lonely
[ID: A limited palette of green and pink, Vashwood comic. The first page serves as a prologue. The first panel shows Vash speaking to someone off screen while Wolfwood is lingering behind him. A black arrow is drawn pointing at him. In the second panel, Vash is buying donuts in the distance while Wolfwood is once again in view, lingering. and the black arrow is drawn pointing at him. In the third panel, Vash is leaving a cubicle and turning towards his right with a slightly peeved expression. He sees Wolfwood, leaning against the cubicle, waiting for him, and with the black arrow drawn, pointing at him, implicating the consistent hovering of Wolfwood’s presence during Vash’s everyday. At the bottom of the page, they’re drawn out of panel with Vash turning to Wolfwood and saying with an irritated expression, “You’re really following me everywhere, huh?” Wolfwood responds, “What, you got a problem?” Vash responds without hesitation, “Yeah, kinda...”
The second page starts with a new day. In the first panel, Vash is seen alone, weighing apples in his hands at a mart, with crowds passing behind him. In the second panel, he turns to his right and starts to say, “Hey, Wolfwood...” In the third panel, he’s startled from seeing a stranger, whom he’d accidentally called out to when he was expecting to see Wolfwood. He says, “Oh, you’re not him. Sorry!” In the fourth panel, the stranger walks off and Vash muses, “Right, he said he had something to do today...”
The third page begins with a close up of Vash's miffed expression, the continuation of Vash's thoughts, "Now that he's not here, this is just like how I used to be, but... It feels lonely somehow. Oh well, I'll see him again tonight, like always." In the second panel, it shows Vash walking through the marketplace crowd, alone. In the third panel, the door panel is a close up of the door opening with a peek of Vash's head. He says, "Wolfwood!" In the fourth panel, Vash is holding a bag of food with a bright smile and says, "Are you hungry? I got you something to eat today!"
The fourth page begins with a shot of the room, two beds being highlighted, one of them being made properly with the blanket draped over the bed and the other with the blanket folded and pillow sitting on top of it. There's no sign of Wolfwood. The second panel shows Vash with a disappointed look as he thinks, "He's still not here?" The third panel shows Vash putting the bag of food on the table. Stapled to the paper bag is the receipt with a written note "For Wolfwood." Vash's thoughts continue "He does like to stay out so, I guess there's no reason to worry..." The fourth panel shows Vash sitting his bed somberly with his thoughts continued, "It's not any of my business anyway..."
The fifth page starts with a close up his blank expression as he looks downwards, thinking, "Even if he left completely... That'd be understandable and better for him. I'll just travel alone again... like before... Huh?" The next panel shows Vash's composure break, tears welling up in his eyes suddenly, as he didn't expect to cry. He starts to sob, putting his hands to his face to quiet himself and wipe at his tears, as he says, "Ugh... Dammit... I miss h..." The last panel shows Vash leaning over into his hands, still crying, and in the back, the door swings wide open with a bam as Wolfwood walks through with the punisher swung behind him. He shouts, "SPIKEY! You in here?!"
The sixth page starts with Wolfwood confused, looking at Vash and Vash looks back, just as confused, with tears in his eyes and snot out of his nose. Wolfwood starts saying, "Ah? You..." No longer in panels, at the bottom of the page, Wolfwood takes the Punisher off of himself and starts to walk towards Vash, continuing with slight concern, "What's wrong with you? Did something happen?" Vash, hurriedly begins to wipe at his tears, denying immediately, "No! No, I'm fine! Nothing happened!"
The seventh page, Vash points towards the table, with a hand still wiping at his tears and he smiles as he says, "I uh got you food. On the table." Wolfwood looks towards to the table and responds, "Oh. I was getting hungry, thanks." He turns his head back to Vash immediately after with an uncertain expression, knowing the other wasn't responding to his concern, and says, "But, I know you're an idiot with this stuff, so I'm reminding you again. Don't brush it off if it's an issue, alright?"
The eight page, Vash's tears have dried and he looks to Wolfwood with a soft smile and responds, "Yeah. It's okay though..." A panel at the center shows a side view of Vash approaching Wolfwood. At the bottom of the page, with no panel, is a close up shot of Vash's hand, holding onto the edge of Wolfwood's jacket sleeve, as he says, "Because you're here now. Wolfwood."
The final page is a back shot of both of them standing next to each other, Wolfwood's head tilted slightly to the left, not fully believing Vash as he says, "That doesn't answer anything, Spikey." Vash responds, "There's no need to talk about it! You should enjoy your food. Let's have a drink too?" Wolfwood responds, "Tsk, tsk. Fine, yeah. I could use one." END ID]
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One of my favorite parts of phase 2 (and indeed one of the few moments I resonated with IDW Prowl) was when the neutrals were coming back to Cybertron and Prowl said that he refused to let Autobots be pushed aside and overruled after they were the ones who fought for freedom for 4 million years (the exact wording escapes me atm).
And I mean, that resentment still holds true even once the colonists come on bc like. As much as it's true that Cybertron's culture is fucked up, and as funny as it can be to paint Cybertronians as a bunch of weirdos who consider trying to kill someone as a common greeting not important enough to hold a grudge over.... The colonists POV kind of pissed me off a lot of times, as did the narrative tone/implications that Cybertronians are forever warlike and doomed to die by their own hands bc it just strikes me as an extremely judgemental and unsympathetic way to deal with a huge group of people with massive war PTSD and political/social tensions that were rampant even before the war?
