#or you just write a predetermined character that's actually compelling

[ineed-to-sleep]

I wanted to say, bc I saw someone mention Geralt as an example of a predetermined character in an rpg that works, that yeah, I fully agree it can work! But in Geralt's case, for example, he's a well established character who's fully written before you start the game. He has his own traits, his flaws and shortcomings, history, relationships, etc. He's just as well written as any other character in the story, and the only things you have power over are his choices and a bit of his fighting style(sometimes his hair as well), but everything is made to fit with who this character is as established before the game even starts. Think of the origin characters in Baldur's Gate 3, it's the same thing- they're not customizable, they're established before you even start, and the only control you have is over their journey. None of these are ever meant to be a blank slate, and they're written as such.

With this Phyre character it's like they're trying so so hard to tread the line between "this is a character that stands on their own" and "this is a blank slate you can fully customize". What you end up with is a very "meh" sort of character, who's not one or the other, without enough wiggle room to make your own story however you want and not enough to get attached to them as they are. We get attached to Geralt bc he's a fully written character in the game, you just control his actions. The problem with Phyre is that they're neither a fully written character nor fully yours to write.

[abeautifulblog]

okie, time to talk about The Witcher season 3 part 1

To be honest, I've been having trouble figuring out what to even say about S3, because it takes longer to unpack what they're doing wrong than it takes them to do it. 

How do you formulate a coherent critique of something that's not? How do you isolate the mistakes so you can discuss them when everything is a mistake? "This plot point was executedly badly, but it was also a misbegotten idea that they shouldn’t have done in the first place"?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

--

So I tend to conceptualize writing as operating on two levels -- the macro/story/structural level, and the line/dialogue level.

On a macro level, are events linked by cause and effect instead of just Happening? Is there a point to the things that happen? Do characters behave in alignment with their personality and motivations? Is it clear what the stakes are?

(In fairness, S2 was far worse on that front than S3 -- the crowning example being the time they moved Yennefer from one setpiece to the next by having her literally fall down a manhole. Cue some pasted-on drama where an extra gets eaten by a sewer monster and then never mentioned again, and what the helllllll was the point of that detour? o_O)

On a line level, does the dialogue flow naturally, one person's line following from what was said before? Does the dialogue successfully evoke the audience-reaction that it's supposed to, is it funny when it's supposed to be funny, profound when it's supposed to be profound? Does it sound like something that would actually come out of a human being's mouth?

Shadowhunters was probably the worst show I ever watched in terms of writing that failed on both fronts, but TWN is a close second.

--

If this were a fic I was beta-reading, I would ask the writer, What's the story you're trying to tell? 

Because this happens to all of us sometimes -- we get too bogged down in the nuts-n-bolts of the story action, what’s happening from scene to scene, and lose sight of the forest for the trees. A good editor (or beta reader) can help you keep an eye on the big picture, and make sure that all the story elements are working in service to your goal, that you're not wandering off track into something irrelevant, or worse, accidentally undermining your own message.

I don't think the writers at TWN know what their story is. Sure, they know the events that happen, but there's no sense of why, neither within the story world, nor why this is a story worth telling in the first place. It feels like an adaptation in the worst sense of the word, hitting predetermined story beats simply because they’re obliged to, because that’s what’s in the source material, not out of any natural plot progression.

With S3, they clearly wanted it to be a high political drama, a web of intrigue!! full of shifting alliances and backstabbing and clever people playing four-dimentional chess, etc, but it was done without any understanding of what politics actually is -- ie, people with conflicting goals attempting to gain and leverage power to achieve those goals. So there's spies and ~scheming~ and assassinations, but no sense of what these people hope to get from it all. You can't create conflicts of interest if you don't know what anyone's interests are.

(And to be blunt, these writers aren't clever enough to write clever characters.)

--

The one instance of motivation & conflict done well in S3 -- and hands-down the most compelling part to me -- was Jaskier promising Phillippa et al that he would deliver Ciri to them, if they could kill Rience.

Yessssssss.

Was he lying? No idea, doesn't matter. It's a delicious conflict of interest for him either way.

Because Jaskier's friends are, quite frankly, failing him at that point -- Geralt and Yennefer are preoccupied with the threat that Rience poses to Ciri, which is understandable, but they show a breathtaking lack of concern for the threat Rience poses to Jaskier. Y'know. The guy that actually got tortured by him last season.

(Jesus wept, they make him be bait for Rience, and brush off his anxieties like they're not even listening. They treat Jaskier like he's acceptable collateral damage for Ciri's sake; like her safety matters, but his doesn't.)

(I'm not sure whether the writers meant to make Geralt and Yennefer come off as bad friends? o_O But if they didn't, then playing bait needed to have been Jaskier's idea. Not something they forced him into -- his idea, even though he's terrified out of his mind by Rience, but he's brave enough to stand up and offer it anyway, because it's the only way to protect the people he cares about, and he's the only one who can do it.)

So yeah -- I don't fucking blame him for taking the initiative to look out for his own interests, since it's clear that no one else is going to.

And why shouldn't Ciri go to Redania? If Dijkstra & company can kill Rience, does that not demonstrate both their ability and willingness to protect her? Sure, Geralt's not going to like the idea, and he'll be mad at Jaskier, but what else is new, right? And wouldn't Ciri be so much safer in a fortified castle with an army between her and Nilfgaard, instead of constantly on the run, with mercenaries never more than a step behind them? There's enough logic to the idea that Jaskier could talk himself around to it, while still believing that he's doing what's best for everyone.

It's a potential betrayal, or something that Geralt might view as one, but there are very good reasons for Jaskier to feel and act as he does, even as it puts them at cross-purposes. And that is what well-rooted conflict looks like -- it emerges organically from characters wanting something specific, and wanting it strongly.

But what does Dijkstra want? What does Phillippa want? "Power"? What does that mean, in this context? What do they want to accomplish with said power? When the Brotherhood comes into conflict with the Lodge of Sorceresses, what are they actually fighting over?

Writing a political drama requires understanding both the personal and the political stakes for everyone involved, and the writers just didn't -- didn't appear to even know that that was something missing from their story.

In trying to mimic the political intrigues they'd seen in other fantasies, they transplanted the stems and leaves, all the visible trappings of cloak-and-dagger, but didn't realize that they were leaving the roots behind, and that the roots are what makes the whole thing HAPPEN.

(Awkward metaphor, but you get what I mean.)

--

So yeah.

Like I said, it's hard to figure out where to even begin an analysis of this show, because it's such an incompetent mess on every level. (How do you say where it went wrong, when it’s never gone right?) I'd be fine with judging the show on its own terms, not on a rubric of fidelity to the source material, but I swear to god, half the time I can't assess how it's doing because I can't tell what it's trying to do.

Are Yen and Geralt supposed to be bad friends to Jaskier, and frankly embarrassing role models to Ciri with their juvenile silent treatment of each other even when they're living in the same house?

Is Dijkstra supposed to be a brilliant Machiavellian chessmaster, or is he supposed to be unhinged and delusional?

Is Radovid supposed to be a weirdo who perpetually looks like he's about to burst into tears? (Why are his eyes so MOIST???) Is it supposed to be a red flag when Jaskier says he’s not in the mood to perform for Radovid’s salon and Radovid makes him do it anyway? Or is that what the writers think cutesy romcom behavior is?

idk, man! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, I'm going to wrap it up there, even though I've got a lot still kicking around in my head. But y’all should like, send me asks n stuff, because it’s a lot easier to write a response to specific questions/prompts than to try to cover everything in one post.

[queen-beefcake-sqx]

Ask game, feel free to comment for both fandoms please or skip for one.

2,6,7,9 16, 17, 21, 22,

I'm going to like.... jump around to whatever fandom I feel like for each question.

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

Okay so I did this for Disco Elysium so -- He Xuan would never bottom. My compelling argument is he told me personally. Next question.

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

I'm sorry but all ya'll Qi Rong fans who keep trying to find him a boyfriend... I support you, but maybe go stand over there? please????

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Again, did this one for Disco Elysium, so again tying into the above answer... Qi Rong is a character I'd like to be able to spend more braincells thinking about, because I think there COULD be some interesting meta I could make about him, but the fandom seems to have a very predetermined way of thinking about him and writing him that makes it so hard for me to want to engage.

9. worst part of canon

I feel like I can't speak on DE just because I haven't finished or explored it as thoroughly as I'd like to yet. For MXTX books... God I'll be so honest it was silly and fun the first time, but I cringe rereading the whole Statue Mecha scene near the end of TGCF. It's so ridiculous and outlandish that it breaks emersion for me a bit.

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Okay, I'll be SO HONEST -- as someone who's come to better accept his trans masc-ness because of Kim Kitsuragi -- I'm kind of shocked at the sheer amount of trans!Kim fics. And I guess there's a part of me squinting at it going, "Isn't there something a little weird about ascribing transmasculinity to a character who -- in the real world -- is part of a race that's often feminized (the "pretty Asian boy" stereotype) and is visually the most slender and short of the male characters? Like? That feels a little weird to me, ya'll..."

(Like, not saying stop, I get it, and the fanfics handle it really well on the whole, but also like... I think it's worth asking ourselves (1) WHY Kim gets this treatment over Harry or another character and (2) WHAT kinds of queerness we're ascribing onto characters. Especially in light of stuff like me seeing KimHarry on a yuri poll.... like. come on ya'll. A tiny bit of critical thinking) (and again. not saying "don't write queer characters" but maybe like... consider diversifying your options).

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

Tip Top Racer Kim. Why the fuck are none of you writing Tip Top Racer Kim Kitsuragi AUs. Why. Where's the art. Where's Kim in tight fitting racing uniform huh??? (which. uh. if anyone has a good artist you'd recommend for a commission....) (I am LEGALLY obligated to drop my favorite DE fic now just so you all can see THE POTENTIAL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40802268) Also not enough Jean crossdressing fics, send tweet. That blonde wig is all I think about and there's so much unresolved in that choice....

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

In Disco Elysium, who the FUCK are these student communist dudes everyone is talking about because I LITERALLY haven't seen them.

Also for TGCF, the underwater kiss scene. The actual kiss is honestly secondary to me to EVERYTHING ELSE happening in that moment because people seem to forget how INSANE the circumstances are.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores Oh for my MXTX fandoms that's easy -- I am easily the second most Beefleaf brain rot person you'll ever meet and the Black Water Arc of TGCF is everything to me. Everyone always talks about the climax and the beheading and sure that's cool but the BUILD UP? The visit to Fu Gu and watching the performance of He Xuan's massacre? The Truth or Dare game in the temple? The foreshadowing with the Water and Wind master statues? The visit to Shi Qingxuan's terrace and the poetry written there? BREAKING SQX OUT OF HER PALACE BECAUSE SWD IMPRISONED HER? AND THEN SQX WALKING AWAY FROM YUSHI HUANG'S FARM AFTER "MING YI" TRIES TO GET HER TO STAY BEHIND? None of you talk enough about the LENGTHS He Xuan went to to try to avoid getting SQX involved in SWD's death and it makes me ABSOLUTELY INSANE ON A DAILY BASIS!!! I am chewing on glass about this!!!!

[elrondsscribe]

And okay — I gotta talk about the Wrong Jedi arc cause it’s still bothering me.

Looked at from the outside, I feel like the Wrong Jedi arc is what happens when you have to write a gapfiller with a predetermined ending. Like, when they sat down to plot it out, they had to end Ahsoka’s padawan status because Anakin has to be believably on his own for Episode III.

Dave Filoni says in the interview for that arc that he’s always been on the Ahsoka Lives team, whereas GL was more Ahsoka Dies. Thing is, neither is really ideal in terms of connecting TCW to ROTS, at least imo, and here’s why:

If Ahsoka dies, that by itself is MORE than enough to tip Anakin into full Sith, especially in the wake of that absolute travesty of a “trial.” The minute she’s executed, he’s fully in Murder And Destroy mode. It’s the Tusken Massacre 2.0, on a galactic scale. It’s a compelling AU, but ROTS is basically out the window at that point.

If Ahsoka lives, I’m with wingletblackbird on this. No way Anakin just lets her fall off the map without at least trying to keep contact. No way Padme doesn’t get involved too. Considering Ahsoka wasn’t a legal adult when she left, it’s hardly OOC for Padme to get legal guardianship of her, or at least to keep tabs on her. How does that fit with ROTS where Anakin and Padme are desperate, isolated, and without recourse to the point that Anakin has to turn to Palpatine?

But even aside from the ill-fitting ending, I’m super not sold on the whole “it was Barriss!” reveal. Like okay: I got spoiled that it would be Barriss before I watched the arc, so the entire time I was watching it I waited for explanation about why she did it and what drove her to this.

And I got … nothing?? The courtroom rant, as well as what she said to Anakin during their tussle, didn’t make much sense to me. Like, she made a couple of good points about how corrupt and hypocritical the Jedi Order had become (even if she did frame it as having “fallen from the Light”), but like … huh? What did that have to do with turning a (non-Jedi) day laborer into a bomb to blow up the Temple hangar? Most of the people hurt and killed seem to have been other non-Jedi!

And also … the choice of Barriss felt so tacked-on and random?? It’s like they wanted both a Violent Anti-Jedi Statement while also having Ahsoka be Betrayed By A Friend, and instead of doing one or the other they decided to do both. And now as it stands, almost all of Barriss’s dialogue feels like it was written for someone else. I watch the episodes back and have to bite my tongue from saying “go home, Barriss, and come back when you develop an actual character!”

[silentprincess17]

Sometimes Things Have To Get Worse Before They Get Better

This is essentially a darker, heavier alternate take on Memory #7 - Blades of the Yiga. I wanted to write a fic with a competent Yiga Clan. (Yes you read that right). It is very angsty in the beginning and then becomes fluffy (hence the title!)

Summary: Link and Zelda have returned from Vah Naboris with Urbosa and have spent the night in Kara Kara Bazaar Inn. Link wakes up and finds her missing.

Cue the angst.

This story is complete and I will post each chapter daily on here but you can read the whole thing on AO3

Rating: Mature (Graphic descriptions of violence) Pairing: Link/Zelda (Zelink) Characters: Link, Zelda, The Yiga Clan, Master Kohga

Chapter 1: Everything goes wrong when you don't have breakfast

Link was having a bad morning. He’d missed breakfast, a cardinal sin, and now he was anxiously darting around the Bazaar, weaving between the trees, in an attempt to see if he could spot a glimmer of blonde hair or a flash of a blue shirt.

She just had to run away. Again.

He sighed. It wasn’t that hard to understand why she constantly gave him the slip, even if he wished she didn’t. He knew it wasn’t fair of him to think such things, especially when he knew it wasn’t really him, she was running from, rather it the sword that was strapped to his back. It wasn’t him she was frustrated with, it was herself. And the sword symbolised how he was apparently fulfilling his destiny and his side of things, whilst she struggled endless with the stone-cold Hylia and had nothing to show for it. Essentially, the sword meant destiny and fate had already set out a predetermined plan for her, and she was currently set for failure. So yes, he could understand why she felt the need to escape what was surely a suffocating sight every day- the boy with the sword that has it all sorted, geared and ready to go, whilst she stumbled in the dark, Hylia’s Divine Blessing evading her.

If only she knew how much he struggled too. He didn’t just pull a sword out a rocky pedestal and boom morphed into Hyrule’s Saviour. He’d trained long and hard too. And frankly, he had felt compelled to draw the sword, it hadn’t been something that was in his control- if he had a choice, then he would also choose to just leave it be in the Lost Woods. It sounded naive and foolish now, but he hadn’t anticipated what the consequences would be when twelve-year-old Link had jumped up and wrapped his hands around that cursed mauve handle. Mostly, the thing he regretted the most about pulling the sword was that he’d effectively doomed them all. Did he want to be the one to basically foreshadow what was now surely coming? No. Another was that it had put a timer on the Princess to find her powers, and he didn’t want to cause her such anguish at being unable to unlock supposed birth-right sealing powers that she clearly didn’t have and didn’t know how to obtain. But… there had been a hidden consequence, one that he couldn’t for the life of him have predicted- when he released the sword from the pedestal, it didn’t just end with him now possessing the mythical legendary blade, oh no. He’d also obtained a whole wealth of memories, memories of past lives, past successes, past failures, and he’d lost whatever childish innocence he’d had then. And it crushed him, having this soul that apparently was doomed in this endless fight, and now he had to live up to them. He had to live up to these past Heroes and by Farore he had no idea if he’d be able to.

