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pencil-peach · 1 year

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G Witch Onscreen Text: Episode 6

GRAAAHH!! This is part SEVEN in my attempt to transcribe and discuss all the onscreen text in G Witch!! Because I CAN!!! GRAHH!! We're on episode 6, halfway through season 1!! Grah Graaaahh!!!

Click here to go back to Episode FIVE!! Grahhh!!!

Let us begin.

Not text, but during Bel and Prospera's initial confrontation, the building they're in has art pieces on display. Maybe it's some kind of museum?

Not text again, but we don't get very many looks into the common areas of the 3 branches, so here's Jeturk House's. It's really flashy and gold, huh? It also matches the aesthetic of Vim's office.

During the scene with Bel and El4n, Bel consults the data on this monitor when she tells him that he'll be fine piloting the Pharact for the duel against Suletta. We get a couple of shots of this monitor, so I'll do my best to glean what information I can from it.

On the left side of the monitor is a mockup of the Pharact. TEXT: (Top Left) REGISTERED NAME: PHARACT MS: FP/A-77 PMET CODE: P017-0046

(Bottom Left) MANUFACTURER: PEIL TECHNOLOGIES STATUS: IN TEST OPERATION

We see the Pharact's Permet Code here, that being PO17-0046. The 'P' probably stands for 'Peil.' Also, have you noticed the the MS IDs for all of Peil's mobile suits have a '/' in them? The 3 branches all have their own unique naming conventions when it comes to their MS codes. It's obvious, sure, but it's something you might not have noticed unless you were looking at it.

This info here, on the right side of the monitor, is much more interesting. TEXT (Header) No. 4 ENHANCED PERSON >PILOTING DEPARTMENT >ID. NO: KP002 NAME: ELAN CERES

This screen is how we learn that El4n is indeed the 4th Enhanced Person in the show proper.

Underneath the header is this info box and a graph. The box on the left says DECISION CRITERIA D2 ***EXAMINATION

What this box means is mostly speculation on my part, but I believe this is a grading system that evaluates the remaining health/usefulness of an enhanced person. There's a red arrow pointing down, implying that this grade, D2, is worse than the grade from the previous evaluation.

The graph to its right is a bit harder to analyze.

It's exceedingly similar to the graph shown during the Shin Sei Inquiry by Shaddiq, that measured Aerial's Permet Influx, but they probably aren't measuring the same thing.

I think it's probably closer to the little bit of this graph we see in the prologue, that I speculated was a measurement of a pilot's exposure to a data storm.

The graph has no title, it only says PHASE on the header, followed by Sys REC Ver. 2.0, which means this data was either recorded from the Pharact of El4n's body. The highlighted point is labelled CHH.

My BEST guess is it's measuring the amount of Permet radiation his body is suffering from.

This is an evaluation of El4n's body, and from this we get a really good look into the true danger of piloting a Gundam.

To start, CNS stands for Central Nervous System, and PNS stands for Peripheral Nervous System. The first box is analyzing the status of the artificial nervous system implanted into El4n's body.

PMET-CNS INTEGRATION can thus be assumed to be analyzing its integration with the rest of El4n's body. MOTOR FUNCTION TEST is self evident, an analysis of El4n's motor skills. HEMANALYSIS is an analysis on the chemical composition of one's blood. CARDIOPULMONARY FUNCTION TEST is a test evaluating the strength and health of your heart and lungs.

NERVE DAMAGE TEST and CELL SURVIVAL TEST are self evident, but what's most important about them is that, unlike the rest of his results, they're labeled CONDITIONALLY ACCEPTABLE. If he hadn't been disposed of by Peil, we can see that this is probably what would have killed him. A combination of Cellular Necrosis and Nerve Damage.

We can glean from this chart that over exposure to Permet primarily affects the Nervous, Cardiovascular, and Pulmonary systems, as well as cause cellular necrosis.

Finally, though we unfortunately never get a closer look at it than this, there's this final box here, labeled EEG[???], and contains what i think is a CT scan of El4n's brain.

TEXT: PROPULSION CONTROL SYSTEM HIGH MANEUVER MODE

When Suletta is piloting the Aerial to test out the thrusters, we can see the system and mode being tested.

When talking to Miorine and Nika in their shuttle, we can see SS/O.M is added to the com screen on Suletta's phone. Not sure what it means !

Not text but I love Mio's face here after she finishes giving Suletta the pep talk, but before she responds to Nika. She's like, hm! Helping Suletta felt really good. I hope this doesn't awaken anything in me.

El4n doesn't have anything in his room whatsoever.

When Suletta asks to talk to El4n, they can't get a hold of him directly, so they just do a HOUSE WIDE BROADCAST instead.

TEXT: MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT ID No: KM079 NAME: EARLTON WELLS.

Not important, but one of the two students Suletta speaks to is named Earlton Wells.

During the duel, Bell can tell that El4n isn't doing well because his flight path is jagged, he can't fly straight anymore.

We can't read this error message, but we can read PMET SCORE 4, so its most likely an error related to that.

We can see the alert message on El4n's screen when he's about to run into the meteor. It just says ALERT.

When Suletta is trapped and Aerial increases its Permet Score, we can see little whispy things on the main monitor. Oooohhh..pretty...

So, bit of a mixup here, before, when Suletta defeated Guel in the rematch, it said she had 2 wins, which made it seem like her previous win had been reinstated. That wasn't true! It was just a mistake, because when she defeats El4n here, she still only has 2 wins. Can't win em all !

Here, we can see that time and temperature in Asticassia's simulated environment. It says 26 degrees and is sunny, which means that Asticassia uses Celsius and not Farenheit.

When Bel begs the Peil Witches to reconsider, if you look at the monitor, you can see Elan hanging up in front of the laser. They're watching him die here, and Bel saw it too.

AND THATS IT!!! HUAAAAHHH!!! THANK YOU FOR READING! I NEED TO GO! YOUR FINAL GIFT:

You ever notice how since the beginning the Enhanced Persons were alluded to be like Eri because only 4 and 5 were ever able to see and hear her when they're overloaded with Permet?

Click here to go to Episode 7!

Click here to go to the Masterpost!

#g witch #gundam the witch from mercury

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afniel · 6 months

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It's been long enough, so I finally reread >E.04642-SYS: Failure to compile. as if I hadn't written it and like. Not to blow my own horn but I really liked it. Congrats to me, I set out to write what I wanted to read and I have now read it and it solidly slapped actually. I did in fact want to read that.

It's also a lot longer than it felt in my head? My gods. It's a doorstop. If you assume 280 words per page, that's a 570-ish page brick. The upcoming sequel is the same length. What? How. Who. Me? No way, except the evidence is right there. I did do that. It's that many words.

Anyway I'm actually pretty happy with it. I actually can't think of any changes I'd make now. Nothing felt sloppy, nothing felt there for no reason, there weren't any rushed sections, like damn, past me, you did a good thing. I did some minor edits for typos and continuity (Valentina had hazel eyes for exactly one sentence? Hammer had gray hands? Shrug!) and while I think I missed one or two, that's not bad and unless someone points it out to me, I think I can let it lie.

I do want to throw more art into it but I've been busy with non-art things and cold makes my hands hurt, so that'll happen when it happens.

You can also read it if you want, because it's not like I'm going to shut up about it. I feel really cool about it. Like, yeah it's fanfiction, but it's sufficiently alternate future timeline and I did so much worldbuilding and straight up sci-fi type exploration of themes that like. It's just a novel to me. And several other people who've read it without knowing much if anything about the source material! That's about as glowing a review as I think you can get.

#Nevi Writes #writeblr #writers on tumblr

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hiemaldesirae · 1 year

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please. I'm begging you for more crumbs about VADD!Shen Jiu and also that Roxana AU you have from that art post you did of the two.

As a VADD AND SVSSS fan, especially as a fan of the original villains— please. I AM FROTHING AT THE MOUTH FOR MORE. I'm actually in the process of outlining a crossover with the original goods of both.

God, the Roxana one as well— please, PLEASE TELL ME SJ IS ROXIE HE'S SO ROXANA-CODED SOMEHOW. GIVE HIM BUTTERFLIES AND POISON AND— *gets knocked out*

by the way, LOVE your artstyle. scratches an itch i did not know existed in my brain. your chibis as well. they're so cute!!

oh you have no idea how long ive waited to talk about them. this mayyy get a bit long so ill leave it under the readmore.

disclaimer: i intend on finishing these fics so what im going to be talking about is inspirations and unfinished / abandoned ideas and other ideas i have for the works instead of anything relating to the plots themselves

for svadd, sj is a lot more complicated than he appears to be on the surface. im not so sure if what i have written currently is what i /want/ exactly because i know i want his character to go a certain way. the relationships between him and his modern-day friends is one meant to parallel the in-game "shen qingqiu" sj compares himself to and in much the same way, mirror the way that sy contrasts himself with sqq in canon: but instead of being condescending and viewing sqq as a one dimensional character, sj is able to appreciate his nuance while still being rightfully angry over his actions

to me, sj is supposed to be an unreliable narrator who constantly enforces his own thoughts. he tells himself over and over that he misses his home and that he wants to go back, that he absolutely needs to- but then, he turns the other way and finds himself being sucked even deeper into this different one.

i also really wanted to explore how sjs dynamic with a lot of the characters would be affected knowing that they were "based off" his real friends, but again im not very confident with how it came off lol

there was a lot of points in the story where i attempted to add in foreshadowing for the ending i want the story to take... in any case, it definitely wont go the same way as vadd, though i did toy with the idea of a "version" of sy being the main villain haha

(it might still happen for shits and giggles)

as for the roxanna au there are a lot of things ive wanted to do with this au and its good that i havent posted because it means i can keep revising til i come up with something good lol

its a liujiu au with some bingyuan / cumplane thrown into the mix (the cumplane is overwhelmingly toxic btw bingyuan is the healthy one out of the two here 😭) where yes sj is xana !!! he really just makes such a good manhwa villainess haha

i had been puzzling over what i wanted his motif to be-- after all, sj is typically associated with the simplicity and calming bamboo so the glittering butterflies wouldnt work with him- but after some deliberation i decided with using moths for him :3c still subject to change ofc but i think im happy with this as is

the story is somewhat similar to how roxanna goes but surprise sj isnt the transmigrator here! (and honestly, roxanna wouldve been sm better if xana hadnt been a transmigrator... or maybe i just think that because it was only used as a convenient plot point for her to know crucial info. sigh.)

my outline of how the roxanna au goes is basically this:

lqg fucks around and finds out

sj who has been seeing dreams of the "book" sy read knows what will happen to his family if lqg dies

etc

at the same time: sy, transmigrator, attempts to make sure his only surviving older brother lives to a long happy life and the only way he can secure this is by fucking up that hack author

also i killed off qi-ge and idk if i want him to come back. he'll be like the stereotypical dead anime mother for this au lmao

hmm and i think thats all i have to say for these aus... thanks for giving me a chance to ramble on haha ~ much appreciated !! and thank you for the compliment, im flattered!! 🥹🥹💕

#ran rambles #quite literally #shen jiu #original shen qingqiu #svadd #sv x roxanna #svsss #svsss au

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angryschnauzer · 2 years

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💕 self-love time! talk about which ones of YOUR creations (edits, artworks, fanfics) you like the most then send to other creators to do the same 💕

Oh wow, i'm not sure how long this has sat in my inbox as i'm shit at checking it, but thank you for sending it.

I art I create is fanfic. Writing has always been a passion for me, and since finding fanfiction almost a decade ago i've had a creative outlet for the fantasy scenarios i'd play in my head. I also have a love of all things Supernatural (as in Spooky, not the show), with Vampires and Werewolves top of my favourite lore. So the stories i am most proud of are the ones that build their own little world with supernatural elements in. I've got 3 series 'started' and have well meaning intentions to continue them at some point, hopefully 2023 is the year where i can finally put aside one day a week for writing.

