#this is an analysis btw

[legend-of-cupcake]

Spoilers for TBHK 110!!

Small analysis and thoughts below

This right here, it broke my heart. Tsukasa has went this entire time believing with all his heart that Amane hates him, and that it's okay for him to disappear. That mindset he had at 4 years old never changed. And Amane doesn't help himself at all, he never says what he really means, and watching him say this:

Is even more tragic, because we know he doesn't mean it literally. But Tsukasa will take him that way anyways, further strengthening his beliefs. Reading this though, it brought my mind back to that small flashback we had during chapter 101.

I wonder if Tsukasa spent a lot of time trying to coax Amane into revealing his true desires, wanting him to be more honest so Tsukasa knew where he stood. But because of the way Amane naturally is, he doesn't say anything regarding his true feelings-- maybe he feels he can't. When Tsukasa grants a wish, bad things start happening.

Maybe Amane knew that, and became more guarded about his dreams and desires. Became more closed off about how much he truly loves his little brother, never saying the words themselves, but feeling it all the same. Amane loved Tsukasa so much that he followed him into the afterlife, just so he could see him again, made him his yorishiro so they would always be bound together.

Perhaps, had Amane told Tsukasa how he felt before they died, even just once, then things could've been different.

[chessb0r3d]

Analysis so bad you don't even know what it's talking about anymore.

[laughableillusions]

You! American fan of foreign or otherwise un-American media! Are you aware of the nuances and cultural differences that are portrayed in that media and have an understanding that you as an outsider looking in should be careful with the lenses you analyze that media in because you have a different perspective that is not catered to?

[creative-clawmarks]

An unwashed petri dish that grows headcannons like penicillin.

[itsabouttimex2]

You guys know MK will like… kill people. Right? You guys know that he’s not a blubbering little baby who insists on “being the bigger person” even in the face of everything he loves being destroyed??

And he has directly killed someone before.

Because she was threatening to destroy the world and kill his friends?

You guys know MK likes fighting. Right? MK from the very start has enjoyed fighting. Still enjoys fighting. Has always loved beating the tar out of his enemies. In the Calabash episode, one aspect of his “perfect life” was a very notable panel of the entire Demon Bull Family beaten to a pulp and sidelined- explicitly told to him that he was responsible for driving them away. Because MK liked fighting from the start.

You guys know that MK; who only starts having reservations about this behavior in season five, enjoys being violent. Right?

So much so that he threw Azure through Flower Fruit Mountain long after he had beaten him into degradation, even though he had dozens of other targets to aim at?

You guys do realize that MK was entirely in control of himself during this sequence, and was choosing all his actions?

And he chose to hurt Azure as bad as possible in revenge for being deceived?

You guys understand that he’s not like… a little blubbering baby who runs off to throw tantrums when he engages with basic violence? That MK understands that sometimes fighting is necessary and won’t fall apart the second he learns that people sometimes have to settle things physically?

You guys understand that MK has never held the use of violence against anyone, and has never blamed his friends or family or mentor for needing to engage in violence to protect themselves and their loved ones, right?

Right??

Right??

Right???

[ariadne-mouse]

Tumblr media analysis gothic: In my personal opinion, based on my own individual perspective, which may not be aligned with the perspectives of others, and which is predicated on my own individual understanding and interpretation of the text, wherein the themes, characters, and events have notable elements of ambiguity such that a multitude of interpretations are possible and understandable, and said interpretations of mine are influenced by my own personal background and attributes, believe - but not at the exclusion of belief that other people may believe differently, and with full acknowledgement of the heretofore described subjectivity of my stance, which is an opinion, though I do believe in it and also wish to convey it in a persuasive manner that others will find compelling due to my argument in its support which I personally find to be well-evidenced in the text and elucidated by my interpretation of the text, on which I will elaborate at length considering all angles in order to minimize misunderstanding of my analysis - again, acknowledging the ambiguity and subjectivity at play in my interpretation - that

[swimming-karyss]

Sabo's fighting style analysis!! :D

Idk if this was done before or not, but I wanted to take some notes on Sabo's fighting style: I think it's really interesting, fun and rather unique! 

Let's get the obvious out of the way first - he's very strong, agile and fast. That’s a given. He breaks metal and bones with his bare hands.  His speed(both physical and of reaction) is something I especially want to commend – because it was emphasised a couple of times in the story! First in Dressrosa colosseum, as he was able to act against fighting fish and Burgess’ attack, and second, intercepting Burgess’s attempt to kill Luffy quite literally in a second!

