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joyce-stick · 2 months

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An Essay About Slash Review of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, A Video Game Which is Very Good

(and also: has prompted many quite wrong rather bad takes)

An essay by Audrey of the joystick system

The very bad discourse and drama around The Coffin of Andy and Leyley has served to obscure the simple fact that it is quite a very good video game and this video essay is here to tell you about that.

Video version:

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Previous video essay: Lost Judgment's Lost Plot

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Transcript:

Hi everyone. So. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is really, really fucking good.

If you’ve heard of this game, you’ve probably heard of it in the context of memes, screenshots divorced from context, and/or capricious moral outrage. If you’ve not heard of this game, well, you’re hearing of it now! And good thing, too, because much of the coverage and discussion around this game that already exists has… been, let’s just say, not particularly earnest. I hope to remedy that at least somewhat with this video.

If you’ve heard about this game because of discourse, and come here expecting drama and hot takes, then, this may not be your video. Or your YouTube channel, even. Or maybe it is, if you’d like the delicious comments section. If you’re that sort of clicker, though— welcome! I’m Audrey of the joystick system, and this is the place where I (and my headmates) talk honestly about things we care about, and I hope you’ll hear me out a little and maybe consider staying and improving our viewer retention. Thanks, if you do.

So, to writ: My purpose today is to gush. I will be gushing here. For most of it. And as for what I will be gushing about, some of it will be gushing BLOOD, GUTS, AND DELICIOUS DEATH. I am entirely serious. The subject of today’s presentation contains mature content, including copious foul language and themes slash depictions of death, cannibalism, cultism, demon summoning rituals, parricide, dystopian social decay, and heterosexuality. Oh, and also a little bit of incest as a treat, I guess, but the incest is heterosexual, and that’s worse.

[long pause]

Excellent. You’re still here. So. This morbidly beautiful video game may not be for everyone, but that’s good, because it is instead for exactly me! A short plot synopsis of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley might go as follows:

if you're not watching the video listen to this for extra effect

Siblings Andrew and Ashley Graves are forcibly quarantined inside their apartment by the local authorities, with no food and even less hope for rescue. Their parents have abandoned them. Absolutely no one is coming to save them. In order to survive and escape this awful situation, they butcher and consume the fresh flesh of some guy who got himself soul vored by a demon that he summoned without a plan.

This conspicuously carnivorous crime, and their effort to cover their tracks, puts them in a fair bit of a deeper shithole than they are already in. So naturally they keep digging themselves deeper by committing even more crimes, AND in the process, also dig themselves deeper into their toxic codependent sibling relationship, which is going just great, thank you. Sure, Andrew almost killed his sister, but he didn’t, and that’s what matters! And she still loves him, so it’s all good!

This is of course a joke.

First thing I absolutely love about this game is the writing. It’s witty, intelligent, uncompromising, and just generally delicious. It holds nothing back in depicting the toxicity of the two leads and their relationship, resulting in two compelling characters whose flaws and few virtues perfectly complement slash exacerbate one another, resulting in a beautiful train wreck of a relationship dynamic that proves equal parts disturbing, mesmerizing, and hilarious.

The charming darkly comedic bite of the writing style also lends a lot of great character to the setting. This sardonically presented dystopian world is both richly detailed and fleetingly elaborated on, a commendable balance to have achieved, in my opinion. The first chapter of this game is hilarious not just because of the banter between Ashley and Andrew (which is terrific), but because it presents such a sharp satire of current year bullshit.

As just an example, I give you, one of my favorite jokes in the game:

I probably don’t need to explain the thing this is making fun of to you, but I will anyway.

The situation presented in The Coffin of Andy and Leyley’s first episode is very easily readable as an allegory for how disasters that are a direct result of ongoing 2020s late capitalist decay continuously fuck people over. In particular, this scenario feels like a direct commentary on both the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the Flint, Michigan water crisis. The former obviously has affected way more people but what both have in common is that they are crises created and exacerbated by malfeasance and/or negligence committed in the name of for-profit interests, and that the “response,” to them, such as there was one, has amounted to dehumanizing and marginalizing the victims while minimizing the issue, forcing the victims out of society’s wider view, and being reticent to punish the individuals responsible.

Just as the authorities responded to the water crisis and the worst excesses of the pandemic in real life, the authorities in The Coffin of Andy and Leyley impose half-measures designed to further restrict the freedom of the dirty undesirables who bear the worst damages, while merely shielding the upper echelons of society from the disaster rather than actually addressing or attempting to solve the issue. Most of you who lived through 2020 in the United States probably have experienced the frustration of being on the receiving end of this kind of policy.

During the pandemic, the quarantine was supposed to protect us, but for a lot of people it ended up doing quite the opposite. A lot of folks didn’t have any savings, and couldn’t get any since the employment market wasn’t exactly on fire, and our representatives had to be bothered way too much just to put out a pithy economic stimulus just to save face. Not to say that this all has stopped, exactly, as all that’s changed now is that we’re just, living with this situation, but.

It wasn’t literally a cop outside everyone’s door preventing them from going outside to not die, but for a lot of people, it might as well have been that! Never mind those who, y’know, had no inside to retreat to. Or were imprisoned during the pandemic and left even more unprotected! Or thrown out by their landlords! And so on. And, y’know, the big chain grocery stores keep throwing out all the perfectly good unsold food, so they’re already sending this message in all but, well… these exact words.

So, that’s why I think this joke lands. It’s exaggerated, but familiarly rooted, and that’s just good satire! It’s a joke which feels lifted right out of Invader Zim, which, I would put The Coffin of Andy and Leyley right about on the level of as far as both the tone it’s going for and the quality of its execution. Which of course, brings us to the extremes that these circumstances push its characters, and its plot, to.

Okay, so, also like Invader Zim, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is hardly a polemic, nor is it a morality tale. Sure, there’s social commentary in it, but that’s just a nice side thing. It’s not a story about the otherwise innocent victims of an unjust society who are pushed to do terrible things by circumstances outside their control— it is, rather a story of terrible people, who, both because of their character failings, and the desperate situations they find themselves in, find themselves doing even worse things.

Andrew and Ashley commit the cannibalism the first time in large part because they kind of have to do it. No food! Cop outside their door actively deterring them from getting food! Out of options! So they do it. They could probably be excused, if only they were given a fair trial. Which they realize they’re not going to get. So yeah. It’s understandable that they do it. And that they kill this one cop, who very much has it coming.

But they do not have to keep doing it! And gosh grief, do they keep fucking doing it— so many its. They really do not stop digging that hole that they are in. Even the first time that they do the cannibalism, when they kind of really have to do the cannibalism, Ashley is just a little bit more excited about doing the cannibalism than she probably should be.

I love this kind of delicious edgy dark humor. I love stories that go for it, imagine the worst possible people they can, and also try to make that funny. I love this about Invader Zim, that it presents a character who is unquestionably a monster, but also has relatable human desires like wanting to fit in and being concerned about looking weird or abnormal, but has those feelings for very different reasons and acts on them by committing some very despicable crimes. It really gets at a deep-seated darkness that I and a lot of other fucked up traumatized queer people who were little kids when this show aired have, the catharsis of visualizing some of our worst intrusive thoughts while evoking the emotions that pushed us to imagine this kind of fucked up shit.

I’ve loved this kind of thing since we saw Heathers when we were 14. Heathers is an absolutely incredible film that you should check out, by the way, and about which we failed to properly or interestingly articulate our thoughts a few years back. Its lead protagonists, Jason “J.D.” Dean and Veronica Sawyer, are similarly relatable characters who have familiar feeling flaws and emotionally resonant trauma hangups, and also function as very toxic enablers of each other’s worst traits, leading them to work through those feelings by, y’know, murdering their classmates!

Heathers made us realize just how exactly mentally ill of a 14 year old we really were when we were 14, and I love it for that. So. So fucking much.

That was ten years and change ago.

We are still a mentally ill 24 year old.

And Andrew and Ashley Graves, if I had to sum them up, are basically J.D. and Veronica, if they were in their twenties, siblings, and also way, way, way worse.

And I love them.

So, obviously. Ashley and Andrew are hilarious. At least, I find them to be such. They’re terrible, and awful, and amazing, and Ashley is such a girlboss. She is one of the most God Forbid Women Do Anything characters ever.

Anyway! I’ve talked about the cannibalism, and the dystopia, and the characters, and why all of that’s good. I’ve also forgotten to talk about the part where they evade an assassin, and, also a host of other things.

I love that this game has so many fun little optional interactions with NPCs, objects, and items, that you can totally miss. I love how the narration hints at the solutions to puzzles by snarkily referring to things you can interact with as what their purpose is to the characters rather than what they are, this quip about the mop that you clean up a murder scene with, the interactions that Andrew has with these cultists who suck at demon summoning, the excellent in-game art and the brilliant visual duality of Andrew and Ashley’s character designs, this line where Andrew is upset that life is so hard for them as fugitives from the law because they can only find this one shitty motel that takes cash and doesn’t ask them for their ID, and also the music, which is royalty free music made by people unassociated with the developer but is nonetheless perfectly suited for the game.

So much about this game is stuff I find so completely brilliant, and I have so little to criticize, that I think we’d probably be here all day if I kept going. So.

Let’s spend a thousand ish more words talking about the parents.

When The Coffin of Andy and Leyley begins, the protagonists’ parents are absent. You can optionally find two early references to them early on— one, if you interact with the bed in their bedroom, and encounter the shocking revelation that “Your parents have FUCKED on this bed.”

The second, is if you interact with the phone, the game dutifully informs you that,

You’re probably less than five minutes into the game at this point, barely begun solving the first puzzle, which prompted you to “find nutrients to not die.” And of course, this says about all you need to know. These children have been abandoned. But if it needed to be any clearer, the game later delivers unto you a flashback to prior in the story, when Ashley desperately calls Mrs. Graves for help after they leave and go move to a hotel, and later a new house, to which the kids are of course not invited. And this specific scene, specific line, here, fucking hit me:

“And I don’t want to hear these lies about starving anymore.”

Emphasis mine.

Even as Ashley and Andrew escalate the severity of their crimes which gradually come to have less and less to do with their need to survive as the story goes on, I find it very hard to not be on their side at least a little bit, and this is easily the biggest reason why.

I have had this phone call.

Not this exact specific phone call, of course. Obviously, I’ve never been locked up in an apartment with an armed patrol outside my door whose job it was to gaslight me while ensuring that I starved to death. Obviously, my mom has never said those exact words.

But gosh grief and fuck me if it’s never felt like she has. She may as well have fucking told me that, with all the things she told me I was lying about. And who fucking knows, maybe she did say those exact words to us, and we repressed them. I don’t know. I am very not done working through all the bullshit that she gaslit us over.

*sighs, preparing to vent*

I have called our mother and had to beg her to pay for food. I have called her and had to beg to pay for our rent, while our parents were supposed to be supporting us studying abroad. I have called her and begged her to forgive me for daring to use just a few of the thirty dollars our parents used to send us to live with every month back then, to buy a drink or a movie ticket or something. I have had to concede to our parents financially holding us hostage, had to go the last week of the month on a shoestring diet while waiting for them to graciously deposit another thirty dollars into our bank account... so that we could continue eating. I used to relish February, the shortest month, for being the one part of the year in which I had to stretch out that thirty dollars the least. And once, I pleaded with our mother to pay for us to move to another apartment when the landlord suddenly kicked us out of the current one, abruptly and obligatorily switching gears from arguing with her to kissing her ass through our gritted teeth, under threat of our parents cutting off their financial support of us completely, abandoning us in a foreign country where we had no money, no job, and barely spoke the language.

