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clevercatchphrase · 7 months

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To answer your reply That's fine can't wait to see the final product when it's done

I thought you represented Asriel very well but how did you exactly get an exact picture on what personality type to give Asriel? because the game doesn't really feature him as much as other Undertale characters

I was going to work with someone on an AU comic for Undertale's 10th anniversary and I was hoping to have every charceter as accurate or canon as possible. What would be the best approach ?

I'm gonna answer this ask in reverse, starting with "how to keep the characters In Character", then how/why I decided on Asriel's personality. This is quite a long answer, so I'll put it under a Read More as not to stretch out your dash~

So you say you want the characters to be as canon as possible, and wonder what would be the best approach. Well... the only advice I can give is to replay the game and explore as much as the dialogue as you can. Click on everything. Inspect everything at least 2 times. Make a phone call to Papyrus in every room, then go back and do it again after you befriended Undyne. Keep in mind the relationships the characters have with each other and how they're all connected. Undyne has ties to both Gerson and Asgore, who in turn also have a connection as Gerson was once the War Hammer of Justice, and could resonably served in the royal guard as well with Asgore as his boss. Alphys is connected to Bratty and Catty (childhood friends), Bratty and Catty are connected to Burgerpants (the glamburger fiasco), Burgerpants is connected to Mettaton (boss and employee), and Mettaton is connected to Alphys (both have a mutual interest in humans). Everybody has ties to everyone else. How could those ties effect their interactions? What does the character's home/room/job say about them? Take in the environmental clues and extrapolate on them. You can learn so much about the undertale cast from indirect details. And it's okay to dip your toes into common tropes or stereotypes to flesh them out. Just be wary about making those tropes/stereotypes their ENTIRE personality, or else the characters will end up being flanderized. Never forget Papyrus is more than a skeleton who makes spaghetti, Toriel is more than an anxious mother who makes butterscotch pie, Undyne is more than a guard who suplexes boulders just because she can, so on and so forth. Ask yourself, "What are these character's values and beliefs", then using that framework try to imagine they would respond to the situations you have planned for this comic of yours. While some reactions may be similar, all should be unique. We all know Papyrus's reaction to a bad pun will be different to Sans's, but Sans and Toriel may have a similar reaction, etc, etc. There will be wiggle room. You may have to fill in parts that don't have clear cut answers, but ultimately, so long as you stay consistent with the characterizations you decide, readers will be willing to suspend their disbelief even if their interpretations are not 1 to 1 with yours. That's what makes fan fiction and theories so much fun~

Now for the second part. To copy/paste what you asked;

"how did you exactly get an exact picture on what personality type to give Asriel? because the game doesn't really feature him as much as other Undertale characters"

This is just amusing to me because saying the game doesn't really feature him is just factually incorrect. Asriel is in the game A LOT. More than some of the minor characters like Napstablook and Monster Kid, at least. But what do I mean by this? Well, aside from the protagonist you control, Asriel is the very first character you meet in Undertale, even if you don't realize it, and that's because...

Asriel IS Flowey. This is an irrefutable fact about Undertale's lore. Even if he doesn't look like a sweet goat child, even if he doesn't act like an innocent baby boy, we must accept that this cruel, heartless, emotionless flower is Asriel at his absolute worst.

Asriel himself doesn't even deny it. He doesn't say that the things he did as Flowey were the actions of a seperate entity. He fully owns up to it. To directly quote his dialogue from before and after his God of Hyperdeath fight, "I was so tired of being a flower", "As a flower, I was soulless," "I acted so strange and horrible," "I hurt so many people," "There's no excuse for what I've done." And even as Flowey, he does not see Asriel as someone separate from himself when he talks to you in New Home in the No Mercy route, recalling the memories he has before falling down as is own (example, he says "remember when WE played here", as opposed to "Remember when you and Asriel played here".)

(Now, granted, I think the concept of Flowey debating if he still "counts" as Asriel is a facinating philosophical quandary for him to explore, so much so that it became a minor story thread in a 200k word fan fic I wrote 4 years ago, but that story thread is not relevant to my current fan comic nor the game itself because, once again, Asriel DOES see himself as the same entity that is Flowey and vice versa)

Alright, enough sidetracking, back to my main point. Flowey IS Asriel at his absolute worst. Flowey is what Asriel always had the potential to become if none of his actions had consequences, if his choices had no repercussions. With out a prong collar of past regrets to keep him in check, his worst traits can run rampant. And knowing this, I reverse engineered a personality for him by defining who Flowey is then watering these traits down to something that would fit a 10 year old.

So what do we know about Flowey? We know he's deceptive (Lying to you in your first encounter in an effort to steal your soul), He's controlling (Save Scumming in every neutral ending to keep the upper hand), he's sassy (mocking you after the toriel fight no mater if you spare or kill her) and he's obsessed with Chara (declaring life isn't worth living without them, claiming "chara" is the only one who is fun to play with anymore.) (You can also make the argument that Flowey is incredibly lonely and bored, but I personally think that is a result of reliving so many timelines over and over and not something intrinsic to Asriel) using these descriptors I dialed it back in order to fit an average "child" character. My Asriel became someone who is snarky, stubborn, and cares deeply about those he loves to the point of detriment because he justifies it all as "I'm doing this for your own good/I know what's best for you", which in turn becomes his own hamartia. Asriel is also an honorary brat because he is a child and all children are brats and I don't mean that in a negative sense. I was a child once, so I was a brat once. We were all brats once in our lives. It's part of the process of growing up as an emotionally complex creature, and no one is born with perfect emotional intelligence for others. Chara and Frisk are brats too in this comic, but to varying degrees because of their own life circumstances, but that's an essay for another time.

Anyway, I hope this long-ass post helped you if just a little bit, or at least made you think. Good luck on your AU~! (god, I can't believe Undertale will be a decade old in 2 short years.)

#ghost switch #long post #I guess I could also mention I decide character personalities by processes of elimination #as in I identify what I DO NOT want them to be and work around it #I really dislike the most common fanon personalities Asriel Chara and Frisk are given and try my best to do something different

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from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras · 3 months

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Will you read fics about your favorite characters even if they're wildly inconsistent with your own HCs?

Absolutely! I mean, if I only read things that were consistent with my own personal version of a popular character, then I'd probably have nothing to read but my own stuff!

I've heard people say that they've invested so much time, energy and emotion into their own conceptions of treasured characters that to see a drastically different version feels "wrong" to them. But in truth, I've never once had that thought about one of my own little blorbos. If we're talking about a canon character here, then obviously I don't own them. There can be as many different versions of that character as there are people in the world, and the existence of all those variations does nothing to invalidate my own personal version! So why wouldn't I want to enjoy those variations and see what other people have cooked up?

My Éomer is not in a canon consistent relationship, but I'd be sad to miss out on all the fun Éothiriel authors - like @konartiste - as a result. My Théodred has a special lady friend, but that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy the hell out of a Borodred story - hello @brigwife - or one where he's just flying solo. It's not as though someone else having a different interpretation of Haldir means that I can’t make my Haldir do/say/act however I want in my own work. They just aren’t the same people, even if they share a name and some base characteristics.

So, yeah, I always have and always will be totally excited to see other works starring my favorites in whatever form they might appear. There's more than enough blorbo for everyone!

#answered asks #lord of the rings #lotr #lotr fanfiction #éomer #théodred #haldir #characters that don't match my own HC #there's enough blorbo for all of us #variety is the spice of life

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midnightrings · 26 days

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Siena and her opera performances - a short character study

So, I thought I might share a short little analysis of the operas Siena performed, as I’ve not seen anything like this on here before and I’ve spent some time digging into those operas for my fanfics.

I want to post a whole character analysis of Siena at some point, but the operas play an important part in highlighting Siena’s character and her relationship with Anthony, so I thought it might be interesting to dig a bit deeper into those performances. Especially when it comes to a character like her (who barely got any screentime), those few seconds of her performing make a nice addition and add some depth to her character and storyline.

I won't focus much on the opera Siena performs in episode 1 – Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride – as it's not as interesting as the other two, because there doesn’t seem to be much of a connection to Siena’s character or her relationship with Anthony per se. Unlike the other operas, the focus in this scene is clearly not on her – she’s mostly just in the background, with two very short closeups, so we see that it’s her that is performing on stage. There is a deleted scene between her and Anthony according to the published script of that episode:

However, while I think that deleted scenes and such can make for interesting footnotes during an analysis/interpretation, I don’t like taking them too much into consideration – after all, there might be a good reason why this was deleted.

So the actual scene we see doesn’t really highlight anything in regards to Siena’s characters besides the fact that she’s an opera singer and that this is one of the only times we see her wear some brighter colors – while she’s on stage, playing a character. The other two operas she performs in episode 3 and 4 are much more focused on her character and storyline, especially her performance of I Capuleti e i Montecchi in 1.03 – this is the only time we see her perform without any of the other cast members present.

However, that’s not the only difference between Iphigénie en Tauride and the other operas. I Capuleti e i Montecchi and Les contes d'Hoffmann are also anachronistic. Iphigénie en Tauride premiered 1779, while I Capuleti e i Montecchi premiered in 1830 and Les contes d'Hoffmann in 1881.

People tend to make fun of historical inaccuracies or dismiss them as mistakes, but most times, anachronism is on purpose. I think it’s safe to assume that everyone working on this has been aware that those operas would not premiere until decades after season 1. The operas were clearly chosen for a reason.

Les contes d'Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach (1881)

Les contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) tells the story of Hoffmann, who choses to give up on love and devotes his life to art and poetry instead. It's based on three short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, and some are probably familiar with the movie, but just to roughly summarize (also because there’s some important differences): At the beginning of the story, a prima donna named Stella invites Hoffmann to a meeting in her dressing room after her performance. Before the meeting, Hoffmann recounts his past great loves to his students. The opera consists of three acts, each telling the story of one of Hoffmann’s previous loves. After recollecting his stories of heartbreak, The Muse can convince Hoffmann to give his love to her (poetry) instead of visiting Stella.

There are many parallels to Siena and her relationship with Anthony here. The most obvious one is the prima donna part – Stella represents Siena. While there might not be direct similarities within the story or between Anthony and Hoffmann, the ending to Hoffmann’s story is still in some parts similar to Anthony’s. The opera ends with Hoffmann declaring that he doesn’t want to love anymore – which sounds quite similar to what Anthony says at the end of season 1.

Siena is obviously not performing the entire opera – we only see her sing “Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour” as the courtesan Giulietta – who tries to fool Hoffmann into falling in love with her.

Storytelling-wise, it obviously does not fit Siena’s story at this point – she is not trying to fool Anthony into falling in love with her, quite the opposite. Though it does work well as a juxtaposition, especially when we see Siena noticing Anthony’s stares and she slips out of her role. There’s a clear contrast here between her performing as a devious courtesan and looking almost flustered as a result of Anthony’s gaze.

And although Siena at that point doesn’t want to seduce Anthony in any way, the piece still beautifully represents the actual scene that takes places here: Anthony longingly staring at her the very moment he recognizes her voice – almost as if under a spell (a very horny spell). Even when Violet tries to distract him, he cannot help but look in Siena’s direction. He’s completely enthralled by her here – similarly to how Hoffmann was enthralled by Giulietta. And similarly, both relationships are doomed to end unhappily.

Adding onto that, this is also the only time that we see Siena on stage where she represents exactly who she is: a courtesan. During the other two performances, she’s wearing bright, pastel gowns – very different from her usual style. The costume she wears here is also different from her usual style, which is fairly plain otherwise – but it does highlight the role she plays within society.

