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jaynavajasso · 5 years

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A list of things about Boris Habit:

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

(Edited to include some corrections from you guys! Thank you for helping me out!)

▪ He (at least partially) went to college for dentistry - enough to successfully perform multiple operations. It’s safe to assume he’s very intelligent.

• In his tweets, he complains about his fingers being “too sharp”, suggesting that his spelling atrocities are mostly because he’s having trouble typing - not that he can’t spell. Further examples are the diary and the PSA’s; in the diary pages (writing) his spelling is nearly perfect, and in the PSAs (typing) you get way more misspellings.

• On that note: He can speak English almost perfectly! Typing errors aside, in any of the endings, he sobers up real quick - and when he gets serious, the misspellings just stop. I’ve seen a lot of people writing his dialogue like he types, but according to the game, he can speak just fine.

• If anything, the misspellings pop up in his dialogue when he’s psychotic - perhaps he’s baby talking you? No proof on that one, just speculation.

Edit: I’ve been informed that “manic” is the more appropriate term for how he acted in the boss fight. Sorry for the confusion!

• His cheerfulness isn’t completely an act - the game suggests that he was a really cheerful kid up until he snapped (as an indirect result of his father’s abuse, no less), and in the good ending (after you agree to be his friend) he gets some of that same peppiness back. Even Kamal agrees he’s just a big softy... under the poorly managed trauma, at least.

• HE UNDERSTANDS, AT THE END, THAT WHAT HE’S DONE IS WRONG. He’s not all flowers and sunshine about it, either - in the bad ending he realizes he’s become the villain, and not only accepts his death but smiles at you as if to encourage your actions. In the neutral ending he actively says that hurting you would be “wrong of [him]”, and in the good ending, if you agree to be his friend, he somewhat disbelievingly says “a real friend… after everything i’ve done to you…”

• Related to the last one: His amazement at your friendship, combined with the bullying documented in the diary, suggests that he’s never had many friends. In the last PSA, you see a picture of Kamal labeled “friend :-)”, suggesting they either used to be close or that Habit got attached. (I don’t think Kamal really hates him, but with how mad he got at him for so long, I’m not sure how close they actually were).

• In the good ending, it’s suggested that Boris left the Habitat and became a florist! At the very end of the credits, no less - you see Habit surrounded by plants, grinning ear to ear, holding a lil flower pot in his hands. If not a florist, then he’s at least getting to work with plants! (Good on him!!)

• On that note: in the bad ending, you see the same shot at the end of the credits, but with Boris just missing. You know, because you killed him. The game pretty heavily goes against that ending and repeatedly tells you that there’s another way.

• His favorite color is orange, according to his tweets! That’s not a ground breaker, it’s just cute.

• He’s canonically 37, but his knowledge of the internet seems to be... mixed. On one hand, he knows enough to program his own website - and on the other, in the good ending he asks you to email him. (I don’t know a soul who uses email anymore.) BUT he does tweet! So maybe at the time of the ending he just doesn’t have a phone. We have no way to know.

Edit: Several people have informed me that the game takes place in the 90′s, which would explain why he uses email! Considering his tweets are (apparently?) canon and take place before Flower Kid, the timeline may be more or less ambiguous - but as far as I know it’s canonically in the 90′s.

• The Habitat is canonically in the USA, according to his twitter. Considering the developers said he has a Russian accent, perhaps his parents are immigrants. Again - no way to know for sure.

• In the tutorial, the pre-ending, and Boris’ photograph (if you take one), he appears as nothing but a red-eyed shadow that quite frankly looks demonic. In the game, the camera is used to show people's true selves (most dominantly with Trencil, where taking his photo reveals him as a vampire). Considering vampires exist in this universe, we can take Boris’ photo and assume he’s… at least not fully human. Exactly what he is, however, we don’t know.

• Boris created the Carlas, and it’s suggested that he cares for them. Each of them refer to him as “dad” or “father”, expressing concern for his mental wellbeing and even recognizing his diary pages. (In fact, you get one of the diary pages from a Carla, who says Boris stored it inside her!) The fortune telling Carla even recognizes the Tooth Lily and understands how rare it is - knowledge that, according to Habit, only he knows.

• Randy says that Habit smells like “loose change”, suggesting that the metallic smell of laughing gas clings to him. Apparently he and Habit butt heads - Habit told him he couldn’t smell like pickles, and in his tweets he calls Randy “smelly”. In the same tweet he also admits to crying because Randy told him he smelled like loose change, so maybe he’s just holding a grudge.

• Habit doesn’t seem to be very tactful. He manages to tick off a few of the Habiticians, most prominently Kamal, who Habit says has “sepia toned teeth”. If you ask the Habiticians in question, they’ll suggest that he’s plain rude - but considering his character, it’s more likely that he’s just unintentionally blunt.

• Habit is trusting, even before the good ending. This is mostly displayed by his tweets. He clicks an ad for free lasagna and gets a computer virus, buys a fake set of X-Ray glasses from Gerry (and wears them all day despite not being able to see!), someone stole quiches (presumably from his office) without him noticing, and in another tweet he said he ate an apple pie that tasted like rat poison! He expresses concern about the poison, but the way he wrote it suggests he ate the whole pie! He trusts people nearly to the point of naivety, despite the broken philosophy in his boss battle.

• It’s very heavily suggested that Habit is hurting for attention and interaction. In the good ending, despite knowing he’s just hurt you, he’s desperate enough to ask to be your friend (and not only surprised, but ecstatic if you say yes). In the same ending, kissing him is enough to completely snap him out of his breakdown and sober him up - right after flustering him immensely, of course. In one of his tweets, too, he accidentally admits that sometimes he wants kisses. Considering his childhood, it’s more than likely he’s really touch starved.

• It’s really easy to make him cry. Several of the Habiticians mention him crying, and Habit even mentions crying in some of his tweets. On the other hand, he gets excited really easy, too. Basically, it seems he’s prone to feeling any emotion really strongly.

• Habit canonically loves to draw and is good at it. In-game, he illustrates himself all over the walls of the Habitat. Usually they’re peppy, fun, somewhat childish drawings, but once you get to his office and the areas near it, you start to see some... really disturbing illustrations.

• Finally, my favorite: his hair. Aside from the obvious fact that it’s really long, in one of his tweets he’s distressed because he’s “drowning in it”. There’s no conclusions to be drawn here except that his hair’s awesome.

#smile for me #boris habit #long post #idk i just wanted to write down a bunch of things about him #mostly it's for my own use so i can characterize him better #but i thought people might like it too :-)

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natsubeatsrock · 4 years

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Is Stain’s ideal for heroes being accomplished?

“Hero” should not be a title given to those seeking reward and recompense, but one earned through tireless self-sacrifice. The heroes of this era are pretenders who misrepresent themselves. Only through a relentless purge can society be made aware of this truth.

Stain may be the third most important villain in MHA, behind only Tomura Shigaraki and All for One. He was only around for two arcs, but his influence stretches well beyond the Work Study arc he was captured in. Explanation Point made a great video touching on the challenge to the capitalist society Stain presents.

Though, there is a point about him I’ve seen thrown around him: his core ideas of heroes doing good for the wrong reasons isn’t fully or properly addressed once the arc ends. I don’t think this is as simple an issue as people seem to make it out to be. The issue is kind of tricky and I’ve come up with three different responses to this based on three questions I want to answer: “Is the world where Stain wanted it?”, “Is the world coming closer to Stain’s ideal?”, and “Is Stain’s ideal realized in heroes other than All Might and Deku?”

You’ll notice I’ve left out a discussion of whether or not Stain’s ideals for heroes are good. As I’ll mention later, Stain’s ultimate ideal for heroes isn’t one that is bad and that is recognized in universe. Thankfully, it’s generally agreed that this was a good ideal handled in a terrible way. I don’t want to have to argue otherwise.

Question #1: Is the world where Stain wants it?

Answer: No

When I see people talk about “Stain not doing much to influence much”, this is where I see most people getting at. The world Stain envisioned isn’t where the current world is. As slow as wide-scale social change usually takes, it’s not as if serious events can’t force that kind of change quickly. (muffled cough) If there was a big change on the villains side because of Stain, why didn’t that happen on the heroes side?

I feel that this perspective misses a really obvious problem with Stain: he was trying to achieve his ideal by killing people. I don’t say that in a “he wanted something good but people died in the process” way. He wanted to achieve a world with altruistic heroes by killing... basically every other kind of hero. This is a major pillar in his philosophy.

On the villain side, it makes sense that he’d inspire people. He gives many villains the impression that they’re more justified in being villains than heroes are stopping them. If the biggest pressure for heroes to change comes from someone literally titled “The Hero Killer”, it’s not shocking to see little if any change happen immediately.

Immediately being the key issue. The world may improve in this regard and heroes may come to be more altruistic as a whole. For now, it has a ways to go before it gets there. Though, that’s more about question 2.

Question #2: Is the world coming closer to Stain’s ideal?

Answer: Slowly...

Before the Provisional Hero License Exam begins, Mera makes the point about Stain’s views permeating through the world and the image of heroes as professionals is being put in lower regard. He uses this ultimately to discuss whether it’s good for heroes to be paid for their work. However, there is an obvious sense in which there is a widespread recognition that the way things are in the hero world can’t stay the same.

