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#i also want to do a post on how to analyze comics

petricorah · 2 months

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i wanna start making comics but like. i dont really know how??? are there any tips that you could give me perhaps?

hi!

i've been working on trying to compile a list of resources for people (@aangsfrogs--i didn't forget!) who want to make comics for a long time. It would consist of some of my personal tips and a lot of links to other people's PDFs and youtubes. But that's...a hefty project, so if you had any specific questions for the meantime, my askbox is open!

But, for just beginning, here would be my tips:

Read comics. Read manga and webcomics and cartoons and medical comics. There is so much out there, and reading is such a big way to learn. If you see something you like, take a moment to think about why you like it. Are the expressions or colors appealing? Did it make you feel a certain emotion? Analyze what the artist may have done to get across what they did. (Is it the camera angle? the style they chose to draw in? the paneling? the pacing? the color? etc.) Doing this over time will help you recognize the tools available for telling stories through this medium, and you'll be able to put them in your own work.

Try to think about what you want to make comics about. What moves you? What topics interest you? What ideas or tropes do you love in media or think about often? What do you hate and wish was done better? What characters are you drawn to, or what characters do you want to create? (What about them compels you?) I find it's hard to create an idea out of thin air, but if you start writing down random ideas you have, you'll start thinking about them, and over time, you'll have a bank of things to pull from when you want to create.

Lastly, anatomical skill or knowledge of color does not a comic make! You don't have to know much to begin, and there aren't rules. Just start drawing what is meaningful to you!

This is just cursory and doesn't get into super specifics like paneling or scripts or plotting or colors or thumbnailing or....etc, but I'll try to expand my list of resources and get that out! And, hmu if you have any specific questions on topics!

happy drawing~

Book list under readmore:

Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and his Making Comics. These books are taught in like, every comic class ever. While not my complete favorite, they do a good job of showing some history and fundamentals, and how easy it is to make comics even if you don't have a lot of drawing experience.

99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden: Really good if you don't know how to start analyzing comics. (Also it's just a fun visual exercise.) It shows the same short story done in 99 different styles with different emphasis on different moods and points of view.

The PreHistory of The Far Side: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit by Gary Larson and The Calvin and Hobbes: Tenth Anniversary Book by Bill Watterson: Two great books with work from my two favorite cartoonists. They both have writings from the author about getting ideas, developing stories, and being a comic artist.

Uncanny Bodies: Superhero Comics and Disability, edited by Scott T. Smith and José Alaniz and Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation, edited by Sheena C. Howard and Ronald L. Jackson II: These two aren't really about making comics, but they are great collections of analysis about old and new comics alike.

By no means a complete list, but some good ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

There's also the book Webtoon School: Everything you need to know about webtoon creation and story writing. To be honest, I didn't read this completely through because it was a bit more fundamental than I was expecting, but it gives a good cursory look of how to write comics if you're just starting out! It covers some history, how to write stories and arcs, etc.

Also, look to your favorite writers! A lot of webtoon/webcomic artists do tutorials or youtube videos. for instance, velnxi has this great tutorial up I really suggest looking at here.

#how to make comics #mytutorials #comics tutorials #asks #i also want to do a post on how to analyze comics #because analysis is often talked about in english or writing classes #but most dont talk about how to analyze a comic which i think can be a bit different #if people would be interested in that lmk #can yall tell i almost went to school to teach comics lmao. i love talking about this stuff

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thankskenpenders · 7 months

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And now for something new

So, here's something I was never planning on doing, but I just couldn't shake the idea... Thanks Ken Penders is gaining a sister blog featuring an entirely different comic franchise!

Introducing... Thanks Steve Ditko, a blog where I read the Earth-616 Spider-Man comics, starting all the way back in the '60s! It's gonna be much more casual and less thorough than how I run things here on TKP, though, which I'll explain in a sec.

If seeing me post weird bits from old Spider-Man comics sounds fun and you need no further info, then just head right on over to Thanks Steve Ditko. But for longtime TKP readers, I know you probably have questions...

Number one: Why?

Spider-Man's always been my favorite superhero, and with the Spider-Verse movies kicking ass and my excitement building for the new Insomniac game, I've been in a Spidey mood. Inevitably, a thought occurred to me: Maybe I should actually read the comics that everything else is built off of and see the wildly varying contributions of all the original creators, rather than filtering them through big budget adaptations. If I can power through One Piece and all these other manga with hundreds of chapters, it can't be that hard... right?

And, well, after a few issues I quickly realized that my options were to either clog up my other accounts with random Spider-Man panels for years, or to just make a side blog. And so the side blog was born.

Two: Will this blog replace Thanks Ken Penders?

NO!!!!!!!!!

Okay but prove it

To allow the two to exist side-by-side, Thanks Steve Ditko will have a different format than what Thanks Ken Penders developed. Rather than an in-depth guided tour that critically analyzes every story beat of every issue, TSD will just be a place for amusing panels and brief thoughts as I casually read the comics at my own pace.

If you've seen me make a few tweets about reading Spider-Man recently, I'm basically just moving that to a dedicated Tumblr. It's a place for me to dump these things so that it doesn't fill up my media tab on Twitter for the next decade. (You know, assuming Twitter is still around in a decade.) There will be many issues where I only post two panels that I thought were funny. There will be issues where I don't have anything to say at all. Maybe I'll reach a run that I just cannot get into, and I start skipping around more. Who knows!

This may sound similar to what I thought this blog would be before it blew up. Aside from the simple fact that there's already mountains of Spider-Man commentary out there and therefore less of a void for me to fill, one of the main steps I'll be taking to avoid repeating the past is not enabling an ask box on TSD. I do not need people to ask me to go into ten times more detail on everything. I do not need to write seven essay-length responses to questions about Spider-Man minutiae every day. I do not need a place for people to chide me for not covering certain scenes, issues, or ancillary series.

It also won't have any kind of update schedule. I'm trying to keep it very casual. I'm reading these comics at my own pace, and if I feel like sharing a moment or commenting on something while doing so? It goes there. That's it.

(On the subject of format changes, I'm also listing the issue, writer, and penciller in the body of every post. This is a thing I wish I'd done on TKP so that people didn't misattribute every weird Archie Sonic panel I post to Penders.)

Three: So when will TKP come back from hiatus? You said it'd come back after you finished SLARPG!

I don't know! Sorry. I have a couple things on the backburner right now for TKP, but I'm not sure when I'll get back to proper updates where I read more comics.

I wanted to bring TKP back this year, and that's still possible. The main hurdle is that I want to reread my own archive (again) as a refresher, which is, uh. A lot of posts. I've developed a high standard for myself on here, and I feel like I wouldn't be doing my job right if I forgot half the ongoing subplots and character arcs and didn't bring them up in my analysis. Especially when I'm discussing the work of an author as obsessed with continuity as Ian Flynn. Unfortunately, the nature of this blog means that every time I go on another long hiatus for Life Reasons I have even more comic continuity to catch up on than last time.

(This is a big part of why I'm making Thanks Steve Ditko an extremely casual blog instead of promising to become a Lore Expert on 60+ years of Marvel.)

Mostly I've just been very burnt out this year after having finally finished a video game that took almost eight years to make. I haven't really had the energy for any creative projects, including TKP. But I feel a little bit of a spark here with Spider-Man, so I'm chasing that feeling to try to get back into the swing of blogging about comics - no pun intended.

So, basically, bear with me on this as I start this low-energy side project. But hopefully folks will enjoy Thanks Steve Ditko as its own thing, too.

Look forward to goofy shit like this

#tkp post

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jesncin · 4 months

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The Potential of Asian Lois Lane. Pt 1: Girl Taking Over and American Alien, a comparative analysis

Lois Lane has had many iterations over the years. But specifically in the last decade, Lois has been reimagined as an Asian American woman in both the comics and recently in the animated show My Adventures with Superman.

I believe making Lois Asian is a very inspired choice for the Superman mythos! I would like to take a moment to analyze these versions of Lois from an Asian perspective, seeing what works, what doesn't, and what I'd like to see more of. We'll start with the comics first, as MAWS is going to need its own post.

Usual disclaimers: I'm just one Asian perspective, I do not and never will claim to cover every Asian person's opinion on a thing ever. We're not a monolith, we come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. I'm simply a fan who enjoys media analysis and believes it's valuable to have my perspective in this topic. Secondly, this discussion covers the comic run American Alien, which is written by Max Landis. He's an ultra creep and while I think the comic is worth a read for what it is, I leave it up to you whether you'd like to buy the comic. You can always arg-arg-ahoy otherwise.

I'd like to start with Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story written by Sarah Kuhn with art by Arielle Jovellanos. This is a self contained YA graphic novel about a young Japanese American Lois dealing with the ups and downs of breaking into journalism as a career in National City. When her dream internship at Catco gets a corporate take over, Lois seizes an opportunity to write an exposé on a shady art director. But when her story is turned down, Lois does some out of the box things to get the story of marginalized performers shared with the world.

Girl Taking Over is a fantastic story and I happily recommend it to anyone looking for how an Asian American Lois could be reimagined (with fabulous art by Arielle! The fashion especially is on-point). This story isn't just a diverse coat of paint on a Lois Lane story, being Asian informs Lois' experiences and choices. Both she and her frenemy roommate Miki, are ambitious Asian women yet have hidden insecurities where they still made themselves small to their respective white male bosses. They played into model minority in different ways, and it's only by working together that they're able to foster a community for their stories to be told.

Lois and Miki don't just "have a diverse friend group", that friend group is actively being taken advantage of and suppressed by white gatekeepers. By extension, Lois' friends from work find solidarity in each other. Lois looks up to Cat Grant, a Filipina-American journalist, because seeing Cat succeed made Lois feel like her dream as a journalist is possible. I love how Lois' mom (a character so rarely expanded on in DC canon) acts as a voice of comfort for Lois in the story. All these characters feel holistic and whole, going through their own unique struggles.

It's clear from interviews with both the writer and artist that they care for the history of Lois, and saw an opportunity to reimagine her in a way that aligns with her character but also revitalizes her for new readers of color who aren't used to seeing themselves reflected in media. It's taking Lois' ambition and fearlessness and channeling them into the need to be a model minority, and the insecurities that can come from the desire to succeed constantly. It's taking a character historically frustrated by sexism and disrespected by her male peers- including Clark Kent (who got better treatment than her as a man), and expanding her to be a Lois that has to deal with both sexism and racism in the workplace. It's humanizing Lois' excellence into something painfully specific and relatable for many Asian women.

The only thing I feel I want from this version of Lois is... honestly more of her! I want to see what Japanese Lois does when she moves to Metropolis and works at the Daily Planet. I want to see how her experiences in National City informs her adulthood. Girl Taking Over sets up an incredible groundwork for stories to be told in the Superman mythos. How would Lois react to Superman, a fellow immigrant? Would Superman see himself in Lois? Since she's someone who, in the American context, is perceived as the perpetual foreigner? What would their relationship be like? Out of all the Asian Lois' in media we have so far, this Asian Lois' story has the most rich potential in my opinion.

Up next, we have American Alien written by Max Landis. This 7 issue series swaps artists for each issue, as a means of reflecting different milestones in Clark's life. I will be focusing on issues #4, 5, and 7 since those have the most prominent Lois appearances. With that, I'd like to celebrate the artists for those issues: Jae Lee (issue 4), Francis Manapul (issue 5), and Jock (issue 7). All these artists did a fantastic job, their art styles are energetic and fun to look at. Lee and Manapul are both Asian artists (Korean and Filipino respectively) and I love how they draw Lois- who looks undeniably Asian in their art styles.

American Alien is a modern take on the Superman tale. It expands Clark's story to be connected to Batman, Green Lanterns, Green Arrow, and more. We see Clark grow from his days in Smallville to a city boy in Metropolis, coming into his own as Superman. It's a bold and pretty divisive take with some standout story moments. From what I know, this is likely the first time Lois has been reimagined as Asian- and continues to influence Superman media like MAWS (the producer specifically calls out this comic as inspiration).

In issue #4, Clark moves in to his Metropolis apartment and talks on the phone to his mom about "some bigshot guy named Louis Lane". The reader, likely familiar with the Superman mythos, knows Clark is coming in with biases and a preconceived notion of who he considers a promising student reporter. Once we meet Lois Lane however, the comic turns the reader's expectations on their head:

Lois Lane is an Asian American woman (it's not specified what her exact ethnicity is)! This is a fun moment where the comic metatextually challenged the reader's own biases, showing it's not just Clark who had a different idea of who Lois Lane could be.

