#DeLurk words the meta

[the-cryptographer]

on fathers and sons - an index of YGO abuse narratives

When discussing Noa’s arc, it seems like people place a lot of emphasis on this moment and declaration from Seto:

It’s a very stark and strong moment - Seto’s rejection of Gouzaburou, and I think it’s right to take this into account. But I think maybe we should be putting just as much, if not more weight, in the sequences in Noa’s arc following this. Particularly in the structure of Seto and Noa’s duel:

Make no mistake. This is a duel set up to run on Gouzaburou’s terms. Seto and Noa are fighting in the understanding that there’s only one living body between them, and the winner will have proven themselves superior and the rightful heir to Kaiba Corp. They are fighting for the right to Gouzaburou’s legacy, and the loser will be left behind in VR. To Lose is to Die.

Continued under the cut:

Noa believes he has the upper hand, both because he was born and bred for this job. And because he outstripped the boundaries of humanity when his mental capacities were enhanced living in VR.

Seto is not impressed with this line of reasoning.

Not only did Seto put in the hard work and struggle to inherit Kaiba Corp. Noa’s already dead. He’s already lost once by Gouzaburou’s terms. Seto accepts the challenge to duel in the understanding that Noa was the loser once, and a loser once is a loser always.

...Both ultimately betray Gouzaburou’s teachings during this duel - Noa by cheating, and Seto by both admitting there are things more important than his own life on the line here in deciding to save Mokuba, and in Atem helping him finish the duel after he’s petrified. (Notably the BC final duel also subverts Seto’s expectations for loss, in Atem’s ability to find a method to save Malik’s life in their shadow game.)

But before that moment of truth, you’ve certainly got a lot of trash talk, some of which seems to betray certain line of reasoning from Seto.

[Insert long speech about the value of humans having to struggle against the chaos of the real world versus this VR of Noa’s creation.]

“Of course Gouzaburou loved me more! Gouzaburou must have been confused if he even considered that you might bet the better or superior compared to me! How pathetic of either of you to even doubt! He acknowledged me as superior - and the result of duel is going to prove him right!”

Okay, I’m being hyperbolic but, contrary to what you’d believe from the first set of caps, I think what Seto says here, combined with the circumstances surrounding this duel, betray a certain amount of Seto deeply desiring recognition and acknowledgement from Gouzaburou. Or at least recognition and acknowledgement for having the qualities that Gouzaburou would have valued.

I’ve seen people pan the direction of this arc, and Noa as a villain, specifically on this basis. Seto should, in theory, not care about what Gouzaburou thought, and thus not care about stomping out Noa’s desire to prove himself the worthy son. Gouzaburou was his abuser, no real parent to Seto, and therefore Seto should not care. And, make no mistake, I think Seto’s hatred for his stepfather is clearly documented.

But I’m going to defend how Noa’s arc frames this conflict and Noa as a villain, and the idea that Seto may have feelings regarding Gouzaburou that are rooted in a desire for acknowledgement and affection. There is very little of Gouzaburou in manga canon, nothing that would generally suggest Seto having any conflicting fond feelings for him - although I think the fact that Seto continues to make decisions to build and destroy duel towers in the memory of Gouzaburou might be indicative of the fact that he cares a little too much.

But the reason I think this is a particularly good extrapolation from manga canon, is that it matches the themes we see in REPEATEDLY in the narratives of abuse that ygo offers to us.

I’m sure you’re aware that the surplus of absentee and abusive dads in DM, it’s… a bit of a joke. Even for characters for which you can assume a somewhat normal family life, such as Anzu and Honda, there’s a kind of sense in the story of a lack of presence from their parents. Which I would expect in a manga filled to the brim with ~adventure~ How are the characters gonna pile onto ships and blimps and go traipsing off to Egypt if their parents are always bugging them about school?

Well, I guess Yuugi has somehow managed to make it onto ships and blimps even with his mom bugging him about school…

There are multiple layers to this – The fact that absentee dads have become a norm in Japan given the increasing demands of corporate life. The fact that in a measure of personal experience a dead parent is much the same as an absent one – but dead parents make for better narrative drama. The fact that we never see Atem and his father together and are instead relayed an inherently biased posthumous recollection of their relationship. And the fact that there’s a kind of woefully imbalanced attribution of certain roles onto certain demographics of character. On that last point – I think it’s telling that, as a whole, it’s elder male children that are victimised in Takahashi’s narratives of family. It’s telling that mothers have an even smaller presence in Yu-Gi-Oh than fathers (and that when Yuugi’s mom hits him with a ladle up there, it’s framed as a joke). And it’s telling that father-daughter relationships are also very poorly defined. I’m going to give Shizuka a pass given the discrepancy in hers and Katsuya’s living situations, but I think it’s a pretty huge oversight that Isis’s relationship with her father is as unexplored as it is. (If I’m being brutally honest, I don’t think Takahashi empathises enough with his female characters to understand how they might, also, be deeply unhinged or affected by trauma.)

But, although I can critique the way Takahashi repeatedly approaches this same narrative – the narrative of a young man at odds with a cruel, violent, and single-minded father – I can’t help but love it, as I am perpetually surprised and enamoured with the amount of understanding, empathy, and realism Takahashi allows to his victims. This cuts in a lot of different ways, but there is one aspect that I particularly appreciate:

He not only understands that it’s normal for abused children to be angry and vengeful, but that it’s also normal for them to care about their parents regardless and to desire reconciliation with them, no matter how unlikely or misguided. And they are not shamed for it.

--

Jounouchi ended up being the prototype for this character in ygo canon, although these threads were dropped by the time the card game started. We see the gang caught of guard by an attack meant for Jounouchi.

And Honda confirms this behaviour is typical of Jounouchi’s dad.

But when we see Jounouchi’s attitude towards his dad, it’s warm and full of forgiveness. He enters a game show with the intention of winning money to pay off his father’s debts-

-specifically on the hopes that, by winning, he’ll be able to repair their relationship, and live together happily.

--

Gouzaburou was introduced next into the narrative, but Otogi and his father followed not far after.

Otogi’s father, Mr Clown, hits and berates him.

But, even so, Otogi continues to seek revenge on his father’s behalf.

And, beyond that, he’s very mild and apologetic.

Even when he’s pushing back against his dad, he’s apologising. This is framed as a harsh moment of rebellion - one that shocks Mr Clown - but all Otogi does is disobey his father’s request, and snatch the puzzle’s chain from his hand. And he’s still apologising while doing so. I think it goes to show how uncharacteristic it is for Otogi to express any harshness towards his father.

And, even when Mr Clown renounces Otogi as his son-

We see Otogi afterwards (on Jounouchi’s urging) hurry to cradle his father in his arms and and lead him to safety, and away from the fire that’s started in the Black Clown game shop.

But maybe the most persuasive show of Otogi’s desire to reconcile with his dad, is that he succeeds. They seem to be on good terms in Darkside of Dimensions, have opened a new business at the shopping plaza together.

--

I think Malik embodies this pattern most completely though. His abuse is portrayed with imagery more gruesome than the other characters on this list. His father’s whip, and the scars that were carved onto his back.

I’ve seen people operate under the impression his beef with the Pharaoh has to do with being confined to life underground, or having his back mutilated as part of the tombkeeper ritual, or for twisting his father’s personality into something terrible. I’m not going to say that those could not also be factors in Malik’s motivations. But the primary motivation for his behaviour in BC, is textually that he believes the Pharaoh’s spirit is responsible for killing the father that he loved. And being unable to accept the fact that the father he loved was also the father he hated enough to kill himself.

(Also, wow, panels that make much more sense after DSoD. If Bakura was surprised because Shada reappeared despite having been killed 3000 years ago, why was he not surprised to see modern incarnations of Isis and Set. Except in addition to killing Shada, he also killed Shadi ~5 years ago. Now his surprise makes sense.)

