#real talk i think the twist of his character isn't gonna be that he has a heart of gold- it's gonna be that he has a heart at all LMAO

[skittikyu]

what a jax@$$

#my art #the amazing digital circus #tadc #tadc jax #quick someone get him a mug he'll need it to drink all these jax x reader y/n tears /jjjjjj /lh #real talk i think the twist of his character isn't gonna be that he has a heart of gold- it's gonna be that he has a heart at all LMAO #so yeah no shade @ people who think he's nice deep down nor people who think he's a cruel irredeemable asshole cause i'm right in the middl

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

I just wanted to say that the way you characterize and talk about Miguel has actually really helped me with thinking about how to write for him 😭 genuinely I love the way you describe him as an actual like person and not just some sex addict or someone who's extremely distant and cold. I hope you continue writing mild Miguel because it's so refreshing compared to all the other shit I see 😭💕

THANK YOU THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHH THIS IS A MIGUEL SAFE SPACE AND LIKE- CAN I BE REAL FOR A SECOND???

MIGUEL ISN'T AN ASSHOLE YOU PEOPLE ARE JUST MEAN - A.K.A -

My Defense & Evidence of a Milder, Non-aggressive Sympathetic Miguel O'hara.

[This is a half-break down half rant about Mild Miguel, when we see Miguel's true nature, and what fandom gets wrong about him. I have my evidence.

this is shorter than my usual posts but I'm going absolute apeshit Miguel Mode by the end so sorry you have to see that.]

I think Miguel and Hobie are the two most complex characters in the film. Like - both of them equally.

It's just really easy to explain one over the other.

I feel this way because every character we see in the entire movie - Miles, Gwen, Peter, Jess, Rio, Jeff, The Spot, everyone - is forthcoming and clear about their intentions and motive throughout the movie.

When we're watching the movie the first time, we understand Miles motive, and Peter's, and Gwen. In real time. It's there and stated. Miles wants to save his dad, Peter wants to be a better mentor, Gwen just wants peace basically.

But when we're watching for the first time - we have no idea what Hobie OR Miguel is capable of until they do it.

They are the two we're surprised by. (And they're also exact opposites who somehow don't seem to be complete adversaries)

They're the only two within the film who we are left to speculate their motive, their drive, and what they'll do next.

They're the only two in the film who are truly meant to catch us off guard with their behavior.

Leading up to Hobie's big twist, there was a LOT of misdirection. I think the same is true for Miguel...but like..the fandom isn't picking up on the misdirection AT ALL.

I have a lot of ideas and thoughts about Miguel and his character and honestly I think it's the exact opposite of what the fandom sees.

But when its's Hobie, it's very easy to understand him, just read the wiki on Punk and you're good.

But I don't think anyone has look closer at Miguel yet.

I genuinely believe that the reason Miles got away was because Miguel went soft.

He was watching the videos of Gaby to remind himself why he was doing this - why he had to stand his ground, but when Miles started panicking, and begging to know how much time he had left - Miguel slipped up. He went soft.

And he told him 'two days'.

You can see it in Miguel's face when Miles is asking.

That's not the face of a man considering assault. That's not anger. He's wavering.

He didn't have to tell Miles how long he had left. But he did - why? Cause he thought 'I'd kill for two days with Gabby. A lot of people get less warning about death - Maybe he can spend those two days with his fath-'

and then Miles is like 'word?? two days to stop you?? iight im out also fuck yall' - which understandable have a nice day

But like......Miguel wouldn't have said it if he knew it would fuck him over. He didn't KNOW Miles was radicalized cause he didn't know Hobie had spoken to him. He thought that telling him might convince him. If he knew Miles was gonna run - there's no need to tell him anything.

He could've lied and said "I DON'T KNOW. But maybe let's talk about this."

But he didn't. He slipped up.

He's SOFT. Everytime he's mean, or angry - He has to think about it. Like when he looked at Hobie - and thought about it. He has to MAKE himself do it. It isn't natural to him.

Nobody else in the room was gonna answer Miles. Miles wouldn't have known. But Miguel told him two days. And because of that, that specific slip-up, Miles is trying to save his dad.

Why? Because he's SOFT. CAPITAL S SOFT.

Miguel is not a raging monster. Or aggressive. Or manipulative.

He's a guy who thinks he's holding the universe together with duct tape and a kid is in front of him begging to know how long they have left with their father and he tells them and because of that they get away and now everything he worked for is gonna emplode in his face because he had a SOFT SPOT FOR A KID AGAIN AND DID SOMETHING HE SHOULDN'T AGAIN AND TOLD HIM AND NOW PEOPLE ARE GONNA DIE AGAIN BECAUSE HE MESSED WITH THE MULTIVERSE AGAIN FUCK-

Like...yeah- he snapped. A normal person would snap. I've snapped for way less and a lot of other people have.

Granted, we don't go mauling children.

I don't know, I just feel like he's an incredibly layered character.

Because when he's ranting and screaming at Gwen like an irritated school teacher we're already like 'oh fuck you dude but also fuck you ;)'

so when he's right there doing things like this - we don't see it. The same way we don't see Hobie's stealing - because we think we have him figured out.

We don't see Miguel's tenderness.

Because we assume we know who he is - he's cold and aggressive and rude and hates Miles,

but like...is he really?

Miles is getting upset - and the whole conversation leading up to it Miguel has talked to him from a far, hands when Miles can see them. He's not trying to stand over him, or intimidate him. Miguel knows he's scary. He knows how to be scary.

He isn't trying to scare Miles. The exact opposite. He's trying to comfort him.

And when Miles starts lashing out - Miguel is genuinely surprised. That isn't the look of someone who THINKS he's about to hurt this kid.

He's telling Miles, hands up "Hey, sorry. I'm not trying to hurt you." He immediately lets go, backs up.

I just---- FUCK, PEOPLE THE MAN IS STANDING RIGHT THERE THATS MILD MIGUEL LOOK AT HIM

If you really really think Miguel is naturally aggressive, or angry, or cold -

If you write him that way -

I ask that you rewatch the leading up to Miles' escape. Look at his body language. Watch him, and look at his face. That's all I ask.

I just kjsjrghjkSIGHIDDGU I CAN'T STAND FOR THIS INJUSTICE AND EMOTIONAL ILLITERACY

HES NOT A GOOD GUY BUT LIKE....HE'S ... THE ONE YALL ARE SERVING...COMPLETELY DIFFERENT MAN.

He's SOFT. The same way he caved for Gwen after a little pushing. He caved for Miles after a little pushing. That's why he told him two days. SOFT

MILD MIGUEL, SOFT MIGUEL, WANTS TO DO THE HARD THING BUT FUCK HE CAN'T DO IT MIGUEL, HAS TO STAND COMPLETELY STILL AND UNMOVING TO NOT CAVE TO MAYDAY MIGUEL, MIGUEL WHO LOVES PEOPLE BUT KEEPS HIS DISTANCE AND SHUTS HIS MOUTH BECAUSE PEOPLE GET HURT MIGUEL MIGUEL MIGUEL

I'm going to go Miguel Mode.

If understanding Hobie was a house, the fandom is standing out on the road.

If understanding Miguel was a house, the people aren't even in the same neighborhood. We're in the next state over. Other side of the globe. Off base by like 12 zipcodes and 4 times zones

Mild Miguel. Please tell me you're seeing this.

Am I crazy for thinking that the slip up - of telling Miles two days - wasn't out of stupidity but PITY? SYMPATHY?

Because Miguel thinks getting to spend two whole days with some you'll lose is a BLESSING to him - not a curse.

Even though to ANY non-traumatized person - it would be a curse.

...... yo

Miguel stepped into Gabriellas life because he didn't want her to lose a father. He KNOWS losing a father hurts.

So when Miles is there in front of him, talking about not wanting to lose his father - Miguel KNOWS how he feels. Gabby didn't want to lose her dad either.

Miguel UNDERSTANDS. He's a FATHER -

HE KNOWS HE'S BEING THE BAD GUY HE KNOWS ITS WRONG NOT TO STEP IN THATS WHY HE STEPPED IN FOR GABRIELLA IN THE FIRST PLACE THIS ISN'T THE PERSON HE WANTS TO BE OR THOUGHT HE'D BECOME YOU PEOPLE ARE MEAN AND HORNY -

I- I can't even i'm sorry I -

I have a longer post about this in the works like breaking down all of his body language from his moments with MJ and Hobie and like teverything

but ITS NOT EVEN LIKE I THINK HE'S RIGHT I JUST CANT STAND PEOPLE BEING THIS WRONG ABOUT IT I CANT

If you see him as aggressive or cold this post isn't meant to be an attack. I am just down bad for Mild Miguel and I'm going delirious with hunger and starvation for him

#Justice4MildMiguel Maybe I'm huffing copium but also i know im fucking not he's RIGHT THERE

[And if you hate Miguel like hate hate him Moche says dishonor on you dishonor on your cow dishonor your family and your land in the name of Aia Paec Almighty]

If you made it this far....Imsorry you had to see me that way I don't know what came over me here's a picture of Hobie to help me calm down.

(aka Hobie judging the fuck outta me in my head)

I need a glass of water. Bye.

#I may...have a problem #THIS IS A RANT #miguel o'hara #spiderman #atsv #spider man #spider man 2099 #spiderman 2099 #across the spider verse #across the spiderverse #miguel ohara #atsv miguel #miguel x reader #miguel x oc #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara x oc #miguel ohara x reader #miguel ohara x oc #miguel ohara x you #miguel o'hara x you #miguel x y/n #miguel ohara x y/n #atsv analysis #mild miguel #miles morales

[inbarfink]

It’s so funny how many fictional characters have Rogues Galleries and/or supporting casts who are like, darker reflections of themselves. Like they're [Main Character] but worse. Y'know, it’s good for the Themes. But meanwhile Zim is already so Baseline Terrible that instead he’s surrounded with characters who reflect him by being better versions of himself. "Zim but less awful"

Like, Dib is Zim but trying to stop Space Imperialism rather than contributing to it. Tak is Zim but hypercompetent. And Skoodge is Zim if Zim lacked his most defining trait and most crippling flaw - his self-deluded ego.

Skoodge and Zim seem to be the shortest Irkens to have been ever reached the Invader rank - they both must’ve been highly capable to make it through the Irken Societal Bias against the short. But of the two of them, only Skoodge is grounded enough to actually demonstrate it. While Zim’s ego and all that stern from it - the delusions, the absolute lack of threat-assessment, the inability to think ahead - makes him an incompetent bumbler despite all of skills.

