#me as a writer (of doom)

[cosmos-dot-semicolon]

A study/fake screenshot of this panel from the Ninjago comic series, Destiny of Doom (in full here).

(This comic legitimately has some of the best characterisation for Garmadon and the team's early dynamic I've seen from the entire franchise, and I would highly recommend giving it a read!)

[fictionadventurer]

What was the point of Scrooge's trip with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come? On a structural level, it makes sense--three is the fairy tale number, and you can't visit the past and present without also including the future--but on a character level, it doesn't quite seem necessary. Showing a man that he'll die alone, unloved, and unmourned seems like the strategy you take as the last-ditch effort to convince a guy that he needs to change his ways. But that situation doesn't apply to Scrooge. He started softening immediately after he first arrived in his past. By the time he finished with the Ghost of Christmas Present, he was fully onboard with the need to reform, so the Ghost's vision of his future seems like unnecessary cruelty. Why show him all this when he was already planning to change his ways?

A few things come to mind. One is that this vision of the future wouldn't have affected Scrooge unless he had already changed his ways. A cold, hard businessman could have seen his lonely death as just the way of the world, might have viewed the people who stole the clothes from his corpse as just people doing what's practical in this world. He needed to relearn the value of the intangibles--human connection, respect for others--to see the true horror of the lonely death and the vultures who defiled the dead man.

But why the horror? Can't he reform without being threatened with doom? It's possible--but it's also possible such a reform would be temporary. After all, Scrooge started as a friendly, loving young man, but retreated into himself and his business out of fear of poverty and fear of the way the world looks down upon poor people. Even if a reformed Scrooge started on a course of Christmas charity, there was always a chance that the enthusiasm would fade, and the worldly fears would start creeping back in. The only way to beat those fears is to give him something to fear that's even worse than poverty. He needs to see the horrible end that his selfish ways would lead to, so he won't be tempted to slide back into them.

There's also the fact that seeing his death makes him ecstatically happy to find that he's alive after the Ghost is gone. Had Scrooge been spared the vision of his future, he might have been happy to find himself on Christmas Day, but his joy would have been nowhere near the manic glee he experiences after coming back from the future. Now, he doesn't just get a new start--he gets a second chance. Coming back from his own grave makes him mindful of his death, but it also makes him hyperaware of the fact that he's still alive. He isn't in the ground yet. He still has time to do good and make connections with others so he doesn't die alone.

Seeing the past reminded him of the innocence he'd lost. Seeing the present reminded him of the people whose lives he was missing out on. Seeing the future reminded him that death is waiting, so it's important to live virtuously while we can. All three are important because all three brought him outside of himself and taught him to value the wider world, just in time to live through another Christmas Day.

[generalsmemories]

every time i see someone shit on the xianzhou story quest on twitter i die a little bit inside.

[fighting-naturalist]

Daniel in "Resurrection"

[el-255]

I’m not sure if this has been said before but I find it very interesting how differently the writers of persona handled Junpei’s character in comparison to Ryuji’s. With the role of the mc’s best friend and mostly comic relief, I find the two of them to be the most similar personality wise compared to either of them with Yosuke so this analysis will only be discussing the parallels and differences in the way the story handles Junpei and Ryuji respectively.

To me, Junpei is handled pretty sensitively by the writers (not as much as he could be or should be, but still a lot more than most would expect given his trope); he’s given a lot of character with the introduction of Chidori and we see how he grows to like her as he gets to know her. I’ll admit it’s been a while since I played 3 so take this with a grain of salt but from what I recall, his and Chidori’s relationship gets quite a bit of screen time and development in the main story in a way that gives us a different perspective of how Junpei normally operates around the other members of SEES. With Chidori, he isn’t the class clown or the idiot of SEES, he’s simply a teenage boy who falls for a teenage girl. To me, there’s not much more humanising than that. After her presumed death, Junpei loses it and sinks into a depression, and when he finds out she’s alive, albeit her memory lost, he does his best to help her recover and grapples with the moral implications of her regaining her memory. (I think at least one can’t really remember).

This relationship is important to the story and gives us another, much more sympathetic view of Junpei’s character who, up to this point in the game, had mostly been kept in a box marked “comic relief pervert”. You root for Junpei and Chidori’s relationship because it is clearly shown how much Junpei adores her and not once after he meets her does he stray from this love for her.

It’s not only Chidori’s character that makes Junpei’s character more sensitive either, I find that his general personality and relationships with other characters to be handled better as well.

We have his friendship with Yukari (aka Yuka-tan) which I’ll begin by saying also isn’t perfect, Junpei oftentimes falls into the perverted trope so many of the male characters fall into (such is life with Atlus) and he definitely makes comments towards her that most friends wouldn’t and yeah that isn’t good, but I think Yukari gives it back just as much as Junpei dishes it out and never takes him too seriously. I get the impression that that’s just how their friendship works, it’s a constant push and pull, a give and take between them, they both take every opportunity they get to tease each other mercilessly and it works. It doesn’t feel one sided in the way that Ryuji’s interactions with other members of the phantom thieves tend to feel but I’ll get more into that later. His friendship with Yukari may not be the most noteworthy part of his character, but it’s something I think deserves a bit of credit all things considered.

