#it's the brute force vs intelligence and strategy to me

[julietasgf]

crassus and strabo are just ares vs athena when you stop to think abt it

[the-pjo-analyst]

Chapter 20 - I Battle My Jerk Relative

Theme of the day: War

Y’all I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna finish these last few chapters before the tv show comes out!! This year really didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to go but by the gods I’ll have at least one goal done no matter how skewed it got 😅 I was really like I’ll be able to read all the Olympus series in a year sjkdfhsd shit happens.

On to the chapter, “war” seems a bit self explanatory since this is when Percy confronts Ares. While Ares isn’t the one to have formed the idea of pitting the Big Three against each other, but he’s enticed by the idea of WWIII, a three-way war. Luke was lucky that it was Ares who caught him, since he probably was the easiest of the Olympians to manipulate (like hey... you could turn me in or you could let me go and start a giant war 😏). It really was a brilliant plan, as I said in my last chapter post, because it takes advantage of the Olympians’ weaknesses and paranoia. And the only way for it to go wrong was for a child to complete his quest against all odds despite having to 1) trek across the country, 2) face countless monsters, 3) thwart trickery from evil masterminds, and 4) trek across the country again. Percy really had very low chances to make it out alive. But he also lives off of spite and proving people wrong lol.

It’s interesting how each pjo book up until the final one is about Percy delaying a war in some way (kinda a theme with Riordan’s books lmao). The start of the chapter shows the beginnings of war with Hades’ army starting to rise up from the Underworld, causing massive earthquakes and fires and general chaos. Like a harbinger of a greater battle. In the immediate sense, it’s a taste of what could happen if an Olympic civil war occurs, but it’s also a bit of foreshadowing to the actual war that will take place in the future. Just like this whole book, it’s setting up what’s to come.

Continuing on that theme, Percy’s battle with Ares really culminates everything he’s learned on how to fight so far, and it sets the stage for what the readers should expect the rest of his battles to go in the series. It makes me think of the final climax of The Last Olympian, how Percy chooses to use his brain and his heart rather than his brawn against Luke, because those are the things that truly matter in the end. In this case, while Percy does use his strength and demigod powers, the reason he wins against Ares is because he uses his intelligence. It really correlates his battle with Echidna, since at that point he didn’t have enough experience to fight with more than just instincts. Actually since St. Louis, Percy has had to rely on his brain when confronting enemies, maybe that encounter influenced him to do that more. And with Ares, he finds that just his instincts doesn’t cut it. He forms a strategy vs Ares’ brute force. Percy even remembers Annabeth’s words from an earlier chapter: “Ares has strength. That’s all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes.” Like the old saying, the pen is mightier than the sword! Which is really ironic in this context lmao. Speaking of irony, it’s funny how Luke’s advice on how to sword fight helps Percy in his battle. The very man behind the robbery and evil plot being a reason Percy survives this quest lol. I know it’s addressed in hoo, but it’s strange how Ares is all brute force and no strategy, because the latter is such a huge part of war?? And it’s not like the ancient Greeks didn’t use strategy in their battles. But ig that’s what Athena is for 🤔

Other ways war and its effects is sprinkled in the chapter without an actual war in bullets bc I’m too tired to fully analyze these very sad things:

Percy mourning losing his mom (again)

Percy compartmentalizing his grief to focus on his mission

Despite winning his battle, Percy not feeling very victorious but instead feeling drained bc there’s no true winner for those in a war

Moving on to something a bit opposite, I can’t not talk about Annabeth giving Percy her camp necklace. Two people, potential enemies, reconciling as Annabeth says. The act is a physical symbol of Annabeth’s words from ch 16 (moreso than the oreos lol). She’s showing how she’s truly on Percy’s side, setting aside an ancient rivalry. In the face of war, Annabeth will fight with Percy and not against him. Kinda mirrors their moment in Blood of Olympus under the Parthenon doesn’t it? 🥹💖

Small things:

Can you believe a child taunted a literal god and the god fell for it

Like Ares could’ve been you’re beneath me and let him feel the wrath of Hades but instead he was like y’know what Ima fight this kid. he called me a coward.

Percy attributes his ability to observe things with his ADHD so ig that is a demigod trait. But he is extremely good at it.

Previous: Chapter 19 - We Find Out the Truth, Sort Of

Next: Chapter 21 - I Settle My Tab

[yourdesertsunflower]

Chunin Exams: Shikamaru vs. Temari

So this will be long, so be ready for some deep diving. I’d been thinking this for quite a while so let’s go. 

One of my favorite Chunin Exams’s match has to be Shikamaru vs. Temari. This may not be much of a surprise for any of you, but maybe the reason why it is between my top 3 will surprise more than one. 

Obviously the ship factor made me like this battle even more, but it’s not even a primary or secondary reason for why I love this match. This battle stands out to me as being one of the most truthful ninja fights of the whole arc. Why? Because a ninja fight, as Kakashi would day during the Zabuza’s arc is about always plotting, to know when to do certain thing, to know when to not to do them and just hide and to work with the tools you have. 

It’s a battle were the brains out beats the brute force, where the strength is the last resource and the strategy primes as the best thing a ninja can have. It about deciphering our opponent, carrying out the best strategy and ensuring the win as much as possible and both Shikamaru and Temari excel at being this masterminds. They make the most out of their battle and, in my opinion, they both shine through as not only capable but highly advanced strategists, specially for their short age. 

That’s why when I hear people going like “No, she’s not.” when Asuma says that Temari she is bright and that she thinks like Shikamaru (she thinks ahead) or say that “Shikamaru could have easily beat Temari if he wasn’t that lazy” I just feel like crying. 

However, it’s not people’s fault after all. The direction of the match in both the anime and the manga makes Shikamaru’s strategy the wow factor. I am not saying his tactic is not genius, I would be pretty lame if I said that, nor that Shikamaru is not more intelligent than Temari (He is the most brilliant person of his generation, specially when it comes to strategy) and he deserved the recognition because the tactic he carried through was slick af. It’s one of the many reason why Shikamaru is my absolute favorite character in Naruto (I love him so much). 

However, I think that Shikamaru’s genius shouldn’t by any means diminish Temari’s wit. Because she was also delivering quite a good fight, she was a good match for Shikamaru (which ain’t easy) and (I personally think) had a pretty accurate strategy. 

