#breaking down characters' personalities

[shellyshroom]

Hello!

SHELLY HERE AGAIN WITH A BRAND NEW POST!

Since I wrote a whole blog on my last account which includes me "breaking down Ryder's personality and getting a closer look at him" I've decided to also start doing it here as well!

This was made mainly because he's probably my favorite Frozen 2 supporting character. He's very interesting in my eyes.. and considering he doesn't really do that much, yet I've become obsessed with this guy nonetheless, I've decided to talk about more of his personality and what I think they should've added to him in the movies.

Let's begin!

First of all.. Based on the movie.. If you haven't noticed it already he seems like such a nice guy who just wants to help out and be like "the wingman" of the story, along with share his love for reindeer. That's all we really know about him but if you were to dig deeper you can see a bit more than what's shown throughout the rest of the movie.

If you were to look closely at some of the concept art, and how we was portrayed at the beginning of the movie and during some other scenes in the movie, you are able to see a few hidden details in his personality not everyone is able to spot.

That time where he hid in fear behind his sister seeing the sight of a talking snowman, that time he was running away in fear from SOMETHING in one of his concept art drawings, that time he was worried for the reindeer in the forest when it was on fire, and the times he was nervously talking to Kristoff about the proposal you could see that he's also a very caring, nervous, and soft person.

Genuinely feeling bad for Kristoff, and about to put the blame on himself for what happened before Kristoff cut him off.. However he also seems like the easygoing, chill, happy, silly type of guy. To put it this way, Ryder is the type of person who seems to be very anxious at first, but once they were to warm up to you they'd become more of the "silly friend".

It also seems, based on some of the concept art that I've seen, that he's most likely good at fighting like his sister probably is. We see him and the other Northuldra about to attack the soldiers right after Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf, and Sven first notice the memories put into ice in the forest. He might have a decent amount of strength according to this alone. In the 3rd movie.. Who knows we might get some Nattura sibling action.

He also seems to be a rather positive and friendly character, as seen in this description of him on his wiki:

"He has a friendly deposition, making him fast friends with those he meets."

We only really saw him become fast friends with Kristoff.. That's literally it.., We never saw him become fast friends with anyone else, this most likely has to do with the fact that Frozen 3 was extremely rushed.. Like I'm sorry to tell you this but it was. I like the movie, but holy hell was it rushed!

Honestly it'd be great if Disney actually showed more of his friendliness to other people. Also I haven't seen Once Upon a Studio yet, idk if he even does anything in there but if he does don't spoil it for me please..

I also wish they showed more of what makes him different compared to Kristoff.. Because I'm betting to those watching the movie for the first time they only see him as a Northuldra Kristoff clone.. That is however not all that he is and this post is all the proof you need!

Here's one last thing before I wrap it all up..

Has anyone else noticed that Ryder is literally single...?

He states that he "knows nothing about women", which leaves me kind of curious.. It's probably something simple like "He never thought about it before because Northuldra don't really think about that kind of thing", but I'm still in need of answers nonetheless.

There HAS to be more behind that.

I need the lore!

That's all..!

[mamasplat]

It’s a big day for kalos fans, let me ship post as a treat.

I love that pokemon masters keeps hinting and showing a glimpse past calems stoics, showing that he seems to have a thing for serena, which I cannot blame him- she is the human equivalent of a chantilly cake; a soft fluffy balance between sweet and fresh, elegant and sugary. She’s good at what she does and he respects her a lot for it even if he’s prone to self sabotage trying to get on her level (parental issues being raised by tournament veterans)

And it’s not just these moments, this dynamic is deeply embedded into their rivalry and shows in every iteration of their existence. The manga, the games, masters, and maybe even the legends Z game counterparts we will see next year-

in the manga Y (Serena’s counterpart) is the only member of their friend group who didn’t give up on X (Calem’s counterpart) when he shut himself away in a depressive episode, she tried to talk to him everyday, brought him food, and even in her frustration never gave up on him; and ultimately it’s her stubborn support that brings him back out of his shell in the end. In the games they’re bond is so dorky and precious- they tease each other, they bicker, they banter, they’re rivals through and through, but ultimately it boils down to one truth; they are both recklessly protective over one another in the face of team flare, and rivalry turns to teamwork, and they couldn’t have done it without each other.

