#one of the most tragic characters in the story despite only having a few random cameos and 3 major appearances

[lord-squiggletits]

Today I went absolutely nuts over Pharma on main in Discord lmao. He should've gotten to kill more people just as reparations for all the shit he went through and then being completely ditched by his best friend and the cause he spent almost his entire life serving.

Like it really does suck how everyone including Ratchet (and Ambulon too???) heard about Pharma harvesting organs for the DJD and just immediately assumed Pharma was a traitor/double agent like.... THAT Pharma. Notorious Decepticon-hater Pharma. Pharma who's been an Autobot since the start of the war and is best friends with another loyal Autobot. That Pharma. Tooootally the most reasonable explanation is that he's a traitor and not. Y'know. That the DJD are a bunch of drug-addicted cultist freaks who literally practice torture, murder, and war crimes as their entire jobs. Couldn't be it. Pharma is just Doctor DJD I guess

[zvmz]

A few Duchess Swan HCs <3

this one was very interesting to do. shes such a tragic and complex character. definitely one of my favorites. sorry in advance about the angst-train.

she views her dancing as a kind of emotional outlet. whatever shes feeling, she puts all of that emotion into her dance

its a different story, though, if shes dancing for a grade.

if shes dancing for a grade, it has to be PERFECT in every way. she will not accept a grade lower than an A

she would practice a routine over and over all night until she collapses from injury or exhaustion if she has to

she also tries to get perfect grades in the rest of her classes, but flashing forward to legacy day, by that time shes so burnt out and depressed that shes failing most of her classes from lack of trying

lizzie and duchess never said so much as a word to each other until the 5th day of living together, since they are both very closed-off and thought the other was strange

their very first verbal interaction happened after duchess hurt her foot while dancing and had to wrap it

it went like this; "what happened to your foot?" "dancing accident" "oh" and that was that

the two have a very strange relationship

they consider each other, not quite friends, but more than acquaintances.

they rarely speak to each other, only when absolutely necessary. most of their interactions are more like quick nods, or simple acts of kindness. like lizzie will occasionally bring her coffee and set it down next to her without a word, and duchess will make sure lizzie, who has a habit of sleeping in, gets up in time for school

it may not seem like much, but duchess will always treasure that relationship because its one of the only times she feels shes allowed to be 'nice', even in a small way

deep down she knows her attitude towards others plays a big part in making her so miserable, and she does want to be nicer to people and make friends, but its a sacrifice she feels she has to make in order to steal her own happily ever after

since each odette turns into a swan at the end of her story, they are assigned a random prince to produce an heir with just before their story begins

since duchess's mother became a swan, duchess lives in the castle with her father, who takes no interest in her

she was mostly raised by the castle staff, though shes had the same personal dance teacher since she learned to walk. duchess considers her the closest thing she has to a mother

she used to go to the lake to visit her swan mother every once in a while, but she went missing years ago. duchess assumes she either went to live the rest of her life elsewhere, or was killed by hunters

duchess likes to only wear black and white, but her mothers favorite color was lavender, which is why she incorporates a bit of that color into some of her outfits

faybelle and cupid both offered to teach duchess how to fly, but she (quite rudely) rejected the offer

which resulted in a few too many rough falls from high places, many bruises and a concussion

when she came back to the dorm lizzie took one look at her, grabbed her by the arm, and walked her to the nurses office no questions asked

she did eventually learn how to fly, though

shes one of those people who is constantly complaining about the temperature. shes always either too hot or too cold

she always has airpods in. shes usually listening to classical music throughout the day, but she keeps them in even when she isnt listening to music, just so nobody will bother talking to her

she put lizzie on lana del rey

she has a deal with kitty cheshire that if anyone happens to find the lake she always dances on, kitty will come and scare them away. in exchange duchess gives kitty test answers, which she stole from sparrow

she finds sparrow incredibly annoying, and knows he feels the same about her

despite that, they always find themselves together. duchess thinks its because theyre just comfortable with each other

they dont have any romantic feelings towards each other, but there have been many rumors around school about them being together

they have more of a sibling relationship. they can have terrible arguments with each other, then an hour later ask if the other wants to grab coffee. no apologies necessary.

their hangouts usually consist of people watching and judging/gossiping about everyone they see

she does feel some regret over what she tried to do to ashlynn and hunter, but would never actually apologize for it. she never spoke to either of them again after true hearts day. in fact, duchess actively avoids her

[kyouka-supremacy]

Dazai?

Eheh Dazai

Favorite thing about them: I really like how as a character he was able to deeply touch so many people!! Seeing so many people finding relief in being able to relate to and emphasize with the character makes me happy.

Least favorite thing about them: I mean, his personality? I don't like how his many flaws are written to be interpreted as strong points / good traits for his character to the point no flaw is actually a flaw, it makes the reading experience very frustrating for me.

Favorite line:

brOTP: Mmmmhh, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about Dazai. Soukoku, probably. The Buraiha trio makes me emotional a little. Souheki, but in a very passive-aggressive, over-competitive, one-sided rivality, can't-stand-each-other way. Dazai and Kyouka. Dazai and Atsushi too I suppose, though I prefer them romantically. I think he makes for a lot of interesting dynamics with virtually all the characters, but none compells me in particular tbh.

OTP: Odazai is plain canon to me, idk what to tell you. I think they make for a beautiful, tragic love story. Get you a man who is willing to change the path of his whole life for another man just like that, nobody does it like them (actually, wait, I can think of another man... ). Although I always distantly liked them, dazatsu has grown on me like, an INSANE amount in the last few months. I'm not sure what happened. I think it was an unfortunate (lol) coincidence of growing a little fonder of Dazai and just wanting to give more space and agenda to Atsushi. Like to me a lot of what dazatsu is really is about giving Atsushi more agency and autonomy and independence and overall just respecting him as a complex, full fleshed out character. I don't see ANY kind of power imbalance in it I keep finding people talk about. Dazai pushes Atsushi to be better every day, and Atsushi does exactly the same for Dazai. Atsushi admires and respects Dazai, and Dazai admires and respects Atsushi equally. I really don't know why the ship isn't more popular and instead just gets discarded most of the time tbh. I feel like everyone should sit down a second and actually give Atsushi the dignity to choose for himself. And fyozai!!! The investment in this ship mostly goes on waves for me but despite that I firmly believe that they really make for an engaging and interesting dynamic to be interpreted romantically. The epitome of “You're both just enabling each other's mental illnesses. You're both perfect for each other. Never change. Just never involve anybody else in what you've got going on.”

nOTP: Nothing comes to my mind.

Random headcanon: Not canon related, but in modern aus I feel like he'd be one to always end up working at ceo roles and he would HATE it. He fires himself and starts working at some cheap frozen yogurt place and one month later he'll find himself as the ceo of the most important oil company of the country AGAIN without him even realizing it / despite his active efforts to avoid that. And he HATES IT. He fires himself again but the loop only repeats forever. He's just that kind of person for whom all doors open automatically.

Unpopular opinion: ............ I could be here forever. I regretfully fail to relate to a lot of characterization / readings of the character I've seen the fandom give him. I really don't want to dwell on this so I'll just mention something mostly unrelated to his characterization: I wholly can't share the take of him being physically built like??? At all??? Which got REALLY popular a few months ago. Dude feels like he never lifted a finger his whole life, I really don't know where the idea comes from???? And I personally don't take his manga visual portrayal as a telling factor for this; pretty much all the characters have the same body type, it's impossible for me to base the buff Dazai assumption on how he's drawn in the manga. Just one thing about his chracter though stop making him matchmaker for ss/kk he really isn't stop don't do it please

Song i associate with them: HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE associating him with my favourite vocaloid song ever but. Meltdown by iroha is a very Dazai song. So many other songs though... Parade of Liars by ryo. Abstract Nonsense by Neru. God-ish by Pinocchio-P. So on and so forth.

Favorite picture of them:

Favourite panel from the manga:

Favourite illustration:

Favourite illustration in the anime art style:

Favourite Mayoi card:

Send me a character?

[geneeste]

Ok, for the weird writer questions: 2, 7, 10, 16, 27, 35 :D

Thank you so much for these! Such good choices.

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

I would be very sad to give up my keyboard, but I could do it! My very first novella fanfic was written mostly by hand on legal pads and in random notebooks, which I then transcribed when I had access to the family computer. I think I still have those pages saved in a binder in a box somewhere (or at least I hope I do - I'd be heartbroken to have lost it!).

I'm going to answer the second part too just because I wanna -- I'm a pen girly, all the way, even though it's kind of bonkers for someone like me to draft in pen (constantly changing my mind and editing myself as I go). Pencils just don't offer the same atmosphere for me, despite being way more practical.

7. What is your deepest joy about writing? Honestly, I think I'm still trying to discover it!

When I was a very young teenager, I wrote like crazy and really wasn't that worried about whether it was good or how it would be received. But then, as often happens, I started to get really self-conscious and perfectionist about anything I wrote, and I sort of skipped learning about the joy of a shitty first draft that you then edit to perfection.

That pressure of writing it perfectly on the first try is so stifling, and it really killed the joy of writing for me to the point that the only time I really truly enjoyed it was when I was 1) intentionally writing bad!fic, or 2) writing while tipsy/drunk. Which, as you can imagine, is neither a healthy relationship with creativity nor with alcohol.

It's getting better, but it's definitely something I'm still struggling with (even at nearly 40!), because on the one hand I love fangirling and I have these characters and ships that I adore, and I have so many headfics that I really do want to share with people. But on the other hand, I'm still learning how to be me as a writer and not be miserable. I love the outcome, so I'm trying to learn to love the process.

So I don't know, honestly! Ask me again in a few years. ;)

10. Has a piece of writing ever "haunted" you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

Oh, absolutely, both in funny ways and serious ways.

This happens to me all the time with fic -- there's a line from Ryo Sen and Jo March's A Winning Strategy series from years and years ago that I still quote to myself: "Empty barn. Open Door. Horse very much gone." And @missparker wrote a Sam/Jack kid!fic series that to this day haunts my thoughts because of how good and how tragic it is -- it's just the best kind of unsettling. And there are many more fanfic that just stick in my brain.