But, yeah, this vein is carried through to the end of Malik’s story arc. He’s not able to forgive himself for killing his father, no matter how abusive or terrible, he’s only able to decide, with encouragement from Rishid, that it’s preferable to keep on living.

Anyhow, insofar as Seto goes, as I’ve said, there’s scant evidence to draw from regarding his feelings about Gouzaburou. But I think it’s prudent to consider, as with the rest of these characters, his feelings are probably not limited to disdain. According to Takahashi’s commentary, Seto does consider Gouzaburou a father and is has been deeply haunted by his involvement in Gouzaburou’s downfall and death. Taking it a step further, it’s entirely likely that, he feels some form of fondness for his lost parent. No matter how misguided and futile such feelings would be.

[kalena-henden]

I was tagged by @gentlesleaze

Rules: Tag 9 followers you want to get to know better.

Name: Kalena

Star Sign: Taurus

Average Hours of Sleep: 7

Lucky Number: I don’t know if I have one but I like 7.

Last Thing I Googled: The weather which I do every morning to help me decide what to wear.

Favorite Fictional Character: Clearly you’re trying to kill me with this question to make me choose between my baes but, if I must, Benvolio Montague is the bad boy with a heart of gold who’s currently slaying me. 

What Are You Wearing Right Now: A black dress with the Batman logo and word “Pow!”, black cardigan, nude flats, heart-shaped gold earrings.

When did you start this blog: 2010

Number of Followers: Just shy of 900.

What Do I Post: I’m not prolific with original posts but I do like to make edits and write meta, currently for Still Star-Crossed, Timeless and Queen of the South (which I started watching for Peter Gadiot). But I reblog like EVERYTHING, lol. At the moment that includes Game of Thrones, Marvel, Star Wars, The 100, Lucifer, Jane Austen, etc.

Do I Get A Lot of Asks: It’s pretty rare but I get a few, especially if I’ve written a meta on something or occasionally I get a request to make an edit. 

Why Did I Choose This URL: “Kalena Henden” is an internet alias/pen name. Back in the day, there were only message boards and chat rooms. At the time they were considered potentially sketchy because abusive stalkers might be trying to lure young females to meet/kidnap them in real life. Anyway, my dad begged me not to use my given name on the internet. When I eventually delurked (remember when that was a thing) to join a message board, it was for the tv show Alias. So like the characters on the show, I chose an alias for myself. It’s been my fandom name ever since across multiple social media platforms. TBH I’ve had my internet alias so long I consider it as ‘real’ as my given name. I do occasionally share the meaning of my alias and my given name with people online but only after we’ve been friends for awhile. And I’m still friends with 5 of the people from that original message board.

I’m tagging: @captainandor @questingtheworld @sheireen @onlymorelove @gingerandjazz @yes-everhopeful @misfitwriter @alienrumi @julibernardo

[vateacancameos]

Meta list of Weird S3 Callbacks in TST

Delurking because the massive number of callbacks to S3 in TST is crazy and I haven’t seen a meta list of them yet.

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t care for EMP (we lose too much character building in the back half of HLV), but writing all of these down makes me think that at least something mind palace-y is going on. I’m guessing (like many others already have), that Sherlock is processing the actual events of this ep, but we’re seeing TST through his lens/brain rather than something more omniscient.

Anywho, my reason for writing all of these down is partly to help me process what’s going on—but if anyone else can take what I’ve listed and make something real of it, go for it—but mostly just so everyone has a meta list of all of the major/weird callbacks to S3.

Feel free to add any you notice. I purposefully left out major plot points (e.g., Mary’s back story, Sherlock’s emotional growth) because those are pretty noticeable on their own. My list is more about stuff casuals would miss but also not TJLC-specific stuff. Just really weird callbacks that don’t seem to fit if we’re getting a straight ahead WYSIWYG story.

List by episode is below the jump.

TEH

“Save John Watson.”

The word “quiver”. “Every quiver of its beating heart” vs “Every quiver of the web” and “If you can attenuate to ever strand of quivering data…”

“I always know when the game is on” Why? “Because I love it.” vs “You love it.” “Love what?” “Being Sherlock Holmes.”

Halitosis: the train guy with the “appalling halitosis”  vs the guy whose wife leaves him because his breath stinks

People referencing chess without really playing it: Mycroft and Sherlock playing Operation instead of chess vs the ambassador being bored with chess and talking about other things. OH! They were talking about amo (love) and Mycroft and Sherlock were talking about hearts. Whaaaat.

“Your face!” [laughter] Said by Sherlock to John (traincar scene) and to Mary (in Morocco)

HLV

Sherlock the dragonslayer.

Sharks.

Mary and Sherlock’s wound positions.

“It’s not like the movies. There isn’t a spurt of blood.” vs Mary’s spurt of blood.

John’s reaction to Sherlock’s death vs his reaction to Mary’s.

John “forgives” Mary scene vs John watching Mary “die” scene. (i.e., he never says “ILY” or “I forgive you.”)

“I will shoot/kill you Sherlock/Ajay.”

“You could’ve called, you could’ve talked to me” vs “You could have talked to me” because “that’s what couples do.”

Mary continuing to not say words and letting the person she’s with draw their own (false?) conclusions. (Sherlock in the “Watsons have a Domestic” scene, and John in Morocco.)

Mary’s posthumous video vs Moriarty’s.

Sherlock mistaking an identity: “If you’re going to commit murder, you might consider changing your perfume, Lady Smallwood.” “Sorry. Who? That’s not Lady Smallwood, Mr. Holmes.” vs “…your boss, Moriarty.” “Who?” “It must be him.” “You think you understand. You understand nothing.” (fight scene with Ajay)

Mary’s face superimposed on the Empty Houses vs her passport photo staying on the wall next to the motorcycle she gets on (in Russia?) (transitions from her photo to a map to the wall, but her face stays throughout)

TAB

“Never could resist a touch of the dramatic.” Same phrasing in both TAB (church scene) and TST (aquarium scene when talking to Vivian Norbury)

Sherlock not noticing John the balloon vs John the empty chair (“worked surprisingly well”)

Everyone is stupid. Most people are stupid. vs John is smarter than he looks.

Sherlock does Holmes’s voice from TAB while talking to Rosie (even uses a similar line “As ever, Watson, you see, but you do not observe.”)

“It’s never twins.”

Meeting Mary in old churches.

“The curtain rises.” (seriously v. odd for Sherlock to text Mary that, and then also say it to Norbury). Originally said in TGG, but again in TAB.

“Tell her she’s a dead woman, she’s a dead woman walking.” vs “Emelia Ricoletti, again, a dead woman walking the Earth.”

Yelling about Sherlock not keeping his promises. Lady Carmichael “You promised! You promised you’d keep him safe!” vs John: “You made a vow!”

Sherlock getting tickled over a weird case. “Ohhh, this is a good one. Is it my birthday?” (TST) vs “Murder as street theater? Lestrade you’re spoiling us.” (TAB)

“She knew she was dying….so she made her death count” (the Bride) vs Mary, as an assassin/spy/watevs knowing she wouldn't live to be old, chose to go out in her own way (note that I don’t think Mary is being a martyr in the traditional sense; just that she chose her time of death for a reason)

Indicators that what we’re seeing is a dream/memory/reproduction/thing: Shaking scenes in TAB. Water and Ajay’s memory of being beaten transitioning to him drinking in TST.

“The whole thing is verging on OCD. My respects.” (Sherlock to Mr. Welloughsby [??]) vs “Probably adequate, given your levels of OCD. (Mycroft to Sherlock).

Weird listing of phrases about Moriarty’s motives. “It’s designed to beguile me, tease me, lure me in.” vs “You’re trying to distract me, derail me.”

“Being slow” phrases: “slow younger brother” (Mary in TAB) “you were slow, Sherlock” (Mary in HLV), “Motherhood has made you slow, Mary” (Sherlock in TST) “I’ve been slow, far too slow” (Sherlock in TST) BONUS! Sherlock: “I am an idiot. I know nothing.” Mary: “Well I’ve been telling you that for ages.”

