#But I'm not into shipping 'real people' even if it's actually a persona not how they really are

[rosielav]

Someone liked my fic masterpost in the year of our lord 2023. I made that in 2017 😭 and stopped writing fan fic shortly after lmao

[howtofightwrite]

Speaking of martial competence, do you have any examples of characters that are actually written with this in mind?

Loads. Some actually even make good on that.

So, there's different kinds of martial competence. There are characters who are proficient in combat directly, there are well written strategists, there are characters who excel at military leadership, and when they're written well, you can actuallylearn some things from them.

I'm going to give some examples, and at least one cautionary example.

For, just, raw combat prowess, I still go back to Robert E. Howard's Conan short stories. It's easy to meme on the character, especially 90 years after the fact, with the cultural persona that's grown around him, but Howard's original writing is excellent. The character would not have survived Howard's early (and, frankly, tragic) death if it was just the one note gag you might expect, if your only exposure to the character was through cultural osmosis and the films.

Howard's fight scenes were shockingly well written. To the point that it is still absolutely worth reading if you want to write a fantasy fighter.

For strategists, three characters come to mind, but only two are literary, and all are Science Fiction.

Grand Admiral Thrawn is probably one of the best villains Star Wars has ever produced, it's part of why he's one of the few characters that's migrated from the original EU to the Disney era. My personal take is, as a character, he's lost a lot over the years, but the original incarnation from the early 90s novels is a very solid model for a strategist. Particularly in how he takes time to understand his opponents while looking for potential weak points to exploit.

His practice of studying a culture's art to understand their psychology might sound a bit goofy, but the concept does have a real basis. (At least, until it metastasized into a superpower, in later adaptations of the character.) Being able to psychologically assess your foe is an incredibly valuable element of strategy, and one that you probably want to consider when you're writing a character who is supposed to be a “strategic genius.”

When writing fiction, you want to consider all of your characters as if they were people, rather than as hollow, plastic toys. And, yes, the obnoxious villain who knows exactly what your heroes will do because of authorial fiat is going to be a more compelling character than the ambulatory goldfish villain who exists as a prelude for your heroes showing off how badass you think they are.

Granted, even in Heir to the EmpireThrawn was already drawing strategic insights that strained credibility, but understanding your foe is an element of strategic thinking that is often forgotten in literature. So, even as a villain in a tie-in novel (we're not done with tie-in fiction yet), he is worth looking at. At least when written by Timothy Zhan, Thrawn was a well written character, and even if he bordered on a Mary Sue at times, he escaped a lot of that stigma by justifying his competence.

It's also probably worth mentioning in passing that he's one of the few Imperial leaders in Star Wars who isn't also criminally incompetent.

The non-literary example of a strategist would be John Sheridan from Babylon 5. Unlike Thrawn, Sheridan's main strategic focus is on situational exploitation. A little of that comes from his knowledge of enemy procedures and psychology, but at lot of it comes from a rather ruthless approach to technical limitations. An alien race is using technology that blocks human targeting systems? Set up a nuclear mine and then send out a fake distress single to lure them in. Need to deal with a significantly larger, more dangerous ship? Lure them into a gas giant and and let the planet's gravity well drag them past crush depth. Bruce Boxleitner's performance helped sell the character, but Sheridan is a really solid science fiction strategist, who really exemplifies how technical limitations can have enormous strategic considerations.

I'm not citing Sheridan as an excellent example of a leader per se,it's certainly there, but it is harder to unpack from Boxleitner's performance. It does have some good payoffs much later in the series when he starts making some orders that cause his subordinates to sit up and stop what they're doing. And that is a consistent theme even back to his introduction, but, it's a tangible consequence to an intangible cause.

The last example is a negative example, both for strategy and leadership. And, as much as it pains me to say this, at least Orson Scott Card understood that Ender was a bad leader. At least in the original novel. To be blunt, Ender is a mediocre strategist at best. His highlights in the book involve, “inventing armor,” and creative movement in micrograv. That's setting the bar exceptionally low, and while it is reasonably within the range of what you could expect from a pre-teen, that's not much of a justification.

Again, I'm not a fan of Card, and I'm reallynot recommending Ender's Gameto anyone. However, if I didn't mention it, you know there'd be a reblog going for twelve hundred words about how Andrew Wiggin is the best strategist in literature, which, yeah, no.

Do you want a goofy, tie-in fiction, literary suggestion for the best leader in sci-fi? Too bad, because I'm pretty sure Ciaphas Cain is not that person. The Ciaphas Cain novels by Sandy Mitchell are unusual as leadership recommendations, because of how much Cain internally processes the social manipulation involved in military leadership. He's not a great leader, but he is exceptionallygood at explaining to the reader how he's creating that illusion to motivate the soldiers around him. In fairness, some of that is an intrinsic character flaw, he is incredibly insecure, and desperately trying to hide that fact. And the difference between being a great leader, and effectively creating a comprehensive illusion of a great leader is: There is no difference. As a serious complement, it is one of the few times I've seen an author treat leadership as an actual skill, and not simply an extension of a character's charisma. Which is why I'm singling this one out. It might sound like a joke inclusion initially, and the books are quite funny in a Warhammer 40k kind of way, but there is quite a bit of  value to be had.

-Starke

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

a brief retrospective on Louis and Violet as love interests, Clementine's bisexuality, and the fandom's continued insistence on fighting over this

In December of 2019, I made a series of posts called "An Explanation of Why Louis and Violet are Both Excellent Love Interests" that explored my feelings on the topic after seeing a lot of fighting in the fandom over who's better; who is the "right" choice for Clementine?

The answer is simple: there isn't an objectively correct choice.

I compared Louis and Violet to the romantic options in other games, including Life is Strange, Persona 4, King's Quest 2015, and Catherine, as well as TWDG: A New Frontier. I wanted to show how much better TFS handled the romance versus those games, why we should be grateful for what we got since it could've been a lot worse, and how the fighting over who's "right" was a waste of time.

I suppose it's only fitting that I'd be driven to revisit this topic after seeing fans continue to argue amongst themselves over this years later in the trenches of a weakening fandom.

Just when I think I'm done writing pieces for TWDG, some random redditor writes an essay about how violentine only exists for "woke points" that grabs me by the throat and throws me down. Then another will insist that clouis is abusive since Louis voted against them in ep2 in their own essay and I'm dragged back here, kicking and screaming.

While I think my previous Excellent Love Interests posts about this are on the juvenile side, I do still agree with my main point: Louis and Violet are excellent characters who make for compelling love interests. The fact that we got them both, that we were given the choice, and that they're as well done as they are, is something I don't think we appreciate enough. Hell, I don't think we even appreciate that Clementine's a canonically bisexual protagonist as much as we should.

We're too busy trying to one up each other with, "Well, actually, clouis is superior because of this and this," and "no, you're wrong, violentine is actually better because of this and this," and sometimes a wild non-shipper will appear out of nowhere to slap down an, "actually, you both suck, singletine is better."

It's sad that this is what fandom inevitably defaults to, always. It stops being about the game we love, the thing that brought us here, and it becomes a pissing match.

Doesn't matter what fandom it is; we end up projecting too much of ourselves onto fictional characters, investing too much of our time into ship culture, hyper-fixating until it becomes part of us... and let's be real, sometimes it's in unhealthy ways.

So, when someone else attacks the things we're attached to, it becomes a personal attack... and when we feel threatened, we become defensive and retaliate... and sometimes, we take it too far and target others out of insecurity, to feel validated, even if it means going after someone who is just minding their own business.

Also, I think some people are just assholes who want to piss on everyone.

Because of this, I would like to discuss Louis and Violet as romanceable characters, why they're both important to TFS no matter who you choose, why Clementine being a bisexual protagonist matters, and the fandom's continued insistence on fighting over this.

For many personal reasons, I've always been trepid about being open with my sexuality as a bi woman. I've done a lot of reflection this year on why that is; internalized misogyny, the biphobia that lingers in the queer community, insecurities, regrets, how I tend to be harsher on female characters over male characters, why it took me so long to not feel afraid of engaging with queer media, admitting I was wrong about so many things I've said in the past, how it's all affected my writing, etc.

When TFS released and I made this blog, I had already accepted my bisexuality but was in no way public about it, not online or in my personal life. But playing the first two episode of TFS, being presented with both Louis and Violet as potential romantic partners struck something inside of me.

Yes, I picked Louis; we all know I'm a major clouis shipper at this point, and if you're new here, then now you know, too.

But it's the fact that Violet's also an option, that with just a few different button presses, Clementine could've fallen for her just as she did with Louis; that there's evidence in game that she shows interested in both of them no matter your choices; that no one in-game judges Clementine for who she chooses to be with... that meant something to me in a way that it hadn't before.

TFS wasn't the first game I played with a bi protagonist; in Excellent Love Interests, I compared Louis and Violet to Life is Strange's Chloe and Warren. I have a lot of mixed feelings about the first LiS game overall, but I've been quite open about my dislike of Chloe and indifference to Warren.

Chloe, to me, is everything I dislike in a love interest, predominately in wlw. 2023 was the year of "CJ dives into sapphic literature and it's a 50/50 chance of striking gold or gettin' hella eaten by disappointment, shaka brah." Meaning I've read a lot of wlw novels, and all the ones I hated featured a Chloe clone, sometimes done even worse.

And Warren? I'll be real honest with you- I couldn't even remember what his name was when I started writing this. I had to go back and check. That tells you what I think of him, no?

So, LiS didn't strike me the same way. Sure, I knew Max was a bi protagonist and that's great, but the choices weren't appealing to me. This was when I was a teenager still somewhat in denial of my sexuality, which most definitely contributed to me being uncomfortable when faced with a wlw relationship portrayed in-game, especially when I found myself wishing Kate was an option for Max... but y'know, "shhhhhhh if I don't acknowledge it, it doesn't exist."

When the first episode of TFS released, I was older, I was no longer in a not-so-great relationship, and had better accepted who I am. The first episode does a great job of introducing you to Louis and Violet, and giving you the opportunity to spend more time with the one you're interested in.

