#and the badguys never see it coming

[gale-gentlepenguin]

So I have been seeing interesting discussion on the endings of Gabriel. The miraculous movie vs The season 5 finale ending.

-And the criticisms for the movie ending are valid, Marinette/Ladybug’s conflict is a lot less personal (cause time constraints)

-Gabriel technically defeated himself

-There wasn’t enough build up for the climax to feel satisfying unless you knew the show.

-Marinette’s personal involvement felt minimal to nonexistent. (She never met Gabriel)

-The powers are inconsistent

The wrap up was too quick

And these are legitimate criticism, especially because we never have Marinette interact with Gabriel once. Something that should have happened.

I can understand how that ending could feel unsatisfying.

Then we have the season 5 finale, which has the opposite problem

-It involves Marinette so much that Adrien is completely sidelined as a response.

-Gabriel ‘Wins’ but according to the writers he lost. (I saw the commentary. I vehemently disagree with there interpretation)

-Adrien never finds out about any of this

-Lila feels shoehorned in as the season 6 badguy

So I thought about both sides more, rewatched the S5 finale and the ending with these new perspectives and… I still prefer the movie ending more than the finale.

But why is that? Objectively speaking The movie is much more flawed and has very littler personal investment of Ladybug vs Hawkmoth. Something that movies don’t often do.

While The show has built up this personal conflict between Gabriel/monarch and Marinette/ladybug

By all logic I Should prefer the show ending.

But I don’t, and it’s precisely BECAUSE of the reasons I listed.

Movie! Marinette’s lack of personal connection to fighting Gabriel allowed me to focus on Gabriel’s motive and his interaction with his son. His genuine care of his son being his downfall MADE sense. Marinette was focused on saving her partner than fighting a villain, which the movie showed to be more of the core of the movie. Even foreshadowing the “Save one Life, save the world” line. And it even fits the fairy tale theme ML tries to go for.

Meanwhile the Show’s ending had a really good fight at the core with Marinette and Gabriel clashing. The fight between Monarch and Bug noire is one of the best in the series… BUT it’s because of this conflict that the ending feels so GUT WRENCHINGLY awful. Because it’s just another case of Marinette failing to stop Gabriel from doing what he wanted. Gabriel may have changed his initial wish, but he still basically did what he always did, cease power and leave Marinette to clean up the mess.

Even taking Adrien out of the equation doesn’t help fix the ending. Because Gabriel still did what he wanted. Gabriel gets a statue, he gets to die seen as a hero that he never was. He is seen as a good man. And it leaves Marinette having to let Paris think that. We don’t see Marinette doubting this, we don’t see opposition or even a question on it. It’s Marinette once again doing what she always does, taking on the burden.

Ah but the difference is that ML still has more seasons. This could all be subject to change. People could find out the truth. The wish has consequences.

And that is correct. There are consequences. And do you know who will face those consequences? Marinette. Because she always does. That’s what the show Always does.

The movie ending also has a potential sequel, but at least there, Marinette and Adrien don’t have secrets, Fu is still there, and the weight of reality doesn’t hang on Movie Marinette’s shoulders only.

And I think that’s what it comes down to.

It’s because I love Marinette that I hate how she has to fail after all her efforts and would rather have an ending that has less personal stakes for her if it means she can be better off as opposed to this drama bomb that basically left her back as the one with the weight of reality on her shoulders.

[but-a-humble-goon]

So there's been quite a few Terminator games over the years and they pretty much all suck. Terminator Resistance was fiiine, but also focuses the least interesting part of the whole franchise which is the future war stuff. The main problem as I see it is this, the core of Terminator is built around a cat and mouse chase with one unstoppable badguy and that's difficult to make a whole game out of. You can't really make an action shooter where there's only one enemy and guns are all but totally useless against it anyway. Even other games that do the invincible stalker thing like Resident Evil usually keep it to only occasional encounters in an otherwise already action heavy game. So here's what you do: make a Terminator game where you play as the badguy. You are a terminator dispatched back in time by Skynet to kill an important human or humans whom are inconvenient to it. Said human/humans have lots of resources and security so there's a lot of corpses-to-be between you and them. As the game progresses you terminate your way up the food chain gathering information and getting closer to your target(s) and maybe eventually other time travelers start turning up to get in your way. The obvious problem here is 'why would we want to root for Skynet to win?' Simple. Give the Terminator a pet cat. I'm dead serious. You take somebody's apartment as a safehouse like in the first movie and dispose of the person who lived there. You return there between outings to gear up and perform self-maintenance. One time the Terminator hears movement in the apartment and quickly spins and draws a gun on it and it's the owner's cat coming home. The Terminator examines it curiously, then decides it's not a threat and puts the gun away. Now every time before you set out on the next mission the Terminator stops on the way out the door and glances back briefly to check what the cat is doing (usually cleaning itself). In the lead up to the final climactic mission of the game the now heavily battle damaged Terminator sits at the apartment digging a hundred bullets out of its flesh with pliers when the cat comes right up close to watch it work. The Terminator glances up, gives it a pet and then goes back to what it was doing like nothing happened. Never explain it. The Let's Players will all go completely nuts for it and nobody will care that you're playing as a genocidal killing machine here to doom all of humanity.

[kitsunefyuu]

Headcanon for AFO - @psychomurderz

I also agree that he seems like someone that grew up too young likely as a result of caring for his little brother. As well as the climate during the Dawn of Quirks so there weren't any other families as even he mentioned as such in the flashback.

The comics he read with his little brother was likely an escape from reality thus why he clung to them. Until he realized his favorite character wasn't going to live. As likely he considered himself the 'badguy' before even becoming bad. Living in such an environment is likely to create someone with a more black-and-white view.

Also it one of those things where you never learn to rely on others or ask for help either. Which is likely why everyone at arm's length as never learned to be genuinely help.

However, like you I believe he wanted to do GOOD. So to speak considering the environment he likely was seeking control as a way to help. To protect himself and his only family was his first priority but his followers, while second, he did also want to protect. As it seems they genuinely adore him so I feel he does show something like genuine care.

But the reality is cruel. It isn't like the comics where 'heroes' and 'good intentions' win out. People will die, people will betray him, and the more failures the more he hardens himself. Just a bit more, just a little more and he will come out on top.

While his little brother can only see that this whole organization is TWISTING the brother he cared about. Or maybe he was always this twisted. The smiles his brother had weren't genuine but his brother was obsessed with his idea. He refused to stop but instead got paranoid of his brother's well-being.

Leading to him shutting his brother into a vault, literally! In his mind it likely because he thinks he can fix their relationship after. That everything would be ok as long as doesn't get emotional about it.

Then his brother escapes... Then he dies but not just die. It is very much his own fault and likely it is what killed most of his humanity.

Like his soul had just been scooped out just running on autopilot toward a goal that likely felt hollow. Pursuing the quirk, the only remaining piece of his little brother. Even if likely didn't fully understand about vestige it all he got.

