#defining objectives

[jeremy-empie-web-design-llc]

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[beebfreeb]

[windcarvedlyre]

I've been following @druidposting's DR2 playthrough on discord and we just had a really good discussion about DR's Closing Arguments. Specifically the way the murderer is depicted as grey and featureless, which until now I found a bit annoying.

In Danganronpa it's repeatedly the case that we don't have the full picture until the talking actually stops- which always goes beyond the end of the trial. We generally vote first and come to understand what the murderer's actual motive was, sometimes filling in important pieces of the timeline in the process, afterwards.

But none of that matters for the killing game because characters' emotions aren't directly relevant to who was the 'blackened'- the only thing that matters to Monokuma- so it comes out afterwards and does nothing to change their execution. It doesn't matter how sympathetic they are (basically everyone) or whether other people share responsibility for the situation (eg. Hanamura, Pekoyama, Momota) or whether they intended to murder at all (Nanami). They objectively pulled the trigger and nothing else matters. Nothing about them as a person matters.

The Closing Argument mechanic might illustrate that problem- literally. They're a dramatic, conclusive summary of the entire case... constructed before the vote even happens, before we know if we're actually right, and they're missing something really important:

The actual perpetrator.

We quite literally don't even begin to see the real person behind the crime, any real exploration of their mental state, anything besides the cold, hard facts of the murder that are necessary to convict them, until the comic finishes and the protagonist makes their final accusation- replacing the grey figure with their real appearance in a shot that's often intensely emotional.

And these comics lack crucial parts of the case's timeline and sometimes important parts of the very scenes they depict that we only find out about afterwards. And those are what we know; characters may die with some pieces of the truth and prevent us from ever learning them. These aren't objective depictions of the murder, they're the protagonist's subjective attempt to connect the facts they have. A join-the-dots portrait of someone with missing dots and no colour.

Even characters' expressions may not match how they truly feel, with the grey placeholder potentially looking way more confident and sinister than they were in reality. Pasting Falter's commentary here since they put it well.

For obvious reasons this could especially be a problem for characters that die before the trial- the ones we never get a post-vote testimony from. DR1 chapter 4 really highlighted that in the way Asahina's huge misinterpretation of Oogami's feelings took up a lot of the post-trial discussion, only for Monokuma to reveal Oogami's real suicide note and recontextualise everything.

It might really be a problem for how Komaeda's depicted in DR2 chapter 5. While he isn't greyed out, we get panel after panel where he's either level-headed or maniacally evil, and even the depictions of his self-torture and death don't humanise him:

But we know that his real feelings were more complicated than that. We have his actual corpse to compare the last page to.

He died afraid.

If we approach the comic as Hinata's mental image of him instead of reality, he died without anyone truly understanding him. He was alarming, very hard to relate to, actively fought against people doing so, ensured even the killer didn't watch him die, and the survivors couldn't begin to understand his motive until a chapter later. The Closing Argument reflects that.

Early in DR1 Togami calls out the rest of his class for judging others by their own standards. However, he, too, is doing this, maybe more so than many other characters; his inability to view other people through anything but the cold, brutal logic of the killing game bites him in the ass in chapter 4. In DR2 chapter 2 voting without a good understanding of Pekoyama's motive or Kuzuryuu's involvement nearly got everyone killed. Komaeda's a walking embodiment of the problems with flattening people into caricatures and not empathising with them, suffered from people doing that back to him, and his case- the Closing Argument for which turned everyone else into grey placeholders- was impossible to solve with objective facts. It was only survivable because the survivors cooperated and one person tried to analyse things the way he would.

The games have always been a critique of the justice system and Japanese society and push us to care about others as individuals, not reduce them to- and judge their right to exist by- something they've done or their net impact on society. There are always consequences when someone neglects to do that, and the above might be yet another way the games explore that theme.

[fromtheseventhhell]

Referring to Arya's development in Braavos as "brief descriptions" when her AFfC/ADwD chapters are almost entirely dedicated to showing us her training is...certainly a choice. Doing so to claim that Sansa has the more detailed learning arc? Pure clownery. You'd never guess from this response that the original post was about detailing Arya's training with the FM (using quotes from the book!) and makes no mention of Sansa anywhere. Notably this response provides no evidence from the books and makes objectively false claims; nowhere across five books is Sansa mentioned to have a grasp of High Valyrian but, of course, Sansa has to be handed every skill that Arya has without any page space dedicated to learning it. I know this is a wild concept, but Arya exists as her own character and not everything about her story can be applied to Sansa.

