#character rewrite

[elise-the-blind]

That post about Keira and the way Errol interacted with her made me think of the other example of an older character acted in a way they shouldn't with someone much younger than them/a minor. If you think it makes any difference because the genders are reversed, you're in the wrong place buster.

But you know what i love? The found family trope. So why don't i just put that here, cause i just can. Along with a new redesign for Ashelin because again, why not?

Can you imagine the greater impact her character would have made if she had been more outwardly opposed to what her father had done. She's loyal to him at the start because she was raised to be a solider, but she also has a strong love for her people and comrades. Learning that a literal teenager was used in experiments, along with her citizens, would have been the perfect reason for her to switch over to the resistance completely. And I'm talking about an actual cutscene, where she confronts her father outright and that's why Torn later has to sell out the resistance to save her, cause her dad is just that shitty.

Then throughout the whole of the 3rd game, Ashelin is in full silent breakdown mode as she desperately tries to find a way to get the boys she now views as brothers back home where she can keep an eye on them. "what do you mean you want to stay in the desert?? I swear if we were related by blood, I'd smack you up side the head!"

Also just because i don't remember them ever interacting, other then Errol throwing sass, I'd want Ashelin to have once seen him as her family as well. Some point in the past when he was still climbing the ranks Ashelin slotted him into little brother territory and supported him getting a place at the Barons side. She then gets to watch over the years all the bad traits she was willing to ignore at first progressively get worse and worse. Fun. Now there's a new kid with issues and Ashelin's head is just "we cant let this happen again for the love of god protect the child."

Lord knows Jak and Daxter could use more adults that are actually looking out for there best interest/safety.

As compensation for sitting trough my rant, have this dumbshit meme I made at 3 in the morning : )

[cowfroggie]

[generationality]

Hiya! I’m bringing all the characters from the very original Bomberman. I really like all the nostalgic characters for my familiarity ever since they showed up. Their designs were memorable, and simple from the original looks. In my version, here are most of these characters that I decided to revamped them for a change and some extra details.

Overall, I did my best to figure it out while I’m struggling to revamp them, but it turned out this is the result. Thanks for enjoying!

Love Bomberman ❤️

[the-burd-lord]

Fiz in all his many forms.

Haven't had much motivation or interest to remake helluva boss. I've rewritten and remade some characters, but no coherent story has fully clicked.

As for some of Fiz's lore, and envy imp lore, they all either have a sibling or twin to represent the duality of envy itself. Fiz didn't have any. As an outcast he attached himself to Blitz, who already had a sibling, and slowly began to copy him.

[marimariserasa]

A while ago, I made a rant about how Phoenix felt OOC in Dual Destinies, although at the time of that post I was only in the second case, I not only still agree with it, but I think the situation worsened in Spirit of Justice (HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA *dies*)

I'll touch on this subject at the end of the post. Because I also want to talk about Apollo now

First of all, I'd like to address the obvious: Apollo deserved to have his name in this game's title. Not Phoenix. It's literally his trilogy, Phoenix doesn't get ANY development as the main character. Why not just… not make him playable and have him only be this game's Mia? And like, have him only be playable on the last case and on the first case ever since he got his badge back (I honestly hate how Turnabout Reclaimed turned out a comedy case. Really, Phoenix's return deserved to be something more serious. But I didn't even play that case simply to get rid of Dual Destinies quickly, so I have no right to comment.)

Second… he's so boring during this whole game. Maybe I'm being picky but I feel like he lost his personality. He's… he's emo now and during cases you play as him it doesn't feel like past game's Apollo. I guess...

Well, now for what I would have done if I would rewrite it:

Dual Destinies really lost the opportunity to explore further of how complicated Phoenix's and Apollo's relationship was after Phoenix (Speaking superficially) using him for an year

Some people have suggested that Phoenix's more cheerful personality might be a persona, so he could be a better boss for Athena

Imagine Apollo, always remembering the past year, watching the new girl get along to Phoenix the way he wanted to. Feeling envious, but trying to suppress it. It was precisely envy that caused his mentor to start doing the horrible things he did.