This man feels like he basically lived as a corpse likely the doctor's research helped him keep going but might have wanted to quit. 200-years is a long time for someone who is in fact human. He wished to be dehumanized, to be seen as a monster, because then they won't attack the things he cares about. Then he become a real one when had nothing.

...Which makes the DFO theory if it is true, be something he hadn't expected to occur. In Izuku's name, he was called the long-awaited son just like Hisashi's name is a long time ago. Likely it was started with evil intentions if Inko a Shimura, he likely thought he could bail-

Only to realize no. He can't just give them up and that likely is terrifying as well as joyful. For a man who had thought he lost his humanity, that all he wanted was his brother's quirk and world domination. NOW there is a purpose beyond that.

And it's why he got Tomura and became active. And the hatred he feels for All Might only growing.

He's a lost, delusional, and unhappy man. Who is seeking his own happiness desperately but at the same time blind to it. Instead causing more harm and pain even to loved ones because is too selfish to give up anything.

And I'm excited to learn more about this man.

[solradguy]

Mr. Badguy I have a question as a guilty gear lore baby. I have been told sol/ky is problematic and I do not know why I fear. Could you please explain

Oh boy. I'm probably not the best person to ask about what ships are and aren't problematic because I honestly... just don't have the energy to care about it that much, it's like infinitely easier to block/blacklist and then move on. I don't know how people have the free time to get as worked up about it as they do.

Anyway. So, Ky's age before Missing Link (the earliest in the timeline of the games' stories) is generally the biggest problem. He was 20 in ML and a teenager through the Crusades. I think he was probably at least 18 near the end of the Crusades right before Sol left but that's pushing it. Anything with Ky and Order Sol's bad weird. I won't argue that at all, Ky was a kid and Sol was very much an adult, on top of the physical and mental power imbalance between them. Not good. Luckily, I really only see HOS/Ky stuff from the really early fandom (<2006) and IIRC their ages were still pretty vague back then so I'm just gonna chalk it up to no one knowing, especially in the EN fandom where it was a lot harder to find/get official information.

Between Missing Link to like late GGX/early GGXX I don't see what the problem with shipping them then is; they were both adults at that point and there wasn't even the power dynamic between them that there was during their Holy Order days. This, I think, really just comes down to personal reasons for not liking it. Which is fair.

After GGXX it gets... complicated.... Ky marries Sol's daughter but it's vague on when exactly Sol pieced it together that he even had a kid and that it was Dizzy, of all people. Ky definitely did not know she was Sol's kid until at least like partway through Xrd, when they both kind of put the pieces together and had a crisis over it. So shipping them after this point, between the timelines of Overture through Strive, you've got the issue of Sol now being Ky's father-in-law.

But the canon never straight up says Dizzy is Sol's kid (it is VERY HEAVILY implied though) and Sol and Ky both end up being dads together for Sin...?? It's like ASW is playing gay chicken with whether or not Sol and Ky are still shippable from an ethical standpoint lol Whatever that saying is about having a cake and eating it too, etc.

I saw the email for this ask this morning and I presented the Sol/Ky situation to my mom as if they were real people (she doesn't know anything about GG) and she was like, "That's a hell of a love triangle but I guess if the guy (Ky) and the daughter (Dizzy) got divorced and the daughter is alright with it, and it's consensual between the men, then it's weird but it's not as bad as some other relationships I've seen."

That's kind of how I feel about it too...? It's messy as fuck lmfao But I guess if there's a way to like write it so that Dizzy doesn't end up needing lifetime therapy then like... go for it....? I guess....???

I don't ship Sol/Ky because I think their dynamic is WAAAYYYY more interesting keeping them as rivals-turned-friends, and I like Dizzy too much; there's too big a chance of her ending up getting completely devastated by it. But as far as "problematic" Guilty Gear ships go, Sol/Ky's in the like... "People are wasting time arguing about this?" tier, imo. It being Thee biggest GG ship throughout the series' entire history is something to be considered, too. It's unavoidable, even the official art contributes sometimes. I often wonder why they decided to make it weird by throwing Dizzy into the mix because I know that, from digging through old forum archives, that change made a lot of people furious hahah

Disclaimer because the reading comprehension on this website is abysmal: I DON'T SHIP SOL/KY. IT'S FUNNY AS A JOKE BECAUSE IT'S AWKWARD BUT I DON'T SHIP IT IN SERIOUS CONTEXTS BECAUSE IT'S JUST NOT THAT GREAT A SHIP AND THE FATHER-IN-LAW THING MAKES ME A LITTLE UNCOMFORTABLE.

[cainfortea]

Ep7 Siuan Changes

I'm going to preface this by mentioning this is going to be full book spoilers. Also, while this may read as a defense, it's less of that and more of an exploration of the changes made and what avenues that they open up going forward in a way to internalize what happened in the show and to look for silver linings. I'm not really SOLD on the big change here. But so far the show has shown that they're usually thinking ahead on these changes so I'll just have to wait and see. Book spoilers here on.

Part The First - This episode was bigly about making the hard choices you think are right. Anvaere does it with Barthanes, talks about how that's Moiraine operates. And nothing Siuan says is incorrect. Moiraine absolutely failed in her part. And instead of changing tack (sailing metaphor), or at least telling Siuan so they can come up with someone else to take her place, she hid that knowledge and tried to go it alone. Part Deux - Character Involvement. The books in general, and this show especially, is being driven by our attachment to the characters. Later on in the series, when Siuan is helping Egwene become the Amyrlin, she mentions her failings. How she just ran roughshod over people. By doing things the way they did in the show, it's a lot more direct. When (if) she says something like that in the show, we're going to remember that scene specifically because of how much it impacts Moiraine and Siuan as people. Number Three - In the books, the tower coup comes as a surprise. That seemed a very extreme reaction. In the show, it'll be easier to show exactly how it goes down. She even spells it out. "Tower law says we cage the Dragon Reborn". Well, she failed. Now the Coup is going to be a direct result of stuff we saw on screen. Gone Too Far Four - To me, the tower split was very much set up as a good guy/bad guy split. The deposing of Siuan happened under circumstances that went against tower rules in the vote to remove her, and so everyone who stayed is already compromised. Weather out of fear, or a feeling that a whole tower is more important in these times, every Aes Sedai who stayed compromised themselves. How they all deal with those feelings and whatever self deceptions they use, happens a lot in their heads. Which is harder to do on a TV show. This way, it's clear. Now when the split happens, they can do it along the lines of "While Siuan was deposed legally, we really don't think a Red should be Amyrlin just right now, she is definitely going to fuck this up". Which is a lot easier to explain on screen and paint a group with a wide brush. 4.5 - Very similar to 4 but in a legally distinct manner, once the tower is healed, in the books, a big part of bringing them together is Egwene making the rebels apologize for rebelling. Which always seemed like a weird cop out to me. In the books, as I mentioned, the split seemed very much a goodguy/badguy split. And this solution is just some posturing that seemed very centrist in a "Doesn't acknowledge the actual problem but makes a bunch of people feel better" kind of way. By making it an idealogical split, the rebels actually would be rebels. So this scene would play off better.

