#it's all very complex (just like zenos's character ^__^)

[astrxealis]

big fan of zenos tbh

[firelightmuse]

8. What do they think about romantic love? Do they have baggage surrounding it? Do they idealize it? Is it an object of longing and wanting, or were they really not thinking about it until they started falling for the other character? What are their expectations like?

I would be especially interested in your headcanons for Zenos on this subject!

Ohhhh very good question!!! I’ll try to tackle it from both of their perspectives.

Yume: For Yume, romantic love was something she always dreamed of since she was a little girl, but she thought it was unattainable for her, as she was always expected to marry for political purposes due to her father being a daimyo and she was destined to follow in his footsteps. After she was banished, she became lost and was in search for a new purpose in her life, and although romance was now more attainable than ever before, she still put it on the back burner. It also was complicated by the fact that she never had found anyone that she was sexually or romantically attracted to, well, until she found herself strangely attracted to Zenos, and more and more so every time she encountered him.

Even after she had recognized that she had a very strange attraction to him, she never thought a relationship would ever be possible, because, well, he was her enemy and he was hell bent on doing whatever it took to fight her again, and she would do her duty as a Scion and kill him if she had to.

But then came the moment when they were both dying at the edge of the universe, and she just couldn’t bring herself to let him die out there alone, not after all that he had done for her. She recognized that in his own way, he had been trying to reach out to her in the only way he knew how, and he had traveled all the way to Ultima Thule, just for her. She didn’t realize it in the moment, but she unconsciously thought that perhaps there was a chance to save his life, to save his broken soul, and that there might be a chance at something more. Perhaps romantic love was possible for her, for Zenos, for them.

Zenos: Keep in mind that I’m still doing my own “research” on Zenos’ characterization, and I’m still trying to evaluate him in order to properly write him as a character in Yume’s story, so this is definitely a work in progress and this characterization is subject to change. That being said…

I believe Zenos would absolutely be on the ace/aro spectrum, and I don’t think he ever put much thought, if any at all, in romantic love for most of his life. He likely read some romance novels in his youth, as I HC that he is extremely well read and he read those books along with everything else in the palace’s library, but he likely just thought that romantic love was either not real, or even if it was real, it didn’t affect him in anyway and paid it no mind whatsoever. He never felt much of anything else besides the pleasure of The Hunt*, and so he ignored the idea of romance altogether.

Whenever Zenos fought Yume, he started feeling pleasure from the thrill of battle with her, and he never gave a thought to what exactly he was feeling besides that it made him feel an overwhelming sense of joy, and he didn’t think he could ever feel that way in his life ever again, hence why he kills himself at the end of 4.0. When he finds himself alive once more, he is driven to fight Yume again, but because he is denied the chance for so long, he begins to feel a sense of longing, a pining for her that he had never experienced before. He recognizes that his feelings for her have become more complex, but because he had never experienced any kind of love before, let alone romantic love, he doesn’t know how to fully comprehend it, let alone express it in a healthy way.

It isn’t until Yume brings him back with her to the Ragnarok following their near death encounter in Ultima Thule and during his long recovery that he wants to figure out why Yume saved his life when it was completely unexpected and, in that moment, unwanted. In his therapy, he begins to realize that what he feels for Yume is romantic love, and that she might feel the same for him, and it takes him quite some time to figure out what that means and what he actually wants in this life that he somehow finds himself living once again.

That’s all I’ve got for now. Thank you so much for the great ask @otherworldseekers!! 🥰💖

[rddykilowatt]

ramble ramble ramble ramble zeno beloved ramble ramble ramble ramble

I’m gonna dump akayona thoughts here ‘cause I love this series lots and they make me very happy to ramble about! (warning for spoilers if you’re unaware of anything about zeno or his backstory)

I don’t see a lot of people analyzing or digging at the things that I do, usually they’re more centered around widely known details and fan favorites and such.

So here we go:

Ever since Zeno wiggled his silly way into the group (the dragons, yoon, hak and yona) he completely threw away all of his self preservation. And you can say “well ofc, he’s there to protect yona” but I think you’d be wrong for simplifying it that way. He's such a complex character. Out of all of them he is the one that stands to be the least affected by Yona’s presence same with the presence of the other dragons. He simply decided to approach them on his own accord, they didn’t approach him. This guy has had to kill and run to protect him from others and from himself for millennia.

He’s completely lost his purpose in life by the time we meet him in the series, having lost so much and constantly being at odds with the concept of time. But he found that purpose again in protecting the hhb, which is where I bring this back to the previous statement that he completely threw away all his self preservation, or rather he actually gained some.

During the Xing arc the dragons end up being imprisoned, and Zeno willingly offers himself up to Mizari to have his arm cut off as means to get away easy, but they all outwardly express their disdain toward this. Jae-ha being the one to intervene and avoid Zeno being subjected to such treatment.

Though I think it should be said that he could’ve easily sacrificed himself for them here, it's just his arm right? But he let's Jae-ha intervene and sway the topic away from him. Despite the fact that he could at any moment throughout the series (after his power has been revealed) when there’s a battle or confrontation, power his way through fights and run away or get help at the drop of the hat but guess what? He doesn’t do that, he stopped doing that for the sake of the others. He instead he chooses to stick by the side of his companions even if he could just as easily tear himself apart or be torn apart in order to help them escape.

A good example is this scene in the current arc:

Even with the artifact from Hiryuu castle in their presence that causes there powers to amp up and everything, Zeno sits tight, literally. He sits there tied up tight with the others. I bring this scene up as an example because like I previously stated he could just tear himself apart here, now more than ever to help them escape. But he doesn't.

(Whether this is due to his wisdom beyond years or because he doesn't want to upset the other dragons is up in the air for sure but we're gonna say it's cause he doesn't wanna upset the others for the sake of this post)

I feel like it should be explained further, it’s been brought up multiple times throughout the series where Zeno’s partook, especially in anxiety inducing parts, the others don’t like to see Zeno hurt even if he heals, even if he’s used to the pain. They don’t like it, they’ve been very upfront about how much they hate it, how much it scares them to see him injured in ways that would kill any mortal being, in ways it would kill any of them. Seeing him bleed is the worst experience for them. And I think Zeno makes the conscious choice to no longer completely tear himself apart just to escape in order to save them because he doesn’t want to scare them more than they already are in the situations they get involved in. As well as when it wouldn’t be necessary to do so, when they work together just as well to escape without unnecessarily blood being shed.

Zeno is honestly an enigma of a character, he says a lot but simultaneously says nothing. Which makes me love him even more.

What I’m saying here is all me reading between lines and using my own brain to come up with something that would make sense rather than it being a verbal statement or thought being stated in the series. There’s no real textual evidence that outright states that Zeno has made any of the choices I’ve stated, it’s just my own thoughts surrounding him.

At the end of it all here, I personally believe this is one of the best ways his character could be written, especially as the only one remaining from the original dragons. He gives things away to the group and the readers but only with bits and pieces. The rest is speculation or a matter of putting things together. In my opinion he keeps us hooked into the series, he’s the one character still present that carry’s so much weight and wisdom with him. He’s the one character in the hhb that understands the pain that each separate individual has faced that even they amongst themselves can’t understand.

They’ve all learned how cruel the world can be, how painful being alive is in their own ways but in my opinion Zeno is the only one that understands their individual experiences infinitely. For crying out loud he knows things that the characters around him don’t even know and that we the readers don’t as well. He’s seen and lived through more life than them all combined, but he still holds onto his humanity albeit rather stubbornly. He still continues to learn and grow and above all else he sees that everyone is human and that there can be/is still good in the world even with all the bad.

Yona maybe be in the title of the series, but Zeno is still just as much of a main character as she is.

[queen-feisty-pants]

Since I didn’t follow Yona of the Dawn in so long, I recently reread it from the beginning to refresh my memory before catching up on spoilers. Here are some observations/comments/what-have-you:

Going into the reread already knowing Zeno’s backstory, his facial expressions and mannerisms hit different when he makes his first appearance.

I feel like the best way to describe the status of Hak and Yona’s relationship as of the writing of this post is ‘semi-canon.’ They most certainly understand that their feelings are mutual, but they still have ways to go before they can be considered truly canon, imo. This obviously isn’t to shit on them or their relationship - I ADORE Hak and Yona as individual characters and as a couple and have been shipping them for about 8 years now. - but they still have to sort out a lot of stuff first.

Soowon seems to be becoming aware of the flaws in his father’s philosophy. Recognizing these shortcomings as they become apparent is the first step in some long overdue self-reflection. (Yes, I do think there will be some positive development.) Soowon has done some irredeemable and even self-destructive shit, so, if the crimson illness subplot continues on its current trajectory and there is no magical escape, he will be on the fast-track for an intense death where the weight of his emotions and regrets will far exceed the physical pain. Even if the crimson illness matter gets a Disney-like resolution, the happiest ending Soowon can get is realizing that Yona is better suited for the throne and abdicating his title to serve under her. And that’s far too Disney-like/sweet for him, considering the need for making amends. (BTW, my intent isn’t to minimize or detract from the fact that Yuhon was beyond fucked up. Rather, my point is that seeing the logical flaws in his beliefs will most likely be a wake-up call for Soowon.)

Since breaking cycles of hate and trauma has become such a prominent theme in the story, the burning of Hiryuu Castle while Hiryuu’s mausoleum seemingly remains intact most likely symbolizes the need to rebuild. There will be the same foundation/underlying basis, but things will be built anew to promote healing and growth. With that having been said, I’m rooting for a happy ending that still handles this theme realistically. Give me all the optimism and love, but also honestly show the lingering pain and problems and the complexities of healing.

I guess that’s a very abridged version of my feelings about AkaYona. Despite some things that may appear to be somewhat critical, I obviously still love this story and think highly of it. I guess I just wanted to share my feelings and rant about some things that are nagging at me and/or have made an impact on me.

[xiakha]

FFXIVWrite2023 Prompt #1 - Envoy

Her very existence made Asahi's skin crawl.

Every glance at her guileless face, every whiff of her putrid sea-salt-and-scallions stench, every scrape of her rasping voice on his ears... if he were forced to get close enough, Emperor forbid, to touch her, the bile that increasingly built up in his throat may just come spewing out. It took all of his learned grace, humility, and manners to entreat with such a miserable wretch, to humor her attempts at being civilized.

Because of course, what Asashi saw most in the Warrior of Light was everything he hated about himself.

Here was a leatherneck salt encrusted sea-bumpkin playing at hero and diplomat, barely able to speak the common tongue of Eorzea or comprehend the complexities of the realpolitik unfolding before her, and he was supposed to speak to her, eye to eye, like she could have anything worthwhile to listen to. The fact that the Domans and Sharlayans even gave her the time of day, and, Emperor save them, stopped to listen to her opinion, was more than enough proof that this farcical little journey into the fetid backwaters that Asahi extricated himself from was little more than a cruel joke on everyone involved.