And one day, after I stopped dancing to their tune, they just stopped listening, stopped even pretending to want to help. After nineteen years of escalating emotional and physical abuse and neglect, they abandoned us. And one day, after I spent months working 10 hour days every week Ubering food around for tips, sending my resume, filling applications, making calls, stopping into places to ask for work, all to no avail, for months, and desperately plugging the Patreon page of this very YouTube channel praying that some generous soul with money to burn would solve all our problems. All of this still wasn’t enough, and wasn’t going anywhere, and I’d run out of money and was short on rent on the one sublet room we could get that cost exactly three hundred dollars…

And I called her, and I asked her for help. I really didn’t want to. I wanted to hear nothing of her again. And she said to stop lying. To stop bullshitting her that I couldn’t get enough money, or find a job.

Not too long after, I swore off all contact with her, and eventually also with our father. And every time I have spoken to either of them since, I have made no secret of how I feel. Because if I get nothing out of kissing their ass, why fucking pretend.

My family is not poor. They own their house. They own, and leased out, a second house. Their house is full of fancy IKEA furniture and various other niceties, they’ve renovated the place at least twice, they live in a nice, safe neighborhood, they have an attic and a basement, they at one point paid for multiple plane tickets for us per year while still refusing to let us eat on any more than thirty five dollars, an extra five dollars we also had to beg them for. Our dad has a lucrative tech job. All of this, and they insisted, while refusing to answer questions about their finances in any detail, that they couldn’t afford to help us go to where we wanted to go for college, that they had no place for us in their house, that they couldn’t afford three hundred dollars of rent to help us have a roof over our head for one more month.

So when I read this delightful jaunt of a chapter of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, where Andrew and Ashley break into their parents’ new huge house to steal all their shit, and Ashley says “This is some rich people stuff!” about their fireplace,

And when their mom says, “there’s no room to keep housing you here indefinitely,” and the internal monologue says, “even though it’s way bigger than the old house.” It’s both an entertaining mockery of the attitude of the typical American family, how first you’re your parents’ property for eighteen years and then you’re turned out on your own to face the world without their support, and how the fuck are you supposed to live like that, to figure out how to live your life in the face of that, to meaningfully be a fulfilled person in that situation, especially in a time, when, no, mom, I can’t pay a college tuition on a waitress salary like you did back in the fucking nineties, you c--t,

Even though they have an extra bed in their basement and a perfectly good couch and plenty of space for another bed besides, and a vegetable garden, and a kitchen, and all these other middle-class petty bougie niceties, the Graves mom says, “sorry, we can’t keep helping you,” and. And. I read all this, and I think,

“I understand why Ashley wants to fucking flay these people. I understand why she wants to K1!L them.”

I cannot tell you how much catharsis the ending of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley episode 2 gave me. I cannot convey the weight of my gratitude that someone out there validated my anger and my specific fucked up power fantasy with their art. I didn’t even ask them to. I probably would’ve eventually done it on my own. But I’m so glad that someone did it for me.

If I ever hypothetically meet Nemlei, somehow, and have some cash, I will happily buy them a drink. Hopefully, by paying this excellent game’s ten dollar cover price, I already have!

I know you’re not watching this, but on the off chance this reaches your ears, I just wanna say thanks. For giving me a safe, legal, regret-free, socially acceptable, non-violent outlet for the rage I feel towards my parents.

Well.

Mostly socially acceptable.

Meow.

This game is not finished, as you may have noticed if you’ve gone to check it out on Steam. It ends on an ambiguous and open note, but in my opinion, a perfectly satisfying one. Nemlei could disappear absolutely, never release the proper ending of this game, and never make another game again, and I would not be mad. I've already got more than my money’s worth and then some. So. Yeah. I’m happy. Count me as happy!

I kinda wanna start talking a bit more about the branches of the second episode. I wanna say how it’s a brilliant idea to have two separate story arcs for the two variations of this episode’s ending, and how I hope that that’s executed on as beautifully as the rest of the game already is. I wanna talk about the ways in which Andrew and Ashley’s mom is ambiguously humanized despite being so obviously terrible. I wanna talk about the dialogue Andrew does when his parents offer him a chance to make amends, and he has doubts, if you choose to let him have them, and how I would probably also have doubts in his position, and not be able to follow through without my lovely evil cannibal sister pushing me towards… the thing. I wanna talk about this line, where Ashley talks about why she likes eating people, and how it’s so equal parts poetic and macabre and edgy bullshit and that that’s such a beautifully balanced cocktail of emotion to nail and Nemlei totally fucking nails it

I WANT TO GUSH FOREVER. ABOUT THIS GAME. AND I WANT NO ONE TO STOP ME.

Alas, I will stop myself.

And move on to the elephant in the room!

THE FUCKING.

Mom: “But that-.... That doesn’t make any sense.” Mom: “Why would you not-......” Mom: “Ah, I get it.” Andrew: “..........??” Mom: “You fuck her.” Andrew: “Wha— HUUUUH?!?!!?” Mom: “Oh that is disgusting! Andrew, she’s your sister for god’s sake!” Andrew: “I haven’t done anything!? What the hell, mom!?” Mom: “Then what does she give you that makes it worth all this?” Andrew: “W-well that’s none of your business, is it??” Mom: “I knew something was off… How did I fuck up so bad? I’m the worst mother ever..!” Andrew: “No! I mean yes you are, but I have never—!” Ashley: “I’m baaaa-ack!!!” Andrew: “Now of all times!?” Ashley: “I got the money! Did you miss me, handsome?? Did you? Did you??” Mom: “...........................” Andrew: “(I WANT TO DIE!!!!!!)”

Okay. So. I said I didn’t want to talk about this. But I’m talking about this game. I can’t not talk about it.

Yep, it’s hot takes and drama time!

So, not too long ago, Nemlei deleted their Twitter, their Itch.io, their everything, their entire online presence. The Steam page for The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, which used to list Nemlei as the developer and publisher, now lists “Kit9 Studio.” It is the only game to their name on the platform. A community forum post from said entity known as Kit9 announces that “the developer” (no name given) “has decided to permanently and completely terminate their activities online from here on.”

I don’t know exactly what happened, or why they did this. There’s a lot of people around who sure think they know. But in brief, as neutrally as possible: Nemlei, or someone close to them, was doxxed, or at least sought out as a doxxing target, by one or multiple users of an online forum. Their supposed crime? Making a video game “for degenerates.”

I don’t know who did the doxxing. I don’t know what their motive was, and for my own sanity, I am not going to look. I am choosing not to care. The most important and most obvious fact at hand here is that Nemlei’s creation has been met with controversy amongst social media users, and about one or two hack video game outrage journalists, who seem to have nothing better to do or say. And it seems clear that the doxxing wouldn’t have happened had they not been met with this negative attention. And all because of this.

Not the cannibalism, not the parricide, not the demon sacrifices. No, um, the one implied sex scene.

And it doesn’t even actually happen! It’s just a premonition of a possible future event that Ashley and Andrew supernaturally receive. It’s not particularly graphic, it doesn’t yet go anywhere, and it’s a short scene on an optional route that the game actively forewarns you about. You have to be trying to see it on purpose.

Well, that’s all true. It is indeed a minor and avoidable scene, and the discourse about it has absolutely poisoned the well when it comes to the conversation about the game. But also, “uhh, it’s optional and not a big thing,” is inadequate as a defense. This is still content in the game that Nemlei actively chose to put in the game, and even discounting this, the themes of incest are all over the game. Ashley speaks flirtatiously to Andrew at basically every turn. Even if you avoid this specific scene, the incest themes are not something you’re going to just not notice, if you’re paying attention to the text.

All that being said, it’s not like this content comes as a surprise. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley’s Steam store page accurately represents the product! A brother and sister. Codependency and cannibalism. It’s not as if you don’t know what you’re paying for and choosing to play. You came here for this! Most of the people playing this are here for this! You have to figure that if they are fine with killing and eating people, they’re probably fine with fucking each other, or, eventually possibly eventually going to be, at least.

So you’d think, except that many people seem to unironically believe that the cannibalism is more moral than the incest.

Oh, god, I’m doing this right now, aren’t I.

So, I get it. While I’m pretty skeptical of the notion that cannibalism is not as bad as incest, I do realize that incest is, at the very least, the more taboo of these things, and that a lot of people are more uncomfortable with it than they are with the cannibalism and the murder. To quote the one positive and in-depth review available in any media outlet at the time of this writing, from Destructoid:

“This aspect is undoubtedly the most controversial element about The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, and I understand why. While cannibalism is a taboo subject, it’s present in mainstream games like Fallout as an option for players. Having incestuous themes crosses over into Drakengard territory, and even then, no option allows Caim to reciprocate Furiae’s feelings for him.”

"The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is horrifying and I can’t get enough of it" Andrea Gonzalez, Destructoid, November 12 2023

So, yeah, I. y’know. Get it. I know why. However.

I can point to a lot of things that Andrew and Ashley do wrong in this game. They are, as per the game’s premise, very not okay, not as individuals, and not together. Andrew is way too attached to Ashley, and Ashley is generally an awful person who is way too attached herself, and also, all too quick on the draw to take advantage of Andrew’s attachment to her to make him do what she wants. This is not a healthy relationship. And we’re here for it! It’s compelling!

But, I think it’s worth asking why it’s such a toxic dynamic. Is it because they’re siblings? Well, not really. It’s a dynamic that’s specifically possible with them being siblings, but it’s not because of their sibling connection.

The actual reason why Andrew and Ashley’s relationship turns abusive isn’t because their relationship is abusive by necessity or nature, but because Ashley abuses their relationship. And she is doing this for basically the whole game. Like, it is abusive the whole time. It doesn’t become abusive when their relationship takes its romantic turn. Does it become more abusive? I mean. Maybe. Maybe the romance exacerbates the abuse. I dunno, we’ll have to wait and see what the next episode says.

So, then, why is the notion of them possibly in the future having sex the elephant in the room here, when before that, they do so many objectively worse things that cause much more harm both to themselves and others? Is that really so much more of a bigger deal than the murder and the people eating?

Or. To phrase it Ashley’s way. You played a game about mutilating and eating your parents’ corpses, and getting laid is what you’re freaking out about?

Is the incest really that much more extreme, or are you just more disgusted with it?

And even if you are more disgusted with it. Even if we grant that it is, actually, somehow, more harmful for siblings to have sex with each other, than to do murder and cannibalism. Is this the hill you’re dying on? What you’ve decided is of such utmost importance and injustice that you decide to go harass some random indie dev who just wants to make a silly video game about a couple of siblings eating people?

Does it truly make sense to let your kneejerk moral disgust guide you to the conclusion that the creator of this game deserves to be persecuted for merely writing about and drawing a thing you don’t like?

Well, to answer that, we have to get into the question of whether or not “immoral fiction” is harmful, or “normalizing” things that are wrong. Does fictionally depicting an immoral action actually cause harm?

I could dance around in circles for a little while about the edge cases, and certain writers who are publishing bad or hateful material in bad faith, or fascist propaganda, which is of course always bad, or whatever other example I could use to qualify my point or list out an exception to appease the people who disagree with me, but, I’ll just cut right to the chase, and tell you the answer

No!

