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shadowshrike · 16 days

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Interfering with Halsin's Portal

It's pretty well known that there are a few situations you can get in where Halsin is well and truly angry rather than disappointed or worried, but I don't think a lot of folks know one of those situations is if you mess with his portal to the Shadowfell. It's a heartwrenching bit of acting. It's also fundamental to the plot of my in-progress fic Girdled Roots, so I figured I might share it with the other Halsin-lovers out there who have never seen it.

EDIT: Please be aware this is datamined dialog and may not be visible in game. It appears to be intended to trigger if the player attempts to enter the portal, which I don't believe is possible in the final game, or at least I couldn't find a way in the most recent version. Sharing this is simply to enjoy the incredible acting and get some plot bunnies moving, not to make any commentary about the game's canon.

Halsin's Initial Reaction

Halsin: No! Stop! Halsin: It's gone... that was our one chance. You've doomed this place to darkness! Halsin: I warned you - told you this was my burden to carry. Why didn't you listen?

The pure rage and despair is visceral. Prior to this, Halsin mentions this portal has been a century in the making, but he's so calm and measured (even upon success) that it is easy to dismiss just how much agony has plagued him as he hoped to make things right. This chance is everything to him. It has guided his every action for a century. It is a hundred years of work, prayer, and guilt to rectify the horrific fate of both land and people that came to nothing because a stranger he trusted refused to listen to him.

The portal breaking is the only time we hear Halsin speak the truth of its importance to him without a hint of emotional regulation. He is wild with pain. This man who is always thoughtful and slow to anger in the face of horror with the wisdom of age and suffering to guide him has become too overwhelmed to show any kindness.

Player response

The player is given several different ways to respond, and Halsin's reaction varies a surprising amount depending on how understandable their reason is. In most cases, he states that he needs to be alone afterward.

Option 1: I'm sorry - I acted on instinct. Halsin: Words won't repair what's been done to this land. Nothing will... I need to be alone.

You can hear the ache in Halsin's voice, but he's somewhat understanding of this response. He projects more sadness than unchecked rage. The player has admitted to making a mistake, and Halsin isn't the type of person who hold onto vengeance when an apology has been made, but he's not naive or people-pleasing enough to say "it's okay" or offer comfort either. The safest thing for everyone is for him to step away to grieve when there is nothing more to be done.

Option 2: I did all the work here - I couldn't just let you take the glory. Halsin: Glory?! There's no glory here. Now there's nothing here - only shadows and the total absence of hope. Halsin: There is nothing more to be said... I need to be alone.

Pure fury radiates from Halsin's response if the player focuses on the idea of being some grand hero rather than actually caring for the outcome. What the player did was an unforgiveable act, dooming everything that Halsin holds dear, and you have the audacity to complain about not getting glory from it. Again, he steps away, but this feels more like he's doing it because he believes you're worthless to reason with rather than because he needs a moment.

Option 3: I saved your grove - I figured it'd be best if I handled this as well. Halsin: We were this close to healing these lands. Now your arrogance has torn open the wounds once more. Halsin: There is nothing more to be said... I need to be alone.

Halsin is still frustrated with this response and unmistakably angry, but it's significantly toned down from the idea of wanting to go through the portal for glory. More like he thinks you're a self-important idiot than a truly terrible person.

Specialized player responses

There are also three special responses you can give if you have a particular class or diety.

Druid: I thought my powers were equal to yours. Halsin: It wasn't just power this needed - it was wisdom, understanding. I suffered along with this place for years trying to understand the curse... and it seems I will continue to do so. Halsin: There is nothing more to be said... I need to be alone.

Interestingly, he responds much more intensely to a druid than some of the other player choices. It might be in part because he feels like a druid should know better. He lectures the player like an Archdruid would initiates in his Grove, alternating between angry and explanatory, trying to get the player to understand why they were wrong and the sheer magnitude of their error. He ultimately ends in a much more resigned place here rather than personally resentful. Like a father-figure being forced through further life trials because of a child's foolish indiscretion. Frustrating, but inevitable.

Selunite: I trusted in Selûne to guide me through the shadows. Halsin: My friend - I wish you had trusted in me.

This is probably Halsin's most simple response with the least vitriol. He fully understands this answer, even if he's disappointed by it. The fact he calls the player 'friend' suggests a certain tired acceptance of this being a natural behavior for a Selunite trying to do good. We don't see this calm in other responses where Halsin was surprised by the player's choice.

Sharran: The Shadowfell is no place for non-believers - I couldn't allow you to soil it. Halsin: I should never have trusted an ally of the Dark Lady.

If you've ever taken Halsin along with Shadowheart in Act 2, then you know he is absolutely scathing toward her and her faith. He likely isn't as angry if a Sharran breaks the portal because it is utterly predictable. It merely confirms a truth he already knew and talked himself out of. That Sharrans cannot be fully trusted in matters of their goddess, even if one was good enough to rescue his people from the goblins.

#halsin #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #analysis

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teyamsatan · 1 year

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Illicit Affairs | Chapter I: Willow

Pairing: Neteyam x f!Human!Reader

Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII Chapter VIII Chapter IX Chapter X

Warnings: Cursing, mentions of death and disease

WC: 3,4k words

A/N: Sooo.. I kinda did something. This is the first fanfic I have written that will actually see the light of day, and also the first piece of writing (outside of master's dissertations, papers, scientific essays etc) that I have done since probably high school, which is longer ago than I'd like to admit. Anyway, I have been hyperfixated on Avatar recently, ATWOW fully bringing back my love and obsession for Pandora that I have had since 2009. I adore the new movie and the Sully kids, but I have a special place in my heart for Neteyam, so here we go. Let me know what you guys think. I work full time as a PhD student, so I'll try my best to write in my spare time and hopefully I can get this done the way I truly want to. This story is also loosely inspired by the incredible @forever--darling and her "One of Us" Neteyam fanfic, which I adore and have probably memorised by now with the amount of times I have read it.

I'm like the water when your ship rolled in that night Rough on the surface but you cut through like a knife And if it was an open-shut case I never would've known from that look on your face Lost in your current like a priceless wine

“Wake up, Ace. It’s late already and there’s so much to do today, remember?” Norm’s voice pulled you out of a beautiful dream, one where you were flying on your chosen Ikran, high above the clouds, the worries…this lab. Albeit hard to swallow, you were almost relieved to be woken up, as feeding out-of-reach fantasies and dreams could lead to no good, anyhow.

“I’m up… Jesus, Norm.” You felt yourself rise from your warm and comfortable bed and the feeling of your bare feet touching the cold, hard floor of the living quarters of the lab made you swallow a curse.

“We left you some breakfast, get ready and meet us in the lab in 30, okay? We have the samples ready for you and you can run them after we’ve talked it through.”

“Aye, aye, captain.”

This was your life. You, among a few other people, were one of the only humans left on Pandora after the war took them back to Earth more than 17 years ago. Unlike the others, though, you were born here, on this foreign planet, the only home you’ve ever known. There was one more, a beautiful, feisty young man with a dark heritage, who liked to think that he is as much Pandoran as the actual natives. His name was Spider, and although you grew up together, there was not much you could say you had in common. He was wild and adventurous, has been his whole life; fully willing to immerse himself in the Na’vi ways and almost demanding a place amongst the people.

Although you have your doubts, he says the people were accepting of him, as he managed to befriend the most important family of the nearby Omatikaya tribe: the Sullys. Jake Sully, a former dream walker, rose to prominence as Toruk Makto, rider of Last Shadow. He brought multiple clans together to defeat the Sky People in their brutal quest for wealth and colonisation. He succeeded, after which he became Olo’yektan, leader of the Omatikaya. He is now fully Na’vi, after completing a consciousness transfer that allowed him to leave behind his human form and forever live as one of the people. It had never been done before. Jake was a great man, who became a mediator between the Na’vi and the humans left on Earth. His children, Neteyam, Lo’ak, Kiri and Tuk, were brought up to know English and be accepting of everyone, regardless where they came from, as long as they had pure intentions and a strong heart. Spider was considered one of them. And, surprisingly, you were, too.

Your mum was a medic and researcher, brought here many moons ago to assist the Dr. Grace Augustin and her team in their quest to understand Pandora and its miraculous biology. Your dad, a former Master Sergeant in the US Air Force, joined the RDA for their military purposes. You never met your dad. He died when the Sky People attacked, although no one knows for sure which side he ended up taking. Your mum didn’t even know she was pregnant with you at the time, that’s how new everything was. Your mum loved your dad and she maintained her belief that he ended up doing the right thing in the end. You believed that as a child, but now are not so sure. Nevertheless, you still kept his dog tag, in a drawer at the bottom of your desk, a reminder of where you come from and what mistakes not to repeat.

Your mum died where you were 10. It was the worst day of your life. The cancer, which slowly spread in the beginning, overtook her being one faithful day, which you will never be able to erase from your memory. There is no chemotherapy, no radiation therapy, no drugs that could have prevented this, not here, not on Pandora. Your mum made a decision to remain on this planet she loved more than her own and it eventually killed her. She had no regrets, she said. She was happy to have lived and loved and died here, among Eywa. The Na’vi loved her. She was good friends and a mentor to Neytiri and Jake, both of whom agreed to give her a Na’vi send off. You were there that day, one of the few times you had visited the Home Tree. You remember the pouring rain, falling so hard it washed away the tears spilling from your eye almost as soon as they emerged. You remember Lo’ak and Kiri, your beautiful friends that have always been there for you, mourning with you. Your mum was their favourite aunt. She introduced them to music and films, and showed all of you her favourite books and painters and made sure you all understood that humans, despite their many flaws, have beauty and love and good in them, that no matter what, will prevail. “It will prevail because of you. Because you will carry it along and share it. You will revel in the beauty and fight to bring it back because what better way is there to live?”

You finished breakfast quickly, some dry toast with some fruit Kiri brought you the last time she visited and made your way back to the lab. You found Norm and Max, alongside two other human scientists, Tim and Claire, sitting on chairs next to the lab benches, discussing plans for the week.

“There she is, the brightest of us all.” You smirked at the compliment, raising your eyebrows in amusement and sitting down next to Claire.

“You’ve done great work last week, Ace The ELISAs show promise that Relensa might have some effect against this type of Pandora virus. I need you to now repeat it with the samples we’ve provided and also include a different type of positive control to the experiment, if possible.”

“Will do. How about a combination therapy? I know Relensa is not the only type of anti-viral therapy we have available. Amantidin, maybe? We have to go at this from all angles, you know?”

“Our Amantidin reserve is running severely short, but give it a try. Try a dose-response? Maybe 100 nano molars to 1 micro molar? Try 1milimolar as a positive control?”

This was your life. Unlike Spider, you avoided the clan. You did not want to be the walking reminder of everything they’ve lost. You were happy to sit back and dedicate your life to helping from the shadows. Your mum was a medic and a researcher, one of the brightest in the world. She wrote the book on Na’vi anatomy and physiology, she wanted to understand the people and hopefully help them mitigate losses brought by disease. You continued that work. Although young, you learned everything there was to learn. Not like you had anything else to do. You worked as a scientist and a nurse and a doctor if needs be. You patched humans up, stitched their wounds, ran experiments on Pandora pathogens and tried to find a cure against viral and bacterial diseases that plagued the Na’vi. You spent your life in the lab, and in the adjacent hub, learning, working out and playing the guitar and piano your mum taught you when you were really young. You couldn’t say you loved it, loved being here all the time, but you were content knowing you were, in your own way, making up for your species’ past mistakes.

Around lunchtime, you heard commotion from the entryway. A very familiar voice reverberated through the hallways. Your lips raised in a soft smile. Lo’ak.

