#alto rambles

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On the heels of countering Angeal-hate, I'm also putting it out there that I have seen more than a few people in this community attacking/complaining about Tifa in Rebirth for

Having trauma???

Being sad about her dead dad??? (you know, after losing her mom)

Having survivor's guilt????

Having emotional hang-ups/grief about LOSING HER FAMILY, WATCHING HER HOMETOWN BURN, AND NEARLY GETTING SKEWERED TO DEATH AS A GODDAMN TEENAGER

Like seriously wtf. And these weren't even Clerith people going after her. They just thought that her being rightfully upset/depressed in certain scenarios was "annoying" or somehow taking away from Cloud's trauma or the group's or something. Like god forbid any of these characters have mental health issues that influence how they interact and engage with conflict. Seriously, Tifa is an entirely blameless party in every one of these games and the fact that I've actually seen posts where her being upset about HER FATHER DYING is somehow a detriment to her character...seriously what the actual hell. And then the same people adding on that Brian Lockhart is apparently a dick for being protective and uptight about his daughter (still legally a child at the time btw) after recently losing his wife. Like??? That's completely understandable dad behavior?????? There's literally nothing wrong with it????????

Seriously, this community sometimes smh. Characters should be allowed to have internal conflicts. They should be allowed to feel things and narratively express those feelings without everyone dogpiling on them.

[justabackgroundshadowguy]

🎷🎶🎷🎶💢💢💢

[HATE. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO HATE YOU SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD HATE WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE HATE I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU.]

[yusuke-of-valla]

I'm warning everyone right now that the end of the month is Yusuke week, followed by PQ2 English Release, followed by Akekita Week so basically that's 3 weeks where I'm not going to shut up.

[a-salty-alto]

Avengers Assemble is just. The universe of disaster gays.

Like, sure, some of them like Nat may look at least functional if you're only comparing them to each other but if you compare them to their altrrnate universe counterparts then Natasha "flirts with any lady who will fight het" Romanoff is a DISASTER

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ur so right about female characters btw

Ugh, thank you. Honestly, I really find the way Hollywood writes modern female characters to be kind of incredibly insulting. It's really depressing that characters have to either be a girlboss who is just magically strong/competent, a huge asshole who browbeats and snarks her way through the plot without a shred of kindness or empathy for the other characters, or just a general mary sue-esque character who doesn't go through an actual arc.

Female characters can be vulnerable. Shy. Terrified. They can be sexy. Or even display softer, more traditionally feminine traits while still serving a role in the story. They can be tough and no-nonsense while still expressing a sense of warmth or protectiveness. They can be thrown around like a ragdoll while STILL getting up to meet the challenge. They can fail. They can make intentionally incompetent decisions. They can be in the wrong. They can be cocky. They can be silly or positive or--gasp--WEAK. Idk but if we really want to start "seeing ourselves" in characters like they're always talking about, the first thing to do is to actually write female characters in a way that actually feels compelling. Which means writing characters with actual flaws and weaknesses to overcome.

I really hope we're moving out of this girlboss trend. Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley, and Buffy Summers weren't great because they were girlbosses. They were great because they were layered characters that went through hell and came out the other side a stronger person. And that's so much more impactful to me.

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It’s been a long while since I have read the avatar comics, so I’m wondering why you don’t like Ursa? I’m very likely not as informed to form a fuller opinion of her so what’s your opinion?

Ohhhh god the Ursa thing...

They revealed that Ursa's disappearance wasn't caused by her being dead or held hostage or lying low and waiting for the right opportunity to reveal itself. Oh no. It's revealed that she selfishly decided to give herself amnesia and live out the rest of her days with a new husband and child while leaving her two kids with Ozai where they would no doubt be warped and abused for the rest of their lives. The Search expanded on her past and showed us point blank that Ozai was an abusive and toxic husband and father. So Ursa choosing to never go back for her kids or have any intention of even REMEMBERING them is really, really vile. Sure, she's in exile. But her choosing to sacrifice her memories of them solidifies that she never intended returning to them, much less think about them.

