#analysis or something

[silverliningspidey]

maybe hot take? but killua is not upset with or harbouring an emotional wound about gon when they separate, and gons behaviour in the chimera ant arc is not the main cause of their separation.

the reason i say this is because the actual reason for their separation is alluka. she’s definitely not the only factor, and it’s not in a negative context, but she is the ultimate reason they have to part.

basically: an analysis of gon and killuas seperation, why they did it and what it means for their futures… together (?)

narrative reasons

narratively, killua and gon have to part for two main reasons. the first is that with gons dream of seeing his father fulfilled (or about to be fulfilled) gon no longer has a goal to work toward, therefore killua is no longer able to piggy back off of gons ambitions until he figures out what he wants to do. keeping them together after this, even if alluka wasnt there, would render them uninteresting to the audience because they wouldnt be doing a whole lot of anything. just hanging out- shooting the shit, etc.

the second reason is gons character development. a lot of people think the seperation is more about killuas development, allowing him to grow and learn what he wants in life, apart from just gon. but their seperation is actually designed to kickstart gons own rapid development and growth. ill explain how here:

gon at the end of the CAA has lost his nen and is effectively starting from the ground up. many people see this as a punishment and a setback, consequences for his actions in the CAA, but i think it’ll end up being the best thing that could have happened to gon, especially for his nen. why?

gons nen technique: jajanken vs killua’s electric nen.

gons jajanken, or his rock-paper-scissors, is extremely ineffective, full of weak points and is more often than not, more detrimental to gon than it is to his enemies.

we’re constantly being told through side characters like knuckle and even kite’s observations about gons nen that it is sloppy, unrefined, too slow, too obvious. this is contrasted by killua, who so far has been on the same nen level as gon and offered the same criticism and training, yet in the CAA his nen technique is only ever complimented— a sharp contrast where previously there was none.

gon also loses a majority of his fights in the CAA. not that he has many, but his losses are very heavily focused on. this is unlike killua, who also loses against shoot, but the reason (illumis needle) is quickly discovered, overcame and killua proceeds to then *mostly* win his fights, only losing one for the narrative purpose of starting his friendship with ikalgo. gon however doesnt manage to overcome his fatal flaw, or even work towards doing so. this flaw is his techniques rigid nature, but its also worsened by gons lack of strategic skill, adaptability, logical reasoning, and emotional regulation when in battle.

all of these issues come to a head in his fight against pitou, he loses himself in his anguish, doesnt accept any help— behaving illogically and being led by his need to satisfy his conscience before his common sense, but also his lack of adaptability— often complimented as his determination and source of strength— this comes back to bite him as his stubbornness. gons technique is a physical manifestation of this stubbornness— it’s extremely rigid, only having three options to use against someone, only one of which is very strong, and is shown to be completely ineffective against a stronger opponent, because it refuses to adapt. it also is wasteful, consuming wild amounts of his aura leading him to constantly collapse, this again is a reflection of what gon’s mindset is doing to him, working himself to exhaustion and constantly needing to be saved.

killuas technique is far more adaptable and we see it develop into something that many characters openly admire and praise it’s effectiveness. it has room to grow to crazy power levels and suits killua extremely well.

jajanken however, despite having the same screentime as killuas electricity, doesnt have any such development, we barely see scissors or paper, and whenever we do see it, its often accompanied by a character critiquing it.

jajanken is a manifestation of gons strong but often unstable and even unpredictable personality. it’s what ends up putting him in hospital. and its the reason killua wanted an apology from him.

gons apology

killua wants an apology from gon because the level that gon hurt himself against pitou upset killua, because gon had refused his help and destroyed himself as a result.

killua at the end of the day wants to help gon, so his issue was gon had pushed him away, refusing his help, yet couldnt even back up his words without destroying himself beyond repair. he still needs killuas help. so when gon apologises, he is apologising for his dismissive words, but more than that, he’s apologising for pushing him away, and for not being strong enough to admit he needed to accept killuas help in the first place.