He had heard she was some kind of brute and monster, but Asahi wasn't prepared for how utterly pathetic she was as well. Sitting there, in a jaunty red hat and matching red formal military garb, looking all the world like a pig dressed in finery, eyes-wide slack-jawed clueless to the world around her, glancing about fearfully like a newborn deer, she didn't belong anywhere near this meeting with the so-called Lord of Doma, Hien, save as a low-bowing servant to be dismissed as soon as the speaking began. But here she was, sitting to Hien's immediate right side, a seat of great honor. Surely the real Warrior of Light was out there laughing it off at this bait and switch. Surely the true savior of savages and killer of men was somehow watching from afar.

Surely Lord Zenos was felled by a greater foe that this!

But at no point did the opposing party relent on this bit. Not a single person broke character. Not once did he observe a wayward snigger or inopportune face fault. He waited in vain to be let in on the joke. And thus had to conclude he was not being made a fool of, that all that he dealt with here were fools.

She represented everything he walked away from that he had burned away from his body, willingly of course, as he was forged anew into the sas Brutus he became. Provincial and artless, she would never survive a moment in a Garlean school courtyard, they'd slaughter her through a thousand cuts by the tongue with the relentless teasing and bullying she'd suffer. Thick of tongue, the lilt of her voice made Asahi almost wish to mock her every time she opened her mouth. He didn't, lest his own tongue betray him and return to its rustic roots. In a way, he pitied her, coddled for so long by people who should have known better. She'd been hidden away from the cruelties of reality, clearly, and now she was dying to have someone put her into her place.

...And yet, when Asahi finally had a moment to speak with her, holding his breath of course to avoid breathing in the miasma that surrounded her, she did not quiver or draw back. At first he thought maybe she hadn't understood his words, but the confidence she exuded overpowered anything else she may have exuded and overpowered Asahi's preconceived notions as well. He taunted her to little avail, her hand did not leave the grip of the curious rapier she lashed to her belt, but nor did she draw the weapon. To his provocations she had only one thing to say:

"What a cheeky little brat you turned out to be."

A brat!

Him!

She thought him a little brat?? Someone so utterly beneath him, so utterly unsophisticated even the worst finishing school within Garlemald's borders wouldn't dare set a brush anywhere close to her gnat-infested purple mane, would dare call him, a man who rose up to and surpassed all Garlean standards to the point that they ran out of titles to grant, a cheeky little brat???

As if he needed more reason to hate every single last mote of Emperor-forsaken aether in her barbarous filthy hide.

Oh but a personal insult was good fuel for the fire raging within him. The inferno that he stoked in preparation to engulf Doma for its insolence against Garlemald. He'd accept this slight, for he was prepared to repay it a thousand fold.

Xiao pushed up her hat to scratch at her head (without a single bug on it or near it, mind). What a piece of work that so called ambassador was.

[imperial-nuisance-rudje]

I have had people responding to a Twitter post I made acting like I am either oblivious to what has happened in-text or that I want Zenos to be not an asshole and it makes me want to shake them

(Spoilery ranting about EW things under the cut)

I made that post bc I think the plot twist with Zero is fucking boring! It strips potential complexity and Good Drama from her and the rest of the writing either doesn't go into it enough (because let's be real she is weirdly chill with having her will stripped away from her) or doesn't acknowledge that Fandanny is very much the reason Zenos had the ability to do that in the first place (at least in English, I know fandanny gets mentioned more in other translations (which, can we discuss how fucking weird it is that the clown, a major antagonist for EW, is being glossed over this hard in favor of Zenos, who was for much of 6.0 a glorified side character despite his buildup in 5.x? I fucking hate it, on both counts))! Having the contract be mutual and having Zenos just be the shittiest client known to Voidsent is just way more interesting for everyone involved, because he's still a trash man but in a way that isn't boring stereotypied villain behavior that sends me to sleep and it means the Scions have to grapple with Zero knowingly harming people even if she had no malice behind it!

Like, I'm already not happy that Zero seems to be heading down the path of either having all her interesting traits sanded off to make her more universally appealing or getting the axe (I think the former is more likely due to the power of being in marketing material, but who knows given that this is the ff4 expac and Zeromus is a thing/historical problems 14 has had with introducing characters to kill them off the same expac), but that one thing in particular (combined with making her a normal person, fuck you guys I wanted a fucked up monster girl, I am aware of the writing justification for it and i think it is the realm of COWARDS) I think should have been a warning for how they would handle her and it displeases me that she's going down the way that signaled in the end, especially since a lot of the other Scions have had the sanding issue happen to them as well.

Idk, I just get annoyed when people see a very specific complaint and think it means "oh we want our villain woobified" instead of "I have found many aspects of how they handled these two narratively dissatisfying and it's only gotten worse with time, here is my take on probably the biggest with the most knock-on problems", or that it means I'm being misogynist about zero when my frustration with zero is that the writers keep swerving away from narrative complexity with her and have consistently chosen to not offer any novel insight to Zenos with her criticisms of him—"Zenos bad" is boring and uninteresting after the first time (where it at least gives info about Zero herself) and the English translation veering away from 6.3's "Zenos and Fandaniel are very alike in how they perceive the world" in favor of more "Zenos bad" is particularly frustrating bc it removes relatively novel info about why they could have been drawn to work with each other for no reason except a Zenos hateboner, as far as I can tell (literally, Fandaniel gets a full namedrop in every other version of that line, it's not like the translators didn't know he was included).

Turns out when you strongly bind two characters together, boring choices for one tends to negatively affect the other too! God. I'm just, so tired of people deliberately reading my fucking lukewarm at most "character writing in 6.x suffers from the scale it is trying to handle in the space it is given" takes in the most negative fashion possible.

[senespera-ffxiv]

Unorganized Stormblood Thoughts That I Typed Into My Media List

FFXIV: Stormblood

Rating and overall thoughts for the MSQ: 4/5, ranges from excellent to good with a few glaring problems in the form of Lyse etc. but overall I am relatively satisfied with how they explored the premise that was set up at the end of Heavensward Patch Quests

Rating and overall thoughts for the patch quests: Haven’t done them yet

so like Lyse is. A Character. That had potential and then it got increasingly obvious that said potential was in an alternate version of the game that spent more time on her before Stormblood.

Apart from Lyse, Stormblood can probably be split into three separate sections. Ala Mhigo Part 1, Doma, Ala Mhigo Part 2.

Ala Mhigo Part 1 was. Well, it was largely unremarkable apart from That Part where Rhalgr’s Reach gets fucking decimated. As much as Zenos basically doesn’t do anything, this part really does help establish how Fucking Insane he is. I think I would’ve preferred a situation where he naturally yeeted you instead of the “Concentrativity but on steroids” thing he did (preferably some sort of system where each cast of Concentrativity gives you a stack of Stagger which at 5 turns into Down for the Count that way it can be implemented in normal gameplay too as a sort of soft enrage for the Ala Mhigo dungeon) but his intimidation factor is at an 11. Also really liked how it went along a route that showed how inexperienced Lyse is at all of this, was a lot of good setup for character growth (just unfortunate that they kind of. skipped like. all of it.)

Doma was really good, like the story itself felt around the same quality as Heavensward MSQ (so like a 4/5 for me). What I appreciated more was what I assume to be meta-commentary on chinese myth, specifically King Wu of Zhou’s overthrow of King Zhou of Shang. It was so cool slowly finding out that Gosetsu, that one guy who just kinda showed up in the ARR patch quests, was actually fucking Jiang Ziya and then finding Hien and everything and then they folded in a Cyan reference at the same time and I just oooough I love it when you synthesize references into a new thing it’s so neat. And it was a really really good examination of the circumstances that both inhibit and promote revolution in oppressed areas.

Also Yugiri is quite literally best character that scene with her having to confront the sheer hopelessness of the situation was genuinely heartbreaking, especially because of how well the voice actor delivered those lines. Like holy shit, why can’t Lyse be like this

Ala Mhigo Part 2 was good, still relatively unremarkable up until those final few hours cuz holy fucking shit the hype during that entire segment was so good. It was like the perfect energetic leadup to the Ala Mhigo dungeon and OUGH THAT DUNGEON I LOVE THAT DUNGEON SO FUCKING MUCH the way that people randomly help you go forward, the bosses, especially the boss fight against Zenos like that boss fight against Zenos is possibly the most difficult dungeon boss I have encountered so far it is Insane I also love it to bits as a narrative device showing how Zenos is difficult to conquer but with the help of your allies and a little bit of training he can be overcome, just not without a lot of difficulty

AND HAVE I MENTIONED THE FIGHT AGAINST SHINRYU that trial was some of the most Batshit content I have fucked around with like Holy Shit what is happening this is cool as shit I wanna know more LEMME AT THE EXTREME MODE

My problems with Lyse are twofold

Bit of a white savior complex ya got going on there huh

Where’s the character development

The white savior complex thing shouldn’t be too surprising, I think they realized it too cuz every single Ala Mhigan character is dark skinned except for her and Fordola and while I am absolutely not discounting the very likely possibility that Ala Mhigo is not an ethnostate it still feels a bit icky if you know what I mean. Not to mention how she perpetually acts like it’s White Girl Wednesday lmao. This segues into the character development thing which is to say she has none where did it go did Hien eat it

Like seriously did Hien eat all of her character development because it all sorta just happens offscreen and those few opportunities where she does have some time to do some real self-reflecting they deflect it with her usual impulsive herbo gag. It would’ve been interesting to see her really struggle with her flaws, be actively reprimanded for said flaws, and through the help of her allies slowly understand just what it is she needs to do (which is to be more like Hien or Yugiri but in her own unique way)

The resolution to her character is perfect, she acts exactly like how I thought she would. Angry, impulsive, but not impulsive enough to do anything rash. She’s figured out how to rein it in so she can become a decent leader but hasn’t let go of that fiery drive that’s defined her character for the past two expansions/arcs and I do think that if they just filled in more of the character development (and also devoted more time to her in ARR/Heavensward for more than just like. meme gags) she could’ve been actually Really Good. Oh well, she’s not really gonna be in the spotlight that much from now on anyways it seems

[jafanadis]

While surfing through Deviantart, I found a Voice Actor Meme Template which was created by AleximusPrime.

I know, I know that this meme may seem a little bit childish and immature, but I thought this template would be a fun little experiment for me to try with my OC’s and what I feel they should sound like. I have always had a fascination for the voices of animated characters, as well as voice actors in general and I decided I had to give this a shot.

As you can see, I only used pictures of fictional characters, I only included the actors’ names without their photographs, because I believe that using real people’s photographs without their permission would be kind of creepy. As mentioned in the template, the actors I chose are not the actors that I want my characters to be voiced by, I selected the characters they played who I felt my characters would sound like.

Well, here we go.

