#i have my own ideas but the base canon is pretty solid and clear on what watchers are which would be satisfying if anyone was using it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

itsclydebitches · 2 years

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I mentioned in the tags of a recently reblogged post that I had Opinions™ about the “OFMD fandom is racist because they’re interpreting Ed as illiterate” take that’s been gaining traction lately, so I finally decided to slam those opinions into a post. Specifically, I want to list the textual details that made me, personally, come to the conclusion that Ed is (likely) illiterate as a means of pushing back against this growing idea that anyone who crafts meta under that assumption, includes it as a characterization in fics, uses it as a means of theorizing about season two, etc. is automatically coming from a place of racism... rather than, in actuality, a pretty solid canonical interpretation. So some things this post is not includes:

A claim that OFMD/fandom in general isn’t racist in other respects. I’m speaking solely about this one example.

A claim that Ed is definitely, 100%, no room for discussion illiterate. I believe it’s a likely possibility based on what we’ve seen, but the show hasn’t provided confirmation one way or the other.

An attack against any headcanoning. Fans are free to imagine up and/or hope for whatever they like, regardless of how persuasive a reading others find it to be.

Okay, I’m doubting my ability to string this all together with halfway decent transitions right now (the heat is making my brain buzz like TV static), so let’s just stick to a list form.

1. Lucius Establishes That Illiteracy is the Norm in Pirate Culture

First off, OFMD introduces class differences in the pilot episode by having Stede gush about the “full library” he has on board... to his personal scribe... who is writing down his thoughts and adventures purely for vanity’s sake (the fact that they’re later used to save Stede’s life is a separate matter from his intentions here), only to suddenly get hit with the knowledge that no one else on the ship can read.

“That’s not... is that true?” he asks, dumbfounded, and then Stede answers his own question with a rather distasteful scoff. Lucius responds with a look that I can only affectionately caption as, ‘This bitch.’

(I am also once again apologizing for the horrendous ‘screenshots’ taken with my phone.)

All of this is deliberate. We’re setting up the dichotomy of pirate vs. gentry culture, as well as one of Stede’s major flaws. Namely, using the privilege of his upbringing as a crutch/personal safety net (with a side of that arrogant superiority: “Don’t debase yourself for a man who doesn’t even have a tureen on board!”). This is why Oluwande and Jim need to explain that for them, piracy isn’t a fun, midlife crisis and Stede comes to the realization, “I’m not a pirate, I’m an idiot.” Wealth is why he’s able to run from Ed the moment his anxiety gets the better of him, hurting him and Mary in one fell swoop when he shows back up all, ‘I’ve decided to be your husband again the same way I decided to be a pirate. Everyone bow to my whims and the privilege that allows me to enforce them!’ The ability to pay wages and read bedtime stories is what keeps Stede’s mutiny on hold for so long (a sharp contrast to Izzy who has no such luxuries to offer as a way of offsetting his own, difficult personality), Stede’s gentlemanly demeanor (born of a lifetime of social education) is what first draws Ed to him, then it’s his material wealth, and finally Stede giving up his fortune to return with only a dinghy and the clothes on his back is the sign of emotional growth.

Literacy isn’t the only marker of Stede’s privilege—far from it—but it is a major one and it’s important for setting up this contrast that drives much of the character work. Yes, Lucius is technically wrong about being the only other member of the crew who can read, though it’s clear why he came to that conclusion when Jim was pretending to be mute and couldn’t just say, ‘Hey, I can read and write too.’ Beyond that one mistake though, we have no reason to doubt Lucius’ claim. Not when the group is worried about who will continue their bedtime stories if Captain is dead and Lucius sucks at the voices. Don’t we think someone else would have spoken up to solve the dilemma if they could? More importantly, revealing that actually more of/most of the crew can read would severely undermine that thematic work of Stede’s upbringing—and that goes double for the man who represents the pinnacle of pirate culture: Blackbeard himself. We see through our flashback that Ed does not come from a place of privilege, which includes both education and material wealth based on how the show has defined privilege via Stede. Though it’s hardly impossible for Ed to have picked up reading later in life while still grappling with the trauma of growing up poor, for me there’s nothing to indicate that. Far from it: the show goes out of its way to emphasize all the ways in which Ed and Stede contrast one another, with Stede’s privilege—reading included—presented as markers of a life and emotional expression that Ed simultaneously longs for, yet feels that he’s undeserving of.

2. Ed is Shocked By the Amount Stede Has Read

When Ed is presented with Stede’s library he acts like a man who has never had access to so many books before. “Incredible,” he whispers, staring at the shelves in awe.

Except then Ed goes on to specify what exactly he’s in awe of and it’s not the books themselves. “You’ve read all of these?” he asks Stede, the ‘all’ emphasizing his shock that any one man (even in his forties) could have gotten through this many volumes. Ed doesn’t act like someone impressed with the beauty of the library itself—like we might see if he too was a reader and was simply impressed by the pretty bindings—but rather at Stede’s ability to read any library, but particularly one of this size. When Stede says that these are just his favorites, Ed gives a little huff of stunned disbelief. These are not the reactions of a man who frequently keeps books in his own cabin to peruse. Rather, they’re the reactions of someone who hasn’t read much himself, if anything at all.

In addition, Ed doesn’t engage with the text when Stede hands him the book. I’ve seen a couple people say that Ed can clearly read because he knew that was a picture of himself, but really, it’s not a hard thing to deduce. Even if Stede hadn’t led with this being something he thinks Ed will enjoy—AKA, it’s likely something about you—for all the fantasy details of nine guns and snake-like hair, Blackbeard is pretty distinctive in his look. That’s that point. He has long hair, a massive black beard, dresses all in leather, and is depicted with pirate-y things like ships and treasure. You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out who that’s supposed to be an illustration of. The point though is that there’s a page of text to the left and, more importantly, a big title claiming he’s “The Mad Devil Pyrate Blackbeard,” yet Ed doesn’t take issue with the “mad” or the “devil” part. He jumps straight to looking at the image itself, despite the writing being just as valid a detail to get angry over as the nine guns.

3. Ed Treats The Books He Comes Across as Disposable

Going off of his reaction to Stede’s library, I think it would still be possible to argue that Ed is primarily impressed with the number of books he possesses (another kind of material privilege) if we didn’t see Ed get access to a huge number of books and immediately discard them. In “The Best Revenge is Dressing Well,” they raid the vessel where Stede finds several shelves of books, enough that he also refers to it as a “library.” This tells us then that most ships probably have at least a couple books on board and many, like this one, might have a big selection. So if Ed had wanted a library like Stede’s, he could have easily gotten one. He’s Blackbeard and he’s been looting ships for several decades at this point. The only reason why someone that impressed with Stede’s books would pass off so many opportunities to get his own would be if he doesn’t have a use for them, especially when books don’t carry the same toxic masculinity implications as a cashmere scarf does. Blackbeard, the legend, should be able to read with a safety that he couldn’t, say, dress in a flowery robe and recite poetry. Books are a fairly safe form of expression for a pirate (and entertainment too, something Ed lacks!) yet he doesn’t make use of them.

Instead, the way Ed acts here heavily implies to me that a) he can’t read (or can’t read well) and b) he’s feeling insecure about it. He snaps that this isn’t “how raiding works” when Stede says he’s replacing the books he’s taken with ones he’s already read, despite the fact that Ed has been pretty chill for the rest of the attack and, notably, usually likes Stede’s eccentricities. The most likely reason why he’d suddenly frown at Stede not raiding 'properly’—in a relationship where Stede’s new way of doing things is usually exciting and fascinating to Ed—is if Stede’s book focus is dredging up feelings of inadequacy. Ed opens the book, but flips through it in a way that shows a distinct lack of interest... or an inability to read it. He tosses it aside. Then he slaps the rest of the books out of Lucius’ hands. On its own this interaction might imply that Ed is disdainful of reading in general, but following how enamored he is with Stede’s personal library and his ability to work through it, the scene instead implies illiteracy. Here, Stede is enthusiastic about something Ed can’t share, on an outing where Ed is supposed to be teaching him, so he goes hard on how “raiding works” and makes it clear that books—these useless objects to him—aren’t worth picking up. Drop them and go shove a knife near a guy’s eyeball instead.

4. Ed Signs the Treaty With an ‘X’

I don’t actually have that much to say about this scene (in regards to literacy, anyway), simply because the ‘X’ alone is the big takeaway. I’m sure by now we’ve all seen the tweet claiming that an ‘X’ was used by indigenous people as a form of protest against colonizers and the historical accuracy of that aside (it’s not a discipline I’m at all educated in, but others have pushed back against both OP’s interpretation of the book’s thesis as well as whether this intersects with Māori culture), that’s simply not the most obvious implication here. We know based on interviews that the writers have unintentionally included racial coding in other parts of the show—making the men of color work during Izzy’s brief stint as captain being one of the most well known. That wasn’t meant to be an indicator of racism, just a combination of Nairn having a bad back and dumb luck regarding who was staged to do the work—so this wouldn’t be the first time that fans have come to a very different conclusion than the writers intended. Ultimately, I think it’s FAR more likely that an American writer used a well-known means of conveying illiteracy, as seen throughout American popular culture, in a show that is not at all concerned with historical accuracy... than it is that he included a very subtle, historical allusion to indigenous protest and attached that to a character whose ability to know about that and culturally benefit from it are questionable at best. Though, as said at the start, headcanoning is fantastic and adds a wonderful depth to Ed’s character, from a canonical standpoint this feels like an Occam’s Razor situation to me: the simplest explanation is the most likely.

5. The Show Doesn’t Shy Away From Establishing Who Can and Can’t Read

This is a minor point, but it helps solidify all of the above. We’re told that Stede can read. We’re told that Lucius can read. Again, those are important skills used to separate them from the rest of pirate culture. We learn in a surprise twist that Jim can also read, write, and they’re not actually mute. The show then heavily implies that Izzy can read by a) giving him a voice-over similar to Jim’s (even though we never see what he might be writing in) and b) having him spend time in Stede’s library before the fuckery and then again, this time actually looking through the books (compared to Ed’s disorganized flipping/discarding) and finding an image of Blackbeard all by himself (compared to Stede doing that for Ed). Sure, we could theorize that Izzy just happened to stumble across a book about Blackbeard, maybe because Stede has so many in his collection, and he’s only looking at pictures/pretending to read in the shots where he has a book in hand.. but again, the simplest explanation feels the most persuasive to me. The point being that the show usually makes it very clear who can read and who cannot, with those in the gray area nevertheless leaning hard in one direction. Izzy leans hard into ‘literary.’ Ed does not.

Finally, I want to quickly address a couple of arguments I’ve seen pop up over the last couple of months:

1. The Real Blackbeard was Able to Read (+ You Have to Read to Sail a Ship)

Any and all takes along these lines are immediately suspect in my mind because they’re rooted in historical accuracy... and ignore the fact that OFMD is not historically accurate. At all. The real life Blackbeard did not fall in love with Stede Bonnet. The ship runs on gay sex and story time, not legitimate sailing techniques. Any argument that begins with “But the real Blackbeard...” or “But in real life you have to...” falls flat because this is very much not the real Blackbeard and the plot is in no way bound by realism. I mean, I’m not trying to be a buzzkill. I think it’s fun to play thought games like “What if Ed and Izzy run their ship aground like they did in real life and that becomes a callback to the second episode?” but there’s a difference between fun theorizing about what random events the show might include for the laughs and trying to use historical accuracy as a form of evidence in metas. I mean, Buttons is out here communicating with seagulls and casting hexes so that Calico Jack (presumably) dies via cannonball. When your story is that untethered from reality, any claims based in realism hold little value imo. Ed being able to read because the real Edward Teach could read is no more likely than Ed dying a horrific death at... [checks Wikipedia] hmm. A year after the events of the show start. Should be happening any episode now!

2. Ed is Able to Read Music

Honestly, as someone with a 2,000 book library and no ability to read music, I’m not sure how one relates to the other, but a couple times now I’ve seen people claim that because Ed plays the harpsichord at the party, he must know how to read. Putting aside the strange conflation though, Ed isn’t reading any music here. He plays solely from memory and, given what else we see of his talents, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ed had simply memorized a few shanties over the years. He’s already learned the shape of the clouds. He dutifully repeats Stede’s words after he’s corrected on the scarf’s fabric—“An exquisite cashmere.” Though he hasn’t got it all down yet, Ed is also well on his way to learning all the insane spoons and forks involved in fine dining. The guy’s got a good head for recalling information, which to me is an entirely separate skill from the specific ability to interpret words on a page.

3. Ed Read the Placards During Dinner

Does he though? The scene begins when Ed is already seated at the table and though he does look towards the placard that says he’s Godfrey’s guest, I interpret that more for the audience’s benefit than anything else. After all, Ed is already sitting down. He knows where he’s supposed to be. Why would he need to re-read his own placard? Despite the glance in that direction, it looks like an establishing shot to set the scene. So then how did Ed know where to sit? Idk, any way someone knows where to sit without looking at their placard. Maybe one of the servants showed him. Maybe another party-goer shooed him into his designated seat. Ed acts lost and confused the whole time, looking in random directions and muttering about snail forks. He doesn’t act like someone who chose this spot confidently, nor does he act like someone who can use reading as a skill to assist him in his anxiety. That is, he doesn’t look for and find Stede’s placard to ensure they’re seated together and he doesn’t realize he’s next to the touchy woman until it’s too late.

4. Finally: How Could Ed Have Drawn an ‘X’ If He Doesn’t Know How to Read?

Because an ‘X’ is just two crossed lines that might not have any meaning to him beyond, ‘This is what illiterate people do to sign their name.’ There’s a huge gap between understanding the ‘X’ as a symbol for this particular situation and knowing how to apply it—along with 25 other letters—to read a language. I can draw the Superman ‘S’ (not an ‘S’!), but that doesn’t mean I can read Kryptonian. I can also recite the Spanish alphabet from middle school, but that doesn’t mean I remember how to apply it after years without practice. Humans are really good at tying signified concepts to signs and an ‘X’ isn’t exactly the most difficult sign to memorize. Of course, it’s also possible that Ed knows his letters, but not how to read Stede’s books. Illiteracy isn’t a black and white state of being: Ed may understand the ‘X’ only as a symbol of agreement, or as a letter, or as a part of a couple words. I feel like the fandom is approaching this as an either/or situation—you can read or you can’t—rather than a very complicated skill that takes years to master, with everyone continuing to learn as time goes on. You think I remember every grammatical rule in the English language? Or that I know the meaning of every word I come across? Or even how to pronounce them? You think I can switch to a culture I’m not a part of—an online space, an academic discipline, a friends’ text exchange—and read through it without stumbling on words, acronyms, and concepts I’ve never encountered? Just as there’s a huge range within my literacy, there’s the possibility for an equally huge range within Ed’s illiteracy too. Maybe he can’t read at all. Maybe he can recognize Godfrey’s name after seeing it on the invitation card. Maybe he can only write his name, but chose not to. Maybe he can do all that, but can’t manage the dense text of Stede’s books. Maybe he can read a bit, but can’t manage the fancy script of the gentry. Maybe the vocabulary is an obstacle. Maybe he learned a long time ago and, like my Spanish, has since lost it. There are a lot of options here that would fall under the large umbrella of 'Ed is illiterate.’

All of which is just to say: those of us working with an illiterate Ed in metas, fanfics, and the like didn’t pull that idea out of thin air and we definitely didn’t hit on it because Ed isn’t white. It’s a reading that the show is very much pointing towards and even if it’s proven wrong in season two, that doesn’t erase the strong implications we got at the start.Yes, there’s a lot wrong with fandom—I’d never deny it—but that’s not going to improve if people put their energy towards pushing inaccurate, but very satisfying claims. It’s a lot easier (and makes people feel good about themselves) to make blanket claims about how Ed Not Being White + Illiterate Interpretations = Racism... but that ease and feelings of superiority don’t make it true. Like the discourse over using any shortened version of Oluwande’s name, or the desire to saddle the antagonist (Izzy) and any fans who like him with accusations of racism, the fandom is looking for easy, black and white rules to avoid being #Problematic. But OFMD is too complicated for that—fandom is too complicated for that—and even if it wasn’t, making up nefarious motivations for character interpretations doesn’t achieve a damn thing.

#OFMD #Our Flag Means Death #Edward Teach #mymetas

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thequimmqueen · 1 year

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so what your favorite ships beside Quinn x Timm since I saw in the next gen list you seem to have a lot of ship couples

That's a very interesting question, unknown anon! but it's also more complex than what meets the eye!

Most of the ships in my NG list are ones I chose when I first found out about NG AUs, more specifically Mannie's work.

Since I was still VERY new in the community I thought the pairings they chose for their own AU were the most accepted and 'logical' ships in the community of PL, those ships like, for example, Maggie x Mitch and Cooper x Prudence. (nowadays some users find them bland, And I get it, but idk if I'd get them with someone else in the AU, it's pretty much already been planned this way.)

while these ships ARE canon in My own Nextgen AU, I am pretty open with other ships with both chefs and normal customers like the ones like Kenmitch & Deano x Akari. People's hcs of ships like Carlo x roy or even Crystal and Fitz are also amazingly thought out and I like them very dearly, even if I go with opposite ships for the stories I'm writing they still hold a very good place in my heart!

it's also possible because I do not hold the same sort of attachment to these customers as I do Quimm, so as long as I don't see a ship with Quinn or Timm with someone else -or you know, obviously something illegal- I'm pretty much okay with ships from others.

Not to say I'd attack anyone who does ship them with somebody else, obviously, it just won't be of my interest. like the Cori x Quinn ship. I honestly see them just as good friends and it's valid if they do ship it cause, yeah! it's a good concept, just not my thing ya know? However... I do approve of that Allan x Quinn ship, it's got a funny concept of "straight man" x "bringer of chaos" dynamic, but everyone knows Quimm will always own my heart over anything else <3

Though... to be more clear, and actually tell you which other ships I ACTIVELY like... I have some preferences of my own when it comes to pairing specific customers, which more or less originated from dynamics I like and things I hc from specific characters.

for example, in terms of ships I made myself, I was one of the few who didn't precisely pair Boomer x Akari, despite it being a pretty solid pairing. I instead decided to ship Boomer and Johnny due to the dynamic I imagine they'd have if they ever interacted.

which is basically something like this:

Boomer seems to be someone talkative, energetic, and always in the search of thrill and emotion, while Johnny seems like a guy who is of few words and likes peaceful times. It's understandably also functional as a friendship dynamic, but I loved it enough to make it a pairing in the AU.

As for my OTHER crack ship, Ivy x Allan, I base myself on the aesthetic they share! That 50's grease-inspired fashion style is one of my favorite things due to it being a movie I watched in my childhood, But I also love the idea of someone sweet as Ivy being able to soften that tough heart of Allan's! I think of it a lot as a comforting sort of couple, with Allan learning to be vulnerable with her and the like.

there are some other pairings worth mentioning, no matter if canon or not, Like Penny x Alberto, whom I shipped since I was a kid next to quimm. Radley x Sarge mostly due to the comedic potential of exes-who-still-like-each-other & villains-who-bicker-like-a-married-couple, and last but not least, Marty x Rita. That one is my sister's otp!