And it definitely happens with my own fic, too. I wrote a character death fic back in 2007 that, almost immediately after writing it, I knew I'd have to revisit someday when I was ready to (which I finally did in 2021). And the fic I'm currently working on for the same pairing, I have a whole universe in my head that I'm constantly wandering into, playing with, building out the story and watching how the characters react.

Haunting, to me, is sort of a lovely thing. It might be the afterimage of a poignant or wonderful story, or the promise of story that might someday be. The outline's always there, but it's ephemeral enough that the meaning changes as you do.

16. What's the weirdest thing you've ever used as a bookmark?

Oh boy, this is probably a boring answer. I've used receipts, pamphlets, actual bookmarks, bills. I used an expired driver's license one time. I've started pressing flowers and using those as bookmarks recently. But sadly, I don't think I have a truly interesting makeshift bookmark to speak of. XD

27. Who is the most stressful character you've ever written? Why?

Probably Bones from the eponymous TV show, because she has such a specific voice and personality. And also because she's an iconically neurodivergent character, and I always felt that if she wasn't written with care, it would be very easy to create a caricature that didn't do her justice. It's also probably why I didn't write very many stories in the Bones fandom, because I was never totally confident that I got her character right.

35. What's your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

Ha! Probably that you have to ease readers into things. I tend to be more from the "Fuck it, readers are savvy and they'll figure it out" school of fiction writing. This is certainly easier to do with fanfiction, where most of the world and characters are already known and it's just the circumstances that are new. I haven't written original fiction in ages, but even as a reader it's what I prefer. I don't want to be carefully fed every point of character development or plot twist -- give me the clues and let me tease it out myself.

[lady-of-the-spirit]

Please tell me more about your Tolkien-verse OCs????

HAPPILY!!!

I've got Athalia, who's for The Hobbit trilogy, and Kiana and Annunel, both for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. They all exist in the same timeline, with Athalia's story meant to be a prequel to Kiana/Annunel's.

Athalia was originally written as the daughter of one of Bilbo's friends/neighbours and ended up raised by Bilbo after her parent's death. I scrapped that idea a few years ago, though, and made her his childhood friend instead, partly because her staying his niece didn't feel right to me anymore and partly so I could write them being snarky best friends.

Athalia's Not Like Other Hobbits. you know how the fandom characterizes Bilbo's mom as being an adventuring hobbit lady? Athalia is very much the same. She wants adventure in the great wide somewhere and - scandalously - actually goes off on a journey to see all of Middle Earth some 8 years before the start of the story. She comes back from her journey, reuniting with her best friend Bilbo, claiming she wants to settle down again, just in time for Gandalf to show up asking Bilbo to go on his own adventure. Athalia is immediately on board and claims that "surely two bandits is better than one!" And gets Bilbo on board (despite his many many reservations about the whole thing).

She has a lot of information on what she's seen of the world and is very eager to share and learn more, always, always jotting down notes in her journals (she has many) and collecting little trinkets when she can. Her enthusiasm, cheerfulness, and seemingly endless knowledge and opinions successfully seduces Fili after maybe a week on their journey.

Not everything is all sunshine, though. The background of her fic, most important, is that I was watching the Hobbit movies (for the first time) at the same time I was rereading Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden, in which the main character 1) uses a spear as a weapon and 2 (spoilers) ends up getting tuberculosis. I was so compelled by this character and the tragic nature of prequels that it ended up factoring into Athalia's story a lot. I created my own little plague that affects only the hobbit community and is very rare, but has no cure, and Athalia is slowly dying over the course of the story. She's known since before she returned to Bag End - it's the reason she returned, wanting to see her oldest friend before she died. But she doesn't want a peaceful, quiet death, withering away to nothing. So Gandalf's quest is a way for her to have both some time with Bilbo and doing what she loves, seeing the world, and making her last little bit of time on this beautiful earth matter. She's accepted her death.

Until she falls in love with Fili, and worse, finds out he loves her back, which makes everything so much harder. because now she wants to live.

So yeah this fic and her character were VERY tragic in nature, as prequels often are. I never could decide on an ending - killing both her and fili, just killing her (through various means), or in an alternate ending AFTER the tragic one was posted, saving them both.

I totally meant to start writing this fic, but then covid hit, and it just seemed inappropriate to do so after that.

Now onto the happier ocs- Kiana and Annunel! Originally, Kiana and Annunel were supposed to be two separate stories. But then I went well why not put them together? And they ended up together, same story. And together as in they're in lesbians together 💖 because why not???

Kiana is unrelated to the rest of the main cast, princess and heir to the throne of a foreign kingdom in the south. I think canonically it's Umbar but I didn't know that when I made her and chose a random place on the map, and I've just stuck with that. Her kingdom was inspired by ancient Persia. Smth fun about her is that in her country's language their term for "King" is a completely gender neutral term so she's gonna be a woman king. she's very emotional but hides it behind her royal persona and only lets it slip the longer she's with the fellowship. She's also besties with Boromir because their countries are friends with each other and I was fucking sick of all the ocs hating on Boromir, my beloved.

Annunel is the twin of Aragorn. They used to be much closer when they were younger but as they got older they drifted apart. (They're both rangers though. Her nickname with the rangers is "West" which is a little reference to her name which means "west/sunset" in Sindarin. Or says the website I found years ago which I can't find now.) She gets herself tangled into the fellowship before Frodo gets himself stabbed, when she finds them in the woods - Gandalf called her. It's the first time she's seen her brother in years. It's weird. but hey. she's here. (and then she sticks with him when Frodo takes the ring because she's invested now.)

There's a little onesided beef on Kiana's part with Annunel because she and Boromir are both of the opinion Aragorn/Annunel abandoned Gondor and that's a big no-no in her book. But they get past that over time.

(Eowyn gets a little crush on Kiana and Annunel is jealous that's important to me.)

[highlordofkrypton]

For your OC ask ⭐️🎉🎂

YESSS MORE OC ASKS!! THANK YOU!!! I'm so happy I can ramble!!

For this OC ask game.

⭐️ Tell us about your favourite OCs!

So, I rambled a bit about Tavish in this reply, but I guess I should try to summarize my beloved Johan. I should TW for violence, death, self-harm, horror, etc. He's also kind of problematic??? On paper???

Johan is my character that is tragically beautiful, and violently freeing to write. He's not for everyone, which is why I don't talk about him much, but he is mad and he is brilliant. He's dangerously handsome, and broken in a way that can only be fixed if someone is willing to feed the darkness that lives within him.

Found wandering the streets, an orphan, he was taken into an orphanage where he was bullied by the other children for being strange. They were afraid of him because he kept talking about seeing people that were not there and talking to ghosts. He also never looked other kids in the eyes, but it turns out he needs glasses and he was seeing ghosts. Very distracting.

This is set in a fantasy world, so that's important to keep in mind. More often than not, the ghosts would invite him to join them, or try to convince him that he was already one of them. He does get adopted by a couple, and one of his new fathers realizes that the best way to soothe the monsters is to 'feed' them. So, he taught him to kill and the blood soothes Johan.

He's also fascinated by engineering, and body augmentations. He has a prosthetic arm that helps him with his magic that is also rooted in all the monsters he 'sees'. The arm helps hone his magic the same way siphons help Illyrians.

Personality-wise, he's ego-centric, knows he's handsome, has no attachments to people except people with a certain brands of magic then he tends to get obsessive about them. When he gets attached to a person, they soothe him (he's like a wild beast) and he values their life above his. It's romantic in a scary way.

I realize why I don't do blurbs because a character like this can't be distilled into facts, he's really someone that you need to experience. He's wonderful if you like dark characters and monsters. He's very haunting. I haven't written him in a while, but I did start a piece with him as a brother of 'Amren's who has come to drag her back to where they came from! I basically wanted to pit him directly against Rhys since they have parallels in their character design.

🎉 Which one has the most growth over the course of their story?

I would say it's Johan because he started as me wanting to just write a dark character freely, but the more I wrote him, the more he started to climb out of the darkness? I would say he grew the most because he wasn't meant to find peace. Instead, he becomes an anchor for a lot of my other characters. I don't consider him a main character, but a side character who ends up being a fixed point despite his 'madness'. I would say that his personality means that he cuts straight through the bullshit even if he gets weirdly fixated on other random shit 😂

🎂 How many good birthdays have they had?

Johan has had a few, but he doesn't care about birthdays. I think he even failed to show up for a couple celebrations. He's indifferent and wouldn't count the good vs. bad ones!

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

hey, I was thinking about what you said of Isaac becoming a marriage candidate and how we may end up simping for him, so do you have any Isaac headcanons?

*rubbing hands in anticipation* yessssss!

Yeah, Flash has confirmed that Isaac and Alesia will be the marriage candidates in 2.0, and I'm pretty sure we'll fall in love with them as quickly as we did with Lance (even if they're not your type of spouse, they'll still be very interesting characters). Anyway...😃 here's some random headcanons about our fellow adventurer bitch Isaac.

⚔️Random SVE Isaac headcanon:⚔️

Isaac is a very strict and disciplined adventurer with vast experience in battles under his belt. Honor for him is not an empty word, but he has his own concept of honor. After all, young people very often confuse honor with pride.

I don't think he's that much of an asshole. Sure, a little bitchy, but not completely a bitch. He just saw too many self-confident young adventurers in his life who either died in the first battle or simply ran away from battle.

And maybe that's why he treats the Farmer like that: because he considers them the same. But they are still alive, and still fighting dangerous monsters, so now Isaac will treat them a little tolerantly. This, of course, is not friendship, but it's at least better than nothing.

Since they're still on their feet and managing to keep the world safe from the monsters (and somehow manage to run the huge farm, how the fuck), he can offer some survival advice. Pretty harsh advice, but the world is also a harsh place.

Definitely followed in the footsteps of his father/mother, who, I think, were also adventurers who died defending the village.

He will never allow himself to drink on duty, but in his free time he does not mind drinking mead or beer, mostly alone.

Got a scar on the first encounter with the corrupt serpent. Not very pleasant experience. And don’t ask him about the scar: if Isaac wants to, he will tell, in another case - fuck off, it’s none of your business.