On the other hand, Skoodge is the most competent Invader actually on the Empire’s payroll (Tak might be more competent but she’s actually less of a Real Invader then Zim is, so…). And yet… this lack of ego also makes him the Empire’s (and sometimes Zim’s) punching bag despite all of his skills. 

And, like, Skoodge isn't necessarily insecure. Especially right after his successful conquest of Blorch, he seems to have, like, a reasonable amount of healthy self-confidence you'd expect from someone who has achieved what he did.

He's just not as selfishly self-obsessed and absolutely disconnected from reality like Zim is. He is actually capable of distinguishing between the Empire's will and his own desires, he is capable of reasonably asserting threats, he does actually notice when he is being led into an Obvious Death Trap.

Even if the Irken culture of absolute obedience means he still has to go along with it.

Zim might be, you know, incapable of consciously recognizing that the Tallests hate him.... but his ego and his disconnect from reality actually allows him to put his own desires and his self-preservation instinct before the express orders of the Tallests by just... forgetting that they happened.

When I talk about the idea that Zim has all the traits the Irken Empire values (minus height) just twisted to unreasonable extremes - that’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. To survive in the Irken Empire you need to have some amount of ego and self confidence and self-interest. Being just a loyal vessel of the Empire

Just marks you as someone that can be easily exploited. No matter your other skills. Zim’s attitude is far too much on the other extreme - but it is not alien to Irken society at all. You're gonna need it to survive.

Skoodge is also a nice reminder how truly futile Zim’s desire for approval from the Tallests really is. Even if he was somewhat capable of recognizing his own flaws, even if he was capable of conquering Earth, even if he could wow everyone in the Empire with the greatest Invasion in known history - the only thing that will change is that instead of being hated and punished for being the Worst Thing to Ever Happen to the Empire he’d just be hated and punished for being short. 

#invader zim #iz analysis #zim #zim iz #iz zim #zim invader zim #invader zim zim #skoodge #invader skoodge #skoodge iz #iz skoodge

[yuri-is-online]

Damn I'm really like the storyline of this game.But FUCK Leo,if I ever get a chance to smacked the shit out of him, please Chancellor one chance.He fucked with the Mc head, how Alan and Thoma didn't kick him out that car if beyond me, there better than me honestly.Sho isn't much better because he's going along just because he's isn't mean.

Just because there isn't cruelty that doesn't mean kindness.But he's the lesser evil.Makes me sad for Alan.

Let's talk about Lucas I wonder if the soul system is like JJK,like if your twins you share the same soul and that's why the demon took his brother.

Also which character did you pick for your first

-🤡

I picked Thoma first, but I didn't take screenshots of the opening. Probably gonna use my emulator to take a crack at screencapping all of the boys intros because I am insane and want to pick it apart for lore research.

Twins sharing the same soul/being seen as the same person is very common in Japanese folklore if I understand correctly? But that might just be me overthinking the plot of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly. So yes that's my assumption too, the demon likely took Luca's brother in his place since they technically share a soul.

Now. Let's talk about Leo. The main reason Alan and Thoma didn't immediately kick him out of the car was to not make a scene. Thoma specifically seems to respect the opportunistic sort, and thinks that Leo shows promise if he shapes up. He's skilled with tech, good at reading people, quick on his feet, all of those things are arguably good traits that Vagastrom, and Alan, could really use! Besides it's not like he has enough on either of them to get in their way yet, best to play it cool and walk away with the upper hand. Another thing we learn from this conversation that might be easy to miss is that unlike Twisted Wonderland where each dorm has rules about who should be the leader, Darwick's Administration picks the Captain and Vice Captain of the dorm, and grades seem to be more important to them than say. Whether or not the person has a good character, as we have seen from both Thoma and Leo, is significantly less important.

But if there is one thing I sort of have to point out that I think Alan gets and tries to call him out on, Leo is incredibly short sighted. He sees MC's power as worthless not because it doesn't work but because he already used it and got what he wants from it. He doesn't see anyone other than himself, and maybe Sho, as a person so he doesn't feel any guilt about using MC to get what he wants and then trying to get her kicked out of the school. He's also the only bitch in this house that completely ignores that MC can't leave, he doesn't mention her curse once when talking about her and honestly I don't think he was paying attention enough to remember that she can't leave because of that. Allan makes a point at the end of the Vagastrom book that I really hope is followed up on:

I sort of read this as applying to his friendship with Sho and his own reputation. Sure, it's all fun and games now while he snatches up the Vice Captain role and still has Sho doing his bidding, but well. Sho does occasionally do what he wants, he didn't go along with Leo's plan, not completely. He didn't outright lie about MC's power, and he hates how Leo keeps asking about why the ghouls made their wish on a demon. He thinks it's wrong, he hates it. Leo's treatment of MC did bother him, and I know he doesn't want MC to die. I don't know how far you or anyone else has made it, but something happens in Book 3 that makes it seem like MC has gone missing, and according to Hyde all of the Frostheim, "and one or two" of the Vagastrom ghouls have to be talked out of going to look for her.

As of right now Leo's only real ally is Sho. If Sho gets fed up with him and stops covering his ass, then Leo has no one, and I don't think that's occurred to him since according to Sho's bio they've been friends since long before Darkwick. Anyway I hope they get divorced and Sho gets to keep his food truck. Like I said, we can run Leo over with it for the insurance money.

Have some Side Notes:

The ring of Solomon, or the ring of wisdom, granted Solomon the power to make demons do his bidding in the original myth. Since ghouls powers come from demons, in some way, shape, or form, my theory is that the ring is likely enhancing the demonic part of them.

The "like doves" supposedly appear when someone is thinking of you positively/likes you. The first people to make these doves appear around MC are Luka and Kaito. The second is Sho, which is honestly why I am a bit softer on him then I should be. The third time it shows up is at the end of Jabberwock's book with all three dorm members present, meaning literally the only bitch in this house who does not respect MC is fucking Leo that dick-

while it isn't specified, Professor Dante appears to be the advisor for both Frostheim and Vagastrom, something I think is more or less confirmed by Hyde being in charge of both Jabberwock and Sinostra. Anyway the point I want to make is that we are missing a dorm if we follow the rule of each advisor being in charge of two, and no I don't mean the two missing characters from Obscuary I mean a whole dorm that seems to have specialized in exorcisms (perhaps of curses 👀):

My personal theory is that their dorm used to be in the Cathedral we are staying in and that it was destroyed during "the Clash" that's been alluded to in the first part of the story, we don't know much about it other than 1) it was between ghouls, perhaps exclusively 2) there is a spy of some sort Thoma and Alan are looking for that might have had something to do with it and 3) a Frostheim student behaved very badly during the Clash to the point Thoma seems to think they should take some responsibility for it. But that's just my speculation, don't know how much of it's real.

#<3 asks #clown annon #tokyo debunker

[tokyo-debunkers-headcanons]

Thank you for your service smol o7 this game has been on my thoughts 24/7 lol so it’s nice to see someone writing for it!!

I was hoping I could request some jealousy headcanons about the ghouls being pouty MC is hanging out with others so much because of their missions with other houses. In particular I was hoping for my boy Haku (I know we don’t have a main chapter for him yet but he did have those two chunks of screen time—if he’s too difficult because of not enough info don’t worry about it then!); as well as maybe Jin, Luca and whoever else you’d like!

Thanks again~

Just like another ask i got, I'm gonna write Haku based on the vibe I got from him. This could be proven entirely inaccurate in the later game and I am okay with that lol. I'm gonna round it to an even four characters. All these will be before any relationship actually happens. Like there's a crush there but no one has said anything yet.

And thank YOU for sending in a request and enjoying!

Be aware! These will contain minor spoilers for episode 3!

JIN KAMURAI

I feel like silver spoon Jin has no experience with certain types of jealousy. Materialistic jealousy? Doesn't know her. But when he heard how close MC had been getting with some of those Vagastrom thugs? Oh it made his blood boil.

At first I'm sure he thought it was because on of his orders was being defied. But that feeling only got stronger when MC was finished with Vagastrom and moved onto Jabberwok.

Good luck to Tohma because mans here does not know what to do about these emotions. This is one of those problems that can't be fixed with money and he is NOT happy about it. He goes back to brooding in his room for a while to think things through.

He will not tolerate any disrespect from any theories that the Frostheim gossip elite have. But when he noticed the like dove flying in the direction of MC'S dorm, things suddenly started to click in his head.

LUCAS ERRANT "LUCA"

Our boy here is another one who isn't necessarily familiar with jealousy. Its for similar reasons of, he comes from a well off family, but different in the way he was raised and things he's been through as a little kid.

He's glad to see MC making more friends and making possible progress on breaking their curse, at first. When they get to Jabberwok however, he hears from Kaito that their vice captain Towa is a bit of (how Kaito put it), "a fucking weirdo", which gives him some pause.

When Kaito came running up to Luca showing him a WickChat post about MC having a possible boyfriend (its false, its just Towa being affectionate and someone saw). He feels his heart sink a little bit

He made a mental note to text MC later to ask about it and get all the information he could about their relationship and about the Jabberwock students. He promised to protect MC not matter what. Hopefully they could explain the strange twist in his chest while they talked too.

ALAN MIDO

He doesn't really get jealous. Period.

I think he's the kind of guy to know how strong he is, he knows his reputation. He's tech hopeless, not a moron. So just being around him can scare off people from getting too close to MC while he's around.

He himself overheard about MC having a possible boyfriend (same post from Luca's) from Leo telling Sho. He didn't pay any real mind to it until he heard Leo mention how affectionate they were.

That's the one thing he gets jealous about. He's a bit more aware of his feelings than people might think, so he knows he has a crush on MC. He just hasn't had the time to tell them that.

The rumor takes some wind out of Alan's sails for sure. He's more likely to believe that MC would pick someone else over him since I think he'd be more hesitant on something like physical affection.

He knows his strength and he knows MC'S ability, he would be too afraid that he'd lose control and do something else he might regret, so out of everyone on this list. I think Alan would be the one to take longer to confess because of jealousy and his insecurities.

HAKU KUSANAGI

I don't remember if it's explicitly said anywhere (my memory sucks butt I'm sorry) but he gives older sibling energy with how he cleaned up after Taiga in the prologue. So I KNOW he's been worried about MC since they last saw eachother.

He was at least somewhat relieved when he found them hanging out with the Frostheim second years, but there was a pang in his he couldn't quite place. He chalked it up to just being a worrywart and left it alone.

