#hence the moral - learn morse code

[unhonestlymirror]

Geto wakes up.

Geto wakes up and feels vibration. Or something like that. The forehead feels the bandage, the head feels strangely empty. Nearby as if a motor is buzzing. Geto carefully opens his eyes.

Nanami leans over him. "Hey you. You're finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right?"

Or someone like Nanami, because Nanami would never smile that sly and would never wear a frog hat, and would never lost an eye, and would never quote Skyrim while pressing a frighteningly large rifle to the temple of a national - no, international criminal.

I'm finally in hell, decides Geto. I deserved it.

Ijichi laughs somewhere very close.

Only then something in Geto's brain clicks hard enough to realize that he is in the back seat of a car. And he can't move and feel his cursed energy at all because of some kind of technique - no, a barrier? Probably. No thoughts, head empty.

"The last thing you remember?"

Oh, he remembers too many things to forget. Or to be forgotten by everyone around.

"Leave him alone, Nanami. Although I can't boast of such an experience but, in my opinion, it is rather difficult to remember something without a quarter of the brain."

That was quite rude, to be honest.

"Although all managers are taught the art of interrogation and subtle psychological manipulation, Ieiri-san still has a better chance."

Something moves in Geto's stomach. Fear maybe. Regrets. He doesn't want to see Shoko. Nanami was enough.

Something hurts inside because of the mention of Shoko, though. Does she still smoke her cheap cigarettes and use Satoru's glasses as an ashtray?

Gojo.

The car stops. Oh, he must have croaked it out loud. What a shame.

Ijichi finally shows up from behind the front seat. Even if he doesn't have cardinal changes in appearance, somehow he frightens even more than Nanami.

"You want to talk about it?"

No. No, he doesn't. Not now. Dear god, help.

"Stop, you're scaring him!" The fearsome rifle finally disappears but not the cold smirk .

"Well, in vain. Ieiri-san is unlikely to be so polite."

Whatever. Shoko's really a better option.

"You know." Nanami's gaze warms slightly for no reason. "I think Gojo will be fine. Thanks to this rejected by society genius..."

A nod towards the driver's seat.

"...and his amazing technique of exchanging information using blinking and Morse code..."

"Kiss my ass."

"...we learned the password for the Prison Realm and that Gojo spent about several days there. However, we can not free him without your cursed energy, thanks to that asshole Monk Genshin."

"Cubasshole."

"Right. Now, you see, Ijichi and I can't guarantee that you won't try to escape. Also, we are not so good medics to try to take a sample of cursed energy from a user who has it blocked. Thus, now we are going to Shoko Ieiri, like damn captain Wrongel and his team in pursuit of the main prize of the regatta."

"He means trying not to die and go too crazy in the process."

"And being positive. I don’t usually give advice to my former senpais but today, perhaps, I’ll make an exception. Try to look at things positively too. Because your future life - yes, life - is unlikely to be full of joy and pleasure."

"Well, who's between us is intimidating now, huh?"

"Oh, shut up. I'm just trying to mentally prepare him for a class reunion. Not considering his son, though."

His what.

"Ijichi-kun, play something heart-warming."

"Hold on. Crowded House maybe?"

"Perfect, thanks."

"You're welcome."

It would be better if it was hell.

[havemyoldusername]

AOS Character Analysis

Okay, i haven’t seen any character analysis really for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

This is kinda more to my own benefit, if anyone disagrees, go ahead and tell me, i’m interested.

and because I have the time, here is my concept of the characters (This is without seeing the last two episodes of season 4 before the mid-season finale, thanks to stupid Aussie TV networks not showing it)

1: Agent Coulson

Right off the bat, Coulson has a high moral compass, willing to do what is right for the people and for his team. He doesn’t trust easily and has his doubts with nearly everyone he comes in to contact with. He isn’t opposed to killing as long as it fulfils something. Killing people like Garret and Ward for several reasons.

While Coulson’s loyalty has been tested in the briefest of times, he’s really just the guy who’s mind says ‘Stick to the system, unless the system is wrong, then you make your own system’

2: Melinda May

It makes sense that the shows quietest character is the one of the most complex. From day 1, she’s been unwilling to carry or do anything lethal unless she absolutely has to. She was haunted by her time in Bahrain and doesn’t want to make the same mistakes. For the quietest character, emotion doesn’t come easily to her, but when she feels something, she really feels something and it takes over.

she’s lethal and efficient and really always judging anyone around her while also being severely underestimated.

