#damn. but I love a good narrative foil

[daincrediblegg]

Ok but the implication that Hari and Gaal had the same childhood. Their intelligence a gift stifled by authority on a (respectively) micro and macro social scale. Their one hope being- because of this trauma that they share by sheer coincidence- to spare humanity from the same oppression on a seismic scale that even they themselves barely comprehend and yet because of it they are equipped to understand it more acutely than anyone else in the galaxy??? Decadent.

#re watched the first ep with my dad tonight and it. really fucking struck me #damn. but I love a good narrative foil #gaal dornick #hari seldon #foundation #I can’t wait to see what disaster trio gets up to this week I am literally foaming at the mouth

[youngpettyqueen]

👀👀👀

HKAJSDHKAJS I was hoping you would see those tags

Dr Winchester and Mr Hyde is one of my fav episodes! mainly because I love the direct parallel it is to Dr Pierce and Mr Hyde, another one of my all time fav episodes. that said, ive always wished there was a bit more in the way of Hawkeye and Charles moments in the episode, seeing as Hawkeye is personally able to sympathize with what Charles goes through, and up until this point there hasn't really been a lot of common ground between these two characters so its an interesting place for them to find themselves

the fic itself has a pretty simple premise, it's just Hawkeye sitting up keeping watch over Charles that night while he rides out the amphetamines. I wound up just leaving it cause I couldn't really figure out a point to writing it, and just having it be an isolated scene wasn't vibing with me. looking back on it, I think The Point of it could be a character study of sorts, having Hawkeye deal with this unexpected sympathy he feels towards someone he really doesnt like, drawing on his own experience (Dr Pierce and Mr Hyde) and reaching the realization that maybe him and Charles aren't so different after all. the original fic itself was also intended to be pretty short, but I think I'd make it longer, and include more than just Hawkeye's internal monologue by having a couple scenes where he really has to do something to help Charles through the symptoms. I think this would both help the feeling that an entire night passes, and give room for some more interesting internal monologue where Hawkeye considers why he's even doing this, why he wants to, that sort of thing. character exploration both for Charles who suddenly doesnt seem so inhuman, and for Hawkeye and how he cant leave anybody to suffer, even if he really doesnt like them

ive really had Hawkeye and Charles' relationship grow on me a lot more in the rewatch ive been on. I always liked it, but seeing it from the beginning again and knowing where they end up ive got a whole new appreciation for it. this episode is an all time fav, but also one of my favs for being one of the earliest episodes to establish that Hawkeye and Charles have more in common than either of them would want to acknowledge, and I think it'd be neat to explore that. the more I think about it, the more I want to pick the fic back up and try again with it!

#mash #fic bitching #the original attempt I just had a bit of a beginning down really #very short conversation between Hawkeye and BJ where Hawkeye says he'll stay up with Charles #and then I got stuck in outlining details #but I have a clearer idea in my head now so perhaps this was meant to be #I love a good Hawkeye and Charles character exploration #theyre narrative foils theyre parallels their relationship is so damn compelling #rattles them around in my head like dolls

[snowydawn17]

I love poking fun at the games I love but sometimes it just hits me how strongly Vesperia shaped me as a person

#Flynn & Yuri are the blueprint #of what? yes. #everything. and I say that I’m ironically #‘why do you love narrative foils?’ Flynn and Yuri #‘why do you love sun & moon duos?’ Flynn and Yuri #‘why do you love-‘ Flynn and yuri. #it’s always Flynn & yuri #also morality as well #i joke but holy SHIT yuri not wanting to kill people. recognizing it as a crime #recognizing that he too one day needs to be punished #but Flynn is Good. Flynn is going to reach the top and change the world. #it’s a fact of life #but people are still getting hurt. and Flynn isn’t there. not yet #so in the meantime. until Flynn can save everyone. Yuri Will damn himself #(it doesn’t matter than Flynn wants to save HIM too)

[speckledfiction]

Rotating laios/kabru and kabru/mithrun in my head and wondering if I can get to laios/kabru mithrun...

I like kabru/mithrun mainly because the idea of mithrun realising that he desires something is soooooo fun. Like him just having this little lightbulb moment of 'oh no I want this' and then pursuing it. Particularly if it's a queer relationship, and the reason he's able to get there is that it was a desire so deeply repressed when he was part of actual elf society that he never acknowledged it and so the demon never found it. And then you know once he did realise it was there, he'd pursue it with that super intense single minded focus... Extremely good imo. And kabru would be soooooo twitchy and paranoid about it, wondering what mithrun's angle was and what the consequences would be, so focused on everyone else's feelings that he hardly notices his own.

But then on the other hand laios and kabru... They're narrative foils. They complete each other. Kabru has to learn to eat and understand monsters, and laios has to care about people. They spend the rest of their lives together, king and counsellor. They can each offer the other genuine love and care in a way that both are desperate for and have been denied. Kabru doesn't mind explaining to laios the things he doesn't understand, and conversely laios can help kabru to shed unnecessary social constructs and be more himself. You know that when they start smooching kabru would be like "we have to be careful, this could damage your reputation as king if it gets out" and laios would be like "why? Homosexual behaviour is found in the majority of animal and monster species..." (and then talks for like half an hour before kabru can get him to go back to kissing).

And there's a version of this in my head that makes me think of that incredible sasuke and gaara comic, where laios and mithrun are kabru's boyfriends who are not really friends... Except that they do actually have quite a lot in common and I think if they ever sat down and talked they would get on really well. So over time they probably do all grow closer and maybe eventually mithrun is like damn these new desires keep piling up and we get some good three way smooches.

Do you see my vision???

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #Kabru #laios touden #mithrun #Labru #kabrun #kabru/mithrun #Laios/kabru/mithrun #Dungeon meshi spoilers

[yellowocaballero]

One of the many things that I've been doing instead of writing are these damn manwha binges and Villain To Kill is literally so funny. The comic premise is straightforward action, think Tokyo Ghoul meets Solo Leveling - local Genetically Superpowered Superhero Cop working for corrupt Hero Organization gets #betrayed and #murdered and is reincarnated into the body of a Genetically Superpowered Villain Teenager so now he has to join up with all the other villain superpower people to get justice.

It's so 5/10. Cassian is extremely OP and the story isn't well-written enough to pull that off well. The worldbuilding is so incredibly nonsensical and weak that it falls apart if you think about it for more than five minutes (tried to write fic for it and failed because I would have had to rework the entire world - which, I could have, but that's a lot of effort for Villain to Kill). The plot is mostly any OP action hero plot where guy gets increasingly powerful by fighting increasingly powerful guys. Cassian himself has almost nothing going on internally, to the point of elegance. And it is somehow the gayest manwha I've ever read.

