#your HUSBAND becomes a PLAYABLE CHARACTER

[fsfghgee]

Are you looking for a strong female character to support in MK1? I'll introduce you to them!

Kitana

Princess of Outworld (and general of Outworld's army now)

If there is a more relevant female character in MK's history, I haven't met it yet. Now, extremely loyal to her sister (really twins now, not her twisted clone anymore), Mileena. Kitana is still a strong female character, giving the best for her realm and her family. She doesn't pay attention to those who advocate that she should replace her impulsive sister as empress and is determined to protect her family legacy and guide her sister in the right direction.

Bi-Han (Sub-Zero): Living in your sister's shadow wastes your potential.

Kitana: It is my duty and privilege to serve her.

~

Madam Bo

Retired Lin Kuei and businesswoman

This veteran fighter, can be hard as nails when necessary (especially with her apprentices to make them responsible and stronger), but her cooking skills, always praised and highly sought-after, shows that she may have a softer side.

*If you want to support a npc to be playable, you should go for her. Her potential is the biggest when you accept that she's also, pretty much, a gender swapped version of Bo Rai Cho in this timeline.

~

Sindel

The late Empress of Outworld (and my first main ^^)

You may not like her in mk1 for whatever reason, but she's a very strong woman even dead (and she only died, because her evil version bested her in kombat, so you know what it means...). I don't know stronger woman than her. And you won't find a more powerful one.

Jerrod, as her consort and beloved husband, was important to her. But who ruled was her!

~

Li Mei

First Constable (former leader Umgadi)

Do everything by the book or she will beat what's illegal out of you!

She doesn't play on service and she won't let anyone play with her.

At a very young age, when she was just a baby, she was taken from her parents to be trained in kombat and loyalty to the royal family. She swore an oath to just protect and defend, don't expect her to break it.

Do you like honest cops with powerful magic skills? Go for her!

I trust Bi-Han's words. And if you know him well, you know that this guy does not throw compliments around....

Bi-Han (Sub-Zero): I hear your skills are formidable.

Li Mei: As are those of all who have been Umgadi.

*Was he flirting with her? Sounded like... His tone when.. Who knows

~

Nitara

Status: Hungry! Don't play with the heroine of Vaeternus!

You may disagree with her methods, and she is not a good girl (not to everyone. If you are not her ally, be ready to become her food). But despite everything, she's only seeking the best for her realm. She won't stop until she feed her people. Don't stand on her way and you will be fine.

You like the strong-willed type?

Go for her! Give her your support and appreciation!

If you recognize the symbol on my profile, u know why I'm here on my free time. So, I'm sorry if I'm not gonna extend on this post. You can always find more informations playing/searching for it and even other possible strong female characters on the main cast that may fit your taste better...

If you really wanna support strong female characters from Mortal Kombat games. And show that you really care about female representativity in the game.

[muffinrecord]

Somethin' kind of interesting about Mikoto is that she's this evil gal who is like. Well. I mean, she's trying to end the world, right.

But you see stuff like this and then you look at her quote video,

and like, you start to realize that this is just her way of wanting to stop pain and suffering.

One thing about Magia Record is that it doesn't have straight up evil characters (well playable characters). Everyone is redeemable. Everyone can become a friend.

This can be frustrating sometimes. Promised Blood lead to deaths in Kamihama. Himena tried to commit fascist genocide. Oriko tried to kill Mitama (and totally killed a bunch of people through Kirika before her respective event). Alina is Alina. Like, some of these girls committed heinous things, but at the end, everyone is saved, redeemed, and made into friends.

I think additionally, one can argue that it's out of capitalist desire to do this, not necessarily out of a desire for good writing. You want your girls to have some likable traits, right? Otherwise who the hell would roll for them? You want your precious blorbo to have enough good qualities that people aren't just completely turned off on the concept of them. There are people on tumblr who believe that Alina fucking Gray was in the right the whole time; this is strategic shit on their part. Even if you don't give them enough good to outweigh the bad, you want to give the girl the best kind of ending possible for her (yes even for the girls who died).

That means Alina isn't going to get killed and forgotten about, it means that Himena gets saved before turning into a witch, it means that Yuna doesn't ultimately give into her hatred and become a kimochi monster, it means at the very last moment Oriko won't go through with killing Mitama. Everyone stops just short of crossing that event horizon of punishment and retribution for their actions.

But to be honest, I also kind of like it about Magia Record too, even if can feel "weak" writing-wise. I feel like there is a message behind the story-- that all of these magical girls have a shared suffering, a shared trauma, that only they have ever experienced, and that's why they need to work together. Even if some of them have done horrible things. Because truthfully, the worst thing done was done to them by the society they live (aka Kyubey). Their sacrifices are used to power change that benefits the universe at their expense.

I think one can easily use this as a metaphor for real life issues regarding marginalized people. Magical girls perform invisible labor that doesn't get acknowledged outside of their community as part of the inherent system. I think it's pretty easy to relate this to women as a whole for large parts of history. One reason that men historically have been able to accomplish so much is because their wives were helping them in the background-- either in assisting in the actual research or "simply" by taking over all the household labor and tasks, freeing up their husbands' time to study the universe or whatever. But I don't think you can "just" relate this to women's issues; I think it can definitely be argued that it can relate to a bunch of other marginalized groups.

And with that in mind, I kind of like that all of these girls are able to get along. Every single one shares this one piece of trauma. There are many different ways that trauma can look like-- sometimes it's knowing that you sold your soul for a wish you didn't really want. Sometimes it's knowing that you have to fight for the rest of your life. It might be knowing that your fate is to become a witch. It might result in loneliness. It might result in fights amongst your fellow magical girl peers, because there aren't enough resources to go around. It might be from watching your friends die and become a witch, aka magical girl food.

The really evil characters who are always presented as such are non-magical girls. Yeah, that's again because you want your playable characters to be likeable and sellable-- but it's also fascinating in it's own right. Mikoshiba gets almost no kind displays on her part. One could argue that it's a poor writing attempt to make a villain. One could also argue that she's perpetuating the system and trauma that these girls face and using it for her own advantage, with no regard for the tools she's set up to sacrifice. Acting out and trying to fight back isn't irredeemable. Knowing better and taking advantage of these girls is.

Then we come back to Mikoto, and why I think she's actually compelling, even if she's probably the most "evil" playable character. This girl has suffered a hell of a lot-- in addition to her own horrible homelife and schoollife, she becomes a witch and then a parasite-- but that parasitedom is really just another way to hammer in her suffering. She can't affect the world while she's in Hanna's head, she can only tell Hanna what to do and hope that Hanna follows it-- and sometimes Hanna does. Sometimes she doesn't. And then you have Mikoto seeing all of the various bad ends that magical girls get when they turn into witches. Doom, despair, suffering, and failure are burnt into her psyche. And when Hanna dies, it must feel like Mikoto really doesn't have anything at all, but a cruel universe that toys with her and shows her nice things, only to take them away. The world and all its beauty feels like its a mockery of what she can't have for herself.

With that in mind... yeah Mikoto is like, not a great person or anything, but we see how her problems stem from society's treatment/neglect towards her. It's like the game is saying, "by not protecting our most vulnerable, we make monsters. And that's our wrong, not theirs."

IDK. Maybe I'm really overthinking it? Very possible. But I like that the game points to some of these poor girls and says that they need help, not condemnation. They need understanding, love, and friendship. They need hope. The world can be an unkind place, but it can also be a beautiful one, and they deserve to feel that beauty and love too.

Anyways thanks for listening to my long rambling rant.

[laismoura-art]

Who do you personally cast as Harumi if she were to (hopefully) be playable? Me, I'd pick Sumalee Montano. Because 1) since she's the voice and mocap of Yuna in Ghost of Tsushima, it would be cute if she ended up being Jin's husband in another universe, and 2) because I think she has the range and capability to pull Harumi off. She's played so many badass characters like the aforementioned Yuna and Arcee from Transformers: Prime. Just listen to them both and tell me that’s not Harumi. Arcee’s snarky personality can also be for her more funnier interactions with Kuai Liang and Smoke 🤪

Also I kinda ship Jin and Yuna so it would be funnier if they end up becoming partners in two franchises 👀

Hi, Anon!! Thanks for the ask!!🩷

I went after Sumalee's work as Arcee and Yuna, and oooh I can definitely see our vision, and I loved it!

I totally see Kuairumi in Yuna and Jin! Him being more reserved and doing his very best to look always so composed and in control, but just not being able to keep it together when he's around the pretty girl🤭 it's cute!

Meanwhile, she's more open about her feelings and makes sure he knows how much she cares for him!

It's an undeniably cute dynamic!

As for her work as Arcee, I believe Harumi would save the snarky attitude for her enemies and be more of a tease towards her friends!

Especially towards Kuai, who's completely out of his comfort zone and having to take a role he didn't want to nor was prepared to take!

She would tease him and make little jokes just to light up the mood. He would pout at her comments and, for a moment, would just forget about all his problems. It helps, even though he doesn't realise right away!

So, Sumalee is definitely a great choice!🩷

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

Now for my personal choice:

See, I'm Brazilian, and most of us take pride in our voice actors and the amazing work they do!

We have so many iconic voices, Guilherme Briggs, Flávia Saddy, Miriam Fisher, Marcio Seixas, and so, so, so many more!