Mary’s use of “my darling”

Music

Music is getting its own section because why not? I’m kind of crap at listening to music while I watch a show, so I probably missed a ton, but these were the ones that stood out even to me.

Mayfly Man music plays for just a bit when Mary drugs Sherlock with the paper (I feel like I heard it somewhere else, too, but can’t remember now).

Rock Sherlock music (from Anderson’s theory about Sherlock’s jump in TEH) during Sherlock’s “deduction” of the man with the “spy wife.”

“The Lie in Leinster Gardens” during Sherlock and Mary’s talk in the church basement.

The forgiveness scene (John and Mary in HLV) music plays over John and Mary’s little conversation in Morocco and John said he used to like Mary.

The first scene of Ajay dreaming has what I’m fairly certain is S3 music, but I can’t place it.

Deduction/mind palace music from TEH is in the scene of Sherlock and Lestrade at 221B after the fight with Ajay and Sherlock saying Ajay used to work with Mary.

Tagging a few people who understand meta waaaaay more than me and hopefully don’t mind me dragging them down to my super amateur level. ;-) Hopefully some of y’all find it helpful.

@inevitably-johnlocked, @delurkingdetective, @heimishtheidealhusband, @thepineapplering, @joolabee, @marcespot, @blueink3, @jenna221b, @the-7-percent-solution, @deducingbbcsherlock

[the-cryptographer]

I’ve recently become aware of the fact that I have a very particular interpretation of Seto’s ambition towards building amusement parks that would be open freely to orphaned children. I’m going to preface this by saying that I in no way think this dream of his is anything but a positive. But I did always understand it as existing within the boundaries of limited empathy. I didn’t think it was a coincidence that Seto’s dream is based specifically in righting the greater wrongs that had personally victimised him in his life. I assumed that, when Seto fostered this dream in his youth, alone and uncared for at the orphanage, it was primarily a power fantasy. It was a dream about having the resources and sway to turn his life around. To be the one holding the reins that could decide and create a positive outcome for him and his brother (and the limited number of others whose struggles he could directly identify with).

By this understanding, contrary to Seto’s thoughts, it’s not his heart he’s rediscovering, it’s his sense of direction. Seto was successful in grabbing power from Gouzaburou but, in the process, he succumbed to Gouzaburou’s doctrine of being motivated by (and thus perpetuating) hatred. This moment is then a ratification of Seto’s purpose in his struggle against Gouzaburou - once his ambitions and need for power were not fueled by hate, but fueled by a need to see him and his brother to a place of safety and joy. Seeing this original goal through - regardless of how idealistic and ill-formed - is the only way to ‘win’ his ‘shadow game’ against Gouzaburou.

-- And that’s all well and fine, but it seems I’ve been overlooking that there are other ways of interpreting what’s happening here. Given how poorly attuned modern Seto is to reading other people’s emotions, I never really considered that the happiness of others might be a motivating factor to Seto’s goals here. It flat out did not occur to me that Seto might be deeply and altruistically motivated by the thought of a bunch of smiling children. Although I’m not as personally touched by this interpretation, it seems to be highly parsimonious with what we’re shown in canon: little Seto’s joyous agreement when Mokuba say ‘we can all play together?’, the fact that Seto also seems to feel a deep concern for people victimised by Gouzaburou’s war mongering, Seto saying his ‘heart’ was buried in ruins. Upon reflection, it seems completely plausible that Seto was acting out of concern for others.

In the final analysis, it may not matter. On a practical level, Seto’s plan to open theme parks will bring happiness to a lot of unprivileged children. Regardless of whether the motivation is that happiness, or the the power to grant it, the result is a net positive. (And I don’t think Seto is so unaware of his position in the world as an adult that he doesn’t truly wish to do more good than harm.) But I do feel these fragments of canon really effect how you understand Seto, especially in a developmental manner. What child Seto’s purpose in dreaming of opening theme parks worldwide? What is it that Seto reaching for and accessing in these memories of him and Mokuba? Was Seto a caring child that had all the kindness stomped out of him by Gouzaburou? Or was he already an asocial and self-important (but harmless) little brat whose worst instincts were built-upon and taken and twisted into something far crueler and more destructive than they ever should have been? Or is there a third/forth/fifth option here? Is this an important distinction in how people in this fandom interact with Seto’s character?

GIVE ME YOUR THOUGHTS!! PLS/THX!!

--

and thank you so much @nenya85 for discussing things with me and letting me use her manga scans~

[the-cryptographer]

Screw it, I'm asking Malik Ishtar for the meme thing! (Only if you want to, of course...)

THANK YOU :D

How I feel about this character:

My secret favourite!!! I think I tend to likecharacters that are all about BIG UGLY EMOTIONS, and Malik is a lot of those,lol. For me, he’s an effective villain – both really terrible and really understandably so. I think the way he gets so energetic about pursuing the God Cards and the Pharaoh, and then gets in over his head and has to abandon ship on his own revenge, and then continues to see through his role as tombkeeper because he’s just so worn out from trying to fight it – aaaaagh! It’s so upsettingly believable.

In terms of characterisation, he’s floating around brilliant but lazy territory for me. He’s intelligent, but also an idiot, andalso all he really wants to do is ride around on his bike and sleep alone inhis room and live comfortably. He’s capable, but not very ambitious. Not much of a visionary, lol.

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Ryou. Yuugi. Shizuka.

…well that was a very short list for me. I can also enjoy theifshipping to a certain degree, although I’m not really very interestedin it as a postcanon or endgame ship. And the potential for Malik’s torture ofMai to be sexualised is something I think is both interesting and not that farfrom its canon presentation – so I guess that may count as shipping them insome kind of messed up way. And I guess I also I find myself conceptuallyinterested in Ishtar sibling incest, but I haven’t run into any that treats thesubject matter with the kind of tone I’d like.

More on the ships though: Malik doesn’t directly interact with Yuugi or Ryou much in canon, but both ships seem to have the ability to be about softness and healing to me. Since Ryou and Malik have both experiences a violent and upsetting possession of sorts, them coming to move past that together has the potential to be pretty sweet. And since Malik has a kind of troubled relationship with ‘the Pharaoh’, and how he feels his life has been shaped by these ancient politics, I think Yuugi’s kind of in a unique place to be able to understand both the past and Atem’s journey and his ownplace in the present to be able to help Malik contextualise that in a waythat’s meaningful to him.

And Malik & Shizuka is a nice ship if what you’re going for is exploring Shizuka’s massivedisillusionment. Leaving aside the way that a nice trip to visit yourestranged brother suddenly turned upsettingly full of ugly complicated feelings and murder, I think Malik tends towards a frankness that doesn’t sit well with Shizuka's ideals. This is a fun ship~

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Ishtar Siblings!!! Malik’s relationship with Rishid is at once so lovely and so heartbreakingly upsetting. I think they struggle to find the balance between how they see each other as siblings and how they see each other in this hierarchy of master and subordinate – the way they come through for each other at the end of the story is just so touching. And Malik and Isis aren’t as close, but I like that their conflicting values, and understanding of their responsibilities, don’t compromise their love and the desire to protect one another. Ishtar Siblings!!!

I also like Malik & Yuugi & Ryou as a BrOTP. And I have a strange interest in Malik & Jou broing out or coming to realise they can’t bro out because he murdered you and tortured your best lady friend postcanon.

My unpopular opinion about this character:

I’m not really sure what constitutes an unpopular opinion regarding Malik, but I have several that might count.

(1) The Millennium Rod only exacerbated problems hewas already having due to the effects of trauma and a shaky headspace. YamiMalik is the product of Dissociative Identity Disorder in relationship to Borderline Personality Disorder, and exists in a reactionary way to Malik rather than being a distinct person.