Lois' introductory panel is my personal favorite part of her characterization in American Alien. Lois proudly stands as a wall of text behind her recounts how she was considered as a winner for the Daily Planet's Charlton Memorial Laureate Program. When asked why she deserves a place on the program, Lois snaps back that the very question itself is loaded. She's listed her credentials and looks professional- so she's either already been rejected and is just being made to "at least had my say" or she's been accepted and is "meant to garnish my success with eloquent affirmation" to which Lois refuses to do either.

This is a great defiant introduction to Lois, showcasing how jaded she is with the way the world perceives her- but is very confident in her self worth as a journalist. By the end of the issue she reaches out to Clark to combine their exclusive interviews into one story to make a big impression on the news. Her words inspire Clark to seize an opportunity to make a big change in the world as Superman.

Afterwards, the comic plays the classic Superman and Lois dynamic straight. Lois is initially suspicious of Superman, but eventually comes around and is inspired to hope through him. There's a great back and forth between the two where Lois' words initially inspire Clark to be Superman, then Clark assures Lois that Superman is probably just a good guy, and when Clark loses hope from a bad day of heroism, Lois gives him hope again. In the end, Lois realizes her love for Clark Kent over Superman and they share a passionate ending kiss.

Overall American Alien nails the Clark and Lois dynamic and understands their relationship. I consider this Asian Lois "just okay". I like that we get to see an adult jaded Asian Lois meet Clark Kent and Superman, and see them get together. Similarly to Girl Taking Over, I'd like to see how this Lois and Clark would play out. My only issue with American Alien's Lois is a sense of missed opportunities.

The writing overall leaves room for plausible deniability over Lois' Asian identity. The artists (particularly Lee and Manapul) are doing the heavy lifting delivering Asian Lois. If she was drawn as a white woman, none of the writing would need adjustment. Sure her introductory panel implies that people judge her based on her appearance- but that could be just sexism instead of the intersectional experience of Asian Lois going through racism and sexism. Clark did assume she was a man after all- it's never specified if he assumed she was a white man. The only thing you'd lose is the metatextual shock value of Lois Being Asian This Time. That's really what this Lois boils down to, initial shock value with no specific writing to follow through. Her marginalization and identity is written broadly enough that it could be attributed to general sexism and womanhood. It's not specific to being an Asian American woman.

However, because of its broadness, there's room for Lois' Asian identity to be built on in the world of American Alien. The story centers Clark's experiences, but I can easily imagine a continuation of the story expanding on Lois'. The basic groundwork is there. I think it's telling that in a comic called American Alien, we get a more diverse Superman cast system. Jimmy Olsen is Black, Lois Lane is Asian- when Clark moves to the city it feels expansive compared to Smallville. It's a world that feels ready to tackle themes of racism if it was ever to continue (and probably in the hands of a writer with that kind of life experience!). In the end, there's room for this Asian Lois to be something special. Clark isn't the only American Alien in American Alien, if you catch my drift.

You can see how Girl Taking Over has a huge piece of what American Alien is missing. The characters aren't just diverse for shock value, they're not an aesthetic change over historically white characters. They have a story to tell that is inseparable from their identities. Whereas in American Alien, the art is doing the heavy lifting with the reimagined diverse characters- Girl Taking Over has both the writing and art carry the representation. Lois can't be changed into being white in Girl Taking Over.

Both of these stories have potential- but if I had the choice to pick which story should continue, it would easily be Girl Taking Over. This graphic novel works for what it is: it makes sense that this is a younger and idealistic Lois that hasn't met Clark or Superman yet. It's a YA book and Lois can absolutely carry a story on her own. What I want as an Asian fan, is for the potential of Asian Lois Lane to be seen through to the point it's considered the definitive version. As of right now, Girl Taking Over is a fun twist on the Lois Lane story. Not something that is seen as inseparable from the Superman mythos. However! If those themes of marginalization and immigrant identity are tapped into for both Superman and Lois Lane? I feel that has the potential to radically strengthen the overall themes of Superman. It's certainly been touched on before.

(TW/CW: racial slur mention in below image)

Superman Smashes the Klan by Gene Yang with art by Gurihiru is a retelling of the Clan of the Fiery Cross arc in the classic radio show The Adventures of Superman where Superman faces off with the Klan who had been terrorizing a Chinese American family. The graphic novel adapts the story to center the Chinese American characters, and makes it a point to show that Superman relates to them. If that dynamic was applied to Asian Lois, that feels like a definitive love story waiting to happen.

The classic two person love triangle with Clark and Lois is that Lois loves Superman and is indifferent to Clark Kent. She thinks Superman is this ideal macho man and Clark is a cowardly fumbling guy at work who rivals her. What happens when you take that dynamic and made it so Lois identified with Superman- the more othering identity? How complicated would that make Clark Kent feel? How would he navigate that when his marginalization isn't always visible? That's a whole new depth to the love triangle we're not used to seeing. I feel so far, none of these versions of Lois have touched upon this potential dynamic. The perpetual foreigner, Lois Lane and the ultimate alien foreigner that is Superman. The jaded city girl meets the alien farm boy who gives her hope. They inspire each other to be more of themselves in a world not ready to accept either of them.

Up next, we'll be discussing My Adventures with Superman's Korean Lois Lane in pt 2. It's well. You can probably guess how I feel about it from what I wrote here but welp. We'll talk about it.

#ramblings #media criticism #lois lane #once again please be nice!!#i have many many feelings about asian lois lane so i may as well write it down and share it with you #jesncin talks maws #(a little bit anyway! like a precursor)#jesncin dc meta

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nights-at-crystarium · 11 days

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Fragments - episodes 36-40 author notes

You can find similar breakdown posts on older episodes in my pinned!

I didn’t need to spend so much screentime on Titania fight, yet it was a fun personal challenge. I’d never written/drawn a cohesive fight scene before. The scripted ingame instances don’t leave much room for imagination, I wanted to stay away from the fourth wall, and make up a more immersive scene. How do you even make it look mildly interesting? You’d think, well, characters will just flail at each other until one of them dies, right?

So yeah the biggest challenge was creating the ebb and flow. What affects Vivi’s actions? Why wouldn’t he just murder Titania like any other opponent, and be done with it? I threw in a generous amount of inner pov (that I previously used very sparingly) and some silly tricks. The stakes are high, yes, it’s a Lightwarden vs WoD encounter, but Titania still retains their playful personality above all else. Vivi's here just to do his job, but he also knows that he's dealing with a fae.

The msq makes Titania stand out among other wardens, I capitalized on that and hc’d that they’re important to Feo Ul, and, by proxy, to Vivi. That instantly provided some emotional stakes, and an answer to why he doesn’t rush to kill them out of the door.

Vivi enters the castle in episode 35, and mostly runs in circles, analyzing his enemy, and even falls victim to illusions. This could’ve been it for him, but I daresay it worried none of us because we’re just at the beginning of a story about this guy, he’s THE guy in this universe not for no reason, he’ll manage.

No deep meaning behind "grasshopper", I just thought it's a bizarrely precise descriptor of both Vivi's long legs and dragoon jumps, and it fits the natural theme of the fight.

Vivi didn’t go in unprepared.

This line will be relevant again in like, 5-7 years from now :’>

More under the cut~

He always, always doubts everything, especially when it comes to his level of power. Self-nerfing. A light (heh) case of an impostor syndrome.

Everyone loved the bonk for meme reasons, Vivi simply bought himself some time to cast.

The Rainbow Sparkles of Believing in Yourself! And of something else, perhaps. I’m planting quite a bit of stuff for future, this one should take a mere year or so to pay off.

I hope this pose’s enough of a hint that you shouldn't be taking episode 37 too seriously.

Yes, he used his spear to ~cast~. And took a sailormoon pose. This's his, monoclass dragoon’s, interpretation of what the caster magic’s probably like.

Offscreen, Titania comes to their senses and shrills “so you wanna play rough?!”, Vivi ignores them, concerned with only one thing: did he succeed? How did the test of his custom spell go?

It only worked out because the both of them are idiots.

I like to emphasize that Fragments isn’t about retelling the msq, or big epic battles, but here, where I actually put my heart into it, I feel like I managed to pull off at least one epic beat you’d typically see in an action-focused comic. Super proud of this panel ;w;

This’s a standard panel divider I’ve used multiple times before, but it couldn’t be more visually appropriate here :3c

So, to recap. Vivi asks Titania if they miss the night sky. They do. Vivi brings the night sky to them, and lo, something actually happens. I illustrated this “something” as one of their eyes getting sort of cleansed here. This story suddenly takes a mahou shoujo (shounen, heh) turn, I appreciate that it may cause some eyebrows to raise, but I think it’s okay to take creative liberties like this in a story themed around identity, agency, and believing in yourself. If Titania’s so strong as to retain a tiny bit of their old self, to cohesively partake in a simple convo, then why can’t they return, even if for a brief moment, given the proper assistance.

An appropriate reaction to the wild bs that’s going on. Imagine inventing the tale of WoD in the First, only to witness THIS.

As about Vivi, he can save a soul when he genuinely cares for it. We haven’t seen him do this before. He does it for Feo Ul explicitly, implicitly as a self-reflection. He’s projecting so hard after realizing that Titania looks like him. He wishes for them what he'd wish for himself: to rest, to be treated with care and consideration. They don't only look like him, they're also unfree, tortured by something. Empathy or not, this’s the kindest fight Vivi’s ever fought.

I’m iffy about the canon talents that come with the Echo. You can understand any sentient creature, okay. What happens when you speak, does the other party feel the difference between that soulspeak and their native tongue? Does it feel off? Does it offend? I incorporated my own misgivings into Vivi’s thoughts about his Echo. He doesn't use soulspeak here out of respect and concern that Titania might not react well to it, throwing the entire plan out of the window. Thus he memorized quite a bit of fae words before the fight. This’s his way to mark himself as one of their people, or at least to show that he truly cares.

STAY TUNED FOR EPISODE 41

Vivien Doubter Rell. Also yay first nod!

Embracing his new duty, and possibly giving Titania the hug they deserve.

Look HE’S OKAY. For now. I just thought the hiccup would be a cute way to acknowledge the terrible power he’s just absorbed. The canon cutscene moves on unblinking, but here’s different.

Bracing himself for confrontation. Things might go awry. Or might not. Vivi doesn't know. Worst case scenario: this’s the end of his sweet lil friendship with Feo Ul. Do they like him, or a Titania-lookalike in him?

“Oh bugger...” big pets come with big responsibilities, my dear Feo Ul.

Just to reinforce his fae-ness.

Vivi had full control in this fight. Analyzed the enemy, successfully tested some crazy tricks, managed to have a heart-to-heart that resulted in getting a permission to kill Titania not with violence, but with mercy. So much could’ve gone wrong, but just didn’t. Vivi’s used to this, even if he constantly doubts everything, this’s how it always goes. He’s being flung at tasks with abysmal odds, somehow he emerges victorious.

I just like this panel so much okay.

This arc may feel slow, but it gives depth to Vivi and Feo Ul's relationship, and seeing them together in later episodes will spark even more joy.

Even after a warm moment they’d just shared, Vivi’s still wary. I broke out an analysis of what external influence, pressure to change means to him, please read this post if you missed it. YEAH TAGS AS WELL.

His expression here is an attempt to downplay the anxiety and swing the odds in his favor. What if Feo Ul insists and throws a tantrum? What if he has to become Titania right now, and there’s no way around this? Let’s make puppy eyes just incase, maybe that helps.

One more personal fav panel. There’s SO MUCH in this look. They’re on a threshold, about to become something else on Vivi’s behalf. Because they love him so much. They’ve instantly become friends because they don’t want anything from each other, just the company. Feo Ul’s such a breath of fresh air for Vivi, a new hope in a new world, where he’s (comparatively) a nobody, where people still have the potential to love him for who he is as a person. This’s why our crimson pixie gets so much screentime.

Vivi really said XD

The next few episodes wrap up the Il Mheg arc, and focus on good vibes and celebration. ShB follows a rollercoaster formula where it makes you smile at something nice and sweet only to whack you in the face right after, and I’m trying to do the same :3c

As always, thanks for reading~

#ffxiv #feo ul #vivien rell #ffxiv: fragments #fragment ii: new world old friend #fragments talk

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hobiebrownismygod · 6 months

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Let's talk about Miles G./Prowler Miles and his characterization in fanfics/headcanons

I'm gonna refer to him as 42-Miles throughout this analysis btw

Fairly short post, about 1.1k words with pictures and gifs to help explain <3

Summary: I'm gonna analyze his characterization as being angry/aggressive, I'm gonna talk about his backstory a little bit and compare him to the original Prowler and then I'm gonna rant about his sexualization a little bit as well.