Though this was an idea brought forth by Stain, the thing I believe caused a response from higher-ups is the retirement of All Might. Now that the Symbol of Peace is gone, the government recognizes the ways it’s lacking and that it needs to change. They even mention this as they discuss the philosophy behind the activities for the exam. The world of heroes has to adapt to a world without All Might, whether they want to or not.

For many, part of this involves looking back and seeing some logic to Stain’s ideal. Obviously, Stain was wrong to kill heroes and no one who isn’t a villain questions that. However, the greatest hero is gone, and he was the only (pro) hero Stain respected. Is there a reason to trust the heroes left?

Especially considering the guy who took his place wasn’t considered a true hero by Stain? Remember, Endeavor was at the scene where the video footage was taken and Stain wasn’t a fan of him. (To be fair, neither were most people at that point in the series.)

It seems that the obsession for glory and money is only a more recent trend in heroism. All Might came from a time where heroes had those altruistic views Stain admires in him and those values seemed to fade as time passed on. It’s why he starts Deku out by cleaning Takoba Beach. Even before Stain, there was a recognition of the world being overrun by heroes with the wrong drives and a need to return to more virtuous motives for being a hero.

As early as chapter two.

What’s happening now is that idea is spreading to more people. Shishikura has a similar desire of not wanting heroes to be terrible. Of course, it’s wrong to say that he’s on the mark about his goal either. His teacher says it’s not wrong for him to be influenced by Stain and tries to prevent him from going on a bad route.

As I said, these kinds of changes usually take a lot of time. It makes sense that we’re only seeing seeds planted for a better society. The world will hopefully see more heroes who are altruistic and aren’t seeking more fame and fortune.

Question #3: Is Stain’s ideal realized in heroes other than All Might and Deku?”

Answer: Yes.

Were it not for my exceptions this would be a simple discussion about how All Might and Deku are already the type of hero Stain would have wanted. Stain has acknowledged both as worthy heroes in their own right. Instead, I want to focus on a few heroes whose motivations have changed over the course of the series.

You might be shocked by my first example for this. However, I think we got an interesting example of this in Ochako Uraraka. While ultimately altruistic, her initial motivation is to make money. I doubt Stain would treat Uravity’s reasons as little else than a sob story. (”Make money doing something else!”)

Though, her ultimate goal has been to work as a rescue hero like No. 13. Since the Overhaul arc, the money aspect seems to have taken a back seat to rescuing people. After seeing Nighteye die, she’s redoubled her commitment to save people. And, in the Joint Training arc, we see that this includes saving heroes like Nighteye and Deku.

One of the first pro heroes we’re introduced to is Mt. Lady. We learn very early on that her motivation in being a hero is exactly the kind of thing that Stain hated: money, fame, and glory. She’s motivated by the perks of being a pro hero as opposed to doing the good work involved with it. In the anime, Mineta’s work study with her involves maid work. Compare that with Jiro’s work study with her partner Death Arms which involves on-field experience.

However, we start to see a change in her starting with the mission to rescue Bakugo. Originally, she wishes to be part of the flashier job of stopping the League members, as opposed to arguably the more important job of destroying the Nomus, which Best Jeanist calls her out on. Later, as Midoriya’s plan goes off, Mt. Lady steps up to stop the League from recapturing Bakugo. Here she says they ought to prioritize the mission.

Later on in the manga, she helps teach a special class in handling the media. Of course, it’s easy to see that and question how much she’s grown. However, her instruction is about how interviews can help other people, whether they’re heroes, villains, or civilians. The change in demeanor isn’t lost in Mineta.

Here’s where it’s worth mentioning that both my examples so far don’t have direct connections to Stain. Neither were involved in the Hosu incident, pre-occupied with work-study stuff around the same time. As far as we can tell, their changes were more influenced by other events than anything Stain did directly.

Not so with Endeavor.

I think people discount or ignore the impact Stain has had on him. Imagine how Endeavor would feel after meeting with him. After the fact, people will credit you for taking him down. Not only isn’t that true and credit ought to be given to a bunch of high school students. He’s told you to your face that the guy you’ve been spending years trying to beat is the only real hero.

It’s important that Endeavor was present to see the fall of Stain. This is an important moment in his arc towards betterment. It’s not just that doing things the way he is makes him a hero who isn’t considered on the same level as All Might. He’s not considered by some to be a legitimate hero.

That’s why it’s such a big deal that he goes to All Might to figure out what the Symbol of Peace really means when he becomes the de facto top hero. It’s not just a matter of what it means to be the top hero. It’s a matter of becoming a hero worthy of the title itself.

However, in all of these cases, these are works in progress. And only three at that. This isn’t the world of heroes Stain seems to idealize. The hope is that with good schooling and important events, current and future pro heroes will create a society where fame and fortune aren’t the reasons people become heroes.

#not fairy tail month: crisis on infinite fandoms #my hero academia #mha #hero killer stain #akaguro chizome #also a bunch of heroes #another spoiler-y post #i'm glad this series is over #not fairy tail month of course #this has felt like a crisis #i want to talk about ft again #give me some time though #i need a nap #i feel like mera #i'm still behind on mha #i'm mad

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kendrixtermina · 4 years

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The "waifu bait" criticism of Edelgard is so dumb given that most of the cast is technically waifu/husbando bait in one way or another, they're all meant to appeal to players as romance options, and she's the only one getting flack for it. (Well, not the only one, there were some people giving Dimitri shit too for being "wish fullfillment for stupid teenage girls who think they can fix a man," but I see the complaint most often with Edelgard.)

Yeah. I mean, you can boink Rhea and Jeritza!

It’s not like satelite love interests aren’t a plague onto anime and fiction in general, but I only ever hear this “you only like them because they’re waifu/bishie” thing directed at characters who very much DO have personality, unique compelling features and plot relevance.

I’ve also seen this thrown at, say, Evangelion’s Miss Ayanami, as if all the fascinating sci-fi concept stuff and compelling narrative about finding your own worth and making a connection in a cruel lonely world wasn’t there - and at least we do see her through a “main character’s love interest” sorta lens. (I was thinking about how Byleth is actually quite similar, except more proactive with more of a dorky side, and less philosophical/reflective, but because Byleth is the MC we come off with a fairly different impression. )

Meanwhile with Edelgard they really didn’t pull any punches, the whole story is set in motion and dominated by her active choices, most the unique designs/outfits she gets are geared to look elegant/powerful. (Apart from the usual ‘individually wrapped boob armor would break your sternum’ thing but you’d really have to know physics for that/ could be fixed easily by making the fit more sweater-like), she has a specific discernable philosophy and makes impactful choices, that can genuinely be agreed or disagreed with.

You can’t swag her into your way of thinking - you can only ally with her under the presupposition that you already actively agree. (See all the people complaining that you cant “criticise her more”, expecting her to be like Dimitri basically even though they are exact opposites. You can only get on her route by making two deliberate choices. I mean they wrote this with your first playthrough in mind, in-universe you’re not there because you wanna complete all aroutes but because you actively chose to join her after she spent a year unsubtly trying to recruit you to her cause)

You don’t talk Claude out of his tactics either. (and forcing it all into this comparision often leads ppl to overlook that he has ambiguities or character development at all, maybe he isn’t vilified but he gets simplified and therefore wronged just as much in the end. They’re not all Dimitri. The whole point of having three or four different potential deuteragonists to choose from is that they’re different)… heck, even if you look at Dimitri, you only get him back to what he really wanted to do back in part I before his black-and-white thinking and exaggerated sense of duty got the better of him.

With all three, joining them eventually just enables them to get closer to their actual vision. Back when you meet her in Remire, Edelgard outright tells you that “with your power on my side, we could courttail the slitherer’s atrocities much more efficiently”. You don’t change her mind at all; You enable her to use “Plan A”. Same with Claude, who otherwise plains much more defensively both because he has less support and because he’s more jaded. And Dimitri essentially pulls a Sayaka, ie being unable to live up to his own unrealistic standards drive him to lose all hope and become the very opposite of the hero he wanted to be, but you do help him get back to that, or to a more balanced mature understanding of that.

The best proof of that is that the popularity poll numbers actually went down after the release, ie a lot of ppl who liked her just bc they liked her design were turned off that there’s a specific personality there that isn’t necessarily their type/ a MO they don’t necessarily agree with. Or all those peeps complaining that the S-support was too understated for them. Claude got that too - They’re just not the most open/expressive people in the world, one would think that after playing through their routes you would know and understand that. Whereas Dimitri has been super emotional from day one (which is both his greatest strength and greatest weakness), so it figures that he’d be more conventionally romantic.

- Hardly things that would happen if she were written to be “blandly pleasant”. I mean generally speaking she’s not the best as showing her feelings and when she does she’s often pretty blunt at it even with her closest friends (El: ”Hubert! I order you to tell me what it is you’re not telling me!” Hubert: [elegantly weasels out of answering] El: [after he’s left the room] I’m worried about him tho. )

Seems senseless to claim that she’s blandly pleasant when she’s absolutely gotten a love-it-or-hate-it-marmite-reaction all across the board. It also seems to go along with the implicit idea that everyone who likes her is heterosexual boys. I’m neither, and it’s not like heterosexual boys aren’t ever interested in “plot” or “writing” I mean geez. Though I would resist the temptation to fully ascribe it to things like that.

