#‘bad route’ or not their arcs are all so interesting it’s sucks that there’s not more exploration of that

[lelianaslefthand]

the more i think about That post from the durge writer the more mad i get. i’m not gonna go into everything like kekeing about crunch it’s all already been said but how can you admit to giving MONTHS of attention to one character and not any of the others and just be like “teehee 🤭” as a writer working on a game you shouldn’t be that biased bc the game isn’t for you specifically and larian shouldn’t have even allowed that in the first place especially with how unpolished so many other companion interactions are

[bibibbon]

Within the narrative of MHA, All Might is supposed to be a "comic book hero" while All For One is a "comic book villain" doing good and evil for good's/evil's sake (like how early superhero comics in the 30s were written). But their ways of Heroism and Villainy could no longer suffice in a world that his become so nuanced and grey in tone, which is why, as part of the "passing the torch" theme, AM and AFO pass their roles as symbols to their successors, with Izuku learning what makes Villains the way they are, something AM and the other OFA holders never bothered to do (please ignore the fact the he was only ever successful with Gentle Criminal) and Tomura gaining the goal of wanting to destroy everything that reminds him of what made him a Villain in the first place, as he's come to despise a society so rotten that it is capable of creating someone like him (this is good). But all of that nuance to Tomuea's position as the main antagonist were ruined when Hori placed AFO into that role again to suck the enjoyment and nuance out of the entire third act, completely undermining and destroying the "passing the torch" theme previously established.

Hi @patrickowens86 👋

The clear cut theme of good and evil within MHA was introduced early into the story with people taking a clear cut role of either hero (good) or villain (bad). The beginning of the story literally describes the awakening of quirks as "fantasy becomes reality". This theme of fantasy becomes reality is repeatedly brought up with yoichi and all for one directly and has a lot of all might imagery indirectly hinting to all might.

As a way for the world to cope with people gaining superhuman abilities they tried to follow what was most familiar to them which was comic books. This ultimately "worked" for the most part until the rise of deku and shigaraki where like you said We're familiarised with a grey space that's the in-between of good and bad. The whole passing on the torch to the next person theme was established from the very beginning of act 1 and continued all the way until the middle of act 3 until it ultimately failed due to Hori choosing to bring back all for one in shigarakis body which ended up being a horrible writing decision that robbed the series of potential.

All might and all for one's actions are continually foiled with the way they treat their supposed successor and in reality after the training camp arc that resulted in the fall of all might and the the arrest of all for one shigaraki and Deku were officially given all of the responsibilities and handed the whole torch to carry on.

The problem is that shigaraki wants to destroy everything his goals never developed into proper ones of him specifically wanting and targeting to destroy hero society. The closest we get is him wanting to get rid of the status quo (aka heroes to him) and the narrative usually frames his destruction as completely evil (without going to acknowledge that the status quo of MHA has harmed many) or that destruction and violence is simply in shigarakis blood (what redestro has continually said to shig during their fight).

I think it would of been more interesting if we got the concept of izuku creating a society safe for others and shigaraki destroying the status quo that then enables for izuku to create. I do think that the ending aka chapter 430 tried going down that route but the execution was lacking horribly and it also didn't work due to how underdeveloped izuku and shigaraki's dynamic is.

Izuku's role was supposed to be for him to reach out and understand villains. He was supposed to understand the grey space and see the corruptness of society. Chapter 1 Izuku starts in a perfect way for him to see this with the prologue being "not everyone's born equal that's a lesson I learned at a young age". Izuku is also a victim to hero society but horikoshi lacks nunance when it comes to his victims so Izuku ends up being a good innocent no can do wrong victim while shigaraki is the complete opposite. In the end Izuku and shigaraki are framed as two extremes of two different sides with no proper nunance to them.

In the end both izuku and shigaraki were done dirty. Shigaraki was done dirty by not having his leadership role in the overhaul and MVA arc properly developed and he got his body hijacked by AFO ruining the passing on the torch motif while Izuku was stripped of the proper agency and autonomy for him to get proper intropsection and character growth so he ends up being an incredibly static character.

[satirates]

One thing I think we don't talk enough about Q!Forever is that he has a problem-solver personality.

I used to be like that and I struggled a lot when I was a teenager because of that, and I think it's give a pretty good explanation of where his character is going lore-wise and why he's doing it that way.

Firstly, we could see pretty easily that he's always trying to solve every problem he's facing on the server as fast as he could.

Bobby died and the eggs are in danger of the same? Ninho was ready in a few days

The code shows the players that the only way to access the Nether is to go by train? He built a gigantic contraption to bring everybody's there.

Foolish wanted an eternal banana? Say no more !

And there's a ton of more pertinent examples of that I'm sure

People has said in the past that q! Forever is impulsive, but for me, it's more that he can't just stand there when things are bad. He needs to find a solution, he NEEDS to act. This is part of who he is.

But the thing that can be annoying when you're constantly in problem-solving mode, it's that everybody around you aren't necessary like you. How many times has we seen q! Forever doing stuff hastily to makes things work when other players were in the backroom? A lot. And when you experience that on a daily basis, you may start to get frustrated.

(I just want to add that it isn't a way to bash other CC! Characters. Everybody has their own way to play and have fun on the server, and they are ALL VALID! I'm talking about the characters in role play only)

About Forever arc

I think a lot of is current arc has to do with that feeling. The feeling that he's doing too much and people are not appreciating it, not appreciating him, enough. But he can't stop. He can't just let things happen without trying to help. Because it's how he is. The problem solver. The helper. The good friend.

So, how do one manage in this kind of situation? By becoming even more controlling. People won't help him make a better Island? Then he will impose thing that help the resident. He will do everything he can to protect and help everybody, even against their will. Him getting the president job is actually an interesting thing for his character because it gave him the control he needed to feel like he's making positive changes. He can now try to solve every problem on the Island...

But, as someone that "been there, done that", I can tell you it willn't work. Tensions are going to continue to rise between him and other because being a problem-fixer usually made you forget something very important in life: Not everything need to be fixed.

It took me years to realize that. Something you just need to... let go. If you try to always carry everybody on your shoulder, you are just going to die of exhaustion. And fixing everything is impossible. So you are just becoming more and more exhausted. People around you are growing more distant because you are constantly trying to fix their life instead of just... being there for them.