So, I gave myself the job of being Temari’s Asuma and explain in full detail what I think, through my reading, was Temari’s strategy. Because my girl deserves more recognition. She is a strategist and a really good one.

1. Context

One thing I think it’s important to mention before anything is the context of the match. 

If we come to think about it, it wouldn’t be that far-fetched to say that Temari couldn’t waste that much chakra nor show new abilities in her fight against Shikamaru. Let’s remember that the Sand only participated in the Chunin Exams because of the attack, to execute the Konoha Crush. A plan for which the Sand Siblings, specially Gaara, were crucial. Even we get to see Kankuro forfeiting of his fight against Shino in order to keep his techniques a secret and wait for the time to make the move. 

However Temari didn’t had the same luck. It would be suspicious if the two of them just gave up. My reading of the situation is that actually neither of them expected to fight their respective matches as Gaara’s match against Sasuke was before theirs. Still, if someone had to fight Temari knew that would be her because, 

a. Kankuro was against Shino who had shown to be a beast, and hence, it was more likely that he would have to use higher tier attacks. 

b. Temari showed to be quite confident of her skills and Shikamaru, though he had shown to be intelligent (not to the extent of this match but intelligent nonetheless) he was the weakest of the finalist in terms of raw strength. 

So, Temari had to be the one to fight. Otherwise the plan would fall apart, and although she wasn’t sure about attacking from the start, she was extremely loyal to her village and would never do something to hurt it. However she couldn’t be imprudent, hence, she didn’t had to waste that much chakra in order not to tire herself that much and couldn’t show new wind style techniques as that would only weaken the surprise effect this might have (let’s remember she was in a stadium filled with highly capable Shinobi, Chunin and Jonin Level)

But although she couldn’t be imprudent, she also couldn’t let herself be defeated. After all, she is Temari. She had figure out a way to win despite the limitations she had which brings us to the fight itself. 

2. First Movement: Gaining Information

The first thing Temari knows is that she needs some information about the match and the rival so she starts off by trying to get an action or a least a reaction from Shikamaru, which proved to be quite draining due to his usual unmotivated behavior. 

The frontal and direct attacks of Temari at the beginning of the match serve that purpose. 

Unlike her match against Tenten, where she could just start of in complete defensiveness she quickly realized that that wouldn’t work with Shikamaru. I am pretty sure Temari is one of those fighters who don’t like to make the first move but to wait and recollect information from her adversaries (after all i  her battle against Tenten, in which she always seemed comfortable she did just that) but as she knew that couldn’t be the case as while Tenten is someone active, Shikamaru is more of reactive fighter she just attacked to get the necessary information to use with her previous knowledge (which I’ll also proceed to explain) to plan a strategy. 

She knew from Shikamaru’s fight against Kin (the sound ninja) that it was quite likely that the Shadow Posession Jutsu had: 

a. A range 

b. Short duration spam. 

c. Wasted to much chakra. 

After all, Shikamaru was always shown to be pretty cautious about how and when he used it. That’s why the jutsu doesn’t seem much of a threat at the beginning as if she could manage to identify the range of his jutsu she could just stay away from it and make him waste chakra. 

If to that we add that Shikamaru’s reaction was to hide she also gained a panorama of how the fight will be like. It’ll most likely be a long-lasting battle based more in indirect attacks and meticulously planning than in strength. 

This seemed to match quite well, which justifies Temari’s smile as Shikamaru hides. At first glance stretching out the duration of the battle and fighting long-range was just perfect for her as she could save as much chakra as possible, dodging the attacks of Shikamaru while making him waste as much chakra as possible. 

Hence, although Temari was overconfident (aspect I’ll talk about in more detail later) she had a reason to be so. She had a fairly strong plan,and everything seemed to be falling in the right place. 

2. Identifying the Range and the Sun

The first attacks of Shikamaru just seem to work on perfectly for Temari as she achieves to find out her shadow range, a jaw-dropping fifteen meters thirty-two centimetres (like she is also a mathematician in her own right). 

It’s then when Shikamaru shows her that there was one factor she hadn’t thought about before: the sun. When the shadow reaches a longer distance than it had already done she quickly deduces that as the sun sets the shadow of the wall was getting larger, hence elongating the shadow making his range bigger. 

And Temari quickly adapts to the situation working out several plans she could use. She decides the better was keeping up with the angle and the direction from which the sun is hitting the wall and the growth in his shadow in order to be able to calculate an equation that would keep him away from his shadow. 

This is good because while some may just freak out and try to use brute force to finish it, as seemingly stretching the match no longer holds any sense, Temari takes her time to think and finds a way to use her skills and knowledge in battle. This is no easy task, as we see that a lot of highly talented shinobis on paper had a tough time in practice. But she is so great that she comes up with a way that doesn’t directly throws the entire plan she had come up with to the trash. 

3. Surprise Attack 

Well I got to say this. I don’t like that Kankuro warns Temari about Shikamaru’s  home-made parachute because I easily think that she could have realized by herself. She had shown all through the battle to have great observational skills and to be quite focused so I think that Kishimoto could have easily come up with that. 

Still, I understand that Kishomoto through this fight tries to justify that Shikamaru was the one that would become a Chunin, so nerfing Temari isn’t the worst thing out of all. I don’t like it but isn’t that bad if we take into consideration the other thingd that were done in the manga. 

However is through her ability to dodge this attack we get Asuma’s and Shikamaru’s reaction and recognition of Temari’s skills. She is a really good shinobi, quick, intelligent and competent. 

Yes, Shikamaru had just gotten her in the position she wanted but what he said he truly meant it, which means a lot given his chauvinistic behavior at the begging of Naruto. She is fast learner, she is capable to dodge attacks that no regular genin could or as Shikamaru said in Naruto Ninja Storm 4 (yes, I usually hate most of the scenes in this game but this one ShikaTema scene was so sport on) that she was the first person of his age to be able dodge that many attacks from him, which leaves me to another point. 

4. Moves Ahead

It’s almost a meme that Shikamaru has a 200 IQ and that he is 200 moves ahead everyone else but what I really think that people don’t understand is that for Shikamaru each an everyone of those moves, from the first one to the the two hundred, could be the last one. When Shikamaru plans out a strategy he may use some moves that are feints but those feints may also work to end the match to less skilled rivals. Each move works as an individual move as part of a whole. That is other level, is genius. Prove of the overtly exaggerated 200 IQ, almost everyone could seem dumb beside him.

