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tenkasato · 3 years

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Fanfic Recs: Attack on Titan

Welcome! For my next set of fanfic recs, here is my favourite modern epic, Attack on Titan. This is also to celebrate season 4 part 2 release tomorrow. We made it, everyone!

Levi is my favorite character so my list would mostly be Levi-centric. Hope you try to read these wonderful works!

The Broken Doll by aradian nights

Author’s summary: When Mikasa Ackerman is kidnapped, she is not saved by Eren Jaeger. Instead, a thug from Wall Sina named Levi takes her under his wing. AU (status: complete)

Thoughts: This is the fic I always dreamed of seeing in anime/manga. Wholesome Ackerman fic, both caring immensely for each other, and with the right amount of familial fluff and plot angst. 10/10.

Lawless by kuchenackerman (tumblr: @kuchenackerman )

Author’s summary: Despite his youth, Eren Jaeger is one of the best and most required doctors of the Kingdom. Among those interested on his services is included a recognized criminal clan, which does not hesitate to use the youngest of the Ackerman as bait. Eren never imagined that this "harmless" girl in red dress would get him into so much trouble. (status: ongoing)

Thoughts: Very creative worldbuilding with accurate portrayal of characters. Plot is thickening as author-san updates. Not to mention, if you guys are looking for good Ackerman family dynamics, you can find it here.

Canon-compliant

Levi's by Tramontana Keeper

Author's summary: Levi declares a one-man war on the sorry state of the military's pants (because whoever decided white was a good color for them was clearly an imbecile). Erwin is worried. (oneshot)

Thoughts: Crack fic at its finest. We'll see how far humanity's strongest can go when it comes to hygiene.

SnK x Reader

Dust, Diamonds by maokitty (tumblr: @phen0l)

Author's summary: Ever since your youths, the two of you have been quite the pair: the toddler son of a prostitute and the child-thief who protected him; a thug who could waltz and a whore who could kill; humanity’s strongest soldier and an officer’s mistress. And now, after years of separation: diamond and dust. (status: complete)

Thoughts: My absolute favorite. I feel like if you've been reading Levi x reader fics, you've probably come across this masterpiece already. Well-crafted plot, brilliant dialogues, heart-crushing angst and drama. 10/10.

Widow by Hakyeonsmelanin

Author's summary: In which Levi falls in love with the wife of a fallen comrade. (status: ongoing)

Thoughts: This is an emotion-heavy fic. It hits right home in the heart. Not to mention, the beautiful prose makes the read even more surreal and sweetly painful.

To Sing a Song of Steel by CaptainDegenerate (tumblr: @heichoudaddery )

Author's summary: As a token of goodwill, you're sent to a hostile foreign nation to marry the son of the Czar. Having given up all you know and living inside a castle that doesn't welcome you, you're surrounded by people you cannot trust, your life hanging by a thread in the unsteady political climate. In your hopelessness, the only solace you find is in a man who's no longer fully human. (status: ongoing)

Thoughts: This one is Reader x Levi, but reader has a name. Besides the praiseworthy world-building, plot twists and tense scenes are going to throw you off your seat. Characters are most of the time on point also. A must read!

Blood Runs Thick by a_little_nostalgic

Author's summary: Modern AU: There was something about you not even you can put your finger on. The mysteries of your past unravel when you go into uncharted territory, but this is not a case you can solve alone. As you uncover the doors to your past, so do you bare yourself to the one dangerous man who can save you. (status: complete)

Thoughts: Best modern!AU that parallels the canon. A+ for creativity.

[watch me fall apart, watch me fall apart] by djmarinizela

Author's summary: Levi Ackerman is your mentor and you’re his student. That’s all there is to it. But love happens, anyway. (oneshot)

Thoughts: Modern AU. Tasteful angst that gives you feels as if you're watching a well-written movie.

SnK x OC

Humanity's Strongest Woman by xDollfie

Author's summary: In every empire, there is an epic era that defies the boundaries of time and immortalized itself in the history books. For mankind, an epic era they will never forget has finally emerged. The war between humanity and Titans has finally come to a head. Love cease to exist in a time like this, but they found it, and promised that it'll be worth it. Every stubborn inch of it [LEVIXOC] (status: ongoing)

Thoughts: OC is headstrong, a peerless girl boss who's able to stand head to head with our resident grump captain. Unique plot and good writing. Interesting backstory of the MC that intertwines quite well with canon.

Belated HBD, Levi! Happy new year and see you all in season 4 part 2!

#attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #AoT #snk #aot fanfiction #snk fanfiction #fanfic recs #fic recs #rec list #LEVI ACKERMAN #levi ackerman x reader #mikasa ackerman #Eren Jaeger #eremika #Erwin Smith

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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How Double Dragon’s Abobo Became a Beat em up Legend

https://ift.tt/2F8DPGk

In the late ’80s, video games started featuring over-the-top, meaty musclemen. Metro City had Mike Haggar, a shirtless former wrestler who became mayor and decided that being “tough on crime” meant ridding the streets of criminals with his bare hands, his girlfriend’s psycho boyfriend, and a ninja in Nikes. Circus strongman Karnov scoured the world for adventure and treasure, fighting all kinds of mythical monsters. Bald Bull was trying to dominate both the boxing ring and the arm-wrestling circuit. Gutsman was a jacked construction robot who was later rebuilt as a 40-foot-tall tank centaur.

And then there was Abobo, the gigantic antagonist from Double Dragon. He wasn’t THE antagonist. Hell, in the first game, you fight him within the first two minutes. Despite his low-level status, he’s still far more fondly remembered than the main Double Dragon bad guys like Willy and the Shadow Master. There’s just always been something about this random brute that’s made him special.

Abobo’s journey begins in the original Double Dragon, Technos’ 1987 arcade hit. The game’s story is very simple. A dystopian, lawless, post-nuclear war version of New York City has been overrun by a gang called the Black Warriors or Shadow Warriors or Black Shadow Warriors. (They kind of workshop that name from game to game.) Billy and Jimmy Lee are two martial arts brothers whose mutual friend Marian is captured by gang members. Off they go to lay out everyone in that gang with their bare fists and occasional barrel/whip/knife/baseball bat.