Russell's voice comparison for the longest time was Ryan Akagi from Infinity Train. I felt his pitch of voice was not too high, and not too deep. I never pictured Russell having a timid, high-pitched voice. Russell can be timid at times, but when the time calls for it he takes action. But over time, I began to feel that this wasn't a good choice, after many months of thinking I was at my wit's end. That was until I saw the trailer for Another Eden: The Cat Beyond Time and Space, Complex Dream which featured characters from one of my favorite games as a kid, Chrono Cross. I happened to hear the voice of Serge, the main character of that game speak for the first time, and upon hearing Serge's voice, I believe I found Russell's voice once and for all. It just really clicked. A couple of things I would probably change with the voice is that Russell would sound more serious and he would speak with a Saskatchewan Accent as he was raised in the capital of Regina.

I had to do a little bit of searching for Ash's voice. My first choice was Hunter from Owl House or Vanitas from the English Dub of Vanitas No Carte, both voiced by Zeno Robinson. However, over time I began to believe that these were not good choices for Ash and I began to look toward other characters. I recently re-watched the first Aladdin movie on Disney+ and upon hearing Aladdin's voice, I did select him for the Ash's voice comparison but over time I realized it just did not match. Ash has a dynamic sounding voice, something which Ryan Akagi from Infinity Train, the original vocal comparison for Russell was. So I decided to switch Ryan as from Russell's voice comparison to Ash's voice comparison and this time it seemed right.

Zia's voice was pretty easy as well. Nubia Gross from The Proud Family original series was an absolute yes. I definitely picture Zia sounding like a kinder, more supportive version of Nubia. I know the character and voice actress are American, but I believe this voice comparison was perfect for Zia. One thing though, she would need to speak with a Nova Scotian Accent as Zia was born and raised in Halifax and had moved to Regina in her last year of high school.

Derrick's voice was also pretty easy, I definitely chose Toma Kamijou from the English Dub of A Certain Magical Index at first. In the English Dub, Toma just has a very "big-brotherly" tone of voice which I totally hear Derrick speaking with. But then I decided to trade that for Best Jeanist from My Hero Acadamia's English Dub, also voiced by Micah Solusod. In addition, Derrick was born and raised in Hawaii, and the actor who voiced Toma in the English Dub, Micah Solusod is from Hawaii as well. Best choice.

For the longest time, I assigned Louis from the English Dub of Beastars as the vocal comparison of Chatan, because at first I pictured Chatan being strict and no nonsense, but this eventually changed, he started to become much more lighthearted and I figured that Louis' voice would no longer be a good match for him. So I switched it for Natsusa Yuzuki from the English Dub of Number24 who was voiced by Griffin Puatu who also voiced Louis from Beastars, but in the end it just didn't match him. I then transitioned his voice from Natsusa to Ganke Lee in Marvel's Spider Man who was also voiced by Griffin Puatu, but it just didn't seem quite right either. This was around the time when I decided that Hunter's voice wouldn't be a good fit for Ash, so I decided to see if Hunter or Vanitas's voice would fit, it was close but no cigar. I looked into other roles Zeno Robinson played and when I heard Hawks (AKA Keigo Takami) in My Hero Academia, I settled for this voice for Chatan. Which is absolutely shocking because I don’t care that much for My Hero Academia. But over time, I began to think that this voice wasn't a good fit after all, so I decided to find a new one. I watched a movie recently called "Trolls World Tour" and I heard the voice of Branch, and I thought perhaps this voice would work for Chatan once and for all.

Another voice to choose which was a journey was Vai's. I was battling for a long time whether or not I should choose a soft or deep voice for them. I assigned Ryonousuke Akutagawa from the English Dub of Bungou Stray Dogs which for a long time sounded perfect, but my vision for Vai changed and Akutagawa's voice, I felt, would have made Vai sound like a Californian skater dude. So that was off the table. Rewatching Steven Universe, I heard Emerald from the episode, Lars of the Stars and settled on that. But Vai would need to sound a bit more pretentious, whiny, their pitch would need to be slightly higher, and they would have to speak with an accent that sounds like the Upper Class British English accent.

Miri's voice was pretty easy, she's supposed to have a high pitched, almost annoying kind of voice, Disgust from Inside Out was the perfect choice. Miri would have to sound a bit more cheerful and then at times a bit more spoiled and commanding given the fact she’s a know-it-all spoiled brat and a queen bee.

I knew that Jheron had to have a deep voice but I couldn't decide which character should voice him. At first I chose Gundham Tanaka from the English Dub of the Danganronpa 2 Video Game, but it just didn't seem right to me. Then I went with Bayek from Assassin's Creed Origins but it made him seem far too serious. I was at my wit's end. If there was one person I wanted to voice Jheron, it would've been Markiplier. There is just something about his voice I just felt was a good match for Jheron, his voice was deep, but not too deep. But, I couldn't find any characters voiced by Markiplier and I was almost compelled to give up. But luckily, I found that Markiplier played a version of himself in the 2015 video game, PewDiePie: The Legend of Bro-Fist and I shouted for joy, because technically this was an animated character that I could feature on this meme. One thing I would change is that Jheron would speak with an accent similar to the Rhode Island English Accent as he was raised in Akrya.

Suri's voice was pretty easy, I was attracted to the androgynous/boyish sounding voice of the voice actress Kimlinh Tran, and I figured a vocal pitch like that would be perfect for Suri and I decided to look for characters voiced by Tran, but it was difficult. Tran voiced Mikasa Ackerman in the English Dub of Attack On Titan, but she sounded too serious for Suri. Eventually I came across Nadia Fortune from the video game Skullgirls: Second Encore and that was a definite match for Suri. Suri also speaks with an accent similar to the Singaporean English Accent as she was raised in Prathe.

Another character which was easy to pick a voice for was Haerile, The Beast from Beauty and The Beast was it. Haerile is a very no-nonsense, easily agitated person just like the Beast. Haerile speaks with an accent similar to German as he was raised in the Jithran Senate.

Tai's voice went on a little bit of a journey, at first I chose the good version of Spinel's voice from Steven Universe, but over time I came to realize it wasn't a good match, then I transitioned it to DeeDee from Dexter's Lab, but her voice sounded too deep. After weeks of searching, I finally settled with Charmy the Bee from the English Dub of Sonic Heroes, one of my favorite games as a child. The spunky voice that Emily Corkery gave him with the perfect pitch for Tai, my little rambunctious monkey girl.

Rahkar's first voice was actually Patrick from SpongeBob but I decided that wouldn't be a good choice because I felt it would make him seem dimwitted and childish. I had a hard time looking for other voices. I am a big fan of Game Grumps and I came to realize that Arin Hanson's voice would be perfect for Rahkar. I knew Arin was a voice actor and I began looking for characters he voiced, Gateaux from Mighty Magiswords was the first choice but his voice was much deeper and he didn't say much and I wanted to find a character that spoke as much with Arin's natural voice as possible. It was difficult, but I settled on Krakov, who only appeared in one episode of Mighty Magiswords; The Cave of Gelatinous Doom! I felt this character spoke with as much of Arin's natural voice as possible.

Qishya's voice was a little bit difficult, at the start of my journey, I assigned Tiana from the Princess and the Frog as the voice comparison with Qishya, but her voice sounded too deep. Then I switched it for Ashley Williams from the Mass Effect series. That didn’t work either. Eventually I came across the character, Leah, from the 2001 movie, Osmosis Jones, who was voiced by singer Brandy Norwood. She has been the only animated character to be voiced by Brandy, but there was just something about the airy, sultry tone in Leah's voice that just fit with Qishya.

My first choice for Lellain was Cuphead from the Cuphead show, but I came to the realization that this voice was much too masculine and comedic sounding for Lellain. I also didn't think it would be appropriate to assign this character as the voice comparison for Lellain. I thought that this character voice would make Lellain seem...like a slapstick character. Lellain is a jokester, but he isn't like Cuphead at all, there are times he can be serious. Playing the game, Marvel's Spiderman, I assigned Miles Morales, voiced by Nadji Jeter, temporarily as the voice comparison for Lellain. After searching and searching I finally decided to assign Max Mittelman's portrayal of Ryuji Sakamoto from Persona 5 as Lellain's voice. Lellain however does speak with an accent similar the Hiberno-English (Irish English) Accent because he was raised in the Golar Sodality.

Kasai was pretty difficult. The most difficult of all my OC's to find a voice for. I combed through many actors and characters but none of them quite fit, until I heard the Netflix Dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion and I heard Shinji Ikari's voice. Though that voice seemed a bit too timid and high-pitched for Kasai, something clicked and I just had to look-up the actor, Casey Mongillo and what other characters they voiced, hoping I could find a possible voice comparison for my green child. I looked through other characters they voiced without much success until I came across Emporio Alnino from the English Dub of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures and it I thought it was the perfect match for a while. But over time I began to realize that this voice would be too high-pitched for Kasai. I wanted to find a nonbinary actor to voice Kasai, unfortunately none of them had the vocal tone I would imagine Kasai to have. Greg Cipes' portrayal of Beast Boy from Young Justice was one of my first choices, and I decided to reassign this voice to Kasai.

I originally chose Bismuth from Steven Universe as the voice comparison for Itzapa, but Bismuth sounded very jovial and laid-back, something which Itzapa is not. So, I needed to find another character for her voice comparison, and I needed to find a character with a voice that wasn't too deep. It took a while, but then I came across a Canadian cartoon called Shadow Raiders, which I vaguely remembered as a kid. When I heard the voice of the character, Jade, voiced by Enuka Okuma, I decided this would be Itzapa's voice comparison. Jade is a tough woman ready for battle, just like Itzapa. I do picture the voice being a little bit deeper.

So this is what my OC’s voices would sound like. If you have any better ideas for the OC’s voices, please feel free to leave them in the comments below. And I just want to make this clear, I only selected the characters these actors/actresses voiced that I felt closely matched my OC’s not the actual actor/actress themselves.

Otacaia, and all of it's characters © Jafan Adis, 2022-2023. All Rights Reserved.

[hanako-san]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime, books, movies or tv series)? Thanks....

I don't mind! I am very happy to share my favorite characters !! Although it is difficult to honestly choose one character for the TOP 10, but here is my list.

1)Amane Yugi Aka Hanako Kun(Jibaku shounen hanako kun) and Gintoki Sakata (Gintama)

There's no other way. They're both the first on my favorites list.

My boy Amane is a 13-year-old ghost that I love as such a complex, flawed character, and I can understand his pain so well. he can be cute.I love how his character has developed so far. From the boy who cared about nothing and decided to "go nowhere", he began to care, love life and want to stop to be with the friends he loves. This may sound a little weird, but if anyone has watched / read, they know what I mean.

Gintoki Sakata is the best shounen MC ever made. Nobody can convince me otherwise. I cannot describe him with a few words. @yonaks descended so well that I can only join her words.