but we also see gon learn what an apology means- that he cant do it again and must promise to do different. and so his apology to killua cant be completed with just words, it requires a full mindset overhaul, starting with the overhaul of his nen technique- his mindsets physical manifestation.

this is why he loses his nen. he needs to start from the ground up. needs to purge himself of his poor habits, including an often overlooked fault of gons, his total lack of strategy to the point of being dangerous- to him and to others. killua has to knock him out to remove him from kite because gon cant understand or just doesnt have space to care that they cant win right now. hes too emotionally reactive.

gons future

gons nen, at least in my opinion, definitely wont stay gone— theres no point and its extremely unsatisfying imo— but i think, instead it will grow and most likely even change types (im assuming manipulator because the other five have been covered by the main cast and we have no experience of seeing a GOOD manipulator)(despite someone from the troupe probably being a manipulator dont pull me for that), gon might also be a specialist because its definitely the most interesting type and despite chrollo and kurapika being specialists theres definitely still room for gon to have a very unique ability. however i firmly believe he wont remain an enhancer because its by FAR the most boring type) we also know how your nen type often correlates with your personality, and i think gons nen type change will reflect his mindset shift but also his growth from innocent headstrong child (enhancer) into someone cool calm and collected (manipulator) who can harness his emotions responsibly to use to power his nen ability— something as versatile and with as much room for growth as killuas technique. ​despite seeming goalless, gon is definitely working toward reuniting with killua based off what ging said to him— that the detours are often more valuable. finding killua ended up being more valuable to gon than finding ging. so gon will definitely seek killua out after he gets strong enough (fulfilling his apology promise to both killua and kite) this would also make an interesting switch in dynamics, where gon is chasing killua— maybe even joining him against his family toward the end. would definitely be exciting to see them reunite in battle. yearnerboy gon i await ur arrival.

killuas future

its only after gon perfects his new nen technique that he can then, narratively, reunite with killua, because nothing is technically stopping them from doing it whenever they feel like it, and they’re definitely not upset with eachother as often is reflected in fanworks (not that im complaining, yearning killugon solos everytime) i actually believe they split on great terms. killua isnt mad at gon because he knows that that is just who gon is and gon did apologise. killua is not a grudge holder, especially not toward gon. and even without losing his nen, i think gon couldve easily made up for his errs in judgement by simply training in mindfulness etc— though again its way more boring and doesnt change gons terrible nen ability.

but that brings us to alluka, who masquerades as a genuine reason for killua to leave gon, because narratively she is a fantastic way to develop killuas character— he can start living for someone OTHER than gon, but also living for someone who he doesnt feel he has to earn the affections of (not that he had to do that with gon, but killua often felt morally inferior to gon and unworthy of his friendship- see “you are light”). he doesnt have to worry about losing this relationship because its his sister, not his friend. this also allows an amazing opportunity for a zoldyck centered plotline later on where we can really dive deep and intimately explore the extremely interesting dynamics of their family. it also gives killua an oppurtunity to discover his own strengths, passions and goals to work toward.

their future

i believe that killua and gons reunion will involve them finally working toward a shared goal, or working side by side to achieve seperate goals. their reunion will be a show of how they have balanced their opposing strengths and come together again to be equals, both fully (or mostly) realised. always has to be room for improvement.

lastly, i also think their seperation allows them the opportunity to yearn and miss eachother. far from just loving eachothers company they also have to mourn eachothers absences.

my silly silly boys. togashi please let me see my kids its been decades.

if anyone does get to the end of this and has any thoughts or disagreements they want to debate or discuss please do i would be so delighted to talk more about this

[myaoiboy]

OHHH MY GOD THAT LENS FLARE HES LYING I CANT BELIEVE I NEVER NOTICED THAT BEFORE

MGS has a very tight color language, especially obvious in V and PW, but it's present throughout if you know what you're looking for. The main ones that get played on are red, yellow, and blue.

