Backstory made to fit a sexualized design vs. a design made to fit a backstory requiring a character to wear minimal clothing.
It’s funny OP because I’m pretty sure you’d whine about it regardless and don’t pretend for a second you wouldn’t.
And what do you have to say about this?
Or this
Or this
Or this
Do you also have a problem with those or does it just bother you when it’s a woman?
One of MGSs defining traits is literally having absurd character design and costumes whenever they can get away with it, and there’s often a weird sexual undercurrent to EVERYTHING.
It’s funny because Hideo Kojoma doesn’t give a single fuck.
Just one thing in the midst of all this whining: Tell me about the character who had a very similar condition to Quiet’s, if not the same one. I know for a fact there was another character like her, who breathed through his skin or photosynthesized or something like that. What was he wearing?
Another thing, actually - so tell me about the endless stream of video games I can play where the dudes look like Snake in this here list of pictures. Because Quiet doesn’t look very different from most action girls in games, in my experience. But Snake and Raiden here are worlds apart from other men in other games in terms of their design.
The point about MGS being so sexually charged in its designs of all characters is valid, but it doesn’t really trump the first point I’m trying to make here.
Did literally all of the rebuttals above completely miss the point that Quiet’s costume doesn’t fit her backstory at all? “She needs to have as much skin exposed as possible or she’ll die” doesn’t work as an in-story justification when her clothing doesn’t fit that justification. This is what we call arguing in bad faith: a refusal to actually engage with the point that’s being made.
(And on a side note, if you haven’t seen Jim Sterling’s recent Jimquisition video about this, go do so. Thank God for him.)
There’s one thing I’d also like to point out (credit to Jim Sterling TG4H though, he’s the one who pointed it out first) and that’s that even if you can dress Snake up shirtless in TPP (which, I have to say is hardly equivalent to Quiet’s getup, but whatever) you have to earn that. You don’t get it at the beginning, and it’s certainly not the default.
With Quiet, that’s the default, and you have no choice from the beginning. If you want normal clothes on her that will make her look like the badass sniper she’s supposed to be, you have to earn it in game after you (I believe) earn her gold and silver costume variants. And even then, if I’m not mistaken, she goes right back to her normal gear for cutscenes, so it’s not even like you get it all the time anyway.
EDIT: It should also be pointed out that many of the costumes and scenes with male sexualization is done for comedic effect, and isn’t necessarily meant to be titillating. For Quiet, though, the camera lovingly focuses on her body in certain cutscenes, and the situations she’s in aren’t meant to be comedic at all.
OBJECTION.
You can immediately strip Snake’s top off. It may not be default but you don’t need to unlock it as an option.
ANOTHER OBJECTION!
The character you’re talking about that shares Quiet’s “condition”. I’d like to refute that.
Quiet breathes through her skin and eats through photosynthesis. Her lungs are burnt to a crisp. That’s why she breathes through her skin. The guy you’re talking about DOESN’T breathe through his skin. He only does the photosynthesis thing! SO HAH!
Also. If Quiet’s XOF armour is unlockable and she can wear it, then what’s the issue? Doesn’t that fix the whole problem? All you need to do is git gud.
I’d like to say.. Quiet IS a badass sniper REGARDLESS of what she wears. She can wear a pink tutu and still be badass. Just because she’s wearing a bikini doesn’t make her a less-skilled sniper.
Gotta judge people based on their actions and merits, m80. Judgin’ a book by their cover? Tsk. o u o
There’s only TWO scantily clad characters in TPP (as far as I know.). It’s Quiet and the Sniper Skulls. The rest of the female characters are wearing normal shit. I think you are focusing on the negatives here. You have to look at the bigger picture.
(Three, if you think wearing nothing but bandages because you’re in the hospital counts as ‘scantily clad’.)
“OBJECTION.You can immediately strip Snake’s top off. It may not be default but you don’t need to unlock it as an option.”
Your “it may not be default” comment here is an admission that you have to resort to the rhetorical equivalent of plea bargaining in order to find a suitable rationalization. The criticism is that for Quiet, it’s default. For Big Boss, it isn’t.
The reason this is an issue is that when you make one character design the default, then the audience is going to associate that design with the character. If I were to ask a random person to picture Mario, they’re not going to think of his alternate costume from N.E.S. Open
.“I’d like to say.. Quiet IS a badass sniper REGARDLESS of what she wears. She can wear a pink tutu and still be badass. Just because she’s wearing a bikini doesn’t make her a less-skilled sniper.
Gotta judge people based on their actions and merits, m80. Judgin’ a book by their cover? Tsk. o u o”
Nobody’s criticizing how much of a badass sniper she is, they’re criticizing her visual design. Replying with “well she’s a badass sniper so her visual design doesn’t matter” does nothing to address whether her visual design is good or not.
“ANOTHER OBJECTION!The character you’re talking about that shares Quiet’s “condition”. I’d like to refute that.Quiet breathes through her skin and eats through photosynthesis. Her
lungs are burnt to a crisp. That’s why she breathes through her skin.
The guy you’re talking about DOESN’T breathe through his skin. He only
does the photosynthesis thing! SO HAH!”
All this actually proves is that the creators could have written Quiet so that her lungs weren’t burnt to a crisp and it would be exactly as believable as The End from MGS3.
“Also. If Quiet’s XOF armour is unlockable and she can wear it, then
what’s the issue? Doesn’t that fix the whole problem? All you need to do
is git gud.”
But it does mean that Quiet’s normal design is going to be the one that’s associated with her by most players, media outlets, advertisements, etc.
“There’s only TWO scantily clad characters in TPP (as far as I know.).
It’s Quiet and the Sniper Skulls. The rest of the female characters are
wearing normal shit. I think you are focusing on the negatives here. You
have to look at the bigger picture.
(Three, if you think wearing nothing but bandages because you’re in the hospital counts as ‘scantily clad’.)“
Another red herring argument. This criticism is about Quiet specifically, and whether there are other characters who are better-designed doesn’t do anything to address that criticism.I have to say though, what baffles me most about these knee-jerk defenses of Quiet’s design in Metal Gear Solid is that it’s apparent that it relies entirely on not being willing to actually understand the point that critics are making, and moreover they seem to reject the idea that it could be better, which makes no sense to me.
TL;DR: In MGS, female sexuality is used to titillate, male sexuality is used to disturb.
One word: Boob physics. Try to justify that.
Give me glistening ass shots of male protagonists, jiggle physics for their junk and contrived backstories before trying to defend Kojima
what the fuck. theres not even a fucking joke here. its just the fucking alphabet. i was expecting some kind of fucking meme like “gun” or “john cena” or something like that but no its just the fucking alphabet. here. on tumblr.com. 26 users just fucking banded together to write the alphabet. what the fuck, man.
I think the update broke them, and almost everyone else.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
70
71
72 …..why not….making the best out of this sad situation
73… I got so angry at this post I had to reblog it and continue
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106 O.o
107
108
109 - at this point lets just keep going, I wanna see if we can break this system
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126 bitchessssssssss
127
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136 that was a wild ride
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155 …why are we doing this and how did we get this far
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166 we will go on for as long as is necessary before tumblr fixes this
167
168
169 😏
170
171 ;-;
172 what the fuck
173
174
175
176- Im getting so pissed…
177 FUCK THE SYSTEM
178
179
180 - I actually read through it to see if anyone skipped a number, too…
You know, we try really hard not to hate you. Really hard. You’re my parents’ generation, you know? And I fucking love my parents.