While the cannon fodder is mostly made up of normal-sized guys, out walks Abobo, who makes his entrance by punching his way through a brick wall. From the moment he appears on screen, it’s clear Abobo is meant to stand apart from the rest. He has longer reach, takes more hits, can’t be thrown, and is able to throw Billy and Jimmy like ragdolls. The only guy more dangerous than Abobo is Willy, the final boss, who brings a machine gun to a fist fight.

Weirdly, Abobo has various forms in the game. His initial form is as a bald, pale guy with a mustache. Soon after, we fight Jick, an Abobo clone who closely resembles Mr. T. Later, we face off against an Incredible Hulk version of Abobo. This is post-nuclear war, so I suppose this tracks.

But it was NES port that really delivered the ultimate form of Abobo, whose appearance was seriously altered for the 8-bit console. With orange-brown skin, Abobo is still bigger than everyone else, but also looks inhuman. He has a giant, bald head almost the size of his bulky torso, and a black arch on his face that is apparently a mustache merged with a frown! While the NES version had its own quasi-fighting game mode with everyone redrawn with a bigger and better sprite, Abobo looked exactly the same. You just can’t mess with perfection!

Abobo sort-of-but-not-really appeared in the sequel, 1988’s Double Dragon II: The Revenge. In a game filled with giant enemies, there was a guy named Bolo who looked exactly like Abobo, but with long, black hair. Actually, in retrospect, he looks a lot like Danny Trejo.

Huh.

Abobo sat out of the next few Double Dragon games, as the Lee brothers busied themselves fighting mummies and chubby clowns. But he returned in a very unexpected crossover: 1993’s Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team. The game featured a bizarre team-up between the Dark Queen from Battletoads and the Shadow Warriors. As Double Dragon didn’t have too many memorable boss characters that could stack up to the likes of a giant rat in a singlet, they went with what they could get.

As with the other bosses in the crossover gamer, Abobo was depicted as an absolute giant compared to the Lee Brothers and the Toads. He was also very generic-looking, appearing as a shirtless, bald guy with no ‘stache. Due to the sci-fi nature of the crossover, his storyline ended with him getting booted off a spaceship and sent spiraling through space itself.

1993 also gave us the Double Dragon animated series. Somehow, this thing ran for two seasons (26 episodes) and Abobo was there from the beginning. The first episode was a weird Saturday morning-style retelling of the NES game’s plot, down to Billy Lee having to fight his “evil” brother at the end. Abobo acted as a henchman, alongside a very colorful take on Willy.

In the cartoon, Abobo was a bald muscleman with blue skin, meaning he has the same mysterious complexion situation as Captain N’s King Hippo. Abobo was also strangely competent on the show, all things considered, although the only fighting he ever did was throw oil drums at Billy and miss every single time. He spent more of his time annoyed at Willy, who was depicted as a psychotic cowboy with a laser gun — one-half Yosemite Sam and one-half the Interrupter from Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

The second episode introduced the Shadow Master, who immediately showed disgust at his underlings’ failure by magically bonding Willy to a giant mural of punished souls. Abobo tried to run for it, but succumbed to the same fate. The two would remain in that mural for the rest of the series.

While there was a fighting game released based off of the Double Dragon cartoon, Abobo wasn’t part of the roster. It was just as well. Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls was a really bad game and Abobo had bigger things on the horizon.

Abobo was about to go Hollywood!

In 1994, Imperial Entertainment Group released the Double Dragon movie, a total cheesefest that couldn’t make back its $8 million budget. But Robert Patrick’s scenery-chewing main villain made the movie almost watchable. The story takes place in a version of Los Angeles that’s a cross between The Warriors and No Man’s Land from the Batman comics. Billy and Jimmy are teens who get roped into a plot that involves two dragon-shaped necklaces that form an all-power medallion when put together.

Initially, Nils Allen Stewart plays the gang leader Bo Abobo. As head of the Mohawk Gang, he’s there to act all intimidating in a goofy ’90s bully sort of way, but he really doesn’t actually do much. He takes part in a car chase and teases a fight scene, but nothing happens.

Then, the villain Koga Shuko transforms him into a literal steroid freak with some experimental machine. From there on out, Abobo is played by Henry Kingi in a bloated, rubber suit. Despite being a muscle golem at this point, Abobo STILL doesn’t actually fight anyone and is instead kidnapped by Power Corps.

Abobo eventually sees what he looks like in the mirror. Broken over what he’s been transformed into, he turns on Koga and…still doesn’t fight anyone. He just gives Power Corps some advice to help turn the tide against the bad guys. At the end of the movie, he asks the Lee Brothers if they could be buddies and recklessly drives their car.

Yeah, it’s…almost something. Not the awfulness of Super Mario Bros, but not the good-for-the-time quality of Mortal Kombat. It’s also not quite as fun-bad as the Street Fighter movie, but it does share one major similarity to it.

Much like Street Fighter, the Double Dragon movie had its own fighting game spinoff. Rather than a one-on-one fighter featuring digitized actors (which was the original idea until it wasn’t deemed viable for the deadline), Technos put together a Neo Geo animated fighter that isn’t so well-known these days due to how run-of-the-mill it was. It looked like your average SNK fighting game, with no real identity of its own. The game was released for arcade, Neo Geo CD, and PlayStation.

The 1995 fighting game was loosely based on the movie’s plot and featured some FMV clips. Showing up from the movie are Billy Lee, Jimmy Lee, Marian, Shuko, and Abobo. The rest of the roster is made up of original characters, though Technos did redesign Burnov, the Big Van Vader-looking boss character from Double Dragon II: The Revenge. Abobo more closely resembles his initial, more human-looking form from the movie, complete with mohawk, although he’s cartoonishly big in the game. Fortunately, he occasionally transforms into his blobby, tumor-like mutant form during certain moves and winposes.

His ending in the game features him eating a lot of meat at a restaurant, demanding to eat meat so rough that it’ll make his teeth bleed. Heh. And Roger Ebert said video games aren’t art.

Games

Double Dragon and Kunio-kun: Retro Bundle Coming Soon

By Rob Leane

Games

Double Dragon 4: Story & Multiplayer Modes Detailed

By Matthew Byrd

After the inexplicable crossover, animated series, failed movie, and fighting game tie-ins, Double Dragon as a franchise was finally spent. As the arcade scene died down in the late ’90s, the side-scrolling beat ‘em up disappeared for a time, and it would be a little while before nostalgia for it would kick in.

