#but like. he's EXTREMELY SOLID and the fact he likes winning phases so much makes him a contender | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

leonardhoee · 3 years

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Matchup #1

Hi! Thanks so much for the request. Hope you like it!@oikame

I was really thinking about this one and was torn equally between Comte de Saint Germain and Vincent Van Gogh. I’m choosing Vincent because I think both of you would balance each other out really well and it would be an opportunity for both of you to expand your horizons together!

Your Song

On the surface you and Vincent seem like polar opposites. However at your core you are very similar.

When you arrived at the mansion the first thing Vincent noticed about you was your style, makeup, and jewelry. Until then he had never seen anyone with such a bold, unique fashion sense. He appreciates art in all forms and you, my dear, are undoubtedly a living work of art.

He can’t get you out of his mind and the next morning he asks you to model for some of his paintings after breakfast.

He is so interested in getting to know everything about you. He will be the first person to volunteer to show you around the mansion and 19th century Paris.

Even though you appear intimidating to most people, he isn't phased by that at all (after all Theo IS his brother). He would approach you right away to try and make friends with you.

He may not have much knowledge about the subjects you're interested in but he will always intently listen to any theories you come up with, regardless of what time you come to him.

He will never get annoyed if you come to him excited about something. All he wants is to see you smiling and happy so he will encourage anything you're interested in and will actively ask questions about it.

He will even be willing to go to one of the other residents that are more well versed in your favorite subjects, to learn about it so he can contribute to your ideas.

Going back to how I said you balance each other out...

Because Vincent is so patient and understanding, he would balance out your stubborn personality.

He has no problem giving you the time and support needed to open up to him more. He understands that you may not feel comfortable expressing your emotions but he will always make sure you know that he is there and he loves you. You will always feel safe to let everything out in front of him.

If you are having trouble rationalizing your emotions through words, no worries! He is the same way and he will help you find a way to understand your feelings through art!

As kind and compassionate as he is, he will rarely get offended or upset. If you were to have some kind of conflict, he will try to put himself in your shoes and understand why you reacted the way you do. You are very similar to Theo which is why Vincent knows exactly how to fulfill your mental and emotional needs.

One possibility of conflict can be the fact that Vincent is not very assertive and can be too trusting with people that could potentially cause him harm.

However he respects you and your personal space so if you’re angry and don’t want to be hugged or touched he will understand and give you time to cool down.

Vincent will often come to you for advice and you go to him for comfort!

Please reassure him that he’s not a burden or a bad person for wanting you as much as he does😭

He is the absolute BEST at comforting you. if you're ever sad about something he will drop everything and cuddle you all day letting you rant whatever was bothering you.

His angelic smile is contagious, and he smiles every time he sees you. If you’re upset he just gives you a hug and smiles and tells you how beautiful you are and how proud he is of you and your strength. He truly looks up to you in that regard.

He is your number one fan and will be cheering on anything that you do.

Vincent will take you to his favorite spot overlooking the whole city of Paris. He’ll let you sit in his lap, cuddling you while you watch the glowing city lights talking about nonsense. If you fall asleep he’ll wrap you up in his jacket and stroke your hair till you’re dreaming.

Sometimes you’ll even sit there sketching each other while just admiring the most beautiful features of each other.

Also cooking dates where you guys wake up and try to make pancakes together! You have a competition where whoever makes the coolest shaped pancake wins. (Theo is the judge. Vincent always ends up winning but your pancakes taste 1000x better so whose REALLY the winner👀).

Vincent will teach you Dutch.

Anyways, speaking of Theo, be prepared to gain a new best friend. You both have a weird relationship where you're constantly bickering and roasting each other but will also have pancakes at 3am together. Basically like siblings. (You called him Hondje back one time and he was speechless for a solid minute and almost lost if before Vincent calmed him down)

You join Theo in helping promote Vincent’s art and booking exhibitions for his work and basically form the Vincent protection club. (Let’s be honest who WOULDNT die for Vincent)

Vincent has no problem letting you take charge when you want to and your opposing personalities would result in never being bored with any aspect of your relationship, including in bed. He lives to please you. I think it would be a very interesting and overall sexy combination with you being a sadomasochist and him being a body worshipper.👀 (As a fellow Gemini I know that is extremely important).

Both of you embody one of my favorite relationship tropes: The pure angelic ray of sunshine being in love with the edgy, assertive one. (AKA Slytherin/Hufflepuff)

*chefs kiss.

Vincent however sees YOU as his angel. To him you are the embodiment of artistic beauty and you become his muse and inspiration.

For one of your dates he takes you to a sunflower field he found once on a trip with Theo. He tells you he has a surprise for you and covers your eyes. When he moves his hands away you see the painting he made of you from that first night he couldn't get you out of his mind. He tells you Theo booked a big art exhibition for him, and that he would like that painting to be the the centerpiece because are his muse and his light and he wants everyone to know. (It actually ends up becoming extremely well known, one of his most famous paintings in that time period. People will end up studying it later on in art history classes)

If you guys ever get married he will DEFINITELY want to paint you in your wedding dress. He’ll make a whole collection out of it.

You guys are so adorable can I please be one of your bridesmaids

Best boy

He loves you SO much he will tell everyone how amazing he thinks you are.

Overall you two are literally the cutest couple at the mansion.

You will get someone who showers you with love, supports you, and admires you in every possible way and he will get someone who inspires him, fights for him and makes him so so happy.

Hope you enjoyed it!💜

Here’s my Vincent Playlist (I’ll constantly be adding new stuff to it!)

#ikevamp matchup #ikevamp vincent #ikevamp theo #IkeVamp #Ikemen Vampire #ikemen vampire vincent #ikevamp shakespeare

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elichorph · 3 years

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OH SHIT???? did you see avery jeong buying princess bandaids at the local cvs after punching out somebody’s car window??? anyways, he’s a legacy and a member of the yale's elite, they're twenty-three and a 1st year grad student majoring in mechanical engineering. they are as strong willed as they are naive.

hello, i am back with my third character. yes this is my second character that has a 5 letter name that starts with an a. yes this intro is extremely long. if you read it i will send you a gif of your fav celeb to thank you.

stats:

full name: avery tobias jeong nicknames: ave age: twenty three birthday: march 8, 1998 ( yeah he’s technically 22 right now but he’ll be 23 soon enough ) chart: pisces sun, aries moon, cancer rising siblings: one ( lilia, younger sister ) gender: cis male pronouns: he / him sexuality: bisexual & biromantic height: 6′0 hair color: black tattoos: random tattoos on his arms, faded hand tattoos (specifically an angel on his left hand) piercings: right earlobe ring

blackmail:

( violence & drugs tw )

he had an unplanned child at nineteen with his ex-girlfriend who he now has little to no contact with. his ex dug up a public intoxication charge that avery’s family had paid to cover up in order to place a restraining order on him and deny him custody of the child.

he was involved in an underground fighting ring for multiple years as a means to make money after being cut off by his family. however, he always took fights too far and was banned from the ring in new haven after he nearly killed one of his opponents.

family:

if you’ve already read lilia’s intro then you can skip this because it’s the same thing!

ya’ll ever read one of those drug ring ao3 fanfics where y/n is dating the sexy drug cartel leader? well that’s their family!

generational family blood money because that’s how cartels work i think. started running + dealing three generations back with their great-grandparents in order for them to make a living. it wasn’t until the so-called business was handed down to their grandparents that they wanted to expand and generate more money. the big pharma cover was created in order for them to manufacture, distribute, and supply at a larger scale. present day, their family name has notoriety with other cartel and mafia families.

basically avery was supposed to take over because he was the oldest right, but lilia did not want that at all. their parents started favoring avery and schmoozing up to him a little bit to get him to say yes (even though avery was fully prepared to give lilia the position) and lilia was like! what the fuck! so she told their parents about this one time that avery accidentally blabbed the family secret to a stranger at a party which broke their one rule of keeping it a secret. their parents wanted nothing to do with him anymore and completely cut avery off and kicked him out of the family.

everyone knows that avery and lilia are siblings, even though they don’t really know the actual details about their past together because avery doesn’t say anything about his family and the cartel is a secret. now that they are both at yale and in the elites together they are just kinda like haha awkward <3 they basically would just tell everyone that they grew apart if other characters tried to pry but also lilia is now telling people that avery fucked up a business decision which is why he left the family and avery is like alright but good luck trying to get other info out of them! xo, the jeongs

present:

after being kicked out of his family, avery booked it to new haven to attend yale. he was able to score a full ride after graduating as the valedictorian of a specialized school for science in nyc and for continuously staying near if not at the top of his class. literally this man is a casual genius. he will get drunk as hell and talk about math for the entire night even if you don’t care. avery joined the elites in his junior year and even though he technically is a legacy from his family, he told them that if he was going to join, he wanted to be recruited for his academics because fuck if he was going to use his family name!

to expand a little more on blackmails, avery was broke as shit after coming to new haven. he still is, but he literally had so little money to his name and eventually found an underground fighting ring and made money by winning matches through that because he is Beefy and a Unit and his anger issues could be released <3 but he would always go a little too hard and would near murk his opponents, especially this one time that caused him to be banned from the ring. now for money he just fixes up people’s air conditioners and fridges and shit and also works maintenance at a hotel chain around connecticut to get money when he really needs it <3 literally if you need something fixed hit him up and he’ll be happy to do it but he would also love if you made him dinner to thank him because he has eaten too much kraft mac n cheese.

when avery was a sophomore, his girlfriend of a few months accidentally got pregnant whoops <3 and he was ready to literally drop everything for his girlfriend and daughter, but his girlfriend didn’t want that because she was lowkey a bitch! she ended up using a secret that avery had told her (that he had a public intoxication charge that his family had covered up) and took him to court and got his custody rights taken away and a restraining order placed on him and then dropped out of yale before anybody could know about the baby and zoomed to another state and now avery is like ok <3 his daughter’s name is skye though and she is four now and sometimes he still gets updates but literally it eats him alive hahaha

personality:

basically paddington going through an emo phase. he has extreme rbf and might be a solid unit who looks intimidating, but he genuinely is so sweet. by his looks you’d expect him to push you down the stairs but in reality he’s the kid who is 20 minutes late to class to hold the door open for people and he’ll feel good about it even if nobody says thank you to him.

certified sad boy! the extremely nice guy you meet at a house party who remembers what drink you like from some time you apparently met three months ago? avery loves house parties for real and will be the angel who cleans up at 5am even if he’s got an exam at 8. he loves to take care of people to fill his fatherly void even though he’s the one that needs help the most.

accepts the fact that he’s now #poor now, but he also gets kind of insecure and jealous seeing everybody pop off with a britney work bitch vc bugatti. tries to keep up with people looks wise at least, he has one old balenciaga cross body bag that has holes in it, way too many ripped pairs of designer jeans, and a scratched gucci belt that you will see him sporting often. might want to bash your face in if you flaunt your wealth and gets kind of whiny about it sometimes.

avery is the type of person that loves the outdoors and going on picnics. his romantic dream is to lay under a tree with the soft summer breeze and play some guitar for the love of his life <3 yes he has a guitar and yes he is actually good at singing even though he gets embarrassed about it. he fucking loves music.

still has that aries moon though, is extremely defensive and my one character who will actually fight in the group chat because what the fuck does he have to lose at this point! avery has extreme anger issues that hurt him more than anything. even though he’s banned from the underground fighting ring, he still needs an outlet and will have his hands shoved in his pockets because they’re either bruised to shit or discolored from how many times they have been bruised. can be found walking home after taking the late bus so he could go scream in a field somewhere.

this man? also naive as fuck. has been hurt by too many people and really just sets him up at this point. an open book most of the time, so much that it hurts him. will tell you everything about himself like the way he can’t sleep in silence and has to have ocean noises playing, but he can’t listen to whale noises because sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night and thinks it’s a ghost. however, his family stuff is off limits and he will spit in your face if you even think about asking him about it.

won’t hold grudges. the type to see a person for who they are as a whole and if they mess up, he’s just like “you’re better than that /: but it’s fine.” probably why he gets hurt so much

wanted connections

a roommate maybe? i pictured him living in an apartment because he probably wouldn’t be able afford live anywhere else. could be besties, could be someone he barely knows but he just needed someone to move in to split the rent.

the one person who he’ll let take care of him. it probably would take a lot to break through his walls, but this person can calm him down after he gets riled up.

since his ex went to yale, maybe one person who knew her and had somewhat of an idea of what happened. they don’t know everything but maybe from what they heard from his ex, they believe everything was avery’s fault and that he fucked her over entirely.

gut wrenching hate plots of where they really love each other but things just can’t work out for one way or another.

gentle romance <3 slow burn. someone who won’t hurt him PLEASE.

aaaaand someone who takes advantage of how naive he is

and friends. so many friends. he is just so friendly and he isn’t the type to hold shit over people’s heads.

other links

#intro

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dahmerthepeoplenomer · 4 years

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Special Moments

Hey all! So I’m obsessed with Stanley Tucci right now. That being said, I thought about writing a Mr. Harvey piece from ‘The Lovley Bones’ where Harvey finds someone that wins his heart for the first time in his life. This is through the readers eyes but we see conflict in Harvey because he’s scared of hurting someone so close to him. Maybe she changes his ways? It’s worth mentioning that the reader is of legal age in this. Not sure if this is a finished piece or if I’ll write another part to it. Depending if people like it!

Enjoy! <3

I was riding my bike over to Mr. Harvey’s house for the 5th day this week when I started to get caught up in my thoughts. A couple of girls I know were bagging on me for hanging out with him. Their most popular phrases being, “ew, he’s such a creep” and “do you have a crush on him?!” and “be careful, he might lock you up and never let you leave”.

‘Well, that last one wouldn’t be so bad. Little do they know how much I actually DO like him.’ I think to myself.

Shaking my head I try to forget all the mean things they say about Mr. Harvey. He would never hurt me, he’s said it himself. He calls me special and likes that I’m different from everyone else. He says I’m wiser and more mature than everyone else my age.

If I was 16 years older, I would skip the dating phase and just ask him to marry me...I mean...I am technically an adult so that wouldn’t make that scenario impossible.

I ride up to the edge of his driveway, hopping off my bike and letting it drop to the pavement. I adjust my clothing and slowly start to walk towards the porch. I wasn’t sure how to express to him how much I cared about him. Just the thought of him makes my heart race. I could stare at his beautiful blonde hair and his bright blue eyes for the rest of my life and not grow tired of the sight. Why doesn’t anybody like him? Why doesn’t he have any friends? He’s not as weird as everyone says he is....at least, not with me. In fact, he NEVER tries to make me feel uncomfortable. Or maybe I just love him so much that I adore everything he does.

