#but he’s also very complex and relatable

[sien-ten]

I find it very interesting how you can read Chilchuck's behaviour towards his party both as "smol ppl be angrily anxious friends" and as a "very subtly written parental figure". We all know that he's girl dad, but the way he scolds Laios' nonsense, or puts up to no fight to Marcille's and Izutsumi's antics, like carrying him through the walls or changing sleeping arrangements, is definetely a nice additional touch.

Among the members of Touden party at the start of the story he could've too dodged the returning for Falin, went to work with Namari or just... left for Kahka Brud to open his shop, since he's had enough funds already. But he felt responsible for those who came on surface, those kids, who are were about to dive into really tough battle. Remember, when they re-entered the dungeon, he was party's designated adult, Senshi came along after. So Chilchuck willingly followed a knight, who has just lost his kin, a mage, that lost her friend, with little to no provision or promised money. He knew damn well they are capable of defending themselves, so he came along to guide them.

Also, the way he talks about his youngest reminded me of the way he described Laios and Marcille to Leed.

He points out care-free behaviour, that according to his words is unsafe, but while he's pretty confident in his daughter, Laios and Marcille's way of living worries him sick.

If you want to perceive his relation to Touden party as a strong friendship - you can do that. If you clearly see him as party's father-figure, there's certainly hints of that as well. Of course his quirks are explained in manga: he has a ton of experience with other parties and his guild, so he's aware of the worst, but I find it interesting how another character might've became cold and strictly professional with such backstory – Chilchuck became more protective and strict, but not overbearing. He's amazingly complex yet simple, so yet again - Ryoko Kui is the one of the best at her craft.

I'm just glad Chilchuck is someone, who cares enough to follow them, even if the path is not right.

[dollypopup]

People who are saying 'it's so sad/annoying that Eloise never realized Penelope was in love with Colin!' and then using that to villify her and claim she was a bad friend to Penelope are. . .so missing the point.

WE know because we see much of the show through Penelope's eyes. Debling knew because Cressida told him. Cressida knew because she had a vested interest in that being the narrative. Violet knew because Colin very obviously asked her about friendship and love, and has a grand total of ONE woman he could have been talking about.

It is not on Eloise to assume truths about Penelope.

Read that again.

It is NOT on Eloise to assume truths about Penelope!

In the same way it was not on COLIN to assume Pen had a crush on him. The thing about trust is that you HOPE that the person you care about will open up to you, and in fact, it is GOOD that Eloise didn't notice. It doesn't mean she was a bad friend, or self centered, but rather that she was of the belief that her friend would be open with her.

That's not unreasonable of her.

How is Eloise meant to listen to a fact that is never voiced, and in fact, is actively denied?

Eloise asked Penelope in Season 2 if she would ever know what it was like to have a crush on someone, the way she had on Theo. Penelope told her STRAIGHT UP "no, I wouldn't know". What did you want Eloise to do? Accuse Penelope of being a liar and then proclaim she was clearly in love with her brother?

Same with Lady Whistledown- Penelope assured multiple times she wasn't LW to Eloise because when Eloise was talking about her, and having theories, and going on a detective chase about it, Penelope never told her she was LW.

The fact that Eloise HAD to assume these things about Penelope was an indication the friendship had problems. And these problems are tied up in Penelope's arc: coming into the light and living her authenticity unapologetically. Because she kept so much close to the chest for so long. 'Eloise didn't listen'. Penelope never SAID ANYTHING about it for her to listen TO.

Now, does that mean Eloise is blameless and saintly and good? No. That would be lame and boring and would do her a disservice in being a complex, interesting female character. The way near all the women in this show are. The truth is that BOTH Eloise AND Penelope were wrapped up in the immediacy of their own lives, and had different goals and interests from one another. In many ways, Eloise and Penelope were together by proximity, rather than aligned in purpose.

But also. . .we are ALL more invested in our own lives than those of our friends. We care for our friends, yes, but we live our own lives first and foremost. And when we have friendships, we trust that they will talk to us about their lives, their truths, their passions, and their hopes and that we will celebrate such with them. Whilst Eloise has ignored Penelope at times, Penelope has also ignored Eloise. Eloise has assumed Penelope to have the same interests in feminism and not in marriage as she does, but Penelope does not talk to her otherwise until they have a fight about it.

