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kamenstranger · 6 months

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With this new season of Castlevania alleged creepy sex weirdo Warren Ellis was out as head writer, and Clive Bradley was in. Bradley is known primarily as a crime and horror writer, whose works I wasn't too familiar with before this. That, in addition to the events of season 4, left me with basically no expectations for what direction the show would go.

That said, The first episode perfectly sets the stage for the rest of the season. It is efficient without feeling rushed or over-stuffed. It is concise while covering a lot of ground.

We open on Richter being sent away to France for his protection, but in the process, his mother, Julia (Sophie Skelton), is killed by a powerful vampire, Olrox (Zahn McClarnon). Nine years later, in 1792, we find Richter (Edward Bluemel) with this adoptive sister, Maria Renard (Pixie Davies). Maria is a witch and a young revolutionary fanning the flames among the peasants, making her and her listeners targets for the literal bloodsucking cronies of the upper class. Although they pose no threat to our two heroes.

Richter and Maria right off the bat have a great sibling dynamic. While it would be a stretch to call this young cocky Richter level-headed, he has a comparatively cool demeanor to Maria's short fuse. Maria herself is a lot of fun. She is foul-mouthed and rebellious in a "burn the bourgeois" sort of way, which puts her at odds with institutions such as the church.

Still, the two meet with the local Abbott, Emmanuel (Richard Dormer), seeing as one of the attacking vampires mentioned a Vampire Messiah. Although the church is of no help.

After that excursion, there's a slight respite in Richter's domestic life, focusing on Maria and her mother, Tera (Nastassja Kinski). We see that Richter suffers from PTSD nightmares over his mother's death. He's awakened by an attack on the homestead by night creatures, something neither Richter, nor the rest of the household, has experience or knowledge of, resulting in a pretty brutal beatdown.

He's saved by the timely intervention of Annette (Thuso Mbedu) a former plantation slave who can manipulate rocks and metals; and Edouard (Sydney James Harcourt) a revolutionary opera singer. Both were looking for Richter in hopes of stopping this vampire messiah. Elsewhere, Olrox arrives in France to meet this messiah.

As I said, this episode covers a lot of ground. The back story for Richter, supporting characters and their relationships, major events being set up, more supporting characters to explore, and a lot of small character moments. That last one I think is the most important because there is a lot of that sprinkled throughout, along with some quick dialogue that explains small details. For example, when Richter is a child there's a quick line about how Tera isn't a vampire hunter. Richter is talented and has some training, but we see his limitations with the Night Creatures. There's some other stuff too, like Richter not having much thought on the current affairs of a classist system, but finding Maria and her mother good people with good intentions, so he stands by them. He has a good heart, but he perhaps doesn't think much about the world at large the same way Maria does.

Another small but appreciated bit is Annette's spear turning into dust and reforming as plates. You immediately pick up on her metal manipulation ability, and it's nice that Maria isn't the only one with unique magic (that being the Sì Xiàng.) Not to mention this also sets the ground for a much larger world of magic, like say, Richter's Item Crash abilities from the games. And yes, that is a key component because Richter lost his ability to do any magic after his mother's death.

In fact, episode 2 expands on that very thing while also explaining that Annette's powers came from her father's side, leading all the way back to her culture's God of war, Ogun (They don't specify which African Religion.) An inheritance of magic would become a running motif throughout this season. But That's just a small part of this episode.

The real meat of the second episode is the arrival of the Messiah's Emissary, Drolta Tzuentes (Elarica Johnson) to France, and Annette revealing the vampire messiah's name; Erzsebet Bathory. This triggers memories in Maria's mother that she had long kept secret. Tera was originally from Russia, part of a group of speakers helping a small village until they were besieged by vampires. Tera lost her sister to vampirism in the process and was forced to kill her. She fled until she reached France and was taken in by Emmanuel, hoping to leave that nightmare behind.

With their best lead being an Island chateau with nightly parties, Richter, Maria, Annette, and Edouard, skulk out the place in hopes of finding out where the night creatures are coming from. While spying on the partygoers, Annette spots her former slaver, Vaublanc, and nearly loses control of herself. Regardless, Vaublanc still takes notice and things quickly go south. The four flee an onslaught of monsters, but only three make it out. Edouard is overwhelmed and slain in the chaos. His body is brought to the Abbey along with other corpses to be made into night creatures in the cellar.

Unlike the slow methodical smith-like process of the 1400s, the demon forging process has become industrialized. Something I didn't care for much (at first) is that Edouard is turned into a night creature where it's basically just him but with monster appendages. So his midriff and face are perfectly normal. Everyone else turns into these barely recognizable monsters, but you know his features stay intact for future drama. We'll get back to that.

Episode 3 focuses on the group comforting Annette's loss, and her in turn opening up to the group about her past. Seeing her mother killed by Vaublanc, the awakening of her powers, her escape at age 16, and of course her meeting with Edouard. Edouard hid Annette from Vaublanc and brought her to a rebel militia in the mountains where she was trained to use her powers by a Seer, Cécile, and eventually aids in the uprising of Saint-Domingue. Although Vaublanc would of course escape. Annette is obviously very different from her game counterpart and for the better in my book. She's a proactive player here and the backstory given also connects both narratively and thematically to the setting and themes. It's also nice that Edouard gets some backstory laid out because we never really got a chance to explore him before his death. While this is still more in the service of Annette, it's at least something.

A smaller part of the episode is a homoerotic confrontation between Olrox and the Abbott's right hand, Mizrak (Aaron Neil) Olrox seemingly throwing a wrench into their plans for his own gain, planting a seed in the warrior's mind that Erzsebet will cast them aside when the opportunity arrives. Maria also introduces Annette to her revolutionary group, but are attacked by night creatures, Edouard among their ranks. One little twist is that Edouard maintains a degree of consciousness. He turns away from Annette, hides his face, and ends up attacking another creature that goes after her. In that regard, I consider his appearance to reflect that the process of the forge was perhaps flawed in some manner. But we have seen creatures display a degree of independence before, and memories of their past life as with FlysEyes. Whatever the cause, he's carried off with the remaining night creatures, Maria noting that they were heading in the direction of the Abbey.

Episode 4 follows up with Maria and Annette being hell-bent on assaulting the Abbey for answers, although Richter objects to the impulsive nature since they're unsure. Tera instead offers a more subtle approach with an alternate entrance to the cellar. In fact, she knows a little bit too much about the Abbey, something Richter takes notice of.

Olrox is also busy getting answers. From an afterglow chat with Mizrak to secretly investigating the demon forge and its workings. He even chats with Edouard while the Abbot is busy in a meeting with Drolta on their uneasy alliance. Trepidatious though it may be, both see a benefit. Emmanuel wants to purge the revolution for questioning and outright attacking the church. The Vampires want to maintain a ruling class and need a human to forge demons for an army. It's all about the status quo.

Drolta also has some good character bits here. I wouldn't call her particularly deep as a villain, she never becomes as interesting as Olrox. But she is a fun villain. Which, hey, that's more than I can say for her Bloodlines counterpart who was just a witch. You can also tell someone had a lot of fun designing all of Drolta's different looks, she has more outfit changes than anyone else and her aesthetic is fucking great.

All that said, Drolta and Emmanuel cross paths with our heroes, and a big chunk of the episode is a massive fight in the cellar. If you've read my previous Castlevania reviews you know I dislike regurgitating what's on screen followed by "done well" But this is a highlight of the season. We're at the midway point, the threads are starting to come together, and we're ramping things up with an amazing battle showcasing everyone's abilities brilliantly. In particular, we see how dangerous Drolta is. All this with a beautiful vocal performance by Edouard.

Amongst all this action are some story morsels; Tera is horrified at Emmanuel for one- although he does stop Drolta from going after Maria. Put a pin in that. There's also a truly heart-wrenching moment between Annette and Edouard where he begins to remember who she is. And if that wasn't enough, just when we're showing how fucking badass Richter can be with him finally handling night creatures, Olrox makes his presence known. And the utter looks of terror in Richter's eyes upon hearing his voice is so palatable.

The facial expressions this season are truly wonderful. Richter tells everyone to get the fuck out and runs for it, not stopping. And what I love is right after everyone has escaped, Olrox acts completely natural toward Drolta, saying he just got off the boat and the messiah is expecting him.

Ep 5 is split into three parts. One follows a frustrated Annette as she heads out and eventually tails Drolta's carriage until she meets up with Olrox. This segment is largely exposition while also trying to further convince Olrox of their cause. There's a lot of back and forth about rising and falling empires, something both Olrox and Drolta have seen their share of since their Aztec and Egypt days, respectively. It boils down to Drolta considering the natural order of things to be of rulers and subjects. The messiah can supposedly offer a permanent empire for Vampires to rule. After that meeting, and by complete happenstance, Annette ends up running into Vaublanc in the same graveyard. She uses her ability in possibly the most unique manner to trap the slaver in a cage of crosses. And for really no good goddamn reason at all, he gloats about Erzsebet Báthory's plans and her power. How she drank the blood of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet. Considering she's a solar goddess, all I'm picturing is the time Dracula bit Superman and blew up.

That somehow didn't happen but instead supposedly gave her the ability to block the sun. This ranting goes on until the sun rises and burns the lesser vampire to a crisp. Meanwhile, Emmanuel shows up at Tera's house. It's a similar case of back and forth, how Emmanuel is clearly engaging in horrible sacrilegious acts but he views it as an end justifies the means sorta way. I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here, but this is basically Emmanuel's character for the rest of the show. Becoming increasingly unhinged, but with a touch of self-awareness. His character has this uneasy combination of the deeper he goes, the worse he feels…but he can't stop. You wonder if it will ever be too much. Honestly, it makes for a more interesting human monster compared to the flat 200% evil priests of the previous Castlevania. Oh, it also gets revealed that he's Maria's father. Okay, that's not shocking from an audience perspective, it's painfully obvious what with Tera's comments, history, and the fact that there are only two adult blonds in the entire show. But from the Character's POV, it causes a rift between Maria and her mother.

Richter oddly has the least to do in this episode, yet he is perhaps the most interesting. After bolting and having a breakdown, he wanders aimlessly, gets a bandana from some revolutionaries smitten with his looks, and ultimately winds up at a bar. He's too poor for a drink, although an old man pays for a meal. And this is when things take a surprising turn. A vampire bursts into the bar looking for the old man. Richter reaches for the whip, but the old man has already taken it and quickly slays the vampire with ease.

Playing up an old fan theory, this is in fact Richter's Grandfather, Juste (Iain Glen). This one got me. The moment I saw a long white-haired man I figured it could be, but I was still pleasantly surprised they went there.

Episode 6 is another dense one, with Erzsabet making her horrifying arrival to France. Edouard meanwhile begins talking to fellow night creatures, one of whom, Jacques, recalls attending Maria's meetings. Speaking of, Maria visits Emmanuel in hopes of swaying the Abbott away from his path. I guess you could say she's presenting the choice of what sort of father he wants to be. I admit, it's slightly jarring that Maria would extend this offer in the first place given her utter disdain prior. I guess she wants to give the benefit of the doubt, but she's not exactly had a longing for a father figure as part of her character. Sure, she thought her father was dead until now, but it feels more like something thrown in so Drolta can secretly take notice and set up events for the finale. In fairness, Maria is impulsive, so I guess in that regard it still works. But… yeah I'm still iffy on it as a plot point.

Thankfully, the main core of this episode is much better by being centered on Richter and Juste. We learn why there was such dissonance with his daughter, and why he's kept away from Richter, how he became so broken. Juste once was the most powerful magic user of the Belmonts, the whip was almost secondary to him. But his wife Lydie and his best friend Maxim were both killed by a vampire. After that, he lost his magical touch. He lost hope. These tales of woe are cut short when elite vampire warriors sent by Drolta assault the duo, chaining Juste and separating Richter from the whip. Richter is restrained and prepared for execution. But something happens to Richter. A burning desire to not only live, but to protect the people he loves. That fire inside him grows and becomes literal.

What follows is less of a fight and more pure elegant destruction. Richter burning, freezing, and stabbing all the night fiends. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention this is backed with the one game cover for this season; Divine Bloodlines. Which is just exquisite. Beyond that, I just love this bit of character. Richter's strength, and consequentially what makes him contrast with Trevor and more directly Juste, is how he channels his trauma into something positive.

However, do not let the above distract from the fact that Olrox gets his own spotlight finally delving into his motivations. After all, he was once part of a great kingdom until the Spanish arrived. Does he see Erzsabet as just another god king which fools have pledged themselves to? Perhaps. We also get some insight into the lover Julia killed. A Mohican man who fought in the Revolutionary War, only to have his home stolen by those same people. The only thing that changed was who the colonizers were. But lest you think that makes Olrox too sympathetic, the only reason he lost his love is because he was turned into a vampire. Mizrak actually confronts him on this, asking if a choice was even granted. Of course, Olrox was too selfish for that.

Ep 7. Our penultimate episode, unsurprisingly, is mostly set up for the finale. Although a great deal is simply low-key character interactions, like the fallout between Maria with her mother over Emmanuel.

Richter also returns to the trio and has a nice quiet scene with just him and Annette, Richter apologizing for abandoning them and promising to help rescue Edouard. It's really the only scene the two have leaning into there being something between them, Annette admitting she was more worried about him than she wanted. It's rather cute and I love the subtle blush on Annette. But there's no time to kindle that spark. The four must prepare a full assault on the Abbey.

Less low-key is Erzsabet's plans being fully laid out. Olrox is nothing more than a servant to pay Erzabet tribute by conquering the Americas on her behalf. This submission is not something he takes kindly to, but he has little choice. Speaking of submission, Emmanuel is expected to do just that for the new messiah. A sacrifice of something dear to him; Maria.

As our heroes begin planning their attack on the Abbey, Maria voices concern over what could happen to Emmanuel. But as Tera bluntly puts it: he made his choice. Before they can continue, they're interrupted by an unlikely source, Olrox, who drops off Emmanuel's infernal tome. While this leads to a whole excursion, the gist is really quite simple; Olrox can't afford to get too involved with this subversion, Erzsabet is far more powerful than any know, and the Demon Forge can only be handled by humans. Whether or not they trust Olrox is irrelevant, this is their best bet at dealing a blow before Erzsabet can build an army.

That night, as Tera reads over the tome, Maria sneaks out and heads for the Abbey, hoping to give her father one last chance to have a change of heart. But it's to no avail, his mind is thoroughly poisoned and Maria is captured, breaking the last straw for Mizrak.

The following day, Tera figures out the solution to dealing with the forge, but it won't be easy. Destruction isn't possible, the only solution is sending it back where it came from; Hell. Annette will be needed to quite literally push the entire machine through a portal. Just as their plan is formulated, Mizrak arrives, warning them that Emmanuel is preparing to kill Maria. As they hurry to the church, the sun is suddenly eclipsed.

Erzsabet, true to the rumors, can call forth an eternal night.

This brings us to the season finale in episode 8. The four arrive in time to save Maria from the crazed holy man. Annette heads down to take care of the forge and also free Edouard, although he prefers staying with the night creatures, two of whom have regained their sentience and even protect Annette.

As Tera reads incantations to summon the portal to hell, Drolta and a small squad of vampires arrive at the church for Richter, Maria, and Mizrak to take care of. One thing for sure is that Drolta is a force to be reckoned with. Their previous fight was during the day, but now she's at full strength. Maria is giving it her all, and Richter is no slouch with his new magic. He even gets a few good licks in with his ice whip.

But things change when Erzsabet arrives. She has since transmogrified into a Sekhmet lioness appearance, and she is immensely powerful. None of the attacks launched at her can even make contact. Not Maria's guardians, not the whip, not the elemental magics. She casts everyone aside and heads right for Maria, which causes Tera to lose focus and close the portal. See, Emmanuel misunderstood. Bathory wasn't looking for a blood sacrifice, she was looking for someone to turn. Tera intervenes and begs to be taken instead of Maria. After all, she's a speaker and would be a powerful minion to have. Bathory accepts. I want to take a moment and say Tera's fate hits surprisingly hard. She's not the deepest character, we don't spend a great deal of time on her. But she's prominent enough to leave an impact. A flawed individual with the best of intentions and ultimately a good heart. I do want to give mention to Nastassja Kinski's performance, which is her first voice role. She gives Tera this soft-spoken kindly forlorn inflection that perfectly matches her complicated past. And to see that character turned and suddenly become this ravenous beast, feasting like a combination of starving infant and strung-out addict… it's beautifully sad. This is a show full of contrasts and Tera made a great contrast to Emmanuel, more so than Maria, I think. I don't believe Tera was under any illusions like Emmanuel. Her sacrifice isn't going to spare Maria, but it buys everyone enough time. Conversely, Emmanuel would give up anyone else with the assumption it would be worth it, even as it broke his heart. And make no mistake, his heart is breaking during this moment.

With the situation at its worst, the four make their escape as Drolta and her minions give chase. Drolta closes in on Richter, lunging after him.

Only to be met by a familiar sword. Understandably an elite vampire being taken out followed by a guy claiming to be the son of Dracula causes the rest of the vampires to flee. Alucard turns his attention towards Richter, hoping that he isn't too late. And that is one hell of a season finale. Goddamn.