I actually really liked them both when ep1 dropped, but I've always had a preference for a character who is kind, deflects with humor, and tends to be picked on by the rest of the cast... so it was inevitable that I'd stick with Louis. Though I won't discredit Violet in ep1, or the rest of the game, just because I didn't choose her in the end.

That's one of the best things about Louis and Violet as options; they're opposites, yet alike in many ways. They have their appeals and charms. They're flawed. It never feels like a "love triangle" situation where they're fighting over Clementine. Louis and Violet are friends who have known each other from before the walkers came. It's refreshing to have two characters who are interested in the same person but don't go for each other's throats over it. When they do argue over her, it's more to do with AJ shooting Marlon and whether it's safe for the group to let them stay.

I can't fault anyone who struggled to pick between them. When someone talks about who they picked and why, it's all about the player's preferences.

It's your choice to make, and no matter what, you're not wrong for it.

This season concludes Clementine's story, regardless of what some comics will say. It's the last fight. It's her happy ending. She and AJ finally found a home, a family.

I've played these games since S1 came out in 2012, over ten years ago. Clementine holds a special place in my heart. Not only did this important character have a great final season [despite Telltale shutting down and TFS nearly being left incomplete, remember] but she's also revealed to be canonically bisexual.

They didn't release the whole season and then as an afterthought be like, "oh yeah btw she's bi, she has oneline of flirty dialogue with this character so see? we did good rep."

Yeah, I'm side eyeing you, ANF.

They didn't try to hide it. They presented it to the player unapologetically and made a conscious decision to exclude anything biphobic from other characters... which meant a lot to me.

Biphobia is real and it's not that I don't want it explored well in media, but there's something appealing and safe about a game with a bisexual main character who isn't questioned about it negatively; "You're bi? Doesn't that mean you cheat on all your partners?"

To give a compliment to Life is Strange: True Colors, I had a similar feeling in that game, too. Alex is openly bi, she can date either Steph or Ryan and no one questions the "legitimacy" of her bisexuality.

Because that's always a thing on top of everything else, y'know? "You're a bad bi unless you're with the 'gayer option.'" "Bisexuality isn't real, you're just confused." "I don't date girls who've been tainted by a man." "Oh, you're into girls? How about a threesome?"

Violet never turns her nose up at Clementine for admitting she had a crush on Gabe. Louis isn't ever gross about Clementine and Violet getting close. It speaks volumes for their characters and how accepting they, and everyone else at Ericson, are of Clementine no matter who she chooses, if anyone.

That acceptance, even if it's just in a game, means more than words can express to queer players who don't feel that acceptance in their daily lives.

Which means it hurts all the more when it comes to the fandom's own display of biphobia; "You're bi but ship clouis? Why ship something hetero when violentine is right there?" "Well, MY Clementine's straight because she picked Louis! Stop forcing the gay onto MY Clementine!"

Clementine's important to all of us. Why do you think so many people are pissed about the comics to the point of spewing disgusting bile toward Tillie Walden? I've said my piece on that plenty times before, so allow me to say it on this; the representation of bisexuality in Clementine is beautifully woven through TFS in ways that are subtle yet impactful, and I thank TFS for giving that to us.

One argument I've come across recently against Clementine's bisexuality, and violentine in general: "blegh they only included violentine/made Clem bi for lgbt points." y'know... as if that's a bad thing.

It bothers me because A. saying "I'm not homophobic *but*-" and then making a homophobic argument against violentine while insisting that Clementine's bisexuality came out of nowhere and was forced is icky, and B. I know I've said similar things about violentine in the past. I know I used to argue that violentine's underdeveloped, yet the devs pushed it to the forefront over clouis to pat themselves on the back for doing representation, etc.

I don't believe that anymore; remember when I brought up people making arguments out of insecurity? Yeah, that and being lowkey bitter that violentine got more dev attention than clouis sometimes even though like... that doesn't matter? It literally doesn't matter. That's what I meant when I said you get so invested that certain things feel like a personal attack when they're not.

Some of the developers of TFS are queer people. They probably wanted a bi protagonist with a wlw option because that representation is important to them and they had the opportunity to express it, not because they were trying to get "points" with anyone. Go listen to the commentaries for TFS; they talk about violentine with nothing but positivity, and they didn't do that to shade Louis or clouis shippers. And if you do think they did it shade fans, then maybe stop and consider why; do you actually believe that or are you annoyed that your fave wasn't the center of attention?

On the flip side, I also want to say that gloating and insisting that violentine is the better/right choice because of these things is also unpleasant and untrue. It sucks when it feels like things are biased against you and it sucks even more when that bias is weaponized by other fans to beat you down.

But honestly? If you need this much validation on your opinions about fictional characters, maybe you should stop to think about why that is and what it says about you, yeah?

Truly, this whole clouis versus violentine thing is irritating at best, vile at worse. Thankfully it doesn't happen as much on tumblr given the state of the fandom, and everyone's at least agreed that no matter their feelings toward each other, clemricca is worse. So, that's something, I guess.

I think the best way I can put this is you don't get to dictate what other people think and feel. Being passionate is great until it becomes an excuse to be an asshole. Not everyone is going to agree with you and you need to put your big kid pants on and accept that.

I'm under no impression that the fighting will ever stop, even when this fandom is dried up with only bones and memories haunting its desert... but at the very least, I can point some of it out and ask that we do better than this.

The focus gets lost in the fighting, and that focus is Louis and Violet themselves. Y'know, the two this retrospective's about.

Remember when I talked about Persona 4 in Excellent Love Interests and how much it sucks when the person you want to romance isn't actually an option--?

Hmm? What's that? Ah, yes, right- @pi-creates insists I add that TFS and Persona 4 actually are the same because Aasim wasn't an option and they're still bitter about that... but this isn't about Aasim, that's a topic for another day. Sorry Pi, but thanks for the screenshots used in this retrospective👍

Anyway, TFS gave us two excellent choices, and it would've been worse off had it only given us one of them, or none at all.

Louis wears charisma as a mask and uses humor as a shield to deflect. Violet, for as quiet and standoffish as she first appears, has a heart she's both eager and reluctant to share.

Louis is warm curtains of sunlight seeping through the murmuring woods of green leaves and little song birds. A heart carved into the rustic wood of an out-of-tune piano. Music echoing in the early morning hallways.

Violet is the glow of a full moon that illuminates still waters so the stars can dance in its reflection. Paint smeared over finger tips to offer a piece of herself meant to be worn. Constellations of stars named in secret.

They're both lonely people, often misunderstood by the others at Ericson, and sometimes by each other. They want to be known. They want to be seen.

But fear is a powerful wall to overcome.

And that's the beauty of choice. You get the impression of knowing them in the beginning, but it rarely breaks surface tension; Louis is nice and funny but undependable, Violet's rude and reserved and a little awkward. Neither are outspoken about any issues around Ericson, content to keep their heads down.

Clementine has to make the effort to know them, and the game establishes this by asking you an unassuming question: do you want to go hunting with Louis or fishing with Violet?

Clementine either makes an effort to understand Violet's feelings toward Brody and why she's so mean to her, and try to help her through it... or she doesn't listen to what Violet's saying, is dismissive, and ends up making things worse.

When Clementine goes hunting with Louis, she has to make the decision to spend time with him or ignore him in favor of hunting, and should she choose him, he opens up to her just a bit.

Then comes the confrontation with Marlon at the end of the episode where Clementine has to make the choice of who to appeal to. The gravity of this choice is often glossed over, I think.

Marlon has a gun pointed at her head, and she pleas for Louis or Violet to step in and save her. Both are hesitant because of course they are! They've known Marlon longer, he has a gun, and he's using manipulation to scare them into submission; he uses his friendship against Louis, and Minerva against Violet.

But when Clementine gets through to them? They stand between her and Marlon in rather in-character ways; Louis eases in with his hands up, attempting to deescalate the situation while Violet pulls out a weapon and demands he back off.

They risked getting shot. They risked death. They knew what was happening was wrong. They didn't want Clementine to die, they didn't fully believe Marlon's bullshit but were too scared to step forward until Clementine asked them, too. In that moment she basically told them, "I trust you. Instinct tells me you are the one who can stop this. My life is in your hands."

This choice changes them, and this moment ripples through the rest of the season. It makes perfect sense that Louis would be upset over Marlon's death and feel unsafe with Clementine and AJ there whereas Violet sees the death as justified and Clementine and AJ shouldn't be kicked out over it. It's an overwhelming situation for everyone.

I've talked about ep2 and the vote until my lungs nearly collapsed and I saw the gates of Hell over the horizon... but that's fine, I can talk a little more about it and maybe this time the flames with cleanse me of my sins or something.

This is where the fighting really began, and I shouldn't have to say it again, but I will anyway: There isn't an objectively correct answer here, there's only personal preference.

Louis and Violet take very clear, opposite stances on this situation. I think they're both a little wrong and a little right; they shouldn't ignore that AJ killed Marlon, but kicking them out isn't the best solution either.

As a clouis shipper, I happen to like the way these events play out with Louis' vote. But not everyone feels that way. For some, Louis' vote is a deal breaker, making Violet the more appealing option given she voted for Clementine and AJ to stay.

Do you want a girl that's been by Clementine's side from the beginning and was vocal about keeping her and AJ here?

Great, Violet's the choice for you. Enjoy the lovely moonlight and constellation mini-game.

Do you want the extra angst of a boy who made a vote he comes to regret and then does everything he can to apologize and make it up to Clementine?

Wonderful, here's Louis. He'll play you a song he wrote and then name it after Clementine, it's very cute.

While on the topic of ep2, I also want to discuss the episode's final choice of saving either Louis or Violet and the consequences.