There’s such a heavy emphasis on the mutual respect they hold, both wanting to better themselves for each other even though the other thinks of them so highly. Calem would utterly worship her if he weren’t so spooked by his own vulnerability, they both have struggles, but they both have a patient understanding of balance to work.

They balance each other. Cheerfully angelic and stoic aloofness, yet they understand each other wordlessly, work with muscle memory coordination, feel each other’s feelings. Much like life and death, happiness is found in balance.

If only they weren’t so oblivious to the way they treat each other like a romance novel.

[canisalbus]

Vasco and Machete are absolutely adorable, your style is so lovely and you draw the softest beds I’ve ever seen in any art ever

.

[breezypunk]

please let people love whatever character's they want. -.-

the more evil, the better. hello?! if you don't like a character that's cool, but please stop making long posts shitting on other's who enjoy character's you don't. At the end of the day it's not that deep, and remember it isn't real life.

[gearbroth]

[concept-dump] Space-au - (main(?) Antagonist) Skal, enemy of sun and mentor to iron

[blueskittlesart]

how long after they find those submarine guys do we have to wait before we can start making movies about it because i sincerely think that with the right director this could be one of the best psych horror films of all time. the bottle episode to end all bottle episodes with a perfectly selected cast of the five absolute worst people in the world

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

sometimes i remember that gojo wanted to tell geto “we’ll meet again, right?” just before he died but forced himself not to knowing it would have cursed him and then i start thinking about how kind and thoughtful gojo is as a character and how he hasn’t been able to lean on another human being since geto defected and then i want to . Scream

[makotonaegiunderstander]

something I’ve been thinking abt is how many people think Makoto is immune to despair. I don’t think he is. I think becoming the ultimate Hope was BECAUSE he felt despair. He wouldn’t have fully reached that point without Junko. Makoto becoming such a beacon was his last attempt to avoid completely falling and it wasn’t because he didn’t feel despair, it was because he was too damn stubborn to allow everything to go to waste and he refused to sacrifice his beliefs for someone else’s. His inner monologue tells me he DID experience the same new low the other suvivors did in the final trial, but at the point where he had the choice to give up and die, he looked at the others and he looked at Junko and he couldn’t allow it to happen, not out of self preservation, but because the idea that Junko would have control over their lives made him FURIOUS. and that utter refusal to die kicked in, wether luck or otherwise, and he made the concious effort for one last push while something in him was breaking. He had to be broken in order for the Ultimate Hope to come through so aggressively, bc it could only exist in the face of the Ultimate Despair. He snapped the same way she did, but in the other direction. In what could have been his final moments he chose to embody everything Junko wasn’t, and every single optimistic and luck fueled ideal in him suddenly charged forward and pushed him. It was a combination of the final straw and a choice. Makoto isn’t immune to feeling despair, he’s just too stubborn to fall into it of his own volition. I think that’s why I like that scene in DR3 so much. People were SO SHOCKED Makoto actually fell for the tape, that he actually became despair for a moment. I saw people getting mad or disappointed, saying it was pathetic and Makoto seemed to fall from some sort of pedestal for them. Honestly part of me wonders if that sort of mentality, which clearly people had in universe, affected Makoto a bit. Like he started to see himself as less of a person, subconsciously. Prompting him to take more risks, less self preservation, act way more bold. It seems he has to be reminded a lot not to put himself in danger by his friends, to not do something too reckless. All over the place I would see in regards to that scene either this frivolous ‘oh this was just angst drama with no meaning behind it’ or ‘he can do better than that. he’s so weak’ or ‘come on, there’s no way he’d fall into despair, he’s the Ultimate Hope!’ This kind of mentality, which was kind of ironic considering Ryota was there the entire time saying the same thing and treating Makoto the same way. Like Makoto was superhuman. Like Makoto didn’t feel despair the same way ‘normal people’ did. In a way that was also how Munakata saw Makoto. Makoto stopped being a PERSON to the world when he became Ultimate Hope, he became a concept, a belief system, much the same way Junko ascended beyond herself. But the difference is that treating Makoto that way is the opposite of the reason Makoto became such a representative for hope. He wasn’t doing something no one else could. He was doing something everyone had the chance to, he just… was a little more optimistic, a little more stubborn, a little more ‘gung-ho’ about things. He just took the lead where no one else did, where no one else knew they even COULD in the face of Junko’s unstoppable force. She had overcome the biggest threats and obstacles in the world, what could one person do? And the answer Makoto found was, anything. Everything. It doesn’t all rest on Makoto, he’s just the one that was inspired to try to do what seemed like the impossible. But as evidenced by the change in his friends after that trial, it’s clearly not something only Makoto is capable of. The others pulled out of despair thanks to Makoto, but it was their choice to do so.