Five - A part of Siuan's later story is her coming to grips with her failure. And while, yes it is true the captain of a ship that mutinies is 100% responsible for that mutiny, we never really see the lead up to it in the books. Now, we're there with her as she does it. Should she have trusted Moiraine like she had almost her whole life? Should she have remembered how to embrace Saidar and realized she can't force the water? (In this part i'm pretty sure it's no accident that she compares Rand to the Water that Turns the Wheel). These are things we'll be seeing her wrestle with in the future. Maybe.

[broken-clover]

SolAxl Week(ish)- Day 6

Not only late but skipping a prompt! I do intend to come back to it, it's just that the plot kinda spiraled out of control so if I want to consider finishing this thing in less than a month or more I better just step around the mess and come back to it.

Also going back to being typical of me. Tis simply how I do. I did take partial inspiration from the respiratory infection I got over the original ship week that made it too difficult to have everything done on time. Idk for some reason I just found it funny

6- Ghost Hunter AU, Sick Day, Drinking Together

-

Soup. Soup was supposed to be good for this kinda thing, wasn’t it? Probably not all that much, honestly, but one of those things that made people feel like it was?

(Whatever. It hadn’t been his area of expertise, even before. As he’d often scoff to his relatives as they clamored for his advice, he wasn’t that kind of doctor.)

Swiftly growing frustrated from staring at shelves, Sol simply grabbed a handful of basics and dumped them on the checkout counter. For what it was worth, the cashier only flinched a little at the sight and sound of him barging up.

“Find everything okay today, mister?”

Sol grunted. “Jus’ getting the essentials.”

“Looks like. Feeling okay? Your voice sounds a little rough.”

“Nah. That’s just a century’s worth of smoking. Gettin’ em ‘cause he ain’t going out himself.”

“Ah, that totally makes sense, I’d- “ He watched her visibly process the statement. She opened her mouth to speak, but seemingly thought better of it. “Well, they’re lucky to have you. Cash or card?”

Something about this sorta thing still didn’t feel quite right. Sol Badguy didn’t do the ‘domestic’ schtick. He was supposed to be out slumming it in the woods and hunting bounties, not doing medicine cabinet runs. It didn’t matter how much he hated scrounging for his own food and not having access to running water, part of him still struggled to deal with this shift in environment. Oftentimes, Axl was one of the few things to make the transition feel a little less jarring, but, well…

Sol used his hands just enough to twist the handle before doing the rest with a hip. “Hey, you up?”

And not an inch moved since he’d left. Their old sofa currently housed a heap of frayed blue fabric in the vague, sad shape of a man. Or a sad great dane. Or, if he squinted, a sad small pony. Sol watched it shift around at the sound of his voice.

“M’back. Got the stuff for ya. Most of it, at least.” He rustled the bag. “Cherry was the kind you were allergic to, right?”

The heap shifted again. Sol grabbed a handful of blanket, and, once he was somewhat sure there wasn’t any hair attached, he tugged it up until a miserable-looking face peered back at him.

“Mornin’, princess. How ya feeling?”

“...’ucks, -ief.”

He understood it enough. “Yeah, I figure. Was gonna buy you a whiteboard or something, but they didn’t have anything. Can get a pen if you want.”

Axl tried to scowl at him, but as soon as his lips wrinkled, it sent him into another coughing fit. As gently as he could manage, Sol thumped him on the back until it subsided. He watched the man shudder and sink back into his blanket cocoon.

“Y’know I was serious, right?” Sol found a spot to squeeze himself in and sit. “Gonna be honest, I’m kinda thrown off by it. Never seen you this quiet ever. Can’t wait ‘til this thing clears out and you can talk my ear off again.”

“Hhhh.” He took a bag of cough drops as they were offered, tearing it open and stuffing a hand in. “‘anks.”

Meanwhile, Sol kept digging through the bag, pulling a can of beer for himself and juice for his couchmate. Axl sent him a funny look, but took it anyway, tossing a couple of cough drops in his mouth before taking a swig.

Spotting something as it poked out from the blanket folds, Sol gave it a few tugs before finding himself in possession of the television remote. “Huh. Let’s see if there’s something stupid on.”

That got him another weird look. “What, don’t wanna? Though it’d take your mind off things.”

No, that didn’t seem like it was it. He watched Axl try to form a reply, but all that came out were raspy half-words that didn’t make much sense. He gestured vaguely at Sol, still not making much of a comprehensible point.

“You wanna watch something specific…?” Asked Sol, continuing to absentmindedly channel-surf.

“No! -onna- “ Clearly growing frustrated at his lack of success, Axl yanked at his hair and shoved the other man’s shoulder. “Sick!” He gestured to himself.

“Yeah? I know you’re sick, dumbass…” Oh. “You worried about me?”

” -es!” It almost came out as a coherent word, and in exchange, back he went to coughing.

“Tch, well ain’t you sweet.” Sol pressed a warm hand against his partner’s back and kneaded the skin at the base of his neck. Nah, ‘m not worried. Gear, remember? Overclocked immune system.”

“Mmph…” Satisfied, but still annoyed, Axl pulled the blankets back over his head. He flopped against Sol and took another sip of juice.

The Gear continued on in his search until he found something suitably stupid-looking, some kinda slapstick public-access cartoon. With his free hand, he patted the top of Axl’s blanket cocoon. “Lucky you, means you can hang off me all ya want. Free pass.”

Though he expected Axl would immediately take the opportunity and latch on, for now he seemed completely content to use him as a leaning rock and a source of heat. Huh. That sick, then. As much as Sol liked to roll his eyes at Axl’s overly-energetic nature and nonstop chatter, he missed it sorely as soon as it was gone. He hoped it wouldn’t be much more than a few days longer, then Axl would go back to being the cheery nuisance that Sol knew and loved.

[deydenier]

how abt ritsu kageyama for the character thing!

Anon you have opened a can of worms. Here it is!

