#battle city bloggin'

[kaibacorpstocksplit]

great news 1: i have finally finished battle city 👏

great news 2: im going to reread ygo R so yall are freed from hashtag manga bloggin for a bit

great news 3: im rereading ygo R :)

#going to mull over my bc thoughts for a bit #but rn feel like the ishtars really carried it. the rest was weaker in comparison to DK

[kujakumai]

Kaiba standing with his eyes all shadowed desperately trying not to experience an emotion while Joey reunites with his sister, because they found his one weakness, is really just more fuel for my insistence that it would be cute if Mokuba and Shizuka were friends who hung out. Mokuba has clearly already decided he likes Joey! Invite Shizuka to a playdate at the mansion and watch Joey’s bewilderment when she reports that Kaiba was not only fine with this but completely personable, and Mokuba has all the coolest capsule monsters, and also she came home with a free duel disk. Make Joey and Kaiba grit their teeth through not insulting each other long enough to drop the kids off at the mall and then get halfway into a fistfight in the parking lot.

#battle city bloggin' #they're like two years apart. they would make cute friends. let them gossip about domino city middle school #hashtag content

[paradife-loft]

the-mirador

replied to your post

“more mdzs novel bloggin. - explicit exposition that Jin Guangshan had...”

i think the discussion in the second paragraph is why i preferred the frame job in the show, because i didn't sense any sort of shift in /how/ he was controlling Wen Ning at any point, such that /he/ would believe that he lost control? (like tbh the way the scene was shot made it seem weird to me that he didn't immediately assume something fishy was going on). so it's disappointing to me that given what you've described, there's not a significant difference in terms of what he's actually doing that would make "losing control" more credible. i will say that i tentatively prefer the "framed" version, because i don't feel like i have a good enough sense of how the magic system works to understand why he fumbled, such that it would feel to me like more of a consequence of the general system of magic being used rather than the specific technique/intent, if that makes sense? and while i would like a more morally gray WWX, i'd prefer that to be about him committing /intentional/ acts of violence than taking on something he couldn't quite control. but that's just my preference.

woooo, awake/not at work/generally capable of replying to this now! I definitely feel what you’re saying here, and I think this plus some other discussion I’ve seen today about adaptational differences is all going to inform the, sort of free-association ramble below. so:

the point about the magic system! it occupies a weird space for me because in either medium, the magic is really only sketched out briefly, through implications a lot of the time, and in drips and pieces throughout the whole story - but also I’m the sort of person who compulsively and in many instances subconsciously tries to assemble the pieces of magic in a story into a comprehensive whole, filling in gaps in much more detail than an original canon gives us? so while I absolutely can be (and had been) automatically tossing up all manner of hypotheses that made sense to me for how WWX could have lost control of his powers, I find it frustrating for the text itself not to provide an account of what specifically happened in Wen Ning’s case, when the setup of that scene in particular makes me want a more detailed explanation of what went wrong to go from “WN fighting a hundred ranged combatants” to “WN now in melee, punching through a dude’s chest”. did he finish off the 100 archers and come down to help WWX, picking any target at random? did Jin Zixuan showing up emit a “delicious high-cultivation life energy, come and get it!” signal to any fierce corpses around that would prompt him to ditch the lowbie archers for a more interesting target? had WWX been keeping a part of his mind focused on an order to WN to control who he was attacking, and the destruction of his gift for Jin Ling fucked up his emotional control and focus such that his argument with JZX got mixed into the “orders for who Wen Ning should murder” channel? there’s implications that this latter is how we’re supposed to read it, but because throughout the scene there’s not... actually any narration of orders being given to Wen Ning in any format at all, it’s still very much a “who knows?!” situation.

and for that matter - the combination of logistics and lackluster explanatory narration that kills that scene, feels even more striking when compared to the very next instance of WWX losing control, in the battle at Nightless City. first, we have a context that makes what’s going on a lot more obvious and plausible, in addition to imo some stronger narration of what is actually happening for Wei Wuxian’s internal perspective. like: he’s pretty clearly unleashing a whole bunch of corpses, directing them to kill anyone on this battlefield except the Jiang sect disciples. he’s explicitly said to be in a volatile emotional state, furious and then terrified once Jiang Yanli shows up; and his panic is destroying the control he’s able to exert over the corpses. JYL is one of many potential targets to a large number of corpses in the exact same area (not a single corpse up until now on a different part of the battlefield). WWX specifically issues an order to the corpse coming after JYL, which is ignored; and later, when he exerts great effort to steady his mind, he’s able to make them obey him again and stop killing.

I think a part of the trouble I have with using “Wei Wuxian loses control of his cultivation abilities and kills people he didn’t want to” as a part of his moral greyness, is that perhaps ironically, I haven’t really gotten the impression in the novel that him losing control of those abilities was something likely that he should have weighed more heavily in his decisions to continually use demonic cultivation in the first place. and this might be a failure on the part of my memory, but - I felt like I got the sense that his control over himself and the spirits he commanded was much more volatile and likely to blow up in his face during the drama, not the novel. and since the ethical value of a loss of control is about whether it’s something foreseeable and possible to take precautions against, rather than whether it happens at all - the two versions feel almost mismatched to me.