First up is my Blackwater Lake series. It centres around a town in the Rocky Mountains, and each one of Henry's characters is a different 'creature'.: Werewolf!Sy: Moonlight on the Sand Castle Under The Stars.

Werewolf!Sy, Vampire!Walter:Chapter 1

Vampire!Walter:Chapter 2

August/Wood Nymph Girlfriend: Chapter 3

Shapeshifter Geralt:Chapter 4

Werewolf!Sy -Hair of the Dog

Then we have more of a vampire-lore story; The Watcher series:

The Watcher- Vampire Sherlock

The Watched- Vampire Sherlock x Reader x Vampire Geralt of Rivia

Always Watching - Vampire/Werewolf Hybrid Geralt x Succubus Reader

And finally the start of a reverse harem/ABO/Werewolf Moon series:

By The Waning Crescent Moon - Werewolf Alpha Sy x Omega Reader

It pains me that i haven't been able to update any of these recently, even though i re-read them myself many times to keep myself in the loop with the stories. Like i said, 2023 is going to be spooky year for stories.

I'd like to tag @littlefreya @bolontiku @poledancingdinos @kittenofdoomage and @peachyvulpixie as amazing creators i'd love to see their self love stories for their art.

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jiabeewrites · 2 years

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Who's your favorite star wars character, and why?

(mine's obi-wan)

-🐻

Hi 🐻! (same, i love obi-wan!) I hope you know what you're getting into...

Okay, I know that I've talked a LOT about Echo, but he's actually not my favorite!

GASP WHOA SHOCKER.

He's tied in second with Ahsoka. So my favorite Star Wars character is...

THIS GENIUS BASTARD RIGHT HERE ⬇️

MITTH'RAW'NURUODO AKA:

THRAWN

If you've come all this way, excellent! Here's the actual essay on why I love Thrawn and why he's such a compelling character.

This is gonna be pretty long, and if you haven't read any of the Timothy Zahn Thrawn books, you're gonna be spoilt.

To put it simply? Thrawn is good at what he does. He's not an incompetent dumbass like we see with many of the Imperial Officers (mainly in Star Wars Rebels and The Empire Strikes Back). He's not a magical space wizard. He's one of the only non-human people we see running the Empire at all.

But here's the really long version.

Thrawn starts out as this really weird guy. And this is Chiss standards. He doesn't use standard military tactics, he's both loved and hated (mostly hated), and people don't really understand him. All they understand is that he wins. He is very, very good at what he does, all because he studies people's art.

Yeah. That's a big one. He understands art like no one else.

We'll get back to that later.

But throughout his pre-Empire life, we keep seeing people who are conspiring to bring him down. All throughout the trilogy, Thrawn: Ascendancy, his own family doesn't want anything to do with him. They plot against him.

And he fucking knows.

Eventually, he gets "exiled."

Now, there's a huge timeskip between the Ascendancy trilogy and the Thrawn trilogy. But we see the Empire discovering this weird blue dude, he speaks a foreign language, but guy understands Sy Bisti.

And so does Eli Vanto.

Long story short, they throw both Thrawn and Eli into the Imperial Military Academy or some shit and then Thrawn slowly becomes Grand Admiral, blah blah blah, I won't spoil the rest of it because its really interesting and go read the fucking books.

But we see, throughout the all the books and even the Rebels series: Thrawn is very, very good at being smart. He outsmarts the Rebels more than once, he lies to the Emperor's fucking face, he sends more than one person to his people in order to protect them from the Empire's wrath.

He's not like the other Imperials, who immediately fire/kill people who fail them. He teaches his subordinates to learn from the mistake. (People probably died but most of the time they didn't)

He uses art to determine people's weaknesses. This...this both confuses and fascinates me, mostly because I can't see what's right in front of me until he points it out. This is the ONE thing that Canon Thrawn keeps from the books Thrawn. If he can't find art, he lets them attack first so that he knows what defense/offense to use against them.

Yes. He has weaknesses. Just like any other character, but his I find particularly funny. Politics. He sucks at dealing with anything political, something that his family used against him. Pretty sure that's what got him "exiled."

TLDR, Thrawn is an amazing character. He's got major flaws, yes, but...god, I can't even decide if he's a good guy or not! He's the hero and the villain. He's a GENIUS. He understands art like no one else, he's a brilliant tactician, ruthless to his enemies and confusing to his allies. (Unless, of course, those allies are Eli, Ar'alani, or Samakro)

And I swear, if I don't see Eli Vanto, the Chiss, or the Rebels being thoroughly confused/concerned about Thrawn in the Ahsoka series I will throw hands and Disney better catch them.

#thrawn #grand admiral thrawn #eli vanto #ensign vanto #thranto #oh my god i love them so much #thank you anon #i got to rant about my fav

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bluebudgie · 1 year

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2, 8 & 18 for my most specialest little guy petthri, 1 & 14 for lahpp and 12 & 19 for bobbie <3

Thank you for the asks!! Let's go:

Petthri

2. Did you design them with any other characters/OCs from their universe in mind?

Not at all! But as a little fun fact: I changed his haircolour (and haircut) twice the day I created him lol. (It was white at some point but ultimately that felt too close to what I already had on someone else so I changed it back to the original darker grey).

8. What (if anything) do you relate to within their character/story?

I think this image will do a better job explaining than any words could:

18. What is the most recent thing you’ve discovered about your OC?

I actually think the question you asked me about his saviour complex a while back and the explanation I tried to come up with is sort of the "biggest" recent development. There may have been smaller little tidbits but I can't think of any more recent ones rn >.<

Lahpp

1. What was the first element of your OC that you remember considering (name, appearance, backstory, etc.)?

His voice. Not to open the biggest can of worms I got available in the shelves again but I cannot stress enough that this man came into existence because of A Song. Or well, several songs from the same recording if you want to be pedantic. But there was definitely one main culprit.

If memory serves right my very first thought was "I need a guy with this voice who simps for Dunnh". A relatively large chunk of his current backstory actually followed pretty soon after. So uh. Yea. That makes him, alongside Luqqah, another of my rare "wasn't created because of a cool armour/weapon skin" characters.

14. If you had to narrow it down to 2 things that you MUST keep in mind while working with your OC, what would those things be?

This is sooo diffiult for him;; I always felt like I had a really clear vision of who he is and still had the hardest time really grasping his personality in a "tangible" manner for a long long while.

I'd guess one of the main principles would be "keep him the boring background corporate guy". The other one would be being mindful of the challenges his disabilities pose him? Trying to keep in mind how certain situations, interactions etc. would be impacted, obviously without reducing him to just that... aah I hope this makes sense;;

Iekko

12. What have you found to be most difficult about creating art for your OC (any form of art: writing, drawing, edits, etc.)?

I think he's actually one of my easier characters to draw! He's so expressionless too it makes it really easy to draw his face because he looks pretty much the same all the time haha.

That said, I don't think I could ever bring him to any sort of RP event or the like. I'm not a writer but I feel like writing about him would be very, very descriptive. Any first person dialogue would be hell because quite honestly, he just doesn't have much input on anything at all. Neither vocal nor in body language.

19. What is your favorite fact about your OC?

I keep nicknaming him the "walnut" which essentially just became a thing because... was it either his skin or hair/leaf colour in the character creator were called "walnut".

I later decided he's got these little heart-shaped openings on his cheeks between his leaves. Well guess what I found out: There's actually a japanese walnut tree that produces heart-shaped nuts. He doesn't grow any fruit himself but I think this is a kinda cute coincidence. And also makes for a funny cute-sy contrast to his very emotionless self.

#oof long. sorry about that nfjkenkje #thank you so much for the ask!!#echowilds #budgie plays gw2

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ollieoliver910 · 3 months

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Under Night In Birth 2: Sys Celes is a DEAD GAME (My Last Post On The State Of UNI2)

I don't even know where to start with this. I feel like this is the third time I had to address my issues with the sequel. A few months back, I had made multiple different attempts to learn and play the damn game. I even went to discord, which in the end without going into detail, did not get me to enjoy the game either.

I gave it my best shot. I listened to the fans who said there is, in fact, a way to play with other people online (I play on the PS5, not PC cause I don't enjoy it)...but it's been six months since UNI2's release and I'm done being nice. The gloves are officially coming off.

I don't usually come off this harsh towards a video game unless I REALLY have something to say. So if you don't want to listen to me critique and/or bash UNI2 and how it was handled, scroll away, but to me. UNI2 is not only one of the worst sequels ever made. It is also, to me, the worst fighting game I have ever played, period. The gameplay is the ONLY saving grace. It's just too bad that network mode literally has a total of 0 people online to learn it! And before anyone asks. Some people have messaged me and said 'well, why don't you get friends to play with you?" Some people are unfortunately not lucky enough to have friends, or friends with the same interests as other people. When I go online every other night to play BBTAG, that is my escape from reality. It is a game I can feel good playing so that I can forget about my troubles for a couple of hours. Even though there are people who will say "Well, back in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, you HAD to find someone to play fighting games with in real life."

Those days are OVER.

Having an online system with a big pool of people in your fighting game should be THE STANDARD. It's one thing if your franchise isn't the type of genre or type of game (like a single player game) that would incorporate an online mode. Fighting games are different. They should ALWAYS have an online mode for people who still want to play and can't find friends to play with. That will be my piece on this subject. Now I want to go into why Under Night In Birth 2: Sys Celes fails on every level.

It is Monday after all (or it was Monday, I had to stop writing half way through) and THIS was the face I made when I realized this game was DEAD AF.

The Character Art

OK, I want to start off with probably the most controversial thing that I cannot prove, but is just speculation, and that's the artwork. I found this out quite recently, but the artist who worked on the first UNI game, Seiichi Yoshihara, is the SAME artist for UNI2. I don't know if the guy posts artwork on a different site in Japan just so I can see if anythings changed, but to me. There is no way someone who had that much style and talent when creating the original designs would forget basic anatomy or facial structure for UNI's sequel. I need to see different artwork from him outside of UNI to really confirm my fears, but the speculation part of this is, unfortunately, I think the guy was rushed and it shows in the art he put out.

I'm not the one that usually says "toxic work environment" when it comes to extremely daunting tasks for a single person with a strict deadline...but man does this feel like it. I just don't think this artist would pump out something mediocre and be ok with it. I would like to believe he clearly trained and practiced his art style already for many years before UNI. Again, I cannot prove this so please take what I say with a gain of salt, but all the signs are there and if it turns out to be true? It was in no way Seiichi Yoshihara's fault and the blame should be shifted towards whoever heads French Bread or ArcSystems. Since we don't know the full story of how UNI2 got developed, it's hard to really point fingers at the right person at the moment until someone speaks up, but if I had to guess. I wouldn't be surprised if ArcSystems was the main contributing factor. I don't believe that the people at French Bread would what to put out a bad game either...but it happened. Until we learn more about UNI2's development, this is really all I can say on the matter when it comes to the artwork.

I'm not going to pick apart the character designs again as doing so would take an hour to really digest it all, but if you know, you know. It's not good, like at all.

Ok, thank you for making it this far. Here's a picture of a dog licking an ice cream cone.

Marketing and Lead Up To UNI2's Launch

What marketing? Welp, that pretty much sums it up. No, but in all seriousness. One of French Breads biggest mistake before the trailer was even shown was that UNI2 was rumored to be a "sequel," when it really isn't. The only reason why it was given the title "UNI2" was due to the arcade mode which was very sloppily put together with no rewarding pay off...that's it. Take that away and UNI2 is literally a copy/paste of the original except everything got downgraded and I mean EVERYTHING. I will talk more about that in a moment, but calling UNI2 a sequel immediately set high expectations for the game that were NEVER going to be there. I fell for this trap myself.