I find it quite interesting that this is the only time we see Anthony and Siena interact with one another during one of her performances – and one of the only times we see them interact in public altogether. This scene clearly shows the class difference between them: Anthony attending a ball as the lord he is, while Siena performs for everyone else’s entertainment, playing a seductive courtesan. They are present at the same place, yet they can’t talk to one another – there is an invisible wall between them which is highlighted by the positions they take within that scene as well as the clothes they wear. Had Siena performed any other part of that opera, she would probably have worn a pretty gown and those differences would not nearly be as noticeable. But she’s performing as a courtesan and as a result, this might be the most visible representation of her and Anthony’s differences and main conflict.

Returning to the actual story of the opera: At the end, Hoffmann explains how his three previous loves – Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta – all represent Stella. They show different aspects of the prima donna: the musician, the young girl and the courtesan. As I said, Stella represents Siena, and so do all of the other characters. In this scene, we see her visually represented as the courtesan. The show highlights this several times, especially during episode 3 when she talks to Genevieve and then later visits the gentlemen’s club and is inviting Simon to join her the next evening. Her need to find a keeper that can protect her and provide for her plays an essential role within her storyline.

Then, she’s obviously also a musician – a good amount of her scenes consist of her performances, and her character is defined by those performances. And, in the end, she’s also a young girl – and the show ensures to highlight that part as well. Through showcasing her vulnerability and emotions, we can see that she is not that different from the other young women in the show, like Daphne and Marina. They are all young, dealing with heartbreak and making decisions to secure their future. And this is in my opinion what sets Bridgerton apart from other stories of its genre. Usually, a character like Siena would only be the musician and courtesan – either sidelined or vilified. The show humanizes her, however, by granting her screentime to show her pain and struggles and even, to some extent, her innocence – which is especially well done during her performance in 1.03.

I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Vincenzo Bellini (1830)

As you can probably guess by the title, I Capuleti e i Montecchi tells the story of Romeo and Juliet. I don’t think there’s a need to summarize the story, and I also think it’s pretty clear why this particular opera was chosen: Romeo and Juliet originated the star-crossed lovers trope – which is the exact trope Siena and Anthony would fall under.

There are many things I love about that scene – it’s just all around a brilliant scene, not just in relation to Siena’s character. Though I will obviously only focus on how it relates to her character here.

The aria Siena performs is “Oh! quante volte” – Juliet waiting for Romeo, begging for him to come for her. It’s quite emotional and allows for Siena’s character to express her own emotions throughout her performance.

First, I adore how beautifully this ties in with the next scene. For one, because it sets up the atmosphere and essence of Siena and Anthony’s relationship – the tragedy of it all. The scene with Anthony in Siena’s dressing room underlines how this is not meant to be a love story with a happy ending, and the performance right before that amplifies this. Their story is doomed to end unhappily. And, similar to Romeo and Juliet, it is not merely a tragic story about love – it’s a story about the dangers of defying societal norms and duties and your own identities within that society.

But the dressing room scene also shows the clear differences between both stories. When Anthony visits her, Siena choses to reject him. She might have been emotional during her performance, but when Anthony showed his face, Siena did not act based on emotions but was very much rational in her words and actions. Because Anthony is not Romeo, and Siena is also not Juliet.

I also love how this performance builds a beautiful contrast to Les contes d'Hoffmann. Instead of a courtesan, Siena is playing an ingenue, wearing a pretty gown and looking all around sweet and innocent.

As the opera is in Italian, Juliet is obviously called Giulietta – just like the courtesan from Les contes d'Hoffmann. I have no idea whether this has been an accident or was done on purpose, but it’s a wonderful parallel. In both operas, she’s playing two very different women who happen to share the same name.

It underlines the differences between both roles but also draws a connection – which is Siena’s character.

By society, Siena is seen as the Giulietta from Les contes d'Hoffmann: the courtesan whose intentions are dubious and malicious. When Siena performs as I Capuleti e i Montecchi’s Giulietta, we can see a more vulnerable side of her as she openly cries on stage. We see her heartbroken and emotional, letting her guard down completely for a moment. In the end, it’s merely a performance. But Siena uses this performance to allow herself vulnerability – a vulnerability she is not usually allowed.

Those different performances do an excellent job at showcasing Siena’s character and also her main conflict and the different roles she plays. The chosen operas add some wonderful depth and insight into her character and I absolutely love how the shows has implemented them.

#bridgerton #siena rosso #anthony x siena #i have so many notes for analyses saved especially about siena #one day i will hopefully post that whole character study #also really want to do an analysis of the parallels between her and daphne and marina during season one #and i kinda want to dig a bit deeper into those operas too #there's definitely a lot more to focus on here #but i always need some time to actually write meta posts because I'm honestly fine just thinking about that stuff for myself #but sharing is fun too and makes for great discussions so i'm trying to post more #meta

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 10 months

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Ողջույն👋

Do you have any tips for writing Carlisle? For example, episodes from his work, human life, or something else?

General Writing Advice

Personally, I find writing scenes without purpose extremely difficult/not producing the best results. Obviously, everyone's unique, but if the characters don't have anything to do then they tend to just sit around not having anything to do.

Even something like a one-shot should have a point (reflection on an event, relationship, etc.).

So taking an episode from his work, human life, or anything else without asking the question "why am I showing this" or "what point am I trying to make" to me is the wrong way to approach it.

If you want the character to do something, he should have something to do.

Writing Characters in General

Once again we get into the weird realm of how I personally write the man versus how everyone else might. There's a lot of interpretations of Carlisle across fandom and even if I don't agree with all of them based on what we see in the text, none of them are wrong. Fandom's about having fun which means you can do whatever the fuck you want.

If movie Carlisle is your game, go for it, if fanon Carlisle's your man, go for it.

The trick with any character is to be consistent. You should have an understanding of them such that if X happens you know they'd respond with Y. This keeps the story from feeling contrived and as if they're being forced to react in whatever way the author wants them to.

If you keep it consistent and you write well then readers won't really care if it lines up with their exact interpretation of the character.

Tips on Writing Carlisle

A lot on Carlisle Cullen in here

However, I assume you came to my house for a reason and that you're asking specifically how to characterize Carlisle Cullen in the way that I and @therealvinelle do.

So, I'll give the general roundup characterization advice we've given for other characters in the past (thus far Aro and Lily Evans).

Carlisle is Religious

Carlisle is fundamentally a religious character. This is brought up in canon and is one of the first things you learn about him: he believes in God.

Now, this one is also very tricky as I've seen a lot of writers having no idea where to even start with this. Most writers I see... the only way I can describe it is they write a very Catholic, flagellating, God-fearing Carlisle Cullen. This is how writers in general write any religious character. That's fine, that is a way to interpret his character, but it's not what @therealvinelle and I go for.

Our thoughts are that Carlisle had to do a lot of philosophizing after becoming a vampire and essentially has his own doctrine. Because of this, out of the Cullens, he's one of the least haunted by what he is personally (a vampire) and is not necessarily married to interpretations of the bible we see in either the past or even the modern day. (The man canonically advocates abortion).

Regardless of how you choose to interpret him, you have to address the religion in some way or another.

Carlisle Thinks a Lot

We're talking about a guy who did the above section (rethink his religion) upon becoming a demon. He had large problems (such as trying not to eat people) and yet this is something he spends significant time and thought on.

We're talking about a very introspective guy then who is interested by abstract ideas and the way the world works. (As opposed to Emmett who would have no interest in such things).

This is probably not going to apply just to religion but to a lot of other facets including "should I turn dying people into vampires" (something he canonically confesses pondering to Bella), "what the fuck is up with Renesmee biologically" (less esoteric but still a very nerd topic with no real answers until Nahuel comes around).

Not to mention pre-canon his regard for the Volturi who were probably the most learned of the vampires he ever came across.

Carlisle is noted to have pursued several different fields before settling on becoming a doctor.

We're talking about someone very curious about the world, to the point where he's clearly not bored/moping after 350 years (as opposed to Edward who's only been doing this 100 years and is a brooding bored mess).

He's someone who wants to do things, learn things, and be a part of the world and keep up with it.

Carlisle's Way or the Highway

Canonically, Edward had to leave when he left the diet. Granted, Edward chose to do this of his own accord, but Carlisle didn't chase him down or try to negotiate with him.

You either try to do the diet to the best of your ability or you're out.

Edward was already a very close companion of Carlisle, Carlisle had broken down after three hundred years of loneliness, not to mention Edward was very distressed and very young: didn't matter.

What this says that is for better or worse Carlisle will stick to his principles even if those closest around him do not.

An important note on this is because of this Carlisle assumes that his family, those around him, share the exact same principles even if they do not (for all the Cullens think that they share them as well). It's unthinkable to him, even in canon where he sees evidence now and then, that they don't actually care that much for human life and more the Cullen lifestyle and moral superiority of it all.

He's Ridiculously Stubborn

We're talking about someone who crawled into rotting potatoes while dying, managing to stay silent, then crawling his way out of London without eating anyone and spending the next N days trying to kill himself until he crawled into the woods to starve painfully to death.

He discovers the animal diet, lives on cardboard for the rest of his life despite having a few morsels of blood here and there as he starts turning people, even when Aro's literally dropping corpses on the floor in front of him.

He then leaves Volterra despite having no idea where he's going, a good chance of getting killed, all for the chance that he might find someone on the diet or convince someone to do it.

He is unbelievably stubborn to the point where... Edward and Bella are close contenders but Carlisle's doing very well in the stubborn race himself.

The exception is that he compromises when it comes to his family/things that don't just affect him. In Twilight, he wants to move when it's clear Bella's Edward's singer and the van incident occurs. Nobody else wants to move though and Alice announces Edward's in love with Bella so... they stay... he guesses... In the Bella/Edward relationship, like everyone else, he lets Edward handle that one as it's not really his business.

He's Very Likeable

Everybody likes Carlisle. To a really weird extent actually, and by far he's the most outwardly charming of the Cullens.

Otherwise

You got anything else, @therealvinelle

#twilight #twilight renaissance #writing advice #carlisle cullen #meta #opinion #vinelle #therealvinelle

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gingerylangylang1979 · 1 year

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Shipping doesn’t mean we don’t get or appreciate the show.

I honestly try not to engage with posts that are hating on the Carmy x Sydney ship. I don’t do the back and forth fandom fighting crap. But I will say the notion that just because people invest in the POTENTIAL of a relationship does not mean that is the only component of the show we care about and are tuned into. I will watch this show no matter what happens to Carmy and Sydney as long as the show quality remains consistent and I’m engaged. Granted there have been sentiments about this or that development making people not want to watch but I’ve seen just as many sentiments from people saying if x, y, z doesn’t happen between them they will stop watching as I have seen people say they will stop watching if a romance happens (particularly between these two, not between these two and anyone else). So what is the difference?

Depending on how you interpreted season one you can see Carmy as never having a love life or having one in the future. For instance, people have interpreted him saying he never had any girlfriends in every way you could imagine. Does that mean he’s gay, trans, bisexual, asexual, demi-sexual, never wanted a girlfriend, always wanted a girlfriend, is a virgin, isn’t a virgin? We just don’t know but anyone’s interpretation is fair game and I’ve heard just about every one. Nothing is concrete and people project what they want a character to be often. Just because you don’t see a particular story element in the beginning doesn’t mean it is destined to never happen nor that there is a guarantee that it will. I have seen many posts super invested in Carmy being a sexless workaholic for life. Ok, not my end goal for him but they are entitled to that point of view even if I don’t like it. None of us know. Choosing to be super invested in Carmy not having love is as much of a choice as hoping he does have love. One doesn’t make a person a better fan than the other.