Deeply respects Marlon. Considering that Marlon actively helped Castle Village in the battles with monsters in his youth, and still helps, Isaac shows his respect to Marlon, when he helps to clear the mines from monsters in Stardew Valley, with or without Alesia. Even if it's not an independent impulse, but an order from Camilla who sends support to Marlon and Magnus, I still believe that Isaac respects Marlon as an old, honored warrior.

Alesia is the only adventurer with whom Isaac gets along pretty well or even befriends. He considers her a brave warrior and a skilled strategist who effectively controls the setting and leads the defense of Castle Village. Even if they're not friends, Isaac definitely respects her.

Maybe he even have romantic feelings for her? If you're the idiot who says this out loud, Isaac will NOT like it, believe me, and I advise you to sleep with your eyes open from now on.

Also deeply believes in Yoba, as does Alesia

He has a pretty good collection of melee weapons in his house/guild room. For the most part, he prefers swords. And if you're really lucky, Isaac might even tell a story about where he got that sword. Don't count on a long story though, he is a man of few words.

For some reason, I think that Isaac will write at least one book about survival in the Crimson Baldlans, or will keep a bestiary with detailed descriptions of various monsters and creatures.

Despite the fact that our lone wolf uses magical weapons and items, Isaac does not trust wizards. Maybe because of the witch of the Castle Village, Camilla, who is rather flippant about everything, or maybe because of the arrogant nature of some of the mages he worked with. In any case, he doesn't trust them (he won't say it out loud, of course).

To me, Isaac seems like a tragic character: a warrior who defends his home and guild, while not striving to make new friends, because deep down he is afraid to relive the loss of a close friend/comrade. Isaac knows from bitter experience that few adventurers die peacefully in their bed. And he knows that such a fate is prepared for him, when he took an oath to protect people, his home and observe the traditions of his guild.

plz don't throw tomatoes at me if there are grammatical errors, I was writing a headcanon at 2am I didn't expect the headcanon to be a bit sad, but that's how I see Isaac. I wonder how his character will be revealed in the 2.0 update. Well, hope you enjoy the headcanon, thanks for asking😊

[atinydragon]

Okay so I will ramble about a concept unprompted 

Basically, a bunch of rats (well fae) that all come from different places end up at this big manor and decide to live there. And hey since they all came in at the same time they might as well stick together for now. 

Shenanigans and found family ensue.

100% wholesome stuff. uh huh. yep no angst at all don’t worry

I’ve actually doodled some designs for some of the characters. I’ll make official like refs at some point but here’s the doodles for now

sorry about the bad quality lol. I’ll put the rest under a cut because it gets looong

Starting on the left page,

First is the “tinkering rat” 

-is the most experienced one in living in giant dwellings as his family had always lived in such places until a fire separated them

-loves to tinker. 

-becomes the unofficial leader due to being the only one with his own braincell. the others take turns with a shared one.

-stressed all the time rip

Second is the “garden fairy”

-spent most of his life living in a big and safe fairy colony. and while she’s not completely new to living on his own he’s still very inexperienced 

-but when she’s good at something she’s good 

-most notably is his gardening and general plant knowledge. But he has a few other random skills that can come in handy

Then on the bottom of the left page is the “anxiety rat”

-anxious and scared alllll the time

-is terrified of being left behind as that is how they lost their first family.

-very good at sewing and such. Despite this most of their outfits consist of squares of fabric they fold/tie in certain ways.

Onto the right page at the top we have the “trash fairy”

-most chaotic of the bunch. And causes the most trouble as she has the habit of needing to get her claws on whatever catches her fancy

-sometimes it makes sense like shiny coins or jewelry but other times it’s rocks and weird sticks or even something like mold

-hates shirts with a passion. The only things she allows on her chest are scarfs.

-her wings are slightly misshaped so she has trouble flying

-is very cagy about her past. Up until she randomly and nonchalantly brings up the most tragic thing you’ve every heard. And then she’s right back to stealing something shiny from your bag

Under her is the “amnesia rat”

-he comes in later in the story, and is rescued by the others. Either because he had been captured or had been injured.

-either way he had a spell put on him that caused him to forget who he is

-completely out of his element. He ends up mostly just following the others around. Helpful when he’s keeping tinkering rat from getting too stressed unhelpful when he goes along with trash fairy’s latest scheme 

-wears doll pajamas all the time. He gets anxious when he doesn’t have them on and he doesn’t know why.

And finally on the right is the “outdoor rat”

-spent all of her live outside, mostly by herself. She has a hard time working with a group because of that.

-she still cares for the others very much. but just has a hard time showing it sometimes 

-has the most life experience and survival skills. Namely combat, cooking, and basic medical knowledge 

-hella strong. 

-the only one that regularly wears shoes 

Now i haven’t ~super~ fleshed out the giant family. There’s not going to be a ton of focus on them (in fact most of them will never be named because the tinies never find out lol)

But the general gist is that

-There’s four main family members. The father, mother, daughter, and son. They’re humans, and more may show up (like a grandfather, uncle etc.)

-they’re currently living in old family manor that had been somewhat neglected. This is due to the family at large being in a decline. 

-They are a family of mages, and the decline is because of a lack of magic in their recent times. Less magic users being born to the family, no new discoveries or spells made, etc.

-due to this and the fact that their family name sounds like rat (not sure what it is exactly yet) the father is very unhappy at the idea of even a single rat in his house. And is just generally stressed about how others perceive him and his family 

-I should clarify that the rats aren’t actual rats. They are a kind of fae that look like rats. I don’t know what their actual name will be. Maybe Meece? seems silly tho lol

-anyway, regardless they are often treated like rats. Mostly because they tend to live like regular rats so people often never find out they weren’t.

There are also a few staff members that live in the house.

-Right now there’s three or four. Two maids, a mage, and maybe a butler.

-the mage is the only one i’ve actually fleshed out lol. I have a doodle of him too, mostly because he’s a “dragon”

(why is the pic soo big jeez)

-okay he’s not a dragon he’s a koblod, but he is tall for one. And technically not a mage but a potion maker. Alchemist? I’m not sure what I what him to be referred to as lol

-used to be a traveler, going around and selling potions he made. He’s very skilled at what he does, but sometimes the potions wouldn’t be the safest. Because he’d scam people lmao

-despite this he was hired by the family to basically make bulk potions for them to sell so the father is free to make magic discoveries 

-he also ends up being the one the father sends to deal with the rats most of the time. So he ends up being the main antagonist

-due to koblods being cold blooded, his cloak has magic that keeps his temp regulated. The sun warms and the moon cools, both spread through the stars all over. (oh I just realized I drew suns on both shoulders oops)

-very grumpy. In general but he doesn’t particularly like his current situation but it’s the best he’s had.

And that’s about what I have so far. Hopefully i’ll have the ability to make the official designs/refs for these guys. They are haunting my brain and I want to make them physical lol

[timothytapeworm]

Answering about 50 OC questions from this meme here.

Your first OC ever? Probably "otagen" which was a self insert of myself when i was first getting into media like star wars and naruto.

Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs? It changes constantly... I'm really into all of my VtM ocs right now, but also my twins, jess and pierro. Joan is also a big favourite too.

Have you ever adopted a character or gotten a character from someone else? Only a few furries/fursonas! I tend to easily enjoy creating human-esque characters myself.

A character you rarely talk about? As of right now, I haven't talked much about any of my fursonas bc I'm not as into that scene as much as my others. Besides my personal fursona, I guess.

If you could make only one of your OCs popular/known, who would it be? Jason Jetset and Hershel O'Malley as a set... I think their story is really compelling and i love their designs. (either their original stories or their VtM verses)

Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related? Cadaver and Callum, I think. Pale skin, white hair, red eyes, heavy make up... Oops. Totally different vibes though, thankfully.

Are your OCs part of any story or stories? some of them are fan ocs, or ttrpg ocs. as for my original stories... i wouldn't say there's a plot but there is a shared universe between groups of them.

Do you RP as any of your OCs? If you do, introduce one of your RP OCs here! i rp as a LOT of my ocs, as rping is a big hobby of mine (:

Would you ever be willing to give any of your OCs to someone else? Prooobably just my furries. Not any that are part of some sort of narrative in my head or a part of one of my universe unless i REALLY don't use them and they don't have a big connection to other OCs...

Introduce an OC with a complicated design? Probably Bruno... I don't usually make complicated design but he usually has a LOT of different patterns going on, and I specifically designed him to have a different costume each time.

Is there any OC of yours you could describe as a “sunshine”? Honey or Astra!

Name an OC that isn’t yours but who you like a lot Love Doc, if you're out there...........

Do you have any troublemaker OCs? Many... Jester immediately comes to mind.

Introduce an OC with a tragic backstory MANY. A random one would be BB

Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people? I LOVE to talk about my ocs but I get shy about it teehee

Which one of your OCs would be the best at biology (school subject)? Specifically VAMPIRE Roscoe, as he was a surgeon.

Any OC OTPs? It changes all the time... (: Right now it's Seer and Cadaver

Any OC crackships? I've never thought about crackships with my own ocs... haha. usually all their past or present ships have a purpose and I dont really ship them randomly.

Introduce an OC that means a lot to you (and explain why) Joan is an OC who I love to bits and pieces... I've developed her so much and I think out of all my ocs, besides the ones I've had since middle school, she's gone through the most changes. She's just really cool, and has gone through a lot of her own discovery trying to figure out what kind of person she is while *I* was figuring out what kinda person she is.

Do any of your OCs sing? If they sing, care to share more details (headcanon voice, what kind of songs they like etc)? That would be Farley, whose whole power revolves around singing. Mostly songs with long, powerful and high notes. I don't know what kind of genre it would be... Edith Paif maybe?

Your most artistic OC I was always too afraid to make any of my OCs a talent in art because I always thought it was too self indulgent... and why make an OC who already does what you can do when you can make an OC who does what you WANT to do. I think the closest is Bruno, who does preforming arts a lot, but also does a LOT of make up art on himself.

