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duhragonball · 3 years

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Krillin for the character ask :)

Give me a character and I will answer:

Why I like them: It’d be easy for me to say “he’s just a good dude” and leave it at that. I think people would agree with that statement, but I think it runs deeper than that. The thing that stuck with me about Krillin was when I was checking out the bonus features on the Movie 6 DVD I bought in 2002 or whenever, and they had an interview with Sonny Strait where he explained that Krillin only got into martial arts to impress girls, and that was the same reason Sonny got into voice acting. Maybe I’m misremembering that, but it always stuck with me.

Krillin wants things out of life, and unlike a lot of the other characters, he’s not looking to get them by wishing on a magic dragon. He wants to become worthy of the things he wants, and he may not always be sure of how to get there, he knows that he has to become more than he is.

Recently, I’ve been seeing excerpts from Barack Obama’s book, where he talks about reading up on subjects to try, unsuccessfully, to get girls to like him in college. I think the idea was that he was trying to be self-effacing, but it hasn’t gone over very well. I’m not sure if the problem was that he wasn’t being self-effacing enough, or if there’s something more sinister about reading Karl Marx just in case it helps your odds of getting noticed. I’m not going to wade into that controversy, except to say that it reminded me of Krillin.

Is it shallow to have self-serving reasons to improve yourself? Did I just answer my own question? The point I’m making here is that it’s a useful motivator. Krillin has self-esteem issues, and he joined the Orin Temple and then Kame House to try to overcome them. He thought “If I just get really good at this one thing, then people will like me.” And we can say “Oh, no, it doesn’t work that way, Krillin, people like you because you’re a such a good person, and besides, it doesn’t matter how good you are at martial arts.”

Okay, fine, let’s assume that’s true, and Krillin deceived himself by training in martial arts. Oh no! He put in all that work, and all he got out of it was... being the strongest human on Earth. Shoot. He made himself a better person for nothing.

The reality is that I don’t think he would be as well-liked if he hadn’t gone down this road, simply because people wouldn’t have gotten to know him. That’s really what it’s about. It’s easy to say that you’re liked for “who you are on the inside”, but what people really want is to be noticed long enough to be liked for who they are. And sometimes you gotta take a long look at yourself and say “I need to do something to grab people’s attention.”

And sometimes, in order to motivate yourself into that kind of work, you have to play that trick on yourself. “Just think, if I put in those extra reps in the gym, the ladies’ll be all over me!” And it never actually happens, but it gets you through that workout, and the next, and the next, and the next.

I think we can all relate to that. I’m writing this because three people asked me to, and I’m sort of hoping a few more will see it and like what I wrote. I try to get better, because I like the rush of validation that comes with it. And if I don’t get it, well, boo-hoo, I wrote a few hundred words about Krillin, a subject I enjoy writing about. It’s a no-lose situation, and there’s some non-zero chance that attractive single women might see this and decide to slide into my DMs. It’s a tiny chance, hardly worth mentioning, but it’s a lot higher than if I just sit in my apartment and stare at the wall.

Why I don’t: Ocean Dub Krillin really rubbed me the wrong way, because they wrote and voice directed the character to be really nebbishy. That wouldn’t necessarily make him a bad character, but it definitely conflicted with what you see on the screen, where he’s stepping to Nappa, Vegeta, Dodoria, and everything else he has to deal with. Once Sonny got the role, everything turned out cool. Mondo cool, if you will.

I suppose I should point out the flip side of what I wrote above. Krillin’s so focused on being worthy that he fails to recognize his achievements. That’s admirable in its way, but it also makes you worry about the guy. Like, he knows 18 is crazy about him, right? Wait, does Obama know people like him? Do I? Oh I might have made myself sad there for a minute, excuse me.

Favorite episode (scene if movie):

Probably the moment he tries to take on Super Buu all by himself. One of the cool things about Krillin is that he’s taken on every major villain from Piccolo Junior to Buu, despite being outclassed. I think the Super Buu thing is the best one, though, because in that situation there’s literally no chance of anyone jumping in to save him. His entire plan is to hold off Buu for a few seconds and maybe buy a few minutes for the others. He’s doomed and he knows it won’t even work as a diversion, but he still jumps in anyway. It proves that this is who he is. When there’s literally no one left to impress, and nothing left to gain, he’ll still play things out the same way.

Favorite season/movie: The Androids/Cell Saga is probably his best material overall, just because of his conflicted feelings regarding 18, and the difficult choices he makes because of that. You can make a strong case for the Namek Saga, where it’s literally just Krillin and Bulma and Gohan, so he has to take the lead by default, but I’m just not that into the Namek Saga.

Favorite line:

This is really more from one of the video games. I think Budokai 3, but I’m not sure. Piccolo demands custody of Gohan and Krillin’s like “No way, you’re probably gonna eat him or something!” and I’m pretty sure this wasn’t in the Ocean Dub, so it completely caught me off-guard, like it was the last thing I expected Krillin to say. And then Piccolo comes back with “I’m not going to eat him!” like he’s offended at the very suggestion. As a runner-up, I dig that part in DBZA 54, where Trunks and Vegeta are both reeling from their losses to Perfect Cell, and Krillin reminds them that they don’t have to posture around him, because it’s just him... “Krillin. Everyone’s friend.”

Favorite outfit: That’s easy.

Yeah, the Frieza Soldier armor looked mighty good on this dude, and the cop uniform does too, and the classic Turtle Hermit outfit is a signature look, but this, right here, is the Krillin for me. My man’s got the blue shirt under his orange shirt. No more of the Yamcha slipppers. Those look great on Yamcha, don’t get me wrong, but Krillin needs those big chunky Goku boots, because they’re perfect for stomping those pesky girlfriend-exploding remotes. Fellas, this is the ideal male body. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

OTP: Maron HAHAHAHAHAHA oh wow. No. It’s 18, obviously.

Brotp: Clearly Goku is his bro, but it’s not surprising at all how effortlessly he gets along with just about everyone else. He’s bros with the entire world.

Head Canon: I’m pretty sure the Maron/Marron thing was just a coincidence in real life. Maron the girlfriend was a filler character, and Marron the daughter was introduced in the manga some time later, and both used the same naming convention to end up in the same place. However, I choose to believe that Krillin actually named his kid after his ex, and he somehow convinced 18 to go along with that idea.

By that, I don’t mean he had to sweet talk her into it or promise a bunch of stuff in exchange. I mean he must have discussed what to name their kid, and 18 was like “Your ex-girlfriend? Seriously?” and he was like “Yeah, I know she’s a ditz, but you gotta understand I was in a really low place and she helped me through it.” Or something like that, where once he lays out the whole reason 18′s like “Yeah, you know what? Okay.”

Or maybe Maron helped deliver the baby or something. Or she was the surrogate mother? Holy shit I might be onto something.

Unpopular opinion: Krillin clanks when he walks, due to the solid brass balls he’s got.

youtube

A wish: They should do a movie where Krillin just fights Frieza and wins. Decisively, undisputably, irrevocably. Krillin is stronger than Frieza from that point forward. I don’t care if that means nerfing Frieza or godmodding Krillin, but I just want it made plain that if they use Frieza from here on, it has to be with the understanding that Krillin can whip his ass at any time.

That might sound silly, and I guess it is, but you see what this accomplishes, right? It forces Frieza into a new character dynamic, so it’s not just the same old shit with him. Or Toei collectively admits that they can’t use him anymore, which was what they should have decided in 1995. I’m fine either way.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Don’t grow his hair back, okay?

5 words to best describe them: Qualified to sell real estate.

My nickname for them: The Kriller.

#ask duhragonball #dragon ball #krillin #heavydbz

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kyrrahbird · 3 years

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Ky’s 琅琊榜 Nirvana in Fire/Lang Ya Bang liveblog experience

EPISODE 2

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Time for episode 2!! the one you should really stick around for!! Altho ill be honest, episode 3 is when it really really gets going. this ep is still introducing more major characters LMAO

We left ep 1 finding out about a competition for Nihuangs hand. thank god ep 2 picks up with a discussion about that

The princess is a marquess general rank and has made it on to the Langya martial list

have i mentioned i LOVE HER

unfortunately the emperor is very paranoid

(summary of the whole drama)

and Nihuang is apparently too powerful. hes trying to limit her power with marriage

HIM

I love this intro. Crunchy knuckles man

Bamf and ominous!!

little did I know!!

They also casually drop that Xie Yu controls the capitol patrol guards

i sure do hope that doesnt become relevant later

I still do not like prince yu. hes trying to control Nihuang :(

Mei Changsu has disappeared!! Right under their noses!!

He’s already delighting me

“Even though Fei Liu has mental insufficiencies, he has a good temperament” I CACKLED

MY FACE TOO

Great father-figure, just letting hes souped-up superhero kid wander wherever

But thats okay, we now get to see Commander Meng and Fei Liu battle it out

Fei Liu is HORRIFIED that there might be someone he cant beat

All the fight scenes serve multiple purposes too. Xie Yu is Judging™

Commander Meng “I wouldn’t have dared say I could have won within a hundred moves”

Cut to Xie Yu’s double take

SOMETHING CLICKED

you used the Su Zhe alias for like 1 day tops and its already nearly useless

It’s solely to confuse first time watchers

Fei Liu being depressed against a pole im dying

(MCS said he couldnt have beaten Commander Meng)

Im not making a comment about that quote

youre making a comment about that quote

But Xie Bi is onto MCS secret and runs straight to prince yu, while Xie Yu runs straight to the crown prince LMOA

So predictable

“Openly yet discretely took discretely took up residence in my househole”

Yeah it wasnt that discreet

Also love how Xie Yu goes “yeah no we’re probably gonna have to kill him”

HEY GUESS WHOS FINALLY HERE

YEAH

THE OTHER MAIN CHARACTER

PRINCE JING. JINGYAN. MY PRINCEEEEE

i love how hes just so,,, fucking blunt

and terse

absolutely no social niceties

Xia Dong just stares off into the middle distance and refuses to acknowledge him

Priceless

“This wouldnt be another big conspiracy case would it?”

THATS SO DANG POINTED

i didnt even know what was going on the first time and i still figured out that was a pointed dig. Xia Dong’s look of outrage is priceless

AND THEN HE JUST FUCKS OFF

So Lin Xie (our mc’s dad) apparently killed Xia Dongs husband and that was part of this whole big Chiyan conspiracy that resulting in the army being massacred and mcs falling off a cliff and not dying

But Prince Jing and Nihuang dont believe it. dun dun dunnnn

I remember the first time i watched this and i had the thought that this dude is just. dead inside

I was not wrong

His life sucks rn

And his father and brothers are making him stand outside for hours

thank god for gao zhan the eunuch

His dad FORGOT about him

His brothers piss me off soooo much. i can just see his desire to sink into the floor and/or throttle them both and I CONCUR

And here we have Jingyan’s mother!!!

The real mvp of the show

shes also absolutely gorgeous

And sad that her son didnt visit :((((

Jingrui protecting mcs from his mother and the empress is precious and absolutely breaks my heart

“There’s nothing moral about needlessly placing a friend in a difficult position” AAAAAAA

The thing i loved was that foreshadowing was always evident (through the music and stress and long stares) even if u had no idea what was being foreshadowed

They’re deliberately late to the fight show so that they dont end up in the boring procession

We (briefly) see Mu Qing who is Nihuang’s lil bro and a Whole Idiot. I love him

But then we get the gr8 scene of the Crown Prince and Prince Yu blatantly jockeying for MCS’s favour

MCS manages to deftly deflect all their gifts

its incredible

Yujin and Jingrui are just looking on like o_o’’’

ooooh no

we’re going to meet the grand dowager empress (the emperors grandmother)

;;A;; IM GONNA CRY

“She is the most peaceful grandmother on earth” oooo my heart

I LOVE THIS bc i was not entirely clear on the family relation here the first time but i still knew EXACTLY what this meant to mcs

THAT MUSIC

she doesnt remember any of them ;;n;;;

HIS EYEEEES

SHE CALLS HIM XIAO-SHU

AAAAAA

u just know this is important. that this recognition is everything hes lost (his family, his friends, his fiance)

but his great grandmother still recognises him

She remembered his favourite sweet too TAT

oh no

and MCS grips nihuang’s hand!!!

Jingrui had to remind him to leave

im so sad :(((((

I feel bad for his great grandmother;;;

And then he goes back to lying

Why you always lyyyyinggggg

Nihuang asking the pertinent questions like “why tf would you come to the capital, where all the politics are, to REST?”

She may have a point

This ep ends with a slave boy being whipped when spills a bucket of water :000

Which means next ep is the MEETING

I said this one would be shorts and it....nearly is. Apparently i have a lot of thots on Every Scene /surprised pikachu face.

