#because that happens in this giant post

[monkee-mobile]

Do you mayhaps have any more Davy Baby thoughts to spare?🤲

Sorry this took a bit to get to! I’ve been busy and a little brain dead so thoughts haven’t been coming so easily but I guess I’ll talk about Davy when he gets a bit older!

In my personal little monkees universe davy loses his mom young like real davy did in real life. He starts flying out to England a lot from like ‘70-‘72 to visit his father who gets sick (his sister starts paying for his flights so it makes it easier). Of course all the boys are distraught when Davy’s over in England. Micky and Peter miss their friend and Mike makes himself sick worrying if Davy’s okay over there. The one who it’s the hardest for though is Davy who’s without his friends and helping out his father, who the whole family is worried might die. He gets judged pretty heavily by his oldest sister and extended family for being a long hair hippie kid, so he feels pretty isolated and just worried for his father all the time.

On top of that, England reminds him of being a kid, for better or for worse. He’s back in his childhood room, and he’s back with his family. There’s reasons why he left england in the first place (not like awful stuff, more just feeling stifled and wanting to “be free” (haha) (“I wanna be free” is the first song he writes on his own. mike is very surprised cause he didn’t really know davy had it in him to pull his weight in songwriting and secretly very proud), and just feeling judged by his family for not meeting their expectations. Young davy idolized americans and had dreams of being a star, but his father and grandfather were not happy about him leaving and pursuing “impractical” things, which is why he tries to prove to his grandfather he’s successful and alright and made the right choice going to california)

But davy feels stuck and alone, with no easy way to get back to his friends—who he’s definitely started to think of as home, more home than england—unless he wants to take a whole plane ride and have to make grand excuses to his whole family. So he just feels awful whenever he’s there for too long. The boys have each other to lean on. Peter misses and worries about davy but mike assures him davy’s alright. Davy’s stuck in his bedroom. So he calls Mike.

It starts as “call us when you get there so we know you’re alright” and he calls up most nights to see how everyone is and update them on what he’s doing, but it starts that, after Micky or peter inevitably hand the phone over to mike, and mike asks him how he’s doing, davy just breaks down. He feels really small and just lets it all out over the phone. Poor thing is crying and Mike feels awful because there’s really nothing he can do but say “you’ll come back soon and we’ll be okay” and “we love you davy” (every time davy comes home the boys all give him a giant hug in the airport with lots of jumping and yelling and picking up and spinning and maybe some kisses on the forehead and davy always clings to mike really hard for a few days afterward and mike doesn’t say anything about it but he doesn’t mind. just holds davy when he needs it and is there for him)

eventually davy’s dad does pass away and mike would never admit this but deep in him he’s kind of relieved it finally happened because davy being away all the time was stressful on all of them, both money-wise and finding gigs and establishing their image as a four-piece group, but also just because they were all always worried about each other or worried davy would get sucked back into his life in england, and davy was always stressed out about his father even when he came back to California. So it’s not a good thing that his father has passed, but they can have some peace of mind now.

But his dad’s passing hits davy like a brick because, well, there goes both of his parents. They all go off to england for the funeral with him and davy stays quiet for most of the early time. Just silent and big eyed and keeping up appearances and all. Mike sees him break little bits at a time and he lets davy sleep in his bed at night and mike holds him close and rubs his back and sings to him. It isn’t until they get back to the pad that davy just breaks down. inconsolable crying and panicking and all. He feels orphaned and upset and horrified that he could lose someone like that. He basically spends a long time in a very fragile state and mike starts taking very special care of him. He goes full mumma.

Davy has always been pretty baby, but now he’s gone from bratty, rebellious toddler, to very sad, weepy little boy. he’s always with mike and mike makes sure he’s eating and drinking water and gives him bubble baths and things and lets him sit on his lap and reads to him and sings him silly little songs and just lets davy be as little as he needs to be. Davy, still the little attention hog that he is does eat all of this up and is full on attached to mike, lovey dovey and snuggly. Peter also snuggles with davy a lot of the time because he’s just calm and warm and nice. (micky can be a lot. he’s very good with davy, but sometimes the baby is taking a nap (and drooling on mikes shoulder, but so it goes when you’re a long-suffering mother) and mike needs to just firmly tell micky that he needs to stop shaking the house and barking or something)