If it wasn't clear by now. I thoroughly enjoyed this season. There are a few issues I have, mostly small and nitpicky stuff. But things are fairly damn solid and I don't have much major to complain about. One thing I do see criticized is some of the dialogue being "Cringy." It's not as bad as I had seen made out, but there are undeniably some dorky-ass wince-inducing lines. Some try too hard to be inspiring or funny. One example would be Richter going on a speech as his powers awaken and saying he was "gonna have a witty line… but fuck it." It just doesn't come off as earnest. I get the feeling that it's trying to evoke Ellis' form of vulgarity and irreverent humor- which itself sometimes fell face first. But there's nothing in here even close to "Eat shit and Die. Yes, fuck you." or "See? God Hates me." Nocturne thankfully avoids trying to be too much like its predecessor and is better for it. Although its own quirks occasionally stick out, it's nothing that ruins the moment. Probably the worst it gets was Annette's speech to the revolutionaries which isn't even a paragraph and about as inspirational as Marshmallow fluff is nutritious. Maria's overly enthusiastic reaction only highlights the lame awkwardness. Fred Hamton this was not. I suppose on a related note, it is worth talking about the themes of the series. The most notable of all these is how it interprets Vampires among the aristocracy, literally feeding on the lower classes. Not an original take by any means, but one that works and is great for the setting. Perhaps the most criticism I can levy towards Nocturne when it dips into the various class systems at play is how little it actually gets to delve into them, despite how constant they are. It does raise some interesting ideas and points, such as the uprising in Saint-Domingue, or how Olrox's Mohican lover was turned against by the Americans. It presents this idea that there are those that will always see themselves above others and the French Revolutionaries aren't really going to give a shit once all is said and done. A slave is beneath a peasant, an Indian beneath a colonist, a night creature beneath a human, a human beneath a vampire, and so forth. But as prevalent as that is, I don't think the series ever takes full advantage of those elements. The parallels are just that, parallels. Something repeated but never expanded upon in a meaningful way. Look, I'm in a post-Black Sun world. I realize nothing is going to compete on the totally radical scale by comparison. Still, while Nocturne is far from toothless, it doesn't have as much bite as it could. I will give credit to Olrox. I think he's the most interesting of the bunch in how these systems affect his compass. Driven away from his homeland by Conquistadors, his lover was driven from his by revolutionaries. Olrox himself is now part of a system of power- and yet he is still subjugated as nothing more than muscle to a more powerful figure within that system… who wants him to colonize.

As for everyone else… Man, this is a weird situation. For Richter, I don't think there's much that hasn't already been covered. I like his character and what they do with him. It's a fairly typical young hero journey, one that just got started in a lot of respects. He overcame is trauma, got his power back, and was met with something far stronger. He has quite a ways to go and more to learn. I think it's safe to say that applies to Maria, too. Perhaps even more so because she lacks a character-focused episode that doesn't center on her family. She was fine overall, but I'm more looking forward to the next season and the fallout of losing her mother to a fate worse than death, how that affects her, the relationships around her, and perhaps channeling it into becoming more powerful.

Curiously, Maria is down an animal buddy throughout this entire season. I'm not counting the doves/owls because I'm fairly certain they were considered redundant with huáng. But Shenlong is noticeably absent and I can only assume that's going to be Maria's big upgrade in the next season. I hope the same is true for Richter. As much as I appreciate seeing them get clever with the ice and fire abilities, I want to see things I associate with him specifically. The closest we get is the flame whip and a pseudo grand cross. Have him throw a bible and the page cut like razors or stick like Fulu talismans, 1,000 blades, hydro storm. Make that a part of him getting stronger, going beyond the traditional magic, and perhaps tie that in with some character stuff with Annette as their relationship blossoms. (As an aside. I can't help but think Tera being turned into a vampire is perfect setup to make the whip into a proper vampire killer ala Lament of Innocence.)

To give more credit where it's due, I also appreciate what's done with Annette by incorporating wider cultural elements into the setting, in addition to still being something that's a major part of her background. I'm hoping for more stuff with Annette next season because I feel aside from her origin tale she's easily overshadowed by Richter's journey feeling more full. Plus it's perfect opportunity to set up a family dynamic with the three.

Getting back to the magical angle, I also love that Erzsabet takes on a second form in relation to a God. That's very much in tune with how in the games Dracula could assume a form like Pazuzu. Likewise, Olrox can turn into a giant serpent, which is a nice twist on his lizard form from SOTN while giving some Quetzalcoatl-like qualities related to his own background. Hmm, that's another Sun God like Sekhmet…

But a lot of what I'm talking about here is setting and background stuff around characterization. And also shit I'm expecting/wanting next season because I've already covered most of the characters. Well, that, and as efficient as the story is, it does leave me wanting more. Which, yes, is a great thing. I enjoy these characters and want to spend more time with them. I feel it's at least appropriate enough to leave off where we do. But there is still a nagging part of me that hates that we have horribly short seasons with this franchise. As wonderful as the writing is at balancing the narrative and characters for a streamlined experience, it's still in the single digits. We only have 8 roughly 25 minute episodes and I struggle to say more than a few unique blurbs about any one character because of that short run. The plus side is they use every bit of that run time well, it's remarkable how much is done in that time. The downside is "barely scratched the surface" is a phrase I can apply to most of the cast. Richter is truthfully the only one with a proper fulfilling arc that still leaves room for growth. Annette sorta gets a spirit journey about using the full strength of her ancestors and forgiving Richter, but that's kinda it. Maria has some character stuff with her family, but it's not a journey in the same way as the others, despite the personal nature. We're going to have to wait until next season before deep-diving on Maria and Annette. To say nothing of Mizrak who barely has a speaking role. The more I think about it, the more I wish this was 3-5 episodes longer just to sink those claws in more. It almost feels like a show that is the best case scenario for when you cut out all the fat. As it stands, I'm still appreciative of what was done. 8 episodes were ordered and they did the best with those restrictions, that much I believe is certain. Maybe it's best to focus on what is rather than what could be, and what we got is still damn good.

Also damn good is the animation this season. So this is going to be a pretty sort section because I'm limited to 30 photos and I've got 4 other reviews talking about the animation in Castlevania. One thing I have to point out is that Netflix and many others are calling this an anime, despite the fact that outside Japan the term typically refers to animation which is at the very least produced by a Japanese studio. We won't get into the semantics of how that applies if the actual animating is outsourced to South Korea (Which Studio DR Movie is) Or the nuances of how styles have intermingled for decades. Honestly, I don't really care all that much. I'm just pointing it out because I find it hilarious that a show partly handled by a studio based in Austin, TX gets slapped with the Anime label because, and let's be real here, they're too insecure to call it a cartoon or animation outright. That's the only reason. Amazon does the same damn thing with Invincible, which is just embarrassing in my eyes. If the HBO Spawn was made today they'd be trying to do the same shit with that… especially since that was partially handled by Studio Madhouse… who outsources to DR Movie.

Anyway, we've got yet another change up this season with animation moving from Tiger Animation in Season 4 to the renowned DR Movie. Chances are you've seen their work somewhere before, as they're pretty big in both the Japanese anime and Western animation scene. They've done everything from the in-between shots on JJBA Diamond is Unbreakable, to additional work on the 2010 Young Justice series.

Of course, that's not to say they handled all of this. After all, Powerhouse Animation has been at this since the first season in 2017, and are damn impressive in their own right. If you've seen the Sonic Frontiers and Superstars animations, that was them.

While the gap between this and Season 4 isn't massive, the uptick is still very noticeable. Fights in particular stand out more with a strong sense of choreography to the battles. There's a good use of the environment with impactful kinetic energy. Shading and lighting are probably the best it's been, and at no point was there a glaring instance of what could be perceived as "corner-cutting." It's frankly gorgeous and perhaps the best so far.

What I have a harder time commenting on is the music, and man, I always feel trepidatious talking about Music in the animated series. Comparisons to the games are inevitable, and those have some of the most rockin' iconic beats of any game series. The show typically only has one game track represented per season, if that. Yet I also feel that's disingenuous to Trevor Morris and (this season) Trey Toy, who do great work. Yet often times it is very atmospheric and more subtle, which I have a hard time conveying that, aside from asking if you like Castlevania IV's approach. What I can say, aside from the obvious choice of Bloonelines, is that Lamento della Ninfa is the standout track this season. It's used a couple of times, mostly in the Abbey, and it is a truly beautiful piece that complements the battles yet is still a great track divorced from the context of the scene at play. I also feel bad saying that because it, like bloodlines, is a preexisting track. In this case a Claudio Monteverdi composition.

Since we're on the subject of vocals, I might as well talk about the voice acting. It's good. I mean what the fuck do you expect? We're on a sequel to a 4 season show, of course, they're going to get that right. I will say it's surprising that not a lot of the cast have voice-acting credits prior to this. Some have one or two, for others this is their first VA role, and they all do a damn fine job. Less surprising is that Zahn McClarnon is one of the stand-out performance to me. He is the most experienced of anyone in the cast, and ironically it's the role showing the least variety. But I would say it's the most complicated because Olrox has a very subdued, practically emotionless delivery. To impart that sense of control over oneself without being stereotypically monotone is remarkably difficult for a lot of performers. I can hear Olrox and immediately pick up he's weary from all the shit he's seen. Every now and then you'll get something dry and cheeky, or a cold threatening aura peeking through the unnatural calm.

The other standout is Sydney James Harcourt. As far as I'm aware, this is his first VA role. He is primarily a musical performer on and off Broadway. And yes, that means when Edouard sings, it's still Harcourt. So that amazing rendition of Lamento della Ninfa is him.

Final Thoughts.

Castlevania Nocturne quelled most of my fears about the series continuing on, and in some areas showed itself to be far more nuanced and interesting than its fore bearer. There are still critiques I have with the show- it seems an absurdly short season is a reoccurring issue with this franchise. But I can't deny that few shows can do so much in so little. I've seen 43 episode series do less with their characters, so make of that what you will. Whatever issues I have with the episode number, I'd rather them set up and wait than try to tackle too much in a season that clearly doesn't have the time. My only real concern going forward is Netflix's abysmal practices fucking the show over. Ya know, is it going to take a third season to get some characters a satisfactory amount of development?

Regardless, I can say that Nocturne's first season feels refined, and frankly more mature. It never goes above the means given to it, and despite some stumbles, it's not overly ambitious or clunky. Nocturne knows exactly what it wants and gets to it in the shortest amount of time. If season 2 can continue that trend remains to be seen. I'm at least confident the series is in good hands.

As always, thanks for reading, and reblogs are always welcome. You can find me on Bluesky @kamenstranger.bsky.social I have a Ko-fi if you'd like to throw a dollar at me. Happy Halloween!

#review #castlevania #netflix #castlevania nocturne #akumajou dracula

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whatdostarsdo · 2 years

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Ok I’m gonna talk about Star Trek discovery for a minute cuz I have things to say now that I’ve finished season 4. The TLDR is that I think the show really has improved during seasons 3 and 4 and there were many things i enjoyed, including the level of diversity and their treatment of mental health in particular, but the earlier seasons had a lot of issues that made the show difficult to enjoy. Because of the length of time it has taken for disco to find its stride in comparison to many of the other new treks, it has ended up my least favorite despite having many aspects that i do genuinely enjoy.

Things I really love about this show, and Seasons 3 and 4 in particular:

1. It is the single most diverse Star Trek show since ds9 and goes out of its way to do justice to its characters

-There are SO many people of color on this show and I love it so much. First black woman as captain, black woman as the president of united earth, black romances, characters of different nationalities and backgrounds on the bridge and throughout the show! Also we have Georgiou, the only good part of the early seasons.

-Queer characters! And so many of them! Disco has, in canon: two gay men, a lesbian, a trans guy, and a non-binary character (and the trans guy and nb are in a relationship!!! And are teenagers!) This is not even mentioning the many side characters in queer relationships, and queer coded characters. No other trek Ever has had this many queer characters at a time and this was in fact the first time I ever saw a non-binary character on tv.

-The aliens! Apart from DS9 and some of the cartoons, Disco has taken the most chances with its alien characters, and has many of them on the bridge at a given time. While many of them are still human-lite, disco has certainly done a lot with makeup, costuming, and CGI that is frankly very impressive.

2. Realistic and frankly groundbreaking treatment of physical and mental health issues for trek

-I actually really enjoy the treatment of mental health as serious and the recognition of the impact that the events of the show have on the crew. They execute it all in a way that makes sense and also I haven’t seen in many live action shows in this much depth, and certainly not in trek

-In specific they all have so much PTSD and that’s recognized and taken seriously??? Like YES recognize the effect your plots have on the crew literally no other trek does this! In old trek you have to employ a lot of suspension of disbelief sometimes to get past the events of one episode not having a profound effect on the characters and in discovery it just... does. And they deal with that. It’s great. They develop the importance of therapy and support systems and that’s actually really new for trek and i appreciate it

-I actually really like how this show lends a lot of its time to focusing on the emotional implications of tragedy and I think it’s something discovery does really well!

-as a sidenote, we also see several characters with mobility aids in a much more realistic way than has been done in trek before, which is a breath of fresh air.

3. There’s actually some pretty good lore in there for old fans -we know now Why Klingons Change Appearance between TOS and TNG -we now have seen Trill (albiet future trill) which is very exciting -All the references to Quarks being a franchise is very fun for any DS9 fan

-They gave us some spock lore which is neat and showed us more of vulcan

Things I do not like about this show:

1. The first two seasons… they were bad

-most trek, especially legacy trek, tends to have a kind of bad first season. This is true basically every other trek excepting ds9 and enterprise (and only because enterprise suffered from 9/11 happening in the middle of the second season). For discovery, this was a big problem, especially because it was the first of the “new trek” series, and therefore was relying a LOT on the hype of old series to get watched.

-the main source of this problem was the fact that it was marketed as a show that would bring with it spock lore. The problem is, apart from delivering Spock lore the show had no clue what it wanted to be, and that shows in the writing of the episodes and the one-note characters as well.

-the second big part of this was the fact that they set it pre-TOS. Because their main audience at that point was old fans, trying to place a new shiny ship so unlike the original enterprise into the era before the enterprise was a relatively poor decision. Nostalgia for the original series prevented discovery’s style from being appreciated so long as it was in that time period

-also, they just straight up kept switching captains and doing that will they/won’t they with Micheal being captain. This was deeply frustrating and for the longest time made the show pretty hard to watch because of the way this was executed.

These problems were luckily resolved with later seasons, and their decision to bring discovery into the future. By separating themselves from the era of TOS they were actually able to write for discovery without that comparison being present, and give us interesting storylines and characters that we now love!

2. major pacing problems through the entire shows run

-this is the only problem that genuinely continues to plague season 4, and is the cause of most of the other problems with the show. It has certainly improved in season 4 compared to other seasons, but it also is still very much an issue.

-short seasons, too many characters, and too many plotlines are the main offenders here. If they had longer seasons, they may be able to deliver on all of their plotlines. If they had less plotlines, they might get by with their shorter seasons. If they had or even focused on less characters, they would not have to focus on so many plotlines. You do not need a C,D,E, and F plot in your episode I promise.

-this leads to issues like the characters on the show not feeling very well developed, such as Grey’s only storyline revolving around his trans-ness after he got de-ghosted and immediately leaving, or them not knowing what to do with Tilly after Micheal got promoted to captain. Too many characters means a lot of one-note characters, and a lot of storylines being rushed. Even the main characters suffer from this because at times it feels like they are having the same problems over and over and not dealing with them at all.

-it also feels to a very dizzying feeling while watching the episodes. Constantly jumping from one storyline to the next doesn’t give a person much time to digest the information they’re being given of any given one. Too many storylines make the episodes very busy, and the more busy the harder it can be to follow and watch.

-also their constant jumping leads to many of the queer characters being blink-or-you’ll-miss-it. So many of those moments happen so fast and with so little relevance to the main plot that they could easily be cut out and no one would notice. This is why I’m so insistent that the show Isn’t A Queer Show- because despite its many queer characters, they are all side characters who aren’t given much concrete screen time or development.

This problem gets my goat because it is a Very Easy Fix: just do less things! More time for character moments or moments of rest would greatly benefit the show, and actually has greatly benefited the show in season 4. Star Trek lends itself well to character driven stories and I’m glad to see disco slowly embracing them, but it still has a ways to go.

3. Some Very Questionable representation decisions

-why did they kill and unkill both of their gay characters in the first few seasons? It felt like a bit of a mean twist on bury your gays that I did not appreciate at all.

-while there are a wealth of characters of color on this show, many of them are at some point criminals or “bad guys”. Even with those characters that they end up turning around into “good guys”, it ends up feeling the same way as unkilling gay characters does. While now in season 4 there may be enough “good” characters of color to excuse one or two “bad”, that was not really the case for most of the shows run, and it still makes my eye twitch. I appreciate writing nuanced characters, but not villainizing characters of color, and discovery has been known to walk that line too much for my liking. I personally stopped watching Disco for a while mid season 2, catching up to season 3 after I heard the news about Adira Tal. I’m really glad now that I did, because the show really found its stride during season 4, but I still consider it my least favorite of the new treks because it still has many problems to work out. It’s getting there though, and I have plenty of hope for that future!