French Bread had several years to work on it. Why couldn't they make new sprites? Or give the same sprites they already had a new coat of paint? Something, anything at all! To imply that your game is a "sequel," to me, by definition would mean French Bread would take the time to create something new from the ground up and upgrade everything. If Devil May Cry 2 copy and pasted all the same mechanics, boss fights, castle areas, and items from the first game EXACTLY how they were with very little changes at all. That game would more than likely be considered a port with very minor tweaks to it, not a sequel. This use of the word "sequel" for UNI2 set up French Bread to fail right from the gate.

So when the first trailer dropped and I saw the artwork. I pretty much knew exactly what kind of game we were going to get. It would be one thing if there was ANY kind of marketing for UNI2 at all...but there wasn't. You can argue that as long as the game is still fun, which it is, you can forgot about all the other things that make it bad...but you have to have a sizable player base to play the damn game! For the time I was on Twitter, I don't even think there was any promotional material at all for UNI2. If I remember right, French Bread doesn't even have a twitter account, and if they do. Everything that was posted about the game completely went under the radar, and due to that. Most casuals who liked playing fighting games didn't know about it's existence. The only people who were following it closely are fans that were already playing BBTAG or UNICLR hoping that, maybe, UNI2 will be "the underdog that changes the fighting game community forever..." There have been many videos of people claiming that on YouTube before the damn thing even dropped. Fans who have already been playing UNICLR for years flocked to their cameras to say that "UNI2 will change everything!." No, it hasn't, and the lack of any growth in the player base for the past several years is my proof.

Point is, when the game dropped in January. There were SOME new players giving it a shot, and the people who wanted to learn it got bullied by the veterans who have already been playing UNI for YEARS! UNI2 needed to market it's game heavily towards new fans so that casuals could learn and fight other casuals instead of being forced into a match with a veteran. This lack of marketing is why UNI2 is now forever stagnant. It will never grow a player base so that beginners can learn how to play along side each other, and even outside of that. People should be able to experiment and mess around with a fighting game without thinking their livelihood is on the line. Fans of fighting games can still have fun with them without taking every match so seriously, and if these new players later on want to expand their knowledge? Let them, don't force them! Forcing players to become better overnight will drive any players who are interested left far, far away. That's the point I am trying to make.

The marketing and the lack of new players to fight is ultimately what doomed this game from the start, and to make matters worse, there isn't really anything "sequel" worthy about UNI2 other then the terrible, terrible endings for many of them (with Gordeau's. Wagner's and Merkavas being some of the exceptions to that rule.) Speaking of which, we should probably move on to those terrible things, huh?

I don't know. I wanted a picture of a gerbil. Here it is! Cute huh?

Alright, now onto--

EVERYTHING ELSE

UNI2 is seriously, SERIOUSLY the definition of a copy/paste sequel with one or two exceptions. The artwork and UI (which is complete and utter trash) and the one or two new moves a character would get. The majority of them either falling into good, meh, bad, or why do I need another spacing tool category. Yes, I'm talking to you Hyde. I think a counter would have benefited him better then another red energy blast of some sort to which Hyde already has several...

Anyways, outside of the "new stuff" and the gameplay, everything is worse. EVERYTHING IS WORSE! How the hell do you do that when UNICLR has already been established???

Let's start with the opening when you boot up UNI2. Who decided that a somber song would hype people up for a fighting game? UNICLRs opening theme was already perfect! Why change it if you know the new one you're putting out is going to be worse by comparison!

That's literally my motto for this game. "Why change it," when what you had in UNICLR was already close to perfect.

All the songs that you love from UNICLR and BBTAG are gone, GONE! UNICLR's opening theme? Not present! Gather under the night? GONE! Overwhelmingly Despair? Hilda's theme? One of the few banger songs in UNICLR that was aloud to how a choir? Rip that shit out and give her a somber, toned down version! Yeah, that will show her! Like...I don't...I don't understand who makes these decisions...

Another glaring issue is the lack of things to buy in this game. After a handful of matches, you will have so much money that literally, like a character from SpongeBob once said, "You won't know what to do with it!" This is mostly because the majority of the alternate colors for every character are already unlocked. Plus, despite that, there is no reason to ever buy these skins because you can customize the sprites colors yourself! Though I do like that I can do this, I particularly hate--

A.) That the the sprites colors are split into sections of the character, meaning you don't have complete control over what the characters look like and--

B.) The lack of colors! There should be a grid somewhere so that you can choose any color you want and this mechanic is not present at all! And even if it was, things like not being able to change ONLY the color of Gordeau's belt because it's color is tied to what his pants color is just fricken frustrates me. I feel like I should be able to customize the colors of the characters accessories alone and I just can't. Same with weapon colors...where's my option for that? If I want Insulator to have a dumb looking green color while Hyde is still set to his default skin, I should be able to!

Since UNI2 decided to make the alts free essentially. All that money (or IP, in think, in this game) will be spent on 5-10+ year old artwork that we have already seen in UNICLR. The only things worth buying in this game are the customization options for your online profile...but even THAT was downgraded! I missed the profile backgrounds where the characters were laying on there sides in UNICLR and I thought we would get more stuff like that here...NOPE! Every profile background and boarder is basic AF. I wish there were more options, like in BBTAG, to put your favorite characters on your profile and it's just not here in any form. Welp, there goes any hope of spending my money.

You know, and I hate to say it. Since UNI2 for a lot of people is very dependent on sex appeal. Why couldn't they just make alts where the characters are in swimsuits? Make that the most expensive thing to buy, at least then the IP would have some purpose! Ik, ik, "they can't for many of them because they would have to change the sprite," but the reason why I suggest this is because if creating new cloths for these characters is too hard and time consuming. Maybe it would have been easier for French Bread to remove sections of the sprites and just add a bathing suit instead. It would at least be SOMETHING, but we weren't aloud to get something. We got nothing most of the time and it shows with how little there is to buy in this game.

Arcade mode...god I don't even know where to start.

I have not viewed all of them, but the ones I saw, especially when it came to the night blade group were very, very bad. There were things important to Hyde's character development (specifically him promising Linne to kill her) that were never followed through with and that contributed to not only Hydes bad ending...but his MULTIPLE bad endings (yes, he has several.) What I mean by this is while Gordeau has a solid conclusion with one canon ending, Hyde has at least four of five different endings (depending on the character you play) and to me. That is just a complete and utter copout. If we need to be technical about it, I would guess that Hyde's arcade mode is the cannon ending...but because Linne is present at the end during the other characters stories. It makes me think that French Bread wanted to leave the conclusion to Hydes story open ended...in the last game in the series...probably...

Side note, I also really hate that most of Hydes friends just sort of ditch him in his arcade mode. This is something that sort of bothered me in UNICLR where he and his friends are either forced to fight or they leave him in the dirt because "it is the only way." I just never felt like Hyde's friendships were genuine (other than maybe Orie, but we don't see enough of them interacting.) It's the same problem I have with Gordeau and Hilda where in UNICLR, Gordeau pretty much swore off to being friends with her at the end of his arcade mode. In UNI2? For SOME REASON there buddy buddies again and THAT really bothers me. Especially with what happened to Rodger and how his death effected Gord throughout the series.

But yeah, most of the endings feel like either huge copouts or let downs. Orie doesn't even speak in her ending! (The last section of her arcade mode I mean) To me, it's the little things that really add up to make UNI2 a bad game.

The last thing I will say that really pisses me off is how network mode is handled. Say what you will about BBTAG, but I think ArcSystems nailed how the lobbies should work. The only things I wished they added eventually was a spectate mode or a way to turn your tag, (and your name if you want), off so that you can fight people who are your rank without the fear of losing your tag color. There are some other nitpicks, but I liked choosing avatars and talking with other people online.

UNI2 needed something like this, and I know, I understand. They might not of had the money or time (the time thing is what I'm most curious about because the rumors say UNI2 has been in development for a couple of years). However, I still stand by that aesthetically and maybe even gameplay wise. Network mode needed to change or have a complete overhaul. This might be a me thing, but it does bother me and is something I felt needed an upgrade...if it was done right which, unfortunately, I fear that it wouldn't have been.

(My reaction to working on this long, dumb ass essay for two days.)

I will end my final statement on UNI2 by saying this. The one thing as a writer that pisses me off more than anything else is seeing the potential for game to grow and become something more....but the passion to do so from it's creators is never fully there. That itch to expand your world, to develop your characters, to try to advocate for the game you put years and years into hoping it will be the next big thing...and in the end, French Bread fumbled over the finish line, hard.

UNI2 was ripe for an anime adaptation, or a manga, or SOMETHING the would get it's name out there more because trust me. I saw it's potential! I wanted it so badly to do well so that maybe, we could get more merchandise, or a spin off game, and anime, hell, even new stickers for my laptop would have bee cool!

When I am THIS critical of a game like UNI2. It's because I want so badly for it to succeed. I WANT it to be the next big thing because I adore every single character on the roster. Other than the lack of a player base, UNICLR had it all. In my opinion, if French Bread didn't have a lot of money to spend. They should have just updated or ported UNICLR to the PS5 and used the money they had to market the game and put, oh I don't know, cross console play into your online mode! Yeah, I am still extremely bothered by that and this is also a contributing factor as to why players can't find people to fight online.

This will be the last time I say anything about UNI2. It's dead, it's done, and I'm ready to move on. At this point, the only hope UNI2 has now is if in a year, or maybe relatively soon, they start promoting the game they created. Other than advertisements, the only thing that I can think of that would really give UNI2 an overhaul is if one of the Under Night characters were put into the next smash brothers game. I don't know why this is the first thing that comes to mind for me, but smash brothers helped gamers for many years become interested in other franchises, big or small. Honestly, if French Bread has no money to advertise their game. To me, putting one of their characters into smash brothers or another fighting game feels like there only play at this point. I doubt that this will ever happen, but if it did, I honest to god believe it would at least keep people interested in UNI2 for several years.

Anyways, that's it, I'm done.

I gonna go get an ice cream now I guess.

#under night in birth 2: sys celes #under night in brith #uni2 #uniclr #uni 2 #under night inbirth #hyde kldo #gordeau #bbtag #UNI #video games #fighting games #anime fighting games

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dusty-cabinet · 5 months

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(Note: our posts are not informational.)

It’s hard to tell how much of our life is system stuff and how much is simply an overall personality change from traumatic events.

In 2017 my favorite animal was the zebra, my favorite color was green, and my main interest was LPS. I’d cry really easily, a lot. It’d been that way for years, almost my entire life.

But by some point in 2020, my favorite color was blue. My favorite animal was the aardvark. And I had very little interest in LPS. I felt numb to almost everything.

Sys stuff was initially suspected in 2018, if I recall correctly. Maybe 2017? Unsure. But it was assumed 🧩 had been the host for most of our life. But seeing how many things changed substantially, I’m not sure that’s the case. I think maybe 🧩 was only the host at the time we started looking into sys stuff for the first time..

Though, I’m not sure, really. I can’t mark the point where it was decided my favorite color was blue. It’s scary to admit I’m different so I kind of stall on telling anybody, continuing to pretend my favorite color is green and that I still love everything as I did..

All I know is those don’t look like the same person. Maybe at the time, it was easy to think they were. Who knows, honestly. Everybody from that time doesn’t really communicate much anymore.

I’m going to make macaroni and cheese now..

I don’t know who I am.. ‘Tis the life in a potentially shared mind I suppose..

Does anybody else feel more comfortable coming up with your own words for things? I’m always scared of intruding or using words wrong. Especially with denial and all that.. whatever.

Anyways. Despite all those changes, a lot of us agree on the aardvark. And clocks.. we like clocks. But for fandom type interests a lot of us seem to have preferences there. We also tend to have color and art preferences as well. But we all like blue, I think.

This post is messy.. NOW I will make the macaroni!

#cabinet journal

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daisygreeen · 1 year

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ARTICLE 4: PICASSO OR PIXELS?