So when I think of a voice for Harumi, I can only think of Brazilian voices for her. My personal favourite being:

Guilene Conte!

Here's a little compilation so you can hear her voice!

Her work as Rochelle from "Everybody Hates Chris" is LEGENDARY to the point whenever we hear Rochelle's actress, Tichina Arnold, speak in English it just feels sooo wrong!😂😂

Her works as Sarah Lance and Capitan Amélia were great, too. She has a really strong voice, fitting with a leader, I can definitely hear her commanding her warriors in defence of the Shirai Ryu!

She would also go personally to Kuai's defence when a student tries to be too bold on him, talking back and acting disrespectful, she would snap at them Rochelle style and make them wish they were never born (that definitely extends to Bi-Han), lol💀

🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸

In a perfect world, Sumalee voices Harumi and Guilene does the Brazilian dub!👀💕💖💞💓

@madamealtruist you're the pro when it comes to voice acting. Please, girl, do share your thoughts when you're back!💕

[video-game-kids-tournament]

MEET YOUR CONTESTANTS!

TW for religious trauma, child abuse, and suicide under the cut

Name: Isaac Moriah

Age: “Implied to be rather young, school age”

Gender + Pronouns: “Canonically genderfluid, implied to be gay, commonly uses he/him but may be any pronouns (due to other playable characters also being Isaac at their core which means she/her and they/them are also canon pronoun sets)”

Video Game: The Binding of Isaac

Victims Taken: Cuphead (Cuphead)

Backstory: “Isaac has extreme religious trauma from an abusive mother that manifests as the rather brutal videogame. His father was not the greatest either (implied to have a gambling addiction) and divorced Isaac's mother after a particularly massive fight. Isaac canonically kills himself by suffocating to death in a toy chest due to seeing himself as evil and irredeemable from the religious trauma.”

• “(tw for abuse, child death, and bad religious stuff) Isaac comes from a broken and heavily religious family. Their father gambled all their money and left, and their mother is a religious fanatic who believes all the televangelists she listens to. Isaac was also bullied as a child due to liking to dress up as their mother (among other feminine attributes). At some point Isaac locks themself in their toy chest to hide and suffocates (at least, this is one interpretation. The lore is kinda nebulous on exactly how and where Isaac passes away.) In the gameplay itself, Isaac (or his other personas/alters[?]) has to navigate a warped version of their basement that slowly becomes more and more church or underworld-esque.”

• “Abusive religious mother drove his loving father away and then proceeded to abuse Isaac and, eventually, scare him into locking himself in a small chest. The game is presumed to be his imagination running wild while he slowly suffocates and dies in the chest.”

• “isaac lives alone with his mom, who, as a result of the stress of her husband leaving her, starts having religious delusions. isaac absorbs all of this negativity and starts to blame himself for his dad leaving, thinking he's a sinful child. the game is you fighting against all the awful stuff in his brain. it does not have a happy ending.”

• “ok so his mom watches christian broadcasts and tries to kill him with a kitchen knife but he finds out and hides in his toy chest which locks on him and the game is basically his hallucinations as he suffocates to death. also you can shoot tears from your eyes at poop monsters to kill them”

Why should they win the tournament?: “Isaac deserves another chance to make it tbh”

• “i mean cmon. they need a win here”

• “Just a baby that deserved so much better. Very creative and sweet. He just wanted to be a good person.”

• “he deserves to win something, somewhere :(“

• “bro has been through so much already give him a break”

[emmalostinwonderland]

Happy Wednesday once again! I actually got some shit done for my FTH2023 fic this week, so I treated myself to working on the DinLuke Bioshock AU this afternoon. Here's some angst for ya!

(I know there's not meant to be context on these, but I've been learning lately that Bioshock 1&2 were not as popular across the board as I thought, so... yeah. This fic is set in the late 1950's in the fictional underwater city of Rapture. This scene is set in Persephone, the prison area from the second game. Johnny is 'Johnny Topside' who later becomes Subject Delta, the playable character in Bioshock 2. Ok carry on.)

"So. What’d they stick you in here for, pal?” “His partner was in bed with Fontaine.” “You shut your damn mouth,” Din cuts in, barely noticing he’d even opened his mouth until the words are already out. “Don’t go discussing other people’s affairs like you know a fucking thing about them.” The guy in the cell across from him cracks a lazy smile. “Well, well. He does speak.” Din just grunts an acknowledgement. “My name’s Johnny,” he continues, “What do they call you?” Heaving another sigh, Din pushes himself off the back wall and moves to sit on his cot. “He ain’t shared his name, but pretty much everyone calls him Mando,” says the guy on the left, evidently still feeling particularly ballsy. “Mando, huh? Let me guess… Army?” Goddammit. “Marines.” “Well, ain’t you special. Listen, Mando, I met a fair share of people here in Rapture between my arrival and getting tossed in this cell. Even more since then. Every so often they pull me outta here to do plasmid testing at Fontaine Futuristics.” Din’s eyes fly open again at the mention of that name. “No shit?” “Yeah. I’ve met the man himself more than a few times. So. Is your boy really in bed with him?” Din closes his eyes and flashes back to tossing out the patrons who couldn’t accept the rules. He thinks about the relief on his husband’s face after they were gone. His heart aches all over again. “No,” he eventually answers, “Luke would never. He has a code. And we made vows.” Johnny seems to consider that for a moment. “People like that are hard to come by these days, Mando.” “...Yeah. I know.”

Tagging @babygirlbridger @materassassino and @malakia215 - plus anyone else who wants to play! Tag me in your posts, I don't wanna miss anything <3

[princelythirsts]

💌 , 🤪 , and ✍🏻 for the "if ur s/i was canon" asks 👀

Ask game here

Doing this with me and HR Hoffman and me and Mother Gooseberry

💌: How would your dynamic be portrayed? What might people focus on most? Any misconceptions?

Hoffman - …am I allowed to use the “me + the bad bitch I pulled by being autistic” meme? I think we would both be grey area not confirmed to be one thing or the other characters, but people can see themselves in us in that way.

Tbh like 2/3 of our getting to know each other / intensifying our relationship is probably taking turns info dumping about our niche interests and areas of expertise.

Other parts of it would be opening up about our shared experiences / tragic backstory shit. Or making weird jokes together and debating about bizarrely specific sci fi stuff.

I think some people would be squicked by the age gap or something but eh.

Gooseberry -

Oh my fucking god I hope people see us as like a Gomez / Morticia situation. Clark / Malfina shit. Dare I say Ken / Barbie. She’s everything and I’m just a reagent. She’s my tall murderous wife and I’m her hopelessly in love husband.

I think people would focus on the size difference. Maybe me talking about all the dental work I’ve got, they could headcanon I was one of her father’s patients at one point.

I can’t think of many misconceptions right now, except it wouldn’t just be Stockholm syndrome that gets me following her around like her loyal dog.

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

Me/Hoffman - daddy issues. HELP ME.

Me/Gooseberry - me being intimidated easily, I think people would make me a bumbling shy blushing school boy around her. and not in a fun age play way.

✍️: Overall, how does the fandom trait you? Are you a beloved character, or hated? Are you popular, or a minor side character? Anything in between?

Me/Hoffman - I see myself as a helpful NPC who becomes playable in a later DLC. During the main game I’m mostly working on the base and not going on missions because of my back/hip pain. Maybe in the future once I’m recovered I go on missions and we have fun dialogue together.

I’m not that popular but I’m sure some people would be like oh cool, young person I can project on x older man ship! I’ve seen a few people saying they felt for Hoffman and his desire to find a family, so I think they’d be happy he finds someone.

Me/Gooseberry - lol very minor character. I think I would kinda be treated as a joke but in a fun way. I’m thinking most likely I’d just be mentioned vaguely in a file or two. The curious case of a re agent who got left behind and played along with what she wanted, and then tried to court her.

[elegyofthemoon]

4, 5, 6, and 15 for the ask game :)

HELLO HELLO ANN !! thanks for the ask :> this ...also got pretty long sooo

female character asks

4. A heroine you love?

I need to stop bringing FF13 in here all the time but I !!!! LOVE!!!! VANILLE!!!!! SO MUCH

With the way FF13 is written, it makes it seem as though Lightning is the true protagonist, but really the protagonist of the story is Vanille and her whole story is all about running away from the wrongs she had done and eventually facing it head on with the power of emotional support and friendship. She's the one who provides all the narration in the game, even if she isn't present in the scene itself, and she is the very cause of all things gone wrong in the story as well.

AND THE THING IS she also sits as one of my fave character types "bubbly front to mask how absolutely anxious she is deep inside". She tries to be super positive and keeps trying to solve things with 'let's run away!' but running away doesn't get her too far and all things of the past come back to get her in the end. Her story -- just as everyone else's is here -- is all about growing from that self-hatred, leaning more into 'how do you forgive yourself?' and it's just sO good and I love this liar so much. She deserves so much good

Also she's wlw so that's also my plus on that.

5. A female villain you love?

It took me a while because I had to sort out between villain and antagonist BUT I finally remembered Delilah Briarwood from Legend of Vox Machina :]

You know that trope of a guy goes nuts after his wife dies? okay thats her :) Except she takes death and chokes it by becoming a necromancer to bring her husband back and now she has a hot vampire husband. She also fucks up one of the protagonist's lives (my fave character from the series LOL) by taking his whole estate and killing his family and keeping his sister captive all these years and terrorizing the entire city.