#star trek #star trek discovery #I like the show!#But I do have many Critisisms as well #and i think thats fair #It's doing good stuff!#but it needs work to be a better TV show i think

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idreamtofmanderleyagain · 3 years

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Hot takes about Severus Snape are a wierdly decent glimpse into how a person with progressive values analyses things. Literally every time someone talks about Snape, it’s like this tiny window into how one-dimentionally people actually think.

Recently saw a twitter post that was a fantastic example. Here’s how it goes (paraphrasing):

Person A:“Snape is POC and Queer coded, that’s why you guy’s hate him uwu lol.”

Person B: “Actually I hate him because he was mean and abusive to children under his care uwu but go off I guess lol”

Both of these takes are designed to be dramatic and/or reactionary. They each use partial truths to paint very broad strokes. These are get-em-in-one-hit quips. This is virtue signalling, if you’ll excuse that loaded phrase. Nobody had a substantial conversation, but now everyone who sees their statement knows the high ground they took.

At least a hundred other people chimed in to add their own little quippy hot takes into play, none of which add anything significant, but clearly made everyone feel very highly of themselves.

So many layers of nuance and complex analysis is completely lost in this kind of discussion. On tumblr, you get more of this kind of bullshit, but you don’t have a word count limit, so you guys just spew endless mountains of weak overblown evidence backing up your bullshit arguments, none of which was really about engaging in a real conversation anyway.

Here’s the thing about Snape.

He is a childhood domestic abuse victim. His abuser is a muggle.

He becomes a student at a magical school that takes him away from his abuser and immediately instills in him the idea that being a part of this magical world is a badge of self-worth, empowerment, and provides safety and security - provided that he keeps in line.

There is a war is being waged in that world over his right to exist (he is a half blood).

He is a marginalized person within the context of the narrative, forced to constantly be in the same living space as the children of his own oppressors who are being groomed and recruited into a hate group militia (the pureblood slytherins). They are in turn trying to do the same to him.

He is marginalized person bullied by children who are also part of his oppressor group, but who have “more liberal” leanings and aren’t direct about why he’s being targeted (the mauraders are all purebloods, Sirius, who was the worst offender, was raised in a bigoted household, the same one that produced Bellatrix.).

He had a crush on a girl who is a muggleborn, and therefore she is considered even lesser than him and carries a stigma to those who associate with her. That girl was his only real friend. In his entire life.

For both Snape and Lily, allying themselves to a pureblood clique within their own houses would be a great way of shielding themselves from a measure of the bigotry they were probably facing. There would have been obvious pressure from those cliques to disconnect with one and other.

Every other person who associates with Snape in his adulthood carries some sort of sociopolitical or workplace (or hate cult) baggage with their association. Some of them will physically harm and/or kill him if he steps out of line. He hasn’t at any point had the right environment to heal and adjust from these childhood experiences. Even his relationship with Dumbledore is charged with constant baggage, including the purebloods who almost killed him during their bullying getting a slap on the wrist, the werewolf that almost killed him as a child being placed in an authority position over new children, etc. Dumbledore is canonically manipulative no matter his good qualities, and he has literally been manipulating Snape for years in order to cultivate a necessary asset in the war.

He is a person who is not in the stable mental state necessary to be teaching children, whom has been forced to teach children. While also playing the role of double agent against the hate group militia, the one that will literally torture you for mistakes or backtalk or just for fun. The one that will torture and kill him if he makes one wrong move.

Is the math clicking yet? From all of this, it’s not difficult to see how everything shitty about Snape was cultivated for him by his environment. Snape was not given great options. Snape made amazingly awful choices, and also some amazingly difficult, courageous ones. Snape was ultimately a human who had an extremely bad life, in which his options were incredibly grim and limited.

In fact, pretty much every point people make about how shitty Snape is as a person makes 100% logical sense as something that would emerge from how he was treated. Some if it he’s kind of right about, some of it is the inevitable reality of suffering, and some of it is part of the cycle of abuse and harm.

Even Snape’s emotional obsession with Lily makes logical sense when you have the perspective that he literally has no substantial positive experiences with other human beings that we know of, and he has an extreme, soul destroying guilt complex over her death. Calling him an Incel mysoginist nice guy projects a real-world political ideology and behavior that does not really apply to the context of what happened to him and her.

Even Snape’s specific little acts of cruelty to certain students is a reflection of his own life experiences. He identifies with Neville; more specifically, he identifies his own percieved emotional weaknesses in his childhood in Neville. There’s a very sad reason there why he feels the urge to be so harsh.

Snape very clearly hates himself, in a world where everyone else hates him, too. Imagine that, for a second. Imagine total internal and external hatred, an yearning for just a little bit of true connection. For years. Imagine then also trying to save that world, even if it’s motivated by guilt. Even if nobody ever knows you did it and you expect to die a miserable death alone.

There are more elements here to consider, including the way Rowling described his looks (there may be something in there re: ugliness and swarthy stereotyping). These are just the things that stand out the most prominently to me.

J.K. Rowling is clearly also not reliable as an imparter of moral or sociopolitical philosophies. I don’t feel that her grasp of minority experiences is a solid one, considering how she picks and chooses who is acceptable and who is a threat.

All of that said, this is a logically consistent character arc. Within the context of his narrative, Snape is a marginalized person with severe PTSD and emotional instability issues who has absolutely no room available to him for self-improvement or healing, and never really has. And yes, he’s also mean, and caustic, and verbally abusive to the students. He’s also a completey miserable, lonely person.

There are elements in his character arc that mirror real world experiences quite well. If nothing else, Rowling is enough of an emotional adult to recognise these kinds of things and portray something that feels authentic.

In my opinion, it’s not appropriate to whittle all this down by comparing him directly to the real world experiences of marginalized groups - at least if you are not a part of the group you are comparing him to. There have been many individuals who have compared his arc to their own personal experiences of marginalization, and that is valid. But generally speaking, comparing a white straight dude to people who are not that can often be pretty offensive. This is not a valuable way to discuss either subject.

Also, I believe that while it’s perfectly okay to not like Snape as a character, many of the people who act like Person B are carrying Harry’s childhood POV about Snape in their hearts well into their own adulthood. And if nothing else, Rowling was attempting to say something here about how our perspectives (should) grow and change as we emotionally mature. She doesn’t have to be a good person herself to have expressed something true about the world in this instance, and since this story is a part of our popular culture, people have a right to feel whatever way they do about this story and it’s characters.

The complexity of this particular snapshot of fictionalized marginalization, and what it reveals about the human experience, cannot be reduced down to “he’s an abuser so he’s not worth anyone’s time/you are bad for liking him.”

And to be honest, I think that it reveals a lot about many of us in progressive spaces, particularly those of us who less marginalized but very loud about our values, that we refuse to engage with these complexities in leu of totally condemning him. Particularly because a lot of the elements I listed above are indeed reflected in real world examples of people who have experienced marginalization and thus had to deal with the resulting emotional damage, an mental illness, and behavior troubles, and bad decisions. Our inability to address the full scope of this may be a good reflection of how we are handling the complexity of real world examples.

Real people are not perfect angels in their victimhood. They are just humans who are victims, and we all have the capacity to be cruel and abusive in a world where we have been given cruelty and abuse. This is just a part of existing. If you cannot sympathise with that, or at least grasp it and aknowledge it and respect the people who are emotionally drawn to a character who refects that, then you may be telling on yourself to be honest.

To be honest, this is especially true if you hate Snape but just really, really love the Mauraduers. You have a right to those feelings, but if you are moralizing this and judging others for liking Snape, you’ve confessed to something about how you’ve mentally constructed your personal values in a way I don’t think you’ve fully grasped yet.

I have a hard time imagining a mindset where a story like Snape’s does not move one to empathy and vicarious grief, if I’m honest. I feel like some people really just cannot be bothered to imagine themselves in other people’s shoes, feeling what they feel and living like they live. I struggle to trust the social politics of people who show these kinds of colors, tbh.

But maybe that’s just me.

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alirhi · 3 years

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10 Sebastian roles as boyfriends

Because... I'm bored and I feel like it. 😂 Probably some spoilers for, like... everything? So yeah... That.

Putting it under here for easy scrolling:

10: Chase Collins

Who doesn't love a goofball? In the first half of the movie, Chase is basically perfect. He's sweet, funny, not all caught up in his ego, and actually pays attention to what the girls around him are saying, not just to what he wants to hear. If not for the whole... it was all an act to get close to Caleb and try to steal his magic thing, Chase would actually be a damn good high school boyfriend. He's adorable and would be a fun date, but he's also only 18 so best not to start making long-term plans lol. Also, y'know... the whole psycho revenge/power grab thing.

9 Jack Benjamin

Y'all. Y'all. Words cannot describe how much I love Jack. Pretty sure I've made this clear. As a person/character in general, he's absolutely in my Top 3 - not just of Sebastian's characters, but any character ever. ❤ But as a boyfriend? Boy's got baggage. It's what makes me so protective of him, but seeing as how he's trapped in the closet thanks to his overbearing homophobic family and the insane expectations heaped on him, as the show left him, he can't handle an honest relationship. He's too easily influenced by all the wrong people, poor babe.

8 Chris (Destroyer)

On paper, undercover cop sounds cool and exciting, but even if you ignore the fact that he, y'know, dies... Chris got in too deep and kinda lost the mission, so to speak. Best case scenario, you're his sexy partner and in on it all with him and end up on the lam for the rest of your lives. Worst case, this man lies for a living, so can you even trust him? And... yeah. The whole dead thing. Chris is hot af but getting involved with him is a recipe for disaster.

7 Ben

Min and Hathor have mercy, I love Ben! He's smart, he's snarky, he's caring and loyal... he's an absolute disaster. He's another one who seems allergic to honesty, until his lying and avoiding nearly kill his girlfriend. Not exactly relationship goals lol. Everything before totally was, though! Ben's adorable, and I love how he stayed up all night to protect his girlfriend (from a ghost/demon thing... with a baseball bat. I said he was smart, not perfect, okay? XD points for effort lol)

6 Mickey Henry

I. LOVE. MICKEY. Oml I love Mickey. He's a spazz and - even more so than Ben - an absolute disaster of a human being, but I love him. Pros for dating Mickey Henry: he's fun, he's carefree, he'll cook for you even though he's kinda bad at it lol, he loves his son and wants to be a good dad, he wants his partner to be happy and to love life as much as he does. Cons, and the reason he's not higher on the list: He's a pushover; easily influenced by the toxic people in his life, and it gets him into a lot of trouble. Being easily influenced by toxic dumpster fire of a human being Chloe almost lost him the partial custody of his son that he barely even had. He's an absolute sweetheart, but he's a complete man-child, and dating him would often feel more like raising him.

5 Frank "Suffer Buddy"

Come on! You know he and Mickey had to be back-to-back - they're practically the same character! 😂 Frank is Mickey... slightly more grown up. He's still a disaster, but he's respectful of boundaries, he's caring, he's funny in a dry, witty way that I just adore, and hoo lordy that man is a giver! 🥴🥵 Honestly, if he didn't smoke and didn't ditch Daphne in the middle of a party hours away from everything familiar to her surrounded by strangers to go do drugs, I'd call Frank perfect. He listened, he respected her wishes, he tried to keep some distance between them when he found out she'd gone on a date with his best friend (it failed utterly and brought us to the "damn that man's good with his mouth" portion of the movie lmao but still)... I don't have a whole lot of experience with men who actually give a shit, okay? So Frank is like a goddamn unicorn to me lmao. But that drug thing... That keeps him at the bottom of the Top 5 for me. Sorry, bb

4 Bucky

I can already hear everyone on here raging at me for placing Bucky so low on this list, but hear me out: I love this man. I love all four iterations of this man. Flirty 40s Bucky was a doll (fun date, not commitment material). Post-POW camp 40s Bucky had a fire to him that set me on fire. The Winter Soldier can choke me any damn day. Unf. And TFATWS Bucky... Oh, lady above, 2023 Bucky is a gem! He's sweet, snarky, and broken. He feels utterly, wretchedly alone in the world, and everyone around him, including his only friend, is telling him to "man up" and "make amends" for shit that was never his fault to begin with, rather than helping him come to terms with all that he's suffered and all that he's survived. Bucky needs and deserves love. A relationship with him would be so solid, if he found the right person... But it would take a fuck ton of work. He needs someone strong, patient, and more stubborn than he is to prod him until he finds a better therapist and actually opens up, and to keep him on track because even good therapy comes with homework. He does have to "do the work," Sam was right about that much, but he was way off base with what that "work" is. Bucky needs help and understanding, and he would be an amazing boyfriend... if he found someone with the strength to help him weather his nightmares and flashbacks, and help pull him out of this PTSD pit he's been in since 1943.

3 Chris Beck

Big brains turn me on, okay? 😂This man is an astronaut and a surgeon! Yes, please! Come here, you sexy genius! He's smart, he's funny - pretty sure Sebastian is incapable of playing anyone who's not delightfully snarky lol. He's pragmatic when he needs to be but there's also nothing he wouldn't do or risk for the ones he loves. This man is husband material and I cannot be convinced otherwise! So why isn't he #1? Cuz of the whole... spending years in space, thing. Super cool job and I'd be his biggest fan on the ground, but god damn, I would miss him while he's away!

2 TJ Hammond

Look, I'm gender fluid and he's a little bit bi 😂😂😂 Let me have my fantasy, okay? TJ's definitely got a lot of shit to work through, but love brings out the best in him. Before that fucking closeted shitbag broke his heart and stomped on it for good measure, TJ was clean and sober for months, he was happy, he was playing piano again, he was pulling himself together. Not only would he be an amazing boyfriend, but his partner would get the extra joy of getting to watch their love and devotion to him be the thing that saves this beautiful man's life. It's not healthy overall to tie your self worth and will to live to a relationship, but if he found the right person who would be there for him through all of life's shit and stick it out, I think he'd be okay. Even after his lowest point and without the support of his family, TJ still had a dream and he still chased it. He's not just the sweetest person to ever grace our screens, but he's ambitious and business-savvy, too. Keep him off drugs and watch this man take over the world, I'm telling you!

So why is TJ only #2? Well, besides the fact that he's like 99% gay and I have no bits he'd be interested in lmao, there's also the fact that this guy owns my heart:

1 Will Franklyn

And not just because we get to see him wet and mostly naked lol. Will is fucking perfect. I would die for this man... because he's already shown that he would die for his love. He almost fucking did, and they weren't even together yet! He's smart and very aware, he's a writer so we'd get to bond/geek out over books together, he's not all full of himself (self-deprecating humor ftw!) and he's willing to help a total stranger despite actual mortal peril, just because it's the right thing to do. Fierce, intelligent, sassy, strong-willed, and a flawless moral compass? YESYESYESYESYES! Forget boyfriend - let me MARRY this man! 😍🥰

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ryttu3k · 2 years

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Headcanon A-Z: THIS TIME, ON SASCHA-BALL Z: *holds up microphone to you*

*excessively long powering-up noises*

S - Seeker - How do they go in search of new information? Do they accept ideas on faith or do they need to test out information for themselves?

Um. Aggressively XD I feel they definitely need and want to test everything - they're described as a scholar and a scientist, and I can see them being like, "Okay, what happens if I test THIS variable?" Notebooks full of notes for days nights.

A - Advocate - How do they show their support for others? Are there any causes that they publicly support? Why?

Also very very aggressively an advocate for, "Hey, our elders are going to fuck us up maybe we should get on that." One of the most fervent supporters of Sabbat ideology. I mean, yes, also Sabbat crimes, but it's very much ideological. This is from the V5 Sabbat book and sums up their current views.

C - Caregiver - How do they give/receive care best? Do they care for everyone or just a small number of people? How do they react to someone in need?

Uhhh I feel most people would be a bit concerned about receiving care from Sascha. Haha. For a very, very small and select number of people, they might genuinely try to help them out, but the rest would be like. "Hmm. You appear to be suffering. *takes notes*" Post-Dracon, they might help but probably... complain a lot (as per the Omega chapter of BJD). Only characters like Ilias would get genuine care, I think.

H - Hero - What makes someone a hero in their eyes? Who is their biggest hero in life? Why? Do they consider themselves to be heroic?

Ah. Hm. I figure that given how much they loved and trusted and admired Symeon, and how badly that turned out, they've sworn off heroes :-\ They might see themself as carrying out heroic actions in their involvement with the Sabbat, yeah.

V - Visionary - Do they have a plan for their future? How imaginative or creative are they? Do they have vivid dreams?

Oh this one is fun, Visionary is literally their listed Demeanor. Yeah, for plans, see A, I think! Very very creative... much to the regret of probably a lot of people, oof. As for dreams, *awkward laughter in repressed trauma* I hc that those dreams stopped as soon as the Dracon got, er, enmeshed. Then, when he was extracted, they just started right back up again. Yay, PTSD!

Y - Yes! - Do they believe in luck? What makes them feel lucky/grateful?

I feel they've given up on luck :( Maybe finding Ilias again would make them feel grateful?