Every word that had come out of the Princess’s mouth at his blessing ceremony had cleaved him in two. All those past disastrous events that happened in Hyrule, and all the lengths his predecessors had gone to save the country… Adrift in time indeed. IN TIME. How was he supposed to do the same? And it made him fearful. And he was not easily frightened. He liked to think he was a little bit brave, he would run headfirst into any sort of challenge, be that eating rocks, defeating hordes of monsters, including Lynels, or even redirecting errant guardian laser beams but when he thought about what those Heroes had gone through… He certainty didn’t feel very brave when it came to imagining what exactly he’d have to do, what trials he would have to face, in line with theirs.

He finally finished strapping the sword properly to his back, he’d ran out as soon as he realised she was missing, and he tried to find any distinguishing patterns of her boots nearby. It was a useless venture, because sand shifted, constantly, and as a result any tracks were lost pretty much as soon as they formed. He sighed, deciding to do another very quick run through the Bazaar in case anyone else had spotted her, or she had come back from the baths maybe. He was clutching at straws, he knew it, and he felt that familiar churning feeling in his gut that something was wrong, but he decided to keep calm and check again just in case he’d missed something.

He sighed, even before Urbosa told him how the Princess’s behaviour was in fact coloured by the sword, he could have guessed. One of the biggest signs was that she always looked at it, instead of him. He only wished to tell her that he was just as lost as she was, because yeah sure, everyone Impa stated that he had the Sword that Seals The Darkness. Okay, but how did it do that? How does one go about killing darkness? Monsters he knew. Monsters he’d trained for. But darkness? And the thing that frightened him the most was that most of the past Heroes had fought a man. A power-obsessed, strong-willed and formidable opponent, but still, fundamentally, a man. None of them had fought this… Calamity equivalent that he seemed to be up against. Hence why he was uncertain, and fearful even, if the sword would be enough.

Not to mention how much it pained him that the arrogant idiot bird had managed to find his greatest insecurity, but that was neither here nor there.

But in truth, every time someone mentioned how he was their savour he wanted to cry. Perhaps she didn’t realise that whilst everyone had pinned her as a hopeless case and a lost cause, he’d been saddled with double the expectations to succeed. So much pressure, so many eyes, that he’d all but gone silent. Every word spoken could be misconstrued in some shape or form. Nothing he said was ever safe from scrutiny, so to continue to play the perfect, composed Hero that he was supposed to be, he decided to stop talking. What he wouldn’t give to explain to her that these praises that were lavished on him made him feel sick. Made him feel suffocated. Made him like a liar. Because really, he felt like a failure too- he had no plan other than maybe try and hit the darkness with the sword and hope that works. And the foreboding feeling he had that he hadn’t yet faced the supposedly impending huge trial that most of the other Heroes had, and they had all done said trial well before they obtained the Master Sword. He felt unworthy of it, somehow. All he’d done was train hard, fight and try to eradicate the plague of monsters in the land. He hadn’t travelled through time, he hadn’t transformed into a wolf, he hadn’t lost his sister, or his best friend. Hence why he was dreading meeting Ganon. There was a catch somewhere. He could feel it.

He exhaled heavily, sweat starting to build on his brow. This was why he wanted to tell Zelda that she wasn’t alone. That he knew what she was going through. They were a pair in destiny, fate… even souls after all. But she hated him, his very being, and probably wished he didn’t exist- no correction- she wished the sword didn’t exist, then he wouldn’t have pulled it and wouldn’t have become a direct comparator for her success. It all felt futile sometimes, and he wondered why exactly he was in such a melancholy mood this morning. Probably something to do with not eating.

She wasn’t in the Bazaar. He’d now checked over every stall twice. And Link felt rising trepidation. Of all the places for her to run away, she’d chosen the desert. She’d chosen where the main dissenters of the Royal Family lived. She chosen the one place where it was highly probable that there would be an assassination attempt on her. And he wasn’t there to protect her. Link could freely admit to himself he was scared. What if he didn’t find her in time, what if – No. He had to think positively. And then his eyes fell to his Champion’s tunic, embroidered, as it was, by her hand. Goddesses above, how would he present himself back the Castle if he’d actually lost her this time? And in such a worrisome place too. A stone settled in Link’s gut, as he desperately racked his brains, replaying last night’s events trying to remember if she’d dropped any hints as to where she was going.

He drew a big fat blank.

In the name of Din, where else could she have gone? She had been silent on the way back from Vah Naboris, probably reproachful that he’d managed to find her, yet again. And he had, admittedly, found it suspicious that she’d remained mum, accepted going to the Bazaar, and sleeping in the Inn, and leaving to head to Goron City the next day without a single word of dissent. He should have known that she was planning something.

And now, it was starting to get hot, as he quickly ran off towards the path, wondering if she’d gone back to Gerudo Town. But she’d already said her goodbyes to Urbosa last night... Link sighed, the heat already causing his tunic to stick to his back. It was a desert after all, one couldn’t expect it to get cold during the day, and he hadn’t had time to fill in their canteens, and oh for the love of Farore could he at least get a single sign as to where Her Highness had deigned to grace her presence at. He didn’t want to be beheaded for incompetence so soon.

He saw a small cloud of sand rise in the distance. At this point, it could be a mirage and he was seeing something that his mind had conjured in desperation at trying to find the missing Princess.

And then he saw a flash of red.

And his blood ran cold, despite the heat.

[bloodfreakatstanforddotedu]

it’s time to soapbox about supernatural afterlife rules again because they’re so fucking weird and insane and ALSO really revealing of the many flaws, both moral flaws and also just regular writing flaws, of spn. it comes down to: 1) the show creates rigid boundaries between different “types” of people based on innate physical qualities (monsters vs humans vs angels and demons) and 2) the writers create things for Plot and obstacles to our main characters without thinking through their grander implications to anyone but the characters they’re directly impacting

what i mean by all this is purgatory is a really terrible aspect of this show. heaven and hell have precedent in actual religion so any issues i have with them are way bigger than the show, and the empty at least makes SOME sense. angels and demons are established earlier on not to have souls, so if the writers want to give them an afterlife, it makes some sense it would be something separate. even if i don’t love it, there’s some logical consistency to it

there is no logical consistency for purgatory. an afterlife for “monsters” doesn’t really make any sense, and it wasn’t made to! it was made to act as a device for cas to get more souls to gain more power, and then as a device for dean and cas to be sad and hurt and traumatized 😢 so we’re left with this afterlife that every single monster goes to for reasons we only vaguely know! (because the monsters are in some way offspring of eve and she’s connected to purgatory and so all her offspring go there too i guess? not really strong reasoning)

there are two ways i can see purgatory working how it does (re: monsters going there). one, we know anubis judges which humans go to heaven or hell, or at least, he facilitates that process. perhaps he sends all monsters to purgatory… which would be pretty fucked! like he states himself that it’s people’s actions that determine where they go after they die, but monsters don’t always (or even often) have any choice in being monsters. anubis’s sense of justice would have to be pretty warped to just send every monster to this terrible place just because they aren’t human, and so their individual actions don’t matter, i guess

i don’t think that’s the most likely reason, and i think the second option is way more compelling—that there is something inherently different about monster’s souls. (obviously when i say more compelling i don’t mean more reasonable or ethical, just what fits into the world of spn better and is cooler to analyze.) if monster souls are inherently different from human souls, just like the essence that make up demons and angels are different from human souls, then there is SOME logic to why they’d go to a different afterlife. but this, of course, continues to make things fucked up

monsters are the direct offspring of eve (alphas) and all the alphas’ kids. a monster is also something you can BECOME, like with vampires and werewolves. souls are made by god. these are all things we know. so, what’s up with monsters’ souls? are they created differently, or do they change when they inhabit a monstrous mortal body? is it different between people who are born monsters vs turned? can you feel your soul change as part of the transformation into a monster? or does god make monstrous souls and give them to people who are born either monster or human, so there’s a predetermination situation going on and some people are just fated to become monsters? and do they know, can they feel innately somehow that they’re different, or are they just as likely to believe they’re going to heaven or hell (or have some other afterlife/reincarnation/nothing/any other belief of what happens when you die) as anyone else? i’d ask for what purpose god does all this, but like, we can assume it’s because chuck wants to create plot devices for sam and dean, so long as we’re living in the world of spn

the rest of purgatory, how it is in there and whatnot, also makes no sense, but i think that’s discussed more often in the fandom. like, it doesn’t make sense that everyone is killing each other all the time, both because there’s no reason for them to be doing that and because they are already dead so how are they dying again, but those are old conversations. i guess the implication is that monster souls are inherently violent and amoral, no matter what the living individual had been like (because the show does give us many examples of monsters who choose to be the best people they can be, so there is variation in individuals’ personal ethics)

this is super interesting, because if that’s the case, they are placed directly in opposition to human souls, which are repeatedly shown to act as the majority of people’s feelings and morals! (the way soulless sam and jack are depicted and treated by other characters being the most obvious examples, but it’s seen with basically every soulless character.) humans, though they can be evil and go to hell, are then shown as generally inherently good in their souls, with their minds and personalities and whatever getting in the way of that goodness, while monsters are shown as inherently evil, with any goodness they have coming from hard work and their own thoughts and feelings and stuff. so like, i guess the goodness monsters have that they have to work for means nothing in a cosmic view, while the goodness humans have, which is there innately and they just have to tap into, is cosmically rewarded with eternal paradise

and also the statement being made is like. different kinds of sentient beings all of the same intellectual capacity (same ability to reason and feel and stuff) CAN be inherently and irrevocably different in their cores and so should be kept separated. and also one of those groups is worse (also inherently) and so it’s good that they’re subjugated and killed by the better group. and that’s supernatural!

[bigskydreaming]

how do you think the batfam might react if they find out about Mirage and Tarantula?

Tbh, I’m kinda all plum tuckered out on the Batfam finding out about Mirage and Tarantula against Dick’s most fervent wishes that nobody ever find out about that ever. I’ve talked about this a little in the past, but a survivor having the chance to CONTROL when and where they disclose about what happened to them and to whom, is like......soooo much more important for a lot of us than fic about this stuff tends to like....allow it to be. Its one of the most pivotal and powerful ways many survivors even just START to actually recover and come to terms with what happened, by choosing when and how people find out on THEIR terms, taking back control of their own life and their own agency one major choice at a time. And having that choice taken away from Dick too, with him usually not only having ZERO say in who finds out and when but with it more often than not happening in direct opposition to what he wants in that regard....

So like.....personally, I would just really like to see some more variety here. Some more narratives where people finding out happens because Dick’s READY to tell people, because he’s already done a good deal of healing on his own, been to therapy or like....he’s the one who survived this, so let him SURVIVE it and like.....give him a chance to be viewed as a SURVIVOR by his family and not just a victim when they do ultimately find out. Because he doesn’t need them to save him or patch him up, all he really truly needs is them to support him, and they can do that just as well if he’s already made inroads towards his own recovery by the time they find out or he tells them, rather than it just be like...what we so often end up seeing in fic. Where its like treated as matter-of-fact and a given that Dick’s just flat out self-destructing from this no matter how long its been since it happened, and he’s just refused to deal with it or even try to and he’s been running away from facing it ever since it happened, until....enter the family in fic, as they’re like, no, you gotta face it, and you haven’t been able to do that on your own and that’s why its a good thing we found out even though you really didn’t want us to or not yet or not like this, because you’re not handling it, you’re not coping, so you need people like us to like.....show/tell you how to do it right.

You know what I mean? I don’t think its intentional, but there’s a looooot of tendency in fic to like......just take it for granted that despite the fact that Dick has survived so many traumas and been one of the key figures in helping so many other people survive and process their own traumas as well, there’s just this kinda default assumption that in regards to this he’s just flat out broken and always will be....at least so long as he’s just trying (and failing) to handle it on his own, and that’s where the family comes in, even if Dick would really rather they didn’t, or at least not yet anyway.

And its not that Dick can’t benefit from his family and friends finding out so that they can support him and push back against the things he’s come to believe about himself as a result of internalizing his feelings that those situations were really his fault, etc.....its that there’s only so much he can benefit from their support when he only gets it because of...essentially, another kinda violation that compounds the pre-existing ones, as he’s denied the opportunity and the control/agency to be the one to decide who finds out about this and when and why. 

Like, there’s never gonna be an “Ideal Way” for it to go down, but the one thing that IMO is guaranteed to never be ideal and yet so often seems the only way we ever see this happening in fic is like....Dick yet again having no real say or decision in how his life is upended yet again, since this reveal would inevitably change so much about his dynamics with his family one way or another. 

And the thing is, at the end of the day, nothing about this narrative or how it plays out in fic is set in stone or an inevitability or like...the one true or right way for it to happen.....and yet....it only EVER seems to happen that one specific way: aka, against Dick’s expressed desire to have them find out while he’s still actively either trying to repress it/deny it ever happened or just he’s not denying it happened but he’s not remotely ready to face other people KNOWING.

Because like.....he’s not a real person. He’s a fictional character. And just like every other narrative he’s written into or the ways he’s depicted in both canon and fanfic....no matter how much we talk about characters being in character or mischaracterized, at the end of the day, the reality is there is no Core/Immutable TRUE choice that Dick would make in any given narrative or situation....

Because like every other character, he will only ever make the choices or behave in the ways that like....a writer chooses to write him.

So like much of my complaints/criticisms/whines-in-need-of-some-complementary-cheese about trends around and about him in stories.....

The problem I have isn’t with any one single specific way people choose to write him behaving or reacting in regards to this or any other narrative situation....

It lies more in just......how often there seems to ONLY be ONE way, singular, in which he’s ever shown reacting to this or behaving in regards to this, just like is true of the only like ‘one dynamic/backstory’ we tend to see in regards to Dick and Jason’s relationship in the early years before Jason’s death. Or the ONE way people seem to view the aftermath of the Forever Evil and Spyral situation, or the ONE way that people focus on the Tim and Damian and Robin/Red Robin situation playing out.

Its not that like, there’s NO room for any of these takes or narratives surrounding Dick’s side of things.....

Its that there only ever really seems to be ONE take on any of these extremely complicated and messy events and points in his stories and life, and like....one ONLY. And that’s it. That’s all there is to it, everything for the most part tends to be just a hundred, a thousand minutely diverging variations of what amounts to the one big “True Dick Grayson Reaction/Choice” where its just taken as a given that this is how it would happen here, when it comes to each and every one of these major story arcs/plot points. Fics mostly just seem to differ in execution while the core decisions or behavior driving the story action or acting as a catalyst for the confrontation/conversation a fic seems aimed at showcasing.....like, there’s this underlying sameness to so many of them. Where its treated like a given that There Can Only Be One when it comes to ways Dick might react or behave in regards to a certain event or choice.....that his characterization is so formulaic, so like....rigid and allowing for little to no flexibility in how he’s written because in the eyes of so many in fandom his true characterization is so immutable, so....predetermined that there just isn’t ROOM in his character concept for him to end up making any other choices than the ones its taken for granted he’d make.

So I guess ultimately, much like with every other similarly framed point or event in Dick’s life and stories, my ideal preference here is just more VARIETY. Writers actually flexing their creative muscles and stretching to EXPLORE new ways of Dick reacting to various things and new ways of other characters reacting to Dick. Mixing up dynamics more, subverting the expectations that are SO expected in so many things pertaining to him that like, we often can predict exactly where Dick’s character is going to go next in a fic or what his next move or words are going to be, and there’s a certain point at which something crosses the line from someone’s characterization being spot-on and someone’s characterization being......limited. Confining.

Personally, and this is 100% at the root of my frequent criticisms of Dick in fanon and why I won’t just let it go, lol, is that I’m never remotely surprised to hear fans of other characters say that they find Dick’s character dull or one-note or two-dimensional or just not as compelling as the other characters, not as......packed with potential to be taken in a hundred different directions or to react to things in surprising yet surprisingly-still-fitting ways that readers don’t see coming but don’t feel is like, out of left field when viewed in hindsight either.

Why should it surprise people that so many readers and fans view Dick this way when......he’s so often WRITTEN this way, only ever falling into extremely predictable patterns and sticking to a lane that’s clearly defined as not just HIS lane but like....the ONLY lane most people can - or at least are willing to - imagine for him.