But also shes happy with her dead husband being alive. Power couple but the absolute worse (I love them anyways)

6. A female character who got done dirty by the narrative?

SIGNORAAAAAAA. I'm still pissed about it tbh and I miss her everyday my wife :(

The thing is I knew her story as the Crimson Witch beforehand, and I knew her story with Rostam as well (one of my fave stories actually heheh)! So I knew a lot of her background and just.... her death was so.... sooooo done dirty. Or just her general treatment altogether was just a mess. It really sucks that you don't get to know her unless you really dig, and she got built up to be such a ruthless character only to perish in an instant ;; It makes me so sad...

...I'm still lowkey pleading they maybe. idk. somehow. give us. playable.... signora....? I mean, I don't play anymore, but god, the power of Fatui Harbingers have a hold on me can bring me back

15. Female character you would defend with your life?

I was trying to think about this because I just knoooow there's a character out there that I didn't care for until the fans made it my business and then now I love aggressively... I think if there's any character that kinda fits that bill... I tuink it might be Lightning (ANOTHER FF13 CHARACTER HAHAHA-)

Maybe this is just extended from the fact that people didn't like FF13 as well back in the day and I came into the series very very late with this actually being my first FF13? So maybe because of how special it is for me, I defend the game and the characters like my life depends on it lmao But Lightning is just a great character. I love that she eventually learns that 'fighting is not therapy' (that meme thats like 'fight therapy im becoming a knight wait what do you mean thats unhealthy?' yeah thats her whole character arc in a nutshell). I'l never forget how she was like 'You just have to fight your way through it' to a 14 year old kid and then nearly got her sister's fiance killed as a result of the very very bad lesson she learned and you can see the instant regret on her face like 'oh.....i fucked up bad.'

She's a very very awkward dad character. But damn does she try her best and damn does she love her sister so much she's just ass at showing it because she's too worried about trying to be the strong and reliable older sibling after the two got orphaned.

Anyways. I love FF13 so much I think more people should discover the game (and talk to me about it)

[skittlewaffle]

Disclaimer: I’m not actually mad I just think it’s funny

SO FIRST, I WAKE UP IN MY FARMHOUSE AND SEBASTIAN IS IN THE KITCHEN, I TALK TO HIM AND HE SAYS THIS

LIKE OKAY.. HUN. I KNOW NONE OF MY SPOUSES EVER MAKE ME ANYTHING EXCEPT WHEN LEAH MADE ME COFFEE THAT ONE TIME;; OTHER THAN THAT IT WAS ALWAYS ME MAKING YOU SOMETHING

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I DID AFTER THAT. I MADE HIM SASHIMI, HIS FAVORITE. WITH THE SOLE INTENTION OF MAKING HIM FEEL GUILTY FOR BEING SO BITTER TOWARDS ME AND VAGUE ABOUT WHAT CAUSED ALL THIS EVEN THO I CAN CARE LESS IF HE MAKES ME BREAKFAST OR NOT

CLEARLY IT WORKED AND HE WAS LIKE “fuck” AND THEN WE GOT A WHOLESOME FROG CUTSCENE

AND THEN GUESS WHAT HAPPENS THAT NIGHT

HE ASKS ME IF HE WANTS TO HAVE A BABY

(for context I have a mod that allows poly relationships and I’m currently married to Alex, Sebastian, and Leah; and I’m dating Abigail)

THIS MOFUGGER AND I CONCEIVE A CHILD AND JUST A COUPLE DAYS BEFORE I GIVE BIRTH TO ALEX’S CHILD!!! AND GUESS WHAT ALEX SAYS THE MORNING OUR SON KYLE IS BORN

I UNDERSTAND THE FEELING BUT WHY YOU FUCKEN LOOKIN AT ME LIKE THAT ?????????? REALISTICALLY I SHOULD BE ON STRICT BEDREST AND YOU HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF SHIT BUT NOOOOO I BUST MY ASS DOING THE SAME THING I DID WHEN SEB WAS ANGRY: MAKE YOU A WHOLE ASS COMPLETE BREAKFAST AND THEN VENTURE TO THE SKULL CAVERN !! HOPE YOU’RE PROUD OF YOURSELF YOU INSUFFERABLE SONS OF BITCHES, YOU BETTER BE GRATEFUL FOR WHATCHA GOT. FUCK YOU AND THE UGLY ASS CARPET YOU LAID DOWN IN MY BEDROOM THAT I PAID FOR

[vavuska]

Who changed Lola Bunny?

Malcolm D. Lee explained, “This is 2021. It’s important to reflect the authenticity of strong, capable female characters. … So we reworked a lot of things, not only her look, like making sure she had an appropriate length on her shorts and was feminine without being objectified, but gave her a real voice. For us, it was, ‘Let’s ground her athletic prowess, her leadership skills, and make her as full a character as the others.'”

(See the complete interview here: X)

So, gone are her curves, thigh-high drawstring shorts and midriff-baring crop top. Instead, Lola Bunny now takes on a sportier look wearing a more standard basketball vest and leggings under her track shorts.

But, let's see more deeply what determinated this choice:

1. Being mad at a fan art is sad, people.

Before, a sad 50 yo guy starts complaing about how "cancel culture" or "politically correct" ruined his life - Really? Changing a cartoon bunny from a movie you didn't see for a decade ruined your life? Wow. Someone should really review the list of their priorities -, let's see how really Lola looked in the 1996 original Space Jam.

Here we have original Lola Bunny:

(Here you can see all Lola's scenes in Space Jam: X)

Yes, Lola walked in a sexy way that show off her curves, or at least she seemed to have curves (a little breast, tight waist, long legs, bootie), but those are not big as in the fan art you are seeing around, and Lola's curves are not evidenced during the match or when she played. Is more her attitude and posture that made her look sexy. However, althought her curves clearly changes every time she is doing something different, from action to action, there are some scenes in which she is purposely made sexy, with saxophone music as soundtrack and male-gaze sections that ends in the same way, Lola surrounded by a bunch of horny and howling cartoon guys.

That's appropriate with Jessica Rabbit: she is purposely made and designed as a parody of the femme fatale from old hard boiler movies, in which attractive, mysterious women were portrayed as evil and manipulative gals who hide criminal intentions. Jessica, with her intentionally exaggerated body, subverted the misogyny of 40s and 30s detective movies: she is kind-hearted, truly loves her naive and goofy husband Roger and uses her powers (beauty and cunning) to protect him. Her body too is used for comic sketches, while this not happens for Lola, that's just a serious and indipendent basketball player. So, the male obsession for her body is out of place, expecially because she reacted with anger at being misconsidered only for being an attractive female bunny. “Don't call me doll” is her catch phrase. So, it seems strange she didn't react at all at the very sexualized presentation at the final basketball match: Lola simply shows her basketball skills, ignoring or accepting passively the reaction of the honey crowd of wolves around her. (Please, notice the association: Lola “admirers” are wolves, predators, while Lola, their object of desire, is a rabbit, a prey)

This is the cartoon version of cat calling: they are like a group of men who sit on their porches and whistle at girls everyday when they walk in from of them. A normal girl or woman would pass over this thing, even if they are bothered, unconfortable or embarassed, because they are more scared by a possible violent reaction of this whistling horny guys at their legitimate anger objections. But here, we are talking of Lola, a strong Looney Tunes bunny, and she could smash that damn basket ball on wolves' face, breaking all their teeth. That would be very a Looney reaction. But Lola doesn't react at all at this situation. Here, on my opinion, screenplayers missed an opportunity, but probably they thought to have already did too much with Lola's personality and “girl power”.

Remember also that Lola is the only young cartoon female character we see in the whole movie. So we can't do a proper comparison with other female relevant characters' rapresentation. (See here for a deeper analysis of Lola's origin and development: X)

However, compared with Bugs, Lola looks more fit, more humanized than Bugs. Lola has clearly a definited breast and booty, but it looks like is more her posture that makes them relevant. Lola has clearly shoulders back to show the rack. Bugs is anthropomorphic but remains an animal, has no shoulders or pectorals more like a human and looks a bit over-weight (fat belly). And his posture don't keep that stomach in, chin up, and march forward.

Lola, on the other hand, has a more human structure. That's why I say she has curves. An example are Mickey and Minnie who are two beans in the same way it is not that Mickey is a bean and Minnie has small tits, they are structurally alike.

Lola's body remembers highly No-Ribs-Jasmine from Aladdin (see the gif for reference). That unrealistic Barbie-like waist that was so popular in the 90s and 80s. (See here for references: X and X)

Now, we are changed a lot from the past 24 years. Barbies didn't have that impossible, unrealistic waist-line anymore, Disney princess concept has changed (see Merida and Moana).

Lola concept is changed in 2012: her design for the new cartoons is totally different and her personality too. She wear a blue or violet dress, almost flat-chested and she was made annoying and silly, just to make a contrast with Bugs smarter. Just like Daffy Duck is dumb as hell and his new girlfriend, Tina Russo (no more dear old Melissa Duck), is way smarter than him. Tina is tough, street-smart, rebellious and feisty. But we will see this thing in the next point.