To an extent it’s simply confusion. “How can they like this thing that obviously sucks? Must be an ulterior motive”, whereas in reality ppl who like her have probably parsed what happened here differently to begin with (It depends greatly on how powerful you concluded Rhea was, ie, wether what Edelgard is doing is a conquest or a revolt. She certainly sees it as a revolt. Even today in the modern day most of us see revolts as legitimate, or at least, if they get overly destructive, as a fault of the bad government. Heck, there are many on this very site who would label all revolts legit by default (”eat the rich”, the more ‘original sin-like’ variants of privilege theory) which is further than I would go )

There certainly are a bunch of ‘cute’ scenes post holy-tomb scene and under the assumption that Edelgard is this my-way-or-the-highway type of person that many have her pegged as I can see how they might think that it “makes no sense” but that’s really down to wanting her not tp step outside of that idea they have of her. I mean even supervillains have silly everyday situations. Bin Laden loved Disney Movies, Hitler loved his dogs. By itself that has nothing to do with morality or likeability. It’s just being human. Supervillains blush, not because they’re not villains, but because they have blood vessels in their faces. It’s only logical that once you get close to someone and get them to trust you, you get to see more of their silly or vulnerable sides. It’s the same with Rhea. (except that the same people argue that having personable vulnerable sides at all makes Rhea good s of course it causes some cognitive dissonance when Edelgard also has them. I’ve yet to see ppl calling “waifuism” on Rhea (whom I would consider a full-fledged villain), and they shouldn’t - it’s characterization.) Same with ppl calling Edelgard a “manchild” for liking stuffed animals and sweets. She’s actually very mature and adult for her age, having some interests that aren’t super high-minded is just realistic and if you looked at her as a full 3D person who can have more than one trait you’d see that.

This also goes with that tendency of holding up AM as the gold standard complaining about the lack of AM-like plot that they completely miss the different but equally compelling character arcs in VW and CF. That’s not a lack of arc, that IS the arc, it’s just a different arc: We get to see this tough, in-control high-minded character who’d completely given up on the normal life she wanted so much and resigned herself to never being understood finding out that she is very much still capable of normalcy and humanity and finding friendship and love and I think that’s beautiful. It’s my jam.

And it’s meaningful precisely because it’s a change from only seeing the tough leader guise otherwise. Complaining about that is like complaining about getting to see Claude’s more wistful, dreamy, benevolent, not-entirely self-interest side in VW or claiming that the writing would be better if he were just a straight-up selfish trickster. Actually, if you removed their heroic traits you’d end up with a lot more generic characters. You’d simply get every wild card trickster ever, and every “Nietzschean” villain ever. It’s the fact that they’re unconventional heroes that makes Claude and Edelgard so unique, compelling and interesting. If you like conventional heroes, Dimitri is right here. Your basic heroic fantasy ‘rightful king returns/ soft peace loving hero’, plus your basic jrpg guilt-ridden angsty protagonist. I mean there’s good reason that these character archetypes are popular. Plus he’s especially well-executed and recontextualized by the contrast to the others, but there he is, enjoy him! We’re not stopping you.

It’s really Seteth who came up short arc wise. You could have given him an arc, the potential was there, he essentially transistions from protecting himself and his family to taking on his family’s heroic quest and rising up to that, but he doesn’t get like, a scene reflecting on that. Or you could’ve sent them on some mission to actually curb some corrupt cardinals etc, shown them actually reforming the church and realizing that it wasn’t all perfect, after all he very much knows that Rhea herself wasn’t all perfect.

For all that much of media is obsessed with making characters “hot”, the truth is that if people like them for any reason, they will find them hot anyways, regardless of whether that was the intention. (unless the people in question are aroace, or the character is a literal, realistic prepubescent child)

You don’t have to “make” a character hot for ppl to find them so.

#fire emblem: three houses #fire emblem three houses #fe3h #edelgard von hresvelg

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sebastianshaw · 4 years

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⚪ White - What drew you so much to your muse?

A combination of things! - He’s just plain terrible, and I have a lot of fun with muses who are just abjectly awful people and don’t have noble motives, softer sides, etc. It’s very fun for me in a very cathartic way, and I think other people enjoy it too, especially since instead of using “I have a very powerful evil muse!” as an excuse to trample over others, I play with a comedic bent instead that invites them to laugh with me at him! - I just really like evil businessmen types who are also like...worthy opponents and have some kind of code without it actually being moral in any way. Think David Xanatos from Gargoyles or Shere Khan from TaleSpin. Shaw’s like that, at least when he’s written well----he’s super-rich, wants to get richer, and has no moral limits on what he’ll do to achieve that, but he’s also got a distinct philosophy and way of looking at the world, and he is a serious threat (again, when written well---that’s the big caveat) He’s got his own personality that goes beyond Evil Capitalist, but without being a Secret Woobie in any way, I like that. I just am not into woobie villains who just need a hug, no offense to anyone else’s taste, but also villains who are simply 2D evil for no reason don’t do it for me either. Guys like Shaw hit the sweet spot where they’ve got a completely understandable, practical reason for doing what they do (money) while also not engendering any sympathy for it. And like Khan and Xanatos, he’s damned CLEVER when he’s written right, and I love smart villains who are actually SMART in the way that has nothing to do with math or science but as in like, manipulation, contingency plans, and/or common sense, and Shaw should ideally be written with at least two out of three every time. - He eschews a lot of common comic-book villain bullshit in a way I enjoy. For instance, his 80s stuff, he’s distinctly DISINTERESTED in vengeance for his own defeats and advises others (Donald Pierce, Emma Frost) against pursuing personal vendettas over their own, and he takes his losses with shocking grace---most bad guys rant and rave, but Shaw is just like “ok, gonna study why this went bad and do better next time” and I just LOVED that. Or how he does have some tragedy in his history but it’s NOT the source of his motive and he DOESN’T bring it up at everyone the way a lot of villains tend to, to the point most readers don’t even know about it. Like he’s got loads of little traits that are very unique and interesting like that. - He’s interesting IN GENERAL? Like he seems like he’s SUCH a shallow character trope---evil rich capitalist who is also a kinky sex freak---but once I started getting into him there was just so much more there that’s so commonly ignored. I was really amazed at how much depth he actually has, while also remaining Totally Terrible to my tastes. - He’s FUNNY. Almost all my characters have to make me LAUGH if I’m going to write them (Haven is the main exception) and Shaw is HILARIOUS. Like, first thing I noticed was WHY DOES HE KEEP RIPPING HIS SHIRT OFF? And how is it that when he DOESN’T take it off himself, SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENS TO RIP IT UP?! Like his apparent shirt allergy is pretty great all on its own, but he’s also got a lot of low-key witty snark in the 80s, he has the most unsubtle hard-on for Magneto, his reaction to Hell on Earth is just to start punching demons and blaming Magneto for it, he pretty much has the WORST DAY EVER in one issue where HE DOESN’T EVEN DO ANYTHING BAD, he’s open about what a SELFISH DICK he is to a comedic (and refreshing) point, it just goes on. Shaw is frankly just a delight to read if you go in with the right lens, and I like playing that up for people. You shouldn’t like him as a PERSON at all, he’s despicable, but he is FUN as a character to read about for me. - A bit of spiteful defensiveness. I started reading his original 80s and 90s stuff at the point in the 2000s where his backstory and characterization were JUST starting to change for the shittier, so I basically got to get to know this really interesting, awesome version of Shaw, just as he was becoming a really crapular version, and watch fandom’s reaction to that, it sucked donkey balls. It also cheeses me off how hypocritical and just plain WRONG that both fandom and writers can be about a character----like people hating on him for shit he’s actually never done but that their own faves HAVE but they sure never mention THAT---and I like to keep this blog running both to promo Real Shaw Rep and also because it’s a respite for a few other classic Shaw fans besides myself who have found their way here and told me they’re so glad they did. It’s very lonely and frustrating to like this guy post-2000s, and I want to support people who are in the same boat as me for my trash fave! Also writing his responses to people is just, like, HUGELY fun because he’s such a no-holds barred DICK.

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ramblings-of-a-mad-cat · 4 years

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How do you feel about Catra, Shadow Weaver, and Hordak? I know you said you find SW interesting but like on a scale how redeemable do you think these characters are. Ive seen a lot of infighting in the fandom cause some people love one and hate another and I just figured you would approach the topic nicely

Oh damn, happy to respond! (Under the cut because I don’t know how to shut up.)

I think I’ve seen some of the posts that you’re talking about, and my friend did tell me that there was apparently tension between Entrapdak and Catradora shippers for that very reason. Still, I should start off by saying that the only character who is probably completely irredeemable is Horde Prime. And knowing this show, they’ll find a way to humanize even him if they are so inclined. The great thing about She-Ra is that there aren’t so much heroes and villains as there are complicated people. Undertale is the same way. This might sound weird, but I legitimately hope Horde Prime does get humanized, because otherwise it’s just way too easy for all of the characters to band together and take him out for a happy ending. This show has never had a character that was pure evil before, know what I mean?