The answer is NO!

The thing about taboos is that they don’t make us more safe. They don’t protect us from bad things. All they do is protect people’s comfort by silencing people they don’t want to understand, and enable bad actors by keeping their victims in the dark, and denying them the ability to talk about it.

The only thing we end up doing by censoring stories about these uncomfortable topics, and making it socially unacceptable to talk about them, is make it harder to know. We deny ourselves knowledge. We deny ourselves a conversation about these subjects, we deny ourselves the ability to meaningfully understand them. We deny ourselves power, what little we have, as readers, to understand, and to critique, to reason.

There’s a tumblr post I really like. Well, a number of them, I really like, on this topic, but I’m picking this one, because it’s got a quote I really like. It talks about Lolita. That Lolita. And, now, I’ve never read Lolita, at least not yet. Lolita is a novel about child sexual abuse, told from the perspective of an abuser. It’s an uncomfortable book with an uncomfortable topic, and it’s not wrong to be uncomfortable with it. The author of this post acknowledges that.

But they talk about it. They talk about how it shines a light on its subject matter. The why and the how of abusers and their actions. The ways in which their victims suffer. How it shows all of this in a way that it only could from the perspective it takes. And, I’m just going to quote them. I can’t do anything else. They said it better than I could, right now.

“Embrace disgusting fiction and then fucking talk about why it’s nasty. Now YOU have the power over reality.” - tumblr user legsdemandias

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley has been ridiculed, joked about, hot taked on, made a target, drama-ed over, and so on, but it’s hardly been criticized. No one I’ve seen admitting to not liking it talks critically about why it’s disgusting to them, or tries to understand why it exists, or what it’s for. And this is most people’s reaction to most media that deals seriously with anything taboo. “I don’t get it. I don’t like it. It shouldn’t exist. Get it away from me.”

I’m annoyed that the medium, the art form, of video games, is valued so little by so many that this is the wide reaction when something like this gets popular. That the mainstream games journalism media ridicules it, and the creator gets threatened by an internet mob, and it falls on the weirdos and the freaks and the no-name YouTube uwu girls, to give it the serious consideration and recognition it deserves.

To summarize, The Coffin of Andy and Leyley is, in my opinion, a very good video game, and on its behalf, I am mad at video games.

Now, go on. You made it through this video. I told you the plot! You can probably stomach the plot! So go, go. Shoo. Go buy Nemlei a drink. If you want to.

Or, buy us, the joystick system, a drink! You can do that at patreon dot com slash joycestick, or, ko-fi dot com slash joycestick. You can buy us drinks in both of those places.

I’ve been Audrey. Thank you for listening.

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95 notes · View notes

cinderella-ish · 7 days

Note

5, 8 through 13, and 18 + 20 for the Furuba asks!

Woohoo! Thank you for sending this! (ask game here)

5. not at all! I was born in the year of the horse, so maybe that's part of why I felt such a disconnect with Rin at first.

8. I have to go with Chapter 88 (the Cinderella-ish play)! I know I already gave the corresponding episode as my favorite, but it's just SO GOOD! It's hilarious and heartbreaking and has beautiful character moments for much of the main cast. It's almost a credo statement for the series. And Hiroshi's brilliant narration is the cherry on top!

Question 9 answered here | Question 10 answered here

11. Yuchi is my OTP ❤️

12. The fabulous Yukeru writers on Ao3 have me shipping them. Same for the YukiKyo (? what's their ship name?) writers. And I've really come to love some of the rarepairs I'm writing for my longfic Bloom Within Us. I'll put them under a cut down below for those curious.

13. Ooh, this is such a good question! Right now, I think my answer would be Momiji & Kyo because of the series I just finished writing. I have a soft spot for Yuki & Kakeru, of course, and Yuki & Haru, as well as Tohru & Arisa & Saki. I also really enjoy Kyo's sibling-esque dynamic with Arisa.

18. Ok, to combine 18 and 20, here are two hot takes that sort of deal with character headcanons. Let me know if you want to hear headcanons for someone else, or more fleshed out hc for these characters.

I think my hottest take is that Tohru needed Kyo more than he needed her. I don't think she had anyone she let her walls down for beyond him; not even her best friends. Kyo at least had Kazuma, and he was pretty candid with Momiji, too. Tohru regularly refused to let people take care of her (except for Kyo), and she would've been trapped in her grief & unable to move forward without him. Kyo would've struggled, and he may not have survived, but while they both would've had friends, he would've at least had a loving parent who would've done anything for him.

While Bloom Within Us ultimately has a positive outcome for Kyo after Tohru dies, I've been thinking about writing a sort of companion piece where Kyo dies and Tohru has to grieve him. I believe that would be a much sadder story, especially with the timing related to her processing her grief for her mother and choosing to move forward with Kyo. We saw in the hospital arc how hard of a time she was having just thinking he rejected her. She'd also struggle with how the other cursed Sohmas - some of her dearest friends - treated/viewed him, and that might create a rift between her and her new found family. If he disappeared, I just don't think she'd be able to cope.

It's also probably a hot take that Shigure only gets as much hate as he does because a) people take aspects of the manga seriously that Takaya never intended us to take seriously (like his "high school girls" song. Creepy, yes, but that's a Takaya problem, not a Shigure problem.) and b) he's so full of self-loathing that he says he's not "kind" and "the worst kind of man" and people take him seriously for some reason. If you actually look at his "unkind" actions, they consist of a) speaking honestly and directly to Akito without first fawning over her, b) actually trying to break the curse (sure, he and Hatori and others refer to it as "using" Tohru, but the way he was "using" her was to try and help the younger Zodiacs form strong bonds outside the curse and to house a lonely, homeless teen), and c) sometimes asking insensitive questions or speaking uncomfortable truths. And yes, he was cold to Mayu, and yes, he slept with Ren (which is maybe the most bananas thing that happens in Furuba), and yes, he fucks with people for his entertainment (especially Mitsuru and Mayu, though, again, Takaya signals we're not supposed to take that seriously). But then we see him trying to cheer Hatori up by bringing him to the lake house, or giving Kyo guidance (and a place to live) from the day he appears, or removing Yuki from Akito's abuse, or using his cunning to get Tohru to relax and have fun, or at least stop stressing so much.

I truly think his speech about kindness came from self-hatred and not from some deeply-held belief about the meaninglessness of things like kindness. I think his speech about being the worst kind of man was again from self-loathing and not something he was proud of. And when he provoked Tohru about Kyo, I also think that was borne of his self-loathing and guilt over how the Zodiac viewed the cat.

Anyway, I know you aren't a Shigure hater, so this probably isn't terribly controversial to you. 😅

Oh, also, I read Arisa as straight. She totally gives me queer vibes, but the fact that she likes Kureno because he reminds her of Tohru, yet she doesn't like Tohru that way... I see that as confirming her straightness, tbh. (I still love AUs where she and Saki are together! They're cute!)

Rarepairs in Bloom Within Us below the cut! (These could be read as answers to 18/20, too!)

Yusuke and Kagura get together in chapter 32, and Hiroshi and Momiji finally get together in chapter 67. In Bloom Within Us, mourners sort of converge around Kyo due to his closeness to Tohru and help him through his initial grieving period. This leads to a situation where Kyo kind of slowly becomes the center of the Sohma family, hosting regular group dinners at the dojo and becoming close (to a degree) with all the formerly cursed Sohmas. Since he always was close with Momiji and Kagura, it made sense to me that he might connect them with Hiroshi and Yusuke. I don't give Yusuke and Kagura a lot of focus, but Hiroshi is basically the second protagonist of my story, and the relationship between him and Momiji (and Hiroshi's development to be ready for a relationship with Momiji) is one of the most important subplots. I've really grown to love them, and might write some more content with them just because I adore them so much. (And Yusuke and Kagura are cute together! But I'm not really interested in exploring them any more.)

I haven't written the chapter where Kyo and Saki get together, but yeah, Kyo ends up with Saki.

I always read Saki as having repressed romantic feelings for Tohru. Due to her extreme loyalty and her powerful wave-reading abilities, I think she'd catch Tohru's message to Kyo (to keep moving forward) and ensure she passed it on first opportunity, thus saving his life. And I think Kyo, with his people skills and unfortunate familiarity with grief, would be the one to figure out how Saki felt about Tohru.

In my story, Kyo has to first decide to live. Once he truly does that, he starts pursuing a future as a karate instructor, realizes blaming himself for everything only hurts the people who care about him, and finally decides to allow himself to fall in love again. He's already in love with Saki by this point, and has been for a while, but he's a dumbass about love and it takes him a while longer to realize how he feels, and even longer to decide to do anything about it.

I think it's possible to read Kyo and Saki as having sexual tension in canon. That plus them playing the prince and Cinderella in Cinderella-ish makes them a fun couple to explore.

Anyway, I think there's a strong case these couples would get together in a universe where Tohru dies, but not in any other universe.

Thank you for asking! This was fun!

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tuiyla · 3 months

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NATLA Ep. 4 "Into the Dark" initial thoughts

Okay wow, I think this is my fav so far in terms of changes they've made. The best ep so far is probs Warriors but this was quite bold in the changes it's made and you know what, the first episode made me fear they'd be too timid to actually lean into their changes but no. Just like Danny Pudi put his whole Pudissy into his role, this episode committed to its direction and I can respect that even in places where I don't agree with the changes. The only exception is Bumi's tests, a lot of the dialogue and other aspects lifted straight from ATLA didn't work because it felt more forced in this context than anything. And overall I think Bumi is my least favourite part of the episode and its adaptation.

I was glad to see Jet in this episode, too, even if it was brief. I'm still lacking stronger emotions and a stronger presence from Katara but I'm glad for this goodbye with Jet and how it sets up exactly what it needs to. We did lose Jet being a foil to Sokka and there was a major missed opportunity in having Jet actually interact with Sai but ah well, can't have everything.

Instead of Sokka foiling it out with Jet there's the surprise inclusion of basically Book 2 Chapter 2 which I did not expect but am pleasantly surprised by. This ep went hard on the music taken straight from ATLA between the nomads' songs and Leaves From the Vine playing over the Iroh flashback. And! And!! Oma and Shu are lesbians!!! This is not a drill, Oma and Shu are lesbians in love. If there was one thing I hoped for in terms of the live action show it was casual queer representation and I got it in the most unexpected but pleasant place. Love it.

And!! On top of the surprising but not unwelcome inclusion of The Cave of Two Lovers, the story is recentered entirely on Sokka and Katara. I'll share more thoughts on this later but suffice to say I always love me some Water Sibs appreciation and this was much needed in this version. I still take issue with essentially erasing Katara's mothering of Sokka but it's clear the impact Hakoda leaving had on them is the same and, most probably in lieu of Bato of the Water Tribe, we get this storyline with them. The fact that love being the answer was reframed as the love between these two siblings is honestly a galaxy brain change and decision and I respect the hell out of it. There's still much lacking in terms of really fleshing out our cast but I will never, ever say no to more Water Sibs content. If we were gonna spend so much time in Omashu and put so many familiar faces in there, makes sense to also do the Omashu backstory AND utilize it to shine some light on the sibling dynamic that otherwise doesn't have much room to breathe in the live action. This is the kind of bold new direction that they have to take and own to make this show work.