3: Leo Fitz (Beware, his is long)

speaking of complex characters. No denying that Fitz has been portrayed really well as someone real by Iain, who is perhaps the best actor on the show. Like Coulson, Fitz has a strong moral compass and is also not opposed to killing, but like May, only when deemed necessary. Out of all the characters, Fitz has changed the most (even against Daisy, who is practically the same, but I’ll get to that). In season 1, we see Fitz as a shy, awkward nerd who really only has eyes for Simmons (Which didn’t change at all). He doesn’t want to get his hands dirty, doesn’t want to pick up a gun and shoot someone, hence the ICERS (Or at this point, Night-Night guns) being developed.

The first time we do see him kill is when he shoots the HYDRA agent, an action that saved May. There was practically no time for him to feel remorse, besides the reaction we got from him during the event, with all the HYDRA business. During season 2, after his brain damage, his demeanour changes and we see an angsty Fitz who really misses Simmons. We see him putting so much on the line in order to help Skye and stop people from judging her and being afraid of her. We also see his close friendship with Mack develop. What interested me though was Fitz’s statement in Episode 3 ‘I’m not a killer’ and how that comes into play later. That statement was said right after he nearly killed Ward, after torturing him (In a way). We see his reaction to Gordon teleporting onto Fitz’s pole, something he no doubt felt responsible for.

While Fitz core principals stayed the same through season 2, we see a lot change in season 3. After losing Simmons (”losing”), we see him throwing everything he has to try and get her back, because if he couldn’t, he had nothing left to lose. Simmons is his rock, someone that keeps him grounded and sane. He puts so much on the line to save Simmons, becoming reckless and in a way, more confident as the season progresses. What really came as a shock, and something that was slightly out of character, was Fitz’s killing of Giyera.

As I said before, his statement in season 2 comes into play here. We see Fitz debate constantly with himself and his moral compass get tested. Fitz is hardly not the first Marvel Character to have what is called ‘moral ambiguity’. Daredevil could even be in this category.

Season 4 for Fitz is slightly different. He's back to being similar to season 1, he’s in a committed relationship with Simmons and all is good. In season 4, Fitz is doing what he does best, Science, and is more involved in both sides of S.H.I.E.L.D. rather than being more involved in the field agent side as it seemed he was in season 3.

Throughout all the seasons, Fitz went from shy engineer with his heart on his sleeve, to semi-confident field engineer with a lot of bottled up emotions. Pardon the long section, Fitz’s character is so complex that he needed a season by season breakdown (Not to mention being my favourite character)

4: Jemma Simmons

Simmons is an obvious INTJ in MBTI types. As an INTJ female myself, i understand her character in a way few overlook. she is less emotionally driven then Fitz, going through everything rationally and applying logic to everything she does. Simmons moral compass is skewed in a way, she wants to do the right thing but is one of those people that has the code of ‘the needs of many outweigh the needs of the few’.

We see her consumed by her revenge against Ward, however brief. Bakshi died because she was careless in a way that seemed out of character for her, but really, it wasn’t. One of the traits of INTJs is that they do have emotion, incredibly strong emotion, but are able to compartmentalise them to a point where they seem cold. Simmons loves Fitz, in more ways than one. At the point of Bakshi’s death, he was her best friend. She hated what Ward did to Fitz that she felt the need to find closure in the only way she thought how, killing Ward.

5: Daisy ‘Skye’ Johnson

Daisy’s character is simple. She’s the character the show tends to revolve around and so we see a lot of her character. In season 1, Daisy was carefree and cocky. Her intelligence didn’t go unnoticed, she didn’t want it to. Season 2, we see the start of her struggles with herself. In light of learning that her parents were alive and of her inhumanity, she begins to retreat back into herself, forming a wall around her that only few could get through.

Her friendship with Fitz seemed to get stronger during season 2, as he was the only one that didn’t push her away. Her relationship with Coulson is like a father and daughter, with Coulson seeing her as someone he could ‘raise’ in a way, to teach what was right and wrong and to see become a great person.