Above: Illustration of a robot holding an artist paintbrush, showing how AI art is prominent in todays world

As I was wondering what to do for my fourth article, I started looking at how some careers are in jeopardy due to AI. Unlike my first article, this article talks of how AI itself is reshaping careers and scaring many people in this career as well. I picked an article from The Guardian, talking about how AI is impacting visual art. The article I chose was ““It’s the opposite of art” why some illustrators are furious about AI” by Sarah Shaffi, published on January 23rd, 2023. This article talks about the implications of AI and art. It also goes into depth about how AI is affecting illustrators specifically, taking many quotes from them. The article then talks of the legality of AI art, and how it risks the careers of many artists everywhere.

From the start of the article, I knew it would be against the use of AI as art. The title has already said it all. For newspapers it is a rush for you to buy their narrative. I saw this with the other articles as well, never truly showing another perspective unless it is to undermine that opinion. The same was done with this article.

For starters, I really liked the starting of this article. It started off by describing an AI generated image they had placed at the start of the article. I found it a bit ironic as though they were against AI, the indeed use AI to create art, but it easy to understand the more you read that they did it for a reason. As they describe the art, they begin to show the flaws in it, how the face is blurry or the colour of the sky isn’t quite right. I heavily enjoyed this introduction, as it flawlessly allowed to pull the reader into their narrative, showing the flaws in AI without even having to do a lot of work. It was a good tactic, and it also showed media bias. Instead of complimenting the art even more, the author showed its flaws, showing us even more the bias/side of AI that this author/media company is on. But I also found that while showing this media bias to be against AI, they put in a very poor AI drawing, while putting in artwork that in my opinion looks much better than what the AI bot made. I feel like this was used to show the reader how AI art is not only bad but not well drawn, in hopes to move them away from using it.

To add on, I found that this article explained certain feelings about AI extremely well. For example, when talking about the AI generated image, the author says how with AI art there is no “creative satisfaction.” I truly and deeply believe in this and am possibly influenced by the article. While it is fun to create random images based on prompts and watch what appears, it creates an impatience in us. The more we look at these images we begin to realize that there is no creative satisfaction. These are just images generated by a computer, not something that truly means something. Art is about expression, and the advancement of AI art in my opinion could jeopardize it, just like they say in this article.

This article, like the others, took many quotes. Many quotes were taken from artists, giving their opinion. Virtually all of the authors had the same negative view towards AI, making some good comments. Many artists think AI just “copies.” I found this quote really captured how some people view what AI is doing. Anoosh Syed said that “AI doesn’t look at art and create its own. It samples everyone’s then mashes it into something else.” This is evident if you look back to the AI generated image above, it does indeed look like a “mash” more than art in my opinion. These quotes helped back up the opinion of the article, a tactic I saw used in other articles as well. It almost somehow makes the point feel more validated with the quotes, makes the reader feel like they are the only one who does not have the same opinion. It pushes you to believe in a way, with the fear that you aren't going along with “what everybody else is thinking.”

Another addition is that this article explained the effects of AI art on society pretty well. It talked of how many small jobs might be taken by AI, as many people want a quick and inexpensive way to use art. This damages the value of art exponentially, and I liked how the quotes showed that. But I feel like a few statistics would have been nice, rather than getting quotes. Quotes can be highly subjective, with data bringing another layer into this issue and possibly make people more likely to believe this issue.

All in all, I would say that this article is my favourite so far. It goes in depth with the issue of AI and artificial intelligence, showing it how it will affect our society.

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inertive · 1 year

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Call me Thaddeus or Thad. Please do not give me nicknames if we aren’t friends. He/zir pronouns only. It/it’s is preferred if we aren’t close but I have no true preference.

I am an alter in a system, if you don’t like that or are here to bitch and moan about it, I’d rather you leave now. I am a fictive introject from DC comics so I may occassionally mention it or mention source things. My role in our system & how it corelates to my source is no ones business. If I want to mention it, I will. It’s my blog. Our body is 23 and I am 20, if age is a make or break factor. I do follow back from @luvsickself.

I don’t do well with others. I don’t mesh well with most. But I do my best to at least seem approchable and civil.

You may be wondering why I made this blog at all at this point. I wanted a place to reblog posts I like, talk about my experiences within our system and maybe occassionally post my poetry. My poetry means a lot to me and I may only share some occassionally. I ask that no critisism is given on them. If they are labeled as not to reblog, respect that. My poems can be personal and it takes a lot for me to even post them. I may post abot books I am reading, Pokemon, Dead By Daylight, Stardew and Animal Crossing, DC comics, music that I enjoy, DIDOSDD posts, etc. I do post traumacore, and vent based media without tags. I will tag sui/cide, S/h, and SA posts along with any other heavy topic. If you would like to follow but need something tagged, please send me an ask or message and I will create a tag.

Here are some general tags that are not trigger tags (body horror, s/h, SA, Scopophobia, etc) or fandom tags: - #v; - vent based media. This will include traumacore - #a; - General art posts, usually not fandom based - #tpoems; - Poems I wrote - #p; - Other poetry based posts - #same - Posts I relate to - #f; - The F stands for Funny - #starboard - my favorites tag - #thad.txt - Just me talking. - #sys; - System posts - Divider Credits: X X X | Icon: X

Basic DNI criteria, if you use slurs you can’t reclaim, you believe in “reverse racism”, you shit on people who are sexual assault survivor with hyposexual & hypersexual behavior patterns, you joke & invalidate about someone’s trauma unprovoked when it’s NOT your trauma, you mock and/or sexualize age regression, treat fictives as characters from the source that they’re from, if you believe fiction =/= reality, if you are endogenic or support endogenic systems, you belive protectors/persecutors are “evil alters” ans abusers, you use any mental illness as an excuse to be a dick or abuse others, if you’re a self proclaimed “unfriendly” person (you guys are usually abusers, so.) More can be added at any time. But you get the idea.

I know my dni seems like a lot, I would just like to avoid any conflicts. I do block at the first sign that youre a dick or if I just don’t like you much. I reserve the right to block anyone who makes me uncomfortable who rubs me wrong, sorry. Please keep in mind I also tag / label my posts with do not reblog or do not reply to often, I ask that you please respect this. Even if you relate, even if it’s a post that says only systems can reblog, please listen to my labels. I do sometimes post vents here and I do often delete posts, vent post and other posts. I do what makes me feel safer even if in the moment it is not logical. I have BPD and very intense paranoia and act on it at times. Please be patient with me and respect my boundaries. Thank you.

#fictive #introject #DIDOSDD #thad.txt #pinned #alter blog #endos dni #actually did #actually traumagenic

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wingchunsucks · 1 year

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Chi Sao sucks

I remember being at a seminar some years ago and doing chi sao with some guy. I had already become more relaxed about chi sao in terms of not seeing it as a scrap or a competitive tool. This guy was confident and good and I rolled to what I thought was his level. i.e, I wasn’t struggling to hit him as often as I could. I would enjoy the conversation without the need for too many exclamation marks. This meant I was quite happy to let him dominate the flow a little and just respond. Sometimes he’d make good use of the space he created. We’d have a good exchange, I thought. At the end he said “How long have you been doing Wing Chun?’ I think it was around 10 years, so I said so. He started laughing.. literally laughing.. “10 years? I’ve been doing it for 2!” in a way that meant, how come I’ve done so well against you? So that, unfortunately did hit my ego.. because to him I looked like I had taken 10 years to do what he did in 2. I wanted to say “I went easy on you” but man that would sound like sour grapes or something. Instead I let him have that good feeling anyway. What do I care? He was definitely good and deserved the confidence, but I remember that event as being a turning point in how I think about, and observe ego (my own, especially) in chi sao.

Chi sao is fun. Chi sao is kind of the only thing people really want to be doing when they go to Wing Chun. I remember watching people doing chi sao and thinking “Man, I want to do that, not stand here stepping and punching”. So when people start doing chi sao, they sort of feel like they’re actually doing real kung fu for the first time.

What feels great about chi sao is that you’re in a state of flow. You’re not practising the same technique over and over while being corrected, like some kind of task.You are truly in the moment and you can’t think about anything else. You are reacting to the smallest and quickest of movements to avoid being hit, or so you can land something on your training partner.

So, chi sao doesn’t suck? Well... chi sao itself is great, but only if you and your partner are doing it in a way that means it doesn’t suck. Chi sao is nothing like sparring, it’s nowhere near a fight. Chi sao is, when it’s viewed properly, an exercise with a limited scope.

There are things in Wing Chun that are truly brilliant and really speak to how a martial art trains us to be aware of our mind-body connection. ‘Lut sao jic chueng’ for example is a concept that chi sao can develop that is a genuine asset to the art. It roughly translates as ‘hand free, spring forward’. If you have contact with someone and through that contact you can feel that their guard/path to strike is not open, as soon as that path opens up, you strike. This doesn’t mean you’re pushing against someone’s arm and as soon as they drop their arm your potential energy is turned into kinetic energy. Lut sau jic chung is about your brain registering the change/loss of contact, and engaging your body to strike. Chi sao being a dynamic exercise means that you’re training to recognise that stimuli/response again and again.

Chi sao also trains you to ensure your positions are sound. If your elbow in tan sau is too close to your body, someone can tell you by hitting you. It can teach you distance, timing, and angles like nothing else.

So what is the problem with chi sao? It’s when people muddy the waters and mutate chi sao into something it isn’t. We are all human and I am as guilty of the things I’m about to raise as anyone else. Maybe I’m more guilty of them and that’s how I’m so keenly aware of them. Everyone has an ego. When you become a martial artist, you go through differing processes depending on your chosen style. You might line up in rows with a white belt on while the black belts stand the other side of the room. You might be put in a corner and taught how to stand up properly, while people are doing the fun stuff over in the other corner. When you reach a certain level, either through belt systems or just by seeing the ratio of people senior and junior to you shift in balance, you will likely have experienced some of what I’m going to say.

When you engage in sparring or in something chi sao, you are holding a mirror up to your ability and therefore your ego is pricked.

This is an unhealthy approach in any martial art. The problem when it comes to chi sao is that chi sao isn’t simply about hitting your opponent. If chi sao isn’t full-contact sparring, then there is a limited scope to it. That limited scope clashes with people and their egos and manifests in several ways.

HItbacks

If someone senior to you, let’s say it’s your instructor, hits you, you take it in your stride. He/she is your instructor, you want them to be better than you. Why? Because it gives you a feeling that the power balance / progression exists for a reason. Your ego isn’t damaged at all. When you train with someone quite new and inexperienced, you would assume then that you would be to them as your instructor is to you i.e. again, the ranking and standing in the world of you dojo is written in the cosmos. So what happens when someone you see as inferior to you, hits you? This isn’t meant to be, is it? They must be doing something unfair, or outside of the rules of the art! You try to respond with dominance... I have to show them I’m senior to them and I know more and I’ve trained more.

So when someone gets hit there may be a tendency to do all they can to hit back as soon as possible. Tit for tat.

In theory, there’s nothing wrong with this. You SHOULD train yourself to retaliate even after being hit. That’s GOOD. Right?

Chi sao is not a fight. Real fights can be messy and scrappy. If you want to fight, put on some gloves and put 2 minutes on the clock and really hit each other. No, seriously, do this! When you’ve calmed down again, do chi sao.

Chi sao isn’t about scoring points or ippons. If someone managed to execute a technique that resulted in you receiving a clean and deliberate hit, just accept it. Actually, no, you can stop what you’re doing and ask them what they did, and you can develop the ideal response and then drill that for a minute. That would serve you both so much better. Giving them a flick with the back of your hand as a call and answer thing is shitty. Long strong arm

Sometimes in chi sao you break out into single arm contact on the outside gate. Like crossed swords. If the shoulders are angled and the contact is closer to the wrist of each person, you’ve essentially changed range. If you have to step to make contact, you’re really in a boxing or long range now. So many people, including sifus I have a great deal of respect for, will step to this range and tense/strengthen their mun sau arm to the point that the other person is unable to do anything without stepping in (it’s a trap).