Is there any OC of yours people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how? None of my characters have a fan base at all so they don't really get mischaracterized. I think if that WERE to happen, it'd happen to Mondae (they'd call her a bad mother, but for the wrong reasons)

Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like? I think the most dramatic change is Seii, who I first made in middle school. But I think it's because of such a dramatic change is why I'm picking them. In middle school, they were a mage who became a zombie. I haven't touched them in YEARS, as opposed to my other zombie characters, but this year I brought them back to use them as a VtM character. Even the design is very dramatic:

If you could meet one OC of yours, who would it be and why? Mondae (: She'd be really intense but she'd also be a fun friend to have.

The OC that resembles you the most (same hobby, height, shared like/dislike for something etc?) LOL i really do try to make my OCs different than me. but i think the closest i've come to having like... a self insert OC would be toby? maybe? "tobias jack" is a name i specifically picked for some reason because toby and jack were the first nicknames i went by before i realized i was trans. i haven't developed toby too much so maybe i really will make them a self insert for fun.

Have you ever had to change your OC’s design or something else about them against your will? i've had a quite a bit of OCs that were inspired by canon characters and have changed them to make them distinct from their source material... but none of them i HAD to change against my will. mostly WANTED to change very much.

Any OCs that were inspired by a certain song? not really! ive never had an OC made because of a song.

Your most dangerous OC? in terms of raw power AND the actual WANT to do dangerous things... pierro. i have plenty of malice ocs, but i dont think their powers can compare to pierro's chaos magic. and while pierro doesn't exactly do bad things because of malice, he DOES do bad things on a whim, without remorse.

Which one of your OCs would go investigate an abandoned house at night without telling anyone they’re going? Seer. He's part of an investigation team with pierro and jester, but Seer has the (well earned) confidence to say "yeah im just gonna do this myself"

Which one of your OCs would most likely have a secret stuffed animal collection? BEV!! horrible evil vampire who's bed is full of stuffies.

Pick one OC of yours and explain what their tumblr blog would be like (what they reblog, layout, anything really) honey would have a tumblr blog... and it would be all pink and she would reblog fashion and cute stuff.

Which one of your OCs would be the most suitable horror game protagonist and why? it would be a tie between Cadaver and Seer(vtm). Cadaver was specifically made with horror in mind, zir whole creation pulling on the horrors of sabbat mass embrace. literally digging zemself out of the ground as ze's being "reborn"... ze's eager to fight and find things out and do dangerous things to accomplish goals. meanwhile, Seer is more naturally curious. in his regular verse, he's an oracle who is actually an investigator and while that's already good in itself, i think seer's VTM version would be better for horror because of his strange and isolated perspective on top of him straddling the line between being a monster and a person. he still has that insight, but it's distorted because of his vampiric curse.

Your shyest OC? conway... they are shy in a "everyone is out to get me" why but also "i was NOT socialized as a kid" way.

Do you have any twin characters? Jess and Pierro are "The Bad Luck Twins". I also have Emil and Lee, the "Emily Barker" clones.

Any sibling characters? I call them the "Margaret triplets" but they're not really triplets... since there were built in an order. Eddie is the oldest, Jamie is the middlest, and Richie is the youngest. they're all robots/androids.

Do you have OC pairs where the other part belongs to someone else (siblings, lovers, friends etc)? Jason is a close friend to many in a VTM verse I have with my friends!!!

Introduce an OC who is not quite human blinks slowly. that's most of them. probably nearly all of them. regular humans are definitely in the minority.

Which one of your OCs would be the best dancer? greg.

Introduce any character you want this is TJ and Simon Babyrocker. parent and clone son.

Any fond memories linked to your characters? Feel free to share! speaking of TJ, they were once one of my most important ocs... i drew them so much and they were really important helping me go through this stuff. besides from that, i made a lot of good friends and memories when i rp'd him ages ago.

Has anyone drawn fanart of your OCs? If yes, maybe show a picture or two here (remember sources & permissions!) I commissioned this epic picture of joan by fruitegg.

Which one of your OCs would be the most interested in Greek gods? Shitter, because they are a sort of descendant of Nyx. YES their real name is Shitter. no its not a nickname, nor is it short for anything.

Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess a lot of my ocs are inspired by characters i am currently thinking a lot about in some way or anything. "what if this character was like this" and they'd become radically different until they stopped being THAT character they originally were. idk if they all fall under a type, but that's the common process on how i make them.

Something you like about your OCs in general i like how... for the most part they're all different from each other. and even if some MAY look similar to each other, their whole vibe is different. sometimes i get anxious about same face syndrome but i do try to make an effort.

A character you no longer use? Junos is someone i haven't used since 9th grade, and i have only doodled him again recently. just for fun, not for anything else. if anyone can guess his origins, i'll have to put you down.

Has anyone ever told you that you treat your OCs badly? nope, not that i can think of. i dont think that'd be the case for them, except a very select few.

Has anyone ever (friendly) claimed any of your OCs as their child? heheh maybe i cant remember. pierro, maybe. if we're talking about recently.

OC who is a perfect cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure donovan the very polite and nice vampire.

Which one of your OCs would most likely enjoy memes rowan... the gen z vigilante.

Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want i dont have much to say here... i've already said so much... i love rping ocs and putting them into situations and drawing those situations. if you've gotten this far reading this... thank you.

[galadhremmin]

We have derived Caranthir liking the Dwarves (and vice versa) because apparently, Finrod succeeds in every field Caranthir fails, and at this point it's clear this derives from the in-universe writer of the Silm and his own biases. Think about it: "Dark Finwë" , a grumpy, prejudiced lordling, and "Hair Champion", most handsome, noble king, have met with the same people!! Yet the king of the first secret kingdom is everyone's friend, but the prince that trades with them regularly is not... seems sus.

Hence, Caranthir is friends with the Dwarves. (But that is just an interpretation, so you're free to think what you wish, I just have several opinions on in-universe prejudice and the almighty narrative.)

I think that 'we' might actually have been Dawn Felagund years ago. Maybe this reading existed even before that, but I doubt that-- she's been very influential in silm fandom and was long before tumblr was much of a thing. https://dawnfelagund.com/caranthir-the-slandered

I wouldn't say it's 'clear' that what amounts to Caranthir's entire documented personality derives from the bias of the in-universe narrator, though as you can see from Dawn's writing it's a reading you can argue for. There are a number of different approaches you can take to the Silm and its biases anyway. One of the few times when it's absolutely clear the text isn't telling the entire story is when it talks about the Easterlings. I've posted about this before but the recorded names are, uhh.... the ones to betray the elves are unlikely to actually have been named things like 'ugly lord' and 'ugly beard.' 'Dark Finwe' on the other hand is a documented reference to his haircolour being dark like Finwe's own; hardly a negative judgement!

I personally think Caranthir can be exactly as ill-tempered and prejudiced as the Silm paints him without becoming an unsympathetic character. If a writer cannot make a moody, deeply prejudiced man an interesting character that is a failure as a writer; there are after all enough books who manage exactly that. That is not to say choosing not to write him that way is a failure (obviously not), but it's not necessary in order to make a reader feel for him at all.

Just going by the text, I think it actually might make for a more interesting narrative to explore in fic to me. Because he does change his mind about something, and at a very specific moment; when he meets the Haladin. That is much less dramatic if he secretly been as nice and popular as Finrod, and got along with everyone all the time already. He's been raised by Fëanor, who said things like 'No other race shall oust us!' and rallied the Noldor not motivated enough by vengeance for Finwë alone by playing on their deep-seated fear of being replaced by the Secondborn. Very unlikely that had no impact. At best it has made him uninterested in humans in his area (while they're not much of a threat to ruling instead of the elves anyway). The text says they paid them no heed.

And yet! Caranthir sees how brave Haleth and her people are. He 'does her great honour.' He changes his mind and offers them lands. His tragedy to me is not that of a slandered figure, but of this deeply, deeply prejudiced person raised to distrust the motivations of human beings -- who overcomes those beliefs, offers friendship, is rejected! then extends that same trust to the Easterlings anyway... and it's those specific Easterlings, not the ones who ally with his brothers-- who betray them all. And cause the disastrous ending of the Nirnaeth. It's the 'to evil end shall all things turn that they begin well' part of the curse hitting him in the least fair way possible. Someone finally changes for the better, and the outcome is treason and destruction.

That is a very good character arc to me, actually. His aesthetics-based scorn for the Dwarves is reprehensible but strikes me as deeply Elvish, and part of his prejudices. Naugrim is too unflattering a name for them for it not to be common. His temper-- well why can't he have one? Sure there's only one recorded instance -- but that's imo because there are hardly any conversations in the Silm! Anyway I like some people with tempers well enough. Personally I think people are missing out on opiniated grouches.

Obviously the biased anti-Feanorian Pengolodh reading is a nice one, and I have enjoyed a lot of stories written based it. But it's not at all a reading that is necessary for me to read Caranthir as a flawed but sympathetic character. He can have serious faults and still, ultimately, be someone I feel for.

What I was asking though was if I overlooked any canon evidence of Caranthir being particularly, personally fond of the Dwarves; and it seems I did not. Also; there is room for Caranthir growing to like the Dwarves over centuries without an anti-Feanorian bias reading this strong, there is simply no evidence for friendship in the rather barebones narrative (I'm not interested atm because it's wildly overdone to me & I like variety).

That said, in my opinion making Caranthir the hidden, slandered Feanorian Finrod equivalent with a dash of Curufin's Dwarf affection is not as enjoyable as simply working with what little canon character is actually there. Because there is one (and it's not the greedy tax collector of some fanon depictions either imo)

1. To start with, wrt Caranthir as the anti-Finrod, I don't think it works that well. Sure sure dark/light, open/prejudiced, repressed/shouty, but different motivations, different locations, plus they meet very different peoples even if both are Edain-- besides, Caranthir's own older brothers do successfully ally with the Easterlings without betrayal, while Curufin (much more so than Finrod! no Khuzdul for Finrod!) is the Dwarves' Friend(tm). Also, a flawed Finrod already exists. That's just the regular edition. He has his own faults and (very different) tragic arc.

