mention how she’s in a position that she doesn’t want. Erica has to walk through the mud every morning for breakfast, Annelise gets it served literally on a silver platter, Erica has to make dresses, Annelise gets to dance around in frilly dresses. But Annelise also mentions that she’d rather be in the library and get to marry who she chooses, not be betrothed for the sake of her kingdom, more on that in a minute.

And time and time again, I see people talk about how Annelise is tone deaf, how she’s complaining about what is, objectively, a better situation. But honestly, I find this stance to be major character assassination, and is one that I’m seeing more and more frequently in regards to Annelise and most other “rich” characters quite frankly. Now, normally I don’t mind opinions like “this character is spoiled and should have more development than just crappy parents” or “it’s bad that they rushed this antagonistic character’s ark so they can have them for the series finale” I think that argument works just fine on the spoiled rich girl archetype, like Pacifica Northwest and Sasha Waybright, but I see a lot of people slapping that sticker onto any character that grew up wealthy regardless if they were an antagonist or not.

I get not liking a character if they’re antagonistic, or relating better to a character who had to work for everything they had. Most of us didn’t grow up as princesses in fancy castles and have been stuck with horrible bosses. I understand why people relate to Erica more, especially as someone who worked at a fabric shop with a crappy manager. But on more than one occasion I’ve seen people take the stance that Annelise’s part in the song “just like you” is insensitive and Erica should’ve shouted at Annelise, reminded her of her privilege, “laid the verbal smackdown on her and show her how hard it was being a peasant” before quickly following it up with a “I was just kidding!” when anyone calls out that Annelise isn’t a one dimensional privileged white girl. And if that was the only context we got of Annelise, I’d understand where it came from.

But if we look at Annelise throughout the course of the whole movie, that’s not true at all, quite the opposite. Our first scene we get of Annelise is her, getting fitted for a wedding gown to marry a man she doesn’t want to be with while a servant is fretting over her schedule for the day. That doesn’t sound like the typical Disney princess who gets to spend her days doing whatever she wants post-coronation. This is an actual princess, with real responsibilities. She has to give speeches, attend meetings, speak with upper class societies, and all she wants, the first thing she says in the introduction song “Free”, is “all my life I’ve always wanted to have one day just for me, nothing to do and for once nowhere I need to be”.

While she is bemoaning to herself, she’s not exactly fighting her scheduler on this either. She doesn’t complain, she doesn’t fight back, no quips or whining or witty banter, she simply accepts that she has to do what is told and dreams of a world where she doesn’t have to do all that. And that’s the big point that I see a lot of people ignoring. She is absolutely busting her ass every day, in and out, doing as told and not getting a second to breathe.

Let’s look at the one day we see that is truly just Annelise in her environment. She is getting a fitting for a wedding dress to marry some king while the royal scheduler tells her she has to give a speech at the Historical Society, then has to rush over to a Horticultural Society Tea, then has Math lessons, Geography lessons, and presumably much more after if we’re basing it off the massive to-do list of parchment we see. As someone who survived the public education system, the thought of giving a speech, going to a high pressure lunch that’s basically a work meeting, then having to do a full day of school after that makes me want to simply wither away and cry. She’s not sitting around, looking pretty and riding horses all day. She has responsibilities, duties, commitments to her mother and her kingdom.

We then cut to Erica, who shares much of the same sentiment. “All my life I’ve always wanted to have one day for myself, not waking up with a pile of work on every shelf” before singing about all the work she has to do as a low-class seamstress. This is what we’d expect from the pauper side of things. Erica works hard to earn a living at a small seamstress shop and wishes she could be doing something more with her life. This is when Madame Carp walks in and we see a glint of Erica’s personality. She’s spunky, she talks back, she calls Madame Carp’s dress shop a debtor’s prison to her face and argues about her parent’s debts. While she is committed to paying back her parent’s debts, she’s not taking it lying down, and that is a fundamental difference between Annelise and Erica.

While Erica will see a problem and call out that it really sucks, Annelise will look at a problem and simply accept that she has to fix it with little more than a comment to herself. Both of these girls are dreaming about freedom, but Erica is fighting for her freedom while to Annelise, it’s little more than a fantasy.

And that includes the freedom to marry whom she chooses. And this is when we see just how far Annelise will go to please her mother, as she looks out and sees the love of her life, her tutor, Julian. Julian is implied to be a good friend who’s been her teacher for a long while, and he feeds her passions. He teaches her, he encourages her to learn, he is one of the few people in her life who feels joy in Annelise’s happiness. Because, truly, when we see the way she interacts with the other servants and maids, she doesn’t have many friends. She doesn’t have anyone to talk to about her grievances, her lack of freedom, any of it. All she has is Julian, and she likely will lose him in the marriage to King Dominick. He's already calling her "your highness" like an authority figure rather and Annelise, his friend, and she hasn't even met the king yet.

She can’t even have her fantasy to marry Julian, as it’s quickly interrupted by her mother cutting her off and saying “I’m so sorry my darling, but as you know, it is vital you marry king Dominick. It is the only way to take care of our people”. And Annelise just accepts this. She just goes “yeah, I know, I have to do this for the kingdom” and pushes her fantasies away. And the very next line is Annelise talking about how she knows she’s lucky, she knows she’s privileged to have all of this nice stuff, this nice life, but is quickly realizing that every present comes with strings. While she may get to have a lavish life, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

We then see Erica, who’s talking about how while she doesn’t have nice things, she has spirit, determination, and she will achieve her dreams no matter what. This song truly establishes just how different the girls are, specifically in regards to their challenges and the obstacles they encounter. Erica, though currently trapped by her parents' debts at Madam Carp’s, has a fire, a will, a determination. She, though in debt as a pauper, isn’t willing to give up on her goal and aspirations of being a professional singer.

Annelise meanwhile, could have resources. She could reach out and get help, or run away with Julian, or do something to get out of her situation, but she refuses to. She can’t get past this mental barrier of duty and responsibility, and even while downright miserable, she won’t complain and won’t voice her needs. But the kicker is truly in the bridge of Free. Erica says “Soon I will forever be free” while Annelise says “Now I fear I’ll never be free” Erica is damn near counting the days, she’s looking at freedom as an inevitability, something that she will be getting soon. Annelise knows and accepts that freedom simply isn’t in the cards for her. In the end, both girls dream of leaving their situations, but they both decide to stay in their respective positions for the good of those around them. They both are committed to their duties, but Erica’s duty will hopefully finish in the near future, while Annelise’s duty is her entire life.

Later in the film, Erica takes Annelise’s place at the castle as Annelise has been kidnapped by Priminger and Julian needs someone to pretend to be the princess so the king doesn’t leave. In “To be a princess” he proceeds to educate Erica on a lot of aspects of being a princess. This pertains but is not limited to: be charming but detached and yet amused, do keep a grip and never crack, always look your best, never get to rest, never show dismay, be there when people call, and never show a thing you feel inside. With lessons like that, it’s no wonder that Annelise feels an absolute commitment to being a princess and never has a day to herself. Everything and everyone around her, including her best friend, says that she’s not allowed to feel, to breathe, to relax. She always has to be alert, aware, she has to have a thought and a response for every single possible comment and retort. And when Erica’s taught all this, it’s painted as overwhelming to learn, but imagine that being every day of your life for every week of every month of every year. That sounds absolutely crushing. Erica at least gets to let off some steam. She snaps at Madame Carp, she jokes with Bertie, she sneaks out to town square and sings. She has outlets away from work that Annelise simply does not have.

Okay, so Annelise is completely committed to her job as a princess, big whoop. She still is filthy stinking rich and royals were married to people they didn’t like all the time, she still is incredibly privileged. Maybe so, however, there’s more to this marriage than just some sort of uniting of kingdoms or prior arrangement. The reason that she’s getting married to Dominick is the kingdom has fallen bankrupt. Why has it gone bankrupt? Has the queen spent an egregious amount of money on castles? Was the king a warmonger who put all their funds into their armies? Does princess Annelise have a penchant for expensive travel and one of a kind crowns?

No.

The kingdom is bankrupt because the queen’s advisor has mined their mines dry of gold in hopes of taking over the kingdom. With no gold coming in, there was nothing to exchange, and the queen had to fix the problem before it started to hurt her people more than it already has. Her solution? The only one. Marry Annelise off to the nearest wealthy suitor and hope that it injects money into their economy.

The royals of this kingdom did nothing wrong, other than letting an evil man have so much access to power, which I don’t think any of us have the right to judge. If anything, the only one who’s privileged and trying to take advantage of it is the royal advisor Preminger. He talks about how he’s scraped by for years to climb the ranks and deserves to be a king, but in that same vein he doesn’t care about the kingdom, the people who are affected by his decisions. He’s so hellbent on becoming king, he doesn’t think about the fact that for all intents and purposes, he’s made it. He’s wealthy, absurdly so unlike Erica, but he’s also not a royal and thus has no duties to do any work he doesn’t feel like it, able to disappear for weeks on end and not have anyone on his back unlike Annelise. He has everything the girls want, but it’s not enough for him. He wants more.