I also enjoyed the Zuko and Iroh stuff and that's some interesting inclusion of more Book 2 things as well. The way even their plot from the Winter Solstice part one ep was integrated here is quite clever and I enjoyed both the past and present Iroh scenes. We'll see how they handle the actual Zuko backstory and I do think this version of Iroh needs a bit more, how should I put it, softness, but there's much to like here. Especially giving Zuko the option to pursue Aang instead and having him choose to rescue Iroh. Similar to a choice he made in the above mentioned Spirit World ep but honestly, lowkey more poignant here.

That's it for me for today but I'll watch the second half of the season tomorrow. I have to say, so far it has at least provided some interesting new takes worth taking a deeper critical look at, and I don't agree with those who dismiss the show entirely. It has merit even if, halfway through the first season, it's yet to convince me it can justify its own existence.

#this sounds very positive and to note i do have major issues with the bumi stuff lol #but i really do respect the bold changes made in these two eps #feels way more cleve than just. having Kyoshi scold aang #natla #natla initial thoughts #oma and shu are lesbians 😭😭😭#netflix avatar #the worst thing this show could have been is bland and it's not that

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iveneverbeenmorestressedinmylife · 10 months

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Για το ask game Edgeworth και Ανδρέας

Miles Edgeworth 💅

First impression: OH I SHOULD GET INTO ACE ATTORNEY IMMEDIATELY THIS MAN IS GOING TO RUIN ME.

Impression now: I was one hundred percent correct in my assumptions. He did in fact ruin me. This man has the range honestly. He is kind. He is an asshole. He is traumatised. He has every subtype of daddy issues known to man. He is a bitchy gay queen. He is aroace-spec (to me). He is autistic. He has NO idea what to do with himself when he is not in a courtroom. He is insane. Ive seen it. I enjoy it. Amen.

Favourite moment: "thanks to you i am saddled with unnecessary.... feelings....". Everything about turnabout goodbyes. The talk with Franziska at the end of aa2. The talk with phoenix after the earthquake in aa3. I could literally never pick Just One moment sorry.

Idea for a story: ... I've brainstormed two (2) aus that involve Edgeworth with two different mutuals. The first one is the Eurovision au where vk just sends miles to represent germany in Eurovision and the second one is the ace attorney/παρά πέντε crossover me and @alalumin have been driving ourselves insane over. Out of the two, the first one is the most fleshed out but the second one i might actually sit down and write for one day. Thats about all the concrete story ideas ive had for this man so far dkskks. Everything else is just a jumble of vague angsty daydreams.

Unpopular opinion: hmmm a lot of people tend to ignore the fact that he was canonically suicidal after aa1 so i suppose that could count as an unpopular opinion? Like if he wasn't actually suicidal, the note meant that he straight up faked his death which makes him an even bigger asshole that he usually is, which in turn makes phoenix's misdirected anger and blame seem a lot more justified? Also a lot of people tend to ignore the fact that phoenix would NOT handle Edgeworth admitting that he meant the note literally well. And honestly im not really blaming anyone here. Their aa2 dynamic is sooo complex, Edgeworth hurt the people that cared about him by hurting himself and not all of them are ready to forgive him immediately and thats fine. I just wish more people would explore this whole thing instead of oversimplifying it yknow?

Favourite relationship: narumitsu obvs but honestly? The Franziska and Miles fucked up sibling relationship means the world to me, its like a really really really close second.

Favourite headcanon: does it actually count as a headcanon if its strongly supported by canon? Idk but he definitely avoids elevators as much as he can and considering that his office is in the twelfth fucking floor the man walks up a lot of flights of stairs. He must have thighs of steel skkskaka. Also i like to think that at some point after the investigation games he went to therapy and he finally (!) got some help for that unmedicated and undiagnosed canon ptsd hes been drowning in since he was nine years old. Also he got Pess because i love her. Maybe she is trained as a service dog. He would love her with all his heart and her death would kickstart a major depressive episode because god knows this man can't handle grief but in the end he could get over it. Maybe even get a second dog or learn how to deal with loss in a less self destructive way. Also i don't think he would ever be able to fully enjoy Christmas? Like sure his fathers death doesn't hurt as much anymore but i like to think that the nightmares rear their ugly head during the Christmas season. Sure, he IS doing better but some things never really go away. He can hang out at the prosecutors office or Wright anything agency Christmas parties without feeling utterly miserable but he doesn't enjoy the holidays as much as everyone else. Some people don't understand why or think thats its just another aspect of his charming personality but the people who do are sympathetic about it.

Ανδρέας Καλογήρου 🔪

First impression: γουαου ποιός είναι αυτός ο μαλάκας λολ. Ειλικρινά νομίζω την πρώτη φορά που είδα το παρά πέντε δεν με ένοιαζε πολύ σαν χαρακτήρας.

Impression now: κοίτα. Έχεις δει το μπλογκ μου. Ξέρεις πως νιώθω για αυτόν τον άνθρωπο. Ο Ανδρέας έχει θεματάρες. Έχει παγιδεύσει τον εαυτό του σε μια θέση στην οποία είναι και θύμα και θύτης και από την οποία δεν έχει τρόπο ή ιδιαίτερη θέληση να βγει. Κατά την διάρκεια του σόου πηγαίνει από την αδιαφορία για τους ανθρώπους που σκοτώνει, στην εμμονή με το να πιάσει τους πέντε και μόνο όταν τον συλλαμβάνουν και όλα τελειώνουν συνηδειτοποιεί πόσο μάταια ήταν όλα αυτά και πόσες ζωές έχει καταστρέψει συμπεριλαμβανομένης και της δικής του. Επίσης ο άνθρωπος είναι μούναρος 😔😔.

Favourite moment: το τηλεφώνημα στον Σπύρο στο φινάλε με στοιχειώνει τα βράδια.

Idea for a story: πέρα από το ο Σπύρος επισκέπτεται τον Ανδρέα στη φυλακή fic που βρίσκεται αυτή τη στιγμή στο wip hell μου έχει καρφωθεί στο μυαλό εκείνη η ατάκα που ο Παυρινός αποκαλεί τον Νίκο πρεζόνι και το τι μπορεί να υπονοεί για το Ανδρέας/Νίκος μπακστορι. Επίσης εκείνο το όνειρο που είχα δει ότι έχει κόρη και redemption arc, angst fic για την γενική κακομεταχείριση που τρώει από τον Παυρινό, το Ανδρέας/Νίκος καφενείο au το οποίο κάποιος πρέπει να γράψει σας εκλιπαρώ και το προαναφερόμενο ace attorney/παρά πέντε crossover στο οποίο εμφανίζεται ως μάρτυρας στην δίκη της Αγγέλας. Το πόσα από αυτά θα καταλήξω όντως να γράψω ποτέ είναι πολύ αμφιλεγόμενο τβχ αλλά το γεγονός είναι ότι μου τριβελίζουν συνέχεια το μυαλό.

Unpopular opinion: δεν ξέρω είμαστε στο παρά πέντε φάντομ, είμαστε δέκα άτομα όλα κι όλα κάθε άποψη μετράει για unpopular κσκσκσ. Αλλά απλά και μόνο για να πω κάτι. Νομίζω όντως προσπάθησε να αγαπήσει τη Ζάνα. Ο γάμος τους ήταν ότι πιο hand in unlovable hand και σφάζονταν όλη μέρα αλλά προσπάθησε να φτιάξει τη ζωή του στην αρχή τουλάχιστον, εξού και ο ευτυχισμένος χετεροσεξουαλ γάμος. Στο μυαλό μου ήταν από αυτά τα ζευγάρια που έχουν ημερομηνία λήξης και το ήξεραν και οι δύο. Μετά έπεσε στα βαθιά με τις δουλειές με τον Παυρινό και πήρανε επιτέλους διαζύγιο. Επίσης δεν νομίζω ότι με τον Νίκο τα έχουνε, έχουνε. Νομίζω έχουν μια ελαφρώς fucked up relationship όπου δεν επικοινωνούν τίποτα εβερ, απλά πηδιουνται περιστασιακά on and off και μετά απλά πηγαίνουν και τα φτιάχνουν με άλλους. Τουλάχιστον στην αρχή. Τώρα αν μετά το τέλος της σειράς βγουν ποτέ από την φυλακή θέλω να πιστεύω ότι θα μπορούσαν να φτιάξουν λίγο τη ζωή τους αλλά αν δεν βγουν ποτέ. Well. Πώς νιώθεις όταν συνηδειτοποιείς ότι αγαπούσες τον καλύτερο σου φίλο χρόνια τώρα αλλά δεν έκανες ποτέ τίποτα για αυτό επειδή απλά δεν τολμούσες να αλλάξεις τίποτα στην μοναδική σταθερή σχέση που σου είχε απομείνει στη ζωή σου και ταυτόχρονα ήσουν πολύ απασχολημένος να σκοτώνεις κόσμο; Πώς νιώθεις όταν συνηδειτοποιείς ότι τώρα μπορεί να είναι πια πολύ αργά; Γενικά head full many thoughts.

Favourite relationship: Νίκος/Ανδρέας δαγκωτό.

Favourite headcanon: ναιιι δεν νομίζω ότι αυτός ο άνθρωπος είχε καλά παιδικά χρόνια. Ή καλό πατέρα. Ο Παυρινός κυριολεκτικά του πετάει πράγματα και αυτός ο καημένος σκύβει να τα πιάσει 😔 babyboy έχεις τραύμα. Η μάνα του είναι νεκρή (ναι κυριολεκτικά αναφέρεται έτσι throwaway σε ένα επεισόδιο και δεν το έχω ξεχάσει ποτέ) και επιλέγω να πιστεύω ότι την σκότωσε ο πατέρας του. Μισεί τον πατέρα του και κατά βάθος μισεί και το γεγονός ότι μεγαλώνοντας έχει γίνει σχεδόν ακριβώς σαν αυτόν. Ξεκίνησε να καπνίζει στο γυμνάσιο. Επίσης δεν πιστεύω ότι τελείωσε ποτέ το λύκειο.

#ουαουυυ μισή ώρα γράφω αυτό το ασκ. μεσα στην επόμενη εβδομάδα μπορεί και να απαντήσω και τα υπόλοιπα.#ask #miles edgeworth #Ανδρέας Καλογήρου #ask game #ευχαριστώ για το ασκ 💖🥰 ευελπιστώ πως οι απαντήσεις μου είναι αρκετά coherent #ace attorney #στο παρά πέντε #maintagging this post for my own convenience because i need to be able to find every post i make ever. sorry.