1. Characterizing him as angry/aggressive

Most of the fanfictions/headcanons that I've read treat 42-Miles like a thug. They act like he would be overly aggressive toward the reader/y/n and often characterize him as slightly misogynistic and a bully. One question. HOW? I genuinely don't understand where people get these headcanons from. You're telling me that this guy, who is literally the exact same person as Miles Morales, would be a cheating, narcissistic asshole who needs to be fixed by some random girl? Are you kidding me? Do y'all think RIO MORALES would've allowed that to happen to her son? HELL NO.

This hispanic lady?? BFFR

In the scene between Miles and 42-Rio, we see her asking him to get groceries, cracking jokes with him and just having an absolutely lovely mother-son dynamic. Its because of this that I think that he's actually a sweet, kind boy who's just trying his best to take care of his family. This little thing that he and his mom have going on proves that 42-Miles is not a bad kid. He's a genuinely nice guy who was thrown into a crappy situation.

As for his whole "You can call me the Prowler" persona, that's obviously just a setup. Miles did the same thing in the first movie when he met Peter B. Parker. He tied him up to a punching bag and put on a slightly deeper voice to confront him. 42-Miles did the exact same thing. He tied up Miles to a punching bag and did his best to intimidate him with the claw and the voice. He's just trying to look cool in front of his twin, guys. He's not that way normally. If anything, he's just gonna be a slightly more depressed version of Miles, but he's still Miles.

Its practically the same scene.

This type of characterization happens a lot towards edgy black males in the media. The same thing happens with Hobie Brown. He's portrayed as cool, a rule-breaker and a punk and immediately, people characterize him as dirty and violent which are nasty stereotypes targeted towards African-Americans. 42-Miles is portrayed as intimidating and edgy and immediately people are quick to say that he would be an asshole and that he would be a bad boy which are also horrible stereotypes. This is blatant racism and its not cute or fun to read. If you want him to be aggressive in your fanfictions, give him an actual reason to be aggressive. Don't just assume that he would be, because if you really think about it, he wouldn't.

2. Calling him a murderer (The original prowler didn't kill people)

A lot of the fanfictions/headcanons that I've read that involved 42-Miles treat him like a murderer and romanticize the idea of him being a criminal. Authors write stories about him violently murdering thugs and beating people up for no reason. Any f.f. involving his identity as the Prowler usually has a killing scene written in or an implied murder scene.

It has been confirmed that 42-Miles is gonna be an anti-hero. Now the Aaron Davis version of the Prowler did kill people. However, he wasn't an anti-hero. If we're going to compare 42-Miles to a Prowler, we need to compare him to Hobie Brown, who was the original Prowler.

Hobie Brown was also an anti-hero who actually helped Spider-man multiple times throughout the comics. He never killed anyone and after trying to lead a life of crime, he actually ended up quitting. This suggests that 42-Miles would be similar if not the same, because its confirmed that he's fighting against the Sinister Six, and isn't a "villain" and therefore would not kill anyone.

He's also 15 years old. Why are people acting like a 15 year old would be a murderer? There is no way this 15 year old kid is going out into the streets and beating up thugs. This guy was supposed to be Spider-man, remember? He fights for justice and he fights against real villains, like Doc Ock, Scorpio, Rhino, all villains who are confirmed to exist in Earth-42.

This headcanon is extremely inaccurate and people really need to chill out on the whole "Prowler" aspect of his character, because he's still Miles. He isn't a whole new character. He's literally Miles Morales in a different font, and he's not gonna be a murderous maniac.

3. Sexualizing him (he's a minor!?!?!)

I'd say about 70-80% of the 42-Miles fanfictions that cross my feed contain smut. People age up Miles, not for the plot, not for the headcanons, but just to write smut.

Personally, when I read a fan fiction or a headcanon about a character, I imagine them in my head when I do. I genuinely read the fan fiction like it would be played out with the character. So to me, people who are writing these smutty fan fictions are imagining a minor in their head while doing these things. This is absolutely insane to me.

Now I know a lot of people are gonna come for me for saying this because "if you don't wanna read it then just scroll" and "he's aged up so its okay" but this is normalizing pedophilia.

Once again, I see the same thing happening with Hobie. Why? Once again, casual racism. People see an edgy black male and they immediately assume he'd be super sexual. The people writing smut about Miles are the same way. They see an attractive black teen and the first thing that pops up in their mind is "I'd let him fuck me." He's 15 years old. No one should be writing smut about this kid. He doesn't do anything sexual in the movie, he doesn't have a confirmed love interest, he was literally on screen for two minutes. Stop treating black characters like sex toys and enjoy their damn storylines.

I explained more on the sexualization of black characters in the media in this post here if you want to read more into it or still feel a little unsure about my analyzation. I included sources as well <3

This guy is a tired CHILD. LOOK AT HIS EYE BAGS

As for the whole "aging up" thing, aging up a character for a fan fiction and aging them up for smut are two very different things. I've read 42-Miles fanfictions where they age him up, but they actually add to the plot. This one fanfiction I read (I'll link it if I find it) aged him up to create a officer x criminal trope, which I found absolutely adorable. They were able to write an amazing story with zero smut. Compare this to people who are saying "I'm aging him up to 18 <3" and its just 4000 words of straight, gut-wrenching smut.

This genuinely disgusts me. I don't know if its just me who feels this way about his sexualization, but its so icky to think about. You're taking a literal child and imagining yourself doing all these things with him and posting it for the rest of the world to see. A lot of the people who write these fanfictions are 18+ which baffles me as well.

Stop sexualizing minors and stop aging up characters just for smut. It's messed up.

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trigunbookclub · 7 months

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TrigunBookclub Afterparty!

Hello there! As bookclub winds down to a close, there a few things to announce:

Bookclub Afterparty!

Bookclub may officially be over, but the Trimax brainrot continues! There are some bonus comics, the Multiple Bullets anthology (with all its great and terrible stories), and some folks have fallen behind, have essays left to write, or have things they wanted to create or share and haven't had a chance. I myself fell behind since life has been a bit hellish on my end, I'm two volumes behind--and I don't seem to bethe only one in that position!

So, I want to invite people to keep using and watching the tag until the end of October! Discuss, share theories, thoughts, art, shout-out posts and ideas that you love, just have fun! You can discuss the entire series and all related materials--hell, you can even do a read/reread it if you want to. Whatever goes, so long as it follows the guidelines.

Bookclub 2.0!

I've been talking with the @trigun-manga-overhaul team, who we all know has the best Trigun manga translation out there--but it's about to get better with Overhaul 2.0! When it drops probably next year, it will be at the pace of a chapter a week, and I plan to run the bookclub during that time to celebrate! This gives much more time for discussion, comparing, analyzing, and keeping up with posts. Since it will be a longer reading time and it's round two, spoilers will be allowed, though I will ask that they be tagged.

I also highly encourage everyone to feel free to use the tag when the hardcovers from Dark Horse are released to celebrate and discuss!

Bookclub Archive!

Since social media has a tendency to be ephemeral at best, the lovely @versaphile has taken it upon themselves to archive the bookclub posts of everyone who gives permission for them to do so! This way you can binge meta and posts and find everything much more easily. You can find the archive here, and see an example of archived posts here. If you're interested in or okay with being included in the project, please contact @trigunreferencelibrary!

Bookclub Stickers!

Multiple people have talked about wanting a badge of honor for participating in/keeping up with bookclub, and I think that might be a bit tricky... but how about some stickers? I figure that this way, the shipping is affordable even for international folks since I've seen a good amount of people around the world participating and lurking! I'm going to try and find printing for as affordably as I can (if anyone out there knows any good distributors for smaller batch sticker orders, please shoot me a DM!), and it won't be something to profit off of--just in memory of a great time! The only thing is I have two options, and I don't know if either of them are even what folks want. So...

And that's all that I can think of for now! I'm a bit exhausted and run ragged at the moment, so feel free to ask for any clarification on anything. When I started this project, I honestly didn't think I'd get many if any people following through--I know people lose their focus easily (myself included). But instead it turned into a huge celebration of a beautiful manga that is finally getting the attention it deserves after kind of getting buried by time. I've met some absolutely amazing and brilliant people throughout this event, and I just want to say thank you to every single person who made a post, supported others, and/or just lurked. You guys are fantastic and made this an amazing experience.

#Trigun #Trimax #Trigun Maximum #TrigunBookclub #I can't believe it's over ):

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talktolwt · 10 months

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I would like to focus on the music chosen for Hob Gadling's 80s sequence.

I'm extremely late to the world of The Sandman (finally binged it two weeks ago after my mother had been begging me to watch it with her and now I'm more obsessed than her) Bottom line: I'm unbelievably glad I finally watched this beautiful piece of television.

I have yet to read the comics but as for the first season, I have to say, without a doubt, my favorite episode is Chapter 6: The Sound of Her Wings. Death's 20-min segment is a beauty unto itself, but I'll be focusing on Hob's segment today. Specifically, his 80s scenes.

Considering I'm so late to this fandom and exploring all of its wondrous details and themes, excuse me if this has already been noted. I've been thinking about these details over and over but I need to get it out there in the Sandman world and hear everyone else's thoughts.

*Also excuse the terrible photos - Netflix doesn't let you screenshot and I was too lazy to get another app to let me bypass it. Please bear with my photos of my laptop screen.*

There are three songs that play throughout this sequence.

#1 - "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals

I accidentally deleted half my post mid-writing this but here I go again.

As we can see, after the breakup scene, we open up on Hob Gadling (he looks amazing in his 80s look, by the way) and this song plays.

Here are the lyrics:

I mean - where do I even start LMAO.

*Let me just give another note - regardless if you ship Dreamling romantically or not, I will be merely analyzing these lyrics as they are and how they convey Hob's feelings for Dream in general. But, I mean, the songs are THERE, the text is THERE. So do with that what you will.*

This will go for the following two songs as well, but these songs are placed with meaningful intention. Each of these offer a unique lens and dive into Hob's feelings.

I won't be annoying and over-explain anything, but the lyrics are clear I feel:

"She drives me crazy" - cough

"Things you do don't seem real" - in Hob's view, Dream literally is an enigma. Hob has no idea the capacities, the limits, and even the name of this being he meets every century.

"This waiting 'round's killing me" - well.

"Everything you say is lies" - now I wouldn't say particularly lies, but Dream does keep and omit things from Hob. Understandably, Hob would find himself in a confused limbo with Dream.

Here's the kicker:

"I won't make it on my own/No one likes to be alone." - HELLO. I mean, if this isn't the core message and pinnacle of Dream and Hob's lesson to immortality.

As Death mentions earlier in the episode, around 18:10, "Most of us will be glad for the company of a friend."

I feel I could go on forever and ever about the beauty of this episode and how well The Sound of Her Wings and Men of Good Fortune intertwine. They beautifully complement each other as stories lamenting the dichotomy of life and death, and the joys of humanity.

But essentially, Death reteaches Dream how beautiful humans can truly be, and in this pivotal moment, she says this zinger of a line. The camera was initially on Death but for THIS line, it cuts to Dream.

BECAUSE - poor Dream is definitely in need a friend.

Which is then shown to the audience by the 30-min long Hob Gadling sequence that ensues, and we see Dream's aversion to needing someone, to needing a friend.

But I digress - back to the song, and that one line about not wanting to be alone.

That is such a poignant line, because as much as Dream felt alone and needed company, so does Hob? An immortal, constantly seeing the death of others around him, his companions and family long gone, he needs someone.

Considering this 80s sequence ruminates so heavily on post-breakup feelings, Hob is missing Dream dearly. His constant in life.

I'm rambling too much, onto the next one!

#2 - "Shattered Dreams" by Johnny Hates Jazz

Time skip to perhaps a few hours later, who knows. We see Hob still waiting for Dream, alone in the pub.

Hm.

Literally what else could I say. I'm being slapped in the face with pining and angst and longing.

Here are the lyrics:

Some noteworthy lyrics:

"So much for your promises/They died the day you let me go" - this breakup man

"Caught up in a web of lies" - another lie motif

"I thought it was you/Who would stand by my side" - the theme of Dream and Hob being constants in each other's lives

"Shattered dreams" - I could scream. The title of the song. SHATTERED. DREAMS. giggling rn.