Fortunately, there was still some juice left in the fighting game genre, and in 2002 the Neo Geo had just enough time left before SNK’s hardware line was discontinued. The company Evoga developed what was, for a time, meant to be a Double Dragon fighting game, but ultimately the team wasn’t able to secure the rights and was forced to make the game with a knockoff cast of characters. The result was Rage of the Dragons, a tag-team fighting game featuring Billy Lewis, Jimmy Lewis, and Abubo…

Abubo does not have a tag partner and is instead a mid-boss so powerful that it takes two opponents to stop him. He’s depicted as a low-level mob boss with a ponytail, sunglasses, pink tank top, and overly-long, muscular arms. It’s a decent enough redesign of the original, but…Abubo? That’s the best they could come up with?

As for the official Double Dragon, it made its comeback a year later. Double Dragon Advance for the Game Boy Advance took the original arcade version, updated the graphics just enough, added more stages, enemies, and attacks, turning this installment into a souped-up take on the classic. This of course meant the return of the real Abobo!

2012 would be a banner year for the musclebound henchman. Since 2002, I-Mockery’s Roger Barr had been trying to develop an Abobo-based fangame, and in early 2012, the free-to-play masterpiece Abobo’s Big Adventure was released to the public and we were better for it.

Using 8-bit graphics, the game follows Abobo as he searches for his kidnapped son Aboboy. Each level is based on a different NES title and features a dizzying amount of Easter eggs. There’s a Double Dragon level, underwater Super Mario Bros. level, Urban Champ, Legend of Zelda, Balloon Fight, Pro Wrestling, Mega Man, Contra, and finally Punch-Out. The game is an absolute blast, especially for anyone who grew up with the NES and features such whacked out moments as:

Abobo mating with the mermaid from Goonies 2, which gives him a forcefield powerup made up of Abobo/mermaid hybrid babies, one of which begs for death!

An Abobo vs. Amazon wrestling match that includes the summoning of Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Roddy Piper, and Undertaker assists in the form of Pro Wrestling sprites.

Taking on Krang’s giant robot body with Kirby in the abdominal area.

An incredibly long and over-the-top ending that gets extremely and laughably violent. If you’ve ever wanted to see a muscular child drink blood from the Shredder’s dismembered arm, this game is for you!

In terms of OFFICIAL nostalgia, 2012 also saw the release of Double Dragon Neon for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (and later PC). Using 3D graphics, the game was a modern update of Double Dragon’s playstyle while playing up the 1980s aesthetic. It was a lot more ridiculous than the original series. In fact, it’s more in line with the Battletoads crossover since this game also lets you launch Abobo into the deep recesses of outer space to die.

This game also gave us the first – and, as of this writing, only – polygon Abobo. This time a towering, hunched over brute with lots of spiked armbands. All that AND the mustache!

But of those two 2012 releases, Abobo’s Big Adventure is surprisingly the better game in terms of its portrayal of the big man, as it solidified his status as nostalgic beat em up icon.

In 2017, Arc System Works put together Double Dragon IV for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Rather than emulate the arcade original’s aesthetic, the game took its art style from the NES games. That meant the return of the classic NES Abobo as not only a recurring enemy but an unlockable playable character. Double Dragon IV actually lets you play through the story mode as various enemy characters, but honestly, who else would you pick in that situation? Well, maybe Burnov.

Sadly, playing as Abobo in Double Dragon IV leads to a non-ending. I know you can’t improve on “Abobo punches Little Mac’s head off so hard it transcends time and space,” but at least TRY!

Around the same time, another game tried to play up Abobo’s ironic/iconic status. River City Ransom: Underground was released for the PC in early 2017. The River City Ransom series has always had ties to Double Dragon, but this high school brawler goes the extra mile by putting Abobo on a big pedestal. First off, he’s the school principal. If you attack any of your teachers, you’re sent to Principal Abobo’s office to suffer a serious slap on the wrist, shoulder, jaw, spine, etc. Sometimes he’ll even enter classrooms by punching holes through the brick walls, all while shirtless and talking like the Hulk.

Even better than that? Abobo’s not only the school principal but the Mayor of River City! No wonder everyone’s always kicking the shit out of each other! God bless Mayor Mike Haggar for being a true trendsetter.

The Double Dragon/River City connection only grew stronger when 2019 brought the absolutely must-play River City Girls. As the story goes, River City Ransom heroes Kunio and Riki have been kidnapped, so their badass girlfriends Misako and Kyoko go on a violent rampage to save them. Early in the game, while Misako and Kyoko fighting in a classroom, there’s a projector playing a short film about a boy learning about puberty.

It just so happens that the kid in the video is being taught by Abobo, who thanks puberty for his monstrous size and strength. This, my friends, is foreshadowing, as Abobo shows up later in the game as a boss.

Misako and Kyoko confront Abobo about their missing boyfriends, and Abobo admits that he isn’t sure whether or not he kidnapped them since he kidnaps a LOT of people. They throw down and we’re treated to the most powerful take on Abobo yet, considering the length of his life bar. Once defeated, Abobo admits that he has nothing to do with the missing boyfriends, but gives the heroes a lead by talking about his side job as security for an upcoming concert.

In 2020, Arc System Works released a collection for PS4 and Switch called Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle. It collects 18 8-bit games, including the three NES Double Dragon games, River City Ransom, and all the old spinoffs from the River City Ransom universe. And who’s on the cover?

Yes, despite technically being in one game out of 18, and not even being the final boss of any of them, Abobo gets a major spot on the cover of this huge collection among the games’ hero characters. Finally, the world understands that Abobo is a star. Now we just need Abobo to appear in Guilty Gear Strive and then we’ll really be cooking.

The post How Double Dragon’s Abobo Became a Beat em up Legend appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2Gl5jJ9

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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arlingtonpark · 5 years

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SNK 121 Review

TFW you’re relying on someone to pull through and they’re failing badly.

Has anyone ever seen JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure? SPOILERS

One of the villains is this guy named DIO. He’s an asshole.

DIO’s whole schtick is that he is obsessed with being dominant. In the clip, he assaults JoJo’s girlfriend to show his dominance over both her and JoJo.

