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hollow-keys · 9 months

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I am thinking about this interview with Judd Winick (the guy who made Jason Red Hood and laid the foundation for his entire modern characterization) because it's very telling with regards to the motivations for why Jason was made into a villain.

"I've said this before, but think anyone would agree that Batman is a hard character to write because we've done so much with him already. He's the most psychologically analyzed character in the entire superhero genre. Even when he makes the jump to second media stuff, it's equally about what goes on in his head as it is about his fists. So he's been explored inside and out. For me, Jason represents a whole new avenue of story in the Bat-universe, both as Batman's greatest failure who has come back to haunt him, as well as a character that is interesting to explore as an individual."

To me, this is him saying that the decision to bring Jason back as a villain was primarily to serve as a good antagonist for Bruce and keep Bruce's story fresh rather than being for Jason. Exploring this new Jason as a character in his own right was a secondary motivation. Winick's character decisions are not rooted in what best serves Jason and what makes sense for him, it's to serve Bruce.

"Yes, Jason sees what he's doing as making himself into a better Batman, the Batman that the world actually needs today.

But some of that is just Jason fooling himself. The truth is, all of it is based in the fact that Jason is just damaged and tortured and angry with Bruce. And this is a constant revenge upon him."

So, the justification for Jason being a villain is that he's traumatised. It should go without saying, but saying "this guy is evil and broken because trauma, you should write him off because trauma" is not a good way to write survivors.

"So do I understand him? I don't know. It's a scary thought that someone would have an affinity with someone who is as messed up as Jason. I do think he's wrong. I don't think he's going about justice the right way. Maybe I'm able to get inside his head a little, but thankfully he hasn't started rooting around in mine."

Winick not only views Jason as a villain but as one no one should have affinity with. He's not meant to be relatable, as above you're meant to write him off. There's no room for the idea he might have a point.

It reminds me of the leftist villain trope where they don't actually care about equality, they're just jealous or they do care but they go too far so you shouldn't listen to them.

"I also like the fact that Jason's actions aren't black and white. Sometimes he functions in that gray area, and it gives you the license to be somewhat hypocritical, because he is. I used to do that with Oliver Queen in Green Arrow, and people would go crazy, because I thought it was interesting to explore that sometimes he's a bit of a hypocrite. I find that likable about the character. And in Jason's case, he professes that he's trying to be a better Batman and he's trying to rid the world of evil, but then he's also just trying to stick it to Batman. It's very much a man-child thing going on."

If by "go crazy" you mean "hated it" then yeah, you're right. A lot of Green Arrow fans do not like Winick's run precisely because he does not understand the character and misrepresents him to make him look worse, like a hypocrite. There's a parallel between how Winick treats Ollie and how he treats Jason because in both cases he's taking pre-established characters and making them look worse because he does not respect them. He writes Jason as having very legitimate grievances with Bruce's ethics and then writes him off as a man-child. He is not approaching him in good faith.

I see Jason being a villain as a choice the writers made not because they thought it was good for the character, but for secondary reasons and then justified by villainising trauma survivors.

This is exactly why I don't take Winick's word as gospel with regards to Red Hood.

And post Winick, DC only seems to create stories where Jason is nothing but an edgy anti-hero divorced from righteous anger or strong ideology and stories where Jason has to change and throw his ideology away so he can be reincorporated back into the Batfamily. It's not great.

But that being said, I do think there's potential for Jason as Red Hood. I don't want it scrapped altogether because I would love to see a Jason who is actually trying to serve victims and help people in bad situations by both destroying what causes harm and constructing alternatives. Jason is a character with a lot of potential that I would like to see realised.

#jason todd #red hood #judd winick #dc comics #meta #📨

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sephyathredon-writing · 24 days

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For the writing snippets ask game, could I ask about 9, 12, and 23?

Thank you for the ask!

9. An excerpt of my writing with characters i love

(I've already listed enough excerpts from Nimona, so I'm going to pick something else this time, though my love of the movie Nimona knows no bounds. Here's one with two lesser known characters I love.)

From Torn Apart

The battle to get out was vicious and bloody. Jak got hit more times than he cared to admit. Some of them might have been to keep Torn from getting more injured. When they were almost out, Torn dropped the gun and passed out. The adrenaline wasn’t enough to keep him awake, it seemed. Even once he was clear of the barracks, he wasn’t finished. The KG chased him out into the streets. His best chance was to hijack a car. He chose a smaller two person hovercar and shoved Torn in the backseat, buckling him up before tossing himself in the driver’s seat and flooring it. He’d done this hundreds of times before, but never with this many KG following him, and never with someone injured in the backseat. Still, he’d done this before, and so he was able to duck and weave his way through the city with precision. Eventually, he made it out to the harbor, out over the water. KG vehicles surrounded him on all sides. There was no escaping. They were backing him against the wall. There was nowhere left to go, but down. Jak gathered Torn, now fully awake, in his arms and stood on the driver’s seat of the vehicle, looking down into the water. A shot whizzed past his ear, others tore holes in his stolen hovercar. If there was ever a time to jump, it would be now. But Jak hesitated. The polluted water of the Haven City harbor surely wouldn’t be good for Torn’s wounds. “What are you waiting for, Jump!” Torn shouted, voice laced with fear and pain.

12. An excerpt of my writing that has a particularly good bit of characterization

From The Reason We Rise, We Rise Ch1

Zack glanced at Sephiroth, wondering how he felt about everything. If it felt surreal to him, then to Sephiroth it must feel even more so. The man’s been a part of ShinRa for far longer than him. Still, it was his decision to cut ties with them, just as it had been Zack’s. “You look like you have something on your mind. Speak,” Sephiroth stated, his eyes not leaving the road. “Well, It’s just… how do you feel… now that you’ve officially severed ties with ShinRa?” “It’s…” Sephiroth paused for a moment, searching for the right word, “Liberating.” That was the word he settled on. “Liberating…?” Sephiroth nodded, “For so long I have been under the command of others. I have been told who to kill, where to go, what to do with my time. But this… this is freedom.” “You do realize that ShinRa is going to be hunting us down like dogs, right?” “Let them come. We’re two first class SOLDIERs. I think we can handle whatever they can throw at us.” Maybe his hubris was showing a little, but he didn’t care, he was enjoying the moment while it lasted. Zack let out a small laugh, “Guess that’s the price of freedom.” Sephiroth smirked, “It is a steep price, but I’m sure that we can pay it.” A calm silence emerged between them, but the banter with Sephiroth had officially calmed Zack’s nerves. He was right, after all. Even one First Class can take on a whole army by themselves, and he was lucky to have the deadliest of all the Firsts with him. After a while, the silence was interrupted by Sephiroth once more. “You should get some sleep. I need you awake for when it’s your time to drive,” Zack nodded, getting himself comfortable and drifting off.

23. An excerpt of my writing that was inspired by a work from another medium (music, visual art, dance, etc.)

(All of Calming the Beast was made with Wolf Among Us music in the background. I'm not sure if that counts, considering I usually listen to music when I'm writing, but I don't have anything else that fits.

There's also "Can you Hear me Now?" Where the song encompasses most of the fic, but I don't want to add another excerpt from the same fic.

There is a scene from Calming the Beast that was particularly written to go with a certain song from Wolf Among Us. Important context, Leon is a werewolf in this scene.)

From Calming the Beast (Song: The Big Bad Wolf)

He’d be lying if he said this wasn’t one of his favorite parts of Leon’s transformation days. He left the shed on the back of his trusty motorcycle, Fenrir. Once he pulled up next to the wolf, it was almost like Leon knew what to do. Instantly, he bolted out into the open field, running at full speed, and Cloud followed, revving Fenrir. It was like a dance. The first few times, Leon had just made a beeline straight for the trees, but recently he’s been lingering, running in figure eights and other patterns as Cloud followed. He wondered if the wolf enjoyed this as much as he did. For him, it felt freeing. It was an adrenaline rush that he enjoyed immensely. It was also a way to wear out Leon before he was actually allowed to be on his own. And then Leon hit the treeline and Cloud was forced to pull over, unable to follow him into the trees for very long without risking damage to Fenrir. He watched the figure vanish into the woods for a while before starting up Fenrir again and heading back to the house.

#((I'm enjoying answering these :3 ))

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aspoonofsugar · 3 years

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hello ! What's your top 10 HXH characters, and why do you like them ?

Hello anon!

Sorry for the wait! Here is my list so far!

1) Killua Zoldyck

I have explained why here and here there is an analysis of his ability and foiling with Illumi.

I love his growth and the themes he explores. His is basically the story of a child freeing himself from an abusive family. At the same time, he is also challenged not to leave said family behind (especially when it comes to his younger siblings).

Moreover, he is also called out on his tendendy to define himself through creating codependent relationships.

This is something I really enjoyed and that gave his relationship with Gon and his character in general more depth.

2) Alluka (and Nanika) Zoldyck

Alluka/Nanika does not have a very complex psychology nor an arc so far. However, the idea behind her and her thematic resonance is so great that I still adore her!

Alluka is a great example of how to write a symbolic and metaphorical character that is still important for the story.

A lot of themes are entangled in her. She is the child nobody wants and is very fittingly trans and mentally ill coded.

At the same time, Nanika’s ability is nothing, but the wish of a child to make her loved ones happy and a way to show how children imitate and learn from adults. It is a representation of conditional love taken to the extreme.

The way her story is solved in the Auction arc might have been underwhelming plot-wise, but it is perfect thematically. The fact that Nanika is not who Alluka is, but is still important for her and so must be accepted is a deep and wonderful message.

I am also curious to see how the theme of codependency linked to her will be explored in relation to her bond with Killua.

3) Palm Siberia

I love Palm!

She has one of my favourite arcs because it is so refreshing to see the stereotype of the yandere being subverted.

She starts as a mix of different female character stereotypes, but as she gets more focus she blooms into her own character thanks especially to her relationship with Killua.

I love that she is the one that ends the CAA!

3) Meruem

I think he has my favourite arc in the series and his is surely one of the best written (if not the best).

I love how he seems hateful and boring at the beginning of the CAA only to break the readers’ hearts at the end of it.

His growth thanks to his love for Komugi is great because he does not lose the root of his characterization. He remains prideful and competitive and it is specifically this that draws him towards Komugi aka his strongest opponent. Thanks to her he becomes able to appreciate life and humanity and chooses to give up his identity as King to only become Meruem.

He is an example of how a “redemption arc” does not really have to follow a formula and how it can simply be... a normal arc aka a story where a character grows because he is challenged.

5) Morena Prudo

Morena has appeared for like... one chapter(?), but she managed to conquer me thanks to her backstory, her nen ability and this:

I adore her! She is a child who has been refused by society and as a result she wants to tear the society down. She is clearly being set up as a foil to this arc’s major players aka Chrollo, Kurapika and Tserriednich.

Her power is also extremely interesting and already incredibly rich symbolically to the point that I have thought multiple times if I wanna wait or if I wanna start making a Nen and Characters post about her!

6) Chrollo Lucifer

I have discussed him multiple times, so you can just check his tag :)

Here are some metas.

Chrollo is like a devil that steals pieces of others’ identities because he himself is not sure of who he is.

This coupled with intelligence and powers, his foiling with Kurapika and his bond with the Spiders make him an incredibly interesting villain!

7) Hisoka Morow

Hisoka is a great example of how to write a joker character.

He is a man from nowhere and lacks any kind of backstory or root. This makes him perfect to play the part of the joker and so far... he has literally played that part in every arc he has appeared in.

There has been no time he had been completely loyal to a side he has joined.

He acts as a Spider only to fight Chrollo.

He helps Kurapika, but also threathens him.

He helps Gon and Killua in Greed Island, but hides he is working for Chrollo.

He assists Illumi, but lies to him and is about to betray him.

In the current arc he is, as per usual, a wild card.

It is precisely this that makes him such an interesting character to observe.

8) Kurapika

Kurapika’s arcs are among my personal favourites because of the focus being on politics and planning rather than pure fights.

At the same time, Kurapika is an incredible character and I am looking forward to see where his story goes in this arc.

He is self-destroying because he is unable to overcome the grief over losing his tribe and his family.

This leads him to make violence on himself, so that he is turning into someone he is really not.

His nen power is among the most interesting because of how complex and calculated it is and because it is clearly an attempt not to lose his morality to revenge.

9) Gon Freecs

Gon’s development in the CAA is heartbreaking, but incredible and it perfectly deconstructs all those traits that had been praised up until the previous arc.

Gon’s stubborness and willingness to overcome limits are why he is able to make it this far, but the CAA shows also how they can be dangerous and destructive for both himself and others.

10) Illumi Zoldyck

Illumi is hand down a disaster.

He is a terrifying foil to Killua, but also an entertaining character to watch.

I hope his relationship with Hisoka receives more focus because it is honestly hilarious and is strangely working for me :’’’)

Thank you for the ask! It was fun and it reminded me why I love this series so much!

#hxh #chain of faves #asksfullofsugar #anonymous #killua zoldyck #nanika #alluka zoldyck #palm siberia #meruem #morena prudo #chrollo lucilfer #hisoka marrow #kurapika kurta #gon freeks #illumi zoldyck

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night-unfurls-its-splendour · 3 years

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Every Emma Woodhouse Ranked and Rated

With all my reviews of all the period-set adaptations now finished, I'm beginning my series in which I rate and rank each interpretation of all the principle characters, starting with our girl Emma!