2. People on the upper floors hated Lola personality.

Lola Bunny had only few lines in Space Jam, but she definitely passed the first impression that she was draw only for make male characters fall in love. Lola was a good basketball player and show it off, in front of a skeptical and then astonish bunch of cartoon guys and also Michael Jordan. She also had a strong personality and said it clear to Bugs she didn't like being called "doll". Lola was beauty and curvy, but not a cheerleader. Lola was a basketball player. Remember this part, because we will talk about basketball in the next point.

If at the box office Space Jam was a success, at Warner Bros there were those who turn up their noses, and they are important people, from the upper floors, who accused the film with Michael Jordan of having completely distorted the philosophy of the Looney Tunes. They blamed Lola Bunny more than everything else. Producers of Warner Bros said she was too perfect for the moody group of Warner cartoons: she was too sensual, provocative and independent, totally alien to that core of crazy characters that act as an exaggeration of the vices of 'man.

And fans hated her too. Chuck Jones, creator of the Merrie Melodies said: "Lola Bunny is a character with no future, she’s a totally worthless character with no personality."

So, Lola Bunny was deleted. Lola would make only some brief apparitions in some comics edited by DC Comics, in Baby Looney Tunes, in which she was a toddler with a very similar personality and resemblance to Space Jam adult version, and also as playable character in some unsuccessful videogames.

Years passed and projects for a sequel of Space Jam never become reality, so in 2003 Warner Bros relased Looney Tunes Back in Action. But Lola wasn't here, because the movie purposely want to make a deep cut with what we saw in Space Jam, according to what said it's director Joe Dante. This movie was a totally failure, but it gave back to Looney Tunes their craziness.

Years passed again, but this time is 2011, 10th of May on Cartoon Network was relased the second episode of The Looney Tunes Show. The series aimed to strongly relaunch the Looney Tunes, long gone from the glories of the past, updating the stories of Bugs Bunny and associates in a sitcom key, with the rabbit sharing a house with Daffy Duck in a suburb of Los Angeles. All interspersed with sketches by Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner done in CGI and the updated return of the Merrie Melodies. But the big news of the second episode is that LOLA BUNNY RETURNED.

And Lola was a character with some relevance within the series, even if something didn't seem right with her. Lola looked different, she was no longer the rabbit version of the femme fatale seen in Space Jam: she was naive, talkative, with her head in the clouds, crazy to the point of becoming Bugs Bunny's stalker. Bugs after having fallen in love with her at first glance understands on the first date that he absolutely can't stand Lola. She is no longer the Lola we used to know, even if the appearance is similar and the name is the same. Lola is effectively a Looney Tunes now. And the fans like her, the public like her, Warner Bros like her.

(See Lola in The Looney Tunes Show here: X)

But this is a big walk in behind from the indipent character we used to know in Space Jam. Lola was turned into the stereotype of the crazy girlfriend for a while. And this is not a surprise, if we remember that in 2012 were popular the "overly attached girlfriend" meme template. (See here for references: X)

However, in The Looney Toons Show Lola has some very funny moments, while in Space Jam she was more serious and a little out of space among the other characters. (See here for references: X)

3. What women wear when they play basketball?

Women's National Basketball Association was only created in 1996. So, women's basketball were not considered - and still is not considered - as important as men's basketball at the time Space Jam was filmed.

In Space Jam 2 there will be WNBA players with a significant role, for example Diana Taurasi and Nneka Ogwumike.

Professional female athletes aren't that curvy because curves are determined by body fat and they have a little.

As a busty volleyball player, I can say, dear people, breats could be very annoying during sport activities: it could be a pain, when you run or jump. That's because a lot of women wear sport bra to compress and support their breast. Sports bra may also include layered cups or a high neck to keep everything in place and protect from painful hits, so women can be safe and comfortable during workouts.

Female basketball players didn't wear crop-tops and tight shorts to play. They wear exactly what Lola wears in the picture above: long sleeveless tees, large shorts and maybe protective gears such as knee pads, sleeves or braces to reduce chronic pain caused by the immense burden put on the knees in basketball, to prevent bruises caused by collisions and hard fall and to provide support after a significant knee injury like an ACL tear. They could wear also compressive arms sleeves to help muscles that are sore or overworked to recover faster. The sleeve enables your blood flow to circulate quicker to the heart, which helps you heal and recover quicker.

Wow. WNBA wears Exactly what wear NBA players. So surprising.

4. This is only a promotional character sketch, not what Lola would look in the movie.

Space Jam 2 would be developed in CGI and there are a little preview frames going around, included one showing Lola jumping and you can see her breast shape. But she totally looks like a comic cartoon character. It's not humanized. It's not designed to be the sexy love interest. She doesn't look out of space among the others anymore, expecially because seems that there would be also Tweety's Granny and Melissa Duck or Tina Russo as players too.

5. Reality.

Really? You want a human anthropomorphic rabbit? Well, Lola as a rabbit would have something like six nipples, but no human-like breast. And, also, real life girls have ribs. No one in real life is that thin. Oh, well, if you don't considered Pixee Fox, a model who had surgically removed six ribs and wears daily a compressive bust corset (yes, like the one that made Elizabeth Swan faint in the first movie of Pirate of the Caribbean) to look like a cartoon fairy (Tinkerbell, you are the one to blame for this).

(See here for references: X)

In conclusion, we can say that all this controversy is based only on a porny fan art and that Lola “new” graphic isn't change too much from the original Space Jam movie. It's just a little more cartoonish.

We can also firmly remeber that Space Jam 2 is going to be developed for children, to relunch Looney Tunes among new generations of children, who are the largest buyers of merchandising (including Happy Meals surprises) and consumers of new cartoons that surely would be developed, if Space Jam 2 would be a success.

However, we should admit that those kids probably know better the 2011 version of Lola than her original version and that 2011 version was more appreciated by fans and producers. Lola's voice actress, Kristen Wiin won BTVA People's Choice Voice Acting Award in 2012 and was nominated for that prize also about three times in the following years. Also Rachel Ramras, Lola's voice actor was nominated for BTVA People's Choice Voice Acting Award in 2016 for her role in Looney Tunes: Rabbit Run.

We don't know anything about Lola's personality in Space Jam 2, so we can't do a proper comparison or a prevision, but, according to what Malcolm D. Lee said, we can assume that original personality of Lola would be preserved.

The controversy is relevant only for Lola's body and not for her personality, and that's is highly rappresentative of what impressed more this bunch of grow-up kids. They grow up to be like the horny wolves and they are howling because their prey is not available anymore.

And, to be honest, being so obsessed with the breast and the body of a cartoon character (that is clearly made up for kids) it's not sane at all. Sorry to say that, but sometimes people need to drink from a bottle of truth.

[halion-halion-aito]

HI, YOUVE GOT ME INTRESTED IN BULLY, BUT I KNOW NOTHING, WHATS IT ABOUT? ALSO I HOPE YOURE DOING WELL! 🌱

first thing, thank you a lot, i'm managing okay and i hope you're doing alright too!! <3

and to your ask, YOU GOT ME ON SOMETTHING I WILL BE VERY UNHINGED ON SO.

okay so first introduction is that bully is a 2006 game, it's embarassingly easy to download without having to buy anything (the file i downloaded gave some minor issues at the beginning but it works very well) and it's not a lot hard to play, even for a beginner (many more experienced gamers complain about how easy it is for example, but it's perfect for somebody like me say)

the short plot is that the main protagonist (the playable character obviously) gets enrolled in a boarding school as his mom and her new husband go to their honeymoon; the first day jimmy befriends petey and gary, who are kind of outcasts in the school too. in fact, as gary explains to him, the students of the school are mainly divided into four cliques - he nerds, the preps, the greasers and the jocks. basically gary has a plan to take over the school, and (here start the spoilers if u want to avoid them), betraying him, he makes sure that each clique, one after the over, for one or another reason, goes against jimmy. so, each chapter, jimmy has to defeat the leader of the clique and takes control of it; not only he has to defende himself and his honor, but the point is that jimmy wants the pointless bullying and abuse among the students of the academy to stop. he manages to finally reunite everybody under his control and become king of the school, although, in the end, he finds out it was all a setup gary had prepared, so that he could make it all crumble under jimmy's feet and take the control from under his nose, having manipulated even the teachers, the principals and the prefects, and having gotten all the students to fight each other more violently than ever. then well, there's the final showdown between jimmy and gary, jimmy defeats him, the principal finally realilzes all of gary's plans and expels him and thanks to jimmy everything ends well for everybody.