Annelise meanwhile, is very aware of her privilege as a princess and tries to relate to those around her, even if she’s a bit unsuccessful at it. Before Annelise meets King Dominick, Julian decides that, as her friend, he thinks she needs some air. To get out of this stuffy castle and go see the kingdom as a normal girl before she loses it all. So, he gets her a cloak and takes her down to the nearby village, and here we can really see that she’s aware of her privileges when she’s outside of the castle.

As she and Julien walk around the town she asks him which house is his and he says “more of a room really, we couldn’t afford a house.” and immediately Annelise feels guilty, backtracking and starting to apologize for assuming he had a house. She doesn’t look at him in confusion or make fun of him for not having a house to himself, she instantly realizes that she was “in the wrong” to assume and tries to apologize for being presumptuous or assuming he was wealthier than he was. But Julien doesn’t laugh at her, doesn’t scoff, doesn’t tell her to “check her privilege”. He simply gives her a small smile and says “I know”. He assures her that, as his friend, she didn’t cause offense, he’s aware that she simply didn’t know he was in that bad of a financial situation growing up. He simply laughs it off then carries on with the conversation.

And this entire next section is Julien just being the absolute best. He engages with her interests, he gets Annelise her favorite flower, he calls the flower by its (fake) scientific name as he hands it off to her and he knows that it’s her favorite and that she'd appreciate him talking about science with her. He’s simply engaging with her as a mutual, a friend, and shows interest in her- well- interests. She gets to happily indulge in fantasy for a moment, but it’s quickly ripped away as she looks around the market and notices that the kingdom’s bankruptcy is already setting in. Shops are getting boarded up, families are being forced to leave, and she’s reminded that she has to get married to King Dominick for their sake. And she is visibly saddened by this. Not that she has to marry Dominick, but that her people are suffering over something that she and her mother couldn’t have possibly prevented.

Her train of thought gets interrupted by Erica singing in town square, Erica having snuck out from work to sing in the town square for coin, and she is doing a damn good job. We see she earns a decent amount of money for just singing on the road. People gather around Erica and listen to her song, she gives a sense of hope, she is pursuing her own freedom and people are enjoying it. Erica once again gets a reminder that her dream of freedom is not only soon, but achievable. It’s in reach, it’s not a completely absurd notion like Annelise's freedom. This is quickly interrupted by Madame Carp stepping in and yelling at Erica for leaving work, stealing her hard earned money and telling her to get back to work- which on one hand, bitch. On the other, Erica leaving work in the middle of the day to sing in town square is… a choice.

But, regardless, Erica’s left with nothing and is alone on the street, and who steps in to put coins in her cup after Madame Carp’s left? Annelise! She comes over, gives Erica money, and the two talk for a bit. Erica finds out Annelise is the princess and asks why she’s outside the castle, and Annelise says “I’m savoring my first and last taste of freedom before getting married next week… to a total stranger.”

Note that she didn’t say “I’m getting a breather” or “I'm taking a break”. She said “I’m getting my first and last taste of freedom before getting married NEXT. WEEK. She has never, ever, ever gotten a day off, taken a break, gotten to truly rest and get a breather. Us viewers? We get weekends, holidays, a day off on occasion, but Annelise doesn’t. She doesn’t get a moment’s rest because her life is her job. She’s never even been outside the castle walls until this day! Her whole life has been work and has been dedicated to her kingdom, to her mother’s expectations. While yes she is definitely more privileged than Erica, it’s not fun and games. If anything, it’s a 24/7, 365 job, every day of the year. And then this happens. “At least you’re not an indentured servant”

This. This one line. Drives. Me. Insane. And I think this line primes people to take the stance that Annelise is simply spoiled. Just because your arm is broken, doesn’t mean my sprained ankle doesn’t hurt.

This is when “Girl like you” starts, and this is also what most people use as reference to say Annelise is spoiled and tone deaf. Because here’s the thing, Annelise never says she has it bad, she never claims that her life sucks. And when Erica tells her her morning routine, Annelise is visibly apprehensive to share her morning routine, because she is aware that it’s rather tone deaf to say that her life sucks because she’s marrying some guy she doesn’t know after hearing how Erica’s morning starts every. Single. Day. She clearly knows how absurd it is to complain, most likely because she’s friends with Julian, who seems to have also been a pauper before getting hired to tutor Annelise. But Erica presses so she folds and shares her morning routine and actively chooses to complain about something little, almost diminishing her misery in a way. Like “Oh, haha, yeah my morning’s pretty good, but I just want to do what I want to do for once rather than follow my mother’s schedule- but it’s fine! I’m fine!” And that is why it’s so important for Erica to reach out first and say “I’m just like you, you’re just like me”

Because it’s not just about reading science books. It’s Annelise wanting to rest, to pursue her interests, not the interests of her mother or her kingdom. Erica sees right through Annalise’s act and finds solidarity in it. She opens up about how miserable it is working at Madame Carp’s and Annalise, excited that she can actually carry this conversation, happily talks about how she loves Madame Carp’s dresses.

This is the other point I see a lot of people reference, as Erica talks about how abusive Madame Carp is and Annelise cuts in to say she loves the dresses that wicked woman sells. This, honestly, is just a mood to me. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve been excited to carry on a conversation, only to immediately put my foot in my mouth as I realize I misread the tone. But once again, rather than Erica getting snobby, going “Did you not hear me? I just called it a penitentiary.” She simply smiles at the naïve princess and tells her she made the dress the princess was wearing.

Annelise proceeds to compliment her work, praise it for its detailing, and the two continue to talk, Erica talking bout how she has little issue with making dresses while Annelise has fun wearing them, and the two actually talk about her getting to “imagine life without the strife of an unfamiliar groom”.

Erica recognizes that Annelise’s situation, though much more comfortable than hers, absolutely sucks. That all of those privileges come at a cost and honestly questions if they’re worth it. And then Annelise proceeds to say “but I’d never let my mother know, I wouldn’t want to disappoint her!”

Once again, Annelise is not only diminishing her needs and putting her happiness aside for her mother’s happiness, but she shows that all of her issues are mental blocks. Social pressures that have been put on her from her life being raised as a princess. She’s not singing on a corner for pennies, but she also isn’t allowed to pursue her own happiness. She’s a tool, not a person.

And after these two talk and bond and get to know each other, what happens? Annelise uses her privilege to help Erica. She tells Erica “hey, I love your singing, I want you to perform at the castle, I’ll send someone to bring you up to the castle and perform”

This offer would be life changing for Erica. Having Erica come up to the castle, perform, and probably get paid quite a handsome sum for it? To a seamstress and street singer like Erica, that could literally get her out of debt and onto stage that much sooner. Annelise, rather than going “oh, she’s poor, I don’t want to be seen with her” like a stereotypical rich girl archetype says “Come, sing for us, you’re talented and I want to share your gift with others”. And Erica is rightfully ecstatic at that offer, and is over the moon when Annelise says she’ll send someone to get her.

Later, due to plot purposes, Annelise and Erica get mixed up, Anneilse stuck in the streets and Erica up in the castle. Annelise, in a moment of desperation, goes to Madame Carp’s dress emporium for shelter. The problem? Madame Carp thinks Annelise is Erica, and locks her in the back of the shop with the other seamstress, Bertie. While Bertie does think it’s Erica at first, Annelise tells Bertie the whole story (presumably) and proceeds to do exactly as instructed. She doesn’t throw a fit or refuse to help, she sits down, grabs a needle, and gets to work. Sloppy work, but work nonetheless. Even when Bertie tells Annelise that she doesn’t have to work on the dresses, she insists on helping. She doesn’t once say “I’m a princess, I shouldn’t be doing this” she simply accepts that this is her work now and adds it onto her plate. Even when she’s not in the castle, she thinks it’s her job to take on work that she’s assigned, and while it’s painted as a moment of empathy and kindness, Annelise is shown to put her desires as the very last thing to prioritize.

Eventually she’s released from Madam Carp’s by Preminger and he immediately locks her in a mine shaft and tries to murder her and Julian. Yes, he’s gone full blown Disney villain and locks the two away in a mineshaft then causes a cave in. Annelise and Julian are locked in a shaft in a caved in mine. Can I say this one more time: Annelise and Julian are buried alive in a m i n e. Most people in this situation would be panicking, crying, generally reacting distressed, we can see Julian sure as hell is, as he grabs a pick and immediately tries to dig himself and Annelise out. What is Annelise doing during all of this? Staying calm, comforting Julian, and finding her kingdom’s solution to bankruptcy.

Say what you will about how “it’s just a movie” but I know that were I trapped in a caved in mine, my mind would not be on how to fix a problem that looked like it wasn’t gonna be my issue very, very soon. But not only does Annelise use the rock as a touching analogy to make Julian feel better about himself, she keeps the crystals in mind and when they escape the mine collapse- due to cat shenaniganry- and informs her mother of them to solve the kingdom’s gold issues.

