#if a little mood-whiplashy

[pileofsith]

Pau'an Inquisitor Sketches

So... once upon a time, I thought I'd try my hand at a Star Wars Rebels comic featuring this bastard on a mission to Utapau, but that never went anywhere. The Kenobi series did give me a potential fix to one point I was stuck on, so I think I might try at least a few comic snippets instead? Does anyone still care about him or was the live action version a nail in the proverbal coffin?

[commentaryvorg]

Who were your favorite and least favorite characters in the previous Danganronpa games, and why?

The biggest problem I personally have with Danganronpa 1 is that I really dislike practically half the cast. This is specifically Byakuya, Toko, Hiro, Celeste, and Hifumi, for being in my opinion either very annoying, terrible people, or a mix of the two, and I don’t find any of them interesting enough to balance that out. That’s not literally half the cast, but it sure feels like it is when they all survive until at least chapter 3 and a lot of the characters I like more die early on.

That includes probably my two favourites from DR1, Mondo and Chihiro, whose strength-related issues happen to be the kind of thing I really enjoy. It took me a while to even realise that they were probably my favourites above other more relevant characters I also like such as Sakura and Kyoko because they’re such relatively small parts of the story. I appreciate that Chihiro at least continues to be relevant thanks to Alter Ego, but Mondo gets horrendously shafted by the narrative. First he gets an unnecessarily disturbing and mood-whiplashy execution when it could instead have been made extremely relevant to his issues about his brother’s death. Then he could have continued to be relevant through Taka, who I also enjoy a lot after Mondo’s death thanks to his incredibly unhealthy way of dealing with it… except he gets gratuitously killed off almost immediately, wasting all the potential he had to slowly learn how to cope with things more healthily and see the world in a less black-and-white way. DR1 taught me that apparently sometimes Danganronpa narratives consider certain characters expendable and just do not care about using them to their fullest potential and telling the best stories possible with them, and I am going out of my way to mention this here because it is/will be somewhat relevant during my commentary of V3, can you guess who I am talking about.

Danganronpa 2, meanwhile, has a cast I mostly really like! In fact, I think I like DR2’s cast better as an overall cast than DRV3’s. V3 has several characters I absolutely adore, but it also has a bunch I’m just kind of indifferent to, while almost everyone in 2 is generally likeable and endearing and at least a little bit interesting in some way. The only characters in 2 I really dislike are Teruteru, for very similar reasons to why I hate Miu except he’s even worse (and also similar in that he is actually kind of an interesting character beneath that but it’s very hard for me to appreciate that through his all-encompassing awfulness), and Hiyoko, for being a horrendous bully. Everyone else is great! And, well, Nagito is Nagito, but much like Kokichi, he balances out being a terrible person by being pretty interesting, so I don’t precisely dislike him either.

I do have a definite favourite among the rest, though, and that’s Kazuichi. I also have a thing for characters who are scared a lot, and Kazuichi delightfully spends his entire killing game completely incapable of dealing with the terror of it and barely even managing to form proper, non-superficial bonds with the others that’d help him through that fear because he’s terrified of being betrayed. He is a massive coward with massive trust issues… which I realise is also a description I use a lot for Kokichi (and I may not have made this clear enough, but I do find Kokichi interesting for those reasons). But, the big difference that makes me find Kazuichi also likeable with these traits is that it’s so clear that he wants to be braver than he is and able to trust people more and hates the fact that he can’t, and that his fear is so barely concealed that you can feel how scared and desperate he is the whole time, especially when you do his FTEs and learn why he has those trust issues. Throughout the entire game I just want to give the poor kid a hug and get him some help, by which I mean after playing V3 that I want him to meet Kaito and inevitably become his sidekick. I have Strong Feelings about this.

Also brief honourable mention to Akane, who I gather is not nearly as popular as she should be, because I find her strength-related issues really fun as well. My fondness for characters with issues relating to strength and weakness definitely contributes towards me liking Kaito so much, even though that’s still only a fraction of the things there are to like about Kaito.