In season 3, we see the start of Daisy’s hate for prejudice against Inhumans, as she had begun to accept herself properly. We see her and Lincoln become something strong and great as she’s learning to trust again after Ward and after her mother. We also see Daisy’s vulnerability, her emotions running everything.

In season 4, Daisy’s broken and her character is something new. She feels responsible for everyone’s pain and Lincoln’s death. She’s willing to die to stop herself from feeling the pain and seemed to find herself situations in which she might not come back from.

6: Lance Hunter

I miss Hunter. Just saying.

Hunter was a jack of all trades, a comedian in his own right. his character was arrogant, sarcastic and was overall, a loveable asshole. His moral compass is perhaps the most grey out of all the S.H.I.E.L.D. characters due to his professional career as a merc.

7: Bobbi Morse

A truely strong female character. Bobbi’s manipulative, great a poker faces and a fighter capable of similar feats to May. She’s good at using other’s weaknesses to her advantage and how to play her cards right.

8: Mack

Mack is truely done with everything by season 4, if his continuous use of the shotgun/axe or reference to it is any indication. We know he’s done with everyone’s shit when we hear a reference to his special weapon.

All joking aside, Mack’s great a helping people, like he did Fitz. He knows enough techno-babble to become great friends with Fitz and Simmons while also being a capable fighter and leader to bond with Coulson and Daisy. He’s an allrounder, being able to do a bit of everything and it’s shown time and time again that without May or Daisy there, Mack’s the one that Coulson trusts the most to get other through.

9: Trip

Poor Trip...

Trip was quite a character. He was confident, witty and clever. He drew both Simmons and Daisy’s attention in similar ways. He was smart and took pride in the fact that his grandfather worked with Cap.

10: Grant Ward

The biggest asshole on the show!

Ward was a complex villain. In season 1, he prided himself on being a really caring agent hiding behind a wall of emotions. While that was all part of his cover, there was some truth to it.

When he was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. Ward tried to play to the teams weaknesses, trying to make himself seem genuine and willing to help. He seemed to believe his own lies and make me think that he had some sort of mental or personality disorder. One thing that interested me was the fact that he really did care for Kara.

In season 3, before he was killed, the only thing that seemed important to him was becoming the boss of a newly reformed HYDRA, with him as the head. It was interesting that he seemed to keep some habits from S.H.I.E.L.D., such as being called ‘director’ and the level system.

all and all, Ward was one cold bastard with a, albeit small, sentimental side.

Well now that’s done, if anyone has any thoughts on what I said, please do tell me, i’d really like to know what others have to say.

[saidtheredhead]

theses on toy story.

Originally posted 27 March 2018. 

I've seen Toy Story MANY times, including at least 3 or 4 times in the past year. (One of my jobs at my theatre camp is to watch lunch and play Disney movies/open tricky snack packages for the kiddos. Toy Story is a classic.) At the beginning of this semester, I audited the first session for a course called What Do Toys Want? Very Gallatin, very interesting. We watched Toy Story on the first day, and I had on my analytical brain. Thought it would be fun to share with the world.

LÉAH'S CONSOLIDATED INITIAL** THOUGHTS ON PIXAR'S TOY STORY    **though I've been having feelings + thoughts about Pixar for most of my conscious life. 

1. What is the criteria for the animated toys to be able to speak? Do they need mouths? But Lenny the binoculars doesn't have a humanoid mouth and he speaks constantly. And the remote control car RC seems to have a humanoid face but is incapable of speech. Is it just cherry picked for plot convenience? Lenny warns about lots of things, being the first able to see things and RC needs to be silent/controllable to make a lot of the plot function to further alienate Woody. Does it have anything to do with animal-ness? But the dinosaur and squeaky shark can speak, and the barrel o'monkeys can only make their animal noises. Why can't the mutant Sid toys speak? Do the toys need an coherent self/body in order to be vocal? Why does the mutation not seem to affect their animism/other forms of communication? The spider baby uses morse code in the planning session to save Buzz. 

