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inkblackorchid · 1 year

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So... about season 3 Aki.

Ok harsh contrast to my previous, excited post, but I did say I had more to yell about episode 75 and I need to get this off my chest anyway. Plus, I remember mentioning in a post that I need to talk about season 3 onward Aki anyhow, so might as well do that now! I am thinking Big Thoughts and I need to Scream.

Long, incoherent, unhinged rant incoming because I have 100 things to say and 100000 screenshots to post, but I am also tired and my brain is mush.

Can we please talk about all the jarringly unfulfilled setup the start of season 3 did for Aki? Because I'm starting to feel an urge to claw at the walls. I'm gonna go through this, piece by piece of damning evidence, because I need to vent my utter confusion and frustration somehow, I guess. Okay. So.

After giving us a bit of time to settle in after the timeskip into the pre-WRGP stretch of things, the itty-bitty portion of the story Aki occupies at this point starts off arguably strong. Yusei gets kidnapped, everyone's in a frenzy about it, but Aki's especially worried.

Then this. Funky new signer powers! Nobody's been able to do this before! I wonder if they're going to do something with that! (Spoiler: They're not.)

Then Aki "no sense of self-preservation" Izayoi gets herself in a bunch of danger trying to rescue Yusei and we get this:

Oh! Wow! Aki can control her powers now! (Which: how. Why did they never show us this. That alone could have made for a whole mini-arc. Why waste that????) That would give the writers so many cool opportunities to let her use them! I wonder if they're going to do something with that! (Spoiler: They're not.)

(Side note: I love this scene. I love it to death. They're both ride-or-die "who cares for my safety when yours is on the line" for each other and I love them.)

Of course, shenanigans then ensue, leading up to Sherry's marvellous introduction.

(Mwah. I blow her a little kiss.)

And it is at this point that Aki Has An Epiphany.

And to top it off, she gets some interesting interactions with Sherry, too!

So Aki resolves that she wants to become a turbo-duellist, too. And the thing is, this isn't a little one-off thing or something they never deliver on. They end up building this up for several episodes, bit by bit. First we get another mention of it at the pre-WRGP press thingy they all attend:

Then it's brought up again when Yusei accepts the first duel against Bruno/Antinomy:

(Also, side note again, but can I just mention that Aki also gets this moment the episode before:)

(Where she literally puts herself directly in harm's way in a public setting to protect people with her powers??? Like, I'm sorry, pinch me or something, but how does that not scream "badass good girl setup"???? HOW?)

So we get at least three episodes worth of buildup where Aki agonizes over becoming a turbo duellist to understand what her friends (but especially Yusei) are feeling when they duel like that, and then they finally deliver on it and episode 75 has her getting her license. And it's fantastic. Seriously. That episode is golden. Not just because it delivers on this promise, not just because it has a really cute moment between Aki and Yusei in it (regardless of how you read their relationship dynamic), and not just because it (as per my last post) showcases how much the rest of Team 5Ds cares about Aki (by literally building a runner for her and accompanying her to her exam and don't even get me started on Jack beating up those jerks trying to make her crash unprompted) but because it gives us just that smidgen more detail about Aki's character, too. Because the thing is, at first, she majorly sucks at driving.

And not only is this realistic to a degree (learning to drive is hard, regardless of what you're learning to drive), it's also great, because you know what Aki's response to it is?

She keeps going. She doesn't let it get her down, she gets back up and tries again. (And from a writing standpoint, this is lovely because that stubbornness is great in situations like this, but you could easily turn it into a weakness in a different scenario if you wanted to.)

And not only does Aki learn driving the hard way here, she also finds herself confronted with jerks who don't want her to succeed,

(Ruka, sweetie, I love you.)

and she makes an absolute rookie mistake during her exam by trying to play a speed spell when she doesn't have the necessary speed counters.

And feel free to disagree, but I think this is also great. Because honestly? While driving a really damned fast motorcycle that I'm not super used to yet, and being expected to make solid tactical judgements in an overcomplicated card game—the rules of which are slightly different when you're playing it on a motorcycle—at the same time, I would likely also mess up like that and accidentally try to make an illegal play. But the thing is, the episode rewards her for sticking it out anyway by letting her pull off a really complicated driving manoeuvre to save herself from her envious turbo-duelling-license colleagues' cheap tricks, and by letting her score a really nice win from a tight spot, much like any of the boys would have in her position.

(Take that, you jerks. Dumbasses only get blurry screenshots.)

So Aki gets her license and is welcomed by the team as a fresh turbo duellist. Hooray!