K - Know It All - Are they a Know-it-All? Do they actively seek out new knowledge? How do they behave around others who have a great amount of knowledge on a topic?

Absolutely. Give them aaaall the knowledge. Grabby hands. Local expert? Let them pick their brains! Not necessarily literally, I feel they'd be pretty disgusted at the deliberate destruction of knowledge. Just. Give, pls.

O - Organiser - How organised are they? Do they have any unusual organisation systems? What would cause them to be uncharacteristically (dis-)organised?

The Gehenna novel is Trash(tm) but it did have the delightful detail that they stock their libraries in the order they received their books. Works for them but literally no one else. I goddamn love it. I feel if they actually did use a recognisable system it'd be because they're working with someone or want to give someone a clue? Like if they're working with Beckett and feel like not actively trolling him, they might be, "Fiiine, here's an alphabetised section."

#vampire the masquerade #sascha vykos #mx meat crimes

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notcorrect-persona5 · 3 years

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akira for the character ask thing please!

Yes!! I’ve been wanting someone to ask me about Ren or Yu. After typing this though I feel like some of my opinions are kinda controversial 😅

Favorite Thing About Them

This is the question that keeps me from posting these quickly. There are too many things I love about these characters. It’s really hard to pick a favorite thing, so I’ll just talk about one of the many things I love.

Even though we know nothing about his life pre-game and he’s a silent protag, Ren’s still a really unique character while also being a normal, teenage boy. He doesn’t need to be weird or have an intriguing backstory to be interesting. He also feels like he could be a real person. And he’s hilarious.

Least Favorite Thing About Them

He’s mean to Mishima for no reason.

I wish he had more of a backstory. I want to know more about him and his life prior to the game. I think Strikers would have been the best opportunity to give us some more insight on his life, and I was really disappointed when that didn’t happen.

The way some of the fandom sexualizes him is disgusting. He’s a child.

Favorite Line

“I’m not the free labor type.”

brOTP

Ryuji!! They’re friendship is so pure 🥺

OTP

Shumako! I wish they had more fan art, they’re such a cute couple.

nOTP

I understand why people ship Shuake. I do not understand how people can say they’re “basically canon.” They’re not. Also, a lot of Shuake content I see portrays Ren as this super fluffy, sensitive, sweet catboy which is weird and so far from who he is. I think he’s portrayed this way to be a contrast to Akechi. I don’t think you should change a character’s personality just to fit your ship better or to create the ship dynamic that you want. Not all content is like this, but I’ve seen a lot of it. Also, also, Ren caring about his friend’s death doesn’t automatically equal romance. Of course, he was sad that Akechi died. They’re friends. Speaking of, Ren’s dream reality wish wasn’t for Akechi to be alive. People who are currently rejecting dream reality don’t get their wishes. We know this because the wishes of everyone else in the party disappeared when they started rejecting it. We also know that Ren’s wish was to stay in Tokyo forever (which you find out if you accept dream reality). Maruki said he brought Akechi back because he thought it was tragic. He never said Ren wished for it. Even if Ren did wish for it, that wouldn’t automatically equal romance. If my friend died, I would want them to be alive too. I know a lot of Shuake shippers are really defensive of their ship, so if you have the urge to argue with me, please don’t. I don’t have the time or energy to talk in-depth about their relationship.

Random Headcanon

Ren has a light country accent. In the stage play, Ryuji makes fun of the way he says a certain word at the ramen shop. In a manga, a stranger calls him “an idiotic country bumpkin.” The only way that stranger could have known Ren was from the country would be his accent.

Ren’s scared of heights. This is actually implied in the game, but not a lot of people know about it. When he goes to Tokyo Tower with Sumire, two of his responses are “You don’t mind heights?” And “B-But if we fall...” When he goes there with Takemi, he says his ears feel weird and his heart is pounding. She then asks if he’s scared of heights. If you choose to train, Morgana will tell Ren to stand on a chair and one of his dialogue options is, “I’m not good with heights.” He looks miserable on the roller coaster in the animation. At Dometown, Ryuji says he’ll protect Ren on the roller coaster and starts teasing him saying “you better not cry on it.” When asked if he would rather go to Hawaii or LA, Ren can say Leblanc. Ann will then ask if Ren is scared of airplanes.

He is not athletic. Like not in the slightest. Ryuji, Sumire, Takemi, and Kawakami all point this out. In the manga, Ren says he was late due to his “poor physical condition.” Sumire never tells him “good job” after training, she always says “good effort.” In a manga, Yusuke said he wanted to capture suffering then asked Ren to exercise. In Dancing, Ren thinks this while in Makoto’s room, “The weights are labeled 4K...Almost nine pounds. Really!?” While in Akihabara, Ryuji says the exercise machines are really expensive. If the player chooses to say he wants one, Ryuji says even if Ren could afford one, he won’t use it and it’ll just collect dust. Ryuji also tells Ren, “You gotta be more active.” After Takemi says a lot of students have been getting injured due to sports she says, “Well, I guess a kid like you doesn’t have much to worry about that...”

His glasses are real. I know it’s confirmed that his glasses are fake, but I really don’t like that concept. Most people don’t wear glasses, so they won’t help him “blend in.” They’d do the opposite- if they did anything at all. And that “intense gaze” thing doesn’t make much sense either. Have you seen his portraits? His facial expressions hardly change, and he has so much hair you can barely even see his eyes. I also just dislike the “intense gaze” trope in general. I like having a character with glasses who isn’t a nerd, genius, or old. Your eyesight has no impact on your personality, so Ren - who is also the main character btw - needing glasses would be cool.

Since he wears a lot of black and is always with Morgana, he probably has cat hair all over him.

He doesn’t have a big stomach/appetite. He tends to react judgmentally to how much Sumire, Ryuji, and Ann eat. When he was asking around Yongen-Jaya to see if anyone knew Futaba, a man asked if Ren eats a lot, and after you respond the man says “you don’t eat a lot?”

Ren’s a picky eater. Makoto asks Ren if he’s an adventurous eater and his dialogue options are basically no. He says, “yeah, sometimes”, “not really”, and “it depends.” When Jose asks if your tastebuds change as you get older, both of Ren’s responses are no which makes me think he won’t try anything he disliked once, even if it was years ago.

Since he’s from a small town, Ren gets lost a lot. There’s actually a manga where he texts Ann, “I’m lost. Send help.” Ann asks if he’s bad with directions, and he - distressed- says “No...Tokyo just takes a little getting used too...”

Ren’s late pretty often.

Since he’s from a small town, he’s a slower walker than some of the other characters.

He’s terrible with names. He asks for Kamoshida’s name three times, when Kawakami says Niijima wants to speak with you he has the option to ask who that is, the dialogue options for telling Ryuji Mishima’s name, the text bubble never changes from principal and Haru’s fiancé even though the player knows their names, he forgets Arsene’s name in a manga strip, he forgets Eiko’s name, and in Q2 one of his dialogue options is there’s too many names.

Unpopular Opinion

I’ve seen a lot of people complain that Ren didn’t seem to have PTSD after everything that happened in the interrogation room. I’ve also read things like, “There’s no way he doesn’t have PTSD.” That’s not how PTSD works. PTSD doesn’t care what you think “should” or “should not” happen. Traumatic events can trigger PTSD; however, not everyone emerges from trauma with it. Headcanon all you want, but saying it’s wrong that the game didn’t give him PTSD isn’t right.

Song I Associate With Them

Criminal by Brittany Spears

Wildcard by KSHMR

Good Kid from The Lightning Thief the Musical

Make It Up by Sam Tsui (this song also gives me major Percy Jackson vibes)

Still Feel. by Half•Alive

Favorite Picture of Them

I have two!

#asks #not a quote #ren amamiya #akira kurusu #persona 5

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janiedean · 3 years

Note

if you ever wrote that rant about grrm making jon his chosen one deconstruction i'd be very happy to read it 👀

hello anon sorry for the lateness but here we go *deep breath*

sssooo, I had once ranted about it though not mentioning the thing I mentioned in those tags so lemme see if I can find the op and like... cp the main argument and amend it bc it was long, but okay so I found it, original anon asked me: why is Jon considered to be one of the most special characters grrm created? Why is he not the typical hero of fantasy books?, my original answer was here if anyone wants to go there but basically lemme just cp the first part making it shorter and then I'm adding:

first thing, the Typical Post-Tolkien Chosen One With A Shitty Life Before He Finds Out He Is Chosen™ character (I’m saying post-tolkien because every fantasy writer in existence who copies tolkien thinks that lotr went like that and instead it didn’t) usually goes through the following steps: his life sucks up until the beginning of the series, his family generally hates him/her or doesn’t appreciate them or abuses them or anyway doesn’t make their life easier and they’ve never known any different, but *something* never quite worked right and they always knew something was missing in their life, they just didn’t know why. suddenly someone who knows they were Chosen™ shows up and tells them that they’re actually Special because of this this and that and they have a quest to go on to save the world or something. our hero/heroine obviously is finally validated and while their quest is hard and full of hardships and maybe they lose a few friends along the way, finding out that they were Chosen gives their life meaning, they usually find love/friends/everything they didn’t have before until they fulfill the Prophecy™ and live more or less happily ever after, possibly after hooking up with the Person Of Their Dreams with whom they had UST up until the last twenty pages of the book. basically: being Chosen™ in regular fantasy novels is a good thing because suddenly you’re special and all the crap you suffered acquires a new meaning and in the end it made your life better.

jon snow is a complete overhaul of about everything in this sense because

instead of having a family who hates him he has a family who actually mostly loves him, and with ned it’s arguably so much that he risks royal treason by keeping him hidden from his *best friend* - sure, there’s cat and peripherally sansa, but his issues stem from the fact that he feels lesser because he’s a bastard (as far as he knows) and it’s a *class* issue, not a *my family hates me* issue not counting catelyn obv but that's what gives him freudian issues more on that in the emended part later

no one actually knows that he’s Chosen™ - like mel could get there and probably will and someone will put two and two together when his parentage comes out in the open, but he doesn’t have a gandalf or mentor who shows him The Way Towards His Quest

so instead of going from ‘my life sucks but I’m going on a quest which is gonna be a+’ he actively chooses to leave a fairly decent situation (a household he knows, siblings who love him - ned actually hoped he’d become robb’s counselor or right hand man or something from what we can gather) because he feels like he has to prove he’s better than his name and goes to the Crappiest Place In Westeros. like idk if people grasp it, but the wall is basically a prison and at the ripe age of fourteen he decides that it’s totally a good and honorable choice (his only choice actually) to go defend the realm in the freezing cold along with a bunch of criminals/derelicts/rejects of society

at which point he makes friends among said rejects and let’s remember that it’s the point where he actually has to do his first an only privilege when donal noye made him go like hey you were brought up with nobles these ppl are here because they stole bread, and that helps making him more into the person he is rn but like your tyopical fantasy hero who has had a shitty life doesn’t usually have to acknowledge that other people might have had it worse

then he goes on the Quest where he finds his first One True Love, and that’s where it turns even worse because usually the quest is where things start to go right for the Hero™, instead for jon they start to go wronger, because first he has to go undercover which pretty much tests most of his belief/code system, he falls in love with a girl he has to betray, half of his friends and his lord commander die along the way, while he’s off doing his thing winterfell gets taken/burned and robb dies when jon openly stated that he also was going to the wall to defend his family and keep them safe (yeaaah worked out real well), when he goes back to the wall he has to fight the people he lived with for months, the woman he loves dies in his arms and he can’t do anything about it and he’s aware it couldn’t have gone any other way, people put defending the wall on him and then put his loyalty in question, when stannis shows up with a legitimization (which is everything he ever wanted) he refuses because he doesn’t want to accidentally steal his siblings’s inheritance (which was what cat was so worried about hahaha) and actively chooses the crappy defending the realm life all over again. also in all this time his being Chosen™ hasn’t manifested or helped him in any way whatsoever - actually all his honor-moral code related baggage is what moral dilemmas come from that. like, your usual chosen hero™ would always take the right decision and it all turns out good eventually, jon takes the morally right decision and it all turns SOUR eventually

at this point he finally gets elected LC, thanks to his friends also pitching in, which is about the one fantasy hero™ thing that’s happened for now. should be good, yes?

lol no, because he ends up with THAT hellish responsibility at sixteen, since he thinks that he has absolutely to be even better than that now and he has very specific notions about how you should lead and he knows he has to take unpopular decisions/decisions that he doesn’t necessarily like, he ends up either having to send his friends away forreal (sam) or detaching from them (pyp/grenn/the likes) and when as far as he knows he learns that his sister is married to ramsay he can’t do anything about it

never mind that it’s the same situation as when he had to pick the watch or robb in book one - he went there to defend his family and now being there actually prevents him from helping them in person. ops. meanwhile he’s trying to implement a new vision of things which is modern and smart and actually makes sense because why fighting the wildlings when you have ZOMBIES coming. your usual Chosen One™ would get people to approve just because he’s the Chosen One

instead jon gets stabbed to death - okay, that was also because he wanted to go get arya but it was the last straw, people were pissed over the wildlings plan first and foremost

so basically he’s gone through all the Chosen One™ steps but in reverse - he loses his family which did love him instead of finding another one that makes the first pale in comparison, he does find a new one who loves him but has to alienate most of its members for responsibility reasons as a consequence of what should have been the crowning achievement of his life choices (which eventually is NOT one), he falls in love and they don’t drag the UST forever but they never get a chance to be together without small print in between, he chooses the admittedly most masochistic life he could for his family as well and half of them die and he can’t do a thing for the other half, every other mentor-like figure he runs into after ned dies, instead of finding validation he ends up having to isolate himself and on top of everything HE STILL DOESN’T FUCKING KNOW HE’S THE CHOSEN ONE™

so instead of his life going better the more he learns stuff and matures as a person, he gets murdered. by the people he trusts and who were supposed to be his new family. haha?

never mind that when he finds out he’s the Chosen One™ it won’t bring him closure because all he ever wanted was being full stark like his father/siblings and then bam he’s going to find out his father’s actually targaryen and what does that even mean to him?

on top of that being AA will just be a pain because I don’t believe for a second he’s not going to get leftover ptsd and who the hell is gonna help him deal with it? or how is he ever getting over his *brothers* murdering him? and people are going to ask stuff of him all over again and he’s gonna have to go slay a mythical monster and if I know grrm it’s not gonna be fun, pretty or cathartic FOR HIM

on top of that, Chosen Hero™ fulfills the prophecy and gets a realm to rule and everyone lives happily ever after. money is that if jon does get that realm (and I think he is because he has the best claim if he's legitimate and most likely it'll turn out he was on the targ side but ROBB also legitimized him so he has double the legitimization), he’s going to hate every second of it and he’ll take it because a) duty, b) literally no one else is available, and like this guy didn’t want to rule a realm or be a king or anything he just wanted to be a stark, and instead he’s going to have to after all that shit thanks to Magical And Noble Heritage he hadn’t even known he had and probably didn’t even want up to that point because since when jon wanted to be a targ? yeah since never

obviously I hope he manages to be somewhat happy regardless because the alternative is too miserable, but basically being a Chosen Hero™ is what makes jon’s life worse rather than better and the fact that hew went through all the regular self-discovery journey for the fantasy hero list doesn’t mean he’s not flipping that over in his sl. the fact that he stayed a decent person more or less throughout it and that he hasn’t turned into a bitter asshole also doesn’t change the main point XD

tldr: jon snow is not a typical fantasy hero because he deconstructs that trope into tiny little bits same as robb deconstructed the arthurian flawless king hero trope

now ^^^^^ THAT was what I originally wrote for that meta but adding on to what I said in those tags

okay so... there is a certain tendency to also make the chosen one™ special in the sense that he's kind of goals - good looking, rich or set to inherit, gallant, takes the initiative, he's like.. social or anyway immediately makes friends etc and all that jazz which jon... doesn't really fit

like jon is an introvert who immediately makes friends just with outcasts and his siblings also bc he feels like one but he's hardly a social butterfly and charms everyone wherever he walks by