Removing your lab coat, goggles and gloves, you made your way towards the origin of the sound. The tall, much-taller-than-you young man picked up a breathing mask from the designated shelf and waved at you with unwavering enthusiasm. You loved this boy. Your brother, for all intents and purposes, your partner-in-crime for all time. He loved you, too, you knew that, and you thought in a different life, in a different universe, you were soulmates, braving life’s tough storms together.

“Brought you lunch, angel.” Your nickname for you made you roll your eyes. You hated it, but the more you hated it, the more he used it so you remained silent. “I thought you could use a break from the stale excuse you guys call food around here.”

Lo’ak spoke English with you most of the time. He took to your parents’ (and his dad’s) culture the most out of all the kids. You spent a lot of your childhood together, hunched around a computer with old reruns of shows your mum loved in her youth, shows and movies that were way before even her time. She said she loved seeing what Earth looked like before humans killed their mother. Shows like Gilmore Girls, Friends and Modern Family were some of her favourites. You devoured them as a child, and Lo’ak did so too, with you. You drove her crazy as children, and drove Norm and Max crazy as teenagers, both trying to understand references and sayings, buildings and activities, games and idiosyncrasies. The Earth you grew up watching and reading up was beautiful, a star in the night sky you will never be able to touch.

Lo’ak made his way to the dining room of the hub, and lay several carefully-packed items on the table. Fresh teylu, cooked over fire and Pandora vegetables, all full of colour and flavour, all much better than anything that could come out of this place. You realise that you are starving as soon as you lay your eyes on them. Before you even sat down, you dug your fingers in and quickly ate some teylu, groaning at the delicious sweet meaty flavour. It was your favourite, and Lo’ak knew. He laughed at your apparent desperation and motioned for you to sit down. You obliged, and you both sat in silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company and the food he provided.

“How’s training going? I haven’t seen you in a few days.”

“I die a little bit inside every time you make me remember I spend my days training like a little robot. It’s going fine. Tiring, you know? My dad is fully back in his Marine ways. He knows it’s been enough time that the humans are bound to return sooner or later. He says they’d never leave this world, and all its untapped riches alone without a fight. So it’s a lot of military training… if we walk like them, talk like them and fight like them, it might bring us some sort of advantage, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. I know it’s a pain, but he’s only doing this to protect you guys. He’s right. The humans are bound to return one day and when they do, we have to be prepared.” He doesn’t know this, but you have also been training, learning about guns, going through your dad’s old manuals and whatever else the RDA has left behind that could possibly be of use. You use the guns that are in the hub to learn how to aim, shoot, strip field, reload and clean the weapons, so you too can be prepared when the time comes. You might be stuck in a weak human body, but you will not be weak.

“Neteyam’s driving me nuts. He used to be fun, remember that? He’s such a killjoy, it’s hard to stomach being around him anymore. He’s always giving out orders, always making sure everything is in order and perfect, like him. He’s been training like crazy, and sticking to my dad like he’s some sort of fungus you can’t get rid of. Drives me crazy.”

“Hey, don’t talk about your brother like that. There’s a line, Lo’ak. Neteyam only wants the best for you guys, and he’s the oldest. He has to carry the burden of being the responsible one while you guy cause mischief all the time.”

Neteyam, Jake and Neytiri’s oldest, is more Na’vi than all the other children combined, in both looks and personality. Whilst the two middle children, Lo’ak and Kiri have five fingers, eyebrows and a more human appearance, Neteyam is all Neytiri. He’s tall and lean and seems like he was born with a bow in hand. A true warrior, you always found him a tad intimidating. Just like his mum, he has his apprehensions about humans and avatars, and although he used to come to the hub quite often when he was younger, mostly to keep an eye on his siblings, the visits have become a rarity as of recent times.

You wonder how the young man changed in the time you haven’t seen him. You used to be close as children, or at least that’s what you thought. Whereas Spider took to Lo’ak and Kiri, their mischievous personalities a good match for each other, you took to the oldest Sully boy. He was quiet and thoughtful, and he used to look at you like a puzzle he was trying to solve, but couldn’t. He used to sit in the back as you used to play piano, and his gaze on you used to make your skin blush and your heart race. You tried not to think about the pang of hurt that rose in your chest as you remembered that he essentially abandoned you, without so much as a farewell.

“Earth to Y/N, are you still there?” Lo’ak interrupted your train of thought and you were half grateful that you didn’t have to think about Neteyam anymore.

“Sorry. You were saying?”

“I was saying you’re right, I know I should be more understanding, I am happy I don’t have to be the one to carry all of responsibility, but it’s hard not to hold a grudge when it seems my brother was abducted by aliens and replaced with a weird, no-fun replica of himself.”

You groaned at the young Sully’s ongoing verbal attacks, but said no more. Whatever was going on between the two Sully boys was, at the end of the day, none of your business.

“Anyway…” Lo’ak started, a mischievous grin appearing on his beautiful face, “I know something you don’t.”

“Mmm, what is that?”

“I’m not telling you, but let’s just say I think it will make you very happy.”

“Well that’s just cruel. You know I hate surprises.”

After lunch, Lo’ak joined you in the recreation hub, where you kept a guitar and the piano that the humans left behind. You didn’t feel like going back to work just yet. You sat down on the cold floor and picked up your copy of Pride and Prejudice, your mum’s favourite book. The book was coming apart at the seams, worn down from all the times you have held it in your hands, as if gripping it tighter would bring her back to you, even if for only a split second. You sighed as you passed the book to Lo’ak and motioned for him to put it on the table next to him.

“Sing for me, will you? I missed hearing your voice.”

You smiled up at him. Nobody knew you like Lo’ak did. Nobody accepted you the way Lo’ak did. Both of you felt out of place in this world, like you didn’t quite belong anywhere. He has spent many an hour confessing how alone he’s felt all his life. You’d like to think you helped. You picked up your guitar and played a familiar song, one you knew he loved.

“Life was a willow and it bent right to your wind , as if you were a mythical thing

Like you were a trophy or a champion ring, and there was one prize I'd cheat to win

The more that you say, the less I know

Wherever you stray, I follow

I'm begging for you to take my hand, wreck my plans

That's my man”

You sat like this for hours, laughing and playing and singing. You tried to teach him a couple of chords on the guitar, which looked puny in his massive hands. With a loud thud, the open to the recreation centre swung open, making both of your heads turn in shock.

“Lo’ak, what the fuck?”

The harsh tone came from a man, a man you barely recognised anymore. Tall and muscular, he was not the same Neteyam you last saw. He was adorning a carefully crafted neck piece that matched his hunter’s chest piece and the knife holder he kept by his hips. You took a second to adjust to the man in front of you, that you haven’t seen in so long, that will always have a special place in your heart. Your gaze eventually fell on his face, which, like the rest of him, matured so much in all that time apart. He was beautiful. His hair was freshly braided and you couldn’t help but stare at the beaded strands that framed his face. As much as his body and face changed, they didn’t hold a candle to his eyes. The big yellow orbs that always looked at you curiously and intently were now focused on Lo’ak with rage flashed across them.

“You were supposed to meet me at the Home Tree a fucking hour ago, Lo’ak. Dad asked you to join the hunting party and pull your weight for once, remember that? Are you physically unable to do anything that is ever asked of you?”

He is yet to even spare a glance in your direction. You felt your blood pressure rising at the oldest Sully, but you pushed it down to look at Lo’ak, who was staring daggers at his older brother. As he was opening his mouth to undoubtedly say something that would get him in even more trouble than he was already in, you cut him off.

“It’s my fault.” You say in Na’vi. You doubted Neteyam was in the mood for English, so as to not escalate the tensions further, you opted for your semi-decent Na’vi. “I needed his help with some samples Norm got for me that I couldn’t identify. I’m done now, though. Sorry for taking him from his duties.”

His eyes finally snapped from Lo’ak and laded on your frame. You saw his lips parting in confusion and then settle in a firm line. His eyes scanned your body from head to toe. You changed. A lot. Your hair was now close to reaching your narrow waist, which he hated himself for noticing. You were wearing what the humans called a “top”, that was cut above your abdomen and had the word “Stanford” written across it. He’s sure he’s seen it before, although he couldn’t place where. You were wearing bottoms, short and blue, with cuts in them, which Neteyam didn’t get. Why are your clothes ripped? It’s not like you fought some animal in the wild, you never got out. He couldn’t help noticing how lean you had become, so lean, in fact, he could trace your muscles with precision, something he is rarely able to do with humans. Your species was puny and weak, which is why they needed avatars and exo-suits to survive on Pandora. Realizing he was staring, his eyes moved from you back to Lo’ak, and motioned for him to get up. Although he huffed and puffed, Lo’ak obliged without saying a word. He turned around before exiting the room, giving you one last exasperated look. You winked at him and clicked your tongue in the direction of the forest, a small smile on your face. This skxawng.

“Hey, you.” You called after Neteyam in English, as soon as Lo’ak disappeared from your line of view. You don’t know what you expected, but you had to try. He turned around and his eyes met yours. It was like looking at a stranger.

“I really have to go, Y/N.” He said, with a deep voice and slight accent, and his eyes fell on the floor as soon as he noticed the look of hurt that crossed your face.

“Fine, go.” You said, quickly composing yourself. You refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing he can hurt your feelings. You turned around, and busied yourself cleaning up, not sparing a second look in his direction. His gaze shifted back to your frame, and with a sigh, he made his way out of the lab and your life, once more.

#neteyam #neteyam x human!reader #neteyam x reader #neteyam fanfic #neteyam reader #neteyam sully #avatar #avatar twow #avatar fanfic #neteyam x avatar!reader #neteyam sully fanfiction #neteyam angst #awow #awow neteyam #loak reader #avatar loak

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weeb-polls-with-pip · 4 months

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Autistic Anime Boys Prelims - Propaganda Division - Group 3

Propaganda:

Gene -

"Has a special interest in film and almost works himself to death because he doesn't think his film is as perfect as he wants it to be. He completely botches a project on purpose, an action blockbuster, because he felt like it wasn't respecting the thing he loves the most."

Kei -

"It was the scene in which Makoto and Nao discover that he was able to stuff so many wild plants into his bookbag bc there was literally nothing in it that sold it for me. I can't put it into words. I just see that and I know. I know that boy is autistic."

Arthur -

"His powers are literally fueled by his special interest in knights and chivalry."

Euini -

"I relate a lot to his social anxiety, especially his performance anxiety that occurs when he's being watched by people, particularly due to his stress at needing to follow the plan/do things the "proper" way in order to not feel like he's a failure. he also stands like a lil autistic kid and i appreciate him so much for that.

(LIGHT SPOILERS) basically, he has a test that he needs to take in order to advance as a witch, and he keeps failing it because he cant perform properly while being watched by other people, even though he knows the "right" spells to use and why he's supposed to use them. on his third attempt of the test, he's prepared a "script" to use so that he can follow it and not worry about failing in the moment (in this case, his script is a hand-written book of the proper spells to use and the order in which he's supposed to use them), but when a part of the exam changes, he's no longer able to follow his script. because he's been taught all his life that there's only one proper way of doing things, his way of thinking is very rigid and he's not able to deviate from his plan without panicking. luckily, one of his fellow examinees (richeh from the autistic anime girls poll 💕) is able to convince him to try and change the way that he does things to something that is more attuned to his personal needs- basically change the way that he casts his spells and which spells to use so that he doesn't need to struggle with doing things in the way that everyone says that he should; the way that he cant seem to manage. but, even before richeh helped him with that though, he was still finding way to modify the "proper" spells a little bit to better suit his weaknesses. he was trying so hard to fit in to the mold that witch society gave him, but it just wasnt right for him and he was making it work however he could."

Westar -

"something something Westar's entire character is an anomaly amongst the other denizens of Labyrinth in that he's a big goofball in a world where everything is dictated to the extreme by its ruler. if that's not an autism metaphor of some kind I don't know what is."