Davy starts, jokingly at first, calling mike “mum” at this point, and micky pokes fun at him saying he’s Davy’s mama, but eventually davy starts calling him “mumma” when he’s really all soft (and mike internally melts because davy starts saying mumma when he’s all sleepy curled up on mikes lap and he’s just so darn precious to mike with his big eyes and button nose chewing on his thumb and trying not to suck on it and clutching onto mikes shirt) and, yknow, mike just asks davy one time, (because mikes growing out a beard at this point because it’s the 70s and he looks very much not like someone’s mother) if maybe he’d like to say “papa” or something. Davy is like “no, you’re mumma” and mikes like, “okay so i just have to deal with this now” and accepts that he is a mom now (he thinks of himself as “mama”, but starts to realize to Davy he’s “mumma” and mike thinks about that for a time and decides that that’s sweet as all hell)

But yes, mike is mumma and davy is slowly healing. Davy’s definitely being babied for maybe longer than he “should have” been (and pushing his luck with mike and being a little shit again because he’s so so spoiled) but it really does help him out. and he gets pampered and coddled and pulled around in a red wagon for a bit because he’s just that damn spoiled.

I’m sorry this is going on for so long and got pretty sad honestly but I have a BIT more!!

So davy starts to go back to business as normal (even though at the pad he’s so totally all baby for like the better part of the early 70s) but he does start to tell Mike to let him be more independent and that he’d like to just try to move on. So mike lets him (inside he’s pretty hurt. he misses his baby!!) and they do still cuddle and stay very close and Davy still chills in his lap and takes naps on him and holds onto Mike’s shirt very tightly, but some things ease up slowly. Davy goes out with micky and they look for chicks and things and mike stops reading bedtime stories to Davy. (he dearly misses that and it makes him pretty sad. he reads to peter a lot though so he’s not completely without someone to take care of) davy doesn’t call him mumma much anymore unless he’s feeling particularly vulnerable.

So flash forward to the 80s and davy is a full middle aged man. they all are. Mike is going gray in his beard (which is quite distinguished he thinks), and has finally cut off his long hair cause it’s just easier to manage with it short, and davy is in the process of growing out a mullet of all things because he thinks it’ll help the group look more “trendy” (micky laughs his ass off the first time davy comes home with the haircut and davy sulks with mike, who just chuckles and rubs his back, and Davy refuses to talk to mick for like two days. don’t worry, davy will get back at him when he has that hideous 90s ponytail)

But, yeah, davy isn’t really such a little guy anymore, but mike has softened up quite a bit and is more open with his feelings and all, he’s just softened generally (Generally meaning he’s a big softie and cries happy tears over little things and they all start giving each other platonic kisses that become commonplace in their household), and though he’s a big boy now, davy is still mikes little one because he became davy’s mumma with his heart and soul and Davy is his baby for always, and so sometimes mike just has to slip in a baby voice when he’s talking to davy and watch davy slip a bit back into their old dynamic because davy cannot resist attention and he misses his mumma too, he just wanted to grow up a bit.

Okay so that’s a mammoth of a post. I’m sorry if it’s way too much or not what you were thinking, but this kept coming to me so here it all is. I didn’t get into all the specifics about davy when he’s all baby, but he’s VERY spoiled by his mum and his big brothers. they try not to spoil him but he’s just so damn cute when he gets all pouty. He pouts A LOT, but he’s can also be very giggly and sweet. He’s very ticklish too, but DO NOT TELL MICKY !! Micky thinks davys adorable, he kind of co-parents with mike at points because once davy gets comfortable, there’s only so much toddler energy and “mumma mumma mumma mummamummamumma” mike can take.

Anyway, I guess that’s where I’ll leave it. Davybaby forever ✌️

[jula483]

I'm just gonna leave this here 🙂

[juustozzi]

[wonder-worker]

I've been thinking about the tragedy of Elizabeth Woodville living to see the end of her family name.

I don't mean her family with her husband, which lived on through her daughter and grandson. I mean her own.

Her sisters died, one by one, many of them after 1485. When Elizabeth died, only Katherine was left, and she would die before the turn of the century as well.

All her brothers died, too. Lewis died in childhood. John was executed. Anthony was murdered. Lionel died suddenly in the peak of Richard's reign, unable to see his niece become queen. Edward perished at war. Richard died in grieving peace. For all the violence and judgement the family endured, it was "an accident of biology" that ended their line: none of the brothers left heirs, and the Woodville name was extinguished. We know the family was aware of this. We know they mourned it, too:

“Buy a bell to be a tenor at Grafton to the bells now there, for a remembrance of the last of my blood.”

Elizabeth lived through the deposition and death of her young sons, and lived to see the end of her own family name. It must have been such a haunting loss, on both sides.

[creative-robot]

How fucked up would it be if the real experiment of the Social Experiments beyond Showfall testing out a live audience with their show was them actually genuinely shutting off their control on Ranboo and maybe temporarily(?) Charlie’s during act 3 (while having the full ability to flip it back on if/when wanted) to see what they would do and how they would react if they ever actually started to broke free, so Showfall would be able to predict and squash any attempts at getting out if something ever went wrong with their fan favorites in the future.