I mean ffs says all that the only person he charmed in that sense is stannis who is the literal only person in charge in the books who is more introvert than him and has worse communication issues and appreciates ppl going straight to the point

on top of that in the book he looks like ned.... and arya looks like ned and ned isn't described as being particularly handsome that was brandon so he's not even like... I mean kit h. is v. pretty and I think he was a good choice for the role and I'll die on the hill that he was born to play that character and he did it well but book!jon doesn't have that kinda pretty face so the concept that he's the HOT alternative to anyone to me is kind of iffy bc he's not

he's shit at social interactions and at PR which is why robb and him would have been a key winning ticket like he has a better idea of the larger picture but robb would have actually made sure ppl didn't turn against them bc he actually was good at that but like he doesn't go around rallying armies in his name does he

the one time he's been with a girl it was ygritte and like he courted her without realizing it and then she had to pursue him and he barely knew wtf to do on top of the fact that they slept with ghost in the middle of them like a sword which..... is.... I mean sleeping with the sword in the middle was a thing to make sure the maiden stayed a maiden and he's the one who is like i CAN'T HAVE SEX WITH HER EVEN IF I WANT TO BECAUSE I'M TECHNICALLY SPYING ON THEM like... he's not... gallant-knight coded

never mind that the moment they do the do she basically does everything until he decides to try the oral which I mean... isn't exactly alphadominatingmale out of jon which is not a given with the trope he's supposed to represent like he's not smooth he's not suave he's like WHAT THE FUCK when ygritte tells him he has a pretty face bc most likely no one else told him that and he like... doesn't pursue people like that in general which is also not exactly 100% what that trope usually goes for

we can add that he has a lot of passive-aggressive little shit sarcasm in him that they didn't let him go for in the show but like... usually chosen heroes™ don't think what he thinks about selyse in general

we can also add that he's not automatically above being better than his position like... he doesn't take winterfell bc ygritte is dead but he did think he'd have taken the deal sansa or not if stannis had said he could marry her and not val and if she wasn't dead, he basically went off the rails at the dude he was fighting with thinking about robb telling him that he couldn't be lord of wf because he was a bastard and he's absolutely not in the frame of mind of 'well I was born a bastard who cares it doesn't define me'

he's obsessed to the point of unhealthy with actually being defined by it which is why he was better off with the wildlings aka the only idiots in the realm who don't gaf about that

and that's like... I mean usually if chosen ones™ have parental issues it's like 'you were an orphan and raised by asses who weren't your parents but your parents loved you and you'll find out at some point and you'll be happier for it and make your own family', jon is like... he has the mommy freudian issues of the century bc of how cat treated him, on the other side he's obsessed with living up to ned's/his father's name and he hates that it makes him not-belonging or that he feels like he doesn't even if he does with his siblings, and at the same time when the truth about it comes out he's going to get the cold shower of the century bc like - he's spent all that time thinking BUT DID MY MOTHER WANT ME WHO WAS MY MOTHER and he's going to find out of who it was and how he was born and honestly considering that lyanna most likely did regret running with rhaegar the moment he finds that out and that she died birthing him how is he going to feel? - also he spends his life wanting to live up to his 'father's' name aka ned aka someone known to be honorable to a fault and then it turns out his bio father is... the dude who started that entire rebellion not doing a very honorable thing? - also if jon*erys is a thing idt that he'd take 'I fell in love with my aunt' so nonchalantly as he did in the show tldr: he's never gonna get over his parental issues in a short time and when that particular brick hits him in the face it won't be pretty

like the entire point of jon is that he goes through all the chosenone™ cursus honorum as we'd call it in high school when studying latin but each step that means smth good for the usual chosenone™ to him is something bad, being one is not going to make his life better and throughout the entire thing he does not fit that stereotype when it comes to look, personality, basic traits and familial history and like hell he's going to have the happy ending tied up with the bow - like I think he gets a bittersweet one and eventually goes off with the wildlings bc he belongs there after being jon snow first of his name (bc like hell he's not reclaiming his bastard background at the end of this entire mess I'm eating my hat if he doesn't) after splitting the seven realms and fixing things but that's hardly the neat happy ending the chosenone™ usually gets so that's my two cents

... christ this was long *raises hands*

#jon snow #tagging for the lulz i guess #janie writes meta #ch: jon snow #long post for ts #tldr jon snow is a kurt cobain stan in disguise in westeros and chosenones™ aren't nirvana stan coded #and i'm dying on this hill xD

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sokayisaidiot · 3 years

Text

Dream SMP Assumption #7

Today’s topic: Everybody is suffering and you know it.

Please DO NOT read if you’re uncomfortable with the themes of death, depression and suicide. It’s a very complicated theme. I did NOT study it and do NOT know some aspects of it. I just go off the things I saw in the smp and made my own theories about it. If you’re even slightly triggered by this, please stop and do NOT try to read it. Please do NOT put yourself in some kind of uncomfortable zone.

Please do not. Thank you

(This is all assumptioning from the fictional world of dream smp)

(Heavy spoilers on the resent events)

(Also just assumptions, when you know something, you can always drop it :))

(Mainly around the lmanburg way, sadly need to learn more about badlands ): )

(This Series is created by another person, that’s just too fuckin lazy to move her butt)

Trigger warning today:

Suicide thoughts

(PTSD)

Depression

War

Child Neglect

Betrayal and Trust Issues

Death

Lets get this straight, no one is pure evil just because. Everybody has something happening and BOOM, finished chaos and sadness and strange behavior and aggressiveness and- You get me? Good. I will take on EVERYBODY who says that a person in the story didn't suffer. I aint a Apologist either. I just want to make some things clear who suffered how. Understand? Good.

Stop saying “[Character] didn't suffer!” Hell yes somehow everybody, close in the lore, fuckin did.

LET’S GET STARTED

__________________________

Tommyinnit

Lets start with one, who should be pretty obvious. Tommy. In my second Assumption, I explained symptoms of PTSD and Depression.

He was never really trusted by any point

Was just as used as Techno, because who had Tommy controlled was pretty powerful

He was exiled by a country, he HELPED saving MULTIPLE times

He saw his brother get killed by his father

He experienced so many deaths (Tubbo’s, in the final control room, Schlatts,

He lost his pets

He lost his belongings

Has to be on edge constantly

Gets accused by someone and then MOSTLY EVERYBODY believes, it was him

He isn’t really taken seriously

He gets seen as power-hungry person

People literally having him on the Hitlist

He nearly saw his best friend dying, on a mission, that was started by him

His older Brother, who he has an confused relationship with, doesn't even want to be revived.

Lost his brother to insanity and had to sit in the FRONT ROW of this spiral

PTSD

Depression

Suicidal thoughts

Betrayal

next to no one on his actual side

got left by almost everyone

was stuck on a island with an amnesiac ghost, who is a shell of his older brother

gets told his comfort items he had before everything else didn't matter

constantly has to live on the edge because he runs around with one just fuckin heart

Tubbo

Next to Tommy, he also suffers from PTSD, Depression and Suicidal tendencies. And that doesn't mean you kill yourself. It means you are too careless to give a fuck. And that can happen. TUbbo was way too easy to give up his OWN LIVE for something his best friend has passion in it.

He got publicly executed in a place HE DECORATED by someone he considered his Allie

Had the burden of Presidency on his YOUNG shoulders

The People who had to teach him about it, were also there for the tyranny

Got constantly considered a pawn, a throwable item

The adults use him as a figure head and proceed then to use him

He HAD to exile his best friend, or Tommy would have died sooner than ever

PTSD

Suicidal in a way of being okay for dying

Depression

Betrayal

Never gets taken seriously

Gets over-spoken a LOT

GETS COMPARED TO FUCKIN MANIACS OFTEN

Didn’t get nice words after his manipulator told him down, just SILENCE

He nearly died

He heard

Got left by everyone, when they didn't see anything in this place anymore

got told by his best friend, that the discs were more worth than him

As Tommy, he is always on the edge of death

Technoblade

Techno is one of the most powerful people here on the server. No doubt about it. However, if someone, even a God, tries to refuse they have feelings, it’s impossible. And those feelings, when they get something terrible done to them, get hurt.

BETRAYAL

Loneliness

A bloodlust he sometimes seriously can't control, no matter how much he tries

His best friend (Wilbur), died before his eyes

He thought he could trust his (little brother figure) friend

Gets used often for material

betrayal

Has a hard time understanding his feelings

Gets talked over

Is socially avoiding talking

Gets seen as a bad guy many times

Trust issues, yay!

Also BETRAYAL

has at least some people who want to kill him

Wilbur Soot

Our favorite maniac! Yay! We can all see how he fell from a proud Leader of a family to an lost in himself man, with nothing left to loose

Had to countdown his brothers death

Was killed by his father

His OWN SON disowned him

He wasn't able to get help, especially not from his younger brother

His Allies were not really trust worthy

He got betrayed by a close comerade

His dear Brother was sometimes really chaotic

He had to lead an army to war, not one, but two times

He lost the election

He had to run away from a country he helped create

Had a hard time with this father (with how it’s shown, that he maybe was neglected and had to raise Tommy)

Ranboo

Our favorite Memory-Minutes-Boi! I think EVERYBODY in this community will protect him

His first days on the server were pure Chaos

Had to see a person, he considers a friend, being rotten away and not being able to do anything about it

A sister figure who just went angry

He isn’t trusted by anyone really

He knows things others don’t

ALSO LOSING YOUR MEMORY AND HAVING CONSTANT MEMORY LOSS FUCKIN SUCKS, TRUST ME

Has serious issues

GETS TALKED OVER

Is often forced to take a side, even if he's against it

Phil

He has a hard time. Especially with the death, failed resurrection, disowning one of his son, he didn't got even close to. Being

Also on the edge of death every day

Was in the end peer pressured into killing his own son

Suffering from the loss of his son

Couldn't help his youngest son in exile, because he thought Tommy hated him

Wasn’t there for L’Manburg glory days

was ridiculed in his house arrest

Dream

Of course, we all know how mad he is now and shit, but you gotta think, he has some points here, that are infecting his behavior LARGELY

His friends left him, without considering helping him

He had lost his dear pet before

He actually wanted peace, but fell into the fun of destruction and chaos without someone knowing or helping him

He is homeless

Probably, he is a old being, that already suffered for millions of years

Sapnap

He’s actually one of my favorite Characters and I think we know he has a place in here.

Third wheels a l o t

Constantly being referred as the THIRD person, who isn't important

Fought his friend, who took the side of a child

Said friend had one of his beloved fishes by his side the hole time

Said Fish got thought as dead

Fundy

Some of you guys forgot how sad actually Fundy’s character is. He IS one of the most hurt characters. And he gave up hope

constantly being talked over

disowned by his hole family

GREW UP IN OLD L’MANBURG, WHICH WAS AT WAR

doesn’t think he is a part of a group

had to disown his father, to help fight a tyrannt

Got babied his whole life

His dead father is still running away from their problems

Doesn’t know where his mum is

Lost his home so often

Nihachu

Actually the person I watched for the first long time as in the SMP

Again, being talked over

Doesn’t get taken seriously

Lost her Best friend (Wilbur)

Got betrayed by her friend, Karl, by him selling their Land to L’Manburg

Gets used as a hostage or Maid in Distress, even when she isn’t

Got her pets killed

Then constantly being used for her niceness

Jack Manifold

He has a pretty big Role now, and he's very VERY angry. And you might ask why

Got left behind by his country

doesn’t get taken seriously

Got his most powerful items removed in one thing

His land somehow is near a crater

got told he didn't suffer somehow

Went to mf hell

Quackity

Quackity, despite his funny demeanor, he's one of the hurt character

with him staying with Schlatt, he had a uncomfortable relationship a long time

got killed by the festival

somehow helped organize the death of a child

Said kid helped a revolution against him

he helped a tyrant come to power and will probably never get it live down

fought for a country so often, but, two times, it got exploded in front of his face

had to face war, also in a young age

Eret

Our favorite King is here too! Yes, he may have started the distrust spiral of Eret, but somehow, someone would still have led them to the FINAL CONTROL ROOM. Somehow History will always be happening.

Had one of the hardest time, getting forgiven

Was never really given a chance

got accused of something

gets used as a pawn

He has shown often regret

got left alone

I think we all can say they are just having MULTIPLE communicate, trust and self worth issues. Like goddamn, Puffy, please help them, you’re one of the only sane people in the lore-

#Dream SMP #Quackity #Wilbur Soot #Tommyinnit #technoblade #tubbo #Philza #Nihachu #Fundy #Eret #Jack Manifold #Sapnap #Dreamwastaken #Ranboo #mcyt #dream smp assumption #Dream SMP Lore

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tiny-stack-of-knights · 3 years

Text

AH SO I FINALLY FINISHED AN OFFICIAL REF FOR MY META KNIGHT GIJINKA AND? Not gonna lie I’m pretty happy with his design and stuff (:

I HAVE. SO MANY NOTES

So uh feel free to read them below the cut 😳

warning it’s a LOT

OKAY HERE WE GO

for starters, these are specific to my gijinka, buuuuut most of them also fit my general interpretation of him

- Meta Knight is not his actual name. It’s just the title he gave himself to sound cool.

- As such, he’s not technically a knight, just in spirit. A meta knight, if you will (:

- He takes his image very seriously. It used to be so bad that he would take literally everything seriously, and had a reputation for sucking all of the life and fun out of everything and anything. But, he’s softened up a lot since he came to dreamland. He’s actually a pretty fun guy nowadays (and maybe just a little chaotic, or, rather, enthusiastic when excited...)

- Because of his once dreadfully serious nature, his face is stone cold and “dead eyed”. Once he broke himself of his old habits and lightened up, he became humiliated by how stone faced he is, and it’s one of the many reasons he wears his mask.

- Speaking of his mask! He is sensitive to light, and his mask helps tone it down for him. He can go without it, but if he’s in a well lit area for awhile, he will start to get a migraine.

- As such, he has pretty good night vision.

- Yes...he is very bat like. That’s for a reason! My hc for my puffball gijinkas is that they have a lot of traits similar to their wing type. For instance, since Galacta has bird wings, they have some bird like features like sharp vision, soft feathers strewn about their hair, and squawking when startled.

- Yes, this implies that Meta makes cute bat-like trills and squeaks......(he also purrs. puffs purr, because they are basically just round cats)

- He is very kind and caring beneath his persona, which has become more and more evident. He is also incredibly protective of those close to him. He secretly worries he will lose them, and as such, he does everything to keep them around.

- Despite his agility, he can be quite clumsy at times. This has led to some...embarrassing injuries.

- He’s tiny! 5’0 with heels and 4’10 without them, but since he almost always wears them, he will tell people he is around 5’0 (but almost 5’1!)

- As a knight of sorts, he has a strong sense of chivalry (which is basically canon). It is hard for him to accept any sort of kindness, since he feels he owes something in return. He always makes sure to express his gratitude however he can.

- However, he is really bad at emotions and expressing himself. He suppressed most of them early on when he was painfully serious, and as he’s lightened up, he’s had to deal with actual emotions.

- He uses art and poetry to cope with this and express his emotions. He never lets anyone see it though.

- He also draws cute things. He loves cute things, but is still hesitant to let others know this, as he worries it will

- a) damage his reputation and

- b) confirm to him he is, very much, a rather cute little puffball

- There are many (often very specific) things he is fascinated by, and can talk on for hours on end. However, his more personal and less “serious” interests he rarely talks about to anyone he isn’t close with, and if they’re brought up in public, he often gets very flustered. (yes, he’s shy but he’ll never call it that)

- He loves sweets and has a passion for baking. He’s quite good at it, but not at cooking actual meals.

- Despite Kirby (and the meta-knights) thinking of him as their dad, he is absolutely horrid with children. Does not know how to deal with them. He gets very flustered (and often frustrated) if he ever has to watch them. Since he doesn’t really know how to deal with them, he kinda just treats them as he would anyone else. Because of his caring and protective nature, many still consider him dad-like.

- Oh yeah, Kirby is the exception to this since he is (usually) such a wonderful little dude. If left alone with the other puff, he can act like a semi-competent father. It is very rare that this actually happens though.

Okay, time for some darker headcanons, including a lot of post Mecha Knight stuff (‘:

Oh yeah I have a Mecha Knight gijinka too 😳

-He suffers from depression. This was one of the main reasons he used to be so dreadfully serious, and why he’s so used to suppressing his emotions. He used to use his knightly persona as a not-very-healthy way of coping.

-As a bit of a lighter note, after many years of care and support from his friends, he’s seriously lightened up.

-However, he still has days when it surfaces, and it often takes the whole day to get him back to a more functional state. Yes, even Meta Knight has to take mental health days sometimes (:

-He has a serious issue with abandonment. He worries nobody could actually care about him, and frets constantly that he will lose the people close to him. This stems back to when he got his wings, as many saw them as “demonic” and as a “bad omen”

-Because of this, he has a really low self esteem, which, again, is why he used to live through his knight persona primarily, and was so ashamed of his actual self.

-The Mecha Knight incident left him with serious mental scars, giving him minor ptsd through nightmares and panic attacks when strongly reminded of the incident.

-It also left him with a robotic eye and arm.

-During his fight with Haltmann Works, his non-gauntlet arm was severely injured. Instead of just trying to fix it, Susie gave him a shiny new robot arm. It was originally Haltmann red and black, but he repainted it and, with some help from his crew, slightly modified it to more of his style.

-He also had an eye replaced in order to be compatible with the “eye” that swerves around the mask. He’s been too scared to try rewiring or recoloring it.

-The Mecha Knight incident really set him back from all the progress he made.

-During the first few months post Mecha Knight, he hid himself, only showing up when needed. He became paranoid of him hurting his friends without knowing it, which furthered his isolation.

-Much like how he managed to learn to cope better with his depression, it took him a lot of time and help to get him back to where he used to be.

