#or just inventing a new character entirely while using his face | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

buckys-forgotten-plum · 1 month ago

Text

A Lesson in Love {2}

College!AU

Smarty Pants!Bucky x Cheerleader!Reader

Synopsis: Being a newly metamorphosed social butterfly certainly has its perks: an amazing friend group, a position on the cheer squad you’ve dreamed about for years, and the ability to make connections everywhere you go. Unfortunately, it doesn't make you any better at Linear Algebra, enter Bucky Barnes.

Warnings: Cursing, awkward reader, James Barnes being a menace, probs cringy writing, most definitely not proofread <3

A/N: Part 2! Hooray! I’m not super happy with it, but to be fair i’m never happy with my work so whomp whomp to me. Hopefully you guys like it, next part will intro a new character and perhaps some drama will occur~

Part one

~~~~~~~~~~

Fluorescent light floods the space, the fixtures letting out a quiet hum that harmonizes with the consistent drone of the radiator up against the wall. The windows do little to help light up the room as overcast skies tease the possibility of rain. The room is warm, a contrast to the uncharacteristically chill weather outside, and with the calming white noise, you wouldn’t be surprised if someone used the space as more of a nap pod than a study room located in your university’s library.

And yet, even with what some would consider the perfect environment-

“I think I’m dying,” You groan, head slowly falling to rest upon the cool surface of the desk, “Seriously, I can feel the life draining from my body as we speak.”

An amused snort sounds from directly beside you, ”You’re not dying, just dramatic,”

Your head whips up at the accusation, eyebrows furrowed as your lips puff out into a frowning pout, “How could you say that? Look at me, I’m wasting away! Whoever invented this stuff should be burned at the stake” you grumble quietly and hold your glare on the man next to you.

James lets out a boisterous laugh, relaxing back into the office chair he’s sat in as he tilts his head and raises a curious brow at you, “Have you eaten today, Sugar? It’s nearly 1 o’clock and we’ve been here for over two hours,”

The pout adorning you face solidifies as he zeroes in on your failure to eat, “I got distracted while getting ready and didn’t have time to grab anything before heading over,” You break away from James’ gaze and stare down at your notebook, a small wave of embarrassment washing over you.

The reason you didn’t have time to eat was due to the fact you had to stand in front of your bathroom mirror for an extra 15 minutes to keep yourself from bailing out of the study session entirely. It had been two weeks since you had sat next to the brunette man that complimented your stickers and called you a sweet pet name, and those two weeks had been the most socially awkward you’ve felt since you had graduated high school. The stuttering, stumbling, word-vomiting self you had tried so hard to shove down into the dark depths of your mind had made a startling appearance in the last few weeks and you were struggling to understand why. All confidence left you as soon as James entered your eyeline, and frankly, it was making you spiral.

Was it his looks? No, that can’t be it. All of your friends were major hotties so you’d gotten used to being around ethereal beauty.

Was it the pet names? Also no, Stevie and Lena gave you pet names within the first week of knowing you!

Was it how close he always insisted on being to you? That-well that certainly wasn’t helping the situation. He’s just so warm and his cologne is to die for-

“Hey Sweets? You okay over there?” Your head jerks back up and whips over to find James looking at you with mild concern clouding his eyes.

“Oh what? Yea-no, or yes, yes I’m okay! Why do you ask?” Your hand subconsciously balls into a fist as you silently will the burn in your cheeks to subside. Pull yourself together for god's sake!

“I asked if you wanted to go grab something to eat and you kinda just…zoned out?” His questioning eyes were trained on your face, looking over your features to see if he could find a clue to your strange behavior.

”Right! Sorry, I guess maybe the lack of eating really is getting to me,” You mumble quietly.

James leans towards you, laying a gentle hand on your shoulder before nodding, “That’s alright, let’s go get you something to eat-“

Before he could finish his offer, he was interrupted by the familiar buzz of his phone on the table. Your classmate immediately slaps his hand down onto the device and silences it, letting out a quiet sigh. Curiosity overtakes your embarrassment and you look at your study partner inquisitively, “That's like the third time someone’s called you, maybe you should answer it this time?”

He shakes his head and smiles down at you as he stands, “Nah it’s nothing important. C’mon, I know a really good diner that’s right off campus,” He doesn’t wait for any confirmation before putting your notebook away and slinging both your bags over his broad shoulder.

You stare up at him for a moment, a little stunned at his boldness and questioning if he was joking or not, “A-are you sure? Because the test tomorrow seems like it’s gonna be pretty difficult and I’m not sure if I’ve done enough prep work yet.”

James gives you an understanding nod, “You’re not gonna retain anything if you’re starving, Sugar. Once we get some food in you, I promise we’ll come back here and finish studying.”

“Yeah I guess you’re right, does the diner have good french fries?” You look up at James with hopeful eyes as the thought of one of your favorite foods comes to mind.

He snorts out a laugh and nods his head, “Yes the diner has excellent french fries.”

———————

Thankfully, James wasn’t lying when he said the diner wasn’t too far away, as the weather seemed to only worsen as time passed. By the time you had arrived and James was kindly holding the door to the restaurant open for you, a chill had settled deep within your body, the wind had picked up dramatically and the clouds had darkened even more in color.

“Spring storm I guess? If it gets any worse we can just wait it out here, they have free WiFi and everything so we’ll be all set,” James comments as he leads you over to a small booth in the corner with a window that gives a perfect view for the upcoming storm.

You nod and begin to take in your surroundings. It certainly wasn’t the most modern diner you had ever been in, kind of reminded you of the one your grandparents would take you to as a kid. The dark green upholster on all the seats was worn, even cracked in some booths, and the floor looked like it had seen better days. But the waitress that greeted you was friendly and the smells coming from the kitchen window were making your mouth water.

”Hey Bucky! How’s your day goin’? Who’s your little friend here?” The chirping voice of the waitress brings you back to the surface of your mind as she approaches the table.

Your head tilts curiously at the unfamiliar name, but you quickly recover to smile up at the middle aged woman as James replies.

“Hi Donna,” James replies, a bright smile on his face as he introduces you as his new study partner, “It’s going good, just taking a break from studying for a bit, how about yourself?”

The waitress replies enthusiastically, recounting her day and telling James about her son giving her a hard time when getting ready for school earlier in the morning. James, (or Bucky?) laughs at her story before quickly glancing towards you with a smile, “You want anything to drink, Sugar?”

You’re taken off guard by the question thrown your way, “O-oh sorry, um yeah- Could I have like a hot chocolate maybe?”

”Hot chocolate huh?” James looks at you, his eyes still crinkled into that charming smile.

You once again feel your cheeks flare up as you realize the childish order, “O-or coffee, I mean, coffee is good!” You glance between the waitress, Donna, and James, silently hoping now that you’ve ordered they could go back to talking.

“Oh don’t let him tease you, sweetheart. Our hot coco is to die for here, and I like to dress it up with all the fixin’s so don’t you worry,” She smiles down at you and gives you a mischievous wink before jotting your order down on a notepad.

You mumble a quiet thanks and immerse yourself in the menu that was slipped onto the table earlier. James gives his order to Donna before stating you’d both need a couple minutes to decide what you’d like to eat. As your waitress departs to begin fulfilling your orders, James turns his attention back to you. You fail to notice his stare as your attention remains locked onto the pages of the menu, and it’s not until you’re deciding between pancakes or a burger that he breaks your focus.

A little ball of paper hits your forehead, taking you by surprise and causing you to let out a grumble of discontent, “What the hell James?”

You look up from your menu, surprised by the plastic cups of water Donna had managed to deliver without disturbing you and realizing the object that hit you must have been a balled up straw wrapper. You glare down at the little piece of ammo before fixing your glare onto James’ mischievously glinting eyes, “Can I help you?”

His smile widens and he moves to lean his forearms on the table, his eyes turning from mischief to intensity as they narrow, “Yeah, actually you can,” he nods before leaning forward even more, “What’s your deal, Sugar?”

You instinctively try to lean further back into your own seat but only meet a wall, “What do you mean ‘what’s my deal’? What’s your deal, Bucky?” Your eyes narrow just like his, and even though you’re basically plastering yourself against the wall of the booth, you try to look as intimidating as possible.

‘Bucky’ leans over the table even more, comically so to the point where he’s basically kneeling on the bench, inadvertently making you let out some garbled hybrid of laughter and discomfort, “How do you know about that name?” He asks accusingly, his right hand shooting out to point a finger in your face.

You guffaw, face contorting into a look of absolute disbelief as you go to defend yourself, “James the waitress literally called you that like five minutes ago,” You deadpan, no wonder this guy was failing your math class.

James somehow manages to narrow his eyes even more and it starts a staring (or glaring) contest between you both. Your expression changes from disbelief at his cartoonish reaction, to unamused as you refuse to let him win the silly challenge. The two of you sit in silence for who knows how long, your eyes are beginning to feel a slight sting on your waterline and you’re almost sure James is cheating with how squinted he’s made his eyes. You nearly give in just to end the ridiculous game when suddenly two mugs of hot coco, brightly decorated in whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles, are unceremoniously set down on the table. The loud clap of ceramic on wood makes both of you break and look up at Donna who is sporting an awkward, albeit friendly, smile.

“Everything alright over here?” She asks, glancing between you and James as she cautiously slides each mug towards their respective owner.

“All good over here Donna! You ready to order some food, Sweets?” James’ suspicion has completely melted away as he now casually leans against the back of the booth, sporting a lopsided grin.

“I-Uh yeah, yeah I guess so…” You murmur, quickly flipping through your menu again and making sure you recite the correct menu item to Donna as you order.

Donna makes sure to jot down both yours and James’ orders, along with any modifications that were requested before quickly making her way back to the kitchen, leaving you and James in another drought of silence. You take the chance to look around the diner once again, trying to ignore the feeling of James staring at you from across the table. You hear the faint scraping of ceramic sliding across the table and before you’re able to tear your eyes away from the downpour happening outside the window, James is out of his seat and gliding right back into yours, unabashedly crowding into you.

His right arm goes up to drape across the back of the booth while his left rests on the edge of the wood table. As soon as you notice what’s happening, a squeak of surprise pushes out of your lips and you begin to scoot closer to the window, James immediately following you and effectively trapping you in the corner of the booth. His cologne surrounds you, the warm, spicy scent of cinnamon takes over your senses and the body heat that begins to radiate off of him and on to you nearly sends you into a spiral.

“You didn’t answer my question, Honey Bee,” James hums smoothly, his eyes hooded as he looks down at you.

You immediately want to tell him that nickname is reserved for Steve but are unable to as you become distracted by how positively close he is to you. You’re able to make out details never before noticed from your previous, appropriately distanced, encounters. Every impossibly long eyelash that brushes against his sharp, freckle dusted cheekbones, the different hues of blue that marble his icy pupils, the rough stubble that signifies the beginning of a beard.

It feels like lava is injected into your veins and a fiery heat races up your neck to the tips of your ears. You stutter out a few incomprehensible words, trying to look anywhere but at the man who is taking up most of your field of vision. Your hands clench into stressed fists as they clam up from a mix of stress and shear shyness.

“I-I don’t… I’m not really sure w-what your-what you could be talking about James,” You mutter quietly, continuing to push yourself up against the window to achieve a modicum of space.

“That right there,” James nods in your direction, “Sweetheart, you’re known as the campus’ social butterfly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you not talking to somebody, but whenever we get together for our study sessions you go all-“ He waves a hand haphazardly towards your scrunched up form, “gooey,” He finishes with finality, dropping his waving hand back down onto the table.

You don’t say it out loud, but gooey is a far cry to what you feel right now, tight and strung out, waiting for your strings to finally reach their limit before they inevitably snap.

James only waits a moment before speaking again, “It’s like every time we get together you wanna melt into the floor, you never want to push too hard, or your always bending to what you think I’d prefer. I know you aren’t like that with anyone else, Sugar. I saw you try to put Roger’s into a headlock last week and-“

”Y-you know Steve?” You interrupt suddenly, your brows furrowing curiously as you finally turn your gaze to James.

His reaction to your question makes it look like you caught him in some type of lie, and you actually start to think you might actually have. Ever since you had talked to James that day in your lecture, neither him nor Steve had made any indication of knowing each other, even if one was brought up by you in conversation with the other.

”Oh uhm…” James actually scoots back a bit, giving you the space to take a much needed breath. He breaks your gaze and glances around the booth, nervously tapping his index finger against the table, “I mean-y’know everybody kinda just, like, knows each other, ya know?”

You look at him, perplexed by the out of character reaction, “I guess, but you called him Roger’s and he only lets his close friends call him that.” Your head tilts as you look over the man's strange demeanor, “So do you guys know each other or…?”

”I think we should change the subject-“ He starts but before he can get very far you interrupt.

”Why are you being so dodgy about knowing Stevie?” You ask more firmly, gaining confidence as you realize your positions of interrogation have flipped.

”Why are you always so gooey around me?”

You scoff, “I am not gooey around you-“

James holds up a hand before you can continue your bickering, “Let’s make a deal. You drop the Steve thing, and I won’t comment on your gooey-ness-“

”But I’m not gooey!” You protest, voice strained and cheeks burning.

James puts his hand out for you to shake and raises a brow, “Deal or no deal, goober?”

You can’t help but let out a frustrated puff of air, your lips pouting out as you look up at him, “Fine. But you can’t call me goober ever again, and you have to tell me why Donna called you Bucky.” You grab his hand and wait for a response.

“I’ll tell you if I get to keep calling you goober,” He wagers, a sly grin spreading across his lips.

”You get a limit of once a day,” You deadpan.

“Make it five,” His grin grows wider and his grip on your hand firmer.

”Three,” You grumble, your pouted lips turning downward into a small frown.

”You got yourself a deal, goob,” James shakes your hand with finality and finally leans back to give you an appropriate amount of space.

You roll your eyes and snatch your hand back from his, “Pay up, you freak,” you grumble half heartedly.

James barks out a laugh at the lame insult, taken a little off guard by your sudden snappiness, “It’s nothing crazy, just a childhood nickname that followed me into adulthood. My middle name is Buchanan, so it’s just a shortened version,” He explains a bit bashfully, his eyes failing to keep contact with yours, “Most people call me Bucky unless it’s a professional thing or whatever,”

You try not to feel the disappointment of being categorized as ‘a professional thing or whatever’.

You nod your head in faux nonchalance, “That’s cool,”

James snorts at your lackluster reaction, “If you want, you can call me Bucky.”

You glance up at Bucky and back down to the table, biting down on your lip to hold back you smile, “O-okay,”

Bucky grins and lets out a quiet chuckle before turning to greet Donna as she cheerily arrives with your meals, pretending like she doesn’t notice that Bucky has switched to your side of the booth. She quickly restates each order and asks if anything else is needed, James confirms that everything looks fantastic and you both thank her before she walks away. You begin to dig into your plate, humming quietly at the flavorful scramble that melts in your mouth as you realize how truly hungry you are. Arithmetic and bickering with a handsome classmate really works up an appetite apparently. James begins to dig in to his as well, gracelessly shoving large bites of pancakes into his mouth as if he hadn’t eaten in years. You silently roll your eyes and continue on with your meal as you both enjoy your meals.

It’s only after a few minutes of wordless eating that Bucky speaks, “Y’know I like when you get feisty with me. Makes me get all hot n’ bothered,” He states simply, taking a break from stuffing his face to smirk down at you.

You shrink into yourself at his comment, the heat in your neck and face coming back like a tsunami. Your eyes stay fixed on your plate as you stiffly stab your fork into the pile of hash browns in the corner. You grumble out your response and pretend like you aren’t burning up from embarrassment.

“Shut up n’ eat your pancakes you freak,”