Here, Annelise once again is solving a problem that she didn’t even cause to get her happily ever after. She is truly doing all of the work on this school project, and people are digging at how she was raised in a fancy castle rather than acknowledging that Annelise did a lot of hard work. One video I saw was someone talking about how if they were Erika they would’ve stayed in Annelise’s position to “earn that bag” and make some actual changes to improve the kingdom, but Annelise does make changes to help the kingdom!

She finds a new export, saves her kingdom’s market from completely crashing, helps revitalize the economy, and because of all of that people can move back home and re-open their shops! We don’t know much about how this kingdom is run, but we do know that the royalty feel a duty to help their people, to do what is best for the masses regardless of how much they don’t want to do it. This isn’t like the modern day one percent where people tear down historical sites to make room for their mega yachts. The reason Annelise and the Queen are rich is they are the government. They are a monarchy. We don’t see any massive balls or galas like we do in Island Princess or Cinderella, they’re not just throwing money around for the amusement of it.

They’re bankrupt because their mines ran dry, and they managed to save their kingdom by finding a new export. “Why don’t they use their own money to help people if they’re so fabulously wealthy?” While that idea could be a good bandaid, eventually that money would also run out and then not only would the kingdom be bankrupt, but there’d be no incentive for any nearby kingdoms to marry Annelise because she’d be a poor princess to a broke kingdom that would offer effectively no benefits to any allyship. The best, and most to the point plan that the queen comes up with is to marry her daughter off so her kingdom would get an injection of money as soon as possible, because they effectively had no other solutions. They didn’t know about the crystal mines, and they didn’t know Preminger was fabulously wealthy. The only solution was to make themselves look good, like a viable, healthy(ish) kingdom and hope that Dominick would accept the proposal and save their kingdom.

And that leads me to Dominick. Dominick, unlike Annelise, doesn’t use his privilege to help anyone other than himself and Erica. And even then, that privilege mostly amounts to him getting to do what he wants. While Annelise simply accepts that she has to marry this king, Dominick goes out of his way to disguise himself as a page boy so he could get to know Annelise before agreeing to anything. Dominick preemptively gives himself an out and chooses to test Annelise, while Annelise has to take the hand she’s given and not complain. In all of this, Annelise isn’t the one with a choice, ever. Her mother chooses to marry her off, her mother chooses king Dominick, Dominick chooses to disguise himself, and then Preminger chooses to kidnap her so she can’t marry Dominick. She has no agency in her life.

The only reason Dominick reveals himself to Erica (who is pretending to be Annelise at the moment so the marriage to save the kingdom doesn’t get called off) is because he thinks Annelise ran away because she didn’t want to marry a stranger. But he still is the one with the agency, and he only reveals his true self when he thinks that Annelise acted on her own behalf.

So Annelies isn’t allowed to have her own agency, but is spoiled because she’s rich, meanwhile Dominick is a king who practices his own agency regularly throughout the movie and he is rarely if ever criticized for it. He gets to meet Erica, fall in love with her, he gets to choose her, and when Erica is revealed to be a pauper and thrown in the dungeon he gets to use a suit of armor to sneak in and get her out of the prison safely. While I don’t think he got permission to break her out, he still was allowed to use his resources to go back to Annelise’s castle and get a suit of armor to sneak into the dungeon and break Erica out.

No one else in this film would’ve had access to resources like that other than maybe Annelise, and yet I don’t see anyone saying that Erica should check King Dominick’s privilege and lecture him on how he was lucky that he was allowed to get have the money to be a king and access to a suit of armor to sneak into the dungeons and save her from probably a death sentence. In this situation, Dominick is purely using his privileges for himself. Yes, he saves Erica, but at this point he’s also in love with her, and he’s saving her not just because she’s a good person, but because he’s fallen in love with her and doesn’t want to lose her.

When she’s accused of killing Annelise, he is distraught. He doesn’t believe it, he can’t fathom that this sweet young lady that he’s spent the week with would do something so horrid. That is why he saves her. Not because of some sense of justice, it’s because he’s smitten with her. Yes, he uses his privilege to help someone in a worse position than him, but according to people who are criticizing Annelise, that’s not enough. Especially when it’s a decision made out of self interest.

At the end of the film, Annelise and Dominick both help Erica with her situation. The royal family, having found out that Madame Carp’s business is corrupt at best, stops purchasing from her and she goes out of business. I can already hear people saying “The family shouldn’t have been buying dresses from Madame Carp in the first place! She’s vindictive and cruel to her workers!” and to that I raise you: How many beauty influencers and brands these days do something sketchy, and it’s later revealed that they were a horrible person or a bad corporation?

My first thought, as someone who wears alternative fashion, is DollsKill. I can admit that I’ve purchased things off of their website before I found out how unethical they are. Should I have done more research? Yes. And I don’t shop with them any more because of it. But if I, and many other people, were able to make that mistake in the year of 2023 with access to infinite information on the internet, then it’s easy to see how someone in the 1700’s could’ve made the same folly.

Especially since Madame Carp doesn’t exactly go around bragging that she abuses her seamstresses. We know that Annelise never met Madame Carp before the film, as Madame Carp claims she’s the princess’s “close personal friend” while actively calling Annelise "Erica" and refusing to believe it’s actually the princess in her boutique. Realistically, Annelise and the queen likely don’t even go shopping, they probably have a servant go into the market, buy a few gowns for upcoming events, and only know the gowns by their brands.

I do wonder what happened to Bertie after all of this, but she seems pretty happy that Madame Carp has to leave, so perhaps she has a backup plan or some sort of safety net. Maybe she was also in debt to Madame Carp and was just looking forward to paying off her debts before starting her own dress emporium, we don’t really know. Either way, the dress shop closing gives Erica the freedom to pursue her music career that she was being held back from and she does so. But that still leaves our boy Dominick. He talks to Erica, tries to convince her to stay with him, but she tells him that her dream is to travel and sing. He does eventually acquiesce and gives her an engagement ring, telling her that it was for her anyways, and that it wasn’t a promise nor pressure, simply a gift. In the end, after performing for a long while, Erica decides that she wants to be with Dominick and travels to his kingdom to marry him.

I think that Annelise and Dominick are both good people for being Monarchs that put the interest of those around them before themselves. But for some reason, Annelise is held to a much higher standard than Dominick, even when she makes very human mistakes. They both are raised as royalty, King Dominick likely even more so as he’s king of a wealthy kingdom, but he is never put under the same scrutiny as Annelise. Sure, he never claims to relate to Julian, but Annelise never claimed to relate to Erica until she suggested it.

And Annelise’s privileges aren’t always a good thing. I feel like people neglect the whole section of the story where she was kidnapped and held prisoner because of her mother’s advisor. Not figuratively, literally. Taken from her home and locked in a random cabin because Preminger wanted to be king and figured that kidnapping her was the wisest choice rather than just advising the queen to not marry her off. Annelise is actively put in danger and harm’s way because of her status.

Honestly, Annelise really gets the shaft, full pun intended, in the second half of the film, a lot of time being spent on Erica and King Dominick’s relationship. Despite being The Princess and the Pauper, Annelise’s story is really the B plot to Erica’s love story. This makes sense, after all, she spends a lot of time just kidnapped and locked in various rooms, but in a weird way this just shows yet again that she has no autonomy even in her own story. And yet, she’s the one who’s scorned for being spoiled.

“Well, she is spoiled. She had a roof over her head and warm food and we see how Erika is baffled at the spoils when she’s a princess” But I'm gonna say something that's likely gonna get the pitchforks out: Money doesn't buy happiness. Before anyone hits me with a “I’d rather cry in a bugatti than a gutter”, let me explain.

The phrase “money can’t buy happiness” has two very different interpretations, and I find that both sides refuse to listen to the other even though both have valid arguments. There’s the stance that it can buy happiness, as money provides all sorts of things. On the surface, it’s shallow things, jewelry, gaming consoles, toys, fashion, knick knacks and trinkets that provide short term serotonin by buying something that you really want. But dig a bit deeper, and it gives more than that. Money is stability, shelter, food, water. It’s hard to be happy if you can’t have those things. To further elaborate, if you’re in a bad enough position that you can’t afford to heat your home, or buy a meal, or get clean drinking water, being able to afford that, either by your own means or by having someone else get it for you, is something that can’t be put into a monetary value- even if it literally is given a price. Getting to have access to water, shelter, knowing that you’ll have food in the morning, that’s something that you likely won’t understand the value of if you’ve always had it. Money may not buy literal happiness, but it provides security, and that security can lead to happiness.

Then there’s the argument that it can’t buy happiness, and people who have this opinion usually aren’t wondering where their next meal will be coming from or if they can pay rent this month. This stance is usually painted as privileged and spoiled because “well, you can say that because you’ve never had to worry about paying to survive”, but in my experience it’s quite the contrary. Most people I’ve met who say “money can’t buy happiness” usually include a caveat that if someone is in a position where they can’t afford food or shelter then of course money buys happiness. Stability is the foundation of comfort and comfort leads to happiness. No one is saying that someone’s ridiculous for being happy they can afford to live. And if you have seen that stance, then I'm sorry humans just suck.