If Finrod never seems to have strong prejudices to overcome, and if he's not confrontational (which... look he's a diplomat. Make of that what you will. Pretty awkward there in Doriath, buddy!) he does have trouble facing his own complicity (he wanted to sail those ships despite the murders) until Sauron beats him to death with it. He leaves Valinor with the idea of ruling but he has to give up the crown. He's ambitious, he seems emotionally repressed, he's.. possibly paying the greater Dwarves to drive the Petty Dwarves out of their ancestral home to build a city? Oops. Depending on the version you go with in that case, of course; there's also ones where he's free of the blame of that one. Not of wanting to sail those ships and being uneasy with the guilt wrt wanting to do so despite their being stolen and murdered for though. No he doesn't kill; but he wants to use the result of it anyway, and to make it worse he is actually half Telerin.

There's also (to be fair, only for sure after the disaster of the Sudden Flame because that's the recorded instance) his guards killing random innocent trespassers to keep his kingdom hidden -- yes, that's right there in Silm, yes he's still King at the time. Beren has to wave that ring. People just seem to miss that he'd be killed without it somehow.

I think it's just too easy to reduce him to the golden perfect opposite of Caranthir. Yes he's described more positively; he's also just mentioned more because unlike Caranthir he rules an actual kingdom, the greatest and richest in Beleriand in fact; and does things that have a lot of very longterm effects, like helping B&L steal a Silmaril. They don't 'meet the same people' anyway -- the Haladin have a different culture from the Beorians which contributes to their reaction to Caranthir (and iirc their later fate).

Sidenote: Dawn's essay attributes the Green Elves helping the Feanorians at Amon Ereb to Caranthir's diplomatic skills; but why not to those of Amras or Amrod? This is the quote; 'Caranthir fled and joined the remnant of his people to the scattered folk of the hunters, Amrod and Amras, and they retreated and passed Ramdal in the south. Upon Amon Ereb they maintained a watch and some strength of war, and they had aid of the Green-elves' -- nothing here indicates it was Caranthir who got them that aid. In fact A&A are the hunters, i.e. more likely to have roamed in various forests where they would have encountered Green Elves, imo.

There's also the very desperate times to consider in which this aid takes place. This is just post Sudden Flame, and even if the Green Elves didn't like Caranthir they probably liked him better than Morgoth. Also, speaking of cosmopolitans, Maedhros allies with, yes, Dwarves (Azaghal), Grey elves, Easterlings (and you might say: Fingolfinians); even part of the remaining people of Dorthonion rally to Himring post sudden flame (that means Edain and Arafinwean followers in Himring, at least for a time), and he manages to be friendly with Felagund despite calling him a badger. ;)

Finrod is not the only other leader to forge diverse alliances, and though B&L ends happily his people mostly do not. Caranthir's not much like Finrod in any way. Not in motivations, temperament, tragic arc. That's fine. No hidden kingdom for a dragon to eat either. Finrod could probably do with being a little less like Finrod sometimes, though he's well-intentioned and likable. Caranthir loves to shout and isn't sneaky. Good for him.

2. Curufin also already exists. His love for Dwarves is one of his defining and redeeming characteristics and boy does he need them. He's daddy's favourite, a sneaky overambitious bitchy bastard who is also a talented smith and linguist, and truly considered a Dwarf friend, which is apparently exceptional. He's quite flawed; tries to help Celegorm force a political marriage, laughs with a bruised mouth, seeming to lose his mind while attempting and failing murder after first losing his own stronghold and then the city he tried to take from his cousin. He's just... a personality. Mostly a bad one! You can feel for him though, because he seems like an utter mess. Many 'i would love to study you' feelings on my part. Would hate for him to be real but also I'd pay to be his therapist.

3. And then finally there's Canon Caranthir. A difficult, prejudiced person who despite that (which doesn't at all have to mean there is no despite, the despite is what makes it juicy)

- seems to be responsible for re-establishing (large scale?) trade with the Dwarves, whatever he might think of them (and they of him) to their mutual benefit. I don't think he's greedy either. It seems like a mutually profitable situation. Access to Dwarvish goods seems pretty vital to Beleriand, and facilitating trade is a real service.

As someone pointed out in the replies, the Silm does mention Dwarvish companies travelling east to Nan Elmoth and menegroth various times, but quote wrt Caranthir says 'Caranthir’s people came upon the Dwarves, who after the onslaught of Morgoth and the coming of the Noldor had ceased their traffic into Beleriand' and 'when the Dwarves began again to journey into Beleriand.'

They stopped at some point and Caranthir's people made it happen again.

- which means he's practical. He seems like he's good at organising, and setting his own feelings aside if necessary despite his prejudice and temper (which is an achievement it wouldn't be without his, hm, everything). Also he and his people as well as the Dwarves work together well because ''either people loved skill and were eager to learn,' despite their (initial?) mutual dislike. Those aren't bad characteristics; seems like it was an exchange of skill as well as goods and possibly providing safe travel opportunities.

I don't like the 'greedy Caranthir' fanon and don't think it is even that easy support entirely with canon. 'They had of it great profit,' the text says-- both Caranthir and the Dwarves. They exchanged skills and knowledge and Caranthir seems to have helped them start trading in Beleriand again. That's hardly Scrooge Mcduck.

- Another thing we can say about canonthir (lol) is that he apparently attaches a lot of value to aesthetics (was he a visual artist? is a he a sculptor like Nerdanel? WORSE: AN ART CRITIC?! Feanorian art critic is truly nightmare fuel) and that's why he dislikes Dwarves (of all things...). Either way points to 'aesthetics' as something apparently important to Caranthir. Which makes sense given who his parents are. What is interesting to me is that this apparently DOESN'T matter to Curufin, who is a lot like Feanor in most things. That's interesting!

I've never, never seen this but I think it would be very funny to attribute his aesthetic prejudices to Nerdanel. I love her; but why should her opinions be perfect? I know she wasn't considered beautiful herself, but she's an artist. She's got to have had some strong opinions on aesthetics anyway. I doubt it's the beards; Mahtan had one as well. And 'stunted'...at least some of this comes down to the Elvish obsession with height yet again. Hm.

- eventually Caranthir overcomes what have to be some very deeply held beliefs about human beings and their place in the world, and offers what for all intents and purposes looks like real friendship, not the ruling over Men Feanor seems to have had in mind at best. He's capable of real change!

Anyway his character works just fine to me from canon, and what he achieves and the ways in which he fails are more interesting that way rather-- neither slandered Feanorian Finrod 2.0 nor Curufin 'Dwarf Fan' Feanorion without the sneakiness and murder attempts pack the same punch as a stupidly prejudiced grouchy man doing his best anyway for centuries in this stupid ugly cursed land, eventually changing for the better, opening up-- and being brutally punished for it by the Doom.

Dammit. I hope there's therapy in the Everlasting Darkness.

hm a bit long but that's what I get for trying to gather my thoughts wrt why after considering it a bit transferring Curufin's love for Dwarves to Caranthir is a bit boring to me personally. Though there are still stories that still do it very well.

[yarrowleef]

AHHHH I DID IT. I FINALLY FINISHED THE SIGHT. This book has been looming over me since middle school, a constant reoccurring mountain I keep telling myself I ought to get over only to fall off again a third of the way up, and I only trudged through based on my bizarre stubborn insistence on finishing every book I start (i must break this rule eventually if I want to keep my sanity though because, unfortunately despite my early optimism, this book really really dragged for me and the problems I had at the start did not, in fact, improve much at all.

but good news!! i found an audio book finally, and sped up audio books make everything better when I’m not instantly engrossed. 

(spoilers for The Sight by David Clement-Davies obviously, if you care)

I did like a handful of things. I was surprised that I ended up more interested in Larka’s parents, Huttser and Palla, then I was in the protagonist. I found them boring stock parental figures at first and expected them to be killed off very quickly, but somehow they made it through the whole book. I think the scene where I was most invested was when they were captured by the rebel pack and were going to be forced to fight to the death--the threat being that whoever comes out the winner in the death match has to die very slowly. Whoever wins is really losing in the long-run, so if they love their partner they have to commit to killing them. Then the two have to spend a night arguing trying to convince the other to throw the match. It’s a heartbreaking setup, and in a story with such very dry and distant narration, moments that made me feel something were few and far between. The closest other I can think of perhaps being when Huttser’s sister died (though that may be more a credit to the audiobooks narrator). I probably would have felt something at Larka’s death at the very end, which was decently tragic, but I was so so tired and trying so hard to just finish the book by that point that it was hard to get into anything happening

Other then that, I don’t have a lot of positive feelings, which is a bummer

I’m not someone who is going to get too hung up on incorrect animal behavior, but for a book who constantly references animal nature and seems to have so much time dedicated to lecturing you about humans and animals alike, its a shame that the info-dumped lecture couldn’t be more....correct. But again, that’s something I can look past.

The writing style never stopped driving me crazy. There continued to be abrupt pauses for history lessons about the wolf’s myths and culture, which I already talked about in the first post isn’t a fun way to experience world building for me. But on top of that, there are CONSTANT stops so you can get a lesson on European history and the movements and culture of random European groups, who the wolves absolutely don't know or care about. 

Here is a scene where the main family is traveling, trying to avoid Morgra’s goons who are seeking to capture and probably kill them.  They’ve come close enough to eavesdrop on their pursuers conversation regarding Morgra’s future plans. There’s a lot of tension in the air because one wrong move could get them caught, and then “hey did you guys know this fun fact about ancient rome? let me tell you about the romans for two paragraphs” 

like wow that's cool David, but why are you telling me this. How is this relevant to the characters or their situation at hand? Why do you keep stopping to tell me about European kings and travelers and colonists? I mean, there’s got to be a reason. I suppose it may be about this overarching theme regarding humanity vs nature, with how the villain is obsessed with understanding humans and being one of them because humans are so mysteriously “greater” than animals, and...that somehow makes it relevant to know about the human impact on the land the wolves are walking past?? the WOLVES aren’t learning it, mind you, just the reader. Unfortunately I don’t care what the reason was, the result was a slog to get through

I also don’t love that the wolves religion is literally just....Christianity? not that its simply reminiscent of Christian tropes, but their stories are LITERALLY just bible stories but repainted with My Original Wolf God OC Blorbus instead of Adam and Eve, Jesus, and Cain and Able, etc. But also sometimes it has references to Norse or Roman gods and myths thrown in for...some reason. I don't know much about those mythology, I don't know their ties to Christianity so maybe there was a reason for that, but it’s not my thing.