I think this is where q!Forever is right now. His need to help his conflicting with other Islander needs to be imperfect and the constant conflict made him feel lonely and underappreciated.

This is so interesting in terms of role play because there are several routes he could take. Will he continue to hold, with his resentment growing deeper and deeper? Will he learn to let go and accept that thing sometimes suck, and it's okay to not take responsibility for it?

Will he succeed in making players enjoy the Island?

[dailycass-cain]

I am absolutely gonna double dip here with Cass in Absolute Power. Besides, that it took a secondary story to buy this Batman series again.

Was it worth the price?

So the secondary story "continues" the thread Absolute Power #2 was supposed to carry on. Namely, the Birds going after Green Arrow.

Which honestly, is an interesting thing as Cass/Ollie haven't fully interacted since um… 2009.

Instead, Batman #152 BoP story by series writer Kelly Thompson doesn't go this route. The intent feels more a piece showcasing the members. To get readers into the team, Cass, and Dinah.

Since next month and November.

That, and it explains the BoP being on Themyscira answering one given the events of the series' first arc (Birds of Prey #1-6 aka Megadeath go check it out!) the Birds rescued Sin on Themyscirca but ticked off all the Amazons as a result.

Thinking about it more, Dinah hasn't had this chance to process Green Arrow betraying the heroes and the emotional baggage of said BoP arc. So in that respect, the story is earned here, instead of feeling cheated that you have to read ANOTHER issue (Green Arrow #16).

Besides that, it does set up the BoP next arc pretty well (#14 next month) by doing this to make up for the actions of "Megadeath" arc by rescuing captured Amazons.

Not to mention explain the BoP (Cass, Zealot, Sin, and Barda) being in Absolute Power #3) while Dinah isn't. Again, off panel making up for the actions prior by defending the island.

The story here is pretty good character-wise. This story is all about Dinah and whatever will go on in Green Arrow #16 and showcases Dinah and the continued Sin/Megaera symbiotic relationship.

For Cass, there isn't much, but what we do have is her helping Zealot regain her steps given she lost her powers in Absolute Power #1 (even though she was the first to damage modified Amazo in #2 before it pulled a Metal Cooler healing sequence).

But hey it's Cass fighting, and man oh man the art by Mattia De Iulis is just-- STUNNING. We've all seen the Barda floating around and yeah that alone is worth the hype.

The details in the background, the fluidity of them sparring. Brief but oh SOOO good! 🤩🤩🤩

I just wonder why Cass put on mask and cape at the end portion though. Was this a Shōnen-type thing where she wanted to spar with Zealot with ALL her gear?

We'll go with that answer.

The sparring match is just a way to nicely showcase well how GOOD Cass is at fighting and even depowered Zealot is still deadly as heck.

I kind of wonder if we'll get more of this growing admiration in BoP or Batgirl? I guess we'll see.🤔

The other bit, (although minor) is when Dinah announces to the team she's going to find Ollie alone. Honestly, I get it.

Cass/Ollie aren't um.. bestest friends since 2009 is the last they met CANONICALLY and sending Cass to find Ollie might not be a smart move.

Though interestingly, Cass other than Sin refers to Dinah by her first name (unlike Barda/Zealot who go with her codename).

It is interesting to see this layer of Dinah/Cass back into DC again.

So yeah this little secondary story was a nice "appetizer" to get those who aren't reading Birds of Prey (or the upcoming Batgirl series) on board.

Not only that but it gives Dinah some much-needed characterization during this event with ALL that's gone on.

That said, I was kind of disappointed with Absolute Power #3 (at least in Barda's characterization of the issue). We just had an issue with her in BoP where she was possessed by evil.

Instead of Nightwing stopping her, I think this would've been a REAL good moment of Cass's only dialogue in the entire event stopping Barda, telling her to "trust Nightwing's judgment." THEN showcase Dick confronting Cyborg Jon.

Where we get the twofoldness of it lining up with what happened in BoP, Barda trusting Cass again, and everything lines up.

I just didn't like this moment in the issue (other than Waller's crazy OOC).

It just screams again why Batgirls #7-8 sucked bad, and again here Dick mogs the spotlight unnecessarily when it could've been more badass for him just waiting for Cyborg Jon to call him out instead of stopping Barda.

I know its me being nit picky, but hey if Cass is given one moment in the series. THAT SHOULD'VE been it. We get Cass with a gun that she never even uses in the attack. 😭

Still, we got more Dan Mora-drawn Cass. So it is a win no matter what. And man Mora carried the later sections. Just his art is SOOOO good.

So yeah Absolute Power #3 disappointed me a little, but the back section did make up for it. I do find it refreshing that next month this event just ends. For a "mega event," Absolute Power doesn't feel like wearing out its welcome like prior DC events to me.

It does make me want to go into that Super Son one-shot that's coming out next to see Jon recovering and hopefully find out what happened to Dreamer and well Green Arrow #16 for whatever Ollie be scheming.

If anything, we've got one issue left of this series and SO many plot threads. Like what's gonna happen to Failsafe (other than hopefully, the machine goes boom boom), the multiverse threat, and Waller's ultimate scheme?

Dangnabbit the series got me hooked. 😭 At the very least the event is WORKING.

[real-fire-emblem-takes]

All fire emblem stories suck actually, it's a combination of the characters interacting and the gameplay giving characters weight that makes them fun. When people say a story sucks for FE, they mean that they don't like the characters or how they're characterized

FH is consistently rated for having a good story because the environment is the most conductive for interesting character interactions, and thus characters have the most dimension in a FE game. It allows a ton of characters to bounce off of each other in different ways, depending on the route you take. the story matters only in the context that it allows characters to interact, so while FH is successful in allowing that, the story in a writing sense is not that much better than other FE games, it just better facilitates characterization. FH doesn't have the best story in FE, but it does have the story that involves the most characterization opportunities. So in a stupid pedantic way, it's the best story for a FE game to do its thing with.

Engage is said to have a bad story not because it's worse than any other FE story, but because FH's story allows characters to bounce off of each other so efficiently, going back feels like going straight to hell if you liked what FH did

however, despite characters being FE's greatest writing strength, it ignores character development completely in most situations. At best, you go through an arc to get recruited, and that's it. lords are exempt from this as, obviously, the player always has to use them and therefore will always care about them to some extent. There are other exceptions as well, but they're mostly characters who aren't units and thus the writers know that each player will have the same amount of experience with them.