“But… this world is so huge, and we’re so small. What can we do…? No, we can probably do anything. Yeah! We can do anything!”

[loadinghellsing]

you've said before that you see Alucard/Anderson's dynamic differently in each version of hellsing? I was curious if you'd share how you see them?

Yeah sure, why not!!!

HELLSING ULTIMATE - I really only ship Andercard in Hellsing Ultimate... because, well... more reasons then I can functionally phrase. They're the same person, they're each other's other half, they're soulmates, ext.

the parallels, the symbolism, the acknowledgment, the respect, the care- *chef's kiss* there is simply so much to their dynamic that I can get lost in it for days. Correction- years.

---

HELLSING GONZO - They hate eachother. With a passion. The amount of superiority complex they bark at eachother. And how upset the get when they lose?

Yeah, there's nothing to structure fondness off spare having a challenge that feeds their own ego. (Additional Note: out of all versions of hellsing, this is the only one Anderson feels straight in.)

---

HELLSING ABRIDGED - Bromance. Best bromance to ever bromance. Just two silly near 7ft goblins getting into chaos and raising hell "just because". Companion ship in shenanigans. Partners in crime, via being the other's crime. Integra and Maxwell shall never know peace again.

However, Andercard ship wise, they give me the vibe of this post;

[blujaydoodles]

so I'm doing my first playthrough of BG3 as juniper and I did NOT expect how strongly melliwyk would show up to have feelings about this scene with gale

[slumbergoblin]

Hi Mei :)

[sad-endings-suck]

Blue Eye Samurai: regarding Mizu’s “plot armour” or her “ridiculously over-powered” abilities.

“Mizu is way too overpowered, it doesn’t make sense.”

I feel like a lot of people don’t realize just how much the mind over matter mentality plays a roll in Mizu’s “abilities”. Mizu isn’t the best because she’s physically the strongest, or had the best training, or the most experience, or whatever. Mizu is the best because she has single-minded focus and immense tenacity that borders on psychotic due to how intensely dedicated to revenge she has been for almost all of her life. All the years she spent training, all the time she spends taking out enemies, she is being driven by single minded focus and iron willed determination that never wavers. She has been sharpening and honing not just her body, but her mind, for exactly this. She has dedicated her entire life to her quest for vengeance, and in her own words, there is no room in it for anything else.

People also seem to be making a lot of assumptions about what kind of training and how much training Mizu has or has not had. As the audience, we’ve only been shown bits and pieces of Mizu’s past, which includes her experience learning martial arts. Asking shit like “how is she so good with a sword if she’s only self taught?” is like asking “how can she read and write if Master Eiji is blind?”. The answer is that Mizu has obviously learnt these things from more than one source, but documenting her entire education in detail doesn’t exactly serve a purpose to the narrative. We are explicitly shown in one of Mizu’s flashbacks that she’s been practicing with a wooden sparring sword since she was very young. It’s actually her child self that we see in that brief particular flashback. Not her teen/tween self, her child self. She’s also following the movements and instructions of an older man that is clearly a skilled samurai or warrior of some kind based on context (which y’all love to ignore). Besides, who else would want/need a sword from a master sword-maker besides an expert swordsman? How many skilled fighters from all over Japan have come to Master Eiji’s forge hoping for a blade, and wait with nothing better to do but train while their blade is being made? How many of them have divulged information about certain fighting styles (like Shindo-Ryu, which Mizu was familiar with despite never having been to the dojo before). Or practiced around her and with her? We are clearly shown through Mizu’s flashbacks that receiving training from a visiting client has not been unusual for her throughout her apprenticeship with Master Eiji, and her little spar with Blood Soaked Chiaki was no one time event. Yet Mizu is never given the benefit of the doubt by the audience, despite context clues indicating that she should be.