In JoJo’s, people fight using spiritual manifestations of their own life essence. These manifestations are called Stands, and because they are a manifestation of the user’s essence, Stands are revealing in some way as to the nature of the user.

DIO’s stand is the World and it has the power to stop time. Being able to stop time is absolute domination, both physically and temporally. Physically because you can stop the world and fuck around with everything as you please, and temporally because you are no longer subservient to the constant flow of time. The world stops for no man, except you.

Now Eren is fittingly in the same boat, except worse because while DIO could only stop time, Eren can control the course of events. He can see the future and affect the past. His domination over the world is (theoretically) absolute.

I don’t know what Eren’s plan is, but we get a taste of it this chapter. Zeke asks him point blank what he hopes to accomplish and Eren’s response is the most disturbing thing ever.

“If people try to take my freedom away, I will take theirs away.”

My God.

This statement completely encapsulates Eren as a person. This is the rambling of a deranged lunatic. Worse, even. It’s the thinking of a stupid kid.

“Eren, why did you hit Little Timmy?”

“Because he hit me!”

You cannot hit someone just because they hit you. It doesn’t work that way. You are allowed to hit back in self-defense, but not to exact revenge. Both actions are the same, but the state of mind backing either action is the key difference. The former is the mindset of someone trying to protect themselves. The latter is the mindset of someone trying to hurt someone else.

That’s the faultiness of Eren’s thinking in principle, and it’s even worse in practice.

Eren believes that them trying to kill him gives him license to kill them. Nope, wrong.

Human life is, of course, inviolably valuable, and therefore killing in itself is always wrong. You can kill in self-defense, because the point in that case isn’t the killing itself, but the preservation of your own life. Killing for its own sake is appalling.

Ironically, this deranged narcissist perfectly illustrates why this tit-for-tat way thinking is dangerous. Restraint? Graciousness? Mercy? Can Eren comprehend these concepts?

It’s just so stunning how childish this whole thing is. Eren is opposing a king who would force his will on the future, but since Eren is doing the exact same thing, I can only assume he doesn’t think this is intrinsically wrong.

No, it’s not that Fritz’s vow is wrong, it’s that the same mechanism isn’t being used in service of Eren’s goals. Eren doesn’t think the vow is wrong in itself, he just opposes it because it’s another limit on his freedom.

There is no reason to believe Eren has any boundaries whatsoever. Or any shame for that matter.

This “me-centric” form of morality is called egoism. It’s an utterly disreputable theory that no one defends. It’s the same with the children he killed in Liberio. Killing is wrong, unless it helps me, in which case it is good. By defining what’s good and bad in these terms, Eren reveals himself as the egomaniac man child that he is.

And yet.

Eren is the one who lectures Zeke in this chapter!

This is what Eren has reduced me to, defending Zeke. Why is this happening to me?

Zeke is supposedly the pathetic one, because he has, you know, an ideology. It’s a stupid AF ideology that is completely indefensible, so it is pathetic, but not the way Eren thinks.

Zeke’s opposition to Grisha is incidental to his ideology. It’s not that Zeke is opposing Grisha out of spite, which would truly be pathetic. Zeke opposes Grisha because their respective worldviews are incompatible.

Meanwhile Eren is saying he should be allowed to do mean things to people because they did mean things to him.

The idea that people can just kill others, simply because they tried to kill you is fundamentally lawless. Not to take the fun out of superheroes, but vigilante justice isn’t actually justice. It’s totally illiberal to have one person hold the power to judge, convict, and sentence another.

But it is also totally in character for Eren to support that idea. With Eren, it’s all about power.

I’ve often compared Eren to our 45th president. Whatever the Eren stans say, that is an apt comparison. Eren’s talk of taking freedom from those who try to take his is not unlike something Trump would say.

They are both narcissistic man children with an insatiable lust for dominance. Slighting them creates an imbalance that they must make right, and the world is off kilter until that is done. It’s that one itch they must scratch.

Eren fights because, to be blunt, he wants the world to be his bitch and he will not settle for anything less than that. This is second nature to someone who says the things Eren says. If you think killing is justified just because they tried to kill you, then you obviously do not value human life.

At this point, Eren is undeniably similar to Zeke. He wants to bring his dream to fruition and anyone who gets in his way is just a pissant to be stomped on.

Is Eren redeemed by his (apparent) concern for his friends?

Nnnnope!

While friends do have certain obligations to each other, it is completely obscene to do the heinous things Eren’s done just for their sake.

You cannot define the morality of your actions by how much they help a random group of people. Why are the lives of Eren’s friends worth any more than the lives of the people he’s killed?

The answer is that, all else being equal, they aren’t.

You may care deeply for someone, but that does not justify a killing.

Who is even the hero of this story anymore?

It can’t be Zeke, because his values are anathema to the series values. He may be the audience surrogate this time around, but I doubt fucking Zeke Jeager is going to be the hero when the final chapter comes around.

Eren is theoretically the hero because his values broadly align with the story’s, but his actions are depicted in an almost devilish light. I always hoped the series would tackle the notion of fighting too hard for what you believe in, but…it’s too late for that now?

We’re in the final story arc. It’s weird to only just now be dealing with this meaty idea. Over 100 chapters of “Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!” and we’re just now getting to the “But not too hard.” part? There’s no way.

Alternatively, this is just one final fake-out in the game of is-he-or-isn’t-he that Isayama has been playing since the Marley Arc. Is Eren evil, or isn’t he? Or maybe they’ll play it as “Can he be redeemed or can’t he?”

Either way, I bet there’ll be some kind of change of heart from Eren soon.

This chapter echoes a point made by Yelena about the titans and their relationship to humanity: that the titan powers will be abused by people because that is just the nature of things. So let’s unpack that.

King Fritz, speaking through Frieda, says that the power of the titans must not fall into human hands lest it be abused. This mirrors ongoing debates about how to deal with certain controversial weapons, such as nuclear weapons.

The (very) liberal position is that nuclear weapons should be banned completely because the risk of abuse is too great. As per usual, the liberal position is taken by King Fritz.

The conservative position, which, once again, is the position the story sides with, is made more implicitly: that the titan powers can be a force for good, it’s just a matter of making sure only good people can access that power.