#ky rambles about nif #nif liveblog #ep2 nif #nirvana in fire #nif #liveblog #are these getting shorter?#possibly #are they getting more coherent?#certainly not #my target audience is me

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onepunchmiss · 5 years

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OPM s2e7 Live blog

“The S Class Heroes”

IM SCREAMING ALREADY I ONLY READ THE EPISODE TITLE ALRIGHT OK SO IT BEGINS TODAY, MY DEATH guys I am so pumped for the S Class focus thats about to begin with this episode like from here on out they become main players in the series and asfdbfhirksvfjkevfsnjkvfnjek how is it legal for ONE SERIES to contain SO MANY FAVES. Anywayyy Before I get started I’m actually wondering- this is the 7th episode of the second season… do we know how many episodes the season is supposed to run for? S1 only had 12 i think. I’m… I’m not even close to ready for it ending. Now that they’ve introduced Orochi, I’m not even sure where a good break in the plot would be?? Random concerns aside, lets get to the episode. As always, I’m watching this as someone who has read the manga and web comic to date

OROCHI IS PINK HE IS HOT PINK THATS ALL I HAVE TO SAY BEFORE THE TITLE SEQUENCE HITS ME LIKE A GUT PUNCH EVERY SINGLE TIME AND I STILL PAUSE IT AT ZOMBIEMAN OK off to a great start woo

Oh thank god we’re starting with the tournament I can stop quite literally holding my breath. Alright its Choze time. I’m actually excited for him to do things, his face has been nothing but terrifying thus far and hes one of those characters that are just fun to hate unapologetically. I love over-the-top Nazi stand-ins for that reason tbh

OH FUCK OH GOD I LOVE HIM also GAROU hiya welcome back I know it’s only been 2 weeks but i missed you so much thank you for gracing my screen for 5 seconds OH HECK the dramatic music and beginning of the internal monologue just being blatantly REJECTED caught me off guard I cackled AH WAIT WAIT

EYESIGHT DOGMAN ASDFGHK MY BABY IS COMING IM DEAD IM FUKKIN DEAD ALREADY I MISSED HIS CUTE VOICE hey no wait that was very quick?? I must withhold my bias, we’re at the point now where I have SCRUTINIZED every single panel of the manga over and over because of all of my faves, so even the smallest differences will be glaring to me. As much as I want all the action to be drawn out as it is in the manga, I know that’s never been how the anime has rolled. I must bite my tongue.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THE ONLY TIME WE’LL EVER SEE HIM AND YET!!! oof i had to pause for 2 minutes to chill out and actually type. I. I just. juST. BOI ARE YOU OK WHERE ARE YOU ARE YOU WELL AND WHY DO YOU LOOK LIKE G4 tell me your secrets

WAIT COME BACK i dont give 2 SHITS about sweet mast HECKK

speaking of whom get off my screen u creep I have a personal bone to pick with u disrespecting the bae as you will

[SCREAMING]

Oh god this whole scene is so EXCITING and TERRIFYING child emperor’s face as Pig God just eats her, speaking of which -QUIT CUTTING BACK TO THAT TERRIFYING IMAGERY ASDFGHJ

YES THEY KEPT IT YES YES YES YESYEYSYEYS YOU DONT UNDERSTAND how much Ive been looking FORWARD to that little scene??? im crying how is it possible to work myself up so much of this please help

ok ok back to the tournament give my heart a break phew Hey Choze if you’re genes are so superior then where are your eyebrows????? You dont pull it off HALF as well as Z does. Jeez everything about this guy is so absurd I can’t help but laugh irl the damn DNA helix rolling across the screen dude just stop you’re embarrassing yourself

although you DO know how to strike a pose. change ur name to Poze. Wait no. Your name is now GMO Corn I lied.

AGAIN GETTIN ME WITH THE WEIRD COLORS Hundred Eyes Octopuss is red and blue OK SURE

DEATH GATLING DEATH GATLING ASDFGHJKL guys I cant look at Narcisstoic oh no “no you’ll do no good”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I WASNT EXPECTING THIS THIS EPISODE BUT I SHOULD HAVE I WASNT PREPARED I paused it I’m afraid to push play he’s not on the screen yet i can still turn back and make it out alive -

Behold. the moment I died

I actually have this thing with eye gore and seeing it in motion fucked me up I had to skip 10 seconds but anyway FUCK he’s so SPARKLY and PRETTY

Noting also the music there totally gave me flashbacks to the Darkmatter Thieves invasion for a split second and that sequence in general was really well done I like how they emphasized the suckers sticking to the concrete and everything- it have the monster a lot of weight imo. Of course the studio would be fools to not give Tatsumaki the the utmost respect like that sooo

SPARKLY and PRETTY and TEMPTING FATE YOU FOOL yo I was so excited to this scene but I feel like they didn’t make his response angry enough it’s funnier when it so uncharacteristically mad I might do a redraw with the face he makes in the manga………….. FUKKIN was smiley face man just yelling noises to cover flashy’s voice???? FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

OH MY FUCK WE’RE GETTING MONSTER CELLS THIS EPISODE. OH MY HECK WE’RE COVERING MUCH MORE GROUND THAN I THOUGHT WE’RE ONLY HALF WAY THROUGH THE EP

plot progression plot progression plo t p r ogr e ss i on hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Kamikaze being the badass that he is i lov

SPEAKING OF LOVES LOOKY LOOK God i love those three Okamaitachi is a WIFE and IAI is a BAE HEY WAIT let them speak come back they said words i want voices!!!!!!! this is going so fast??? Oh my god I was absolutely not expecting to get the Suiryu fight this episode holy crap holy crap?? Ok but I’m getting pumped the music is hype “trying to hide his nervousness by looking like a doofus” “this is how I always look” Oh saitama why do they do this to you. Jeez as much as I love everyone else I forget how much I miss him.

Oh and he’s getting his hopes up again sweetheart no

This is so good I’m hardly pausing to type my thoughts I’m too invested AND NOW ALSO IM DIGGING THIS MUSIC this is good v good yes and there goes Saitama being a genuinely good person offended by this jackass Saitama is too good for this world

His voice… I love him sm. aaaaaaaaaaaaaand its over. hmmmmmmmmmmmm so I have a guess as to what the post credits scene will be but let’s just see

YUP I KNEW IT cause we skipped it last week and now that we’ve introduced the monster cells it was only logical Genos no bby stop getting completely obliterated mannnnnnnnn

In all, no real complaints??? My children?? Have began to appear finally??? I just wish they literally went word for word shot for d\shot with Drive Knight if only because I’m STARVED for DK content in general. But based on the pacing of this week’s episode, will definitely cover a lot of ground and be pretty intense. I should be less, uh, screaming? Next week too. I’m exhausted from spazzing every 10 seconds hah. Well, I just skimmed the manga again and there might be some but yeah I think I can calm down for maybe 2 weeks. maybe. take a wild guess who should show up right around that time. ANYWAY Thanks for reading see yall next weeeeekkkkk

#opmiss mumbling #live blogging #gouketsu #child emperor #saitama #suiryu #flashy flash #tatsumaki #drive knight #pig god #watchdog man #im exhausted #uhg #one punch man #season 2 #opm

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sunlitroom · 5 years

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Gotham – s5e05 – Pena Dura

As I watched it, and some random observations here and there.

Previously on Gotham:

Selina went stab stabbity stab. Alfred told Bruce he can’t save Selina from herself. Ed woke up on a rooftop. Jim gave speech #357 on the value of hope. Then Haven exploded, proving that hope can only do so much against an RPG. Jim’s been promised help for weeks! He also won’t stop until he finds who’s responsible for Haven. Ed was responsible for Haven, albeit in a weird trance-like state. Jim stared at the charred remains of Haven.

As always, long post will be long. There are likely to be rambling digressions. Gobblepot might appear (although I welcome all shippers and non-shippers alike :)). There will be naked favouritism and naked not-favouritism. Broader comments at the end on plotlines and parallels and general direction.

In a church, a man is watching an old black and white film. From what I can figure out from the actors involved and the character names, it’s a George Brent film called Tangier Incident. It’s not a particularly interesting film. He is, however, in a good creepy film called The Spiral Staircase, which I recommend.

Anyway

Jim and Harvey approach him, guns drawn, and ask him turn around. Apparently, he’s the one who sold the RPGs. He seems pretty unimpressed by them, and rather insolently asks if they’re going to arrest him.

Jim says he wants a name. Old film guy addresses some unseen minions

What do you say boys? You wanna show the lawman how we feel about uninvited guests?

No-one is backing down. The stand-off is broken up by the arrival of lots of large people dropping through the stained-glass ceiling, who promptly take the thugs out.

While this is happening, Jim wrestles the weapons dealer/film enthusiast. He still wants a name. The fight is pretty even until the old guy is shot in the head.

We now get a slow-motion shot of shiny army boots approaching to some foreboding music. Jim rises, frowning in confusion as shiny boots man removes the mask covering his face.

Eduardo?

Nice shot right?

We get the military music we last had with Barnes to let us know that Jim likely met this man in the army. His men are still pointing guns, one at Harvey, so he tells them stand down.

Jim asks Eduardo what he’s doing here. He tells Jim he last saw him running through sniper fire to save him from a burning truck.

Jim claims he had the old guy where he wanted him – but he’s glad he’s here. Eduardo says he is too

They wander through the church chatting. Jim tells Harvey they hated each other in boot camp. Jim thought Eduardo did things too fast, while Eduardo thought Jim was too careful.

A sarcastic Harvey says that Jim’s taught him a thing or two about being careful.

Jim and Eduardo lapse into military jargon – talking about the mission plan. Eduardo says that they’re helping Walker (the woman Jim’s been talking to on the radio). They’ve to make this hellhole safe.

Jim, disgruntled, comments that all it apparently took for them to be sent help was the murder of hundreds. Eduardo says they’ve to remove all criminal elements and make the city safe. He introduces his second in command, who hands Jim a ledger they’ve found. On it – we see Ed’s name against two RPGs.

Jim turns to Harvey. He and Eduardo will go after Ed. Harvey is to set up a command centre at GCPD. Harvey protests.

I’m not as fast as I used to be, but I still got some fight in me. I’m not some desk jockey – I’m a street guy

Jim says Harvey’s the best cop he knows. Ed tends to think ahead. If this goes sideways, Harvey will need to take over.

I need your help buddy

Harvey nods.

GCPD where Bruce runs into Alfred. Alfred tells him Jim isn’t there – they’ve got a strong lead in the Haven bombing. He asks Bruce what’s wrong.

Bruce tells him worriedly that he can’t find Selina anywhere. Alfred replies that Selina is capable of looking after herself. Bruce says that she’s not herself, though. Alfred pulls a face and tells him that Jeremiah deserved to die. A resentful and upset Bruce says that Jeremiah made Selina a murderer – just like Ra’s did him.

(An aside. Much like Alfred, I don’t really have a problem with Selina stabbing Jeremiah. But this is only one of many times this episode will get a bit forgetful. Selina was a murderer before she killed Jeremiah, Bruce. You were there when she shoved that guy out the window. Not that I really have any time for Alfred’s ex-army friend who stabbed him and robbed you – but Jeremiah wasn’t the first time she’s killed)

Alfred quibbles this, claiming that Ra’s goaded Bruce into murder, but Selina did what she did with open eyes

And you’ve got to learn to respect that son

Bruce wants to find her, though, and leaves – as Alfred watches.

(An aside - Eh. On one hand, yes – Selina can make her own decisions. She has autonomy. On the other hand – Selina did what she did while still struggling to cope with the trauma of Jeremiah shooting her. Alfred excusing Bruce but condemning Selina – even though he agrees Jeremiah needed to be removed – doesn’t really sit well with me. On top of all that – Selina’s endangered herself for Bruce on a number of occasions, gone out of her way to help him, in fact. She’s clearly not coping now – and leaving her to her own devices seems off to me.)

In the library, we see Ed listening to his blackout recordings. He howls with frustration, unable to establish a pattern.

It makes no sense!

He catches sight of himself in a nearby mirror

You're not a murderer, Ed. Except Kristin Kringle, and Officer Doherty.

He goes on

But all those people. And children. How could you do it? Why?

He roars

It doesn't matter – it’s you - not me

(An aside. This is really a bit of a mess. So. Am I to assume that Ed is being a massive hypocrite, and selectively editing his criminal record? Or am I to assume that Ed differentiates between murders committed by Ed and those committed by The Riddler? Maybe, that doesn’t really work here – since some of these were committed before he discovered that persona. Besides – wasn’t one of the features of his ‘becoming’ his personalities becoming fused? Or are the writers choosing to forget some of Ed’s other murders? Who knows.)

Hearing a sound, he turns. It’s Jim and Eduardo – who have arrived to arrest him. He holds his hands up defensively.

No - Jim - I can explain

Jim is taken aback.

Explain? You son of a bitch - you actually did it?

(Interesting. Although Ed’s name was in the ledger, Jim doesn’t seem to have thought that Ed was truly responsible – or didn’t want to believe it might be true.)

Eduardo tells Ed to get on his knees. That’s three Eds in this show now – not counting Ed’s many personalities. For reference, if they’re all ever in the same scene, the dog is Ed1, the lanky green one is Ed2, and beardy army guy is Ed3.

Ed protests, and says he didn't – but he needs a little bit of time

Eduardo is still pointing his gun – and tells Jim to just say the word.

Ed pleads. You know me, Jim. People that I have...hurt - they hurt me first

(Eh? There are multiple gif sets going around which show how ridiculous this remark is. Ed’s hurt plenty of people just because he wanted to.)

I didn't know a single person in Haven

Eduardo glances at Jim

Your call, buddy – he basically confessed

Ed watches carefully as Jim thinks and then decides,

Bring him in – he stands trial

We’re saying this again? What kind of court will this be? Who is the judge? Lawyers? Jury?

Ed isn’t enthused by this. He touches a book from the bookcase. Eduardo is apparently standing on pressure-plated ied. One twitch, and he’ll repaint the room with his organs. He smiles.

Jim points his gun. But apparently Ed has also devised some sort of watch that monitors changes in Ed’s heart rate if it deviates by more than 10 bpm up or down, and can cause an explosion - if necessary - from as far as a mile away. Whatever. Apparently, in a fit of sexual frustration after his recent contact with Lucius, Ed sublimated his lustful stirrings into an inventing binge.

Ed and Jim try and stare each other out a bit. Jim says Ed will be a target once news of his guilt gets out. Eduardo says he thinks Ed’s threats are bluffs. Jim says Ed doesn’t bluff. Well – there was the time with all the cops and the poison gas that turned out just to be sleeping gas, but - hey. This episode is having severe difficulties remembering details, storyline, characterisation….take your pick.

Jim lets Ed leave. Summarising because this recap is lengthy – Jim uses his cat-like reflexes to leap across the room and finds the right book to free Eduardo – whose whole take on the puzzle is that he’d like

to wring this nerd’s neck

Jim gives him a welcome to Gotham. Wanting to wring Ed’s neck is just part and parcel of visiting. He adds that the city grows on you, before contacting Harvey and telling him to put the word out: Ed is wanted for the attack on Haven

Bruce strides into Sirens, looking for Selina. A fairly happy-looking Barbara leads him towards a booth. With a flourish, she tells the crowd to raise their glasses for the killer of Jeremiah Valeska. The crowd parts, and we see Selina sitting in a booth with a group of girls. Is this the booth of Bruce’s downward spiral? Is this the ‘I am having a long dark night of the soul’ booth? Do you have to book ahead?

Selina raises her glass, but her smile is more ironic than anything else.

(An aside. Barbara seemed happy. It's hard to say whether having the killer of Jeremiah Valeska at her club is bring extra cachet, whether her one-night stand with Jim brought her some closure and happiness, or whether she and Jim are still having sex and she’s pleased about this.)

In some abandoned building, we hear a radio send out the message about Ed being wanted by the police.

A tall skinny man wearing a green suit and eyeglasses

They left out his BritPop hair.

Outside an angry mob gathers and chants. We see Ed hiding from them, before slipping off.

At City Hall, Oswald stands, flanked by his henchmen, as a visitor opens a box for him. Whatever it is seems to make him happy – and he pays the man 200 bullets in return – telling him to go have fun and keep up the good work.