But when he heard that MC had gone missing in episode 3, he was READY to jump in to go help the search and rescue team. His heart was racing and he was suddenly confronted with feelings that were coming out of left field (no they weren't)

When MC returns back safely, Haku has half a mind to go fight with the professor Hyde about sending the very human honor student on such dangerous missions. He keeps a much closer eye on them from now on and with his status as an heir to (what i assume) is a beloved shrine, he tries to request that MC be sent to work with Hotarubi next.

#tokyo debunker #frostheim #headcanons #Vagastrom #Hotarubi #jin kamurai #lucas errant #luca #Haku kusanagi #alan mido

[sugar-omi]

oh my GOD SELF AWARE COVE HAS SO MANY POSSIBILITIES IM GONNA BE THINKING ABOUT THIS FOR AGES

JUST- the thought of Cove slowly realizing he’s going through a loop over and over and over and with every loop the MC starts to look and feel stranger and more far away to Cove and it’s driving him INSANE. Cove starts to keep track of these loops and notices that sometimes things get ever so slightly different or drastically different (say the players deciding to romance a different character or is doing a 100% platonic playthrough etc etc)

THE WHIPLASH COVE WOULD FEEL WHERE IN ONE LOOP THE MC IS ALL LOVEY DOVEY THEN IN THE NEXT THEYRE COLD AND INDIFFERENT TOWARDS HIM CAUSE THE MECHANIC OF COVE FEELING THE SAME WAY WOULD JUST BREAK UPON HIM BECOMING SELF AWARE

Cove having to deal with the feeling of closing his eyes as an adult only to open them and see he’s 8 years old again. What the hell just happened???? He was just at his own wedding with the love of his life and now he’s suddenly a crying child back on the poppy hill!!

AND THEN- and then Cove paying more attention to the MC as the loops go by and seeing them fade into this weird uncanny husk, they’re starting to feel more like a puppet than a person, and it terrifies him. What’s going on??? Are they okay?? Why is this happening to them????

Soon enough as he looks at the MC he finally notices and realizes that the MC “never existed”. This whole time the person he’s spent basically his entire life with never existed as someone in Coves world. No, instead they’re just a projection of someone else. Who? Coves not sure, but he feels like that whoever it is they’re the person who he’s actually been falling for over and over again.

And at that realization he come to the conclusion that he needs to meet this person beyond the veil, and he needs to meet them now.

This got kinda horror adjacent I apologize I got carried away-

NO THIS IS PERFECT

it tears him apart every time bc if you choose to romance someone else or not befriend/romance him, he can't say anything different since he doesn't have control over the system and he doesn't wanna alarm you

so he's forced to feel indifferent to you, and even in between he can't talk to you bc you're not real, the "you" that's here isn't interested in cove, and if "you" do take interest in him it's bc of the system, and everything is set in place as always

slowly he works out how to get to you, and he's leaning over you in his buff/lean, (tatted,) 6+ foot glory and teary eyed, asking why you keep playing with him, experimenting on him like this, making him watch you confess to baxter after he's loved you for 15 years. asking why you'd make that deal n choose his best friend derek over him.

well, it doesn't matter anymore. you can be together now, don't worry about his life in sunset bird, you can just build a life together just the two of you for now!!!

he actually prefers you like this compared to the game. you can say whatever you want without limits or prompting. and he can see your expression, hear your voice, actually touch you...

oh, and please don't go anywhere without him if possible or look at other men, fictional or real, with interest. he's everything you need, you've made him to fit your needs every time. you've came back to him hundreds of times in the end, so if you see smth you like on another man, cove will change his style, look, or behavior so just stop looking else were.

unless you can't, then he'll have to punish you. make you look him...

don't worry, he won't hurt you! he really could never do that, no matter how broken or.. well, twisted. he is

just wants to make sure you remember you're his, and he is yours. so if he makes you sit in his lap for hours, making you trace his face and body and features, telling him everything you love abt him inside and out, then just do it.

and if he decides to punish you in other ways, you can handle it right? you've played his 18+ dlc's multiple times, you read all those dirty stories abt him and you always kiss him n grope him when you can in the main game

he just wants to love you, and be loved by you for real. so indulge him a bit, won't you?

#olba #yandere cove holden #cove holden

[greatwesternway]

Diesel Does It Some More

A thing I think is sort of overlooked about Diesel is that he is one of the few characters in the series who gets genuine development over the course of the show. Some characters get that over the course of two episodes, particularly if they are a one-off, but Diesel is the only one who got development slowly - so slowly - over the course of several seasons.

I have a longer, different post coming about his early history on Sodor so we're not gonna talk about Duck v. Diesel here. This post concerns what happens after the point at which we can assume Sir Topham Hatt finally gave in and bought Diesel outright, securing his place on the NWR's roster.

Effectively, what this means is Diesel is no longer in danger of being sent away, but it also means he has to invest more in his relationships with other engines because it's a small island.

He's not been well prepared for this on the Other Railway. Luckily he has tons of time to learn.

The first few seasons after his acquisition are rocky. Diesel needs to show he deserves his place on Sodor, but he usually tries to accomplish this by undermining other engines which is not conductive to getting the work done ("Fergus Breaks the Rules"). He's also still telling them that steam engines will be scrapped ("Thomas to the Rescue", "Squeak, Rattle and Roll"), which is obviously not true on Sodor but is often an effective way of achieving his first method. (It's also, I think, important to note that the punishment for the thing with Fergus was being sent to work at the smelter's, which is where 'Arry and Bert work, but that's an entire other post too. It set him back, let's just say.)

From here on out, though, Diesel is sometimes treated by the narrative neutrally rather than as a villain. In "Respect for Gordon" he's making fun of Gordon, but so is Emily so that's not really a comment on him so much (also he does this by facetiously wishing Gordon well which is an interesting and funny twist on that). He's the villain in "Emily and the Special Coaches" but it comes about that he's behaved this way because his accomplishment of shunting the most trucks in a day has been overlooked and he's acknowledged for it by the end of the episode.

In "Thomas and the Billboard", Diesel is actually the victim of circumstance (and his own reputation, let's be real). During a photoshoot for a billboard, Diesel is directed by the photographer to move forward and he accidentally obscures Thomas from the shot. Later, when Thomas sees the billboard, he assumes Diesel blocked him on purpose. Shit happens, the billboard has to be redone anyway, but this time, Thomas deliberately does not tell Diesel about the rescheduled shoot. Thomas keeps stalling the reshoot to keep Diesel from finding out about it, which in turn keeps all the other engines off their jobs as well. It later turns out the Diesel was doing the priority stuff they were all supposed to be doing and was now late to do his own jobs.

So to sum up, Diesel is the only one doing his fkn job today and Thomas is trying to fuck him over all unbeknownst. Fascinating! Thomas does apologize eventually and everyone gets to be on the billboard.

Then you got "Don't Go Back" where Diesel keeps goading Thomas into - more or less - friendly races that end up causing confusion and delay. The episode concludes with them setting out on another race so the takeaway isn't that Diesel was actually out to make trouble so much as just show he was better than Thomas.

These are all from the model series. I don't necessarily think there was any sort of organized effort to make Diesel more friendly here. One might even attribute this to the show seemingly forgetting who certain characters were. I'm pretty sure the show bible at this point specifically said he was a villain. Still, there's a cohesion to it and they're doing interesting things with the expectations. (Also, as an aside, Diesel being the only one doing his work also happened in "Diesel Does It Again" so that's not exactly out of character, hilariously enough.)

Diesel gets sidelined to cameos for a while as the show transitions to CGI, but he does have one notable outing in which he's desperate for the approval of children and commandeers a bunch of other engines' seemingly better freight to get it ("Diesel's Special Delivery"). This episode is sort of ??? but I do like the end where Diesel's boring utilitarian freight (slate to repair their school's roof) is actually what the children want. It's not a full treatise on steam/diesel relations, but most people probably think the Class 08 is boring compared to steam engines so if you're choosing to see this as a metaphor, then it's nice the functional freight got the appreciation in the end.

And this is where shit starts getting real interesting!

Day of the Diesels is... it's not a good movie. I won't lie and tell you that. But it does do very interesting things with the diesel vs. steam concept. It points out things that would happen on Sodor as a logical conclusion of dieselization on the mainland (things that look much more unfair than they are in a show that prefers to disregard that part of the lore) and I love how they re-conceptualized Diesel 10 from his Thomas and the Magic Railroad debut. That stuff deserves its own essay, but the important thing about Day of the Diesels today is that it's the first time we see a steam engine really giving Diesel the benefit of the doubt.

The engine in question is Percy and he's ideally suited to extend this olive branch. As far as steam engines go, he's got the least status among them. He pulls the mail train, but even the Pride of the Line is treated as beneath most of the other steam engines. He also lacks a pedigree. Granted, most of Hatt's early acquisitions have dubious claims to lineage but Percy's just a straight up mongrel with no discernible builder. And most exploitable, many the other steam engines don't treat Percy with much respect either. Even Thomas is blowing him off in the movie, which is what gives the diesels their opportunity.

It's no accident that the diesels choose Percy as the target for their appeal and it's no accident they enlist Diesel to reel him in. Diesel is convincing, persuasive, and knows the motions of sympathy even if he doesn't quite manage empathy.

Unfortunately, the second Percy arrives at the Dieselworks, they literally put Diesel on a shelf and Diesel 10 takes over.

But the point is, Percy is now an ally of diesel equity and he's got a sort of acquaintance with Diesel himself (aside from it undoubtedly being Percy's idea to strike rather than work with Diesel, who he'd only just met at that point). And it comes back around later.

In "Percy and the Calliope", Percy and Diesel are tasked with taking a busted-ass calliope to the smelter's, but Percy wants to see if it can be fixed. Diesel disparages the operation the whole time... but he does go along with every single thing that Percy wants to try too. Even after Percy insulted him by mistaking his squeaking axles for the Monster of Brendham six episodes earlier.

"Disappearing Diesels" is when the effort to actually develop him starts in earnest. Up to now, things have just been kind of moving along in a lazy and convenient sort of way. Diesel gets to approach the possibility of being cool as a matter of deus ex machina. This episode marks the first time they actually put a specific thing in that they reach back for later to show he's learned something.

In this episode, Diesel convinces all the other diesels to hide from Paxton. And Paxton, not being too bright, comes to the conclusion that all the diesels on Sodor have disappeared. He searches all over Sodor until he happens upon Diesel at the docks. Diesel runs from him but because he spends so fuel evading Paxton, he runs dry on the line. Paxton then shunts Diesel to the next station to get refueled which Diesel does not understand because this is surely not a thing that he would do.

