#even if we put together the most convincing argument and showcase all the best things that have come out of the program

[i-like-gay-books]

frustrated because the ib program at my school is getting shut down and so i'm trying to bring together alumni to sign a petition and make a video and stuff to protest it and I sent an email to the ib coordinator at my school asking if she wanted to be a part of it and she sent back a whole essay about why that’s not a good idea

[boop-le-snoot]

PARTY FAVOURS I CHAPTER 13

first time readers click here 💖

TWs/Summary: In this house, we ship Reader/Tony's Rolls-Royce. Reader and Tony being dorks on a date. That's it that's the chapter. Lots of sass and Tony being Tony.

A question for my readers: Are you still invested? How's the slow burn? Is everything realistic? 👉🏻👈🏻🥺

As usual, my beta is @miscmarvelwritings . I love her.

"Nice digs, Cupcake."

"Nice ride, Tin Man."

The sass fell from my lips, warm and familiar, paving the way for our upcoming debut like the old, soft living room rug. Any awkwardness I had expected there to be left the moment I saw Tony pull up to my front gate in his Royce: the man was just that extra. The size of my estate, the five-figure outfit of mine - it paled in comparison to his own clout. 

In a world where my choices were usually distributed between stuck-up rich boys or insecure middle-class men, Tony was a fresh drink of water with his absolute indifference towards my and his own net worth.

I wasn't afraid to admire said ride, either. Being a huge petrolhead was what got me interested in engineering, physics and computer sciences in the first place. The desire for speed grew into thirst for knowledge: how to get more horsepower, how to tune, how to mod. No mechanic took an eighteen year old rich-girl seriously even when I had all the lingo right, I had to be a step ahead, at all times, if I wanted my ride to be the best. And I never settled for less than that.

"No driver?" I inquired for the reason behind the unusual behaviour. After all, a Rolls' wasn't the kind of car you drive personally. All the amenities it had, it had in the back.

"Gave Happy a day off," Tony remarked absently. I noticed the small quirk of his eyebrow, however. He was intrigued.

I decided to give it a shot. "So what, this thing packs, what, about five-fifty horses?" I mused, watching Tony nearly swerve into the opposite lane. "At two and a half tons, it's still gotta be pretty quick with that V12-turbo. How fast it go?" The satisfaction was immeasurable, as pleasant to my soul as sitting in a heated leather chair with the smell of a new car, engine quietly rumbling in front of me. And by quietly I mean, it was focus-or-you'll-miss-it kind of quiet.

"Well aren't you full of surprises, baby girl," Tony grinned; a happy, excited grin even. It made his face lose ten years of age just like that. "Zero to sixty in five and a half seconds," He said after a moment. 

"Not bad," I said, sounding impressed. I already knew that but I wasn't planning on robbing Tony out of well deserved praise for his choice in vehicles. 

"Got a ride of your own?" He asked with a smile, like he didn't know it already. No background check would have skipped my three speeding tickets, but I concur. This game was fun.

"I do, actually. It's a 2008 Range Rover. Supercharged," I added in the end, just to emphasise.

"A big car for such a little girl," Tony whistled playfully.

"I'm compensating," I deadpanned. "I'm a little slow on the uptake, y'know, so my Rangie with five hundred horses makes up for it. Gotta keep it balanced."

Tony chewed on his lip. "Five hundred? Haven't heard about that, it comes with three-ninety-five in stock," His eyebrow wiggled. "Tuned it?" He cast me a contemplative glance.

"Yup," I exclaimed happily. As far as the date, I would have been utterly ecstatic to talk about cars all evening. Screw the boring "where do you see yourself in five years" questions, talk to me about your favourite engine swaps. Concept cars, give me those. Monster trucks? Yes, please. Vintage low-riders? Couldn't wait to get my grubby little hands on one. Gimmee!

Tony kept his silence and kept his press smile starting the moment we set foot on getting out of the car. The place he'd taken me to was ridiculously upscale and fancy; the valet hesitated only for a second before catching the keys Tony so carelessly tossed in his direction. There was almost no fear in his body language when the boy approached the massive, expensive vehicle.

The hostess smiled big at Tony and gave me the world's biggest stink-eye when he looked the other way but what else is new? As soon as she left us in the privacy of our booth, I didn't hesitate to stick my tongue at her retreating back. A brief lapse in maturity, if you will.

Tony cackled, growing suddenly serious. "Did she bother you? I can get her fired. I should get her fired."

"Nah," I shrugged. "Don't really care, just wanted to showcase my amazing sense of humour." Snorting, I gave Tony a wink and a secretive grin.

"You really don't give a fuck, do you," His eyebrows twitched again, a sign of mild interest that I noted during our routine sciencing time together. Tony was incredibly expressive if one took the time to observe.

"I could suck your dick under the table right now," I answered honestly. "It's just that when God gave out things like dignity and shame, I wasn't home. Too many fun things to do, y'know," I spoke as casually as I could even though I was dying of laughter inside.

Eyes bulging, jaw hanging mid-way to the floor. Tony was serving Looks™ and I didn't mean just the white tee and purple blazer combo. "Princess, you're going to be the fucking death of me!" He took a sip from his water glass, smirking.

Finally releasing my mirth, I gathered my hands in a lock in front of me. His own, warm and calloused, reached over - I allowed the brief intimacy, clasping them, fiddling with the leather band of his watch. For a moment, it was just us, sitting in the dim light, discovering each other anew to Robert Johnson singing the blues and NYC bustling with life just behind the wall. 

The waiter took our orders - and if I totally butchered the Italian, Tony was gentleman enough not to make any remarks. 

"Somehow, every time I am with you, you both manage to meet my expectations to a T and surprise me at the same time," I wasn't able to completely ignore my nerves. My hand was still loosely in his and he didn't mind at all, me messing with his watch.

"How so?"

"I'm going to loosely quote someone, bear with me." Mr Davies's words popped into my mind just as I was wondering how to best articulate my feelings. "You're eccentric and interesting because it's, well, it's you, because it would be much weirder if we'd be sitting here and making boring small-talk and asking each other the genetic get-to-know-you questions," I briefly paused to sip my Dom Peringon and stare at our hands. Gathering my wits. "That would be why I don't do dates. It sounds so tedious on paper, just sorting through people until a person that's not absolutely mind-numbing comes around."

Tony was silent for a moment, the sheen of his eyes, the faraway look; he was lost in memories. Probably remembering all the girls he had charmed before. I didn't doubt it was easy for him: his smile was distracting and people usually were attracted to shiny things. He shone plenty. Also, most people were stupid, they never cared to look past the golden wrapper. I was convinced there was a diamond under it. But then again, I was biased.

"I've never thought about it that way, but I guess you're right," He finally said, serious. "With Pepper, at least, it was. Come to think of it, we never had that much in common, besides Stark Industries and her willingness to put up with my shit." It was painful for him to talk about her, that much was obvious. His laugh was forced and sardonic.

I, on the other hand, never understood why they got together in the first place. Or maybe I did - but the cold, composed Pepper and the chaotic, energetic Tony reminded me too much of my own parents. All four people in this fucked up equation could have been much happier if they choose... What? Being alone? That was terrifying, too.

I kept quiet, giving his hands a gentle squeeze.

"You know, this is so bizarre. Even an eighteen year old kid has got it figured out," He suddenly said, his tone bitter like the coffee that he loved.

"Woah, slow down," I put up a hand. "I never said I know what to do. I just said I know what NOT to do." The 'kid' remark would have made me eye-roll so hard my skull would crack any day. In this context, however, it was pretty spot on.

Tony snorted. "And how did you come by that information, pray tell, Baby?"

I huffed. "Have you met my parents?" We simultaneously cringed and I hurried to erase that mental image. "I make fun of myself for being into old dudes all the time," I made air quotes around the phrase that made Tony scoff, "But, honestly speaking, I've never even been on a date. Like a real one. Usually it's twenty minutes and I'm falling asleep mid-conversation. People can't seem to keep up with me or something," I felt genuinely dejected. "So many meaningless questions, so many downright idiotic comments. From men," I pointed out the obvious. "My mother used to tell me she thought I was gay because I didn't act like a girl... Whatever that means."

"That sounds pretty shitty," Tony was studying me like one would have been looking at an exotic animal in a zoo. "That said, I agree."

"That I don't act like a girl?" I teased him, the left corner of my mouth tilting upward. "Fuck that noise. I want to drive fast cars, drink straight liquor and have orgasms. If that makes me a dude... I look pretty good for a dude in a dress."

We laughed in unison, tension evaporating under the shared, mutual understanding. With Tony, it was easy. The waiter brought our selected dishes. Blink-and-he's-gone. Top notch service.

"A dude in a dress, can't say I'm surprised 'bout your lack of dates," He remarked conversationally, happily digging into his food. The noises he made were intriguing, to say the least, and I followed suit on my own food, finding it absolutely delicious. A delicious meal with a delicious man at my side. I refused to feel guilty about my thoughts.

"I guess I have exactly one (1) date on my ledger now," I raised my argument.

The fork clattered as Tony once again, came to a sudden realization. "Holy shit, you weren't kidding."

"No shit," I gave into the urge to roll my eyes. "But on the upside, my first date was with the most gorgeous, intelligent and witty bachelor of the city. I'd say I don't have it all that bad," I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Aw, you're making me blush," Tony recovered quickly, grinning. "And don't be shy. The most desired bachelor of the country, if not the world."

I shook my head. "No, the world's most delectable bachelor is one of the Saudi princes. What's-his-name, the one who posts goat and horse pics on Insta," I snapped my fingers a couple of times, trying to remember the name as Tony looked at me all offended. "Anyways, you get my point. I could have a go at him, don't you think?" Cocking my shoulder, coyly twirling the strap of my dress, I gave Tony my best come-hither look and was rewarded with an appreciative once-over. His eyes were growing hungry again. 

"You're a million dollar baby," He finally said, voice low. "And the extent of people I would be willing to share you with is very small."

That got me interested, sudden heat prickling underneath my skin. The conversation took a turn I didn't expect it to; and there lied the delight of being around Tony. He was always ready to surprise, in the best way. "Tell me," I requested politely.

"That's a conversation for another time," He was enjoying the chit-chat, desire beginning to creep into his features.

"Mmm, you think?" I allowed the strap of my dress to slip down my shoulder, exposing a collarbone, showing him just how far I was willing to go to satisfy my curiosity.

He swallowed audibly. "I think... You're smart enough to figure it out," He finally gritted his teeth, finishing off his dinner and immediately calling for the check. 

I wasn't done yet, however. The possibility of riling him up, taunting him into a lustful frenzy - I was in heaven. Karma had favoured me that evening, it had given me a chance to get Tony back for all the times he unknowingly made my mouth water and my brain go blip. "Must be Steve then," I bit my lip in thought. 

Honestly? I was as clueless as the couple next table over. Steve it wasn't, that much I knew for sure, he and Tony had their little love/hate dramatic connection that always ended in a massive ego standoff. Tony would be on the frontline fighting against Steve if the blonde dared to show anything even remotely resembling romantic interest towards someone Tony himself had his eyes on.

"Princess," Tony growled, sarcastically raising an eyebrow.

"Not Steve," I replied, cracking a smile. Success! "You know, I'm really bad at guessing who's into me. Unless someone is balls deep in me," My face was mere inches away as we quickly shrugged on our coats. "And even then, I can't be sure."

My giggling was accompanied by Tony shaking his head in exasperated fashion; he took my hand nonetheless and I happily swayed it between us, poster child for "not a care in the world". He allowed it, maintaining the same exasperated air about him, and I let him. Fondness and happiness seeped through that anyways.

"Brat," His voice was kind. And his kiss tingled where he left it on the corner of my mouth, sweet and short. "Here, have a go," Before I could react, the keys to his Rolls Royce were placed in my palm and he was making his way around the car to the passenger's side.

THE TAG LIST IS NOW OPEN! @another-stark-sub ​ @mostly-marvel-musings  @vozit ​ @littlegasps ​ @pilloclock ​ @shereadsinquiet @downeyreads ​ @hermione-grangers-wife ​ @individualistfem ​ @sleep-i-ness @capbrie @lillsxd @agustdowney @dee-vn @justanotherblonde23 @fanngirl19 @persephonehemingway (it finally let me tag you)! @softie-socks @schemefrenzy

[fanfalc-616]

The Rights Of A Nindroid

Chapter Twenty-Three

(Previous Chapter Here)

Yeah this is the chapter I cried in have fun-

“I still can’t believe we’re doing this.” Lloyd’s voice is shaky with disbelief as he pulls up another piece of paperwork. “I- I’m seriously going to run for Emperor.”

Kai nods, going through his own papers. “It’ll be worth it.” He assures. “And after we rescue Zane, you can just resign. There’s no law against that.” He pauses. “I don’t think there is, anyway.”

Lloyd turns to look at him. “You want me to run for Emperor just so that I can resign two minutes later?”

“No, I want you to run for Emperor so we can rescue Zane.” Kai arches an eyebrow as he reminds him of the point.

The green ninja sighs, nodding. “That’s fair. But if I did resign after, who would take my place? I can’t exactly trust a civilian with the role.”

Kai feels a grin form on his face as he comes up with an idea.

“Why not me?”

{ { { { { { { { { { ~ } } } } } } } } } }

Zane shifts in his bonds uncomfortably, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

"Comfortable, yet?" Kyle sounds like a mixture of amused and annoyed, and the tone only makes Zane feel worse.

He turns his head, refusing to look as the Falcon is brought into the room, flapping his wings and straining in their grasp as he’s taken to the table and stuck to it.

"I'm speaking to you.” Kyle points out. “So, you know, I kinda want an answer."

Trembling, Zane can hear his voice breaking as he speaks. “... please…” he begs the word softly, not even sure what he’s begging for. Mercy? Kyle would never give him that. And after what he’s done, accidentally or not, does he even deserve that?

The blond sighs. "...M'kay, it can wait.” He decides. “We have more important things to do, anyways."

Zane can feel himself tensing more and more as he watches Kyle out of protective gear from the corner of his eye. He steps closer to the Falcon, and Zane finally manages to make himself speak.

“W- wait.” He chokes the word out.

Glancing back at him, the blond frowns in slight confusion. "Hmm?"

Fumbling for words, Zane struggles to come up with some reasoning, some bluff, some way to keep Kyle from- from-

“I- I can’t let you-“ He gets out, his words broken and desperate. “-you can’t take him apart.”

He stares pleadingly, silently begging even more, mind racing as he tries to find a way to stop this.

Kyle’s voice is gentle, consoling. “I have to.” He sighs. “I'm sorry but you have to learn that your actions have consequences. How else are you going to remember that? We've tried everything else already."

“I- I’ll remember.” Zane quickly forces the words out. I’ll…” He winces. “I’ll follow orders.”

"Yeah, see, that's the thing.” Kyle sighs, shaking his head. “You already tried that. Lying to us, telling us you'll behave and whatnot. And we can't have that happen again, can we? This way you will learn your lesson."

“I- I can’t let you…“ His voice is weak and pathetic as he speaks. “Please?”

"No. I'm not here to debate this with you.” The words are firm, brooking no room for argument. “I'm here for it." He gestures over at the Falcon, and Zane feels some annoyance seeping into him.

“He’s not an ‘it’, he’s not like me, I-“ Suddenly, he freezes, breathing catching as he realizes what words had just come out of his mouth.“Wait. Wait, that’s not what I…”

Kyle’s laugh is barely audible, but it still stings. "No, I think that's really what you meant.” He smirks some as he stares Zane down. “You know your worth, Original. It's not me you want to convince, though."

Dropping his gaze, Zane struggles to find an argument. “No.” He gets out. “No, no, no, no, no, that’s not true, I- slip of the tongue, a mistake, not- not something I believe, I…“ He shakes his head, trying to clear his mind and figure out what to do.

“Sure.” The amused voice that Kyle has showcases how the blond doesn’t believe him- Zane is struggling to believe himself.

He can hear a scarily familiar noise of metal clicking, but it doesn’t register for a long moment. He looks up, trying to find another point to make.

His stomach drops as he sees that the Falcon’s chest plate has been opened, allowing them all to see the bird’s inner workings.

He- he doesn’t have time to be worried about himself right now! He needs to protect his friend!

But all he can do is stare in horror as Kyle pokes around inside, an excited look on his face as he studies the wires.

It makes Zane feel sick. This demented game of his is gut-churning, and after a moment, Zane turns his head, unable to look.

Kyle is quietly muttering something to himself as he examines the inner workings. The Falcon squawks, a distressed noise escaping him as the blond fiddles with something inside.

The noise forces Zane to look again, and now, he’s unable to tear his gaze away from the sight of his first real friend being taken apart in front of him.

His words are soft, helpless, weak. “Leave him alone…” He breathes out, feeling himself begin to shake.

The blond is humming to himself as he ignores him, ignores both Zane’s words and the truth about the horrible things he’s doing.

Panic washes over him. “St- stop it, you can’t…” He raises his voice, trying to get Kyle’s attention. “Master, please!”

Softly, he continues. “Please, don’t…” He trails off, unsure of what to say.

"I told you. I won't.” Kyle shakes his head, glancing back at him for a moment. “Stop asking or this will not go as smoothly as it does now, alright?"

Trembling, Zane realizes that he’s on the edge of crying, on the edge of simply giving in to his misery.