(I love them all so, so much, help me.)

And we also get this:

Wouldn't you know it! Sherry's been watching Aki get her license with interest! And she seems to be mighty pleased with the result!

So. After all that, I don't think you could blame anyone (it's me, I'm anyone) for getting really excited about what Aki's gonna get up to from this point outward. Aki can control her powers now! And she got her turbo duelling license! And we've got a new, enigmatic side character who seems like she could have super interesting interactions with and play off Aki! I wonder what they're gonna do with all that.

*deep breath*

Sigh.

Seeing as I already know this show like the palm of my hand, I kind of dreaded getting past this episode because I know exactly what happens to Aki from this point out: Nothing. A whole lot of nothing. Okay, well, no. See, I went back and checked all the episodes I have left, just to make sure, just in case I forgot something (very likely when you've already watched the show three times, I know).

From here on out, during the entire pre-WRGP, WRGP, and Ark Cradle arc, Aki gets exactly three things to do:

She uses her shiny new turbo duelling license to fill in for Crow at the Team Unicorn match because he got injured. Which, on paper, is a perfect way to let her have the spotlight for a moment. Except, the only thing she gets that spotlight for is to last a hot four turns in the duel before losing spectacularly to Andre and literally never turbo duelling again for the rest of the show. (Like, yes. The moment where she summons Stardust Dragon is chefs kiss and legendary. But in light of the surrounding circumstances, it feels like a consolation prize to make up for the ensuing character trainwreck.)

Since Crow is technically still injured when they're meant to go up against Team Catastrophe, Aki trains to fill in for him there again. Except! They intentionally make her crash right before the duel, putting her in a short-term coma! And as the icing on the cake, when she wakes up, it also turns out she lost the powers she was only just able to control for absolutely. no. reason. None. They never bother explaining it, they don't even try to hint at why they might have vanished. (I have my own theories for why they had to let her powers vanish and they all start and end with the words "we couldn't be bothered to figure out how to write this character".)

At the very end of the show, the very end, after temporarily fridging Sherry, too, they dig both girls back up in order to let them participate in a three-way final boss duel with Crow. (Which is a fantastic duel, I love it to pieces. Genuinely.) You could argue that they tried to cash in on all the intrigue they set up between Aki and Sherry here, but—come on. At the end of the show? Seriously? Oh, and did I mention that for some reason, Aki's powers mysteriously reappear after this duel? For no reason? Again?

I just. It does not compute. They went as far as doing all this setup, letting Aki get the hang of her powers, letting her get her license, making her part of Team 5Ds, even giving us a new character that seemed like the perfect fit to let her bounce off of—and then, like some sort of kafkaesque reverse-miracle, they somehow managed to take a sharp left into "whoops, don't care about this character" and nearly wasted the entirety of that setup in one fell swoop. If it weren't for that finale saving at least a smidgen of it, I'd be holding a torch and a pitchfork over here. (Hell, I might, even knowing that Aki's final duel in the show is kickass.)

Please tell me if this is just me (15 years after the show released, I know, leave me alone), but this feels like they were literally loading Chekov's gun directly within view of the audience, only to later procede to toss the damned thing into the sea instead of firing it.

Okay. Okay, I think I'm done. For anyone who actually bothered with the whole post, first of all, thank you for your attention, secondly, sorry, but this does, indeed, still bother me ten years after I first found this show, so I had to get it out or it would have eaten at me forever. God damn it.

Anyway, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to writing fics where Aki actually gets something to do right this second. If anyone's interested in giving a fic series where Aki gets a separate character arc that tries to stay mostly canon-compliant after the defeat of the dark signers a go, you can find my stuff here.

#yugioh 5ds #aki izayoi #akiza izinski #ygo 5ds #character analysis #orchid watches 5ds (again)#orchid rambles #setup and no payoff is one of the worst things you can do to me in media #I get so unreasonably maaaaaaad #they literally gave themselves so many opportunities to do something with Aki #and then they wasted them all #also shameless plug I know #look I'm just trying to attract more people who will yell about Aki with me #that's what I do here #ok I'll shut up now

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brooklynbred · 18 days

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YOU'RE BROKEN DOWN AND TIRED , of livin life on a merry go round. AND YOU CAN'T FIND THE FIGHTER , but i see it in you so we gonna walk it out. AND I'LL RISE UP. i'll rise like the day. I'LL RISE UP. i'll rise unafraid. I'LL RISE UP , AND I'LL DO IT A THOUSAND TIMES AGAIN.