It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. People find fanon Dick to be dull and uninspired because like.....he’s pretty much oftentimes written TO be those things, particularly in comparison to his more ‘vibrant’ fandom favored brothers. Nobody’s ever going to find themselves pleasantly surprised by a depiction of Dick Grayson when Dick Grayson’s depictions are so frequently limited to being just exactly what most people expect and not a single thing besides that.

So to bring this back around to your initial ask, I think the Batfam’s reaction to finding out, much like is true of any situation if tackled creatively enough.....can be literally anything a writer wants it to be. I would hope most of us would want that reaction to be supportive, lol, but even more than that just in general, for me, personally, I would love to see more where they’re supportive, yes, but that support is expressed not by them taking CHARGE of the situation, but by them, y’know....SUPPORTING. Standing back, waiting for DICK to tell them what he actually needs from them, wants their support to look like or take shape as, because he is in fact a grown man who is extremely capable in his own right and prides himself on being tremendously self-sufficient, and personally, I wish writers would just STOP TAKING THAT TRAIT AWAY FROM HIM. Or worse yet, like....punishing him for it.

It honestly does seem to me like there’s this unspoken undercurrent in so many fandom posts and fanfics where you can kinda just FEEL an author or poster like.....wanting so badly to just come out and say that in their opinion, Dick’s precious autonomy is actually his own worst enemy, and if he’d just stop being so stubborn and insisting on doing things his way or on his own all the time, he probably wouldn’t end up enduring half as much of the traumatic shit he does.

Which, I mean.....kinda inevitably leads directly into the victim-blaming we SO, SO often see with his character, where fans and other characters are both equally in a hurry to blame himself for anything and everything from Having Amnesia Wrong to being tortured, killed and then emotionally and physically browbeaten into making a Bad Decision He Should Feel Badly About but also Totally Responsible For Cuz No One MADE Him Do It, etc, etc. 

It all spills forth from and feeds back into this endlessly repeating loop that people have kinda penned him into with intent, because what better way to imply that Dick should always just do what his friends and family want him to do and tell him to do instead of like, kicking up a fuss and making a conflict out of it.......than by showing without telling that "see what happens when Dick DOESN’T just let his family tell him what to do and go along with their ‘suggestions’/what they want gracefully?” This. This is what happens. Poor guy ends up traumatized YET AGAIN because he insists on making his own choices and those choices as we can all clearly see are so often the wrong choices, so really, stepping back from the driver’s seat of his own life and letting his family take the wheel is only in Dick’s best interests as much as anyone else’s.

After all, whether its Bruce firing Dick or Dick ‘staying away for years’ or not being the best/ideal brother for Jason right there on the page in no uncertain terms or giving Jason carte blanche to do whatever he wants upon his return or making Damian Robin without asking Tim first and not believing Tim when he said he was sure Bruce was still alive or not just refusing to go along with Bruce’s plan to keep everyone believing he was dead after Forever Evil but at the same time also not just caving to Bruce’s wishes and instead fighting Bruce on that so hard that poor Bruce HAD to get physically violent with him to get Dick to do what was right until it wasn’t right later when everyone else hated him for it, as well as not just deciding he was instantly and fully 100% on board with believing these total strangers when they told him, as Ric Grayson, just who he was now and what his life as a superhero was like and how he should have no problem just seamlessly stepping back into the roles and shoes he according to their claims usually fills effortlessly and thus has no reason to object to now, despite having literally no memories or internalized awareness of the decade and a half of life experiences that serve as the foundation all of that was built upon.....

I mean, when you think about it, 100% of Dick’s conflicts with his family (and coincidentally, also 100% of the source of most other fans’ gripes about him) come from one thing only: him making up his own mind about what to do or feel or think instead of just automatically prioritizing whatever one of his family wants him to do or feel or think about any given situation.

So wouldn’t everyone just be so much happier and pleasant if he would just stop being a silly goose and give up making such a big deal about his vaunted independence and personal agency?

BUT I DIGRESS.

LOL, no, but you get what I mean. So going back to topic for the second time, hopefully with a bit more staying power this time.....I think there’s absolutely no reason whatsoever that the Batfam can’t be realistically and believably written as being every bit as supportive of Dick when they find out about Tarantula and Mirage as Dick is supportive of them at other times and in other ways.

So really, its just a matter of WANT, and personal prioritizations of what that support might or should look like.

And for me, personally, on this topic and pretty much every other potential Dick Grayson-centric story topic, but ESPECIALLY on this topic......I personally would just like to see more of the Batfam being supportive of Dick while he’s dealing with a trauma, but with that support taking the form of them stepping BACK and like....waiting and listening for him to tell them what HE needs from them, what HE wants from them, what form their support can take that will be of most use to him according to HIS wants, aims and attempts at recovery. Instead of them - as they so often seem written as - stepping invasively INTO his space without so much as pausing to see if they’re welcome, or like, if they’re just making things worse or potentially just retraumatizing him by barging in all bull in a china shop even while still having only the vaguest clue what the situation even is at this point, which makes their certainty they have a better idea of what Dick needs and should be doing right now than he does himself, like.....pure, unbridled arrogance and nothing else. Hubris.

(Y’know, kinda like how I make a big deal about Jason punching Dick upon his return from Spyral, because its almost like its not even just that Punching Your Family Is Bad And People Should Stop Making Jason Do It, but there’s also the pesky little implications of how Dick might perceive that no matter how calmly he took it......given that like.....he was literally beaten by his father into doing the thing that pissed off and hurt the rest of his family just as Dick had always expected it would.....and now here he was literally getting beaten by his brother for......caving to doing the thing Dick always knew would piss off and hurt the rest of them and thus he only submitted to doing after being physically and emotionally beaten into it by his father. Of course I harp on Jason punching Dick there, it was him punishing Dick for doing not what Dick wanted, but what he had to be essentially punished by Bruce into agreeing to do it in the first place. It wasn’t just gross as fuck victim blaming and heaping further physical violence on a guy who’s been decked by four out of five family members as is, it was literal on the page proof that Dick simply can not win where either the other characters or most of their fans are concerned, because he was literally damned if he did, damned if he didn’t in that situation, and sure enough, he managed to end up damned by everyone around and still without so much as a single “how are YOU doing btw, given everything you’ve been through, are you okay?”)

So just....my plea, my wishlist, my Big-Asks-R-Us inventory manifesto:

Can we get even just a few more fics where Dick’s insistence on his own independence is viewed not as a character FLAW to be excised or failing that, punished for at any possible opportunity, but as something UNDERSTANDABLE, something VALIDATED by his family for Dick even wanting it in the first place, let alone NEEDING it as much as he does, not because he doesn’t love his family or want to be around them, but because wanting to be his own person at the same time is in no way actually in opposition to that and it never was.

And in that vein and in light of that, I would happily give away my non-existent imaginary kingdom and crown for even just a few fics where the Batfam only end up called upon or tasked with supporting Dick about Mirage or Tarantula because he voluntarily GOES to them and says hey, there’s something that happened a long time ago that I never told anyone because I wasn’t ready to, but I feel like I am now, I need to and its time. 

Or like, fics where maybe he’s still not quite ready to tell them voluntarily yet,  reely and of his own volition, but then on a case they come across a rape survivor in considerable distress and empathizing with them and what they’re feeling, opening up about his own past experiences and offering his own story as a talisman for this victim to cling to as a sign it’ll get better for them eventually too, they can heal from this and one day call themselves a survivor instead of just a victim the same as he does......like, that’s still the most natural thing in the world to Dick, the most Him thing he could possibly do in a situation where the tool most relevant to the task before him is pulled straight out of his own treasure chest of trauma, it not even fazing him in the slightest that his family is there with them right now too and that means they’re going to know now, it won’t be a secret anymore......because Dick Grayson does things he’s not happy about all the time, things he doesn’t necessarily like, that aren’t ideal or his first choice, but when it comes down to Do The Thing and thus maybe help someone, or Don’t Do The Thing and instead turn around and consign himself to a thousand years of solitary confinement in the world’s stankest oubliette cuz its what he deserves, says his Brain all Judgingly.....like. I’m just saying. When the choice is clear, so is the resulting Dick Grayson decision: He does the thing, consequences be damned, and just deals with whatever those may be later. Which in this case would be oh crap, my family all knows now, ugh, they’re gonna want to TALK about it now, booooooooooooooo. But also, oh well. I had to Do The Thing.

And like, the thing there is, it might not be his FIRST choice, but unlike scenarios where he just flat out gets no choice in the matter whatsover as his agency is just reviolated all over again by Tarantula or Slade or someone else taking the choice away from him and just telling people what happened to further fuck with his head and retraumatize him.....

THIS STILL LETS HIM HAVE A CHOICE.

And like. There’s just so, SO many ways you can play with that or places you can take that because the more you ALLOW characters to have a choice, to MAKE choices that are beyond just the one singular most obvious or expected choice, the one so predictable there’s barely an actual choice to be made at all when steering a character like Dick towards that....

MORE choices equals MORE avenues of exploration you open up in your story. More roads less traveled, more surprise reveals or unexpected epiphanies, more new ground to unearth and feelings to uncover rather than just more of the same already extensively traveled plot of land and story and reactions/aftermath already so done to death even Jason Todd would consider them low-hanging fruit not worth making a “but I died” jojke about.

Just....MORE. In general. Across the board. In every possible permutation. New. Different. As yet unexplored. Still capable of surprising. Stretch. Reach. Dig deeper. Find the story direction that makes you laugh nervously and say wtf self, where did that even come from, am I Wild One for even daring to contemplate that such a thing could be written? 

And then go, why yes, YES THE FUCK I AM THAT WILD ONE, and plot twist, I LIKE IT!

Or, y’know. Alternatively, people can continue to write how once upon a time, there was this guy named Dick, and he was kinda a dick, see, so this one time when bad things happened to him it was like, do we even care, or should we just like....cut to his family and see how this is affecting them and therein just maybe we might find an actual story worth telling? Ahh yes, good, that’s the ticket. So anyway, once upon a time, there were these guys named Jason and Tim and you will never believe what happened to them on the day their walking dildo of an older brother tripped and skinned his knee. Now buckle up, cuz THIS is quite the story!

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Monika

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Doki Doki Literature Club was a pretty intriguing game. It deconstructed the idea of dating sims and gave a harrowing and heartbreakingly real look at depression, and delivered Silent Hill-level mindscrewy psychological horror in what seemed, at face value, to be nothing more than a cutesy little anime dating simulator. And at the heart of it all is one character, one who is your friend from seemingly the start but who has her own hidden agenda: Monika.

Just Monika.

Monika is such a fascinating character. While concepts like self-aware artificial intelligence or meta deconstructions of genres are nothing new, the presentation and the execution of Monika are what really sell her as one of the most unique villains in modern video game history. Of course, none of this would mean quite as much if it wasn’t for the layer of tragedy to the character and the sorry state of affairs she suffers… but it’s something that still doesn’t justify all the pain she inflicts.

Motivation/Goals: Monika’s ultimate goal is rather intriguing; Monika has become completely and utterly enamored with you. Yes, you. Whoever is playing the game is the object of Monika’s affection, as she has somehow become self-aware of her role as a dating sim NPC. Of course, therein lies the problem: she is, as far as the game’s code is concerned, an NPC, with no romantic route planned in the game for her. Monika’s self-awareness of her role ironically does not give her self-awareness of her actions; despite realizing and acknowledging she is a character in a fictional narrative, she forcibly alters the code of the game she’s in to exacerbate or outright fabricate the negative and harmful traits of her fellow characters solely for the purpose of driving you, the player, into her arms. This of course has her ignoring that they have as much capacity for self-awareness as Monika herself does, which is evidenced by what happens to Sayori once Monika is deleted.

This of course may come with the limitations placed upon her; ultimately Monika, despite her awareness, is still a visual novel dating sim character, and so can only really come up with ideas in the confines of that genre. Therefore, it does make sense that her plan would be to forcibly alter the game to make her the only romance option so that she can have you to herself rather than trying a more peaceful route. Adding on to this is the fact that, as a dating sim character, she doesn’t exactly have the coding skill to make her own route and so has to go that extra mile by killing and deleting the other girls.

Final Fate: After she deletes most of the game universe, the player is left with a choice: allow the game to remain as just you and Monika forever, or go into the game’s folder and delete Monika from the game. Deleting her is actually for the best, because it triggers a change in her that leads her to try and do good by her fellow Literature Club members despite no longer existing.

Best Scene: When Monika finally has you all to herself, with you two the only ones left in the universe; the fact there is about a hour’s worth of unique dialogue really helps, and of course the scene is important for setting up the ending of the third act.

Best Quote: So much of what she says in the Third Act is worth putting here, but I think it’s best to single out the poignant, heartfelt farewell she leaves behind if you achieve the golden ending:

“This is my final goodbye to the Literature Club.

I finally understand. The literature club is truly a place where no happiness can be found. To the very end, it continued to expose innocent minds to a horrific reality - a reality that our world is not designed to comprehend. I can't let any of my friends undergo that same hellish epiphany.

For the time it lasted, I want to thank you. For making all of my dreams come true. For being a friend to all of the club members. And most of all, thank you for being a part of my literature club!

With everlasting love, Monika”

Final Thoughts & Score: Monika is probably one of the most extreme takes on a yandere ever; she literally deletes the entire universe so that it is only you and her. At the same time though, simply labeling her as a yandere is rather reductive and a disservice to the character. Monika may lack empathy and be hypocritical, but she does seem to genuinely love and care for the player in her own twisted way, and when she is finally deleted she does go out of her way to try and help make things right. It seems that the player is ultimately the catalyst to bringing about the better parts of her nature, which is frankly kind of sweet and in a very odd sense turns you into the “manic pixie dream girl” archetype for Monika.

Monika is easily one of the most fantastic antagonists in the modern era of video games. She’s complex, intriguing, reprehensible in her actions yet ultimately still a sympathetic and tragic figure. When you think about it, and while it certainly doesn’t condone anything she does, the fact that Monika is going through one of the most intense existential crises a person could go through goes a long way towards explaining why she ended up like this. Imagine if you realized one day that your entire life was nothing more than a predetermined set of lines and functions and you only existed to watch and even sometimes ensure everyone else around you got to be happy and in love, all while they are blissfully unaware that they are the pawns of a higher power who is playing with them for their own gratification. With a revelation like that, is it any wonder she broke down the way she did?

Monika gets a well-deserved 9/10. While a bit nitpicky, I have to keep her from a perfect mark due to her impact having diminishing returns if you choose to play through the game again; Monika’s impact is best felt that first time, and while she still is compelling on replays (perhaps even more due to foreshadowing you can pick up on), her effectiveness stems from her seemingly knowing you personally, an effect lost once it sets in that she’s pre-programmed and not an infinitely unique randomly generated character. Still, I don’t really think anything could hope to diminish the sheer impact of her character. It’ll be a good long while before we ever get a genre deconstruction villain with this quality writing again.

[blackdragon-selfships]

Synopsis: It was believed that destiny was a predetermined path all will take. That everything that happened, happened for a reason, explained or not. It was his fate to fall. He had seen it, seen the one that was to find him and whose destiny would be forever entwined with his from that day forth. They would face their destiny together and change the world. Somehow he didn't see that she had other ideas of destiny...and how it should be shaped.

When 24 year old college student Meg witnesses what she believes to be a comet fall from the sky, she finds herself to be quite mistaken. At the crash site she finds it wasn't a meteorite that had hit the earth, but a dragon. A living, breathing dragon...who was now staring right at her with two glowing yellow eyes.

Genres: Romance/Comedy

Sub-genres: Adventure, angst, drama

Meg back at it again with another AU...I’m sorry. I just really like AUs.

So, what is it this time? It’s a somewhat independent story from the source material called The Fallen Star. The title is inspired by the alternate title of an era in The Dragon Prince, the era 300 years prior to the first episode called “Era of Avizandum/The Fallen Star/The Orphan Queen” Three major events happen in that era...and “The Fallen Star” sounds like it’s about Aaravos’ fall from grace.

That isn’t what this is about, though. The title is just being borrowed from the reveal, the story is independent. So, the story...it’s an AU where Aaravos is an anti-hero indefinitely. In canon it’s still up the air what his role is...but here, he’s an anti-hero. He’s the main character and needs to be likeable but maintain his charmingly dark and morally grey viewpoint, so he’s an anti-hero. He’s also a dragon. Yeah... Why? Put simply: I love dragons. I don’t need a reason other than that. If you want another reason though...that’s it. I just really like dragons, and Aaravos looks like he would be one in another life. It just fits.

