#am I the only one who has a character they default to making in games?

[herald-of-time]

I've been thinking a lot about my Elden Ring Tarnished, Theren (based on a beloved D&D character of mine hence the elven appearance, I always gravitate towards making him in games if there's a mage option) and wanted to share some artwork of him before I get too too carried away detailing him. If not just a mirror of his lore in the D&D game I played him in, I always imagined him as a noble sorcerer, driven away from his studies at Raya Lucaria but too ashamed to return home. Yet his fascination with sorcery was maintained even after being exiled from the Lands Between.

I imagine he was glad to find a fellow sorcerer in the round table hold, and all the more devastated when he lost that friend...

#tarnished #my art #elden ring #drawing #not finished #hopefully posting this will hype me up to complete it #my love for complicated embroidery will be my downfall #am I the only one who has a character they default to making in games?

[glitteryinknotes]

There is a level of deep, bitterly poetic and cruel irony in Astarion's death and his eventual fate as a vampire spawn. Laughable, even. Lamentable.

Where do I even begin. I once posted here my thoughts on who Astarion was before Cazador took him; and all my thoughts were based on what we can assume to be canon from scraps on information in - game and interviews with Neil. That Astarion Ancunin who was laid into the ground at Baldur's Gate cementary was a corrupt magistrate, a shining example of power abuse, indulgence, hedony, existence in privilege without any service to the world around.

We also know for a fact that Astarion is not a good person in a moral sense. Again, Neil Newbon himself talked about it. He has capability to grow, mature, open himself up, soak in the positive influence and feel for others, but he never will be the default upstanding type. That is simply not at his core.

This is why (I am aware we're talking a fictional character, headcanon is free to all in whichever way they think it suits and pleases them) I cannot for the world believe in all the fanfiction based on the notion of the tragic, tortured soul unjustly attacked and turned into a vampire, because to me - it misses the entire depth and essence of Astarion's personality and arc. He was not a "worthy" persona before Cazador; in fact, the beating he got from the Gur was well - deserved and the near - death experience... Probably so as well. Maybe if anything, this would open his eyes and force him to reflect at least a bit on his choices in the position he was occupying. (But given that he mentions begging Cazador to turn him to be able to take revenge, I highly doubt that.) So yeah... The man got what was coming to him. He deserved it.

But what he got in the end once Cazador allowed him to drink his blood and had him in his hold? Two hundred years of misery and abuse beyond description, being completely stripped of any identity and personhood? No one deserves that. Such fate should not be thrust upon anyone. Ever.

It is the cruellest, most wicked twist of fate that it took that kind of ordeal to change a corrupt little elf's view of the world and force him to even acknowledge the existence of evil deeds and abuse of power - something I am quite sure he never gave any thought to before. It took being transformed into an utterly helpless victim to make him truly see that there is good and bad and perpetuating the bad leads to pain and misery for the innocents (and you can never be sure if not for you as well), and only then, at his most pathetic, most vulnerable, after centuries of torment, it took meeting, trusting, admiring, being grateful to, befriending / loving and being influenced by a genuinely good and kind person (probably the exact opposite of who he was before) to shake and cause some shift in his inner moral compass, or rather the way he was choosing to use it. The full circle, a poignant, unwilling journey from the one abusing power, to the enslaved puppet of someone with considerably more power abusing it in the most inhuman ways possible, and this time to his own woe, to the one person able to break the abusive cycle given the right influence.

Isn't that simply poetic in the most sickly sense? A tragicomedy, if you will.

Forget about Astarion Ancunin. The grave was good for lovemaking and sharing an important moment, but whoever was laid there was not anyone worthy of your time (just like "Ascended Astarion" )The one who stands by your side now is. Your Astarion. The new Astarion, the same "lovable rogue" with a taste for theatrics, drama, debauchery, beauty, murder mayhem and loose morality, but - a better person all the same.

[follow up post here

https://www.tumblr.com/glitteryinknotes/733162725841289216/a-little-follow-up-to-my-previous-post?source=share]

#astarion #baldur's gate astarion #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 astarion #baldurs gate astarion #bg3 astarion #astarion bg3 #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #astarion analysis #astarion ancunin

[autistichalsin]

An observation about Halsin's feelings for the player:

The other characters are, by default, seeking friendship with the player*. However, Halsin, I think, is "canonically" in love with the player in most circumstances.

*Well, except Minthara, who I think also has a case for being default in love with the player.

It takes so much for him to begin to dislike the player because of what they do in the shadow-cursed lands. He flirts with the player and longs for them; his threshold to confess being in love with them is much lower than other characters, only requiring a few flagged dialogues. In fact, even in the datamined upcoming patch with a platonic confession scene, he confesses at 30 approval... which means he will love you so long as you break the curse and don't proceed to make every possible choice with an approval loss after.

Even in this new platonic scene, he admits that "in another lifetime" he and the player might have felt something stir, if the player asks if Halsin's feelings are just a friend.

There's another new datamined scene where he talks about their path ahead, if the player hasn't flirted with him. In this one, he admits that his admiration with the player likely was conflated with other feelings, and the devnote says he speaks with romantic longing.

If the player is romanced with Astarion and tells him Halsin made an offer out of nowhere, Astarion teases the player for "not seeing this coming at the Grove."

And, lastly, there's the letter Halsin sends in his didn't-break-the-curse ending, which he signs "yours until the end, Halsin."

So based on this, I am concluding that it's canon, in nearly every good-aligned path imaginable, that Halsin is in love with the player, unlike the other romanceable characters who can be but aren't always. For Halsin, it's the perfect storm in his good ending- two compounding traumas both resolved by the player in a short span (I.E. the player rescuing him from the goblins, then helping him finally break the Shadow Curse) and giving him rescuer-worship, combined with rediscovering himself and his feelings at last after the curse breaks, combined with, yes, his actual feelings of love towards the player (which the former two things amplify). And in his bad ending, it's quite possibly the result of a different kind of trauma response as well, where he dreams about the player/what could have been if he broke the curse.

It's not JUST Tav Halsin is in love with, but the things Tav represents for him- healing and safety. Which is likely to be/become unhealthy after a point, but then, in this game, does anyone have a truly HEALTHY romance?

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

[nyaagolor]

The SV characters are written as such realistic teenagers that headcanoning their ages even a few years apart makes for such hilarious dynamics. I always defaulted to putting all of them at around 15-16 but playing around with ages and how it might impact their dyanmics is so fun AND funny

The idea of a really traumatized 19 year old Arven hanging out with a bunch of 15 year old girls is actually a genuinely hysterical concept to me. All these high school sophomores are just hyping the fuck out of this loser boy they picked up off the side of the road. He's part of the girlies now. He's their special little guy. He's the only one of them who can legally drive or buy lottery tickets so he's practically a god to them and they treat him exactly like they would any other 15 year old girl

Nemona being older already kinda slots her into a mentor-esque position and I think it's really fun to explore how her dynamic with Geeta intersects with her dynamic with the protagonist, and how the person that Nemona tries to guide ends up surpassing her and becoming a worthy rival. Also her and Arven being the older teens looking at the protagonist meeting the "formidable boss of team star" who turns out to just be this really rude 14 year old is really really good

Having the protagonist themselves be the youngest of the group, especially if it's by a few years, is another one of my favorite concepts, because all these older teens being so desperate for help and attention that they see a random freshman and are like YOU is really good. Also with the eventual realization of Oh My God the person helping me out with all this heavy stuff is so young what am I doing.

On the flip side, adult protagonists are not taken advantage of as a possibility in this game. The academy has adult students and also Clive exists so it isn't out of the realm of canonicity. It's extremely possible that Arven is like "hey little buddy can you help me find Herba Mystica" to a 45 year old office worker who is going back to school during his sabbatical. A fully grown man can just be adopted into this gaggle of emotionally unstable teenagers. They don't discriminate

Just generally speaking, these tiny tweaks can put some incredibly fun twists on character dynamics and I think it's really cool when people play around with the concept more

#pokemon sv #nemona #arven #penny #i'm actually debating making a post about ideas with an adult protagonist bc I actually think it could be really sweet #mod vex #headcanons #not really but close enough

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

“The updates are making me like Idia more, but in the same way you'd like a character for being pathetic” I’m shocked you didn’t like Idia at least from what I remember? He’s basically the same as Rollo (a character you do like I think) and in more ways than one. They’re both gloomy looking guys and traumatized big bros that are self righteous and pathetic. What kept you from liking Idia before if you don’t mind me asking?

[Referencing something I said in this post!]

Okay, confession time: when I was a little kid (I’m talking like 7-10 years old), I was SUPER into Greek mythology and more specifically the story of Hades and Persephone. I ate up ALL the Hades and Persephone retellings/reinterpretations I could find and actively hunted for more 💀 so you’d think I’d like Idia, who is twisted from Hades, given how I gravitated to Octavinelle because of my attachment to The Little Mermaid in my childhood…

I think what puts me off of Idia in spite of his similarities to Rollo, a character I do really love, is a combination of Idia's appearance and his attitude.

To tackle the shallower aspect first, I actually don't like characters that look "too" gloomy. I would say Rollo is stoic-looking, but not gloomy? He has a pretty neutral face most of the time and the only gloomy thing about him at a glance is the dark circles under his eyes. With Idia... There's a LOT going on here. The hair is definitely unique, but I've never been into super long hair. The nature of it kind of overshadows his face and Idia usually looks miserable as a default. I've mentioned before that I'm unnerved by his coloration too; the super pale skin plus the blue lips is reminiscent of a corpse and, well... while I do see there being an audience that finds him beautiful, I don't think that's a cute look for him.

Now, his attitude. I'm not going to fault Idia for being passionate about his hobbies, as we all have our niches that we're super into. What irks me is how Idia expresses himself and acts out on behalf of those interests. He talks down to people who "don't get it" and takes other measures to defend the things he likes that I think is crossing a line. For example, he tracks down the IP addresses of Ignihyde mob students that defaced his favorite idol group's website. In the EN version, Idia threatens to doxx the mobs too (though he never does, this was just a localization decision). Yeah, you could do that I guess... but should you? 😭 The other characters also do questionable things (as a J word fan, I cannot deny this) but those actions are usually so outlandish no one irl would do it (like how Azul is a high school student that runs his own shady business). Idia's behavior, meanwhile, embodies some very real and very toxic aspects of fandom culture. I think part of why I disliked Idia at first is also his manner of speaking; it's riddled with so much internet lingo that it's hard to take him seriously sometimes. This is even more true of the EN version of the game, which has added even more slang than was in JP. Like... sorry, am I NOT supposed to be giggling when OB Idia is making threats while talking like an enraged gamer (both in EN and JP)? There is a ceiling on how much pathetic I can take in one sitting, and Idia far exceeds it every time he talks. Other characters (like Rollo making cheesy villain speeches, Azul being teased, Jamil's DOKKAN, etc.) have their moments of funny ha ha-cringe as well, but at least I can still see them in a serious light.

Books 6 and 7 are enhancing my opinion of Idia solely because they focus on the "traumatized big brother" part to his character. In Glorious Masquerade too... Idia gets the courage to call Rollo out because he knows their experiences are so similar. I think the storyline was done very well, and I loved seeing how Idia grows from an event that no doubt affected him deeply and still continues to influence him to this day. It's clear that he cares deeply about both Orthos and will step up to protect them. I LOVE THAT FOR HIM, it's not as though Idia is completely throwing aside one brother for the other, he's acknowledging them both as his "true" brothers. The way he goes from laughing to crying in his post-OB flashback... Idia getting so mad at us attacking Phantom Ortho with lightning... the willingness to "go" with OG!Ortho to the world beyond... apologizing to Robo!Ortho for falling for the dream's promises of eternal happiness... Aaaah, it's just too good 😭

DIHLBASOFYIAYVYEBfsWPYWPF WHAT CAN I SAY... I like me a reliable onii-san character 🤡 I'M NOTHING IF NOT PREDICTABLE

#twst #twisted wonderland #Idia Shroud #Rollo Flamme #disney twisted wonderland #disney twst #notes from the writing raven #question #book 7 spoilers #book 6 spoilers #Azul Ashengrotto #Jamil Viper #Ortho Shroud #Ignihyde #Hades #Persephone #The Little Mermaid #glorious masquerade spoilers

[weirdmarioenemies]

Is Birdo the only member of her species?

"Yes!” you confidently proclaim. “You included an image of multiple Birdos right there in the post, silly!”

I know I did! I did it on purpose, because it is relevant to the subject matter! But it does not mean all that much, ultimately. Look. Here are five Luigis.

Luigi is not a species. So allow me to explain why I am reasonably confident in believing that the existence of multiple distinct Birdos has been retconned!

It all started with Wave 4 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass. When Birdo was finally added to the game, her alts were named strangely! With Yoshi and Shy Guy, we had, for example, Light-blue Yoshi, and Light-blue Shy Guy. Birdo, however, gets Birdo (Light Blue)!

This is how basically all the alts in Tour are named, just like our dear brother Luigi (Lederhosen). So did they lazily just port these alts over from Tour, without bothering to make the formatting consistent with what was already in 8 Deluxe? But wait! Yoshi and Shy Guy are named with their colors first in Tour, just like in 8 Deluxe! Were THOSE ones hastily ported into TOUR? What’s going on here!!!

Well, let’s look at the trends that already exist in these naming conventions!

-A character simply wearing a different outfit than usual has the name format of “Character (Descriptor)”. Example: Luigi (Lederhosen)

-A character who is in a different FORM than usual has the name format of “Form Character”. Example: Penguin Luigi

-A character who is a member of a species that has been seen in multiple colors has the name format of “Color Character”, not counting the default colors. Example: Light-blue Yoshi, Light-blue Shy Guy

One other thing of note is characters like the Koopa Freerunners and the Pit Crew Toads. These fit into both the first and third categories! For example, we have Blue Koopa (Freerunning), who is a Blue Koopa wearing a Freerunning hat, and Light-blue Toad (Pit Crew), who is a Light-blue Toad wearing a pit crew uniform.

With all this established, Birdo’s conventions fit into the first category! I am inclined to believe that, if these were meant to be distinct individuals, they would be named like the Yoshis and Shy Guys, yet they are named as the same individual in different outfits. Maybe she can change her color like a chameleon, and uses it to complement whatever bow she wants to wear at the time!