This fact is shown best by how supports are implemented - they rarely result in character development, but rather bounce the characterization of two characters off of each other in an isolated instance. Supports don't change characters at all, they just let you know more about them, which may result in you liking the character(s).

This is missed potential because it's an entire dimension of character writing that FE barely touches, and it is often integral to character based writing. Nobody really gets to change, they're either predisposed to good and join the good guys or predisposed to evil and eventually die. Thus because characters cannot change or develop, their personalities either suck and thus you don't care, or they're good and you like them.

This writing style is a consequence of the fact that units are rarely force deployed for your entire game, and thus mileage varies like crazy on whenever a player cares about the character and is cheering for their development, or just has them permanently sitting on the bench and is going "Who the fuck are you, you're not fighting with me" when they get all dramatic in cutscenes.

Permadeath contributed to this problem, but ultimately permadeath is just a forced method of benching a character, and so long as there are many units to choose from, character development won't be as present in FE, and thus FE will continue to fall short of other character basted stories, even if its characterization is often very good.

[mikeellee]

I still never understood why izuku couldn't be allowed by the story (shitkoshi) to learn close combat (both punch and kicks. I still hate the shoot style) and become adept in it with and without his quirk. Ochako gets to learn this because she is too reliant on her quirk but so was izuku. They both could've interned together or Gran Torino could've introduced some combat master for izuku. Also this is the kid who wants to become the best and yet doesn't learn to fight properly or doesn't even search for a proper dojo which is ooc of him. I don't know why she is allowed to learn and Excel while he needs to be trialing behind in this.

You know imo, as much as I loathe Aizawa, he did tell izuku not to be a one trick pony and should be prepared in the usj. Izuku should have tried to look for a MMA dojo that also specialized in quirkless combat training after usj. Get well skilled in quirkless combat and then train with his quirk. Having him go in this route would have not broken his underdog storyline. It also would've saved him a lot of grief with his injuries.

Hi @dekiruisthebest

So the doylist reason for all this is bc Hori detest Izu. Way more than Gege with his characters(if you know JJK and see how Yuji suffers...you can understand how he still has better than Izu) and prefers to suck bk's dick.

Why couldn't Izu learn how to fight quirkless? I have some theoried.

1) I think he, naively, thought an intership could help him. UA sure as fuck does nothing but blame him. Aizawa thinks he is lazy...and Izu thinks he is worthless.

2) I think he knows some basic of basic quirkless style fight. But here is the question: why AM doesnt do anything for Izu? "Ah but favoritism is bad" which is so inane. Dude, AM selected Izu to be his heir is on his best interest to use all his money and influence to help Izu. (Instead he flips his thumbs and let Aizawa be Aizawa bc ...hn "he has a teaching license")

No one reached out to Izu.

The small crumbs he gets...Izu is forever grateful. Its really sad.

Bk is praised for breathing and is still ungrateful and angry.

Ok. Ochako.

Now that was a missing moment for them to bond (Izuocha cant work as friends anymore) but never forget her line "you wont fight quirkless"

No. I dont think it was "quirkless discrimantion" but rather "better use your quirk" which many heroes in the story do. Even Aizawa who is a one trick poney...but she is kot concerned about how his bones break bc of the quirk.

Also many agencies saw this and must have passed down the chance.

No hero helps you to train your quirk.

You must figure it out.

Izuku has visible no support.

All for the aesthetic of underdog.

In truth, mha is a stage for assholes

Bk has many interships offerd dispite everything.

Aizawa can expell students and be fine.

Endy is seem as a great redemption arc.

Its all for the assholes Hori loves.

Izu may be quirkless again...by the end of the story.

Bk has tons of quirk awakening. Izu doesnt.

[asleepinawell]

assorted dawntrail thoughts below in no particular order. they range all over the place

loved the first half of the msq story. super fun, cool areas, interesting npcs, paced out pretty nicely. traveling around meeting/helping people and learning about cultures is what the wol thrives on and that is their type of vacation imo. shard of azem behavior

wuk lamat is one of my fave characters in the whole series. himbos stay winning. the amount of (usually bigoted) hate she's getting just makes me like her more. people seem mad that the wol wasn't the main character but i prefer it that way. they are there to help people!

erenville 😢. enjoyed his parts and man i felt so bad for him in the last area

krile finally got more time on screen but it did feel like her main bit was crunched in at the end kinda

alpacas 💯💯💯💯💯💯

overall the scions got a lot less screen time which was mostly fine. one thing I'd really been hoping for in dt was that y'shtola would finally get the focused arc that almost all the other scions have (krile was the other odd one out until now). and boy did the opposite of that happen. i don't know why they made the choice to basically not include her at all but it sucked. estinien was the other one who got almost no screentime but he had a whole xpac about him already. so yeah, that was my biggest negative overall. sometimes i wonder if there's some writers who don't like her or if the fact many fans hate her influences the focus on her. she's my favorite character in the whole game so, yeah, disappointed

second half of the msq. hmmm. shaaloani felt like a filler area and was meh though i got a laugh because of course they put dinosaurs in the wild west area. it did feel a little "wooooo cowboys!!! and oh native americans maybe exist, moving on". I'm not going to make any comments about cultural sensitivity stuff in dt since i think there are other people better qualified to examine that, but this part did feel like everything not yeehaw cowboys was an afterthought

the sphene part of the story confused me, as in i was confused why they went with that. it felt so much like the amaurot story which... we've already done? yeah there were some differences but it had the same vibes and themes. it was fine? just a weird choice. wish zoraal ja had had a little more going on beyond daddy issues for someone we spent a lot of time dealing with. i felt like i didn't even know what his relationship with his father was like. there was some piece of story tying into his motivation and past that was missing. sphene was more interesting though i wish they hadn't gone the route of 'she was programmed to do this so you can't dissuade her' and kept it more as her choice. i'm not saying i wanted her to be 'evil' just that it makes her more interesting if she's acting with free will

las vegas as the last zone lmao. kinda bummed the area stays dark now. like yes it makes sense for the story but it's now a much less visually interesting area to run around and that's a shame. it would have been fun to fly through and now it's just bland and empty

gulool ja should NOT be in charge of a city, he should NOT be at the club, he should be playing tag with ga bu in the park and living his best life. I'm taking him into protective custody