But your generation really needs to learn to shut up and take a good, hard look at yourselves.
Today, I tried to get advice in a civil, polite and educated manner about a situation in which one is trying to juggle work and uni. I wanted to know how one could navigate the narrow criteria to qualify for youth payments from the government. And while some people were helpful, some were outright disgusting. All they could say is “KIDS THESE DAYS ARE SO SELFISH/LAZY/ETC MAYBE YOU SHOULD SPEND LESS TIME ON YOUR SOCIAL LIFE.”
Okay, firstly–if I ask you for advice and that is your response, which, by the way, I CAN DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WITH, how about youshut the fuck up?
Secondly, are you seriously fucking saying that every single person in my generation doesn’t work hard? You’re saying that to me? I’m a DIRECTOR at the age of 24 in an organisation with over 200 employees. I have two degrees. I work, intern, study, and volunteer, and the first thing that gets put aside when I’m busy is my social life. And you know what that results in? A FUCKING LOT OF CRYING AND PANICKING AND PSYCHOLOGIST APPOINTMENTS. I have a great resume and references, but do you know how much I paid for that in terms of my own fucking sanity?? A FEW FUCKING THOUSAND DOLLARS IN TEARS, THANK YOU.
Thirdly, let’s talk about how the average burn-out rate in my youth organisation is 7 months. 7 months, and these are kids who volunteer, as well as study at uni or school, work and pay their own rent, utilities and bills, and are under the age of 22, in most cases.
My 21 year old director messaged me today to tell me she wasn’t coming in because had a mental break and panic attack last night, and she’s only been in the role for 3 months.
My 24 year old best friend had a nervous breakdown last month because of the stress of her workload, working full time at EY and studying 1 unit of uni.
My 25 year old ex-boyfriend and I split up because he didn’t have the time or mental capacity for a long distance relationship on top of his 60 hour graduate working week in construction management and 2 units of uni.
I had a meltdown last year at 23 because I was handling full time uni, and internship and volunteering. I can’t get a job despite testing within the top 15th percentile of graduates because you’re not creating them.
I went for a meeting at one of the biggest financial management organisations in Australia the other day and was told that the 9-5 job was a lie, that you’re expected to work more, and not be paid for overtime.
Our generation works our fucking asses off. You take advantage of us all the fucking time. We’re the first generation to be less wealthy than our parentsbecause you guys fucked off with the economic boom of the early 2000s and left us with nothing. By 24-34, we’re only 48% likely to own our own homes compared to your 61%, because of your unsustainable housing market boom. On that note, did I mention that although average wage has rise by 27%, average housing prices have risen by 121%? Yep. My parents bought my house for ~$200,000 in 1990. In 2015, it’s valued at $750,000. Also, you are now making us pay for our university degrees when you got them for free, and not only that, but according to the Governments’ changes in tax law and war on universities in the past year, it will now take us twice as long to pay off our university debts. We’re the first generation of tertiary-educated Australians in history who willstart work already in debt because of our university degrees.
You hate us, but we’re a generation who grew up with war, with terrorism, with fear and conflict and murder and the aftereffects of capitalist bloodshed on our screens every day. We’re watching society fall down around our ears. My International Security professor told us last year that there will be kids entering high school soon who have never seen a year of peace in their lives.
We’re the ones who have been saddled with the mistakes you’ve made. We’re the ones who are holding on to each other despite our differences and telling each other it’s okay to be who we are, whether we’re gay or straight or black or white. Who are trying to save the environment, who are trying to solve your wars and find homes for the asylum seekers you’ve created, who are trying to cure poverty and wage inequality and food distribution, who run your social impact teams, who volunteer, who study courses that are going to change the world, who give back to society, who travel, all the while building our character strengths and portfolios so that we fit into the dumb as fuck capitalist world you made - and all you can say is that we’re lazy?
Off the top of my head, whatever it was that John did to put this look on Dean’s face.
But if you want to talk canon specifics, let’s take a spin through my fuck john winchester tag.
Okay, John was a child abuser. He was legally a child abuser for leaving his children alone the way the he did, when Dean was only 9 if not younger. He left his children alone in hotel rooms to fend for themselves for days at a time, sometimes without enough money for food. This is child abuse. You cannot leave a 9 year old in charge of a 5 year old and expect him to take care of the boy like he was an adult. Putting this kind of responsibility on a child is going to incur lifelong psychological damage.
I personally believe that John was physically abusive, especially to Dean, but I can’t prove that canonically beyond Sam calling John a mean drunk and the fact that violence is completely normalized between the brothers. John was patently verbally and emotionally abusive to both Sam and Dean and I’m not even going to go find gifs of that because it’s in literally all their interactions. Strong, brave Dean becomes passive and terrified in his father’s presence, and sweet, loving Sam becomes seething and full of rage.
Bottom line, the worst thing John ever did was putting the responsibility for Sam on Dean’s shoulders when he was too young to even take care of himself. This is neglect, this is abuse, this is shirking all of his own duty to his children and then laying blame on Dean when he cannot live up to impossible standards. But let’s go through some specifics.
How about when Dean was 16 and he lost their food money gambling (probably trying to get more food money), and so he ended up stealing peanut butter and bread - to survive and feed his little brother - and he got arrested?
Can we just talk about how the only real chance at happiness and a normal life that Dean actually got was at a home for juvenile delinquents? I mean can we just talk about how fucked up that is?
How about what John was out doing while he was leaving the boys alone in motel rooms?
How about when Dean was dying and John literally wouldn’t pick up the phone much less show up?
Or the other time Dean was dying and he didn’t care?
I could also throw in the fact that one of the biggest demons in hell actually made a better father than John.
This is all absolutely canon, indisputable. But what I find incredibly revealing is the episode It’s a Terrible Life. Here, Dean was raised by Bobby and Ellen, with Jo for a sister. Dean Smith is basically a photo negative of Dean Winchester.
He eats salads, he does the Master Cleanse, he has an espresso machine, he drives a fucking Prius. He’s a business man with fashionable clothes and an upscale apartment. I mean, can you say metrosexual?
This Dean doesn’t overcompensate, he’s not macho or butch, he’s not one step away from alcoholism, he’s not a broke high school dropout. He went to Stanford, and considering that Bobby and Ellen probably would not have had the money for that, we can hypothesize that he got in on scholarship. He doesn’t drive his dad’s old car because it’s not the only home and security he’s known since he was four. He also doesn’t appear to be a “ladies man”, as we never actually see him talking to a woman. The only person he seems to be flirting with appears to be his assistant, whom he talks to about Project Runway.
This Dean could easily be openly bisexual, because he grew up in a loving and safe family. This Dean embraced his education as well as his love of fashion, this Dean is successful and stylish. We don’t know what’s going on in his personal life or if he’s happy, but he is plainly a normal, functional, stable human being. This is who Dean would be if John wasn’t his father.