This is not to say that this is illegitimate in some way, but why are you breaking the range of chi sao? It’s part of a non-verbal body language of domination and torment that someone who feels superior will do. Which brings me onto the next point. Starting and stopping

Chi sao starts with the characteristic rolling of interlocked tan/bong and fook sau. This serves the purpose of creating a dynamic neutral starting point. The movements would disguise any small twitches and flinches (magicians always say that the big movement hides the small one). The double-handed rolling leads to someone creating an opening somehow and then the free-flow of chi sao commences.

There’s a strange non-verbal agreement as to when to return to rolling after a period of free-flowing interaction. Through subtle body language when there’s a pause in the action, both participants will reset to a neutral state.

One way in which people can make chi sao an antagonistic experience is by forcing a return to rolling early. Let’s say you’re rolling and your partner initiates an opening. You defend, you capitalise on something in their position and you are looking good to take control of centre and possibly set up a trap, or whatever.. then they step away, drop their hands out and offer them up in the tan/fook position clearly instigating rolling again. Hang on! You were about to do some amazing Wing Chun there! Well they decided they wanted to return to rolling and they’re in charge, ok?

The opposite can happen to. When you clearly reach a kind of stalemate position where you’re kind of both trapped or both your positions are looking less than textbook, you know it makes sense to just go back to a neutral rolling. But when you clearly go to reset, they throw in a punch to your ribs. You want to say “Oi, that’s cheeky” but you realise it looks like you’re a sore loser. You can’t say “I wasn’t expecting that”, because how petty does that look? So then you’re tempted to do a hitback (see above). Sometimes if someone is being domineering in chi sao, they’ll seemingly be the one to decide when to roll and when to have free play. It’s a weird power move. The only way I can think to deal with it, is to ask to slowly repeat what just happened and ask if you can dok sau (slow collaborative chi sao) from that point on. Maybe also saying “I was going to look at how I recover/capitalise on this position we’d got to”

Glancing blows

As chi sao isn’t a fight and nor is it a sport, there’s no real way to evaluate a strike. Common sense would tell you that if you’d trapped both your partner’s hands and could slowly and definitively draw a line to their chin with your fist and forearm aligned, you’d have been able to deliver a proper blow. But what about when you use some lut sao jic chung and your hand moves about an inch limply onto the chest of your partner. Is that a ‘hit’? Is it a ‘win’? Perhaps they’d eat that hit for breakfast and follow it with an elbow strike to your nose? So a hit in chi sao isn’t necessarily a checkmate. Surely the goal is to land contact on the person’s face/chest/ribs? That’s the ultimate goal of chi sao right? No.

If you fail to strike when there’s a clear opening, then yeah that’s bad and you should feel bad. But hitting at all costs is how chi sao descends into a schoolyard squabble.

I’ve been here. I’ve felt like the more times I can touch my partner’s torso or face, the more I am winning. But I’ve also felt really annoyed when someone has just gone to hit me, I’ve done a nice gang sao or jum sao and with their hand a few inches off course they’ve just jerked their hand like a dead fish to slap a knuckle or two against me. Even though I know that’s not really worth anything, it still pricks the ego. It pricks the ego partly because you know they feel like they got you, and now you want to hit them back or yell “doesn’t count” or something childish like that.

So what’s the answer?

Ignore it. Really, just ignore it. Let them have it if that’s what they want.

Something I would do is decide that I’m not going to try and hit them. Just defend. They don’t know that’s what I’m doing, but somehow it changes the balance of things. I know that if I start to try and hit back in this situation, it’ll just deteriorate. Both of you will start flailing wildly as it becomes a war of attrition. Perhaps one of you will try to look as though you’re satisfied and then return to rolling like nothing happened.

Grinning and looking away

Ever seen people doing chi sao and one of them grinning inanely? There’s a few things going on, i think. Firstly I think people want to seem relaxed and breezy while they’re engaged in something where their ego might take a knock. Their faces beam with a wide grin as if to say “actually guys, I’m super chill about this, even if I look like I’m fucking tense as fuck”. If you look like you’re concentrating and intense, then when you get hit, or fail to hit, you might look worse for it.

I think it also is a natural response to show lack of aggression, which is probably an evolved social behaviour.

The problem is that it can look condescending. I’m not saying not to smile, be happy when doing chi sao. Smile! Just make sure your chi sao is congruous with your emotions, be lighter, be easier, be less rooted in your ego.

Another thing that happens a lot is people looking away. Are you even paying attention? The weird thing here is that sometimes chi sao is easier when you’re looking away. You are responding to the feeling of contact, rather than what you perceive to be about to happen by looking.

Conclusion

I will say now that I’ve definitely experienced all of these myself. But not only that, I’ve seen very very respected and great sifus do chi sao with each other and this behaviour emerge.

The truth is that we place too much onto chi sao in Wing Chun because there is no sparring that doesn’t involve gloves or doesn’t change into another style. We need to recognise that chi sao is another drill; just a drill with a lot more variables at play. A drill is something where both partners are working to improve each other. Improvement is not seen through the sloppy substandard behaviours I’ve outlined in this post.

We need to develop in Wing Chun a hybridisation between drills and chi sao and a more realistic application of technique that borders on sparring. Chi sao is about close range/double hand contact. Whereas in reality people will stand out of range, will throw longer punches, flail with wider arcs, go to grapple or takedown. Chi sao doesn’t cover any of that so it can’t do the job of replicating the chaos of an actual fight. Learn to train in harmony with your partner and chi sao is great.

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janecrockeyre · 3 years

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scum villain is a greek tragedy disguised as a regular tragedy disguised as a comedy disguised as a danmei

this is going to be long, and this is only PART ONE.

a.k.a, Analysing the plot of Scum Villain’s Self Saving System through Aristotle’s Poetics, because I Have Mental Issues

Part One: Introduction and the Tragic Hero

Scum Villain’s Self Saving System is a tragedy disguised as a comedy, unless you’re Shen Yuan, in which case it’s a mixture of a romance and a survival horror. It's a fever dream. It's a horrible, terrible book that made me feel new undiscovered emotions when I finished reading it.

The thing is... SVSSS shares characteristics with some of the most famous tragedies in the West, such as Oedipus Rex, Medea, Antigone, the Oresteia... if you haven’t read these, I’ll explain everything. But the gist of my argument is this: SVSSS is the perfect tragedy. In triplicate.

Tragedy as a genre is old as balls and so it has meant slightly different things to different people over the last few thousand years. I'll be focusing on ancient Greek tragedy, which was performed at the yearly Festival of Dionysus in Athens during the 500-350s BC (give or take a hundred years). Aristotle, when writing about this very specific subset of tragedy, had no idea that one day Scum Villain would be written, and then that I would be using his work as a way to look at Shen Qingqiu’s Funky Transmigration Mistake. Anyway!

Greek tragedy greatly influenced European dramatic tradition. I have a lot of opinions about white academics idolising and upholding the classics as the "paragon of culture" but I'll withhold them for now. I have no idea if MXTX has read Greek tragedy or not, so don't take this as me saying they are writing it.

In my opinion, tragedy is a universal human constant. We are surrounded by pain and hurt and none of it makes any sense, so we seek to process that pain through drama, art, literature, etc. We want to understand why pain happens, and how it happens, and try to make sense of the senseless. The universe is cold and cruel and random. Tragedy eases some of that pain.

On that note: Just because I am analysing Scum Villain through a Greek lens doesn't mean that it was written that way. I'm pasting an interpretation onto the book when there's probably a very rich and deep history of Chinese tragedy that I just don't know about. If you ever want to talk about that, please, god, hit me up, I would love to learn about it!!

Anyway, tragedy. MXTX is excellent at it! Mo Dao Zu Shi? Painful dynastic family tragedy. Heaven Official's Blessing? Mostly romance, but she managed to get that pure pain in there, huh?

But in my opinion, Scum Villain holds the crown for the most tragic of her stories. MDZS was more of a mystery. TGCF was more of a romance. Neither of them shy away from their tragic elements.

Scum Villain would fit right in between the work of Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus. How? Let me show you. Join me on my mystery tour into the world of "Aristotle Analyses Danmei..."

Part One: The Tragic Hero

What is a tragic hero? Generally, Greek tragic heroes are united by the same key characteristics. He must be imperfect, having a "fatal flaw" of some kind. He must have something to lose. And he must go from fortune to misfortune thanks to that fatal flaw.

There are two (technically three) tragic protagonists in SVSSS and all of them are tragic in different but formulaic ways. Each protagonist has their own version of “hamartia” or a “fatal flaw”.

Actually, hamartia isn’t necessarily a flaw - rather, it is a thing which makes the audience pity and fear for them, a careful imperfection, a point of weakness in the character’s morality or reasoning that allows for bad things to happen to them. For example, in Oedipus Rex, the king Oedipus has a “fatal flaw” of always wanting to find the truth, but this isn’t exactly a flaw, right? Note: this flaw can be completely unwitting, as we see with Shen Yuan. It can also be something that the protagonist is born with, some kind of trait from birth or very young.

Shen Yuan

Shen Yuan’s “hamartia” is his rigid adherence to fate and his inability to read a situation as anything but how he thinks it ought to be. He believes that Bingmei will grow into Bingge, and it takes several years, two deaths, and some truly traumatising sex to convince him otherwise.

Shen Jiu

Shen Jiu’s fatal flaw is his cruelty. It is his own sadistic treatment and abuse of Binghe which directly leads to his eventual dismemberment. This is kind of a no-brainer. Of course, it isn't all that simple, and as an audience we pity him for his cruelty as much as we fear it because we know it comes from his own abuse as a child. This just makes him even more tragic. Delicious.

Luo Binghe

Luo Binghe’s fatal flaw is a complicated mix of things. It is his position as the “protagonist” which compels him to act in certain ways and be forced to suffer. It is his half-demonic heritage, something entirely out of his control, which sets in motion his tragic reversal of fortune when he gets yeeted into the Abyss. He also, much like Shen Yuan, has the propensity to jump to conclusions and somehow make 2 + 2 = 5.

As well as having their respective “flaws”, all three protagonists match the rough outline of a good tragic hero in another way: they are in a position of great wealth and power. Even when you split the different characters into different “versions”, this still holds true. Yes, Luo Binghe is raised a commoner by a washerwoman foster mother, but his dad is an emperor and he also ends up becoming an emperor himself.

Yes, Shen Jiu is an ex-slave and a victim of abuse himself, but Shen Qingqiu is a powerful peak lord with an entire mountain’s worth of resources at his back.

Shen Yuan is a second generation new money rich kid.

Bingge is a stereotypical protagonist with a golden finger. Bingmei is a treasured and loved disciple with a good reputation and a privileged seat by his shizun’s side.

In a tragedy, having this kind of good fortune at the beginning of your story is dangerous. Chaucer says that tragedy is (badly translated into modern english) “a certain story / of him that stood in great prosperity / and falls out of high degree / into misery, and ends up wretchedly”. If we follow this line of thinking, a good tragedy is about someone who has a lot to lose, losing everything because of one fatal point of weakness that they fail to address or understand.

If we look at Shakespeare, this is what makes King Lear such a fantastic tragic protagonist. He is a king in control of most of England, who from his own lack of wisdom and excess of pride, decides to split his kingdom apart to give to his daughters, favouring his murderous, double crossing progeny, and condemning his only actually filial daughter to death. He loses his kingdom, his mind, and his beloved daughter, all because of his own stupidity.

This brings us to:

Part Two: Peripeteia

This reversal of fortunes is called peripeteia. It is the moment where the entire plot shifts, and the hero’s fortunes go from good to bad. Think of it like one of those magic eye puzzles, where you stare at the image until a 3D shark appears, except you realise the shark was always there, you just couldn't ever see it, waiting for you, hungry, deadly, always lurking just behind that delightful pattern of random blue squiggles.