now, the game has flaws, that's needless to say. it's obvious it was made for white cishet maybe hormonal boys, as all the guys fight all the time and all the girls are walking stereotypes with no personality. and in terms of stereotypes, especially at a first glance, aside from the main characters, are made to be sterotypes, and the cliques system makes it pretty clear, but i think it gets cooler the more you think about it. the memebers of each clique represent the worst characteristics of their stereotype, to the point that it's obvious it was intentional. and there's this very cool thing that, obviously, in game you won't know everything about every character. although, the more you interact with each of them and/or you go listen the audio files of their quotes, you realize how every single person is more or less acurately fleshed out, and has a background you find yourself putting together. even the characters with no real relevance in terms of plot has some quotes that will have you wondering and reflecting; tehere are even cases where you may find connections between characters who you never saw interacting, but have some small details that actually tie them- say, duncan who is said to have dropped out because of the bullying, while davis white can be heard saying he once bullied a kid so much he eventually dropped out. we can't be sure obviously, but there are good chances they talk about each other

also, something very interesting about it is that it doesn't pretend to be exaggeratedly cruel to an almost unrealistic extent about teenagehood like many teen dramas do (with the drugs and the alcohol and the sex - which, don't get me wrong, maybe can be real? but it's not relatable to everyone, for example, not to the isolated kid like i was), neither it is carefree and lighthearted like most teen sitcoms are; it really creates an environment that is relatable to many, through one or another character. there's the bullying, both physical and verbal, more or less subtle but not less damaging. there are authorities that claim to mantain justice and morality, but are blind to anything that happens. (in the beta concepts, the principal was meant to be much more harsh and outright violent, but i think his figure works better as it is in the final version - he claims to put morality and justice at the first place, but is blind to anything that actually happens among the students and excuses anything in favor of shaping the personality, creating imo a much more realistic situation and a more subtle problem that is easier to find but harder to understand in real life) there are parents that were never able to fulfill their roles, that were neglectful or overbearing or unable to communicate properly. there's isolation, both literal and emotional. there's a system that, instead of actually supporting people with mental illnesses and issues of any kind just, stuff them with meds and close them up in a structure.

at the end of the day, you have a bunch of young students who were left to their own devices their whole life and are just trying to survive. unfortunately, the game doesn't make a strong point of it, but it's something you can get at, if you think about it all even one second more. even gary, who is demonized and called a "sociopath" all the time (yep, ableism is there unfortunately, together with the fatphobia, slut-shaming and whatnot), is moved by the need for control that he never had in his life, betrays jimmy, who was the only one who would've stayed by his side, becuase he was sure jimmy actually hated him and would've stabbed him in the back if he had the chance. i'm not saying he's actually a saint and he did nothing wrong, but the point is that he was failed first, and this was his grand reaction.

on this track, there's the thing that everyone is neither a good or a bad person. some more, some less, but eveyrone has some redeeming qualities and other terrible flaws. the protagonist, jimmy, has a good heart and would just want the reciprocate abuse among the .students to stop; he's got a strong sense of justice, as his philosophy is that everyone will just get [from him] what they have coming. also he's genuine and sincere to an extreme extent. but he can also tend to be pretty self-centered, as -it is obviously also dictated by game dynamics but- most of the times, when he's asked to help, he asks what's gonna be in it for him. also, and this is something that has me absolutely obsessed, just like gary, he has this kind of lust for power, just like gary, in the sense that when he starts taking control he will get very full of himself about it.

even petey, who seems the most harmless and gentle character of the games, is very reliable and loyal- he's the friend that will anser to the phone at four am if you need him, and even when everyone turns on jimmy he stays by his side. although, once he opens up, he can be very mean, as he knows exactly where to hit in order to hurt the most.

is it contradictory, what i said here with what was before? well, kind of. but to explain my point i would have to go into detail about the backgrounds and the analysis of everyone and who am i to spoil this part of the fun that comes once you finished the gameplay and you don’t know what to do with your life anymore if not researching life and times of everyone

and, last but not least- rockstar games had a lot more in mind for bully, at the beginning- it was meant to be a much darker and serious game, and it was probably toned down to keept the t rating. although, obviously, some of the themes remain, and also some details that weren't taken away, unused audios, animations that are never activated and everything. around the internet there are a lot of people researching beta concepts and all, and it's almost sad to think of everything we never saw. it leaves some good space for speculation and imagination, though, so it makes it all even more interesting (at least to me??)

so... yeah, it leaves you a lot of space to think about a lot of stuff, in case the point didnt come across in. maybe too many paragraphs. whoops.

[arcc-i]

Feminism and Fire Emblem

In honour of Fire Emblem Three Hopes to release at the end of the month, this post will briefly discuss references to outdated opinions on women throughout the series. This is not meant to offend anyone but to show how with the right focus, the series can grow into something more. Please feel free to share your own thoughts!!! 

Fire Emblem is a tactical RPG (role play game) that initially came out in 1990 by Nintendo with its latest release being Fire Emblem Three Houses in 2019 (Hilliard, 2019). The series was aimed toward a male demographic with chess-like gameplay and male protagonists. However, the series continued along with this style becoming repetitive, paling against the development of other series such as Bayonetta, Red Dead Redemption and Super Mario Galaxy. Due to the declining sales. Nintendo gave the developers, Intelligent Systems a chance to sell over 250,000 copies of a new Fire Emblem game else they would shut it down (Makedonski, 2015). Resulting in the creation of one of the most beloved games in the series, Fire Emblem Awakening. Releasing in 2012, the developers having no hope of saving the franchise decided to throw in many different mechanics they wished to explore which turned out to be extremely popular and became staples to the franchise as well as other games, creating new genres of video games. The game continues to be popular, selling over 1.9 million copies worldwide (Mcpherson, 2020). Their tactic, aiming toward a female audience. 

Fire Emblem was appealing for its breakthrough in gender inequality with female leaders and avatars. It still falls into misogynistic roles with added features feeding into domestic activities such as cooking, tea parties and dressing, pushing aside the military based style to become more handholding. This follows Zoonenn's (1994) theory of structuralists tending to apply significance to activities based on culture like cooking toys being advertised to girls, drawing them towards more domestic interests to fulfil the continued view of women being “simpering housewives whose dream was to impress their authoritative, working husbands” (Gauntlett, 2002). This shows how Fire Emblem’s “progressive” ideas were still based on stereotypes especially towards women, playing into the idea of keeping women associated with domestic hobbies to keep them in domestic roles. 

This can also be seen with the increased focus on romance in Fire Emblem with more detail in character interactions such as in Fire Emblem Fates adding an interactive option allowing players to poke characters and the Japanese release including an option to blow on them, to increase relationships. And Fire Emblem Awakening and Fates add the ability of characters to have playable children. The focus on romance and building families falls into the stereotype of women being more interested in romance and stories than men. Janice Radway’s 1984 (Zoonenn, 1994) study “Reading the Romance,” explains how women looked forward to stories that focused on the romance between the hero and heroine. Fitting into the stereotype of women being love crazed and unable to focus on more series topics to use as proof of how unfit women would be in political roles and claiming that giving women opportunities such as the right to vote, would just be a waste and ruin the results. 

To conclude, as popular as Fire Emblem has become especially with a female audience, it still has a long way to go to break societal gender norms based on deeply rooted negative perspectives towards women. It holds great immersive content that could help increase its popularity and change the way women are portrayed in video games with some fine-tuning. A redemption ark, from over sexualising female characters and forgoing character depth, to topping the RPG genre with impeccable soundtracks, stories and characteristics that people constantly crave for. Allowing the core of Fire Emblem to shine through while supporting its female audience. 

References:

Hilliard, Kyle. 2019. A Brief History Of The Fire Emblem Series. GameinFormer.https://www.gameinformer.com/classic/2019/07/25/a-brief-history-of-the-fire-emblem-series

Makedonski, Brett. 2015. Awakening saved the Fire Emblem series from cancellation. Destructoid. https://www.destructoid.com/awakening-saved-the-fire-emblem-series-from-cancellation/

Mcpherson, Rebekah. 2020. Fire Emblem: The 5 Best Selling Games In The Series (& 5 That Didn't Sell). The Gamer. https://www.thegamer.com/fire-emblem-best-worst-selling-games/

Liesbet Van Zoonen. 1994. Feminists Media Studies. Ch5

David Gauntlett. 2002. Media, Gender and Identity. Ch3, ch4

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

One quick question, why do you hate Before the Storm? I actually really liked it. It could be because I'm a hopeless romantic, but I just want to see your opinions on it

Oh boy, where to even begin...? I cannot stand bts... it actually hurts my insides to think about how much I hate this game haha.

[note: yeah hi uhhh... this is long because of course it is, it's coming from me but listen, my feelings for this game are not nice and I have a lot to say so.... my bad]

One of the bigger reasons, though not the biggest, is Chloe... I'm not exactly a big fan of Chloe. At all. Not in the first game, nope. I understand that so many people love her and they have their reasons for that, that's fine, she's just a character who doesn't appeal to me. If anything, she pisses me off because I can see the foundation for such a compelling character, but it all gets thrown away for the sake of bullshit.

So then they plop bts in front of us with Chloe as the playable protagonist in a prequel story about her and Rachel Amber. This is an opportunity to expand on her character, to tie into the first season and make me feel more positive feelings about her character, to do what the first game failed to do..... and to be fair, they DO have a few of them sprinkled in... but then they're overshadowed by the garbage.

It's just... the ideas are there, and they're ideas that I like but they're executed so poorly. I want to like Chloe Price, I can see that there's something good here.

Like okay.... lemme do a thing:

Chloe Price. She's going through some serious shit after her dad dies. He died unexpectedly in a car accident, something Chloe had zero control over, it's not fair, and even though it's not like the universe singled her out and said "fuck you," it feels that way to her.

On top of that, her best friend who she adores? She moves away. Not something that's in either of their control, they're kids at this point. However, Max stops contacting her and that hurts Chloe. Chloe tries to stay in contact, but eventually Max stops responding.