[randomnameless]

Genuine question, not trying to start a fight, why do you get so upset about gods and churches being presented in a negative light in fictional works?

No pbs!

I guess it's a mix of being too common, too forced and having, in general, the cast use common tropish arguments to fight /defeat them.

I rant a lot about this game, but take TS where we have three sort of factions opposing each other, and each are supposed to suck. Who is the faction who never receives any "positive traits" or "pet the dog" moment?

The game force fed us a scene where an Aesfroti soldier - when Aesfrost is depicted as a highly militarised nation with a cult of personality towards their current ruler, that invaded the protag's home and slaughtered several civilians and NPCs in the process - say goodbye to his wife and kids before going to "war" to defend his land against, well, the protags who are invading it to kill their warmongering leader.

As force-fed as this scene was, it, I believe at least, tried to tell us that even the Aesfrosti who pillaged villages and killed their inhabitants are humans, and care about their loved ones, sure it's corny, but it's all about not deshumanising any party.

When we attack Hyzante? Niet, zilch, nothing. No similar scene where random soldiers, or NPCs, worry about what is going on and if they're going to die when their wall has been breached. They just, don't exist in this context.

I think the cherry on the cake is the Golden Route scene, where, apparently, nationalists Aesfrosti decide to turn back against their ultra charismatic leader because, uh, he "lied" when he declared the war and used a false pretense, so the soldiers and people who were butchering babies and invading a city where people were preparing a marriage apparently now have morals and rebel.

There's no similar scene for Hyzante when the cast reveals that the teachings of their Goddess were made up and salt wasn't exclusively given to them by divine intervention, because rock salt exists everywhere. Sure it would be a bit weird and forced that people thinking they're chosen ones and looking down on everyone else suddenly, hm, don't break down when their entire system of belief is shattered, but hey, if the Aesfrostian Gregor can have morals after washing his hands of all this Glenbrookian blood, why shouldn't religious npc #55 not make the same heel face turn?

And then, we have the slavery/human experimentation plot - in general, when TS tries to give nuance, they more or less explain/justify why something that "sucks" is done, it's basically Silvio's character.

Aesfrost' Gustadolph manages to push his "freedom" mentality because his land is a harsh place where people are desperate to survive, salt smuggling is reprehensible, but it's the only way to give some to the ones who cannot afford it. Of course is everyone is free, no one is because, as Gustadolph puts it, they're basically free to die for his ambitions.

Hyzante? Follows a racist creed where Rozellians have to pay for some great sin, and are slaved away in a lake to recover salt until they die. It's, later, justified by Hyzante wanting to keep its salt monopoly else they don't have anything, and wanting to curb down the Rozelle people because they know about the exitence of rock salt (and I guess getting free workers to harvest salt from the lake + having state enemies make his own population docile/not willing to rebel ?).

And then, we have the human experimentations, that are just done for, uhh, Idore's lol. When Hyzante is known for its "advanced medicine" and we could have had the usual dilemna of, idk, having those humans experimentations used to develop this medicine that is reknown in the world (idk, sacrificing a Rozellian to save someone else's life?) - it's not the angle the devs picked. Rozellians are sacrificed to power up an idol, Idore wants to control the world through his idol and soft power (compared to Gustadolph's hard power) and manipulates his people (just like Gustadolph) to do so.

The two are very similar, but who is the final boss? Complete with a transformation in an eldritch monster? The war-mongering imperialist or the jaded old man who is leading de facto a religion?

Hopefully there's the entire "human experimentations for no other purpose than the lols" to settle them apart.

---

I recently watched Dune, and even if I have some issues with the adaptation, the Bene Gesserit isn't portrayed as "comically" evil-er than the Harkonen Empire, I reckon the comparison isn't adequate, because Dune is multi book series when I'm mostly talking about video games.

Symphonia's church of Martel is a font for the Big Bad (tm) to put in motion his nefarious plans, and yet, through the game, we see how random clergymen use their, uh, religious buildings to help people around. Ultimately Martel herself is reincarnated through plot device and tells the big bad to stop being an ass and the story is less about "church and gods evil" but "big bad distorts Martel/church's teachings and role for his plans because he has a tragic backstory"

(but then Symphonia ends with the biggest whitewashing from every Tales I've played for its big bad so I'll stop talking about it because otherwise I'm going to be salty).

Abyss' church is more or less the same thing - the Church is supposed to help people deal with the fact their verse has "predestination stones" where the future is already written, and in the course of the game, we see how it has several factions and one opposes the group (who has the pope as a NPC!) - but it's not a story about "gods bad church BaD".