Red is kind of obvious. Violence, etc. Ocelot is typically wearing a lot of red, like in this image. In V, characters who are doing/about to do violent acts are often back-lit with red lights that seem to come from nowhere.

In PW, red incites dissonance by foreshadowing Paz being a double agent, while *also* painting her as an innocent little red riding hood analogue. But I digress.

Yellow is also kind of a no-brainer. It's typically associated with allies, general good-heartedness, and maybe a sense of naivete. Think about Amanda and Cecile in Peace Walker.

Kaz even *changes his outfit* from yellow ascot (and blond hair) to red tie and beret post-GZs incident.

Blue is a little harder to tie down. It's best described as deception (including self deception), "something isn't what it seems." Sometimes it's used for grief as well. Think Paz's whole room's lighting, the blue butterfly, or the way Snavid is described as a blue rose-- pretty, technically biological, but unnatural.

The lens flares in V are used a LOT to toss a flash of the appropriate color behind someone. Here we have Ocelot saying "yeah boss I'm over it dw" and the lighting going

Which. We know he's lying. We know because of the way he acts for the next THIRTY YEARS. We know bc when he has a senior moment (a multiply-hypnosis addled senior moment, but still) and mistakes snavid for john, the first thing he does is plant a kiss on him.

But sure buddy. You're totally over it.

[spacedustmantis]

thoughts on eeaao: it's about the little things. and about having fun

[the-minster]

Have you seen the "Invictus" Jason Todd Death Day Animatic by shyuwe? It's amazing and I want someone good at saying thoughts on the internet to talk about it.

Sorry for the late reply anon and no I had not! But I watched it now and yeah it's cool, here's a link to the vid by @shyuwe.

I find it really difficult honestly to talk about art, because good art already says more than words could express about it, you know? Just watch the video and see for yourself! However I will say something about the choice of the poem "Invictus" by Willima Ernest Henley, from Life and Death for Jason, because omg yes! Continued under cut.

Here's the poem first:

Invuctus means as much as unconquerable or undefeated. Frankly a title I can stand by for Jason. Seeing as one of my favorite aspects of Jason's character is his representation of victims and I stand by the fact that we are undefeated by what has happened to us. The word recognizes the gravity of what has happened and pays homage to your experience and finally we get to see ourselves not only as the sufferers of a poor fate, but also the victors, you're still standing. And I will be the last person to ever tell someone how that "standing" has to look like to be undefeated. Overcoming is not something you have to earn, you already overcame. You have nothing to prove to be undefeated.

The "unconquerable soul" is not exemplified in the body that is standing tall more than in the body that is slumping and panting, no matter how you stand or breath, you are still breathing. The other verses of the first stanza are rather straightforward in setting the stage. Our main character is in the black of the night, in the belly of the whale. They are where all is lost and seems hopeless, but that does not mean they are defeated.

Moving on to the second stanza. This part of the poem acknowledges a disillusioned worldview. It is hard to perceive the world as still containing beauty and hope after trauma. And yet you can be unafraid. And I do hope for everyone who has suffered to be able to return to a previous, more naive, less burdensome, perspective. But if you can't, then frankly that is alright, it does not have to diminish your spirit. I think Jason incorporates a lot of the concept of lost innocence, of not being able to return to how things were. But while Jason does grieve his own loss, he does not lose hope to that fact.

Finally, the last stanza, as a call to the strength of autonomy. Now Bruce might like to think he works alone, but Batman's strength lies in his allies. Jason however has perfected himself into the deus ex machina of himself. He has learnt that sometimes there is no powerful saviour who will swoop in for you. Jason is a one man army in combat skill, knowledge and in practice as well. We have seen team-ups, but they never seem to stick. Something about Jason screams lone wolf.