The transcript down below because god knows this is unreadable. I am so sorry. TLDR: i get him now. He's literally #me

TRANSCRIPT:

RITSU. ok ritsu. this one can go very personal so ill explain a few things first. ive only RECENTLY liked ritsu because i honest to god see so much of myself and my relationships i have irl in him. first time i read the clean up arc (i was 15) i was like. "why would he do this. wtf" it was bc THAT was his method of achieving catharsis and just. cleanup arc in general was my least fav part of mp100 but now im like. oh. i get it. i get why he "acted up" the way he did. the way that the expectations ppl around him has put on him as being "the good kid" etc etc and how suffocating that was for him its just that going AGAINST that preconception for him felt freeing. and how he thought that this is it. this is my villain arc. my #badguy arc. he was letting all his pent up emotions out and he thought he was morally reprehensible for it (not to say that his methods was good in any way. ofc not.) ritsu in the clean up arc is the "why does everyone ask why i caused that problem? why doesnt anyone ask how was the catharsis? was it good? was it fun?" post.

the stress and guilt from the clean up and the pent up emotions he has w mob exploded and he let all of it out and it felt freeing and horrible and then it was all swept away after the confrontation w mob and scar and the later apology in the 7th division. its like almost all pretenses he kept up with mob was gone and they can finally speak to each other as brothers without feeling like treading on thin ice. i genuinely cannot get into how much i like and how much i see myself in him without getting too personal (and if my interpretation of him is different from the fandoms then sorry lmao i dont read meta on him a lot)

i genuinely love his overarching plot with mob and coming to terms his insecurities and inferiority complex, never feeling enough, dismissing his accomplishments bc thats not what he thinks as accomplishments, his once strained relationship with mob, his fear for and towards him, and the conclusion to all that in the finale. amazing. showstopping. and even with all that he cares for mob so much and im like. im genuinely glad that theyre able to speak to each other more candidly without treading on thin ice etc etc etc.

i also love his parallels w shou about the fear of a family member going too far. how it leads you to put up defenses to keep them calm or in shous case to stop them from going too far. my god. this is long. sorry LOL

[guiltygearconfessions]

sorry if this ends up sending twice because i got an error the first time. love what you do op i'm sorry you've become a front for several wars.

"people finding bridget annoying is a red flag" tbh shut up. what is up with new-with-strive fans in particular trying to make everything into some kind of moral statement. bridget means a lot to me as a transgender moron of vague alignment, especially how they fixed her up from being both a highly transphobic stereotype and an INSANELY sexualized child. i think about her now and it puts flutters in my heart…When I'm not being forced to see 1,000 pieces of fanart that reduce her to a flat cardboard cutout of a tarns woman doing shit that she literally never would. Or am being forced to see a seventh or eighth figure of her when Sol Fucking Badguy barely has shit (and DON'T say "well it's good that sol doesn't have any merchandise because um ah um he isn't transgender!!" if you're going to play that card i'm going to say "why does the white woman take precedent against the brown man protagonist that you think you just have the right to ignore?", an opinion that i don't really care all that much about but will still bite back with.

i'm annoyed with bridget's massive presence mostly because a lot of her Big Hits fan-content wise embody a complete lack of willingness to actually dive into what guilty gear has to offer when it comes to its lore and moving pieces. she's a wonderful part of the world but she is one of the. MANY. characters that embody daisuke's mission of "i want to make characters that underrepresented people can see themselves as happy in" (roughly quoted from that ones bridget interview). considering she is the only one that ever gets pushed to the forefront it feels like willful ignorance because guilty gear is a fighting game and bridget is, as the stars align, a conventionally attractive woman with not a lot going on that the average ham and eggar gives a shit about.

I should not be surprised that this became a source of Bridget discourse, and to be frank I'm just amazed it took this long to get to it. She's already one of my top tags.

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: How would you rate the Guilty Gear StrIVe cast from weakest to strongest in terms of the story and lore?

Gameplay is excluded as it's meant to go either way regardless of the story.

In terms of story and lore!?!?

It's a little hard to exclude everything that's been "built up" from previous game story content and to simply take Strive's cast at face value... but I'll give it a try.

Honestly to me, the biggest presence in Strive is Nagoriyuki.

He's been a driving force for this game since the very first trailer.

The approach taken for Strive is very different from previous entries in Guilty Gear, so much of what has been achieved is unprecedented.

Working from Nagoriyuki backwards, you might see that what they are focusing on in this story is a "different take" from the usual "unusual" that Guilty Gear is known for.

Next up is Happy Chaos... and I DARE SAY he is Ishiwatari's dark muse this time around. Not only was he teased in Xrd Revelator, but his influence has been felt since Xrd: Sign's Opening which discussed the Backyard in its entirety.

Happy Chaos is actually a major influence to I-No's past, even if the script doesn't write it that way... looking at the story between the lines, it's not so easy to spot this fact, but it is a fact nonetheless...

Looking at I-No's drive and ambition, especially as she casually confronts Nagoriyuki at his full power, you see someone who has played at being a God for some time now, only crushed by the weight and desires of being a "normal human". (That is to say, I-No had all this power, yet she only wanted to be a Human.)

Happy Chaos impacted her life in this way, and you see it hinted at in the first few scenes of the story in the "Last One" segment, that Happy Chaos wishes to atone for his mistakes with I-No, and bring her ill fate to a close, even if he never openly admits it.

It is... somewhat of a tragic thing to say that a Villain wants to "save" another Villain, when framed in this manner.

And then of course we see the Universal Will come to confront her creator one last time, only to see he has transcended his Humanity.

Even if Ariels couldn't understand Humans, she was becoming much more like them than she ever could have realized, and the cold detachment of Happy Chaos' dismissal of the definition of what Humans are, is telling how changed he has become from his days as the Original Sage.

And let's not forget the tragedy that Happy Chaos wrought in the lives of many... not just Nagoryuki and the Crusades... or even Baiken... but also Romeo and Delilah, their lives were influenced by him in such a way that hatred was the only thing Delilah could cling to in her moments of loneliness...

That such a young child, burdened with power, just like I-No, would be forced in to such a tragic state all because of Happy Chaos, means that there is much to address, both in the past and the present of Guilty Gear's History.

And the ones who chose to help carry that burden? Sin Kiske and Ramlethal Valentine... May, Faust, and many others... all to save a little child who was cursed by a man who forgot how to be human.

Sin and Ramlethal have their own burdens, but that wasn't enough to stop them from carrying the burdens of others, was it? Life takes unique twists and turns in that regard. And we've seen the same with Sol and Ky in the past as well.

Maybe it's because Humanity has their own way of doing things, that someone like Sol Badguy can exist in this world... or maybe it's because someone like him can touch the hearts of men like Ky Kiske, Asuka R. Kreutz, and others... it's hard to fully fathom.

But Sol even saved the President... something Nagoriyuki wished he could have done for his Master... Sol was deserving of death for becoming an enemy of Peace, a bloody knight of war carrying the sins of death for a past he didn't deserve. A Gear "guilty" of killing his kin and then some.

So how can a man who was found "Guilty" become a Hero?

Goldlewis certainly doesn't have the answer to that question, and his solution was to politely ask Sol to sit in a electric chair of all things!

But then, Goldlewis isn't exactly innocent of all this "history" either.

Of course, spending all your life pretending to be a superhero tends to blur the lines between what's good and bad about history.

America wasn't sinless either... and neither was Asuka R. Kreutz.

A world at war... conflict and bitter memories harbored... such a world created Happy Chaos, created a need for his existence.

So when Happy Chaos walks in their office, launches all their nukes, destroys all the nukes... what exactly are they supposed to say to him?

China? Russia? Illyria? America???? It's like borders are a joke to Happy Chaos.

Amid the politics of all this, Happy Chaos still manages to nearly kill several innocent (or not so innocent) soldiers in the process... meanwhile King Daryl observes him, unfazed.