Similar thing happened in the Reverie flashback: in an instant he evaded the guards. We don’t even see the jump itself – he notices the guards and in the next panel he’s already up on the rafter!(? Idk if thats the word) Not to mention, in that little time he managed to pick up Bonney as well!

Now, while I did say that he’s strong, he doesn’t usually rely solely on his strength to defeat his opponents. The first time we see him fight is the most fun one. The colosseum! Because in that fight he used a clever strategy - if you noticed he was actually directing Burgess’ attacks to destabilise the arena’s foundation and take advantage of it when targeting the colosseum’s core! Like - if you’ve seen hnk you should remember how Antarc broke down the glaciers - they first set weak points in the ice before dealing the final blow! (doesn’t only apply to fictional glaciers but I’ve seen a man ‘cut’ a solid piece of rock this way but I couldn’t find a video to show as an example😔) (no major spoilers in the video! only like. antarc's existence?)

He then used the broken arena to win the mera-mera no mi by a technicality! He didn't need to win by rules btw! The whole thing would be demolished anyway! He just decided to be witty and show off! He’s so silly, you can tell he is having a lot of fun. Literally being :D the whole time.

And using strategy and weak points in battle is the whole point of ‘finding a core’! His primary thing, that he even wanted to teach Robin ^^ And while even in childhood he was more level-headed and thoughtful in fights than, say, Ace, he’s still rather brash and daring. So it could very well come from his strategic and rational mentor - Dragon!

Ooh and look at him stealing that knife! And while that was to cut Luffy's ropes, in adulthood he often targets people's weapons first! That actually seems to be the RA’s signature - rather than overpowering their opponents with violence, they help and encourage regular people to stand up for themselves. Another reflection of Dragon’s disdain for war and likely also Kuma’s pacifism! The same way none of the captains use ‘normal’ weapons or conventional fighting methods, sometimes even preferring support roles. Hehe, you can see how the army and Dragon influenced Sabo’s character even through the fighting style! (actually, there’s a bit more about pacifism, but for now please just believe me that babo isn’t really allowed to kill)

But also Sabo doesn’t just get rid of their weapons in the fight with the marines, he uses the gun against the marine! The same way he takes advantage of Burgess attacks to destroy the colosseum. He uses these things to indirectly cause harm to his opponents! A roundabout way to bypass his mentors' pacifism "I didn't hurt them, they brought it upon themselves 🙄".

Also fun fact - Sabo’s dragon claw functions kinda similarly to Cipher Pol’s finger gun - they focus all the strength in singular points instead of spreading it on a wider surface. I vaguely remember this from a physics class - it may seem silly but it kinda does make sense?

And another thing which… may or may not be true depending on the interpretation. As I said, both his mentors are pacifists, and as someone who literally grew up surrounded by the RA’s values, I think Sabo actually doesn’t kill people.

Well, first of all, the main point of evidence - he originally intended to let Burgess go. The man whose actions led to Ace’s death. The man who tried to kill Luffy in front of Sabo. And yet Sabo lets him go and leaves with a smile. (Before Burgess intentionally riles him up, and Sabo loses his temper which he tends to do when his loved ones are involved. And that guy still survived didn’t he?)

Secondly, the Revs were so mortified at the news of Sabo killing king Kobra that it made it seem like it was the news of him dying again. Even with king Kobra being the good monarch that he was, the reaction seems too drastic for someone who has a history with killing people on impulse/driven by emotions/for fun.

And thirdly, he prefers to threaten people instead. In the sense he wants to appear threatening to his opponents. He tells Bastille that he can crush skulls easily without directly saying that it’d be his skull (well. Could depend on the translation) And after Fujitora’s meteor wiped out the marines he decided to aurafarm in front of the admiral with Bastille’s mask, even though it wasn't even him who actually defeated the guy.

He is really similar to Usopp in that regard - but Sabo actually has the strength to go through with his threats. And while he certainly enjoys enacting violence and frightening opponents, he tries to not take lives. He tries to be a bigger person (which may or may not be a part of his willingness to become a symbol for the revolution, he tries to push many ‘unnecessary’ or ‘unsightly’ things down)

Notably, the two times when he faces his opponents head on is with Fujitora and the second fight with Burgess. Both times included stalling the other side

To conclude this part, we can see that what he lacks in raw strength Sabo compensates with wits, agility and observation skills - he targets weak points and takes advantage of the environment. But his fighting style also has some flaws: mainly is that he mostly has single-target attacks, and the only one which allows him to affect/impact a large group of people is heavily dependent on the battle ground and can be used only once in the same area.