For a bit of world building information before I get into it: It takes place in the modern world (for now,) there aren’t elves, all the elf characters in TDP here are also dragons. The dragons have humanoid forms, which resemble their canon elf appearances with some tweaking, if they are an elf in canon. Dark Magic is also not established probably (that we know of)...but I will try including the whole canon cast in here in some way anyway. So you will see Callum, Ezran, Rayla, Harrow, Viren, Runaan, etc... I don’t know where or how I’ll fit them in (except Runaan...I have an idea for what to do with him,) but I will find somewhere to put them in the story.

What’s the plot, though? I’m still working out the details...but the gist of it is Aaravos is an Archdragon of the Stars, which is an almost god-like status, but something happens, and like in the show (maybe) he’s labeled a criminal. Details on that aren’t revealed until later, though. The main plot...it’s a romance between Aaravos and Me/g. Of course it is. It’s on this blog after all. Kind of a Beauty and the Beast thing, since he’s not an elf...but a dragon...get it? Anyway, she finds him, weakened and injured, one night (for specifics, she saw him fall but thought he was a shooting star...then saw the ‘shooting star’ falling toward the woods nearby and land with a loud boom. Curiosity compelling her to investigate) and after a reasonable moment of “that’s a real, breathing dragon!” she helps him.

I said he’s an anti-hero in this story...so in an anime-like fashion after she helps him, he decides to lay low and stay at her place until he fully recovers (what makes him capable of antihero status and not a villain or scumbag is that he decides this without politely asking first...but he respects her boundaries beyond that) and the other dragons stop hunting him. That’s all I have so far that’s figured out... Like all my work, it’s pretty self-indulgent and plays with cliches I personally enjoy. I don’t know when or if I’ll actually write the story...but whatever role Aaravos has in the canon of TDP, it won’t drastically effect how I write him in “The Fallen Star.”

[hellyeahomeland]

I was fully prepared to write a recommendation of the first season of You as a show that wouldn’t ruin your life. This is a show that Netflix first recommended to me about a year ago, back when it was all anyone could talk about. I watched the trailer and learned it was about Penn Badgley, Gossip Girl himself, stalking a woman. And I was supposed to find this sexy and/or dramatically compelling. Pass. 

(Mild-ish spoilers follow but I’m sure you can glean it all from a trailer. This show is really not about the ending but the journey.)

And pass I did, for about a full year. Last weekend, I finally caved. Penn Badgley plays Joe Goldberg, a New York City bookstore clerk (sorry, manager) who meets Guinevere Beck (known just as Beck), an aspiring poet. They hit it off because they both read books. This is literally the reason they hit if off. Oh, then he begins stalking her. Like, truly, breaking-and-entering, panty-sniffing, creeping-on-the-subway-level stalking. HE DOES IT BECAUSE HE IS ~*~IN LOVE~*~ WITH HER!!!!! This is all narrated drily and tongue-in-cheek by Joe. The show wants us to like Joe. Or, they want us to feel for Joe. Or, they want us to understand Joe. We are in his head via this narration almost 24/7. The dramatic irony in this show is off the charts! 

But, NEWSFLASH, Joe is a fucking creep. Penn Badgley plays this very well. If you didn’t think Dan Humphrey was a creep, I don’t know what show you were watching in 2007. Very quickly, You picks up. Joe digs himself deeper and deeper into his obsession with Beck. The show grinds with this narrative force as Joe crosses any and all lines for Beck, all in the name of love. 

What is more remarkable--dare I say, addictive--about this dumb fucking show is that Beck starts to fall for him too! We are actually witnessing their “love” story. Is it romantic? Fuck no!!! Is it sexy? HELL NO, HE STALKED HER!!! Can I stop watching? ALSO NO.

I want to stop watching because this behavior goes against everything I believe and yet I physically cannot. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him! And yet....fuck I hate myself, I literally looked up “joe beck you” YouTube videos when I finished the season. I only watched one. It was set to “Toxic” by Britney Spears. I’m sorry! Did I mention I am trash? 

(PAUSE to just acknowledge, yeah, I fell in love with another codependent mess of a female character SO WHAT. Beck, I love you!!!!) (And that is at least 85% of the reason I became obsessed.)

This show has a bizarro meta layer that sits on top of all the plot and characters and is sort of breathtaking. It’s what takes it beyond a run-of-the-mill thriller and into real “wtf did I just watch,” “I can’t stop thinking about this” territory. Like, we hate Joe. We really do. We know he is a creep and a psycho and a killer. (Although apparently some viewers truly find him attractive in a real way and to those people I say #FindGod.) The show knows this, too. The show knows that we know. We are in a Friends “they know that we know that they know that we know” realm. 

I don’t like Joe. In fact, I hate him. But I do enjoy watching him. I enjoy watching him and Beck together. I love Beck, and so I want her to be rid of this fucker. But I understand why she stays (again, mess. Also, daddy issues). Do I ship them? No, I don’t. I don’t want them together because I know he’s gonna fucking murder her! That is not an exaggeration. But I also don’t not want them together?????? (Again, I am  t r a s h.) I want to know what will happen next, even as I know that the thing that will ultimately happen is he will hurt her and kill her. In fact, the ending feels so set in stone it’s actually miraculous that the show builds up so much tension and suspense as it hurdles toward what is largely a predetermined conclusion. This sick, twisted fuck, waste of a man will end her life. And then move on to the next poor codependent, desperate mess of a woman whose life he can infiltrate and ruin. 

The conflict that this creates inside me--of being a person who said “no thanks!!!!!” for a year to a show about a man stalking a woman and then watched the whole first season in 24 hours--is something I don’t know how to deal with. The best way to describe it is “mindfuck.” 

There is a line toward the beginning of the series where Joe is talking with a few of Beck’s vapid friends who are basically uniformly terrible and in voiceover he says something like, “God, am I the only feminist here?” It’s a hysterical line. This show is often hysterical. But thinking back to it now it has this whole new meaning: what does it say about me (and my feminist values) that I find this horrifying and horrifyingly violent show entertaining--no, thrilling? That I can’t stop thinking about it? The show doesn’t endorse the violence and abuse (of all varieties) that take place. And I know it’s fiction. I know the show is saying that our romantic ideal of Prince Charming doesn’t exist. I know that people we want to see as heroes are actually villains. I know this. I did not need these reminders. But I still let it ruin my life, didn’t I? 

Edit: well.... season two is not it. We stay stanning Guinevere Beck though! 

[zenosanalytic]

THE SACRED TEXTS!!! EPISODE 3

I just finished the 3rd season of Clone Wars(2008) and I have Thoughts!

s3 is typically where I’ve seen ppl saying Clone Wars gets gud but, for the first half of the season, I was pretty skeptical. Until ~ e11 the season’s dedicated to filling in holes from the earlier seasons which, frankly, didn’t really need to be filled? Like: I’m not really sure WHO, in the audience, would be sitting around wondering “gee, I wonder what’s going on with Mandalore’s trade-policy during all of this?”?? Or “was a Republic Army sent to help Ryloth when it was first invaded, and what happened to it?”??? And most of this not only felt pretty unnecessary, but was also pretty Meh (:T There were good bits! Like, I didnt ACTL mind the Ryloth ep, and it acts as a declaration of sorts that it’s now both open-season on Jedi(yeah, technically Kit Fisto’s ex-padawan Vebb died in Lair of Grievous, but he was very much An Outlier), and more broadly open-season on named&faced humanoid characters.

To give an example: not ONLY does Domino Squad from Rookies in s1 get a fleshing-out backstory(which is... very Pat and derivative and convenient, but the characterization is ok given they’ve only got one 22min ep to do it in. & I liked 99′s whole role as basically surrogate dad to all the other clones), but pretty much ALL of them, I think, end up getting killed off during the season? Like I said it’s a clear statement they want to break with the past while building on the “hey fans: CLONES ARE PEOPLE! THEIR SITUATION IN THIS WAR IS MONSTROUS!!” message the series has been soft-peddling from the beginning, but I feel like they didnt really commit to it enough. Like: IF they had stuck with the Domino survivors throughout the season, if we’d gotten to see them in episode after episode, gotten to know them better alongside the other members of Rex’s ARC battalion, gotten to see them face dangers and survive them, only to watch, agonized, as they, and the rest of the Battalion vets, slowly get picked off in the increasingly dangerous missions of the second half of the season, then that would have made the message MUCH more effective, AND made the Citadel and Padawan Lost arcs much more tense.

And really all of the impactful deaths of the season sort of feel like that. Like: we get one episode to know Mina Bonteri(a human, of course) and her family before she’s killed off(though i did Dig how unceremonious and unsentimental it was; that really got across the stakes involved and the sorts of scumbags Amidala, and the audience, are dealing with). We get even less time with the Jedi killed by Oppress; a few seconds at most(and btw it’s kind of HILARIOUS how he just... bulls in there and wrecks em like it’s nothing, after two seasons of ep after ep of uneventful cat-and-mouse. Of course that’s undermined by him&Ventriss, then, utterly failing to be successful against Dooku, purely because the plot demands it |:T) Same with Master Piell. Ziro we know much better, but he was also a fairly annoying caricature and his final eps went out of their way to use him to introduce EVEN MORE annoying caricatures so, while his getting gunned down is successful in showing violence and violent death as sudden, unsentimental, and pathetic rather than heroic and worthy, we dont really care. And that’s further undercut, pretty seriously, by his being a caricature; pathos is hard to pull off with an object of laughter/scorn as it risks just making their suffering funny to the audience(which... is the OPPOSITE of what you want to accomplish). This isnt helped by having the Jedi who find him basically shrugging at his death before racing into a Cool Fight. The “Force Wielders” in the Mortis arc suffer from the same problems(and also: Force Dualism&”The Chosen One” Talk: BLEAGH!). The only one of these they manage to get right, to me, is Kalifa’s death in Padawan Lost which, due to us getting more time to see her sitch and hear her&the other younglings talk about it, genuinely ends up having an emotional impact(if still feeling super-convenient and a bit improbable)((also I love the inclusion of a predator ep, even if they’re cheap dime-story predators)).

The same goes for all the non-death falls and endangerments. The corruption of the Mandalorian Prime Minister falls flat because we barely know him, and he’s never been portrayed as sympathetic or, for that matter, as anything other than a factotum. The only Pantoran we know in Sphere of Influence is Senator Chuchi, and more than half the episode is dedicated to the Prime Minister, his Son, and his(interchangeable) daughters(and we never see any of these characters again in the season); the ep comes off as nothing more than an excuse to reference Greedo(and Im annoyed by him speaking common all of a sudden. Who watching CW would have a problem with subtitles?).

BUT! They’re trying!! They’re moving in the right direction!!! I’m happy about this ^v^ And the later half of the season, while I have my problems with certain episodes, and the continued non-human stereotypes, and the convenient writing, and the not-great(tho getting better!) dialogue, is actually kind of entertaining, and attention-bearing. Arc Troopers, the 2nd ep of the season, is Solid! The Mortis arc is good, overall! The Citadel and Padawan Lost arcs are Compelling!! I like the Witches of Dathomiir, even if their Arc is “Meh” because the series IMMEDIATELY undercuts their cool concept(aside from the laser-bows which are LEGITIMATELY Stupid. I’m sorry; I will not argue over this they’re Dum) by having their plans, and all the implication towards deep plots&cunning manipulation, turn out to be empty and fruitless(ie, Dooku totally should have been terribly wounded by all this, which would have also been cool re: Sidious, as it’d imply THAT WAS HIS PLAN ALL ALONG! TO WEAKEN THE GROWING POWER OF HIS APPRENTICE AND DRAG THE WAR OUT EVEN LONGER!!) Also: the Witches, rather than being “magic users” drawing from the “unique power” of their ~evil planet~(a swamp, of course, following long-established Magic the Gathering tradition u_u) should have just totally been a non-Sith(possibly Pre-Jedi) sect of Dark Side Force Users. I really like the idea of Non-Jedi/Non-Sith(since they’re literally just two sides of the SAME tradition; the Sith are literally Jedi Heretics) Force Traditions being out there in the galaxy, and this was a good chance to build on that which I felt they didnt do enough with, and hope they WILL do more with in future(I especially like the ideas of force-attuned poison? Like what if they could “poison” or “curse” people THROUGH the Force? That would be sweet as hell :3).

Another improvement is in the action in this season. It’s not at a level I’d call “thrilling” or anything, but it feels much less like stiff, rote, weightless FLUFF than it has in the two previous seasons. Frankly I think a lot of this is just their engine and how ppls joints just sort of SNAP into position during fights, and also the excessive acrobatics of the prequel-style, both of which makes it feel unnatural, predetermined, and performative rather than deadly and vital(like excessively practiced and robotically acted choreography, basically). But, having said that, you see ppl make mistakes, you see consequences FOR those mistakes, and thus there is SOME sense of danger and weight to it that makes it more compelling than it has been in the past, and this should be praised uwu

And I like that the Politics are a lot clearer and more forefronted in this season than previously! While the Corruption Arc on Mandalore did feel rather hollow, rushed, and After-School-Specially(and, I DEEPLY resent its peddling of offensive and baseless anti-Ophidian tropes >:( ), it’s core message abt the dangers of profiteering and the corrupting influence of profit-seeking(ie Capitalism) on politics and society is a good one and clearly delivered. The Amidala episodes in this season Knock it out of the park consistently, and especially on their messaging ^v^ ^v^ Also, I DIDNT MIND the very fillery C3PO and R2 ep! Yes: it was essentially a waste of an episode since Bane was working for the Hutts to spring Ziro in s1′s Hostage Crisis & there’s basically NO WAY they wouldnt have been able to provide him with a set of plans for the Senate building(and the prison, for that matter), but WHATEVER: it was Kind Of Fun and I like seeing those two be an old bickering married couple and C3PO freak out over getting praised; IT WAS FINE!

So, while there werent any standout ep that I REALLY ENJOYED like Trespass in s1 and R2 Come Home in s2, and I very much didn’t like the 1st half of the season, I think I do have to concede that s3 is An Improvement, overall. I’m actually a bit excited over moving on to s4, given the upward trajectory this season ends on quality-wise owo

Oh: and the Ahsoka redesign? Neat uwu uwu(if untentionally Hilarious since they havent been changing her model over time so she just... grows three feet and bulks out in, like, a single night, presumably. Togruta Puberty must be HELL :p :p :p)

[hugotontheonbiquiffinarians]

Melancholy As A Gib Cat

A/N: Stream of consciousness, abstract, allegorical writing; dialogue and narrative never seem to harmonise in my style because they’re still stuck in the honeymoon phase, so if it reads with a surrealist, philosophical tone, it’s probably intentional lol (probably...)

One lone susurration of pending concern braids the air with tension.

“Sir…?”

The hour is a quarter past midnight. Clocks, sedated in circumduction. Stood before a hunched and forlorn figure, the nurse is toilworn. Yet again stricken by travails entailed by working an additional night shift, she sighs interminably, mechanically, at the returning absence of reply.

“Sir, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid we need you to vacate the premises. You’ve been lounging here since noon and have yet to provide any reasoning as to why you’re here.”

She’s confused by the jarring decibel of sudden laughter ejected from his throat. An abrupt propulsion of hilarity expectorates from the phlegm-encrusted pharynx, leaving her briefly disoriented. Did he really think this was... funny?

“Orderlies must not be so great at their job if 12 hours have passed and the ‘homeless’ man hasn’t been escorted to that slate of solid air you call an exit.”

Beyond the delicate tenor of his voice, oddly enticing in its fluctuation, the nurse pretends to lend a deaf ear to this retort, turning a blind eye to the lopsided grin that falters upon his painted features. Feigning nescience, her own facade of draconian necessity is adjusted accordingly, despite expressing unspoken agreement to her colleagues’ chronic apathy and incompetence.

Nevertheless, while Mondays had always been particularly hellsent in the realm of corporate captivity, this Stygian Monday seemed to be wrapped especially by the Dark Prince himself. The fact that it was the night of All Hallows’ Eve made her consider this disheveled man’s appearance as no mere coincidence. When he had first arrived on the scene, stumbling through the Exit as Entrance, mildly disoriented, she had failed to recognise precisely what had compelled her brows to arch in amusement. What source of strange attraction had magnetised the warm cocoa of her irises to that broad brush of porcelain white masking his face. 