For the sake of not making it long but mentioning some last ones i also love dearly, Some last ships I like, which aren't made by me would be Wylan x Connor thanks to my dear friend @maznanangy and Luau x Betty from an artist of Deviantart.

and uh, that's as far as I'll go because this is already pretty long haha!

#Unknown anon #ships #quinn x timm #quimm #wow it's been ages since i've done one of these

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lady-writes · 3 years

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Lykon is Hercules and also Odysseus and also the first werewolf and NO AMOUNT OF INST. RACISM WILL STOP ME FROM STANNING.

❤️🤟🏾🤟🏿 POC LOVE MONTH BEGINSSSS 🤟🏿 🤟🏾 ❤️

I know I’m starting late (for shame!) but this write up turned into a BEAST in ways I fully did not expect holy SHIIiiiiit….and in the interest of dealing with my own guilty conscience I’ll post sources later or if asked. BTW there be mild Force Multiplied spoilers with so....

SO LYKON THEN

Third Known Immortal, First Male Immortal, First Black Immortal and the Last of the Ancient Immortals.

I’m making all of my assumptions on Lykon based on the two most solid bits of background that we have for him 1) The Old Guard Through History featurette from Netflix and the few lines and panels that we get of Lykon in the Comics, particularly Issue 2 of Opening Fire and 4 of Force Multiplied.

What feels like forever ago now I dove headfirst into figuring out time and place for all of our Immortal family and getting an idea, primarily at first of how long Andy had truly been alone, but ultimately of where in time our other prehistoric/ancient immortals fell in the history of the world.

Opening Fire gives us the best bit of historical placement that any of the Ancients have.

All of the imagery that the comics give us of Lykon is undeniably Greek in its references.

So Perhaps that helmet in the cave was originally Lykon's, not Andy's (or Hector’s)?

Either way, since the timeline from the featurette actually provides a perfectly clear span of Lykon’s first lifetime, 359-332 BCE, I started there. Regarding Lykon’s first death we can be super specific, Thanks to the fact that the campaigns of Alexander the Great were so well documented we know Ya boi Alex the G and his armies laid siege to Gaza for 2 months. Gaza fell in late October, Alexander took Egypt without a fight at Pelusium in even later October and was in Memphis to be crowned Pharaoh of both kingdoms by November 14th. The trip from Gaza to Memphis had to have taken 3 weeks or less altogether.

Andy says that by a stroke of luck Lykon was only alone for “a couple weeks.” We see Lykon take an arrow through the neck in battle- presumably the wound that killed him. We next see Lykon, alone, in a posture that almost perfectly mimics Andy at the end of Force Multiplied, sitting inside the walls of Gaza. Alexander and his armies have presumably moved on, Lykon was left behind and that is the state that Andy finds him in sometime in between the 24th of October and the 14th of November 332 BCE.

Easter Egg: Despite the fact that Noriko and Andy aren’t supposed to meet in the comics canon for almost 1000 more years after Andy meets Lykon- here the homegirl is tits out and living her best life.

So those are the basic “facts” of the start of Lykon’s immortality….. What’s much more fun though (and 10 times as frustrating) is sussing out his origins and life/culture before he ended up fighting with Alexander.

When I first looked into Lykon’s probable lifespan to make my timeline,I did a bit of cursory looking at the sorts of racial divisions that might have been present in Ancient Greece and the results are deeply inconclusive. The simple fact of the matter is that the sheer weight of our modern, post Trans Atlantic Chattel Slave Trafficking perspective makes it impossible to get an accurate read on race relations in antiquity. Everything from the ingrained reaction that we have to the word “slave”, to the existing historical analysis that we have of first hand accounts up until approximately 1960-70 is vastly colored by the Eurocentric white supremacist views that have permeated western culture. I was pretty discouraged12345 by that, so I moved on to looking at other things that I could get lost in wikiholes on.

So with that in mind, when I started writing this I did my best to keep a distinctly neutral view of the few first hand accounts that I could find and a certain amount of patience.

That did not last because well… racism makes me mad.

In depth breakdown of the failings of academic documentation and HELLA Lykon thoughts/HCs/crack theories behind ze cut...

Looking for historical records of pre-colonial Africa, especially the many parts of Africa that aren’t North Africa, is a nightmare. Colonialism actively destroyed cultural heritage and history as part of its mission to assimilate people living in their own homelands into the mold of “civilized, moral” western society. Prehistory is even harder, because the accounts that would usually make up the register of prehistoric information are not only missing but have in many cases been actively overwritten. And then as a compounding factor a general lack of investment from academia in this area makes it crazy hard to find reputable resources. So any and all research has to be taken with a grain of salt and checked to see what interest the source might have had in portraying native populations and indigenous cultures as savages, whether backwards and primitive or the equally repugnant humble and noble.

It’s exhausting, considering I do this fandom shit for fun and still have a job and shit. But I like learning and I love cultures so I kept at it.

I made a couple basic assumptions that I think suit the general way the pattern of immortality appears to work. Lykon wouldn’t have been anyone particularly special, not broke, not rich and not necessarily singled out. All of our immortals are average joes amongst their neighbors and compatriots right up until they really aren’t.

So that meant the first thing I had to try and figure out was where black people were in Greece and how they were treated/ received. Which led to having even more questions to answer because the historical register is a mess and everything is disputed. The answer turned out to be, “BECAUSE TRADE ROUTES,” but I’m getting ahead of myself.

After a lot of tiresome reading about slavery and several instances of white and rare but equally annoying black nonsense I had my answer…. ish.

This is a pretty big digression from fandom fun for me by now. It’s more like a challenge has been posed to me by the internet. “Can you make a reasonable reconstruction of the life of one (1) black man in North West Africa in approx. 400 BCE?”

Ultimately there is a Massive Metaphorical Fucking Wall that drops down and effectively closes off the West Center and South African sub continents 3400 BCE and lasts until between 700 and 1100 CE. The 3400 BCE date more or less coincides with the point at which the Sahara reached its current state of desertification and is considered by historians to have been impassable. The historical focus on Egypt reflects this impassable state, for sure. Incidentally, this is also the period where groups start being referred to as civilizations and historical focus shifts from benchmark points for the human race as a whole to achievements that are being attributed to specific cultures.

It’s a 4,100-4,500 year long black hole in the center of world history.

Everything that happens beyond Egypt and Mediterranean North Africa during that time falls into a deeply frustrating contradictory state where pretty much all historians seem to agree that there were at minimum 10,000 distinct states and kingdoms of both centralized and decentralized societies, but none of them are considered to be of any sort of Empire or Civilization of note.

We know that by 1500 CE, barring areas that had been abandoned due to poor soil/lack of rainfall/otherwise inhospitable conditions, essentially ALL of Africa was populated and controlled by indigenous groups. The fact that the academic world at large understands this but still has not shifted its focus to filling in this crazy gap in the historical register of the world and its civilizations is a travesty and should be seen as an indelible embarrassment for any and every academic institution that claims to have any kind of historical or anthropological prominence.

Consider the following: We know that all of human life on this planet originated from the African continent. We know that the continent, which is the second largest landmass in the world, was fully settled and populated by 1500. We know that approximately 26.6 million human souls were callously and wantonly transported against their wills from that continent over ~800 years; a rough estimate of the African diasporas population today is almost 1.1 million people (1.3% of the world population). We know that 17.4% of the current global population is made up of the current inhabitants of Africa, the second most populated continent. And we have as a global culture written off 4,000+ years of that continent's history.

By comparison, the Mediterranean, accounting for approximately 3.88 percent of the current world population, has such a richly investigated history that there are entire academic departments devoted to studying specific pieces of its cultural register. Across 6 rigidly defined eras, spanning only 1,400 years, at multiple universities worldwide, culminating in a wealth of knowledge so inequitably balanced that it turns my stomach as I’m typing this.

The prehistoric Mediterranean, from an academic standpoint, ends at the 8th century BCE. For West, Central, South, and East Africa, everything before colonization is considered the prehistoric era reaching all the way to 1500 CE, in casual parlance.

It’s yet another atrocity that continues to be done against Africa and all of her people.

I’d be lying to say that I don’t have any skin in the game, I’m a first generation American Nigerian, of Yoruba/Esan ethnicity with immigrant parents. And I’m legit hungry to know more about the place and cultures that comprise my ethnic history.

But more so than that, I am fully aware of the sheer amount of work that I put into my attempts to recreate Andy’s background. I’m aware of the cultural richness that I’ve been able to imbue my research into Quynh with, despite similar but blessedly less severe issues. I’ve read an ungodly amount about 11th century Genoa and Tunisia. I would feel wretched presenting only the confirmed and verified info that I've found on Lykon, as minor a character as he may be. Because the history of west Africa and Africa at large deserves the same respect as Iran, Ukraine, Vietnam, Genoa and the Maghrib.

Lykon is portrayed in the comics as a generic “white” presumably Greek or Macedonian man. I have no idea if there was a reason for casting a black actor in his role in the movie, but even with all of this. I’m glad it shook out this way.

I’m miles away from sweet fandom serotonin now, but in a large way this is wholly the reason why things like TOG POC Love Month need to exist.

I didn’t mean to do this when I placed Lykon at the front of the month or when I sat down to start writing this post almost 7 days ago but it's painfully fitting.

ALL OF THAT BEING SAID…

This is what I’ve been able to find.

So, the same as Joe and Quynh and Nile, I based Lykon’s ethnic group on the identity of his actor. Michael Ward is Jamaican, so that meant finding out where the bulk of the enslaved people whose descendants make up the Jamaican population came from in the 17 and 1800’s and where their ancestors were in the 4th century BCE.

It got murky quick but in the spirit of The Old Guard, (which is 100% just semi-realist superhero fiction anyways) I chose to pick all of the best/most coincidental/ #PoeticCinema origins for Lykon. I did my best to stick to what simply makes sense for this character along with some cultural trivia that screamed out to me as shit that would be cool for Lykon, for my own HCs and also some shits and giggles.

In other words: If history won’t give me proper comprehensive information about cultures of the Horn of/Central/West Africa- I’LL MAKE MY OWN HISTORICAL CANON WITH BLACKJACK AND HOOKERS!!!!

Lykon, born in around 359 BCE, would have probably been descended from the Bafour people of the Neolithic era. According to their oral tradition, they were a settled people living in modern Western Sahara and Mauritania. In terms of physical evidence, it's likely that they were an accidentally Nomadic people gradually migrating southward as the climate got more arid during the late holocene era (3050 BCE).

The Bafour would have moved into the dhars (sandstone cliffs) of Southern Mauritania (now called the Tichitt-Walata and the Tagant cliffs) and establishing the stone settlements of Dhar Tichitt, Dhar Walata, Dhar Nema among others between 2500 BCE and 2000 BCE. At the time of settlement, these would have all been oasis areas. Archaeological testimony supports that they were among the first peoples on the continent to produce stone settlement civilizations.

As a way of dealing with the relatively catastrophic weather changes that brought them to the dhars, the Bafour developed a strategy of continuously shifting thier building sites away from the growing Sahara along with moving from the stone structures on the cliffs in the wet season to temporary lowland camps close to water sources in the dry season. As far as the social structure was concerned, the dominant theory is that the culture had a stratified social system involving polygamy or living with large amounts of extended family. Due to the increasingly inhospitable environment where fertile land and pasturage were at a premium, as the population grew they developed a relatively large-scale system governing organizations that can be seen as the precursors to the militarized hierarchical aristocracies that emerged in the same area several hundred years later. During this era, iron smelting and metallurgy started to spread and become common among the West African people (900 BCE). There’s not a conclusive answer as to where this knowledge came from; it was most likely an independent invention.

Dhar Tichitt was what we currently think was the earliest large-scale, complex organized society in West Africa, paving the way for future state formation in Africa. Some of these settlements had massive surrounding walls while others were less fortified but altogether hundreds of stone masonry settlements with clear street layouts have been found. These remnants of sites represent “a great wealth of rather spectacular prehistoric ruins” and “perhaps the most remarkable group of Neolithic settlements in the world” according to some archaeologists.

Archaeologists have found art depicting and/ or physical evidence of the following:

houses with enclosed, turiform gardens and courtyards (ca 1894-1435 BCE)

Hoes and fish hooks made of bone

Millet flour and semolina

Reservoirs and dams to manage water from nearby rivers (wadis).

Burial mounds

art of three trotting giraffes

art of man sitting on an ox with a lasso, bow, or shield

art of man using a throwing weapon on an oryx

art of person holding a basket

art of oxen pulling chariots or carts

iron smelting furnaces and slag heaps

The Bafour might have been the first to domesticate African rice and definitely domesticated millet and sorghum. There is also evidence that their patterns and methods of herding spread into Eastern and Southern Africa and the pastoral cultures that exist today.

Most importantly to Lykon’s story, the Bafour had a copper-based agro-pastoral society that traded in jewelry and semi-precious stones from distant parts of the Sahara and Sahel, establishing pathways for what would become the Trans-Saharan trade route in the early CE. In response to the new opportunities afforded by north-south diversity in ecosystems across deserts, grasslands, and forests, trade developed with people to the north and south, with the Bafour offering the meat and grain and possibly strong but rudimentary fabrics. Their desert nomad and forest dwelling trade partners would have supplied salt and higher quality fabric along with furs wood and iron respectively

In the middle of the Neolithic period (~550 BCE) another intense dry spell started the cascading collapse of the Neolithic agro-pastoral system at large, leading to the abandonment of the dhars and the start of a new migration pattern. Dhar Néma, the last built and inhabited of the Neolithic Dhar sites collectively referred to as the Tichitt culture. As the most southeastern-most of these sites, Dhar Nema may have served as a transitory area for the Bafour people /Tichitt Culture as the area Dhar Tichitt started to be abandoned due to the people trying to get away from the continually encroaching desert. Additionally there was a dominant theory that most scholars are beginning to challenge due to a clear bias, that the Bafour people were conquered by an unspecified Berber population from the north. Those Bafour who continually fled southward would be the ancestors of the Soninke people who are most commonly associated with the Dhars and Tichitt culture. This transition from the Bafour to Soninke people and the Tichitt culture that they straddle is one of the many points left unclear by a lack of historical attention.

Regardless, Dhar Nema’s existence and placement point directly to the last stop on the historical journey that has been decoding Lykon’s origin’s. Dhar Néma’s governmental and physical organization was also a likely precursor to the proto-egalitarian civilization of Djenne-Djenno in Mali, which came into being around 250 BCE, and is still populated now. The Soninke people are an offshoot of the larger Mande ethnic group that is the parent culture for no less than 16 ethnic groups on the Gold Coast area of West Africa.

The Soninke are largely known for being the founders of Djenne-Djenno in 250 BCE, but for our purposes we’d be looking at the Soninke people living at and around Dhar Nema in the specific area of Bou Khzama. This is now the twilight of the era of the Tichitt culture, which is considered to have ended in 200 BCE, but before the existence of Djenne-Djenno.

There are two major milestones in this period that would be relevant to Lykon’s life. First, with a century of environmental migration starting in around 400 BCE we get the first recorded contact between West Africa and the Mediterranean, specifically the culture of Carthage, and mutually beneficial trade begins. This trade involved the export of gold, cotton, metal, and leather in exchange for copper, horses, salt, textiles, and beads. The second milestone is the emergence of the Soninke people themselves. By the 1st millennium BCE, environmental migration has caused the Bafour people to fade from the historical register and the Mandé ethnic group is beginning to make itself known. Beginning in 1000 BCE, the early stages of a massive migration referred to as the Bantu Expansion begins. As various people groups migrated away from the Sahara to the east as well as down the West African coast they began to break into groups that would form new ethnic groups. Two of those groups were the Mandé and the Akan people of Ghana.

The Akan people made up the vast majority of indigenous Africans shipped to Jamaica as slaves so this is more or less where I decided to place Lykon. That was the final end of that starting thread that I started this whole thing by pulling on.

The Mandé languages belong to a divergent branch of the Niger–Congo family, and are divided into two primary groups: East Mandé and West Mandé. The Mandé peoples and the Akan people share a long history of trade and many similar cultural elements.

It's likely that the Mandé and Akan people intermixed, considering they were culturally coming from the same ancestral groups, but there's nothing to actually verify that.

However the Mandé people and their subgroups have some fantastically appropriate qualities as far as Lykon’s background is concerned.

The Mandé are noted as having been among the first on the continent to produce woven textiles (by a process known as strip-weaving), and as well as the founders of the Ghana Empire and Mali Empire, as well as being responsible for the expansion of the Songhai Empire across West Africa. Historically, fabric has been used as a form of money in African cultures, a fact that European colonizers took advantage of to devastating effect, so it's not a reach to assume that this tradition goes back to the era of Trans-Saharan trade. It actually might have formed the basis of a valuation system for the use of fabric as money at some point.

I took note of the Mandé tradition of fabric arts, specifically because I’ve seen the HC previously that Lykon may have come from a family of weavers. The blue strip of cloth wound around Lykon’s spear (which can be seen in the historical featurette as well as Lykon’s promotional images from that feature) is distinctly reminiscent of adire, an indigo resist dyeing art that was wildly valuable, generally done in a familial setting and is still produced today. The earliest existing piece of adire is a men's hat from around 1100 CE but oral accounts and common sense indicate that the method is considerably older. Notably, the weaving tradition was seen as exclusively masculine work while the dying of fabrics was exclusively feminine.

In addition to this bit of headcanon influenced placement the fact that Lykon is born during this particular transitory phase makes the Soninke subgroup of the Mandé people a very interesting choice specifically due to the existence of a specialized ethnic group of note in the Soninke Wangara.

Across the Mandé diaspora there is a notable tiered system of socio economic classes: Nobles, Farmer/Vassals, and skilled professionals. In the Soninke culture there is a fourth particular class that in Lykon’s time would have been treated as a cross between the noble and professional classes: the Wangara traders.

The Soninke Wangara eventually operated all throughout West Africa Sahel-Sudan fostering regionally organized mercantile trade networks and were referred to later as "[one who] engages in trade and travels from one horizon to another.” But originally, they were known as both the vendors and the secret keepers of the gold veins that would eventually make the Gold Coast famous in the medieval period on account of “the great quantities and good quality of that metal.”

The Wangara were noted for their honesty and industry and were instrumental in setting the basis for what would become the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai Empires in the coming centuries. In particular, Herodotus tells of silent trade between Carthage and unspecified regions to its south. If true, trade with Carthage possibly started as early as the 6th century BCE. In Lykon’s time they made contact with almost all West African people groups at the time and would have been facilitators of trade between them. Long distance trade contributed to the development of an ethos of migration among the Soninke, arguably making them the most traveled people of the whole continent.