It explodes out of her. Comes out, almost against her will.

They have issues communicating. That's relatable.

But people don't want to see the relatability of these women. They want to compare them and pit them against each other, instead of trying to understand BOTH of them.

Listen, the truth is that this fandom has a misogyny problem. We only want to empathize with the woman we see as the most relatable for our own viewing, and any other woman who is in any way contesting their immediate happiness is turned into a villain. In fact, in Polin, it's extended to ANYONE who has done Penelope any form of disservice ever, as if tension and conflict isn't what drives a narrative.

Colin said one thing that was hurtful to Pen? Burn him at the stake. Eloise is hurt by Penelope's secrecy? Well, she should have listened more, and fuck her, she was a bad friend. Marina told Penelope to butt out of her relationship and to stay in her lane? She's evil and cruel and treated Pen horribly. Penelope never did anything wrong, everyone else is the problem.

This denies Penelope her own accountability, her own narrative of growth, firstly,

But secondly, ALL the women in this show have compelling reasons for acting the way they do. Not just the one you like the most.

I see people talking about how they feel so bad for Penelope, that she has undergone so much and has no one to really confide in, that she feels she has no friend with which to unburden herself with: but the same is true for Eloise. She had no one to talk to about the pain and grief she experienced at the end of Season 2, and kept mum about Penelope's identity as LW all throughout. The same was true for Marina, who had been Otherized from the moment she stepped into the ton, and had been physically and emotionally abused by her own family as she faced down a future of potential misery. Why can you see and sympathize from one character's perspective and yet not the other? Why is it okay to proclaim one a villain, and the other an innocent?

If you can feel empathy for Penelope, you better be ready to feel it for Eloise, for Cressida, for Marina, for Kate and Edwina, because ALL these women underwent some very painful circumstances in their lives, and all of them made mistakes that resulted in other people getting hurt. They have all been hero in their own story, and the antagonist in another. As we all are.

How ironic to see 'well, Eloise is terrible because she's' not seeing it from HER perspective!'

when we are doing the same

[ranticore]

sorry if you've answered this before, but why were harpies engineered? i understand the motivation behind the sirens/phocids, but if the planet is covered by mostly water, what was the motivation behind the harpies?

Flight is a faster way to cross large distances than swimming, and (for longwings) far more efficient.

But that's not really why sirenian harpies came to be. They were a vanity project by someone making a bid to take over the corporation from the inside. He wanted to prove to potential investors that he had a unique selling point, a bold new direction in genetic engineering. He used very new technology to bless a basic winged human form (something that had been done before) with two new and untested features: feathers, and a genetic bottleneck eliminator. Essentially the first generation of about thirty individuals had the genetic diversity of thousands and crazy complex dna that meant each harpy had a hundred more harpies worth of dna in there and the one that was expressed (ie the phenotype) was entirely random.

Although this could have a use case in, for example, conservation science or de-extinction programs, it was not considered a mature enough technology to use on humans. Also it was considered (when used on humans) a potential vector for abuse - there was a concern that engineers would take this technology as carte blanche to linebreed modified humans now that there would be no risk of inbreeding depression, or create modified species with extremely low initial numbers (official guidelines were that if you're trying to create a population you must have at least x number of unrelated pioneer individuals etc - the fact that there was only one Ishmael was also a huge rule break lol you're not supposed to make a one of a kind human). This is why they had to hide away on Siren to try this technology on humans.

The feathers were related to this genetic randomiser effect - a very visual display showing that the offspring of a given pair could come out with an unlimited variety of markings, colours, and patterns, no longer dependent on what the parents look like. In essence the offspring is so genetically distinct from the parents that they wouldn't even ping as related on a paternity test.

Anyway it didn't work because the investors didn't like the sirenian harpies and didn't back the guy who made them

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

i have such a love-hate relationship with lip gallagher. on one hand, i find his storyline and overall character to be very interesting and relatable, and then on the other hand, i fucking hate him and want to beat his ass.

[frodo-a-gogo]

Let us be brutally honest with ourselves and with eachother for a moment. If he weren't obese you motherfuckers would be capable of percieving evrart claires sexy sexy moral ambiguity and complex charms

[toomanywordsnllines]

heyyyy~ poses on the floor sexly.