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing!” He shouts as anger takes over, straining in his bonds.

"You've been doing it since the start.” Kyle points out. “Just behave, it's not that hard. Look, even the Falcon is taking it pretty well!" The blond smiles.

The Falcon’s left wing comes off.

Horror floods through every bit of him. “That’s not…” He trails off, cringing at the connection he shares to his friend, at the way he can almost feel the same things he does.

Is there… there really is nothing he can do. Nothing he can do but watch, be a witness to the Falcon’s death.

The blond is still smiling, and Zane once again feels his stomach churn. This isn’t right. Zane would rather it be himself being dug through then have to watch this be done to his friend, but even if he offered, it would not be accepted.

This is a punishment.

There’s nothing he can do but take it.

The other wing comes off, and Zane can feel his breathing becoming ragged, helpless to watch Kyle playing with the insides of his friend.

Zane tries to hold himself together, he really does, but he can feel himself breaking as he begins to cry, shaking and trembling as he does the non-human equivalent of tears.

The blond pauses for a moment, looking over at him. "...Are you crying?" He questions, seeming somewhat startled by this.

Zane continues to cry. “N- no.” He chokes out the word weakly, wishing he could tear his eyes away from the horrible sight.

Seeming amused, the blond shakes his head. "...Okay." He shrugs. After a few more moments of looking, he finds the Falcon’s power source. "Ah-hah!” He grins. “Finally!"

The power source. The most painful part that can possibly be manipulated, the sensors built in to protect it the best.

The Falcon is going to die a horrible, painful death.

And there’s nothing Zane can do about it.

Shaking, trembling, a horrible idea comes to his mind. He’s- he’s still connected to the Falcon. He could possibly save him from such a painful fate…

If he shut him down himself.

Zane rapidly shakes his head, dismissing the idea as he begins to sob every more, hating how it even came to mind. He couldn’t do that to his friend! He- he couldn’t cause his death!

So he does nothing but stare as the power source is manipulated, closely inspected by the blond who has become the bane of Zane’s existence. The Falcon starts to struggle more, and much to Zane’s dismay, Kyle shuts off his voice box.

"Better." The blond mutters to himself, continuing to examine the source.

Maybe- maybe the idea he had would be better. To just… put the Falcon out of his misery. To save him from such a slow death.

Zane feels his breathing even out some as he comes to his conclusion, knowing what he has to do.

The blond begins to cut wires that connect to the power source, but his friend is unable to even scream, unable to do anything but take the horrible misery.

Zane ducks his head, his voice barely audible, even to himself.

“Forgive me, my old friend.”

The words are soft, broken, representative of how he feels on the matter. But he has no other choice.

He initiates a permanent forced shut down.

Kyle seems startled when the eyes of the Falcon dim and go out, blinking in confusion."Hmm?” He murmurs to himself. “Urgh, darn it. Probably cut too many too quickly.” He sighs, shaking his head. “Well, let's finish this anyways. We could use the parts."

Barely even listening to the first part, Zane feels himself go rigid at the second.

“No, don’t… Master, please, I- let him rest, now.” Zane begs desperately, his voice shaking. “He… I’m not asking for a burial, just… let him be.”

Kyle hesitates for a long moment as he glances between the deceased Falcon and Zane. Finally, after a long pause of looking torn, the blond nods.

"...Fine.” He concedes.”Not much we could do of it, anyways. The components are too unique."

Ducking his head, Zane feels a wave of relief wash over it. “Th- thank you, Master.”

But as he looks at the body of the Falcon, at the body of his first real friend, lifeless and unmoving, he feels himself start to cry once again.

The blond wears a bittersweet expression. "Don't get used to it."

Zane gives a miserable nod, his words breathed out softly. “I- I won’t. I…”

He hesitates a long moment before continuing.

“I- I apologize for my previous words and actions.” He whispers. “I’ll… behave from now on.”

He hates having to speak the words, but what he hates even more is that they’re true. He really doesn’t plan to disobey again.

Zane looks back up at Kyle, looking him in the eyes as he struggles for words, for something to say.

Nothing comes to mind, and he simply lowers his gaze, feeling himself begin to sob once more.

He was built to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

But he can’t even protect himself. He can’t fulfill his one function, the one thing that he was created to do.

Maybe it’s better this way. Now, the only one he can let down is himself.

And he doesn’t matter that much, anyway.

[makimakikun]

Maki Katsuragi: The Autism Theory

Maki Katsuragi could be on the autism spectrum. Here’s why! TW: Abuse mentions/references, mental disorders/disabilities in-depth, child abuse, psychological aspects, and childhood conditioning. 

I think the common conception of mentally ill/disabled people not being confident in nature or never being able to fit into a setting isn’t entirely accurate for everyone or a good way to sum up such a wide variety of people. 

Let’s go into maki’s personality. His most noticeable quality: he’s confident. He’s confident enough to shape the environment he enters if he wishes. He’s confident enough to make people bend or even change their entire perspective on things. 

Did you notice everyone had false misconceptions about him? Everyone was surprised when he said certain things, like they weren’t expected of someone “with his personality”. For example, what he told Itsuki after he hit the boy with the racket, what he said when Tsubasa held the racket, what he told Yuu after confronting them, what he said to Touma after the matches, etc.  There are so many examples of people misconstruing Maki. People thinking he’s not as smart or as considerate as he actually is.

Why? I think it’s because he comes off a certain way. He seems too confident; too formal; too anti-social; too whatever. Everyone has misconceptions of everyone else, but these are things I heavily related to: the ways everyone saw Maki. 

To add personal experiences-- in the environment I was raised in, I had to be confident. I had to learn how to confront opposition with a calm war face. I had to learn how to speak; how to stand; how to stare into people’s eyes despite being uncomfortable with it; how to seem like I did things with little thought to them, despite the fact that I overthought constantly. This made many people think I was an airhead, or just generally not as smart as others.  I’ve had many people be really surprised that I was insecure, that I had issues, that I was smart & analytical. it’s happened to most people I met. These same misconceptions are bred when people see Maki, just because he’s confident and makes talking/moving/doing anything look easy. While we can see he’s smart as the audience, the other characters cannot, and this is important to remember.

Living while mentally disabled in a situation where you have an assigned job (like mediator & provider, which are Maki’s jobs) and huge responsibilities (both household chores/jobs and/or emotional support, which are also Maki’s jobs) is different from living while ill in a situation where your responsibilities are limited (like Touma’s).  There are many reasons why Touma’s issues seem more relatable and noticeable to the audience than Maki’s, and it has to do with the familial and outside dynamics they experienced throughout their life, as well as personality and disorder conflicts.

By personality and disorder conflicts, I mean that Maki and Touma have a lot of differences, both in upbringing, personality, and in the disorders I believe they have. Maki contrasts from Touma’s Autistic relatability most likely because he seems to have both ADHD and Autism, in my opinion. It’s a combination that can leave you a lot more jumbled and harder to relate to than just having Autism or ADHD alone, like I headcanon that Touma only has Autism.

Circling back to Maki’s personality. He seems to have a case of Chronic Chillness, outside of his obvious impatience issue, which I think is an indicator of his trueness as a person. In that respect, I mean that his impatience may be an indicator that he’s not as nonchalant as he seems. This is a huge part of my own mentally ill experience, so I felt the need to mention it.  It doesn’t mean I never look anxious or that I’m never anxious; It’s that no one sees it or suspects it. Sometimes I even convince myself. I have lax shoulders, I make lazed movements, I speak confidently & a lot of the time with slang or curses. Maki exhibits these qualities as well, aside from the cursing. However, I become starchly formal with people I don’t plan on befriending or becoming close with - esp in a professional setting (I.E. how Maki acted with the teacher and meeting the team, as I’ve concluded his original belief was that he wouldn’t attempt to attach himself to the team emotionally at first) - and I add formality to most newer people unless it’s a casual setting and I want them to feel comfortable/welcome. 

I create environments where either respect is expected or people feel obligated to bend in their hatred, whether it be out of insecurity, fear, or genuine appreciation. Maki does speak confidently and calmly, and he does all that I listed, in my opinion.  Let’s talk about the symptoms and symptom portrayals.  ♡ First up on the list: Intensive focusing/ Hyperfocusing/Interest in specific topics alone, with a habit of losing interest or not showing interest in other things. This is one of the most talked-about symptoms in processing and learning disorders from my experience.  One could say Maki is the definition of this symptom. He shows little interest in school, clubs, or any other subject besides astronomy. Specifically, as of most episodes, his book given to him by Ryouma, which he seems to continuously read despite it being a small book. We can assume he may be reading it over and over again.  The only club he now focuses on is soft tennis. That began from a place of obligation, not genuine interest. He seemed to have felt morally obligated to join after receiving a promise to money and a racket. However, we can assume he’s more emotionally invested in this team now, after rekindling his friendship with Touma and meeting the club members.  His focus on the club is obvious. He allows it to be a part of his daily life, and seems to even spend his off-time putting together schedules for their play, as seen in the episode where Rintarou and Touma speak privately. He also speaks of soft tennis during breaks within the school or dinner at his own apartment, as seen in the episodes where Yuu, Kanako, and Touma visit.  ♡ Moving on to the second symptom. Tics, like repeated motions, phrases, or movements. These movements or phrases can vary in frequency and noticeability. It can be shown subtly or as a common and known action that this person does every day. Maki Katsuragi seems to have a catchphrase - saying “I see.” or “naru-ho-do”, but since this isn’t your typical anime and the characters are portrayed as a lot more realistic than troupes, we can assume this could be a sign of a tic. He also tends to make strange movements while thinking, which is a sign that he’s trying to process what he’s about to say or what he’s thinking of.  This scene, in particular, stood out to me. While thinking, Maki idly swung his hand in circles. This is something I do personally as well. I tend to circle my hands while thinking to either enunciate my words or figure out a way to explain what I’m about to say, as well as try to process things I’ve heard. 

♡ On to the third symptom, which is - in my opinion - a very important one. Trouble showing or expressing certain emotions well or clearly. This can range from ways of speech, to expressions, to body language, and so forth. This can be both subtle or severe, depending on the case. Maki seems to be the type that wears smiles on his sleeve in good situations, but... let me ask you a question. Did anyone see the ending coming? I can’t say that I did, but I can tell you that I don’t think it’s unrealistic for it to happen. What I noticed about Maki is that he’s not the best at showcasing emotions outside the scope of positive or neutral, which is a huge indicator of many things. Two of them are some of the main issues in his life. Physical and mental abuse (from his father), and an overly cheerful and somewhat neglectful parental figure whose nature most likely makes him feel obligated to keep up a facade and not vent his frustrations (like his mother). In truth, many of the scenes where Maki was happy in recent episodes could’ve been motivators for him to pick up the knife. The looming threat of his father never went away, and when you’re in a happy situation, while there’s a threat still lurking, it can leave you to wonder when all these good things will be taken away. His mother possibly being hurt or even kidnapped are huge solidifiers for his resolve. I’ll be addressing this motivation-driven argument further in another post. Moving on now! Maki shows very few expressions. One of his most common being a blank face that looks a touch angry. It doesn’t mean he is angry; I think the intention behind his facial expressions is that he has trouble showing a relaxed neutral expression as well as having what many would call a “resting bitch face”. Most of his expressions range from constant neutral, curious, scared, happy, or the occasional mad. His voice tone is also key here. He often speaks around the same keys. His voice is quiet and calm, with the occasional hint of playfulness. However, it rarely rises or falls drastically, unless in a serious situation. Even then, Maki still doesn’t sound very different from his usual tone.  He also moves very directly and with purpose. It’s rare for him to show hesitation or anxiety, which may be a product of Autism, ADHD, and/or living with his father, where any sign of fear, sadness, or anger could cost him. ♡  Here’s a fourth symptom. Not remembering information, especially information not regarding hyperfixations or general interests. This is common in many illnesses but is hugely prevalent in both Autism and ADHD.  This is shown especially in the scene where he meets Kanako Mitsue for the second time canonly. He didn’t even remember her face, name, or room despite just meeting her yesterday. This is a huge indicator of a memory problem regarding information his brain considers “not important”, as he seems to remember most things about his interests and chores clearly. 

This is getting increasingly long, so I think I may be ending it here! This is a subject I could go on and on for, but I think I made some good and valid points here! It took me a long time to finish this, as my motivation is lacking.  Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! 

[hes-writer]

I'm the anon who wrote about the reality-AU ask.

And I have a different view from what you wrote, because for me there where 2 major things:

1. Reader wasn't a strong woman

2. Harry was definitely an arrogant, selfish prick to reader.

I will start with 1.

So, what moral and values? I honestly don't understand that part because for me moral and values mean one thing and I don't see they fitting the situation.

Regardless, MC wasn't a strong woman for several reasons.

She allowed her pain get in the way of her child's life several times, she literally got with the first guy that showed her love when she wasn't ready nor emotionally stable, if we take in mind that she met him at halfway through her pregnancy and in 2 years ish she was already living with him and allowing her child to call him "dad". So she clinged to Connor as a substitute and staple to the family she had planned having with Harry, just like Harry clinged to Camille's offer as a way to have what he dreamed having with Y/N. None of them put their child's best interest first, otherwise she would have found a way to deal with her pain while allowing him to be part of Halo's life and he would have found a way to accept that he would never have what he wanted bc of his mistakes in the past.

And the clearest sign of that is her conversation with Harry in the last chapter. She did love Connor, but he was only there because Harry blocked her. If he hadn't, he'd have seen the text and be involved in his kids life. So, I know you said something about being emotionally available as a parent and that's my argument for that. Harry wasn't emotionally a dad bc that chance was taken from him out of spitefulness and he still tried to be there, he made a mistake but he never gave up. He was robbed of it countless times bc MC was never healed properly to let go of her personal feelings and focus on Halo, bc I can guarantee you that if given the chance, Halo would forget it and choose to have a relationship with Harry.

Which brings me to my previous point... He wasn't Halos dad, MC made him her dad because she didn't want to deal with Harry when she knew that he had a right to at least be informed about the baby, regardless of her relationship with him. In the story you make it known that he blocked her and that's how she couldn't tell him, but she kept in touch with his family + he contacted her at some point. So, she uses her own actions against him and he let's her out of guilty, showing a bit of manipulation from her side. Both of them were toxic and manipulative. Just bc you were hurt, doesn't give you a right to act as you please, speacially when a child is involved. That shouldn't even be put to argument and I'd have agreed with you more if you hadn't tried to classify MC as a victim at all costs, even when she was the wrong one.

If this was real life, a girl behaving like her would be concerning, so why in a fanfic she's considered strong? Because she standed up for herself and for her daughter? I mean, did she truly stand up for her child? Can we truly say that? Or did she allow her own barriers and insecurities surround them and keep Harry distant? Wouldn't a healed and strong woman be capable of dealing with her ex for their's daughter sake, speacially when she's in a happy and healthy relationship?

Parents are allowed mistakes. None of them know what they're doing and the greatest majority of the world is filled with people who weren't mature enough to be parents, yet somehow were allowed to.

She was unfair and subconsciously used her child to get back at Harry for all the pain he caused her.

He left her, so she didn't tell him about their baby, then when he found out she monopolised his entire relationship with his daughter and did some pretty illegal stuff, and when he committed his first mistake with the child she cut him off completely without taking in account what her daughter wanted.

Have you watched the show The Duchess on Netflix? I think its a great example of my point here, in case you don't understand it.

Also, forgot to say that she was toxic again when she kept threatening him over wanting to be with his kid. Like, we spend tons of times telling people to be responsible with their art, as it can be a door into introducing kids to things. We also spend a ton of time telling boys that they should care about their babies and be there for them. Then you come and write a fic where the guy gets threatened and manipulated when trying to be with his 🤷🏻‍♀️

MC definitely had her right to commit her own mistakes, as I said, parents will do it countless times. But I think that's a bit unfair that she gets as many as she wants bc she got hurt previous to baby being born, yet Harry barely gets one when trying to figure himself out after finding out about his kid. You mentioned that a judge would never give Harry any custody bc of what he did and that was a bit dumb, sorry. Law is based on justice, balance and protecting the victim with fairness and justice, therefore Harry would have been granted at least the benefit of the doubt as his mistakes were minor and the victim in this story is Halo, not MC✌🏽

This is a long one.

Morals and values are not fitting in the situation.

Morals are personal beliefs that a person upholds and values are something that are regarded as important. I think that everybody uses them in most of the things they do so they definitely fit the situation.

She literally got with the first guy that showed her love...

I wouldn’t say that MC clung unto Connor and got into a relationship with him right away. The first couple of instances—they were just friends and weren’t officially together until Reign.

None of them put their child’s best interest first // Reader wasn’t a strong woman

I agree that both parties didn’t act on the best interest of their child but that doesn’t necessarily mean that MC wasn’t a strong woman. Sure, she wasn’t ideal in the context of being a mother—but she mended herself enough to give Harry a chance when he found out, even setting up limits while she was at it.

Wouldn’t you think that that takes courage? Besides the preceding fact that it is courteous to tell someone that you’re having their baby (no argument there), especially to someone who has cheated and betrayed your trust, you are sweeping the pain away. MC was letting Harry back in even if she personally didn’t want to. Harry was a huge part of her life so I think reminiscing on their relationship would never cease; they have a kid together. All the good and bad of their time together will always be present in her mind.