[cursedwithcaution]

my autism diagnosis contains a description of my symptoms as seen from the outside. it is not a description of my experience.

it says i displayed signs of social awkwardness. it does not say long i wondered if i was alone and excluded bc something was fundamentally wrong with me.

it says i made references to highly specific topics of interest. it doesn’t name the songs i listen to most or the amount of fanfiction i’ve written, it doesn’t say how excited i get when my “highly specific topic of interest” gets brought up in conversation.

it says my gaze was poorly modulated. it doesn’t say that i spent my childhood being told to look people in the eye, that i practiced making eye contact with my stuffed animals so i would come across as normal. it doesn’t mention how i was reprimanded for not looking at an adult while they were talking to me, even though i was listening.

it says that i arrived to the appointment on time and that i was dressed appropriately. it doesn’t show me crying in the parking lot trying to figure out where i was supposed to go. it doesn’t say how i show up everywhere 30 minutes early because i’m afraid to be late. it doesn’t list my detailed reasoning for picking the outfit i wore to my appointment.

i am grateful to have received a clinical diagnosis. but i am not any more autistic for having it. i have always and will always be autistic. it felt validating to get a psychologist’s confirmation, but that’s all it was: confirmation.

you do not need a clinical diagnosis to know yourself. there are resources available beyond a list of dsm criteria and online quizzes.

if you think you’re autistic, if you’ve been thinking that for months or years, if you’ve read or listened to or watched descriptions of autism that make you feel like your life makes sense, if calling yourself autistic makes you feel seen and understood, i believe you. i think you should try to believe yourself.

i promise, self-diagnosing isn’t going to take any resources or accessibility away from other autistic people. you don’t have to identify as autistic, but if doing so fits and feels right for you, just go for it. you can just say it. no minimizing or invalidating.

you can just say you’re autistic.

[cookiepop-cat]

Please tell me some of y’all have watched SML at some point in your childhood

[emblemxeno]

When I think about Fates getting called a bad story, the first thing I think of is how everyone claiming that fixing Nohr's famine would have solved the war just. completely ignores Anankos's background influence planning to make things worse. If it wasn't the famine, it would have been something else, anything else Anankos could use to further his goals of ruining both Hoshido and Nohr - and that's compelling writing because it shows that it's not a easy fix as some would like it to be. It's strange how so many simplify the core conflict into making little sense because they keep acting like a greater evil behind things is somehow a 'ass pull' or distraction?

That's the thing though, people would then just pivot to the "well it sucks that Fates' problems are caused by a random problems dragon that's only revealed in one route", to which I argue... well, sorta kinda?

The main core of Fates' story is that the conflict is so unreasonable, destructive and meaningless, to the point where even questioning it has people resistant. It's about removing the barrier between two flawed kingdoms that have no reason to keep fighting, and only benefit when they exist in harmony with each other. Anankos' influence is representative of that illogical premise. What else could be making two groups of people fight over more than what they could solve without warfare, other than a crazed, despotic and resentful figure of power who wants to drag the rest of the world down with him?

Revenge, famine, resources, defense from invasion, isolationism, jealousy and pride, etc... all of these provide reason for conflict, but not one that lasted since the age of godly dragons. Only another ambitious and godly dragon could halt progress and change to that degree.

I know the common critique of FE stories in general is that "well, the problems get solved by beating big scary dragon and that sucks", but the point of those final bosses isn't that every problem is solved. Honestly, the point is never just "beat bad dragon the end." The point is that you were able to unify around a cause despite differing backgrounds, and because of that, change is then starting to develop in the epilogues (and can happen in supports, base conversations, etc.) The final bad dragon is the last step of the journey, with said journey being the actual fix to whatever issues are plaguing the protagonist's party. It's a narrative-gameplay tool.

[momentomori24]

For a character that has virtually said nothing (impressive feat considering Mark Berskii exists) and has been dead since the start, Cara is so SO intriguing to me. Her complete lack of humanity in the midst of a cast brimming with it stands out in such a fucked up way.