It's the fucking character designs. And like its narrative but it's the fucking 100/10 character designs. The entire cast's design and characters slam. There's not that much depth but we don't care. You know if we don't like somebody if they look vaguely straight, and you know that we like somebody if they look like they were set to tumble dry in the queerness washing machine. The (great!) women are high femme or hard butch. The corrupt institution assassinated a man Cassian loved and framed & murdered him, at which point he was adopted by a rag-tag bunch of flamboyant homosexuals deemed unacceptable and undesired by society who all teamed up and decided to villainize society in exclusively funny ways and spend most of their time gossiping or hacking the Pentagon. An AFAB character dresses as a man and goes by he/him pronouns half the time for no good reason. Cassian is physiologically incapable of thinking about anything but violence so the heartwarming found family scenario's going over his head, but his Painfully Het Hero Foil Indoctrinated Into Homophobia caught the found family ball and now he's dancing in their gay bars and dressing in drag. There's only a few characters who are explicitly gay but this is gayer than that.

I talked a while back about how important a decent supporting cast is to a good story, and this is yet again good proof. Looking at this, I think I'd go further and say - it's an action manwha, we're reading it for a reason, we don't need character-driven story arcs or really complex characters. I think it's just charisma. A story can go really far on characters with charisma.

TV Shows that are carried on the lead actor (Columbo I love you) - it's because the actor has charisma. You watch it to see the actor hang out being himself. That's way way harder to do in fiction, but I think that "a complex character" isn't necessarily a "charismatic character". I'd rather have a cast of only charismatic characters rather than only complex ones. A story of any genre needs a strong cast of charismatic characters. They can be deep or they can just be chaotic lesbians. Charisma invests the reader in the story and the characters. It's simple but it's really powerful. And it is fucking hilarious how sometimes all you need to do on that front is "Rupaul this shit".

I can't genuinely recommend Villain to Kill and this is not a recommendation. But random stuff always interests me like this, and I really had no idea that I would read 120ch of a manwha bc the designs fuck so hard. Also, like, this is queerest manwha I've ever read. Somehow. Fucking somehow.

#I have never given a shit about a supporting cast manwha character but #Driver I love you every time you're on panel im like ':D DRIVER!' #i'll tag it #villain to kill #for visibility but this rly isn't intended as a criticism #It feels like we're finally getting canon homosexuality but in a lot of media canon gays have the queerness drained out of them #what's gayer? gay sex? or being ostracized by society for being cooler and sexier and more interesting than they are? #even the Hero Cops we like are kinda fruity just in a neoliberal way #my asks #my posts

[imthepunchlord]

Just a random question, but do you like adrien and marinette being the main duo, or do you think two other people would've been better?

Yes and no.

It's kinda complicated.

So, with my long break from Miraculous, clearing out my salt mines, and doing a gradual rewatch of the show with fresh eyes and enjoying the nostalgia of what used to be, I can say I am reminded on why, we as a fandom, enjoyed them as leads and as a pair.

There was some yin-yang potential in their dynamic, specifically playing off Lady Wifi introducing the Head vs Heart idea.

Marinette's an Empathetic Head. She's observant and perceptive, the planner and quick thinker, typically, she responds logically to what's presented to her. But she does feel deeply for others, and that empathy and kindness drives her to step up and help others.

Adrien in turn is a Reasonable Heart, at least, meant to be. He works off his feelings, goes with his gut, his wants; but he's also meant to be the emotional reason, knowing what to say to ground those that are getting caught up in themselves, offer support and direction, one they didn't consider or see before.

It nicely places off that theme that there's a little bit of the other in the counterparts, which is why the two halves have those dots, a little bit of yang resides in yin and vice versa.

And between the fluff and the snark and the support/loyalty they do offer each other, that potential for them as partners and users for the Cat and Ladybug is there.

Unfortunately, the writers' bias and stubbornness ruined that dynamic. What's meant to be a partnership of equals never becomes equals. Adrien never steps up as a leader and shares the weight of responsibility, and Marinette never feels like she can ease back and trust others to handle things, making her feel like she has to solve everything and be THE solution.

There's also the factor that they decided to prioritize the romance over the friendship, which did not really help Adrien as a hero as he focused more on his romantic pursuits than being a hero, flirting at the wrong time, not taking anything seriously... it was a bad look. And then Adrien and Marinette as civilians, despite being stated to be friends, I kinda question if they truly are. Adrien never actively goes to hang out with Marinette on his own, most of the time, there's a social expectation for them to hang out as civilians, or a favor is involved.

One of the aspects that has a romance work is having a good friendship to be that foundation. But the writers don't value friendship, not between actual friends and not between the love interests.

And the third issue is their means of growth.

Thomas, unfortunately, echoed the idea that girls grow through suffering. So Marinette's growth is just having the narrative against and giving her a hard time and she just can't win no matter what she does. Damned if she do, and damned if she don't. And I got to see that she developed anxiety and has an Atlas Complex and is very stress and just...

And with Adrien, he's just stagnant. He doesn't get involved in his own plot. He doesn't step up to the responsibility of being a hero, nor does he seek to share the weight of leadership. He's handed things on a silver platter, is allowed to be upset and petty and recklessly use his power.

And all of these factors just throws a big wrench into the potential of their partnership and them as leads and as the Cat and Ladybug heroes.

Better writers can make them work. And I bet there are a lot of good fanfics out there that have made them work.

I can see that potential and promise there. It's just really poor execution that ruined it.

I also will say, personally, I do think narrative wise things would flow better if they had a kwami swap at the start. Though, this is largely working the direction canon did go and I can see how a kwami swap could've combated that.

Plagg is set up to be the ideal foil to Marinette and have her grow, as she's too much of a giver, overthinks, piles too much on her plate, and struggles to put herself first. Extra bonus that they could've been a hilarious duo to see.

Tikki's big appeal with Adrien is that she would've gotten him involved in his own plot. Would've pushed for him to figure out who he is, what he wants to do, to be more involved if not be the leader, and to think more before he acts. And there could've been some good fluff as Tikki fills the void his mom left, as she can be very affectionate and supportive.

There's also the factor that Adrien needs someone to straight up tell him when he did something wrong or uncool. Anything that's a vague hint that Plagg occasionally gives just goes over Adrien's head or is ignored.

And there is that big appeal of shifting up the dynamics. Canon's issue is that Marinette and Tikki are initiators, while Adrien and Plagg are reactors. Mixing up these dynamics would've done wonders for their characters and interactions.

So, yeah over all, they can and could've worked as leads and holders of the Ladybug and Cat. The writing just really screwed them over. Though, I will say, doing different leads for Ladybug and Cat isn't an impossibility either.

#ask Punchie #ml salt

[thevindicativevordan]

Thoughts on “Man and Superman” by Marv Wolfman?

Countless Superman origin stories, including one written and titled Superman: Year One by Frank Miller himself no less, and this is the only one that thought to copy the actual structure of Batman: Year One.