The decline of Carthage after the Punic Wars would have left the Wangara in need of new business partners since Carthage kept their source of African gold secret- a vital tradition for the Wangara to protect their monopoly. By the time Lykon was an adult, the Wangara gold traders would be operating out of the progenitor city of Jenne, controlling the gold trade between the goldfields, their African neighbors to the south and east and the outside world at large. The geographic location of the Soninke/Wangara/ Mandé people at this time, between the Sahara and the Sahel, would place them in an ideal position for access to trade routes from their ecological zones into the West African forest, East African plains/grasslands and the North African desert and beyond in an considerable advancement of the same trade network that their ancestors developed.

In the same sense that the Soninke Wangara were known as the protectors and purveyors of one of the most valuable natural resources of the area- the Wangara were also referred to as courtiers to nobility. Based on that description, it seemed likely to me that there may be some element of martial training that these people may have also undergone to make them a more formidable or even simply an equal threat to those who may present a threat to the ruling class or the trading ability of the Soninke people.

In the same way that Andy’s immediate associations are to horses, and Quynh’s are to water and the color red, Lykon’s could be to trade and gold, along with perhaps weaving, iron smelting or the indigo trade.

Lykon would have been a kid who grew up in a large family of pastoral weavers and dyers or possibly crafters of some other type. Perhaps his family had a history of contributing to the work of the Wangara class or maybe Lykon opted to become a part of that tradition in an attempt to see more of the world outside of his settlement and its way of life. The Lykon who we briefly see, seems to be quite the adventurous type after all. He probably trained as a caravan guard to protect his people’s products and wealth. As he begins to travel and experience a more multicultural life, maybe he decided to explore further away from his home.

Depending on his family, he might have been one of too many sons or maybe he simply wanted to get away from the place he grew up and realized that becoming a trader was an ideal way to do that.

It’s not unlikely that he might have been sent to a trading outpost on the Egyptian coast and decided to join up with Alexander’s army to see more of the world. He’d be more than equipped by his culture for long journeys on foot or riding.

Maybe his caravan was ambushed and the survivors of the attack were sold as fighters along with the goods. Maybe he got arrested or into debt over the course of his travels and was press ganged into military service.

One way or another he ends up in a hoplite citizen army. The general makeup of such and army would be people not at all dissimilar from Lykon himself: Merchants, farmers, and artisans, but most of those people would be untrained. We don’t know what type of member of the guard Lykon was a part of: the experienced fighters or the “I don't know how I got here but it was Not My Intention.” Regardless we do know that Lykon was on the March with Alexander the Great.

That finally brings us back to Lykon in the Mediterranean where Andy finds him.

As far as Lykon possibly settling in Greece, particularly with regard to the way he’d be received by Greek culture, he’d be treated perfectly normal so far as I can tell. Ancient Greeks didn’t see in black and white as we do. They saw Free or Servile, and were relatively free of melanin-based prejudice. The Greeks also thought that the African continent more or less ended after the Sahara.

And the catchall term they used for every dark person who walked outta the Sahara at this point in history was “Aethiopians".

After Alexander the Great dies in 323 BCE there’s an increased knowledge among Greek people of Nubia (in modern Sudan), Egypt’s neighboring kingdom along the lower Nile. Cosmopolitan metropolises, including Alexandria in the Nile Delta, and others on the East Coast and Horn of Africa become centers where significant Greek and African populations are living together. Prior to that though the only contact that the Greeks had with “Aethiopians" was as traders. And the thing is there is hard evidence that the ancient Greeks REALLY FUCKING LOVED BLACK PEOPLE.

From Jstor

Think of teenagers plastering their walls with boy bands…. Or even just the way people always marvel a little when a distinct new accent joins a group of people speaking. Except obviously you can’t shut your skin color up so everyone will stop looking at you funny. Essentially, the Greeks made first contact with New PoC for the first time in their history and completely lost their chill.

It is worth noting that the Greek and eventually Roman fascination with black people did get REAL fucked up, particularly when it began to form the backbone of the system that became the infamous Trans Atlantic Murder Machine Slave Trade. Continental slave trade of Africans within Africa became the exchange of slaves from different nations for the novelty of seeing/being served by people who looked different. This happened in BOTH directions for a time. Using black bodies as currency for goods on the Mediterranean market became a thing. It is VERY important to note that the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade is nothing like the Indian (Ocean)/Atlantic Slave Trade (which is distinct from the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade) that came into being in the 1000’s and lasted into the 1400’s. But it would also be disingenuous to say that it didn’t contribute.

By 5 CE the Trans-Saharan trade route that Lykon would have traveled ~300 years earlier had expanded to account for the trade of black slaves to Rome directly from West Africa. Black people were expensive and fancy ~exotic household slaves who would have worked off an indenture and then regained their freedom and assimilated into the population. This was the expectation of slavery, more or less world wide up until it became necessary to invent racism to ensure the perpetual existence of free labor. One of the more well-known examples of this is the mixing of the East, South and Central Africans into the people of the Iberian peninsula.

But anyways THAT’S NOT HAPPENING YET!!!!

So when Merchant/Trader Lykon comes to town, buys wares, sells wares and pays proper taxes, no one has a problem with him. Even if Lykon entered Greece as a slave or prisoner it’s far more likely that he was treated better than his “Greek looking” compatriots than worse by nature of simply looking different.

For the geek in all of us I did far too much looking at the gear Lykon would have had, because Michael Ward’s choice (I hope) to play Lykon as a reckless dude who’s too cool for a shirt is a delight for my eyes but also like…. The man was a soldier at one point, he’d know not to go into battle with all that exposed skin.

Looking at his armor and arms when we see him with the army, he’s almost certainly a Hoplite soldier and an elite one at that.

(Note the decorated shield, chest armor, and helm. Some money went into that gear at the very least)

If Lykon was the kind of guy who loved a good fight it's entirely possible that he worked to become a Hetairoi, one of the elite cavalry that Alexander himself chose to ride with in battle. It's equally likely that after a few battles where Lykon performed better than average he might have gotten noticed and drafted into the ranks of the _. But what we see in the comics is a man who looks to have plenty of experience and some rather nice armor.

The hoplites were primarily represented by free citizens – propertied farmers and artisans – who were generally able to afford a linen armour along with a spear and short sword. The wealthier members of this group might be wearing bronze armour instead but would otherwise be outfitted the same. Comics Lykon is armed very similarly to the Hetairoi heavy infantry who wielded weapons like the single-ended spear called a xyston, meant to be used from horseback along with a kopis, xiphos, and secondary standard issue hoplite spear called the dory. They got ya boi armed up! So even though we never see Lykon on horseback, it's a fair guess he was part of that upper echelon of soldiers.

For my personal headcanons, I like to think that Lykon has a perfectly comfortable life as a merchant and when the time comes to go to war for Alexander, not only is he pumped to go (he’s only been training his whole life right? And he’ll get to see so much MORE of the world!!) but he has the funds for the sweet armor we see in the comic. Once his CO’s see that this guy is actually TRAINED and CAN RIDE??? Bye-bye Hoplite, Hello Hetairoi, it's time for some ~Destiny. Our dude Lykon is tearing it up as heavy infantry in Alexander’s army one fateful October day when he takes an arrow to the throat and dies, changing his life 5EVA

A note on the movie continuity- The scene where Lykon dies in the movie is meant to be happening sometime in the 1200’s in central Asia, based on shooting notes and the like…. That directly contradicts the Netflix featurette which is again weirdly precise about Lykon in particular. The 1200’s date for his final death splits the difference between the featurette and the comic which states that Lykon dies in the 1400’s during the various wars between Italian city states. This particular continuity snarl introduces yet another fun potential bump in the guard’s history: Joe and Nicky and Lykon…. Did they ever meet? Did NicoJoe dream of Lykon as they made their way to Andromaquynh(kon) only to have him suddenly disappear from their minds? Did NicoJoe dream of Andy and Quynh’s terror as their brother in arms / lover bled out inexplicably and wake up to clutch each other close terrified by what they had witnessed and praying for the first time in a century (or more perhaps) that somehow this dream was less true than all the others they had dreamed thus far?

Just food for thought

Speaking of which, all that stuff above? It’s all reasonable and cool I guess, but here’s some Mary Sue Ass shit for Lykon because WHY SHOULDN’T HE BE A FUCKING DEMI GOD?!?!

There are whole bunch of semi-mythical Greeks who could arguably been described as black and therefore could be based on myth, legend or hearsay about Lykon.

Odysseus, Achilles, and Memnon are all in varying places referred to as black/wooly haired/or darkened. Memnon in particular is supposedly from an Ethiopian kingdom

Herakles/Hercules is depicted as black in art dated to 510 BCE. Various legends and myths about Herakles can be attributed to translations of earlier Egyptian myths. If Lykon got up to any famous fighting exploits perhaps he may have been called Herakles reborn? I would personally love to see Andy and Quynh scoffing about this

In accounts of the battles at Troy there are 3 different Lycon’s who get killed in battle. Not subtle my dude…

Also Lycon: one of the leaders of the satyrs who joined the army of Dionysus in his campaign against India because why be a person if you can have horns instead?!

For any Lykuynh(???) lovers out there: please take this lovely myth about Omphale to go along with the Herakles tidbit. She became the mistress of the hero Heracles for the period of a year during which he was required to pay her via servitude, which writers and artists obviously wasted no time in exploring sexual roles and erotic themes. The entire thing reads like Lykon may have lost a bet, and I would LOVE to read that story.

Across West Africa, forges are considered to be female, and the act of smelting iron is equated to the gestation period. Thus the male smith is often considered the “husband of the forge.” Though women are involved in many aspects of the metallurgic process, they almost never work the forge. Interesting given the fact that Quynh could also be a student of metallurgy

And speaking of myth theres of course Lyacon the fucking OG WEREWOLF and Lycon the actual guy who was a king of a place somewhere or smthg. I have no idea about the timing for any king shit and I would never accuse the Best Bean Lykon of cannibalism BUT the fact that there are not 10,000 stories about Lykon in canon being a werewolf and doing only god knows what??? A CRIME

I also like to think that maybe there’s an alternate universe where somehow Lykon staying alive stopped the whole damn Trans-Atlantic slave trade and chattel slavery from happening. Especially because the timeline given for his death in the comics and the unconfirmed Asiatic battle, are RIGHT as slavery in Africa is about to transition into its final and worst phase. Maybe if he he’d been alive between the 1100’s and the 1500’s he would have put his foot down and dragged his team to go burn every seafaring vessel that the Dutch East India tea freaks, Muslim slavers, and Portugal had between them and helped East Africa get some forbidden cities shit going on. #Wakanda

(Which of course raises this question: how did Nile’s parents meet, and where did Nile grow up in this alternate universe where her ancestors weren’t kidnapped and forced to build white people’s wealth in North America?)

And a final question that truly keeps popping into my head:

Do the Guard get new people at the moment of massive culture paradigm shifts? It’s got to be that or near to minor revolutions in travel. All of our immortals match both of those respective categories and I am inordinately fond of the travel theory if for no other reason than to think about SPACE PIRATE! Nile.

So that is my sojourn into history and the full story of the life that Lykon might have lived. Go forth and make canon for the homie cuz God, knows Nile could use a black immortal friend.

#TOG POC Love Fest #the old guard #tog meta #Lykon #meta post #racism in academia #institutional racism #africa #prehistory #long post #ITS FINALLY FUCKING FINISHED HOLY SHIT #now its Quynhs turn XD

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sketching-shark · 3 years

Note

LMK fandom: Oh, what do we do about this guy who has nothing but hurt Xiaotian, tried to replace Sun Wukong and his crew, hurt Tripitaka and ordered servants to cannibalize a monkey? Oh I know! We’ll turn him into our little meow meow~ he’s so innocent and Sun Wukong is obviously the villain!

What doesn’t help is this idea is perpetuated by multiple fan fic writers and artists for some reason. Especially some aus they make that turn SWK into a bastard for the sake of the story rather than considering cultural context and thinking they should be respectful.

And almost everyone lets them get away with it just because the art or fanfic is good and they get so popular that no one can point what is actually wrong without feeling like they’re going to get attacked.

I'm starting to feel like my blog is the one anons go to specifically to vent their frustrations about the Six Eared Macaque in his lego monkey show form & the associated fandom lmao. But I guess this makes sense, as I’ve had fun quasi-dragging him before & will in fact use this anon submission as an opportunity to have my own, to put it academically, bitch fest about not just this fandom's favorite protagonist-traumatizing meow meow, but about the way villains are often treated in not just fanon, but increasingly in canon works as well. But same policy as with the last anon; I'll post my opinions below the cut, and as fandoms love to say, don’t like don't read if you don't want to see me dunking on the six eared simian & common fandom tendencies towards villains.

Oh man I would say where would you even begin with this but anon you’ve pretty much started yourself with my main gripe with a lot of ways that the Six-Eared Macaque is portrayed in fandom; there seems to be this unspoken agreement that his acts of violence towards Sun Wukong, Qi Xioatian, and Qi Xioatian’s loved ones are either to be framed as somewhat or totally justified, to be immediately forgiven/excused, or to simply & completely be ignored. Like friends maybe this is just me not seeing the proper posts but while the fandom is inundated with art and fanfics of Macaque as a generally decent individual & a true member of team good guy, I have yet to see one person address the fact that this monkey literally kidnapped & mind-controlled Xiaotian’s best friend and father figures & forced them to brutalize Xiaotian while ol’ Six Ear looked on and laughed (X_X). Like this kind of fandom villain treatment is definitely not something that’s solely at work for Monkie Kid, but it is kind of nutty how fandoms will swing between yelling that people should be allowed to like villains without even mild critique, and then will just flat-out not address the villainous behavior, and will even bend over backwards to frame even characters who committed genocide as just poor innocent widdle victims who need a hug. At its worst, I’ve even seen tons of people in a fandom get really angry at other people who don’t like a villain, and will even start accusing those people of hating real-life mentally disabled or abused individuals all because they don’t like the fandom’s favorite literal war criminal. The Monkie Kid fandom is FAR more chill & better than a lot of other fandoms I’ve come across in that regard, but that is an exceedingly low bar, & the tendency to woobify certain kinds of villains-- as with Macaque and the extreme emphasis on his bad boy/sad boy thing--is very much at work.

I’ve also talked before about a kind of monoculturalization of certain character interpretations and story beats in fandoms, and one of the more popular ones that seems to be applied to Macaque a lot is the “hero actually bad, villain actually good” cliche, as observable from the general fandom assumption that Mr. Six-Ears he wasn’t even slightly lying or remembering things through a rose-tinted or skewed lens when he gave his version of his and Sun Wukong’s past. Like at this point it seems the possibility that people WILL NOT even consider is that Sun Wukong never did & still doesn't care that much about the Six Eared Macaque (in JTTW they weren’t sworn brothers & in Monkie Kid the only thing the monkey king really said to Macaque before attacking him was a pretty contemptuous "Aren't you ever going to get sick of living under my shadow?," & responds to his "beloved friend" getting blown up with "You did good, bud" to Qi Xiaotian, who did the exploding), or that their original fight may in fact have mostly been instigated by Macaque. After all, to repeat what this anon summarized & what I've said before about their original JTTW context (& in an example of the things that do feel like it's often lost in translation) is that the Six Ear Macaque was a villain not just because he beat up the Tang Monk, but because he wanted to take over Sun Wukong's entire life and identity so he could have all that glory, prestige, and power for himself. To quote the macaque himself from the Anthony C. Yu translation, "I struck the T'ang monk and I took the luggage...precisely because I want to go to the West all by myself to ask Buddha for the scriptures. When I deliver them to the Land of the East, it will be my success and no one else's. Those people of the South Jambudvipa Continent will honor me then as their patriarch and my fame will last for all posterity." And in order to do this, the Six Eared Macaque had apparently made Sun Wukong's "little ones," his monkey family, his captives through either trickery or force, and gotten a number of them to take on the appearance of Tang Sanzang and the other pilgrims. It's also made clear that in very direct contrast to Sun Wukong, he doesn't care about these monkeys beyond how they might serve him. In fact, after Sha Wujing kills the monkey posing as him the Six Eared Macaque not only all but immediately replaces him with another, but also "told his little ones to have the dead monkey skinned. Then his meat was taken to be fried and served as food along with coconut and grape wines." So this monkey is not only willing to risk the lives of a lot of other monkeys for his own personal benefit, but is also a literal cannibal. And yes yes, I know a lot of people have argued that Monkie Kid shouldn't be considered a direct sequel to JTTW & that's fair enough (for example, Sun Wukong probably shouldn't be smashing anyone into a meat patty in a children's cartoon lol). And of course, it needs to be noted that there are a buttload of really out there & really cursed pieces of media based on JTTW & that were created in China. Yet the above description is the oft-ignored in the west original facet of the Six Eared Macaque's character. And it is this selfishness, entitlement, and treatment of other individuals as tools for his own self-serving ends that is, from where I’m standing, still very much present in Monkie Kid. Like besides repeatedly going out of his way to physically and psychologically traumatize Xioatian, with the last episode Macaque seemed to be going right back to his manipulative ways. I’ve seen people frame their last conversation as Macaque softening to Xioatian a little bit, but personally that read a lot more like that common tactic among abusers where even after they’ve hurt you they’ll dangle something you want or need over your head (in Macaque’s case, the promise of desperately needed training and information about a serious looming threat), with the implication that you’ll only get it if you do what they want you to, such as, in this case, Xioatian going back to Macaque as his student even after having been so terribly hurt by this monkey, which would give Macaque power over Xiaotian and probably Sun Wukong as a result. And it is this violence and manipulation that it seems the fandom at large has tacitly decided shouldn’t even be addressed, instead leaning more towards a (and this is an exaggeration) “Six-Eared Macaque my poor meow meow Sun Wukong has always been bad & has always been wrong about literally everything” reading.

And while it is the case that I am not Chinese and feel that as such it would be best left to someone who actually comes from that background to provide more context into how common interpretations of the Six Eared Macaque from China may clash really badly with the stuff the western fandom creates, it also must be noted that, as much as we all want to have fun in fandom & in spite of all the out-there versions of JTTW from China, we westerners should recognize that there is a very long and very ugly history of western countries stripping other cultures’ important religious and literary works for parts & mashing them into their own thing while implying or even insisting that what they present provides a true understanding of the original piece. And while I trust most individuals in regards to Monkie Kid are able to step back and think “this is a lego cartoon and not a set guide for how I should understand JTTW” (especially given the insistence that JTTW and Monkie Kid should be considered there own separate works) there does nevertheless seem to be something of a tendency to take the conclusions people come to, for example, about Sun Wukong’s characteristic in his lego form & then assume that’s just reflective to Sun Wukong as a totality. I imagine a good portion of this is due to people not reading JTTW & especially to not having easy access to solid information or answers about JTTW’s many different facets (like geez awhile ago I was trying to get a clear answer on what is considered the most accurate translation of the names of Sun Wukong’s six sworn brothers & got like 5 different responses lmao), but that tendency to take a western fandom interpretation & run with it instead of doing any background research or questioning said interpretation is still very much at play. As such, & as made prominent in the way people have been interpreting the dynamic between Sun Wukong and the Six Eared Macaque in the lego monkey show, tbh it does seem kind of shitty for western creators & audience to sometimes go really out of their way to ignore all of this original cultural & narrative context for the sake of Angst (TM) in Macaque's favor, demonizing Sun Wukong, and shipping the monkey king with his evil twin (X_X).