You know how in other games, say like massive RPG's with "good" and "evil" choices you can make that end up defining your character? You know how sometimes people question why developers even bothered putting those evil routes in since a majority of people will choose to be good? This isn't a new topic of discussion, but it's relevant to my point- they do it because the option to be evil makes the choice to be good more impactful. If you do choose to be evil, you did it knowing you could've been good and yet you decided chaos was the way to go, and now everyone and everything around your character suffers.

I don't think it only applies to binary "good" versus "evil" choices, either.

TWDG is great with its "You can only save one of them" choices, even if they usually fumble with the consequences in later episodes.

When I'm faced with this choice to save either Louis or Violet, I don't save Louis just because I like him more. Sure, initially that's why I saved him on my first run... but then the rest of the season came out and I learned the consequences of the choices I did and didn't make.

Knowing that he'll get his tongue cut out if I don't save him makes me all the more anxious to choose him. And I know violentine shippers are gutted knowing that if they don't save her, she'll feel so betrayed that she turns on Clementine and in the end is blinded in the boat explosion, so they're just as eager to save her.

But all of us have to live with the consequences of what happens to the one we didn't save, too. We made the decision to save the one we love at the cost of hurting the other we didn't love enough. You can't save them both. You're forced to hurt one of them in order to protect the other.

And it doesn't even stop there. TFS isn't done twisting the knife.

Mere moments before you have to make the choice to save one of them, Lilly's standing over Clementine with her finger on the trigger... only to then be tackled by the person you didn't choose to spend time with.

They just saved Clementine's life only to be dragged away by their neck, and the game asks you what that's worth: They got captured saving you, so do you save them in return or do you remain loyal to the one you chose before?

And when you know the consequences of both routes, when you know Louis will have his tongue cut out and Violet will have her eyes burned?

Louis and Violet are good people at their cores who only wanted to be understood and loved, and no matter what, you have to abandon one of them for the other... and they are left physically and mentally traumatized because of it.

But wait, there's more. The one you didn't save will always survive to the end and act as a constant reminder of what you chose... but the one you saved? If you don't trust AJ, then you'll be forced to watch them get torn apart and eaten alive by a herd of walkers. The only way to save them is to trust AJ so that he shoots Tenn.

A child has to die in order for you to save the one you love again, a choice you indirectly made.

The ending shows you the one you didn't save, and it shows you Tenn's grave... and it presents a quiet question: was it worth it?

Would you make those choices again?

That's the power Louis and Violet bring to TFS.

That's why the choice matters.

We justify trusting AJ because we'd rather see Louis and Violet live over Tenn, knowing we're taking away the best friend AJ's ever had and allowing Minerva to get her way. We save Louis knowing that it breaks something inside of Violet and results in her permanently losing most of her eyesight. We save Violet knowing that we'll find Louis bloody and sobbing in the cell after having his tongue cut out of his mouth.

And we argue about it amongst ourselves even though it's all fucked. There isn't a true happy ending here, not for everyone.

Louis and Violet stand on their own as great characters, but you only get the true depth depending on how you play. They're excellent love interests because they care for Clementine. Through their relationship with her, they grow as people and find the acceptance and love they're starved for.

It's not perfect, but it honestly doesn't need to be. There was care woven into these characters. Both routes have a wide appeal. That means something to so many people.

I know we as fans often will say we wanted more, we wanted this and that, we wish this was different. It's not a dating sim where the main objective is to woo them. It's not a massive RPG with hundreds of hours to explore every nook and cranny of their characters. This is a Telltale game. It's a narrative with Clementine and AJ at the forefront, and it's up to you whether you want Louis or Violet to share that spotlight.

It's a story about Clementine finding a home, about molding what kind of survivor AJ comes. It's about Clementine meeting two broken people with glass shards at their feet, about her glass mixing with theirs. It's a game about choice; which glass pieces do you pick up, and which do you step on?

We should take more time to appreciate Louis and Violet. We should share our appreciation for the development team for giving us a bisexual lead with two great love interests, especially since we almost didn't get TFS in its entirety; we can hate Skybound as much as we want for the Clementine comics, but without them, this team wouldn't have been able to finish the game they were clearly passionate about.

We should have more self-awareness and try to understand why we like and dislike things without targeting others.

In conclusion?

I think they're both neat 👍

[total-drama-brainrot]

TD World Tour Alenoah AU... Where Noah is immune to Alejandro's fake charm... Instead, Noah gets charmed by the true Alejandro's quirks and dorky interests like dinosaurs and puppets... How would Alejandro feel about Noah only liking Alejandro, when Alejandro is being himself?... Especially since Alejandro's family shuns him for being himself? 🦕🦖🦕

Now you're speaking my language.

One of the most common running themes in all/near enough all Alenoah central AUs is having Noah be the first person to see past Alejandro's persona and actually appreciate the person he is, or at the very least prefer the real Alejandro to his mask of perfection. It's one of the draws of the ship itself; the idea that Noah, being the blunt person that he is, can and will wage a war of attrition against the walls Alejandro has built up around himself- not just to keep others out, but also to repress the more authentic aspects of himself to himself- in order to reveal the person beneath.

I touched on this a little bit in a previous post concerning this AU, but Alejandro and Noah both see glimpses of the other that they try so valiantly to hide- in Noah's case, Alejandro sees hints of the scheming mindset he's pretty much supressed under layers of apathy and sloth (as Noah's laziness is one of his biggest character foils, alongside his snarky attitude), and in Alejandro's case he reveals tid bits of information about the Real Alejandro, not the persona he's usually portraying himself as, which is enough to humanise him in Noah's eyes.

They both become People Of Interest in each other's eyes, because they're both puzzles to be solved. Alejandro's curious and competitive to a fault so he'd dedicate himself to unravelling the layers behind Noah's stony exterior, as he'd see Noah's continued distance as a challenge. That's a given. But the topic at hand here is Noah's interest in Alejandro.

Because Noah's not exactly competitive, so why would he be so interested in unveiling the real Alejandro? That's simple; Noah values authenticity. Look at his friendship group, it consists of people who are unapologetically themselves. Noah is also unapologetically himself, in all of his sarcastic glory. So of course he's see flickers of the real, authentic Alejandro and his natural inquisitiveness would be piqued- a novelty for him, as Noah's staunch apathy generally tends to override any semblance of curiosity.

So Noah goes out of his way to make notes of the small interests Alejandro offhandedly mentions at one point or another, like palaeontology or puppetry or even his fifteen-step skincare routine- things that Alejandro shows genuine excitement or passion over that shines through the cracks of his perfect persona. He sees the dorky giddiness Alejandro experiences when Noah lets him ramble on about how Jurassic Park was incredibly inaccurate from a scientific standpoint but monumental for people's interest in palaeontology (or something along those lines, I don't know I'm not a dinosaur nerd) and suddenly the annoyingly flirtatious faker he's spent the better half of his time on the jet is A Whole Ass Person with interests and passions and a sense of depth he's been so bereft of until now. Suddenly Alejandro's more than just the antagonist of the show Noah's working on, he's an interesting person that the bookworm finds himself wanting to know more about. And, perhaps, he finds himself growing genuinely fond of the person behind the mask.

And he uses those notes to prompt Alejandro into sharing more of himself, the real authentic Alejandro, in the privacy of their interactions.

At first, Alejandro's fairly oblivious to what Noah's doing, since he's so caught up in his own enjoyment of Noah's company plans to essentially do the same to Noah that he barely notices his own tricks being used against him.

Of course, he's also just elated at being able to infodump to someone who isn't outright penalising him for doing so; not that I think Alejandro is even aware that what he's doing is infodumping, nor the fact that he's so obviously autistic, because his family is a particular brand of awful that would never let him get a proper diagnoses and in all likelihood forced him to mask/supress his symptoms.

It isn't until Alejandro realises that he's shared a lot of information about himself that he (as a Burromuerto) is expected to keep close to his chest, and he sees the glimmers of satisfaction in Noah's intelligent eyes, that the archvillain catches on to the fact that he's been played. But the thing that really catches him off-guard isn't the trickery, it's the fact that Noah's done nothing with the uncharacteristic displays of vulnerability.

Alejandro can't understand why Noah hasn't taken advantage of his "weakness" yet. Inevitably leading to him confronting the assistant, as Alejandro isn't the type to "let sleeping dogs lie" so to speak, and he's still very much so in the one-track mindset of winning the competition- thus he assumes that any show of vulnerability can and will lead to his untimely elimination. But when he practically demands that Noah reveal what he's been planning, why he's been sneakily collecting information on him, all Noah can do is shrug his shoulders and say;

"I guess I just like seeing the real you. That's all."

And Alejandro doesn't know how to respond to that. No one's ever wanted the real him, he's always had to play the role of the perfect son, the perfect brother. He doesn't understand.

And like most people when they're faced with a foreign concept they have no basis of behaviour for, he lashes out.

[victimsofyaoipoll]

Round 2

Propaganda Under Cut

Elizabeth Midford

She started as just a cutie fiancée trying her best, turns out she's also a swordfighting genius, very under pressure to perform feminity in the Victorian Rose type of way. Fandom crucifies her bc she's Ciel's fiancée and they want him to be with his butler, Sebastian, the demon he sold his soul to for revenge

anime was a shitty canon divergent adaptation that butchered her character down to her "cutesy silly girly" persona, which obviously made the 2008 anime fans hate her with a passion (nothing wrong w being girly I'm just saying the adaptation made her super one dimensional) anyways fujoshis used to treat her as a villain because she's the fiance of Ciel,, who as u might know already was HEAVILY shipped with his butler, Sebastian back then (now it's kinda looked badly upon, nice tbh that ship sucks ass xD) She's a bit similar to Misa Amane from death note in the way she was treated. (Like an obstacle the yaoi ship must overcome rather than a person)

she's my silly little rabbit! i could gush about her character but i'll keep it short and just say that she's really well written and one of the best characters in the series. anyways she's ciel's fiance and she's like, rightfully annoying as any other 13 yr old girl would be but the fanbase fucking crucified her for even existing. she gets demonized for being 'annoying', but then ciel gets yaoishipped with an even more annoying guy. there is 100% an argument that lizzie/ciel is weird bc they're cousins (i personally don't ship it) but that falls flat when her detractors then ship the 13 yr old ciel with an eons old demon who Canonically looks like his father. the anime also never reached her main character development until years after its peak and that was only in a movie, so she really got the bad end of the stick here. not me though i had a giant crush on her when i was 12

Katara

Katara is constantly mistreated by the fans in favor of the Zukka ship (Zuko × Sokka.) They make her out to be mean, homophobic, and completely out of character just to add drama to the Zukka ship. In reality, Katara is very compassionate, and would never act that way toward anyone. 