2. What's the deal with agency of movement? RC can be controlled by his remote and I don't know if we see it move on its own? Also HOW could the batteries die if it's alive? (Besides conveniently foiling the plot). It seems like they have some kind of magic animism, but their bodies still function in their toy capacities, i.e. Woody is able to take control of Buzz's karate chop function when escaping the mutant toys. It seems like their range of movement is kind of dictated by the limitations of the material reality of the toy, but also a dash of magic animism. For example, Rex walks in a way that seems limited by his leg joints, yet his arms and knees also move fluidly. Also soft and floppy toys like Woody gain skeletal integrity when animated.

3. On a similar body note, I'm so fascinated by their material memory of body positions, like how they are/must be able to take up exactly the same expression/position at the first sign of humans, no matter how much time has passed. 

4. Continuing that thought, what's up with the bodily coherence of Mr. Potato Head?? Are there limits to the animated possibility of each individual body piece? Can they all move independently at any radius? How important is the potato as an organizing controlling force, i.e. brain? (NB: In the third film, he attaches all his face pieces to a tortilla to scout out something through a thin window slot and is able to fully animate himself as if he was attached to the potato.) How much of him is him? Also, how come Buzz's disconnected arm doesn't seem capable of moving on its own. 

5. How much does the agency of the maker/the intended use and personality of the toy affect the toy's actual personality? The soldiers fit their intended roles to a stereotypical tee, but the humor of Rex's character relies on the fact that he's a tender-hearted nervous ball of anxiety instead of the "intended" scary aggressive predator. In a world of mass production, how does personality work? Does every Woody toy have the same personality???

6. Which brings me to GENDER!

         [a] even in nonhuman toys, almost every single toy is gendered (with pronouns/names and with typical voice types) masculine, besides Bo Peep, the ultimate symbol of femininity/love interest (even though she is rad and has some snark/morality/agency, I love her.) Are we required to believe this is because Andy is a boy and he can only have boy toys??? I don't buy it. There's no reason that the pig, dino, shark, etch-a-sketch, etc all have to be dudes...

        [b] SO MUCH gender stuff to unpack in the separation of "toy" and "doll" and it's also not irrelevant that "doll" is also a word that is used on human women.

        [c] I feel as though the entire plot is motivated by a toxic masculine territorial and competitive spirit. Woody's problem is with Buzz--constantly demanding that Buzz lay off Andy, but how could Buzz have any control over Andy's play choices while they're inanimate play objects?

7. Why isn't the Magic 8Ball animated/alive? Is it not a toy? I feel like it could have snarkily responded to Woody instead of Woody just using the object. 

8. Million dollar question: what animates the toys??? I am interested in the idea that they are animated by the energy of children's affection/attention, similar to polytheistic deities who exist because of/through their worshippers. Hence Woody's stress at the prospect at being a lost toy. Also, Buzz wakes up for the first time only when he becomes an owned toy to be played with, unwrapped from the box. This is explored in film 2 as adult collectors come in the mix and in the third which is all about what happens to toys who are forgotten as their children grow up.

9. What exactly happened to Buzz? Did all the toys have this amnesia upon waking? Counter to this is the hilarious scene where we learn that Andy's toys know a LOT about how they were manufactured (I'm Mattel, I'm PlayMobil and so forth). Did they all have a moment of extreme existential crisis like when Buzz sees his ad on tv? (Also that moment has a lot of interesting things to unpack re: disability with losing his arm and gender in the tea party scene.) 

10. What's the deal with the little aliens' cult psyche? 

11. I'm interested in thinking more about the treatment of Sid's mutant toys as symbols of the Other. Buzz and Woody see them as savage cannibals (that's a painfully familiar phrasing...) just because they don't speak/look a little freaky (as an effect of their freaky owner). 

12. How does pain function? Do they feel it when inanimate? It seems like that would be a torturous existence, given the rough play that a lot of children go for. However, when Sid tortures Woody with the magnifying glass burn, he "wakes up" screaming, as if he had been feeling it the whole time, and just waiting to be able to react once Sid is gone. 

13. And last but not least, morality! What are the principles that guide the morality of the animated toys/the imperative not to be discovered? Their dramatic reveal to terrify Sid is immensely satisfying and feels narratively justified, but why don't toys reveal themselves more often/what happens if they do?!

Alright, that's that. Hope you enjoyed some heavy Academia TM applied to a classic childhood favorite! And let's please discuss if you have feelings about the toys. 

xoxoléah