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#Paragon Productions

acestories · 9 months

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Are you aware Red of Overly Sarcastic Productions is ace? Also I love her and you spamming OSP stuff.

I do know she is ace! In fact, she was one of the people that introduced me to the term, which prompted me to do research and find out that I'm somewhere on the spectrum! So in a weird way, we have her to thank for this blog. Only seems fitting to share her stuff here.

Also, she's on Tumblr under @comicaurora. Just in case you didn't know about that anon.

Go read aurora it's really good, and will make you realize how good Red is at the art.

#overly sarcastic productions #osp #ask #anon #i found osp on a lark #i just saw this weird thumbnail with the words “manly men” on it #and decided “i got nothing better going on right now”#and now here I am thinking she one of the coolest people and wanting that yule odin shirt #wait maybe it was “paragons?”#it had cpmment section kaiju

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ranfanblog · 6 months

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Congratulations [Competitor 359]. You have been selected to participate in Deathmatch Island. Winning will mean fame, freedom, and unlimited wealth. You may be experiencing some confusion and memory loss. This is normal following [REDACTED]. It is important that you do not panic.

Deathmatch Island is a fast-paced roleplaying game about a deadly game show set on a chain of mysterious islands. Armed only with their hazy memories and matching uniforms, the players compete in challenges to satisfy the demands of Production.

If you're a fan of Squid Game, Survivor, Lost, Battle Royale, Control, The Hunger Games, corporate dystopia, or messed up Reality TV, you're going to enjoy Deathmatch Island.

[Text from the Kickstarter page, Art by me]

#Deathmatch Island #TTRPG #Tabletop Roleplay Games #Tabletop RPG #Evi lHat Productions #PARAGON system #Play To Win!

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maniacwatchestheworld · 2 years

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I was listening to Overly Sarcastic's Detail Diatribe on Satirizing Superman and it occurs to me... Ingo's actually a Paragon isn't he...? At around the 1 hour 18 minutes mark, Red said something about Paragons that I really quite like a lot (that she got from Discworld, which I haven't read. So sue me. >.< ). She said that Paragons are simple, but in the way that a sword is simple. Not very complicated, but very very effective at what it does. And I think that is actually a vary apt way to describe Ingo. How he builds his Pokemon parties certainly speaks to that kind of idea to me. Emmet can tie himself up in knots with how he tries to be clever with the Pokemon he uses and how. By contrast, Ingo's team is rather straightforwards and his strategies tend to be a lot more simple in comparison. Ingo gets 1 (one) clever strategy per team, but otherwise keeps things simple. The extent of his strategies usually tend to be; Step 1: Boost stats. Step 2: Hit hard. Not very complicated, but very effective! Super effective, you could say!

I've had something of a difficulty pinning Ingo as a character for a bit now, but a Paragon... That actually sounds about right for him... Ingo isn't stupid or shallow, he's just straightforwards and simple. He deeply cares about the people around him and their safety. And no matter what, he would always do what's right, even if it would cost him personally. I mean, for crying out loud, he's supposed to represent Ideals, which is what Paragons are defined by! He leads trough example (he is a Subway BOSS after all) and seeks to inspire others to keep growing and improving. And maybe that's why he's in Hisui in the first place. To be a Paragon Mentor- To lead and teach through example, and to show what kind of future is possible if they put their trust in Pokemon and seek to understand instead of fearing them. Just something to think about!

#subway boss ingo #subway master ingo #pokemon legends ingo #warden ingo #ingo pkmn #pokemon #ingo pokemon #paragon #overly sarcastic productions #pkmn #pokemon legends arceus #legends arceus #pla

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curryvillain · 1 year

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Music From @JimmyCliff & The PAragons Featured In @DeathInParadise Christmas Special!

Many of your favourite TV shows and Films joined in on the holiday season and premiered special episodes and versions of their respective creations. One of those was the Island-inspired series “Death In Paradise” which is featured on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The crime drama series features Jamaican Actress Shantol Jackson who joins a cast who solves mysteries on the fictional…

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levyfiles · 8 days

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this fandom is low-key one of the most racist ones i have ever been in and i have been in here one and off since 2020!! like no ur soft uwu white boy bean was not kidnapped by gun-point by theeee evil ceo to make this decision and no he is not ur leftist anti-capitalist paragon who just so happens to buy hundreds of dollars worth of products at whole foods and no! ur not slick calling men of color robotic and greedy and soulless and worthless and claiming that they're responsible for everything you don't like about the company while obviously your white boy fave secretly agrees with you because you can tell by the twitch of his eyes! and don't get me started on people calling ryan dumb or gullible or that steven must have manipulated him into it or that shane is the only one smart enough to idk... see through the evil overlord??? like do y'all hear yourselves? are you not a little ashamed? do you have no self reflection or do you think that because you slobber over someone who says "eat the rich" in one occasional video that it makes you immune from being racist. tale as old as watcher's founding too!