"Woke up to reality" - I think that's a very interesting line toeing between the constant references of the Waking and the Dreaming

Basically, I've been noting these evident similarities within the songs to align themselves to Dream and Hob's situation, and it's clear that the director/writers chose these songs with intent of it paralleling Dreamling.

So that makes it even more insane when lines like "From this empty heart" are meant to parallel Hob. Like.

Okay, last song.

#3 - "Keep On Moving" by Soul II Soul

This song plays as the night progresses. It's late, it's clear Dream isn't showing up, and Hob is feeling pretty final about that, and perhaps he's accepted it at this point. Dream isn't coming.

So this is where he speaks to the bartender and that scene ensues.

Here are the lyrics:

The themes of time and clocks are super prevalent within this song, and again it's once more clear how heavily this reflects and represents Hob.

Noteworthy lyrics:

"Why do people choose to live their lives this way?" - I think this also uniquely touches on the general aspect of humanity and one's reason to live/love life. Dream battles with his confusion/slight disappointment for humanity at the beginning, as he asks Death, "Why would any sensible creature crave an eternity of this?" And then Hob helps Dream realize why there's so much to live for. (24:30)

"I know the time will come today/The time will come one day"

"Walking alone in my own way" - Again this idea of walking alone and needing company.

"You'll be in my life, my life always" - Dream and Hob being constants again.

This all goes to say - Hob cares. He cares for Dream.

And I just think that's very beautiful. The magnitude with which Dream's absence means to him and how much their friendship/companionship both means to each of them. I just think their connection is a beautiful thing that I love seeing and rewatching. Wonderfully, these songs give the audience even more layered insight into this connection.

This was super long, and I apologize if I went on some tangents. But I also just couldn't help it, The Sandman is so incredibly rich in its storytelling and its connections and dynamics that I had to write this all down. I also just very much appreciate the amount of care and detail that goes into every aspect of television, and needle drops such as these three songs are no exception.

Thank you for sticking with me through this! Can't wait for season 2!

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hms-no-fun · 2 months

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i just want you to know that i read... i think Most of godfeels and had to stop because i was not enjoying it. but i think its really good and i really respect what you do. i think it's all too easy for people to mix up "this is not my cup of tea" with "this is bad and/or problematic". they dont take the time to see the artistry in it, why it is what it is, what it might be saying beyond their surface level read and the kneejerk reaction to it.

i also wanted to note that ive always been kind of scared of sharing fanworks for fear of writing "out of character" - and ive also even been afraid of it in original works. character isn't real and concrete, so anyone can decide something's out of character. so your exploration of that concept gives me more confidence as a writer. i really appreciate that and everything else you do. :)

thank you so much for this message! i'm glad you tapped out rather than force your way through something you weren't enjoying, that's a very mature response and something i wish more folks would recognize as a perfectly valid option. in fact i think pushing through and reading long after you've given up on the material, so to speak, is a great way to wind up angry at a writer for having "forced" you to endure such a trying experience. as i've said before, an author can't force you to do anything. you can close the book any time you like.

as far as the tension of "in character/out of character" goes, i think a lot of people in fandom struggle with the fact that "character" is very much in the eye of the beholder. sub-groups form within fandoms based on identities, politics, sexual predilections, etc, and typically gather around the fire that is their particular interpretation of a character. but from within that sub-group, it's rarely considered "an interpretation" so much as the obvious intended truth of the text. it's that intoxicating mood of finding people who share a perspective you rarely see elsewhere, like oh my god, you GET it, finally someone GETS it!

in homestuck fandom, for instance, quite a lot of people hate vriska and think she sucks, with a vocal sub-group of that sub-group still actively beating the drum that everything about her arc after [S] Game Over is the worst part of homestuck. but i love vriska, and my corner of the fandom very much organized around a full-throated defense of her. some folks think homestuck did tavros and gamzee dirty and that this is a fatal flaw in the text; when i countenance these people, i am convinced we read two very different comics. who's right and who's wrong? there are degrees. i can pull out any number of quotes from andrew hussie about the importance of vriska and the weenieness of tavros, but then, authors love to say things, and there's plenty of stories i love in ways that directly oppose to the authors' stated intent. the debate can never end because we are only ever talking about the version of a character or story that exists in our heads, based on the things that stuck with us when we read the thing (however long ago that was-- which is important because i find a LOT of people adamantly defending their headcanons haven't read the source text in a number of years. as time passes, your perception of the media you've experienced in the past morphs and distorts. someone who was right five years ago can be wrong today and not even notice the difference).

something i've realized in the last year is how much godfeels emerged from a very specific milieu, not just in terms of how we interpreted certain characters but in our approach to analyzing and talking about the text altogether. i believe most of the important stuff in godfeels is "in character" in most of the ways that matter, but it's built on a very specific meta that centered vrisrezi and transness and radical leftist politics and experimental hypertext. really, it's a post-Epilogues fanwork even despite the fact that godfeels 1 predates their release by a few weeks. and i think to this day a lot of homestuck fans haven't read the epilogues but have read fandom posts about how terrible they are (quite a lot of which will have either been written by teens, by people who already didn't like homestuck very much, or by one of the regressive stalkery weirdos prominent in the homestuck reddit/discord), and that misapprehension keeps them in the dark about just how many amazing tools the epilogues introduce to the homestuck formula that exponentially expand the expressive possibilities of attentive fanworks. and it of course elides the fact that the homestuck epilogues are a story about being in your 30s. i think we'll be getting a big re-appraisal of the epilogues in 5-10 years. it'll be the "twin peaks: fire walk with me" of homestuck, just you wait.

so these readers see my version of dirk being an unhinged murderous dick to a newly-out trans woman and go "he would never do that." then if i point at the epilogues, they'll say "i didn't read them/they're not even canon/that wasn't in character either." at which point there's nothing really to say, because we have two completely different perceptions of the text. who's right and who's wrong is almost always infinitely subjective, a circumstance that humans are notable for being very good at handling in a mature and politely discursive manner.

so i've got an "author's introduction" to godfeels baking in my docs to provide some context about the meta this story is built on, the milieu it came out of, that sort of thing. it won't make much of a difference in practical terms, but it'll at least be something i can point to.

in any event, thanks for this message. all i ever want is for people to give it an honest shot. i hope you can continue harvesting confidence from wherever it can be found. it takes a lot of audacity and backbone to be an artist, especially when you have something worthwhile to say. remember that you're not writing for the haters, you're writing for the kind of person, like you, who wants to see more stories like the thing you're writing. they're the ones who'll get it, they're the ones who'll stick around long after the haters have lost interest.

#sarahposts #in character #out of character #homestuck #godfeels #fanworks #writing advice #headcanon #fandom #long post

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mixelation · 9 months

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wait hold on. i figured out the best* way to deal with jiraiya subconsciously writing his teammates fucking in reborn au

*best, as always, means funniest

okay, so. tori is trying very hard to go back to her old fannish ways wrt icha icha. the PROBLEM is that she's "too young" for it. kushina sees no problem with a young girl exploring her sexuality via dumb novels and loans her copies, but basically everyone else gets super fucking weird when she tries talking about it to them.

tori: hey did you see the new fan comic strip in-- (KAKASHI SLAMS HIS HAND OVER HER MOUTH)

kakashi: (nervous laughter) why does a kid know about that???

the konoha fanclub won't let her in. she's tried a henge a few times but there's enough ninja in the club she gets caught. she has to do a lot of convincing and sweet talk to buy fanzines or her own copies of the books. she meets jiraiya and even he is like ".....why don't you look me up again when you turn 18" and then kushina attempts to murder him

so she turns to OTHER franchises to look at. rpf. bad tv. itachi's library of completely stupid paperbacks. in fact, i realized this Solution because i was looking through old posts and one was talking about a book series about a kunoichi turned into a cat and then adopted by the missing-nin she was assigned to murder, which for some reason i named "kitty girl stabby ninja." it's PG-13 rather than E, so tori reads the first book of what is allegedly itachi's favorite series and then attempt to talk to him about it, and he's............ bad at it. like he's just bad. at conversation??

not to be deterred, tori is like "okay, fine, THIS is my fandom now and i'm going to start a book club" and itachi is just of like "okay?" and she goes to deidara first and then kakashi and then some random icha icha fan club people she barely knows because she doesn't have real friends. all of them are like "that sounds completely stupid" and she's like THAT'S THE POINT. then the whole idea gets completely out of her control because kushina finds out and wants to join as a team thing and tori is like NO, NO COMMANDING OFFICERS AT THE FUN SOCIAL EVENT-- but somehow they end up at kushina's house and so the goddamn hokage is also there. smiling. with snacks. the two normal people tori tried to pull from her failed forays into the icha icha fandom bail because would you willingly go talk to your hokage about a stupid as fuck romance novel for teenagers? while other famous ninja like kakashi and itachi* are there, judging???

*don't try to explain to them uchiha itachi is the source of the club or that kakashi likes icha icha for the romance and not the raunchy parts and barely needed convincing to read the catgirl romance book, it will confuse them

toward the end of the inaugural meeting deidara asks tori if people still hate her fics and minato is like "if you want writing tips, i can invite jiraiya to the next one :)" and tori is going to kill both of them. yes, even the hokage. maybe ESPECIALLY the hokage. she doesn't even really LIKE stupid kitty girl stabby ninja she just wants to do fun fandom stuff okay!!!!

jiraiya shows up at the next meeting anyway because he wants to "scope out the competition" and he makes a very dramatic speech analyzing why ninja romances appeal to civilians and how he's very cleverly using his spy skills to infiltrate civilian spaces and figure them out psychologically--

itachi, sounding genuinely confused: i thought all your plots and characterizations were just projections of your complicated relationship with Tsunade-hime and Orochimaru

Jiraiya: (SHOT DEAD)

jiraiya has to leave immediately to go rethink his entire life and maybe drink himself to death, but tori is touched itachi apparently listened to her at some point u_u

#reborn au

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strawglicks · 6 months

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Talking About Cathal's Flaws Because Why Not

cathal is my whole world my whole universe they are allowed to do anything they want they can end the world and i will stand by their side i adore them. ok now that i got that out of my system let me genuinely talk abt his flaws and analyze it a bit more in depth

To Be Real, He's Very Spoiled.

Now, it wouldn't be fair to demean Cathal to just some spoiled brat. But, to be fair, the only reason they've gotten as far as they have is because of their dad holding their hand through it all. Cathal's dad is the only reason he has a job, is the jr V.P, and hasn't gotten fired.

Their dad wrote their personal statement to ensure they were hired.

Their dad specifically makes sure, no matter how many disciplinary records they have, that Cathal doesn't lose their job. This line may actually imply that they HAVE almost lost their job (which makes sense due to the amount of rules they've broken) but their dad stopped it from happening.

Not to mention, even when made aware of his son slacking around, Allan straight up lies to management. He claims he'll disconnect the cable immediately, but according to the following lines in Cathal's battle:

...Allan didn't do anything about the cable like he said he would.

Due to all this, it makes sense Cathal is spoiled. They just have their whole future handed to them on a silver platter without them even needing to try. And because they're not even given the chance to learn, grow, or develop new skills, they wind up rather depressed and apathetic. Which leads me to another point.

Cathal is Extremely Apathetic/Careless, Which Affects Themselves and Everyone Around Them.

A huge aspect of Cathal's character is his laziness, procrastination, and carelessness. But I think it's important to dive into the "why" of these qualities.

Like I said before, Cathal has their career handed to them without even lifting a finger. There are several times he slacks off, doesn't show up to work, doesn't DO his work, etc., yet he keeps his job because of his dad and nothing is done about these problems. This is likely one of the biggest reasons he's so apathetic and doesn't care to get around to his work anyway. If there are no consequences, what's the point of following the rules?

And that's where most of this behavior drives from. "What's the point?"

If the toons won't attack Cathal, what's the point of Cathal attacking the toons?

If their dad just keeps getting repaired, what's the point of destroying him in the first place?

What is the point of any of this?

Cathal seeking a meaning and finding none leads to their apathy and carelessness, which then causes them to slack off and make things harder on their fellow coworkers. This is shown in things like this comic, featuring a skelecog who's overworked just to do a simple, minimal effort task just because Cathal didn't feel like it.

What's the point of doing ANY work when he can have someone else do it instead?