[theladyragnell]

Critical role! Critical role! The thing I think about all day and write fanfic for and cosplay! Or alternatively if you don’t watch critical role dnd in general!

I do not watch Critical Role! The combination of such long episodes and little visual interest is fatal for me, even if I do have a secondhand fondness for the characters from friends who watch/listen! But honestly my favorite thing is just how wildly into it and committed to the game all the players and Matt are, from everything I can tell. It is no-holds-barred D&D by a bunch of professionals and you can tell.

As for D&D in general, man, it is hard to say, it is where my heart is at right now! But I was thinking the other day how I love how it can go from serious to hilarious and back on a dime, all depending on how things go on a given day. Any other type of “canon,” that would be whiplashy and a bug, not a feature, but in D&D it is the opposite! It can bend itself to the mood the players want and need for the day.

[rubydollchaos]

I went into Endgame knowing characters were going to be killed off but I had faith that it could be done in a meaningful and affecting way - after all if Infinity War could leave me feeling pissed off for weeks afterward, surely fixing what happened would be a great catharsis. But...

I enjoyed the film but I had several issues with it. Thor's depression being played for laughs felt mood whiplashy - the dude lost everything then when there were no more fights to fight he lost all direction, shut himself off. If he was staring at the wall in a darkened room we'd pity him but because he found comfort in eating and drinking too much and getting temporary relief by playing video games obviously it's not that bad, he just needs to pull himself together a bit, right?

I really thought Gamora was going to have more of a part to play since it was kind of implied her soul was trapped in another dimension but once again the fan theory is better than the actual thing.

And then there's Iron Man's big sacrifice. We owe Tony Stark everything. Again Just One Man saves the day at Great Cost to Himself. The Avengers are supposed to be a team but ultimately only one man matters. One hero. This is his story. The same old narrative again. Superman saves the day, he's the only one who can. Or maybe it's James Bond this time. Or Batman. Just as we send out the message that women can't be happy unless they're married with kids, men have to shoulder the burden of the entire world and should it come to it make the ultimate sacrifice. Surviving and being a good husband and father isn't heroic, that's a reward for doing fancier heroic stuff like going into space and fighting aliens. And Pepper being all "you rest now" is basically the same as her having his slippers and glass of whiskey ready for when he gets home from a hard day's work, never mind that she's been working too. What about her needs? Who hasnt been irrationally angry at someone who's died for leaving us? She's now got to raise their distraught daughter alone in the shadow of her now saintly father who can never do any wrong. Pepper is well aware of Tony's faults and it's not like she hasn't expressed frustration with them before. She knew he was going to get himself killed being heroic so does that mean she's okay with it? Raising a kid, having a family - that's hard work but it's women's work so what value does it have?

And don't get me started on how the population suddenly doubled. Your kindergarten best friend? They're back but you're now twice their age. Your highschool sweetheart returns which is awkward now you're in college. Your abusive partner, they're back too and isn't happy you've moved on. Your boss is back and you're doing their job. Your elderly spouse passed away in the five years you've been gone. Your home has been tidied away, your cute little grandkids are now stroppy teens. Imagine trying to enroll your kids when your four year old is ready to start school before your two year old who was born seven years ago. Imagine asking someone for ID - well, technically they're 21...

Oh and you only get one true love. You will never love again. Cap's only hope for a happy life was with that one woman he didn't even go on a date with. So, you know, if you've ever loved someone you couldn't be with, I guess you just have to be miserable and alone forever.

[pwnyta]

Honestly your commentary on the Power Ranger movie has made it 10 times more enjoyable for me! (I just saw it with my family and loved it so much) so thank you for sharing and i hope you enjoy the movie as much a I did :)

:’)It was a swell movie. A little mood whiplashy but a good time all the same. And I cant believe how cute Billy is.