I remember playing Suikoden Tierkreis a long time ago, and while the game seemed to go through familiar "church bad gods bad" route and we end with defeating a god-like entity... I pretty much loved the twist that, in a game that relied on alternate dimensions/universe, the god-like entity was actually the protag if he made different choices!

In those games, if you fight a religious body and someone pretending to be a God or what not - it's not because people fight against an eldritch creature who wants world domination and to erase puny insects, or is the reason why everything goes wrong, but because, at the end, the conflict/fight is ultimately caused by someone, generally a human or at least a non "god like" entity, wanting to destroy the world.

I don't remember if FE was my first JRPG series or not, but I always liked the idea that if the world is doomed in those games and the heroes must prevent said doom, it's not because a god-like being wants to destroy the world, but because people, humans/randoms are the most shitty ones out there.

---

As for the "tropes" often used to deride fictional churchs and religious people, well, I will again point to TS - which did a splendid job in the Benedict Route where you smash Hyzante after allying with Aesfrost.

There's one battle where out protags diss Hyzantese because they worship a goddess and have no free will, listening to Her teachings and Her says (the traditional "religious people have no free will and listen to their churches who tell them how to think!") - which is immediately countered by one of those Hyzantese characters asking Serenor if he's not the same, but instead of blindly listening to a Goddess, blindly follows Benedict. And it ends with the final chapter title referencing automatons/puppets : who is that title talking about ? The fake "idol" Idore created, or the fake "king" Benedict created?

Anyways, the usual "religions people have no free will because their church/religion tells them how to think" trope reeks of r/atheism and the double standard - bar in this route of TS, but I guess, in TS itself in the Roland route! - is never called out, blindly following a charismatic leader is okay, as long as charismatic leader isn't religious?

Regardless of my IRL thoughts about religion, usually those tropes are presented as a "gotcha!" when they are... not at all, but the games/books leave it at that and we're supposed to roll with it.

I'd say it's lazy writing or, as we saw in Naruto, a quick way to end a story without having to dwelve in characters and their motivations : "you're a god/alien/other being and you're bad, so let us do what we want!" - end of the story.

Hopefully some fillers and to an extent, Boruto gave her more meat bar being the 11 hour villain we had to defeat quick and who manipulated the previous sad'n'lonely antagonists - but it still felt rich from Naruto, known for his famous "talk no jutsu" and trying to understand people he's fighting against, to drop the ball with Kaguya, calling her pure malice and ending with some "let us live the way we want" to wrap up the plot so he can wrestle with his boyfriend later on.

In the end, we often end up with "religion bad bcs the big bad manipulates people through it", as if those mangas/animes/vg never have other examples of charismatic people not using religion to manipulate their randoms/people or "gods bad they should let humans do what they want" when we've read/seen/played through various, uh, really fucked-up shit humans did - but on their own! and ultimately, but it's more in fandom spaces, with have Projection 101.

TLDR : church/religion/gods are too often used in those works as the ultimate scapegoat to either wrap up a story in a rushed ending or to pretend to have "nuance" but still have a common enemy where all the "nuanced" characters can grow/be whitewashed and side together against that "common enemy".

Just like in all things I guess, I prefer when something isn't painted as purely negative and all of the positive traits are erased because there is a need for a perfect scapegoat - sure, bring out too much "nuance" and writing/designing a game/manga/anime becomes harder because there's no "clear cut" antagonist, and yet, the one who always gets fucked in this scenario is the religious/church side.

Want a generic stock villain who will destroy the world so the heroes have to fight against them? Just create a "religion" in your setting, and have the big bad either hell bent on resurrecting Chtullu to destroy the world because Chtullu BaD, or have them be the most corrupt piece of shit who manipulate everything in the shadows, so the rest of the world, even the ones who slaughter others bcs they feel like they must start a war, can be whitewashed at the end.

I mean, there's a saying about diverting attention from a fire by starting a bigger one near, or a trope of "aliens made them do it" : who cares if Madara started a continental war and targeted a village full of random civilians he swore to protect because he lost the elections? Did y'know he was manipulated by a woman, I mean, an eldritch thing created by a woman, regarded as a God, who ultimately wanted to get out of her fridge to kill everyone?

Roland must get over his hatred for Aesfrost for barging in his kindgom and killing hundred of his people while they were preparing for a wedding, because hey, Idore is evil and plans on ruling the world through his sham religion!

I'll forever be salty at TS for not giving Kamsell the occasion to rise against Idore, or not even have minor NPCs get the same treatment as Sycras suddenly going all "u lied to me gustadolph so i won't listen to u anymore + sad goodbyes to my wife'n'kids".