I decided to sit down for a moment on the doorstep to recollect myself. With my knees to my chest, I just stare and fiddle with a few flowers from a hanging basket. He has the most beautiful yard in the neighborhood...almost as beautiful as him.

*tap tap*

I look up to see Mr. Harvey at the window by the door. He raises his eyebrows and smiles.

‘That damn smile’, I think to myself.

I smile back as he puts the curtain back in place and opens the door.

“What are you doing just sitting on the porch? Don’t you want to come in? It’s cold out here” he said with a little concern.

I then stood up and brushed the dirt off of me. “Oh yeah, sorry, I...it’s just been a weird day. I thought I’d just sit and have a minute to myself.” I said with a little hesitation.

He escorts me in and gives me a look like he can see right through me.

“Alright, what’s wrong? You’re a terrible liar you know?” He instantly says closing the door.

“You’ve been distant lately, staring off into space and avoiding me at times. Did I do something to upset you? I would never want hurt you.”

“No no no! You didn’t do anything wrong! I’ve just been caught up in my own head again lately.” I try to laugh it off.

He doesn’t look like he’s buying it.

“I know my special girl and how she gets sometimes but this is different. There’s something else going on up here.” He says as he playfully pokes the side of my head.

I smile back and blush slightly at his words. He notices I’m not going to say what’s really going on so he changes the subject to my relief.

“Alright, well come here. I got a structure piece for the new dollhouse I’ve been working on and I need you to hold the pieces while I screw them together. There’s also some furniture pieces you can help put together cause I know you like doing the little technical stuff”, he looks back and smirks.

“Ok! Awesome!” I say.

~~~~~

“Ok now just keep them together like this”, Mr. Harvey says, placing his hands over mine to position the pieces where they need to be.

I can’t help but stare at him as he lets go of my hands and grabs the drill to screw together the wood. My eyes trail up to his head, examining the few stray hairs falling in his face. His eyes are so focused on the task at hand. My gaze starts to travel down his neck where the top few buttons are undone on his flannel. I catch a glimpse of chest hair and I start to wonder what it’d be like to feel him. I continue further down his arms all the way to his huge hands at work and can’t help but think of what it’d be like for him to feel me.

‘I want to see that chest hair again..’ I think to myself gazing back up only to realize he’s staring back at me. I quickly look back to the wood pieces in my hands. He only sniffs out of laugh and continues on.

“Well that’ll do it.” He puts down the drill.

I sit on the stool in front of the dollhouse and notice that I can look through the windows of the miniature house and get a view of him from behind. He puts away his tools and starts back over to the table. I begin to tinker with the furniture pieces making it look as realistic as possible, whilst keeping my gaze on him.

He’s started painting the outside of the house from the other side. Glancing up at me he laughs, “Okay, do I look funny? Is my hair a mess? I feel like I’m being silently interrogated.”

“I’m sorry...I just..like looking at you.” I mumble out the last part.

“What was that?”, he says.

“I just like looking at you! You’re handsome and you’re so sweet and I don’t know..I..I..just like you is all.” I half shout out, flustered. I look down at the ground realizing I just outed myself.

He pauses for a long while before saying,

“Our time together is special to you, hm?”

I nod, too embarrassed to make eye contact.

He hums for a moment.

“Mmhm, it’s special to me too. You’re not like those other girls. I would never hurt you, you know that?” He seems guarded when asking that...like there’s something he’s hiding.

I only nod in return. He then gets up off his stool and walks over to me and extends his arms out, looking to me for permission to hold me. I raise my arms around his waist and he pulls me in tight and hums. I’m loving every minute of his attention. I sink deeper into his belly, his scent is overwhelming....like a cozy scent of musky autumn...must be his cologne...maybe his soap?

He pulls away a bit but my arms are still locked on him, not wanting to let go. He laughs a little and says, “Do you want something to eat?”

I look up and nod, not really confident in my answer because I’d rather spend the rest of the day in his arms.

~~~

It’s been a few days since our long wonderful hug and things are much more playful between us...

“You better give me that paintbrush or so help me god, I will pin you down and pry it from your hands.” He tries to look serious but can’t help the corner of his mouth that twitches up.

He’s almost done with the dollhouse, it just needs a few finishing touches of paint but I want his attention directed toward me.

“I’d like to see you try.” I taunt, wiggling my eyebrows.

His blue eyes stare into mine for a solid 10 seconds before he lunges towards me as I run from behind the couch. He scales the ottoman as I shriek and giggle, running down the hallway and up the stairs to his bedroom. I dive for the bed and hide under the covers.

“Hmm I wonder where you are...” Staring at the lump on his bed. I giggle as he rips the comforter off me. I turn over so he can’t get the brush in my hand.

“Give me my paintbrush!” His hands diving around me trying to get it. I squirm when his hand grazes the side of my stomach.

“Oh...mmhm...I see I’ve found a weakness.”

“Don’t.” I say warningly, I crane my neck to look at him from my facedown position.

Mere seconds after our eyes make contact, he’s sitting on my legs to hold me in place as his hands go in for the attack.

“St..op...p..please! Ahaha...ah..I can’t..” I wiggle beneath him and end up rolling over to my back. “Okay! Okay...p..please stop! Heres your damn brush!” I laugh out.

“Thank. You.” He says each word triumphantly, grabbing his valuables.

I only now realize the position we’re in....in his bedroom, he’s on top of me and I’m starting to feel extreme heat pool where he’s sitting.

I look up at him, he places his paintbrush on the nightstand without breaking eye contact and leans down towards me. I almost don’t believe what’s about to happen. Our lips are mere centimeters from each other and he lingers there for a few moments as if waiting for me to make the next move. I do just that by wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him down on me, lips crashing together.

He shifts to a more comfortable position above me and cups my face. The kiss getting more intense as he slides his tongue along my bottom lip begging for entrance. I open my mouth and our tongues dance and fight for dominance, to which he wins. He pulls away after a few minutes and we both gasp for air. He rests his forehead on mine. I lick my lips wanting to taste him again so I do just that. I pull him down for another long kiss. His lips leave mine and start to travel down to my neck. I can’t think straight until I notice a stiffness rubbing at my groin. My body goes somewhat rigid after realizing what it is I’m feeling. He stops and looks at me, noticing that I’m staring where our bodies are connected.

“Oh, oh no. I promised myself I wouldn’t put you in this position, I promised!” He says as he starts to get off me only for me to lock his legs with mine and grab the front of his flannel to make him stay.

“You better stay where you are or so help me god I will pin you down and make you stay!” I say, laughing at my use of some of his words from earlier. He looks torn inside. Like he’s battling with himself.

“I can’t...once I have you, there’s no turning back. I won’t be able to control myself...not with you.”

I reach up to grab his face, looking into his blue eyes, “I want this with you. Ever since that long hug the other day.”

That was enough to break his walls down. His mouth crashes to mine and his hands instantly slide under my sweater. I lift my arms so he can slide it over my head, exposing my breasts. I’m glad I decided against a bra today.

He gazes at me, his face full of pure admiration and hunger. His breathing intensifies as he reaches to unbutton his own shirt. I watch as his hands move quickly towards his belt, popping open his jeans with a sigh of relief. I try to reach for my own jeans but he pushes my hands away. He then unbuttons them himself and pulls them down. He looks so flustered and frantic that I pull his face to mine and whisper, “hey, everything’s fine, I’m here.”

He looks me up and down and nods, leaning in for a chaste kiss before removing his pants along with his boxers. I stare at him in wonder, never having seen such a thing, let alone how he was going to fit in me.

He takes notice in my concern. “You’re a virgin aren’t you?”

I nod. Something flashes in his eyes...suddenly I feel like prey.

“I’ve never had somebody want me like this, let alone a virgin. I’m not gonna hurt you, you’re my special girl.” He says trying to calm himself down.

And in that moment I felt a pain in my heart for him but also a feeling of reassurance.

“I trust you.” I say.

He nods, leaning down to kiss me. His lips start to travel down my body, stopping at the trim of my underwear. His hands reach up to pull them down gently, spreading me open. Practically drooling, he wastes no time connecting his mouth to me. My hands instantly go to his hair, pulling him further into me.

“Mmm, Mr. Harvey!” I practically scream his name.

“Mmhm, George, call me George from now on”, he hums into me.

Bringing his hand up, he slides one finger into me. I cry out louder at the new wonderful feeling. Not long after, he’s able to slide another finger in, hitting just the right spot, making it impossible for me to focus on anything but his fingers and mouth. His ministrations getting faster and faster.

“George...George...” I gasp out loudly.

“Just let go sweetheart.” He mumbles against me.

Just as I’m about to fall over the edge, he reaches up with his free hands to intertwine our fingers.

“Mmmm, Oh god, George!!” Pure waves of pleasure crash over me, over and over.

I’m floating on a cloud where nothing else exists besides me and him. Finally after minutes or hours, who knows, I open my eyes to see him over me, staring back.

He smiles and says, “Welcome back. You’re one of a kind, you know that?” I can only lightly laugh in return.

He positions himself above me so that our nether regions align.

“This may hurt a little at first.” He says.

I then feel his large head poke through my entrance, my muscles clench and I grab onto him. He slides the full way in, hitting spots I never thought imaginable. It feels uncomfortable but not unpleasant. After sitting there for a moment, I raise my hips to encourage him to move.

He pulls back and pushes back in...and again...and again. After the fourth or fifth thrust, I’m starting to feel the knot inside me building up again. I wrap my legs around him, thrusting up to meet his movements. He leans down to capture my lips with his own as he speeds up. The pleasure getting almost unbearable.

“Mmm...mhmm”, he mumbles against my lips.

He reaches under me to lift my hips up. He’s now hitting that sweet spot again, throwing me out of my mind. I almost can’t take the pleasure. We’re both a moaning mess of yelling each others names and meaningless words.

That’s when he looks down at me and says, “I love you. I’ve never loved anyone like...mmm..like this before but I love you. I’ve been..*grunt*..holding my emotions back for a..*grunt*..for a while.”

I look up to him in disbelief and say, “I love you too.” Meaning every word I say.

His lips crash to mine again as I’m sent over the edge into another, more powerful wave of pleasure. My walls clench around him, sending him onto cloud 9 with me. We ride out the wave as long as we can. Him leaning on one elbow and holding me with the other arm, me wrapped all around him.

He finally comes to, rolling onto his back pulling me to his side. My hand runs up and down his chest. ‘Finally...’ I think to myself.

“What was that?” He asks.

“I didn’t realize I said that out loud”, I laugh. “The other day I couldn’t stop staring at your chest hair through your open shirt and I was wondering what it would feel like.”

His chest rumbles with a chuckle and he says, “Ah so my hair WAS what you were staring at, just wasn’t the hair on my head like I guessed.”

I lightly laugh and hug his side tighter. He hums a bit and rubs my back, lulling me into a deep sleep.

#stanley tucci #mr harvey #George Harvey #the lovely bones #underrated characters #mr harvey x reader #mr harvey x oc

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kanralovesu · 4 years

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When Bosses Fail: Gameplay and Story Synthesis in Persona 4

I recently was absorbed into Person 4 Golden now that it got released on steam. Since the game is a few years old at this point I’d normally say that this is ground covered by people better and smarter than myself and not write about it, but when fighting the first boss a moment occurred that completely changed my perspective on video game bosses as a whole and that revelation is just too intense not to write about! I’m of course talking about the moment Shadow Yukiko tries to summon her prince charming for a second time and the spell fails. I want to take a look at why a boss trying and failing an attack is probably the single most amazing synthesis of story and gameplay I’ve seen and why it tells you more about that bosses character than anything else could.

For those of you who haven’t played Persona 4, I’ll quickly run down the setup to this boss. I wouldn’t consider it a major spoiler since it is only the first real boss of the game. Anyway enter Yukiko, a girl who is born into a family that runs a famous inn and will be forcing her to carry on the family business when she’s older. She’s not at all into this life and this manifests as the thought that she needs to find a prince to whisk her away and get her out of this life. The boss of this section of the game is her inner feelings manifested into a monstrous phoenix in a cage. Sometime into the fight this monster uses the summon ability introduced earlier via normal enemies to call forth a prince monster that looks like a puppet and which fights alongside her. However, when you defeat it or it runs away, she attempts to resummon it only for her to completely fail and we get a bit of dialogue along the lines of “Why? Why won’t he come!” After you defeat the boss and Yukiko solves her inner turmoil she learns she needs to seek independence by herself and not wait to be passively be saved by someone.

So its pretty clear the designers have baked extremely important narrative details into this fight, but most of the time when you see this its the villain's strengths being turned into their primary abilities. Why is it so important that this boss tried and failed to do something? Well when we’re talking specifically about villains, we’re talking about people who we know have flawed views of the world. These characters are defined by their flaws first and foremost and in most media these flaws directly lead to their undoing. Voldemort in Harry Potter didn’t anticipate Harry’s mother’s love protecting him and accidentally turning him into the Horcrux that would be his undoing. President Snow expected the fear of the Hunger Games to keep people in line not lead to rebellion. The Joker in the Dark Knight didn’t anticipate the two ships not immediately blowing each other up because he believed people were inherently corruptible. Villains by there very nature are meant to have flaws that directly lead to their downfall and this is often how stories present moral lessons.

However in games we find this far less often and its often reserved to finding the weak point is an enemy’s seemingly impenetrable armor. The twist identity of Doc Oc in the newest Spiderman game for example is one of the best interpretations of the character as a whole yet the fight devolves into you just damaging him in generic ways over and over with cutscenes showing you trying to disable his arms. His mechanical arms are certainly showcased to full effect in this fight, but not his superiority complex placing himself above people he wants to “help” in a perversion of Spiderman’s ideology. Arguably the best antagonist in Bioshock offs himself and you end up fighting against a guy who uses too siphons too much plasmids to himself to try to become super powerful. In this boss fight we do see the plasmids as the weak point you use to defeat him but only after a full phase of him wrecking house using said plasmids to good effect. In less story focused games, villains often boil down to really bad people who want power and thus it feels a bit counter-intuitive for the player to defeat them by powering up yourself (but you’re the good guy so don’t worry). Video games in general are less likely to present a boss’s failing during the battle.

When movies have villains who are defeated directly because of their flaws it provides a solid moral framework, but when video games fail to do that the moral lesson can fall flat. How do we know Doc Oc’s idea of thinking of those he saves as lesser is bad? Well he says it in a cutscene and he’s the bad guy so case closed I guess? In Yukiko’s case we know for a fact that her idea of a prince coming to save her is incorrect because we’ve observed visible effects on gameplay. This is far more impactful than if she just said it because in order to win the game we as players are hyperfocused on observing the patterns of gameplay that will lead to our victory. In other words, when something happens that helps or hurts our chances of winning that’s something we care a lot about immediately.