Rather, “money can’t buy happiness” means that material objects cannot replace emotional intimacy or support. Surface level items have short-term pleasure that cannot be sustainable as the happiness lasts less and less with each material object. And this feeling of dissatisfaction only increases the more things you get. This is especially true when it comes to gifts. While gift giving is a valid love language, the whole point of it is giving or receiving items that have sentimental value more than monetary value. A pebble that’s their favorite color means way more than a PS5 when they exclusively use Nintendo products.

But when you don’t have a support system, healthy relationships, and the people you do have around you try to replace emotional intimacy with shallow gifts that don’t amount to anything, you find yourself downright miserable. Most people that I’ve met that have the stance that money can’t buy happiness tend to reach that conclusion after a guardian figure causes intense emotional distress or neglect then tries to purchase love with a shallow but expensive gift. It’s not that money can’t provide you with things that make you happy, it’s that money can’t provide emotional intimacy or a genuine support system.

If anything, Princess and the Pauper is the perfect allegory for this phrase, as Erica, though poor and struggling to get by, has emotional support in Bertie, her singing, her dreams. But, she doesn’t have access to security, stability, physical comforts, and is blocked from pursuing her goals because of external factors. Annelise meanwhile, is in a position of comfort and stability, but doesn’t have any emotional support nor outlets, her only friend being her teacher and her mother having a strict regime for her to follow regardless of her desires while being surrounded by luxurious gifts from other royalty that are ultimately empty gestures.

All of this to say, while Annelise is a princess who lives with the privileges of being a rich, upper class girl with access to many things that Erica could only dream of, her life isn’t one of luxury and spoils. She doesn’t get to indulge in her pleasures and can only appreciate things on a surface level because that is all she has time for. I don’t think most of the people who criticize Annelise could actually handle her schedule every day of every month of every year. She’s not some Disney princess who’s only job is to be pretty and interesting for the male love interest, she has duty. Responsibility. A full time job that dictates her sleep schedule.

She’s not unaware of her privileges and if anything is always using them to help everyone else, and at the end of the film she still doesn’t get that freedom that she’s searching for. She invites a pauper to sing at the castle, she tries to find solutions to the kingdom’s bankruptcy for her people, she goes out of her way to help when she can, and she’s not completely insensitive to the struggles of her friends. Even when she’s supposed to be taking a break, or is in a dire situation, she’s still constantly thinking of how to help others first.

Yes, she gets to marry Julian, but she’s still a princess and still likely follows her royal schedule to a T. While Erica got to learn what it’s like to be a princess, got to pursue her music, and got to marry King Dominick, becoming a princess herself, Annelise’s conclusion is ultimately that she managed to solve the kingdom’s bankruptcy so she could marry whom she chooses and then proceeds to fall back into the same routine of fixing everything for everyone else. She only gets freedom in one aspect, and we never see her actually get a day to herself, a day to relax. The only “relaxation” we see happening is with Erica while she spends time with Dominick, and that week likely was going to be Annelise’s only break before the marriage. So even after saving the day, Annelise still doesn’t get what she wants, and yet supposedly she’s spoiled rotten.

Truly, she does do what she says in the first song Free. “I’ll remain forever royal… Duty means doing the things your heart may well regret.” Erica never actually repays her parent’s debts, Madame Carp goes out of business and Erica gets let off the hook probably because she has two very powerful royals on her side. And this once again is Annelise using her privileges to help those who don't have the same as her by choosing to not support a business that is bad for its workers.

Erica gets released from her servitude early and then gets to chase after her dreams, but Annelise only gets to marry Julian after putting in the work to solve the bankruptcy so she doesn’t have to marry some other rich king that isn’t the one who fell for her best friend.

#barbie #barbie princess and the pauper #barbie analysis #barbie 2004 #character analysis #I forgot too include this in the main post #but the only place we really see Annelise being spoiled is when Erica wakes up in Annelise's shoes #and she's baffled by the spoils in the big breakfast #but that's not something Annelise decided to do #it likely was a lifestyle encouraged/enforced by her parents #and how would she know any different if she was raised that way #If you say she's spoiled because she doesn't give the maid a portion of her breakfast every morning #when the servants were very likely fed well and the maid was SUPER weirded out by Erica's attitude then idk what to tell you #mild rant #probably too passionate about this

[aortaobservatory]

Classes of Light - AO Classpecting

Chosen Keywords: Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning

TEZ Keywords: Knowledge-seekers, students, problem-solvers, precision, scholars, researchers, resourceful, driven, (fussy, pedantic, insensitive)

CANON: Those bound to the aspect of Light are the universe's knowledge-seekers. They are, above all, driven to learn and understand. They are great alchemists, able to take multiple sources of information and synthesize them into something useful. They are scholars and researchers, absolutely dedicated to knowledge for knowledge's sake. They are the ultimate students, and although that might conjure up the image of people sitting around peacefully waiting for knowledge to be brought to them, that couldn't be further from the truth. The Light-bound will go after knowledge with a fierce intensity that others may find distasteful. They aren't overly concerned with laws or norms, either. They often take rules as simple suggestions, instead searching for loopholes or work-arounds. At their best, the Light-bound are resourceful and driven. At their worst they can be fussy, pedantic, and insensitive.

All of the analysis written below is my own writing, analysis, and thoughts as based on the sources I consulted. The statements are my own analysis, but they may function as a "fill in the blank" statement for you to create your own interpretation of the classpect as you please by replacing the aspect word with any of the provided keywords above.

Sources consulted: (dahniwitchoflight), (rosespecting), (godtier-haven), (TEZ), (MSPA Wiki)

LINK: (Classpecting Analysis Masterpost)

TAGS: [Mage], [Seer], [Witch], [Heir]

TAGS: [Knight], [Page], [Thief], [Rogue]

TAGS: [Sylph], [Maid], [Prince], [Bard]

-aortaObservatory

Knowers/Changers

Mage (Active): Know - Too Much Experience with Light

A Mage of Light is almost constantly experiencing knowledge and evaluation from the people around them and their surroundings, which gives them a unique understanding of how insight and the meaning of something can help a situation... or hurt a situation.

A Mage of Light is flooded with Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning), uniquely experiencing both the good and the bad of it. As a result, they gain a unique understanding of what Light is and does, often resenting it or becoming jaded and frustrated with it, but never rejecting it. Their challenge is to become open to new insight or different perspectives than their own.

Heir of Void (Inverse): As the Mage of Light knows Light in a flood of both good and bad, they end up embodying Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have an indirect relationship with Void; because they know and experience Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning), they fully embody and thus must change Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Mage of Light does not undergo the Heir of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Heir class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

~

Seer (Passive): Know - Too Little Experience with Light

A Seer of Light is surrounded by secrecy and many potential unknowns, and lacks knowledge and insight in their life, and as a result are driven to learn everything they can about meaningful evaluation in order to understand what they previously lacked.

A Seer of Light studies Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning), craving knowledge of it from their previous lack of it. They seek knowledge of Light with a fierce intensity in order to gain more understanding of it, acknowledging the potential consequences of doing so and dealing with them later. Their challenge is to learn how to translate their insight and knowledge into action and decision, as well as learn how to manage their engagement with Light so as to not overwhelm themself or others.

Witch of Void (Inverse): As the Seer of Light attempts to gain experience with Light from their previous lack of it, they end up changing Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have a direct relationship with Void; because they change and thus half embody Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities), they gain experience with and thus know Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Seer of Light does not undergo the Witch of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Witch class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

~

Witch (Active): Change - Too Little Embodiment of Light

A) A Witch of Light embodies knowledge and the insight it gives them, in order to change their own and others evaluation of what something means.

B) A Witch of Light embodies the evaluation of what something means, in order to change their own and others knowledge and the insight it gives them.

Witches are self-assured and conclusive individualists. They pick and choose which parts and pieces of Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning) fit into their own already determined desires, making Light embody themself and changing it to suit their own wants and needs. Their challenge is to achieve a stable balance in themself without losing themself to Light or their own changing whims.

Seer of Void (Inverse): As the Witch of Light changes the pieces of Light within themself, they end up experiencing Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have an indirect relationship with Void; because they change and half embody Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning), they gain experience with and thus know Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Witch of Light does not undergo the Seer of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Seer class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

~

Heir (Passive): Change - Too Much Embodiment of Light

An Heir of Light embodies the ability of evaluation, meaning they are knowledgable; however, only by changing themself can they change the insight they gain and the meaning of it.

An Heir of Light inherits and embodies Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning), allowing Light to change themself or itself. They have huge amounts of Light related strengths, allowing themself to be surrounded by Light or naturally gravitating towards it. Their challenge is to not get stuck on Light, to know when to move on and change themself to keep themself balanced.