"That's what friends are for," says Paxton.

That evening, Diesel takes the berth next to Paxton's and, though he cannot bring himself to say thank you, he does give him a pained little smile.

The next season, we've got "Wild Water Rescue", in which Diesel commandeers a job Percy was given because he thinks he's going to get his picture in the newspaper. He sends Percy to an abandoned quarry instead where Percy runs himself into a pond and puts out his firebox. Later, Diesel (after finding that the photo was only of Search and Rescue vehicles) goes to find Percy and tries to pull him out, only to flood his own generator too.

And as they are sitting there in that pond, Diesel makes a valiant effort to actually apologize to Percy. He can't quite get the word "Sorry" out of his mouth and he's interrupted by the entire Sodor Search and Rescue before he could manage it. Unlike the thank you he owed to Paxton in "Disappearing Diesels" though, he's actually making an effort here for Percy.

And Percy knows what's up. Percy knows what's good! The next day, he visits Diesel in the Dieselworks to thank him for trying to rescue him (even if Diesel tricked him in the first place) and to show him that he did get his photo in the paper.

Couple seasons later, there's "Springtime for Diesel" where he bumps Daisy so hard that her springs sprong. She has to go to the Dieselworks and it takes so long to get replacement springs in for her that rumors start circulating that she may have to be scrapped. Diesel feels terrible about this and goes to visit her. She pretends to be asleep though, which permits Diesel to actually say that he's sorry this time. With the words and everything!

He's then quick to excuse his behavior by saying that he's mean to other engines because they're mean to him and they blame him for everything, but that he likes Daisy and wishes he could make everything right again. He's resigned though that after this, she's probably not going to want to be his friend.

When Daisy does get her new springs, Diesel is the first to meet her on the tracks. She doesn't directly acknowledge his apology because I think she does get that's a big step for him and she doesn't want to call attention to it. She does tell him though that if he wants to be friends, he has to change his ways.

And he does!

...until literally the next episode where he's trying to start shit between her and Harvey, but Diesel is as Diesel does.

Finally - finally! - in "Sonny's Second Chance", Diesel comes full circle and takes responsibility for his mischief in order to save Sonny from being sent away.

In this episode, Sonny (a steam engine who arrived in the company of a pair of thieves) has been offered the chance to stay and work on Sodor, but only if he proves himself trustworthy and Useful. He finds however that though he tries to be helpful, his actions are interpreted in bad faith by other engines, leaving him ripe for exploitation by a certain engine who knows that song and dance by heart.

Diesel tricks Sonny into hauling his cars to the dump, but they're actually having fun together.

But Diesel fucks it up 'cause of course. On his next job, he brags to Percy that he tricked Sonny into pulling his fish cars, but Sonny overhears. He storms off to deliver the cars and Diesel, realizing he's fucked another friendship, chases after him, but gets switched onto a siding, derails, and almost falls into a Class 08-sized grave. Sonny (who has notably quick reflexes demonstrated both here and earlier when he bumped James out from under falling watermelons) is able to hook a tow chain on and pull Diesel away from the hole. He accidentally derails his own fish cars by backing up so fast, but he catches Diesel before he falls in.

And Diesel thanks him for it! No hesitation, no hemming and hawwing. And. AND! He also admits that he did not deserve to be rescued. Look at my boy! Look at him GO! And Sonny! Sonny tells him straight up, "No, probably not." Which, gangster. "Consider it a second chance." A second chance! For Diesel! No one's ever actually given him one of those before.

Then Sir Topham Hatt rolls up and - in form we've not seen Hatt Bullshit in for quite some time - looks upon this scene and focuses his attentions on clearly the most pressing and important thing: "What's going on here? And what are those fish doing on the tracks?"

Sonny takes responsibility for the fish, and Hatt is all "Well, you've had your chance. I did say you'd have to leave if-"

"No!" interrupts Diesel. And he begs Hatt not to send Sonny away. And admits that everything was his fault. And tells Hatt that Sonny saved him.

"Is this true?" Hatt asks in his blithe Hatt Bullshit way. And it is, so Hatt declares that Sonny can stay and word gets around that Sonny's a hero.

Then they cancelled the show so we never get to see him again!

I'm real fuckin' mad about it honestly because not only was Sonny's episode the culmination of a seasons' long character arc for Diesel, but Sonny is such a uniquely perfect character to give Diesel a proper friend, which I'd argue he never got. Paxton is too trusting, Percy has better options, Daisy obviously isn't going to be BFF's with this guy.

Sonny was so uniquely positioned to be a good friend for Diesel. He's new so he doesn't have existing relationships to interfere with or a long history of previous slights to overlook. He's already committed to giving Diesel a second chance at getting this friend thing right, but he's not forgiving or naive the way Percy and Paxton are. Sonny suffers from the same problems of reputation that Diesel does but is determined to overcome them, which Diesel has never had motivation or incentive to do before. They'd be good accountabili-buddies that way. And perhaps most importantly, Sonny is a steam engine so he'd be closing that old diesel vs. steam gap once and for all.

That Diesel actually fessed up to keep a steam engine on Sodor is something on its own. The implication is that Diesel has found something compelling and resonant about this guy that copping to his bullshit is preferable to Sonny being sent away. If you're keeping dieselization in the back of your mind, you perhaps know there's not many other places anymore for such an engine to go.

What a turnaround for the guy who first arrived on Sodor bragging about how revolutionary he was.

#ttte diesel #ttte percy #ttte sonny

[some-beans]

How about the dorm leader bois with a reader who’s like Samurai Jack?

thank you for the ask, annon !! samurai jack. . . that's a blast from the past !! and sorry it took a hot minute to get out and that it's kinda short !! lowkey had trouble trying figure out how to write it

✎...pairing: twisted wonderland dorm leaders x samurai jack!reader ✎...themes: chaos, can be seen as platonic or romantic ✎...enjoy !! ✎...notes: can you tell which characters are my favourite, ace slander, i tried to keep it gender-neutral, but mentions of afab and amab in some parts

𝐑𝐈𝐃𝐃𝐋𝐄

i feel that riddle would find you pleasing to be around due to the fact that you respect the queen of hearts' rules

even if you sometimes forget them, he values the fact that you try anyway

well that, and he's lowkey scared of getting his ass folded by you

he once saw you do that to ace because he was annoying greatly and decided to teach him a lesson

let's just say ace doesn't do that anymore

no one does

but overall, riddle respects you

𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐀

leona wasn't really paying attention to you until basically manhandled a couple of savanaclaw students who tried to pick on you for being magicless

well damn

if you were afab, for example, leona would actually show so much respect for you

considering how a vast majority of his nations army is women, he wouldn't dare to get on your bad side

he could hear his mother scream if he was disrespectful

if you were amab, for example, leona would show you some respect for you

he would still make sly remarks or tease you, but nothing too much because why bother getting his shit rocked

he'd much rather nap

speaking of naps, he doesn't mind napping when you're around because you're quiet and peaceful

𝐀𝐙𝐔𝐋

gonna be honest. . . a little scared

i mean, a person capable of defeating a shapeshifting demon, who sent them eons into the future, was gonna scare him

despite that, he will try to get you to sign a contract but fails

why??

because you know shady stuff when you see it

whenever you read a contract, you read every. single. word and makes azul kinda annoyed

however, if you deem the T&Cs acceptable, you best believe azul will rave about it alone

he'd most likely act as the lounge's bodyguard or a debt collector like floyd and jade

𝐊𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐌

this ball of sunshine loves the fact you can fight so gracefully

he would sometimes sneak off from jamil just to watch you train ー even if meant getting scolded by the both of you

he will buy the best of the best swords and gear for you ー you've tried to deny them, but those puppy dog eyes are too powerful

when he sees your scars, he almost cries a river

no seriously, it almost happened

so you learned to just accept the gifts that he gives you

he also asks a lot of questions but tries to make sure not to step into sensitive territory

𝐕𝐈𝐋

he wasn't too intrigued with you, to begin with, but that wasn't until he managed to see the scars that littered your back

and that's when he started to notice other small scars and callouses

now, this is vil we're talking about, so expect him to try and get to use all these lotions/creams to aid with your skin

albeit reducing them or making them smooth, he will find a way

other than that, vil isn't surprised when he found out you're a samurai

i mean, he has rook

but one thing that vil does like about you is your dedication to protecting the ones you love

he finds this similar ー in a way ー to his dedication on being the fairest of them all

𝐈𝐃𝐈𝐀

two words: fucking terrified

you're a mother fucking samurai

what the shit??

but for real, his inner otaku is vibrating at a rate that could shatter glass

you remind him of so many different characters from various shows and he would love to see you fight, but he would never admit that

hearing about your time travel story also made him think of different isekais and such

god, you're really bringing out the otaku in him, aren't you??

𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐔𝐒

colour him intrigued

you're a warrior and a great one

he absolutely loves hearing your battle stories and how you got each scar

he's definitely interested in the whole time travel adventure you went on

he's almost like kalim in a sense ー child-like curiosity

however, he does fret over your healed battle wounds like you just got them ー you find it very endearing

#💌 some-beans requests !! #twst wonderland #twisted wonderland headcanons #twisted wonderland x reader #twst wonderland x reader

[watcher-comic]

okay hi

did i promise to make an art... lore dump post literally last month? yes. did i not do it for nearly a month? also yes. and im Very Sorry.

anyway! onto the ranting

So starting off with the obvious, Nanehi's color scheme is based off of the Shawnee tribe's flag!

Obviously more desaturated, but the blue sweater and two yellow stars were meant to show that he's native.

Alright, going in page order I'm just gonna throw around some easter eggs or fun facts or commentary...whatever....

Because this is the only good image I can find of it, Nane wears his parents' wedding bands on a necklace. Because his parents are divorced </3

On page 2, Nane has a poster up on his wall which is my current sketchbook cover in my art class. I believe it's somewhere on my art blog

Nane has a ziptie on his backpack! It doesn't mean anything.

Page 6: The white text that says "what?" is actually a reference to the first debut of Nane - an askblog!

(technically his first word was "huh" but i changed it to what for plot's sake)

Continuing with the black spaces on page 6, the panicked eye doesn't really mean anything. However, the twisted light switch was supposed to represent the noose that shows up at the end of the comic.