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bropunzeling · 7 months

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can you pleaseee elaborate on brady’s thoughts/feelings during linger? he was such a great character!!

hi anon!!!!! yes i will talk SO MUCH about brady who is also one of my faves:

there's some meme on here that's like "sorry to this guy for carrying the weight and burdens of all the themes" and this time it was brady's turn! i knew pretty much off the bat that i wanted brady to be an alpha (an "opposite" to matthew with heavy air quotes) and really dig into the whole, brady COULD do what keith did (be a captain, have a family young, follow the Life Path, etc etc) but doesn't want to, while matthew unconsciously wants to do what keith did and can't.

part of what i find so fascinating about brady is he seems to have a really strong idea of what he wants (see: his rl contract negotiations; anyone who gets married as an infant has a Life Plan in my experience) and also resistant to like, outside influence if that makes sense? everything just kinda rolls off of him like water off a duck. and i thought that would be really fascinating in the context of him being an alpha and just not wanting to do what is expected of someone in that position in their pocket of society (even if said expectations are honestly a lot looser than matthew thinks they are, because he’s blinkered to hell by his own neuroses, and also starting out in a more traditional/macho environment than ottawa which obviously impacts your view of what's possible/socially correct)

the OTHER thing i knew right off the bat was brady was in love with quinn. pretty soon i also knew that i wanted them to get together mid fic, and i wanted it to be one of those simultaneously blindsiding but oh duh moments, and i wanted matthew to react poorly (because he is sixteen neuroses in hockey pads). uncovering how to make that happen was genuinely so fun! i write chronologically so whenever brady showed up before the scene where i was going to have them get together, there was clippy the paper clip in my head hissing mention quinn, MENTION QUINN so even if it wasn't explicit yet, you had the constant association. hopefully enough to be present in hindsight, but not TOO obvious.

what was really fun, and the least fleshed out, was all the Big Sibling conversations towards the final third. the thing about brady is he has such an enormous heart and cares so so deeply, but also, there's always a tension when you have two stubborn people at loggerheads, you know? how do you make someone listen to you when they don't want to listen to anyone? that was the head space i was trying to get to with him. he loves matthew, and he thinks matthew is being an idiot, and he definitely thinks matthew gets way too worked up about dynamics (which, he's not wrong, but also, he's not totally right either! he's an alpha, and society is structured differently for him, and he does have a bit of a blind spot about that), and ultimately he just wants to see his older brother be happy. so it was really rewarding to write these meaty moments where the two of them talk to each other. i love siblings!!!! i love the kind of relationship that is always there even when the other one is being an annoying little fuck!

anyway i loved writing brady, i loved writing siblings and fambly, it was SO fun, also he and quinn in this verse are like. embarrassing. sickening. brady loves big and he is not afraid to show it.

#ask meme #omega matthew #hopefully this is somewhat interesting lol!#also fingers in mouth anon i see you and im contemplating

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itz-bug · 9 months

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Saw blue beetle today !!!! And i am happy to say it was very good and fun :D definitely go see it if you can

Gonna talk about it lots under the cut! To be honest, this post is more for me to just record my own thoughts for myself, but you’re welcome to read if you’re looking for the movie opinions of a certified Blue Beetle Enthusiast, or if you’re desperate to feed on the Ted Kord crumbs the movie leaves for its viewers. (To be honest most of it is me talking about Ted sorry. hes my bbygirl)

- very minor spoiler warning -

First things first:

Jaime was so good!!!! His character was so sweet and earnest, and they aged him up to around 22 (he’s literally just graduated from college), which I think makes him a very unique superhero. He’s just returned from school as a first gen college student and feels like he’s finally in a position where he can provide for his family, only to realize he’s still totally unprepared for the real world.

Speaking of family, the Reyes family is the backbone of the film, and each of Jaime’s family members is given their time to shine. Another breath of fresh air for comic book movies! Not only does the hero have a family, but the family consists of fleshed-out characters who all bring different strengths to the group. I liked Milagro a lot specifically. Like Jaime, she’s also been aged up and is now probably 17-18. I thought she was written super well. She’s sarcastic and relaxed, and her relationship with Jaime is perfect sibling representation. Milagro is given a surprising amount of emotional moments, adding to her depth but also not taking away from any of Jaime’s development. Honestly, if you’re on the fence about going to see the movie, go see it just for the Reyes family dynamic. They’re seriously all great.

The other main supporting character is Jenny Kord, Ted Kord’s daughter. Jenny is smart and resilient, and I enjoyed her a lot, despite her bearing very little resemblance to Ted personality wise. I know why she exists: to push the plot and act as the link between the two blue beetles. She’s also Jaime’s love interest because of heteronormativity reasons. Still, I thought her character was done very well. Jenny is half brazilian and thankfully NOT Beatriz da Costa’s daughter. Her relationship with either of her parents isn’t explored much. Her (unnamed and presumably unimportant) mother died when she was young, and Ted disappeared off the face of the earth when she was only eight— I think. To be honest, the timeline confused me a little.

Anyways, Ted Kord is portrayed very interestingly in the movie. Not in a necessarily bad way, though. Ted makes zero physical appearances in the film outside of a single, vague painting of his likeness where he has a mustache and maybe a beard (wow!). That being said, his face is totally unremarkable and unrecognizable. Which is fine. I’d almost prefer them to keep him vague unless they give him a full-fledged appearance.

BUT, there is a scene where Jaime has to change clothes, and Jenny offers him some of Ted’s old clothing, and Jaime walks out in a bright blue windbreaker tracksuit. It’s totally 80s, totally silly, and totally Ted. The nod towards not only Ted’s outrage fashion sense but also his 80s dad vibe was very much appreciated.

There are lots of little moments in the film where Ted’s silliness seeps through. His lab is one example. Jaime describes Ted’s gadgets as “batman but if he had ADHD.” In the Bug, the computer has a female robotic voice that addresses him as “Teddy,” which Jaime’s uncle compliments as sexy. Ohhh the Bug. Easily one of my favorite parts of the film. It’s beautiful. It looks just like it’s comic book counterpart, with the little trapeze rope swing and everything. It also has a “beast mode,” where, when triggered, the Bug plays 80s rock and starts destroying everything around it. It’s also capable of poison gas farts. Perfect. Ted’s personality shines through everything he’s left behind, giving me hope for whatever might be in store for his character on the big screen.

The only reservations I have about Ted’s transition to film would he his relationships. His sister, Victoria, functions fine as a villain but isn’t anything special. She’s a capitalist. She’s evil. Like Jenny, lacks similarity to Ted himself. As for Ted’s dead wife (sad but also it’s hard to care), Jenny describes her mother as the one who “showed Ted the world was worth protecting,” which doesn’t sit quite right with me. For one, it seems weird to make a dead, non-comic-canon character so relevant to Ted’s superhero origin, and also, I think Ted deserves a little more credit than that. I’d like to think he’s always been a good guy, plain and simple. It also means Ted couldn’t have been a superhero for very long, which I think detracts from his coolness. I think Jenny even said Ted became blue beetle when she was a young girl, so it sounds like he couldn’t have been a hero for more than like 10 years? It just seems like a strange and unnecessary change to make. Then again, I realize most of the people watching the movie care very little about the second blue beetle, so I guess I can’t complain too much while knowing the intended audience.

That’s not gonna stop me from talking about boostle though!!!!! Unfortunately, Booster Gold is not so much as even hinted at in the movie, which I kind of get but still mostly hate. It just feels wrong to have a movie where Ted Kord’s career is one of the driving plot points and Booster is nowhere to be found. They are a package deal, DC!! I wasn’t even really expecting a verbal mention of him. Literally just a gold star somewhere in the lab, or a pair of yellow visors, or a blue and gold poster, or SOMETHING.

The life of a boostle fan is one of disappointment.

Still, the optimist in me is saying to hold onto hope. There’s a Booster Gold series in the works, so maybe DC is saving up for a totally reinvented blue and gold origin, or there’s some connection between the two that has yet to be discovered. Hopefully. Surely DC wouldn’t be stupid enough to overlook one of its most iconic duos? haha?

Okay. This post has run a lot longer than I thought it would. Ultimately, Blue Beetle is a very good movie that does the characters of Ted Kord and Jaime Reyes justice. It’s fun and silly but also heartfelt. Even though there’s a few minor things I’m hung up on (because I’m insane), Blue Beetle did a lot of things right, and I feel like this movie has been one of the best comic book adaptations yet. Here’s to hoping we see a live action Ted one day, and he doesn’t totally suck ass.

#this is superrrr long like probably one of the longest things ive ever posted #*shaking* i just love ted kord so much #also adhd ted confirmed! sort of? its good enough #bug talks

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birlwrites · 10 months

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Do you have any thoughts on Remus/Regulus? Personally, I find it even more baffling and non-sensical than Jegulus in a Hogwarts context but it holds more promise to me when they’re grown up.

i like remus/regulus! i do think that in many of the portrayals i've seen, it's cozy right from the beginning, so i'd love to see a take where they have to really earn that coziness - i don't mean in terms of the world of the story, i mean in terms of their own dynamic and relationship. but that also plays into fanon remus and the more of these asks i get the more i realize that i simply have severe quibbles with a lot of fanon characterization (and canon but we/i talk about that all the time afjslghksjdf) which strongly influence how i feel about the ships i see with those characterizations

so my answer, as usual, is 'i'm down as long as it's done well'

it's not so much that i find jegulus nonsensical as it is that i'm tired of seeing it everywhere and it's been a while since i last saw a novel take on the ship. i understand exactly why it's so popular - it's the same reason drarry is popular, WITH bonus sirius, and sirius is of course a huge fan favorite esp in the marauders corner of the fandom (with good reason, i love him afjskghksjdf), so the prospect of a gryffindor-vs-slytherin light-vs-dark rivalry, with bonus sibling/best friend angst involving a popular character, AND the chance to save a character (or multiple characters) who had a tragic ending in canon, AND the fact that they're two (male) not-super-fleshed-out characters who can be characterized however suits the story without accusations of them being ooc........ of course it's popular, even if it doesn't hold appeal for me atm

it's honestly pretty rare for me to be truly baffled by a ship, and if i am, it's generally due to me not liking a character and thus not understanding the appeal of shipping them with someone else - but fic characterization can be so flexible that you can basically make anyone likable if you spin it right, and sometimes liking them isn't the point, so like, transformative fanworks are a huge sandbox afjlsghskjdlfk

#should i make an inbox tag #i think in a lot of fanon characterization the character themself is less important than the role they occupy #and those roles get flattened very easily into one dimension

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auralina33 · 10 months

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moondrop moony the moon guy and ukmmmmmmm fucking nightmarionne

MOONDROP

First impression: Would you believe me if I told you I originally really didn't care about this guy at all. I thought the design was sort of neat but for some reason my brain was just like "This guy's only barely gonna be a character. Common random enemy." or something like that.

Impression now: Then the game came out and the demons consumed me. This guy climbed into my hyperfixation list and comfort character list. Moondrop is an important character in FNAF SB to Me... they give me fucked up and different vibes compared to the others, like whatever's wrong with them is slightly to the left from whatever's wrong with everyone else.

Favorite moment: As much as I complain about it, Moondrop's bit of the entire Parts and Service sequence activates the hyperfixation so hard for me. WHEN have you ever seen a FNAF character just attack and kidnap someone? On-screen? In the main game? In a cutscene? And the fact that NO other character ever attacks Glamrock Freddy? (There's Vanny ig but she only ever does so indirectly). DUDE. That scene's such a goldmine and I'm so mad Moon's involvement on it was just forgotten about by the end.

Idea for a story: So fucking many of them. I kind of want to write something about Luna in the Nowhere to Run (Ruin DLC) AU because that's getting me insane lately. But I also have been considering... I've wanted to write a symbolic conversation with Luna himself in Hacked!Luna times since forever. I also want to write Luna and Melody talking about being aroace and generally having a sibling bonding moment. And that's just the ideas specific to my solo Memento Mori based AUs. On a NOT Luna-specific note, I have ideas for Moondrops from different AUs too.

Unpopular opinion: I'm Moondrop's biggest apologist and their biggest defender. They're NOT fucked up and murderous by nature they don't WANT to be doing this!! CANON LAY YOUR HANDS OFF THE HARMFUL "EVIL SPLIT PERSONALITY" STEREOTYPES OR DIE BY MY BLADE.