(if you want “morally grey due to intentional acts of violence committed,” though, what seems like a real shame to me is actually the difference in the scene a bit after Qiongqi Path, where WWX finds the bunch of low-level cultivators being assholes about the Wens and goes to town on them. the drama version of this scene is kind of ambiguous about what’s actually happening to these people, but in the novel, WWX actually does a lot of curb-stomp \-battle grievous bodily harm to this batch of nobodies - breaks some legs, kicks out a guy’s teeth, etc. - just as a directionless expression of his rage. it’s good.)

....I think ultimately where I’m settling, as far as what my “bits of multiple versions mashed together personal canon” comes out to, is having the Qiongqi Path incident be a framing, but the Nightless City scene not be? keeping both incidents as pure loss of control on WWX’s part feels a bit like it blunts the impact of what’s going on with his mental state once he thinks WQ & WN have been killed - is the recapitulation of his major trauma more or less equivalent to the (admittedly shitty) way he’s treated when ambushed by JZX? and besides that, the specific outcome of the Nightless City incident, Yanli getting hurt, just seems more likely to happen as a result of a loss of control compared to the specific dead-Jin-Zixuan outcome of Qiongqi Path. (since there are also plenty of other ways in which Qiongqi Path is a setup, adding in yet another layer of that doesn’t feel quite so... exonerating, as making the additional deaths at Nightless City not WWX’s fault does? at least that’s my opinion.) so doing a little bit of each version I think ultimately... preserves the level of competence WWX is always shown as having with his abilities - a competence that only breaks down under a truly extraordinary circumstance - while also not wiping him morally spotless in the department of being too reckless and uncaring, and thus getting innocents/his loved ones hurt in the process.

#the mirador #conversating #no good things for the poor sad cultivators #rambling #I don't know how well any of this fits together exactly? but there's a lot of stuff I'm chewing on lately re: different adaptations' themes #Wei Wuxian #meta #(lol... ish)

[auburnfamilynews]

I do believe that this Auburn Softball team was destined to play Oklahoma again after the heart breaking loss in the World Series final last season. Auburn actually scored 2 more runs than Oklahoma in the series, but lost 2 games. I actually attended the first game that was shown on the big screen at the Auburn Softball field and Auburn lost a close one 3-2. Of course, the second game went Auburn's way 11-7 and Emily Carosone hit a game winning grand slam home run. Auburn trailed 7-0 after the second inning and scored 11 runs to win that game in the 8th inning. Game 3 was a pitcher's duel and Auburn lost 2-1. Coach Myers stated after the loss that "I am very proud of these young ladies that play softball at Auburn University. They gave their heart, their soul, their commitment. They battled. They were relentless."

These two teams know one another well and I expect to see some great softball in this series. Auburn did play Oklahoma to begin this season in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and won 3-2. Some players to watch for Oklahoma are Shay Knighten (infield), Sydney Romero (infield), Paige Lowery (pitcher), and Paige Parker (pitcher). Players to watch for Auburn are Kasey Cooper, Haley Fagan, Kendall Veach (she hit two home runs in the 3-2 game earlier this season), Alyssa Rivera, Victoria Draper, Carlee Wallace, Kaylee Carlson and Makayla Martin.

Auburn will be adding 200 portable bleachers to the outfield for this Super Regional so my normal seating and tailgate area in left field will no longer be free. That is the price of success. I can remember when Auburn could barely fill up the stands prior to the Clint Myer era and the games were all free.

The series will begin this Friday at 3:00 p.m. CT on ESPN2. Game 2 will be at noon CT and game 3, if necessary, will be at noon CT on Sunday on ESPN. Also, you can listen to the games on 95.9 FM and the Auburn app. Brit Bowen and Brad Law call the games and they make you feel like you are at the game.

Thank you Clint Myers for putting Auburn Softball back on the map and I look forward to watching these girls play in Oklahoma City again.

from Auburn Tiger Bloggin http://bit.ly/2rKmV5B via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Blogger

[kujakumai]

Yami Bakura out of the tomb for the first time, walkin around enjoying his new host flesh, doesn’t know anything about this kid. “Hey, Bakura!” someone says. Wait, what? He breaks out in a cold sweat. Did they already see through him? How could anyone know? Do they really still remember his name after all these years? He just got here. He makes a break for it. Oh shit, oh fuck, oh man, he’s been alive for five minutes and he’s already going to have to kill someone with these noodle arms. Okay, fine, don’t panic, he’ll figure this out. Gotta find out something about this kid so you can at least pull off some kind of plausible deniability. Rifle through his pockets and find a school ID. Alright, let’s see, who are we exactly, take a read. “What the fuck?” He says aloud in disbelief. “Are you telling me this stupid kid is also named--”

#battle city bloggin' #hashtag content

[kujakumai]

You know how sometimes Kaiba walks up with his brother and tries to be mean but meanwhile the entire gang is just like “Hi, Mokuba! :)” I think the reverse should also hold true. Jounouchi walks up and tries grandstand but Shizuka is just like “Hi, Kaiba! :)” because in her head he’s just. ‘my friend mokuba’s weird brother, who seems really busy but sometimes checks in to make sure we have enough snacks.’