This conservative position is what underlies US policy towards North Korea and Iran. Those countries are rogue states that the US believes cannot be trusted. (Note, though, that the nuclearization of Iran is supported by Russia, a nuclear power.)

Personally, I believe nuclear weapons should be banned completely. Most countries are at least nominally supportive of the eventual, complete destruction of all nuclear weapons, and international norms have been evolving in that direction.

That is the contradiction of this issue: most people take the liberal position in the long term, but hold the conservative position in the short term.

This is just another reason to think that SNK will end with a ringing endorsement of nuclear weapons, with nary a nod to the need for eventual total disarmament.

See, ungodly amounts of power aren’t inherently bad, we just need special people to wield them for the public good.

Yeah, I get it, we need special people, but you know what? Frodo was special. The One Ring supposedly couldn’t corrupt him, but they still set out to destroy it. Because power on this scale is itself wrong.

Nuclear weapons aren’t the only possible parallel, though. Any controversial weapon will fit. In the United States there is a debate over regulating high powered weapons like the AR-15.

How do you handle such a thing? Do you ban the weapon completely, or just certain people from using it? I won’t wade into something as controversial as that here, though I will point out that the story clearly sides with the position of regulation over a total ban.

The scene in the cave also mirrors Japan’s current nuclear predicament. Japan has many outside rivals and threats, and Japan could build nuclear weapons if they wanted too. They have the technological capability, but in spite of the threat of North Korea, and the tense relations with China, the Japanese government chooses not to.

So, yeah, I’ve had the series pegged as leaning neoconservative and I still think that.

So what does the future hold?

Apparently, an event where Eren… becomes/does something. They both saw the same thing: a future where Eren is this OP chad of chads and a total boss. Grisha looks like he saw the worst thing imaginable. Eren looks like he just had an orgasm.

Since Eren is portrayed in a more sinister way this chapter, I am inclined to believe this future actually is a ghastly one.

Before this chapter, my guess was that Eren wanted to destroy the world using the wall titans, but would somehow come around to using it the way Armin mentioned: defensively.

Having it be preordained that the future holds a version of Eren that people who aren’t Eren will think is abominable throws a wrench into that.

I wouldn’t bet against Isayama somehow finding a way to make it work though. The only other alternative is that this series ends in the most ironic way possible, with the deranged lunatic having his way and “freedom” finally being established.

#shingeki no kyogin #attack on titan #snk 121 #spoilers

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kdtheghostwriter · 6 years

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SNK 115 - “OMW”

I mean...

Let’s be real. As far as Deus Ex goes, I’ve seen more preposterous this week.

If any of you are wondering why this post took so long, it isn’t for lack of time I assure you. This chapter was…a lot. And god damn, Isayama, I wasn’t expecting to dig up my Junior Year debate notes for this one blog post but here we are lads. Quick recap before we get into writers’ mumbo-jumbo.

Flashback

Deus EX

#HeelFloch

Sad Hange

RESURRECTION

We all know Isa loves his religious imagery. He isn’t quite as egregious as Zack Snyder (who is, tbh?) but it’s definitely a thing. He also loves mythology of all types. And while Norse mythology seems to be his area of expertise, it isn’t mine - which is why seeing Stupid Sexy Zeke emerge from his Titan Incubator made me think of another Stupid Sexy God from the Ancient Greek Canon.

I speak of the Goddess Aphrodite, who has dominion over love, beauty and its various trappings. Admittedly, this comparison is drawn in relation to aesthetics only. Zeke’s aloof temperament doesn’t really mirror that of the Greek goddess. Even though Aphrodite did technically help start the Trojan War but that’s neither here nor there.

Zeke’s appearance from the steam of the felled Titan is nearly identical to the foam that appeared during Aphrodite’s spontaneous conception in the Ionian Sea. For the sake of transparency, I must point out that long ago, a fanfic author by the name of Homer relayed to us that Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and Dione. This is not technically wrong but it is quite boring. And it was also pre-dated (shout-out to Hesiod). Uranus, the primordial god of the sky, got into a spat with his children as deities are wont to do. This particular dust-up ended in Uranus being castrated by his son – the Titan, Cronus – who usurped the throne. The disembodied testicles fell into the sea like a pair of primordial bath bombs and out of the resulting effervescence appeared a full-grown Aphrodite in all of her Tumblr-banned glory.

Zeke, with nothing left of him after the explosion than a head and torso, was taken into the gut of a waiting Titan. Let me clarify, here. He was not eaten, no. The mindless titan scooted itself along the river banks and inserted the dying Zeke into its stomach cavity. Then OG Ymir with her trademark PATHS Magiks, crafts the golden boy a brand new body and sends him on his merry way.

Like I said up top: of all the examples of Deus Ex, this isn’t even the third-most severe I’ve seen. The implications of it are…a lot. And it actually makes sense if you consider what we know about Titan Biology.

Back to the beginning. Once upon a time, the Founder Ymir Fritz made a deal with the Devil of All Earth that gave her untold power after coming into contact with the “source of all living matter.” With that power, Ymir became the Progenitor of Titan Power. Upon her death 13 years later, her soul was split into nine pieces and connected via a metaphysical system known only as PATHS. These PATHS transcend space and time and bind together every subject of Ymir, even those who have been long dead.

We also know that the Titans themselves are a conundrum of theoretical physics. Their mass and energy are created from nothing. They generate massive amounts of heat, but don’t appear to need fuel. They have no digestive system and regurgitate the contents of their stomach when it becomes full. Even though they are huge creatures, their actual limbs and body parts are incredibly light. Even though Zeke has little recollection of what happened to him post-explosion, he’s likely smart enough to infer, as we can, exactly how and why he emerged from the carcass of a Titan with a brand new body.

This is all before we mention that Zeke Jaeger is a part of the Fritz family tree. The Royal Family line that descends directly from Ymir herself.

I also thought about Lazarus of Bethany while reading this section. Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus, the lad from Bethlehem. Maybe you’ve heard of him. Jesus was told that Lazarus had fallen ill, but has business and doesn’t set out until a few days later. Jesus and his crew arrive in Bethany only to discover that Lazarus has already passed away. This leads to the Gospel’s shortest verse.

Jesus wept. [John 11:35, KJV]

Perhaps the better comparison for her is to Abraham (with the whole “making a great nation” stipulation). But! I’m trying to do something pithy here, so bear with me.