Because the truth is, after trauma, the only person you want to feel is strong enough to protect you is yourself. In a realistic sense, trauma does not make you dependent on other people, it can make you want to become the most whole and in control person you can be. This is why some children from abusive and neglectful homes have incredible emotional reflectivity and recognition skills. They will not be victims of the arbitrariness of emotions any longer and have mastered the flow of their own and others emotions just to feel a semblance of control. It's why victims might have incredible scheduling and self-discipline skill. Coming out of an unpredictable and volatile situation they have gained control of their surroundings. It's why vicitms might be high-achievers in academics, because they know what is expected and they can control their input and actually get the reward that was promised. Jason is to me an epitome of effective pragmaticism. He knows the value of reliability and certainty. Rather than going in hotheaded in an attempt to murder a man for trafficking children, he employs a failsafe by also poisoning his energy drink. Because Jason is the one in control. He orchestrates a distraction for Batman and spends three hours creeping up on the Batmobile to plant a bomb. His anger doesn't ignite him like an explosion, it fuels him, like the steady supply of purpose.

Jason is in command now, the captain of his soul. Because let us face it, so far Jason's life has been shaped only by other people. His parents' deaths, Bruce adopting him, Sheila betraying him, the Joker murdering him, Superboy Prime's punch returning him to life. Jason's life has been so far out of his autonomy and control, but he claims command of his soul and of his fate. No one has set him on his vengeance trip against Bruce and against the Joker. No one defines Jason anymore. Bruce does not actually have the power to grant whether or not Jason is a hero, It's Jason's jurisdiction now who he is and if he says he is a hero, the patron saint to victims, the avenging spirit of the innocent, then yes, he is.

This is not only about strength in the face of adversity, this is about the fact that you are the only authority you need, your autonomy is the only justification and permission you need to continue being strong. No one fucking else gets to decide for you anymore.

[saintseiya-thoughts]

• Shiryu and Shun - Analysis or something

Something I noticed is the balance in Shiryu's and Shun's personnalities and roles (at least in the first arc, Shiryu became a bit bland after 12 Temples so. Yeah) but I rarely see people talking about it ? Maybe someone did way before me but I never saw sorry if you did ily tho you're so cool

They both have these attack/defense weapons, both on their arms, Shun with his chains and Shiryu with Excalibur and his shield. They both have this "sacrifice" role, are really selfless and were both ready to give up on their lives to protect their loved ones but the interesting part is how they handle this protection desire.

Shiryu is more of an attack person, to protect he's ready to hit, and was also really determined to end Ikki, because it was his way of protecting his friends.

Shun is more in the defense, to protect he won't directly attack the opponent but will try to shield the others and try to bargain until there's no other choice, but I think everyone kinda. Knows that already

It's pretty interesting to see how the show handles two characters with the same kind of "goal" (they all got the same in the end but yeah you get me) and how they're pretty much mirrors of each other while being pretty different in their ways of thinking, I think it'd have been fun to see them more together on screen ! The "let's lose body parts for our friends" duo so real

(Mind you I noticed the whole weapons things when I was listening to Viva La Vida with "Be my mirror, my sword and shield" anyway)

Except to see a lot of Shiryu posts idk why but he inspires me sooo much he's so fun to write about 💔 my boy

[myaoiboy]

Can you try explain what you mean about Ocelot looking like a drag king in mgsv? I feel like your boyfriend in that I just. Don't see it? I'm trying to understand why Ocelot would even have that applied when he's always been just A Guy™

Okay so I'm going to try to do this without getting into Grad-Level 5D Queer Theory Media Criticism, but I also fully realize that in doing that, a lot of this is going to sound very much like I'm saying "Source: Just Trust Me Bro".

(anon i am SO sorry that you happen to be the first person to directly adress me about gender in MGS)

I also wanna be straight up front here and say that I'm not trying to imply that Ocelot is anything other than a guy, he's just also a guy who's playing a million roles (this is important) and lying to damn near everyone, including himself. He has some of the worst identity issues I've ever seen in a character, and that comes to a head in 4 where he literally isn't even *Ocelot* until the final moments of his life. So yes, for the sake of not writing War and Peace, I'm going to assume Ocelot is "just a guy" and come at this from a pure queer theory/media analysis standpoint, not a headcanon one.