As the man leaves – Oswald is brought a message

He reads aloud

Edward Nygma is the monster responsible for killing the innocents of Haven

Oswald looks incredulous for a moment, and then worried – wondering aloud,

Ed…what have you done?

The mob from earlier runs past. Ed hides – but is walloped on the side of the head.

GCPD. Eduardo tells Jim they’re pushing uptown – but there’s still no Nygma. He’s confident they’ll get him though. He then asks Jim to tell him about Scarecrow. Jim says his guys would need gasmasks – but taking him down would be a big one.

We’re on a sort of rural street. We pan up Ed’s body. I own those boots. He’s unconscious and tied to some kind of deck chair.

An older blonde woman leans in towards his face.

Time to wake up!

Forgive me – American readers. I can only tell that she sounds Southern, which I know isn’t very specific.

She tells Ed she’s the woman who will carry out his execution, along with her two boys – two men, who are sitting in a truck parked facing Ed.

They’ve basically created a makeshift electric chair. There’s a lot of whooping and laughing as they give Ed a tester jolt. He yells in pain, gasping when they stop.

The woman tells him that was only a taste. It’s fair that Ed should die to pay for JoJo, who was in Haven when Ed blew it up.

She holds up a photograph. Ed seems afraid to look at it – then bursts into laughter when he sees it’s a dog. For good measure – he calls the woman an anthropomorphizing nincompoop when she claimed that JoJo was happy and smiled often.

They give him another burst of electricity. Ed hallucinates – seeing a spiteful Oswald telling him

I'm going to fix you, Ed

Ed blinks – confused. They jolt him again. This time he sees a sincere Oswald, repeating the same phrase.

Everything stops when there’s some kind of fault with the electricity. Ed quickly spots a way to trick them and escape. In doing so – one of the men’s legs catch fire. As Ed runs off, he declares that he’ll fix Oswald.

At City Hall, we hear distant explosions. One of Oswald’s henchmen tells him that the army has invaded and men are heading this way. Oswald asks him if Nygma has been located – to which the man replies he has feelers out. Oswald tells him the first man to find him gets to live.

Turning, he tells his dog he is surrounded by morons. If he didn’t have his empire – he’d go get Nygma himself

(An aside – it’s actually something that has been frustrating about Oswald in later seasons. Season One Oswald was very mobile. He moved around a lot: think of all the places we see him. Fish’s club, Gertrud’s apartment, GCPD, Jim and Barbara’s place, Maroni’s weird lodge, Falcone’s mansion, Loeb’s house…. It helped give a sense of how he had a finger in every pie, but also how much he truly inhabited the city. He was everywhere. But after they have him empire building – he becomes much more static. He’s usually stuck in a grand house or hall, and has to send other people out to do his bidding.)

He spots that the gun on his desk has gone. He turns – and now it’s pointing at his head

It’s Ed2

(Ed gets demoted if the dog is in the same scene)

Hello Oswald. We have a great deal to talk about. But first - did you name your dog after me?

(An aside. You know – that dog is sweet, but the naming decision feels like self-indulgent fic territory. Unpopular opinion, I know – but there it is.)

At GCPD, Harvey says Nygma’s been seen at City Hall – he’s going after Oswald. Eduardo says Oswald is at the top of their list – so this sounds like a twofer

Jim says Oswald has all the ammo in town – so they need shock and awe

Eduardo says that’s his default, and asks Jim if he’s ready to go.

Jim looks a little dubious, and tells him to take Harvey. He’ll keep things locked down here

(An aside – it’s possible that Jim does this because he wants to salve Harvey’s bruised ego from earlier, although sending him to City Hall with Eduardo to face a heavily-armoured and very irritated Oswald would seem to be a bit of an over-correction of that earlier moment. It is amusing to consider, though, that Jim did not want Eduardo to witness what would likely have happened at City Hall if Jim had gone instead – i.e. Oswald wheedling his way out of a visit to the precinct, Jim telling Oswald to please be good this time, and then some emotionally vulnerable and sexually charged staring.)

At Sirens, a flippant Selina tells a serious-faced Bruce he’s killing the buzz. Bruce tells her this isn’t her. Selina smiles, and asks Bruce if he really thinks he knows her. He solemnly tells her better than she knows herself.

Selina smiles. She tells Bruce that the night his parents were murdered she watched it all and did nothing.

Her eyes fill

She says she watched

That guy shoot your father and shoot your mother and through it all - I did nothing

She lets out a laugh that turns into a sob

I didn't call for help. I didn’t scream at him to stop

Bruce tells her it wasn’t her fault – she was a scared kid. Selina tells Bruce he was the scared kid.

Bruce has teared up now too. She continues

We are not the same. I didn't do anything because I was not willing to risk my neck - because I didn’t care. That's who I was and that's who I am

A different song starts playing. Selina puts on a faux-smile and says she loves this song. A tearful Bruce watches her walk away.

Back at City Hall, an irate Ed is questioning a confused Oswald.

What did you do?

What are you talking about?

Ed is insistent

You! You are the reason I killed those people! How could you? You have made me some murderous puppet!

(Just a reminder here that when Ed found a seriously injured and traumatised Oswald in the woods, he took him home, injected him with God knows what, told him he had no option but to stay there, and rubbed his hands with glee when he figured out the best way to manipulate him to his own ends – which was through his grief for his murdered mother. You know, just while the story is touching on stuff like taking away someone’s agency, and using them for your own selfish ends.)

Ed rants that he’s spent weeks waking up strange places - driving himself mad, thinking he’d gone mad - now he knows that it’s all been Oswald’s doing

Of everything that you have put me through - this is the most cruel

(Just another reminder that - you know, while we’re discussing cruelty – Ed tried to drive Oswald insane, dug up his father’s remains, humiliated him, attempted to demonstrate that he wasn’t capable of love (so – you know – tried to completely dehumanise him), and then shot him in the gut and pushed him off the end of the pier. Just, you know, in case we’re looking for some kind of gold standard for cruelty).

Oswald blinks in confusion, and tells Ed that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Ed quotes the ‘I’ll fix you’ from his hallucination. He goes on – telling Oswald he didn’t fix him: he broke him

Realisation dawns on Oswald’s face.

Wait - I said that to you on the night the bridges blew!

He tells Ed that he saved his life. He found him and paid Hugo Strange to save him – but Hugo must have done something when he was patching him up.

Ed is incredulous. Oswald is indignant – asking him what he was supposed to do? After Butch, Ed was his only friend. Ed exclaims that he shot Butch, to which Oswald retorts that’s why he needed Ed alive.

Oswald is frustrated. He sighs and turns to him

Edward Nygma - if I wanted you to suffer, I would never do it in some backhanded way. If we are ever at odds again, you will know without a doubt that I am your enemy. I promise you that, as a friend.

(An aside. I have made no bones about the fact I’ve found just about everything they’ve done with this relationship over the seasons to be utterly forced - clunky and leaden. If anything ever exemplifies a lot of what I don’t like about it, it’s that moment just there. Compare how natural and nuanced almost any other interaction in this episode was in comparison with this moment. It’s self-indulgent and melodramatic in a manner usually reserved for bad fanfiction. Bear it in mind particularly when we get that lovely scene later with Bruce and Harvey, and compare the two.)

Ed considers him for a moment, then yells

What a mess! I might have killed you, Oswald. And if that day comes, I swear to you that I will stare you in the eye as I stab you in the heart.

We already saw that, Ed. Back when you shot him in the gut

Oswald nods tearfully

(An aside, something else I hate about what they’ve done with this – insta-woobie ooc Oswald)

Oswald tells him to look on the bright side. If Strange messed with his head, then Ed’s not responsible for what happened. Ed asks where to find Hugo – but the conversation is interrupted by an explosion.

One of Oswald’s men tells him that GCPD and the army have blown the gates

Oswald whispers to him

Grab Nygma - they want him, not me

(An aside – the speed with which Oswald is willing to sell Ed out is honestly hilarious)

Ed – however – has legged it, leaving a fulminating Oswald behind.

The doors to the main hall are blown open, and a smoke bomb is rolled on. Harvey and Eduardo enter. Oswald waits amidst all the smoke – probably for the drama more than anything

Why hello Harvey!

He teases him about the ammo situation last time. Harvey tells him they don’t want his territory. They want him to put down his weapons and hand over Ed Nygma.

The situation, I think, is now more about Oswald being pissed that his turf has been invaded than anything else. He tells them to leave by the time he counts to three, or he’ll shoot everyone.

Harvey stands his ground.

Oswald smiles

You’re not thinking clearly, Harvey. Maybe call your boss - see what he thinks

(An aside – Oswald is so offended that he’s even having to look at someone from GCPD who isn’t Jim. Ugh. This day just gets worse. Funnier yet is his conviction that Jim will tell Harvey to come back to GCPD and stop bothering him)

There’s a staring match. Oswald’s men all wind up shot, and Oswald is taken in to GCPD.

Ed is in Sirens - on his knees in front of Barbara. She tells him all Gotham is looking for him

He replies that he needs information – your speciality

(An aside. What? Since, like - when? When did information become Barbara’s speciality? I know she likes power and money. She’s also fond of violence and casual cruelty. But information? When was that supposed to have happened?)

Barbara says she’s going to cut his face into a jigsaw puzzle. Ed urgently asks her if he’s dumb. If – in all the years she’s known him – he’d ever done anything as brutally idiotic as this. He didn’t kill those people.

Well…. not exactly.

Barbara dismisses her guards. Ed tells her about Hugo Strange’s involvement, and how he suspects mind control. Whoever is responsible for the mind control killed those people, not him

Barbara says if by some miracle she believes him – why would she help?

Ed piques her curiosity by wondering what kind of powerful person would hire Strange and have Ed adapted in this way. He says that Barbara must know where Hugo is, and when he finds out who was responsible for the chip – he’ll share the intel. She’ll want to know, because, after all

Information is your lifeblood

Sure, whatever.

Barbara doesn’t know precisely where Hugo is, but can direct him to his Igors.

An interrogation room in GCPD. Oswald lies on his front on the floor, his lip bleeding. He looks up at Jim, who is apparently watching, and his face twists for a moment into a combination of pain and an appeal for help

For his part, Jim looks troubled. He’s not enjoying this – in fact, I would go so far as to say it looks like he can’t stomach it – but he’s tolerating it.

Jim replies to his pained look

You’re protecting a mass murderer - don't look to me for sympathy

(An aside. Yes – I ship this, but even with shipper glasses off – it’s pretty much there in the text. Oswald knows that he can appeal to Jim for sympathy. In responding to his look as he does, Jim is openly acknowledging that he would usually be a source of sympathy for Oswald. It’s an admission from them both that there are dimensions to their relationship that go well beyond cop/gangster and – more than that – an admission that they’re both aware of that)

Oswald spits blood

Fine. But not with that meat head around

Jim nods, and Eduardo leaves

Oswald laughs and rises from the floor

You know – they say you can judge man by the company he keeps

Jim retorts

This from a man who has no friends

(An aside – that sounds meaner than it actually played. It’s delivered in that slightly schoolyard tone Jim reserves for teasing Oswald – it’s not earnest or cruel. Also – as we’ve seen this season, just saw in this scene, and will see again in a moment – it’s just not true. Jim and Oswald have a relationship beyond work.

On top of that, you know – Jim – if not for the fact that Harvey is an extraordinarily forgiving man, your own friend list would have tumbleweeds blowing through it.)

Jim and Oswald take a moment to give each other a long, complicated look. This scene is full of long complicated looks. Neither of them particularly want to be in this situation, but their hands have been forced.

Oswald tells Jim that Nygma is a patsy, not a mass murderer. He likes puzzles, games, killing – but killing hundreds of people – that’s not him, Jim knows this.

Jim asks who set him up

Oswald laughs, and leans back in his chair.

Jim - you want info, I want to go home

Jim grimaces.

Eduardo’s not going to go for that.

Oswald smiles before pressing Jim’s button

I'm sorry – I thought you were in charge

Jim grimaces angrily and leans on the table

Even if I were to let you go – the army is going to come after you: things are changing in Gotham

I'll take my chances

Jim blinks. He seems, to be honest, tired and uncertain.

Do you want Nygma or not?

Jim looks at him, and then glances sidelong at where Eduardo waits outside.

Jim leaves the interrogation room and talks to Eduardo

I know where Nygma’s going

Eduardo looks at him, then past him, nudging the door to let it swing open – revealing an empty room. He looks back at Jim

I trust you know what you’re doing?

They leave to go find Ed

(An aside. Quite a complicated little scene. Neither Jim nor Oswald want to be in that room – but external forces have shoved them in there anyway.

There’s a lot of history in the looks that are going back and forth. Like I said, we have the explicit acknowledgment that Jim is likely to offer Oswald sympathy when others won’t. We also have the open admittance that Jim knows Oswald sees him as a soft touch, and that he will likely give in anyway – just not in this particular circumstance, because the destruction of Haven was such a big deal.

Oswald also knows that pressing Jim’s buttons over control and power is likely to be effective.

Last up – we have Jim obliquely warning Oswald of the danger the army poses to him. He’s not threatening him here, or trying to intimidate him. If anything, his tone is almost pleading. He doesn’t know how handle this situation. He’s asked for help – and help has finally arrived – but Jim’s not actually sure what to do with it now it’s here. Eduardo plainly told Jim that Oswald was at the top of their hit list. Jim’s response? Let him go, warn him that danger is coming.)

In some lab facility somewhere, a body slides down a hatch.

It’s Hugo!

He’s complaining that the last body he was brought was gangrenous and completely unsuitable. When he turns, though, he sees Ed pointing a gun at him

Mr Nygma

Ed want to know how he control of his alter ego. He’s rambling a little, talking about his Ed side.

A curious Hugo remarks that he is Ed Nygma.

Ed says he’s also the Riddler.

Hugo’s professional side makes a rare appearance

How interesting

He adds, though, that he knows nothing about all that. He just tinkered and inserted a chip in his brain.

Ed wants to know who requested this. Hugo says he’ll write it down, so he can truthfully say that he didn’t tell Ed who was responsible. His pen, though, contains knock-out gas – which he sprays at Ed.

Hugo says that he’s mystified as to how Ed regained any awareness – and that he’ll just have to open him up and take a look under the roof.

Bruce is at GCPD looking for Jim. Instead, he finds Harvey, working at his desk

Sorry kid – it’s just me

He quickly takes in Bruce’s obvious distress, and takes his glasses off to regard him more carefully.

You all right?

Bruce says he’s fine – just looking for Jim. He remarks that he saw soldiers downstairs, trying to make some conversation – but still seeming distracted. Harvey watches him, concerned.