-And, to end this little segment on a happier note, as of the time of Kirby Fighters 2, he’s much happier than he’s ever been. He’s made a lot of progress, is much more open with others, and much more accepting of his soft side (:

I could honestly go on and on, I have SO MANY notes that haven’t made it into this post, including his backstory, his relationship with the other characters, and a few other miscellaneous details (I even gave him a more...normal name that he never uses cause its cute and why not). If anyone’s ever interested in more though, feel free to ask me, I do have anon ask on after all, and boy do I have a lot to say (:

God, maybe I put a little too much thought and psychoanalysis (and maybe just maybe a liittllleee too much projection) into my interpretations but? hey, I had fun with it

If you actually read all of this bullshit, holy shit thank you and I hope you had fun too (:

#meta knight #gijinka #meta knight gijinka #my art #whollleeeee lotta notes #a whole heaping ton #hey what can I say he means a lot to me and I have a lot to say (:#might do refs like this for galacta and morpho and some point 😳#also low key been workin on other gijinkas :0 #also aLSO #sorry for the lack of art lately this took wayyyyy longer than it should have hgfegsjak

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ketchup-monthly · 3 years

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Sanders Sides D&D 2

Ooh fresh take: Jan is virge’s patron and that’s why there’s beef

Also: Jan is some sort of fae related being

Jan: i need you to do something for me Virgil: no Janus: that's not how this works!! Virgil: watch me :P

Okay so I was thinking of Patton as a cleric cuz ooh healer however, Patton as a Druid makes me so happy

I want logan to have Rage

(Also that could tie nicely in an arc about Logan learning to accept feelings)

but barbarian logan is going to be a scholar again and is gonna be smort

bc hes logan. he cant be not smart

Oh I figured he’d be the bbeg that eventually joins the party (hurt/comfort baybee!)(Remus)

he was the bbeg but then joined the party as a bardbarian or just a bard

plus, actual bard who accidentally casts vicious mockery instead of bardic inspiration

Side note: please include a scene where Remus attempts to seduce the dragon

also with this second au, i can start them at like level 5 so people can multiclass

Pat as cleric/druid

gasp logan as artificer/barbarian

janus sorcerer/rogue

because basically everything but alchemist would work well with barbarian, but alchemist feels very Logan

bc mad scientist being actually mad

alchemist logan making an experimental potion and going "here im not sure what this does but im sure its fine! someone drink it"

Remus does it voluntarily, but Logan usually tries to get Roman to drink it

Virgil will occasionally drink it when he's on his last legs and is just like.....100% done with the party

remus as a wild magic path barbarian and just fucking teleporting or doing something equally ridiculous whenever he rages

Oh my god Remus with rage would be a force to be reckoned with

You gotta describe the first time he goes into a rage really dramatically

obviously virgil is trying to "escape" his patron, Janus (really just do whatever he says to not do out of spite)

Eldritch knight roman

Feywild warlock virgil

hey so in the second d&d au, should roman and remus be actual full siblings but like remus went darkside and like romans just trying to get back at him for putting a dark stain on the family name

hey hey hey what about warforged Logan? (essentially a robot)(so like "i dont feel anything" becoming real)

okay hear me out. elf roman and elf base simic hybrid remus. so like maybe the reason remus went darkside was experimentation? so like. hes elf but special

FALLEN AASIMAR VIRGIL

virgil just transforming in the middle of a combat scenario and like his eyes turn into black pits and flightless skeletal wings appear on his back and like everyone near him has to make a charisma check and like he deals extra necrotic damage

Pat is the one human stuck in a band of misfits

so with it, roman would be a full elf, and remus would be an elf that has tentacles bc octopus

So robot logan

i meant literally he doesnt feel anything

like he has all the emotions, but he doesnt physically feel the need to like eat or sleep or stuff like that

he just.....he pretend he don't have the feelings.....but he do.....he feel so much and he hides it all in his littol mechanical heart <3

plus......if he warforged, then like.....AC huge

he stands in front of friends.....he protecc...."no, i don't have feelings, i am physically incapable of affection" but he do!! he do! he take hits for them because he do!! he care so much

Bro he spouts all this and then he uses a reaction to dive in front of someone and everyone’s just like oh

LIKE ROMAN STILL BEING MEAN TO LO BC HE THINKS HE DOESNT HAVE FEELINGS BECAUSE HE DOESNT HAVE A HEART BUT HE DOES

hey hey everyone needs to grow

and logan standing up for himself and other people stepping in and saying no stop thats not right

plus if canon wont give me roman facing the consequences of his actions towards Logan......

but also Roman learning how to properly handle his own emotions and how he interacts with others

logan who doesn't view himself as anything more than a machine to be useful to others

the party giving logan love and affection until he slowly learns his own worth as a person

Roman and Logan not getting along (maybe Roman has a Lore reason to distrust Warforged, maybe not) and slowly learning to trust each other

when Logan is feeling real down or having some issue, Roman actually comes through to help him, showing how far both characters have come

Okay yes but also can we please give Roman more confidence than canon? Like I’m sooooo sick of low self esteem being played for laughs or just being really really sad

this boy is going on a mission and will slap his brother upside the head and tell him to shut tf up remus youre not a monster just come back home and he will do it alone if need be

OKAY SO WHAT IF HE ORIGINALLY WENT ON THE QUEST JUST TO STOP REMUS ONCE AND FOR ALL BC ROMAN THOUGHT HE WAS A MONSTER, BUT ALONG THE WAY, AND AFTER LOGAN, HE CAME TO REALIZE THAT NO, JUST BECAUSE REMUS (AND LOGAN) ARE DIFFERENT, THEY ARENT MONSTERS, JUST DIFFERENT

AND LIKE IN THE FINAL PUSH TO MAKE REMUS JOIN BACK WITH HIS BROTHER, ROMAN IS PROJECTING HIS OWN FEELINGS ONTO REMUS AND EVERYONE IS LIKE WOW BRO YOU GOOD THERE, BUT ITS A BIG MOMENT FOR LOGAN, ROMAN, AND REMUS

im unsure as to how, but it happened when he was an older teen/young adult. a simic scientist either picked him (read: kidnapped), or remus volunteered (potentially to escape court life, unaware what exactly the experiment was going to do to him physically

bc also, remus and roman are royalty

so like. how best to get at the nobes/royalty/rich famous people than by turning their kid into a monster

wait, wait, wait, because i'm lowkey a sucker for this trope, but i'm not sure if it fits Remus: the experiments left him with some fairly significant physical pain/uncontrolled magical reactions. through some combo of trying to deal with that and trying find a cure for his pain, he keeps like....absolutely wrecking random towns on accident but also deliberately wrecking certain places looking for either a) vengeance on the guy(s) responsible or b) someone who can make the pain stop

SO LIKE. WILD MAGIC BARBARIAN DOING WEIRD SHIT TO HIM WHENEVER HE RAGES

AND LOGAN COULD MAYBE HELP WITH THE PAIN AND SHIT

BC ALCHEMY

Yknow, for simplification purposes, we could say the True Bbeg just gave Remus lycanthropy and Remus hasn’t managed to control it yet

lycanthropy but simic shit?

Mr. I-Don't-Have-Feelings sees the poor dude in pain and also Roman in emotional pain from seeing his brother in pain and is absolutely like "i must resolve this like right now, immediately" because he definitely doesn't hate seeing his friend suffering, or his friend's brother whom he's just met

he definitely doesn't relate at all to the idea of someone else shaping your body and absolutely does not sympathize with Remus's plight

i was thinking the grappling thing and either manta glide or the ability to breathe underwater for the simic stuff, but like he doesnt have control over the tentacles yet?

Manta glide seems like we could have fun battle scenes

he just jumps off a cliff to avoid mushy talk/dealing with his actions/roman

Roman: Remus just because you're a monster and though i wish i was an only child-- Remus, jumping off a cliff: byyeeeeee Patton: Roman, look what you did! Virgil: dammit jan what did you do? Janus: why do you think i had anything to do with that? im a fae, not a genie Logan, thinking: what an asshole. i wish i could do that

oh my god Logan always being tired mentally bc he cant sleep

Oh my gosh I love that. So Remus got kidnapped super young, (from royal family) they never found him, as a result Roman had to grow up super fast (side effect: lowkey inconsiderate and forgets to ask for others input). Meanwhile, Remus was experimented on by True Bbeg and came out with some trauma and super cool additives

yep! chronic pain and ptsd and all sorts of other shit!

so like, simic hybrids are usually created when they're adults. but what if the true bbeg decided to go younger to see what would happen, and thats why remus has chronic pain and stuff

he was still growing when his genes were spliced, so hes dealing with growth plates shifting and his body maturing and puberty and body changes and stuff

Pat is going to have a lighthearted story. Im saying that now. Hes the one without all the baggage

Sure, but his parents have to lowkey be the really kind people who are surprisingly always down for violence

everyone: multiple crises Pat: y'all need help Pat: love and affection in spades for his little band of misfits

Patton (which I think would be pretty simple, honestly he might just see danger and jump in and suddenly everyone in the party has Feelings)

Logan

Mhm. So how did he grow up? Was he just poof created? Wait

What if he was created by the king?

To make up for remuss disappearance

wait, wait....angst......he was created to fight (hence the barbarian stuff) but alchemy is his real passion

wait so like. a second son???

hes there to replace remus?

Yea! (But like in a sympathetic grief way) But that causes a bit of a complex in Roman and ergo Roman and Logan have a bit of a beef

okay so like. hes there to be a companion for roman, and like take remus' place, even though hes not actually in line for the throne?

LOGAN AS A KNIGHT

and just......the conflict of being created for a specific purpose (plus being, you know, robot and technically incapable of deviated from said purpose) vs the fact that he actually does have independent consciousness and like....wants to live life for himself

the parents made Logan a barbarian in hopes that him and Roman would be safe

okay. so logan was created by the king with the sole purpose to take remus' place as romans brother/companion, and to be his like guard? protector? and fight, but logan wants to be an alchemist and study shit

wait, wait, wait.....thinks about Asimov's Laws

he.....his first operative is protect (specifically protect Roman)

oh man. so hes literally just a shield

his second level operative is just like.....care for Roman's emotional well-being, but he doesn't really know emotions because he was kinda just spawned and nobody told him how

and he just....kind of....lets Roman treat him like garbage and take all his grief out on him because he's staunchly in denial of both having feelings or knowing how they work

Anyway Yea so Logan created by royal family in place of Remus which created angst between the two “brothers” and identity issues in Logan. Their arcs are learning how to healthily process emotions plus Roman apology and Logan commits to alchemy

So big question: why did virge make a deal?

Tricked

he gave janus his name

and instead of janus like killing him or whatever the fae do to people who break the rules of dealing with the fae, jan was like. hey. i'll give you magic, but do what i say

Janus is lawful neutral, but leans towards being selfish

hes self serving, but he has a strong set of morals and rules he follows

Tho I want to Virgil to also not be pushover so let’s say loophole happened and Jan has to stay with virge (hence why Jan is a part of the party)

okay so a couple of the rules are dont give a fae your true name and don't try to figure out their true name

what if virgil accidentally gave up part of his true name, and got stuck in the deal, but then figured out janus' true name

so in the same vein that janus had control over virgil, virgil now has more control over janus

he still gets his magic from janus, so he cant break free completely, but virgil has more freedom and can occasionally tell janus what to do or when to shove it

there should a running gag where virge can explain how he learned Jan’s true name but Jan can make something loudly censor him every time

(he learned his name bc once he heard janus practicing his evil genius voice and talking to himself in the mirror and janus said his true name)

so maybe janus sent virgil on the quest to protect a town or stop something related to remus, but virgil dragged him along

he might just be trying to protect a town thats close to a ley line, or something fae-related, and they just happen upon the whole thing

janus is selfish. but lawful vs chaotic is where he comes through, in morals vs doing whatever. janus has a strong set of loyalties to the fae, and to himself

so like....Remus is just too close to Jan's stuff and he wants to take him down

Virgil is just like....exhausted and said "fine, but if i gotta do this, you're coming, too"

or at least figure out a way to protect his place, even if it doesnt mean fully taking out remus. just moving him would work for jan

Janus: virgilllllllllll hes going to mess up my magic storage locker Virgil: Jan, its empty Janus: but its mine

Yea. Remus attacks a city away from the fae: Jan: Yknow I’m gonna sit this one out Virge: oh no you don’t, get up

Janus vs Janice

so his real name is Janus, but Virgil calls him Janice

Virgil: This is Janice Janice: with a “U-S” Virgil: mhm, sure Jan

I'm a big fan of just like any of the old theory name being various aliases for Jan

Damien, Dante, Ethan, Declan, etc, etc

#ss d&d 2

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lizacstuff · 3 years

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Sen Çal Kapımı / Edser Anon asks for Episode 42

Good asks again for this episode and I got very wordy when answering.

Find asks and answers under the cut...

Anonymous asked: Hey, Liza! How did you like the ep? I loved that Eda was the one to tell him the truth and and also liked how they kept us intrigued about who will tell Serkan, Eda or our private investigators Aydan, Engin and co (although they should have gone to Eda first, it's not their secret after all). I wish, of course, that the writers would show us the scene where Serkan was telling Kiraz those sweet things she mentioned to Eda, but I guess it was done on purpose for the dramatic end of the ep. Why do you think Serkan didn't pick up any clues about his daughter? I mean, Ayse always wrote him as a smart guy. Perhaps, he felt that Kiraz is his but was afraid to face the truth? What do you think? I just hope that we hear Serkan's pov in the next ep!! and they taaaaalk!

I did like a lot of things about the episode, but some parts were a bit frustrating to watch. Not frustrating like the amnesia times where I felt sick and just wanted the episode over, nothing like that. I still enjoyed watching and the time moved quickly, but it was frustrating to watch them both be so DENSE.

Serkan. Come on, the obvious is staring him in the face. As you say, he’s a smart dude, so why isn’t he putting this together? And it was frustrating that we still don’t know anything from his perspective. Why is he the way that he is when it comes to children!?!? That is the question. IF (a big if) they go the route of him not thinking he can have children after his treatments that would go a long way to explaining why it never occurs to him that he’s her father. However, we don’t know if they’re going to go that way or not, if they don’t I guess we’re just supposed to believe he’s so distracted by Eda that he can’t see what’s blatantly obvious to everyone else?

What was even more frustrating, though, was that Eda was so obtuse when it came to Serkan Look, from Eda’s perspective I get the notion of wanting to make sure Serkan would be open to a child before telling him. However, the only thing worse than Serkan finding out about Kiraz and outright rejecting her is Serkan finding out and him being angry at what he’s lost and proving Eda wrong by embracing Kiraz as his own. In that scenario Eda has to face how wrong she’s been and how she’s deprived both Serkan and Kiraz (and herself) of a vitally important relationship. That’s A LOT. So I can see why Eda was invested in Option C: the secret remains intact.

So I think in this episode she was seeing what she wanted to see. Or what the worst version of herself wanted to see. Eda is a very good person, but I think she wanted to find reasons not to tell him in order to justify the lies she’s told. Also I think there was part of her that just couldn’t handle hoping that he would want to be a part of their lives. She wanted to shut it down before he could get any further under her skin.

Any way you slice it, though, her unwillingness to see Serkan and Kiraz’s growing bond is a bit selfish. On the other hand she’s not really thinking straight. She has Serkan back in her life, discombobulating her, engaging her heart, confusing her, bringing up all those old powerful feelings. She has Kiraz pining for her father while forming an attachment with a man who happens to be said father. She has Ayfer, Melo, Burak and even Kerem pressuring her in different ways and Ayfer full on judging her. Plus she has Aydan sniffing around.

With all of that I think we can forgive her for not thinking straight, she must be pretty stressed out. However, that still doesn’t really excuse her actions this ep.

Which brings us to her testing him. Seriously? Putting aside the fact that she’s making the man unwittingly prove to her that he deserves to know something that is his unalienable right to know, what was that test? Let me get this straight, when Eda, who is an experienced single mother, has to take an important call she sends Kiraz away, but when Serkan, who is not experienced with children and not used to them, is on an important call he’s supposed to gracefully navigate having a 5-year-old he barely knows climb all over him? And that’s the litmus test for whether he gets to know he’s a father? A test Eda wouldn’t even take herself? WTF?

So bizarre. So Serkan didn’t pass that test, but Eda also either doesn’t see or refuses to see "good” moments. Serkan is at the pool, pretty much at Kiraz’s command, blowing up her floaties, attempting to fix her hair. The guy doesn’t know what’s going on but he’s still willing to sit there and humor this kid and that should have been enough for Eda. Then she walks up when they’re sitting in the garden and it doesn’t occur to her that for quite some time Serkan Bolat has been successfully entertaining a 5-year-old girl he thinks belongs to Melo. When Eda arrives they are seated together, Kiraz is in good spirits, she’s sitting on an extra cushion, which she clearly didn’t get herself, but this very unSerkan-like moment doesn’t count in Serkan’s favor? Could she have ever imagined Serkan spending that kind of time with a random child? Why is this not registering with her! Oh because she doesn’t want it to.

And again at the end of the episode Eda walked up to find Serkan crouching down on Kiraz’s level having a full conversation with their daughter while no one else was around. But that interaction also doesn’t weigh with her?

So what exactly was Eda wanting to see? Is there even a way Serkan could have unwittingly proven himself? Did he need to say, “Golly gee, Eda, I wish Kiraz was our daughter” in order to unlock the secret level that lets him know he’s a father?