The story of Lazarus might be the Good Book’s most well-known resurrection (besides that other one). The idea here is that the world’s most Holy Figure decided that this man’s time on Earth wasn’t done. Jesus was too late to heal Lazarus and felt so guilty as to weep. Lazarus was then called forth from his tomb, still wrapped in his death robes.

For the Eldian Empire, no figure is more Holy than Ymir Fritz. She’s the Founding Titan and, if this chapter is to be inferred upon, her spirit still influences the will of her subjects to the day. An entire cult has formed with the sole purpose of returning her to her former glory. I should also point out that Zeke essentially committed suicide.

Like, yeah, maybe the injuries were a bit too extreme for an old shifter to be able to regenerate from, but even if that’s the case there would have been the telltale signs of an attempt to do so, like Pieck in Liberio. There wasn’t even that. He was so tired of the fight – so done with Levi torturing him – that he was willing to abandon his years-long plan entirely and sacrifice his powers to the shadows of death. He chose to die; the Founder chose differently.

The rainstorm clearing to make way for the sun. The beautification of Zeke Jaeger. The visage of his tall, strong frame standing firm as his hated rival lays broken and mutilated at his feet. It’s all very hard to miss. Who knows where his head is at following this? I do, however, finally know why I get so many Spidey Sense tingles whenever Zeke opens his mouth.

The name is Immanuel Kant: German scholar and one of the godfathers of modern philosophy. I first learned of Kant and his teachings as a teenager on my high school debate team as I prepared my cases for the Lincoln-Douglas competition. It was my first tournament and I placed second out of dozens of students. After I was done for the day, a girl came up to me and gave me congratulations for understanding Kant. I thanked her, but the truth was that I didn’t fully grasp Kantian philosophy until I got home that night and studied a bit more. Kantian ethics can be hard to grasp because they are often in conflict with each other. (Gee, that sounds familiar.)

Kant’s ethics are deontological in principal. This is a fancy way of saying that the main concern is the Deed That Must Be Done. It is a separation of morals from emotion. Kant rejected the Utilitarians of the day and their schools of thought regarding the inherent “goodness” of an action. Specifically, he had a big problem with Determinism, saying that things like free will were inherently unknowable; also, basing the morality of a decision around perceived outcomes was impossible, because consequences existed outside of physical existence and therefore could not be quantified. Kant set out to quantify the question of moral relativism with his most famous work: The Categorical Imperative.

This is a terribly complex system that has been repurposed and reinterpreted countless times over the past two centuries so I’ll spare you any ballywho. Basically, CI is the inverse of Consequentialism where everything but the consequences matter. Saving a person from drowning isn’t inherently a good action unless there is a logical reason for doing so. This is admittedly a very simplified summation, but even the expanded version leads to some dissonance of reason.

If we look at the Abstract of Categorical Imperative, it tells us: “Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself.” This line is very similar to the Golden Rule, which Kant famously opposed. The American scholar Peter Corning pointed this out, saying, “Kant’s objection is especially suspect because the Categorical Imperative sounds a lot like a paraphrase…of the same fundamental idea. Calling it a universal law does not materially improve on the basic concept.” To borrow an idea myself, it’s like playing the Super Mario theme in a minor key. It’ll sound more dour than usual, but it’s still the Mario theme. Joking aside, what’s important here is that the whole point of CI is to quantify the question of morality and it appears to do that in part by using the qualitative philosophy of the Golden Rule.

Another big beef came from Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. He felt that Kantian autonomy was insufficient in holding people to the standards of CI’s universal truths. In his words: “Kant was of the opinion that man is his own law – that is, he binds himself under the law which he himself gives himself. Actually, in a profounder sense, this is how lawlessness or experimentation are established.” In other words, if the only thing that matters is reasoning, you can justify almost anything to serve your immediate reasoning.

EXAMPLE

Here is where the dubious nature of the Categorical Imperative fully rears its head, as it displays BOTH the morality and immorality of Zeke’s plan.

On one hand, this plan is fucking awful. There are numerous and many arguments to be made against it; working solely in the context of Kantianism, it is irrational to presume that sterilizing the Eldian people will lead to a more peaceful world. It relies on a ludicrous number of assumptions – the least of which isn’t that Marley will one day stop being a total bell end. Besides that shit, it violates the nature of Kantian philosophy by attempting to foresee the outcome of the situation.

The other hand? It actually makes sense. CI says that only reason matters. It’s ethics through the lens of rational thought. No matter your thoughts about the Great Titan War, how it started and ended, whether or not the Eldians’ preceding subjugation was just or not, it’s a fact that the Titans have caused a great deal of suffering for many people. Only one race of people can transform into these beasts, so the idea of stripping their ability to reproduce isn’t a great leap to make. It is rational specifically in the context of this universe.

(Apologies for any details missed. I haven’t read any Kant in several years and this is a very condensed version of a concept I would encourage you to look into further. Thinking about this all now, the fact that I ever made it to out-rounds while arguing any of this is frankly absurd.)

It makes sense then, finally, why Yelena is so devoted to Zeke’s plan. Titans destroyed her home and slaughtered her people. The rational course of action is to remove this weapon from the hands of those (Marley) that would abuse them. And if those same perpetrators get screwed over during the course of this plan then…[Shrug Emoji]. She claims what she wants is justice. What she really wants, of course, is revenge. Just like her sensei, Jaeger-san, who wants revenge still. Which Jaeger, you ask? The answer is yes.

Situations have been reversed. The volunteers (and Onyankopon) are seated at the head of the table while the officers of the Garrison and Military Police that held them captive are under their thumb. Color-coded armbands are divvied out to the Eldian forces, juuuuust in case you forgot which period of history we’re sending up here. Armbands are assigned based upon when a person surrendered to the Jaegerists. Those higher ups (and Falco) that partook of the wine get their own special armband, because Everything Is Awesome!!

Then there’s this fucking guy. Before I revisited the world of epistemology, I had a much less astute take prepared about character psychology and the concept of the “Double Turn.” I may still write that as a separate post; it won’t do any good here. Reiner didn’t appear, firstly (even though it appears that he and the Warrior Unit are on Paradis), and the visage of a disembodied child using Titan Magiks to bring Zeke back from the precipice of death brings up some very real questions about how real the Curse really is. We don’t know how Ymir Fritz died originally. Given the way mythology tends to work, I’d say patricide is highly plausible.