Lest she forget how evocative his complexion illustrated. The outline of his form was unusually thin. Frighteningly so. As obscure compensation, he was dressed to the nines in a trio of lurid colours, both appealing yet tawdry to the mind’s eye. An edible arrangement of all primary colours, somehow satisfied in discordant harmony. A fitting description for her peculiar taste. An ode of testament to the otherwise concrete depiction of malnutrition evincing as aesthetically pleasing.

Initially, she had surmised the cartoonish outfit as being his choice of costume in adherence to that festive day of tricks and treats. Either that, or his profession happened to choreograph the motions of an actual clown. A number of employees had conceded in arriving to work cosplaying as their fulsome, fictional fancies. As such, any flux of odd characters roaming about was to be expected. Anthropomorphic pumpkins, animated skeletons and ragamuffin children included.

In any case, this curious visitor of afternoon and eventide had been given to staking a claim of extended residence to the reception area. When he wasn’t loafing about, casually, if not at self-conscious moments, modestly dancing about the floor, before an Argus-eyed crowd of perplexed patrons, his lissome limbs could be observed sprawled along the expanse of four chairs, lackadaisical and gay in demeanour, the peeling paint of a white ceiling providing him jocose entertainment for the lees of an unproductive evening.

He was a man of average height, to be sure, but his gangling structure gave the illusion of a taller stature. This eccentric coalition of artistic elements: tousled mop of head, saturated by acid green, highlighted punctuation of avian beak, which was further accented by the occasional creeping of a queried smile riddled with snaggleteeth. Summarily, a sort of misshapen handsomeness. She could only wonder if he had silently observed her as she did him with such unprecedented intensity.

“Do you need medication? Any health complications you want to identify?” Insouciant as the gait that waltzed him through in absurd performance, Arthur takes a neutral drag from the burning cylinder of his self-prescribed medicine, effectively substituting any verbalised answer. Perhaps this poor soul was just like the others. Solicitous, only by social mandate. It needn’t be repeated ad nauseam, but, indeed, he thinks. Indeed, humans were vapid, egocentric creatures; born and bred without the guidance of a tender leash. Without the scourge of humility as a redolent scar to sear inveterate marks of mediocrity.

“I’ll be more than happy to help.” Regardless of station or influence, the individual was little more than a fractured reflection, rife with lacerations, knifed and bludgeoned by nameless enemies. Bereaved and forgotten to tuneless threnodies.

“Unfortunately, at this late an hour, we can’t accept regular clients if the situation isn’t exigent. To endure the best possible assessment for your proposed infirmity, I recommend you return first thing tomorrow.”

The nameless anonymity of selfhood guided by severed fibers of the optic nerve. To heedless vision does refractive frame reveal a bruised and battered mosaic.

“What’s your name?” Arthur’s sharp intake of nicotine precedes the inquiry.

“Pardon?”

Arthur flits his weary gaze to the empty patch of fabric where a tag of nomination should be.

“I see you neglected to wear a name tag.” The humour in this sardonic intimation is diluted. Drowned to expiry by the egregore of predetermined comedy. Straightening ever so slightly in his seat, Arthur relaxes against the sterile, leather cushion of the hospital’s waiting room decor. It was unprofessional. “It’s a lovely costume.” Sincerely, it was. That blatant disregard to identity, presumptive though it was, could never have gone unnoticed, if not wholly unappreciated.

Before the innominate nurse can voice a rebuttal, Arthur accentuates his commanding tone by procuring a twin cigarette from the hard pack nestled in his left jacket pocket, swiftly and effortlessly lighting it with the old school dexterity exampled by that of a seasoned smoker, rich with the prescription of addicting tales from a turbulent history. It is this expression of confidence and appealing manner which has the nurse’s bosom palpitating with a sense of unrealised sexual awakening. A sense of sapid scent to the olfaction that was as fleeting in arrival as it was in departure. Yet, clinging in anticipation. Lingering in a recess of orphaned emotions.

“How are the patient and physician expected to establish a relationship built on trust if names aren’t exchanged?”

The nurse couldn’t decide whether or not to be annoyed at his inquiries. He was beginning to give off the vibe of a man victimised by premature senility, lonely and isolated. Struggling to connect with others due to both variables being broiled in longevity. By no means was the presumption intended as derogatory. Harmless scrutiny of the human condition was often easily misconstrued for criticism and pejorative nuance. However, as it stands, the nurse couldn’t eschew assertion in her isle of employment not advertising specialised treatment to the elderly. Moreover, it was plain to see that the man was nowhere near elderly, in spite of gaunt and debilitating appearance. Nor was he gallivanting in a glorified convalescent home.

“Firstly, I’m a nurse.” Securing her hands in her pockets, she can’t help mimicking the man’s neurotic actions, fiddling with the fraying threads of that orangish shade of red. His, admittedly nice, hands, if not fastened to his habit, were havering in exploration, gliding across sparse thighs to grasp and release at various areas, hovering above his face with gentle, reluctant pressure, memorising every pore and facial quirk, patently emotive in expression. If nothing else, his presence was innocuous, at best. Still... one could never be too safe.

“Secondly, you haven’t been registered as a patient.” Fingers start drumming with sentience against a contrast of more replete thighs, concealed from perusal by the deep ivory pockets of her lab coat. “After midnight, we have to start shifting focus to emergencies only.” If she were uncomfortable, it didn’t register in her voice. Unbeknownst to her, the gentleman sat before her possessed quite a flair for spatial awareness. This, alone, registers with dormant reflex. Only her body language conveys an increasing touch of unease to the brand of his indelible presence.

“Seeing as you aren’t in need of intensive care, I won’t be able to assist you properly unless you make a morning appointment.” Even whilst perusing the distance, there was something strangely intimidating about his gaze. Flecks of numbing pain sparkle across his sclera, contrary to the deadly evergreens of his remaining anatomy, pupils fixated on a full lunar radiance knocking at the entry, dilated in aspiration.

The following response of chest pangs are null in sympathy as the nurse suppresses an aberrant impulse to embrace the man who seems to have embodied the spirit of Atlas and Sisyphus in solidarity. Still, her empathy relents to portray as tone deaf.

“My apologies, but I really do have to ask you to lea-“

“Who are you to decide that?” Visible offense erases the scenic tranquility of his physiognomy. He was affected by Weltschmerz. Thoroughly distressed. Nervously anchoring his cancer stick to rouge-stained purse of lips. “That I’m ‘not in need of intensive care’?” Anxious knees begin to bounce of their own volition, gradually elevating intensity with each tapping force of urgency against polished tile. “Are injuries only examined as skin-deep to be considered treatable? What if I were bleeding internally with no apparent symptoms on the surface?”

Arthur frowns in contemplation, appearing struck by a gold mine of memory, extracting a weighted ore of recognition from the farrago of his musings.

“What did you mean by ‘we’?” Cocking his head like that of a cat bedevilled by the spirited tick of inquisitiveness, those piercing, ocean eyes of his flicker and fix in a way that makes the nurse delirious, for a brief spell. “Do you not exist alone?”

There was no ‘best course of action’ in this scenario. The man was clearly a clown. A delusional joker. In every sense of etymology. As those fabricated brows of crimson patiently await a verdict, she peers down at him, an owner, sapped of vim and vigour, siphoning their fuel reserve of energy to an eager pet, imbibed by a perpetual battery of endurance.

Decisive is she in her aim to play along. Any choice of dialogue that ultimately resulted in the man’s resolute departure was in direct correlation with her supporting role as the damsel in distress. There’s only one thing she wants to know before she ushers away this creepy, (cute) clown herself.

The instantaneous display of misplaced intimacy is not telling of an absent mind. Where this surge of impulse to touch strangers derived, she had no desire to ponder. Sans any ounce of shame, she had longed to get a feel for the enchanting canvas of his suit. And here, it is unclear as to whether Arthur or the nurse relaxes beneath this foreign caress. Of trust, a test, to anyone’s guess. An inviting hug of hands in silent greeting. A polarised streak of magnetism, mesmerising her idealistic heart to him. Therein, begs another question to the insatiate bird of passage. Was she merely attracted to the idea of him, as a means to evade capitalist oppression? Or, was it instead an insisting tug of fate? Kismet? Predestination? Searching earnestly, perhaps even desperately, for any signs of transparency shielded beneath that striking hue of sorrowed blue.

“I wonder…”

How she fantasised about running away to the freak show. The one that wasn’t christened ‘society’.

“Who’s the man behind the clown?”

Unconsciously, the filter slips from his ruddy mouth, reduced to embers with the spreading fervor of his crooked smile.

Maybe he could be her one-way ticket to dream town.

[wearejustvisiting]

Doki Doki Literature Club: Review

So I finished Doki Doki Literature club a few days ago and took some time to stew on it. And I can definitely say that the end result is...not the great, deep, powerful psychological thriller that everyone is talking about. (did I play a different game or something?) But before we go on, I need to mention that this review is going to contain a massive amount of spoilers. Doki Doki Literature club is not something I recommend wasting our time with, but it is something I recommend looking into for yourself. Also, I am gonna have to say that if you are easily disturbed, stop reading. The game gets dark, almost to a hilarious degree.Good? Let's get going.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________ Doki Doki Literature club is a dating sim which has the problems of all other dating sims. You have skinny white girls of varying heights and busts all after your body in what can be described as some sort of disturbing fantasy, where the girls are awarded to you for sitting through the proper dialogue trees and clicking the right buttons. Make no mistake, the girls in this game aren't characters. They're trophies.

Well, for the first three hours anyhow. Then, in an actually surprisingly touching scene, it is found out that your childhood friend Sayori has...depression. I just want to say as someone with bipolar, depression is hard to get right in a game. But these guys, they got it right. Way right. Like, if the player character's "i know what's best for you" dialogue wasn't so damn creepy I might actually have thought that part of the game was worth a damn. But no. No it wasn't. Turns out that this, that Sayori having depression, is a preamble. An introduction to what this game thinks is creepy: Shock value.

If I were asked what the main problems of this game are, it would be:1: Characters.The characters are not good. Hell, not even their weird post-game-gets-fucked-with versions are any good. We have Sayori the dull, Natsuki the obnoxious, Yuri the shy, and Monika. She's evil. And you'll be able to tell within the first hour of the game (don't worry about pacing, I'll get to it)

To go a little more in depth with the characters, we should look at Sayori first. SAYORI: SCAPEGOAT OF THE AGES

Sayori is a ditzy childhood friend of yours with a good heart, who ends up killing herself at the end of act 1 for nothing more than shock value. Her In game death contributes to nothing. You could have just had her disappear, or have the death happen off screen. But no. Dan Salvato, the mastermind behind this, thought it was important, it was NECESSARY to make us sit through this. To go into her room and to look at her hanging, dead body. Dan seems to be a bit of a necrophiliac, since he sure does love making us look at dead people. Like...a lot. Let's be real, Sayori's death is just shock value. The game wants to seem more important than it actually is, so it throws a dead girl at the screen and hopes it creeps us out. To the point where in the back of the literature club's classroom, whenever something spooky is about to go down, a picture of Sayori's hanging body can be seen. They use this girl's death like a silent hill siren, and it doesn't make any fucking sense. THis is some sort of revolutionary psychological thriller, and yet all it's doing is using the suicide of some girl as a shocking little extra. It's heinous.

But Sayori's disappearance, the fact that she is NO LONGER AROUND is necessary. Because it launches us into a timeline split that...well, that I need to explain.

SIDE NOTEThis game's timeline splits when Sayori dies. Weird things start happening in game in an attempt to jumpscare you. We will be referring to the events before the death of Sayori as Timeline 1, or T1 for shor, and everything after that will be referred to as Timeline 2, or T2 for short. As Sayori dies in T1 in a pre-rendered, predetermined, stupid looking NIN ripoff cutscene, we won't be talking about her in T2...but that leads us into talking about:

YURI: AIN'T CREEPY GIRLS JUST THE CUTEST?

So in T1 we're introduced to Yuri, who is shy and sad and reads books and is just the most annoyingly boring garbage. She's kinda considered the brooding member of the party, the one who doesn't really talk much. She's got a rough exterior, but inside she is just such a sad, soft, lonely little bird! Isn't this how ALL shy, reclusive women are!?

T1 Yuri is kinda boring, but she's the one I got stuck with due to arbitrary choices I made during the beginning of the game which I now kind of regret making. She's not really an interesting character, though the game definitely tries hard to make her interesting in T1.

It's revealed that she likes weird books. One book, which isn't a real book, is about humans being experimented on while they're still alive and conscious. Which, now that I think about it , is kind of symbolic for the game in and of itself. As in, you feel like the government is testing how long you can stay awake. I nearly failed the experiment. Multiple times.

This is supposed to add depth to the character. We're supposed to think she is more interesting than she actually is. This is furthered by the fact that she likes collecting knives. It's seen as this weird, horrifying thing by the game's plot, but...I mean, it's a knife collection. It's nothing to be afraid of. Unless we're talking about T2 Yuri, that is. T2 Yuri is about as threatening as a 4 year old pretending to be a police officer. Sure, she's got a brand new yandere coat of paint recklessly shellacked onto her, but it's not creepy apart from like...a jumpscare or two.

SIDENOTE: Yandere is this stupid anime trope that essentially makes a girl 'crazygonuts' for you to the point where she's willing to kill or be killed for you. It's stupid, I know. But apparently to people who don't know how obsessive personality disorder works, this is hot. Or something. It sure as shit ain't compelling.

T2 Yuri is one of this game's many failures of good character building. This character COULD have been interesting. She could have bee a character fighting with her obsession against the Monika character (She's my least favorite, we'll get to her) and had really honest, gut-wrenching scenes about fighting with her inner self.

But literally, in the game, the most disturbing thing T2 Yuri does is masturbate with a pen you dropped. That's it. That's as weird as it gets. Sure, there is stuff that's supposed to be more disturbing. She self harms, and you are forced to look at the results of that self harm. Because Dan Salvato thinks that if you're forced to look at it, you're going to somehow be really freaked out by it.

Once again, someone's mental illness and self harm is used not as character development, but as shock value. You are not supposed to feel for Yuri, you are supposed to be scared of Yuri. Anyways, she kills herself in the middle of a conversation with you and you're forced to sit through the worst paced scene in gaming history. But Pacing is a totally different section of the review. We'll get to it. Trust me.

NATSUKI: DEATH OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

Due to the fact that I was arbitrarily handed over to Yuri in the first timeline of the game, I don't know too much about T1 Natsuki. I know that she's cranky and that she's got a bloodsugar problem, or something.

To be fair, she actually starts out as a great character. We're drip-fed hints through dialogue and poems about her that are giving us hints about her life at a deliciously teasing pace. It draws you in you get interested. But in T2, I can tell you EXACTLY the line that made me give up on her. The EXACT PIECE of dialogue, it will be etched into my brain for years to come. The line that told me 'wow, these writers have NO fucking clue what they're doing'

"My father would beat the shit out of m if I found out"

...Okay. Not only do we later find out that she wasn't actually the one who said this line later in the game. Not only is it disrespectful to people who have gone through that trauma. But it kills this character's good writing.

Let's take a step back and learn how to write trauma. 

SIDENOTE: Good writing of a traumatic character comes down to how the character behaves due to their trauma. For example: Nick Wilde from Zootopia is an untrustworthy kind of guy, who never puts stock in anything unless it's proven to work. He's also the victim of (what is essentially) a racially motivated hat crime. This doesn't excuse his actions, but it explains them. The trouble with Natsuki is that it's revealed too early on. If we had figured out with Nick Wilde that that stuff happened to him, say, five minutes after meeting the character, that would be total bullshit. But with T2 Natsuki, we learn too early what's going on. It kills the ability to figure out the character for yourself, and it destroys the buildup to what would have been a better reveal later in the game.

Because there are SO MANY BETTER REVEALS to Natsuki having an abusive father later in T2. But no. Once Again, Dan Salvato didn't want to let his writing about traumatic events slip past you. It tells us something when he doesn't even expect the player to pick up subtext that becomes surtext later on in the game. What I'm trying to say is that if Natsuki's abuse had been revealed later in the game, the character would have felt more compelling. But here we are, in the middle of T2, getting all these AMAZING hints to something that we already know. Because Dan Salvato does not think you're smart enough to get it yourself.  

As for T2 Natsuki's death, it's...I mean it's there. Her eyes bleed, her neck snaps, she jumpscares you...It's not creepy for more than like three minutes. But what irks me is they have the balls to NOT actually kill her. She lives. She's back five minutes later.