Just gonna post this because it's true in a lot of ways. The narrative surrounding Steven has always gotten right out of hand and a racist under-developed brain can't even put together how detrimental it would have been to the company and Shane, of all people, if Steven hadn't been there for them.

All they care about is monopolising spaces to talk over people of colour for a retweet or two.

I am at zero tolerance for that this time round guys.

#watcher #steven lim

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zykamiliah · 2 months

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i know this may be a shocker to some of you but sometimes... having a main character with flaws =/= bad main character.

main characters don't have to be Pure Golden Paragons of Your Particular Brand of Puritanical, Black and White Morality to be good characters in terms of writing

sometimes it's nice to have flawed main characters, like shen qingqiu, who have biases and whose narration is unreliable and who, though he develops through the course of the novel, still doesn't completely change everything about who he is.

that does not objective change the fact that his kindness and positive actions changed the fate of the characters in proud immortal demon way

because guess what? if people aren't perfect in real life, it sure as hell follows that characters don't have to be perfect either. people have many layers, and characters can, too. svsss gave us a richness of characters that are complex like that, that are as much capable of "good" and "bad", who are biased and blind and oblivious and react to things in complex ways.

so please.... just because sqq didn't immediately absolved your fav from all his faults because he find out about his past abuse in a "oh so he was a slave!! he was abused!! poor baby!! this explains everything and justifies all his actions and absolves him of his crimes!!!", doesn't mean he didn't feel sympathetic, doesn't mean he didn't acknowledge that shen jiu was a person, doesn't mean he now has an understanding that he didn't have previously. the trauma sj suffered doesn't justify how he hurt others.

THE SAME WAY that because he had the system breathing on his neck doesn't justify sqq for hurting lbh. the same way that the abuse he suffered doesn't justify bingge's cruel and tyrannic actions, nor his overblown revenge.

all of this characters are flawed and complex and carry with them an humanity that makes them compelling and deeply interesting; trying to point fingers and put the blame on everything that happened in One Particular Character takes away their agency about their own fates and the impact and consequences their actions have on others and the world.

hear it from shen jiu himself

and from sy!sqq:

i think that if there's a lesson to learn from svsss, is that you should treat others how you want to be treated; and that the way you go about it will have consequences in your life-- because you are an active agent in your own life, you have agency, and though you are also a product of circumstance, you should definitely use what little amount of agency you have to treat yourself and the people and the world around you with fairness, and if possible, kindness.

#svsss #svsss meta #zykamiliah-svsss #shen qingqiu #shen yuan #shen jiu #original shen qingqiu

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lawfulgoodness · 1 year

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FREE RPG MASTERPOST (2023 Edition)

So it seems like a good time to update the list. Recent headlines in the TTRPG community may have folks thinking about torrenting products from some heavy-handed publishers. Since I’d have to change my Tumblr URL if I condoned that sort of behavior, how about sharing free alternatives & quick start guides for some alternatives instead. Let me know of any other good ones I should include and I’ll update the original post with them.

FANTASY

FANTASY - OLD SCHOOL REVIVAL (OSR)

Labyrinth Lord

Swords & Wizardry

Osric

Dungeon World

FANTASY - POST-APOCALYPTIC

Earthdawn

ICON

Mutant Future (Compatible with Labyrinth Lord)

HORROR

HORROR - ELDRITCH HORROR

Call of Cthulhu

HORROR - MODERN HORROR / URBAN FANTASY

Witchcraft

Neverwhere

World of Darkness

HORROR - TRANSHUMANISM/CYBERPUNK

Eclipse Phase

SCIENCE FICTION

Lasers & Feelings

Stars Without Number

SCIENCE FICTION - ATOMPUNK

Lady Blackbird

GIANT ROBOTS / MECHS

Lancer

OTHER

SCIENCE FICTION / FANTASY MASHUP

Shadowrun (Fantasy / Cyberpunk)

Rogue Trader (Warhamer 40K setting)

SETTING-AGNOSTIC

GURPS

Savage Worlds

FATE

SUPERHEROES

Four Color System

Mutants & Masterminds

Prowlers and Paragons

MISCELANEOUS ABSURDITY

HackMaster

#RPGs #dnd #ogl #TTRPGs #lawfulgoods

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ohmenai · 1 month

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Jungle Majesty and His Mighty Girth.