On one hand, I would be totally fine with Ursa starting a new life with a new family, albeit while still dwelling on the children she left behind. It would be really interesting and bittersweet, especially if she was biding her time waiting for the day when Zuko became Firelord and she could return home at last. But the fact that she had no intention of ever seeing or remembering Zuko and Azula again while KNOWING the kind of person Ozai was is pretty irredeemable. Zuko and especially Azula have huge hang-ups about their mom and Ursa legit not giving enough of a shit to ever come back unintentionally makes Azula look CORRECT when she says that her mother never cared. And worse still, the comic seems to brush Ursa's actions under the rug like it's nothing. Zuko immediately forgives her and--bonus--gets a shiny perfect supportive new baby sister to replace the problematic OTHER one. Azula is no angel by ANY means, but The Search is basically an excuse to torture her psychologically for three issues with no catharsis, with Ursa subsequently not bothering to look for her daughter in the comics to follow, even after regaining her memories.

Azula's big insecurity that drives her nasty behavior is centered on the internal fear that her mother saw her as a monster and never really loved her. Turns out, she was probably right. Or at least, her mom didn't love her enough to fight for her, allowing Ozai to corrupt and twist her. Ursa wasn't coming back to prove to Azula that she always loved her and wanted the best for her. In the flashbacks, she's only ever shown ignoring or scolding the child Azula, basically giving the reader no indication that she actually cares about her daughter. At least not anything that's especially solid. That's not even digging into stuff Zuko went through after she left. You'd think Ursa would take one look at Zuko's scar and apologize for not being there to protect him. But no. No mention at all. Sure, she left in order to save Zuko's life. But there was still never intention of rescuing her kids, no intention of ever wasting another thought on them now that she's found what she's looking for. They were an afterthought. The comic is all about her reclaiming autonomy with a new husband and family as a fuck you to Ozai, but it ignores the really messed up fact that Zuko and Azula NEEDED their mother more than she seemed to need them.

The Avatar Comics have honestly ruined Ursa beyond repair imo. There was a better way of writing this and they choked it. She is truly detestable and the fact that the comic never actually calls her out on it just makes it worse. Characters like Lucrecia are characterized as intentionally flawed and were FORCED away from their kids, with whom they had no prior relationship. But the difference between Ursa and Lucrecia is that while Ursa completely abandons all thought towards her kids in pursuit of a selfish happiness, Lucrecia does nothing BUT wallow in self-loathing and blame. Lucrecia was suicidal after losing her son, and sought to punish herself for eternity for it. Ursa fucked off and willingly chose to forget her responsibilities as a mother, all while her children suffered.

It really fires me up. Azula and Zuko deserved better. The READERS deserved better. This was a long-running mystery in the ATLA community and the answers we got were really disheartening and kind of fucked up. And without the narrative nuance to explore the grayness or negativity behind such actions. It's really just a shame.

Anyway, rant over lol

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Smh too many people here lately who just don't understand any of these characters. Wtf FF fandom

I'm fine with different interpretations. To each his own. But I don't like the recent surge of victim blaming going around for Seph, Genesis, and Angeal. I think it's wholly possible for fictional characters to be both victims worthy of sympathy and victimizers worthy of blame. But it's important for people to pay attention to context in BOTH regards. And everything points back to Shinra. All three characters are exactly what Shinra made them and they all act accordingly. If not for Shinra they either wouldn't exist or would have had healthier, normal lives where their actions wouldn't have even been an issue.

They're all deeply broken, deeply exploited individuals. Individuals with FLAWS, both human and inhuman. And it's fine to lean more towards one way than another in the victim/villain spectrum. But it's also equally important to acknowledge the other side of the coin as well.

More than anything, I'm tired of the mentality that any moral grayness is automatically seen as giving these characters a pass for their actions. No. It doesn't. It contextualizes and adds nuance to their actions, NOT validate. The goal is to understand these characters, follow their arcs and stories, and fill in the missing pieces when the writing falters. That's how you build a story and its mythos. To lump characters into basic categories drains them of their color and potential. It takes away all a fandom could be, rich with lore made by people who love these characters and want to explore them and the world at large. And god, even MORE so when you sit there and put labels on passionate people who are just trying to enjoy and escape. It sets a harmful precedent that shames people for being curious, for opening their feelings, for showing any empathy at all.