As usual, all we can do is speculate. One thing that doesn’t need speculation is Pieck. As usual, she’s right on time. As expected, she’s exactly right.

Stray Thoughts

- As I noted last time, Levi was sent flying into the river. Evidently, he had enough strength to make it back to shore, just not much more than that. I suspect he’s alive for now but, goddamn did he get messed up. Levi underestimated Zeke’s suicidal tendencies, just as Zeke underestimated Levi’s tenacity. For two fellas that spent months in direct contact with each other, they have almost no clue.

- Not to stir the pot here but, here’s an in-story example of Kantian Ethics in case you’re still not quite sure. On the roof in Shiganshina – if Kant had been there (lol) – he would have disputed Levi giving the serum to Armin. Not for the reason you think. Categorical Imperative is all about reason. The reason Levi chose to save Armin is because he refused to rob his loved one of their humanity and instead chose to let him rest as opposed to reviving him for the sake of continuing a senseless, endless war. As Momtaku has said before: Levi chose Erwin over Armin. This was a choice made on emotional, borderline selfish, grounds and thereby irrational, which in Kant’s eyes makes it immoral. Just a little extra nugget for you. Discuss, friends!

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dirtylevi · 6 years

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Hey Wolfie~ since I follow you, I've always felt that you're such a nice and big positive presence in this fandom. I enjoy seeing you in my dash and love that you love Levi so much! Also, I'll never forget the times you've been kind to me, like when you have said or commented nice things about me or about stuff I've done. Have an amazing week

ASDFGHJKL Xio omgggg you’re so sweet, thank you so much!! 💚I, too have always felt that you are such a nice and positive presence in the fandom! You’re always so kind and you’ve been a major inspiration for me for a long time. I’ve followed your blog(s) pretty much since I started this one, and you’re one of the main reasons I started making graphics for SnK! Truly, my blog wouldn’t be half of what it is if it weren’t for you, and I cannot thank you enough simply for being you and for sharing all of your incredibly creative and superb content with us! Whether it be your fic Lawless (which I fucking LOVE btw), or all the graphics and amazingly written meta you’ve blessed my dash with, I am always hype to support you. Everything you do is a gift to us all and this fandom is blessed to have you. 💚

#asks #answered #snkpositivityweek #mutuals #<333 #kuchenackerman

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lolakasa · 7 years

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i love your snk art, but why do you draw eren taller than mikasa? they're exactly the same height tho it seems like you do that on purpose?

I actually love that they are the same height! I’m not too sure about this bc I don’t remember the things I’ve posted lol but in the case of that last commission I did, Jazzy wanted Eren to be half a head taller than Mikasa. In the case of the cover I did for Xio’s Lawless, Eren is 19 and she imagined Eren to be taller than her since Grisha was 182cm tall (we talked a lot about that when I was drawing it lol).

I imagine them older when I draw modern AUs for myself as well! but I like thinking of them as Mikasa being 173cm and Eren 178cm, so she can be his same height or taller when wearing heels ahhh

And for canon, I've drawn her crouching a little when she’s leaning into him bc I like how she usually stand v tall when they are side by side, but she lowers herself a little when facing him (and they aren’t confronting each other lol), tho I haven’t done that lately I think :Sc

#Anonymous #Reply

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belzinone · 6 years

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synopsis

An overview of Bel’s fanonical place in the SnK canon.

trigger warning for sensitive content involving trafficking, mental illness, domestic violence, Wallflower mentions

La Madonna: Risa Zinone (Bel’s mother)

Risa Zinone was born in the obscurity of the Underground City and soon sold to a brothel by her parents for a meager elevation to the next stair level. A resentful and chaotic child, she could never be made complicit with her new job, one much too violating and gruesome for any age.

Eventually, the brothel gave up on subverting her, instead leaving her to her own devices as soon as she presented herself as dangerous. The child lived day by day and called the sewage-run streets home until a kind hand belonging to a gentle boy was extended to her.

That boy was Faxhalli Gibbot, who also happened to be a without a family. He brought Risa to the orphanage he lived in (more specifically, convinced her to come along) and the two lived there until they were old enough to sustain themselves. As they grew, the two eventually fell in love and eloped the day before they left the orphanage.

It wasn’t long until they had their first child, a beautiful boy they named Beau. Raising a baby was undoubtedly difficult in the Underground City, but the proud parents had the high hopes and dreams to someday live on the surface just like any other.

El Troubadour: Beau Zinone (Bel’s brother)

Beau was a reserved, sensitive child who was quick to cry and could always be found hiding in the material of his mother’s skirt. He loved delicate things from his mother’s lace to the luxury of colored stones and subterranean shrubs his father sometimes brought home from working in the mines.

When Beau was still a child, his father began to change. His mother insisted it was something from the mines, an unearthly gas that infected his lungs and filled his head with mirages. Nonetheless, Faxhalli came home more and more violent than the prior day, unable to tell the demons that plagued him from his loving wife and child. Risa sustained the beatings, but as soon as the blows turned to Beau, she decided enough was enough.

She decided to leave him, but her paranoid husband beat her to the punch. Convinced his family was out to harm him, Faxhalli took all the family funds and hired illicit Military Policemen to murder them in their sleep. However, they were already being watched by a band of vigilante women known as the Wallflowers, whom saved their lives.

Faxhalli fell into obscurity. Risa became La Eglantina of the Wallflowers, quickly gaining prowess and saving women and children alike from the patriarchal violence that ruled the underground.

The Doctor in Drag: Dmitri Zeramusky (Bel’s father)

Despite the savage state the Wallflowers left their victims in, they weren’t without admirers. Some men took it a step further and impersonated women for the purpose of assisting the cause. One such man was Dmitri Zeramusky, a private doctor of the Wallflower agents. His kindness and candor eventually touched the heart of a hardened Eglantina, to the chagrin of her troupe leader. Such a relationship was thought vile by their Madame, even forbidden. When Risa pledged her life to the cause, she thought her days of love were over and all she had left was for her son.

It wasn’t long before she made a mistake her sorella would not forgive. Deviations from their laws were punishable by torture, then death, but she had help.