Which leads me into another point-

Cathal is Quite Selfish and Doesn't Value Anyone's Time But His Own.

There are several instances of Cathal being pretty self-centered, specifically about their time being wasted. Almost like a certain someone...(graham. its graham. im talking about graham. these two are like two sides of one coin but thats another post for another day)

Many of these instances can simply be found in their fight dialogue.

They give total attitude when you interrupt their shows, rushing to get back to it because they find it much more important than their actual job: fighting the toons.

They're shown to generally be impatient and rude whenever they feel their time being wasted. (This handful of lines also displays some of Cathal's attitude and snarkiness, which I think goes WAY unnoticed in the community)

Cathal doesn't even seem to have any shame in the fact he wastes time. As a matter of fact, he almost seems prideful of it, like no one seems to understand how pointless this all is except for him. It almost gives him a bit of an ego (almost like a certain someone.)

That All Being Said, I Don't Think Cathal Has Any Malicious Intent.

I think they're young, spoiled, and inexperienced in the workplace. Their only real jobs have been helping their dad with small chores around the office rather than working for a massive company as a whole (not to mention being next in line as Jr. Vice President of said company. it's a lot of responsibility to spring onto someone so inexperienced, and it's a big responsibility to just hand to someone who clearly has no interest or passion in it.)

Cathal's never been given a real chance to find something to be passionate about, or given any real motive to be passionate about the things he DOES have. I don't think it's an excuse for him to sit back and make everyone else's lives harder, but it is an explanation.

I think Cathal is an important character to mention when discussing Cogs. Inc and how capitalist companies like this tend to destroy people. All it's done for Cathal is drain him of any passion or motivation whatsoever, if he had any before. The one thing he seems to be passionate about is his Dad, which is why he puts up with all this in the first place.

Anyway that's all I had to say. Cathal's an extremely important character to me, my absolute top favorite from TTCC (alongside Graham) and is heavily underappreciated and underdiscussed.

Here's a drawing I made a bit back of Cathal gaming because. This has been sitting in my files and I haven't found an excuse to post it LMFAO

#toontown #toontown corporate clash #ttcc #toontown multislacker #cathal bravecog #cathal ray toby bravecog #my big juicy brain in full effect #strawglicks art gallery #hell ig bc of the last image it does belong on the gallery .#its almost midnight and ive had a long day so if theres grammatical errors or i repeat points. oh well.

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meepispeepis · 3 months

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Shang Tsung's Peril is not Liu Kang's Fault (A Headcanon Analysis)

Ok, so I've been meaning to make this post for a long time, but here it is! Shang Tsung, we all love him. You love him, I love him, we all love our sassy, unapologetic asshole of evil.

However, I found myself feeling off about Shang Tsung's story and how it relates to Liu Kang and his perspective on changing the timeline. In summary, back in MK11, Liu Kang becomes the Keeper of Time and alters the timeline, which leads us to MK1. Everyone in the Mortal Kombat series has been changed, but also keeping the trademark traits that many know them for (Shao Kahn being a tyrant, Kung Lao desiring to be in the spotlight, Johnny Cage being the comic relief, etc). However, where I, personally, took issue with the story is how the villains from the previous timeline are treated compared to Shang Tsung.

I think everyone can agree that Shang Tsung (and Quan Chi, but this isn't about him lol) was treated weirdly horribly in Liu Kang's new era. Now, understandably, if we look back to how Shang was pre-MK1, it's not unreasonable for Liu Kang to demote Shang Tsung the way he did…But when you look at how other villains are treated (General Shao, Sindel, Mileena, Tanya, Noob Saibot/Sub-Zero, etc) in Liu Kang's new era, Shang Tsung happens to stick out like a sore thumb. Now, I get it, outside of the game, Shang Tsung is an iconic villain in the Mortal Kombat franchise, and as storytelling goes, NRS is always going to bring him back as an antagonist figure.

But I feel like there's some missed potential and some story and character moments that are a bit…Contrived, for lack of better words. So, I want to go over how Liu Kang's power over his timeline is presented, why the treatment of Shang Tsung, at least for me, feels off, and how it could've been used a bit better. A.K.A, Shang Tsung's downfall isn't Liu Kang's fault, and let me explain!

The Hourglass, the Timelines, and Liu Kang

We're going to take a moment to analyze Liu Kang's timeline and how the Hourglass works based on the canon events and interactions from MK1 and a bit of MK11. We will be leaving speculation and theories out the door for this one and follow strictly what NRS told us from the story they weaved.

Starting with the Hourglass...We don't know anything about the Hourglass. Ok, that was an oversimplification of what we comprehend about the Hourglass, but believe me, we really don't know what it does.

From what we can ascertain about what the Hourglass can do, we know you can pear through the Hourglass to see past events. We witnessed this with Geras in MK1 when he used the Hourglass to determine who it was that talked with Shang Tsung at the beginning of MK1. We also know that it can be utilized to monitor the current timeline and, if needed, can be used to reset the universe however back the user desires. However, no one can just use the Hourglass. At least based on MK11, only someone powerful enough to wield the title Keeper of Time can control the Hourglass. Not only that, but one cannot reverse time whenever they want. We saw this first hand in the MK11 plot, where Kronika needed to fuel a crown with countless souls and obtain the Jinsei capsules.

Kronika, upon receiving the vials of Jinsei energies: "I now have the energy to resculpt the Sands of Time."

Kronika, while speaking with Revenant Liu Kang: "Timecraft requires an abundance of raw, temporal energy. Every mortal soul contains a lifetime of this power. Every hour, every minute, every second lived is stored within." "In his Well of Souls which, remains untouched, beneath his island. A destiny I crafted for Shang Tsung, in case I ever had need."

We also know that the Keeper of Time can stop time on a large scale. We can see this as Kronika brings back old and new allies and rivals from the past, while also stopping time during the beginnings of MK11.

And based on what Liu Kang tells us in MK1, the Hourglass is considered as follows:

Liu Kang, speaking with Empress Sindel: "A celestial object which lies beyond the realms, the Hourglass regulates time and destiny."

We'll actually come back to the 'time and destiny' thing later down the line. Now, there may be other things about the Hourglass that I might be missing, but thus far, this is all that we are shown and told, canonically, what the Hourglass CAN do. We're not informed much about any potential weaknesses of the item aside from that it requires Kronika's crown to fully reset and restart time. We're not even given other intricacies on how the Hourglass works either, which we'll get into later down the line. Right now, all we know is that:

The Hourglass can ONLY be used by powerful individuals such as Kronika, Shang Tsung, or Fire God Liu Kang. If anyone else were to attempt to wield the powers of time, they end up like Fujin.

The Hourglass, once wielded by said powerful entity, can monitor the current present timeline.

If the wielder so desires, they can also stop time at a worldwide or even universal scale.

The Hourglass can be used to revert time however long back the user desires. Even allowing them to completely change history and destinies. However, they require Kronika's crown and powerful energies to be infused in said crown for this to be possible.

So, we have those bases down. Now, let's talk about Liu Kang and the handling of his new timeline, the MK1 timeline.

Unfortunately, we don't get much insight into what Liu Kang saw when he peered into the Hourglass and what was done for him to change the current timeline. The closest we get to what he did when constructing the timeline is that he popped & locked while in front of the Hourglass. But we can ascertain what he did to achieve his new timeline based on not only the MK1 story but also the character interactions he has with the other playable fighters.

We'll start with what we have seen from the story mode. In Liu Kang's new timeline:

Tarkatans are now just diseased individuals who will eventually become ravenous monsters.

Outworld and its leaders are still hellbent on conquering other realms.

Raiden is now mortal, Kung Lao is still "Second-Best," Johnny Cage is still a struggling martial arts movie star, and Kenshi is part of the Yakuza looking for Sento.

Sindel is now queen of Outworld and has two daughters, Kitana AND Mileena. However, her husband, Jerrod, is once again dead.

Shao Kahn is no longer the king of Outworld, instead "demoted" to the status of General. Reiko is also his adopted son now.

Speaking of which, Mileena is no longer a science experiment made by Shang Tsung. She's now the actual birth sister of Kitana.

Tanya and Rain are also pacified, as Tanya is now a warrior priestess and protector of the throne, while Rain is the High Mage of the palace.

Shang Tsung has become a begging salesman, fooling people with mock potions and cures to make a potential living.

Now, I'm actually going to stop here because all of this we learn about of Liu Kang's new timeline before Shang Tsung becomes a literal threat. And so far, some things look good for Liu Kang's new era...However, there are some things that I question about Liu Kang's new timeline and we'll go down the list about it.

Starting with the Tarkatans, if you are aware of at least Mortal Kombat 11, you would know that Tarkatans are a race of people. Yet, in Liu Kang's new timeline, they're instead diseased people...Why? Now, before, when I first watched MK1, I thought that they were going to reveal that Tarkat (the name of the disease) was created by Shang Tsung...But it's not????

We actually learn this in the first 5 minutes of MK1, where Shang Tsung is advertising his healing remedies, and he SPECIFICALLY STATES how his mock cures could heal those affected by Tarkat. So that means that this was purposefully done when Liu Kang recreated history. Now, this isn't me blaming Liu Kang (we'll also get to that later too) because Liu Kang does mention that Tarkat's existence in his timeline was an "unforeseen consequence."

Liu Kang VS Baraka: "As my creator, you're to blame for my affliction." "It was an unforeseen consequence, Baraka."

But it's still weird that Liu Kang would allow such a dramatic change for a race of people. Now, albeit, Tarkatans were often depicted as fighting for Shao Kahn. You know, one of the main antagonists of the Mortal Kombat franchise. But it's still weird that Liu Kang decided this was a more suitable outcome, and we'll actually discuss this in a moment.

Next, I want to talk about Outworld itself, a very divisive realm that, in the previous timeline, was a practical breeding ground for most of our known antagonists (and protagonists, too). If you at least know about MK9, you would know that the Mortal Kombat tournaments exist because of Outworld. Shao Kahn, the previous ruler of Outworld, wanted to merge Outworld with Earthrealm. But the Elder Gods created a checks & regulations system called the Mortal Kombat tournament to keep not only the realms in check but also ensure that Shao Kahn didn't get too powerful (with some help from Sindel).

Now, you would think, in Liu Kang's new era, he would eliminate the need for that to happen, especially since Sindel was now the ruling force in Outworld…But no, the Mortal Kombat tournament still stands? Now, admittedly, Liu Kang does inform us that the more "militant force" of Outworld and its politics are the reason why Mortal Kombat exists. He and Jerrod agreed that this would maintain the peace between Outworld and Earthrealm.

Yet, it still feels off that Liu Kang would also allow such a tournament to still exist; an event infamous for causing conflict so great that his best friends, even HIMSELF, perished for it. Why should Mortal Kombat be the by-all, end-all to keep peace with another realm? Not only that, but Outworld is a world riddled with conflict. Now, they don't SPECIFICALLY say that Outworld has conquered other realms, but they do name internal quarrels that Outworld faced in its past. And, sure, these conflicts are not really described in any detail when mentioned, but it shows the troubled history that Liu Kang mentions when talking with Raiden and displays Outworld's desire for conquest. Which, once again, why would Liu Kang still keep Outworld as this conquest-driven realm where Mortal Kombat is NEEDED to maintain the peace?

Now, next is the many "new" characters we meet in MK1. Now, to properly talk about this, we actually are going to start with the villains of the previous timeline, and then we're gonna come back to the Hourglass being able to regulate time and destiny. Heavily going to talk about destiny, though.

Now, where to begin! Let's start with Shang Tsung since, believe it or not, this post is about him too. From the very beginning of MK1, we learn that Shang Tsung is a wandering charlatan who sells quack cures and fake magic. We see this as he tried to market an elixir to a crowd of desperate locals, only to be caught red-handed by a man who outs his falsities. After the fact, we are shown that Shang Tsung resides in an Outworld RV (a wagon), and he dons disguises so that he can easily fool others of his crafts. During his conversation with Damashi, we hear Shang Tsung describe his lifestyle as "barely survival." We don't know if he has an actual home to go to, but considering that his wagon is considerably full of stuff, he most likely lives and breathes in that wagon.

From this, we can ascertain that Shang Tsung lives a life of squalor. And if the opening 5 minutes of MK1 isn't convincing with his dirt-faced ass, sad little meow meow visage, then listening to his interactions with the other playable fighters should be enough to assure you that Shang Tsung was in poor conditions. Now, considering what Shang Tsung has done in the previous timelines (MK9-11 & MK-MK: Armageddon), you would say that this is a well-deserved fate...However, some things make Shang Tsung's life in MK1 seem glaringly unfair.