And speaking of which, even beyond the potential inherent creepiness & revulsion that can be inspired by this specific ship given common interpretations of the og classic's original meaning (again, it's my understanding, given both summaries of translated Chinese academic texts I've been kindly provided with, my own reading of the Anthony C. Yu translation of JTTW, & vents from a number of Chinese people I've seen on this site, that the Six-Eared Macaque is commonly interpreted in China as having originated from Sun Wukong himself as a living embodiment of his worst traits, hence why only Buddha can tell the difference between them & why the monkey king is much more slow to violence after he kills the macaque), I'd argue that in the face of all the uwu poor widdle meow meow portrayals lego show Macaque is, especially if you include JTTW's events, still in the role of “Sun Wukong but worse” as he is very much a violent & selfish creep. Like he was basically running around in JTTW wearing a Sun Wukong fursuit, but there he had the sole reason of wanting to replace Sun Wukong wholesale so he could have all the good things in the monkey king's life without actually having to work as hard for them. But if you combine that with Macaque now claiming that he used to be best friend with Sun Wukong in his pre-journey days (something that's made funny from a JTTW context given that that status actually belongs to the Demon Bull King lol), his original violence has now blown into this centuries long and really unhealthy obsession with the monkey king. Like he's apparently gone from wanting to literally be Sun Wukong to being so obsessed with getting revenge on Sun Wukong that he's got basically nothing else going on in his life. Like he's only appeared in two episodes but...does he have any friends? Any family? A career or even a hobby that DOESN'T center the monkey king? Anything at all outside of his "get revenge on and/or kill Sun Wukong/use his successor as my personal punching bag” thing? Like dude! That is extremely creepy and extremely bad for everyone all around! As I’ve said before, this seeming refusal to see beyond the past or to do something that doesn’t involve Sun Wukong in some capacity is a trait that makes Macaque an interesting and somewhat tragic villain--he even seems to be working as Sun Wukong’s reflection in a mirror darkly, with lego show Sun Wukong pretty clearly not being able to heal from his own past which is hinted to be defined by one loss after another, and with Monkie Kid even kind of having these two characters somewhat follow their JTTW characterizations in that in the latter half of the journey Sun Wukong often gets sad & starts crying in the face of what seems insurmountable odds (& Monkie Kid Sun Wukong does seem to be hiding some serious depression behind a cheerful facade), whereas the Six-Eared Macaque retains a worse version of Sun Wukong’s pre-journey characteristic of getting pissed and lashing out if things don’t go his way--but it’s also what would make any current friendship or romantic relationship between these monkeys horrific. Although to be fair even the fandom seems to recognize this in an unconscious way, in that a lot of the art & fanfic seems to swing erratically between them kissing & screaming at each other in yet another example of bog-standard fandom adulation of romanticized toxic relationships lol.

At the end of the day, of course, this is nothing new. You'll find versions of this dynamic across a ton of fandoms and now even canonical work. And as such, I can only look at this kind of popularized relationship dynamic with a kind of resigned weariness whenever it pops up, & my frustrated question with the popularity of this kind of pairing is the exact same one that I have for a multitude of blatantly toxic villain/hero ships, given common fandom discourse & the tendency to either ignore or justify the villain's actions & demonize the hero: if you're THAT convinced that everything is the hero's fault, if you believe THAT much that the hero is the one in the wrong for the villain's pain and their subsequent actions, then why are you so set on them not only becoming a romantic pair, but framing this get-together as a good thing? Like I know we contain multitudes but that's waaay too many contradictions for me to wrap my head around. And it definitely doesn’t help that one branch of underlying reasoning behind this kind of pairing seems to be the ever-present “you break it, you fix it” mentality, where the assumption is that if you’re in a failing, abusive, and/or generally toxic relationship (platonically or romantically), if you put in enough time and effort & attempts to compromise, you’ll be able to restore/have the relationship you dreamed of, even with someone who hurt you really badly. And this assumption isn’t limited to fandom: I’d even argue that it’s everywhere in the culture, hence why a lot of people feel like they “failed” if they have to get a divorce or make the choice to leave an unhealthy friendship. Personally, I feel like people could really benefit from more stories about how it is not only the case that the people you hurt don’t owe you their forgiveness & you can still become a better and happier person without the one you hurt in your life, & that while it can be really hard it can also be a good thing to leave a relationship, even if it’s one that once meant a lot to you.

But in all honestly, from my own perspective this kind of pairing is starting to read far less like enemies to lovers and far more like a horrible fantasy where you can pull whatever shit you want, even on the people you "love," & never be held accountable for your terrible behavior or even have to consider that maybe you were in the wrong. It's another facet that makes me larf every time I see people insist that fandom is an inherently "transformative" or "progressive" form of storytelling like friends you are literally just taking status quo toxic monogamy & rebranding it as somehow beneficial & romantic (X_X).

But as to anon’s last frustration, it is hard to know what is the appropriate response with this kind of thing...like for my own part I’m keeping my frustrations to my blog & now increasingly to posts that you would have to click on the “read more” button to see what I have to say, but I totally get the hesitation to give even a mild critique to big names in a fandom. Like I've now seen it happen repeatedly where someone who has a big name in a fandom will make something that's kind of shitty for one reason or another, someone will message them with some version of "hey, that's kind of shitty, you shouldn't do that," and the typical response is either to blatantly ignore the issue completely, or more popularly to make a giant crying circus that seems deliberately geared towards stoking emotions on both sides of the, for example, fiction does/doesn't affect reality issue so that something that didn't even have to be that big a deal gets blown out of all proportion, with the big name often framing what often started out as a very mild critique into a long crying jag about how the initial response to their kind of shitty thing was so mean/cruel and they're just a poor innocent & that YOU'RE the true racist/sexist/bigot etc. if you don't agree with their opinion. It must of course be noted that there have also been numerous instances of people taking it too far the other way & sending not just big names but smaller creators literal deaths threats over stuff like innocuous ships which like holy hell bells people that’s a horrible thing to do. But for the big names at least, the end result of all this fighting is usually that once the dust has settled they have more attention/fame/money/power in the fandom than before, and with anyone who might have a problem with their stuff feeling afraid to voice their opinion lest they be swarmed by that person's fans. In that way fandom does often seem to increasingly be geared towards presenting an “official” fandom perspective about various facets of a piece of media instead of allowing for a multitude of interpretations, and with criticism, no matter its shape or form or how genuinely warranted it may be, being hounded out of existence. I feel like a lot of this could be made less bad if there wasn’t this constant assumption & even drive to think that a different interpretation of or criticism of your favorite work of fiction or your fanwork isn’t a direct claim that you are a thoroughly loathsome individual (& maybe also if people cultivated an enjoyment of learning things about important works from a culture outside their own, even if what you learn clashes with your own initial understandings), but I guess we’ll see if that ever happens.

So these are my general thinks about the Six Eared Macaque’s current fandom meow meow status & some of my bigger gripes with fandom tendencies as a whole. I stand by my idea that the most interesting & beneficial route for Macaque moving forward would be a kind of “redemption without forgiveness from the ones you hurt” arc--as I think was done pretty excellently with the character Grace in Infinity Train--and if for no other reason than gosh dern this monkey really needs to cultivate some sort of identity beyond his “Sun Wukong but worse” persona.

#lmk macaque #monkie kid macaque #6 eared macaque #monkie kid #lmk sun wukong #qi xiaotian #lmk monkey king #sun wukong #monkey king #journey to the west #jttw #fandom criticism #lmk

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hey-hamlet · 3 years

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BNHA AU Ideas : Your blessings are your curses.

Also on AO3

TL;DR:

Dead All Might acts as a guardian angel to this heroic quirkless kid he runs into. Izuku gets put into a dangerous situation and turns out – DNA wasn’t needed to pass OFA. Just intent. Izuku gains the ability to see All Might along with the ability to use his quirk.

Sadly, AFO notices.

Now Izuku is on the run with a ghost for a guardian after AFO’s goons kill his mother.

Your blessings are your curses:

TL;DR: Dead all might, acts as a guardian angel to this quirkless kid he runs into. Izuku gets put into a dangerous situation and turns out – DNA wasn’t needed to pass OFA. Just intent. Izuku gains the ability to see All Might along with the ability to use his quirk.

Sadly, AFO notices.

Now Izuku is on the run with a ghost for a guardian after AFO’s goons kill his mother.

So – In the fight between All for One and All Might six years before canon, All Might loses.

Not horribly. All for One is still left almost dead and retreats into hiding, but All Might falls unconscious never to open his eyes again, later dying of sepsis in the hospital. His eyes may never physically reopen, but he does awaken – translucent and noncorporeal.

For a while he doesn’t know if it’s a latent quirk, or maybe something All for One did as a final blow, but no – it’s One for All. One for All has a mind of its own and refuses to disappear until Yagi has found a successor. Not that Yagi knows that.

His old haunts are too painful to hang around, the whole nation is grieving for him and seeing that pain on his old friend's faces burns something fierce. So he does what he’s always done. He helps.

Midoriya Izuku is nine when his favourite hero dies. He sees how the nation is grieving and his desire to be a hero only burns brighter. The bullying he suffers worsens, hate crimes against the quirkless and those with ‘villainous’ quirks uptick. Japan isn’t a pillar of safety and security anymore – crime rates have risen to match or overtake worldwide averages.

Still, he feels almost, safer? He gets luckier – the book his classmate stole shows up in his bag by the next period, bullies trip more often, and sometimes as he runs from villain attacks or classmates with their quirks popping against the nape of his neck, he feels a broad hand push him forwards, giving him an extra burst of speed.

He decides it must be the All Might charm he bought the day before the news of All Might’s death broke. A small solid plastic charm meant for a phone with a bright yellow bell attached, along with a tag reading “I AM HERE”. He fills the bell with scraps of paper so no one can hear it ring as he holds it tight in his hand when he gets nervous.

Midoriya Izuku is nine when he is almost killed.

With All Might gone, organized crime spikes. Quirk trafficking rings spring up – very rare, but no less real. It’s one of these such rings that kidnaps Izuku on his way home from school. He awakens, sore and blurry-eyed in a warehouse with a half dozen other crying children. One by one they are forced to show off their quirks, to gauge their value.

Izuku has no quirk to show. He has no value to these people. They growl at him to stop playing around, to stop pretending to be a hero (his All Might charm is almost cutting into his hand from how hard he holds it. He needs his luck more than ever please all might save me one more time - ). He can't bring himself to shut his eyes as a flaming hand reaches towards his face.

For a moment it feels like he's being held. He feels safe.

A shockwave levels the warehouse, leaving he and the other children untouched, the villains buried in the rubble. Green sparks sink into his skin, dancing over the rapidly purpling bruises decorating his arm. He runs.

He comes back to himself in a park, sobbing and shaking, arms wrapped around his shaking form and an oddly familiar voice murmuring apologies and praise as a broad hand runs gently through his hair.

It seems One for All never needed DNA, only intent, to pass itself along. With the passing of the quirk, Yagi should have dissipated, but he refused, clinging to the child he’d accidentally burdened with his legacy, the same quirkless child he’d been playing guardian angel for all this time.

When Izuku sees All Might he freezes. It’s not All Might as he knew him, rather – this is the All Might that died. He’s translucent, faded around the edges, with a tattered and bloodstained costume, thick padded bandaging over his stomach hiding stiches staining to close infected wounds, doing little to stop the blood oozing through. Still – All Might’s eyes are bright blue and kind and his smile is as it always was. Izuku throws himself onto his hero and sobs.

All Might – Yagi, as he insisted Izuku call him – led him to the nearest police station, as he tried to explain what had occurred. It wasn’t easy considering Yagi didn’t seem to be sure himself, but Izuku was pretty sure the quirk he’d been accidentally gifted was sentient.

Izuku held his arms up to the sky, stretching his fingers to the pinpricks of light in the night sky. Sparks of glittering gold, green, white, blue and red jumped across his skin, like the static shocks he’d get when he wore his wool socks in bed, but less painful. They almost felt playful.

“What are they called?” Yagi looked at him, confusion clear on his face. One of his spikes of hair drooped, and if Izuku could ignore the dust and blood that ran through it it would almost be funny.

“They? My boy, do you mean the sparks? If so, they don’t have a name.”

Izuku frowned, letting his hand drop. He could feel the sparks gently brushing his injuries, almost soothingly. “No, I mean your quirk. They should have a name, they’re so nice to me.”

Yagi coughed, dark blood spilling from his mouth, never to hit the ground. “One for All. It’s called One for All.”

Izuku’s frown deepened.

“All Might, mama says it’s rude to call someone an it.”

Inko is reunited with her only mildly injured son, now excitedly gushing about a quirk he’d somehow manifested. She privately thanks whatever spirit finally decided to smile upon her son, even if it took so long.

Their happiness doesn’t last long. Days later Izuku receives a summons to the head office. He freezes when he sees the police officer, Yagi’s comforting hand on his shoulder the only thing that keeps him from running.

It was a villain attack, the officer says with kindness so forced Izuku wants to cry. Yagi looks angry. If you’ll just come with us so we can get you to the safehouse with your mother –

Yagi almost growls with rage. “She’s lying.” He whispers, habit enforced despite the fact Izuku is the only person alive that can hear him. “Follow her out of the school then run” Izuku does exactly that, quirk sparking up his legs and pushing him forwards, down the familiar path to home. He takes the stairs six at a time, quirk chipping the edges of the concrete as he hurls himself forward.

Their apartment is in shambles, bookshelves tipped, small objects laying scattered on the floor, a pale arm laying limply from a half-open bathroom door.

Yagi pushes him out of the apartment and confirms the identity himself. He urges a sobbing Izuku to say his goodbyes to his mother’s corpse as they quickly gather all the money in the house, a few spare clothes and whatever food and water Yagi could knock down from the pantry shelves for him. Izuku crams it into his backpack as he sobs, Yagi guarding the entrance as he boils with rage and guilt.

He didn’t think All for One would find Izuku. He didn’t think he would even be looking. He was wrong and now his boy was paying the price.

So starts his time on the run.

He meets Shinsou first, saving him from some rubble in a villain attack. He meets him again later, battered and bruised – not from a villain, but from his foster parents. Shinsou joins him, no matter how Izuku explains hes in danger. Shinsou wants to be a hero, and if the only way he gets to be a hero is stubbornly keeping Izuku out of trouble? That’s not a bad trade-off, considering izuku was the first person to save him.

A little while later the two run into Shouto feverish and badly burnt and try to nurse him back to health as best they can. A few days in Touya and Toga run into their little camp guns blazing, expecting them to have kidnapped Shouto only to see Izuku patiently trying to feed him rice porridge with a veritable pile of ‘liberated’ fever reducers on the floor beside them.

They apologise but Shinsou and a still feverish Shouto refuse to talk to Touya or Toga for like three days bc they made Izuku cry.

They refuse to leave no matter how Izuku explains he has a centuries old villain after him. These kids are ride or die. So Hitoshi, Shouto and Izuku are like 9 and trying to learn what they can from libraries and newspapers, never settling down for too long. Toga (12) and Touya/Dabi (14) try and keep them all alive by working or stealing what they need to live. It doesn’t take long for them to evolve into a mini vigilante group.

Aizawa becomes familiar with the messy group of short vigilantes that seem to bounce from prefecture to prefecture every second day, to the point that the force is pretty sure one of them has a teleportation quirk because they don’t seem to have any kind of home base. He’s completely uninterested in trying to arrest them in the beginning – they aren’t hurting anyone and are not half bad at what they do.

That changes when he meets them.

Battered and bleeding out in a rainy alley with a villain looming over him with a knife, Aizawa is pretty sure this is the night he dies. The knife swings back, glinting in the streetlights as he tries in vain to scramble backwards with heavy limbs. It never connects. The villain jerks back as a brilliant blue plume of flame cuts him off, burning the tips of his hair. Not expecting backup the villain bolts. Aizawa feels small hands helping him into a sitting position – his stomach starts to sink. When the short masked figure with curly hair speaks he feels his heart turn to ice. The figure couldn’t be older than 11, probably closer to 10.

He wakes up in the hospital and he makes it his mission to save these kids.

Ghost All Might is having a rough time. His boy is in danger and the best he can do is rattle windows and trip sprinting villains. He can’t help them enough.

He has a plan though.

He warns Izuku that he’ll be gone for a while and to keep safe without him and he goes out scouting. Being invisible and impermeable is normally a curse but when trying to find a paranoid 200-year-old super villain? It’s pretty damn useful. It takes months but eventually he’s not only tracked down All for One’s main hideout he’s also memorised his schedule. It’s nothing impressive considering the man is still mostly bedbound after what All Might did to him, but he won't be a pushover. It’s a start, though.

Izuku cries tears of joy when he sees All Might again and cries even more when he shares what he found. It’s do or die time. He offers every one of his friends the chance to split now because there is a good chance they’ll die, but none of them wants to leave him. With that, he starts planning.

They’ll need Eraserhead, no bones about it. Without him, there would be no way to strike the final blow. They spend a few weeks refining their stealth then they seek Aizawa out.

They knew he’d have a price for helping them, but they never expected it would be so high, but simultaneously so kind. In exchange for his help and a vow of silence he wants each child to let him help them, to find them a safe place to live, a school to go to – a future. Izuku has spent his whole life being told he doesn’t have a future, from when he was diagnosed quirkless to the almost 2 years spent on the run from Japan’s most dangerous villain. He’s still not sure he’ll have one, even with All for One dead, but he knows he wants his friends to grow up happy and safe.

He accepts.

With Aizawa’s help, with Dabi and Toga clearing the way and Shinsou standing in the wings as the last resort, Izuku kills All for One as he sleeps. Nothing flashy, nothing fancy, just quiet footsteps, a sharp knife and shaking hands.

Aizawa is horrified this child just killed someone in front of him, but Izuku is sobbing and All for One is notorious in underground circles so he keeps his quirk up until the blood stops flowing from his neck. He takes the children and flees.

#bnha au #full au #your blessings are your curses au #all might #aizawa shouta #midoriya izuku #dabi #shinsou hitoshi #toga himiko

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your-brilliant-lady-m · 3 years

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Part 4 - Basic Concepts of Miraculous Ladybug: Glamour

You can call it however you want: kid's show logic, superhero disguise logic, magical girl show logic, cartoon laws, suspension of disbelief, etc. But the fact that nobody recognises Marinette, Adrien and others when they are suited up IS NOT BAD WRITING. It's one of the main laws of this genre. That's not because characters are stupid, okay? So, being frustrated that everyone in the show acts stupid about this "wearing a mask that covers only eyes" trope is strange. This criticism is not valid or fair.