Harry was robbed [of being a dad]

You think that Harry was robbed of being a Dad, I can’t convince you otherwise. You said it yourself though, ‘if Harry hadn’t blocked MC, he would’ve seen the text and he would’ve been a dad to Halo’.

But he did—and the following points of your argument are, in a sense, irrelevant because what you’re pointing out is what could’ve happened if Harry didn’t do what he did. These are the consequences of his actions. “He blearily remembered bitterly blocking her number just as she texted “I need to tell you something,” <- That scene was the turning point of MC’s decision and frankly, a showcase of Harry’s immaturity. MC said she had something to tell him and he retaliated by blocking her.

As well, you mention, ‘if given the chance, Halo would forget about it’—there’s a lot of assumptions in your argument because these aren’t part of the original story. These are what you think should’ve happened.

He blocked her [...] but she kept in touch with his family

MC kept in touch with his family on the pretext that they wouldn't inform harry that the baby was his. This was because of a misunderstanding due to a post on Camille's IG page. H seemed happy with his new relationship. MC didn't NOT tell him out of SPITE—it was because she didn't want to ruin his relationship with Camille.

Harry contacted her at some point // Just because you’re hurt doesn’t give you the right to act as you please

Yes, Harry did contact her—to call her a ‘whore’ and stated that she ‘probably slept around’ during their relationship. [ie. Harry: Why not? Scared that y’gonna have to admit that everything you put on was an act? How can y’move on so fast and give me shit about it?”] I’m guessing that’s probably not the best way for H to ask about MC’s pregnancy and I can imagine that the sheer rudeness and projection will deter most people.

His dialogues were an attack on her personality (that she was a liar and disloyal), on the validity of her emotions (that she was faking them), and on her identity as woman solely because he was crumbling under the truth that he was the one who messed up. I mentioned before that Harry’s insults were a projection as a result of his defence mechanism. Meaning that he was—to some extent—aware that MC hadn’t cheated but convinced himself otherwise to feel less guilty. Therefore, at the end of Halo, he judged the credibility of their child.

If this was real life...

And this is a fanfiction.

Once again, MC might not have been the ideal representation of a strong woman, but she stepped up when Halo was introduced.

Imagine going through a break-up with your SO of two years while you’re pregnant because he went behind your back FOR A YEAR, amidst hormonal changes, still going to work, and trying to find yourself when someone has taken so much of you—that’s traumatizing. Healing isn’t linear. Just because you’re wounded doesn’t mean that you’re not strong.

She was unfair and subconsciously used her child to get back at Harry

MC was honest but she wasn’t truthful. Her intentions were human nature yet keeping Halo away from Harry wasn’t very truthful of her—in legalities and such.

I don’t think MC monopolized H/H’s relationship. She gave Harry a chance to bond with Halo, and they did. As mentioned, MC had set limits and boundaries when discussing Harry’s presence in their daughters’ life. It was a legally binding, word-of-mouth, agreement that Harry assented to.

[he was] threatened and manipulated

In that sense, Harry’s hostility towards MC in Reign was threatening her decision to have him around [ie. You’re not something I would take the time to handle,” // You’re a goddamn mistake is what you are,’]

I understand your concern and I apologize for that. I’m not explicitly saying that this one piece of fiction is satirical in the sense that it’s the opposite of what society chants because that would be vile of me to do. Every circumstance is different though—it really is a choice of preference, validation and weighing out the subject matter.

You mentioned that a ‘judge would never give Harry custody’ and that was a bit dumb...

That line was never part of the story.

"Take it up legally if you'd like. Want to have a custody battle? Bring it on. Let's see whose side the judge is on after they find out that you cheated on me while I was pregnant with Halo."

Suggesting that the conclusion can be one of shared-custody wherein MC has more time with Halo (80/20 visitation schedule).

[trashfor-imagines]

If There’s Light There’s Hope | 6

Bakugou x Fem!Reader (BNHA)

Summary: U.A. High School was your dream. You wanted to save people. You never expected how wild your journey would be and you certainly never expected a hot headed boy to play as large of a role as he would. Warnings: Swearing. Spoilers: If you haven’t watched the School Festival episodes thru the end of S4 because they’re not dubbed yet and want to avoid spoilers (+ you haven’t read the manga), then you’ll want to not read this chapter. [1] | [2] | [3] | [4] | [5] | [6] | [7]

-

“A school festival! I hope one of the classes hosts a couples event,” you mused out loud during the girl’s only study group.

“I never expected you to be such a romantic,” Jirou commented, a few of the other girls echoing their agreement.

Smiling at them, you simply shrugged. “Never had a boyfriend before. All of these thoughts and feelings are new to me.”

Ashido perked up as her alarm went off. “Sorry girls, time for dance practice.”

She and a few of the other girls headed off to meet with the rest of the dance team. You’d been stuck with Aizawa and the rest of the interns making up work you missed while the rest of the class decided what you were doing for the festival. You didn’t mind your role doing special effects; it would be perfect to showcase your quirk.

Soon enough it was band practice and you were left alone. Thanks to you and Todoroki, the special effects team had their plan solidified a while ago so you didn’t have to meet very often. Putting your things away in your room, you headed back downstairs to make dinner and prepare snacks while everyone worked hard on their routines. Just two more days.

When you were hanging out the other week, Hitoshi had tried to get you to sign up for the beauty pageant. That caused quite the heated argument between the two of you, especially when he teased you about using his quirk to get you to sign up. When you brought the pageant up in passing with Bakugou, even he paused before acting nonchalant and yelling about how if you wanted to sign up it was up to you. You called Hitoshi immediately and told him you’d sign up so long as he helped you.

“Look Hito, you brought up participating in the first place. It’s only right you take responsibility for your part in this.”

The two of you spent forever deciding on clothing choices and what talent you were going to demonstrate. You recalled most of a dance routine from when you were in the dance club in junior high and you were positive you could make it work for one person. If that failed, you could maybe perform Ikebana (flower arranging), but that could be pretty boring to watch. Hitoshi asked for his mom’s help which she was more than excited to take you shopping for an outfit. Looking at Kenranzaki’s outfits from previous years, you settled on a colorful kimono that complimented you.

Soon enough the day of the festival arrived. At 9AM, you changed into a short robe with a pair of shorts and spent 45 minutes taking your time with your skincare regimen, having Hitoshi help you with your hair. He was awkward, but it warmed you how hard he tried. Running through the day’s schedule in your head, you’d have a little while longer after 1-A’s performance to get dressed and zen out to calm your nerves.

It was easy to ignore Kendo and Nejire’s friendly teasing of who would win, but it was almost impossible to keep your headspace clear as Kenranzaki cackled about how she was the sure winner. Kendo and Nejire’s moods seem to change and you decided it was time to go before the their energy could throw you off. Carefully tying a scarf to protect Hitoshi’s hard work on your hair, you and Hitoshi went your separate ways, agreeing to meet up later, before you joined the rest of 1-A in the gym; Midoriya a few minutes behind you. When no one was looking, you pressed a small kiss below Bakugou’s ear.

“You’re going to be great.”

Before he could pull you back, you had Uraraka use her quirk to quickly get you up to the rafters. You made sure to settle into a spot where you could clearly watch the performance and still do your part. The chanting and cheers of the students sent vibrations throughout the room and you could feel it.

At 10:00 the curtains opened and your eyes lit up. They were incredible!

On Todoroki’s queue, your hands extended to the stage and slowly began to glow brighter and brighter for the finale. As they struck their final notes you released sparks, careful so that they weren’t dangerous. The cheers of the student body sent a surge of motivation through you and to your heart. It was then you realized how capable everyone was, especially when you worked together.

Meeting Bakugo backstage, you pressed a kiss to his cheek as he held you tightly to his side. “That was incredible! Did you mean to create an explosion during the opening?”

The way his eyes seem to avoid yours and that faint blues told you that was improvised. “C’mon let’s get lunch before your pageant.”

“But we’ve got to clean up.”

“It’s okay (Y/N). We agreed that you should go ahead and get ready for the beauty pageant,” Iida spoke up. “The rest of class can handle this and we’ll be there to support you, but Bakugou, you have to stay and help! Don’t think you can use (Y/N) to get out of cleaning!”

As Bakugou fumed, your eyes lit up as you laughed. “Thanks, class rep!”

You made it back to the dressing room, meeting with Hitoshi who had gotten you some snacks to eat. Carefully getting dressed, you added hair pieces and jewelry to your look along with some light make up. You went on just before Nejire, which was a bit nerve-racking as she was also doing a dance. All you could do was try your best. Spotting your classmates and Bakugou at the front of the crowd cheering for you ensured you didn’t lose your smile during your performance.

Though most of the girls changed back into their school uniforms, you decided Hitoshi’s hard word deserved some more attention so you stayed in your pageant outfit. It wasn’t like you were planning on participating in any of the sport activities. You took photos with Todoroki, cheered Bakugou on while he competed in the obstacle course, shared a crepe with him because he won, and enjoyed 1-C’s haunted house - Hitoshi definitely giving you a good scare.

At the end of the day your class gave you tight hugs as you came in third place. Monoma definitely gave you an earful for beating Kendo, who simply shook your hand in the spirit of friendly competition. Bakugou held your hand tightly, loudly proclaiming that you were still his number one and anyone who disagreed could fight him. The two of you went off to do couples experiences during the rest of the festival, though you were sure a few of your classmates weren’t that far behind.

“You look nice,” he muttered once the two of you entered The Lovers’ Maze, the brain child of Class 1-E. 

“Oh, thanks.” Part of you was disappointed and it was clear in your voice; if he was going to compliment you, you were hoping he’d put more effort into it. He should have kept quiet and ended on a high note when he yelled that you were his number one.

It was dark and difficult to see each other’s expressions. The only light was up ahead, leading the two of you on where to go. The light suddenly went out and he squeezed your hand in reassurance before cute, glowing pink hearts appeared, providing a gentle light so you could see each other.

“Are you... blushing?” you asked him, surprised.

He avoided your gaze. “So what if I am?”

“But, why?” you asked teasingly, leaning forward to try and get him to look you in the eye.

He growled to himself before grasping both of your shoulders firmly, locking eyes with you. “Any idiot who looks at you and doesn’t turn a little red doesn’t deserve to look at you! You’re beautiful, got it?”

Your face lit up like a red light on a traffic stop, unsure of what to say, “Katsuki...”

“I’m not really... good... at compliments... and stuff,” he mumbled, clear enough for you to understand. “So try not to get your feelings hurt if I don’t know what to say the first time. I’ll get it right at some point.”

A smile tugged at your lips. “Okay, I’ll be patient.”

The Japanese Hero Billboard Chart was one of the most talked about events after the school festival on campus. You’d be a liar if you said you weren’t excited about it as well. It was the best event to happen twice a year! There was just something wonderful about seeing your favorite heroes getting recognized. You tried more than once to convince Todoroki to get Endeavor to take the two of you, but he refused. You spent the last week being pouty and curled up to Bakugou’s side.

It wasn’t until the Wild Wild Pussycats came to visit with some cute Paw Pad Buns that you finally expressed any mood other than being bratty. You helped Sato prepare some tea for the Pros. It was great to hear they were back in business again.

The day of the the Japanese Hero Billboard Chart event, you seemed to be glued to the television in the common area, snacks and drinks surrounding you like your own little island, or fortress, of food. This was the first time that heroes were going to actually appear on stage and you weren’t planning on missing any of it.

“Isn’t this a bit much?” Kaminari asked, trying to sneak one of your rice balls away from you.

“First of all, Kaminari, you could ask me for a snack first! Second, I love seeing the rankings live! It’s exhilarating to see just how well the heroes have done between polls!” You paused at hearing Edgeshot’s ranking and cheered, attracting more attention from your classmates than you’d meant to.

“(Y/N) maybe... you should back up from the television. Your eyes will go bad from sitting close.” You sent a sharp look Iida’s way and he quickly backtracked, apologizing for disturbing you.

No one had the heart to tell you to quiet down, even Iida didn’t want to yell at you for being loud. It was a rare sight to see you energized or excited about anything. Your eyes lit up as Hawks was announced as number two, which only reaffirmed it: Endeavor was number one! You couldn’t wait for internships to start up again. Though he wasn’t the softest person out there, you learned so much from Endeavor and appreciated his strictness; especially since you were quite serious about your own future as a Pro. His entrance was certainly the coolest and his new armor pieces looked very cool, making him seem more menacing than usual.

Their speeches had your full attention, not even Bakugou annoyingly prodding at you with a finger could tear you away as you happily snacked on popcorn. You raised your brows as Hawks stepped forward to speak. He was always a rebel in everything he did. His speech had your jaw dropping. Tokoyami really did his internship with this guy? For the first time, you peeped at your classmate in question who seemed to have a pained expression on his face; it was incredible how different the two of them could be.

Your body tensed as Endeavor received the mic. How was he going to follow up that wild speech? It was certainly short and direct.

Just watch me.

Scrambling for your phone, you quickly sent a text to your mentor, telling him you thought he was quite cool for what he said. It was his work cell so you were sure he’d see it tomorrow or something. There had only been a few other sparing messages between the two of you, the last one being from when you asked if you could get permission to watch Todoroki at one of his remedial courses. During your internship, he hardly ever responded to you, preferring to address your questions briefly in person.

At the end of the program you sighed stretching from your terrible posture, before cleaning up the mess you made as you camped out in front of the television. With the fierce - and scary - Endeavor as the new Number One, villains would have to be crazy to start any trouble.

The next day, you went with Todoroki to the post office. You had sold a few little handmade items online and needed some help getting them mailed out. You’d normally annoy your boyfriend into helping you, but Bakugou was napping from his workout. Todoroki saw you struggling with your packages and said he had to mail a letter so he was happy to accompany you.

“Thanks so much Todoroki! You saved me from making two more trips,” you said, purchasing two drinks from the vending machine and offering him his favorite - something you observed from work study. The two of you sat on a bench and enjoyed your drinks.

“I think we’ve spent enough time together to be friends now. Please feel free to call me Shoto.”

Turning to look at him, you smiled. “Really? I don’t really have that many... friends that is. I mean, everyone in class is nice, but I don’t feel comfortable referring to them casually. You’d be like, one of four people total.”

“Yes. I’d like that.” He smiled faintly in return.

Finishing your drinks, you stood and offered him a hand up. “Okay, Shoto. Let’s head back.”

Returning to the dorms, you sat on the couch, turning the television on and browsing through the channels with a few of your classmates. You all decided to look for a movie to watch. An image flashed briefly on the screen and you had go back. It was the news channel and it looked like a fireball in the sky.

“Shoto! Come quick!” you called out, turning up the volume as your other classmates came over to join you. Your hands flew to your mouth, eyes wide.

Your mind seemed to blank as you watched events unfold. When it was over and that image of Endeavor appeared, still standing, you found yourself knelt beside Todoroki, your new friend, with hands on his shoulder and arm in comfort. Bakugou rested a hand on top of your head. It was silent as no one knew what to say.

Though it was a win, you had a feeling that not everyone would sleep well that night.

[olesyaneve]

Elsword – Eve: INTJ / About Add

Code: Empress.

Introverted Intuition (Ni): Eve’s entire focus is on creating her ideal kingdom, not being content to live with the flaws of the existing one. She knows exactly what she wants to accomplish, and takes actions specifically for this purpose.

Extroverted Thinking (Te): Eve views her ideal kingdom as an achievable goal, not a fanciful dream. She works hard in creating her kingdom, even to the point of building a new Nasod servant to assist her and Oberon in battle. Eve always speaks directly, even when she offends people (In the Time Trouble Vol. 7).

Introverted Feeling (Fi): Eve hides her feelings, tends to be rather reserved about most of her life. Eve doesn’t naturally understand other people’s feelings and can’t cope. At the same time, her principles and feelings are the primary motivations behind everything she does. She is opinionated and always does what she believes to be most authentically right and true to herself, no matter the immediate cost.

Extroverted Sensing (Se): Eve’s showcase her taste for aesthetics in many ways; Eve's fighting style is elegant. Her servants are named after characters from Shakespearean plays. Her Nasod servant tend to be beautiful in appearance. Eve also wants to look her best herself; her clothing is stylish, and her hair, particularly neat, has an elegance to it. Moreover, Eve’s good at handling technology, she takes photos too realistically (El★Star Profiles- Eve).

Eve notices details in her environment that need to be pointed out to other companions at El Search Party. 

Beyond her exceptional focus, Eve takes the time to enjoy the beauty in her surroundings ("It is good to see diverse places and add various creatures to the database. …Though it is tiresome to fight anywhere I go… yeah…" and "A lake… it's been a long time that I am seeing a lake again. …I don't know anything about emotions but looking at a lake, I feel that my overheated circuits are being cooled."). She doesn’t dwell extensively on the past.

↓

Code: Nemesis.