Zutara was a popular ship but when zukka got popular over covid during the atla renaissance there were a million posts about how zutara was problematic while zukka was perfect usually for racist reasons. Meanwhile katara and sokka are siblings so it didn't even make sense. They did not have to be so illogically rude to her to ship zukka and it was weird

Katara is FANTASTIC I fucking love her to pieces she is so cool and yet the entirety of the ATLA fandom treats her like garbage because she “talks about her mom dying too much” (even though she BARELY does & also was parentified from a young age due to her mother’s death) and, of course, because she’s a more feminine women when compared to her counterparts. Even in the show itself she’s mistreated: she’s ALWAYS shown cooking for the rest of the gaang, doing their laundry, any ‘womanly’ task. She ends up with the guy who kissed her twice without her consent & who she never showed any real attraction to and apparently (despite being a badass warrior-doctor!!!) after the show ended she just… settled down in the South Pole and had a bunch of kids and never did anything else. She didn’t even get a statue :( Anyways during the ATLA renaissance, despite Zutara actually not being canon, people felt that Katara threatened the sanctity of the new almost entirely baseless yaoi ship, Zukka. Unfortunately for them, due to the fact that Katara and Sokka are siblings, the usual anti-Zutara arguments didn’t work as well. So they resorted to just… slaughtering her character. If she was lucky, they’d just make Katara a background character, wingwoman, &or throw her together with her canon love interest. If she was unlucky they’d do anything from make her homophobic (??) to killing her off! Fuck’s sake, she never even got a token spare-the-pairs wlw ship! Sorry for getting so heated, that whole debacle made me FUMING MAD.

[markantonys]

i'd watched the first 2 episodes of ROP s1 when they first came out, but i found them boring and so didn't continue. however, i've been hearing that charlie vickers is eating and leaving no crumbs in the new season, and that is my sweet boy guglielmo pazzi from i medici (2019) and i've Got to see him killing it in a huge role, i'm so proud of him!!! always a delight when a previously-unknown actor from an obscure show you love ends up making it big

so i decided to give it another shot and dove straight into 1x03 after reading a summary of the first 2 eps to refresh my memory, and idk if 1x03 really is that much more interesting than 1&2 or if it's just that i happen to be in a different frame of mind now that's more predisposed to getting interested in this show, but WOW i am loving it!! i'm an extremely casual LOTR fan (in fact i wouldn't even rightfully call myself a fan, more just "i've watched the movies a few times and like them" haha) and so whatever complaints the fans have about ROP obviously are not things that bother me. i'm just here for a good time, and i'm having one!

the galadriel & halbrand plotline is definitely my favorite (heck, if the numenor stuff had arrived in ep2 instead of 3 i might've been on board with the show the first time around). i already know he's sauron, of course, so i was like "i won't get attached to halbrand since he's not a real person, just sauron's disguise" but fuck, i'm attached, and it hurts!!!!! loving a character who starts out good and turns to the dark is one type of pain, but loving a character who was never real at all because they were evil the whole time and this "character" was never anything more than a facade - it's an entirely different and perhaps even worse type of pain! i can't even soothe myself imagining an AU where halbrand never turned evil, because halbrand was never real! genuinely in immense anguish over this. but once i reach s2 and get to the Unabashedly Evil Sauron Era, it'll be so sexy that i might immediately go "oh no! anyway" and forget all about my anguish jdkjfg

............wait a moment. do i now know how show!rand must be feeling post-s2? attached to someone who was never real because they were always just an evil person's fake persona? oh rand honey i'm even sorrier for you now!

speaking of WOT, it really has broken my brain because i try to polyship everything all the time nowadays. why did i go "wake up babe new polycule just dropped" during that scene when galadriel, halbrand, and miriel had a meeting lmao girl you KNOW this bitch is sauron! but i already knew people were shipping him and galadriel, so i went in to my new watch expecting to see the vibes, and indeed seeing them, and i ALSO unexpectedly saw vibes for galadriel and miriel (two leaders overburdened by duty, oh it's my kryptonite), so how can i help creating a polycule? oh well, i'll enjoy it while it lasts and then once galadriel finds out he's sauron i will instead get some angst to enjoy! and she will still have her girlfriend to comfort her (as long as nothing happens to miriel.........i haven't heard any spoilers about her, so we shall see!)

back to halbrand, the "he's the lost king of the southlands" idea is such a clever misdirect because it allows halbrand to demonstrate unusual skills in combat/diplomacy/manipulation that we wouldn't expect a seeming peasant to have, but provides a cover for it and so we think this one "identity reveal" is all there is to it, and aren't suspecting a second, bigger identity reveal! and actually, as far as i can remember, he never actually confirms that he's the lost king, he just plants a clue to lead galadriel to believe it and then responds to her assumptions in ways that seem to confirm them but don't actually. very aes sedai of him! and hey, if the southlands used to serve sauron, wouldn't it technically be accurate for him to be considered their lost king? very aes sedai of him x2. liars who lie without technically lying are the best kind (gen from the queen's thief also). anyway, because of this misdirect, i don't think i'd be suspecting him of being sauron at all at this point if i didn't already know. on the other hand, there aren't really any other sauron candidates except adar who clearly isn't him. but back to the first hand, the show never set up a "one of our major characters is sauron, who is it?" mystery so i might just be assuming he was hanging out offscreen yet to show up, if i didn't already know.

i'm enjoying the other plotlines too! i remember feeling that the hobbits & the stranger plotline was the weakest link in the first 2 eps, but totally changed my tune now, nori and the stranger (who i'm guessing is gandalf, but i'm not sure, so don't tell me if you know) have the most wholesome friendship, i could die!!

or rather, the second most wholesome friendship after elrond and durin, which i remember was my favorite storyline the first time around. they are so pure!! and disa is a delight! she and elrond have impeccable sibling-spouse energy (yes we've got another polyship in the house, of course we do)

i'm trying not to get too attached to bronwyn because i know they kill her off between seasons due to the actress leaving the show, but i really like her :(( her son's kinda annoying, but he's an angsty teen, so i can't hold it against him. and arondir!! what a man, i'm swooning constantly over everything he says and does. i really like how in the most recent episode i watched they had a Good Guy (bronwyn) genuinely consider giving up her principles of honor and going to swear fealty to the bad guys in order to survive, it feels more realistic and it really sells us on just how desperate and hopeless the situation is (and on how sauron is able to get supporters by creating such situations).

it's also a visually gorgeous show, very decadent (i was practically drooling the first time they showed numenor haha i love white stone seaside cities, and the ancient greek aesthetic vibes are the cherry on top!), and the MUSIC!!!!! you guys know i'm a tv soundtrack fanatic, and my god, this is the best tv soundtrack i've heard in a LONG time. i'd put it as second to WOT because it's traditional fantasy orchestra whereas WOT's soundscape is so different and unique. but "traditional fantasy orchestra" isn't a knock here, because it's done INCREDIBLY well, so it does feel unique instead of generic like other, lesser Traditional Fantasy Orchestra soundtracks do. it's sumptuous, it's lush, it's rich, it's got very distinctive Themes for each character/location that always play in the appropriate contexts (which is one of my favorite aspects of WOT's soundtrack too). i'd been listening to the s1 soundtrack for quite a while before now, so i'm well-primed to recognize all the different themes!

my favorite has gotta be the halbrand theme, i have a character in my WIP who's a sad mountain prince (and a gawyn knockoff <3) and this theme just reminds me sooooo much of him, i cry. but if we dispense with the halbrand pretense after s1, we might not get to hear this theme anymore!!!! it's also the southlands theme, though, so hopefully we'll keep it, and i did hear it crop up briefly in a track from the s2 album. also, shoutout to the fact that the halbrand melody is an inverse of the sauron melody, bear mccreary you son of a gun (the sauron theme is another one of my favorites, the first time i heard it i assumed it was his theme from the original movies because it just had the feel of an Iconic Villain Theme, but no, it's new to ROP!)

anyway! i've watched up through 1x05 now. pacing's definitely still a bit slow, but i'm enjoying it nonetheless, and it's picking up now that galadriel & co are headed for the southlands. and i've heard that s2 is a big step up in many respects (a la WOT s2), so i'm excited to get there!

[cobwebliss]

I wish people would learn to tell the difference between YouTubers that are mostly themselves online and those who are playing characters. It used to be common for them to play characters back in the day. The Angry Video Game Nerd is one example. James Rolfe was never himself as the AVGN. He was a fictional character. It's why he's consistently referred to as "Nerd" in universe instead of James and why he doesn't know who Mike Matei is.

YouTube got lazy and people stopped creating distinct characters over time, just presenting a "public persona" of themselves, but Life of Luxury is different.

Here's the thing, the Luxury videos are fiction. They are not gaming channels or reaction channels. Nothing they show on their channels are real. Their reactions aren't real. Their personalities aren't real. Though the fact they decided to just use their real names is annoying. Still, they're far from the first guys to just leave their name as is when presenting fiction. It was common with older shows - think Lucille Ball, for example, or Bob Newhart.

How do you explain Life of Luxury Chester is a coward and Luxury Dark Chester is clueless? Or that Life of Luxury Parker is overly involved yet dedicated but Luxury Dark Parker is forever annoyed and done with it all?

Even these two versions are different characters. That's why I usually write either Life of Luxury versions of them or Luxury Dark versions of them. Sin & Sinners was a Luxury Dark fic, Claimed & Collared was a Life of Luxury fic.