To discuss what I mean, let's look at the other villains in the Mortal Kombat franchise and their new life in MK1. Starting with Sindel. Now, say what you will about Sindel's retcon in MK11; it stands that she was a villainess in the most recent memory of the rebooted MK games. She has done some pretty horrible stuff, such as killing her husband Jerrod in the alternate timeline, lying and betraying her own daughter and her allies, imprisoning the Cage family, and specifically telling them that they will "breed slaves" for her new regime. Now, as I said, I am aware that Sindel was beloved because of her story before MK9-MK11 where she was once a villain, but she redeemed herself to become a hero. I'm not blind to this, but considering that MK1 is building off of what they attempted to tell in the altered timeline, Sindel is pretty awful. Considering that Liu Kang merged with Raiden and his revenant self and absorbed their powers and knowledge, you would think that Sindel would get a pretty bad life, much like Shang Tsung...Right?

Now, while the "restored" Sindel is an absolute W for Sindel fans, considering what Liu Kang did to Shang Tsung in his new timeline, it feels a bit off. Because mind you, Liu Kang wouldn't know about Sindel's "redemption arc," and considering that they also retcon Sindel's origin, she should be getting the same treatment as Shang Tsung, right? She was dangerously close to obtaining a realm where she reigned as a tyrannical queen.

But no, she's given what she wanted. She's now the Empress of Outworld. The only good thing about this is that she isn't the vile person we saw in MK11. Instead, she's a firm yet compassionate queen. She's willing to be at war with anyone who rivals Outworld's power, but she states multiple times how she prefers that to not be the case. She even talks down to General Shao by reminding him of the teachings his father told him about war. MK1 Sindel also loves her daughters and does her best to protect them. Mileena is a grand example of them due to her being infected with the Tarkat disease. Sindel tries to conceal her affliction to prevent those who would do their family harm from using this against them. And as foolish as this was in hindsight, she allowed Shang Tsung to concoct a temporary cure for her daughter. This time around, Sindel also loves her husband Jerrod, and his untimely death took a toll on her. And this time around, she didn't off herself because of it :D.

Ok, so Sindel got off scot-free, mainly because the developers realized they made a mistake by turning the most beloved character into the most hated. And that can be forgiven, so we'll overlook that for now. But what about Mileena? In the altered timeline, Mileena was created by Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn. The reason for this was because Shao Kahn believed that Kitana could possibly, and eventually, betray him IF she were to learn the truth of her origins. Being new to Mortal Kombat, Mileena's atrocities are not plainly told aside from her being a mean mama jama like her creators. She ruled Outworld for a time, even was called the "Mad Empress," only to be killed by Devorah in MKX. So, not many notable war crimes that Mileena herself has done, aside from assisting Shao Kahn in the invasion of Earthrealm.

So I'm not too mad (never was really) about Mileena also receiving a better life in Liu Kang's new timeline, despite being a villain herself. And, I honestly see it as poetic. In my opinion, and I don't know if the rest of the fandom agrees with this, but I always felt that Mileena's core theme was about family. And I'm kinda disappointed that this wasn't explored for the altered Mileena in MK9-MK11. Also two, I can somewhat understand Liu Kang wanting to provide Mileena a better life. Mileena was a child a circumstance, created by vile individuals who wished to use her for ill. She was pretty much a child, mentally, and had no choice in who she could become, should the winds of fate not breeze by her. So Mileena becoming Kitana's actual sister and still becoming the future empress is satisfying (another W for Mileena fans).

But, at the end of the day, Mileena was still a villain with very little redeeming qualities. She was supposed to be exceptionally loyal to Shao Kahn and perhaps even Shang Tsung. So why does she also get a happy ending while Shang Tsung ate shit for MK1?

Then, we have the most considerable outlier in MK1, General Shao. Based on what we saw in MK9 & MK11, Shao Kahn not only conquered realms, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent lives, but he was also complacent in the death of Jerrod. Shao deceived Kitana into believing she was his daughter, only to have Shang Tsung create a clone of Kitana (Mileena) to kill her, in case she rebelled. Killed Liu Kang's best friend (Kung Lao) TWICE, attempted to publicly execute Kitana, actually killed Shang Tsung and transferred his soul and powers to Sindel, stole countless souls in Earthrealm to make himself more powerful, was complacent in the death of all the beloved characters in MK9, literally broke Liu Kang's ankles, snapped Kotal Kahn's back and killed him in MK11: Aftermath, committed attempted GENOCIDE upon Earthrealm when he tried to invade and forcibly merge the realms. There might be others I'm forgetting, but the bottom line is Shao Kahn is the meanest motherfucker in Mortal Kombat history.

And being the primary antagonist, you would think that Liu Kang would run this guy into the ground! Better yet, not have him exist at all. You know where this is going, homeboy is quite literally in MK1. Even more mind-boggling is that, like Sindel, General Shao is still in a position of power. He may not be the emperor of Outworld, but he runs its military. THE MILITARY. He has an entire army of HIGHLY TRAINED soldiers at his command! And unlike Sindel or Mileena who fight for the good guys, General Shao is…Complicated. Let me explain.

From what we can ascertain about General Shao, based on how the other characters describe him before he fell into villainy; General Shao grew up as a sickly boy. His father fought hard to not only ensure Shao's survival but also bring him up into the warrior he is. We also learn that General Shao comes from a warrior clan or at least a long line of warriors in his family. His father, like all fathers in this game apparently, was highly respected by Sindel. So much so that she quotes him when talking to General Shao.

General Shao also presents himself as highly patriotic to Outworld, as we see numerous occasions where he's zealous for Outworld's victory and power over others. Now, Liu Kang does mention something that I find interesting.

That sentence alone would have us believe that even before Shang Tsung spoke with General Shao, Shao was already someone who was prideful of himself and had heavy prejudices towards others. We can see that plainly whenever he speaks with any of the Earthrealmers. But something tells me that General Shao isn't the villain that NRS wants us to believe he still is. When talking with Sindel in private, he mentions a lot about how he feels that Outworld is shackled by Liu Kang's supposed "influence" on Outworld.

Now yes, as we later know, it is Shang Tsung that's been feeding General Shao these lies. But remember, Liu Kang said that Shang "played" on these traits that General Shao had. This means that these feelings were harboring for who knows how long. I think NRS wants us to presume that these negative feelings were festering since Jerrod & Liu Kang agreed upon settling realm tensions with Mortal Kombat. But however long these emotions have been boiling within Shao Kahn, that's what made Shao vulnerable to such manipulations. Because General Kahn's speech consists of him feeling that Outworld is trapped and that it needs to be liberated.

But the underline point of this is that even General Shao, the biggest, baddest villain in all of Mortal Kombat, was given a better life than Shang Tsung. The very same man who killed Liu Kang's spiritual brother and best friend TWICE and nearly took over Earthrealm. He's given a high position of power, yet Shang Tsung was left to struggle for the barest minimum.

And this is where we need to go back to the capabilities of the Hourglass. Liu Kang and Kronika specifically mention how the Hourglass is used to establish history and destinies for those within the timeline. In Kronika's case, every time she restarted the timeline, everyone was essentially kept the same. We saw this when Raiden discovered that he and Liu Kang were always destined to fight, and Liu Kang was supposed to die.

And casual reminder, that destiny, by definition, means that there will be necessary events that will happen to one person or thing in the future. And the Hourglass, based on what NRS is telling us, is used to craft these destinies. So, you would think that Liu Kang would want to construct different futures for everyone, which he did, but why is Shang Tsung the outlier? Because Raiden is wholly distinct compared to the thunder god he was before, in his ending, Liu Kang purposefully changed Raiden so that he doesn't become Dark Raiden in his timeline. Sindel is also given a fresh coat of paint as well along with Mileena. Yet, Johnny Cage is the same, Kung Lao is the same, Kitana remains the same, but Shang Tsung is still a conniving little shit?

And during the interactions with Shang Tsung, Liu Kang mentions that he gave Shang Tsung this life because he wanted to reform Shang Tsung…Which, that doesn't make any sense! Because when Liu Kang FINALLY informed Sindel, Kitana, Mileena, and anyone who was in Shang's laboratory about the previous timeline, NONE OF THEM KNEW OF THIS! Nobody in the new timeline knew who they were before the change! How the fuck can someone be reformed for something they didn't even know they've done? Not only that but are you about to tell me that this BRAND NEW SHANG TSUNG is literally being punished and put in timeout ALL BECAUSE OF HIS OLD TIMELINE SELF? A VERSION OF HIMSELF HE HAD NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF, WOULD HAVE NEVER HAD ANY PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF, AND NEVER COMMITTED ANY OF THE ATROCITIES THAT THE OLD SHANG TSUNG HAS DONE????

Even more weird is this comment that Liu Kang makes:

Wait, what the fuck does that mean, 'other timelines'? Because in story mode, Liu Kang AND Geras inform us, the audience, that they've never seen other timelines exist outside of their own. Hell, Geras said that in the billions of years of him living, other branching timelines have never existed! And based on my research, the Hourglass has never been shown to let the user peek into the future. Yet, here, Liu Kang brings up how he saw what Rain and Shang Tsung have done in other timelines? Now, yes, these dialogue options could've been placed AFTER the events of MK1's story mode, especially since the majority of the interactions between fighters are spoken as though the events from the story AND their arcade ending have already passed.

But let's look at Rain for a brief moment. Going back to the first image I posted above, the exchange between the pair goes like this:

Rain: You took Godhood from me?

Liu Kang: Because in no timeline had you used it wisely.

And there's another one I want to point out too:

Liu Kang: Pride has been your downfall in all timelines

Rain: Then why not change me in this one?

So, from what NRS is telling us from these interactions, Liu Kang WAS aware of previous timelines when recreating history? So that means that when he was recreating Rain's destiny, or future, he saw multiple events where Rain was still harmfully prideful? Liu Kang SPECIFICALLY SAYS that in no other timeline, Rain as a demi-god was a detriment. And that would mean that he would HAVE to see into the future to see if keeping Rain as a demi-god would be worth the risk in his new era! YET, APPARENTLY, HE EITHER HAS SELECTIVE FORESIGHT, OR THIS IS A PLOT CONTRIVENCY BECAUSE THERE ARE MULTIPLE TIMES WHERE LIU KANG SAYS THAT CERTAIN EVENTS WERE OUT OF HIS SIGHT. HIS TALK WITH BARAKA FOR GOOD EXAMPLE, WHERE HE MENTIONS THAT TARKAT WAS A UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCE! LIU KANG EVEN TELLS TOMAS (Smoke) THAT THE REASON WHY HE WAS ORPHANED WAS SO THAT HE CAN MAKE HIS TIMELINE, WHICH MUST MEAN THAT HE WAS ABLE TO CRAFT HIS LIFE FROM NEAR BEGINNING TO END!

SO WHICH IS IT NRS, CAN MY BOY ACTUALLY SEE INTO THE FUTURE? HOW LIMITED IS HIS SIGHT? DID HE OR DID HE NOT ACTUALLY KNOW ABOUT OTHER TIMELINES? And Rain is right to question, why didn't he change him? Because Mileena was changed, compared to the playful vileness she was before. And an even better example to compare to Rain, RAIDEN was altered! He's woefully humble, the nicest, sweetest farm boy to ever exist, and he too was demoted from literal Godhood! So why didn't you also change Shang Tsung? Why keep him as a charlatan who will lie, cheat, steal, and kill his way to power?

Now, yes, Liu Kang does mention how he wanted to leave everyone's fates in their own hands. But these are fates that YOU CRAFTED FOR THEM! AND DID VERY LITTLE TO ACTUALLY DIFFERENTIATE THEM FROM THEIR PREVIOUS COUNTERPARTS! Sure, their new life experiences that Liu Kang gave them, their personalities would change. But, that's practically null because most of the good and bad guys in MK1 are practically identical to their previous selves. Once again, Johnny Cage is no different from the Johnny Cage we saw back in MK9-MK11, Kung Lao is still the same since that same era, and even Shao Kahn is somewhat still similar to his tyrant self in the previous games!

So it's no wonder that Titan Shang Tsung was able to just swoop in and take this new Shang Tsung under his black wings because this "new" Shang Tsung is no different from what he was. All that changed is that the little shit doesn't know magic and is poor!