However, the complexity of the strategy he used against Temari shows us that how knew that he needed to come up with something good in order to be able to beat her. She wouldn’t fall for something straightfoward because she showed to be several steps ahead also. 

She had shown to easily decipher his jutsu’s range, she had found elements that could have served him as an advantage and she had been skillful enough to move around the field avoiding his jutsu with ease. And he knows that because 

a. He had seen it, 

b. She had told it to him, which I think was one of the biggest mistakes of Temari derived from her over-confidence.

That’s why his plan had to be slick in order to win which brings up the end of the match. 

5. Checkmate

After seeing that Shikamaru’s shadow range was almost unlimited and that her chances of measuring it were incredibly low she then decides to end it once and for all because; 

a. If she extended the match much longer it was almost inevitable that she will end up being caught by his shadow paralysis jutsu 

b. She couldn’t risk to waste a lot of chakra since, I have already mentioned, it was indispensable she was in good conditions for the Konoha Crush. 

But it’s interesting the movement she plans out in order to beat Shikamaru since it shows that she is very aware of her own tools and abilities and of the abilities of her rival. One clone will take the attention of him, falling in his shadows paralysis while she just bluntly beat him with her crushing wind style. Fairly simple, but also extremely effective. 

When Shikamaru caught her and shows her his strategy Temari quickly understands what he had done. She had underestimated both his jutsu and his mind and that added with her over-confidence in her analysis was what gave Shikamaru the necessary information to caught her. 

She is genuinely surprised as the rest of the crowd but they are even more when he gives up. 

That was just a masterful decision of Kishimoto, I got to give him that, because it not only make Shikamaru be cool af for the audience, but also for two things that are lest often touched upon: 

a. In terms of Shikamaru it showed the genius he is, the smartest person of his generation by far, capable of examining the situation and choose the best option to execute. He was running out of chakra while his rival was safe and sound. In a real life mission the best option is retreat, and that’s what he does. This is shows to Temari than he and Shikamaru are actually much more alike than she had thought. They both are rational thinkers, who measure cons and pros and are able to come up with a logical analysis but they are also pretty conscious of themselves and others. That’s what Asuma means when he says they think alike, that why they always seem to work along together despite their seemingly clashing personalities. 

b. In terms of Temari she gets the bittersweet victory. She archived what she wanted, making him run out of chakra, but not how she wanted to do so. It is deserved and undeserved at the same time which conflicts her. If the battle had continued it was more than likely she had won as she wanted to but it didn’t which let her thinking that, if he could he could have easily beat her even though he states that not to be the reason. After all he had clearly outsmarted her, and that was what was the most important for her, despite her win was deserved in my opinion (not because she was more intelligent than him, because no one really is, but because, at the end, she managed with her wit and talent to make it impossible for him to continue). She thinks that her over-confidence and her analysis which she prides of, was the thing that took her down and that it’s quite important for her character and her relationships with others. We’ll get to see how this affected her in her following appearances, when we get to see her when she goes to fight against Tayuya she carefully listens to Shikamaru’s analysis, although at the end she decides to do it her way (an nails it), her decision was derived from her listing to his words and all he got to say. 

At the end Temari will always be her wonderful confident self (that’s only another reason to love her) but after this match she shows to be more cautious when underestimating her rivals, however you shouldn’t dare underestimate her. 

Because she is a f***ing boss.   

[chibimyumi]

Hi Myumi chan, I adore your analysis! I'd like to know more about Japanese fandom if possible. Like you said, language shapes our thought, maybe you guys understand better the intention of author thanks to the same culture. For example, which character do you think tends to be the strongest till now? I used to think yana deliberately makes Sebastian stronger than others cause he's the main character and a supernatural. But now I notice that he might be less intelligent than Undertaker...

Hi Anon-san/dono/sama/chin/han/kun/tan/rin (okay okay sorry, I just didn’t know how to address you), thank you for your sweet words! 💖

I wouldn’t say Japanese speakers necessarily understand Kuroshitsuji better, as the story is not based on Japanese culture. It is merely that nuances might be missed. The only times that the non-Japanese audience had a very clear disadvantage were caused by translation error, e.g. Grell’s gender, Frances referring to Lizzie who would protect O!Ciel (not the way around) in the Campania arc, and the translation error in the earliest chapters that made definite alluding towards O!Ciel being an only child.

Strongest Character

As for who the strongest character is; I would say it is Undertaker (for now), who managed to almost effortlessly injure Sebastian fatally. I don’t think this is interpretation based, however; when the scythe hit Sebastian, he basically screamed the same “f*ck my life” in every language version.

Brute Force vs Strategy

I would not necessarily say that Sebastian is less intelligent than Undertaker. We don’t really know actually.

Yes, as canonically stated, Sebastian is a muscle brain; this however does not mean he is not hyper-intelligent per se. It only means that Sebastian tends to opt for brute strength before he approaches something purely based on intellect/strategy.

Sebas is an incredibly strong demon and very full of himself. I don’t think he has had much experience with not being able to solve a problem with brute force in the human world. And in the manga, he had not run into many occasions where he needed to crack his brain too much, until he ran into Undertaker.

We can see in chapter 102 how Sebastian went straight at the tank without much thinking, and seemed rather surprised that his demon-kick Was Not Very Effective™! Only after his brute-force-attack didn’t seem to do the job, did Sebas realise he might have to approach this problem with a bit more brain.

In this post I wrote about how I think Sebas might have severely underestimated Undertaker the first time he engaged him in battle. Sebas had experience with fighting reapers before; first time against Grell, and the second time a “sparring-match” with Ronald. Both had been more or less successful, and as Sebas had apparently never encountered reapers (on Earth) in his life, Grell and Ronald might have been his only reference to the strength of reapers as a species. It is no surprise then that he might have expected Undertaker to be approximately the same level.

Until the Campania arc, Sebas did not even realise Undertaker was a reaper, let alone an overpowered maniac.Unlike Sebas however, Undertaker did have some estimate of his enemy, and he was therefore prepared.

I was talking with @akumadeshitsumon, and they kindly pointed out to me that Sebas had two other major disadvantages, namely that 1. Sebas was obliged to take Undertaker alive, which left him with only so many options he is normally used to, and 2. He had to do so while protecting a fragile human being.