I am as equally invested in Carmy healing, growing, developing, maturing as much as him having an intimate relationship. I just like the idea of one because on my opinion it is a sign of full self realization. I think Sydney makes sense as the person. Others don’t, ok. That doesn’t make me a bad fan. For others, it’s not important or they think it would ruin the story. I have posted about a whole lot of things other than speculation about his love life. I’m invested in all of these characters and their journeys individually and as a unit. I’m invested in the entirety of the drama. I think it’s reductive to say anyone into a ship doesn’t like the show, doesn’t get the show, isn’t loyal to the show.

I think at the heart of what has been published that irked a lot of people was the perception that fans into a potential romance are lesser fans. I know there are shippers that take things to the extreme and do focus solely on that. It happens in every fandom. But I think the majority are into the creation as a whole. Everyone will latch onto certain elements more than others or find certain elements more fun than others. Some fans will see societal implications in story choices. We all have different lenses and lived experiences and even frivolous harmless desires we are relating what we see to. So what?

#the bear #the bear fx #the bear hulu #carmy berzatto #sydney adamu #jeremy allen white #ayo edebiri #carmen x sydney #syd x carmen #carmy x sydney

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erisweekofficial · 8 months

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Headcanons are personal opinions about how a character behaves, usually in specific scenarios of the writer’s choice. These opinions can be backed up by canon content or be based on vibes! The BEST part about headcanons is that they are completely up to you. You don’t have to worry about being right or wrong because you’re sharing how you feel about that character! It’s canon in your head! Get it?

Headcanons are also a great place to start if you want to write something but don’t want to commit to writing something super long. In fact, headcanons are a great step towards developing drabbles and longer writing (both of which we will cover in future posts!)

Read On if you want to learn HOW to write headcanons + READ some amazing examples from our creators.

WritingSeaSlugs wrote an extensive guide on headcanons here. (They write for a different fandom!) Please go read the full thing if you want a detailed guide. Here is a highlight from their post!

Prompt: Figure out your prompt. Go find a prompt list or get an idea/request/whatever works.

Characters: Choose your characters. Character select that shit, homies; you can do all your favorites or every character in the series. It doesn’t matter.

How Many Bullets: Decide how many bullet points you want to do. This is gonna simplify it and keep things consistent across the board for you. I like to go for about three to five bullet points on average since it’s not overwhelming, especially when doing many characters.

The Formula: This is gonna sound weird, but make a “formula.” Have a question to answer for each bullet you decide on. If you want three bullet points for your headcanons, write down three questions. Sometimes I type the questions first, and that’s how many bullets I have. I switch it around sometimes to keep things fresh.

One of the most common concerns we see from other tumblr writers is: What if someone doesn’t agree with my headcanon? The great news is that it’s okay! Not everyone thinks about, interprets, or even relates to a character in the same way. And it’s the differences that make it so much fun to read! Even the co-organizers of Eris week have two VERY different views of Eris.

Here are some Eris-specific examples that we love:

Eris x Reader SFW Headcanons by @darkphilosophies

Fluff Eris Headcanons by @fieldofdaisiies

Eris as Your Mate Headcanons by @fineghkst

Your Turn! Writing Exercises:

Write a headcanon that explores the story or reasoning behind each of Eris’ Dog’s names.

Write a headcanon for how Eris felt and acted when Lucien was born.

Write a headcanon for how Eris would act if his partner was insulted during a high lord’s meeting.

If you're a fan of Eris x Reader, write a headcanon about how their relationship changed after he became high lord!

Or keep it non-canon related: write a headcanon for how Eris spends his free time or how he likes to take his morning tea (or coffee, your choice!)

If you know of some other amazing Eris headcanons let us know! Share them here!

#eris vanserra #pro eris vanserra #eris acotar #autumn court #high lord eris #acotar #autumn court heir #erisweek2023 #eris

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guineasaurusrex · 1 year

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I love your fics!!!! <3 Do you have characterization tips for Craig and Tweek???

thank you! ❤️

i could ramble at length about my personal characterization preferences, but at the end of the day they’re just that: my own personal preferences. a show as long-running—and with such a loose approach to continuity—as sp has naturally lent itself to a wide range of interpretations over the years, and I think that variety is all part of the fun.

my general advice on writing any character is to rewatch their content and focus on what it is that you find interesting about their personalities and relationship dynamics. putting on a youtube compilation of their scenes before you start writing can be helpful for keeping character voices fresh in your mind, and an old rp trick that’s easy to pull off for minor characters is to throw all their dialogue together in a google doc for easy reference. these techniques aren’t for everyone, of course, but some like having a convenient source to draw from when they’re starting out and feeling shaky.

sp is also a lot like comic books in the sense that even when something is canon, it isn’t really canon (they’re still inconsistent on some character names even decades into the show, for example, and plenty of episodes directly contradict each other). there’s no making everything work within a single story, so don’t be afraid to pick and choose which events “count” for the one you’re trying to tell.

finally—and i realize this is going to sound silly in the context of a post like this—try not to take bad faith advice to heart. characterization discourse in the fandom tends to be pretty reductive, with people boiling characters down to a single (often extreme) trait. we’re lucky in that tweek and craig are richly characterized for a couple of background kids, with a lot of different strengths and weaknesses to pull from. i’d hate to see anyone discouraged from taking that potential to its fullest, which is why i’m being intentionally vague in this whole response. there’s no One True Correct way to write them, and for the most part, having characters behave in internally consistent ways is going to be more effective than toeing the line of any particular hc.

in short? have fun and explore what makes the characters compelling to you and you can’t go wrong.

#asks #sorry if this is too vague #idc to talk about my specific prefs but #that's very much secondary to the idea that this should all be fun #*

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tasmanianstripes · 11 months

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if you dont care about getting the characterization right why not just make your own characters? the point of liking a character is that you like the character? if you like them shouldnt you want to TRY and get their personality right? cause why do you like them otherwise, what makes them them other than their literal personality

Have you considered that maybe some people just don't want to make an OC? Making an entire world that is still unique yet has all the same elements of the original story that you enjoy is a lot of work, it can be rewarding and enjoyable but it's still a lot of work and you don't always end up with a product that you are happy with or that you like as much as the original story. Making an OC to insert into the preexisting story or replace that specific character is also fun but it isn't for everyone either. I did it before when I realised that a character in my longrunning AU just ended up being my own oc over time after I've been slowly changing and evolving their story over the course of 10 years, and I'm happy with it, but it's not for everyone.

I did simplify my stance on it for the sake of making a post that isn't 2 miles long, but getting the characterisation right isn't completely meaningless to me. I want to get a canon character's personality as close as I can if that's my goal, but it can be at times very hard for me and it takes a long time of writing them over and over again for me to nail it at times, but I'm also not too pressed when people don't have the same interpretation as me nor if they want to get the canon character's personality right. Again, it can be a lot of work and it's not for everyone. I do not care if a character has a different personality than their canon version as long as it's consistent and there's a good reason for it (either in-story or meta reason, I dislike characterisations that aim to change a character just to serve another character's story or to make other characters look better by comparison)

Sometimes, making Alternative Universes where a character's personality is different is fun. A butterfly effect, where one difference in their past cascades and fundamentally changes them as a person. Maybe giving them a different personality would serve the story you're trying to tell more. What if this happens to them, how would they change as a person? What if they were more y than x, how would it affect the story they're in and their relationships with other characters? How would it affect the other characters and their perception of them? If these events happen, if their life was completely different, if they were brought up differently, what kind of person would they be? It's just fun, and at the end of the day I think that's what's most important in fandom spaces. You should just have fun.

And yeah, that does mean that sometimes you will end up with a character that's more of an OC than a canon character, but what's so wrong with that? I mean, yeah, it happened, too bad...who does it hurt? The original author will probably never see it anyway and doesn't care, it doesn't affect you either, if you're bothered by it you can just move on.

And sometimes maybe they just read a character and interpreted it differently than you. Maybe they just can't get it right. Still, what's wrong with that?

I think having fights over such meaningless things is a bit silly. They're not hurting anyone, they're just having harmless fun, and if it bothers you so much why not just ignore it and focus on the things you enjoy and find fun? If they're not going out of their way to insist that their interpretation is the only correct one, if they're not going out of their way to be assholes about it, then what is the problem with that?

Some people treat canon like playdough or see it like an Unity asset store where they can build their own stories out of preexisting characters and world they enjoy, and sometimes that involves changing a character. You might see it differently and find enjoyment in different things, and that's fine! You don't need to even like how other people choose to have their fun. But neither is a better or worse way to enjoy the source material.

#asks #you're entitled to your opinion though :] I know it can be a pet peeve for a lot of people and I respect that even if I don't understand it #just like you don't have to understand my more lax approach to canon and characterisation #i hope it all made sense btw sometimes i get a bit rambly #honestly my reading comprehension also just sucks at times thanks to my learning disability so it takes me a lot of effort to #get characters just right. so i might just bave a different approach thanks to this experience #amd yeah sometimes I do end up liking my interpretation of a character more. In that case I'd be clear about it. It's not like I'm #pretending that my version and the canon version are the exact same. I might like the canon version and also like my version. they're not #mutually exclusive. i can like both :]

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novainthevoid · 1 year

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I posted 1,630 times in 2022

That's 1,495 more posts than 2021!

87 posts created (5%)

1,543 posts reblogged (95%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@parspicle

@loganofthenorth

@ohgodallthefandoms-backup

@why-is-everyone-pretty

I tagged 973 of my posts in 2022

Only 40% of my posts had no tags

#sanders sides - 219 posts

#utmv - 173 posts

#logan sanders - 168 posts

#ink sans - 148 posts

#nova speaks - 57 posts

#janus sanders - 51 posts

#virgil sanders - 48 posts

#dream sans - 41 posts

#error sans - 40 posts

#incorrect quotes - 38 posts

Longest Tag: 124 characters

#i see a discourse post about a blorbo and my knee jerk reaction is that one meme where the person holds another protectively

My Top Posts in 2022:

The dawning realization that Mei and her friends would be in their 30s right now.

85 notes - Posted March 17, 2022

Y’all I was rewatching some sanders sides videos (most notably the puppets one) and like… have y’all noticed how Virgil and Logan check up on each other? Like the whole “only if you want to” thing is so sweet?? Like they’re acknowledging and being kind about each other’s boundaries and it’s just very sweet I love them.

101 notes - Posted February 15, 2022

Listen you guys. I love space Logan. I really do. But there are also so many other nerd things he could be. A chemical engineer, for example. It’s right there! We already know how he felt about chemical engineering vs theater and like all I’m saying is just. Chemical engineer logan.

Or if that’s not your thing, other kinds of engineer Logan! Biologist logan! Chemist logan! All I’m saying is I think we limit ourselves sometimes. My boy is so versatile. He can be into so many things. None science-y things as well. Librarian logan. Author logan. Detective logan. Absolutely deranged mad scientist logan. I love him.

118 notes - Posted May 8, 2022

SGE SPOILERS

Not to be discourse on main or anything but the school for good and evil isn’t queer baiting because Agatha and Sophie don’t get to together, it’s queer baiting because of the way they’re literally revealed to be sisters in the third fucking book after ALL the stuff they’ve been through and done for one another. Idk I’m a big proponent for strong platonic relationships but god they came across as not only queercoded but in some way queer with one another.