For page 7, there's obviously the audience design to talk about, but the things I actually wanna focus on are:

The doodle on the top left, which is Nanehi saying that he thinks he has tinnitus [which he then goes on to immediately deny in the next page]

And the doodle on the bottom right. His fursona is a bunny and if I could, I would've tried to fit more bunny imagery into the comic. But alas :pensive:

Page 13: All the different colored text were the responses I got from a select few people. I showed them the previous panels of the page and asked them what they wanted [there is one distinct person I didn't ask but I will get to them later].

I also want you to keep the... 3rd shade of green in mind [the "i want to see where this goes"]

For this panel on page 15, I wanted it to be known that Nanehi isn't a real person, and they know it. Everyone else's face is squared, even the simply doodled character in the background and the barely visible person in the foreground. Everyone except Nane.

Page 16: Man that's just mold on his shower curtain.

Page 17: There's actually a lot I want to talk about with page 17. Firstly, the design of The Audience. It changed, clearly. Before it was that weird circle thing, but now it's more humanoid - to the point of having hair similar to Nanehi's. The reason being, it's not entirely The Audience anymore. It's The Creator too. Nanehi was based off my fear of being watched and constantly having an audience. The little amount of comfort that the figure gives was... sorta supposed to be an apology to the character- as cheesy as that sounds.

(Also the fact that their text originally said "didn't they already answer that" but was crossed out to say 'we'. The Creator disguising themself as The Audience. And truly, what is to separate them?)

Another thing I want to point out is the dark grey panel. It's the same shade of grey I used for the askblog, and he's smiling in that panel, because during the askblog he was much happier around the audience- or the concept of them, rather.

And then of course, the dark blue text that reads "I know how this ends." That actually wasn't a response I took from someone, but rather a piece of... I guess dialogue, that I felt like someone would say. That specific someone being my friend Classi, who was the only person besides me that knew how Watcher ended. Purely because she had a very similar character and we thought that they'd be buddies.

On page 18, we have 3 entire panels in a different style. That being the style of the askblog.

(some examples)(the last image is where the avatar came from, haha)

On page 19 we have this panel, which you can probably assume what it is. It, I suppose, could both be seen as Nane standing, back to the audience, or as Nane hanging without the noose. You choose.

And of course, the last page. For some reason this fucks me up. Because this is The Creator talking to Nanehi. The Creator knows that Nane has no say in how their story ends, but they're given the illusion of control, because that's all they've been looking for. They wanted control over something, so the only way to prove such control was to show The Audience that they could end the story whenever they wanted. He doesn't know that he was talking to The Creator, he just assumed it was still The Audience. He doesn't know that he didn't really have a say.

This was what he wanted. That's how he's ending the story

#watcher comic #directors commentary #uhhhhh #yeah i think thats everything? #idk i'll probably add more later

[moe-broey]

AUGH Pokemon Scar/Vio DLC spoilers below bc I'm NOT gonna have anyone to talk about this with for a little while LMFAOOO

God I wish when Kieran ran off with the mask, challenged you to a battle to get it back, and lost that battle. I DESPERATELY WISH he just ran off with the mask again anyway. LIKE. For one could you imagine how fucking funny that would have been LMFAO but also!!!!! I think something like that happening would have absolutely raised the stakes, AND would have given you a reason to be mad at him. I think, what Kieran needed MOST as a character and the development they're taking with him, is for him to have moments where he doubles down and is stubborn and bratty.

LIKE. This is going to get SO incoherent LMFAO but I'm thinking about Hortensia Fire Emblem's whole character arc, where you meet her and she's bratty right off the bat. But the thing that GETS me about her is that she doubles down. She's stubborn. And you see Why, you see her scared and hurt and traumatized as she's trying to figure out what to do next. And what REALLY makes her character to me, is when not even Ivy being on your side is enough for her to join you. She still needs time. And by "time", I mean needs to keep digging her grave deeper because she just can't stop yet. LIKE. She's acting out. Which isn't me invalidating anything, like, I'm struggling to find the words for it but she's just 14 about it you know. Something SO horrible has happened and you feel SO MUCH about it that not even your older sister can talk sense into you, at least not right now.

I THINK. The connection I want to make here is that I think Kieran has SO MUCH POTENTIAL as a blooming antagonistic character, he just NEEDED a moment like Hortensia has with Ivy. Where she doubles down on her path. And I think Kieran, maybe initially planning on keeping his word... when you defeat him, and everything just wells up inside and overtakes him. I think THAT would have been a fantastic and shocking moment, if you could see him make that decision to Make Things Worse in real time. And I can only IMAGINE the reaction that would have gotten out of Carmine too!!!

AND. CARMINE. CARMINE. I FIND HER SO FASCINATING. LIKE. Yeah yeah overheard a conversation/misunderstanding tropes are cliche and can be super annoying as a storytelling device. AUGH BUT I FEEL LIKE IT COULD ACTUALLY WORK FOR THEM..... with how both of them Are. I think Carmine and Kieran have SUCH incompatible personalities and there is SO much to explore there. Like. It's established as soon as you meet them, that they must be close and care for each other. You see it in how Carmine looks after Kieran, speaking up for him when he's struggling to, and you see how Kieran admires and looks up to her as he cheers her on in battle. But you ALSO see that Carmine has the emotional intelligence of a brick and she is naturally just. Abrasive and temperamental, with an ego. ALL. HORRIBLE TRAITS TO HAVE IN ONE REALLY HAHAH (I love her though). And you see that Kieran is EXTREMELY sensitive, shy and mopey.

BUT ALSO. WHAT GETS ME ABOUT KIERAN ACTUALLY. Is how you See those traits evolve and twist into more detrimental versions of themselves. AND you start seeing some Similarities he has with Carmine. He also is temperamental. He also has an ego. THIS. WAS SO COOL TO SEE TBH!!! Espppp seeing the uglier aspects of being "shy" and "sensitive". Traits that are really easy to make endearing and to woobify. It's easy to look over just how destructive these traits can get, when you take things too personally and then shut yourself off completely. AND. THE EGO. ADDED ONTO THIS. The fact that he IS a sore loser, the fact that he DOES get bratty about it. Like, I think another thing I really appreciate about Kieran is he acts his age. He quickly starts to feel like the entire world is against him AND he's 14 about it.

In turn, I think I really appreciate how Carmine is so much just an older sister. Like. Yeah, she has a temper and an ego. But also, I think you see that she's a pretty good sport actually. She's competitive, but she's not actually holding anything against you (beyond like, her frustrations about her home town feeling like a tourist spot -- which like! I think is reasonable actually, to dislike that). Like. She's abrasive, she's prideful, but ultimately she does have an air of maturity. She is Not 14 about it. On account of not being 14, unlike her little brother LMFAOOO (ALSO!!! I think it's clear how much she Does care too, how she does end up looking out for you, how she congratulates you and hypes you up... like!!! She's just a little bit of a jackass LMFAO but I love her for it)

And like ultimately maybe all this is just set up for a slow burn, as Kieran goes sicko mode LMFAO but I REALLY wish. There was at least ONE moment where he did something that's just a dick move. And REALLY digs his heels in. Makes it clear, compromise is NOT an option for him, not right now. That, for a while, no one is going to be able to reach him, not even his sister. He just needs to get it out of his system.

Plus, I think it would be incredibly useful for the player to have a reason to be mad at him, because GOD. I HATE. MORE THAN ANYTHING. When Pokemon gives you rivals you just feel bad for!!!!!! Like I just pity him!!!! I think he's right to feel the way he does and I think he has every right to act out. And like, I think I'd Still feel that way actually, if he did actively make bad choices that just makes everything worse and Isn't particularly palatable about it LMFAO. BUT. At VERY least, if he pulled a dick move, I can have something justifiable to want to fight him over. Lowkey Takumi feelings actually, where one of my favorite things about him is When he's an asshole, and it IS entirely on him, like... it's vindicating to see other characters push back. I, as the player, want the characters to get his ass for it. And it's rewarding, when he does come around (either immediately or after some time), and tries to make up for it. Like.... give me a reason to WANT to get Kieran's ass. Piss EVERYONE off in the process, ESPECIALLY your sister for the angst and drama of it all!! I just feel like I stomped on a little autistic boy's dream and stole away the object of his special interest HSKAHKSHA dude THIS SUCKS 😭😭😭😭😭

AUGH!!!!!!!!!! Anyway misc thoughts

The townspeople's turnaround about the ogre off screen was SO STUPID LMFAOOO LIKE. Like yeah yeah Pokemon game......... but you know what else was a Pokemon game. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky. LIKE AGSJHSJSJSJJ I FEEL LIKE SUUUUCH A CRAZY RAMBLY OLD MAN but Pokemon Scarlet/Violet HAD THE POTENTIAL. TO BE ON THAT LEVEL. I THINK. PERSONALLY. ON A STORYTELLING FRONT. And AGAIN I feel like there could have been potential here.

Like I think the main issue is the story even in the canon itself took place in too short of a time to develop in the way I think it deserved. But I'm thinking about the whole Process in PMD2 of returning from the Future, you, your partner, and Grovyle. How the three of you Can't just go back to the guild, especially Grovyle in tow, a wanted outlaw in this time period. How it takes days, of laying low, planning carefully, gathering intel, and hitting a wall, before finally deciding you really have no where else to turn BUT Wiggletuff's Guild. AND. AND. THE WHOLE PROCESS. THAT WHOLE THING CHATOT PUTS YOU THROUGH. AFTER TELLING YOUR STORY. Where Every Single Guild Member Individually has to decide, no, Chatot, I'm with Hero and Partner actually. Up against The Great Dusknoir's reputation, Grovyle's reputation, and your standing as the most recent additions to the guild versus Chatot's standing, Wiggletuff's right hand man, second in command, a respected authority figure.

LIKE........ I just think. With the folklore surrounding Ogrepon and the Loyal Three. Even if they didn't have That Much Time to build up to it exactly like that (speaking canonically, school trip constraints), I think. Even just a scene where You're part of trying to tell the town the truth about Ogrepon and the Loyal Three, AND you see the inital pushback, especially from an authority figure (maybe the Caretaker?) would have been enough. Especially would have been nice to see, instead of every NPC talking about how they got things wrong -- if there was divide and conflict, some believing you and feeling regretful towards how Ogrepon was treated, and others not believing you at all, ESPECIALLY as an outsider, who are you to tell us our history? AND even a few NPCs who are on your side, but are still in a state of disbelief or feeling betrayed. Like. Make us feel the weight of Why Carmine and Kieran's family kept this a secret for generations. (ALSO LITERALLY DIDN'T THEIR ANCESTOR TRY TO TELL THE TRUTH AND WAS HARSHLY DISMISSED AND CRITICIZED???? Why would Kieran be treated differently now for doing the same thing???????)