With that in mind...let’s talk about Hordak.

I know, I know...before Horde Prime was known to us...Hordak basically was Horde Prime. That’s the role he played in the show, and it’s not like he isn’t guilty of countless war crimes. He’s a conqueror, and yeah, conquerors should not get off scot-free. But...Hordak is also clearly an abuse victim. That doesn’t excuse him from what he’s done, but I can’t just ignore it. He was so eager to get back to Horde Prime, so determined to please him and prove himself to his “big brother.” and the moment that they’re reunited? We see what a nightmare it is for Hordak, see him get mentally violated and brain-washed. This can’t be the first time it’s happened, and yet all Hordak wanted was to return to Horde Prime. This man is so sheltered and so emotionally stunted in relationships, that I doubt he understands the full ramifications of his actions. He certainly doesn’t understand that he’s in abusive relationship. Hordak is just doing what he knows. He could learn better, if he learns to accept what a monster Horde Prime is. (But first he’ll need to break from the conditioning.)

I genuinely like how it took Entrapta, a character who isn’t really loyal to either side, to reach out to him and help him understand how it feels for a person to care about him, and not fear him even when he tries to be intimidating. And whether or not you ship them, (I do, I admit it) Hordak clearly has feelings for her and that guides his character in Season 4. I don’t know if Adora and the others will agree to take him in...but Entrapta will remember the bond they had. I just feel so bad for this guy, even if he has killed countless innocents. My philosophy about redeeming villains is very much a pragmatic one...will Hordak’s redemption spit in the face of all his victims? Perhaps. Will it bring them back to life? No. But neither will executing him or throwing him in prison. If he can heal, if he can learn better, and do better...why should we waste that growth? Why shouldn’t he be allowed the chance to make up for what he’s done? It seems to me like there is everything to be gained, and nothing to be lost, in letting him redeem himself.

Of course, there are many types of crimes...let’s move on to Shadow Weaver.

....She’s a child abuser. Plain and simple. That is a hard pill to swallow, that is a very difficult thing for me to look past. I don’t think I can do it. The way she treated Catra, the way it’s ruined Catra and Adora’s relationship...it’s unspeakable. She manipulates Catra one last time and leaves her high and dry so she can escape and go to Bright Moon...whereupon, she starts grooming Glimmer the same way she did Micah. I know it seems silly to be more upset about child abuse than what probably amounts to genocide on Hordak’s part...but part of it is how relatable the crimes are. There’s a reason most Harry Potter fans hate Umbridge more than Voldemort. Most people don’t know a mass-murderer, and excusing a character like Hordak won’t change their perspective on murder being wrong. But plenty of people might know an abuser, and abusers thrive on a culture that blames victims and downplays the effects of abuse, or otherwise excuses those responsible. We need to get better about sending the message that abuse is real, and wrong. But the great thing about She-Ra is that it depicts the cycle, from Shadow Weaver to Catra. If Catra is redeemable, why not Shadow Weaver?

And here’s the thing...I’m not saying she isn’t redeemable. Just that I don’t expect this show to fully redeem her, and I’m 100% behind that outcome. She could be allowed to live in peace with the other characters, her victims might forgive or at least tolerate her. (Especially if she wins over Micah again.) But even if I find her genuinely compelling...I’m not seeing too many outcomes where she would deserve this mercy. Shadow Weaver has done terrible, selfish things, and her only loyalties seem to lie with knowledge and power. She’s completely unrepentant, and while she acknowledges that she was “hard on Catra” she also refuses to apologize. Shadow Weaver strikes me very much as a kind of “no regrets” type of person. But she also has a fascination with power, and any time she sees a youngin’ with a lot of potential, (Micah, Adora) she seeks to train them. Considering how poor her record is...she needs to stop doing this. I might be inclined to forgive Shadow Weaver, if she acknowledges her own short-comings, apologizes to the people she’s hurt, and realizes that looking after children is not something she’s cut out to do.

Finally, there’s Catra.

In many ways, she’s my favorite character. (Though I also might go with Glimmer.) The story is largely centered around Catra’s journey alongside Adora’s...she might as well be a secondary protagonist. What’s more, she’s a character who we basically know is going to get redeemed, Noelle has all but told us that it’s going to happen. I’m fine with her getting redeemed but so help me god if she dies in the process....if any aspiring writers are reading this, please stop killing your villains to complete their redemption arcs. Let them enjoy being redeemed. Please. Anyway, where was I? Ah that’s right, Catra. There have been times that I was beyond frustrated with her because she was purposefully choosing to be “evil” as Double Trouble lampshades at the end of Season 4. By the time she opened up the Portal, after sentencing Entrapta to die, nearly dooming the entire world, causing Angela’s death, and despite it all she still blamed Adora even though she only did all of this because she wanted to beat Adora...yeah, I was really running out of patience for Catra. And even now, I can’t really bring myself to agree with the fans as they draw parallels between Catra opening the Portal and Glimmer activating the Heart of Etheria. I’m sure this was intentional, too. The echoing of two characters dooming everyone through an impulsive, reckless choice. However...as I said, Catra was pretty much going off the deep end when she opened the Portal. She just wanted to stick it to Adora. I realize I may be biased as a Glimmer stan, but Glimmer was at least trying to defeat the Horde. Her intentions, however misguided, were noble. She thought she was doing the right thing. Catra just didn’t care.

All this, and you might think I’m Anti-Catra, that I await her inevitable redemption with gritted teeth. But that’s not true at all. Catra is a character who is her own worst enemy, and characters like that have a knack for winning my sympathy. She continues to dig herself into a deeper hole and hurts those around her in the process. Part of her journey is realizing that and presumably working to change it. This is why I love how distant she becomes from Lonnie and the others in S4. Why I love Double Trouble betraying and completely shutting her down with their monologue about her. Why I cheered louder than you can imagine at “You’re a bad friend.” Because it was such an amazing crossroads in the development of both Scorpia and Catra’s characters. To be clear, I love these moments not because I dislike Catra, but because I genuinely like her as a character, and Catra as a “good guy” is a lot of fun. I don’t know how many people remember what it was like in the first episode when Catra and Adora were still besties, but it was just generally fun. I miss that dynamic. I want Catra to learn from her mistakes. Because I rambled on about the terrible things Shadow Weaver has done, and onscreen those were primarily done to Catra. She’s a character that I am rooting for one-hundred percent. A character who is almost a deconstruction of the tired writing trope “They had a hard childhood, and now that you know that, they are redeemed.” Catra turns that on it’s head. “Promise” is one of my favorite episodes for this very reason. Few moments have gotten me as choked up as Adora saying that she thought Catra didn’t care about being Force Captain, and Catra exploding with “Well I was lying, obviously!” It was a reveal that I genuinely didn’t see coming, but it makes so much sense, and demonstrates how much Catra has sacrificed for Adora and how much that weighs on her every time she makes a villainous decision.

TL;DR: I am one-hundred percent on board with Catra and Hordak redemption, and tentatively on board with Shadow Weaver redemption.

#She-Ra #She-Ra Netflix #SPOP Catra #SPOP Hordak #SPOP Shadow Weaver #Character Analysis

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taaroko · 6 years

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Post-IW MCU Rewatch: Black Panther

Time for an Afrofuturistic paradise!

Ohhhh, the meteor hit before humans came along. That makes so much more sense. Here I was misremembering that it landed in the backyards of these five tribes, and I was really confused that a meteor with a seemingly infinite supply of vibranium didn’t destroy everything for hundreds of miles. This makes much more sense.

The black sand hologram things are so much cooler than regular floating image holograms.

Hahahaha, okay, T’Challa freezing is adorable.

There are some great sibling and mom moments in this movie. Ramonda only had to see T’Challa’s face to know Shuri was flipping him off behind her back. Bahaha.

They did an amazing job on Wakanda. It’s Incredible to look at. From the city to the landscapes to the waterfall to the traditions of the different tribes. This whole movie has such an incredible atmosphere to it. This is the level of personality and culture I wish they’d given Asgard.

So I’ve seen critiques that question the wisdom of having a ritual combat to determine rule in such an advanced country. I think those critiques are missing the point. Wakanda’s flaw, aside from having a policy of isolationism at all costs, is clinging too hard to ceremony and tradition. It’s probably been many generations since they actually viewed the ritual combat as more than a token of respect to past tradition, but they didn’t actually delegitimize it in law, which is how Killmonger is able to take advantage of the situation.

The ancestral plane is beautiful.

“It’s hard for a good man to be king.” I desperately need Thor and T’Challa to interact. Have drinks and talk about the struggles of being king and having fathers who hid horrible truths.

So will T’Challa marry Nakia now that he’s come to agree with her politics?

Wakabi is kind of unreasonable. To turn on T’Challa for failing to bring Klaue back on his first attempt? Come on. T’Chaka failed to retrieve him for three decades, and you expect T’Challa to do it in one day? You are a bad friend.

Please let Peter and Shuri interact! They both love memes and “old” movies!