My travels had taken me to a remote African village, a gem untouched by the urban crawl. Here stood before me, Kwame, a titan among men, his skin a polished obsidian, a product of nature's own grand design. The first time I laid eyes on him, I knew the camera in my hands was about to immortalize a paragon of raw manhood. That chance encounter, born of my insatiable quest for documents of male authenticity, found me exchanging stories for shelter, and it wasn’t long before the promise of a photo granted by the titan before me.

I let my OhMenFlex drink in every detail - his naked torso, a canvas of black velvet kissed by sunlight, rippled with power as he stood proudly in front of his hut. The dense matting of his chest hair framed his muscle-bundled pecs, each strand weaving a narrative of wild virility. The belly, a proud and robust canvas, stretched before me—his girth, a badge of honor in a world where opulence was measured in the currency of flesh and fortitude; this not a vanity-bred gym sculpt, but the result of a life coerced by survival and abundance in harmony with nature's rhythm.

And then, there was his fat, monster cock, a stunning embodiment of sheer potency. That black pillar, its veins etched like the tributaries of the great Nile upon it, stood with a dignity that knew no parallel. It was like the trunk of a mighty baobab—solid, powerful, and the stuff of primal dreams. Worn by the elements, it narrated a saga of desire and survival, of conquests and whispers in the night.

As he guided me in the rhythms of their nocturnal festivities, the scents of earth and sweat intermingled. Kwame's eyes, orbs of onyx, gleamed with the stories of ancestors, tales of hunts and conquests mirrored in his penetrating gaze. The dense thicket of his beard felt like a bristled cushion against my skin, his thick-stemmed manhood pulsed with life against my own, crude, unrefined, real. As night descended and the hut shielded us from prying eyes, our bodies spoke the ancient language of lust; muscles twitching, bellies heaving, our symphony of grunts and sighs echoed within the thatch and mud walls. Beneath my roving fingers, his flesh was a tapestry of textures – the silk of skin sliding over steely sinew, the pillowy give of his abundant midsection, the sizzling heat of his arousal charring my caress.

Cradled by the amber embrace of dawn, I departed with my treasures: images and touches that captured the essence of Kwame, a man whose virility was sculpted by the hands of life itself.

#aibara #aimen #ai daddy #aigay #aigaybear #aigayart #gay

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sapphixxx · 3 months

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Signalis, Authority, and History

There's a level of nuance to how Signalis presents the violence of the authority of the nation that doesn't call attention to itself but which I really appreciate. Which is basically just, all the officers and cops and spies who make life hell for people like the Gestalt mine workers, Ariane, and the Itou family--we get little glimpses into who they are in Adler and Kolibri's diaries and despite the propaganda and the authoritative tone they take in official communications, for the most part they don't seem to actually be particularly invested in the hard line of national ideology. They uphold it though, viciously, both because things were worse under imperial rule (we don't get hard details on what it was like but it's mentioned in passing enough that I believe it) and because they're scared that if they don't they will be decommissioned and easily replaced. They are literally stamped out of a production line after all. There's a subtext of well, if I don't do it my replacement will anyway and I'm not trying to die so what's the point of rocking the boat?

I think Kolibri stands out to me most clearly on this because in communications from the block warden regarding Ariane there is emphasis put on how it is unacceptable and suspicious that she should be so interested and invested in art and literature that does not serve the purpose of furthering the goals of the nation. But we know that Kolibris themselves are bookworms, Adlers are fiends for stimulating experiences, and both get miserable FAST when deprived of art and puzzles and entertainment and hobbies. Y'know, just like anyone. Far be it from being a paragon of The Nation only interested in productive labor, we are reminded that the block warden, too, hates this shitty town and wants to transfer but is denied. They're hypocrites, but not monsters, nor brainwashed puppets of the state.

The monstrousness at play is not contained within any particular subset of evil individuals, or even an inherent universal force of evil contained in the broad notion of The Nation. There is no cosmic evil force that makes them all do these things to each other. The monstrousness is within the social systems, the mechanisms of how authority perpetuates on a structural procedural level, held in place by fear and tangible threats of violence, each link in the chain restraining the next through those threats out of fear that if they don't, then they'll be next. Regardless how many, if any, of those people in this chain are true dogmatic hardliners, they must act as such because failing to do so opens them up to danger.