I guess last thoughts about Carmine and Kieran I didn't get to earlier but. I think you can See, as the story plays out, where there is this building frustration that turns to resentment from Kieran, towards how Carmine treats him. How, while she does speak up for him, she also speaks over him. What she sees as probably tough love or standard older-sibling teasing, HE takes it just. So personally. And it festers. It seems he feels ignored, dismissed and invalidated -- and his dialogues where he is mopey, and Carmine (almost on the right track), calls it for what it is -- her baby brother just being a baby. Like, I say "Almost on the right track", because in a way she Is Right. He's Very Loudly sulking and pouting, she sees this and sees he's being 14 about it. But she fails to consider just how much Kieran internalizes this treatment, of being teased and having others around you be told "He'll get over it". WHICH... even if he does. Even if he will. Something that JUMPS out to me IS how loudly he's moping and sulking, how dramatic it is. To me, it's like a cry for attention, for someone to listen to him and take his feelings seriously.

THIS. IS WHAT I MEANT BEFORE. When I talked about how the misunderstanding trope actually lends itself SO well to these two characters, as siblings who do love each other, but there IS this emotional distance. Where Carmine looks over Kieran's feelings, and doesn't know what to do with them, and Kieran is going to internalize all of this until he implodes. And when he DOES implode, when it feels like his entire world is crashing and burning around him (in a way, it IS his whole world!)... he doesn't trust her at all. Whether Carmine meant to or not (which, I don't think she has ever meant to hurt him, I do think it's the incompatibility), Kieran has been made to feel like he's an outcast, like his feelings don't matter, and no matter what he does, no one is going to listen to him or care about him. WHICH IS. AGAIN. WHY. I THINK HE NEEDS TO FUCK SHIT UP MORE. That is the GO TO thing to do when you're a kid and you feel this way LMFAOOO

Aughghhh........ Pokemon Scarlet and Violet you have so much potential I just wish you'd FOLLOW THROUGH and PUT YOUR WHOLE PUSSY INTO IT (AND MAYBE THEY WILL. IN THE FUTURE. THIS IS THE FIRST DLC. HOWEVER. I do think there are certain areas in general, like the ogre ordeal, where they just dropped the ball 😔)

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon carmine #pokemon kieran #i am. maybe a little bit predictable. when it comes to which characters drive me to madness LMFAOOO #i love pokemon scarvi. i can't recommend it wholeheartedly in good conscious due to The Quality (or lack thereof) #it's like being a sonic fan circa early 2000s again. it's awesome #but goddammit there are CHARACTERS IN THERE and I LIKE THEM‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

[buckybarnesss]

Imagine a world where all of the TW characters were given time and space to unpack their trauma. Where we saw Scott and Derek actually get to bond over how Peter hurt them both, how Isaac and Stiles could relate to seeing a parent become someone they no longer recognized. Just. Imagine.

the fact derek hale was never allowed to talk about his trauma will forever make sad, frustrated and angry. he is probably one of the most traumatized characters to grace television but he's not allowed to acknowledge any of it.

the other day, on the teen wolf sub reddit (believe i know. it's a sickness that i keep going back) i talked about how it bothered me how it is peter and jennifer that get to talk about paige. in visionary, peter is telling a story. paige isn't really a person to him and we know there is no way what peter tells stiles and cora is the whole truth. for her part, jennifer has mythologized paige's death and almost sanctified derek for committing the virgin sacrifice that allowed the nemeton to have enough power to save her when kali left her for dead. it's partly why she's so obsessed with him. in a twisted way derek saved her so paige is just a means to an end.

meanwhile derek doesn't even get to so much as say her name or confirm the real story when he was the one who had a relationship with paige. he is the one who knew her as a person, loved her and mourned her. .

someone in response to my saying that was like yeah well derek's not just gonna talk about his trauma. he's not that kind of guy.

and i'm like why not? characters suffering is not the only interesting way to tell a story.

if derek's story was to eventually evolve than that could've been part of it. opening up and healing.

imagine how powerful it would've been if derek was able to reach out to scott in the wake of allison's death and be able to tell scott about paige, that he understood all to well what scott was going through. imagine how much character growth that would've been for the both of them. derek finally able to reach out to someone emotionally and for scott to reach back finally able to set aside his issues with derek to see him as a person.

the missed opportunity that was cora hale. we could've learned about talia and laura and pre-fire peter via a couple of conversations between her and derek. there wasn't even a proper reunion between the two. (the fact most of our information about talia hale comes from gerard fucking argent still pisses me off).

malia was also a missed opportunity. derek had what? maybe one real scene with her? malia's character development should've been related to her reconnecting with her father, readjusting to being human and her figuring out what it means to be a hale by blood and what that legacy meant to her. not putting her immediately into a romantic relationship with stiles. derek could've factored into that. specifically regarding loss and guilt.

like derek finding out he had a cousin and malia finding out that just because she doesn't really care for peter doesn't mean there aren't other hales she can possibly have a relationship with.

isaac and stiles being bitchy to each other is fun but it's jealousy based due to scott. i think they could've overcome this eventually. imagine them hating theo together???? beautiful.

scott and isaac. i love them. adore them. but i will forever be pressed about that scene where scott throws isaac into a wall. like, fuck off. it was weirdly out of character for scott. instead of all the stuff about allison they could've talked about their dads. scott weirdly doesn't talk much about rafael and that bothers me because rafael mccall needed to be read for fucking filth (i am a child of an alcoholic so this may be a me thing). like we saw how much stiles hated rafael mccall. it would've been interesting for isaac (who was living with scott and melissa) to in turn be protective of him.

we had a whole episode of kira having a life changing field trip with derek and i wanted more that okay. that was a dynamic we needed more of.

i maintain lydia and derek's relationship would've been like two reality show judges. two beautiful people dealing with a world of plebs. lydia martin making derek hale have a spa day was a missed opportunity.

jordan parrish and derek hale being the personification of "someone is going to die." "of fun!" meme from parks and recs.

derek hale (and everyone else on this show) should've been allowed to unpack some of their trauma suitcases.

the fans wanted found family and the show took us by the hand and said "no. xoxoxoxo"

#my blog #teen wolf #this escalated

[myersesque]

hey can you info dump about hobie to me please :D

hello!!! sorry this took me a while to get around to, i got SO nervous that i'd get smthn wrong n an army of comic book dudebros would emerge from hell to smite me down - but then i remembered that i don't care and hobie is fun to talk about, so hello!!!

[quick note before we start: hobie will be referred to as either "hobie" or "spiderpunk", for the sake of not being confusing, since there are 47385783643 spidermen in existence. yes, he prefers "spiderman" and initially took spiderpunk as an insult, but as of his latest solo run, the battle of the banned, he really could not care less n actively refers to himself as spiderpunk. i'm noting this now so i don't get 50 people correcting me in the replies lmao. i also don't hyphenate spiderman because i'm lazy]

you didn't ask for anything in specific so i'm gonna just Keep Going until i lose steam, hope that's alright!

first things first: hobie isn't an original character created to be spiderpunk! he's actually a variant of hobart "hobie" brown, earth 616's prowler, which i think has a LOT of interesting potential for btsv, if you catch my drift:

why did they choose to make him a hobie variant rather than make up a new spiderperson? who knows! could be that they saw how painfully fucking close hobie was to his "capitalism is the real enemy actually" breakthrough before deciding to become a supervillain about it; maybe it's easier to get comic book nerds into new stories if they're vaguely familiar with one of the characters involved. who knows. i can't actually find any source on this one.

(interesting sidebar: in the spiderverse movies, peter b parker is from earth 616, and intended to be a direct page-to-screen adaptation of classic comic book peter parker - which makes me wonder how he reacted to meeting hobie for the first time. i doubt we'll ever see that first interaction, but it's cool to think about!)

spiderpunk's design actually originated as concept art for spider-UK, as drawn by olivier coipel (the punk movement is often credited as having started in the UK - more accurately, by black british punks, using elements of jamaican reggae - so it makes sense that they explored a punk angle for spider-UK at some point). they felt it didn't fit the character, but still loved the design, and so they wrote an entire character to fit around it! (that's also why hobie is often portrayed as british despite being written as american in the comics - his whole concept is essentially a love letter to black british punks, and tbh even when i'm reading the comics i pretend he just ended up moving to new york from london bc i cannot imagine him as an american lmao sorry)

a lot of people who learnt of hobie from atsv seemed surprised that he's genuinely punk and not just using the aesthetics - but, like, he's genuinely punk, guys. he lives in a fascist dystopia (the spider that bit him was irradiated from all the toxic waste the government illegally dumps) where norman osborn is president of the united states (and referred to as "ozzy osborn" lmao) and also a massive fascist dickbag (and venom's current host!). he then proceeds to beat said fascist dictator asshole to death with his guitar! by which i mean quite literally hit him so hard his organs come out ✨

(like - i saw someone theorising that hobie would be the twist villain of btsv and actually just using miles for his own benefit, and i had my own little "he would never fucking do that what the fuck 😡" moment before realising that they were probably just some 14 yr old kid who's never seen hobie before and is trying to come up with a dramatic twist. so i'm not taking it to heart! but please know that it was very bad and incorrect, hobie is a real one and would never 🫶 /lh)

if you get a chance to pick up any of his comics (or, uh, discover them in alternative ways, wink wink nudge nudge capitalism is a prison but seriously please consider buying them from small local comic book stores if you do - that way your money goes to an actual local business & the writers rather than a massive chain store corporation) then i highly recommend - not only are they super fun, but they're gorgeous,

(i know that the covers are always rendered differently to the actual comic pages but i just needed you to all look at these images, please, especially all the intricate details on the second one. i literally paused midway through reading my comic to stare at that cover with hearts in my eyes. he's so cool i adore him)

and they're also full of lyrical references to punk music, such as these (the first two off the top of my head - there are TONS more):

and they're pretty dang diverse, too! including, like, explicitly and undeniably queer characters (note: there's been a lot of misinformation spread around - hobie and karl (captain anarchy) aren't explicitly confirmed to be anything but platonic friends. karl DOES have a boyfriend whom he is explicitly romantic with, but it's not hobie! he's still totally queer though and nobody can convince me otherwise), which is pretty neat.

this isn't really relevant to hobie in specific, but it's part of his universe and i'm a massive daredevil fanboy, so i NEED you to witness his daredevil variant, mattea murdock:

tumblr isn't gonna let me add any more images (sob) so i'm gonna try n wrap this up fairly quick !!!