The whole suit fitting into the necklace strains credulity a bit. As does Tony’s bleeding edge armor. But I guess conservation of mass went out the window when Steve easy-baked from a sickly 90-pound kid to a 240-pound muscle-bound hunk, so it’s a bit late to start complaining.

*innocently* “For research purposes.”

Tolkien white guys!

Heck yes Okoye fight scene! Check out this gorgeous one-er!

Ohhhh it’s a vibranium car. So it breaks apart differently than a normal car would. I can accept the way Okoye and Nakia survive that crash better now. That was an important detail.

I, having two brothers, have never called either of them “Brother” to their faces in my life, nor have I ever heard anyone do this in real life, and yet I love when siblings do this in fiction. Brodinsons and royal house of Wakanda, please never change.

Klaue is so obnoxious.

Oh wow, I never noticed that they stuck those comms devices behind their ears.

Killmonger’s armor with the chestplate thing looks like some of the armor in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Awesome.

I keep imagining an AU in which Asgard and Wakanda do regular trade and have embassies. Wakanda has vibranium and millennia of experience working with it, Asgard has magic and other types of advancements. It’d be an amazing alliance, and they could’ve had it for centuries without telling anyone else on Earth.

Seriously Wakabi, you’re being a jerk.

So basically, Killmonger is Hamlet. More on that later, but he just killed Ophelia. Also, the reveal that he’s the main villain, not Klaue, is the midpoint/turning point of this movie. It’s getting to the point where I don’t have to check the progress to recognize these moments. The MCU gets criticism for being formulaic, but if the formula is simply following the 3-act structure, it still leaves plenty of room for variety, so I fail to see the problem.

N’Jobu is a scary extremist. Nakia is the one with the right philosophy. But T’Chaka did not need to use lethal force. He had super strength and a vibranium suit. He could’ve subdued his brother and brought him in. Instead, he killed him and left his nephew to find the body. T’Chaka is a lot like Odin. I do think both became better men than they were in the early days of thei rrule, but they did nothing to correct some of their biggest mistakes. Instead, they buried them. How exactly did they expect their sons to do better jobs ruling without all the facts?

I really like that Killmonger and T’Challa both held their father’s bodies the same way and cried over them. Super important parallelism.

Hmm, vibranium is vulnerable to sonic weaponry. That’s really good to know. This stuff is a bit too versatile and powerful; it needs a weakness.

It’s super weird that Killmonger’s (American) name is Eric Stephens. There was an Eric Stephens in my grad program, and he sat in the cubicle next to me.

There’s some interesting stuff about group identity in this movie. Tribe identity (the five tribes in Wakanda), national identity, racial identity, and humanity at large. Nakia wants to help humanity at large. The Jabari are the most tribal. The other four tribes are about their identity as Wakandans over their tribes. N’Jakada, who grew up in the US, surrounded by gang violence and police brutality, with a father who wanted to militarize the entire African Diaspora and was killed for that, effectively making him a martyr and proving him right in the eyes of his son, is about racial identity to a fascist degree. N’Jakada has legitimate concerns, and his backstory is tragic and unjust, but his solutions are evil. Getting what he wants (assuming enough people outside Wakanda, where loyalty to the throne is somewhat mandated, would even go along with his world conquest plan) would come at the expense of the soul of the people he claims he’s fighting for.

The upside-down shot of N’Jakada taking the throne is chilling and excellent.

Conquerors or conquered are not the only two options here, Wakabi. But that attitude is self-fulfilling prophecy.

M’Baku is awesome.

T’Challa’s second trip to the ancestral plane is when he really figures out what his priorities are and what he’s fighting for. He realizes what he wants Wakanda to be under his rule. He’s been fairly passive and lacking in his own ideology up until now. Now his heart is really in it. He’s become the Black Panther and a king, so now he just has to fight to reclaim those actual titles from a mad warlord.

“All that challenge shit is over. I’m the king now.” Yeah, N’Jakada has no respect for their traditions, he only exploited them.

“Your heart is so full of hatred! You are not fit to be a king!” Yesss! Choose what Wakanda stands for, don’t just hand your loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it. It’s pretty notable, though, that Okoye only withdraws loyalty to N’Jakada when she sees that T’Challa is alive. Because the challenge is ongoing, she is free to choose the king she wants. She never broke her oath.

Heck yeah, warrior princess!

Oh hey, her gauntlets totally do the same thing to N’Jakada’s suit that the rails on the trains do.

Aaaah the truth comes out. “You want to see us become just like the people you hate so much. You will destroy the world, Wakanda included.” “The world took everything away from me! I’m gonna make sure we’re even!” N’Jakada pretty much just admitted he’s the villain.

And the Jabari claim their identity as Wakandans. Woohoo!

Hehe, the rhino loves his mama.

The civil war in Wakanda is what the Asgard storyline in Ragnarok was missing. Hela just slaughtering everyone and generally being ludicrously OP is not interesting, but if a significant portion of the people had sided with her and there was a battle for the soul of Asgard? That would’ve been amazing, and I wouldn’t have just been impatient to get back to trash planet shenanigans.

It’s a shame N’Jakada dies. He’s a Loki caliber villain, and they could’ve given him a redemption arc or something.

Okay, weirdly, one of the details I like the most about the capital of Wakanda is that the ground doesn’t appear to be paved anywhere.

So if Bucky is White Wolf, does that mean he’s going to be in future Black Panther movies? Yes please?

Black Panther is very good, but I don’t think it makes it into my top five MCU movies. T’Challa needs more development. He’s too passive for too much of the movie. Shuri and Okoye are much more interesting characters and have much more personality than him, and the same goes for M’Baku and N’Jakada. Hopefully they’ll do more with T’Challa in future installments. A big part of what makes the Marvel movies so great in general is their compelling leads, but this movie didn’t make me as invested in T’Challa as a person as it made me invested in his country and the people around him. I want to be as invested in T’Challa as I am in characters like Thor, Peter Parker, Tony, Steve, the Guardians, Scott, and Stephen, characters like Frank, Matt, Luke, and Jessica. I think what would have gone a long way towards solving this problem would have been if he’d actually been a staunch defender of the traditional isolationist view, only to learn over the course of the movie that Nakia is right. Isolationism breeds xenophobia and over-inflates national pride, creating people like N’Jakada. Much better to embrace other countries and cultures and help each other grow. As it is, it seems like T’Challa goes along with the isolationist thing because that’s how they’ve always done it, but he doesn’t seem remotely passionate about it, and that’s to the detriment of his character.

Now, the Hamlet thing. It occurred to me the first time I saw this in theaters that N’Jakada is essentially Hamlet. His father was killed by his uncle, who is on the throne, and his quest for vengeance gets everyone around him including his lover and friends killed, and ultimately he dies too. Then a benevolent king takes the throne, having learned from this conflict.

#black panther #mcu rewatch #infinity war spoilers #kinda

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artistotel-archive · 7 years

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i can finally introduce this guy i’ve been developing over the past few days!

long story short, @arrt-jim-lad practically bullied me into making a friend for this guy. also, shout out to jim for helping me so much with tero’s costume, and turning my rough idea into the real thing! ;V; <3

The Fear Hero: FEARSTRIKE

Real name: Tero Shiryoku

Quirk: Fear induction - he can induce fear in his opponent. From mild anxiety and uneasiness to full blown traumatic and phobic attacks, Fearstrike strikes fear in the hearts of his opponents. His quirk requires clear and direct eye contact, even if it’s for a split of second. The quirk has a very individual working - with some people it might invoke a sensation or a memory of a scary thing, or an image, or a sound, or a feeling of physical touch.

personality, backstory, trivia are under the cut!

Personality: For someone with such a villainous and scary quirk, Tero is actually a very timid and shy guy. He's kind hearted and meek, introverted, and you could say - a bit of a sad willow. He rarely strikes a converstation as he tends to be socially awkward since he's never had proper friends before UA. Loneliness made him quite independent and he feels no need to continuously try over and over to fit into a group. He longs for friends, but he knows it will acchieve nothing if they don't like him for who he is. He also tends to be distrustful because everyone becomes cold after they find out about his quirk.

He is very slow to warm up and open to people because of bad past experiences, but once he does, he does it with full heart, and becomes a friend for life. He's loyal, but not under cost of being dishonest, and won't be scared to say things he means, no matter the consequences.

Even though he's quiet and non-argumentative, Tero has a tongue - snarky one at it. He won't fight with words, but he will say what he has to say and probably conclude the argument after it. He thinks his words through, and once he explains himself, he feels no need to do so further. He is prone to simply leaving or cutting his converstation partner short. He isn't expressive, so his tone tends to be deadpan and monotone.

His quirk has often been ruled by his emotions so Tero tries to stay calm and control his feelings. He tries to not get upset over things because he's terrified of snapping and hurting someone in rage. That's also why he's hurt people every time he's used it - it's always been because of his strong emotions. Because of this, he comes off distant and uninterested - but on positive side, he's chill and easy going, as he avoids getting upset over things. It all depends on how you go about him.

Behind such non-expressive face, however, hides an intelligent mind. Tero is both studious and a quick thinker, and while his commentary tends to be short, it's usually enough. Because of his quirk, Tero's become obsessed with psychology and philosophy - trying to figure out what causes fear and what kinds of fear there are. His interest spread to other emotions and the ways psyche works. Questions about moral, ethics, self worth, life, are what dragged him into philosophy.