This is who Dean would be if John wasn’t his father. This is who Dean could have been if John had not turned him into Sam’s parent while depriving Dean of a parent himself, dragging him from place to place, isolating him, while turning him into a child soldier and a tool to further his quest for vengeance - and using him as an emotional if not physical punching bag.
He didn’t “try his best”. Trying his best would be not chasing down the demon, would be giving his sons a home and a childhood. Would have been at fucking least putting them in foster care instead of dragging them across the country with him. He didn’t love them. What he did is not love, it just fucking isn’t. Whatever ‘love’ he had, it was twisted and selfish and damaging. John did not love his sons, not the way I define love.
I literally, honestly don’t care that John traded his life for Dean’s in the end. I mean, to say “too little too late” is a vivid understatement. I don’t care what he said, I seriously, seriously don’t care what he said in that hospital scene. I’ve never been physically abused, but my father did fuck up my head and my life pretty well, and he says all kinds of nice things trying to get me back on his side, and I don’t care about any of it. All the “I’m proud of you”s in the world can’t change what you’ve done. And really all John did then was heap more responsibility and guilt on Dean’s shoulders.
So basically - everything. Everything John did to his sons was the worst.
kazifer for you. Join me in my frustration for his shitty neglectful and ultimately abusive parenting. I legit tear up when I think of dean. Dean tried so hard to protect Sam from it all. And now I’ve made myself sad.
I am broken.
perfection
I just love when the people who DIDN’T write the show, know everything. Typical tumblr. Ooo, and better yet, I love when people who have never been abused by their parents (and most likely born with a silver spoon in their fucking mouth) try and say what is and isn’t abuse. This is why I’m starting to hate tumblr so much, YOU PEOPLE TRY TO ACT LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT WHEN YOU KNOW NOTHING.
It’s always like this on here, white people trying to act like they are so “oppressed” from racism, or straight people acting like they understand gay discrimination. You can only know so much without experiencing the other side of things. Don’t act like you understand what abuse is, or how it feels. You don’t. And you ESPECIALLY don’t know what abuse is because of what an asshole dad on a television show does. A lot of people have bad relationships with their parents, a lot of parents are jerks, and a lot of parents give their child more responsibilities than they can handle. That doesn’t make them abusive, that just makes them dicks. Grow up, and find better things to do than over analyze a show.
Okay I’m going to ignore the snippy fucking attitude cause I got some shit to say. But I’m not going to ignore the ignorant and offensive statement that seems to be directed at me, that I was ‘born with a a silver spoon in my mouth’. That is laughably far from the truth. You don’t know shit about me or my life, and I resent the assertion that I know nothing about abuse because I haven’t been physically beaten. Me not being physically abused does not make me somehow privileged or unable to know word one about abuse. Physical abuse is not the beginning or end of abuse. If you have been physically abused, then that is horrible and I’m honestly sorry about that, but that doesn’t give you the right to act like you’ve got the market cornered on abuse.
This post is not, ultimately, about John Winchester. I don’t give a damn about that shitstain. This post, and my blog, is about abuse, in ALL of it’s forms, and you know what, you don’t get to make light of or minimize emotional abuse. You don’t get to tell me, or anybody else, that emotional abuse isn’t abuse, that an emotionally abusive parent is “just a dick”. Parents who neglect their children, pile so many responsibilities on them it skews their personality, who are insulting, demeaning, who leave their kids without self-worth - yes, every one of those is fucking abuse.
You don’t know how many people who have thanked me for this post, because of how John reminds them of their abuser, because seeing John’s abuse defended or excused makes them feel that their own abuse is being excused, and because too many people consider emotional abuse not “real” abuse. You don’t know how fucking damaging it is to tell people that abuse doesn’t “count” unless it’s physical. Emotional abuse can cripple a person’s mind and heart, it can convince them they are worthless and unwanted, that they deserve to be abused and that it’s their own fault, leave them severely depressed and suicidal. You don’t know how many stories I’ve heard, you don’t know how many people are helped just through validation. Do not BEGIN to tell me emotional abuse isn’t real.
You are completely correct, I don’t know you. I apologize for assuming things about you, but most people here on tumblr talk extensively about controversial things they don’t know anything about (racism, homophobia, abuse, etc). And most of those people ARE “born with a silver spoon in their mouth” and normally they haven’t experienced what they are writing about (like I said in my previous post). Also, I didn’t even look at you’re blog when I wrote that, and I still haven’t. All I did was comment on what you posted and I have every single right to do so because this is the internet. But not ONCE did I ever say emotional abuse isn’t “real abuse.” It is 100% abuse, as well as verbal abuse, sexual abuse, and physical abuse. All I was saying is you don’t make assumptions/accusations about a show and/or person when you did not write it or have any part in the making of it. You cannot just say someone is an emotionally abusive parent without being the person writing the show (or experiencing the abuse). And just so you are aware, I HAVE been physically abused. Along with verbal and EMOTIONAL ABUSE. And you know what? Emotional abuse hurt me way more than any hit or beating I ever received as a child. I know exactly what it feels like. BUT JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS A JERK DOESN’T MEAN THEY SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AN ABUSER. Abuse is extremely serious, and you can’t just label that on anyone you would like just because they are a bad person. That’s all I am saying.
I appreciate and accept your apology, and I am not trying to tell you that you cannot comment on my post, but I still feel that the comment you made was unwarranted and unfair. Yes, many people complain about things they have no right to complain about when they have not lived on the other side of things, but I do not see how my post has any correlation to that problem. Your claim that I cannot identify a character as abusive if I am not the writer of said character is, I’m sorry, absolutely absurd.
I don’t mean this question mockingly, but sincerely: have you seen Supernatural? If you have, you have seen John neglect and abuse his children. Yes, some of my beliefs of his abuse are unconfirmed speculation, but I can tell you that I have done the research to prove that his actions meet legal standards of child abuse/neglect, and as someone who has yourself experienced emotional and verbal abuse (which I am also very sorry that you have been put through), I would think that you would recognize it when it shows up on your TV screen. It makes no sense to claim that I cannot identify abuse when I see it, any more than it would make sense to claim that because I’m white I can’t identify a character as being racist. (Towards a black person, I mean, as reverse racism does not exist.) I have lived in a house with emotional abuse, I do know what it looks like.
John is a hell of a jerk, but he is far from “only” a jerk, and my post was specifically about his actions towards his children. I’m sure you have no interest in me listing all of the things that he did, but they go so far beyond being a jerk that they are not in the same realm. Some of the things have to do with the supernatural world they live in, but there ARE real people who have been made, as children, to take care of their younger siblings when they are too young to take care of themselves, who have been left alone, without enough money for food, for extended periods of time, who have been used as their parent’s emotional crutch, who have been abandoned in favor of a new family that gets treated better, and who have been constantly put down despite their desperation to earn their parent’s approval. Those are ALL serious behaviors and actions. I don’t need to be the damn creator of the damn show to know that those things are abuse and to call them out as such. Hell, I think I have a damn responsibility to call it out as abuse because there are far too many people in the fandom who make excuses for him.