Four issues telling the story of Clark's first year in Metropolis, beginning in Metropolis from the first page. We see Clark arrive in Metropolis, struggle to get a job as a reporter with the major newspapers because he's a nobody from nowhere, wears a "proto-suit" until beginning to wear his classic outfit at the very end, botches his first few attempts at being a hero because he has no clue what he's doing, fall in love with Lois, and ultimately after much trial by fire, become the champion of Metropolis as Superman.

Familiar ground to be sure, culminating as it does in a confrontation with Lex Luthor where Superman promises he will always be around to foil Luthor's plans. If you're a hardcore Superman fan, much of this story will feel familiar to you. Wolfman outright says as much in his introduction, with the long delays this story suffered due to the series it was intended to release under being cancelled, causing similar ideas to be used in other stories. While I can't claim to know who Wolfman had in mind, I definitely saw similarities between his approach to Superman here and how Morrison rebooted him for the New 52.

Even then though, there are some fresh ideas and approaches to be found here that make this take stand out. First and foremost is their approach to the City of Metropolis itself.

This is not the clean Metropolis of Johns/Frank, or the high tech City of Tomorrow of Waid/Yu. Here, Metropolis is gritty, decaying, a City wholly rooted in the problems of today. An upcoming mayor election pits a right-wing candidate who wants to tackle crime with more police officers, vs. a left-wing candidate who wants to tackle the underlying roots of crime. The three janitors Clark works alongside have to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet, and are immigrants themselves also. A crime wave results in marital law, the curbing of civil rights, and the calling of the national guard "for the greater good". Newspapers Clark applies for tell him he needs to sensationalize his reporting more so the story will sell better. This is not a story with a wide-eyed view of what happens in the modern day when the kid from the countryside moves to the big city and tries to make it big. Despite being written in 2008. it could easily have been written today, a damning indictment of American society to be sure. Metropolis here feels real and fleshed out, and while my preference is for a Metropolis that embraces the freedom of being an entirely fictional creation, I appreciate how Wolfman digs into the human element via showing us the viewpoint of the citizens of Metropolis as Clark listens to them with superhearing, casting them as something of a Greek chorus reacting to the events of the story.

Of course not everything is perfect. Wolfman compares Clark becoming Superman to being a firefighter, a doctor, a soldier, and a cop at various points throughout the narrative. The first two I welcome and agree with. Later two however are extremely dicey, and although this is not a story that exempts our modern justice/policing system from a critical eye, (note that the main villain of the story in Lex endorses the right-wing "law and order" candidate to make sure you know which side the narrative supports) it still does not benefit Superman to have his uniform compared to that of a cop's.

As a side note, I love that Clark is explicitly poor here. I love that he struggles to make ends meet, that he's working as a janitor while he tries to make his dream of being a journalist for a prestige news organization come true. Being a cub reporter struggling to get a job, he's not living in a penthouse in the center of Metropolis. Clark is flat out broke, and living in a crappy apartment in the slums of the city. It's an approach that Morrison and Morales used for their Superman reboot, and I support that approach wholeheartedly. Establishing that Clark spent his first few years living in the poorer areas of Metropolis does wonders to support his reputation as the "Champion of the Oppressed".

In flashbacks to his Smallville childhood we see that financial struggles were a factor for him growing up, with Martha wanting to donate money to help feed families in need, while Jonathan was concerned about how tight their own finances are before relenting and agreeing. Of the entire Justice League, Superman is the one who has the strongest claim to being the "working class hero", the blue collar amidst all the blue bloods and middle class suburbanites. Most origins brush over Clark's financial situation growing up, but this one is of the rare few which does not, and I think it's all the stronger for it. Especially so given that this origin is similar to Batman: Year One in that it's really a Year One story for two characters - Lex as well as Superman.

Pitting Superman against Luthor in his first year is old hat, but what I adore about this take specifically is how Lex is explicitly in the "Bruce Wayne" role. Like Bruce, Lex has been gone from Metropolis for multiple years, and makes his return with a plan for reshaping Metropolis in his own image. He's a ruthless monster, willing to kill 500 of his own employees as part of a false flag attack against his own corporate headquarters to garner public sympathy and support. Here the playboy billionaire with a secret agenda and a complete disregard for the law is the villain not the hero. While Wolfman doesn't have the time or pages to dive deep into the rivalry between the two, the class warfare aspect of the feud between Superman and Lex really stood out to me here. Clark lives and works alongside the "little people" and helps them out how he can, meanwhile Lex callously slaughters them in pursuit of his own self-interest.

In the end Lex immediately recognizes that Superman is going to be a watershed moment in history, and is determined to change the world back to when he was on top. I would love a "Year 2" story from Wolfman that skips ahead a bit and pits Lex and another villain against Superman. He has a great handle on the star players here in Clark, Lex, Lois, Perry, and the elder Kents. Give him the Waid treatment and let him build out his own pocket universe if that's something he'd be interested in doing.

Man and Superman has convinced me that if Wolfman had gotten the chance to reboot Superman after Crisis the way he wanted to, I believe the character would have fared far better during the Post-Crisis era. Perhaps it would not have taken the character as long as it did to start putting the Dark Knight Returns stooge interpretation behind him. If this is the only major work Castellini ever does on the character, then I tip my hat to him for a job well done. Not every artist can bring a level of grit and realism to Superman's world without compromising the character, but he managed to pull it off expertly.

#superman #man and superman #marv wolfman #claudio castellini

[nanomooselet]

My Brother's Keeper (VI)

You may have noticed that I didn't extensively discuss Rollo, Livio, or Legato, which is maybe odd considering they are (and pretty blatantly so) parallels or foils to Wolfwood and the twins. And it's mostly because I'm trying not to let this damn thing become even longer (it was supposed to be three parts. Three. It's clocked out at seven, and that's after I took a machete to it to stop it becoming eight. Goddamnit) and I did already go on about all of them in the episodes they appeared.

It's also because at this point, Wolfwood's story (for the moment) is done. When he makes the choice to leave July and Vash behind, that's the end, and the reason he returns actually isn't about him at all. The narrative focus is instead on Meryl and Zazie, making sure we know what both have to say about this. It's good to know Zazie's displeased by this turn of events and very unlikely to ever again believe a word Knives says. (Humans will eat your planet just like they did their own and real quick Imma use Vash to eat the planet myself first sorry-not-sorry BYE WORMS.) It's sweet that Meryl's love of Vash didn't result in her death by Knives's jealousy, as it did for Rem and nearly did for Luida.

Nick's concerns, however, have always been limited to the orphanage and Livio, and their fates are both now out of his hands.

Everything always comes back to the twins, in the end. I think in this analysis I've come to understand the key to Stampede, which is that almost nothing in it is only about the thing it seems to be about. It's always also in some way about the twins.

Wolfwood's part in Stampede is about how he was Knives's weapon and became Vash's follower. He goes from being Nicholas the Punisher full time, a walking dead man carrying his own tombstone, to being Nicholas D. Wolfwood, the awkward, scruffy, snarky dweeb who cares for his family with his whole heart and lives to see a kinder world. Inevitably he has been scarred and stained with blood - he remains the one who killed all those people on the cult's orders, and he'll bear the cross for them. But he's no longer limited to killing in order to save. There's a new path for him to follow.