Eve was a future, big-picture oriented person. Her focus was to revive the Nasod civilization, and did not allow anything to remove her from that path. (Ni)

Eve’s primary focus is on getting things done, and easily puts aside her emotions in order to make decisions. She doesn’t stop her plan to revive the Nasod civilization. (Te)

Eve’s internal principles are firmly laid out and she does not violate them to please others. She does what she feels is right, regardless of what Add tells her. She assumes an awkward poker face. She suppressed her emotion. At the same time, we can’t deny that she is extremely emotional. She has very few friends, but she would do anything for them, even sacrifice her life so that they could live. In the Time Trouble, the main way that Eve worried about Add is not through words, but by giving his a lemonade. (Fi)

[“I won’t go.” “You’ll only get attacked by demons if you remain in this time. Do you think I’m lying?” “Even if it’s true I won’t go.” Eve refused outright. She ignored the now stunned Add as she spoke coldly. “I have the mission to revive the Nasod civilization. I have no intention of stopping my search for El, or to travel to a different timeline.” “…..What about the demons that will attack you?” “Even if what you’re talking about is true. I don’t think it’s something that can be solved by running away. I must face them head on like Nasods should.” Add’s heart burned up because he knew all too well the result of what she just said. He just gave her all the information he had. He was even prepared to get treated like a crazy person. Despite all this effort Eve didn’t waver. Even if she believed Add’s words her decision wouldn’t change. Her course of action was firm. “…..Are you sure it’s not because you can’t leave Elsword?” “I don’t know why you’d bring up his name here.” ]

She understand her own emotions on a level that allows she to both put a name to them and to pin point exactly what she’s feeling, whereas an Fe user doesn’t always recognize immediately what they are feeling (or why they are feeling it). That’ s the difference between Eve (Fi user) and Add (Fe user). Check the Epic EP.41-42 Master Road Story Quest - Add & Eve (Bringer and Esencia)

Eve: Sigh... I already told Adrian I'm leaving. You don't have to overreact.

Add: O-over react? When did I?!

↓

I read the Time Trouble Vol. 6-7 Code: Empress's passage.

[Add changed the topic when the atmosphere inside the tent turned cold all of a sudden. “So why are you and Rena so wary of Lu? Although Lu is a demon she’s…..” “Isn’t it stranger to trust her?” Eve spoke sharply. “This case is different than Chung and Ara. Ara had her relative become a demon and Chung understood this. But Lu and Ciel are demon and her servant. Don’t you think it’s too much of an excessive request to ask someone who lost their own kind to demons to accept those two?” Add couldn’t answer because Eve’s response was very heated. “Demons destroyed the key to resurrecting the Nasod civilization. It was a really horrible event…. But I was alone in the first place anyways. But Rena is different.” “…….” “Demons brutally slaughtered Rena’s people. Asking her to trust and accept demons as comrades doesn’t make sense.” Eve continued speaking with an unusually passionate tone. She realized Add was only listening to her and lowered her voice a bit. “…..I don’t know much about people’s emotions and can’t understand them. But I think that Rena’s reaction is natural.”]

She's an INTJ with an extremely well developed Fi, and she doesn't feel their emotions the way an Fe user would. Her Ni lets she know intuitively what’s going on behind the lines and then she's able to logically put together what someone is feeling by using Te. She can understand, but she cannot empathize unless she has shared experience.

[“I won’t say that I know how you feel. I don’t know about emotions anyways. But what will you say to Elesis if you kill Lu like this?” / “Lu, what do you think you’re doing by provoking Rena? There shouldn’t be anything good for you even if you win or lose here.”] When it comes to arguments, the INTJ will more likely try to convince you using logical appeals, whereas the INFJ will use emotional appeals.

She’s also pretty cutting with her mode of speech, which isn’t necessary for Te, but it’s definitely more common in Te than Ti. Te prefers direct, blunt speech, while Ti is more concerned with exactness. The difference is subtle, but there.

Auxiliary Te: Eve was a planner. As soon as she knew what she wanted, there was a plan in place to fulfill that desire. Eve wasn’t particularly interested in kiss or anything even distantly hormonal. She was preferred to speak and type in logic, rather than feelings. Eve was consistent in her habits, blunt and honest in her speech.

Tertiary Fi: Despite the fact that Eve was extremely logical, she was deeply motivated by her feelings. She cares about Ara and Elsword. Eve will fully support Add in defeating D and returning to his universe. She had a strong sense of morality and didn’t trust Lu (a demon).

Elsword:El Lady

“Elsword. How can you trust those words without any proof?”

She thinks that Add needs to prove his words with actual evidence (Te).

*

To inexperienced typers who think Eve is an INFJ, please understanding sympathetic INTJs and stop stereotyping everyone. Thanks. An Fi is always less comfortable expressing his/her emotions than an Fe. Esencia is easier to mistake as INFJ because she was a warm and loving queen and she is the only Eve to be depicted expressing emotion in her artwork. (Mature INTJs do not hide from their feelings. They face them without allowing the feelings to control them.) Generally, you don’t see this in a stereotypical INTJ girl, but you do see it in INFJ girls. Eve trust in 'friendship' and 'belief' from her friends, she develops a need for companionship, a connect with people on an emotional level and a deep selflessness. Has Esencia become an INFJ? Absolutely not. She may contemplate the same things an INFJ would, but she processes the information using NiTe logic, not NiTi logic. She may reach the same conclusions an INFJ would, but reaches conclusions the way an INTJ would. Esencia is an INTJ with the perspective of an INFJ. She still processes INTJ style. An INTJ with a well developed Fi will care deeply about how his/her actions and words affect other people. 

“...I want... as many of my people to wake up... and live freely without being used by anyone.”

At length.

Personality can change drastically as a result of trauma. It happens subconsciously, in a part of our minds that we have little control over. However, I don’t believe it’s possible to consciously change your personality.

Ultimate-Esencia-Sariel They haven’t changed personalities.

To be honest, Esencia strikes me as an extremely mature INTJ who has learned how to be emotional.

-

Add: 

An ENTP who is depressed will very much likely either appear as though absolutely nothing is wrong, or will retreat into either an Ti/Si loop, or their shadow functions (INTJ).

Life experience often changes perspective without altering cognitive function.

He hasn't changed personality at all. By the end Dominator (initially ENTP) behaves more like an INTJ –he thinks about things that are more natural to INTJs, but his mode of thought still functions like an ENTP.

He hasn't changed thought processing style (personality type); he's changed perspective.

[sanpatron]

I don’t particularly know why it’s taken this long for me to realize the full extent of the Boss’s betrayal at the hands of Julius. I knew it was fucked, I knew it had affected him greatly, but I never truly sat down and really dove into just how horrendous it actually was.

There have been plenty of posts I’ve read from people I know who’ve examined this, who’ve really taken their time to dive headfirst into what it all means and really word it in a way where you can truly understand the extent of it all. It’s in reading these posts that I’ve decided to more or less compose it all in my own post in regards to my Boss. A way to really showcase the shit he went through and how it drastically changed him as a person.

Django joined the gang around October of 2004 at the age of 20 (his birthday is in December). He had been wandering around the country aimlessly without any real idea of what he wanted to do with himself. Felt no sense of purpose, no sense of belonging. Other than his family back home he was truly and utterly alone in the world. Yet that all changed once he stepped foot into Stilwater.

He found himself caught up in a fight between Los Carnales, the Vice Kings and the Westside Rollers. Thankfully before he wound up getting himself killed solely on the merit of being here at the “wrong place, wrong time” Django was saved by both Julius and Troy. Extending a hand towards Django Julius decides to try and recruit him into the Saints, and in realizing that he basically owed this man big time, Django decides to take the invitation and meet him and the others at the church.

I want to stop here for a moment and say that the Saints were originally formed as a response to the increasing violence between the three warring gangs across Stilwater. Julius definitely had his good intentions, but to echo the same statements made in another post, I really doubt there was ever a point in time where Julius didn’t want to hold some sense of power. To be the guy who was in charge of the city. Oh sure, he decided to leave the Vice Kings (which he was originally a part of alongside his best friend Benjamin King) due to the direction in which they were going. But given certain details that I will get to in a second, I really do believe that Julius wanted just as much to be at the top as he did to protect the city.

I say this because he uses the increasing violence within the district of Saint’s Row as an example of the city going to hell because of these warring gangs. He wasn’t even originally from the district, he was from Sunnyvale where he and King grew up together, eventually forming their own gang. He latched on to this idea to protect the Row as a means to start a rallying cry and get all these incredibly angry and very violent kids to fall under his leadership and form a counter group. Not a single one of the Saints knows this and it isn’t till you’re riding around with Ben in one mission where the truth comes out.

Hell, the speech that Julius gives during the custscene after the tutorial missions turns out to be a word for word copy of Ben’s very own from when he first formed the Vice Kings. It’s this same speech that the Boss would later use when he takes over the gang after his coma stint. Julius basically puts out this preconceived image of himself in order to get all these people who are significantly younger than him to join his cause. It’s this exact thing that let someone like Django essentially fall under his spell and believe a single thing that ever came out of that man’s mouth.

Julius is manipulative, but I wouldn’t say he’s the sort to pull some Machiavellian-type shit. Cause as I will get to later, there was no point whatsoever before his arrest where he was considering on betraying everyone and leaving them all high and dry. No, Julius’s manipulative actions are the direct result of an incredibly simply and human emotion; selfishness. Yet this will also come into play much later over why his betrayal even happened in the first place.

So once Django is canonized and helps take back the Row, he’s basically let to do whatever necessary to take down the other three gangs and bring some sense of peace back to Stilwater. 95% of the time it’s with him acting as a weapon, which is something he is scarily good at. This is something that not only Julius but other lieutenants definitely pick up on, and it’s why when you need something taken care of where no one is left alive and as much destruction as possible is caused, you either send Django, Johnny or both.

And as time goes on and more of the city turns purple, Django begins to feel more and more like he’s found his purpose. He managed to find a place where not only is he validated for the work he does but the people within the gang accept him and make him feel good about it. Django has gotten a taste of power, of violence, of money, of fame. A taste of generally living a better life to the fullest where he feels like he’s at the top. Not only that but, for the first time ever, he has friends as well. He has people he’s beginning to care for and feel a connection with after spending an entire childhood basically lonely as shit. Frustrated over his inability to truly connect with anyone.

At no point in time do I think that Django ever wanted to usurp Julius. He respected the man. Looked up to him. He was the embodiment of what the gang stood for and a sign of pure loyalty. So to then be promoted to his second-in-command once all the gangs were dealt with must have come as a pleasant surprise. One that definitely awoke something even more within him. He was ready to take on that title and he was absolutely prepared to save the man from police custody after everything he had done for him.

And I want to make something incredibly clear here; up until this point I don’t think Julius had in mind that he was going to betray the Saints either. Everything was basically coming up fantastically and he was getting the power and recognition that he wanted. Hell, he doesn’t give a shit about what Django had to do to get results. He practically justifies and validates every single little action the Saints have taken.

“ We did it, playa. 3rd Street owns this town. Now, that's not to say that shit didn't cost, and I ain't talkin' about what happened to Johnny's leg or losing Lin. Those two were soldiers, they knew the risk. Hell, Johnny gets off on it. But we crushed a lot of families playa, and someday they're gonna holla at us. But believe me when I tell you, we did the right thing.

With the Rollerz wiped out, Benjamin gone, and the Colombians in our pocket, there ain't gonna be a need for a gang war ever again. And in the end, that's gonna save a lot more lives than we took. So relax, playa, you've earned yourself a break. You've impressed the hell out of me son, and I've told the crew you're gonna be my right hand- ”

Julius was downright ecstatic with the results he and the gang had been getting. He was more than happy. And as you can see right there he was happy enough with what Django had done that he decided to give the guy that high of a promotion. Everything seemed to be going fantastic up until he gets arrested during this little phone call.

Once the two of the final three missions play out in which the Saints do what they can to save Julius everything seems to go right back to normal. That is until Django is called out to Alderman Richard Hughes’s yacht on that fateful December night. Once arriving, Django is greeted by the alderman and is essentially given a speech about gentrification and his political power before telling his men to turn their weapons onto him.

However, before even getting a chance to fire a loud beeping is heard and without even a moment to react the yacht blows to hell and everyone, but Django, dies. Instead our poor little gangster is put into a five year coma, staying on life support on the request of Troy for, as it turns out, he was an undercover cop this whole time.

Years later Django will once again wake up, and after a series of events that lead him towards saving Johnny and then the two of them deciding to resurrect the Saints, Django decides to pay Troy a visit and find out what’s been going on. It’s here that in the game (SR2) you get to find a couple of taped recordings at the police station. The first involves Dex (former lieutenant of the Saints) confronting Troy of being an undercover cop and stating that he’s dropping his colors and taking a job at the Ultor corporation.

The second is Troy speaking to Julius after his arrest and asking him to speak to Johnny and Django and convincing them to step down, thus disbanding the gang and keeping Troy from arresting the people he’s come to call his friends over this time.

The third tape is where Django learns the truth; Julius was the one who had planted a bomb all those years ago.

A punch to the gut can’t really describe the sort of feeling Django must have felt from learning this. It had to have been one of the most horrific, most anger-inducing things he could have ever heard. To have this man, the one who had taken you in, gave you a sense of validation and appreciation, told you that the work you performed was fantastic, let you have this sense of belonging and purpose within a group, who you practically looked up to be the one who tried to assassinate you is absolutely sickening to him and fills him with such rage.

Five years of his life. Five whole fuckin’ years. I know a lot of people make the argument that your 20′s really ain’t that special, but that’s not the point here. The point is that whether or not they would’ve been extraordinary, Django lost five whole years of his young adulthood. An incredibly pivotal point in him growing up was completely lost on him due to almost dying at the age of 21. He will never get those years back. He will never truly know what he missed out on. It’s practically one of the reasons why he acts so brash and angry and hotheaded during the entirety of the second game.

Everything had been taken away from him. His city, his friends, his sense of identity; all of it was snatched right out of his hands and thrown to the gutter cause of one man. The one man he looked up to the most after everything he had done for him. If Django felt sick at first when trying to process the amount of time that had passed and how much he had to catch up on, then he more than likely felt horrifically ill at this revelation.

When their final confrontation plays you can see Julius direct the blame entirely on how the Saints were handled and how Django acted. It’s ridiculous given the fact that Julius did not start thinking about how terrible the Saints or Django were until his gang activities got him in trouble. This is where the selfishness plays out. As soon as he was arrested and realized their were consequences to his actions, the man figured he’d better fucking dip and completely disregard what that meant for everyone else.

He abandons the Saints, abandons the people who allegedly wished to help out, and soon starts claiming his has morals—that he could not stand up to Django whatsoever and that he was the monster destroying Stilwater all along. I really doubt he could have gotten Django to back down after basically awakening something in him, but he didn’t even bother trying whatsoever.

And as the two have their final confrontation Julius really lets it be known how he’s come to despise Django, how he seems him as the problem, putting all blame squarely on him despite knowing full well that he has the biggest hand in this after all. It’s with all of this plus the anger that Django already felt towards everything, plus his brash and arrogant attitude that it truly twists him into the monster he’s become today.

Their final confrontation can be found here.

As a friend of mine who has way too many blogs here to tag said

“ I like the subtle implication that a huge part of him, if not all of him, died on the boat ”

And it’s true, this is exactly what he thinks. This is exactly what was going through his mind as he spoke to Julius. Django is gone. Django is completely dead after that explosion. And in having that part of him be completely eradicated he can now turn towards his new identity, one that he will showcase to the entire world. If Julius is going to call him a monster then fine. So be it. He will accept this new identity of his and run with it. Revel both the fame and infamy he will garner. 

From anger and betrayal The Boss has now been born.

Julius may have had his good intentions, he may have genuinely wanted to keep the city safe and do something right. But his desire for power outweighs that, and the fact that he will never truly admit his mistake is such a damning thing. Shit, he probably thought that the Boss murdering him only served to further prove his point.

Yet after all is said and done, after the Boss has finally killed the man who turned him into what he is, there really is no true sense of satisfaction. The Boss is a man who finds a feeling of catharsis when taking revenge on people. To him it “fixes thing”. It makes things right. Yet with his killing of Julius he’s fully aware of the fact that it won’t truly change much for him.

He’s far gone now. Completely transformed into an entirely different beast. Julius’s betrayal is going to leave a scar on him that’ll last a lifetime. One that he can never truly let heal whatsoever. He’s not one to brood, especially with this when it’s already hit him like a ton of bricks. However, he will forever remain conscious of the fact that what happened is leaving an impact.

That what Julius did to him will always affect him in some way. His trust issues, his difficult connecting with others, all of it has been now heightened by these events. This is a scar that will remain with him for a lifetime, and that truly infuriates him to no end.

There’s nothing worse than knowing you owe the personal growth and identity you have, good or bad, to someone who hurt you.

[aion-rsa]

Saints Row Fans Are Already Calling Reboot Too “Woke”

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It’s only been a couple of days since the Saints Row reboot trailer debuted during the Gamescom opening night ceremony, but that’s all the time it took for some of the franchise’s fans to wage an online campaign against the title that’s largely based on their belief that the upcoming reboot is too woke, hipster, and, ultimately, too different from the previous games in the series.

It started on YouTube where the reboot’s debut trailer quickly garnered 22k dislikes vs 16k likes (as of the time of this writing). If you haven’t watched that trailer yet, I highly recommend that you give it a look and (if you dare) check out the comments below when you’re done.

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There’s certainly some variation in terms of the specific complaints people have about this trailer, but they tend to focus on the ways that this upcoming reboot will seemingly alter the theme and tone of the original Saints Row games. While some are simply upset that this upcoming game will seemingly abandon many of the series’ famous characters and locations, the most vocal complaints so far tend to focus on the idea that the Saints Row reboot is aiming for the “Gen Z” crowd by incorporating “woke” characters, “hipster” themes, and a more youthful and playful overall vibe that some say is at odds with the dark undertones of previous games in the series.