Now I wanna be clear--I am not rating the actresses that played Emma. I am rating how the character was handled in general in each adaptation. The actresses are a factor, but they're not the sole factor, since the writer and director have as much, if not more, to do with how the character ends up in the finished product. So without futher ado, let's rank...

“Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her….

“The real evils indeed of Emma’s situation were the power of having rather too much of her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself; these were the disadvantages that threatened alloy to her many enjoyments.”

NUMBER 5: 1972

Portrayed by: Doran Godwin

Age at time of filming: 28

Clocking in as the oldest actress to play Austen’s famously TWENTY-ONE year old heroine (at the ripe age of 28), Doran Godwin also snags the coveted position as inhabiting the worst portrayal of the character (in my personal estimation) to date.

Just about everything about this interpretation of Emma Woodhouse is bad, from her seemingly automated recital of her lines to her all-too-intense, wide-eyed, hypnotic stare. The 1972 portrayal of Emma highlights all the character’s worst qualities while also failing to convincingly communicate her good qualities, such as her caring nature. The script is equally to blame for the awfulness of this interpretation, adding unnecessarily cruel and condescending lines, including one where she negs Harriet for being sad after Elton’s marriage, and then forces Harriet to come with her to meet the new Mrs. Elton, when Emma in the book did her best to shield Harriet from exactly that kind of situation.

Godwin couldn’t pass for 21 if her life had depended on it, and the worst part is that the script actually states Emma’s age, so she seems like a bit of a crazy spinster, preying on the naïve Harriet. Whether it’s her intent to bathe in Harriet’s blood to keep herself young, or to bake her into a pie is up for debate.

Rating: 1/5 Half-finished portraits

NUMBER 4: 2020

Portrayed by: Anya Taylor Joy

Age at time of filming: 23

I thought long and hard about this. This movie is a modern period drama phenomenon. It’s gotten so many people into Jane Austen and satisfied long-time Austen fans by giving them an interpretation they never dared hope to see. It’s a gorgeous film.

But I don’t like this interpretation of Emma Woodhouse. Though Anya Taylor Joy is one of the youngest actresses to play Emma (only two years older than the character) she’s played with a careful stiffness that perhaps shows us a glimpse of the Lady Catherine she might turn into without swift intervention. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and this isn’t a commentary on Anya Taylor Joy either—her appearance or her acting ability—but I just don’t like her as Emma. And she’s not the sole problem, she turns in a solid performance, she’s a good actress, but something about this characterization is just off-color to me. Anya Taylor Joy plays a great mean-girl; but I think that’s one of the reasons why they thought she’d be a good choice for this role, and it’s one of the prime reasons I don’t think she wasright for it. Emma is a deeply flawed character and, of course, the biggest turning point in her story comes as a result of a thoughtlessly mean remark to someone who has only ever shown her deference, hospitality and gratitude.

All that said, Emma is not, at her core, a cruel person. Emma has gone all her life thinking condescending things about Miss Bates but it’s only when Frank comes along and validates her less kind commentaries that she actually starts to voice them in search of validation from a peer.

The problem with this in the context of 2020’s Emma Woodhouse is that Frank hardly gets a look-in in this adaptation. Emma’s relationship with him is severely underdeveloped and the actors don’t have enough chemistry to pull it off in the limited time they’re given. The result is that Emma appears to cross a line just to cross it, and it pushes Emma’s character from thoughtless to out-and-out frigid.

Still better than Doran Godwin, since she's identifiably human.

Rating: 2 1/2 / 5 Half-finished portraits

NUMBER 3: 1996 (MIRAMAX)

Portrayed by: Gwyneth Paltrow

Age at time of filming: 24

Despite the fact that Gwyneth Paltrow was an appalling casing choice for Emma Woodhouse (I will be forever salty that they passed over Joely Richardson), and I know there are some who will think me, at best, crazy (sacrilegious, at worst) for ranking 1996’s interpretation of Emma higher than 2020, I actually feel that solidly in the middle is right where this version of the character belongs.

There’s so much wrong with this Emma: she swings from mature to bizarrely infantile at the drop of a hat, much of her script is genuinely tragic, Gwyneth can’t convincingly portray Emma's social naiveté, her accent is overwhelmingly nasal and impossible to listen to, just for starters.

And yet… I don’t hate her. I don’t like her particularly either, but even though much of the dialogue re-working butchered Austen’s prose, there are a lot of things McGrath seems to have gotten right about Emma’s character. Her relationship with Knightley feels comfortable and playful, and, while Emma of the book probably doesn’t really care for Harriet Smith in the spirit of true bosom friendship, I believe she does care about her and wishes to spare her (further) pain. She shows exasperation with Harriet while still being patient with her, which is very much in the spirit of the book. Her concern for Harriet at the ball feels real, and her contrition at Box Hill following Knightley’s rebuke, while not profound, at least feels like contrition and not self-pity.

Perhaps, given the soft-take that the Miramax version is, it shouldn’t be surprising that the biggest faults in characterization rest on awkward writing and the biggest triumphs highlight Emma’s better side. It’s not a very in-depth take on the character, but it at least, is an adequate one.

Rating: 3/5 Half-finished portraits

NUMBER 2: 1996/97 (ITV)

Portrayed by: Kate Beckinsale

Age at time of filming: 23

Those who’ve read my reviews of each adaptation of Emma might be surprised to see ITV’s portrayal of the title character sitting so high on my list. To be frank, it’s a distant second, and she may have stolen the number two spot only because she’s played by Kate Beckinsale and not Gwyneth Paltrow.

In truth, I see a lot of parallels between 1997’s Emma and 2020’s. Both actresses were 23 (or thereabouts) when they played the role, both have extremely childish moments, and both crumple down and burst into tears that don’t feel entirely genuine after Box Hill.

So why is 1997 on the good side of the number 3 spot and 2020 isn’t? I’m not precisely sure. I think it may be because Andrew Davies (and/or Diarmuid Lawrence) at least understood the scale of Emma Woodhouse’s wealth and status. This Emma feels sufficiently self-important, a bit haughty, sure—but she’s also believably naïve. You feel her isolation, you understand her caring relationship with her father, and she’s not as patently rude to Robert Martin compared to the 2020 version (she at least acknowledges his presence when he meets Emma and Harriet in the lane).

Grudging though this favorable placement may be, I can at least acknowledge that Emma herself is the least of my problems with this version, and even though Beckinsale’s acting is a bit sketchy at certain points, she also has some truly great moments, especially her interaction with Robert Martin at the end of the film. This portrayal is consistent, and Emma’s better qualities aren’t overpowered by her negative ones.

Rating: 4/5 Half-finished portraits

Number 1: 2009

Portrayed by: Romola Garai

Age at time of filming: 26

And in a shocking twist—I’m kidding this is neither shocking nor unexpected to anyone who knows me or has read my blog/reviews of the Emma adaptations. Am I totally biased? Probably. I don’t care, this is a completely subjective list. Here, finally—my first and true love as Emma Woodhouse—is Romola Garai. I suppose it’s also not surprising that the first actress I ever saw in the role would still be my favorite a decade on. I just love everything about this interpretation of the character. She rides the very difficult line of being bright, caring and intelligent, while also being completely naïve and lacking in social savvy (in her own age-group at least), coddled, and painfully sure of her own self-importance.

Even though Garai was 25 or 26 at the time (far too old for the character—almost as old as Doran Godwin) her energy and charisma are enough that she’s able to carry it off convincingly. Everything about this Emma screams youth, and when Emma’s child-like social ignorance is her most prominent characteristic, it feels authentic and natural. Equally authentic are her emotions—her love for her family, her dynamic with Knightley, he exasperation, patience, and concern with Harriet. Most of all though, this Emma seems to experience the most maturation in the last quarter of the story. Box Hill really feels like a turning point—not just a chastened young woman, but a true coming-of-age moment. Emma faces a reckoning here that begins a chain reaction culminating in her realization of her feelings for Knightley, and everything from the writing to Garai’s performance conveys the magnitude of this shift in Emma’s life.

This version of the character seems the most… complete to me. Somehow, between Romola Garai’s vibrancy, Sandy Welch’s screenplay and Jim O’Hanlon’s direction, this interpretation takes an extremely divisive character and helps the viewer understand just why everyone in Highbury loves Emma Woodhouse.

Rating: 5/5 Half-finished portraits

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If you liked this, check out my rankings of Mr. and Mrs. Weston

#emma woodhouse #jane austen emma #jane austen #period drama #emma 2020 #emma 2009 #emma 1996 #emma 1972 #romola garai #kate beckinsale #anya taylor joy #gwyneth paltrow

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longitudinalwaveme · 2 years

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Writing the Rogues

So, as anyone who has followed this blog for more than a day or two probably knows, I write a lot of fanfiction, especially about the Flashes and the Rogues. Here’s some observations I’ve made about writing these characters:

1. Sam Scudder’s basic personality is easy to write (self-confident, dramatic, and vain), but if you want to write about him in any depth you basically have to make up a backstory for him wholecloth, since the comics give us very, very little information about where he came from. I basically have an entire Sam Scudder spotlight issue that exists only in my head that I use for the purposes of characterizing him.

2. James Jesse is easy and fun to write if he isn’t the POV character. Getting into his head is surprisingly difficult (except if you’re writing him as a child, which I’ve done once or twice). It’s hard to know how much of his zaniness and childishness should be an act, and how much should just be a natural part of his personality. It’s also hard for me to get a read on how secure in himself he really is.

3. Roscoe Dillon is one of the easiest POV characters for me, because I write him as being on the autism spectrum (an idea I borrowed from the wonderful fanfics of @gorogues). As I am also on the spectrum, characterizing him is pretty easy. This is obviously not the only way to write the character, but if you want to write him this way and aren’t on the spectrum yourself, here are some suggestions:

-Roscoe likely grew up before knowledge of autism was particularly widespread. As such, he’s likely internalized a lot of outdated ideas about the condition and might not want to admit to having it (he’s a very arrogant man).

-A lot of people on the spectrum speak in rather unusual ways; we might talk too fast, speak in something of a monotone, or sound more aggressive than we mean to. I tend to think of Roscoe as speaking in a bit of a monotone most of the time, but of course this isn’t a strict guideline.

-Eye contact is a big one. People with autism have to be taught to make eye contact, or none of us would do it. (I was in high school before I could do it even remotely normally.) Roscoe should probably make eye contact only irregularly, and usually only when he’s making a point. When he’s nervous, he probably shouldn’t make eye contact at all.

-A lot of people on the spectrum tend to be excessively precise and/or formal in speech. Roscoe in particular is likely to be excessively formal in diction, as he’s also a bit of a snob. He’d also be likely to refer to people he doesn’t know well insistently by their titles; he’s been taught to do this and, like many people on the spectrum, he doesn’t know when to relax the rules.

-Not being able to understand social cues can be extremely frustrating, especially for someone like Roscoe, who prides himself on his intelligence. Having him express annoyance with social convention would be well within his character, as would him expressing frustration with his own inability to understand them (but only in his own mind).

-When autistic people get stressed, we tend to engage in repetitive activities called stereotypies, such as rocking back and forth or flapping one’s hands. Roscoe’s spinning in and of itself could be portrayed as a stereotypie, but he could engage in others as well (I have him rock a lot, probably because that’s my main stereotypy).

-Tops are his special interest. He talks about them enthusiastically and at length, and there’s probably nothing he doesn’t know about them. If he feels comfortable with a person, there are good odds that he’ll start monologing about tops to them out of a desire to share his enthusiasm for them. He’s bewildered by the fact that not everyone is interested in tops as he is.

-Most people on the spectrum become aware of the fact that they are different from everyone else quite early on; Roscoe is likely well aware of the fact that he’s seen as odd and is very, very defensive about it.

-Almost everyone on the autism spectrum seems to be over-or-under-sensitive to sensations. I hate loud noises and am a bit of a picky eater, and I hated clothing tags when I was a kid. Conversely, I love the feel of rubbing clothing and of being on a swing. While every person on the spectrum has different sensitivities to sensory phenomenon, it is likely that Roscoe is sensitive to at least some of these sensations in some fashion. I tend to write him as being rather touch-shy and as disliking loud noises.

4. Lisa can be hard to write, because you have to balance her intense devotion and loyalty to those she cares about with her incredible viciousness when crossed. It’s easy to write her in such a way that she loses her edge, and that’s something you don’t want to do. That being said, once you find that balance, she can be a lot of fun to write. She’s an interesting mix of very feminine and highly aggressive, and that’s something you don’t necessarily get to write too often.

5. Len is a character that I find surprisingly easy to write. I honestly don’t have much in common with him at all, but in spite of that, I’ve never had too much trouble getting into his head...and he’s a lot of fun to write. Like basically everyone else who writes Len, my take on the character draws a lot on Geoff Johns’ world-weary, blue-collar portrayal of him, and it’s nice that Len has such a full backstory to work with (especially when you compare him to Sam or Mark). It makes him a unique POV character. Like his sister, there aren’t many characters who have a voice like Len’s. Oh, and his dynamic with Roscoe (mutual loathing only tempered by the fact that they both love Lisa) is great fun.