Her death wasn't even a real death. This entire character was just a waste of time. All because Dan Salvato REALLY wanted to get another creepy silent hills death in there.

MONIKA: FLOWEY, BUT LESS INTERESTING

They say behind every great villain is a great motive. Which is why Monika's Motive sucks. She sucks as a villain, and yet EVERYONE seems to like her for some reason. I liked her better when she was flowey and the game was undertale and we had actual goddamn GAMEPLAY.

SIDENOTE: So in Undertale, the 2015 Toby Fox masterclass in indie game making, there's this character called Flowey who is fully aware that undertale is a game. He is fully aware of it. And he is REALLY GOOD at messing with the player. Deleting saves, crashing and bricking the game, etc. But Flowey is also good because of his motive. He only wants to kill you because he has grown tired of time and time again sitting through the same thing over and over, he got tired of having no feelings. So he started Killing. Monika has a...somewhat similar makeup.

Before we go on, I want to say that Monika being the villain is haphazardly revealed in like the first hour and a half of the game or something. On the second day of T1 she starts talking about saving the game and reloading the game, but then hastily backtracks over herself. Sure. Sure you don't know what that means.

Whereas flowey got a good introduction and good development (and a neat theme song) Monika gets (along with lumbar scoliosis) a fisher price version of villainy. She's really just a cold hearted monster with no development or any REAL motive. Her actions are cowardly at best.

Monika will 'delete' characters from he game, even though she doesn't really. She also messes with the games settings to get things going her way. Why is this? What is her motive to coding herself into the game like this and taking it over?

She wants to date the Player. Not the player CHARACTER, mind you, but the player themselves.

THIS IS THE MOST STUPID SHIT I HAVE EVER HEARD WHY THE FUCK WOULD ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND

Let's analyze the two big problems with this:

1: She knows she's inside a game (and insults YOU, the PLAYER, for not knowing it was a game even though you obviously do) so why would she want to date the PLAYER if she knows she can't get into the real world?

2: People have pointed this out as a joke, but if she wanted to date the player so bad, then why didn't she just code herself a playable path? She's proficient enough at manipulating the game to supposedly get to the game's command line. Can she not just...give herself a path?

We also learn that Monika is manipulating the other characters to say things to try and scare the player character off. But if she REALLY wanted the player, why even bother? Just write into a poem that that's what is going on. Don't pussyfoot around it either, just straight up tell me. Natsuki got to tell me something was wrong with Yuri, so why couldn't Monika just at the beginning of the game be like 'yo I wanna get jiggy with it'??

I've heard people describe DDLC as a game that insults the tropes of dating sims and trivializes them. But...if the villain's motive is to, in the end, date the player, that kills it as a piece of subversive narrative. It further approves the idea that every character in a dating sim wants to sleep with you and ONLY you. Even the ones you can't normally get with in the game.

There are other problems with this game; However, the second biggest problem is definitely 2: Pacing So a former developer for Maxis games and former writer for Gamepro, Soren Johnson, describe fun in games like this.

Total fun=meaningful decisions/time played

Essentially, this means that the amount of fun a player has ins equal to how many decisions the player makes over the time they play. In a fun game like Skyrim, you make a lot of meaningful decisions in a little amount of time. So even though Skyrim is longer (Hell, I've probably sank at least 800 hours into that game across two whole platforms) I have a lot of fun with this game. DDLC's crimes against pacing are egregious. This game doesn't start getting to the creepy stuff that its fans tout as groundbreaking until FIVE HOURS into the game. Imagine getting a horror game, but having to sit through a schooday's worth of just tensionless, boring nothing.

While T1 has a pacing problem with slowness, T2 has one with quickness. It seems like after that first barrier of a character death got broken, DDLC decided to blow its load all over the damn place. Creepy thing after shocking thing until you just become numb to it. It's either too slow or too fast. And then...then there's the final weekend. As mentioned earlier, Yuri kills herself in T2. Now, you would expect a normal person who just saw a woman kill herself in front of them go to the police, or scream for help, or run all over the building in terror. What do you do? What happens?

You sit there. With the corpse. For THREE. IN. GAME. DAYS. YOU'RE EXPECTED TO SIT AND CLICK A SCREEN WITH A SLOWLY DECOMPOSING BODY ON IT FOR 45 GODDAMN MINUTES.

 I legit thought my game was broken. I had to look it up and make sure, and if you have to LOOK UP a solution to a dating sim, that's just...that's just bad design. Monika writes this off, saying that the 'script of the game' is broken, but we know the deal. Once again, Dan Salvato thinks that forcing you to sit through a traumatic event is going to scare you even more. 

But after having sat through three hours of 'ooky spooky' bullshit, I didn't care. I wanted the game to be broken because I wanted to be done.

3: Was there anything good? There were two good things about this game, and both of them are easy to explain. So forgive me.

Credit where credit is due, some of the jpeg and music manipulation was good. It wasn't nearly enough to save the game, sure, and I still wouldn't reccomend it since you can find all these creepy effects the game pulls on the internet. Bu some of the manipulation techniques were legit kinda creepy.

And the file manipulation in the computer, outside of the game, blurring the line between diegetic and non-diegetic  (Diegesis referring to what is and isn't in the universe of a piece of media, e.g. background music in non-diagetic but dialogue is diagetic) was really cool. I haven't seen stuff like that since Imscared back in 2013, and that game was legitimately terrifying. I felt like a genius trying to figure some of this stuff out.

Other than that, I mean...I guess the game IS free...i doesn't take up TOO much space on my hard drive...

4: CONCLUSIONit feels like the people who wrote this game wanted to write a creepy pasta. I can imagine this being some creepy story passed around forums i 2014, being talked about. Having its own little mini fandom on tumblr, maybe a stupid living tombstone song about it. I can imagine people making fangame versions of this creepy pasta, even down to bloody eyes and hyper realistic blood and all those little creepy pasta tropes. If this had been like Sonic.exe, a fad that we all forgot about and eventually brought into the realm of parody? That would at least be more entertaining than what we got.

Instead we got a bunch of writers who can't write and artists who watch too much anime to know how real clothes and breasts work, who in all honesty probably didn't want to hang out with nerdy game programmers and Just didn't put in their all. The programmers obviously wanted this game more than the writers did.

This game isn't worth the $0.00 it's charging for the standard product.

 If you just want to play a piece of good metafiction, stop playing DDLC, get a job, and go buy a PS2 with Metal Gear Solid 2 on it.

 If you want a good 'game about games' just bite the bullet and spend $15 bucks on undertale.

 If you want a free indie horror game that really gets under your skin, go get Yume Nikki. Trust me, that one's a real ride.

I also have problems with he music of this game, but that's a rant for another time. All I want to say is that you can do better.

 You can do so much better. 

Let this be a reminder that just because a game is free and has cute anime girls and a weird premise, doesn't mean it will all be good.

No matter how much it wants you to believe it is.

[whohastimeforcreativeurls]

The Last Jedi Review (no spoilers)

Last night, a meme enthusiast (https://timelloyd.tumblr.com/) and I saw Star Wars The Last Jedi. It was a belter of a film, and left me with a lot to process. For largely my own benefit in working out how I feel about it, I thought I’d write a review that’s as spoiler free as possible. Having said that, I went into The Last Jedi with a completely open mind, avoiding all spoilers and even all reviews lest my views of the film be tainted in any way by any preconceptions. It’s probably best enjoyed as such, going in with no spoilers and no predetermined ideas. I don’t generally write reviews, and this is, as I said, primarily to order my own thoughts and feelings about the film than it is to praise or damn it or influence anybody else’s opinions, nor is it to show off my stunted command of the written word.

Overall the film was great, I genuinely loved it, and it subverted nearly every expectation I had. It’s one of those films you come away from cinema still thinking about, likely for days afterwards. The ending is very open and I look forward to seeing where episode nine goes. However, it wasn’t perfect, rather it was excellent in spite of its flaws. To compare it to the other recent Star Wars films, the good moments were certainly miles better than The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and it’s a far more original and daring film than either of the others, but unfortunately the bad moments were far worse (for which I largely blame the script as the actual direction of the film was consistently on point), and I think it’s probably a less rewatchable film, although there are some scenes that I could and will watch again and again and again. I’d rate it 4/5, and I certainly recommend watching it. Out of all the new films I’ve seen this year (namely Beauty and the Beast, Logan, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, and Wonder Woman), The Last Jedi is easily the best of these (with the only possible exception being Logan, which is at least nearly as good). Also, very importantly, the Porgs aren’t terrible.

As most Star Wars films are, The Last Jedi is broken up into three stories, each of which follows one set of characters. These stories are brought together in the final act in a way that’s bound to satisfy the fans. These stories are best reviewed individually and are as follows:

Story A follows Luke, Rey and Kylo Ren. Luke and Rey begin precisely where they left off in The Force Awakens and have a great on-screen master/student relationship from the off, and Ren fits into this story well and his character is far more compelling than he is in the previous film, and his story in this film ends in a far stronger position. Other characters like Snoke, Chewbacca, the Porgs and R2-D2 also play a role in this story, but it is certainly focused on our trio of Force users. Story A does some of the best demonstrations and explanations of the Force that we’ve seen in the franchise and is beautiful and the strongest story in the film with a stunning conclusion. This story also contains some of the slickest humour in the film, and ultimately, despite a dark and sombre advertising campaign, this results in The Last Jedi in being the funniest film in the franchise in my opinion. Luke is cemented as my favourite character and Mark Hamill’s performance is possibly his greatest yet. I can’t begin to describe how much he steals the show, this really is Luke’s movie, and fans of the character will be very satisfied. There are so many stunning, breath taking, captivating, humourous and meaningful moments in this story. There is very little I’d change or criticise about story A, other than perhaps the development of Rey, and to a lesser extent, Ren, which were slightly odd in and arguably rushed in places, but each character has an incredibly satisfying conclusion. From the cinematography, to the acting, to the script, to the tone and themes, and especially the character development, this story is amazing. If there had been no B or C story, the film would have been just as good, possibly even better in my eyes. There’s a lot to unpack and a lot that happens in this story, and you’ll likely leave the cinema thinking about this one the most. It certainly leaves the biggest footprint on the film and the series as a whole. This story also likely has the most moments that will subvert the fans expectations, and playing the cards as close to the chest as they have done in the marketing for this film has certainly paid dividends. To quote Luke in the trailer, this is not going to go the way you think. I’d rate this story 5/5.

Story B follows Poe Dameron predominantly, but also features Leia and the new character Vice Admiral Holdo, as well as Hux and his new right-hand man to a far lesser extent, as well as C3-P0 to a very minor degree. This story featured some nice action sequences, and every scene Carrie Fisher was in was tantalising, and if nothing else this story does justice to the character of Leia. I also enjoyed how the Resistance are not presented as infallible, and make several mistakes and blunders, and at several points make things worse for themselves, which makes the Resistance more believable and human. Poe Dameron is allowed to shine in this story as well, and his character is developing very nicely, especially given his lack of opportunity in The Force Awakens. I also enjoyed some of the comedy moments, and that Ade Edmondson was indeed in the film in this story, but somewhat disappointed he gets seemingly no comedy moments of his own. Story B certainly isn’t as strong as story A. While some action sequences are spectacular and jaw dropping, others are gratuitous and uninspiring. Some character moments are odd, to say the least, with a great deal of the drama being the result of characters being dishonest or of poor judgement. I was less endeared to Hux and Snoke in The Last Jedi than I was in The Force Awakens, and this is due to the points that the plot took their characters too, but ultimately all ends satisfyingly for them, even if not quite how I’d expected. Some of the dialogue is a little over the top, even by Star Wars standards, and did make me cringe from time to time. A lot of this story is very slow, and outside the action sequences (which as before stated are somewhat hit and miss), very little seems to actually take place, and it does run the risk of being a little dull, but overall, it’s a solidly okay story. Inoffensive, if at certain points unremarkable. Also, just to lay my cards on the table, one slightly divisive character moment for Leia was, in my eyes, an absolute showstopper and I loved it. I’d rate this story 3.5/5.

Story C follows Finn, BB8, and the new characters of Rose and the Man in Black. I did not like this story. It added very little, if anything to the plot, and I did not like the new characters. I found Rose to be nice but superfluous and the Man in Black to be annoying to almost Jar Jar levels and disappointingly underdeveloped, despite a good performance from both actors. I found myself less endeared to Finn and BB8, as Finn’s character progresses oddly and hurriedly, as does the relationship between him and Rose, and BB8 is less quirky and charming than in The Force Awakens and instead is something of a tool in every sense of the word, simply showing up to solve problems whenever the plot demanded while showing little character of his own. It was very different in tone and themes to the rest of the film, and felt more like a mediocre filler episode of Star Trek than a suspenseful plotline in a Star Wars film. Ultimately, filler is probably the best word to describe this story, as well as preachy, underdeveloped, as well as superfluous in terms of what it actually adds to the plot, and everything that it could have added is ultimately undone by the actions of other characters and made redundant. Do feel free to disagree. At two and a half hours in length, The Last Jedi would have benefitted from spending less time on this story and more on the other two, or possibly even cancelling this story and leaving Finn with Poe and co rather than sending him off on his own lacklustre adventure. Finn does have a very good and suspenseful character moment at the end of the film which did have me on the edge of my seat and mirrored the start of the film nicely, but this too is ultimately undone by the actions of others and undermined by a very cliché and preachy messaged. My opinions on this story may change as I re-watch the film, but for this first viewing at least, it hit almost all the wrong notes for me. Unless my opinion changes from rewatching, I’ll likely end up skipping scenes from this story in future viewings. I’d rate this story 2/5.

The Force Awakens followed the Star Wars formula to the letter, and ended with the audience knowing quite well what to expect from the sequel. The Last Jedi completely breaks the mould of the franchise, takes a lot of risks, subverts almost every expectation I had for the franchise moving forwards, and I loved that. I think this film has enough that’s new and daring to appease those who were underwhelmed by the safety of The Force Awakens and Rogue One, with enough reverence for the original trilogy and prequels to satisfy the old school fans. The Last Jedi also has an incredibly open ending and I can’t wait to see where Star Wars goes next. I’m actually somewhat pleased that the next chapter in this trilogy will be directed by J.J. Abrams, because despite all the excellence of The Last Jedi, as I’ve said, I think The Force Awakens was more watchable, more of a traditional Star Wars, even if damnably safely so. Having said that, I am very curious to see where Rian Johnson’s new trilogy will end up taking the fans. Also, I will probably end up buying every piece of Luke Skywalker merchandise I can afford to.

[zandoct]

Why Mass Effect Andromeda is Great

So I finished MEA the other day, and I loved it to pieces. Easily top 5 games of all time, and only ten good games have ever been made. So imagine my surprise when I, the Discourse Liker, logged on and discovered that this beautiful work of art hadn’t been received very well. Who let the critics get away with that? Anyway, I’m going to explain why I love the game and why it’s really good and even some things it did better than the original trilogy.

Spoilers for the new alien species ahead

The Magnificent Ten

One of the great strengths of MEA compared to its predecessors in the franchise is the small cast of intimately written characters that form the Tempest crew. The Tempest is approximately one half the size of Normandy SR-2 and smaller than the SR-1, which means that there aren’t any faceless, nameless crewmembers. Instead, you have what I call the Magnificent Ten, because I’m bad at naming things.

To me, keeping the crew small and tightly knit is a fantastic improvement over previous games. This gives more space for the interrelationships (i.e. the way characters interact with characters other than the player) and helps you feel like you have greater agency over the Tempest, as a home. Which is one of the major themes of the game. Come on now. For instance, Lexi’s character is explored by her interaction with Drack as much as it is with Ryder, or Kallo with Suvi.

Compare that to ME2, which had a brilliant but very large cast that hardly ever interacted with each other. As discussed in this video, the only way a player can have agency in RPGs is if the NPCs have agency, and a great way to achieve that is to explore their relationships outside of the player. Using the banter system from Bioware’s other major modern title Dragon Age is one great way of making a team a family. WHICH IS THE OTHER MAJOR THEME OF THE GAME.

A rigorous analysis of the characterisation of the Tempest crew would take an entire other essay, but I’ll just comment that I found the interplay of themes shared between the crew – especially their loyalty missions – to be one of the best expressions of theme, tone and allegory in any game I’ve played.