Actually, a lot of the complaints so far tend to focus on the reboot’s cast of characters. Some are calling them a forced attempt at diversity (again, we’ll get to that in a bit), but the most common criticisms so far revolve around the perception that they’re cleaner, younger, “hipper” protagonists who somehow don’t belong in a Saints Row game. Others just say that they don’t seem to be particularly interesting.

You should also know that this discourse isn’t limited to the comments section of that debut trailer. In fact, it really took off on Twitter when the Saints Row Twitter team began responding to critical fans in some surprisingly direct ways.

pic.twitter.com/SLcoK801vL

— Saints Row (@SaintsRow) August 26, 2021

pic.twitter.com/pJb2QSSfJ2

— Saints Row (@SaintsRow) August 26, 2021

We wanted to do something brand new

— Saints Row (@SaintsRow) August 25, 2021

As you can see, the Saints Row development team at Volition is not hiding from these complaints. In fact, they’re really leaning into the idea that they are, in many ways, taking a look at the franchise’s past and altering things that they simply wouldn’t put into a game today. Here’s what studio development director Jim Boone had to say to PC Gamer on the subject:

“We love [the old Saints Row games], but we also recognize those are games of a time. They made sense within that era, and we were able to do things that felt good back then. But that tone is not something that we feel like we want to do today. We had a different kind of story that we wanted to tell.”

So, it turns out that some of Saints Row‘s early critics aren’t being entirely paranoid. The Saints Row team is aiming to change the tone of the series somewhat with this reboot, and they are looking to reexamine certain aspects of previous games that they’re not entirely comfortable with today. From there, it’s really just a matter of what you think about that change in philosophy.

Personally, I think that some of these early criticisms are odd and are perhaps based on issues that are much more serious than the Saints Row reboot. Having said that, some of the concerns about this game may not be entirely unwarranted, even at this early stage.

The thing that I can’t get past is the idea that there’s somehow a sacred theme that the Saints Row series has stuck to up until this point. The first Saint’s Row game was basically a more outlandish GTA game that honestly did emphasize a style, tone, story, and characters that you probably wouldn’t want to put in a game today, and for good reasons. At worst, it was occasionally offensive, and at best, it was all pretty basic.

From there, the Saints Row games just got wilder. Saints Row 2 tried to keep things slightly more grounded (although the insanity was absolutely getting turned up at that point), but Saints Row 3 just threw all attempts at logic out of the window in favor of embracing its predecessor’s wildest concepts and upping the ante. By the time we got to Saints Row 4, we were playing as superpowered gangsters tasked with defending the universe.

If there is one thing that all of those Saints Row games had that this reboot seems to be lacking in these very early stages, it’s an “edge.” The Saints Row games often combined over-the-top violence with over-the-top sex and used all of it to accentuate over-the-top moments. It was always a bit more South Park than Goodfellas, and while that’s part of the reason a lot of people fell in love with the Saints Row series in the first place, Saints Row 4 certainly left many wondering how the series was possibly going to raise the bar. It’s not that Saints Row 4 was a disaster (it was occasionally a lot of fun), but it definitely felt like we were starting to reach the point of diminishing returns and stylistic awkwardness. There certainly may be a bit of “absence makes the heart grow fonder” in play here, though many of these criticisms seem to be coming from those who never grew tired of the series’ edgy absurdity in the first place.

So while I suspect that some fans were hoping that this reboot would bring this series back to the Saints Row 2 style (which honestly probably came closest to properly balancing absurdity and open-world crime drama), it’s honestly hard to fault the Saints Row reboot team for coming to the conclusion that it’s time to mix things up. It probably is time to mix things up, and given that Saints Row is usually at its best when it’s doing things differently than the competition (which honestly includes moments of character diversity and sex-positivity spread throughout the series that shouldn’t be overlooked if we’re having a fair discussion about this franchise), I’m not willing to buy into the argument that this is inherently a bad idea. I’m just not convinced that the best things about the original Saints Row games are somehow being completely abandoned here, based on what we’ve seen so far.

Having said all of that, the debut Saints Row trailer did leave a lot to be desired. The popularity of CG debut trailers that don’t showcase gameplay is generally annoying, but in this particular instance, I think it’s safe to say that Saints Row maybe didn’t put its best foot forward when it came to selling everyone on these new ideas, new characters, and a new world while also establishing how this game will tap into the series’ best qualities. Thankfully, the game’s latest trailer already looks like a big step in the right direction:

The discourse about Saints Row‘s tone, style, messages, and characters will go on, but it’s ultimately up to developer Volition to sell us on the idea that the path they’ve chosen is the best one for this series moving forward. I do think that there’s a strong argument to be made for changing things up, and I think that the team might be on the right track when it comes to non-gameplay-related ways to do just that. It really comes down to whether or not they’re moving beyond their edgy past because they’ve grown and learned better ways to do things, of whether this change in style is more about them being embarrassed by aspects of those older games but not entirely sure at this time what the best alternative is.

We’ll find out if it all comes together when Saints Row is released on February 25, 2022.

The post Saints Row Fans Are Already Calling Reboot Too “Woke” appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[briangroth27]

Black Panther Review

I absolutely loved Black Panther! The film felt like it belonged in the MCU while successfully carving out its own corner of the universe, making it feel like a world unto itself. Even with its fantastical technological wonders, Wakanda felt real and the incorporation of various African cultures gave the fictional nation a history and texture that made it feel fully-formed and granted a powerful sense of depth to the proceedings. The cast was excellent across the board, supported by writing (from Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole) that gave everyone moments to shine and stellar direction from Coogler to match.  

Full Spoilers...

I didn’t know much about Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) going in, having only seen him in Civil War, Fantastic Four and Avengers cartoons, and an appearance here and there in the comics. Civil War got me interested in the character and Black Panther cemented me as a fan; he’s hands down one of the most engaging characters in the Marvel Universe! Chadwick Boseman is effortlessly cool as T’Challa, a down-to-Earth king, badass superhero, and charming romantic lead. In an unexpected and very welcome twist, none of T’Challa’s inner circle are afraid to call him out or have a bit of fun at his expense (depending on the character), which made them feel like a family and gave him a much more grounded sensibility than I was expecting. I liked seeing T’Challa as a more measured and mature man here, growing nicely from the vengeance-obsessed version we saw previously; his first steps toward ruling Wakanda and deciding what kind of king he wanted to be—and what sort of country he’d like to rule—were great to see. That T’Challa was willing to listen to wisdom from all sides—including his enemies—made him an even more compelling and unique hero. T’Challa is bar none the most likable and relatable royal the MCU has given us, with none of the pompous, somewhat bloodthirsty bravado of Thor or the labor camp-minded royal family on Inhumans. That went a long way to making me sympathize with a monarchy instead of yearning to see it overthrown; T’Challa actually does care about the people under his rule. I do wish we’d gotten to see how T’Challa interacted with and was seen by the common people of Wakanda instead of just his inner circle and the other tribal leaders, but this was a very small nitpick that can easily be remedied in the inevitable Black Panther 2 or even Infinity War.

It was awesome to see such a diverse cast in this film and I’m equally pleased we got to see so many strong women showcased here (I can’t imagine how much more important this film must be for African American and female audiences who are finally getting representation like this onscreen). Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) was awesome from the get-go as a Wakandan spy living in the outside world, working to help those in need. I loved her insistence that she couldn’t settle down as a queen knowing there were people outside Wakanda who could benefit from her skills and Wakanda’s influence. It was refreshing to see a hero’s love interest not only have an important life of her own completely separate from the lead’s arc, but to see her unwilling to sacrifice that life to please her guy. Nyong’O brought an engaging, likable, and determined energy to Nakia and I hope we get to see much more of her as the MCU evolves in a post-Infinity Wars universe. Letitia Wright’s Shuri was another standout, stealing every scene she’s in with an infectious, upbeat energy, and I loved her sister/brother relationship with T’Challa. They felt totally natural as siblings, with her needling him from time to time but still clearly sharing a relaxed, loving bond with him. Shuri is very likely the smartest person we’ve met in the MCU so far, and that’s awesome! Like others have suggested online, I cannot wait to see her become best friends with Peter Parker and outsmart Tony Stark at every turn. I loved that she loved showing off and trying out all the gadgets she made, and it was so cool that this princess got to be the Q to T’Challa’s James Bond. At first I thought it would’ve been better had Shuri remote-piloted the aircraft to shoot down Killmonger’s (Michael B. Jordan) forces instead of Ross (Martin Freeman)—she had the experience with the tech to do it, after all—but my friend pointed out that putting her on the front lines instead was a chance for her to directly stand up and fight for what she believed in instead of repeating what she’d done earlier in the movie, which gave her a bit more range. Plus, her panther blaster gauntlets were cool! I’m really interested to see how running the outreach center in Oakland with Nakia changes Shuri.

Danai Gurira gave an excellent performance as Okoye, leader of Wakanda’s elite Dora Milaje, who became torn between duty to Wakanda—and whatever king ruled it—and loyalty to T’Challa. I went in expecting a stoic warrior, but while Okoye was definitely effortlessly badass, I loved that she was able to have a sense of humor about T’Challa freezing when he saw Nakia (and able to jovially inform Shuri of this fact); it was clear they were more than just king and royal guard, they felt like old friends. Okoye and her Dora Milaje were an awesome facet of Wakandan society and I can’t wait to learn more about them in the future. I think Okoye’s relationship with W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya) was perhaps a little too vague—amounting to the two of them referring to each other as “my love” without an explanation of what exactly that entailed—but it didn’t hurt the movie or either character for me. Instead, it added a bit more drama to W’Kabi’s decision to follow Killmonger while Okoye ultimately sided with T’Challa. I still would’ve liked to know more about the details of that relationship, though. Also regarding her relationships, it’s a shame a scene hinting at her being attracted to women was cut, but hopefully that will be fixed in a sequel.

W’Kabi’s insistence that the Wakandans take action to capture Klaue (Andy Serkis) and forcibly help the oppressed around the world was a great contrast to both Nakia’s stealthy attempts at helping outsiders and T’Challa’s initial belief that they should keep Wakanda separate. I loved that he was able to convince T’Challa to hunt down Klaue instead of leaving him to the CIA and that he spoke for a contingent of Wakandans who wanted to take action but not go totally public (at least at first). The fact that someone had to argue for capturing a criminal who’d attacked Wakanda was a great display of how intensely isolated the nation was and W’Kabi’s opinions added to the complexity of Wakandan views on the outside world. It was brilliant (and much more realistic) of the writers not to limit Wakandans to two clearly defined viewpoints. Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) was perfect as T’Challa’s regal mother and I loved what we saw of her relationship with him and Shuri. I also liked that she was genuinely willing to make peace with M’Baku (Winston Duke) to stop Killmonger despite him having earlier challenged T’Challa for leadership of Wakanda. It would’ve been easy to make her stuck in her ways and refuse to go to someone like M’Baku, but while it was a concern that he could become a problem, I liked that she had the faith to offer him the heart-shaped herb to give him the power of the Black Panther. I’m definitely interested in how Ramonda will react to the new era T’Challa is ushering in.

M’Baku was another great character I’m excited to know more about in future sequels. Like I’ve seen pointed out elsewhere, the idea that he and the Jabari tribe could peacefully exist separately from the rest of Wakanda—despite worshipping a different god and speaking a different language—was a refreshing surprise. I was definitely fooled into thinking that M’Baku would want power if Ramonda gave him the heart-shaped herb, so giving her the injured T’Challa instead was a great twist. M’Baku screwing with Ross’ expectations of what “tribal” behaviors were was funny and I’m glad the film smartly didn’t refer to M’Baku by his comics alter-ego, “Man-Ape.” How M’Baku and King T’Challa interact going forward is absolutely something I’m eager to see. Will M’Baku’s help in taking Wakanda back from Killmonger bring them closer together or show him that even with supernatural powers, T’Challa needs help holding his country and is potentially weaker than he seems? Forrest Whitaker’s Zuri was a perfect connection to the history of Wakanda, its treasured ceremonies, and its supernatural aspects, balancing Shuri’s high-tech modernity excellently. It’s impressive how easily the film weaved together supernatural and sci-fi aspects, and the extrapolation of those things into the characters was masterful.  

N’Jobu was only in the movie briefly, but I enjoyed his reaction to the world outside Wakanda. Sterling K. Brown’s performance absolutely sold me on his passion and the impact he’d have on his son, despite his short screentime. John Kani’s T’Chaka was very welcome and it was cool that he got to converse with T’Challa in the afterlife, another supernatural flourish that served to broaden the Black Panther mythos rather than muddle them with too many different sources of weirdness. I liked that T’Chaka’s past sins not only made T’Challa realize he was not perfect, but tied into T’Challa’s decision about whether to reveal Wakanda or not and gave Killmonger another reason to hate Wakanda. I was especially surprised and pleased that this hatred complimented Killmonger’s bigger goal of helping people rise up against their oppressors: his argument with Wakanda was that it stood by while people were enslaved, not solely that T’Challa’s dad killed his. That gave him so much more dimension than just being a revenge-minded villain.

As pointed out elsewhere, the film expertly weaves the mystical, science fiction, space, and superhero aspects of the Marvel Universe together. It also includes an added layer of social relevance in Killmonger’s concern about the state of African-Americans and others whose ancestors were sold as slaves around the world and are still oppressed today. All of this is tied into the film’s MacGuffin, vibranium, but Coogler wisely doesn’t frame the plot around some cliché MCU villain like an evil businessman or government agent seeking to plunder Wakanda’s vibranium (which probably would’ve been the most obvious place to go). Instead, Erik “Killmonger” Stevens has a legitimate point and that makes him the best MCU villain yet. Enemies who are out to burn everything down for no reason can be threatening—at least in terms of power—and corrupt businessmen and governments often make for obvious real-world villain parallels, but I would definitely like the MCU to start putting more effort into giving their villains honorable impulses taken to horrible, destructive extremes. That’s far more interesting and complex: it gives the heroes something to fight beyond a set of cool powers (and gives the audience something to reckon with in the real world and within ourselves). Killmonger being suspiciously watched while viewing a display of his own stolen culture is a perfect example of the simultaneous scrutiny and dismissal of African-American youth in present-day America, instantly giving him a relatable, realistic connection to the audience. Not only does that scene touch on this problem with our society, but it also masterfully ties into the plot. That Erik was able to so thoroughly affect T’Challa, essentially pushing him toward revealing Wakanda to the world so that it could do the most good, was a great twist. While the film does play into the MCU’s formula of a hero and villain with identical powers facing off, Erik’s position as king of Wakanda (a development I didn’t see coming at all; I was sure T’Challa would beat him in the challenge and he’d start an uprising) made the “mirror image” plot point feel much more natural. Their opposing views on how to best run Wakanda also gave them a great argument to fuel their physical battle, and that’s something every superhero movie needs to aim for (I’m more than a little wary about Thanos’ goal of killing half of everything resonating with the Avengers anywhere near as closely as Killmonger and Vulture related to their heroes). Killmonger’s final lines, about wanting to die a free man instead of going back into a cage, were absolutely powerful and affecting.  

Ulysses S. Klaue was fun as an entirely different sort of villain. Serkis was clearly having a blast playing the cartoonish supervillain archetype and I loved it. I’m always up for some classic villainy and this script gave us just the right amount. I didn’t expect Klaue to die, given his status as one of Black Panther’s greatest villains, but I don’t think they were going to do much more with him than what we got. A solid chase/fight with T’Challa with an argument about the Wakandans being hypocritical, an introduction for Killmonger, and a connection to Ross were all we needed from him, and we got just that. I definitely don’t want Everett K. Ross to become the new Agent Coulson, uniting the next generation of Avengers or something; I think the heroes should unite themselves (as a king, T’Challa could certainly lead that charge if Steve Rogers is no longer around). That said, I liked what the movie gave us of Ross and he was played with just the right amount of wonder at Wakandan technology. While I’ve seen criticisms online about him playing such a big role in the climax, like a claim that they still needed a middle-aged white guy to stop the bad guy, I disagree. He had piloting skills and needed Shuri’s tech to get the job done (she even configured the holographic projection to mimic a plane he was familiar with), so it’s not like he was successful just because he was a white guy. This also isn’t a Batman Begins situation, where Batman’s actions on the train with Ras Al Ghul were irrelevant to the finale because Gordon blew up the train tracks. Had T’Challa not defeated Killmonger, Eric still could’ve rallied his supporters and Wakanda would likely be in a civil war. I think Ross helped as much as was needed to be useful, but I don’t think he overshadowed anyone.

The complexities that must arise from five tribes living in such close proximity to each other, coupled with fun aspects like war rhinos, the mystical veldt afterlife, Shuri’s technological wonders, made this a world I want to visit many, many more times! Wakandan society seems like it’s brimming with interesting social structures, so I hope the sequel really digs into how T’Challa and his people relate to one another. I doubt everyone will be happy he revealed their paradise to the world and I wonder how quickly the needs of the international community will start to weigh on the Wakandans. How they balance their own needs with those of the world will be very interesting to see. I also absolutely love that African society here is portrayed as advanced, rather than what we often see in Hollywood films, and I was impressed by how easily a place as fantastical as Wakanda was rendered as a real, breathing community. I think it’s cool how much of Africa was represented here without Wakanda feeling like a generic and homogenous “Africa” (at least to my eyes; someone with African heritage might see that aspect very differently). While pulling aspects of several different African cultures to create the fictional Wakandan culture may be problematic for some (as I’ve seen online), I think the script has enough leeway to say people from those cultures were the ones who founded Wakanda in the first place.