History: Growing up with such a scary quirk was no easy task for Tero. His quirk manifested at bad time, when his mother looked into his eyes, and suffered a full phobic attack from her son. This made her resent Tero and avoid him. However, his father absolutely adores his misunderstood son, and has been the supportive pillar in Tero's life. His father is a well liked man in the street, so when he got stuck with such a son everyone pitied him behind his back - but he's never shown shame of his boy. Actually, quite the opposite: he always stressed how proud he is of Shiryoku. Tero's also accidentally hurt his older brother the same way he did his mom, so he's not on such good terms with him either.

Tero was abandoned and rejected his entire childhood. When he was a kid, in self defense, he made a bully suffer an extreme phobic attack which left the child traumatized for the rest of his life. Tero, having no idea how to control his quirk, became terrified of it and of himself and made a promise to never use it again. That's when he started wearing skii googles - to block eye contact with anyone.

This scandal obviously led to other children whispering behind Tero's back and making him an outcast, even other parents demanding for Tero to be kicked out the school or forbidding him from coming near their children. This made Tero break down, and that's when the desire to become a hero started sprouting in him: he wanted so badly to repent for his bad deeds and wash that traumatized child off his hands by becoming a pro hero. He didn't feel angry at the other kids - he felt ashamed of himself.

He grew up in a quite poor and bad neighbour, in low class family. He hung out with some bad kids for a while because they seemed to accept his quirk - but after a while it became clear they wanted to use it for bad purposes. He quickly jetted out the clique and was left all alone again.

When he got into UA, he rose in the eyes of his community - he became pride of the street and was finally accepted by his neighbourhood. Grannies started telling him how proud they are and giving him treats when they'd see him. This made Tero insanely happy.

Fighting style: because of his promise to never use his quirk, which is not a physical one anyway, Tero built himself accordingly. He is speedy and versatile, with medium power.

He is a stealth type of fighter, a ninja boy, who jumps, spins, climbs, hides, and tries to keep out of close combat.

Hero persona: Fearstrike was built to be scary. He is dark ninja out of a horror movie which you see only a few times, before he sneaks up from your back. The outfit is mostly black, with eyes that pop out of darkness, making Tero look dismembered and non human. If he isn't ninjaing around, he moves slowly and creepily, in an inhuman way.

Fearstrike never speaks, outside of occassional weird sounds. He has wraps on his arms and legs which are used to wrap the enemies up and immobilize them. Around his waist he has a wire which ends with a claw - he uses this to catch opponents and get closer to them, so that he can make the eye contact. The claw can also serve as a grappling hook so it's quite useful in getting around.

The eyes are actually lights that sometimes flash to appear as if they're blinking. His gloves and heels have spiky endings.

Trivia: - Tero never looks people in the eyes. He is terrified of eye contact, even if he has protective glasswear. - He tried to make his room a happy place by painting it into yellow, but he ultimately failed, since his room doesn't get much sun. So it's just a grey mushy room. - He's a smoker (I made him a smoker just out of spite because Kashi, as a singer, hates smoke lmao). - Kashi helped him design his outfit. Before Tero came to terms with his quirk, he handed in just a drawing of a black jumpsuit and googles, so that he couldnt use his power. After he gains confidence, he asks Kashi for help for a redesign. - Speaking of Kashi, he's a huge fan of Kashi's father. - He adores horror movies. Absolutely adores. - He is very, very studious - in fact, he will often keep researching topics they do in school. He usually ends up on a whole different topic. These obsessions last for a few days, and then he just drops them. - He suffers from frequent nightmares and wakes up often during night. He always dreams horrific monsters and places, but those don't scare him. The scary dreams for him are dreams where other people are suffering, or he's lost control and is hurting them. - When he uses his quirk, he gets a very vague glimpse of what's another person experiencing. It's unclear and he can't always place it, but sometimes he can figure it out. It usually troubles him. - UA changes him inside and outside and he reclaims his quirk and learns to control it.

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #boku no hero oc #my hero academy oc #bnha original character #bnha #art #tero shiryoku #fearstrike #oc #inktober #inktober 2017

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tumblunni · 7 years

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Cathedral Tower Defense Game character ideas and stuff so far! I’ve talked about some of these before but I wanna just compile it in summary form, and try and get thinking about more to add. It’d be so cool if I could make it like an early suikoden game where you have the world’s biggest party selection! Or at least have that equivelant but with recruiting shopkeepers and townbuilders and stuff.

So... long post ahoy!

* Protagonist (Sir/Lady/Master Amity) Your selectable renameable main charrie! A badass disabled veteran who lost their family in the war and ended up defending this cathedral town of strangers in order to prevent another tragedy. They’re generally distrusted at the beginning, have a lot of doubts about what philosophy they should take in life, and its up to you to decide how the story plays out. But no matter what, this protagonist is a cool grumpy comically-serious nerd gramp! (or gran or etc) i really REALLY like the idea of changing them to be an older veteran character, it just works so much better and seriously WHY are there like zero grandma protagonists in anything ever? I will vow to make this one as amazing as possible!!

* Florin Generally supportive yet sassy and lazy deutorogonist helper guy. He’s your first ally in this world and maybe kind of a tutorial, lol. Even though he’s a total cinnamon roll, he’s as distrusted as you because he’s a demon. Even the protagonist kinda wonders why on earth he wants to help them, and whether he’s some sort of enemy spy... His elemental realm is over plants, and he has no greater joy than taking a nice nap amoungst the flowers~

* Malachi At the moment the only fully developed idea I have for another party member, aside from Florin. Though I’m not sure if I want him to be optional or mandatory? In either case when you recruit him he’s the catylyst for a lot of character development for Florin, and they end up becoming like a lil adopted family ^_^ Anyway, Mal is a very young and adorable demon child that the party finds sealed away beneath some ruins. Precociously innocent, he seems unaware that he’s become a monster. I mean, everyone eats rocks, right?

* Admiral Chiffon (wip name) A major recurring enemy turned ally! Chiffon starts off as just the eccentric comic relief member of the opposing army, kinda harmless and kinda entertaining. And you might pity her quite a bit, because her coworkers treat her like absolute shit. I basically invented this character because I got sick of seeing the ‘ha ha flambouyant gross comic relief villain’ thing in recent fire emblems, and wondered what it would be like to have a villain whose LGBTQ status is treated as a sympathising aspect instead, leading to a redemption when she finds people who dont treat her like those damn writers treated everyone :P So yeah, she’s a transgender woman who faces a lot of predjudice in her career, and I hope I can make it very heartwarming when she finds true friendship with our heroes! And also I hope it can make the non-comic-relief villains seem extra disgustingly unforgiveable after you see how badly they treat their own teammates. Her personality is gonna be kind of a greedy merchant sort of person, but what if that archetype was a good character instead. She remains sassy and greedy even when she’s been redeemed, i like a good ‘ol vice-filled hero yknow! Character development is my jam! Also all i know about her design so far is that I think I want her to have stylishly skunk striped hair, to represent greying streaks and all. I was imagining her as the token grandma of the cast before I decided to age up the protagonist lol

* Currently unnamed church matron duo, aka Timon And Pumbaa One of my early-ish undeveloped concepts for non-battling town members. These two are florin’s equivelant, they’re the town workers you start off with before the game really starts. I’m thinking they’d be like nuns/priestesses that worked at this place before you came along, and you have a bit of a rivalry here because they pragmatically know they need you to defend the stronghold but they’re also very wary of you. The ‘timon’ one would be the main one who actually holds all these opinions, a sort of crusty matronly mega paranoid lady who thinks you’re gonna backstab us all at any moment! And she’s some sort of super scary chronic sufferer of resting bitch face, even though she sees herself as the ultimate arbiter of justice everyone else thinks she’s terrifying. Just imagine her trying to hug a baby that just cries as if it saw the face of death! Life sucks when you’re a lawful good character stuck in a chaotic evil character design! And then her partner is a funloving pumbaa-esque team chef, who’s actually kinda too loving and innocent to ever distrust anyone. But she always just falls in with whatever her boss says, its like a pinky and the brain situation. Oh and I’m already kinda preemptively shipping these two before I’ve even finished designing them XD

* Depression jail janitor Starts as a prisoner you take from one of the enemy raids, but he ends up winning your trust and joining your team. Entirely against his will! he’s a chronically depressed man who was forcibly drafted into the evil army even though he doesnt believe in their cause, but now he feels like he’s unforgiveable anyway. So he spends all his time trying to convince you that he is indeed pure evil! But the more humble he is, the more everyone believes in his genuine kindness. Alas! It doesnt help that he also kinda has chronic hero syndrome and cant resist helping out in every possible way. So that is how a prisoner ended up becoming the one in charge of the jail keys! And he’s like Everyone’s Dad. (Even the people decades older than him...)