Do you ever think about how Roach didn't immediately die from his wounds back in the original mw.

Do you ever sit down and think about Roach, laying down on the floor bleeding out, helpless, having to watch his soulmate (his other half, the love of his life (so much more than romantic love, so much farter from platonic love, so much them), his Ghost) die instantly by the gun shot wound.

Do you stare at the wall and imagine Roach still having time to feel agony and grief, even while in pain, even if short, even as he bleeds out himself, even as he gets drenched in gasoline and consumed by fire.

Maybe he had time to caress Ghost's unmovable cheek one more time. Maybe he took his glasses and closed his eyes for his own peace of mind and for the deep respect he felt for the man. Maybe he cried his final tears not because of his own pain or for his own death but because Ghost went first.

He left first.

Because I sit down sometimes and I think about how Roach didn't die right away. And it seemed like the universe looked at him and laughed because Ghost died instantly. Like a cruel joke.

A final fuck you to him.

Roach didn't die immediately. He could've maybe tried to get away, maybe get a knife and kill Shepperd. Get revenge. Proceed with the mission. Use Ghost's radio and warn the others- But no, he stayed, watched tiredly, that sick fuck turn away after taking everything from him, watched Ghost's lifeless body singe, watched as the flames consumed his own flesh and tried to burn him before he succumbed to his own wounds.

Him and Ghost became, together, the ashes that later fed the land and grew the greanest grass.

Price and Soap probably didn't even have enough of them bodies to put on a casket.

They, together, will be on that field forever.

[arsenicflame]

every time I try to give Sam some character flaws a little voice says 'but doesn't Izzy deserve a pretty, perfect boyfriend?' and you know what? he does <3

[dykedvonte]

thinking abt what you said with house viewing Benny as a son and I’m obsessed. Like. The man spent most of his life before the war presumably alone, and then after the bombs fell he was alone again, save for AI he himself devised. Then he decides to pull in some Tribes, and one kid shows promise! So sure, treat him well, train him, groom him to be his protege, then next thing you know UH OH he’s got developing paternal feelings towards this guy. Wanting some semblance of a family when the time has long since passed, yet fostering that feeling all the same seems so accurate for him. Benny meanwhile only views him as a boss, and not a particularly good one at that. makes me wonder how House must’ve felt when he found out about Bennys plans

I view it as House blames only himself for this, cause he kind of does in canon (strap in this is a long one).

When reflecting on the issue of Benny, House chastises himself first and foremost for not acting quickly enough when it comes to priming Benny. He describes Benny as being ambitious, ruthless and capable; compliments coming from a man like House. House has an ego and while he is logical enough to understand there was never any evidence Benny saw him as a father-figure, he lacks the humility to admit he let his own views on his relationship with Benny blind him to the activities happening behind the scenes.

I doubt that House was as aware as he makes out about what Benny was doing, he knew early on but certainly not early enough to stop Benny from hacking and obtaining a securitron along with getting the chip in the first place. I take it he was distracted by all the possibilities he was calculating of Vegas' success and growth with him steering and Benny as the new figure head, not because of any normal affection for Benny but the admiration of his capabilities. It's to be noted that House believed menial incentives (likely caps, booze, basic needs, etc..) were enough to keep Benny tame like the other Chairmen but, as evidenced by the Omertas and Mortimer in the WGS, this is not enough when it comes to more driven Vegas citizens. This implies he still undervalued Benny and created a space in which Benny felt the need to rebel.

House in my eyes is not sentimental in the traditional sense. I can imagine his pride was severely scorned as someone he certainly deemed dumber than him was, albeit only for a little, able to out-gambit him. It would definitely hit home seeing how his brother also betrayed him but I feel like that's why he's so apathetic when he tells the Courier to do as they see fit with Benny. I doubt the way he terrorized his brother brought him any emotional satisfaction other than a "Now who's in charge!" ego boost. Putting that same emotional intensity towards Benny isn't worth it because who does it benefit? Wasted time, wasted planning, and most importantly wasted potential are all he gets from continuing to be hands-on with Benny. I say the closest example is not being able to throw out old toys due to the memories attached but knowing it's necessary as they are broken or just taking up space for new ones, and then asking someone else to do it so you don't need to get caught up in the feelings of throwing something you put so much effort into. It's not Benny House cares about in my mind, not in a way that sounds healthy to any non-emotionally constipated individual, but what he could've represented for him, which is why he so quickly offers the same position to the Courier.