Sousuke -

"Sousuke Sagara is an ex-child soldier turned teenage special ops who has to go undercover at a high school to discreetly bodyguard another student. The only problem is that he has no IDEA how to act like a "normal" teenager. Sure, you can say that a lot of his mannerisms come from the whole "raised as a child soldier" thing which, fair, you could make a decent case for (C)PTSD. However, he's also extremely serious and has notorious flat affect and does not understand when other people are joking at all. He's incredibly literal; there's several scenes where he misinterprets what someone says, like the time he asked the art teacher what a model was supposed to do and got a rambling flowery metaphorical response about "becoming one with nature" so he ran off to hide in the woods. Another thing, his social skills are… lackluster at best. He's very blunt, and also a terrible liar for an undercover agent, when the student in question confronted him his strategy was to repeat the same phrase over and over again. One time he's challenged to see if he can pick up any girls, and after a brief misunderstanding his "improved" flirting tactic was to jump in front of them and say "Hi! Would you like to know the names of defense agency spies?" Speaking of, Sousuke has an obvious special interest in the military tech and giant robots he works with. He reads their magazines for fun and was able to rattle off the specs for a model Russian tank. The first time he actually looks happy is when he accidentally starts infodumping in front of the class while introducing himself. One time he got distracted on a mission (and need I remind you, Sousuke takes his job VERY seriously) because he found someone who was also interested in the giant robots and got into a full-on conversation with them and completely forgot what he was doing. It is IMPOSSIBLE to read this boy as allistic. And sure, he might be a little stiff, but he's also very caring in his own awkward way. One time he gave a girl flowers as an apology gift…because they were poppies and he told the girl she could get rich by selling opium on the black market. The "picking up girls" challenge mentioned earlier ended with him helping a grandmother pick out a toy for her grandson. He agreed to pretend to be someone's boyfriend for a day (it went exactly how you'd expect, but it's the thought that counts). In conclusion: stan Sousuke Sagara. and vote for him too."

Katsuhira -

"His entire thing over the course of the entire show is that he doesn't feel pain or emotions like other people. He isn't 'interested in himself' or other people (low empathy) and doesn't realize that the things that happen to/because of him do effect other people, he doesn't realize when people have a crush on him or want to be friends, and all of this is stuff he kinda comes to realize as the show progresses. He struggles to care for himself physically because of the lack of physical and emotional input he experiences, and his friends canonically often cook for him and have to remind him to eat, and is a bit picky about what he eats. He cannot read social cues to save his life and is very blunt and honest when communicating with others, and doesn't talk with much tone or emotion in his voice."

John -

"Is very loud and passionate and says everything he thinks out loud, not understanding why others may see that as weird. Has difficulty controlling his volume, so he's almost always shouting."

Yuuri -

"So he models his entire life around the first celebrity he gets a crush on. He's takes up that celebrity's hobby, he gets the same kind of dog that his crush has, and he definitely has his bedroom wallpaper with his crush's face. But then, he actually meets his crush. And his crush likes him back. Naturally he panics over this and proceeds to deny it for months until his crush straight up kisses him. Then like a day later, he just, buys a ring and proposed to his crush on the spot. He's the guy ever. He's so socially awkward, yet somehow still incredibly cocky."

Yoshimori -

"Baking special interest but does Not Get math my beloved."

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mightymizora · 3 months

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Okay, here we go then! Waterdeep magical zoning law anon again.

I had followed so many new blogs after bg3 came out and then unfollowed so many more over this hot take. I don't know if you read the article but Gale's writer said that Gale is annoying. And as some one who loves his character and deeply relates to his struggle with suicide, I 100% agree with his writer's take. Gale is annoying, he is more than a bit of a prick, especially at the beginning. He is pompous and elitist. But that is literally his character growth; to either becoming more humble and sensitive to others or lean hard into his worst nature.

When you first meet him, he asks if you are versed in magic. If you answer "I'm not, why do you ask?" He says "No matter to worry the unlettered over." A completely normal question to ask and he answers in the most condescending ways possible. He straight up calls you illiterate unprovoked.

When arriving in the Shadow Cursed Lands the first time. He begins tell you about shadow magic. A sorcerer can respond that they know shadow magic and they don't need him to explain it to them. He will laugh and express his relief and how he sometimes forgets that he is traveling amongst peers again. Very much an "I'm glad you aren't an uneducated peasant."

However, I feel like his super fans, (and fans of another paler white man in the party,) will do everything in their power to sand down any and all rough edges for a white male character. All I am hearing from them is Gale can go through character devolved but only if he was unproblematic to begin with. Which they try to make him into. Its him being a pretentious asshole at the beginning that makes his argument with Lorroakan, if you convince him not to pursue the crown, so much of a great character moment for him. Its his moment of self reflection to go "good gods, is that what I sounded like????" And that is super interesting to me about him.

Abused as he was, and yes I very much think he was, he is still someone who acts and sounds like he comes from privilege. The famed arch wizard Elminster Aumar became his mentor when he was eight. He went to one of the most prestigious schools in Faerun. He can be both in need of a sympathy and also of scorn.

I feel this leads into a wider problem with fandoms that you can only like a character that is pure and good in every way. If they are not, then you have to obfuscate or bend a character to make them too good for this world. Because heaven forbid if this character doesn't get the Good Boy Stamp™️ of approval then you too are also a horrible bad person for liking them. We can't just find interest and relatability in flawed characters. This is a courtesy only extended to white male characters by the way.

Gale has to be an annoying pretentious prick at the beginning to become the humble professor ready to teach young wizards about illusion at the end.

Also I think him using the orb to kill the Absolute at the end is beautiful and tragic. I plan to do that ending with a Durge who romances him and is unable to escape Bhaal. Making it a tragedy about how people Faerun; from Ketheric, to Dame Aylin, to the Dark Urge and Gale are unable to escape the god manipulation over mortals and the deep pain that causes.

Only slightly sorry for this book I just wrote.

Ooooh anon you’re bringing the spice into my inbox!

So as somebody who relates to Gale really really way too much… honestly I know I am annoying to people and I know I was also insufferable before I was humbled by life. And I think Gale had never felt humility before his downfall! I love his mix of wild pride and self deprecation a LOT, super relatable to me.

That Lorroakan point too! Really on it for me. I think it’s VERY easy for wizards with access to power and status to go off the deep end.

I do think that when you have a character like Gale who a lot of people are going to relate to there’s going to be a lot of big feelings about the sort of stuff inferred from that interview. But I also think you’re right that the journey he goes on is a transformative one and is thematically in line with others!

I also think the happy ending was a really late addition - I fully believe EA Gale only had the sacrifice and pursuing godhood (though I thought it might be through lichdom) endings. That like more of the others there was no easy ending, but then with the rewrite it made sense to have something a bit softer. I fully intended to do the sacrifice ending and then just. Got too emotional about the possibility of happiness for him and my tav!

Basically I like Gale’s flaws a LOT and I love the complexity in his story. And probably have even more controversial takes on his complexity as a person. I love that he’s elitist and a bit of a snob but is earnestly, desperately wanting to connect and be different. He’s very special to me. Oh Gale!

#long post #controversial hcs #but points were made!#your mileage may vary

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historia-vitae-magistras · 11 months

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The other asks got me thinking - what would people's impressions be of Alfred/Matt/Jack/Zee if their only information was how Arthur talks about them?

(Also, I feel super obnoxious asking but - did you get the ask I sent about the fic with Matt and Alfred in 1920? I just want to make sure Tumblr didn't eat it like it ate the one I sent about the Eirian's death fic.)

Not obnoxious at all!!! it means a lot you ask after them and I did! Your comments take me like 10-15 business days to process because they short circuit my silly brain with thanks and joy. This got really meandering and I apologize in advance.

In the years before Arthur knows what Alfred is going to be, and its almost only human fatherhood, everyone with ears knows how amazing Alfred is. The reckless abandonment of stoicism to a storm of delight, fascination and joy. He's probably owned that estate, his bribe from the Normans, for centuries and barely touched it until Alfred's born and suddenly the living standards he was fine with aren't good enough. That chunky giant cherub he carries around people don't need to hear anything to see how incredible Arthur finds the lad. And Alfred learns to talk and to read and to live, that doesn't change much. His boy is so bright, so tall, so headstrong, such a good boy, such a credit to his father. Even when he's locked up, being prepped for a burning, this man is thinking, talking, and celebrating about his boy. Later, in the aftermath of when Alfred shot his jaw off at Yorktown, Arthur drunkenly can list all Alfred's flaws, concoct a story about how the lad caught the cock-pox and died and then start babbling about how proud he is. That keeps up for the rest of history. Alfred probably even gets verbal recognition of pride. That respect, that recognition. Father and sun, shade and shadow, respectively. It's bizarre how well they work together now. Some onlookers might not be able to make out what Arthur feels. He says the best things with the most dismissive tone and the worst things in the most affectionate way.

Matt... probably kind of vague but mostly pleasant. The bricks don't usually report on the mortar. The farm hands when he's young raise their eyebrows at the wee frog who feeds the chickens and hides in the rafters and behind the furniture and does his best to be out of the way and forgotten. Humans mostly regarded him as a ward but the memory and scandal of Alfred before him overshadowed his early British existence. Later, especially in the 19th century, humans are very confused by him because Arthur repeatedly denies him inheritance rights, he never got Arthur's name. He might be the oddest of Arthur's children to on-lookers. In more modern times, Arthur is much more likely to mention him. Sweet boy. Thoughtful lad. A right conch, that one is.

Jack is all over the place, much like Alfred. Arthur is as equally as worried as he is frustrated with him a lot when he's little, and some when he's older. When he was a baby, everyone heard what a smiley little thing he was. Jack would tumble down little hills shrieking with laughter, tell the neighbor she smelled funny, and end up in trees like a spooked cat. The neighbours have been paid so much money because Jack was always liberating livestock or riding whatever horse he fancied. When he's older, everyone can see him and Zee racing their horses like absolute madmen all over the property. Odd little thing who will complain through church so much Arthur can't make him go, often on the shoulders of that older pointy one. In the late 18th century, bastardy was hardly a crime and Arthur didn't really have to really outline Jack's existence to humans so they just assumed he was the natural son from a long naval career. A bright, wild little thing, who grows into the broad and jolly lad always making losing bets at the horse races who is the only one of Arthur's children who can regularly drink the be-pickled old fart under the table. In the modern day, Jack is known as the loudest, laughing, happy lad with a very large collection of animals and a lot of biology credentials.

Zee is probably his most mentioned child. His blue stocking baby girl who, unbeknownst to the old fart, has killed him a handful of times because that cranky, sweet, clever, obedient veneer belies a will just as strong as his and a defiant streak that might be wider than Alfred's, just sneakier. Unlike his boys, who had the benefit of cocks, he's much more vocal about Zee and her talents and virtues. It's when she's born that he starts making up stories that make her and Jack his legitimate offspring and he's always talking about her, how bright she is, how clever because on some level he is aware she is at a significant disadvantage due to being a girl and easier to other. British titles break my fucking brain but he might have upgraded his own title at some point just to give her the option of a title or courtesy title which she only ever rarely used before WW2 if it at all. Jack gives her shit constantly for being the right honourable kiwibird. When she's little its all about how sweet, pretty bright, clever and grumpy she is. What a credit to her father! He'll never let her marry! And now is much more about her accomplishments, the things they enjoy, his pride in what she's allowed to be now through a lens of utter affectionate sentimentality.