~~~~

taglist: @iyskgd

^let me know if you’d like to be added! :)

#bucky barnes #bucky x reader #bucky fluff #bucky barnes x reader #soft!bucky #college!bucky #college au #nerd!bucky x cheerleader!reader #nerd!bucky #bucky barnes fanfic #Is Bucky a freak? Survey says yes #bucky barnes fluff #bucky x you #marvel fanfiction #Bucky Barnes fluff #bucky barnes fic #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes imagine

63 notes · View notes

oddyseye · 6 months ago

Text

Okay, I wasn’t going to say anything else about EPIC. I really wasn’t. But then I remembered I’m a survivor of SA, and staying quiet about things like this is just not in my nature.

This is your last warning for SA discussion before I go on. Cool? Cool. Here’s the deal: Epic the Musical erased Odysseus’s experience of sexual assault at the hands of Calypso, a key element of his story in The Odyssey, and then went ahead and invented a new storyline where the suitors plan to rape Penelope. Yes, you read that correctly. They removed male sexual assault entirely from the narrative but decided to increase Penelope’s suffering by adding gratuitous violence that wasn’t in Homer’s text. This is a deeply troubling creative decision, and I can’t let it slide. First, let’s look at Odysseus’s ordeal with Calypso. In The Odyssey, he is trapped on her island for seven years. This isn’t some romantic getaway — Odysseus explicitly says that he longs to return home to Ithaca, to Penelope, and to his life. Calypso refuses to let him go, keeping him against his will. But Epic completely erases this part of his story. There’s no exploration of what it means for Odysseus to be a victim of sexual violence or how this impacts his journey. Instead, they pretend it never happened, as if male SA is something that can just be brushed under the rug because it’s uncomfortable to address. And that’s a huge problem. When you erase male sexual assault, you contribute to the stigma that male victims face in real life — the idea that their experiences don’t matter, that they’re not “real” victims. Odysseus’ story is one of the few examples in ancient literature that acknowledges male vulnerability in this way, and for Epic to cut it out is not just a missed opportunity but a blatant dismissal of an important aspect of his character.

Now let’s move on to Penelope. In Homer’s text, the suitors are undeniably vile. They invade her home, consume her resources, and harass her with unwanted advances. They also sexually assault the female servants in the household, a horrific but historically grounded detail that highlights the suitors’ depravity. However, Penelope herself is not subjected to physical sexual violence. Her suffering is primarily psychological and emotional. She endures years of torment as she waits for Odysseus, using her wit and resilience to protect her home and her son. She doesn’t need to be physically brutalized to be a compelling, tragic figure — her strength and intelligence speak for themselves. But Epic decided that wasn’t enough. Instead of respecting Penelope’s original characterization, they added a plotline where the suitors actively plan to rape her. This change is not only unnecessary but also deeply harmful. It’s yet another example of modern media using sexual violence as a lazy shortcut to create drama or “raise the stakes” for female characters.

What makes this even worse is the way the creator, Jorge, has handled this topic in the Epic community. Discussions of Calypso’s sexual assault of Odysseus have been explicitly banned in the musical’s Discord server. Imagine that for a moment. A canonical instance of sexual violence is considered too taboo to talk about, but inventing new sexual violence against Penelope? That’s apparently fine. This double standard is infuriating. It shows a complete lack of understanding of the source material and a disregard for the real-world implications of these narrative choices.

This adaptation could have done something powerful by acknowledging Odysseus’s assault and exploring its impact on him. This could have been a valid artistic choice if handled carefully, if, for instance, it had been used to explore Penelope’s fear and determination in the face of such a threat. But in the context of Epic, this addition feels hollow and gratuitous. Why? Because while the musical amplifies Penelope’s suffering, it silences Odysseus’. I will only add that adding a storyline where the suitors plan to harm Penelope isn’t inherently a bad creative choice. Sexual violence is already present in The Odyssey. The suitors’ treatment of the female servants, for instance, is a horrifying but integral part of the story, showing how power and entitlement corrupt them. Expanding on the danger Penelope faces in her own home could have been a powerful way to explore her resilience, intelligence, and the stakes she faced while waiting for Odysseus. But Epic the Musical completely erases this part of Odysseus’ story. There’s no mention of his captivity or the abuse he suffered. Instead, his time with Calypso is framed as little more than a delay on his journey, a footnote rather than a defining trial. When Epic decided to add a plotline where the suitors plan to rape Penelope, it fundamentally changed her struggle. Again, this isn’t necessarily a bad choice, it could have been a way to emphasize the danger she faced as a lone woman surrounded by violent, entitled men. But for this addition to work, it needed to be balanced against the rest of the story.

Imagine if Epic had included both Penelope’s new storyline and Odysseus’ abuse at the hands of Calypso. This could have been a profoundly meaningful parallel. Odysseus and Penelope, separated by years and miles, both endure profound violations of their autonomy. He is physically held captive, forced into a relationship he doesn’t want. She is psychologically held captive in her own home, under constant threat from the suitors. Both fight to maintain their sense of self in the face of overwhelming violation. Both cling to the hope of reunion as their anchor and their strength.

The Odyssey is one of the most enduring stories of all time because of its complexity and humanity. Stripping away that complexity in favor of cheap, exploitative drama is an insult to the original text and to the audience.

#the odyssey #epic the musical #greek mythology #the ithaca saga #epic the ithaca saga #sa warning #tw sa mention

72 notes · View notes

fireheartwraith · 1 month ago

Text

I have a theory that is half formed in my head, but hear me out

Vegapunk, Judge, Queen, and Ceasar were all together in MADS. Some of the things they were researching were devil fruits (what they are, their different kinds, if they can be artificially replicated, etc), cloning, and body modification like cyborgs.

One of the main characteristics of the devil fruits is the swirly pattern they all have. Sanji and his siblings, who were experimented on my judge while still in the womb, all have that swirly pattern in their eyebrows. But neither Sora nor Judge have that, so where did it come from? Let's put a pin on that.

Now, when he first meet the other Vinsmoke siblings, both the audience and the characters go "wow those people look just like sanji!". You know who else made the audience go "wow that person looks like sanji!"? Vegapunk Lilith.

Though all the Vegapunks share a brain, none of them look even remotely related to each other and, as we learned when Atlas was injured, they're all some form of cyborg. You wanna know what else we learn in egghead? That Vegapunk has created the Seraphims, clone hybrids with Lunarian blood — an ancient race connected to the void century, skypeia and all of that — and green blood, which gives them the abilities of a devil fruit. And the Pacifistas were created using a Buccaneer as a base. So Vegapunk can definitely create android cyborgs robots or whatever using the bloodline elements of these ancient races. So who's to say he hasn't that one more time?

Lilith is first Vegapunk that we meet and the one we are still with right now. She was literally in Oda's newest color spread so she's definitely Important and she didn't do all that much in Egghead to justify her importance. Another thing about her is that she is supposed to be the Evil Vegapunk. York was definitely Greedy, Atlas was Violent, etc, but Lilith has never been Evil, and this has even been commented by other characters! And why would a genius create an evil version of himself when he knows the damage that his inventions can cause? So no, I don't think Lilith is Evil, but she’s definitely Something. And we know Vegapunk had an interest in the Void Century and all that stuff, and you know who all of them, both the Vinsmoke kids and Lilith, look like? Sora, Sanji's mom.

I don't think we're quite done with MADS yet, so here's my crazy theory: the scientists managed to track down a member of one of the ancient races that the government wants to exterminate really badly. The Lunarians are connected with Skypeia and the Moon, the Buccaneers are connected with Sun God Nika, so maybe there's a third mysterious race that is connected to our third one piece mystery: the devil fruits.

So let's say Sora is this person. When MADS finds her, they give her an option: they could rat her out to the government and leave them at their mercy or they could offer her protection and a place to hide in, but only as long as she agreed to share her blood with them. And so, she joined MADS. Judge, who has never heard of the word ethics in his entire life, goes a bit too far with his experiments and decides to impregnate her and pump the baby with some weird chemicals to try and create the perfect soldier. Reiju is born, but she still has emotions so he decides to try again. That's a bit much for Vegapunk so the group disbands and Judge takes Sora with him back to Germa. But Vegapunk still has some of her bloodline elements, and years later decides to use them to create his own weapon, but one that he can monitor very closely due to the sharing the same brain and one who was not created by experimenting on children (due to how he acts with Bonney, I think that is the one line he won’t cross). And so, he decides to hide this new weapon among five others so no one will look too closely at her face.

And we know that the Vegapunks can hide things from each other, so maybe Lilith herself doesn't know about this but the others do. We see Atlas sacrificing herself to make sure Lilith can escape Egghead, and why would she try to guarantee that the Evil One will be okay unless there's something in Lilith they can't lose or replace, unlike with the rest of them?

So yeah, that's my theory. Sora something something devil fruits something something ancient races something something Lilith

#i don't think i'm 100% right because i don't think oda would make sanji fawn over lilith if they're technically related #but i still think i'm onto something here #one piece #one piece spoilers #one piece theory #one piece sanji #one piece lilith #vegapunk lilith #vinsmoke sanji #vinsmoke judge #vinsmoke sora

32 notes · View notes

trainwiz · 2 months ago

Text

Sotha Sil Expanded 3.0 is now out!

It's been 11 years since the last update to Sotha Sil Expanded, and I'm finally back to bring it up to Todd's high standards (as well as apply a decade's worth of professional experience, assets, and new modding tools to it).

This features a HUGE amount of fixes, new features, new models, new meshes, new voice acting, new signage, new tubes, and generally aims to address the myriad of problems people had.

Is it still a giant puzzle-filled clockwork hell?

No shit.

Am I going to subject you to needless (keyword needless) suffering?

No. My back hurts and I make estimated tax payments, I'm above that now.

So come and take a trip back to 2012, when we were all bright eyed and hopeful, the internet thought Homestuck could still possibly be good, and Sotha Sil wasn't an eight foot tall brass heartthrob with enough self-insert smut to make even Vivec blush who also invented Tamriel's guns (I mean he still could be, guns are neat).

Full changes include:

The sewers of Sotha Sil have been replaced with a new area and memory matching puzzle, which stars a returning lore character and favorite of mine. If you don't like him, that's fine. Just know that I'm in your walls.

Fabrevar and Gestalt now have new voices (with Gestalt integrating the Gestalt Revoiced mod).

Tons of additional detailing and lighting in various cells.

The sewers still exist as an optional side area now, with their own reward.

The entire Clockwork City and Fabricant Foundry now have signposts to help you better navigate my deranged nonsense.

The Fabricant Foundry now provides telekinetic worker rings, to better help sort through the various deadly garbage you'll be faced with.

Fabricant Foundry puzzles now have lights that indicate when a sector is repaired and item weights have been rebalanced.

While killing mad fabricants in the slums will still cause the denizens to hate you, there is now a new quest that will allow you to seek penance and forgiveness for your horrible actions. To begin, talk to the Archcanon after you royally screwed the pooch.

New models for things like power cores, the Clockwork City's sun, as well as improved textures for things like the fabricant Tribunal.

Various ambient sounds have been replaced to be more modern and less grating.

Guide fabricants have been added to each district of the city, who can provide helpful directions.

Your strength attribute can be used to bypass several small puzzles, including allowing you to break glass, carry more garbage in the disposal area, and more.

Various areas in the city and dungeon that could previously softlock you now have ways and ramps out of them.

Added Sotha Sil's pauldrons, robe, staff, and crown once the main quest is complete. All of these are vastly more powerful in the hands of a master enchanter, much like Brass Daddy himself.