BE curious with these characters. Be empathetic. Be their potential when the writing fails or the story stumbles. Breathe for them and add your own emotions and rhythms. That's what keeps characters alive, what keeps FANDOM alive.

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I wouldn’t put this in the tag, but why do certain people in this fandom get so mad when Seph gets any form of humanization so much?? Keeping a bunch of his background a mystery is a reasonable request absolutely, but why is it so bad to see him emote and have connections and deal with shit before his downfall?

Why is it so bad to add to the subtle and delicate writing that surrounds his “fallen angel” arc? I mean, do people want a smirky, one-dimensional villain forever? (Not that he ever was one-dimensional anyway but apparently some think he was).

No villain should just be evil for no reason, and if we want their reasons to be a little mysterious, that is entirely able to be done without stripping them of their emotions or tragedy. Everyone’s favorite villains have carefully crafted downfalls and often there is tragedy and misunderstanding involved.

Seph is an absolutely iconic villain and deserves more of this treatment. He is frankly, overdue for some humanization that isn’t bound to the limits of an older game like Crisis Core that often suffered from a lack of deeper exposition or elaboration. He’s earned it after being a terrifying, mysterious villain for so long.

Just a touch of it doesn’t ruin anything. The writers seem to be treating it with care and delicacy so far, which is good. That’s what we need.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. Twitter is getting on my nerves because people are saying things like “He better just stay crazy and enjoy burning shit for no reason.” and accusing people that disagree of “not actually being a true fan of the character.” (As if Crisis Core didn’t already make him more sympathetic!!)

(I’m also not using his full name so that this doesn’t show up in anyone’s search results if you don’t want to draw any contention. Cheers).

Pure evil villains are boring, unless it's full camp or they're having fun and it's delicious to watch.

I think people aren't paying attention to context. This isn't CURRENT Sephiroth, this is Sephiroth as a child. If he was always evil and always sadistic, it would take away a lot of the message the original game was trying to convey with him--Sephiroth is the product of SHINRA, the product of immoral ethics, war, and greed. Sephiroth was a normal baby given abnormal enhancement, shoved into extremely traumatic rules and expectations, and subsequently loses everything that ever made him human in a mad quest for revenge and control. To say Sephiroth was evil from the moment he was born is a HUGE disservice to his character, and his story as a whole. Sephiroth is a monster. But he is the monster Shinra created.

Now do I think Sephiroth should be redeemed? No, probably not. It's not about his journey back into the light, it's about his descent into darkness. That's what makes his character interesting. For the record, I don't want them to woobie him either. Part of the reason I find those Disney Remakes insufferable is how they take fun villains (Cruella, Maleficent) and try to make them all weepy and sympathetic. THOSE are villains where being pure evil works. It's entertaining. Their evilness is infectious. They're chewing the scenery and it's great. They're nasty little shits and they ENJOY it and they're cartoony enough to where you don't have to take it seriously. Sephiroth is a completely different beast, with an actual message to his story.

I've always found serious pure-evil villains completely uninteresting because there's no layers to them. No pathos. No depth. Part of having a good villain is looking into their eyes and seeing something of yourself in there. YOU could be that. YOU could become that. These are moral lessons for adults as they try to navigate a confusing and unfriendly world. You shouldn't turn into this because, in the end, succumbing to anger and hate ISN'T good. It ISN'T healthy. And these villains, at the end of the day, are extremely unhappy people who bring about their own destruction. You lose that when they're just a smirking sadistic killing machine. It's an empty husk that just exists for the heroes to defeat. I'd like to think that Sephiroth is more than that, and has always been more than that.

Anyway, rant over. Twitter is dumb, hence why I'm not on it. I'll agree with them if the Remake Trilogy attempts at a redemption arc and it's clumsy and unjustified. But this? A tragic Seph backstory was always a given when you look at the lore. So long as they go about it in a balanced morally gray way, it fits very well with his character.