But he understands that it's not her fault; she didn't know and isn't obligated to know what he went through. How Mr. Wright was. Over time they grow closer, and just when he feels comfortable enough with her… Clay dies.

And after he vents about how powerless he feels over his death, Athena and Phoenix have some kind of sweet moment together and he… can't take it anymore. The suspicions make him feel betrayed by Athena. He remembers the feeling of discovering that Kristoph, his mentor is a murderer. And then he asks for a leave. With no explanation of why. Phoenix never explained anything to him all last year, why does he owe him an explanation now?

On a related note, I hate the lack of appearances from both Clay and Kristoph in this game. Doesn't his mentor haunt him? The idea of being like him? How betrayed he felt?

Couldn't this game be in a fucking chronological order, having the first case be Clay's trial of something that isn't a murder? (The ONLY case on the first trilogy that starts with a crime that isn't murder for once ends with a death that nobody cares about, WOW.) Like, I don't know, something like data theft on the space station or something like that? Shitty example but whatever. And then Clay spends some good time hanging with Apollo so his death actually hurts like Mia's

Welp Athena, Simon and the two last cases carried this game. Apollo deserved more.

Finally, here's a little more about Phoenix!

On a less important note, on my last post I commented on how weird The Magical Turnabout is, and honestly just made Phoenix feel more mischaracterized. Like yeah Capcom of course I'll buy your idea that Phoenix would not be present at his daughter's first magic show and instead would abandon her to go to another country to see a girl he's not even able to meet for the next two weeks. After he bought her a lot of expensive Gavinners merch while they were still in a difficult financial condition. After everything he went through with Maya.

ALSO did Maya's kidnapping not affect him like, AT ALL? This is a complaint I have about Trials and Tribulations, honestly! After everything they went through, he really let Armstrong, a man they didn't know, just take her away somewhere? He had so little resistance to her being alone in the temple? Oh, and about the temple, guess what happened! She almost died! And after that?

HE LET HIS DAUGHTER RUN SOMEWHERE WITHOUT HIM, WHERE THERE'S A MURDERER AROUND, TO STAY WITH APOLLO, WHO'S NOT REALLY TRUSTWORTHY ON THAT MOMENT LIKE, AT ALL! AND GUESS WHAT??? SHE WAS KIDNAPPED. AND HE BARELY REMEMBERED HER WHENEVER THE HOSTAGES WERE MENTIONED.

Who wrote this

[letmyrighthandbeforgotten]

Guys, I have to get my thoughts about Cait out. I'm tired of seeing bad takes on both sides of the debate. Everyone is getting on my nerves. So this post is gonna talk about why I don't like Cait and how I think she could have been written better. Putting this under a read more so no one sees character hate they don't want to.

1. Why do I hate characters who are cops or politicians more than characters who are murderers?

Because cops and politicians represent systems of oppression that do thousands of times more damage to people every day. Even the most prolific serial killers in real life killed maybe a couple of hundred people, and that is way outside the norm even for that group. Most famous serial killers in the U.S. killed maybe a couple dozen people. Obviously that is a terrifying and horrific loss of life that should never have happened — but at least those people are punished. They are rightfully seen as evil. But politicians make and uphold systems designed to oppress, slowly choking thousands of people to death, and cops are basically their occupying force. (And that’s just within the country they rule. How many lives have American politicians — the people of my own home country — destroyed around the world?) They are murderers allowed to kill.

(and obvs not all politicians. some of y’all are just on your local council trying to get a new park made, or they’re actively trying to undo the harm caused by their shitty peers. I am talking about the big leagues. do not be obtuse on this post.)

But, this does not have to automatically make a character bad. They’re fictional; the people they hurt aren’t real, even if the things they represent are. And I do love a well-written character who is a horrible person. I actually judge characters who are supposed to be good way harsher than outwardly evil ones. I don’t expect to finish watching Hannibal and think, “well OBVIOUSLY he is good and correct”. I think, “he killed a lot of innocent people, but he looked really cool doing it!” Also villains in fiction have cool and interesting thought processes and motivations and character arcs. Assholes in real life are usually just racist/misogynist/etc.