VERMEDICA ii

cities! tulliyolal is great! they did a really nice job of making it feel alive and bustling. it will probably be my main city to hang out in for the xpac because... solution 9... just was not a fan. it feels huge and empty and has elevator music. i like cyberpunk bi lighting but it just isn't enough to save it for me. ah well. neither of them can replace radz in my heart but i didn't expect them to

dungeons. they were all pretty and i liked how they incorporated little events into them like zoraal ja blocking a path. i wasn't crazy about most of the boss fights. they're definitely harder than ew mechanics but it was more that i didn't find them intuitive. I'm sure I'll learn them eventually but the types of mechanics in them just weren't fun ones to me. also i do them all duty support and while it seems like they've broadened the ai abilities for the npcs they also added a ton more aoe and line marker mechanics and those SUCK with npcs because the npcs will run to a predefined location with theirs regardless of what you do and they sometimes wait to do this until the extremely last second. so you move to be somewhere safe and oh no alisaie what are you doing *dead*. this happened a bunch in dead ends and mothercrystal (urianger..... you know what you did) and i was hoping they'd make less of those situations but no they made MORE. so in addition to learning the mechanics you also have to learn where the npcs are going to run. once you know you know but it's frustrating the first time through when your own buddies are killing you

trials. the first one was fine. second one i Did Not Enjoy (also hope that a wipe in the second half only sets you back to phase 2 start because the cs....). third one i really liked though i still have no clue what happened in that one part. you know which part. fortunately a healer survived it to lb3 us so we didn't wipe. i don't even want to imagine what the ex of that will be like. it was a nice ending trial

i was having a harder time than usual seeing mechanics in dungeons through my own ability effects (old and new) for most of the boss fights and i figured it was just me but some of my friends reported the same issue. not 100% sure what is going on there. i only have my own effects on and i really don't want to turn them down but :(

two of my favorite cute little moments: 1) when wuk lamat was despairing that zoraal ja brought back the fancy alpaca and then apologized to her own alpaca and told it it was great and it did a little step towards her to encourage her 😭. i just loved the alpacas okay. 2) vrtra showing up! and then azdaja doing a tiny roar!! crying yelling throwing up etc

i did all the side quests as i went and I'm glad i did. especially in the first half they felt like they added to the whole learning about new people main story and there were some fun ones. i had to catch a hyper cat in solution 9... that's my sort of quest

I've only done the magical dps role quest so far. comparing notes with someone who did a different one it seems like the role quests are very silly storywise this time. it wasn't the most exciting story but i liked my npc buddy and the final duty wasn't bad

job gear looks fantastic except for poor pld who is cursed to be a shiny knight forever. gnb coat is superb. blm wins though i think. cat staff!

i had to turn off shout chat when i got to solution 9 because i guess that's where all the cool kids hang out to talk about how much they hate the game they're paying to play. i haven't switched it back on and am enjoying blissful silence

i swear we've seen that world traveling key thing before???? it looked so familiar. also looked ascian which would make sense. they should not have left it with my son he is going to make a blue raspberry slushie in it or something horrible. please give it to an adult

i haven't been looking at too much in the way of interviews or speculation about the raid series, but my guess is it will involve the ascian(s) who were on whichever shard alexandria is. my crack theory is one of them is, uh, duedaf...duedalus...dudeathon........ whatever i'll get it eventually, because the constellation from their stone is an upside down triangle like the ones on the robot faces. big if true. a friend told me there was something that might have looked like part of an ascian sigil in sphene's outfit decoration but i wouldn't have recognized it on sight

pct is great. hanmer time! i am not a 'serious' gamer and i am so pleased to have a new job with a not serious aesthetic. vpr i am trying very hard to like but so far the gameplay style hasn't vibed for me

have i mentioned i love the alpacas? the ear wiggles!!!!!!!!

i probably forgot a ton of stuff but those are my rambles for now

[lunar-years]

royKeeleys really were done incredibly dirty so I do feel bad. but a lot of stuff I see people say about them or how the show shorted them just does not make sense to me lol.

(I also felt like him kneeling was never a sign that the show was taking his knee problems seriously and that it was a Big Deal he was kneeling. They bring it up and then immediately forget about it over and over. One day he can’t run or walk up stairs, the next he’s running miles upon miles with Jamie)

YEAH!! I think I might be in the minority in that while I did/do love roykeeley in season 2 and in general, I was actually kind of hoping for a breakup when I went into s3 and I wasn't at all sad when it happened 🫢 To me, this was something that actually was foreshadowed at the end of s2, so much so that it almost felt... inevitable? There were so many cracks there and the breakup kind of felt necessary. The problem was that they never went anywhere good with it.

So while I definitely agree that their arc was done dirty, I disagree with a lot of the reasons people like to list for HOW they were done dirty (e.g., the writers were wrong simply for breaking them up, it was mean to tease them sleeping together only to not have them immediately back together the next episode, Roy was supposed to propose/keeley was supposed to be pregnant 🤢, Keeley's arc was bad for the exclusive reason that it didn't revolve around Roy, etc.)

The biggest problems with s3 roykeeley were actually (imo):

breaking them up should have been the conduit for individual growth and addressing the personal issues that led to the break up for BOTH of them, but then they only tried to go that route with Roy whilst actually making Keeley REGRESS and never directly acknowledging, let alone resolving, any of her problems

roy's apology was non-specific if not downright Bad i'm sorry; he never tells Keeley why he broke up with her in any meaningful way

they never got the really good conversation i wanted to them to have (and feel their storyline desperately needed & deserved) about where they went wrong/how they're trying to fix it

too much happened offscreen. I think the offscreen breakup would've been fine if they'd then followed it up with the above bullet points, but you can't have an offscreen breakup that's then never discussed and is followed by an offscreen hookup followed by one conversation that gets interrupted before it even really begins. like what WAS that??

The breakup alone wasn't the problem! them not getting back together also wasn't the problem! it's just that none of it was done purposefully enough and Keeley's individual arc sucked bad

//

That's such an interesting perspective on Roy's knee stuff!! I don't think I really share that complaint, because I think it's easy enough to assume that some days his knee is really a Problem and other days it's mostly fine. He's never going to be able to keep up a professional athlete's level of activity again, but I really like that they show him running with Jamie. I think it highlights that their training is something that's good for both of them, because Roy is definitely the sort to forgo his physical therapy and not take care of himself. But I assume that keeping active actually helps him on the days when it's a struggle to say, go up the stairs. And they do show that he can't quite keep up with Jamie and gets exhausted much quicker.