Yeah, the Army's finally gotten off their asses and decided to help. Jim's out with them now. Are you sure you're all right?

A tearful Bruce says that he doesn’t know. His usual careful defences crumble.

I see people losing their will to do good. People I love. What if we don't make it out of this?

Harvey looks at him. His face is sombre.

I'm not gonna lie, kid. These past few months, I've wondered the same thing. And when I don't know what to do, I come up here and I dig into these case files. I sit my ass down and I get to work. I used to hate this kind of paperwork; now it's the only thing that keeps me going. Why? Because the little things matter. Act by act, deed by deed, it means something. Even if no one notices or cares.

Bruce listens – taking in what he says

Thanks, Harvey.

He then does the classic Batman quick exit – leaving a slightly befuddled Harvey

(An aside - This scene between Bruce and Harvey was really lovely. Bruce is tired, upset, and worried about Selina. He's lost his conviction that things will work out, and everything looks hopeless to him right now. Harvey doesn't have the answer to any of that - but he does have an honest way to go on with things: do the work. It doesn't have to be showy and praised by all and sundry. Do something useful - and know that the deed itself and the results are both worthwhile.

It was an understated scene that still got across some very big issues.

There’s the flagging of some key differences between Jim and Harvey – Jim’s need to be seen as a hero, and Harvey not sharing that same concern. There’s also insight into how someone who is as fundamentally unhappy and alone as Harvey finds a meaningful way of living. There’s also how much Harvey has changed since we first met him.

It's sweet, too, that Bruce confides in him. They don't know each other well - but he's still been a constant. Equally sweet is how Harvey talks to him. He doesn’t coddle him, or just try to cheer him up in the way that Alfred or Jim might. He’s simply honest. No platitudes, and no inspirational speech. He tells Bruce he’s just as scared as he is, and then offers him a way to deal with his fear.

Now - compare that simple moment of compassion, all the subtleties and pathos, and all the meaning it holds with the yelling and stilted dialogue at City Hall with Ed and Oswald. The difference is glaring.)

Hugo has top of Ed's skull off – pretty much like Hannibal tried to do to Will. According to Hugo, the gas he used on Ed immobilised him – but he can still feel pain. A simple reboot will fix the problem, though.

A City Hall, Oswald carries his dog along to a hatch in the floor. He carefully descends a ladder, still carrying him, and turns on a light. It’s a massive vault – full of gold and money and shiny things.

He smiles and tells the dog that the time has come for a change of scenery

I’ve said this for ages, sweetie. You’ve got all that crime money. Buy yourself a flat in Paris, another in Berlin. Florence, Athens, Barcelona…. go for it.

Back in the lab. Hugo says the electric charge must have overloaded the chip – but he’d fixed it. He will pass the good news to his handler. His smiles disappears when he realises that a gun is being held to his head.

He protests. He’s just helping a man who needs medical attention! Hugo is vile – but BD Wong is fantastic.

Jim walks round Hugo to look at Ed, whose eyes are open. Hugo petulantly says he gave him biomedical anaesthesia – and brings him round.

Ed screams in pain and then immediately protests his innocence

I told you wasn't me!

Jim tells Hugo to talk. He says a contract came along, and developed a tool – gesturing to Ed, who is indignant.

How dare you

Eduardo contacts one of his men and tells him to escort Hugo out. He leaves with a ta ta

He smirks at an incredulous Jim

Sorry pal - this part of the op is need to know

Apparently Walker – the woman Jim has been talking to one the radio – wants Ed taken out now.

Jim is puzzled – asking if Walker is behind this - controlling Nygma

Eduardo shrugs that he hates the spooks crap. He just follows orders

Jim mentions Haven – reeling from the idea that Walker might have been behind it.

Eduardo says Jim is to put a bullet in Ed's brain

Jim replies with a flat no

Eduardo tells him to call it proof of loyalty - what Walker needs to see from him before she implements the relief plan. He tries to persuade him

Look at him. He's a loon. A cop-killer.

(An aside – the strong feeling we’re getting from Jim at this point is ‘yeah – but he’s my loon’ – in the same way that this is his screwed-up home, and his tyrannical gangster. I suspect this storyline might have lasted longer had the season not been truncated – and we’d have seen Jim gradually pull away from Eduardo, the man he thought was his friend, to acknowledge that he belongs to Gotham, and has emotional ties there that he’s not willing to break.)

Jim just wants the truth: did Walker destroy Haven?

Eduardo tells him ours is not to reason why – and says this is his chance to be part of the plan.

He adds that if Jim can’t pull the trigger on Ed – I’ll pull it on you

Jim stares

You’d kill me for some bureaucrat?

Eduardo is unperturbed. There’s really not one thought rattling around in that big beardy head of his

Mission comes first - you taught me that. What's your answer?

Jim says he saved his life one too many times. He feints putting his gun down, and then runs and escapes down the hatch in the wall we saw earlier. Wheeee!

Eduardo presses a button, and orders EdBot to find Jim and kill him

EdBot immediately complies, and also goes wheeeeee down the chute.

Eduardo watches him go – secretly envious that his orders apparently don’t allow him to go wheeee too.

Aha – so this is where that absurdly beautiful image of Jeremiah came from. He’s lying down, eyes shut, in some kind of cave. We see a rock pulled aside by Ecco

Boss - wake up

Jeremiah winces as he sits up. Ecco asks sympathetically if the stitches are still sore, and tells him he should have worn the armour she made.

Jeremiah curls his lip contemptuously, and tells her the bullet is making her sentimental – she should gave it a shake. Ecco obligingly does so – and nods excitedly when he asks her if that’s better.

He tells her he had to let Selina stab him once - verisimilitude trumps precautions. Ecco nods – and says Bruce and Selina had to think he was dead. Jeremiah rolls his eyes at her summary, and comments impatiently that he takes it she has news. She replies that it’s all systems go, and they head out.

(I suppose this is essentially canon, but – wow, does Jeremiah treat his ‘girlfriend’ with contempt).

Is Jeremiah in Wayne Manor? He addresses a man in a white coat, telling the dr he’s hearing good things. The doctor tells him his assistant thought he’d like to see the results.

Jeremiah is wide-eyed as he approaches two people we can only see from behind – who look, as best as memory serves, to be Bruce's parents.

Jeremiah laughs for a second, then opens his eyes wide – and tells them they look beautiful

I just love family reunions - don't you?

Jeremiah, confronted with the problem of what gift you can buy for your billionaire crush who likely has everything, has seemingly got very creative and cloned his dead parents.

General Observations

Jim is doing a classic Jim. He's been unhappy about the situation in the city for weeks – pleading for help. But now that official help of a sort has shown up - the kind Jim should want, and should back, and should identify with - he's wobbling. He balks at the idea of shooting Ed. He had no interest in arresting Oswald, let alone any qualms about letting him go, and looked downright unhappy in the interrogation room. When push comes to shove, Jim has relationships with these people - whether he’ll acknowledge it or not

To analyse it more closely in terms of Jim's psychology - the army element plays a role too. He might talk about his time there fondly - but, ultimately, he chose to leave. When Barnes - who was father figure and army past combined - showed up, Jim barely waited until the end of his first episode before disobeying him to going off to see Oswald – leaning on their special relationship and warning him about the new regime.

He repeats that pattern again here. Jim might want to represent that kind of authority - but a part of him is always looking to buck it, too. It's part of the reason, I think, that he and Oswald are more likely to squabble during Oswald's particularly tyrannical phases.

And all of that disquiet is even before we find out that Walker is likely corrupt and dreadful.

The whole thing with Ed. Eh. I know what they’re trying to do here. The problem, for me, is that it’s not really outside the bounds of possibility that Ed could knowingly have destroyed Haven. Sure – the whole affair would have been showier, and Ed would have made some kind of speech beforehand – but still. Ed - and Barbara – actually, both watched from a high window while Gotham tore itself apart under the Tetch virus. Neither of them flinched at what they saw.

It’s weird – because you don’t need to downplay Ed’s capacity for sadistic violence in order to also entertain the notion that part of him might be horrified by it. That, after all, is a crucial part of his characterisation: that he is frequently fractured, with various facets of his personality more or less dominant. In season one, we saw that certain aspects of his personality were almost completely suppressed. Later, we saw the season one version of him humiliated and berated by darker aspects of his personality, as well as horrified by what it had him do when it ‘took over’.

So – you can have your cake and eat it really – you can have a character who is capable of dreadful things, as well as the tragedy that some drowned part of him is horrified and disgusted by what he has done, and simply endures it with no ability to speak up. That would work with Ed’s extreme rage and fear at the loss of control he’s been enduring.

What doesn’t work, though, is retconning him to be a better person than he is. I’ve watched Ed torture because he enjoyed it. Kill because he felt like it. I’m not entirely sure I buy that he’d be horrified by what happened to Haven.

Miscellaneous

I have no idea whether Selina knows about Tabitha yet. She must – it makes no sense that she wouldn’t – but there was no indication of her reaction to that.

Similarly – I don’t really understand why no-one has said a word about Lee yet. I’m guessing it’s because we’re simply not ‘there’ yet in the story – but it makes no logical sense.

Alfred said a lot that was true about respecting Selina’s decision, but – ultimately- his advice to leave Selina alone simply comes off as callous.

Lucius must have had a day off today.

#gotham commentary #pena dura #gotham s5e05

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bradshawhansson6-blog · 5 years

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The vast majority of Marvel's fictional characters function in only one reality often called the Marvel Universe, with most spots mirroring true-existence areas; quite a few big people are situated in Ny city.[three] – Decide on hundreds of Uniforms to boost your character’s powers and perfect your hero’s search. In April 2017, as well as his announcement that he was returning to jot down and direct Guardians of your Galaxy Vol. 3, James Gunn disclosed he will be working with Marvel "that will help design in which these tales go, and make sure the future of your Marvel Cosmic Universe is as Exclusive and genuine and magical as what Now we have developed to date". In 2009 Marvel Comics shut its Open Submissions Plan, wherein the organization experienced approved unsolicited samples from aspiring comic e-book artists, indicating some time-consuming evaluate method experienced created no suitably Expert perform. It's not like everyone's saying "properly I don't know, what if I want that?" It's like "carrying out This really is troublesome for us, whereas undertaking this will really help us." ... You would like to honor the functions of the final Film but you don't want to be beholden to them, since a number of people will see Avengers[: Age of Ultron] who did not see any of the flicks in between or simply Avengers one." He also found Functioning in television and script doctoring for being "terrific teaching ground[s] for dealing with this ... because you're supplied lots of pieces and instructed to create them suit—even though they don't."[142] The thing about Marvel is ... They are in search of artists which can be prepared to just take probabilities and t here fore are willing to develop characters, even though that character has been around For a long time and decades in comedian books. Use Thor’s hammer to weigh down the enemy, shoot down all with Iron Male or knock down enemies with the protect of Captain The united states, and plenty of extra interesting matters in the sport. .. It had been imperative that you equally of us to uncover the ideal characters that felt like they would talk straight to Freeform's viewers. The Avengers wouldn't do the job below even so the about-to-be-Avengers functions right here."[95] Loeb observed that it was "enjoyable" to Marvel "in order to investigate the planet with the hero and how it impacts a person who is trying to figure out who they are in contrast to previously understands who They are really and now their full life should have a still left. That's the journey we're occurring with these kinds of people" in Cloak & Dagger, New Warriors and Hulu's Runaways.[96] By November 2017, New Warriors was no longer set to air on Freeform and was getting shopped to other networks.[97] Crossovers to attribute movies Visualize revisiting your preferred characters from childhood. Many of them You may have even forgotten about. You'll be able to obtain the sport from Googleplay free of charge. MARVEL Future Fight is, needless to say, an RPG based video game that attributes the two superheroes as well as super villains. Your favorite heroes like Avengers, X Adult men in addition to guardians with the Galaxy are right here to entertain you thoroughly. They're very open to directors Which may not have that very same opportunity in broadcast television. The Idea of getting all thirteen episodes at a single time, particularly in serialized storytelling, is quite appealing."[67] Loeb also extra which the 4 characters preferred "all had a previous present romance and all grew up on the same style of stoop in The big apple [while in the comics]. So it lent itself to your environment. Does that necessarily mean these shows are going to be precisely the same? No. They can not be. The characters have distinctive issues, diverse difficulties, distinct thoughts about them ... the instance which i constantly give is the fact that I can not think about two movies that happen to be a lot more distinct in tone when compared to the Winter season Soldier and Guardians with the Galaxy. And yet, in case you look at them back again to back again, they truly feel very Marvel. They feel greatly like, 'Oh, it remains the same universe which i'm in.'"[68] Dont know where by to faucet 5x. Ive tried using tapping just about everywhere. Instead of a video is it possible to article screenshots on where to tap? Recruit your preferred characters, full missions, and contend with other gamers to get the greatest hero and help save your environment. [26] Eschewing these comedian-ebook tropes as top secret identities and even costumes at the beginning, possessing a monster as on the list of heroes, and owning its people bicker and complain in what was later referred to as a "superheroes in the actual entire world" approach, the series represented a modify that proved to become a great success.[27]

5 Simple Statements About Marvel Future Fight Explained

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julibf · 6 years

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Jaime Lannister as the Hand of the King.

On season one we were literally told by Tyrion Lannister on episode 1, that Jaime was the handsome brother and that Tyrion was the smart one. That of course, its not a lie, but I do think it was a way for books and show to deceives us, to overestimate Tyrion’s intelligence and underestimate Jaime’s capability as a leader and as a judge of human character. Jaime was the one who told to Jory on S1 E4 how dangerous Theon seemed to be for House Stark and what a risk his was for the family, while Tyrion could only mock the way Theon talked about his masters. Jaime proved to be the one right since later Theon would betray House Stark and take Winterfell.

Saving the lives of innocent people and spare blood shed seems to be a constant on Jaime’s live. He saved the life of millions of people in KL and instead of being made a hero, he became a disgraced man, and oathbreaker, a man without honor because only few knew the reason why he did what he did.

Yet, Jaime still kept on trying to save lives during his life, in fact, it got my attention in my re watch that he did offer himself to fight Robb Stark in a man to man combat, in order to avoid the war between Starks and Lannisters. Thats exactly what Jon Snow did in season 6, but of course at the time we all thought he was a jackass to make such offer, because we knew it he was a great swordfighter and would of course beat Robb Stark, but he was trying to save the lives of thousands because that’s one of the constants in Jaime’s life. He is always trying to avoid more blood shed.