I'm actually going to stop here because I think you can get my point. Liu Kang did a horrible job recreating this timeline. Which the blame actually goes to Netherrealm Studios. While I do love the story of MK1, it's horribly too simple and vague when it comes to not only its story plots but also the capabilities of how Liu Kang constructed this timeline. Because this makes it seem like Liu Kang held some special prejudice against a Shang Tsung who didn't commit any of the crimes that his previous self had committed, yet still punished him for it, and called it "reforming" him. Yet, he's happily willing to overlook the crimes that Shao Kahn and Sindel have committed for some reason!

So, I actually want to write up an alternative story for how Shang Tsung became the way he did because the one that NRS gave us is flawed in so many ways.

Reimagining of the Hourglass & Shang Tsung

We're first going to further expand upon the Hourglass since this very item is the core reason why MK1 becomes a reality. We all know that Kronika has been manipulating the Hourglass for billions upon billions of years. We get this timeframe from Geras, who has been working alongside Kronika for many eons. And I'd like to think that the Hourglass, due to Kronika's influence, has been forever tainted with her vision. It has, for many millenia, saw the intended vision that Kronika wanted out of her balanced timeline, so when there is a disturbance to her vision, it slowly, like a snail, attempts to revert back to the "status quo." Now, whether or not this makes the Hourglass conscious or not I'm unsure if I would call it that. But, clearly, Kronika's vision and influence have rubbed off on this celestial item. This could be why certain characters in MK1 practically remain the same.

And with this in mind, Liu Kang noticed this. When he was recreating the timeline, he may have seen that no matter what he did, everyone, one way or another, would revert back to an aspect of themselves that they were before. So, Liu Kang had to make necessary changes. Raiden could no longer be the God of Thunder, Rain could no longer be a demi-god, Subzero & Scorpion would have to become blood brothers, Mileena and Kitana would become actual sisters, etc. As for the villains, Liu Kang must've known that, while there are people in the world who simply do terrible shit just because, more often than not, there is a reason for their villainy. So, he provided them what they wanted. Sindel remains as the queen of Outworld, Rain is instead a High Mage in Outworld, and while General Shao may not be the emperor of Outworld, he's still given a position of power by leading Outworld's armies.

So what would this mean for Shang Tsung? Well, why not give Shang Tsung what he wanted too? And to understand what Shang Tsung wants, we gotta first go over who he is real quick. Now, I'm not going all the way back to the arcade cabinet Mortal Kombat. If it hasn't been obvious, I'm mostly taking notes and points from MK9-MK11 because that's the jumping point MK1 is coming off from. And based on the research I made, not much is known about MK9 or MK11 Shang Tsung. We know he was from Earthrealm (most likely China due to his name) and that he had magical capabilities that led him to Outworld.

And other than that, there's not much of Shang Tsung's new backstory that we see here. He's kinda like a Joker character, just more sophisticated and not too insane in the membrane. Shang Tsung simply wants power and will do anything to obtain it. But, let's look into his capabilities to consume souls. From what we saw in MK9 & MK11, Shang Tsung MUST consume souls to remain young and strong. How he got this way, the games don't tell us, and I'm not going to rely on any of the multiple character endings in these games since they are infamously known to have endings that are either not canon, semi-canon, or have contradictory plot points. And, once again, I'm also avoiding any canons in the Midway Mortal Kombat games since who knows if any of the canon events BEFORE the first Mortal Kombat game still stands. See Sindel for a point of reference in MK11: Aftermath.

From what I saw in the MK fandom, many compare Shang Tsung to a vampire, which is a pretty apt comparison. Depending on the vampire media you consume, when vampires are deprived of blood for too long, they start to wither away and become decrepit; slowly or quickly reverting back to a frail, old state of being. And the only way they can prevent further degradation is by consuming blood, which changes them back to being youthful again. The same could be said about Shang Tsung. Once again, we don't know the rules of his soul consumption in the NRS games. Does Shang Tsung need to feed regularly on souls or risk becoming old within weeks or months? Or does Shang Tsung consume a soul, becomes youthful again, but year after year, as he gets older again, he knows he has to soul-suck another individual to keep his vigor? Regardless, Shang Tsung, selfishly, prolongs his own life at the expense of others if he does not wish to die. Which could also explain why Shang Tsung desired power so much. If he was powerful enough and had a steady stream of souls to collect, he could stay young forever, effectively immortal. Now, would this say that Shang Tsung has an inner fear of death? Maybe, why else would someone desire such a feat if not to avoid the dreadful reality of one's mortality. He was already well versed with magic before, so why not ambitiously expand his possibilities while also keeping his being alive eternally? It's classic TTRPG Lich shit.

So, what did Shang Tsung want in the previous timeline? He desired power and an endless supply of souls to upkeep his well-being so that he could continue to live youthful. That's pretty much what it boils down to. So, how would Liu Kang, essentially, give Shang Tsung what he wanted. We know that he depowers Shang Tsung, which is a good starting point. If Liu Kang hoped to ensure that Shang Tsung wouldn't receive any magical prowess, taking it away in the new timeline is a good idea. On top of that, keeping him in Earthrealm would also be a good idea. Now, yes, there are some Earthrealmers who gain magical capabilities and they're not from realms like Outworld or Chaosrealm. However, more often than not, the reason why they gain their powers is due to a freak accident, an item they possess, or due to being gifted by it from otherworldly beings of power. So the chances of Shang Tsung becoming a powerful sorcerer in Earthrealm, if Liu Kang played his cards right, would still be a low probability.

Another thing would be to put Shang Tsung in a position of power. This could either mean that Shang Tsung could've been born into nobility or even royalty like Sindel and her daughters. And I say could've because we gotta look at Kung Lao. Kung Lao still has the history of his ancestor, the Great Kung Lao, being the greatest Mortal Kombat champion. So I can imagine that Shang Tsung, when the time would come for his arrival, would've been born into a long line of respectable nobles or part of a royal house. And before we continue, we gotta talk about Sindel's interactions with Liu Kang. There are multiple times where Sindel questions the legitimacy of her own actions because she learned how Liu Kang created the timeline and is thus her creator. Yet, Liu Kang keeps reassuring her that her actions, decisions, and life is still her own. That she is not part of some grand plan that Liu Kang had for her. And I want to slightly expand upon that. To do so, we got to go back to the Hourglass.

The Hourglass, I feel, is like talking to a genie. It's a common trope that one must be careful when making any wish with a genie because the creature will take your word literally or twist it on its head. It's like the saying goes, "Be careful about what you wish for." And I can imagine that Liu Kang made commands, or wishes, to the Hourglass to gain the desired results he wanted, like inputting a command to an AI machine to get results. However, Liu Kang didn't want to have an iron grip on how people's lives were spent. Kronika has always made it where Liu Kang was the "chosen hero" of Earthrealm or that Shang Tsung would be a menace. So Liu Kang did the equivalence of putting in a simple command like, "I want Sindel to become the empress of Outworld." But to ensure that she still had the free will to achieve such a status, he probably put opportunities within her ancestors' history so that it would become a POSSIBILITY for Sindel and her daughters to become royalty, but never a guarantee. We'll get back into this when we discuss Shang Tsung again.

So essentially, Liu Kang had a looser grip on the fates of the characters of MK1, giving them ample opportunities to weave their own destinies based on the lives they lived and the chances given to them. And while these changes may have slowed down the Hourglass's capability to conform this new timeline back into Kronika's vision, this also left this timeline vulnerable to Titan Shang Tsung's meddling. Because, yeah, I think we're all overlooking the terrifying idea of Titan Shang Tsung being the catalyst cause for why MK1 becomes a thing to begin with. I would honestly his involvement in MK1 entirely to this instead.

When Titan Shang Tsung mentioned that he discovered the timeline where Liu Kang won the battle instead of him, they make it seem like that he learned of this yesterday and decided to act upon it today. Instead, I would've preferred that he was messing with Liu Kang's timeline without the Fire God even knowing it. Titan Shang Tsung should've been the reason Tarkat existed, Titan Shang Tsung should've been the one who pulled the strings for Jerrod's eventual death, Titan Shang Tsung should've been responsible for Smoke losing his family, TITAN SHANG TSUGN SHOULD'VE BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR WHY LIU KANG'S SHANG TSUNG BECAME HOMELESS!

Because that would've made Titan Shang Tsung a more personal and deeper threat. Because he could easily blame all the events that happened in Liu Kang's timeline on Liu Kang himself. Because Liu Kang had a looser grip on how his timeline worked, Titan Shang Tsung saw holes in Liu Kang's timeline that he could use to agitate the timeline, thus giving the Hourglass ample reason to revert certain events back into Kronika's vision. For example, Mileena being infected with Tarkat and becoming the Mileena we know from the previous timeline, General Shao eventually wanting to become emperor of Outworld, or the Shirai Ryu becoming a rival clan from the Lin Kuei.

So, it would make sense for him to sabotage HIS OWN SELF so that this new Shang Tsung would become vulnerable to his schemes in the hopes of gaining not only a better life but power. I can imagine that Titan Shang Tsung disrupted the new Shang Tsungs family line by showing them forbidden magics. Magic so off-limits that Liu Kang himself had to intervene, which ruined the Tsung family and brought them into obscurity. Or, Titan Shang Tsung may have destroyed their family fortune due to political intrigue or financial bankruptcy. Whatever Titan Shang Tsung did, it brought the Tsung family to the lowest of the low, so much so that they either had to escape, move, or were somehow taken to Outworld. And being in Outworld didn't improve the family's lives as they would never reach the noble or royal status that they had before.

And this is where we gotta talk about freedom of choice with Shang Tsung because I feel like some people forget that his info card mentions this about Shang Tsung in MK1:

"Shang Tsung grew up in Outworld's backwaters. Too lazy for hard labor and too shifty for honest work, he eked out a living selling quack cures and fake magic."

Now, when we look at Outworld and the way it's presented, the realm is definitely a high fantasy realm. They don't have cars like we do, they use carts, they don't have advanced technology like cellphones or T.V. Hell, Mileena shows genuine awe when she sees Johnny fly a drone and calls it magic. So it can be assumed, as well, that they probably work up some elbow grease when it comes to planting, performing customer service work, and other hard labor. All of it is done by hand with little intervention from machines. Or, the convenience is done by magic, but we can clearly see that magic doesn't come naturally to just anyone since Rain had to go to school just to become a hydromancer. Also, to be fair, the magic system in MK is not really grounded anyway, so :/.

So I can imagine why work was somewhat undesirable for Shang Tsung. He didn't know magic himself, so he didn't have the convince to let the wills of the mystical to relieve him of work. And depending on HOW poor Shang Tsung was, Shang Tsung probably wasn't able to hone any skills. We know that he speaks well, but how much of that was due to any formal education or self-teaching himself to sound as though he knows what he's talking about. And considering the fact that he's considered "shifty," that must mean that he had to resort to a life of stealing from others when he was younger. And I refuse to believe that Shang Tsung never had opportunities in life to potentially rise above his poor lifestyle, but because of his growing guarded and selfish nature, he couldn't help but grow impatient when the comfortable lifestyle he wanted took longer compared to just finding way to sneakily get what he wants.

And like I said, in this headcanon scenario, Titan Shang Tsung essentially groomed our new Shang Tsung into this lifestyle and way of thinking. He probably manipulated moments in his life to make it seem like Shang Tsung had no choice but to accept a life of deception, that this Damashi character was his only hope of ever achieving that comfortable lifestyle he always wanted, along with weaving a fake story that people "conspired against him since his birth."

And to add to this tragedy, I want to go back to Liu Kang and how everyone blames him for the reason why their lives either went to shit or for why horrible things happened to them. Because, once again, I refuse to believe that Liu Kang would just create Tarkat, or let Smokes' family die, or even let Jerrod die for the 100th time (guy can't catch a break). I like to think that Liu Kang and Geras eventually connect the dots that it was thanks to Titan Shang Tsung's meddling in his timeline that events transpired the way they did. Yet, Liu Kang doesn't want to tell anyone this. Because while it was Titan Shang Tsung's fault, the Hourglass is truly the one to blame. Even beyond the grave, Kronika nearly got what she wanted as everything nearly reverted to some twisted version of how her era once was. So Liu Kang takes the blame for it all because telling everyone that they're potentially doomed to become the worst versions of themselves or that they will experience expected tragedies would be too much for them to handle. So Liu Kang allows them to use him as the scapegoat, to blame their blights on him for why events turned out the way they did.