Edit: y’all should check out my reblog of this post for a more in-depth explanation

119 notes - Posted October 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Listen you guys… I just… I just need to talk about Logan. I need to talk about my boy…

Because I see a lot of interpretations of him that have him being kind of a dick/not caring about anyone or anything and that’s totally fine! The fun part of fandom is getting to interpret characters in tons of different ways and it makes it so much more interesting. But you guys…

Okay, so the times that I think make ppl see Logan like this come from times where he doesn’t realize how (or the extent that) his words/actions might hurt others. Like in Moving On when he’s trying to get them back to a healthier mindset and he accidentally hurts Patton’s feelings. In these situations, I think that Logan demonstrates low empathy: he has a hard time comprehending how his actions might make other people feel. It’s a pretty common trait in some neurodivergent people and though it’s pretty regularly demonized, it does not mean that someone is a bad person.

I saw a post a long time ago talking about empathy vs sympathy vs compassion and while Logan may have a hard time with empathy I think he genuinely shows a lot of compassion. Logan consistently tries to right his wrongs once he realizes that his actions hurt others: he may not realize that they would hurt beforehand, but once he does realizes he puts in the effort to fix that. He’s one of the most accepting sides and he often notes that all the sides are important parts of Thomas, including the ones that no one else seems to like. And he often puts his knowledge to use in helping others, like in ways to help with anxiety and respect of others boundaries (cough cough Virgil’s name reveal cough cough).

Anyways, tl;dr I love Logan and though he might struggle with empathizing with others, he shows a lot of acceptance and compassion towards others and clearly cares about them in his own way.

485 notes - Posted March 22, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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guileheroine · 2 years

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lotr:rop first impressions

[spoilers episodes 1-2]

overall: fun, unhurried watch. feels like a spiritual prequel to the lotr movies. in terms of relationship to canon, it’s like a slightly tone-shifted alternate history

it’s visually breathtaking. even if u dont care for the story, it looks like middle earth and you can totally relish it on that merit

just on the pure fannish level, it’s cool to see more peripheral parts of the timeline on screen after decades of hobbit/lotr adaptations

i like the oc’s, i like that it’s not as lofty as the source material! the new settings like the southlands are great, spending time with normal ppl vs the elevated players of lotr/silm. feels like fic on screen, in a good way

almost every negative takeaway i have boils down to the sad/weird/grim fact that a $1bn adaptation of the second age is having to work without film rights to the silmarillion + unfinished tales? besides emphasising the cash-grabby aspect of the whole enterprise, it leaves the story thin and feels like a massive elephant in the room. like they’re trying to scale a mountain with no provisions. so more than any response to what we do get, the show makes me mourn what could have been

ex: there is a pervasive lack of context to both the characters and the world. little of the weight that would make it feel, not just look, like a middle earth story, the sense of history that’s in the bones of the setting. they do the standard lore highlight reel, but you can almost sense that rather than trimming the fat off a dense source material, it’s working around it. for a universe much deeper/broader than Standard Fantasy Show, idk i really felt the loss

as you might predict given the above, in contrast to the oc men and harfoots, the elves suffer the most. again, lack of context is especially jarring when themes of legacy, dynasty, loss were so integral to their original backstory. like who is elrond? who is celebrimbor? what are the different groups of elves, is there anyone around except elrond/gil-galad/galadriel? what exactly did they experience beyond generic long war and what does it mean for their relationship to the world? why do elrond and galadriel feel like YA protags when they’re powerful and deeply burdened survivors? i’m sure there’s a lot more coming on this front but so far it feels thin

i love that she’s the mc but galadriel’s motivations so far lack texture- without the ban of the noldor and everything else they can’t mine, what should be one of the most storied, layered characters in the legendarium feels like a girlboss out for revenge

but morfydd clark as galadriel is great, i like her a smidge better than cate blanchett and again it just makes me mourn what could have been, substance wise

all told, i think this show will be much more enjoyable to someone that doesn’t know the iceberg whose tip they’re spending a fortune shining

some of the dialogue is a little clunky and trite, particularly they could do a lot more casual worldbuilding/enriching through dialogue but they dont

dont want to touch the casting discourse, mostly bc (festering racist backlash aside) it doesnt matter that much. it doesnt violate the integrity of tolkien, otoh it’s not somehow integral to a worthwhile show either-- i wouldnt not watch if everyone was white, just like i haven’t stopped reading a phenomenal text mired in unconscious racial bias which was sometimes alienating to a young reader of colour. mostly feeling tired of this and the nuances lost on all sides, both in regard to tolkien’s world and the ~representation question

what i will say though, idk if the race-blind (as opposed to just racially diverse) interpretation works for this the way it does for something like bridgerton. it’s a verse with a lot of emphasis on bloodlines, tribalism, etc, for better or for worse, so i think having diverse but somewhat more consistent casting within groups of fantasy characters could have made for a more organic setting (e.g. mostly mena numenoreans, mostly african harfoots, mostly south asian southlanders, mostly east asian noldor etc). but i understand thats a much more sensitive/difficult thing to pull off rip

not feeling the shorthaired elves, especially since its so gendered. this elrond is just pain, unrecognisable in every way

but i really liked the tiff with durin. dragged on a bit, but the crux of it--the complexities of mortal-immortal shortlived-longlived interpersonal relationships, as if love and friendship are not complicated enough-- is soo tragic and timeless. imagine if we could get aldarion and erendis on screen!!

super looking forward to numenoreans. not just bc they encapsulate my favourite things about tolkien thematically, but especially since they’re so tied to the unique historical circumstances of the world and you can’t explain them away in a Timeless Fantasy Race way. i wonder what sort of backstory we’ll get there

wonder what the show is working towards in terms of an actual hook. rn, it is lush and enjoyable but not particularly interesting. the ‘rise of sauron’ angle has already been done in the hobbit movies, so it really needs to introduce and sell other subplots with stakes

#lotr #lotrrop #trop spoilers #rings of power #*

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hirazuki · 1 year

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I AM LATE BUT BACK, sorry work ate my life |D but yes! camelot movies are a bit different; mostly in order of events and dialogue and how certain events happen, not the big stuff, but some stuff is shuffled around and altered for time purposes. i'm pretty sure they also added mordred vs sanzang in the second one, that wasn't in the game. but it's still good! it's very very good, it's just a bit edited down etc because they crammed a whole chapter into 2 ovas rather than a whole 24 ep anime.

the extra anime does sound fun! i absolutely fucking adore Robin and Drake, so om nom nom more content for them is always wonderful, and i like nero's route in the game best so i'm glad it's her starring-- i should definitely check it out at some point once i finish apocrypha.

(i...am very early on into apocrypha. i need to finish that. i love everyone in it, they're all delightful. especially astolfo and achilles, though honorary mentions for karna and vlad.)

kojiro BALLS honestly he's really cool and i hope he gets more stuff in future events, we do get a 'gudaguda' historical japan event every year and i think they finally ran out of sengoku shenanigans, so maybe he'll get to star in a future one? here's hoping he deserves it (or maybe he'll be in that new koei tecmo game, since musashi is in it!)

you have excellent taste tbh, everyone on that list is amazing, and i stan shishigou SO HARD you have no idea he's So Cool. waver too, i love him as small and dorky but also older and...still dorky. but hotter. Gil, Cu, Emiya, Robin, Merlin, and Dantes are some of my favs but honestly i can't name a servant i HATE 100% (okay yes i can, but that's just one of them XD)

No worries!! UGH I hate when that happens, I wish work was just. not a thing XD

Oh, yeah, that makes sense, with Babylonia they did a full anime season; I wish they had done the same for this, but I'll take what I can get! I don't really have the time/interest to explore the game chapter for myself, but I wonder if I could maybe find a let's play or something to watch, I'd be interested in seeing the content in full.

Haha, Apocrypha is also very differently structured in terms of Holy Grail War dynamics (14 servants on the field....... it's so many....) but I really, really liked it. Lots of pain, of course, but it's so well written and executed. Enjoy!! Astolfo is a gem <3 (Achilles I'm not a fan of, but I've never liked him in any form/media and idk why; I like to pretend we don't share heritage XD BUT that's just my personal taste and, as a Greek, the Apocrypha team did an absolutely excellent job with his portrayal! I honestly have zero complaints about how they've handled any of my culture's mythological/historical figures, they consistently produce some of the most intuitive and nuanced interpretations I've ever seen).

It's just my curse, always falling for the side characters with the least amount of screen time lmao. I hope so!! Fingers crossed! (though Musashi favoritism kind of abounds in sword/historical circles, so it that might not mean anything -- but I'll be very pleasantly surprised if he does turn out to be in it!!).

Lmao THANK YOU! You have excellent taste too, Gil is one of the best boys and Cu is amazing as well <3 Shishigou is just so badass (and a necromancer, so instant bonus points for me) and his attitude is so relatable, he'd be my number one pick for a Fate mentor figure, you know? YES I love both young Waver and older Waver, and can I say how much I adore that he's so completely and utterly out of shape? Wheezing when he runs? I love that about him XD

I haven't spent too much time with Robin and Dantes so I can't really say anything worthwhile other than they are awesome and I love their designs, but MERLIN is also a top choice, 10/10, he's absolutely irritating but also a delight and his relationship with Fou is one of the best things ever.

Same! There are definitely characters that I don't like, as in, they don't vibe with me, but no one who I dislike as a character in terms of their role/purpose in the story, everyone is extremely well written.

#what i really want from fate at the moment is more el-melloi case files tbh #like. Fate universe + victorian mystery aesthetic??? yes please #XD

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genderfluid-roman-torchwick · 2 years

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for the opinion ask, rank the members of teams rwby and jnpr from favorite to least favorite :3c

o inDEED, thisll be a little tricky cuz i like everybody for different reasons and have issues with them all for different reasons bUT ill have it in an order that like, follows the same general path

under a cut cuz this is QUITE long lol

1. weiss, fave character out of both groups, i like seeing her on screen the most and think the way her personality has developed has been interesting (even if handled a bit poorly in the beginning with the faunus stuff not being addressed properly) i think her dynamics with her family is really interesting and im quite partial to her snow aesthetic

2. ruby, one of the few main protagonists in media i actually really like, i VERY MUCH like her aesthetic and like drawing her and i think her character development has been interesting, shes a lot more serious than i think people realize and her difficulties with social stuff is relatable, autistic queen

3. pyrrha, i like pyrrha’s juxtaposition as being someone who is like, the “gifted kid” and knows that’s what she is or whatever but have interpersonal relationship conflicts as a result of her isolation from being idolized, i think her placement within the narrative was actually really tragic (/pos) and she very clearly has a lasting impact on many characters even when she is not mentioned by name, you can tell too that she has a complex with self loathing and i feel like part of why she prioritizes everyone else above herself is a form of that, wish we’d seen her magnetic abilities utilized more

4.yang, yang’s personality has always been fun and i like how you can tell her voice actor really enjoys playing her, one of my favorite arcs for her within the series was seeing her deal with her ptsd over the fall of beacon and it disappointments me that this plot point kind of disappeared after v6

5. nora, i like nora’s energy and competitive personality and i think she has some good comic relief moments (that almost seem self aware at times without QUITE breaking the 4th wall), i also consistently have liked each of her designs throughout the series and i think watching her relationship with ren (both romantic and just her connection to him in general) has undergone some notable developments and im interested to see where it goes

6. blake, catgirl momence, i think i tend to like blake more in the ways in which she interacts with other characters rather than her solo, i think its interesting to see how much she was affected by adam’s abuse and how it still alters the ways she bonds with people into the present (or at least thats how i interpret it) i also like her development from sort of cold/cool/standofish to a bit more of an awkward type, and i like a lot of little scenes and personality quirks of hers (v3 fish bowl scene my beloved lol)

7. jaune, i like jaune WAYYYY more now than i did at the beginning of the series and i like how he is both the team support in terms of lending his aura and also as a person that the others can confide in when they need to, i think he’s had one of the strongest and most notable glowups in the series, but in general im not super attached to him overall as a character but i appreciate his place in the story and what it means

8. ren, i think ren stands out compared to the others in terms of his generally very level headed personality, and i like seeing his interactions with nora (their bond feels genuine and their differing personalities makes them play off each other in a fun way) but on his own he doesnt interest me as much as the others, and i feel like his arc in v4 didnt seem to have any particularly lasting impacts on him (or nora), and i feel like considering v4 was at least half about his past that there shouldve been a longer lasting effect to seeing that arc of his and nora’s life conclude but we didnt quite get that unfortunately

#longpost #long post #ask game #rwby #this isnt like.. a definitive one to one list but this was the best way i could think to arrange it ASDFGH

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sanjiafsincedayone · 3 years

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Why SaNa over other ships?