Like, imagine living in a society rife with bigotry and discrimination where you get locked into certain occupations and social strata based on how you were born. The political tension is so bad there's a string of assassinations of politicians and leaders. The whole planet erupts into an outright war that leads (even unintentionally) to famine and chemical/biological warfare that destroys your planet. Both sides of the war are so entrenched in their pre-war sides and resentment for each other that this war lasts 4 million years and you don't even have a home planet any more. Then your home planet gets restored and a bunch of sheltered fucks come home and go "ewww why are you so violent?? You're a bunch of freaks just go live in the wilderness so that our home can belong to The Pure People Who Weren't Stupid And Evil Enough To Be Trapped In War" and then a bunch of colonists from places that know nothing about your history go "lol you people are so weird?? 🤣🤣 I don't get why y'all are fighting can't you just like, stop??? Oh okay you people are just fucked up and evil and stupid then" ((their planets are based on colonialism where their Primes wiped out the native populations btw whereas the Autobots and OP in particular fought to save organics. But that never gets brought up as a point in their favor)) as if the damage of a lifetime of war and a society that was broken even before the war can just magically go away now that the war is over.
Prowl fucking sucks but he was basically the only person that pointed out the injustice of that.
And then from then on out most of the characters from other colonies like Caminus and wherever else are going "i fucking hate you and your conflicts" w/ people like literal-nobody Slide and various Camiens getting to just sit there lecturing Optimus about how Cybertronians are too violent for their own good and how their conflicts are stupid, with only brief sympathetic moments where the Cybertronians get to be recognized as their own ppl who deserve sympathy before going right back to being lambasted.
Like I literally struggled to enjoy the story at multiple points because there was only so much I could take of the characters I knew and loved being raked over coals constantly while barely getting to defend themselves or be defended by the narrative so like. It was just fucking depressing and a little infuriating to read exRID/OP
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Criticisms of Sansa as/being a static character or experiencing no character growth/development makes 0 sense to me.
Is her development more subtle? Yes. But it's there.
Does she have less development than other characters? Also yes. But not because she's less important or purposefully trying to remain the same.
She's physically trapped in a hostage situation. She is also mentally/emotionally trapped. She's walking on eggshells in a hostile court where she can't trust anyone. She doesn't have the opportunity to effectively grow and develop emotionally and mentally as a young girl should.
Arya is forced into the wider world to survive. She travels and meets people, and her narrative focuses a lot on her learning about the world. There is a stark difference in that Arya has an open world to explore, full of novelties and mentor figures, whilst Sansa is constantly confined and tied down to a particular place (whether it be the Red Keep, the Eyrie etc.).
I have a lot of thoughts on GRRM but he doesn't disappoint when it comes to building main characters with realistic portrayals of human nature, trauma etc. Sansa's static nature and gradual change is realistic, metaphorical/symbolic (mentally trapped, lost autonomy, stuck in time etc.) and adds a different pacing to a character arc.
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See having specific abilities be a genetic trait is fine. But what if it was instead a reflection of the experiences that someone goes through in childhood when unlocking their ability? While scientifically speaking this probably doesn't make as much sense but on a basic level this would be such a cool basis for how someone develops abilities and make Sophie's genetic mutation case even more messed up.
Say what if a kid grows up in a prestigious nobility family, that just so happens to be like celebrities in the elvin world and they have to uphold this fake image to be what the public wants them to be. What if they have to uphold this idea of themselves in front of almost everyone, sometimes even within the space of their own home?
You know what I would value the most in people close to me?
Transparency and trust.
And BOOM what do you know a family of Vanishers and Telepaths, unintentionally made through not one but two generations of trauma, where not only the children right now (Biana, Fitz, and Alvar) but along with Alden and Della have a deep understanding of what it means to be honest and only put your faith into the people you love and hold the closest to you.
Okay so let's try another one.
What would happen if two children happen to have overbearing parents who expect things that they cannot give to their legacy. What if they are pushed and pushed and pushed and punished just for being born? Well, what if one of them tries to be exactly what they want? Stuffing away all of that judgement, that shame, and the anger of that shame down until it all bubbles up and the dam bursts?
Or hey what would happen if a kid instead chose to ignore what they were saying, and find comfort in something that was outcast from society like them? What would happen to the kid who lay in bed and make shadow puppets with his hands at night, dreaming of a world in which he could use the creatures from his imaginings and turn them on the monsters of the real world?
"Well I don't know Tobi what would they value?"
Accepting and embracing the flaws that come with a person!!!!
"How does that have to do with Hydrokinetics and Shades?
Because both of them are only seen as useful when they can offer someone else something they want, and are otherwise stigmatized and seen as unstable and dangerous!
(you could also draw conclusions as to stigmatized mental illnesses that people see as other, especially those which have a negative taboo around them and are thrown around as common words quite regularly. I won't dig into this further than here since i do not have experiences with such, but you can extend this and other factors into the examination of other abilities.)
I just think that it would be such a cool prospect that growing up, elvin abilities take shape through the deepest experiences and wants at the core of someone's personality, and reflecting that through manifestation!
That's also another reason to compare Sophie's situation to the elvin world, and kind of add how fucked up it is. They deprived her a right of developing her abilities naturally by planting her in a specific environment and setting her up to have specific abilities, experiences, and personality traits.
Anyway just kind of a concept i've been thinking on for a bit.
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