Take her appearance, for example. Outside of the fact that she's much paler than the group, her having redish hair feels so intentional. It physically ties her to two characters: Diana and Wolfgang's mum. By extension, that ties her to Wolfgang and Eva as well. I don't believe that she's directly tied to them, or anyone in our group really (which I think is the point). However, the links that can be tied-- that we as the audience are encouraged to tie-- still exist.

We are introduced to her as a murder victim, a girl who was brutally ambushed and stabbed to death by who is assumed to be a man. That serves as a parallel by what is implied to have happened to Wolfgang's mum; a woman who was murdered by her husband. Coupled with their vague resemblance, it explains why Wolfgang was so emotional during the trial. He's a lawyer, and it's both his job and moral code to have empathy for everyone, but it seems obvious that there was a lot of projection on his part related to this specific case. He doesn't just see a person, he sees a blameless woman, an innocent girl undeserving of her fate. A victim who had to have been sadistically murdered by a man, and "self-defence" was never on the table. He clearly cared about the case-- he cared THE MOST about the case. He was the only one to actually acknowledge that it's based on a real murder case, that the victim was a real person, and treat it with that same amount of appropriate care. But that care is rooted in his strong sense of justice for victims as a lawyer, in his own issues and warped view on gender due to his parents-- it's not entirely for her because he never actually KNEW her.

And we see her again in the execution. Quite literally like a puppet on strings, she mechanically reaches out towards Eva and offers her a hand. In my eyes, this is 100% a parallel to Diana. There's the obvious of a vaguely red haired girl being the only one to offer her support during her lowest moments, but the way Cara reaches to pull Eva up only for her to fall to her death is comparable to the way Diana reaches to pull Wolfgang up only for him to still get electrocuted to death. Here she is again, playing a different role, open to the interpretation of others. Here she is, twisting the knife about Eva's feelings about Diana. She looms over her, standing tall where Eva was at her lowest in every sense of the word. She's a girl offering help, but not out of the goodness of her heart, and the strings puppeteering her every movement emphasise that reality. Where Eva had rejected her advances before, in her desperation she actually reaches back for her, and the act of allowing herself to trust that kindness is what has her plummeting to her doom the way she was always of, the arm giving and tearing at the farce of it all.

Take her talent, for example. She's the Ultimate Teacher's Aide. By her very nature, she exists for the service of others. Uplifting others rather than uplifting herself. She's the Ultimate Teacher's Aide, and she fulfils that role by being Tozu's literal puppet in the killing game, her servitude entirely at his disposal and her autonomy nonexistant.

Take her motif, for example. She's the only character without an animal motif. Her motif, ironically enough, is a human. Two humans, in fact. And I think that's significant cuz we never actually learn anything about Cara herself when she appears. Her existence is always symbolically tied to someone else on appearance alone (Wolfgang's mum or Diana). Her motif is a human because it's the closest thing to what she looks like, but just like the Tree of Ignorance being a hollow imitation of the Tree of Wisdom, she's anything but. What do we know about her, really? What was she like? Was she a cheerful soul or a gloomy one? Was she aggressive or pacifistic? Was she someone who had confidence or none at all? Was she a perfect victim or a failed yet complicit perpetrator? The sad thing about that question is that it really doesn't matter. Her murder case is only proof of her existence that exists; history has taken this girl and reduced her to nothing else and it doesn't matter. In a group of individuals she's exists solely as a blank slate, a passive party, an entity they can project on. She's a girl. She's a victim. She's a doll. She's a reason. But make no mistake-- she was never meant to be a person.

(Cerise's made a great art piece on this idea go check it out!)

[p4rty4nim4l]

Things that remind me of BPD with BFDI characters!

this is something random I thought of, but the way some characters act is how BPD feels or looks like (at least for me).

Book: having an episode related to paranoia and being abandoned, and the pain with it. Book always wanted to protect Ice Cube and wanted the best for her. She was also very attached to Icy, and still somewhat is. Ice Cube could be seen as a favorite person to Book, something very common for people with BPD. Book also lost a lot of her friends on BLEH due to the TacoBook arc.