Mage of Void (Inverse): As the Heir of Light embodies Light within themself, they end up knowing Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have a direct relationship with Void; because they fully embody and thus must change Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning), they know and experience Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Heir of Light does not undergo the Mage of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Mage class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

-

Utilizers/Allocators

Knight (Active): Utilize - Too Much Skill with Light

A Knight of Light would be very skilled in using the knowledge they possess and the insight it gives them, to protect and defend the evaluation of others and the meaning given to them.

A Knight of Light is extremely adept with their Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning), their driving effort to protect it and others through it. They are loyal to Light's cause and naturally gifted with it, using it as a tool to achieve whatever they set themself to. Their challenge is to learn how to be less harsh on themself, to accept and learn from failure, and to accept the assistance of others when they need it.

Rogue of Void (Inverse): As the Knight of Light utilizes Light from their loyalty to it, they end up valuing Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have an indirect relationship with Void; because they utilize and are skilled with Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning), they value and thus give/allocate Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Knight of Light does not undergo the Rogue of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Rogue class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

~

Page (Passive): Utilize - Too Little Skill with Light

A Page of Light is a beginner when it comes to learning and evaluating the knowledge they gain, but they repeatedly strive to master it using the insight they've acquired and the meaning they've ascribed to it.

A Page of Light starts unskilled in Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning), learning how it works and how to use it to its full potential over time. In their many attempts to master Light, they teach others the value of Light, becoming an unintentional source of inspiration. Their challenge is to keep at it, learn from failure, and eventually master Light, being able to confidently provide Light to others.

Thief of Void (Inverse): As the Page of Light attempts to gain skill with Light from their previous lack of it, they end up allocating Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have a direct relationship with Void; because they take/allocate and thus do not value Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities), they gain skill with and thus utilize Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Page of Light does not undergo the Thief of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Thief class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

~

Thief (Active): Allocate - Too Little Value towards Light

A Thief of Light lacks knowledge and evaluation in their life, resulting in a fierce desire to possess such things for themself and leading to them not understanding the value of the insights they gain and what that means, as they take knowledge and the evaluations of others from others and hoard it all to themself for their own benefit.

A Thief of Light takes Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning), either craving it fiercely from their lack of it in their lives or simply because they like it, stealing and hoarding it all for themself and their own personal benefit. Despite their outward confidence with Light, they often take it at face-value without learning of its true value, being unsatisfied with how much Light they hoard and craving more and more. Their challenge is to focus less on attaining and more on learning about the value their aspect, as well as to let others have their aspect and learning why it is important to others.

Page of Void (Inverse): As the Thief of Light allocates pieces of Light to themself, they end up gaining skill with Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have an indirect relationship with Void; because they take/allocate and do not value Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning), they gain skill with and thus utilize Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Thief of Light does not undergo the Page of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Page class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

~

Rogue (Passive): Allocate - Too Much Value towards Light

A Rogue of Light would redistribute, allow others to take, and/or give knowledge and insight to others in the name of balancing the meanings born of evaluation.

A Rogue of Light gives Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning) away, either because they have a lot of it already, or are able to get it so easily they don't know what to do with so much of it. They often know the true value of Light, and are able to see where there is too much or too little of Light and redistribute it in a balanced way around themself. Their challenge is to not let Light run dry within themself, and to learn how to healthily balance Light in themself.

Knight of Void (Inverse): As the Rogue of Light values Light within themself, they end up utilizing Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have a direct relationship with Void; because they value and thus give/allocate Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning), they utilize and are skilled with Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Rogue of Light does not undergo the Knight of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Knight class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

-

Enhancers/Destroyers

Sylph (Active): Enhance - Too Much Reliance on Light

A Sylph of Light is a pure source of insight and the meaning behind it, and driven by knowledge and evaluation, attempt to restore/purify the meaning behind others insights.

A Sylph of Light starts off relying on themself for Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning), attempting to heal, restore, and enhance Light in others. They are a pure source of Light for others, and though this can cause frustration and irritation in themself and others, they can see ways for Light to help and heal the struggling of others. Their challenge is to learn how to listen to the needs of others instead of assuming they know best, and to balance themself by learning that it's okay to rely on others for Light sometimes.

Bard of Void (Inverse): As the Sylph of Light enhances Light from their love of it, they end up fearing control of Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have an indirect relationship with Void; because they enhance and rely on Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning), they fear control of and thus destroy Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Sylph of Light does not undergo the Bard of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Bard class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

~

Maid (Passive) - Too Little Reliance on Light

A Maid of Light relies on anyone or anything but themself to tell them knowledge and information as well as what it means, before learning how to rely on themself, restoring and purifying their knowledge and what it means for themself through precise evaluation and insight.

A Maid of Light starts off pushed around by others' view of Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning), but eventually allow Light to heal, restore, and enhance themself, making them into an entirely new person and purifying their aspect to themself. They start out relying on others for Light or being told by others how to interact with Light. Their challenge is to listen to themself instead of others, and to not let others opinions dilute their aspect as they restore it for themself and allow it to make them into a new person.

Prince of Void (Inverse): As the Maid of Light attempts to gain reliance on Light from their previous lack of it, they end up destroying Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have a direct relationship with Void; because they destroy and thus cannot control Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities), they gain reliance on and thus enhance Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Maid of Light does not undergo the Prince of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Prince class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

~

Prince (Active): Destroy - Too Little Control of Light

A Prince of Light is surrounded by knowledge and the evaluative demeanor they crave, but they can't control it or have no means of reaching it, so they lash out because of their own insight and meaning, to destroy the evaluated knowledge that others have, in the name of their own insight and meaning.

A Prince of Light destroys Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning) with Light or in the name of Light, and as a result, often end up appearing as Void (Secrecy, Unknown, Potential, Possibilities) at first glance. Princes start off with disdain or hate for Light, likely because of its overwhelming presence in their lives, and because despite its abundance, they can never seem to grasp or control it for themself. Their challenge is to be able to recognize Light's presence in themself before they destroy themself beyond repair, and learn that they do not need to control or bend Light to their will.

Maid of Void (Inverse): As the Prince of Light destroys pieces of Light in themself and others, they end up gaining reliance on Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have an indirect relationship with Void; because they destroy and cannot control Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning), they gain reliance on and thus enhance Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Prince of Light does not undergo the Maid of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Maid class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

~

Bard (Passive): Destroy - Too Much Control of Light

A Bard of Light is surrounded by a lot of evaluated knowledge, but fears being controlled by it or fears the control such things have over them, and as such ignores the evaluated knowledge and allows it to deteriorate via keeping it unknown and letting it wonder into possibilities; only by embracing meaningful insight can they begin to destroy the secrecy that destroyed them.

A Bard of Light allows Light (Knowledge, Evaluation, Insight, Meaning) to be destroyed via simply not reaching out for it, and ignoring its presence in their lives, leading to them appearing as Void (Secrecy, Unknown, Potential, Possibilities) at first glance. This is typically due to a fear of being controlled by Light; while they may see benefits to what it could offer them, they can also see all the downsides to it simply because of their fear of what could go wrong. Their challenge is to be able to embrace Light and not be ruled by its whims, learning to control the way it impacts themself without letting it be destroyed.

Sylph of Void (Inverse): As the Bard of Light fears control of Light within themself and others, they end up enhancing Void, whether on purpose or accidental. They have a direct relationship with Void; because they fear control of and destroy Light (that which is knowledge, evaluation, insight, and meaning), they enhance and rely on Void (that which is secrecy, unknown, potential, and possibilities). Because the inverse classpect is a ghost of the true classpect, the Bard of Light does not undergo the Sylph of Void's challenge; their relationship with the Sylph class and the Void aspect is purely surface level.

#mage of light #seer of light #witch of light #heir of light #knight of light #page of light #thief of light #rogue of light #sylph of light #maid of light #prince of light #bard of light #classpecting #classpect analysis #homestuck #light classpects #classes of light #ao classpecting #classpect masterpost

[tavtiers]

have you done a maid of heart analysis yet? would love to see your take on it :D

The Maid of Heart [symbols: flower, heart]

The Maid class has its basis in the handmaiden or lady-in-waiting. An example would be Joan of Arc.

The Heart aspect’s main theme is instinct. You can find its official description here.

A Maid of Heart is among those who alter the individual's impact. This is the “classpect group” they belong to. Members include: the Sylph, Maid, Bard, and Prince of Heart/Mind. These classes are all opposites or inverses of each other that alter the Heart/Mind dichotomy (the individual's impact). A description of classpect groupings can be found here.

The Maid of Heart actively assists the Heart aspect. Active classes tell themselves what to do and do so for their own benefit. They are more likely to stand up for themselves, but more likely to be cruel. Sylphs and Maids aid their aspect and everything it symbolizes or use it as a form of aid. Simplified, the Maid of Heart is motivated by themselves to assist instinct.

In personality, the Maid of Heart feels like something is holding them back and is invested in self discovery. Personality descriptions can be found here.

Their archetype is the Escapee Free Spirit, defined by freedom and instinct. Archetypes are explained here.

Their opposite is the Sylph of Mind, who passively assists intuition.

Their inverse is the Bard of Mind, who passively destroys intuition.