With aid from her closest sorella and son, the Zinone’s were able to get away, but it wasn’t without sacrifice. Risa was mortally injured by fire and Dmitri was left believing she was burned alive. She was saved by the miraculous hands of his mentor, Doctor Hariss Karr, but more sacrifices had to be made to escape the clutches of the Wallflowers. Dmitri moved to the surface and the Zinone’s disappeared into a remote corner of the city, where Risa gave birth to her last child.

Hell is for Children: Bel Zinone

The little girl was nothing like her brother, quickly testing the boundaries of safety as soon as she could walk. Her taste for adventure proved her a handful for her mother, who often had to enlist the musical entertainment value of her older brother to keep her entertained while she ran a laundry business. Knowing firsthand the dangers of being a woman in the lawless Underground City, Bel was kept under lock and key for as long as her curious personality allowed it to be possible.

By the time the narrow walls of their shack of a household couldn’t hold her anymore, Risa dressed Bel in male clothing and urged she go by Bailey whenever they took to the streets. Before she knew it, Bel was leaving the house without supervision and getting into all kinds of trouble, right beneath Beau’s nose. She continued to test her mother’s patience everyday, until a rich noble from the surface descended upon their district and offered a lofty sum to those willing to join the Survey Corps.

Risa begged her son to remain with them, as his legs began to fall to sickness and he made a sufficient enough living working in construction. However, Beau was much too proud and not brave enough to break it to his mother how close he already felt he was to dying. At the very least, his death would bring them enough funds to promote their living situation a few stair levels.

So Beau offered up his heart to Humanity, and Bel’s days of rebellion were over.

Slave to the Grind

The two women swore to make the most they could out of Beau’s sacrifice. With the help of her father’s mentor, Bel opened a small practice in their corner of the Underground, an area in much need of medical care, and compounded the funds Beau left them with. Wealth mutually protected and shared between them and the local gangs, the Zinone’s eventually bought their way up to the surface and settled in Shiganshina to continue their domestic services.

With their home close to the Wall, they had a front row seat to each and every Scouting Regiment procession, often their first stop on their returns from expeditions. From the sunken eyes of wounded soldiers, Bel saw not destitute loss, but hope and lust for life beyond the confines of Humanity’s concrete cradle. However, she dare not speak of her desire to join them until it came to the point that joining the cadet corps was the only option they had. Wall Maria fell and a third of Humanity was lost, forcing the young and able to take up arms and fill in the empty spaces left by the fallen.

Twin Roses

With freedom almost close enough to taste, Bel found herself reconnecting with her childhood tendencies to rebel and explore. She trained via her own lesson plans, often daydreaming and passing the time in her own figurative world. Largely motivated by the soldiers she tended to while young, she spent her free time designing gear modifications and combining her illicit medical knowledge with what she learned about titans. The more time she spent thinking outside of her box, the more apparent it became that the Scouting Legion was becoming desperate. Though her methods were treason, Bel believed in her designs and sought to bring her innovations beyond the wall and preserve lives.

However, her mother had different ideas. For her, moving to the surface wasn’t enough. Risa wanted Sina, the opulence and safety that came with citizenship within the innermost walls of Humanity. She thought Bel wanted that too, and pushed her to join the Military Police, the highest status she could achieve and remember her brother by. Because her heart wasn’t in it, Bel didn’t make the top ten. Not having the heart to disappoint her mother either, Bel joined the Garrison and hoped to make her way up the rankings from there.

La Guillotina

She served quietly, patching up the occasional sprained ankle from running atop the wall and coming up with innovative means to work the artillery (within legal bounds, of course). It wasn’t the life she wanted, but Bel enjoyed leisure time spent with comrades and, most of all, training new recruits. She could never help but smile sadly each time she heard a cadet speak so excitedly about joining her dream military branch, still keeping her own desires hushed and hidden away in the little leather bound notebook she always kept on her person.

The day Humanity witnessed its first victory was a day that would change her life forever, for a much different reason. While seasoned soldiers were deployed to the front lines of Trost, the Zinone’s were left with the grim reminder that they never truly escaped the clutches of the Wallflowers, now met with an affiliate organization that would come to be known as the Bestiarii. With every able-bodied soldier preoccupied with fighting titans, it occurred to neither of them that they would be attacked by people.

In the midst of the chaos ensuing the ringing of evacuation bells, Bel found herself detouring to her household to ensure her mother made it out safely. To her horror, Risa was found beaten and presumable dead by the hands of a group of men who had stormed their home under the cover of the panic. Believing she had lost everything, Bel breached her soldier’s protocol and murdered the civilians, later to be put on criminal trial because the only person who could have testified in her favor never returned to reality.

Medical Officer

Bel took a plea bargain and ironically transferred to the branch of her dreams as punishment. Fortunately for her, she was found after her rampage by the right people, who were impressed by her designs and vouched for her life during her trial. Seeing a transfer to the Scouts as a death sentence either way, Bel exchanged her twin roses for the Wings of Freedom and offered her medical and mechanical expertise to Humanity’s victory. After each expedition, she visited her mother in asylum and her brother’s grave, hoping to someday disband the forces that conspired to continue making their lives a living hell.

La Traviata

The Medical Officer almost made it to the day the Scouting Legion would see the basement, but the loss of her leg to the Wallflower/Bestiarii guillotine cut her short. It was a small price to pay for the disbandment of the Underground’s two top criminal organizations, whose memberships extended all the way up the royal court, but the loss devastated her. (Alternatively, she looses her leg in a landslide on an expedition preparing for Shiganshina.) Bel was forced to retire from the Scouting Legion, as the loss of her limb rendered her unable to serve as both a soldier and medical provider. However, she continued to aid the cause from her humble abode in northern Paradis, mostly in the form of synthesizing new medicines and designing new machinery with the technology they received from Marley.

If not seeing Humanity’s victory from the front lines, the development of a titan serum panacea was still a feasible goal within her reach.

La Resorta

Bel soon came to learn that benchwork wasn’t her calling. After sorting through her grief and self-pity, she began retraining herself to use the new maneuver gear and fashioned a new prosthetic. Atrophied muscles and sunken eyes again filled with life as the woman returned to her passions at the front lines, once again donning the Wings of Freedom over her heart.

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