Even if Daryl isn't a playable character... I couldn't help but marvel at the fact he didn't flinch when a bullet wizzed past his ear in to a nearby wall. The man people say "prepares documents" with precision... impressing even the likes of Asuka (Ky and Leo being the least of them).

Even if Sol Badguy can slam Chaos in to a nearby wall to save the President... he can't fully stop Chaos' plans or ambitions... and that's later proven with I-No's transcendency in to Godhood.

Amid all the chaos in the White House, a smaller player is impacting events behind the scenes: Giovanna of the Secret Service... though she does not stand out among the other big players... she strikes at points where events are critical... and her presence is felt.

She stopped Nagoriyuki when almost none else could... and she sensed Chaos when almost none else could... she's going to be involved in the future, regardless of what we all may suspect.

When Ky reveals his trump cards to I-No... it's a sad thing to say that Ishiwatari is "bad" at telling a story.

I say that with a wry smile on my face, by the way.

Ishiwatari is "bad" at telling the "whole" story, basically... and the narrative tends to drop bombs of information or leave such out... baffling the lot of us as we continue to observe GG as a saga.

Whether it was Dragon Install or its connection to the Scales of Juno... or just the fact Sol Badguy had created a Prototype of the OutRage Mark 2 and never explained how he built it... only saying it was a "hobby"...

All of these little casual remarks on otherwise NON-casual story topics... I tend to laugh at the brazen-ness of the writers, not just Ishiwatari... for withholding so much coveted information on Guilty Gear's Lore.

And despite all of what transpires... we finally see Axl Low sitting on a park bench, finally getting his just reward to reunite with the woman of his life.

All of this "Happy" Chaos... and the man who atoned for it, the man who rewrote history to his whims... standing on a beach, proclaiming to the world his own existence...

Even if other faces appear in this grand history of a story... it's hard to say where they will be placed... Testament? Can't forget him. Bridget? No idea where they fit. Slayer? A fixture, yes, but his role? No clue.

Even if we addressed others like Elphelt, Bedman, Zato, Millia, and so on... it's hard to say with implicitness their true impact on future history in Guilty Gear's world.

Will the man with the Black Halo atone for his remaining crimes?

Or will the man in the Crimson Jacket come out of his temporary Retirement?

Or, better yet... will more players reveal themselves in this history in the making?

Once again, I ask:

WHO DARES TO ENTER THE MAYHEM?

[dafukdidiwatch]

One Piece - Episode 2

It’s actually a lot easier to review one piece now that I’m at episode 2 to be honest. I mean I still have that ping of “oh this came from the anime/manga” or “oh this is pretty different”. But I feel like it’s less prevalent now. I’ve gotten over the shock of OMG LIVE ACTION ONE PIECE GAH and now can actually see it for what it is. Another story. Which is good because Hoo Boy, they do not drop the ball in the second episode

Overview: Luffy, Zoro, and Nami discuss the Grand Line Map. But before they get anywhere with it, Buggy the Pirate Clown has captured them and forced them into his Circus Tent of Terrors to get the map back. While this is happening, Commander Garp is investigating the theft of the map back at Morgan’s Marine Base, and meets a nervous wreck of a cadet Koby just trying to get through his first day. 

So let’s start off with the obvious

Buggy is a nightmare

Holy Shit I mean I know people don’t like Clowns, but they went hard on his craziness. How everyone, even his own crew, is tip toeing on eggshells around this guy. He’s maniacal. Huge inflated sense of self worth and grandiose. Also a psychopath that let people keep their Hands so they can Applaud on cue To Him. Anime was all “ha ha giggles he’s clown wait uh oh he’s actually dangerous”. Naw they ain’t pulling that shit here. Buggy is a threat. Always a threat. 100% destroys everything and tortures everyone to get what he wants. He has some goofy moments like being a dumbass and punching glass like a moron, but he’s 100% Capital B Bad Guy for the entire thing. 

(Which got to say, I was lowkey waiting for Luffy to flip him off. No reason why, I just thought it would be funny at that moment.)

I have mixed feelings on the Buggy-Luffy “join me” type of deal. On the one hand, didn’t really like Buggy calling Luffy an outcast. He isn’t tho. Not like Buggy gave a shit since his whole goal is to mettle for the map. But Luffy wasn’t outcasted or a freak. He’s too happy-go-lucky to let insults like that impact him. And look there, Luffy never really gave into Buggy because yeah he knows who he is and is confident about that. So that felt a bit Meh to me. 

On the other hand, I liked how they handled the parallels between Child!Luffy and Shanks and Current!Luffy and Buggy. Shanks fought the bandits, defended his friends, literally lost an arm to help his kid. And Luffy took those lessons to heart, defends Shanks and his honor, says the same line about hurting his friends against Buggy with Known History to Shanks. The Antithesis if you will. For the live action episode, that felt well written and excellently handled, especially for an audience that might not have seen One Piece before. 

Also the Shanks Fight to get Luffy was super cool. Love seeing the crew in action and beating/killing all the bandits. A little lowkey sad that they didn’t keep the “guns aren’t for threats they’re for action” and the “Fair? What do you mean fair, we’re pirates” line. Those were great lines that really highlight that they are still hardened fighters/pirates that do still kill. But they kept the “Hurt me but not my friends” line so that’s acceptable. 

Sea King animation was terrifying and really cool. Love to see that in action, and we got to see basically Shanks using power of will against the monster to fuck off. Best, love it. Also laughed a bit when I saw Shanks arm just flying into the ocean after the Sea King’s first strike. It’s in the middle of the screen if you pay attention to it. I just thought it was a funny bit that the Sea King didn’t actually eat it, just tore it off. 

Keep rolling with the badguys here, Cabuji coming in with vengeance exposition backstory about how Zoro hunted down him and his brother and killed the brother for a bounty. Tells how badass Zoro is, shows how stoic, serious, and snarky Zoro is in the face of torture and death. Like they are locked in the circus prop section, this entire set up is really good. But I’m just sitting here thinking that Zoro didn’t track them for shit, he got his ass lost for 20 miles and kept running into those guys accidentally. I don’t know if or when the live action would ever touch on Zoro’s shitty sense of direction, but I hope they do. I’m just waiting for that reveal moment. 

I’m glad they are still keeping the mistrust and traitor vibes with Nami here. She never said she’s part of the crew, she tried to dip as soon as she could with outing Luffy’s powers. She hated the devastation that pirates made in the town, while also sneaky enough to have 4 different lockpicking sets. Love a girl bastard and thief. Especially the end hints of her having *le gasp* a secret corresponder snail working for someone! Oh That’s gonna be so good when we get to it. 

Another small thing about Luffy while I’m talking about the crew: Is it weird I find Luffy too smart? I mean, yeah his first instinct was to eat the map. But he’s rubber, his stomach can literally stretch. And the best place to hide something is on your person. Also he figured out the boxes and getting rid of body parts in reality that smart grab was Nami’s ploy. Though I guess the writers thought it would be best to make Luffy a bit more competent than just the original dumbass he was. Maybe the audience wouldn’t latch onto him as much or something. 