So i dunno, I don't think the show is ignoring his problems, so much setting a balance between "Roy suffers chronic knee problems due to repeated injuries" and "he also is learning to take better care of himself and let other people help him so that the injury no longer has to dictate his life."

(okay editing to add: in rereading your first sentence on it I actually think i do agree with you, lmao. I just wasn't fully understanding at first. Yeah the writers FOR SURE weren't consciously thinking Roy Kneeling = a Sign That He Cares Extra About Keeley because it Hurts His Knee but he's willing to Endure The Pain just for her. which is how some people spin it, lmao. "Roy only kneels for Keeley wow he's so brave and in love!!" Like, no? ...sometimes the man just kneels?)

[yuukei-yikes]

hi gang. this is a second manga route (lost days arc) hate post 💖 it's implied in the seventh novel that haruka&takane ending up in the same highschool is all part of saeru's plan being perfected route after route, like placing the mekadan everywhere it needs them to be right?? for haruka, since his dad was a colleague of kenjirou's, it would've been easy for saeru to be like hey u should enroll ur kid in this school!! but for takane's grandpa to suddenly start insisting on that school is a mystery. how the hell did saeru have any influence in that..??

second manga route lost days arc is stupid as shit and i hate it and it doesn't exist to me❤ like if haruka and takane were gonna meet and both die on august 15 and both get an exception of “dying alone but still gets a snake” anyways, without saeru's intervention what's the fucking point lmao.

like it COULD HAVE BEEN that with saeru's intervention, what differs is that instead of one snake per 2 people's deaths, it gets 2 snakes out for each person dead, both haruka and takane. does this make sense? like since the daze needs TWO people to die to get ONE snake out, haruka and takane (and ayano) have always been a ridiculous obvious exception with no justification since they die alone and get their own snakes anyway. second manga route HAD the opportunity to explain WHY exactly saeru needed to intervene with haruka and takane at all. like, if in this initial route both die but only one gets a snake! so saeru can be like OK i can grab these 2 people and, with all the "experimenting" on haruka and takane serving as some inference to how it happens, that’s how saeru gets two snakes out in one day to go according to its plans since it needs as many snakes to come out as soon as possible.

but second manga route STILL ignores this and gives both haruka and takane their own snakes even though they die alone (and ayano but im not talking abt her though it still applies in second manga route when she dies with her parents making it THREE people not two but whatever IM TALKING ABOUT HARUTAKA)(and in main route ayano also has her own bit like this but on the contrary, she just opens the daze by herself and stays. as if she had any jurisdiction over who stays or not in the daze and it doesn’t keep or spit out whoever it chooses)(like this all also applies to ayano but her case is different to haruka and takane’s intertwined cases so she’s a different subject ALSO ayano gets a pass because she gets AN AMAZING arc in second manga route as opposed to haruka and takane’s... WHATEVER THAT IS)

it's SO ridiculous, by all means bad writing with plot holes and i can excuse it in a main route because i know kagepro is the kind of thing that's just written as it goes and it's made by 1 person and to be honest all this nonsense stuff is infinitely charming to me and i love getting annoyed about it and dissecting it because it’s fun. but THIS...!!!! WELL I STILL LOVE DISSECTING IT AND IT’S STILL FUN BUT IT DOES MAKE ME ANGRY TOO.. come on. u didnt plan it at all!?!? and by the time second manga route started coming out kagepro WAS a lot more grounded on what it was yknow!! like come on. it's stupid as all shit also takane is so painfully ooc. maybe that’s the reason i wanna attack this route with hammers but all the other stuff is also true. like i keep saying lol second manga route I HATE YOUUU

like ugh the whole retaining eyes backstory IS SO INTERESTING and I DO LOVE LOVE LOOOVE ayano’s arc and the exploration of her being abandoned by the trio and being such a failgirl, and kagepro getting more meta than ever and having her realise she’s a supporting character. how it goes in depth about saeru’s motivations is so awesome too and oh my god shintaro and ene crying and calling each other a best friend my dude this route has so much going for it but. it still sucks so bad because it does my faves dirty. takane would never fucking kill herself. thank you.

[karouvas]

Alison DiLaurentis 2&3!

favorite thing about this character —  I really love the interplay in especially early seasons Alison but it does show up at times in s5&6a, of her being capable of being so calculating and smart to scary degrees and play games both with her peers and with adults around her who underestimate her because of her youth and girlishness, yet also there are these moments where you can see it can never quite work to 100% protect her in the society she lives in as a teenage girl is a very misogynistic community that protects predatory adult men or as a bi girl from a conservative (based on Kenneth’s views) family in Virginia, she’s so cunning which I love but that only gets her so far I always think of the flashback where she threatens/blackmails Byron and he grabs her wrist (yikes!:/) and  tells her that she plays adult games but is still a child (ew) and how Sasha plays Ali’s reactions that is such a core part of her character to me. Ik that’s not really boiling my favorite thing about her into one trait but I do think that’s a big part of why I’m fascinated with her character in general. Also I just find characters like her who are written in a way that the audiences reaction to her sort of says a lot about them because there are multiple readings possible especially when they’re women to be characters who awaken more creativity in my brain and I love that (even though that’s definitely a double edged sword because part of why she was written like that was the Pll writers wanting to keep multiple options open for what to do with her and they eventually just didn’t know what to do with her at all), it’s why the one Pll fic I’ve written was an Ali char study of sorts lol. 