Added various missing icons for items in game, such as quartz ore.

Sotha Sil's mask (now his crown) has a new enchantment and powers.

Changed Subori's quest to be about following various bottles.

The runaway train sidequest now has a nonviolent solution.

The Chamber of Soleh is now a single area, with more queues for the invisible bridge puzzle.

Added sound queues to the radio tower box collection sidequest.

Added non-sneaking based solution to the Slums main quest.

Industrial district main quest now involves tracking down visible lightning blasts, and has multiple solutions for various stages in the quest.

Temple main quest has been shortened and made less tedious, including reducing the radius and locations of the liches and removing various pointless stages.

Added new original artifacts in Sotha Sil's Lab.

The Vault of Magnus will allow you to bypass its puzzles provided you have mastery (100 >) in the associated skill.

The Valley of Udok's puzzle has been redone to be more navigable and based around color matching, and is no longer instant death upon failure.

Vast amounts of optimizations done in various areas, including the Clockwork City itself (which now runs at playable framerates!)

A huge amount of new models, including signposts, lanterns, TUBES, wires, spheres, tunnels, and more, all appropriate or based off the existing Sotha Sil tileset.

Imperfections, Fyr Manor Modules, and Pieces of God are now able to be detected via the Detect Key spell effect.

Fixed issue where augmentations didn't work.

Fixed various script issues that would cause the mod to not work in OpenMW.

Reduced number of enemies throughout the mod, except where appropriate.

Hall of Delirum's meshes are now separate from Ghostfence meshes, allowing better compatability.

Fixed bad integration errors that prevented various doors from working.

Almalexia will now reset herself if you Darth Maul her off the ledges of the final battle arena. You have to do it PROPERLY, with swords, like Todd intended.

Fixed various bad colliders that could cause you to fall through stairs.

Fixed mismatched icons on ceramic armor.

Fixed missing textures for various meshes.

Fixed softlock that occurred with moon sugar crates in the Residential main quest.

Fixed exploit that would allow for infinite Ceramic pauldrons from the High foremer.

Fixed quests that wouldn't mark themselves as complete.

Fixed issue where the Sanctum of Serlyn couldn't be completed.

Fixed lighting issues in the depths.

Fixed issue where various lifts wouldn't function correctly, at least visually speaking.

#morrowind #sotha sil #sotha sil expanded #morrowind mods

28 notes · View notes

quarktrinity · 1 month ago

Text

quark watches star trek season 3 episode 2

mccoy recording the log???

sassy kirk

oh my god hes so bitchy

mccoys worried about him <333

i miss uhuras funny green earrings but her new ones are really pretty too

kirks possessed or something he would never provoke intergalactic war

woah crazy the klingons wanna fight now who couldve seen this coming

"hi starfleet command we wandered into klingon territory on purpose <333"

kirk makes empty threat of blowing up the enterprise

yes kirk this is your fault

kirks hair looks so frizzy

scotty with his hands on his hips

lady klingon commander??? shes so pretty

girlboss moment

"it was an accident to invade your territory sowwy :("

oh she knows spock?

oh she just thinks vulcans are neat

vulcans are incapable of lying??? i am absolutely certain thats not true but ok

i love this girl

kirk looks so demure <3

"the captain is a highly sensitive and emotional person" so true

spock basically calls kirk an idiot

kirks definitely possessed he would never threaten to kill spock

i hate scottys hair this season he looks like a playboy

they put kirks fine fat ass in timeout

lady commander is lounging. i love her

it has been 0 episodes since kirk has been imprisoned or restrained

this lady might be my favorite character so far

she wants spock carnally

kinda tempted to add her to the polycule in my mind

spock tenderly grabs kirks face after kirk threatens to kill him

"the captain is dead" no hes not

/comes back to life/ /changes my mind and dies again/

see hes fine

gingerly lifts legs and moans in front of mccoy

kirk what the fuck are you doing

they yassified kirk

kirk wants to disguise himself as a romulan???

lady commander brings spock to her pink glittery girlcave

drink my blue liquid

undercover kirk

now drink my yellow liquid

girls laying it on sooooo thick

when did spock get so good at flirting

she whispers her first name into spocks ear and we dont get to hear it???

panty shot

shes so horny im obsessed with her

did star trek invent hand porn

classic stupid tos fight choreo

she got all dressed up just to get duped by spock :( sad

kirk cant fight another person without it looking like sex

kirk lifting The Orb

beaming onto and out of enemy ships sounds kind of OP

ok i guess this was all to steal the cloaking device

spock uses his last words to exposit on the plot of the episode

chekov turns dramatically

beams spock aboard and also the lady commander by accident and theyre just fine with that

alright bye

uhura. establish skype call

scotty. install romulan linux on the enterprise NOW!!!

the enterprise is now invisible

so this totally violates the space peace treaty right. like this absolutely means war

lady commander is a prisoner now and i hope she stays for the rest of the series

spock and lady commander didnt even kiss and yet they had a more believable romance than anything they gave kirk this entire series

we need to unyassify kirk

kirk tenderly strokes his own cheek while staring intently at spock. okay

#quark watches star trek #star trek #star trek tos

20 notes · View notes

dat-town · 8 months ago

Text

short n sweet

Characters: Riwoo & female reader

Setting & genre: fluff, coffee shop au, mutual pining

Summary: So what if you have a favourite customer? It’s not like you would do anything about this silly crush. It's not like it's mutual... right?

Warnings: birth name used (is there like an official romanization of his name though?), introverts trying to “flirt” with extroverts’ help

Words: 0.87k

Author’s note: happy bday to this cutie pie! (yes it looks like i'm doing a bday project for the boys...) title inspired by Sabrina Carpenter because i just wanted to write something short and sweet for Riwoo's birthday

“Stop staring, you are awfully obvious,” Haewon hisses beside you and you yelp a little bit too loud in surprise.

“I wasn’t staring!” You protest (lying through your teeth) but there’s no convincing your older sister slash boss who has been folding napkins beside you for the better half of the last hour. With not many customers around sometimes it gets boring and you have to find ways to pass time. For her it's little tasks like that, for you it’s sneaking glances at the cute boy sitting in the corner with headphones over his ears, feet tapping on the ground.

He’s a regular, he always orders a simple latte and two or three different desserts from your menu. He has a sweet tooth, you can tell and it makes you smile fondly because it fits him. He has the sweetest smile and cutest moles you have ever seen.

The first time he showed up at your sister’s coffee place during your shift he seemed like just another customer you would forget about but then he stuttered at the French word financier and he shyly rubbed the back of his neck as you repeated his order, his teeth slightly peeking out in a small smile. It was cute just like the rest of him. The way his eyes widened and sparkled when he found a new delicious dessert or the way his eyes turned into small crescents when you remembered his coffee order the third time he visited.

He comes two or three times a week, mostly alone but sometimes with a friend, a loud and puppy-like one. He always sits at the same table if it was unoccupied and being a small, independent coffee shop outside of the touristy or busy college spots of Seoul it usually is. His name is Sanghyeok, he teaches kids dance at a nearby dance academy (which you know because one time an enthusiastic twelve-year-old who came in with her mom saw him and declared it to the entire street to hear), he’s a Pedagogy major (which you know thanks to your nosy sister and Sanghyeok’s blabbermouth friend) and his ears get red easily (which you know because well… one time you forgot to filter your thoughts and called him cute out loud). Haewon teases you that he’s your favourite customer and the sole reason why you help her out which is so not true! He is not the only reason, you’re also doing this out of the goodwill of your heart because you are a good sister.

Haewon, not being so nice, suddenly pinches your side and you turn to glare at her before you notice the reason behind her action on the other side of the counter.

“Hi, would you like anything else?” A smile immediately blossoms on your face as you look at the boy. He recently dyed his hair a red-ish colour like autumn maple leaves and it looks so good on him like the colour was invented just for him.

“Uhm, yeah, actually, can I…” He speaks up, sounding slightly nervous, which makes you raise an eyebrow curiously. Come on, there’s no shame in ordering more dessert, you have a sweet tooth too. You’re ready to reassure him, desperately hoping you would come off as casual and still professional while trying to find a common topic. However, Sanghyeok is faster and the words that come out of his mouth sound unreal. “Can I get your number?”

Oh my gosh, it’s happening. Okay, now act normal.

Not surprisingly you fail at doing so. You blush like crazy and it doesn’t help that you hear Haewon whisper screams two steps from you:

“Her shift ends in like twenty minutes in case you wanted to know that too,” she has the audacity to wink at her own customer with no regards to the fact that she could lose a regular if things go south.

“Uhm, yes, you can and please ignore my sister, you don’t have to wait for me,” you chuckle shyly as you fish out your phone exchanging contacts with the equally embarrassed boy. Introverted things, you guess.

“Actually, if that’s okay with you, I would be happy to,” Sanghyeok smiles and then goes back to his table after a polite bow to Haewon who’s practically perched up on your shoulder.

“Hah, I won. Not to be rude but I knew you would never initiate. Myung Jaehyun now has to bring all his friends here,” she says with a giddy smile while your eyes widen in shock.

“You made a bet with his friend over us?”

Honestly speaking you shouldn’t have been so surprised about it. You were more taken aback that it meant so-called Jaehyun placed his bet on you and now he lost.

“Well, yeah but you can’t really say it didn’t work in everybody’s favour,” Haewon ruffles your hair which you sulkily fix before sneaking a glance at your favourite customer only to catch him looking as well. You both giggle and look away.

Argh, would it be too low to beg for Haewon to let you off sooner? She would never stop bringing it up but maybe it would be worth it. Yeah, looking at Sanghyeok’s smile, it sure would be.

#boynextdoor x reader #bnd x reader #riwoo x reader #riwoo fluff #boynextdoor fluff #bnd fluff #stories

46 notes · View notes

sarksarkos · 2 months ago

Text

Wonder Woman '58: Simpin' Ain't Easy

This is Wonder Woman #99, the issue where Wonder Woman goes to space and Steve Trevor goes way too far in their relationship. Welcome to the Gutters!

As we saw in our last look at Wonder Woman, this was a new take on DC's amazon princess, but it still assumed that the reader had a lot of knowledge of the character. For example, the comics don't really explain the context of Wonder Woman's magic lasso or her invisible plane. In the Golden Age, the lasso represented the bdsm aspects of the Amazons, and the invisible plane showed they were scientifically advanced. Here, they're simply part of her toolset. Wonder Woman had a phenomena where different aspects of her origin will be emphasized and others downplayed as she's reinvented over the years. This version is downplaying more of the weirdness of her origins for the sake of simplicity.

The first story of issue #99 is about Steve Trevor getting lost in space and Wonder Woman coming to his rescue. It's an alright story, and a pretty good way to mix the character into the space age, but I want to talk about the second because it is a fascinating look into Steve Trevor. Steve has massive Kenergy. In fact, because Barbie wouldn't be created until 1959, you could say Steve Trevor is the original Ken.

Steve is a hyper-competent man's man, every bit as badass as golden age pulp heroes like Flash Gordon or Doc Savage, but compared to Wonder Woman he's just some guy. And props to the man, he's not jealous or resentful, he's an absolute simp for Wonder Woman. Whomst amongst us wouldn't be? It's not entirely clear what Wonder Woman sees in him, but, unlike Superman and Lois, she at least seems to reciprocate it.

Wonder Woman feels compelled by her heroic duties to let Steve down, but she agrees to marry him if he proves that his romantic sentiments are true. For the next day, Steve plays hide-and-seek with Wonder Woman, always able to catch her no matter how she's disguised. Wonder Woman discovers that Steve planted flourescent paint on her, and had been tracking her with special contact lenses.

After washing the paint off, Wonder Woman goes so far as to get herself commissioned in the ...I want to say Air Force? It's vague. She gets herself assigned as Steve Trevor's assistant in the identity of Lt. Diana Prince, using the same glasses trick as Superman. The timeline on this is a little wonky, because she would have had to go through all her training in less than a day, not to mention creating a whole false identity for herself

Issue #💯shows Wonder Woman returning to Paradise Island to face challengers to her title of champion. The current champion always has to face this under handicap, so we see things like Wonder Woman winning a chariot race while hopping into a potato sack. Halfway through the issue, it's revealed that this Paradise Island is still scientifically advanced, because the Amazon scientists have invented an interdimensional transporter, which summons Wonder Woman's variant from Dimension X.

The story then goes completely off the rails. WW-X challenges the prime Wonder Woman for no real reason, which is an exact tie. Then the two Wonders Women go into Dimension X, which is some kind of fairy tale world with giants. They fight the giants for a bit and we never actually see the tie-breaker for the contest, just that our Wonder Woman won. It's nonsense but there's enough charm to see it through.

There's also a milestone story which is nice to see, as these usually passed unmentioned in the silver-ish age. This is also an early metafictional comic, as the Amazons have also been publishing Wonder Woman's adventures as what is implied to be a comic book, but looks more like a zine. This raises far more questions than can ever be answered, so we're just going to skate by this issue before the Anti-Monitor eats us.

Wonder Woman #101 is another relationship issue between Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor, and it fleshes out what works between them. As much as Steve simps for Wonder Woman, she's also attracted to him because he's a man of action. He can usually get out of trouble on his own, but she enjoys coming to his help when he needs it. Also, they just love fucking with the weird situationship between them.

Steve makes a bet that if he needs Wonder Woman to save his life three times in one day, she'll agree to marry him. While Wonder Woman doesn't want to give up being a superhero - because it's just taken as read that she can't be a superhero while she's married - she still treats this as a game between them. Naturally, she rushes to save Steve whenever he's in trouble, but the status quo is preserved when the timeline on their bet runs out before the final save.