And now to his mera-mera no mi abilities. In short: they suck- cough couhg I mean they could use some work, compared to Ace’s.

You can see that he’s really inexperienced with his devil fruit. In Dressrosa he’s only getting used to it, be it attacking or turning into fire. He mostly uses fire fist as his main offensive skill, but he does try experimenting - with… questionable results? Burning dragon fist flame dragon king tries to combine fire fist and dragon claw, the things he has on hand, probably the first things that came to his mind.

And while we see him practicing on the Baltigo, the next time he didn’t really improve or came up with any fun attacks. ’Rook check’ is really just a ‘fire fist’ with a fancy name so Sabo could be witty and show off his understanding of chess and strategy in front of the most important people in the world.

But all jokes aside, the mera-mera no mi complements his existing fighting style nicely, in where he lacks range and power his fire powers fill in. You know, the way Ace and Sabo would’ve covered each other’s blind spots and weaknesses. And I think that Ace is the very reason that someone, as intelligent, creative and strong as Sabo, didn’t make much progress with devil fruit abilities. Mera-mera no mi is not just a weapon, but also the only connection Sabo has left to his brother. And if Ace had freedom to explore his fire abilities and be as flexible with them as he wanted, Sabo needs to overcome his grief first before he could see the mera-mera as an extension of himself, not just a memento from his late brother which he just barely deserves to use. The reason Sabo uses ‘fire fist’ so much is because it’s the only ability he knows for certain Ace had - it is in his very moniker.

All in all, I hope this analysis helped you get a better look at Sabo! And one more thing - Oda, please please please let him out to fight more he needs enrichment (and I need more material on him to dissect)

[dearmyloveleys]

analysing less spoken about whc1 ep2 scenes that symbolise Suho & Sieun's relationship + how food is a symbolism of integral sustenance, to which what Suho’s existence means to Sieun:

ah yes, ep2, wherein suho famously asks if they're (him & Sieun) were "a married couple in a previous life".

But more than that scene, I want to bring attention to the following scenes afterwards, where the camera brings us through Suho and Sieun's separate lives. These scenes juxtapose how Sieun returns to a lifeless home while Suho goes about his livelier delivery job. They too, shed light on the symbolism of food in Sieun and Suho's relationship.

At home, Sieun sits and eats pre-packed convenience store food that he heats up in the microwave. The way the sequence is filmed, it indicates that he’s been doing this and eating cold, lifeless food for a while now. Food in many cultures across the world is supposed to reflect genuine warmth and human touch, but him eating these manufactured, quick solutions to hunger further reflects how empty and emotionless his life is. It’s almost like he’s part of the robotic system his parents and society have made him apart of.

I'd also like to draw attention to how the microwave's design is shaped like an egg, to which I then draw a link to the line that defines Sieun's story in whc1:

The bird fights its way out of the egg. - Demian

This quote is flashed in the beginning of Ep1, and it foretells Sieun's eventual coming of age story and breaking out of his shell. It is poetic that he heats up the aforementioned soulless, cold food in that microwave. This foreshadows that through food which is very much a character trait associated with Suho, Sieun will experience the pain of youth as much as it brings him light, both of which Suho gives him.

Next, as for Suho, we see him going on food delivery jobs. He loves eating and even works as a food delivery driver, which cements his character association with food. He sends these more sincerely (more or less), but definitely warmly cooked food to people who wants them. This act of delivering warm food is very much a representation of what he is to Sieun. He delivers warmth and company to Sieun, which is what food should do when done and prepared the right way. And Suho is a warm person — he gives a sweet in secret to a child at one of his delivery addresses.

His food delivery scenes allude to a later part of Ep2, where we see this symbolism of Suho being the person to deliver warmth to Sieun, finally materialise into a physical act and therefore breathes a tactile/physical manifestation into their relationship dynamics.

He feeds Sieun the ssam wrap, gently pushing through Sieun's resistance as he always does. Metaphorically, and recalling Demian's quote, he breaks through Sieun's shell. In return, Sieun smiles with his eyes — his eyes are so soft and fond after Suho feeds him. Because for the first time in a while, Sieun is eating warm food and it’s given to him by Suho. From a more retrospective angle, Suho has given Sieun the life, attention and warmth that he wishes for.

Suho is Sieun’s sustenance.