The thing that gets me about this is I really ought to like something like this, in theory. I LOVE the concept of witch animals doing weird forbidden magic. Weirdo animals with black magic has been part of a personal story of mine that I’ve had since elementary school. If only this wasn’t written like a TEXT BOOK. I had a very hard time feeling invested in the characters, they rarely if ever felt “alive” to me, even when horrible tragic things were happening. The villain is a petty vengeful magical crackpot who cackles while kidnapping and killing babies, wants to become a reverse-werewolf, has a pet corvid henchman, somehow single handedly took over a massive pack of buff fighter wolves just for fun, and gushes about the ~power of hate~ and how it will always trump the futile fake power of ~love~, Morgra sounds like an anime villain. You could say that she is a cheesy collection of clichés played 100% straight, which, yeah, but most of the time I can deal with that!! it all sounds so ridiculous that at least the last thing I would expect was for it to be so DULL. But the narration is so dry and disconnected I couldn’t even let loose and get lost in the absurdity of the concept

I dislike the corvid slander. It was a lot of “Eagles are majestic and cool, while SCAVENGERS like corvids are all UGLY AND DUMB AND USELESS and EVIL by nature because they don’t hunt for themselves!” Just a massive pet peeve of mine

Also, it’s hard not to be super uncomfortable with the book literally just....having it as a center plot point that the reason the villain is so evil is because she is infertile, and infertility is the most horrible thing that could happen to anyone because it means you are an empty souless shell rejected by nature. That is why cruel heartless Morgra will never be able to feel true love for any living thing, because she can never know what it’s like to be a mother. Like. Jesus CHRIST. I don’t have time to unpack all of that!! do i really need to??? that was SO unpleasant.

Ultimately, I really am surprised this book was(is?) so popular among middle grade/young adult crowds. It was always one of the first things on recommended lists for xenofiction, and I have to imagine its due to a sheer lack of high-magic animal fantasy stories to choose from. This did come out in 2001 after all, so I’m not surprised so many read it when they were younger. What else were they going to read? There's grand ancient myths, and spooky ghosts, and wolves with cool bird familiars, and magic visions, and again WOLVES, and all this stuff that SOUNDS so fun. But how did any kid get through this? no wonder I couldn’t do it in 8th grade. It’s certainly TRYING to be about something big and deep and magical and I want to like it for its ambition. But it’s just so dull in its execution, and so incredibly incredibly shallow to the point of parody in its black and white portrayal of good/evil and light/dark and love/hate with all the nuance of a saturday morning anime in tackling those topics (in the worst way, because at least anime is fast and bonkers while being cheesy and fake-philosophically deep, where this was so so so slow). needles to say, I don’t think I will be reading the second book. I think I am good. I don’t know if I’m interested in this authors deer series “Fire Bringer” either, if the writing style is anything like this

I think, these days, there has got to be better books about animals with magic...Surely we don't have to keep desperately accepting scraps just because the story includes wolves. Better animal magic must be out there if I could only figure out where it is hiding

[theyareweird]

Top 7 RPG Horror Games

RPG horror games are a great look into the world of horror gaming. Some of these games are full of plot twists, great stories and characters. Many of these games also have revolutionary ideas within horror compared to any typical American trope-filled horror film. Due to these reasons, the best RPG horror games will be presented. Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers to the games.

1. Ib

Unlike most RPG horror games, this is one of the few RPG horror games with a true ending, which also serves as a ‘good’ ending. Although the endings are extremely difficult to unlock, the “Promise of Reunion” ending is worth it for Ib and Garry’s sweet relationship. It’s scarce to see such two unlikely characters become friends and not have their relationship be toxic or messed up compared to most featured relationships in RPG horror games.

2. The Forest of Drizzling Rain

Unfortunately, I should’ve earned a medal for stating what was going to happen next with almost every scene and character upon first viewing the game. Despite how incredibly predictable the story is, this game does have a satisfying “Good End” available. In fact, this is the only RPG horror game thus far to have a perfect ending. In addition, the story is great because of Shiori and Suga’s relationship.

3. Corpse Party

It’s good to note the best graphics for this game are on the iOS version. This game doesn’t have the best characters, but some of them grow and redeem themselves throughout the events they experience. The story is also epic and full of plot twists. It’s one of the best stories and one of the scariest games most viewers could ever experience. Unfortunately, even if the player goes out of their way to save as many characters as possible, the ending may not be satisfying to some viewers.

4. Misao

In regards to story and scary levels, this is ranked at second place. There are plot twists in the story, but players won’t notice them unless they go back and play through certain parts of the game to see both endings. This game also has quite the sense of humor when discovering different ways of dying. The “Truth” ending to the game appears after the normal storyline, the “Good” ending. Many viewers are likely to find the Truth ending to be tragic, yet satisfying.

5. The Witch’s House

Like Misao, this game is mainly fun to play because of all the unique jump-scares. Plus there are also many creative and different ways of dying too. In fact, the game doesn’t waist time throwing the player into these sudden characteristics of the game. Although the game is scary and fun to play simply for this aspect, the story doesn’t completely come together until the end. There’s a “Good” ending in the game, but the “True” and “Secret” endings are what truly tell the tragic story.

6. Mad Father

This game is scary and has a good story too, however; the “True” ending is the best. Unfortunately, much of the True ending is left open to interpretations. In the extra scene, if the player collects all the gems, it hints Aya decided to follow in her father’s footsteps by taking up biology. Aya does her job a little differently and doesn’t turn her patients into dolls. The dolls in Aya’s clinic are implied to be merely dolls and not made from human parts.

7. Mermaid Swamp

All the characters are unlikable and the story isn’t too great. However, it’s one of the few RPG horror games where there’s little supernatural elements involved in the story or universe. There are no random dream sequences or unexplained magic. Instead, the game is mostly insanity and realism... Well, as realistic as a RPG horror game can be.

What do you think? What are some of your favorite RPG horror games? Are there any other RPG horror you would recommend? Please share with me!

[ordinaryschmuck]

Why Samurai Jack is a Fan-Frickin’-Tastic Character

Salutations, random people on the internet who certainly won’t read this! I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

And today, I’d like to introduce you to somebody:

This is Samurai Jack, from the popular Cartoon Network series Samurai Jack. Jack is a rare case. Where most shows would have a cast of main, secondary, and recurring characters of varying sizes, Samurai Jack is a series that mostly follows its titular character on his own. Sure, occasionally, you'll see the Scottsman or Aku making an appearance once in a while. But for ninety-five percent of the series, it's entirely focused on Jack and whatever oddball bounty hunter he's forced to deal with for the next twenty-two minutes. This type of decision can be risky because without quality writing, strictly following the same character week after week could get boring real quick. Thankfully, Samurai Jack is a series that's packed to the brim with incredible writing and direction, making Jack himself a fan-frickin'-tastic character.

How is that possible? Well, let me count the ways.

1. He’s the right type of overpowered

Jack knows almost every fighting style in the world and uses that knowledge to survive every bounty hunter, demon, and/or robot he faces every episode. On paper, this type of character could seem unbelievable given that he's just a mortal man, and even monotonous to know he always wins. But that's the thing: Even though Jack manages to almost always win every fight he's in, it's quickly explained why in the very first episode. Through a montage, we see Jack learning every fighting style from several teachers, each of them helping him prepare for the ultimate battle against Aku, an unspeakable evil. Through the simple act of showing us a few scenes of Jack learning a new skill, it's easy to understand why he's a difficult opponent to beat and easy to believe when he introduces another fighting style we haven't seen him use yet. Plus, while Jack's fighting is formidable, that doesn't make him--

WRONG SHOW! But it's true.

Despite winning every episode, it is never an easy feat. Nearly every battle results in Jack getting beat up and torn apart (Or, his clothes do, anyway). When this happens, it makes the victory feel earned rather than easily given. Take his fight against the beetles in episode three, for example. All of his traps go off without a hitch, and he makes it out while standing upon a pile of his vanquished foes. However, during the fight, his armor got stripped away entirely, and he's now scratched up and covered in robot oil:

That image alone proves that even though he’s winning, it doesn’t come easy for him. That remains a staple throughout most of the series, throwing in a few instances when he temporarily loses only to make his eventual victory all the sweeter. He may be overpowered, but at least it's still entertaining to watch regardless.

2. He adapts quickly

A bit of background information to those who haven't the show (probably should have done this in the beginning, but live and learn, I guess): Jack is an ancient samurai that gets magically teleported to a future where his mortal nemesis rules the world. Now, Jack is forced into an environment vastly different from his own, and in turn, he's forced to deal with a lot of stuff he doesn't know. Most writers would take advantage of this type of predicament to make a ton of fish-out-of-water jokes as a way to poke fun at the idea of a samurai being in a futuristic "utopia" (Or, at least, in Aku's eyes, it's a utopia). Thankfully, the writers avoid that cliche. In fact, if my memory serves me right, there's only one fish-out-of-water joke in the entire series. Which I'm more than grateful for because having a character getting thrown off and confused by the world around him would have gotten old fast. But it's not just being in a future world that Jack quickly gets used to. It's also being in situations he's unfamiliar with. Whether it's learning to fit in with dance-crazed zombies or being turned into a chicken (yes, that happens), it doesn't take too long for Jack to figure out a way to get through his current crisis. It proves that even though Jack is a strong warrior in battle, he's also a strategic one who can't be so easily outsmarted.

3. He plays off of everyone he encounters

Jack, in almost every sense of the word, is a straight man. Most of his humor comes from interacting with the bombastic temperaments of others due to his own behavior being so stoic and calm. The series accomplishes this feat by having the future world filled with colorful personalities, making almost every character the best comedic partner for Jack. Primarily through Aku and the Scottsman, who, as I mentioned before, are the only characters that make regular appearances. These are characters with personalities that clash with Jack's, what with Aku being bombastic and chaotic and the Scottsman being loud and crash. Every time Jack interacts with either of them, comedy almost always follows. A good thing too because while Jack can have his own humorous moments, it's better to pair a straight man with someone insane if you want the laughs to come frequently.