There's a backup story where Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor are trapped in a house of mirrors where every mirror is a time portal. It's a fun story, but it's just a bit of harmless fluff.

The last issue we're going to look at for 1958 is #102, which takes the premise we saw last time and runs wild with it. Steve Trevor makes one of his romantic boasts, that he would never be able to mistake anyone else for the real Wonder Woman. Then, the instant he says that, God comes down and says "prove it."

It's not actually God, but it is a giant that's so massively bigulous that it can't even be depicted on panel, and all we ever see is a massive eyeball filling up the whole panel. This absolutely slaps right here. This is a brilliant depiction of something so absurdly powerful it can't even be comprehended and I love it so much.

The giant, for some reason, is going to destroy the earth if Steve can't tell who the real Wonder Woman is, and makes him pick her out from three identical Women Wonders. Steve has them do feats of strength and skill, but that proves fruitless as all of them are physically and mentally equal. The final test that proves who the real Wonder Woman is in her kiss. Steve kisses all three of them in turn, and instantly recognizes the real one.

This is... Wonder Woman and Steve definitely have a weirder relationship, but it overall feels like a healthier one than either Batman or Superman have. The art style is also more dynamic and realistic than the locked-in, cartoony styles of Batman and Superman comics, and it helps that Wonder Woman only has one ongoing comic and not seventy jillion. All this adds up ton one of my favorite comics of this period.

Coming up, we take another look at DC showcase and we see what new concepts get introduced to the universe. Until next time!

#dc comics #comics #comics history #comics lit #silver age dc #wonder woman #diana prince #steve trevor #do they have a ship name?#wondertrev #that's horrible i don't like that #better than stonder woman i guess #long post #gutters #1950s #1958

11 notes · View notes

mephistopheleswasrobbed · 6 months ago

Text

On the similarities and differences between Ossan's Love (2018) and Ossan's Love Thailand

[Ep 1; Ep 2; Ep 3; Ep 4; Ep 5]

(disclaimer: I have watched all of the Haruta + Maki version of OL [Ossan's Love, Ossan's Love: LOVE or DEAD, Ossan's Love Returns] except for the specials which I haven't gotten around to, and I've watched the airport AU season Ossan's Love: In the Sky. I haven't watched the original one shot episode and the Hong Kong version.)

(disclaimer #2: This is just for fun. I'm not intending to make any statements over which version is superior or anything like that in this post. If you noticed something I missed please let me know so I can add it! I only rewatched ep 1 of the Japanese version for this post.)

For the sake of my lazieness I will use Tv for Thai version and Jv for Japanese Version.

Okay I don't really know how to structure this so I'll just go scene by scene of the Tv (with Jv scenes that happen later/not at all in the Tv in italics):

Intro Office (Dream):

The first scenes of both versions are quite similar down to the way they are shot as a one-take and the order the characters are introduced. The music was also clearly chosen/written as an homage to the Jv which also has character cards for all of the main characters introduced (name, age, position) that the Tv left out. The Jv is not a dream though, so while Haruta appears quite cool walking down the hallway, his abysmal sales record is already shown here.

Intro Mother:

The Tv introduces Heng's mother a little earlier, this scene does not exist in the Jv although her complaints about H's inability to take care of himself at his age also appear in her introduction scene in the Jv. (small difference: Heng is 30, Haruta 33)

Intro Office (Reality):

This scene still maps onto the first of the Jv but there are some new things added. The Boss doesn't scold Haruta in the Jv and the office proposal/Irene as a character are inventions by the Tv.

Intro Restaurant Siblings:

Another new scene, no Irene in the Jv -> no need to mope over her engagement. Instead of this scene the Jv has a mixer scene that was apparently entirely cut from the Tv (though did appear in the pilot trailer) and we see the Boss celebrating his 30th anniversary with his wife at the same restaurant. Of note for the Jv are: (1) Maro(New Year) sabotages Haruta by telling him the women are flight attendants when they aren't, then joins in making fun of him. (2) This is the first meeting of Haruta and Maki in the Jv

The Morning After:

H is woken up by his mother in both versions though Haruta at least made it inside the house. The monk is obviously an addition from the Tv. For the Jv this is the first introduction of the mother so we get a little more complaints from her, otherwise it plays out pretty similarly.

Train Ride:

The Jv takes place in a bus instead and theres a false accusation of sexual harrassment leveled at Haruta that the Tv chose to leave out. The 'Boss giving H another chance to prove himself' conversation already happened in the intro office scene in the Jv. The screen discovery happens pretty much the same way, but the Boss getting off at the wrong stop was a new addition from the Tv.

"You saw":

This scene happens a little later in the Jv, after Haruta saw the pictures on his pc so it's mostly in reference to those pics. Also this scene happens in the toilet in the Jv.

Intro Momo:

Instead of the "You saw" scene we get some office action (of note: Maro blames Haruta for his mistake) before Maki is introduced to the whole team in the Jv. The Tv only has the main three present for this introduction. The meet cute bumping into each other is an addition from the Tv. Both Hs are excited to be working with a familiar face though the familiarity is different. Haruta and Maki only having met at the mixer the night before while Heng and Momo worked together during their probation period eight years previously. The Jv has Maki move from a different department (different office but still Tokyo) while Momo in the Tv transferrs from a different city (Chiang Mai). Both M's are shown to be successful at their job, Boss says this about Maki in this scene in the Jv, while we learn it for Momo in a flash back later.

(

Picture discovery:

This is when Haruta discovers his pictures in the Jv. It's only Haruta who sees them in this version. (There is a play on his name here: Haruta -> haru (spring in Japanese) -> folder named "Spring", he was told to get the data for the spring quater. I don't know any Thai so I can't say if there was a similar thing in the Tv though the subtitles didn't hint at anything)

"You saw":

This is when the previously discussed "You saw" scene happens in the Jv.

)

Out with Momo:

Instead of handing out snacks to staff/clients of the Tv, they are distributing flyers in the Jv. Both versions have H give M useful tips though. Namwan is quite different from her Japanese counterpart. In the Jv the building manager is a middle-aged lady who tries to set Haruta up on a blind date with a big woman only for Haruta to correct her that he wants a woman with big boobs, not one that's generally big. Heng's belief that Namwan has a crush on him is potentially inspired by a later line from the Jv where he drunkenly claims to Maki that Chizu(Chicha) is in love with him. Namwan trying to get Momos number is an addition from the Tv. Taweep the cleaning lady is an addition from the Tv/ the Jv building manager (+ some passerbys on the street) was split into Namwan and her. In both versions this is where H is shown to be quite kind and generally getting along with people. Momo's allusions to the past are, of course, exclusive to the Tv.

Called Away:

In the Jv Haruta gets called to a clients house where Maro has made a mess by being rude. Meanwhile Maki keeps distributing the flyers. In the Tv they both head to the office because New Year is too busy to make his own presentation.

Office After Hours:

In the Jv Haruta heads to the office alone after cleaning up Maro's mess. He discovers Boss leaving him long comments in his reviews which he doesn't do for others. In the Tv both Heng and Momo are in the office together and this is where they both discover the pictures on Boss's notebook. Then Boss arrives, and sends away Momo in the Tv. Both Bosses take of their jackets though the Jv Boss also closes the blinds and takes some pills. H runs away and Boss follows shouting his name in both versions, both end with H in the elevator and Boss texting him his real intentions. (Tv: to give him the file, Jv: to make him aware of the cleaning tag on his suit) Momo in the elevator and everything that comes with it is an invention of the Tv.

Mother left:

The Jv mother only leaves a single note to explain her absence (she plans to open a store with a guy Haruta doesn't know about) instead of Heng searching for her in the Tv, the Jv shows a small montage of Haruta being unable to do anything in the house (he doesn't even know where the toilet paper is).

Back at the Reastaurant:

This is the first introduction to the restaurant and the siblings in the Jv. In the Jv we learn that Chizu quit her job after she was told to apologize for hitting a client that harrassed her (neither Haruta nor her brother Teppei take this particularily seriously). This was cut from the Tv. Heng stealing tissues is a new addition in the Tv. In both, the brother brings up marriage but only in the Tv mentions a childhood marriage promise, in the Jv Haruta suggests Chizu marry him. Chizu in the Jv shuts him down because she wants to marry a butler who will do all of the house work. Chicha in the Tv because she's not been single since grade 2. Instead Heng is the one who says he doesn't want to marry her because he wants a perfect housewife. In the Jv Haruta tries to order some food but Teppei already closed the kitchen. In the Tv Thua-ngok presents them with his latest meal creation. The creative food combinations of the brother do also appear in the Jv but not yet in the first episode.

Inviting Momo:

In the Tv Momo waits in front of Heng's house to help him with the presentation, in the Jv Haruta just runs into Maki on the street who had been distributing the rest of the flyers until then. Momo asks Heng about affordable accomodation while Maki just mentions that he hasn't found anything so far (Maki living in a weekly rental for now, Momo with his aunt). In the Tv Momo brought some home-cooked food for Heng which leads to Heng finding out he can cook while Maki in the Jv just carries some fresh groceries with him which leads to the same discovery. Both H's offer M to move in, though Maki in the Jv doesn't take it as a joke, Haruta also explains more (like his mother moving out). Maki says he'll think about it and then we see him move in a few days later while the Tv doesn't show any details after Heng's proposal.

Office Bragging + "New Mom" Montage:

The framing device for the montage as Heng telling it to his coworkers is unique to the Tv. In the Jv it just happens after Maki moves in. The montage itself contains some scolding on Maki's part while Momo just smiles happily at Heng's antics (though he's also not quite as disgustingly messy as Haruta). Haruta also doesn't call Maki his "new mom" in the Jv. The bragging to coworkers and all that comes with it like Heng's impromptu marriage proposal are inventions of the Tv. In the Jv only Haruta and Maki sit at a table together eating their homemade lunch while Haruta tries to convince Maki to go halfsies on a VR set (to watch porn). In the Jv Haruta catches the Boss watching them through the blinds in his office while in the Tv everyone is busy with each other while the Boss stands off to the side and spills his coffee all over his hand in jealousy.

Boss is Married

In both versions H finds out about Boss being married from Maika/Meow although in the Jv there is only one cutaway to Boss and his wife out on a date she witnessed while in the Tv we cut twice to Boss and his daughter visiting the late wife's grave. The Boss's wife being dead and him having a daughter instead are not inventions by the Tv though, the same thing was the case in the airport AU season of the Jv. Both Hs take this information to mean that they must have been mistaken about Boss's feelings.

(

Boss's Confession:

In the Jv Boss confesses here already, he does so after telling Haruta to meet him at a park.

Telling Chizu:

Then there follows a scene where Haruta tells Chizu about it. She teases him, tells him he should be happy anyone loves him at all and that she's rooting for his boss. The Tv counterpart to this scene will probably happen in EP2 judging by the preview.

Chizu + Maki First Meeting:

Chizu dumps off a drunk Haruta at his Home. She introduces herself to Maki (this is where the aforementioned line from Haruta about her being in love with him happens) and tells him that Haruta is confused because of an unexpected confession then leaves. Maki drags drunk Haruta to the sofa who tells him to get something from his bag. It's a multiple page manual he made for Maki with handwritten/-drawn notes about customers etc. Maki is touched by this.

)

Poster Mistake:

In the Jv Haruta makes the mistake himself (wrong map), again Maro is quite mean about it. In the Tv New Year makes the mistake (wrong QR code) Heng just didn't check it properly. Takegawa/Ten is mad at H in both versions. In the Jv Boss comes in to make an encouraging speech and divide tasks, while in the Tv only Ten, New Year, Meow and Heng are present for this discussion and decide the course of action themselves. New Year offering to resign is an invention by the Tv although possibly insired by an offhand remark in the Maki intro scene where Maika tells Haruta to be nice to Maro lest he quit to which Maro agrees.

Poster Correction:

In the Tv Momo helps Heng put the correct sticker over the posters, in the Jv Boss helps him (he sent everyone else off on other tasks). Haruta is awkward alone with Boss and tells him he can finish the rest by himself, Boss leaves. In the Tv this reminds Momo of the past which leads to:

Probation Period Flashback:

Since Jv Haruta and Maki don't have history the entire flashback is a new invention by the Tv. It serves to remind the audience of Heng's kindness and intuitive understanding of other people and to show why/when Momo first developed feelings for Heng. We also learn that Momo has an accent/dialect that slips out sometimes which people made fun of him for, and gets tipsy easily.

Mascot trouble:

In the Tv another problem emerges on site of the company event when the mascot actor can't be contacted, again this was kind of New Years mistake which gets blamed on Heng because he delegated too difficult tasks to the newbie, again New Year offers to resign. Boss makes an inspiring speech, Heng offers to wear the costume himself. None of this happens in the Jv as Haruta was supposed to wear the costume from the beginning. Boss still gives a bit of a speech though because his coworkers are bitching about Haruta.

Boss's Rescue:

The mascot dancing and then trying to warn Boss through the medium of mime are inventions by the Tv. The rescue itself happens pretty much the same way in both versions though.

In the Hospital:

Both versions have Boss and M overhearing the nurses talking about "him being so young" and coming to the wrong conclusion although in the Jv there's also a doctor who assures Boss he "did all he could". In the Jv Maki finds Heng first and is the only one present for the cognitive function test reveal (Tv: IQ like middle schooler, Jv: brain like 85yo). Both Ms shove their Hs for worrying them, though Maki is a little bit more emotional about it. At that point in the Tv Boss sends Momo away, saying he wants to talk to Heng alone and Momo leaves. In the Jv Boss comes in and is clearly very emotionally affected so Haruta asks Maki to give them a moment alone and Maki leaves. Both Bosses proceed to fall to their knees in front of H and hug him. In the Jv all of this happens in a private room so Haruta is worried about someone walking in on them like this while in the Tv it happens in a common ward in full view of everyone anyway. Both Hs pet Boss to calm him though Jv on the head and Tv on the back, both contemplative.