Intellect

The latest check played against O!Ciel and Sebastian was a brilliant move indeed; it is probable that Undertaker was the mastermind behind these moves, but we are not sure whether he came up with all of this himself. R!Ciel has been established as a genius himself as well, and we know that he has been awake for just long enough to help plotting the big move.

In contrast to Undertaker, Sebastian is not a full authority of his own; he is his master’s pawn and sword. He functions more or less like a shadow king; he can manipulate his master, but he cannot make any decisive moves on his own, unlike Undertaker. Additionally, so far in the manga, Sebas and O!Ciel were never given the chance to causally sit at the drawing table and plot their moves. They have both been forced to act on the spot, unlike Undertaker who might have had years to carefully plan his moves.

Until Sebas is given a chance to be more than a pawn and plan the strategies himself, we will not be able to objectively see who the more intelligent person is.

[krinsbez]

My Transformers Fancon: Decepticon High Command, Part III

-Tarn of Nyon commands the Decepticon Secret Police, in charge of stomping out internal dissent, and personally leads the DSP's elite Justice Division, which hunts down and brutally kills defectors. As demonstrated by his renaming himself after Megatron's hometown and having his face remade into the Decepticon logo, no one is more loyal to Megatron and the Decepticon cause, not even Soundwave. For one, Soundwave justifies his loyalty by being deeply in denial about the monsters they've turned into, whereas Tarn has no such illusions, and is fanatically devoted anyways. Soundwave also has his own ambitions, whereas Tarn genuinely cares for nothing but seeing Megatron's will be done. Not having realized that Megatron views this slavish devotion with contempt, Tarn is completely baffled why Megatron values Soundwave more than him, and subsequently hates the Intelligence chief with the intensity of a supernova. The only person he hates more is Starscream, who routinely attempts to betray Megatron and yet somehow remains second-in-command. Depsite his attempts not to show his true feelings to his superiors, they're both well aware of it; Soundwave ignores it, except when he needs to manipulate the DSP commander, whereas Starscream finds Tarn's impotent rage hilarious and makes a point of provoking him for kicks. -Thunderwing of Iacon is the newest member of High Command. Powerful, skilled, brilliant and charismatic, he led his Mayhem Attack Squad to some of the Decepticons' greatest victories. He came up with Pretender shells (though the tech was perfected by Shockwave and Tarantulas). He has never shown the slightest hint of disloyalty. He is the only member of High Command that Megatron worries about; everyone else, Megs has a bead on, is totally confident he can take on, or both. Thunderwing, however, is a complete enigma, and is every bit as badass as Megatron. For this reason, Megatron took the unusual step of assigning one of the Megacons, Bludgeon, to serve under Thunderwing and thus keep an eye on him.

-Tyrannitron of the Sector 4/6.4-K Campaign is the youngest member of Decepticon High Command, having been born only a few million years ago (you can tell he's warborn because his name refers to his first battle rather than his place of birth). A brilliant strategist and tactician, and an equally adept personal manipulator, Tyrannitron is the commander of the Decepticon Battle Fleet. While he has shown himself quite capable of commanding troops in the field as he is ships in space, he ever commanded Vehicon drones planetside. This because, while a Point-One-Percenter like his parent Archforce (to whom he bears a striking resemblance) and thus able to punch far above his weight-class, he is a Mini-Con. Given the might-makes-right philosophy of the Decepticons, this would mean that, where he to lead ordinary troops, he would face constant challenges to prove his fitness to lead, which while he is confident of winning said challenges (again, Point-One-Percenter), he doesn't have the patience. On the upside, it also meant that, unlike, say, Thunderwing, he has managed to avoid setting off the suspicions of Megatron and his inner circle.

(thanks to @cirex101 for helping me with the next three)

Jhiaxus: Second best.  That is the phrase that most Decepticons, and even some Autobots, would describe Jhiaxus, a brilliant scientist.  Second best to Shockwave.  Jhiaxus knows this what his peers think of him, and it infuriates and drives him in equal measure.  In order to escape from under SHockwave's shadow he revolutionized the Decepticon's budding system, creating legions of warriors almost overnight.  However, these warrioers are little more than cheap cannon fodder for the Decepticon cause, and have a shorter life expectancy on the battlefield compared to the older Decpticon warriors, earning them the derisive nickname "Genericons".  At the urging of Shockwave, Megatron assigned the Genericon legions to mere garrison duties, or to throw them at Autobot defenses whenever Megatron needs to distract the Bots from his true objective.  This ignoble fate to what was once his crowning achievement only spurs Jhiaxus to improve upon his designs, upgrading the Genericons, an creating even more horrible monstrosities in his lab.

Currently, Jhiaxus is in command of ‘Con controlled Cybertron

Onslaught: A decorated veteran officer of the Primal Vanguard, Onslaught left that prestigious institution in defiance of Functionism's, and by extension, Senator Proteus', growing power on Cybertron.  Onslaught signed on with the Decepticon movement, and used his military knowhow to win several victories during the Functionist revolt.  Onslaught and his elite team, the Combaticons, were responsible for several daring raids into Autobot held territory, and gained a reputation for planning almost every outcome.  However, the old saying, "No plan survives contact with the enemy", rings true, and although he plans for almost anything, Onslaught cannot plan for every eventuality, and if enough things go wrong, will lose his cool and resort to simply blowing the slag out of the enemy.   This deficiency prevents Onslaught from moving up in the Decepticon Hierarchy, but he doesn't let it show on the surface, and is liable to kill anyone who attempts to taunt him. 

Razorclaw: While Onslaught plans ahead of the battle, Razorclaw makes his plans durring the middle of battle.  His ability to take the unexpected with a clear, cool head makes Razorclaw's Predacons one of the fiercest squads in the entire Decepticon war machine.  Emotionless almost to Shockwave's level, Razorclaw was a gladiator, but he and his team operated in Vos, and as such never met Megatron in the arena.  However, he had heard of Megatron, and pledged his loyalty to him at the onset of the Functionist Revolt, ruthlessly hunting down Proteus' supporters with a silent enthusiasm that was as unnerving as it was effective.   Razorclaw is straightforward, and doesn't seek advancment in the ranks, seemingly content in his current position.  Some see this as laziness, but if you look beneath his contentment, you will see that Razorclaw is one of the most dangerous Decepticons because of this; he cannot be bought, bribed, intimidated, cajoled, or manipulated.  All that matters to him is the hunt, and many an unfortunate Con that got on his badside became the prey. 