Of course I’ve seen the show, and of course I’ve seen John neglect Sam & Dean. But you can’t just assume that Sam and Dean are traumatized and hate their dad for not always being there. Im just guessing, but I genuinely think that they understand why he wasn’t always around. He watched his wife die, and had to live with the fact that there were evil things out there. And that his kids aren’t going to be as safe as he would like. What would you have wanted him to do? Put them up for adoption? How do you think he could’ve lived with himself knowing that the demon that killed his kids mom is still out there (along with many others) and he would have no way of protecting them. He did his best, he was out there hunting, and trying to do all he could so that Sam and Dean would be safe. And why are you talking to me as if I don’t understand that there are kids who are left alone to take care of their siblings? I WAS ONE OF THOSE SIBLINGS. My brother was left to take care of me, he had to feed me and do everything that Dean had to do for Sam. But that wasn’t because my dad was out trying to protect us from monsters. That was because he was out getting drunk. There’s a difference between my dad and John Winchester. John Winchester was trying to cope and trying live with what happened to his family and what he was supposed to do to protect them. I’m not saying what some of the things he did weren’t horrible, but they were justified.
I’m sorry but no, that is fucking bullshit. Firstly, it doesn’t matter why you abuse and neglect your kids, it is not justified, period. And secondly, John was not some altruistic savior out making the world a better place out of the goodness of his heart or trying to protect his kids from the big bads. He was on a mission of vengeance. He used Dean as a soldier, he used Sam as a researcher. He left them alone for fucking weeks while he was out hunting, vulnerable to not only supernatural monsters but human monsters too. And oh yeah, left them – children in their single digits – with a gun to “protect” themselves, cause that’s safe. He never did what he did for Sam and Dean, he did everything to hunt down the demon that killed Mary – everything that she never would have wanted him to do, in fact.
John might not have always been down at the bar, but was, canonically, a “mean drunk” of whom young Sam said, “you don’t want to see him when he’s drinking”. (7x03) And between that “coping” and “protecting”, don’t forget that John neatly managed to knock a woman up with another son, who he happened to find the time to take to baseball games while Sam and Dean got left alone in a motel on Christmas eating Spaghetti-os.
John always said “it’s about the mission”, not “it’s about protecting my sons”. John told the cops to let Dean fucking rot in jail and left him in a boys’ home until he happened to need him again to babysit Sam, who he left with Bobby that entire time. He was perfectly damn content to leave Sam and Dean out of his so-called protection for weeks and months at a time, with literally NO regard for their safety, while he chased his revenge, while he drank and slept around, so do not FUCKING TELL ME that he was “trying his best” to “keep them safe”, because that is such fucking bullshit it makes me fucking sick.
And what the fuck are you saying, I cannot “assume they are traumatized”? I have literally no fucking words in answer to that statement, it is so damn preposterous. You think it makes it okay, to understand WHY someone abused you? You think that if you don’t hate your abuser they AREN’T an abuser? You think that if someone has been through something traumatic they have the right to neglect their children? And what would I have wanted him to do, as though it becomes my responsibility to give him other options? Considering how many places he left them for how long he left them, they would have been a damn sight better off being adopted by somebody else, fuck yes. Or how about, I don’t know, Bobby? Their REAL father? How exactly would they have not been better off with Bobby than stuffed in cheap motel rooms eating marshmallow fluff mac and cheese while their father was out fuck know’s where being a selfish fucking bastard?
Somebody tell me how the fuck you can have been abused and yet you have the fucking gall to tell me that somebody’s abuse was “justified”.
i wanna punch my computer why all these things with dreamworks better than Disney/Pixar?????
Don’t even with me, when you try to tell me that shit i point to DW’s latest fuck up Turbo and Pixar’s only miss Cars 2
tell me which is better, cmon
plus I don’t see dreamworks producing anything close to the disney rennaisance except for httyd (which is great like wow)
dont even
dont even with me
If I recall a few weeks back you were fangirling about Shrek? But in the field of animation (which I suppose you’re referring to as opposed to complex and/or creative storylines, in which case you have Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken Run, Shrek, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, How to Train Your Dragon, Megamind, Rise of the Guardians, and The Croods, for starters), Shrek was not a visual masterpiece in everyone’s opinion. But this is all a matter of opinion. Let’s move to some more concrete evidence.
Disney, glorious Disney, while I adore its Renaissance Era as much as the next guy, has also had 77 years to ensnare a fanbase. Whereas Dreamworks Animation was created a mere 17 years ago, and this little fledgeling company has reached a $430 million average gross, surpassing every animation company (including Walt Disney Animation Studios) aside from Pixar.
Now, if we’d care to elaborate to Pixar, it would be fair to say that Dreamworks has some pretty worthy competition. But to say that Cars 2 is its only flop is a critical understatement. It’s true that many of Pixar’s films have surpassed 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, and some Dreamworks films haven’t been able to match up. But lately, Pixar, while they have all my respect in the world, appears to be faltering. While Cars’s 74%, Brave’s 78%, and Monsters University’s 78% on Rotten Tomatoes are far from unsatisfactory reviews, they’re beaten not only by How to Train Your Dragon’s 98%, but also by The Prince of Egypt’s 79%, Chicken Run’s 97%, Shrek’s 88%, Wallace and Gromit: the Curse of the Were-Rabbit’s 95%, Kung Fu Panda’s 87%, and even Madagascar 3’s 79%. And the latter was about escaped zoo animals joining the circus.
But let’s ignore the reviews for now, because they’re not always reliable. After all, Mr. Peabody and Sherman is currently tied with Monsters University when it comes to percentage of critic likeability. While some agree, other skeptics claim that can’t be right.
So let’s move on to comparative flops.
Yes, Turbo was ridiculous. Yes, Shrek did not need that many sequels. Yes, we all try to forget Bee Movie ever existed. Dreamworks has made quite a few mistakes.
But how could Disney ever forget their wonderful gem, Home on the Range? How about the brilliant spectacle, Chicken Little? And The Brave Little Toaster was obviously a masterpiece. Best of all, how could we ever neglect that Disney has an entire company called Disneytoon Studios, devoted mostly to cheap, direct-to-video sequels that turn this:
(Tarzan, 1999)
Into this:
(Tarzan and Jane, 2002)
Disney has produced over 40 direct-to-video movies just for money’s sake.
Dreamworks has produced one.
And even then, the animation quality is not the greatest, but, well…
(Joseph, King of Dreams, 2000)
At least it has, like, actual shading.
But I’ve ranted so long about reviews and box office results that I’ve left out the good meat of this argument, animation.
The Disney Renaissance, of course, started with The Little Mermaid. A wonderful movie, yes, I’m not going to argue that at all, but let’s take a look at something.
(The Little Mermaid, 1989)
Throughout most of the movie, save for a few bits of the “Part of Your World” and “surfacing” scenes, nothing on Ariel has a shadow. Her hair, body, tail, everything, is all one solid color. The animation is smooth and the movie is beautiful, but it’s not perfect. This shading didn’t really get utilized in Disney at all until the next year.