The other reason this boss design is effective is because it gives us a better understanding of the character in a diegetic way which is basically a fancy way of saying its the “show don’t tell” rule applied to video game writing.

Now when making a boss fight like this you can either approach it from a bottom up or top down approach (to borrow magic the gathering design terminology). Top down would be writing the character first and then designing the fight to fit the character, but bottom up would be making the fight first and then writing the character. As always a bit of both is probably best, but lets imagine using bottom up to write a Pokemon gym leader villain. Many joke that the gym leaders are supposedly elite trainers but only use one type of Pokemon and therefore open themselves up to having clear weaknesses. This fact would actually work well if we wanted to write gym leader characters whose flaw is that they are rigorously set in their beliefs and won’t change. For instance the Fire gym leader would be always passionate and excited but not know when to calm down and rest and the Water gym leader could be always calm and not know when jumping into immediate action is necessary. In these cases, them having only one type of Pokemon is symbolic of their unchanging natures. Perhaps when you meet them later in the game they’ve learned and have other types of Pokemon?

So in conclusion most games that aren’t directly trying to create story and gameplay synthesis on every level often fall short when it comes to boss design. Bosses often have powers indicative of their strong points but don’t have mechanical failures based on their character flaws. Honestly the problem is not nearly as bad as I make it out to be, but despite that I still think that if there’s one thing the gaming space needs more of its bosses who make mistakes during battle.

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abbyfreemansmind · 4 years

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Let’s talk about Hazbin Hotel

So, I finally sat down and watched Hazbin Hotel. I’d heard so much about it and felt the need to launch myself headfirst into having my own opinions about it instead of just listening to other people talking about it. This is gonna be a long post, so I’m gonna put it behind a neat little read more. Please note that this is coming from someone who genuinely enjoys adult humour and edgy humour and themes. I’ve got no problem with something that’s all swearing and raunchy jokes. It just needs to be done right.

Point 1 - The Plot The plot is describes as the Princess of Hell trying to open a new hotel to rehabilitate sinners so they don’t get exterminated during the yearly heavenly extermination to deal with Hell’s overpopulation problems. This plot is quickly undone through a few things that anyone can notice during the first viewing. 1 - Overpopulation? WHAT population? The scenery is most often noticeably devoid of any signs of life, outside of when background characters are called for. The scene where Charlie’s doing her news presentation is the most notable example of background characters. After this scene, we see almost nobody outside of the main cast and those weird little egg things. There are a few throwaway demons but outside of that, the streets are devoid of people. There aren’t even the corpses we had just seen during that opening scene. 2 - Charlie may as well be a total nobody what with all the power being the Princess of Hell holds. Just look at how the other characters treat her. You’d think the Princess of Hell would have some kind of benefit that would sway people towards agreeing with this whole idea. Instead, she gets mocked by just about everyone for reasons I can only guess involve winning her sympathy points from the audience. 3 - At no point does she give any proof that redemption would work. She basically says, “Hey guys! I hate seeing you all die, so I have this idea that has no backing evidence, that may or may not work, to try and get you guys into Heaven! Let me sing a song about it where I insult you all!”

Point 2 - Presentation I applaud the animators. Must’ve been hard, especially for Charlie’s overly fast song that really didn’t need to be nightcored, or literally any time Angel Dust was on-screen. Frame by frame. No rigs. All those stripes. All those colours that blend if you stare at them too hard or squint even slightly while watching. All that unnecessarily constant movement. It’s no wonder the thing took four bloody years to animate. Outside of animation, there are too many unneeded details and not enough needed details. Seriously. 1 - The turf war. We didn’t need this. We didn’t need this at all. If you take out the entire opening to it and the entire actual fight scene here, the episode still flows smoothly and we get the same amount of information and worldbuilding. In a pilot/first episode, you should only give the audience necessary details. Leave them wanting more, yes, but make sure they actually know what they’re getting into from the first episode. Make every scene count. Make it mean something. Don’t just shove every detail you can think of together and call it a day, especially if you don’t actually give the audience much information from it. 2 - Why is Hell overpopulated? Why isn’t Heaven? Why can angels go from Heaven to Hell, but demons can’t go from Hell to Heaven? Why does nobody care about being redeemed if Hell is so overpopulated that Angels annually come down and kill people because of it? Why does everyone treat the Princess of Hell like she’s worthless? Why doesn’t Angel Dust know about Alastor if they got into hell within 10 years of each other? Where is this supposed overpopulation problem? Would redemption even work in the first place? Why should I care about most of these characters (who are mostly complete jerks with no redeeming qualities other than “PROTAGONIST”, especially when two of the fan favourites repeatedly sexually assault other characters and, in one case, is both sexist and racist at one point)? Why are there turf wars? I should not be having to ask these questions. Don’t hold the audience’s hand, but don’t leave every single question you present in the show unanswered. Some of the questions presented make absolute sense to leave unanswered. Why does Alastor want to help with the hotel? Why are characters like Vaggie and Niffty, who do nothing all that bad, in Hell? These are questions that make total sense to leave unanswered for now. 3 - What crime is too terrible to be redeemed for? Charlie seems to think that literally everyone can be redeemed. That means murderers, rapists, abusers, tormentors... Certainly her song holds some kind of key to figuring it out! “Inside of every creepy hatchet-wielding maniac” Hmm... Okay... “All of you cretins, sluts and losers, sexual deviants and boozers” Uh... “So, all your cartoon porn addictions, vegan rants, psychic predictions Ancient Roman crucifixions end right here All you monsters, thieves and crazies, cannibals and crying babies" Oh... Also, did she imply that mental illness, alcoholism, drug dependency, plant-based diets/lifestyles, rabies and enjoyment of sex were sins in that song?

Point 3 - Edgy for the sake of edgy Hazbin Hotel tries to be an adult cartoon, but comes off as something a mentally disturbed teenager wrote during their emo/scene phase. 1 - The swearing and sex jokes. Oh boy. I’ve worked with children under the age of 15 who swear and crack sex jokes better than the adults in this show. The swearing and sex jokes are the only reasons this show couldn’t be aired as a Cartoon Network show aimed at edgy teenagers. It’s so poorly done that it in and of itself takes away from the quality of the show itself. Also, we have a character who’s name is an actual sex joke itself. Vaggie, full name Vagatha - a lesbian sex worker, of course. Fun fact for those who don’t know, but all of her previous character drafts had her name as some form of joke on the word vagina. This isn’t an accident, this is blatant and intentional. Also, here’s a pro tip for you! You can make an adult-oriented show without having swearing, slurs and sex jokes taking up a solid third or more of your script. 2 - The... “Representation”. Yes, Hazbin Hotel has LGBT+ characters! Yes, it has biracial and Latina characters! Charlie is bi, Vaggie is a Latina lesbian, Angel Dust is a gay man, Alastor is ace and biracial, Husk is pan, Niffty is Japanese (YIKES). Except none of it actually matters. No, really. Vivziepop was all like, “btw you can ship w/e, idc! also, i rlly like the fanon version of human alastor (who is whiter than marshmallow fluff even though he’s supposed to be half black)! :)” and threw all that out the window because... Who knows at this point. Now, if you look at the connected series, Helluva Boss, you get Moxie and Millie - an extremely obvious and loving couple. In Hazbin Hotel, you get Charlie and Vaggie who you probably couldn’t tell were a couple without somebody telling you that in the first place, what with all the loveydovey-ness going on with them. In fact, the biggest hint we even get is literally one line. “Life ain’t a musical, hun.” But then again, I’d be more apt to believe Charlie and Vaggie are friends, or Vaggie is pining after Charlie. Also, Charlie is a really bad girlfriend! She lets Vaggie get abused by practically the entire cast without so much as a single word in her defense and ignores everything Vaggie says. It came as no surprise when I remembered hearing about how the only reason these two are a couple is because one of the people on the team thought they were during storyboarding and Vivziepop just went with it. Also, fun fact, Vaggie fits both the angry lesbian and fiery Latina stereotypes. Charlie fits the stereotype for the bisexual cheater, what with how she seems to actually like Alastor more than her own bloody girlfriend. Alastor is canonically ace because he’s too full of himself to be with anyone else. Speaking as somebody who’s ace... WHAT?! As much as I don’t like Charlastor, it’s partially more popular than Chaggie because Vivziepop actually made them act like a couple for an entire musical number. Also, he’s annoying. He not only kept telling Vaggie to smile (heck you dude), he also smacked her butt, which is a form of sexual assault, people. This was all played for laughs, along with Vaggie’s (actually very reasonable) anger. Niffty is Japanese. A yellow-skinned demon who’s boy crazy and obsessed with cleaning... Big yikes. Finally, Angel Dust. The kinky gay man porn star/drag queen/drug addict/prostitute who verbally sexually assaulted two guys. Where do I begin. When it came to this guy, Vivziepop must’ve been like, “Imma throw every stereotype for gay men on this guy and call it a character!” If you look a Helluva Boss again, you get Stolas, who verbally sexually assaults Blitzo over the phone and also cheated on his wife with him in the first place, so this isn’t a one-off. Also, he was originally AFAB, so that whole line about “Why are you all women?” is more than a little heinous and in extremely poor taste.

In conclusion, this show is terrible. Everything about it. It needs some serious reworking, because as it stands, it’s really truly not that great of a creation.

tl;dr: Needs a lot of work and “ThEy’Re In HeLl!!1!!one!!!eleven!!!11″ isn’t even remotely an excuse for the genuine problems in it. Remember, at least one actual human being on Earth, not in Hell, wrote this garbage fire. Also, the animators deserve a higher wage than whatever they’re getting to deal with these designs. I shudder just thinking about animating them, with or without a rig.

#hazbin hotel #hazho #hh #vivziepop #helluva boss #longpost #long post

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ilchohand · 4 years

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Ichidai San vs Seidou: Koshien Aftereffects

@ Anon-san, here's the essay haha!

I've officially watched the Ichidai San vs Seidou match for the fourth time last night. My adrenaline was so high, I couldn't sleep until 3am that I ended up wanting to unleash all these feelings for this show.

Daiya, Act II ep 13

And I kid you not. I'm writing 'bout everyone in Seidou.

Coach Kataoka & Ochiai

Let's start with Boss. I'd like to reiterate that he always had high hopes for Eijun.

Daiya, Act I ep 5

He placed Eijun in the first string even when the boy was still shit with his form, his control, and zero baseball knowledge. Even Osaka Kiryuu's coach implied that it's actually Eijun who is Kataoka's secret weapon.

I remember him even letting Eijun pitch against Raichi during the batter's next at-bat against Eijun. That was cleary a sign that he was starting to trust Eijun. But clearly Eijun wasn't still good enough back then. Kataoka knew of Eijun's potential, it's just that he didn't expect him to grow soooo fast. Eijun was bound to get there someday, but not this soon. However, seeing Furuya's pitching in Koshien, he too was blinded by it since he was desperate for a real ace with an impact. Of course you'd wanna parade your pitcher like that. This is where Ochiai enters the picture. (If you've ever felt personally victimized by Ochiai, please raise your hand! ✋) Kidding. Ochiai was shit during his introduction. It took a long time to warm up to him, but he was an essential addition to the coaching staff. Kataoka, although tough is more of a feeling kind of coach. While Ochiai takes information at face value. Clearly in the Ichidai game, Ochiai was the one who was practical even suggesting that Eijun's pitching is more effective (even though he likes Furuya as a pitcher more). Kataoka was blind, and it was glaring. Why? You see the other teams were watching. And every single coach of the teams Seidou played against with is wary of Sawamura- even Inashiro's Coach Kunitomo. Eijun is the kid who rallied Seidou to one out away into reaching Summer Koshien- during his first freaking year.

This is why I really like it when Ochiai said Kataoka is human afterall. I guess Kataoka also has some growing up to do.

I'd like to add that these two coaches were blinded by the Koshien performance that they didn't even notice that Furuya's form was crumbling. Quoting these reddit posts, the coaching staff was purely after results. If it's not broken, don't try to fix it. We all gotta say thank you to baseball jesus, Chris-senpai, for we won't be having this problem with Eijun.

Furuya

Contrary to people saying Furuya became selfish, I feel like he actually knew what his role is and the expectations from him. He never once lost the goal to win Nationals. It's just that, he didn't know how to actually do it. He was chasing his best performance. He didn't want to be Japan's #1 pitcher for the title you know. He wanted to be the top pitcher to bring his team to the top.

Let's accept it. Despite being a monster rookie, he shouldered the ace number prematurely. Of course the weight of it would one day catch up to him. This is why the phrase 'There are no shortcuts.' keeps being reiterated in the story. I felt bad for Furuya so much. This phase of his baseball life is pretty parallel to Eijun's yips arc.

Eijun

How do I even start with our ball of sunshine? He really puts relief in 'relief pitching'. Such a refreshing player. Woah, like Sanada Shunpei. Yes we know that an ace carries the whole team, we know that an ace saves the team during a pinch, and an ace uplifts the overall mood. Already sounds like Eijun right? We know the role of an ace and how an ace should perform towards the team. What the Ichidai San match highlighted is how a team, in response, acts towards the ace. Trust. It really slapped me in the face the same way it frustrated Eijun. The extreme difference in trust given to an ace versus a relief pitcher.

This was the turning point for Eijun. Probably why I love rewatching it despite the angst. (For a more painful experience, try rewatching the episode before the Ichidai San match 🤭🔪🦝) Anyway, during that scene where Kataoka was dumbstruck with Eijun's top tier pitching I kept remembering that one quote from HQ by the U19 coach--

"We don't look for them, but that doesn't matter. They come to us with solid, undeniable strength and they make us choose them."

Literally screams SAWAMURA EIJUN!!!

Miyuki Kazuya

Where should I stab him? (Ya'll stop taking me seriously when I say stab okay?) I've been saying this all the time but our personality is the same. It's nasty. I love him and hate him at the same time okay?

Anyway, I hope we're all aware and agree that Miyuki also saw Eijun's potential from day 1. Sakuhin shit right there. Miyuki likes interesting people or happenings. This guy played catch with noob Eijun during his day-off! Offered, in fact. (Act 1, ep 5 during that intra squad game of 2nd/3rd yrs vs 1st yrs).