And I'm finally going to stop here because this has gotten too long and at this point, I feel like I'm a rambling mad woman XD.

Essentially, the TLDR version of all of this is that Titan Shang Tsung is the true mastermind for why Shang Tsung became what he was. He manipulated events so that he could merge his timeline into Liu Kangs and fucked up Liu's new era because of it. Shang Tsung's downfall wasn't Liu Kang's fault and it shouldn't have been.

Anyways, I hope that you enjoyed this ramble, and please feel free to express your own opinions about Shang Tsung's story in MK1. There's probably something about MK1 that I missed that probably justifies Liu Kang being the reason Shang Tsung becomes homeless, but I did my best with the sources that was provided to me.

#Mortal Kombat #Mortal Kombat 1 #MK1 #MK1 Shang Tsung #MK1 Liu Kang #Fire God Liu Kang #Shang Tsung #Liu Kang

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writing-for-life · 4 days

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WHAT DO YOU MEAN DREAM'S HAIR USED TO BE WHITE!! oh my god. i just saw your post about killala and i have now perished. thanks for breaking my heart.

but also hi!! i'm relatively new to the fandom and it's a great place to be. i haven't finished reading all the comics yet but i'm curious to know:

what do you think are the main differences between TV!Dream and Comics!Dream? i've heard so many people claiming that he is incapable of changing, for instance, and though the show does convey his overall rigidity pretty well, i'm not getting the vibe that he's immutable.

also!! it's clear that he feels a lot. which is always funny to me when the corinthian is like yo, try this and maybe you'll feel something for a change but like. he does!!! or i get the impression that he does. he probably feels too much if anything?? all of it simmering just beneath the surface, barely contained. how would you personally analyze his relationship with his own emotions?

i hope all of this is coherent enough for you to answer lmao, i saw your post about enjoying being asked sandman questions two seconds after i woke up and barged into your inbox. hope you have a lovely day!

Thanks so much for the ask, and welcome if you’re new(ish) to the fandom! 🤗

I’m sorry I broke your heart—much more heartbreak to come I fear if you haven’t read the comics yet, so I’ll try to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.

I am one of those people who believes the differences between comics!Dream and show!Dream are actually not as big as they are made out to be where it matters, and you will definitely find people who disagree. At the end of the day, we all read it through our own lens and will never be fully objective about it.

The main difference I see is that they filed off the rough edges of the comics a bit to make a new audience sympathise more. It’s very hard to do that with a character who is basically in full arsehole mode for most of the first 40 issues or so, and even then only slowly begins to come out of it (although we can obviously see glimmers of what lies below the surface at the beginning of the comics, too, but it’s far more subtle than in the show). I’ve worked in musical theatre for a over decade of my life and understand a bit about bringing the written word to stage/screen, and some things simply don’t translate well from book to stage/screen, and you have to change it. So my personal opinion is we get a more sympathetic Morpheus and certain changes so the audience can do exactly that—sympathise off the bat. You will lose an audience pretty quickly if they don’t care about the protagonist and the universe he moves in, and you can’t be as nuanced about it as you can be in a written work. We’re talking about streaming services thinking about profits here, even if people don’t want to hear it.

Also: The more you sympathise with a character, the deeper the emotional investment and the more you feel, even if it hurts.

Having said this, I don’t think Morpheus is incapable of change, and I never got where that idea comes from. His biggest flaw is that he believes he cannot change (and even he has moments when he admits he might have). In the introduction to Endless Nights, Neil Gaiman says that he was once asked to describe The Sandman in twenty-five words or less, and famously, it was this (you might have heard it):

“The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision.”

And I think some people might have wrongly taken that for an either/or thing. I don’t want to say too much at this point because I don’t know how much you know (if you’d like spoilers or already know how it ends, let me know, I’ll happily expand on it). Only so much:

He is capable of change, also in the comics. Very obviously so. But just like he denies he has his own story (which also isn’t true), he denies he can change. Or at least he thinks he perhaps cannot change enough (it’s actually hard to write about this without giving everything away, help! 🙈).

As for his feelings: He does feel, but again, it is something he pushes down and will deny himself. Until it bursts to the surface and breaks through, and when that happens, it’s usually with, well, let’s say varying results, and that’s putting it mildly. Personally, I’d say he has problems relating to his feelings, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel. Quite the opposite in my view. He holds the collective unconscious—all unprocessed feelings and whatever else floats around in that collective mess, and it’s exactly what he says to the Corinthian in that famous scene: he needs to keep a lid on it and keep that lid firmly closed so all of it doesn’t consume him. But that also means denying himself the feelings that are linked to his own personhood (if you want to call it that). There’s Dream of the Endless, and then there’s Morpheus. And while they’re one and the same and inseparable, Morpheus is also the “point of view”. The character, the person, if you will. And deep down, he craves that personhood so badly. Out of all the Endless, he is the only one who basically collects names because they mean having something beyond his function, which is also mirrored in what he tells Death in “The Sound of her Wings”: he wants something more. He is the only one whose realm is populated with sentient beings (yes, I know Despair has rats, but I think you get my drift). He is desperately lonely and struggles with it. He seeks connection yet denies it to himself. That’s not someone who doesn’t feel.

I don’t know if this answers your questions at all—I was doing the wild “spoiler-free” dance 🤣 But please let me know if you want me to go a bit deeper, I love talking about this stuff.

You can also have a look at my metas if you haven’t already. The headers pretty much explain what they’re about and what spoiler-level to expect, but none of them are truly spoiler-free I guess:

Again, thanks so much for encroaching on my inbox, and feel free to follow up if anything was left unanswered.

@dreamaturgy ask answered

#the sandman #sandman #dream of the endless #morpheus #sandman meta #ask answered #send asks #sandman analysis #sandman character analysis #sandman comics #the sandman netflix

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areyouscaredyet · 4 months

Text

happy midnight in the morning; anime salieri jumpscare

(DO NOT READ UNDER THE CUT; CRINGE LIES AHEAD) (explaining my design because I actually really like the portrayal of mozart in CL and I wanted to put my 2c into his myth)

i know this has been done before like a million times but i NEED to contribute… hes my silly guy… the most toxic of all men…

… the obligatory Salieri classicaloid 🥳

hes just.. so comically emo in every piece of media he shows up in and I was so surprised to see he never gets a classicaloid design🥲

i gave him elements from MOR, amadeus the film, AND amadeus the original play 🫡 his design in MOR basically already looks like an anime character, so i kept the emo fringe and some of the facial hair. his baton is also a dagger, inspired by l’assasymphonie (sorry)

hes wearing basically all black because the costuming directions found at the beginning of the play state that he should always be seen in black or very dark colors, which i think is really amusing (even if it makes for a dense design lol). it fits w his character as a foil to mozart who in the play/film is always seen in pastels and bright colors. moz wearing mostly all pink in CL is a cute detail !!

the cloak + tri-corner hat come directly from the film/play, and the character who stands outside mozart’s window counting down the deadline of his requiem. it’s also interesting how Don Giovanni is portrayed dressed as this character as well, but I’m not about to analyze a 3 hour film below a post about anime 💀

if you read this far congrats you made it to the end🎊

#2024 will be the year of CRINGE!!!#letting my freak flag fly #ignore the shitty hands I’m tired #content for a dead fandom #antonio salieri #classicaloid #classicaloid oc #amadeus #mozart l'opera rock #mozalieri #I actually have a lot more to say but I know I’m gonna be embarrassed with what I have already when I wake up tomorrow (today?)#i drawd this

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froot-batty · 6 months

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Can you explain how Eddie, Jon, and Jerv's autism manifests itself? As an Autistic comics fan, I love the idea of the Dork squad all being autistic!!

I sure can!! This one's gonna be long, so I'm gonna post it under a cut

Ed's whole deal can get a little complicated to explain, since he has BPD, ADHD, and OCD along with autism, so a lot of his experiences or behaviors are going to be influenced by all of those

Ed is a very repetition/pattern/organization focused kind of guy. Whether this be repeating routines, having to keep a system that's very specific, or needing things to play out in predetermined ways. If something doesn't happen how he expects it to, he will either repeat it over and over again or have a meltdown, depending on what it is

(He also has a lot of repetitive thoughts about all sorts of things. Some are more unpleasant than others)

They also fixate on things or people HARD. There will be week long stints where they will get fixated on something and be unable to do really anything else until their brain is satisfied. It can be very detrimental to their health (or to the health of the other person)

He also tends to dislike social situations, especially ones that are unfamiliar or crowded. Being unable to predict what will happen in a social situation or location is very nerve-wracking for him, and it's part of the reason why he can be so blunt and rude. Part of that is just how he's built, but it also usually puts people off or at least gives him the ability to analyze who someone is better. He doesn't like meeting new people, and he's found the best way to avoid talking to them is by being annoying (but he's just kind of annoying in general also)

Lastly, Eddie is very touch-averse (for multiple reasons) and moderately sensitive to sensory input. Bright lights and noises don't bother them too much, but the wrong smell or texture makes them want to vibrate out of their skin. They hate being touched, especially if they don't know you very well. Another reason why they wear gloves and a lot of clothing. It isn't as bad if they're very close with you though, so have them willingly touch you, or allow you to touch them for more than a minute or so, is a big sign of trust on their part

Jon

Jon is, as always, repression city, so he masks whenever he can get away with it. He's the type of guy to pretend like he's not bothered by something and then go home and stare at the wall for hours on end. He has a loooot of shutdowns because of this, unhealthy fucker

Jon is very unemotional and (like the other two, but more so) unempathetic. He could be having the best time of his life or the worst and he'd still have a blank "I wish I was dead" expression on his face. The exception is when he's experiencing high emotions, like shock, delight, terror, etc. He also speaks mostly in monotone, with occasional injections of emotion (mostly annoyance or amusement, and even then only barely)

Jon is very sensitive to light and sound. His glasses (or goggles, if he's wearing his mask) are actually tinted like sunglasses to help him deal with some of it. He has tried and failed to tough out being in noisy places, but since he physically can't do it, he's resorted to using earplugs to help deafen some of that sound. It still bugs him, but at least it lets him leave the house

In public, Jon stims in ways that could seem "normal" to other people, in his attempt to mask. Humming/whistling/singing, bouncing his leg, tapping a pencil, etc. He'll also clench his fists when he's not holding something (or tap on that thing if he is). When he's alone he tends to pick at his skin/scars, grind his teeth, pace, whisper to himself, things like that. Honestly a lot of his "not in public" stims unintentionally make him seem kind of scary (which he thinks is funny)

Jon also will have brief periods where he loses speech, particularly when he's overstimulated, but not always. Granted, since he doesn't talk much in the first place, it's not always noticed

Jervis

Jervis is veeerryy talkative when she's able to be! Though she tries to be mindful of it, she isn't the best at social cues (especially conversationally), and can (and will) have entire conversations where the other person isn't needed. Especially if it's about one of her interests, or if she has the chance to explain something to you. You best be ready to settle in for a while if she's decided to talk to you

The only problem is sometimes it's difficult for her to express herself in a way that makes sense, especially to neurotypical people. This is a combination of autism and brain damage. She is really very smart, and the things make sense when they're in her head, but they come out confusing and more like a ramble instead of a weave of interconnected ideas

He also has a bit of trouble recognizing people. He goes by shape, general colors associated with the clothes they wear, and voices, but if those are mixed around or unclear then he can get confused

He's also a very tactile kind of guy. We already know he loves hugging/cuddling/touching people, but a lot of his other stims relate to touch as well. Braiding or running his hands through his own or other people's hair, touching objects that have a texture he likes, scratching things, the feel of certain kinds of clothes, chewing on things, stuff like that

Along with that, she also has a lot of olfactory and visual stims. She has a couple of those stuffed toys that have the scents in them, which both appeal on the smell factor and the touch factor. Some might think it's weird or creepy, but she also likes to smell different people, especially those she's close with! It's just very comforting (even if being sniffed isn't always comfortable for the other person). Visually, she really likes staring at pleasing patterns, or anything moving repetitively, like fans. But she can get real dizzy doing that

Jerv is a biiigggg fan of weight, either being pinned down under someone or under stuff like a weighted blanket. Very very comforting

I think that's just about it!! I hope this satisfies, it was a lot of fun actually writing out how different their autism manifests and throwing in some of my own experiences/behaviors too. My silly beasts

#frootverse #jonathan crane #the scarecrow #edward nygma #the riddler #jervis tetch #the mad hatter #doodles

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