(The Rescuers Down Under, 1990)
(Just a sidenote that the above movie got a 68% on Rotten Tomatoes, lower than multiple Dreamworks movies including Rise of the Guardians and The Croods. While it is a Disney Renaissance movie [and still a good film], it is often left underrated in many lineups for fear of tainting Disney’s “flawless” image during this era.)
Meanwhile, Dreamworks Animation’s second movie ever produced has animation and shading like this:
(The Prince of Egypt, 1998)
It’s arguable that The Prince of Egypt had a few years of animation progression on The Little Mermaid, but shading like this is a team effort, period. There’s people specialized in this. Was it a matter of technology, or stylistic choices? It’s all up for debate.
There is, however, the prominent claim that Dreamworks is so much more attentive to fine animation detail than Disney, primarily in CGI.
Lately, this post has been circulating, showing that both Disney and Pixar are just now exchanging their pasty-faced CGI leads for blotchy, detailed skin, while Dreamworks had been using details such as blotchiness for quite a few years now. But faces are always doted upon. Faces are the most obvious things noted.
Let’s take a look at some details that both companies could’ve understandably overlooked, but Dreamworks didn’t.
Foot detail.
(Disney’s Tangled, 2010)
(Dreamworks’ Rise of the Guardians, 2012)
Ice and snow detail:
(Disney’s Frozen, 2013)
(Dreamworks’ Rise of the Guardians, 2012)
Water effect on clothes and hair:
(Pixar’s Ratatouille, 2007)
(Dreamworks’ The Croods, 2013)
Now I’ll admit, some of these were super hard to compare, especially the water effects. After all, looking at when these movies came out, and the progressive allowances of animation for their times, they’re all really great. Heck, Pixar made the first computer animated movie of all time. Disney left classic musicals that people will cherish and love for ages to come. All three companies included in this argument have their ups and downs, and have created pure masterpieces amongst them. In fact, according to who you talk to, they’re all pretty much equal.
But here’s the reason I stayed up until five in the morning finishing this freaking post.
There is a difference between voicing your opinion and cussing out an entire company and the people that enjoy its work. To call Turbo Dreamworks’ latest failure (and yes, I know what word choice you used, but I’d rather keep this professional) and imply that both Disney and Pixar are centuries ahead from every other Dreamworks film ever made is horrendously disrespectful to people who have devoted years of their lives to creating these films. To every animator, screenwriter, and director who have worked so hard to bring these stories to life.
To Chris Sanders, who co-wrote, co-directed, and did storyboard art for Lilo and Stitch, yet left Disney to create How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods at Dreamworks, where he remains today.
To Jeffrey Katzenburg, who actually worked on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King, but left Disney to freaking create Dreamworks Animation Studios and give the biggest animation company of all time a run for their money.
Your opinion is not wrong. Your opinion is not right.
My opinion is not wrong. My opinion is not right.
They are opinions, but there is a much more tactful way to voice yours when it comes to a movement that has influenced and touched millions of people, even if you cannot see the beauty in it.
So rest assured, even if you take none of my opinions—or even my evidence—to heart, that doesn’t change the fact that Dreamworks is my inspiration, and something I and so many others are willing to protect.
It has given me complex, admirable people of color.
Women with bodies and hair like mine.
A pair originally scripted to be gay.
Original stories that aren’t all pre-written fairy tales.
And above all, characters I can relate to in their struggles…
…their imperfections…
…and their dreams.
So if you can’t see why people would give Dreamworks as much credit, if not more, than you do Disney, then don’t worry, I’m not angry at you.
It’s funny how science fiction universes so often treat humans as a boring, default everyman species or even the weakest and dumbest.
I want to see a sci fi universe where we’re actually considered one of the more hideous and terrifying species.
How do we know our saliva and skin oils wouldn’t be ultra-corrosive to most other sapient races? What if we actually have the strongest vocal chords and can paralyze or kill the inhabitants of other worlds just by screaming at them? What if most sentient life in the universe turns out to be vegetable-like and lives in fear of us rare “animal” races who can move so quickly and chew shit up with our teeth?
Like that old story “they’re made of meat,” only we’re scarier.
HOLY SHIT THEY EAT CAPSAICIN FOR FUN
YOU GUYS I HEARD A HUMAN ONCE ATE AN AIRPLANE.
A HUMAN CAN KEEP FIGHTING FOR HOURS EVEN AFTER YOU SHOOT IT
humans are a proud warrior race with a pantheon of bloody gods: Ram-Bo, Schwarzenegger, etc.
REMOVING A LIMB WILL NOT FATALLY INCAPACITATE HUMANS: ALWAYS DESTROY THE HEAD.
WARNING: HUMANS CAN DETECT YOU EVEN AT NIGHT BY TRACKING VIBRATIONS THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE
WARNING: HUMANS CAN REPRODUCE AT A RATE OF 1 PER SPACEYEAR. DESTROY INFESTATIONS IMMEDIATELY
THE HUMAN MOUTH HAS OVER THIRTY OUTCROPS OF BONE AND POWERFUL JAW MUSCLES.
HUMAN BITES CAN BE FATALLY INFECTIOUS EVEN TO OTHER HUMANS
WARNING: HUMANS CAN AND WILL USE IMPROVISED WEAPONS. SEE CLASSIFIED DATA LABELED J. CHAN.
HUMANS CAN PROJECT BIOWEAPONS FROM ALMOST EVERY ORIFICE ON THEIR BODY. DO NOT INHALE
OH GOD THE HUMANS FIGURED OUT DOOR HANDLES OH GOD OH GOD
More seriously, humans do have a number of advantages even among Terrestrial life. Our endurance, shock resistance, and ability to recover from injury is absurdly high compared to almost any other animal. We often use the phrase “healthy as a horse” to connote heartiness - but compared to a human, a horse is as fragile as spun glass. There’s mounting evidence that our primitive ancestors would hunt large prey simply by following it at a walking pace, without sleep or rest, until it died of exhaustion; it’s called pursuit predation. Basically, we’re the Terminator.
(The only other animal that can sort of keep up with us? Dogs. That’s why we use them for hunting. And even then, it’s only “sort of”.)
Now extrapolate that to a galaxy in which most sapient life did not evolve from hyper-specialised pursuit predators:
Our strength and speed is nothing to write home about, but we don’t need to overpower or outrun you. We just need to outlast you - and by any other species’ standards, we just plain don’t get tired.
Where a simple broken leg will cause most species to go into shock and die, we can recover from virtually any injury that’s not immediately fatal. Even traumatic dismemberment isn’t necessarily a career-ending injury for a human.
We heal from injuries with extreme rapidity, recovering in weeks from wounds that would take others months or years to heal. The results aren’t pretty - humans have hyperactive scar tissue, among our other survival-oriented traits - but they’re highly functional.
Speaking of scarring, look at our medical science. We developed surgery centuries before developing even the most rudimentary anesthetics or life support. In extermis, humans have been known to perform surgery on themselves - and survive. Thanks to our extreme heartiness, we regard as routine medical procedures what most other species would regard as inventive forms of murder. We even perform radical surgery on ourselves for purely cosmetic reasons.
In essence, we’d be Space Orcs.
I do hope you realize I’m going to be picking up this stuff and running with it right?