least favorite thing about this character —  I touched on it because it kind of goes along with my favorite but the fact the writers clearly didn’t know what to do with her as the plot of the show progressed/especially her arc in the last two seasons (there are things in s5 regarding Ali characterization I actually like better than most people/think is a little better than it gets credit for being although there were still decisions that sucked but then there are stand out moments/episodes I think are great for her so it averages) but her redemption arc in the last two seasons is terrible writing. However (and I’ve mentioned this before/gone on rants about it in tags of other posts I’ve reblogged) I think I dislike the arc for different reasons from why the majority of viewers do, my stance is definitely not that she is “irredeemable/unforgivable” (a stance I’ve seen from people who don’t feel that way about male characters who did much more harm and did also get redemption arcs just an aside) as a character and even attempting to go that route is ridiculous. I do have mixed feelings on whether a redemption arc is the most interesting route for her as villain Alison also has a lot of potential (and I did read all the Pll books last year through beginning of this year so I’ve now seen a version of the story that went there play out and honestly kind of a slay) and I could have liked other storylines for her that didn’t try to categorize her as redeemed or evil as neatly but! I think the greatest failing of that storyline is how Alison needs to lose all of her … Alison-Ness to be considered redeemed. She has to be consistently punished (and constantly talk about how she is responsible for everything bad that has ever happened to herself and other around her) and lose every one of her sharp edges and become an almost unrecognizable character to be considered morally acceptable, it’s an especially frustrating contrast to the way the show treats literally every morally questionable man in Rosewood and I hate it lol. I could maybe have used my economy of words better to say all that I just realized but oh well :). 

[bookishfeylin]

what are your #anti sjm unpopular opinions? this side of the fandom is pretty similar in our opinions so i was wondering where you differ. asking this to a bunch of people btw.

Hi anon!

I have... several unpopular opinions for this side of the fandom, and it's a testament to how much better our side is that I haven't been harassed by anyone over here because of them.

My first and largest is that I love, love, LOVE (book 1) Feylin. Many people here still don't like Feylin, if it's not considered downright taboo. And obviously, on THAT SIDE of the fandom it is THE no-no ship, THE untouchable territory. But I go there anyway :)

My second unpopular opinion that I know differs from quite a few mutuals and followers of mine is that Tamlin did not redeem himself by resurrecting Rhysand, is nowhere near close to redemption by the end of ACOWAR (anyone who's reading ACOHAS probably already knew this was my feeling tho lol), and furthermore I believe that he should not receive a redemption arc in canon. Redemption arcs in fiction aren't about morality and what characters "deserve them", imo, but rather how it works thematically and if it fits the message the story is trying to convey. Rhysand being redeemed/having his assault of Feyre swept under the rug in ACOMAF was bad enough for this series' own themes about abuse and SA, but Tamlin being redeemed completely spits on them. It sucks, because as I've said time and time again Rhysand and Tamlin are the same in how they act and it's incredibly hypocritical to not call out Rhysand for abuse while calling out Tamlin, but Sarah has decided Tamlin is the embodiment of the abuser(TM) just as Feyre is the embodiment of the victim(TM) and Rhysand is the embodiment of the healthy love interest(TM) so Tamlin narratively can never truly gain "redemption" without screwing up the story's themes or questioning those labels, and frankly, allowing him to be redeemed would be incredibly insulting to this series' themes and message about abuse. In my fanfic ACOHAS it only works because I go the route of "everyone sucks" and call out everyone's abuse, Feyre and Rhysand's included, so as to even the playing field and Tamlin's arc ends in a way I THINK is narratively satisfying all things considered. But Sarah will never acknowledge that anyone aside from Tamlin is abusive, so a redemption cannot work for him in canon. So I don't think a Tamlin redemption will ever occur in the books, nor do I truly think it's a good idea from a narrative viewpoint.

I also think that rather than merely complain about a lack of diversity in Sarah's books you should also try to promote alternatives (not that I don't complain myself but people who complain about something and then DO NOTHING to attempt a solution irritate me. The solution is simply to stopping buying Maas books and to promote more authors of color, and what I hate specifically is that I don't see enough critics of Sarah elevating authors of color as much as they complain, not the complaining in and of itself).

And my last unpopular opinion: neither Nesta OR Elain are that interesting. THERE I SAID IT. The complexity they had a little bit of in book one was flatted and removed in ACOMAF. And now BOTH of them are boring. Sorry.

[arcplaysgames]

Well you said "gender" so now people give a shit.

gosh you know what yeah, in America we get taught that Frankenstein is the first work of science fiction, but the story of Kaguya honestly fits the bill much better-

gurl what

MORGANA IS A VOLKSWAGON NOW

This line made me laugh out loud tbh. Way to hang a lampshade.

Okay so instead of Tartarus, we have Mementos. Admittedly not as pithy of a name. Morgana is hoping to unlock the secret of their true form by exploring deeper into Mementos, delving into the collective subconscious.

I love you, Ann.

Does Morgana not remember whether they are boy or gorl or other? That's very telling. By all means, if he feels like a boy, neat. But the fact that there are a lot of question marks around that makes me think once again that Morgana isn't human but is some manifestation of something from the collective unconsciousness, like Teddie was.

Also Morgana gives me massive Teddie vibes anyway. Oh, the annoying mascot character who I wind up liking a whole bunch? but a CAT THIS TIME instead of a white guy? Perfect.

Maybe Notigor is the Big Bad of the game while Morgana is the Big Good. Notigor represents confinement and false accusations and abuse of authority masquerading as "rehabilitation." Morgana has thus far enabled actual rehabilitation.

But we're so early on, who fucking knows. I am very interested in Morgana's arc tho. Like Teddie as the Star, Morgana's SLink is on a plot-progression time table, so I assume he's going to be tied to the themes of the story like Teddie was.

also the degree to which i mistrust this child cannot be overstated. FEAR ALL PRECOCIOUS CHILDREN. You better fucking not be the Justice arcana, child, i swear to fuck.

WOW Mishima's personality change now that Kamoshida is gone!!!!

Which: makes sense. He was one of the preferred punching bags and was the fucking grim reaper to his classmates, sending them to see Kamoshida for their daily beatings. Breaking loose from that would inspire a dramatic turn, easy.

He's the one who set up the Phan-Site (lmao, nice pun tbh) for the Thieves. He really really really wants to get in on helping them out and is, uh. Mildly overeager.

Moon arcana, huh. I'm being a nerd and staring at one of my own Moon cards rn.

Moon and Hanged Man are very similar in my eyes. Hanged Man is about the Choice but with the Moon, it's a place you find yourself eventually. When there has been a dramatic change in your life, the Moon represents the period of calm after. The usual depiction is of the Moon's reflection, actually, bouncing up from a pond or river, and drawing the attention of a fish or scorpion or something else.

The Moon is like staring into a mirror. It can help you understand yourself and become re-acquainted after a traumatic event. But it can also drag your journey to a halt and even lead you into madness if you don't figure out how to look away and understand what reality is.