Four: mood swings, fear of abandonment, impulsivity(?). Four’s mood switches up a lot and he is also very afraid of being abandoned, as seen in BFB 16. His impulsive behavior could be seen as hurting and mistreating the contestants and hurting X, thus causing drifts in their relationship.

Leafy: unstable relationships, isolation, impulsivity. Leafy has shown to have unstable relationships with her friends, for example, Bubble. She constantly fights with her, but then goes back to her and wants to be her friend. Leafy can also be an example of impulsive behavior from her buying Dream Island from the Announcer and also hurting others. Her friendship with Firey was also very unstable.

Clock: favorite person, ruining reputation/relationships, idealizing and obsessing. Clock had an obsession with Winner and constantly idolized them, making them uncomfortable and hurting the friendship. This led to Clock feeling extremely guilty after Winner confronted him, and he tried to make peace by trying to make up with Winner with the help of Two. However, in TPOT 10, they luckily make up.

HOW DOES A KIDS CARTOON FULL OF TALKING OBJECTS PORTRAY MENTAL ILLNESS SYMPTOMS BETTER THEN ACTUAL MEDIA?! It makes me so sad when all of them get hate, YOUR EPISODES DONT DEFINE YOUR TRUE SELF.

[hingefreelester]

Its fun when a phanfic from like 2015 is like ”wow dans/phils hair looks so good” girl get real im sorry but no tf it did not

[jennicatzies]

I can't pretend I have a clever caption for this one

Redrawing of an older thing I made back in May of 2021

Old art jumpscare wah... the drawing from 2021 in question. My theme color used to be purple before we got orangey with it

Both are supposed to be depictions of "Arsiparis" aka the artist aka me and my sona. Which is also . Me. But more Art

[cosmichorrorlesbians]

dissertation title planning (I know what I'm doing (<- lying))

[anghraine]

ngl one of my favorite shippy moments from "The Enemy Within" is not the 5-klaxon alarm very obviously happening to Spock in the shirtless Kirk scene (though I love that), but a much subtler moment later in the episode.

By that later point, Spock knows that Kirk has been split in two, and the weak and vacillating but intelligent, fearless, principled "good Kirk" (the same one whose bare chest fried several of Spock's brain circuits :P) needs Spock's guidance to pass himself off as the actual Kirk while they're searching for evil (but dynamic and proactive) Kirk. Good!Kirk keeps making leadership mistakes that a fully integrated Kirk wouldn't, and Spock gives him this little lecture on how to behave like real Kirk:

You're the captain of this ship. You haven't the right to be vulnerable in the eyes of the crew. You can't afford the luxury of being anything less than perfect.

I mean, there's definitely part of me laughing at this in a "no pressure tho" sense, but also, I feel like it's pretty wild that Spock perceives normal Kirk's leadership as so utterly perfect and invulnerable and talks about it as just an objective fact, okay. This perception of him returns in "Court Martial," of course (in which he compares Kirk's perfect reliability to gravity in a court of law), but it's just like... okay!!!! Kirk's perfection is a matter of logic, sure.

[lunavagans]

Me when Shadow, and I wish I were overstating:

[dectech]

We all know about the fuss around Pluto, how many decry its "demotion" to a dwarf planet, and how it's still an honorary planet in the hearts of many, and I totally get it, but I don't think any of you out there are taking it far enough.

What about the rest of the so-called "dwarf" planets, huh? where's their justice? what about Ceres? Haumea? Makemake? Eris? fucking Quaoar?! why have just eight planets when you can have 18?! Why only invite Pluto to the party if you're already gonna expand the guest's list?!

you know what should be "demoted"? fucking Phobos and Deimos, the two "moons" of Mars. these two motherfuckers are proof that the barrier-to-entry for moons is too low. they're barely visible, they don't effect mars in any meaningful way, they aren't even round since they aren't big enough to round themselves under their own gravity, and one of them isn't even in a stable orbit of Mars! Phobos is gonna get ripped apart by mars' gravity in just a few dozen million years!

the concept of a "Dwarf Moon" is too good for them. they should be called, like, sateloids or something. Lunoids at most. fuck em

[preheville]

do u guys think i am a good writer be sincere. i cannot figure it out