So first it's really important to point out the order in which we see Ocelot through the series. In the timeline, the last time we see Ocelot before V is 3 (or PO which I haven't played due to its placement in canon-limbo, but Ocelot looks basically the same). So we see him go from A to B here.

I am going to say something potentially controversial: even before saw V ocelot, I thought 3 Ocelot looked like he was wearing drag *queen* makeup. I don't know whether it's intentional, or an attempt to circumvent the lower poly models and lower definition textures of the PS2, but the first image looks like someone who is going for a highly exaggerated, feminine cheek contour. Here's a few drag queens who, imo, do a very similar contour look:

Whether the color filter or the texturing of the PS2 or something else, the MGS3 version of Ocelot also has a look of mascara and frosted lipgloss (frosted lips being much more popular at the time of MGS3's original release than today, but alas).

So from that I was already very much primed to look for femininity in Ocelot's whole vibe. It was actually kind of jarring how much more rugged he is in V than in any of the previous games, to the extent that it sent up alarm bells in my head that something was going on.

I don't remember the moment that I went "hey, wait a minute," but it was certainly pretty early on. As someone who's been on tumblr a hella long time and remembers when we used to swap passing tips, the specific combination of facial features remind me of a very specific genre of "ftm makeup tutorials" that were also pretty contemporarily popular on tumblr. A very quick summary being mascara on the eyelashes and specific peach fuzz to give the impression of a squarer jaw and having more facial hair, as well as specific contouring to give a "masculine cheekbone." Most of these tips basically came directly from drag king makeup.

Gonna include some drag kings as well, some things to notice include the tendency towards using stubble as contouring and vice versa, the shaping of cheek contouring, and the tendency to accentuate mustache and sideburns.

I'm pretty bad at wording descriptions of hair and makeup so you'll have to forgive me for not going ham on explaining the similarities bc now we actually get to the interesting part which is: so fucking what? If this is true, if you take my word for it, what does it say about the text? If I want to make this argument to someone else, what can I say that will convince them that, even if it's not *intentional,* it's a valid and meaningful view of his character?

Like, you can make a character based on anything you want, but why does it matter whether Ocelot is based on drag either direction?

Ocelot's "drag"iness is multipurpose. One: he's queer. Like, I grant that he never comes out and says "I love 'Big "Naked 'John' Snake" Boss'" but we get a hell of a lot more confirmation that he's gay than we get straight confirmation for a lot of presumed-straight characters. I feel comfortable saying he's canon queer.

Two: it's a visual metaphor for being a double/triple agent. While he's literally performing several roles (KGB/GRU/CIA, or MSF/Real BB/US, or US/Patriots/BB, or anything in between), he's also visually playing two (or more) gender roles, a feminine man, a mannish woman, something neither or in-between. The implication of drag specifically is pretending to be something that he isn't (which he literally always is, holy shit, again, does he even know who he realiy is?).

And before anyone says "Well, if it's so important to his character, why did they wait until 3 to start doing it?" They didn't!!

This is THE most classically masculine that Ocelot ever looks. But there's still precious polygons invested into giving him long hair and a flowing coat. Working with sprites and low-poly models means having to very carefully select traits that you want to display on your character, and Ocelot's go into making him a cringefail cowboy.

The fact that he's a cowboy in itself is also pretty important to the whole gender/sexuality situation. I mean, Brokeback Mountain might not have been out yet, but the male-to-female ratio in the west meant a lot of men cozied up together on the frontier. Hell, hankey code comes from cowboy culture, with men wearing certain colors to announce who would take the "man" or "woman" role while square dancing.

I could go a lot into gender and how it works on a social/societal level in general and why that matters, but OOPS I have been writing this for a WHILE.