But, this trope has to make sense in-universe as a worldbuilding and narrative element.

Miraculous doesn't give us much direct information on how glamour works. And in this case, I think we need both SHOW and TELL. Because if you don't establish the glamour rules clearly, you are going to run into problems and create unfortunate implications with your storytelling choices.

Appearance

Miraculous obviously gives our heroes magical glamour. In "Lady WiFi" we find out that masks can't be taken off. It's magic. No other explanation is needed.

Miraculous can slightly change the appearance of users (eyes, face shape, height and hairstyles). People can identify and notice the hairstyles of heroes (numerous Ladybug wigs, statue in Copycat). Jagged Stone points out the change of hair when he mistakes Chloe for Ladybug ("Antibug"). But it's just a costume. There is no magic that prevents Jagged from understanding that Chloe isn't Ladybug. So, how does it work? But it's forgivable because it's cartoon logic. Suspension of disbelief works here, I suppose. I won't judge this too harshly.

Glamour also obviously prevents people from making a connection that Marinette and Ladybug have identical hairstyles. So people know that Ladybug wears her hair in pigtails, but magic does not allow them to notice similarities.

Another important question. Does glamour work on Kwamis? Can they see who is behind the mask?

New York Special makes it clear that magic does not affect robots and they can see through glamour. Does that mean that Markov, AI built by Max, knows the identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir? And it's never addressed.

Plagg in "Frightningale" says that holders can subconsciously choose their superhero appearance. This is actually pretty interesting and I like this idea a lot. Except the show is not consistent with this. The transformation of Master Fu looks identical to Nathalie's. And we have seen how different from each other Ladybug and Black Cat holders looked in the past. At the same time, Master Fu and Nino have different takes on Turtle superhero suit.

Age Glamour

Does age glamour exist? Do people see Ladybug, Chat Noir and other heroes as adults even when they look like teenagers to the audience (their height and build are smaller even when they are transformed)? Is that why no one ever questions the fact that children nearly die on a daily basis?

I mentioned unfortunate implications earlier. Well, this is where they come into play. Let's talk about "Copycat". A lot of people discussed it before me, so I won't bore you with details.

When I watched "Copycat" for the first time Theo's crush on Ladybug didn't bother me, because I thought that he sees Ladybug as his peer, a girl who is about 20-23 years old. Theo is an artist, his character design is that of an adult. He has his own studio, its appearance indicates that he did serious commissions in the past. The guy has no idea that Ladybug is like 13.

But then we get "Heroes' Day" and "Ladybug". And Hawkmoth calls them "kids", which means that there is no age glamour. Others see Ladybug and Chat Noir as teenagers. Perhaps, other Miraculous users aren't affected by age glamour. Therefore regular people see all heroes as adults but other heroes are able to guess their age more or less correctly. But you must spell this thing out because the audience can interpret "Copycat" differently. If there is no age glamour, then Theo is crushing on a teenage girl and he is fully aware of this fact. And this doesn't look good for your show.

The "No Age Glamour" theory is further confirmed in "Sapotis" where Alya just straight up analyses voice recordings and says that Ladybug is a girl their age. If glamour exists then it should also cover technology. Kwami can't be photographed. Face and voice recognition software shouldn't be able to analyse transformed superheroes and detect their identities in any way.

Besides, after "Sapotis" Alya should definitely be sure that Ladybug is not 5000 years old (also not an adult), especially after she wore Miraculous herself and was one door away from detransformed Ladybug.

SEASON 4 UPDATE! There's no age glamour after all.

In "Furious Fu" Su Han calls Chat Noir a child without knowing his identity. It means that everyone knows their superheroes are teenagers. "Copycat" can't be saved from that, uh, subtext anymore. No one questions the danger of their job or the balance of their lives outside of the mask. No one doubts their competence after "Origins" ever again. No one becomes annoyed after being bossed around by two teenagers in spandex. You had many opportunities to drop these details into the narrative. Someone could have been akumatized over this (I will not be ordered around by some magical kids!).

I don't know why writers decided not to use at least this idea and slightly adjust "Copycat" if they got rid of the age glamour completely. It can be explained as kid's show logic, but unfortunately, I'm reluctant to do it. If many characters sympathise with akuma victims on-screen, why not with the teenage superheroes who must fight them?

New York Special had this weird focus on collateral damage out of nowhere (the damage done by sentimonster Robostus) and yet it has 0 effect on the main story. No one in Paris is pissed that their 2 teenage protectors weren't there.

Ironically, "Furious Fu" and that one remark made by Su Han also created unfortunate implications for other moments in the show. Just hear me out. Apparently, Jagged Stone wrote a "thank you" song for Ladybug knowing that she is 13-15 year old child back in "Pixelator". Fandom is more than happy to roast Lila for lying about saving Jagged Stone's cat and him writing her a "thank you" song. Fandom claims that Lila's tale could harm Jagged's reputation, when he wrote a song for teenage Ladybug several weeks prior. Meanwhile, in-universe this lie is 100% believable.

If we put on "realism glasses", then both this whole song situation and Theo's crush in "Copycat" have uncomfortable implications. However, the show's canon can't be viewed and criticised through "realism glasses". I admit that bits and pieces of my criticisms are affected by these "glasses", but, ultimately, I'm trying to be fair and concentrate only on things that can't be justified by "cartoon logic and worldbuilding".

Could the existence of age glamour solve this problem of unfortunate implications and other concerns mentioned above? YES. Is it better for the narrative? YES. Is essential for the story? NOT QUITE. Could the absence of age glamour be called an irredeemable storytelling flaw? NO.

Disclaimer: On a side note, only older audience can notice these implications. Children, the target audience, most likely won't understand this subtext simply because they don't have enough experience. So, perhaps, this criticism is unfair, because these moments only look weird to me as an adult. It's like an adult joke in a cartoon that you don't get until you reach a certain age.

There's nothing technically wrong with adult writing a "thank you" song for a teenager. It's just an expression of gratitude. However, unfortunately, we live in a world, where adults normally wouldn't write songs for teens to express gratitude only. In real life similar actions would imply pedophilia and would be actively scorned by the public. No one would risk their reputation like that even if their intentions were genuinely pure and sincere. But this show can't be viewed through "realism glasses", because it's a cartoon and in certain cases we as the audience must use suspension of disbelief and pretend that certain things are possible for plot to happen.

Su Han also wants to give Ladybug and Black Cat to adults. Why didn't Master Fu do this then? Writers don't give us any explanation. Throughout the show we never question this up until the moment it's revealed that adults don't have time-limited powers. Then comes "Furious Fu". Story suddenly becomes self-aware here. Because apparently nothing prevented Fu from giving the most powerful Miraculous to adults who won't have time limit and will be more effective against Hawkmoth (see part 3 for more details).

I have a very good example of Age Glamour done right. It works in the story. There is no confusion or unfortunate implications. There is like one plothole connected to the glamour (it's been years and I still can't forgive them for Cornelia and Caleb) but otherwise, it's a pretty solid example of both show and tell. Clearly, writers wanted to avoid uncomfortable implications which are present in "Copycat". I am talking about W.I.T.C.H. comic books and animated series.

If you are not familiar with it, I'll give you a brief explanation. The story follows 5 girls, the Guardians of Kandrakar who are chosen to protect their world and parallel ones from evil. They receive magical powers from the amulet known as the Heart of Kandrakar. Their powers are based on elements: fire, water, earth, air and energy. Our main characters are about 13-15 years old. In the animated series they are younger and they attend middle school, making them 12-14 years old. But the transformation makes them look 18-20. They look like young women to each other and to other people. At the same time, people can recognise them, their looks and voice don't change. Most people don't know that they are really teenagers when they are not transformed and these people don't know that magic can make them look older. That's why everyone treats Guardians like adults when they are transformed. Comics establish this fact in the very beginning. In first issues characters state that they look older, we are also shown this multiple times.

In fact, one of the first side plots revolves around the fact that Irma uses her powers to sneak into the disco club to meet up with her crush. Irma is 13 at the beginning of the series, she is a high school freshman. Her crush, Andrew Hornby is a senior guy 17-18 years old. Irma has liked him for a long time and wants to impress him, so she decides to be clever about this. She transforms into her Guardian form of the 18-year-old girl, hides her wings, sneaks out to the club after her parents are asleep without any problem, and meets Andrew, who obviously doesn't recognise Irma in this girl who looks about his age. Smitten Andrew offers her a ride and 13-year-old Irma doesn't understand the implication of that offer, so she accepts. And, obviously, he decides that she is interested in more than just a ride home, since she agreed, and the comic implies that he fully intended for them to have sex in the backseat of his car. But Irma understands the implication only when Andrew tries to kiss her. She panics and turns him into a frog. And she actually pulls this "I need to look mature" trick more than once over the course of the series.

It's not the only situation where this age difference is handled well and makes sense. People who know the main characters in everyday life remark on their older appearance during transformation. Sometimes people flirt with Guardians when they are transformed. In one of the side-novels centred around Cornelia, she is worried that the prince of the realm they helped to save from famine would try to marry her. That never happens, but Cornelia actually brainstorms with her friends about how to tell the prince that she is really 15.

There are many other plot points where this happens, but I think that you got the idea. I really like how "Age Glamour" was handled in W.I.T.C.H.

How do we fix this? Create the situations where people offhandedly mention "Age Glamour" in the presence of Marinette or Adrien, use Kwami for this.

"Don't worry, dear. Chat Noir and Ladybug are adults, who know what they are doing. I am sure that they will handle this. "

Theo could say: "Oh, I wonder which university Ladybug goes to?"

"So, does that mean that other people see us as grown-ups, Tikki?"

A few words and boom, problem solved. Then allow the "show don't tell" rule do the rest.

#miraculous ladybug #ml #miraculous analysis #miraculous meta #ml meta #ml analysis #miraculous transformations #miraculous critical #miraculous ladybug critical #miraculous glamour #superhero glamour #miraculoustalesofladybugandcatnoir

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sheepprophet · 3 years

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/rp obv and /lh for the most part!

My thinking out loud for who Ranboo could trust with the enderwalk state, in no particular order:

A. Tommy. Probably one of the most obvious choices imo. He's proven to Ranboo specifically that he can be trusted to protect him in a similar situation (the trial about George's house being griefed where Tommy took the fall for him). I think Ranboo knows that Tommy can keep a secret. And Tommy isnt really on any sides at the moment - apart from his friendship with Tubbo which would probably his one loose end that could end up being a deal breaker for Ranboo. I legit think Tommy is objectively the best choice for this job (and i wanna see akward duo reunite as much as the next guy), but we gotta keep in mind who we're dealing with. Ranboo's likely not going to be think of Tommy as someone who's divorced himself from basically all conflict and is just trying to better himself. He's so paranoid about this exact issue, he's probably going to default to thinking Tommy is essentially just between sides right now. Plus, like I said, Ranboo didn't say he needs someone who "isnt on any side", he said he needs someone who's "detached". While Tommy definitely fills the former, he definitly doesn't fill the latter.

B. A lot of chat was suggesting Techno and/or Phil? Which?? My dudes??? No???? Yeah sure they probably wouldn't care, but Ranboo has made it pretty clear that he's really cautious about telling them things like this in fear that one day, they might care. Plus, when they say they don't care, they really mean it. To be honest, I dont think c!Techno or c!Phil are good people to be that vulnerable to? Mainly because this is something that Ranboo is going to need unprompted reassurance with and I dont really think either of them would think to do that? Plus, they're very much on a side, that being their own. When Ranboo says detached, I think he means really detached (or at least as much as humanly possible on this SMP).

C. Fundy. This one is odd because I could totally see it happening, but I can just as easily see it not. Ranboo and Fundy established a pretty strong bond throughout December, but after Doomsday it completely fell through for them both. They clearly still care about each other and that bond is definitely still there, but its been damaged and they've both been afraid to be the first to make an effort to mend it. I genuinely believe if they would just talk, they'd be back to normal in like 10 minutes. But they'd need to talk first and in this case I think Ranboo would be the one to start the conversation, which he's shown discomfort in doing before. However, if they could bridge this gap, l think Fundy would be a very good choice (as long as he could take it seriously). Obviously, Ranboo can trust Fundy on an emotional level and we know Fundy can keep a secret (almost too well) because of the whole A Spy's Diary situation. Fundy also said himself that he currently has no alliances on the smp, aside from probably Ranboo and Ranboo knows this. Additionally, Fundy is one of the only people, along with Puffy, and of course Dream, who have canonically seen him in his enderwalk state. (Tommy did notice him wandering around like he was in it once, but Ranboo hasn't acknowledged that time as canon, so idk). Anyway, I think Fundy would be a pretty solid choice if they can just get their shit together and finally make up.

D. Karl? I see where y'all are coming from with this one and listen, I would also love to see these to interact and bond over their respective memory issues, bookkeeping, and disrealization problems. But, I hate to break it to you that c!Ranboo literally has no clue about any of that. No one does. Karl hasn't told anybody about his ability to time travel and atm doesnt have any plans to. Granted, Ranboo could choose him for other reasons, but I highly doubt it, honestly?

E. Wilbur? I know what i just said, but Hear Me Out. He's not revived right now and we don't know when he will be or what he'll even be like when/if he is. But, a few things we can guarantee is that when/if he is he'll be one of the most detached people on the server (both politically and probably emotionally), he'd have no qualms with helping out Ranboo even if he does turn out to be some awful war criminal, and, based on his interactions with Ghostbur, I think Ranboo might be willing to trust him. And probably my biggest argument for why i like this crack theory: If Wilbur remembers all of the shit he did, that means he'll be one of the few people who would be able to relate to Ranboo. He knows what it's like to have Dream take advantage of your poor/deteriorating mental health and talk you into commiting acts of terrorism. Wilbur also would know what it's like to feel like you can't trust anyone, including yourself, and he could relate to Ranboo's disrealization he's been experiencing. Plus, I just think getting to see these two interact like this would be neat idk. Definitely not going to happen, but I thought I'd inculde the idea here!

F. Eret. Fuck dude, I really want Ranboo to go to Eret about this. Like first of all, Eret is functionally detached from everything right now (I mean that's why Dream has put them on the throne twice now). All Eret cares about is helping those who need it, which would include Ranboo. I also think Ranboo knows he can trust Eret and we all know Eret would be such a sweetheart about comforting the kid, while also understanding the seriousness of the situation and treating it as such. Something that I also thought was interesting was Ranboo emphasizing that it would be ideal if the person has "kept a secret before". Now, Fundy has also kept a big secret before (again, A Spy's Diary), but ya know who was the one other person who knew about Fundy's spy plan and kept the secret (which was someone else's) just as well? Eret. And of course, the reason Eret was the first person who came to mind for me: Eret betrayed L'manberg all that time ago and, obviously, had to keep it a secret and did with ease, even at a time when the writing couldn't protect it for them. Point is, Eret checks this box multiple times over and gets a gold star on it. On the note of Eret's betrayal, what I said about Wilbur knowing what it's like to be used by Dream to commit terrorism/war crimes, also applies to Eret. It's often forgotten that Eret was actually the first person to be used and manipulated by Dream. Eret wanted respect and power and when Dream found out, he promised it to them in the form of a flimsy title and fancy crown in exchange for turning on their friends, Eret took it. They then regretted it almost instantly. Point is, Eret can not only help Ranboo through this with the care and respect he requires, but can also do so by being able to relate to Ranboo on a personal level, which I think Ranboo would respond to. Eret is sort of the closest Ranboo could have to having someone represent what he's afraid he could become - someone who's seen as a filthy traitor and nothing more, never able to earn back the love and respect of their friends. But, Eret could show him that, with time and a lot of effort, he's worthy of forgivess just like they were. I also really want this for Eret. Let Eret be able to use the experience that they view as their biggest mistake, followed by months of paying for it, as a way to be able to help this kid that's grappling with some pretty heavy problems. It would be so healing for the both of them.

#dream smp #dsmp #dream smp analysis #dream smp theory #sorta #im more spitballing here lol #ranboo #tommyinnit #wilbur soot #fundy #itsfundy #fundylive #fundy why are you like this just pick some branding #eret #i just noticed this tag ive apparently used before that feels relevant:#hot take: eret was the first person to fall victim to dreams manipulation and has been paying for it ever since #im so big brain /j

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twistedapple · 4 years

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On Pomefiore

[Note: Tumblr being Tumblr, I’ll put the links and due credits in a reblog; also, partially under the cut because it’s a bit long]

This post is something that has been brewing for a while now – my more observant followers will know when it started based on a certain tag. To preface this write up, I’d like to precise that I have been motivated in working on it because of the way Pomefiore was being received when I joined the fandom. Since then it has been followed by certain beliefs that – while being qualified as headcanons, which is perfectly fair and fine in itself – tend to be treated as actual gospel. It’s not a thing specific to the Twst fandom mind you, it happens in most fandoms – heck I still keep an eye on the KHR fandom and there are still people regularly making posts about mischaracterisation, and that fandom has been around for at least ten years. So I’m not here to preach, but to clarify a few things regarding what Pomefiore represents as a dorm, as well as provide a comprehensive commentary on its associated characters.

First belief: Pomefiore is the shallow dorm of pretty people.

But is it? The very first thing we learn about Pomefiore is that it’s the dorm of Hard Workers and other Overachievers, right in the prologue. This dorm is presented as built on the hard work of the Fair Queen, and she’s regularly taken as an example of how one should conduct oneself – especially by Vil, who expresses a lot of admiration and respect in his lesson chats, and clearly treats her as a model to follow in order to reach perfection.

Now you may think “but Crow, the very first thing we learn about the students is that they look impeccable and polish their appearance”. And you would be right; it is indeed how the students of that dorm are presented. However, let me expand a bit on this thought by making something clear: there’s what the dorm is defined as, and then there’s the path each dorm leader decides to follow. To give a few examples, we see Riddle follow the rules of the Queen of Heart to the letter, and dole out punishment whenever these rules are broken – to the point it impedes the students, who can’t use their magic in an environment where it is required. We see Leona applying the Might is Right type of thinking, which leads to Savanaclaw students being often depicted as bullies (and let’s not talk about the Magift tournament...). Azul, under the pretence of benevolence, is actually ruthless in the way he binds people to his contracts – it’s also shown that the Leech brothers act as his enforcers, either by forcing people into deals (during exam periods, as shown at the start of Episode 3) or by reclaiming the due payment of the contract in more or less pleasant ways (Jade being the local master manipulator, while Floyd canonically states that he finds the breaking of bones a more efficient method). Are you seeing where this is going? As a dorm leader, Vil applies his own views on his fellow Pomefiore students; his views happen to include appearances because he aims to be perfect in every way and has a professional background that justifies it. Is it fair to go as far as he is going when it comes to pressuring other students? Of course it isn’t, it’s the whole point of showing him slapping Epel for what he deems an inappropriate behaviour (see Epel’s Ceremonial Card). It sets the conflict of the dorm – and I personally dig how this major narrative bit is hidden in a story... Which brings us to the other point, the meta aspect of Pomefiore. It’s based on Snow White, a story that relies heavily... On appearances. Now let me ask you: is it really surprising to have a dorm based on such story have a focus on appearances as well? And we even get to see different aspects of it: Vil focuses on the tiniest details to be as polished as possible, Rook has a deep love for change and fleeting moments, Epel can turn something nobody wants into something highly desirable (carving damaged apples to sell them better). Pomefiore is the dorm of transformations – both literal and metaphorical -, a fascinating concept in my opinion and a brilliant idea for a solid narrative arc.