Now, this is not to hate on other ships or downplay them, because what shipping really comes down to is often simply preference. What characters or dynamics you enjoy and what reasons you might have for liking different things.

No, this is simply my own reasons for why I like SaNa and also why I think they could make sense and thirdly why it’s possible Oda could be setting it up to actually happen in canon. It’s all just my views and I apologize if I forget a moment or add something that is more head canon, but again, this is my reasons and they will always be partially biased. (And there are too many to remember them all properly, so if you want to add feel welcome to do so.)

I think Sanji and Nami is a lovely ship even based just on fan content and the community. But we also get some great moments in the manga, and I personally think there is potential for Oda to make an actual romance work between them.

1. Why I like Sanji and Nami

I personally fell in love with Sanji before I even started to watch or read One Piece, simply based on his voice actor (Hiroaki Hirata), his design and his fighting style. So obviously I already have a bias towards Sanji (SanjiAFsincedayone having a bias towards Sanji? Who knew?). I didn’t ship Sanji with Nami from the start and even now I am a multi shipper who enjoys fan content with Sanji as a main part of several pairs, most prominently ZoSan.

So, when did I fall for SaNa then? Well, I have talked about it in various posts before which you can find in my Masterpost - SanjiAFsincedayone, but for me shipping Sanji and Nami more seriously didn’t start until Thriller Bark.

Sanji took a knife in the back for her as she is dressed in a wedding dress, even this one scene is enough to explain why someone might like to ship them together.

I for sure saw many SaNa moments before that, and felt Nami seemed special to Sanji, but I didn’t think it would have a big chance of happening and I preferred other ships above it when consuming fan material. Again, shipping is after all mostly fantasy and wanting more of something in a romantic/sexual way. Thriller Bark was when Sanji and Nami’s interactions caught my attention properly and I started to look a bit closer and actually note the way Oda wrote them and their moments. Going back after and rereading I think there is a lot of interesting things even before that. But the wedding theme and bridal carry and how Oda showed them in Thriller Bark was just too on the nose to ignore.

What got me into shipping Sanji with Nami were mainly three things.

1. Their dynamics getting more interesting over time and Sanji and Nami being two of the most well written and interesting characters in One Piece. 2. Sanji consistently seeming to have a preference for Nami in combination with my belief that he is after true love and isn’t just a pervert forever doomed to be alone. 3. The manga showing the potential of it actually happening and them finally catching my attention in Thriller Bark. Basically there are moments to follow and look at in the actual story as well, which in turn also leads to more fan content and material for shippers.

So point 1 and 2 really is mostly about my preference and how much I enjoy watching them together and how well I imagine they would fit together. I think their personalities and desires overlap well with them being able to understand and compromise for each other while aslo being on a similar level of intelligence and communication. They also have their kindness and empathy as a highlighted shared theme for their characters.

Them talking about the Children in Punk Hazard or Sanji helping Nami turn in the argument between both Luffy and Vivi and Luffy and Usopp are some examples. Or Nami letting Sanji smoke in her body because she knows how hard it is for him. Small gestures like this show both understanding and a willingness to compromise.

I think they are fun and have a relationship that right now might need working on, but it’s clear how much they care for each other and how they actually appriciate each other a lot.

Simply put I think they are interesting together and I think they could work as a romantic couple in the future, where their dreams and family oriented views migh allign. Again, from how I view them as characters and interpret their wants and possible futures I think Sanji and Nami is a good match. They can have a restaurant either traveling the world or docked close to both Cocoyashi and Zeff, Nami can tend to her mikans together with Sanji and they can manage a restaurant for a living. I also think they are the most parental members in the crew and has shown some possible signs of wanting to settle down with families. This would also work well as a final contrast to their less than happy childhoods (You might also want to check out my post (Part 3) Sanji x Nami hints - Thematic parallels).

There is a lot of potential in their dynamics and how different they seem while they also seem willing to adapt and try to understand each other that make them interesting as characters of romantic plots. At the same time they have enough in common to relate to each other and work well together. Again, as a fictional ship within the fandom there is a lot of great artists, writers etc. that truly explore them and make Sanji and Nami a great and fun ship with an active fandom to engage with.

Of course there are more shallow reasons like them matching in age and being good-looking but really I could ship Sanji with almost any woman if it was only about the looks. I mean, Purin is basically made to be a perfect match for Sanji, but I personally find his dynamic with Nami much more interesting and his dedication to Nami is of course unpraralleled thanks to the time Oda has spent on them over many years.

I love Sanji and Nami as individual characters and with the amount of moments between them there is also a lot to explore and enjoy in the manga. It makes them interesting in a third aspect for me, which is of course analysis and the potential of them actually ending up together and looking closer at the way Oda writes them from a story perspective. For me what we have gotten from Oda in terms of Sanji x Nami moments is very interesting and I see potential there even though it would need more development to truly work for the current story.

But, again shipping doesn’t have to mean anything for the actual story... There are crack ships or slash ships that surely will never happen but that could still be great and fun to explore for the fans. Honestly, everyone is free to ship whatever they want. We all have different taste after all.

So, what about the manga then?

2. Why do I think they could make sense as a romantic couple even in canon?

First, my own view is that Sanji is someone who seeks true love, and as briefly shown with both Violet and Purin it seems like he would take an actual relationship seriously if given the chance. I also think it would make him happy and thus as Oda might want to create happy resolutions for the strawhats I think Sanji ending up with someone has quite a big chance of happening. This is combination with his preference for Nami and in turn Nami truly caring for him (though not yet in a romantic way) is something that makes me think it could happen. Other ships have potential too depending on how Oda decides to develop them, but considering how he keeps adding moments for SaNa in the way he does as of now I still think SaNa is the most likely ship for Sanji.

As I mentioned earlier I also think Nami has shown some possible inclinations for wanting a family (or at least being a great mother if we look at her with children in many arc, not the least Punk Hazard) and maybe even getting married eventually.

If she ends up with someone we will need to see a more obvious attraction and want for romance from her no matter what ship we might consider. She has at this point not shown a lot, but I do think the thematic parallels she shares with Sanji in combination with how their moments are written has the potential to grow into something more.

As a romantic pair I think Sanji and Nami would be happy, he would adore her and take care of her and both of them would probably find that ideal. In fact it’s already a big part of their dynamics and seem to make them both happy. They also seem to try to understand and show interest in knowing each other as seen with several scenes and general attention towards each other’s backstories. They also challange each other in different ways and we have seen them compromise a few times. I think compared to many other relationship in the manga Oda has shown more personal moments between them. So a romantic additional aspect is not too far off. Not that Oda would make it happen now, but that he would lay down the groundwork for it to work by the end of the series.

In short I think they would make each other happy, but also challange and grow thanks to the other. I think their dreams of traveling the world with Nami drawing her map and Sanji cooking on all the seas and finding All Blue and then settiling down together close to both their “homes” in East Blue with a restaurant and family seems to fit them both. It wouldn’t always be easy, but I think they would actually enjoy their dynamics with Nami bossing Sanji around most of the time.

Now this all sounds nice and all, but it’s of course just my imagination based on biased interpretations of the manga. So where do I get it from?

3. The way SaNa is portrayed by Oda

Now this is really the biggest point... Because again, I can ship whatever characters I want and it is just for fun. It doesn’t have to happen for me to enjoy it or I wouldn’t ship Sanji with Zoro. But with Sanji and Nami there are legit reasons in addition to my preference that makes me think it could happen in the manga.

It might take years to actually go through it all in order with my additional interpretations, but I will try to go through the basics themes and moments that to me could indicate SaNa over any other Sanji or Namji ship.

I think the obvious thing to talk about first is simply how Sanji definitely has a romantic (and sexual) interest in Nami. No matter what other character you might see with either of them, this has been shown consistantly over the whole manga. You may argue that Sanji might be interested in others equally, and though I wouldn’t agree it’s a fair point. However from a story perspective it would still need to be resolved. It’s highly unlikely for Nami to end up with anyone unless Sanji ends up with someone else and gets a happy ending too.

As for Sanji’s interest in Nami I personally think Oda has paid a lot of attention to it in a way that makes it the most likely ship for Sanji. He might yet add moments between other ships and develop them (most notably San/Pu of course), but in my opinion the way Oda has added Nami in other potential romantic moments with Sanji it seems Nami is above every other woman so far.

Most importantly I think we have seen:

Sanji leave Violet who actually seemed to show interest in him to run off to save Nami (and the crew, but the point is that Oda chose to highlight and add this moment with focus on Nami to begin with).

Sanji being more focused on Nami even when Vivi and Robin has been on the ship or at the same place. Oda definitely puts Sanji with Nami above other women at least in amount of moments and involvment.

Sanji being very concerned with Nami in front of Purin and being shown happy with her (the bridal carry for example) and saying he loves her right in front of Purin.

Sanji having stronger reactions to Nami than other women. This could just be my way of seeing it, but I do think we have seen the strongest reactions from Sanji when it comes to Nami. Not the least with turning into a literal devil when he heard she was kidnapped by Absalom. For example compare Sanji rushing after Nami in both Skypiea and Thriller Bark even to him going after Robin. Or his reaction to Nami getting sick in Drum. We simply have a lot of strong reactions from Sanji towards Nami in different ways and more importantly Oda seeming to add focus on them.

We also have him reacting to things like “women’s tears” or calls but only indicating Nami might be calling him personally. For example Sanji hearing Tashigi cry or saying he trusts Violet or Robin even though they are lying but for Nami adding things like “I think I heard Nami call out for me” or moments like “I leave my Nami to you”. Basically the way Oda writes it there often seems to be added a more personal stake in Sanji’s reactions and moments with Nami compared to with other women.

So from Sanji’s point of view, and the way Oda has written them so far, I think he puts Nami above every other woman. But more importantly, Oda shows us moments between them that he doesn’t add for other ships as consistantly or in romantic looking ways. Keep in mind that both Nami and Sanji are main characters, but they are not Luffy. Oda choosing to not use Luffy (who will obviously have strong moments with all of his nakama, like how he had his own time with Sanji both in Baratie and WCI) for some of these moments but rather insert Sanji or Nami instead for each other’s stories makes it more relevant. Because it’s not an obvious choice in the same way. It’s a choice based on their characters and dynamics within the world, not because of their roles as main hero or heroine. Here are some examples.