I was actually going to go a lot more into queer theory and gender in MGS in general but ngl, I could write a whole doctoral thesis on gender and how different characters perform or subvert gender. Because holy shit when you start peeling back the very thin macho facade of Kojima's work to do a feminist reading of it, boy howdy do you get. A whole lot to talk about. (ask me about death stranding sometime i dare you)

Basically what I'm trying to get across is that Ocelot has a lot of roles that he's playing and NOT playing, and more than a few of those are gender roles, which is very much visually symbolic of his character.

I am so sorry anon I have been thinking about him nonstop for a full year </3 I hope at least the first part of this answered your question about what features I see that scream drag to me.

[myaoiboy]

Death Stranding gender talk you say? Count me in.

Oh, I'm so glad someone asked about MPreg: A Hideo Kojima Game :3c

I'm going to put a quick CW in here for a medical-setting image of an umbilical cord. It's pretty mild, but I think doing side-by-side images will be helpful for illustrating what I'm talking about. Also, big spoilers for anyone that hasn't finished the game, obviously

Literally everything in Death Stranding is so very tied to parenthood and especially the pregnancy and birth parts. Yes it's technically a metaphor for the creative process but also it's, uh, incredibly visceral. So I'm gonna start here with Sam, but damn everyone in this game has some gender going on.

Can we talk about how Bridget chose the same name for both her other half/fictional daughter AND for her adopted son? I feel like not enough people mention the fact that "Amelie's" "real" name is Samantha America Strand, and everyone just calls her Amelie. Maybe because it's fucking weird to have two kids named Sam and Samantha?

The fact is too, that the two Sams aren't the only ones with gender-ambiguous names in the game...we don't know Lou's gender until the very end! The use of gender-ambiguous names for the only two main characters that you as the player can actually interact with feels hella meaningful.

In fact, the game intentionally lets us think that Lou/BB is a boy for most of the game! Cliff refers to his BB as "him" in one of the first cutscenes we see of him, very early on. The game also lets us believe, for some time at least, that there's a chance that the memories are BB/Lou's, and that Lou is Cliff's baby. We don't know this isn't true until near the end of the game! Why didn't any of the characters point out this contradiction before then? I'm not sure, at least not yet. Very open to thoughts on this. It doesn't feel like the MO of the game to have a gender reveal at the end for shock value.

Anyways, let's get in on point one obvious: like I already said, this is an mpreg game. There's...there's no way around it. A dudes carry a fetus attached to them by an umbilical cord (which they make VERY viscerally look like a real umbilical cord btw, between the color/texture/the additional cable along the outside).

I feel like "haha it's the mpreg game" has probably been done to death but I love it so much specifically because of the implications that it makes and the puns that it plays on.

Sam is a delivery man. He's called "The Great Deliverer" or "The Man Who Delivers." And the last scene of the game, the last line before we flash-back for the postgame, is...?

Literally childbirth! It's...delivery. It's Sam delivering his own child, after making a trek by foot across the continental US carrying a difficult pregnancy. "The Man Who Delivers" is a double entendre throughout the game, just like "strand" is ('strand' like rope or hair, 'strand' as in a portion of a larger network, 'strand' as in stranding, like the beach, etc).

So like, what the fuck, right? Why do we have Mpreg: Hiking Simulator? What the HELL is going on in there?

So. America, right?

If there's anything Kojima really loves to talk about, it's America. American identity, imperialism, national myth, etc. Death Stranding is just the most recent and blatant of these. And, of course, one of the most popular American Myths are the story of the founding fathers, right up there with manifest destiny.

So we have this game where Sam is both literally becoming a father after carrying a surrogate pregnancy, and also metaphorically becoming a father by re-founding America. In that way we can see, through his experience of pregnancy, the trials of (re-)founding America.

Okay, great, cool, Sam is a male mom, wonderful, so glad that technology has progressed to this point, we stan. Maybe we don't stan the use of American nationalism as a tool so much but look at the healthy baby glow <3.

But I also want to contrast this with the only other BB we really see in the game. Yeah, baby, it's Higgs time!!! And I am going to make a comparison that is going to seem batshit insane. Bear with me:

I was skeptical myself when I first saw this comparison, but I've been converted into a believer for a few reasons.