Second belief: Vil is a horrible, narcissistic person, but he will also play dress-up/makeup

Let’s sit for a second there, because there are many things to unpack. Now, what do we know about the fairest of all dorm leaders? Well, quite a lot, for someone who has yet to properly appear in the main story! The very first thing we learn about him is that he has a whooping 5 million followers on Magicam – which is massive and not a number you reach while sitting on your hands and waiting for something to happen. This is such an impressive number that we even get to see various reactions to it, from being very impressed to trying to use that fame for personal purposes. Through reading the stories in which he appears, we get to learn some interesting things about Vil: generally speaking, he fits perfectly the image of the consummate professional. In Jade’s SSR story, we get a solid peek into his life and the man has a busy schedule. He juggles daily with his duties as a student, a dorm leader, an influencer and a professional model – these things take time and he manages to go from one duty to the other with both the ease of someone who’s used to it and the precise organisation of someone with a solid head on his shoulders as well as an incredibly strong work ethic and drive. Speaking from personal experience with the modelling part and an informed opinion on the influencer part, these two fields alone aren’t easy to handle at all. Being an influencer can be very cutthroat (as a certain beauty community has been demonstrating since last year...), and being a professional model requires a lot of drive and dedication, as well as major self-care in regard to both your body and your mental health, because those are the tools of your trade as a model. In consequence, Vil as a dorm leader focuses on appearances as a result of heavy intellectual work to honour the Fair Queen he so highly respects (he says so in his voicelines: “True beauty is determined by strong intellect. You can always doctor your looks, but your true colors will still shine through right away.”), but Vil as a person is also extremely focused on his appearance because he’s doing his job. It’s not narcissism, it’s professionalism. And with his Ceremonial Robes story, we even get to learn that he was ostracised in his hometown for being a performer, yet he kept going and working to reach his goals. For someone who’s only 18 years old, this is an exceptional display of drive, discipline and maturity.

Vil has the highest standards for himself, but because he comes from pretty damn far, he also expects other people to be capable of showing the same degree of determination to achieve their goals. He expresses that in various ways, from being openly displeased with Leona’s general negligence (with Ruggie doing all the work in the background – see Leona’s school uniform story and Ruggie’s lab coat story), to being unimpressed by the new Pomefiore students and getting ready to whip them in a shape he’ll deem desirable as soon as he lays his eyes on them. He’s also highly critical of people going for the easy way out: in his school uniform story, he not only criticises Cater for trying to use him for his own five seconds of fame by buttering him up, but he also emphasises the fact that his services aren’t free. Emphasis on that: Vil isn’t a charity. He isn’t the sort of person with whom you’ll mutually brush your hair while sharing smoothie recipes. Rook is more likely to be the one up to that sort of thing, because Rook is nice and a good senior (see: Rook’s ceremonial robes story). Vil, on the other hand, encourages a lot to try and learn on your own, to use your own head in order to create your own brand (see his lab coat voicelines). He’ll be more enclined to help only after you started doing a part of the job independently and showed you can think and act for yourself. And even then, he’ll likely kick your ass to push you to keep up, because behind all the sparkles and lustre Vil is very much depicted as an overbearing Drill Sergeant. Like I pointed out earlier, it’s heavily hinted that he didn’t get where he is by waiting for good fortune to come by. He works for his success daily and expects other people to do the same. Does it seem like a rather unfair treatment? Sure, but at the same time it provides a great learning opportunity for those willing to put up with it, and Vil offers it in a surprisingly selfless manner: there is an open concern about the way people present themselves, and how they can do it to be their best self at all time.

Interestingly, it creates a peculiar dynamic with his vice dorm leader, Rook. There’s a constant sway between them, with Vil bluntly telling him he can be easily replaced if he fails in his duties, while still relying on him more than Rook relies on him in return – in fact, Rook pretty much follows his own path, and Vil happens to be a very nice view along that path so Rook decided to stop and hang out for a bit, but he still checks his surroundings for other nice views. So while Rook puts up with Vil’s tight requirements (see Rook’s ceremonial robes story, where Floyd cleverly observes that he doesn’t seem that fond of the perfume Vil created for him and forces him to wear during ceremonies), he’s also the one taking actual charge of the new students (see when he checks on Epel in his ceremonial robes story, or when he offers his support during the Ghost Marriage event) and trying to smooth things out when Vil is being too rough (see Vil’s ceremonial robes story). Interestingly, it leads to a communication issue between these two, fueled by what looks very much like a unilateral dependant relationship on Vil’s part, no matter how much he denies it. He rejects Rook through threats of replacing him, yet fully trusts his eyes and sincerity, yet this very sincerity is the reason why Vil doesn’t fully open up to Rook (see Vil’s lab coat story, he goes to Trey to vent about Rook’s lack of consideration) and uses a Harsh Commanding Queen attitude to hide his own insecurities from the eyes of the person who can see them best. It’s likely not helped by the fact that Vil is aware that he needs Rook more than Rook needs him – it’s obvious when reading the latter’s profile: Rook likes his privacy, and while he keeps putting his nose in other people’s business (not out of malice, but genuine curiosity), he’s notoriously deemed annoying by characters like Leona and Malleus because of his overly curious yet inconsiderate nature. There’s a selfishness in Rook which protects him from getting fully controlled by Vil, I’ll repeat myself here but I’d rather insist on that: Rook willingly decided to follow Vil, it means he has the power to refuse him as well (which is very much like... Oh, the Huntsman in Snow White – though in his case specifically, there’s also variations in which his family is held hostage and all, while Rook makes his own decisions).

This entire situation is heavily fueled by Vil’s need for control. As aforementioned, he focuses on the tiniest details and holds complete control over everything that makes his life what it is: from the type of makeup he picks to every single component used in the meals he prepares himself, Vil has a clear need for full control, and it’s reflected in the way he interacts with other students, as well as in the way he handles even his club activities. Vil isn’t just a model, influencer and even actor, in the film study club he works as a director and in one of his stories (lab coat), he’s even shown to create the special effects himself, because only he can provide for his own desires in the most exact fashion. This is where his little “I can replace you easily” becomes funny, because it translates his need for control without really holding since Rook is the one with the most agency in the relationship. In comparison, in Silver’s PE uniform story, Silver is treated like a pawn and Vil even berates Malleus in front of him because Silver dares deny him (how dare he have his own agency instead of being a nice prop who should feel honoured to be selected). Interestingly, Silver also compares Vil’s way of doing things to something martial. AhemDrillSergeantVilahem. In this story, the interesting point is that things finally start working well when Vil stops considering his own vision and decides to look beyond it a bit: taking Silver’s actual abilities into consideration, he finally has a scene that works. It works because he loosened the control a bit – while Silver went along with it but remained vocal the whole time about where his own skills lie.

While the relationship between Vil and Rook, as well as Vil and the rest of the Pomefiore dorm, have been holding through a quietly tense status quo, there is one pebble - dare I say, one potato - who is more than willing to challenge the whole situation through open defiance and a strong will: Epel. He has been set by the narration to be the catalyst to an incoming breaking point, because he wants to live his life to the beat of his own drum, yet remains a teen still in need of a journey of self-discovery. It’s illustrated in how he misunderstands the point of Pomefiore by only looking at the surface - something Vil reproaches, which is why he even talks about his need for more self-awareness in the lesson chats. Of course, Vil uses his own language (beauty) to get his point across, but the underlying point is that Epel has yet to reach a certain degree of self-realisation - such as the fact he is free to try and work hard to become beefier (Vil wouldn’t object as long as he puts in the necessary efforts), or that he is a good fit in Pomefiore because he has the drive to reach his goals and gives himself the means to do so (high awareness, anyone?). Basically, he’s the example of Vil’s communication issues: Vil’s martial nature tends to drown the actual meaning of his motivational speeches. Paradoxically, when dealing with someone like Epel, it actually fuels the teen through spite, which is both comical and quite impressive given Epel’s results (reminder of his own lab coat story, in which he manages to impress Crewel, a man made from the same fabric as Vil, with his formidable results through hard work). However, this form of motivation isn’t healthy, and just like with Rook, a good, long talk is needed to create a better understanding - instead of forcing his Tyranny of Beauty on others.

Bonus point, because I really want to address it

For some time now, I’ve been vocal about my personal feelings regarding the reception of Pomefiore and its characters. While it became more positive since June, it still tends to miss the point for a reason I’d like to address: the Not Like The Other Girls mentality and how it specifically affects the way Vil and his own femininity are perceived.

While I am not invalidating this thinking as part of a larger growth process, I think it has been unfairly used against Pomefiore. In a way, it’s very much the way Epel reacts: it’s just a Pretty People Dorm led by an Annoying Pretty Boy, and Savanaclaw is cooler. However, this is not only superficial, it puts a judgement of value that means that one has to be put down for the other to shine. In other words, Vil as a character is undervalued because his way of life - which matches traditionally feminine occupations, hell he’s even using a feminine pronoun - has been associated with vanity, narcissism, and superficiality by the fandom. To get my point across, let me provide you with quotes from some of our most brilliant minds:

“Woman wants to be independent […] this is one of the worst developments in the general uglification of Europe. Woman has so much reason for shame; in woman there is concealed so much superficiality, petty presumption and petty immodesty – one needs only to study her behaviour with children!” - Nietzsche

“What is truth to a woman? From the very first nothing has been more alien, repugnant, inimical to woman than truth - her great art is the lie, her supreme concern is appearance and beauty” - Nietzsche (again)

“A man’s face is his autobiography. A woman’s face is her work of fiction.” - Oscar Wilde

“All the pursuits of men are the pursuits of women also, but in all of them a woman is inferior to a man.” - Plato

“As regards the sexes, the male is by nature superior and the female inferior, the male ruler and the female subject” - Aristotle

Do you see where I’m going with that? Because he has an occupation focused on appearance, something historically associated with women, Vil should be… Less? Should be negative? Even though he is quite vocal about it being a mere result of a much deeper work on himself, throughout his voicelines, lesson chats and personal stories? It’s not vanity, it’s not narcissism. It’s Vil expressing himself through the age old art forms of fashion, skincare and makeup. How, and why it being focused on something external should be less? It’s especially obvious when you stop and consider Vil’s own testimony: he has been ostracized by his own community for being a performer. His appearance is as much a mask as it is a proof of everything that preceded it – him saving himself with his own means and work. It’s both a protection and a result that he proudly brandishes – and he absolutely can afford the arrogance to do so, considering his achievements at such a young age (reminder, again, that he’s 18 years old, despite being very disillusioned with life already). Why should it be less that? Vil’s inclination towards appearances is both his truth and his fiction, that’s what the narrative tells us - and there’s nothing bad about that.

I guess I’m especially tired of this point because I’ve had to deal with that thinking pattern myself irl, for evolving in similar fields/similar hobbies, and it’s frustrating to see that sort of close mindedness. It’s infuriating. So, that’s a more personal aspect of my rant... But here we are.

#twisted wonderland #disney twisted wonderland #twst #pomefiore #vil schoenheit #rook hunt #epel felmier #now that pomefiore is deemed a fashionable dorm by the fandom lol

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twistedtummies2 · 3 years

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Can I just ask how you make your ocs interesting? I’m trying to make my own Twst oc and he’s going to be a big eater himself, so what qualities could I give him to make him seem interesting?

Ooooh...okay, this is a HARD one to answer. So...buckle in, this will proooobably be long. 'XD First and foremost...I never SET OUT to make my characters "interesting." If...that makes sense? Here's the thing about writing advice from me: I'm bad at it. LOL It's not like writing is easy for me (it REALLY isn't) and it's not like there aren't certain things I try to keep in mind and ideas and concepts and even rules I follow...it's just that, in the moment of creating a character, I'm usually just...creating a character. And how that happens can work in a variety of different ways. Also, what makes a character "interesting" can be so many different things. It's not like there's some magic wand of interesting-making-power that I have. So...I guess what I can tell you is that there are a few things I keep in mind when I'm making my own TW OCs. The main ones, that is - including my preds and Chief Jehan (since he's the only recurring non-pred OC I have in my gallery CURRENTLY; I have another I'm actually planning to write about after I finish Nakoda's next big work, WHICH WILL BE DONE, I PROMISE YOU). First of all, I don't know if your OC is a TRUE OC or based on a Disney character. There are, of course, original characters in TW: Jack doesn't seem to come from anywhere specific, and it's hard to tell with several other characters. For example, most of the Heartslabyul students are clearly based on the Card Guards from Alice in Wonderland, but those characters in the film (and book) are really one solid unit, so they really do come across as original characters with a Card Guard motif beyond anything else. If your character is purely original, all you have to do is make sure they fit the style of this universe. If your OC is - as all of mine so far, and most in general, tend to be - a reimagining of a popular Disney Villain or other Disney Character, then you first have to look at what makes this villain who they are. All of the Night Raven students who are based on such characters - and that is the vast majority of them - have the sort of creative DNA of those characters in their personalities, motivations, and even appearance. Even with someone like Idia, there's a little something of Hades there; Leona takes a LOT from Scar; Azul goes in a somewhat different direction from Ursula (he's more like Mephistopheles or an old-time-gangster), but the basic idea of his modus operandi and elements of his look are found with her, as well. See what elements you think are most important to keep or throw out. And you WILL have to throw stuff out: the Disney Villains are usually pure evil. That's part of their appeal. Very few of them have much empathy or sympathy, what makes them interesting is usually just how much they ENJOY what they do, and how creatively they're handled, and how delectably they're voiced. No one watches Scar kill his own brother and try to murder a small child and thinks he's in the right; that's about the point where we stop finding him funny and instead think he's a right old git. But OH, how we love watching "Be Prepared," how we love seeing him toy with and tease people, and how we relish how much FUN Jeremy Irons is clearly having with every SYLLABLE of his dialogue. With Twisted Wonderland, the whole point of the "villains" of Night Raven is they really aren't villains at all. They're not always good people, but they aren't always bad, either. They all have sad and sympathetic origin stories, they all have understandable reasons for why they do the terrible things they do, and we like to see how they learn from their mistakes and even become friends and helpers to us. They are rounded, flawed people, not demons or lost causes. Your OC should be the same: someone the audience can understand on a fundamental level and find a way to latch onto. These characters can be dangerous, at times downright evil, but they should also be characters we care about: that's a BIG part of their identity, pretty much universally. Going back to Scar: with Leona, the first big change for his character is that he

legitimately cares for his family. Yes, he's annoyed by his nephew, and yes, he resents his big brother, but he makes it clear (perhaps without trying to, because Chernabog forbid he ADMITS having empathy) he does still love them. That, ultimately, above all else, is what separates him from his inspiration: Scar will kill and backstab anyone and enjoy it. Leona still has the capacity to care about other living creatures. Find what makes your inspiration tick, and then "twist" it up: if they're greedy, WHY are they greedy? If they're gluttons, is there anything you can add to that? If you can't find a way to justify your character, then you should probably consider trying a different one. Also, do try to stick with Disney characters. I guess there's nothing to say you can't do other franchises and such, but it feels like cheating to me to include non-Disney properties in a place like this. Then again, Disney freaking owns HALF THE BLOODY PLANET at this point, so that won't be too hard, I guess. :P Anyway...one last word of note: one very hard part is finding a way to make your character unique. I've come to find people have actually made a few different Kaa OCs, but none are the same as Nakoda. If you're familiar with people doing a lot of different versions of the same character, then make sure you're doing something that is truly your own: don't just riff off of someone else's work. Nako may be based on the same character as some of those others, but he's aaallllll mine. If you're not aware of it...then don't worry about it! Don't look it up, don't be discouraged, don't fret! Trust me, the more you freak out about if other people have had the same idea, the less inclined you'll be to try, and/or the more influenced you'll be. Just do what YOU like best. On top of that, be careful your character isn't too similar to other characters within the TW universe: one of the reasons I haven't and likely may not ever make a Shere Khan OC is because, as of now, I don't really know what I'd do with Shere Khan that other characters don't already have, on several levels. I love Shere Khan - he's one of my favorite Furry Preds - but I don't know what I'd do to make him all my own and make him different from both the canon cast and the OCs I've already planned or created. Again, you want your character to stand out and be all your own, as well as fitting for this universe. After all that...it's all aesthetics. Their powers, their designs, their names...maybe you have those ideas first, maybe you don't know yet. It doesn't really matter where you start - Billy and Nako both started with plot concepts, Eli and Reno both started with a desire to make OCs based on certain characters - but the basic idea is, what makes a TW OC interesting is this blend of elements: they need to be unique, and they need to be understandable, and they need to fit the rules and ideas of this world. I could say SO much more, but this post is lengthy enough, and I'm under medication, so I've probably been rambling for too long as it is. 'XD If you have any other questions I can answer more easily, you're always welcome to send them along.

#ask #answer #twisted wonderland #ocs #disney #writing

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tiredspacedragon · 2 years

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The Matter of Red's Starter Pokémon

So, I've mentioned a couple times on here that I have a pretty big Pokémon WIP that's been sitting on the backburner for a while, and that I'd like to talk about it here to get some feedback/thoughts from other Pokémon fans, especially since I can rather easily think myself into a corner when all I have are my own thoughts and the internet. And I figure what better place to start than with a topic very near and dear to my heart: Starter Pokémon

(VERY big post, reader beware)

To start, let me just elaborate on what this project is. Because moderation is for the sensible, I have planned out my own complete retelling of the Pokémon story. The full timeline, across multiple regions, with a rotating cast of protagonists, Pokémon Adventures style, drawing on elements of the games, the anime, the aforementioned manga, promotional art, and various other pieces of Pokémon media to create a united whole. The Pokémon multiverse is so ridiculously vast and undefined that there really is no strict "canon" of events, so I figured why not make my own? "This will be my own version of things," I thought. "Maybe I'll even write it down someday and put it somewhere online for people to shower it with praise or laugh at it or do whatever it is people do."