A classpect or “god tier” is an individual’s best self. All classpects go through a journey from unrealized, to struggle, to realized. When a character is unrealized, they neutrally exist as their inverse. On their struggle, they will wildly flip back and forth between their inverse and true classpect. In their worst moments they will act as their inverse, in their best their true classpect. When realized, they will stabilize as their true classpect. They will still have room to grow, but will become happier, more successful people.

This means that the Maid of Heart begins life motivated by others to destroy intuition. When their struggle arrives and they are at their worst, they will continue this behavior in negative extremes. However, when at their best, they will find purpose in instead assisting instinct for themselves. When realized, they will stabilize and continue to assist the Heart aspect actively, in a positive way.

They share their archetype with the Rogue of Breath, the Free Spirit Escapee.

The Maid of Heart would quest on a planet similar to the Land of Underground [Maid] and Heart [Aspect]. An example would be the Land of Rabbit Holes and Roses. An explanation of planet naming conventions can be found here.

Two possible gods, or denizens, to reign over their planet would be Aphrodite (Goddess of Love) or Yaldabaoth (Trapper of Souls). Other Heart aspect denizens can be found here.

When the Maid of Heart completes their planet quests and dies on their quest bed, they would rise to ascension on the wings of ladybugs (symbols of love). A list of soul animals can be found here.

The characters that I have currently classpected as Maids of Heart are: Snow White from Once Upon a Time, Laurie Jupiter from Watchmen, Maryden Halewell from Dragon Age, Aubrey Little from The Adventure Zone: Amnesty, Lucy Brennan from Twin Peaks, Stephanie Splitz from LazyTown, Alice from Alice in Wonderland, and Pearl Krabs from SpongeBob SquarePants.

If any of the links not connected to my blog break, the content can be found on my Google Drive.

Official Aspect Descriptions Personality Descriptions Aspect Denizens

#maid of heart #classpecting #god tier analysis #homestuck #my post #ask #mary margaret blanchard #laurie jupiter #maryden halewell #aubrey little #lucy moran #stephanie splitz #alice liddell #pearl krabs #ouat #watchmen #dragon age #taz amnesty #twin peaks #lazytown #alice in wonderland #spongebob squarepants

[creative-classpect]

The Land of Immortelles and Iridium

A desolate husk of a world. A mass grave of a civilization, littered with shining silver iridium flowers plunged into the earth as a supposed sign of reverence. A cruel mockery of honor as the warped metal radiates with destructive magic, amplifying all energy nearby to the point of obliteration.

The nails of this coffin world have been planted long ago.

Welcome to LOIAI. The Land of Immortelles and Iridium.

LOIAI is an endless graveyard of dusty hills, smothered skies, blasted out ruins, and the ominous and eternal presence of the iridium immortelles. This blasted world was once a thriving garden, an eternal paradise of eden, and remnants can still be found. Sequestered in burrows and caves remain the last vestiges of nature. Hauntingly still gardens that have long since withered. These remains form the root and stem of the immortelles above.

It's a mystery as to how exactly the world fell into ruin, but even the most cursory glance will lead you to the culprit. The iridium flower sculptures poison everything around them, mind, body, and soul. 

Corruption made manifest.

There is a peculiar trace of magic that emanates from the flowers, forming a latticework of arcane energy that runs through the earth and sky. While other things may crumble, the iridium composition allows it to remain. Twisted and eternal. It not only brings misery, but seems to feed on it in return. The more anger, hate, and pain it finds, the more they grow.

But it was not always this way. Beneath the waves of ash, buried far below the crust of the world, deep roots cross and intersect, leading to places foul and unknown. Whatever great tragedy swept across this land, it grew from deep, deep underground… down where the light of Skaia will never reach. Down into the suffocating darkness where only the most ancient of horrors lie.

The Maid of Rage must scour the land, fending off the constant force of corruption from the iridium immortelles, and combat the constant source of pain, misery, and anguish radiating out from the core of the planet. Only then, when they find the heart of suffering, can the world be made whole again. 

But it’s an awful long way down…

Denizen: Lyssa, Greek goddess of rage.

Features

The Roots of Misery

About halfway through the top layer of the planet one would find something of a cage. A vast, interconnected sprawl of metallic wire and bars, keeping anything below in and anything above, out. These roots are where the iridium immortelles spring up from, drilling their way to the surface to spread ever further.

These roots form a dense and treacherous biome and mark a turning point for LOIAI. While the world above is certainly dreadful, down below is so much worse. The Deep Dark. The distance between Hades and Tartarus. While the world above may be a graveyard of destructive magic, down below is an eternal prison, containing all the evils and sorrows of the world. 

Here there are monsters.

The Pit of Despair

A place just beyond the precipice/cage that is the Roots of Misery. A yawning void, a chasm of incredible space, far larger than anyone would ever expect. It is the end. The gaping maw of infinity. Time and space seem to fall away here, unwinding oneself from distance, direction, and duration. Clocks and compasses cease to function and, more often than not, shatter entirely.

Everything about the pit is oppressive. The heavy weight of the air, the grim shadows that lurk around each corner. Even many of Sburb’s functions such as instant messaging and alchemizing can refuse to work down there. 

There is only you. And the horrors that the Pit holds.

Good luck.

- - -

This post was commissioned by @apogender ! If you want to commission me or support my content, you can find me @ https://ko-fi.com/kesscal or over at https://linktr.ee/Skywhale09 !  

#homestuck land #homestuck #maid of rage #classpect #land analysis

[tiffanynightx]

An Overview of Sexism in The Yu-Gi-Oh Manga Characters

Hello! So what l'd like to talk about first is the bottom line: there is some sexism in the Yu-Gi-Oh manga, by the characters. If you see a Japanese translation, it has been done by my Japanese friend Ruriko!

I'll be providing canon evidence that:

-Jonouchi Katsuya is sexist

-Seto Kaiba is sexist

-(see end of post for note/edit)

This is not to say as an author if you write a good chunk of sexism in a story, you're sexist yourself, that would be ridiculous— we are only going to exclusively look at patterns in the text here.

Jonouchi Katsuya

“Only a girl would care about a box!”

“He talks like a girl! That’s what annoys me!”

Seto Kaiba

Now let’s get to Seto Kaiba’s case. As we all know, VIZ media committed some… weird mistranslations in the Yu-Gi-Oh Manga. The “do you need your insulin”, Mokuba calling Seto Kaiba by “Kaiba” in some instances rather than “nii-sama” (honorable older brother, big brother), and Ishizu calling him by his surname too when she doesn’t do that.

For background on this scene: Kaiba is about to hit Ishizu with his God Card, thinking he will take the match.

Here is the VIZ media mistranslation:

“Ishizu… I normally never show mercy to my opponents, regardless of gender, but if you give up now, I’ll let you walk away.”

Here is the correct, more accurate translation (done by my friend Ruriko):

“Ishizu. Even though you’re a woman, as long as you’re my enemy, I probably won’t show mercy. In the present time, however, I’m willing to acknowledge a surrender and let you leave.”

The Changes:

In the VIZ media translation, the kanji for “woman” (女) is erroneously changed to “gender”, making it seem as though the “mercy” applies to any opponent, not just women. And therefore, some people get the idea this pardon is not on the basis of her sex, but rather some other reason, when it is.

This mistranslation causes the meaning to become muddy, when it is really very simple, like: “I don’t usually show mercy/forgiveness to women if they’re my enemy, however right now I’ll take the fact you’re a woman into consideration and let you leave if you surrender.” We do get hints that this pardon is based on her gender though, even in the VIZ media version:

-the fact that he’s mentioning “gender” at all

-there is somewhat of a setup and punchline type format, which gets lost in the mistranslation. He offers and she’s like “…” and then he’s like “…heh…” The joke is that there’s just basically crickets after he says that, and that she’s displeased by his sexist offer. It’s pretty funny.

Why is his offer sexist?

For a… few reasons.

-He is giving her mercy just for the fact she’s a woman, which is benevolent sexism. It shows a belief of women having some inherent inferiority, enough that she needs a special pass. The distinction of “even though (despite the fact) you’re a woman,” shows that he believes there’s an inherent fragility that his female opponents have that he purposefully ignores in order to be merciless.

Also— she’s clearly a pro at duel monsters, and he know this. She made it in the battle city finals for goodness sakes. He thinks she can’t handle/needs a pass from the final move (it’s not even a shadow game, it’s a regular game of dm) because she’s a woman.

So we have a canon, intended establishment of his sexism.

We can at the very least, say he doesn’t go easy on women most of the time. Because he says it. Even still, this doesn’t do him any favors.

Jonouchi also doesn't go easy on women most of the time, and he is still clearly a sexist based on evidence in the text. This shows that a Yu-Gi-Oh character can both be biased towards women and still treat them mostly equally during dueling— they don't cancel out.

Extra note/edit: Going easy on women during duel monsters is considered wrong/sexist in the manga. There is nothing that indicates women are not to be treated equally during the game at any point narrative-wise. This is a problem unique to sexist characters like Jonouchi and Kaiba.