Basically: “Luci, do you actually think politicians and cops are worse than actual murderers—” Yes. And you’re not going to change my mind.

But again, these are characters, not real people. It might be an uphill battle to get me to like an enforcer, but it could absolutely be done. Mel had several of these same problems, and I love Mel! She is a top 3 character for me. All that I just said? Yeah that was just me addressing a common complaint in the fandom. I did not want to argue about this in the notes, lol. We haven’t even gotten to the meat of this post.

So. Why don’t I like Caitlyn?

2. She’s boring.

Guys, she’s so fucking boring.

In a show I watch specifically for the nuanced, complicated characters, Caitlyn is written like a quirky self-insert. Someone said she might be Amanda Overton’s self-insert and I can see it. I didn’t like self-inserts when I was 14, and I don’t like them now (I’ve always had taste). Some people really like characters who are just like them, I don’t. This is the complicated and dramatic characters show, why is this one different? Girl, you do not get to be a rich cop from a politician family and ALSO BORING! You have got to make up for it! “I'm a misfit too—” BITCH WHERE? SHOW ME!

And I could end this whole post there. But I don’t want to hate Cait. Half the reason I got into Arcane was because of the canon queer representation. Do you hear me? I wanted to love Cait and CaitVi! I held out hope until the very end, when I couldn’t deny it anymore! This was a huge disappointment!

So, here are my suggestions for how to make Caitlyn a more interesting and complicated character.

3. Change her flashback. (and her arc)

I talked about this before here, but mostly in a reblog, so Imma repeat myself. All of the main characters have flashbacks to their childhood (except for Jinx, Vi, and Ekko, for whom the whole first arc is essentially this drawn out.) These flashbacks aren’t just there to be there. They give us important context for how to understand the characters, their worldview, why they do what they do, and how they do (or more commonly don’t) fit in with their society. I talked before about how Mel’s flashback to Noxus completely recontextualizes her character and every scene prior in a way that immediately changed my mind on her and makes her one of the most interesting characters on the show. So let’s see what we’re working with.

Vi, Jinx, and Ekko’s childhood: saw every parental figure and their childhood friends/brothers die, grew up under poverty, oppression, and police brutality; forced to grow up too fast as a result

Viktor’s childhood flashbacks: grew up poor and disabled, no family that we see, isolated and alone; made friends with a creepy old man who tortured his pet lizard

Jayce’s childhood flashback: almost died with his mother in a terrible blizzard miles from civilization

Mel's childhood flashback: watched her mother BEHEAD a girl her own age

Caitlyn's childhood flashback: did this bitch LET ME WIN A SHOOTING CONTEST?!

You see how those things don’t fit together? Do you see how every other main character’s childhood shows us moments that completely define their lives as adults? Do you see how Cait’s fails to do the same? Caitlyn does not seem like a misfit in any way — in fact, she exceeds expectations. Her biggest complaint is that she might benefit from too much nepotism. Every other character would read differently if we didn’t have this extra context, but I skip this scene on rewatch.

So. What do I think they should have done instead?

Okay, we open the scene the same. Cait is out in the country, presumably on a big fancy family estate. But instead of a shooting contest, it’s a hunting contest. The first she’s ever done. She had practiced shooting on targets, but never an animal. (Maybe we even add a quick second where other kids her age are mocking her for never having done it before, which I think would actually lend to that misfit image she’s supposed to have.)

Now she’s out on her own. She sees a deer. She lines up the shot. She takes it.

It hits.

At first, she's really excited! It was a complete success, she can go back and show her family, show everyone, that she did it!

But it’s still alive.

And Cait does not know what to do.