1. Their first meeting. Sanji is for the first time seen in love cook mode and he basically seem ready to leave everything behind for Nami. Right away his reaction to Nami is stronger than what we have seen from him and it seems to hold true even with time.

2. SaNa having interest and plot relevance to each other’s back stories. Sanji getting involved with hearing Nami’s back story and saving his sister. Also, calling her “sister” which indicates a platonic familiarity where he puts Nami above Nojiko romantically (yes, despite flirting some with her). Nami in turn also getting involved and showing interest in Sanji’s backstory, pushing to go with Luffy to save Sanji and being the one to remind us of Sanji’s past and character traits.

3. Sanji getting personally tantalized by using Nami. This has happened several times, the first with Kuroobi in Arlong Park, but also with Mr. 2 in Alabasta, Absalom in Thriller Bark and then in Fishman Island (Zou too, but that wasn’t just Nami) and on Zou. You can check my post (thought not updated fully) Sanji and Nami – Fights and danger for a more detailed view. (Even in movies like Strong World Sanji has a direct talk with Shiki about Nami and it seems most people are aware of Sanji being extra sensitive to Nami.)

4. Sanji asking Nami if she is jealous or if she loves him, indicating again that he is interested to know is she is interested in him. Once even responding “I love you too”. In general Nami responding in these situations in a more “positive way” or Oda showing Sanji interpreting her actions as more romantic. For example the “proposal” or the hug in WCI.

5. Romantic looking moments or themes. Now this is of couse not something that has been done mutually between them and thus aren’t actually romantic scenes. But the tropes and common use for many of the things that Oda has chosen to use for Sanji and Nami are romantic in nature. Of course the two forced marriages are the strongest examples with them rescuing each other from getting married to someone else. But we also have the switch body trope, the slap and of course smaller gestures like the bridal carries or the way Oda drew the hug between them in WCI. I am not saying that SaNa is the only ship with romantic looking moments, because San/Pu And San/Violet obviously has some as well. However, considering the amount SaNa moments and the fact that he has left Violet and Purin in particular for Nami seems to make the SaNa moments trump any other ship. At least for me personally SaNa as it is now and as Oda has portrayed it in comparison to other Sanji ships gets in the way of Sanji ending up with someone else unless Oda starts to make some changes.

I want to make some emphasis on how Nami and Sanji seem to get some “bigger” moments between them in almost every arc. Again, compare this to Sanji with other women, or even Nami with other crew members.

Baratie - Their first meeting and Sanji’s reaction to Nami and interest gets focus. Arlong Park - Sanji shows interest in Nami’s past and Kuroobi mocks Sanji by specfically mentioning Nami. ( Loguetown Arc, Reverse Mountain Arc, Whiskey Peak Arc and Little Garden mostly have small moments, like Sanji asking if Nami is jealous or Sanji giving Nami his jacket.) Drum Island - Nami is sick and we see Sanji worry and care for her and in the end even sacrificing himself for her. Nami worries about him too. Alabasta - Sanji fighting Mr. 2 looking like Nami and lots of small moments like Sanji asking Nami if she loves him.

Jaya - Nami showing interest in Sanji’s back story. Small things like Nami hiding for the bugs behind Sanji or Sanji. Skypiea - Sanji being hell-bent of saving Nami and making the others look for her. Then him saving Nami and Usopp from Enel and Nami being worried in return. (Both times Sanji gets hit by Enel Nami is there and worries.) Then a lot of small moments like him giving her a flower and Nami pulling Sanji’s ear for flirting with Conis. Long Ring Long Land - Nami encourage Sanji be the ball and win, but mostly small moments like Sanji getting annoyed with Aokiji for flirting with Nami or him sitting next to her and trying to kiss her. Water 7 - Sanji leaving his love letter to Nami and Nami being worried for (and impressed with) Sanji. Enies Lobby - Sanji losing against a woman, Nami being understanding and then stepping in to basically revenge him. Also Sanji hearing it as Nami loving him and then him showing up to save Nami and Usopp from Jyabura.

Post-Enies Lobby - Not much, but Sanji stepping in to make Nami and Zoro stop fighting and make Nami understand Zoro’s pov. Thriller Bark - Sanji just being extremely focused on Nami and worried about her throughout the whole arc. Also him getting specifically selected by Luffy to save Nami. Of course the wedding theme with the bridal carry and Sanji’s reaction to Nami. Also Sanji’s Zombie protecting Nami (and later kicking Robin) and his “obsession with Nami” being mentioned. Sabaody Archipelago - Another smaller arc, but we do get Nami worried about Sanji possibly drowning. And smaller moments like Sanji being angry for Nami being put in danger by the Fishman Riders or him telling Franky to take care of Nami as he runs to protect Zoro. When they return we of course also get the nosebleeds, and Sanji daydreaming about Nami’s development.

Fishman Island - Sanji’s reaction to Jinbei and Arlong. Also the fishmen pointing out that Nami might be their weakness due to Sanji’s “over reaction“ to her falling. Punk Hazard - The body swtich, Sanji’s body saving Nami and Sanji being careful with not hurting her etc. Also them working together to save the children, Sanji listening to Nami’s request and saying he loves her more because of her kindness. Also small things like Sanji giving his jacket to Nami again. Dressrosa - Sanji leaving Violet behind to save Nami, insisting that he should be the one to save her and then him getting attacked by Doflamingo and Nami getting worried and not wanting to leave him. Sanji basically tries to sacrifice himself for Nami for the 4th time (Drum, Skypiea x2, also maybe in Thriller Bark). Zou - We get a lot of focus on Nami and Sanji together, and then of course when Sanji is gone Nami is the driving force for his plot. Once again Nami is also used to taunt Sanji (inside Capone). Then Nami is both the one to mention Sanji being from North Blue and to listen to Pekom’s talk about his family. Not to mention her insisting on going with Luffy to WCI and having a fight with Zoro as she defends Sanji. Whole Cake Island - The way she pushes for them to find Sanji, her hapiness when they find him and her hurt and the slap. We even get something like Nami being tantalized with Sanji by both Purin and Brulee. The only strawhat besides Luffy who gets a personal story thread with Sanji and a personal resolution for their conflict is Nami. The tension seems personal and combined with Sanji having another love interest but choosing Nami above her it does seem like Nami is the more natural choice both for Sanji and for Oda.

There is also a distinct increase in romantic-looking moments between them, with them touching more than ever before.

Wano - Even after WCI it doesn’t seem like Oda is stopping the SaNa moments. Sanji manages to save and carry Nami three times in the beginning of Wano. On top of that we have the bath scene and of course a lot of small moments and mentions between them like Sanji asking Usopp to take care of “My Nami-san” or Sanji jumping in abobe Nami to save her from arrows.

How many times have we had Sanji be the one to go after Nami or save her? By his own choice, by being the one present or even by Luffy asking Sanji to go. Oda puts Sanji next to Nami a lot, and I think it’s possible he might be doing it for a reason.

Who knows what we might get, but the fact that we have as much as we do really seems to show Oda having a preference to put them together in various ways.

The point is they have a lot of time and moments dedicated to them from Oda despite them both being secondary characters. At this point it’s possible Sanji is the person Nami has moments with the most in the story besides Luffy (and perhaps Usopp) as they often end up together. Of course this is including them thinking about and talking about each other as well, and not just direct interacting. For example counting the body switch and Nami being worried and focused on Sanji while on Zou. Oda doesn’t have to, but he has chosen to write it like this. On top of that he adds romantic interest from Sanji and romantic looking moments between them.

I could go on, and there are plenty of moments and examples to find between Nami and Sanji that are interesting to look a bit deeper at. You can check out my Masterpost - SanjiAFsincedayone for some of them. But as it is now here are the main points for why I think SaNa at least has a bigger chance to happen than other ships with the two of them as it is now.

One-sided attraction and romantic interest from Sanji’s side that needs to be resolved in one way or another.

Nami seems special to Sanji. Even small things like only using -san for her and -chan for others is a detail that makes her stand out to him.

Great involvement in each other’s stories. Oda likes adding Sanji and Nami in moments together both for interaction and explenation about each other. For example Sanji is also often used to save Nami.

Interactions of understanding and changing dynamics between the two, like them compromising for each other or wanting to know about the other’s past. Matching personalities and a possible future.

Romantic themes and moments, mainly the weddings, but also the amount of times Sanji has saved Nami and things like the hug being drawn in a very romantic looking way with Nami being more focused on.

Tension and urgency. This is basically Sanji and Nami having a lot of focus on each other in dire situations and Oda showing it with specific mentions.

So, to summarize, I like Sanji and Nami both as indvidual characters and together. I enjoy them as a ship and to explore their dynamics in a romantic way no matter what they might end up as in the story. Anyone should be able to respect that people have different preferences. Additionally I think and speculate that they would work well and could happen in the manga as well. This is obviously a biased interpretation and opinion.

I might be wrong, but you should be able to respect that too as we have yet to get anything objectivly confirming any ship. We don’t know if any ship with end up canon at all. Maybe Sanji and Nami will remain a ship that never becomes canon, but even so they are a ship that is definitely worth enjoying.

I hope you found this post interesting and can enjoy your own ship and fandom while also seeing that it’s ok for others to like something different than you. Thanks for reading.

#sanji #nami #sana #sanami #sanji x nami #sanjixnami #sanami theory #One Piece analysis #sanji x nami analysis #sanjiafsincedayone #one piece manga

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life-rewritten · 3 years

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Sana vs Yasmina; The Theme of Pride and Prejudice.

Don't wanna make this a long essay (sigh). However, it could be because this episode has a lot to unpack. Between comparing it to the OG Sana episode, which also had the same themes and ideas portrayed differently here. Or trying to use the information already given to us by other characters. And also, remembering (which many people tend to forget), that this is all in the main character's perspective;

Of how she sees the world,

How she views and interprets people's ideas and actions towards her Based on her preconceived notions about society

And based on her insecurities and worries about her identity.

Because skam is always being shown through the POV of the main character, the audience is also always being misled. That, or given the same hints, clues and ideas about how the main character thinks and not really the other people's perspective until someone tells them they're wrong. People keep forgetting that Skam, that this show is based means Shame. It's about flawed characters with shame. And what is that shame? Basically, insecurities that are exaggerated during their storyline that pulls out themes that are very sensitive and relatable and bring up discussion and debates. People get so triggered and blame the show constantly on what it's trying to say, when really it's the main character's consistent perspective on a situation that makes certain characters be portrayed at first generically. Or stereotypical or offensive because that's what the character's mindset thinks about those characters. In Yasmina's season, her skam is her insecurities with dissociation between two worlds/lifestyles; this is the same for Sana, with religion, tradition, and beliefs, vs her relationships, her idea of fun, and the society around her and their own ways.

Sana and Yasmina have the same perspectives (but act differently on how they deal with it), struggle with knowing who they are, what they want, and where they belong as a girl who wants the best of both worlds these two different lifestyles. And it makes her struggle. For Sana, because she was bullied severely, she had preconceived notions about everybody's actions towards her and became very defensive in her demeanour, including towards her friends and relationships. Her shame was that she couldn't be vulnerable and let herself really be free because of how she perceived; based on her experience and stereotypes, both her religion and the non-religious aspects of society. Sana had to grow open-minded and realise it's not all black and white. Yasmina is the same; she's not as defensive as Sana, who had a big flaw with this, but she's also a bit close-minded at times, only basing things/and actions on also stereotypes and insecurities about how society acts and views her.