Anyway, a little more on his bias.

Good evidence of Kaiba's unconscious bias towards women is in this brief panel. Where he assumes that the mystery opponent (Ishizu) he will be facing is a man, despite the fact that women made it into the battle city finals— and he knows this. He is sure that she will be a man, and for that we get a clear indication he has an unconscious bias towards women.

We know for a fact this panel was intentional, too— the author clearly knows that Ishizu is a woman, yet intentionally had Kaiba assume otherwise.

Extra Note/Edit: This is consistent with his sexism, but it doesn’t really mean anything on its own besides the unconscious bias. This isn’t sexist in itself like the previous example.

His Company

In the entire duration of the manga, Kaiba and Kaiba Corp is not seen having hired a single female pilot, chauffeur, bodyguard, businesswoman, office worker, assistant, doctor, or death-t assassin, scientist, or other important role in his company. You will not see it. It is quite literally a sausage party.

The only roles he is seen allowing women in are the following:

-one maid (the rest of his home staff are male butlers) Note: although the maid here is seen in a caretaking, motherly role, it is Mokuba who tasked her to take care of a comatose Seto. Kaiba does not think she or anyone was competent in his absence.

-a busty model for "Kaiba Information"

-Anzu as a damsel in distress actress for his Death-T horror attraction, her first line being “Please help me!”

Although these things on their face— a woman being hired for modeling, a maid, or other stereotypical roles are not sexist in itself, there are still clearly no women in his important staff. An explanation as to why women are not being hired is that he's denying them entry, which means he would be fulfilling the discrimination requirement for sexism.

Ex. If you saw that a company almost exclusively hired men, would you be incorrect in assuming there is discrimination? No, because that in itself is the definition of discrimination.

Now let’s say there were few women in Japan in corporate companies at the time. (which is definitely false considering the prominence of OL’s— or office ladies, the most common job for women at the time.[1]) But we’ll say it anyway.

It still wouldn’t explain a few things:

-Why this is still the case in Transcend Game (2016) and Yu-Gi-Oh R (2004).

-Yako Tenma (The only other CEO we see with his own picked out staff) had no problems hiring women— a good chunk of the card professors guild were women.

So, as far as we know, this is a problem unique to Kaiba. And unusual.

Extra Note/Edit: I need to add this. While discrimination, or him denying women entry could be the reason why— it could also be gender bias, or other typical reasons a CEO might not be including/having women in his company. We don’t know if this was intentional or not for his character. This is more-so to prove he’s not doing anything with Kaiba Corp that contradicts his sexism— in fact this is very consistent with it.

Seto Kaiba’s Masculinity

-When Yugi is seen crying towards the end of the duel and granting the victory, Anzu reinforces "boys don't cry" while Kaiba piles onto this, affirming his weakness at the end too.

-Throughout the manga, we see Kaiba propagate the idea that emotions are weakness. Kaiba is the poster boy for toxic masculinity, and he fits the bill extremely well. It’s also consistent with his sexism. Take a look at this:

Extra Stuff

Finally I’m going to include some extra stuff, or things I didn’t really see as important/relevant to include with the main proof. Up to you if you find it relevant or not!

-In the Death-T arc, he does not include Anzu in his chess piece metaphor, nor any chess piece for her on the board. He only includes the knight (Jonouchi), rook (Honda), and king, (Yugi), completely leaving out Anzu. This is consistent with his sexism, yes, but doesn't really mean anything on its own.

-Him yelling at the maid to shut up almost as soon as she starts talking is definitely not inconsistent with his sexism— but other than that it doesn’t mean anything. She took care of him for 6 months 24/7 while he was in a coma, no he doesn’t thank her, and yes this is the last thing he says to her.

Note/Edit from top of post:

I’ve decided I’m not going to make a post for any other characters. There just isn’t enough evidence that I found for anyone who matters really besides Kaiba and Jonouchi. Ryuzaki telling Mai to “chill out” while Honda just says “damn meddling girl” and “she’s loud!” I’m not even going to pretend that’s enough evidence to prove anything, anyone can whine, be loud, and anyone can meddle.

Not to mention that Kaiba uses “大人しい” (be docile, quiet, obedient, on women more often than that, and that’s only worth noting in that it’s consistent with his sexism. It doesn’t mean anything on its own.)

In addition, Honda scolds Jonouchi for going easy on one of the card professors, so for him we actually have evidence to the contrary. I also consider Mai enough of a subversion and a strong female character (although having some stereotypical traits) to take her off the list, too.

Yami Yugi treats his female opponents equally, I saw no sexism from him. Yugi Mutou is actually a subversion of toxic masculinity in that he hates fighting, loves friendship, and he isn’t afraid to cry. This makes sense because he is written to be the opposite of Seto Kaiba in basically every way.

My Further Conclusion (added!)

Did you notice that Jonouchi was the most sexist at the beginning of the manga? Why is this, exactly?

Well for starters, he is very toxically masculine at the beginning of the manga, because he’s a bully. But as the story develops, he changes for Yugi’s sake, and for his sister— and although he is still a benevolent sexist in Yu-Gi-Oh R, not treating Reiko Kitamori as an equal opponent, he doesn’t show this hostile, bullying attitude that he does at the beginning.

Now for Kaiba, my conclusion about him is different. His sexism likely relates not just to toxic masculinity, but to his lust for power and control. The few women he does interact with are greeted with scorn and disrespect more often than not. For example, he insults Ishizu’s clothing, ideas, and has a dismissive attitude towards her a good chunk of the time. Which is how he is with most, so this isn’t sexist in itself (however is consistent with it as I’ve previously stated), but we have to remember Ishizu does a lot for Kaiba, giving him a free god card and a way to get all three. And he never truly shows gratitude toward her for any of this. In fact, he taunts her with the idea that he won’t give all three back (which he is clearly planning not to, look at this devious face— Seto wouldn’t play to win someone else a prize he thinks only he is worthy of) which is intended to serve as a reminder: “I can do whatever I want, can’t I Ishizu? And you can’t stop me.”

What he’s doing is reminding her that she has no power. Ishizu is unfazed by this, given she knows he’ll have no cards to give back— from her prophecy she knows he will lose. She doesn’t trust him to give them back, she trusts that he’ll lose. But he, in his mind, feels the need to remind her of this. We know he doesn’t see her again after this until their duel, and the second visit wasn’t planned by him. And this “surprise visit” makes him incredibly angry— he uses “kisama” “what are YOU (bastard) doing here?” when she shows up at his tournament, unwanted. He likely wanted to forget she existed. Her throwing a wrench in his plans made him feel as though he was not in control.

Now let’s talk about the sexist moment during the duel. Why does he feel the need to go easy on her, and offer a pass because she’s a woman? The short answer is that he viewed her as especially inferior, and incapable of finishing the game as intended. But why does he feel the need to tell her this? It serves as a reminder that he has the power, not her. And not only did he want to remind her he had power over her in the game, he also wanted to remind her he had power over her as a man.

But why is Kaiba so intent on pushing gender roles— why does he refuse to show much of any emotion aside from pride and anger? Because this behavior, in the toxically masculine environments he’s in and was raised in, is constantly rewarded. “If I were to show any hint of weakness, I would be betrayed. I can never be weak. I can never lose.” His childhood trauma was what led him to believe to lose means to die. His stepfather likely gouged this toxic masculinity into him. He felt as if he could never be anything but tough for Mokuba in order to protect him. And weakness to him, we know— also coincides with traditional stereotypes of femininity. So it makes sense that he’d become prejudiced when it comes to women. And not only that, it makes sense he’d see them as inferior— especially when they’re stereotypically feminine. Of course he would— it’s everything he sees as weakness as a toxically masculine character. The link between his toxic masculinity and his sexism is very easy to see. They’re intertwined both in reality, and in the story too.

Now. Against Yami Yugi in battle city, this toxic masculinity actually results in him losing— the hatred and anger, the want to dominate everything is framed as the reason for his loss. And so we see Kaiba as the “don’t be like that guy, or you’ll lose,” during battle city. But in the other environments he’s in, the corporate world, this behavior will continue to be rewarded.

The morals of the story are very good here. Yugi Mutou and Yami Yugi are both excellent role models, and helped change Jonouchi for the better. He started out as a near heartless bully and became a noble friend!

Alright, I hope you guys liked reading this! It was pretty fun to do all the research and stuff, plus I got to learn some Japanese from my friend. Thanks again Ruriko!

Extra note: I might add some new things and changes here and there! I did need to add a conclusion, for one. Haha. Want to make sure this post is good— I’m kind of nit picky with my own stuff LOL. Thanks for reading!