Our jaws have too many TEETH in them, so we developed a way to WELD METAL TO OUR TEETH and FORCE THE BONES IN OUR JAW to restructure over the course of years to fit them back into shape, and then we continue to wear metal in out mouths to keep them in place.
We formed cohabitative relationships with tiny mammals and insects we keep at bay from bothering us by death, often using little analouge traps.
And by god, we will eat anything.
We use borderline toxic peppers to season our food.
We expose ourselves to potentially lethal solar radiation in the pursuit of darkening our skin.
We risk hearing loss for the opportunity to see our favorite musicians live.
We have a game where two people get into an enclosed area and hit each other until time runs out/one of them pass out
We willingly jump out of planes with only a flimsy piece of cloth to prevent us from splattering against the ground.
Our response to natural disasters is to just rebuild our buildings in the exact same places.
We climb mountains and risk freezing to death for bragging rights
We invented dogs. We took our one time predators and completely domesticated them.
On a planet full of lions, tigers and bears, we managed to advance further and faster than any other species on the planet.
Klingons and Krogan and Orcs ain’t got shit on us
We drink ethanol (in concentrations high enough to be used as an effective as microbicide or a solvent!) for the express purpose of achieving blood toxicity and disrupting normal brain function… AS A RECREATIONAL ACTIVITY!
On the same subject, we also deliberately incinerate assorted substances and then inhale the particulate-heavy smoke and vapor resulting for the same effect. EVEN IN THE FACE OF SAID SUBSTANCES BEING CARCINOGENIC, BECAUSE WE JUST DON’T GIVE A .
Humans do not have biological castes. Kill their commander and another will take its place. Soldiers left alone on a planet will start farming and manufacturing to survive. Farmers and manufacturers will take up arms and kill you if pressed. Just because two humans look different doesn’t mean they cannot do each other’s jobs.
Breeding does not kill them. A single human can mate dozens or hundreds of times in a lifetime. They often do so as recreation. Xenobiology team six believes they do not have a mating season but this is too strange to be true.
Their appendages are not designed for hitting, so they developed special training to make them very good at hitting anyhow.
The proteins making up their bodies are toxic and cause prion disease. Do not touch anything humans have touched. Do not consume earth foods. Fire does not adequately remove this contamination.
Humans perceive sixteen times the colors we do. Do not hide in bushes or vines from humans. They can distinguish your pelt from the foliage with ease.
We tried venting waste gas into the tunnels to kill the humans when they attacked. Turns out they breathe it.
Everything on their planet came from a single biological strain. They developed comprehensive genetics BEFORE they developed space travel.
They lack radio receptors and cannot be brought into compliance with right-thought simply by broadcasting to them. Even after we learned how to translate it into sound-waves one of their hatchlings drove the Great Authority mad by responding to every demand with a single question: “Why?”
Meme-weapons have no effect on them. Their psyches not harmed by being forced to experience cognitive dissonance. They employ a defensive tactic called ‘laughter’ which appears to completely nullify the thought-damage.
Moreover, they deliberately transmit the meme-weapons to other humans in order to induce this ‘laughter’ response. We thought at first their purpose was to innoculate each other against further infection, but after observing how they self-administer memes with no other incentive, we must conclude… that… they enjoy it… *shudder*
That stupid post about “pussy” being short for “pusillanimous” pisses me off so fucking much and I’m going to tell you why. (PS: Masters degree in English linguistics talking here ya’ll.)
In short, no. “Don’t be a pussy” is not short for “don’t be a pusillanimous.” No. It isn’t. And people should stop saying it. You need some reasons to believe me?
1. It doesn’t make sense grammatically. Pusillanimous is an adjective — a describing word — not a noun. In the same way you can’t say “Don’t be a quiet” or “Don’t be a small” or “Don’t be a green” or “Don’t be a spicy”, you can’t say “Don’t be a pusillanimous.” You can’t tell people not to be a/an adjective.
2. It isn’t backed up by any scholarship whatsoever. Per Mirriam-Webster, the version of “pussy” that means “weak” or “timid” is short for “pussycat.” Not pusillanmous. Look up the word “pants” and you’ll see that it’s short for pantaloons, or the word “perks” and you’ll see it’s short for perquisites. Dictionaries do note origins like that. They don’t, however, state that pussy is short for pusillanimous, because it’s NOT.
3. There is plenty of documentation to connect the word “pussy” to the concept of women. It was for a while a term of endearment for women, especially for very old or very young women. (Read any Agatha Christie book starring Miss Marple and you will probably encounter someone who refers to Miss Marple as “a sweet old puss” or “a nice old pussycat.” In Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Eva’s father calls her “pussy.”)
It also is well known as a slang for a woman’s genitals. Per etymology online, it is “Perhaps from Old Norse puss ‘pocket, pouch’ (cf. Low German puse ‘vulva’)” but might also be connected to cats, based on the “notion of ‘soft, warm, furry thing’; cf. French le chat, which also has a double meaning, feline and genital.’ “ It isn’t just a coincidence of words, morphemes or phonemes; there seems to be a cultural connection between the idea of a cat and the idea of a woman.
4. There is also plenty of documentation for it being used to degrade men for being seen as weak or feminine. Again per etymology online, from the 1580s it was used of effeminate men. For example, “To play pussy was World War II RAF slang for ‘to take advantage of cloud cover, jumping from cloud to cloud to shadow a potential victim or avoid recognition.’” At dictionary.com, the third meaning of the word “pussy” has four senses: 1) the vulva, 2) sex with a woman, 3) a woman viewed as a sex object and 4) a weak, timid, or effeminate man. Note that they didn’t separate these four senses into completely different definitions, either. The definition of pussy as “weak man” is seen as intrinsically related to pussy meaning “the sexual aspect of a woman.”
5. People hear what they hear, no matter what you think you’re saying. What if I decided to say that the word “dick” is short for “dictator”? And then whenever I called someone a dick I said, “but I don’t mean it as in penis, I mean it as in short for dictator!” Whether or not it was true, it wouldn’t matter. What people would hear is dick as in penis, and that would be what they would understand. Similarly, even if, buried in the far mists of time, pussy really were short for pusillanimous — which I again state definitively it is not — but even if it were, that isn’t how people understand it now.
6. Sometimes words are offensive just because of what they sound like. Consider, for example, the word “niggardly.” Did you sort of wince when you read that? Because I winced a little as I typed it. The thing about that word is it has nothing whatsoever to do, etymologically, with the n-word. The n-word derives from the Latin word for “black” (for example, the word ‘negro’ means ‘black’ in Spanish). Niggardly derives from a totally different source and means “miserly” or “ungenerous.” But we all know what it sounds like. So it has become a word that most people don’t want to use anymore. And you know what? That’s fine. I love language, and I’m sad to see a word die, but we have “miserly” and “ungenerous” right here to fill that particular void, and I am fine to wave goodbye to “niggardly” because it sounds like a very offensive word. So what I’m saying is, if a word seems offensive, then it is. That’s how language works. In a polite society, we don’t deliberately use offensive words when other words are available that aren’t offensive.
7. Using the word to draw a connection between women’s sexuality and weak, useless men indicates that feminine sexuality is weak and that men shouldn’t act like women unless they want to be ridiculed. And that’s fucking ignorant and sexist against both genders.