#the ask box || probis pateo #arthur and the children || bilge rat and his bouncing baby bilge rats #Arthur and the children || bilge rat and his bouncing baby bilge rats #zee || ahakoa he iti he pounamu #alfred || o beautiful for spacious skies #jack || a land of summer skies #matthew || my country is winter

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fluffypotatey · 6 months

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heyyy isnt it wild how when characters say that mk "literally never listens" that is Also a case of unreliable narration. mk listens a lot actually!! he listens to macaque's "you don't use a weapon, you ARE the weapon" monologue in 1x09. he listens to mac again in shadow play (since he was able to quote back the "then be a warrior!" bit). actually now that i think of it there are a lot lot lot of times when mk deliberately echoes someone else's dialogue and clearly he had to have been listening to them and internalizing it bc otherwise he wouldnt be able to repeat it (things like "chose the wrong successor," "to pain," and "harbinger of chaos" come to mind). the thing is tho that mk usually tends to listen to + internalize things that hurt him or otherwise confirm his own fears. so its actually worse in the long run for him!! :D

imagine you are MK. most of your life before this whole story began was you working under Pigsy, your boss/dad, and hanging out with Mei, your best friend in the world.

constantly, you will have Pigsy screaming up a storm about employee etiquette and how MK should clock in on time and “if you ever come to work late again, i’ll fire you!” or you have Tang telling you beautiful stories in exchange for free food because every tale he spins is magical and adventurous. or you have Mei who is a little bit like the little devil on your shoulder egging you on to another game or arcade or movie or outing because both of you never truly had a friend until you met each other and never know when to end your time hanging out.

and we see this in the second episode of season 1, where MK feels pulled in every direction with his job, spending time with Mei, helping out Sandy, and training with the Monkey King. EVEN BY S1 HE IS AT THE END OF HIS ROPE!!! And did anybody truly notice????? DID THEY????

and yeah, Pigsy, Mei, and Minky King are the big contenders for telling MK he isn’t listening, and honestly MK does have a problem with understanding the intent and meaning behind what his friends are saying as he’ll only take in the superficial. however, when it comes to the most stressful and dire times, MK is all ears.

he absolutely understood LBD’s words when she put him and his self worth down, he understood Macky’s ire and vitriol (and was able to piece together that most of Macky’s words are a shield), he understood SWK’s aversion for allowing MK and the gang’s help with finding the rings because of their mortality

here is my assumption of what MK is learning from the people around him (bc my personal headcanon is that MK learns and understands how to behave and react from the people in his circle):

he’s learning that his friends’ needs are more important than his own

he has learned that a lot of his worries are meaningless because they typically get brushed off

in addition to that, he learned that if he has any issues, it would be better to keep them to himself because it truly is no big deal and will find some resolution eventually

he learns that nobody is fully certain he can do things on his own

he learns that many people (the villains) believe he’s someone they can mold into their own

MK is internalizing a lot of shit. and we see a snippet of that behavior I think in s3 where he bemoans about not being good enough for SWK and Pigsy’s is like “woah, wait a minute….did that asshole really say that to you???”

and the thing is, Wukong didn’t say that nor would he ever intend to say something that would make MK think little about himself; however, Wukong has his own issue of never elaborating on shit, so while he may have said “listen, bud, this journey is super dangerous and life threatening, and you’re still mortal so it would be best if you stayed here” what MK heard was “since you’re still a weak mortal, this mission isn’t cut out for you”

and yeah it just eloquently shows how MK internalizes the worst of people’s words (hey, like mentor like student, am I right? 👀) which is why it is so easy for the antagonists to creep into his head (LBD, Mac, Azure, Ink!MK, possibly PIF???)

but yeah, what you said, bestie

#my voice is gone T^T #caput #anyway #love when characters internalize their issues and words others have said about them #MK needs to talk it out #will he? idk #lmk #lmk mk #lmk qi xiaotian #asks

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ms-all-sunday · 3 months

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wano is so wild, because (spoilers for wano if you havent seen it yet)

wano is like the breaking point i think of everybodys tolerance with how much sanjis jokes had been flanderized at that point that the bathing scene is like the most singularly awful thing you could do to sanji fans after whole cake island, which has the strongest writing for him all of post timeskip. wci felt like an acknowledgement of everything wrong with sanji as a character, in general, for the entirety of one piece. and in theory, if oda had gone the route of other characters who similarly have internalized conflict like usopp or robin, then it would've been fixed for the entirety of one piece forever and sanji wouldve tried to adjust. this however didn't happen, for whatever reason.

Toei did the adaptational change of having sanji say "sexual harassment is never allowed" during a scene in the manga that was a pervert joke I think? although i have only read the manga for that bit and haven't seen a side by side comparison. and i think in general that people don't know that that was an adaptational change by toei, because in general toeis adaptational changes (besides the big ones) go pretty unnoticed. and in egghead none of his jokes have been bad to my memory, so uh. maybe toei bribed oda because they had enough or something. go toei!

i think what oda misunderstands post ts is that despite wanting his post timeskip time to be plot focused and not as character focused as before is that when you reduce characters down to jokes whether invalid or valid to the core of their character, it means that the time you do dedicate to that characterization needs to be more efficient and impactful. it wasn't inherently a choice that meant "less characterization = the characterization degrades". which is a commonality in how he treats all of the strawhats post ts, not just sanji.

for example zoro is another character ive seen the complaint of getting flanderized and while i wouldn't use that term for him the way i would for sanji because i do think the serious nature of his characterization post TS is the way he'd react to the given situation I also think that its a choice to make to have him not react any other way to other things. there is a part of his character that is missing, you're right.

but theres also another factor which i think oda doesnt misunderstand but hes kind of trapped himself between a rock and a hard place in regards to and that is so the group dynamic in OP is the most important thing characterization wise and oda has given himself so many characters that the group dynamic has become unmanageable on his own.

like theres fundamentally a reason wci while sporting the best sanji characterization also sported the best nami characterization and arguably the best luffy characterization, and also you get my point. wci was i think odas full on attempt to do what he did pre ts while also remaining in the "more actiony" genre of shonen he's found himself in recently and it's just. wci is a mess. but it does easily have the best characterization for every strawhat in it post ts but it also would've definitely been way stronger if it had every east blue member at least.

but it's also like- ugh. shonen is such a weird genre. i think pre ts was able to straddle the line in regards to one pieces insane relationship to the genre at large but post TS is fairing way less amicably because of the type of shonen it aims to be (fundamentally different than pre TS' shonen) and I don't know entirely why post TS has the issues it does, i enjoy post TS, but i admit that unless something drastically changes in how odas attitude towards characterization goes, post TS will forever be in pre TS' shadow in regards to characterization and also storytelling more broadly. oda continues to be a character focused storyteller, no matter how much he wants that not to be the case. post TS does have better action for the most part the action part of shonen has now blended in completely, but people don't watch one piece for action. i think the reason people like the post TS side characters as much as people do, is that oda allows himself to be fully character focused when dealing with them, despite that being at the sacrifice the mcs characterization.

#modposts #op #one piece #meta #wano kuni #wano country #whole cake island #post timeskip #pre timeskip #black leg sanji

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luvmagician · 1 year

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Ok, I'll be the one, Fubuki!!

you didnt say which number so i answered all 30 of them

1. My first impression of them

me and GX really had an enemies to lovers arc i could barely sit through the first episode after finishing DM the guitar stings were too much. i did not care much for any of the characters. it grew on me though we are besties now obvs

2. When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like)

i think i realized how much i liked S1 nightshroud first bc i love campy and ostentatious femme villains and then my love spread to regular fubuki around the time i got to s4 and then he graduated to a proper Blorbo and well the rest is history…

3. A song that reminds me of them

go fish by cub (ask me no more questions / ill tell you no more lies / about my sweet little trip to the other side) also obligatory fubuki playlist link

4. How many people I ship them with

off the top of my head 4 (ryo yusuke reggie manga!jim) but my interpretations tend to stretch the definition of “ship”

5. My favorite ship of them

idols hehe ^_^ lh4wds couple (lighthouse 4 wine dark sea)

6. My least favorite ship of them

theres not any i particularly dislike to be honest. hes a charismatic guy.

7. A quote of them that you remember

WHEN STAGE LIGHT HITS YOU THAT WHICH IS BEHIND YOU IS SACRIFICED TO SHADOW ! 🌟

8. Your favorite outfit of them

first i have to come out as an turn 60 austin powers cosplay enjoyer so sue me the purple looks nice on him secondly HIS LADY OSCAR OUTFIT!!! I WISH I COULD PICK THE BRAIN OF THE ANIMATOR WHO PUT HIM IN HER OUTFIT SOOO BAD ITS EVERYTHING TO ME

9. Your least favorite outfit of them

nightshroud outift but only when its lit by cool lighting and looks gray thats when its ugly when its lit warm and looks brown its flattering!! see theres a stark difference here!!

10. Describe the character in one sentence

11. What's the first thing you think about when thinking about the character?

“BUKI!!! :)” <- too happy to formulate coherent thoughts

12. Sexuality hc!

little bisexual weirdo

13. Your favorite friendship they have

manjoume and him are so sweet and funny thats his little guy. thats the chihuahua to his valley girl

14. Best storyline they had

season 4 makes me screammm its about absence as a presence its about how running from something only gives it more power over you its about confronting the horrors and chosing to live with them instead of dying to escape them…

15. Worst storyline they had

the jokes around his treatment of asuka in the show proper arent Great but i have a thick enough skin to slough through it… that being said the flanderization he endures in the spinoff games especially cross duel SUUCCKKK the “trying to marry off my bitch sister” jokes werent funny in 2004 they arent funny now STOP TRYING TO BRING THEM BACK. even more of a bummer bc i think his love for love and romance are such endearing parts of his character seeing them flattened down into bad jokes makes me -___-

16. childhood headcanon

regularly held concerts for an audience of his stufffed animals drew flyers to hand out and everything it was a whole production.

17. What do you think their first word was?

he needs attention. something attention grabbing like “HI” or “HEY!” or “ME!” something like that

18. How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc)

he was just as outgoing and chipper but also.. yk he was an emotional feminine kid with long hair who didnt like conflict and kids are mean.. but i think asuka looked out for him a lot and beat up his bullies

19. The most random ship you've seen people have with them

fubuki/shoji (manjoumes older brother) is so funny. i love it btw i think its such a serve and there are interesting ways you can spin it like yess fubuki chase the childhood you barely got to live by hooking up with a man who looks eerily like your highschool protege and maybe gold dig while your at it

20. A weird headcanon

i think him and asuka grew up in the middle of bumfuck nowhere (nowhere near the ocean he just picked up surfing really fast his freshman year) and them and the marufujis have a lil country mouse city mouse thing going on. and i draw him with rubber bands on his fingers to help with his memory issues :)

21. When do you think they were at their happiest?

freshman year of duel academy he was on top of da world baby

22. When do you think they were at their lowest?

the almost two years he spent in the nihilism nightmare depression hell dimension or the day he found out Prince died

23. Future headcanon

he does acting and entertainment dueling and shows up on variety shows and keeps teasing his album but refuses to release it until he he can get asuka to feature on a song. if he did ever release music all his music videos concepts would have a rich interlocking story ala the loonaverse

24. What do you think is a secret they have that they never told anyone?

he dodges questions about the darkness BIG TIME and even lies about like the time he lies to judais face about how oh im fine :) the darkness isnt in me anymore :) he really doesnt want to worry people i think he goes to his grave with just how much his time there sucked and how he suffered afterward. i dont think he would ever tell ryo or asuka how bad it really was

25. When do you think they acted the most ooc

this is hard hes on screen like 4 times

26. When do you think they were being "themselves" the most?

fubuki is always himself even at the absolute height of his performance and apparent detachment from reality because the act of performance is so baked into his character he would not be truly “himself” without it. he is both the mask and the wearer.