4. He’s still a ton of fun himself!

That being said, Jack is still a riot when he gets to be. By and large, I'd say he has a dry sense of humor, often shining through when he interacts with someone carrying the chaos for the both of them. But, occasionally, there are moments when Jack lets his goofy side out, and it's always funny. They're rare, but that in itself is why they work. Because since Jack always acts so serious in this series, seeing him suddenly break that character results in a laugh because it's something we wouldn't expect from him. If he always acted like this, it wouldn't hit as hard as it would only just be his usual sense of humor. So seeing him smile like an idiot as he's waiting "for the magic to begin" causes me to bust a gut laughing each time.

5. He lives despite tragedy

But not everything is all fun and games for our protagonist.

Jack has one goal in this series: Get back to the past and stop the future of Aku from happening. Several episodes make it clear how strenuous a task this could be, showing Jack briefly losing hope that he'll even complete it. Hell, a good chunk of the final season is him practically given up. He still fights to stop Aku's minions from wreaking havoc, but you can see that the light has left his eyes, and he is more than willing for it to end. But, despite how hard things get and how tragic his life can be, there is always a spark of hope that reminds him what he's fighting for and gives him a second wind to finish it. Even when he's at his lowest point, when everything is seemingly hopeless, Jack will always get back up to defeat Aku, no matter what timeline they're in. It is truly noble and shows just how much of a hero Jack is. In fact--

6. He’s the definition of what a hero should be

At least, to me, he is.

What do I mean? Well, I always believe that a hero is a person who would do everything they can to do the right thing, refusing to let innocent people suffer no matter what the cost. Jack proves it in every episode, frequently the ones where he's inevitably screwed over by his own selflessness. He could easily finish his quest and finally get back to the past, but because it could mean that someone innocent would be badly affected by it, Jack always doubles back to save them. The best example is in the second episode of season two. Jack gets ahold of a fairy that he heard can grant him any wish that he wants, but it's trapped in this ball of energy and will never get out. Jack can just wish to go back to the past and stop Aku once and for all. He only needs to make one simple wish. And what does he wish for? The fairy's freedom.

Because that's who Jack is. He's not the guy who would bargain for the life of another, even if his quest is more important. You can argue all you want that if saving something as inconsequential as the fairy's life is pointless due to tragedies like it being preventable if Jack successfully goes back in time. But that doesn't matter to him. A life is a life, and Jack is not the person to trade it. He's a hero and a damn good one at that.

There are many reasons why Samurai Jack is a fantastic character, but the one above, and the others I've just listed, prove how he is a fan-frickin'-tastic character.

(Sidenote: Does it bother anyone else that, despite five full seasons, we've never known what his real name is? No? Just me? Ok.)

[linkspooky]

This is kinda random, but what is your top 10 favorite otps?

Sure.

#1 of All Time SPUFFY

Spuffy, it wrote the book on both beauty and the beast archetypes, and enemies to lovers. For me the most important thing in a ship is the character development it brings about. Spike's redemption doesn't work without Buffy, because it's meeting the one person who expects better than him and won't put up with his selfish crap, that forces his character arc. Buffy's development is also nothing without Spike, it's meeting Spike that makes Buffy confront her dark side, and realize that being a good person isn't something you are, but something you work towards for the sake of your loved ones. The ideal ship should inspire this permanent character development and chane (Unless it ends tragically), they should be an inseperable part of each other's character arcs.

#2 Kumagawa / Ajimu

This is what I was talking about when I said "unless it ends tragically". Sometimes you ship two people who should never end up together, because they probably won't accept their differences. However, even in a failed relationship, two people can be important to each other. There's not really a hapyp ending for Ajimu and Kumagawa, despite their similiarities when they're together they just seem to make each other worse. In Medaka Box they are the anti-Zenkichi and Medaka. However, for Ajimu Kumagawa represents her only human connection, and for Kumagawa Ajimu represents the first person to be "good" to him even though their relationship soured at one point. Therefore I find the ship interesting because despite the fact that they are permanently separated they are still an incredibly important part of each other's identities and who they are now.

# 3 Matsuda / Junko

Basically for the same reason as what I said above. There is no universe where Junko and Matsuda end up in a happy relationship, as long as Junko is still Junko. However, Matsuda and DanganRonpa Zero as a whole add so much to Junko as a character. As long as Matsuda exists, Junko's more than just a black hole that only cares about despair, and I think together the side materials like IF and Zero show that Junko actually is capable of caring for people outside of her natural tendency to want to throw everything into despair, however, humanizing Junko in this manner doesn't actually make her a better person. She can have feelings like romantic, and familial love, and she still chooses to destroy those things and the people in her life. It just adds so much to Junko as a character, which is what I like ships as, an extension of characterization through character interaction.

#5 UIHAI

I love Ui and Hairu because it's like a broken fairy tale. It was a love that could have saved Hairu, but it didn't, because for Ui he always realized his feelings too late to save anyone. Hairu was obsessively chasing after Arima for the smallest amount of approval, when Ui was right there, and already in love with her. They seem like the perfect couple that could never get together, because Hairu is too fixated on Arima, and Ui is too fixated on his job. They are perfectly suited to giving each other what they wanted, and even in lots of side materials and sketches they seem like a pair, or Ui's feelings for Hairu come across as pretty clear but it never came to be in canon.

#6 ZACK / AERITH

Once again for the same reasons as above, it seems like a fairy tale romance of a knight, and a girl he wants to protect, but it fails completely to live up to that story. Zack and Aerith is a tragic story of first love for both of them, and it's also really formative for who Aerith is now as a character. Zack tried to be there for her, and he tried to be a hero to Aerith, only to very consistently not be there for her, and then disappear from her life all together. Much later on, Aerith is incredibly isilated, unable to fall in love with the real cloud without projecting Zack onto him. It's a relationship where in a better world they could have been there for each other, but also the failure of the relationship develops them as much as characters as them getting together might have. Zack and Aerith are one of those relationships that seems ideal on the surface but they are very different people with different wants, Zack wants to be a hero, Aerith just wants to be a person first.

#7 LINK / MIDNA

The best zelda ship period. Once again the most important part of a ship interaction is the change that both characters inspire in each other. Midna begins not caring about Link at all, never referring to him by name, only seeing him as an object, an old legend, a hero to be used instead of a person. Midna's a manipulative freak, and Link breaks through to her because he actually isn't interested in being the hero of legend, he just wants to save the people closest to him at the village because he feels indebted to them, and Midna inevitably becomes one of those people. Link and Midna's partneship makes the game, because it's Midna who pushes him and makes him into a hero, but it's Link through his unfledging acceptance of her who inspires her to be a person once more, and not just the twilight priness.

#8 Morrigan / Warden from DRAGON AGE ORIGINS

This and Spuffy are like the only two on this list who actually end up together, so let me just have this. Once again my favorite aspect of a ship is the transformation the relationship brings baout in a character. The warden is a non-character, but for Morrigan herself, her relationship with the warden is what allows her to escape an abusive household, and beyond that decide not to repeat the cycle of abuse with her new family. What made this ship an all time fave was in witch hunt when the Warden gets to ask her what she wants, and she's just completely confused. Even with her mother dead, Morrigan is still a tool of her mother's ambitions, it's still all about her mother wants. It's her love with the warden, either through friendship or romance that awakens Morrigan to the fact she's allowed to exist as a person with wants and needs outside of what her mother wants her to be.

#9 Kaine / Nier

It's the Most Humanizing Ship Ever Between Two Mass Murderers. As a story, I think Nier is about finding the life, and love, in a story that is ultimately, fatally doomed. Nier only worse and worse as the game goes on but that doesn't mean there was never any love in his life. For every bad thing Nier does, he was not bad to every single person, specifically Kaine, it was Nier's love and belief in her that allows the wounds in her heart to start to heal. As Nier and Nier gets worse, Kaine's own shadow self says, that her feelings in her heart are no longer hatred, or even revenge, there's just a pure white light of love left. In a game where everything only rots, Kaine has healed to the point where she can love again when she never thought it was possible. It's why I like ending D the best, because it's Nier knowing he can never escape his own sins, but he can use his last action to heal Kaine fully all the way and allow her to live on a few more years.

#10 SATOSUGU

Once again, there's no universe where they end up together, and yet still on opposite sides of a conflict they remain each other's closest friends. The most important thing about a ship is the character development it leads to and Gojo would not be who he is today without Suguru. I generally get the sense that Gojo's idea of a good person isn't himself, but rather who Geto used to be before he broke. Gojo actually relied on on Geto for a lot more than he realized, considering it was the one connection he had that seemed to humanize him. Geto provided the chosen one who can do literally anything in the world with his powers, support and guidance. He was the jade, and the foundation of their two person friendship, and then the jade broke.

Gojo and Geto's broken relationship is not only the most emotional thing in the series to me, it's also an incredible part of who they are ten years after the fact. Gojo straight up didn't bother to make friends for ten years later after the fact even though he could have, Geto still told his daughters that Gojo and him were best friends, they just had a fight. He couldn't comperehend in Volume Zero that Gojo would still regard him as a friend after everything that they had done.

It's like one of those "Can't live with them, can't live without them" pairs. They want to be each other's one and only but it just won't work because they don't understand each other, and neither of them is willing to compromise. They are also each other's perfect yin / yang complement. Gojo is the opposite of Geto, and still carries a part of Geto within him, and Geto even after becoming the enemy of the sorcery world while Gojo is the savior, still carries that friendship with Gojo inside of him as well. While their relationship is a failed one, it's also a past I hope that the next generation Megumi and Itadori both learn from, even if Geto never truly comes back.

[kolbisneat]

MONTHLY MEDIA: March 2022

We’re just breezing along this 2022, aren’t we? Here’s how I spent the month.

……….FILM……….

The Batman (2022) You know what? Pretty good! The hot rod car and high collar batsuit were cool, but what if they reeeeeeally went for it. Greasers and fights in a repair shop and a drag race to get to the macguffin on time? Anyway it was a solid batman movie with lots of detective work and that’s cool.