When he was sent to Riverland to take back the Tully’s castle he tried every way he could to avoid more deaths and more conflicts. First he tried to use diplomacy but when that didn’t work he lied to Edmure Tully and told him he would kill his son, it was a drastic way, but it did avoid even more destruction and deaths in the Riverlands.

When he went to Dorne, he was able to solve the conflict between House Martell and House Lannister without bloodshell and was bringing Myrcella home without another war.

I think a ruler or a person of power that tries to solve the conflicts with diplomacy and negotiation its one of the most important points of the books. A leader, a king, a ruler should always try to save their people and try other methods before war. George RRM is a anti war man, but he does believes that some war are necessary and unavoidable, BUT if there is chance for peace, it should be explored.

So, I believe George RRM has big plans for Jaime in the end of this story and will award him with a hppy ending for caring so much for the lives of the people in Westeros.

* S1E1 in his first scene with Cersei she tells him that he should be the Hand and Jaime remarks that its a honor that he could live without and makes a joke telling her that its a job that requires long days. Remember Jaime always uses jokes to deflect insecurance or frustration. I actually think he likes the idea.

* S1E1 When they are preparing for the feast in the evening Jaime goes after Tyrion who is in a brothel with some whores. Jaime shows up and tells him to get ready for the party. "The Starks are feasting on this evening, please dont leave me alone with those people"

That already got my attention. I expect the Jon and the Starks to rule the kingdom in the end and a new time, a time for wolves to start in Westeros by the end of this story, and I think Jaime will be the last Lannister left to restore his House.

* S1E2 Later we see Jaime going to Jon Snow to thank him for joining the NW, he offers his right hand and makes a joke about Jon's decision. They even make sure to focus on the hand shake.

* When Ned Stark arrives in Kings Landing Jaime is in the Throne room to receive him. He makes a joke about Ned being the hand of the King "how do they say it? the King shits and the Hand cleans it?

Again, he is making another joke and mocking Ned Stark, but I think he is a bit jealous, he wanted the job, but people dont think he is serious enough for such position. Nobody taks him seriously, no even his family.

* S1E5 - in the Robert and Cersei scene where they discuss their marriage, once again there is the idea of Jaime being the hand of the King. Robert says that he will make Jaime his hand, but Cersei knows tells him that Jaime is not serious enough for the job.

* S1E5 Robert goes see Ned and orders him to put back the badge of hand of the King or he will put the badge on JAIME LANNISTER and make him the Hand of the King!!!

How many times now did they mention Jaime and the Hand of the King job? how did I miss this in my first views of the show? I was actually shocked.

* S1E7 - Tywin is introduced in that awesome scene with the dead stag and in that scene he asks Jaime to become the man he was supposed to be. Jaime now in season 7 is finally taking back his life and becoming the hero we all expect him to be. Jaime completely outsmarted Tyrion in season 7 using the mistakes he made in the past as a lesson. Jaime and Jon were literally the two leaders on season 7 trying to save their people from unecessary deaths. He went to Cersei to tells her that they couldnt win against Dragons, he wanted her to surrender to Dany to save the lives of his armies and his people; he decided to abandon her to go fight North and save the realm. He is finally becoming the man he is supposed to be.

And that quote from Jon in season 7 also made me think of him and Jaime "my father used to say, we find our true friends in the battlefield". I think Jon and Jaime will forge a nice relationship in season 8 and Jon will need someone with experience in Kings Landing. Jaime lived his whole life in the capital and watched his father and Jon Arryn being hands of the king for decades. He will help Jon to be a better king.

There is also foreshadowed in the books about this ending game possibility. Our brilliant fedonciadale pointed out that:

And I would like to add that in the books it is not a pin, but a chain of hands that signifies the office of the hand.And the mummers make a rope and hang Jaime’s hand around his neck like a chain.

Bolton’s silence was a hundred times more threatening than Vargo Hoat’s slobbering malevolence. Pale as morning mist, his eyes concealed more than they told. Jaime misliked those eyes. They reminded him of the day at King’s Landing when Ned Stark had found him seated on the Iron Throne. The Lord of the Dreadfort finally pursed his lips and said, “You have lost a hand.” "No,“ said Jaime, “I have it here, hanging round my neck.” (ASOS, Jaime IV)

And even before Jaime lost his hand, the books were already focusing on his right hand, as jonbonsnowvi pointed out:

Ned, he should have kissed the hand that slew Aerys, but he preferred to scorn the arse he found sitting on Robert’s throne –– ACOK - Catelyn VII

How cool is that? That would be a surprise ending for Jaime Lannister. Make it happen!!!!

#game of thrones #got #jaime lannister #aegon targaryen #jon snow

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synthetic-sonata · 6 years

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🔥 (paswg and danganronpa)

AAAAAAA!!! Anon bless your goddamn heart

UHH

Ok this might get rambly or turn into headcanons bc I love both of these

Also they may not be that unpopular I just like to ramble sometimes but Im gunna try to make it at least slightly unpopular

Also spoilers prob inbound so im just gunna

🔥🔥 Danganronpa 🔥🔥

- V3 is the only Danganronpa where I like every character. Tsumugis a bit bland but that’s how she’s supposed to be, and she isn’t necessarily a horrible character and her free time are kinda cool. Yes, I also like Miu, Gonta, Korey, Angie, and Ouma. (the characters people are generally iffy on although I know a lot of people are also iffy on tsumugi, tenko, himiko, kaede / shuichi, maki, kaito,…. basically everyone)

- The one hundred thousand debates between Kokichi don’t bother me that much (Like the mistranslation and misdrawing of the fifth trial)

- Ok do not slap me before you read all of this but Gontouma is good;; when it’s platonic.

- I don’t actually like Saiouma or Oumami. Saiouma just feels wrong somehow, and Oumami feels like its incest bc of the brother relationship HC / thing people have adopted into canon. I don’t have anything against ppl who ship them though.

- This isn’t an opinion but for some reason SDR2 just kinda skipped my watch list. I got into DR by V3, and watched THH and V3, and I’ve began to watch a series for SDR2 but dropped it. Although I’ve spoiled all of them ahead of time and know their personalities so I still know what happens.

- There isn’t a murder I neccessarily dislike

- Literally nobody calls Korekiyo Korey despite him saying it was also a good nickname but call him Kiyo instead LIKE I AT LEAST EXPECTED OUMA OR GONTA TO ONCE

————————–

🔥🔥 PaSWG 🔥🔥

( this is more rambly ig )

- This isn’t neccessarily unpopular but uhh Japanese was the inferior version and I also dislike Briefs voice in japanese

- I like the sisters equally, it’s like a dan and arin thing if you remove one of them they don’t work that well. I mean, yeah Panty can also work well with Briefs cautious and anxious nature, but Panty is mainly Stockings opposite so them constantly clashing with eachother physically and with their personalities works better imo. I relate to stocking more bc uhh I love sugar and I dislike spicy shit but I still like them equally.

- adding onto that, I like Stockings design more a bit because if Pantys hair always looked how it did in Panty + Brief it’d be the same for both,, idk i dont like how her hair looks defaultly with the fringe thing

- No matter what Brief wears or if he shows his eyes or not he’s absolutely perfect and I don’t have a preference for snazz or geek (well thats a lie i like both equally but like how weirdly exposed briefs forehead is when he uncovers his eyes sets me off a lil but i still generally like them equally)

- get ready for me to talk about brief a lot but I think he was stupidly ooc in episode 10, like god i don’t think he’d act like that at all it feels like he’d be more protective of them in a more fragile state,, i wish he was just being stupidly sarcastic but it lasts throughout the entire episode generally

- Episode 10 was kinda a bad episode in general because the art and animations were so weird lIKE DO U SEE HOW WEIRD PANTY AND STOCKING LOOK WHEN THEY TINY IM

oh yeah we also got to see briefs dick for like 3 frames in that episode so thts a thing

oh yeah this is a common comment on it but like vore. its just VORE. BRIEF CANONICALLY VORED PANTY AND STOCKING

OK LAST THING FOR E10, but uh i feel like tht episode was made because they went like “we need to foreshadow that briefs dick is a key / that hes hellsmonkey” “hmm,,,, what situation would we have to get brief into where chad penis would show,,,” “i know make him have to shit badly and throw off all of his clothes and make garter stare uncomfortably close at his peen!!” “PERFECT” I’m???#E?W!?!Q?Q?!

- brief has some of the best lines when you rewatch the show likE??? “while garter was bitching about you” “WHERE’S PANTY AND WHATEVER THE HELL HER SISTERS NAME IS” the entirety of his pep talk during the transformers episode or just him in that episode in general is golden “yes, yes it does” in response to panty asking if his acne gets set off from the sun or smth (fun fact gingers sunburn easily so panty was kinda close) and also from the same episode “that’s not helping” when panty just does the assdance i’m

OH YEAH!! Don’t forget the PaSWG extra episodes his quotes in that are also amazing like “i love her but she needs some serious therapy” “hello nurse” “are you crying tears of joy?” as zombie pantys eye bleeds mkfmvfk “THAT ISN’T THE PITCH THATS YOUR VAGINA” (thats not what he said i forgot but it was smth like tht) im cdnmc,,,

Give us more assertive / helpful / sassy / sarcastic brief I swear to god i live off of that

- brief should’ve been in more episodes or have had longer scenes in the episodes where he was just there at the start and didn’t have many lines or got kicked out in the middle and just gets shown at the end to remind you he exists

oh yeah last thing abt brief in the episode the daemons were introduced his dick got violently murdered

he got a sword stabbed in his dick (,,,or ass?), a gun pointed at his dick, and scantys sharp looking shoes basically crushing his ba ll S while he’s just whimpering in pain please help this child im

I feel like the only reason he lives through all this pain bc of his bloodmonkey stuff gives him like more resistance to pain i’d assume

- i wish we saw corset at least a bit more or got insight into him and garters relationship

- stockings whole thing at the end doesn’t bother me much bc i think they could do a lot with it, and it was originally said that they had enough material for like 6+ seasons or smth so i wonder if stocking would just die at the end of s2??? was she possesed? what happened gainax,,… i feel like if stocking didn’t come back then idk what they’d do

i also feel like panty being a demon would’ve made more sense. or a secret succubus spy or smth idk… also since stocking and panty are related does that mean they’re like half demon?? did stocking just turn too far into a fallen angel tht she got turned into a demon?? WHAT HAPPENED?

OK IM DONE I SWE

#long post #read more #danganronpa #ndrv3 #dr #paswg #mostly paswg #panty and stocking #panty and stocking with garterbelt #I'm probably going to reblog this and add headcanons bc I wanted to ramble about general ideas and hcs about both but i didn't want to make #it too unbearable #ask #answered #thank you aaaaaa

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yyh-revival · 6 years

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Ok so about hxh I don't dislike the show it's a good show. But the reason I prefer yyh is the set up makes more sense. It makes sense for a place like the demon world to have a fucked up tournament like the black tournament. The stuff that Koenma's dad pulled to fuck over demons given the system and that kind of character. You know what doesn't make sense? Giving known assasins and psychopaths more access and power. In HxH becoming a hunter means you get access to all sorts of locations pt.1

That regular civilians dont have access to and a liscence to kill without getting into trouble and all sorts of other shit. And they give that power to Hisoka who never tries to hide the fact he just likes killing people and randomly killed one of the examiners last time. And Illumi a assasin who freely admits that he wanted the liscence for a job. He says this to the people in charge of the exam. And he still gets his liscence what the fuck. Not to mention his family the secret pt2

oldeck family who the public doesnt know their faces have a house so famous that tour guide point it out while going through the city. Like it might have unbelievable security but why would you risk people knowing? Not that it’s a bad show or I dont enjoy it. I’m not that far into the series. But things like that kinda take out of it. It kinda takes me out of it. Especially when this world isnt like this world of chaos its actually kinda like our world. Or supposed to be Pt.3

Yes, I have to confess the setting didn’t sit right with me, either. I typically enjoy fantasy (in fact it’s my #1 favorite genre, and my preferred to write in, whether that’s high fantasy like LOTR or something like Fullmetal Alchemist, or even modern fantasies like stories about vampires, etc. All of my childhood favorites have fallen into this category… aaaand still do haha)

But the setting always did feel strange to me. I never understood who or what was in control of this Hunter licence, and why they were giving them out to children, or what the point of them even was.

More under the cut. Long analysis of character, slightly more productive than what I wrote yesterday, and some more dissing of HxH (I’m sorry) and its poor management of plot, setting, and character. Also, from now on, tagging all discussions and comparisons of HxH and YYH as HHD (for hunter hunter discussion) to keep it out of the hxh tag.

Once again, this is all just my opinion, my personal feelings, and are not meant to grade the merit of the show or insult anyone who enjoyed it!

See, I typically also like “secret clubs.” But I like them being fleshed out. In Mass Effect, we know what a Specter is. They have almost unlimited power, but 1) they answer to a council which can strip them of this power, and 2) they have a clear goal – serving the council and the interest of the council races.

For YYH, we have the same thing. Yusuke has more power than the average human, having the authority to kill and having access to knowledge most humans do not have. But he 1) answers to Koenma, 2) has a clear goal of protecting the innocent from evil demons and other psychic phenomena.

And that stuff is outlined the MOMENT our protagonists enter the secret club, in clear words, and it doesn’t take, you know, forever… But HxH, I have no idea what the whole Hunter organization even is? I looked it up and turns out I saw the whole 1st season, 31 episodes… and I have no idea what this hunter thing is.

So yes, I totally agree. For comparison, in YYH, we go through a rather good introduction to Spirit World all before episode 5, an intro to what Spirit Detectives are without learning all the details, but enough to understand, by what, episode 8ish? We learn how Spirit World can bend rules with Kurama and Hiei within the first few episodes, too. We learn Spirit World is a bureaucracy, that it has rulers and managers (Enma and Koenma), that it is occupied by mostly two species (ogres and Spirit World citizens, who are like spirits, neither alive nor dead), that they have prisons, that they take interest in human lives and society, that they have the power to revive the dead but that there are clear rules and procedures. We learn Spirit World citizens can inhabit human bodies made specifically for them. We learn Spirit World can unlock human’s innate spiritual awareness. We learn the Spirit Detective job is sorta a new and untested thing (sending a kid to fight 3 demons… Koenma seriously didn’t think the job through yet). We learn Spirit World houses powerful treasures like the 3 artifacts. We learn they have a freakin’ treasure room to start with. We learn you can break into Spirit World and its vaults. We learn that living creatures, even demons, can enter it. We learn spirits and living creatures can interact with each other as if both were on the same plane, tangible and all, while in Spirit World. We learn Spirit World watches and records events of interest in the Human World, sometimes flat out spying on humans like when they watch Keiko being chased or when the little girl (the investigator) stalks Keiko along with Yusuke and Botan. We learn ghosts aren’t allowed to stay forever in the human world. We learn that the spirit and the body have separate energies that converge together. We learn Spirit World uses actual technology, not just magic, like VHS types and pocket watches. We learn Spirit World citizens can live incredibly long lives and look like babies while being a couple hundred years old or more.