And for this nonsense we must blame the writers. They clearly wanted the dramatic 11th hour reveal from Kiraz that Serkan had been bonding with her and for Eda to make the decision at the last minute to turn back and tell him. But her leaving at all was incomprehensible to me. At the point that she decided to go, Piril had told her that Aydan and Engin were onto her and knew that Kiraz was Serkan’s daughter. Her excuse that if she left maybe they’d forget about it? Has the character of Eda ever uttered a dumber line? No seriously? She thinks Aydan is going to figure out she has a granddaughter, that Serkan’s flesh and blood is out there and she’s going to let it go? Engin too? Good grief, Eda is not that clueless to think her moronic plan would work out. This episode asked for a lot of suspension of disbelief, too much when it came to Eda’s actions.

However, I must say running away is entirely in Eda’s character, she’s done that many times. So, having said all that, I do feel for Eda. She’s raised Kiraz as a single mother and done all of this by herself for a long time. And I can only imagine how disheartening it was to have Serkan aggressively pursuing her all episode, but when they have a real moment on the pier after reading the message in a bottle, he immediately dismisses the idea of having children. In light of what was on her mind, I can see why that was devastating to her and made her want to flee.

The thing is there has to be a reason why Serkan is so adamant. He’s now past whatever depression and PTSD he might have been suffering from after the treatments, and he also now knows what it’s like to actually lose Eda and he knows he wants her back... so why is he still so adamant that he doesn’t want children after wanting them before? We are in desperate need of his perspective on this, and I hope both the audience, and Eda, get it. It’s too cruel to her not knowing why and just thinking he hates the idea of kids with her that much.

Thank goodness Eda got to him to tell him before Engin or Aydan. I’m not sure what either one of them thought they were doing, just going to spring the news on him without putting any thought into it, I guess. Yes, they shouldn’t hide it from him, but the reveal can wait until morning until they can figure out a plan to confront Eda and force her hand or whatever else they need to do.

Those final moments were intense, the dramatic effect they were clearly going for was there. It was such a relief to hear Kiraz tell her mother how she had bonded with Serkan and gotten to know him. That girl is smarter than the rest of them combined, I wouldn't be surprised if she knows. Or at least hopes; there’s a reason she’s so attached to him and that she wanted him to be able to find them. However, it would have been much more impactful if we’d actually seen those moments. Either in real time or as flashbacks when Kiraz is talking. I’m not sure why they didn’t do that.

The final scene struck the right emotional chord for such a heavy confession, and I’m very anxious to see what happens next!

Anonymous asked: Hello, Liza:) What are the things you liked most and least in the episode?

Let’s see...

LIKED

Scenery - The visuals of this season are stunning.

Hande & Kerem - They both continue to delivery great performance and their chemistry is always on fire. They transform every scene given to them to a winner. They were particularly good in the bottle scene.

Edser - I watch this show for their scenes and even when there’s a huge lie and secret between them, their scene are always fun to watch. Loved Serkan suddenly playing aloof after the kiss and loved that Eda couldn’t leave him alone.

Kiraz/Maya - What a joy she is to watch. This could have gone so wrong with an overly precocious child, but she’s so cute and she plays so well off not only Hande and Kerem, but everyone she works with.

Kiraz/Serkan - Every second they’re on screen together is wonderful. PS - All I want from this show is after Kiraz finds out is for her to fasten herself to Serkan koala-hug style and just refuse to let go.

The paternity hijinks -I know, I know, there was too much time spent on supporting characters this episode, but there was some funny stuff when it came to Engin, Erdem, Aydan and Seyfi trying to sleuth their way to the truth. I actually found the mistaken toothbrush to be funny. Come on, Engin, you don’t know your own kid’s toothbrush? I also enjoyed the little nod to shattering gender stereotypes. The melodrama of them believing Engin was the father and accusing him of betraying both Piril and Serkan was dumb but hilarious. Then it got even better with the four of them wrestling each other in slow mo to try to get to the lock of hair first... I laughed out loud.

Pina/Kerem - Cuties. Poor things, they’ll also have to overcome meddling relatives, misunderstandings and miscommunication. I also liked Pina figuring out that Serkan is in love with Eda.

Liked... less

Screen time - I felt the lack of Edser screen time this week. We need more Edser! Much more. It feels like they are not taking the opportunity to let their scenes breath. Each interaction is so short. Hopefully, once we’re past the secret keeping portion they can elongate some of their scenes and not always have one of them rushing away.

Production quality - While there were some beautiful shots this episode, there were a few scenes that were lackluster when it comes to the efforts of the crew. The pool scene is one. I get that they probably planned to shoot that outside in Sile, but weather got in the way and they ended up shooting at an interior in Istanbul, but still, the angles were cramped and they did not make the most of having both Hande and Kerem in the water. Plus they cut the shot of Serkan walking towards her, shirtless and smirking. WHY?

Additionally, the camera angles and editing on the fainting scene were pretty subpar. We got a better view of that scene from the fan hiding behind a wall with an iphone! From said fan we can see that the crew would have had plenty of room to move and to get proper angles, but instead we got a 30 second scene where they didn’t make use of the setting, the camera was so zoomed in you couldn’t see anything and still their faces were pretty obscured. Not Altan, Hakan and crew’s best work, that’s for sure.

Eda’s lies, tests and leaving - I chronicled this above, but the show isn’t doing her any favors. I think the writers think they are making her sympathetic (they are to a certain degree) but it’s not enough to justify her behavior. I’m really excited to get past this phase and hopefully to one where she’s not trapped in lies to the people she loves most.

Ayfer - Can she stay in Sile when the action moves back to Istanbul? Or better yet go back to Italy? She is absolutely insufferable and when she was smugly smiling and telling Serkan he’d missed Eda I wanted to slap her across the face. At least Eda finally got tetchy with her when she was continuously pushing her towards Burak. Eda was right! Burak can see that Eda isn’t interested in him, why can’t Ayfer and Melo see it?

Burak - Seriously this dude has the charisma of a paper weight. I still can’t wrap my head around him thinking he has a shot with someone like Eda. And what was his little squirmish with Serkan? Like, dude, you have no idea of the history and dynamics at work, you also have no idea who you’re dealing with, but if you’re going to start something at least see it through. Instead he slinks away after making a few haughty remarks under his breath. Real tough. So far he’s not good enough for Melo, so I don’t know how they’re going to make him interesting enough for her.

Anonymous asked: hi! do you like how Serkan's character shown this season? tbh I expected at least some of his pov explained, not just "we don't need to have kids, Eda," "my work is my only responsibility," etc. As to his "infamous" line in the fragman, I hope it is taken out of context and will lead to a meaningful conversation between EdSer about Serkan's genuine fears (cause c'mon, finding out that you have a 5-year-old kid is kinda overwhelming), but I don't trust writers anymore lol. They keep picturing Serkan as a bad guy. How do you think he will react and act in the next epi?

I don’t think they are depicting him as the bad guy. I mean are you walking away from the episodes thinking he’s the bad guy? I’m not. In the flashbacks, there were some when he was upset and angry and clearly they’ve let us know he’s the reason they separated, but it’s also been clear that there’s more to the story we just haven’t heard it yet.

Agreed that we’re over due for his POV and an explanation of why he did what he did, but I have to assume it’s coming in the next episode. In that episode he’s going to be grappling with a pretty huge thing, he’s just learned a secret that will turn his life upside down. And as anxious as we’ve been to find out why he broke up with Eda, learning he’s a father is probably the perfect time to flashback and tell us why he abruptly decided he didn’t want a family with her all those years ago and set all of this in motion.

There has to be a reason, and I think we’ll find out this week. If we don’t, then the writers will have pushed it too far. However, Ayse answered a tweet a few weeks ago saying that she loved Serkan as much as Eda and that he has reasons too. So fingers crossed we find out what those reasons are sooner rather than later.

Anonymous asked: so I've really tried to remain neutral here because I know they both had their reasons during the breakup but in this last episode, Eda kinda rubbed me the wrong way and while sure it was her right to tell Serkan the secret, I was rooting for Aydan and Engin to do it by the end because she really was about to escape town without saying anything until our sweet Kiraz spilled last minute. I didn't care who told him at that point, I just needed SOMEONE to!

This is an understandable reaction. The writers really did Eda no favors this episode. I guess this episode was her journey to accepting the fact that Serkan is back in her life and will need to know about their daughter. And her daughter deserves to know about Serkan. She’s been living a huge lie for 5 years, so it’s a bit understandable that she’s having trouble letting it go. They just got a little clumsy telling that story.

But we love Eda, we won’t hold it against her, will we?

Anonymous asked: Can we talk about how this 5-yr-old girl is the one who understands Serkan the most? and they just met? and they don't know they're related? she wanted him to find her?!?!! and when Eda tried to tell her that Serkan didn't care about her, she gave the best clapback and defended her dad. 👏 She is the true hero of this love!

She is the true hero of their family! Leaving her shoe for him to find, being able to articulate to her mother how he really did take an interest in her, got to know her, and even confided in her. Smart girl. She was able to see what her mother could or would not.

Kiraz does seem to understand him and his gruffness doesn’t faze her at all, on the contrary she just stands up to him and gives the sass back to him. Like I said last week, he challenges her in a way she’s not used to because all the adults in her life just let her run wild with little discipline or accountability and just give her whatever she wants. But she also challenges him in a big way, and in the next episode I think we’ll see him facing her existence as the biggest challenge of his life.

The scene when Serkan teaches her how to apologize (the irony!) and make amends was especially great. As we saw in the season premiere when Burak was dismissive and haughty with a customer rather than rightly reminding Kiraz to apologize for knocking over Serkan’s water, Kiraz, as I said above, is surrounded by adults that dote, but think she does no wrong so they don’t always model proper behavior. What a relief to see a contrite Kiraz and Serkan being patient and taking the time with her. And the hug! Awwww. “Are we really strangers, Serkan Bolat?” was a perfect line.

Anonymous asked: Heey! What are your thoughts on the fragman? Cause now I'm a bit afraid to watch the next ep... but I think Serkan can be understood; like day ago he told Eda that they didn't need kids, so I guess it would be weird if he was all excited to know that they have a daughter. But idk... I just want Kiraz to have her dad back with her, she wants him so much!!! and the girl is so smart, like I know that is unlikely, but I think she figured it out on her own that Serkan might be her dad! Offf, I love her. I just hope Serkan's "I'm not ready to be a dad" is in the first half of the epi, and then it is him being afraid but doing his best to get close to Kiraz cause we already saw how he liked her. After all, it seems like the end of the epi will be Kiraz's b-day, and Nesli said that the end will be very sweet and emotional.

I think the next episode is Serkan’s story of becoming a father, and by the end of the episode we’ll see him stepping up and accepting his role and hopefully fully embracing it.

We’ll see how he reacts but at some point he obviously says, “I’m not ready to be a father.” I just hope it’s more, “I’m not ready to be a father, so let’s hold off on telling Kiraz for now” and not “I’m not ready to be a father, so I’m planning on ghosting the both of you.” My guess is that scene is maybe midway through the episode? Like maybe he finds out, freaks out, then he decides it’s too much right now, and says that to Eda, but by the end he figures out his business and thus the sweet and emotional ending. I mean what else could a sweet and emotional ending be for an episode about Serkan finding out he’s a father?

We also know from the IG live on premiere day that Kerem was out of sorts and in a bad mood after filming an “intense” scene for this episode, and that Hande’s hair in that live matches her hair in the “I’m not ready to be a father scene.” So that’s either the scene or a scene probably before or after it on the same day, so I think we’ll need to emotionally prepare to be put through the wringer. However, I don’t think there’s anything to fear in watching it. This season’s storyline is about them becoming a family, so just remember that’s what’s going to happen

As for Serkan’s mindset, it’s understandable if at first he feels overwhelmed and not up to the job. This is a man who did not have a good father role model, doesn't think he’s worthy of love, and finding out Eda had their child and didn’t tell him is going to make him think that Eda doesn’t think he’s worthy either. Think of that from his perspective, he might have pushed her away and said he didn’t want children, but she is the one who decided that their daughter would be better off not knowing him. At least that’s how he’s probably going to take her secrecy, and I can’t really blame him for that. That would be a blow to anyone, but Serkan Bolat will take it especially hard. After all she actually loved him and knew him best, so if that person doesn’t think he’s fit, that’s not going to help his confidence or allow him to think he has anything to offer a child.

Obviously he’ll come around and quickly in the scheme of things, it’s just going to take approximately 2 hours for him to do it.

#Sen Çal Kapımı #Sen Cal Kapimi #Edser #sckask #sck episode discussion #edser discussion #asklizac #sck 2x03 #sck 2x42 #anonymous #serkan bolat #eda yıldız

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fandom-necromancer · 3 years

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It’s never too late to realise

This was prompted by an amazing anon! I hope you like it, I somehow think I could have made this better. Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Characters: Gavin Reed, RK900 [Part2]

Gavin sighed and opened a new document. ‘Gavin.’ ‘Hmm?’ He looked up at the android sitting opposite of him. ‘Your appointment is in ten minutes, are you sure you want to start that report right now?’ ‘The phck is your problem surveying my goddamn terminal?’, Gavin called over before turning back to his screen and shrugging, adding a bit calmer: ‘Didn’t plan on going.’ ‘Why?’ ‘Hey, tin-can, I don’t want to talk to another phcking shrink about my life again, okay? And this week I can get away with it, pretending I didn’t know they already replaced the old one.’ ‘Oh, I’m sure it is terrible’, Nines prodded him. ‘My name is Gavin, I’m an asshole and I hate everyone, now give me the okay to look at dead people.’ ‘That’s not how this works!’, Gavin hissed back. ‘Oh, I’m sorry’, Nines chuckled. ‘My name is Gavin, I’m a socially inept asshole, who hates everyone, ask me your questions I will without doubt find witty comebacks to instead of actually working on my problems and then give me the okay to look at dead people.’ Gavin felt how his shoulders tensed, because phck this tin-can, seriously! As if a machine could understand- ‘Phck it, fine, I’ll go if only to get away from your useless ass.’

Gavin really didn’t want to go. For entirely different reasons than his plastic partner thought of, but honestly it was better he just thought Gavin was too stubborn to get help. No, Gavin knew he needed it, needed some sort of guidance to help him come to terms and ultimately get over his problems. But he also knew the last therapist hadn’t been of any help, so why try again? Maybe he just had to get himself together and press on. Maybe he really just imagined it and if he wouldn’t be this goddamn weak then he could- He sighed as he knocked at the office door at point twelve. ‘Come in!’ So, another try then.

He sat down opposite to the human – were they even human? – therapist. ‘Hello! You must be Detective Reed. My name is Elise Thorn. It’s a pleasure to meet you!’ Gavin took her hand and shook it, grimacing. ‘Let’s see how that changes in a week’s time’, he grumbled. ‘Let’s see how that’ll be then indeed’, she just answered, still smiling. ‘Miss Lisa really didn’t leave a lot of notes behind, so I guess we’ll have to start from scratch again. I’m sorry about that. Would you tell me a bit about yourself? What progress did you make with your previous therapist?’ Gavin laughed ugly. Progress? For real? ‘Well, as it likely states in my file, I have trouble working with androids and there is a severe case of anger issues. That’s about it.’ ‘Okay… Then let’s start with your trouble with androids. What would that be exactly?’

‘I’m afraid of androids.’ Heh, the last time he had said that, Miss Lisa had just laughed him in the face, telling him the revolution was over and that her kind didn’t plan on overthrowing humanity anymore. ‘That’s not what I’m afraid of.’ ‘Then what are you afraid of?’ ‘Their strength. The way they don’t show feelings.’ ‘You do know that’s pretty racist, right? You really shouldn’t think that way.’ Yeah, right. As if Gavin would make the same mistake a second time.

‘I can’t trust androids. My… My partner never did anything, and I should be having no doubts with him, but… yeah. I somehow always think he will turn on me and-‘ ‘And?’ The woman wasn’t smiling, but her face was still looking supportive, so Gavin continued: ‘I always expect androids to fake being friendly and civil and then turn on me when no one’s looking and hurt me.’ He looked up expecting what his previous therapist had said so many times to be repeated: ‘Man up. Hurt you? Why should they? And you’re not looking like a guy that couldn’t take up that fight. Seriously, that’s ridiculous.’ ‘Did you have any experiences with androids that would support that apprehension? Maybe during the revolution?’ Ah, there it was. Why are you like this? Is there a reason? That’s not a valid reason, come on. You just hate us, that’s it. ‘Not during it, before’, Gavin said. ‘I am Elijah Kamski’s half-brother. We grew up together. He started working on androids then and… and there was an accident in the lab. I ran away afterwards and applied at the police academy.’ ‘Do you want to share what happened with me?’ ‘Not really’, Gavin sighed. ‘I want to forget it, but I guess you won’t stop asking, right?’