8. Because it is clearly offensive, just stop. STOP. And don’t fucking quote Stephen Fry’s “who cares if it’s offensive” quote at me. You’re probably taking it out of context anyway. Listen: offensiveness is important because this is a cooperative species and we should fucking work together to not be assholes. Simple enough.
TL;DR? Pussy is not short for pusillanimous. Going back through the research, the word is closely related to women, women’s genitalia, and weak, effeminate men. The use of the word to mean “coward” is offensive to both genders — somewhat more to women than to men — and if you have an ounce of maturity you will stop using it that way.
Edit: If you’re angry that this post isn’t “feminist enough” or something, please read this post, a reaction to some of the angry comments I’ve gotten from fellow feminists about this piece, and about the state of feminism on tumblr in general.
THIS IS NOT IN ANY WAY SERIOUS IT’S 1AM AND I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY
ever since Aranea claimed to have kissed Jake and then admitted she “embellished” her stories, I’ve been wondering just how embellished her Exposition Booth tales were, and how to extract the gem of truth hidden under the embellishing. These are my attempts:
During our session, Kankri’s trials as a leader were just as frustrating as those of his successor. He found it very hard to get others to take him seriously. While you would often try to divide us with your trou8lemaking, and turn us against each other to make us stronger – unsuccessfully I might add – he would try to unite us through proselytizing and lecture, just as unsuccessfully.
“Kankri kept asking us to stop the infighting, instead of spreading gossip and bullying people. But his tumblr posts were long and boring and we didn’t read. Also I am a hypocrite. Btw see how I minimized your emotional abusive bullshit by calling it a milder word.”
Even though Latula has 8een dating Mituna steadily for eons, it’s hardly a secret to anyone that she and Kankri have had complicated unrequited feelings for each other. So really, much like their descendants.
“Latula is uncomfortable and awkward around Kankri and his intense denial of an ongoing boner, but tries to remain polite. She’s also been dating this other person for a long time. My wording makes these facts seem related and incredibly sordid while somehow casting more aspersions on her than on him. Here’s a completely gratuitous comparison to two other people in completely different circumstances. The word much is vague enough in this context that it could be replaced with kinda.”
The Maid of Space was of course our all-important Space player and Stoker of the Forge, 8ut as you know, we never made much progress on the frog 8reeding front, or really any aspect of the game 8efore the reckoning. Way too disorganized, way too much teen drama. Much of that drama of course centered around Kankri, and Porrim tended to 8e the one to keep him out of trou8le.
"We were all incompetent, but look how especially incompetent this allegedly important person was with her allegedly important duty. Also all these people having feelings instead of being automatons. Vague implication that Kankri required support and guidance for a while. Who told Porrim to be a responsible and supportive friend?”
Part of his self-aggrandizing mythos was that this magician once somehow from afar tried to strike him down at a young age, so he would never have to face him. 8ut the evil spell was deflected, sealing the magician’s spirit away in a series of unassuming vessels until he could find some other cunning way to enter our universe. The attack supposedly left him with his distinctive scar, which he was not reluctant to point out when trying to hit on me. Uh, I mean, he wasn’t reluctant to mention in in casual conversation.
“His magic gobbledygook is totally just an ego trip and not at all important or relevant. I describe it while simultaneously diminishing it.”
8ut at some point he 8ecame disillusioned with magic. If there ever was any truth to his far fetched vision, the legacy of defeating the evil magician would have to 8e passed on to his descendant, or if his descendant proved to 8e as much of a failure as he did, then perhaps on to some other Hero of Hope. I’m unsure why he suffered this crisis of faith, aside from the o8vious reasons having to do with an overall lack of character, or any other redeeming qualities.
“I’m going to keep badmouthing this guy. I’m allowed, because he’s way worse than I am. I’m just a humble hypocrite.”
Perhaps someone talked him out of his 8eliefs. May8e a friend close to him. Or, if one is to 8elieve his fantasy held any water, perhaps someone who was in league with the evil magician. Whatever the case, it was pro8a8ly for the 8est, since pretty much everyone who had half a think pan thought it was all a 8unch of ridiculous nonsense.
“Maybe someone manipulated him into losing his faith by posing as a friend and souring his beliefs under the guise of good intentions. But it’s okay because his beliefs sucked, and I will implicitly lay judgement on you if you so much as consider examining them in any serious way.”
Sorry, I was just trying to riff with you a little on a mutually disliked acquaintance. Is that really so 8ad? Why do you have to take every opportunity to knock my personal 8eliefs?
“You’re not supposed to point out my hypocrisy!”
The entire incident is shrouded in mystery. From his limited and scattered accounts of what happened, it seems very likely that Kurloz was with him at the time, and the only eye witness. And of course it’s impossi8le to get any relia8le information out of him. I guess we may never know, sadly.
“This is simultaneously intriguing and not suspicious in the least. Also I will not so much as mention my empath powers, or my mind-healing.”
Want to know a secret? Please don’t tell anyone, 8ut I really can’t stand the guy. It’s pro8a8ly unfair to him 8ecause he is o8viously such a sweet and harmless fellow. 8ut something a8out him ru8s me the wrong way. I guess I can just 8e a little petty sometimes.
“Sometimes I just wish people would bend to my megalomaniacal whims instead of being themselves. But that’s a bad thing to wish, therefore I willfully ignore my gut feelings re: this guy.”
They continued to remain very close to this day. May8e a little too close, if you ask me. It’s clear that her sympathies have 8een gradually swayed in support of the High8lood’s cult. She stays private a8out her 8eliefs, 8ut now and then I’ll notice she lets some tenet of the mirthful doctrine slip out. I suppose I shouldn’t 8e too concerned though, since it’s almost certainly a lot of harmless superstition.
“I heavily imply that this girl’s friendship with this guy is sordid. My evidence is that she subconsciously parrots his beliefs. My wording subtly puts the blame on her and not on him. But it’s okay, because we’ve already determined his beliefs are of no consequence.”
His mutation made him an outcast, though. To avoid the unwanted attention his wings would 8ring him, he took refuge in the forest among those who welcomed his differences, and learned their ways. The Lost Weea8oos was a guild of youthful tree-dwelling troll otakus with a zeal for fisticuffs, flight, and various forms of exotic eastern theater. 8ane to the enemies of hijinks, scourge to the seafaring classes who…
“He felt lonely being the only winged kid around, so he joined an anime club to mingle with rowdy cosplayers who thought he was wearing a cool prop.”
8ut all of his proficiencies were hard won, 8uilt from the 8lank slate as his aspect would imply, advancing at the slow pace his class would as well. Yet in spite of all he worked to make something of himself, he amounted to very little. Responsi8le for neither great feats of heroism nor acts of villainy, he was just another game piece to 8e moved a8out the 8oard. The aspect ruling his life would always conspire to dampen his relevance.
“He should have been awesome, but for some reason he had other priorities. He just reacted to things and wasn’t very cool. No one would ever not want to be on the spotlight, so it’s probably because Void.”