So, one of the first big things to take care of in such an endeavour was to decide on teams for all of the protagonists, since most of them do not have defined teams. And so I did just that, using their appearances across various media to construct teams for them, as well as taking into account some popular fandom opinion and my own ideas for some originality. The point of building the teams this way instead of just picking and choosing whichever 'mons I felt like for them is to make them feel more authentic, like you could look at them and recognize them as legitimate versions of the Trainers they're based on, and in turn see my versions of those characters in the pieces of art, animation, etc. that they draw on. I attempted to avoid clashing with any established portrayals/teams of the characters whenever possible, unless I had a very good reason for it.

And of course, what kind of creator would I be if I didn't constantly go back and fiddle with those teams? I review them fairly regularly, often making little changes. Sometimes I make them better, sometimes not. And the one thing I seem to stumble over more than anything else is which characters get which Starter Pokémon.

For some characters, it's easy. Whether they've only ever been associated with one, or something about their appearance just screams that they belong with one of their region's three in particular, there's a clear, standout pick. For others...not so much. Maybe they've never been strongly associated with one Starter over the others, or maybe, like in the case I will be discussing today, there's a solid case to be made in favour of two or more.

And first on the list of Starter-problem-children, is the first main character, the mainest of the main protagonists, Red.

This shrimp here. At the beginning of his journey, he is presented with a choice between three Pokémon: The Grass-type Bulbasaur, the Fire-type Charmander, and the Water-type Squirtle.

And this is what I'd like some feedback on, because I'm not sure whether to give him Charmander or Bulbasaur. There's a very good case to be made for both of them, which I have outlined below. There really isn't a "right" or "wrong" choice here, I guess, but I want to be sure that I choose what's best for the story and not just whatever my personal biases direct me towards.

(Sorry Squirtle fans, the Tiny Turtle never stood a chance. You will taste no victory here, but the Squirtle Squad will live on, forever. Godspeed.)

Some General Info before getting started

As I said above, I am a pretty big fan of Starter Pokémon, so their role(s) in this story of mine will be pretty important. In line with the game-verse(s) Starter Pokémon will be extremely rare and special. If I had my way, only one of each would appear in the story ever, but given a handful of important NPCs with Starters, I can’t quite get away with that. Eventually trying to write Leon without a Charizard is a headache I don’t need to have. That said, I can still limit Starter distribution as much as possible, and I definitely won’t repeat Starters among the protagonists, so that means we’re looking at 3 Starters in Kanto, no more, no less. So while there will be occasions in which Red has all three Kanto Starters, it will be because he borrowed them from Blue and Green. Most of the time, they will have one Starter each.

While just having Red start with Pikachu would be quick and easy, I'd rather not take that route because I feel like the choice of Grass, Fire, or Water is too iconic to skip.

Disclaimer: I am using Blue and Green’s western names, making Blue the rival and Green the girl. I am doing this because I happen to live in the west and so those names are the ones by which I best know them, and because I happen to think they suit them better.

Also, yeah, Green’s here and has a role in the plot because she’s fun and I say so. I will also be treating Green and Leaf as the same character because I really see no reason not to.

The Case for Charizard

The three Kanto protags have their namesake game mascots as their aces, and that’s just some nice consistency. Aesthetically pleasing too. (Especially relevant as Red is the only version to stay constant. Blue and Green have fluctuated in name/release but a Red Version with a Charizard on the cover has always been there.)

Aligns with the following media:

One piece of early promotional artwork depicting Red and Charmander.

Pokémon Origins.

The Pokémon Anime (Ash counts as a counterpart of Red, and while his first Pokémon is Pikachu, and he catches all three Kanto Starters, Charmander stands out by being the only one to evolve, and Ash’s Charizard is easily one of his most famous ‘mons. Also lines up with Gary, a counterpart of Blue, having Blastoise as his Starter Pokémon)

By extension, the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga, which is based on the anime but diverges from it substantially. Doesn’t really deserve its own point, but definitely a mention. Again, Ash starts with Pikachu, obtains Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, and only evolves Charmander, ending up with a Charizard.

Pokémon Zensho (With Satoshi as a counterpart of Red) (Very obscure, but still counts)

Super Smash Bros (Dubious, but again, “Pokémon Trainer,” [who really is just Red] has all three Kanto Starters, but all in different forms, with only Charizard being fully evolved)

Pokémon Generations, Episode 3: The Challenger (Blue has a Blastoise, implying this episode’s Red has a Charizard)

ArtFX-J figure depicting Red with Charmander.

Pokémon Masters.

The final episode of Pokémon Evolutions.

I have a pretty solid story idea I could use for having Red start with Charmander, and eventually wind up with Charizard as his ace, but still spend a lot of time early on with the Bulbasaur line. Put very simply, after a scuffle with Team Rocket for which Red, Blue, and Green are present, the protags’ Starters get mixed up, which they don’t realize until they’ve already gone their separate ways. Red gets Green’s Bulbasaur, she gets Blue’s Squirtle, and Blue has Red’s Charmander. They’d remain this way until fairly late in the RBG story, probably until somewhere around the 8th Gym, at which point the three would finally have the opportunity and the understanding of each other to make the switch back. This storyline has a number of side benefits, including:

Charizard becomes a centerpiece in Red and Blue’s rivalry. Having been trained by both of them, emotions run high and battles between the two of them have an extra layer of depth and intensity.

Allows for early exploration of the Trainer/Starter bond and dynamic, particularly with what happens when a Trainer is paired with the “wrong” Starter. Since Starters are pretty pivotal for my story, I’ve added a few extra layers to them, including a greater need for synchronicity with their Trainers than pretty much any other kind of Pokémon. A Starter Pokémon can work with anyone, but unless it’s paired with a Trainer it can be in perfect sync with, it will not grow like it should. Notably, a Starter Pokémon will not evolve unless it’s with a Trainer that can really bring out its true strength. In the case of the Kanto trio, this means that each Trainer will be temporarily reunited with their original Starter in certain climactic moments, in which the Starters will evolve, before going back to their pro tem Trainers until the final swap-back occurs, which ensures that the bonds between the original pairings stay strong and aren’t completely erased or replaced by the new, temporary pairings.

Sets up a precedent for the Kanto protags being willing to swap around their Pokémon on occasion, which could be a fun little dynamic for them to have, and lays the base for times when Red has all three Starters, having borrowed them from the others or temporarily traded for them.

Admittedly runs three major risks, those being:

The initial mix up may prove to be difficult to pull off without it seeming contrived, forced, or just plain weird. Doable, but weird.

The swap back could be even worse to pull off well, because after spending so long with the new status quo, it may throw off hypothetical readers, or seem like a step backwards. There’d always be this little nagging desire to go back. Plus it could just come off as cold. Like “Thanks, you were great, but you’re outta here now that I have my real partner back.” And that’s really not the point, especially when I am trying to pay respect to the Red and Bulbasaur pairing, not downplay it or shit on it.

Since the swap is ultimately temporary, it may wind up feeling kind of…pointless? in the end. Like yeah, it has some lasting effects, but is it too big a stunt to pull for extra, mostly invisible depth? A gimmick more than a plot point? I honestly don’t know.

I think the personalities of the protags match those of their Starters best in this arrangement.

We know from various Pokédex entries that Charizard are competitive Pokémon that deliberately seek out strong opponents in order to test their own power and grow stronger themselves, but that they go easy on opponents they deem clearly weaker than themselves, presumably so as not to hurt them. And as for Red, aside from his trademark silence, the personality traits we can infer from his actions are that he loves Pokémon and despises anyone who mistreats them, is highly competitive, and is exceptionally determined to accomplish his goals. Competitive spirit, pursuit of strength, and a sense of honour and care for others. That sounds like a Charizard to me, not to mention the symbolism of sprouting wings and rising in a blaze of glory and all. Charizard is a pretty prototypical “Hero’s Pokémon,” and Red is a pretty typical Hero Archetype. They fit well together in that sense.

Meanwhile, Blastoise constantly has a smug expression on its face. It’s cocky, turning its snout upwards to look down on others, matching Blue’s initial attitude. It’s progression from Squirtle fits Blue as well; it starts out laid-back and fun-loving, secure in its own strength just as Blue is confident in his skills, but as it evolves, it grows more aggressive and ferocious, to the point that it sprouts actual cannons, mirroring the more direct and brutal battling style Blue takes on as he grows more and more nervous about Red nipping at his heels. Also, Blue wears sunglasses in Alola, and sunglasses are famously linked to the Blastoise line via the Squirtle Squad. That’s a pretty important connection.

The there’s Venusaur, who's calm and gentle, but also the trickiest in battle, relying on status conditions and recovery in battle more than the direct offense of the other two, which is reflective of Green's mischievous nature. She's content to let the boys squabble over the Champion title while she does her own thing, occasionally dropping in to mess with them.

On a related note, Red having Charmander as his Starter also feeds into his early underdog persona. Charmander is well-known to be the hardest Starter to use in the early game of Kanto, since it struggles against both Brock and Misty, and doesn’t have an actual advantage until Erika. Meanwhile, Blue would have Squirtle, the ideal choice for a Kanto speedrun, which is exactly what he’s trying to pull off. Red managing to succeed against all odds and stay only a few steps behind Blue would only feed further into the idea of Blue growing steadily more nervous. Whereas if Red starts with Bulbasaur, then he has the best possible Pokémon for early Kanto and can breeze through it unchallenged while Blue would have a Charmander and should thus struggle with the early Gyms instead of blasting through them like he canonically does. Red seems less like a battling prodigy in that case and more like a guy who just got dealt a really good hand.

This also plays into Red’s conflict with Giovanni. Red has an advantage against Ground-types with both Charizard and Venusaur, but more so with the latter. Venusaur dominates virtually the entirety of Giovanni’s team, whereas Charizard, while immune to Ground attacks, struggles to hit back, and it’s severe weakness to Giovanni’s ace Rhydon’s Rock-type is a major detriment, making the Rocket Boss a real obstacle for Red to overcome instead of someone he should sweep through via type advantage alone.

Charizard and Blastoise have a well-established rivalry across multiple media, most notably things like the anime and Origins. I can take advantage of that rivalry and have the two of them parallel their Trainers, making the famed Charizard vs. Blastoise battle(s) that much more intense by making it not just a contest between Red and Blue, but also between their two rival aces. Think Ash’s Infernape vs. Paul’s Electivire. That kind of multi-layered competition. Meanwhile I just don’t see Venusaur as the rivalsome type.

Having Charizard as the main Pokémon of the mainest of main characters allows me to explore several fun plot elements I otherwise would have to cut entirely or just severely downplay. Those things include stuff like the existence and importance of Johto’s Charicific Valley, which takes on an entirely different form in this story, Leon being a Red fanboy and styling himself after his idol with the same main Pokémon and taste in hats, and the entire existence of Mega Charizard X. The very first time Mega Charizard X was revealed to the general public was in the last episode of Pokémon Origins, under the ownership of Red. It was his Pokémon before it was anyone else’s, and thus is deeply tied to him. If Red didn’t have Charizard, I couldn’t really explore that connection or the significance of this second Mega. At best I could give it to some other Charizard-having Trainer, but I’d really prefer not to have one of those in the first place if it can be avoided, and even if I did go for it, say I gave it to Lance or something, it wouldn’t carry the same weight. I’d be sweeping Mega Charizard X under the rug rather than exploring it to its fullest potential as a unique, signature Pokémon.

The Case for Venusaur

The Kanto protags do not have their game mascots, but there is still a pattern: Red-Grass, Blue-Fire, Green-Water. Each one has the type their name-type is strong against.

Aligns with the following media:

Various pieces of old promotional art

The above image where Red, Blue, and Green are facing off against each other with Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle, respectively.

An image depicting Red and Bulbasaur vs. Blue and Charmander.

An image depicting Red using an Ivysaur to battle a Lass and her Pikachu.

An image in which Red, riding a Pidgeot (odd, since Pidgeot is typically associated with Blue) pursued by Blue riding a Charizard, implying that Red has a Venusaur.

Pokémon Adventures.

The Pocket Monsters manga (The one where Red’s Starter is that awful Clefairy. He also has a Venusaur in there, and Blue’s counterpart has a Charizard for a Starter, so that’s a thing)

Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee.

Also the card based on Red’s appearance in that game that depicts him alongside a Bulbasaur. I don’t think this one deserves to be a full point, because it’s directly based on Let’s Go and not its own separate thing, but it warrants a mention.

Pokémon Generations Episode 1: The Adventure (Generations is pretty overtly set across multiple timelines, what with Team Aqua and Team Magma both being portrayed as the more prominent Hoenn evil team in different episodes and a few other instances of timeline shenaniganery. In this case, while Episode 3 implies Red has a Charizard, Episode 1 clearly shows him alongside a Bulbasaur)

While Venusaur is the best choice in-game, for us it’s the underdog. It’s the one with the reputation as the one that gets left on Professor Oak’s table. Having Red start with the oft-overlooked Bulbasaur sets him apart from the crowd in the readers’ eyes, especially when he is able to succeed with it. Charizard vs. Blastoise may look a bit more epic, but defeating a Charizard with a Venusaur is far more impressive. A fire dragon and a cannon turtle seem relatively evenly matched, as odd of a sentence as that is, but the flower frog seems at a clear disadvantage against the flying fire dragon.

Plus, Charizard gets more than enough hype and pandering already, and seeing Venusaur in the spotlight for a change could be refreshing. And I feel it’s likely that my style of deep-dive, lore-heavy writing may appeal more to the Venusaur crowd anyway.

And more specifically, the story of “A Trainer and his Charizard” has already been told numerous times, my version would just be another one in the pile. Whereas “A Trainer and his Venusaur” is something you can’t go find just anywhere.

While I don’t think the connections are as strong, there are still links to be made between the Starters and their Trainers in this configuration. Red’s typically subdued persona fits well with Venusaur’s more calm demeanor, and his competitive spirit is reflected in its sheer stubbornness. Blue’s arrogance and fierce battle tactics pair nicely with Charizard’s own pride and fearsome nature, and the two could share and arc about mellowing out and learning to have confidence without an excess of hubris. And Blastoise’s haughtiness could be shifted away from overconfidence in its battle prowess to something more tricksy, like Green’s confidence in her ability to deceive and/or beguile virtually anyone.

My thoughts here are that Red and Venusaur work really well together, both visually and in terms of compatibility, Green and Blastoise are a bit of a stretch in the personality department, but they’ve been so closely associated with each other over the years that it can be made to work pretty well, and then that things just fall apart with Blue and Charizard. I just can’t see these two together, it doesn’t look right to me. There’s plenty of support for the pairing, but it’s one I struggle to wrap my head around. And like I said, Charizard is a Hero’s Pokémon, so relegating it to the rival role feels real heckin’ weird. I have no doubt I could make it work, but it would always feel off on some level.

I don’t have a complex side story like the Starter Swap planned out if I go with Venusaur, which could ultimately be a pro or a con. Con because it’s cutting out an idea that I think would genuinely be fun and interesting to explore, especially given the overall themes and role of Starters in this project, but a pro in the sense that it keeps things simple, and Kanto thrives on simplicity. And there are still some other things I could explore, like the anime’s secret garden of the Bulbasaur.

Putting Red and Venusaur together would mean a pairing of a male player character with a Grass Starter, which is something that is extremely rare in my planned teams for the other regions. Not out of any bias, I just don’t associate many male player characters with their regions Grass Starters; I think the Fire or Water ones almost always suit them better. So it would be nice to have another instance of it with Red to balance things out better.

Venusaur is easily the most competitively viable of the Kanto Starters before Mega Evolving, which would allow me to incorporate more legit battling strategies straight out of the games into Red’s battles, making his wins based in actual, usable strategy as opposed to the more anime-style tactics I’d be more likely to employ with Charizard as his ace.

Then again, anime tactics are often really creative and fun and I would be using them anyway because that kind of outside the box thinking is what would make someone a truly exceptional battler.

And there you have it. The thoughts that plague my dreams. I suppose it's only right to mention here that I myself am a Charizard man. I'm sure this was not obvious at all.

Jokes aside, because of my preference, I feel inclined towards putting Red and Charizard together in the long run, but like I said earlier, I want to make this choice based on what is right for the story; what would be the most interesting, compelling, and thematically appropriate; not just what I'm biased towards, and I really do want to give the Bulbasaur line the chance to shine that it deserves.

So I'd really like to hear what y'all think. Preferred outcome, sure, but also just go nuts. Add more to consider into this hurricane of overthought, deconstruct my points and point out mistakes, tell me my brain is pretty but I'm taking this way too seriously, whatever.

And feel free to ask questions and inquire about further details. Plot elements, team compositions, anything you feel will help solidify (or at least elucidate) your thoughts on the matter.

(Artwork by pon_yui)

I'm not really looking to have this decision made for me, choosing one or the other and running with it is easy. What I really want to accomplish here is soothe those nagging doubts that I've made the wrong choice, that going the other way would have been the better decision for the story. At the end of the day, the choice is mine, and I could make either one work, but I want to do right by myself, my potential readers, and this series that's been such a big part of my life. So I guess the question really comes down to this:

Which story would you like to read more?

#pokemon #red #pokemon trainer red #charizard #venusaur #charmander #bulbasaur #wip

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gale-gentlepenguin · 3 years

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ML Analysis: Alya Cesaire: Best friend or Plot Puppet?

Thank you to @cakercanart for commissioning this analysis.

For this we will be discussing Alya Cesaire

This is a LONG POST, so I am posting a read more. I would love to hear your thoughts on this analysis. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Did you want to include something? Let me know.

I think in order to organize this post I will be splitting it up as follows.

How to write a best friend.

Alya Cesaire the Best Friend

Alya Cesaire the Plot device

Canon vs Salt

Final thoughts

So lets get to it

_______________________________________________________________________

How to write a best friend.

In fiction, the best friend is best known as the main characters's closest non-romantic associate and confidante in the story. This role is very important when the show, book, game or other type of media needs a character to help express the main character’s motives and actions. Now writing a best friend always ends up coming off as trope heavy and this makes a character come off as less real and more of as a plot device. For a best friend character to be a good best friend character they must follow 3 important rules. First, they must have their own rules. Second, Give and Take, friendship is a two way street. Lastly, they must be more than just the company they keep.

The Best friend must have their own rules. Now this is important because you need to establish what this character values. What does this character think is most important? Do they believe Loyalty is more important than honesty? Do they think stealing is wrong under all circumstances? It is important that we as a viewer understand what makes the best friend tick, we need to already have an idea of where they are going to go with something before the main character goes to talk to them. In a way, they. are more rigid than the main character, since we spend less time with them, we need to have their character more realized than the main character. Now this does not mean a character can't change over time, but there needs to be a solid reason on WHY the character’s opinion on something flipped, it needs to be something clear, like having them learn a lesson on screen. Think of the Best friend’s rules as Pillar in solid ground, they need to be strong and apparent so the Main character knows what side they are standing on in a situation.

Friendship is a two-way street. This is something that needs to be apparent in the relationship between the best friend and the main character. Do they spend time together, are they able to hold conversations outside of the main character’s problem of the day? What has the main character done for them lately? Does the MC value their friendship? Are there rough patches? The relationship itself is important to the dynamic as the best friend, and really is it a friendship if only one person benefits?