Momo Remembers Jealousy:

In the Tv we see Momo at home drinking a beer which turns into a flashback of their probation passing celebration at Chicha's restaurant. We learn here that Momo was best in class and got recruited to Chiang Mai, which he accepted because he thought there was something between Heng and Chicha and he wanted distance. Then we cut back to present Momo being annoyed at the memory. All of this is Tv original material however we do get in the Jv: (1) Maki going through the notes Boss left Haruta in his reviews while Haruta is in the shower and being annoyed (2) Boss at home asking his wife to divorce him and her being completely shocked and then thinking there is another woman.

Boss's Confession:

In the Tv Boss drives Heng home and then confesses to him outside his house, spurred on by almost losing Heng that day. In the Jv this confession already happened earlier as mentioned before. Aside from the circumstances the confessions are pretty similar including Boss stating that he wanted to take this to the grave originally (mind changed because Jv: Haruta found pictures Tv: Heng almost died), H protesting about Boss being married and Boss asking H to give him some time to sort things out on his end and thanking H while H is stunned speechless. Differences: Jv: Boss planned this so he brought a big bouquet of roses, he bows 90° in front of Haruta and runs away afterwards Tv: no roses because spontaneous, Boss tells Heng his wife died 10 years ago (to which Heng reacts with the stupidest little awkward asshole shrug in what has become the funniest moment of the episode to me since I was made aware of it by a twitter user), Boss clutches Heng's hands in his, Boss runs away by car instead of foot. H's reactions after Boss has left are basically opposite. Jv's Haruta does his usual over the top reaction silently screaming in the middle of the park while Tv's Heng is more stunned into stillness, looking like he almost faints and clinging to his inhaler like it's the only thing keeping him upright.

Momo's Shower Confession:

In the Tv Momo catches Heng coming in looking pale. Momo is even more annoyed and keeps drinking his beer. He comes into the bathroom while Heng is still in the shower but stays to brush his teeth anyway. He saw a bit of the end of Boss's confession, asks Heng about Boss. Heng eventually tells him Boss confessed, Momo plays it cool, learns that Heng is single and his issue with Boss's confession is that Boss is a guy. Momo remembers their moment 8 years prior, gets mad and decides to throw caution to the wind. All of this is Tv original. In the Jv Haruta only asks Maki to bring him a towel. Then both Ms burst into the shower, confess their feelings and kiss H. Differences: Jv: Maki starts with he likes Haruta, then tells him he knows Haruta likes big boobs but what about a big cock before kissing him. Haruta pushes him away pretty quickly, the shower runs the whole time. We end on them looking at each other. Tv: Momo starts by asking why men can't date each other, Heng thinks he likes Boss, Momo corrects he likes Heng, tells Heng he wont lose him to anyone this time and kisses him. Heng doesn't push Momo away but is equally stunned. The shower turned off when Momo first came in, Heng turns it back on as he's getting kissed (and kind of blows bubbles against Momo's lips). We end on the kiss.

General thoughts:

both versions have voice over internal monologue from H, but Jv does it a little more especially towards the beginning

if Heng exists in day to day at an 11 Haruta does at a 35, Heng falls a little more toward cute in his childishness compared to Haruta falling more towards annoying/infuriating

Boss appears somewhat more creepy in the Jv before his confession compared to the Tv

Jv's Maki is a lot less smitten with Haruta than Tv's Momo

Jv's Maro was kind of an asshole at the beginning while Tv's New Year seems relatively sweet so far

both versions are over the top physical comedy but the Jv is a way more extreme example while the Tv adjusted it down a bit to suit the more typical Thai style of comedy, in the Jv we get intercut imagery like a waterbottle spilling while Haruta finds the photos on Boss's computer, in the Tv we get a whole smorgasbord of sound effects. Both are edited with many quick cuts, again the Jv dialed up to 100.

Tv is a lot more bright and colourful than the more muted colours of the Jv

most actors appear slightly younger than their Jv counterparts (because gmmtv obviously has their own actors and they are mostly not that old) most noteworthy: Boss (55 in the Jv, no number for the Tv but Shahkrit is 46 currently) and Takegawa/Ten (44 in Jv, Thor is currently 28)

Momo gets more screentime/character exploration from the beginning compared to Maki. In the Jv the distribution leaned more heavily towards Haruta and Boss (the only constant characters/actors through all iterations of the Jv) with Maki feeling more like the third in this regard. The Tv increased Momo's presence and exploration, pushing the Boss into position of the third lead in this regard.

Biggest story changes so far: - Boss's wife is dead (like In the Sky) - Boss has a daughter (like In the Sky) - Momo and Heng knew each other previously, Momo has preexisting feelings for Heng

#ossan's love thailand #ossan's love th #ossan's love #personal opinion: I really enjoy both versions so far partially for the same reasons partially for different ones #some things seem to have been updated to fit more into the current zeitgeist which is good imo even if it cost us an iconic meme line #i'm really excited to see how the changes will affect the story further down the line/ what other changes they've made #the jv first season had only 7 eps still most of the content of the first episode happend in the first tv episode so they must have added #a lot to get to 12 eps (whatever happens in lampang for example will probably be mostly original content i suspect)#it will be interesting to see if they drew ideas from the movie or returns and more ideas from the au season

12 notes · View notes

a-araiguma-a · 11 months ago

Text

Headcannons

Deadpool and Wolverine are both characters with vivid characters, and it can be assumed which departments of Hogwarts they could be in.

Deadpool (Wade Wilson) — despite his randomness and eccentricity, Deadpool demonstrates cunning, ingenuity and the ability to adapt to any circumstances. In this regard, he could very well end up in Slytherin. This faculty appreciates ambition, determination and cunning, and is also no stranger to characters with questionable morals, which is quite consistent with Deadpool.

Wolverine (Logan) — он embodies traits like bravery, loyalty, and a strong sense of justice. These qualities would make him a good fit for Gryffindor. Though he’s often portrayed as a lone wolf, his willingness to fight for others and his courage in the face of danger are very much in line with the Gryffindor spirit.

If we imagine that Deadpool and Wolverine are studying at Hogwarts, their school life would be rich, vibrant, and full of adventure.

Deadpool at Hogwarts would undoubtedly be an incredibly charismatic and eccentric student. His ability to find a way out of the most confusing situations and his sense of humor would make him popular among students, although teachers might see him as a constant source of problems. He would be a master of pranks and tricks, likely turning everything upside down, creating chaos in and out of classes.

In Slytherin, Deadpool might use his cunning and creative sides to achieve his goals, not forgetting sarcasm along the way. Perhaps he would find ways to bend the rules with magic to avoid punishment for his antics. In duels, he would use unconventional spells and tricks to surprise his opponents.

Wolverine, in contrast, would be more serious and focused. In Gryffindor, he would become the prefect or leader of the Quidditch team, thanks to his bravery and determination. He doesn't like arguments and injustice, so he would always stand up for the weak and fight against unfairness in the school.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, he would be one of the best students, thanks to his strength and skills. Gryffindor students would respect him for his dedication and willingness to defend his friends.

Perhaps together they could even form their own "school gang" from students of different houses and participate in joint adventures—whether it was night hikes through the Forbidden Forest or battles against dark forces threatening Hogwarts.

▬▬ι═══════ﺤ

When Deadpool and Wolverine first arrived at Hogwarts, the Sorting Hat found itself in a difficult position. It couldn't decide on Deadpool for a long time—so much chaos and unpredictability! In the end, the Hat chose Slytherin, seeing in him the qualities of a leader and an inventive manipulator. Deadpool, of course, took the opportunity to crack a few jokes, causing the entire Hall to erupt with laughter.

Wolverine, on the other hand, stood in line waiting for his turn with a frown. When the Hat touched his head, it immediately chose Gryffindor, sensing his indomitable will and courage. Unlike Deadpool, Logan simply stood up and, nodding, sat at the table of his new house, already thinking about how to best use his new abilities to protect others.

▬▬ι═══════ﺤ

Deadpool and Wolverine often participated in the dueling club. One day, they found themselves against each other, and it turned into an unforgettable event. Wolverine, though more reserved, used strength and direct attacks, while Deadpool kept joking, distracting Logan with his comments.

Deadpool threw several spells, employing unexpected combinations and tricks, while Logan parried them with his incredible agility. At one point, Deadpool created a doppelgänger that began taunting Logan, making him attack the illusion. When Logan finally sliced through the illusion, Deadpool, standing behind him, smirked and said, "You fell for it, claw!" However, instead of continuing the fight, they just laughed and shook hands.

▬▬ι═══════ﺤ

One night, breaking all school rules, Deadpool decided to go on a "hike" into the Forbidden Forest. Convincing Wolverine to join him, he assured him it would be a "little adventure." Once in the forest, they soon encountered a group of aggressive magical creatures—acromantulas.

Wolverine instantly drew his claws (which in this version might have been magical) and jumped into battle, protecting Deadpool. Deadpool, not to be outdone, used his magical abilities while also making jokes about how he "had always dreamed of being a spider hunter." Together they defeated the acromantulas and returned to Hogwarts at dawn, only to be caught by Filch, who threatened to expel them from school. However, thanks to Deadpool's charisma and Wolverine's influence, they got away with just extra assignments and a promise not to do it again (although everyone knew they would repeat it soon).

▬▬ι═══════ﺤ

When the Triwizard Tournament was taking place at Hogwarts, both heroes could not stay on the sidelines. Wolverine, of course, participated, representing Gryffindor. He showcased incredible skills and bravery, facing dangers and solving difficult tasks. However, his true test came in the final task—in the Maze.

At one point, Logan fell into a trap and needed help. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Deadpool appeared, grinning as he offered his assistance, claiming he was "just passing by." Together they navigated through traps and opponents, with Deadpool constantly distracting Logan with his comments and jokes. Eventually, when they reached the Cup, Logan offered Deadpool to take it, but he just waved it off, saying, "Glory isn't my thing, old man. This is your show!"

Overall, their life at school would be full of action, jokes, and the struggle for justice, with elements of madness and fun brought by Deadpool.

#deadpool #wolverine #hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry #harry potter imagine #headcanon #headcanon deadpool #deadpool x wolverine #logan howlett #gryffindor #slytherin #deadpool imagine #marvel #deadpool 3 #deadpool and wolverine #harry potter #hugh jackman #ryan reynolds

35 notes · View notes

batsplat · 1 year ago

Note

more thoughts? PLEASE

okay I'm gonna assume this is about my tags on the sete post and well when I was editing I cut out a lot from a bunch of different sections so there's not necessarily... uh. this isn't going to be a coherent addition. but I have a few more thoughts I might as well rattle through

1. reinvention

idk I just enjoy what he's doing with his style changes during that time... like in 2002, 2003 and 2004 you've got a different vibe going on each year. the whole point of that brno hair colour thing was that it was almost a step back into the past, of re-embracing the fun and the whimsy and escaping the constraints and pressures of the present. very much embracing a more youthful vibe when you compare it to 2002, getting back in touch with his inner teenager, all while he's plotting his crazy move to yamaha. and then 2004 obviously he inevitably changes up his colour scheme, but he also lets his hair grow out and it ends up nicely emphasising that this is a New Era for him. not really an original point but there's just something fun and playful to how he uses his cute lil visual storytelling elements, from the hairstyles to the celebrations... he makes it fun to analyse him, y'know? always thinking about The Narrative

2. the symbolism of it all

this bit was too vibes-based to make it into the post but it's basically linked to these bits in the conclusion:

and following on from the reinvention thing, I do think there's something narratively rich to how valentino had to change his approach as a result of the switch to yamaha. you have this... I wouldn't call it a regression necessarily but maybe a recapturing of this playfulness in the middle of 2003 with the whole brno thing, but then there's something a little tougher and hardened about him in his yamaha days that kind of comes from necessity because he just didn't have that margin for error anymore. from the mat oxley reference book:

Some racers think motorcycle racing is a high-speed ballet, others think it's a petrolhead's wrestling match. Valentino always had the killer instinct, but it's significant that he only became known as a warrior rider after he left Honda. Without the technical advantage of the RC211V, he needed to find another way to beat rivals. He found that way at the 2005 Spanish GP, where he battered into Sete Gibernau at the final corner to win the race. He used similarly aggressive tactics to beat Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca in 2008 and Jorge Lorenzo at Motegi in 2010, and to deal with Marc Marquez during 2015. It has been said that Vale invented this kind of racing, although a deeper look into the sport's history reveals that this isn't true. And yet there's no doubt that he loved the thrill of the chase and the thrill of the kill.