It starts with doing what Vash would do: getting out of there while he still can before everything explodes. He just happens to scoop Meryl up as he's fleeing. When the twin angels ascend to do battle, the best place for mortals to be is anywhere but nearby.

He wasn't going to rescue Vash, and he never could have. Protecting Vash was the task Knives gave him, and that was out of an complete absence of respect for Vash as a person, a competent adult, a being of unimaginable power, an independent-thinking-individual-who-isn't-exactly-like-Knives etc. The very last fucking thing Vash needs is to wake up in the care of another paternalistic "older" brother - not that I believe Wolfwood would ever treat him the way Knives does, but frankly I can see why neither would want to take the risk.

(Also increasingly sure Knives is bsing about being the older twin. It's like how Wolfwood really is still a kid, and he acts like one, and honestly I think Vash treats him like one. Those startlingly fond, adoring expressions that blow you away a little bit? They're What Vash Is Like Always About Everyone. But especially kids. He's like that about Meryl, too, just less overtly.)

If anything, Vash saved Wolfwood. So Nick realises he has to survive, when before he kinda just wanted to die. He's no longer permitted some dumbfuck last stand. Fighting Knives is crazy and impossible, so let the impossible crazy man take care of it. It's his field of expertise. Love and peace ya'll. Woowoo's out.

Two things, however. The reason, in the manga, that Wolfwood didn't return to Hopeland (until he did), and the reason, in the manga, Chapel has none of the narrative's sympathy (not even Vash really gives a fuck when Wolfwood snaps his neck, and Chapel was already in a wheelchair at the time. I remember a bookclub post that declared God hates Chapel. I'm a layperson, but I'd call that theologically sound).

I mean, there are multiple reasons, but the most relevant is that in the manga, this evil-minded wrinkly fuck trained Wolfwood to kill. Wolfwood believed that being a killer rendered him unfit to ever again return home, until the day Chapel launched a direct assault on the orphanage using Razlo and Livio, revenge upon Wolfwood for taking up another cause - being Vash's friend - when his sole loyalty and purpose was supposed to be in death. He's disgusted that Wolfwood let Vash's ideals blunt his edge when previously he was near-"perfect".

I can't tell you what shape these events will take. But I can tell you they're still in the future. Stampede is a prologue, and the final phase has not arrived. Wolfwood's beginning is complete. His real story is yet to come. And I don't think he's forgiven himself for fulfilling the contract, even if Vash has.

The angel's eye, the Eye of Michael, still watches.

(And only the angel's? We'll see.)

Anyway, back to the twins.

(Part I)

(Part II)

(Part III)

(Part IV)

(Part V)

(Part VII)

#trigun stampede #tristampparty #trigun meta #millions knives #vash the stampede #nicholas d. wolfwood #and only livio's? WE'LL S #all of the stampede characters besides roberto are wee bebbies #alas that is why old drunkle must die #by this point “nick” is my name for him because “wolfwood” is too annoying to type over and over #hope he doesn't mind #trigun maximum #meta: my brother's keeper

[castleofcuntdracula]

Renfield anniversary week, prompt 4: Favourite side character.

Is anyone surprised? I love her!

Rebecca Quincy hits all the sweet spots for me- she's relatable, funny, and feels fully-realised, in addition to being an key moving piece in the narrative and theming of the movie. Her no-bullshit bravado is a big part of what catalyses Renfield's entire character arc, and also sets them up as a sort of foils.

She's very much the Yang to his Yin, in the symbological sense:

And she's constructed so well- she's fueled by her anger and this rock-solid conviction, and those traits are both good and bad. The determination and moral compass that get her through day after day of traffic stops in a city with daiquiri drive-throughs (!) are the same core characteristics that have had her banging her head against a wall on a ten-year revenge-quest. It's been a while since I've seen a female character like her.

Rebecca isn't the suave, slick, hypercomentent had-six-brothers Strong Female Character tm that pissed everyone off in the mid-late '10s. She's badass, but she's also temperamental and impulsive and perpetually sick of everyone's shit and it shows.

Her physical direction is also fantastic. The way she MOVES. It's played for comedy, mostly, but I love how she's allowed to throw her weight around and scrunch her face up in huge expressions and just.. emote. This is the first movie I've ever seen where a woman smiles like I do.

I also think being a woman informs how she's treated by the rest of the force- She IS good at her job, and rightfully should have been promoted several times, but to her captain (and probably most of the rest of them) she's just her father's daughter. They respect his memory enough to keep her on the payroll, but she's still stuck her in a dead-end "babysit the nepo baby" to keep her out from underfoot, even though I'm pretty sure he had similar goals and convictions. The exact same traits they admired him him are reasons to shut her down- peep the lecture she gets after arresting Teddy Lobo at the traffic stop:

This would be a shithead thing to say even if she wasn't in her thirties. And it rings so painfully true. Her refusal to give up in the face of this nonsense is so damn admirable. Rebecca let's get drinks and swap shithead coworker stories im free tuesday if you are.

#rebecca quincy #renfield anniversary week #favourite side character #Renfield (2023)

[branwendaughterofllyr]

That’s such a good point about always asking ‘why?’/ ‘what for?’ when it comes to a theory’s narrative relevance — what it would mean for the story, what point would it make etc. It’s why I could never get my head around people being so dead set on a T4rg restoration as a positive endgame when we have all this legitimate reasoning for their downfall pre-AGOT, why they are distrusted, why their ideology is deeply suspect, and so on. It’s counterintuitive to me that the narrative would essentially return full circle to that regime, a T4rg on the throne, when they’ve been presented to us in such a specific, abusive and uncomfortable way. It devalues that pre-AGOT story, IMO. Bcoz it’s not enough to be ‘not like other T4rgs’ for me, the active association is too damning, too telling of what someone’s interests really are. But it’s like you said, people get deeply attached to one obviously biased pov and so disregard the wider, layered narrative that GRRM is trying to create through multiple povs that prompt us to question those who seek out power and if they can ever be truly justified in what they do to attain and/or maintain it.

It drives me wild that so many people don't ask "then what was the fucking point?" when talking about the ending of ASOIAF. The Targaryens had like two-three good rulers, all of whom ended up making some really horrible choices in the end that nearly burned the whole continent to the ground (This IS a Jaehaerys I hateblog). It's crazy to me that so many people that Fire&Blood is positive for the Targaryen Restoration when it's basically just a full length book's worth of "look at these bitches! Who put them in charge?" (the dragons). And then have Dany basically go "yes, fire and blood is a valid way to rule, my ancestors did nothing wrong" makes me highly skeptical of her chances.