6. Hartley’s another character whom I have an easy time writing. Like Len, he has a very well-fleshed out and unique backstory to draw off of, and also like Len, he’s been very fleshed-out over the years. Few things are as much fun to write as Piper’s soapbox rants. He’s also a great character to bounce off of other characters (he and James are an especially fun combination, which shouldn’t surprise anyone to hear).

7. Digger is essentially a walking Id. As such, his responses to things are usually very easy to work out. He can be a bit of a tricky POV guy, since he’s one of the least pleasant of the Rogues and his inner thoughts have to reflect that on some level, but he’s great for comedy and for stirring things up. And of course, looking up Australian slang to sprinkle into his dialogue is great fun (even if I do live in perpetual fear that I am inadvertently making him even more of a stereotype by doing this). I’ve also found that writing Digger with a strong undercurrent of rage towards the world underneath his casual, devil-may-care attitude helps to make him a little more rounded.

8. Evan McCulloch is a strange, strange character, and it took awhile for me to work out how to write him. The key, at least for me, was to lean into his sheer oddity. In addition to his Scottish accent, which I hope I at least write better than Geoff Johns did in Rogues’ Revenge, I generally have him speak rather oddly, repeating himself a lot and referring to himself in the third person. He also grins and laughs a lot at weird times, appears and disappears at weird moments, and generally unnerves everyone around him. Doing this helped to capture that sort of creepiness that Evan gives off in the comics. My take on the character is kind of a mix of Grant Morrison’s and Geoff Johns’, with the sheer weirdness and general good humor of the former and the backstory and psychological issues of the latter. That being said, I think he generally works better if he’s not the POV character, simply because it enhances the sense that he’s not quite all there, usually in more senses than one.

9. Mick Rory is easy to write as a POV character; he’s strongly characterized and has a strong backstory. As a result, I tend to write him as Pre-Johns Mick in terms of basic personality (sweet, loyal, a bit dim), but with the pyromania Johns established. That being said, for whatever reason I tend to use him primarily as a supporting character. Someday I’ll really have to write a story that focuses on him.

10. Mark Mardon is very hard to get a read on in the comics. Of all the Rogues, I think he’s the one whose basic personality I have the most trouble determining. Like, how smart is he actually supposed to be? Is his talk about being well-read and cultured legitimate or him putting on an act? (For whatever reason, I tend to accept the idea that Roscoe is actually more sophisticated than the other Rogues, but find it hard to believe the same thing about Mark. Maybe it’s just because Roscoe is more of an inventor than Mark?) How malicious is he supposed to be? What do the other Rogues think about him? I tend to base my characterization on his appearances in the Silver and Bronze Age, where he often seemed like a clueless doofus who had no idea of just how much power he wielded. As a result, my Mark is a bit of a self-aware screw-up, although I did give him the inferiority/superiority complex he displays in modern comics. I also had to make up most of his backstory, since, like Sam, he doesn’t have much of one in the comics themselves.

What about you? If you write the Rogues, what have you noticed about them?

@gorogues @secondratevillain @belphegor1982

#flash rogues #flash comics #fanfic #writing

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linkspooky · 4 years

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Why do you like these morally broken characters so much?

Broken characters are more interesting because they have something to fix - by that I mean there’s an obvious reason why we might get invested in their story, and follow them, because we want to see them get better. Characters with more obvious flaws are usually better written, it’s as simple as that. Let’s go over two basic ideas of storytelling.

Character Arc - we choose to follow a certain character because there is something they’re wrong about, or something wrong about them, they have some conflcit that needs to be resolved by the end of the story, usually centering around a character flaw. Flaws are important because they give the character an impetus, a reason to change. Flaws are what get people invested in characters, because they want to see the character do better by the end.

Show don’t tell - there’s a lot of debate of what this storytelling rule means exactly, so I’m going to simplify it. A story is essentially trying to make an argument. A story is trying to persuade you of an idea. An argument is more persuasive when there is evidence behind it. For example you can tell the audience a character is empathic, but going great lengths to show that character practicing empathy will always be more effective storytelling. If I can point to something that happened in story and say this is the character doing the thing then that character has strong characterization.

Shigaraki is a better written character than Deku. He has a character arc, and everything about Shigaraki is shown instead of just told to us. Whereas the story continually tells us that Deku is special, that Deku is a good person, that Deku is empathic but his actions never really support what the story tells us. I’m going to go more into this under the cut.

1. Character Flaw

What is Deku’s character flaw? What is the thing he needs to work on in order to become a better hero. The problem is Deku never has a clear and consistently written character flaw. We as the audience are never told what exactly is holding him back, and what he needs to improve upon in order to become a hero.

Deku’s only real obstacle has been the fact that OFA is an unstable power. The only thing that’s held him back in sitautions is power incontinence, the fact that he has unstable control of his power and therefore will injure himself.

Deku loses the tournament because he can’t control OFA. Deku can’t rescue bakugo in time because he can’t control OFA. Deku fails to defeat Bakugo in his rival battle because he can’t control OFA.

Deku’s failures come from not being able to control his power, and Deku’s successes, when he defeated Chisaki, when he defeated muscle, always come from him using his power.

Except that’s boring. Why? Because it has absolutely nothing to do with Deku himself as a person. Nothing about Deku changes as a character throughout all of this. The only thing that changes is his workout regimen.

The only real thing that has changed about Deku is the number. Oh, he’s gotten the NUMBER to 45%. People cannot be summarized by numbers. People are usually a little more complex than that.

The problem with this is, Deku is given countless oppurtunites to reflect and change something about himself internally. There are conflicts that Deku constantly interacts with. We just never see Deku even think about these problems. There are conflcits in the story. There are problems in society. Deku just isn’t affected by them. Everyone time Deku is asked to think about these things he goes NO THOUGHTS HEAD EMPTY. And that’s just not very interesting. Characters are interesting because they struggle and change as they learn new things about the world, whereas Deku is just perpetually ignorant.

Deku’s characterization comes across as weak because the story just, tells us a lot of things about him, without providing good in text evidence. We are told Deku is empathic. Except he really isn’t?

It starts with Shinso. Deku hears Shinso say something that is something he could sympathize with. Deku was also told he couldn’t become a hero because he was born quirkless. Deku should sympathize with Shinso in this situation and recognize there is something wrong with quirk society.

Deku just doesn’t say anything and doesn’t respond. Even though he has an obvious chance to empathize, he doesn’t. We see another character actually empathize with Shinso later in the story.

Monoma’s speech acknowledges that it’s harder for them to become heroes, because they weren’t born with the HERO SOCIETY APPROVED TM quirks. Monoma’s speech is sympathetic because it acknowledges the difficulty that Shinso has struggled with all along. Deku isn’t ever allowed to see anything wrong with HERO SOCIETY, so he never really sympathizes with its victims. He never demonstrates any empathy where he has to understand somebody who’s circumstances might be different than his, he never has to understand somebody outside of his own feelings.

Even in story, we’re told that Shinso has some kind of special relationship with Midoriya but why? Midoriya never said anything to him. Midoriya never sympathized with him in any special way. The story even goes out of the way to show us that Midoriya just... didn’t say anything even though he understood what Shinso’s feelings were.

This is what I mean by show don’t tell. Shinso and Midoriya’s relationship is something we are told about being special, but I can’t point to anything in text to show that Midoriya did anything special to Shinso. In fact I can point to examples of Monoma being much more sympathetic and actually addressing what’s unfair about Shinso’s situation, and I can even point to characters like Denki being outright friendlier to him. We are told that Deku makes friends easily, and that he’s an empathic person, but we never see him reaching out that way in the story.

And we’re not even told what Deku’s character flaw is. Why does Deku lose in each arc? Ummm....??? Why does Deku fail??? Ummm. The only reason is because he can’t control his quirk.

2. A Flawed Character

I can just point to the text and show you these things about Shigaraki. The problem with Shigaraki in the first arc is he had no real plan, he had no real motive, and he didn’t care what happened to his allies.

No Plan.

No Motive.

No Allies.

These three things are obviously things that are missing from Shigaraki at the start of the story, and his arc is a quest to gain these things. If you notice, every single character explicitly points out how much Shigaraki sucks, like all the time.

Stain won’t work with Shigaraki because Shigaraki doesn’t have any ideals that can convince Shigaraki to work with him. The attempt for Shigaraki to recruit allies fails. This is a problem. Shigaraki fails twice, not only does he fail to get Stain on his side, but he also fails to make someone sympathize with his cause because he can’t reach out to others.

This is something that Shigaraki learns by the camp raid arc. That he needs to gather allies with sympathetic ideals, and he needs to be about some kind of cause otherwise people won’t listen to him.

Shigaraki’s first two fights are spectacular defeats that are very humbling for him, and the reason he fails has entirely to do with these flaws. It’s after this point he starts learning. The first thing is he learns to take advantage of Stain’s publicity to recruit people with similiar ideals to his cause. However, Shigaraki is still flawed going into the next arc. Camp Raid arc, Shigaraki uses the vanguard action squad essentially as disposable pawns. He manipulates them from a distance not taking any actiong himself.

Shigaraki is not a good enough leader at this point. Not only do the flaws in his plan catch up with him (his inability to get Bakugo to sympathize with him, his helplessness when All Might shows up, his overreliance on AFO to bail him out) but he once again suffers a consequence, loses something, and needs to imrpove by the next arc. The Chisaki arc revolves around the camraderie that Shigaraki was lacking in, in the camp raid arc.

It starts with a very specific and precise callout. You have no plan. You misuse the crimminals you have under your thumb, and let go of them too easily. Then, Shigaraki suffers another consequence. Because he is not a good enough leader at managing his people, Magne dies, and Shigaraki is put into a tight position. This all happens because of failings on Shigaraki’s part, the direct result of them, which challenges him to grow and improve.

Shigaraki is a twisted cycle path. However, unlike Deku I can point to the first moment in story where he began to open up with other people and share his feelings.

Why is Twice so loyal to Shigaraki? Because Shigaraki accepted him and his struggles in this movie. THIS IS EVIDENCE. If the author is making the argument that Shigaraki is an empathic character, he has moments where Shigaraki is SHOWN to be empathizing with others.

Shigaraki tells Twice he knows he’s asking him to do something difficult, and that he knows Twice is suffering, but that they’re in this together and he believes they can overcome it. Deku tells Shinso. Nothing. Literally nothing. Just doesn’t even open his mouth. In this case Shigaraki is written as the more empathic character, because Shigaraki actually empathizes with people.

Deku’s writing is so weak because it’s wishy washy. He has no central beliefs his character is written around. He has no strong emotions. And he especially has no flaw. Deku is so wishy washy he’s not even allowed to hold a simple opinion like child abuse might be bad. He’s so malleable that he just tells Todoroki that Enji should be forgiven now, because the writer is TELLING YOU instead of showing you that Enji has improved in his character arc.

Whereas, by the end of the Chisaki Arc we can see the difference in how Shigaraki has changed. He has opened up to the other people around him and now includes them as essential parts in his plan. He’s gone from “I’ll be the next one” to “We’ll be the next one.” He’s gone from hiding at the bar and plotting far away, to fighting on the front lines with his people and even using himself as a distraction so Dabi and Compress won’t be hurt.

The story is constantly trying to tell me what is so special about Deku, but I don’t see it. Because the story doesn’t have any evidence to back up its argument. Wheras, the story doesn’t need to tell me about Shigaraki. The story never tells us Shigaraki is a special boy. It never tells us he’s a good person. It in fact, tells us how much Shigaraki sucks, and needs to get better. In that way, when Shigaraki makes progression it’s clearer because the story is always clear about what he’s missing, what his flaws are, and what he needs to work on.

The Re-Destro arc once again, points out Shigaraki’s shortcomings. He has no real plan for what is coming next. He has no clear motive. He has no way of gathering resources. Because of that, the League has been failing.

Shigaraki reevaluates his origin story. He wants to destroy the oppressive society, the same way he destroyed his father’s house. Once he does that he’s able to tear down the structures of Deika city, and defeat Re-Destro because he realizes what he wants to accomplish.

Shigaraki listened to his allies that they had no resources, and then made his next priority to acquire those. Then, to skip ahead a little bit we have the latest fight Shigaraki is struggling in. Remember, Shigaraki was missing three things in the UA Raid. 1. No Plan, 2. No Motive, 3. No Allies

At the start of the manga, All Might said that Shigaraki couldn’t accomplish anything because he had hollow ideals. Endeavor repeats that accusation.

However, we know that’s not true now. We have seen Shigaraki gain all three things, an ideal to center himself around, allies, and a plan for what he wants to do and accomplish.

This scene, parallels this scene. Except we know now why Shigaraki does the things that he does, that Shigaraki has motivations, that Shigaraki has learned from his experiences.

Shigaraki’s speech has substance now, because we’ve seen the long journey for how he came to acquire these beliefs. Why does Deku want to be the number one hero? Why does Endeavor want to be the number one hero? Neither of those questions are things you can answer by pointing to events that happened in story.

Shigaraki is the result of everything that has happened to him so far, and all of his struggles have taught him a lesson. When he repeats essentially what he said to All Might at the beginning of the arc, this time we know his words have meaning. Shigaraki believes society doesn’t save people, because he’s lived it. He believes that heroes are violent, and contribute to the system of violence, because he was violently abused all his life. Shigaraki believes that society rejects the victims who needs it’s help the most, because Shigaraki has been collecting people like that in the league all of whom dropped out of society through no fault of their own. When Shigaraki makes his arguments, I can point to things that happened in the story that back up his arguments. There is evidence. I can’t do that for Deku, because everything about Deku we are told rather than shown even though he gets three times the amount of screentime.