May I also add! Chris didn't like Eijun in the beginning. It was Miyuki who ended up covincing Chris to look at Eijun clearly and say "to a catcher, he's the most interesting kind of pitcher". However, this boy has his first string duties so it was understandable that he focused on Furuya for a while. But what's unacceptable is, during Ichidai's game, he was guilty of prioritizing Furuya over the game. This is 99% on Kataoka but 1% on Miyuki. Bitch you were losing and you couldn't even send distress signals to the coach. He trusted Furuya because of the Koshien performance and the ace number when a whole ass Sawamura Eijun exists. That's why he was quite guilty when Eijun dropped the 'trust' word on him during the switch.

And while I like that Eijun's performance during the Ichidai San match was eye opening to the catcher, I still haven't forgiven Miyuki for the day before the game when he 'ditched' or put Ei on the back burner. No, no. I'm not simply being a bitch about it because we know Miyuki's POV at that point. He needed to figure out what's wrong with Furuya and a match was looming. He didn't throw Eijun away, he just put him off a few hours. What I'm angry about is the way he put it to Eijun.

We all know Eijun is dying for some Miyuki acknowledgement. I'm pretty sure Miyuki is so unaware of this fact. Which brings me to the point. Miyuki is unaware of how his words come across to Eijun. How it impacts the little pitcher. That a simple jab to Eijun like "ace-sama wants to pitch" is a big sore spot. We see this later at night when Eijun keeps repeating, "Since I'm already put at the back burner!". Miyuki was being sarcastic about the ace-sama thing. But you see, Eijun is a big idiot. He takes everything at face value. Miyuki even brushes it off as they practice catch, "You're still angry about that?" he jokes.

And whooosh, everything's okay! Or is it?

You may say I'm being dramatic about it. But no. Here's why. During the Ichidai match, Eijun flashes back to two things. One, while on the bullpen frustrated that Furuya's messing up, he recalls the day before when Miyuki chose to catch for Furuya even though he promised to Eijun. (The other one, at his at-bat, he remembers when Kataoka didn't let him pitch the last inning.) So what seems to be a simple nasty joke to Miyuki is a sore spot to Eijun. I have observed this time and time again, but Eijun is quick to under value himself, and these jokes Miyuki pulls aren't helping. Recall that crippled Sawamura self deprecating joke he did, and him saying he was put in the back burner.

(Well anyway, Miyuki was praising Eijun in his mind the night before so I'm appeased. This is one of those TJ inconsistencies I hate, but okay, that's another post. ☹️)

Everything got better after the Ichidai game. Because as Eijun made Kataoka look at him properly. He also did the same to Miyuki. Eijun's performance just screamed, "I'm here. I'm ready!" It lit a fire to everyone in Seidou.

Fielders/Batters

I want to end my long ass post with a good one. I wanna highlight the team's performance during the Ichidai game.

While Furuya was pitching, I could go as far as say the fielder's were baby-ing him. They were so soft and encouraging because they knew Furuya when he is at his best and that it was off day during that time. The fielders were playing primarily to relieve Furuya's pressure.

In contrast, when Eijun was playing on the mound do you guys know how the batters felt? Kanemaru? Kuramochi? Utter frustration and hopelessness. And I was giddy as fuck when that happened. Because Eijun was performing his best, but they couldn't get any runs in response to his amazing pitching. It mothafuckin felt so good watching them feel powerless.

Don't you love this whole match? Obviously I do haha! If you guys ended up reading everything, then thank you! I really wrote this for myself because I was overwhelmed while rewatching it. 😅

#I PRINTED THE DRAFT OF THIS ON PAPER #THE THINGS I DO FOR DAIYA #I LOVE MY SUNSHINE BOI EIJUN SO MUCH #MIYUKI LOOKED SO TURNED ON DURING EIJUN'S FIRST PITCH DURING THE ICHIDAI GAME. DON'T LIE.#daiya no ace #sawamura eijun #miyuki kazuya #furuya satoru #kataoka #coach ochiai

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mediioxumate · 4 years

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🎯 + a character for a hc! || @offiiciium || accepting!

🎯🎯🎯🎯 for kai !

🎯 || extremely dry sense of humor - to the point you probably don’t notice unless you get close enough to realize when he’s cracking jokes. his resting bitch face is really quite next level, and it breaks for very few people.

🎯 || unfortunately, his solid steel composure is in large part an effect of childhood trauma from his family. appearing unaffected is second nature to him and he puts up quite the barrier between himself and anyone that wants to get close. kai is incredibly difficult to phase, and if you manage to, even harder for you to do so in a way that will have a visible reaction.

🎯 || he keeps his hair long because he feels like it makes his face look softer. kai isn’t necessarily WANTING no one to get close to him, or to exude an intimidating aura. the longer hair, half done up, tends to, at the very least, put people a bit more at ease around him. it also deals into his attachment to being seen as a homemaker and house husband - he desperately wants to be someone who nurtures, doesn’t destroy.

🎯 || not sure if this is hc so much as theory, and imho pretty clearly implicated, but in the conversation he has with joe that has no dialogue, i believe he was telling joe about the roles, and quite frankly encouraging him to get the sacrifice card. the fact that joe got roped in alongside sara feels awful, and he just wants them, if anyone, to make it out okay. additionally, much like sara in the forbidden nao ending, he knows that joe isn’t worthy to win etc, and throwing that back at his family as his final move sounds nice.

#muse; kai satou #i am emo about him #help

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yasuda-yoshiya · 5 years

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Opinions on Ciconia Phase 1!

All is in the name of guiding humanity down the right path...

This should be obvious, but there will be plenty of spoilers below, so please don’t read if you haven’t finished the game yet!

While I was reading, I felt like I had a bit of an up and down relationship with Ciconia. I felt really excited and impressed by the first few hours of the game - the setup of the intro with the whole military propaganda was intriguing and effective, Miyao and Jayden's dynamic was immediately super endearing and adorable, and the whole plot with Meow and her date with Jayden had me absolutely bursting with joy! I still can't quite process how happy I am that Ryukishi committed so hard to "gender weirdness" as a permanent WTC fixture here and that Yasu's story absolutely wasn't a one-off at all, and the whole framing of the plot was so heartfelt and sincere and sympathetic - Meow's gender ambiguity and her relationship with Jayden is completely accepted and celebrated by both the narrative and the entire cast, and the whole situation is framed as something totally sweet and wholesome without a single joke at their expense. Meow herself was incredibly cute, and Jayden's initial surprised reaction to her and his whole phase of overenthusiastically trying too hard to be accepting with Miyao about it in a way that ended up making him uncomfortable ("Yeah, I have a female alter, but I'm still ME, just treat me the same way you always did!") hit the perfect spot of how an awkward but totally well-meaning person really would react in that kind of situation - on the whole, I was and still am delighted that Ryukishi went so far with this!

I can definitely understand people having reservations about some of the specifics of the execution, and there are definitely valid concerns to be had with some of the CPP stuff to be sure - but at least for me personally, just the broader picture that Ryukishi chose to spend so much time having his characters explicitly working through and talking over gender issues in such an unambiguously accepting and humanising way made me so happy; I hadn't remotely anticipated that from Ciconia at all, but I genuinely felt that he did it with a lot of heart and the dynamic between Miyao/Meow and Jayden is still probably my favourite part of the VN overall! (And I also really appreciate that Miyao and Jayden were still definitely framed as being extremely flirty and gay as hell even after Meow entered the picture, since I was afraid we might end up losing that part of their dynamic at first! But no, Jayden's really obviously super in love with both of them and it's adorable.)

Unfortunately, after the very strong opening, I kind of felt a bit let down by the next ten hours or so running so hard into PLOT PLOT PLOT, with Meow almost completely disappearing for no obvious reason and the emotional core that had been originally set up being basically dropped for a lot of RGD-style political intrigue and mysterious apocalypse cults that I felt weren't really given enough context for me to get particularly invested in. It felt to me like there was a very long stretch where the plot basically amounted to a series of increasingly large-scale disasters interspersed with very samey and insubstantial discussions between Miyao and the other faction leaders about how powerless they are and agonising over whether there's anything they can do; since the whole plot takes place on such a macro scale and doesn't really take much time to meaningfully develop the faction leaders as individuals all that much beyond their basic personalities being likable on a surface level, it felt to me like the whole big series of incidents and disasters weren't really fleshed out enough or given the personal and emotional grounding for them to be individually interesting, so it all just sort of blurred together and started to feel kind of tedious.

So, around that point I was feeling more than a little disappointed by Ciconia! And yet... somehow, by the end, I felt like it genuinely did manage to gradually win me over, and the whole ending sequence hit me really hard in a way that I honestly hadn't expected it to. While I do still feel like that whole aforementioned section definitely could have been handled better and not been so dragged out (even just interspersing some of the cute character stuff from the postgame tips would have helped break it up a bit... which I kind of strongly suspect was originally the intent ala Higurashi, and I'm not really sure why they didn't go through with it), after a while I found I was genuinely won over by just how sincere and determined Miyao and the other kids were to avoid fighting each other and to find a peaceful solution, even with all the obstacles in their way. (I think I specifically remember the part where Miyao took over the COU newbie kette's gauntlets to help them intercept his own missiles where I found myself getting genuinely emotional and realising that, huh, I guess I really do care about these kids and this plot after all!)

It's funny, for a long time I felt kind of bemused - from a storytelling perspective - by just how solid the alliance between the kids was and how it totally lasted to the end. There were a whole bunch of incidents like the issue with the ABN/ACR conflict over the crop supplies that I was sort of expecting to lead to the group inevitably falling apart from distrust or suspicion or paranoia in the typical WTC fashion... but they never did! At first I was genuinely confused - like, you have the perfect setup to finally set up some conflict here and let things start to get interesting, Ryukishi! Why are you just sticking with the status quo! - but after a while, I sort of got the feeling that that was kind of the point; that these kids really did earnestly believe in each other and respected each other's common humanity and *did not want* to fight under any circumstances, and how tragic it was that even with their resolve being that strong and lasting through all those rough moments, that they ultimately weren't given any choice in the end. I felt that the game genuinely did sell me on the idea that the image of them all holding hands and chatting with each other to the end in the public bath VR room was their "real selves" - that that really was their true nature, and that those were their true feelings, that ultimately said much more about them as people and meant so much more than the arbitrarily tragic road they ended up being forced to go down entirely against their will.

I think I was kind of thrown for a loop with Ciconia because I generally expect Ryukishi's stories to follow a trajectory where the characters gradually reveal their flaws and their inner "ugliness" as the story goes on (albeit generally in a way that's still very sympathetic and humanising, of course) - but while that did sort of happen at the end here with things like Chloe and Aysha’s turnarounds (and may well happen some more in the future given that we know there were traitors in the order), in this case I honestly felt like the purpose of the story was more about bringing out the kids' inner goodness. They really were good kids! None of this was their fault! They really deserved better! And while I think I normally wouldn't be all that into a story with that kind of straightforward message (you know, me generally being a cynical loveless husk and all), in this case specifically I felt like Ryukishi really managed to convey that specific sort of feeling of loyalty and connectedness and breaking down of boundaries that comes from Internet friendships in a surprisingly touching way.

And I think in that context, even the fact that we don't ever get to see the different factions getting to know each other all that well or forming any particularly deep connections or relationships with each other beyond their political solidarity... also sort of works, honestly? Even just that very casual kind of connection, of these kids just screwing around in an improvised chatroom with a dumb name and babbling at each other about things that don't even particularly matter, the kind of interaction we've all probably experienced at some time without even thinking all that deeply about it - even just that is enough for those kids to meaningfully connect with and humanise each other, to understand on a deep level that the kids from the other factions are basically the same as them, and to want to value their common humanity over everything else. Even something that simple is enough for these kids who don't even know each other all that well to form a strong sense of solidarity that lasts through a hell of a lot of difficult times that could easily have driven them apart - to form a sense of loyalty and shared understanding with each other that feels more real and matters so much more to them than any arbitrary national loyalty possibly could. Maybe I'm just being overly sentimental, but I honestly think that message is kind of beautiful, in its way.

It also feels very relevant to me in... I guess, capturing that unique contemporary feeling of being a young person in the current political climate, and that frustration of the Internet generation being the most interconnected and least bound by national boundaries that we've ever been, and yet being forced to watch mostly powerlessly as the people in power push more and more towards stupid narrow-minded nationalism and xenophobia at a time when humanity most needs to unite against serious existential threats to the planet? So I think in that particular political context, I honestly ended up feeling really moved by just how unambiguously compassionate and sympathetic the narrative was towards these kids - that Ryukishi ended up so firmly deciding to emphasise their "goodness" and how real and precious their bonds were with each other, over anything else. It's not really the kind of story I expected from WTC, but I was legitimately touched by how much the kids' feelings around the bonds they made over the Internet being more "real" than their material reality were treated as being so totally valid - like, yes, the idea of the factory future is treated as a viscerally disturbing one, but the narrative also completely holds up the feelings that led the kids to idealise that future as 100% legit, with genuine emotional truth behind them! It doesn't feel dismissive or patronising at all, and it honestly did give me a bit of that same feeling I got from Umineko and Yasu's story from EP7 in the sense of that totally accepting and non-judgmental message of... "Even if some aspects of what you feel might be ugly, even if some people might be disturbed by you idealising something like that - it's okay to feel that way. Your pain matters. The things that led you to feel this way, to see the horror of a future like that and still long for it on some level, are completely valid. You're seen. You're understood."

And that's honestly come to feel genuinely precious to me as I've had time to reflect on Ciconia and the response it inspired in me; that it did make me feel "seen" in some deep way, maybe on a broader generational level rather than on an intimately personal one like Umineko did, but that still has a lot of value to me too. Ciconia feels very different from Umineko or Higurashi, but it's really got a lot of heart, and I personally felt in the end that the earnestness and overwhelming good nature of the intention behind it was enough for me to forgive any awkwardness in the execution. (Ryukishi is such a good guy! I love him!) So, all in all, I really appreciated Ciconia, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing where it goes from here!

#ciconia #factory future did nothing wrong #ilu ryukishi #more meow in phase 2 though pls

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yobaba30 · 4 years

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Brace yourself, dear reader, for today’s topic is rage. Not just any garden-variety rage, but its narcissistic kind, one of the darkest and most destructive manifestations of our Shadow.

A narcissist’s rage is always there, sometimes barely under the surface, sometimes hovering above it in the form of sadistic cruelties dispensed casually without specific reason, just because (that stupid dog was in my way, you are so fat and ugly, only idiots park their cars in this spot, and no one talks to me like that — any or no reason would do). There are, however, solid enough explanations of its existence.

You may have heard of Donald Trump’s very bad day the other Tuesday — or rather what would have been a very bad day for any normal person / presidential candidate confronted with his inaccuracies and lies. For Donald, however, it was just Tuesday as usual, complete with playing the Perpetual Victim™ of the Cruel and Unforgiving Press, and humiliating people who dared to question him about these pesky things known as facts.