and yeah, crucially, he did always have it in him. he was a proper menace in his rookie 125cc season, to the surprise of absolutely no one. but it's a very valentino thing, isn't it... you've got this clown prince persona, you have this exuberance and joie de vivre and all of it, and it's not like any of that is a lie. it's also not like his friendliness to other people is a lie either: the anecdotes about this are pretty consistent in telling you about how he does take genuine interest in his fellow human beings, which is hardly something you can take for granted with the kind of socially isolated egomaniacs competitive sports tends to produce. (though he does also benefit in that regard from coming up through an era in which the sport was still a little less professionalised and he was afforded somewhat more time to develop into a generally more well-rounded character, not a bad thing lbr.) but then, back against the wall, the fangs come out. and in a way that's what the entire 2004 season was about for him - this period where he was actually facing real challenges, a period of transition and transformation where the winning was a little less easy and he changed as a competitor as a result of that

and there's just something... idk, fitting, about how it was sete specifically who ended up being the victim of this, the guy who had always been seen as a little too carefree and nice and soft to cut it at the sharp end of the sport. who valentino had befriended: he'd been happy to blur that line between competitor and friend back then, though obviously that friendship started before sete became a serious threat. if you really want to go off the deep end with this, you could say valentino ended up exorcising the softness within himself by crushing sete. he wasn't going to allow any weakness in his own competitive make up, not when it could actually cost him. and in a way he really did have to understand sete really well, to know how to get to him in the way he did, to know how to play all those little moments in front of the cameras... those moments where he's cold to sete and knows it will unsettle sete, where he extends his hand and knows sete will accept, all of it. targeted cruelty, based on a thorough understanding of sete's character. again, this is a bit of a reach but you could say the two feuds where he went the furthest with his cruelty were against the two blokes who were the most similar to valentino. and, well, sometimes you do have to understand someone to truly know how best to hurt them

the whole episode also ended up signalling something to his competitors, almost like a warning. it's not like his relationship with everyone else in the paddock changed from one day to the next and he still had good friendships with other guys after that - even those he was actually competing against, like nicky hayden or loris capirossi. but inevitably, it will have also shifted perceptions of valentino. after the feud with biaggi you could say he was really young and also a lot of people had problems with biaggi. but gibernau? if you need concrete evidence people took notice of valentino's behaviour, take casey in 2007 saying to valentino that he didn't want their relationship deteriorate the same way it had with biaggi/gibernau. one feud can happen to everyone, two starts looking a little suspicious - three was where it became a pattern

3. rivalries

y'know, I've seen that casey quote about valentino and gibernau and biaggi thrown around a fair few places over the years, but the thing I've always been kind of curious about is what valentino thought about casey telling him that. if this is a pattern of behaviour, then what's happening there is valentino being confronted with that pattern, right? I think an underlying question you have to address at some point with valentino and his rivalries is how aware he is of what he's doing. like, is he consciously engineering feuds or is he doing it subconsciously? and I think it can be a bit misleading if the first valentino feud you come across is the marc one, because it'll prime you to read all the other ones in certain ways that might not be entirely accurate. I've not quite figured out how to express this yet so bear with me here - but marc is the one who valentino felt the most hurt by and continues to feel the most hurt by and as a result it's the most emotionally charged feud from his perspective. but what that also means is it's the feud where he's the least consciously aware of how he himself has contributed to this whole nightmare situation they've got going on. because from his perspective he did treat marc differently from... well, basically from any post-sete major or even minor rival. he offered marc all that kindness and generosity and good will and graciousness in defeat as well as victory and had it thrown in his face

which makes it easy to assume this is all just... well, not just twenty years of feuding but also twenty years of self-delusion. and it's not quite like that - he has more self-awareness than that I think. when you read how he talks about biaggi in his autobiography (who he is kind enough not to completely erase from his narrative), even in 2005 he seems to have a pretty good handle on what that feud really was. okay, maybe he does somewhat shirk responsibility and somewhat overemphasises the role of the media as opposed to his own malice, but there's an awareness of how stupid and silly and mean-spirited the whole thing was. it was just a kind of nasty rivalry with a guy valentino didn't like much - but who, for what it's worth, wasn't exactly going out of his way to be nice to valentino either. sure, it ended up being torture for biaggi, and sure valentino did maybe relish inflicting said torture a little more than is morally appropriate. but y'know, in some ways, it's quite straightforward, this honest mutual dislike. uncomplicated, even

and this I did not include in the actual sete post because it's just complete and utter speculation, but I wonder to what extent the sete experience did end up changing valentino's approach to his competitors. whether he deliberately embraced that side of himself a little more and was a little more considered and calculating in how he treated his rivals, more in touch with his inner bastard, if you will. even if he just had in the back of his mind that something like with sete could happen again, even if he was just a bit more careful about keeping certain blokes at arm's length. because, remember, from his perspective this was also the first time a relationship with a rival deteriorated this drastically - now you can say 'yeah but it was his fault', but that doesn't change how it was a new experience for valentino too! he was also learning stuff about himself in the process, going through an important journey of self-exploration, etc etc. love crushing my enemies on the path to self-actualisation

and valentino did learn a lot from that whole experience on-track, he did learn useful skills in terms of managing rivalries - so maybe he also looked at what worked on sete in the psychological warfare department and, y'know, consciously made a note of it. when casey delivered that little spiel to valentino about not wanting their relationship to deteriorate, I assume valentino responded perfectly pleasantly in the moment... but I do also think he was extremely ready to deliberately sour their dynamic if he had to. zero self-delusion required

he's quite calculating with casey and jorge I feel... especially with casey, he really didn't waste his time feeling emotionally slighted or coming up with reasons why casey was the devil and needed to be destroyed. he wanted to destroy casey because he wanted to win, and was comfortable enough in his own skin to use the full bag of tools and tricks to do so, no complex internal narratives to justify the whole thing needed. for him, that was all just part of the game. it wasn't for casey, which is a topic for an entirely different post, but... well, casey and jorge in particular are the ones who have spoken about this valentino desire to create enemies, to give himself someone to hate etc. and in a way, ironically I would say they're the two for who that was the least true. yeah, they gave him a helpful target and he was perfectly happy to whip up drama where needed. but I don't really think he was going to any particular lengths to invent reasons to hate them (even his 2010 dramatics were really just faffing about). he found them both kinda annoying and he wanted to beat them. that's it

4. these photos of valentino and sete at sepang 2004

idk I just like photos that have nebulously bad vibes if you know the context. it would have been quite funny if they'd consistently used the same shade of yellow in sepang press conferences over the years

5. marc

all of the stuff above does to me really emphasise how... god. this is the thing about valentino and marc, right, as a tragic narrative - it feels inevitable in many ways that this had to somehow go wrong, but then at the same time the exact way in which it did end up going wrong was reliant on so many things playing out the exact way in which they did, that it feels like if you could have just slightly changed things... like, let's say for a moment my baseless speculation about valentino is correct and he did become a little more careful and deliberate in how he approached his relationships with his competitors after the sete experience. there's so much that had to come together for him to lower his guard around marc to the extent that he did. again, injuries, ducati, how he wasn't really competitive in 2013, how dominant marc was especially in the first half of 2014... all these things that came together to lull them both into this false sense of security, spurred on by genuine interpersonal chemistry - all of which allowed them to even become friends in the first place

think about what the early marc and valentino relationship looks like if you're casey (who, bless him, certainly wasn't paying close enough attention to motogp to be aware of 'press conference vibes') or jorge (who, bless him, was unfortunately unable to avoid said press conference vibes). isn't there a little part of you that goes 'what the fuck is all this then' when you see valentino act like marc is god's gift to motorcycle racing after spending years enacting elaborate hazing rituals any time particularly promising talent had come through? casey's little 'yeah he was fucking with me in practise in 2006' line, jorge... okay in valentino's defence, it's worth pointing out that their 2008 relationship was more cordial than literally anyone had expected, and things only really soured in 2010. but still, their camps did already start up a healthy habit of sniping at each other in the press in 2009 and they did have the whole cold war cosplay situation going on, so. jorge certainly wasn't being given the kid gloves treatment

and sure, 2014 was a pretty drama free year for everyone because the general consensus was 'what would be the point', and I suppose if you're jorge you might also just assume the old man's washed and has gone soft in his advanced age. but still! I think I'd be a tad peeved myself, especially given valentino immediately fell into a lovely little habit of taking marc's side in controversies from the very start of marc's rookie season. but that's kind of the point - valentino's entire approach to marc required that past history of feuding for him to fall back on, for him to imitate/echo when the moment arrived (as I talked about here)... but it also required valentino to have gotten enough distance from all of his past misadventures for him to not have that sort of mindset from the outset when it came to marc

which, another thing I feel like maybe can get obscured a little if you're looking back on past rivalries with the marc-lens - this concept of valentino 'switching up' towards his opponents. because I do actually think there is something categorically different between the sete + marc rivalries when compared to any of his other ones - and it's how deliberate that switch-up is from valentino's perspective, vs to what extent it's driven by 'genuine' emotion. I just think there were rivalries (for a given value of the word if we're including melandri here) between sete's era and marc's era where valentino decided he was going to create a little distance there - but it was all part of the game. he didn't hate those guys. he just wanted to win, and understood as much about himself

but he does hate marc, because that rivalry was never supposed to be like the other ones. which, in the end, is what made it far far worse

6. che spettacolo

'he was so happy after sealing his first yamaha title :)' I go, knowing he had just pulled off a pretty fucking nasty spite win against a bloke he'd recently put a curse on. he really did risk quite a lot in the penultimate round of the season, just because he could not bear to see sete win that race. revealing, isn't it? obviously he'd always try to win the race, but... at times he just couldn't help himself in how far he went

anyway, it's my favourite of his title-winning shirts. a deliberate departure from tradition - he told his team he didn't want logos or any other decoration or even any mention that he was world champion again. the reasoning he gave was that nobody would expect it from him, which... well, yeah, it's what that whole year was about, wasn't it? about doing the unexpected, about proving everyone wrong - and, in the end, about putting on a show. like all the best valentino celebrations, it gets the message across and explains to you quite clearly what he thinks the story of his victory was. memorable in its simplicity but tells you everything you need to know

one of his career highlights <3 it's in character that the whole thing was just a little bit evil

7. film

I cannot for the life of me remember when this was except it was post-2015, but one time in a presser valentino was asked which rivalry of his he'd make into a movie and his answer was biaggi. obviously it's hard to argue with the dramatic appeal of that particular story and it's certainly got a lot of very memorable moments, but my hot take is that the sete rivalry has got it beat by virtue of having a far clearer narrative arc. it's a slightly unusual, slightly odd story for a sports rivalry... like I said in the sete post, people aren't typically all that compelled by sports rivalries where you know from the outset which one of them is better. what's the point then, right? very much the indie flavour rivalry, a little more niche and philosophical and inscrutable and, y'know, darker. this is a feud that centres around a curse, after all. this one's for the girls who get it etc etc

valentino's erasure of sete is interesting for a lot of reasons, but it's a shame because it really is such a good narrative arc that adds so much to the transition to yamaha. the transformation valentino himself went through as a competitor, how he responded to real threats emerging, revealing your true nature in extremis and all of that... I'm not entirely convinced by how sete says valentino didn't need to do what he did against sete - he said it specifically about jerez, which I suppose is debatable, but I imagine he meant it more broadly too. there was a moment valentino could have lost that 2004 championship. and he'd already decided he would do anything to stop that from happening, which things like that assen last lap nicely symbolised. the thing about judging valentino for the foibles and the spite and the dishonesty and the competitive paranoia and all of it - well, at the end of the day they are key aspects of his make up as a competitor for a reason. you can judge him as a person... but as an athlete, more often than not they worked out in his favour. that's what's so interesting about sepang 2015 in a way - it's the only time the whole thing well and truly backfired

(I know casey has drawn the comparison between himself and marc before and argued valentino's biggest mistake was in making enemies but... well. was it? it wasn't against casey - valentino did not lose anything by making an enemy out of casey and he very well may have gained a lot, depending on what your read of the 2008 season is. very much a topic for another post... but this is the thing right, I think it's perfectly reasonable to object to valentino's behaviour on moral grounds, less reasonable to ignore why it was such a big part of who he was as a competitor and how it helped him succeed. I completely understand why casey wants to draw that comparison, but - perhaps unfortunately - it's a little too nice to be true that valentino's malice cost him as much as casey suggests it did)

valentino learns a lot from the sete rivalry in terms of his storytelling and self-mythologisation, not least in how he plays up the theatre of the sepang presser. one aspect that really stands out to me is the pointed cruelty of his celebrations after sepang. from the sete post:

revisiting his whole 'character arc' from the 2003-05 period here, you've got this reversion in 2003, right, this throwback to the antics of his teenage years, and then you've got him getting meaner in 2004... and these things are married here. the whimsy and fun inherent to his celebrations is being wielded in the name of humiliating his competitors, of making a joke out of them. there's this thin line between joy and malice, where throughout his career he seems so endlessly capable of both - even at the same time, clearly. he's obviously already shown himself capable of mocking his opponents in the biaggi days, but, I don't know, it really does feel like there's something to how deliberately the humiliation is incorporated into the theatre of victory here. what a spectacle indeed

8. rage and panic

but then again, I really don't want to pretend like valentino is perfectly rational or calculating in what he's doing here. remember where all this started - in qatar, a race where he well and truly lost his cool and he knows as much. I included the relevant autobiography section in this post, but just to put the bit here that's bit about qatar itself:

he knows his brain fucked him over! I also think it's interesting that this reads slightly differently from his immediate post-race quotes, which I included in the sete post:

was he angry or was he relaxed or, somehow, both? was that unfortunate moment of relaxation caused by the inevitable letdown from the anger - was it unsustainable to ride like that? either way, the key bit to me is the heightened emotions involved and how usually he has it under control, usually he can use all of this in his own interest to spur himself on... except when he can't. as I pointed out in the tags of the qatar post, there are elements of that race that do remind you of another 25 year old rider who had received a penalty he felt was unfair and was working his way through the field while running hot on emotion. it's all fun and games and smiling assassins etc etc, but if you get them really angry...