But I did love how Luffy states he’s “a different kind of pirate”. Still a pirate. 100% still a pirate. But not the pillaging or destroying kind. The “I can help my friends out just via violence” type. Not afraid to fight, won’t stand rules, just wants to do his own thing without hurting everyone. Given Nami’s stated mistrust on pirates, as well as the rest of the town, it’s nice that we have Luffy to be that distinction of a better pirate. 

Clown outfits and costumes were really on point. Like the design production went all out to make sure everyone is as wacky and crazy as One Piece is known to be. It’s a bit too bad that we don’t actually see all the clowns fight in one go. Like having Zoro kill/defeat them all offscreen felt like a waste. But the core of this episode was definitely focused on Buggy and Buggy v. Luffy. So it makes sense that they don’t want to…share the spotlight. (see I can make bad circus jokes too)

They’re also giving Garp and Koby a bigger spot in the series too. Anime/Manga we sort of forget about Koby until well after a lot of arcs. But now they are tying his story to Garp about Koby trying to be a Marine like how he wanted. He’s a lot more timid with being a marine though. And Garp, really threatening. In the “I’m a powerhouse and we all know this but I’m still polite” type of way. Still like him, and the live action has this as the parallel of “Luffy Pirates” v “Koby Marines” so two sides of the same coin. 

Too bad we didn’t see Morgan going down either. Or how Helmeppo spontaneously became a Cadet while Morgan was still in charge. But that goes under the “clowns killed offscreen” bit. 

Overall, really good horror circus vibes here. All the fight scenes were on point and clever. They are still blending in a lot of the original source material while making smart and fun changes to the story. And my sister wants to blast through the episodes because she just wants to get to the Sanji bits lol. So stay tuned!

[maguro13-2]

Slayer is Back

Slayer : Sol Badguy. It's good to see you again.

Sol : Slayer. It's been so long man, I haven't seen you in ages. Heard that you're done with the biting your wife thing.

Slayer : I was, after I eaten her so many times during my intros. I made mistakes and I found out that...I decided to forfeit my appetite on her since she discovered that she was going to get pregnant for the exchage I did.

Sol : Really? You haven't been that gone since the 2000s, anyways, what got you all spooked for one reason that it's official for having your return, are you going to bite someone else?

Slayer : No, but there is one solution about biting my victims to suck the blood out like I'm count dracula, he hasn't shown his face since the belmonts defeated him a million times over. Look, can we agree that is going to be a reunion since I left GG, anyway, I wonder how Guilty Gear will today...?

[Ed Edd n Eddy : Lunchroom Rumble BGM : What a Mess]

Slayer : Wow...Everything changed for Guilty Gear. Well perhaps that we can work things, I am really dying out right now.

Elphelt : Oh cool! A vampire!

Slayer : Wow, who's that? Some kind of kid of yours? I hope you don't mind tying a knot with someone, do you? Hahahaha-*WHIP!* AHH! What the hell was that for!?

Elphelt : I've waited for this moment for this to come, and I never beaten a vampire in my life, this is exactly my time to do something.

Sol : Hey, Elpehlt! Where did you get that?

Elphelt : I found it online! I wanted to whip something like this, this going to be a super BDSM, I never been this prepared and I wanted rare now!

Slayer : Woah, woah! Before you can go off easily, I will give you a demonstration on sucking the life out of you. I have never faced new opponents before and I will know you that you will die exactly in the same spot.

Elphelt : Works for me.

Sol : I think you should take it easy with that thing.

Slayer : Let's get it on, shall we. I'm just getting started. [laughs]

Elphelt : Okay! [She whips him twice in the groin]

Slayer : Oh! Oh! You hit me in the d*ck-Ah! [Elphelt whips his him in the face] You son of a b*tch-Ow! [Elphelt whips his him in the face] The d*ck! [Elphelt whips his upper body] I'm the mast-[Elphelt whips him in the groin and then his face, knocking his pipe out] Okay, seriously! She's need to getting into character! I don't want to fight a girl who's crazed to do this against me. I'm finding another opponent.

*WHIP!*

Slayer : OW! What's with that girl!? Can't you do something for anything that isn't about this!? I needed to get up and not go all crazy for this type of fight! Guys! Do something! I'm being overkilled by this girl!

Sol : Ehhh...

Nagoriyuki : Not on your life, sir.

Slayer : Oh come on! At least you're gonna some respect!

Elphelt : Come on, batty! Where do you think you're going!? I wanna get into action whipping a vampire in the butt! This is kinda fun!

Slayer : No, it isn't. *whipping* OW! OW! OW! OW! WHY DID I EVER RETURNED FOR THIS!?! [grunting]

Sol : So do you have any idea how a girl would make her a sadist for using a thing for a weapon of choice?

Nagoriyuki : Could be a fetish thing.

Slayer : Just tell me how to stop this crazy thing!?

"later..."

Slayer's wife/Sharon : Hey, hon'. How was work today? What happened to you?

Slayer : You do not want to know about it.

[iris out]

~ IT'S GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK, SLAYER! ~

[knightotoc]

Headcanons for Why There are No Aliens in Andor

I know the real reason is that aliens wouldn’t fit the non-whimsical tone of the show, which is the same reason there aren’t any aliens in Rogue One. It would have been impressive if they were able to nail the serious tone with aliens, as the Obi-Wan show does with the fascist neighbor star-nosed mole. But the mole was a uniquely grounded alien; Star Wars aliens usually represent a (sinful) trait that can be more exaggerated (Chewie is really oafish, Yoda is really hermitic, Jabba is really greedy) from the human point of view. Andor’s strength comes from multiple realistic points of view bouncing off each other, and there’s just not enough room for a weirdo in there.

But it is still possible to come up with in-universe reasons for why each particular setting in this show would lack aliens, so here are my attempts:

1. Cassian’s prison, Narkina 5

In TCW S4E15 “Deception,” we get a glimpse of the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center, which is segregated by gender but not by species. Security is lax (or at least incompetent) and there is no suggestion that the prisoners are engaged in any serious labor beyond food fights and getting cremated (?!). 

15 years later, we see the cruel evolution of the justice system under the Empire in Narkina 5. Prisoners are now segregated by species as well and forced into hard labor under intense security. The additional segregation could be a strategic decision by the Empire to increase not only terror but productivity. As demonstrated in the show, human men, with their great numbers and average height of 5′6″, are most suited for mass producing mattress-sized fidget spinners. One shudders at the thought of what tasks the Empire assigns at the Twi’lek women’s prison (save them, Hera!).