BTW, something I tried to indicate but I'm not sure came through. There were two kinds of gladiatorial combat on Cybertron prior to the Great War, Arena Games, which were legal, restricted to trained gladiators, and had strict rules to minimize lethality, and Pit Fights, which were illegal, anyone can have a go, and the only rules are to put on a good show and try not to kill the audience. Mind, given how much punishment TFs can take, Pit Fights aren't that much more brutal or lethal than Arena Games. The real appeal of the Pit Fights is in their unpredictability; you can see a master of Metallikato go up against some big guy with a rocket punch, see a Beast-former take on a Tank, or who knows what.

Anyways, Razorclaw was an Arena Gladiator, because (as SB and SV poster Q99 put it...)

Razorclaw is a smart fighter, and he loves outfighting his opponents. Arena Fighters are almost all trained combatants at the upper levels, of the type he loves defeating, so once he's in the upper ranks his foes are almost all high-quality... though still not a match for him. Pit Fighters, you're more likely to see foes rely on raw power or a gimmick, and while he respects the more skilled fighters there, he doesn't want to waste time with the 'chaff' who got in because they happen to be a tank or such, or deal with silly 'three lesser bots vs one champ' matches, and as pit fighters are less regimented even good fighters there spend more time dealing with that kind of thing.

Which adds a bit of tension because Megatron and half of High Command were Kaonian Pit Fighters, so naturally they're going to think poorly of a Vosian Arena Gladiator. BTW, speaking of raw power versus skill, I imagine that... -Megatron, of course, is both hella powerful and crazy skilled

-Thunderwing is as well.

-Shockwave is actually a terrible fighter but makes up for her lack of skill with raw power.

-Starscream is the opposite; physically the weakest member of High Command, but makes up for it with skill.

-Scorponok is a beast, and he's got raw talent at fighting, but has no polish or finesse.

-Cryotek's strong, and used to be a good fighter, but he's rusty.

-Soundwave is a good mix of power and skill.

-Tyrannitron is similar, but has a fondness for trickery, head games, and such.

-Tarn is just this side of invincible, but finds brute force distasteful.

(the next three are thanks to @cirex101 again)

-Jhiaxus is unskilled, makes up for it with power, but not to the same extant as Shockwave.

-Onslaught has strength, but finesse he saves for his strategies.

-Razorclaw is both skilled and strong, but not to the same extant as Megatron, or Thunderwing.

-Dirt Boss was a scrappy little guy who always preferred to cheat. This may be one of the reasons he's dead.

Now I know what you’re thinking; Dirt Boss? You didn’t mention Dirt Boss. That’s because he’s dead, having been killed by Prowl. Before that, Dirt Boss was commander of the Combat Engineering Corps, and a member of Megatron's inner circle. Since his death, the Constructicons have resisted any attempt to appoint a permanent replacement and instead take turns holding the office. Megatron is not happy about this, but is unwilling to make an issue of it.

A few bits and bobs about Deception High Command:

-The Megacons are not technically members of High Command, but as Megatron's personal goon squad, each member holds comparable authority. In addition to the original line-up (sans Bludgeon) of Airachnid, Blackout, Thunderblast, and Lugnut, they've since added Lugnut's lover Strika, her conjunx Obsidian, and Megatron's personal medic, Scalpel. -A personality conflict I neglected to mention; while she doesn't act on it, Shockwave really doesn't like Cryotek, for reasons that should be obvious. -I haven't figured out what Tarn did before the War; I can't decide if he was also a Pit Fighter or if he did something else. What do you guys think?

-In addition to Shockwave and Tarantulas, a surprising number of the top Decepticons have science backgrounds (thanks to SVer KageX)

For Starscream since he was leader of the Exploration Corps perhaps his expertise lies not in the lab developing new weapons but in "surveying" areas and coming up with ways to exploit resources as well as how to survive in them. Think of the difference between a Geologist and a Chemist. Yes there is some overlap, but they focus on different areas of application. Starscream focuses on planning "field operations" and harvesting resources in his area of scientific expertise. He would know how to fix a shuttle, but it would not be his area of expertise, just something he picked up along the way as he was exploring distant areas of the universe. It would also explain his slippery nature, as this job would likely involve meeting with and negotiating with Alien Races. So Starscream became quite good at "negotiations" and other political endeavors.

- Shockwave is a polymath who is a master of all fields of hard science. Jhiaxus is more specialized; he does cybergenetics, mechanobiology, electronics, etc. but if you ask him about astrophysics or climatology, he's got nothing. Scorponok is interested in organic biology, but doesn't advertise this, since your average 'Con is at best apathetic about organics, and many actively hate 'em. Thunderwing is a dabbler; he reads scientific journals*, and will periodically come up with a clever idea, but doesn't really pursue the sciences.

-How Thunderwing came up with Pretender Shells: after conquering a particular planet, he made a point of studying their tech base, realized that some of their tech could be combined with Cybertronian tech to do something interesting, and sent Shockwave a memo. Shockwave agreed he was onto something, and she and Tarantulas made something out of it.

[knightofbalance-13]

Never seen the Simpsons have you?

http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/176715386180/one-last-rwde-post-before-i-move-my-rwde-stuffs

The problem with the rushed means of getting to the fall of Beacon.

Dudeblade, I swear to god if you say ‘make them do a One Piece’, I am gonna flip.

“You’re moving shop, huh? Can I ask why?”

Well, Stan, I’ll answer that when I get there. But for now, I just want to talk about why rushing to get to the fall of Beacon was a bad choice.

You know the drill Stan, let me take over.

Ahem-

More like “Why would you ditch the one thing anyone listens to you for?”

“Wait! I want to take a guess as to why! It’s because there wasn’t enough time developing the world and the relationships between characters, right?”

Yep. Like I said in a previous post, the big problem with Pyrrha’s death was the lack of characters that could be affected by her death. Due to this, Pyrrha’s death doesn’t quite hit as hard as most other deaths would.

More like-

“Because it’s something to bitch at the creators isn’t  it?”

“I see. Can you provide an example?”

Well, take Dragonball for example. The original series. Where Krillin dies.

We had journeyed with Krillin, and gotten to know him. He bonded with Goku, Master Roshi, and several other characters. We saw his relationship with Goku go from a rivalry to a genuine friendship between the two.