27. If they could meet a character from another show/movie/etc, who would be the most fun for them to meet?

HE SHOULD MEET JOEYYY i think joey wheeler is his personal hero… also him and ryan akagi from infinity train book 4 could absolutely kick it. two dudes who want to become rock stars and were trapped in hell/purgatory for a while

28. The most unnecessary thing they ever did?

the pensive ukulele strumming to punctuate his revenge monologue to kagemaru

29. How do you think they would be as a parent? (and if they are a parent, how do you think they would be if they weren't?)

I THINK HED BE A GREAT PARENT !!! a bit overbearing and doting but only bc he loves so so much.. hed be so good with young kids until they grow into teens and realize hes cringe

30. The funniest scene they had?

gotta be dropping down from the ceiling to call gay people “taboo and thrilling” and his sister homophobic

if you made it this far.. thank you for indulging my craziness 💖

#fubuki tenjoin #atticus rhodes #ask meme

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a7xbrazilianfans · 5 months

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Avenged Sevenfold members were interviewed to end-of-year issue of Rock Classic Magazine. Check out the full interview below:

Stranger things: Avenged take metal on a trip. Earlier this year, powered by existentialism and hallucinogens, Avenged Sevenfold crafted the weirdest album by a major heavy metal band in decades. Frontman M Shadows and his wife, Valary, were having a night out at a local bar when the psychedelic mushrooms began to take hold. A new Avenged Sevenfold album was already in the works, but the singer wasn’t seeking chemically enhanced inspiration at that moment – until the feelings of love and happiness got intense.

“Then we got home,” Shadows recalls, “and we just had this connection, being so sure that we had travelled through space and time to be together in every life that we meet up in – the ultimate love story.”

From that experience, Shadows wrote the lyrics to Cosmic, a sweeping ballad with influences ranging from Elton John to Daft Punk and 808s-era Kanye West, and nothing to remind you of metal. It’s also the longest track on 2023’s mind-expanding Avenged Sevenfold album Life Is But A Dream…, with a romantic vocal that promises: ‘As we chase through the stars beyond forever, I’ll follow you.’

The music is fuelled by wild experimentation, balancing heavy riffs with textures and ideas taken from other genres and dimensions. It is the band’s magnum opus, an album of miniepics and pocket symphonies, absorbing sweeping moments of pop, prog, jazz, gypsy folk, hip-hop, Daft Punk-style robotics, classical melody, the Phil Spector ‘Wall Of Sound’, and even some crooning from the Frank Sinatra school. Shadows is excited to watch the fallout.

“I want to make an impact. I want to make bold art,” he says of the album. “I think after people get used to it, it won’t be so crazy. And then it’ll be like: ‘Well, what’s next?’ That’s the journey we’re all on.”

That makes Life Is But A Dream… both a confrontation and an invitation, as the band seek to change the definition of what an Avenged Sevenfold track is supposed to sound like. This time last year, Shadows posted his top five most-played artists on Apple Music, which might have been a clue to his state of mind: The Commodores, Weezer, Kanye West, Queens Of The Stone Age and Billy Joel. And yet just the other day he had Slayer’s Divine Intervention on repeat in the car, happily feeding off its raw power.

“I consider us a metal band,” he says. “We’re definitely influenced by Slayer and Pantera and Metallica and some quirkier things. We’re just trying to put our own twist on it.”

The first public glimpse of the new album was its debut single, the nearly-six-minute Nobody, which mixes ominous guitars with a trap beat and a full orchestra, male harmonies more R&B than metal, and, shortly before an epic guitar solo, a mysterious declaration from Shadows: ‘I’m a god, I’m awake, I’m the one in everything/I’m alive, I’m the dead. I’m a man without a head.’ Initial reactions were mixed – surprised, angry, confused, ecstatic. Some Avenged fans embraced the sound immediately; others didn’t get it at all.

“They’re like: ‘That is fucking shit! These guys forgot how to write a song! Why would you put a solo at the end?’” says Shadows. “We were just laughing. That was more fun to us than someone saying: ‘This is great.’ We always gear towards a little bit of ruffling feathers.”

That song only hints at what the rest of Life Is But A Dream… offers. Working with Joe Barresi, who also produced Avenged’s previous album The Stage, guitarist Synyster Gates calls it “a full U-turn. It’s just like a blast off into outer space”.

Work on Life Is But A Dream… began after Avenged Sevenfold cancelled the final leg of their 2018 tour, due to a viral infection that affected Shadows’s vocal cords. The band returned home to Huntington Beach and started writing new songs. Shadows and Synyster would sit together for hours, hashing out their ideas, usually at the latter’s house. The album took nearly five years to complete.

“It feels like an entire lifetime,” says Gates, whose daughter Monroe was born in the interim. “We needed a break after two decades of doing stuff, but we needed to go to work because there was a creative itch.”

On the new tracks there are riffs as tough and heavy as anything from the band’s past, but the context is completely different. A frantic beat kicks off the crazed We Love You, shifting into the grinding guitar that accompanies Shadows as he chants a wish list of society’s insatiable appetites: ‘More power! More pace! More money! More taste! More sex! More pills! More skin!’ There are moments of stuttering electronics and Beatles melody, closing with guitarist Zacky Vengeance sounding like George Harrison on a 1920s acoustic and a bit of bottleneck to create a warm sound of gypsy jazz, as the band’s chorus of tattooed dudes hums along.

“Me and Gates get [a lot of] joy out of playing crazy jazz chords that we’ve never, ever incorporated in Avenged Sevenfold,” says Vengeance.

Getting the band there was a long, strange trip that included psychedelic experiences for two of them in the form of mindaltering venom – aka 5-MeO-DMT – from the rare Sonoran Desert toad.

“When we went deep into the 5-MeO-DMT stuff, it was before covid,” Shadows explains. “But you don’t just go into that, right?"

The Stage was already starting to deal with these existential things – like: ‘Gimme all the information of what we know about why we’re here.’”

The Stage, released in 2016, was a concept album about artificial intelligence that closed with a 15-minute meditation on the Big Bang, narrated by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

“I want to form my world view based on facts and science, which a lot of times is very nihilistic, then reading philosophy or really great novels about this sort of thing,” says Shadows.

“And then that record dove into the sort of AI element, which we’re dealing with now. And it dove into the Big Bang. This record [Life Is But A Dream…] dove into: ‘Now what do we do with all that information as a human that has emotions, that evolved to this spot where we have our upper brain [wired for reasoning] and lower brain [wired for primitive responses] and they’re battling each other?’”

For the 5-MeO-DMT experimentation, which he hoped would pause that battle, Shadows flew in a shaman, whose skills had previously been employed by engineers at SpaceX and Google. He went through three days of sessions, including one with Gates and another with Valary.

“I don’t promote this,” he’s careful to say. “I don’t want to say that everyone needs that.”

For Shadows, the trips were eye-opening and difficult, resulting in a “pure existential crisis for a year” and loss of ego at one point, but eventually also a feeling of deep connection to the world.

“You come to terms with how important everyone thinks everything is, and how they work themselves up,” he says. “And none of it means anything. You work your fingers to the bones and everyone tells you you’re great your whole life. Then all of a sudden you look back on your life and you go: ‘What the fuck was that?’ Ha ha ha!”

#avenged sevenfold #a7x #m shadows #synyster gates #zacky vengeance #johnny christ #brooks wackerman #life is but a dream

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arsene-fixates · 6 days

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Misc. SN character rambling (Gordon Byron)

I very few screenshots for whatever I’m going to ramble about on another character in seekers notes so you’re going to have to take my word for it. This is not an analysis btw i just want to talk about this guy for a bit

There’s this character, Gordon Byron, or Hyperion <- name he picked for himself I will elaborate later.

His family (made up of him, his mother, and his cousin) is a descendant of one of the founders of Darkwood (the city) and though I didn’t read too much into him, I thought his character development was quite interesting

going to be a bit long since i'm running through him as a character, spoilers under the cut

Backstory was that he had run away from home with his beloved that went missing when the curse fell upon the city but returned after realizing that he had responsibilities being the family's heir and such.

He's very quiet as a character, kept to books and nature and is a pretty big romantic but when he came back, and through the story he started getting invested in his family's history, aka. one of the founders named nostromo and his powers etc etc and also taking more initiative to help the city via. paying funds for damages and suggesting new things to keep the townspeople safe

okay to be honest theres some collecting crystal infinity stone level thing going on in the story and there's this section in the plot where gordon and i had to dive underwater to look for a stone tablet depicting one of the missing steps to getting one of the crystals

and some explosion happens and i get shot out of the water, leaving him underwater and the other characters and i are all panicking because the water breathing potion we took had some timing to it and he was about to die or something

but he emerges soon enough, with the gauntlet belonging to the founder equipped in his hand, and you can tell that this power was getting to his head

at this point, i was filling philiah in on the lore and i told her 'i think it would be really profound if he let the power get to him and influence him negatively' and lo and behold.

anyways carrying on, he started really embracing the name hyperion (a pseudonym he made up himself because if i can remember right, all the other founders also had one themselves) and having his own group of specialised guards.

then some attack happened on the city again where ghostly creatures appeared (summoned by the antagonist), and after gordon fought them off, he decided to set a curfew & interrogate all the townspeople because they could be people from a crime organisation (called the shadows) in disguise

cough cough side note, informant was telling me about how his guard kept going trying to capture him and he was frustrated that not only did he have to run from the crime organisation but he also had to run from the guard too lol.

and holy shit theres this section that especially got me where he was asking me for an update on the crystals and i told him it was going alright, letting on a little more detail than i liked and he then asks me to find more of this truth potion for him and then he says this

he slipped a truth potion !!! !! !! !!!! unknowingly!!!!!! to me!! HOLAY MOLAY!!!. and when i went to talk to charlotte, she tells me about how some of the people who took the potion were down with pretty bad illnesses and fevers. THAT IS SO WILD.

he had to be suspended of his role and his guard operations after he nearly endangered the lives of the members of the crime organisation

THERES A LOT OF STUFF THAT HAPPENS INBETWEEN BUT ITS PRETTY BIZZARE BECAUSE HIS ANGER GETS THE BETTER OF HIM (and they really did show that he gets angry easily)

holay molay this guy.

i like what they're doing here, it's really interesting ^_^ LOVE THAT THEY DID ACTUAL BUILD UP INSTEAD OF WHATEVER THEY DID WITH INFORMANT!!!!! love to see what happens to him later because currently the city is going through YET another world ending disaster and i (the seeker) have to save them.

#THEY CAN HAVE GOOD WRITING BITS!! LOVE IN THE WORLD #just wanted to talk about this guy caus he wus interesting #seekers notes #Gordon Byron (SN)#Character Rambling (SN)#<- i'll make that the tag sure.

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pandoraheadcanons · 2 years

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White Savior’s use in AVATAR

(now’s as good a time as any to post my short essay on a negative trop AVATAR uses)

In regards to AVATAR and its use of the “white savior” trope.

The argument that stands is that defining AVATAR makes use of the “white savior” trope is incorrect, as it does not prove totally true in the end of the film. However, the fact that Neytiri is the one to kill Quaritch, and that the fauna of Pandora revolt does not negate the use of “white savior.”

So first in my argument is Jake’s being Toruk Makto. The way that Jake just…jumps onto the back of the apex predator is a little ridiculous. Like if it were that easy I feel like there would be more Toruk Makto’s, but I digress. Jake becomes Toruk Makto (“tames wildest wild horse” as I’ve heard a critic call it) and goes to the Tree of Souls to make amends. But…he doesn’t really? Everyone just automatically decides to forgive him because he’s successfully made Tsaheylu with Toruk. Nevermind that he lied to everyone about his purpose and knew Hometree was going to get destroyed. He broke the entire clan’s trust and their ancestral home was just annihilated, but it’s okay! He can ride the Big One, so he’s all good now. No objections from anyone, they all just roll with it. This feels very harmful, as it’s implying that the indigenous are willing to forgive Jake (who let’s not forget is a white man) because he did something impressive.