When people ship Parkster, they're not necessarily shipping RPF. They might be, if they're writing about a couple of goofy YouTubers, but the vast majority I've seen treat the source material as real. They're writing the characters. If the demons are real in their fics, the characters are as fake as the demons, it's okay to write about them.

I've seen one people claim that they're queer baiting for views a few times. That's another fallacy. Are IRL Parkster boning? Well, maybe, who knows. But Life of Luxury Chester is definitely in love with Parker and that was a purposeful decision that they made. Even if nothing ever comes out of it, they're not tricking their audience or whatever, they're just playing out a fictional story that happens to include an unrequited love plotline played for laughs.

Now here's the thing: I actually am not against RPF. It's not something I actually enjoy or consume though I did in my early teen years. And to be honest, a lot of RPF is still about "characters" because most public personas for famous people are characters in their own right. But no matter the debate on the morality of RPF, I'm holding to the point that people shouldn't accuse anybody of shipping real people just because they like Parkster. There are so many layers of Parkster and very little of it is true RPF.

[catrasredemption]

Listen I know there's already a lot of analyses on why Catra hate is biased but I just realized there's an absolutely perfect example of this, right down to the tries to kill the protag but the fandom ships it detail.

Goro Fucking Akechi.

And before I start - please know that I hold no actual ill-will toward this sociopathic murderer. And if you've never played Persona 5, no, I am NOT exaggerating. But we'll get into that.

Akechi is set up pretty early on to be a foil to the game's protagonist, Joker. And the uh... gay undertones are NOT subtle.

They never actually become A Thing in game, but it's a VERY popular ship in the fandom. Now what crimes did this little uWu commit?

Literal Murder. Not like, his actions lead to the death of someone, but he actually pointed a gun and pulled the trigger

His actions do also lead to the death of more people by causing a crash in the Tokyo subway system

Attempted murder against Joker - you know, the guy everyone ships him with

Impersonating a genius teenage boy detective (no that's not quite on the level of murder but it's a crime to me and an insult against Naoto from Persona 4)

Now, don't get me wrong, his backstory is pretty messed up. His birth father, a man named Shido, knocked up his mother, who worked in the Red Light District, and eventually killed herself, leaving Akechi an orphan to be passed around by relatives who didn't really care about him.

Akechi took two things from his upbringing - one, he had to be perfect in order to be acceptable to people. Two, a burning hatred of his birth father and a desire to see him suffer.

He eventually ends up working with his father, Shido, who's manipulating the masses using the Metaverse (don't worry if you don't know what that is, it's complicated) to make everyone love him. Akechi works with him while secretly building up his own plan on the side - to disgrace Shido when he's elected and then kill him.

All the while he's also working with Joker and the rest of the main cast and trying to manipulate them (they do manage to see through him, but that's another thing).

Again, I love Akechi. I do. I think he's a wonderfully complicated character and a little trash boy who just needs love. But he did so many bad things. And he did a lot of them solely to get revenge against Shido, and toward the end out of resentment/envy of Joker. And in the very, very end he makes the right choice and sacrifices himself to save Joker.

Now let's go over Catra's life real quick:

Raised in a horrible environment, often neglected, knew she wasn't wanted or really loved

Stepped into a villain role where she did terrible things, some of which led to the death of another person (Angella)

Fought against Adora

Ultimately sacrificed herself to save Adora

Went on to help save the world

It's almost uncanny how Akechi's story lines up with Catra's. And while I'm sure Akechi has haters, the people who love him and still ship him with Joker are far, far louder. And I get that! I too wish Akechi could have had a happy ending, but I don't think it was ever really in the cards for him. But he's a guy, so he's a little uWu.

Catra, meanwhile, is an angry woman and gets none of the leeway that angry men usually get (see also: Zuko). Even sacrificing herself to save Adora couldn't earn her any redemption in some people's eyes.

And I don't like comparing characters, especially ones from different franchises, don't get me wrong. But it's interesting to me how often men are forgiven for far worse crimes than women in media, and Akechi is a grade-A example of doing the absolutely worst things he could while still being loved by the fandom.

[queenhellwitch]

Jared Fucking Padalecki.

Re: Twitter, and the bunches of people who are criticising Jared for not being as good at acting as Jensen (misinformation about Jared's "problematic nature" aside, the intricacies of "he's not your fave but he's right there in every episode so he's not a bad actor, he just annoys you" aside, and the [probably correct] "you just hate him cuz he's not part of your ship" ideas also aside...)

It's so easy to see Sam as the boring, huffy, grumpy one who is only there to piss Dean off and to piss on Dean's always ever-so-hilarious bonfire (I've actually seen people use Sam's 'I'm so done with this shit' persona as the reason to claim Jared is a bad actor - that he's merely playing himself, just stands there and "huffs and puffs", he's booooring, wah wah. Tell me you've never seen Jared being Jared without telling me etc etc...)

And then there are people who understand and love Sam. We relate. His trauma is palpable and we see it and feel it and can't ignore it, like a lot of fans of this show seem to do.

But there's an extra nuance - and I'm gonna be extra patronising here - it's called understanding the dynamics of the game. Acting is a game of tennis. It's a call and response, a dance. J2 talk about it ALL THE TIME.

Dynamics. J2's chemistry, their brotherly relationship on and off screen and love for each other cannot be denied. But also, thanks to these TWO SKILLED ACTORS, Sam and Dean are a beautifully crafted comedy duo. The clip from "LARP and the Real Girl", where Sam suggests belladonna, and Dean and Charlie say "The pornstar?!" - that scene? There is a beat. Of perfect length.

And Sam says, "...the poison." It is a great example of masterful acting/comedy dynamics. People who clip/gif this scene after "The pornstar?!" and miss the next line absolutely suck. The reaction from Jared/Sam is what absolutely MAKES this moment as great as it is. It is absolutely, perfectly perfect, straight-man comic timing. He masters it, every time, every episode.

Then there's all the other things he does to bring the Sam I love to full, dynamic, dimensional life. Let me count the ways.

Just the other day I watched a clip of 20-year-old Jared giving an interview with the rest of the cast of "House of Wax". He talked about the lighting, the angles; he mentioned all sorts of things. Bashful, rosy-cheeked and so earnest, full of awe and respect for the art of filmmaking, even when his fellow young cast members were either jibing each other, or silently lounging, sunglasses on, like rockstars.

He's a beautiful actor because he cares so much about how a story is told.

He's a beautiful actor and one who deserves to be celebrated.

https://youtu.be/toiE_Q5S290

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s4 ep18: The Killing Game pt 1

I love this one!! This has always been one of my favorite Voyager stories, and I never get tired of it. It's just so much fun. The entire crew having holodeck shenanigans in 1940s outfits? Heck yeah!!! Historical dress up play time is one of my favorite genres of Star Trek story, so I'm not gonna be super critical of the plot here. But I actually do think it was a cool concept to use the Hirogen taking over the ship, and using the holodecks for simulated hunts, as a device to get the crew into a 'safeties off' holoprogram, without just saying "whoops another malfunction!"

At first it seemed a little far fetched that the Hirogen would do that, but as the story went along, they show more of this particular Hirogen leader being more thoughtful than the other Hirogen we've seen. I actually thought it worked to have this forward thinking leader wanting to find a way to bring his people into the future, and save them from being scattered nomads obsessed with the hunt. The conflict between him and his more traditional second in command set up the ending well too.

I think dropping us in in the middle of the simulations already running really worked here, it lets the audience piece together what happened as more context is revealed to us, and kind of mimics the disorientation the characters themselves experience when they later realize what's really going on.

I absolutely love having the crew be resistance fighters in WWII France, and having them all think it's real is an even better stroke of genius, it's a like an alternate universe fanfiction, and all of them fit their holodeck personas so well. (Maybe a little too well, idk how the Hirogen knew Tom and B'Elanna were a couple to write them their little romantic subplot, but I don't even care! It's cute and I love it!! Star crossed lovers fated to be together in every reality is one of my favorite tropes, so I'm totally here for it!!)

I also love the sets in this episode- the nightclub run by Janeway's alter ego is a gorgeously atmospheric little spot I'd love to hang out in. The French village set is very pretty, and actually outside on a backlot rather than inside a soundstage, so it feels a lot bigger, and makes the story feel a little more epic. Despite it being a holodeck environment, there's always an extra aura of authenticity when they actually film things outside.

And of course, the fashion- everybody is serving looks in their 1940s clothes and hair the whole time. These are hot people to begin with, but the entire crew just becomes 1000% more attractive in these outfits. I mean look at this:

Captain Janeway in this white Marlene Dietrich suit?! MA'AM!!!

And then Tuvok in this white suit?! SIR!!!

Seven of Nine in this silver lame dress with her hair down?! A gift!!!

Even Neelix looks cute AF in his little French villager outfit:

Then they have dapper daytime outfits that are also major slays:

Ugh!! So much gorgeous!! (Apparently, my sexual orientation is just: Voyager Crew in 1940s Outfits)

And then Seven of Nine shows up in a cute little beret, and convinces me that she's actually adorable:

AND THEN we get American GI Tom and Chakotay:

Good lord, stop with all the hotness!! (Who knew a little brylcreamed hair was all it took to make Chakotay seem hot to me??)

It's fun to see them all subtly change the way they speak and act a little bit to fit the period and the setting- Roxann was a little softer and more refined as Brigitte than as B'Elanna, Tuvok and Seven show a little more emotion as their French personas than they usually do, Chakotay using the old-timey American slang that usually only Tom would know or use. (Tom, meanwhile, looks and acts pretty much the same- he's the very model of a wholesome middle american guy whether it's the 1940s or 2370s lol.) Yet they all still maintain their core character traits and relationship dynamics, even when they don't know who they really are. It's fascinating to watch and very thoughtfully done.