As for Benny's view on all of this, it was a long time coming. Benny didn't and doesn't believe House is a completely shitty boss. He admires what he's been shown and admits House knows how to run the strip, but disagrees with the directions. Ideologically, House is an anarcho-capitalist while Benny is just an anarchist. House wants to run the strip to profit, though money is not what he's concerned with being rich with anymore. Benny wants a free state that he wishes to become a place for the people, except for the Chairmen who would be on top (I like to remind people that Benny's motives were selfish but not for personal gain/power as was it for the people he actually saw as family). Benny was never looking for a father but a future. He was not interested in being adopted, or having the chairmen adopted, as bigger names still overshadowed in House's legacy.

Truly, it's easiest to summarize as House feeling strongly and thinking positively enough of Benny to start incorporating him into the future of Vegas (a huge honor actually) while Benny was so disillusioned by House's ego and indifference that he thought the only way Vegas could be the future is with House gone.

[alchemiclee]

been trying to figure out what exactly it is about aventurine that feels perhaps relatable, or what it is that makes me want to study him like a bug...

and camr to the thought that he's pretty pessimistic for am optimist...but also ob the other side of the same coin, he's optimiaric for a pessimist. kinda both at the same time,.or depending on the day or how you look at him maybe.

he's an optimist becuase he knows he's going to win. he always wins. he has always won his gambles. he knows it will happen again and again. his luck, or gift, or blessing, or whatever you want to call it ensures that. but he's also a pessimist becuase he knows that "win" also always comes with some kind of suffering for him. he wins all his gambles, but at what cost? a lot, actually. so is it really a win? he knows he will win, but he also knows he will be used, abused, sacrificed, broken, or in pain. he expects those to be a consequence of his winning luck, to the point of making sure it happens and becomes self-destructive because of it. he acts calmly like it's ok and is the outcome he wants and calls that a win because it's what he plans and expects. he bets on it and it happens.

but at the same time, he's slowly breaking and seems to want it to end. he tests the limits of his luck to see if it's a real "gift" or if it is all a coincidence and has an end. he probably wants to meet the end to end the pain and suffering, but knows his "luck" won't allow it. he wants to be against the luck and see if he can win. a whole contradiction it itself. his luck kept him alive so many times and continues to do so. it will always do so, unless perhaps his end is the goal. what if he bets on losing this time? bets in meeting his end? he needs to get lucky enough to achieve that goal. flip his lucky fate by turning his luck around, make his end the final lucky win.

but it seems like he either lost for once and didn't meet his end....maybe his luck truly does intend on keeping him alive...or he changed his mind in the end and got lucky enough to get out of meeting his end once again...

he's still a bit of an enigma to me and i'm not sure exactly what happened. but he's for sure a complex and amusing character (even if I still want to put him into a snow globe and shake it as hard as I can) and this whole penacony story is too complex for my soggy trashcan brain lmao but i'm enjoying the ride

[sskk-manifesto]

Atsushi's back in the game!!! ۶( ˆ o ˆ )

[hella1975]

made my first dnd character ever and she's a total cunt and i love her

[beanghostprincess]

My experience watching Fmab is basically just me changing my favorite character every ten episodes. First, it was Al, then Ed, then Roy, then Ling, then Ed again. I just keep going in circles but the point is I like Edward quite a lot.

[katmaatui]

hmm

[radiantmists]

xie lian isnt perfect, hes only human, but hes always a little better than you think he could be, than seems possible. its really no wonder people looked at him and thought, if this one isn't destined to be a god, no one is.

And how humbling and infuriating and lovely must it be to be up close as mu qing is? To have seen all of xie lian's failings, to be irritated by his absurdities, to know he's only human-- but also to see these moments of grace, to have that generous spirit turned on you over and over again. it would be impossible not to love him, and at times very difficult not to resent him, i think.

[tracybirds]

not to project too hard onto a fictional character but at what point did it just become so standard for John to get high grades in academics that his family stopped acknowledging it because that was the norm

[redstrewn]