The real question is why in the world they would retcon Birdo as her own species... but it is not actually that weird, to me. As awesome as it is to have an entire species of glamorous transfem dinosaurs who all share the exact same fashion sense, maybe Nintendo decided that was where they draw the Weirdness Line in Mario’s world. Birdo’s current design is very much a design for a distinct character! It’s like how Donkey Kong Junior was used in contexts where many of him appeared for a while, until he himself was removed from memory. And don’t get me started on Toadsworth! They can and will alter anything from character intricacies to the existences of entire characters, is what I am saying here.

Also, as a little Grammar Tidbit, it is entirely intentional that “Birdo (Light Blue)” and “Light-blue Yoshi” coexist, and it is not inconsistent! “Light-blue” is a compound adjective, and as a result is hyphenated if it is written before the article it describes. I have learned this purely thanks to the funny dinosaur, and now so have you!

So do you agree with my findings? How does the concept of Birdo being the only one of her kind make you feel? And how did it get this way? Maybe she just invited herself out of the dream world and established herself! Maybe she is a mutant Yoshi, not in the realistic genetics way, but the cartoon toxic waste way. Maybe she just hatched from an egg that was there one day. Whatever the case! I think she is really great.

#birdo #mario kart tour #discussion #mod chikako

[tubbytarchia]

Also I need to say SOMETHING because I've been tormented by this for the past few days after having been made aware but yandere Pearl makes me so upset, imo it's such a disservice to her character!! That or other interpretations that just make her out to be evil. I understand the appeal of the trope and for AUs and stuff, ofc go wild!! But that is very much not what happened in DL canon and anyone who thinks that she's only interesting with the yandere trope attached is a fake fan!! Pearl was labelled crazy and of course she leaned into it, because what else does she do? Nobody wants her, everyone believes she's lost it, so she might as well!! At the very least it serves as some intimidation that Pearl CAN use to her advantage but did she ever want to? She's not crazy for Scott, not by any stretch of the imagination. She wanted some kind of approval, or acceptance. She didn't just want Scott to herself or whatever argument people try to make and she most certainly wasn't evil or cruel. Many times when people were getting up to mischief, Pearl didn't take large part if at all even if she was there. She often played along and, yeah, she played along, like most Lifers would, no? I can see how her behaviour could be observed as obsessive when she keeps trying to settle near Scott but, I don't even know how to articulate my thoughts other than to reinforce that that wasn't her obsessing over Scott. I suppose you could view Pearl as evil depending entirely on what you classify as evil in a death game where most everyone has to kill anyway, and where a lot of people commit arson and stuff (Joel killed some Jellies, loved to bully Jimmy, retaliated having the Relationship burnt down by burning every other establishment he could, is he also evil? What makes Pearl evil? Does she just get called that more because Joel is expected to be a menace by default?), but there is so much more nuance there than some form of "she flipped on a dime in session 1 and immediately became a crazy ex after a breakup". But you know what, that's what Scott wanted people to believe and if anyone in the fandom does then I have news for you

Also I'm not trying to say that playing a villain character is bad (Scott is such a villain though not at all a plainly visible one, and he's very compelling as a character) nor am I trying to make Pearl out to be some totally innocent sweetpea. Or maybe I am. #Pearl did literally nothing wrong to warrant this (but like, art of her being girlboss and stuff goes hard still, she OWNED the scene still when she embraced the label. She was mad cool, but it's not "being evil" that makes a character mad cool)

(PS don't take this too seriously, although I do heavily disagree with this interpretation personally, I'm not police and also I love all the Lifers including Scott dearly. Reminder that this is just about the characters they play and it's reasonable for viewers to believe his story foremost if they've only watched his POV and such, I think)

#RAHHHHHHH I trust that most of you guys dont think this but if anyone still does then Im severly disappointed #I'm sure there's other older posts somewhere voicing this exact thing but #god I cannot tell you how much this has been eating away at my brain for two days straight #god I really hope this is the general consensus for people who care about traffic or DL Pearl #please god I hope. #blabber

[danieyells]

Hello! Thank you so much for posting the guys’ voicelines! If it’s not too much trouble, could I ask for Yuri’s and Ritsu’s? I’ve been especially curious about Yuri’s since reading his line at the beginning of the game if you choose him lol Again, thank you so much!!

(i posted ritsu's separately!)

no anon you may not study yuri. yuri studies you. how dare you. bad guinea pig! you get no experiment tonight!

the rest of you, however, may come appreciate the good doctor with me. You can come too studying anon i won't tell yuri

some of his lines really kinda subverted my expectations of his character? /affectionate) like i thought he would be quite different! not to say his profile is dishonest, but. . .idk lol i love him he's. . .he's special.

Default:

"What are you dawdling for? Change out of those rags and report to my lab immediately!"

"You should feel honored to be chosen as the test subject of Dr. Yuri Isami, genius and visionary!"

"Jiro! Jiro!! What on earth are you doing!?"

he calls for jiro the way a parent calls for their kid who's minding their business in another room--

"Lowbrow schools of thought with the gall to oppose my research will bear a mark of shame for generations to come. One day, the world will be forced to acknowledge me."

i realized this early on since i chose him in the pre-prologue so i always had access to him on the home screen but. since anomalies have to be kept secret from the world he kind of can't be acknowledged for what he does in the long run, can he? since he specifically works in anomalous medical sciences much of what he does and works with has to be kept only within the institute's understandings. . . .

"I always preserve the lives of my patients. I cannot make guarantees for any other parts of them, however."

sure you're a disembodied head in a jar but you are a living disembodied head in a jar! don't worry they'll get you a new body!!

"I ask their cooperation for the sake of the future of humanity, and this is what I get!? Jiro, how much do we have left in our research budget!?"

You've Got Mail:

"What madness is this? Why do you have unread messages!? Check them immediately! Research is a race against time!"

Affinity 1:

"What a bracing morning. Jiro, prepare my wake-up tonic."

is 'wake-up tonic' a fancy way of saying coffee or do you have some mixture of herbs and spices that wakes you up

Affinity 2:

"Are you injured or ill? Oh dear, how unfortunate. I shall begin the experi— Ahem, the treatment, immediately."

the way he says this is so incredible but tumblr will not let me upload the video for some reason he is so hype to try putting strange things in you.

Affinity 3:

"Jiro's not feeling well, you say? Very well. I shall test my latest formula on him."

Affinity 4:

"Oh, it's you. And here I thought I had a patient. I am currently reviewing today's lessons, so please leave unless you're here for treatment."

he's very studious for a genius. not a lot of the ghouls actually go to class.

Affinity 5:

"Wha... Wh-Where did you come from!? Th-Th-Th-This!? It is a medical journal! The Ace Doctor Wows Minds In Another World Thesis!"

MY GUY IS READING ISEKAI MANGA ABOUT DOCTORS AND PROJECTING do you think he reads like hentai about doctors and scientists too. probably not right he's too haughty to think about things like that before they happen

Affinity 6:

"The only blood I stain myself with is that atop the operating table. On missions, I have Jiro to fight in my stead."

it's okay to say you're just not much of a fighter lmao

Affinity 7:

"Anomalous medical science is uncharted territory. Should I become its pioneer, all will bow before my intellect until the end of time... Ha ha... Ah ha ha ha ha!"

Affinity 8:

"Hmph. We have no time to spare on your drivel. Hurry up, Jiro!"

Affinity 9:

"It's about time for Jiro's check-up... Hm? Wake up, Jiro! I've discovered an abnormality already!"

Affinity 10:

"Hmm, this case is somewhat complex... No, there's no need for my expertise here. Jiro, prepare to operate immediately."

'this is too complicated for a human but not too complicated to be jiro's problem!' disregard that jiro may be smarter than him. . . .

Affinity 11:

"Prepare the new formula, Jiro. A specimen has arrived. What? You're not here for treatment?"

listen sometimes you just wanna pay someone a visit! it's not my fault you live in a goddamn hospital.

Affinity 12:

"I will soon be finished with today's lessons— then I shall return to the lab to confirm the status of my latest test subject."

this is between 11 and 4pm, so you're basically just hearing him talk about his plans for after school lmao just normal student things!!!

Affinity 13:

"Why yes, I attended every lesson today, as always. All studies are linked, after all. Though it takes a mind such as mine to recognize that."

I DON'T THINK IT'S THAT HARD TO SEE THE LINK BETWEEN MEDICINE AND EVERYTHING. . .UNLESS YOU JUST DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ILLNESSES OR MEDICINE. . . .

Affinity 14:

"What is that slovenly visage, worm? Tell me, do you have an excuse for looking more emaciated than me when I spent all night researching? I didn't think so!"

would you like my laundry list of reasons i look tired yuri because i can get it

Affinity 15:

"I must personally administer Jiro's shots three times a day. The treatment is rather unique, you see."

'you see i use my peni--'

Affinity 16:

"You have business with Jiro? Not before bringing it to me, you don't. He is merely my assistant—as house captain, it is I who possesses the authority."

no talking to his son assistant without going through him first! sorry anon who asked for an appointment with jiro yuri has to approve it

Affinity 17:

"I'm busy with my experiments. Go back to your dorm and ready yourself for your next appointment. Jiro, see her home."

i feel like he doesn't want you to see what he does to his other test subjects. . .not because they die or anything, they always live, it's just a little gruesome to see. He's not as rough with you. And he needs to make sure you keep coming back. And he needs to make sure you get home safe, so he's sending Jiro with you.

Affinity 18:

"Even harmful anomalies can have use as medicinal ingredients... This is the sort of immeasurable value my work provides."

isn't that common knowledge in the medical world though. . .i mean obviously getting the right balance is crucial but that's not an entirely new concept, 'let's use the harmful thing for something good'--

Affinity 19:

"Don't forget that body of yours is a vital specimen! Is it not common knowledge that lack of sleep is the root of all illness!?"

DON'T YOU AND JIRO REGULARLY PULL ALL NIGHTERS IF NOT FOR DAYS AT A TIME?????? maybe yuri is just immune to illness. . . .

Affinity 20:

"Good morning, M... M... M... My,  what an adequate morning it is, no!? Hmph... Don't confuse me like that..."

IF YOU DIDN'T CHOOSE YURI IN THE PRE-PROLOGUE IT'S IMPORTANT TO KNOW. . .when Yuri jumps he says "goodbye, mama."

In Japanese it's somewhat more apparent that he's about to call you 'mama' in the voiceline. Maybe it's just my interpretation based on lines 23 and 24, but I think something happened to his mother where he failed to save her with surgery and at higher affinity he begins to project that need to save terminal/cursed patients' lives on you in particular. And he starts to think of you the way he thinks of his mother, but also as his favorite test subject. That or it's a loop/timeline thing and you're actually his mother--do you guys think he'd be able to be convinced into mommy kink shit he clearly has mommy issues it might help

Affinity 21:

"Mark my words, I'll have those pompous, preening parasites at Frostheim kneeling before me..."

man they do not like frostheim here in mortkranken. the fact that this is so high up is like. . .i wonder if there's some serious beef here.

Affinity 22:

"Jiro's gone!? ...So be it, then. I grant you the privilege of being my assistant for the day. Be grateful, worm."

jiro will come back when he needs his medication, it's fine! woohoo! do we get a nurse outfit!?

Affinity 23:

"There is no life I can't save... There can't be... I am Yuri Isami...the genius visionary doctor..."

it sounds like he's downright scared to fail to save a life.

Affinity 24:

"My next surgery must be a success... I... I cannot afford another failure..."

i am once again assuming his mother died on the operating table while he was trying to save or otherwise help her and he's extremely traumatized by it. on the other hand would he say 'goodbye mama' if she weren't still alive? maybe she's alive but she's in a coma or hospice or critical condition or something. and he's studying anomalous medicine to figure out how to save her.

Affinity 25(max):

"You belong to me. I will never hand you over to another researcher... (gasp) N-N-N-No, you've misunderstood! I-I just...!"

i'm literally the doctor's favorite lab rat because i am so obedient and intelligent and-- he blushes in the second line--he meant it as a test subject/lab rat or assistant thing but he also accidentally said how he really felt at the same time. . . . But you're his, he will be the one to save you, when he stands atop the world as world renowned genius anomalous medical doctor yuri isami you will stand by him as his proudest subject who's helped him confirm many theories and save many others' lives and he will work so hard to keep you well you are his and he doesn't want anyone else to learn what he can learn from you--

Spring:

"Struggling with pollen allergies? I have a new formula here developed in Mortkranken, shall I test it on you?"

"Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm! Hmm hmm hmm! Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm! Pa rum!"

so i don't know enough classical music to be able to tell what the songs he hums are, but if anyone wants to give it a shot i can try uploading the audios of him lol just lmk

"Which house's ghouls are out in the field at present? Oh my, I do hope they come back with some exciting injuries."

i wonder who his favorites to fix up are. . .on the one hand, he hates frostheim. so he might wanna be rougher with them or subject them to more unique experiments and make them admit his intelligence and skill. on the other hand obscuary must be the most interesting ones to work on since they're so unique?

"When did the cherry blossoms bloom...? The changing of the seasons seems rather superfluous when I am engaged in my research."

Summer:

"Jiro, make a record of today's temperature. We need to take the changing climate into for illnesses particular to summer."

"Darkwick will provide me the materials I need for my research, provided they fall within our budget... But that is simply insufficient."

have you tried selling organs? taiga says it's very lucative. surely you have some lying around?

"Hmm...hmm...hmm...hmm... hmm hmm hmm hmm, Pa pa pa pa pa pa rum!"

"Why do you look so distressed? If the heat is proving too much for you, I can prescribe you something to lower your body temperature."

Autumn:

"Why must a peerless genius such as myself be saddled with performing piddling health checks for the new students!? It's asinine!"

aren't you the only legitimate doctor in this place by your own admission!?

"A trip to admire the fall foliage? Why yes, I am interested. After all, I'm sure Jabberwock's mountains possess all sorts of undiscovered ingredients. Let's get going."

just make sure you ask towa before taking anything. . .he might not appreciate you messing with his plants. . . .

"Sports...? Hmph, such nonsense is entirely superfluous to my life. Why needlessly expend energy in such a manner?"

"Hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm hmm, hmm, hmm hmm hmm hmm hmmmm!"

Winter:

"Freude! Schöner! Götter! Funke! Tochter aus Elyyyyyyysium!"

HE IS SINGING ODE TO JOY IN THE ORIGINAL GERMAN.

"Eureka! A new formula utilizing an anomalous plant that only grows in subzero temperatures has been discovered, by...! Jiro..."

c'mon yuri be proud of your vice captain!

"Our research budget for the new year is nearly spent... Come, Jiro! We're going to negotiate with the faculty!"