Deku may be a better person, but who cares about that? Deku and Shigaraki aren’t real people. I don’t have to interact with them. Deku is not my roommate who I have to talk to on a daily basis. This is a work of fiction that is WRITTEN. Shigaraki is better written. That’s why - Shigaraki is a better character.

#Anonymous #izuku midoriya #shigaraki tomura #spooky speaks #metasks

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kill-your-authors · 4 years

Text

My first impression when watching Nicky snipe two people through the head at once and catch the shell after was just Blythewood showing us how good of a sniper Nicky was and of course making him look badass in the moment like action movies usually do regardless of how realistic it is, kinda like movies that make characters hold their gun sideways when they shoot even though no one who has any real experience with a gun would hold it like that.

But then it abruptly hit me how smart and actually totally logical it was to include the double-headshot catch-the-shell moment. Not only does it characterize Nicky as patient and methodical and precise, which is true to his character throughout the movie from the way he fights to the way he talks - but it would have given their arrival away if he’d only shot one. Killing one would have alerted the other that the Guard had arrived, and would have made him flee and would have given him the opportunity to alert the others if Nicky wasn’t able to headshot a running target bound to turn a corner or head through a door within seconds.

He really HAD to double-headshot there because the alternative was so much riskier which he no doubt recognized the moment he looked through his scope and realized there were two watchmen. He probably went “Great now I have to wait for them to cross paths” because he knows from experience what happens when you kill the watchmen one at a time.

And catching the shell? Not only does it reveal to the audience how familiar he is with this weapon, how long he’s been sniping, to know exactly where the shell is gonna jump and where his hand needs to be to catch it, but this also narratively makes sense: they bury all evidence that they were there when they’re done killing everybody. Nicky knows he CAN’T leave any shells behind so instead of letting the shell land and possibly get lost or forgotten about, he just catches it before it ever hits the ground.

And this also answers another question I had from a different part of the movie: why the hell Joe would take the time to wipe his scimitar off on that guy’s pants. At first glance I once again was like “Oh this is just to be badass. This is just because it looks cool” which again, I expect from action movies. But no, it once again makes complete sense. If that scimitar is Joe’s ORIGINAL scimitar from the crusades, then that is a scimitar he has been taking precious care of for a thousand years. A thousand years of that metal coming into contact with highly corrosive blood, long before stainless steel was invented. So of COURSE Joe wipes the blood off immediately. Of COURSE he can’t afford to just clean it off later that day. Over time, putting off wiping blood away would destroy the sword.

And this all makes me think about that one post someone wrote theorizing why Nicky is the one always handing Joe guns, and never the reverse. We already know that these two fight as a symbiotic team nearly reading each other’s minds in battle, one always protecting the other’s six or twelve at any given moment. And yet, Nicky is the only one ever handing Joe guns. The person who wrote this post theorized it’s because Joe is a much worse shot than Nicky and therefore runs out of ammo sooner, which Nicky is well-aware of, and as a result is always handing Joe a gun for when he runs out of ammo with his current weapon.

I’m here to second that theory, because it makes sense. Nicky is a sniper. By virtue of being a sniper alone, we can pretty much conclude two things about Nicky’s fighting style, the first of which I already pointed out: patience and precision. Sniper’s wait for the opportune moment to kill and get it exactly right the first time, usually, taking a huge gamble that they do not miss. The second thing, however, is conservation of ammo. Snipers do not rattle off rounds willy-nilly. It’s high-risk-high-reward fighting. Shoot once, kill once, or miss once and get killed.

But I can very easily see Joe, someone who is more comfortable fighting close-range than his long-distance sniper lover, either a) never becoming as precise in his aiming because he’s often so close, or b) recognizing that sometimes, it’s going to actually be more practical to shoot someone six times in the torso all at once, when you know you can hit them, than wait for the perfect moment to get that headshot, which as I said, is a huge risk given that it might not ever come or you might miss, which at such close range, means an even greater risk that your enemy will be able to retaliate and win.

So it’s two completely different fighting styles, each with their own pros and cons, and each being perfect for the character that’s adopted them. Not only that, but these two fighting styles complement each other, because the pros of one are the cons of the other and vice versa. Which is also why it makes so much sense that it’s Joe and Nicky who have these fighting styles because they not only complement each other in battle, working as a team, but because these fighting styles say a lot about their personalities, which complement these characters as a couple.

It’s just! Such fucking smart writing you guys! I feel like screaming! I love when writing makes fucking sense and isn’t just for show!!

#the old guard #joe x nicky #nicolo di genova #yusuf al kaysani #meta #character analysis

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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Vine’s death/sacrifice really kinda messes with the “themes” of this volume, the idea of not sacrificing anyone to save others. I guess self-sacrifice is considered ok because of Hazel and Penny, but I just think about their conversation with JRY, with their talk of doing everything possible to save a beloved teammate.

Yeah, self-sacrifices are a whole different ballgame in RWBY. It’s framed as heroic to do everything possible to save an individual, or for an individual to sacrifice themselves for everyone else. However, it’s not framed as heroic for others to sacrifice an individual to save the whole. So the idea of saving Oscar at any cost is presented as the unambiguously good thing to do... with the show largely ignoring the reverse question of, “So it’s okay to sacrifice hundreds or thousands of people--and the safety of an entire city housing the majority of the city below--for one?”

There are admittedly differences in terms of the presumed fatality of each situation. Meaning, Hazel, Vine, and Penny are framed as having to die or lots more people will definitely die: Salem will get JRYOE, the Ace Ops + Qrow will perish, Cinder will get the power and do horrific things with it (even if this supposed inevitability isn’t executed well. Example: there apparently just isn’t time to heal Penny). In contrast, Oscar is presented as a case where they can still save him and keep others alive. Obviously it all turned out the best it could--because these are the heroes and the plot ensures things go well--but the show doesn’t grapple with that risk, despite RWBY naming an episode after it. We don’t engage with the fact that JYR were 100% willing to let an entire city perish to save their teammate. It’s a heartwarming characterization from one perspective, absolutely, but the flipside is that they’re licensed huntsmen in a position of authority and their willingness to abandon the vast majority of a nation for one guy is... arguably horrifying. These issue is only exacerbated by this decision not being a one-off thing. Ruby’s desire for a perfect solution led her to trapping most of the Atlas/Mantle citizens there and then prioritizing two other teammates--Nora and Penny--over helping the people, despite her inability to do anything to assist those teammates. She isn’t defending them from anything (prior to the Hound’s arrival), doesn’t have the skills to heal them, they’re not even conscious to ask her to stay with them... she just decided that sitting at her friends’ bedside, doing nothing, was more important than helping the people who were currently in life threatening danger. Oscar was in life threatening danger too, but JYR were still in the same position of being official protectors of the people who said, “No. Our friend is more important than the whole nation. We’ll let it burn for the chance to save him.”

Since I just started Voyager (side note: I WOULD DIE FOR JANEWAY) I’m reminded of how often Star Trek as a franchise emphasizes these moral questions. Not just in the classic “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” but also when it comes to any position of authority. Captains and Commanders have to grapple with whether they’re able to send an individual--likely a friend--into a deadly situation to help the rest of the ship, like ordering your Chief Engineer into dangerous territory to fix something. They also have to grapple with whether they’re able to leave people behind for the sake of the ship and how much danger it’s ethical to put the whole crew in to continue trying to save the few (something that takes center stage in numerous episodes). Star Trek, though far from perfect as a franchise, largely achieves a great balance between having characters be hopeful, pushing the odds, upholding the importance of every life... but also recognizing that, as the authority here, they cannot put the life of one individual over the entirety of the ship (not unless the entire ship agrees to take that risk. Hence, The Search for Spock). They cannot prioritize their personal desires and needs over that of their crew... but that’s precisely where the RWBY group has ended up. Frankly, this wouldn’t be as much of a problem if the show had just made them into rogue entities, rather than licensed huntsmen who are very much using their authority to gain power over the people they’re not prioritizing (Ruby starts her video by telling the world she’s a huntress, Jaune uses his credentials to get people to follow him). It’s the authority that’s the problem. If a civilian that happens to have a talent for fighting decides to defend their friends instead of helping the people, fine. We may not personally agree with that decision, but it’s theirs to make. The problem is our heroes are huntsmen. They have a duty and they are continually ignoring that duty despite reaping the benefits of their position. Someone with the authority of a huntsmen can sacrifice themselves to save the people, or to save a friend. They cannot, however, willingly sacrifice the people for themselves, or a friend. And yes “sacrifice” includes not just active harm (keeping Atlas trapped), but also increasing the risk of harm (not wanting the whale to be bombed) and passiveness (sitting in a mansion) when it’s their responsibility to protect others.

What was it Weiss said at Mountain Glenn?

“It's a job. We all had this romanticized vision of being a Huntress in our heads! But at the end of the day, it's a job to protect the people and whatever we want, will have to come second.”

The characters have completely forgotten that... and the writers have too. Now, “whatever we want” is framed as the heroic thing to do. Ruby wants a miracle despite all evidence to the contrary, so all the people they’ve successful evacuated have to remain in danger until she gets one. The JRY group want their teammate back, so the army will just have to keep dying until they get him. (The fact that they eventually agree to the bomb going off whether they’re still in there or not--something I quite like--doesn’t erase that they initially wanted the Ace Ops to not drop the bomb at all.) Ruby doesn’t want to have to choose between Mantle and Atlas, so both cities just have to lose out on three of the very few people who exist to protect them while they’re torn apart by monsters. “Both houses deserve to be saved!” says the firefighter, standing there and refusing to help either. Inevitably, both burn down.

The willingness to leave behind an individual for the whole--something which, I should point out, exists in the “Are you willing to leave the few in Mantle for all of Atlas + a large number of refugees?” question-- isn’t just the sacrifice of the individual, it’s also a sacrifice of the authority. Are you willing to live with the guilt of this decision? Are you willing to sit with that choice and accept any consequences that might come your way, including others’ hatred of you for failing to achieve perfection? Ironwood was. He knew he was hurting Mantle, knew no one had been able to come up with a perfect solution, and decided that helping the whole world was worth it. Others despising him was worth getting communications back up and (he thought) defeating Salem. That’s a sacrifice, one that makes Winter’s “You sacrificed nothing!” line sound particularly ridiculous. What has the group sacrificed lately? I don’t mean what they’ve lost--what’s been taken from them--but what they’ve willingly given up to help others. I can’t think of much, especially not in Volume 8. Ruby never even made the choice at all, let alone accepted the drawbacks of it.

RWBY wants to be a complex, morally gray show, but you cannot write that and have heroes who insist on that fairy tale ending. Something has to give and, inevitably, RWBY keeps supplying that ending instead of forcing the characters to grow. If they want a dark, imperfect world then they need protagonists like Ironwood. No, not crazy, murderous, keep-him-away-from-me Ironwood, but the Ironwood of early Volume 7 who was willing to acknowledge that sometimes perfection is impossible. Sometimes it’s your duty to just get the best outcome possible, not the best you’d hoped for. Sometimes you have to make incredibly hard decisions and shoulder the weight of that because you accepted this responsibility when you took on the role of leader. The group hasn’t accepted a thing and Ruby absolutely didn’t accept the responsibility of seizing power and presenting herself as the world’s leader. Instead, they’ve reverted to their characterizations at the beginning of Mountain Glenn. What do you mean I can’t make the world perfect by wishing it was so? Fine, if I can’t have perfection than I won’t accept anything at all.

#rwby #mymetas #flawartist

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emilycollins00 · 4 years

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hello! i've recently stumbled across your works and i really love your characterization and writing uwu if it's not too much, is it okay for me to request for a scenario where some actors accidentally found out that their director is actually good dancer? like maybe somebody was watching tv and 'hey doesn't that backup dancer look familiar?' ((you can decide on whoever finds out about it and you can also choose to use izumi's name or just write mc)) AAAA thank you very much! ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡

Thank you, dear! 💕 I feel so happy when I read I you guys like it. Sometimes it gets difficult to not fall into OOC!

I opted to choose Izumi, mainly because I don’t think I’ve written anything with her even though I love her so much! As for the actors, well, couldn’t decided wich one so everyone is making an appearance.

Hope you like it! 💕

The dorm discovering Izumi’s dancing skills

“Tenma, hurryyyyy”

“Yeah, yeah... Uh? Hey, who didn’t wash their dishes this morning, it stinks!” the summer leader complained outloud, leaving the kitchen with Misumi with the last chopsticks and glasses to place on the lounge.

Tsuzuru entered and looked at the sink, frowning. Indeed, it smelled awful. He walked towards the couches to get the culprit.

“Itaru-san, don’t ask me why, but I know whatever that was in that plate was yours. Please clean it right now”

“Oh shit, my shield fell”

The man in question was laying next to Kazunari and Banri, all of them most likely playing a battle game, judging by the way they were staring intensely at their phones.

“Itaru-san!”

“Yes, yes, one minute…”

“Dang, Itaroon! You can’t pull something like that to win, I don’t have any more resources!”