Favorite relationship: Sunnydrop and Moondrop as a positive, caring dynamic is my absolute favorite thing, at this point it's my headcanon they're specifically made to support each other. Also there's so much untapped potential on Moon with Vanny and I want people to explore that so badly.

Favorite headcanon: Aroace Moondrop for the win. Asides from that, okay, let me think of something that's an important headcanon to me without being 100% Luna specific- When people make Moon kind of awkward and/or lonely without painting them badly for it an angel gains its wings. Also I'm a huge fan of Moondrops who were more on the softer side personality-wise before they were hacked.

NIGHTMARIONNE

First impression: So, you need to know two things... 1. I had a Nightmarionne lover arc too 2. I was a FNAF4 girlie for a while and LOVED the Nightmares, but was also a Toy enjoyer and therefore was massively miffed there were no Nightmare Toys. I tried to make them up myself. I'm telling you all this because the day we got the first teaser hinting at a Nightmare version of the Puppet I was so fucking excited I looked at that image so many times.

Impression now: NIGHTMARIONNE MY POOR UNDERRATED FAVE. I'm not as insane about him as I used to be anymore but I still LOVE Nightmarionne and yes I understand he doesn't get much in terms of lore but I want people to utilize him in AUs more. The day Scott Cawthon confirmed Nightmarionne isn't canon was a tragedy to me.

Favorite moment: Honestly, just the entire experience of watching FNAF4 Halloween Edition for the first time and seeing this guy in the flesh. IT WAS SO COOL. The incredibly dark renders that most of his body blended into, the constant staring at the camera with glowing white eyes, the footsteps being replaced by the My Grandfather's Clock music box, which in the old games meant you were safe from the Puppet but here means it's getting closer... GOD. I don't like his post FNAF4 appearances nearly as much, even if I don't think they're bad.

Idea for a story: I've never considered writing fanfic of this dude... Mainly because my fanfic arc started when the FNAF4 hyperfixation left. It's a good idea though I do need to write him someday.

Unpopular opinion: Nightmarionne getting to be a proper antagonist instead of just a symbolic thing or a mindless monster makes me so happy but that goes for the Nightmares in general to be honest. Ok, here's a Nightmarionne-specific one, the tentacles and noodley limbs are super meh to me, I wanted to like them, but I'd honestly much rather would have had him moving around like a creepy gigantic rickety wind-up toy. His voice is also meh to me, I don't like it being so deep and monstrous, I would have loved it if it'd been a soft, calm, almost soothing sort of creepy.

Favorite relationship: Nightmarionne and Nightmare have a lot of potential to me, Nightmare Fredbear is a good addition too. Also in any AU where the Nightmares are physical animatronics I REQUIRE Nightmarionne's dynamic with William to be explored. Nightmarionne and the Puppet can be a hit... sometimes... I do love me some wicked mirrors.

Favorite headcanon: Nightmarionne just has daddy issues to me at this point because of my old AU but that makes me sound insane. Ok, here's a fun one, Nightmarionne's sense of balance is ASS with how thin and tall he is. A sufficiently angry 12 year old kicking the back of his leg could knock him straight to the ground.

#asks #aura answers your inquiries #this one is probably the one that makes me sound craziest thanks Nightmarionne

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bigsnzstanacct · 1 year

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I would love to hear more about the Slab and Tiny characters or the dad sneeze couple!

Wellllllll first off, randomly I stumbled across the tweet that inspired Dad Sneeze Dads (they gotta eventually become dads, right? I am sort of thinking they foster and eventually adopt older siblings, like maybe 4 and 8 when they come into each others lives, and also maybe one of them was in foster care and/or adopted at some point? But the non-horny story points are admittedly fuzzy).

Anyway, I saw someone tweet this:

and that has lived rent free in my head ever since until it eventually manifested as the Dad Sneezes (eventual) Dads. In the little drabble I wrote about them (“Nap”) I think I called them Paul and Marcus but in honor of this random poster who inspired this perhaps I will call them Paul and James. Definitely sticking with the idea that Paul has these horrible tormenting buildups and false starts that culminate into a sneeze well-worth all the preceding drama (and the worse allergies of the two) while James has these sudden eruption sneezes that are so vocal and harsh and almost yelled (like HEYYYY-SSHHHHAAAWW!!) and while he’s generally somewhat sneezy/sensitive nose, besides a few triggers and getting generally sneezier when he pollen count is high, he doesn’t have allergies like Paul’s that can have him sneezing in fits on and off until he gets away from whatever’s making him sneeze. He does however catch at least one or two horrendously sneezy colds a year, that feel like the tickle doesn’t leave his nose for three to four days straight, he feels like he’s on the verge of a sneeze the whole time but only occasionally does it sharpen to a red-hot point and instantly catapults two to five sneezes in a row from him (and his rare cold sneeze fits get louder and stronger and harsher with each sneeze, like he’s intentionally leaning into it to blast the sneeze out.) Haven’t settled on how they look yet but I imagine both are pretty big and stocky and hairy, James probably Black and more of a classic bear type with more fat all over and Paul somewhat more of an “otter” type. But all that is subject to change, just kind of what I’m loosely envisioning now.

I gotta think about more options for Tiny and Slab, I really do like their dynamic but I kind of haven’t fleshed out their world/setting yet so it’s tough to figure out their contexts. I do find the idea of them covering for each other’s allergies/sneezes VERY hot. Like Slab is having a bad allergy day and he’s barely holding it together and everywhere they go all day Tiny goes in first and does a sweep for anything that will set him off. Or like Tiny signals to Slab across the room he’s having nose troubles, maybe at some big fancy fundraiser (what if they throw fancy fundraisers?? Honestly what if Jamie and Paul do too??) and Slab just smoothly takes Tiny’s place in whatever conversation he was having while Tiny disappears to deal with his itchy nose that was ready to blow the whole party down… yeah. Something about the transfer of responsibility that is both eroticized in a d/s-ish way AND performed in a simple emotional caring way really gets to me. I may have exaggerated their d/s dynamic, or at least how common it is, a bit. But it’s definitely a game they play, and sometimes even on purpose on days when they know one or both of them in going to have an itchy, sneezy day. Also, haven’t decided what makes Tiny sneeze most often but slab DEFINITELY has pet allergies. The tinier and cuter the dog/cat/whatever, the more allergic Slab is to it, just because I loooooooove the idea of a huge man absolutely reduced to an itchy watery sneezy mess by the tiniest lil creature. Slab’s also the more sensitive to scents/perfumes of the too, while as I mentioned Tiny is pretty sensitive to spices, including pepper. Maybe he’s also one who sneezes when he eats spicy food (which, of course, he loves to eat).

#Slab and Tiny #Dad Sneeze dads #asks #scenarios

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volfoss · 6 months

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⚱️<- for volfoss character ask 👍

YIPPEE ok i KNOW the girl u will like so so much <3

tossing veycer there for scale and also because hes important to their fucked up sibling dynamic. but i think sheala would make u go insane analyzing.

sheala has a LOT of depth and theres a lot of politics involved (one day i think i will have to make a heres volfoss' politics in a silly slideshow or something bc there is so much.) so i will do my best to explain why i think you would like her :)

first off. she is very good at hiding her tragedy and well um. theres not a better example of this than on the ikuaipe route (shes part of the ikuaipe army, which is like one of the 3 major countries in volfoss). to simplify it as much as i can, there is a war going on bc asdenia (one of the other big 3 countries) refuses to export rare metals to ikuaipe, who use them to make drugs. there is no reason explained for WHY they stopped this but thats all u really need to know about the war bc its complicated and they get into a lot of stuff w the drugs (specifically on like. how withdrawal is handled and how restricting supply from people isn't immediately going to fix their issues etc, its handled very well) in detail in game but. sheala's older brother is veycer who is the head of the army (he fucking sucks. i hope he dies soooo bad but he is also written with depth and like. kind of even tho he DOES some over the top evil stuff [like well. the incident im about to get into lol], he still is given enough character that he's fleshed out properly. all of the "villains" are but thats besides the point.) plays a very big part in well. why sheala would make you go make so many character studies on her.

anyways dear god. politics explained and hatred for veycer being put in there in advance. sheala goes on a mission (where shes a commander, so has a decent amount of responsibility there, and more specifically is leading the rear of the troops, veycer is leading the front) and gets ambushed pretty bad. to the point that when shalvas (who you would also love. but it would take me like 3x as long to get into his diseases. i promise youd love him tho, hes the silly protagonist) arrives, theres just one soldier left of her unit bc the rest of them were killed, and that soldier dies shortly after. sheala is facing one of the four heroes (who basically are some of the strongest characters in the world, and are sworn to remain neutral (they are not by the point of the war, so one of them is fighting on the side of asdenia. its a lot of politics im so sorry) and a BIG amount of very tough enemies on her own when shalvas arrives. shes dealing with a ton of guilt about the entire team she was leading dying (which honestly like. she couldnt do much about bc of how strong the guy thats part of the 4 heroes is) and is completely determined to stay, even if it costs her her life. she's someone thats very loyal and very stubborn and this is not so great for her. thankfully, shalvas is able to persuade her by basically saying hey. if you died it would cause more trouble for veycer than if you lived. thats the ONLY way she would go back despite being in pretty bad shape and being completely willing to let her life go there.

on the way back, shalvas clearly is having the very awkward moment of ok. she is clearly upset and i do not know how to make it better (he is like. very very blatantly written as autism to me, so he communicates in a way thats very awkward a lot of the time, or just is silent. which is honestly very cool of him), so after Sheala apologizes for everything to him, he tells her that she can always fight the hero again (because yk. she didnt die lol) and then IMMEDIATELY denies it when she asks if hes comforting him. their dynamic is really nice because its just like two weird as fuck guys trying to be friends.

which um. well you see. veycer sucks so bad. and he is incredibly mad at how badly sheala fucked up with letting her troop get killed (guy that loves to get so mad soooo much of the time for no good reason other than its fun for him). and hes having a little moment of its fun to do drastic punishment and despite another army officer (who youll def see a lot if you play, his name is auveon. hes friends w sheala) begging him to not do it, he orders sheala's execution. (and when i tell you i felt like i was going to puke reading this for the first time, i do mean it. this is the 2nd route ive done, so id already seen a lot of her and liked her a lot, and ofc the more ive interacted w her in this (and the last route) ive cared a lot more about her. so it was like oh ok. we are suffering). veycer basically is just like well um. she fucked up BAD and she cant get any leniency for that. yeah even if she IS my sister, people would see me as a weak commander if i gave her a lesser punishment so um lol. all of the soldiers are pleading with him to not do it and auveon asks if sheala wants to plead her case and um. well she says "I will follow Your Excellency’s orders. I am prepared to give up this life at any time if I am told to die." like. what is your DEAL.

she is fine eventually tho, just got demoted and veycer had the fucking nerve to be like omg i loveee my family thank you shalvas for protecting her. which is then like ok. did she know he wasnt really going to do it. or is he just lying to shalvas for fun. its insane to me they have such a fucking weird dynamic bc sheala worries about veycer a lot and then veycer is like um. ok i kill you with rocks and hammers. but i promise i love you.