and, y'know, in a way there's an element of panic to his post-qatar media rampage. okay, sure, he was clearly furious and the whole thing did end up working out in his favour, but in the moment he must have also been scared he was going to end up losing a championship he'd thought he basically had wrapped up. it's funny because if motogp were a sane and normal sport, valentino (allegedly) vowing his title rival would never win a race again on live tv should have been a moment of foolishness and hubris and should have been remembered as such. it should have been him losing it for a moment there and saying a bunch of stuff he'd need to gloss over and hope everyone moves on quickly from. it is absolutely bonkers that it all played out the way it did post-qatar and it just like... all went in his favour. it could not have gone better for him. there's a world in which 2004 is remembered as the title valentino squandered. but sometimes hubris gets rewarded, I suppose

9. margin

sane and normal sport, huh? the thing about sports is that none of it is sane and normal. if you actually go through the races one by one and look at all the instances sete could have won a race post-qatar, it does feel just incredibly improbable that sete never won a single one of those damn things. I mean, there are five races where he's literally going into the last lap(!!) with a chance of winning. (in the name of journalistic integrity I do have to point out sete's fuel ran out in the last lap of brno so he didn't really have a chance of winning, but that just brings us back to the 'does motogp exist in a parallel universe where black magic is real' question.) in three of them, sete is ahead of valentino at some point of that final lap

one of the worst things about sports is that sometimes it can trick you into thinking the final outcome is in doubt when it actually kind of isn't. the fact that these two blokes are arriving at the last lap together fools you into thinking that both of them have a decent shot of winning. but obviously it doesn't actually work like that. call it skill and the extra margin of error a decisive performance edge will provide you, call it a clutch factor, call it how 'broken' sete was - it really was just the illusion of proximity, the illusion of tight margins. maybe it really was a test of wills. in two of those races, valentino risked quite a lot to win. phillip island for obvious title arithmetic reasons, jerez because he's literally throwing his bike against sete's in his desperation to prevent sete from beating him. in some ways, it feels unfair to judge sete's mentality too harshly - firstly because this is an insane person sport and I do think he has a point when he says it's maybe not a great idea to laud crash-happy riders for their 'bravery', and secondly because he was just fundamentally the worse rider, which obviously means it was always going to be harder for him to beat valentino than vice versa. but, and this is without any judgement, sete's problem was that valentino always would have been willing to go further than him in his desire to win. to be good at the insane person sport... you do unfortunately have to be insane

10. momentum

I'm not going to be able to do this justice here so I'll only address it very briefly. but I've referred quite a few times to what valentino 'learned' from those years and the sete rivalry and how it helped him acquire tricks he'd be able to use for his other rivals in the future, and there's one aspect of this that kind of stands out to me. you know this bit, right:

this is the thing to me, he becomes so much more proficient at managing momentum. take his 2001 season, he was just kinda doing stuff... panicked a little bit when he had a bad race at the sachsenring until jb talked him off the ledge and reminded him that neither him nor the bike were all that great there. poor thing. and then 2002 and 2003 didn't really have title fights, though I guess 2003 did have a mid-season turning point of sorts when valentino just decided he'd had enough of losing races. which is a nice thing to be able to do, I suppose

but yeah, obviously I already addressed at length how valentino did his whole show at sepang to stop sete's momentum cold, and then how he fatally undermined sete's self-belief and hope and conviction in jerez a few races later - basically stopping that title bid before it even got started. which is all well and good, but... okay, how do you actually manage to make your three most famous overtakes so meaningful? obviously the cause and effect relationship is a bit muddled here - just because they're his most famous overtakes, they're not necessarily his best, and we remember them particularly strongly because they had such a strong impact on his fortunes. but still, when you think about it... sepang was only a turning point that season because of the theatre and not because of the race itself, his overtake in jerez was 100% last minute desperation... but laguna and catalunya? he literally could not have scripted those races more perfectly

both happen at a time when he really, really needs a big win. in 2008, he might have had the points on his side but he sure didn't have the momentum, with casey's three consecutive wins on a ducati that finally seemed well-settled enough to fight for the title and with a lot of strong casey tracks to come. like, he basically wasn't the title favourite any more going into that race - even at the end of laguna one of the commentators still referred to casey as "the man to beat" for the rest of the season. in 2009, the situation was similarly dire. from here (I say like I'm citing something more substantial than my own tumblr posts):

they were both races that valentino went into at a time when he was in serious trouble - but on the flip side they also presented a serious opportunity. both laguna (a race casey must have felt completely certain he would win) and catalunya (jorge's home race) were ones where he could really hurt his rivals. at some point that weekend, whether before the race for casey or before the final corner for jorge, both of them would have been 100% confident they'd win... and valentino stole those victories from right under their noses. and the thing is, right, he couldn't have planned exactly how those races went. first of all because, contrary to whatever the italian public may believe, he is not literally a god. and second of all, the specific overtakes everyone remembers are also ones that inherently had a lot of risk attached to them you'd obviously prefer to avoid. at laguna you have the excursion into the dirt where he needed skill and also quite frankly luck to not crash. catalunya was a last corner overtake - and as we've established, valentino by this point had learned his lesson about leaving it that late if he had any choice in the matter

still, it's not like it was just fate or coincidence or any of that. obviously, he did get lucky that these races unfolded in such a perfect manner for him... but athletes do have a hand in creating their own luck. for laguna, and this is so very much a topic for another post, valentino deliberately deployed tactics to fuck with casey in a way that ended up generating that overtake - without getting into it too much, he basically knew he couldn't allow casey to be ahead going into turn 10 (the corkscrew's turn 8). so if you've decided in advance that come what may, you'll stick your bike in front of your rival's bike in a certain corner... well, if you get lucky, then maybe you can create a little magic. with catalunya, he said afterwards that he'd been imagining that overtake for the whole week before the race. incidentally, according to the commentators jorge had told them that if you're ahead going into the last two corners, you've won the race (which is obviously the kind of thing you should never say, are you insane??) - and that's the key, isn't it. here too, there's a meeting of skill and luck and jorge maybe not being as diligent in protecting the inside line as he should have been (a fact that casey, always polite, full of tact, ever helpful, was willing to repeatedly point out to jorge) and it could have very much ended up with two bikes in the dirt and some awkward conversations within yamaha that evening... but still, at the end of the day, you've got to "invent something" as the commentators put it, you've got to come up with that move and decide it's possible and visualise it again and again before eventually turning it into reality. both of those wins and both of the overtakes everyone remembers were at least to some extent built on tactics and prior planning and valentino deliberately producing something special when he really needed to

the other key bit is, okay, obviously it's not that remarkable that valentino immediately clocked they were important wins, given he'd intended them to be important wins going into the respective races and he knew full well how dramatic the duels had been... but he was still very adept at leaning into the theatre of it all. the idea that valentino came up with the idea of kissing the corkscrew during the race is very funny to me, but it is pretty plausible given he will have had time to do so while coasting at the front after casey's fall. and it's just very memorable, isn't it? sure, that corkscrew overtake helped him win the race, but so did the first lap move into turn 8 or that nifty move on the outside of turn 3 on the lap casey went down. the battle still continued for another twenty odd laps after that corkscrew overtake, but valentino had the shrewd showman's acumen to immediately pinpoint that as the moment of the race, the thing everyone would remember, the defining image, and paid tribute to it in his celebrations to ensure the association would stick in everyone's minds

obviously, he also goes for all kinds of over the top celebrations in catalunya, including wildly ecstatic fist pumping on the bike and breaking out of parc fermé to soak up the adulation of jorge's home fans and all that stuff. and he's a huge fan of the fact he got his 99th career win beating the number 99, because of course he is

also obviously he does that annoying thing where he goes up to both of them while they're doing their interviews so their reactions will be recorded for posterity. so yeah, that's the thing, right... it's about knowing immediately the wins are special and meaningful and signalling with your overblown celebrations how meaningful they are to everyone else so that everyone else is extra sure to remember them and talk about them forever and ever... obviously he got lucky here, obviously it's a little crazy that both those races worked out that well from his perspective. but, y'know. got to hand it to him, I guess. something pretty neat about how both times he went 'yes I am going to change the momentum of the season today'... and he did. plus you've got to give him credit for the fact that he actually capitalised on his momentum, which isn't always easy, and basically took control of both seasons from that point onward (if in different ways and to different extents). he knew he had to take advantage of how his rivals were on the back foot after his daring victories, and he did. you could almost say, right, he knew he had to bite harder when his opponent was already bleedi- *gunshot rings out*

bonus: valencia

so the thing about this whole 'back to back wins with different manufacturers' business is that, understandably, everyone focuses on the welkom side of the equation. very spectacular, very unlikely win, really shouldn't have been possible and somehow valentino did it anyway. but, y'know, that other side of the equation is noteworthy in its own right! he really was crap at valencia. eighth place in his 1999 250cc campaign, his worst result all year when he finished the race (1 dnf that season)... his 2000 title campaign died there when he crashed... eleventh place in 2001, his worst result all year when he finished the race (1 dnf)... in 2002, he got second place there, one of only five races that season he didn't win

but he really, really wanted to win that race in valencia. now, personally, my assumption has always been it was kind of supposed to be a 'fuck you' to honda, which I still completely believe btw. but this is how he himself frames it:

I was the one who worried. Saturday night I took pictures of myself hugging and embracing the RC211V. I wanted to say goodbye to my bike because I knew that tomorrow we would race our last race together. Leaving the RC211V was what hurt most. In fact, I now believe the reason it took me so long to say yes to Yamaha was because I was so attached to that bike. As I looked at the RC211V and thought that we would soon be separated, I genuinely feared that it would take a very long time before I once again tasted victory. That's why I decided I had to win that last race of the 2003 season. It would be a great way of saying goodbye of course, but also I wanted to stock up on victories, I wanted to have the taste of triumph fresh in mind because who knew when I would win again with Yamaha?

which, okay, setting aside for a minute what a freak he is about these bloody bikes, there's two underlying reasons he expresses here for why he's so desperate to win this race. first of all, yes, he really loves that bike and wants to give it the farewell their partnership deserves. and second of all, more poignantly (for the non-bike fuckers anyway), he really did not know when he'd win again. I don't know, it's something that stuck with me... I think we can talk all we like about how big a risk it was and what a step into the unknown it was and nobody believed he could do what he did etc etc, but to me this is just the most straightforward way of capturing that uncertainty. valentino wanting to remember the taste of victory, because he knew he might be giving it up for a long time. he loves winning so, so much, he's done so much over the years to win, he's never been able to stop chasing the high... and yet he walked away from that bike

"I decided I had to win that last race" is in itself funny because obviously a lot of people can't just 'decide' to win races. which, yes, it's just a thing people say, but it does capture the essence of that type of valentino win where it feels like he's won it through sheer force of will. a lot of the times, these are his spite wins - the phillip island 2004's and jerez 2005's of this world - hey, speaking of sete duels, we should include le mans and sachsenring and brno and qatar 2005 as well. various biaggi wins, perhaps most memorably the middle finger race in suzuka 2001 and his last lap overtake in phillip island 2001, where he won his first premier class title. when he beats spaniards in dramatic battles at catalunya like 2004, 2005, 2009, 2016. his fury at his penalty at phillip island 2003 that results in that spectacular fifteen second margin over the field. his desire to fuck with jorge in motegi/sepang 2010. let's throw in his dominant win in jerez 2016 in enemy territory, the first race win he'd had of that nature since... oof, let me have a think, maybe assen 2009? (incidentally, the race that directly followed catalunya.) like, man, this is not how he was winning races post-prime, it was always one hell of a struggle - with one glaring exception

which makes it worth pointing out that the second and indeed last time he won in valencia was in 2004, when he was in the process of dismantling sete. now, given sete ended up finishing fourth, it wasn't strictly necessary to get the win to ensure the curse continued doing its thing. but, y'know, there was a point where sete was in front of valentino on-track. then sete tries to overtake biaggi, pretty firmly it has to be said, and pushes them both wide allowing valentino to sweep right on through, which I found pretty funny icl. anyway, the best way to ensure your rival doesn't win a race is to win it yourself, right? after the frustration of qatar, he reacted by winning the last three races of the season spurred on by sheer spite. no wonder he took notes and learned a little something about how to best motivate himself

bonus 2: things that aged badly

october 2003, mind you. he really got those guys good

bonus 3: dovi

I mean, come on. it is a little bit funny that both valentino and marc acquire a new rival at age 24 seemingly out of nowhere who was their main rival for three years. (I don't care what the championship standings say, marco melandri was not valentino's main rival in 2005 - sete might have been extremely cursed but those were still The Battles that year.) said rival was 6-7 years older than them, known for being a particularly smart rider and a wet weather specialist, and announced themselves as a major threat in large part through winning two dramatic last lap duels against the all time great in the first year of that rivalry. both rivalries were (well, initially in valentino's case) notable for being significantly warmer on an interpersonal level than the ATG's previous major rivalry

both had previously been hrc riders but had been fired by the team. gibernau had one premier class win before 2003, dovi had two before 2017, and all three of those wins came in the wet. ofc dovi did have a bit more pedigree - the 125cc title, stronger results in the premier class, considerably more podiums. but both dovi and gibernau weren't really supposed to be the main rival to the ATG, not even within their own team - though, obviously, the reasons why they ended up assuming that mantle couldn't have been more different. with both of them, people said they'd changed their approach to riding, mainly in terms of their mentality - and that it had helped them grow into their new role as the primary challenger

there's not really a point here... I just think it's neat. obviously it is a little funny how differently those respective relationships unfolded, but I also wouldn't say it's fair to entirely pin that on the personalities involved, as opposed to circumstantial factors. that being said