"I despise the snow. It brings nothing but revolting memories... There, we're done with today's checkup. Any other questions?"

. . .what happened between Yuri and Frostheim. Or did he hate the snow first and Frostheim just happened to have a lot of it and also piss him off? I WANNA KNOW. Jin also hates Mortkranken and gets mad if you suggest he go there when he's sick so it's possibly mutual???

His birthday:

"You...remembered my birthday!? Ahem... If you wish to give me a present, make it either a talented assistant or a useful test subject."

people don't remember his birthday much i assume. . .or they tend to stay away from him so much he just doesn't get much attention or appreciation.

Your birthday:

"I am here to celebrate your birthday. Do you feel honored? I've prepared a new formula for you. Let's continue this in the lab, shall we?"

your birthday present is being part of more experiments! aren't you honored???

New Years:

"Happy New Year. I am on my way to make my first shrine visit. You didn't think me the type? I-It's just a tradition!"

Valentine's Day:

"Hmm, my blood sugar was just starting to drop. I suppose you do have it in you to be considerate every now and then... Pardon? Valentine's Day? ...(gasp)"

oh he has never gotten valentine's day chocolates before has he. or at least not recently.

White Day:

"I suppose I can concede you have proven yourself useful in the lab, worm. ...This is a token of my gratitude."

he didn't blush when he got the gift but he did blush giving you one so. . .i'm taking it this isn't obligation chocolate.

April Fool's Day:

"Hmph, did you honestly think you could fool me? I won't fall for your cheap tricks. I've already been fooled by Jiro seven times today!"

comically jiro's says he doesn't remember pulling any tricks on yuri at all. . .so yuri may be assuming anything he dislikes or is inconvenienced by is a trick lol

Halloween:

"Trick or treat! I have coordinated the ultimate matching costumes for Jiro and I... Yes, perfect."

the fact that he wanted to match costumes with jiro is so cute. . .like he really has this goofy side that doesn't come out much, but it seems like he enjoys celebrations and relaxed things, he's just too busy to engage in them. he likes isekai manga and holiday traditions and costumes. . .then again there's coordination and order involved in a matching halloween costume. so maybe he just likes the order and structure of it all.

Christmas:

"Merry Christmas. You can hand me my present at your earliest convenience. You did prepare one for me, didn't you!?"

he's surprised you remembered his birthday and valentine's day but he expects a christmas gift???

Idle:

"I am a very busy man, so if you don't require examination, then we're done here."

"Hmph. You really think yourself important enough to make a genius like myself wait around!?"

Absent:

"Where on earth have you been, worm!? Next time you plan on taking an extended leave of absence, I expect you to inform me in advance!"

THERE WE GO. after yesterday where tumblr decided to freak out on me and just fuckin delete it all i'm glad it's out of the way today lol. I REALLY LOVE YURI HE REALLY FEELS SO. . .PATHETIC. he's the self-reinforcing type who really feels the need to hype up his own greatness and reinforce his authority while, as you get closer to him, letting you see how vulnerable he is and how scared he is of failure. and at first you're a specimen and a lab rat but after getting close enough he shoos you away from his experiments and you can even be his assistant(in jiro's absence) instead. . .his profile makes him sound very in control and aggressive but he doesn't really seem that way in his voicelines i guess? and here and there he's goofy and caring. . .he's kind of a loser(affectionate)!

one of my favorite characters lolol i am so looking forward to the mortkranken chapter because that's going to be so dramatic i bet. . . .

#yuri isami #tokyo debunker #tokyo debunker spoilers #datamining cw #danie yells at tokyo debunker #danie yells answers #danie yells with anons #I ONLY HAVEN'T DONE TWO CHARACTERS I THINK. #i'll do them eventually even if no one asks haha #i have so many asks and reblogs and things i need to get to haha i'm sorry i'm such a mess everyone

[j-l-kepler]

I Turned My BG3 Tavs into Fake Origin Characters

CUZ NOBODY'S STOPPED ME YET

So here I was, scrolling through the BG3 tag when I come across a fantastic BG3 Template made by the extraordinary @dvgsart! Couldn't mcfreakin' help myself, I tell you.

So I took my 5 active non-Durge playthroughs (3 of which are 2-Tav saves) and slapped them in! Had a blast doing this, I tell you. All the beautiful Tavs I keep seeing just make me wanna gush about my own silly Tavs. Life's too short to not have fun.

[Putting the ART and everything below the cut because this is gonna be loooooong and y'all should get to opt out]

Yeah okay maybe I've written Companion Guides for 6/7 of these guys. I've had a lot of time at work lately, okay.

I call these guys the Stacked Seven because all of them have massive badonkadonks and I'm in desperate need of a new hobby. I can't help the fact drawing tits is very fun and I am horrendously bisexual.

ANYWAY lil bit of preamble you can skip -- I based their stats and weapons on what they'd be as Companions or Origin runs, not what their actual in-game stats are. Romantic Partners / Besties / Weapons are who and what they'd probably default to if they were just in ya party. I also put them in their Companion fits, not their in-game fits. AIGHT LET'S KICK IT OFF, IN ORDER

Eckhart Markolac

The Infernal Twins

Ayyy it's my guy, you might've seen my guy before! We're starting off in familiar territory. Also he's the only twunk here. RIP.

Eckhart is one roguish half of the whole known as the infamous Markolac Twins. He and his sister Emerleigh have spent years of their lives dedicated to paying off a debt they owe to the Undercellar through smuggling, cons and other life-threatening crimes. Now that the Nautiloid has picked them up and dumped them a long ways away from the Gate, he's faced with the consequences of his actions and the kind of freedom he never expected to grasp in his lifetime.

Eckhart shares a companion quest with Emerleigh - get these tadpoles outta their skulls and get back to Baldur's Gate! But will he return to face his debtor, go on the run for the rest of his life, or forsake a future he doesn't think he's good enough for?

For those who haven't met my angst machine of a rogue, Eckhart is a sarcastic, witty and vaguely sleazy guy who's basically your classic rogue. He comes complete with a detached attitude, lower (but not too low) moral standards, and a heart of gold under layers and layers of self sabotage and emotional dysfunction. He's just bad at hiding it.

Eck and Em would be recruited at the exact same time, and their tadpoles would make it so they cannot live for very long without the other. How? Why? Because I don't wanna write a whole freaking branch where one of the twins dies and the other just has to deal with that. Game branch logic is HARD TO WRITE, DAMN YOU.

Emerleigh Markolac

The Infernal Twins

Heyyy girl, it's Em, it's my girl!

Emerleigh is one bardic half of the whole known as the infamous Markolac Twins. She and her brother Eckhart have spent years of their lives dedicated to paying off a debt they owe to the Undercellar through smuggling, cons and other life-threatening crimes. Now that the Nautiloid has picked them up and dumped them a long ways away from the Gate, she's more determined than ever to hold onto this newfound freedom... more terrified of returning than she ever thought she could be.

Emerleigh shares a companion quest with Eckhart - get these tadpoles outta their skulls and get back to Baldur's Gate! But will she return to face her debtor, go on the run for the rest of her life, or deny herself the future she so desperately wants for her and her brother?

If you haven't met Em, she's your classic dramatic bard who speaks in poetry, prose and academia! She's friendly, mischievous, and has so so so many things she hasn't given herself the space to contend with emotionally. She's a pretty lady used to having a perfect mask demanded of her, craving a chance to speak bluntly and openly instead of wrapping herself up in layers upon layers of what other people want from her.

I've already written plenty about Em and Eck. The twins' stories are very interconnected, with the quest playing out the same beats from the perspective of whichever twin the player is playing/romancing/keeping in their party.

Canary Highfall

Child of Light

My other major 2-Tav playthrough I have yet to mention, and the first modded class I've played!

Canary's life has been dedicated to the pursuit of truth -- consequences be damned. Reuniting with her possessive estranged father has caused a lot of roadblocks for her, but her divine heritage won't stop her from her latest fascination: Mind Flayers. Specifically, the strange tadpole specimen she intercepted in her father's study. Her pursuits, assisted by her bodyguard and trusted friend Leryk, have resulted in the two of them playing host to those very same tadpoles! The questions are piling up, with one weighing heaviest on her mind: why did her father of all people have this specimen to begin with? And what does that mean for her and Leryk?

Canary's quest is separate from Leryk, as the first part of her companion quest is finding him. If the player completes the grove or tries to move to the next region without him while keeping Canary in the party or at camp, he'll just show up at their camp. They're a package deal from Act 2 onwards, so the player can either dismiss them both or keep them both. She's not going anywhere without her closest friend!

Canary is a feverously academic person with a focus on abnormal biology. Her noble position and all the restrictions that come with it are a recent development in her life, and one she only engages with for the resources it affords her when possible. She's extremely distrustful of authority and how nobility has a chokehold on academia, so finding out her estranged father is a hyper-paranoid aasimar descended from Lathander himself doesn't exactly help her faith in higher powers -- be they the divine or the political. She's a bit of a smartass and gets wrapped up in what she's doing so completely that she often doesn't consider the consequences. Despite her outward confidence, it's very easy to get her to start rambling or turn her into an absolute mess. Though she hates when Leryk treats her like a princess, she trusts him with her life and would do just about anything for him.

With Canary, I liked the idea of a Companion with a specific interest in Mind Flayers and a personal stake in the conspiracy much like Wyll does. She wouldn't be able to tell the player anything Halsin can't already say in much more detail since she hasn't made a lot of headway in her tadpole-specific research, though.

Leryk Coppperlot

Knight of the Dawn

He's the only one of my active saves that has a skin tone other than "human". Good job, Keps.

Leryk's life hasn't been very long so far, but very little of it has been uneventful until recently. Saved from his life as a ruthless mercenary at the age of 19, he's devoted himself to the Son of Lathander. When his savior's recently-discovered estranged daughter was placed in his care, Leryk then devoted his life to her. Duty blossomed into friendship, but Leryk's blind faith in Canary's father persists despite what Canary has to say about it. Now that they've both been tadpoled and whisked far away from the safety of the Gate, Leryk is determined to get Canary home no matter the cost. But can he face the horrific truth Canary is on the cusp of uncovering...? And what about the truths she's been hiding from him?

Leryk has that frantic "rookie soldier" energy. He's extremely combat-experienced, but he's terrible at wrangling in Canary since he's very easy to sway through enthusiasm alone. He's blindly devoted to Canary and even moreso to her father, but otherwise can be quite shrewd and cautious of others. Misjudging one's character used to mean death for him, and he learned that when his old mentor tried to turn him in for a bounty on his head. Leryk, despite this, has learned a lot from the kindness afforded to him and does his best to repay it. "Caution, but not discourtesy" is his motto.

Leryk's quest is separate from Canary, as the first part of his companion quest is finding her. If the player completes the grove or tries to move to the next region without her, she'll just show up at their camp. Since they're a package deal Act 2 onwards, the player can either dismiss them both or keep them both. Canary's his best friend and he is literally her bodyguard, after all.

I love devoted bodyguards. I love him so much. I like the idea of some Companions knowing each other or having pre-existing relationships. You know he's having a panic attack and is going to find her just chilling in the Goblin Camp like it's no big deal.

Briar Lockren

The Weary Ranger

okay so Briar was actually a fan companion BEFORE she was a Tav. I recently restarted her run in a 2-Tav where the other Tav is actually Default Dark Urge because this girl's perception proficiency is worthless if she hasn't slept enough. And she never sleeps enough.

After three years of wandering the Sword Coast, Briar has settled in Cloak Wood in hopes of outrunning her terrible luck. Her past involvement with one of Cyric's cults has left her branded with supernatural-levels of misfortune and nightmares plaguing her every time she falls asleep. She's basically a walking-talking tempest. Having fallen in and out of the Feywild and caused towns to burn without her say, Briar thought being picked up by the Nautiloid was simply another instance of her shit luck. So imagine her surprise when she got the first nightmare-free rest in three years. Free from the eyes of the one who cursed her, Briar's luck has suddenly changed.

Briar is a somewhat ditsy individual prone to taking inopportune naps just about anywhere. Originally from Luskan, Briar's time wandering and falling into ridiculously terrible situations has made her a pretty difficult person to rattle. She's kind and gentle despite all she's suffered, but blames herself for wandering around the way she does and causing trouble (settling down with her luck is impossible). Her passivity is what led to her situation, however, as the one who cursed her was her childhood friend-turned cult leader-turned Chosen of Cyric-turned ex-boyfriend. It's messy. Briar's very used to messy life situations.

Briar's probably my most developed Tav in terms of a Companion story since she was originally written to be one. I also will acknowledge her being half-drow but not LOOKING half-drow is partly due to my own personal cowardice, but it's also the result of her complicated heritage. Lotta drow in Luskan. The fact she doesn't look like her full-drow father should tip you off as to why he might not have especially liked his child, therefore neglecting her and giving her very few chances to adopt the cult's teachings for herself. Kinda hard to teach a child to become a religious narcissist when you keep telling her she's just inherently inferior.

Scarlet

The Scarlet Scourge

My longest-lived Tav... heeeey girl, hiiii~ I'm probably gonna play her in a campaign one of these days. Siiigh.

The Scarlet Scourge strikes fear into the hearts of the greedy aristocrats that call Baldur's Gate home. A street urchin whose life was ruined time and time again by those who have far too much money, Scarlet's dedicated her life to taking from those who won't miss it and giving to those who need it. But Scarlet's been stopping the plans of the corrupt for a long time, and it all began with some dangerous blueprints. Blueprints she quite literally carries within her soul. Now that she's crashed far beyond the anonymity the Gates afford her, the one she stole the plans from has a chance to find her all over again.

Scarlet is a highly confident and highly competent master thief. She takes great pride in her ingenuity and artificing skill, and won't let you forget it. She's fiercely independent and keeps people at a distance, even hiding her real name from those she gets close to. However, like every Robin Hood figure, she revels in her legend and genuinely adores the people she does it for. Scarlet may act arrogant, but she has the skill to back up her confidence and risks her life for altruism. Get her in front of a gadget, however, and her brain goes a mile a minute. (She's going to be fucking pissed when she sees how cool the Steel Defenders are and the awful ways they're being utilized)

Who doesn't love a Phantom Thief? I think she and Wyll would absolutely be besties if they didn't already know each other before the events of the game - they both love the people of Baldur's Gate, have super hero names, and are archetypes of a class they don't belong to (Wyll is a Paladin in a Warlock's body while Scarlet is a Rogue in an Artificer's body).

Rohku Eddervyn

The Oathbroken

My OTHER longest-lived Tav, and the oldest character of my active Tavs. He's the oldest of them as well in terms of character age.