And the PoV for trap for Dany is amazing, because as of ADWD, none of the enemies she has gone up against have been sympathetic (I mean, I think MMD is, but a lot of people don't) or even povs. Which lets her fans sit there and say "no, look, the people's she's up against are clearly terrible and she's the hero in this scenario." Which is going to shift drastically when she goes up against the Starks, who have no reason to love her and vice versa. How can Dany declaring that Starks and Lannisters are both the usurper’s dogs and therefore equally evil and her enemy not make everyone sit up and take notice. Yes, Dany going “Eddard Stark and his heart of ice are responsible for my family’s downfall” is absolutely going to win over Jon “I just want Ned Stark to be proud of me” Snow and Arya “I will cut anyone who says shit about my parents” Stark. I foresee no future conflict there!

The theories about the three heads of dragon having such traction make me laugh, when the choices Dany presented with are “fire and blood” and the literal and metaphoric planting of trees. She has to chain up her dragons because they are inherently at odds with creating a better future, but she chooses the path her family has walked again and again to the detriment of everyone else. Dany’s refusal to learn from her family’s mistakes and arrogance, is what dooms her to meet the same fate as the rest of them. The idea that “if I look back, I am lost” is her madness mantra makes so much sense, since if she looks back at the path of destruction she and all the other Targaryens have left in their wake, she might falter and reconsider, so she plows ahead straight to her doom, is ugh, such good writing.

(And it works as a foil to the Starks, who are so haunted by their pasts and the past of their families, they can never untangle themselves from it, even when they try to disappear into another identity)

So what does it actually mean for the narrative, if Dany didn’t actually live in Braavos? Does it change where she’s headed at all? What point would it serve if Tyrion is a secret Targaryen? What point does it serve if anyone is a secret Targaryen? Does it change the fact that the Targaryens burn themselves to the ground based on a flimsy prophecy one of them was arrogant enough to to believe, and no one checked the deteriorating madness of their head? That the Targaryens have set themselves over literally everyone else, to the point that they would rather practice incest than marry those beneath them? And the heroine of would-be Targaryen restoration doesn’t question any of this, and just says that it’ll be different this time! Because she has the magic nukes again!

And it’s brilliant because it really is all about “the hero of the other side”! Of course everyone likes to think that they are the hero, and it’s easy to fall into believing the same when you spend so much time in a character’s head. It is much harder to try and bring together all these different PoVs to try and figure out the broader narrative. And because Dany is so seperated from the rest of the characters, is easy to dismiss all the problems she has in coming to Westeros because none of the other characters really know her, and it’ll be different once she’s there, because she’s different, when it’s been set up that pretty much every POV character has a reason to keep a Targaryen with dragons at arms length and in reality, Dany has nothing to challenge those reasons.

It’s great writing, but it clearly has and still does go over some people’s heads, which is comepletely fair because ASOIAF is, in fact, a LOT. But it so often comes from the same people who dedicate immense amounts of time and energy to the series, and that’s when it becomes funny

#listen the Starks and the Targaryens as foils is an amazing device #topped only by the Lannisters and the Starks as foils #history is just everyone in the roles their parents played over and over again #and the Targaryens have been idiots setting things in fire all the back to the beginning #branwen answers

[thrawns-backrest]

Vader and the Ghost Prison: thoughts and random analyses

Okay this is an itch I’ve been meaning to scratch for a WHILE now so thank you @random-user753 for giving me the final push to do it. I know this will have the tiniest of audiences but I don’t care because I love this series too much.

Anyway, here’s some of the stuff I loved about Ghost Prison in no particular order (spoilers ahead, beware):

Parallels! Boy does this book know how to do parallels. And foils. Starting with the most obvious one which is Vader and Tohm, you’d think a Vader comic would have more Vader in it but Ghost Prison does a great job of exploring Vader through other characters, especially Tohm and Trachta.

It’s rare to see Vader take someone under his wing (at least in the media I’ve seen) and it’s safe to say that Vader sees a part of himself in Tohm, if not in the more obvious scarring then in the way both of them were ‘betrayed’ by their respective communities.

The hologram scene gave us a lot in terms of narrative: it was a great peek into Anakin’s character and his crumbling relationship with the order (as well as putting into perspective just how efficient Anakin was during the Clone Wars, damn), it gave us an interesting perspective on the jedi in the form of Tohm’s pov but most importantly it set a thematic throughline that connected Tohm and Vader and gave us a better understanding of why Vader keeps this kid around.

Which makes it all the more satisfying when you realize that Tohm’s end is a forewarning for where Vader’s blind loyalty to Palpatine is leading him.

Aside from the parallels between these two, it was nice to see lingering parts of Anakin in Vader, knowing how early on he is in his transition. Part of him is still the jedi who yearns for an apprentice (which makes Tohm an odd choice but the comic was pretty adamant that this is the direction it was going, according to the blurb of part 5) but it’s clear that Palpatine’s teachings have twisted his idea of what it means to be a mentor beyond recognition.

And speaking of mentorship and foils this is a great place to talk about Trachta.

This book did a great job of fleshing out Trachta’s character, compared to his pretty flat first appearance in Empire. He’s portrayed as the better leader, starting with his attempts to connect with Tohm and ending with his galvanizing speech and advocating for the freed prisoners, to the point of coming into direct conflict with Vader. All of it neatly wrapped up by the fact that he replaces Gentis as Headmaster of the Academies.

Despite his more brutal scenes, Trachta is portrayed as a more honorable and ideological type, he knows the importance of loyalty and making allies. And the series manages to add a poetic irony to his story in Empire by supplying it with that context, making the point that guys like Trachta simply can't survive in Palpatine’s Empire.

Add to that the little winks the dialogue peppers throughout the story and it makes Trachta an all the more interesting character to follow.

(Also what was my man really doing alone with the Emperor? Do you have something to tell us sir? About a failed assassination attempt mayhaps?)

To finish off the section about parallels, we also get some cool visual ones like the dual pages of Trachta and Tohm’s backstories and little subtler moments like where Tohm stares at Gentis’ ruined face after Palpatine electrocutes him.

And now it's time I talk more about Tohm because I adore him. Making him the pov character of the story, and in particular making his report to Palpatine the story’s narration, was a masterstroke imo. Thanks to that you get all kinds of cool narrative layering when you compare his report with what’s actually happening.

Sometimes he words things in a way that would make him look good in front of Palpatine and sometimes his narrative sounds suspiciously like a lie or an excuse but the cool thing about Tohm is that you never know for sure.

It’s like there’s always an extra layer of ‘taking advantage of his situation’ that’s genuinely the case for him. Often times he will reevaluate and recontextualize the situation he’s in and maybe in some cases it’s to make him look better or cover up how he really felt but often times it’s just an example of the way he melds personal motives with some kind of tactical thinking.

And there’s of course the occasional comedic effect lol.

Moving on, another interesting subplot is seeing Tohm’s ruthlessness develop in real time. Starting with him finishing off Shens and the riot survivors and bringing the story full circle with Caul’s killing and his callousness when ordering the cadets’ executions.