She’s still a kid, you know? She starts to panic and drops her gun, she tries to cover up the wound, but nothing works. It just keeps bleeding and beeting in pain and she did this. She didn’t have to do it. It’s not like they needed the meat to survive. She did it for glory, and for society’s expectations, and it is staring her in the eyes as it dies. Not only was she incapable of saving it, she is the one who did this. Her hands are covered in blood. (obviously they would do cool things with the camera here, and Cait goes dead-eyed at the same time as the deer as she realizes she cannot fix this) (note that I would want the deer to be struggling and kicking out, and it gets a hit on Cait’s face. this doesn’t have to leave a scar, that’s not the point, I’m bringing it back later)

But then everyone is congratulating her! She wins the contest! Her family is so proud! She’s a kid and she just killed for personal glory and entertainment! She did what society expects of her! She did what she was supposed to do!

So why is she just staring dead eyed in the distance?

Here we can introduce her relationship with Grayson as a mentor, as the only person who actually realizes what Caitlyn is going through, and tells her that it’s okay. That she’s right, it was cruel and it was pointless and she doesn’t have to do it anymore (maybe hinting at some more depth with Grayson too?). She doesn’t have to be that person.

This would be the point she decides she wants to be an enforcer instead of a hunter or politician. Caitlyn, still young, still naive, still Piltover to the core. She wants to be good, she wants to help people, protect people. So she becomes an enforcer, because she thinks that’s what they do . . .

Only to realize she's once more hurting an innocent thing. Same weapon, same reason, different target. And once more she doesn't want to be this person, but it's already dead. She killed it. It was never a cycle of violence, it was the deer getting one or two hits in as it lay dying. It was always predator and prey, opressor and opressed, Piltover and Zaun. (bringing it back! in a fight Cait should get an injury in the same spot as when the deet hurt her. It can be from Jinx or Silco, or even Vi or Ekko, but it has to be someone from Zaun. The idea is that for all it hurts, it was only ever a desperate move from someone you had power over. Zaun might have hurt Piltover, but Piltover did more and worse and called it good. this would never be brought up directly by the way it’s one of the things you notice the animtors did on your 3rd rewatch and go insane)

Cait deciding that she didn’t want to fit in with Piltover, that their norm was bad and cruel and violent, and she has got to put an end to it — that should have been her arc.

And she needs to have a breakdown moment about it! she kind of has one in the show, but it’s about her mom, not about herself or what she’s done. I want a Jinx-level crashout. But hey, speaking of Cassandra . . .

4. Cait’s relationship with her mom.

This is another thing that really got on my nerves. Cait has some problems with her mom, but they’re so bland. Especially when other parent-child relationships in Arcane are so good! “Ugh she doesn’t think I can do things on my own! She doesn’t let me be an adult!” be so for real. Jayce and Ximena had a more interesting relationship when she called him crazy to save him.

But the bones of something really interesting are there. So here is my suggestion: you know the opening scene of the whole show? Where enforcers are killing protestors and rebels, including Vi and Jinx’s parents?

Yeah, Cassandra should be directly involved in that.

She should have been part of the council when it happened, and she was one of the people who ordered it. They could have met Zaun’s demands for clean air and clean water and proper living and working conditions, no more overpolicing, independence even . . . but that would have meant money, and ceding control, and that was never gone happen! Better to gun them down now and lose a few workers, you can always get new ones. It’s not like they’re actual people. It’s not like she has to see it. Maybe she’ll even pay lip service to doing better, slap a bandaid on that open wound. A new air filtration system that also gives her more control over the Undercity. They ever start to act up again, just choke them out! Wins all around.

Give them a real philosophical disagreement. Young Cait never saw the harm her mom did, and maybe she doesn't comprehend it until season 2. But by then the pain is too much and she never got to confront her, and now all she has is this anger and grief and love. She doesn't know what to do with it. So she hurts people. She hurts people until she hates herself for it.

Cait deciding that her mom was actually a bad person who caused more harm than good and doesn’t deserve revenge would eat so hard. And she still loves her! Just like Jinx still loves Silco and Mel still loves Ambessa. It doesn’t take the love away. But the love doesn’t take the harm away. The girl who chose her mother and the girl who chooses Vi cannot coexist. And Cait can’t live with the blood anymore.

[theshypinkflower]

🪽lemme bite, lemme kiss, lemme eat you, lemme do whateva i will do to you (`皿´)!..🪽