Now, let’s go from here. Jake being Toruk Makto, while an understandable plot device, is still use of the white savior trope by default. In the Project 880 script, both Jake and Tsu’tey were supposed to be Toruk Makto. I also think seeing Neytiri as Toruk Makto would have been much more interesting (an opinion I’ve seen many people echo, though I understand that’s not an applicable source).

Now, it’s up to Jake to unite the clans. Again, an understandable role for the film’s protagonist. Still, the very fact that Jake is a white man who is uniting these indigenous clans, is itself a use of white savior.

Now here is where the argument that Jake and AVATAR as a film do not use white savior. It is Neytiri who kills Quaritch, and the Pandoran animals that save the day. While I won’t deny that it’s great to see Neytiri kill the big bad (good subversion of male-led tropes here), that doesn’t out-rule the film’s use of white savior. In fact, it just seems like a way to say “See, even though our protagonist is white guy, he’s not the super hero here, so he can’t be a white savior!” Unfortunately, this is the take I see the most, and I do believe it to be incorrect. This part of the film does not negate the fact that Jake is Toruk Makto, and that he takes the Olo’eyktan role at the film’s end.

In the standard length film, we never see Jake become Olo’eyktan. All we see is Tsu’tey fall from the carrier and then Jake wearing his neck-piece at the end (which always strikes me as a little ghoulish). When we do see Tsu’tey die, it’s still not well done in my opinion. See, Tsu’tey spends the majority of the film hating Jake’s guts. Then Jake is Toruk Makto and Tsu’tey’s suddenly cool with him. (For brevity’s sake I won’t go into this scene in Tsu’tey’s comic, though goodness knows I could). Tsu’tey literally does a character 180 from hating Jake to calling him his brother. The respect that Tsu’tey shows Jake while Tsu’tey is dying feels a bit like “white man earns respect of native man” and it just feels gross to me. Another really big gripe I have with this is that Tsu’tey tells Jake to be Olo’eyktan. Jake, who was only a corporal in the marine corp., and who has only been with the Omaticaya for 3 months. You cannot tell me Tsu’tey, whose number one concern was his people, would totally tell this person to lead his people.

Now, “Next Shadow” does, in fact, deal with some of these criticisms and the fact that Jake is wildly unprepared to be leader. When Jake’s in his dream-death state, both Tsu’tey and Eytukan show up to help him. So the native spirits have to show up and help the white guy learn how to lead their people. Not great.

I have indigenous people say that they’ve seen both the fans of Avatar be anti-native in a pretend progressive way, and that people who hated the movie also tend to be very anti-native.

I think it’s important that we as a fandom do listen to what indigenous people have to say about AVATAR, and that we don’t just brush off the use of ‘white savior/noble savage’ by saying that they just haven’t really thought about the film. It’s quite dismissive and makes us seem like a fandom who isn’t willing to take criticism on something we enjoy

#avatar 2009 #jake sully #i removed a part where i quoted a specific blog on here in case they didn't want to be mentioned bc i posted this in kelutral first #avatar 2

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silverynight · 2 years

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A full moon

<---Previous

Chapter 2

After visiting his friend Uraraka, Izuku goes back to the dorms with a weird sensation; it's like someone has been following him. He had to look around before knocking on Uraraka's door and did the same when he found himself back in the hallway at night.

Perhaps it's just his imagination; it's been a difficult and weird week. It's Friday night now and even though he doesn't have to go to any class tomorrow he feels like he's exhausted.

He's going to be alone for the weekend, Shoto is visiting his sister and he'll be staying with her a couple of days; he knows it's important to him because she's the one (along with his older brother) who has been really supportive of him all this time.

It's really late, Izuku can only see the path back to the building because there are lights outside; he's dragging his feet, too tired to move quickly. Trying not to think about all the homework he'll have to do tomorrow, he thinks of what Uraraka said about his situation.

She's really protective of him and basically told him to be careful (because she didn't like when Izuku told her Bakugo was a bully in middle school) but at the same time said he should give him a chance.

"It's almost like he's..." She didn't finish the sentence though, she just chuckled instead. "Just one opportunity... I mean if he's Kirishima's friend he must be good or at least have good intentions. I don't think Kirishima would be friends with someone who actually hurts other people."

She's right. It's just that Izuku doesn't exactly know what Bakugo wants... But he should give him an opportunity.

There's also the possibility that Bakugo is not interested enough to even try to see him again...

Suddenly, Izuku hears a noise; he turns around and gets startled when he gets a glimpse of the biggest dog he's ever seen in his life. From where he's standing, it looks like a huge shadow, its eyes are red, and almost glow in the night.

It's probably not wise to get close to a dog he doesn't own, especially considering that they're not allowed inside the campus which means someone is keeping it hidden (which is unlikely, considering the size of the dog) or it got inside on its own.

"Hi!" Izuku grins, moving closer. It's weird that the dog hasn't moved or looked away from him the whole time; at first it almost seemed like it was watching Izuku's every move. "How did you get in here?"

Oh. It's not a dog... It's a wolf or at least it looks like one now that Izuku is close enough to actually look at it under the lamp light. No, it can't be. What's a wolf doing there? Besides, it's an unique one because Izuku has never seen a wolf with blond fur in his life.

Izuku stops for a moment; if it's a wolf it means it's a wild animal that could attack him if it feels threatened.

Suddenly, the creature moves; it trots towards him before Izuku can even think what to do, but then he realizes it's wagging its tail.

Maybe he's a half wolf, he seems to be used to being around people.

"Are you lost?" Izuku chuckles when the wolf nuzzles against his left side, demanding attention. "Such a handsome boy!"

The tail goes crazy when Izuku finally kneels and starts stroking the wolf's head and scratching behind its ears.

The fur is incredibly soft and is clean, which means the wolf must have an owner.

"Let's go to my room!" Izuku says, rising from the ground. "Come quickly, before someone sees you. I promise I'll take you back home tomorrow."

The wolf must be trained, because he moves carefully and doesn't make any sounds, he stops when Izuku asks him to and they both manage to get inside Izuku's room.

He? Since when he thinks about the wolf as he? Well, it doesn't matter, it feels better than think of him as it and Izuku is sure the wolf is a boy.

Izuku still can't believe no one saw them; it's late sure, but it's Friday and he's sure most of the students are still awake.

"My roommate won't be here this weekend so I think we'll be fine for now," Izuku explains to the wolf; he probably doesn't understand, but Izuku likes to talk to him.

Izuku doesn't have any dog food so he gives the wolf half of his burger and puts some comfortable clothes on after eating his half. He finds hilarious that the wolf turns his back on him when he's taking his clothes off and wonders if he was trained to do that too.

"You can look now," Izuku chuckles. "I'm decent."

He doesn't expect the wolf to understand, although to his surprise the wolf does turn around when Izuku asks.

Probably a coincidence.

He jumps on his bed, too exhausted to do anything else. His eyes are almost completely closed when he feels the mattress shift under the creature's weight; he can't believe he didn't notice him getting on the bed.

"No, wait, you have to sleep on the floor!" The wolf looks so offended at that it's almost like he understands every word. Izuku can't help but laugh. The wolf is really warm next to him and so soft Izuku gives in almost immediately. "Alright, just this time. But if I'm going to let you sleep on my bed I feel like I have to give you a name, at least a temporary one. What about bubblegum?"

The wolf huffs, looking outraged; he curls up next to Izuku and even though he's huge, they both manage to fit on the bed.

"Fine. I don't like that one either, I just wanted to see your reaction... Cotton candy? Okay, I get it, I get it! Nothing soft because you're a big bad wolf!"

It seems the wolf doesn't like any name because Izuku tries a couple and the creature hits him on the leg with his tail every time, looking unhappy and grumpy.

"What about Kacchan?" Izuku whispers, fighting the need to close his eyes. The wolf doesn't hit him, but doesn't look convinced either. "Come on! That's a cute name! I know you like to look scary and tough, but I think you're actually kind and sweet inside."

Before the wolf huffs, Izuku starts caressing the fur behind his ears and the creature almost purrs in response. His tail starts wagging happily.

"Kacchan it is then," Izuku giggles, before moving away from the creature a little bit to give him space. "Goodnight, Kacchan."

Although it seems he doesn't like the space because the wolf gets closer again and nuzzles against Izuku's neck before closing his eyes.

***

A wet tongue on his face wakes him up. Izuku groans before actually opening his eyes and remembers everything that happened last night.

"Kacchan!" Izuku scolds him, although he only pretends to be irritated; the wolf wags his tail in response like he knows. "It's too early!"

A heavy, almost possessive paw lays on his chest and stops him from moving away. The wolf looks at him before burying his cold nose in the curve on Izuku's neck. It makes him giggle.

"Come on, we have to get off the bed eventually," Izuku pats the creature on the head lightly, reminding himself that he has to take him back to his owner or at least somewhere safe.

Izuku pushes him softly, but the wolf huffs and moves even closer.

"Come on, Kacchan!" Finally, he manages to sit on the bed with his legs crossed, but the wolf shifts his position only to place his head on Izuku's lap. "You're really clingy, you know? You must miss your owner."

The creature is huge and stubborn, which means Izuku might actually need some help to get him out. But he doesn't know who could help him without saying a word about it... Shoto is not there so he's out of the question.

Perhaps...

Before he can regret it he sends a quick text to Kirishima and hopes for the best.

In order to avoid getting anxious, Izuku finally gets completely off the bed, ignoring the wolf's outraged growl, puts some clean clothes on and makes the bed.

He's sitting on the floor, trying to do homework, with half of the wolf's body on his lap when he hears a knock on his door.

"Kacchan, no!" The wolf is immediately on all fours, grumpily growling at the door, although he looks more irritated than angry.

Fortunately, it's just Kirishima at the other side.

"Listen, I know I didn't explain anything to you in my text but I need your help with something..."

"Sure, Midobro! That's what friends are for!" He grins before actually walking inside. "By the way I heard something weird and–Bakugo?"

The wolf huffs, sitting stubbornly next to Izuku and glaring at the redhead like he wants him to go.

"Bakugo?" Izuku repeats, confused. "You mean Kacchan is Bakugo's wolf?"

Kirishima looks suddenly nervous and surprised by the wolf's presence in Izuku's room.

"That's exactly what I meant of course! He's Bakugo's wolf!" Then he blinks a couple of times before adding: "Wait a minute... Kacchan?"

Izuku blushes before looking back at the grumpy wolf next to him.

"It's the name I use for him... It was temporary, I was planning on finding the owner..."

"Kacchan!" Kirishima laughs, prompting the wolf to growl at him, although the redhead doesn't look worried at all. "Kacchan! It's such a cute name!"

"Please don't tell Bakugo I found his wolf!" Izuku says, flustered. "He must be really worried! He'd probably get mad at me if–"

"Oh, trust me," Kirishima cuts him off, smiling amusedly at the way the creature starts nuzzling against Izuku's leg to calm him down. "He wouldn't mind."

Feeling a little bit better, Izuku kneels in front of the wolf and hugs him tight before scratching behind his ears; his tail starts wagging.

"I'm going to miss you."

The wolf starts nuzzling against his chest, cheek and neck almost with determination until Kirishima smacks him on the head; the wolf huffs with irritation at him.

"Ba–Kacchan!" Kirishima scolds. "You know you shouldn't be doing that; it's not fair!"

"What?" Izuku asks, confused. He rises again much to the wolf's irritation. "He's only being affectionate..."

"He's scenting you."

"I don't understand..."

Kirishima sighs.

"It's okay, Midoriya. You did nothing wrong I... Listen, I think it's time to get him back home."

"Sure. Do you need help?"

"No, I can manage from here, trust me," Kirishima assures him. However, he does roll his eyes when the wolf sits behind Izuku's legs. "No, none of that! You know this is not how... things are done."