It’s an ongoing process with glimpses of the person he’s leaving behind (defining the riot as just ‘violence’, his visceral reaction to carrying out Vader’s orders) and I feel like Cal’s murder was the perfect way to round it off.

Poetic in the sense that Tohm, who probably saw Gentis as a replacement father figure, was the only ‘son’ who wasn’t involved in Gentis’ plans so he took his revenge by killing the only biological son Gentis had left.

But the best part by far has to be watching him process and suffer through the betrayal that pushes him over the edge. We get that sweet sweet narrative layering effect where he twists the real reason he was left out of Gentis’ plans in his report. And it all hits harder upon a second reading when you notice the hints of a separation and inherent alienation between him and his friends, made worse by the line that confirms his loyalty to Gentis would have remained true if they had just ‘asked him yesterday’. Because all Tohm wanted was to be part of Gentis’ moffs.

It all culminates in a character who feels like he’s been led on and left out all the time. Having been disrespected and underestimated, he turns to a side that promises ‘fear and respect’ that will eventually end up killing him. It’s a great little gut punch of an arc that you can’t help but sympathize with.

And finally I’m really a sucker for this series’ attention to detail. Little things like Tohm’s loose sleeve being neatly clipped up by the end of the story. His comment about bombs being a coward’s weapon which makes sense when you learn of his backstory. The way he ‘grips’ his missing arm when he’s insecure about it. Huge kudos to Alessio and Blackman for adding those finishing touches.

As for the art, there’s really no words to describe how much I love Alessio’s work. I still want to cry because this is the only SW comic he’s illustrated fully besides a few odd covers. And that’s just damn tragic. The colors and atmosphere in this series are fantastic, full of pretty gradients with tiny pops of color and sprawling cinematic panels. Alessio’s realism is the best part of it, with familiar characters looking great and very much like their live action selves.

As one reviewer put it, it’s ‘dark without being tryhard edgy’ and I absolutely agree. Some of the environments and characters look downright gothic (with an occasional pinch of punk) and it’s the perfect touch of Star Wars weirdness that I crave in my media.

All in all, I strongly recommend this series. It's got a bit of everything: great character work, superb art and dialogue, a bit of politics, a well paced engaging plot and an interesting glimpse into the Empire's early days.

There's also the fact that all three of the main cast are characters with disabilities and it's all addressed in an an unobtrusive and realistic way and I'm here for it.

#star wars comics #darth vader #vader comics #laurita tohm #grand moff trachta #vader and the ghost prison #phew I finally did a thing

[charmwasjess]

25 for Sifo, please 😁

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Oh Ingata, you've unknowingly asked me to present my thesis on my favorite topic and I love you for it. (Okay, this could have been a two sentence answer, but it's me.) So I wrote you an essay on Sifo-Dyas, but I'm putting it below a cut to save everyone from my rambles on Sifo in the old EU and the greater meaning of his doom-ass storyline.

Apparently, I once casually mused to readalong back in the day (exactly how long ago? No need to worry about that!) that Sifo-Dyas must have been a pretty nice guy, what with him putting up with Dooku all those years. Oh sweet summer child. If only I knew then how long I would spend thinking about this idiot and their dynamic.

Back then, he was on my mind simply because of Dooku. In Luceno’s Labyrinth of Evil, Yoda takes some time to describe in length Dooku and Sifo-Dyas’s close friendship, “bound by the unifying Force,” and speculates what Sifo-Dyas knew about the lead-up to Dooku’s fall. That he was desperately worried about Dooku, that he thought Qui-Gon’s death was a breaking point for him, that Dooku might have been actively hunting down his killer's Master to fuck shit up, and this was about to be A Big Problem for Everyone. 

All of this was very interesting, especially back then, when Dooku was not a popular character and depictions of him having meaningful, positive connections in the Jedi Order were few and far between. I want to be careful here, because I’m not calling the EU/Legends bad - Dark Rendezvous has some of the most beautiful Dooku character work I’ve ever read. But compare, say, Jude Watson’s Qui-Gon in Legends Legacy of the Jedi outright calling Dooku “too cold to love,” as a Master, versus examples from new canon, where Dooku repeatedly and effusively praises his Padawans, casts their relationship as mutually loving, and even offers to get drunk and cry it out over Rael’s dead Padawan. Those present really different pictures. So Sifo-Dyas stood out to me right off the bat as unusual for being close with Dooku: a meaningful connection for a character who, at that point, didn't have meaningful connections. 

As for my impressions now, I think I have a soft spot in general for characters who seem to exist simply to die in a tragic, unescapable way, sacrificed to the narrative or for other character’s growth. In a way, Sifo-Dyas’s story is still certainly both of those.

But he’s so much more. He walks into Dooku: Jedi Lost as this vivid, funny, weird, fearless, chaotic good goofball of a character. Sith Dooku is breathlessly, affectionately describing him to Asajj Ventress (of all people) within the first few seconds of his own life story. That's crazy?! "I was born, I went to the Temple, oh, I MET THIS INCREDIBLE PERSON." Sifo-Dyas's first scene in the damn book is to make a silly little song about Dooku’s name and then telling him to "tell it to your face"?! And we’re not supposed to love him?!

I could go on. But here’s the heart of it for me with the character. The penultimate scene in Dooku: Jedi Lost, comes when he and Dooku are estranged, having been for years over what seems implied as a breakdown over an escalating series of visions that cast Dooku at the center of a world-shattering conflict. Yet, when Dooku comes to Sifo-Dyas for help, one last desperate get-the-gang-back-together, he won’t deny him. When Dooku suggests what Sifo-Dyas literally describes as “insane, the worst plan I’ve ever heard” (I’m quoting directly here), his answer is, again, directly quoting: “I’m in.” He never stopped saying that to Dooku. For all their ultimate ruin, it's sort of beautiful.

That’s the impression that stands out the most strongly - not tragic doom or narrative foil - but the aspects of bravery and loyalty to the character. Someone who would have spent his whole life having visions about someone ending the world, and still show up for that person, and later, still come to them with their own problems. It seems very, very likely - he outright says it during a vision in the cursed book – that he knows Dooku is the person who will make all the futures converge into the one terrible timeline. But EVEN THEN, Sifo-Dyas would rather bring hundreds of thousands of lives into existence than take out Dooku. And whether you read that as friendship or something more, at the end of the day, it’s love.

#Of course this is all based on my reading of the supplemental canon and others might have different readings #And I’m not arguing that the clones were a great idea either #But it’s like Sifo-Dyas got told you have to go back in time and kill Hilter but guess what Hilter is your best friend #and he’s like no I’ll do some batshit crazy third thing because I’m the embodiment of living chaos #sifo dyas #star wars meta #dooku jedi lost

[m0srael]

FIC REC:

A wee spinoff of my lapsed but not dead series, Reading Recs From Friends

I Was GIFTED (!!!)