2)Zeno/Hak/Jeaha(Akatsuki No Yona) Yoh Asakura(Shaman King)

Zeno is my beloved dragon. I love the whole group and have also mentioned Jeaha as my favorite dragon, but Zeno is the number one and the best and beloved dragon.

Zeno - He is the most tragic of all, despite everything, thanks to his wife, he learned to enjoy small things and passes all his joy and positive to the group, but also sometimes returns to his important old self. His power is also brutal. How can I not love him?

Hak - This is the best MC shoujo ever made. He may seem perfect and so he is a very OP, but in fact he is a person with many defects with good fighting skills, intelligence and a big, kind heart.

Jeaha - I like his personality and his interactions with his family and especially with Haku, he is like a big brother to everyone, especially Hak.

Yoh Asakura(Shaman King) - Yoh is my hero and he finally got a great reboot! He totally deserved it. He loves his laid-back attitude and being serious / angry when needed. He has opened so many hearts.

4)Yona(Akatsuki No Yona)/Tsukuyo(Gintama)/Lucy Heartfilia(Fairy Tail)

Yona - She is absolutely my favorite princess. She has a wonderful character development (like Hak), and also has a lot of kindness and can open people's hearts and change them for the better.

Tsukuyo - She is for me the best, most developed woman in shounen. She has learned to depend on others, she is not alone, she has so much goodness and kindness, and her relationship with gintoki is the best for me. She is incredibly strong.

Lucy Heartfilia - Lucy from a cowardly girl became a completely brave girl. I love her role and what I love is that she is the most vivid character (I mean, rent trouble). Also that it has (and still shows) amazing character development. She was able to oppose her abuser - her father, she had gone through many hard trials and proved that she was worthy and strong, and her strength was finally appreciated by one of her guild's strongest mages and she was finally appreciated - I admire her

5) (Our) Ciel Phantomhive(Kuroshitsuji)

It (Our) is important whoever has read the manga knows what I mean.

Ciel crosses so much evil that I am not surprised by his dark personality, he still helps people if he wants to. His personality is dark, but very interesting to me. I don't know how I should describe him ... He's just like a son to me.

6)Al Bundy (Married With Children)

Ed O'Neill he created the best male character of the brilliant Al Bundy (For me), I know he's a sexist and a shawinist (I mean Al Bundy, not Ed) for women, and I am a woman, but I really love and appreciate this character, I come back to this series many times and laughs and the most he makes me laugh the loudest , but I think everyone gave 100% of themselves there and they are amazing, but Al Bundy is definitely my favorite.

7) The Suite Life of Zack and Cody/The Suite Life on Deck

What can I say? I come back to this show often! I loved Zack the most, but now I love both of them.Cole played in Rivdale fanastically and this character is also my favorite

I cannot add any more images:(

8)Merlin(The Adventures of Merlin)

9) Shizukui Sui(Gakko no Kaidan)

I love this character because he is amazing. It is difficult for me to describe what I like about him. Probably that the hatred he carried began to gradually change thanks to the needle hero and that he wanted to reconcile with the person who hurt him badly because this person was for him like a parent / guardian for a lonely child. This J-Drama is my favorite and I often come back to this drama.

I must add that Kamiki Ryunosuke playing Sui is amazing and I love him as an actor and he is one of my favorite actors, he has played many roles that I love and it would really take me eternity to describe them all, but this is the character of Sui in which I saw him and my 1st drama so I have a special fondness for it.

10) Hero(J Drama) - Kuryu Kohei

Well, I love his personality and dedication to his work. He's a genius dedective, also fun. It is impossible to get bored with him

Unfortunately, this is how my list looks like this until the fifth place, and that's not what I said about all of them ... Ahh ...

Hope you like my answer and thanks for the asking!!! It's was a lot fun!!

[ami-no-todoke]

hey so I noticed you put Yona of the dawn as one of your fandoms and I'm in that fandom too!! I was wondering what your overall thoughts on it were and if you read the manga?

Hey there! thanks for asking. I love the manga, it's actually the only one I collect in physical format. I just can't resist. I love the complexity of the plot, my favorite character though it might be controversial is Soo-won. Yona is one of my fav heroines, so real and lovely. one of my favorites lines of her is "Before I question the gods, there are questions I should ask myself."

Jae-ha and Zeno are also my favorites and of course, there is Hak. Sin-ha and Ki-ja aren't far off either. personally I am enjoying the current arc, I like the insight we're getting about the whole situation with South kai since it's been mentioned from the very beginning of the show here and there. All in all it's one of my favorite series of all time and wish it could get a second season.

[crimsonfluidessence]

Endwalker Reactions and Thoughts

Writing this both post story and as I go through it. Just my textual reactions to things and so on. Obviously don’t click until you’ve finished the main story.

I did NOT expect to see Hydaelyn in human form right off the bat. Wow that’s some juicy ass lore immediately. You bet your ass I took the opportunity to call her out because I really don’t trust her, still.

ESTINIEN HAS A REAL LAST NAME?!

Sharlayan is quite pretty. I like how they have one (1) fine dining establishment. Fourchenault is still a fucking asshole. Erenville is cute but I worry we’re going to put him in danger.

All the cute and relaxed moments we get with the Scions during this part of the story are really nice and I quite enjoy them. Also Krile being relevant is great.

AMELIANCE IS BEST MOM, HOLY SHIT. MOMMMMM. I love how her and I get to have an Adult Conversation while the kids are occupied, very appropriate for Esredes.

It was really nice of the MSQ to give him a plot relevant flower.

Sharlayan is basically a nation that is half boomers, half zoomers. Tell me I’m wrong. I want to like it but people like Fourchenault make me unable to.

I have to agree with the masses, Labrynthos’ daytime theme is grating. Also by god this zone is fucking impossible to navigate without flying.

Can we just appreciate how unapologetically edgy and broody Estinien is? How this fucker won’t stop /leaning on everything? Oh my god it’s hilariously awful. Also I’m just going to say it, by the gods is he a fucking himbo.

I really liked the look of Thavnair, and I was so excited to go to it. Estinien being bad with money is hilarious but makes sense.

This is about how I imagine these two interact.

I would die for Matsya. I managed to make one sale!

I WOULD DIE FOR NIDHANA WHAT A SWEET WOMAN

WHY ARE THE BABY’S HORNS GREEN???? His tail isn’t green and no one is explaining or acknowledging it and it’s bothering me.

My god the people of Thavnair besides the swindlers are so nice??? I feel so bad everyone’s fallen on hard times.

Esrey as the alchemists escort Estinien off: Lol Glad That Aint Me

OH MY GOD FANDANIEL IS AMON?!?! HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHITTTT-

I don’t know how but I managed to dodge every mechanic of the final boss on my first go around (statistics show this has not been replicated on further runs.)

GOD THE MINIBOSS MUSIC FUCKS SO HARD

G’raha with his cheeseburger is such a mood. I feel that hard.

Esrey with his tea is also a mood.

As said before, friendship ended with Hraesvelgr, now Vrtra is my best friend. Like holy shit he is the most valid dragon in the game. He cares so much??? There’s actually a dragon that’s alive and not a dickhead besides Vidofnir??? I LOVE THIS DRAGON SO MUCH. AND AHESWANN IS ALSO VALID.

And also oh fuck that was NOT a child that was Vrtra’s humansona also my god the LORE---

By the way fuck you game for that montage of chars who die AND FOR SHOWING YSAYLE FIRST

I really, really enjoyed the Garlemald arc. That hit so fucking hard. They did not hold back on showing the sheer devastation and the complexity of the situation and my god... Garleans deserve SO much better than to be constantly played by malevolent forces that don’t care about their well being. This whole section hurt and hit me so hard. Also seeing so many characters come back is quality and ESPECIALLY LUCIA LIKE FUCK YEAH GIRL, YOU GO!

SQUARE ENIX, I AM FUCKING BEGGING YOU, LET ME HUG THIS MAN RIGHT NOW. PLEASE. OH GOD NOW HE’S CRYING PLEASE LET ME HUG HIM NOOOOOO-

It took me three tries to beat that instance holy mother of fuck. Zenos Esrey will haunt my nightmares. Seriously how can anyone simp for Zenos at this point. Like now I’m at the point where I just want to do unspeakable things to him because oh my god he’s such a complete monster it’s not even charming anymore it’s just FUCK YOU I HATE YOU SO MUCH SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Is the second boss of Babil supposed to be the guy turned INTO a robot or in a robot suit why did they never clarify this--

Oh god we’re going to the moon already? OH SHIT WE ON THE MOON BOYS. MORE AMAUROT LORE IS NEAT.

So was the shardless world called Etheirys, and now that she split the planet Hydaelyn is just naming it after herself now? That’s kind of a selfish dick move, don’t you think? And then everyone starts calling it by its original name like are we not calling the planet Hydaelyn anymore???

HYTH!!!! HYTH IS BACK!!!! NOOO DON’T GO HYTH STAY HEREEEE-

Of all things I did not expect a Doggo Friend on the moon.

I am so ready to kick Zodiark’s ass. Update: I was not, in fact, ready to kick Zodiark’s ass. We wiped five times. Kill me. I am so not ready for an extreme of this, there is no way the mount could be worth that agony, they already did dragons.

Also every time I see the word oblivion or ALPHINAUD USES YSAYLE’S LINE I die a little more inside.

oH FUCK THE WORLD’S ENDING

Not going to lie I did not enjoy the bunny arc as much as the rest of EW so far. My mind is kind of too preoccupied that the WORLD IS ENDING to be entertained by the bun buns and their antics. The Urianger bit was nice, though.

So I had to pause right before the feast in Thavnair because I just. Am not okay after all the shit that was just thrown at me. I don’t feel like I’ve earned a celebration at all. I just watched countless people die and a woman jump to her death and her baby almost die. I’m glad Vrtra’s people accept him, at least, he deserves that so much. But jesus fucking christ. And this isn’t even the worst part????

Okay so let me get this straight. Sharlayan knew the fucking APOCALYPSE was going to happen, and instead of try to help anyone deal with it, they just show up and go ‘come to our ship bro’? I’m actually so incredibly mad. Fuck you, Sharlayan. FUCK YOU. YOU PIECES OF FUCKING SHIT HOW THE FUCK COULD YOU JUST--

Fuck this, I need a break, man. So I powerleveled LTW to 90 for the outfit and then BLM to 50 to get all this old casting gear out of my inventory.

SOME TIME LATER...

I miss Lyna and Ryne so much and I teared up at seeing them again. I LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH, GOD DAMN IT. LET ME HUG THEM BOTH. SO GLAD THEY’RE DOING WELL.

It is. So weird to hear Elidibus’ voice come out of that tiny body. I know he’s not actually a child but still. I felt compelled to apologize to him. At least he’s not upset anymore and more chill?

Wait if he knows how to control the tower why hasn’t he freed himself from it--

Also man I forgot this tower’s a fucking time machine

Now I feel bad for Elidibus though... man, fuck, poor guy... I teared up I can’t fucking help it FUCK--

Emet looks JUST as grumpy holy shit. Also I can’t believe he’s a karen. Actually yes I can but holy shit. The Emet fuckers must be eating this shit UP.