“Taigen has way more training in an actual dojo, so why is Mizu better?”

Whereas Taigen, while he was determined to become more than just a fisherman’s son and was driven to rise through the ranks of the Dojo and become a skilled samurai, did not have that same desire or determination to hone every part of himself to be the most deadly weapon he could possibly be, like Mizu did. Taigen believes in the samurai code of honor and upholds it in his own way (preventing him from learning how to “fight dirty” so to speak) and he also had a life outside of his training (he had a social life, he drank, he partied, he snuck around a lot to see Akemi presumably, etc). In fact, we actually never see Taigen practice, train, learn, hone his skills, or anything (to my recollection) throughout the whole season, until he’s bested by Mizu in combat. I’m assuming Taigen had to work quite hard for several years to become as good as he is, but I get the sense that ever since he has been regarded as a prodigy he has allowed himself to get cocky and maybe a bit too comfortable. He has always been the best and always thought himself to be the best, so he never needed to give 150% effort when he fought. In fact, as he got older and more practiced, and it became more and more apparent how much better he was than everyone else, he probably stopped giving his 110% and allowed himself to get a bit comfortable putting in 100% effort, and then eventually 80% effort (which is part of the reason why I think he’s so pissed he lost to Mizu in their first fight, because he knows he could have done better: been less cocky, been more tactical, more driven, etc).

We also never see Taigen meditate or mentally or physically prepare himself the way we do with Mizu. Mizu will pray before a major upcoming battle, not because she’s religious, but because she’s mentally, emotionally, and spiritually preparing herself. We even see Mizu submerge herself in very cold ocean water (during the winter mind you) as a ritual/practice of sorts that serves to center herself and prepare mentally and physically for what’s ahead when she feels herself getting “too emotional” or too stressed or unfocused or even just slightly off kilter. Mizu sacrifices every part of her life, so that she can be the deadliest version of herself possible. She has no social life. She has no friends, or significant others (Mikio aside). She has no other activities to participate in, because she’s been completely alienated and thus being anything but the best is not an option in her mind because she has no options. She tried married life. She had the best possible life that she could have had as a biracial woman in Edo era Japan. She did as she was told by her “mother”. She showed her true self to Mikio, just as he desired. Yet the blood and vengeance still caught up with her. She has no other options anymore. Pursuing revenge is the only thing she knows how to do, because every other avenue in life has been cut off from her. So she has to be single-mindedly focused on her vengeance, which means being as skilled and as dangerous as she can possibly be. She has no hobbies or jobs or responsibilities beyond sword-making (which allows her to become as familiar with the blade as possible) and training herself. If she has extra time, she uses it to practice, to train, to improve, to simply maintain peak performance. Such as when she was hacking through those trees in episode 2. Afterwards, we see Taigen attempt to replicate her training (by cutting down trees with his sword). Though even then, it was more about curiosity and trying to suss out Mizu so he could gauge her skill level, then it was about actually honing his own abilities (until episode 3 when he practices with Chiaki’s broken blade). Which does count as training in its own way (assessing your enemy), but my point still stands. Taigen does not have the same unwavering focus and force of will that Mizu does (partially because he does not actually want to kill Mizu, as we do see Taigen go cold blooded with focus when he kills Heiji Shindo, but those are whole other discussions).

“Mizu just has ridiculous plot armour, that’s the real reason she survives every encounter.”

I feel like people that think Mizu has ridiculous plot armour are just not at all familiar with the Samurai or Western/Cowboy sub-genres at all, or even action as an overarching genre on its own. I don’t believe I have ever engaged in a single piece of action media in which the protagonist didn’t have “plot armour” in some way. Basically half of all male protagonists from any and all modern western action movies ever, have been way too over-powered and been able to take a ridiculous amount of damage that should have killed them multiple times over. These action heroes (who in western media are almost always cis-het white men) have ridiculous plot armour in the most classic sense. Yet no one complains when it’s a white man. Only when it’s a queer-coded biracial woman of colour. Shocking.