The Waiting by @oknowkiss w/ art by @babooshkart [Drarry | E | 43k] cw: substance abuse, depression, grief

It’s been almost ten years since Draco Malfoy disappeared during a routine Curse Breaker training exercise. Harry, his partner in more ways than one, is determined to figure out why. As the past resurfaces and the present fades into confusion, Harry discovers the only thing more unreliable than memory is love. inspired by the fantastic song "this tornado loves you" by neko case.

One Sentence Recap: Everyone in Harry's life is trying desperately to drag him out of the past, away from the moment he lost Draco to the unknown, but what if the past is the only thing that will save them both?

"I have waited with a glacier's patience Smashed every transformer with every trailer 'Til nothing was standing 65 miles wide Still you are nowhere Still you are nowhere Nowhere in sight" -Neko Case, This Tornado Loves You

This song is one of my absolute favorite songs of all time--it captures the raw emotion of frantic, seemingly-doomed, mutually destructive love in a way that doesn't deny its potential, all-consuming beauty. There's something painfully sweet about the music, the lyrics, and also this fic that @oknowkiss wrote based on a prompt I submitted for @hd-wireless 2023, and then GIFTED to me! Elaine and I share a deep love of complicated, plotty, twisty stories--I gaze up at them in awe every time I read something new by them because they are such a master of plot and narrative. This story is no exception--the characters are exceptionally imagined, the world is rich and unique, the mystery keeps you guessing in the best of ways, and the twist will absolutely take your damn breath away. I laughed, I cried actual tears, and I had to sit for a long time once I finished trying to figure out how to breathe again. Here are some specific things I loved about this story:

👨🏽‍🤝‍👨🏼 The Relationship Dynamics This particular song certainly opens the door for angst and tension and HOO BOY does E deliver on that front. Harry's depression and grief over Draco's disappearance feels so palpable and relatable. At times I pitied him, felt real heartbreak for him, and wanted to give him a firm slap to the back of the head. Draco is ESPECIALLY magnificently realized in this story--he has every characteristic I love: sharp and witty, scared and desperate, arrogant but deeply unsure of himself. He is the perfect foil to a Harry who is unmoored and craving some sort of connection with someone or something. The tension between them crackles with unspoken resentment, fiery sexual attraction, and the sort of nihilistic self-importance that seems to saturate early adulthood. It makes for some INCREDIBLE smut--no spoilers but there is a scene that begins in a dive bar in Alaska that you will be thinking about probably for the rest of your life🔥🔥. E also crafts some incredible relationships between Harry and the rest of the characters. The dynamics between him and Ron and Hermione are delicious as they worry for his very sanity and try their best to be good friends to him. E's OCs are spectacular--there is one in particular who has my whole heart, I don't even need to tell you which one you will absolutely know.

🌎 The World Building Elaine takes a very cool approach to ministry training and curse breaking that I've never read before--their descriptions of the training camp are so vivid I could picture everything so well as it happened. This story takes us and the characters around the world, and E really takes the time to ground us sensorially and paint us an incredible picture of exactly what Harry is experiencing. His depression and grief come through in the environment that he's built for himself--there are little symbols that reappear throughout the fic that feel like gentle taps on the shoulder--remember this?. It's a really masterful way of making an expansive, potentially disjointed universe feel smaller, traversable, and knowable. It can also be very challenging to describe brand new magical mechanics and theory in a way that a reader can understand, without bogging them down in detail--again, E does this beautifully. I felt totally sucked in to the world they crafted!=

📝 The Plot Look, it is very hard to write a mystery story that doesn't alienate the reader but still holds back some twists and surprises. It's even HARDER to do all of those things when you're writing in not one, but TWO timelines, and E absolutely smashes it with this fic. I had so many (incorrect) theories about what the hell was happening as I was reading--it was so fun to take the little crumbs E was leaving and try to make sense of them while Harry also tried to make sense of them. I am so delighted that at the end, some of the things I speculated about came to pass, but there were many things that I didn't see coming!

🎨 Bonus: The Art @babooshkart NEVER MISSES that is a truth universally acknowledged, one affirmed by the art they created for this story. Pictures, imagery, and the act of looking play such a vivid role in this story and Boo manages to capture so many of the little details Elaine uses to activate her narrative and her characters in a single, incredible image. Looking at Boo's art invites us to step into Harry's shoes, and lets us a little further into his world. The lighting in the photo feels close and intimate to the point of being lonely, the clutter Boo included in the scene echoes Harry's feeling of being crowded and overwhelmed by the case and by life, and as always Harry are (young) Draco are depicted beautifully.

Thank you for writing this story and gifting it to me!

More to read from @oknowkiss: 📚 a licence to kill [Drarry | M | 11k] 📚 Their microfic may 2022 series, jesus, etc. [Drarry | E | 3k] 📚 the complete idiot's guide to losing your entire mind [Drarry | E | 10k] 📚 Historians [Drarry | E | 30k]

More to look at from @babooshkart: 🎨 Boo's own Wireless 2023 contribution, Keep Driving [M] 🎨 The art they made for booktopus's Reverse Bang fic, A Convergence of Inks [G] 🎨 This steamy Dronarry they did for HP Triadfest 2022 [E] 🎨 Twenty five (25!!!!!!) drawings they did for 25 Days of Draco and Harry 2021

#mose recs #reading recs from friends #drarry #drarry fanfiction #drarry fic #hd wireless 2023 #hd wireless fic and art #oknowkiss #babooshkart #healing my little brain one story at a time

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

No okay bcuz actually I DO want to explain my thoughts from this post here because I love analyzing things and I think talking abt Vox's relationships thru the lens of "this is just like Buffy fr fr" could be fun :)

FIRST OFF: VoxVal as Spike & Drusilla. I do not know their ship name and tbh I'm probably never gonna talk about them again so whooooo cares. To state the obvious, in this situation Vox is Spike and Val is Dru. Now, it's been awhile since I've watched Buffy, but from what I remember, Spike & Drusilla really are THE toxic villain couple, in that they're both like. Not very good to or for eachother, all things considered, but goddamnit they love eachother SO MUCH- which really is the generous interpretation of Staticmoth. I'm not gonna go super in depth into the fucking. Is Staticmoth abusive debate rn. Because I have one million other posts that make my stance on that pretty clear I think. But the uh... nicer interpretation of their relationship is very much Spike & Drusilla I think. Like right down to the headcannon of Vox liking how Val's shit eyesight & temper tantrums makes him kind of dependent on him. Again, could be misremembering, but based off of how Spike was w/ Dru while she was weakened(and based off of how he rebounded w/ Harmony of all people 💀), I get the distinct vibe that, despite his frustrations, Spike did like having somebody relying on him the way Dru(and later Harmony) did. Vox def seems like the type of guy that would get a kick out of feeling Needed and Relied On(why else would he literally route the entire Pride rings power grid through himself-), and Valentino is. Well. Valentino. I'm not gonna go over their interaction before Stayed Gone because it makes me ~genuinely uncomfortable~ for reasons I have, once again, gone into in depth before, but suffice it to say that it's definitely in character for Vox to be into Val relying on him like that. Oh also, like somebody pointed out in the reblogs on the original post, the reason Spike & Dru broke up from s3 all the way to their reunion in s5 is that she cheated on him and that's. Yeah that sounds about right.