‘Detective Reed, I am here to help’, she said, putting down the tablet she had written on until now. ‘You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want me to know. But the more I know the better I can try to help you.’ Huh. So not telling was an option? ‘You seem surprised.’ Gavin laughed. ‘Just saying your predecessor used to make this an interrogation.’ ‘Well, I heard as much’, she sighed and rested her head in her hands. ‘I was there with Eli, used to watch how he worked on androids while doing my own stuff. Just for the company, I guess. Or the sounds relaxed me, I don’t know. Well, one day I was playing something on my phone and only looked up as I heard my brother choking. The phcking thing was on top of him, nearly crushing his windpipe and I froze, I couldn’t do anything. In the end I beat it with a fire extinguisher until it broke and let go off my brother. I couldn’t spend another second with an android afterwards, I had an argument with Eli in the hospital, how he had to stop, but he couldn’t see my point, convinced it was his error only. Moved out then and kept away from androids. But now they are people and… Well, I have to work with them.’ ‘Are you afraid of androids?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Did you ever spoke with an android about that?’ Gavin let his shoulders fall. ‘Well, the last one was my therapist and he laughed me in the face.’

The woman in front of him cringed at that and quickly underlined something on her tablet messily. ‘Okay. Any other contact with androids that ended badly besides that accident and my predecessor that really has to have his license revoked?’ ‘No. I mean, Connor, the RK800 here punched me unconscious once, but that really was my fault. I don’t like him, but at least that reaction I can understand.’ Still, his new therapist noted it.

‘Okay, that’s something we can work on. You also said you had anger issues?’ ‘I’m easily riled up’, Gavin shrugged. ‘It’s just how I am.’ ‘What makes you think that?’ ‘Well, actually, everyone says that. Has to be some truth to it, hasn’t it?’ ‘What are they saying?’ ‘You sure this isn’t an interrogation?’, Gavin baited with her. ‘You are evading the question. Tell me or say you don’t want to talk about it.’ ‘I’m an asshole, I’m angry all the time, I hate everyone, these kind of things.’ ‘Do you?’ ‘What?’ ‘Do you hate everyone?’, she repeated for him. ‘A bit?’ Gavin had never really thought about it. ‘Okay. Then tell me, are there people you care about?’

Gavin thought about it for a while. ‘Yeah, Tina. She’s a colleague and a friend. My partner, although he is an android. Hell, even Connor and Hank. I guess everyone I know I care about at least a bit.’ ‘What about yourself?’ ‘What kind of question is that?’, Gavin asked. ‘Of course.’ ‘Then tell me, what do you do to take care of yourself? What are your hobbies, what do you like to do? When was the last time you had fun?’ ‘Hey, what kind of phcking feel-good shit is this?’, Gavin wanted to know, refusing to even think about the questions. ‘Would you rather not talk about it?’ ‘Yes! God, I don’t have the time for that!’ Gavin had stood up and was about to go, but the woman held up her hands. ‘That’s okay. We can concentrate on your android related problems first. I think that would be it for now. See you next week then!’ ‘Wait, that’s it?’, Gavin asked, turning back towards the desk. ‘Yeah. I mean unless you want to talk about something else.’ The woman had the audacity to look as innocent as humanly – androidly? – possible.

Gavin thought about the question and contemplated whether asking was worth it, finally deciding that he had nothing to lose: ‘Yeah, I’m curious, what’s your diagnostics?’ ‘I’m not sure yet, we need more than one session for that.’ Gavin snorted. ‘Keeping it mysterious, hmm?’ ‘Maybe.’

Nines had enjoyed working in peace for once. With Gavin gone to visit his therapist, he could finally concentrate on his cases. He didn’t have to bother with the human cursing at random things, shouting at his computer out of nowhere and running to the breakroom and the toilet all the time. He liked working with the man. He preferred it to working with others. But sometimes Gavin just was a pain in the ass with his constant competitive attitude, his stubborn determination to do all the work alone and his damn self-deprecating humour all the time… Maybe this new therapist was able to help the human better than the last one. Or maybe Gavin was just a lost cause, who knew. Nines was just happy about the short break, but all too quickly that time was over. He saw his partner walk towards their desks and was already bracing himself for having to listen to Gavin monologue about what an asshole the new woman was and how talking didn’t do shit and something along these lines. At the very least he would be in a shitty mood for the rest of the day or overly anxious.

It came as some sort of surprise to him, when Gavin just sat down and quietly started up his terminal again, apparently lost to thoughts. Nines furrowed his brows and conducted a quick, maybe not strictly legal search. ‘You have android related PTSD and there is a high chance you are suffering from depression?’ Nines just couldn’t believe it, that was his only explanation to why he had said that out loud. ‘What?!’, Gavin threw back. ‘The phck you get that from?’ ‘Your therapist’s notes… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have looked, but you seemed so different to your usual behaviour.’ ‘Yeah, well phck you, this one actually does her phcking job! Or at least she does a better job! Maybe I am, maybe she is wrong, but goddamn it feels good not to hear the same shit all day!’ Nines didn’t know how to answer, so he tried to resort to humour: ‘Was getting your ass handed to you by Connor really that bad?’ But instead of laughing, Gavin glared at him. ‘Okay, toaster, listen here, because I will say this once and then you can make fun of me all you want. I know I have problems; I know I’m not the nicest guy. But do you really think I’m a cry-baby? I saw my brother nearly getting murdered by one of you phcking things! That I can even look you in the eyes now and work with you is already a huge phcking thing! And I don’t think I’m depressed, but holy shit, getting told to man up and that all my problems are just there because I don’t function your way and that I’m just an asshole who will never change? Not helping! I need another phcking coffee!’

Nines blinked a few times, staring into the open air over Gavin’s chair. He didn’t know what to make of that new information and quietly opened a connection with Connor to share it. The RK800 too stopped working and stared ahead for a while, before they both turned to look at each other. We’ve made it worse, haven’t we?

[>next part]

#Detroit become human #dbh #Reed900 #Gavin Reed #RK900 #Gavin Reed gets therapy

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notjustabooksims · 3 years

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(Lol it’s not a writing challenge wtf Louise - it’s a writing tag, but in my defense I made the graphics while waiting for my job interview and I felt like I was dying).

I was tagged by @thesimperiuscurse for this, which I am legit hype for because I saw this one and thought it was so cool. And well - here we are. Thanks, Lila. 💕

R U L E S | List five things that you, without fail, weave into or explore in your stories, whether it be specific themes or tropes, character archetypes, allusions to other literary works.

This is basically every story I’ve written. Thinking back, almost all the stuff I’ve written has included some type of (mostly emotionally) abusive relationship, whether it’s with a parent, a romantic partner, a friend, or some combination of these. It has long weirded me out that I had this fascination, but it made sense once I realised that some of my familial relationships are marked by, if not outright emotional abuse, then at least by a good deal of neglect and controlling behaviour. A lot of my stories explore the after-effects of abusive relationships, the damage they do to a person, and how those effects come to light when seen through the lense of a loving, supportive partner or friend. Case in point: Vittoria’s whole relationship to Carlo brings to light how messed up her youth was. Enzo’s relationships with Lorenzo and Gina make him stand up against abuse. Lia’s relationships with her brothers and later Teo do the same for her... it’s all over the place! (It would have cropped up in the sequel to CoM as well for Nadir). And if there’s one thing I want to say through my stories, it’s that it’s always okay to cut someone out of your life if they’re no good for you. Family or friends, it doesn’t matter - you never have to let people hurt you.

Nadir has anxiety which makes him seem like a brooding dark boi and Enzo gets anxiety attacks when he stands up to dad. If I’d ever made the direct sequel to CoM, Genevieve would have had some anxiety/PTSD related to the experiences in the Tournament as well. It’s no secret I deal with anxiety issues myself, so I add anxiety into a lot of stories. One thing I’ll never do, though, is make any character heal via insta-cure. Hence why both Enzo and Lia (and probably the whole family) are in therapy even years after leaving. Therapy, therapy for everyone!

Mmm, yes pleeease. There are usually elements of this to the stuff I write. If it’s not an outer conflict like “rich bois aren’t supposed to love thieves” or an inner one like “I shouldn’t love you because I’m too dangerous for you”, I love me some forbidden love. (Wow, that’s a lot of love). There’s something so delicious about characters who want each other badly, but they can’t or won’t be together... of course it aaaaall builds to that moment when they just can’t help it and give into the feeling. Oh, it’s just the best.

This is even more pervasive than even the abusive vs. healthy relationships in my writing. As mentioned before, Nadir looks like a brooding dark boi, but he’s really a soft nerd boi. Celeste is a pretty, fun-loving blonde who will absolutely wreck your shit. Carlo is a dangerous gang leader, but also the softest soft boi who loves his family and whose main kink is consent. Gina is a gun-toting badass lady, but she loves art and family and she’s terrified of being hurt. Enzo acts cold and arrogant, but is actually a soft boi who cares a lot about his sister. Lia is a pretty, spoiled rich girl who’s actually perceptive, intelligent, and hard-working. Teo is a grumpy grumpster who’s... yeah, you guessed it, he’s a soft boi. I could just have said “soft bois” here, but I think it holds true for so many of my other characters. It’s a good way to subvert expectation while also making a character likeable, I think.

I tend towards bittersweet endings. It’s not because I think happy endings are dumb or for kids - fuck that noise. Optimism and happiness are valid as heck, thank you very much. But I like just that little bit of bitterness in my endings, because I think the good stands out stronger in contrast to the bad. Case in point: in CoM Nadir isn’t completely bad and Genevieve gets a purpose other than the Tournament, but they’re also not together and it might before she can really be comfortable with him after what he did. In the ending to gen 1, Carlo and Vittoria are both alive and well, but they’re forced to live apart. For gen 2, Gina and Enzo are together and happy, but Enzo still suffers from anxiety and other after-effects of abuse, plus he’ll never be able to reconcile with his dad.

I’m tagging @storiesbyjes2g, @itssimplythesims and @amphoraesims, if you guys want to. If not, that’s okay. And if you want to do it, go ahead and do it. I love this tag a lot and I want to see tons of them.

#taggy thing #long post #i'm so very sorry

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adrienne-fh · 3 years

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From the desk of...

Day 1- Introduce yourself! What’s some basic info you’d like to share about yourself? Also! What are you studying? (If you’re in college, what’s your major? which semester are you in?)

I am adrienne-fh. I am a non-traditional adult student attempting to complete my first Bachelor's Degree. I am a student at Oregon State University on hiatus. I studied Psychology and Statistics. I hope to resume soon.

I enjoy singing, reading, writing, twitch streaming. Starcraft, Hearthstone, World of Warcraft - RPGs, RTS, and fighting games are fun. I also enjoy Chess. I wear monochromatic outfits with an eye for textures. I’m a curly girl. All-natural everything but wear wigs as my hair grows back from a buzz cut.

I am an ordained minister through Universal Life Church. It is much more than being a wedding officiant! I offer a host of ministerial services including ceremonies for baptism, the dying, and funerals.

I am a person with chronic illness: Fibromyalgia and PTSD. This causes a range of difficulties, the hardest to deal with being pain and exhaustion. I’m a walking pin cushion with a pillow.

Day 2- If you’ve chosen a major, why did you decide on it? If you’re in any other grade, what field/major interests you the most?

I am interested in human behavior and high performers and the dark triad. I love to understand how our mind works. Because I am interested in psychometrics and informatics, I am developing my skill in statistics and programming.

I enjoy human-computer interaction and Natural Language Processing. AI and its impact on what it means to be a working adult are intriguing. Children are at an advantage, learning more skills sooner. All this, combined with wanting to be a part of the new wave of IoT and AI, starts with understanding who we are to appreciate who we are becoming. The impact on our decision-making and empathy is stunning.

I am a Mental Health Peer Supporter seeking provisional certification. I am also seeking ways to improve my pastoral counseling services. Psychology is key in many endeavors, even writing complex characters!

Day 3- Have you done a challenge before? If so, how was it? If not, what are you expecting to get out of this experience?

Yes! 100 Days of Productivity. I forget to post sometimes. I would like to develop consistency and use my blog to keep me accountable. Because I’m not so broken up about not always completing what I set out to do, I focus more on the joy of sharing my story with others and the connections I could make.

Day 4- For my researching fellows, what are you researching? If you’re not currently researching, what is the topic within your field that you’re most passionate about?

Mainly, the effectiveness of Online Mental Health Communities. How to make Online Health Communities work better. How we interact with Online Mental Health Communities and how they affect the way we feel and behave. How can Fountain House use its Virtual Club House to improve life satisfaction amongst members?

I also research trends in AI, Beauty, and Goal Achievement.

Day 5- Tag 3 studyblrs that you like seeing on your dashboard.

@a-medstudents-journey

@theologei

@a-study-in-dante

Day 6- Quickly! tag urself!

five pm. warm smiles. classy. aesthetic Instagram feed. anklets. soft music. yoga. face masks. @adrienne-fh

Day 7- Some of your music faves right now (let’s say up to 5)

ABBA, Madonna, Vienna Teng, Ashnikko, Billie Ellish

Day 8- International Women’s Day! What’s your take on feminism?

It is obviously not much of a choice to be respectful to anyone, no matter gender or preference. We can complain about the conversations we are having or do more to have them. We have to treat each other better - humans in general.

Day 9- Write something that you’d like to tell yourself.

You can do it! You are doing it! It is getting better! Focus. Get rid of all the junk! You deserve the love and life you keep giving to everyone else.

Day 10- Tag someone whose aesthetic you love seeing on your feed.

@justanotherstudyblrinthecrowd

Day 11- What’s something that you’ve always wanted to do but haven’t got the chance to do so?

Stand in front of the Louvre. Visit the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família. Fall in deep mutual kind and compassionate love with lots of romance and care. Publish a print book - short stories, essays, novels, novellas, and of course poetry. I have a lot to share!

Day 12- Are you more into plants or flowers? What’s your fave type?

I really love succulents. The best of both. I really really love moss!

Day 13- Tell us the most eye-opening book you’ve read.

Oh. That’s really hard. I think of The Da Vinci Code and The Human Stain. Any book by Jonathan Safran Foer, particularly Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.

Day 14- What are some of the reasons you love yourself/should love yourself?

I am a divine child of light that believes in the cosmos lining up and giving all of us a big wink with a smile. I’m silly and playful. I’m dead serious smart, psychic, and a crazy protector of love and personal freedom. I fight away evil with nurturing and honesty. I’m a bit crazy and zany. I’m bizarre. I’m pretty much free-spirited and open with an edge.

Day 15- Tag someone who you think would get along just right with you.

@manuxstudies

Day 16- What’s your go-to coffee/tea/beverage order?

Venti Flat White with sugar in the raw or Keto-Friendly Stevia Drops. Both are delicious.

Day 17- Share with us your feel-good playlist.

Deep Focus

Brain Food

The Show Must Go On (Curated)

Day 18- Tag someone whose blog you constantly check.

@bakinginthewoods

Day 19- Tell us about your online experience (is it sometimes overwhelming? Do you feel like it's a great way to get in touch with people? What’s something that you love seeing on here?)

Tumblr is soothing. Other online communities, not so much. I have gotten bullied, cyberattacked, stolen from, and had trouble with employment because of online hijinks based on Gossip and “Mean-Girling”. People who are stressed out and have a reputation to uphold lash out at people who are viewed as a threat (for whatever reason). We, as netizens, know that the whole “Bro Culture” thing can be toxic. I experienced gossip on steroids that resulted in financial loss, illness, and loss of employment. Hard to prove. However, finding and creating healthy spaces online that encourage creativity and sharing is possible. Some of my favorite supportive communities are Github, Quora, and Deviant Art. If you know of any, share a link in my comments.

Day 20- What are three things that inspire you?

Music. I love deep lyrics and heavy percussion and bass. My journal entries. I love reading what I'm actually thinking (same with Vlogs). People-watching. You learn a lot about what matters watching our interactions silently.

Day 21- Share a quote that speaks to you.

“He who fears he will suffer already suffers because he fears.”

— Michel De Montaigne.

Day 22- What’s your comfort food/ comfort routine for sad days?

Peanut Butter and Jelly with a tall glass of cow milk.

Day 23- What’s some random miscellaneous piece of information that you just happen to know?

Kirk Hammett of Metallica met his wife while a film, jazz, and Asian studies student at SFU in CA.

Day 24- Share with us your favorite word (it can be in any language).

Pus. It's the Swedish word for Kiss. Bra, also Swedish, means good.

Day 25- Tag someone who has great text posts

@adrienne-fh

Day 26- What has been your best zoomester experience so far?

I can’t say which. This is pretty nice.

Day 27- If you’re about to graduate, what’s something that you’ll miss from school? If you aren’t about to graduate, tell us something you really love about school.

I enjoy reading and understanding difficult concepts. What a joy after a few hours of reading to finally understand!

Day 28- Spill the tea about the things that you’ve done during the zoomester (Online shopping, courses taken, any hobby)

I’ve doodled. I’ve zoned out. I’ve watched Twitch.

Day 29- Quick! Name your own aesthetic! or alternatively, what’s an aesthetic you’d like to try out?

Romanti-goth, Vamp, Cyber Punk (kinda). Pinup.

Day 30- What’s the best advice someone has given you?

Fake it till you make it. Show up and never give up. Burn your boats!

Day 31- Send three people some uplifting messages!

@ava-embers Write more sexy stuff doll face.

@studyingwhilepsychotic smooches to my soul sister. Rage on wild child.

@twitchb-tch Shut up! You are too cute. You guys rock!

#zoomester studyblr challenge #studyblr #positive mental attitude #career #education #mental health #fibromyalgia

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