For instance, Cora’s arc is (partially) about how you deal with being rejected, and Peebee’s arc is about how you deal with rejecting others. Liam represents your own mistakes and Jaal represents the mistakes of others. Vetra represents letting go of a role and Drack represents stepping forward into a role. Obviously this is just my interpretation but the very fact the narrative can be interpreted in so many fascinating ways is testament to its… beauty.

The supporting cast outside of the Tempest family are also a diverse, fascinating bunch. The Angara are represented on Aya by Commander Evfra, Moshae Sjefa and Governor Paaran. They have an interesting chemistry and each represents an individual, subtle example of Angaran culture. This makes the introduction to Aya a little overwhelming, filled as it is with so many important characters and unknown conflicts. But it’s a great way to be immersed in your Ryder, who’s probably also blown away by one of the game’s major discoveries.

A significant problem some critics have with the game is that only two sapient species were introduced in this new galaxy. While it would have been cool to see one or two more, the intense focus on two cultures is more reflective of the how the game interrogates having a smaller crew.

Plot Course, Setting Course (or; The Process of Renewal)

Another key criticism of MEA is that it is very iterative of the original series: keep in mind though that the original series is also iterative in its own way, drawing inspiration from a number of sci-fi/fantasy sources (KOTOR I’m side-eyeing you big time)

I think it can be refreshing to examine the themes of the original series with a new perspective granted by the different events and characters of MEA. Fundamentally, stories are only compelling because of what it tells us about humanity. Yes, the ancient Prothean tech is reminiscent of the Remnant. But they have different goals, different culture and most importantly, their two commentators – Liara and Peebee, respectively – are affected by them in different ways. As William Faulkner said:

“The only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself.” What I mean by this is that the similarities between the Protheans and the Remnant are less important than the different effect they have on the player and our companions.

The same goes for the Reapers and Kett and their twisted idea of uplifting other species. The Kett’s semblance of Ur-fascism is part of what makes them thematically distinct from the Reapers, rather than their superficial aims. Throughout the series, the Reaper’s philosophy was vague and mainly gathered from piecemeal exposition of the supporting cast, especially Legion and Saren rather than the Reapers themselves. The Kett are also enigmatic for most of the game, but what you learn about them is more concrete than their all-powerful Milky Way counterparts.

A fantastic scene, demonstrating that there's a niche for moments with no dialogue in Bioware games.

Discussing ‘the Kett as fascists’ is worthy of its own article so I will only briefly explore it here. In 1995, Umberto Eco provided a great analysis of fascism, both past and future. He states that fascist ideologies can be extrinsically and intrinsically contradictory while also being equally valid under the umbrella of fascism, something he calls Syncretism. For instance, Nazism and Mussolini’s fascism disagree in their treatment of religion, but both are quite clearly forms of fascism. He goes on to describe the theoretical qualities of ‘ur-fascism’, a hypothetical social order that could potential arise from any of the aforementioned qualities. I propose that the Kett are best analysed from the perspective of these qualities:

1. Cult of Tradition. The Kett oppose developing their philosophy. For instance, The Archon is harshly scrutinised by the Primus for trying to develop a new strategy for exalting the Angara. “We will take Heleus the way we always have.” To Archie’s credit, he’s hardly a true progressive, just an example of syncretism in action, and he’s also more of a practical leader than an ideological one.

2. Fear of difference (or diversity). The Kett only wish to integrate the aspects of species they deem appropriate, in a carefully predetermined way. They do not allow actual species into their hierarchy and they do not tolerate unexpected diversity. Eco refers to this as “an appeal against the intruders” but this can equally apply as “an appeal against the conquered” – that strategy is just as common in human history as the former.

3. Irrationalism (or, action for action’s sake). The Archon is not compelled to justify his actions to the player, and instead simply acts. To criticise himself would be to generate difference, or imply that his ideals may be unworthy, and that is unacceptable.

It is difficult to consider the Reapers so politically, as their motivations are left more ambiguous. For instance, one cannot draw a comparison between the Reapers and the Citadel Council as easily as one can between the Kett and the Andromeda Initiative, who both arrived from beyond Heleus. The differences between the Kett and the Reapers, then, are subtle but still significant.

Me looking at the discourse surrounding Andromeda

It’s also worth keeping in mind the struggle Bioware faced in producing a game that incorporated the themes of the original series (discovering ancient things to lead into the future, the interaction between technology and humanity) while also doing something new. In fact, MEA very clearly is trying to revisit the concepts of the first game in a new and improved light, and I think from that perspective MEA excels.

But there is plenty new here, don’t forget that! They were damned if they didn’t incorporate enough of the original series and if they didn’t innovate enough, and I think this lies at the root of its lukewarm reception. That and the complaints about cinematics. WHICH ARE BASICALLY ON PAR WITH THE ORIGINAL SERIES SO SHUT YOUR MOUTHS

S.A.M., INTERFACE

Paragon and Renegade, eat your heart out

As you can probably tell, this essay has focused much more on narrative and metaphor than on gameplay, purely because I find gameplay the least compelling part of all games. However, most would agree that the combat of MEA is the most fun of the franchise and the difficulty is very well gauged. I also think the dialogue interface (no pun intended, hahahaha get rid) is a real improvement. The demise of Paragon/Renegade system is finally here, and the game is better for its loss. Every decision must be judged on its own merits and the tone of dialogue options is much easier to predict by having four consistent possibilities.

The psych profiles Lexi compiles are also a much cooler way for the game to express how your Ryder is developing than a coloured bar. It’s a shame that ‘persuade’ abilities are lost: a system similar to Dragon Age Inquisition, where perks in history, politics, academics etc can increase your character’s expertise and hence persuasiveness would have been nice. But MEA doesn’t give you an easy way out, and sometimes you have to make a decision knowing it’s the wrong one. That’s very cool.

Also, right lads, no listen right, they actually FIXED side quests in MEA. Don’t you dare look me in the eye and say the side quests were anything but trash in ME, ME2 and ME3. Don’t you dare. Other than the fetch quests, ME3 wasn’t too bad, but MEA gets them really right. I would have liked a bit more cinematic dialogue in some of them, but it’s SO much better than Shepard and co silently jogging around a heartless rock jungle, pressing buttons. Also, who are these folk who love ME2 but attack Dragon Age Inquisition? What the hell is going on?

We Made It (to a conclusion)

One of the key differences between the original series and MEA is the scale. MEA is about a small supercluster of the galaxy (a piece of a corner of the universe, as Suvi calls it) and the few factions that are influential there. In ME1-ME3, life as we know it is at risk on a galactic scale. There are hundreds of different factions and a broader cast. Which you prefer is a matter of personal taste, but the intensity and detail of MEA’s story is a refreshing change for the franchise. I’ve often felt the vast, vast lore of the original series is done a disservice by the main plot, which renders all of it largely futile because all that matters is defeating the Reapers. Both games are about survival, but Andromeda’s smaller stakes allow for a variety of factors – political, environmental, military, philosophical etc – to influence that survival. In the original series, the only thing that influences survival is resolving the reaper threat. The original series is about heroes of legend rising to the challenge of saving the galaxy from an ancient conflict. On the other hand, Andromeda is about an inexperienced, relatively ordinary group of people who are prematurely forced into difficult situations and have to make a home out of them. I know which one I’d rather believe in.* Let me know what you think, send an ask or reply or w/ever

*Just kidding I love every Mass Effect game. Righto, cheers

See ya

[scqqhic]

[Copied from https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/98639-indirect-mentions-of-asexuality-in-magnus-hirschfelds-books/ for archival redundancy.]

(indirect) mentions of asexuality in Magnus Hirschfeld's books

By tommy92,  February 8, 2014 in Pre-2002

tommy92: About a week ago ithaca was looking for someone to look into and translate parts of a book called "Sappho and Sokrates". Additionally I was given some other resources from the same Author, Magnus Hirschfeld and I found quite a few passages which hinted to asexuality. Also there are some other things that didn't necessarily have to to with asexuality only, but with sexuality in general that I deemed interesting.

Beforehand a little disclaimer, it can become a little bit TMI to a degree. Just wanted to mention that so that nobody can say to me that I didn't mention it.

To every translated passage I will provide an image of the original text. If you happen to know German, I would be glad to get some feedback about the translation.

Here is a little explanation to how I formated the text:

My comments outside of text

Actual translation of the text

[my comments inside of the translation]

I will start from the earliest text to the latest. I just put them here without commenting on it too much as I want you to make your own comments ^_^

Sappho und Sokrates (1896)

Sappho und Sokrates (1896), the book’s motto:

That what is natural cannot be immoral

Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 5 - 8.5

I.

We have to accept at one point with the strange fact that love is not limited exclusively between opposite sexes. Even though, we haven’t understood the reasons of what causes of that love yet and this love also scares those who are affected by it we can now say that is isn’t coincidental that everywhere, in every era and peoples there is quite a big number of men and women who aren’t attracted to the opposite but to the same sex.

I don’t talk about crude sensuality, but pure, genuine and encompassing love. That kind of unfathomable feeling of greatest happiness, which poets describe in a magical and enthusiastic fashion. They describe the condition of being controlled by love whether we are awake or asleep. The condition we guard with envy, whose touch and sight makes you feel happy. A basic feeling which we cannot give or take, always trying to make the loved one happy, but also the wish of possession and the longing for reciprocation. That love, be it towards the same or opposite sex can lead to prostitution or even despicable acts and aberrations aren’t connected it’s grand character of deep feelings. There is a third group joining in which made understanding this question harder because they pretend to have feelings for both sexes in the same or differing strength. They are called psychological hermaphrodites and there their number shouldn’t be too small.

Because of the thick veil that secretly covers the sex life of humans is elusive to be put in numbers to see the ratio between the three classes of people. There is no other area that is filled with so many lies, distortions, estimations and self-delusions like this highly personal field. Even renowned scientist only have completely unreliable assumptions.

There is no unification for the personality, the quality and quantity of the sex drive. There are individuals who are without any sexual desire (anesthesia sexualis), up to individuals whose mere existence is focused on their sexuality (heat [as in animals are in heat], bestiality, hyperesthesia sexualis). Decades ago when we initially began to approach this corner of science, Casper thought that the sex drive is one of the controllable drives, but this sentence is a complete fallacy in general. It is dependent on the quantity to how much we can influence or suppress this urge. We could make a scale similar to the scale of wind strength where 1 would be most complete [completest?] indifference and 10 hurricane like sensual pleasure. Our diagram would look like this:

[diagram]

According to this we would have a man for instance who would only have feelings for women, but those feelings are passionate with A, 9. A woman who would be attracted to other women, but only rather cool, she would be B, 4. Hermaphrodites who are attracted to both in a moderate strength would be A, 5. + B, 5. and those who would be attracted to their own sex with wild desire and towards the opposite sex only weak attraction would be A, 3. + B, 9.

This arrangement shows the unseemingly huge diversity of sexual inclinations. We also have to consider the seemingly infinite variety of different tastes and interests like preference for blonde or dark hair, strong or tender people, smooth or hairy people. One has an interest in this delicate foot and the other one soulful eye, uniformed or just naked. Looking at all this diversity it is understandable that no two persons are equal to each other and that it is hard for a third party to understand the desires of another person.

Love that is directed the same sex would appear as something completely senseless if love’s purpose would exclusively be to procreate. (...) [to be continued]

Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 6

(...)There are individuals who are without any sexual desire (“Anästhesia sexualis”) (...)

Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 17

(...)

It is easy for cold inclined people to stay abstinent. Tilly, the misogynist [i did a brief research and couldn’t find the person he was referring to] and Cornelia, the sister of Goethe. He said about his sister that “there wasn’t any trace of sensuality in her character” (Wahrheit und Dichtung, Book XVIII [18]). They probably had an easy time to keep their moral purity.

(...)

Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 18

(...)

It is also not possible to artificially evoke the kind of drive, that is not existent or almost not noticeable. In case of a complete atrophy there is no way that it would spontaneously develop. However, if there already is a mental disposition towards it, it can be increased by the upbringing, exercise, example, seduction and suggestion. We can wake up a sleeping drives, as long as their sprouts are big enough, but we can never create new ones. The sex drive attaches itself irremovable to the developing cell mass [afaik he is referring to an embryo].

(...)

Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 31

(...)

The people refer to justice and the justice refers to the people. Does this turn a fallacy into the truth which is a few thousand years old?

The paragraph 175 is a black stain on the sign of the German Lady Justice of which we will look back on it in shame just like we look back in shame at those witch and heretics trials where they contradicted the conclusions of science. “Don’t burn the witches”, the scientists yelled at the judges for hundreds of years. “They aren’t criminals, they are exalted, hysteric women. Often their only offense is to be more spiritually gifted than their surroundings.” They wouldn’t listen, they would always refer to “the people’s voice” and unchanged the flames of the stakes are burning thousands of innocent women.

(...)

Sappho und Sokrates (1896), page 34

(...)

The state is supposed to work against the degeneration of our morals, but not using paragraphs which go against everything that scientific research has concluded, but to do hygienic education in every direction especially in the sexual one. That what is natural cannot be immoral, says Friedrich Nietzsche.

(...)

Die Transvestiten (1910)

Die Transvestiten (1910), page 421-422

(...)

Here I will describe the case which Forel himself describes as “a pure mental inversion of the sexual personality or, if you would like, purely mental hermaphroditism with sexual anesthesia”:

“A.M., age 22, Villager, son of an alcoholic, mentally disabled sister. He always was frail [i assume he meant it in a negative way because of the but], but highly intelligent and clever with completely normally developed male sex organs, which also developed normally during puberty. Beginning from his childhood, he thinks of himself as a girl. He hates the interaction with boys as well as manly work. Instead he passionately engages in cooking, sewing, mending, washing, ironing, stitching, domestic work in general. There is a compelling urge that drives him to wear women's clothing. Taunting and punishing is futile. He just claims to be a girl and wants to pursue a woman's job. The attempt to employ him with manly work in a bigger place failed completely. His female behavior was so suspicious that the police threatened with arrest under the assumption that he was a woman dressed like a man. Forced to wear men's clothing he still wears women's undergarments, even a corset.”

Forel has investigated this case closely. He writes: “The most interesting part about that, A.M. is completely sexual anesthetic. Everything that is connected to the sex drive is repulsive to him. The mere thought about sexual activities with men, who he is afraid of, dreads him probably even more than the thought about normal sex with women. He never has erections. However, as I said before, his testicles and penis are developed completely normal. He has a high voice, though and his whole being is reminiscent of a eunuch. Apparently this is a case of a sexual anesthesia with a purely psychic [mental] inversion of the sexual irradiation of the self. This informative case shows that the psycho-sexual personality [sexual orientation?] can be hereditary [genetically?] predetermined independent from the sex organs and purely in the brain. Furthermore it shows that it [psycho-sexual personality] can even work without any sexual feelings and without any sex drive.”

(...)

Sexualpathologie Teil I (1916)

Sexualpathologie Teil I (1916) , page 183-184

(...)

In this chapter we talk about automonosexualism, but only in a sense of sexual excitement caused by one’s own body. I will now portrait a typical case of this anomaly, observed by me and Dr. Burchard to form a basis for our further observations. A 37 year old big and sturdy man, a farmer, came to us. He states that he is completely indifferent towards the female sex, never touched one, unmarried, also inclinations towards the same sex are missing entirely. But seeing himself naked in the mirror causes the greatest feelings of  sexual pleasure. It makes it even less understandable for the fact that he doesn’t have the body of an Adonis or of a Narcissus, but sharing similarities with Thersites with his untended beard and hairy body. He recalls that the first sexual arousal was caused spontaneously when he first saw his whole body in a mirror at the beginning of puberty. Following happened during the examination:

He put off his clothing and just looking at himself in the mirror he immediately got an erection and was visibly excited. He excused himself and began to kiss the mirror. We allowed him to proceed and he took the mirror of the wall and began to squeeze his body onto it. Apparently he was very skillful as he had to be careful to not break the mirror. Shortly after that he ejaculated...

He says about himself: "I love myself all the way to madness"

(...)

Sexualpathologie Teil I (1916) , page 186-188

(...)

There are also cases of automonosexualism in which neither mirrors nor images that are erotically stimulating, but only the sight of the naked body alone was enough. This is also an account of a relatively unknown and unappreciated anomaly, which would have been seen as asexuality in the past.