BROOKLYNBRED is a private , mutuals only , extremely canon divergent roleplay blog for marvel's STEVE ROGERS / CAPTAIN AMERICA. this blog uses some inspiration from the comics and movies but is mostly headcanon based. LOVED BY JJ.

THIS BLOG HAS A MATURE RATING AND ONLY INTERACTS WITH WRITERS 21+.

#self promo ✪ just some shameless plugging.#don't know how i feel about the text...but i'll sit on it.

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dirtytransmasc · 1 year

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Aemonds the type to try and convince himself he’s unfeeling, invulnerable, unbreakable. He tries to convince himself he doesn’t need nor feel anything about his family, besides maybe his mother and sister. But then something will happen, something threatens to take his family away, threatens to harm them and he is forced to face the reality that he does need them, he needs them alive and well because he’s scared to be alone.

Aegon is a nuisance, a drunk, a coward; he doesn’t need him, he tries to convince himself. He’s unfit for the crown yet their grandsire is convince he is their ticket to power, all while Aemond, the son who studies and trains and dedicates himself to maintaining the perfect image is sitting right there. He was convinced he would be better off without Aegon.

He’s convinced of that until Aegon’s life is balancing on a knife blade and their is nothing anyone, especially not little Aemond, can do about it. Aegon falls into his cups per usual, falls asleep in one of the many nooks within the castle, and his grandsire puts it upon himself to flush out the boy. Maybe Aegon was already worse for wear when Otto found him, maybe not, but one things for certain, Otto took it too far. He put on a display of punishing the boy right where he laid, throwing insults, kicking at him as he made little protest. dragging him up by his collar and a few locks of knotted white hair to scream in his face. Otto didn’t seem to question anything when his grandson slumped back down the wall without a sound,

Maybe Aemond finds him, jesting him as he usually does, until he realizes his brothers stillness or the awkward angle his head is resting against his chest. Maybe he feels his stomach drop as he too drops to his knees ans pull Aegon’s limp body into his lap, smoothing back his hair to find the bruises their grandsire left. Maybe he screams and keeps screaming, first for help, and then for his brother to wake up. Maybe he starts to grapple to his body, shaking his shoulders and slapping pale cheeks in an attempt to wake him. Maybe he throws his head to Aegon’s chest and listens to the feeble little flutter that is his heart as he waits what feels like a lifetime for someone to come.

Or maybe he is called into his brothers chamber in the middle of the night, given only enough information to put some pep in his step, but not enough to prepare him for the sight of his brother, lying there in bed, with his family there to give him a vigil. He wasn’t prepared for the bruises or the stillness or how slowly Aegon’s breathing is. He’s no idiot, he knows whats happened, its happened time and time again. But this time his brothers life is slipping away, and the man who’s taken it is standing in the corner.

No matter how it happens, Aemond never leaves Aegon’s side, he watches every breath, and keeps a hand pressed to his brother chest, right above his heart, coaxing it to keep beating, to keep him here a little longer. He yells some, mostly at Otto, some at his brother, even a little at his mother. He’s angry; his grandsire not only beat him while he was defenseless, but he left him there to die; his brothers bad habits were taking him away, the same habits Aemond had tried to get him to break time and time again only to get shoved away, and now Aegon was dying, it wasn’t fair; his mother kept trying to pull him away, tried to get him to go back to bed, to keep from seeing Aegon struggle to take a breath in after the next, when Aemond felt he belonged right where he was, pressed into his brothers side.

Eventually the room would settle, a heavy silence would drape over mourning figures, but no one would dare break it. Aemond spiraled into frantically whispered apologies, one arm wrapped around his brother, the other still planted above his heart. He’s be too tired to beg at this point, only whisper little words of encouragement or praise every now. He’d press little kisses to his brothers jaw and cheek and the corner of his lips, because they never exchanged such acts of love or affection with one another and this may be his last chance to do so. He tells him just how much he loves him, how much he needs him to stay, how they’ll do better, they’ll all do better (thats a lie, but he doesn’t know it yet), that he’ll protect him from Otto (he’s too young to know not only that he can’t protect Aegon, no matter how hard he tries, but even more so, that he shouldn’t have to). He clung to him as if he was Aegon’s only tie to the living world.

Days pass with little change, Aegon barely moves, barely breathes. He wakes for a few short moments, his eyes falling on Aemond before rolling back into his skull with a sad sigh. His fingers twitch around his little brothers every once and a while, and it gives him hope.