And second, the Staticradio twins: Spuffy and Spangel. Why the fuck did I call them the Staticradio twins? I don't know I'm tired as shit and just used most of my brain power on the VoxVal segment now get off my back- anyways, these two are actually pretty easy to explain so I'll just get right into it! Most of the similarities between Staticradio and Spuffy can really be summed up in the song Reat In Peace from Buffy's musical episode. One-sided, obsessive crush on someone who you know deep down will probably never reciprocate. You want them to just leave you the fuck alone and stay gone(hahahahahahahahah), but they just. Aren't. Like even the bits about being a dead guy without a heart beat are spot on because Vox is a motherfuckin DEMON who is a ROBOT!!!!!!! Also the Alastor Body Pillow fanon(which IS fanon. It is. I'm sorry to say but that wasn't a thing on the Instagrams y'all-) does line up with the uh. The Buffy sex bot- it does line up with the Buffy sex bot. Anyways moving on to the Spangel section-

"You were my sire man!" - Spike, to Angel, in his introduction episode. I don't remember if this was retconned in season 5(or 6?) to be Dru siring Spike? It might've been. But for the sake of this post lets pretend it wasn't. Angel was basically Spike's mentor for a lot of their time together pre-show. They ran around in their weird little vampire polycule causing problems for everyone and life was good! Then Angel got cursed. Bro got a soul and then ran away for years without a word to anyone. Then, cut to current day, and Spike is hyped to see him right up to the point he realizes Angel has Changed. And from that point onward to two are RIVALS!!!!! Narrative foils, even. And while it isn't exactly the same as Alastor and Vox's history, it's pretty damn similar right!? Al was(presumably) Vox's friend and mentor for YEARS, like to the point of being comfortable taking a picture with him. Then something happens between them, causing a rivalry to form. Throw somewhere in the mix Al's deal & him fucking off for 7 years... it's like the same pieces being put together in a new way to make a different puzzle. Is Rosie Darla in this analogy? Unclear. Val is still Dru though. Do y'all get where I'm coming from? It's far, FAR from the same thing, like there are so many fucking differences and that's just going off of the stuff we DO know(I want to know more god I can't wait for season 2-), but the dynamics ARE similar. They're narrative foils with a deep history w/ eachother where they were probably-definitely friends, something caused them to become RIVALS, and also one of them is cursed and dissappeared for several years-

Whoo boy this got kinda incoherent- Anyways, that brings me to my brand new fun and interesting point: Vox and Spike are kinda similar characters. They're both antagonists who wanna be Big Tough Scary guys so bad, and like. They are. They are big tough AND scary. Sometimes. But for the vast majority of their screen time, their emotions, capacity for love(no matter how twisted their version of love is), and the consequences of that love going wrong continually get the better of them and cause them to look to us, the audience, like silly pathetic wet cats we found on the side of the road. Then they get Weird about it(Vox's "rivalry" w/ Angel and the. Buffy sex bot.) and we remember oh yeah this guy is EVIL! They also both wear long jackets and are bisexual :)

#none of Spike's relationships map onto Staticdoll particularly well because Staticdoll is too healthy for that shit lmfao #hazbin hotel #hazbin vox #hazbin hotel vox #vox hazbin hotel #hazbin valentino #hazbin alastor #staticmoth #voxval #staticradio #radiostatic #voxal #staticlovetune #why are there so many ship names for vox and al- #buffy the vampire slayer #btvs spike #spike btvs #btvs drusilla #buffy summers #btvs angel #once again. do not know Spike & Dru's ship name #spuffy #spangel #late night ramblings #gal overanalyzes random shit

[haejjoon]

*offers you a mic* so, about those opinions on akechi's metaverse outfits?

they're ugly plain and simple

nah but for real this time: i do like his prince outfit. it's stupid and flashy and entirely too bright and it suits him perfectly. visually, it's a great foil to joker's slick, black attire. it's perfectly symmetrical and has a clean silhouette, which is a really good representation of how akechi's "justice" personality manifests; the obnoxious A monogrammed onto his belt is fucking hilarious and entirely in character. i adore it as much as i hate it

BLACK MASK, ON THE OTHER HAND... i understand that they wanted to invoke "chaos" and "confusion" when people saw it—and damn did they succeed. but personally, i don't think "chaos" and "confusion" is what they should have gone for. black mask akechi is bitter. vengeful. a kid who never learned how to properly mature, and grew up to mimic the adults he surrounded with instead. black mask akechi isn't chaotic or confused, he's angry and hurt.

in my very humble opinion—would've done away with the stripes and belt buckles, and given him a more distinctive silhouette. the bodysuit aspect is fine, since it represents how suffocated akechi feels in this predicament, but there should be more flowy aspects of his costume, just to show that despite all the restrictions, this is when akechi can finally do what he wants. be mad, be bitter, go apeshit etc etc

sorta related: did you notice how akechi's black and white tie in his real world uniform is a nod to loki's design? it's such a neat little detail. even though he's wrapped up all pretty like a present in this attire he still holds his anger close—the tie is the closest article of clothing to his chest.

ugh i love breaking down characters (visually or narratively) its So fun

#goro akechi #character study

[yakool-foolio]

hiiiiii um. yomiakou for the song thing :3 i need more songs for them desperately!!!

These songs could hardly be called love songs but I think they describe their narrative foiling so well.

First is Video Killed The Radio Star, specifically the cover by The Presidents Of The United States Of America (a mouthful of a band name). I've been obsessed with associating these two with this song it rots my brain. I especially love the first verse since it can be related to how they may've known each other before Yomi became director of the peacekeepers, so once he took that position, it's like Yomi took all the credit for Yakou's detective work that might've even inspired Yomi to join the peacekeepers in the first place.

Master Of Puppets by Metallica is also really damn good for them. Yomi's POV throughout, except for the bridge, which is aptly Yakou's. The third verse is what really sells it for me, though.

Head Like A Hole by Nine Inch Nails was the song that inspired me to make my Yakou n Yomi dynamic playlist in the first place. Shame this song wasn't the final boss song in Hi-Fi Rush cause I think it personally fits better than The Perfect Drug, but that's not what we're here to talk about. Mainly Yakou's POV, but I can see how it can be either of them since it's all about a fight for control. The lyrics go hard.

Okay... now hear me out, Still Alive from Portal is a really good song for Yomi's POV post-chapter 4. I imagine this is just what is going through his mind while he's chilling in prison, still believing he's on a pedestal and finding humor in 'well I may be in jail but at least I'm not dead like Yakou.' It's an angle that is fun to think about when contemplating on what Yomi's state of mind is like after chapter 4. The outro is really what sells it for me; he's surviving prison out of spite.

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