Rohku has been given many titles over the years, but none of which he's found suit him. After awakening to his Oath in the wake of a Sharran attack during his time as an Acolyte, Rohku was once known as The Sun of the Seventh Dawn for reasons he'll spare you for now. But years of tracking down and slaughtering Dark Justiciars began to take their toll. When grief and rage gave way to emptiness, he understood the pull of Shar. Unable to hunt down those he now saw as victims, his Oath shattered. But his devotion remains. Now, as he searches for new meaning under the Moonmaiden's gaze, he tracks down an artifact said to have fallen into Sharran hands...

Rohku is a mature and quiet man, jaded by the world around him. He's tired of battles between good and evil, and now lives for what is kind -- in any form that takes. He's patient with people and thinks very little of what others think of him. His wisdom and experiences make him an excellent leader, and an even better listener. He often chooses to resolve conflict through his words rather than his blade, but his deadpan demeanor makes that difficult. But he can handle that when it's his own ass on the line. But Zweihanders aren't shields.

Rohku was the first masculine character I played in BG3 and I fell in love. He's so tired and sweet. He's kind of Halsin-esque in that he was thrust into leadership without his say and acts as a calming presence for those he makes camp with. And big. He's a big boy.

~~

Hee hee hee self call-out time! Yes I have noticed 3 of them have black hair, 3 of them are tieflings, 5 have a different hair color streaked in there (with 2 of them specifically graying at a young age), and only 1 of them is above the age of 30. Because I Am A Coward. Pobody's Nerfect.

Hope you kinda enjoyed my little Tav sound-off! If you have questions about them or wanna see more of them or, heck, even draw or write about them yourself, go craaaazy! I don't know how much of these ideas are, like, solidified. IDK I'm still playing around with them.

God I put too much work into these. I can't believe I do fan fiction now. Wild.

#bg3 #art #bg3 tav #bg3 art #bg3 fanfiction #bg3 fan companion #bg3 eckhart #bg3 emerleigh #bg3 canary #bg3 briar #bg3 leryk #bg3 rohku #bg3 scarlet #bg3 tavs #hee hee hee i had so much fun

[doonalli]

Ranmaru: Doubts in Humanity, and Humanity in Doubts (Ranmaru Character Analysis)

Ranmaru is a character who is already talked about lots in the community so I am not too sure how much I can add to the discussion, but I am sure gonna try.

Ranmaru's character is one that slowly doubts his humanity more and more as the chapter goes on, but even with that he shows an aspect of humanity like all the dummies do. He shows it though his doubts, and his doubt in his own humanity is one major component of that. 

His doubts start off small when we first meet him, not being very confident in his first conversations, and during the obstructor fight he is surprised when his plan ends up working out, and this lack of confidence continues throughout the chapter. When first entering the discussion room Ranmaru asks Sara an important question, he asks

and he adds that

however anyone who has played the game can tell you that this mentality doesn't last for long, because by the time the truth of the consent form is revealed, Ranmaru IS willing to kill. He even says as much 

So what changed? Why is Ranmaru now willing to kill? I'd argue it's because he has had doubts placed in him, since the scene in the discussion room played out it has been proven to Ranmaru that he IS in fact a doll, and he's become aware of the time limit placed on him through his battery and saw Kurumada get heavily injured, causing him to realise he doesn’t want to die.

Beyond that he also has a reason now, a goal, right before the fight with Maple she tells Sara and Ranmaru about the final round rule and Ranmaru finds out that there is a way he can leave alongside Sara, Ranmaru makes it clear that when he is with Sara, he feels more and more of a strive to live,

This moment shows just how much of Ranmaru’s own self value is tied to Sara. Her power to inspire is now put into a negative context, by inspiring Ranmaru, who at first didn’t even care for life, (shown in his victim video,) to want to live, it pushed him into a corner where there is only one way out. A way marked with murder. 

It recontextualises all the previous moments in the game where it was up to Sara to inspire the others like with Kanna or Nao or during the second Main Game by showing how it can just as much affect someone in a much more negative way. In the way Sara can inspire Nao to “overcome any difficulty” she can just as much push someone like Ranmaru into a situation where this want to live can lead to the worst scenario.

and this will to live is shown even before this moment. 

When Kurumada is injured and attached to the charger he tells everyone that the charger would be better used to extend the lives of the dummies, Ranmaru ends up being the only one present who doesn't speak up against it no matter what, Anzu does it by default, Hayasaka takes her place if she is dead and if they both ended up dying its Hinako who steps in, but Ranmaru always stays silent, even literally having a dialogue box in the logic route where he just goes

in place of where Kanna spoke against Kurumada in her route, right after he tries to give up the charger. It makes sense considering just how close we are to the scene where he outright tells Sara he is afraid to die.

When he brings up the idea of winning Sara at first refutes the idea, claiming she wants everyone to escape together, and Ranmaru agrees... until his doubts start to set in again, asking

He cites that the more he is with Sara the more and more he wants to live and the more afraid he gets to die. Sara responds by telling him that everyone feels the same, he says that that's exactly why they need to win, claiming that while he can't imagine killing Sara, he is sure he could kill anyone else pleading Sara to win for him. From this point on Ranmaru's actions and arc are defined by Sara's response. Starting with the Emotion route Sara tells Ranmaru that they are all allies and they overcome hardship together she makes it clear that Reko/Alice Qtaro Kanna and Gin would never do anything like that, and Ranmaru simply responds with

to Ranmaru Sara just compared him to all the humans, to her allies, and told him, while he is still struggling with his sense of humanity, that the HUMANS would never do what he tried to do, and Ranmaru takes it that way, claiming that he has no right to be her "friend", or "ally". while it was definitely not her intention as shown by the scene afterwards where she realizes that she was the one who gave him hope, even after he already gave up, and promises that while she can't make a choice like that, she won't abandon anyone, including Ranmaru, nonetheless the damage was already dealt and the effects of that are shown going forward...

We continue to see Ranmaru's doubts when he is faced with the choice to tag Kurumada, in the end however despite getting permission from Kurumada he decides what he is doing is wrong but that he lost the will to fight back against Midori, still unsure and doubting what he should do Hinako walks in to help.

After beating the charge collar game Ranmaru apologizes to everyone, or at least he tries to before Yabusame steps in and tells him that that's not what he says here, he then thanks everyone instead.

Later when interacting with Keiji's coffin and Sara thinks Keiji might have died Ranmaru is the one to step up in this route and tells Sara to not give up hope, while he isn't sure HOW Keiji got out, he is confident in his assertion that Keiji is alive, shutting down the doubts others have now instead of being the one who doubts.

The next major scene is Ranmaru's confrontation with Keiji. By calling Keiji through a fake announcement using his voice he confronts him in the classroom, hearing he killed Kurumada (or so he thought) he calls Keiji out for supposedly being a part of Asu-naro. He tells him Sara trusted him even signing the form for his sake, and in the end, he still brought Sara into the death game. Keiji calls him out for his jealousy claiming that he just wants to be the one to protect Sara, the one closest to her, even if he isn't in the right, but on this route Ranmaru denies it saying he doesn't matter in this and that he just wants to help Sara. Keiji responds that he can't be that person, and on this route only, specifically saying

Ranmaru responds in shocked silence, before saying of course he knows that and asking him to hand over Midori's head. Again, Ranmaru is told to his face that he is a doll and again he is told that he can't be close to Sara because of that, and he just accepts it now, feeding into that lack of humanity he felt and into his doubts from the previous time he was in the classroom, with Sara instead of Keiji. 

Having all these doubts pile on him, from Keiji, from Sara, from himself, he shocks both Sara and Keiji and takes Keiji away from there, making sure to take the ID card in the process, he makes his way to the AI-ciever and attempts to upload the Joe AI into him. He claims that he couldn't be anything after all, as if this thing, this inherently inhuman thing, was the only value he could give to Sara at this point as a doll. After all, leading up to this point he already has been useful to Sara through the use of his steam spray upgrade part. Throughout the chapter again and again Ranmaru is told that he can’t be Sara’s ally, that he can’t be the one closest to her, all things that Joe is. Ranmaru, in an effort to provide value to Sara and actually become that person, he literally almost loses himself in that process by giving up his own consciousness and replacing it with Joe’s, someone who was Sara’s friend, someone who can be the closest to her.

During the pre-Banquet Sara can ask Ranmaru 3 things, 2 of them directly being related to him as a doll, being his battery and asking him if he wants to change upgrade parts, even afterwards Ranmaru asks a simple question.

No longer really valuing himself as a human, but talking about himself as though he is a tool.

If all the dummies survived and Yabusame starts singing their song Ranmaru will have a moment of true happiness not stuck to his usefulness, He doesn’t feel the need to take something on himself, but instead he just tries to sit back, listening to the others, and he genuinely enjoys it.

However, if all the dummies survived and Yabusame starts singing their song Ranmaru will have a moment of true happiness not stuck to his usefulness, He doesn’t feel the need to take something on himself, but instead he just tries to sit back, listening to the others, and he genuinely enjoys it.

and if Kurumada dies he claims

Resolving himself, and when entering the coffins he either goes in with no complaints or he is actively the one telling everyone to enter, specifically if Kurumada is the only dummy to die he will say

Before going into the Banquet however, I think it's time to talk about the other route. In this route, when Ranmaru asks about winning, Sara instead of denying him like in the Emotion route, incites him into doing it himself, albeit implicitly. She tells Ranmaru SHE could never kill an ally causing Ranmaru to say he could do it himself, acting as a dark mirror to Sara's claim that they are all allies and that they wouldn't ever kill each other, she continues to tell Ranmaru that she wouldn't want to make Ranmaru do such a thing, but at this point Ranmaru has already decided to do it on his "own" so Sara isn't really fighting his remarks, finally Sara tells Ranmaru that she wouldn't want to hurt him, and that he is her precious friend. From the other route we could tell how much Ranmaru places value on his "friendship" and the same goes here, ultimately Sara breaks out of her mindset after Ranmaru brings up Keiji, but the damage is already done and Ranmaru got enough encouragement to start thinking of his plan.

In the way the Emotion Route shows the negative aspects of Sara inspiring everyone the Logic route shows the negative outcome of placing all this pressure on Sara through the overreliance on her, in a moment of weakness where she wants to be relieved of the pressure of her allies she ends up manipulating Ranmaru into taking that responsibility to have the two of them escape together on himself and relieve her of the pressure from her allies.

Until then though, the next time a big split between the routes happens is when Keiji is thought to be killed in his coffin. Instead of comforting Sara here Ranmaru does the exact opposite, despite Sou telling Sara he can't believe Keiji died Ranmaru doubts it, telling Sou that Keiji must be here since the shutter is still closed, using the same excuse he fought against in the other route, and he tells Sou to not give Sara half-hearted hope, Sou asks Ranmaru is he doesn't want Sara to have hope, which he denies before reluctantly agreeing to search for Keiji.

Finally, during his confrontation with Keiji, once he calls him out for wanting to be the one closest to Sara instead of denying it he asks his

which Keiji responds with by simply saying he can't, this time not even calling him a doll, or himself a murderer, just a

Ranmaru tells him to shut up and the rest of the interaction continues as normal with Sara being stunned alongside Keiji (although now Ranmaru claims he is going to save Keiji for last).

When Sara awakes Ranmaru shows up to reveal Kurumada "died" however this is proven false once Kurumada barges in and punches Ranmaru, he shouts at everyone to hurry to the lower floor locker room, and everyone does... Once entering Sara sees something horrible...

Yabusame dead, hanged by the ceiling trap in the room. Kurumada calls Ranmaru out for being the one who killed them, as he heard him over the transceiver saying something about winning, finally Ranmaru drops his facade and outright tells everyone he did it, much to the dismay of all the dummies, Midori enters and Ranmaru gives him back his ID card, asking him to get rid of the dummies in the process, which he obliges to by bringing Maple 2.0 to fight the survivors. After the fight, when Maple tries to kill Midori, Ranmaru will stun her causing her to fall and explode. Seeing how Ranmaru changes makes so much sense when considering things from his point of view, waking up as a doll the first thing he sees is a video of him dying, and in it all he can say to himself is 

something so tired, something so uncaring of whether you lived or died right until the end, having to see something like that coming from yourself would be so horrible to experience, and right after that he is told he can have another chance at life, as long as he can kill Sara. However when he meets Sara she ends up being someone who Ranmaru in his own words, makes him feel more and more like he wants to live, Ranmaru placed and his life's value on Sara but isn't able to live alongside her until Maple gives him an option that lets him escape alongside her and actually live. Sara's answer, whether it's encouragement or rejection, affects Ranmaru so deeply because of how much value he places on Sara.

It sort of plays into his whole speech about "making your own choices'', because despite his words of THAT being what defines a human, when he later takes off his hand, he still takes it as confirmation he isn't human, but even past that he continues to not make his own choices, now the choices are Sara's to make, or when he thinks about tagging Kurumada he never actually makes any choice, he just hesitates and doubts himself. Even going forward his confrontation with Keiji and what he does with the Joe AI is all for Sara's sake, not for his own, and him killing Yabusame, while partially for his own survival as called out by Hinako

is under the notion of protecting Sara and them BOTH escaping together. Even being instigated by Sara in the first place.

This lack of humanity continues into the Banquet where Ranmaru out right states it himself, even reveling in it on the Logic route.

However there is one moment in particular that shows a bit of growth on Ranmaru’s behalf, specifically in the emotion route.

When Anzu’s coffin is about to be picked Ranmaru will ask Midori to change his choice, telling him

and even when the other dummies express their doubts, saying that they could be picked instead, Ranmaru stands firm on his belief, not from a lack of value in himself, but from a belief Keiji’s coffin could be hit instead. Expanding his view from exclusively being about Sara to actually try and protect someone else, making good on his promise to not complain anymore and learning from the determination of the dummies.

Ultimately he still dies, dispelling Sara’s doubts in the emotion route, and asking for someone to save both Sara and Gin, or regretting not being able to get his “happy ending” he believed in during the logic route.

Ranmaru's character ends up so far removed from "humanity", but at the same time so different from where he started. Despite starting off by claiming to not be able to kill anyone, after seeing Kurumada injured, seeing his own battery was running out, and accepting he isn't human, Ranmaru brings up the idea and even possibly goes through with it, all due to his doubts of there being any other way of making it out with Sara. 