He sits with his mom as she brushes out Aegon’s hair, helping with his own nimble fingers, the two working in silence until the all of Aegon’s hair is nicely laid out on the pillow. He and Helaena watch over him night after night, barely speaking, yet they both seemed to know what the other was thinking, acting in unison to care for their sickly big brother. Their father joins them, only in the passing our and for a few moments at a time, those moments so heavy and awkward its the only time Aemond thinks of fleeing the room. Viserys looks over his child, his blood, with barely hid disdain. The first time he visits he barely manages to touch him, to comb back his hair and pat his chest before leaving. Otto has been barred from the room (per multiple, loud, requests from Aemond) but it doesn’t stop him from lurking outside the door, staring at him with an expression that Aemond couldn’t place, but one that made his entire body go aflame with anger.

Even his half sister and her boys showed up. Jace was the first to find his way to Aegons chamber, not saying a word, but rather, he took the clasped hands of both blonde boys in his own, sitting on the edge of the bed sniffling. Surprisingly, Aemond wasn’t upset with this intrusion, Jace’s warm touch didn’t sting like others did, and Aegon perked up when Jace began to talk to him lightly. Eventually peace was broken, Luke and both mothers joined them, creating all sorts of noise, but Jace’s hand never left Aemonds. He focused on that when all else was wrong in the room, when his half sister got a bit to close for comfort (she was barely their sister, just someone who ignored them and put them in danger), when luke started playing dumb and asking stupid questions (luke was given a liberty Aemond would come to understand many years down the line, one he one yearn for, that liberty was being allowed to grow up innocent. Luke didn’t understand The Stranger could come for someone so young, who had never seen battle, who looked just fine), even when people tried to get him to move, Jace’s hand stayed clasped to his, and it was all ok.

it would take weeks for Aegon to fully recover; he didn’t wake for almost a week, didn’t get up on his own for 2. His head ached and he couldn’t seem to find his balance, not to mention the weight he had already lost paired with his uncooperative stomach, or the breathlessness and chest pain. Maesters from all over Westeros came to treat with no avail, but he had his brother and he had Jace, he knew that even through the constant fog that plauged him.

~~~

remember, if you like it, reblog it!! help me out as a writer and creator

#listen im having a night and its everybodys problem #I didn't know how to end this #this was supposed to be a short little what if? type post #that didn't happen #also jace got a shameless plug #cause I couldn't resist #plus I let little aemond share his perspective on life for a minute #cause he earned it #as a little treat #aegon ii targaryen #aemond targaryen #jacerys velaryon #minor jacegon #jacegon #if you squint #letting the green kids bond cause why not #aegon and aemond

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a-friendly-dumpster-fire · 5 months

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Chapters: 1/? Fandom: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Link & Rauru (Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom), Link & Steward Construct Characters (Legend of Zelda), Link & Link's Family (Legend of Zelda), Link - Relationship Characters: Link (Legend of Zelda), Rauru (Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom), Steward Construct Characters (Legend of Zelda), Link's Mother (Legend of Zelda), Link's Father (Legend of Zelda), Link's Family (Legend of Zelda) Additional Tags: Angst, Friendship, POV Link (Legend of Zelda), POV Rauru (Legend of Zelda), Artificial Intelligence, Grief/Mourning, Link Makes a Friend (Legend of Zelda), Ethics Debates on Artifical Intelligence, exploration of humanity, Author Cannot Tag for The Life of Them (This is a Cry For Help) Summary:

LINK: Have you ever died before?

THE CONSTRUCT: I am a construct, Link. We are not born, and we cannot die.

[The campfire whimpers and sputters. They both turn to stare at the empty husk of another deceased construct rotting nearby.]

THE CONSTRUCT WHO IS NOT BORN AND CANNOT DIE: …we cannot die in the same way our creators did.

LINK: But surely it must be similar.

THE CONSTRUCT: I wouldn’t know. Can a machine die like a heart stops beating?

#shameless plug but yeah please check it out #the whole thing with the constructs being completely discarded despite being their own seemingly sentient beings in totk is a complete mindf #so i wrote this #out of spite #fuck you totk writers #you dont drop that kind of shit and write dialogue where the machine's own creator is perturbed by its continual survival and #servitude and NOT ELABORATE ON IT #you dont just leave that behind without exploring the semantics of what it is to be human/living and the complex relationship bewteen #humanity and sympathy #like that one quote #about the irony of the desparate struggle to prove your humanity inadvertently making the struggle inseparable from the humanity #or something like that i dont know im not a poet #just read the actual fic #tears of the kingdom #loz totk #totk fanfic #fanfiction

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