(2)  He’s about as culturally Egyptian as your standard Amish person can be considered culturally American. (Or, idk, I think the Hutterites are a more apt comparison in a number of ways, if I’m sticking to offshoots of Christianity. More research on different religions is needed but, in terms of daily living, you can take all sorts of cues about the tombkeepers from different isolationist religious “cults”.)

(3) He’s a deadly serious character really –cerebral and ponderous. His sense of humour is along the lines of dry andsarcastic, rather than laugh-out-loud.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

I ALSO WISH THE ISHTARS HAD BEEN IN DSOD THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!

I think it would have made sense to mention them in relationship to what Seto was doing in Egypt at the very least. Seto was rooting around in Ancient Egyptian ruins that the tombkeepers had the right too, yeah? I feel like it might’ve been an interesting political/business deal he struck with the Ishtars. Maybe Isis needed money to help in the process of reintegrating the tombkeepers into above-ground society? I don’t know, but I feel like there’s a story there~

Also, it might be obvious from some of these other headcanons, but I wish the conclusion to Malik’s story had been more on the side of ‘the hate you’re feeling is valid if completely toxic’, which is why I like the idea of Yami Malik running amok in his head postcanon, even though I think the manga leaned heavily towards a canon interpretation where he was freed of Him.

my OTP:

Malik/Ryou edges out Malik/Yuugi by a little, but not by much.

my happy ending for them:

Not part of this meme, but you made me realise I wanted to write it all down~

Given my incredibly depressing diagnosis for Malik, I think managing his life will always be somewhat of a struggle. Yami Malik is probably here to stay. Malik will likely always have outbursts, and always have a cruel and violent streak. At his worst, the most I can say is that he and the people around him will be aware of the warning signs and be able to restrain him ahead of time instead of having to do so in the middle of an episode. At his best, I think Yami Malik might appear once every month or two, and just kind of storm around the house/apartment being sullen. I don’t think Yami Malik has the same kind of emotional range or needs as one would expect a completehuman to have – so he doesn’t need much more than to be acknowledged by the others and then left to his own devices. I don’t think he likes being touched, but he may someday accept a hug from Ryou or Yuugi or Isis and take a small comfort in the fact that he isn’t hated. Rishid is a lost cause, and will have to stay away during those times, because Yami Malik will without question react violently to him. I think, in a way, a direct reflection of Malik’s own desires– for his hatred and pain to be acknowledge and accepted by those around him, by all except Rishid, who Malik would most keenly like to be less hateful person for. Malik does not want Rishid to see Yami Malik, and so Yami Malik pushes Rishid away with a lot of force… potentially lethal force.

In terms of the more mundane things, I imagine Malik goes through a period where he wants to travel everywhere and see everything to kind of make up for the fact that he was confined to a dark hall his entire childhood. I think he’ll travel Africa and Europe and see more of Japan at thevery least, but who knows where his travels might take him~ But eventually Iimagine him settling down somewhere, since I don’t think his affinity fortravel is about travelling as much as its about taking in the world’s breadth.As long as he can enjoy bike rides and the wind and open sky and the company of those he likes, I think he’s fine being anywhere. He and Rishid are veryride-or-die so they’ll definitely stick together, I think. Him and Isis is moreiffy, but I’d like to see Isis and him also remain close and live close together.

In terms of a job, he’s really not into forty hour work weeks, lol. He wasn’t raised under the expectation he’d be part of a contemporary work force. And he’d additionally have trouble balancing that amount of stress with his mental healths. He’d take odd jobs here and there, or work part time in something pretty low pressure. Depending on how lucrative the limited amount of work he does is, he may or may not need to rely on his siblings or lover for support. In terms of what he does…? Tinker around a souvenir shop maybe? Or he runs errands for or does translations for the museum, through his connection with Isis?

And I don’t think he’d want kids, or make a verygood parent for that matter. He’s satisfied with being the weird uncle to his nieces and nephews.

my cross over ship:

I don’t have one, sorry~

a headcanon fact:

Hasn’t everything I’ve said thus far been me taking my own headcanons way too seriously?

Coptic, Arabic, French, Japanese. Rishid is the same, except he’s not as fluent in the last two, and also not as well studied in Ancient Egyptian scriptures. Isis is the only one of the Ishtar siblings that speaks English.

Oh, jeez, he is pretty much universally hated by his tombkeeper peers. Even when he was little he was a divisive character with how harsh and cruel he can be at times. And then he was shadily involved in the bloody murder of his father. When he left to form the Rare Hunters with Rishid, he bitterly alienated most of his extended tombkeeper family, but some of them followed him to join his crime syndicate. And then those who had followed him took poorly to the way Malik abandoned the Rare Hunters, and followed Isis back home with his tail between his legs. Literally everybody he grew up with except his siblings hates him and Malik spends the time from Battle City to the Ceremonial Duel hiding out in his room having Rishid bring him his meals because the tomb keepers are done with him and he’s done with them. And he’s technically their ‘leader’, but Isis made a bid for being de facto leader when he skipped out years earlier and, disappointed but resigned, she continues to carry the position when Malik’s returned. “She’s a great leader (even though she’s a woman),” everyone says. They all love her, lol.Rishid is more polarising, since he’s generally so mild and polite. Some of the tombkeepers see what he did as betrayal, but a lot of them view him with a sort of condescending pity and kindness - poor boy, led astray by his association with Master Malik. This makes Malik even more angry. ‘We are brothers and equals!!’ he yells. Even though he isn’t completely free of blame when it comes to treating Rishid as lesser.

Also, it’s totally canon that somewhere along the line he makes some big fuss and his criminal record from being involved with the Rare Hunters gets dragged out of the closet, and the Egyptian Government tells him to gtfo of our country… right?

[the-cryptographer]

We were talking about how Seto has been systematically abandoned by every family member he’s known excepting one.

It’s not that Mokuba needs Seto to save him from kidnapping and assault. It’s that Mokuba weathers kidnapping and assault because he goes out of his way to protect his brother’s livelihood and company and interests, and he refuses to betray his brother even under threat and coercion and brainwashing. Even when Seto hasn’t always been able to extend the same kindness back to him.

I’m a little baffled when people talk about this relationship in terms of Mokuba needing Seto. This relationship is about Seto needing someone to give his struggle purpose and meaning. To Believe In Something.

I think it’s beautiful Mokuba’s been able to give that to Seto.

[the-cryptographer]

Sorry I’m too lazy to do a proper post about this, but I’ve been thinking about the ending of DSoD for a while in the context of whether or not Seto’s visit is a one-off thing, during which he aims to duel Atem and gain some perspective and closure, or whether Seto has gained the ability to continually move between the world of the present and that of Atem’s afterlife. I’m not really interested in choosing between these two interpretations, or in any way providing a hard answer even in a speculative fashion. In fact, I respect the movie for leaving it up in the air. The thing is-

Going by the first interpretation, where this visit is a one-time thing. I understood the ending as almost... having a quality of realism? Of course space elevators and dimension travel aren’t real. But, Seto finding a way to view or see and interact with his understanding of who Atem is and was, in a way that allows him to see a future and say goodbye... That seems to me to be easily understood as a metaphor for the way people come to a kind of understanding of death and their lost loved ones. The way after a while you are able to interpret your experiences with them outside of the immediacy of loss. The ability for this reading of the ending made the end of the movie seem grounded enough for me to accept it.

Going by the second interpretation, I think things reach more towards wish fulfillment. That Seto would be able to continually visit someone deceased is fantastical. But I think that fantastical element is also okay. Apart from its soothing quality, this interpretation opens up a lot of doors in the sci-fi kind of realm for this universe. Which is always something that has fit in with the setting, and Seto’s character in specific.

I guess this is just me explaining some things I’ve said on the subject. The variability in how much the ending can be indulgent.