Then you have her mother, who's also grieving after losing her husband and dealing with her daughter pushing her away and on the wrong path. She meets a man and falls for him after realizing she still has a long life ahead of her and that's too long to be miserable over her husband's death, William wouldn't want that, and David is a source of comfort for her... something she's not getting from her daughter. The problem is that David and Chloe don't get along in the slightest... which leads to Chloe feeling like her mom is trying to replace her father by moving on, not understanding why Joyce's timeline of grief isn't the same as hers, y'know?

Oh, and can't forget that Chloe has fallen onto a not so great path of drugs, booze, bad grades, lying, staying out late without letting her mom know where she is, pickin' fights, making friends with drug dealers, stealing money and other items, all that. She's bitter, angry, unable to understand most of her own complex emotions and that only makes her even more upset. She's unable to express them in a healthy way, she doesn't ask for help, and denies it whenever offered.

So... Chloe's starts out as an extremely entitled, rude, obnoxious character. She insults the bouncer in the cringiest way possible because these adult men writing her don't know how teen girls talk, she steals money and a t-shirt from a dude who works for the band because $20? how dare? even though bands don't make a lot of money and a lot of profit comes from their merch but who cares about supporting artists you like, right? Chloe sure doesn't. She probably buys some weed from Frank because yeah, she's got a dependence on the stuff now. She gets into a fight with a couple of dudes after spilling beer on them.... but what's this?

Oh look, it's Rachel Amber. Y'know, the pretty, popular, talented, smart, perfect, charismatic girl from Chloe's school?? yeah, she's at the concert and saves Chloe from the dicks who attacked her, and the two girls spend the rest of the concert together.

Now, for some reason, Chloe isn't sure but Rachel has taken a special interest in her. Rachel is flirty, she wants to know who Chloe is, she asks her to skip school with her, and the two take a ride on a train to a park and... honestly? pretty romantic, and it plays into that escapism fantasy thing of having the pretty girl who everyone likes single you out, making you feel special.

Over time, the girls grow close. Rachel has some family problems and seeks comfort in Chloe. They spend nights walking together down empty streets at night, holding hands. They hang out and talk about the stars, they discuss Shakespeare and what it's like to actually be your true self, if there's actually such a thing. They get tattoos together, and Rachel helps Chloe color her hair. They have a special hideout they decorated together in the junkyard. Rachel spends the night at Chloe's enough that she ends up leaving a lot of clothes there. They daydream about running away together, long road trips and living big in LA.

Chloe starts to see Rachel as her angel because for the first time since Max, she feels like she has someone she can be open and honest with. Rachel almost seems too perfect to be true, y'know?

And hey, over time Chloe actually starts to kinda get her life on the right track, if not in an unconventional way. Sure, she's still dealing with losing her father. that's not something she'll just get over... but she does start making an effort with her mom, and yes, even David after he told her about his time in the army and gave her that photo. They both know they'll never be friends, and they'll still have arguments, but they'll at least keep the peace for Joyce's sake.

It's not all perfect, though. Chloe's still smoking and Rachel isn't always the best influence. They get into trouble here and there, but nothing super serious.

She dropped out of Blackwell so that her mom didn't have to keep paying her tuition and because she's fixated on this fantasy of running away with Rachel. Chloe's feeling good about herself, about her future, for the first time since her dad died.

Until Rachel disappears.

And everything goes to shit pretty quick after that. Rachel's gone, she's not answering calls or texts, and everyone keeps saying that she probably ran away, but Chloe knows better. She knows Rachel wouldn't leave without her, so something must've happened. She makes posters and puts them everywhere, but things only get worse.

Money is tight. Joyce isn't making as much as she needs at the diner, David isn't making enough as a security guard, and hey... they might lose the house... the house that was once Williams, that's a piece of him he left behind. Not only that, but where will they go?

Chloe doesn't want them to lose the house, or for her mom to be this stressed out over food and bills. Chloe borrowed money from Frank in hopes of using it to run away with Rachel, but with her missing... Chloe decides to give it to her mom in order to save the house. Joyce is alarmed that she has this much, but Chloe manages to lie her way out of it to give her mom some peace of mind.

Except now she has another problem- she can't pay Frank back and he's getting more aggressive about it as the weeks go on. Rachel's still missing, Frank's breathing down her neck with threats toward her mom, money is still an issue at home, and she's not in a good place. Chloe's desperate enough to steal... so when she makes it into a bar that doesn't card her and she sees rich boy Nathan Prescott drunk off his ass and flashing bills, she thinks it'll be an easy score. It's wrong to do this, it's dangerous, but Chloe justifies it to herself. She needs that money.

She didn't expect Nathan to drug her drink, and she wakes up to him taking pictures of her. She manages to get the hell outta there, but she still has no idea what the hell happened to her. Like.... that reeeally fucks with her, it doesn't even feel real. She can't tell anyone, she can't tell her mom, and the police won't do anything since they're under the Prescott thumb.... and well, she decides to blackmail him.

And we all know how that goes.

So... we have the highs and lows of Chloe Price. She's flawed, even starting out as unbearable, but over time she becomes more nuanced and you're invested in what happens to her. You want to see her better herself, you want her to work through her grief and get help, you understand why she hates David but when you see him and Joyce happy together and him make an effort to be better, you want to see them make amends. You know David doesn't want to replace William, hell HE knows no one ever could.

You want Chloe to keep going, to find purpose in her life and realize her own potential. You saw her at the beginning when she was broken, when she was lost and didn't see a future for herself, and it's satisfying to see her come this far to where she knows she has a future... something that becomes all the more tragic when you remember her fate in the first game.

You're invested in Chloe and Rachel's romance, you get giddy watching them flirt and do dumb, romantic, cliche things, and you're just as compelled by Rachel as everyone else. No, she's not perfect, she's not a stereotype, she's much more layered than that and it only breaks your heart when you realize that she's killed later on, that of course she's going to go missing... you already know that! So you're watching Chloe, who has gotten pieces of her life back together and is genuinely happy.... fall back down the pit, fall back into the habits she had at the beginning, and you know it will lead to her downfall.

.....TOO BAD BEFORE THE STORM DID FUCK ALL WITH THAT RIGHT?

Nope, you don't get any of that. Well, except Chloe being cringy. You get a lot of that.

No, no, we got edgelord, flanderized Chloe who thinks her wit is much greater than it actually is, whose terrible moments outweigh the good, and who doesn't grow or change no matter what influence you try to have over her.

Rachel could be replaced with a literal barbie doll and little would change. She has no charm, she's nothing like what she was described in the first game, and she's just so fucking unlikable. When she finds out that her mom isn't actually her birth mom, she claims that her whole life is a lie and her parents aren't real and she wants to meet her druggie mom who chose drugs over her for 15 years because she's the one who actually squeezed her out.

Which, by the way, WHY is this the goddamn plot?? Why did they feel like they had to shove in this "oh hey Rachel's dad is the bad guy, oh wait now this drug guy is the bad guy because he stabby Rachel, no wait now her dad is the super bad guy because he put a hit out on Rachel's REAL mom, oh no wait it's fine because Frank murdered drug man off screen" WHY YOU DO THIS??

You have three episodes. THREE. And in those three episodes, you have the opportunity to explore Chloe as a character, and her relationships with Rachel, Joyce, and David. But instead of dedicating the story to that, something you could've created a compelling narrative out of, you threw in this dumb mom plot and fire-

HOW THE HELL DID I FORGET THE FIRE????

What- why did- does she have- Rachel just- RACHEL SETS THE FOREST ON FIRE??? WHY THOUGH???

I get it, "Rachel is the fire" yeah yeah and it's dumb.

Oh and because we didn't have enough going on, here's a side mission where you gotta deal with getting money from this other kid who's running drugs for big bad drug man because he wants to help his dad who lost his job.

But WAIT, there's more- In a series where several girls were drugged by Nathan and Jefferson, forced to pose for pictures, and some even killed or driven to try and take their own life? something taken so seriously...? Victoria gets drugged and it's treated like a joke. Even worse, there is a path that has Rachel drugging her, and no one cares.

ALSO.... Rachel cheated on Chloe with two adult men, remember? One of which fucking murders her?? and we're just... we're just not gonna do anything with that??? Nothing??? Maybe a little stinger at the end but that's it????

I just..... I hate this game so much.

It had so much potential. Not only that, but it had the first game to look at and learn from. Learn from the mistakes that game made and improve upon.... but instead, they fucked up even worse. It's just a game of fanservice that has way too much going on, is trying to do too much, and loses focus on the most important things.

Three episodes could've been enough to explore different points of Chloe's character before the events of the first game. They could've crafted a story that gave more insight into her life that make sense of the choices she made, that turn her into the Chloe we see in the first game. You don't need a forest fire, you don't need evil lawyers. I know the first game had the storm and time travel and big dumb Jefferson, but you wanted to tell a story that's grounded without shit like that... y'know, before the storm.

I could probably go on and on if someone doesn't stop me, so I'll stop myself here... I hate bts because it's potential was there, I could see it in a few key moments, and it was wasted.

The romantic ideas fall flat because being pretty and gay isn't enough for me, I need more than that. I don't care if they kiss because I don't care about their relationship, and frankly, they've done very little to make me care about them as individuals.

UGH

.......does that answer your quick question? haha sorry for the not so quick answer, but like I said, this game makes my brain mad and once I get going, it's hard to stop.

[purgatoriorpg]

THE MATRIARCH OF THE DE CERVANTES DYNASTY: VIVIANA DE CERVANTES ARMAGNAC.