Despite this however I still think Ranmaru is human, because it's human to doubt your worth to the others around you, it's human to want more from your life, and it's human to doubt in yourself. Even if time and time again Ranmaru is shown to physically be a doll, and even if he thinks that proves his inhumanity, Ranmaru is still human, and his doubts are the very thing that proves it.

In a way I love how Ranmaru’s relationship with Sara evolves into something romantic, from Maple's words to the symbolism of the red string of fate to the very concept of the final round rule. It acts as an opposite to Joe’s platonic relationship with Sara in how he tries to be who Joe was, being the one closest to her, who protects her, despite never being able to, but I also love it because love is commonly portrayed as the most human emotion, the highest form of connection with someone, or else the best thing that could happen to someone, a “happy ending”.

But that isn’t the case with YTTD and following this “happy ending” ends up sending Ranmaru into a downwards spiral, but in a way that also prove his humanity, because YTTD makes it clear again and again through characters like Q-taro, like Sou, and of course, like Ranmaru, since humanity isn’t just about the best aspects of someone, but also the worst.

================================================

Wow I finally finished this lmao, took long enough. HOPEFULLY Mai and Hinako's will come out quicker but no more promises from me lol.

I was worried I wouldn't be able to add too much to the discussion around Ranmaru since he is obviously probably the MOST discussed when it comes to the Dummies or just 3-1 in general ngl (except Midori maybe lol) but I hope I managed to actually do it well in the end. If you did enjoy this though I would recommend checking out my posts on Anzu, Hayasaka, and Kuruamada too! I think I had more to say with them personally.

also you might have noticed a lack of me talking about the whole entire Yabusame death scene and the aftermath of that, I'm planning to make a whole post just about it because ITS SO GOOD ISTG and yet at the same time I see it so slandered, but I want to finish this series of posts first.

I also want to thank Crazy Sunshine for helping me with proof reading!!

and that's all! so thank you for reading!! hope you enjoyed!!!!

#your turn to die #yttd #yttd analysis #yttd dummies #yttd spoilers #ranmaru yttd #ranmaru kageyama #analysis #character analysis #what a loser ngl/aff

[getvalentined]

More Pokémon Holy/Meteor stuff. Nero's little profile isn't here because I have a whole picture of him on the same vein as Vincent's that I'd like to finish eventually. I am missing a handful of characters that would be in the "game," most notably the title's Professor (for which I am still torn between two options and may never settle) as well as Grimoire and Veld, who are both in the story but not technically integral to the main storyline(s).

There's a lot more than this bouncing around in my head but it's a lot so I'll stop with these and the notes below unless people are interested in something specific not covered here. (If so, drop me an ask and I'll happily answer! I love talking about my needlessly complicated crossover AUs, but they are so needlessly complicated that I don't generally just infodump about them.)

Other notes under the cut!

Cloud is the player character; the starting age for a Pokémon Journey in the Midgar region is 14, and he was 16 at the time of the accident, making him 21 during the main story. The storyline reflects this, as Cloud is much older than a standard protag for this series, but he's been out of the world recovering for long enough that he's still got a unique sort of naïveté. (Tifa would probably be the female protag but Cloud is the default here sorry.)

Sephiroth is the main "rival" in Pokémon Meteor, Genesis is the "rival" in Pokémon Holy, although they both appear in both titles and serve the same overall function for the narrative. They are not antagonists.

The Legendary for Meteor is "Jenosynthe," a reference to Jenova Synthesis; Holy has "Omegaia," which is a reference to Omega and to Gaia/Minerva. They have particular connections to Sephiroth and Genesis respectively, and Grimoire's contribution to the plot allows the player to obtain the other title's Legendary post-game.

The Midgar region is the only one to have "Variant" gyms, which focus on regional variants rather than a specific type. This is a new, secondary path with badges that can be mixed and matched with standard type-based gyms to reach the required number of badges to take on the League.

Other gym leaders: Kunsel (Psychic, he battles blindfolded), Reno and Rude (Electric), Yuffie (Hisuian variant), Rosso (Fighting*), Sonon (undecided on his gym but he's here), Weiss (Ground, because I love a stupid reference), and Chadley (secret unlockable Shiny variant gym, only accessible if you beat all the other gyms on both paths, bestows the Shiny charm), as well as others. *Veld's gym used to be Fighting-type but Tseng converted it when he took over following Veld's retirement, allowing Rosso to move out of her previous position with the League and set up a new one.

Other members of Team Helletic: Azul, Rayleigh, Gillian and Angeal (the "multi-generational multi-battle"), Sebastian and Essai (who are under the control of Something), and Shears, as well as others. Hollander was a member until the incident five years ago, which is implied to have led to his death.

Other important NPCs: Cid (the fast travel guy, may work with the Professor), Barret (runs the Pokémon breeding center), Cait Sith (a navi system that shows up through a specific set of sidequests and is revealed to be Reeve's at the end), Shelke (appears in the same sidequests as Cait Sith), Dio (runs a facility for fast EV training), and Johnny (nobody knows why he's here but he sure is), as well as others.

#pokemon holy/meteor #headcanon warning #pokemon crossover #final fantasy VII #FFVII #final fantasy 7 #FF7 #before crisis #crisis core #dirge of cerberus #the gang's all here!

[jack-kellys]

k so yall voted to see my 2023 final essay for a class called london in performance. which wasnt too serious. basically i compared the national theatre's phaedra [which i did not like that much tbh. one of the lines in my paper is "to truly send the criticism home, compared to the white critics who praised the play with four stars, Polish editor Andrzej Lukowski and Pakistani critic Arifa Akbar are the ones to only give two stars on the story that centers an illegal immigrant (The Stage)." just saying] as an adaptation of a classic greek play to the west end's general cash-in commercialization. and then my argument was that the center of that pendulum is somehow fucking newsies @ the troub im so sorry.

HERE ARE THE HIGHLIGHTS:

first of all i got to cite myself as like. an expert which was SO funny

"To preface, because of my five years of close knowledge about this subject matter, its multiple stagings, scripts, and casts, I am well aware that this musical as a whole is quite average."

importantly, my definition of a revival in this paper is "creating something accessible to a modern audience for the sake of improving and adapting an original source material into a performance". if it doesnt improve and/or adapt it then it fails imo

"Lines [in the script] that hold weight are sort of dropped, in favor of keeping the show hopeful at all times. The reflection lies in the younger generation taking hold of a new age, rather than in workers rights, child poverty and abuse, and unification.  Newsies at Wembley Park, the first professional revival and first iteration of the musical outside of the United States, flips this as a performance."

i called newsies 2012/livesies staging "left-right up-down" like a video game combo lmfao

"Wembley Park’s revival inserts viewers into the action of the city by default, but also the events that befall the newsboys.... Two police officers stalk in front of the audience as a scene with a new sense of impending doom plays out on the stage. The strikebreaking battle is... level with many of the audience’s seats, and boys escape officers and grown men through the aisles helping each other stand upright while shouts of “Move, move!” are called out .... as a pair hurry away up a ladder behind my aisle seat."

"The expansive take on staging (since as I said before, the musical itself is average) almost takes the place of design. ... Pulitzer’s desk resides on top of a platform of newspaper stacks, emphasizing his position in the hierarchy over the children selling those papers especially as the newsboys push it on with much effort. The towers are made to look like black metal with rust and peels. The lighting is white and natural during scenes. The ensemble’s costumes look more similar to each other, making them appear more unified visually compared to Broadway. The design is in the ensemble’s interactions, dance, and fluid movement through the city of the show, letting the performance and the dancers speak for themselves."

then mandatory michael section:

"What struck me the most watching it had to be Jack’s casting, and new character positionality within the context of the story. Never before has Jack Kelly been a Black newsboy union leader, not in any professional production. Played by Michael Ahomka-Lindsay, Jack’s role was much more electric. His fear of leading the strike became more personal, his baggage with the reform center gained more onstage intersectionality, his relationship with Katherine became even more complex and out of reach. It changes many of those past dropped lines, it made me hear lines differently than I had used to. It’s a more effective reflection that makes the events in the story a bit more tangible to an audience that could have initially been caught up in the grandiose dance numbers- not to mention the performance opening amidst strikes nationwide."

best part:

jack-kellys. "Welcome to..." Jack-Kellys, 23 Jan 2023, 3:46AM, this-is-what-i-mean-by-five-years-of-close-experience. 

#me when im MLA cited #i also talk abt phaedra for a while so yall missed that bigger part #uksies #newsies uk #newsies #analysis #like i do think that the less inhibited staging of this show bc of purely the space it was in. like #defined it #which is WHY i wish there was an arena stage newsies boot!! THEY WERE IN THE ROUND!!!! #their set was like a center stage version of the outsiders bway playground set thing #anyway #fizz writes #jack kelly #michael ahomka lindsay #who else do i even talk abt. #fizz freaks #i also dont think we talk AT ALL abt snyders obsession with catching jack specifically when hes a dark skinned black boy. #theres no way other kids havent also stole stuff. whys he Just obsessed with jack huh. hm. yeah. duh

[hogwartslegacypics]

The Mystery of Ominis Gaunt’s Wand

I was going to make a post analyzing his wand just like I did for Sebastian, but I’m having difficulties because I have no idea which wand is actually his.

The 1st wand it could be is the black one. When you Google search “Ominis Gaunt wand” a black one will show up. It’s so accepted as fact that there are even independent sellers selling the wand and advertising it as Ominis’s wand. But I don’t know if it is because it’s also Rookwood’s wand, which is very strange because no other wand in the game is assigned to two different people (there are some similar ones, but the developers at least changed the colors), and after multiple playthroughs I’ve never seen Ominis with this wand even once. Rookwood however is seen with this wand in cutscenes. Is this wand Rookwood’s alone and somehow has been attributed to Ominis as well?

I’ve followed Ominis around and tried a few quests he’s in to see if he’d get this wand out but he never did. He only carries a dark brown wand around. There’s also only one single cutscene in the entire game (unless I’m missing something) where Ominis has a wand out, and it’s not the black one. It’s not even the dark brown wand he carries around. It’s a light brown one. He does seem to be holding this wand in merch, but Sebastian doesn’t even have his right wand in his merch so I don’t know how much stake we should be putting into it. I feel like the merch might be early renders (like they use for pictures of them in game), and maybe this was gonna be his wand but they changed it to Rookwood’s because they didn’t want to make a new one for him and realized Ominis isn’t even in any cutscenes with his wand (besides that one in Potions class we barely see it in). I have no idea, just speculating.

The second wand it could be is the light brown one I just mentioned that we see him holding in the cutscene. I think this one is the most likely it due to the fact it’s the only time we see him holding a wand in a cutscene. None of the characters carry their actual wands around the castle (I like to call it in “NPC mode”), they carry default wands. Same thing for combat. Characters only have their customized wands during cutscenes, so wouldn’t this one technically be his? Strangely enough though, Ominis does have his own “NPC mode” wand, whereas the other NPCs all have one of two (a black one or a light brown one). I’m guessing this is because Ominis’ walking animation is unique to his NPC. So when they were designing his animations they gave him a different NPC wand, like that specific wand is coded specifically for his “NPC mode” animations.

The third wand it could be is the one I mentioned in the previous paragraph, his “NPC mode” one. I don’t think this is the case though since, even though it’s only used once, he does have a wand assigned to him for cutscenes. If he didn’t have his wand out for any cutscenes though, then he’d be like the other NPCs who either don’t get their wand out in cutscenes or who aren’t in cutscenes at all, because he wouldn’t have an actual personal wand assigned to him, only the default “NPC mode” wand. But anyways even if this was the case, his “NPC mode” wand is still unique to him.

In conclusion, this is a clusterfuck. Ominis has multiple wands? Which wand do I analyze? I know the black one is most popularly accepted as his, but can someone tell me how I can get him to hold it in game? Why is that one so broadly considered his wand if he never even holds it? Am I missing something? Y’all please help me out lmfao

I guess I’ll just base my post off of how I interpret his character in regard to wand information, and not based on the actual wand itself since I don’t know which one to use.

#i already wrote the whole post up based off of the black wand and then when i went in game to take pics of his wand i was sooo confused #i figured he wouldn’t carry it around since none of the characters carry around their custom wand #but i thought i’d at least be able to find it during a specific quest or something #but nope #i have so many save files and i tried so many of them #i did see one screenshot of him holding the black wand but i think it might be a mod that person used? #THIS IS A SCOOBY MYSTERY #hogwarts legacy #ominis gaunt

[autistichalsin]

When considering Halsin's polygamy, do you think it is just his way of coping with the scars and traumas of his past? He does admit that monogamy is acceptable, but not for him, and he often talks about roaming. However, the more I play this game, get to know him better, and analyze his character, the more I start to doubt that polygamy is not truly what Halsin wants. He has been through so much - pain, suffering, and torture. What if his polygamy is a shield he uses to protect himself from further pain? Perhaps he has realized that he's fallen in love with Tav and now he is afraid of losing them. Just as you mentioned in your previous post, he is afraid of being alone, rejected, and abandoned.

Just a note- it's polyamory, not polygamy. Polygamy refers specifically to marrying more than one woman.

I absolutely do not in any way, shape, or form, think that he's only polyamorous because of his trauma. Polyamory is who Halsin is. There's a devnote in Halsin's scene that says "sincere- this is a core belief of his."

Wood elves are polyamorous by default. The entire cultural belief is that jealousy is a waste of time, and exploring multiple relationships, as long as all people involved consent, is only natural. That is how he was even before becoming a druid.

This isn't an attack against you, anon, I know you were asking a genuine question in earnest, but I am so beyond tired of people trying to reinterpret all of the polyamorous characters in this game as actually monogamous people who are afraid/broken. Why do people insist on doing this? Is it that hard to conceive of a character with an alternative sexuality who actually is happy that way?

Let's just set aside the characterization reasons and look at it from a pure logical perspective. Halsin is the one to bring up polyamory with the player. He is the one to say this is a fundamental part of who he is. If the player answers that they don't have the same nature as he does and don't want a polyamorous relationship, the relationship doesn't progress. If Halsin was actually just pretending to be poly to avoid being abandoned, why would he not jump in at that point and go "oh, actually I'm okay with a monogamous relationship too, please don't leave?" Why would he be okay with the player leaving over this part of himself if it wasn't actually part of himself, just a lie he told to avoid being left alone? Because poly is who he actually is, not a lie he tells himself to engage in emotional self-harm.