^^ See all that? That’s what I know about Spirit World from watching the first EIGHT episodes. Episode 9 Yusuke enters Genkai’s tournament… How insanely concise is that? Episode 8, and we know so much about just one aspect of this world.

Whereas HxH? episode 31… and I still have zero clue what hunters are, what their purpose is, what they can do, who they work for if anyone, what the qualifications for them are (just being able to fight?) We know nothing. 31 episodes!!

For another comparison, by episode 31, Yusuke is in the Dark Tournament, fighting Chuu. By this point, we had all four main characters go through the first cycle of their character arcs, we were introduced to most of the supporting cast, we had relationships established, we got backstory on some characters, we learned how spirit energy and psychics work more, we saw Yusuke begin his second cycle, we saw the introduction of a major villain… we had a lot. Whereas with HxH, all I remember is the damn big boat in the storm thing.

Speaking of character arcs… I wrote this in a response to something else, but I think it also makes my point here. I am incredibly fascinated with character arcs and character in general, even more than plot or setting or anything else. To me, character is all. So here’s my breakdown of some character growth within the first 8 episodes.

YYH never really feels like it drags, maybe only in those moments I mentioned before. But it had an incredibly strong opening. Excluding Hiei, within the first 7-8 episodes, we have two characters (kurama and Yusuke) go through full character arcs that affect them all the way down the line of the show. The other two join after episode 25, though we also get to see glimpses of character background and some development even earlier (Kuwabara’s sensitive side is shown with the kitty, his devotion to friends, his honor code – all before episode 8 as well, but that’s not really an arc. He doesn’t have one till about the Yukina Rescue arc concludes. Though his is a bit weak, mostly because Kuwabara was… pretty alright to start with? It’s hard to develop when there isn’t many places you can go. And out of all the 4 boys, Kuwabara had the least amount of baggage.)

For Yusuke, we have the theme of “caring/not caring.” Yusuke stars off believing no one loves him and that he’s better off not being in anyone’s life. The wake proves him wrong enough that he makes an effort to come back. Then when he thinks he’s missed his chance by throwing the egg, and sees his friends and family happily talking about him returning, he mourns because he knows he’s not coming back. 180 from “meh, ima stay a ghost it’s better I’m not in their lives.” So, he goes through a complete cycle just in that moment, from I don’t care, to I do care and I’m happy, to I do care and I am sad. Not just a simple arc, from point A to point B, but A to B to C. It’s a very well constructed growth of a character. Full arch, full growth, and that’s why it tugs at the heartstrings. Because the moment he started to care… he thought lost his chance.

That arc he goes through all before episode 5 cycles throughout the show, and makes us care because such a strong arc, such an emotional one, too, grabs the viewer’s heart by the balls and refuses to let go.

It cycles in the Suzaku fight – he experiences horrible pain to save people, but in order to really motive himself, he must see Keiko in danger. He’s getting there, to the point of caring about humanity, but not quite. Then in the Dark Tournament, the lives of multiple people hang on his victory. But they’re still mostly people he cares about, though now that has extended beyond Keiko into Shizuru, Kuwabara, Kurama, Hiei, Yukina, etc., all of those people. He’s getting there, increasing the circle of people he cares for.

It keeps going up, challenging Yusuke to care more. The hospital had Keiko and shizuru in it. But also the new psychics. Then Sensui threatening all of humanity. Then the 3 kings arc threatening all of the realms. Yusuke progressively gives more of a shit about more people with time and new challenges and as he earns more friends.

And all of that is outlined in he first Fucking 4 episodes!! We know what hsi arc is, we know where he is going, we know what sort of character he is, and we get to see him become truly fleshed out in just 4 episodes.

That’s just Yusuke, too. Kurama also has a complete arc within the span of like two or three episodes, and those themes cycle throughout the show. (guilt, suicide and redemption – think Ura Urishima fight, when Kurama projects his want to sacrifice himself for Shiori to make up for his deception, where he tells the guy that suicide has no honor or redemption in it, even though the guy didn’t care for that, his lie was about getting out of having to hurt people without causing harm to his grandmother, not about redeeming himself – family, lies, the better of two evils – to lie to shiori and stay with her so she has a son, or stop lying to her and punish self for stealing her “real son” away)

It’s consistent, mostly concise, cyclical, and oh so fucking satisfying to my literature loving senses….

And then hxh… where apparently nothing of substance happens in the first Twenty Freakin Episodes. I legit cannot tell you about any character growth in that time. Or plot? They take a test. For who knows how long. Uh… kurapika starts to like leorio when before he didn’t? So he gets friendlier?? Maybe?? Killua begins a friendship with gon instead of getting himself that therapist… they play a ball game together. That gets them to like each other so much Gon goes chasing after Killua when he goes missing at the end of the season. Uh…. they are faced with the horror of fighting people they had to cooperate with before I guess. *shrugs*

If you put a gun against my head, the only character growth or arc I could maybe try to name for the first 30 episodes is that Kurapika started to like Leorio and starts to address him with a bit more respect, cause they worked together, so uh… nope, nope, that’s not an arc in the slightest. Kurapika can simply be a person who doesn’t like others until he gets to know them… So yes, I’d get a bullet in the head.

And the fact that you need to skip the whole beginning of the show to even enjoy it, as @perpetuallyfrowning suggested … I can’t do that. I cannot enjoy any change in Gon if I don’t know where he was before. But I hate where he was before, and we’re stuck with that for so long… Even if you didn’t like Yusuke’s personality at first, you only have to deal with it for a bit because he changes so much so quickly.

So there it is, my rather lazy analysis of the beginning of YYH and HxH, looking at setting and character.

- Mod Lola

#ask #anon #analysis #meta #character analysis #setting analysis #hhd #yusuke #character arc #mod talk

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lemurslovethelemurladies · 7 years

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King Julien is a great ruler? What do you mean. He can't even lead his people and make Madagascar a good kingdom. He knows how to party, sure, but what can millions of dance party do if the kingdom is not being governed properly? And what is the story even about? How can one enjoy such a silly and childish story?

Oh, anonymous. You have bitched to the wrong person. Do I have some facts for you…

“What is the story even about?” tells me you clearly haven’t watched a single episode. I’m guessing you’re basing all your logic on the movies, where YES, obviously, he doesn’t really lead his people. (Although, honestly, the movies don’t really focus on his character) AHKJ has given him an actual personality that’s not just for laughs. He CARES about his people. He has meaningful relationships.

The entire story is about him learning to thrive in his new role. Literally when you watch the show you can see him learning just how he does that!!! He makes mistakes sometimes, but doesn’t everyone? Julien wants to be the best ruler he can be. It’s been his dream for frank-knows-how-long. And he is working on it. He is trying to put his people first, by keeping them safe and leading them to greatness.

One of many examples I can give is the episode That Sinking Feeling. Masikura, his mystical advisor, (whom I’m sure you don’t know considering you don’t watch the show) foretells that their island is sinking. Julien’s first response is to find a way to keep his people safe. He, and Timo, try to create a boat that will carry them all to safety (Im sure you don’t know who Timo is, given that, again, YOU DONT WATCH THE SHOW) There are also multiple things Julien tries. He even gets to the point of burning down the island’s trees so it will make the island lighter!!!! He wants them to be safe and happy!!!

The whole beginning of the plot in Gimme Gimme the Game was him trying to make his people happy. He even said, “if they are unhappy, then I am unhappy.” I can give a hundred more examples, but HOPEFULLY you are getting a clear grasp of this.

The people Julien rules over once lived their entire lives in fear. They were forced to be quiet, by their old ruler, Julien’s uncle, we can see that in literally the first episode!!! Although we can interpret he used their fear of the fossa to enforce this law, he also hypnotized and killed a group of lemurs.

Julien’s people were seemingly terrified of the world around them.

And then suddenly Julien gets the crown and they all are introduced to laughing and dancing and partying again. He and his people have FUN for the first time in a long while. They get more FREEDOM and you can see them trusting Julien.

THAT is how those “millions of dance parties” matter!!!! It allows them to do what they couldn’t for so long, enjoy life! It’s the first thing they celebrated in a long time!!!! I don’t know about you anon, but if I was forced to shut up for years, I’d be pretty relieved about that sudden change. And it shows for them! Julien loves his kingdom and nearly everybody there loves him!

He is becoming the king he was meant to be, and that is what makes him great. He might mess up along the way, but he, Maurice, and Clover can pretty much always find a way to fix it. He’s normally not afraid to enlist the help of others and he’s getting to where he needs to be.

Anon, I highly suggest you watch AHKJ with an open mind. Especially before trying to act like you know everything about his character. Like you, I once had my doubts, but watching ahkj that day almost 3 years ago was the best decision of my life. This “silly and childish” show means a lot to me, and the people who make it know what they are doing with Julien. Trust me on this.

#whoop this got long but I am PISSED #I DIDNT KNOW THIS PERSON WAS SENDING ANON HATE TO MORE PEOPLE I SHOULD HAVE BEEN MEANER #I have so many insults for times like these #asks #anon #samantha rambles about lemurs #fight the haters

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cyanoscarlet · 7 years

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this is how you introduce a new fandom

#yoiweek2017 Day 1 (Le Parfum Des Fleurs) - beginnings and firsts

Or, how Yuuri was convinced to watch an anime based on his life.

(stories on (and off) ice)

It was both flattering and mortifying, Yuuri thought, when a story based on your life and love suddenly skyrocketed in popularity like gossip spreading like a forest wildfire.

He sighed as he watched his sniffling husband from the kitchen. Viktor was crying over yet another episode of this "original fantasy action anime about a no-good mage who meets and falls for the number one ice wizard in the continent." It was really good, they said. The animation was beautiful, the story was riveting and the romance was done perfectly right.

Don't get him wrong; he appreciates a good story as much as the next person does. The love and care and attention to detail that went into the creation of this latest sensation was clearly evident in every frame drawn and every line spoken. It was, no doubt, a wonderful work in its own right. It was even considered by many as a revolutionary piece that broke barriers and made history.

What Yuuri did not appreciate -- and certainly did not expect (though he should have, given the circumstances) -- was the hordes of rabid fans and insatiable tabloid writers that practically crash the door and breathe down his neck every single morning since the first episode aired, and seemed to multiply exponentially by the week.

Chalk it up to very observant people to put two and two together, and your high-profile whirlwind love story is revived and retold again on almost every website and social media platform in existence. The side-by-side comparisons went up to eleven when the seventh episode featured the two leads kissing before the cheering stadium - just like how Viktor, his coach at that time, had kissed him at the Cup of China a mere three years earlier.

The fans became a lot more persistent that day, he recalled. Even the casual passers-by recognized them now. "Oh my god, it's so-and-so! From that show!" (Yuuri could not be bothered to recall the names of the characters.) Viktor eagerly responded to this by kissing him soundly on the lips in public - again.

As always, the Russian's attempts at getting him to watch the new episode together failed spectacularly that night.

Yuuri and Viktor were not the only ones whose lives have changed because of the show. Yurio, for one, started receiving hate mail from all sorts of fans - mostly fujoshi, from what he had gathered. Messages ranging from "damn Mudblood" to "inferior Valentin-wannabe", or colorful variations and combinations thereof, began filling the reigning World Champion's inbox at such an alarming rate, he'd actually changed his phone number and locked all his social media accounts by the time the fourth episode had aired.

("I don't even watch that shit," Yurio had lamented in frustration through a private Skype session. "And even I know that Mudblood's from a totally different fandom! What's wrong with these fucking people?!"

That's what you're worried about? Yuuri had been tempted to say out loud, but he'd kept his mouth shut. Maybe it was just the stress of the upcoming Grand Prix Final talking. The men's short program event was the next day, after all. Other than that, he'd completely sympathized with the angry blond.)

Fortunately, the messages stopped when the current episode aired half an hour ago. Yuuri knew at once when his ringtone for Yurio began playing from his pocket and Viktor tearfully joined him in the kitchen at the same time as soon as the livestream finished. "Let's have katsudon pirozhki tomorrow!" he exclaimed, his eyes shining brighter than usual. "To celebrate Julian finally befriending Yoichi!"

"Okay, Viten'ka," Yuuri shrugged, knowing better than to correct his husband on the in-universe pastry the show's tritragonist had just offered the main character. How they even knew about that event between Yurio and himself at Moscow was purely anyone's guess. ("This show is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real-life persons, places and events is purely coincidental," indeed.)

The phone's vibration gradually increased in intensity as the ringtone segued into the annoying screechy guitar part. (Yuuri never learned how to switch it back after Mila had fiddled with it back when they were in St. Petersburg.) "One moment." He fished out his phone and answered the call, expecting another loud tirade on why the hell he didn't pick up sooner. Instead, he heard heavy breathing over the line, seemingly accentuated by the static.

"... Finally..." Yurio started, his voice unnaturally subdued for someone supposed to be angry. "... They finally stopped..."

Yuuri knew where this was going. "Congratulations for holding out for so long, Yurio," he answered with all compassion. "Are you celebrating tonight?"

"After all that trouble? Of course I am!" The blond loudly harrumphed. "Beka and I are having katsudon pirozhki tonight!"

Viktor immediately snatched the phone from Yuuri's grasp. "Yurio! I didn't know you watched Glassheart, too! Isn't it wonderful?! Who's your favorite character besides Julian? Mine's Yoichi, of course!"

"HELL NO!" Yurio snapped. "Get off my case, old man! Go talk to Chulanont or something!"

Viktor nodded back excitedly, still on an all-time high post-episode rush. "I will! I'm handing you back to Yuuri now." He gave Yuuri the phone back, planting a kiss on his cheek before returning to the couch to call Phichit.

Yuuri put the phone back to his ear. "It's me again... Actually I'm also making katsudon pirozhki for lunch tomorrow. It's been so long; I have to prepare."

"Figured as much."

What Viktor usually meant by "call Phichit" was to open their Skype group for figure skaters who also liked Glassheart. (Yuuri made sure to remember the title now after much persuasion by his husband, lest he gets mobbed by his other friends online, too.) It was a video conference, as always. It didn't take long before the conversation went into full swing, so he played a selection of everyone's skating music from the last few seasons so he would not hear any spoilers.