Each tragic hero has their own moment of peripeteia in SVSSS, sometimes several:

Shen Qingqiu

In the original PIDW, SQQ’s peripeteia presumably occurs when he finds out that Bingge didn’t perish in the Abyss but has actually been training hard to come and pay him back. There’s really not much I’m interested in saying here - as a villain, OG!SQQ is cut and dry, and the audience doesn’t really feel any pity or fear for him. As Shen Yuan often mentions, what the audience feels when they see OG!SQQ is bloodlust and sick satisfaction. There is also the trial at Huan Hua Palace, which I will talk about in Shen Yuan’s section.

Shen Yuan (SQQ 2.0)

One of SY’s most poggers moment of peripeteia is the glorious, terrifying section between hearing Binghe for the first time after the Abyss moment, and getting shoved into the Water Prison.

“Behind him, a low and soft voice came: “Shizun?”

Shen Qingqiu’s neck felt stiff as he slowly turned his head. Luo Binghe’s face was the most frightening thing he had ever seen.

The scariest thing about it was that the expression on his face was not cold at all. His smile wasn’t sharp like a knife. Rather, it showed a kind of bone-deep gentleness and amiability.”

This is the moment of true horror for Shen Yuan, because he knows what happens next: the plot unfurls before him, inevitable and painful, and he knows that death awaits him at Luo Binghe's hands (lol). Compare it with the bone deep certainty with which he faces his own downfall during the sham of a trial later in the chapter (I’ve bolded the important part):

“In the original work, Qiu Haitang’s appearance signified only one thing: Shen Qingqiu’s complete fall from grace. [...] Shen Qingqiu’s heart streamed with tears. Great Master… I know you’re doing this for my own good, but I’ll actually suffer if she speaks her words clearly. This truly is the saying “not frightened of doing a shameful deed, just afraid the ghost (consequences) will come knocking”!”

After the peripeteia is usually the denouement where the plot wraps up and the threads are all tied together leaving no loose ends, but because this tragedy isn’t Shen Yuan’s but the former Shen Jiu’s, it’s impossible to finish.

Shen Yuan cannot provide the meaningful answers that the narrative demands because 1) he doesn’t have any memory of doing anything, and 2) he wasn’t the person who did them. Narratively, he cannot follow the same path as the former SQQ because he lacks the same fatal flaw: cruelty.

This is why Binghe doesn’t kill him - because he loves him, rather than despises him. And this is why Shen Yuan has to sacrifice himself and die for Luo Binghe in order to save him from Xin Mo: because the narrative demands that denouement follows peripeteia, and SQQ’s fate is in the hands of the narrative.

(Side note: I believe that this literal death also represents the death of OG!SQQ's tragic arc. The body that committed all those crimes must die to satisfy the narrative. SQQ must die, like burning down a forest, so that new growth can sprout from the ashes. After this, Shen Yuan's story has more room to develop instead.)

It must happen to show Bingmei that SQQ loves him too. And this brings us to Bingmei.

Bingmei

Bingmei has two succinct moments of utter downfall. The first is a literal fall - his flaw, his demonic heritage, leads his beloved shizun to throw him down into the Abyss. From his point of view, SQQ is punishing him simply for the status of his birth. He rapidly goes from being loved and cherished unconditionally, to being the victim of an assassination attempt.

He realises that he is totally unlovable: that for the crimes of his species that he never had a hand in, he must pay the price as well: that his shizun is so righteous that no matter what love there was between them, if SQQ sees a demon, he will kill it. Even if that demon is Bingmei.

The second moment is when SQQ dies for him. Again, from his point of view, he was chasing after a man who was struggling to see him as a human being. Shen Qingqiu’s death makes Bingmei realise that he has been completely misunderstanding his shizun: that SQQ would literally die for him, the ultimate act of self sacrifice from love: that SQQ loved him despite his demon heritage.

Much like King Lear holding the corpse of his daughter and wailing in sheer grief and pain because he did this, he caused this, Bingmei gets to hold his shizun's cold body and cry his eyes out and know that it was his fault. (Kind of.)

(Yes, I’m bringing Shakespeare into this, no I am not justifying myself)

Maybe I'm a bit sadistic, but that scene slaps. Let me show you a comparison of scenes so you get the picture.

Re-enter KING LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms; EDGAR, Captain, and others following

KING LEAR

Howl, howl, howl, howl! O, you are men of stones:

Had I your tongues and eyes, I'ld use them so

That heaven's vault should crack. She's gone for ever!

I know when one is dead, and when one lives;

She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;

If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,

Why, then she lives.

[...]

KING LEAR

And my poor fool is hang'd! No, no, no life!

Why should a dog, a horse, a rat, have life,

And thou no breath at all? Thou'lt come no more,

Never, never, never, never, never!

Pray you, undo this button: thank you, sir.

Do you see this? Look on her, look, her lips,

Look there, look there!

Dies

Versus this scene in SVSSS:

Luo Binghe turned a deaf ear to everything else, greatly agitated and at a loss of what to do. He was still holding Shen Qingqiu’s body, which was rapidly cooling down. It seemed like he wanted to call for him loudly and forcefully shake him awake, yet he didn’t dare to, as if he was afraid of being scolded. He said slowly, “Shizun?”

[...]

Luo Binghe involuntarily held Shen Qingqiu closer.

He said in a small voice, “I was wrong, Shizun, I really… know that I was wrong.

“I… I didn’t want to kill you…”

PAIN. SO MUCH BEAUTIFUL PAIN. Yes, I know Shakespeare isn’t Athenian, but he was inspired by the good old stuff and he also knew how to write a perfect tragedy on his own terms. Anyway. I’ll find more Greek examples later.

This post was a bit all over the place, but I hope it has been fun to read. Part Two will be coming At Some Point, Who Knows When. This is a bit messy and unedited, but hey, I’m not getting paid or graded, so you can eat any typos or errors. Unless you’re here to talk to me about Chinese tragedy, in which case, please pull up a seat, let me get you a drink, make yourself at home.

ps: if you want to retweet this, here is the promo tweet!

#svsss #scum villain #luo binghe #shen qingqiu #shen jiu #greek tragedy #hello followers this account has been silent for a long time but today i bring you whatever this is #long post #i am gonna cross post more art here from my twitter i think #you guys really like my shitposts on here

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quietmyfearswith · 4 years

Text

with their little ; preferences

warnings — fluff (?) few hints at sexy times

characters — andy barber, steve rogers,ransom drysdale, bucky barnes, lance tucker, syverson, will shaw, august walker

a/n — THIS IS A DDLG FIC,, the characters will change depending on whether on how i see them fit the theme so yeah,, feedback appreciated

their love language

masterlist

“What are you up to, missy?” Andy asked as he noticed there was a presence who was looking at him as he was busy reading case files. “Nothing dada, I just miss you,” she mumbled as she played with sleeves of one of Andy’s sweatshirts that made her frame even smaller. “Why don’t you come over here then, baby,” Pushing away from the table, he patted on his thighs and turned his chair so he was now facing her. More than happy to oblige, Y/N excitedly crossed the short distance between them and plopped herself down comfortably on his lap. As if it was reflex, she instantly curled her arms around the lawyer’s neck whereas the bearded man circled his arms around her waist. “Are you done with your work dada?” She wondered, truth be told she had been wanting to spend some time with him, but understood well even when she was deep in little space how important it was that Andy remained undisturbed as he worked. Softly stroking her back he answered, “Not yet, baby.” Shoulders dropping, she started to unclasp her arms from where they were enjoying the warmth his body was radiating, “I’ll come back later then,” But as she was making her move to untangle from him he grabbed onto her tighter, “Where do you think you’re going, missy?” HIs fingers grazed her sides and tickled her, giggles erupting from her as she struggled to reply, “Don’t want to bother you work, dada.” Tucking a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, Andy lovingly looked at her, “Work can wait, baby, it’s time to spend some playtime with you.”

“What are you doing?” His voice startled Y/N as she turned to face August, smiling sheepishly hoping that she could charm him enough to distract him. “Hi daddy, how are you?” She greeted him sweetly to which August just curtly nodded, “Hi little one; I’m curious as to what you are up to that got you all messy,” he pointed to her face that was covered in color. Taking this as her cue, Y/N turned and handed him the artworks she was previously focusing on, “Made this for you, daddy; that’s why I’m all messy.”

August managed to mask his facial features from showing how his heart melted at the thought of his little one making two artworks — one that featured the two of them holding hands with hearts littering the background and the other one was just him with a couple of guns in front of room while the words “Greatest Agent, My Hero” written in a banner. “We better clean you up, little one,” Holding out his hand, Y/N was more than happy to take it up seeing how her daddy didn’t seem angry with her as he gently placed the drawing on the desk behind her. As the tub was filling up with water, August gently lifted up Y/N and placed her there, “Did you like my drawings, daddy?” She looked up at him with pure adoration laced with curiosity, and he could not prevent the coo from coming out as he voiced out his gratitude and appreciation for his little one’s creations, “Daddy loved your art, little one. You’re one talented girl, aren’t you?”

As Bucky entered his living quarters, he felt the stress of the day’s workout and training leave him. He dropped the gym bag that his metal hand carried while the other hand wiped the sweat of his forehead with a towel. “Sweetheart, are you in here?” As he called out for her, he heard her excited squeals accompanied by her feet hitting the floor, running towards him. Before he could warn her about how filthy he was, her arms were already wrapping themselves around his waist while her lips were pressing soft, small kisses against his neck. “Hi tătic, I missed you.” He chuckled at how clingy she was and just messed with her a bit as he teased, “I was only gone for a few hours, sweetheart.” She moved her face away from his neck as she pouted, “But you were gone for so long,” she dragged on the last word as if to prove how he took too long to come back to her.

“But I’m here now, sweetheart; have you been good for me?” As soon as the question left his lips, she unclasped her hold from him and sheepishly looked at him she mumbled a soft, “Maybe.” Having suspicions based on how she was acting, Bucky crossed his arms and looked at her, “What were you up to while I was gone, Y/N?” And the girl could only whine as she hated it when Bucky used her real name; but the super soldier knew by doing so he could get her to answer. “Tătic, I only baked you some cupcakes! I knew you were going to be hungry and wanted to make you something,” She confessed as she grabbed one of his hands and led him to the kitchen — where there were around a dozen cupcakes on the counter. Grabbing one, she offered Bucky one cupcake that had blue frosting in it with a huge smile, “Please don’t be mad, tătic.” Taking up her offer, he took the cupcake and tasted it, moaning at the taste he looked at her as he kissed her forehead, relishing in the giggles she let out, “I’ll let it slide how you broke the rules; only because you made such delicious cupcakes.”

With both his hands carrying paper bags, he shut the front door with his foot. Ransom then made his way up to the second floor of his house and went to the room he knew his princess would be cooped up in the study; as she was burying herself in a ridiculous amount of workload. “Princess, are you in here?” He knocked on the door, and when he heard no answer he went ahead and let himself in. The picture of her sitting on the swivel chair as her head and arms were on the desk as she slept greeted him. Setting the paper bags down by the couch, he kneeled down beside her and gently caressed her back. “Wake up, princess,” He quietly tried to wake her up. She mumbled a bit as she slowly opened her eyes, and once she did she smiled, “Hello, my king.”

Ransom could feel his heart swell double in size as she greeted him; planting his lips down on her nose for a kiss he inquired, “Were you busy with work again, princess?” Nodding, she lifted her head from where it was laying on the desk and sat up straighter while rubbing the sleep off her eyes, “Yes, my king, had a lot of deadlines.” Grabbing one of her hands, he planted a few kisses on her knuckles, “I saw how hard you were working, and thought that my princess deserved a reward,” he chuckled at how her eyes lit up and he pointed to where he put the bags, “Well maybe a few rewards.” Upon seeing how the bags were from her favorite brands and stores, she excitedly leapt out of her seat and launched herself to Ransom so she could hug him tight — the impact making Ransom fall on his bum, but he could only laugh at how she kissed every inch of his face she could get her lips on while repeatedly saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Rubbing her back he could only hum, “Anything for you, princess.”