Further, if he was so desperate not to be alone that he would deny who he is, he would actually be more likely to lie about being monogamous, not the other way around. Most people will flat-out refuse poly relationships (because it's not for them) and even call poly people perverts or cheaters. Halsin has probably forewent many other relationships before just because of this fundamental incompatibility. If he was scared of being alone, he would be far likelier to pretend he was happy with one person, so that he would be able to find a partner without navigating that situation, than he would to pretend to be some identity that already makes it harder to find a partner to begin with, and that often causes intense strain on relationships when mismanaged to the point that it can easily be the cause of many relationships ending.

Being poly isn't something you lie about because you want not to be alone- being poly makes it infinitely harder to find a relationship just by its nature.

Halsin is "poly and traumatized" not "poly because he's traumatized." It is absolutely absurd to deny his repeated statements that this is who he is and what he wants. Again, no offense, anon, and I hope this doesn't upset you, but I really have no patience for attempts to dismiss a core part of Halsin's identity as a maladaptive coping mechanism.

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

[accirax]

DRDT Archetype Analysis + Predictions

Recently, I was reminded of this post I made a while ago about the repeating archetypes of canon Danganronpa casts (and how I invited people to apply it to their own fangans/fangans they liked). And I thought, hey! I can do that myself with a fangan I have very vocally enjoyed: Danganronpa: Despair Time!

To be clear, I am very much NOT accusing DRDTdev of being unoriginal or ripping anything off. The cast is one of the things I like most about DRDT, and that’s because they’re all very inventive, exciting, and well-developed characters who make surprising yet never out of character choices.

However, I also think that they fit the archetypes I developed quite well. This is for two reasons: one, the dev has almost certainly played the canon games, and therefore may have been inspired by them. The plot (or at least the motives) thus far seem to be strongly inspired by Trigger Happy Havoc, so it would make sense if some of the characters could have been too. And, secondly, I posited in the original post that this assortment of archetypes made for a good and well-balanced cast in general. It’s possible that DRDTdev had no intentions of paralleling anything, and simply came up with the cast that they did because these types of people work well together.

I’m probably disclaiming too hard again.

Anyways, this post is part character analysis and part story predictions. I’ll explain how and why I think each character lines up with the archetype I chose for them, and in some cases, how I think they might follow or defy the narrative staples set by their predecessors. As such, there are major spoilers for all three mainline Danganronpa games, as well as DRDT through Chapter 2 Part 1. Let’s get started!

“The Protagonist can be basically whoever you want. The main attributes they probably need are a generally friendly and sociable disposition (to facilitate FTEs), and enough intellect to survive a Class Trial without too much help. However, they likely harbor some elements of self-doubt and possess an ultimately hopeful attitude.”

(I wish I’d had a less obvious assignment to hook people in, but that's just how the cookie crumbles.)

Well, Teruko kind of fills the role of protagonist by default, because… she’s the protagonist. However, as many have noted, she’s a bit atypical in the role. But, that’s okay! Because the Protagonist is probably the most flexible role of all. Really, the only boundaries on it are the ones set by the mechanics and flow of the game.

Teruko is far less sociable than Makoto, Hajime, or Kaede (or even Shuichi), but the format of DRDT gets around that by not actually having any FTEs in the main story. And, even in the Bonus Episodes, Teruko doesn’t participate. In the main story (especially after Chapter 1), Teruko pretty much only stumbles into conversations, or has someone else initiate them. FTEs are the one point of the game where you have to explain why the protagonist is going out and seeking conversations on their own, so it works very well that DRDT was published in a format where that doesn’t have to happen. The intellect is obvious– Teruko is very possibly the smartest person in the Class Trial, so there’s never any question of whether she would be smart enough to solve any of the mechanics.

The other two aspects aren’t as important to being a protagonist; they’re just common threads that I noticed happened to be shared by Makoto, Hajime, and Kaede. Teruko doesn’t have self-doubt as much as self-hatred, but I think that Makoto’s self-doubt originated from him being a player insert. This was the first time that anyone had ever played a Danganronpa game, so of course they might be a little nervous going into it! However, those who watch DRDT are almost certainly familiar with at least one Danganronpa game before they watch, and beyond that, you don’t even play as Teruko. Thus, Teruko doesn’t need to be someone the “player” needed to relate to at all. It’s one of the many reasons why I think DRDT uses its existence as a video series brilliantly.

The “ultimately hopeful attitude”... has yet to be seen. This is important if Teruko needs to give a big hope speech at the Chapter 6 Trial, but there’s no guarantee that’ll happen. It’s possible that she could get to the Chapter 6 Trial and still refuse to believe in others, likely if she winds up being the mastermind. Or, she could die before she makes it there! I still believe that Teruko could have the hope necessary to fit the standard protagonist mold, but DRDT is full of subversions. I look forward to seeing what happens with her character!

“The Calculating Support aids the protagonist, specifically in the logic department. They’ll bring important deductions in each Class Trial they attend, and tend to have an important role in the story’s plot. Giving them an arc where they open up more and gain friends goes a long way to endear them to the audience.”

Surprised to see Min in the support slot? Probably not. After all, it was pretty clear to me that the Chapter 1 Investigation was meant to tell us that, after Xander died, Min was going to be the real support character of the game.

… Didn’t work out so well for her, but, hey, A for effort.

Being the Ultimate Student, Min is obviously quite smart. She took a pretty active role in the Chapter 1 Trial, despite being the blackened. Being the blackened, however, limited her ability to attend more than one Trial, or have an important role in the story’s plot. That’s not to say she’s irrelevant, though– by being a false support, Min cemented her role in the story as the person to fully extinguish Teruko’s potential trust. Maybe if it was just Xander, Teruko could have believed he was just a bad apple and gone on to trust most of the others. However, after Min ALSO pretended to be her friend and was willing to sacrifice not just Teruko, but everyone else to stay alive, Teruko learned that no one was to be trusted.

I’m going to talk about subversions a lot in this post, both in analyzing things that have happened and things that I speculate might happen, because I think it’s something DRDTdev does quite well. A lot of characters, in my mind, are set up to appear like one archetype in the moment, but then do something different with the role in a creative way. Min is a subversion of the Calculating Support to make you feel the same surprise and betrayal that Teruko did. You think she’s going to be your new best friend, your Kyoko, your Chiaki, your Shuichi, and then they rip her away from you. And it sucks!

It sucks extra because Min also has a quickly implemented rendition of the “opening up to people” plot. She seems really closed off in her introduction, hiding her face behind a book, but helps everyone to bake regardless. She sees that Teruko is trying her best despite her bad luck, and develops a tentative friendship with her and the other two girls in the baking crew. Thus, when she sees her new friend being attacked, she acts on her character development and defends Teruko. Her reveal of this fact in the Class Trial endears us to her greatly before she dies, left wondering how much more sociable and helpful she could have become if she weren’t trapped in this damn killing game.

…Sorry for the downer! That’s just what happens when your new bestie is the Chapter 1 killer.

“The Chaotic Bastard causes trouble for the protagonist in unexpected and complicated ways, and drives a lot of the story’s conflicts. They’re very smart, so as to pose a serious threat to the survival of the group. Their outlandish ways give them a great chance of being the most popular and memorable character in the game.”

Thank god I’m writing this after Chapter 2 Episode 11! It makes putting David in this role much easier.

After all, it was in Chapter 2 Episode 11 that David fully revealed the main way in which he had driven the conflicts thus far– namely, his decision to encourage everyone to share their secrets in the hopes that another murder would occur. In that episode, he also has his second Rebuttal Showdown with Teruko, hitting two for two on that particular mechanic. Given that Teruko appears to be losing the second Showdown until Charles cuts in, I think that more than enough proves that David is smart, and specifically, smart enough to be a legitimate rival to Teruko.

The popularity is… well, already apparent. Although I wasn’t there at the time 2-11 dropped, all the evidence left behind seems to indicate that David quickly skyrocketed to being one of, if not the most popular character after his diabolical debut. You can really feel this role in the fandom’s reaction, I believe. Those who are fans of Junko, Nagito, or Kokichi are excitedly clapping their hands and grabbing the popcorn, whereas those who hated that trio are groaning at the thought of having to deal with one of those bastards again.

If David is meant to be a subversion of the Chaotic Bastard and not just an example of one, I honestly think the most likely way for him to do it is to survive. Yes, he could also do it by dying surprisingly early, but then the game would lack its Chaotic Bastard. Given Teruko’s arc about trusting people, missing out on her greatest antagonist could be a missed opportunity (but also, someone else could rise up to take on the role). Junko, Nagito, and Kokichi didn’t really go through positive growth arcs. Thus, it would be interesting to see what happened if a Chaotic Bastard actually made it to the end and had to change as a person.

Or, he could just actually be the Chapter 5 killer or something! Place your bets now.

“The Jerk might start off insulting the Protagonist, making themself an easy early enemy with their confrontational ways. But by the end of the story, they’ll undergo a character arc where they land beside the Protagonist as a trusted ally. The Jerk has high odds of surviving, due to their innate setup and payoff of personality.”

I’m surely not the first person to draw comparisons between Charles and Byakuya, and I likely won’t be the last. From his role in the Chapter 1 area investigation, Charles has been playing The Jerk pretty textbook. He insulted Teruko, Levi, and Arturo (and Xander and Whit in his introduction, too), setting himself up as an adversary.

And yet, we’ve already seen his character arc start to play out! Whereas Byakuya was making himself more antagonistic by messing with the crime scene, Fuyuhiko was orchestrating Mahiru’s death, and Maki was keeping her true talent a secret, Charles has made a true friend in Whit. He’s already proven to be one of Teruko’s strongest allies, respecting the kind of life she currently wants to lead while trying to convince her of the more trusting life she should lead. Between his newfound fear of blood and the realization that he forgot a good chunk of his childhood, he realized he wasn’t as infallible as he thought, and became a more understanding person as a result.

However… it’s for these exact reasons that I’m worried for him. While Byakuya, Fuyuhiko, and Maki were just beginning their arcs as of Chapter 2, given how much Charles has changed, you could argue that he’s just ended his. As is described above, the Jerk tends to survive “due to their innate setup and payoff of personality.” What happens if we’re in Chapter 2 and the Jerk has already paid off that setup?

It’s why I’m worried that Charles will be a subversion of the Jerk by dying. The Jerk typically has a long-running character arc that ends in survival; Charles has a short-running character arc that ends with a stint as a victim. It’s by no means set in stone (you don’t have to believe in any of this subversion speculation, it’s just my personal musings), but it’s a definite possibility. I get the argument for Charles surviving, as any good Jerk would, but… doesn’t it feel a little too good to be true?

“Whether they leave the game early or not, the Early Mystery sets up a question in the audience’s mind that will have renewed importance later in the story, possibly surrounding the main plot. Because secrets are within their nature, a closed-off and mysterious disposition will make it easier to not give too much away.”

Another role kinda assigned by default. Xander is the first death with a lot of secrets, hence, he’s the Early Mystery. RIP to his eligibility for the Sporty Dumbass.

There are still several questions surrounding Xander after his death. Like, was he guy in the intro? I think so, but, if that’s the case, what was the killing game he was trying to stop? Why did he need to kill Teruko, and, who was the one that wrote that note telling him to do so? What happened to his eye? The motive secrets were released after he died– which one was his?

Well, okay, Xander’s Bonus Episode Visiting Graves made it fairly clear that his secret is probably the “dead parents and siblings” one. But, about that Bonus Episode– what exactly happened in North C and Chariton? How was the Spurling Foundation involved, and what relevance does it have to the killing game? What document was he looking for at “Unnamed Student’s” request? These are just a few questions I’d like to ask of Xander that I can’t without a ouija board.

As a final note, I will add that Xander really didn’t have the closed-off and mysterious disposition that I wrote about above. However, I never said that was a necessity. Honestly, I think it’s much more fun that DRDTdev went down the path of making him so sociable and friendly that he didn’t give too much away. Xander was too busy arm wrestling Ace and fanboying over David; he didn’t have time to loredump!

“The Stalker is obsessed with another member of the cast, often in a romantic manner that the other person doesn’t reciprocate. They’re very over-the-top comedic relief, with silly sprites. In a lighter setting, you could boil this role down to ‘someone whose characterization is unignorably tied to another character.’”

Well, DRDT is definitely not a lighter setting. However, you could still make a pretty good argument that Arturo’s character as it is now would be far less potent without J’s presence.

Similar to David, Arturo’s stalker-hood only comes into play in Chapter 2, once J is revealed as a celebrity. I don’t think he’s necessarily romantically interested in J (moreso in her mom, honestly), but it’s definitely true that J does not condone his actions. And yet, Arturo follows her around, so intensely single-minded that it’s darkly comedic. Both Arturo’s mega simp sprites and intense reactions of disgust qualify for over-the-top silly sprites– I know I’ve gotten some good laughs out of them, especially when paired with the “beneath me!” or “beautiful people~!” voice lines.

It’ll be interesting to see how Arturo reacts to J in Chapter 3’s daily life (assuming both of them make it there) after she betrayed him by revealing his secret. Sonia and Himiko never really had a big declaration of war on Kazuichi or Tenko, and Toko was enough of a simp that she bounced back from Byakuya underhandedly revealing her identity as Genocide Jack. Will Arturo be the same?

Alternately, if J is the Chapter 2 blackened (as many people predict), it would be interesting to explore what the Stalker archetype would do if the object of their affections was suddenly gone. Toko and Byakuya and Kazuichi and Sonia both survived together, and although Himiko survived, Tenko died. Given that Arturo did have more of a character established before he started bothering J, maybe he would just return to that state? I’m not sure what purpose there would have been for building that relationship in that case, then, but I’m sure it would be something. 

“No way around this one: the Horny One is horny. When there’s a lull in conversation, they’ll spout some sexual humor that’ll leave the audience cackling or cringing. They direct their comments at everyone, not one person in particular. If this type of humor’s not your favorite, they can be substituted with different comedic relief.”

Whit… Whit my boy… there is so much more to your character than being the Horny One… you’re not even that horny… I’m sorry…

Still though, I think this is the right place for him. Whit is quite flirtatious, even if it’s not as outrageously sexual as something like what Teruteru or Miu would say. He also has spread his commentary around– not by much, but he’s at least said flirtatious things to both Teruko and Charles, and suggested that Teruko and Xander should be a couple. As far as I remember, he’s one of only two characters to bring up sex by name (source: his and Charles’ FTE), the other being MonoTV (I am NOT scrubbing through the entire series to confirm this is true).

Additionally, there’s the angle that I tacked on to the end: if being horny isn’t the author’s style, they can sub in a different comedic relief. This DEFINITELY works. Whit constantly cracks jokes with the canonical intention to make people smile. Even beyond his role in the story, I think he sees himself as the group’s comic relief. And, sometimes, those jokes happen to be a bit flirtatious in nature. That just helps him fill the role even better!