* Former bully powerful friend The one other main child character, cos I wanted Malachi to have some friends. They start off at odds and she initially joins in with everyone bullying him, cos she wants to fit in. But he ends up helping her deal with her insecurities and realise she was only resenting him for being ‘weak’ because she saw herself reflected in him. or rather, the traits in herself she’d tried to hide to make everyone like her, even if it meant joining in with bullying and only having horrible asshole friends. So she sacrifices her popularity with the main clique in order to defend malachi, and ends up finding her first true friend with him. They’re better off being outcasts together! So yeah cutie malachi will have some sort of stronge deliquent friend with a heart of gold, and I’m not sure yet whether she’d be playable or not? i kinda feel like its not right to have someone that young join the party unless they have magic powers to protect them. So maybe she can fight by teaming up with malachi, actually? like, she rides atop his stone dragon golem form and supports with ranged weaponry or something. or just acts as an advisor? I liked the idea I had that there would be a buffs-only type of magic stone, and people could cast it on themselves to have enhanced senses at something or other and improve their supporting skills. Like the protagonist would maybe have an eyesight-enhancing buff crystal to act as a sniper scope!

* Rival warrior buff teen person Very undeveloped cos I just came up with them ysterday, lol! I’m thinking possibly make this character female just cos this archetype doesnt get to be female all that often. Kind of a draco malfoy type snooty rival, but with a more sympathetic side and ultimately you do become friends. Theyre just a simple ordinary citizen who was doing the best they could to protect their family before you came along, and now kinda resents the fact you’re all BETTER THAN EVERYONE and taking their job as guardian! They have a lot of anxieties over the fact they struggled so hard to become self-trained and now you’re here making it look easy. So the plot has a general theme of believing too much in ‘destiny’, and that some people are just born with talent and you’ll never succeed if you werent lucky enough. This character started off trying to act like theyre inherantly blessed with that talent, because they’re terrified that they aren’t... Oh and I think once you befriend them I think they might be like a ryuuji/junpei type of friend? But without the weird sexism and homophobia randomness that persona 4 threw onto yosuke. Just like a bit of a cheerful cliche ‘bro’ who isnt all that interested in books and likes to be all ‘cmon do it for the vine’. A good polar opposite to the protagonist who could have some cute interactions!

* Rival warrior’s chilled out older sibling figure of reasonableness Every rin needs a yukio! I think they’d be maybe a bartender or owner of a restaurant or something? Just some sort of super chilled out job where they act as an agony aunt to their customers, the place is very popular because of the great service. (Though also everyone is kinda like ‘yo you dont have to run it all by yourself, yo you dont need to give us bonus extra special treatment, seriously get some sleep dude!!’) But anyway they’re this perpetually relaxed super kind soul who’s always the reasonable response to their lil sib’s ohohoho angry rivalness. But the bad side to it is that they’re also a lil depressed and apathetic about their own life, they’re kinda like someone who really lives for their family, in a bad way. They’ve been like a single parent to their sibling because they had kind of a tragic backstory, and big sib has just grown too used to sacrificing everything in order to help other people and never taking care of themself. And they have a lot of trouble even.. feeling emotions. The outwardly chilled and happy-go-lucky facade covers up just a void of nothing but self hate and emptiness. They feel like they’d already been tainted by the way their abusive parents used to treat them, its too late for them and all they can do is try and save other people from falling down the same path. Oh, and I think maybe the two siblings are actually immigrants from the villain country? Like, when older sib ran away from the abusive family they ended up here, and now they try and keep it secret, to the point that even the younger sibling doesnt know where they were born. Basically I just wanna have a LOT of different subplots showing how the ordinary citizens of this country aren’t all evil just because their government are the bad guys in this story. And especially covering topics like characters who’re part of that ethnicity and get treated like they’re inherantly terrorists even if they were born and raised in a completely different country!

#cathedral tower defense

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kisaragizan · 7 years

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Character Analysis [Jin Kisaragi]

Hey everyone, Zane here again with a... different type of discussion. Was going to do deck profile but I wanted to have something more thought engaging for me and to write about something towards my interests like characters, games, genres, etc. without being straight forward about the subject and more about me I guess.

I wanted to start talking about video games and anime shows in terms of their plot and especially some of the characters. Today’s topic has been on my mind since I’ve been asked over and over about my interest about said character and it’s been more of a “I could explain it but it would take an entire hour or so explaining” (because of having to back track their origins of their story and relevance to their respective show/game). As many of you may or may not know, despite being blatantly obvious, I’m a huge BlazBlue fan and my favorite character of that series, probably of all time, is Jin Kisaragi. For those who don’t know who he is or what BlazBlue is, you don’t have to go on the wikia, play any of the games, or read any of the manga to get an understanding of why I like him because I am more than willing to provide enough details to generally wrap up what he’s been through, who/what he is as a person, plot relevance, and why I adore him so much. This, of course, will include spoilers especially of the latest game, Blazblue Centralfiction, so if anyone doesn’t want to be spoiled on plot/ending, please either do a quick wrap up of the game although I’ll do my best to keep it discreet. With that out of the way, let’s begin! I’ll split this up into a few sections: basically who Jin is, his back story, and overall the general philosophy of his character and why I like him.

Who is Jin Kisaragi?

Jin Kisaragi is one of the main characters of the entire Blazblue franchise. His role throughout the story is actually pretty straight forward: he’s the standard typical anti-hero; he gets in the way of his brother, main protagonist, Ragna the Bloodedge, while also fighting off the antagonists of the story, even teaming up with his brother while also protecting those closest to him. He’s very quiet, keeps to himself, and hardly ever reacts to anything that has zero relevance or significance to his objectives, goals, or desires. There are a few people who he really bats an eye towards enough to get some kind of reaction, whether it’s good or positive, at the start of the series, including his brother. Otherwise, he’s a bit of an ass to people, almost narcissistically arrogant as demonstrated towards his interactions with his Lieutenant, Noel Vermillion. Outside of this, he’s very obedient and takes his missions with utmost care, fulfilling each and every instructed objective to perfection, annihilating an opposing entire city and its government by himself within three days to end a civil war and was dubbed “The Hero of Ikaruga”.

This all starts to change by the second game where he is wanted for deserting his post to chase after his brother in the first game. He starts to question the ideas of justice, order, balance, power when he is faced with his childhood friend, Tsubaki Yayoi, whom has come to take him into custody. He believes that the balance and order of this world is wrong and shoulders the duty to truly balance the world. It is here; he realizes his true power and uses it to fight against those who preach a false idea of justice and those whom are deemed as enemies of the world.

This is just the general idea of who he is without getting too into it. Personally, this is enough for me to even like him, but there’s more to him that makes him a really awesome and interesting character.

The Origin of Jin Kisaragi

Jin was originally an orphan along with his older brother and younger sister in a lab facility until they were rescued by Jubei. They were taken to a church where they lived quiet lives with their new foster mother, a nun. Jin being a younger sibling to his older brother, Ragna, became very dependent of him. When his younger sister, Saya, got ill, Ragna dedicated most of his time towards helping her recover; ultimately giving Jin the cold shoulder (I swear this pun was not intended.). Jin felt very jealous of Saya and would pick on her occasionally. However, one day while Ragna was out, he returned to the church set ablaze and their foster mother murdered. He saw Jin standing beside a man, whom had just taken off Ragna’s arm. After crying out to his little brother to find their sister, Ragna turned to see Jin unsheathing a sword and proceeded to thrust it into his chest, before vanishing out of Ragna’s life.

Later on, Jin was adopted into the Kisaragi Family, one of the twelve noble families. Because of his talents, he ascended into the ranks of the Novus Orbis Librarium (essentially the government) although many of his new siblings didn’t trust him and many of his peers threw comments at him stating he’s only recognized because of his family name. However, this didn’t seem to phase, let alone, bother Jin. Neither the teasing nor the praise, nothing seemed to interest him. At some point, he met a girl named Tsubaki Yayoi. Like the Kisaragi’s, she was the daughter of the Yayoi family and in time would become Jin’s first and most important friend. Both of them entered the Military Academy, where Jin was elected as Student President (not sure how the election process works). He enforced many new policies to help the students grow such as the cafeteria duty. All and all, everything at the time seemed to be going well for him.

One day, while sitting atop a hill viewing over the academy, a piece of paper flew by his side. When he grabbed it, a girl came running over apologizing profusely and had asked if he could return the paper she let escape. Jin returned it and she introduced herself to him, Noel Vermillion. Jin had heard the stories of a girl with high Ars Magus, enough to rival his achievements and he was surprised to actually meet her. When he got a look of her face, he was shocked. She looked very similar to his sister Saya, whom he thought he’d never see again. He was bothered by it, every time he saw her; he grew more and more troubled.

At some point after the Military Academy, Jin was assigned to Ikaruga to “bring an end to the war”. He did so by taking down the head of the government, Tenjo, and crushing all of the resistance with his Nox Nyctores, Murco Aglesco: Yukianesa, his weapon which is a katana that can freeze people and create ice. After successfully ending the war, Jin was hailed as the “Hero of Ikaruga” and was promoted and given the rank of “Major”. Sometime had passed, and his lieutenant was assigned to him, it was again, Noel Vermillion. Jin found to be of a nuisance and treated her as such, although, Jin had found himself once again, having the empty feeling.