The sordid as usual spectacle was instructive, as is everything else coming from the man, in the dynamics of narcissistic pathology.

First, the bombast. His over-the-top pronouncements about his huuuge charitable efforts are meant to shock and awe the audience into unquestioning submission.

Second, should any audience member retain his or her bearings and still manage to persist in their questioning, next comes the unloading of the massive victimhood complex designed to cow them into silence filled, presumably, with commiseration and appreciation for the Put Upon Donny and His Unique Suffering (and, oh, how he suffers! only a narcissist can suffer so — you mere mortals / losers cannot possibly comprehend it).

Third — since, remarkably enough, the first two options did not quite work, a sign perhaps that some of the press members are growing spines — there followed a predictable, but still shocking, dose of sadism in the form of insults, direct and less so, meant to shut everyone up for good.

It is instructive to watch The Donald, who epitomizes dishonesty and sleaze, rage at the reporters for being “dishonest” and call them sleazy — for trying to extract some honesty and truth from him. He shames them — or futilely attempts to, given that his moral standing is non-existent and reality is decidedly not on his side — with the ease and force that indicates the extent of his own fear of shame.

This sequelae, seen above, in response to shame is classic for any narcissist, especially one of this extreme caliber, for very obvious reasons:

The narcissist tends to be very sensitive to shame, which he perceives as humiliation: a blow to his ego (sense of self) and/or a threat to what he sees as his important status compared to others. This sensitivity is the reason why he tends to lash out at those who shame or appear to shame him in any way. His reactions to shame are grossly disproportionate to the “offense;” he will hold grudges and seek revenge sometimes till death, his own or his “offender’s,” whichever comes first. Hell hath no fury like a narcissist scorned.

Shame is so difficult for a narcissist to tolerate because it arises from an exposure of some flaw of his to others. He has many serious shortcomings; but in his own eyes he is perfect and surpasses everyone else, as he will let you know time and again, directly and not. He must retain this grandiose delusion of superiority and perfection at all costs because this is all he has. His bigger than life persona hides an empty inner core, devoid of meaningful values and attachments. A prick of shame exposing any flaws in the narcissist’s façade has a potential of deflating it and effectively destroying him since there is nothing of substance to fall back on within his inner world.

The rage with which a narcissist reacts to shame or humiliation thus deflects attention from his inner emptiness. That rage is often a predominant emotion, particularly in a narcissist who feels chronically deprived of the admiration and perks he believes he deserves (and as his need for admiration and perks is bottomless, so then is his sense of deprivation). It does not take much to provoke it: a simple, neutral observation or a request can suddenly unleash it on an unsuspecting victim.

The vehement defense against shame is also another reason why a narcissist never takes responsibility for his behavior. Why should he anyway, when he’s perfect and does no wrong? Nothing is ever his fault, no matter how great a mess he creates. Responsibility is always projected outwards, onto others, as blame. Admitting his culpability in anything could lead to shame and cracks in the false façade that defines his character — and his ego won’t allow that. It is a matter of life and death, ‘psychically’ speaking.

The flip side of his shame intolerance is his desire to humiliate others. It comes as naturally to him as breathing. He derives pleasure from inflicting on others the kind of pain he himself wants to avoid at all costs. Humiliating other people is almost as satisfying as winning. It helps that the two often go together in the narcissist’s life. In fact, humiliating others is itself a win. And he likes to win.

What we have seen in Donald’s behavior was a relatively mild version of narcissistic aggression in response to shame, but it gives us a glimpse of what’s beneath it. We are still in the wooing phase, and Donald is, believe it or not, on his best behavior.

He is still The Charming Donald (or what passes for charming in Trumpland), trying to curry our favor and votes. If he makes it into the White House, then we will get to know his true self, unhampered by all these frivolous niceties.

We must appreciate the often sadistic and always revealing quality of insults dished out by The Donald at the people who try to confront him with reality, because, in the Freudian-slippage way, they expose his shadow — take this one, directed at ABC’s Tom Llamas on Tuesday:

You’re a sleaze because you know the facts and you know the facts well.

In this breathtaking attack, The Donald conveyed more than he wished. While his intent was to imply that he was being unfairly (but of course) criticized by the reporter who should know better, he let us know, Freudian-slippage style, what we have observed time and again: that reality as we know it with its pesky facts is optional — and threatening — for him, because he lives in his own version of it, where we all should join him (if we knew what’s good for us).

This again ties in with his pathological defense against shame. A narcissist’s facts and facts as most of us know them are distinctly incompatible, and you bring it up at your own risk.

Should the truth — those inconvenient realities of his life and his character as the rest of us see them — be revealed, he would be emotionally annihilated, so he cannot allow that. Yes, a narcissist would kill, easily, to protect his fragile ego from this unforgivable, to him, insult of the truth.

That narcissistic rage attacks can be deadly we see in, for example, the tragic and seemingly incomprehensible instances of lethal domestic violence where a narcissistically injured spouse, usually a husband, lashes out at his wife who may have offended him “for the last time” by confronting him with some imperfection of his (as in, Would you take your shoes off the table, please?). We can also see it, brazenly displayed, in the lives of genocidal tyrants. Saddam Hussein, for instance, was known to invite his advisers to give him honest feedback, and then execute those who took the honest part seriously. Ditto Stalin.

The epidemic of gun violence in the US, particularly mass shootings — a persistent clamoring of our Shadow to pay attention to its presence, something we equally persistently refuse to do — is also driven largely by narcissistic rage. During a news conference several days ago about the UCLA shooter, the chief of LAPD said the following:

Everybody tries to look for a good reason for this. There is no good reason for this. This is a mental issue, mental derangement.

He was correct that there is no good reason for this and that “mental derangement” is the cause — but we should learn to identify and name this specific mental derangement, called aggrieved entitlement, which is a form of narcissistic rage, already. Our failure to do so, repeatedly and with the kind of stubbornness that suggests willful blindness, is deadly. Whatever other difficulties the UCLA shooter may have experienced, we can assume with a fair degree of certainty that narcissistic entitlement and rage were among them, as it is nearly always the case. For it takes a grand dose of faith in one’s specialness to believe that one has a right to take another’s life — or many — in revenge for whatever slights, real or imagined, one may have experienced.

Tom Llamas’ offense, like those unlucky honest Hussein’s advisers, was, in addition to confronting Trump with cold facts about his charitable inactivities, ignoring those central facts that comprise the narcissist’s reality:

It is not, however, as though his understanding of himself and the world is entirely fact-free. There are three major facts around which his whole reality is organized:

1. I am great.

2. People unfairly malign me.

3. I will show them (they will pay).

Those are not just beliefs — they are facts etched deep in his psyche, and they evoke corresponding emotional states of 1. grandiose pride, 2. sense of victimhood and resentment, 3. desire for revenge, all of which form the core of his sense of self and motivate his actions.

“You’re a sleaze because you know the facts and you know the facts well” — the real facts, about the narcissist’s unsurpassed and unquestioned greatness — and you choose to ignore them. You will pay.

Trump’s gratuitous putdowns hint at the reservoir of narcissistic rage within. If physical violence (or a lawsuit) is not an option, sadistic insults will do. We all remember his gleeful mockery of a disabled reporter; yesterday, he gave us another example when talking about John Kerry’s accident in France last year:

He goes into a bicycle race, and he breaks his leg, and he’s incapacitated. And you know what they’re saying to each other? ‘How dumb is this guy? How dumb?’

The crowd laughed, as WaPo reports.

Narcissistic rage is easily evoked by the weakness of others, which the narcissist finds contemptible and deserving punishment, sometimes giving us hints at his own early traumas he may have experienced as a weak and helpless child at mercy of his harsh and/or cruel caretakers.

It also gives us a close look at other aspects of his shadow. Here is what Trump said about Hillary Clinton this week:

She’s a total mess, she’s unstable, and she can’t be president.

And how he responded when asked why he engaged in Twitter wars with Elizabeth Warren:

Because she is a nasty person, a terrible senator, and it drives her crazy.

These grade-school level barbs, which, like everything else that comes from the man’s mouth, are based on projection, tell us most about his shadow, facts which he does not want to — cannot, at a risk of grave injury — acknowledge of himself: that he is a nasty person, a total mess, unstable, terrible at his job (whatever it really is), and easily driven crazy by petty insults and criticisms. Oh, and that he can’t be president. If only Donald listened to his shadow…

Narcissistic rage is one of the darkest and deadliest forces known to mankind. Before it erupts, it usually simmers and percolates for a long time, fueled by resentment, envy and entitlement, the latter always aggrieved as the narcissist’s need for adulation and glory is insatiable and he can see the world populated by the undeserving, inferior people who nevertheless dare to be happier and/or more successful than he is. It thus creates enemies out of the innocent and often weak who become vessels for the narcissist’s hateful and envious projections.

These sustained projections form a basis of an attitude called the narcissism of minor differences, first described by Freud, where we exaggerate small differences in people who are our neighbors — their dress, the shape of their noses, etc. — in order to feel superior to them and exclude them from our group. This attitude, like anything else based on fear and hatred, easily infects others, already narcissistically predisposed; and the sharing makes the hateful projections grow and spread. The co-existent phenomenon of collective narcissism, which intensifies the in-group ties (and which is unsurprisingly associated with authoritarianism) at the expense of excluding and demonizing those who do not belong to our group, strengthens this pathological, but common and predictable enough process.

Once established as a more or less legitimate shared worldview, the narcissism of minor differences leads to an easy dehumanization of The Other, entrenched in racism and other forms of prejudice. It culminates in mob actions, gang violence, terrorism, and endless internal conflicts and wars, which — because of their grand scale and the magnitude of destruction — are the ultimate expressions of narcissistic rage and the deadliest manifestations of our Shadow.

And we allow this to happen.

Much cyberink has been spilled on analyzing Trump’s enduring appeal to American voters, and lauding his purported political mastery. This predictable but misguided adulation that stems from widespread narcissistic collusion and denial it creates (and the other way around) is exactly what the narcissist desires and aims at extracting from others.

It is unforgivable that our media not only legitimize this destructive individual, but imbue him with all kinds of special skills, attributing to him, with admiration and awe, political genius and media savvy.

Not coincidentally, the same happened with other leaders in human history who shared this character defect: while they were ridiculed by some, they were lauded by the press, domestic and foreign, for their “eloquence” and “brilliant political skills” as they peddled their grandiose dreams of glory alongside contempt and hatred for their “enemies,” The Others.

“This is a marvelous demagogue who can really inspire loyalty.”

“This guy is a clown. He’s like a caricature of himself.”

That’s how the media both idealized and devalued another similar character from the past who set out to show the world how great he was and how much adulation he deserved, Adolf Hitler.

This happens every time with an extreme (psychopathic) narcissistic leader / public character, because his pathology evokes just that very kind of response in people, media people included: it makes us either laugh in disbelief and contempt, or idolize his hyped-up “skills” — which are really nothing more than expressions of his pathology — often both at the same time. And while the public is both amused and mesmerized by the future tyrant’s larger-than-life persona, he ever so persistently marches toward his ultimate goal unimpeded — because the number of those who fall for his narcissistic manipulations is always too large.

The predictable and co-occurring idealization and devaluation are two emotional states that generally define a narcissist’s attitude toward himself (idealization) and others (devaluation; see the insults discussed above). He projects them, primitively — i.e., without any self-reflection or inhibitions, as there is no functioning conscience to impose such “obstacles” on his mental processes and behavior — onto the world and constructs an entire ideology from them.

When dressed up in grandiose and empty sloganeering on patriotism, faith, national purity, and other perverted “ideals,” this pathological process is mistaken for “political brilliance” and other such dangerous nonsense, as it inspires too many people to follow the leader, even if straight into an abyss. His irresistible pull lies not in any specific policies he may be promising (and being blissfully unacquainted with reality, he is always short and/or vague on those), but in the feelings his words engender in his followers, specifically a narcissistic identification with the strongman, which compensates for his followers’ inadequacies; and narcissistic rage, which the strongman embodies and already unleashes on the nation through inciting chaos and violence. The only promises that matter are those which bring in a possibility of revenge for the real and imagined hurts of his followers. That, too, is our Shadow at work.

This phenomenon, part of narcissistic collusion that develops between narcissistic leaders and their followers in any human group and organization, is as common as it is dangerous. It should be obvious that any promises and “serious” pronouncements such a leader makes are not worth the air he wastes uttering them. The only “skills” that he possesses come from his emotional primitivism combined with his grandiosity and lack of conscience, which allow him to unleash the disordered contents of his psyche on the world without any inhibition or compunction.

This appeals to and “awes” people who are psychologically similar, but frightens and repulses, correctly, the rest who are not as primitive and/or disordered and who see where this dangerous process leads. Unfortunately, too many journalists, not to mention Trump’s admirers and supporters, apparently belong in the former camp, as their shadow dangerously colludes with his.

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i-cant-believe-its-v · 5 years

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Captain Marvel

Alright I'm probably gonna piss people off with this so let's get this outta the way.

I am not the smartest person, so I don't usually get most details.

I'm not a hardcore marvel fanatic. I'm a casual fan that's only really watched the movies.

I do believe women should get equal rights and responsibilities as men.

I understand that all this coming from me, a cis male, is very likely biased to some point. I'll try my best to avoid bias but it's an opinion, it's most likely gonna be biased to some bit.

Understanding that this is an opinion, I am very open to responses and I want to hear what people think, as long as it is civil and you respect my opinion and me as a person.

There are Endgame Spoilers, so scroll past if you haven't watched it yet.

Alright lets go.

In my opinion, Captain Marvel was very poorly written. Her standalone movie was purely about making her the focus of a "strong female character".

Yes, they got the toxic masculinity scene right, and she was justified in retaliating against the biker coming after her.

Yes, they showed how female figures are unfairly put down.

What I don't like is that there is no character development.

I'm gonna use other avengers as examples/parallels here.

From the very beginning, she is shown as having unfathomable amounts of power, cocky, and determined. Tony, Stephen, and Thor are also very much like this.

However, those other characters are put into very humbling moments, sometimes over several movies, sometimes in their own:

Tony gets shrapnel from his own bomb and he's forced to come to terms with the fact that he's only human. He stops being a weapons dealer and decides to do some good with his tech (Iron Man)

Stephen is a super cocky, critically acclaimed, award winning Neuro Surgeon. He even wants to pass up on saving a life to "keep his perfect record". An accident makes him lose his hands. Eventually he reaches the Ancient One, and he's extremely cocky, trying to figure out the science behind it, and calling her a scam artist, after which she promptly shows him how little he knows with that psychedelic sequence. After being humbled, he proceeds to learn as much as he can. He becomes somewhat cocky again, but then his character develops: he becomes more understanding, and even willing to do whatever it takes to save the Earth from Dormammu, even if it meant dying over and over and over and over.