So it's not just her probably judging Aicha for wanting to be a little bit different with how she handles the religious aspect of her life, or her deciding about Younes's choices to not be Muslim, etc. It's also her judging her mum for her own perceived homophobic actions or her religion's perceived strict rules and laws that governs her life. Just because she sees it as this does not mean that's what's actually true. And that's what this episode is trying to bring out.

In Sana's episode, when Yousef kisses Noora, many things escalate with the same themes; Yasmina confronts this episode with her own prejudice and pride. For example, Sana deals with ideas about Islam being connected to homophobia by society trying to judge her brother for getting into a fight with Isak. The blood on her hands from both symbolised her struggle of who she wanted to believe. In the end, she also started to listen to people and think her brother started the fight because he was homophobic when it was actually a misunderstanding. Two, she also overhears about her friendship group plans, excluding her on purpose because people have it out for her because they're Islamaphobic and dislike her defensive manner towards things, and her bossy nature. They planned to kick her out and say awful things about her, her brother and her lifestyle that already proved/triggered her own prejudiced notions about how society views her. And lastly, she also has the guy she loves, who she has been avoiding because of her own prejudices, and struggle with tradition, kiss the one girl she has insecurities about when it comes to ideas about relationships. For Sana, Nora in Skam was seen as the ideal popular, beautiful girl. She was non-religious and so less conservative than Sana, and two because she was seen as the beauty standard (even Vilde struggles to deal with this in the past seasons) for all girls. Sana had insecurities about not being attractive or wanted for who she was by people.

So we have all of these themes to do with Sana's ideas and beliefs about how certain parts of both worlds she's torn between do things, and it all adds up to an explosion in that episode. For Yasmina, it's the opposite. In every scene of this episode, they also dealt with these themes. But instead of a big explosion, it all happened below the surface. Rather than exploding at the same time/event all at once. We see her in this episode, in three plotlines;

One is her fight with her self wanting to be with Younes and wanting to stay with her religious traditions.

Two is dealing with being excluded by her friendship group because of how people perceive her lifestyle and wanting to fight for it, vs wanting to just let it go.

And three is confronting her mum and her issue with her friends, and certain aspects of their lifestyles as showcased by Robbe and Sander's important cameo (there's a reason why it had to be them, yes it was about homophobia but a prejudiced view on homophobia, it's a misunderstanding and they're allowed to want to tackle this topic about this prejudice)

I'm going to try and break it down even further and connect it back to why this is just a better adaptation of skam; Sana's season. What changes have truly improved these themes and conversations but also why it's connected to Yasmina's skam/flaw in her season and how she confronts her issues with pride and prejudice, just like with her shadow character in the book the season uses, Elisabeth Bennet.

Preconceived Notions about Family and Tradition

One, it's important to note one of the most serious changes this show has brought is deciding to reduce the importance of Robbe in Yasmina's season. Especially since Sana's relationship with Isak is what catalyses even more actions and growth to do with her skam and her season's conclusion. But it's important to note when they decide to include Robbe in Yasmina's perspective and narrative of her story. And that is this shopping scene which was done intentionally. They did invite Robbe and Sander to pick at and poke at Yasmina's insecurity about her own ideas, her own beliefs (also due to her conversations with Younes towards this too), and her own frustrations with her opinion on the rules and traditions her religion has.

For some reason, because Yasmina is torn between two worlds, both worlds end up being seen very stereotypically. Also, both hurt her and make her feel excluded like she's not meant to be part of it. One because she has certain features of both worlds that make her identity and her beliefs, and the other because the other side of them makes her feel ashamed and insecure about her lack of connection towards them. One example of doing with this that has always been a fear of Sana's and growth for her is how she perceives Islam and Homophobia, a big stereotypical issue that most religious teens have to deal with and question. It's all based on old traditional beliefs, ideas and more, and this causes a stigma and stereotype that all Muslims have an issue with this topic.

Yasmina, like Sana, has to learn in Robbe/Isak season how sometimes it can make the community feel hurt and alienated, and she has to apologise when she realises what her actions have done. In her season, this still stays with them in their head, including the fact that their love life is also connected to this topic again. So Yasmina has, unfortunately (and she's allowed to be flawed in her thinking since she's growing and young and learning), also taken in some of these ideas, like Sana does when she thinks Elias could be homophobic in her season. She completely refuses to communicate and trust his point of view initially, and she has to apologise for it later. This is the same with Yasmina. Because it's in her point of view, specific actions of others are exaggerated or focused on more than they should; they are misinterpreted; this is not the show doing another stereotypical portrayal of Homophobic Muslims. No, it's showing what Yasmina's flawed mindset and insecurity is about this topic, she instantly thinks her mum is acting that way. And she misinterprets her mum's actions, bear in mind she's not the only one, just like Isak also caused an issue in Sana's season that caused the fight, Robbe misunderstands her mum too.

Her mum is not having a problem with their relationship; she's having an issue with them because it's already been stated that Yasmina feels pressure about her mum's dislike of her friend's because she's worried they'll pull her away from her identity. The thing is, her mum has always said this, she later repeats it after this scene to Yasmina, but of course, everyone, including Yasmina, failed to trust her on that because we're in Yasmina's perspective, the doubts have sown into our minds, and her actions scream just that. But to see people heavily misunderstand this scene again and not see that they're trying to exaggerate and focus. Yasmina's own prejudice on her mum's opinions is sad because it's precisely that. Her mum is wrong for alienating her friends but the reason why she does has been skewed and wrongly viewed like Elias in Sana's season with a stereotypical, Islamaphobic lens.

This is how Yasmina's prejudice can sometimes make her see things and feel like she doesn't belong there. There's so much more to say about this whole issue, but this was the first similar issue/theme shown in Sana's episode that also was brought up in this episode, something Yasmina after hell week, would find out she's wrong about, her family loves her, they might be traditional, but she's allowed to have own identity and be loved for who she is and how she acts. This is also why there's more tension showcasing her disconnection from her family's actions towards her. And her own values and fears about the strictness of her religion. Even though it doesn't have to be that way, it does for now in her head.

Exclusion and Alienation with Friendship

This is another one that has been stretched out differently to Sana's season, but it's the same theme and struggle. Except, Yasmina has already actually had a reason to feel all her insecurities and opinions on society views. As it's being proven by just listening to these girls in the bathroom. For her, it's frustrating because even when she tries to stand up to them, she can't. They act dumb, naive and afraid of her, making it look like she's the one that's aggressive/crazy. It's so frustrating; what this does is that it pokes at her insecurities about her other lifestyle. It disconnects her from the feeling of confidence for the friends she makes or allows. Maybe her mum is right. She's too different; the worlds are too diverse. Thus, this is poking at her; the reason she's being excluded is her strong convictions with her religion. Like with Sana (though Sana was more aggressive and defensive about it), everyone makes assumptions that she can't go, that she's not free to be with her friends, that her religion holds her back. They have so many stereotypical Islamaphobic ideas towards her (reasons for why Sana was bullied when she was young.)

Yasmina is slowly dealing with this because once anxiety and negative thoughts trickle in, there's no point in stopping. Even though Luca is by her side and is protective of her, Yasmina's insecurities and pride are starting to combat what she believes on the surface vs what society makes her think she should feel. This is where the struggle with pride comes in with Sana and her, except Yasmina does it by holding it in and not discussing properly with Luca why she's not going, what she heard, what they did. It's again because Sana's friends did not have this information. They also kept on being part of the exclusion and alienation of her from the event, and that's precisely what's going to happen, probably with Yasmina.

Sana had so many years of defending herself and protecting herself when it came to issues like this, and so every chance she got, she was judgy and refused to trust the actions of people who only meant right by her at times. However, Yasmina is only starting to deal with that anger and frustration; we know she, like Sana, also tends to snap and react defensively when she feels she's being attacked. Now with all of the things that have built up this episode, any actions of Luca, Kato or even Amber will seem prejudiced or will seem like they're making fun of her too, she'll be defensive, she'll hurt them with words without meaning to, and she'll explode. And this is what happens when you use pride and ego to try and avoid the circumstance of feeling like you don't have anything to offer to people to make them stay. And this is literally what Yasmina's head is starting to say to her. She doesn't belong in both worlds; she has parts of her identity in. She has betrayed her own self because it doesn't have its own place of belonging in society. What should she do? And we know how Sana reacts to this; the question is, how will Yasmina deal with her skam and insecurities. Her feelings of loneliness and depression.

The Ill Fated Struggles of Romance

Yousef; our soulmate for Sana, the one guy who for some reason makes her feel like her insecurities are lies. He accepts her for who she is, and he's constantly showing her that. Younes is the same; he's been a protector, someone to talk to and discuss her issues with, someone who makes her feel safe and ticks all her boxes even though he's not ticking them. Yasmina, like Sana, makes a decision after constantly being in her head to show him she's serious; she chooses to finally go to him. This is actually more than what Sana does in her season. Yasmina was going to let everything go and run to her safe place, which has become him in a way. He reminds her that she's okay being herself and that she has someone who sees her and gets her. However, it's ironic; this is one of the best changes, in my opinion, a Sana season has ever done. Because it really starts to flesh out this skam of Yasmina, which she confronts with pride and prejudice. Making another Muslim girl the Noora of the season makes that conversation about religion, identity, and insecurity even more prominent.

Aicha is the symbolism of someone who also has both worlds that Yasmina feels disconnected from; however, in Yasmina's perspective, Aicha is the one who's meant to take her place because she's connected to religion similar to the way Younes is.She's strongly not following the traditions and ideas bestowed on her, but also, she's the only connection of a Muslim friend/lifestyle that Yasmina has as well. It's heartbreaking because Aicha makes Yasmina question things, whether she is also prejudiced towards people who do things differently for their own idea of identity and freedom. Whether she's meant to also switch her identity and give up on her own beliefs and convictions. Since that's what society wants that in her head. To get the best of both worlds. Or whether she's not meant to believe (like Sana also feared) that someone would want her for her true self.

Again Yousef/Younes is so vital to this skam/dilemma of these two because they are the most significant symbolism of the disconnect between the two worlds. When it comes to relationships, the show shows what is seen as a classic stereotypical version of what love is meant to be for Yasmina (with her mum discussing her cooking habits, her ideas on romance/marriage and who would want her). Still, yet the show also shows the struggle with attraction and lust that comes with love. That always feels like an illogical/incorrect path (because Yasmina/Sana fears that they'll be shamed for it by the religion or forced to do things that aren't for them because society thrives on the sexuality of relationships in media/life as a norm). Again they're teenagers; this is precisely what we come to learn about relationships and love as we grow; we question so many parts of ourselves; love brings out insecurities, it also makes you free.

Love is a perfect way to showcase this dilemma and theme in Sana/Yasmina's season. This is why Yousef/Younes are always non-religious because they represent all of the insecurities and fears of both worlds the girls are part of. And that's why Sana's season always gets me even when the issues aren't solved later on correctly; the risk to bring this conversation to girls like Yasmina and Sana who go through the same worries, ideas of self, and struggles it's really relatable, and Sana was the first person I felt so incredibly represented by as a POC religious girl.

With Sana, she had to watch Yousef kiss Noora (which was her biggest fear/biggest insecurity and shame that she had about herself because she didn't look like her. Sana hated feeling this because she wanted to always have pride and be all about defence and protection, but it was her most significant vulnerability that she struggled with. It made her truly believe in all of the truths about stereotypical ideas about teenage/young love and society's beauty standards and norms; this now isn't always true. Still, in Sana's, this was how she viewed society at times.) Meanwhile, Yasmina sees Aicha, someone she's already judgy of, worried about, and insecure about; be close to Younes, be chosen by Younes after she got denied by him and show intimacy in a way that she and him could never do. Mostly because she wouldn't let herself do that (which is fine if that's how she is, but it makes her insecure, filled with worries that she pushes people away for being herself/anti societal norms).