Bucky’s (Sebastian Stan) brief cameo was cool and I would much rather see him find peace and purpose as a figure with the Wakandan War Dogs—if the White Wolf title is a hint he’s supposed to be the MCU version of Hunter, comics’ T’Challa’s adopted brother—than see him take over the Captain America mantle. If he took over as Cap, I have a hard time seeing how he’d be different from Rogers in the role besides being less upstanding and more angsty, neither of which I want to see (if the mantle must be passed, Sam Wilson seems like a chance to explore what today’s Captain needs to be/represent and adding flight to the shield would make for entirely new fight dynamics). In Wakanda, it feels like Bucky can forge an identity for himself.

At this point, I’m far more excited for Black Panther 2 than I am for Infinity War. I want much more of this world and these characters, and I’m excited to see how they interact with the rest of the world now that Wakanda’s no longer a secret. It would be a huge misstep if Wakanda is destroyed in Infinity War, so I hope that film doesn’t go that direction, since it feels like it would derail everything that’s been set up here. Instead, I’m hoping Wakanda is at the forefront of rebuilding the world after Thanos is dealt with.

Black Panther is still in theaters, commanding the box office for an astonishing fifth weekend in a row and it certainly deserves it. If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for? A trip to Wakanda is definitely worth a trip to the theater!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

[odanurr87]

Let’s talk... TRON, Part 1: Legacy

Let me preface by saying I have not watched the original 1982 TRON movie. I was introduced to the world of TRON in 2010 with the release of TRON: Legacy, a sequel that tried to reboot, or rather re-energize, the franchise, starring Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, Garrett Hedlund as his son, Sam, and the mesmerizing Olivia Wilde as Quorra (admit it, she’s gorgeous!). Neither the critics nor the public were too thrilled by it at the time, arguing it was more spectacle than substance. To this day, the movie stands at a 51% critic score and a 63% audience score on RT. IMDb puts it slightly higher at a 68% audience score. I recently re-watched it on Netflix so I decided to share my thoughts on it. You may have noticed this blog post isn’t titled, “My thoughts on...” as I usually do for reviews. That’s because I’m not just going to talk about TRON: Legacy but also its, arguably superior, animated spin-off, TRON: Uprising, released between 2012 and 2013, starring an amazing voice cast that I will mention in due course. It remains one of my favourite animated series after Avatar: The Last Airbender. But let’s get to it, shall we?

Spoilers for TRON: Legacy naturally follow. You’ve been warned.

Legacy follows the character of Sam Flynn, the son of Kevin Flynn, an employee and eventually CEO of ENCOM corporation, who has been missing for the past 20 years (the father, not the son, obviously). The opening of the movie showcases that Sam has apparently inherited some of his father’s programming genius (even though he never gets to use it again afterwards) but he also has trouble accepting his father’s disappearance and moving on, pulling off reckless stunts for the sake of it. We’re also briefly introduced to Bruce Boxleitner, reprising his role as Adam Bradley, Kevin’s friend and business partner, a return I have no doubt fans of the original appreciated but he’s sadly underused, either as Bradley or in his much juicier role as Tron (for reasons that will become apparent soon). ENCOM is portrayed in a bad light because... they want to sell their products? I know what they’re trying to do here, and certainly parallels can be drawn to corporations like Microsoft or EA (”This year we put a 12 on the box”), even to this day, but it’s rather flimsy. No matter, since it isn’t long before Sam, having received a strange message, goes back to his father’s arcade shop and finds and activates a curious machine that transports him to the Grid.

The Sirens outfit Sam for the games. It doesn’t hurt these women are gorgeous to boot.

The Grid is a vast digital sandbox populated by programs who take on the shape of human beings. From the start, I loved the look and feel of it, with its mixture of black, blue, cyan, and white colours, and the incredible technology on display, from light cycles to light jets, all of these rendered from a baton that is most certainly not used as a sword. The outfits used by programs are also really cool to look at and while I’m partial to black myself, those sirens wearing white almost convinced me otherwise. TRON: Legacy takes advantage of the outfits to distinguish friend from foe: programs with red lights are on the side of the bad guys while programs with cyan or white lights are, mostly, free and can go either way. That’s the short version anyway. The long version is that all programs on the Grid should wear black (or white) outfits with cyan/white lights and stripes. However, those programs that have been repurposed by the enemy change their lights and stripes to red. In any case, it’s a simple way for the audience to tell who the bad guys are. Last but not least, every program on the Grid is equipped with an identity disc that serves both as a storage device, containing a program’s code and its “memories,” and a melee/ranged weapon for combat, as Sam soon finds out.

As you might have guessed,TRON: Legacy is, indeed, a beautiful movie to look at, something that shouldn’t come as a surprise considering it was directed by Joseph Kosinski, who who would later direct Oblivion, a movie with outstanding cinematography and, incidentally, a great soundtrack. Because, let’s face it, as visually stunning as this movie is, it wouldn’t be half as good were it not for its amazing soundtrack, composed by none other than Daft Punk, who curiously make an appearance and feel right at home on the Grid, and arranged and orchestrated by Joseph Trapanese (keep his name in mind ‘cause you’ll see it again). The combination of orchestral and electronic music imbue the world of TRON with a sense of wonder and strangeness, of having been transported to a world that works under a different set of rules. I can safely say without a shred of doubt that this movie’s soundtrack is excellent from beginning to end, with some of my favourite pieces being, “The Son of Flynn,” “Outlands,” “Solar Sailer,” “Disc Wars,” and, of course, “Flynn Lives.” Hey, I did say this soundtrack was awesome all the way through! It is definitely one of the best movie soundtracks I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to and it’s definitely worth a purchase.

Just knocking on the sky and listening to the sound, man.

What about the story? It starts out as a tragedy. A long time ago, when Flynn created the Grid, he brought over Bradley’s creation, Tron, to protect it, and also created a new program in his image named Clu. Together they were going to create the perfect system, whatever that was supposed to mean. Over time, and with their discovery of ISOs or isomorphic algorithms, programs that spontaneously came into existence, Kevin’s outlook on perfection was radically altered, but Clu’s remained the same and he regarded ISOs as a threat to his goal of creating the perfect system. This eventually devolved into insurrection as Clu turned on Flynn and Tron, killing the latter and forcing the former into exile. Fast forward 20 years to Sam’s arrival and Clu reigns supreme as dictator, repurposing programs to either fight in the Arena for entertainment or join his massive army. Having achieved the perfect system in his eyes, Clu has now turned his attention to Earth and has thus engineered Sam’s arrival on the Grid to force his father, Kevin (whom I’ll simply call Flynn from this point onwards), out of hiding and claim his disc, the key to the portal that links both worlds.

The movie initially plays around with Clu’s likeness to Flynn in order to trick Sam into trusting him, but it quickly dashes any and all potential it might’ve had by revealing the truth. It really is a shame as had Clu actually put some effort into recruiting Sam it would’ve made for a much more interesting movie, maybe echoing some of Jack’s conflict in Robin Williams’ Hook. Instead, the movie elects to follow up with a light cycle confrontation between Clu and Sam and the latter’s subsequent rescue by another program named Quorra. It’s a cool sequence to be sure and a badass way to introduce Wilde’s Quorra, not to mention it was supposedly part of Clu’s plan to ensure Flynn would know he had his son. Unfortunately, it turns out it’s mostly by coincidence that Flynn learns of this as he’s practically a recluse. Had it not been for Quorra’s curiosity and timely intervention, Clu’s plan would’ve ended almost as soon as it began.

An awkward reunion between father and son with Quorra caught in the middle.

Father and son are soon reunited but it’s a rather uncomfortable reunion. After all, how do you explain to your son why you’ve been absent for a large chunk of his life? It’s true Flynn tried to go back repeatedly and failed but it’s still a difficult thing to take in, more so when his father stubbornly refuses to play into Clu’s game and make a run for the portal. Quorra is also placed in a tough spot, immediately picking up on the tension between the two. As Flynn’s protégé sle clearly looks up to him for guidance and would give her life to protect him but she’s also persuaded by Sam’s argument, which is why she helps him get in touch with Zeus, comically played by Michael Sheen, a program who can allegedly arrange for safe passage to the portal. These three, together with Clu, are the core of the movie. How do they fare? 

Jeff Bridges delivers the best performance all around, even if it sometimes lacks the emotional outbursts you’d expect from being reunited with his son after all these years. Even so, he pours a lot of enthusiasm into some of his scenes, such as when he’s describing the ISOs, and he’s a little bit of a matchmaker if you pay close attention to the solar sailer scene. To my mind, Olivia Wilde comes second in the acting department, playing the somewhat naïve but totally badass Quorra. To be fair though, her best moments occur when she interacts with Garrett Hedlund’s character, Sam, so maybe they’re something of a packaged deal. I feel like Hedlund delivered a mostly solid performance across the board but probably not one that will turn any heads. Save for Quorra, the two Flynns appear quite stoic for a good chunk of the movie, or at least that’s how they came across to me. Things change a little when Flynn decides to play Clu’s game and rescue Sam from Zeus’ trap, losing his disc in the process, giving all three some time to bond during the beautiful solar sailer scene. It is then that we learn that Quorra is the last of the ISOs, and that Flynn has been protecting her for all these years.

Sam and Quorra share a moment aboard the solar sailer.

Of course, all good things must come to an end so it isn’t long before Clu’s top lieutenant, Rinzler, catches up to our heroes and captures Quorra. I have somehow managed to avoid talking about him for a while now and it’s decidedly unfair seeing as he’s probably more of a menace than Clu. Rinzler speaks very little in this movie but his mere presence is imposing, backed up by his incredible combat prowess as he proves to Sam during their fight in the Arena. With good reason, as it turns out Rinzler is none other than Tron, reprogrammed by Clu to become his loyal servant. In hindsight, it’s surprising I didn’t pick up on this sooner considering his outfit practically screams this. On the other hand, since I knew nothing about him before this movie, let alone his symbol, it would’ve been nothing short of a miracle had I done so (although the movie sets this up during the flashback sequence of Tron buying Flynn time to escape Clu). It is such a shame then that we don’t see Tron make a comeback, even though the movie hints that he was able to overcome Clu’s programming when he fell into the Sea of Simulation. If a sequel to Legacy is still in the works, it must include Bruce Boxleitner’s return as Tron. If not for his role in this, then most assuredly for his role in TRON: Uprising.

Rinzler is to Clu what Darth Vader is to Palpatine, except he doesn’t even need to speak.

Events now converge. As Clu prepares to lead his army through the portal to conquer Earth, Sam cooks up an intrepid plan to rescue Quorra and retrieve his father’s disc. It’s a great scene made more awesome by Daft Punk’s “Disc Wars” playing in the background. Don’t ask me why but it reminded me of the movie Flash Gordon, with Flash making his triumphant return, or at the very least a most daring entrance (ah, now I know why, it’s because I’m reminded of the drones in Flash Gordon!). I’m in two minds about this scene as it does speak volumes to see Jarvis’ reaction to the ensuing fight rather than the fight itself (it’s certainly more foreboding that way), but it’s still a pity that we don’t get a chance to see how Sam’s disc skills have improved since entering the Grid (probably not a lot going by his performance at the night club). And that moment when Sam takes the disc and alerts Clu to what’s going on... Damn, this song’s good!

Not one to give up easily, Clu follows our intrepid trio of heroes in a light jet chase to the portal for the inevitable showdown with his creator. Props to Jeff Bridges here again, as one does feel for Clu, to some extent, when he argues he was only doing what Flynn programmed him to do, trying to bring about the perfect system they had both dreamed about. Clu is a staunch proponent of order over chaos, he’s the Yin to Flynn’s Yang (Wenli!), something that is referenced several times in the movie through Clu’s baoding balls and Flynn’s Bits (that sounded better in my head). Perhaps if Flynn had spent some time explaining the Second Law of Thermodynamics to Clu all of this could’ve been avoided. Alas, Clu’s not looking for a reconciliation and is tricked by Flynn into letting Quorra and Sam go, or at least ignore them, thinking Flynn has the portal key. As Quorra struggles to push Sam into the portal, Clu realizes the truth and tries to get to them, forcing Flynn to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the pair’s escape. It’s a beautiful scene all in all, again greatly enhanced by Daft Punk’s music, that recreates the poster of the original movie. The movie ends with Sam back in the real world, ready to take over his father’s company and change the world, aided by Bradley and the incomparable beauty that is Quorra.

Kiss her, you fool! I mean, I’m half-glad they didn’t kiss but this is Olivia Wilde we’re talking about! Allowances must be made.

From a technical standpoint, TRON: Legacy is a great movie in my book, combining amazing visuals with an outstanding soundtrack, though the use of CGI to rejuvenise Clu and a young Flynn is indeed noticeable and may be somewhat bothersome (though it didn’t bother me at the time). This technology has however, come a long way as we were able to see in Disney’s Rogue One or even in Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, so it’s not unlikely that a possible sequel could make use of the same, updated, technology, to bring back, say, a young Bruce Boxleitner as Tron (that would be awesome!). The story is perhaps more by the numbers (it certainly doesn’t tread new ground but why should it?) and it’s certainly not a character piece but I found it to be entertaining with a measured pace, carefully balancing the action with the more quiet scenes and executing both rather well. Nevertheless, if I had to come down hard on this movie for one thing and one thing only, it would have to be how underdeveloped the world feels. Beyond the Arena and Zeus’ night club, we don’t see a whole lot of how programs live on the Grid. Do they work? Do they have friends? Do they hang out? Are there (more) cities out there? The movie also hints at the possibility of some rebel movement forming against Clu but it’s pretty short-lived. These are all aspects that a sequel should definitely try to explore and, indeed, one eventually did.

Unfortunately, the year is 2018 and there’s currently no light at the end of the tunnel for a future TRON 3. It’s possible Disney dismissed its attempt to reboot the franchise as a failure considering the movie was only able to gross $400 million worldwide with a production budget of $170 million, and that’s not counting marketing expenses. Of course, if one considers Legacy was a sequel to a rather niche 1982 movie, maybe it didn’t do half as bad. Not having watched the original, I do believe Legacy managed to bring back some of the old cast of characters and do them justice, unlike a certain other franchise that shall not be named. It saddens me that Disney has apparently abandoned this property, and that the likelihood of seeing Olivia Wilde, Garrett Hedlund, Bruce Boxleitner, and why not Cillian Murphy as well (he was seriously underused in this movie), return for one last chapter seems like a pipe dream right now. Yet two years after the release of TRON: Legacy, Disney would give the franchise another chance to prove its worth with the release of the animated series, TRON: Uprising. Did it succeed at this? Stay tuned for Part 2 to find out. Why not watch TRON: Legacy in the meantime?

[thatangstyhoe-blog]

Regrets Part 2

Part 1 

Shawn’s POV

“Sometimes, I really regret marrying you”

I walk out of the spacious living room, the cold November air slapping me in the face. I walked quickly to my car as it was cold and I had forgotten to grab a jacket. My feet crunched against the seemingly frozen ground and I feel for my keys in my jean pocket, strangely grabbing a slip of white paper instead.

Lana Eldridge

407-779-0563

The ‘I’ letters are dotted wth hearts and there’s a smudge of brown liquor on the paper. I almost feel guilty, coldly standing in front of a broken home with the love of my life crying in the living room as I stare at another girl’s number on a slip of paper. I still don’t understand why I haven’t entered the car yet but I reason that it’s most likely due to my guilt. I almost feel obligated to hurt myself- to maybe attempt to measure up to the amount of pain I probably caused her.

I walk to my car and open the door, a blast of warmth hitting me considering I was inside the same seat just a few minutes ago. I lazily put the key in the ignition and back out of the driveway, a destination set in my mind.

—————————————————————————————————-

“Shawn? What are you doing here? It’s 12 a.m. and you didn’t call” Geoff scrunches his eyebrows at me and peeks only his head out of the doorframe. He winces at the cold air and white clouds blur my vision as I reply.

“Could I come in?” My voice is strained and my head is pounding from the thoughts constantly running through my head.

“Yeah, it’s cold” He replies as he opens the door and I quickly shuffle inside of the smaller condo. I notice that his Christmas decorations are already festively showcased in the living room of his home. There’s a tall artificial Christmas tree standing with ornaments and family photos. On the shelves are photos of him and his girlfriend scattered across from different years.

I took all of our pictures down a while ago.

Geoff holds out a cup of tea and I eagerly take the warm cup into my cold hands. He seems curious as to why i’m here but I avoid the topic for as long as possible, asking him questions about the next album and where we’re going to write it. He seems to grow increasingly frustrated with each question I ask, shortening his answers more and more.

“So why are you here?” He blurts out eventually, interrupting me as I talk about the music i’ve been listening to recently.

“I just told you” I awkwardly sip my tea and look away, staring at the blinking Christmas lights instead.

“So you came to my door at 12 a.m. to ask me about an album that isn’t due for another 10 months when you could’ve texted me just as easily?” He raises an eyebrow and sets his empty cup on the wooden desk in front of him.

“Yes?”