In terms of subversions and predictions, I think it would have to be giving him a more serious role in the story. None of Hifumi, Teruteru, or Miu really have any sort of long-lasting dramatic weight to their character. Hifumi’s only major relationship is to Celeste, which is played for laughs to show how pathetic he is. Teruteru is gone too soon to have a major impact on a cast that initially dislikes him, even if his tragic relationship with his mother makes a good run for its money. Miu survives the longest, and thus is probably the most important of the trio. But, even still, her relationships with Kokichi and Kiibo don’t lead to her character making any sort of major changes.

It could definitely be a subversion of the silly Horny One trope to give it the seriously important role of being the mastermind. Or, Whit could have his heart jerked around by our resident Jerk’s death, and have to figure out who he is when he’s incapable of laughing it off. Either option seems to project a long run onto his character… so, this analysis is definitely true! There’s absolutely no way that Whit could die early, and no best boy privileges were invoked in the typing of that sentence!

“Although the Sacrificial Strong One’s biceps are large, their heart is the strongest muscle of all. They’re a reliably kind member of the cast whose mental and physical fortitude are instantly likable. To tug at the audience’s heartstrings, they’re often involved in a sacrifice of some sort… willingly or not. But probably in Ch4.”

Look, man: even if Levi doesn’t actually get buff cursed in Chapter 4, it’s pretty clear that that’s the sort of thought we were all supposed to have when we first looked at him. He’s contemplative like Sakura, helpful like Nekomaru, and strives to be a good person like Gonta. He’s the only noticeably muscular member of the cast, even though Xander is very clearly stronger than him.

Not to mention, he already was involved in a sacrifice (sort of) in the Prologue. He was the one to attack MonoTV in hopes of ending the killing game. Sure, he probably wasn’t expecting to get attacked and nearly killed in return, but he also never outwardly regrets doing it, either. Yup! Levi is just a super strong sweetheart who might die, but if he does, it’ll probably be in a totally wholesome way.

…

…

… Subversion time!

Based on literally my own poll, I know that the majority of the fandom thinks that Levi will be the blackened of this very chapter. And, while it’s still possible that Arei’s death could have been a sacrifice of some sort, it seems unlikely given the probably brutal way she was killed (most sacrifices wouldn’t involve snapping your volunteer’s neck, I think). Especially if part of Levi’s motive was the secret that’s likely his, the “murderer without remorse” one. If Levi killed without remorse once, it’s possible he could do it again. And while it’s not like Sakura or Nekomaru seemed to regret what they did much, they themselves were the victims. That makes it a lot more likely that all parties would consent to the situation.

If you don’t think Levi will die as the blackened, there are still other options as well, obviously. Such as Levi Accomplice Theory, my personal favorite! That would be an extra level of subversion to the sacrifice. If he were helping a different blackened as an accomplice, instead of sacrificing himself, he would potentially be willing to sacrifice the others. Given that accomplice!Levi would probably make it through this Trial, he would be faced with the hatred of everyone who knew that he was willing to gamble their lives.

Levi could also not be involved in Arei’s death at all. That leaves the door open for him to still be a real, genuine Chapter 4 sacrifice. Or, let’s say that Ace either dies as the Chapter 2 killer or continues to hate and distrust Levi, pushing Levi to the brink (“why do I even bother?”). He could still become a blackened for selfish reasons abd subvert the stereotype, just on a later time frame.

Or, Levi could just survive! That’s something that the Sacrificial Strong One hasn’t done yet. It’s weirdly easy to forget that’s a possibility…

“The Caretaker takes a role of guidance and leadership for the cast in a stern, parental sort of way. Although they might have some old-fashioned ideals, they’re friendly and reliable. They tend to die early as an easy way to make things hard for the other characters, left mourning someone who didn’t deserve what they got.”

Well, that was easy. Hu definitely plays the role of the mom friend, admitting herself that she needs people to rely on her or else she’ll feel useless. She guides the group in several ways, such as when she advises Teruko to pair up with Charles in the Chapter 1 Area Investigation or gives Nico her support during their outing.

While I don’t think she believes in old-fashioned ideals the same way that someone like Mahiru does, her character is undeniably connected with the past and tradition. She plays an ancient instrument, and chose to go by the name “Hu Jing” to honor her parents and the name they gave her.

Where Hu’s character will go with regards to this archetype (and in general) is an interesting debate. Hu was the second most anticipated blackened for this chapter as per the poll, so if she did kill Arei, it could contrast the “friendly leadership” idea. However, it’s not like Kirumi wasn’t the Chapter 2 blackened– and for somewhat selfish reasons, too. Some could argue that it just means that it’s even more likely that it’s possible to happen, and I’m not totally opposed to the idea. But I want to consider options where Hu doesn’t die in Chapter 2 as well (considering she’s not even my personal blackened pick).

Assuming she (and everyone else I mention; you can remove the others if you think they die) survives into the next chapter, Hu will be in a very interesting place. Given that David has defected, she’s probably the last shot at a leader that the group’s got at the moment, making her a perfect Caretaker. Or, maybe not so perfect: Ace already hates her, Nico may grow offended at her babying, and David will probably be trying to undermine her efforts.

Hu could subvert the expectations of a Caretaker by being more opposed than anyone else was. Although Taka fell from his position as leader, nobody resented him for the intense grief he felt. Some of the boys might have disliked Mahiru because of her gender-based insults, but she was never a publicly opposed figure. Everyone relied on and loved Kirumi in Daily Life, and even after she tried to get them all killed so she could escape, people thought about condoning the sacrifice and rooted for her to escape.

There’s also the matter of Hu's hidden quote, “I want to pay for what I’ve done. But even then, I still want to live.” That suggests that she might do something controversial in the future that she’ll want to apologize for. If she is a more controversial figure, then the “mourning [Hu, who] didn’t deserve what [she] got” might not happen. She could become more of a villain.

Like Levi, there’s also the option where she survives! As stated, the Caretaker is a role that typically dies, and dies early. It would be interesting to see how a level-headed leader would react to the typical endgame craziness, especially in a Trial 6. Would Hu keep her cool and be a figure that everyone can rely on, or would she not be able to handle all the chaos and pop off? A late game finish, especially as a Chapter 4 or 5 blackened, would also be really interesting to explore– the rise and fall of someone who started off only wanting to help.

If it wasn’t already obvious, I really hope Hu survives this trial, because there are a lot of interesting places her character could go from here. In my opinion, she’s probably the character we’ve gotten the least individual focus on in the content so far. I’m speculating that that may mean she’ll be a central figure in Chapter 3, but we’ll see how the end of the Trial plays out.

“The Space Case is a weird but fun character that provides some bizarre comedic levity in dark moments. While they’re generally amiable people, there’s something undeniably weird about them that makes the protagonist hesitant to get too close at first. Their talent is likely artistic or metaphysical in nature.”

Aw yeah, check out that artist going on the art one! #ArtMoment.

Even so, it’s no stretch of the imagination to call Rose a Space Case. Although she’s generally pretty logical, not making the same kinds of bizarre claims that Hiro, Ibuki, or Angie would, her forgetfulness makes her come off as a bit of an airhead. Her thoughts can appear odd, like saying that she was staring at the paint, before she explains herself.

That “forgetfulness” is also the thing that makes Teruko hesitant to get close to her. Well, okay, maybe not Teruko– she doesn’t need any help not getting close to people– but, for all of the others! Rose has notably few friends, and the person who was arguably closest to her, Nico, (probably) betrayed her by stealing the turpentine from under her nose to kill Ace. Clearly, something about Rose is keeping people away from her, and I think it’s how little she appears to be taking the game seriously.

With the focus on her tragic backstory in Chapter 2, it’s also weirdly easy to forget how funny Rose is. She’s the center of a lot of great jokes! Her falling asleep at the table, suddenly throwing black paint all over her masterpiece, and pulling out the smart guy glasses when running her chromatography exercise are all great examples of how she’s still an effective comic relief character, haunting nightmares be damned.

Speaking of, Rose’s melancholy, her “ego cogito ergo (turbatus) sum” lifestyle, is the main way that she subverts the Space Case archetype. Space Cases aren’t supposed to have deep, tragic regrets, they’re supposed to make silly predictions and refer to themselves in the third person…! Angie was definitely more of a force to be reckoned with than Hiro or Ibuki, but even then, the Student Council made her more of a frightening enemy than a pitiable figure. It’s an interesting contrast to give a character who’s so disconnected from reality a backstory that firmly, inescapably ties to it.

Furthermore, the Space Case has never been a killer. Does this mean that Rose could be pushed to kill by the debt that weighs her family down or the desire to preserve her mind before it’s further plagued with despairful imagery? Eh, maybe. I still think that Rose might survive, but that’s a straight up vibe check with no actual textual evidence to point to. Just… watch out for Chapter 3, queen. Ibuki and Angie are rooting for you…!

“Although they have their clear quirks, the Nice One is a generally friendly and normal character that the protagonist can befriend without much issue. They can be important as a relatable everyman that reacts to bizarre events or twists realistically. The main criticism they’ll probably face is being too boring, basic, or underdeveloped.”

Similar to how the protagonist in the killing game doesn’t typically take much issue with the Nice One, I don’t think many people would take much issue with me calling Eden a nice person. A Good Person, even. Haha. Ha.

Like Hina with her donuts, Sonia with her serial killers, or Kiibo with learning to be human, Eden is a little quirky. Her addition of extra sprinkles and the idea to put silly faces on the clock faces endear her to us by reminding us of the cheerful people in our day-to-day lives. Most people could also probably relate to her crying reactions in stressful Class Trial moments or body discoveries. After all, if most of us were really there, we probably wouldn’t have the level head Teruko manages to keep.

Despite it only being Chapter 2, however, I feel like Eden has dodged many of the criticisms of bland characterization that Hina, Sonia, and Kiibo have faced. That’s because in only two chapters, Eden has established herself as a central figure in this story (or at least the story of this chapter). She’s had moments of doubt and moments of pride, tried to reunite the group yet failed to execute her goals, and given Teruko a rundown on her entire worldview. Eden has undoubtedly changed a lot through her relationship with Arei.

If subversions are at play with Eden, I think it’s almost certain that she dies at some point. I know that Kiibo isn’t technically a survivor of v3, but he absolutely could have been. If you come at it from that perspective, then the only archetypes with three survivors in it are the Nice One and the Jerk, and I’ve already laid out why I don’t think Charles is going to survive. Not even the Protagonist makes it out with three survivors…!

Anyways, if you’ve been following my DRDT viewing experience, you probably already know that I believe Eden to be the blackened of Chapter 2. Such an early death, especially one with such a brutal murder method, would be a total blindside on what people would expect from the Nice One. Some people might say that it would be such a blindside that it would be character assassination were it to happen, but I believe that the groundwork has been laid such that she could plausibly be the killer AND the same ol’ nice Eden that we’ve come to love throughout the first two chapters.

Alternately, she could also die later in the story. I think in pretty much any situation, being a killer would be a more interesting twist on the Nice One than being a victim. A Nice One victim would probably be more of a “oh no, they were so kind, who would have done this?”, while a killer would follow more of a fall from grace. I would rather see the latter as a deeper dive into her character and what might cause a nice character like her to snap, but I’m aware that’s just my opinion. Either way, I sadly don’t think Eden will be a survivor of this game. If I’m proven wrong, though, I wouldn’t be mad– the DRDT universe clearly needs more Nice Ones in it.

“The Quiet Victim is a shy or anxious character who may initially struggle to meaningfully communicate with the rest of the cast. They were probably a victim of bullying in the past. While the audience initially pities them, their development will make the audience solidify an opinion in the end, whether positive or negative.”

Anxious? Check. Struggle talking? Check. Bullied in the past? Not only bullied, but overwhelmingly discriminated against as well– triple check. Man, this character analysis thing is easy! (/j)

Still, Nico definitely feels like the Chihiro of their cast, down to the focus on gender and association with a murder in the Gym. While they do still say some blunt things in Chapter 1, there’s much more of a focus and explanation of it in Chapter 2. Thus, I think it’d be fair to say that the writing may have intentionally made Nico seem like more of a Quiet Victim than they appeared to be just to better pull the rug out from under us later. Increase the pity so that there’s more of a WTF moment when they go sicko mode on Ace.

The Shy Victim already has a lot of variation to it, which makes it difficult to assess how Nico’s character might play out whether you think DRDTdev is playing it by the book or running with a subversion. Chihiro was a Quiet Victim who tried to become brave, and became a tragic early victim because of it. Mikan was a Quiet Victim who’s helpful heart led to her accidental corruption, transforming her into an unforgivable blackened for the sake of despair. Himiko was a Quiet Victim who found encouragement from Tenko and solace with Angie, and mourning both of their deaths turned her into a worthwhile survivor. So, what about Nico?

If I had to speculate (which, of course, this entire post is entirely consisted of), I would say that Nico is going for a “Mikan, but better” scenario. Nico’s already had the moral grayness and (attempted) murder inserted into their character, now they just have to reap the narrative rewards. Unlike Mikan, Nico’s character development was internally motivated (well, okay, it was externally motivated by Ace, but that bullying made Nico have an internal revelation) instead of being forcibly enacted by a magical disease. That makes any changes or consequences that occur feel much more fair for their character. Giving them some time after their probable lowest point also gives them time for a potential redemption arc, which could be very interesting to see.

I still guess that Nico will probably die in Chapter 3 or 4, but that’s another entirely unsubstantiated opinion. If they did survive, though, that’d be a W for the nonbinary community, so 👍 Rooting for ya, buddy!

“The Fandom’s Scapegoat is a unique role, being more determined by reception than the actual text. In the story, the character takes some morally gray actions. For whatever reasons, the fandom then decides to hate them, being hypocritically harder on them as compared to others. Their fans, however, will defend them to the death.”

Oh boy. Look, I don’t enjoy putting J here. I don’t want to imply that I don’t think anybody likes J, or that people shouldn’t like J, because that’s not how I feel at all! Honestly, this role is kind of broken, and if I were to make this post again, I’d probably change it.

The role would be titled something more like “The Poorly Remembered,” and focus more on how their writing seems to leave the audience remembering one of their worst, if not their worst, traits. For Sayaka, her betrayal, for Hiyoko, her bullying and whininess, and for Tsumugi, her repetitive plainness and the unpopular twist she heralded. There’s more to all of their characters than just those few traits, but it can be easy to forget that based on how their stories ended.