Void is easily the most mysterious aspect, the one which inherently defies rational understanding. This makes it particularly fascinating, and just as frustrating, to light players such as myself. Casting illumination upon nothing itself is futile. For to truly know void is to paradoxically cause it not to 8e! The role of the void player is to somehow em8race nothingness, to 8ecome one with it. And yet in total contradiction with this, to make use of the power it grants and serve a role of relevance, one must find a way to overcome it! To see the limitless potential in the void. To find everything within nothing, and 8ring it into 8eing.
“I don’t know anything about void, but I want to sound like I do. So here’s an impassioned yet generic philosophical speech about Void.”
So you did your 8est to rile up the crew any way you could. Appealing to peoples insecurities, 8uried hostilities, 8rewing rivalries… needling anyone you could into confrontation with others. Your theory was that increasing everyone’s state of aggression would make them 8etter equipped to play the game. And you were sort of right a8out that! 8ut the Alternians would prove it. Not our group, sadly.
“You bullied and gaslighted and emotionally screwed with everyone to make them stronger. It was totally the right thing to do! Too bad they didn’t react like they should have. Your other self had to apply your tactics on a galactic scale in order for the Alternians to react in a more predictable way.”
You talked up her matesprit’s 8etrayal making her feel even more dreadful, while pushing him further into the arms of her rival, until she simply snapped. She attacked him, paralyzing him from the neck down. You finally got the aggressive confrontation you were looking for. Unfortunately, you unleashed something even you weren’t prepared for, and you had to deal with her yourself. After a long 8loody duel, she killed you. And you would have stayed dead if not for me!
"You terrorized her into thinking a molehill was a whole mountain chain, and convinced the guy to shack up with some dude he was probably not all that into to begin with. But then the girl messed with your script! Btw you ~owe~ me.”
So radical was her shift in personality, I’ve had a hard time 8elieving your incitement was solely to 8lame. It always seemed like other forces were in play, as if her acts, though apparently haphazard, were in keeping with some inscruta8le agenda. Of course it doesn’t help that it’s so hard to understand her even on a good day.
“We lived in reach of each other for six years and no one ever bothered to learn her language. I wonder why she hated us all. Her actions were ~suspicious~ for totally opaque reasons.”
THEY HAVE THE ACE ATTORNEY OFFICIAL MANGA IN MY LAW LIBRARY I AM CRYING.
Your honor, something is amiss here!
As you are probably aware, library materials are labeled with barcodes as well as a number to determine their location on the shelf, as per the Dewey Decimal System. The books just to the left of the manga are labeled, as are the DVDs just in view on the lower shelf. Look even further behind these shelves and you’ll see that even those books are labeled!
Ladies and gentlemen of the courtroom, I invite you to take a closer look at the volumes that are, allegedly, part of this law library! Something is missing from the spines, isn’t there?
Where are the bar codes?!
This is a blatant contradiction! The OP is lying— these volumes cannot, therefore, be a part of this library at all! I propose that they simply brought these materials in for the sake of the joke!!
Only focusing on one aspect and not the whole of the issue, are we, Mr. Wright? Typical.
Your honor, if you bring your attention to the books just left of the manga, you’ll notice there’s a book (the second to the left) that also does not have a bar code.
If you examine the picture even closer—particularly the DVDs below—you’ll see that they bear bar codes, but not on the spines. No, they have them on the back and/or front of the DVDs. Of course, this method of labeling and organizing isn’t limited to products of the film industry alone.
Therefore, I’d like to propose that it is entirely possible that the manga books do, in fact, belong to the library!
Wh-WHAAAAT?!You’re kidding!!
(Shoot, he’s got me there… Better think of something fast! Something about the books that sets them apart from—
…! I’ve got it!)
While that may be true, you’ve also overlooked one critical error: the titles of the books! Whether or not your hypothesis regarding the labeling system is correct, these titles aren’t alphabetized correctly! What kind of self-respecting librarian would misplace such vital books?
Well, Edgeworth?
While it pains me to have to point out something so obvious, I suppose I’ll make an exception for you, Wright.
Clearly, one look at the titles of the books next to the manga is a tell-all of this certain library’s less-than-stellar organization skills. None of the books are in alphabetical order, I’m afraid.
They could very well be alphabetized by author and not title, but it’s a little difficult to be able to decipher that from this single picture, wouldn’t you say?
Furthermore, the manga books themselves are in numerical order, suggesting some kind of system is in place, albeit not a very good one, if the alphabetizing is off.
At the end of the day, it seems like neither of us can draw a clear conclusion from this evidence alone. Your honor, I strongly suggest a recess in which we could investigate the library itself further.
I see the issue here very clearly.
Due to the uncertain nature of this case, we’ll have to postpone this decision until more decisive evidence can be obtained. The court will now take a 15-minute recess.
(W-wait, but I’m not—)
WAIT!!!
I’ve got some decisive evidence for you, pal!
We investigated further into the photo. Zooming in, you can see a label on the DVD case to the bottom left.
Photo Close-up added to the court record!
As you can see, pal, you can vaguely see the words “Of Toledo Law Library” on the label!
And, considering possibilities of the rest of that label, “University of Toledo“ was the first to come to my mind!
Miles Edgeworth Ace Attorney Investigations volumes 1-4 and Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney volumes 1-5!
And there’s more!
The section these comics are filed under is the “Law in Popular Culture” Section, which matches up with the stickers on the rest of the books on that shelf: “Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes & Legal Culture”, “Prime Time Law”, “Lawyers in Your Living Room!” and “Reel Justice: The Courtroom Goes to the Movies”!
Not only is it in the right section, it’s also a documented part of the Law Library’s database!
How’s that for decisive evidence?
…It’s true that the books are definitely in the library, but look at the books that are immediately next to it, on the left side!
Specifically, the one that is titled “Lowering The Bar: Lawyer Jokes & Legal Culture”. Therefore, the shelf is clearly on the culture surrounding the law itself and popular culture relating to the legal world!
I hardly think it’s odd to see the Ace Attorney manga as an example of either humor in the legal world OR popular culture relating to the law!
O-Oh. I guess you have a point there…
…
…
Hey, wait a minute, pal!
Don’t go pullin’ the wool over my eyes here!
The University Library’s Online Database clearly shows that the comics are filed under “Law and Popular Culture”!
See?
It doesn’t matter whether those comics are related to the section or not; they’ve been listed under it in this library, and that’s nothing but the truth!
And since they’re filed under “Law and Popular Culture”, they’re in the exact right place they’re supposed to be!
The books next to those comics have little stickers that say “Law Pop Culture” on them! That proves the books are on the shelf meant for the “Law and Popular Culture” books!
You can’t fool me so easily, pal!
Oh, I’m not disputing the fact THAT the library owns them…
…but rather, the significance of the original testimony in light of this fact!
Recall, the witness clearly stated, “THEY HAVE THE ACE ATTORNEY OFFICIAL MANGA IN MY LAW LIBRARY I’M CRYING”
However, as we have just learned, they were in a section explicitly dedicated to depictions of the law in popular culture… Which perfectly makes sense! So let me ask you….
Why did the witness act like seeing the manga in that particular part of the library was such a big deal?!? I’ll tell you why…
.gif)
.gif)