“Did you get kicked out?” He asks me with an amused smile on his face. Normally I would’ve taken the tone to be joking and shoved him in a playful manner but instead I shake my head and a wave of fear comes across my body.

“I left, actually” I tell him as I set my hals-full cup on the table as well. He lets out an unsurprised ‘mm’ as he leans back and props his feet up on the couch. We stay like that, I stare at the details of his home as he stares at me in an attempt to get me to talk.

“Why is this shit so complicated Geoff?” I finally ask him as I run a hand through my messy hair and lean my forehead into my palm. He leans forward and places his elbows onto his knees.

“Why is what so complicated?”

“Being in a relationship. Being married. It’s easy at first and then you just don’t have time. one day you’re sitting on the edge of a building talking about kids and a future together and the next second you’re thinking of ways to apologize for cheating on her. I just don’t have the time.”

“You make time” He simply replies as I tug at my hair, frustrated.

“It’s really not that easy. I have interviews to go to, albums to write, tours to go on.”  I tell him as I try to get my point across.

“I go on those tours with you, I write those albums with you, and as for the interviews-you don’t have that many” he points out to me and I find it outrageous how he’s trying to prove me wrong. This is one of my best friends, I thought he was supposed to support my decisions

“It seems to me like you’re just making excuses” I feel surprised. My mind automatically tries to convince me that I came at the wrong time, that he’s only saying things like this because he’s upset I woke him up at midnight to drink tea with me and talk about useless shit.

But as each word he speaks hits me in the chest, I realize that he may be right.

“I’m not a bad husband” I tell him and myself. I try to convince him that he’s wrong but I can’t even seem to convince myself.

“Do you love her?” He asks me

“Yeah. I wouldn’t have married her if I didn’t” I tell him.

“No offense” He takes a deep breath “But with the way you’ve been acting recently, i’m not even sure if you like her”. He emphasizes the word like and I continue to stay mad at him rather than actually listening.

“No offense” I begin, ready to fire back at him, “But shut the fuck up”

He laughs at my angered state and shakes his head unbelievingly.

“You don’t know my relationship Geoff. It’s complicated.” I tell him as I stand my ground.

“You don’t know your relationship either. This girl went to college for years and studied her ass off so that she could get a degree. She did all of that and then moved to Toronto for you. This girl literally threw her life away to be with you and then you cheated after one argument. So, yeah Shawn, i’m not sure if you like her because if you did you would’ve kept your dick in your pants and stayed with her.”

“Fuck you! Just-fuck all of this.” I angrily stand up from the couch and march over to the front door, opening it and shivering as soon as I step outside. I situate myself inside my car and reach for the slip of paper in my jeans. I dial the number in my phone and become pleasantly surprised when she answered on the first ring, club music blaring in the background.

“Are you busy tonight?”

[ahiddenpath]

Regarding the stage of Digimon, in your opinion, what are the characters with better and worst development or characterization?

Hmm, good question!  As you say, I can only give my opinion- everyone’s interpretation of characters and their growth is subjective- but I will try my best below the cut :)  Spoilers for the digimon stage play below the cut!!!!

I would argue that most of the cast didn’t develop or change during the play, not really.  Mostly they acknowledged existing truths and fears that were already causing tension inside of them, partially because of that all-important anniversary, partially from exposure to the other Chosen and sensing that they’re all facing similar tensions, and partially because of... being literally held prisoner by their own desires.  But then, maybe opening your eyes to something you refused to acknowledge before is growth, even though the pieces were already in your hands!  I think the distinction is probably unimportant?

In a way, the pains of growing up showcased in the stage play are relatable to anyone who has gone through that difficult stage between childhood and adulthood.  During one of my writing classes as an undergrad, the students had to submit two stories each for peer review, and about 70% of them dealt specifically with the fear of facing a life beyond our schooling.  The difficulties the Chosen face in the play are painfully familiar.  But as Koushiro points out, it’s truly the weight of August first bowing their backs, and as Yamato admits, the fear of being unable to spend time with his digimon partner plays a huge role in his fear.

Basically, the Chosen are normal kids, but they’re also not.  Although the viewers know and love this about our babies, I think the stage play showcased this idea beautifully.  I’m not sure how to rank everyone’s growth by number, so let me try talking about them one-by-one and seeing where things land?

Taichi

As most of the Chosen point out in the first act, Taichi has been subdued since the events of Saikai.  Even so, he leaps on the idea of a camping reunion on August 1st, surprising Hikari and placing her on the alert.  His over-enthusiasm indicates that he’s eager to step back into his fearless leader role, if only for a few days, especially in a safe setting.  

Taichi spends most of the play pretending he’s fine (when he clearly isn’t), and it even seems that he considers remaining hostage in Etemon’s... ‘playing house’ scenario rather than start a fight.  He also offers himself as a sacrifice if the others are spared and begs for mercy, hoping to protect his friends by taking the fall for them.  Eventually, with prompting from Sora, Hikari, and Koushiro and help from Agumon, Taichi realizes that his new ability to consider consequences and ask questions before he fights is growth, not regression, and he regains the ability to fight, with the implication that his methods will be more effective than ever.

Taichi probably has the clearest ‘before and after’ picture from the stage play.

Yamato

It was really fun to see Yamato hang out with his band!  There’s a sense that his band mates simultaneously look up to him and take every opportunity to tease him, lol.  

Although he says little of consequence during the group campfire talk, Yamato opens up more when he’s alone with Taichi.  There’s a sense that he’s trying to draw information out of Taichi by offering some in turn, but it doesn’t really get anywhere.  He gets to the good stuff towards the end, when he admits to Jyou that his fears aren’t really based in becoming an adult, or even in growing apart from the Chosen.  His biggest fear is that, some day, he won’t be able to see Gabumon as much.  Part of me isn’t sure why he’s bringing that up now- my understanding is that the gates to the Digital World have been opening and closing beyond their control mostly all along, unrelated to Yamato growing up.  But his point still stands; Gabumon is his most precious friend, and it must often feel like Yamato’s ability to spend time with him is out of his control.  

I got the sense that Yamato mostly needed to speak his fears aloud, but Jyou also assured him that his fears were normal, and that the best thing to do is to make his time with Gabumon count and move forward with courage.  I’m not sure how much Yamato grew...  But I thought everything he said in his scene with Jyou was interesting and loving, and reflected that teddy bear nature hiding beneath his outer tundra. 

Sora

I’ll be honest, while the girls had nice moments, I was a little put out at how comparatively little they were showcased.  Like everyone but Jyou, Sora was not forthcoming at the campfire scene, and she “slept” through most of the “girl talk” scene.  The play gave the sense that Sora is worried about her fellow Chosen, especially Taichi, and communicated her protective and loving nature, but she wasn’t given much opportunity to shine until her final heart-to-heart with Mimi.  Mostly she talks about the self she’s always been- preferring quietly supporting others to thinking about her future and understanding herself.  After musing about herself a bit, she decides that it’s time to start tackling the issues of learning who she is and what she wants.

That’s a beautiful realization and decision for anyone!  i would have liked to see a lot more Sora, though.

Koushiro

Compared to the others, I don’t think Koushiro has a moment where he stands up and makes some kind of discovery unique to himself.  While he (awesomely) points out that all of the Chosen are stuck in this Digital World pocket because they don’t want to lose August 1st and everything it means to them, he doesn’t say much about himself and his individual struggles.  All he really says is that, while he likes computers, he’s not sure what he wants to do in the future, and he’s interested in attempting to explore the world around him without the help of computers.  (Although I guess you could argue that last bit IS a Big Deal).

I don’t mind, though, because his characterization was so great during the play.  He was sassy (“You’re the closest thing we have to a cave man, Taichi-san!”), an intelligent planner (sensing an initial problem, understanding the nature of their plight, and even uncovering the psychological component), supportive towards everyone (especially Taichi, something conspicuously absent in Tri), proactive, polite, sweet, and a bit socially clueless.  The things that I dislike about Tri!Koushiro are absent: perviness, fashion disasters, occasional uncomfortably weird behavior, a lack of proactiveness compared to Adventure, and a tendency to cut himself off from the group instead of working together with them.

I don’t know if he developed over the course of the play, but for what it’s worth, stage play Koushiro soothes my tormented soul, lol.  

Mimi

In the first act, she seems preoccupied with... making the camping trip harder than it should be.  We later learn that she wants to echo their circumstances during their adventures by leaving supplies behind (I think she actually brought supplies back then, though, which is kind of funny).  During the “girl talk” scene, Mimi seems to be pushing for light, stereotypical subject matter: crushes and ghost stories.  While the dialogue itself doesn’t contribute much, it does create a sense that Mimi’s trying to distract herself from her thoughts.

Mimi later says that the future is difficult for her to think about, because she wants to do so many things.  The more she grows, the more she questions her ability to explore her many interests; isn’t it more realistic to focus on one thing?  Palmon convinces her that she can do whatever she wants to do.  It’s a sweet and very Mimi-esque moment.  I enjoyed it a lot, and I thought Mimi’s actress did an incredible job, but Mimi’s initial pushy and actively unhelpful behavior combined with a comparatively short payoff scene pushes her characterization and arc towards the bottom of my personal ranking.

Jyou

Jyou didn’t ‘grow’ in the sense that he was the one Chosen who is calm about his future, but the fact that he’s in that position during the stage play is amazing to me.  You guys probably know I have a huuuuge soft spot for Jyou, but...  Just the fact that he went on the trip without an argument, even for one day, was a victory.  And he put so much effort into helping Taichi and Yamato, which is wonderful, too!  

I loved his scene with Yamato...  While Yamato did most of the talking and discovering, Jyou supported him and listened.  It’s kind of... like the opposite of what happened between them in the diner?  That isn’t a perfect metaphor, but this time, Jyou went out of his way to help Yamato, instead of vice versa.  Senpai is so grown up now ;__;   At the same time, he’s still strung too tight about his grades and achieving his goals, so he still feels like our beloved dork face.

Senpai, notice me *___*

Takeru

In my opinion, Takeru drew the short straw in the stage play.  He is upfront about his fears about everyone parting ways, and he seems willing to talk about his hope that he can write in the future without ending up hating it (although he tends to get cut off when he tries).  We glimpse his sweet and mischievous sides, but he spends most of the climax looking lost and near tears while Hikari remains calm and reassures him.  I finished the play without much of an impression from him.  I think he mentioned that he used to feel stronger and more single-minded, and now he often feels more frightened and unsure?  I don’t recall any closure for him, though.

Happily, I find Takeru’s Tri persona lovable and fun enough that I don’t really mind his comparative lack of presence here, but I do kind of wonder why he got left out like he did.

Hikari

Hikari was interesting in that her role as a concerned observer, and someone comparatively grounded in reality, was very visible in the play.  Although she mostly remained in the background, Hikari was vocal about her worries for Taichi, and she was the first to point out that something was wrong with Etemon’s ‘playing house’ situation.  But despite giving off a sense that she is calmer and more aware than the others, she wasn’t given much material to work with in the play.  I was happy to see her interacting with Taichi- in my opinion, Tri pushes her away from him and towards Takeru to a way that sometimes feels like a stretch- but I would have liked to see more from her in general.  Again, the “girl talk” scene featured the gals, but didn’t actually give them much meaningful material.  Did she talk about her hopes for the future, beyond affirming that she wants to teach kindergarten?  

I guess overall, it looks like Taichi was the main character of the stage play.  Yamato, Koushiro, and Jyou have roughly the most influence after that, followed by Sora, followed by Hikari, Mimi, and Takeru.  While I have complaints, I think the stage play did a great job portraying the characters.  Ultimately, though, I think they could have fit more material for some of the characters if they didn’t spend so much time on dialogue that hit dead ends over and over, and if the “girl talk” scene was less about... crushes and ghost stories and more about... the girls.

Thanks for the ask!

[glass--winged]

Who do you want out of your life the most? (from the thingy)

Ooh, that’s not a difficult one. Gonna have to shove this one under the cut…

I love the people around me right now. You are all incredible. I feel warm and safe and loved around you guys, because you all support me so wonderfully. I have left my demons behind me. But there are three people (and a friendship group) I would like to remove from the past I have, because they were far more damaging than I ever realised.

First, the friendship group. Little age-13 me didn’t understand that not everyone has a fear of being mean. That not everybody was as kind as I tried to be. They taught me that going to talk to the support staff was a betrayal of their trust. That those people should not be trusted. I wasted away through the following years, afraid of talking to the support staff about anything. My problems weren’t as bad as theirs, that friendship group taught me, so I shouldn’t jeapordise them by talking about them.

That sort of ruined everything.

The first girl - part of that friendship group, I’m around 14/15 by this point - was my “best friend”. A girl who I talked to the most, despite what she did to me. She was almost consistently mean and put me down all the time, but I was - and still am - like a little devoted puppy, convinced that someday it would change. I was partnered with her in Drama - my favourite subject - by virtue of the fact nobody else wanted to work with us, and I made the best of it. She could be nice when she wanted to be, but other times she was a nightmare. She would come into a lesson and flatly refuse to work, leaving me at a loss - no point doing a duologue alone - so I’d have to just sit down and do nothing for the hour. If she did decide to work, and I wanted a break between run-throughs, I wasn’t allowed them - she would insult me and kick me in the legs until I stood up again and carried on. She told me I was “naive” and “didn’t understand the real world” because I tried to be optimistic. She once kicked me hard enough in the shin to leave me limping for a while, and I let her laugh at me for it. It got to the point where I had to beg my teacher to put me into another group because I saw no way out. I said that I didn’t want to come to lessons anymore. I was moved away for devised work for a little while, but once we moved back to script, I had no choice but to move back into a pair with her.

We were invited to do a performance of our piece at a local theatre in a drama showcase, because it was so good - perfect score, our teacher told us. This girl told me that she didn’t want to do it, and that she’d already told the teacher that we weren’t going to go. I didn’t have a say in it - I was desperate to perform it, but figured the deed was done. On the day after the show had been on, I went into my form room, and my teacher called me to his desk and demanded to know why we didn’t turn up, when we were on the running list and everything. They’d had to do an emergency switch-round because we weren’t there, and we’d disappointed people who’d paid to come and see the showcase. This girl hadn’t told my teacher at all. She’d just decided she didn’t want to do it.I left that whole friendship group after that.

I met another girl, who quickly became my new best friend - funny, silly, nerdy, an absolute delight to be around. We did everything together for almost three years. But then something changed when we got into Year 12, when we were 16. We blustered our way into a friendship group that started out wonderful, but steadily got more and more toxic as the year went on. There was a messy breakup between an old female “friend” and a new male one, and the friendship group’s “ringleader” of sorts forced everyone to pick a side. The female friend was notorious for blowing things way out of proportion, and manipulating people to sympathise with her. To side with the boy, or stay neutral, they said, was siding with an abuser. I tried to stay neutral and mediate. It was incredibly hard when the female friend and the “ringleader” were planning to steal this boy’s belongings and burn them, especially when I would never believe for a single second that the boy would hurt anyone. He was not that kind of person. Because I tried to stay neutral, I was ostracised from the friendship group - including by my own best friend - via the “silent treatment”, a well-used tactic from this female friend. To this day, I am still petrified of conflict, and I get incredibly panicky being in even the same room as an argument - all for fear of being forced to pick a side.

When the “ringleader” left at the end of Year 12, everything died down, and it was just me, my “best friend”, and that female “friend” once more. I thought it was all going to be okay. They didn’t mention the things from before. I thought everything had blown over, that we were going to be friends again. But something was different. My best friend and that female friend began dating - fine, okay, fair enough. It’s not my place to interfere. I was wary, of course I was, because the girl’s last breakup had been messy, but… I just let it carry on.This female friend changed her.

Just like her new girlfriend, my best friend became catty, bitchy, snapped at me more often than not, made jokes at my expense. I still said nothing. Not worth mentioning to the support staff, I thought, they have other things to worry about. But then it got worse. I put up with a whole month of this, but still called them my closest friends. But there came one day where I made a really stupid joke, one I could have sworn I’d said before, and my old best friend stormed outside. I thought she was just doing a “nope” reaction, and continued to laugh, not knowing she was serious in her anger. They both blew up at me. I tried to apologise, knowing I’d hurt them, but they wouldn’t take it because it “wasn’t good enough” - another common tactic of this other friend. I apologised as best I could, multiple times,  but they responded by “silent treatment”-ing me again, saying that I “hadn’t apologised enough” - so I needed to apologise more, even though they wouldn’t let me talk to them in the first place. Fair enough. I guess I can respect that. People don’t have to forgive.

But they used it as an excuse to abuse me.

I ended up enduring my worst long-term experience to date, from October 2016 to June 2017. Every day was another fear of more insults, more ignoring of my existence, more abuse. Standout highlights (with BF as “best friend” and “GF” as best friend’s girlfriend) include:

A shitty pun was made in the group, and BF exclaiming “I regret being friends with all of you”. When GF pushed her to apologise for it, she went around the group pointing at people, saying “don’t regret”. She got to me, said “yep, definitely regret being friends with you”, and then carried on with “don’t regret” for the rest of the group. GF then said “no, you can’t regret being friends with [Ducky], you’d never have met me otherwise!" 

The two of them glared at me for ages, setting me really on edge and making me anxious, because my memory is so unreliable I think I’ve done something wrong. They knew this from previous years. When I asked what I’d done they laughed and said "we just like to watch you freak out”. 