2. Cassian’s adopted planet, Ferrix

Ferrix’s human-exclusive culture is technically not a result of the Empire itself, but of a nominally independent corporation called Preox-Morlana. Since Pre-Mor was a business (past tense because Syril goofed it up), it probably ran Ferrix like a 19th-century company town. Just as the workers of Pullman, Illinois received housing and cute churches as long as they worked hard and didn’t unionize, the miners of Ferrix might also have been subject to similarly arbitary rules, including discrimination against aliens. When the Empire takes over Ferrix, I can’t imagine integration is going to be a priority, because...

3. Dedra’s ISB and Syril’s IBS (hehe)

...the Empire’s workplaces have been human-exclusive since the beginning. While Andor spends an above-average amount of time in the disgusting bowels of the imperial sausage machine, the impression has always been of a Leni-Riefenstahl-style mass of conformity. Individual aliens sometimes creep into lower-budget niches, but even Thrawn fans have to admit that the Empire’s heavy-handed real-world analogy is a lot scarier than a blue mansplainer. I appreciate that Andor is getting the Empire back to its banally evil roots, since I’ve never liked the idea of the Inquisitors. But Andor’s brutal innovation is that, while past productions would alleviate the bleakness of the badguys with the silliness of the good, Andor’s goodguys aren’t silly at all. Some aren’t even good.

4. Mon Mothma’s miserable penthouse parties

The worst of these goodguys are the privileged rich people who fund the rebellion while pretending to play ball with the fascists in power. I admire and pity these characters, but they are living in a different world than the bloodied pawns on the ground. And yet, their world is also devoid of aliens. (I am holding out hope that Davo Sculdun is Hondo Ohnaka in disguise.)

While the original trilogy never showed aliens in positions of galactic power, the prequels did: the Jedi Council and the Separatist Council were especially integrated with aliens, and there were alien Senators as well. Though the Clone Wars was not technically between humans and aliens, it often looked like it was, so it can’t have been easy to be an alien on Coruscant after the Separatists lost -- certainly not in the fashionable circles. It is sad to imagine Mon putting aside invitations to her fancy old alien friends because they would not be welcome in post-Mission-to-Mustafar society.

Star Wars has never leaned into anti-alien discrimination, which I am grateful for since it is located in the uncomfortable tonal space between dramatic and goofy that is the rightful domain of Star Trek. If Andor does try to pull something like that off, I’ll tip my hat; but if Andor just continues to pretend that aliens don’t exist, I’ll understand.

[solarsavoy]

Fandom Saturday, My Hero Academia

I finally watched it. I watched MHA.

I can't say I regret putting it off for so long. It's not a bad show, and one of the ways this show really shines is how thorough the author was at considering the different types of powers, "quirks", could be utilized in different situations. However, I do have a really big gripe with this show.

Sometimes, the god hand used in the writing is so blatantly obvious it's annoying.

Two vital moments come to mind for this, but first I'll give you a warning...

***SPOILERS***

The first one is when Izuku meets All For One, indirectly. So we have this team of kids and I really appreciate that they make these kids super powerful, but also don't make them super badass in all situations. AKA, it never makes Izuku out to be the most powerful person from the getgo. He works for it, and you see the potential, but he makes so many mistakes that you can see how badly he's going to fail before he goes and fails gloriously. Very important when creating OP characters. Part of this is the overwhelming fear these kids have just being in the presence of the biggest baddie that they show.

So, we have this group of kids wandering around to try and see if they can save their friend Bakugo. Okay, makes sense, and they all have their own reasons for going. Iida is making sure they aren't all being stupid. Kirishima can't just abandon his best friend. Albeit one-sided, Izuku can't abandon his friend either, and he blames himself for it. Yaoyorozu is the one that made the device, and also joins to keep the others in check. But... why the hell was Todoroki there?

I'll tell you why, simply because the author needed him there to help pull off the stunt they did.

And maybe some of you will point out that he has a reason, that he feels guilty because he was paired with Bakugo when he got kidnapped, but they just glossed over it like it didn't matter. Well guess what, it fucking matters. You don't just spend an entire episode deeply analyzing everyone's reasons for going to save Bakugo and then not include Todoroki's with the same depth and weight. For all I know, he went because he "felt like it", which is such a copout on the writer's part. He was barely utilized throughout that entire part of the show, except for the "absolutely necessary" involvement at that one particular moment?

I'll tell you another reason the writers did that, fan service. That was all it was. That's it. 😒

Another time they do that is when they face Overhaul.

So, you got Aizawa because you really should have him there otherwise you won't be able to take down the badguy, which makes sense, but then I imagine they thought it'd "take all the fun out of the fight", so they needed a way to incapacitate them. Okay, so the building starts to collapse because of the fight, and for the entire duration, instead of a number of other things they could've kept him busy with, Chronostasis makes him super slow and just sits there the whole time because Overhaul "might" be interested in him. No tying Aizawa up, no taking him anywhere, just "sitting and waiting for help".

... What??

But you want to know why they did that? Because they needed Aizawa to stop Eri from erasing Izuku from existence later! So they used Chronostasis to hold Aizawa hostage just long enough for the battle to get really really interesting and only released him at the last second because otherwise you got no more Izuku.

🙄

These were just the ones that stuck out to me the most, and like I said, it's infuriatingly obvious that the characters are just there because the writers needed them there at that particular moment. They also have a habit of making characters have certain quirks just because they needed them for a particular scene to work the way they wanted, just for the character to never be seen or heard from again. (Like Chronostasis. >.>) And there are entirely too many characters in this anime. They literally have more characters than episodes and it's nearly impossible to keep up with them all.

Anyway, more good stuff because I don't hate the anime, I just get frustrated by it sometimes.

It didn't start out this way, but I like how relatable or endearing the villains are. I only watched up to the end of season 5 (saving season 6 for when I can watch it all in one sitting) and just with those final episodes, I find that Shigaraki is very interesting. Imagine his father's hate for his own mother was so strong that it manifested Shigaraki's power of decay and his insatiable need to destroy everything. Just the possibilities themselves are fascinating. And then I'm also a sucker for Todoroki and his whole backstory. 😏

But I like how not everything is black and white and there's this underlying battle centered around the perception of powers going on too. Anyway, I wouldn't say I'm a hardcore fan by any means, but I can see a lot of the reasons it's a really popular fandom. It's more than just another hero story.

And that's it for today! But also, I'm attaching my Todoroki pic because posts with pictures always do better and I'm so absolutely in love with how it came out. ^^

Have a good day!

[malewifehenrycooldown]

i know i've liked. just disappeared for a large chunk of time, but I promised there is good reason for that. I've been busy writing up Griselda's profile, but I can share some details about her + their role in the series's story mode for certain games:

Spoilers for Guilty Gear and Guilty Gear 2 Overture

TW for some mentions of manipulative behavoiur and brainwashing (Griselda is the one being manipulated for the most part)

small notice: Griselda uses she/her, they/them and xe/xem pronouns!

Tagging: @teddybear-selfshipping, @gravistone, @szayelinx, @magnoliaeclaiir

Griselda was a high ranking magic user and member of the Holy Order and participated in the Crusades to defend Humanity against the overwhelming forces of Gears.