Extremism of all kinds can lead to wars/tragedy/fucked up shit - Sure I don't want to get my History lessons in video game medium when I play lol, but what I really don't like is how it feels like depicting "they're extremists because they're religious" feels like the default/easy answer : want a bunch of brainwashed people the heroes must fight against and can't talk no justu their way out of this fight/will fight without looking too BaD? Depict those people as "misguided" members of a corrupt church/believers of a religion, no one will givea fig. If they are instead supporters of a charismatic leader who throws them through the meatgrinder to further their goals? Well, there's no automatic loyalty so either you have to show/depict it on screen, else it can be challenged at key points to demonstrate how those people - who follow the charismatic leader - aren't completely "mindlessly listening to their leader" or how their leader "isn't that bad after all".

[mxdotpng]

the progression of events in this arc is so so good and great and i love how you can just clearly see where and how each characters thoughts begin and progress throughout each chapter as it goes on. while steven was probably set in stone about his view on how to handle the situation i earnestly believe zed and zapp set out to disobey steven's request. and then they make it very easy to understand leo's point of view and why hes doing what he is - its why they show us that flashback and don't tell anyone else, and why he speaks very little after zapp threatens him - and then immediately cuts to klaus, who knows absolutely nothing about the situation currently but he can figure it out just by looking at whats in front of him. and because klaus is so unflinching when it comes to upholding what he believes is morally right he does so without anyone needing to tell him whats going on. he sees this percieved 'monster' protecting someone else and immediately goes to protect it, too. and even though a lot of them disagreed with each other at the beginning there is still the scene afterwards where they all come together to try and catch each other when they begin falling. i think nightow should pay me for what its done to my mental health

[rebellionmoon]

Shower thoughts are crying about Illumi Zoldyck, specifically his healing journey from trauma. That even though he was able to withstand the horrors of his childhood, it didn't leave him unscathed. He survived. As momentous as it is making it to the other side, his life is not easier and he still has to live with the effects of what happened to him; how it irrevocably changed his life and his loved ones had to learn and adapt with him. His abuser and what they did no longer define him. He couldn't forgive and forget, and whenever he looks at that person he is always reminded of what happened, but he had to keep living his life. Illumi still has days where it's just hard and he's just gotta trudge through them. Sometimes he just has to stop and rest, (and Psyche holds him accountable and makes sure he does get what he needs, and he does the same for her) Healing isnt linear, it's messy, full of relapses, and on some days he feels defeated, but life is better than before, happier than before, and he's glad he's still here.

This man isn't even real and I'm a sobbing mess. like why. I didn't even write the entirety of his healing journey in my fic yet, but it's all written down in my head and i'm so happy for him. Go king, commit atrocities, be happy, live and prosper <3

[clown-friend-gt]

me a few weeks ago, reading about how some people use g/t as a coping mechanism: oh, I could see how that would work for some people. but not me tho, I just like it *<:oP

me at one in the morning, having revelations about my personal life and how it relates to the main story I'm writing: ...........oh

[gtbutterfly]

Over the last couple of days since the last gt con, I've done a lot of thinking, and I can confirm: I like being pet

[icewindandboringhorror]

Apparently I can meet my goal of roughly 400,000 words in 6 months if I just somehow write at least 2,200 words a day ghbjh... Almost 2,500 today... huzzah...

[moongothic]

You know I realize I forgot to mention this before in the Crocodile Power Level Speculation Post/Ask (btw I did go back to edit it so it's actually legible and has a point now lmao)

I really wanna know if Croc has any new tricks with his hook

Like in Alabasta the dude had a poison hook under his regular hook, which was also hiding a tiny blade beneath it as well. This is all fine and dandy, absolutely iconic etc etc

And then we never see him reuse either feature again.

Now to be fair, the only other time we could've seen Crocodile use them would've been in Marineford, but the dude just escaped from prison. Although people are quick to meme about the Marines being 'kind enough' to let Crocodile keep his gigantic fucking hook in prison-- If we're being realistic here, they probably let him keep the base of the hook simply because without a hand any shackle would just slide off his wrist and fall off. Of course he wouldn't still be able to escape or anything since he'd still have the Seastone cuff on his right, but if they wanted to keep him properly shackled then letting him keep even just the hook base would just be the easiest option for the Marines.