Here then I think of the quote that is so prominent, "Great holes secretly are digged where earth’s pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl", from Lovecraft's The Festival. This is not just a chilling abstract visual that conveniently evokes a mineshaft-- in Lovecraft's story, this line refers to worms which ate the decomposing bodies of wizards whose wretched souls had remained after death, complete with the terrible powers they gained through contracts with demons. Those worms inherited both their power, and also the evil. The Nation, despite having overthrown the Empire, is built on imperial technology, in particular Replikas and bioresonance. So too, then, we can imply that The Nation inherited with those things some of the monstrousness of The Empire as well. There is no end of history, nor clean break with the past, no matter how violently it may seem to be rejected. That which remains from the past--and something inevitably always does--creates the present.

This is a game that is not shy about evoking East Germany. And I think all of this provides a sophisticated picture of repressive authority that we rarely see in fiction of the English speaking world, especially in games. The year the S23 incident takes place is notably 84, but, frankly, I find this to be more compelling and illustrative than 1984 (and I'm a librarian and have taught English classes so I get to say that). Orwell, let's be honest, presents a fairly one dimensional picture of authority, where people seize power and wield it against others out of seeming mustache twirling evil or malice.

Here though we get a more humanistic view. Authority did not come from nowhere and is not wielded arbitrarily out of gleeful cruelty or mindless brainwashed allegiance. People aren't "just following orders". Individuals have rich inner lives. They make decisions, and those decisions are based in the context they're in. Even the decision to carry repressive tools of the past into the present is a decision that was made strategically with the big picture in mind. Nobody woke up and decided to be evil that day. Everyone operates on self interest, and, we must assume, an earnest desire for things to get better. Even the [spoiler] program which served as an inspirational demonstration of The Nation's power, you can imagine the chain of officers and bureaucrats who genuinely wanted the people of the nation to believe in the future, to confidently trust that everyone was working together towards something great and beautiful. And, through a long chain of those people who couldn't say "No" without being decommissioned, we ended up with something unbelievably cruel.

We get to know Adler and Kolibri and the other officers not to say well they're human too, maybe it wasn't so bad that they condemned all those people to agonizing suffering, but to remember that if we keep looking for true monsters we will not find them. There are no monsters and there are no demons. There are only people making decisions. A better world is possible. A better world, where Adler is just a paper pusher who does puzzles after work instead of signing papers to authorize torture, where Kolibris are librarians instead of spies and cops, where EULEs can gossip and play piano and ARARs can do maintenance on facilities that don't contain torture rooms, is one that would not have led to the Ariane and Elster's tragic cycle and ultimate end.

Authority and its attendant cruelty is not contained, radiating forth from The Great Revolutionary and Her Daughter, it is within the social systems of control. When those two women die, that cruelty will continue so long as those social systems continue. Like Lovecraft's worms, no matter how long dead the evil of the past is, so long as it continues to be fed upon, that evil will not only remain, but evolve into something new in the present. A better world can't be achieved through the death of the old world alone, even if violent overthrow is warranted. There is no end of history. There is no clean break from the past.

"Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living."

Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

#Signalis #Didn't include everything because this is already very long #But there's a lot to add to this kind of reading from other former Eastern Bloc states that go beyond a kind of braindead #Simplistic Authoritarianism bad communism bad freedom good type of view common in the English speaking world #That go more into well what is authority and how does it work and how has it remained durable and violent before during and after the cold #The Romanian movie Bad Luck Banging is very good for this in expressing how things have been more similar than different #Under monarchy fascism communism and liberal democracy over the last 150 years there #replika joker voice maybe the real monster is SOCIETY #op #quality content

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running-with-the-feels · 3 months

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I don't think you saw it, but I did answer your ask and am now here to bring you Kung clan headcanons.

The great Kung Lao used a whip as a weapon. His fighting style relied heavily on quick movements. As honorable as he was, he had a bad habit of toying with whoever he was fighting. Often lassoing them and throwing them around. The whip is now hung in the main house of his clan.

Hair holds great importance to Kungs. Long hair is a sign of pride. The traditional style is a low, tight braid. If a member is dishonored, they are to shave their head.

To be initiated into the Shaolin, one must shave their head to show devotion. They only have to do it once and can grow their hair out afterward, with the more dedicated monks keeping their heads shaved. The Kungs actively fought the Shaolin for Lao to keep his hair, but he ended up bald anyway.

After the first Mortal Kombat, Lao decides to shave his head because he believed his actions during it were dishonorable and immature. Liu Kang tried to persuade him not to, but he insisted. Kang shaved it for him.

Lao is overly protective of his hair. Can, has, and will smack someone's hand away if they try to touch it without permission. He's like a cat in that way. Also takes amazing care of it. He has oils, masks, and expensive shampoo and conditioner.

After being disowned, Jin was forced to shave his head but grew it back out of spite. Him wearing a high ponytail while using the Kung name is seen as a sign of disrespect.