The visual. While imo it wouldn't be enough on its own to make a case, I have to admit that his hood is similar to some popular depictions of Mary

Higgs is literally a male prophet of a goddess of extinction. He essentially considers himself her messenger,

While Sam gets his BB from another person, and it's also a live fetus, Higgs gets his from Amelie, as how god gives mary jesus immaculately

Much like Amelie's reveal that her "soul is a lie," the "baby" that she gives higgs is a twisted effigy. He carries his god(dess)'s physical form, but as she is a goddess of extinction with no remaining soul of her own, it will never grow.

i'm willing to believe higgs is a virgin, for the bit.

Okay okay I gotta stop for now because it's 1 AM but like, consider it, mayhaps.

[myaoiboy]

Hi I saw that you answered an ask* the other day and I wanted to know if you continued with your analysis or if you could continue. I was really interested and curious to know more about it. I really wanted to know what you had to say, seriously, I could read a bible of Death Stranding reviews!

*https://www.tumblr.com/myaoiboy/739740134244794368/death-stranding-gender-talk-you-say-count-me-in?source=share

Hi! I totally can keep talking about Death Stranding forever (I know it's a very divisive game but imo on the whole the writing is like a well-oiled machine in ways that MGS just barely started to scrape askdjfh)

For the most part I haven't talked a *ton* about it at length because the series is just getting started and I feel weird making assertions that are likely to be fully subverted within a year or two. MGS has like. well, now, 25 years of shit going on. Sequels, prequels, fanon, etc., that Death Stranding...hasn't really had time to grow into yet.

I also tend to intentionally only post for dead series because the fandoms tend to be chiller lmao

Plus the fact that I got into DS right around the time that DS2 was announced, so I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs knowing that there's about to be more content and context that I just don't have access to yet. I already feel like there's a lot more to be learned about the first game, just from the latest trailer drop.

Honestly I think the thing that really gets me with DS is that despite the borderline insanity of the setting, to me, there's a lot of dramatic irony and meta knowledge that makes DS pretty easy to follow compared to, like, any single MGS game. Maybe I'm just the exact target audience that the writing was intended for, but most of the big reveals felt less like a sucker punch and more of a dramatic swell.

Some reasons for this (please be gentle i am taking cutscene SCs from youtube videos, they're gonna look like shit):

First of all, this is basically frame 1 of being formally introduced to Amelie, we see...this lens flare. Look familiar?

...how about now?

We are introduced to her instantly with a sign of danger. A pretty one, but a sign of danger nonetheless. The fact that it's an inverted rainbow is important! It shows up around timefall because of chiral air disturbance. We don't know that yet in-game, but if you know about how light works you know that there's something Wrong(tm) about this.

A regular lens flare shouldn't be causing an inverted rainbow if it's causing one at all. I think in this cutscene Amelie's presence is causing that inverted rainbow. Throughout the game, people come up with various theories of their own to excuse her connection to the beach. Little do they know at the time how right they are...

She's also heavily backlit, which hides her features in an unsettling manner. In fact, I really can't think of anyone else that this happens to throughout the game (if anyone knows of another example PLEASE let me know!!!)

She gets pretty damn close before that rainbow disappears, but this is where I very quickly lost my initial trust in her (as the player).

I jokingly called called this her "Fox News reporter look," but it's very much constructed in a way that made me suspicious.

Let's talk about that red dress.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: Kojima fucking LOVES using color language, especially red, blue, and gold. It's been super obvious and explicit since like 2012.

The fact that we meet her wearing a red dress is not a coincidence!!! It's a great big flashing warning sign! It says "hey, this person is going to betray you! Do Not Fucking Trust!!!"

Compare Amelie's name card to Paz's from Peace Walker:

The art styles are different, but there are a couple of main throughlines. Namely, both have an emphasis on the color red, both are young (looking) women who are lying about their identities in order to ask the main character a favor. Characters vouch for them, from trusted advisors, to the main character himself in DS. And then they try to bring about armageddon.