lightning round of just. fun and unfun facts, i guess:

hobie's homeless and lives in a community centre with the rest of his band

iirc "spiderpunk" was essentially his equivalent of "spidermenace", which he eventually adopted for himself because, well. they aren't wrong. (he got the name for the obvious reasons of his style and politics etc, but also because he can be quite brutal when he needs to be - see norman's very bad no good day above.)

his band is referred to as both "the spider-band" and "the daredevils" (after meeting mattea), which made my little daredevil fanboy heart soar a little ngl

in spiderverse specifically, hobie took 3 years to animate due to all the specific ways they stylised him and his movement! i am not an animator and cannot put it into actual technical terms so here's a tweet of one of the animators discussing it for anyone who's curious :]

he has a van called the spider-van, and sings the spiderman theme song at it sometimes ("🎶spider-van, spider-van, driving cross-country as fast as we can!🎶") which is ADORABLE. i love how cool he is in atsv but i need you to understand he's a DORK he's a NERD

another one for the dork point: he doesn't swear unless he's yelling at fascists (he's instead prone to a good "frick" "heckin" "motherlovin" etc). which i realise is probably just comic book censorship and them only being able to get away with a certain amount of tastefully censored swears and gore before someone gets in trouble and/or has to bump up the age rating, but also it drives his bandmates INSANE so i like to think he just does it for a giggle tbh. again, massive dork

and finally, to end things on a fun note: his current solo comic writer, cody ziglar, made him an official spiderpunk playlist so maybe we can stop having pointless playlist discourse and let people have fun!

i hope this infodump was alright and didn't disappoint fjdnfjfn!!! i definitely forgot (and/or ran out of space for) a bunch of shit but that just means i get to do this again, so :]!!!

#now i need the btsv writers to have hobie's bandmates out him as a total nerd /j #anyway i hope this is ok!!! #ask #infodump #fav

[gwyns]

I’m not gonna link the post so I’ll just type what was said because I want to know your thoughts/comments on this.

An E/riel said “It's funny how Az likes music so much but wanted to shut Gwyn up when she was talking to him about singing. Not very mate-like behavior if you ask me. If you're going to base the argument for your ship on hobbies, you may want to make sure both parties are actually interested in sharing said hobbies with one another. Compare that to him staying up past 3am to talk to Elain about her garden plans, sitting in the garden with her, staring out the window towards the garden. It's almost like interest in the partner is more important that sharing an interest.”

let me start by saying i'm flattered you'd want to know my thoughts on anything lol love you anon 🩷

firstly, my god they are all so bitter and hostile. they can't even make one post without sounding as if they're on the verge of a tantrum

secondly, if az wanted gwyn to shut up he WOULD'VE LEFT. HE HAD MULTIPLE OPPORTUNITIES TO. GWYN EVEN DISMISSED HIM BUT GUESS WHAT? HE STAYED AND BANTERED WITH HER. HE ENJOYS HER COMPANY. they want az to hate gwyn so badly because they're so threatened and it's genuinely hilarious. also gwynriel's mate behavior isn't their love of singing? it's the spark in his chest?? it's the smile he had to consciously erase at the thought of her joy??? it's them both being carynthians, making them LITERAL EQUALS????

thirdly, showing an interest in someone's hobbies is the bare fucking minimum in ANY relationship, platonic ones included, so uh... congrats i guess? you got me there?? that didn't stop az from avoiding elain, calling their almost kiss a mistake to her face, not giving one shit about a future together, treating her like a child and pouting when she didn't worship the ground he walks on for helping save her, now did it?

ok as someone who has actual experience with real life romantic relationships (unlike e/riels), how az has treated elain and his thoughts towards her aren't good. at all. it's not "couple goals", it's "he needs fucking therapy". he needs to work on himself before any kind of relationship, no matter who it's with. having things in common with your partner is good and healthy!! as is showing an interest in things you don't share!!! this is literally such a stupid argument, they're really being forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel!!!!

overall i think this e/riel (like many others) is scared and taking it out on gwyn because they're a major loser who makes a boring ship their entire personality. they don't care about canon because they'll just twist it to suit their needs, as shown time and time again. they literally give off cult behavior because absolutely everything sjm does is somehow "soft launching" their ship. they want to be the main characters so badly but the truth is they're not even fan favorite background characters :/

ps this was sarah's face when steph brought up an e/riel take. even she finds their nasty, mean girl behavior off putting

#sorry if a snark filled post isnt exactly what you wanted #but i genuinely cant do anything but laugh at things like this #several jobs and real life relationships are needed for e/riels #antielriel #anti e/riel #asks #anonymous

[supremechancellorrex]

So, I've been thinking about the inhibitor chips and their value to the characters and the Star Wars canon narrative. I think there's always gonna be a lot of problems with the Prequel movies and every writer makes an attempt to make them work in their own way even if no matter what it's still a little broken. There's no perfect solution, but the chips are a better method than the alternatives and here's why.

The Plan

Palpatine has always had a master plan and the clones are still sentient, human beings. While we didn't get many scenes with the clones in the Prequel movies, RoTS had already set precedent on the clones' humanity. This is already shown when a clone pilot expresses genuine fear and panic in the opening battle sequence over Coruscant, to the point Anakin wants to "Help him out" and is only stopped by Obi-Wan. The narrative treats this clone trooper's subsequent death as bitter and tragic, and clearly something Anakin is not happy about. Another example of humanity is Cody's interactions with Obi-Wan, where banter and camaradarie is clearly shown.

Obi-Wan: "Just don't take too long."

Cody: "Come on! When have I ever let you down?"

Obi-Wan: "Very well. The burden is on me not to destroy all the droids before you arrive."

This small exchange and the acting establishes a number of things. Cody and Obi-Wan have known each other for a time, to the point Cody rebuffs Obi-Wan's jab in a informal, humoured way and misses off 'sir'. Obi-Wan is his superior officer yet they talk like friends. On Utapau, Cody even pauses mid-battle, notices Obi-Wan's lost his lightsaber, attaches it to a hook on his belt and hands it back to him. What the movie doesn't dwell on, but has always been canon, is the Clone Wars lasted years. And the Jedi generally weren't in the backlines watching, they're always shown leading the front with the men and deflecting blaster bolts from hitting them, that's war bonds right there. Yet, Cody gets a message from a cloaked man in a hood, a deformed face that barely looks like the Palps he knew and says "Yes, my Lord" even though that's never been the Chancellor's title in the movies before and the Empire hasn't been established yet.

Darth Sidious: "Execute Order 66."

Cody: "Yes, my Lord... Blast him!" (AT-TE fires, Obi-Wan goes skydiving off a cliff)

What thinking man does this? Never even considering if the hologram is a fake as part of some Separatist misinformation and hacking campaign to sew anarchy and sabotage in the Republic ranks? Everyone pauses mid battle with Separatist droids just to try to kill Obi-Wan. In the movie without any real explanation, the Order 66 plot twist just happens, and what little characterisation the clones have is stripped away so they become plot devices for Palpatine's master plan. Despite fighting beside their commanding officers, the Jedi, for years on the front lines, despite how Bly has a romantic relationship with his Jedi General Aayla Secura, they just shoot them all.

There's no hesitation, they do what the plot demands.

No Character is an Island

There's a lot of problems with all the clone troopers just immediately 'choosing' to turn on Jedi they've served for years and fought together with so closely with real war bonds. Namely, it makes the clones have no meaningful relationships at all despite being clearly still human beings whose brains react to stimuli and adapt. Outside of the Order 66 scenes, where the clones suddenly felt like different characters (like Post-Order 66 Cody unchill, cold and more aggressive manner), the clones were clearly established as sentient in the Prequel movies and able to gel with natborns naturally like any human character in their very brief scenes.

And, the Clone Wars builds on this precedent as it builds the bridge to RoTS. The Clone Wars explores the War in depth, making it feel an actual devastating conflict and not set dressing. Several seasons of barely-sentient clones fighting droids isn't really that interesting, but the 501st grappling with the desperate evolutionary need to survive, protect their brothers and comrades and their weak position and indoctrination getting them killed made the Umbara Arc with General Krell master television.

Fundamentally, relationships between characters give stories meaning. You can't actually do without them. If the clones just do stuff because someone told them to all the time no matter what, you just have pretty flat, uninteresting characters without creative thinking or loyalty, and that actually contradicts Attack of the Clones.

Why the Inhibitor Chips Work

In Attack of the Clones, the Kaminoans explain the clones are adaptable and can think creatively, making them superior to droids. The clones learn from experience and this basically means they can deviate from their baseline, it's just logical and cascading Information Theory at this point. If R2-D2 and other droids can become so loyal and rebellious despite being programmed, then clones, who brains are still based on millions of years human meat-putty evolution, present a real problem. This was made actually worse in the now clearly non-canon Legends content, where for all their justifications for a non-chip interpretration, for the sake of the story often Legends writers would habe clones choose to spare their Jedi, as their Jedi further fostered their ability of independent thinking. This ends up leading to more Jedi, quite powerful ones in fact, living in the Imperial Era in Legends.

This is a problem for Palpatine because Palpatine isn't all powerful. RoTs clearly show Mace Windu getting the best of him in a duel and he certainly would have got wrecked if Yoda and Mace tag-teamed him. The Rule of Two means the Sith have survived in the shadows but Palpatine is still vulnerable in his own way and outnumbered, which is why he has to be smart. He can't afford too many Jedi surviving. Palpatine solely relying on human meat putty clone brain, how engineered by the Kaminoans (another species he also looked down on), which can adapt and think creatively, feels like a hole in his master plan decades in the making. If clones CAN spare Jedi, if clones can decide whether or not to kill Jedi, including key ones, it puts the whole operation at risk for Palpatine.

Inhibitor chips solve a lot of these narrative issues. The chips are a 'quality assurance' measure that mainly seems to take apparent affect against clones that deviate from the baseline and varies on personality. Rex struggled in pain because Ahsoka was like a sister to him and he realised in shock Fives was right all along, while Cody lacked this understanding as well as a as strong familial relationship so he went with the flow after only a pause like he was rebooting. The chip also explained how the clone troopers knew to call Chancellor Palpatine 'My Lord' before the Empire actually formed. New orders, new directives, because of the reprogramming. Quality assurance, plans for plans, hedging bets, just like the Palpatine we know.

Meanwhile, guess in the Legends' alternate universe narrative Palpatine was just a really lucky idiot with how none of the number of Jedi the clones let live happened to be near at his crucial moment.