If Huai ever left the clan, she'd shave her and Jin's heads (because she refuses to leave him in the clan's care).

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Kungs have insane upper body strength. Even the civilian members. Takeda is convinced that his type is people who can lift him without breaking a sweat.

Most are also tall, but Jin is massive, standing at 6"4'. It's the Kyrgyz genes.

The first step in Kung courting is to ask for a blessing from a family member. Lao ended up asking Jade for her blessing to court Kitana and brought gifts to Liu Kang's parents' graves. He spent over an hour speaking to them before leaving.

nooooooo I missed it! I'll go check it out asap!

I Love these headcanons sm

Both Kung Lao's are actually very similar personality wise, but Raiden has kinda mythologized the great Kung Lao to the point that he sees him as a paragon and our Lao as a poor imitation, a sentiment a lot of the monks share

Kung Lao learned a lot about haircare and styling from his family and will do Kitana's hair for her for important events. She shows up one day when his family is visiting with a traditional Kung style braid and the family loses their shit over the implications (whether from happiness or anger is your call)

Kung Lao cried when they shaved his head and wouldn't talk to anyone for a week

Liu then cried when he had to shave Lao's head for him, and was over the moon when Lao started growing it back.

Lao and Johnny bond over their hair care routines and swap tips and products, with Johnny being the only person Lao has ever given a bottle of his family's hair oil made from a recipe they've had as long as they existed.

Kung Lao will fight anyone who says that Jin has no right to the name or his hair and when he joined the Shaolin and was asked to shave Lao raised hell until the monks gave in, not wanting Jin to go through what he did.

Huai has contemplated leaving the clan multiple times, its kind of an escapist fantasy for her at this point (pls feel free to ignore that, she's your oc not mine)

Kung Jin once lifts Takeda over his head ballet style to prove a point and Takeda loses the ability to speak for a while. Jin's form is perfect and he doesn't even tremble.

Jin is the tallest kombat kid (Cassie is 5'11, Jacqui is 5'6, Takeda is 5'10 and Frost is 5'3)(no one mention's Frost's height bc it took three people to hold her back last time)

Jade was touched by Kung Lao asking her for permission to date Kitana and when Kitana learned of the custom, she went to Lao's parents and asked them for permission as well

Kitana and Liu also both love to run their hands through his hair and are the only people he will allow to do that

#kombat kids #kung lao #kung jin #mortal kombat #mortal kombat x #mortal kombat 11

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 years

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Epson boobytrapped its printers

“Innovation” has become a curseword, thanks to…innovation. Some of the world’s most imaginative, best-funded sociopaths have spent decades innovating ways to fuck you over. While the whole tech sector likes to get in on this game, no one “innovates” like inkjet printer companies.

Printer companies are true fuckery pioneers: the tactical innovations they’ve developed in the war on their customers would make Otto von Bismarck blush.

Selling printers with half-empty ink-cartridges:

https://www.thestar.com/business/personal_finance/spending_saving/2012/08/19/new_printers_may_not_have_full_tank_of_ink.html

Requiring useless, mandatory “calibration tests” that use up all your ink:

https://www.consumerreports.org/printers/the-high-cost-of-wasted-printer-ink/

Or just having printers reject partially full cartridges as empty.

When you’re at war with your customers, you have to anticipate that your rivals will join your customers’ side — not because other businesses are paragons of consumer protection, but because it’s profitable. So printer companies tried to use copyright to block ink refillers:

https://www.eff.org/cases/lexmark-v-static-control-case-archive

Then patent law:

https://www.eff.org/cases/impression-products-inc-v-lexmark-international-inc

When that got stale, they figured out how to put DRM in paper, too:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/02/worst-timeline-printer-company-putting-drm-paper-now

If we could harness the creative energy put into turning printer users into ink-stained wretches, we could end the world’s reliance on Russian gas in an instant:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

Here’s a good one! Epson will brick your printer after you’ve run a certain number of pages, “for your own good.”

https://twitter.com/marktavern/status/1550605262700122112

How does that work? Well, Epson says that it designs its printers with little internal sponges that soak up excess ink and when they become saturated, that ink might run out of the bottom of your printer and stain your furniture.

https://epson.com/Support/wa00369

If this sounds like bullshit to you, that’s because it’s bullshit, as are the claims that excess ink could get into the printer’s electronic circuits and start a fire:

https://fighttorepair.substack.com/p/citing-danger-of-ink-spills-epson

If your printer’s sponges get too full of excess ink and you’re worried about it, you can easily and cheaply install new sponges:

https://youtu.be/EocI_8awj38?t=112

But that would deny Epson a new printer sale, and divert your perfectly good printer from joining the mountains of e-waste that are poisoning the global south, and we couldn’t have that.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/26/nixing-the-fix/#r2r

So they’ve rigged their printers’ software so that even if you replace the sponges, the printer can still refuse to print. Replacing or resetting this software requires that you bypass the DRM designed to prevent this, and providing a DRM-defeat tool is a felony punishable by a 5-year sentence and a $500k fine under Section 1201 of the DMCA.