So when Krillin dies, Goku’s rage is all the more tangible. This wasn’t during the Z era either. Death wasn’t as cheap as it is now. We can feel the rage and sorrow that Goku felt when he went on his rampage.

Or take Pokémon: Mystery Dungeon. In almost all of those games, your player character ends up disappearing. It’s always a heart-wrenching scene. We saw this character grow from a confused human trying to figure out what was going on, to a proud and strong explorer who helped to save the world.

So your partner’s sadness is super relatable. You feel for his sorrow, and even in the fifth installment, where you’re on the other side of the disappearing into light trope, it’s still as heart-wrenching as it always is.

Due to Pyrrha’s lack of development with the rest of the cast, it’s hard to really feel for her when she died. And jaune just up and takes her stuff to upgrade himself. Pyrrha wasn’t just being treated as a prop. She was treated as jaune’s prop.

...

Dudeblade, you’re own examples backfire on you.

Let’s start with the Mystery Dunegon one since that one is the lesser of the two. No, people aren’t related to the parent because of that. We do it because we understand the pain and sorrow of losing someone close to us. And the thing is, if anything, we feel because of the PARTNER character. Really, I couldn’t care less what happened to my guy afterward considering he was being jerked around by me all the time.

Now for the big one:

Namek.

Remember THAT arc Dudeblade? The one where Krillin dies a second time? Thing is, that death is widely considered to be the more powerful of the two due to the struggles and the long ass battle against Freeza as well as the cruelty of Krillin’s death. That is why Goku’s rage is so potent there and why the first Super Saiyan transformation is the most iconic and well executed.

What’s my point in all this?

If you can’t even get your examples, why should we listen to you about a show you will constantly LIE about? Especially since you are comparing Dragon Ball and Pokémon, two juggernauts of human culture, to fucking RWBY, which will be at best a footnote.

Also, P.S. No one else sees Pyrrha as a prop except you people. Kind of goes to show how reductive your thinking is.

“Okay, what about the world though?”

The world is also hard to get attached to. We don’t really explore it. We get infodumps courtesy of the World of Remnant shorts. The little side-series that was made to explain things in the show that the show couldn’t explain by itself.

So is a shit ton of fantasy novels, including fucking Lord of the Rings. Your argument does not work. You don’t get attached to it because that requires some form of basic empathy.

“Well, don’t other series do that too?”

In a sense of things like stats, yes. But it’s like getting a travel brochure from a guy who probably doesn’t know what they’re talking about. At least, when Qrow is doing the narrating. When it’s Ozpin or Salem, there’s a bit of the Unreliable Narrator trope coming into play. We don’t know if the narrator for the Aura WoR was accurate or not, and considering that it said that aura was a passive shield only for the writers to say that you have to actively put it up in volume 5, it’s unlikely that it actually is.

And let me say something else: While yes, it is a smart move to have a character voice their opinions about a place, event, or other aspect of their world- that only applies for character development. In the scenario of wanting to inform the audience, that tactic fails. Take the episodes where Qrow takes over. He provides biased information, and isn’t exactly eloquent or decent information about the things he talks about. He says that a lizard faunus once grew back their tail, but how do we know he wasn’t drunk if/when that happened?

A. That doesn’t disprove anything dumbass. Why would Salem be lying or Ozpin lying? Hell, have either of those two every lied on screen?

B. PASSIVE does not equal SUBCONSCIOUS Dudeblade. I happen to know you are aware of this because you ARGUED this with the Tifa Vs. Yang death battle.

C. What bias is that? I don’t see any reason for Qrow, someone who is KNOWN for brute honesty, to lie or sugarcoat things.

And D. He said he needed a drink AFTERWARDSk, implying he was sober. For someone who claims to be criticial, you seem to miss a lot of little things.

“I see. So these episodes fail at building the world. How do you think it could have been fixed?”

Well, I remember a post that talked about how since the main characters are in a school, they could have done a report on dust to explain it. With Ruby talking about the combat uses, Weiss talking about how it’s mined, Blake talking about how the miners are treated (possibly having points deducted because the point was to research dust, not the workers), and Yang talking about practical uses.- Those aren’t necessarily the ideas reflected in the post I linked to, but I’d think that it would be interesting.

Using a similar idea, they could have also had done the same thing with grimm. With Ruby talking about certain weak points, Weiss talking about certain types, Blake talking about how they function, and Yang providing information on whatever the others missed.

Yeah as I have said:

A. That implies that Beacon’s school system is so fucked up that Beacon students are taught BASIC KNOWLEDGE. As in, shit JAUNE knew.

And B. There isn’t enough time or money. Unless YOU are gonna fund all that extra time out of your own pocket, why should they focus on that and not, say, deliver it to the audience in a cheaper, more entertaining way that doesn’t insult the intelligence of the audience?

“You seem to think that Yang is really smart. Do you want to elaborate on that, or…”

I’ll elaborate enough to point out why Yang is more informative here. She’s smarter than she looks. See, Ruby had to be skipped ahead two years, Weiss had tutors, Blake had to take the entrance exam, jaune cheated his way in, Nora also took the entrance exam, Pyrrha had fame and fortune, and Ren had to do the same as Nora.

See, Raven mentioned an entrance exam. Since she didn’t go to any combat schools of the sort, we can figure out that the entrance exam is there for people who didn’t attend a combat school. This means that Yang is literally the only one of her friends to make it into Beacon the normal way. By studying. I addressed this in a different post of mine actually. In fact, Yang’s grades and study habits are the only ones not to be a plot point (Addressed in this post that I have reblogged). Yang is smart. She could have also had done a project where she talks about the criminal underground, since she has an informant in the form of Junior. She provides some neat (and somber) exposition about Mountain Glenn. She’s a native to Vale. Why not explore the city near Beacon with her?- She could bring her friends too. It’s real easy to hate a character when she isn’t just a pretty face that’s funny apparently.

Yeah and considering you think Jaune is literally retarded and somehow passed himself off as having done it, it must not be hard by your logic.

Also, good job being smart. Bumrushing all your opponents without any strategy or tactic then ‘brute force’, even when one of your opponents will obviously kick your ass. Being smart requires you to actually USE those smarts, hence why I don’t think either one of is particularly smart.

And if you like Yang as who she is, why do you try to scope out anything that you think is like you? Because you don’t actually think Yang is smart, you think YOU’RE smart and Yang is basically the self insert you want.