“Baby girl, come back here!” Sy’s booming voice echoed through the walls as he ran after his little girl who managed to sneak away as they both were preparing for bedtime. As she was running through the halls of their home, she was laughing at how she managed to get away past his bear-like grip. Hiding inside the coat closet, Y/N covered her mouth with both her hands as she listened to Sy as he voiced out his thoughts, “I wonder where my baby girl could be.” She heard his footsteps louder, hinting how he was nearby. When the sound was so clear she could also hear his even breathing, she knew he stood right outside the closet, “I know you’re in here, baby girl, I’m giving you one last chance to come out so you’re punishment won’t be too bad.”

As he opened the closet, Sy was surprised upon seeing how instead of standing on her feet to apologize; instead his troublemaker decided to crawl beneath his legs that were apart. Her giggles also made the Captain smile but he managed to put up his angry exterior as he grabbed Y/N by the waist and stood her up on her feet. “Now care to explain why you ran away when we were getting ready for bedtime?” With a brow lifted, Y/N knew there was no way she could talk her way out of it, so she dramatically sighed, “I’m sorry Captain, but I just don’t want to sleep yet.” Bringing her hands behind her back, Sy had a firm grip on them so she wouldn’t escape, “Well even though you don’t want to, baby girl, you have to.” She just whined as she turned her head to face him as she pouted to which the soldier just shook his head, “I’m sorry but you can’t charm your way out of this one, baby girl. In fact, I have to punish you for running off.”

“Papa, come look!” When Lance heard his angel call for him, he rushed to end his phone call with an event organizer. Setting his phone down on the accent table he then jogged up to their shared bedroom where he guesses she was at. “What’s wrong, angel?” He wonders as he enters without knocking, she then informs him that she’s in their walk-in closet. And when he does find his way in the closet, he chuckles upon seeing how his angel dressed herself up in his track jacket and pants, the sleeves of his jacket making her appear to have sweater paws. “What do you think, papa? Think I can be a gold medalist like you?” She questioned as she bent down to do a halfway lift as well as some stretches. Laughing at her silly antics, he tickled her sides which made her stand up and playfully hit Lance; but really it was the jacket that grazed his chest.

“What’d you hit me for huh, angel?” He feigned hurt as he pulled her close to him. Giving him a quick peck she sassed back, “What’d you tickle me for, papa?” He squinted his eyes as he teased her even more, “But angel you weren’t doing gymnastics! You were doing yoga!” Pushing away from Lance, Y/N then walked away with a strut, “Bleh, they’re all the same anyway.” Riled up from what she said he tackled her, causing her to land on her back, coming in contact with the soft mattress. “I guess I’m gonna have to show you how you do gymnastics huh,” Lance smirked at her.

“No peeking, doll,” Steve gently reminded her as he covered the sketchbook he was drawing on once he saw her eyes trying to catch a glance of what he was drawing. “Why not, sir? I just wanna see what you have,” she groaned out as she was drawing on her own sketchpad. “Because it ruins the surprise! Plus I’m excited to see what my talented girl came up with,” Steve said as he grabbed for his eraser and removed some of the minimal mistakes he made. Slumping back on her chair, Y/N now started to color her work, “What’s your favorite color, sir?” Placing down the fineliner he had before answering, “Blue, it’s such a calm color. Also you can use it to portray emotions; you can use it to portray sadness or display tranquility.”

She nodded as he ended his explanation, she opted for the blue color to be the main color for her drawing. The next half hour they were silent as they sat across from each other and focused on their work. “I’m done, sir!” Y/N excitedly declared as she placed the sketchbook down on the table, “As am I, doll,” Steve said as he smiled, “Why don’t you show yours first?” LEtting out a huff to show how he didn’t want to go first, Steve just looked at her pointedly which made her comply, “Okay, sir,” She lifted up her work to show her artwork where she had drawn the two of them inside their house where they are sat together with the words “Best Day with Daddy.” “That’s absolutely good, doll! Those are my best days too, the ones with you.” She felt her chest swelling with pride, “Let’s see yours!” He proceeded to show her his work — a portrait of her. “I drew you, doll, because you’re the prettiest dame I’ve ever seen.” Making grabby hands a him, Steve chuckled as he made his way to her to lift her from her seat, carrying her to the kitchen, “You’re welcome too baby, I’d love to snuggle more with you but we’re on a tight schedule,” This comment made Y/N peer up at Steve, silently asking what he meant, “We need to prepare our dinner doll, we’re having that picnic remember?”

“What’s that, munchkin?” Will wondered as he saw Y/N walk towards him with the iPad on her hand. “Wanted to show you something, bubba; If you’re not too busy,” she cautiously said while approaching him. Patting his thighs, she motioned for him to come, “I always have time for you, munchkin.” With that she then giddily sat down on his lap, “What did you want to show me?” Once he asked that, Y/N unlocked the iPad and showed him a 360 degree view of the interior of the museum, “Wanna go here, bubba.” Will took a peak of the place, humming he pried, “You wanna go away for a vacation huh?”

Nodding, Y/N then explained, “I think a vacation might do us good, bubba. You’re stressed and I missed my fun bubba.” Will then realized that he was in fact quite often buried in work; he was also then thankful about how patient his girl had been with him. “You’re absolutely right, munchkin! We do need to go out and take some time off,” the girl on his lap then excitedly clapped her hands and squealed in excitement. “And what’s this about missing fun bubba? I’ll have you know he never left,” And to prove his claim, he then tickled her sides. This then prompted the start of their playtime — Y/N scrambling to move out of Will’s lap as he her bubba chased her around the house, laughter and joy filling up the place.

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ladyonfire28 · 4 years

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Came back from my little break for that new article ! Here is the translation of Adèle and Aïssa’s interview for Libération. It’s a very long, but very interesting one. So i recommend to read it. There may be a lot of incoherencies so please tell me if something doesn’t make sense !

Aïssa Maïga and Adèle Haenel : «Finally there’s something political happening»

They stood up together at the César and have since been striving to invent a common front against all forms of discrimination. For "Libération", actresses Adèle Haenel and Aïssa Maïga retrace the journey of generational awareness.

Some kind of symbol. A large mural, in tribute to George Floyd, a 46-year-old black American who died on 25 May when he was arrested by a white policeman, and to Adama Traoré, who died at the age of 24 on the floor of the "caserne de Persan" (Val-d'Oise) following an arrest in 2016, was painted at the beginning of the week on the façade of a building in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Close by, the Adama Committee organized a press conference on Tuesday. Words, demands and the announcement of a new march to fight against police violence. It takes place this Saturday in the capital, from the Place de la République to the Place de l'Opéra. The organizers dream of seeing a huge crowd come together. This demonstration comes at the heart of a tense period. Young people are demanding answers and action, while many police officers feel that the Minister of the Interior is letting his troops down in the face of the scolding.

In the street, we will find associations, politicians and many people. Adèle Haenel and Aïssa Maïga will be there. Not a first. They were already present on June 2nd at the rally in front of the Paris high court. The actresses didn't really know each other before the last César ceremony, marked by the speech of one and the shattering departure of the other. Since then, they have never left each other. Both describe the moment as a "turning point". The fights converge.

When the idea of a cross-exchange came on the table to put words to their commitments, they did not hesitate. On Thursday, in a roadstead near Belleville, Adèle Haenel arrived first, followed by Aïssa Maïga. They are not of the same generation, the journeys and paths are different. The styles too. The one who got up at the announcement of the prize awarded to Polanski goes up and down, talks with her body. The one who, at the same ceremony, invited to count the black people in the room appears calmer, stays seated on her chair, speaks in a low voice. Adèle Haenel and Aïssa Maïga complement each other.

From where are you speaking?

Adèle Haenel: I speak from my personal political background, rooted in feminism, a background that is shaken by the worldwide movement around police violence and by the French movement around the Adama Committee. I would say that taking charge of my own history has given me the ability to deal with other broader issues that do not immediately affect me. I'm talking about a kind of political awakening. This desire to show my support for the families of the victims, for the political movement against racism and police violence in France, and for the actors who take a stand. I'm thinking of Omar Sy, Camélia Jordana and you, Aïssa.

Aïssa Maïga: This intersectional awakening evoked by Adèle is a place where I have been for a long time without necessarily being able to name it. For a long time, the racial question in cinema was so pervasive in my life that it cannibalized everything else. I felt that it was less difficult to be a woman, in a world that discriminates women, than it was to be a black woman. The work done by Afrofeminists in France and abroad put the words in my mouth that I didn't have because I didn't have that heritage. I am speaking from a place that is on the move and that is not made up of certainties, that is made of interrogations, especially about the fact that I can implement changes on my own scale. And I'm also speaking from a place that is purely civic and is tinged with various influences. I didn't grow up in a poor suburb, I didn't live in financial precariousness, I come from a rather intellectual middle class, it gave me certain tools, and yet I haven't escaped this very French thing, a soft racism, rarely seen but which is haunting... because it's omnipresent.

Why did you get involved with the Adama Committee?

A.M.: Because this is a fight for justice. It was Assa Traoré who came to meet me during the release of the collective book Noire n'est pas mon métier ("Black is not my job"). I knew her from afar, I knew her struggle, and she appeared. The support became obvious and it has really taken shape in the last few months. I was immediately impressed by this woman, her quiet strength, and this ability to forge a bond, to think of her family drama in political terms. Her voice matters. She's not just an icon: she allows a movement to emerge.

A.H.: For me, it's even more recent, I had to go through a problem that was going through me, that involved my body in discrimination in order to mingle with other injustices. I was listening to what Assa Traoré was saying and I was struck by her determination and intelligence. But it is only very recently that I also became physically aware that I could not fail to support this woman and the whole fight against police violence and racism, in the same way that I am taking up the fight for feminism and against sexual violence. I can't have it two-tiered.

On June 2nd, more than 20,000 people gathered in front of the High Court of Paris, at the request of the Adama Committee. An unprecedented turnout, with many young people, why?

A.M.: The Adama Committee saw very well the link between George Floyd's drama and their own. The death of Adama Traoré, choked under three gendarmes, was materialized before our eyes with the unbearable images of Floyd's death. The French youth who look at these images cannot fail to make the connection, it is obvious. There is also a form of accessible activism that is developing via social networks. Activists will involve others through simple, accessible sentences: if you are not a POC, you are still involved, it is your responsibility to listen and take an active part, at your level, in the fight for equality. There is also the idea that we need to establish a link between police violence, the racism that can be found in other social spaces, the issue of gender equality, the environment, and the urgency of dealing with these problems now. There is also a form of anxiety among young people: they are told that in fifty years' time there will be no more water. And finally the feeling of injustice, which is omnipresent and linked to the circulation of images on social networks. Police violence follows one after the other, and this creates an accumulation effect. It is not just a dogmatic political vision, but a reality that is lived or perceived as real.

A.H.: There is a turning point in the effectiveness of the movement as well. This feeling carried by Assa Traoré that we are powerful. It's not just ideas that go around the world, it's ideas that make the world happen. It gives hope and responsibility to a whole generation.

During Aïssa's speech at the Césars, in which she confronts the profession with the near-invisibility of actors, filmmakers and producers from French overseas territories and African and Asian immigrants in French cinema, you are in the room, Adèle. You don't know each other yet. Do you understand her speech immediately?

A.H.: It's obvious, but it's not immediate, it takes a little time to understand the extent of the racist mechanism when you, yourself, haven't been forced to see how it works. I was brought back to particular assignments, but not to this one. So it takes a long time before it becomes unbearable evidence. When Aïssa takes the floor, it's courageous because the room is very cold and it's making it even colder. I thought it was funny and I thought "finally, something political is happening".