But maybe this is a violation of consumer protection laws. Aaron Perzanowski thinks so, and he’s a law professor. If the FTC were to go after Epson on this, they would be genuine American heroes, celebrated as true guardians of the public interest.

Previously, the FTC resolved this kind of self-bricking fraud by ordering companies to disclose the practice at the time of purchase. This is not good enough.

https://www.perzanow.ski/blog/2016/7/14/ftcs-revolv-investigation

A real remedy — one that would prevent this conduct in future — would be a ban on self-bricking devices altogether, along with immunity from civil and criminal liability for companies and individuals who design defeat devices to un-brick illegally bricked gadgets, under patent, copyright, contract, and all other legal theories.

Image: EFF/Hugh D’Andrade https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

CC BY 3.0 https://www.eff.org/copyright

[Image ID: EFF's printer DRM banner by Hugh D'Andrade, depicting a printer with an anthropomorphic sick face vomiting out four bars of ink.]

#pluralistic

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m00n-pr1sm · 7 months

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Amy Dunne Character Analysis

Disclaimer

This analysis will be of Amy’s character from both the book and the movie, although the 2014 movie adaption takes greater precedence with only some additional details and quotes included from the book as it does delve deeper into Amy’s psyche and add further characterization. Thus some traits may be accentuated further than they are in the movie, not being completely faithful to either story. It’s an analysis of Amy in her totality across mediums, of course being entirely my opinion. There are of course adaptational differences but I will not include the major ones from the books (ex. her relationship with Hillary Hand). This is an analysis focusing primarily on Amy’s neuroses she demonstrates and the childhood links to them, it doesn’t cover in-depth the events nor themes of Gone Girl.

Amy Elliott Dunne, the ever enigmatic protagonist of Gone Girl, one of the most iconic female villains in modern memory, and one of the paragons of the “good for her” trope in media, is frankly one of my favorite characters of all time. As such I have been dying to write a full analysis examining her neuroses and characterization. Beneath the cultural perception of just another “crazy psycho” for girls to claim “she did no wrong” or “she just like me fr!”, lies a fascinating character who is masterfully written and developed by Gillian Flynn. Not to mention perfectly portrayed by Rosamund Pike in the movie. Amy Dunne is a character with a deep, complex psychology that I will do my best to thoroughly explore in this analysis.

From Amy’s childhood we first see the emergence of a literal high ego ideal, Amazing Amy. Of course this is the children’s book series created by her parents with a fictionalized version of Amy being the eponymous protagonist. This was a version of herself that rectified her own personal failures. Amazing Amy became a prodigy at cello, when Amy quit at 10, Amazing Amy made varsity volleyball, Amy got cut freshman year. Even in the (at time) final book in the series, Amazing Amy got married, a task Amy had not yet done. The entire book series revolved around Amy always making the most virtuous, the most selfless, the most perfect decisions.

>”With me, regular, flawed, real Amy, jealous, as always, of the golden child.”

An interesting detail in the book that is omitted from the movie is Marybeth’s numerous miscarriages and stillbirths (which totaled 7). All of these girls were named Hope, until Amy was born. Amy expresses her jealousy towards them, as they were always seen as perfect without ever living; meanwhile Amy herself has to live life everyday knowing that she will never truly live up to the Hopes. That she has to try everyday to be the best she can be. Her very birth was mired in the expectation of a perfect child; given that she was practically a gift from the heavens to her parents.

This sets up Amy’s perfectionism, as the childhood experience of never living up to a projected ideal led her to want to be perfect (and as we’ll later see, the expectation that everyone else is too), to live life always through the gaze of another. Evidently this leads to a loss of one’s inner essence, one’s individuality and sense of self.

>“-I’d never really felt like a person, because I was always a product” (Book Quote)

Amy’s obsession with personas can be seen as emerging from this, as she adapts a personality depending on who she’s interacting with, as to always be the most appealing she can, she is Amazing Amy after all.