The beginning lines of "Shall We Skate" was cut off momentarily as a chat bubble appeared on the home screen. It was from Phichit, Yuuri noted, as he pressed a button on his headset to resume the audio playback and lower the volume.

phichit+chu: hi yuuri! long time no chat!! :))

Me: Hello, Phichit!

Me: It's only been a week, though?

phichit+chu: lol same thing

phichit+chu: so have u watched glassheart already??? :O

phichit+chu: its 3/4 done now, u got some serious catching up to do :)))

(Typing...)

Me: I haven't, sorry.

Me: Viktor's been asking me to watch it with him, too.

Me: I just can't seem to get into it as much as everyone else.

Me: I guess it hits a little too close to home for me.

Yuuri stopped typing. It was evident Viktor immensely enjoyed the show, even more so because it was obviously based on their own real-life relationship. He'd been a fan since day one, tweeting his thoughts and reactions every week. Now a good nine episodes in, his follower count had shot up to the mid-hundred-thousands and counting. Fans of both the show and figure skating were very much excited to have the Living Legend (and real-life inspiration) on board, and soon he became known as the "Prince of the Fandom" - the King, of course, being the original author.

Many a fan had once asked if Yuuri watched Glassheart, too, seeing as he was the other significant person involved in the story. Viktor handled these questions himself since he knew the Japanese man did not like being associated with the show, albeit not as vehemently vocal about it as Yurio was. (That had almost become a total PR disaster, if not for Yakov's timely intervention with a total media blackout for the young Russian skater.) Yuuri himself chose to stay quiet about it as he went about his daily activities, avoiding requests for interviews and comments pertaining to the show. However, the increasing guilt for putting his husband through this situation in his place, combined with a genuine, slowly-piqued curiosity brought about by many, many messages from various fans, made him reconsider his stance on the matter.

Above all, he missed spending time with Viktor. Sex was one thing, but quality time like this rarely presented itself throughout their respective busy schedules. So maybe...

phichit+chu: awww thats a shame :((

(Typing...)

phichit+chu: its actually why i watch the show. it does so many things right. i love how it showcases a mature, healthy romance done right, just like ur love story with victor :')

phichit+chu: at least u would like the action scenes??? they remind u alot of figure skating

phichit+chu: guanghong likes the fighting and magic scenes actually. leo loves the ost

phichit+chu: sara and mila have a crush on the mc yoichi ehehe ;))

phichit+chu: dont tell them i told u tho

Me: Haha, don't worry, I won't. :)

phichit+chu: just give it a chance okay? u might like it :')

Me: I'm still not sure. Maybe if Viktor can effectively convince me. ;)

phichit+chu: listen to ur hubby, man ;)) listen to ur heart :))

Phichit stopped responding after that. He must be active on the Skype conference now. Yuuri walked out to the living room, and could hear Phichit's boisterous laughter from Viktor's phone as they discussed the ending scene at the kingdom's harbor. Mila was now attempting to pry details out of her former rinkmate about what went down when they reunited after the Rostelecom Cup three years ago.

"No comment," Viktor answered, a secretive smile playing on his lips. "That's between me and Yuuri only."

"No fair, Vitya!" Mila cried foul. "You know he's never gonna spill! How will we make comparison notes now?"

Viktor hummed back amusedly. "Well, I'm not helping. Good luck with that, Mila."

Phichit and Leo also whined at this, while Guanghong tried to placate them. Sara merely laughed in the background.

Yuuri, too, was laughing softly.

It was several hours before the airing of the last episode when Yuuri surprised his husband over dinner. Viktor almost spit out his water when he asked if they could marathon the past eleven episodes while waiting for the finale.

"I guess I'm kind of interested now, with all the hype going on," he confessed, picking at a piece of meat with his chopsticks. "If you're not busy tonight, of course."

Viktor beamed at him, his eyes gleaming ecstatically. He would have hugged the bespectacled man right there and then, if it weren't for the table between them, so he settled for reaching out to clasp Yuuri's free hand, his wedding ring reflecting the white light hanging above them.

"I'll always have time, my Yuuri." Viktor smiled at him tenderly, the silver fringe over his left eye parting ever so slightly as he tilted his head. "I love spending time with you."

Yuuri closed his eyes, feeling somewhat absolved of whatever it was that had been weighing him down. He entwined his fingers between Viktor's, returning the smile with a fond one of his own before letting go. "We should hurry, Viten'ka. I don't want us to be late."

Viktor nodded and resumed eating. The couple finished their meal in silence, the excitement palpable between them, even as they put away the tableware and washed up for the night.

The laptop had already been set up when Yuuri came out to the living room, bringing with him a large blanket and two steaming cups of hot chocolate on a tray. (Not the bedroom, he'd insisted earlier. They might fall asleep.) Viktor clicked on a few icons before invitingly patting on the spot next to him. Yuuri places the tray on the low table next to the laptop, spreading the blanket to wrap around themselves with before joining his husband on the couch.

"I knew you'd come around eventually." Viktor nudged at his shoulder, winking playfully. "I've waited for so long, you know."

"Good things come to those who wait," Yuuri intoned, the old English adage rolling perfectly on his tongue. He leaned in and rested his head on his husband's shoulder. "Shall we?"

"Of course." Viktor tapped on the spacebar, and animated snowflakes began filling the screen.

The opening theme was captivating, the positive lyrics daring the listener to dream big and aim high. The instrumental parts and the repeating refrains were really catchy, and Yuuri caught himself humming along even after it ended. Viktor was humming along, too, albeit at a faster pace. Yuuri smiled; he loved hearing his husband sing.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration if Yuuri said the first episode blew him away. They did not hesitate to set the tone of the series with a healthy mix of fast-paced fight sequences, colorful spells and lightning-speed attacks (which, yes, did resemble figure skating spins and jumps a lot), all tied together by a dramatic narrative that tugged at the heartstrings and pooled tears in the eyes.

Yurio would have enjoyed this show, he thought. It's a shame all that stuff happened to the poor boy before he could even give the show a chance.

They were not kidding when they said Glassheart was totally (albeit loosely) based on his and Viktor's story. Watching the interactions between the leads Yoichi and Valentin, Yuuri could not help but wonder at how well the creators have captured their own dynamics as coach and skater back then, and adapted it perfectly to a medieval fantasy setting. He started daydreaming about icicles forming at his fingertips, easily manipulating their form into whatever he wished. He had been mentally sculpting a still image of Viktor and himself floating in the air when the fourth episode ended.

Viktor was now chuckling as his on-screen wizard incarnation drunkenly hit on the poor bespectacled mage a in the tavern, while said mage's friend gleefully cackled before a floating magic sphere. "And there goes Match Number 55," he explained. "I never really understood how notorious Phichit actually was about these things until this episode aired."

Yuuri responded with a curious hum. He knew better, having been the Thai's friend and rinkmate for longer. On another note, Viktor and the others have apparently been keeping track of the similarities between this show and real-life happenings. Yuuri declined the offer to read through Phichit's detailed masterpost on it later.

His heart soared when Yoichi managed to win his first match at the Wizards' Tournament, even attempting to cast Valentin's signature spell, the Glassheart. It was only for a short moment, a far cry from the powerful attack the legendary ice wizard had unleashed on the dragon in the first episode. Still, Valentin had been so happy and so proud, that he had kissed his protégé before the audience right there and then.

Beside him, Viktor was in tears again. He'd already stopped giving any form of commentary at this point, in favor of "feeling the feels," whatever that meant.

Yuuri sipped his drink slowly. He wished tonight would never end.

The final episode closed with a shot of Yoichi and Valentin standing on the bridge where they had first met, the former now also sporting the uniform of the Royal Wizard Regiment, a silver badge pinned on his breast. Both characters shared a tender kiss, before the screen panned up and faded out to the words, "ab hinc in aeternum" -- from here to eternity.

No sooner had the livestream cut off than Yuuri turned his attention to his husband, who was currently a beautiful, inelegant mess. It reminded him a lot of the time he'd inadvertently shattered his then-coach's heart into pieces by declaring his intentions to retire after the GPF in Barcelona. Though Yuuri's own heart had ached as much, he was glad they'd had that conversation at all. They'd both learned so much from it, and had grown stronger, as a result.

He put an arm around the sniffling Russian, running his hands up and down the latter's shoulder in a slow, reassuring motion. After several quiet minutes, Viktor reached his own right hand up to clasp his, their wedding rings bumping against each ther in their entwined fingers.

"Duo corda," he whispered, referring to the new spell the two leads had created by fusing their Glassheart spells at the last moment in order to defeat the final enemy. It was a beautiful yet destructive spiraling of two columns of living ice, which culminated in a giant arrow that pierced through the monster's impenetrable barrier and stabbed it right through the heart.

More like, "the power of love," actually, if Yuuri dared to have any say in it, but the hot tears brimming on his own eyes said otherwise. He did not expect this anime to make him laugh and cry as much as it had over the past four hours, but it did its job nonetheless and went way beyond that. (Then again, though, the Japanese skating legend was very much known for having a more fragile heart than most other glass-hearted figure skaters everywhere. Or, at least, Viktor had said so.)

So he settled for repeating Viktor's words, reciting from memory the broken Latin phrases that constituted the love song that constantly played during tender moments between the wizards in love. Somewhere along the moment, they had switched from somewhat-butchered Latin to a more-practiced Italian as they softly sang segments of Stammi Vicino in unison.

Yuuri looked up at his husband, poking his head out of the blanket. "Not going to post anything tonight?"

Viktor stopped humming, pursing his lips in mock-deep thought. "I'll do that tomorrow," he finally decided. "I have a lot of feelings to process."

"So you do," Yuuri agreed, observing the already-dried tracks of tears down the other man's cheeks. "What about Phichit and the others?"

"I turned off my phone, actually." Viktor laughed, holding up the dark gadget for his husband to see. "Tonight is Yuuri-time," he added with a flourish, gesturing as flashily as he could from a cramped space, almost dropping the phone in the process. Yuuri caught it just in time, a bubbling feeling of euphoria welling up from deep within his chest.

"If that's the case," he began, "then I have an idea."

Yuuri fumbled for his own phone, opening his barely-used Instagram app. He angled the camera to include an aesthetic shot of the powered-down laptop, the two empty cups of chocolate, and both their legs entangled together. Viktor buried his head into the crook of his neck upon reading the caption, holding the other man to himself tighter than ever.

"You're one sappy romantic, Yuuri Nikiforov," he commented, his shuddering breath as he exhaled tickling Yuuri's neck. "You never cease to surprise me."

Yuuri smiled proudly, bringing his husband closer and kissing him gently. "I learn from the best."

[Image.jpg]

yuuri-katsuki Ab hinc in aeternum. Loving you is an irreplaceable joy like no other.

Liked by v-nikiforov, phichit+chu and 5,277 others

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iheartkatsudon OMG GLASSHEART

lysssssnikiforova welcome to the fandom @yuuri-katsuki !!

phichit+chu about time yuuri!!! :))) @v-nikiforov @m_babicheva @sara-crispino @leo_dli @+guanghongji+

#yuri!!! on ice #victuuri #fanfiction #katsuki yuuri #victor nikiforov #cyanoscript

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gamerszone2019-blog · 5 years

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Life is Strange 2 Devs Don't Know Where Franchise Will Go Next, But They Want To Keep Making Games Like It

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/life-is-strange-2-devs-dont-know-where-franchise-will-go-next-but-they-want-to-keep-making-games-like-it/

Life is Strange 2 Devs Don't Know Where Franchise Will Go Next, But They Want To Keep Making Games Like It

Developer Dontnod’s choice-focused, narrative Life is Strange games have come to occupy a specific niche on the video game industry landscape. Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2 tell stories about coming of age and growing up, and while both seasons of the franchise also include kids with fantastic supernatural powers, they also try to focus on getting at subjects that are relatable in everyday life. Life is Strange 2 is particularly interesting for its setting in the current US political climate, taking place right before the 2016 presidential election and including a lot of the issues and rhetoric surrounding it.

Life is Strange 2 director Raoul Barbet and lead writer Jean-Luc Cano took part in a panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, where they discussed some of the ins and outs of working on the Life is Strange franchise and creating the young characters who make up its world. Ahead of the panel, Barbet and Cano sat down with GameSpot to talk about the burgeoning Life is Strange “universe,” which now spans Life is Strange, its prequel Before the Storm, Life is Strange 2, and The Adventures of Captain Spirit, a free episode that functions as an add-on story for Life is Strange 2.

While the franchise seems to be expanding to include a variety of different stories, neither Barbet and Cano were sure where the franchise might be headed after the conclusion of Life is Strange 2’s last two episodes, the next of which is due out in August. Regardless of whether Life is Strange continues, though, the formula of narrative game it embodies is something both developers said Dontnod will pursue.

GameSpot: As you think about the Life is Strange “universe,” what is it that makes a Life is Strange game?

Raoul Barbet: As you may know it’s Square Enix, the publisher, that owns the brand of Life is Strange. So after the first Life is Strange, we were discussing with them if they were interested in creating a new season. That was the case and we were asking ourselves what really was the DNA of those games, and those style of games. So for the first Life is Strange, we didn’t want to create, like, a universe or something like that, it was more about creating a game–a good game, I hope. And even after the first episode, we didn’t know if we’d continue to create the other episodes. We were in luck because it works quite well and we were happy, so we were able to finish the first season and create the new one.

So I’d say that because it was really an independent game and a full story that works by itself, we wanted to do the same thing with Life is Strange 2, so it’s a new story, new characters, but of course, the DNA of the game is still there. So it’ll be the artistic direction, it will be that we want to create, first, believable characters and a good story, and that tackles some actual subjects of society’s problems and that kind of stuff, and puts the player in some interesting situations. And in the end, you’ve got the supernatural element, so in the first season, it was the ability to rewind, linked to the story of Max and the coming of age story. And this one involves Daniel and the education subject, and the fact we wanted to talk about, what does it take to educate someone and take care of someone else?

What are you guys thinking about as this world keeps getting bigger, and what do you want to do with it?

Jean-Luc Cano: We don’t really know if we’re going to do another Life is Strange game, but with Captain Spirit, Life is Strange 2 was already written, and we were thinking about how to present it to the players, to the community, to the fans, the new flavor of Life is Strange 2. That’s why we made Captain Spirit, to introduce in a smart way Sean and Daniel, not by making them the heroes of Captain Spirit, but by making them the guests at the end. When you see Sean and Daniel at the end, nobody knew that they would be the heroes of the new season. Then we released the first trailer for Life is Strange 2, people were like, oh man, it’s the two guys from the end of Captain Spirit.