ANYWAYS. some of the other things i really like about sheala. she has a quick temper and will NOT hesitate to call someone out on BS (this gets her in trouble a lot but shes very capable. when i fought her in the first route it was the worst fight of the game bc she is THAT strong) but she is also very kind as a person. she and turi-marrya (shes a water maiden but is also genuinely so fucking cool and i could go insane over her. easily.) in both routes ive played, despite being on opposing sides are very kind to each other and very polite (both of them having a lot of respect for the other, given some events in the game.) i think just like the way that she is facing a lot of tragedy (mainly due to VEYCER.) and yet is still brave enough to keep going but also does have a lot of moments where the grief does hit her and she is clearly struggling to deal with it. i think youd love her.

#asks #♟#ask to tag #<- due to the um. well the everything but mainly the war talk #like. some of this might not have as MUCH weight bc u dont know a ton abt shalvas (my fault bc whenever i start thinking abt him i blow up #and thus cannot post insanely long metas abt him) but i hope it still is like. accurate. she reminds me a lot of law and robin #sorry this is like. also so long. the politics. and also i care sheala a lot. and shes very well written and ik my explanation is NOT doing #her justice. which is why u should play volfoss ^-^#sorry so much of this was i hate veycer soooo fucking bad i hope he dies but like. its kind of important bc the fucked up horrible sibling #dynamic is very fun. like sheala while kidnapped is like man i worry abt veycer :( and veycer is just like well ^-^ shes not going to tell #them anything so im not going to rush to find her. but i think its silly. sorry for how long this is

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emperorbubblegum · 11 months

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Bubblegum's Backlog, Vol. 15: Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Alrighty, 2 down, 1 to go on "the best jrpg triology". I didn't really see why people called it that when I played the first one, even though I like it more, but the way this game connects to its predecessor gives me a hint as to why people like these games so much. I think this is the first time I've done one of these on a sequel to a game also on my list, so go me.

First thing I have to say about this game is that the gameay felt so much more fleshed out compared to the first, or at least, the learning curve wasn't as steep. Granted that's probably because I played XC1 first, but still. I'm glad they had a normal leveling system as opposed to the tomfuckery that was in 1. Instead of grinding for hours because a three level difference would double a boss's damage, I was consistently underlevel for every major story fight, and was able to do so just because I was able to get a good hold on the combat mechanics, rather than any items or buffs.

The artstyle change was interesting. I can't tell if I prefer it, but I'm not against it either. The character designs are cool enough to make up for any hesitation. In pacticular I'd like to call out Brighid for having one of the coolest designs I've seen in a game. I believe I've mentioned before how I think chain-whip swords are some of the coolest weaponry in fiction, so combining that with the blue flame aesthetic and the whole closed eyes while fighting thing just makes me gush. It's super simple but nevertheless I love it.

I liked how the character dynamics actually felt like a group of people who knew each other. They didn't all act like best friends or anything, but most characters in RPGs tend to only have connections between one or two others. Here it felt like everyone had defined bonds between everyone else. Obviously you've got Nia and Rex, who are super tropey but still enjoyable, but also others like Zeke and Mórag felt like they actually liked talking to one another, and even though her driver was just kind of there, Poppi's bond with Mythra was super sweet to me.

Honestly I don't think I really disliked any of the main cast. Rex wasn't as relatable to me as Shulk, but he still struck a chord. Watching this kid just break down when faced with the chance he might be making a mistake was really pathetic - not in the insulting way, though, I just mean I felt super bad for him. Zeke was always fun to have around. Mórag was just as cool as her blade, except her's came more from personality than design.

The villains were also much more memorable than the ones in XC1. I don't really see the fallen hero trope too much, but I still think it might be one of my favorites. Even though I haven't played Torna (yet) they still showed enough light on Jin's backstory for me to sympathize with him, but I plan to talk more about that when I cover Torna. Akhos was also real fun to watch, and he even had one of the more heartfelt moments to me. Sibling-like relationships are something that hit close to home for me, so seeing how he treated Patroks was very emotional for me, even if it was only really shown in one scene.

I really enjoyed this game. So far this series hasn't missed exactly. It's gonna be a while before I play 3, especially since I don't have it, but I can already tell I'm gonna have fun.

#bubblegum's backlog #video games #xenoblade #xenoblade chronicles 2

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quiisquiliae · 2 years

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01. What does your character’s name mean? Did you pick it for the symbolism, or did you just like the way it sounded? (for all the OCs!)

Meme || Accepting!

Ashe- I really like the name and I was also on a League of Legends kick at the time I started DAI. Ashe (from LoL) was my main and I'm just coincidentally a massive sucker for playing archers. It's just stuck at this point.

Alaric- I thought it would be fun to have the Trevelyan siblings all have names that start with A after Ashe was named. Alaric is a unique name and was the name chosen for a foal at the stable where my mom boards her horse which is how it came to mind.

Marian- I was too lazy to change her default name and it suits her imo.

Matty/Mattieu- Wanted something easy and common, Matty just seemed like it fit. His full first name, Mattieu, I wanted to go with something a little more unique and pretentious sophisticated just because as I started fleshing out his family dynamics more, it felt like something his parents would have wanted.

Nick- I really like Nikolai, and as he's Russian, he would want some common Russian names to rotate through. Bonus round for Nick: his original, pre vampire name was Voron, the Russian word for crow. This was chosen due to his jet black hair reminding his parents (and me) of the bird.

Taliesin- Honestly, I just really liked the name.

Talon- Remember when I said with Ashe, I was on a League of Legends kick? Well Talon's namesake is a rogue type character from LoL and I thought it would be a badass name for an assassin. It stuck. Bonus round, his birth name is Arthur, surname Messer in modern AU. When I originally created him, he was a runaway Trevelyan. I wanted his given name to be unique and pretentious, so I chose Æthbert (sp???? it's been forever ok) which I found from a book and is an old English name. It can translate to either Arthur or Albert and quite frankly, Arthur imo is the better name of the two. It stuck. Messer is because when I was creating his modern AU background and decided he needed a surname, I was on a CSI NY kick and my favorite character was Danny Messer. Ta-da, it stuck.

#{headcanons and meta: ashe}#{headcanons and meta: alaric}#{headcanons and meta: matty}#{headcanons and meta: hawke}#{headcanons and meta: nick}#{headcanons and meta: taliesin}#{headcanons and meta: talon}

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duchezss · 2 years

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Today I’m gonna talk a little bit about relationships and how Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous hits the nail on the head. Now when you think about relationships I know most people immediately think of romance, but today I’m mostly going to be talking about platonic because that's what the show is very good at.

Platonic relationships, and I’m talking actual good ones, are extremely hard to come by in any media. Whether it’s books, tv shows, movies, regardless if they’re made for kids or adults. A lot of the time they lack depth and/or just become romantic especially between boy-girl relationships and I think that shouldn’t always be the case. As a raging lesbian I have a bunch of guy friends and I see them as brothers, but even for the straights it shouldn’t always be the “oh guy and girl are good friends ok they’re dating blah blah”. Friendships are very valuable and media should really showcase that more. This is what originally attracted me to this show. It’s incredibly difficult to have such a big cast in general, but it’s even harder when all of them are actively great friends with each other and work like a family. So here’s some numbers. In a group of 6 there are 15 different pairs of two, that’s a lot. That’s a crazy amount and it’s even more daunting for the writers because each one of those relationships is gonna be different and trying to flesh all of them out will take time. But this show spares no explanation when it comes to this. Out of the 15 different duos the show has actively explored 14 of them. I can’t emphasize how incredible that is. In just 3 seasons, 26 episodes, 14 have been explored, you could argue 15 but the last pair isn’t quite there and I’ll explain why below.

So here’s my list, for my convenience I shortened all of the names and I’ll put a key below just in case:

Darius - D

Kenji - K

Ben - Be

Brooklynn - Br

Yazmina - Y

Sammy - S

Alrighty now comes the pairs, I’m gonna write a little on each and explain how I think their dynamic is and how well they’re written. Also I have a small phrase to describe all of their relationships and I’ll be adding that as well.

D & K - Darius and Kenji have gotta be one of my favorite pairs in the show. They are arguably the most fleshed out duo of them all because they’ve had a lot of screen time together since the beginning. My phrase to describe them would be “sibling rivalry”. They have experienced a lot together and both of them have grown so much. I mean they started off hating each other and all they did was butt heads, but as time went on you could tell they truly do care for each other. I think they both see each other as brothers and for Kenji, Darius is a crutch to lean on. I really hope they make up after what happened at the end of S3. I want it to feel natural, but I trust the writers.

D & Be - Darius and Ben were honestly a friendship I expected from the beginning, which is why I was surprised that most of their development happened in S3. They just have this unspoken understanding of each other and it’s clear they care for one another even if it’s in unique ways. My phrase to describe them would be “lifelong friends”. To me these two are the ones I think will always stay friends no matter what happens in life. Sometimes things can be tense between them, but Darius has always been understanding of Ben after his fall. Darius blamed himself so much, but Ben never did. I was so happy and satisfied that the first “I love you” of this show was not only platonic, but between these two. I’m curious to see how their friendship will grow.

D & Br - I really thought Brooklynn and Darius were gonna fight a lot more than they did. Both of them have very strong personalities, but I actually ended up liking their dynamic so it was a nice surprise. My phrase to describe them would be “comforting”. Not as in comforting to the audience, but as they comfort each other when times are hard. They hug each other a lot and regardless if this is romantic or not, it’s sweet. Their relationship is very consistent throughout the series and I like it, this seems to one of the more stable friendships so they don’t worry me as much as the others

D & Y - Yaz always has interesting relationships with people because she was very closed off when the show first started, Darius is no exception. To me there’s felt very natural and the phrase I would use to describe them is “older-younger siblings”. Darius never pushed Yaz the way Sammy did, which isn’t a bad thing btw, he just doesn’t approach friends like that. So instead they went very slow, but honestly I like it. I like how the show shows that some friends form fast and some take a little longer. Yaz is very patient with Darius and she really lets him act like a kid. A lot of the time it’s just him rambling and her listening, I really enjoy this friendship and I like how simple and yet calm it is.

D & S - The arguments Darius’ and Sammy had were something I didn’t expect. I really thought the two of them would get alone, but I like how we as the audience can see the battle of mortality. Doing what’s right vs what’s good. That doesn’t mean they don’t get along though, Sammy is a real sweetheart and has always been kind to Darius. My phrase for them is “butt heads but still get along”. They know how to work together and they know how to calm each other down. This is because they’ve been in several serious situations with one another.

K & Be - These two have always been an interesting pair. They started off hating each other, but after Ben’s fall it was clear that Kenji cared very deeply for him. Their reunion was so sweet. Phrase for them is “caring but pretending not to”. Romance aside they have such a unique bond and I really hope we get to see more of it. They have been very distant with each other and I think it’s an interesting showcase to what happens when both characters are closed off. They get defensive quickly and it’s evident that they have some unresolved problem that needs to be addressed.

K & Br - When I first watched this show, at first I couldn’t get a read on what they were going for here, but it came through later on. My phrase for them is “brother and sister”. They are both very understanding of one another, and they keep each other grounded. They have such a lovely platonic relationship, and I admire how much they care for each other. Not to mention both of them know how to help lead, and I hope we get to see more of that in later seasons.

K & Y - Kenji and Yaz are polar opposites of each other, and that’s why their friendship is so interesting. They balance each other out, and they literally dedicated a whole episode to showcasing this. Kenji taught Yaz how to relax, and she taught him how to be more serious when it mattered. But within this they both also confide in one another a little more. So therefore my phrase for them is “a shoulder to lean on”. A personally love their friendship and I love how they can understand each other without saying anything. They like to sprinkle in this duo a lot and I’m here for it.