ONCE CROWNED AS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE, VIVIANA WAS A GIRL WITH THE WORLD AT HER FEET. As the daughter of the House of Armagnac, an old French noble house, her blood was blue enough to spark the imaginations of royalty. Courted by princes by Belgium, Monaco and Norway, sons of nouveau riche billionaires and business magnates, her future was primed for fairytales. A life of luxury beyond luxury and so much splendour she could drown in it without ever lifting a finger awaited her at the end of the aisle. VIVIANA, however, was not content with becoming a little picturesque marionette. Duchess? Princess? Queen Consort? Why settle for becoming an impotent figurehead when she deserved her very own empire. The marriage of VIVIANA ARMAGNAC and RODRIGO DE CERVANTES was not televised across every screen around the globe, and there were no crowd of hundreds of millions watching as she performed the rites that would seal her name in the book of the De Cervantes dynasty forever. Instead, there was RODRIGO, and the promise of empire in their first kiss as husband and wife. 

VIVIANA was unique, even amongst your own matriarchs and step-mothers. To those with the innate understanding of how parental relationships functioned in the realm of the elite — perfunctory, distant, transactional — she defied straightforward explanation. She was RODRIGO’s equal in every way, a powerhouse of entrepreneurial and philanthropic influence; a chairwoman and member of countless boards including the De Cervantes Foundation; a chief executive of the De Cervantes business interests across several continents. And yet, somehow, inexplicably, also the perfect mother. The glimpses you saw of her were expectedly infrequent, but from all firsthand accounts and reports, she loved JULIAN like a mother with nothing but endless time for him. On the holidays JULIAN did not spend revelling with you on private islands, in the various beach houses and holiday chalets your families owned on every continent, he was with her. Inseparable. Utterly devoted. For VIVIANA, her son was everything to her. She loved her child in a way that parents with all the wealth and no time in the world to spend it, simply did not. She loved him in a way your own parents could not bear to love you.

Most of you wrote it off as an inevitable consequence of his progeniture — the relentless, arduous process of IVF and the combination of science and miracle that brought him into being. Of course his mother loved him unconditionally, unequivocally. She had bartered with life and death for his very existence. She had moved heaven and hell to give birth to him. But sooner or later, each of you realised it was something more than that. JULIAN was an extension of herself, her own soul — perhaps, in some ways, the heir she should have been had fortune and circumstance played out differently. You saw it when she arrived the morning his body was discovered, at the funeral, and at the wake. And you saw it again, the day his portrait was found slaughtered in pig’s blood, when she accused one of you — all of you — of taking him from her. They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but a mother who has lost her one and only son? Even heaven would not stand in her way to strike down his killer and every last soul who dared to let him die.

VIVIANA DE CERVANTES is a NON-PLAYABLE CHARACTER. SHE IS 54 YEARS OLD AND HER FACECLAIM IS NAJDA AUERMANN.

[rappaccini]

no but i am so mad that mia isn't the mc of re8. i am sooo mad. this could've been so good.

first off... it's so stupid that re8 just repeats the plot of re7. pls consider the narrative balance of re7 being about ethan blasting through a dysfunctional moldfamily to save a captured mia, with a little playable section near the end starring her plowing down enemies with a machine gun... and then re8 being about mia blasting through a dysfunctional moldfamily to save a captured ethan, with a little playable section near the end starring him plowing down enemies with a machine gun (... instead of chris storming the village, just have him hand ethan a gun and say 'your baby is down there' and watch him go apeshit)

... you know, just... establishing mia and ethan as a team instead of Main Character and Plot Device Wife.

mia has had nothing to do in both games. she's a mercenary with deep ties to umbrella who just gets molded and sits in a cage whimpering for ethan. twice. let her do things.

you know... just. establishing mia as a character with a personality, skillset, backstory and agency instead of being a glorified button capcom pushes whenever they need a plot to fall out of thin air.

the game. is. about. motherhood. and you have the mother of your mcguffin baby present in the game, and already established she's a badass and has history with our villain. why isn't she the protag????

you literally made a game drawing heavy inspirations from rosemary's baby, complete with naming mia's child rosemary... and the game is about the husband. k.

(thematically speaking, the story's much stronger if it's about an evil, consumptive mother being displaced by a selfless, genuine one. as opposed to having fatherhood win out against motherhood. which 😑🤨.... k. thanks capcom.)

(.... also every single triple-a game is about being a dad now. be original! make one about being a mom!)

chris refusing to trust us with vital info makes more sense if mia's the playable character. instead of 'sorry ethan, guy who i know and trust and spent years getting to know, i have to be suspicious and vague Because Plot Convenience' you actually understand why chris is so reluctant to share vital info with mia and spends so much time dicking with her-- she spent years working for a rival criminal syndicate, dealt with miranda personally, and caused the dulvey mess, so of course he doesn't trust her and has a bone to pick.

... and chris taking control of rose at the end making sense bc mia knows him and his organization well, and would want rose in that environment. unlike ethan who doesn't and would hate seeing his kid being raised by the bsaa

... mia has the exact same moldpowers as ethan. why is this never discussed. you don't even need to change the twist. you can simply say that the serum wore off/mia was reinfected during her pregnancy.

solving the 'somehow ethan is an everyman who is also conveniently desensitized to the mass murder and mold monster extravaganza' thing by just having a protag who's completely used to it because it was literally her day job

examining mia's past connection to eveline (and miranda), how much harm she's done, and forcing her to confront it after trying to dip out, start a family and pretend like nothing happened

mia being directly paralleled with mother miranda as another moldwoman who threw in with umbrella for profoundly selfish reasons, who's willing to kill everything in her path to get her daughter back, who played a maternal role in eveline's upbringing, and who is directly responsible for the dulvey incident.

the lords in general. just... the narrative potential of mia watching miranda string them along, realizing she literally did the exact same thing to eveline, and that if she doesn't shape the fuck up, that's who she and rose could become.

consider: mia vs lady dimitrescu being subtextually about her fighting a version of herself, pre-dulvey -- a deeply selfish, materialistic woman who's complicit in the mass killing of civilians for corporate interests and is totally okay with it as long as she's paid well and given special treatment. girlboss battle.

(more importantly: the sheer power of the gay subtext of lady d being hot under the collar for mia)

consider: moreau attacking mia because he's taking out his repressed frustrations about miranda, and using her as a proxy-- and in turn having mia deal with what eveline ultimately became, and what rose could still become if she doesn't improve

consider: the beneviento level (... which still should've been third)-- being all about mia's repressed anxieties about her pregnancy (... literally taking apart her own body in the form of the mannequin), her guilt about whether she should save rose if that's what she'll turn into, and her fear of what she could become if she doesn't save rose in time... as she fights a mother who lost her mind and sense of self due to grief over a dead child/family, and then let her evil moldchild totally dominate her

consider: heisenberg wanting to join up with mia bc he took one look at her and was like '... new mom?????? for ME????'

momship ENDED with mother miranda 🤝 now mia winters is mother

(and of course that rejection stinging much harder and making his homicidal meltdown stronger because instead of a total rando you've just met who you've done nothing but try to kill understandably deciding not to team up with you after all New Mom hates him too)

and after a game of seriously questioning whether mia's any better, we conclude that she is: the difference being that mia had a come-to-jesus moment after eveline (probably in the form of having rose and realizing how shitty it is to manipulate a child like that) and tried to leave it behind, while miranda jumped in deeper. mia sincerely loves rose and ethan and regrets her actions, while miranda has zero guilt about hers and will never change.

the megamycete eveline vision crystallizing that: it's mia, talking to eveline, the girl she hurt, and not only learning that she herself is a moldperson, but asking for forgiveness for what she did to her.

the self-sacrifice at the end being just as much about redemption for past wrongs as it is about saving rose-- mia's grown enough to admit that she has to face the shit she did, take responsibility for the blood on her hands, and has gone from self-serving and cold to genuinely selfless

(.... honestly ethan and mia both should've died saving rose as a battle couple but the thought of ethan being a totally normal housedad with a 9 to 5 job handing rose her lunchbox every morning before she goes off with uncle chris to slaughter whatever evil residents are in re9 warms my heart and we deserved to see it)

(preemptively dodging the Dead Mom Thing by making an entire game about rose's pre-dead mom, how powerful she was and how much of an impact she had on the story and rose specifically)

anyway capcom fucked up.

[mishamalda]

Casualties of Perspective: An Analysis of Díthorba

Introduction to Díthorba

Díthorba is an enemy boss character in the fourth game of the Fire Emblem series, Genealogy of the Holy War, recently added to the mobile game Fire Emblem Heroes. She is a Heavenly Knight of Silesse, an elite pegasus knight. She is most often portrayed as something of a mustache-twirling villain, comically evil; however, the truth of her character is a much more complex one. Kaga told me so. I’m writing this essay because I got her in Heroes and I have ADHD. It’s a love story for the ages.

Context: Politics of Silesse & The Heavenly Knights

Silesse is, in general, a neutral country; during the game, it does not serve as a power, but a battlefield, suffering its own civil war rather than taking part in the larger battle. The history of Silesse is sparse, with its characteristics centering on the fact of its foundation being by Crusader Ced: as such, it is principally peaceful. The martial strength attributed to the characters from Silesse lies in their association to wind, whether that be through flight (in pegasus and falcon knights) or magic (in wind mages).