[the-cryptographer]

Bakura for the Character writing meme

Thank you for the ask :D

Ah, I haven’t written all that much of any of the Bakurae asof yet (I actually took a break to go write a TKB scene just so that I’d havesome frame of reference) but I think these tend to be my interpretations ofthem. (Also does not include interpretations for alternate headcanons in whichYami Bakura is not a separate entity but a distortion of Ryou’s personality andmemories brought forth by the Ring. Yes I have those.)

RYOU

1) He’s callous. Really, this is the first thing that came tomind and it’s already controversial™ The reason I think of this one first isnot because it cancels out nice, soft-spoken, thoughtful Ryou, but because it’sa characteristic that seems to get lost in nice, soft-spoken, thoughtful Ryouand is thus especially important to keep sight of. I think particularly of theway he carries around the Ring in the full understanding that it can possesshim and make him do terrible things. And I think of how he went along withMai’s prank on Jou after Battle City. And I think of the way he has MonsterWorld figurines of people that have been cruel to him lying on his shelf, andhow he must pass by them tormented by both his inability to free them, but alsohis inability to care about every single individual person trapped inside.

I consider it more or less canon that Ryou’s not exactly astuteor basking in high levels of emotional intelligence as per the above. But therest of this I’m more aware is speculative: I think Ryou is tired and defeatedand betrayed to the extent he can’t really manage to give much of a shit aboutanybody else. I don’t think he’s malicious by any means. I just think the Ringhas taken over his life so completely, and it’s terrifying and he’s hurting –he’s been hurting since his mother’s and sister’s death – and nobody’s steppingin to help him. And when he first met Yuugi and friends and they played theMonster World RPG together, Ryou thought he was saved. But once Yuugi andfriends left, the Ring Spirit was here and there and everywhere in Ryou’s mind.And Ryou felt resentful, because he expected this nightmare to be over but itwasn’t.

If you asked Ryou straight-out, if you addressed him in acapacity to appeal to his sound mind, of course Ryou doesn’t want to hurt anyone.Not at all. Not even himself. Butnobody asks him, and I think there’s an element of spite in the way he is,carrying the ring around in his bag. Or flitting in and out of consciousness andduring Y!Bakura’s and Malik’s plan, but refusing to raise any red flags for therest of the group because *throws up arms* fuck it! Since he has no controlover the outcome of his life, he might as well throw gasoline on the fire.

2) He’s nice and soft-spoken and thoughtful. The aforementioned contrastto the above :pI think he’s very indulgent with people too, when he can be. He’s not going tohold your mistakes against you.

3) I imagine he’s very stubborn about really odd things,lol~  Like, most of the time he’s superquiet and only speaks up to compliment you or to unsettle you slightly withweirdness. But if you say something ‘wrong’ about tabletop RPGs or fortunetelling or anything pertaining to his hobbies or field of study, suddenly you’rearguing with Satan’s debate team and you are wrong and he won’t stop until youcan fully understand how gd wrong you are. And finally you give up and justpretend to be swayed over to his side of the argument because you want thistorment to end. But he KNOWS. He knows you’re just pretending, and he’s side-eyingyou an hour later from the other side of the room.

4) That being said, he’s very calm and smart and level-headedwhen something doesn’t involve him. He is a good and fair mediator.

 THIEF KING BAKURA

1) He’s angry. Something that should theoreticallybe a temporary emotional state, but it’s kind of permanent where the Thief Kingis concerned. He is always angry. I’m pretty sure he’s motivated purely by angerjust about 99% of the time.

2) He’s rude. Yeah. Maybe that’s a strangething to pick out, but he is. And in a different way than the other characters.Consider Jounouchi, who is loud, prone to violating personal space (both in afriendly and intimidating way) and also he’s never said a proper sentence inkeigo in his life and probably never will. But by the time canon has startedJounouchi approaches most of the other characters with good intentions, but heretains his crude mannerisms and speech as a callback to his social background.I suspect, like most people who use non-preferred dialects, he’s clever enoughto be capable of speaking otherwise, but retains it as an expression ofpersonal identity. Consider it as a rather subtle and subconscious take-that atauthoritarian cultural norms.And consider Kaiba, who is also rude,but different. It strikes me how sub!Kaiba almost seems soft-spoken at times,between the manic intensity of his grandiose speeches. Kaiba’s well-spoken, andI’d say he makes a large attempt to appear collected. But he’s also derisiveand irreverent. Incapable of handing out a compliment or giving anybody abreak. He is mean. And he’s trying to be mean – very pointedly mean. He’s rudefor the purpose of hurting you, and he’s hurting you for the purpose of makingyou STAY THE FUCK AWAY!!

So I guess TKB is like the worst of both worlds?? lol, he’s rude for the sakeof seeming crass and unpolished and- no-he’s not one of you. You killed all the others he was like.But he’s still one of them, and hewon’t let you forget it! But he’s also rude for the sake of being the meanestpiece of shit he can possibly be. He is rude to be cruel. To show as much disrespect andvenom and disgust with you as he possibly can. He wants you to hurt.

3) He’s dramatic. Like, the most hammy. I’mgoing to go out on a limb and say he’s even more of a drama queen than Kaiba. I think I’ll put on fifty pieces of bling, drag a mummified corpse behind me, andstorm through the front gates of the palace on top of a giant snake person monsterscreaming ‘It’s time to partaaay!’ Pls take a chill pill, Bakura.

4) He’s impulsive. I’m pretty sure he cameup with that palace-storming plan in five minutes directly after robbing  Akhenamkhanen’s tomb. But probably you seethis more starkly in Y!Bakura bending his plans around Malik. So much thoughtwas put into this. Confronting Y!Malik was definitely a good idea and the workof a mastermind.

5) I think what Thief King Bakura is like outside of hisrevenge plot is kind of more ??? But I mostly imagine him being… lazy.His hobby is lying in the sun and napping and eating well. Every once in awhile he probably has this sudden !!! impulse to make something. To create. Butthe rest of the time he’s mostly just lazing about being sulky. He’s so sullenwhenever he manages not to be angry.Also for some reason I think he might like animals kind of secretly. He’s notsentimental enough not to butcher them, but he was very nice to Wooly the sheepwhile she was alive, and probably he feels a bit sad and misses her once she’sgone.

 Send me a character and I’ll pick out essential characteristics for them that I try to keep in mind while writing them~

[the-cryptographer]

mai for the thing

Thank you so much for the ask :)for the character writing meme

MAI

THE QUEEN!! And an oddly difficult one to answer consideringhow much I’ve written of her @_@Maybe because most of what I’ve written about her is from Jounouchi’sperspective – and a Jounouchi perspective where he’s absolutely refusing toengage with all the many ways that she’s kind of a total bitch flawed.Anyhow, given the current perspective on lotto ticket, I’m trying to focus onall the ways she’s desirable and loving and supportive. And vulnerable as well– but only the types of vulnerability that really invite other people in andmake Jou want to play the hero. Mai’s vulnerable in a lot of other ways thatmake her much more prickly, but that’s not on the radar right now.

More generally~

1) She is so elegant! Composed and Postured.Strict and Precise. Just as soft as she aims to be. I wouldn’t say she’s anaturally warm person, but warmth and comfort seem to be an art she’s mastered.She knows how to flatter. She knows how to coddle. No matter the method, sheknows how to make you leave a room feeling good about yourself. She knows howto play that to get what she wants from you. And she knows how to stand upstraight, to appear confident and strong and completely lacking inself-consciousness. She’s so good at it for a moment she’s even able toconvince herself.