Character Analysis

So for those who’ve read through everything above, I basically retold the origins of Jin Kisaragi from his early life up until the start of the first BlazBlue game. For those who are familiar, yes, I left out some key parts; I didn’t want to go too into detail in that when they can be explained here. So Jin’s main thing is that he’s a jerk to anyone, especially Noel. This only ever changes if he’s in the presence of his brother, in which he shifts into raging psychopath, trying to instigate a fight between Ragna and himself in order to kill him. Saying he has an obsession with Ragna is an understatement, literally his whole motivation: kill Ragna. Even to where it can come off as very erotic yet sadistic with him giggling and his famous “Niiiii-saaaan”, which are usually the two things fans or people who know of him, associate him as. It also doesn’t help that he gives off the elitist vibe, feeling the need to put himself above anyone whom he feels is inferior to him. Although he does have a few redeeming qualities, Jin is an honestly a complete ass to the majority of the cast, to which many people see and can’t fully come to understand why anyone would like a character such as him unless they’re known for just liking the asshole characters like Kaiba, Vegeta, Sasuke, so on and so forth.

So is that everything? No, not even close. Like I said before, Jin is one of my favorite characters and I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t mind if a character is anti-hero or villain or even protagonist, it really depends on the characters development, origins, ideals, and/or capabilities/abilities. Although, just because I think a character has a cool development, doesn’t mean they’ll be my favorite or excuse them from their flaws, except Jin here, whom I think is a generally good person if you delve deep into his character.

Most people associate Jin for being a complete asshole to his peers and cast, while yes this is true, but there’s a reason, a reason that can’t be helped. Like most anti-heroes, Jin suffers from the tragic past syndrome, but to an extremely small extent from let’s say “entire family was killed by another family member”. Jin very much loved his siblings considerably, especially his older brother Ragna. When Saya got sick, and Ragna was taking care of her, even to the point of ignoring Jin, it’s understandable why jealousy kicked in. As a young boy, he felt as though his play time and enjoyment with his brother was being cut short due to Saya, an ‘obstacle’. However, this doesn’t mean he hated Saya for this. Throughout very specific points of the series, it is implied that Jin and Saya got along pretty well together and cared for her as much as Ragna. After the events of the church being set on fire, Jin’s memories of that event, regarding how he got Yukianesa in the first place, what happened to Saya, and why he was next to Terumi, were wiped by the latter. Ultimately, Jin was left with a broken past that he couldn’t recollect due to trauma and lack of memory of the event, which caused him to feel empty as he was adopted into the Kisaragi Family. Meeting Tsubaki for the first time and becoming her friend allowed him to start fresh and start new, as they both entered the academy, promising to always be there for each other and to help one another out. He continued his life as normal until meeting Noel Vermillion. Now, there’s some speculation as to why he treats her like dirt in general, though I believe it’s because of the memory of his sister. Mind you, Noel does not hate Jin; in fact she wishes to make herself useful to him, despite his constant putdowns and cruelty. In the beginning, Jin isn’t nearly as hostile towards Noel as he is post-Ikaruga War, he greeted her and was interested in her but again he felt troubled after seeing and looking at her. Now, as we established Jin loves his siblings very much, and because of his past (or lack thereof), seeing someone with the same face as her is bound to cause some sort of reaction. Because the last thing he remembers is his jealousy (and potential dislike) of his sister and him rampaging, ‘killing’ his brother, these ideally suppressed memories are starting to resurface, causing Jin to feel these emotions towards Noel (though he doesn’t act on them as harshly as he does later on after the war, but there is another reason for that.). Short version: Jin dislikes Noel because of the last remaining memory he has of Saya, whether he disliked her, or whether he loves her but the past in general troubles him, or alternatively the memory of his adored sister is being stained by this girl who looks just like her, because let’s be honest, Noel is… although adorable, she is not necessarily the brightest to the point of questioning her will leave you with a colossal headache and having a memory of your adorable sister be connected through this is probably not the best way to reminisce about the past. It should also be mentioned that Jin received his Yukianesa from Saya and has held onto it over ten years, which being the last thing he got from his sister, shows he must’ve really loved her to cherish that gift.

So, he loves his siblings, why does he act like a homicidal maniac towards his brother, Ragna? Well, the main reason is again, the jealously factor from when they were kids. However, it’s not just this alone. I’m going to bring up a key point in the BlazBlue series: the concept of the Nox Nyctores. Each weapon has the risk of damaging their wielders mental state and the effects increase with profound use and/or attachment to the weapon. In Yukianesa’s case, it amplifies Jin’s emotions to an extreme level. So general happiness turns could turn into a fatal obsession or even a bothersome person to him, whether it’s jealously or flat out annoyance, can lead to unyielding hatred towards the person. There is even a subplot within Continuum Shift of Jin’s story where the Yukianesa manipulates Jin, otherwise, Jin cannot use the sword. (Which symbolically shows how easy it is for people to bend to the will of others without their knowing, which plays again for a certain friend of his.) Not to mention, Ragna has the Dark Beast subplot going on, so sensing a powerful evil force, Jin obeys his mission as “hero” and aims to defeat the evil of the world.

The common misconception amongst people who’ve heard of the name “Jin Kisaragi” is that he is just an ass much like every other anti-hero, which, on a small percentage yes, but in the grand scheme of things? No, Jin is a fairly capable person of being able to express a decent set of morals; helping and assisting those in need, showing concern to those who are important to him, even compassion and perhaps even love. If he is one, which he is, there are actual reasons behind it that is beyond his control (at the time). When his development kicks in, he starts to regain control of himself and realizes what is important to him: protecting the world and those he cares about. Willingly agrees to join forces and even put aside grudges and differences (although begrudgingly) for the benefit of those goals, and humbling his former elitist attitude and asking for help. This is all on top of his previous set of morals such as obeying all rules, never lying, being responsible and owning up to mistakes. Little by little, ever so slowly, he is following the path that leads him to his destiny of becoming a true hero by correcting the errors of his former past and leading the world to a better future.

Why I like Jin Kisaragi (End)

Jin by far, in my opinion, is the best character in BlazBlue from start to finish. He starts off as this really hopeless guy who doesn’t really understand much about justice and is pretty selfish guy. However as the story goes on, he takes the time to realize the situation that the world is in and begins to take action. Although he gets rewarded here and there with a gag of him trying to pick a fight with Ragna or him picking on Noel, Jin ultimately made a change that set him apart from his alternate counterpart, Hakumen, and is actively trying to protect the world. I’m a bit of a sucker for stories like these but I believe Jin’s was the most well written story by far, especially having Tsubaki alongside him for that emotional conflict and to have the compare and contrast moments between him and Hakumen, which when I first found out, always wondered how Jin will ultimately become Hakumen. Although, when I look at the two now, I feel Hakumen is the “failed” Jin and was cursed to the armor for the sake of being a “Power of Order” whereas Jin chose to obey his fate and do what is right. The difference being between Jin and other anti-heroes is that their development, I feel, is just brought from a sudden motivation in that specific situation. Jin’s development was predetermined by the inclusion of Hakumen in the cast, the subtle hints of a potential past between him, Ragna, and Saya, as well as the idea of all three of them coming together once more, the addition and expansion of his school life and relationship with Tsubaki. I feel these sub-plots are important because it shows more of people acknowledging Jin as something more than just “Hero of Ikaruga” (which is the idea of Jin being ‘knight in shining armor’, perfect soldier, figure head, etc.) or “The Pain in the Ass” (which shows what Jin is really like to the rest of cast from the narrative point of view and how detrimental he can be towards others). Seeing the moments of Jin and Tsubaki, shows that he does have a mind, a soul, and a heart on a genuine healthy level towards anything that isn’t Ragna or Noel.

There’s more to him beyond the “Niiiisaaaaan” or the “Die you obstacle” that he’s normally associated for. People actually do care about him, look up to him, and respect him. Especially after his development, you grasp just how why Jin is important to these people despite previous behavior and attitude towards some of them. Jin’s maturity into a real hero, though not necessarily a nice one, is a very proud moment for his fans. Even in the final game, Jin still undergoes developments such as fighting against Saya (Hades Izanami), attempting to destroy the Azure Grimoire to prevent anyone from accessing that level of power, locating Platinum for Trinity’s sake, fighting against Hakumen and even preventing Tsubaki from locating Noel. His actions are both for the world and for those whom he cares for. Even his siblings that he feels are suffering on the inside; he bears the burden in hopes of stopping them for the world and for their sake as well, fighting against Ragna and defending Noel to prevent the former from sacrificing himself despite Jin’s weakened state. I love characters like Jin; they have their own set of morals and ideals and develop throughout the story into an even better person for the sake of their loved ones. Although it is a typical story, Jin’s seems to be the most interesting one considering he was even influenced by his former self from a different timeline. He grows into a strong hero and into a dependable big brother to Saya as Ragna desired.

I feel as though I can relate to Jin as being a good person at heart in his own way but with a few serious flaws, although still doing whatever he can to help out those around him and those he cares for. Additionally, I believe Jin is a cool character that gets overlooked because of the story trope he’s associated with as the anti-hero with the additional key differences being his obsession with Ragna, though if taken a more closer look at who he really is, you start to understand that these misconceptions as mentioned above are just that, misconceptions. Though, he’s still an ass, he’s a very awesome character story wise, ideally, and game wise.

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