Omi put a hand on Tsuzuru’s shoulder when he saw the scriptwriter was about to start scolding them “It’s okay Tsuzuru, we have enough plates. Itaru-san can clean later so dinner doesn’t get cold”

At that moment Juza, Taichi, Muku and Sakuya arrived.

“Ah, Omi-san! After Tenma-kun and Misumi-san finish the table will be set” the cheerily the spring leader informed approaching them.

“At least we get things done quickly, having so many people at Mankai” Tsuzuru smiled tired but gratefully at the four of them “…although it would be quicker if others offered to help from time to time” he looked at the gaming group and a certain pair watching TV.

“Tsuzuru, this program is too important to sip!”

“You mean to skip? Also, I truly don’t think so. That’s one old program you’re watching” he looked around resting his hands on his hips. No one had moved an inch “That indirect was also to the rest of you, you know”

“Noted”

“Aha”

“So you want me to set the table instead of trying to come up for ideas with customes? Fine by me”

Misumi and Tenma entered before an argument could take place “Table’s set. Someone should call Masumi, Sakyo-san and the winter troupe. They were in the practice room with director, right?”

As if by pure summoning, the last spring member arrived, taking off his headphones “…I’m here”

“We are here too!” Tsumugi waved as the rest of the winter troupe entered talking to each other. Their play schedule had been decided and they had had a run through while Izumi and Sakyo discussed the final details for the performance.

“Okay then everyone, time to dig in!”

…………………………..

Everyone sat on their chairs and started moving plates around and refilling glasses with drinks. It wasn’t often, due to the difference in schedules, but some nights the whole dorm got together and opted to eat at the same time. It was a bit of a mess but in the end, everyone had fun.

Citron was still watching silently the TV when he paused it, concerned. Getting up, he headed to the dinner table as everyone ate and talked “Director?”

Izumi looked up, stopping herself from grabbing the delicious tonkatsu in front of her “You called, Citron? Ah, leave the TV and sit, come on. Omi’s food will get cold!” she motioned the chair that was empty.

He did as told, but kept his eyes locked on her “Director I must ask you an important question”

“Uh… ok?”

He nodded as his chopsticks grabbed some rice “Are you maybe a twist?”

Everyone turned to him, confused, but not surprised. The young woman found herself blinking in confusion too “…Twist?”

Masumi nodded in agreement “You can twist my heart anytime you want”

No one even tried to contradict the young boy, still trying to decipher Citron’s meaning.

“I don’t think Citron means twist”

“…Twix”

“Yeah Hyodo sure, Citron meant Twix. I swear your brain is a fucking sugar cube”

“You are sweet like a twix to me, director”

“Ugh, someone tell the Psycho Stalker off”

“Y-yuki-kun!”

“Citron, I don’t think your phrasing is right” Tsumugi laughed as he saw everyone starting to debate.

The foreigner crossed his arms, deep his thought “Mmm… this word is meant to be a clone… of another person! Is it close enough, Tsumugi?”

“C-clone?!” Taichi looked up from his seat, eyes wide open “Director has a clone?!”

“Guys, come on...”

“Mhm… I might be wrong, but maybe Citron meant if our dear director has a twin?”

Citron gasped “Twin, yes! Azuma’s wisdom is as always precise!”

The winter member received the compliment from the blond with a soft laugh as the rest frowned. Sakuya raised his hand from the other side of the table “U-Um! Why do you say that, Citron-san?”

“You have sisters?” Tasuku raised his eyebrows at Izumi.

“Of course not! I’m an only child”

“But that cannot be. I saw you with my two very eyes!”

“Me?”

He nodded seriously, getting up from the chair and turning on the TV again “I will demonstrate now, the director’s clone!”

Izumi sighed. Why couldn’t they have a normal night? Just for once. It was weekday for christ’s sake. The sudden gasps and exclamations brought her back to reality.

“It really looks like Izumi-san!”

“She looks younger though, is it really her?”

“Waaah, director you are moving so beautifully!”

“Wait, seriously?”

Izumi got up and approached the TV screen, concerned for the amount of attention it was getting “Come on, how can I-“

“That is you, isn’t it?” Sakyo pointed the TV with his head.

As everyone came to the realization that it was indeed Izumi. the woman in question stood there, watching her younger self.

“Oh, you meant that!” she sat on the arm of the couch, forgetting dinner and the fact that everybody was still trying to make sense of it. Their director? In TV? “It’s not been that long but... ” she laughed “Might be the one and only time I made it for a play in a performance, come to think of it!”

Kazunari, who was at that point recording the whole situation, turned his phone towards her in awe “I am beyond SHOCK, director! What play? How come we didn’t know you danced so well? Any declarations?”

She pushed the phone away from her, laughing “I did my studies and entered in the dancing club from my university for a change of peace”

“But this amazing choreography? The moves? Not to mention you are totes on TV!”

She looked back at the TV and a smiled appeared. Competing in friendly dancing competitions had been nice at the time “That program shows musicals, right? My university dancing club just happened to want to enter the competition and we decided to do a mute dancing play trying to tell a story without speaking. Forgot it had been recorded then”

Everyone stopped talking and looked at each other.

“…Oh”

“That’s right”

“Director had another life before Mankai…”

“Feels weird to think about it”

Izumi blinked confused. Of course, she had tried to make a life outside of acting! It had been rough, but she had had to come to terms with herself that she had to move on, at the time.

“Ey, ey, director let’s dance too!” Misumi grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the courtyard. She found herself stumbling to keep up.

“W-whoah, Misumi-kun, we haven’t finished eating!”

He laughed releasing her as he tried to copy what they all had watched “That looked fun! What other dances did you do?”

Izumi laughed at his excitment.

“Well, there was nothing specific…?” she listed a few songs on the top of her head. The rest of the dorm gathered around the frames of the courtyard, watching curiously.

“I also want to see director’s dancing!”

“Anyone has a phone?”

“On it~”

“Enough! Why are you…” Sakyo came out too, ready to start scolding when one of the songs mentioned before started playing and saw Izumi’s bright face.

It was as if some kind of adrenaline had been injected into her, enough to make her body start moving along the music, not a single movement being wasted.

It had been a while.

………………………………

“Oh my, such a stunning view… the turning of grand jetes! If this moment was to be engraved…”

Hisoka frowned next to him “Arisu… you’re too loud. Can’t enjoy it”

“Director… is really good!” Sakuya was practically beaming as he watched Izumi moving around “She looks like a fairy!”

No one there disagreed. Her movements flowed, taking away the breath of every person in that familiar audience. Izumi had never been able to act well, but somehow her dancing expressed more than she could in a play.

Omi smiled at the view and crossed his arms “A pity I left the camera in my room” he looked at his left and saw how Sakyo looked at her.

The blond’s eyes followed her figure entranced, not moving an inch.

A few minutes later, Izumi stopped, breathing heavily after song. She looked up, greeted by a big amount of applause. Were those claps for her? Her cheeks grew hot. She didn’t remember last time she got an applause and smiled bashfully.

“Fufu that was wonderful, Izumi-san”

“Epic. I think I just fell in love all over again, director! Gonna need to post the clip on my instablam!”

“Not bad. I guess currian has another thing she’s good at, uh”

“Well, if we ever have a dancing play, now we know who to ask for notes, isn’t that right, Tsuzuru?”

Taichi gasped in excitement looking at the scriptwriter “Oh man, I definitely want to do a dancing play now, girls would love it!”

Of course, as theatre fanatics as they were, the conversation headed into their future performances.

“Maybe like a musical?”

“But dancing as you act is…”

“I want to do a triangle dance in our play!”

Izumi laughed, gaining everyone’s attention “Okay, okay, this is enough. Let’s go back and finish dinner. Can’t believe you all tricked me to dance in front of you, geez” she still felt her breath uneven from the workout.

“But you did look beautiful out there, director” Tsumugi smiled as he pushed a complaining Taichi and entranced Masumi inside.

Tasuku sighed as he watched everyone returning to their normal behaviors “Well, I guess we must thank you are more an acting addict than a dancer” he sent a small smile to Izumi, placing a hand on her shoulder and going inside to help the adults tame the youngest.

Izumi was about to follow when she heard Sakyo’s voice from behind “You danced well”

“Ah, Sakyo-san, thanks”

He dropped his eyes momentarily before looking at everyone going back to finish dinner inside “…Think you will miss it? Dancing like that”

Izumi lifted her head up and closed her eyes, enjoying the night’s breeze. She had set it aside for so long she hadn’t really been able to think about it.

Dancing to her was like turning back the clock, returning to a previous life that might have been good. However, she had always felt something was missing.

She smiled tenderly. Just thinking about everyone at the dorm made her heart go warm.

“It’s become a good memory to keep”

She tore her gaze away from the night sky to smile at him, assuring him that she was being honest to those words just said.

True. She had loved dancing, but theatre? Ah.

That was her life.

_________________________________________________________

I enjoyed it a lot, hopefully, you guys did too. Have a wonderful day! 💕

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lnterjection · 3 years

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Regarding canon!Techon, VoS!Techno, and anarchy

Someone told me the way Techno’s anarchy ideals were presented in Chapter 34 of Valley of Serenity (wherein he admitted “I can want anarchy to be the predominant reality because it benefits me the most while also understanding that it would not be the best thing for most other people”) were, to quote - “All wrong here. Have you watched any of the syndicate streams? Cuz its clear techno actually believes in anarchy and that it's good for people. I understand he's missing some of the development from post pogtopia to the syndicate due to this being canon divergent, but that doesn't change the fact he's always actually believed in his anarchist ideals.”

Now, while I hadn’t considered this specifically before writing the chapter, I had considered enough of the factors surrounding Techno’s characterization in both canon and Valley of Serenity to respond with this:

Ironically, Techno's lore streams are the only ones that I've consistently watched. He's literally the only person where I've watched every bit of lore he's streamed.

And I came to this mindset for Techno in this fic specifically because I believe the events after Nov 16 in canon, of the Butcher Army, the Community House debacle with Tommy betraying him, and Doomsday were huge influences in how much he believes in the good of anarchy for the common person. Remember, he was willing to retire and let go of the whole anarchy thing to live in peace for a while, after seeing the disaster that was Nov 16th. It's only after S2 he starts gathering up people to form the Syndicate, committing fully to his ideology. Before he was content to chill in the Arctic with Phil.

With this background I have three points of contention to make-

Firstly, something I've always found interesting about Techno's character is how his anarchy thing might clash with the people he cares about. More specifically, I always wondered "if Techno was forced to choose between upholding anarchy and Phil, who or what would he choose?" Post Season 2 Techno I'm unsure of, but given the limited amount of lore from Season 1 about Techno I'm going off of to build his character, I'm writing his character arc in this fic to be him coming to the realization that he cares more about his family's wellbeing more than he does anarchy or upholding his whole blood god thing. It's a realization that Techno would have needed to spend months with his family again, living with them, to make and have him commit to. Techno back in Nov 16 would have been unsure what he would have picked.

Secondly, we don't have confirmation about where Techno got his anarchist ideals from, which is important because motivation is important. We know at this point in canon he strongly believes in them for real, but we're not given backstory on why that it. There's hints and theories, some of which are far more plausible than others - I've chosen to set the root of his anarchy belief in what he says in this chapter - governments are the only ones strong enough to take him down as an organized group of power. Governments have tried to take him down and nearly succeeded - that's what the Butcher Army was. That event was what brought him out of retirement to turn L'Manberg into L'Hole. And Techno in canon is reinforced in the belief that anarchy's best for everyone because of what it did to Phil and Tommy. He sees how both of them were hurt by L'Manberg's system of power, something that once again Techno in this fic didn't experience. We don't know what's happened in his backstory to make him stand on his anarchy thing, but that also means we don't know how easily Pogtopia Techno would have been convinced to give up on it. He believes it, but why and how much? I've made my choice of interpretation in this fic precisely because we don't know, and his canon decision to go into retirement was what influenced my writing here. I genuinely believe if L'Manberg hadn't attacked in, but instead turned out to be a functioning government like they could have been, his anarchy spiel about bad government is for at least other people, if not himself, would have subsided. But that's not the sort of plot that runs a livestream, is it?

Thirdly - and this ties into point 2 - probably at some point in canon Techno's past government has wronged him and he's seen government repeatedly wrong other people, hence his beliefs that again, the Butcher Army and New L'Manberg under Tubbo only strengthened when it had the chance to subside them. You could even draw allusions back to his skyblock series and take the quote "If skyblock has told me anything, it is that if you have a problem, the answer is slavery" to mean that he's seen the governmentally structured system of skyblock drag its players into an endless, pointless competing grind whilst also committing mass slave-related atrocities, which would be one of the more plausible backstories for Techno and explain where his anarchy ideals might have developed. But we're still operating canon Techno under the rules of the Dream SMP, and the Dream SMP's world is very much not the world presented in Valley of Serenity.