He matures so much over the game and generally becomes more serious and methodical as the story progresses but in a way that is still undeniably Junpei. That’s a difficult feat to accomplish when dealing with certain characters and I think Atlus does well to make these changes happen in a pretty organic way.

Junpei isn’t a perfect character, he has his flaws and shortcomings, but out of all the bro characters from 3-5, I think that the writers of 3 deserve more merit for handling Junpei’s character arc in a way that actually feels like he’s grown by the end of the game.

I could not say the same for Ryuji.

I will preface this by saying that I love Ryuji, I think he’s a neat little guy and I think the writers did him so dirty in 5 when they clearly had the capacity to do so much more as we’ve seen already with Junpei.

Ryuji is filled to the brim of wasted potential as a character, his backstory is only barely brushed on with a few throwaway comments about his dad being abusive towards him and his mother, his abuse by Kamoshida who literally breaks his leg is barely brought up after Kamoshida’s arc, and the trauma he suffers from is never the focus of the story compared to how other characters like Yusuke, Futaba, and Ann’s are. Of course, trauma isn’t a competition and all the party members in 5 have dealt with awful shit but the point is that all of them rightfully get the opportunity to be angry about it at some point in the main story or in their social links, Ryuji doesn’t. Ryuji instead gets beat up by pretty much the entire cast of 5, is constantly belittled by the party members, and is basically treated like shit and the butt of the joke throughout the entire game.

I don’t think I even need to bring up that scene because I know everyone feels the same way about it, but I will because it’s a necessary part of this analysis. That scene haunts me, not only is it the unfunniest thing that’s played for jokes I’ve ever seen in a game, but it’s quite possibly the biggest controversy I know of in the persona fandom.

The implications of a teenage boy who was abused by his father and his teacher thinking he’s found a safe haven in the phantom thieves because they all know how shitty adults can be and yeah they insult him but they’d never actually purposefully try and hurt him, right? Only to find that they would hurt him and pretty severely after he risked his life to save theirs because they’re his best friends and he loves them is horrendous and incredibly insensitive to everyone out there who has dealt with similar circumstances. The joke he plays isn’t funny, but I take it as Ryuji trying to lighten the mood the only way he knows how and even if he was insensitive to Ann and the rest of the team who are mourning him, he does not deserve to get beaten to a pulp by the very people he almost killed himself to rescue. They don’t even fucking apologise to him, it’s all just brushed under the rug and never so much as brought up again !!!

The scene didn’t need to make the cut at all, especially with the rerelease in royal, but it did and it’s honestly astonishing that with all the backlash it received, that they didn’t just cut it entirely. And if they really had to keep the scene in the game, let him be angry about it. Let Ryuji go off at the team for beating him up after he saves all of their lives. Let Ryuji tell Joker that he expected more from him as his best friend. Let the team have to jump through hoops to gain Ryuji’s forgiveness because it’s what he deserves.

Not only this, but in comparison to Junpei, Ryuji doesn’t get as much growth in his character arc. Throughout the game, Ryuji largely stays the same which honestly isn’t really an issue, not everyone has to change dramatically and drastically to be a compelling character, but he doesn’t change at all. Honestly, from the start to the end of 5, I could barely tell you a difference between the Ryuji we see. Like I said, I don’t need a drastic change, it doesn’t suit some characters, but Ryuji isn’t given any sort of growth by the writers and any he is given feels forced because he genuinely isn’t given any of the spotlight outside of Kamoshida’s arc unlike with Junpei.

It makes me angry because like I said, the writing was already there with Junpei, they had the capacity to write Ryuji in the same sympathetic way they did with him but they chose not to !! They chose to leave Ryuji as a character who you have no choice but to take at face value because he’s not given any more than that.

In conclusion: the writers dropped the ball with Ryuji and I’m mad about it, Junpei is a good character and I’ll fight anyone who disagrees, and Yosuke is Yosuke and I mourn his cut romance route every day.

[sylvies-kablooie]

episode 6 hits just as hard two years later.

i still haven't moved beyond sylvie's desperate why aren't we seeing this the same way? the realizing between them, so sudden and visceral, that this wasn't going to work out; that the mission came first for sylvie- after seeing the man who ruined her life, in her eyes, loki's hesitancy was treason, but that sorrow in the line, why? why can't we agree? the low below-the-belt punches in her "do it, kill me and take your throne"; she's spitting venom, she doesn't believe it in the slightest, she just wants him to stop, to agree with her, to tell her that it was worth it, all of her suffering she survived to get here, to set the rest of the universe free, but he won't. loki won't say what she needs to hear. the way they both cry when he begs her to think, to stop, take a minute. the way her blade catches the crook of his neck and he tosses his to the side to get her to listen, at the risk of his life, just to get her to listen, please. the way he pleads. the way she leans in to kiss him as if surrendering and how the moment holds in the air but she can't give up after so long. how she gently shoves him away with her fingertips despite his begging, the most sincere moment in his life and he is rejected. and then how she tosses hwr's desk away the minutes loki's gone, how she stabs he who remains, she snarls and asks him aren't you going to beg for your life. she locks eyes with him as she plunges the sword in and watches him bleed out. and before he's even dead she falls to the floor, the weight of what she did setting in, the lack of relief she'd always imagined she'd feel horrific. the terrifying loneliness hitting right at the moment, too heavy to even keep her legs supported. the terrifying loneliness loki feels from the other side of the universe, maybe the only thing coming close to matching.

like. yeah it's gonna haunt me forever.