2) She’s ambitious (and more than a little selfish about it). It’s an odd quality for her to have, considering how often sheseems directionless and unable to pinpoint what she wants. But I think a lot ofher goals, as quickly as they change, seem to speak to ambition. Money. Fame.Comfort and freedom. Beauty and respect. Even Jounouchi. (A relationship with awashed-up mobster eight years her junior flies in the face of social norms farmore than I think people normally consider.) But, anyhow, her relationship withthese things that she pursues seems more fragile, the closer they come into herreach. Uncompromising might be a better word for it. I don’t thinkshe’s willing to settle for anything less than whatever she’s decided on thisday it is that she wants. You can try to argue with her, but she’ll just tellyou this is what she’s going to do, and if you don’t like it – TOUGH. She’spatient (…unlike some people *cough*) and so she doesn’t mind playing the longgame, but she’s going for her dreams. Cry about it all you like, bb~Combined with the kind of ease she has playing up her image, I think is why Isee her so easily keeping on with professional duelling/gambling, even where Ithink it wouldn’t entirely suit Jou or Yuugi in the long run.

3) She’s lonely. But, like, in a way that’smore profound than just the word. Mai’s the kind of person who’s lonely in aroom full of people. Not only a room full of people, but a room full offriends. Well… I don’t think Mai has a great idea of who she is when she’s notperforming in one way or another. And those things she’s absolutely sure arereally just naturally her – the feelings of inadequacy and envy and desire andanger – because she would never choose to perform as them but they neverthelesserratically bleed through to her exterior. Yeah, she doesn’t like those things.Mai doesn’t like herself that much, so she tries not to be herself even andespecially in the presence of the people she likes. I’m actually not entirelysure what Mai would be like once she felt completely at home with someone, in suchcomfort and security and love that she just let herself be. Probably kind ofcattily affectionate? Haha, I think this is why I want to see her get alongwith Kaiba. I don’t think she’d feel the need to be a ‘good person’ for Kaibathe way she does for Jou or Valon or Anzu or pretty much every other character.And, yeah, all of this is makes being around people, especially the people shecares about, exhausting. I think this contributes to most of her flightiness and avoidance. I’m thinking of how she takes off after BC and Doma –the latter of which she wasn’t even interested in sticking around to saygoodbye for.

4) She’s passionate~! I almost forgot thisone because I find it so obvious. But, yeah, Mai tends to put a lot of energyand emotion into the things she does, doesn’t she?

Send me a character and I’ll pick out essential characteristics for them that I try to keep in mind while writing them~

[the-cryptographer]

Do you have any headcanons about what Lotor might be like in the next season?

I just finished that roller coaster of a second season and, wow.

I don’t really have any background from the previous series to draw on. But my hopes for Prince Lotor…

I’d like him to be mostly self-interested. Kind of caught up in his own struggles and feelings and indulgences. I like spoiled brat type characters. I think if you contrasted a really careless attitude with hyper-competence, compared to Zarkon who is so very not-level-headed, Lotor could be a really interesting character - a really interesting villain in particular.

Kinda going along with that, he’d be very ‘c’mon dad, can you shut up about that old lion of yours and get with the times?! i’ve figured out [important warfare tactics] while you’ve been down and out obsessing.’ They don’t get along, lol.

I’d like him to be kind of femmy. But, hopefully, not in a queer-coding kind of way. Like, the more heroic he is, the more femmy I’d like him to be, lol.

I’d like him to have a working familial-esque relationship with Haggar. Haggar was such a wonderful and effective and interesting villain this season, and I’m kind of dying to know more about her as a result. If she was a parental figure of sorts to Lotor, I’d be really into that.

Assuming the Galra that Keith rescued was Lotor. It might be interesting if he just… didn’t talk. Maybe he could be mute. Imagine him communicating through notes and wild gesturing.

I’d be up for him crushing on any of the characters. (although I hope it’s a cute Lance version of crushing and not super creepy.) Crushing on Allura would be good. Crushing on Lance would be better. Crushing on Pidge might be the best…

I’m not sure how dark I’d like him to be, but Yami!Lance wouldn’t be too bad ;)  I’d like him to have a comedic Lance-like personality but, if he does, I hope his personal insecurities will be in a different vein than Lance’s.

Again, assuming the Galra that Keith rescued was Lotor. Keith feeling really betrayed, and Lotor just not even having the capacity to understand why. He walks up to Keith and throws an arm over his shoulder. ‘Hey, sweet cheeks. Thanks again for looking out for me back then.’ It doesn’t go over well.

I think that’s all the ideas I have for now.I know you’ve written several speculative posts about Lotor, hmm. I kind of flew by them before since I was waiting to watch, but if you don’t mind linking me I’d appreciate ^^;

[the-cryptographer]

miranova23 (@kaiba-fangirl​​) replied to your photo:

Hey no prob! On mobile rn (& should be doing hw <.<) but as far as the ~controversial~ ships, I know they can still be aged-up or the ship name used for just any other kind of relationSHIP. Heck, most of the characters are canonically underage, and there's even the reveal of Seth & Atemu being cousins, buuut it's Ancient Egypt, & does that mean their reincarnated spirits count as cousins??? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ btw finally wrote out a long-time-coming brothershipping post. we seem to be on the same page though 👍 As far as ettushipping i don't really have anything else rn i guess... but I'll keep u in mind =)

It took me a minute to realise you were referring to locketshipping aka tabloidshipping aka incesty Mokuba/Seto. For some reason, probably just wishful thinking, I thought at first maybe you meant battleshipping (Jou/Seto/Yuugi) or buddyshipping (Honda/Jou)...

I made the statements I did without really contextualising them within the context of the ygo fandom. It didn’t occur to me you were referring to a distaste for the fandom presence of certain ships or the way they’re presented. So... sorry I got kind of weird on you in the tags.

below the cut is tl;dr about controversial stuff and incest and sibling abuse

re: tags. I know people in fandom use the term ‘pedophilia’ as a catch all for... whatever they view as having the potential of including child sexual abuse. I personally think maintaining the distinction between pedophilic and ephebophilic attraction patterns (which people may or may not act on), and acts of child sexual abuse (for which attraction may or may not be a factor) is important. But really I knew what you meant when you said what you said, so I realised I was being pretty nitpicky. But also, even more generally, I think people should be free to write about controversial and potentially disturbing topics, so long as they realise what they’re doing and include proper tags/warning.

re: scandalship. Usually when I’m talking about incest ships I’m not talking about cousins. Not that cousin incest isn’t technically incest, but it’s allowed in most of the world today including some US states. And it doesn’t have the same kind of relational baggage as parent or sibling incest. The bigger part of what makes things incest in my mind is the person having been closely involved in the other person’s formative childhood development in capacity as a parent or sibling, and it almost without exception coincides with abuse. Malik/Rishid is an incest ship in my mind because Rishid was undoubtedly a brother to Malik during his upbringing. (Isis/Rishid is harder for me to make a call on because we see less of their relationship. It’s not clear whether they were raised together in an intimate proximity, or whether they really relate as siblings. So, depending on what headcanons you’re working with, I think both incestuous and non-incestuous interpretations of a romantic relationship between them could be valid.)

But, in terms of what you were talking about in your post here - I haven’t run into a lot of Mokuba/Seto personally - not enough to view it as some sort of fandom problem. But admittedly I haven’t gone looking for fics specifically featuring the two of them, so maybe that’s why. I know I’ve seen someone else also complain about the abundance of Mokuba/Seto in the search for gen fic, and I also had a similar experience pretty recently, so presumably it is a common fandom experience. I was searching through doujinshi on pixiv and opened something that I assumed to be Kaibros gen but was not. I had actually long since thought the internet has massively desensitised me to everything, but I actually shuddered irl. This isn’t to condemn the artist - admittedly I think everybody should label/tag things like that but I assume they did and I was the one that went around clicking links without taking the time to read the Japanese. But from a perspective of what I found disturbing was the kind of ease that you described in your post - that kind of moves between something I’d consider part of a very close and caring and acceptable sibling relationship, to something unacceptable that immediately undermines the validity of Seto and Mokuba hugging or sharing a bed in a nonsexual context, but also tries to capatalise on and continue off of the ‘cute’ vibes set up by what could have once been reasonably interpreted as a platonically intimate gesture, instead of a symptom of abuse.