#brr brr #//#sg15 #this post is very much just throwing stuff at the wall. lightly edited brainstorming from my notes #heartwarming: tumblr user proves they are capable of editing their essay-length posts by showing way worse was possible #no wonder I answer asks at a snail's pace... sorry if you've sent me something. may take a while #batsplat responds #//ht #//curst #//wt #//et

47 notes · View notes

aa-400 · 7 months ago

Text

why i dislike arcane’s characterisation of viktor and his subsequent vgu in league

the tl;dr of it is that they essentially rewrote him into an entirely new character by ridding him of everything that marked him as a zaunite champion and made him interesting and replaced it with “eldritch possession”.

the whole show suffered from it refusing to engage with the zaun—piltover politics (that were the heart of the first season imo) and the same goes for viktor’s character.

the above quote is from legends of runeterra. in his league lore, he's not only disillusioned by piltovan society and academia, but actively pro-zaun (however, it's also important to note that said attitude is in large part due to personal embitterment rather than altruism).

and the funny thing is! his being from the undercity is significant to his character and the overall story in season 1! we see glimpses of his childhood, and he talks about the challenges he's faced trying to establish himself as a zaunite in piltovan academia — not to mention the scene i've screenshotted above, which is very intentionally set in the midst of jayce getting swept up in the "zaunites are dangerous" rhetoric.

but all of that is swept under the rug in season 2 because god forbid we have a villain (because, yes, viktor league of legends is a villain) who is complex and flawed. in league lore, viktor is not only a mirror of jayce, who is written as his piltovan counterpart, but also ekko, who is very much from zaun and stands for the people of zaun. the viktor and ekko parallels are very strong in the game universe but the show is more interested in making jayce and ekko foils to each other.

speaking of ekko parallels, not only does the show drop viktor's politics, but it also removes what connects viktor to one of the core facets of zaun's identity as a region—zaunite innovation, or ingenuity. the whole thing that sets zaun apart from the other regions in runeterra is the way its people take the scrap and toxic waste piltover dumps on them and use it to invent unique ways to thrive (in ways good and bad). viktor's whole thing was using steel and hextech to augment people, in a way that was very true to zaun. all that? thrown in the trash in favour of "the hexcore is eldritch goop magic now".

to reiterate, arcane removed viktor's distinctly zaunite identity. there's very little machine herald left in there.

which brings me to my second issue: the glorious evolution.

for one, the show makes viktor's main motivation for the glorious evolution internalised ableism. while the leg has always been a part of his visual design, trying or wanting to "fix" it has never even been hinted in his original lore.

instead, his transhumanist ideology (while problematic as hell—again, he's a villain!!) develops over time and over several instances, which have to do with things like instincts and emotions rather than disability.

(sure, one could argue that viktor speaks to jayce about human contradiction in that final scene they have together, but given jayce's "You've always wanted to cure what you thought were weaknesses. Your leg. Your disease. But you were never broken, Viktor." the show's messaging is quite clear.)

which finally brings me to his design.

which, yes, fucks. on its own. but not as viktor.

because again, it's not the machine herald from zaun, it's some eldritch being that at at the end of the day could have come from essentially anywhere in runeterra.

because viktor, for all his hextech augmentation, has to be a human underneath.

(screenshot from convergence / a perfect life, a league of legends comic by john o'brian etc)

the mask is a mask for a reason. he wants to escape humanity so badly, but ultimately he can't reach the ideal he himself preaches, and so he hides the parts of him that remain human. it gives him an edge that just isnt there with the new inhuman appearance.

#arcane #arcane s2 spoilers #league of legends #viktor arcane #viktor league of legends #thats not to say there arent parts that i do like! there are! but unfortunately i liked league viktor first #anyway read his bio and short story from the league universe site

14 notes · View notes

averyartylemon · 5 months ago

Text

I don't know why I did this but I'm glad I did because I have many ideas for it.

LEONARDO:

The fun one of the group. He loves cartoons and video games. Quotes Space Heroes more often than in the show. He always has confetti on him and nobody knows where it comes from. He carries party poppers on him 24/7 and sometimes uses them in battle to surprise the enemies. He's super energetic, kind of dumb, and doesn't take anything seriously (unless he really needs to.)

RAPHAEL:

Leader of the group. He's strict, and takes everything very seriously. He rarely has outbursts of anger, but when he does, you know its serious. He's still super afraid of bugs, and Leo and Donnie like to prank him with fake cockroaches to see what kind of funny reaction they can get from him. Dispite his cold exterior, he cares deeply for all of his brothers.

DONATELLO:

Super grumpy and super edgy, although he is really a big softie inside. He always has headphones on, as music helps calm his explosive temper. He secretly loves classical music. He also has a love for plants, and could name any plant just by looking at the leaves, although he would never admit it to anyone.

MICHELANGELO:

The prodigy of the family, the genius youngest sibling. He loves to create new inventions, although they often don't go as planned. A lot of his inventions tend to blow up in his face. Literally. He doesn't let that stop him, though. He's almost always covered in soot or grease. He also enjoys making clothes for his brothers, their entire wardrobes tailored custom by Mikey.

I'm not quite sure how the other characters would play into this. Casey and April would obviously be switched, as well as Bebop and Rocksteady, and Rahzar and Fishface. As for Splinter, I think I would just completely switch Shredder and Splinter? So that the Turtles would be raised by The Shredder (who has Splinters personality) While Splinter would take the Shredders role. Not sure of Karai or the Kraang, though.

#art #digital art #tmnt #lemonade art #tmnt fanart #personality swap au #personality shuffle #TMNT personality shuffle

10 notes · View notes

hamletkin · 3 months ago

Text

i just finished reading "a man of honour: or horatio's confessions by j.a. nelson and in her acknowledgement she thanked fucking kenneth branagh for his adaptation of hamlet and i've never trusted a person less

my brief review will be below the cut. spoilers, obviously! tw for rape, sexual assault mention, and misogyny

i went into this with no expectations. i have gotten my hopes so high for hamlet retellings and none of them have impressed me much. looking at you ophelia and antique roman.

speaking of antique romans, nelson uses that term 13 times in her novel and it's so distracting!!!!!

for a novel printed in 2019 i really am surprised by how rooted it is in heteronormative tropes. i'll get more into that in a bit.

one of the first lines of the book is about how much horatio loves hamlet...AS A BROTHER. every time he brings up his love for hamlet, in fact, he has to mention that it's only as a brother. because he's definitely not GAY. perhaps it's because i headcanon horatio as gay but i read this as horatio having trouble coming to terms with his homosexuality, or rather, bisexuality as the case may be in this novel. like he just focused on brotherly love SO strongly to the point where it did a 180 and felt like a closeted man trying to cope. was this the author's intent? i sincerely doubt it but it helped me to get through. i am in no way saying a man can't love another man as a brother!! just that it felt to me he was trying to justify the use of the word "love" to an abnormal extent.

i didn't mind horatio's characterisation entirely! it is based mostly off of one line from the play where horatio says of rosencrantz and guildenstern: not from his mouth, had it the ability of life to thank you: he never gave commandment for their death. this lie, seemingly the only one told by horatio in the entirety of the text, informs nelson's entire characterisation of horatio and i don't entirely agree with that. i think it simplified him rather than giving him the depth required of a leading character. i did think he was likeable to an extent but the things that made him interesting were never deeply expounded upon to give us a fully fleshed out character which was sad to me because i wanted to enjoy him completely.

the sexual content of the book was bizarre. (read: i am a connoisseur of smut but i feel like horatio got a boner so many times his dick probably chafed off) i sincerely thought i was reading an 1980s novel written by your typical male fantasy author. it can be an enjoyable time but there are just points that stick out and slap you in the face. the most egregious of these was when, moments after the death of hamlet, horatio's best friend, the brotherly love of his life, horatio gets aroused by the sight of a woman's breasts. i can't recall exactly but i think in the first chapter he mentions her breasts three times while the dead lay around him and fortinbras questions him. maybe tiddies are how he copes? we don't know. if i see the word "bosom" again this week i may take a revenge quest for myself upon the author.

with many of the characters of hamlet dead it becomes almost necessary to invent new characters to further horatio's story. i have seen it done where no new characters are introduced or only minor characters are introduced to success but due to the scope of this story i see how that was not possible. that being said, the supporting cast, made up of horatio's new best friend (one of fortinbras' men) and his new lover (getrude's principle lady) leave much to be desired. i wanted to like them but i just couldn't fully accept them as characters amidst a story of so many beloved characters who are all dead. they didn't prove their worth and they certainly didn't give reason for falling in so quickly with horatio. the attraction to him is pretty much instant and they abandon everything they held dear for his sake. without any reason they forsake their beliefs and their oaths and follow him.

i want to touch a moment on the role of women in this book. the book is set in the early 1500s which, to my limited knowledge, was a period in which women observed limited rights. they seemed to have slightly more freedoms than other parts of europe but they were still restricted. if i'm mistaken in this feel free to correct me, i'm not an expert. however!! i think the book lacks understanding of just how varied the thoughts of women and HUMANS can be. they all seemingly are of one mind in the book and there isn't much that differentiates them from one another in personality. in fact, i think there are only three women presented in the book (aside from mentions of background characters) who are gertrude, ophelia, and margrete (horatio's lover). all of them are shown to be lusty and locked into the mindset that they need a man to make them whole. i am aware that the whole "must find a husband" thing was/is prevalent in society but the extent to which it's presented here makes it feel like that's all they cared about. gertrude has little to do in the book (one of the few mentions of her is how her breasts are bouncing) but i will touch on the other two. ophelia, in the book, is actually mad. one of the very few things she does before her death is rock back and forth and whisper "hamlet" for hours. another thing she does in her "madness" is try to entice horatio to sleep with her. it just felt gratuitous to me? that's really all she does. and then she drowns herself purposefully. there is no tree, no snatches of songs, no accidental drowning. she pins herself under a rock.

margrete is seen as a fallen woman because she was raped by another noble. i get that this was a common view but my issue lies with the treatment of her character. she talks to horatio about her assault multiple times and talks about how she can't trust people, especially men. and that's fine!!! but then in the same scene the author has her sliding men's hands under her skirt or into her bodice so that they can grope her and she can gain entrance to forbidden places. it's just a choice i cannot grasp. horatio, once he begins courting her, quotes the "frailty thy name is woman" line in regards to her several times. and tbh if all women were written like her, i would agree with him. i DON'T, i promise but. one minute she loves him, the next she hates him to the point of being abusive and cruel. and it goes on like this, in a cycle, in every conversation that they have. it makes NO sense. there is no chemistry between them. horatio is there for the boobs that he can't stop staring at. she's clearly supposed to be a strong character because that's how horatio describes her but she's not. she is there to be ogled and to...idek. not once does her character ever further the plot in any way. she is really just there to make...horatio look better as a person, i guess? she doesn't have nearly as much agency as the author seems to imply she does in the countless mentions of how "she never does anything she doesn't want to".

hamlet's story. the whole point of this book is for horatio to tell hamlet's story. there is a whole convoluted plot that i probably won't get into but as for the basics of everything, horatio steals the gesta danorum and gets the idea that to tell hamlet's story he will print it into the margins of this book...in the middle of a history book. but!! brilliant idea!! he will change hamlet's name to amleth and make him a warrior prince who accomplished all of these strange feats that never happened and in this way he will tell....hamlet's story? (the author actually did use lines from saxo grammaticus for this) 85% of the book is about this. after a series of hardships he gets this story printed. he eventually begins to tell this story in villages in denmark and it gets popular...but it's not hamlet's story. which is just...i don't get the choice to honour hamlet in a way that doesn't tell his story, that doesn't even touch on most of what he went through to come to the point of his death. eventually horatio does come out with the truth in two manners: one, he recites it in three sentences. two: he prints the truth, a confessional that he locks away in a church not to be revealed until his children have children. it is later found by one of his great grandchildren who writes the play hamlet and....sends.....the play to shakespeare.

they also made reynaldo one of the most pervading villains for whatever reason. yorick was the name of a ship. fortinbras just kind of sucked. he wanted to kill everyone for being danish while crowning himself kind of denmark. the line hamlet has about his dying voice going to fortinbras is another of horatio's lies. the first chapter is incredibly clunky while horatio and hamlet have just a wild conversation about how life could have gone. oh and another thing i forgot is that while horatio is on a deadline to get hamlet's story finished he...asks for courtship lessons and competes in tournaments to win over margrete and i just cannot imagine that horatio would allow himself that. maybe i'm crazy.

as for the positive aspects, i liked getting to read more about horatio even if it's not a portrayal i 100% believe in. i just love the little guy. i think the author, for the most part, has a beautiful way with words. in other places i wanted to strangle her a bit for phrases like "my blooming stink flower" which has now permanently entered my vocabulary in order to distress my friends. she really knows how to paint a picture and keep a story moving. i found it fun to read in spite of my issues with it. i never felt bored reading it but rather at times i did get frustrated with the interpretation. i really loved hamlet's ghost appearing to horatio as hamlet is now burning with his father until horatio's promise to him is upheld because a dying oath is sacred. it was fun because hamlet's visage appeared in so many unique ways and he was always suffering or rotten and disgusting.

all in all? i wouldn't read it again but i don't think i'd write it off entirely. there are some interesting ideas presented but i've seen a lot better introspection into horatio's character written in three lines on tumblr than in the whole of this book, i'd argue. that being said, it was really nice to just breeze through this book and touch the world of hamlet and horatio once more in a different view whether i agreed or not. that being said, i'll never say a nice thing about this book again since the author likes kenneth branagh and we all know how i feel about him

#hamlet #horatio

6 notes · View notes