Thor begins as an almighty God, rich with power and fame and charm. He swaggers on down to the frost Giants and fights them (foolishly, not considering other ramifications). Odin banished him to earth, stripping him of his powers. But in the end, he's grown as a character, sacrificing himself to try and save his friends. He becomes worthy of being Thor again.

Hell, even Loki. Would y'all have done so back when Thor first came out? No. He was the horrid villain, so manipulative and cunning. Double crossing his own family just to get power (Odin wasn't all that great of a father either but that's a different discussion). Yet here we are now. Loki is a hero. And he deserves to be called so because of everything the MCU has put him through, and how he turned out.

All the above are (yes, male) examples of well written characters

But there's also Wanda.

She's strong, extremely powerful, and an utter badass

But unlike Captian Marvel, she's empathetic. She's someone who the audience can relate to. She's lost her brother, her lover, and 5 years of her life.

She was able to fend off Thanos with ONE HAND in IW, WHILE HE HAD THE INFINITY GAUNTLET WITH 5 STONES

She single handedly made Thanos basically shit his pants in Endgame, where he was willing to sacrifice his own troops just to get Wanda off of him (he was able to easily punch away captain marvel).

Not only his Wanda a better "strong female character" overall, she's very arguably the strongest avenger, period.

She could have been written extremely well, even if it was just to make her the "standard strong female lead". Wanda had a solid background in the MCU, had emotional depth to her, and had a solid character arc.

Captain Marvel started strong, remained strong, went through some hijinks, solved some problems, reconnected with an old friend, made a new one, beat up a bunch of bad guys, and then left. When she came back, when asked how they lost to Thanos before, she simply says "you didn't have me".

Now, yes, captain marvel could have been written better. But snarky by itself is only a pleasant personality when being used for comedic purposes.

And yes, other snarky male MCU characters exist. And they were annoying. But that was not their only personality traits (unless they were written as a villain, like Ultron, or Loki in Phase 1).

Dr. Strange was insufferably cocky before being trained by the ancient one. Tony was insufferably cocky before getting blown up by one of his own bombs and being forces to craft a suit in a cave. Rocket is an asshole but underneath that it's shown that he does have compassion for his closest compatriots. Yondu undoes him in GotG 2 and he's emotionally there for Thor in IW and Endgame. Rhodey gives Tony a lot of sass but that's because that's how their friendship dynamic works. Tony is visibly heartbroken when Rhodes goes down.

All because they were all written well.

Captain Marvel (in the MCU) was not written well.

Her movie was good, in the sense that most action movies are good. But as a marvel movie, it left me wanting more character development from her.

Wanda was well written but she was squandered, being put aside as a supporting hero rather than a main hero.

And that is why I'm not quite fond of captain marvel.

Im hopeful for future movies (undoubtedly there will be sequels) to flesh her out better as a character, similar to what Taika Watiti did with Thor, Loki and Hulk in Ragnarok.

P.S. please don't confuse this with misogyny. I still think Brie Larson is a good actor, just fed bad lines.

P.P.S. The reason there are so many examples of male characters and not female characters is because that's all I could think of in the moment.

P.P.P.S. like I mentioned before, I am not a perfect person. Feel free to correct me, as long as it's civil. You can persuade me to change my opinion, but over civil discourse, not internet hate or shaming.

#avengers engame spoilers #avengers endgame #endgame spoilers #avengers #captain marvel

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steve0discusses · 5 years

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Yugioh S2 Ep 48: Bakura Completely Fails to Murder The One Person He Was Actually Supposed to Murder

Yo guys, this is the last episode of the season.

...

I know. How exactly do you resolve ANYTHING in one episode? The secret is, you don’t. Like...one thing did get resolved but it really seems like this was a 2 season storyline they were really banking on doing so well it would stretch into season 2 but, according to bro, this show got hella cancelled?

I can’t believe it. Finally. I’ve been joking about it for like a year but it actually happened.

Now my bro is full of spicy headcanons about this show and I decided to look up on Wikipedia to see what the hell happened between Season 2 and 3 for him to say this but I saw nothing about cancelling anything, but he’s pretty certain that this happened. So, I’m gonna open it up to all of you guys who know way more about this show than either of us to set it straight--was there cancellation drama between Season 2 and Season 3 or is bro just remembering history incorrectly?

Anyways, this show is obviously around for Season 3 but bro says it gets distracted and everyone has hinted that we get a really great filler arc that is most people’s absolutely favorite arc in the entire world. I’m honestly shocked I made it this far. But, lets first get into the episode.

This episode starts exactly where I wanted it to, with Tea realizing that she’s not only wandered into Bakura’s room, but that, from her perspective, it has made Bakura so freakin uncomfortable that he hella left.

Like imagine with me that your on a High school trip and you’re with all your buddies but then there’s that one kid who is a friend, but you don't know TOO well because he’s kind of awkward and also half a murderous ghost. Imagine he gets hella sick and then for some reason, you sleepwalk to his bedside, all draped across the sheets, and when you wake up he’s just...peaced right out of that entire awkward conversation that would have been.

Like...my reaction would have been completely the opposite of what Tea did.

Which was run straight to her somewhat-boyfriend Yugi Muto and tell him exactly what she just inadvertently did.

Also, forgive me for this aside, but Yugi is like 16, so why is Yugi randomly kind of jacked all of a sudden? Is that little backpack he carries just full of lead?

Oh wait, yeah...necklace is solid gold. But even still like...this small boy shouldn’t appear this jacked. Like, I know a lot of preteen girls were into this show for the large selection of anime boys, but I prefer Yugi looking sort of like the human version of a Pekingese instead. Mostly because I’m an adult, I guess. Not that I never had a preteen anime boy crush phase, but we’re talking Tuxedo Mask, who was sort of developed to be a preteen anime boy crush. Like, Tuxedo Mask has literally no other reason to exist except to be a perfect husband who gets abducted a lot, but Yugi? Like..he sells cards, why’s he gotta grow up?

My bros current spicy headcanon is that he’s slowly becoming jacked because of being in the Shadow Realm so often, and that it beefs you up like when Goku goes to space and turns the gravity on super duper high, but sure bro, you do you. Bro’s got a spicy headcanon for every loophole this show throws at us. (and it is surprising which ones were actually correct and which were probably a fanfic he read in High School.)

(read more under the cut)

Anyways, Yugi thankfully puts on a jacket and they decide not to wake up Joey’s room to see if Bakura also joined the Boy Chamber after Tea kicked him out but like...while that would be the most reasonable place to look, they decided to see if maybe Bakura is sleeping in...the hallways? I dunno why they immediately thought Bakura was kidnapped. Now that the ring isn’t with him then...there’d be no reason for Marik to kill him.

Then again, maybe Bakura kind of wanders off and does ghost stuff so often, that these two are always checking up on where Bakura wandered off to?

I guess these two just didn’t feel like waking anyone up. Or using the enchanted necklace Yugi just got. Or asking Roland the security guard. Or maybe, I dunno, ever asking Kaiba for help, who is still absolutely awake and doing literally nothing else with his time.

Like serious talk, a lot of this season’s problems would have been resolved if they had just gone to the guy in charge of the tourney and asked for him to use his endless resources to help out the tourney that he is hosting. Like, he would have done it. I know this is a bit of a stretch but I don’t think Kaiba wants people dueling to the death at 3AM. Especially if he can’t watch them do it.

I appreciate that the blimp was so important to Kaiba that he rendered it in 3-D and has it just rotating there, weirdly CG while the rest of this screen is drawn. Also, Kaiba’s desktop situation is an absolute nightmare, this boy is somehow managing a company but he cannot manage a desktop?

PS are you ready for this outfit without the horrible spiky shoulder jacket? Are you ready? Because I wasn’t.

he can’t seem to get away from that victorian gothic lady silhouette.

And so Kaiba is faced with a problem, he’s only got a low win chance to get this card the fair way. This would be a great time to just arrest Marik right now, although it would be somewhat difficult since their duel to the death is halfway over, but like, Kaiba also really likes losing at cards. He says he doesn’t, but Kaiba seems to sprint to every opportunity he can get to absolutely lose or only just narrowly win because your Dead Wife Card sent you a weird hallucination that one time.

Like...of the times that Kaiba’s dueled solo we’ve only seen Kaiba win twice, right? And once was to a random guy on the street? Yeah. Kaiba’s only won a single time on screen.

I mean, of course, unless you count the time he threatened to commit suicide if he lost and Yugi was like “What the hell!?” but I don’t know if we should count that as like...a game.

Despite the fact that Yugi has never once offered her even like...a coat in this freakin weather, Tea has decided that they’re official enough, that she will argue with him about how they now both...share a destiny??? This feels like jumping the gun a little bit?

I don’t know what the hell she’s even talking about. But she’s been treating it like they’ve been married for like 8 years. Which...would require a little bit more...supporting evidence for me as a viewer that Tea and Yugi would actually be this much of an item at this point.

Like at least she’s not a reincarnated soul of his dead wife stuffed into a playing card--this show has pulled weirder random romance plots out of it’s ass--but it’s a huge leap to suddenly tell me “And remember these two???? This romance of the ages?????” at this point, this far into the end of the season.

And like...don’t be misled by my description of this conversation, they never once even come closer than a foot of each other.

Everything about this is kinda weird. No kinkshame of course, all ships are good and valid. But, assuming that Marik’s got a foot in both Tea and Bakura’s brain right now, these two are 6 people right now (2 are Bakura, if he’s still swimming around with Tea, it’s unclear), and 2(3) of those people has tried to kill both of them, but now are piggybacking on these guys’ bodies that are currently fumbling about how the hell to date even. Imagine how awkward Marik feels rn. Just imagine.

Or maybe he’s super into it, Marik’s a nut.

Pharaoh just kind of rolled his eyes and walked through this mist door as Tea stood uselessly on the other side and it’s like, yeah, we feel you, Pharaoh, we don’t know why that conversation had to happen either.

Meanwhile, I’ve been skipping the card game portion which actually looked very nice. Again, it was the last episode, they upped their game, but that won’t come through in caps so just know--that was nice. but because Bakura decided to do the taboo of playing a God Card, it absolutely royally screwed him over. and then Marik fused his body to it like Final Fantasy and it’s like...sure why not. It’s the last episode. Fuse your body with a playing card, no one will question how that would have worked outside of a shadow game.

Anyways, Marik kinda saw that happen and was like, well damn. Didn’t know it could do that. Weird, right? Huh. So much for living in obscurity and being tortured underground and keeping the Pharaoh’s secrets for 5000 years, apparently we knew...NONE OF THEM.

And then Bakura died, and even dropped us an iconic one liner as Marik sends him into the darkness while saying “enjoy the darkness!” or something like that. This was extremely 2000′s. It’s fine to be cliche if you’re...Bakura. You kinda have to be. That is the whole point of Bakura.

So he said, something like this

Like the exact line was more like...”Did you forget, I AM darkness??” or something, but man, that sums up the whole of Bakura so well. Like, he doesn’t make sense. But, he doesn’t have to, because the point of Bakura is that he’s just a walking 00′s prototype and that’s what makes him great. Like if you could make the 00′s hot topic aesthetic (minus the meme shirts) into a candle and then burn it down to nearly the end of the wick--that’s Bakura.

Like I watch kids as a dayjob and the other day the 12yo was like “I drew stuff, do you want to see?” so I was like “Absolutely!” and she’s like “I warn you--it’s kind of messed up.” and I’m like “that’s fine” and she’s like “no but really it’s spooky, ok? I just want to warn you.” and I’m like “try me” and she flips open her ipad and in the apple version of MSpaint I kid you not it was

A happy face

crying black tears.

And I’m like “Wow.” and she’s like “I know, it’s pretty dark” and I’m like “well, not exactly, he seems pretty cheerful” and she was like “well this one is really really scary are you ready?” and I’m like “OK, because that one was pretty happy” and she’s like “no Rach this one is like reallllllly messed up. You’re going to think I’m crazy.” and I’m like “oh shoot” and she flipped open to the next page in her ipad and it was

A happy face

It’s eyes are bloodshot. (magenta blood. It was Magenta)

And I’m like “wow! He’s even happier!” and she was like “But this is the scariest thing I’ve ever drawn in my life!” because to a 12yo, that is scary. Like it’s funny to me because honestly, the way kids and even teens think of what is “scary” is so different than what is “scary” to an adult. And Bakura is sort of like the personification of an MSpaint happy face crying blood tears.

Like, he’s different than Marik in that Marik’s backstory was super well established, while Bakura...never needed one. Apparently he will get one, but he honestly doesn’t need it. He’s just a nightmare that a kid would have. I don’t really question the logic of what happens around Bakura vs everyone else because...he’s Bakura.

I do question that he somehow got beaten by Marik. That doesn’t add up for me, but honestly the other Marik kind of messed Bakura up so...you could say he was doomed to fail that. It was more that Marik beat himself and dragged Bakura with him.

And like, I’m not upset that I don’t have to look up Britishisms anymore and take notes during British Bake Off and then completely lose those notes when it comes time to write these. But wow, I will miss Bakura.

Didn’t know I’d miss you until you were gone, little gross disgusting buddy.

Didn’t realize how I’d miss you killing off random people all the time and pretending to be a good boy while leaving little cookie crumbs of a storyline that will apparently not even get picked up until like forever from now.

Ah, so lets pour a glass of fries that we call potato chips, pour some vinegar all over them and remember our favorite Bakura moments.

Like that time he straight up murdered everyone on this show and then inspired me to pick up bro’s idea to create this entire blog series.

Or that time he tried to possess Mokuba but then got stomach punched by Tristan while everyone else canonically thought Tristan was taking 4 hours to poop.

Or that time he decided “Screw this, I’m just going to use lasers!” and then never used lasers ever again.

Or that time they all walked in on Pegasus doing human sacrifices of living people and Bakura went “Oi, that’s a little much!” and then wiped everyone’s memories and dragged them back to their rooms, including Pegasus.

Or that time he decided to swing from the rafters of a warehouse and knock over Bandit Keith, and then say “Oi, all better” and then just walked away while the entire warehouse combusted into flames.

Or that time he just held up a recently used disembodied eyeball and then in the Japanese version, licked it clean.