Sources:

[1] (Office Ladies)

Yu-Gi-Oh by Kazuki Takahashi

Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist by Kazuki Takahashi

Yu-Gi-Oh R by Kazuki Takahashi

Transcend Game by Kazuki Takahashi

#yugioh #seto kaiba #katsuya jonouchi #toxic masculinity #joey wheeler #ygo manga #character analysis #the maid deserved better #bro takes out all his anger on her #for no reason #pls

[dailyjamm6]

More Maid Class Stuff - III (MMCS)

<This time, a more indepth exploration on the classpect itself outside of a strictly in-source material analysis.>

To begin, the Maid Class is one that can be approached as One who redefines [Aspect] and One who is redefined through [Aspect].

As such, as much as for many cases at first glance it may seem that a Maid is diametrically opposed to, or at least displeased with, their aspect, they in truth are more opposed against the pre-existing ideas and notions they carry in relation to, or ascribe to them.

Truly, they only become satisfied with their aspect once they've recontextualized their idea of what their aspect means and what their relationship with it should be. And thus, until they finally reach that point, the relationship can only be described as rebellious.

More than anyone Maids are deeply tied to the idea of their aspect, and in fact, their aspect itself. Which is made clear as their complex, or rather, tumultuous relationship tends to showcase how close they are to and how much they are affected by it in their lives.

A Maid's rejection and rebellion against their Aspect and what it means, until finally coming to terms with and redefining their relationship, is a partial rejection of theirselves, of the aspects of their own selves that reflect it as a reaction to the connotations they themselves ascribe to their aspects.

Sometimes it is subconscious and abstract, such as one's feeling of futility being reflected in and through fatalism; Other times it is literal, such as the rejection of a label or everything the idea or a tangible form of one's aspect represents.

However, at times said rejection, although potentially and often self-destructive, tends to counter-act the Aspect in absolute detriment, since the Maid may be completely absorbed by their Aspect.

A Maid of Light can become completely lost within myths and stories, even religious beginning to think of their whole world in relation to them and even redefining their own self to approximate those; Whilst a Maid of Life could accept the expectations put upon them by her familial history, culture and tradition and see the world completely in that lens to their own detriment and the detriment of others.

In regards to wielding their aspect, the Maid at face value more closely resembles the Witch, and in fact, if it were not for the special relationship Maids have with their aspect, would be nearly identitcal, since the Maid manipulates through, although also brings upon, their Aspect; However they are less likely to directly manipulate their Aspect.

Maids prefer acting from the sidelines, or at a glance, supportingly, albeit not as an absolute, as they use the position to enact more direct and meaningful impact on a situation.

The main point of the Maid is said impact, whilst the sidelines are simply where they feel most comfortable acting from.

This could make they seem comparable to the archetype of a guerilla fighter, less so to a sniper, because the later acts with premeditation and precision, and whilst Maids are absolutely capable and do use either, even and often both, they prefer the execution over the planning.

This draws parallels with the Thief, for as much both prefer the latter half, the Thief rejects the idea of a plan as inherently curbsome, whilst the Maid is willing to strategise ahead if it'd make sure their actions bring fruits.

The Maid ultimately, like the Heir, holds their Aspect as second nature, at times even more so than the latter, however their tumultuous and complex relationship to it tends to render them unable to use their talents to their fullest until they make ammends with it.

#homestuck #classpect #homestuck analysis #maid class #aradia megido #jane crocker #classpect analysis

[terrence-silver]

Read somewhere that the only reason Terry Silver was shown to be kind towards his staff, namely helping Carla at the begining of Season 4, was because he's been through therapy and mellowed his ways or some crap. Like Terry Silver was ever unkind towards his staff even before therapy?? He was there chilling with his secretary in the 80's and talking to her like a friend from his tub at the height of him being coked out of his mind. Truth is, Terry was always nice and oddly nice towards his employees. That is just fact. Okay, sorry, rant over.

Agreed.

I think Terry Silver just has gallant, old money manners in general when he wishes to --- he has them the way one has a weapon; he can produce and utilize it whenever and however he sees fit because a battle can be fought with many tools, and he's a master of all at his disposal --- and this includes the time pre-therapy, post-therapy, mid-therapy, in the 80's, 90's, 00's, present day, whenever, however. Always. I think him being the typical evil rich guy shouting at the pool boy or something is a gross mischaracterization and blatantly missing the point.

Out of character galore.

He is nice towards his people. Emphasis on the his. Those he pays. Keeps around. Those he trusts to run his household(s) and mansions. His tasks. His businesses. Important chunks of his life, if we're honest. A wise man once said it is prudent to be polite towards the one tasked and charged with serving you your food, because one never knows how they could tamper with it and this is a belief I feel Terry firmly holds to. Don't shit where you eat. Quite literally. Don't openly mistreat your staff because you never know ways in which they can retalliate and if he loathes one thing it is having no control over someone's actions and it so happens, being nice affords you a lot of control. He might be shouting at a Dynatox agent half way across the world, but he isn't going to shout at someone bringing him his cocktail and placing it down on the edge of his jacuzzi, because one is far away and the other could be an immediate threat.

What kind of captain wants mutiny inside of his ship?

And I do think that all his life, he was actually a surprisingly good boss to work under when one filters out everything else about him and just exists in that liminal space where he's a boss and someone's a worker --- he's bafflingly okay as an authority figure, creepily so --- shockingly so, all things considered, to the point that if some maid working for him was told all about his otherwise bad dealings and practices, she might not even believe it because Mr. Silver is just the salt of the earth and it rings true in the 70's, 80's, present day and constantly. He might even come off as oddly relaxed and jovial at times and that being his underling came with some amazing perks and rewards, so long as you don't cross lines, fail him and betray him, of course.

Naturally.

Even then, I picture Terry smarmy enough to where he can cleverly gaslight and convince the one who failed it is their doing and that he's taking disciplinary actions because he was given no choice. Truly, regretful. Ah, well. Hell, he might have them apologizing to him. But, this chastising usually never has him raising his tone. Not once. He is nice. He understands niceness, like one understands a cavity in their tooth and the outline of its shape when they push the tip of their tongue inside of it.

N i c e.

He is nice.

Margaret Spencer chats with him while he's bathing and one almost gets the impression of friendship and intimacy with all the mutual teasing going on, on equal footing --- like an elderly aunt from overseas berating her unruly American nephew. She is never subjegated or submissive, because Terry is nice, and Terry seems infinitely amused by their interactions. Milos knows Terry Silver's contacts enough to address John Kreese and ask him if he wants coffee right from the threshold of the door. With Snake and Dennis, we aren't certain if they're just some kids that co-habitate under his roof, if they're proteeges, his own personal wind-up jesters, his hired thugs or all four. Even with Mike Barnes back in the days, the way he initially greets him is genuinely inviting, offering the chance of a lifetime, with all the rewards and opportunities it entails; sponsoring him, cheekily sharing pleasantaries, joking around offering him cars, welcoming him to LA, giving him allowance like an overly (and worryingly kind) host.

This isn't nessecarily a bad boss. Not on the surface. Not until he's crossed.

This can all coexist with the fact that he was still a morally repugnant and corrupt individual who relished in the pain of others, but I don't think Terry needed therapy to be genuinely polite towards his people or to understand the power of charm and the perks of some hefty lovebombing, because he didn't need to therapy to understand a gallant approach inspires awesome loyalty that can't be bought with mere money. So, no, I don't think there's an era in his life, in truth, where he wouldn't help a maid or approach them with this disarmingly cavalier attitude where the staff themselves aren't certain if Mr. Silver is just the nicest man ever or if they're imagining things. Mr. Silver is almost like a...friend. Working for him is like being in a family.

#terry silver #carla the maid #margaret spencer #milos dadok #snake and dennis #mike barnes #kk3 #cobra kai #character analysis #tw; lovebombing

[bronzeflower623]

Hey does anyone know of a DC discord server that has a channel for, like, analysis and stuff? I desperately want to talk about character analysis with people who have read more comics than I have

#dc comics #batman #dc robin #id prefer it to be an 18+ server thats proship but mostly i just wanna discuss my classpect analysis for the characters and see if theres #any evidence i missed when classpecting them like i just need to talk about why i think damian is a maid of blood and tim is a seer of doom #and i need someone to discuss with me as i attempt to classpect other characters ya know?

[nekropsii]

What are your thoughts on 'gendered classes' as a concept?

Gendered Classes aren't a thing, and it feels kind of insulting when people are super insistent on certain Classes only being populated by a specific gender.

Classes are literally just how you interact with your Aspect, and being a man or woman isn't going to prevent you from having a specific kind of relationship with a fundamental truth of reality. Yeah, it has the potential to be formative, but men aren't inherently more capable of being Princes than women are. Women aren't inherently more capable of being Maids than men are. Also, gender wouldn't change a Class's name. A female Prince would still be called a Prince. She would be a Prince. Not a Princess. All Class titles are one syllable.

You could make an argument about Time and Space having potential ties to the nebulous concepts of Masculinity and Femininity respectively, but not Classes, really. Especially not when you acknowledge that Classpects are just a Magic System. That's all.

#to let gender unnecessarily get in the way of accurate analysis is sexist i think #homestuck #homestuck meta #homestuck analysis #classpecting #classpect #prince class #maid class #class.pdf #nekro.pdf #nekro.sms