#battle city bloggin' #hashtag content

[kujakumai]

Marik Ishtar walked outside for the first time after spending his entire life living underground and wearing a potato sack and said “Effective immediately I am putting on a crop top, buying a motorcycle, and starting a crime ring.” and I think that was pretty baller of him

#AND he snagged an evil demon boyfriend along the way #battle city bloggin' #technically it was the second time he'd been outside but you know what i mean

[kujakumai]

Marik and Yami Bakura really said “what if we both 😳😳 malevolently possessed the same random japanese kid 😳😳 and we were both boys 😳😳”

#battle city bloggin' #have you ever been a third wheel? ryou bakura is the third wheel of his own body.

[kujakumai]

we don’t get any sense of what Atem was thinking inside the puzzle around Joey’s neck while Yugi was sacrificing himself at the pier duel, but assuming he was reasonably aware of what was going on, he was screaming, right? losing his goddamn mind the entire time? Like he plays it all cool afterwards like “yes, great job Yugi, I know one day you will surpass me” but I’m sure that if you’d put your ear to the millennium puzzle while it was actually happening and listened real close, you would hear someone frantically rattling and banging at the soul door.

#battle city bloggin' #like he literally just had to sit there in the puzzle and watch that happen

[kujakumai]

Genuinely think that if Ishizu had stated any reason for doing what she did besides “I’m trying to help my baby brother :)” Kaiba would’ve been straight pissed he got tricked, especially since she fucked with his head and kept forcing spooky magic visions on him--like, during their museum conversation he’s reduced to his hands and knees on the floor multiple times. 

But not only has Ishizu shown herself to be an intellectual equal by pulling one over on him, she also has (as far as Kaiba’s concerned) the best and most reasonable possible motivation for doing so. So he’s just like “You know what? Good on you. I like this one. Kinda mad, still gonna win, but the annoying spooky woman is totally cool in my book. Respect.”

#battle city bloggin' #meta

[kujakumai]

When Joey was never supposed to be invited to Duelist Kingdom but showed up to the finals anyway he gets in because, well, Pegasus doesn’t care and is really just doing this to get at Yugi and Kaiba, he probably thinks unintended duelists just makes the whole thing more interesting.

But when Joey is playing in Battle City, which he was also never invited to and not supposed to be a part of, all his matches are still livestreamed online for Shizuka to watch? So the guy who gave him the duel disk must have formally registered him for the tournament? But the system still labels him as a level 2 duelist, so someone should have noticed this was against the rules!

but the Battle City Commissioner is Mokuba and Mokuba obviously likes Joey. So I’m resolving this by deciding that someone at KC absolutely did flag it the moment a level 2 duelist started a match and they just. allowed it.

#battle city bloggin'

[kujakumai]

The “Joey’s abusive dad has a gambling addiction” and “Joey has a luck based deck with a bunch of dice and roulette cards” thing is so weird and dark. hey joey do you need to like...talk to someone? because it seems like maybe you should talk to someone.

#battle city bloggin' #the fact that the anime cuts out the info about joey's dad makes it triple weird #cuz everyones like oh its so nice how joey is winning againsy weevil and doing well with his new deck #meanwhile i am sitting here like. joey. sweetheart. do you need help. #meta

[kujakumai]

whenever you think about Yami Bakura’s bullshit dark sanctuary/destiny board/absorbing you life points like a vampire deck I need you to remember that this is, in fact, Ryou Bakura’s deck, and also that he doesn’t remember anything that happened when YB and Yugi were dueling because he was out cold. 

I need you to remember this because there’s a very high chance that later on just hanging out at school Yugi and Bakura sat down to play, for fun, because Bakura was really excited to try out the new deck he’d made and see if it works, and then played all of those cards and didn’t understand why everyone was staring at him like that.

#battle city bloggin'

[kujakumai]

Yugioh duel writing has exactly two modes and they are:

“I use a specific rule exploit to force Marik to continually attack and continually draw cards in an infinite loop until he depletes his entire deck, defeating him not by erasing his life points but forcing a fail state when he can no longer draw additional cards.”

“I attack the moon.”

#battle city bloggin'

[kujakumai]

There is something absolutely hysterical about how Atem literally tells Yugi “I want to stay with you forever.” and they cry while holding hands about it and then the very next day Yugi tries to set him up on a date with a girl. 

Of course Atem is confused the entire time. What a swing and miss. Way to friendzone a guy, Yugi, read the room.

#yugioh #ygo #battle city bloggin'

[kujakumai]

getting to the Duke-Serenity-Honda love triangle plotline, the worst thing in yugioh, like

#battle city bloggin' #see no evil hear no evil speak no evil