"It's okay, Kacchan! If... Bakugo lets me maybe I'll pay you a visit some day, okay?"

Reluctantly, the wolf trots towards Kirishima almost in defeat.

"By the way, how does Bakugo keep a creature like this in the campus without anyone noticing?"

"Bakugo doesn't actually live here, he has his own apartment."

"Oh, that makes sense," Izuku mumbles, even though it doesn't, because it means the wolf got inside on his own.

He has no idea how Kirishima is going to get him out now.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help you?"

"It's fine... I've done this before."

"Alright, goodbye, Kirishima. Goodbye, Kacchan."

There's something weird about this whole situation... Although Izuku is not sure what it is.

***

For the first time in a while, Eijiro narrows his eyes at his friend as soon as they're in the empty dressing room; Bakugo has finally shape shifted and put on some of his clothes before starting to pace around the room.

"That was not manly at all, Bakubro!"

"I know, I know!" He hisses, running his fingers through his own hair with a little bit of desperation. "It's just... I only wanted to see him at first, but I didn't want him to think I was a creep following him around..."

"Even though you were," Eijiro points out, trying not to chuckle.

Bakugo frowns, but pretends he didn't hear that.

"So I changed into my wolf form and followed him for a while... I only wanted to make sure he was okay! But then he saw me outside the dorms and invited me into his room and he let me cuddle him! Sure, he thought I was just a pet, but he let me get closer to him! And you know all my attempts at courting him have gone really bad! He doesn't want me near when I'm like this, but–"

"I told you you should try to court him another way, humans don't understand how werewolves do it..."

"I just wanted to be close to him!" Bakugo explodes, eyes glimmering with a very deep and strong longing. He really looks like he's in pain.

"Okay, I get it... He's your mate," Eijiro sighs. "But you can't keep lying to him like this... At least try to woo him like humans do. You have to earn his trust and his love before you try to explain the truth about yourself to him."

Bakugo takes a deep breath, but he nods.

"Fine... Although he might miss Kacchan so I could–"

"No, I don't think that's a good idea."

"We'll see."

***

Next--->

Patreon

#bnha #mha #my hero academia #bkdk #bakudeku #werewolf au #bakugo katsuki #izuku midoriya

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denimbex1986 · 9 days

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'Johnny Flynn was murdered within a week of stepping onto the set of Ripley.

The British actor plays Dickie Greenleaf in the eight-episode Netflix adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley and while he knew the character would meet an untimely demise in the story, he wasn’t prepared for it to be within days of meeting Andrew Scott, who plays the title character.

“I was just getting to know Andrew and there he is bludgeoning me and cradling my dead body,” Flynn tells Rolling Stone. “It was a good icebreaker. So basically I got to die in the first week and then I could get on with the living bits.”

Flynn initially auditioned to play Dickie—a role made famous onscreen by Jude Law in Anthony Minghella’s 1999 film—prior the the Covid pandemic. He devised an elaborate way to shoot audition tapes in his kitchen, reading all of the parts himself rather than asking someone else for help. Creator Steven Zaillian cast Flynn while he was in the midst of doing press for Autumn de Wilde’s whimsical take on Emma — and the actor still seems perplexed by how he ended up in Italy pretending to die on a boat. “I don’t know why he cast me,” Flynn says, slightly laughing.

While Ripley exists in the shadow of the acclaimed 1999 film, the Netflix series as created, written, and directed by Zaillian, has a different approach to the story. Flynn recalls being initially concerned about the love for the film when he met with Zaillian, especially having not read the novel at the time, but was quickly put at ease.

“It’s a very different tone to the film,” Flynn says. “Which is great because it’s its own thing. In film adaptations they usually have to conflate things and create extra characters to tell part of the story that don’t work unless you have a whole novel to do so. [In the film], they wanted the characters to live together for a lot longer, which made them more interesting. But the brilliance of the book is that Dickie gets killed quite early on and then the jeopardy is that Tom is being tracked and you don’t know if he’s going to be found out. Steve wanted to do something that was true to that aspect of the book in terms of the structure of the story.”

The series, filmed on location around Italy, including in Atrani, Rome, and Capri, and in New York City, was shot entirely in film noir-style black and white. It’s intended to pay homage to the cinema of the novel’s time period, a visual choice that also sets it apart from prior onscreen versions.

“If you think about the film, it’s in the summer and everything’s in bright colors,” Flynn says. “Steve wanted us to be the only people on the beach when Tom meets Dickie and Marge.”

This specificity meant that Flynn and Scott, as well as Dakota Fanning, who plays Marge, were called into rehearse scenes sometimes several months before the actual filming would take place. At first, Flynn and Scott tapped into their theater backgrounds and used the rehearsals as an opportunity to explore their characters and to try new things in the scenes. Zaillian quickly put a stop to that.

“He was like, ‘What are you doing?’” Flynn says. “The rehearsal was literally just to figure out where he was going to put the camera. We realized quite quickly that it was not for us. He knew what he wanted to do [and] he was just trying to make a final decision about which angle to shoot from. Steve had it all in his head. And that’s what makes him great. He has the whole universe of the story in his mind before he starts doing anything else and talking to people about it.”

It was a new way of working for Flynn, who deftly balances a career in theater, film and TV, and music. Before Ripley he played George Knightley in Emma and David Bowie in Stardust, an off-kilter biopic about Bowie’s first U.S. tour in 1971. He has an extensive resume on London’s West End, including productions of Jerusalem, True West, Richard III, and Twelfth Night, as does Scott. (Flynn also recently concluded a lengthy stint as Richard Burton in Sam Mendes’ The Motive and the Cue at the Noël Coward Theatre.)

“Steve knew what he wanted, but also he trusted us,” Flynn says. “The piece is framed by the writing and the way it’s shot, and that’s the storytelling device—not a generated performance. So I think the process wouldn’t have suited a lot of actors, who might have to really feel like they’re burning up and creating something new in that moment. But I realized that I could just trust the words and be in the scene and let it be without pushing too hard.”

He adds, “That need to be crazy and spontaneous and do something new and fresh is there on sets, and most projects that I’m a part of, you see actors desperately trying to come up with something new and fresh. What I learned from this is that you can take the pressure off yourself and do something interesting and very nuanced to give the camera a chance to pick up something really deep from within your soul and the subtlety of what you’re saying if you believe the words. And there’s no better actor for that than Andrew.”

The relationship between Dickie and Tom, which is complex and fraught with an undercurrent of sexual tension, and Flynn and Scott wanted to ensure there was a “sensitivity” between the characters, just as a sensitivity existed between the two actors. Flynn describes a softness to himself and Scott—“It’s odd to be talking about myself like this,” he notes—that could be translated onscreen.

“Steve wanted a tenderness that you could believe was interpreted on Tom’s part as something romantic and some kind of soul connection, but it’s a very ambiguous one,” Flynn says. “Andrew and I always said we wanted it to feel like there’s a quiet bond that you understand and that’s not explained too much. Because you’ve got to know why they’re spending that time together. For Dickie, because of where he comes from and the schools he attended, there’s a way to do things. You don’t allow your crush on another boy to actually become anything else in the society he’s part of,” he says. “The fact that Dickie won’t budge on that means there’s only one way forward for Tom. And Tom is like a shark, always moving forward.”

A significant amount of the series’ dialogue occurs in Italian. Thanks to Zaillian’s intense attention to detail, the entire cast learned to speak the language—fluently—before production. Flynn took three to four hours of Italian lessons each week (“I’ve never had anything like it,” he says). The actor did not take painting lessons to prepare for Dickie’s artistic pursuits, which are hilariously depicted in the episodes as poorly-made Picasso knock-offs. The humor of Dickie’s paintings undercut the seriousness of the visual tone, as do many of Scott’s line readings throughout the show.

“The fact that it’s funny is surprising and I loved that,” says Flynn, who remembers him and Scott laughing when they saw the prop paintings. “It’s not billing itself as a comedy. But there’s a dark humor to the books that it reflects. There’s a cruel aspect to her writing that is also very enjoyable.”

Since filming Ripley, Flynn has stayed busy. He played a violent mobster in the 2022 film The Outfit, opposite Mark Rylance, and recently appeared in the 2023 World War II drama One Life, taking on the role of real-life hero Nicholas Winton alongside Anthony Hopkins. Between filming, he’s recorded two albums with collaborator Robert Macfarlane, including last year’s The Moon Also Rises, which marked Flynn’s sixth LP. After a much-needed break, he and Macfarlane will hit the road for a U.K. tour in May.

...But for now, the actor is happy to finally lay Dickie to rest.

“When a film or a TV takes a long time to come out there’s a sense of closure when it finally does,” Flynn says. “Now, my slate is clear and there’s a nice amount of clarity around that. I can’t believe my luck to be pulled in all of these interesting directions and different experiences and different collaborations.”'

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ryssbelle · 2 years

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Let Wild feel his feelings: The Essay~

So yesterday at 1 am I made this post I prefaced this post with the phrase: "Can we please let Wild experience emotions without calling him sus." In that post I said I would write an essay explaining not only why I said that, but why I think the Wild is Dink theory is most likely false.

Also I say this at the end but let me preface this is all in good fun, I'm not trying to attack anyone or say they're terrible or awful for believing the theory, and yes I do poke fun but it's all out of love. Go ahead and have your thoughts and feelings just like Wild has his, and make the content you wanna see in the world.

Take this with a grain of salt and have fun.

@thunderpetal @aspen-of-the-gentry @an-error @knine-nights

And with that, This is the Essay:

Part 1: The Theory

For those of you who do not know or have not been in the loop starting from about Sunset Part 5 there has been a theory that Wild, aka the Hero of the Wild, has been infected or possessed by Dink, aka Dark Link, the main villain of Linked Universe. Let's go over the supporting evidence in the next parts we will reexamine the evidence under the counter argument:

The Inciting Panel:

These are the panels that first sparked the debate, after defeating the massive dark oozy creature, Wild is seen rubbing his face, and it is theorized a little bit of Dink was in his eye and is now in his system. You could argue he is just rubbing his cheek and not his eye, but we're not here to argue at this stage of the Essay.

Using my powers of MS Paint Zoom, I zoomed in closely to look at Wilds face before the wipe:

You can see an off colored patch of shading, now one could call this shading, but one could also call this, a surprisingly pale splotch of Dink.

Continuing with the evidence:

He run:

Instead of talking his feelings, he run away, this is highly unusual because-

As you can see on this page he emerges from no where, as if he knew where they'd be, as if he could track them, as if he were a trained survivalist who has learned to track people and things when in unfamiliar places.. Or perhaps it is because he is Dink, following the dark scent of the magic evil he put on Twi. How else could he track them, the known survivalist who can track things.

And shortly after this- Wild experiences- an emotion

Denial and Anger, two of the 5 stages of grief, this is unusual because the only acceptable stages of grief are depression and acceptance, only a crazed lunatic hell bent on the destruction of our heroes would act in such a fashion to the colorful man child!

(I realize I am poking fun a bit, but just know it's out of love, its all /j /nm)

For this next piece of evidence I'd like you to reference or have to the side the entirety of Sunset Part 8 for which I have linked.

The entire page starts with Four, the colorful hero of the four sword, splitting for the first time in front of Wild, and really for the first time in front of any of the chain. The entire ensuing pages consist of an argument between all the Colors as they fight against one another Wild desperately asking for answers as to what in the world is happening while the weight of his mentor/brother's condition and his past failures weigh on his heart and shoulders. With the continued yelling Wild gets frustrated grabbing his head his past failures coming to mind he throws down his sword as he laments his inability to protect those he cares about in the moment, getting chastised by the colors before storming off, reminded of his fallen comrades.