See, my decision - very conscious, deliberate, developed decision - to worldbuild Valley of Serenity in a way that's more akin to a fantasy world in the midst of their equivalent of the Age of Exploration instead of modeling it off how the Dream SMP worlds has definitely also influenced the way I plan the character developments in this fic. Valley of Serenity's world has nations, economies, established ethnic groups and populations and cultures and systems and thousands of years worth of history. L'Manberg started out as a city-state with some surrounding farmland area that had its own history and a decently sized population before Wilbur got there. The Dream SMP canon, meanwhile, has none of that established. You could argue there were civilians on the sideline that just aren't named, or that the Twitch viewers are just civilian in this world because Wilbur did the whole election thing (something that becomes increasingly unlikely each time a new streamer canonizes their stream chat as something that is decidedly not a country's population), but there's no canonical establishment for any of that. I don't think there is any hidden population of nameless background people in the DSMP lore. The lore makes far more sense without it, even with all the "political" drama. It would explain how people keep forming and abandoning and destroying new countries every other week and just.. getting away with it, and how Dream is able to spend so much time obsessing over one child in exile if he really has a country he's supposed to be the shadowmaster of, and how the whole clusterfuck of the Quackity Karl Sapnap marriage is even possible.

In a world like that, it's plausible for Techno's anarchy to be defensible to him, and to the other members of the Syndicate. However, in Valley of Serenity's world, his anarchy view makes absolutely zero sense, given how government is basically a natural result of humans settlings down to farm in large groups together. Most of DSMP's people can decide to just quit and wander off to live alone for the rest of their lives, no problem, but in a world like VoS or the real world? They are very fucked and so stay in large groups, which then, as history shows, results in some authority being assigned to a group of people to administrate things once the group becomes large enough... and boom. Government, and the start of civilization.

The only way for Techno in Valley of Serenity's universe to plausibly believe in the government stuff, especially after all those talks he had with Wilbur about L'Manberg, would be for me to write him as a completely idiot who's utterly unaware of how governments actually work.

If there's one thing I hate it's writing Techno as an idiot. The same Techno who dominated MCM and Skyblock and prepared for weeks for battle against L'Manberg and managed to successfully build a hidden piston door concealing wither skulls and had the foresight to write a will with "instructions" for Phil because he knew the prison was likely a trap and who has enough battle strategy to defeat Dream and also know not to trust him and thought up contingency plans to escape the Butcher army with the totems and who regularly makes the most intelligent, witty, sarcastic and well-timed remarks with dialogue - Techno is not an idiot. He is far, far from it. In the DSMP universe his anarchy ideals would be defended. In VoS'? Absolutely not. And if Techno has any amount of sense at all in this universe, which he does, he knows it too. I made a choice when I wrote this fic's world the way I did, and I'm am committed to seeing the choice through. Part of the reason why I did it? It was because I wanted to explore the way events like L'Manberg and Pogtopia would have affected the characters in their beliefs and trauma in a realistic setting of war and rebellion and political battles, and DSMP's world was just not a good conduit for that. Places like Sanctuary and arcs like Tubbo's struggles back in L'Manberg wouldn't be able to exist if I didn't go down this route, note to mention how wrong it felt to me to write Wilbur's presidency heavily affecting him when the people he's presiding over is just his friends. Everything would have felt cheaper, faker, more simulated if it had been in a world with Minecraft and DSMP rules. I knew this would require some reinterpretation of certain characters' motivations, but it was worth it to me to give their recovery a sense of weight and realism I felt the DSMP world wouldn't have been able to deliver. (I'm not making any point on how realistic or "heavy" DSMP does its trauma - livestreaming is a vastly different medium than writing and some points here would need to be translated differently when applied to livestream, just as a good book doesn't always make a good movie).

Hence, combined with points 1 and 2, the differing characterization between canon Techno and here.

It's important to note that Techno, Phil, Tommy, and Wilbur are a family unit here in a way that's been completely disproven in canon. They have a backstory that ties them together. This has also definitely influenced Techno's priorities and nudged him towards the path of conscious realization about his anarchy thing here, though it's not a point because it doesn't factor too much into the relevant mentality of Techno's character in terms of how much he believes in the anarchy thing.

So yeah, I hope this clears up some stuff for you! Or that you understand at least why I made the decision with Techno's character.

there were definitely typos in this reply. no im not going back to reread and fix them.

#dsmp vos #vos analysis #?#im not even sure what tags i used for this sort of thing

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autumnstwilight · 5 years

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Dawn of the Future (Ardyn)- Initial Thoughts

Okay, so I got my copy of the Dawn of the Future novel today and I managed to get through Ardyn’s section (up to about page 100). I might write a better summary later but here are some thoughts (spoilers under read more):

-Okay so it basically is the same story as the Prologue anime and Episode itself (with a couple of differences I’ll get to in a minute), but more fleshed out and explained. -Somnus in particular has a better characterization, with an argument between him and Ardyn being included, and he actually makes some reasonable points. -That being, the Starscourge is spreading way, way faster than Ardyn can heal it and Ardyn is refusing to acknowledge that reality, refusing to say anything other than idealistic words about the infected, including the actual daemons that are attacking people, just being “sick” and “innocents” and that “even saving one more person” is worth it. -Somnus believes that what Ardyn is doing is essentially choosing who lives and dies, ignoring the reality of what happened to the many people who succumbed to the Scourge while he was off healing that “even one more person”. He thinks that someone who was chosen and blessed like Ardyn doesn’t think of the unchosen. He also thinks that Ardyn’s refusal to see things that he doesn’t want to is... not a good trait for a king to have. -(He’s still a dick who is motivated by jealousy and and sends soldiers after Ardyn, deceives and kills Aera, then erases Ardyn from history, but now he’s a nuanced dick.) -Ardyn muses that his gift from the Gods is a body that can absorb the Scourge and withstand much higher levels of infection than a regular person, but that he has no way of getting rid of the Scourge he’s absorbed and it’s gradually taking a toll. It takes until after he’s chained up in Angelgard to admit to himself that he would have eventually become a mindless daemon if he’d kept doing it. -There’s also a bit where he’s comforting himself in Angelgard by imagining Aera and wondering what would have happened if they’d run away together, then realizes it’s been hundreds of years and he’s immortal and he would have watched her die by now anyway. (FEELS). -He’s entirely aware that “Aera” and “Somnus” are creations of his own mind, and is thus utterly furious that Somnus keeps popping into his head no matter how hard he tries not to think about him. Also he realizes that everything horrible thing “Somnus” says is something that his own brain came up with. -He doesn’t seem to need to eat, etc, so the main torture of Angelgard is the insanity-inducing boredom (which is bad, but less horrific than most ppl’s headcanons, I think). The narration states at one point that there are no windows, which is interesting because I thought someone posted Ansel screencaps showing that there was one. -He’s just so done with everything when Verstael breaks him out. Also so confused. After seven months, he knows what the intercom is but is still uncomfortable with boxes speaking to him. Doesn’t like modern clothes. Apparently he focuses on the bread because it’s the only thing on the table that looks like “food” to him (but he doesn’t actually need or want to eat). -He finds the experiments and questions annoying and even thinks at one point that at least in Angelgard no one was bothering him. (if anyone finds that tweet where Ardyn’s reaction to meeting Verstael is “put me back” congratulate them for being right). -Though he has a lot of suppressed rage and hatred, he keeps telling himself there’s no point in revenge since Somnus is long dead. He does actually resent Lucis but thinks it’s none of Verstael’s goddamn business, basically. -He learns the Astral language from Ifrit’s memories (which is why he can understand Ifrit’s dialogue after the fight). He also gets further, hazier memories from the Crystal, which acts as a conduit for the sleeping gods to observe the world. Through this, he is able to see Aera’s vision of him as Chosen King. -He knows the Lucian soldiers are not literally Somnus, but he can’t stop seeing and hearing them as Somnus and flies into a blind rage. Through a combination of seeing the real prophecy, Verstael egging him on, and coming to see all Lucians as Somnus’ blood, Somnus’ children, he finally snaps and goes for revenge. -The attack on Insomnia doesn’t have anything particularly notable compared to the in-game version, but it does make it explicit that he was disguised the whole time. Also he knows his way around the city and recognizes important people (eg. Regis) from the memories of soldiers he’s eaten. No mention of hats in the book :C -Even Ardyn is not sure exactly what happened, but the book seems to imply the Gods chose him, but the Crystal, not having a mind of its own, reflexively hurled him away because of the Scourge in his body. -Then again given Bahamut’s speech at the end, it could be argued that the Gods “chose him as king” precisely because they knew that would happen- they needed a resentful Accursed to become the embodiment of the Starscourge and fight the Chosen King. -Which brings me to the biggest [RECORD SCRATCH] moment for me... in the book, during the scene with Bahamut, it’s revealed that Ardyn isn’t immortal because of the Scourge. He’s immortal because when he touched the Crystal it absorbed his soul into the 対のなす世界... “the beyond”, “the other side”... a realm connected to Eos by the Crystal that cannot be entered in physical form. Anyway, it’s the place where Noctis goes at the end of the game to annihilate Ardyn’s soul, which has apparently been there since he touched the Crystal 2,000 years ago. What. What. -(that seems like an unnecessary complication of the lore here and I’m not sure what it achieves but I’ll try to reserve final judgement until I read the rest of the book). -Also everything during the conversation with Bahamut is effectively an illusion created by Bahamut, which he uses to cause Ardyn more physical pain than it’s actually possible to feel (while fake!Aera stabs him). Bahamut is definitely being set up as a villain here. -(I forget since I only played Episode Ardyn once, but did he say he was going to kill the Gods in that? Cause he says it here, after saying he’s going to kill Noctis etc.) -Anyway, then we have a recap of the timeline between then and the final battle, up to the door of the throne room opening and Ardyn saying, “I’m afraid you’re out of luck,” only to find that it isn’t Noctis entering the room at all, but Lunafreya. (Anyway, for Ardyn’s story I’ll say I really enjoyed the fleshing out of Somnus, and Ardyn’s introspection and thoughts/elaboration about the gods, starscourge, etc. The fight in Insomnia dragged a bit, and I’m not very pleased with a definitely-evil Bahamut because of the implications that has for the original ending... but the idea of Luna coming back to life and marching into the WoR throne room is pretty badass)

#ffxv #ffxv dotf #dotf spoilers #dawn of the future spoilers #dawn of the future #episode ardyn spoilers