Regardless if you view them platonically or romantically, this entire sequence revolving around food and how it symbolises Suho’s role as a giver of warmth and substance, exemplifies just why Sieun is so attached to Suho. After all, Sieun’s always been cold and lifeless. He just needs someone to show him that he can be loved. He needs someone who is willing to put in the effort, break his shell, to show him that he can be loved.

[fabuloustrash05]

In original Dragon Ball, Yamcha tells Goku that Bulma is “hard to handle”, presumably due to her feistiness and strong willed personality.

In Dragon Ball Super, Vegeta tells Goku that Bulma’s feistiness and strong willed personality is what he finds the most attractive about her.

[haematoclan]

Leo's relationship with death

Leo really doesn't like to think about death.

I mean, we all saw how much impact Karai's death had on all of Mad Dogs but Leo was the only one that had to be dragged from her, yelling after her, he really, really didn't want to lose her.

And I think when he lost her it left a deep scar.

I saw posts talking how Leo wants for things to get back to normal and pretend nothing happened, which I completely agree with. I think it's in big part because of his fear of repeating losing a close one.

He REALLY doesn't want to even acknowledge death.

Here Raph seemed to be getting through to Leo-

-but the moment he mentions possibility of his family dying?

Nope, time to deflect, joke and feign ignorance.

Leo's aware that death is a big part of being a responsible hero and that's why he'd rather goof off with his brothers and not train.

Because obviously when you ignore something it just dissapears, right? So if they ignore severity of certain situations and possibility of dying it won't happen, right?

If they don't treat it seriously they'll be fine! Totally!

Then Raph shields Leo from the Krang and sends him away.

And it's as if Karai's death stared right in his eyes.

So Leo picks up the slack of leadership in order to save Raph. He behaves carelessly during this time but can you really blame him, he desperately wants to save his brother, to stop yet another family member from death that he is so scared of.

He still tries to be positive and nonchalant, that "pfff obvioulsy everything will turn out alright!" but at the end of the day, it's not that simple.

Casey's speech had hard time to really hit Leo, he's still avoiding confronting resposibility, literally and metaphorically turning away from it. But the moment Casey says Leo's whole family died?

Now that made an impact.

And every time his family is in terrible danger he looks absolutely terrified and basically every time Leo has to be dragged away to not just return and try to save them again.

And when there's nobody to drag him away?

First thing he does is sacrifice himself. Because I don't think Leo is scared of his own death, or at least he is not as scared of him dying as his family. He'd rather give away his life than live through another grief.

Obviously I'm not sayin that the rest of the fam isn't terrified of close ones dying. But while they seem less aware (Mikey) and/or more ready for the possibility (Raph)...

Leo's wholly aware but he'd rather not be and ignore his fears until he can't anymore.

[chronicdelusionistsart]

Bernard Dowd and the Art of Recontextualization

I'm what you might call a "fake Batman fan" - that is, I've only watched most of the Batman animated series', all of the live action movies, most of the animated ones, played some of the video games... so, you know, probably thousands of hours of my life in Batman related media. But not the comics! Fake fan!

Frankly, I find the comics medium the way DC and Marvel do it to be really hard to follow. There's the fact that you can't really follow an individual solo character without them getting caught up in massive crossover events that ruin their arc and pacing, there's the soap-opera-iness that encourages cheap and revolving conflicts inherent to the longform monthly release schedule, the writer roulette, and there's also just that going back to try and thread a particular continuity or character is an exercise in frustration. Oh and the retcons. Everyone hates those. They've (basically) never been good. Don't remember this part it will never come up aga

But, you know, despite this - or maybe because of this - comics is a breeding ground for ideas. Because of the quick turnaround and the demand for novel conflicts, comics just churn out idea after idea. Good ideas, bad ideas, doesn't matter. Get it to print. Retcon it later if we write ourselves into a corner. Comics are often soooooo first draft coded. This is why I personally prefer adaptations - they often reimagine ideas and retcon them into new narratives where they can serve a more coherent plot. But what happens when a character is picked up for a second draft ... without actually contradicting the earlier material? While enriching the earlier material, even?

(SPOILERS for Tim Drake: Robin and uh... 20 year old comics under the cut!)

So, uh, quick disclaimer - because I have very little overall knowledge of DC's Comics continuity, there may be more interesting examples of times that what I'm going to point out was done. But I love Bernard and from a writer's POV I'm impressed with the way they did it so we're talking about Bernard lmao

The Beginning (Robin 1993) - Reading comics from the 2000s hurts in a way I can't describe

Okay so I heard Tim Drake is dating a guy now? (Penny Sonic voice) Whoa he's bisexual I didn't know that! I'm sure people on the internet are being very normal about this. Cool let's find out more about his new bf. I like starting from the beginning... so like yeah hold on while I crack open the Robin comic and take down what this guy's deal is.