Did you both understand that people find it violent to count black people in the room, and even that they might find it paradoxical to split the audience?

A.M.: Counting isn't splitting, it's measuring the gap between us and equality. When it comes to inequality, to be blind to color is to be blind to the social burdens that come from our history and the imagination that flows from it. I am fighting for art and culture to deconstruct racial fictions. In our field, cinema, there is a tendency to believe that when a few exceptions appear, the problem of racial discrimination is solved. I do not think that my presence, that of Omar Sy, Ladj Ly or Frédéric Chau, Leïla Bekhti, for example, however gifted they may be, exonerates French cinema from an examination of conscience. There is always an over-representation of people perceived as non-white in roles with negative connotations - and it's not me saying this, it's the CSA, through its diversity barometer. There are still too few opportunities for younger people, who today in 2020 deplore what I deplored when I was starting out. Still too few non-whites behind the camera and almost no one in decision-making positions. I started this job when I was 20 years old. I am 45. A generation, not a few exceptions, should have risen. It hasn't. And it's unbearable as a citizen, a mother and an artist.

At the César ceremony, I deliberately used a inflammable symbol. If we refuse to measure differences in access to opportunities in terms of racial discrimination, perhaps we are accepting the status quo. Today, we need concrete action by decision-makers and numerical targets in order to measure progress. A few personal successes, however brilliant they may be, cannot justify the violence of large-scale unequal treatment.

A.H.: The substance of what Aïssa said to the César is relevant, it speaks to the moment, and being shocking has the virtue of awakening. The criticisms that followed were "I agree but"... In fact, it means that even when the substance is right, the form is never the right one. It's a form of censorship, there are people who have the right to speak and others who don't.

A.M.: Allowing oneself to express anger head-on is taboo because we are actresses and we are supposed to preserve the desire that others project on us. And also because it highlights the precarious nature of this profession: are you able to overcome your fear, to express your opinion, with the risk of losing something?

A.H.: From my point of view, that of a white woman - forgive me for putting myself in this position, but it's still unfortunately an assignment - I see that when I spoke about what happened to me personally, I received a lot of support, especially from people who are not especially on our side. However, as soon as I spoke up, politically, to say that giving the prize to a rapist fleeing from justice was an insult, all of a sudden I was really overstepping what I was entitled to do, what I could interfere in...

Do you think there's a "white privilege"?

A.M.: Words are so tricky...

A.H.: When Virginie Despentes uses the term "white privilege", it's a bit related to Aïssa's gesture when she counts the black people in the room. It's a question of pointing out, by calling up words that should be those of the past, the gap between the evolution of universalist ideals and the facts of manifest exclusion at work. Provocation points out this flaw and invites us to close it.

Is there state racism?

A.M.: I don't know about "state" racism, it would have to be written into the laws to say that. The right word is systemic: it means that there is something that does not allow for real equality, something in the established rules that allows a small number of people to discriminate without being worried. What also raises the question is the inertia of the state in the face of the continuation of systemic inequalities.

From what you say, we are at a turning point in the struggle against racial, gender, social and other forms of discrimination...

A.M.: I felt the turning point in 2018 with #MeToo, Time's Up, and when I saw all these women from such diverse backgrounds (in the streets) after Trump's election. It was an image I had never seen before in my generation. It was in the United States, and yet something happened to me in France, because I had been dreaming of this convergence for a long time. I'm not here to defend my chapel. I'm not going to be satisfied with a breakthrough if blacks have more roles while Arabs and Asians are still in a degraded situation in French cinema. The convergence I'm talking about didn't quite take place at the time of #MeToo, which quickly became a white women's movement in my eyes. In French cinema, there is also the "50-50 for 2020" movement [collective for parity and inclusion founded in 2018, editor's note] that I saw coming like the guerrilla movement we had been waiting for for a long time, pragmatic, quick, positively impatient, very constructive. The work done in favor of parity is colossal. On the other hand, I regret that diversity is the next program. But it cannot be the next program for me, that is the mistake. I've talked about it very openly, and frankly in a fairly relaxed way with some of them.

A.H.: Much more relaxed than I was, by the way!

A.M.: And then I said to myself that the battles are progressing on different levels and that we're going to have to find some kind of alignment. The fight for women's rights is not just a women's issue, it's a men's issue, just as the fight against racism is not just about POC. And it wasn't until 2020 and the murder of George Floyd that there were those voices, especially white voices, that said, "This is my problem too." Including in France, where this awakening of consciousness is made possible by the work done by the families of victims of police violence.

A.H.: In my political journey so far, I had forgotten to understand the places where I am not just in a situation of domination. I am also, as a white woman who is not in a precarious position, in a dominant position in certain aspects. Understanding that, feeling that, is essential. My political agenda was focused on feminism, and I didn't realize that it was implicitly white feminism, unintentionally excluding. What Aïssa says seems fundamental to me: the agenda that would order one cause after another is not conceivable and leads to inertia. It leagues us against each other in identity issues that are sterile, since they reiterate the terms of oppression. This is a major issue in the effectiveness of political struggles: how can we mobilize without reiterating the categorization we are fighting against? This implies understanding that there is a deep articulation between all systems of domination and that there is a need to defend these causes in a cross-cutting manner.

Aïssa's speech on June 2nd, during the demonstration initiated by the Adama Committee, called for a fair, dignified and positive representation of minorities in the media. But who can judge what is dignified and fair? Only the ones who are affected ?

A.H.: Today, in France, female characters in films are implicitly white women: I have a much wider range of possible jobs than that offered to a black actress. But in my field of so-called universal women, very often, women are offered satellite roles around male characters. These roles take up what is considered to be the normal white female nature, of restraint and reification. What appears natural here is a cultural construction of identity that is done precisely through stories. This is one of the reasons why the political stakes of representations in the cinema are so important.

Is this a criterion for assessing or rejecting a work? What should be done with existing works that have been reassessed as problematic?

A.H.: Works must be recontextualized. They are not created out of nowhere, out of time. Let's question them! That doesn't mean that we stop watching them, but that we ask ourselves what their political substratum is and what they convey. Questioning representations is a sign of vitality. And that does not mean that we would no longer have the right to see these works.

A.M.: With this waltz of statues of slavery figures in the United States or in the French overseas departments at the moment, the citizens gives their answer. Either the work must be contextualized, in a museum or in a place with a historical explanatory note, or it must stand out.

Is it women, more willingly than men, who carry this convergence of fights ?

A.M.: I feel a change in the scale of our lives, a major turning point in the way we perceive each other and allow ourselves to hybridize in these battles. Regarding the massive presence of women from cinema in front of the High Court on June 2, I wonder. In particular about my own capacity to build bridges... while guaranteeing the visibility of the fights against discrimination against women or POC. How do we ensure that the fight against discrimination, for equality and equity, is as visible as the rest? I am not at all sure how to do this. But it has to be done. When, the day after the César, I received a text message from Adèle, even though we don't know each other, and she writes to me to say "I heard you. I'm here. Let's meet", it can be as simple as that.

Why did you send that text?

A.H.: Because of the solitude in this room. And the brave gesture of saying what she said on stage. We'd met the same evening and maybe I hadn't caught the moment, I was captivated by our own event... That is, what had happened after we'd, let's say..., gone to get our coats a bit earlier in the dressing room... (Aïssa Maïga laughs) And I thought, let's not forget the constructed gesture, the political intentionality of Aïssa in there. I wanted to get closer to her courage. So I think that we shouldn't talk about masculinity by saying "men", that we should consider masculinity as a field of organization of power with its own complexities, and its intersectional repercussions. I refer to Angela Davis' book, Women, Race & Class, on the issue of the difficult articulation between the civil rights movement in the United States and the emerging white feminist movements where there was a lot of racism. Why don't we think of ourselves as spontaneous and necessary allies between categories of discrimination, racial, social and gendered? We need to take the history of this division seriously in order to work on it and overcome it. As Assa Traoré does in an ultra-intelligent way when she says "Whatever your religion, your sexual orientation, wherever you come from, whatever your skin color". It is an invitation to self-criticism of our own movement. This is my discovery at the beginning of this year: the self-criticism of my history as a white feminist.

When you get up during the César, is it thoughtful or impulsive?

A.H.: This award was a claim to the right to do whatever you want as long as you are at the top. That is to say: rich white men who don't feel concerned when we talk about violence. What it means beyond sexual violence is that there are people to whom repressive laws do not apply. It's as if the police and the laws shouldn't act against them, but around them... And that's what you feel in that moment in the room. What happened on César night was a dissolution of the status quo. Now it's either you stay in the room or you don't stay in the room.

A.M.: And it was important to be there at the César, because I read a lot about boycotting that evening, but for me there was no question of backing out. A boycott is not just staying at home behind your television, not being there without anyone really noticing. It was important to say that the home of cinema is also our home, our space, our place of expression. We are in a position to speak out and for that to have the virtue of provoking discussion. When that person wins that award, it's the time of the turkey, where someone praises the rapist grandfather, when everyone knows. And you're breathless, you can't move, time becomes elastic, everything is extremely heavy, it's unreal. You enter another dimension. And the fact that a person manages to regain possession of time, to become master of their time and master of their body by standing up and saying no, it put oxygen back in, it woke us up. Adèle and I looked at each other two or three times during the evening, we knew we were together. There was something like a physical experience. We boarded the ship together.

We're spotting the allies.

A.M.: That's right. And time returned to normal when Adèle, Céline Sciamma and others, including me, got up. It was a coherent political gesture in which many people recognized themselves.

Do you think that your political positions, formalized at the César, can have an impact on your career?

A.M.: The question is how do you break a family secret? Festen is one of my favorite films. (Laughs) I wasn't born at the time of the 2020 César, it's the result of a personal journey and a legacy. Others before me have spoken, for example Luc Saint-Eloy and Calixthe Beyala on the same issues at the Césars in 2000. When Canal + and the César invited me to come and give an award, I said "yes, but I want complete freedom". Blowing up a family secret is a movement for self-liberation, it's an essential meeting with yourself. Choosing to be on the side of silence, of the status quo and therefore of injustices with full knowledge of the facts is something I was quite incapable of doing. The consequences for one's profession are not that one doesn't care, but spitting out what one has to say is a top priority. The question of what it is going to cost behind it is resolved by the feeling of freeing the word, provoking debate, making a generational contribution to the fight for equality, which in essence concerns us all. I have an appointment with myself around 60, 65, the age when my children will be about the same age as I am today. There is something about transmission. I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror. I don't want to tell myself that I haven't taken advantage of my little privilege of being a POC exception in French cinema to the detriment of all those young people I meet on the street, who aren't white and who say to me with fear in their stomachs, "Do you think I can still do this job?"

What about you, Adèle?

A.H.: The message that was sent to me very clearly by a casting director is that I will never work again. Obviously, this person was very sure of himself, since he wrote it in print capital letters about a dozen times. What do you say when you ask for respect and silence? They say, "Don't speak out politically because it's not your role". But also: "Don't take the lead artistically either because you're an actress, you have to follow the genius of your director". This whole structure is part of this culture where you shouldn't listen to yourself but to submit. I don't know what the consequences will be for my job. What is certain is that I will never regret it. We did something that night that freed the voices of a lot of people. That is worth much more than all the threats to my career, which in any case is always fragile, because it is a precarious environment. If I totally respected the rules and said, "Yes, yes, you have to separate the man from the artist", that wouldn't stop me from being able to get out of the game. It's as much about inventing one's life as trying to open up the future.

Written by Cécile Daumas , Rachid Laïreche and Sandra Onana. Photo by Lucile Boiron

#adèle haenel #aïssa maïga #adele haenel #aissa maiga #portrait of a lady on fire #that was a very great read #can i just say i gasped when aïssa mentioned Festen #it's an incredible movie !!!#portrait de la jeune fille en feu #libération #sometimes i translate things #long text #black lives matter #blm

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