(Yeah, for the record, I don’t think it’s abnormal for siblings to be physically affectionate to a degree. A lot of siblings aren’t as close as you and your brother, even siblings with more or less amiable relationships, but I agree it’s odd and unfair to assume that you guys can’t or shouldn’t be platonically affectionate. Otoh, though, I feel like it’s not always easy to spot a family resemblance, so I get how people may be confused. And also just wanna throw out there that sibling sexual abuse is more common than anybody wants to admit, and there’s a critical lack of attention towards the issue compared to rarer types of child sexual abuse, so it’s unfortunately possible that people are projecting their own unhealthy histories and dynamics onto you.)

But, hmm, there was another case I had where I ran into (appropriately warned for) Mokuba/Seto that I think handled the topic pretty delicately. It was about a Seto that had a plethora of sexual desires (including feelings for Mokuba) that he felt unequipped to find an outlet for - partly because of the ferocity with which he isolates himself and pushes away human contact. It was an unsettling story - but what made it palatable for me was the way both the narrative and Seto himself were keenly aware of how inappropriate acting on such desires would be. Seto’s guilt-ridden, convinced of his own monstrosity, and desperate to escape to VR (or wherever he can go to not deal with anything even remotely like an emotion). Seto immediately understands this attraction poses a threat and threatens to topple every way in which he’s tried to protect Mokuba. And Mokuba’s increasingly worried for his brother, and too naive to really understand exactly what the big deal is - even when Seto crosses the line and kisses him (and immediately pushes Mokuba away and runs off and curls up into a ball of self-loathing). And, when VR proves to be an insufficient method of escaping his own humanity, Mokuba finally convinces Seto to reach out to Yuugi, and Seto agrees because - even thought the last thing he wants to do is reach out to anyone - he cares more about remaining a good brother to Mokuba than maintaining the comfort of his own emotional isolation. So it becomes a reassertion of how much Seto values Mokuba as a brother and puts him first, rather than an expression of sexual violence.

I’m not saying this story is something for everyone (it’s not. it made me uncomfortable at times. and the solace that it was meant to make me uncomfortable was enough to soothe me, but I realise that’s not enough for everyone.) It also doesn’t blend with my personal headcanons, tbh, and it’s not something I would be interested in writing about with regards to Seto and Mokuba. But as a reader and letting the author take the reins, I enjoyed the fic, and I see the merit in it exploring the concepts it did. Far more than I see the merit in exploring Seto and Mokuba in the context of ‘aw, cute they’re hugging. now they’re kissing. uwu’ But, idk, I’m also not the arbitrator of what fiction has merit or isn’t too irredeemably creepy for anyone other than myself.

idk, like I said, I haven’t run into much Mokuba/Seto during my (mostly relatively recent) run of the fandom. Maybe it’s a bigger issue than I envisioned. And, well, I can’t stop people from creating fanart of Kaiba and Mokuba cuddling with whatever understanding they have of the circumstances behind the scene. But- yeah. I don’t support locket-/tabloid-/brother- shipping them in that manner. I’ve heard a lot of people just say ‘Kaibros’ to refer to Seto & Mokuba as a unit. But I don’t know if there’s a consensus on what people use as a tag for gen Seto & Mokuba things *shrugs*

(And, um, just more generally regarding the Kaiba brothers - I think they can be pretty unhealthily codependent, but no more than I’d expect two brothers having been through foster care and alone against the world to be. I don’t mean to undermine how important and loving and their relationship with one another has been, and how much it has been a saving grace for them.)

Anyhow, sorry for this upsetting tl;dr but- Thank you again! And, lol, yes! Keep me in mind for all things ettushipping related! And polarship and pupship and rivalship and battleship and 5000 other things tbh, lol.

[the-cryptographer]

I can’t exactly explain why it bothers me the way it does, but for some reason I really really hate the way that, in fics that deal with Jounouchi’s abuse, there is such a big focus on the fact that his father hits him.

And, I mean, I do think his father has beaten the crap out of him a couple of times, as well as carelessly thrown punches and dishes and sake bottles. And, in some ways, I think it would make sense that this is the aspect of the abuse that Jounouchi and his friends would react to - it’s the most visible aspect. Both in terms of inspiring Jounouchi’s own predilection towards physical violence, and in that it’s probably the only way Jounouchi can really conceptualise how he’s been wronged - I’m sure if you asked him, he’d say: of course it’s not right for parents to beat their kids up, but whatcha gonna do, huh?

But, yeah, that’s also kind of the point: it’s the only way Jounouchi can conceptualise how he’s been wronged.

But I’m sure Jounouchi was cold in the winter and hungry in the summer. I’m sure he was working illegally for 500y/hr. I’m sure he had to sneak money away from his dad just so he could afford his metro commute, and I’m sure he had to steal textbooks from whatever poor sucker he got a hold of. I’m sure there were days he didn’t come home, and days he came home after long absences, smelling like cigarettes and covered in open wounds from fighting along with Hirutani - and I’m sure his dad saw him and didn’t say anything and the wounds infected and scabbed without ever being treated. And I’m sure there were days Jounouchi sniffled into the pillow of his futon because he missed his mother and his sister, and his dad would pat him gently on the shoulder, but then he would leave to go buy some sake - because he couldn’t even think about the wife and daughter he lost, much less talk about them with his lonely son. And I’m sure there were days his dad didn’t come home at all. And Jounouchi waited up and watched TV and worried, until he became so dead to the feeling that he’s completely forgotten it’s there at all. But, yet, it is still there. It’s sunk into him so completely he doesn’t ever not feel it.

And I think Jounouchi’s haptic memory (and memory in general) isn’t that great, so he kind of shrugs off pain and temporary discomforts well. Certainly he seems to get into a lot of fights without much concern for the bruises. But I guess that’s it. Jounouchi can shrug off getting beat up so easily, focussing on that kind of overlooks all the ways he’s been fucked over.

It’s not much of a mystery why Jounouchi acts like a fucking idiot 95% of the time. It’s not much of a mystery why he’s so obnoxiously confrontational. He can’t just ask, because there is no answer to that question that isn’t terrifying. But he can’t stop himself from acting out, hopefully and desperately. Maybe, if he makes a big enough of a spectacle of himself, somebody will magically notice that he’s starving.

[the-cryptographer]

For the meme, I will, predictably, ask you about YGO.

Thank you batty!

I’m supposed to list 5 things that I’d change about canon~I tried to keep this mostly out of discussion about where I prefer a particulardivergence in manga/anime canon, and focus on areas where I would’ve changedboth.

1/ I’d give Yuugi more duels, or have him and Atem shareduelling responsibility more often. I think the amount Atem overshadows Yuugiis sometimes detrimental to the spirit of the show, and the message it wastrying to convey about Yuugi having the ultimate strength via his kindness. Ithink it would have been nice to see more situations where we could clearly seethat Yuugi’s kindness =/= meekness, and see him be directly rewarded for this.Related to this is that Yuugi was the one to play Dungeon Dice Monsters againstOtogi in the manga. Even if they wanted to get rid of the evil Otogi clownorder or whatever, I think I would’ve found a way to preserve the fact that itwas Yuugi who fought that duel in the anime.

2/ There would be more Mai and it’d be different. This kindof covers several things. I would alter the icky implications at the end of herfirst duel with Jounouchi, or at least come back and subvert them later. I’drevamp the tone on her torture with Yami Malik. I’d like to see her win moreduels – Let Mai Win 2k17! – I don’t know how I’d do it, but it would possiblyinvolve reworking the duels in Battle City. Probably I would’ve had her victoryagainst Jou in s4 seem more legitimate and less the product of Jou beingexhausted and light-headed. And I also really would have liked to see her duelwith Rafael, even though she lost that one. Also I would have brought her backfor DSoD – even just as a mention or cameo, I would’ve made it clear that she’sstill in touch with the gang.