The Real Betrayal

Some people say the chips lessen the betrayal of the Jedi by the clones, but this is actually a non-starter. The real betrayal was always Palpatine, the Senators and citizens of the Republic just throwing the Jedi under the bus and creating an Empire. The clone troopers have no rights, are called 'property', and were just slave soldiers sent to be cannon fodder, and the Jedi, who are citizens of the Republic put in key military positions of power, technically allowed it. The clones didn't owe the Jedi Masters anything, so arguably their betrayal was never that cutting anyway unless people think slaves owe their 'superiors' loyalty. Plus, AOTC already stated the clones' free will had been messed with to an extent, so even if one prefers the story without the chips, still not a real betrayal either way because they've been mentally violated whatever the interpretation.

Additionally, I don't think it's a good look both thematically and narratively to villainise slaves, especially in this context.

Story Potential

There is an honest, heart-wrenching narrative reality in sentient, human beings being dehumanised and treated as disposable. That happens on this planet and is very relevant. Whether SW writers grasp the writing potential or not (as all things execution is hit or miss with Star Wars since forever), the chips have a lot of story potential while also fixing a plothole in Palpatine's plan since the clones have always been sentient. I've seen the chips explored in a fascinating way via fanfics with chilling questions of the mind and the extent of free will that leave you cold. With stories like the Siege of Mandalore and Umbara, the tragedy of the clones is Star Wars' finest hour.

#star wars #character writing #character analysis #order 66 #clone troopers #inhibitor chips #revenge of the sith #star wars tcw #the clones #jedi #commander cody #obi wan kenobi #palpatine #commander bly #aayla secura

[memoria-99]

Wizardess Heart: Personal thoughts about seasons and routes Part 1

S1 was very basic yet written very well.

Elias: At first I was like, what kind of jerk is this, but he turned out to be rather cute. But story is kinda boring. The first half is all about Elias yelling at MC and MC apologizing for how she messed up. Their relationship kinda lacks something. If it weren't for the mirror they'd never even get along I suppose. Another thing that annoyed me was MC being way too nosy. I mean why the heck would she accept Merculova's request 'for the academy's sake' when she even doesn't know whether she'd be accepted or not? Please MC mind your own business.

Luca: My favorite route in S1. I found him quite attractive, MC and him had fun chemistry, plot was interesting. There're two things that bother me though; first, he used MC, and second, I'm not so sure what was genuine and what was lie... Still, I quite enjoyed him and his story. I wonder why in the world Schuyler would lock the child in the cellar. Ofc the child would be traumatized. Anyway, I know Luca's not the likeable type for all people but still he's one of my favorites.

Yukiya: Overall good route. I was very curious about his 'curse' and this story was really interesting because everything was a mystery. I enjoyed it. Both MC and him were literally the saviors to ach other. I also liked the last part, MC solving the 'contract' issue with another contract. He's like a 'closed' person but his nature is kindest among S1 characters. I dunno about the chemistry though... Still, he makes a great pair with MC. Both gave a positive impact, more like both were saviors to each other. Oh and I won't forget that chubby rabbit either.

S2 was a decent season as well.

Klaus: Nice route, and I found "time travel" very interesting but I still don't like the guy. I just can't stand this Mr. Stickuphisass sadist. Though he's super popular(idk why) I don't see any chemistry between him and MC whatsoever. He has a sharp tongue and kinda looks down on her.

Randy: Think in MC's perspective: wouldn't it be wonderful if your role model truly respects you and loves you just as who you are? This relationship is good for him as well, since she accepts all of him and helps him overcome his trauma. This route had good plot twist, and he was literally an angel. The only one who sincerely respected MC's lousy magic. A real breath of healing air between two jerks in S2. This route was just so heartwarming to read.

Azusa: Should I even talk about this jerk? Fake flirt, deceived, used, and physically+emotionally abused MC. He was even ready to kill her when we chose the wrong answer. But he never properly apologized to her till the very end. He doesn't deserve the happy ending with the MC. ...Yet, I don't think this route itself isn't badly written. Seems like Solmare tried to make some awfully dark story but turned out to be too much.

S3 was, um... so so?

Joel: Kinda close to canon cuz he loved MC for a long time and shares special memories with young MC so... hmmm he and MC was a fine pair, him being honest and caring and all, but I should say that if Eress wasn't there to save the day it would've been rather boring.

Vincent: He's way too old to be with MC, and I don't understand how come he loves the MC and vice versa. All that happened were just him rescuing her all the time and he's awfully cringy somehow. And worst of all, MC was worse than useless. She literally did nothing in this route, even when her boyfriend was on the verge of the death. All she did was crying. And last but not least, the happy ending ends with him saying "it's adult time" or whatever and it bugs me a ton. Hey, what're you exactly gonna do to her. Don't tell me you...

Leon: Is it possible to fall in love in less than 2 weeks when he is in a completely blank state? Leon was literally a blank sheet of paper and his route was all about MC throwing all her business behind to stick around this boy she had just met and teach him very basic stuffs as if she's a kindergarten teacher. There's nothing really interesting about Leon himself either. I mean, his real identity was something that we all could notice before the revelation and that's all. The story and the romance were very bland too. He seemed to love MC because she taught him emotions, and... MC loved him because... because... why did she love him? Maybe because he loved her? Or because he's handsome? Who knows.

S4. When the plot actually started to go downfall.

Cerim: I don't remember anything besides MC shone better than him(she saved him) at this route. Not bad, but that's because nothing was very memorable. No chemistry at all.

Guy: This kind of route seems to be everywhere. Good boy with a huge friend-like vibe. Their chemistry was good, as friends. They are best friends.

S5. Slightly better than S4 but well...

Leslie: Kinda bland route. Leslie nicely supported MC, and she wasn't very pathetic but she was always busy self deprivating which annoyed me a lot. Chica did a good job putting her into senses.

Sigurd: The route with best "newbie" MC. She really shone a lot in this route. I can't think she's the same MC from Vincent or Leon's MC. And this Sigurd... though MC stole the scene most of the time, he wasn't so bad. Though he did deceive MC it wasn't because he wanted to use her or something. He never looked down on her and considering he was her pen pal their bond is quite strong too. Storyline was interesting too, considering nothing really happened in Leslie's route.

#wizardess heart #shall we date wizardess heart #route reviews #personal thoughts #s1 #s2 #s3 #s4 #s5

[alto-tenure]

Fun thing as someone that came to Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright years after the fact. Watching a playthrough after knowing the twist at the end I am just left thinking "Wow - Arthur Cantabella *really* blamed Eve". There's the presumably fairly intense social isolation what with how the Shades apparently didn't stop Jean so uh probably high/hypnotized to the gills. The fact is that Eve is fitting the practical work of Bezella in being the "source of "magic" as the person directing the shade

God do I hate Arthur Cantabella. I don't say that easily -- or at least, with most characters I start off hating I start coming around to a bit. But I watched the crossover through Let’s Play first and then played it myself after playing the entire PL series and even though it's been a year since then I still can't let it go. He sucks. So much.

(This is...probably gonna get a little long. Detailed character dive into my interpretations of Eve, but also some additional analysis of Arthur, Newton, and Espella. Content warning for discussions of suicide in terms of talking about canon events.)

Eve's the only one who really divides her role as the Great Witch (the person responsible for witchcraft) away from the role in general of Bezella (the culprit behind the Legendary Fire). And I really can't blame her for it! The thought of being responsible for the deaths of an entire village is...well...overwhelming for all of the characters involved. It drove Newton to suicide; it drove Arthur towards Project Labyrinthia; it caused Espella a multitude of mental health issues including being suicidal; and Eve coped with it by convincing herself she couldn't be responsible.

I don't really like the "Eve was actually the person who rang the bell" twist, more so for how it undermines Espella’s suicide attempt that comes directly afterwards. I've seen other people's frustrations, and I think it makes sense for Espella to be driven to suicide under the crushing weight of everything. After all, we know Espella has been in a delicate mental state since at least the end of Golden Court where she's ready to sacrifice herself. It makes sense that learning she's the reason Labyrinthia exists is what breaks her, even with the knowledge that magic isn't real and none of those people actually died -- it's still her fault, and she still believed those deaths to have been real, as well as them still impacting people! Like, regardless of who ACTUALLY rung the bell, it's not even the biggest contributing factor to Espella's issues. Labyrinthia was still constructed for her because of her trauma response. I think the twist that Eve ~actually~ rang the bell isn't really relevant, and only serves to make Espella's suicide attempt weaker narratively, as from some perspectives the twist is just there to shift everything away from Espella and onto Eve.

The fact that Eve didn't snap sooner is a miracle, honestly. Newton's death clearly mattered to her, regardless of her personal feelings about Arthur, and his presence was probably why she continued to stay for so long. We do know that the two of them had grown distant -- Newton says as much in his suicide note. And...well...Eve does have a great many reasons to hate him just as much as she hated Arthur. He is just as complicit in forcing Eve into her position as Arthur was. But in the end, she still cared -- or at least felt conflicted enough -- to stay as long as he was alive.

His death is an interesting turning point for her, but I think she saw an opportunity with the exposure of the Bell Tower -- it was an opportunity to make a clean break, to expose everything for what it really was, a reminder of the world that used to stand before Labyrinthia.

I think it's important to note that both Eve and Arthur's plans...are not the most well-thought out. Eve clearly didn't think anyone cared enough about Espella to intervene on her behalf, and hadn't counted on Layton and Luke's emotional attachment. Arthur on the other hand seemed to believe Labyrinthia would operate completely fine independently of him, especially since he probably intended for Eve to take the fall as the Great Witch and there goes the two topmost officers in Labyrinthia. Who's next in line, Barnham? I'd frankly like to see him try.

I do think Arthur always intended for Eve to take the fall; I don't know if he knew the truth the whole time or if he was just refusing to believe Espella could have done it until they revealed it was actually Eve who rung the bell (they SAY he knew the whole time, but I wouldn't exactly call him the most reliable narrator). He put her through a lot. So did Newton.

The game takes great lengths to say that Espella did nothing wrong, that she shoulders the blame for no reason.

Once again, I circle back around to the question of whether "which kid rung the bell" is a question worth asking in the first place. To me, regardless of which child rung the bell, the fault still lies with Newton and Arthur, for being the ones to unearth it in the first place. And as the adults in the situation, they should have handled the aftermath better.

#plvpw #plvpw spoilers #meta #answered ask #grundpfieler #cw suicide #this is. sort of a rambly mess and not the most coherently written essay. i hope it still makes sense altogether