Mishima has def been through the traumatic incident. My fear is that he throws himself too far into the Phan-Site thing and needs help clawing his way out.

also, in the Death route, I am picking the most ridiculous options and I cackled at her response. there ain't a drug that can fix Reverie Vantas The Fifth lmao.

anyway, LOOK AT THE FUCKING POLLEN

As someone living in the american south, I can look out my window right now and see my car fucking covered in a sheet of pollen. IT'S HELL. IT SUCKS. FUCKING GODDAMN TREES, STOP IT!

[greenyvertekins]

Surge is so sad in execution, because I adore the concept of Sonic fighting a not even real villain who's just generally really incompetent in a fight.

Like, have the fact she can't fight be the struggle! If IDW wants to focus on Sonic's "muh principles" and "muh morals", have the conflict be that this kid was literally tortured to just kill him, but also can't fight worth an actual damn. The complex feelings from watching someone with no battle experience just try to fight cuz they're forced to. Have Kit mention that they have barely any combat experience. Make the reader feel what Sonic's going through. They wanna make a struggle or whatever they could at least do it right or make it interesting. It doesn't have to be a bad thing to make her intentionally look pathetic. She can still be cocky and violent, and it'd explain why she needs upgrades to improve in a fight: cuz SHE thinks she's not physically strong enough while everyone else sees all she would need is more combat experience or proper training. And even gives her a potential redemption arc if they'd want to take that route. That struggle with fighting against the thing she was programmed to do, working to be a better person and live a normal life even if she's not the best at that. Use a training arc as a way to properly handle her feelings of anger and grief and all that- doesn't even have to like Sonic either, just not kill him all the time. Amy introducing Surge to boxercise and nice things about the world, and slowly becoming friends (cuz Surge would need friends who aren't Kit) could be a fun and sweet idea if played right honestly.

It's so sad to see Surge's missed potential as a character. There's a lot of cool ideas that could be done with her, and instead we got, all of that. Really sucks, but at least makes for an interesting fanfiction premise.

IDW hire this person.

[loathsomespider]

Oooh wouldja be so kind as to go into a bit more detail re: rejecting vs. ignoring canon? Would you say it's a bit like that one Brecht idea of "Not X, But Y"? Love reading your stuff, have a good one!

oooh, i hadn't actually heard this expressed in words before but with regards to the not / but idea before. but it is basically exactly like this, yeah. im only really skimming the wikipedia page since i do not really have the capacity to go take acting lessons right now, but it hits a lot of the same beats. i describe it as a kind of haunting, largely because i work on vast error as well and we love a good haunting when we're circled around the spritecooler.

it's also a trope that homestuck pulls from a lot - this kind of haunting by what you are not. you see it a lot in dirks relationship to daves bro, in vriska vs (vriska), in rose and jasprose, and the last non-goof pesterlog in homestuck is about terezi wishing that, if she couldn't be that more successful self, that she could at least remember what that more successful self did.

but this extends beyond the bounds of just "homestuck canon", the versions of characters we see on screen, but also, every depiction of the character, ever. vast error kind of gets at this in some interesting ways too, stuff like alternate timelines being "probabilities", where the more something happens in an alternate timeline, the more likely it is to happen in the "canon" timeline.

it gets called "fanfic brain" sometimes, but i think it's even more malleable than just fanfics. its easy to blame fanfics because so often they rely on repetition and derivatives, and it echoes on itself in that way. but stuff like the requiem cafe height charts, the way characters are depicted in pesterquest, the way big name fans draw them, the way your circle of friends on discord post about them, and how much investment you put into any of them, they all influence the way a character is read, intentionally or not.

but the thing is, stuff like the requiem cafe, pesterquest routes, big name fans, meta posts, they're all derivatives of the source material. that doesn't make them bad, by any means, and in a lot of cases, they can be really, really good. and that doesn't make the source material good, either - in a lot of cases, it can be really, really bad.

but there is still value to be found in the bad, and that i think is the important distinction in rejecting vs ignoring. it may suck ass, but it's there for a reason. and sometimes, that reason is as simple as "andrew hussie is pretty racist", and then you can just not be racist (to the best of your ability, anyway, something something interrogate your base assumptions) and move on.

but sometimes its more complex than that.

for example, the trickster arc is actually vastly improved by the homestuck epilogues's existence. the way the analogy of meat and candy shakes out in homestuck is kind of underdeveloped, and it might not be entirely graspable what exactly the trickster arc is getting at, even during the end when hussie and caliborn talk directly about what the point of that was.

and its not entirely flawless in the epilogues either (see: 16k word blog post i wrote about it a few years ago) but having that more clear picture of the mindset that the trickster lollipop and "candy" as an image represents does genuinely make it better. it's something i look forward to seeing on rereads instead of just dreading like a6i3.

it kind of gets to what i think is fun about writing a derivative and/or transformative work - there is the "play with all your action figures at once" feeling that i think most people get immediately, but its also in the challenge of making something meaningful out of playing with all your action figures at once, but that meaning doesnt have to come from just the good parts - the bad parts are just as meaningful to me

its also kind of difficult to separate things like growing up as a boy scout and having "leave things better than you found them" drilled into my mind forever. because it is sort of an interesting idea, right? obviously, the next step then, is that "better" is a really subjective thing, and worth interrogating.

is it actually improving things? by what means are you judging that improvement? bdth jane is spiritually a high school dropout going through an identity crisis. she's a nosey prick and had a full meltdown after she casually ran into someone who's not even her ex. that's really different from homestuck^2 jane, who is an on-screen child abuser, one of just two on-screen rapists in homestuck, horrendously troll-racist, etc. etc.

a lot of people like bdth jane more than hs2 jane - it's one of the most common pieces of feedback i get - but if i'm being honest with myself, that doesn't mean much to me? not because i'm insecure about my jane, it's just like. yeah, i can imagine you do like the down to earth weirdgirl more than the antagonist of a beloathed webcomic. but i dont know if that makes bdth jane better than hs2 jane, just because the metrics for "better" arent the same as the metrics for "liked" yknow.

tl;dr: when youre writing something derivative/transformative and decide to not engage with a part of a story, you are left with a hole you have to fill, since that piece youre removing was there for a reason. and i imagine most people want to fill it with something better, but you also have to know what "better" looks like because "i like it more" isnt always right

[volfoss]

⚜️ *Gives you the fanciest emoji I know of*

im so sorry this is like. 2 weeks late. a lot of stuff happened for me irl and i also was waiting to come across a character that i thought u would find really interesting :) i think you'd be able to really investigate veycer like a bug under a microscope.

i think youd like veycer SOLELY because of how complex he is written. he sucks soooo much as a person and i would like to blow him up HOWEVER i think as a villain he is so fascinating. volfoss doesnt really have villains in the usual sense, as its more just oh im on this side of the war, hes on the other side of the war and hes kinda being mean so hes the villain for this route. and you can side w his (veycers) side of the war and see different sides to him that way. like everyone just kind of sucks in the war really.