7 Days in Hell (2015) I mean it ended the only way it could. I tend to like my sports mockumentaries with a little more music, but still a solid effort.

Jackass: The Movie (2002) Having never seen any Jackass beyond a few clips on the internet, I was impressed with how much held up. I mean lots didn’t but the best bits, to me, are the ones that are funny not at the expense of random people, but in the setup itself. Dressing up like a mouse and crawling across a floor covered in mousetraps is a perfect example. Or the tidal wave. It’s all looney tunes at the end of the day but I suppose I like it best when everyone is in on it.

Jackass Forever (2022) So glad I saw the original first and that I got to see this in theatres (even with just a handful of other people...such a communal experience). It did away with all that was outdated and just kept the good stuff: friends hanging out and hurting each other/themselves. So silly. So pure.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) While a lot of the sex-positive stuff of the time now feels really outdated, I’m surprised by how much held up! The colours. The transitions. The jokes that didn’t rely on late-nineties references. All fun. It amazes me how much of a an influence this 90 minute comedy movie had on the culture. Just wild.

……….TELEVISION……….

The Bachelor (Episode 26.08 to 26.12) Despite the total mess that was the last 3ish episodes, they found a way to make me feel content with how it all wrapped up. Has Clayton learned anything? Probably not. Was he easily manipulated and a poor choice for the lead? Almost certainly. Am I excited about the upcoming BFF season of the Bachelorettes? 100%.

Love is Blind (Episode 2.01 to 2.11) What a whirlwind. I wish we got to see more of the people that didn’t match up but I suppose that doesn’t fit the show’s purpose. But I AM glad they gave us the reunion because it provided so much more insight into who these people might be (looking at you, Shake) and for that, I say thank you.

Peacemaker (Episode 1.01 to 1.08) A fun season of tv. Not much filler and most of the jokes worked (the classroom bit with the student asking Peacemaker about her mom REALLY got me) and an appropriately wacky plot. Love some zany/colourful/gross superhero stuff.

……….READING……….

The Skylark of Space by E. E. “Doc” Smith (Complete) I picked up the entire Skylark series at a thrift store having never heard of it and based solely on the cool covers. Turns out this is one of the earliest space operas and was written in the early twenties. People talk like they’re on an old timey radio show and I love that. It also comes with a lot of the politics of the time so your mileage will vary. If you’re looking for a pulpy adventure like John Carter of Mars then this will deliver.

Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection by Junji Ito (Complete) My first foray into Ito’s work and a great introduction. His take on Frankenstein felt as tragic and disgusting as I’d hoped. Plus there are a bunch of short stories at the end that get into his weirder and sillier stuff so I’m definitely going to be picking up more of these collections. 

Dorohedoro vol 1 by Q Hayashida (Complete) After finishing (and loving) the Netflix adaptation, I really wanted to keep going with these characters. Thus I picked up a copy of the comic! I think there are 26 volumes and tells a complete narrative so even if the show doesn’t get renewed, I can see how it all wraps up. Volume 1 covered the first couple episodes so I don’t think it’ll take long before i get into new territory.

……….AUDIO……….

Billy Talent (2003) and Billy Talent II (2006) by Billy Talent The Ongoing History of New Music is doing a deep dive into the history of Billy Talent through interviews with the band and it’s been a great listen! I’ve been going back through their catalog and starting with the most familiar (to me).

……….GAMING……….

Oz: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Forthcoming, Andrews McMeel Publishing) The Mof1 crew continues to push Oz in directions i hadn’t imagined. They’re researching magic ash and altering thrifted clothes for a formal dinner event but the really intriguing plan is to pull a Talented Mr. Ripley and assume the identity of a snobby arts patron to start living the high life. D&D is fun.

Neverland: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting (Andrews McMeel Publishing) We’re back in Neverland but this month has been spent preparing, and then exploring, the land with the land. The world of the Fairies is even more dangerous than Neverland but the players are surviving so far! Full campaign diary is over here on reddit.

And that’s it! As always, I welcome any recommendations and see you in April.

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Retrospective Review: Skyfall (2012)

So after QoS was generally considered to be a letdown after the impressive success of Casino Royale, there was a bit of a course correction required. It wasn't as if QoS was a bomb. Both Casino Royale and QoS were the highest grossing Bond films till then. But critically they needed to course correct a bit. Skyfall came in with a lot of hype since it came on the 50th anniversary of Bond in films. Sam Mendes came in and knocked it out of the park in Skyfall. In my opinion, Skyfall is second only to Casino Royale in the ranking of Bond films.

What is interesting about Skyfall is that it feels like it takes a significant step away from the previous two films. It feels aesthetically different from the previous two films and Bond himself is reinvented as someone at a different point in his life. While Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were films with Bond as a new 00 agent. In Skyfall, he is an older agent, considered to be past his prime. So it seems like there is a big time leap in his career. The film has a fantastic opening action sequence, going from car chase, to bike chase, to fight on a train. You really feel Bond being pushed to his limit in this sequence. Yet, there are still very lovely iconic touches like when Bond leaps from the tractor into the train, he checks his cufflinks. Its really a small thing but it lends a lot of Bond's character. Skyfall is probably one of the most known Bond songs and it really lends to the mood of the film to follow.

The film's biggest strengths lie in the film making and in the performances from the actors who are all excellent across the board. The film has makes some bold choices when it comes to plot by making MI6 fallible. M in this movie is not at her best. She makes mistakes and a security leak happens as a result and people die because of the mistakes she made. There is also a legitimate argument to be made that she did wrong the villain and does manipulate Bond. As a result, she becomes an even more interesting character. If there is a true Bond girl in this movie, it is Judi Dench because she is front and center in this movie and the plot really surrounds her. Its by far her more substantial role in the franchise and she really makes the most of it. Her relationship both with Silva and Bond is fascinating, with Silva having almost an Oedipal complex with her whereas there is a clear maternal connection with Bond. Its a very fitting swan song for her.

There are a couple of other Bond girls in the movie. Naomie Harris makes an excellent debut as Moneypenny. If I am correct, I don't think we even know she is Moneypenny until the very end of the movie. But she's pretty badass from the very beginning and she has a nice witty banter with Bond. There is a nice and friendly sexual tension between the two. Its definitely a different Moneypenny from the previous eras but she is a welcome presence. One performance that doesn't get enough credit is Berenice Marlohe as Severine. She is actually pretty fantastic in the movie in a fairly brief role. She is enigmatic and seductive and a deeply tragic figure but her scenes are ones that really stick with me. Definitely the scene in the Casino is excellent.

We also get the reintroduction of Q, played by Ben Whishaw and he's immediately winning. It makes a lot of sense for the modern technology driven Q to be a younger man and its a fun switch of the dynamics between Bond and Q, where previously Q was sort of a mentor figure for Bond, here Bond is the elder person who makes fun of Q's age. One other character who is a surprise is Ralph Fiennes as Mallory. When he is initially introduced, he feels like a stereotypical government employee who is against Bond and M, but you slowly see that there is more to him than meets the eye and he's actually quite a badass himself and ends up being the new M by the end of the movie. Fiennes is great as he normally is. Albert Finney has a fun role in the last act and Rory Kinnear continues on as Tanner.

Javier Bardem's impact on this film is immense. What is interesting is that he doesn't appear until just a few minutes past the halfway mark of the movie. And even in the second half, he disappears for about 15-20 minutes after the hearing shootout. But his impact looms over the entire movie, even when he's not there. And that's a testament to his performance. He is brilliant in the role. He has an outstanding entry scene with a great monologue. You can just tell that Bardem is having a blast in this role. He manages to induce menace, rage, heartbreak, and madness. You genuinely feel some sympathy for his him because he isn't completely wrong. Its a performance that is truly right towards the very top of Bond villains and it elevates the movie a lot.

Daniel Craig is again fantastic here. He continues to give his all, both physically and emotionally in the role. The scenes between him and Bardem on the Island are some of the best acted sequences in the movie. And again, the dynamic between M and Bond sells because of how well both Craig and Dench play off each other. There are little touches that Craig does that I love so much. I already mentioned the cufflinks scene in the opening action sequence. Then there is a fight scene in a Casino where he and a goon fall into a pit and he spots a Komodo dragon and he is startled and points at it even, even when he is being picked up by the thug. Also, when he gets pissed off when he sees the DB5 get blown up in the climax. It doesn't sound like much, but it genuinely adds a lot to the character when you see it. He has good chemistry with all the cast and you even buy him when you see him struggling physically post the injury inflicted in the opening sequence. Its a performances where he delivers the humor, action, drama, emotion etc... and he does it all brilliantly.

As I mentioned earlier, the film making is terrific. Aesthetically, this film stands out and his beautiful to look at. Its no surprise that Roger Deakins is the cinematographer. There are just some gorgeous sequences throughout the movie, be it the fight in the empty office in Shanghai, the sequence in the Casino, the empty old house in the middle of nowhere, or the moors of Scotland in the climax. There is just a wonderful use of light to make every frame stand out. Sam Mendes also keeps the pacing tight. This is almost as long as Casino Royale, and just like that film, you don't feel the time. The only reason I rank this below Casino Royale is that the story telling isn't as tight as it could have been. For example, Silva's entire plan is really implausible when you think about it. No amount of preplanning would have led to everything happening exactly as he planned it because it requires a lot of random actions from people which he could definitely not predict. Then there is the fact that M endangers the ministers and everyone at the hearing despite knowing there is an eminent threat. Also, while the climax is spectacular and I get that Bond wanted to get Silva out of his comfort zone, but I still don't see how isolating himself in the middle of nowhere, with just M for backup against Silva and his entire army was a wise idea. Also, the film sets up the interesting notion that Bond is not at his best physically, but it sort of abandons the idea towards the end with Bond basically taking out Silva's whole army on his own. So there are some loose ends to the storytelling. But its easy to overlook them. The film also makes the brave choice to have Silva actually win since M dies in the end. So it is a bittersweet ending in a way. But its all done in a very satisfying manner.

Overall, its an excellent movie. Definitely top tier Bond and a very fitting movie for the 50th anniversary for Bond. A 9/10.