For the future, we don’t know if we’re going to make Life is Strange 3 or expand the universe. We haven’t been thinking about it in this kind of way. Actually, we’re working on Episode 4 and Episode 5, and we’re really dedicated to these last two episodes because it’s a lot of work. We don’t know what we’re going to do next.

Barbet: The fact is that Square Enix owns the brand, so it’s their decision to expand the universe. Even if we have created the first season and the characters, and for this one and the characters. They own the brand. So I don’t think we’re going to continue, but if we continue as creators, game creators, we’ll continue to create narrative games like this. And I think Captain Spirit was a great experience for us because it was very different. It’s a small game some would say, it’s a shorter game, but I think we managed to create very quickly our universe and believable characters, and it was quite a challenge at this time, but we would be able to continue to create small games like this. So it might not be in the Life is Strange universe but we don’t know. We’re game directors, so we don’t know what we’ll be working on, and I don’t know what Square Enix wants.

As you were focusing on Episode 4 and 5, was the whole story written ahead of time or is it evolving as you’re making it?

Cano: The whole story was written from the beginning. So our process is to write and imagine the story with Michelle and Raoul, we three imagine the story, then I write the first big [take on the] story. And then after that, the story’s cut into five episodes. We’re working from the top, the main story, and then we divide it into sequences, and then from sequences into small scenes, and then from scenes into dialogues. So we know from the beginning where we’re going to, but because of the game itself, the episodic approach, we’re able to change stuff in production. But basically, the main story is written from the beginning.

Have there been any changes like that, any responses to how maybe how players are experiencing the game or their feedback?

Cano: Yes, the fact that we have four months between two episodes and at the end of every episode we have the statistics, we can shape the experience of the new episode we are in production on. So we’ve made a few adjustments regarding player choices, and also from a production point of view, sometimes the episode is too big to be done, so we have to cut some sequences. Our job is to say, okay, if we cut all these sequences, what we’re saying in these sequences has to be said somewhere else. So we have to reshape the episode from this point of view.

The game is very much set in this specific current political climate. It’s reacting to things that are happening in our real world, like with its mention of Donald Trump’s wall on the Mexico-US border. That situation is, even now, evolving every day–is what’s going on in the real world filtering down to you as you make each new episode, and are you responding to what’s happening in our world?

Barbet: I don’t think we want to make statements, for sure. It’s not the purpose of our game. It’s more about putting the players in interesting situations where they can think about all those subjects. The idea is not to make political statements or to say this is good or this is bad, it’s more to see the situation, live this moment, and to think about it. …But I think it’s not evolving so much in the beginning of the game, because by the time we had written the story, all those subjects were already there, and I think even like a hundred years ago. It’s the same in Europe and in other countries. Our game is taking place in the US so we talk about it here, but in France it’s the same. We wanted to talk about those subjects because of the story and the sequences we wanted to create for the players. Like you say, it’s evolving very fast, but we’re not changing the story for that, I think it was already there from the beginning.

Creating believable kids is a big part of what you’re talking about on your panel, and it seems like a big challenge. What’s it like trying to build those characters, and what work are you doing maybe from a research perspective?

Barbet: At the beginning, we were doing a lot of research about that, and about education in a general way, books and documentaries about psychologists and sociologists who talk about this. And after that, it’s a lot of work with the writers and with the actors. For Daniel, it was a very young child, and the voice actors as well, so we discuss with them. Jean-Luc has a daughter, so there is a lot of his own story inside the story of Life is Strange 2. And after that, we research and talk about the scene with different people to be sure to be accurate. But having a believable young child is really difficult. It’s dialogues and sentences, cues, but it’s also acting, like in the animation, those little elements that give Daniel believability. It’s a lot of small stuff like that during production.

So you’re bouncing lines off the actors and asking “Does this feel authentic to you?”

Barbet: Yeah, even when we are shooting a scene, we’re asking, “is it believable like this?” and they’re saying, “no, it’s not really believable to do that,” et cetera. And the same for the voice actors, each time we record some lines, as we’re French, we prefer to trust American people to tell us it sounds natural or to make sure it’s not cliche or the French way of saying things.

All the Life is Strange games, they don’t back down from dealing with social issues and things that are real part of kids’ lives and of growing up. What kind of issues would you say you’re trying to tackle in Episodes Four and Five, thematically?

Cano: To be honest, we can’t really talk about what will happen in Episodes Four and Five, but the themes we are tackling in Four and Five are new themes that haven’t been seen in the first three episodes of Life is Strange 2, or in the first season of Life is Strange. Sean and Daniel will face new scenes, new characters, new moods. So we really can’t wait to see the reaction of the fans and the players and the community, because it’s a new subject.

You mentioned that a lot of the story is kind of yours, with your daughter. Can you tell me more about that?

Cano: Yeah, when we were imagining what Life is Strange 2 could be with [co-director] Michel [Koch] and Raoul, I was just figuring out that, as a father, everything I was doing, everything I was saying, my little daughter took it as an example. For example, if I said to her, “You know, it’s bad to say bad words,” she’d say, “Yes, but when you’re driving you say a lot of bad words.” Okay, so, yeah, I figured out that everything I was doing or saying, I was an example for her, so I had to behave myself not for me to be a better person, but for her to learn to be a better one.

So I think the beginning, the seed of Life is Strange 2 came from this, and when we imagined the story of Life is Strange 2, I told Michel and Raoul, we could have this thing where you shape a new character by your actions. So the fact would be in LIfe is Strange 2 every decision you make as Sean would have an impact not only on you and your story, but also on Daniel. So as a player it will be really interesting to see, oh my god, Daniel is growing up, but he’s becoming a bad kid. But it’s only because of me, and what I had done? I thought I was making good decision for him.

Is it tough to balance the idea of consequences for your actions with giving the player a chance to fix things? I know after Episode 2 I was thinking, okay, how can I get Daniel back on track, how can I “win.” How do you balance the push and pull of wanting consequences to flow forward with giving the player the ability to try to “fix” things?

Barbet: I would say there’s not a good or bad ending, or things to “fix.” Because I think it’s more, maybe you think you have made a mistake, or you think you could have done better with something that happens every day in your life, you know? You make decisions, you make choices with any of that. But you can’t rewind. You can’t go back in time. So the idea of this game is: be careful, you will be responsible for some consequences, but you will also be responsible for Daniel’s whole life, maybe, because of this education aspect.

So I really think it’s strong as a basis for a game. It was really strong. And from a design point of view, I would say we find good moments for the player to be able to choose a bit, but we really, of course, stay on a storyline we have to tell. So you can have very different endings, like you have seen in Episode 2, but we have to go on and continue to tell the story. So we can’t, I would say, have too many different scenes and different endings, for example in this episode, because we want to keep the characters believable, and we want the story to continue to work, even if Daniel is changing a lot. So you have to find the right balance between giving some freedom to the players and in the meantime, keep your story safe, or keep your story believable.

Cano: And I think the main difference between the first season of Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2 is that, in the first season of Life is Strange, when you make a decision with Max, you can see the consequence immediately. And you see, two or three sequences later, another consequence, but you knew it was because of this decision.

In Life is Strange 2, you don’t see immediately the consequences. You don’t have your massive, big decisions. The behavior of Daniel is shaped by a lot of small details you don’t notice at the time. Even if we have big, huge A or B choices, Daniel is not always shaped by only these big decision. He is shaped by a lot of little stuff, vital choices, action you’ve made, picking up some stuff. And it’s all separate stuff, you know. So when you say, “Okay, what I’ve done wrong?” It’s not one decision you have made. It’s a lot of different small details that shape Daniel, but it’s not right or wrong. It’s only your experience.

Source : Gamesport

#Game News

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viralhottopics · 7 years

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In defense of ghosting: It’s a valuable dating tool, not a problem to be fixed

Image: Christopher Mineses/Mashable

Ghosting is everywhere, and dating apps are desperate to put an end to this disappearing act. But ghosting doesn’t need a solution it is the solution.

If you didnt already know before plunging into the deep, dark depths that is online dating, you certainly learned quickly thereafter: dating is a numbers game. And when youre messaging with what turns out to be your third lamest match of the day, ghosting becomes a necessary tool to manage the exhaustion that is mining through the hundreds of (probably boring) people at your fingertips.

For the record: This isnt the nicest way of looking at people.

For the record: This isnt the nicest way of looking at people. But neither is the meat-market display of the swiping mechanism employed by the most popular apps. It is, as they say, what it is. If youre going to partake, this objectification is an inherent and unavoidable aspect of dating app culture.

SEE ALSO: We’re so tired of dating apps but we just can’t quit them

There are a literal million reasons why a match can flop. You can chalk most failed conversations up to lack of spark you either have a connection or you dont. Not everyone wants to partake in games of witty one-upmanship (*raises hand*) or blatant innuendo (*puts hand down*). You might just be on completely different pages right off the bat.

Some people are lazy swipers. Theyll casually swipe right before really analyzing your profile only to later discover oh, wait they actually really hate people with cats and ew thats a cat in your last picture and they missed it the first time. It happens.

Other people are coming off their last breakup sore and just looking for the validation, comfort and ego boost that newcomers tend to feel from the matching experience they were never there to meet up anyway.

See: a literal million reasons.

So when someone doesnt chat you back, the rejection isnt necessarily personal. Its cheesy but its true: Its not you, its them. Youre not a fit, and thats okay.

Its cheesy but its true: Its not you, its them.

Ghosting isnt unique to the online world. Weve done it countless times in person, it just doesnt seem as pointed. If you were at a party full of single people and chatted briefly to someone before pausing to chat to another, and then turned back to discover the first person had disappeared, you probably wouldn’t think too much of it after all, it’s a big party and you’re all there to mingle, a 45-year-old single writer who uses a combination of Tinder, Happn and Bumble told me.

Speaking briefly with someone in person does not imply an investment, and neither does an online greeting. You havent met, you can barely remember this persons name without going back to check their profile, and youve made no promises or commitments.

As a 32-year-old single software developer said, I think that’s why people feel okay ghosting. I hardly know this person. Do I really have to go through the exercise of telling them why I’m not interested? And thats the main issue: formally cutting off every conversation you might have with a stranger online would be exhausting.

Even as someone who only casually flips through dating apps, I have 200+ matches that I do not speak with, either ever or any longer. Some I stopped replying to, some stopped replying to me. Thats online dating.

SEE ALSO: The internet baes who ‘breadcrumb’ you and never meet you in person

I have so many conversations going on at the same time that don’t result in actual dates that I can’t actually reject all of them. So I ghost, a 29-year-old investment professional told me. I don’t think the person really devoted any resources to chat me along with other multiple people at the same time online.

Ghosting is easy. Sitting down to explain why you arent interested in continuing a conversation with someone you barely know is not.

And what good would come of it anyway? As much as some people might feel like understanding why the other person disappeared would be helpful, there are too many variables.

Even with the best intentions, some criticism might read as offensive. Or they might just not know what the hell theyre talking about. (They dont actually know anything about you, after all.) Or it might be one of those incredibly personal literal million reasons that would have no impact on your future involvements.

As the 29-year-old investment professional put it, How would the other person possibly benefit by an internet stranger saying he or she doesn’t wanna meet up because I find you boring. The 45-year-old writer said something similar: If I hardly know a person, I think I have little right to judge their behavior. It’d be massively egotistical of me to judge them after so little interaction.

Its just not feasible for every match to answer your requests for feedback.

Online dating moves quickly. One day youre all about one or two threads of interaction, and the next its an entirely different set of people. Its just not feasible for every match to answer your requests for feedback.

I think it’s slightly unrealistic to expect people to pour their hearts out to you when you hardly know them, the 45-year-old writer said. The problem is that one person might just not be into it (call it chemistry, call it feeling, call it vibe, whatever) while the other person is projecting all sorts of stuff on the other person and building up the proto-relationship in their mind.

The only effort we can reasonably expect from a match is to take a stab at an honest-to-goodness conversation. If it doesnt pass the initial chemistry test, anything else is unnecessary.

There are, of course, scenarios where ghosting is bad. If youve been dating someone even casually for a chunk of time, for instance. But when youre just chatting, gauging who the hell this person even is? When you havent even committed to a first date? Its not rude its just part of the process. Its expected, as the 29-year-old said.

Dating apps like The League and others are rushing to try to “solve” the problem of ghosting. Theyre offering features like read receipts or expiring messages that feel more like shaming. Those features, along with other attempts to engineer social interactions between matches (like limiting how many people you see, especially with The Leagues penalization of people who dip into any kind of inactivity) are manipulating your behaviors by controlling your experience.

SEE ALSO: The best dating apps to get you laid

So why are these apps even bothering? Ghosting is always going to be a part of online dating, as long as its a numbers game. But neither of those things are inherently bad. Dating apps, as abhorrent as they can be, are at least convenient and manageable. You can gauge a potential match from a safe and fairly anonymous distance, and you can decide when to pull the plug without the risk of them continuing to have unfettered access to you.

The fact that online dating is on your terms is one of the few things it has going for it.

The fact that online dating is on your terms is one of the few things it has going for it. The best feature these apps introduced was making communication gated rather than leaving it open to a wild west world of negging and sexually-charged commentary. Thats done. But theres certainly still room for features that would minimize the need for ghosting.

The most cumbersome part of all this is swiping through the piles of profiles some of which are joke accounts or spam to get to someone you could see yourself liking. Anything that would help that experience vague and magical algorithms, for instance would be more effective than these features that feel like yet another opportunity for a cash grab (with paid-for member accounts nabbing extra flexibility) rather than a service to the user.

If, one day, apps were able to accurately detect and record your most personal-interest swiping habits to better predict who you would like as in, be an actual matchmaker wed probably spend less time swiping and ghosting in favor of more time actually dating.

SEE ALSO: Hater, the app that lets you find love based on what you hate

Most of the current algorithmic qualifiers dont have much of a bearing on what kinds of people personality, look, style, character youre looking at. Tinders voting-as-ranking system, based on what we know about it, seems far too much like a Black Mirror Season 3, episode 1 popularity contest than a personalized matching system.

For now, were left with an imperfect system. Theres plenty about the culture of online dating that would deter any number of people. Ghosting, I would argue, is one of the less offensive ones a tool of efficiency rather than rejection. But its up to you to decide if its worth the hassle.

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