Oh and this has nothing to do with the subject at hand. So uh, good job getting off topic.

“I have a feeling that Yang being treated as a dumb blonde is a sore spot for you.”

I said in a previous post that I see a lot of myself in her… And not in that way, perverts!

Dudeblade, considering you keep recommending lesbian slave harems as good fanfics, we already know you’re a perv.

And no, no one was thinking that. We know you meant it as ‘Yang must be 100% like me and thus the world must bend to her whim and anything that doesn’t is wrong because she’s my self insert.’

And again, off topic.

So when people insult a character, and reduce them to the baseline character traits, it becomes infuriating.

Blake isn’t a coward for leaving!- She did what anyone else in her position would do!

You mean like say, reducing a father figure down to a single joke?

Or perhaps an honest and well meaning but clumsy guy into a cardboard cutout?

Funny how you do the exact same thing you say is infuriating and yet act like it’s totally irrational.

And let’s get a counter going.

Off Topic: 3

“Dude! You’re getting off-track!- Remember. This is a post about how the worldbuilding was too rushed to make people care about the world.”

Right… Thanks man…

Anyways, another problem with the lack of worldbuilding is well… it’s right there on the tin.

We didn’t get to explore Vale that much. And due to that, it’s hard to sympathize with the city being destroyed. Sure, I feel bad for the people there, but as for their world?- This isn’t like real life, where you can research the city that was just destroyed and feel the sorrow that the people have. Not that I need to. Since Remnant isn’t a world I live in, it’s hard to know if Vale had any historic monuments or orphanages that would make me feel bad if they were destroyed.

Dude, you think anyone gives a shit about the buildings and shit being destroyed in a distaster?

No, they give a shit about the people who are hurt and damaged by it. The fact that you do not understand that concept kind of goes to show how many hoops you’re demanding RWBY jump through.

“Just because you didn’t see them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Though I’ll admit to being disappointed at not seeing more of the city.”

While that’s true, it’s hard to figure out where they fall when it comes to faunus equality. We know that Mistral isn’t a good place from their ‘No Faunus Allowed’ sign… And the White Fang somehow not being fired upon by the Mistral Police on-sight… We can deduce from Ilia’s backstory and Weiss’ retconned racism that Atlas isn’t much better is worse.

Vacuo is arguably the best place for a faunus to stay, since the WoR states that they only care about strength… Though that’s probably iffy since Qrow probably dislikes it since their philosophy is similar to Raven’s, and maybe has a bias. Or maybe he hated it to begin with, and projected Raven’s philosophy onto it.- It’s hard to say.

A. The Fanaus were FORCED onto Menagrie.

B. Qrow LIKES Vacuo for it’s way of life, seeing as it’s based off giving respect instead of demanding it like Raven.

And C. Has it not occurred to you someone can hate a place for factual reasons?

“So thanks to his bias, his description would differ from the actual thing, right?”

In theory. The writers were never known for their cleverness.

No, you’re just know for your irrational bias. They aren’t any more clever than your average writer but you’ll bang your head on a wall until your delusions look like reality.

“But if it did, then wouldn’t some viewers get confused that Qrow’s description is different than the actual thing?”

These are the same viewers that forgot that Miles explicitly said that jaune was based on his younger self when trying to argue against the “jaune is a self-insert” accusation. Some of them anyways. I have a bit more faith in them than that.

And you people are the ones who don’t understand how fucking voice acting works AND that Miles has gone on record hating his past self AND that both Barbara and Lindsay have said similar thing yet never call Ruby or Yang self inserts (despite both being treated better by canon than Jaune.).

I have no faith in you.

“You don’t show it that often.”

I’m a pessimist and a cynic. So far, I haven’t really been given a lot of proof that they acknowledge the retcons.

The lack of characters talking about their world hurts a lot too. And since we got rushed to the Fall of Beacon, we didn’t get to hear other characters’ opinions on the matter. We didn’t get to hear Weiss talk about Atlas, we didn’t get to hear Blake talk about Menagerie, we didn’t get to hear Sun talk about Vacuo or Mistral.

Dudeblade, I’m an optimist by nature and yet you people make me reach Guts levels of cynicism. Go fuck yourself.

As for theseL

Why does it matter? Wouldn’t THESE just be as biased as Qrow and thus be a waste of time according to you? or does it not count until it’s actually done because you just want to bitch.

“To be fair, it’s hard to do that when they didn’t have the time to- Ohhhh………”

Yep. The rush to get to the ‘big overarching plot’ makes it hard to learn about the world. Like… I can easily think of a reason why Junior didn’t call the cops on Yang: It’s because he’s a guy who works with criminals, and he doesn’t want to attract any unwanted attention. It’s not that hard. It would also serve as a means to develop Yang and Junior’s relationship more as well. But no. We can’t get that development for these characters. They have to get to that ‘big overarching plot’ as soon as possible. They didn’t want to create characters, they wanted to create fighting styles. They just wanted to make cool fight scenes, and this hurts the story because that focus made it harder to relate to the characters. You have to dig deep to figure out their characters.

Okay now you’ve pissed me off.

You are blaming Miles and Kerry for MONTY’S issue! You wanted to bitch about this? should have done it about three years ago. Now there is no fucking point other than beating and abusing innocent people.

Also who the fuck cares about Yang and Junior’s relationship? You bitch about Jaune existing for more than five seconds but you want to explore to the relationship with a character that has appeared TWICE in the entire show.

And that goes to show your issue, Dudeblade. If we listen to you, we’d basically still be in Volume 1 just with a bunch of meaningless bullshit and superifical details. All because you don’t know how to write.

People tend to boil characters down to their most basic character attributes.

Ruby is innocent.

Weiss is a tsundere.

Blake is a minority.

Yang is violent.

jaune is a strategist.

Nora is bubbly.

Pyrrha likes jaune.

Ren is quiet.

No detail. No real digging. Just boiling them down to these basic character traits because the writers didn’t bother to give them actual characteristics. And when they did, they chose to put more focus on jaune instead of the characters that the show is named after.

A. *flings him a shovel* Go take that up with Monty, 

B. Dudeblade,people do that because it’s easier to write about them and understand them. My proof: Your aftermath fanfic has ONE character just with about thirty different names. You boil them all down to character traits they may not even have: You don't know what you’re talking about.