I will miss you, you freakin weirdo, and will I ever get to write about him again? I actually have no idea. Season 5 is a really long time from now. I’ll keep the Bakura color palate saved in the corner of my Photoshop, but ah, it will be a forever from now before I get to click it again. If I ever do.

But congrats to his voice actor who now gets to take a very long drink of tea and fix whatever the hell talking like Bakura does to your vocal chords.

Marik picks up the ring although I’m not sure that it matters and now I’m very confused as to where the hell the absolutely never-washed eyeball went. Maybe he saw it rolling around down there and was like “I’ll have to come back with a ziplock baggy for that.”

We started this season with Yugi being late and arguing with Tea about being late and now we end the same way. It all came together.

Yami could have done something, but there wasn’t enough time in this season, so he just let Marik walk free.

I swear, Yami.

In her defense, maybe this is what jammies actually are when you live underground?

And then, to make things even more complicated, Marik has decided to show up to Ishizu as...Tea.

Also, miracles of miracles, this plot thread actually paid off:

And then for I guess 2 Seasons Bakura just plays with Yugi’s Tomogachi’s and does calf raises on all these stairs. I would say he’d have to avoid running into Pharaoh, but I feel like Pharaoh only really hangs out in the one room at the entrance. He doesn’t seem to really care about these doors anymore.

At least someone was there for the Tomogachis, in the end. Mine has been dead for 20 years, but Yugi’s will live on apparently eternally. The immortal Tomogachi (which was apparently featured in Season Zero?).

Stepping away from the Yugioh Tomogachi headcanon, lets see what Marik’s up to. Oh that’s right, that thing he keeps trying to do.

Nice.

And just when I thought this episode was finally over, get ready for it, get ready for this massive plot dump that just comes right out of no where so quickly I didn’t even get to fit it all in one cap.

That’s right, this season ended with a cliffhanger of Seto saying along the lines of he stole his father’s company (OK?) and then his Stepfather got super pissed and fled here and then Kaiba built a huge ass phallic tower on it and like...it was a lot for the last 1 minute of the show.

Anyways, it ends with Kaiba being like “NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND, WHY WE’RE COMING HERE, TO THIS ISLAND, TO PLAY CARDS!?” and it’s like no, no one understands, Kaiba. Your brain doesn’t work right. This is weird.

This is so freakin weird.

Kaiba was giving the Ishtars a hard time about their family issues being resolved with his tourney, and it was because apparently he was ALSO using this tourney to resolve his own family issues the entire time.

Anyway, I never expected for Kaiba to become such a dominant character on this show but we are going to Kaiba island. Another freakin island.

So Season 3 is apparently way different and my bro was like “we can just skip all that filler? We can skip like 20 episodes.” and I was like “That is not the point of this blog. We are watching the filler.”

Now, just FYI I’m gonna take a break for a bit between seasons, probably for about 2 weeks or so. I’m probably going to make a little buffer because life stuff will inevitably pop up and I’d hate to go too off schedule now that I know Pharaoh wears PJs in season 5. Like, I enjoy doing this blog, it’s incredibly nice to do something that isn’t art related and has zero expectations assigned to it, but it is a side project, so I gotta prep accordingly.

That being said, thanks so much y’all for reading these, and all the nice comments (which I am very bad at responding to, especially since it really feels like tumblr doesn’t...have a response ability built in). I was really only making these with bro to cheer him up when he hated his job and was quitting--and then he quit and we continued to make them because last year was pretty stressful (like I don’t talk about it here because this is a happy blog but damn I’m glad 2018 is in the trash) That other people seem to enjoy these rants was fun and unexpected. So thanks for reading and putting up with the fact we know very little about this series. Well, now I know an awful lot actually. Scary how much I know about Yugioh now. Eh.

I got a graveyard post I’ll probs put out there around next weekend, in the meantime, but, other than that...I’ll see y’all in Season 3.

And if you just got here, this is a link to read the recaps in chrono order from s1 ep 1

#yugioh #yugioh recaps #photo recaps #s2 ep48 #I did it #I did two full seasons #apparently this is the 97th post I made including season zero ps #although math is not my strong suit #yugi muto #bakura #bakura freakin died #marik ishtar #tea gardner #kaiba #seto kaiba #mokuba

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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15 Hardest Dark Souls Bosses

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It’s easy to call Dark Souls the most influential game of the 2010s. Whether it was the deep combat, obtuse storytelling, or the unforgiving difficulty, dozens of other games have taken inspiration from Dark Souls in one way or another over the last 10 years. It’s even spawned an entire sub-genre of similar “Soulsborne” games.

There’s a lot to love about Dark Souls, but for most fans, the most memorable parts will always be the boss battles. We’ve spent hours trying to topple these bosses in the never-ending quest to “git gud.” There’s really no such thing as an “easy” Dark Souls boss. Their difficulty starts at “hard” and then increases to “borderline impossible.”

As we celebrate the series’ 10th anniversary, these are the 15 hardest bosses you will face in the Dark Souls trilogy:

15. Ancient Dragon – Dark Souls II

The second Dark Souls game gets some flak from fans since it didn’t involve Hidetaka Miyazaki in the director’s chair. Many gamers will tell you it’s the easiest game in the trilogy because of changes made to the gameplay without his guidance, but it’s still pretty damn difficult. For example, the Ancient Dragon hits very hard. A single stomp from his massive legs, or a blast of fire from his mouth will likely kill your character. At best, you’ll have just a sliver of health left.

But as with any Dark Souls boss, the Ancient Dragon can eventually be conquered with patience and practice. Just be prepared to die a lot before then. But at least he’s an optional boss if you’d rather avoid him altogether.

Things only get more difficult from here, and most of these fights aren’t as easily avoided…

14. Bed of Chaos – Dark Souls

Dark Souls is generally considered “tough but fair.” With enough practice, a dedicated gamer should be able to recognize enemy patterns and eventually beat almost anything the games throw their way. But Bed of Chaos comes pretty close to breaking that rule. Many would say this boss does.

This demon resides in a giant tree, and will wantonly swing massive branches at you as you desperately try to hit the two orbs on either side of the room to whittle away its life bar. Take out one orb, and a big chunk of the floor collapses. Manage to take out that orb, and now there’s even less floor to walk on as you have to make a blind jump into the tree’s branches to take out the heart of chaos. Even then, a big swing from the branches is likely to kill you if you’re not quick enough. Vanquishing the Bed of Chaos often depends more on luck than skill.

13. Pontiff Sulyvahn – Dark Souls III

Pontiff Sulyvahn is really fast, which means you’re bound to struggle with this Dark Souls boss. He also attacks with two swords — one hits with fire damage and the other with magic damage. That’s tough, but something Dark Souls veterans can handle. The real issue is midway through the fight when he starts spawning a phantom that’s just as dangerous as he is.

Dark Souls fans thought they could handle almost anything the series could throw at them, but for many, Pontiff Sulyvahn was the first real challenge they faced in Dark Souls III. But the final game in the trilogy managed to get even more difficult from there.

12. Capra Demon – Dark Souls

The Capra Demon has become one of the more iconic bosses in Dark Souls, a towering minotaur-like beast with two giant swords. Those who have bested him remember the first encounter well. Part of the difficulty with this demon is the two dogs at his side. Walk through the fog gate unprepared and they’ll make quick work of you before you can even get one hit on the demon.

The other issue is that the arena in which you face the Capra Demon is extremely cramped. The wall is as much your enemy as he is. Luckily, several different strategies have been discovered over the years to make short work of this fight. There’s even a way to take him out with firebombs without even entering the fog gate.

11. Centipede Demon – Dark Souls

The first challenge when it comes to the Centipede Demon boss fight is dodging its heavy hitting attacks while avoiding lava damage. The second part is taming the camera, which can regularly ruin a great run. Seriously, this might be the most glitchy boss fight in the game, although sometimes that can work to your advantage if the demon gets stuck in the scenery.

The Centipede Demon is also a good example of how sometimes you just need the right strategy to beat Dark Souls’ bosses, and how failure ultimately leads to success. Getting the Orange Charred Ring when you cut off its tail is a huge help here, and you don’t even have to beat the demon to get it. It’s worth sacrificing some souls on one run for the ring so that you can come back stronger the next time around.

10. Sanctuary Guardian – Dark Souls

After Dark Souls became something of a surprise hit, fans who conquered the first game were hungry for more. FromSoftware happily obliged the following year with the Artorias of the Abyss expansion. The first boss of the DLC quickly tested any gamer cocky enough to think they could breeze through the expansion.

The Sanctuary Guardian is a massive, white winged lion who moves fast and attacks with lightning, poison, and physical damage. Not only do you have to be a high level player and have the right equipment to defeat this beast, but you also need to have nearly flawless dodging skills. And as tough as the Sanctuary Guardian is, it was actually just a prelude to the overpowered DLC bosses to come.

9. Slave Knight Gael – Dark Souls III

Slave Knight Gael is a case of slowly escalating difficulty. His first phase is a tough, but fairly standard melee battle. But then comes the second phase when he adds more attacks, and gains the ability to turn invisible and teleport. That’s bad enough, but then comes phase three where he adds in even more attacks, and now lightning randomly strikes the ground.

What really doesn’t help matters is that Gael has more health than almost any other enemy in the game. Defeating him is a battle of attrition.

8. Knight Artorias – Dark Souls

If you thought the Sanctuary Guardian was difficult, then good news! The next boss in Dark Souls’ DLC is even harder. At least Knight Artorias isn’t as annoyingly fast, but he makes up for that with a series of relentless sword attacks. And if he does try to get away, it’s only to use buffs that make him even more of a pain to deal with. The best strategy is to beat him as quickly as possible.

If you look closely, Artorias is actually fighting with a broken left arm, so he’s not even at full power for the battle. I’d hate to see what that’s like.

7. Black Dragon Kalameet – Dark Souls

You’ll first encounter Kalameet soaring in the background as you explore the Artorias of the Abyss DLC. That’s intimidating, but it’s really just a prelude of what’s to come. After facing other dragons, you might think that you can take him out by just attacking him from underneath. Nope. Kalameet will either stomp you to death or just fly away if you try that.

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Attempt to attack him from afar, and his fire breath causes physical and magical damage, so it can’t be fully blocked. You’ve got a very short window to actually damage the black dragon during its assault, making for an extremely frustrating boss fight.

6. Four Kings – Dark Souls

Your view of the Four Kings is going to depend a lot on how hardcore of a Dark Souls fan you are. If you’ve just played through the game once, they’re actually not so difficult or memorable. The real challenge comes on New Game+ when their stats are increased.

Whereas before, you could brute force through one king pretty quickly, that’s almost impossible on a second playthrough (or later). You’ve only got about 40 seconds until the next king spawns, and it’s easy to get caught in a situation where you’re now cornered by all four of them simultaneously. Only the most skilled Dark Souls players are going to get out of that unscathed.

5. Throne Watcher and Throne Defender – Dark Souls II

The penultimate bosses of Dark Souls II are actually way more difficult than the final boss battle. By themselves, the Throne Watcher and Defender wouldn’t be too difficult. They’re fairly typical melee knight enemies. Just having the right build can get you close to taking out this duo — except for one little wrinkle.

As soon as you defeat either the Watcher or the Defender, the one left alive will rush to the side of his fallen brother to heal him. You have to carefully split your attacks between them because you have a very short window of time to take out the pair before they come back at you in full force.

4. Darkeater Midir – Dark Souls III

Continuing the series’ tradition of ridiculously difficult DLC boss fights, Darkeater Midir is a massive dragon with high health and heavy physical, magic, and fire attacks. He’s challenging on your first run, but can one hit kill even the most seasoned warriors on New Game+.

Unlike a lot of other bosses, there aren’t many tricks you can pull off in order to cheese a win against Midir. Your best bet is to face him head-on with a melee build. If that’s too much for you, at least he can be skipped.

3. Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough – Dark Souls

Ornstein and Smough effectively act as the gatekeepers in the first Dark Souls — and really for the entire series. If you did in fact “git gud” enough to beat them, you should be able to beat the rest of the game without too much trouble.

The challenge here is two-fold. They’re both very quick, and can synchronize their attacks. It’s very easy to end up cornered and taking massive damage. And unlike the Throne Watcher and Throne Defender, you can’t defeat them simultaneously. When one goes down, it just spawns a super powered version of the other. This fight requires quick reflexes, a strong build, and a solid understanding of the game’s mechanics.

In short, this boss fight is the perfect microcosm of the Dark Souls experience.

2. Manus, Father of the Abyss – Dark Souls

Massive, quick, and capable of dealing heavy damage in an instant, Manus is the final foe you face in Artorias of the Abyss, making him the “true” final boss of the first Dark Souls. Even though you can summon assistance in this fight, and a few items will help negate his attacks, Manus’ speed and varied attacks make him difficult to predict.

Then there’s his health bar. It’s tricky to come up with the just the right build to damage him consistently, and even when you do have a strong character, this fight is largely a matter of endurance.

1. The Nameless King – Dark Souls III

First, give the Nameless King props for showmanship. This guy knows how to make an entrance, swooping into a fog-filled arena atop a very cool looking wyvern. It’s like something straight out of a heavy metal album cover. The first phase of the battle involves taking out the wyvern, and it’s actually not too bad for Dark Souls veterans (which you should be if you’ve made it far enough to face the Nameless King). A few different strategies work here.

But when the Nameless King dismounts, the real fight begins. It’s difficult to time when he’ll strike with his sword. His attacks do a lot of damage, and the only way to avoid his lunge is to roll through it. One small mistake can quickly turn into game over, but if you do manage to defeat him, you’ve truly mastered the Dark Souls trilogy.

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Who do you think is the hardest boss in the Dark Souls series? Tell us in the comments!

The post 15 Hardest Dark Souls Bosses appeared first on Den of Geek.

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lawlight-week · 7 years

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Kira is taken down early on, and Light is reborn as a young Shinigami who remembers nothing of what he once was. L is the one to gain ownership of his notebook, and together, they relearn what it means to be human.

L doesn’t leave his hotel rooms too often, but when Light wants to, he’s allowed to wander the city. Whenever he goes on his outings, he always finds himself checking up on a certain former family.

Inside their house, he’ll find the atmosphere eerily comforting. While listening to their boring conversations, he’ll study the photographs found hanging in the hallways, his heart growing in weight each time his name is suddenly mentioned.

“I can’t believe it’s been four months without him, already,” Sayu sighs over dinner one evening.

Light has yet to fully accept that she was once his little sister, or that the empty fourth chair at the dining table was definitely once his. But four months , he ponders, astounded.

When he finally returns to the hotel room, he has to clarifies to himself that, yes, over two months have dropped from L’s remaining lifespan.