Meanwhile, poor Harry is left out of the simulation to try to hold Voyager together while the Hirogen divert all power to holodecks, and the Doctor is in charge of fixing up crewman who get wounded in the simulations. Harry secretly tries to find a way to disrupt the neural interfaces that keep the crew from realizing what's really going on, so that they can retake the ship.

The crew's holodeck personas plan to destroy communications at the German headquarters, and once again, we have fabulous outfits where they dress up all in black to sneak in:

Illegal levels of hotness going on here!! Rude!! How dare!!

Also Tuvok in this newsboy cap weilding a machine gun is just, like, hot damn:

(In real life guns are not cool, but in the story he's using it against nazis, so go off king!!)

So then, I forget what happens exactly, but the safeties are off, so when a bomb goes off, it doesn't stay confined to the holodeck, and it tears a hole through the ship's walls and reveals four decks worth of exposed corridors. I honestly don't remember Voyager's holodeck being that tall, the ceiling of the set we've seen was only like two decks tall, maybe 3, max, but maybe holodeck 1 is meant to be the bigger one, and maybe they've only ever shown us holodeck 2 up till now? Idk, but honestly, I don't even care, because it looks cool and I'm having fun!!

So that's where the cliffhanger leaves us, with Harry and the Doctor only having disconnected Seven and Janeway so far. I remember watching this for the first time as a kid and being totally enthralled by it. I was already a history nerd, and I grew up watching old Hollywood movies from the 40s, so this was very much my jam, even as an eleven year old. And by golly, I've never gotten tired of it in all these years, despite it being one of the few I would always rewatch whenever it popped up on a re-run.

Tl;dr: One of the most fun and genuinely exciting holodeck adventure stories in all of Trek, featuring the whole cast looking hot as hell in 1940s outfits, and shooting nazis. What more can you ask for, really?

[piracytheorist]

Violence ask game for SxF. Hmm... I think I knew your "topic that brings up the most rancid discourse", so I wanna know your opinion about either "22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores" or "25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing" please? 😳

To counter your point I would actually not say what you think I'd say for "topic that brings up the most rancid discourse" because from my experience there is no discourse around that matter. It's just some fans of a certain character firmly stuck on their headcanons and for some reason the rest of the fandom just rolls with that to the point that the latter might come to the former's defence if you dare point out some objective truths about the text.

And look, I get that there are some toxic assholes on the bird app who have nothing better to do than attack those fans, but I say it with the most genuinely kind intentions, if they feel attacked by someone simply not liking their blorbo or ship and pointing out some very well structured character flaws... they're in a very big need of a break from social media. I'm not being sarcastic or patronizing when I say they need to go touch grass. I used to be the kind of person who would see any criticism of my favourite character or ship and take it as a personal attack, and I know now it was NOT a healthy reaction, albeit understandable with the amount of toxicity in my then fandom. And that was a far more toxic fandom, trust me on that. People have the right to dislike anyone's blorbo and to make analyses and talks about how the character is not perfect. Babying a group of fans by protecting them from that idea can only lead to even more toxicity. So uhm idk if that answered your question XD

I've already answered #22 here but another thing I like from canon is how oppressive Ostania's government feels but there's very little focus on that. I understand why people would choose to focus on romance over the political situation, but I don't see the canon story being able to end with a simple "And then the Forger family fled and lived happily in a neutral country". I don't see the story ending without the cold war ending too. Again, I get it, not every fanfic needs to be so meticulous about it, there's no right and wrong way of enjoying the story or creating derivative works. It's just something I don't see that often. It's not a bad thing.

And on "25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing" again, I'm not very active in the fandom, but whenever there's a complaint about how slow the story is I'm this 👌 close from commenting "This story isn't for you." The point of the story is to have a slow burn for the family, to show how they bond through small moments and experiences. The point is to have Twilight slowly shed his spy persona and little by little reveal who he truly is, and then get shocked at how much he's changed since the beginning. You cannot do that fast. You cannot create family bonds after one intense experience. You cannot have Twilight and Yor have a deep, meaningful connection from one moment to the next. You cannot have intense identity reveals without the feeling of betrayal of "I've known that person for so long and everything about them was a lie" that only can happen if they've spent a lot of time and small moments together. And you absolutely cannot have Twilight, who's spent a decade suppressing his feelings and true self to the point that he'd forgotten what his actual purpose to be a spy was, suddenly be all happy and giggly and lovey-dovey within the span of a week (nevermind that in my fic I did that, fics are a different matter). If people want a quick found family story with a romance that develops within a couple weeks they have to find a different story. SxF is not here to do it fast, SxF is here to do it real. It's fine if some don't like it and wanna bail. But they shouldn't demand that the story does something the way they like it. They have to find that sort of story on their own.

And it's not like we don't want all of that development to happen. We want to see the family grow close, to see them come together happily after identity reveals, to see Twilight allow himself to feel and love and be loved... but all in due time. It's a long-term commitment. It's the slow burn that does it :D

[askdacast]

since I started liking/posting stuff related to the funny boomer Minecraft Youtubers playing an improv death game, I'm probably gonna post more opinion or lore posts occasionally when I have time; the Life Series is like one of my pet obsessions I circle back to every time a new season comes up like most people.

(to my friends/other followers who have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sorry)

I don't usually watch the main Hermitcraft/other SMP videos because they aren't my thing compared to the Life Series SMPs, but I do enjoy what the creators put out and they all deserve lots of praise for the hard work they've put in (especially after a lot of unwarranted criticism lately over Secret Life + Hermitcraft Season 9)

and now for a scorching hot take that will disappoint a lot of fans

I really like the Desert Duo...but only platonically, and lemme tell you "platonic" and "Hermitcraft/Life Series fanart" go together about as well as water and oil

I'm already not a fan of shipping in general as a personal taste, but when it comes to shipping real content creators, my discomfort is doubled. If you ship them I'm not gonna hate on you or ask you to stop, you're free to do as you like and I'm not the internet police.

That being said, Grian and Scar are super close friends iRL (if you include Mumbo, I consider them a "DO NOT SEPARATE" trio) and it's honestly really heartwarming to see them in other series just goofing around and even doing RL meet-ups (mostly Grian/Mumbo). To me I've always loved seeing really close friendships like these, and I will try to refrain from snarking about how people on the internet are really bad at distinguishing Philia love (friendship, really deep friendship) from Eros (romantic love).

The point is, I kinda feel uncomfortable when I see shipping of them cuz it feels like willfully misinterpreting the bond of actual real people. I know a lot of people say "separate the CCs from their personas in the series/lore," and I understand why, but the whole practice doesn't sit well with me. It almost feels like instead of creating something actually derivative of the real people, it's like smooching two dolls that just happen to be labelled "Grian" and "Scar". And as a writer myself for other things, I really like to pay respect to the subject matter I'm writing about, and that includes real people. And considering Grian iRL is a straight married man who's said before he doesn't really like the shipping (Scar to my knowledge has not given his opinion on it), it feels even more uncomfy to me when people try to ship him with one of his actual close best friends.

Yes in a way the real people are separate from the personas they put in Hermitcraft or the Life Series. They're like actors, doing it for the job and the sake of us the audience. (Considering I'm a big fan of Vtubers, I'm very acquainted with this paradox) Even still I can't help but always be cognizant of how they're still real people trying to put out their heart and soul to the public, and we enjoy what they do with deep respect for what they're doing. Shipping, especially if they've voiced their disapproval for it (even though they haven't banned it), feels just a tinge not respecting them as actual people, and feels a bit parasocial-y.

But again these are just my personal feelings, this is NOT a hate/call-out post to anyone in the fandom or demanding anyone to stop shipping the hermits. That being said you're likely to not get any out of me for the reasons I've stated above.

and a side note to talk about lore specifically, I just think platonic Desert Duo (for the Life Series specifically) is even more interesting than taking the romantic lens, because we can still have the angst and the doomed narrative and the unsaid trust between Grian and Scar, and still be able to celebrate each of them individually as respective players/creators, without having to make every achievement they make be about 'oooo because fate'

I haven't seen anyone yet posit the theory that (CHARACTER) Grian has distanced himself from (CHARACTER) Scar not because of just trauma but also that Grian thinks Scar is perfectly capable of holding on his own (shenanigans and carelessness aside). Like he's known Scar long enough to trust that he can survive on his own, and thinks that they should try to not hold each other back, and depending on who you ask this was either a really good or REALLY REALLY BAD CALL in Secret Life (because Scar did win on his own merits, but was left all alone)

[ohwell-itsme-but-danganronpa]

me when people are hating on Ouma's actions in game like. I just support him, actually

Ves: REAL she looked good doing it

if it were me I would get more crazy for a lot more selfish reasons, and I would punch Kaito back sooner, good for him for keeping his eyes on the goal

fr fr, look at him in the closing argument, that's my babygirl

Ves: the closing argument artist thinks so too

he did not have to go that hard but HE DID IT FOR ALL OF US. A HERO

haters will act like he's irrational, but he stuck out so long with no support system since he couldn't trust anyone and managed to play things off even when he was finally starting to lose his shit in a situation when it was reasonable for him to feel like this (tbh even fans make him often crack way more easily to make shipping content, when he's so resilient and then on the other hand not really lone wolfing it either bc he cooperated as much as he could) his way of going about things was smart, there isn't much else he could do, Tsumugi was setting up others to distrust him as well

Ves: AAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!! he did he lasted so fucking long in the worst possible situation he tried so HARD to cooperate and it just. did not work. if i think abt how quickly his plans fell apart i will explode i'd b doing so much worse in his situation

sometimes it's just like, you're talking about paranoia? trust and attachment issues? untreated mental illness? I think we have to be introduced, there's so much I could show you. I am not saying he doesn't have anything of the sort, but there's a lot more of reasonable justified distrust there, and still, it could be so much worse, trapping the next person who thoughtlessly assigns him diagnosis in a demonizing way in a room with me and making them listen to me rant about my failed relationships history for educational purposes

they will learn about all kinds of issues

Ves: it's trueee people act like he's so strange for breaking down but LIKE??? HE'S PRETTY NORMAL FOR THAT ACTUALLY???? he clearly already had Issues but the killing game was perfectly packaged to dig into those this is why DRS and UTDP mostly suck at characterizing him they're still stuck in the idea of him at his absolute worst he was nicer even in ch1 than he is in some of those events