😬

So basically the TL;DR of Bernard in his original appearances is that he seems to be an attempt to introduce some normal stakes teen drama into Tim's life. He has all the Funny Guy Friend Classics - he's got an inflated sense of his proficiency at pulling girls, he's inexplicably drawn towards the protagonist (who is cooler than him), he wants to date the most popular girl in school, and he wants to get down with older women!

This might just be me but while I was going through this I thought like, he almost reads a little uncanny, like he's been filtered through a Disney Teen Special. In practice he mostly serves to introduce Tim to the Real Plot, Darla Aquista, and be one of his ties to civilian life, which is, like, fine. He's ultimately just a background character and he's so unimportant that he only has one appearance after their school gets shot up(!!!), which is, again, to be more of an accessory to the Darla plot.

After this display of "wow this guy's kind of lowkey insane for offering to his resurrected bestie supervillainess to be her manager actually", he's dropped forever. Comics! We're not gonna unpack that.

The Sequel (Batman: Urban Legends) - We're Gonna Unpack That

Until almost two decades later when he calls Tim up for a date. And while I'm trying to skim over a lot to get to the point here and I don't really know the FULL context, it is notable that Tim is in the middle of an identity crisis / the cusp of adulthood when this happens (I think he just lost a spleen or something. That sucks dude). It's pretty implicit that part of the reason he's going to see Bernard is because he's someone familiar in a time when he's facing a lot of new and scary stuff.

And at first blush, he really does seem like the same dude. The familiar arm over the shoulder, the banter, it's all very casual and similar to the ribbing from high school -

- and I guess nothing has happened to Bernard in the interim haha he's just the funny friend guy right?

I really like the way they did this. I'm just unambiguously going to praise how good this is if you just came off the 2000s stuff. Comics have kind of breakneck pacing by nature but they really manage to condense down and then pull off a neat sleight of hand over the course of like four pages here. They re-establish Bernard as a silly guy and then wham you with the fact that yeah actually we ARE gonna unpack that. Fuck you Tim Drake life is ever changing and nothing stays the same

So the TL;DR on the rest of the Urban Legends storyline is that stuff like, HAPPENED to this guy while our focus was elsewhere. He learned martial arts, presumably so that he wouldn't be so helpless in the next school shooting level event, he got into a pain cult, he's just Not Doing Well. We find out, reading between the lines, that calling Tim on a date was probably one of his last attempts to reach out to someone when the cult stuff was getting really bad.

I've heard people complain that Bernard is uninteresting or not a character or entirely focused on his relationship with Tim, and I think that criticism is really weird considering that his entire re-debut focuses on the point that he's been having his own life and making his own (often wild) decisions - ones that really changed the course of his life - while Tim was gone. And it's also notable that this story is about how the fact that he's his own person and has changed and has made the nerve-wracking decision to take action and call Tim inspires Tim himself to take a leap and fling himself into the uncertain waters of young adulthood.

Me when I have my bi awakening and call to get out of a rut simultaneously because Cute Insane Guy Inspired Me. iconic

So that's how Bernard has changed. But that's not recontextualization, that's just the writers taking a guy and making him do another, cooler thing. Well hold the fuck on because we're not goddamn done.

What did he mean by th-

The Recontextualizerrrrr (Tim Drake: Robin) - Bernard is the funniest person in Gotham City. I'll not be taking constructive criticism on this

Tim Drake: Robin is the followup to the Urban Legends story and Tim is the main character fr. Obviously. but Bernard is also a major character. Later, he even gets to be a POV character. But they don't do that for several issues, instead treating us to his shenanigans from Tim's point of view as he solves a bizarre serial murder case and like, they're cute! And neither of them are normal in the slightest. I love that for them.

Again, TL;DR, there are a lot of interactions where Bernard talks to Tim both in and out of costume, but we don't get to see his POV until they go out to a restaurant and meet Bernard's parents there by accident and Tim has to run off to do Robin stuff. And like... a lot of stuff happens in this one bois. Whammy after whammy

We're suddenly introduced explicitly to a lot that was only implied or just completely unavailable before. Bernard's parents are ragingly homophobic. Probably were never great even before that. He suffers from depression. All that is a lot to. wait. hold on a second

he knows?????

HE KNOWS????