During the last few weeks of receiving his eyes, it didn’t take him long to figure out the formula for translating lifespans into human time. And the math still gets easier each time he does it. His favourite guinea pig, of course, is L, since the latter’s lifespan just always so accessible.

But 2 years, 3 months, and 12 days remain floating above the detective’s face.

It’ a surprisingly short amount, and he isn’t permitted at all to tell him how much time is left. Though something much bigger looms over his head in regard to that.

He’s going to have to be the one to end his life.

It became their fate the moment Ryuk threw his notebook down into the room.

But as of late, Light’s grown achingly fond of the human.

L adores his wings, and he knows it too. And if not only from the earlier confession, then in the constant stares it’s made more and more obvious. Sometimes, the dark-haired man will even reach out to stroke a feather.

The first time it happened, Light admittedly flinched at the contact, retracting his wings quick enough to rustle of air against their faces. The detective apologised, but then it happened again the very next day. And the next.

So now, it’s habit that Light simply allows it.

Still frustrated and confused by the meaning of it all, he only continues to follow the human around, day after day. What will he think when it’s time for him to write L’s name down in the notebook?

It starts getting harder to come to terms with the fact that has to do it. Equally, it gets more difficult to accept that he’s grown a soft spot for the man. He tries to justify developing those feelings, telling himself that anyone would do so after spending so much time around someone else.

But those are a human’s thoughts processes. Light doesn’t have human thoughts. At least, that’s what he keeps telling himself.

However, it doesn’t take genius to notice L’s behaviour changing around him as well.

On some nights, rare and shiny, L will join him on the loveseat and lean against his hollow body. Light never phases through him, though; he doesn’t want to. He fully enjoys that solid, warm weight against him.

Even more rare, though, is when L falls asleep on him, and the room fills up with his gentle snores. Knowing he never gets enough sleep, the Shinigami keep dead still for hours on end, just listening to his human’s slow, deep breaths.

And it’s comforting. That’s the easiest part of of it all.

Life alongside L teaches Light again many aspects of being human. But one element still remains annoyingly unclear — that is… desire.

Not desire in the way he craves knowledge, or even in the way he wanted to take Naomi Misora’s life, but desire in the way that causes humans to get frantic and red.

It must have been lost on him in his rebirth. He really can’t seem to understand it.

Light already recognises an array of human-like emotions; rage, loss, and dare he think it; even the beginning of love. But he just can’t wrap his head around wanting another person physically. He can’t relate to the passion that fuels that kind of erratic behaviour simply because he might not have the capacity for it.

And it’s perplexing…

One afternoon, L easily notices the way Light pays extra attention to the topic on TV, and decides to question him on it.

“Do Shinigami reproduce?” he ponders through a lollipop.

Light shakes his head at the grim concept.

“Shinigami are created. We don’t have parents,” he explains, but immediately regrets his choice of words.

“You have parents, though,” L is quick to intervene.

“You know what I mean. Shinigami don’t feel sexual attraction to one another. There isn’t a need to. It’s probably for the best, anyways. As if the world needs more monsters.”

“Is that how you see yourself?” L asks, his tone made up of genuine curiosity. “A monster?”

Light’s chest heaves with a small sigh. It’s a hard question, even to himself.

“In the most literal sense of the word, yes, I do believe so. Do you not?”

L shakes his head in denial, pulling the lollipop from his mouth with a pop.

Light watches the way it gleams in his fingers before clearing another sigh, and opting to re-explain himself.

“I just don’t remember ever understanding human sexuality. Even now, now matter how much I learn about it, I can’t understand it, and it frustrates me.”

He hates to admit that, agitated he could actually be stumped over a human concept.

But at the sight of his honest confusion, L has to forcefully fight off a chuckle. He knows that Light wouldn’t be able to see the humour in it.

“Well, being human, I understand it,” he says, sticking the candy back into his mouth.

His next words come out muffled.

“And I wouldn’t mind showing you that part of humanity.”

Light shoots him a mixed look about what that means.

“Besides, I’ve found myself quite attracted to Light’s new form,” he muses some more, as if it were a normal confession to be making. “I’m curious to see if we can make it work.”

For a moment, the Shinigami’s stunned quiet. His stomach tingles the tiniest bit, but that’s the most reaction he can find out of L’s words. If anything, he’s already satisfied that L would want to teach him, but—

“No,” he firmly states, crossing his arms right away. “I can’t.”

“Even if Shinigami don’t have the physicality down, there are other ways,” L informs him, but the latter grows embarrassed by the implication.

And that’s not all. Light would hate to admit to L that he actually has no idea how to have sex.

“I doubt I’ll find it at all pleasurable,” the Shinigami tries to excuse himself.

L shrugs.

“Even if it’s not physically pleasurable, it can be extremely mentally fulfilling,” he offers back to Light, who frowns at him.

“For humans, perhaps, but—”

“But what? Would it really be so bad to experience a human activity one last time?”

At that point, Light knows he won’t win.

He glances back up to the human’s ticking lifespan and thinks that maybe L’s aware that he hasn’t much time left. Maybe L means himself when he says one last time. And Maybe L is right. Maybe it won’t be so bad.

“Alright. But you have to fly with me once more. An eye for an eye,” he negotiates teasingly, knowing his human wouldn’t be able to pass it up.

And as anticipated, L nods without hesitation.

—Ah. Is that a smile on him?

It’s weird.

Even though he’s no longer human, he can still clearly feel the switch to tension.

L takes the lead, since he’s the one teaching, and Light can only feel grateful.

Seated together on the hotel bed, L tentatively pulls off his own clothes. So far, it’s not different from what the Shinigami’s seen on the screens.

He studies L closely, trying to spot a new type of yearning within himself. But nothing changes.

Staring right back to him with his signature wide-eyes, L moves in to kiss his jaw softly, as he’s done a handful of times since their first flight.

Light’s eyes lull while he enjoys the warm pressure against his skin. It’s nice.

Feeling more advantageous, L nabs up Light’s lips, happily surprised by the roughness of them.

The Shinigami automatically kisses him back; a part he can do. Kisses are nice, and he can understand wanting them, but that’s where the line both begins and ends.

Anything beyond that is a complete mystery.

L lays down next to him, and Light watches too intrigued, as dark eyes fix on his dark wings.

Taking note of it, Light flexes them a bit, and then lifts one up.

L seems to experience a physical change right away.

Shinigami eyes fall to his human’s hips. Through thin boxers, a growing arousal keeps his interest piqued. And…he wants to see more…even if for nothing more than curiosity.

L understands this without words, and has no problem doing exactly like he offered; simply showing Light how it all worked.

An eager gaze follows L’s hand as the latter reaches down to palm himself through the material, and when L’s breath hitches, red eyes quickly snap back up to see L’s cheeks flushed pink.

That’s… beautiful.

It’s odd to admit, even if to himself.

So he feels like an idiot after finally realising why the reaction to his wings.

Stifling a sound, L sinks into his bottom lip while continuing to rub himself, moony eyes glued to his ashy appendages.

That… was the source of L’s desire?

It makes absolutely no sense.

But at the same time, an inspired Light figures that a show wouldn’t hurt the learning experience. He spreads his wings far out, pride filling him as he does so.

The way L sinks into his lower lip even deeper motivates him to continue.

He flaps his wings a few times. A loud whoosh of air blows past the detective’s ears, and it seems to drive him crazy.

Desperately, L pushes his underwear down, and pale, skinny fingers wrap around his dick, squeezing and stroking.

Light can’t take his eyes off of him. As L lays flat, the Shinigami moves to lean up over his pale figure, studying all of the human’s delicious expressions, each of them putting more of those tingles in his chest.

He nearly forgets to hold up his end of the unspoken agreement when his wings freeze, and L does as well. But as soon as he understands this, they start up again, spreading wide to be adored.

Seconds tick by, and the Shinigami realises himself completely engulfed by the intimate situation.

Panting softly, L’s hand moves at a steady pace, eyes ever glued to his wings.

With L enjoying himself, and Light’s ego being stroked, what more could he want from this?

However, that question is decidedly answered when Light swoops one wing down, incidentally brushing his feathers against L’s bare tummy. In reaction, L eagerly whines, and the noise zaps electrically through Light’s entire body.

He wants… more of these sounds.

Even though there’s no inclination to put his hands on L’s body, with his wings, it feels like a different story. He wholeheartedly brings them both forth, immersing L’s flushed and writhing body within them, and as expected, the action pulls more of those addicting sounds out of L.

“Light!” L cries out, and he’s utterly surprised to feel the man orgasming beneath him, his hips stuttering and his eyes sliding shut.

Ashen wings keep protectively around L as his breath steadies, sated and sleepy eyes blinking rapidly at him

“Thank you,” he says simply, seeming to be at an equal loss of words.

Light’s still not sure he really understands what goes on in a human brain during such activities, but did learn that he’s willing to do it all over again. And that kisses are enjoyable.

Very much so.

Retracting his wings, Light leans down, and gently kisses L, almost surprising him with it, but the return kiss is soft and compliant.

It’s nice.

Later that night, L fulfills his end of the deal and allows Light to carry him through the sky once more.

And when the human kisses Light in the air this time, there is no faltering, and no thin excuses muttered afterwards. A silent truce settles between them. They both stop running from their budding feelings.

Neither say a word aloud about it, and they don’t need to. Things are okay. Things are easy.

#lwts #lawlightweek2k17 #themes #day1 #greed #fanfic #death note #lawlight #submission

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theblazeofmemory · 7 years

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CONSIDER THIS AN ASK ABOUT UR OCs YOU'VE PIQUED MY INTEREST

OKAY SO I’M GONNA LAY OUT THE MODERN MAGIC ONES? And if people wanna help me figure out more things, because I haven’t gotten a real chance to do much with them, by ALL means, send me asks

BackgroundCorey is a weird little town that sits on the intersection between Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. Standard small-town America life- little coffee shops and niche boutiques and one bar that does really, really well on the weekends. Other than it’s tri-state location, the most interesting thing most people know about the town is that it’s home to the Kennedy Conservatory, a college that’s a little… odd.

Maybe it’s the fact that no one remembers who founded it. Maybe it’s that the campus is basically forest with some buildings in between. Maybe it’s the fact that a solid third of the student body doesn’t talk to anyone outside their college. Maybe it’s that the head of the History Department claims to be best friends with the Jersey Devil. Who knows?

(Contains: magic, witchcraft, mystery, griffins, dragons, demons, some very large spiders, cryptids, the crippling weight of academia, etc.)

ProfessorsAlexander Morgan - History - Secretive, bookish, a little sassy and a lot of sass, students either love him or hate him. He doesn’t keep regular office hours and is usually m.i.a. if you need him, and he’ll give you a glare and a long-suffering sigh if you catch him. Don’t touch his things, but do ask a lot of questions. Winning his favoritism is the goal of every dedicated history major.He’s also a warlock with an interest in demon physiology and is part of a society that has to keep a lid on the magic of the world. Corey is right near a layline intersection, so it’s the perfect place for him to be.

Basil Finnegan - Literature - Basil is that teacher you can get off topic by mentioning one of about 57 different things he finds interesting, and he’s gone. He’s a lit professor, technically, but he’s subbed for Professor Williams more than once down in the bio department. He prefers to go by his first name instead of “Professor Finnegan,” that’s so formal. He teaches half the classes most professors do because he doubles his time as the librarian. Not just the regular campus library; also the magic library under the regular library. Kinda fancies himself as the “Indiana Jones of books.”

Peregrine Williams - Biology (Ornithology) - Unlike some of his colleagues, Peregrine actually does keep regular office hours. He doesn’t do anything on campus except his 9am class on Fridays, though, because he spends his weekends away in the mountains. He says “birdwatching,” but a couple of people know better. He’s guardian of a clan of griffins in the mountains and has been studying their behavior and society for almost ten years now. He’s soft spoken and a little stuttery but very committed to his birds. Ace as fuck.

Pen Rockafeller - Biology (Comparative Biology/Evolution) - Pen hasn’t had a lot of fleshing out, but he’s Peregrine’s snarky rival in the bio department. His tests aren’t hard, but… tricky. He’s fond of giving partial information and expecting others to fill in the blanks. Kind of Cheshire-esque in his mannerisms. Likes plays on words and dragons. Really gay, likes Peregrine a lot (Peregrine is firmly uninterested, please get back to work).

StudentsLucas Raine - Biology (Ornithology TA; Junior year) - Lucas actually got a character ask right here a long-ass time ago. He’s a big ol’ bird nerd, totally sweet and wonderful and unintimidating. Three years of college and beginning a semester as a TA for Professor Williams has yet to phase him. He’s got a crush on his roommate and doesn’t know what to do about that. Oh, also, he’s one of four people on campus that knows griffins are real and they live in the Adirondacks.

Riley Evans - History (Junior year) - The aggressive counterpart to Lucas, Riley is one of those people who fights first and doesn’t bother asking questions later unless he thinks it’ll be pertinent to writing the account of this vicious smack-down. He’s super competitive and values honesty above everything except friendship and loyalty. He’s been trying to get the history TA position since last year, and he’s super pissed that he hasn’t gotten it yet, but Lucas got his. He would probably kill to protect a friend, and with what his future has in store, he might have to.

Jessica “Jess” Chambers - Biology (freshman) - Jess JUST got here, but she is determined to prove that she belongs. So many times, her interest in biology has been discounted, she’s been told women don’t belong in this kind of field, that it’s going to be way too difficult and she should do something different, but those people can all stuff it, she’s gonna do great. Wait, is that a dragon? What the hell kind of college is this?

Tyler Hackett - Undeclared (freshman) - Tyler has been through three colleges in just as many years. He just sort of. Drifts. And tries to be an asshole and comedian at once. Extremely defeatist attitude. Hasn’t committed to a major because he doesn’t give enough of a shit. He’s taking this whole magic thing in stride, maybe too much in stride. He’s… probably going to wind up with a werewolf bite or demon possession or something and just not care.

Sparrow Epcot - Literature (freshman) - Sparrow is… odd. First off, they don’t seem to understand the concept of classes or schedules. They talk to birds and write poetry instead of taking notes and follow Basil around a lot. They basically live in the library or, when it’s closed, the woods. They try to make friends with basically everyone but half the time, they speak this weird half birdcall babble that doesn’t make sense. “It’s my home tongue,” they say, which is an attempt to say “I’m half fae, but I can’t tell you fae exist because ~reasons~ and ~treaties~ please like me.”

There are others along the way, but these are the main ones (right now). Like, chapter 1 intro people.

#modern magic #they're gonna get a blog #because i love them #and want a place to put them #this might be a book eventually if i can figure it out #writings and musings #omgchowderpls

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