It's the fact that the Marines went out of their way to retrieve his missing hook attachment and gave it back to him that's a bit wild

But let's keep in mind that Luffy did break the poison hook back in Alabasta. Even if the Marines let Croc keep the hook attachment, I find it extremely unlikely they would've gone out of their way to fix/replaced the poison hook when the guy's going to jail anyways. If anything it'd make far more sense if they got rid of whatever poison might've still been left in the base and confiscated the blade. Like there's an argument to be made for the Marines letting Crocodile keep his hook due to disability reasons, but the poison and the purely stabby weapon? Not so much

So really, it's very likely the reason Crocodile never used his other weapons in Marineford might've just been that he literally didn't have them on him at the time, just the basic hook

But hey, it's been two whole whooping years. That would be plenty of time for him to replace the broken hook and blade and get some new poison into the hook base too while he's at it

Or

Are there any new weapons Crocodile could've gotten inserted into his hook base that he could whip out

Like just because he could get a new poison hook it doesn't mean he has to get a poison hook, same for the blade as well, right

To be fair, dude feels very old fashioned so I'm not expecting any Inspector Gadget kinda tech from him. Like I don't think Crocodile's knowledgeable about stuff like that himself, at least not enough to install any technically advanced weaponry into the hook on his own, and IDK if he'd trust his hook with anyone to "upgrade it" either for an extended period of time either

But could you imagine if Croc had gotten access to a busted ass Pacifista and stole a laser and had it built into his hook base. He just pulls of the hook and starts blasting people with the laser. How fucking funny would that be. Franky eat your heart out

[gothyanki]

thinking about her (Gith the Liberator)

Thinking about how much I wish she were the deliciously messy, morally complex, and believably motivated protagonist of a Space Lesbians vs. Empire trilogy instead of a flat villain/historical footnote in the Fiend Folio. Unfortunately, DnD.

[randomnameless]

I mean… fire emblem shouldn't be taking in consideration when making points about representing real world issues or using it as a crutch for sociopolitical arguments irl. One of the best examples in this franchise of "culture bias" and "covet bigotry" is Fates, where Hoshido is too pure, too good, and Nohr is the bad, bad, evil barbaric nation. And this goes so far as to make birthright's story a more watered down version of blue units vs red units story from shadow dragon.

In 3H now the good, pure nation is Fodlan, and those who surround it are either filler to make the worldmap look prettier, or barbarians that like to hunt the good guys for sport (Almyra and Sreng, and possibly Dagda), with Brigid being a repetition of the noble savage trope. Just bc there's a poc guy that wants to unite people and get rid of prejudice in story, doesn't mean that the developpers agree to that or support that.

(Also, let's not talk about Hopes and how Claude's altruistic dream turns out to be unifying two different nations and make the cohabit by force with him as sole leader of both. AKA the typical fire emblem trope of uniting different countries under one ruler, something that's not progressive in the slightest)

Mmh,

Speaking on eggshells here because Fates isn't really my area of expertise, but basically, iirc you can thank Pat for scrubbing the worst of Hoshido!

Fates' best route is Revelation (rip izana) where both countries accept to set aside their differences to work together, meaning that, obviously, Hoshido wasn't only "blue unit land" against Nohr's "red units".

Even through Birthrout, you can catch here'n'there, even in the Pat version!, how Hoshido isn't roses'n'daisies, it's the land where Mikoto takes her niece "hostage" ffs as a measure against Corn's kidnapping (you can't tell me she never guessed Azura was Arete's kid!), where Ryoma (idk if you were the same anon as back then?) as the crown prince ignores the plight of the nohrians and why they were attacking Hoshido because life in Nohr sucks and they're starving (idk if, much like the Leonster/Thracia conflict, Hoshido refused to trade with them and let them starve instead), the fuckery with Mokushu and Shura's backstory, or Hoshido being Misogyny Land (tm).

Heck Birthrout has you march on Nohr's capital city iirc, and fight in the streets - it's in Birthrout that Corn's obsession with taking revenge/defeating Garon leads to Elise' death - so it's not the the "blue unit waltz on red unit lands, routs the enemy and calls a day".

So I don't think the Fates writers really wanted to push the "pure unproblematic land" card with Hoshido compared to Nohr, but rather depict them as both flawed - in different ways - and needing to work together.

Now, I wouldn't say the nations of Fodlan are good compared to the rest of the filler nations that make up this verse's world - after all it's Adrestia who starts hostilities against Dagda'n'Brigid and Adrestia who most recently flattened Brigid and made it its vassal! - but in a sense you're right calling them filler, the FE series in general don't spend a lot of time to depict nations in general, they're just "the place character X is from" and for all of its, hm, reknown writting, Fodlan is following the trend, Albinea is no less different than Cheve (wait, we have one map set in Cheve! kill that) so bar flavor text, they're effectively just "filler".

I disagree about Sreng and Almyra being filler though, if Sreng could be seen as a ref to the Thracia situation or Norh/Hoshido fight for ressources, Almyra?