[and then my amazing wife dropped this bomb, and she says I'm the smart one smh] Sini: The thing is, there’s him being shitty on purpose and him pretending to be the mastermind/making himself appear suspicious. There is a clear difference in how he acts. In DRS and UTDP he usually just comes across as playful. Yeah he’s a jackass, but I think his whole “bad guy” persona (the one we see in the beginning of the game) goes beyond the killing game. I see it as a way for him to protect himself, to push people away and not appear as vulnerable. As he’s said before, everyone always sees him as a villain so it’s the perfect role for him. I think that reasoning goes beyond what was happening to him in canon. I do agree his characterization could’ve used a bit more reworking, but I think for the most part they did a good job in showing how differently he acts in a peaceful setting in small ways. The fact that he never uses his scary sprites once or is seen to be more nice with characters like Mikan and Gonta. Especially with Gonta, where he seems to be more vulnerable around. And while this was probably just a mistake, I like to think him being shown as not as pale in DRS as a sign of him getting better. In a non killing game environment he seems to be doing pretty well for himself. But that’s what I believe, anyway

Ves: h that's really sweet actually,,,i may have been a LITTLE hard on the side modes. it's mostly the way he treats kiibo that drives me INSANE, the mikan n gonta stuff is [ok hand emoji].

Sini: Yeah, I agree. I can understand the Kiibo hate, but he doesn’t have to go as hard as he did in game. It’s not like there is a reason to suspect him. The only thing that could maybe explain it is maybe he suspects he could be tied to Monokuma? Since he, the Monokubz, and Monomi do exist here. He was rude to Monomi and seems to suspect her of being not what she seems ALSO, he’s always gonna be a little shit cause he’s a greedy whore. He wants attention and entertainment so badly.

Ves: THISSSSS it's so important i have seen so many people question why he does things where the answer is literally just that he wants attention like there is not always a plot sometimes he just wants shuuichi to chase him

Sini: That’s all there is to it He wants his crush to chase him like in his favourite novels Live the fantasy

Ves: it's part of why they're so good together!! shuuichi as a detective is v used to obsessing over details and giving his whole attention to something in the way kokichi wants HE'S A NERD THAT ALSO EXPLAINS MANY THINGS

Sini: They’re both nerds. Even more reason to why they are soulmates

Ves: kokichi receives the Detective Stare and goes TEEEEEHEE

Sini: IT’S HIS DREAM COME TRUE It’s just like anime! He’s living anime rn

Ves: i think his hair should curl up at the ends when he gets excited as a treat

Sini: To compliment Shuichi’s sentiment ahoge When he goes to his room after an exciting day with Shuichi, he flops on his bed, kicks his feet, and squeals into his pillow

I feel a little ashamed when reverse happens and I am posting something someone else started and I took over, but with this all I can say: follow @vespertin-y and leave nice comments for my wife so we can prove it to her that she is smart and her takes are divine.

[yolowritter]

In Defense of Ladrien

Hello there everyone, and welcome to a shorter post this time. I'll be honest, I'm in a random Ladrien mood right now, so I figured I should go rewatch a few of the Season 2 episodes with it. As you do. Then I remembered...it doesn't exist. Not in canon anyway, and that's a real shame! Despite Adrien and Ladybug's mutual crushes on each other, we don't get anything except a couple times where they blush at each other and stammer through their sentences. Which okay, it's cute, but c'mon, there's so much potential here! So today I want to lay a bit of groundwork as to how Ladrien could have been improved in this show, and also (hopefully) open up a discussion about it, since I rarely see anyone bring it up in modern MLB. I guess we're all too busy with Sentimonster angst and questioning what's going on with Lila's three mothers. Still waiting to see how they'll try to write themselves out of this predicament... Anyway, today we're talking about the most underrated lovesquare ship, Ladrien!

First of all, it's worth mentioning that I won't be going over the show episode by episode. This is just a short post discussing the ship in general, not a 7.5k analysis like I did with Chloe, my keyboard still needs time to recover. So, I'm sure we all know the basics, but I'll give a simple overview of canon Ladrien just to have everyone on the same page! Ladybug (Marinette) has a crush on Adrien Agreste. Adrien (Chat Noir) has a crush on Ladybug. That's it. That's the ship. Nothing more to it!

Okay...well, things aren't so simple. Canon does give us a couple moments where this dynamic is toyed with, but they're few and far between, leading to a...less than adored ship in the fandom. Don't get me wrong, I love Ladrien! That's why I'm writing this after all, and surely there's others out there who ship it too! But when compared to Adrienette or Marichat...it falls flat on it's face due to the utter lack of content we have to work with. Thankfully, we at least have an established dynamic! And hey, with this show, even that's a bloody miracle!

However, I have seen a lot of people (in yee olden days) say they prefer other sides of the Square because Ladrien seems...a little dishonest. In their defense, it really wasn't hard to make the claim that Marinette's crush on Adrien was (by early S2) still quite superficial, considering they hadn't actually gotten to know eachother than well, and vice-versa for Adrien with Ladybug. I can see why, especially since these are the respective personas that are "least real". Adrien is forced to conform to his father's expectations and always be perfect, while Ladybug needs to be professional and has the city's safety to worry about, hence is unable to ever be genuinely "Marinette" while in the suit. Add to that all the identity shenanigans, and it's easy to see why this ship got pretty much dismissed by a large portion of fans back when it was still relevant. And given that Miraculous has since pivoted away from teen drama and more into the "crazy butterfly man wants to destroy the universe" territory, most ships except Adrienette (and Marichat in Elation) got left behind as the storyline progressed. Ladybug and Chat's relationship evoled, we had a whole arc where Adrien was depressed, etc. That's just the natural progression of storytelling. At some point, we have to move on with the plot.

Fortunately, I am here to present the opposite argument! Ladrien would actually be a very viable ship, especially because of this hero worship that afflicts both Marinette and Adrien! It makes for amazing and complicated interactions on both sides, and here's why! It's because Ladrien was misunderstood, or maybe even misrepresented by the show itself. In my humble opinion, it shouldn't (only) be about Adrien blushing the moment he sees his crush, or Ladybug stammering twenty times in a single sentence. That's all well and good, but look at that I said a moment ago. Ladrien, by the very nature of it's existence is dishonest. Neither Ladybug nor Adrien can be themselves with eachother, even if I have no doubt they would rush headfirst into some kind of secret romance if given the oppurtunity! But...that the point of this ship in my opinion. They both view each other as this perfect, can-do-no-wrong person and have placed one another on a pedestal higher than Lila's delusions! Ladrien is fundementally doomed to this flaw from the very start...but overcoming it is what's interesting!

Just...hear me out! Let's say that after Gorizilla (or some other Akuma with Adrien as a target), Ladybug goes to check on him post-battle to make sure he's okay. Maybe she visits him that night, and surprises him with her presence. They do their usual routine of blushing and stammering, and for one reason or the other, one of them confesses that they have a crush. Regardless of who it is, or how exactly this plays out, let's say for the sake of argument that they get together after another visit or two. Maybe Marinette thinks this is her chance and can't resist getting to know the boy she loves, maybe Adrien is the one to bring it up because Ladybug is his hero. The immediate first problem is that while they know eachother...they can't be honest with their partner. And this brings up an amazing character conflict!

For Marinette, it's possible she has doubts about herself and rationalizes that of course the Adrien Agreste would never see her, but be in love with Ladybug! There's a whole other can of worms here about Marinette's feelings in regards to her mask, but that's for another post. For Adrien, maybe he's a bit conflicted because Ladybug is in love with him...but not Chat Noir, who he considers to be the "real" him. And the more they interact, the more both of them realize that the other is blindsighted by the mask they wear. There's genuine moments sprinkled in between, but feelings of inadequacy keep them from truly connecting. Think "the wall between us" metaphor. But...just when it seems like neither of them is really that happy, when they start feeling like a mistake, both Ladybug and Adrien get a glimpse of the person behind the mask. She realizes that he isn't some perfect, unreachable guy, and he in turn figures out that she's trying so hard to be good enough for him. This can happen in an infinite amount of ways, and I guarantee there's at least some Ladrien fanfics out there that do it! And I'm really glad, because it means someone else gets it!

After this we have a myriad of possibilities as to how things could go, but regardless, things absolutely change in their dynamic. They slowly start to getting to know the person behind the mask. Naturally, they both find themselves even more in love, then eventualy there's a reveal somewhere there, they get together officially, etc. You get the point, right? The reason why Ladrien is interesting is the dichotomy between Maribug and Adrichat's identities. It's the idolization that blinds them slowly fading away to reveal the truth, it's the feelings of insecurity that plague their relationship until everything finally comes to a head! If Ladynoir is parters in battle to lovers, Adrienette is high school sweethears, and Marichat is friends to secret midnight visits to lovers, then Ladrien is idols to friends to lovers! And I absolutely adore their dynamic!

Now, I'm obviously not the first person to bring this up, since I distinctly recall some great Ladrien fics from back in the day with pretty much this plot. And the reason why I adore them is that they play into the inherent dishonesty so well! I hope my point has come across, and if anybody wants to add their own analysis, by all means feel free! This post is supposed to open up a new discussion after all. Anyway, I have to go take a day off and go through my old Ladrien bookmarks! I'll see you all next time, but until then, Stay Miraculous everyone!

[sixsamefacez]

TODOMATSU ANALYSIS #1

This is gonna be Riddled with typos cause i made this all in a frenzy, but here goes anyways.

todomatsu is sorely underappreciated but I really love that little guy. So here's a long analysis post about him!