[andromeda3116]

rereading order of the stick (again), and greyiew is only in a few comics so far but man do i love this nihilistic wolf

[firerose18991]

Batman the Doom that came to Gotham

"Review"

Never read the books that accompanied this movie but its made good

Spoilers below cut

Standouts:

1. Sanjay Tawde

Voiced by Karan Brar from Jessie. Literally brought me back. I love that such a simple change to the character made me so happy evey time I saw him on screen. Like its Jason but its also Karan. I loved the little details they put into him. He's always reading, you can tell he's been lectured about his foul mouth by all the stand-ins he has for actual cuss words. He's happy-go-lucky former street rat Jay Jay. More from him in the future I beg.

2. Brucie

This movie is a stone throw away from hitting all of the baby girl marks for Bruce Wayne. Very not okay mentally. Very scrumply umply. Very much loving life with his babies🥺. He's a dramatic bitch, I could not be more proud. (Very in love with Harvey) like he would've been so happy on the high seas with his little family.

Also love an old timey batman. Like bruce shouldn't exist in any other time period after watching this.

3. Ollie

Very bimbo, very drunk, very he would flash his titties if he had them(and you know they're bright pink and pretty)

Ollie being a drunk will always be my favorite Ollie. He's serious when he needs to be but I'm glad we didn't get too much of that as it detracts from his beauty.💅🏿

Now about the the actual movie:

I remember going into this movie saying to myself they better not kill my babies and what the f*** did they do. Like after a certain point in the movie I didn't know what was going to happen. I enjoyed every crazy ass turn they took. I love what they did for the Cassandra (Kai Li)of that universe too. All the characters were their same weird freaky selves in different fonts, I hope they make something like this again😭 (I'm probably going to edit and add to this post cause I'm fresh out and still processing oml)

Honorable mentions

Yo I feel like Alfred was based off peppermint butler. Mans was un bothered.

Cracking myself open for Talia as we speak.

Ra's Al Ghul kinda a bitch in this, like Ra's is normally selfish/self serving and he was resurecting fucking starro or sum shit

I love not having to hate harvey

This is a must watch the only thing they could've done differently is releases this on Halloween. This was good enough for theaters even.

[kimwexlersponytail]

The only thing that kept me going was knowing you were here.

[papasmistakeria]

DoomTrek AUs are so funny actually and not for the reason you think

I'm aware that it's a fun little "Crossover AU where Karl Urban characters are just One Guy", but AOS!Bones being Reaper ALSO implies that TOS!Bones is in some way the John Grimm of his universe and I find that so funny

[cocolacola]

do not even talk to me about any "my fav is doomed by the narrative" shit unless u witnessed the Sylvanas Incident of 2018-2022 because that was my final straw

[ismellpestilence]

The dumbest argument against writers getting paid more is the "none of the new shows have good writing so why do they deserve more pay for bad work" argument because not only does it show a serious misunderstanding over how the industry works, but it's also bullshit.

If the only shows you've seen this year are bad, that sounds like a skill issue on your part. Simply watch better shows. Like, IDK man, if you're still hung up on The Rings of Power and think people should lose their houses over it, then maybe you're just a fucking loser.

[pikkish]

breaking news: surprising absolutely no one, pik has fallen in love with the fast paced fps game where the big, silent badass of a main character's sole goal is to protect the small, squishy innocents.

[i-love-harryosborn-dotcom]

Wolfsborn AU?? Wolfsborn AU.

Becoming a wolf man is complicated, being in love with a guy who flakes out on you a lot (and is secretly a wolf man) is complicated. But i like to think they make it work really well

And i like to think that whenever Harry finds out- it’s whimsical n fun n romantic n cute

[loverboyromanroy]

So... How far down the fascist rabbit hile (?) do you think Roman is going to fall down? I'm scared they are gonna take it so far I'm not gonna be able to love him anymore🥺.

i meeeean i do think he will fuck (or try to fuck) mencken, and subsequently operate as an extended member of that campaign, but i also think the evidence is there to make the case that he (and several others on the show) think of politics as part of The Big Game Of Life, not something that they consider as real or relevant to them as people. so like...will he join and champion the fascist candidate? yes, almost certainly. will he like...take a real interest or stake in progressing fascist ideology beyond getting mencken in power? i don't know, i'm not convinced.

i think there is an interesting idea of mencken losing the election and roman (by way of atn) helping him launch his sort of "fake news/the election was rigged"/2020 trump response to it all, but even then i would think he would be coming from it not as a genuine belief in those ideas, but as an opportunity to do Flashy News/News as Entertainment, which is something he has talked about when pitching how atn becomes relevant again

[cocoabubbelle-newblog]

Do current Marvel Writers hate Professor Xavier or something?