Is basically Verdane all over again - with the dubious honor of having a Verdanite Lord who, unlike Jamke has some relevance to the plot bar his introduction, but most important, seems to appreciate and want to emulate/import the values/methods of his country to the cast/main plot.

Can you imagine FE4 where Jamke suggests to kidnap Deevtar to seduce lure Andrei in a trap and rekt him?

Of course not.

Just bc there's a poc guy that wants to unite people and get rid of prejudice in story, doesn't mean that the developpers agree to that or support that.

I guess they agreed with the "get rid of prejudice without dealing with the dragon in the room" idea, but the main issue I mentionned and talked about in the other anon reply was the how, and what, doylist wise, it conveys.

"I'll unite people and get rid of prejudice by busting open your country to my people who are as prejudiced as you supposedly are, and I will bring you new values"

That's... not a good way to bring people together lol.

Even in FE16 I found Claude and Almyra's writing a bit odd : why asking Timmy first to stop shunning Bob when Timmy started to avoid Bob because Bob keeps on stealing his lunch money? Shouldn't you ask Bob first to, uh, not be an ass?

In Nopes?

Bob ruins Timmy's house, hits Timmy's toddler sister in the face and still steals his lunch money - but now, Bob has the nerve to tell Timmy that he's doing this to "help" him.

Also, let's not talk about Hopes and how Claude's altruistic dream turns out to be unifying two different nations and make the cohabit by force with him as sole leader of both. AKA the typical fire emblem trope of uniting different countries under one ruler, something that's not progressive in the slightest

Hmmm,

I don't know if you played the older games (FE1 to FE10), but as far as I remember, bar Archanea verse, we have different rulers for each countries and the world is never an unified entity -

And even then, Marth doesn't unify the world by making people "cohabit by force", as forced as it is, everyone gives him their crown.

Sanaki doesn't tell Elincia to suck it as she annexes Crimea in FE10, ditto with Innes and Joshua, or Ced and Ares in Jugdral... I can see Leif's unification of Thracia falling under that criteria, but even then, it's not so much by force than Travant making suicide by cop because he wanted the peninsula to be united and understood he couldn't be the one to do it.

Uniting the continent by force is, on the contrary, what red emperors do, and in traditional FE games, red emperors are defeated.

To return to your main point :

I mean… fire emblem shouldn't be taking in consideration when making points about representing real world issues or using it as a crutch for sociopolitical arguments irl.

Of course, and I totally agree!

The FE series has always been, as its core, a series where a "rightful ruler" returns home to rule "rightfuly" and better than its predecessors, by acknowledging what they did wrong and what they can do now.

That being said, a game is never written in a vacuum : that's the doylist side of various discussions : "What were the devs thinking, was what their reasoning when they decided to make the game this way?"

In 2004, real world persons believed that putting Devdan in their game was okay.

You can give them some flak because different cultural references between Japan and the US world (hell, western world at this rate because damn if Devdan hit "international" racist stereotypes boxes!) - and yet, can you really suppose the devs wouldn't have known, in 2004, that those stereotypes are harmful to real life people and Devdan was basically an insult?

But Devdan was just a living (as much as a fictional character can be alive, but you catch my drift lol) stereotype, the issue was just with Devdan existing.

It was 2004, 15 years later, we expect of IS - not your backwater company! - to never ever fall in the same pits, right?

(well, we had FE13 with the Feroxi main characters who love to fight being dark skinned... so the Devdan dev might still have been there :/ )

FE Fodlan, let it be for design or even names, took some inspiration from RL (it was funny upon release to catch all those links and nods!), and while i appreciated the aesthetic, it was bound to create another "Devdan" issue.

You have Almyra, designed with several RL inspirations (they weren't being subtle with Claude's battalion called the Immortals lol), from design (Claude's clothes and braids!) to units (mounted archers!) to, well, names.

Okay, in itself, it's nothing as insulting as Devdan's existence. But taken with the context?

The devs wrote that Fodlan's aesthetic was supposed to be the Age of Discoveries (1500s and onwards?) so yes, during that Age, you had people who were prejudiced as fuck against people from other lands/different cultures.

But in 2019, we know that those prejudices were full of shit, and either fueled by ignorance, or just, the need to find a good "excuse" to get new lands/manpower/ressources.

Maybe the devs wanted to showcase this part of history : depict the characters being prejudiced against "foreigners" and have them later learn that their prejudice was unfounded !

But... they took the inverse path

Hilda's racist stereotypes? They're shown to be....

True through both games!