I wish the fandom saw him as more than arm candy, more than just a guy to ship atsushi with too…. and it's like. I rarely ever see any content that isn't just ship art for him and it honestly makes me pretty sad. He's such a fascinating character that gets a bad rap because nobody can understand that he ACTS cold and distant, not that he ACTUALLY IS when you actually stop and take a look at him

I'm especially tired of people insisting that todomatsu wouldn't care if any of his brothers died or if they got hurt or whatever because the truth is he's very attached to them even if he finds them incredibly embarrassing. He would do anything for his brothers although he would never really own up to it and it's clear that having formerly relied on his brothers so often he just wants to be known as less of a crybaby/less dependent since that's something he caught a lot of shit for

He's still an asshole but so are all the other brothers. They're all assholes in their own ways . But it is undeniable that he still deeply cares about his family whether he admits it aloud or not, and even before the movie revealed the information that he used to be a very clingy little crybaby it was made pretty clear that he just masked a lot of his care and concern for his bros. Masking it doesn't mean that it's not there.

The show jokes that he is Literally heartless, but… I really I think he's just overcompensating for how sensitive he really is / especially used to be.

We know he used to rely on them far too much in Highschool, ever clingy and very scared without them. Choromatsu seemed to be the closest one to him; always taking responsibility and helping him through his anxiety and emotions, but he was still very caring of his other brothers. He really enjoyed spending time with them, and cried if they got into fights or were mean; he was the baby brother they always made sure to protect, both because he was the smallest, but also the most emotionally volatile.

Totty had always been last in everything; often feeling isolated and a bit disconnected from his brothers as a result. He WAS pretty sweet, although very clingy, and a total crybaby, and could do very little without his brother’s help until he was mercilessly bullied out of that in highschool.

As an adult, he now insists on proving he’s not like his brothers. While he is a NEET just like them, he’s the most sociable of the bunch; constantly trying to flirt with girls that he  barely  feels attachments to, trying to keep up with the latest trends, and even getting short term secret jobs now and then to fund the things that he’d like to get for himself. To overcompensate for how much he used to rely on his brothers, he’s now taking charge in trying to be the first to do many things out of his brothers; he’s the first to get a job, first to get a phone, first to start  trying out new fashion, first to try and get a girlfriend ( although most of the time, it feels empty and meaningless. he holds no real lust for the girls he tends to flirt with ) … you get the idea.

He also has adapted a rather indifferent, stone cold persona about his brothers; most of the time, he effortlessly roasts them, insults them, and generally pretends not to exist around him. When people call him just as terrible as his brothers, he absolutely REFUSES to let that slide; the reason why he tries to be first in everything other than what was previously stated was easily because he doesn’t want to be known as a bad person. He does everything in his power to act heartless and uncaring, and to make himself out like an overly cutesy lovable single child.

The fact of the matter is, though, that he’s not.

He’s a liar, which his brothers hates; but just as he’s a liar, he really DOES care about his brothers. Even if he tries to pretend like he doesn’t, even  if he tries to avoid being seen with them anywhere, and even if he can get embarrassed about his relation to them, he DOES care very much for them all. He loves to go along with their schemes sometimes, playing along more than you’d probably expect a guy like him to.  However, he’s also very secretive, and his brothers know little about him nowadays – and that’s the way he wants to keep it.

He’s tired of being so babied, of being treated like he’s a fragile incapable baby. He’s an ADULT now, goddammit, and he can do whatever he want!! He keeps many secrets from his brothers and does actually kind of have a life outside of being a NEET ( which is something that can’t be said for all the other brothers ); like the fact that he climbed Mt. Fuji alone at age 21, or that he went to a Go club, or got a membership at a gym…

Despite how hard Todomatsu tries to stand out, and to be a better person, it’s all very surface level. He’s really just as much of a loser as his brothers! He thinks he’s cuter than he actually is, and acts as though he’s above all of his brothers - but the truth is that honestly? He’s not better than them. He’s still at their level.

The only thing he IS … is more sociable.  It’s painfully clear how hard  he tries to stand out over the rest, and it ends up backfiring because when he tries to be trendy or stand out, he just sticks out like a sore thumb. Not that he notices, or listens when his brothers tell him as much.

I think it's also interesting and fascinating how he actually has a pretty big doombrain issue. He always expects the worst to happen and I think that's residual from his deeeep anxiety as a teenager

Like for example . The ESP kitty incident, he openly says that he worried that jyushimatsu walked right into traffic when he went missing ( bc jyushi was looking for that orange kitty ) but I've seen some people think that meant todomatsu WANTED jyushi to walk into traffic

But I'm convinced that those people are media illiterate and didn't pay attention to the scene at all because he explicitly says that he was WORRIED that he did. And that he was RELIEVED AND GLAD when he was okay!!

I find it more accurate to say to the people who insist he wouldn't care if his brothers died. He WOULD care if tht happened. He would just act like he didn't and cover it up. I mean, he genuinely does that kind of shit ALL the time. ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO HIS ANXIETY. He never shook that anxiety from when he was a teen off, which is blatantly obvious!

Referring back to ESP kitty incident again since I gave a little context on that specifically;

He did Not at ALL tell anybody that he was worried about jyushi walking into traffic until he showed back up relatively okay, if a bit trashed up and nasty. he then laughed off his thoughts and casually admitted what he thought happened, but it was delivered so light-hearted ( in a way in which was like. Kind of accepting that he was overthinking things? You know how you can get anxious abt things but then you just kind of laugh it off in retrospect?? He did that ) got a lot of people mistook it for him just simply not caring

And. he was also like. dead silent during the final bit of that ep. and just kind of kept that one awkward stare of his that he does when he's uncomfortable and he didn't really speak any lines until his brother showed back up safe. THEN he'd started talking again.

Its certainly not the only time he's done this kind of thing (see: coffee shop ep where he went a little nonverbal when he got stressed about his brothers showing up and his thoughts went a MILE A MINUTE spouting off anxieties before he could speak again ). So it seems like that's a recurring thing for him, I suppose

TLDR totty isn't heartless he's just an asshole who hides his true feelings until he Can't. Yes he's self absorbed now, but he clearly is still anxiety ridden and does care for / like his brothers despite being the one to bitch about them the most. AMEN!!!!!

[arcplaysgames]

god i can't believe i only have 30 images. tumblr please just increase my image limit specifically and give me, like, 50. i'm dying.

There's zero chance there isn't going to be a two-parter.

Shido's Palace is the Diet Building, but it is a cruise ship that is gliding through a world already lost. Shido's perception of the world is that everything is already a lost cause and all he's concerned with is personal survival in luxury.

So he's your average billionaire, trying to build a lifeboat for himself and personally selecting the people he will allow to leave with him from his desperate sycophants.

For what I think is the first time, the Palace is regularly interrupted by little asides, back to Akechi in the real world.

No no that's flippant. Akechi is a fundamentally broken person. Like, the way he connect to people is by making himself necessary and that is it. He is the Black Mask

(which: the game reveals he's Black Mask in a little bit but I thought this was confirmed by Futaba's wiretapping, like, hours ago, but everyone acts shocked? eh whatever)

and has been doing the mental shutdown killings for Shido for years.

Anyway, while he's on air with the TV crew, someone innocuously mentions a phone, and he starts to remember Sae and the phone, and starts to suspect something's up.

A little bit later, Shido asks him to go on clean-up, taking out all remaining people he thinks might even possibly betray Shido. Akechi points out that uuuuuh why tf are we doing this now, it's really suspicious? why not wait until after the election?

So Shido is feeling extra paranoid. Akechi gets nervous about wtf might be happening.

Nice of you to drop in, Beige Boy.

Akechi figured out that the Thieves are infiltrating Shido's Palace and shows up to finally have a long-overdue mental breakdown at everyone.

yeah for real, you clearly needed someone to grab you by the back of your stupid hair and shake you until you decided not to murder people for your biological dad

OH YEAH, SHIDO IS AKECHI'S FATHER. which, okay, I didn't call that one at all. I was wondering why he had such a specific hate-on for Shido and that certainly explains it, but also wow they look nothing alike and Akechi really didn't even hint at that. Go fucking figure.

But if Shido's right and Akechi started volunteering to do this work in the Metaverse for him 2.5 years ago, that was right after/around Wakaba Isshiki's death. How the fuck did Akechi get into the Metaverse to begin with?

I'm fucking thrilled to bits that Akechi's plan all along was to kill Shido. I want that so bad for him honestly. It'd be mad sexy of him if he managed it.

Alas, Akechi is fully fracturing and goes off on the Thieves, deciding if he can finally kill them, his plan can still work.

AKECHI HAS MULTIPLE PERSONAS

AKECHI HAS THE WILD CARD ABILITY

HAS AKECHI MET NOTIGOR

Also his innate ability is to drive people insane with his persona. He demonstrates on two shadows, siccing them on the party. He's been using that on other people too, causes the psychotic episodes in the background of the game.

Bruh, wow. You are just the actual antagonist of this tale, huh?

Like, I really really wish Persona pulled a really rabbit out of the hat here. I can see how close they got to something fucking magical. Spend all this time building up Shido, do everything the same as if he were going to be the final boss...

then have Akechi step in, kill Shido, and take over as the True Villain of the game.

THAT WOULD HAVE FUCKING RIPPED, and justified all the effort put into building up Akechi. MAN.

But anyway.

Kismesissitude, folks.

GOD BLESS THEM THEY FUCKING TRY

THEY REALLY TRY

Akechi, I think Reverie was into your weird homoerotic rivalry thing from pretty early, if you just said, "Hey, want to make out and do some knifeplay" he would have been down. This was all you, buddy!

Again: easy to be flippant, but it's clear that Akechi has never once had a person he could rely on, and so has never learned the basic skills of how to rely on other people, and that isolation is his undoing. No matter how powerful you are singularly, people can still party up and take you down like a raid boss at the end of the day. You can't kill Reverie faster than Mona and Ann can Diarahan him.

"Dude, please, just chill. You are super going through it right now and we all say shit we don't mean when we're having a meltdown."

Alas, Akechi will not chill. he has a deficit of chill.