OH GOD ITS HYTH I AM EMOTIONAL AGAIN HOLY SHIT ITS OUR BOY--

Esrey is a big boy now too I’m so glad he grew up

I actually love grouchy karen Emet so much he’s hilarious holy shit

OMG THE AXOLOTL--

Esredes is very confused.

Etheirys doesn’t seem so perfect anymore... no individuality and no value of life not ancient? Huh. Also all the little creatures are killing me.

Hyth is no less of a gremlin and I love it. I legit burst out laughing when I saw Hermes in the tree.

This is a lot of lore with interesting implications we’re getting in Elpis... limit break confirmed dynamis whatever? Also you’re literally telling me these people can TRANSFORM and it’s INDECENT BEHAVIOR? YOU’RE ALL FUCKING NUTS WHAT THE FUCK THATS DOPE

Also I really like Charmion. She’s cool.

Hermes is such a good man... how did your soul become so fucked up, buddy?

Damn, Hydaelyn, your past self used to be so cool, what happened???? Also wow, everything is no coincidence. It’s starting to make sense.

Emet-Selch calling out his own character writing is the funniest fucking thing I’m so sorry it’s also sad but holy shit

I can’t believe I have to fight mom. HOLY SHIT THAT INSTANCE WAS AWESOME. I LOVE YOUNGER MOM SO MUCH WTF??? Like she has to be in my top 10 but AGAIN HYDAELYN ISN’T COOL WHY IS SHE SO MUCH BETTER.

Me for the last hour of the Elpis quests: what the fuck is going on

TRUST WITH THE ANCIENT BUDDIES HELL YEAH LETS GO!!!!!

Even as not an Emet fucker, I love seeing him be a good guy in the past. It’s just soothing to the soul after Shadowbringers. It gives me MANY emotions.

TIL the final days happened because of nihilism. Thanks, assholes. Also Meteion is the final boss I’m calling it.

I DON’T WANNA LEAVE MOMMMMM-

I have no idea what is going on.

OH GOD BUT MY BOY JULLUS IS BACK YESSS I AM SO FUCKING HAPPY GO MY MAN AAAAAAA

Zenos I literally do not care at all at this point just fuck off however Jullus and Alisaie popping off at him was great. Also Forchenault still sucks.

Victory is mine.

I’m bored so nothing to write until I’M TEARING UP AT THE PARENTS. FUCK THIS IS THE KIND OF CHARACTER MOMENT URI NEEDED.

So far Endwalker has taught me to never go to space. Only bad things come from going to space.

White haired moms are the best in this expansion, my god. Also I love seeing all the supporting Gang show up.

Me: oh it’s the aetherial sea look at all these people from the past NO DON’T GO man I bet they’ll forget about-

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

NO, I’M NOT OKAY.

I never thought I’d say it but for once in my life I am with Asahi. This is extremely satisfying. BYE, BITCH.

Holy shit it’s Hydaelyns real form. Damn she pretty. DAMN WE FIGHT HER.

Now we finally understand why she broke the world.. I feel oddly at peace?

Damn it I don’t want Mom to go... ;-; OH NO SHE CRIES AND TELLS ME SHE LOVES ME FOREVER FUCK NOOOOOOO-

I cried actual tears.

I told Em to try Archon Loaf because I’m sorry but he deserves to be bullied. I don’t feel bad about it.

I still don’t care for Forchenault. Good on you buddy for having your character development moment but did you really have to disown your kids and act completely apathetic to the suffering around you and do nothing to help with except show up and tell people to go to a ship?

NGL I actually think the PLD artifact is cooler than expected. Not cool enough to make a glam of but it looks decent on him even so. I’m gonna wear it to the end.

Me getting progressively more nervous at the quiet vibing with the Scions....

OMG THE PRIMALS TALKING TO EACH OTHER IS HILARIOUS

Oh shit, is this place the Dragonstar?! Why else are there a bunch of sad dragon shades?! ALSO CHRIST IS METEION CREEPY

He’s not doing so hot.

He’s REALLY not doing so hot.

oh jesus christ the baby

oh jesus christ

I am at least really intrigued by the lore coming out of this place. Of all the thematics going on.

Meteion is so creepy jesus christ

GO EMET GO AAAAAAAA HOLY SHIT I AM FEELING SO MUCH AT THIS CUTSCENE AAAAAAAAAAAA My god the emotions in this expansion are so fucking powerful it moves me.

Giant Meteion is equal parts pretty and scary af

ZENOS ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME JESUS CHRIST YOU REALLY DON’T QUIT Okay this is actually pretty fucking awesome

I GET TO BE USEFUL AND TANK LB AGAIN! THANK YOU SQUARE!

Okay punching the shit out of Zenos was VERY satisfying but I really would have rather walked the fuck away and said no fuck you

All the scions around Esrey is making me EMOTIONS AGAIN FUCK

AAAAAAAAAAAA

Estinien being an Empyreum guard sounds hilarious to me. He’d never get any work done, people would be fangirling over him so hard.

HOLY FUCK ITS ELIDIBUS oh it’s set up for the raids I haven’t done yet gotcha

And we’re done, holy shit. I’m glad the Scions get some time to do whatever they want, Meteion is free, and I’m off to keep being an RP fiend and grind my last two tanks up so I can discard all this old tank gear.

What an incredible experience that was. I’m amazed. This hit hard and I can’t possibly dictate all my thoughts.

MVPs of the Expansion: Alisaie as always, Venat, Vrtra, Aheswann, Matsya, Nidhana, Hythlodaeus, Jullus, Lucia. You all did amazing and you’re in the top levels of my favorites.

Estinien tried.

If you’re wondering, yes, this expansion gave me several ideas for my character. I’m gonna say fuck it and have him be part of the Garlemald arc, and he needs to go to Thavnair and secure an audience with Vrtra some imagined months after all the despair. And all the theming around the meaning of life and suffering and the like makes me wonder about devising some means to shed him of some of his giant pool of angst. I just have to be a good enough writer for it which I’m not sure I am but who knows lmao

Besides that, I really enjoyed the handling of the existentialism themes and the meaning of life. I genuinely feel I learned something, for myself, as a person, from this expansion. I’ve never seen the theme handled so in depth and so well, honestly, in such a satisfying manner. I think they handled the characters well and all of that, the way everything from the past built up and called back and the like was- beautiful and satisfying. Fucking beautiful. Amazing job with the story, I am just, touched to know an MMO, with its already low quality writing standards, can achieve this level of feeling like a valuable and meaningful story and not just be an excuse for a game.

I’m happy with how the end was walked. I feel resolved and ready for whatever comes next of the series, and man am I intrigued.

And god knows I still need my Empyreum house. I will not rest until I have that in the area that APPARENTLY CAN’T SPELL YSAYLE’S DAMN LAST NAME RIGHT.

Until then, know this expansion will lead to some new material for myself and my character and I hope you enjoyed my screaming.

[entheirys]

from the ffxiv ask meme : 2 , 5 , 9 , 10 , 15 , 19 , and 27 !!

final fantasy xiv get-to-know ( accepting. )

2. Favorite class/job?

dark knight my beloved <3  i might be ... a little bit biased since i started maining tank classes, but DRK is absolutely my favorite at present ; and for what damage it does, i did start as a BRD main up through SHB content, so i have a fondness for it at its core ( i think !!! personally !!! it should get buffed more !!! ) but i seem to have this curse that whenever i finally learn/start to enjoy a class, something gets taken away from it or its damage is reduced next patch, this has been a continued track record with every class i’ve picked up, and now that i’m starting to learn RPR (and enjoying it quite a bit!) i fear that they’ll nerf it next  🤡  

5. Favorite character(s)?

this is where the judgement comes in i’m crying but ... my all time favorite is undoubtedly zenos. i love his entire villain vibe, i love how he just ... exists, doing whatever he feels like, i love how he’s a very good counter to the warrior of light, and also he’s just. really pretty.  🤡 i get teased a lot (respectfully) for my ever-predictable taste, but i love most villains at the core because i love trying to understand why they act or are the way they are, but in all honesty a lot of xiv characters have that level of complexity i enjoy, so i have a really good time with it !

other honorable mentions are, as given: g’raha tia, emet-selch, hythlodaeus, y’shtola, ryne & gaia, haurchefant, emmanellain, sicard, hildibrand, and the chais.

9. Favorite trial?

answered here !

10. Favorite dungeon?

answered here !

15. Favorite mount?

i bled for that stupid glowing cactus AND fenrir the first year i played xiv while i was sick and i take every opportunity to use either one whenever the opportunity arises, which is often.

19. Is there a character/boss/etc that hasn’t appeared yet (or been referenced) that you’d like to see?

[SLAMS MY HANDS ON THE TABLE] WHERE IS MY MERACYDIA CONTENT !! I AM DEMANDING MORE LORE IN THE UPCOMING PATCHES/EXPANSION BECAUSE MY WHOLE WOL IS SUPPOSED TO ORIGINATE FROM THERE AND AAAAAAAAAAaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAA   😭 😭 😭 i just ... i want to know everything and i’m given crumbs ... it hurts just a little bit. maybe.

( as an aside, i’d love to meet the azem that looked similar to us in elpis, as well as learn more about the menphina and halone. i know the current raid series is about the twelve, but i’m impatient and i want to see all of them as soon as possible, respectfully. )

27. You now have the ability to add in one character and one dungeon from any Final Fantasy title prior to XIV, who/what do you pick and why?

i’ll admit i haven’t really played/seen much of other final fantasy games, but !!! fran is in this one too, but where is balthier?? we get his clothes but my man’s just isn’t here??? i miss him?? so much?? i’ll do anything to see him in the game even though the ivalice/rabanastre raid series just completely ignores the man. i’m pleading. please.

[usagi-mitsu]

Werlyt & Gaius - a bunch of thoughts.

I am a little late to the party. I know. But I just finished the Emerald weapon and before I go to try out the „not Zenos“ weapon as in „Diamond“, I need to get my thoughts on the story straight.

Perhaps I have been spoiled by 5.0s brilliant MSQ and cannot appreciate the inherent beauty of at least decent writing any longer. But this felt so wrong and out of tune with the rest of the game. I started writing this 2 hours ago! I wanted to one in bed by now! XD But I had to get it out of my system… so….

Spoilers for the MSQ and Werlyt incoming??? And no I did not re-read this so not just spoilers but also writing errors incoming. -.-

The good

These fights are epic! I have only ever cleared the normal versions, but I loved those. They are amazing. The callbacks to Eula (her being a woman here! When did they discover that???), Regula (may he rest in peace) and Gaius himself in his prime were delightful. But I could do with a little less rotating, ok? A dragoon has positional, you know? And being allowed to pilot my very own mecha was like *chefs kiss*. On that front? Well done Square Enix!