I was sitting brushing my hair and trying to ignore them while they quite obviously talked about me while sitting right next to me. I tried to look oblivious and GF said, out loud, “wow she’s completely oblivious to the fact we’re talking about her, isn’t she?”. BF immediately responded with “well yeah, it’s because her head’s always up her ass”. That caused complete silence in the group, and multiple people told her to apologise. She flatly refused. She said she didn’t need to apologise. 

On the same day, I heard her say - right next to me - “I’m allowed to be rude to [Ducky]”. 

There are many more I won’t get into right now, because this post has got ridiculously long, but I hope I’ve given enough reason to want these memories gone. These people almost broke me. I’m still recovering from them. I might be going into therapy for it.

But, as with all things, there is a silver lining.

If there’s one thing I learned, it’s that I never want to see anyone go through the pain that I did. I swore always to be kind, and honest, and loving. To try to brighten others’ days when they might seem bleak. To forgive, and listen, and move on. That’s the world I want to see.

Here’s to 2018, surrounded by new friends.

[metalandmagi]

Hogwarts House Anime Recommendations: Slytherin

 Hello again!

It’s time for some more Hogwarts house anime recommendations! I was going to wait to work on this, but since it’s the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone, I thought it would be a good time to post this one.

Hufflepuff recs

Ravenclaw recs

Gryffindor recs

This time it’s going to be some Slytherin anime recommendations! I tried to keep it varied in terms of genre, but a few are a bit similar in their descriptions. Anyway I think some of the most important traits that embody the Slytherin house are ambition, cunning, deceptiveness, and determination to reach one’s goals. So here we go!

1. Neuro: Supernatural Detective, aka Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro

This anime focuses on a high school detective named Yako Katsuragi who is famous for solving every single case that is brought to her attention. However, it is actually her “assistant” Neuro Nougami who solves the cases and has her take the credit for them. Why? Because he is a literal parrot demon from another dimension who actually physically eats mysteries. Since he’s already eaten every mystery in the demon world, he’s moved on to Earth’s mysteries and has promised that he will help Yako solve the mystery of her father’s death. 

This anime seems like the retro, more colorful, not British relative of Black Butler….even though Neuro came out only about a year earlier. It’s both hilarious and dramatic at the right moments, and I recommend watching only a little at a time as most of it is very episodic. But Neuro himself is a great example of a Slytherin, never really doing something out of the goodness of his heart, but willing to make bargains and then turn on someone as soon as he needs to. He’s extremely entertaining to watch, and my dream crossover anime would be Neuro and Sebastian with their respective charges teaming up to solve a mystery despite the time period differences….either that or competing against each other to see who can solve a mystery first.

2. Girlish Number

This anime follows the voice acting career of the young newcomer Chitose Karasuma and her various co-workers and her quest to become famous without actually having any acting talent and not working to get better. It’s mainly a slice of life story about a very conceited, annoying girl trying to become a “famous voice actor” (as if that’s not an oxymoron). And it’s hilarious!

This show proves that you don’t need to have a traditionally likeable or perfect main character to actually be entertained and want to watch her go about her business. Chitose is very frustrating because she is a total asshole, but that’s why she’s so interesting to watch. She deserves all the bad things that happen to her, and even though she does grow somewhat throughout the series, she’s still the same person deep down by the end of the show. Furthermore, not only is she a total Slytherin, but several of her co-workers appear to be as well! This anime showcases many different kinds of Slytherins that steer away from the traditional “villainous asshole” stereotype. All of the girls have their own goals and personalities, but at their core their ambition is what drives them as characters. They can be standoffish or put on a fake personality in front of others, but overall they are not bad people. It’s a very different type of show to recommend for Slytherins, but it’s a good one nonetheless.

3. Monster

This is another anime that is a bit difficult to describe briefly and vaguely because it is so complex and detailed. Essentially, it is about a surgeon named Kenzou Tenma, who one night chooses to save the life of a young boy named “Johan” rather than operate on the town’s mayor. This decision ends up haunting him for years to come, because that boy basically turns out to be the Antichrist he is suddenly surrounded by mysterious murder cases with all signs pointing to Johan.  

I’m going to be honest here; I have not finished this anime, like not even close. BUT I really want to, and even less than 20 episodes in, I can see it is a great Slytherin anime. I feel like Tenma can sometimes toe the line between Gryffindor and Slytherin, but Johan is very much a Slytherin. While Tenma is the embodiment of determination, Johan is cunning and that dark sort of cleverness personified. This show is amazing at creating a psychological thriller vibe that makes you want to know what happens around every turn. Johan himself is one of the best anime villains I’ve ever seen, both utterly terrifying and eerily calm at all times with no real motivation other than to watch the world burn from above. At least, that’s the motivation from my point in the series. This anime is a classic that I am surprised isn’t talked about more with its masterful use of build up and detailed plot that takes place over many years. It reminds me a lot of Death Note, but with older characters that have less concrete motivations. And speaking of Death Note….

4. Death Note

I HAD TO! THIS IS THE MOST SLYTHERIN ANIME OF ALL TIME! HOW COULD I NOT INCLUDE IT? I DON’T CARE IF IT’S POPULAR, I DON’T CARE IF EVERYONE HAS ALREADY WATCHED IT! IT’S JUST THAT APPROPRIATE!

This is my favorite anime of all time, and it’s been that way for about 10 years since I first saw it. Yes it’s very flawed, but I could not make a Slytherin recommendation list without putting in this freaking anime. In case anyone is newer to anime, lives under a rock, or just hasn’t watched it for whatever reason, (stop what you’re doing and go watch it right now) this anime is about a highschool boy named Light Yagami who finds a notebook that was dropped by a shinigami. He eventually finds out that this notebook can kill people 40 seconds after writing a person’s name. Essentially, he starts off wanting to use the death note to make the world a better place, killing off dangerous criminals and so forth. But it is clear from episode one that this kid is not right in the head, and really wants to use it to basically become a god and control the world. He is pursued by the greatest detective in the world, who goes solely by the name of L. An epic psychological mystery thriller ensues.

I believe this is the most Slytherin anime to ever Slytherin. I might be throwing myself under the bus here, but I strongly believe that all three of the main characters, meaning L, Light, and Misa are hard core Slytherins. Light is the most obvious, but I can also make an argument for L and Misa. L is revealed several times to not be a really “good” person. He constantly lies about everything, from the percents he spits out to the gravity of certain situations and their possible repercussions. And Misa can also be cunning and very deceptive when she wants to be and is extremely determined to aid Light in any way possible because it helps her overall goal of being with him. Even going beyond episode 25- which seriously people you have to watch the whole freaking series if you want a good grasp of the anime and it’s overall conclusion- I even think Mello and Near are Slytherins. Yes, I’m in the minority and actually like the entire series (not just the first 25 episodes), but the way the story unfolds and all the characters interact is just dripping with deceptiveness and cunning plans that will keep you glued to the screen. I believe it’s the ultimate Slytherin anime.

5. Baccano!... And Durarara!!

What’s this? Another double recommendation? Yes, because I figured these two fit pretty well together considering they apparently take place in the same universe. Again both of these are very detailed and heavy plot oriented anime, so they’re a bit difficult to describe vaguely. These are also two shows in which I much prefer the dub over the subbed version. They’re both great, but I like having it dubbed for the sake of keeping character voices and narration sorted out.

With Baccano! I like the way it comes up when you google it: “A fantasy caper involving alchemists, gangsters and immortality is spread over several decades” except that I’d say it takes place in America over several timelines rather than just decades. Overall this anime tells the story in a very circular fashion, and it definitely is not something you’ll just want to have on in the background. In my own words...it’s about a bunch of wacky characters, some of whom are immortal, who do a bunch of stuff in the 1930s. It involves a train, gangsters, and multiple costume changes. But seriously it’s a great anime, and if you need to be convinced to watch it, just check out the opening song.

Durarara!! is very similar, in the sense of it’s style of storytelling being very circular, focusing on the POVs of multiple characters and being overall very confusing to watch the first time through. However, this anime takes place in modern day Ikebukuro and the timelines generally do not go between several years. Durarara!! is about….well a lot of people...but mainly about a mysterious “biker” named Celty who spends the series looking for her head. Yes her literal head. She is headless. And she’s awesome. Again, it involves many wacky characters, gang fights, otakus, mythical creatures, and urban legends of the big city life. Both of these shows are great examples of Slytherin ideals, not necessarily because of the characters’ houses (although there are definitely a few good Slytherins in there) but because of the actual atmosphere and deceptiveness laced throughout the stories. The characters are cunning, suave, villainous and heroic alike. Overall, they simply show that people are flawed. There can be some really screwed up characters out there, but at the end of the day, everyone has their own motivations and ambitions, and some people are not afraid to step on others to get what they want while also trying to be good friends.

+6 Bonus Tokyo Babylon

I also wanted to mention Tokyo Babylon, in case anyone hasn’t seen it. It’s sort of cheating, because this is actually a series of OVAs based on the CLAMP manga, but I thought I should put it in here anyway. It is another supernatural mystery/detective story that will rip your heart out in the end. The characters are very gay and also very Slytherin-esque. Against popular opinion, I would wager that the main character Subaru is an interesting example of a Slytherin, especially in the manga, in which he will flat out lie to people in incredibly emotional situations in order to do what he believes is the right thing. I wanted to include it because I thought that it shows how even sweet cinnamon rolls like Subaru can be cold and calculating when they need to be.

So those are just a few Slytherin house anime recommendations. I hope those are interesting for some people, and happy 20th anniversary of the book that started it all. 

[aion-rsa]

E3 2021 Needs to Find a Way to Stay Relevant in Changing Times

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The ESA has revealed that E3 2021 will run from June 12 to June 15 as an “all-virtual video game showcase that will be 100 percent free for attendees.” So far, the ESA is touting “early commitments from Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Konami, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, Warner Bros. Games, and Koch Media” with more possible presenters to come. 

Considering that the fate of E3 2021 was very much in doubt after last year’s event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and companies everywhere hosted their own digital events as the ESA failed to organize the same, this announcement may be more than E3 fans could have hoped for. E3 shouldn’t be an in-person event quite yet, but a digital version of E3 featuring heavy hitters like Nintendo, Capcom, and Microsoft certainly feels like something close to that return to normalcy that so many of us crave. 

Just as there are questions about what normalcy means after the events of the last year and the circumstances which propelled them, though, E3’s organizers, fans, and presenters will have to answer some tough questions about how the event will stay relevant at a time when its greatest attribute often feels like the memory of what was. 

Make no mistake that E3 was in trouble even before the 2020 event was canceled due to circumstances beyond its organizers’ control. In recent years, studios like EA, PlayStation, Activision Blizzard, and even Nintendo (to a degree) decided to abandon their traditional E3 presentations in favor of their own dedicated shows and broadcasts. The reasons for their departures vary, but as Sony’s controversial (and largely underwhelming) 2018 E3 presentation showed, the pressure and costs of constructing a yearly presentation with competition undertones sometimes aren’t worth the potential payoff from a business perspective. 

The absence of those companies was certainly felt at E3 2019 which had its fans but its best-remembered moment was a Keanu Reeves cameo that has lost some luster since we’ve all played the game that was clearly not ready for the spotlight it was afforded at that show. 

Many of the companies that have left E3 have used the word “change” to justify their decision. Former Sony Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden said in 2019 that “the world has changed, but E3 hasn’t necessarily changed with it.” In 2020, longtime E3 partner Geoff Keighley said that “the show does need to evolve.” Both Keighley and Layden noted their desire for E3 to look beyond the booths and show floor and find new ways to connect with fans, preferably digitally. 

While leaks suggest that the ESA’s own suggestions for change involve an emphasis on influencers, live gimmicks, and even potential paywalls for digital content, E3 2021 doesn’t currently seem to feature any of that. Based on what we know now, it might actually be that largely digital event that will move beyond the physical boundaries of E3s gone by that some have complained about and instead reach a global fanbase directly in their homes. E3 2021 has a chance to become the E3 that some former major presenters seemed to hope it would become years ago. 

However, the biggest potential problem with E3 2021 isn’t its changes but rather the expectations of the one group of people who seem most insistent that E3 doesn’t change: its vocal supporters. 

There’s no universal reason why fans love E3, but the most common reasons fans look forward to the show tend to involve key elements such as the surprise of big game reveals, the competitive nature of the show (and subsequent arguments over who “won”), and the feeling of celebrating all things gaming during a big-budget week that seems to bring everyone to the same place one way or another. 

There is no beloved element of E3s of the past that has become more outdated and dangerous than the expectations of the big reveal. A quick look at reactions to E3 2021 confirmation across social media reveals that fans are already hyping themselves up for the following games:

Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill sequels/remakes

Grand Theft Auto 6

Metroid Prime 4

Breath of the Wild 2

Starfield

The Elder Scrolls 6

Maybe some of those games will appear at the show in some capacity, but we’re once again in a situation where the absence of impossibility fuels unreasonable expectations which burrow their way into even cynical minds and become the standard. What’s worse is that the hype for these potential announcements is amplified in many cases by the belief that E3 2021 will be different from the various digital events that we saw throughout 2020 which were hyped to the moon in the days leading up to their premieres but rarely featured the kind of big announcements fans hoped they would. 

The fact that there’s a semi-popular belief that E3 2021 will be substantially different from recent events in that respect already suggests that not enough people have realized the situation the video game industry faces right now. As more and more games are delayed to 2022 and beyond, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on production schedules everywhere should be much clearer than it seems to be. Digital showcases weren’t underwhelming because they took place outside of E3; they were often underwhelming because studios were trying to figure out how to finish games from home while creating digital presentations from the same place. The elements that impacted the impact of those showcases are as prevalent as ever.

Even if they weren’t, pre-pandemic E3s have made it increasingly clear that those mind-blowing reveals that defined E3s of the past are becoming much rarer. Leaks, quarterly expectations, and a constant news cycle mean we rarely see a game at E3 that we didn’t already know or strongly suspect was coming. When we do (such as the reveal of The Elder Scrolls 6) it’s often for a game that is so far away that it might as well not even be confirmed. Yet, we still have fans expecting to see those games even as developers do everything in their power to tell us that they’re years away. Even those who know better find themselves weighing what we do see against the games they really want to know more about.  

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More importantly, the fact of the matter is that the video game industry is burdened by crunch culture and skyrocketing costs that often force employees to work unreasonable schedules to complete games that more often satisfy increasingly unreasonable ROI expectations than the vision of their creators or even the desire of fans. In that dangerous environment, we’ve built this monolith to gaming that seems bright to outsiders but is being propped up by the members of an overworked and sometimes unstable industry that must constantly find ways to satisfy a yearly expectation for the big new thing. 

Yet, there may be no weaker E3 tentpole than the idea of industry competition. It’s absolutely true that E3s of the past directly played into that competition element. The very first E3 was even highlighted by Sony’s surprise PlayStation release date and price announcements which essentially ended the Sega Saturn’s chances before they even got started. Subsequent years also saw companies take potshots at each other in an attempt to steal the biggest spotlight the gaming industry had. 

Now, though, we’ve got Microsoft and Nintendo working together, Sony putting PlayStation Studios games on Game Pass, and PC players laughing as they get more games than ever. It’s not that competition in the industry is gone so much as it is that companies really aren’t interested in continuing to take shots at competitors that they’re more willing to work with than ever before. What we’re often left with in the wake of E3 isn’t a debate over the best showing but a petulant justification for outdated fanboyism that rarely amounts to more than which console will get the special DLC hoodie in the next Assassin’s Creed.

That leaves us with the idea that E3 will live on as this event that gets people excited about the gaming industry and brings them together, which is honestly what E3 2021 is going to have to capitalize on if it’s going to battle against times that are slowly walking towards the door as E3 tries to keep the party going with stories of that time that went to the lake in college. 

You can assign E3 a fiscal value, but I can tell you what E3 is worth to you. I also can’t deny that even the worst E3 tends to be more exciting than the best digital showcase we saw in 2020. After a year of searching for hope and answers, I’m looking forward to a generally harmless event that makes millions of people feel good and feel a connection with each other. 

But in the same way that Blockbuster launched Blockbuster By Mail years after Netflix showed them what the future was going to be, I can’t help but feel that this year’s digital E3 showcase reeks more of necessity than the ability to read the room and truly innovate. What can E3 do with a host of presenters that already struggled to host their own digital showcases who must now scrape together enough new games to justify a spectacle? The show’s inability to innovate in years when it was positioned to do so raises serious doubt about its ability to innovate in areas that it’s intentionally avoided for years.

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Maybe E3 2021 will be an effective enough stopgap and get us to E3 2022 when the novelty of being able to join crowds of people at a video game event (or watch those proceedings) will suddenly feel new again. However, E3 2021’s real job may be convincing us that this event has figured out something about digital presentations that has eluded some of the industry’s heaviest hitters so far.

If E3 2021 can capture that magical something that even mediocre E3s of the past have benefited from, then maybe it can overcome all of these hurdles. At the very least, it can delay the need to justify its place in a video game industry that keeps finding new ways to tell us that it needs to move on from the burden of our sometimes nostalgic ideas of what gaming was and what we want it to be. If it can’t, then those winds of change that we’ve been feeling more and more recently may blow over the empty halls of the L.A. Convention Center come June 2022 as we all realize that the tough answers to the questions of the future are rarely found in the past. 

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