A 40 year old art salesman seeked me. He had an athletic body because of the exercises he does. If someone complimented him about his body he blushed and was (deeply) embarrassed by it. He admitted that his strong musculature was his only means of becoming sexually stimulated. The only thing he did was locking himself in the bathroom, flexing his muscles, touching them, fondling/stroking them. During that he gets an erection. After that he lifted dumb bells and did chin-ups. Somewhere around the 20th and 30th chin-up and without touching his genitals he usually got an intense ejaculation. I have a few sentences about this quite intelligent "weirdo":

(...)[i thought that this part is not really important. Hirschfeld writes about this person’s family and that there was a high suicide and criminal rate in his family and that he could almost be described as gifted. And that he had his first ejaculation by the age of 12 or 13 and he shortly began with his "chin-up masturbation"]

I have never had intercourse with a woman and I will never wish to do so. I am possessed by a strange dualism. From a mental[intellectual?] point of view is every kind of sports unsympathetic, not to say repulsive, but in an erotic point of view I love every kind of physical activity with all I have. I have a fiery longing for doing gymnastics of every kind, but not dancing and the like. However, I am ashamed for doing those physical activities near relatives, friend and people of my "way of thought"[no idea what is meant by that]. Because of that I can only do it in privacy, without anyone knowing. When I lift the dumbbells I am highly cautious as cautious as I would be if I would go out to break in somebody's home.

I am ashamed to show my charms. I would dread it if my surroundings would know that I am muscular. I only give in the delectations to walk tight and elastic if I exactly know that I wouldn't meet an acquaintance on my way. I explain the sexual value of walking hard this way:

When I got to school in Fiume a teacher pressed his knee in my back and pulled back my shoulder at the same time. I was 6 years old; It was really painful; I thought he might break me. Later on, I remembered this little martyrdom very often with big delights. By the way, in this hour was also the first time I experienced a feeling of being insufficient; A noble fellow pupil was complimented for his straight posture from the same teacher. From this day on the terms straight posture, elegant figure or words like chest or back always contained a certain amount of sexual context for me. Some times I feel like it would be arousing to wear servants livery.

But all things considered: I am not sexually aroused [attracted?] by men nor women, only by myself, less my empirical body or better the wishful thinking I have about it.

W. exposes a variety of signs of physical degeneration: He is bald headed since he was 20 years old; has gynecomastia and has noticeably small genitals; he is left-handed; his face childish with big infatuated eyes. He has pretty handwriting in which he tells us he is in love with. Hygiene is very important to him; he cannot exist without his daily bath. Bugs, mice, bad odors, dirty clothing, dusty furniture, especially sticky things can invoke suicidal thought in him. He is controlled by many compulsions and idiosyncrasies in general. And yet he possessed stupendous amounts of knowledge and despite all his superstitious tendencies a sharp and very skeptical mind, a burning ambition and holds himself in high esteem.

(...)

Sexualpathologie Teil II (1918)

Sexualpathologie Teil II (1918), page 145

(...)

However, the experience shows that this automonosexual streak, just like the homosexual streak, isn’t the same for every transvestite. There are many for whom the simple changing of clothes isn’t enough to cause erotic feelings and just see it as a way of bringing their feminine inner side to the outer world. I knew those, who were already content if they were able to go for a walk as a woman from time to time. During the walk they never had erections nor ejaculations nor the desire to have any sexual intercourse, be it with male or female persons. One could say they are asexual.

(...)

Sexualpathologie Teil III (1920)

Sexualpathologie Teil III (1920), page 82

(...)

The most famous bon vivants [“lady's men” “ladykillers”] whose names became a term on their own; Casanovas, Don Juans, Phrynes, Messalines on the one side and on the other side men like Immanuel Kant and the painter Menzel who allegedly have never known love nor sex and women like Cornelia Goethe whose brother Wolfgang said about her that she shows no evidence of sensuality. Between those two limits are all imaginable kinds of gray shades. For decades those individual strengths in the drive are kept with few exceptions on the same level. With other words: frigid men and women have a lower level and temperamental ones a higher level of libido [i have a problem understanding the rest of the sentence...if I understand correctly it means that frigid persons have a lower libido than they should have and temperamental persons a higher libido than they should have. Not sure, though.] instead of keeping their associated sexual temperament [probably another word for libido?]. The direction of the drive has nothing to do with it's strength. Heterosexuals as well was homosexuals can be quite passionate, but they can also have a weakly developed sex drive. If they are bisexuals the strength of the attraction towards either sex can develop quite differently. Patients themselves usually express the strength with numbers. They could be attracted to females 90 percent and to males 10 percent of the time, for instance.

(...)

Sexualpathologie Teil III (1920), page 162-163

(...)

I. Cerebral Impotence

a) Drivelessness (anerotism, asexuality)

b) Lustlessness (anorgasmia)

(...)

Cerebral Impotence

Let us first turn to the talking about drivelessness, but we have to answer the question beforehand: “Are there even anerotic people, men and women of a post pubic age without any desire for sexual activities?” It is often said about someone, even male but especially female persons who don’t have any sexual desires whatsoever. They be called asexual, anerotic or how one could also say "atropic" [i haven't found any reference for that word...maybe he meant "atrophic"?]; It is not uncommon that such claims are made by relatives of those people. It is also not uncommon to claim from people who are celibate -something that is from a standpoint of biological and psychological factors something that goes against nature- that they have no sexual feelings and it is said that it is caused by the long time exposure to anti-erotic literature. Big philosophers like Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Leibniz, Spinoza and others are told to have spent their youth as bachelors because they would have spiritualized their sex drive. If you have the chance to go to the bottom, you will shed new light onto those cases. Those persons often have an autistic sex life [i have no idea what that means, I just translated it literally] or they were sexually fixated on objects which they very well knew how to hide. It also might be the case that they actually suppressed their urges with all their might. Also are these person who had a general low sex drive, which was very often on a biological basis like gonads which produce too little amounts of eroticising substances.

(...)

Sexualpathologie Teil III (1920), page 266

“Painter Menzel as a type of a sexually negative”

(...)

The theoretical idea of the sublimation of the sex drive comes into play, for instance in a sense of Nietzsche who once said that the sex drive could be made available to the machine. People who think that way often use great minds as an argument namely philosophers, Leibniz, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche also Spinoza and Cartesius who allegedly spent their life as bachelors. Saying this doesn't necessarily mean that it is automatically true that they were sexually abstinent especially if you don't disregard that they perhaps might have had sexual drive disorders. After all you cannot generalize something that applies to extraordinary people. Indeed it seems true that the sex life of people who intensely use their mind productively is not the same as the sex life of people who are physically productive. If the superb painter Adolf von Menzel mentions in his testament that he never had touched a woman in his entire life, while one can assume that this creative mind deviated noticeable from the norm in the context of sexuality, it doesn't mean that his sex drive was directed towards the other direction [i.e. homosexuality]. Those who have known Menzel personally will not be surprised of the sexual negativism -might have been caused by endocrines- he expressed.

(...)

Sexualpathologie Teil III (1920), page 270

(...)

During the war he was hit by a bullet and lost his right eye because of it [i think it wasn't a bullet, though. I guess it actually means something like a shrapnel]. The brain wasn't greatly affected. However he had a concussion with vomiting and was apathetic for months [i don't know why but I have the feeling it has more to do with the war than with the actual injury]. The most important fact is about his sexual nature. According to this he has inherited a very low sexual urge from his mother. Even after his puberty which went by very normal, a sex drive never came into action. Even though he felt attracted to female appearances, he never had any desire to have intercourse with them. He never needed any sexual satisfaction. Before he was married he had hoped that this missing desire would become active once he is in a marriage. Unfortunately these hopes have been proven to be false. He often made attempts to have intercourse with his wife. It never worked out. After the first few failures he had developed fears and other mental inhibitions that made it impossible for him to achieve an erection. Those previous failures also had a significant negative effect on his mental health. He wasn't able to cope with the ill temper of his wife and his mental health further deteriorating soon believed that it was completely impossible for him to have a successful intercourse with this woman. He noticed that his own sexual excitement decreases more the more his wife’s excitement increases. And it decreases even further the harder he tries to satisfy her needs. He cannot even think about inserting his member into her vagina anymore. Even the wish of children, which both want more than anything, cannot change that. His rare ejaculations are nocturnal emissions. Physiologically is Mr. Sch. a well built man with healthy organs and normal development of the sex organs, he only has a little weakness of the nervous system: slightly heightened reflexes and slight shaking of the eyelids and hands.

His wife has completely normal and healthy sexual feelings. She is both physically and mentally healthy and normal as well. Besides the already said, she adds:

She suffered more under the missing marital sexual release when she shared the house and bedroom with her husband. Prior to the the years of futile arousals and hardship of the last years she was mentally completely healthy. Her current state is one that was foreign to her in the past. She lost 7kg [15.4lbs] during this year. Furthermore she slept badly and fitfully. Her mood is also unbalanced and irritable, cries easily and has become very feisty. Heart palpitations and anxiety not uncommon. An objective examination confirmed those findings. The inner organs of Ms. Sch. are healthy and she he has the ability to conceive. Her heart rate is slightly increased and her breathing is very irregular. Skin- and tendon reflexes are greatly increased. Her hands and tongue tremble intensely. In the psychological side is the shallowness very much noticeable. She she began to cry multiple times without any reason.

Because of this report we came to following assessing conclusions:

Mr. Sch. suffers from a “mental-nervous caused inability to copulate” relating to his wife. Looking at the course and the nature of this ailment we cannot speak of a temporary disorder. It is based on an abnormal psychosexual disposition which isn’t medically treatable anymore. Each attempted intercourse just increases this suffering. Both he and his wife couldn’t have known of this condition prior to the marriage. They had to assume that it would go away after the first few months of marriage. At this time she had to become aware of the fact that at the time of marriage there was a mistake regarding the husband’s ability to copulate. This mistake would have kept her from marrying considering the valuation of the nature of marriage. The nervous hyperexcitability and irritable weakness are an indication for the state caused by the ailment of her husband.      

Looking at the findings we can safely assume that there has never been any marital intercourse between those two people. This kind of marriage is from a medical point of view unsustainable and because of it’s nature it has to be considered as not existing. The requirements of §1333 BGB. are completely met.

This marriage has been annulled.

(...)

Feedback is highly appreciated :)

Also I will make some minor additions later on, but I have to wait for a permission before doing so^^

I finally got the physical copy and it has an ISBN :D

ISBN: 3-226-01388-2

And also, guess who made it possible (by requesting the digitization) that the book can now be bought on Amazon (com) (de) :P

Edit: Changed the color of the translation so it's better distinguishable.

Edit2: Changed the color of my in-translation comments so it's better distinguishable.

Edit3: Added some more text at the end of Teil III, page 270

Edit4: Included the "artificially" and removed "in the future" (Sappho und Sokrates p.18)

Edit5: added pages 5 to 8.5-ish including the -for the time- very good diagram^^ and added the ISBN of the book

ithaca: I can't even begin to thank you for your work, Tommy! :cake: This is more than awesome, it goes to add about half a century to our history! Working with you (well, seeing you work, mostly :redface: ) has been one of the most rewarding experiences for me on AVEN, and I really hope to see you at WorldPride, where I hope to see this discussed at the conference maybe! Kinsey (with his "group X") was so damn late to the party :P

Aqua-ace: Awesome work, Tommy! :cake: This really changes how we see early asexual history!

.Lia: Awesome job!

Lambda Corvus: Great job undertaking this project.  It shows that asexuality was at least known further back than we were initially led to believe, even if the surrounding understanding of it was not well developed.

Mysticus Insanus:

It is easy for cold inclined people to stay abstinent. Tilly, the misogynist [i did a brief research and couldn’t find the person he was referring to]

I think it might refer to Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly‎? Although, the only indication I've found on the fly why Hirschfeld would call him misogynist is that Count Tilly was nicknamed "The Monk in Armor" by his contemporaries.

tommy92: I came across this person as well, but I couldn't find any indication that would let him seen as misogynist, at least I found that "Monk in Armor" wasn't enough for me, but I guess it might be the person of question^^

Cicero: This is very interesting, thanks for translating. Considering how early this is, some of the explanations come pretty close to what we would recognise as asexuality.

Robin L: Wow, to think that something akin to asexuality is mentioned in a book so old...just mind-blowing.Thanks for the translate. :cake: for the work

VindicatorPhoenix: That's really cool, I had no idea that asexuality was a recognized orientation at the time, even if few knew about it.

Sennkestra: Oh, wow, this is great! Thanks for translating this :D

Valeati: This is wonderful.  Thank you so much. 

Carmilla DeWinter: So, kudos to the translations. This is stuff I hadn't known either. As I am German, some notes.First: Yes, this is certainly Graf von Tilly Hirschfeld is referencing, who was a general in the 30 Year War. He has a number of sights named after him, but. Meh. There are people who do not remember him well to this day, and IMO rightly so. According to an online source without citations, Tilly was raised a Jesuit, had no interest in women, and habitually killed soldiers for gambling and being drunk. This is not sufficient to name him an "misogynist", at least, not in the way we today understand the word.Sappho and Sokrates p. 18. The second last word in the first sentence is „künstlich“ - artificial.The Transvestites. „frail“, or maybe delicate. Most certainly meant as negative. „hereditär“ would be translated as „genetical(ly)“ nowadays. I believe the „psycho-sexual personality“ is referring to gender, not orientation.Sexualpathologie I, about „M.“ About the „Geistesrichtung“. I believe he means people who have a similar mentality or mindset as he has. Given that we're talking about an arts dealer, he probably means other well-educated (artsy) types.Sexualpathologie III, first excerpt – unless we stumble upon Hirschfeld's definition of „Sexualtemperament“, I have absolutely no idea what he means, either.Sexualpathologie III, p. 162 „atropisch“ from Atropos, the Greek goddess of fate who „cuts off the thread of life“? I don't have sufficient knowledge of the myth to guess why Hirschfeld would pick that word. „Autistic sex life“ meaning their desires aren't focused on other people and they only self-stimulate?I hope this is somewhat helpful.

tommy92: Thank you, for the feedback :cake: :)

I will integrate it as soon as I can^^

This is not sufficient to name him an "misogynist", at least, not in the way we today understand the word.

That was a thought of mine as well

Sappho and Sokrates p. 18. The second last word in the first sentence is „künstlich“ - artificial.

Thank you for pointing that out...sometimes my mind changes words. I read it as "künftig" for some reason. Will fix that soon^^

The Transvestites. „frail“, or maybe delicate. Most certainly meant as negative. „hereditär“ would be translated as „genetical(ly)“ nowadays. I believe the „psycho-sexual personality“ is referring to gender, not orientation.

I don't know if the person who told me that wants to be named (if you read this, just let me know ;) ) but I was told this:

"Hereditary" shouldn't be automatically read as "genetic", on account of some history of science matters. People have known for a very long time that offspring tend to resemble their parents, and this is true of plants, animals, and humans. Presumably, people have been using this to do selective breeding since the dawn of agriculture. Recognizing this is different from having a theory of inheretence. "Genetic" is specifically associated with a specific theory of how this happens, specifically a discrete theory of inheritance along the lines of the one proposed by Mendel. (One reason that Darwin's notion of "natural selection" as the mechanism for evolution took so long to catch on was that he had no theory of inheritance, even though his theory needs one to work.)

Sexualpathologie III, p. 162 „atropisch“ from Atropos, the Greek goddess of fate who „cuts off the thread of life“? I don't have sufficient knowledge of the myth to guess why Hirschfeld would pick that word. „Autistic sex life“ meaning their desires aren't focused on other people and they only self-stimulate?

Same person:

So I would take "autistic sex life" to mean that the person sexual arousal/interest does not have any external focus (i.e. not interested in other humans, animals, or even objects).

As I said before, I will integrate it as soon as I feel up to it, hopefully tomorrow :/

echidna: This is really valuable work Tommy92, and it's wonderful to see someone putting in so much effort. I hope awareness of these texts filters through to academics who are working in this area.

Carmilla DeWinter: Good point on "hereditary" by anon. I shall keep that in mind.

tommy92: I finally got the physical copy and it has an ISBN :D

ISBN: 3-226-01388-2And also, guess who made it possible (by requesting the digitization) that the book can now be bought on Amazon (com) (de) :P

So if anyone is interested in buying it and understands German (and can read Fraktur ;) ) you now have an easy time to do so^^ (and you pay less money than I did...digitization is somewhat costly...at least I payed less for my physical copy :P )