Okay so if you stop at this point and reread the entire run so far you find out that Bernard is in fact the biggest troll in the entire universe. This is the moment that cemented him as my favourite, by the way. Like I had a feeling that he knew and I was just laughing my ass off when my suspicions were confirmed.

But this is really interesting on top of that because Bernard has been revealed to be, at this point, a guy who you should look deeper than the surface to understand. Someone who masks his true self and whose true motivations you can only uncover if you're really looking past the facade. Even with Tim, he sort of offers Tim and Robin half the story each, taking advantage of Robin's "distance" to give out information he wants Tim to think about but that he's reluctant to talk about frankly while at the same time almost daring Tim to open up about his identity.

Absolutely most normal way to tell your bf about your cult trauma. You'll always be famous to me Bernard Dowd

This is a really neat trick by the writers. It makes Bernard a multifaceted character who got to quietly develop while we were mostly focused on Tim, and there's some clever clever foreshadowing they set up in this run to achieve this. If it were just this, I would call it good writing.

But it actually goes one level deeper than that and becomes something really really special. because as we all know, Bernard was not conceived to be this way, he was a one-off guy who was kind of annoying and he was essentially retconned to be, like. Gay? Have depth? Be funny? All of those things?

The Seamless Retcon (Robin 1993 Again) - We took your guy and we gave him gay subtext and it worked astoundingly well

This is not a new observation btw, I've seen a ton of posts to this effect. But oh my god. Some of these panels really hit different with the new Bernard lore. Like holy fuck just read this back to back

There are tons of moments like this. There's SO MUCH that the revelation that Bernard is queer adds to his initially extremely underwhelming tenure in the Robin comics. A reread almost begs the question of what Bernard must have been thinking at any given moment! BRO YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO FUCK HIS STEPMOM. That's completely believable as a next-level closeting move and goes from kind of annoying to turbofunny.

Like yeah of course he's acting like a douche. His father is a status-chasing asshole and he's five racks deep in the closet. Of course he gravitates towards Tim - his gaydar is pinging and he thinks Tim is cute. And it's also pinging that Tim is like. You know

None of this would hit as hard if the writers had not set up Bernard as someone who masks so much. They worked it in that character trait to mean that you could always glean information deeper than the surface from his top level interactions.

Because of this, Bernard is really fucking interesting and he's a good character and he's one that gets better on reread. Like I said, that's a set of observations that are not new to me. But something that really gets to me is how seamless and intentional it is. It really feels like the writer sat down and took their time devising a guy that is believable as that other guy, but only if you read back with certain context.

The conclusion - Comics. Man.

So is this just about how Bernard is really fucking interesting and he's a good character and he's one that gets better on reread and that he can exist independent of Tim and all the haters are wrong. Yeah of course. 💖

But also like, I have thoroughly proven to myself that I was kinda wrong to just reject the published comics medium out of hand. I see now that there's room for the writer's roulette to hit the jackpot and that something I mistook as an outright flaw, the winding and unfocused and often improvised nature of it, can be ridden like a wave if you're skilled enough to do it. Meghan Fitzmarten is a goddamned genius.

I guess I have to read comics now. Fuck

[yellowceiling]

listen to me. they . they are both aroace. thry are the moment. snd also cute, qpr? prbably. . look at them go like little mice tied together at the tail

BITES YOU BITES YOU BITES YOU BITWSYOU BITES YOU BITES Y

[saturnniidae]

Something that kind of frustrates me is how while there's always plenty of conversation about Hiccup's mistreatment by Berk and how things were before and in the beginning of the first movie, people don't seem to understand that obviously while it was partially out of his control due to his weak constitution/physical inability to do certain tasks, Hiccup never really wanted to be like everyone else.

He wanted to be accepted obviously – "I just want to be one of you guys," but we never see him actively wanting to make an effort to change himself to conform to Berk's standards. He wanted to be accepted among his peers as himself, he had his own way of doing things that he refused to change or compromise on, (this is literally shown and stated be a standard behavior; it's why Stoick was so exasperated with him, why their relationship deteriorated as his childhood progressed!!)

It is the very reason everyone hated him so much. When he started doing well in training he was still unhappy because while he was using tricks he learned from interactions with Toothless, he still wasn't doing things the way he wanted, he was finally making Stoick proud but it was only by succeeding in a way expected of a viking of Berk and by working towards a goal he no longer desired to achieve.

He never wanted to be like his peers, to be the ideal viking and perfect son, he just wanted to be himself and be accepted for it.