Basically what I'm saying is that they're both the embodiment of white woman tears a wolf in sheep's clothing, if the sheep's clothing was still dripping in blood. We (characters, and maybe the players) believe that she's on our side because we want to believe she's on our side, and because other people that we ostensibly trust tell us she's on our side, while the extremely dissonant narrative and imagery of the scene are SHAKING US BY THE SHOULDERS TELLING US TO SNAP OUT OF IT.

Add to that the fact that we kind of vaguely, through that intro cutscene post-central knot explosion, know that the beach is connected to dying somehow, and that amelie seems to be on it, doing very stereotypical little girl in horror things there, like singing nursery rhymes slowly while walking into the ocean.

So we've basically been told that Amelie is Not Good, but we have to spend the game piecing together what kind of Not Good she is. The first hint is (surprise!) also in this cutscene!

I don't recall off the top of my head if I knew at the time how heavily egyptian mythology plays into DS, but I do remember this cutscene giving me a bad gut feeling about the concept of the West.

Very few Big Concepts in these games (the West, strand(s/ing), patriotism/nationalism, etc) are only symbolic of one thing. That's also true across the board in basically all art, but I feel the need to point that out in public posts because I don't want someone to eg, think that I say something means one thing, and then back that up, and then people think that means it can't mean something else! It can (and often does) mean both! and sometimes that additional meaning is super important!

Anyways, Die Hardman refers to Amelie going West. We don't really use that phrasing much, so it stuck out to me as euphemistic. Especially since we saw her after we died, and there's so much euphemism going on from the bridges team anyways. I mean, cufflinks "symbolize our connection?" Girl, you locked me to my bed with them. You drain my blood with them to turn into weapons. Call 'em what they are.

You'll even notice in the same cutscene that Amelie says "we made it to Edge Knot City" and Sam replies with "all the way to the Pacific?" Not "all the way to the west coast," or even a single question about why she was on the/his beach.

If you know anything about egyptian mythology, you might know that west is considered the direction of death and the underworld. ancient egyptians buried dead people on the west side of the nile river. Osiris, god of death and mummification, and king of the underworld, is referred to as "foremost of the westerners" among his epithets.

So the vibe that I got instantly was "Amelie is already dead, she led her team to die, and they are basically sending Sam on a suicide mission" though I didn't realize exactly how I was right at the time.

The other big thing I recall setting off my alarm bells as the game went on was the fact that nobody you meet has ever met Amelie in person. It's a very slow reveal, especially since most people seem to see online meeting and in person meeting to be mostly the same, and we're told that she set out with bridges one. That she went west. Turns out that...also wasn't literal.

I don't remember exactly when I started wondering if *sam* had ever even met her outside of the beach, but I do remember thinking that there was something off. For a little bit my guess was that she was entirely fictional, some sort of AI (pretty influenced by all the "dead person brought back by AI/hypno bullshit ngl), or maybe that Higgs could somehow disguise himself in the Beach in ways i didn't understand yet.

But I didn't feel *worse* for being able to figure things out ahead of time, I felt clever that I could piece together all the little hints and have a good idea of what was going on. It made death stranding feel more like a coherent sci fi narrative rather than a cheesy action story that's expected to follow certain strict genre conventions.

Not that I'm saying mgs or action in general are bad, but rather that imo Death Stranding feels...more mature and confident in some ways (and also isn't bogged down by 20 years of previous work. which. i don't even like my own shit from a year ago half the time, i cannot imagine having to write within the constraints you created TWO DECADES prior kjhksjfh). Maybe it's that it feels like less of a genre subversion and has more genre utilization? dunno. Now I'm thinking too much like an english major lkajshdf

But yeah anybody who wants to talk about anything totally feel free. Or if you want to give me prompts to write about. I will always be willing to talk about things for way too long on the internet. I just don't always reply quickly because I start rambling....Like This.