As you put it, Almyra are the "barbarians" who : attack the land the characters are from when they're at their weakest, for no reason than to get a good fight - even if it means dying which in turns create several orphans they don't give a fuck about - pillage and "rampage" in cities, let their allies die after accepting a "mutual support" alliance with them, and ultimately rave and scream at their "outdated" values and how you're going to bring them yours.

"You see those people who were derided as savages and barbarians back then in RL - and still are in some parts of the world because the early 2000s happened and in general because racism exists? - Well I'm going to base my fantasy "token barbarian country who is untrustworthy and backstabs everyone" based on them!"

:/

I know you can't compare tomatoes to watermelons, but the Baten Kaitos franchise also has a nation who's, more or less, full of assholes, racists and imperialist pieces of shit. But the devs in those games designed each island/country from scratch, there is no nation that immediately calls back to "RL country X or culture Y"!

you can make a farfetched point about the people wearing ceremonial masks and having totems being a mix of several RL inspirations or at least being a call back to them... but they're part of the most OP people of that universe!

So why? Why, doylist wise, FE Fodlan designed with care - you can't tell me those costumes and outfits were designed in 10 minutes! - Almyra and its characters... only to have them act out as what an english book from the 1780s depicted "oriental" people ?

Unlike Devdan, the racism doesn't ooze out from the way the characters/country was designed, but what role they fit in the story.

It's not a sociopolitical commentary or representing real world but more like another jab at IS for being as prejudiced against non western/japanese cultures and civilisations as they were when FE4 was released, which is problematic in 2019/2022.

(and then you have Square Enix giving us Hyzante in Triangle Strategy, which is even more in your face with the dubious parallels)

[perpetualexistence]

The Dragon and The Jester: A Nowen Total Drama Fantasy AU

The Truth As It Is Written

Once upon a time, there was a prince named Chris. He was fourth in line for the throne, yet was still promised a life of luxury.

This didn't matter to Chris. He wanted more.

He attempted to scheme his way to the throne. Each time he was thwarted before he could get too far. Each scheme was bolder than the last. Each one treason worthy of punishment. Yet his father couldn't bear to see any of his children hurt. No matter how much they hurt him.

So Chris was pardoned, over and over. For 35 years, this process continued. His father kept getting older, making his eldest sibling's coronation all the more looming. The threat turned into reality when his father revealed that he would relinquish the crown early for a peaceful retirement.

This, Chris couldn't allow.

On the day of his eldest siblings' coordination, all of the immediate royal family was gathered to celebrate the event. As joyous as the occasion was, the king was still wise enough to assume his ambitious son would plan something. He ordered extra guards to keep a steady eye out and watch for any tricks. Their focus was on the outsiders coming in to celebrate.

None could anticipate the ravenous dragon that swooped down from the sky.

When the dust settled and the last ember flickered, Prince Chris stood atop the ashes and named himself King. He announced that all who dared to oppose him would face the beast he had tamed.

Thus started his bloody campaign to annihilate all who could possibly challenge him for the crown. The Dragon torched soldiers and devoured civilians for the king's amusement. The mindless beast provided no mercy for those in its warpath.

With each life it destroyed, it grew larger. It was only the size of two wagons during its first rampage. By the time its growth slowed, only the tallest soldiers matched the height of a single claw.

The massacre grew even worse when the king debuted The Jester to the world. The old court jester had been one of the casualties of the first massacre. The first act of this jester was to desecrate his grave.

Where The Dragon struck, The Jester was soon to follow. The Jester ridiculed the grieving and made a mockery of the dead. He saw the ruins of towns suspected of harboring enemies of the king, and he laughed.

Worse still, The Jester was as brilliant as he was cruel. He would come along to battle and twist his words just right to anger enemies enough to break rank and weaken themselves. He had the ear of the king, and would whisper strategy of bloodshed and further destroying the morale of those who would oppose him.

Despite the odds stacked against them, resistance bloomed still. Pockets formed in the hopes of one day deposing King Chris and restoring peace to the kingdom. One even dared to form in the capitol, the heart of Chris' power.

In this pocket were two newer recruits: Owen and Noah. Owen, a palace guard in training to keep control of the masses through any bloody means necessary, who wished only to be a pacifist once the revolution was complete. Noah, a wizard-in-training who had been kidnapped from his home in service of the king who only wished to return to a family unthreatened.

Both have every reason to be loyal to the cause of the king's death. Neither could ever risk showing their full potential for the cause. They wanted to keep their heads.

No rebel would ever believe that The Dragon and The Jester deserved any form of mercy.

Even if their actions had never been their choice.

[tatatatatara]

The plot of TG after the Jason torture is not what I was looking for, so honestly I'm here just to sexualize Tatara