[harmonysanreads]

— On Phainon's debating skills and the brilliance of the Citizens' Assembly scene in showcasing his character development.

In response to @stickyspeckledlight ’s questions. I've been a regular academic debater for about six years now so, I can't put into words how special Phainon being a debater (and such a good one at that, which we'll get to shortly) is to me. So thank you for giving me the chance to properly yap about this. My original reblog got too long so I had to make a separate post orz. Explanation includes spoilers for HSR 3.0, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 Trailblaze quests.

To be honest, listening to that debate for the first time was incredibly nerve wracking for me. It was, as you say, a gamble and it could've gone horribly wrong anywhere.

Something crucial to realize about debates is that, they're less of this rigid exchange of counterarguments and more of a performance. Sure, the validity of your logic matters but, you're also graded on auxiliary things like body language, eye contact, enunciation, idiolect, fluency, manners and how well you can keep your audience hooked.

It is often said that how you make your point matters more than the point itself — because, even the judges won't be listening keenly to what facts and data you're presenting sometimes.

When you accept that debates are like performances, it becomes easier to follow and bend the rules. As well as to have fun. This is something that Anaxa — our Great Performer — understands very well. I bring Anaxa up because I'm pretty sure it was him who taught Phainon this tactic, as mentioned by Phainon in the 3.3 quest, “In the end I remembered a lesson from one of my teachers: In battles where words are weapons, outrage and blind passion often overpower reason.”

Anaxa also says something similar before casting his vote, “You've done well, Phainon. Given the circumstances, delivering a rousing speech to stir up emotions was a prudent move.”

This isn't all made up for the sake of creating drama by the way. I've seen this tactic being used in parliamentary debates, at least in my country. The goal is to stir emotions among your audience (including the judges/jury) in the hopes of securing support, doesn't matter if it's sympathy, rage or something else. This should be in harmony with your logic.

It's... fascinating to watch when executed smoothly. Personally though, this tactic peeves me because, often it's used to divert attention from the fact that your argument isn't strong. It can also feel like an insult to the motion. And straight up calling your opponent irrational/overly emotional in response is classless and can even have your score deducted (which is why I mentioned manners as a criteria). So, you really need to be careful with how you respond to that.

Which brings us to the matter of Phainon calling the Council of Elders “vermin”.

I will not lie, it was incredibly satisfying. But that satisfaction of mine lasted for one glorious second before I became worried. It was the biggest gamble of the entire ordeal. As we later learn in Aglaea's letter to Phainon in 3.3 that a similar call-out gravelly weakened people's faith in Aglaea during the first debate.

The difference is that Aglaea, quite understandably weary from their schemes after all these years, did so in the heat of the moment. While Phainon purposefully used that word and then proceeded to lay out exactly why those people are deserving of being called vermin.

There is a hope placed behind this approach ; even if it upsets a large group of people, it'll leave an impression. And from that impression, people will subconsciously start to think. They'll compare Phainon's argument with their own experiences and from there on, the chances of them voting for the Flame Chase will increase slightly.

The greatest challenge of that arena was the fact that Phainon had to deal with a huge crowd. Making sure they're listening to you is one thing (which he did splendidly by the way) but, getting them to think, in the heat of the collective influence? That is infinitely more difficult. Which is why I concur with Anaxa, using this tactic for this situation, was indeed a prudent move.

There is another important development in Phainon's character that blossoms through this debate. The quality of Phainon that Aglaea has always complimented him on is his ability to sincerely connect with everyone in a way that she can't. However, this was also the quality that he'd struggled to wield.

See, Phainon doesn't really trust himself. And his lack of trust in himself unknowingly contributes to his doubt in others. Why? Because when you can't trust yourself, you'll constantly second guess your choices and your potential. You won't be able to believe it even if the people you look up to compliment you. As such, you won't be sure about your decision to lend your trust to someone.

Which is why, there is so much emphasis on Phainon vocalizing ‘unshakable faith’, and resolutely trusting his comrades and the people of Amphoreus in 3.3 instead of him gaining new powers or something.

That quality is what makes him worthy of World-bearing, separates him from other heroes and brings him closer to the image of Deliverer envisioned by everyone. We see glimpses of him starting to understand this during the debate.

First of all, the beginning. “As you (citizens of Okhema) look upon me, so too do I see you.”

This is an excellent opening. The words used are simple, echo easily and do not clash with each other. They include the audience, acknowledge their attention and establish a primary connection between the speaker and the audience all in one sentence.