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0moni · 4 years

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from Fred Moten’s In The Break the following is something I typed up when confronted with the question of what exactly Fred Moten means by ‘improvisation of Enlightenment’. Hopefully someone gains some insight from it or is able to give their own insights in response: By the ‘Enlightenment’ Moten refers to the discursive / intellectual / epistemological / philosophical project / tradition that rose to prominence and secured its epistemic predominance during the 17th century to the 19th century onwards. We might then go on to posit, following Sylvia Wynter and by extension Foucault, that the discursive constitution and empirical institution of the dynamics of the colonizer/colonized relation on the islands of the Caribbean and the mainland of the Americas were coextensive with the aforementioned discursive-epistemological projects of the Enlightenment and the Renaissance. This history or line of continuity is by no means linear, certainly not as linear as some acolytes of decolonial theory may presuppose, but this provisional account of its provenance and development more or less broadly charts its contours. We might then go onto say that the Enlightenment takes as it’s axioms or presuppositions / foundational principles the following: (paraphrasing Denise Ferreira da Silva) the unity of the self-determined subject (the transparent I) assured by the faculties of reason and the categories of the understanding and Man’s uniquely suited capacity to directly intervene into the orders and organization of Nature through those aforementioned powers of Reason. Now this definition is by no means comprehensive and the means by which they got there (to Reason, that is) is by no means homogenous or reducible to what we’ve laid out here. It’s just a rough sketch of the Enlightenment to which Moten refers. When Moten speaks of ‘improvisation’, he takes as a point of departure that mode of artistic / intellectual practice that can be said to be the chief organizational principle of not only jazz but black aesthetic, cultural, and intellectual production at large: Improvisation. By way of Jacques Derrida, Cecil Taylor, Ralph Ellison, Sigmund Freud, and many, many others, over the course of his book In The Break he elaborated what one might tempted to call a ‘theory’ of improvisational practice, although such a ‘theory’ cannot and should not be said to belong to him or to anybody in particular, and in that indeterminacy it thereby belongs to both nobody and everybody, and describes that which we’re always already involved in or doingImprovisation entails the dissolution between the professedly clear cut distinctions between product and process, reading and distinction, playing and preparation: ‘the preparation is the playing, the trace of another organization; it starts like and away from a reading and ends like and beyond transcription but is neither homepage to indeterminacy nor objectifying rendering nor reduction to a narrow sense of “writing”’. In a later discussion on Shakespeare, Moten, discussing a Stephen Booth essay on Shakespeare, talks about how Shakespeare’s greatness derives from the fact that he exceeds calculation, and this insight, for the purpose of my current exposition, is the key to Moten’s further musings on the nature of language and the incommensurability (that is, the lack of necessary correspondence between) word and image: what makes Shakespeare’s sonnets great is not reducible to the component parts of the sonnet nor its reaggregation, that is, our reading of it. ‘The truth of the poem, it’s fidelity to its object, is revealed to us in our experience of the poem...for the myriad of effects contained in a given sonnet, it’s multiple facets, when added, collected in literary analysis, never add up to the sonnet itself.’ Its more than simply saying that the whole is the sum of its parts, the idea of the whole is undermined that it is not merely the sum of this parts, yet despite this when we experience the sonnet we take the experience as (an icon of) the whole. Derrida’s assertion that ‘Everything is in Shakespeare’ is then supplemented by Moten’s corollary that ‘Shakespeare is improvisation’: ‘Shakespeare is ensemble, ensemble referring net of the generative—divides, dividing, and abundant—totality out of which (Shakespeare or post—Shakespearean) subjectivity appears’. And so finally we arrive at what the ‘improvisation of Enlightenment’ means. We must view Moten as situated at this discursive and epistemological nexus where Derrida’s critique of the metaphysics of presence and valorization of writing, the structural linguistic Saussurean orientation vis a vis language as differential structure, the psychoanalytic onto-existential drama between the Subject and the prison house of language (that is, the incommensurability or irretrievability of the two), and the Wittgensteinian inexpressibility of language without extralinguistic effects converge. The ‘novelty’ of the black radical intellectual, cultural, and artistic tradition derives from this improvisatory thrust, this radical (dis-)orientation: ‘what occurs in the new black music it the sixties...is the emergence of an art and thinking in which emotion and structure, preparation and spontaneity, individual and collectivity can no longer be understood in opposition to each other. Rather the art itself resists any interpretation in which these elements are opposed, resists and designation, even those of artists themselves, that depends on such oppositions’. Improvisation, according to Moten, is where (following Derrida) the ‘naive’ and ‘idiomatic’ converge. To improvise is to ‘come unprepared, unarmed; but you don’t come with nothing. You’ve got to bring something that adorns you even if it doesn’t arm you. Just a very small phrase, the noise of a phrase if it is one, just the spirit of some phrasing, the soft racket of a small accompaniment.’ Derrida, in an interview Moten cites and thinks about/through/with, vies for an ‘idiomatic’ writing that always eludes his capture, ‘idiomatic’ meaning a ‘property you cannot appropriate, something that marks you without belonging to you’. Not a ‘style’ of writing but ‘an intersection of singularities, of manners of living, voices, writing, of what you carry with you, what you can never leave behind’. In a later disavowal of improvisation by Derrida in another interview where he’s discussing psychoanalysis, Moten asserts that this disavowal ‘bears the trace, and even the hope, of improvisation’. Derrida is doomed to err from the ‘well formed question’ as he hears ‘the call of the sound of Algeria’, sees the trajectory after the question of the detour and hopes for a synthesis (a conclusion) that ‘mutes the improvisational quality’ immanent to his philosophical tradition. Derrida, and by extension the one who ‘writes’ and philosophy at large, is always already forced back to that which is its unconscious, that is, improvisation. Put another way: ‘This unconscious, or more precisely, this thing of darkness that philosophy has seemed incapable of acknowledging as its own, is improvisation.’ And ‘what one receives as a result of indirect interminable returning to what one already do had is a language of feeling’ that is, as Cecil Taylor demonstrates, a ‘personal feeling’ that is always politico-historical in character. Cecil Taylor insists on improvising because that improvisation is an expression of a feeling, his singularity, that cannot be counterposed arbitrarily to the facilities of cognition nor Reason because Cecil Taylor’s playing is never without epistemological grounding, and furthermore, that feeling is always already engendered or catalyzed by political-historical circumstances. And so this is not just a question of juxtaposing representational models between two ostensibly discreet intellectual / philosophical traditions (e.g the black radical tradition vs western philosophical tradition). Remember, Moten locates improvisation as philosophy’s unconscious, which renders any notion of origin, temporal succession, linear causality, and telos inoperative. And so hopefully we’ve sketched out some elaboration of what an ‘improvisation of Enlightenment’ might consist of or look like or entail. In concrete terms, it might begin with an apprehension of the conceptual or intellectual inventory of the western philosophical tradition, but it doesn’t stop there: it also consists of a derridean ‘overturning’, that is, the ‘reading’ practice(s) that has come to characterize or constitute that which is colloquially referred to as ‘deconstruction’. But we see that Moten’s method is not reducible to deconstruction: while not historically materialist in form / content (that’s not the aim or subject of this particular essay), we also see that Moten’s method is not exactly incompatible with concrete historical analysis: remember, Cecil Taylor’s artistic practice, his performance, his improvisation, functions as political-historical response; His practice is analogous, in this way, to this deconstructive practice of ‘reading against the grain’. It is, again, following Derrida, a practice of trace, but it is also profoundly sedimented in the organizational principles and procedures constitutive of the black radical tradition. In locating improvisation as philosophy’s unconscious, Moten situates himself in an avowedly black radical intellectual tradition that takes as its point of departure the question of essence and ground, or more specifically, the ‘essence’ of the Negro (following Nahum Chandler, and by extension, Du Bois, Fanon and Wynter). In a word: the problem of the Negro as a problem for thought, Blackness as Western Philosophy’s perennially unthought.

#fred moten #jacques derrida #cecil taylor #in the break #afropessimism #sylvia wynter #philosophy #deconstruction #shakespeare #ralph ellison #nahum dimitri chandler #w.e.b du bois #saidiya hartman #franz fanon #michel foucault #wittgenstein #hortense spillers #enlightenment

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tender-history · 5 years

Text

Fic Plotting 101: How I Start from an Idea.

Hullo, hi, welcome! It’s Plotting 101 with Dee: Part One!

Before we get started, here’s why I made this post:

1) I get a lot of CCs asking how to approach plotting, pacing and especially story flow, and I wanted to link them all to something useful,

2) I see a lot of people wanting to write plot but unsure how to approach it because it can be overwhelming,

3) Google Searching ‘how to plot’ can be EXTREMELY scary.

Let’s take Number 3 first. If you’re going to Google ‘how to plot’, you’re going to end up with advice on everything ranging from ‘don’t plot’ to six sheet spreadsheets with fifty columns each that wants you to put down everything from your character’s eye color to what exactly they think of instant noodles. You’ll end up with diagrams, beat sheets, templates, storyboards, and find guides that range from six-step plotting techniques to fifty-steps. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t follow that method - sometimes, if you’re a person who likes character design and questionnaires a lot, you’ll love that method. But I’m not like that, and a lot of writers I know aren’t like that either. There’s nothing I hate more than some spreadsheet asking me my character’s weight and height. And if you go down that road, chances are that you’ll just go down the rabbit hole of intricately designing your characters and settings for AGES instead of actually writing anything at all.

So - if not through spreadsheets or beat-sheets, how DO you plot?

If you ask me, the best plotting method is to do WHAT WORKS FOR YOU.

How do you find what works for you? You try things. I tried many different ways of plotting before I decided what worked for me. So this is going to be less a guide on how to plot and more an explanation of the ways I plot, with the hope that maybe you can find something in here to help you.

> For me, step ONE is the IDEA.

This is your big shiny nugget. Your driving force. This is EXTREMELY important, because no one idea is equal to another. Some ideas are better, because they can help you do something unique, something only you can do, which makes you stand out. For the sake of demonstrating this whole thing, let’s take The Tender History of Tides. Tender History lived on my Ideas folder in my Notes app for months before I began writing it. This was my one-line quick jot-down: ‘what if I wrote non-royalty historical fantasy set in Joseon Korea?’

Done before? Yeah. Can be done in a unique way? Heck yeah.

Your idea is very very important because it’s the axis on which you’ll pivot your entire plot. It’ll grow and develop and change if you just give it some thought.

So, plotting suggestion #1 right here: Keep an Ideas folder. You WILL forget your idea, however shiny it is. Keeping it all in one place helps in more than one way: 1) You know it won’t disappear from your mind, 2) Sometimes ideas can overlap, come together, and turn into a whole new story.

For Tender History, the historical fantasy set in Joseon Korea idea very, very quickly merged with another idea I’d had: taegi dark-fic with sea-monster Tae and monster-hunter Yoongi. They were disparate thoughts, things I thought of at different times, things I then put together to create something more unique than what they would have been individually.

I often generate ideas this way. I’ll consult my Ideas folder for thoughts I’ve had in the past, then see if they can be combined with something else to make a better shiny.

Few examples:

1) vhope magic shop au + but what if the whole thing is set in a game arcade?

2) taegi vampire au + but what if this was set in the fashion world?

3) vmin library au + but what if they went to a magical school?

Combination is one way of idea generation. Other ways of idea generation that I sometimes use:

> Use images. Go on Pinterest, check out some aesthetics, let your imagination run wild.

> Use online prompters. There are so many prompt generators floating around! For Fantasy, I use Seventh Sanctum sometimes (they have hundreds of different sort of prompt generators, and some are really good if you’re stuck on banal things like naming, or a quick character design). For fan fiction, there are prompt bots on Twitter. You can even google writing prompts, there are several websites that offer one per day, which you can then use to kick start your imagination.

> Now you have your idea. Step TWO, for me, is developing the idea.

This is the step where you can really stand out in the crowd when it comes to plotting. It’s great having a unique idea, but this is the part where you flesh it out.

Here’s how I do that:

> Scribble down a skeleton of what you think the story will be: In my case, for this Taegi fic, the skeleton looked something like this:

taegi, yoongi is a detective, tae is a supernatural being of some sort, setting is joseon korea, time period is (???), wintry, monsters and murders, dark, atmospheric, there’s a romance and it’s both soft and dangerous, side: noble seokjin, scholar namjoon, doctor jimin (?). they’re in a village and there are these murders and everyone is keeping secrets.

This, as you see, is a ramble. It’s just whatever’s in my head, being committed to paper. Now, plotting is WORK. Putting what’s up there - that ramble, that mess of ideas - into a functioning, well-paced, structured, organized plot requires you to put work into it. It’s not easy. But it’s a lot of fun. And when it starts coming together, you really feel very good about your writing and your story!

So, moving on to the actual work now:

> Write a 250 word pitch of the story. Organize your ramble into something coherent, meaningful and easy to absorb. Imagine that this is exactly like the back blurb on a book. The back blurb on a book is meant to entice you to read it. IF it’s enticing enough for you to read, then you can imagine that it might be enticing to a reader. But first - you have to make it enticing for YOU. As the writer, YOU have to feel like, ok, this is gonna be a killer story if I tackle it.

The objective of this pitch is two-fold:

1) You have to be able to tell three things from it: the idea, the characters, and the main conflict.

2) A complete STRANGER - i.e., someone who has no idea about your story - should be able to look at this pitch and tell what exactly the story is about.

I can’t stress the importance of this step. Often times, it’s not until you force yourself to explain your plot in 250 words that you find possible issues with it.

Here’s how I explained Tender History in 250 words or less:

“In late 1700s Joseon Korea, a string of strange murders sends Inspector Kim Seokjin to a frozen northern province. Accompanying him is Min Yoongi, once a scholar of the supernatural, now an indentured laborer until a debt for his crimes against the palace can be paid. Quickly taking on eccentric artist Kim Taehyung as his assistant, Yoongi sets out to find the monster that’s terrorizing the land. But there’s more to both the icy lakes and the people here. More to Taehyung and his unflinching ease at drawing scenes of death. Yoongi just needs to figure out what.”

Note a couple of things here.

A) You as the writer knows who the important characters are, because they are named.

B) You know the setting: 1700s, Joseon Korea, icy, winter.

C) You know the characterization and how they play into this world: inspector Seokjin, indentured worker Yoongi, artist Taehyung.

D) You know the conflict: murders, monsters, secrets.

E) You ALSO, if you look deeply enough, know the inner character conflict - Yoongi has debts, he has no free will until he pays them.

If I show this to you, a stranger, you should ALSO be able to glean these basic details from this 250 word pitch.

It’s not easy. It just looks easy. I spent hours putting this down in a way that was completely right: precise, simple, yet very explanatory. This pitch will force you to confront what is the story, its actual plot and actual characters, and what is only set dressing. You can’t ramble about it anymore for hours. You can’t have a bunch of disconnected ideas anymore. You HAVE to fit it into something concise, something easily absorbed - not just by you, but by a reader who can’t see into your mind.

You will also know, by putting this down, if the characters aren’t developed enough inside your head. Because why would anyone go to a wintry frozen land to catch a monster? You can’t answer that unless you know, by forcing your thoughts into coherency, that oh, Yoongi has no real free-will here.

> Step THREE, marry external and internal conflict.

Or this is step 1.5, actually. You cannot plot a story without both external and internal conflict. Or, you can, but then you won’t touch your readers as much as you would want to.

What do I mean by this?

Your external conflict is something that exists outside of your characters - your regular villain, say. This is your Darth Vader, your Voldemort, your Capitol.

Your internal conflict is what your character feels. This is HARDER. In Hunger Games, Katniss ponders and combats her own ruthlessness. In Harry Potter, Harry’s desire to fit into the world and live a normal life continuously contrasts with his own fame and the symbol of hope he becomes.

In Tender History, my external conflict is very fancy: murder, monsters, scary villages, etc. Internal conflict is a lot less so: Yoongi in this fic continuously has to wrestle with feelings of guilt and unfairness, with wanting to do good but feeling too burned by the system. If you’ve read Murmuration, the external conflict is the Scarab, but the internal conflict is their own ambition, their guilt over what they had to do to survive, their (terrifying) loyalty to each other.

Internal conflict is where you find your character voice. If I’d set Tender History Yoongi in a celebrated position at his job, he’d be a much different character. His voice would be much different. He has power! He has resources! Versus this Yoongi, who has nothing, and hence has to trust the people he’s allowed to work with to tell him the truth.

Think of it like peeling the layers:

1) The Idea,

2) Develop the Idea,

3) Fill in the External Conflict,

4) Fill in the Internal Conflict.