I am also glad they were able to get another use out of Porta Praetora! That place looks amazing with the wide open field and the lake – and Ala Mhigo across it. It was one of my favourite Stormblood areas and I am always glad to return there. And of course… being able to visit the allied camp again… And Werlyt itself. It’s simply a beautiful place. It reminds me very much of southern Greece. If you’ve watched the movie Mamma Mia you know what I mean.

The music too was really nice. But I don’t think I’ll… you know… listen to it on repeat as I am doing with other parts of the soundtrack.

I’ve also loved how much amazing lore we got about Garlemald and especially the garlean military. And the military abroad. The way soldiers not from the mainland get treated. I love learning about these things.

Gaius

The man. The legend. The guy yelling in Prae.

He’s so very boring here. He has so much potential as a character and maybe I’m missing something, but all throughout this story he has been nothing but passive. He’s a reactive character in this storyline. You know. The guy who made deals with Lahabread (the d is intended), tried to take over Eorzea, lead a whole army, stood idly by as the moon dropped, almost died but then decided just not to die and then though „hm… I’ve got so much freetime now. How about I go and hunt some ascians?“ That guy is NOT a reactive character. He is active. He goes out of his way to make shit he wants happen. And in here? He seems too starstruck and devastated by his adopted kids actions to actually have one clear thought.

The only explanation I have is that he might have gotten hit in the head by something on his way to the ruby weapon. I get why he would rely on Cid for help, but the WoL??? The alliance? If you wish to be an ally and help or something, fucking act like it. You were a former legatus and I expect you to live up to your name – even after retiring.

And yeah.. I guess it’s hard having to watch your kids willingly, knowingly dying. But you fucking raised them. You are a big part of the reason to why they are in that predicament. So like… Aside from that I don’t even get why you are in this story at all.

And for the record: I’m not sorry for him. I’m just flabbergasted by all the bullshit we’ve been learning about him.

To be quite honest, I think this story could have worked just as well or maybe even better, if we got another man as the „hero“ of the story. I am talking about none other than our engineering, hammer-swinging, ex-enemy - of course talking about Nero!

The MSQ has long established that his research into the Ultimate Weapon had been taken, twisted and turned – Estinien had to experience this first-hand. I’m not saying that Nero was in need of a redemption arc and I cannot remember if these weapons were of his creation or even stem from anything he did, but it would make so much more sense for me, to have him confront his past in the garlean military like this and be responsible for the death of his former colleagues. Soldiers that he served with, whom he faught with. Give me Nero and them working together to get the weapons going and him bonding with them as his pilots to a degree. Comrades. Not that strange familiar bond that Gaius appareantly has with them. … Scratch that: Let Gaius be the father figure. Him being that wouldn’t change Nero’s relationship with them, but maybe his with Gaius as his superior.

The story wouldn’t even need to try and redeem Nero: He has already gone through major character development with the MSQ and the Omega raid tier. It would simply be Nero, confronted with the things he created, hopefully instilling more morals and a sense of responsibility for his creations. Heck: Let Cid yell at the guy! Seriously! Cid sticking around to help out would make so much more sense if it was Nero instead of freaking Gaius! Cid hated the guy! He might be a professional, but he is not one to torture himself by staying around a guy he (as far as I know) detests.

Make Nero the central figure and give Cid and Gaius the roles of „angel and demon“: One desperately trying to reach out to his old friend, reminding him why they became engineers and trying to make him realise that he can’t just run around designing weapons and leaving the scematics for everyone to read; while the other has trouble letting go of his imperial past and is struggling to see the errors of his ways – if Nero was wrong, than he (Gaius) was wrong too -and of course they did all of this for their home, to further their cause, and to bring peace to the savage lands of Eorzea, who had been fighting amongst themselves for so long… You get the point.

And you could still have these gundam themed fights. But I think everything would make so much more sense in general.

But speaking of which-

The children

I do not truly care for any of them. And that is a shame: I do think there are great characters and dynamics hidden behind these very few cutscenes. When they were first introduced I was wondering why I was suddenly watching „heartwarming“ cutscenes of my foes as children – until I realised that I was supposed to care and that they were supposed to make me feel pity for Gaius. I was supposed to feel bad for him, because they died and he blames himself. But while their fates so far have been gruesome, I cannot say that I am sad they died. They chose to die as they did. There were a myriad more options. And they chose that.

Actually. Their whole story makes me feel like they were huge masochist from the very beginning. They could have just run away and gotten help from someone more competent than them, but they stayed in an abusive military arrangement just so nobody else got hurt?? Please. Use your brains next time. And for the Berserk-like torture scene? I mean. I get what was implied here. But was it necessary? As a writer myself I follow the rule that torture and sexual violence should never be used in a story, unless it must be in there for the story to work or to bring across a vital point important to the story or it’s moral (or if you are writing porn and you are into it – but we are talking official in-game content here). But the violence towards these „children“ seems unnecessary for the plot and the violence of their deaths by piloting the weapons is already gruesome enough. Sometimes it’s better to leave things like this out – the emotional torture of feeling stuck and having a martyrs complex would have been enough here, I think. If the rest of the story had been well written at least.

(I believe my utter lack of sympathy shows how little character developement they had. I love tragic characters, who choose to suffer for the good of other people – even better if those people don’t even like them. It’s just my thing. And those kids are just… well.)

Their reasons and especially why they were making Allie out as the one who would need to survive was also just… weird. Like. I feel like 75% of what happened would not have happened, if they actually talked to each other, used their brains and had done something about their problems. But no…

These characters are also so exchangeable with basic anime/j-RPG character tropes… I only remember Alfonse, Rex and Allie – because I just did the Emerald weapon. And right afterwards I thought, „huh. So… Fullmetal Alchemist?“ Which brings me to my third point …

…the story at large.

„Pacing is a virtue“ or was it patience..? Anyhow: The author of this story should have had more patience with his story and characters and taken a bloody break! And I am not talking about the obvious blunder of „How is Allie feeling?“, „she is in shock and you cannot talk to her“ turning to „oh yeah if you are careful you can talk to her now“. I mean. WTF. That was MAYBE 10-20 in-game minutes of dialogue.

But everything was moving so very fast – and not even in a good way. There are few things better than a fast paced, action rich story about a group of young people trying to safe (their) world. But if you try to cram in two expansions worth of character development and story telling into about two hours of content each patch.. Well, then you get whatever the hell this is.

Gaius is a very interesting character and while I did not understand why they needed to bring him back in 4.4 (?), I do see how he could be a good asset for endwalker. And his involvement in 5.0 with Estinien was just a dear delight. So I am not opposed to learning more about him, to watching his character grow and changed with time. But I am not ready for badly written content of which 50% get told by suddenly induced echo-sequences. I mean – weren’t there rules for the echo at some point???

I’m not sure which one of the devs said it, but the feature that let’s you play an NPC is super convenient for them to tell the story, because before they could only show what happened where the WoL was.

And that’s just it. Rule number 1 in writing anything is „Show don’t tell“. It feels like they literally turned this one around for these cutscenes. While Valens torture and diet-Fandaniel-routine were very much „show“, the rest of the story was one long cutscene of exposition: We get exposition by Cid, by Gaius, by echo, by Gaius and his crew again, then by Allie. Before having to watch scenes we are not there for.

BTW. Dear square Enix: Your writers are capable of writing amazing villains, antagonist and despicable assholes. You don’t have to write „asshole, must die“ on Valens name card. And I also think the „WoL, strike here“ sign above his head was a tad bit too much. Nuance, dear writers. Nuance. Or perhaps I just got spoiled by these last few foes in the MSQ.

When I said I wanted to just be able to punch a bad guy for once and not feel bad about it, I did not mean this! I meant that I just wanted to play training dummy with Danny-Boy.

(Oh! And as far as I’m concerned you can just… sideline Gaius … „would be killer“ and the lady? Make them targetable NPCs with Dialoge to read. Let them stand somewhere accessible and comment on the latest developement. But ffs don’t give me hour long speeches about how you are going to kill Gaius if he does something you don’t like. The guy could and would wipe the floor with you if he felt like it. -.- So. Please. Shut up.)

Conclusion

Basically. I have to finish the Diamond weapon. But I doubt it will change my perception of this story line even in the slightest.

To be perfectly honest though … bringing Gaius back, having this story with and about him, forcing a sort of redemption ark here. It feels like they are really „grooming“ him to be a morally grey ally in Endwalker, with perhaps a big part to play in the endgame. At this point I wouldn’t even be surprised if they pulled a GoT and made him „King in the North“. Or if they had him die a heroic death to save the world, but especially his country. And to do so they need us to think his sacrifice means something. Or that he is the right person to lead Garlemald into a new future (I don’t think he is). But: For one, neither we (the players) nor the characters need to find him worthy of throne or death by heroism for his sacrifice/ascension to work. To be a useful tool for the story, only the other garleans who might oppose the alliance and scions need to deem him or his sacrifice „worthy“. And only they. And Ishikawa-san has all of 6.0 to accomplish whatever the hell she needs him for. He did not need to be the center of his own botched redemption ark. If that’s what they wanted to do. Or maybe I’m looking at this all wrong and all they wanted was to give the writes in training some literal training grounds to test their abilities.

But! On a positive note: I have yet to be told that raids and other side content are canon to any degree. So when playing the next story quests I’ll blissfully ignore all that happened in Werlyt and if it get’s mentioned (because they do that sometimes when you’ve done certain content) I’ll just ignore it.

Happy ignoring! Also: GIVE ME MORE NERO CONTENT!

[zenobomber]

12. What would you say is the most unique trait about your character? 13. Are there any other characters from the franchise you’d like to play?

canon questionare // accepting !

12. What would you say is the most unique trait about your character?

I think his upbringing has molded him into a very interesting character! His parents died when he was very young and he holds a deep guilt over that since they died to save his life. Not only that but following his parent's death - he locked himself away in his house and read a bunch of medical textbooks to the point of nearly dying because he was only reading and not doing anything else. Maeno has a deep thirst for knowledge to the point that when he's in his ZENO state - his ZENO amplifies his curiosity. He actually doesn't find people all that interesting and is more content being by himself with just those few that he considers to be "family" breaking through that exterior...but yet this guy loves therapy as a concept. He loves therapy, but is indifferent towards people. Or at least he was, when he was younger. This gets combined with the fact he developed a white knight syndrome after killing Natsu makes him a really interesting character!

So I'd actually say my favorite trait of his is...just his very complex personality! He's an incredibly well rounded and complex character and it's super fun to write. He's very much not what he seems, and puts up a ton of masks to hide his feelings.

13. Are there any other characters from the franchise you’d like to play?

Well, the ZENO remake only has four characters...and I'm not all too familiar with the characters outside of the remake - even though they're named and have stories thanks to the sequel and any spin-off material. Translations! I do think Ushirono Kanrai seems like the kind of fucked up guy I'd like to write if I knew more about him...but just within the characters I know I think I'd probably be able to write Tsugino Haru with a level of decency!