Her main weapon is a big giant fuck off sword that is infused with magic and can transform into any other type of bladed or bludgeoning weapon. It's called 'The Reznor'. [reference to Tre..nt Rez..nor of Nin...e In..ch Na..ils fame]

throughout the series her attire is somewhat based on/influenced by the gothic lolita fashion style that's popular in Japan - opts to wear dresses in the middle of a serious fight.

Bumped heads a lot with Sol Badguy when he joined the Holy Order. However as time went on, their hostility began to weaken and slowly began to become actual friends

Sees Ky Kiske as a younger brother, and while they do mostly get along, they don't necessarily view the world the same way. Ky is an idealist and optimist, Griselda is a cynic when it comes to the future (opting to view the future through the 'realistic' outcomes and events). Sometimes that clash of ideas can cause conflict.

She was sent out on a solo mission to destroy a specific Gear-Class that was weak to her magic, but xe never came back from that mission. There was a funeral in her honor, but some people believed that she's still alive but just took the mission to run away from the Holy Order (despite that being a very OOC thing for her)

Griselda does become part gear, although this occurs after being cursed by an individual who claimed to know the location of the Gear she was tasked to find and kill.

Becoming part Gear, gave her... many physical changes, particularly her hair changed colour and became blonde for some reason, but also gained some form of abilities that can be described as werewolf physiology, with a dash of immense physical strength, agility, stamina and heightened senses. She's also a lot more aggressive compared to when she was a human.

Like Sol Badguy's Dragon Infusion, she can tap into part of these powers that give her a more monstrous werewolf/beast like form. this is called 'Moonlight Infusion' for simplicity's sake.

Upon becoming part gear, and the fact that this is during the Crusades, Griselda ends up being controlled by Justice - and when Justice finds out that she can control a human-gear hybrid, she opts to make the measly human her 'Bodyguard' .

When rumors of Justice having a bodyguard (Griselda) go around, they refer to the bodyguard as 'The Golden Wolf'

When Justice was finally sealed in 2173, Griselda hides away to Ganymede and hides there, mostly in shame of her actions of assisting Justice and the destruction of her own kind.

Dr Paradigm is one of the few independent gears who does not look down upon the former human. he invites her over in a simple act of kindness, then she aids him in some science experiments or finding scientific research material from the human world. this routine would eventually become one of Griselda's long lasting and stable friendships.

In the first Guilty Gear game, when Griselda gets word of the Second Holy Order Selection Tournament and how they are offering the winner any wish they want, she attends the tournament, hoping to reverse the curse's affects and go back to normal.

However she gets beaten in the tournament, ironically being defeated by Sol. However when Justice is seemingly brought back by Testament, the commander-class Gear's orders kick back in and she faces off Sol again.

Something something, Sol puts the pieces together and realises that this part gear, part human is Griselda and is able to get through to her and change her mental state into one that's no longer under Justice's control. However after Justice is defeated again by Sol, Griselda is already gone as she heads back to Ganymede, not wanting to mingle with people from her past life.

In GG 2 Overture, the disappearance of notable Gears forces the roads of Sol Badguy's and Griselda's life to cross paths to confront and solve the issue of Valentine and The Cube in a place known as The Backyard. It is then the two finally confront each other, and finally Sol and Ky are given answers as to what happened on that Solo Mission Griselda took. Eventually they all work together to solve the issue at hand, and bring back the missing gears.

Ky offers Griselda a place to stay in Illyria, and offers her a spot on his political council as he believes that having someone who is human AND part gear could help him achieve or at least make it easier for Gears and Humans to co-exist together in harmony. Griselda is hesitant about this because they have for the most of their life been played as the puppet to a much larger more powerful figure - but Ky insists that he wants xyr council, xyr opinion on political matters even if they go against Ky's own views.

xe accepts his offer but under the condition that Sol Badguy is commission to make Griselda her own version of the Gear Cell Suppressor as to not just hide her physical characteristics that give her away as being 'a gear', but to also keep a lid/cap on her powers of which she still doesn't fully understand or know how to control.

Despite Griselda having been Justice's puppet, she does not hold any ill will against Dizzy. Dizzy is only trying to exist peacefully in a world that fears her.

[xxlordalexanderxx]

(I'm a fan of how you portray the badguy-ness of him. It's not easy to do that without coming off as a dick, and at the same time done right you can create real conflict for other characters that just drives more interesting narratives. It's really hard to make a character be selfish as hell and still fun to interact with, but for you it seems like second nature.)

(I'm also a fan of your creative works here. You have excellent writing quality and a very colorful, fun, and monstrous art style that's a pleasure to see around.)

(I used to do RPing here a lot back in 2016, and since then I've tried dipping my toes back into the space but the hardest part every time has been trying to find other people to write with, especially as an OC blog. I'm quite pleased to have been able to add someone as cool as you to my collection this time around.)

Thank you~! I’ve been RPing since 2006, since early high school, and one thing I learned overtime was to never put your own feelings through your muse, and I can see how that can make villain muses come off as assholes, and not in a good way. I once tried out having protag muses over the years but came off as annoying all the time. So, I got sick of that and just RPed villains, they feel right at home for me. And thank you so much, I honestly really love your style of writing, I can’t really articulate it well but it’s just really nice to read how descriptive it is yet not overkill and makes me want to improve my own writing honestly. But yeah, I know what you mean. I just stopped writing in 2018 and just came back at the tail end of November 2022. It was hard, but I was lucky to have a couple friends to still write with. I just kept putting myself out there in the tags and slowly but surely things started to trickle in. Now I have so much going on and having a blast. I’m loving our interactions and looking forward to how things may go.

[egglygreg]

Just woke up from a dream where I was batman. The setting and storyline was a dream I'm sure I've had before.

Basically it was kinda like playing a video game where you are Batman, except it's hyper realistic first person vr and the other characters actually react and reply to things you say. And I was being very quippy and sarcastic and chatty (more Spiderman than Batman was something I think I said) so the villains were very confused. At one point I said I was a woman and the guy I was fighting was like "really? How?" So I assume they were all seeing normal Batman.

I remember lying on the ground at one point face down after a fight and hearing more goons coming, feeling very sore and exhausted (which was my actual irl cfs pain and fatigue bleeding through into the dream. My shoulders really hurt in the dream and then continued to hurt when I woke up 😒). I remember saying "don't I have like a million kids? Where the hell is Robin, or Red Robin, or Nightwing, or even Red Hood? Someone come help your feeble old dad!"

Also Deadpool was there. I've never actually seen his movie, but his character seemed pretty accurate (minus the crude jokes). He was working for the badguys against me, and both of us kept breaking the fourth (dream) wall. He kept making jokes about me being a woman, and other stuff about me irl. He also told me to stop stealing his whole fourth wall schtick. I told him he was in the wrong comic book universe. He shushed me.

The whole thing was part fun and part constantly stressful and I woke up feeling exhausted.