Aicha brings up all of those insecurities that she's been trying to push down with this matter, and it hurts to see her finally break down and be tired of it all. The best thing about this; is that this is a misunderstanding, and needs like in Pride and Prejudice, communication and openmindedness. Younes doesn't know what Yasmina has seen, and we know if he did, he would prevent it, but also, this will make Yasmina go in defence mode. Of course, he wasn't true. Of course, he didn't actually like her. Of course, he wasn't meant for her. These insecurities and doubts spiral and make her grow a wall due to pride and ego defence mechanisms like Sana. All she has to do is speak to them, but her stereotypical ideas in her head, her fears and her prejudices towards them will prevent her from communicating correctly, will probably cause her to lash out. (She may even like Sana make Aicha's actions exposed to her parents, which would be awful to do, but that's Aicha's secret that has been shown again. Remember Skam has flawed characters, teenagers that make mistakes and learn from them. Wtfock tends to exaggerate skams (flawed actions) a lot) but also, her pride will prevent her from wanting to show she's vulnerable to him and make him see she's hurt. But again, we all know this is a misunderstanding; this is based already on ideas in Yasmina's head, just like with her mum, just like with her friends and just like with Younes. It's all to do with what she's been going through the whole season. Her biggest fear, her biggest worry, not being enough, just being herself, not belonging anywhere and not getting a happy life because of her abnormal identity. She sees herself as strange; she's not, same as Sana did. And that is her Skam, which is the theme of Sana's seasons constantly.

Again I ask the audience to calm down every time something happens in Skam. People will make mistakes; it doesn't promote any ideas until the show is over. You have to wait to see why they've put something there. There was a reason why Robbe had to think he was facing homophobia again in a season to do with that narrative. There's a reason why Aicha, despite Yasmina telling her she likes Younes is touchy with him (he may be a sibling to her etc. she's just flirty and loud with her personality. It's not wrong or right if she and Younes have an idea about what they are to each other). There's a reason why both Younes and Aicha showcase different parts of how people act with religion, it's relatable for some people, but also it makes Yasmina face her own stereotypical prejudices towards her own ideas about religion. The show isn't trying to be stereotypical with what they show; it's being or showing stereotypical actions because the main character has that issue; she has problems with judgement and misinterpretation because she's young and needs to learn just like we also were in this age.

The journey to finding your identity, your beliefs, your self and trust where you belong is a long one in high school, so many people feel abnormal because of societal norms, so many people feel like they don't belong, this is not saying that Religion is wrong or right, it's just saying Yasmina in her world, in her perspective has been brought up with certain ideas, opinions, and as she grows she learns which is suitable to her, and which is wrong, she learns to stand up for her self, and realise she's okay being who she is, she'll be loved by the people around her, and just like everybody else around her, she can find love, she can be fun, she can still love God and religion, she can be herself and have her own version of happiness, and that's what life is.

That's what Skam tries to show every teen and person who feels ashamed for what they are, or what they believe, it's important, this whole idea of immediately judging a scene without waiting to understand why that scene is essential (which can only be done after the show has ended) is very frustrating, especially when the show can be lifechanging for so many people who relate to it and find strength and belonging to it. All I'm saying is chill, wait, stop overreacting and let the show tell its story first. Because for so far, wtfock is making a fantastic Sana adaptation that has been given effort, energy and thought. Please, let's calm down and see it unfold, okay?

#wtfock #cwg #FVete

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chicoriii · 3 years

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Season 4, Episode 4 - Mr Pigeon 72

I have no idea where to start. This episode has some good things and some extremely stupid.

Marinette isn't still completely fine, but I prefer when she deals with it through being hyperactive than being a whining crybaby.

I know people don't agree with me, but personally I don't buy the whole revealing identity to Alya. It's not a problem with Alya herself, I would say the same about every single character who is not named Alix Kubdel at this point of the story. I haven't written anything in my post about Gang of Secrets, because I thought it would be undone in some way at the start of the next episode. The creators did nothing to explain why revealing identity of Ladybug to anyone was super dangerous and would result in a catastrophe in seasons 1-3 and the first two episodes of S4, but it's magically fine in episode 3. Only Alix made sense to me, as she will be the rabbit Miraculous holder, so she is destined to discover identities of everyone sooner or later and Marinette is aware of that. While it's not necessary to learn identity of anyone to other temporary Miraculous wielders, including Alya. Also that reveal hasn't been foreshadowed in season 3, while the show usually does it, especially if it's about something as important as that! More, in late S3, it's been shown that Alya still can't resist to not talking about Marinette's love life with Nino, despite she asked her to not do it. Now the girl, who is overly excited about superhero stuff, has no problems with even accidental revealing anything to Nino or someone else. She's even "stealing" Bunnix line that she's great at keeping secrets (sorry but you, the creators, haven't shown us that she's indeed is before!). This is why I think that reveal hasn't been planned before they started writing season 4.

But okay, I can deal with it, even if I don't buy it, but things these happened in Mr. Pigeon 72 are even more inconsistent with previous seasons. I have been worried about it, so it doesn't surprised me. For some reason Guardian related-things that have been kept in a secret before from everyone minus current Guardian and the future Guardian, are now fine being done in front of Kwamis (remember, they haven't been allowed to learn about making potions before!) and a civilian who is just a temporal Miraculous holder, not someone who is supposed to be trained to be a new Guardian. You can say - new Guardian, new rules, but why? Marinette has been portrayed as someone who respect authorities, she has never questioned any Fu's rules. It wasn't even said in the episode that she's going to change the rules. I hate that the writers don't even bother to explain us what's going on. Probably they don't bother about consistency, they think the audience is going to be too excited about Alya knowing Ladybug's identity and helping Marinette to question anything about it? How Alya could be allowed to learn the Guardian secrets? She is just best friend of the protagonist, she is not one of the main characters to get that special treatment. I makes zero sense to me. Especially since Su-Han will be introduced in episode 6 and he should help Marinette with understanding the Grimoire, Alya isn't necessary here for any other reason than fanservice.

In my opinion the way how they discovering how to make charms that protects from akumasitation was the most stupid thing that happened this season and one of the most in the whole show. Marinette who is the new Guardiand and portrayed as someone extreme intelligent and creative couldn't find the solution for days, but Alya with zero training magically discovered it in a few hours at worst. And when she told her the solution in not even very clear way, Ladybug did it immediately with no effort. That was so anticlimactic. At least the animation was fine, but other aspects of it was just a big disappointment, and I was looking forward for it. Thank goodness it's just the beginning of the season, I hope later important events of the season will be better written and portrayed.

Also I find it absurd that Rena Rough is walking with a page from the Grimoire like it's just an ordinary book and she's talking about it in front of a random civilian, like things that are written there are nothing special. She or Ladybug are not careful about Miraculous lore anymore. Not to mention that they are giving hints that Rena is very close to Ladybug in public, suspiciously close. And now with them being too careless, that's not hard to suspect that Rena Rouge is someone very close to Ladybug, maybe even as a civilian. Shadow Moth knows Rena Rouge's identity, and it's easy to him to learn who is Alya Cesaire's best friend if he doesn't know it yet, after all his son is in the class with her. Marinette has always been super careful and serious about her duties before, why that sudden change with zero explanation? It's just very out of character to her in my opinion.

I didn't like the akuma battle either, it's now the worst fight of the season in my opinion. It was so short and felt very lazy. I only liked that Plagg got some action and interaction with Ladybug (though it should be suspicious for her that he managed to reach to her that fast). He should be aware now that Alya knows Ladybug's identity but he acts like nothing happened. Not a word about it being unfair towards his kid or something, weird.

Thankfully the rest of the episode is generally more or less fun to me. It was nice to see Marinette and Kagami interacting again. I loved Kagami in the episode, although it was a bit weird to me that she isn't seemed to be affected by her breaking up with Adrien. Like her crush was very shallow, so she managed to recover herself from it very quickly. While it's been shown that Luka is hurt, despite Lukanette always seemed to be much more shallow than Adrigami in my opinion. But maybe it's because she's so down to earth, so being less emotional makes sense for her character. I liked how her attitude was opposite to Marinette's hyperactive: "No, I don't want to be in a relationship with Adrien again, he disappointed me, just let me live!!!". And she's another character who said that Marinette and Adrien are made for each other. I'm not surprised that Kagami sees it now when she tried to be with him and that didn't work. She's observant, sees more than many other characters. It seems she's an Adrienette shipper now. It's also good that her issue with Adrien wasn't resolved that easily and too fast. They need more time, but I'm sure they will be friends again.

So, we've gotten shirtless Adrien. I remember seeing a tweet of Thomas in which he answered to a question if there will be a beach episode and he said we will get something similar. I wonder if he meant this episode. Oh, they just remembered that Adrien is supposed to be allergic to feathers. It seems Adrien has allergic reactions only when it's somewhat related to the plot. When it's not, he's completely fine.

The reference to the famous Umbrella Scene™ out of nowhere in a random episode? It probably means something. I can see "reverse crush" supporters interpreting it as a proof to their theory, especially since this time Adrien did something clumsy and Marinette is laughing because of it (actually both of them). Or maybe because it's the first episode of season 4 with Marinette and Adrien interactions, they decided to be that much gracious for Adrienette fans, to compensate lack of it in the first three episodes. Oh wow, Marinette managed to propose spending more time together to Adrien without stuttering. Probably because she has done it spontaneously. Marinette is the most nervous when she's planning and thinking what could go wrong too much. This time she had no time to it, so it went more smoothly. It's like they building development of their relationship, but it didn't seem in Guiltrip (that's episode 11 chronologically) that something changed.

Seeing screenshot above, you can easily imagine how great friends they could be, being very comfortable around each other and laughing together, if not Marinette's anxiety. We need Adrienette development so much to get more moments like this.

Oh and I just realized that it's also one of the veeeeery few episodes with no real Ladynoir at all (the only other one I remember is Style Queen). So if there was no Adrienette it would be an episode without interactions of two main characters at all (although we almost got Ladrien). It could be another reason why this episode is that nice for Adrien and Marinette ship.

After seeing overly excited Marinette dancing in the rain, I can't believe she can manage completely give up on Adrien. It doesn't look like this at all.

Also we've seen three photos of Adrien wearing THAT scarf. It could not mean nothing different that foreshadowing that he's going to discover the truth about it somewhere this season. But I have no idea what Ladybug's mask with shining eyes could mean.

I don't know what to think about the episode. Despite absurd Guardian-related things, I still liked it much more than Gang of Secrets, but I have no idea if I generally enjoyed it more than other episodes of this season or not. At least it's an episode without stupid drama, which is amazing.

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I'm currently less active on social media, because my internet connection is very unstable, it often works very slowly to the point I'm not patient enough to visit Tumblr. Also I block spoiler tags again, because I don't want to see spoilers from the episodes those are going to be released very soon, as I feel that they reveal too much to me once more. We're currently in a marathon of the new episodes and since watching them is the more more enjoyable, the less I know about them, I decided to try avoid spoilers as much as I can. The only bad thing is that I can't be read discussions about the new episodes, reblog them and adding something from me until Optigami will be aired.

#miraculous ladybug #ml mr. pigeon 72 #ml season 4 #ml spoilers #ml spoiler #chicoriii about S4 episodes #ml season 4 spoilers #chicoriii #original post

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