In fact, you could argue that every main character in every fictional story ever told has plot armour to a certain degree, because having an entire narrative revolve around one character is inherently “unrealistic” and therefore the main character has plot armour, yes? No? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Oh, and on the topic of the samurai genre specifically (and many martial arts based action media) there are certain genre specific tropes that are nearly integral to the genre. One of the most prominent being the samurai/ronin/warrior/martial arts master that is “ridiculously over powered”. It’s literally part of the genre. In fact, the western/cowboy genre is quite similar to the classic samurai genre. Now, how many westerns have you watched in which Clint Eastwood or John Wayne shoot 5+ guys with one pistol before any of the guys they shoot even get a shot off? A lot I bet. Is that not the definition of “over-powered” and “unrealistic”? Or is it just a genre trope, or even perhaps, a genre staple? No one thinks Arthur Morgan (Red Dead Redemption 2) is over-powered. No one thinks that Joel (The Last of Us) is over-powered. In fact, when the TLOU show came out, people actually complained that Joel, the fifty-something year old man that has been living in a post apocalyptic wasteland for 20 years, was not badass or strong enough (he kills dozens of humans and super zombies and he’s legally a senior). So, who is the “judge” of what is and is not realistic in action media that borders on sci-fi/fantasy based on how “over-powered” the protagonists “realistically” are?

“It’s just weird that Mizu is so powerful when other characters within the story are not. It makes Mizu such a Mary Sue.”

Okay… so, with all that in mind, let’s circle back to where I started when referring to Mizu as someone driven by unwavering determination, and how that affects her “abilities”. That facet of her personality and motivation is nothing new when it comes to the action genre, especially for protagonists of revenge storylines. Think of Kill Bill or John Wick. Why does John or the Bride keep going and keep winning even when they are constantly getting injured and always fighting. Is it because they are simply that much better than everyone else? Yes and no. No, because they are not superheroes (technically), but also yes. Because their single minded determination and need for revenge drives them to push that much harder than anyone else on their skill level. They are the best, but they win against everyone else that is also “the best” because they want it more. They need it more. Mind over matter. They are willing to endure what others are not through sheer will and pure cold rage. Mizu, Beatrice Kiddo, John Wick, and so many more similar protagonists in action-revenge narratives don’t keep winning and keep getting back up no matter how inured they get because they are just “that much stronger and more talented than everyone else”. Yes, they are extremely skilled and would probably be one of the strongest and most deadly combatants/killers in their respective universes regardless… but their refined skill and raw talent and power are not the only reason they win. Their unwavering force of will, extreme determination, ice cold fury, and single-minded focus on revenge is what drive them to be that much tougher. Their tenacity is their superpower. They want to win more than their opponent does. They need to win, because this is their one and only goal in life as of now. Mizu (Blue Eye Samurai) Beatrice (Kill Bill), John (John Wick), they all share a philosophy in life when it comes to their revenge, which basically boils down to “Either I kill you, or I die trying. There is no middle ground, there is no negotiating, no other choice, no path of least resistance, no other goal or motivation. You will die, because I ain’t fucking dying until you do.”