Among the pegasus knights, there are four elite warriors who are considered the best in the country. These are the Heavenly Knights: Annand, Pamela, Erinys, and Díthorba. Annand is the captain. Both Pamela and Díthorba express jealousy toward her that borders on hatred— and toward one another and Erinys, as well. The Heavenly Knights, despite being the crown jewels of a country which values peace, are thus shown to be an order constantly at one another’s throats. This may be because of the intense stress that they must have undergone in order to become as skilled as they are, or it may be because of the competitive nature of their stations. Regardless of the origin, however, this tension makes the eventual shattering of the order understandable.

During the events of Genealogy of the Holy War, the conflict in Silesse revolves around an attempted coup d’etat. The queen of the country, Lahna, is not of Silessean royal blood, having married into the royal family, and was therefore seen as not capable of holding the throne after her husband passed. Her son, Lewyn, was meant to take the throne, but his uncles, Lahna’s brothers-in-law, saw him as weak, and together they attempted to take the throne. Díthorba held these views as well, stating in her Heroes lines that she believes Lahna “invited crisis to Silesse”.

The coup was eventually settled by Sigurd’s army, and both of Lewyn’s uncles were killed, along with Díthorba and Pamela.

Motivation and Morality

In the context of the political situation in Silesse, it becomes easy to discern Díthorba’s motivations, although her morality is still gray at best. Unlike her counterpart Pamela, who fights in the name of her own lust for power, Díthorba seems to have some desire to see her country changed for the better. When speaking on her hopes in Heroes, she remarks that her two greatest wishes are to see her country thriving and her daughter happy.

Díthorba does express a desire to become the captain of the Heavenly Knights, actively competing with Annand and Pamela while dismissing Erinys as an “amateur”. She is consistently portrayed as ambitious and proud, and only seems to question herself when she is defeated and killed: unlike Pamela, who is proud to the end, Díthorba’s dying line is “What have I done?”, implying at least a measure of self-awareness. Extrapolating from this quote, it may be assumed that Díthorba genuinely did want what was best for Silesse, and it is only upon seeing her own pride disproven, her arrogance torn open and her weakness exposed, that she recognizes the reality of things. In this we see the keystone of her moral code revealed: to seek strength and success both in herself and in her country.

Ambition alone does not make a villain. In different circumstances, Díthorba may have been a great servant to a better cause. Her desire for power, though a factor in her choices, is peripheral to her actions in the civil war. Serving Myos does not actually further her in the Heavenly Knights. By shattering Silesse, she does stand a chance of becoming the new commander, but the order as an order does not exist thanks to the civil war; therefore, she cannot be acting in her own self-interest. She provides a contrast to Pamela in this respect.

Despite this, Díthorba is by no means a good person. She may be serving a cause that she believes to be right, but her methods are terrible, and she is not an honorable knight, threatening extreme violence to Erinys when confronted and failing to show her basic respect. Though from her own viewpoint she is doing the best thing for Silesse, she does not present her side of the conflict to her enemies— although, again, since the enemy she has dialogue with is Erinys, this may be due to the deep antipathy that the Heavenly Knights hold for one another. It is next to impossible to judge Díthorba’s morality from the player’s perspective. She is shown through a lens that does not allow her to be good.

Relationships, Attachments, & Misha

Díthorba has very few attachments. Her only known associates at the time of her death are the Heavenly Knights, who— as stated above— do not act as friends or even allies. This is likely why she is defined as a traitor: although she may have technically been “allied” with the Heavenly Knights, they provided no reason for her to consider them her friends. Her duty was never to the other Knights, but to Silesse, and she did attempt to fulfill it in her own way.

The only loving attachment Díthorba has is found in her daughter, Misha. She never mentions her in her battle quotes— again, this is an issue not with her character but with her framing as an enemy— but does mention her in Heroes, as referenced above. Misha, who is a playable character in the intermediary game, Thracia 776, references Díthorba not only in her quotes but in her personality. Misha expresses great affection for her mother, and resembles her in being a pegasus knight. When she is captured, it is said that “The Pegasus Knights of Silesse value honor above all,” further shining a light on not only Misha’s but Díthorba’s actions.

Furthermore, Misha is serious and proud, similar to her mother, but is presented as a hero, not a villain. Although her morality is also questionable, her cause (feeding the orphans of Silesse) is unequivocally good. Misha fights in a war she knows is wrong in order to save innocents, and when her actions lead her own soldiers to their deaths, her honor demands that she die with them. Like Díthorba, she is complex, and they seem to be very similar in many respects; the difference between them is that in Thracia 776, Misha does not have to be your enemy. The picture this retroactively paints of Díthorba is a tragic one. A person with a cause she thought to be just, fighting on the side of someone she thinks to be the best choice for her country, never given the chance to see the truth of it— Díthorba is not a villain, but a flawed hero whose heroism only exists in her own warped view of the world.

To redirect back to the relationship itself, Misha’s unquestioned love for her mother (and the same affection from Díthorba in Heroes) provides a softer facet to the broken image we receive. It can be assumed that Díthorba treated her daughter with love and kindness, and fights for her future as much as for Silesse, but we are never allowed to see any of Díthorba’s warmth. In including this detail, Sigurd’s action of killing Díthorba— thus orphaning Misha— becomes a tragedy, not a victory.

Conclusion

Díthorba will always be an incomplete personality. General ideas may be extrapolated about her, but she is a casualty of perspective, unable to be shown in her entirety simply because Sigurd’s army does not have the luxury of coming to understand her. However, enough of her is revealed that her relative honor becomes painfully apparent. In different circumstances, or in a different story, she could easily have been something more than just more meat for the Sigurd grinder.

Also, she’s a lesbian, because I say so. Thanks for reading!

[divinefemmes]

✱ ╱ rosamund pike + cis woman + she/her ━  if you happen to find yourself stuck in tartarus, make sure you don’t run into SLOANE VASILIEVA there. the FORTY-TWO year old has made quite the reputation for themselves under their alias as ATÉ, an CONSIGLIERE for THE STALLIONS. while their enemies often describe them as merciless and cruel, their syndicate would say that they’re clever and enticing. they DO think that zane was murdered, but they’ll be keeping that to themselves for now. ( never without a flask of vodka, behind every great man is a woman with blood on her hands, smiling in your face while stabbing you in the back. )

𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

full name: sloane oksana vasilieva

nicknames: 

date of birth: april 17th 1979

current age: forty-two

place of birth: saint petersburg, russia

current location: tartarus, california

sexual orientation: bisexual

marital status: divorced

goddess: até, goddess of mischief & ruin

𝒇𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

parents: tbd

siblings: 2 sisters, 1 brother ( they are playable ! )

𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚

positive traits: clever, enticing, analytical, perceptive

negative traits: merciless, cruel, volatile, cold

zodiac sign: aries

mbti: intj

hogwarts house: slytherin

fictional characters: tba

theme song: tba

Raised in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Sloane grew up in a small house in the poorest part of the city. She’s second of four kids. Three girls, one boy. She had always been the wild one... the one to see how far she could bend the rules and wreak havoc. While she was a handful, you couldn’t help but love her... especially with that charming smile and those hypnotic blue eyes.

From a young age, the blonde knew she wanted to leave Russia one day. The United States of America seemed like a dream... everytime she imagined what it’d be like there, she pictured everything how she saw it in the movies. Pristine, perfect, the ultimate dream. While it was far safer in the US to live as an openly bisexual woman than it was back home, there was still darkness lurking under the surface in the land of the free.

At 24 years old, Sloane moved to Tartarus, California, seeking the sunny lifestyle and it didn’t take long until she found herself involved in crime. She joined The Titans, working her way up the ranks slowly, working for them as a stripper and thief before becoming an assassin. Over the years, she grew very close to the brothers, and considered the syndicate her family. She took a liking to Donny, and it wasn’t a surprise that she followed him as soon as tensions rose and war was declared. She accepted his offer to be his Consigliere, and there isn't anyone who could be more perfect for the role.

When asked to describe the Russian bombshell, most people would say she’s cold, calculating, a femme fatale and often enough people would call her ‘the most heinous bitch’ they have ever met. Frankly, Sloane finds that to be a compliment. 

Despite her aloof nature, she was once enamoured with someone other than herself. Her ex-husband. They met when she was in her late 20s, and found themselves completely smitten from the moment they exchanged glances. He was one of the only people she truly opened up to and showed a softer side to. They were married for ten years before it all fell apart. The divorce was finalised two years ago, and she isn’t in the rush to fall in love again. In fact, she’s avoiding it. Sex without emotions is more her style these days.

𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔

lovers: sloane isn’t short of lovers. ever sine her divorce, she’s taken advantage of the fact she hasn’t got anyone tying her down anymore. be careful, though. she’s prone to breaking hearts.

unrequited feelings: this muse has a crush / feelings that sloane doesn’t reciprocate. maybe they’re friends, and she just doesn’t feel it, or she just can’t stand them.

best friend: every woman needs her ride or die. any gender.

good influence: this muse is a good influence on sloane and her menacing ways. maybe they soften her a little.

enemies.

i want you dead but you’re kind of hot: they constantly clash, maybe they are rivals of some kind. they loathe each other, but also can’t help the fact that there’s an attraction there.