K & S - These two were practically destined to get along because both of them have such a carefree attitude. But within their cheerful front there seems to be a deeper layer. My phrase for them is “comedians with a twist”. They clearly get along, and I love to see them on screen together. Kenji was the only one to never bash Sammy during S1, and was even the one that helped Brooklynn forgive Sammy. It’s clear they both care a lot for each other, and I’m curious to see their future interactions.

Be & Br - Remember how I mentioned that I felt there was one duo that wasn’t quite there. Well this is it. We know how both characters act by themselves, but they’ve never held a conversation on their own and we’ve never really seen them interact outside of a group setting. I would describe them as “not explored enough”. I really hope they do get explored though because I think this could be a fun duo.

Be & Y - This duo is more on the side of underdeveloped, but not quite like Ben and Brooklynn. See these two have had moments together, but it’s few and far between. One thing that does stand out though is that Yaz clearly listens to Ben’s advice. Usually when he suggested that the group are not gonna be friends once they make it off the island. My phrase for them is“sorta tense but valued”. Yaz values Ben’s words, and he does so with her as well. But other than these small moments we don’t know much, probably due to the fact that Ben was gone for most of S2, which is where a lot of development happened.

Be & S - I really thought Ben would be the last one to mess around and pull jokes on Sammy, but here we are and I love it. I feel like most of the campers were really gentle with Sammy, but wasn’t afraid of a little harmless fun. Sammy was always first to hug Ben and I just think their friendship is super sweet. My phrase for them is “playful siblings”. Sammy has always had a soft side for Ben, and I wonder if it’s cause he remind her of one of her siblings. Regardless of why they get along, I want to see more of them soon.

Br & Y - Their friendship at the start was bumpy to say the least, and frankly I liked that. Not all of them were going to be friends from the get go and it was nice to see them have to awkwardly become friends. Especially after both of them were at each others throats in S1, and to me that’s why their friendship was that much sweeter when it happened. My phrase for them is“competitive friendship”. They don’t really butt heads anymore, but I doubt they’d pass up the opportunity to try and show each other up for fun.

Br & S - Originally these two got along fine, but they had to start over after S1. It was interesting to see them earn each’s trust back, and now I think it’s clear that they have each’s back. My phrase for them is “tense to comforting friends”. Sammy approached Brooklynn first for their little “mission” in S3 and I think that’s very telling of how far their friendship has come. They both seem very approachable for one another. I think it’s a cool how their rivalry quickly became a friendship.

Y & S - My phrase for them is “literally gfs”. Honestly that’s all I have to write because it’s so obvious, but alas I will elaborate, cause I have a habit of doing so. Sammy seems to be Yaz’s first good friend, and she clearly helped her “get out of her shell”. Yaz was the first to defend Sammy, and even in the aftermath, they eventually get close again. The long run? Yeah that entire episode was dedicated to them, no more explanation needed. They mean the world to each other and I really hope they’ll be canon one day, wishful thinking I know, but let me.

#jurassic world #jurassic park #jurassic world camp cretaceous #camp cretaceous #jwcc #i started writing this 4 months ago #and then I forgot about it #but I decided I should finish it before character interactions shift again in s4

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nonbinarykai · 3 years

Text

Ok since two people asked

Why Lloyd is my least favorite ninja and how I rewrite him

Notes:// you know the rodeo by now, long post so it’s going to be under a read more, and I’m not gonna tag this with Lloyd because of the criticisms I have against his character, if you don’t want to hear Lloyd be critiqued then don’t reas the post

Why I don’t like Lloyd

Maybe it’s because I’m a Kai kinnie or maybe it’s because I have a bias agaisnt the younger sibling but Lloyd has never really been a favorite of mine

He was enjoyable in s1 but after that he kinda lost all personality for me and I stopped enjoying him

I think this is mostly for two reasons:

1. His screen time

2. His “character arcs”

I’ll go ahead and knock out his screentime here because it pretty much speaks for himself

Lloyd takes up so much screentime in the show that it’s actually jarring, he’s the character with the most seasons, having s1-2, s4, s8-11, and finally s14 ((the island special)). Which I think makes lloyds writing flaws all the more noticable

A big reason, albeit a bit of a petty one, for why I don’t like him is because he constant hyjacks other characters plots and makes them about him, this happened with Kai in both s4 and s11

Even if he’s not the main focus of a season, he always has a side plot focusing on him like in s3 and s12

The writers need to include Lloyd in other seasons is making it harder for the other main characters to actually have enough screentime to grow and develop on there own

And as a side effect of this, Lloyd gets to become the most important character in every season he is, taking roles from other characters who needed them

My best example is Cole being leader, he was set up and established as leader in the pilots and s1, and he did pretty good in it! Cole being a leader is a interesting concept that I would have loved to see been developed

But after Lloyd grew up they threw that plot point into the trash so they could have the mystical green ninja be leader even though throughout s1-7 he hardly actually talks to the main cast and him being leader doesn’t add any interesting dynamic like cole and kais rivalry despite Kai being a sort of right hand man to Coles leadership.

And in s1-s7 especially everything literally revolves around Lloyd to the point where his existence is more important than everyone else’s, and everyone’s motivations are to protect him.

Again I understand he is important, he’s the green ninja, but you have to let your other characters grow and develop, Lloyd is not the only main character in your show

Like for fuck sakes I don’t need 3 arcs about Lloyd and his dad, can I finally have another Kai season

Lloyds character arcs honestly kinda suck

Im going to be honest with you

Lloyds kinda an ass

The reason I like jay more then Lloyd even though jay has been way more mean spirited then Lloyd throughout the entire series is because you can atleast make the argument that jay doesn’t know when his jokes can hurt. And the show doesn’t portray jay as in the right, he gets what he deserves for some of the meanier things he says.

The same can’t be said about Lloyd

Lloyd says things to the other ninja that is honestly so mean spirited it’s jarring to hear it from him

Best example being when Lloyd told Kai to get over his shit when Kai was grieving in s4

But what makes it so frustrating is that the show always portrays Lloyd like he’s in the right which is why a lot of his character arcs feel flat or uninteresting

The only time this doesn’t apply is in s2 and in s3, in s2 the show paints Lloyd as being unfair to Misako when he RIGHTFULLY gets mad at her for abandoning him, I’ll get back to this later

The second time in s3 is when he’s traveling with Garmadon and having to be taught to balance his powers, which is actually one part of s3 I really liked, it was nice to see these two bond and have Garmadon teach Lloyd something that wu would other wise not teach him. And it’s a real shame the season cut it short AGAIN

The biggest example of the show making Lloyd seem in the right no matter what is in s4, Lloyds whole arc there was to learn how to view things from a different perspective and appreciate the things others have done for him. And this is would work if the show decided to do the same.

Again back to that scene with Lloyd and Kai in s4, the show treats Lloyd as if he’s in the right and it’s never addressed after this. Even though this is supposed to be the beginning of lloyds arc where he’s supposed to learn to view things from a different perspective

This scene would have worked if

1. The show didn’t paint him in the right for this, either by having Lloyd apologize or having the show acknowledged how it might have hurt Kai

2. If the plot Lloyd has remained a side plot instead of taking up the entire focus

Seriously, s4 could have been the ONE season where you can have a Lloyd side plot thats not forced and yet they fucked it up and made it the entire focus of the season thanks a lot.

To quote what I said in my Nya anayalsis awhile back

“I’m not upset that he has a flaw, just that it’s not recognized as one”

Lloyd would work way better as a character if the show just let him have consequences for his actions

Ever since he grew up and got the green ninja role he’s been treated like he can’t do no wrong which is clearly not true

But since we’re already on this topic

Hurting Lloyd doesn’t make him a good character

I feel like Tommy ((and sometimes the fandom)) really misunderstand what the use of suffering for in a story

There atleast 3 reasons writers make there characters suffer

1. To undergo a arc and realize where they have been wrong or to give a character a lot more depth to expand upon

2. If the story is a fallen hero one and the character suffers because of his Huberius

3. If the story is a tragedy

Ninjago is neither a fallen hero story or a tragedy and his pain doesn’t develop him as a character

A lot of writers don’t understand that suffering isn’t what makes a character good, it’s what pushes them to become good, you can’t just throw a character at the wall and expect them to instantly be a well written fleshed out character

A lot of the suffering Lloyd has to endure is mostly for no reason and it’s really mean spirited because it adds nothing to the plot, it’s just there to hurt him

Let’s bring up s11 as an example, Lloyd didn’t HAVE to fight the ice emperor from a writing standpoint, if anything it should have been kais battle because his lose of power and Zane going evil would have been a perfect reflection of s4 and tie it up after it ended kais character a bit open ended

But no let’s have Lloyd do it instead because haha isn’t trauma COOL and HIP

Now to be clear, I’m not saying that all of your stories have to end on a happy ending or anything like that, if your a writer then your allowed to do whatever you want with your personal writing

What I am saying is that ninjago is an actual SHOW made by PROFESSIONAL writers and they can’t understand the concept of a story structure

And the lack of actually addressing his trauma is really bringing down Lloyd as a character

Because it comes to a point where you understand why Lloyd is sometimes mean or distrustful of other people and it’s frustrating because you know that it’s flaws of him that are never going to be fixed because there writers want there trauma baby

How I would rewrite him

I’ve seen a lot of people suggest Lloyd become a villain in a future season and you know what, I sort of agree

But not in the way you think

I feel like it would be way more compelling if Lloyd was a villain but is still a ninja, instead of Lloyd switching sides, the show is switching perspectives

More or less I want Lloyd to be a reflection of the “true” villain, which is how wu ((and subsequently Lloyd)) put small Victories as more important then the ninjas life, passion, and desire, and how there black and white thinking of good and evil ends up to a lot of problems because there’s a lot of grey area there choosing to ignore

I want Lloyd to start of being loyal to wu’s philosophy and the protagonist, for random example let’s say Kai, sudden turn on these ideas in order to look outside the box to find if there truly is a better way to protect people without harming himself

I want Lloyd to be upset over what he thinks is a turn to the dark side when in reality, it would make his motivations make sense and not make his turn to “villainy” be out of character.

And over the course of the season he starts to realize how wus and subsequently his leadership has hurt the others and himself, and have him reflect on if all the pain they suffer through just to clean up wus mistakes is really worth it like wu says, or if there’s a better way like kai says

As for Lloyds actual character himself, I’d like for his flaws to be more noticeable

Have Lloyd be a gifted kid who gets praise when he doesn’t deserve it but still kinda acts like a brat because he’s still mentally like 10

Have him be a control freak who follows the rules way to strictly and is all serious when they have to do missions

Have his idealization of wu be realized and critiqued because honestly wu sucks ass

Would this make his character less like able? Maybe, but then he’d actually have depth and something to improve on

He can still have his s3 and s4 arcs, it’s just now they’re more important because he’s actually learning to be better

AND BEFORE ANYONE SAYS IM PURPOSEFULLY MAKING LLOYD WORSE SO THAT KAI LOOKS BETTER

ILL HAVE YOU KNOW AWHILE BACK I MADE A POST SAYING THE EXACT SAME THING ABOUT KAI AND HIS FLAWS SO THERE (/hj /lh)

#ninjago #kai smith #ninjago kai #sorry this post is way less structured then my other ones

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