...unfortunately though Maeno has a vice grip on my brain and all the characters are very tightly knit with each other as far as stories go. So I'm content just writing him for now! Though as far as Maeno goes - I'd really like to write him in his ZENO state one day. He gets a little um...explosives happy? He keeps making bombs and trying to blow things up - and his insanity forms more like he has very impulsive planning and he likes to watch people run around all panicked and confused before finally killing them. And I love writing insane guys like that.

[danwhobrowses]

Why Tashigi Deserves More Respect

I really gotta remember these other things I plan on writing XD Often I get reminded though by people around me criticizing something I realise ‘that’s a little misunderstood’ and then get compelled to write about it. For today we’re looking at the female Marine of One Piece, Tashigi. Now before we start, I want to make a point that Tashigi is still an underused character brimming with potential that Oda seems to shy a lot from. Oda can still sincerely do a lot more with her and I for one have been disappointed by her lack of use in Stampede and lack of appearance in Wano. However, I get a lot of people who feel that Tashigi is ‘useless’, and I’m going to say that this isn’t really the case.

Argument 1: Her Battles

Of course, a lot of strength regarding a character comes with their ability to come out victorious. It can harm any character in a show to constantly be on the losing side of a fight and it does hurt Tashigi (and Smoker) a lot that they do end up that way. While I would love Tashigi to have her first clean win since those guys in Loguetown I’d like to remind you that Tashigi’s fights do have a bit of defense to them, let’s look at all of Tashigi’s named opponents

Zoro (Loguetown) - We always knew that Zoro was winning this, while she was bested by Zoro the purpose of the story wasn’t ever going to be Tashigi being stronger, instead this was Zoro having to confront her similarities with Kuina in personality rather than skill.

Nico Robin/Miss All Sunday (Alabasta) - While Tashigi was unable to even strike Robin back in Alabasta, Robin’s devil fruit allowed her to be perfect for such a situation. A trained and deadly assassin, Tashigi’s physical confrontation was never going to succeed, but what was key to this battle was Tashigi’s realization in regards to the failure of Justice. In the end she had to rely on Luffy to defeat the Pirates the WG had assigned to maintain the balance.

Luffy (Marineford/Punk Hazard) - Luffy and Tashigi briefly crossed paths in Marineford, Luffy swiftly dodged her but again, Tashigi was never going to defeat Luffy and was merely a doorway to put Smoker and Luffy into a fight. It’s also worth reminding that Tashigi must’ve been capable enough to hold her own against Whitebeard’s lesser forces, since she was uninjured from Marineford. They also crossed at Punk Hazard, but then they were both weakened by being in unfamiliar bodies, something which Luffy even acknowledges.

Trafalgar Law (Punk Hazard) - as pictured above, Tashigi’s defeat to Law was another gateway for Smoker to enter the fight, but this one had more purpose in showing Tashigi’s willpower, which we will get to. As you can tell, there’s a theme: Tashigi would never have beaten Law in terms of the narrative, why do we hold it against Tashigi that she lost to the guy who later did this?

Ceasar Clown (Punk Hazard) - while listed as a fight, she fell the same way as Robin and Franky due to his DF being unrevealed, again this being a gateway to sell that Ceasar had a danger to him, I wouldn’t actually count it as a fight.

Vergo (Punk Hazard) - the Donquixote spy is one of Doflamingo’s deadliest subordinates. The original Corazon, Tashigi’s conflict with Vergo brought Sanji into the fight and once again highlighted to Tashigi the corruption within the Marines themselves. Like Law (and the next), we can’t be too harsh on Tashigi losing to Vergo, the guy easily fended off Sanji to the point of almost breaking Sanji’s leg, he also was able to beat Smoker

Monet (Punk Hazard) - Monet is a mixed one, because Zoro quickly defeats her she was quickly overshadowed by the fact that she struggled to even get on the offensive, broadening the gap between them. But, I’d like to remind everyone that Monet was able to force Luffy into fleeing their battle and was handling Robin, Nami and Chopper at once. Tashigi hadn’t completely lost either, I would bet that she’d fight without an arm, maybe not successfully but she would, and she got the finishing blow on Monet - her second offensive attack against Monet put her away and while technically this doesn’t count as a W for Tashigi she did not technically lose in this fight either

As you can see, while it’s easy to say that ‘Tashigi never wins her fights, so she’s weak’ it really undermines the opposition she willingly puts herself against. Narratively there’d be no reason for Tashigi to win these fights, doing so would lead to confusion and disbelief (for instance, would you have seen Luffy beating Kaido solo back in Bakura Town? No, obviously). Tashigi is still strong, she’s able to survive the Grand Line, easily deflect cannon fire with her sword and use Haki, the latter cannot be said for Main Characters like Nami, Chopper, Franky, Carrot and somehow Robin (like girl you spent 2 years with the Revolutionaries, where’s your Haki?). While we would love a win to validate this, Oda always puts her against an opponent that would be difficult for her to win against, and we thus mistake her inability to win as weakness. So that leads to another argument. Argument 2: Tashigi always punches above her weight While this is very much true, One Piece has often told us that being the strongest doesn’t always mean that you will win. Consider 90% of Nami and Usopp’s wins, Luffy’s wins over Crocodile, Enel, Lucci, Magellan, Cracker and Katakuri, the weak may not be able to choose how they die but that doesn’t mean that the strong can either.  I’d also like to argue that Tashigi’s motive on fighting strong opponents is not because she feels that she is stronger, she fights them because they are the enemy that needs to be stopped, her motives are pure in her pursuit of justice just as the Straw Hats fight stronger opponents because it fulfills a just cause such as saving Alabasta, their crewmates, people who had their shadows stolen, Camie, Fishman Island, the Punk Hazard children, Dressrosa, Zou or Wano. Tashigi really gets criticized for it because it doesn’t yield the results it does for major characters, often needing help to get the victory. In that I wanna point out a harsh truth as well; Goku - the people many anime fans will compare power scales against - almost never beats the main villain on his own in DBZ or DBS. Freeza - required damage from Krillin, Gohan, Vegeta and Piccolo before the win, and he didn’t finish him off, Cell - tags out to Gohan, who also needs Vegeta’s help to win, Buu - needs Vegeta’s help via fusion and a full power recharge by the Dragon Balls, Beerus - he lost, Golden Freeza - he got jumped by Sorbet and needed Whis’ rewind, Hit - he gave up, Fused Zamasu - lost, and needed Zeno to wipe him out, Jiren - needed Freeza and 17′s help and Vegeta’s energy and finally Broly - needed fusion. So maybe, if even Son Goku cannot win on his own, we can cut Tashigi a little bit of slack given that she’s not even a main character.

Argument 3: ‘She does nothing’ I don’t really like this insinuation. Often Smoker and Tashigi are the ones that pick up the mess after all the enemies are defeated, but for some reason that equates to ‘doing nothing’. I think because people see Tashigi as interchangeable with any other character she is thus useless because she is not mandatory. However, Tashigi’s role is much more complex than that.

Even if she’s not strong enough to fight the biggest fishes in the pond, she still manages to grow and prove her worth. If Tashigi was replaced with any generic marine captain a lot of what happened would be different. It was Tashigi who identified Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu for Zoro, Tashigi who (albeit reluctantly) directed Luffy to Crocodile, Tashigi who kept the Straw Hats safe from arrest in Alabasta, Tashigi who convinced Smoker that he needed to swallow his pride and side with Law and Luffy to stop Ceasar and it was Tashigi who convinced Nami to entrust the Punk Hazard children to them. Through her experiences she also cultivates her own unique sense of Justice. While she follows Smoker’s doctrine of ‘A Pirate will always be a Pirate’ and that the Shichibukai system and the World Government as a whole is flawed, she has also learned for herself that there are times that pride must be set aside, in a way Tashigi’s sense of Justice has become a combination of Smoker’s and Fujitora’s: in order to rebuild justice, the navy itself must become strong enough to not depend on pirates, but pride cannot supersede the greater good. In addition, implying she does nothing also implies that she doesn’t practice her own sense of justice either. She stepped in on Zoro twice to protect her men from harm, before even arriving at Punk Hazard we learned that she had a good relationship with the parents who had their children kidnapped as they asked specifically for her which in turn led her to personally strive to reunite the children with their parents and she even protected the truth of Vergo from G-5 so that they didn’t feel betrayed and demoralized. Of the things Tashigi does, nothing is not one of them, she displays compassion, fairness and determination in definitive moments. Argument 3: She’s too hung up on her Feminism

So, one of the major dynamics of Tashigi and Zoro is her misconception that Zoro wouldn’t cut her because she was a woman, a belief that women have to prove themselves more to be seen as strong against men being one of the beliefs she shares with Zoro’s childhood rival Kuina. While it can be a tad irksome that she’d hang onto this with Zoro, until Monet Zoro never actually demonstrated the contrary to her. This is mainly a complaint by hindsight, we only dislike the opinion because we’ve seen Zoro more than Tashigi has, and she’s not 100% wrong, Zoro himself has been a bit of a traditionalist, in Skypeia he angrily chastised Enel for attacking Robin since she was a woman, and he only does step in on Monet to save Tashigi - not even finishing her off despite being very capable of doing so. Outside of Zoro, Tashigi’s feelings that she gets treated differently due to her gender is proven and reflected in how G-5 treat her with little authority, only really listening to her because she’s pretty. You can’t be too hard on Tashigi given that she is constantly faced with this truth on a daily basis, and her desire to be seen for her strength and skills are still an amicable one, it’s worth noting that even Law recognized that her mentality and warrior’s spirit was far greater than he swordsmanship, but he only thought this internally. In Tashigi’s case it would help her confidence to be given validation, and not in the condescending way Zoro usually talks to people.  While it can be annoying that she immediately thinks that she’s being treated differently because she’s a woman, this also shows that she wants to be treated as an equal; if she is defeated in combat she wants to be cut to preserve her honour, it is the mentality all Great Samurai have, including Zoro. Oda does something with Tashigi he rarely does with any woman in One Piece in making her less sexualised and body-confident to reflect her goal of being recognized by her spirit and actions rather than her appearance, but he also makes that complex for the character which in a way this is most important for.

Argument 4: She’s not a good Rival for Zoro

I think one of the biggest misconceptions about Tashigi’s character is that she is meant to be Zoro’s rival, in a similar manner to how Smoker and Luffy are embroiled in a Garp/Roger-esque cat and mouse chase. Because of this, people expect Tashigi to advance at a similar scale to Zoro to keep him on his toes, to make sure that he doesn’t end up complacent in his strive to become the World’s Greatest Swordsman. Her former likeness to Kuina also adds to this misconception, since because Kuina was Zoro’s rival with the same goal and always stronger than Zoro himself, Tashigi must be similar.