Obviously I don't have to tell you how this is related to Dink

We then broach our final piece of evidence in the most recent comic:

After a pat on the back from the group leader and a thank you Wild leaves with a 'sinister' grin on his face, covered in shadows with Four looking at him suspiciously.

All of this culminates in the conclusion:

Part 2: Wild is not Dink.

Now Let us reexamine the Evidence from a counter perspective, I know I was kind of making fun when showing the supporting evidence and in this section you will see why. Let us begin with the first piece of evidence.

The Inciting Panel and the splotch:

After doing a sick backflip, freezing time, and whacking a giant metal creature 6000 times this man is SWEATING, he's wiping the sweat from his cheek, maybe even a tear, have you ever done any kind of excessive activity, it is tiring and makes everything feel awful and he's just done that 4 times over basically. The Splotch? Thats shading and line thickness.

Evidence 2:

He runaway

At this point it's been somewhat established that Wild does seem to like to keep to himself, not only that War's knows the identity of the wolf that sticks near Wild, he is aware of their connection and aware of how Wild must be feeling now that one of the people he's closest two is in bad condition, so Wild storming off while Wind dwells on said condition is not something unusual for him nor any of the chain.

Plus War's knows more than anyone what this situation is like, he more than likely had to deal with it 100 times over in the war, as friends and comrades fell one by one in the fight against evil, and knows better than anyone that engaging Wild in this state would lead to an emotional explosion on both ends which leads us to-

Sunset part 7 and 8:

Wild, someone who is close to those who know the location of the village and is used to at least finding a safe place in an unfamiliar environment due to waking up without memories 100 years in the future and needing to explore and find safe places on his own, walks into frame from a random alley. This alley is also one of the places where Wild is replaced with Dink in some theories, but I will address that in part 3

Now I have actually addressed Wilds actions in these next few panels before believe it or not while disproving this theory!

I've added the panels from part 8 as well to help with this part of the discussion, but as I said in presenting the evidence:

Wild is in grief Twilight may not be dead yet but he is dying Wild is being told that he's dying, and Wild doesn't want to believe it. Strange right? That the man who lost everyone he held dear at the ripe age of seventeen, who saw his brother- his mentors legacy already in the divine wolf that guided him, would be upset that that same wolf, that same man who now not only guided the wild child on his original journey, but guides him now, laughs with him, and fights by his side, that this man he now calls his brother is laying upstairs dying while he sits there unable to do anything. Who wouldn't be upset?

And maybe you don't think you're saying that he can't be upset, but by using the anger he feels at not being able to help, by using his denial in watching yet another friend die while he is there unable to help as evidence, as a way to say, that this man is possessed by Dink, is invalidating any other reaction to this kind of grief. It sends the message that in fiction people are not allowed to experience any other kind of reaction other than sadness, than acceptance. You either accept that he's dying or you cry that it's happening and neither of those are invalid either but those aren't the only reactions it is the five stages of grief for a reason.

Not only is Wild grieving, so is Four, they are both exploding in anger, exploding in denial and sadness, both confused both hurt, which leads us to the final piece of evidence to rebut:

After giving a rousing speech which invigorates everyone and gives them back a smidge of hope and courage, Wild walks off, the light of the window facing his back as he walks into the dark hallway as Four eyes him.

What do I think is happening here? Wild tired, but he's hopeful, he's momentarily content, but he is still most likely hurt, his mind is still full and racing, his heart still heavy, but now he is with his brothers and he has hope.

Why is Four looking at him like that? Well for one Wild pushed him around, yelled at him, and had a breakdown in from of him not 20 minutes ago, but Four, in four separate forms, had also yelled at, chastised, and broke down in front of him.

So what do I think will happen? Most likely, a real discussion about the prior events, and an apology from both sides.

They're heroes of courage, but they're also Human (and ye they're Hylian but they're regarded as human as well)

And as a side note, if Jojo planned to have it revealed that Wild was in fact Dink in disguise and or possessed by Dink, why give him a whole chapter to himself just to think, to regroup, and to calm down? Why not have that as a precursor, have that as a hint, showing his dark turn? Why have him find hope and come to terms with the situation so that he could fix it and help his brother if he was in fact evil and was aiming for the heroes downfall?

It wouldn't make sense as an author not to have his solo chapter as foreshadowing unless Wild isn't Dink.

Now to part 3: Dink

Here we examine Dink himself as he appears in the Linked Universe comic, not just when he appears, but how and why.

Now to start his first appearance isn't really as himself but as infected blood, which is black in color and causes increased strength and aggression in monsters that wouldn't normally be as strong or aggressive as they are

Well it's more of a purple actually but you get the point.

Possession would be evident if he was indeed possessed.

Now for Dink posing as Wild.. Thats also a no

in the comic any disguise Dink has takes on the color scheme of the original dark Link, which is, charcoal skin and blood red eyes, this goes for the games as well, so if it was Dink posing as Wild it wouldn't at all look like Wild at least in color scheme.

Now lets get to Dink's motives:

So far his motives are pretty simple, destroy the chain, kill them, stab them, maybe bite them, he hasn't been trying to steal them or trick them he just wants them to suffer. If he were to somehow possess or disguise himself as Wild why not, I don't know, stab them as Wild, Wild will then be on the hook for it, so not only will Twi be dying (or dead if he stabbed Twi again), but someone else could be hurt, and they'd think they'd have a traitor in their midst.

Dink doesn't seem to be one to make elaborate plans as we've seen so far his plan is just "I will hit it, oh it didn't die..... I WILL HIT IT AGAIN!!"

also im not counting Twi's coma dream as a dark link appearance

Though @kr4zykoala did point something out to me yesterday, there is one person who is devious and elaborate and would def disguise himself as someone else for the long haul...

This twink ^^^^^

In conclusion...

Wild is not Dink, he's just grieving, also remember that time Wind was apparently Dink too?

In any case this is mostly in good fun, you all can have your theories but I am not at all convinced on Wild being Dink, if you gotta stretch the truth to make it work then it's not that great of a theory tho it does make excellent fanfiction if you do it right, apparently @sheepiemenace has one in the works for Wind and its allegedly excellent

anyway take what I say with a grain of salt and have fun!

#linked universe #lu wild #lu dink #dark link #salty essay #wild is not dink my guys #but its a fun theory #its just the precursors arent there #and its getting rid of character substance for drama and thats blegh #but like a i said this is mostly in good fun #while also debunking #cuz it does legitimately bug me when Wild is labeled as possessed or put of character #for acting like a normal person and IN CHARACTER #cuz people sometimes equate his fanon characterization to his canon #or they use their interpretation to justify why its wrong that hes acting that way #but like its not wrong #theres no wrong way to write grief on a character #not everyone experiences grief the same way #i think with Wilds ptsd and his grief his response is completely in character #also yeah i dont think many people know how dink works but then again we dont entirely know how exactly jojo will portray him completely #also a lot of people are new #and have only played botw #and other than being a costume #dink isnt in botw #and again im not cpunting the twilight princess dream sequence #cuz thats a dream and not a real appearance of the character #and it wasnt even dark link as in Dink it was a dark link as in evil Link #but ye those be my thoughts #enjoy :)

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animehouse-moe · 11 months

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Ranking of Kings Season 2 Episode 9: Miranjo and The Demon | The Prince And His Treasures

I need to get my soap box and megaphone out so I can tell the world about how much I love this season. Maybe it's because I knew what we were in for before it came here, or maybe it's because Wit has been working animation magic these last few years. But this season of side stories for Ousama Ranking has been so amazing. Absolutely zero shortage of heartwarming and important and creative moments.

Starting with Miranjo's story as a child, where she finds the wish granting demon child in the forest. I think it's a really incredible story about duality. She finds herself lost in a deeper part of the forest after hitching a ride on some deer, only to spot the young demon feasting on a wild animal of some sort.

Right away, that dichotomy appears as Miranjo is peaceful and accepted by the wildlife, while the demon boy is shunned by it. You can say that they're also hostile and violent towards it, but that's a complete misinterpretation of the scene. They have to eat to survive, so they're unable to create that peaceful bond like Miranjo has, which I think is a rather impactful statement. And those comparisons and differences continue, with Miranjo always being in light and the demon boy remaining in the shadows.

But, the story turns on its head pretty quickly, as the demon child flees from Miranjo, and she chases after him before leaving him alone, and huffing and puffing on her way home before she gets lost. I think it's a really great pairing of pieces, as the foliage covers overhead of Miranjo in both scenes, dulling them in comparison to when the demon boy helps Miranjo find her way back home. It's incredibly cute because the light that Miranjo brought into the forest is the same light that the boy returns to her to help her home. The cramped forest that appeared around the demon boy, and that Miranjo poked through, is the same forest that the boy returns to so that they can find Miranjo. It's a circular story, reciprocative, as Miranjo brings happiness and light into the boy's life, and he returns the favor and in turn begins their friendship.

It's just so wonderful. The colors are amazing, the art style is incredibly precious, the direction is perfectly fitting for a fairy tale style, and I love how they use the forest to frame the various scenes. Using trees and foliage to create a suffocating and encroaching feeling before opening it up to allow for freedom and brightness later on. Such a wonderful story of how Miranjo and the demon boy came to be friends.

And quick side note, I really like that little backstory we got for the boy. Not cause it shows there's a whole town or whatever of demons, but how the story views adults and those seeking power as inherently evil and repulsive.

Anyways, on to part 2!

What a cute and endearing second half. Far less a cohesive story as it is the culmination of memories and experiences as Bojji runs all around the castle to deliver his treasures to the people whom they were discovered with. A lot of similar stuff, so I just want to highlight the importance/significance of the items.

First, we've got Bebin with the snake skin from a young Matsumata. Of course, it can signify his growth and the changes he underwent to get to where he is, but I'd also like to think it's a testament to how caring Bebin is inside that outer shell.

Next up, we've got Apeas (who was sporting some really awesome combat animation in his training), to whom he gives what looks like a piece of obsidian in the shape of a spear. I think it's an equally rewarding gift that commends Apea's honing of his abilities, and is in a way, Bojji recognizing the strength and power of Apeas, whom struggled greatly with that concept through the end of the first season.

Following Apeas, we have a double feature with Domas and Hokuro, who share the same gift of the shell of a cicada. I think this is a really precious one that does great at symbolizing how both of these characters have broken out of their shells and grown. Plus, over-emotional Domas is incredibly fun and endearing.

We've got another duo after this pair, with Hiling and Dorshe. Hiling sports a feather from some sort of bird, while Dorshe is given a fang. You'll have to forgive me, but I can't think of any symbolism or prior event for Bojji to give Hiling a feather for. Dorshe on the other hand? His gift of a fang makes perfect sense as a reward and treasure for how fiercely he defended Bojji's mother.

And last but not least is Daida's acorn. I think it's a really cute one that's equal parts innocuous and important. There's the whole idea of growth and strength associated with it, but more than that I feel its importance stems from the shared memory that Daida wants to cultivate with Bojji, by turning the acorn into a tree within the castle.

Now, there's a bit more to cover before I get to the end, so I just wanted to share some of the outstanding layouts from this episode. The use space and slightly warped perspectives through most of them is really creative and gives a refreshing twist on what can sometimes be typical layouts for "good" series.

This scene with Bojji giving Miranjo a crystal ball though has to be the best of the episode. Such a creative idea with incredible execution.

And then we get to the end, where they use the song from the first OP for the anime. Need I say much more? Incredibly endearing and precious, it's the perfect way to approach the end of such a nostalgic and memorable episode.

#ranking of kings: the treasure chest of courage #ranking of kings #ousama ranking #ousama ranking: yuuki no takarabako #ousama ranking bojji #王様ランキング #王様ランキング勇気の宝箱 #prince bojji #anime recommendation #anime review #anime and manga #anime #dorshe #apeas #bebin #domas #prince daida #miranjo

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