>”I’m not sure, exactly, how to be Dead Amy. I’m trying to figure out what that means for me, what I become for the next few months. Anyone, I suppose, except people I’ve already been: Amazing Amy. Preppy ’80s Girl. Ultimate-Frisbee Granola and Blushing Ingenue and Witty Hepburnian Sophisticate. Brainy Ironic Girl and Boho Babe (the latest version of Frisbee Granola). Cool Girl and Loved Wife and Unloved Wife and Vengeful Scorned Wife. Diary Amy.” (Book Quote)

This general attitude leads to people trying to impress her as she places herself as someone special and especially someone to keep around. Not to mention she’s incredibly pretty and alluring. Enticing both the characters and viewers of the film through her enchanting aura. However we’ll see this dramatically backfire in her relationship with Nick, just you wait!

However for now we can focus on the beginning of their relationship as well as what I believe to be Amy’s view on romance.

I believe that Amy has an impossibly high standard of love, one that stems from her perfectionism and general inability to let down her guise of being amazing. Not to mention how her parents were a perfect match, Amy even referring to them as soul-mates.

>”They have no harsh edges with each other, no spiny conflicts, they ride through life like conjoined jellyfish—expanding and contracting instinctively, filling each other’s spaces liquidly. Making it look easy, the soul-mate thing.” (Book Quote)

In her childhood it’s implied that she was into romance novels, specifically Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, which obviously contributes to the idealization of romance, of a literal scripted love.

>”You were an alienated teen and only Elizabeth Bennet understood you”

I think this little quote is incredibly indicative; it establishes a sense of alienation, of Amy never quite fitting in and blending with others.

>”So many lessons and opportunities and advantages, and they never taught me how to be happy. I remember always being baffled by other children. I would be at a birthday party and watch the other kids giggling and making faces, and I would try to do that too, but I wouldn’t understand why. I would sit there with the tight elastic thread of the birthday hat parting the pudge of my underchin, with the grainy frosting of the cake bluing my teeth, and I would try to figure out why it was fun.” (Book Quote)

Back to the topic of romance, through these stories it allowed her to imagine her perfect romance: if Amy could find that one person that truly understood her, beyond the illusion, that then would constitute a perfect union of love. She does deep down (whether consciously or not) want to be loved for who she is; not the idealized, palatable, literal marketed version of herself. Thus she holds trust as a premium, expecting that if she does the Herculean task of unspooling and revealing herself to another, that the other person would love her no matter what.

>”Can you imagine, finally showing your true self to your spouse, your soul mate, and having him not like you?” (Book Quote)

However all of this culminates in an impossibly high standard of a lover, of a practically divine mythical love; where one loves totally and absolutely. Of course where this neurosis is most demonstrated is in Nick and Amy’s relationship.

Amy comments that after meeting Nick she finally felt like a person as he brought out a side of herself that hadn’t been seen, in her own words “a lightness and an ease”, something that Amy enjoyed. In her eyes they had the perfect relationship in the beginning, Nick was her compliment with the witty banter, with their inside jokes, and charm.

However this doesn’t just vanquish her childhood neuroses, through her desire to be seen as perfect, she modifies herself to be a “cool girl” for Nick, complying endlessly to standards to maintain this perception.

>” When I met Nick Dunne, I knew he wanted a cool girl and for him, I’ll admit, I was willing to try.”

Amy essentially became Nick’s image of a perfect girl, witty, fun, and most of all easy-going and forgiving.

Yet one cannot live forever in images and ideas; and as such, the real, true Amy emerged. The Amy that cares too much, that’s hard to get along with, that is a controlling perfectionist. She also tests Nick through the treasure hunts, weaving in little details about their relationship as to challenge Nick and hope that he remembers the things they do together as deeply as she does. Combined with the 2008 recession and declining health of Nick’s mother (the consequences of which will be explored later). As well as Nick’s growing dissatisfaction in the relationship (evidenced by his worsening performances in the treasure hunts, the cheating, using her for sex and ignoring her otherwise, etc). The illusion both Nick and Amy were living in crumbled; they couldn’t possibly sustain their relationship as they were both striving to fulfill reciprocating images for the other.

One of the biggest parts of her character is Amy’s elitism and entitlement, in which she thinks of herself as someone superior, someone that deserves to be loved absolutely for who she is, although only to people she considers worthy.

>”She’s easy to like. I’ve never understood why that’s considered a compliment—that just anyone could like you.” (Book Quote)

Once again this stems from her childhood, in a seemingly contradictory way, she also sees herself as special for being the one that survived from her mother’s attempts, as well as the fact that her birth was so tumultuous that she would be an only child. From this also stems her entitlement for love.