I have a few major rules I follow at this point of plotting. They’re like this:

1) Are these the right characters for my story? - This means I do a round of thinking about whether these people are the perfect vehicle to tell this story I want to tell. Great, I want to tell a story about wintry Joseon Korea, and monster-fighting. But. Is indentured-worker Yoongi the best person to carry this? What if I make him a village leader instead? What if he’s a runaway prince? What if he’s the monster? Depending on what you want your story to be, you have to think of your character to fit the telling. In Romance of Old Clothes, I chose Tae POV for the whole thing because I wanted to illustrate his reading of people vs. other people’s reading of him. Taehyung’s internal conflict in that fic was that he lies to himself extensively. He’s got this idea of who he is, which is untrue, which is then broken down in a climactic moment. He’s my perfect character to tell that story, because of his obliviousness. Similarly, in Tender History, Yoongi’s the perfect character to tell this story, because of who he is in society, his internal troubles, and his monster-hunting experience.

2)What are some details I would add to this world? - I have a basic idea of the conflict, the world, and the characters now. This is where I take out a chart or a notebook and get to work. I do this like a mindmap: I jot down anything I can think of - say, okay, Joseon Korea: food, art, paintings, caste system, civil examinations, scholars, winter, roads, Confucianism, shrines, religion, music, monsters, gender roles. Then I begin detailing it. ‘Food’ for example: royals eat different food from commoners eat different food from untouchable castes or peasants. Summer food is different from spring food is different from winter food. When I read about food for this fic, I read about the ‘barley gap’ or the gap between barley and rice cultivation during winter. People historically starved during this time. If my story is set in winter, this is an important detail.

Let’s take something more contemporary. I’m writing about a vintage clothes store. Details I would need - clothes, brands, size of the shop, layout of the shop, how do they procure clothes, how do they test authenticity, what are their customers like, who do they interact with, where is their shop in the city, what does being in that locality mean, what seasons are busy for them.

A mindmap is just a page full of words, questions, things you know, things you don’t know. Filling it up is the next major step.

3) What is character development going to be? - This is very important. Okay, you have an external and internal conflict. Now, start of the story being point A, and end being point B, what exactly is A and B for my character? What do I want them to become? In Romance of Old Clothes, Taehyung at Point A is lying to himself about his own nature. By Point B, he’s able to identify that he needs to let people in, open up more. In Wonder Woman, Diana at the beginning of the story is rather naive, believing that if only she could destroy the God of War, the whole war will end. By the end, she understands and admits that things are not that black and white - that people sometimes fight wars because they want to, not due to some external influence.

You have to know this to continue.

Step 4, in how I plot, is to put down a starting scene, a few story beats, and the rough idea of an ending.

But I’ll get into that - and more, including pacing - in Series 2 of this series of posts! Please let me know here or on twitter if these are helpful, or if I’m just rambling too much.

Since I am now struggling a lot to balance writing with work, and if you want to help me keep on writing posts like this, please consider donating to my ko-fi.

I also made a post on how I world-build, the tools and templates I use for the same: it’s over here!

https://tender-history.tumblr.com/post/185910085044/on-research-worldbuilding-and-culture

#writing #world-building #bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #mine #.research #.resources

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bbq-hawks-wings · 5 years

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Deku!

I know it’s been a while, but this ask was in response to a post I put out asking others to give me characters from HeroAca other than Hawks to stretch my character analysis skills to see what theories, predictions, or just interesting observations I find. Because this is outside the realm of my usual character subjects and my style may not be well known in this tag - I ramble and am long-winded, hence the cut to not be obnoxious to scroll past. As a manga reader I won’t add any information past the anime’s run so far if you’re curious and want to hear what I have to say.

Deku’s an interesting character to look at in the series because compared to the way we find out about literally every other character, we outright know what he’s thinking or what he’s doing or how he’s feeling, so any development we see from him we pretty much see it coming from a mile away. He’s an open book.

In contrast, not many fans were able to see how Aoyama may have been struggling with feelings of inadequacy over his abilities - particularly in the Sports Festival Arc; and this became obvious with the license exam in season 3, but the point goes that while many fans saw it coming, there were those who weren’t able to read between the lines and saw him as a two-dimensional joke character meant to fill up the class roster up to that point.

We don’t really have that level of mystery or uncertainty with Deku. As the main viewpoint into the series and the world Horikoshi is building, we’re basically experiencing everything that’s happening vicariously through Deku. Yet, it’s not like there’s no room for theories, specularization, or characterization with his character. I’ve already said I’m avoiding spoilers so theories and most speculation are out of the question as I can only vaguely hint that there’s some potentially neat thematic parallels beginning to be explored in part through him, but that’s about as many of the beans I can spill without dumping out the whole thing.

I had some neat stuff to talk about before I actually sat down and started writing this and realized so much of it was spoiler-y; but at least in way of my opinions on Deku, I haven’t actively rooted for the main anime protagonist like this in a while and his likeability is off the charts. That said, he’s not a stellar role model just yet, mainly due to his hero complex. We’ll see some of the nuance of this subject explored in the next season, but by and large Deku’s drive to save people can use some level-headed reigning in before he acts. There are many times where his action is completely appropriate and justified - almost always when there’s someone right in front of him that needs saving; and let me make it perfectly clear that the unyielding drive to help someone in distress is a positive quality through and through; but when he goes out of his way to break the rules and disregards the repercussions in order to save someone I’m kind of surprised he hasn’t gotten in much bigger trouble so far what with his history of it at this point. That’s all to say that he’s a loose canon in the series so far and needs more experience before he’s real top hero material.

However, I don’t think this lone wolf mentality is what Horikoshi is trying to glorify or endorse through the series. My guess is that the series as a whole is philosophically leaning towards the Good Samaritan principle. (I said I wasn’t theorizing, but I guess I’m a liar now.)

If you aren’t familiar with the story of the Good Samaritan, it’s a parable in the Bible Jesus told about doing the right thing in helping others, no matter who you or the other person is - even if under normal circumstances the person you’re helping would despise you. This story is so iconic that there’s a type of law named after it - The Good Samaritan Law. (And if you’re unfamiliar with it you should read it and the other parables in the Bible, they’re not just moral tales but might get you good points on an English/Literature essay if you reference them well.)

It differs from place to place and not all countries have them, but the principle is if you think someone is in immediate danger and you attempt to save them they can’t turn around and sue you for “wrongdoing.” For example, if you see a baby or an animal locked in a car on a hot day and you smash the windows to pull them out and get them cooled down, whoever owns that car can’t sue you for smashing their windows and damaging their car. There’s a lot more nuance and fine print, but that’s the basic idea. In many cases where this law exists it actually legally obligates the bystander to help. The hope is that these laws help reduce the Bystander Effect (really neat if you look it up, but also scary and very humbling) and encourage people to help those in imminent danger without fear of negative repercussions.

Something I didn’t quite realize until now is that with the advent of a superhuman society, the Good Samaritan Principle is largely done away with all the way across the globe. Even if people are in active, life-threatening danger, you can’t use your powers to step in unless you have a hero license or you risk getting in serious legal trouble. To an extent this is understandable in a precarious and delicate situation - just look at the precision called for in the second half of the Provisional License Exam; but it occurred to me that not only are everyday people discouraged from getting directly involved they’re actively penalized if they do! If a hero was already on the case or shows up while you stall for time it makes sense to not insert yourself and complicate matters - you wouldn’t get in the middle of a hostage negotiation, for instance. Yet, that’s not what we see reflected in the series. There’s an over-saturation of heroes to the general public so that there’s almost always a hero close by to swoop in which rarely ever leaves an opening for someone else to step in while a hero is on their way; and the problem with this is that it leads to an over-dependence on heroes to intervene in other’s lives instead of taking the responsibility into one’s own hands as a citizen of the community.

This has repercussions that are directly echoed across the series, even (and especially) up to date. If you’re not a hero, you’re supposed to step back and let a “professional” handle it. If there’s truly no “Good Samaritan” exception in the world of HeroAca then that really gives Deku a solid ideal to embody and work towards in his world. He outright inspired All Might at the beginning of the series because he demonstrated the Good Samaritan Principle when rescuing Bakugo.

“It doesn’t matter that he hates me and bullies me and steps on my dreams. It doesn’t matter that I’m not a hero and can’t even stand up for myself. It doesn’t even matter that I don’t have any kind of superpower to use in this situation. He’s in danger and if I don’t do something now he’ll die! I can’t let that happen, and I won’t let that happen!”

That’s literally the parable in a nutshell. He even gets reprimanded for it after the fact, but he certainly doesn’t apologize for it. Deku is the personification of the “hero’s heart.” It’s recklessly helping others when they need help, and the moment he recognizes that someone is lashing out in pain (a la Todoroki or Shinsou or even Bakugo) he instantly recognizes that even though they may be against him in the moment and that threat needs to be reigned in, they’re still as much in need of saving as someone falling from a building. While All Might deterred crime through threat of force, Deku is on track to deter them before they even get to that place at all, and his character is making a case of normalizing this mentality instead of drawing black and white lines in the sand and chasing the symptoms of the disease rather than the cause. (I’m literally having a big brain moment typing this, “All Might-y power” in one generation vs “Deku” as someone who might normally be worthless but only needs a nudge to become “Dekiru/ I-can-do-it!”)

It’s a theme resonating through the series about how heroism and villainy both have roots in the heart, and while there are threats that have to be dealt with in the immediate and physical, there’s still an emotional and psychological component that has not only gone unaddressed for too long but is directly responsible for the surge of villains in society. You can already see it in so many of the League of Villains’ members (and some of the more troubled heroes) - if someone had been there to reach out their hand and metaphorically save them when they personally needed it in their lives (“It’s okay, I’m here.”) then they probably never would have become bad guys in the first place.

When all’s said and done, I think that’s the point of Deku’s character in the story, why he’s the main character, and why he’s going to be the greatest hero in the world.

~~~~~

Wow, that was more satisfying to write than I thought it would be. And to you, Momo and Uraraka anon, I have heard your question and I am trying to get it out soon. I just have… Much work to do.

After that, though, I hope to open HC requests again soon!

#deku bnha #deku mha #she writes #bnha meta #mha meta #bnha deku #mha deku #midoriya izuku #izuku midoriya #spoiler free

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saemi-the-writer · 4 years

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You said you had 2 versions of Carew in your headcanons: the innocent one and the creep, which one will appear in Trois coups?

Haha, that’s some quick-thinking anon^^! Thank you for your ask! Indeed, the Carew incident is going to be important in Trois coups, similarly to canon, what will happen with Carew will trigger a lot of drama!

Seems like people are getting curious about this character since @thatsmyhyde enlightened so openly how creepy the canon encounter was!

Quick link to the post mentioning the two versions of Carew before I begin.

Well, one of the reason I keep the two versions is because I am quite attached to my first theory, which was kind!Carew. I was in highschool when I first read The Strange Case, and a bit like the Picture of Dorian Gray, there were some elements that went over my head because I was too young and unaware of some things to actually notice them or understand. However, I was really intrigued by the murder of Carew; I was really confused why Hyde/Jekyll would just go and kill him in such a brutal way since neither the scene nor the aftermath of the murder describe him as a cold-blooded murderer.So I wondered: what set him off? What had been said? Carew was described as acting very polite, so what happened?

I came to the conclusion that Carew had some urgent matter and wanted to confide an important document to Utterson, and it really could not wait. He had to deliver it personnally, even if it was late at night. However, he went through a road he was not so familiar with, and in the darkness, he got lost. Then he spotted Hyde and politely asked him for direction, or if he knew Utterson, and was a bit insistent because it was an important matter and he could not just go and knock at some random door.

But the, I grew up, re-read it and found it a bit odd: Hyde is not described as someone “gentlemen” or “good people” want to interact with, they are repulsed by his mere appearance. And Carew did not recoil, showed no signs of discomfort or wanting to run from him. So I started wondering: is this man really “good”? We never got an interaction between Hyde and a “disrespectable” person, so does everyone sees Hyde as malformed, scary or anything negative? Or is it only people who are deeply good and truly respectable that are repulsed by him, and “bad people” are -on the contrary- drawn to him like a moth to a flame??

Then, I found @thatsmyhyde post on his interpreation of Carew as a sexual predator and I saw the light! (XD) Indeed, if you refer strictly to canon, Carew being a creep does make more sense!Plus, I realized how tragic it made the whole situation for Hyde and Jekyll: being wanted for the murder of someone who would have abused them if Hyde had not been able to defend himself, and unable to talk about it to anyone! Who would believe Hyde? Even if Jekyll had told Utterson, the latter might have thought Jekyll was too blind/trying to defend his protégé!

I decided to keep my first version though, because I like the idea of writing some non-related to Trois coups -but with the same characterization- alternative or some Hyde/Jekyll POV stories during and after the incident.The two would be a different level/kind of tragic, and it would be interesting to work with both, to see how affected Jekyll/Hyde -and even other characters- can be affected depending on why Carew was killed! I must precise that my Hyde, while rowdy and violent, is not a natural killer.

And since I’m a big fan of @thatsmyhyde concept of Utterson saving Hyde and taking him to a safe residence, I was wondering how different things would go with my characterisation of Hyde and Utterson, and how would the latter cope with knowing that the man he loved had killed an innocent man?

This got quite long, but I hope you are satisfied with the answer^^.

#The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde #sir danvers carew #edward hyde #the carew murder #dr jekyll and mr hyde #J&H headcanons #my headcanons #answers #headcanons

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