And C. most of these are wrong

Ruby is childlike

Weiss is abitch

Yang is Barbara

Jaune is pathetic

Nora is violent

Pyrrha is passive

And Ren is stotic.

Only Blake is right and that’s because you people monopolized that.

Goes to show how LITTLE you actually know about the subject.

So combine a lack of worldbuilding,

Your fault for killing WOR.

a focus on fights instead of story,

*points six feet down.*

a lack of creating actual characters,

No, just a denial of them.

and a rush to get to the ‘big overarching plot,’

Which you would bitch about if they didn’t get to it because abuse.

and you get a mess.

No Dudeblade:

When you have three people with a total of three years writing experience between them with the least experienced and worst suited person in charge, you get RWBY.

And yet you consistently fail to criticize it.

[taksynator]

Page of Light on: Light

  okay, so recently I have become a little aggravated on how the fandom interprets certain aspects. SPECIFICALLY opposite pairs. People tend to forget that every classpect is powerful in their own ways, and The class and aspect do not indicate a win in a fight. SO I wish to clarify one of the more ironically underground aspects, light. I am going to organize this in terms of, why the aspect is powerful, why people thought otherwise, and how this aspect can be used to topple other “Powerful” aspects.   So Light; The aspect of Relevance (Which comes into play through luck) Knowledge, Literal Light, and Clarity. Light players are defined by being intelligent people, whom fate favors. They tend to have a thirst for knowledge, but can become megalomatic. (Both serkets, Mrs I can trick gods Rose Lalonde.) Now, light is powerful BECAUSE of what it domains over. I’ll start with relevance.   Now According to homestuck Lore, everything is destined, so luck plays a different role. Luck is tied specifically to the relevance and importance of a situation. A D4 on a table vs a monarch rolling a D4 to determine the fate of his enemies vs A D4 whose roll will dictate the end of the universe. Which one of these would you say is more significant? A Light player can both tell the difference between the insignificant D4 vs the one that ends the world, and have the relevance to know that that die will roll in their favor, for they can be just as significant. Vriska would steal significance from events, and use it to make it seem like her luck was ridiculous, when in reality she was making the die she rolled matter more.   Knowledge is power. That is a sentence that is often said, and it is true. Sburb is a game of lore, of past, and with deep intricate mechanics. If a session was to not have a light player, they would have to rely 100% on their sprites, which can vary from vague to unreliable to impossible to deal with. A Light player brings knowledge on Game mechanics, and alchemy to the table. A Light player is the opposite of void in this sense, with bringing the information to the forefront, where it can be used. Rose wrote a strategy guide that The horrorterrors deemed fit to keep for later/earlier usage in paradox space, and Aranea’s exposition brought information to the table where it was lacking. Not to mention how about making factual information real hmm?   Literal light dictates vision. You can see because of the Light reflecting off of surfaces and entering your eyes. Light can also burn. Light is just visible radiation, so it would be not a stretch to assume a more exploitative, fulfilled light player could fire deadly beams of Gamma rays, or make dense, concentrated light which can blow holes through someone, or they could bend the light around themselves, allowing for them to become invisible. I have a lot about Literal light powers so plz ask me if you want more ideas.   Light is finally about clarity, being open and see through. Light is how information is presented. A clear and concise pattern of thought and mannerisms. Clarity is the opposite of voids secrecy, where light players could be revealing to their fellow players, highlighting weak or Critical hit spots, making enemy stats visible to everyone, or be the person who points out the guy hiding. Light is the one to remind everyone Sburb has a point, and to place vision on the significance. Post Scratch Mom Lalonde wrote the book about the Condenses’ rise to power, and the factual information to anyone in the future, bringing clarity on how she took over the world. Vriska also willingly took all eyes away from others, and shine the spotlight on herself, and loathe I am to admit it, Comic hussie falling in love with vriska makes sense, as she would be the center of attention.   WOW that’s a lot of power surrounding light. How could have people missed this right? Well let me answer that for you. Lets see how Light was represented in the comic VS how void was. The three major examples of light players were ROSE LALONDE, who, as a Seer of Light, had no access to literal powers, and instead was the most prophetic classpect possible, gaining prophecies of Information and Significance, and using that to fight. Aranea Inverted, and instead used her knowledge of nothingness to destroy, in a piss poor attempt to take over. And Vriska, who never learned how to moderate how much light she stole, she took either all of it, or (Vriska) Inverted and took none of it. As a result she was never able to develop more powers that allowed her to truly be strong.   This is compared to it’s inverse Void, who has a Bad example of a void player, a Good one, and a GREAT and REALIZED one. Bad is Horrus, Page of Void, who developed literally nothing, did nothing. Literally he was the most useless a page could be. Good was Equius, who inherited nothing. Now That means equius had no natural powers, but was incredibly strong in them. That translated to incredible strength. Equius was the most powerful player in the Troll’s session through brute force. And the Great example is Roxy Lalonde, Rouge of Void. Now here’s the interesting. Roxy learned what a rouge must, that it’s okay to move your aspect around. A rouge must learn that it’s okay to steal from those with too much, so what she did was move nothing around, and moved it hard. She shed mystery on her allies by overcoming her abundant void via alcoholism, and she learned how to use her voidy powers to create perfectly generic objects, and a matriorb, and create those objects on the spot, in plenty, and mid combat. Roxy was by far the most powerful void player we have seen, and that is because she was a realized rouge. See how the two could be seen as unbalanced. It wasn’t because of light being weak, it was because of both Light being poorly represented by the serkets, the good representative being a seer, and void having a damn near amazing representative.   Okay that’s all well and dandy, but how can light defeat something like hope? Dude, first off, I am insulted you would think that Hope is inherently better than any other aspect for nothing other than being hope. Secondly, did you see how easily Jake was Manipulated by a light player, and used as a living battery? Hell, all Aranea had to do to defeat Jake with brain ghost Dirk is to remind him that this Dirk wasn’t real at all, and the one far far away from them was. This would poof away Jakes already delicate belief in Dirk, and Brain ghost would cease to exist. Light could also defeat void in a similar fashion. Bring clarity to the void player. Void’s power comes from subterfuge and mystery. Light excels in bringing things to the front, and the void players are no different. Not to mention, having fate fortune you, well that is a power you do not want to be on the wrong side of.   TLDR; Light needs more attention and is stronger than you people think.