And, kinda related to the general tone with women in thisseries, Anzu would not intentionally go out looking for a terrorist bomber ins0 manga to be able to draw out Atem.

3/ Kisara would have a personality. Also the way she diesreally irks me. I feel like part of the conceit with Set is that he could notbe happy with all that had happened and that he had done by the end ofMillennium World. But I think there would have been better ways to handle herdeath – either have her directly sacrifice herself to draw out the WhiteDragon, or have Set succumb to his worst and kill her himself, despite anyfeelings he had for her.

4/ Yami!Isis. Maybe not a completely different person orsplit personality thing, but it would be clear that the Millennium Necklacefucked with Isis’s head the way the Millennium Eye fucked with Pegasus. Shewould have a larger conflict in managing this. (more)

5/ I would have liked some follow-up about all those mindcrushes Atem went handing out like candy. In the manga, Kaiba creates hismonster simulations in a way that emulates the sensation of death that Atem first used on him. And I think there could be a factor of this in Atem’s firstduel with Kaiba in the second series anime as well. There’s kind of a chainwith violence begetting more violence theme that seems interesting but kind ofpeters out before we can figure it out. I would have brought it back at somepoint – probably in direct connection with Kaiba – and integrated it into thecreation of Duel Monsters and the Millennium Items and Thief King Bakura in theMillennium World arc.

6/ Bobasa would not exist as he does. I’m fine with a fat,foreign, comic relief character. But the comedy needs to not be absurdisthumour about how fat and foreign he is. There are so many ways this could havebeen handled more respectfully.

7/ All card games – three episodes max.

8/ Also more Monster World RPG-ing.

 Bonus!!/ Tch- There would be a lot of Jou. So much Jou. Evenmore Jou than there already is. In fact, let’s just make the whole show aboutJou! And classism… And poorly negotiated polyamory… *beans self in the headwith a croquet mallet* No, obviously I’m being facetious at this point. But,for real, he would always have dark eyebrows so you could never for a secondforget that he’s a stupid Japanese gangster.

Send Me a Fandom and I’ll Tell You the Top 5 Things I’dChange About its Canon if I Don’t Completely Ruin the Meme by Listing More~

[the-cryptographer]

@rainstormcolors replied to your post:

Regarding the executives: I had wondered why they took Seto–a teenager–at his word. I don’t take teenagers at their word. And then I realize they may have believed they could easily manipulate him precisely due to his age. (Did they repeat this mistake with Noa??)

Mmm, that was my understanding so far as Seto was concerned. I kind of wonder what their impression of Seto was before he took over the company. We see a lot of the moments where Seto is butting heads with Gouzaburou in the flashbacks, but I feel like there’d also be times where he behaved more quiet and meek just for the sake of his own survival. Daimon/Leichter seems surprised at the ruthlessness of Seto’s plans, when Gouzaburou assigns him to help Seto manage the assets he’d been gifted. And he was the one closest to Gouzaburou and his family, so the others probably had no idea how resourceful Seto could be before he took control of the company proper. Probably, to some degree, all of them saw what they thought was an opportunity to seize better control of the company and its assets, and figured Seto would be easy to outmanoeuvre due to his youth/inexperience/demeanour, and were disappointed to find themselves at the beck-and-call of a clever, treacherous, hyper-controlling, zealous visionary who was, nonetheless, a disrespectful and emotional teenager.

(The real question is why Seto kept them around at all afterwards. Personally I think Seto has a lot of trouble delegating power. He’s so untrusting of everyone, I don’t think he can actually see the kind of gradient degrees of how dishonest people are and get a good reading on who to assign to executive positions. Mokuba as VP is a symptom of this as well. The only person Seto trusts enough to be that close to him is in elementary school and completely unequipped to actually handle company business.)

I don’t think Noa is a repeat of the executives’ mistake in the same way, though. They were in a vulnerable position when they met him, yeah? Floating around as data in the Kaiba Corp computer network.

(jfc, wtf did Seto do with their bodies after the whole Legendary Heroes screw-up? Did he call the yakuza and have them dispose of the bodies?! What about their families?! What was the official story on why five Kaiba Corp execs suddenly died all at once?! Who did he have to pay off to keep it quiet?!)

Yeah, anyhow, when they ran into Noa, I think they realised pretty quick Noa was located closer to the mainframe of the simulation, and had more control over their environment. So probably they didn’t expect to be able to manipulate him in the same kind of way they’d hoped with Seto, it was just kind of a necessity at that point that they go through Noa if they wanted to return to reality, so they had to ally with him. I mean, they get arrogant at times and try to bypass Noa, but I think when they do it’s more just because they’re at the end of their rope and desperate to get at the gang’s bodies and return to the real world.

Also, idk if it’s just me, but I find Noa hella charismatic. Like, really, he’s an amazing, confident speaker. He seems so confident that my heart wants to do what he says a little bit, even though my brain knows he’s full of shit. Haha. I imagine the Big 5 feel that a little bit too.

[the-cryptographer]

For the meme, Voltron?

5 things I would change about VLD canon.

I kind of feel like this is difficult just because the canon’snot closed yet. It’s kind of hard to tell what I think should be differentwithout a more complete view of what the narrative structure is. But, for thetime being…

1/ The first episode would have taken about four episodes.Yeah, as much as I think the series really picked up afterwards, I think thepilot itself felt really rushed and contrived. I wish we could’ve seen the teamtake time to retrieve the red, yellow, and green lions one by one, and kind ofgrow together in the process. I felt like a lot of the character moments in thepilot also seemed really measured and unnatural a la, ‘how can we quickly giveyou the bare minimum about these characters imbetween 500 cubic centimetres ofplot?’ and I feel like it would have felt a lot better spread out a little bitmore. And there seemed to be something with ~destiny~ going on with every oneof the five humans (or four humans, we’ll see huh~) being able to pilot one ofthe lions, and it’s fine if it’s destiny, but it seemed like that was somethingthat should have prompted more of a conversation between the characters.

2/ Kind of related, I wish we could’ve seen more about theGalaxy Garrison, and what was going on with these characters prior to theiraffiliation with Voltron. I want to know more about how they interacted with eachother – Hunk, Lance, and Pidge as trainees, Keith and Lance’s not-rivalry, moreon Keith being brilliant and how he got on everyone’s bad side and got booted. AndI want to know more about the Galaxy Garrison and its politics. I don’t evenfeel like I really understand what it’s training people for, and what Hunk andLance were working towards and why, and I’m still not sure if they were tryingto cover up things with Shiro. I mean, this could easily be expanded upon inflashbacks or in other ways later in the series. But I might’ve put in anepisode set at the Garrison before we got launched into space.

3/ Weird alien gender and sexual dimorphism would be a thingeverywhere. Alien species with one gender, five genders, ten genders. Gendersthat don’t even remotely map onto human concepts of masculinity and femininity.Non-humanoid aliens where you don’t even know what’s going on. Heh~ I stillreally like that Allura had an automatic ‘omg, girl talk~’ response to findingout about Pidge, but it would have been funny if Allura’s idea of what being agirl was meshed not at all with Earth’s ideas of what that meant.

4/ Shay would be everywhere. No, but really, I would haveliked if some of the Balmerans came along on the Castle-Ship after all. Hunkand Shay – alien couple in space. YESSSSS.

5/ I’d have the racial diversity in the cast and Shiro’sPTSD to be referred to explicitly and discussed on a textual level.

Bonus!!/ And I would have said that I wanted the main conflictbetween Voltron and the Garla to be more nuanced and more morally complicatedthan what we’ve seen so far. But then the season finale basically flipped thebird at the simplicity they had previously set up. I hope things continue inthis vein, and we’re going to see more shades of grey among both the Garla andour heroes~ So excite for season two!

Send me a fandom and I’ll tell you 5 things I’d change about its canon