Amy actively looks down upon women she considers “average”, whom she sees as coming from mediocrity and continuously perpetuating that in their lives. She scoffs at them with her wealthy parents and NYC background until her marriage with Nick crumbles. Only then does she realize that she’s become the very woman she would previously disdain. A woman with a failing marriage, the loss of her previous wealth following the recession, and moving to a failed development in Missouri (What the hell’s in Missouri?) for Nick’s mother.

I truly believe this, combined with Nick’s infidelity, and most importantly the loss of her idyllic love culminated in the iconic Gone Girl plan.

>”Nick took and took from me until I no longer existed, that’s murder. Let the punishment fit the crime”.

Nick took Amy’s identity, her sense of self that she so generously revealed to him and rejected her. Implying that she would only be loved if played the role of the “cool girl”; stripping her of who she really was, losing herself in yet another persona. Although Amy admits she doesn’t really have a personality and lives through personas, she still has a semblance of self that she holds dear.

>”-made me realize that there was a Real Amy in there, and she was so much better, more interesting and complicated and challenging, than Cool Amy”. (Book Quote)

Worse yet, Nick had cheated on her with a “newer, younger, bouncer Cool Girl”, leaving Amy in the dust, surely damaging her pride.

But Amy truly fell in love with her idealized version of Nick, believing that she was responsible for shaping that version of Nick. That she deserved that man in his entirety, of course what gets Amy to come back to Nick is the Sharon Scheiber interview, in which he promises to make up with Amy in just the way that makes her think that Nick is the one person who gets her. He makes the little references to their inside jokes (2 fingers on the chin when they’re not bullshitting the other) and a reference to the end of the treasure hunt (always a contentious issue in their relationship). She’s reminded of who he was, that he was once perfect for her, who else could know how to appeal to her heart in just the right way? With the same passion and conviction she reverses the judgment on Nick, clawing her way back to him. She does so in an especially brutal manner, slashing Desi’s throat with a boxcutter right after he climaxes. Putting aside my enormous personal bias against Desi, he was technically an innocent man, taking a great risk in sheltering Amy. However it’s clear that Amy sees him as merely an asset and something to be disposed of once he serves his value, as another prop in her ever evolving masterplan; she did string him along for years through their letter correspondences. He was just another casualty in Amy’s search for idyllic love. She comes back dramatically, literally falling into Nick’s arms while still covered in Desi’s blood like a dress; fabricating an elaborate story about a love obsessed former boyfriend kidnapping and violating her. Despite the glaring holes in her whole story (If Amy’s marriage was as bad as she made it out to be, why did she go back to Nick so easily? How did she get access to a knife and kill him so seamlessly? Why didn’t Amy do anything when she discovered the stuff in Margo’s shed? etc), law enforcement, media, and the public all fully believe it, infatuated with the persona and narrative that Amy’s created for herself. In the end she traps Nick into the marriage and eventually, the family. The last shot of the film is a haunting recall to the beginning shot of the film, as Amy has both revealed and secured herself to be the master of the narrative, finally obtaining her perfect love, no matter what the cost may have been.

Conclusion

Through a constant demand in Amy’s childhood emerges a need for perfection, simultaneously bringing about a sense of superiority and entitlement. The use of personas and façades facilitate this, painting Amy as the most amazing cool girl for whomever she’s performing for, to feed her need to be seen as perfect and desirable. Yet there emerges a psychological detachment from others; as the need to perform inevitably leads to an internal hollowness. However underneath all these layers there also lies the true Amy who has the deep unconscious desire of wanting to be loved absolutely, to have a perfect union of love where she can reveal herself fully and be loved for who she is truly.

>disclaimer for tumblr lol, this is not me trying to claim Amy was innocent I am fully aware that she’s a terribly entitled and narcissistic person but she can still be complex and have relatable desires & be a person even if she’s massively fucked up!!

#amy dunne #gone girl #gillian flynn #I love Amy Dunne so much #my little meow meow #analysis #character analysis #final draft of the analysis me thinks!!#unless I rewrite the conclusion which is very likely :P #I want to write one comparing the book to the movie #and speak on those said adaptional differences #my gone girl brainrot is terminal #(no I never referenced her typology in this whatttttt…..)#this doesn’t have much commentary into real life stuff (I am e5 ni base I can’t speak on such matters)#this is just a -why Amy is fucked up and the way she is- analysis #Also I don’t care if Amy isn’t actually that much of a she just like me fr character. I’ve said it okay and I’m a teenage girl (checkmate)#also b4 anyone comes for me & is like Amy literally says she doesn't believe in unconditional love #so then y would she crave it/doesn't that disprove ur point #well 1. she's unreliable as FUCK 2. note my use of unconscious!!

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