The Best friend character needs to be more then just the best friend character to the protagonist. The BFF needs to have a life outside of that bubble, like real people, they need to have other priorities at times, but they will do what they can to help. If this character suddenly stopped being friends with main Protagonist, will this character be able to develop outside of that. They need to be something a kin to a friend you could have in real life. Do you know someone that could match this person? Do you feel that they could exist?

These 3 are the main guidelines in writing convincing best friends and are crucial in establishing the best friend as something more then just ‘Plot device number 1. This criteria will be what we use as a gauge to measure Alya Cesaire. Now we move to the next section.

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Alya Cesaire the Best Friend

Alya Cesaire is the canonical best friend of Marinette Dupain Cheng. She is also the person that runs the Ladyblog, the source for all things Ladybug related. She is a headstrong, confident, can do gal that will do anything to get the scoop. She is Loyal and wants what’s best for her BFF. But the question is, based on the characteristics, how does Alya fair?

The best friend has their own rules. Alya cesaire believes in loyalty, good triumphing over evil, and the truth. As a fan of super heroes it would make sense that she would have a more paragon approach towards things. In that regard, Alya is rigid, but she is willing to bend the rules if it helps her get the truth. To be honest, Alya is a loyal friend, does seek the truth, and believes good should always triumph over evil, but the problem is that she is not consistent on what she values more. Depending on the episode’s need, Alya would be gunho, loyal BFF to the max, like in Befana, Startrain, Origins, but then other times, she puts having evidence and truth over her own best friend’s take, Like in Chameleon, Oni-chan, and Volpina. Its a bit of a mixed bag with her, though I do say that her loyalty and support of Marinette is more of her more common traits. But this constant shift on what she values more is concerning.

Friendship is a two way street. This is where I find Alya does shine brightest. Her relationship with Marinette is very consistent. The two hang out, talk, and enjoy each other’s company. Both have helped the other when needed, and they take time to listen to each other. Sapotis, Stormy weather and Ladybug are the best examples. I will say that Marinette and Alya do not have a one note friendship, Marinette and Alya do talk about things outside of Marionette’s relationship status, Alya and Marinette do debate about things, even going so far as to even tease and joke with the other. In terms of friendship being a two way street, Alya and Marinette have a pretty good friendship going.

Alya as her own character is a bit more solid then one would anticipate based on all the salt surrounding her. She does have a strong character, she has her own relationships, her own actions outside of Marinette. She does have a boyfriend, does have hobbies that don't always involve Marinette. Alya is more then willing to put her needs into view. She has a unique dynamic with her family, she has a developing relationship with her boy friend. She even is friendly to someone Marinette is not the biggest fan of, and still maintains her friendship with Marinette in spite of it. Alya could exist without being Marinette’s Best friend, but it is good that they are friends.

Overall, Alya has a very good dynamic with Marinette and has her own character outside of that friendship, her main flaw is that with inconsistent writing her standing as ‘The pillar’ is not very effective, she can appear to be at the whim of the writers at times because of this inconsistency. But to determine if she is really more Plot device then Person, we head to the next section

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Alya Cesaire the Plot device

The Concept of a Plot device is simply a literary device (a character, an outside force, etc) that helps move the plot along in some way shape or form. The problem with Best friend character’s is that if they aren't the ones with the super powers, they are often put into the position of being the plot progression button in one of two tropes, the Plot voucher or the Quest giver. The plot voucher is the character that gives the lesson or solution early on and tells the MC that they should do something and often its what the character needs to do in order to solve the problem. Think Chekov’s gun. The Quest giver is the character that states what the character needs to do, often propelling the character into the situation. whether intentionally or not. Alya cesaire is often criticized as being a plot device since she is often the one pushing marinette to do things. Now to be fair, characters in the show can still be their own character while being used as a plot device, but the problem occurs when Plot is prioritized over the character. In order to judge if a character is more of a plot device, I have come up with 3 solid criteria. In order for a character to be more plot device than character they must achieve all three of the following, contradict their own morals on more than one occasion, Formulaic role writing, and P.R.E.G.O. These three criteria are crucial in judging one’s character.

To start off, contradictions in character. What this means is that the plot of an episode will do something that will make a character do something that would go against the core attributes of a character without explanation. Like having a vegetarian character eating meat. Now there are times when writers make a mistake and if it happens once then it is more like a mistake and not a constant trend. An example of Alya having a contradiction in character would be in Chameleon. (This is where a lot of the salt started so this is understandable), where Alya tells Marinette that she would need proof on her accusations. Now this is a case where additional dialogue would have made this NOT a contradiction. If Alya showed self awareness, like if she said, “I have learned my lesson about making accusations without solid proof.” That would have probably been fine and also a good moment of character development. But the expression (without that addition) comes off without context. Alya does show another moment of hypocrisy in Oni-chan, when she tells Marinette to ignore Lila when she was talking with Adrien, but at the end of the episode then questions why Marinette isn't spying on them. Now in the context of the episode, its to show how Marinette learns a lesson, but in this case (which I find as MORE egregious than Chameleon) this makes Alya look like a massive hypocrite. There are a few other times in season 3 where Alya has shown a few bits of hypocrisy which makes me say that Alya has matched this first criteria.

Formulaic role writing is a criteria that is less on the character of Alya, but on the show’s treatment of Alya. So to explain Formulaic role writing is where a character is put in a show to always do a specific thing for a character or for the plot. This is very common in episodic shows, like how in the original Power rangers, Zordon is the one that calls the rangers to fight a monster, he is basically the ‘Alert system’. In Alya’s case she is often regulated to 2 specific parts, Wingwoman and Lore finder. In her role as wing woman, she is basically trying to help Marinette out with Adrien, in whatever way she can. This results in plot progression and getting Marinette from point A to Point B. The second role is Lore finder, she is the one that goes searching to find out stuff regarding the heroes, because its for her blog. Now Alya has shown times when she is not in either of these roles, such as in Anaisi, heroes day, Stormy weather 2.0, Timetagger, just to name a few. It has Alya living her own life and existing outside of these roles. This helps because these examples are not in the character contradictions category, which helps us evaluate that Alya does not completely conform to this trait.

The final criteria is P.R.E.G,O or better known as Plot Relevant Exposition Given Only. What this means is that a character is only given lines that help further the plot, character development of the MC, help solve a problem, or cause a problem. P.R.E.G.O is the epitome of finding out how one-dimensional a character is. If you can fit all of the dialogue into a category covered in P.R.E.G.O, then it is simple to determine if a character is simply a plot device for the author’s to utilize. To put it simply Alya does break out of the P.R.E.G.O model as she does develop as her own character and has moments where she is doing her own thing. Both in canon, and on the Instagram. Alya has a boyfriend, a strong relationship with her sisters, her own goals and hobbies, and even her own insecurities. Alya as a character, while not correctly utilized is not fitting of this criteria.

Overall, Alya is more then simply a plot device, but she has been used on occasion to further the plot in ways that would contradict her character. The writing for her can be vastly improved and while she does have her flaws, should not be dismissed as simply a mouth piece for the shows plot.

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Canon vs Salt

Alya cesaire is often found to be one of the few characters (ever since season 3) to be heavily criticized and bashed by a chunk of the fandom. Now with how the fandom reacted to her, I was curious on what brought such unfettered hate onto her. It was sort of surprising to see how far the fandom went with not liking her. So after careful analysis, I managed to isolate the two main reasons on why she is so polarizing to the fandom. These reasons are, poor Writing and projection.

The writing on Alya has been inconsistent at times and in early season 3, with episodes such as Chameleon, Oni-chan, Oblivio, and Reflekdoll. The salt for her really started to rise. The most common assertion by the salters is that Alya is completely inattentive to other people’s needs and will prioritize her own desires above all else. Like in Oblivio, when Alya posted the photo of Ladybug and Chat noir kissing when Ladybug stormed off after seeing it. Now in the context, it seems rude, and it kind of is. Sure Ladybug didn't tell Alya not to put it on the blog, and she wasn't even mad at alya who took the photo, so the argument could be that alya would have not posted it if Ladybug told her not to. But it is still something alya should have asked before posting. Not that all journalists and reporters ask for permission before posting things, its common curtousy. So in this regard, criticism towards Alya is warranted if one wants discuss terms of improvement. However, in alya salt, she is often depicted as someone that would throw marinette under the bus and dismiss her, that is something Alya has yet to do and would likely never do. Alya has disagreed with marinette at times, but she has never (while in control) insulted or dismissed her friend. The salt/bashing of Alya’s character in that regard is inaccurate and is not warranted.

Projection is the action of placing issues onto another that are not applicable to one’s character. This is where all of the bashing of Alya’s character comes from. Alya is often projected as being one of Lila’s main enablers and the one that makes marinette feel awful. Alya is often portrayed as one of the worst people in salty au’s because she is the one closest to marinette. Her ‘Betrayal’ makes the pain Marinette feels much worse. Alya is being used by salters to place their own issues of broken friendships from the past onto her. From the few au’s and fics I have read with Alya salt, the betrayal that alya often does seems far more personal when described, as if the author was pulling from personal experience. Alya, according to the salt community, has become the perfect character to project the agony of betrayal because of the massive salt that has been piled on from chameleon onward.

In conclusion, Alya is critiqued because of poor writing from the show, and is bashed because of fan projection. Alya is a character with faults and suffers from poor writing but she is not deserving of the unabashed hatred she has received.

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Final Thoughts

Alya Cesaire is a character that could use some better writing and could use some better establishment on her traits, but she is still good on her own merits and I conclude that she is more than a tool of the plot, she is a multifaceted character that will hopefully improve in season 4.

#ML analysis #miraculous ladybug #Alya cesaire #Alya critique #ml salt #ml fandom salt #alya salt

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flightofaqrow · 3 years

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YOUR CHARACTER IN FIVE QUOTES!

( repost, do not reblog. ) Tell us your favorite quotes from your character. Give us an idea of who they are by five things they’ve said.

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Alright, buckle up, I’m stealing this meme and repurposing it for my own use. Probably more than five, and including some quotes from others about him, though I’m going to try to keep it in groupings, and also not meant to be exhaustive of qrow’s character, but rather, to point out some very poignant lines that have effected my portrayal and... some possibly in an unpopular way compared to what I’ve seen in the fandom? I think Qrow Branwen is more complex than fitting the broody broken boi trope would give credit for (though he at least fits it as an overall stereotype).

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1) I’m absolutely sure Qrow had a rough start and transition from the tribe to ‘civilized society’, coupled with typical teenage hormones and mood swings, but generally, Beacon was a good time, and he sees himself as a good huntsman, and (though we may joke about it sometimes) he absolutely does not have an active nor passive death wish.

Yeah, yeah, I know he has a song all about how he self depreciates and carries shame, but that’s a theme of his attitude, not backed up to be every single aspect of his life by actual canon. Quite the contrary.

I don’t know where fndm gets the idea that he constantly lost his battles (especially to Raven) or was perpetually looked down on or stayed an angsty, broody teenager (who could never possibly have ever even breathed a single happy breath on his own without Summer??) all four years. As if school was hell and he never came into his own until STRQ was a graduated unit or something? If ever?

Leo tells Raven she and her brother are evenly matched. Raven herself - who takes pride in being stronger and more clever than others - describes them as a pair: “we were good.”

“you're talking to a member of the coolest team that graduated Beacon! ...we were pretty well known back in the day. ...hey, we looked good! and I have a number of inappropriate stories to back that up!”

“let me tell ya, these kids are way better than we were at their age. ...well, not better than me, specifically...”

“a professional huntsman like myself is expected to get results as soon as possible.”

The way Qrow talks about his past, as well as carrying a memento of team STRQ around with him, it’s very nostalgic for better times. The way he talks about his work, if not himself, can actually be to the point of being self-aggrandizing, instead of depreciating. He’s even able to admit that his dreaded semblance, Misfortune, “comes in handy in a fight.”

“lots of us thought you were just layin' low. eventually, we just came to accept that you were probably dead. but the stories about you, i based my weapon off of yours. i wanted to be as good as the Grimm Reaper.”

Qrow talks about himself as striving to be better. It seems he never really sees himself as reaching that standard, but it certainly implies he knows he’s not at the bottom - he had an ideal he wanted to reach and likely worked towards. Notice the use of “us” and “we” as well - he talks about himself as part of a group of larger huntsfolk circles. Who knows if this refers to students or licensed professionals or both, but this heavily, heavily implies that he was more than just a sad, outside loner, at least for a time; he chatted with others and traded stories about goings-on and missions and idols.

Somewhat related and leading into...

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2) At least around this blog, Qrow does not have an inferiority complex because of Raven.

Does he have some internalized shame about being soft that he can’t quite shake? A few insecurities about being unwanted compared to her natural leadership and competence? Yes. Does he consciously view himself as lesser than her? No.

Also... he’s not co-dependent on her. To a degree, for while? Yeah, there was probably an unhealthy reliance going on there. But Qrow and Raven establish themselves with their own identities at some point, they’d have to, to chose different paths so stubbornly. There’s a rift there, eventually, if not always having been at odds in some ways and comfort in others.

“Raven's got an interesting way of looking at the world that I don't particularly agree with. [The weak die, the strong live. Those are the rules.]”

“...they were killers and thieves.”

We are shown that the twins were raised with this weak/strong dichotomy. Raven bought into it, but Qrow explicitly separates himself from that belief. Shown again when he mocks Raven with, “because that was your rule, right?”

He believes in true family, he believes in protecting the weak, he believes in doing good, he believes in standing up for what’s right. He may not like being emotionally vulnerable, but he shows softness and kindness to others, and for as much as he likes his flourish when fighting, he also isn’t afraid to look an absolute fool either.

He is shown de-escalating conflict time and again, even if he also falls back into violent, defensive patterns at times, too. He resents Raven for the choices she made, and as far as I interpret, thinks she’s the lesser one for running away and abandoning her family and her mission. (Meanwhile, she thinks the same of him for turning his back on the tribe.)

He all but spits on the tribe’s way of life, is willing to attack them outright to get the Spring Maiden. Why would he judge himself by those standards any longer? No, he lives by his own code, a huntsman’s code, and even has some pride in that. It’s why he can call Clover out on it. It’s why he folds when Robyn holds him to it.

It’s why it hurts when he finds out what gave him more meaning, aligned more with his own heart, than the tribe’s dogma may not actually have any purpose at all...

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3) There’s so much to unpack here:

“No one wanted me... I was cursed... I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world... I thought I was finally doing some good... Meeting you... was the worst luck of my life...”

No one wanted him? I believe this means the tribe, maybe even Raven, maybe trying to make friends, but no one until Oz? Does this include STRQ? I have trouble reconciling that one with everything else we’re shown. I still maintain he was part of bigger circles, but we get confirmation that these were probably fleeting or superficial. He knew people and was known, but no one stuck around. Also more confirmation of his values. Gave me a place sounds like so much more than refocusing to me. It’s not gave me a direction, not told me what to do, it’s took who i am and gave that person a place to thrive - despite the bad that comes with - to work towards something better. Just like he always wanted.

But then he backtracks. What is it he regrets? We do know how he likes to go into dramatic hyperbole about these things when he’s upset. [eg. “we’re not family anymore.” “i shouldn’t have come. i shouldn’t have let any of you come.” “we can kill the man who put us here.” “gone. like everybody else.”] (I love that crwby lets their characters do it. we all say things we don’t mean in the moment, give voice to those intrusive thoughts.)

I’ve talked before about how I picture him having flashes of all the lives he could have had instead. Would he have gone back with Raven and at least still had her? Would he just have been a normal huntsman defending people from Grimm without the crushing extra knowledge? Might he have been able to have a relationship or family of his own had he not signed up for the vagabond spy life? Does he just resent losing Summer and Raven because of how things went down? We don’t know, and I think the point is that he probably doesn’t either, but the weight of sacrificing all those alternatives and putting so much faith in Ozpin, stacking so much of his life’s work and identity on being part of the inner circle, comes crashing down on him all at once.

also quite fitting...

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4) "Nice place to raise a family. ...If you're ...into that sort of thing."

This is from his World of Remnant narration, talking about Patch, but it hits so damn hard. The softness and warmth in the first half of the statement, followed by the harsh need to qualify it in regards to his own outlook... We learn all we need to know about his opinion of the subject.

We see the conflict right there - the possibility of such a thing brings a wholesome lilt to his voice, yet he implies that it’s not something he personally intends to pursue. Is that because he doesn’t want it or because he thinks he can’t or shouldn’t have it? I don’t think that’s clear, and he may not know either.

At the very least, I fall into the camp of him believing he doesn’t want it. Combine that with the fact that he does pick up that spy life, which makes keeping his distance a necessity, and makes settling down near impossible, and then he definitely knows it’s not in the cards for him.

So I think it ultimately falls somewhere between. Why would he make the commitment to being a lone spy if he had dreams of love and a family? ...But then why would he resent making the sacrifice of that possibility later if he didn’t?

Having his nieces around probably softened him up to the idea, but he’d already made his decision by that point. He’s also solid and generally happy with his choices at the point it would most matter. He’s married to his job. He’s fulfilling his missions well, in well-suited ways for his strengths and flaws. He has his nieces around as a balm on any sort of biological clock. He has his purpose with Oz. Until he doesn’t.

This is an incredibly long-winded way of restating that one of the headcanon hills I do stand to die on is: Gray-romantic Qrow.

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5) “some people are just born unlucky... my semblance isn't like most - it's not exactly something i... do.”

I am constantly confused by the amount of people trying to do character analysis around Misfortune and Qrow based on standard semblance lore, when he has yet again stated explicitly to the contrary. We all have carte blanche ya’ll. We can do whatever we want with this, because he’s already told us his semblance breaks the rules.

My full headcanon for it is here and my opinion about the direction I hope it takes is here but tl;dr

Unless we learn otherwise, there are very, very few ways I believe Misfortune is a reflection of Qrow’s soul, if at all. This is from the first headcanon, but it’s worth restating, because it’s important to me, aaand fits the theme of pulling in some quotes from other characters:

Everyone likes to quote Ren and his description of someone’s personality being incorporated into a semblance. I don’t buy it for qrow. Here’s the FULL quote: “A common philosophy is that a warrior’s Semblance is a part of who they are. Some say your personality and character can define your Semblance while some claim that it is the other way around. Of course, there are still many who don’t see a connection at all.”

So unless we find out otherwise I will also die on the hill that qrow is an example of the middle part. Qrow’s personality/soul has nothing to do with why his semblance is what it is, but being forced to grow up and live with Misfortune has defined him tremendously.

OKAY, there are some smaller quick ones, but I’ll stick to my five points like I promised at least, and maybe do a lesser version some other time. :]

#qrow branwen #* legends and stories; some of them true; some made up = meta *#* hey don't get mad cause i'm right = headcanon *#long post tw

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