^white boy of the year in a bad way

so like. in order to get into his complex writing i have to first again elaborate he sucks. you are not meant to really care about him unless you take the route where youre on the ikuaipe side (which hes the military leader of). and to really get into him as a character i have a LOT of explaining to do plot wise. so come with me. take my hand. we are having the tumblr askbox equivalent of my 30 minute volfoss politics powerpoint or whatever.

ikuaipe uses rare metals imported from asdenia, mainly to make drugs. asdenia one day is just like no. fuck you we are not exporting this to you anymore. this obviously causes a lot of tension. eventually the war is kickstarted (this is either because of a mysterious disease or because it appears that the leader of ikuaipe was kidnapped. put a pin in that. we will return to it later. sorry theres a lot to explain and i need to make it as cohesive as possible) and its kind of like. well not good for either side lmao. each of the three (technically four. its a long story.) nations has a different governing system: ikuaipe has a group of people leading (frokiston is kind of the head, gust is second in command, and veycer is kind of third), asdenia is like a religious leading (the archpriest leads the country), and caldealand is a monarchy (with a king and queen and prime minister). this is all important im so sorry stick with me here i have to set up a foundation for the politics.

so like. if volfoss was crazy popular and had gotten super fandomized, people would say frokiston was kinda like a father figure to veycer but like objectively they do care about each other a lot. i cannot even begin to get into their wide degree of issues but frokiston is arguably just trying to lead ikuaipe as best he can, so in the ikuaipe route, when hes kidnapped, it sends veycer into a panic. like to the point where hes rushing into battle, right into dangerous spots just because he HEARD thats where frokiston might be. he invades asdenia further bc it does seem like its a plausible place for him to be. frokiston is someone who you see reassure veycer when he's worried about the war and how they're losing. like he does genuinely care a lot about veycer and thats WHY veycer is pretty much willing to die to make sure hes ok.

i am not going to spoil the ikuaipe arc ending but veycer is kind of put in a position a lot where he has to make tough decisions and well. they are not normally handled well (in terms of he makes stupid as fuck decisions or like. decisions where youre sitting there like WHY would you do this). and the end of that arc is a very good example of that, as it deals with how someone who acts very calmly and level headedly about death can be forced to make a decision that doesn't make him act as calm as he normally would.

which this all ties into a couple very distinct moments that make me genuinely insane when i think about him. like again he sucks soooo bad its insane but hes very well written (which idk if ive gotten acorss bc i really do wanna avoid major ending spoilers. i think youd love volfoss a lot). bullet point list bc ive gone on long enough lol

his sister (Shes also an army commander. shes great you would love sheala) does a big fuck up on a mission and well. lemme just grab what i noted down here. auveon is another commander.

but later he goes on to be like oh ty for protecting sheala ^-^ i care about my family. he does pardon her to just a demotion and i rly think that was his intent at first but he needed to seem strict to make ppl respect him.

one of his right hand men dies in one ending and he literally just does not care at all but i also think its a situation of keeping up a tough front. hes fascinating and id get more into it if my wrists were not cramping up insane style but they are so. i think youd love him in the way that he well. has diseases but is written with so much depth and compassion

[bluevelvet-room]

been trying to get into persona 1, would you recommend doing sqq or sebec route first? also, which optional party members would you recommend for each route? (idrm about ingame strength im moreso looking for a strong personality/arc/relevance to the story) ^^

ok just to start off here i will say. it is 7am est and i was about to go to bed (i stayed up all night drawing maki but i'm batch posting those later) but getting this excited me so excuse me if it is rambly. in addition, i was really bad at playing persona 1 so i'm glad you're asking about arc/relevance to the story because i would NOT be able to tell you the best builds or anything

answer under the readmore:

know in my heart of hearts that i wish so hard to tell you to get yuka ayase no matter what because i stan her so hard and that is what i did in my first playthrough. however. i will not be saying that, because you asked about relevance to the story and she does not have any in SEBEC. also, she's a weak player oops

the main (canon) storyline is in SEBEC. sq is sort of just an extra thing (though still interesting), to the point that they fully did not even include it in revelations initial american release (assholes). so i would play through SEBEC first and then move on to sq

in terms of optional party members, in SEBEC you'll be offered a choice (slowly) between brown, elly, yuka, or reiji. you only have one open slot, you have to reject each one in order to go to the next one and that is the order they'll appear. reiji is the "canon" SEBEC quest member, as the others appear in sq and therefore arent as essential. also, he's relevant to the story.

unfortunately he's also a bitch to get, so i'd look up a guide before you do basically anything at all in the game if you want him. if that fails and you don't want to reload then tbh just pick ur fave from the first three (yuka is the correct choice, but once again she is pretty weak, and i like elly and brown a lot too)

as for snow queen (which i would make an extra save slot before you leave the school the second time if you dont want to play the beginning of the game again, because choosing to stay is how you activate sq) - this quest is harder than SEBEC and also way different in terms of set up, with very little relevance to the overall important events of persona 1.

this time you'll have two slots to fill, with yuka and yukino being there as required party members. you get the option between elly, brown, and nanjo. if you want to see all the characters in one playthrough (spread between SEBEC and sq) then you should pick elly and brown, because nanjo is default in SEBEC.

that's all the important technical stuff that you asked about and i would just like to say, anon, from the bottom of my heart, that i love that you asked me of all people based on my frankly incoherent ramblings about smt persona. i hope you enjoy the game!!!

(i will not blame you if you hate it. smt persona sucks so hard to play it made me want to bash my skull in multiple times but i care about it so much)