Mizu doesn’t have plot armour and she’s not over-powered. She is an archetypical protagonist of the action-revenge narrative and the samurai/western genre as well. She arguably even has better reason to be completing the feats that she does than John Wick or The Bride, because the medium of Blue Eye Samurai is animation and not live action, and the genre borders on magical realism far more than Kill Bill or John Wick. Now, how many anime protagonists (probably almost all male) can you think of that are “ridiculously over-powered” especially compared to any live action counterparts, but no one complains about it? Why does no one complain about it (aside from misogyny)? Because the medium of animation inherently has different “rules”, expectations, and set standards for suspension of disbelief, than the medium of live action film or television. For example, is it ridiculous and unrealistic when you’re watching a Looney Tunes cartoon and Bugs Bunny’s legs pinwheel in super-speed for 3 seconds straight before he starts running, or when he runs off a ledge and gravity just lets him hang there for a sec so he can look straight at the camera before he falls? No, it’s not “unrealistic” or emersion breaking, not even a little, but why? Is it because any of those things seem even remotely probable or “realistic”? Of course not! It’s perfectly acceptable because the medium, genre, target audience, atmosphere, art/animation style, narrative choice, storytelling style, and more, have all established that Bugs Bunny defying physics is normal in Looney Tunes, and therefore not a “plot-hole” or “unrealistic”. In fact, if Bugs Bunny or Tom and Jerry didn’t defy physics in ridiculous ways all the time, then it feels far stranger and off-beat than if they did. Same goes for pretty much all action anime. If the characters in those stories were strictly limited to what is 100% humanly possible in real life, most of those animes wouldn’t even have storylines anymore. They’d be turned into completely different content that may be unrecognizable from the original source material. Or wouldn’t even have any material anymore because all the characters would be dead after their first fight scene. So why is Blue Eye Samurai being held to a different standard?

Now, do y’all get it yet?

[synthsays]

The Brown Estate

" Emmett L. Brown, last surviving member of the Brown family after the events of the fire."

[queseraphita]

It didn't truly strike me harder how devastating the grief and trauma Cheng Xiaoshi felt about that Chen Xiao mission and how he was probably raised in that part of China by his parents and having to confront the feelings of all the people he had bonds with in that area until i was reading posts from Chinese readers explaining how Cheng Xiaoshi has a northern accent and Lu Guang has a southern Chinese accent

[lupinus-bicolor]

i think i understand the starscream/optimus prime shippers

its taking starscream, one of the highest octane, self-destructive troublemakers, a magnet for mistreatment, abuse, and misinterpretation, and then pairing them with op, who in a lot of interpretations puts the opportunity for change and second chances above all else and whose infallible sense of moral righteousness leads them to be interpreted by their friends AND enemies as a christ-like figure with no personal desires or flaws, it takes THESE TWO DUDES and plays on all the ways they foil each other and compliment each others weaknesses and strengths. Optimus prime as the collected center of the storm and a pillar of strength with a self sacrificial streak, and starscream as the expressive whirlwind with a bad habit of choosing unwise battles but hitting exactly where she'll be most effective when it comes right down to it. They're both extremely competent in their own fashion and their weaknesses are complimented beautifully by each others' strengths.

It might start with defection, or the war ending, or a temporary political alliance, but these two working together would be formidable. Maybe starscream gets a taste of what a healthy working relationship looks like for the first time in her life and starts to rethink their opinions on optimus. on the whole war. maybe optimus pities starscream and wants to show her life isn't supposed to be one long, drawn out story of abuse. maybe they take a little time to stop being actively frustrated by each other and learn to communicate on more equal footing, yknow? YKNOW? i think i get it now. this ship was confounding before but i get it now

[merakiui]

the thought of azul as a clingy, insecure bf who'd threaten suicide and be codependent, has always been lurking in my mind as peak yandere azul-potential, but seeing you write out about it was just delicious. It was so claustrophobic and unhinged, your heart just drops as Azul spirals and traps reader more and more

I’ve always thought Azul has such great potential to be a very scary, codependent yandere. I’m happy to know we’re on the same brain cell, anon!! (*´꒳`*) there are always dangerous stakes with a yandere!Azul, but when he threatens suicide and murder it becomes even more chilling. Being trapped in a relationship like that is so claustrophobic because it’s a cycle of abuse taken to horrifying levels. >_< your friends may tell you to leave, but doing so is easier said than done when the individual forcing you to stay knows all the right things to say and do to keep you effectively stuck. Azul is so unhinged the further he spirals, so the relationship becomes very unstable and unsafe.

I’d like to write more clingy, codependent twst boyfriends, namely Riddle (especially Riddle!!!), Rollo, the tweels, Neige, and Idia because there are many ideas to be written for them. Ironically enough, the concept was meant to be written for Idia, but I was struck with Azul brain rot and so he replaced Idia. orz