J still wouldn’t fit that role super well, as there are many more obvious reasons to like her character. Her blunt insults can be funny, her tsundere moments are pretty cute, and you can’t help but feel bad for her as a victim of Arturo’s stalking. Still, I would say that her most prominent character trait is her hatred of all things girly and subsequent denouncement of her mom, which can be annoying to some. I have a personal pet peeve against “just like other girl” types (I still like J enough, don’t worry), so hopefully that isn’t bleeding into my analysis too much.

Still, out of the cast, I think J might fit the Fandom’s Scapegoat role the best. Thankfully I’ve never seen anybody insist that she should just give Arturo a chance, because that’s definitely the wrong move. She did take a morally gray action surrounding Arturo, though, which is when she revealed his secret in the Class Trial. While it was probably the right thing to do, given that everyone will die if the truth isn’t revealed, the manner in which she did it speaks to a potential sadistic side. 

I’ve also seen the sentiment spread that in Trial 2 (and maybe Trial 1 as well, I wasn’t in the fandom at that time) some people believe in swap theory because they would simply prefer J to be dead over Arei, who they like better. Similarly, some people were willing to believe that J could be the killer in either chapter simply because she was the character people were most willing to part with. I am well aware that not EVERYONE who believes in swap theory or J as the killer did it for these reasons, but I am also under the impression that some people did. However, J is obviously not without her fans, and just like fans of Sayaka, Hiyoko, and Tsumugi, those fans will defend her to the death.

Given that the role is kind of broken and can be pretty much anything (attempted first killer turned first victim, sudden third victim who was conceptualized as a survivor, mastermind who was secretly the first killer), I have no idea what to say about J’s future in this game. I think that her remote and her talent are incredibly suspicious for being a killer. I think that her struggles to break away from her mother’s fame, only to be confronted by it time and time again, could make her a very tragic victim or a worthy survivor. I think that the idea of her and Ryan masterminding the killing game together is really fun and interesting. J’s role in Despair Time is a mystery to me, which is great! I can’t wait to be surprised by whatever she has in store in the future.

“The Strange Actor immediately stands out to the Protagonist for their unique, potentially dark style. They’re a mysterious character that deals with themes of lying and/or perceived, strange identities. However, that doesn’t stop them from being theatrical and showoff-ish, recognizable in any scene they’re in."

Dark style? Call in the Horror Fanatic to do the job right!

Veronika isn’t exactly as mysterious as somebody like Kiyo, but I think she embodies the ideals of the Strange Actor pretty well. I think the point is more so that, even if Veronika tells us exactly who she is and what she stands for, we (or at least most of us) still can’t empathize with her. This makes her stand out as a weird character that you could truly only find in a Danganronpa-brand killing game. That sort of vibe is what makes Veronika a good Strange Actor in my mind.

It’s much easier to fit her theatricality and dark style to the Strange Actor than it is her themes. The way she outwardly admires the most messed up of characters and seems delighted at signs of conflict steal the show whenever she’s on screen. The same kind of goes with her various horror-based fun facts (just due to how interesting they are), although that’s a trait that many of DRDT’s Ultimates share. The girl wears eyeballs as hairpins. I really don’t think I needed to elaborate this much.

Similar to the Horny One, I think that the best way for Veronika to subvert her archetype would be as an actually important character. Celeste and Kiyo both die as third killers, and while they’re important in the moments of each of their Class Trials, they don’t really factor into the main plot or the endgame. Gundham is definitely more important as the fourth killer and an important person to Sonia, but he’s overall silly enough that he kind of feels divorced from the main storyline.

Veronika could accomplish this in a few ways. One is with the theory that Veronika is the mastermind. That would be very convenient for the sake of my Color Theory, and a fun instance of hiding in plain sight to have the mastermind be someone who was noticeably enjoying the killing game all along. She could also be a Chapter 5 death, either as the killer (more straightforward) or the victim (but probably in a Nagito or Kokichi kind of way). Being a survivor would also make Veronika an important character, although that kind of feels like too much of a subversion, even for me.

As a final note, I’ll add that, depending on how the story goes, I think Veronika could potentially swap archetypes with Arturo or David down the road. Arturo’s dramatic attitude also stands out, and his focus on appearances fits with themes of identity; David is an Ultimate Public Speaker all about lying and acting in the way he wants the world to see him. Meanwhile, Veronika already kind of stalks Arturo and may continue to stalk David, and I just mentioned how her fate may mirror that of Nagito or Kokichi, two Chaotic Bastards.

Pretty interesting, huh? I bet if Veronika were here, she’d be a fan of this discussion.

“The Sporty Dumbass is a ‘punch first, ask questions later’ kind of character who’s willing to put everything on the line for their beliefs. Despite their jockish appearance, the Sporty Dumbass has a lot of heart, with emotion playing into their characterization in a major way. Basically, a himbo, except with a little more fight.”

If you don’t think that emotion plays into Ace’s characterization in a major way, I advise you to watch DRDT again. Of course, I’d generally advise that people rewatch DRDT because it’s a really good story, but, I digress.

Ace has emotionally overloaded reactions to pretty much everything. He’s super scared when Xander threatens to fight him, super pissed at Levi’s betrayal, and super sadistic when it comes to asserting his power over Nico. We already saw him put everything on the line for his beliefs when he admitted to holding back key evidence (the conversation he overheard between David and Arei) because he was so convinced that Nico was the killer. He leads with his heart, his brains a distant afterthought.

However, just because Ace leads with his heart doesn’t mean he has to be nice about it. And, I think that’s the main way that he subverts the archetype of the Sporty Dumbass: he’s a mean little dude! Leon wasn’t the nicest either, but he tried to get along with people like Mondo and was genuinely interested in Sayaka. He may have been the first killer, but that wasn’t even his choice– he may not have decided to hurt anybody if he wasn’t already put in a life-threatening situation. Akane can be kind of careless, but she had a strong connection with Nekomaru, and was generally willing to lend a helping hand. Kaito is by far the most caring of the bunch, giving his all to motivate Shuichi and Maki while he was still alive.

Ace has no friends. Most people want to stay far away from him, and the few that don’t, he pushes away. He has a lot more fight and general malice than the typical himbo. Thus, no matter what he does, he can’t be a straightforward Sporty Dumbass.

As such, I don’t have any strong subversion-based predictions for where his character would go. We already had a first killer, survivor, and fifth killer, so if we were just picking on what’s straight up the most different, it would be… middling victim, I guess? (Nico already tried their best…) Chapter 3 or 4 victim is certainly possible for Ace, but so is him still being the Chapter 2 killer in my mind. I sort of get survivor vibes from him, although I can’t pinpoint exactly why. I guess it’s just because his character has a lot of room to grow, possibly in a redemption kind of way? Or because it’d be kinda weird for him to almost die in Chapter 2, only for him to die for real a chapter or two later…?

Thankfully, I know I’m not the only one who believes in Ace’s chances of survival, so I know I don’t sound like a clown on this particular point. The jockish jockey boy may be around for a while yet, so perhaps he can have a change of heart.

“The Physical Threat is immediately noted by the protagonist as someone who, whether due to their talent or backstory, is someone who could easily kill others. The Physical Threat’s demeanor backs this up, their severity intimidating. But, don’t worry: there’s probably a soft spot down there just begging to be exposed!”

Now, I know that Arei isn’t actually noted as the biggest physical threat when the cast first meets– it’s Levi, though it should be Xander– but, hear me out. I put Mondo in here even though people were way more afraid of Sakura than him. Similarly, I think Arei still fits this archetype well, even if she wasn’t denoted as the scariest.

Part of this is because the emotions you’re supposed to come out of Arei’s introduction feeling are “disturbed and uncomfortable.” Xander certainly looks that way after Arei’s departure when he calls her “rude and disrespectful.” He and Teruko quickly turn the topic of conversation towards the subject of Xander getting into fights, which is a bit unrelated, but ends with Teruko telling Xander that he should stop getting into so many fights. An underlying message is that Xander shouldn’t get into any more fights with Arei, because based on the outcome of that (verbal) fight, he’d totally lose.

That’s not to say Arei isn’t physically intimidating as well! When I think of Arei’s strength, the first thing I think of is the thumbnail of Chapter 2 Episode 4, the CG where she strangles MonoTV with her own rope. She reminds us in the ensuing conversation that she can toss a bowling ball with ease, and her victory in the arm wrestling competition highlights her brutality. Eden was certainly scared of her once upon a time, although that was once again more in the mental department.

In terms of subversions… well, one department in which she isn’t winning is the death order. As you may have noted, every Physical Threat dies unfortunately in Chapter 2. Assuming you’re of the belief that Arei is really dead, then she played directly into that stereotype. The pattern was probably borne of another way to make the remaining cast fear the killing game. If even the most immediately threatening person can die at the start, then how can they really think they can make it out alive?

I think that Arei improves the archetype of the Physical Threat by having more of a character arc of her own, even in a limited time. Mondo changes slightly by admitting Taka as his friend, but he never resolved any of the trauma of his brother’s death. Peko was on the verge of realizing that she was more than a tool to Fuyuhiko, but her execution got in the way of her being able to act upon it at all. Ryoma very pointedly doesn’t change at all (other than arguably becoming more depressed), which is why Kirumi decides to take advantage of him.

Although Arei similarly got cut off just as she was beginning to change, we at least got to see more of what a changed Arei would be like before she died. That change was very plot relevant, too, as without it, Arei might not have died (sad :( ). There was more time and focus put into her character arc than there was into Mondo’s or Peko’s, even within an otherwise packed chapter. Just another reason to appreciate DRDT’s superb writing and characterization!

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And, that’s the end! I hope that was as fun for you to read as it was indulgent for me to write. If people really like this, maybe I’ll consider running it for another fangan in the future, like DRA, SDRA2, or Eden’s Garden (although I’d probably need at least one genuine chapter before I write that one). Any of those casts would fit these archetypes worse than DRDT, but, well, that’s what makes DRDT a good starting place for explaining how it could apply to a fangan. I kinda doubt this’ll super blow up, given how long and dense it turned out, but… eh, maybe it’ll ~subvert~ my expectations.

…if you took a shot every time I said “subversion” in this post, you’d be deader than Xander–

#danganronpa despair time #drdt #drdt spoilers #teruko tawaki #min jeung #david chiem #charles cuevas #xander matthews #arturo giles #whit young #levi fontana #hu jing #rose lacroix #eden tobisa #nico hakobyan #j rosales #veronika grebenshchikova #ace markey #arei nageishi #thh spoilers #sdr2 spoilers #v3 spoilers #i wasn't exactly sure what to call this post so hopefully analysis + predictions feels accurate #i really tried to acknowledge everyone's theories in a respectful way but it's obviously tough to talk about every single possibility #and also these are MY predictions so of course they have to rely on what i think #i really hope that all of this makes sense and was fun to read #i tried to make it as interesting as possible :) #my theories #fangan archetype analysis

[phoebified]

ooooobliiiiigaaatory sso post because new dark rider design dropped! erissa (not sure why they didnt just keep elise or change it to eris? but that's ok!), the remake of chiyo, just dropped, and... she's white! interesting. there were a lot of ways sso could've saved the dark riders fumbles. there were a LOT of those fumbles, but the one i hammered on the hardest was chiyo, because i myself am japanese, and immediately know a bad design when i see one. likewise, i'm pretty spot on with calling how that character will most likely be written, and can make a few good solid guesses. i will say, i feel lots more in common with sabine, and am against the way they designed someone i could relate to and then painted them staunchly as a villain; likewise with all the dark riders, this may be sso's most diverse group yet, and they are villains. HOWEVER. at that point, they had already put them in-game, and now all i can hope for is some good old fashioned childhood "everything ends up fine" writing that shows these characters some love and perhaps sways them from their homocidal ways.

back to erissa.

why was chiyo's design racist? well, it wasn't just her. most of the dark riders were handled poorly. to be honest, i've talked SO much on this blog about why chiyo was such a bad design that i simply don't want to rehash it. was it the worst i'd ever seen? no. but putting in those stereotypes to a game children -- WHITE children -- play is like teaching children to hit bees nests for fun. it's pointless and hurtful to everyone.

SO: what do i think of erissa? she's cute! i like this design way better than the last.

that's it. whole idea. i think the colors are more comprehensive, i like the crochet details, i think the hobby horse looks a little silly but i kinda like it. overall, i am happy.

now you're probably wondering, "what, so sso can't make non white villains!?" and the answer to that is 1. don't be stupid and 2. of course they can. but they better put just as much effort into the rest of sso. they don't, though. our only buff woman is alex, who barely counts because she's kinda small as fuck in game. that leaves Sabine, who's more buff. her character is nonwhite, visibly has arm hair, and until proven otherwise, is nonhuman. not only that, she's evil. that sends some pretty strong messages, and, side tangent, but to anyone too goofy or too stubborn to see how that's a problem, i'm excited to see how the children in YOUR family turn out, be it yours or other family member's. will YOU teach them what racism is and why it exists and the complexities of it that people scoff at that allow it to continue to exist day in and day out, or will you let them play all the other games that DONT revise their writing, where the good characters are straight and white and every other type of "normal" and the enemies are gay or nonwhite or both? anyway. i hope you see my point.

"children will experience this stuff ANYWAY!" sure. why add to it?

"oh, so you're pulling a save the children thing? so what, you want everyone to be th3 same?" no. i want them to take chiyo's design, make her clothes look better, make her default state not like a mouse, and put her in the game as sso's like. only japanese character. i'd fucking love that! do you know how little representation there is for weird japanese girls? we dont got dick or shit. it'd be so fun to have a slightly redesigned chiyo as an npc, i'd totally fucking adore that! different clothes bc i think her past design was a little. ourgh. it'd be fun and cool if they made her like, a budding emo? omg that'd resonate with so many people i'm sure, and the purple hair is already suited to it. black hair would also be cool, though. do you see what im saying here, though? context is everything. im sad sabine is a bad guy. im sad every white girl who plays this game gets someone to relate to. i guess i too really relate to and like anne, but that's where the similarities end. it's easy to say "why does race matter?" in a sea of white people if you're white, but it can get lonely playing any video game if you're not white. sso is one of the best games ive found in terms of trying to really add diversity (although im still waiting for updated fat npcs), and that's why i weighed in so heavily. it matters to me. i love this game. i think they've done so much good with it recently, i'm really just beyond impressed and in love.

i think erissa is a good design.

#sso #also not arguing with anyone 🕺