But this is not why Tashigi and Zoro are always put together. Tashigi is not Zoro’s rival, no other character we’ve met has the same goal as Zoro, and this keeps his story free to develop with different challenges. Tashigi’s pursuit of strength is not for the same reasons as Zoro, she doesn’t want to be the World’s Greatest Swordsperson, she only wants to protect the sanctity of the Meito and keep them out of unworthy hands. Her pursuit of Zoro was both because he dishonoured her in their fight and so she could claim Wado Ichimonji. In the New World however we don’t see that as much from Tashigi, even when she sees Shusui she doesn’t make a point to declare taking it from him because he’s unworthy (like Kin’emon would later do), this is because she does acknowledge his strength and worthiness of using these Meito, her personal conflict now though is to be seen as worthy to him as a swordsperson rather than a pirate to a marine.  In reality, Tashigi is instead Zoro’s and Kuina’s foil. She is similar in looks and perspective to Kuina but different in everything else from clumsiness, skill and ambition, the fact that Zoro struggles to handle this leads to the two becoming entwined in their respective journeys. No person gets under Zoro’s skin like Tashigi does, even to a point where he was reluctant to even be in eyeshot of her - how many people have you seen Roronoa Zoro hide from? They are each other’s foil because they are both stubborn people out to prove something but put on two different sides that conflict. That is the true purpose of their dynamic, their confrontations expose one another and show places where they can still grow and I still feel that we haven’t scratched the surface of this relationship.

Argument 5: She’s not Important

A combination of the earlier arguments, Tashigi gets a lot of flack because people think she’s not important enough as a character to have the screentime she gets. While it’s not hard to see why people feel that, it usually comes with people giving up on the idea that there’s a greater plan for her. It may just be me, but I am reluctant to believe that Tashigi appears in several forms of merchandise including calendars, games (as NPCs, Bosses, Supports or playable characters) and even figurines and not have a purpose in the greater scope of the story, do we really expect that from Oda? I doubt that very much! Granted, Wano would’ve been a perfect placement for her to push herself given the views on women in the country and it being the homeland of famous Meito. And yes, she could’ve had a much greater role in Stampede given how well they managed Smoker in it. We are allowed to be disappointed by this, but the fact that Tashigi has remained as consistent in presence as she has been in the show does hint at a bigger role, even if it’s being that wave of revolutionizing the Marines with Coby and Fujitora, her own origins or finally proving herself to the audience and to Zoro, Tashigi is not done and thus she is still important. “Just because they say a bird cannot fly, doesn’t mean that it never will” - Oda SBS 17 on Tashigi and Kuina’s names being named after flightless birds So, Why does Tashigi deserve more Respect? Tashigi as a character is one of Oda’s more subtle progressions. In contrast to Zoro who we see grow, we don’t see how Tashigi gets from A to B, we can also contrast to Coby whose rise becomes as magnificent as his puberty that Tashigi’s growth is much less abrupt and more steady, we see her struggles more than we do Coby where his successes are only heard in passing. Tashigi can also act as the ‘normal person’ in the marines, we compare her to Zoro in strength because she uses a sword but we never give her the benefit of the doubt that Roronoa Zoro is a bloody superhuman, plus not everyone has the great luxury of being trained by Dracule Mihawk for 2 years...furthermore, her challenges against Devil Fruit users are always filled with good intentions and strong willpower, but still self-doubt and shame, if anything Tashigi is one of the most human characters of One Piece for this reason; she learns, she suffers, she grows and she does it all without the luxury of Shonen perks such as superhuman power or endurance. Also she is a good person, she has a strong sense of morality and will, an altruistic desire and even in the situation she gets put in she makes a step that leads to the plot going in a positive direction. And for a character that has been in as many arcs as she has, there is still so much potential left to be untapped that fans are still after 2 decades eager to see from her.

Tashigi is a strong, valiant and just person, who is still really powerful if people stop trying to compare her to the likes of Luffy, Law and Zoro. Even when she fails she picks herself up and can still come out with a small victory from protecting innocents, arresting criminals and escorting children to get help. She is a lot stronger than people give her credit for and it’s for that she deserves respect.

[illegiblewords]

Fic Writer Meme

Swiped this because it looked like fun!

Name

Fandoms

Most popular oneshot

Most popular multichapter

Actual worst part of writing

How you choose your titles

Do you outline

Ideas I probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice?

Callouts @ Me

Best writing traits

Spicy Tangential Opinion

Tagging: @nilim, @azwoodbomb, @wouldyouliketoseemymask, @parvus-pica, @peregrineroad, @spiral-seeker, @frostmantle, @autumnslance, @strangefellows, @redbud-tree, @maccaroni-eh, @entropytea, @prettyparadoxes, @ivalane, @kunstpause, @fogfens

Name: Illegible or Illegiblewords lately. I’ve switched it in the past a few times.

Fandoms: I’ve been in Final Fantasy XIV for the past couple of years now. Passively I might be in Pathologic fandom and Dragon Age fandom? Maybe others too on and off. I was in comic fandoms for a long time but honestly that spiraled into a hot mess of epic proportions so I’ve mostly peaced out of there. Still love stories, characters, and buddies from there though.

Most Popular Oneshot: Ironically it’s Ideation for Bladerunner 2049 haha. I did exactly one fic there right after seeing the movie and didn’t go back, but I thought it was very good and I had a specific story I wanted to tell. It’s one of my most popular fics, and given it’s gen too I’m actually kind of happy about that.

Most Popular Multichapter: The Immortal Wound for FFXIV fandom! I had only just started writing for the fandom, and the series leading up to this fic was my first time writing NPC shipping in FFXIV. I was seriously, SERIOUSLY nervous at first! I wrote the first fic, Posturing, as a personal challenge to do an ambiguous protagonist/NPC since I saw other people doing that and wanted to see if I could pull it off. Posted it at around 4 in the morning then deleted within a few minutes out of anxiety lol. A week went by before I read it again, realized I still liked it, and put it back up for good. That being well-received helped encourage me to keep trying, and by The Immortal Wound it was getting solid attention. The experience really meant a lot to me!

Actual Worst Part of Writing: Probably chapter maps within the outlining process for me. It’s needed for how I approach things, but shit is anxiety-inducing and stressful af lol. I basically plan each event out in high detail before actually writing the fic, so when the time comes for me to legit write I’m more or less following a plan I can trust. Making that plan is the tough part.

How Do You Choose Your Titles: Often titles are the last things I figure out before starting the fic itself. I know I like punchy stuff if I can manage. Sometimes it’ll be one word, sometimes it’ll be a quote or song lyric, sometimes it’ll be a saying, sometimes it’ll be a phrase that feels fitting. I go fast and loose usually, and tbh I’ve tried to tell myself not to overthink it too hard. I do try title related works in ways that have some thematic link when I can.

Do You Outline: HahahahahaHAHAHAHAhaha yeah. Straight up my outlines are eldritch terrors for their detail, length, and complexity. I don’t mean that as a brag at all, seriously--I tend to get frozen a bit if I don’t have an outline by and large because it’s hard for me to keep track of what’s in my head and plan accordingly. Just end up with too many moving parts + revision and pacing get wonky otherwise.

Depending on the project I might have sections tied to setting, characters, magic systems, religions, etc. at the top. Fanfic this is less likely but does crop up sometimes.

To give an example of the first bullet of the first chapter of an ongoing fic:

Post-Shinryu, the Warrior of Light lingers in the Royal Menagerie alone at his own insistence to search for the Eye of Nidhogg. In the process he remembers the fight against Zenos and Shinryu. Note he was overcome by an almost feral rage at Zenos’ assumption that he was the target of anything resembling lust. Those attentions (“bite down upon my jugular”) belong to another, but note similarities of two pale-eyed, long-haired blondes. Seeing Shinryu, the Warrior had no idea whether Lahabrea survived within. The fusion was horrifying to see and as he fought he didn’t hold back because besides obvious dangers, he was also ready to mercy kill if needed. Also note Warrior wanted to intervene against Thordan for Lahabrea but wasn’t fast enough, questions a little privately how far he’d have gone against him. It might not have mattered even if he’d managed since he knows Lahabrea was going crazy and unable to listen. Locating and examining the Eye, he recognizes how drained it is. Certainly not enough to threaten him when dealing with post-battle exhaustion. So he reaches inside with his own aether, relentless in pushing aside every foreign element—Nidhogg, Thordan, the corrupted Rhalgr, the places Zenos caged them all under his own will. Zodiark’s tempering is what helps him ultimately find Lahabrea, who is barely alive. Zodiark’s tempering has preserved what it could but has a much more tenuous grip in consequence. When the Warrior finds him Lahabrea isn’t even aware, functionally unconscious. The tempering flares against him defensively and this time the Warrior focuses on it. This is all that has allowed Lahabrea to stay alive. He could force himself closer but there is no vessel. Besides, the process of separating a fragile soul so deficient in aether is too great a risk. So he keeps the Eye.

It’s not the only bullet of comparable size for that chapter. The overall piece has at least 40 total chapters, but probably more.

Ideas I Probably Won’t Get Around To, But Wouldn’t It Be Nice: Tbh probably some of the earlier WIPs I have that aren’t finished already. Not just FFXIV (Dead Language, With Good Intentions) but other fandoms. I could end up circling back in the future one day but who knows.

Callouts @ Me: “NO MORE WIPS HOLY SHIT YOU HAVE OVER 20″, “RELEARN HOW TO DO DRABBLES”, “GET UR PRESENTS DONE”, “REVIEW OTHERS MORE THE STAGE FRIGHT IS RIDICULOUS”.

Best Writing Traits: I try to write any character as the hero of their own story/with the capacity to be someone’s favorite. I do my research and prioritize telling a good story first and foremost. I can change my writing style according to need and am good at capturing the cadence and word choices of different characters.

Spicy Tangential Opinion: If no transaction has been made (esp. monetary), no one owes you shit online. Not reviews, not hits, not praise, not agreement, not content of any sort. It sucks to feel like you’re creating to a void. It sucks to be passionately in love with a rarepair when other ships are drowning in art and stories.

People still don’t owe you.

If you don’t like someone else’s content, create something exploring what you do like... or even why you don’t like that content. Tell a story. Create art. Make photosets and playlists and analyses. If it is not a literal crime (as opposed to portraying fictional crime), don’t discourage other creators no matter how awful you might find their stuff. Lend your own voice to an alternative as convincingly as you can. And if that doesn’t persuade others, you need to keep honing your own skills.

If you want more of something to exist, spread inspiration. Again this can be in storytelling, art, photosets, playlists, analysis, you name it. Give form to your passion. And if others disagree or don’t respond, keep working at it. This is a skill too, and it takes practice.

I’ve found it shows when work is created out of a sense of guilt, fear, or obligation. The quality is much lower and no one latches on to keep building in-turn. And IMO it is essential to build up rather than tearing down.