Then, he stops people from thinking about the fate of the world and implores them to really think about the gravity of their situation. But he doesn't just explain why the Black Tide is dangerous, no no. He talks about his own, personal experience with the Black Tide, baring his heart, for the very first time in front of so many people.

The strongest connections are forged in shared vulnerability. Even if people can't empathize or offer sympathy for him, they'll still be reminded of their own experiences, or perhaps the experience of someone they know. Strengthening the primary connection.

When a citizen objects to this by asking why Okhema still remains peaceful, it's as if Phainon had been expecting that question. He uses it to not only defend Aglaea but to also present the corruption within Okhema and to drop that bomb.

It should be mentioned that Phainon does not include mind blowing new information in his speech, he only reiterates the truth that most citizens had forgotten in a concise manner.

And he closes his speech with great humility. It's obvious that Phainon really thought it through and had a mental roadmap of his speech (since we can clearly divide it into sections) but, I don't know why, perhaps it's the voice acting on this section, I felt like the ending was improvised by him.

As in, you get this feeling that he finally understood what exactly his role was within the debate and changed his closing to that of a promise at the nick of time. Not to mention the roundabout way Phainon asks Anaxa this question before he steps onto the stage, “Is Aglaea making the right decision by entrusting the fate of the world to me?”

To which Anaxa answers, “Flip your perspective and ask yourself this instead: What should I do to ensure that the world doesn't stray from the correct path?”

And Phainon does figure out what he should do, which isn't wrestling with words to gain votes by the way. It's having the backbone to trust the people he'll lead. And I think you can feel this shift in thinking within the speech itself.

The tonal shifts throughout the speech is perfect as well. He starts slow, lets people adjust to his voice and until that citizen poses that question, maintains an empathetic tone. He goes from reminiscent to distraught when mentioning his past but does not break into tears. The frustration and the disdain when he talks about the Council of Elders isn't out of control, even if it may seem like he was momentarily swept up in those emotions. As he was able to circle back to the tone he used in the beginning to close his argument.

But of course, this doesn't work like magic against all of those people, as the number of votes received by both sides were equal until Anaxa broke the impasse — which I think is very realistic. Had Phainon not taken the risk, the Flame Chase would've most likely seen a shameful defeat.

This whole performance was incredibly difficult to execute for Phainon, not only due to the dire circumstances but also because I suspect that this isn't his usual style. We have some crumbs about how Phainon performs in academic debates from memory fragments.

As you can see, he's very quick to catch loopholes and traps, he's also not reckless and does not hesitate to play it safe if he has to.

But in the debate against the Council of Elders, he had to be reckless and he couldn't play it safe. He was out of his comfort zone in more ways than one and yet, he managed to perform excellently. This showcases the versatility of Phainon's character that was only mentioned by a select few thus far.

In conclusion, Phainon is an excellent debater, orator and public speaker precisely because of this flexibility of his.

Honestly, we must applaud the writing team, translation team and the voice of Phainon (I've only listened to the English voice-over so I'm unsure if all these subtleties are still observable in other languages) for bringing this scene to life. Especially with such limited movement and facial expressions. Even I didn't know there was so much to talk about until I began writing this.

[mooblesandsoups]

In my opinion I do think that a lot of people mischaracterize Scott a little, just a wee bit when making him this sorta "calm, indestructible and slightly manipulative" force. Don't get me wrong he's a GOOD player when he needs to be I'm not saying he's a bad player in anyway quite the opposite but people need to fully sit down and realize just how silly and imperfect Scott's character is ESPECIALLY in the life series.

He kinda has the opposite affect etho and scar have in the community where they're portrayed as "pathetic" but are actually CRAZY good at the game. Scott is often both in fics and art as this cool badass and indestructible force meanwhile his videos are nothing like that.

To me at least, he's emotional and not afraid to show when he's upset or overly excited by something, he spends most of his time in the life series working on making his house cute only REALLY thinking about survival mid-late season (more than the basics at least), he teases and loves scaring people as little pranks nothing with real malice behind it and it's FUN!! His videos are fun and cute builds first overall, only really serious when necessary or for lore reasons.

This also might be the affect of being a long time Scott watcher (been here since crazycraft LMAO) but I like to go back to when Scott was a KNOWN asshole (affectionately) He's just as much of a mischief maker as others and he needs respect put on his name!!

In conclusion bring back "Scott's the worst" he's so funny as a little troublemaker like Grian or Scar.

[chazchaschad]

something tells me this is not the optimal way to travel